Thinking by Peter Davidson

I don't always agree with Scoble, but on satellite radio I sure agree. A recent rental car had Sirius. The music selection was awesome but the lack of commercials was the most attractive element. My fear is that satellite radio will go the way of cable TV and add commercials once the technology adoption hits critical mass.

just wanted to give you a report on my Sirius satellite radio. This thing rocks. Worked all the way. I think we had 30 seconds of dropouts in more than six hours of listening (it dropped a few times in tunnels and driving through some heavy tree overhangs).I love it because if you get bored you can change your musical genre (or, even, switch over to talk radio or comedy). Keeps everyone in the car happy.

Road trip report on my Sirius radio.

Technorati Tags: satellite radio, Scobleizer, Robert Scoble, Sirius, rental car

Brace yourselves, people, Nate Berkus is back today on Oprah. What I find interesting here is the use of the uber personality brand Oprah Winfrey to mint new personality brands. We saw this, of course, with Dr. Phil and now with designer Nate Berkus. Berkus has captured a significant fan following that has been helped by the "slow drip" approach that Oprah has taken with him. Berkus appears periodically on Oprah's show and in her O Magazine but very little else has been seen of him. We don't have an over exposure story here.

Today's appearance was classic Oprah/Berkus fare. The first story of a woman's living room makeover was a bit flat. The design was well done but nothing special. The story wasn't told in a compelling way. Rabid fans will disagree, believing that anything Berkus touches is gold. This room makeover is nothing that any number of other decorating shows offer every day. As far as emotional decorating makeovers, the game has been raised by ABC's Extreme Makeover Home Edition. They are casting the mold for captivating emotional storytelling around home design/decoration. Many other design shows are adding more emotion and storytelling to their shows in an attempt to keep up.

Next we see a tour of Berkus' own apartment. Nothing special really. A bit stereotypically gay man's apartment aesthetic really. Masculine lines, neutral colors, travel mementos, etc. Personal details were included to fan the flames of fan fantasy that is most of the appeal of Berkus.

The rest of the show featured the glue gun lady from O at Home magazine and decorating Q&A with Berkus. Nothing earth shattering. People just want to hear cliche' decorating advice coming out of his face and Oprah is happy to be the vehicle.

Oprah has to do something bigger and more original with Berkus or the audience will eventually tire of these mini makeover stories. This show seemed flat. Has the Nate Berkus phenomenon run it's course? Has the TV Nate Berkus jumped the shark?

Related:
More on Nate Berkus
Nate Berkus Branding

tags: oprah | nate berkus | interior design | makeover
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Cathleen McGuigan writes about 2005 Pritzker Prize winning architect Thomas Mayne of Morphosis.

Mayne doesn't like to think of his work as finished—it's the process, it's evolving, remember?—and at Caltrans, for instance, a big chunk of steel cantilevers off one side, as if he's left the building incomplete. "It's alluding to the development of cities over time," he says. For Mayne, the world is open-ended—and his architecture reflects his sense that "there is no doctrine, no set of rules." He's not a guy the client would want to poke in the chest and say, "My way or the highway." There's no doubt which one he'd choose.

With the increased focus on design these days marketers would be well served to study leading designers.

[Newsweek on Mayne]

tags: Thomas Mayne | pritzker prize | morphesis | Newsweek
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Municipalities are using a Dr. Phil technique to generate revenue in these tight budget times. When advising frustrated parents of out of control children Dr. Phil advises them to find out what "currency" the children value and leverage that to elicit desired behaviors in the children. "Pick up your toys or they disappear." kind of stuff. It works. Parents can control access to the things or activities that children value. By offering a choice to the child that involves something the child values the child pays attention. Pick the right currency and the children will respond with the desired behavior.

Now cities and towns are expanding their use of this same technique. For years cities have used boot devices that immobilize vehicles who's owners owe parking fines. Two cities in Virginia and Connecticut are now using a vehicle mounted high speed camera system to photograph the license plates of parked cars. Computers read the license plate numbers from the photos and compare the numbers to databases of people who owe fines. Vehicles can then be towed and auctioned if fines are not collected within 10 days.

Americans love their cars and if you want them to pay their fines control their use and possession of their car and they will sit up, listen and pay up.

I think the outrage over this type of system has to do with it's tech enabled efficiency. If it was a human driving around and manually reading and looking up license plate numbers in a printed list of people who owe fees/fines/taxes then radioing for the tow truck people might feel differently about the system. Use a camera and a computer and people feel out of control and victimized by technology. Beyond that people love their cars and hate it when anyone tampers with them.

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A giant of American architecture has passed. Philip Johnson the innovator of so many different styles of architecture has died at the age of 98:

Architect Philip Johnson, who is credited with bringing some of the ideas of European modern design to the United States and transforming them into a uniquely American form, has died at his home in New Canaan, Conn. He was 98.

Among his most famous designs are the Glass House, his own home in New Canaan, a glass building with an exposed steel frame, New York's Seagram Building, which he designed in collaboration with Mies van der Rohe, and the elliptical shaped 53rd at Third, also known as the Lipstick Building, in New York City.

Johnson is also known for his Post-Modern icons such as the chippendale topped AT&T Building in New York.

[read]via

During Thursday's controversial costly inaugural festivities President Bush will be riding in a Caddillac PR mobile. GM and Cadillac have created a monumentally ugly presidential limo that sports the front and back end of their new Deville replacement. The Cadillac DTS is an as yet unseen model soon to be released.

What better way for Cadillac to get their new design lines seen by the rich, famous and powerful.

Autoblog has the pictures.

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We take a break from Nate Berkus personality brand news to update you on our other favorite personality brand Martha Stewart. It seems the slip of her star that began some three years ago with the breaking news of the stock scandal that lead to the cover up conviction that currently has her cooling her heels in a federal gated community has led to the shut down of her catalog and web retailing operations. While her current marketing and retailing empire declines Martha Stewart the reality spectacle heats up. While at least one season of a reality show based on Martha is likely to be successful, it remains to see if she can recapture the marketing and merchandising magic that minted her personality brand in the first place.

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Nate Berkus Tsunami Story on Oprah Today

Nate Berkus appeared on the Oprah show today to tell the story of his Tsunami ordeal. Something about the show was very bothersome. I think it was the fact that the show was so focused on Berkus and the emotional outpouring that he has received. Yes, he's a nice guy, yes, he has lost someone close to him, yes, it's remarkable that he survived but 150,000+ people did not survive.

Oprah's global platform was not used to encourage or chronicle the outpouring of care, support and relief that this disaster has elicited. Yes she mentioned that her charity has donated $1 million to aid relief charities but it seems so much more could be done. Oprah did not even encourage people to give in some way. Berkus didn't mention any sort of relief efforts.

This was all about Nate and the handful of survivors that were supporting actors in the Nate Berkus Story. Oprah was fanning the flames of emotional empathy for Berkus. Clearly so many people are emotionally attached to him already that an hour of tear inducing story telling and tributes will certainly expand his following. You can just feel the building of the Nate Berkus brand ready for launch sometime soon.

He is, at the end of the day, just a regular person who has survived a horrible situation, lost someone close to him, and is now struggling to deal with his grief and nightmares. That makes him neither unique nor saint material. Many people in this country and world are going through similar or worse circumstances. He is a talented interior decorator who is being developed to be a celebrity. Perspective, people. Let's keep it in perspective.

Update: Read Nate Berkus: Jumped the Shark?

Nate Berkus will be appearing on the Oprah show on Monday, January 17 with an update on the Tsunami and the search for/loss of his partner.

The story of Nate Berkus has brought this particular tragedy home to millions of Americans who have become fans through the development of his personality brand on the Oprah show.

It will be interesting to see if Oprah swarms her fans in any unique way to support the relief efforts. She may just encourage donations to the Red Cross or other established aid agencies but wouldn't it be interesting if she has a creative way for her fans to make a difference?

Update: Read my reaction to the show. Here.

Update: Read Nate Berkus: Jumped the Shark?

Pontiac copies themselves with the whole mass car giveaway thing. Now Regis and Kelli will be giving away the rides. Announced today they will be giving away a Pontiac Montana SV6 every weekday in February. The nose is all SUV but the butt is all minivan.

Pontiac and the producers have learned from the PR snafu of the tax costs from the Oprah stunt last fall. They made a special point to mention that they will be covering all costs and taxes for the winners.

This seems like a good fit for Pontiac. Minivans seem to be a good fit for the Live with Regis and Kelli audience. Let's see if this helps the SUVans roll off dealer lots.

Who's next? Leno? Ellen? The View?