The BV Blog

A local blog has posted a great discussion question that could work in any town – “What’s the worst locally produced TV commercial you’ve ever seen?”

They got lots of nominees, including this one that may take the top prize for mind-numbing repetition in the quest for name awareness (Think “Head On” for teenboy button-mashers.) Still, you’ll probably remember the name for a long while after you see the spot.

Which brings me to my question: what do you want your viewers, readers and listeners to remember about you and your business? Is it a name, a slogan, a particular product or service? Just as we see here, you can make a strong impression in 30 seconds or less when you focus your message. Pick a target — such as your Unique Selling Proposition (here’s our USP) — and then zero in on it in your marketing. Hopefully, your effort won’t make any “Worst Ever” list, but you will be remembered.

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If you do any kind of writing for your job, you know that a rich vocabulary is an important tool. Here’s a fun way to add to that toolbox: FreeRice.Com — an online vocabulary test. (From Daphne Gray-Grant in her weekly newsletter):

Basically an online vocabulary test, much like the SAT, it presents you with a series of multiple choice definitions. Your answer to each question is scored immediately and you move on to the next one. (You can set options so that when you leave your computer the site “remembers” your score for the next time.)

The site automatically adjusts to your vocabulary level. When you get a word wrong, the next word provided is from an easier level. When you get three consecutive words right, you move to a higher degree of difficulty. (Experts say that this constant fine-tuning of levels is the best way to ensure you are learning and not just playing a game.) FreeRice has 50 levels in total, but staff say it’s rare for people to get past level 48. Go ahead; knock yourself out.

But you’re probably wondering about the site’s odd name. And therein lies the best news of all. Each time you get a word right, the site’s sponsors donate enough money to pay for 20 grains of rice for the United Nations’ World Food Program. That may sound like a pitifully small amount, but the site has already raised more than five billion grains of rice in less than two months.

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My iPhone is paying off already.

I had to cut open a man’s chest earlier today to perform emergency, on-the-street cardiac massage. Thank goodness for the iPhone’s laser scalpel feature. It made a quick, clean incision in the chest wall, allowing me to squeeze the man’s heart and restart his circulation. Minutes later, I was showing him digital pictures of my new boat.

The iPhone has proven handy in the kitchen as well. It dices and slices fresh produce with ease, presses garlic cloves, and makes more ice than a polar bear with a small bladder and a thing for ginger ale. Because my iPhone gives me Internet access and a nice selection of razor-sharp cleavers, I was able to watch the podcast of Sports Center while preparing a meal of fresh zebra steaks.

And the new iPhone offers so much more. It’s a taser, telescope, corkscrew and nail file. Its built-in NASCAR simulator is the best I’ve seen. It comes with a 64-color digital crayon and a sharpener in the back. It can even analyze your golf swing and tuck the kids in at night.

I guess it’s a phone too.

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