A few weeks back I was pulling my horse trailer and one of the tires blew out.

Ok, to be more precise I clipped the curb while rounding a corner and put a tear in the rubber the length of a dollar bill. Oops. Fortunately I was not hauling any horses at the time. Taking a “glass-is-half-full” view of this unfortunate incident, it did give me an opportunity to check in on one of my favorite businesses - Discount Tire – the red branded tire place that has 1073 stores in 36 states …

“Good products can be sold with honest advertising. If you don’t think the product is good you have no business advertising it.”

- David Ogilvy

Yesterday I went to see the kid-friendly movie The War With Grandpa. It’s been a long time since I’ve been to the movies. We sat the obligatory 10 seats apart from the group over, bought a large popcorn and patiently waited for the movie to start.

But first, the ads…

Some years ago one of our clients, a prominent facial plastic surgeon, told me a story about one of his patients. She had a precancerous mole on her face that needed removal. After an initial consult, the patient scheduled the outpatient procedure that took less than 10 minutes to perform. The surgeon’s bill? Around $10,000. The patient complained to the surgeon that her bill was excessive – he was charging $1,000 a minute! Our client’s response was golden: “Madam, while it is true that the procedure to remove your mole only took 10 minutes, the …

This week the iconic New York jeweler that makes more money from 4 simple words (will you marry me) than any other company on the planet - aired some of its dirty laundry.

As its $16 billion acquisition to LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton lay in tatters, Tiffany&Co rolled up its sleeves and started swinging punches –

Yesterday I read a news article announcing people are sick of businesses cranking up their PR machines to join the Black Lives Matter movement. Not because they don’t believe in the movement. But because the vast majority of companies are full of BS. I agree.

Not surprisingly our town mandated the use of masks effective last week. Of course I completely forgot, and had to make a mad dash to Target to stock up. Also not surprisingly Target was pretty much sold out of masks. Except for about 10 packets left of “kids masks” - in your choice of coal black or coral pink. Two masks in every packet. $4 a packet…