http://stanfairbank.com web development, design, online marketing Tue, 15 May 2012 21:28:55 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 http://stanfairbank.com/agrarian-from-williams-sonoma/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=agrarian-from-williams-sonoma http://stanfairbank.com/agrarian-from-williams-sonoma/#comments Thu, 10 May 2012 18:06:03 +0000 SF http://stanfairbank.com/?p=718 Williams-Sonoma's new Agrarian collection is all around us this week. Agrarian is a line of "DIY" merchandise targeted to the upscale sustainable farmer. If you know anything about Williams-Sonoma, you already have surmised that this merchandise is targeted to a special breed of farmer. The kind of farmer who likes their planting equipment coppered, monogrammed, patinated and distressed. Who likes chicken coops priced well into 4 figures, and for them to be of an iconic, prefabricated appearance to trumpet the designer label origins. And for farmers desiring White Glove delivery, where the term "do-it-yourself" temporarily takes on another meaning and becomes a simple command to the delivery driver who is expected to assemble it on-site with the gentleman farmer looking over his shoulder. You could poke fun at this concept all day long, as many pundits are doing. Which is what intrigues me about Agrarian: It's too easy to laugh at. But the fact is, when a top brand pulls something like this, they've usually got some business fundamentals behind it. ]]> http://stanfairbank.com/agrarian-from-williams-sonoma/feed/ 0 http://stanfairbank.com/survival-of-tech-titans/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=survival-of-tech-titans http://stanfairbank.com/survival-of-tech-titans/#comments Wed, 02 May 2012 18:16:14 +0000 SF http://stanfairbank.com/?p=686 Here's Why Google and Facebook Might Disappear in the Next 5 Years piece that details fundamental flaws that may keep today's web giants from competing in a landscape dominated by mobile apps. The article was a good read and makes some good points, but like a lot of tech journalism it focuses on trending, innovation, industry hindsight. Google, Amazon and Facebook might have trouble down the road but I doubt it will be due to inability to adapt to new paradigms. IMO if they have problems with adapting to a changing landscape it will be due more to corporate bloat than anything. When companies get too large, their swelling ranks of shareholders invariably demand growth -- growth that can't be satisfied by simply selling the modest product(s) that made the companies household names. ]]> http://stanfairbank.com/survival-of-tech-titans/feed/ 0 http://stanfairbank.com/mini/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=mini http://stanfairbank.com/mini/#comments Thu, 05 Apr 2012 23:27:02 +0000 SF http://stanfairbank.com/?p=651 MINI USA. Always up to something. As a MINI owner on the BMW/MINI house distribution list, I recently received a message from them thanking me for being such a wonderful customer and enticing me to follow a link where I could further bulk up their customer data about me for more accurate targeting in the future receive their humble gratitude. I clicked through. I had to look. Wouldn't you? And like me, aren't you dying to know how they personally thanked me for being a MINI-ite? ]]> http://stanfairbank.com/mini/feed/ 0 http://stanfairbank.com/2lemetry-site-launch/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=2lemetry-site-launch http://stanfairbank.com/2lemetry-site-launch/#comments Thu, 29 Mar 2012 00:53:33 +0000 SF http://stanfairbank.com/?p=629 2lemetry. When their site launched recently I was flattered to see that much of what was in my UI advisory made it into the final content and design. In my work for 2lemetry, we started off with some content brainstorming. From that I put together a UI prototype displaying some concepts of how to organize their messaging, which we rearranged somewhat before they went ahead with the final site wire framing and dev. ]]> http://stanfairbank.com/2lemetry-site-launch/feed/ 0 http://stanfairbank.com/twitter-eats-posterous/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=twitter-eats-posterous http://stanfairbank.com/twitter-eats-posterous/#comments Mon, 19 Mar 2012 20:52:37 +0000 SF http://stanfairbank.com/?p=613 http://stanfairbank.com/twitter-eats-posterous/feed/ 0 http://stanfairbank.com/personal-branding-wall-street-style-or-why-greg-smith-is-quitting-tobacco/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=personal-branding-wall-street-style-or-why-greg-smith-is-quitting-tobacco http://stanfairbank.com/personal-branding-wall-street-style-or-why-greg-smith-is-quitting-tobacco/#comments Wed, 14 Mar 2012 19:14:16 +0000 SF http://stanfairbank.com/?p=595 Goldman-Sachs employee Greg Smith, who resigned in the most public way: via an op-ed piece in the New York Times. Apparently Mr. Smith decided to leave the company after 12 years due to disillusionment of business practices at Goldman that, by his account, have reached new pinnacles of corporate greed. ]]> http://stanfairbank.com/personal-branding-wall-street-style-or-why-greg-smith-is-quitting-tobacco/feed/ 0