crime, New York Times, theft

Vandalism: a sign of the times?

Christa Avampato

Theft is a common topic on the news, in newspapers, magazine, we hear about it on the streets. I never realized how depressing and violating it is until it happened to me, today. I walked to my car, parked in my lovely neighborhood, this morning and started it up. You’d think the muffler was missing it was so loud. I turned the car off, took a peek under the car and saw that a very large pipe was dragging on the ground. Didn’t look good.


I called my boss to get his advice and he said it sounded like a clamp had come off and that I should just take it to a repair shop and get it fixed. Didn’t sound like too big a deal. My mom and step-father said the same thing. I called my wonderful insurance company who arranged and paid for a tow to a nearby station about five miles away. 

When the tow truck arrived, the tow man looked under the car once it was up on the truck. Once elevated, it was clear to see that a clamp hadn’t fallen off. Someone had taken a saw to my exhaust system and cut out the catalytic converter.

I had held it together pretty well all morning, but when I saw my car bring put up on the truck and carted away, I got a little teary. I just can’t understand how anyone, no matter how desperate, could literally harm someone else’s property, inconvenience them financially and logistically. As it turns out, with this particular kind of violation, I am not alone. 

I called my friend, Steve, once I returned from the auto repair shop, and he said to me that he saw some article about this recently. After a quick search on Google, I found a New York Times article which ran in March that discusses the increase in this type of theft. CATs are a hot item because they contain so many precious metals that can be stripped out and sold. A thief can get about $200 per CAT from a chop shop and it takes about two minutes to take one from a car like mine. No doubt that same thief hit several other cars in my neighborhood on the same night. To replace it costs anywhere from $450 – $1000 and that’s just the part, not the labor. Thankfully, my car insurance covers vandalism so I’m getting off with a $500 deductible and they’ll pay the rest, including a good portion of a rental car I’ll need to get back and forth to work. Certainly not what I want to spend my money on, but I’m grateful for any help I can get in this situation. 

For me, this is just one more reason to urge me to make the switch to a public transportation life.   
business, Costco, movie, retail

Reaching consumers where they are

Christa Avampato

“Build it and they will come” is a business mantra that I wish would die a quick death. I am amazed by how often retailers and service providers believe that the customer needs to seek them out. With so many choices and so little time, companies need to be proactively tracking their customers to find out where they are, and then doing whatever they can to get their products and services in front of them in compelling ways.

I read a post on one of the Amazon.com blogs today that was written by Rich Sloan, of the founders of StartUpNation. http://www.amazon.com/gp/blog/post/PLNK2ZPLRZB2ZOBQG. In the post, he describes a recent outing to Costco where he found AMC movie tickets available at a slight discount. He and his wife weren’t even considering seeing a movie, but it was clearly saving a bit of money for them and would provide them with an experience later on that they’d both enjoy. If not for that display, the couple would have had to decide to see a movie, then look up the times, dates, location, etc. of the closest movie showing a movie they were interested in. With a slight discount in a store where the couple was already shopping, AMC reached out to them and gave them an idea for a night out.

Well played, AMC. And a lesson for all of us in business. The rules of the game have changed: we must do everything we can to offer differentiated, timely benefits to consumers in a convenient package.

health, insomnia, sleep, time

Smoothing ruffled minds

Christa Avampato

Last night, I went to listen to my friend, Dan’s, DJ mix at the Time Out New York Lounge at New World Stages. His show, Lush & Lively, features a fabulous mix of groovy re-creations of old standards. The music really just makes me smile. I hadn’t seen Dan in over a month – a travesty as I am used to seeing about once a week. Times gets away from us too easily. This started me down the road to thinking about how much our busy lives actually effect the state of our minds.

I came across a quote today by Charlotte Bronte that could be the mantra for all of us that suffer from time to time, or all the time as the case may be, from insomnia. “A ruffled mind makes a restless pillow.” A large part of my sleeping problems are self-induced. My mind is working so fast so often that it has a hard time going to sleep. It is stubborn about turning off.

Meditation helps. Yoga helps even more because it pairs meditation with physical activity. I’ve been known to run simply to exhaust myself as much as possible. What really helps is slowing down and I am growing more conscious of my ability to slow down my life despite the world’s efforts to continuously speed it up.

Yesterday, I was meeting Dan at 6, precisely, so that way I could get somewhere else by 7:30, and be home by exactly 10 to finish up some work before going to bed. Fine to do on occasion. Ludicrous to think that kind of rigid planning in my social life is sustainable. So I moved my 7:30 back half an hour, and lengthened by then-8:00 by half an hour. I gave myself some room to breathe, and I was able to get a better night’s sleep because I hadn’t felt rushed all evening long to get here, there, and everywhere.

To be sure, valuing your time as the most precious resource on the planet is a difficult task because demands are placed upon you by external sources. However, giving myself the permission to control the impact of those outside sources, even if just for one evening, yields such good results that I’m having difficulty valuing my time as anything less than precious. Could that one decision be the key to calming down our ruffled minds?

The image above can be found at: http://startupblog.files.wordpress.com/2007/09/salvador-dali-clock.jpg

comedy, New York, writer, writing

Writing from the heart, or at least from real life

Christa Avampato

Week three of Sketch Comedy 101 at the Upright Citizens Brigade. Conversation between class members seemed easier. And then someone blurts out to our teacher, Charlie, “See, we’re talking.” This of course killed the whole good buzz that was happening. Luckily we got it back as the sketches again this week were very good.

This week’s assignment involved creating a character sketch. There are a lot of interesting folks in this world – so many that at some points in my life I’ve begun to wonder if those people are normal and I’m a bit left of center. Unfortunately, my memory was failing me badly this weekend. I couldn’t think of a single funny character to write about. Last week the other sketches were so good, and mine was certainly not, that I felt an intense pressure to write something hilarious. I wracked my brain for ideas, started to go down a path, and realized all roads were heading toward decidedly un-funny destinations. I was explaining the situation to my friend, Kelly, whom I was visiting in Buffalo over the July 4th weekend.

I threw out an idea of a Brain Storming Session Gone Wrong. I’m intrigued by how often that term is thrown around in some companies by senior management. I thought it might be funny to have a CEO who’s the least creative person on the planet running a session with his highly creative direct reports, and then shoot down all of their ideas in favor of his own lunatic suggestions. Kelly agreed that that could be a fun sketch, that it probably happens to people more often than not, and I could make a go of it.

So I did and it was funny. Very funny. So funny in fact that the man reading the CEO character was laughing too hard to get the lines out. This was a good sign for my writing and a vast improvement over last week. And then other people in the class were joining in with new ideas to heighten the comedy even more. Now I know why writers enjoy this form.

Here’s the learning: Take a cue from the very idea of brainstorming sessions and put every idea out there. I’ve suggested many ideas that fell flat once I put them out into the world. I’ve kept my suggestions to myself only to have someone else say the same exact idea and get a big laugh. And I’ve made some suggestions that don’t sound all that funny to me though once I get them out into the world, they go over well.

Comedy, more than any other art form I’ve experience, is a living, breathing entity. You know immediately whether or not it’s good because laughter, in the best possible case, is uncontrollable by our conscious minds. We have no idea if something is funny until we act it out for others and gauge their response. It requires that we ban together with other people to create something valuable; a good lesson to consider, with far deeper impact on our lives than just the act of writing sketch comedy.

Next week, we’re scheduled to present commercial parodies. With all of the good fodder out there on the airwaves now, the trouble will be deciding among dozens of choices which one will be most likely to get the biggest laughs.

books, love, New York, relationships

What does Dr. Helen Fischer have to say about love?

Christa Avampato

Good question! I’ll find out tonight at the taping of an ABC News Special that Barbara Walters and Dr. Helen Fischer are co-hosting with chemistry.com. The event will take place at Mansion, a new venue in Chelsea. 50 men / 50 women – all from similar backgrounds and looking for love. This sounded a touch wacky at first but the opportunity seems so intriguing that I couldn’t possibly let it pass by.

Dr. Fischer is an anthropologist at Rutgers University, and she studies the brain in love. I figure if she has made her life’s work to find out how and why people fall for one another, the least I can do is add myself as a data point to her research. In January, Barbara Walters will present an hour long ABC News Special on Dr. Fisher’s forthcoming book, WHY HIM? WHY HER? Understanding Your Personality Type and Finding Your Soul Mate.

Maybe I’ll find the love of my life, or even just get a few good dates out of the evening, and at the very least I’ll collect some good stories.

comedy, New York, writer, writing

Nothing Worse Than Silence

Christa Avampato

I started a Sketch Comedy Writing class knowing I’d be the least funny of the students. Part of my motivation was to meet writers, and I figured all of us could use a little more humor in our lives and in our writing. We write every week and then read our work out loud for everyone to hear. 


My first piece was too short and not at all as funny as I had hoped it would be. I got a few polite smiles, and maybe one line that got a true laugh. Otherwise, it fell flat. To be fair, the class is relatively quiet – I’m assured by our instructor that ALL sketch writing classes are quiet. But if that’s the case then I’m having a hard time understanding why he brings that fact to our attention several times per class. Every other sketch piece was far funnier than mine. 


Part of me just wanted to throw in the towel. And then I thought of my friend, Brooke, who has recently transitioned from stage acting to TV / film. She’s studied TV and film with conviction for nearly a year. And she goes to auditions not with the intention to book a job, but to improve, to feel that her investment of time in learning this new art form is worthwhile. Some people are naturally funny in that Saturday Night Live sort of way. I’m not — I’m going to have to work at it. And the good news is, well, I really have nowhere else to go but up. 


I’m in the middle of preparing my next piece – a character sketch. Time to dig out the memories of all those weirdos I’ve had the privilege to meet…they’re finally coming in handy.     

community, technology

Dancing Around the World

Christa Avampato

In graduate school, my friend, Eric, showed me a video of a guy named Matt who was making a living dancing around the world. I loved the video when I first saw it, and had tucked it away into the recesses of my brain. Just recently, the cobwebs were dusted off when I received a post on my Facebook account application, Fun Wall. My friend, Jules, sent it to me, and I passed it on to all my friends. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlfKdbWwruY.

“Where in the Hell is Matt” is a series of videos set to inspirational music that chronicle Matt’s own little dance around the world. There’s so much joy and community in this series of videos that they make you smile and reach for your passport. It just goes to show that individuals with passion and open-hearts can accomplish whatever they set their minds to.

To see all of Matt’s videos and learn more about him, visit http://www.wherethehellismatt.com/index.shtml

business, marketing, product

Waking the Dead – Reviving "Has-Been" Brands

Christa Avampato

In college, I had a boyfriend who loved Herbal Essence Shampoo. He wasn’t part of the target demographic, but he loved one of the scents so much that he just couldn’t imagine his morning shower without it. Despite this kind of following, every brand eventually grows old and stale if left untended. A.G. Lafley, CEO of P&G, says there are three routes for a dying brand: Abandon, Divest, or Re-invent. In the case of Herbal Essence, he chose the third option. I’m sure my former boyfriend is thrilled!

The P&G team didn’t perform any miraculous feats – they tightened up the demographic, modernized the packaging to stand out on the shelf and encourage the dual-purchase of shampoo and conditioner, and re-vamped the language with more current vocabulary and inuendos. This easy-to-understand process is allowing the fledgling brand to gain sales growth in the high single digits. Not bad, and certainly something not common in the current economy.

Process aside, I think A.G. Lafley is saying something much richer about product re-invention. It’s easy for product developers to fall in love with their product as is, for marketers to admire their own catchy phrasing and campaign themes so much that they can’t imagine anything more brilliant coming down the pike. For example, let’s consider the highly creative and relevant campaign by the Dove Brand – Campaign for Real Beauty. The simplicity and power of that statement resonated with a wide audience. That campaign has been around for a while, so much so that it’s beginning to become old news, especially in the wake of the touch-up work done on some of the campaign photographs. Those marketers need to be thinking about a re-invention now!

This is the trouble with brilliance that explains why we have so many one-hit wonders in this world. You have to let go of past successes as much as you have to let go of past failures in order to move forward. Product re-invention requires a constant, fervent belief that our best work is yet to be created. It requires that we push the envelope and challenge ourselves continuously. To take away that challenge and rest on our past success is to go the way of Sharper Image, Brim, and Tab.

For a look at the interactive case study on Herbal Essence’s re-invention, visit http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/jun2008/ca20080617_465490.htm

career, community, work

Working alone, together

Christa Avampato

With the ever rising cost of commuting and increased pressures on our time, more and more companies are open to team members spending one or more days per week at home. I’m very lucky to have this type of deal – whenever we have a half day at work, I work from home provided there isn’t some pressing reason that I must be in the office. I’ve often spent that time at home, alone, in my studio apartment in front of my laptop. 


Recently, I’ve found myself seeking outdoor areas, cafes, even the occasional bar (only after 12 noon of course) that lets me set up shop. At first, my motivation was that a new setting would inspire some creativity, would afford me a different outlook. Then, I chalked it up to craving the nice weather or air conditioning. After a conversation with my friend, Moya, I know what’s going on. I want to work independently, but I also want to feel some sense of community while I work. Luckily, I am not alone in this pursuit. 


Last week, the New York Times ran an article entitled “Working Alone in a Group”. It spelled out this situation of telecommuters – grateful for the opportunity to not have to commute to work, but wanting a space other than home to get their jobs done. Telecommuters want a little company, a wi-fi connection, and a comfy chair. They don’t want distractions. And they’re willing to pay a little for it. The article provides a website that allows you to search for co-working spaces by zip code. 


The article goes on to detail a couple of the key areas in the Bay Area that offer this type of space, and then notes that what it all comes down to is moderating the distraction level. I think there’s something more though – having other people around us, even if we interact with them minimally, drives our creative pursuits. We are social beings, and while we may enjoy some degree of solitude, we also need to balance that solitude with a sense of community. Give this idea a couple years, and we’ll see co-working spaces popping up in every neighborhood.  

career, innovation, work

Innovation is an investment, not a cost, not a luxury

Christa Avampato

In case no one else has told you, the sky is falling. According to an article in the New York Times today, we’re going to hell in a hand basket, at least for the time being. This puts people like me who work in the innovation field into a bit of a bind. I whole-heartedly support (actually vehemently encourage) employers to consider how and how much each member of a team adds value. I’ve seen too many companies burn money in the street because they’re uncomfortable with asking every team member to articulate how they add value. And companies are worse off for it.

What I do object to is the idea that areas such as innovation, product development, and research are luxuries. Prada shoes are a luxury. Gourmet meals at 5-star restaurants are luxuries. Innovation, product development, and research are a company’s lifeline to the future.

Paull Young from Converseon sent me a blog post yesterday that is so good, I have to pass it on. http://bankervision.typepad.com/bankervision/2008/06/innovation-is-a-luxury.html
In the post, James Gardner, who works in innovation at a UK bank, talks about the five ways that innovators within companies add value. And suggests that if we wants to preserve our place within our companies, we should develop each of these five areas: invention, influence, entrepreneurship, thought leadership, and sponsorship.

The trouble I see is that areas like innovation are viewed purely as a cost – a nice to have if you can get it for $0. Bad idea. Innovation is an investment. Over time, it generates cash flow and does wonders for getting the best and brightest minds to beat down your door to play a part. And with tough times ahead, that talent is the only way a company is going to save itself from going under.

Picture above can be found at: http://www.aqua-aerobic.com/images/aquaology_innovation.jpg