Sonia

I came across an article in the St. Louis Business Journal about a successful retired entrepreneur, Steve Blanks, who was open sourcing his knowledge as an entrepreneur. Blanks has taught this information in classes at Stanford, Berkeley, Columbia, and Caltech. An interesting concept. We see open source working with technology, but knowledge is usually a…

Sunset Transportation Receives Industry Recognition, Sees Double-Digit Expansion Despite Struggling Economy In a tough economy, news stories are dominated by companies downsizing. That’s why it’s exciting when you hear about a business—like Sunset Transportation—doing exactly the opposite. It’s even more fun when you get to be a part of that company’s expansion and growth. For…

When NeuConcept was approached by the Disability Research and Dissemination Center (DRDC) to help develop its branding, website and marketing, it was a great opportunity to positively impact people’s lives. DRDC funds promising research endeavors in the areas of blood disorders, human development, birth defects and disabilities. We worked with the DRDC to develop branding…

How the Right Information Can Benefit an Entire Industry It’s crucial to get the right information to the right audience at the right time. So often your audience might not know about the great work your company is doing. The Industry Data Exchange Association (IDEA) is making tremendous strides in eBusiness for the electrical industry.…

We have to admit we feel pretty cool. The NeuConcept team was pretty well represented on a recent “Top users” on Linkedin. Brett made the Top 10 most viewed profiles and I (Sonia) made the Top 5! Connect with us on Linkedin or our other social media (Facebook, Twitter).

When I came across this slider graphic for Bank of America, I had to post it and make a comment. If this graphic were true, then when we age, our faces get more dirty? I realize that aging someone effectively is difficult for even Hollywood, but these Photoshop efforts are almost giggle-worthy. I think we…

I was browsing the news today and saw a headline that the South Park creators are creating their own studio. Most of it was run of the mill Hollywood jabber, but a quote by the comedy duo stood out. They took a typical PR quote and made it tongue and cheek. It’s a great example…

I heard a piece of wisdom today from a client—and I wanted to share it. We were discussing the branding we’re developing for this new research center, and I was asking about her specific preferences. She gave me some basic guidance and then said, “I’ve worked with a lot talented people over the years. I…

I’ve always enjoyed a challenge. Recently, we were issued the challenge to concisely debunk some myths and illustrate them as well. Standardized, automated product data is key to marketing, especially powering ecommerce sites. But sourcing that data directly from manufacturers to distributors is a technical and sometimes bumpy road, full of techie terms and hard…

From the first time we heard Matt Mullenweg (the WordPress founder) speak about his company’s philosophy of getting the best talent around the world without having to be in a central location, we were intrigued. In fact, I would love to write a book about it. Matt has selected a global team that mostly works…

I had the opportunity to write an article about Tim Powers, chairman and CEO of Hubbell, Inc., for NEMA’s ei Magazine recently about for their Personalities, Profiles and Progress in the Industry section. I had a front row seat nearly a decade ago when Tim helped drive the electrical industry’s eBusiness efforts when I was…

One of our clients, Sunset Transportation, was named on the prestigious Inc. 500|5000 list of America’s Fastest Growing Companies last week for the first time. Sunset has achieved a three-year growth of 102 percent, which a big accomplishment in a good economy, but an even bigger testament in 2012 because it demonstrates that Sunset has…

Last week, we tried out Google Chrome’s Speech Recognition feature to see how it performed. We thought it was decent, but not capable of lengthy sentences. It also made some funny mistakes! We just received our new Apple Macbook Pro with Retina Display. It comes with Apple’s OS X Mountain Lion, which includes built in…

When I see a company doing something right, I always want to write about it. Of course, it’s pretty fun to write about those who get it wrong too! But I’ll save that for another post 🙂 My Experience I recently experienced excellent customer service from Brabantia, who makes our cool and beautiful Touch Bin.…

I’m excited to announce a new 4-part podcast series that I moderated is being introduced on IDEA’s website and through NEMAcast. I’ve had the good fortune to interview and interact with several E-Biz leaders in the electrical industry for this podcast (an article was also published in NEMA’s ei Magazine). The companies I spoke with,…

We often hear from company leaders asking how and why their company should use social media in their business. With employee recruitment and turnover costs reaching beyond $3000 on average (according to the Wall Street Journal), recruiting talented employees through social media is a no-brainer. In fact, we’ve been saddened that so many companies have…

I was researching social media trends the other day. The most interesting thing I read was about 24,000 people donating $541,000 to send a bullied bus monitor grandma in NY on vacation. We’ve all seen viral videos and enjoyed many of them, like the dog talking and the baby laughing. But most of those videos…

I cleaned my desk this week. Actually, I should say I cleaned my office because I left no surface unturned, including my digital desktop. Other than gaining some mental relief, I also read a lot. Interesting articles. Notes I had jotted down. Letters from friends. Magazines… you know the little things you keep because something…