Thursday November 19th – Whenever I get to travel someplace I’ve never been I always try to capture my impressions of the place BEFORE I get there. So as I headed to Amsterdam I thought about what I know about Amsterdam and the Netherlands (or sometimes Holland and that’s odd in and of itself as I cannot think of too many countries that have two names besides Burma/Myanmar).
Let’s see – before I get on the plane – I recall that if one goes to Europe from the U.S. Amsterdam is a gateway to cheap airfares – but I don’t know why. They have canals that freeze sometimes in the winter and people skate around to work and play. Heineken and Amstel beer (I found out that the Amstel river is the primary river in Amsterdam – did not know that). Van Gogh museum. Anne Frank’s hideout house. The red light district. Coffee shops that are smoking lounges and cafés which serve food. It’s cold and rainy a lot. That would be about the sum total of my intimate knowledge of Amsterdam. How provincially American am I?
Tuesday November 24th – While I had intended (ok maybe pondered is better) on posting from Amsterdam, it just didn’t happen. We were having too good a time. Yes we went to the Van Gogh (they pronounce it Van Huff) museum, the Rijksmuseum, did the canal cruise, the visit to the Heineken brewery (complete with 3 samples!), and Anne Frank’s hideout which was in her father’s office. We also went to the red light district which was actually a bit pathetic. We walked by large picture windows in the red light district each having a lingerie-clad working girl on display one looking more bored and morose than the next. The coffee shops were not nearly as plentiful as I imagined but the scent emanating from them was unmistakable. Oh and it was cold and it rained every day but one out of 3 ½ that we were there.
Like most cities that I have recently visited in Europe the international flavor of the city comes through quite notably. Many different languages were heard with visitors prominently from the U.K., France, Belgium and Germany. Apparently many Europeans think Amsterdam is fun for a weekend. And what a ‘biking’ city. I have never seen so many beat up bicycles (even those get stolen I was told) with people from 6 to 76 riding them around at high speeds, riding in all kinds of weather, ringing their little bells just as they swerve to avoid unknowing pedestrians (like me).
Amsterdam (also like most cities I have visited in Europe recently) is expensive. Not only because of the U.S. dollar’s slide vs. the Euro. We went into a grocery store and saw that basic staples are substantially more expensive than in the U.S. .. Perhaps people get paid a bit more but I think they also live in much simpler quarters so that their income is spent more on consumables than rent or mortgage payments. Things we forget about here in the land of plenty and cheap.
So maybe you are skeptical that content matters? Here’s food for thought. According to Broadpoint AmTech analyst Ben Schachter Activision’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 had already sold over 1.2 million copies the first day of release in the U.K. alone. 
I got 7 ½ hours last night and almost always get from 7-8 hours of sleep nightly. I have been thinking about how people sleep today versus throughout human history. Full disclosure – one of our clients Tempur-Pedic is a highly successful manufacturer of mattresses but they know nothing (and are not the least bit concerned) of my blog posts. 
In my small town we have two food/multi-purpose markets in the town center. One is a nationally recognized chain owned by a large public company. The other is a local grocery called the Village market that has been in existence for more than 70 years. Both offer different value propositions and I shop at both for different reasons. 
As an early adopter (November 2007) of the Kindle I have been a rather ardent fan of what could now be considered the forerunner of e-readers. I recently downloaded several titles that I wanted to read. I opened my Kindle the other night to see some odd horizontal lines across the entire screen yet the device was in the off position. After charging and recharging with no change in the display it was obvious that the flame had gone out on my Kindle. 
Yell loud enough and people will hear you. That premise has enveloped television direct response ads for many years. Billy Mays was a prime example of an affable yeller. At the recent Direct Marketing Association conference I came away with a sense that maybe, just maybe the days of shouting out a promotional message are coming to an end. I hope that is the case. 
In a report, titled “Mobile Devices Market Sizing and Share,” market research firm ABI says that more than 171 million smart phones were shipped in 2008 compared to 116 million shipped in 2007. The report says that smart phones accounted for 14 percent of all cell phones shipped in 2008. ABI noted that the sales are expected to grow 18% to 203 million 2009 as operators seek to sell lure users with aggressive strategies. Strategy Analytics estimates that smart phone shipments will total 177.2 million in 2009. Juniper Research forecasts that annual sales of smart phones will rise by some 95 percent to more than 300 million between now and 2013. The report says that by 2013 at least 23 percent of all new mobile phones will actually be smart phones. 
As I sit in the San Diego Airport waiting to go home I have just spent three nice days in one of America’s nicest cities. I have attended my 22nd DMA conference. This membership organization that began as the Direct Mail Association became the Direct Mail Marketing Association (DMMA) then and now the DMA.
