| Sam Young Newsletter |
Issue 142, January 2008
Hi guys,
Replacing 'Go Large' for Mini Me. A marketing trend out of the US & poised to go global below.
For working online, try out Zoho Office. Free, easy to use & all you need is an internet connection.
Don't forget, if you want to be taken off my mailing list, click here to send me a reply e-mail and I will remove your name.
| Mini Me |
The New York Times recently reported some on a new food & beverage trend, which looks set to take off internationally.
In just three years, sales of 100 calorie packs of crackers, crisps, biscuits and lollies passed the USD $200 million per annum mark, with sales growing nearly 30 percent in 2006.
According to analysts, the market for these pint size packages could easily double because of their simple appeal: they help consumers eat less without having to count calories themselves. The growing popularity of these snack-sized packs may also be another sign that some consumers have had their fill of super-sized packages.
The NY Times went on to relate that 29 percent of Americans, according to a report from the Hartman Group, believed that 100-calorie packages were worth the extra cost. Manufacturers charge about 20 percent more for the small packages than larger packages, so the small ones are more profitable to produce.
Of course, smaller portions don't make junk food good for you. Pringles advertise their - mostly reconstituted dried potatoes and oil - Pringles Original 100 Calorie Packs with a cheery label saying "Counting calories? Count with Pringles!". And, while portion control can help dieters, Procter & Gamble deserves the American Landfill Association's 2005 Over-packaging Award for selling Pringles in a box stuffed with six (overpriced) plastic tubs.
Nabisco is also marketing 100 calorie packs, of Thin Crisps, Ritz Snack Mix, Wheat Thins Minis and Fruit Snacks. Most of the former are largely white flour, except for the Fruit Snacks, which are largely sugar. Sure, they're all low in fat, and the Thin Crisps are less fatty than original Chips Ahoys or Oreos, but they're not exactly going to give you your five plus fruit & veg a day.
And what's wrong with an apple (45 calories), a banana (90 calories) or a nectarine (45 calories)?
Now some manufacturers are targeting more diet-conscious consumers, with Hershey selling 60 calorie chocolate bars, and Jell-O selling 60 calorie puddings.
However, here in Nelson, our manufacturers are taking more of an organic and heart tick approach to the single serve market. The Tasman Bay Food Group (http://www.futurefoods.co.nz/index.htm) produces heart tick snack foods and drinks to sell into schools. Eat Right Foods (http://www.eatright.co.nz/) also produce individual biscuits in packs, with low fat, low sugar and often gluten-free.
And for those of you who have had to wait in the interminable lines at the supermarket recently (due to increased holiday traffic), you will have finally noticed the stands containing the tiny bottles of mouthwash, a couple of pain killers, a few cotton buds etc, ideal for the traveller on the go - and anyone who has to clear airport security.
It looks like 'mini me' will be a trend to watch.
| Zoho Office |
Have you heard about Zoho?
Zoho is a tiny company who specialises in online office applications, and is considered by Jason Hiner, Executive Editor of CNET Network Business' Magazine TechRepublic as "best-of-breed in online office apps".
Zoho has been outstripping Microsoft and Google by building online applications that deliver full functionality and take advantage of the power of the Web. There are over 15 applications in the Zoho stable, including:
- Zoho Writer (word processing)
- Zoho Sheet (spreadsheet)
- Zoho Show (like MS PowerPoint, online presentation tool)
- Zoho Projects (like MS Project)
- Zoho CRM (Customer Relationship Management)
- Zoho Planner (online organiser)
- Zoho Notebook (Online note taker)
- Zoho Meeting (Web Conferencing)
- Zoho Creator (to create database applications)
- Zoho Viewer (to share docs online)
Zoho faces the same three challenges as other companies pushing online applications; those of offline capability, security, and business model. However, Zoho has created a really great product which is improving at a faster pace than Google or Microsoft.
Watch this space at http://www.zoho.com/!
| New Outlook Contact Tip |
Debbie Mayo-Smith (http://www.successis.co.nz/) emailed a very useful Outlook tip in November, which I thought I would share with you.
Most of you will be familiar with using the drag & drop function within Outlook to move emails from folder to folder. What you can also do is to drag & drop an email from a new contact and drop it into your Contacts folder to create a new contact item.
Outlook automatically creates a new Contact, filling the user name and email. The body of the email shows in the Notes field.
You can then cut or copy and paste the address footer information from Notes into the relevant contact fields (and delete the original email body from the Notes if you want to once you are done).
Easy as!
Easy as!
| TLAs for SMEs |
Here are this newsletter's TLAs for you:
- CTC, Click-to-call, also called click-for-talk or click-to-dial, is a technology that converts Web traffic into voice telephone connections using VoIP (Voice over IP). A true CTC service offers immediate voice connectivity in real time.
Please feel free to email me with any TLAs that you want to get the bottom (meaning!) of.
| Tips, Short+Hot Keys |
Over the next few newsletters, we are going to look at all you can do with Alt and numbers. This time it's 4 and 5:
- PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, Word "Delete the selected folder or file (Delete button )" Alt & 4
- Access "Delete the selected folder or file; use within the Open, File New Database and Export dialog boxes" Alt & 4
- PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, Word "Create a new subfolder in the open folder (Create New Folder button )" Alt & 5
- Access "Create a new subfolder in the open folder; use within the Open, File New Database and Export dialog boxes" Alt & 5
- Word "Select an entire table; use when working within an existing table in a Word document" Alt & 5 NUM (Num Lock Off)
| Hot Linx |
A new media company bringing news to your PC, live and streaming via broadband, is http://www.livestation.com/. This service is only available online
For recyclables such as cardboard, electronics, wood or if you have something to recycle, Terranova runs a website swapsie. Tasman's recyclables are at http://www.terranova.org.nz/terranova/tasman-district/
Trust me, I'm a robot... check out this 2006 article on the Economist's website. Very interesting. http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=7001829
To keep in touch with your business networks, or for CRM updates, then http://www.linkedin.com/ is a very handy site which has taken off in 2007
Catch you again soon!! E-mail your suggestions to me here
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