I took a three-year hiatus from running. I ran once in a while to feel like (and tell myself that I was) a runner but that was about it. Now I'm getting ready to run with a group of 5 people to push our friend Pino in a wheelchair for the Bavisela half marathon on May 4th. We practiced with him yesterday and I could tell he was thinking "Why the slow ones?" But he was a good sport anyway.
I am not feeling very in shape. I have done a couple of 10 milers but they were slow and torturous. Here's what got me to keep going, though. My friend Noel. He rode his bike from Wisconsin to China . That's what I think about when I am ready to whine about a couple of hours of running.
No biggy.
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Don't say it's new if it's not
Hello from the Bologna Children's Book fair. It's been an exciting couple of days. As far as fair venues it has a two big pros. Natural light, and books.
I have been to a bunch of fairs since I've lived in Italy and I want to take this moment to give some advice to those interested in promoting their product, brand, and what have you, especially if you are doing it in Europe.
Find something that works, then tweak it but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't (rince and) repeat every year. Worse than that, please don't tell us you are doing something new if you are not.
I understand why people do it. It's cheaper to do the investment once and then use it again the next year, but, again, a fair is the venue for showing what you've got that's NEW.
Just had to get that off my chest.
Some time has passed since I started this post, but I forgot to publish it and I'm hoping it will inspire me to write some other things I've been thinking about.
Here is why I started it:
1. Italian Advertising is all about spending a lot of money ONCE and then using the ad campaign FOREVER. So old. So boring. So annoying. Especially underwear ads in the dead of winter. The same girls that made me shiver last year and the year before by just looking at them at the bus stop made me shiver again this year.
2. Trenitalia uses the same "new" train (do they even paint it?) every year at the Innotrans fair in Berlin (I only had to see it once, luckily but rode on one just like it before and since).
3. Even in Trieste, the same 100-year-old "shark" is on display every year (It's now made more of paper maché and painted with tempera or something. Doesn't even resemble a shark anymore) as the "novità " when they open the discovery museums downtown as if it was just fished out last week. Not scarey at all! Just dusty!
Do people think we don't notice? Change pictures in your catalogues, people! Freshen it up! There's nothing worse than paying a lot for advertising space and looking cheap anyway.
Ok. Rant over.
I have been to a bunch of fairs since I've lived in Italy and I want to take this moment to give some advice to those interested in promoting their product, brand, and what have you, especially if you are doing it in Europe.
Find something that works, then tweak it but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't (rince and) repeat every year. Worse than that, please don't tell us you are doing something new if you are not.
I understand why people do it. It's cheaper to do the investment once and then use it again the next year, but, again, a fair is the venue for showing what you've got that's NEW.
Just had to get that off my chest.
Some time has passed since I started this post, but I forgot to publish it and I'm hoping it will inspire me to write some other things I've been thinking about.
Here is why I started it:
1. Italian Advertising is all about spending a lot of money ONCE and then using the ad campaign FOREVER. So old. So boring. So annoying. Especially underwear ads in the dead of winter. The same girls that made me shiver last year and the year before by just looking at them at the bus stop made me shiver again this year.
2. Trenitalia uses the same "new" train (do they even paint it?) every year at the Innotrans fair in Berlin (I only had to see it once, luckily but rode on one just like it before and since).
3. Even in Trieste, the same 100-year-old "shark" is on display every year (It's now made more of paper maché and painted with tempera or something. Doesn't even resemble a shark anymore) as the "novità " when they open the discovery museums downtown as if it was just fished out last week. Not scarey at all! Just dusty!
Do people think we don't notice? Change pictures in your catalogues, people! Freshen it up! There's nothing worse than paying a lot for advertising space and looking cheap anyway.
Ok. Rant over.
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