Recent Posts

• Apple leaves industry rivals in the dust on customer satisfaction ---

  It will be interesting to see if Jerry Seinfeld will help Microsoft’s new $300 million “Windows, Not Walls” ad campaign when it launches Sept. 4. Seinfeld is expected to snag $10 million to be Microsoft’s new celebrity pitchman.
  Microsoft is indeed having major problems. In this week’s latest report of the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), […]

• Salt Lake City leads Nielsen markets for Olympics viewing ---

  With the second half of the Olympics at full speed, Salt Lake City leads major markets in ratings for the games. Variety reports that by market, the top scores have come in Salt Lake City (24.7/48), Minneapolis and Denver (both 24.5/45), Michael Phelps’ hometown of Baltimore (23.5/39) and San Diego (23.3/44). (Keep in mind the […]

• Sampling world-class cheeses at Caputo’s: A starting list ---

  Recently, The Selective Echo featured the new cheese cave at Tony Caputo’s Market and Deli. Now, refreshed from his most recent overseas trip, Matt Caputo, the store’s director of marketing, shares some of his current favorites, all of which are available at the store and most of which are being gracefully aged in the new […]

• Making brands recession proof ---

  Periodically on this blog, I’ve discussed branding, the economics of a recession, and customer choice and loyalty, among other topics. Those close to me know that I have never accepted Starbucks’ explanation for its woes being related to the recession. After all, to use just a handful of local examples, businesses like Caffe d’bolla, Tony […]

• Utah’s ‘psychological recession’: Despite housing construction downturn, state continues to add jobs ---

  The severe nationwide downturn in housing construction is now wreaking its damage on Utah’s employment picture as the state’s job growth rate is now just 0.6 percent.
  Although the state’s 3.5 percent unemployment rate and its total job growth still outdo national averages, the loss of residential construction jobs has now rooted itself in Utah. Noting […]