Archive for the ‘Random’ Category
Just Awesome Marketing by Nintendo!
Hands down – another great marketing move by Nintendo for the Wii! It would be fantastic to see just a fraction of this creativity in the real estate market.
It’s Better To Do It Yourself
Beijing Olympics – what a fantastic and monumental event it was. I haven’t been so glued to the Olympics since The 1996 Altanta Olympics while witnessing Donovan Bailey and Michael Johnson breaking world records and Kerri Strug’s heroic vault moment. It almost feels awkward these days not being able to turn on CBC, NBC or watching the CBC live stream to watch the Olympics. Guess I’ll have to wait another 4 years … oh well too bad.
I’m not sure if you feel the same way but aren’t you curious to try out some of the sports you rarely have the opportunity to? I’ll skip weightlifting (Video clip - *graphic* ouch! Hope he’s doing alright!), fencing and equestrian, but how about water polo, handball and pole vault? Of course, accidents can happen in these sports as well (example) but for the most part it seems worth a try or two. Well enough of the Olympics for now until 2010 and back to working hard and growing the business!
Beijing Olympics 2008
Recently, I just listed a home for sale in Scarborough. Although the majority of my time is spent on condominiums in the city’s downtown core, I love listing homes as it’s like getting … some fresh air. You work with different demographics, it can be more challenging to sell and you get to advertise yourself on the lawn – great stuff!
Anyway, long story short … my company provides their sales agents with free for sale signs for the duration of the listing and all we need to do is attach our rider. A sign rider is a board printed with your contact information that you attach to the top or bottom of the for sale sign. I need to order a few riders so I enter a real estate signs store. A gentleman serves me, answers all my questions and then takes my order. Absolutely a pleasure to speak with. I provide the information that I want to appear on the rider and he tells me a proof will be emailed to me for approval before it heads to the printer. It’s standard procedure. Excellent. A few days later I receive the proof in my inbox. When I opened the attachment I was in disbelief. Nope it wasn’t a virus, but a horrendous looking thing! Here it is …
Their Rider
Honestly, who in their right mind will attach this to their for sale sign? Have clients approved of this design/template before? It’s clearly looks unprofessional and needs a major makeover. I understand I’m not paying a lot of money for the sign riders but I’ve seen this shop do some fancy things for other real estate agents so I’m expecting at least a half-decent job that 10 minutes can produce (more on this below). I’m just very shocked they sent this to me. Actually it’s more like I’m shocked with laughter. I’m guessing their main designer was already on vacation. No hard feelings though.
So it was time to take matters into my own hands! I put on my superhero cape and stretched my fingers.
10 minutes later on Photoshop … ta da …
My Rider
It’s not the most fantastic piece of work, but I’m sending this off to the printers! Not bad right?
I had also asked for another sign rider to be done. The rider is to display the website address for the property a.k.a. single property websites. Here’s the sign:
Single Property Website Rider
I was fine with the white print on the bright red substrate but I dispise the font and the spacing. Seriously, am I just too nitpicky? 
It seems that I can’t work with any templates offered by companies. From postcards, websites and now sign riders, I recreate the wheel for everything! Bad business decision or good business decision?
Anyway I’m off to giving a makeover for this single property website rider!
Have a safe and fantastic long weekend!
Random Thought
It’s fascinating to see how people perform under pressure.
It’s truly amazing and inspiring to witness the athletes perform at The Olympics.
