The Petrie Dish

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Every week there are articles published that are of interest to promotional products industry professionals across the land. To save you time, I have culled the internet for the ones you should read and the ones you should skip.

How to Curate Content and Grow Your Online Following – “Must Read” Article of the Week

More and more, online presence is becoming a key indicator of not only influence, but success. This article shares some content curation strategies to share with your target audience. Following a deceptively simple process of “discover, read, share,” the author shares key tips how on how to discover relevant content fast. While this is a somewhat lengthy article, for those who are vexed by the thought of finding content to share with their target audience, this is as close to a must read as possible.

Shakeup at American Apparel: Schneider to Exit

Much like rats leaving a sinking ship, executives are sprinting for the door at American Apparel. First, former Liz Claiborne chief parted ways with the board and now CEO Paula Schneider will step down from her position effective October 3, 2016. As the company pursues a potential sale, her resignation letter was quite damning to the process stating, in part, “the sale process currently underway for all or part of the company may not enable us to pursue the course of action necessary for the plan to succeed nor allow the brand to stay true to its ideals.” The turmoil started by the expulsion of founder Dov Charney continues and the instability of the company seems to have become part of its brand.

Pantone’s Top 10 Spring 2017 Colors Counts on New York Fashion Week for Inspiration

While I both understand and respect the role Pantone plays in our industry, this type of article always gives me tired head. For those of you unfamiliar, the well-intentioned people at Pantone essentially track which colors show up most often during Fashion Week in New York, NY and decide which colors people outside of the town so twice they named it twice get to wear over the next year. In 2017, prepare to get giddy for Primrose Yellow (13-0755), Pale Dogwood (13-1404), and my personal favorite, Lapis Blue (19-4045).

Harley-Davidson Suing Forever 21

Trademark infringement alert! It seems that the designers at Forever 21 like the Harley-Davidson logo as much as my former neighbor in Chicago who seemed only to wear apparel emblazoned with the loved motorcycle brand. In fact, Forever 21 likes it so much they completely knocked it off for a motorcycled jacket sold in their stores. Frankly, it’s as open and shut as these cases can be as it’s clear that the Harley-Davidson logo was the direct inspiration for the jacket decoration. Harley-Davidson takes their brand seriously, as Forever 21 is about to find out. 

Nova Scotia Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) spend $34K on Promotional Kitsch in 2 Years – “Don’t Waste Your Time Reading” Article of the Week

This is the type of headline that brings out my promotional anger. While the article goes on to explain that using promotional products (not kitsch) is both legal and effective, the headline leads the reader to believe otherwise. Shame on you, Canadian writer Jean Laroche from CBC! Next time, let’s try a headline that’s a little less sensationalistic and more accurate to the tone of the story.