|
“Our fast society is
only getting faster, putting inordinate demands on
our time and prompting the people and companies that
service our lives to come up with ways to help us
reclaim some of it.” (USAToday 1/28) “Most
marketing efforts today focus on simplifying your
life and giving you back time,” says a professor of
marketing.
TIME:
Associations would be wise to accelerate efforts to
accommodate time-pressed members and volunteers.
Read on…
“The problem is time.
There just isn’t enough time. Men won’t spend a
whole day away from their family anymore” (NYTimes
2/21). He’s talking about playing golf. The
number of golfers has dropped from 30 million to 26
million since 2000 according to the National Golf
Foundation and the Sporting Goods
Manufacturers Association.
TIME: Your
members are extremely busy. Their calendars are
packed and their schedules are full. Read on…
Americans do not take
438 million vacation days a year; instead they work
3 of the 14 vacation days the average American gets
(ABCNews 3/18). And 60% check work email
while on vacation. In France, the government
mandates 31 days of vacation plus approximately 7
holidays.
TIME: If
people are too time-pressed to take vacation, what
are the odds of getting them to volunteer and
participate in associations?
Tips on overcoming a
crisis, from the chief executive of Toshiba after
losing a long battle with Blu-ray over the new DVD
format (WSJ 3/3):
1.
Keep in mind
that business without risk is business without
growth.
2.
Act quickly
and decisively. Delay makes things worse, not
better.
3.
Be resilient
and continue to innovate. Success is not forever,
nor is failure.
22,000 non-profit
organizations have signed up with MySpace since 2004
(USAToday 3/13). “More young people are
engaged in activism online and their creativity in
using the Internet to do good works is ‘off the
charts,’” according to MySpace’s EVP for Marketing.
WHEN: Are
associations going to realize the potential (and
threat) of social networks?
The travel industry is
capitalizing on blogs for promotion and branding (NYTimes
1/29). J.W. Marriott Jr.’s blog, Marriott on
the Move, has attracted 345,000 visitors in the last
year with 4 or 5 posts per month. By the way, 28%
of Americans read blogs monthly (Associations Now
1/2008)
BLOGS: Another
Web 2.0 opportunity for associations.
When a study showed
that Vytorin, an expensive drug combination for
cholesterol, worked no better than much less
expensive Zocor, the American Heart Association
released a statement critical of the study and
advised patients not to stop taking Vytorin without
consulting their doctor (NYTimes 1/24). What
they failed to say is that its joint venture maker,
Merck/Schering-Plough, gives the group nearly $2
million a year.
COMMENT:
Disclose. The association’s integrity is at stake.
The percentage of
college students taking at least one course online
has increased from 10% in 2002 to 20% in 2006 (USAToday
3/11).
COMMENT:
Online education has failed to come even close to
expectations. Will it ever?
China consumes roughly
63 billion pairs of disposable wooden chopsticks a
year, drawing an attack from environmentalists (WSJ
2/8). The Wooden Chopsticks Trade
Association is fighting back, claiming
chopsticks are made from fast-growing woods that are
not endangered and citing the industry’s employment
of over 100,000 people.
COMMENT:
Associations Advance China?
|
