In celebration of PacMan’s 30^th anniversary, Google decided to do a PacMan doodle that was interactive as well as playable. The “I’m Feeling Lucky” button was replaced with an “Insert Coin” button, and if you pressed it twice, you can have Ms. PacMan join in the game. This was a first for Google, and by looking at the source code, the game was not developed  in an interactive application platform such as Adobe’s Flash, but rather using straightforward CSS, Javascript and clever HTML coding.  Flash does play a role in  producing the sound for the game, which also makes it the first time ever that Flash has been on the Google Homepage.

Check it out while you can, it will disappear by tomorrow. Happy Gaming!

Throughout life we have tough decisions to make and we can only partially evaluate their success, even in hindsight. Why? Because the variables that circle each decision are infinite in number.  Running a business is like reading a good mystery novel with the last few pages missing. We do what we can to figure things out on the way, working hard to achieve the best results possible.

Six years ago we took a new business approach at Palmer. We stopped taking the order for the most part and started to discover more about our clients and let that knowledge drive the marketing we deliver. In our case, it has led to deeper relationships with our customers, better overall results and has given us a more sustainable business model.

Everywhere I turn customers are sharing with me that they are up against a “price is everything” environment. People are switching for pennies and loyalty isn’t what it used to be. They point to the economy, the change in decision makers, and the ease of access to competitive information through the web. This mix of variables has changed the game we’re all in dramatically. We need to reset our thinking and restart our engines to take us from “how business was done” to “how business is done”.

There have been a few times I’ve jumped from the frying pan into the fire at first, only to have it turn into very positive experiences.  Like creating a good design, if you change one element you always have to follow that change with further moves to rebalance the big picture. I believe this to be a universal truth.

 If you are in the process of making changes, trust your instincts, proceed with caution and pay attention to the new signs on your journey. There’s bound to be twists and turns you aren’t expecting but that doesn’t mean you’re on the wrong road, just a new one. From my experience, not making moves is a much more dangerous position to take.

Out little marketing and advertising blog that’s growing is going to get a slight change in look over the next coming week. We’ve been developing in house a new WordPress template that is just a bit more graphically rich than our current version. I’ve also been inactive on the blog posts, so expect a new one from me by the end of tomorrow.