Before the show, fans were lined-up in the lobby, waiting to trade their tickets for wrist bands. Some fans hoped to snag some of the freebies on the tables outside the exhibit hall.
At opening time, when the clock struck 10, the show was still waking up. The check-in line had become blessedly short, some of the vendors were still stocking their racks, and some of the artists hadn’t yet arrived. “Artist Alley” saw the artists (“comic guests“) chatting with the early-arrivers, and some of the media guests didn’t even have lines yet.
I enjoyed reading about the Northwest Pinball & Arcade Show, and not just a because of my interest in retro technology. I was particularly intrigued by a company listed in the Show Sponsors section. When I saw the logo for PinballBulbs, the lightbulb above my own head lit-up. I was reminded of the rallying cry for sales and marketing people to Find a need and fill it.
Seriously? A company that exists to sell lightbulbs for pinball machines? A bit of investigation confirmed that they specialize in lights and lighting upgrades for pinball machines!
Sharing What You Know
Light bulbs for pinball machines? That’s an awfully narrow niche, but apparently there’s a need for them. I suspect the proprietors didn’t start with a brainstorming session and end up with an inspiration to sell a very specific product into a very specialized market. They were probably already involved with pinball machines and saw the need to replace or upgrade the many light bulbs they contain.
It used to be that if you needed a security system at home or at the office, you’d call an alarm company.
They would provide the full package:
Provide and install a security system, complete with a console and sensors and the wires that connected everything
Monitor the system from their office, and notify the police or fire department if something bad happened
You would enable and disable the system using a key or keypad on the console, but the alarm company took care of the rest
That model served a lot of people for several decades, and there is no shortage of companies offering that kind of service today. (In some markets, you’ll encounter ads for security systems several times daily on radio, TV, and other media.)
When is the last time you watched a TV commercial more than once. On purpose.
While I was skipping past commercials during a program I’d recorded, one ad caught my eye. I actually skipped back to watch this “Holiday Surprise” commercial from Kohl’s. I was touched, and checked-out the #ShowKindnesshashtag shown at the end of the video.
It hit a chord with me and I checked if the video was on YouTube. Clearly it resonated with many other people, since it had been watched hundreds of thousands of times. After watching it a couple more times, I shared it across several social media sites, like this post on Twitter:
United States Postal Service “forever” stamp featuring Rosa Parks
Most people appreciated when the United States Postal Service started marketing the “priceless” Forever Stamp in 1997. This was a great “do the right thing” moment, tacitly acknowledging that if you don’t use a stamp for a year or five, the Postal Service has still had the use of your money for that time and shouldn’t charge you extra to use it. It seems only fair that a First Class stamp should always cover the postage for a First Class letter.
The compromise was that the Forever stamp was usually pretty generic, such as the American flag stamp. If you wanted a commemorative stamp (such as a Christmas stamp, or one that featured someone important to American culture, such as Rosa Parks), it was going to depreciate like any other stamp.
I was particularly intrigued by a company listed in the Show Sponsors section. When I saw the logo for 
While I was skipping past commercials during a program I’d recorded, one ad caught my eye. I actually skipped back to watch this “Holiday Surprise” commercial from 
