A Path to Success

How to get theatrical rights to Obama's upcoming documentary

You may have heard that Ed Norton's film studio has sold the rights to the Obama campaign documentary for over 7 figures to HBO.

I volunteer for Democrats Abroad, and we'd like to get the rights to screen the documentary in Toronto, and potentially abroad. Look at the interesting interconnections below behind the documentary. Control-click on each bubble to center the connections around who is involved. Does anyone know whether these people are Canadian, even remotely? Let me know if you do.

What to do about Detroit -- a slightly different angle

A comment on Seth Godin's blog entry on what to do about Detroit...

I think the reverse will probably happen - GM and Chrysler will merge and weather the storm against the Japanese and European car makers. There is tons of innovation already in the marketplace -- the problem really is that people aren't willing to pay premiums any more for crappy product. Splitting up into hundreds of brands will only confuse an already confused market place.

You don't get innovation for free -- Blueray players are still $299 a pop, although they were thousands of dollars a few years ago.

The dealer part of Seth's argument, though, is bang on -- you should be able to chip away quite a bit of the hassle of buying a car by shopping online, getting a great deal and then picking up your vehicle at a local lot, AutoShare style. Financing should be doable this way too. There are too many middle men in the car industry, and it's about time it became disintermediated piece by piece.

The Detroit car makers could do themselves a favour by revolutionizing their sales channels. That could do wonders for the price of cars.

One approach to making this happen is to split the R&D and Sales/Marketing functions of the companies.

Leave R&D from GM, Chrysler and Ford as separate companies, and create 1 corresponding sales/marketing organization that sells cars in a modern way on behalf of all the car companies. I bet if you chopped off the sales/marketing side of the big 3 you'd find that they'd be cash flow positive all of the sudden. This is the dirty little secret of the Big 3 -- it's not about how much the line workers make -- it's about how awful the sales and marketing strategies haven't evolved since the Model T.

UPDATE: Lewis Green offers this little liability tidbit to consider. Obviously this has to be thought through before dealers start being cut off at the knees. I think natural evolution will make the dealers close on their own without forcing them to be shut down.

"General Motors, for example, currently manufactures and markets automobiles under eight brands in the U.S., including Chevrolet, Saturn, Pontiac, and Buick, in a market where few customers perceive any significant difference among them. When the company did shut down one under-performing and duplicative brand (Oldsmobile) in 2004, it had to pay dealerships over $1 billion in "financial assistance" to avoid lawsuits, and four years later, it is still embroiled in litigation from former Oldsmobile dealers who declined to accept assistance or settle their claims. Their antiquated dealership structures also prevent the Big Three from instituting modern and more flexible inventory-management practices and selling cars over the Internet."

From Martin Obern - "Not My Dog" event - FREE

Hi everyone,

Need a quick fix to beat the Decembuary blahs?  I invite you to join me at the "Not My Dog," one of those small funky clubs that you've read about located smack in the naughty part of Queen Street West in Toronto - November 30th at 9:00 p.m..

We have a special treat, Canadian Singer/songwriter Stella Rose will be performing a live acoustic set of some of her material from her forthcoming CD.

Haven't heard of Stella Rose? You soon will. Her fan base includes über iconic Canadian songwriter, Ron Sexsmith, who's own fan base includes Chris Martin of Coldplay and two old blokes called Elton John and Sir Paul McCartney. In addition, BBC Radio in the U.K. reviewing Stella, stated: "Wow - Her voice is incredibly strong - unbelievable!!".

If your musical tastes include roots-rock in the style of Neil Young/ Tom Petty, flavoured with a pinch of country, delivered with a powerful, unique vocal style, you're in for a great evening.

In addition to Stella, we've added Don Campbell, another young singer/songwriter to open the evening. Brand-spanking new and fresh out of the box, Don has and easy-going, laid-back style that's punctuated with some pretty nifty jazz guitar licks reminiscent of early John Mayer. The ladies tell me he's also very easy on the eyes although I don't see it myself - but again, I don't argue with ladies.

So gather your significant other, (or find a significant other) and make a date to treat yourself to what's shaping up to be an incredible evening. Sunday, November 30th. "Not My Dog," 1510 Queen Street West Toronto - doors open at 9:00 p.m.

And I've left the best for last: admission is free, but space is limited, so get there early. If for some reason you can't make it, forward this to someone who needs a treat.

See you on Sunday!

Martin

November 26 2008 - Old School Networking Upstairs @ Davisville Starbucks

Way back in 2002/2003, NewPath networking meetings were held at the Starbucks at Yonge and Davisville. Supposedly this is Toronto's oldest Starbucks, or at least one of the first ones. The upstairs meeting room was a perfect place to hangout and get to know each other better. So this month, NewPath returned to that location last night and packed Upstairs @ Starbucks.

Usually our networking meetings have about a 10% no show rate. A few registered people didn't show last night as well, but instead we had many more come out that had not registered on the formal invite.  So instead of the usual 10 we had 18 -- and that's always nice to see. I hope we keep up the trend, as we always have the nicest and most experienced people come out to have a good time.

Here's a sketch of a few of the independent business people who came to the event last night -

Doris from Organic Mechanic brought lovely scones that she makes which are made without wheat! They were a yummy treat, made with 100% Canadian organic spelt flour. Thanks Doris!

Tom Otvos has started a website to help indie bands get some buzz online at mybandsite.ca. Tom is a terrific programmer - I hadn't seen him in almost 10 years - we worked at EveryWare Development when I first immigrated to Mississauga from the U.S.

Erika Bailey runs The Clic Effect -- facilitating change management through constructive human interaction. Thanks for coming out to your first event Erika!

Terry Mutuku from World Association for Christian Communication came out. She is the Communications Coordinator and Web Manager for this social change organization. Check them out at www.waccglobal.org

Check out the full list of invitees and their websites at http://newpathnov2008.eventbrite.com. If you want to add a plug to your organization feel free to add them to the comments below.

Hope to see you at the next event!

Dan Pink talks with Oprah Winfrey

I would say Dan Pink is quite a success story -- he started writing articles for many of my favorite magazines like Wired and Fast Company. Then I read Free Agent Nation in 1999 and it changed how I think about business and entrepreneurship. He's come a long way, and finally Oprah Winfrey interviews him for her SoulSeries online and on XM Radio. And now we all know Oprah Winfrey through our mutual friend, Dan Pink!

Now Dan, you *are* a woo, woo guy. What is a woo, woo guy? Sensitive? The kinds that women adore? What exactly does this mean? Please help us understand. Does woo, woo = right brain?

Below are the embedded videos.

Part I

Part II

Yes, we did.

Barak Obama becomes America's 44th president, in a landslide. Check out the "blue" states -- Democrats took the Senate and the House too!

Hold it... I did vote!

Hey now... I did vote -- who says I didn't vote? Someone's spreading dirty rumours about little old me??!??

Send this video to all your American friends today!

Amazing observation on the state of Canadian banks from a NewPath member

Rick from recursivedesign.ca sent me an interesting press release on his company's website. He says that Canadian banks do not come up very high on common local search queries on Google. Rather, some seemingly random results come back when you qualify a search locally. The conclusion is that Canadian banks are missing as many as 60 million qualified leads every year (ahem $300M in revenue) That's a lot of potential customers searching for you and not finding you.

Here's my own informal survey:

Search: checking account Toronto

Switching to "chequing account Toronto" yields a different set of results but still not too much in the way of organic results returning all the big banks in Canada that have offices in Toronto. Searching for bank account in New York, does a much better job, but only thanks to Google doing a map for you of all the Manhattan based bank branches.

What is even more shocking is that a search in French "compte de banque montreal" does a much better job it seems, but that's mostly because of the name "Bank of Montreal". Searching on "bank account montreal" yields BMO but simply because of the name "Bank of Montreal", probably not because BMO actually did anything to have them come up -- that's a pretty good accident for them isn't it?

Do you see how important search engine optimization is? Call Rick to find out more at 519-993-2766 or email him at [email protected].

Inaugural "Movies that Motivate" event inspires 25 small businesses in Toronto

On October 29, 2008 NewPath held the inaugural "Movies that Motivate" event. We screened "Iron Man" featuring Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark (aka "Iron Man") and Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts, Tony's gorgeous and loyal assistant.

The response was terrific! We sold out the 25-seat Hazelton Hotel Silver Screening theater. The two million dollar facility was the perfect setting for our guests to enjoy the movie in full luxury, enabling them to think deeply about the business-related themes in the movie. The leather seats comfortable, the 32 foot screen was bright and sharp, and the sound system was sublime. Each time Iron Man took off I could feel the seats shake in a most subtle way, not too loud -- just the way the movie was meant to be seen.

Here are some pictures from the event (click on each picture to zoom in):

Emmanuel Lopez (Motivatorman.com) addresses the group below, with "Iron Man" on the screen in the background. Here's the handout that Emmanuel put together to motivate the discussion for our guests.

   

And here are some testimonials from our guests. Several guests sent us kudos right after the event on Wednesday night!

"Thanks again for hosting the event last Wednesday.  I really enjoyed it -- beautiful theatre, good dialogue ... and, of course, it's hard to go wrong when you're showing "Iron Man" for this type of thing!" - Roger P.

"Good evening Alex, thank you for your email.  I was out of town for three days and wanted to comment on the Wednesday evening event.  I had a great time.  What a great concept!!  Movies that Motivate.  It was unique and very inspiring.  Please let me know when you are having your next event.  I will definitely let my friends and colleagues know about New Path." - Dorothy G.

"Many thanks for the Iron Man movie last night....it was amazing...great night.  Love the concept of the small theatre...Never been so comfortable." - Peter E.

"You sure know how to throw a movie night. Alex, it was a wonderful evening and all on a Wednesday.  How great is that!  I certainly enjoyed the movie (one I probably would not have rented myself - and look what I would have missed). And the discussion after, some great thought provoking insights.  It was a fantastic luxurious venue and very professionally and thoughtfully organized. Thanks so much Alex, and count me in for the next one." - Doris P.

In the words of Tony Stark after his first experimental flight over the Afghanistan desert, "Movies that Motivate was..."

 

"...not bad."

How the US Election is Decided - Good for Canadians

Do you understand how he US election actually is decided? This video works to explain the process in plain English.

Electing a US President in Plain English from leelefever on Vimeo.

It is interesting to note that the US election is an 'all or nothing proposition' for each state's electors (see video to see what I mean), while in Canada the party with the majority of political ridings (similar to the US districts) wins the Federal election and therefore the Prime Minister. In America you vote for the person (and therefore the party), in Canada you vote for the political party (and therefore the person at the head of that party).