Home Sweet Home

I noted previously that I’d be working with a great group of people starting a new blog. Well, it is here! The Hill is Home is a hyperlocal blog focusing on, in my completely biased opinion, the best neighborhood in Washington DC: Capitol Hill. If you’re in the DC area, check it out. If you or someone you know is planning to visit, check it out. It’s full of great insider news and perspectives, plus business coverage from yours truly.

Enjoy!

Coming up this summer …

This has been a very busy year for Black Lab and though I haven’t been terribly bloggy of late, it isn’t for lack of material. So, here’s a bit of a sneak peek of what is coming up this summer:

Business Lessons I Learned From My Contractor: An 11-post series on the practical but oh-so-important things I learned about the provider-client relationship from working with a general contractor to renovate my house the past 5 months. Yep, 5 months. It explains a lot about my state of mind of late. This one will be starting next week and last throughout June.

Living Local: 31 Days on Capitol Hill: I’m a big fan of supporting the local community so for the month of July, I’ll be putting my money where my mouth is by exclusively shopping my neighborhood — lovely Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. There will be regular blogs about the businesses and people I encounter during my experiment as well as daily Tweets from @SCLinDC.

The Motivator: Ever feel like you’re talking to a brick wall when trying to motivate co-workers or employees? Especially during the highly distracting, “but the weather is so nice out” summertime? I’ll have a special guest tell us how he not only gets people excited about their day, but he does it at 6:30 in the morning!

Design Matters: Remember the generic canned food with the white label and black print that just said stuff like “CREAM CORN” or “GREEN BEANS”? This is what always went through my mind: “That doesn’t look like it tastes very good.” How something looks plays a huge part in how we perceive it … and how much we are willing to pay. I’ll have a graphic designer tell us about why design really does matter.

I’m also very excited to be part of a new project: The Hill is Home. This new blog will feature hyperlocal content for the Capitol Hill neighborhood. We are just getting started, but we already have a great group of contributors with amazing experience. I’ll be covering some business issues, so go check it out!

The Business Section

The Ultimate Marketing Campaign:  It is hard not to be impressed with how Team Obama has run this presidential campaign.  I’m not talking about what they’re saying — this isn’t political commentary — it is how they’re saying it.  And it seems they are saying it so well, Ad Age recently named Barak Obama Marketer of the Year for 2008.  Brand Obama is recognized for being consistent and disciplined; making you feel part of a huge movement but with a message that is still personal.  Of course, not everyone can hire one of Facebook’s founders to help craft a brand, but there’s certainly much to be learned from this example.