Grainger forms joint venture in Latin America

Associated Press, 06.21.10, 01:37 PM EDT CHICAGO -- W.W. Grainger Inc. has formed a joint venture with an affiliate of Torhefe S.A. to expand the reach of its business in Latin America, the industrial maintenance company said Monday.

Torhefe is a leading distributor of maintenance, repair and operating supplies in Colombia, with an emphasis on fasteners.

Grainger owns an 80 percent majority position in the joint venture and will be known as Grainger Colombia. Further financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Grainger reported this month that daily sales rose 16 percent, in part because of acquisitions.

Shares of Grainger rose 37 cents to $108.63 in afternoon trading.

Kevin Brown
www.kbsinsight.blogspot.com

Google Voice for Everyone

http://googlevoiceblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/google-voice-for-everyone.html
Tuesday, June 22, 2010

10:00 AM
A little over a year ago, we released an early preview of Google Voice, our web-based platform for managing your communications. We introduced one number to ring all your phones, voicemail that works like email, free calls and text messages to the U.S. and Canada, low-priced international calls and more—the only catch was you had to request and receive an invite to try it out. Today, after lots of testing and tweaking, we’re excited to open up Google Voice to the public, no invitation required.

Over the past year, we’ve introduced a mobile web app, an integrated voicemail player in Gmail, the ability to use Google Voice with your existing number and more. Over a million of you are now actively using Google Voice, and many of the features released over the past year (like SMS to email and our Chrome extension) came as a result of your suggestions, so thanks!

If you haven’t yet tried Google Voice, we can’t wait for you to try it out and let us know what you think. Check out our revamped features page to learn about everything Google Voice can do, and if you haven’t seen it yet, this video provides a good overview in less than two minutes:

We’re proud of the progress we’ve made with Google Voice over the last few years, and we’re still just scratching the surface of what’s possible when you combine your regular phone service with the latest web technology. It’s even more amazing to think about how far communication has come over the last couple hundred years. To put things in context, we created this infographic to visualize some recent history of human communication and how Google Voice uses the web to help people communicate in more ways than ever before

Kevin Brown
www.kbsinsight.blogspot.com

Cover Up and Wear Your Sunscreen!

Or "SunScream" as my 11teen yr old used to call it when he was small.  After 40+ yrs of surfing, sailing and living on the beach I went back to the dermatologist yesterday with my wife.  Oddly,she had noticed a growth on her forehead and wanted it checked, it worried me so I went with her.  When we arrived I asked if the Doc could see me as well as it had been nearly 10yrs since I had been in -bad advice when you hang out on the beach all the time like I try to.  B4 he saw my lovely wife he saw me.  Additionally, B4 he saw my wife he had carved two big hunks out of my back and shoulder and frozen another 5-7 spots on my back, cheek and nose.  YIKES!  None of them were of a big concern to the Doc but the pathologist will tell for sure. 

Point being!  WEAR YOUR SUNSCREEN and be careful! 

Another tool I started using a few yrs ago are UV/SPF shirts or rash guards.  I have some long sleeve tshirt type UV/SPF shirts that I wear sailing, paddling and surfing these days.  So as we enter summer here is my first piece of advice! Take care of yourself and your family!

PS-this is the more tame of the photos! He dug down about 1/4" or more and I could feel him carving me up!

YIKESYIKES

PSS- Wifey is fine!

Shirts I like are by two friends of mine in this biz - Mark M @ DryShirt  http://www.dryshirt.com/

And Marc S. @ http://victorykd.com/ Victory Wetsuits

Kevin Brown

www.kbsinsight.blogspot.com

Air Products files proxy in Airgas bid

Wed, Jun 16 2010 http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1619080320100616
* Seeks slate of 3 board members
* Air Products offering $60/share for Airgas

NEW YORK, June 16 (Reuters) - Air Products and Chemicals (APD.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Wednesday it filed proxy materials to elect three nominees to the board of Airgas Inc (ARG.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) as it bids to take control of Airgas.

The filing comes after Air Products said in May it would push the board slate, which includes John Clancey, chairman emeritus of shipping company Maersk; Robert Lumpkins, board chairman of fertilizer producer Mosaic (MOS.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz); and Ted Miller, former chief executive officer of wireless communication provider Crown Castle International Corp (CCI.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

Air Products went hostile in February in its bid for rival Airgas, the largest U.S. distributor of industrial gases and related equipment, offering $60 per share in cash or roughly $5.1 billion.

In a statement in response to preliminary proxy materials filed by Air Products, Airgas said its board continues to recommend stockholders reject the Air Products offer.
Airgas shares closed earlier on Wednesday up 1 cent at $63.40 on the New York Stock Exchange.
(Reporting by Lewis Krauskopf; Editing by Sofina Mirza-Reid)

7 Steps for Creating a Social Media Marketing Plan

Posted by Michelle deHaaff on Jun 15, 2010 http://www.customerthink.com/blog/7_steps_for_creating_a_social_media_marketing_plan
“A blog isn’t a business plan.”

I recently saw that tweet on Twitter, and it really hit home for me the perils of using a new technology or communications tool and thinking that mastering its use or even the fact that you are using it is all you need to know and do for your business. Adding new tools to your marketing and communications toolkit is not a plan. There is nothing strategic about blogging, tweeting and updating your Facebook status if you don’t have a plan for not just using the tool but integrating it into your marketing mix. Right?

So how do you get started with a plan for social media? Social Media Marketing Plans (SMMPs) can be standalone documents but are more effective when a part of an overall marketing plan for your company. At a minimum, they should reference traditional public relations or marketing tools and tactics. Unfortunately, very few companies and organizations right now are thinking about the integration of social media marketing into what they’ve been doing marketing-wise. Instead, they tend to cage off social media marketing like a new wild animal in a zoo. It’s nice to look at and fascinating to watch, but it doesn’t quite fit into any of the cages with their other zoo animals.

When my company helps other companies with their Social Media Marketing planning, we take them back to some basic, foundational questions one might ask when coming up with an overall strategic plan, not just a social media one:

What?
Why?
Who?
Where?
How?
What?

as in…
What are you trying to achieve?
Why are you trying to do this?
Who are your trying to reach?
Where can you most effectively reach them?
How are you going to reach out to them?
What are you trying to get them to do?

We also remind companies that Social Media Marketing is not necessarily a direct sales tool but is effective at:

1.Building a brand;

2.Building brand loyalty;

3.Turning loyal customers into evangelists;

4.Leveraging word-of-mouth marketing;

5.Turbo-charging the feedback loop.

Here are seven steps you should go through (at least) to get to the heart of your Social Media Marketing Plan. This is merely a starting framework for how to think about building out your plan and how to get to the information that should be in your plan.

1.What are your marketing objectives? Make sure they are attainable and measurable.

2.Who is your audience? Know where they are online and where they are already engaged in related, relevant conversations.

3.What are your assets? Examine your social media and online assets to see what you can leverage for full social media engagement. (See assets diagram.)

4.What tactics will you use? Choose the tactics that incorporate the most logical tools for what you are trying to achieve and who you are trying to reach.

5.What are your big ideas? Come up with some creative ideas that are repeatable and scalable to attract attention and provide value.

6.How will you measure results? Establish benchmarks, monitor and be clear what you are tracking and how.

7. Re-examine over time. What works? What doesn’t? What can you build upon? What can you improve? What needs to be scrapped?

Remember as Jeffrey Hayzlett, fomer Kodak CMO said: Social media is not a campaign. It is a commitment. Your plan should cover both the immediate and short-term with an eye to the long term understanding that the technology changes daily. You may find that some of the tools you initially choose are gone by the time you get around to accessing them. Be flexible.

How is your Social Media Marketing planning coming along? What challenges are you encountering?

Kevin Brown
www.kbsinsight.blogspot.com

Why the reposts you may ask?

I got to thinking the other day and asked the question 'is anybody really interested in reading reposted articles from wine spectator, wine enthusiast, sailing world, watchtower/awake, Inc, Fast Company, etc etc.".  I'm not really sure if you or others are or are not.  Some may ask, 'why do you do it.'  Frankly I repost articles for two reasons,

1. To have a better reference of articles I am interested in reviewing again later than just having a bookmark in my browser and,
2. I believe that someone else out there has the same interest I have in business development, family, burgundy (or wine in general), surfing, sailing, sales, marketing, social media, etc etc.

I just post stuff or write about stuff that I find of interest.  I hope you find some of it of value as well!

kevin l. brown
www.kbsinsight.blogspot.com

If It Says "Old Vines," Will You Buy?

The benefits of old vines are debatable, particularly to those who don't have them
Matt Kramer http://ow.ly/1YZ1s
Posted: June 15, 2010

Recently, a reader (Ms. Donna White) asked, “How old do vines need to be to produce a good wine? Conventional wisdom dictates that older vines produce the best fruit. Is this a truth?”

Of all the many ambiguities of wine, “old vines” seems to be one of the more troublesome. Every grower I’ve met, everywhere in the world, who has old vines insists that older vines are better. Yet I’ve met a fair number of growers who suggest that “old-vine admiration” is, if not bunk, then certainly overstated and overrated. Not coincidentally, these same scoffers are not in possession of old vines.

So, who you gonna believe? Do old vines really make a difference? And from a wine lover’s point of view, is it enough to tip the balance of whether you should buy a particular bottle or not? Sometimes wines so labeled are more expensive (as in Burgundy, for example), but sometimes not (as in Spain, Argentina, and even California with Zinfandel, for example).

First, what exactly is an “old vine”? No one knows. A lot depends on where you’re sitting. If you happen to be a producer in, say, Argentina or Spain, both of which are chockablock with vines that are 60 to 100 years old, the notion of “old” only starts at the half-century mark. In Oregon or New Zealand, comparative newcomers to the game, you’d be feeling mighty fine about your vineyard to be able to boast of 25-year-old vines when those in many neighboring sites are half that age or less.

My own benchmark for the title is something close to the half-century mark. There’s no need to be overly precise or prescriptive about it. In the same way that I prefer bankers and doctors to have some gray in their hair, I like to see vines that have seen 40 or 50 vintages. My guess is that whatever qualities exist beyond the half-century mark probably approach the diminishing returns category. But I wouldn’t care to swear to that.

No one can say definitively whether the presumed effects of old vines increase beyond a certain age. Does a 100-year-old vine deliver four times as much “specialness” as a mere sapling of 25? Or do the perceived effects of old vines kick in at a certain age—let’s say 30 years old—and then plateau out at, say, 50?

And to make matters more complicated yet, are old vines defined strictly by their roots? Saucelito Canyon Vineyard in Arroyo Grande on the south Central Coast creates one of California’s greatest Zinfandels. Its owners grafted new Zinfandel cuttings onto the original, still-alive Zinfandel roots from 1880 that they literally uncovered when they cleared away the undergrowth.

Are those “old vines”? I think so. Yet someone could say that a new cutting no longer represents the original genetic legacy implicit in the concept of an “old vine”—a grapevine version of “new wine in old bottles.” That is, old vines are a kind of plant material repository that goes beyond old root systems.

The great Barolo producer Aldo Conterno told me that he won’t use Nebbiolo fruit from vines younger than 25 years old for any of his wines labeled Barolo. Mr. Conterno also believes that 40-year-old vines are ideal, delivering a winning trifecta of deep roots, characterful fruit and reasonable yields.

I recently tasted with Alejandro Fernandez of Pesquera in Spain’s Ribera del Duero and was particularly struck by a newcomer to his portfolio called El Vínculo. This wine surprised me if only because it comes from the La Mancha region, which is about 200 miles south of Mr. Fernandez’s native Ribera del Duero. By Spanish standards that’s a world away.

Mr. Fernandez said that he decided to make wine from La Mancha—a vast flat area with about as much reputation for fine wine as California’s Central Valley—because he came upon a vineyard of head-trained Tempranillo vines ranging in age from 60 to 100 years old. “It was too good to pass up,” he said. And indeed, El Vínculo is the best wine from La Mancha that I’ve tasted.

Old-vine love is ardent among wine producers around the world. But it wasn’t always so. When Robert O'Callaghan, founder of Rockford Wines in Australia’s Barossa Valley, started his winery in 1984, he paid triple the going rate for old-vine Shiraz to encourage his suppliers to retain their old vines.

Why did he need to do this? Because in the 1980s the South Australia state government offered financial inducements to Barossa growers to "modernize" their vineyards by uprooting their old vines.

Now, the Barossa crowd is singing—yodeling, really—an entirely different tune. The Barossa Grape & Wine Association, a trade group of 750 grapegrowers and 173 wine producers, has created what it calls an Old Vine Charter, an inventory of Barossa’s remaining old vines, which are respectively classed as Old Vine (35 years or old), Survivor Vine (75 years or older) or Centurion Vine (100 years or older).

Old vines present challenges to the winegrower. They require a lot of nurturing. Yields often are uneconomically low. The old-vine vineyard is a love that dare not speak its name to one’s banker.

But economics aside, winegrowers seem to cherish old vines. Ask an owner about his or her old-vine vineyard and, like stroking a favorite, reliable old horse, they’ll talk about the regularity of old-vine production.

Where young vines can careen from vintage to vintage—with extremes of production and unpredictable ratios of sugar levels and phenolic compounds depending on the weather—old vines are steady. Their grapes are rarely unbalanced. And they’re rarely unripe, either. You almost never hear about unripe grapes with old vines, even in places that can suffer from decidedly cool growing seasons, such as Burgundy.

And old vines provide options unavailable with young vines. You can harvest your grapes earlier in certain (warmer) climates, because old-vine grapes often achieve riper tannins sooner.

The deep roots of old vines are their greatest asset. In a rainy harvest, a young vine’s shallow root system sucks up surface water, bloating the grapes and diluting the juice. Yet old vines are often surprisingly unaffected, as their deeper roots are untouched by a passing rainstorm. And in drought conditions those same deep roots can tap into water reserves in the subsoil unreachable by younger vines.

So are old vines a deal-maker? Is it a meaningful designation that can—or should—tip the buying decision? I can only offer you one man’s opinion, based upon an awful lot of talking with producers on this very topic, and backed up, I might add, with my own checkbook.

Yes, old vines can make a difference. Everyone knows that nothing is more important than what the Italians evocatively call la materia prima, the foundation ingredient. If you’ve got a good site and good winemaking—which are hardly incidental—then old vines can make a discernible impact.

This impact is twofold. For us tasters, the sensory impact of old-vine wines typically is found on the midpalate. Think of a candy with a hard core and you’ve got it. Mostly this is a result of the low yields that old vines usually offer. (Old vines can be trained to pump out, though.)

Also, as the wine ages and the bright fruitiness of youth diminishes, you get a sense of a more layered complexity in old vines. This element of maturity in the wine is often essential to deciphering the impact of old vines, which is why tasters of very young wines are either puzzled by or skeptical about old vines’ purported attributes. These differences are often not apparent until a wine is at least a decade old.

Does all this matter to you as a wine buyer? It does to me. All other things being equal (which they rarely are, I know), I’ll buy an old-vine wine every time. It’s a kind of insurance policy, wouldn’t you say?

Kevin L. Brown
www.kbsinsight.blogspot.com