Ineffective Marketing

We received a fax here at work that just floored me.....I will not name the company that sent it to us (though of the 5 or 6 readers I have probably haven't heard of them anyway!) in order to spare them the humiliation.

"Dear valued client:

You are receiving this fax message because at one time you utilized (our) services. Candidly, we have not been very good at communicating with our customers and feel like we've let you down....we promise to do a better job in the future, starting with the following offer.

Phase 1: Prices are going up."

I kid you not. These guys are saying how they were crap in the past but now they promise to do better if we will trust them again (they were completely a waste of time when we used them before)....but hey, that better service is going to cost more.

Kinda.

They then try to soften the blow by saying that if we jump on the bandwagon before January 1st, we can still retain them at their old pricing if we agree to take them on faith that they have straightened out their act.

Hmmmm....sign an extended contract in the hopes that they are going to be better this time around? Who are they kidding?

The effective way to do this would be to say, look, we've really screwed you in the past, we're sorry, let us offer you a discount to make it up to you...none of this, we were crap and our costs are going up so you'd better take advantage of it RIGHT THIS MINUTE BEFORE YOU HAVE A CHANCE TO REALLY THINK ABOUT THE CONSEQUENCES.

All Disney Review OR How I Spent My Saturday

Saturday morning. 6 a.m. I roll out of bed minutes before my alarm goes off only to see a text message from Cynthia saying "hey, stay in bed...you don't have to be here until 8:30".

Thank goodness.

I reset the alarm, crawl back into bed and lose myself in the world of dreams for another hour...or so I think.

Once a cat knows you're awake...or even partially awake...they are all over you for breakfast.

Fine. Breakfast it is.

Cats fed, I head for a shower and then begin to get ready to meet Cynthia and the girls over at the Scera Theater. A promise is a promise after all. I'd missed the girls' last performance because I had class so I agreed to come to this their final production for the year. For those who aren't aware the Scera Theater has an acting group...I have no idea exactly how much it costs but it can't be too much because the girls pay for their own lessons and then act in several productions throughout the year. Not knowing what I was in for I climbed into my car and headed for the theater.

Hmmmmmmmm....an all Disney review....this should be interesting. Cynthia had gotten us tickets for front row balcony so we had a great view of the action down below. Before the show various instructors and the older kids wandered around in costume and in character. Woody and Buzz were accosting every kid they met and Buzz kept trying to get them to admit they wanted to be a Space Ranger when they grew up...to no avail...Woody won hands down. Little girls and boys alike all said they'd much rather be a cowboy (or cowgirl) when they grew up.

Poor Buzz.

Eventually the show began and I was in for quite a surprise. Okay, some of these kids are new, some have been around for awhile and some were seriously off-key but they threw their little hearts into the performance nontheless and I had an amazing time. The show was divided into two parts with an intermission (which was good because each half was a little over an hour long). Honestly, I was sad when it was over.

I brought my camera to the performance so I could catch Cynthia's girls in action, but ended up taking many more shots of various performances and "thespians". Here are a few of my favorites (keep in mind it was dark and I had forgotten to turn off my macro setting! Ugh, I know....amateur photographers!)


Woody and Buzz, Masters of Ceremonies


"We're All In This Together" ~High School Musical


"A-E-I-O-U (The Caterpillar Song)" ~Alice in Wonderland (I love this kid's makeup and he really got into the performance)


"It's a Jolly Holiday with Mary" ~Mary Poppins (normally I hate this song and pretty much everything Mary Poppins related but the kid playing Bert had an amazing voice and gave such a fun and animated performance that I found myself loving it)


"I'm The King of New York" ~Newsies (again, not a fan of Newsies but these guys made it fun)


"He Lives In You" ~Lion King (I had never heard this one since its from the Broadway production but oooh, what a great song)

It was over far too soon but I was all but bouncing through the rest of my day, grooving to the Radio Disney in my head.