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Corey Vidal made a tribute video on YouTube to John Williams and Star Wars (check it out, it’s killer)

He taps into the movies Close Encounters, Superman, ET, Jaws and Jurassic Park. The video is incredibly creative and a true tribute to John Williams.

Warner Brothers (gone over to their lawyers aka, the dark side) made YouTube pull it down because it “violated” copyright laws. C’mon, are you kidding me? this video is a tribute as a true fan.

Read about here on CNET.

Then Corey came out with this video to stir the pot:

What are your thoughts?

As the manager of a brand you have to make sure that all your ducks are in a row. That means making policies and procedures that leverage your branding. Here’s a great example of what not to do.

I received an email from Yahoo! today concerning my listing for Brand Identity Guru. The fee for the listing is $299/year. I never really use Yahoo! so I couldn’t remember my user name or password so I called their 800 number. Here’s what transpired:

Hi, I’d like to pay for my listing.

Y: Can I have your user/password?

No sorry, but I have your order number

Y: What is it, please verify the account. Favorite sports team, birth date, address, zip code

Y: I need to transfer you to the accounts department

Can’t I just pay my bill?

Y: No

Y: This is the accounts department I understand you don’t know your ID/Password, please verify the account.

I just did that with the other woman

Y: We’re a different department

Okay, ask away

Y: We need to transfer you to the billing department.

Ok

Y: Welcome to billing we need to verify your account.

Are you kidding me? I just did that twice. I want to pay you $299 now. Will you take it?

Y: After you verify your account.

Never mind, I don’t want to pay anymore.

Listen if you’re setting up ridiculous roadblocks for customers that want to give you money then I suggest you change your policies and procedures. At Brand Identity Guru we take all forms of payment, quickly.

After all the politicking, President Obama finally signed into law last week the $787 billion recovery package designed to give a much needed boost to the U.S economy. Contained in the hundreds of provisions and over 1,000 pages of this bill are many opportunities for small businesses. You just need a little patience to sift through it all. To get you started I compiled a summary of a few of the provisions that may benefit many small business owners. (Both the NY Times and the Wall Street Journal have more detailed summaries of the recovery package online.)

• Increase deduction on capital investments. Businesses can recieve a 50 percent bonus deduction on capital investments made in 2008 that would normally be depreciated over many years. Businesses can choose to accelerate refunds of research and development credits and alternative minimum tax credits in lieu of bonus depreciation.

• Allow more small business deductions. Allow businesses to deduct up to $250,000 for capital investments made in 2009, with a total cap of $800,000. The limits were temporarily increased by Congress last year for investments made in 2008. Prior to that, small businesses could write-off $125,000 for capital expenditures, with a total cap of $500,000.

• Delay recognition of certain cancellation of debt income. Allow some businesses to defer tax on income that is recognized when they buy back their debt at a discount.

• Expand net operating loss carry-back provision for small businesses. Allow small businesses with annual receipts under $15 million to cut taxes by writing off

• Expand the tax break for small business stock sales. Allow small businesses to exclude up to 75 percent of the gain from the sale of some stock held for more than five years. 

• Develop business in depressed communities. Increase funding for state-wide programs that provide incentives for businesses to locate in economically distressed communities.

• Expand use of industrial development bonds. Allow small-issue industrial development bonds for “creation of intangible property” in the next two years. Industrial development bonds are tax-exempt bonds issued by a state or local government to finance manufacturing or production of “tangible personal property.”

• Incentive for advanced energy investment. Establish a new 30 percent investment tax credit for manufacturers of advanced energy property, which may include technology for the production of renewable energy, energy storage, energy conservation, efficient transmission and distribution of electricity, and carbon capture and sequestration.

• Support battery manufacturing. Provide grants to manufacturers of advanced battery systems and car batteries in the United States.

Aside from these provisions, several other provisions may indirectly effect small businesses. Some examples include: improvement in transportation and clean energy initiatives, the repair of facilities on public lands and parks, the repair and modernization of public housing units as well as abandoned and foreclosed homes. Small businesses could benefit by securing government contracts directly or assisting the bigger companies that secure them.

Image credit: Flickr user

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President Obama is certainly “changing” the way a President communicates with the people. In his latest update he has developed a website http://www.recovery.gov/ where anyone will be able to see where the money will be spent to help recover our economy.

Here’s what he had to say:

“We won’t just throw money at our problems - we’ll invest in what works,” the president said. “Instead of politicians doling out money behind a veil of secrecy, decisions about where we invest will be made public, and informed by independent experts whenever possible. We’ll launch an unprecedented effort to root out waste, inefficiency, and unnecessary spending in our government, and every American will be able to see how and where we spend taxpayer dollars by going to a new website called recovery.gov.”

Kudos on the idea. But in reality his plan is going to do nothing. If you make less than $75,000/year you’ll get about $8/week more. And of course Welfare is increased. Stimulate the economy? I think not.

I like the approach President Obama is taking but he has to deliver (like a product/service). If you look at the Obama branding what he’s doing is really nothing more than sizzle, we want the steak! We need a big fat juicy steak.

What do you think? Do you think his sizzle is “changing” your thinking.