portlandville.com

Much has been written lately about Portland’s bike friendly (or not) street layouts. We came upon this video by David Byrne that expresses the dangers and pleasures of biking in the city. In this case, the city is Manhattan.

Lady, if I was a truck you wouldn’t be doin’ that

It’s a beautiful thing.

Link Here.

Our friend and former colleague Gillian Floren has landed in a new position as vice president of marketing and business retention at Greenlight Greater Portland, a primarily private-sector group devoted to promoting the economic vitality of the greater Portland-Vancouver metropolitan region. She will join CEO Tim Priest and Steven Pedigo, vice president of research and business attraction, as a member of the leadership team. Until recently, Gillian served as publisher (and before that, editor) of Oregon Business Magazine. Her strong relationships with regional business leaders and policy makers, developed during ten years with the magazine, should serve her well in the new role. [Great timing department: Oregon Business is running an interview with Priest in the November issue.]

Here’s a new addition to the almost emerging South Waterfront neighborhood:

The Innovation Lab is designed to serve the community as a hub of activity, information and resources, including available meeting space. At opening, it will feature:

• Product Wall: A 25-foot, interactive, seamless dynamic plasma wall that features touch screen technology, pod casts and community search functionality.

• Community Wall: This interactive display wall serves as the (lab’s) official community center. It provides information on volunteer opportunities and community events, supports fundraising for community organizations and includes a survey option for users to tell (the lab) which topics they would like to learn more about.

• LocalSpace: (the lab’s) own social networking site. Designed to connect and assist local businesses in a virtual setting, LocalSpace offers opportunities for mentoring, expert advice, public community calendars and 3-D mapping from Microsoft’s Virtual Earth.

• Computer Cafe: Features tables embedded with state-of-the-art Lenovo laptops inviting visitors to try out easy-access online… solutions or simply surf the Web.

• Ask an Expert: Uses the Cisco Unified Meeting Place solution to connect customers face-to-face with experts on a wide range of … topics at any time.

• Interactive and In-store Shopping: Browse merchandise from local merchants as well as … Local Music CDs, books and other finds.

And…

The Innovation Lab will serve (it’s own) signature blend of coffee as well as customers’ choice of a latte, americano or cappuccino at the press of a button.

What is this place? Of course: It’s an Umpqua Bank branch.

[Via a news brief on the Business Journal site that was based on this press release.]

While walking the dog along the Mighty Columbia yesterday, we ran into some acquaintances from our NE Portland neighborhood who pointed us to the just-released trailer for Untraceable which was filmed recently in Portland. Filmed partly, as it turns out, in their house. The trailer is here.

We picked up a copy of the Oregonian’s free Spanish-language paper the other day, a few weeks after its launch. Here are some unofficial stats, all based on our perusal of the issue and various promotional materials:

The cover look

Vital statistics

• 32 Pages, color, newsprint, weekly
• 20,000 print run
• 500 distribution locations including bright green plastic street boxes in selected neighborhoods
• Free

Content produced by the Oregonian

• About a page and a half of Oregon-related editorial content consisting in this case one sports story, four news briefs and a few calendar items

Content supplied by Grupo Reforma (the O’s Mexican partner in the venture)…

• About three pages of starlet/supermodel/pin-up coverage
• Lots of Mexican football (soccer) coverage, about 12+ pages
• About two pages of Mexican entertainment coverage

Advertising

• 6+ pages of display ads, not including house ads
• 20 display advertisers, average size about a third of a page
• Display ad revenue this issue (rough guestimate): $5,500-6,500
• 7 pages of (English-language) classified ads, appear to be pick-ups of existing Oregonian classifieds

By design, Cancha is devoted more to Mexican homeland content than it is to local news. According to Brian Johnson of the Oregonian (as quoted here) Cancha is already a well-read and respected tabloid in its home country. Last year, Grupo Reforma, the Mexican publisher behind Cancha, partnered with the Hearst-owned San Antonio Express-News to publish a version of the paper for that market. We’re not sure what the partnership model is. Flat content licensing fee? Ad revenue share?

What the heck, let’s see how this might play out…

Revenue $6000

Printing -$2000 .10 each

Commissions -$780 @13%

License -$2000 about $100K/yr to Grupo Reforma

Distribution -$600 @ 3 cents a copy not including boxes

Local content -$200 @ $10K a year

Gross Profit $420 or $22k a year

But of course, we could be totally wrong…

Here’s a nice little interactive gadget for marketing students. Doubles as a viral promotion for its originator, Kolbrener. Clever.

OK kids, pop quiz: name the element defined as…

A system of identification as manifested in three dimensional physical space, including elements such as signage and environmental design

Come on kids, you can do it.

If not, who’s going to handle all that brandage?

(Via Tim Berry’s blog)

Built by Kolbrener, a branding company

^That last line comes along with the HTML for the chart, when you download the link

Here is a very cool hardware kit for DIY geeks. (From TechCrunch)

Yesterday, the O reported on the regional lock-down on spray paint sales. Meanwhile, across the pond, British guerrilla marketers are unleashing a new kind of graffiti. Shop owners — might as well lock up the power washers while you’re at it.