This week, The University of Texas at Austin celebrates its 131st spring commencement conferring 5,832 bachelor’s degrees, 1,900 master’s degrees, and 954 doctoral degrees. It’s an impressive bumper crop of graduates, but the number of this round of graduates only slightly conveys the importance the state’s flagship university has on our capital city and Austin’s value to the Forty Acres.
Once only the UT Tower and the State Capitol were considered Austin's skyscrapers.
Volvo is a brand we refer to regularly when we help clients develop their respective brand position. The automobile manufacturer continues to command the front seat in people’s mind when it comes to safety. Safety is the promise of the Volvo brand. However, today safety does not shackle the brand to the attributes of square, stodgy, or boring.
General Motors was the keynote jokester during April Fool’s week, 2014. You could practically hear the laughter from Wall Street, Main Street, and the halls of Congress, as the automobile manufacturer teetered over multiple stumbling blocks, leaving it bloodied and less valued by investors, automobile owners, and policy makers.
Three weeks into its run at the box office, the movie Noah continues to satiate America’s curiosity about the Great Flood of Genesis and the co-existing complexities of creation, judgment, and God’s mercy. Despite its deliberate historical misrepresentation, the movie’s storyline stirs up an innate curiosity to investigate the Biblical version for comparison.
Most 16-year-old teens in America will not recall what actually happened on September 11, 2001. Like the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, it's an historic event, but one with little to no point of personal reference.
Time passes quickly, and the tragedy of history is easy to forget. As a result, it's easy to ignore the impact that so many Americans still feel today. However, it is not easy to dismiss the tidal wave of memories many will have this weekend, recalling the sense of uncertainty about loved ones, the vivid details of where they were when it all came crashing down on Manhattan and the somber state of shock that rattled a country.
Time went by too quickly for a local mattress shop in Texas. In the genre of poor local television commercials, the retailer anchored a promotion to 9/11. It's Twin Towers sale mimicked the iconic skyscrapers of New York City as the store manager declared the discounts. At the conclusion of the aired spot, which should have never been slotted for play, two employees crash into the mattress towers, as the manager fakes a gasping look of shock. She then looks to the viewing audience and says, "We'll never forget."
Someone in the station's sales department did forget to speak into the matter, as well as everyone involved in its production. It was tragedy upon tragedy.
The commercial spot experienced a short life, and public apologies continue flowing, according to the San Antonio Express-News.
It's a different reality today in the financial district of Manhattan than it was in 2001. It's a fading reality for Americans who are growing up without being anchored to what a country should never forget.
