The 405

The 405
Originally uploaded by wr_downing33.

On Friday, a large crane collasped on the 405 Freeway in Los Angeles. Traffic wasn't able to get through for nearly three hours. Here's what the roads in and around Westwood looked like.

I had a particularly good look at the roadways because my rental car broke down and I had to walk all the way back to the hotel. There is no doubt that the traffic in LA eclipses that of the bay area.

UCLA

As a Cal alum & fan, I have been taught to hate everything that is UCLA.

After meetings today, I had a chance to visit the campus and run throughout the area. I was expecting to be bored; afterall, this was not Cal (How good could it be?)

There was an energy on campus. It was really neat as I ran through the campus seeing a real diverse student population. The hacky sackers were in the quad; the international kids were all playing soccer; other were playing tennis, or going to the library.

It was an unique experience. I must say that UCLA seemed like a very engaging university. Don't get me wrong, Cal is still better.....but UCLA wasn't that bad.

On the farm

Originally uploaded by wr_downing33.

Today, I went to visit a client of ours, and on my way off the ranch, I was stopped by this guy. Not much other to report than that.....

Lots more blogging in the next day or so...

Titanic Experience

Titanic Experience
Originally uploaded by wr_downing33.

Since June 10, 2006, San Francisco's Mascone Center has been home to The Titantic Artifact Exhibit. The movie was good; this was great.

Jessaca and I waited in line for nearly an hour, just to get into the exhibit. Despite a the crowd of frustrated parents trying to wrangle in their kids, the line went quickly. Needless to say, once you get in it is apparent that you are able to experience something totally sureal.

As you make your way through the different chambers, you can't help but feel as though you are on board the ship.

The re-created grand stair case and the cabin quarters were amazing to see first-hand....and when you walk into the blue room that has a replica-like glacier you get a vivid sense what is must have been like in the freezing cold water in the dead of night.

I am not sure where the exhibit is headed next, but if it is anywhere near you, I would encourage you to take a few hours to visit this very worthwhile exerience. It will move you undoubtly.

Capitalism Takes Over Telegraph (Berkeley)

Berkeley
Originally uploaded by wr_downing33.

In the spring of 2002, I was a senior at Cal. The weather was nice. School was almost out and there was a lot of excitement in the air as graduation loomed. After class, I can remember taking the long way home from class. Along Telegraph Avenue I'd check out the different stores, eclectic street vendors, grab a slice of pizza, and soak in all that was Berkeley. Afterall, my fours were almost up.

It had been some time since I had visit my alm mater and on Saturday I had a chance to check out campus and the area.

For those of you who are die hard Berkeley natives from the 1960's please stop reading this post now. What I am about to tell you might be too disturbing.

Telegraph was lined with creative, unique and interesting stores. Now, I am affraid to report that capitalism has taken over. As you exit campus, and walk down Telegraph you will pass Sprint, EB Games, Chipotle, and Addidas on your left. Down further are other examples of the corporate take over of Telegraph.

If there is one positive to take away from this; it should be that if capitalism can succeed on Telegraph, then it can succeed anywhere.

Staff Meetings

Dean at CPK
Originally uploaded by wr_downing33.

We try to keep staff meetings fun, but you could see that Dean was starting to let his mind wander a little bit as Simon talked about our need to grow market share......

The Apple Retail Experience

Today I got a new MacBook Pro.

As expected, the Apple experience was flawless. I walked into the store, looked around for a couple minutes, went to the register, told them what I wanted, and one minute later I was walking out the door with my new laptop and the receipt was emailed to me my mac email.

Haven't had time to mess around with the laptop just yet, but I am looking forward to testing the new Intel processor.

Apple.com for more details on the new MacBook Pro.

Power of Blogging

2007 is not even 30 days old and still lots of things are happening.

Hillary threw her hat in the ring. The 2008 election is going to be very exciting, and will prove to be a telling event in American history. While Hillary has a lot going for her; my prediction is that Obama and The Clinton's make a deal. It will be all for not because Rudy will win in 2008. He is staying out of the fray for now; but he is poised to win it. McCain will be VP.

Apple announced the iPhone. Too soon to tell if it will be as good as Jobs says it will be. Prediction: Apple is on its way to taking over the world. All eyes are on Google, but Apple is a more powerful brand.

I have received a lot of emails from people regarding my blog. It is has been great to hear different opinions from people all over the USA and the world. The power of blogging is going to peak in 2007; more and more people will benefit from this one-on-one relationship with the new globalized economy. Look for more and more businesses to use blogging as a way to build their brand.

On the ESM front, we have been very excited about our progress. Both our college coaching group and our internet recruiting group have seen a lot of interest, and our growing.

If anyone thought 2007 was going to be slow; think again.

Greece 2006

A trip to Athens and Faraklada (the village) in Greece 2006. Enjoy the video.

San Jose Museum of Art

If you have time, check out the San Jose Museum of Art. There is an exhibition entitled "The Listening Post."

It is a hybrid between art and technology. In a nutshell the exhibition pulls information from the internet live and streams the information to the viewer in a variety of different visuals and sounds.

Check out: the online description.

Starbucks: Your "Partner"

Yesterday in Lafayette I stopped at Starbucks. Not really paying attention to much, I grabbed a bottle of water and The NY Times.

On my way out, I noticed a sign in the window that said: "Everyone is a PARTNER at Starbucks."

The notion that Starbucks was trying to articulate didn't hit me for a few minutes. As a drove down Mt. Diablo it finally rang home to me. This was brilliant.

The mega-billion dollar company that has been heralded as the eptome of capitalism, while still being depicted as the poster boy of corporate greed was trying to change its image. This time from the inside-out.

A good friend of mine, John Davis (brandnewview.blogspot.com), has spoken eloquenty about the need for branding to be done within the company first, before being exported outside to clients.

In essence, Starbucks was trying to foster an ethos within the company that every team member is in fact a "partner" in the firm. The hope and goal is that Starbucks will produce a culture of long-lasting employees who exude a passion for their business, and most importantly proudly advocate the Starbucks brand.

The Power of Kids

One of the reasons we started ESM was because we believe in the power of youth. Today I got a phone call from a mother who's son we work with......

His high school counselor has just finished telling the mother that her son was never going to college and should just give up on trying. He remarked, "College is not for everyone."

It is that type of negative, narrow-minded person whom we want to re-teach in order to help them work with youth; rather than allowing them to squash the ambitions of those who are working to that end.

At times I feel we are losing the battle, but next spring when this student is accepted to college and graduates high school, it will only speak volumes about how much kids can achieve when we believe in them.....

Mobile Blogging

I have been spending a lot of time traveling for work lately, so I
thought I would check out the mail-to-blogger feature....here is a
test from my blackberry.

Sactown Magazine

Inside the Newport Beach Barnes & Noble I was looking for a copy of the Orange County Business Journal. As I made my way through the stands, I came across an unlikely find: A copy of the Sactown Magazine. Here in OC was a little piece of Sacramento.....

For all the naysayers, here is proof that little by little Sacramento is creating a culture of itself just like the Bay Area has done; We may still be years away from SF, LA or San Diego. But the margin is closing. Fast.

Congrats to Sactown Magazine for its early success, and with the likes of others like them Sacramento should enjoy a very bright 2007, and beyond.

Urban Living in Downtown San Diego

Thought you might like to see some photos from Downtown San Diego................lots of development underway.

2007 - What's on the horizon

Happy New Year to all.

2007 should prove to be a very interesting year. On the world business front web 2.0 and social networking internet sites are all the buzz. Private Equity and Hedge Funds continue to raise obscene amounts of money for mergers and buyouts. The real estate market nationwide has cooled prompting many to ask what will fuel the economy and keep us out of recession. The 2008 Presidential Election could very well be the most important vote America has ever had, and much of the political strife will come to a head in 2007. But most importantly, globalization and the world economy will contiue to grow at a fast pace and technology coupled with the internet will open more doors for all of us in business.

On a smaller scale, at ESM we are excited about the following projects:

*growing on our college coaching business to include kids both in the USA and abroad.
*breaking ground on a new soccer specific sports center in the greater Sacramento-area.
*upgrading our digitial recruiting website to include more features for our clients.
*expanding our tournament schedule to include multiple venues and locations.
*continuing to help kids achieve the unthinkable.

All the best in 2007,

Billy Downing
ESM

Ultimate Branding

I am in San Diego today.

It seems for the better part of the last six months, there has been a great deal of information on the slowing housing market throughout much of the United States. No surprise really, the housing boom carried a somewhat weak economy for the last three years fueled by low interest rates, new housing developments, and Americans worried that if they didn't buy now they'd be priced out of their respective market.

Almost all would say that we are now in a housing bust (not a total bust - but at the very least a mild bust which has lead to very noticeable slowing). Hardest hit have been the markets who were on fire just 12 months ago -- like Las Vegas, Sacramento and San Diego.....

Especially, Downtown San Diego where there is a new high rise condo project on every corner. The market is flush with pricey loft units overlooking the Gaslamp or Pacific Ocean; but fewer and fewer buyers are feeling the pressing desire to pay $600 a square foot for a peice of property which may loose value six months from now.

So, with all this negative press in the air -- imagine my shock when I saw "300 suites sold in 9 hours." At first, I was sure it was a joke. But sure enough, after I checked with the sales staff, yes they had really sold 300 suites in just under 9 hours. Amazing.

Were the suites/units the best available on the market? Did the building have an amenity that no other building had? Were there some other major perks that were encompassed in the purchase? No, no, and no way.

What was the story? This is an example of ultimate branding 101.

With each and every corner being developed by big, faceless developer types all of the new high-rise condo units had become ubecquitous. Every unit was the same. Every unit was overpriced.

Wnter The Hard Rock Hotel-Condo project.

How they sold 300 suites in one day in a down market in not a story of construction or design, or even location (where real estate reigns king). No, this was a story of branding. The Hard-Rock created an ethos about their hotel-condo project made people from all over feel that this was the only place to buy. It was so fundamentally "cool" that there was really no other choice. There was this creation of a vegas-like casino slash San Diego beach-club that would attract all the pretty people. For many, this sealed the deal right away. Its no surprise that the units themselves are nothing to write home about. In fact, just down the street their are two much nicer condo projects with better design and functionality that aren't selling as quickly. But atlas, sometimes branding your concept is more profound than the product itself.

The Consumer Experience

It seems like everywhere I go I am bombarded with ideas on how to
help grow our business. The notions come from unlikely people and unlikely places.

Take for instances a recent trip to Orange County. In between meetings, I had a chance to browse the Apple store at Fashion Island Shopping Mall. If you have never been to Fashion Island than you are seriously missing a parade of what I call “$30,000 Millionaires.” There is a display of money, cars, plastic surgery, and brand overload that I don’t see often.

I am a huge Mac fan. I have two Apple computers, use iMovie constantly, and even use my mac for spreadsheets. Whenever I am in a new town I like to check out the Apple store and see how each store differs. Apple retail stores are simply brilliant. Steve Jobs and his international branding team have developed the ultimate consumer experience. The Apple lesson can be summed up briefly: I decided I wanted to purchase an item from the store. There was a long line (Holiday Shoppers!) and an Apple associate saw that I was looking for a quick purchase. With a hand-held register, the associate took my credit card, swiped it, emailed me a receipt and gave me a bag to boot. The process took maybe 45 seconds. Apple made a sale because they were flexible and recognized the need of the consumer. Not only did they make a sale, but they landed a client for life; and in addition, they furthered emboldened their brand image as being on the cutting edge of technology and innovation.

American Youth Sports Leadership Group

Today we announced that we were underwriting a program that is going to help make wide-spread changes to the current plight of youth sports in America.

The program dubbed, The American Youth Sports Leadership Group, is aimed at creating a culture that embraces sport, and helps youth achieve great things on and off the field.

There will be more detailed info coming the next few days, and there will be a website situtated shortly. We are hoping to officially launch the program in Jan 2007. The short-term goal will be to host a Youth Sports Summit in Sacramento, CA during the month of October 2007. Speakers, events, and sponsors to follow soon......

Please let us know your comments and feedback.

Book Update

I have received a lot of emails lately asking what was the status of my book, The Sociology of Youth Sports: The Demise of American Amateurism. Well, the long and the short of it is simple: its almost done!

I have been working on the book for the better part of the last two years, and I still have little more to flesh out. All in all, I can honestly say that writing this book has been the most profound experience in my life. It has helped me to focus on what my passion is, and how best to reach those goals.

With a little bit of luck, I hope to have the book available by August of 2007.

If you are curious about the book, please feel free to send an email to me: bdowning@esmgroup.org

Thanks to all for your support.