Saturday, May 25th

John Kenney has worked as a copywriter in New York City for seventeen years. He has also been a contributor to The New Yorker since 1999. His Debut novel, Truth in Advertising, is a wickedly funny and honest debut novel about the absurdity of corporate life, the complications of love, and the meaning of family.

Paul Hagen joins Tim and John for an Ad Campaign Smack-down. One example? Palmolive’s Madge—“You’re soaking in it!”—pitted against the Pine-Sol Lady—“That’s the power of Pine-Sol Baby!” Also on the docket, a Memorial Day inspired edition of Can You Focus.

Go in-studio with The Focus Group, and check out videos of some of Tim and John’s favorite guests and interviews.

Join Sirius XM’s resident Madison Ave. men Tim Bennett and John Nash for an entertaining look at the out side of business, every Saturday morning LIVE at 11am EST, with a replay on Sunday’s at 10am. Only on SiriusXM OutQ 109.

FocusGroupSocks Sign up and receive a pair of the famous Focus Group Socks.

The official podcast of The Focus Groups features more of our entertaining look at the out side of business—plus the fun and feisty Paul Hagen inspired trivia-fest “Can You Focus?” Subscribe »

Just The Facts Posted on May 13, 2013, 11:22pm

Outsmarting Smartphone Thieves

SmartPhoneTheft In the month since two men violently shoved him to the ground and stole his iPhone 5, Dalton Huckaby has almost completely stopped calling his mother. It usually takes him a full day to text his friends back. Nothing personal, but Mr. Huckaby is just too frightened to take his replacement iPhone out in public.

“I never thought this would happen to me,” said Mr. Huckaby, 39, a personal trainer, who since the robbery, which he called an iCrime, has become the kind of person who patrols his neighborhood streets in San Francisco warning strangers about the dangers of using their smartphones out in the open.

Phone theft, especially of Apple’s coveted iPhones, has increased sharply in recent years. Last year, nearly half of all robberies in San Francisco involved a smartphone.

So, how do people like Mr. Huckaby deal with the stress after a phone theft? How do you dodge robbers in the first place? And what should you do if your phone is stolen? Full Article »

Just The Facts Posted on April 3, 2013, 10:13am

The Attachment That Still Makes Noise

RedSwingline DO you have a stapler?

If you do, maybe it’s a little dusty in this age of PDFs. Or maybe it’s been missing for a while, after someone borrowed it and never brought it back. Or maybe you’ve affixed your name to your stapler with a piece of clear tape, so your co-workers know: you take this stapler, you die.

Even as data moves to computers and the cloud, staplers continue to help people keep it together. On the computer, we can file copies in folders and send messages to mailboxes. We can cut, copy and paste text and files. But which computer activity is similar to stapling? Sure, there’s the paper-clip icon that attaches documents to e-mail. But nothing, really, comes close to the satisfying ka-chunk of a stapler: it’s a sound that means work is getting done. Full Story »

Metroscope Posted on March 15, 2013, 5:56pm

Buy Design

Paint Misbehavin’ What’s better than an excuse to fool around with your special someone? Creating a piece of abstract art while you do it! If you and your lover don’t mind getting a little messy, the Love Is Art Kit may be the perfect way to create a memento of your love. Simply unroll the canvas, squirt on the paint and get busy in whatever way you desire. To order your own or take a look at some successful results, visit dailygrommet.com.

Metroscope Posted on March 15, 2013, 5:47pm

Ink Spotted

Hey, Mr. Producer Jack Gray’s ostensible claim to fame is that he’s a producer for “Anderson Cooper 360″ but as his new book Pigeon in a Crosswalk proves, he’s got talent above and beyond bringing dreamy newscasters to the screen. “Pigeon” is an interesting hybrid of a book. It’s part David Sedaris-style memoir, recounting alternately hilarious and heartwarming moments with his funny family. It’s also part career memoir—tracing Gray’s path from wrangling guests for local news in the Boston region to helping CNN craft coverage of major world events in NYC. But, perhaps most importantly, it’s chock-full of his most memorable run-ins with stars—in particular his good friend Kathy Griffin, with whom he shares hilarious holiday celebrations, fabulous sleepovers and no small amount of donuts. Learn more about the book and follow Gray him on twitter at @jackgraycnn.

Just The Facts Posted on March 5, 2013, 9:27am

Should You Email Like a Man? (There’s a Difference)

email Earlier this week, CNBC news anchor Maria Bartiromo announced during a segment on Closing Bell that one of her New Year’s resolutions was to start “emailing like a guy.”

What does that mean, exactly? Websites like Business Insider were quick to question.

It might be more straightforward than you think, says Deborah Tannen, a linguistics professor at Georgetown University and author of You Just Don’t Understand: Women and Men in Conversation.

Consider the colleague who signs business correspondence “xo” or softens an authoritative statement with a smiley face. There’s one in your office, right? Full Story »

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