So I’ve seen the advertisement for Capital One (Bank) Cafes on TV for some time now.
Well I saw my first real one in Fort Lauderdale this week.
It was big, bright, comfortable and had children’s games and a host of meeting and breakout rooms.
They even gave us two cards for some free coffee at the embedded Pete’s Coffee.
It was a corner store in a large, expensive space.
It was great place to get some work done or relax.
But aside for a cash machine or so, there was nothing that I could see having to do with banking in this place.
Also, there were also almost no customers for the coffee.
Basically, it is totally confusing idea from a marketing and branding perspective–Is it a bank or a coffee house? And why would I go to Capital One to get coffee or to Pete’s Coffee to do my banking????
While I think that Capital One has literally outdone Starbucks in building a great cafe space, I don’t think anyone will actually get what this is or why it is!
My guess is that whoever came up with this idea is going to be looking for a job within about 6 big money-losing months. 😉
Wow, just loved this new Aston Martin called the Valkyrie!
If I had a spare $2.6 million laying around that no one needed, I’d definitely get one of these.
1,000 horsepower, V-12 engine, and they fit the car to you, literally!
“It’s a carbon fiber rocket” with an assisted electric motor for the environmentally conscious.
Here’s a link to some awesome images of this gorgeous “hypercar” (which reminds me of Elon Musk’s Hyperloop and it’s a thousand time better looking than the Tesla).
Fast, futuristic, performance, stylish, and sleek as can be.
I almost want to photoshop a picture of myself in the diver’s seat with a huge smile on my face as I wave and say see you later. 😉
As we usher in 2014, I thought this amazing Fendi Jewel Watch for women was a great timekeeping way to capture the moment.
I took this photo in the Bellagio Hotel in Vegas.
There was a huge advertisement hanging by the lobby, and it immediately caught my eye.
I like the different colored stones for each hour around the dial, as well as the overall white diamond ring around the face.
I found it at their website for $3,000 and it is an absolutely gorgeous timepiece when you first see it.
But it’s interesting to me that while it catches my eye, the more I look it, I find that I start to tire of it, and it is not one of those truly timeless jewelry pieces.
Maybe an important lesson for the New Year is that we need to look closely and carefully to avoid expensive buyers remorse, because not everything that glitters is gold–in fact, this watch is stainless. 😉
So some colleagues at work told me about getting a Swedish Massage.
I listened to how it helps them with aches and pains as well as to just relax.
One guy mentioned that he tried a couples massage with his wife and it was really awesome as an event together.
Not that I thought in a million years that I would ever get a massage myself, but going away with my honey, this seemed like just the right thing to do.
We ended up at the spa in the Westin and had the most relaxing massage that I could ever imagine.
Some lemonade, calm music, dim lights, and a view of the ocean made it just perfect for us.
I realized where some new pain points for me were, how important a little work-life balance can be, and could only say, “What other times are you available this week?”
Uh oh, I think I’m hooked.
OMG–thank you, but maybe I should’ve never tried it (it’s an expensive habit)! 😉
Vertu = luxury phones, at least on the outside, for now.
The phones are handmade, one at a time, by master craftsmen in England for the luxury division of Finnish phone maker, Nokia.
Made from stainless steel with a sapphire crystal screen making them virtually unscratchable (except by diamonds) and keys that pivot on ruby bearings, the Vertu watches are undeniably eloquent and unique.
Bloomberg BusinessWeek (3-9 October 2011) pegs the average cost at for a Vertu at $6,800 with their Signature line costing more than twice than amount!
Started in 1998, they have sold more than 300,000 phones in the last decade, and have seen “high double-digit sales growth.”
The main problem with the phones according to IDC researcher is that they are “remaining decidedly low-tech”–running on “Symbian, the old Nokia smartphone operating system being phased out in favor of Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7″–another market non-starter!
Currently, they are seen as more jewelry than smartphone, and so “a lot of Vertu owners have another device for everyday use.”
However, another area where the Vertu phone has the special something is in terms of service–concierge service that is. Free for the first year and then costing about $3,0000 a year thereafter, you get a 24-hour hotline in nine languages for handling everything from restaurant reservations to travel planning and sending exotic gifts, such as “a box of live butterflies”–well not something I would do everyday, but I may just not be such a great gift giver 🙂
Also, many models come with dual-SIM cards so you can have one phone for example for both business and private use with different phone numbers, networks, billing plans, etc.
Certainly this phone makes a big statement in terms of handsome looks and a very special service offering, but to really be luxury inside and out in the mobile computing marketplace, it’s got to do a deal with Apple and/or Android, period.
Vertu customers paying big bucks for a great phone, deserve not only the best looks, but the best smartphone technology.
Another big challenge is that with people upgrading their smartphones every 18-24 months, how do you maintain the Vertu’s value over time or is this a luxury purchase to be made on the order of Moore’s Law?
andyblumenthal 