Marketing Artist L.L.C.

Corporate Communications Consulting by Andrew Tytla

Results for category "good idea!"

Ride Your Bicycle

Good news. Google Maps now has bicycling directions available. They’ve been cooperating with our friends at the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy to add their info, too:

“We’re thrilled to be working with Rails-to-Trails Conservancy to make RTC’s extensive bike trail data available through Google Maps and Google Earth,” says Shannon Guymon, Product Manager for Google Maps. “Bikers all over the country now will be able to explore new trails or find specific directions in their local community with just a few clicks of their mouse.”

The inclusion of RTC’s trail information in Google Maps comes at a time when people are clamoring for biking opportunities. In the last year, RTC has seen an unprecedented surge in its TrailLink.com users. TrailLink.com is the most robust, national resource for rail-trail maps, pictures, descriptions, listings and directions to more than 30,000 miles of trails.

“The demand for trail maps and information has never been higher, especially as more people recognize biking as a viable, inexpensive and healthy alternative to driving,” says Rails-to-Trails President Keith Laughlin. “Sharing our trail data is an exceptional way to introduce the world to what 150,000 RTC members and supporters already know—biking is the ideal way to get where you’re going. The addition of biking directions to Google Maps makes life easier for bikers, whether they are commuting to work or biking for fun, and it can introduce our network of trails to a whole new audience of cyclists-to-be.”

I think its a great idea and can’t wait until it becomes widely available (only in beta now).

UPDATE: I was so inspired by this, the CartoonGoddess and I rode the Greenway the next day — fromPierson Avenue all the way to the Garden State Parkway. The railroad bridge over the Parkway remains…

The rail, to trail…

I can wait for completion — I like the mud. Paved, ADA-compliant paths are OK, but it doesn’t make you feel like you’re in the wilds of pre-historic New Jersey.

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Beet Farm B&B

Although I’m not really a big fan of NBC TV show “The Office,” I can identify with some of the quirky personalities. And when the topic of paper comes up,  I know what they’re talking about, having bought and/or specified paper for years.

There was an episode of the show that featured the Schrute Beet Farm, a new agro-tourism destination. TripAdvisor had some fun with that, which turned into a bit of a windfall in attention. The report, via WebNewser:

Schrute Farms in Honesdale, Pa., is the subject of more than 600 reviews onTripAdvisor, more than the total for several hotels in Manhattan, and 82 percent of the reviews of the beet farm-turned-bed and breakfast were positive.

The only problem: Schrute Farms doesn’t exist: It was part of an episode of The Office on NBC that aired in September 2007, in which it belongs to the show’s Dwight Schrute and his cousin, Mose, The New York Times reported.

TripAdvisorSchruteFarms2.jpgTripAdvisor chief marketing officer Christine Petersentold the Times, “We don’t have a big marketing budget and don’t do TV ads. This was the big time,” adding that she was considering adding pages for the Bates Motel fromPsycho and the Overlook Hotel from The Shining.

And proving that not everybody in the country watches The Office, TripAdvisor recently added the pictured disclaimer to its Schrute Farms page, explaining that it was fictional.

Great fun — and good marketing — for both TripAdvisor and The Office.

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