by Cora Bledsoe

I was browsing my daily reader stuff and I came across this post from the Consumerist.

We’ve been talking a lot more around our team about finding ways to be more green and this happens to fit right in. It seems that Macy’s has decided to switch to biodegradable packing peanuts.

Another company also down with the green movement is Whole Foods. Of course, it fits right in with their culture. They’ve opted to stop using plastic bags altogether and are instead only using paper bags.

Check out this story about it on WashingtonPost.com.

Picture this: a bustling mass of nearly 40,000 people at a Tigers game – each one touching railings, seats, wiping away nacho cheese from their mouth, sneezing and dumping drinks down your arm. Ew.

That aside, I *adore* the Tigers, Comerica Park and the whole Tiger game experience. I’ve been to 4 games so far this season and I'm going again tonight to see them stomp the Red Sox (fingers crossed!). I love the game, the crowd, the food and every minute detail associated with attending games. Well, except for the hygiene factor. Oh, and parking. What a pain!

While the city of Detroit's parking woes are a little bit more difficult to solve, Comerica Park has installed contraptions to thwart the excessive germs from fellow fans. Enter Sani-Post! (see lovely photo of said Sani-Post and myself). It's a nifty little kiosk that dispenses antibacterial hand sanitizer without even having to touch anything. It's also an extra bit of ad space for other local businesses. Love multi-tasking.

When I saw it at the last game, I thought it a small, easy addition for any major venue, but a great step for all the people who attend events like Tigers games. A little bit of DIFF, perhaps?

What happens when you merge high culture, urban revitalization, gourmet food, free flowing drinks, lots of really good looking people, and Detroit?

BravoBravo! happens.

And man, did it happen. Oh my gosh, that was a darn good party.

Last Friday, the Detroit Opera House hosted it's annual BravoBravo! Fundraiser and it was a raving success. A success to the tune of over $205,000 cash money raised. Put that money in the bank, baby.

First of all, it was a sell-out. 2,300 people, partying their butts off, and literally hanging from the balcony. Second, I didn't know so many good looking people lived around here.  Third, it proved in my mind that the only reason why Detroit doesn't have the stuff other big cool cities have is that we don't try enough. Because when we do try, we do it right.

I love good movies (and good television too – the key word there is "good").

I've loved them since I was a kid. In fact, I thought I was Kimba when I was about 5 years old. I'll get into that later, but now I want to talk about VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever a great new site my friend Sheila works on and told me about last week.

VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever (from Gale Cengage Learning - the publishers of the VideoHound catalog series) is a really awesome resource for info on movies.  Aside from containing just about any movie I could think of, it has lots of great tools to locate your favorite movies.

by Cora Bledsoe

The other day at Starbucks, I had my heart set on a white hot chocolate. What is this you ask? It's like traditional hot chocolate with one key difference -- it's made with white chocolate instead of milk chocolate. So after I get my drink, I drive off from the window with moments to spare before I'm off my morning schedule.

Just before I turned out of the parking lot, I took a look at my drink and it looked a little dark. I thought, "That's weird. Maybe it's just a shadow.” After all, I was peeping through the hole in my sip top. I took a quick swig even though it was still piping hot to verify my suspicions.

Sure enough it was regular hot chocolate. BLASTED!

When you get to a web site, what kinds of things make you run away? You know... hit the "Back" button, start a new search, or even shut down your browser. Of course, there are the downright offensive web sites, but I’m talking about seemingly normal sites, where you get there and you just can't believe "this company" is in business.

Here are a few examples from people here at Quicken Loans:

1. Circuitcity.com – Ouch! My eyes hurt! And why do they have to use a popup to advertise their sweepstakes? It's almost as painful as trying to find something inside the store. Hm. Maybe there’s a clue...
2. Staples.com – If everything is a link, which link do I click? I literally gasped when someone forwarded me this entry. Out loud. And I work all alone. The guinea pig thinks I'm insane. If I wanted envelopes, I'll subject myself to the corner drug store and pay the higher price, thankyouverymuch.
3. HM.com – Just go there. After I figured out how to pick the country, I still had no idea what this site was about. And then I got there… the US home page. I still don't know what H&M (now that I see there's an ampersand) sells, and the main message is about a podcast. You have to be a hard-core H&M lover already to get past this.

Now, think about the web sites you absolutely love. You know… the ones that grab you in 3 seconds flat and suck you in. Sometimes you’re looking for them, and sometimes you aren't. Seth Godin talks about the idea of creating an experience that attracts people because they're ready for you. We'd like to share some web sites that do a great job of this, and even attract people before they’re ready to buy. This next list of sites make sure you’ll come back when you’re ready to plunk down your cash.

After 10 years, we have finally retired our gas grill. We abused that poor grill through winters and rain and no proper shelter from the flaky Michigan winters. So, we went all out and got an infrared grill from Lowe's. Don't get me wrong, I love the grill. Infrared was definitely the way to go for us.

But I just gotta tell you about the packaging on this thing! You know how places like Lowe's try to sell you the assembly, and, we, thinking we're smart, decided to try assembling it ourselves. Usually that goes bad. We've made that mistake before, and yet we still don't learn.

This time it was different.

Not only was this grill easy to put together, they even packaged all those tiny bits well. You know it – you open the box, and along with all the random big pieces, you get the wad of plastic bags with screws, nuts, and other silly metal things that are hard to identify.

"Which screw am I supposed to use?"

If I were young and cool, I guess I'd say "why I heart WOMMA."

But since I'm no longer either, I'll stick with the traditional. "Why I love WOMMA."

Here's why.

Well, first, for those not in the know, WOMMA is the acronym for the Word of Mouth Marketing Association. WOMMA is the trade association for word of mouth (WOM) marketers and currently has around 100 member companies. About half of the members are brands such as Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Dell, and Quicken Loans.  The other half are agencies that provide WOM services. For the full list check out the WOMMA member page.

Here at the DIFF blog, we strongly agree that an ounce of preparation is worth a pound of cure. Procrastinate and pay a higher price than you should have.

Just like the Boy Scouts, we believe in the motto "be prepared."

Ok, I'm lying. I'm like the biggest procrastinator in the world. I don't do anything until the last minute and that's just the way it is. With the exception, of course, of my taxes.

A wise college professor once told me, "the one place you never want to owe money to is the IRS. They don't like it and they always get what they are owed – with lots of interest and penalties."

Don't mess with the IRS.

Ok, here is my official and promised follow-up to my first post about the Knork last month.

First, I want to thank Lacy Simon, Knork Inc's vice president of marketing. Lacy found our first post (a testament to the power and connectivity of blogging) and sent me two sets of Knorks – a beautiful and super sturdy stainless steel set and a semi-disposable plastic set that's best for camping, picnics, and other outdoor use.

The Knorks have been tested and reviewed by several of my DIFF mates and me. We've scooped with them, cut with them, mashed with them and used them on various types of food.

The age-old question for growing any company is: what do our customers want?

While Starbucks isn't exactly in the developmental stage, there's always room for growth. Sometimes growth, when you're that big, is ignoring the executives and hitting the streets – or the message boards.

MyStarbucksIdea.com is Starbucks' newest venture into the minds of people like me – the enticing scent of decent coffee beans makes me check the time to see if I'm ready for another fix. Don't get me wrong, I stray from time to time – but the green circle logo gets me giddy like no other.

by Tim Pulice

Spring has arrived, not only because the calendar says so, but also because my 4-year-old daughter Zoë says she’s ready once again to “help Mommy plant flowers.” Her enthusiasm reminds me that it’s the perfect time of year to support a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving lives and communities through gardening.

Based in Washtenaw County, Michigan, Growing Hope  works diligently in the area - collaborating with neighborhoods and community groups, schools and families, and primarily serves under-resourced and disadvantaged populations.

The DIFF loves it when companies do the right thing!

According to CNN, on Wednesday, Best Buy announced they would send $50 gift cards to all customers who purchased an HD-DVD player prior to February 23 at one of their stores. If you're not up on your electronic news, HD-DVD officially surrendered the format war to Blu-Ray after a meeting of the minds: the top studios vowed to support Blu-Ray. Case closed.

Best Buy is anticipating identifying the affected consumers through it's Reward Zone program and service plans. If you bought one and want to make sure you get your gift card, grab your receipt and call Best Buy yourself.

This seemingly small move could lead to up to $10 million in gift cards from Best Buy in the US. But doing the right thing for their customers will reap them immeasurable profits for years to come.

The $5 bill has a new look! Issued just yesterday by the US Treasury, it's sporting a new design and security features to prevent fraud and counterfeit bills. According to Wikipedia (my info bible), here's how to spot the new models:

Watermarks: There are now two watermarks on the redesigned $5 bill. A large number "5" watermark is located in a blank space to the right of the portrait replacing the previous watermark portrait of President Lincoln found on the older design $5 bills. A second watermark—a new column of three smaller "5"s—has been added to the new $5 bill design and is positioned to the left of the portrait.

Security Thread: The embedded security thread runs vertically and is now located to the right of the portrait on the redesigned $5 bill. The letters "USA" followed by the number "5" in an alternating pattern are visible along the thread from both sides of the bill. The thread glows blue (the previous bills glowed white) when held under ultraviolet light.

Ahhh yes, most of the time it is the small things that make the DIFF in our lives.

Check out this blog by Etre, a user experience company. It's got a short, simple video with the answer to the burning question deep within all our souls: how do I make this darn post-it stay?

Last month when our friend and coworker Jarrett "Spiderman" Knyal died after a long battle with cancer, we put our heads and our pocketbooks together to help his surviving wife and two young children.

We are proud to announce that Quicken Loans employees raised over $13,000 for Jarrett's family which Quicken Loans generously matched. This will give Jarrett's family well over $26,000 that they didn't expect. 

Also, we've dedicated our Marketing Team parking spot (at the Quicken Loans headquarters) to Jarrett.  Going forward, we are purchasing the spot for $25 a week and sending the money to Jarrett's family to do with as they please. It's not a whole lot, but it might come in handy.

We hope our gifts of love help. Trust us, they are a just a small tribute to our friend Jarrett.  We'll miss him forever.

That's right, you heard it here first.

Quizzle, the coolest and newest site on the web about your home and your finances is LIVE.

It's been a long time coming, baby. And it's ready to roll!

Instead of me rewriting an entire post about Quizzle and how great it is, I'll simply reprint a few paragraphs from Ann-Marie's entry on the Quizzle blog and then invite you to go check it out for yourself. 

This is big folks. You are gonna love Quizzle.

by Paul J. Pickett

I didn't grow up a fan of golf, but it's grown on me lately. So if you love to play golf or if you know someone who does, this blog's for you.

The last few days I've been perusing www.MyTPI.com. It's the largest collection of golf-specific health and fitness information from the world's leading experts in the game. The site is the online home of the Titleist Performance Institute (TPI) – "The leaders in elite player development." If you're a fan of golf, you know who TPI is. But for the rest of us, I think it's easy to read the word "elite" and think they're just for pro golfers, but that's not completely accurate: they're for anyone who wants to improve their game. Since I'm not a professional golfer (not even close), I like that. And what I especially like about them is how they utilize technology in helping their clients.

Recently I had a chance to pick the brain of TPI's video-guru (his actual title is "New Media Artist."), Joe Hafera. Unlike me, Joe has a long history with the game of golf – he's a lifer. He grew up as a player and student of the game with his father, PGA Instructor, John Hafera, and now he's helping to capture and duplicate the efforts of TPI to help other golfers maximize their potential.

"You like to work for a company whose focus usually extends outwards towards the customer - like a funny looking belly button.

As far as being proactive goes, you want to spend most of your time planning for the future but still like to keep at least one of your big toes dipped in what's going on with the business right now. Especially if what's going on in the business right now is chocolate."

Alas, I have not gone off the deep end just yet. It’s just my Jiibe. Another interesting find that Matt sent out to the team last week.

Jiibe is a "user-powered online service that helps people make better decisions for a happier life." Hmm. Make me happier? I dare you.

By Paul J. Pickett

Many Americans dream of starting their own business and being their own boss. For Tom Meyers, his American dream began in Europe.  And truth be told, it didn't begin with a "business plan" for Tom, it began with a love for travel and a desire to spend his life doing it.

So in 1998, recently graduated from Columbia University, he was brainstorming how he could leave his job in NYC and start a business that would "force" him to travel. He didn’t want the typical "9 to 5" desk job, he wanted a business that would get him traveling to Europe. And he wanted to do it often.

Fast forward to 2008 – mission accomplished. Tom is the founder and editor of www.EuroCheapo.com, a free Internet guide to budget travel in Europe, led by a team of travel experts who show up unannounced at inexpensive hotels in 23 cities in Europe (and New York), check out the rooms, and get a feel for each place. If they think its “The DIFF” (they like it), they write a review and list the hotel on the site, providing full, up-to-date information, so that users can book a room immediately. I say that's pretty DIFFtastic.

For 55 years, of which 42 were with my Detroit Tigers, Ernie Harwell called the shots on every play in a memorable way. Even though he had a slight southern side to his voice, he was a complete Detroit treasure. He celebrates being 90 years young today.

According to the Free Press, he was sent hundreds of birthday wishes to which he replied,

"Well, this is really nice that these people have responded in the e-mails to my birthday's celebration. Like I say, I really don't deserve it -- but I had measles one time, and I didn't deserve that, either."

Funny guy. Maybe he could write a little something for the DIFF. But since he is the DIFF, we'll honor him today. Happy Birthday, Ernie! Hope to see you on Opening Day!

Lots of people think coming in second place is a bad thing.

You aren't the best. You lost. You came in second.

Not me.

I'm thrilled. We are #2 baby! 

That's right.  FORTUNE released its "100 Best Companies to Work For" list today and guess what? Quicken Loans is #2 this year. 

Last year we were #17, which is pretty darn good in itself. Over 1500 companies compete to be on the list.  But to be #2?  Wow.  Nice.

And the only thing standing in our way to being the best place to work in the country??? THE GOOGLE! (I can live with that, I guess).

It's the goodbye blog posts that always make me the saddest. 

This one goes out to Melissa Morrison, who has decided to change her focus in life and become...a mom!

Man, I'll miss Melissa.

It's not just because she was a great person with a ton of knowledge about web marketing.

It's not just because she was a member of the DIFF team and helped out tremendously with planning and launching the blog.

It's because she was such a darn good project manager. I mean it. She really had the project management stuff down. Down pat.

There's a reason why Andy Sernovitz (CEO of the new Blog Council, the founder of GasPedal, and the former CEO of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association – among many other things) is considered a leader in word of mouth marketing. 

He does stuff like send me the luggage tag in the picture at the right.  It's a little thing, but it's pretty cool. 

At the WOMMA Summit in Las Vegas this past November (the one where Quicken Loans won a WOMMIE award for our Yahoo! Answers program), he passed around a hat, collecting business cards without telling why he wanted the cards.

By Rebecca Carter

Call me crazy, but I just returned from a weekend trip to Amsterdam. Jet lag aside, it was completely worth the seven-hour flight to have a holiday in that lovely old city.

Amsterdam has so much to offer (o.k. – get your mind out of the gutter! I mean BESIDES its reputation for drugs and prostitution). The city is very multicultural and diverse, with world-class museums and galleries, great shopping, friendly people, and inviting pubs and restaurants. Pedestrians are always bustling around, enjoying the city, even in the colder-than-normal temperatures.

There are many reasons my trip could be considered the DIFF:
- The cheap, off-season flight – my trip was as affordable as flying domestic.

The other day the Kauf was driving down the freeway and noticed a sign on the back of a Staples truck claiming that Staples trucks never go over 60 mph in an effort to reduce fuel usage. 

Huh?  Did he read that right?

Yup, he did.

It's part of the Staples Soul campaign. We like it!

By Mark Messing

It is a well-known fact at Quicken Loans that I can’t steer a canoe. I can’t sanitize water with half a pop can, and I probably couldn’t stomach raw fish guts, even if it meant my life.

However, there are people who can do these things.  And some of these people will even videotape themselves doing it just so us regular, everyday Joes can “learn” how to survive. There are two shows of this nature: “Man vs. Wild” (hosted by Bear Grylls), and “Survivorman” (hosted by Les Stroud).

And now, as with all similar things, my initial reaction is to critique them against each other to see who is the DIFF. I have come up with 5 sure-fire criteria to make this decision once and for all:

1)The Name: Bear Grylls vs. Les Stroud

Lets face it. This isn’t even close. Bear’s checks weep in fear every time he signs his name on them. That is how tough his name is.

Les really needs some help here. The following is a list of suggested names for Les Stroud that are guaranteed ratings boosters:

By Paul J. Pickett

I visited Eddie Murphy last week. He told me one of my teeth is cracked and I need to come back for him to fix it. But unlike other dentists, I won’t mind going back to have him stick a fancy shmancy tooth-fixing machine inside my mouth. Here are the Top Five reasons why Dr. Edward Murphy has the best dental office I’ve ever been to:

1. I love telling people “Eddie Murphy is my dentist.” Go ahead and laugh…so what if it’s a little corny?
2. I get a signed Christmas card every year. This is easy to do, but it’s also easy not to do.
3. The young lady at the front desk always has a smile on her face and is sincerely courteous. ***Note to Drs everywhere: this is the most important position in your office. Hire wisely.
4. I always get a courtesy reminder call – three days prior to my appointment. I don’t have another Dr. that does that.

As children, we’re all reminded to “learn from our mistakes.” In business, you maintain the same policy, but it’s also recommended you take some measures to compensate those affected by your mistake and maybe even do a little something extra to make amends.

The fancy new MGM Grand, well versed in the business of hospitality, has done just that to “kiss & make up” with 4 local women, who stopped at the hotel/casino for dinner and found it difficult…well, darn near impossible to leave.

On their way to see the pricey “Lion King” at Detroit Opera House, the women got stuck in an MGM Grand elevator. A well known fear for many (including myself), the women would spend the next 2 hours trying to get help. The biggest mistake, already admitted by MGM Grand, was that the emergency button connected the women to the elevator manufacturer, which was based in Connecticut. The women tried several more times to get in touch with someone, cell phones failing and finally demanded that the manufacturer dial 911 in Detroit. Firefighters showed up in 5 minutes and broke the women free. Too late to make the “Lion King,” the women had forfeited nearly $800 in tickets while trapped in the elevator.

One of the core philosophies we live by at Quicken Loans is “simplicity is genius”—the simplest things are often times the cleverest ideas.

An ordinary guest check tray serves a simple purpose: To hold your restaurant bill, money and change. While dining at BD’s Mongolian Barbecue last weekend, I discovered that their guest check tray is a clever little gadget that not only holds your change, it also has a built in customer satisfaction survey and a calculator for determining the tip. It’s a simple idea, and it probably doesn’t cost much to make, but it begs the question: Why didn’t someone else think of this before now?

It’s doesn’t exactly take a degree in quantum mechanics to mentally figure out a 15 or 20 percent tip on a bill, but for those of us who are more mathematically challenged than others, it’s a nice tool to have on the table. Nice thinking, BD’s!

Just sharing something that Ann-Marie sent to me that you might enjoy (if you haven't seen it yet).

Yesterday the Consumerist did a post about a great customer service email response from Amazon. I won't go into detail on it here. Just read it and laugh out loud, if you so choose.

Good job on your sense of humor, Amazon! 

You might not know it from looking at me, but I’m a lover of all things punk. Conventions are boring and doing things just because one is “suppose to” makes me want to throw up a little bit. That’s why I’m drawn to Radiohead’s movement to change the business of music.

A couple months back, Radiohead blew off iTunes and opted to sell their new album, “In Rainbows,” on their own Web site for the compelling price of… you pick. That’s right, you got to choose how much you wanted to pay for it.

Radiohead called the experiment, which came to a close Monday, “the most positive thing we’ve done.” And according to Wired, it was an “undeniable success” because of the attention it grabbed for the music group. I still haven’t seen a credible assessment of the average amount Radiohead was able to pull in per album, but the move to go it alone was an attractive enough proposition to me that I downloaded the album and paid what I believed to be full-price: $12.99. Hey, at least with Radiohead, I know I’ll enjoy listening to the *whole* album.

Edson (I can hook you up at Best Buy) McLean was right. It really is a Jeep thing!

I just got back from eight days in beautiful St. Maarten and I have to admit, one of the best parts of my trip was the Jeep I rented. It made all the difference in the world.

First, being the word of mouth aficionado I am, I'll get my recommendations out of the way:

1. I highly recommend St. Maarten/St. Martin as a vacation destination. It was amazing.
2. I highly recommend using vacationstogo.com for your travel stuff.  They were great.  Cheap and everything totally worked out.
3. I highly recommend staying at the Princess Height Condominiums if you go to St. Maarten. It was a great place and absolutely worth the price.

That leaves me to my last recommendation.  If you do go to St. Maarten (or any place like it with roads that are, well, less than perfectly paved and more like a roller coaster track than a well designed road) rent a Jeep (and use Prestige Value Rental Cars - a local company that was great). I loved every minute of my Jeep and I will NEVER drive in a place like St. Maarten with anything less!

Long before there were X Games, extreme sports and reality TV, there was Evel Knievel.

Evel Knievel was the man.  Straight up and no lies. 

He was a daredevil like no other in modern history and he paid a big price for his feats. He once claimed he broke every bone in his body and I don't doubt it. 

Part athlete, part showman, part huckster, Evel did stuff that made the world gasp back in the 70s.  Kids wanted to be him.  Adults thought he was nuts.

I used to put bike ramps out in the street and see how far I could jump.

I still have scars.