Where’s the Cobbler?

I’ve always despised going to the cobbler’s to get my heel tips replaced. I used to live in a quintessential Cape Cod town which was gorgeous in the summer but not so convenient to get anything you really need. It seemed everything was at least a 30 minute ride away…including, the nearest cobblers. I drove at least 2 if not 3 times all the way to the middle of New Bedford, Mass to get my heel tips replaced, on a Tuesday…. which the shoe repair place happened to be closed on. They had no website and hardly ever answered their phone so I would have to guess which day of the weeks they were open and wouldn’t you know, I picked those exact days quite a few times!

I had a favorite pair of Nine West shoes that I just about wore daily and I never wanted to go get the heel tips replaced because not only was it a far drive, but I’d be required to drop the shoes off for a few days and then have to drive all the way back and pick them up. If I dropped them off, I wouldn’t have any other good shoes to wear while they were being repaired. So I would wait until I absolutely had to bring them in and after ruining my wooden floors. When I finally brought them in, they would get replaced, but because the heel tips had been worn down so much, the heel tips would get re-ruined just about 2 weeks later. I was making trips every couple of weeks to the cobblers until the cobbler said, “Ma’m you’re going to have to throw these shoes away, I can’t fix them any longer.” I was so dissapointed because the shoes looked like new everywhere except the heel tip.

When I finally moved up to the Boston area, I was living in West Newton and the closest cobblers was in Needham, MA at least a 20 minute or so drive. I ended up dropping off one of my favorite pairs of shoes and didn’t go back to get them until 6 months later. The cobbler informed me that women do that all the time!

Needless to say, I can’t wait until I can wear these convertible heels and this is one of the number one reasons! Plus we are selling shoes in a razor blade fashion where the heels actually become an additional revenue stream for Day2Night!

Making Sure the Cobbler’s Kids Don’t Go Without Shoes

PR consultancies are notorious for not applying their craft to building their own brands.

I’d like to think we’re an exception to the rule.

Equally important, we strive to bring the art of storytelling to our own communications as well as our clients.

As a result, we’ve enjoyed attention in publications ranging from the New York Times to CFO Magazine to USA Today and one my favorite passages (related to conducting business in China):

“It took us a good two years to get our WOFE in place in China. The twists and turns to the finish line were Kafkaesque. As part of the application, they ask for three potential names for the WOFE. Of course, the government ends up selecting a completely different name (from what we submitted) that sounds like a dim sum restaurant. Fortunately, with the right connections behind the scenes we were able to secure the right name.”

Thanks to the rise of digital media, the corresponding demand for content opens the door to more opportunities for contributed pieces.

Toward this end, today’s BusinessWeek (of the digital variety) features my op-ed entitled, “Small Biz to Washington: About Those Promises…”.

I discussed the importance of storytelling in an op-ed using AIG’s contribution to the Washington Post as an example. I’m a big believer in keeping the narrative conversational and having fun with language which hopefully comes out in the BusinessWeek op-ed with phrases such as the following:

“President Obama campaigned on an I-Will-Help-Main-Street platform”

“… to borrow from Shakespeare, here’s the rub on the $15 billion package.”

“If we learned anything from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) last year - never a good sign when an acronym rhymes with carp - it’s that pumping large sums of money into the banks by itself is not the answer to the credit crunch.”

“If someone wants to take on the burger chains with yet another beef-between-bun venture I can appreciate taking a pass on funding.”

“… regain the black on the balance sheet.”

I wanted to work in “Brother can you spare a dime” but decided it fell under the category of “cheap parlor tricks” so took a pass.