Squirrel – The Business – November 08
Agent Squirrel - Business Intelligence Agent – ‘The Supremacy of Marketing’ Part 6
Washington DC can be sweltering in the summer months. It’s a heat that really does bake the pavements…so that long into the evening you can still feel the temperature rising from somewhere below your knees. It’s a heat that ensures that nearly all buildings have air con and air con that’s turned up high…or is that low? Either way the August heat was slowly baking the capital city and a certain agent Squirrel.
Washington, thought Squirrel, as he made his way to meet his contacts, is a very European city. George town would not be out of place in many of our older settlements – it’s rather like the parts of Dublin – not the new bit of Dublin but the quiet leafy suburban neighbourhoods found along the road towards Blackrock.
But like most US cities and of course this being the Capital of cites it has a ‘downtown’. Europeans may well be put off by the name given to this district, mused a contemplative Squirrel as he strode away from the red brick of Georgetown towards the beige of the financial district of Foggy Bottom at the upper end of Pennsylvania avenue NW…but ‘down town’ was the business district – once home to merchant bankers and hedge fund traders and soon to be the hunting ground for Squirrels!
There is one feature of Washington that never ceased to amuse Squirrel – that the city planners maintained that it was to be a relatively low-rise city; no structure was allowed to be built higher than the Washington Monument – it was also a very green city and full of native squirrels. Which would mean that if applied to London no building would be taller than Nelson’s Column, in Cardiff this would be thus translated as no taller than that nice statue of Gareth Edwards in St. David’s Centre!
Squirrel was making his way towards the RV point that Preacher had text him some 12 hours ago before he left Aberdeen. It was just after 6.00am local time and due to the oncoming and ferocious mid morning heat most people were making their way to the office whilst it was still cool enough to do so without breaking out into a self induced shower of sweat. Some, more energetic were cycling or running to work which was bordering on suicidal – given that the average height of an SUV in this city was in danger of causing offence to city planners.
His destination was the Corner Bakery Store at 1801 Pennsylvania and the corner of 18th.
One block north Squirrel slowed and stepped into a shaded doorway of an insurance firm. From here he could see diagonally across the street to the store. As the name suggested it was on the corner, the south east corner – a busy intersection – but the sidewalks in this part of town were wide…a reflection of the wealth and success of many of the firms located here thought Squirrel ironically catching the highly polished name plate of his vantage point: AIG.
Anyhow the sidewalk doubled up as an overspill seating area for the bakery. Squirrel took in the aluminium tables and chairs…about – no – exactly 6 tables, around which was placed one of those fabric barriers you find in banks and post offices. The store looked neat. It carried the colours a bakery should be: corn yellow and coffee brown, with pull out shades and two sidewalk chalkboards.
Squirrel liked American breakfasts and the corner bakeries that served them – the people were always nice too, even at 6.00am. The breakfasts were more than adequate to set you up for the day and you were always guaranteed great coffee and free top ups…you could also spot a bakery at about 200 yards and in a country that drove rather than walked – that was just about adequate stopping distance!
Location and great customer service are the key in most things retail. He had a soft spot for this bakery – he always liked it and made a real effort to have at least one breakfast here whenever he was in town visiting ‘friends’ over in neighbouring Virginia.
What Squirrel noticed next made him smile – his contacts had arrived. Ambling down the sidewalk from the southern end of 18th Street, and three abreast (Squirrel made a note about the width of the sidewalk being more than he had calculated!) came his opposite numbers from the US. Although these guys were still on the right side of the marketing line.
They were clearly led by the short bald man in the middle. He was 62 years old and still wore silk Hawaiian shirts to the office! Bob Black was a son of Chicago, tough and always grumpy but now nearing retirement and as a marketing professor he was mellowing a little but was still sharp…he was also Squirrel’s adopted uncle.
To his left was a middle aged man in his 50’s, he wore the standard uniform of a US military man in casuals: chinos, blue shirt, dark blue blazer, stripy tie – Squirrel noticed that today Major Vince Armstrong wore the WestPoint academy tie! To Bob’s right and just in the shadow of the bakery shading was a guy about the same age as Bob, but dressed in blue jeans and off white sneakers, topped with a ‘grateful dead’ T shirt – very much a hangover from the drop out years: Vance Packard was a brilliant new media marketing strategist – not that you would know.
All three entered the bakery and Squirrel caught sight of them heading for the counter, Vince scanning the interior for trouble and Squirrels – which today could be one of the same.
Then Squirrel saw what he was looking for. Well he saw four things in an instance.
Firstly the blacked out Chrysler Voyager (why are they always black thought Squirrel – may as well just put an ad on the side!) pulling up on the street opposite.
Then the sun reflected on something in a window of an office above the bakery, almost immediately Squirrel noticed out of the corner of his left eye a flash of dust rising from the wall he was leaning against.
The next thing he saw was the inside of the AIG building – he was not going to stand around all day and be shot at after all – not even with a silenced rifle in the hands of a sporting marksman…for this was a marksman…otherwise there would be yet another DC squirrel to clean up and no chase!
To be continued…
Jonathan H Deacon wears red socks and is a thought leader at the Newport Business School
Agent Squirrel - Business Intelligence Agent – ‘The Supremacy of Marketing’ Part 6
Washington DC can be sweltering in the summer months. It’s a heat that really does bake the pavements…so that long into the evening you can still feel the temperature rising from somewhere below your knees. It’s a heat that ensures that nearly all buildings have air con and air con that’s turned up high…or is that low? Either way the August heat was slowly baking the capital city and a certain agent Squirrel.
Washington, thought Squirrel, as he made his way to meet his contacts, is a very European city. George town would not be out of place in many of our older settlements – it’s rather like the parts of Dublin – not the new bit of Dublin but the quiet leafy suburban neighbourhoods found along the road towards Blackrock.
But like most US cities and of course this being the Capital of cites it has a ‘downtown’. Europeans may well be put off by the name given to this district, mused a contemplative Squirrel as he strode away from the red brick of Georgetown towards the beige of the financial district of Foggy Bottom at the upper end of Pennsylvania avenue NW…but ‘down town’ was the business district – once home to merchant bankers and hedge fund traders and soon to be the hunting ground for Squirrels!
There is one feature of Washington that never ceased to amuse Squirrel – that the city planners maintained that it was to be a relatively low-rise city; no structure was allowed to be built higher than the Washington Monument – it was also a very green city and full of native squirrels. Which would mean that if applied to London no building would be taller than Nelson’s Column, in Cardiff this would be thus translated as no taller than that nice statue of Gareth Edwards in St. David’s Centre!
Squirrel was making his way towards the RV point that Preacher had text him some 12 hours ago before he left Aberdeen. It was just after 6.00am local time and due to the oncoming and ferocious mid morning heat most people were making their way to the office whilst it was still cool enough to do so without breaking out into a self induced shower of sweat. Some, more energetic were cycling or running to work which was bordering on suicidal – given that the average height of an SUV in this city was in danger of causing offence to city planners.
His destination was the Corner Bakery Store at 1801 Pennsylvania and the corner of 18th.
One block north Squirrel slowed and stepped into a shaded doorway of an insurance firm. From here he could see diagonally across the street to the store. As the name suggested it was on the corner, the south east corner – a busy intersection – but the sidewalks in this part of town were wide…a reflection of the wealth and success of many of the firms located here thought Squirrel ironically catching the highly polished name plate of his vantage point: AIG.
Anyhow the sidewalk doubled up as an overspill seating area for the bakery. Squirrel took in the aluminium tables and chairs…about – no – exactly 6 tables, around which was placed one of those fabric barriers you find in banks and post offices. The store looked neat. It carried the colours a bakery should be: corn yellow and coffee brown, with pull out shades and two sidewalk chalkboards.
Squirrel liked American breakfasts and the corner bakeries that served them – the people were always nice too, even at 6.00am. The breakfasts were more than adequate to set you up for the day and you were always guaranteed great coffee and free top ups…you could also spot a bakery at about 200 yards and in a country that drove rather than walked – that was just about adequate stopping distance!
Location and great customer service are the key in most things retail. He had a soft spot for this bakery – he always liked it and made a real effort to have at least one breakfast here whenever he was in town visiting ‘friends’ over in neighbouring Virginia.
What Squirrel noticed next made him smile – his contacts had arrived. Ambling down the sidewalk from the southern end of 18th Street, and three abreast (Squirrel made a note about the width of the sidewalk being more than he had calculated!) came his opposite numbers from the US. Although these guys were still on the right side of the marketing line.
They were clearly led by the short bald man in the middle. He was 62 years old and still wore silk Hawaiian shirts to the office! Bob Black was a son of Chicago, tough and always grumpy but now nearing retirement and as a marketing professor he was mellowing a little but was still sharp…he was also Squirrel’s adopted uncle.
To his left was a middle aged man in his 50’s, he wore the standard uniform of a US military man in casuals: chinos, blue shirt, dark blue blazer, stripy tie – Squirrel noticed that today Major Vince Armstrong wore the WestPoint academy tie! To Bob’s right and just in the shadow of the bakery shading was a guy about the same age as Bob, but dressed in blue jeans and off white sneakers, topped with a ‘grateful dead’ T shirt – very much a hangover from the drop out years: Vance Packard was a brilliant new media marketing strategist – not that you would know.
All three entered the bakery and Squirrel caught sight of them heading for the counter, Vince scanning the interior for trouble and Squirrels – which today could be one of the same.
Then Squirrel saw what he was looking for. Well he saw four things in an instance.
Firstly the blacked out Chrysler Voyager (why are they always black thought Squirrel – may as well just put an ad on the side!) pulling up on the street opposite.
Then the sun reflected on something in a window of an office above the bakery, almost immediately Squirrel noticed out of the corner of his left eye a flash of dust rising from the wall he was leaning against.
The next thing he saw was the inside of the AIG building – he was not going to stand around all day and be shot at after all – not even with a silenced rifle in the hands of a sporting marksman…for this was a marksman…otherwise there would be yet another DC squirrel to clean up and no chase!
To be continued…
Jonathan H Deacon wears red socks and is a thought leader at the Newport Business School
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