My father-in-law (an endearing 83 year-old chainsaw using corporate titan) made that comment driving his family home from a nice dinner out in Wayzata, Minnesota the day after Thanksgiving. We were talking gadgets, gear, and Best Buy. I forget all that proceeded his casual “…while I was watching the Twitter” comment — he might as well have said “while I was watching McNeal-Lehrer”.  We, the very web-connected 40-something children, were stunned to silence as that generational milepost just sailed by. Thank you, Brad Smith.

Mr. Smith is the director of interactive marketing and emerging media for Best Buy (a company based in Minneapolis). An article in the New York Times yesterday describes Best Buy’s Twelpforce – “a Twitter-inspired play on “help force” — of some 2,500 employees that answer consumers’ questions in real time. ‘It’s 24-hour access to our employees.’ The Twelpforce had fielded about 25,000 questions even before gearing up for Thanksgiving weekend.”

My father-in-law: a very smart guy, loves cool gear, but is no geek. Yet while he’s off watching the twitter feed on BestBuy.com, many of the rest of us who are generations closer (or at least his passengers that night) can still wonder at the appeal of people tweeting and reading 140 characters of someone’s minutiae. What Brad Smith, Best Buy, my father-In-law, and thousands of customers like him understand is that one man’s minutiae is another’s needle in a haystack, the missing link about how something works, or a source of real savings – all in 140 character bursts.

140 characters. No room for hype: just the facts (or the deals). From the people who branded and brought us Geek Squad, Best Buy nails it again – quick efficient customer support in the form of Twelpforce. No doubt it’s handy for efficient Customer Support, but Twelpforce has the makings of an important new dimension in channel marketing. In addition to customer support, I can see also see Twelpforce suggesting a web page for new product information or insider-savings. Smart.

Vinetalks makes note of the huge Bordeaux wall currently up in Soho and their “killer Sauvignon Blancs.” Check out the post here.

For those who want see the wall in person, it’s located on Spring St. between Crosby & Lafayette St.

Vinetalks (Spotted This Billboard on Spring Street in Soho) - Vinetalks (PDF File)

We dig anything service that gets a glass of wine in our hands with as minimal effort as possible. Enter our new connection at CellarPass. Their recently launched website is all about getting Oenophiles on trips to wine country - wherever they roam. Although currently focused on the U.S. with a little success, we see foreign travel coming soon. (Especially with the recent boon for Bordeaux wine in the US, too!)

Your Ticket to Wine Tasting Awaits

What’s even better? It’s a platform for users to connect with one another to recommend wineries and share their experiences. As the users commit more time and energy to the site, it grows more useful for new users. Which in turn creates more success for the site. Simple, brilliant and engaging to a growing number of wine drinkers in an increasing market. We’re booking our tickets now.

DM News’s Dianna Dilworth covers the Bordeaux campaign by our very own CF Team. The article highlights the use of online networks and blogs along with in-store events to help spread the word on Bordeaux.

Check out the article…Bordeaux Positions its Wines as Young, Affordable

Bordeaux Positions its Wines as Young, Affordable - DM News (PDF File)

Lets face it, a Gucci purse for 10k is not the most practical item to own. Practicality and usability are generally not the two words that come to mind when thinking of luxury products, which is why they had so much trouble in the recession, but Oakley has decided to change that image and others are following in their lead.

Oakley has just launched a pair of $4,000 sunglasses made of carbon fiber implementing the same technology used to manufacture Formula One race cars. The glasses are meant for consumers who engage in outdoor activities anywhere from rock-climbing to cycling.

At the same time, these luxury brands like Oakley and Piaget, that highlight their products’ durability and functional qualities, are using digital marketing to go along with this theme. Although most high-end brands, including Gucci who developed a popular iPhone app, have realized the importance of the Internet to their business like Peter Speake-Marin who sells Swiss watches for over $31,000 and uses only the Internet to advertise.

As the image of luxury brands seems to shift to more practical grounds, so does their advertising strategies which are gravitating towards the web and gaining popularity with consumers.

Luxury Brands and the Case for $4,000 Sunglasses

http://www.oakley.com/elite

Henry Fisker:

Builds plug-in car in shadow of Tesla (elite/pricey) and Volt (electric muscle).

Buys old-GM plant in Delaware for ($18 million…cheap, no?)

Uses part of $528 million low-cost loan from US Gov’t to do it.

Gets crazy press.

Inspires UAW president opine on a VC-funded start-up.

And now the factory-to-be is on the edge of going Union.

What’s behind this? Seems like a company already positioning itself for a “Buy American” play to a market sensitive to authenticity. Remember how radical it was when the Japanese and German carmakers starting building plants in Tennessee and North Carolina? Maybe this is Fisker planting the seeds of electric for the rest of us. I can see the campaign already…..

Addicted to Twitter? Now there’s a device dedicated for those lonely thumbs of yours. Introducing the TwitterPeek, the world’s first dedicated Twitter mobile device capable of tweeting wherever and whenever without a contract. The device allows you to send tweets, receive tweets, retweet, send direct messages, download followers, view Twitpics…and that’s about it.

TwitterPeek is marketed to those without a smartphone with its main draw being able to tweet unlimited messages without the hassle of a cell phone contract. While the device does everything you’d expect a Twitter device to do, it stops short of that, being very limited in its functionality. The device is aimed at those who heavily tweet and pretty much rely on the service as a significant form of communication. For those who can’t afford smartphones and its high monthly fees, the TwitterPeek is a viable option becoming much more valuable to the consumer. With people constantly tweeting messages on their phones, these tweets serve a similar function as an SMS, reaching users in real-time.

Wireless carriers market their services by packaging a combination of voice, text, and data offered in different tiers. But we have yet to see the elimination of voice from these plans. An article by Anton Wahlman on the TheStreets.com suggests that by 2010-2011 these carriers will need to differentiate themselves by becoming the best at delivering data, as we’ve seen with Verizon’s ads promoting its 3G service. In the coming years it seems likely that these companies will start offering a data-only plan for smartphones, ranging from $30-$60 a month. If this proves to be true, the idea of TwitterPeek doesn’t seem as far-fetched as initially received. With many people relying on the internet and social networking as a major form of communication, TwitterPeek might possibly be the Sidekick of 2010.