Nandos is an example of a brand and company that has got their offering right. The product is consistent and people know what they are going to get everytime. The portuguese themed restaurant serves great spicy chicken, available as herbed, medium, hot, extra hot, and now extra extra hot!

I was at the Nandos in Euston, London, last night and it was great, washed down perfectly with a Brahma beer!

Best thing of all is that on my next visit i get a whole chicken for free. That is because of their loyalty scheme where you get a stamp for every visit.

Here’s a new video from westcoast RnB singer TQ for a song produced by London’s SMI crew (Streets Made Innovators), called “Don’t Stop”.  It’s up tempo/dance track and works great with TQ’s voice.  The song is going to be on TQ’s upcoming January 2010 album “Kind of Blue”.

A new project by Damon Dash that is due to be released on November 27, is a collaboration between rock group The Black Keys and a whole host of Hip Hop artists including………Mos Def, Jim Jones, Ludacris, Q-Tip, Raekwon, RZA, Billy Danze of M.O.P., Noe Money, Pharoahe Monch, Nicole Wray, and Ol’ Dirty Bastard.

Here’s the trailer to give you a tast of the project, I’m excited and am really looking forward to it!  There are also a series of webisodes that follows the making of the BlakRoc album that Damon Dash has put together, so I will share some of these shortly too!

.

A new George Clooney film, Up in the Air, directed by Jason Reitman is being released through Paramount in cinemas at the end of this year (2009), and is based on a book by Walter Kirn.  The film is a about a businessman who is a frequent traveller, flys and stays a lot in hotels – in fact pretty much all the time.  George Clooney in the film plays a businessman called Ryan Bingham whose ambition is to collect a vast amount of airmiles!  The film features brand positioning with partners American Airlines and upscale hotel brand Hilton Hotels.

You can find more information on the Up in the Air movie on the link below:

http://www.theupintheairmovie.com/

Up in the Air is in cinemas in the US in December and elsewhere from Janaury!

Check out the trailer for Up in the Air…

This is a Glasses Malone track that I’ve listened to a lot over the last few months, it’s a great, summer track.  Positive stuff.

T-Pain does a good job on this song.  Rick Ross is okay, not really sure about Birdman – apart from executive producing Glasses Malone on Cash Money Records.

Glasses Malone certainly has a positive career ahead – he writes for Dr. Dre too!  He could be one of the main westcoast artists over the next few years.

In advance of Andre Agassi’s autobiography book launch, the former tennis star has admitted using Crystal Meth with his assistant back in 1997.  It really does make me wonder how many other sports stars used various drugs.  Agassi was quizzed back over 10 years ago about his use of drugs to which he denied ever doing so, despite testing positive.  How many other did this and got away with it?

Still, I think Andre Agassi is great and one of the most inspirational tennis players ever!

See below for a link to the story on the BBC website.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/8329193.stm

“I found out that the song you hate the most, is the song that works”

Interesting and thought provoking!

Check out this video I just came across on HipHopDx.com where QD3 and Quincy Jones, as well as Andrew Young talk to Devi Dev about there experiences with Tupac.  The most interesting part of the this clip for me is where QD3 and Quincy Jones say that Tupac was only a few months away from doing what he wanted to be doing… educating the people that needed help.  Tupac’s method was to relate to the kids as he was through the thug persona, bring them on side and then tell them really about the good things in life and what they should be doing.

Also in the clip is Jeff Johnson and Tyrese Gibson.

I’ve just read on the BBC website about Indian pilots having a fight in mid air on-board an Air India flight from the United Arab Emirates to Delhi in India.  They left the cock-pit to fight and scuffle with air cabin crew!  This to me is totally outragious!  These people are looking after peoples lives whilst up in there air and they are fighting amongst themselves!  Oh dear!  I know that there is great technology like auto-pilot, but really, they need to be more responsible.

The apparent reason for the fight was over sexual harressment accusations made by cabin crew about the pilots.

Check out this link on the BBC.co.uk to read more!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8289313.stm

I read an article last weekend in a UK newspaper, Daily Mail, about Starbucks and how it is performing in the UK coffee market. The crux of the issue for Starbucks in my view is how they have positioned themselves against competitors such a Costa Coffee and Caffe Nero. Starbucks don’t seem to have a story or essence behind them, but really just a cheap and artificial feeling.. plastic, therefore targeting the lower end of the market. Where as Caffe Nero or Costa Coffee are a more authentic, premium service orientated, and focused on delivering superior products at a premium price.

The challenge for Starbucks…
With the economic downturn in the UK it is seen that the more price conscious working class people are cutting back on their spending of “luxuries”, and coffee would be seen as one of these. Which chain suffers? Starbucks! Therefore Starbucks are losing customers and therefore market share as their target audience perhaps downgrade further to the likes of McDonalds for coffee, or simply abandon drinking coffee out at all and instead go for the instant offerings by the likes of Kenco or Nescafe! Starbucks’ own instant brand, Starbucks VIA, is too expensive.

For Caffe Nero and Costa Coffee…?
Starbucks’ downfall doesn’t really impact on Caffe Nero or Costa as they targeting the higher end and these people will continue to spend!

Check out the article I read in the Daily Mail by clicking here.