My question, to distill it, is why this month there is no write-in option on the Tweetup poll. That's it.

Was just asking because I thought I remembered other monthly polls having a write-in option. Did you exclude that option just because of that one event? If so, you're doing MHT and your friend Doug a disservice. The MHT Tweetup was an event you promoted, so shouldn't it be here too or at least have an option to be written in?

Oh, also, I don't see any Pokin' Holes events, any WingmanTV events or other stuff here. A write-in option would be a great way to help your readers participate. Especially if they were unable to attend the limited list of items in the poll. I don't care if you continue your discrimination against NomX3.com events, that's your decision, but as more people attend these events it might be difficult to pretend they never happened.

Speaking of which, will you be listing Podcamp NH? NomX3.com will be taping a show at the conference and will be the subject of at least one conference session. We're still contemplating filming at the Saturday night Tweetup at The Common Man, too.

Thanks,

Jeff

Can we do a write-in event. I'm sure some of the 150 folks at the Gary Vaynerchuk event would choose that as a winner this month. Thanks!

ALSO, the MHT Tweetup deserves some votes. That was a who's who of the Boston tech community.

Agreed that rituals are powerful and habit-forming. They are also brand-enforcing with the caveat that a brand must first have something to offer in the way of status/power/prominence before a ritual can be broadly connected to it.

But is the lime/Corona phenomenon really a ritual?

What I mean is that I can drink Tetley Tea cold with milk and sugar. That habit can catch on to the point where others think "wow, iced tea with milk and sugar, that's great." But that ritual isn't going to help define the brand for two reasons.

First, it's a quirky little ritual that I made up to mess with the heads of waitstaff everywhere.

Second, Tetley's product doesn't lend itself well to consumption or use that allows a simple, memorable ritual. There are too many other ways to take your tea.

Lime in Corona, genius companion to the beer that makes the brand memorable. If there were an ad with just a lime and the beach, you could still tag it with Corona at the end and never show a bottle. But memory isn't a ritual either.

Which then makes me think, are you really talking about rituals or accessories? A lime goes with a Corona. A styrofoam cup goes with a Dunkin Donuts large iced coffee. One helps you recognize the brand and both are admittedly rituals.

But I'm more inclined to think that the practice of defraying condensation hand with the use of a second cup on your iced coffee is more ritual-like than adding lime to a Corona.

While creating this comment I found myself hard-pressed to come up with another ritual for a major brand. Is that because there aren't any? Is it because we're all individuals who enjoy our products in our own way?

Not sure. But this absence of other examples leads me to feel even more strongly that the lime in Corona is like the Haynes printed tag, the Snapple cap messages, the Tivo 'boop, boop, boop' sound and the Domino's odd octagonal pizza box.

These are just traits that contribute to the brand and may reinforce our feelings for the product and brand, but they don't start, finish or even compel us to shepherd a ritual to other prospective consumers.

After further review, the tie of a brand accessory to a habit that's necessary to fully enjoy a brand is as thin as the lime sliver that goes in your drink.