Ziad.com – The Old blog of Ziad Hussain

Remember a time when TCBY was hip and trendy? Ok, so that was a long time ago. People were wearing polos popped, listening to portable music players, and there was a Bush in office. Ok, so maybe I fudged the dates a bit, but everything old is always new again. And so is what I have deemed the new TCBY. Its a small chain by the name of ‘Treats.’

Yes, the name of the place is simply ‘treats.’ Nothing more. I’m intrigued. We step in and peruse the menu. Their flagship product is ‘the mess.’ Visions of the Dairy Queen blizzard come into my head. I order their small mess. Supposedly a low calorie ‘treat,’ the ice cream like substance is 100cal/4oz. I order a pistacio soft serve with nuts and coconut shavings.

My millenium McFlurry arrives. And the name is more than a name. Each ‘mess’ is painstakingly made into a sticky mess. The teenage kids behind the counter must be instructed to let the ice cream flop over the size as the pour it, and then let it overfly as they mix it. How do I know this? Because I watched them do it over and over, and its not hard to neatly fill 4 oz of ice cream into a 12 oz cup.

Treats is a fun restaurant. It’s really what TCBY should have become. iPod is to Walkman as Treats is to TCBY.

AT&T, or excuse me, at&t, is one heck of a brand – in a bad way.

Following who begat what with at&t rivals biblical bloodlines in complexity.

Currently I have a cingular wireless phone, and when I login it asks, “are you a cingular customer, or a former AT&T wireless subscriber?”
Cingular is now going to change its name back to at&t. Does this mean the dialogue box is now going to say “are you a cingular customer, former AT&T wireless customer, or a new at&t wireless customer?”

There is a good chance it will have to ask such an absurd question if “at&Tcingular” can’t figure out how to integrate all their backend systems. Therein lies the problem. This ‘new’ at&t branding is supposed to appeal to a new and young market. What does it really stand for? Bundling my wireless, home phone, dsl, and sometimes sattellite tv into one bill. Wow, a giant telco, sooooo different that the old AT&T.

This reminds me of a story I read about when Steve Jobs rejoined Apple. As I recall, a new ad campaign was being thrown around, something along the lines of “Apple, We’re Back.” Steve was like “How are we back?” He was right. Today Apple is back, but at the time, it would have been a joke. “Your world, delivered.” is sbc’s “We’re Back.” Right.