I have a prediction: If David Archuletto wins American Idol tonight, the show will see a huge drop in viewership next year.

What's makes me so sure?

Our research shows that, every year, authenticity and credibility become stronger and stronger brand preference drivers.

Archuletto is a very good singer, but lacks in authenticity. He is technically proficient, but there's no evidence he feels or even understands the words he is singing. I'm willing to bet that John Lennon was turning in his grave during Imagine.

The way they threw David Cook under the bus last night lacked any sense of credibility. His performance wasn't stellar, but it was real. In contrast, the judges' comments sounded, looked and smelled like a complete set-up.

We'll see next year if I'm right. 

For more than twenty years, I've held firm to the position that a brand is what the consumer says it is. So what do they say it is?

A guy named Noah Brier plans to find out. He's built a new interactive application he calls, "Brand Tags: A collective experiment in brand perception."

You will be served brand names randomly and asked to give a single word or phrase that comes to mind. Collective results can be displayed in a tag cloud.

If you're adventurous, you can try to guess the brand represented by each tag cloud.

Check it out here.

Last night we didn't want to cook so we went to a new restaurant that just opened down the hill from our house - Brunswick Barbecue & Brew.  We took our kids along, two certified vegetarians (see the irony?).

Despite the fact that it was their first weekend open, the food was terrific. I ordered the Kansas City rack of ribs, my wife ordered the ribs with the Memphis rub. Our vegetarian daughter ordered a salad, and our vegetarian son ordered the nachos (one of the few meatless entrees).

When the food came, it was beautiful. But there was just one problem: The chef wanted to impress us with his pulled pork recipe, so he added some to my vegetarian son's nachos (he didn't know my son was a vegetarian stuck in a barbecue joint).

When my son balked, the chef felt awful. The owner got involved, and the next thing you know, my son had a new plate of vegetarian nachos (2 minutes) and the chef sent him a plate of pasta Pandora (some of the best I have ever tasted).

This is known as the rebound.

If that wasn't enough, as we were about to leave, the owner came over with a barbecue chicken and rack of ribs to take home.

This was totally unnecessary. They had us at the quick turn around of the nachos. The pasta sealed the deal. The take home package bought a year's worth of word of mouth.

Want ribs? Go to Brunswick Barbecue & Brew.

Went to the Adirondack Paddlefest in Old Forge this weekend to look for a second sea kayak. The festival is put on each year by Mountainman Outdoor Supply Company, and is one of, if not the largest paddlefest in the Northeast. I bought my first sea kayak there a few years back. If you're interested in demoing kayaks, a festival is a great place to do it.

If you've never been to one, imagine upwards of 150 different kayaks you can demo. Take it out on the lake for 10 minutes or so, and compare it with the others. You can test as many kayaks and canoes that you want, as you narrow it down, try your shortlist boats again and again until you make a decision (or not). There are manufacturers reps, sales people and kayak enthusiasts there to answer your questions and help you buy a boat.

We spent the better part of four hours testing boats. In the end, we had it narrowed down to two very comparable kayaks. One was a carbon lite material (and available to take home - read immediate gratification), the other Fiberglas (we could have it in three weeks, but would have to drive back up to Old Forge to pick it up).

We ended up purchasing the Fiberglas boat, even though we had to wait three weeks. The reason? We had been helped choosing a boat by this couple from Indian Lake, New York — who were volunteering at the festival to help people find the right boat, to get more people into kayaking. Over the coarse of the afternoon, they had helped us demo a number of different boats from a number of different manufacturers. They clearly preferred the Impex Fiberglas boats (they had several), but they also helped out with the other boats around. They also said things like, "take your time, find the right boat. Before you buy a boat, get a great paddle. And don't buy a boat unless you are sure."

The carbon lite boat was from another manufacturer. Their manufacturers rep was trying to "sell" us the other boat. He used language like "have I got a boat for you. Isn't she a beaut? How do you like it?" His boat was really nice, and it was 20% cheaper than the Impex.

But there was something about the way that couple from Indian Lake approached the whole experience that added credibility. What made us sure of our purchase was the fact that no one tried to sell us. We were allowed to buy.

Now, we're brand advocates for Impex Kayaks and for the Mountainman.