Jim McCann loves having his company right at the forefront of new technology. He has  1-800-FLOWERS.COM developing virtual flowers for Facebook. They ran an "Ultimate Virtual Bouquet Contest" to design floral arrangements online in Second Life. They taped kids talking about their Moms for Mother's Day. "How are you making money on these ideas?" I asked him. "We're not!" he said cheerfully. Of the 5 extremely cute Mother's Day videos, posted on the 1-800-FLOWERS.COM website, only one video mentioned flowers. But do they create a connection with the viewer? Absolutely. One of his newest projects involves asking people whom they'd like to reconnect with in their lives: a former teacher, classmate, or old friend, and then arranging a reunion and filming it. "Where do flowers come in?" I asked. "They don't...yet," he said. Jim McCann jumps into new ideas first and looks for the sales angle second. Flowers are about as low-tech a product as you can imagine, and Jim McCann seems like an old-fashioned, family-oriented guy. But somehow this combination has created a very forward-thinking brand.



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