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Splash of reality for the new year
0December 30, 2004 by Colin
I’m always a sucker for the synthesis of Malcolm Gladwell. This week, he reviews Jared Diamond’s “Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed” for The New Yorker. An excerpt:
“… But look, Diamond says, at Easter Island. Once, it was home to a thriving culture that produced the enormous stone statues that continue to inspire awe. It was home to dozens of species of trees, which created and protected an ecosystem fertile enough to support as many as thirty thousand people.
Today, it’s a barren and largely empty outcropping of volcanic rock. What happened? Did a rare plant virus wipe out the island’s forest cover? Not at all. The Easter Islanders chopped their trees down, one by one, until they were all gone. “I have often asked myself, ‘What did the Easter Islander who cut down the last palm tree say while he was doing it?’” Diamond writes, and that, of course, is what is so troubling about the conclusions of “Collapse.”
Those trees were felled by rational actors—who must have suspected that the destruction of this resource would result in the destruction of their civilization.
The lesson of “Collapse” is that societies, as often as not, aren’t murdered. They commit suicide: they slit their wrists and then, in the course of many decades, stand by passively and watch themselves bleed to death.
This doesn’t mean that acts of God don’t play a role. It did get colder in Greenland in the early fourteen-hundreds. But it didn’t get so cold that the island became uninhabitable. The Inuit survived long after the Norse died out, and the Norse had all kinds of advantages, including a more diverse food supply, iron tools, and ready access to Europe. The problem was that the Norse simply couldn’t adapt to the country’s changing environmental conditions. Diamond writes, for instance, of the fact that nobody can find fish remains in Norse archeological sites.”
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Checking the Date on a Carton o’ Caution
1December 25, 2004 by Colin
Ian Carey’s written a funny list of alternatives to “opening a can o’ whupass” for McSweeney’s.
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Customer service – it’s the little touches
0December 21, 2004 by Colin
Shopping at the Polo Outlet the other day, I noticed one of the little design decisions that help distinguish a high-end, high value store from the local haberdashery (or the local Bay): each changeroom had a little wall-mounted bin to hold those irritating dozens of dressmaker’s pins that come with every man’s shirt.
While I’m on the topic of men’s clothing: take a look at this analysis of regional targeting in early catalogs from the T. Eaton Company, driven into bankruptcy during the 1990s because it was unable to, ironically, identify and focus in on its most profitable customers as its competitors specialized.
A sample:
“Winnipeg consistently showed garments on larger, full-figured women. The same styles often looked different because of the models used. For example, an apron shown in Toronto on a slim, fashionable model, was shown on an overweight, matronly-looking woman in Winnipeg. At the same time, Toronto tended to be more diplomatic, using the phrases “larger sizes” or “extra size,” whereas Winnipeg referred to “stout women.” In 1919, Winnipeg carried ten dresses recommended for stout figures, compared to only three in Toronto.” (from the
Canadian Museum of Civilization’s Before E-Commerce exhibition)Well … as David St. Hubbins once sang:
“Big bottom
Big bottom
Talk about mudflaps
My gal’s got ‘em
Big bottom, drive me out of my mind
How can I leave this behind?”(sound file here)
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At what point does your client become a liability?
3December 15, 2004 by Colin
Did you know it’s summer in Australia? I’m awfully aware of that fact, staring out my window at 8 inches of snow and a balmy -9 degrees celcius.
icon Communications is the AOR for Sharman Networks, the owner of Kazaa. As you probably know, Sharman is being chased through the Australian court system, and icon is being dragged along behind it.
The Australian Record Industry Association (ARIA) has subpoenaed every document, note, scribbling and text message involved in their business relationship, and is using this material in its case against Sharman.
Interestingly, the ARIA is also arguing that icon is materially interested in the outcome of the court case, and is therefore violating the code of ethics for the Public Relations Institute of Australia by continuing to provide media relations advice and services to Sharman.
“I question their independence as a PR agency,” says ARIA media spokesman for the case, Michael Speck. “They need their client to win the copyright case to justify their involvement in a promotional campaign, which is now a central plank in our case. They should disclose that involvement to journalists.”
There are more details in The Australian.
Of course, in a just world icon communications would instead be scorned and mocked for their flash-dependent website.
Addendum: apparently, my last comment only applies to a company operating as icon communications in Australia – and not related to the company advising Sharman. Still, WAAAY too much flash on their site.
The actual icon can be found here.
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Light blogging
0December 15, 2004 by Colin
Over the Christmas season, obviously, I will be blogging less. Please be patient, and I value your readership.
Happy Holidays!
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How to be …
0December 13, 2004 by Colin
Power. Money. Influence over the selection of Sun girls. A role in a Spice Girls movie. Do you want it all? Do you want to be … Max Clifford? (Guardian, r.r.)
Of course, being an effective public relations practitioner requires expertise in a number of areas, like direct marketing. Here’s some advice from Lester Wunderman.
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Ipod – the best and worst present for Christmas?
0December 11, 2004 by Colin
How can you take a loved family member from soaring excitement to soul-crushing pain and agony – in the space of ten minutes – on Christmas morning?
Quite easily, actually. The first step is to give them an Ipod. The second step is to preload the Ipod with the worst playlist imaginable. Try using these tips from the SaltwaterPizza blog:
- Mix incompatible genres
- Variety, variety, variety
- Include “Achy Breaky Heart” by Billy Ray Cyrus
- Be careful about groups with cult followings
- One word: Nickelback
- Use controversy to your advantage
- Don’t forget Disney!
- Corporate America Sellouts
- Add some Humperdinck
- Annoy the CD loversBy carefully selecting the songs available to your loved one and limiting access to any alternative title, artist, genre or equipment, you can spend hours watching your brother/sister/father walk around sullen and hamstrung, working themselves through the stages of denial and loss:
Denial: “No, no. That’s fine. I’m sure the songs you picked out are great. After all, you DO know me so well.”
Bargaining: “Listen – I know it’s time for the turkey, but can I use your DSL line, just for fifteen minutes?” “The guy next door has 8 gig of songs? Well, maybe your neighbour DOES want to be disturbed on a day like this!”
Anger“But who the hell actually PAYS for MacArthur Park? Or Quando, Quando, Quando, for that matter!”
Despair: prolonged bouts of clicking and shuffling as your relative just stares at the Ipod, as if to will it to create a U2 playlist out of thin air.
Acceptance “You know, I never realized how much I really like Kajagoogoo‘s Too Shy. In its eclecticism, this playlist reveals the depth of your musical sophistication.”
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12 days of Christmas – branded to bejezzus
0December 11, 2004 by Colin
Fluxblog has featured Jerry Nutter’s “The Twelve Days Of Christmas” – where Nutter substitutes vintage radio ads instead of the rote list of hens, maids …
Well worth a listen, especially for such Christmas favourites like “a three year supply of Libby’s frozen fruits and vegetables!”
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Dear cellphone user …
0December 9, 2004 by Colin
Along the same thread as last week’s post on mobile habits, a fantastic idea from Draplindustries Design: The Society for Handheld Hushing, with dl’able custom hushing cards for loud mobile users.
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Putting words into politician’s mouths
0December 9, 2004 by Colin
Bit of a tempest in a teapot during the Tuesday sitting of Canada’s Senate. One enterprising Tory Senator noticed that some of his Liberal colleagues had read speeches in to the Senate support of legislation that were nearly identical to speeches previously read in the House of Commons – a transgression of Senate rules.
A short debate ensued about creativity and propriety ensued, but I found this excerpt from Senator Anne cools‘ argument on the issue interesting:
“There is now arising in many parliamentary quarters great concern about the number of speeches — especially canned speeches — that are being written by other people for members. It is a huge concern.
I expect, as a member of Parliament and a senator here, that if a senator rises and speaks, he owns that which he is saying — in other words, that speech is a product of his or her efforts. We must discern exactly what the parliamentary position is on these practices that have grown like Topsy, where it is immediately evident that those speeches were written in distant places because most often they do not even reflect the language of Parliament. Quite often, the grammatical structure is in the passive tense.
…This is a broad question. It has a larger consequence than we comprehend. What it means is that government, by having thousands of people churning out these speeches, can be making in each chamber many speeches in a day. This means, of course, that the natural proceedings in Parliament are not moving along at a very natural pace.
… I would submit to honourable senators that the government, with all its resources and all its speech writers grinding them out and holding them in cans, can load and weight the system in its favour.” (Senate Hansard)
Hey, all you government communicators! Isn’t it nice to be appreciated?
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Barry, baseball and the juice
0December 8, 2004 by Colin
The NYTimes has spoken to several baseball and marketing experts about how Barry Bonds might deal with ‘roid ‘rage building around him.
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Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Ovitz and Percodan
0December 7, 2004 by Colin
Woody Allen’s penned a funny and surreal account of Mickey Mouse’s appearance as a surprise witness at the Eisner/Ovitz trial.
C: Did you ever tell Mr. Eisner of your apprehensions over his plan to hire Mr. Ovitz?
W: Minnie and I discussed it. We knew they’d clash.
C: Did you bring it up with anyone besides your wife?
W: Dumbo, Bambi—I really can’t remember. Oh, yes—Jiminy Cricket, one time at Barbra Streisand’s house. She threw a party for Jiminy when he bought his place in Trancas.
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Blog comment spam – not really from Calacanis
0December 7, 2004 by Colin
Propagating a campaign through word of mouth sometimes involves building volume by having many, many sources repeat basic and elementary facts – but comment spam?
“Help stop evil (url snip) word of mouth marketers like (url snip) BzzAgent.com by supporting the (url snip) Blog Publishers Association founded by legendary blogger (url snip) Jason Calacanis.”
Interesting little back and forth between Jason and the others over in a comment section at gapingvoid.
Addendum: AWW CRAP. I just figured this out! If I actually tell my Movable Type blacklist to ban this particular comment spam, it will block all those URLs as well. It must be a devious plot by those “No Logo” loving lefties!
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Podcasting your customer service beef
0December 7, 2004 by Colin
Jackie Huba has a great idea: amplifying the volume on your unresolved customer service complaint through podcasting.
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How not to mine email addys
0December 7, 2004 by Colin
In January, an Ottawa man received an unsolicited marketing email from the Ottawa Renegades, the local CFL team. He asked how his addy had made it onto their list: turns out they scraped it from his work site. The man, Michael Geist, asked the team not to email again without permission. We all know where this is leading: Geist got another email from a different Renegades rep.
Problem is, Michael Geist is the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law at the University of Ottawa. He sits on the federal government’s spam task force, and writes a weekly column for the Toronto Star on intellectual property issues.
We all dream our marketing lists are up-to-date, sparkling clean and full of potential bzzagents. We certainly hope our “unsolicited marketing messages” won’t irritate people or alienate key demographics. But I’m sure none of us wants to find a knowledgeable and politically-aware lawyer at the other end of the line.
Here’s what the Renegades have produced: the first official ruling under Canada’s new electronic privacy law (PIPEDA).Canada’s Privacy Commissioner ruled that the Renegades had violated this privacy law when they harvested Geist’s email from a business listing, and then did not accede to his request for contact to stop.
The ruling isn’t legally binding, but it calls into question an industry belief that business emails are exempt from this privacy legislation.
There’s more coverage in the Toronto Star.
Disclosure: I work at the Department of Industry, initially responsible for creating the PIPEDA legislation. I did not work on the act, and do not deal with electronic privacy issues. That said, nothing on this blog constitutes the opinion of the Government of Canada.
Canuckflack
… Colin McKay has some thoughts about design, data, management, government and oddities … written in Canada!
Tumblr Goodness
Blood Stains from the slaine Monks of Lindisfarne in the Viking attack of 793AD. Â Folios 191v and 192r of the Lindisfarne Gospels - written and illuminated by the Anglo-Saxon Bishop Eadfrith in 698AD.
Liber generationis Jesu Christi
“Lo, it is nearly 350 years that we and our fathers have inhabited this most lovely land, and never before has such terror appeared in Britain as we have now suffered from a pagan race, nor was it thought that such an inroad from the sea could be made. Behold, the church of St. Cuthbert spattered with the blood of the priests of God, despoiled of all its ornaments; a place more venerable than all in Britain is given as a prey to pagan peoples.”
Alcuin, Letter to Ethelred, King of Northumbria
Images: British Library
I had a Brooks Brothers 15 1/2 - 35 shirt and we used its front pocket to determine when the Pilot design was “pocket sized” - Joel Jewitt, discussing the invention of the Palm Pilot
http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130408043926-7298-early-employees-joel-jewitt-palm
Before I discovered the Internet
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