Canuckflack

I’m mulling over an idea - a Conversation Audit - that would help companies evaluate whether they need a social media component to their regular marketing and public relations campaign.

The idea behind a Conversation Audit is to actually stop and take stock of the many ways you communicate with audiences, customers, consumers, stakeholders and regulators.

Only at that point will a company be truly equipped to judge whether a social media campaign is important to its needs.

Technorati Tags: conversation audit

It struck me, listening to the abysmal music available on the radio today, that a lot of artists are affected by seasonal affective disorder. Not their music - their availability on radio channels. Take AOR stalwarts John Denver or Anne Murray: you rarely hear their songs at the height of summer.

Hall & Oates, on the other hand, are played all the time and no matter the weather.

I present for your enjoyment, an attempt to divide up the music spectrum according to seasons. In other words, in which temperature range will you likely hear specific genres or bands?

For example: Emo or Michael Buble are more likely to be heard (or received well) during the Fall. So is the soundtrack to When Harry Met Sally, but that dates me. A lot.

Technorati Tags: seasonal affective disorder, music genre, seasons, morrissey

For a long time, people told Chicken Little that he was too much of a downer, that he only saw the glass as half-full. He was always telling prospective clients that they had to get ready for the next big problem, that life was about to deal their shareholders a swift kick in the ‘nads.

But then the plucky little communications professional found his niche: preparing unsuspecting businesses to battle the inevitable online assault on their reputation.

His elevator pitch was very 2005:

“Do you have ten minutes to discuss the unfortunate story of Kryptonite?”

You know the rest of the story: open source solutions presented as proprietary, per diems, markups on technical suppliers, teleconferences, and a credenza full of lucite plaques, quills, pens, and awards of merit.

Oh, and a rough carpet of astroturf everywhere.

Technorati Tags: identity, social media consultancy, crisis, social media expert, astroturf

I present a quick analysis of the character traits and scene-setting found in popular rock hits from the 1980s, and from hit music topping the charts today.

Technorati Tags: music videos, stereotypes, casting, music hits, Lee Aaron

Darren Barefoot is a genius. As rockers and alt-artists and indie bands turn to their fans to find revenue sources, Darren issues a challenge for us all to come clean about our music thievery:

“… I’ve owned over 250 CDs, but I’ve also downloaded a lot of music or received it from friends. That process has enabled me to discover a bunch of great artists, and in many cases I’ve gone on to buy their CDs or attend their concerts. That hasn’t been true for every artist, though, and I’ve always felt a little sheepish about that.

In the great debate about the RIAA and the future of digital music, I think we sometimes forget that musicians still need to make a living. So I thought I’d help out some of those musicians that I hadn’t otherwise compensated, and encourage others to do the same.

I also thought it’d be fun to get people to deploy their craft skills, in a vague homage to Post Secret. You don’t have to decorate your letter, but I think you’ll enjoy it more if you do.”

The result? Dear Rockers, a site where you send a letter and $5 to compensate a rocker.

Here’s my submission, which is in the mail:

Technorati Tags: Honeymoon Suite, Lee Aaron, Dear Rockers, Darren Barefoot

This is a point about corporate social responsibility, using consumer marketing and Canadian company Lululemon as an example. While consumers are willing to invest a fair amount of faith and goodwill in a company without proof of a detailed CSR plan, at the first sign of a crisis, they tend to look for evidence, independent testing and videotape of manufacturing facilities with happy and well-educated workers.

Which brings us to the upscale active wear chain Lululemon.

Seaweed or no seaweed? Health benefits from the product or no benefits? That’s the question the New York Times asked this week about a fabric called VitaSea and the products made of the fabric sold by the company. The newspaper (after a tip from a shortseller of Lululemon stock) had tested two of their products for presence of seaweed, as claimed. There didn’t seem to be any.

The company’s first response?

When asked about Lululemon’s product tags and the claims about vitamins and minerals, [Chip Wilson, founder, product designer and board chair] said, “That’s coming from the manufacturer. If you feel the fabric, it feels a lot different.”

And the quotes got worse:

Director for products and design. She said the company would test the fabric in the future.“We will be diving in deeper, so that our educators on the floor can answer those tough questions,” Ms. Schweitzer said. “Right now, we are relying on the mill and SeaCell’s information.”

That’s not the best of answers. Just ask Nike or Mattel how “the manufacturer is responsible” works as a rebuttal to criticism of product quality. Which must be one reason why Canada’s Competition Bureau got involved.

The company responded quickly, noting that they regularly ask an independent lab to test their materials and products, and that they did contain fabric derived from seaweed.

Still, you have to wonder why that fact wasn’t communicated to a BSD like the New York Times when they first asked. (a point Eric also brought up)

By the end of the week, the Competition Bureau had struck an agreement with Lululemon to stop making claims of health benefits for the fabric.

“Those claims have to be scientific and they have to be provable,” said Andrea Rosen, acting deputy commissioner of the bureau. “The onus is on the advertiser, not the government, to prove that the tests are adequate prior to making the claims.” (NYT)

Bob Meers, Lululemon’s CEO, issued a statement after the Competition Bureau announcement, noting that:

“In order to ensure the integrity of our product labelling, we are conducting a review of the therapeutic attributes described on all product hang tags.”

That seems to mean the score is product quality = 1, product attributes = 0.

Overall, their products are better made and more stylish than other active wear products on the market. Which means this contretemps probably won’t affect the company in the long term, since they continue to expand into the United States and abroad, winning converts and customers at the same time.

Technorati Tags: Lululemon, Chip Wilson, VitaSea, corporate social responsibility

Call it a workaround. Call it a hack. But I’m not sure twittering your status updates to your Facebook profile says anything other than “I don’t check Facebook regularly.”

That’s quite a bit of front-end setup for a tool you really don’t want to use.

Technorati Tags: Facebook, Twitter, TinyURL, status update

Depending upon the topic, it seems that people define the role of public relations practitioner, corporate communicator, and marketing fairly loosely. What exactly is the difference between the three distinct professions?

This graphic tries to separate them by indicating specific “benefits” of working in marketing communications (like travelling on business, having access to Super Bowl tickets) and then presenting the proportional odds of that benefit being available to one or all of the professions.

Technorati Tags: marketing, communicator, corporate communications, public relations, schwag

Rockin’ axe. Check!

Rollin’ drums. Check!

Grungy concert t-shirt. Check!

Bank of Marshall amps? Check!

Extended walkway for outrageous on-stage antics and guitar solos? Check!

Leather pants? Check!

White pleather jacket with gold brocade and arm chevrons? Ummmmm.

Short spiky hair? Jeeeeeez……..

Overextended leg kick? Phew, back on solid ground with that!

It’s David Lee Roth - who’s obviously been watching old game tape with Sammy Hagar at the helm of Van Halen.

image grabbed from videophone footage shot at Van Halen’s last rehearsal concert, at the LA Forum last month.

h/t to Cleveland Scene

Technorati Tags: Van Halen, David Hasselhoff, Allen Frew, Glass Tiger, Richard Marx, leather pants

Here you go folks. I’ve tried to draw out the career arc for the typical alternative band (or one hit wonder pop band). The arc progresses from left to right, with the four segments representing roughly two to three years in total (although it could be 18 months if you’re an American Idol winner).

I know I’m being unfair. Many bands have very successful careers as independent artists, profiting from one huge national hit to avoid working crap jobs as baristas ever again. Others turn away from more mainstream paths to emphasize their music and build a close connection to their loyal fans.

I’m thinking, really, of those bands whose career has been defined by one song. No matter how varied their discography (empthreeography?) and how nuanced their work, the only time most of us think of these bands is when we catch a bar or two of their signature song in an office building lobby, at the mall, or waiting for a teller at the bank.

Or in an ad for a feminine hygiene product.

• the Cranberrries’ Linger
• Dido’s Here With Me
• BareNaked Ladies One Week
• Counting Crows Mr. Jones
• Midnight Oil, Beds are Burning
• Jesus Jones, Right Here Right Now
• Lily Allen/Professor Longhair, Knock Em Out (ad)
  

A special added treat: Midnight Oil on Alan Thicke’s talk show - that’s right, Alan Thicke people!

Technorati Tags: music promotion, music marketing, AOR, AC radio, American Idol, radio, record sales

I’ve taken the Gartner Hype Cycle, and interpreted it by applying the typical objects you might find in a company office or cubicle during each phase of the cycle.

Social media can really affect your career. There’s a point where experimentation becomes obsession, where habits become compulsions. And at that point, there’s frequently a loss of judgment or perspective. It’s like getting high on the social media crack.

Adwords. Bloggers don’t mind running Adwords alonside their text because the Google program usually produces national-level text ads or extremely targeted text ads that complement your content.

But what if Google signed up with Pennysaver, the international chain of free weeklies that specializes in very cheap and very temporary local classified ads? That may just be in the works:

“…The companies also are talking about running a “bid-for-print” advertising test between PennySaverUSA.com’s parent Harte Hanks and Google. Under the deal, Google also could end up training sales reps at the “shopper” publications to sell AdWords to offline merchants that Google otherwise would have a hard time reaching …” (News.Com Google Blog)

All those half respectable ads could be replaced by geo-targeted classified notices. Bake sales. Charity Runs. Car Parts. Lost Pets and/or Children. Blood Drives. Your neighbour selling his old fridge.

That would really drag down the perceived value of your blog, wouldn’t it? Ads like the ones below showing up alongside your blog?

Technorati Tags: Pennysaver, Adwords, online classifieds

Crispin, Porter & Bogusky has quit the Miller account.

“We just have fundamental differences over creative and strategy,” Alex Bogusky, chief creative officer at Crispin, said in a statement released this afternoon. “And although we made every attempt to find common ground, the process of multilayered approvals of creative and strategy has made doing work we can be proud of increasingly difficult. So it seems to be in the best interest of both parties to part ways. We wish them the very best.”

In other words, death by committee. Oh - and beer commercials don’t need to be too cerebral to be successful. Don’t overthink the buzz, man!

Technorati Tags: CP&B, Miller, beer ads, viral isn’t golden

Department stores can live and die by the quality of their back rooms: the change room, the bathroom, and the back office.

Paul has pointed this out before.

J.C. Penney’s is getting a lot of love for its vivacious new Saatchi ads.

Of course, when you start with the bar set very low, anything at all creative is a tremendous leap forward.

Technorati Tags: J.C. Penney’s, Saatchi, Lovemarks

Hey folks. Know what I’ve noticed? Bloggers are most likely to post a critical word or a sarcastic riposte under two conditions:

• a big company with a global brand identity
• a person or company far, far away from your keyboard.

Either way, a blogger minimizes his/her chance of confrontation.

Sure, there are plenty of exceptions. There are some global brands who respond positively to criticism. And there are bloggers who concentrate on local subjects.

But sometimes, the biggest target is the easiest target. And if you swim with the pack, the chances of being singled out are much smaller.

Technorati Tags: bloggers are wimps, blog authority, criticism

With the closure of the Forth & Towne outlets, Gap Inc. continues to swing in the violent and fickle winds of fashion. The only house brand that seems able to hold its own is Banana Republic. Every other brand in the stable saw marginal increases as measured by in-store sales - but only because of aggressive marketing and discounts.

Just goes to show you: even when you’ve managed to make a connection with an entire generation of consumers, there is a recipe for ruining a good thing. It’s:

1. commoditize your signature items: khakis and cotton shirts,
2. create a downmarket brand that cannabilizes your core client base, and then
3. drown your customers in brand advertising.
4. Oh, and dry to grasp for the high ground by bringing in expensive celebrity spokesheads. Sarah Jessica Parker?

One of the commenters on StyleDash points out that Forth & Towne, a brand aimed at the (slightly) older demographic of female shopper, actually spells the acronym “F.A.T”.  Hrrmmm.

Technorati Tags: gap, old navy, baby gap, forth & towne

Technorati Tags: Captain Haddock, widgets, web 2.0, web 3.0, Tintin

Today,  I came across an animated gif used to illustrate a retail solution for an unnamed supplier. Even at first glance, there are some strange things going on in that shopping cart:

1. Bread and eggs. Two different damn corners of the supermarket.
2. Two big bottles of white wine. Are your friends coming over?
3. Right beside the red peppers - is that a jar of Marshmallow Fluff?
4. Two six-packs of Heineken. Are the significant others retreating to the home theatre?
5. She has extremely stumpy legs, but
6. A stylish A-line skirt and fitted t-shirt.
7. And we finish with Karl Pilkington’s head.

American Idol premiere tonight, folks. These are the best hours - the tryouts and the flaming disasters. The nationally televised performances that pop a hole in the delusions of many erstwhile singers and rap stars. And now you validate your insensitive and soulless armchair criticism with an official-looking judge’s scorecard!

Technorati Tags: American Idol, Paula Abdul, Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson, Ryan Seacrest, Delta Park Project 

Technorati Tags: Beckham, Galaxy, Real Madrid, football, soccer

Technorati Tags: consultants, social media practice, blind leading the blind

In commenting on my post about big words, Ron Diorio used a fantastic analogy:

“The Gutnenberg reference always makes me laugh. It seems that blogs are more like Brownie cameras. They tarnsformed a complex technical process into a push button solution. Culturally the Brownie camera changed the way that we saw things and allowed for sharing amongst our circle of family and friends. This changed the dyamics of picture taking - masterpieces could be created without masters.”

That prompted me to pull together a little doodle about two varieties of blogger: the amateur/savant, and the professional entertainer/muckracker.

I know Steve’s seen the op/ed in the Wall Street Journal today. I was deliberating how to react, if at all, when it struck me: I’ve always judged the strength of an argument by the language used by the principal. Mr. Joseph Rago surely loves the looong word. The sophisticated word. The intellectual word. The “I’m the only guy in my graduating class not to throw away my rhetoric notebook on the last day of school” word.

Here’s what we’ll be blogging on Christmas morning:

1. Ate Too Much
2. Christmas Sweaters
3. In-Laws. Can’t love ‘em, can’t leave ‘em.
4. BCS System
5. My Christmas in Second Life
6. WOM = Pimping, But Without The Sense of Style?
7. Umm, Peace to All … Republicans
8. Corporate Blogging is Ready to Break Out!
9. New iPod to replace the broken iPod
10. Windows Vista Sucks
11. World Hunger
12. That Rat Bastard at that Store in the Mall

Technorati Tags: conference, web 2.0, live blogging, unconference

Technorati Tags: meeting, personal organisation, GTD

Technorati Tags: Wal-Mart, walmart, Edelman, Rubel

A riff on Kathy Sierra’s “Success” should not mean “Management”. Rather than focus on that element of a venn diagram that singles out the sweet spot between “what you WANT to do” and “what you ACTUALLY do,” I’ve diagrammed the PR skillz all practitioners posess, and then segmented that according to the demand for those skillz.Big version of picture found at this link.

Technorati Tags: accreditation, venn diagram, career planning

I’m working my way through What Sticks: Why Most Advertising Fails and How to Guarantee Yours Succeeds - a valuable book that’s already received some favourable attention. I’ll post about the book later, but wanted to note what Rex Briggs and Greg Stuart call “the dual diminishing returns.”

When testing advertising campaigns, marketers can make two observations: “purchase intent increases with the first exposure to TV advertising, and then purchase intent increases at a slower rate with each subsequent impression”; and “it is expensive to get a really high level of reach because there is a natural pattern where reach grows at a much slower rate”.

I’d argue there are two datasets being overlooked in these observations: datasets that are, essentially, unmeasurable. The first is the level of consumer irritation, as measured against the increasing frequency of an advertising campaign. At some time we have all reached a point where an ad stopped being interesting and instead became a personal irritant. As the same ad continues to appear in our media mix, consumers can develop an antagonistic attitude towards the product and the company simply because its repetitive scheduling implies that the advertiser thinks the consumer is thick-headed and slow to action.

This growing sense of irritation can often be followed by a diminishing perception of creativity - both on the part of the product and the brand. Just as I can become irritated by repetition, I can jump to the conclusion that the advertiser has left one ad in heavy rotation because there’s very little thought or imagination being put into developing a more interesting and more engaging, campaign. What, am I not worth the extra effort? Or are you just not interested in making the effort?

Briggs and Stuart make an effective argument for a rigourously planned, monitored and evaluated advertising campaign that takes advantage of a varied media mix. To some extent, this approach can minimize the feeling by the consumer that they’re being beaten over the head with repetitive advertising and messaging. (That’s minimize, not eliminate. Any and all Canadians will agree with me that the advertising undertaken by McCain food products validate my observations.)

Technorati Tags: What Sticks, ad measurement, Reach vs. Frequency

Note: I received a review copy of What Sticks from Greg Stuart.