Canuckflack

1. Positive attributes of technology – DEVO

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   December 16, 2006 by Colin

   Mark Mothersbaugh from DEVO spoke to the Triangle Independent Weekly about his art and his past:

   INDEPENDENT: I’m 32, and with digital technologies I’ve noticed an acceleration in de-evolution in my lifetime. I go to the library, a cell phone goes off, and I listen to this inane conversation…. How do these things feel to you? Do you feel an acceleration?

   MOTHERSBAUGH: Well, unfortunately, yeah. My feeling about technology—it’s still the same as it was when we started Devo—is that I’m pro-information, anti-stupidity and pro-positive mutation. And I think that still applies 30 years later. That’s still my feeling. That’s my concern with the world…

   Interview with Andy Spade about Mothersbaugh’s extensive advertising and movie work at Index Magazine.

   ANDY: I find it surprising that artists still don’t want to admit they do commercial projects.

   MARK: It takes a masterful artist to have his art embraced by popular culture and not turn to shit. You have to be really clever or really subversive. Target used the Devo song “Beautiful World” in a commercial last Christmas. That was one of my favorite moments for us as a band, even though they didn’t include the punch line of the song, which is, “It’s a beautiful world for you, for you, but not for me.” That song was basically a diatribe against mindless consumerism. It’s very ironic but also very satisfying that they’d use it.

   Biovid from NBC available at markmothersbaugh.com.

   Intervideo about DEVO’s origins at Kent State can be found at Weird America.

   More of Mark Mothersbaugh’s work.

   [tags] DEVO, Mothersbaugh, graphic art [/tags]

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2. The mall’s role in American culture

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   December 14, 2006 by Colin

   The blogging world is full of niches. Public relations blogs are one tiny niche. Another even smaller grouping is mall bloggers. The leading mall blogs are featured in Retail Traffic this month. Here’s my list:

   • Malls of America is a multimedia blast into the past, with a fond eye for the postcard views of 60′s design and the overhyped promise of technology.
   • DeadMalls popped up on my handheld during a shopping trip to Syracuse. It was of no help in finding hollister, though.
   • the BoxTank – a more considered examination of the role of malls and big box stores in the suburban environment, but seems to be dead
   • Roadside Architecture – an attempt to document all those “did you see that” locations along the highway. Dinosaurs, 50′s bus stops, diners …

   That’s blogs about malls, written by fans. As opposed to blogs written for malls, by consultants – like the poor Oakland Mall Blog. A post every quarter that reads like promotional copy, and a contact address that has a different name to that listed under “author.”

   Underserved niche: I’m surprised no-one has set up a blog for mall walkers. There’s a consumer market, property nuisance, neighbourhood watch, and liability lawsuit waiting to happen, all in one group.

   I also like the “closed for business – abandoned shops/stores” group on flickr.

   [tags] mall, retail, shopping [/tags]

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3. Wal-Mart’s advertising: a peek behind the curtain

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   December 14, 2006 by Colin

   While Wal-Mart retreats to a traditional advertising campaign featuring the Smiley Face and low pricing, Julie Roehm, the company’s short lived star marketer, plans for a future on the East Coast. What about the old guard – the marketers that helped drive Wal-Mart’s sales to such stratospheric heights?

   In late October, the Kansas City Pitch interviewed Bob Bernstein, the founder of Wal-Mart’s longtime adveritsing agency, Bernstein-Rein. Covered are the initial years of the relationship (including some really rough old-school television ads) through to the August decision to drop Bernstein-Rein from the latest agency review.

   Included are some in-house observations about how Wal-Mart dealt initial with growing community and consumer dissatisfaction.

   “… Inside Bernstein-Rein, employees grumbled about representing Wal-Mart. Jeff Bremser, who has been Bernstein’s chief creative director for the past 30 years, says Wal-Mart lost its moral focus when Walton died. “Wal-Mart had changed,” Bremser says. “Wal-Mart used to be a very honest company. They were never involved in any trickery under Sam.”

   In his defense, Bernstein says he didn’t know that racks with “Made in the U.S.A.” logos contained foreign-made goods.”

   Bernstein is referring to the 1992 flap over Wal-Mart’s sourcing of products in Asia – while the company had been running an intensive and patriotic ad campaign at the same time.

   “…After the “Buy American” debacle, Bernstein-Rein had to recast Wal-Mart’s image. The plan, according to several current and former Bernstein-Rein employees, was to ignore the negative press.

   “The strategy was that there is really only one Wal-Mart, and that’s the closest one to your house,” says Carter Weitz, a former Bernstein-Rein art director who’s now with the Lincoln, Nebraska, ad firm Bailey Lauerman. In other words, the idea was that shoppers would continue to come no matter what was said about the company, as long as their neighborhood Wal-Mart had the cheapest merchandise.

   Several current and former employees mentioned the closest-to-your-house strategy to the Pitch word-for-word. But when asked about it, Bernstein said he hadn’t heard of it. “If they were doing that down in the creative department, that wasn’t something I was a part of.”

   [tags] Wal-Mart, Made in the U.S.A., Roehm, Bernstein [/tags]

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4. Outrageous PR Stunts – and the personality behind them

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   December 12, 2006 by Colin

   “Can We Do That? Outrageous PR Stunts That Work – and Why Your Company Needs Them” is a pull yourself up by your bootstraps sort of book, willing and pushing businesspeople and public relations types alike to take their work more seriously – and have more fun doing it.

   It’s a light hearted book with a serious message – to break through those personal barriers that keep you and your team from being truly original.

   Peter Shankman is a good friend, and I ripped through his book quite quickly. His personal anecdotes illustrate basic but always relevant observations that help you shape a unique public relations campaign, and his personality shouts from every page.

   And the fact that he gave me the book did not influence this review at all.

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5. Benchmark your pay as a government communicator

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   December 12, 2006 by Colin

   Are you a government communicator – particularly in the United States? Then benchmark your pay scale against the pay of senior communications staffers in Congress. A database put online by LegiStorm makes this available. Try, for example, these employees of the last Congress:

   • the Communications Director in the Office of the Chief Democratic Whip
   • the Communications Director of the Armed Services Committee
   • the two deputy Comms Directors and two Comms Directors on the Energy and Commerce Committee
   • a Press Assistant in the Office of the House Speaker

   In Canada, the Treasury Board sets general guidelines for� staffers in Minister’s offices: up to $124,100 for a Director of Communications.

   Feel like contributing the guidelines or examples for your country? I’ll add them to this post.

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6. Cutural awareness is key

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   December 11, 2006 by Colin

   Grant, over at TBSAT, drives home the point that marketers (and public relations types) are quite capable of neglecting the role of “culture” in shaping products, messaging, advertising and every aspect of branding.

   “…Culture is a new “disruptive technology.”� (I speak metaphorically.� What I mean is that culture is now as disruptive as technology.)� Culture contains a surface churn, a boiling innovation that helps refashion consumer taste and preference. It also contains deeper, structural changes, that are transforming the very grammars of innovation. …”

   In dissecting the work of several popular marketers and academics, he makes the point that culture is a far more pervasive and multi-faceted influence than is often recognized� by marketing� models, theories and brandspeak.

   “… Cool hunters are diminishing in another way.� The only part of culture that interested them are the things that a trendy and brand new.� Its all the froth of the churn, with nary a thought for the deep structures.� I have seen the cool hunters at work, shaming big corporations for not being hip enough.� But big corporations cannot set their cycles of innovation only to the trend of the moment.� They must spot deeper cycles of change.� Knowing about culture can’t be a pursuit of cool.� …”

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7. Hedonic groceries … shopping carts and cucumbers

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   December 6, 2006 by Colin

   New in the world of market research and evaluation: testing the efficiency of shopping patterns in grocery stores. Still unexplored: the intended and unintended impacts of in-store media and marketing on the same shopping patterns.

   Relatively novel research by a group of Wharton marketing academics attempts to gauge the efficiency of routes taken by grocery store patrons. The economists’ approach begins by applying the travelling salesman problem: what is the shortest route necessary to reach a list of destinations? This problem is evaluated using a multi-node database collected with the help of RFID-equipped shopping carts and register receipt analysis.

   “We see that the produce and tobacco categories are over-represented in the [efficient] group. On the other hand, canned, ready-to-eat, and frozen food, among other products, tend to be over-represented in the [inefficient] group.This indicates that on average, shoppers who purchase prepared food products are generally less forward-looking than other shoppers when they construct their shopping paths.

   At the surface, inferences like these may seem only tangentially relevant to managerial interest; however, if retailers can influence [shopper route efficiency] through advertising, in-store signage, etc., and hence affect the profits associated with various look-ahead patterns, this can become a useful managerial tool.”

   Despite all their economic models, these researchers have yet to win any insight into how I navigate a grocery store. Driven by a basic list of essentials, I am also influenced by end cap displays, on-shelf couponing, private label discounting, a sketchy memory for shopping lists and a dangerous sense of adventure when it comes to sauces and bastes. Or maybe they do know me:

   “Some shoppers may be hedonic browsers … who like to wander around the grocery store and derive utility in ‘window shopping,’” …

   “Other shoppers may not have enough knowledge of the store to remember where the products they wish to purchase are located.”

   The researchers acknowledge that more nuanced data could significantly affect their findings:

   “…An important dimension that we did not address in this paper is the
   amount of time that shoppers spend deliberating about their purchases, or aimlessly loitering, within a given zone. We can not address this issue with our cart-based RFID data because we do not observe the shopper’s behavior directly. But as data collection technology further matures (e.g., using video recordings instead of – or in addition to – RFID tracking), this time dimension can fruitfully be explored.”

   Sounds like they need to speak to some anthropologists … or Envirosell.

   “The Travelling Salesman Goes Shopping: The Systematic Inefficiences of Grocery Paths,” excerpted in Knowlege@Wharton.

   For you operations research junkies: the Travelling Salesman Problem Generator.

   A heavily edited sworn statement on the marketing of salty snacks at a grocery store.

   ….

   in the supermarket vegetable section]
   Eric ‘Otter’ Stratton: Mine’s bigger.
   Marion Wormer: looks questioningly at him
   Eric ‘Otter’ Stratton: My cucumber. It’s bigger.
   Eric ‘Otter’ Stratton: I think vegetables can be very sensuous, don’t you?
   Marion Wormer: No, vegetables are sensual. People are sensuous.
   Eric ‘Otter’ Stratton: Right. Sensual. That’s what I meant. My name’s Eric Stratton. People call me Otter.
   Marion Wormer: My name’s Marion. People call me Mrs. Wormer.
   Eric ‘Otter’ Stratton: Oh, we have a Dean Wormer at Faber.
   Marion Wormer: How interesting. I have a husband named Dean Wormer at Faber. Still want to show me your cucumber?

   [tags] operations research, grocery, trip chaining [/tags]

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8. Sex and the malentendu: how one rumour affected Enrique

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   December 6, 2006 by Colin

   Celebrity interviews are a challenge for most reporters. The celebrity has a limited amount of time to build the loudest buzz for their product, and the reporter must not only feign a bond between the two of them, but find some unique nugget of information to share with� readers.

   That’s why Steven Devadanam (Houston Press) thought his interview of Enrique Iglesias had gone so well last year. The two had struck it off, and Iglesias had even cracked some jokes.

   Unfortunately for Iglesias, one of� those jokes picked up speed – at the same moment losing any sense of humour or irony – and bounced around the gossip echo chamber.

   And that’s how we all learned to think that Iglesias, um, has some packaging issues.

   Devadanam writes of the interview and the aftermath in the Houston Press this week.

   To be fair to Enrique, I don’t think the interviewer clearly positioned his comments as a joke. The interview appeared as a throw-away in an entertainment column, and didn’t include as much context as Devadanam provided in his most recent piece.

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9. Stupid IS as Stupid BLOGS

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   December 5, 2006 by Colin

   “Advising a CEO to start a blog without figuring out what it’s going to stand for is a bit like …”

   • booking the CEO on 60 Minutes, no questions asked
   • ignoring years building delicate labour/management relationships
   • condemning yourself to months of “Well, I’M a writer NOW, TOO”
   • making space for the SEC investigators in your building plans
   • handing half your government relations budget to Lionel Hutz
   • moving all the company’s advertising into print

   Building on a theme started by Keith from PRWeek.

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10. Appealing art for hyper-realists

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    December 5, 2006 by Colin

    I’m digging the work of Darlene Charneco. At touch of the pseud in the narrative, but that’s likely to be expected.

    “…Ms. Charneco uses household nails, acrylic, enamel, glitter, model houses and trees, and multiple layers of resin to create 3-dimensional paintings. The works represent a lifetime of constructed memories, as well as the virtual worlds she has visited and created in her online social communities. In her artist’s statement Ms. Charneco asks the biggest question that engages her: “From an aerial view, it is hard to ignore the similarities of our cities and roads to the internal structures of a large and complex organism. One might consider the Web as a growing nervous system, full of sensors, gathering and sending information to and fro. What is our role within this organism?”

    Then again, I always found� Ordnance Survey Maps appealing� as well.

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11. Social media solutions for Santa Claus Enterprises, Inc.

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    December 4, 2006 by Colin

    Issue: A� vertical conglomerate with continuous production demands and an asymmetrical distribution cycle, Santa Claus Enterprises faces accelerating competition from e-suppliers and even a reinvigorated challenge from traditional toy retailers. It currently faces difficulties coordinating the work of its management, production, strategic forecasting and distribution groups.

    Scope: Communications among SCE, Inc. groups relies upon traditional communications methods: waterfall information management, employee newsletter, small team meetings and a sketchy computer network. Senior management has identified several immediate challenges that require enhanced communications capabilities, including:

    • a six sigma approach to quality control on the production line;
    • just-in-time inventory controls;
    • outside food sourcing;
    • intra-species human resources management; and
    • competitive intelligence collection.

    Suggested Solutions:

    • Vodcasting: Encourage continuous learning among the workforce with voice and video podcasting, with custom programming available on SCE Inc. branded players. Distribute corporate messaging easily and quickly. Make the newest training material� available from� onsite workstations – including footage of the� latest workplace accidents and customer safety complaints. Sure to improve production quality!
    • Google Maps mash-up: By integrating� data on current inventory,� production scheduled at suppliers, positioning of available� reindeer fleet, traffic and weather conditions, and elves available to receive deliveries, management can monitor a comprehensive inventory dashboard.
    • Mobile text messaging:� Drawing upon� simple online text messaging software, managers and corporate officers can communicate with reindeer herders and purchasing agents currently away from the North Pole.
    • Desktop Widgets: OS-neutral widgets allow corporate officers to provided desk-bound workers with vital information on weather delays during delivery, RFID-enhanced elf monitoring to prevent pilferage, ready access to the latest cafeteria menu� and performance metrics measuring action on the workshop floor.
    • Viral Video:Elf populations have an unusually long lifespan. This presents unique challenges for “human” resources management. Utilizing CCTV systems initially developed for retail applications, management can track Elf� social behaviour. Disincentives can be applied by making the more entertaining CCTV video available on YouTube and other social video sites.
    • Wikis: SCE Inc. can better� forecast demographic and regional demand for particular toys by analyzing commercially available consumer purchasing data. To anticipate last minute fluctuations in inventory and erratic delivery schedules, credit ratings and FICO scores can help anticipate increased last-minute demand by household. Wikis are a useful and flexible tool for SCE Inc. data analysts to share both raw and analyzed intelligence.

    We thank you for the opportunity to participate in this bid. Agency partners participating in this bid will continue to service the Santa Claus Enterprises Inc. account, and include:

    • J. Frost, Account Manager
    • Dr. Victor Fries, Agency Principal
    • Yukon Cornelius, Agency Founder
    • Billy Richards, Account Assistant

    [tags] Santa, Christmas, Toys, RFP [/tags]

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12. The lobby groups that are staring down Bentonville

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    December 1, 2006 by Colin

    The anti Wal-mart crowd gets a big wet sloppy kiss from Fortune. A profile of Wake Up Wal-Mart and Wal-Mart Watch. Some details from Wake up Wal-Mart‘s plans:

    “… The PowerPoint presentation entitled “Hope for the Holidays” details how the 1 1/2-year-old union-backed group plans to rattle Wal-Mart’s carefully crafted image precisely when Americans are frequenting the mega-retailer most. It includes a ten-part timeline for attacking the company from mid-October through the end of the year.

    The week before Christmas, for example, the group plans a mini-campaign titled “America, Pray for Wal-Mart to Change.” It calls for reaching out to religious leaders and groups, targeted media buys and candlelight vigils in front of the stores, with families and children asking for health care. It’s topped off by a national day of prayer.”

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13. Pr Bloggers: servants of the almight dollar?

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    December 1, 2006 by Colin

    Ed’s got a good conversation going about the propriety of Canadian PR bloggers hosting advertising by CNW. Here’s my comment:

    �

    “Good points, guys.

    Yes, I decided to carry the ad. I’ve never carried ads because I could never be guaranteed an ad program would deliver ads specific to my readership – the CNW ad hits that group square on the (nail) head.

    CNW should probably test several methods of increasing their contact with the online world. Ads are a start, but maybe a blog outreach program or even an internal blog can be a next step. For most everyone in the real world, we’re still in a time of baby steps – and baby tumbles.

    I have to disagree, though, with the concept that PR blogs should be some sort of “port in the storm.” The PR community is not going to maintain a long term postition of authority as the counsellor or expert in social media by avoiding integrated marketing.

    Advertising and marketing agencies are more than willing to demonstrate their long-standing expertise in audience segmentation, message development, vehicle execution and performance measurement.

    At the moment, PR blogs are quick to claim the moral and ethical high ground when faced with poorly thought-out blogs and splogs dreamed up by marketing teams.

    But those professions will learn – quickly.

    PR agencies have to diversify in their range of interest to become a central partner on social media campaigns that take advantage of PR, advertising, marketing and retail execution.

    In some cases, PR agencies will stumble. To wit: Edelman.

    If we do not adapt, we will lose our present competitive advantage in social media. The winner (in RFP showdowns, the bank account and in C-Suites) will be the media consultant who can demonstrate impact upon business and the bottom line.

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14. This creativity tool is whickety whack!

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    November 29, 2006 by Colin

    

    That’s my rendition of a Death Star, built out of a Ball of Whacks – the new creativity toy/tool developed by Roger von Oech.� Built from� of 30 magnetic blocks, its’ geodesic shape reminds me of the Montreal Biosphere or the Hostel in the Forest (photos).

    Roger sent me a complimentary Ball after I praised his books in a post on creativity. His level of engagement online, as Paul has discussed, is both startling and logical: the audience and market for truly though-provoking innovations really has moved online.

    I can go on and on about Roger’s past work encouraging creativity and innovation, but I’ll let my recent experience with the Ball of Whacks say it all:

    • when I have this ball on my desk, everyone – I mean everyone – who stops by plays with it.
    • when I took it home, my three kids fought to play with it.

    We went on a road trip this past weekend, and the kids demanded equal time playing with the ball. One of them even brought a plastic Ikea tray so she could smash the ball and reassemble it into different shapes. If you look closely, you can see white dots where the kids wore down each individual magnetic piece as they played with the ball.

    I found it remarkable that all three kids wanted to play with the ball so much – they each have their own style of learning and expression. Nevertheless, the expressive kid, the intuitive kid and the crazy kid all found different uses for von Oech’s Ball of Whacks.

    This observation seems to apply in the office as well. The control freak wants to reassemble the ball. The skeptic takes it apart and reassembles it. The procrastinator tries to build a Transformer robot out of it. The lazy bastard just takes it apart and leaves all thirty pieces on the desktop. And the truly creative person uses the pieces to spell words on the side of a metal filing cabinet.

    As a visual thinker and attention-deprived worker, I appreciated the 96 page handbook that comes with the Ball, but I haven’t read it yet. I’m sure it’s very good, and will make good reading when I find time – in 2007. In the meanwhile, I’m going to continue playing with my ball.

    [tags] Creative, Creativity, Imagination, Whacks [/tags]

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15. Compact cars, sex, and $9.50 an hour

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    November 29, 2006 by Colin

    Successful advertising always attracts your attention: a successful product solves a� problem you may not have yet identified. Such is the magic of Zipcar‘s online advertising, which I have seen on several Toronto sites and blogs.

    

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