I dare you not to love this

April 19, 2007

Picture this.  You dial your mobile phone.  You speak for half a minute.  Those sentences get e-mailed to your e-mail address. 

Or your client. Or your employee.   Or an intact team.  Or your spouse. 

It’s like instant dictation.  But not only does it get typed, it gets delivered. 

Brilliant.  I predict Jott.com is going to be the breakout of 2007.  Here’s how I’m going to use it:

• Dictate notes from meetings and send them to myself for a record.  Jott it.
• I’m pulling out of a client’s parking lot and send a note to our Project Manager about opening a new job.  Jott him.
• Forget milk?  Never again.  Jott me.
• Have a breakthrough idea while waiting to board a plane — jott my entire staff before I forget said idea.  Jott the team.
• Want to remind my daughter to do XYZ but she’s  going to get home before I do. Jott her.
• See someone across the way at Panera and want to remember to call them in a week or so. Jott me.
• Have forgotten to grab a book from the office 3 times. Jott me.
• All the stuff that I try to write down before I forget it. Jott me.  Jott me. Jott me.

Ah yes…and on every e-mail there’s a link so I (or whoever gets jotted) can listen to the audio file.

You can’t tell me this wouldn’t be helpful to you too. Come on, admit it. You’re going to Jott.

I will give the geniuses at Jott the last word.

More

Want to write a best seller?

April 18, 2007

Then start with a title that rocks. If you’re looking for a little help with that killer title, check out this tool:

LuLu.com’s Titlescorer will predict whether your title will help you sell millions of copies or end up on the 50% off rack.  Developed by number-crunchers, this tool compares your title with attributes of the most successful books of the last 50 years.

Let’s have a contest…come up with a title (can’t cheat and use Gone with the Wind) and let’s see who can get the highest score. 

More

What’s next? Pink planes?

April 17, 2007

As you  may have read in this weekend’s US Today, American Airlines has launched a gender-specific are of its website, aimed at women.

Here’s what they say on the home page of this female-focused site.  " Welcome to American Airlines AA.com/women – the airline industry’s first web page dedicated to women who travel. This web page is about you – our valued customer. We’ve listened to women and recognized the need to provide additional information tailored to your business and pleasure travel needs and lifestyle. We also invite you to share insights, travel tips and stories by submitting them to wehearyou@aa.com."

I don’t get it.  Of the 18 hot links on the home page, only 2 of them seem women-specific.  One is girlfriend getaways and the other is the safety tab.  Couldn’t both of those have existed on the core page?

I guess this remind me of my pink tools post.  I am let wondering why and as a man, wondering if women aren’t insulted by being segregated out when really travel is a humbling equalizer for all of us.

What do you think?  Good idea or bad?  If you were in charge of this web presence — how would you actually make it valuable to women?

More

A branding lesson from Jackie Robinson

April 15, 2007

I went to a AAA baseball game today and was reminded how inspirational the game can be.  Today was Jackie Robinson Day. They showed a brief video that celebrated what he was all about.  I will admit, I got a bit choked up.

60 years ago, Jackie Robinson did what no black man had ever done.  He put on a major league baseball uniform and played along side white players.

And the part that people seem to forget is that Jackie’s breaking the color barrier was just the beginning of his struggles. Even after joining the team, he had to stay in different hotels, endure death threats, and dodge players who slid so they could drive their spikes into his shins and pitchers who hurled fastballs directly at his head.

His own teammates (not all of them) got up a petition to keep him off the team.

But he believed in what he was doing and so he persevered.  One of my favorite Jackie Robinson quotes is "A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives."

Jackie Robinson’s life had a purpose.  Something he believed in strongly enough that he was willing to suffer the consequences.

I’m not beginning to suggest that any company’s brand is going to equal the courage of someone like Jackie Robinson.  That would be insulting to what Robinson endured.

But…your brand should stand for something.  Something you are willing to fight for.  Something you are willing to walk away from business for.  Something that matters enough to draw a line in the sand and say "no more."

If your brand doesn’t inspire that kind of passion in you or your employees, how will it ever touch your consumers?

More

Office politics are not optional

April 15, 2007

When someone utters the words "office politics" everyone shakes their head in dismay and comments that it sure would be great if there were no such thing. 

But the reality is, office politics are not going anywhere.  So wouldn’t it be to our advantage to learn how to recognize and deal with it when it appears?

Carpe Factum’s Timothy Johnson tackles the realities of office politics in his new book, Gust, The Tale Wind of Office Politics.  Written in an easy-flowing business parable style, Johnson introduces us to a team of professionals that we’ll all recognize. 

One of the greatest insights from the book is that office politics are not inherently bad. 

Every business is filled with human beings and in some ways the book is as much a personality and psychological study as it is a business book. Being able to step back and objectively see the game being played is the first step to understanding what’s creating the problems at hand.   The book also examines the power of influence within an organization and all the different ways someone exercises that influence.

Practical, straightforward and easy to remember solutions are woven all through the book. 

Included in the book’s resource section, there are surveys that both employees and managers can take to facilitate a discussion around office politics. 

Why is this a book all marketers should read?  In most companies marketers rely on the cooperation of many departments and people. Without the ability to spot office politics and do the necessary analysis to identify the motives behind the behavior, we don’t stand a chance of being successful.

More

How to use informal surveys to generate some buzz

April 14, 2007

People are very curious about each other. Which is why the media loves surveys.

Surveys needn’t be massive, scientifically rigorous affairs to generate buzz for you. There is definitely a proper time and place for quality market research. But, in this case, I’m talking about just polling your customers with an interesting question that does not have an obvious answer so you can create some buzz.

Wonder how you could adapt it to your profession?  Let’s try a couple.

Photographer:   "If you could take only one of your photos with you before evacuating your home, which one would you choose?"

Restaurant owner:   "Do you count calories when you go out to eat?"

Computer consultant: “Do you ever talk to your computers (cursing and coaxing included!)

If nothing else, it’s great for newsletter filler, blog post, bag stuffer or a bill insert, etc.  It will spark a conversation with your customers and who knows, you might even uncover an idea for a new offering!

More

Don Imus: The dark side of citizen marketing?

April 13, 2007

Let me cut to the chase.

I have never listened to Don Imus.  I could care less what he says.  I could care less if he got to keep his job or not.  Do I think he’s a boorish pig, based on what he said about the Rutgers basketball team?  Sure.  But he certainly does not hold exclusive rights to that label. 

To me, all of that is irrelevant.

Because the issue isn’t Don Imus.  It isn’t racism.  Or political correctness.  Or respecting women.  If it were about those issues, most of the shock jocks and reality TV producers would also have lost their jobs yesterday.

Imus isn’t the worst of them…he’s just one of them.

What matters in the Imus firing is who fired the fatal shot.  And why.

We’re experiencing the birth of a new era – Citizen Marketing. We’ve all celebrated it.  But perhaps that is only half the story.

In the old days, the power rested in the hands of a few.  The zookeepers, or the sellers, ran the zoo.  They decided what the animals ate, which animals were in the petting zoo and what the hours of operation were.  It was at best, a very paternal relationship.  At worst, it was a one-sided dictatorship.

But today, the chimpanzees have the keys.  And in this early phase of this marketplace shift, where the buyers are actually the ones in power, it’s more than a little chaotic.  There are no rules.  Bananas on tap 24 hours a day! 

On the good side – the chimpanzees’ exuberance can be very contagious and they can encourage/force the zookeepers to be better at their job, just to keep up with them. 

But because there are no rules, the chimpanzees can also just as easily decide to pick on a particular zookeeper and fling feces at him.  And because there are so many of them and because human nature says, "join the crowd," once a few of the chimpanzees start tossing poop, many of the other chimpanzees join in.  Without really stopping to understand why. Mob mentality flashes hot and bright. And reason rarely has a starring role.  That doesn’t mean the mob is always wrong.  But it does suggest that the firestorm doesn’t allow for a lot of introspection or consideration.

Let’s face it.  Don Imus earned ratings and advertisers because he was a boorish pig.  And the chimpanzees (in this case…advertisers and the target audiences of those advertisers) rewarded him by buying more advertising, giving him a more prestigious time slot, more guest appearances, more fame, etc. etc.

I am also quite sure that the Rutgers comment was not Don’s first racist or sexist comment.  I’m even willing to bet that some things he has said in the past were even more hurtful and offensive to some.   But the chimpanzees screeched and hooted, loving his antics.

Until one day, a few chimpanzees didn’t like what he said.  Who knows why.  He was shooting off his mouth saying vulgar things, like they had trained him to do.  But for whatever reason, this particular statement got everyone’s attention.  And the chimpanzees started making a different kind of noise.  And throwing feces.  Pretty soon, they were making enough noise that others noticed.  And joined in.  And pretty soon, the only way to calm the chimpanzees was to get the zookeeper out of there.

And its not just Imus.

A story about an American Girl store and a 6 year-old’s Target doll garners over 409,000 Google results in less than a month. 

A story about a blogger who received death threats now has an excess of 553,000 Google results, A CNN appearance, and professional and personal lives altered forever. 

Mob mentality.  Good or bad.  Right or wrong.  Who knows?

Who will the chimpanzees go after next? A good guy?  A bad guy? Your favorite brand?  Your company?

Should Don Imus have been fired?  I have no idea.  The truth is, he’ll have another gig in less than a month and we’ll chalk this up to, "well, that’s Imus."  And he’ll still be a boorish pig.

It doesn’t matter.  What matters is that we need to understand that just like there was a good and a bad side to the zookeepers being in charge, there’s a dark side to citizen-driven marketing as well.  It’s a glorious day at the zoo until the chimpanzees start tossing the feces in your direction.

We are the citizens of citizen marketing.  We’re going to set the course. 

Unless of course, we get swept up into the mob.

Flickr photo courtesy of jj_mac

More

The Age of Conversation: 100+ authors!

April 13, 2007

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Gavin and I are so excited — The Age of Conversation is going to be an amazing book.  We exceeded our goal of 100 authors (in less than a week!) and the topics they are writing about is going to blow you away.

We’ll be posting a complete list of authors in a few days (it’s going to take me that long to catalog them all!) and we thank each person for stepping up and offering their thinking/writing to this very cool project.

Again, thank you for helping us make this crazy idea a reality!  And for making the world a little nicer for kids across the globe.  Here’s what Variety is up to in Gavin’s neck of the woods.

More

What I do not wish for my American friends this weekend!

April 12, 2007

I hope you’re not doing THIS all weekend!

More

Could you create a “being space?”

April 11, 2007

A being space.

One of my favorite stores is Barnes & Noble.  Yes, they have lots of books, music and movies.  But what I love most about it is that it feels like I’ve been invited to hang out.  Big comfortable chairs.  Coffee and snacks.  Did I mention the big comfortable chairs?

Well it turns out, I love Barnes & Noble because they’ve created a "Being Space."

Sociologist Ray Oldenburg first conceived of the "Being Space" in his 1990 book The Great Good Place and described it as a a place where people hang out —  take it easy and "commune with friends, neighbors, and whoever else shows up."  A place where you can enjoy a cup of coffee with friends, people watch, read a book or play a computer game.

Think about it.   Starbucks.  The Apple Store.  The Laundromat where you can watch a movie while you wash.  It seems like the retailers have caught on. 

But what about the service industry?

Imagine this…what if clients or business friends & vendors were invited to stop by the MMG office.  We happen to be right downtown.  Maybe they’re in between meetings or just need a place to catch their breath. 

They can grab a cup of coffee, hop on our wireless high speed internet (or use the computer in our open work station), make some phone calls or grab a book off our bookshelf.

Do you think they’d take us up on our offer?  Does it say something about our brand that we’ve created a space where they could?  Would it alter or intensify their opinion of us and what working with us might be like?

How about you — could you create a being space?

More