the brand builder blog

The BrandBuilder Blog Has Moved

2008-07-13T20:36:00.005-04:00

Hey, thanks for dropping by! The BrandBuilder blog has moved to a new home: http://thebrandbuilder.wordpress.com/

Follow this link, and don't forget to update your blogroll, your RSS reader, and your favorites/bookmarks.

Thanks for being a loyal reader. I look forward to catching your comments on the new BrandBuilder blog!

Cheers,

- Olivier

Why Karl Lagerfeld's new print ad/PSA rocks.

2008-06-22T22:15:00.003-04:00

This is the kind of advertising that rocks my world. Why? Because it’s clever, funny, impossible to ignore, and memorable. Ergo: 100% effective. US agencies take note. This is how print advertising is done.

And...um... if you're still coming to this url, you still haven't made the switch to the new brandbuilder blog. Do it soon, before this blog becomes history.

(While you're on the new url, remember to update your RSS, blogroll and favorites/bookmarks.)

Cheers,

Olivier

Brandgroovin'

2008-06-19T07:31:00.001-04:00

Photo by Matt A.

If brands start with people, great brands start with great people. Not great in the sense that they are wealthy or successful or influencial (yet), but great in the sense that ego, self-righteousness and self-serving agendas aren't part of the equation. Instead, these people are devoted to a cause. Infected with an idea. Motivated by success measured in other people's smiles and excitement and ownership of the things they do for them.

Read the rest here. (Yep, we've moved.)

While you're on the new site, go ahead and update your RSS, blogroll and favorites/bookmarks if you haven't done so already. :)

Insight and Action

2008-06-18T11:16:00.000-04:00

Today's bit of Marketing, Customer Experience, Design & Product Development advice comes from the archives of Kathy Sierra's blog:

"Your job is to anticipate... To give them what they want and/or what they need just before they have to "ask" for it - to be surprising yet self-evident at the same time. If you are too far behind, or too far ahead of them, you create problems, but if you are right with them, leading them ever so slightly, the flow of events feels natural and exciting at the same time."

- Walter Murch

To read the rest of this post, go here.

(The BrandBuilder blog has moved. What are you still doing on the old site? Come on! Check out our new digs!!!)

Stand Out

2008-06-17T07:22:00.001-04:00

Word to the wise: If you don't stand out in some way, you're done.

You might be able to exist, you might manage to survive, but that's all you'll ever have to look forward to. You can be a one-man show and still be corporate. Don't do it. Don't waste your time being just like everyone else. Don't waste your soul on being average.

Give yourself more credit. Everyone has strengths. Everyone has talents and abilities. Not using them every day even in some small way is such a shame it ought to be a crime. (And it's bad business to boot.)

Whether you're a photography studio, a web design firm, a sports magazine, a sportswear company, a triathlon shop or an antique furniture store, you either stand out, or someone who does will come along to wow your audience and steal your business right from under your nose.

Trust me on this: you can't afford to be average. Even if you've based your entire business model on the lowest pricepoints, on bare-bones bottom-line imports, you have to take your uniqueness as far as humanly possible... and then some.

Yes, even accounting and financial services firms can stand out. Restaurants. Retail outlets. Breweries. Day care centers. Schools. Law offices. Graphic design firms. Janitorial services agencies. Manufacturing plants. It doesn't matter. Your industry and specialty are irrelevant. Anyone can stand out.

Here's a tip for you: The best way to stand out... (For the rest, go here)

Sorry, the BrandBuilder blog is moving, and I want to make sure you get directed to the new site. :)

The BrandBuilder is moving to Wordpress.

2008-06-16T15:00:00.001-04:00

At long last, the BrandBuilder blog is moving from blogspot to Worpress. (Yay!)

What this means:

1. A slightly updated look.
2. Added functionality and features for you, my readers.
3. Clean RSS, at last.
4. Comments will work smoothly for everyone again.
5. Better integration with my complete web footprint (flickr, linkedIn, twitter, seesmic, buzznet, etc.)

The Transition Schedule:

Although some of the stylistic elements of the new Wordpress version of The BrandBuilder blog will get tweaked over the next few weeks, the site is up and running now, which means you can make the switch today. Go here to see the new site and update your blogroll, RSS, etc.

From now until at least the end of June, I will be posting to both this url and the new BrandBuilder blog in order to make sure the transition happens on your terms. The plan is to stop posting to this url on July 4th. On that date, I will post a change of address link on this version of the BrandBuilder and move on for good.

What you need to do:

For you guys, the transition will be very simple. You only have to do three simple things:

1. Make sure you update your RSS feed. The new BrandBuilder feed can be found at: http://thebrandbuilder.wordpress.com/feed/

2. Make sure you update your blogroll. (If the brandbuilder blog is in your blogroll, change the hyperlink to the new url: http://thebrandbuilder.wordpress.com/

3. Make sure you update your favorites/bookmarks with the new url.

That's it! Now you're good to go!

Thanks for reading, and see you on WordPress!

Let me know if you have any issues or problems: olivier@f360photo.com

How Routine Kills Brands

2008-06-16T12:37:00.000-04:00

"The arrogance of success is to think that what you did yesterday will be sufficient for tomorrow."

- William Pollard.

That's worth framing and hanging in every meeting room from Portland to Tahiti (via Paris).

Also, via Tom Asacker:

"Over time, unchanging relationships can turn into shackles that limit an organization's flexibility and lock it into active inertia. Established relationships with customers can prevent firms from responding effectively to changes in technology, regulations, or consumer preferences."

- Donald Sull (Revival of the Fittest: Why Good Companies Go Bad an How Great Managers Remake Them.)

Do you see where I'm going with this?

So... your new mission every day is to keep things fresh. That's it. Whether you're in the business of designing ads, repairing engines, selling shoes or answering calls from angry customers, don't ever, ever, ever let routine set in. Try different things. Learn something new from every customer. From every sale. From every design challenge. From every product launch. From every commercial you hear on the radio. From every movie you catch on cable. From the games your kids play. From magazines you've never picked up.

Keep things fresh.

And go read Tom Asacker's post on that very topic. It's very good.

Have a great Monday, everyone.

Before you sign off on your advertising campaign

2008-06-16T07:06:00.001-04:00

“Getting a product known isn’t the answer. Getting it wanted is the answer. …be sure your advertising is saying something, something that will inform and serve the consumer, and be sure you’re saying it like it’s never been said before.”

- Bill Bernbach

Hello Monday!

The Incredible Hulk kicks ass.

2008-06-15T21:13:00.003-04:00

Is The Incredible better than Ironman? Yes and no. It depends. I enjoyed Ironman slightly more because it was original and cool, BUT the depth of the Incredible Hulk is on the level of King Kong - meaning that it has more genuine human emotion than any Marvel or DC superhero movie made to this day. I have to say that it was pretty damn refreshing and cool to sit there and watch a superhero movie with such great writing and acting. Liv Tyler's Dr. Ross is a hell of a lot more believable and likeable than Gwyneth Paltrow's act-by-the-numbers Pepper, Tim Roth rocks as the power-addicted and ass-kicking villain, and Ed Norton brings grown-up realism, a compelling level of vulnerability and addictive charisma to the character of David Banner.

Yeah, sure, the Hulk does look fake (better than the first one, but still very CG-looking). That being said, so did Spiderman. With that said the "I" in CGI is pretty tight, however. (The Hulk looks like a high res comic book character, but he interacts flawlessly with his environment, which works well overall.)

And this time around, the Hulk is CLEARLY catapulted into the role of hero, which wasn't entirely clear in Ang Lee's unfortunate attempt a few years ago. As a matter of fact, Marvel got it so right this time that I would recommend that both George Lucas and Steven Spielberg go see The Incredible Hulk to see how even a CGI creature can inject a movie with a) genuine emotion, and b) a sense of desperate panic when their loved ones find themselves in jeopardy. (A MAJOR plot element markedly absent from Indiana Jones 4, and Star Wars Episodes 1, 2 and 3.)

That's right, George: Ed Norton and his green CGI alter ego don't crack jokes when their love interest is about to die. They don't pout either. They freak the hell out and throw every bit of themselves into saving her. Learn this!!! This is how heroes act. You suck for not knowing this by now.

Is the Incredible Hulk "great?" I wouldn't go that far. But if you liked Spidey 1 and 2 and Ironman, you will like this movie as well. A lot. Just ignore the first Hulk movie and start over with this completely reloaded "sequel."

And if you're a true geek, you'll love the Tony Stark (Ironman/Avengers) cameo at the end.

Marvel Brand: 2. Lucas Films: 0.

Slippery Slope

2008-06-13T20:58:00.001-04:00

image by ilisu

Something Seth wrote quite a while back that still resonates with me today:

"As soon as they start using the tactics of the other guys, playing the game they play, they become them. As soon as they decide that they can buy (not earn) attention, it all changes."

Chances are that you've forgotten what made your company or services or products so different. So unique. So good.

Chances are that your success has driven you away from those early days, when being different from everyone else, when being better was what it was all about.

Back when taking care of every new customer was like going out on a first date.

Chances are that you're more focused on aligning your pricing to that of your competitors now than you ever were.

Chances are that you've started to copy their every move. You advertise where they advertise. You offer the same services they offer. The closer you get to beating them, the more like them you become.

Chances are that you are slowly becoming a clone of the very people you once thought sucked.

"As soon as they start using the tactics of the other guys, playing the game they play, they become them. As soon as they decide that they can buy (not earn) attention, it all changes."

Stop.

Take a breather.

Go back to the start.

Are your products still the best? Are they still unique? Is your company still unique? Are you who you promised yourself you would be when you started?

Are you still earning attention?

If the answer is yes, congrats. You're one of the rare few. I hope you manage to keep it up for decades to come.

If not... well, maybe it's time to get back to basics. What do you say?

Everyone needs a good mug shot in their back pocket - just in case.

2008-06-13T07:25:00.001-04:00

You never know when you're going to need a good mug shot for your PR guy to leak to the press. I mean... seriously. Are you going to leave the photography to some angry night shift booking flunkie? Do you really want that mug shot to show up in the tabloids? Heck no. Look at these motley fools:

This is what happens when you go out on the town without a "Plan B" (especially if you're planning on spending half the night doing speed balls in the back of Pedro's van in West Hollywood).

Look. You've worked hard on building your personal brand. You can't let one photo ruin it for you, right? Even if you get into a bit of trouble with Johnny Law, eventually, people will forget what you were arrested for... but thanks to Google Images and the AP, photos are forever. That could be bad if you don't have a plan.

Real professionals are always prepared. This is why I recommend having a professional mug shot ready to be fired off to every media outlet known to man, just in case. That bit of advice isn't just aimed at ex-movie stars, out-of-work TV actors and celebutantes. I'm talking to all of you in in blogtwown and twitterville.

A few tips:

1. Go with black and white. It looks better, it looks timeless, and if it worked for Jim Morrison and Jimmy Hendricks, it'll work for you too.
2. Look confused but not dazed. You'll inspire sympathy instead of contempt.
3. Wear a nice shirt. Do not wear a blanket, ratty T-shirt or other homeless/crack addict garb.
4. The hair should be unruly and as big as possible, but it shouldn't look like you just spent a week living in a van (Paris) or were fished out of a Mexican toilet (Nick).
5. Chin scruff should be a day old. No mas, no menos.
6. Use your eyebrow superpowers.
7. Do. Not. Smile. (James.)
8. Don't pretend you're getting your passport photo taken (Michael.)
9. .jpg and .gif files work best.
10. Make sure your PR guy or assistant is someone you can REALLY trust.

Filed under "personal branding."

Heads-up! Fathers' Day is this Sunday.

2008-06-12T21:16:00.003-04:00

Probably one of the best places to shop for dad.

Hat tip to Guy.

How sinking brands can accelerate their demise

2008-06-12T12:30:00.006-04:00

Metallica is writing the book on how to sink an A-list brand (namely their own).

Step 1: Lose your relevance sometime in the mid 90's and see sales dwindle over the next decade. Blame music downloads and the MP3 format for your market downturn - instead of accepting that you've lost touch with the times.

Step 2: Instead of adapting to a changing market and embracing new distribution channels (which worked well for thousands of bands, including the Greatful Dead) hire lawyers to try and fight the entire world. Hope that you can sue the world into not changing.

Step 3: When things don't go your way, bitch and moan until you've repositioned yourself as the brand that constantly bitches and moans instead of making music... and has nothing to show for it.

Step 4: Make a point to put personal gain ahead of your fans, and scream it off every media rooftop. For years on end. Until even your peers think you're out-of-touch morons. "We need to make more money!!! We're rock stars!!! You people are stealing our product every time you listen to it!!! We will sue you for listening to our songs!!!!"

Step 5: Spend more time in court than in the studio or on tour.

Step 6: Run out of money and decide it's time to get back to being a band since the fighting the world deposition at a time gig isn't working out so well. Only it's too late to get back to your roots because you stopped being artists and musicians long ago, and you suck now. You're just too stupid to see it yet.

Step 7: This whole media2.0 thing sounds fly, so you invite bloggers to come listen to some of your studio sessions in the hopes that they will share their amazement at your crazy-cool talent. Surely, this will revive your career. Only you're too old, the gig is up, and the bloggers aren't going to lie about it.

Step 8: When your bonehead plan backfires and the bloggers' reviews turn out to be pretty negative, threaten to sue them.

Step 9: Realize that what you need is good old PR and advertising. Upon getting a few quotes, start looking for promising lawsuits to file in order to finance your comeback.

Read the story here. It's pretty funny... yet sad.

What a bunch of idiots. Just make music for the sake of making music, you morons!!!

Your chance to control the Federal budget

2008-06-12T10:40:00.005-04:00

Guy Kawasaki points us to this very cool little site where you can control where your tax money goes. Well... kinduv.

Connection to the branding discussion: At least four degrees of separation, but whatever. It's still an interesting and fun little tool.

Update: I just spent fifteen minutes playing with the tool, and managed to push the budget bust back to 2070+ while cleaning up the environment, increasing access to medical care for the poor, children and young adults, and freeing the US from foreign energy.

Investing in great products vs. investing in Advertising

2008-06-11T13:14:00.008-04:00

Time for your weekly brandbuilder reality check.

There are only two types of businesses: The ones you know are the best in their category, and... everyone else.

Advertising and marketing are nice, but too many "also in" businesses waste money on marketing and advertising when they should instead revamp one or two elements of their business that would help them actually gain market share. (The most pleasant and efficient customer service experience in your industry, a perfectly designed user interface, a 100% uptime guarantee, stunning design, impeccable ergonomics, remarkable flavor, etc.)

Advertising is basically a load of bullshit unless you have something worth advertising to begin with. (Otherwise, what are you advertising: Hey, come buy from us! We're the thirteenth best shoe store in the 90210!) You're either the best at something, or you're just another voice in the crowd getting fleeced by just another run-of-the-mill ad agency or "marketing firm."

Before you start wasting money on advertising, ask yourself what your super-special value to your users/customers/clients truly is. Maybe you have the best prices. Maybe you have the most comfortable meeting rooms. Maybe you have the most square footage of any gym in your area, or the freshest produce, or the most knowledgeable staff, or the fastest check-out. It doesn't matter what that something is as long as it is something concrete (as opposed to another lame marketing spinfest).

Whatever your value differentiator is, whatever your brand's value advantage is (or should be), this is what you need to invest in FIRST. Once you have that aspect of your business nailed down, THEN and only then should you even bother with advertising.

A few days ago, Seth Godin posted some great advice to college grads on his blog: Only borrow money to pay for things that increase in value. A pair of shoes or cool clothes never increase in value. An education or professional experience, however do. Great advice, especially in the crux of our current economic/credit crunch. The same applies to businesses, which is why Seth's advice is so damn relevant to the discussion today.

Perhaps more relevant to today's topic is a slightly tweaked version of Seth's advice: "only invest in things that increase in value."

Like shoes and clothes, advertising never increases in value. With advertising, you are at best buying a small percentage of the public's attention across a very narrow sliver of space and time (and paying a premium price for it.) Before you know it, your advertising budget is gone, and so is that very expensive bubble of attention.

Investing in better products/services, better people and better processes, however, makes a whole lot more sense as these things never lose value. Great employees, great products, great customer experiences and fostering a unique relationship with your fan base are the types of things worth investing in. These are the true foundations of a great brand. These are the types of things that will help strengthen your brand equity.

Advertising never translates into brand equity unless these foundations exist to support it. Even so, the more solid the brand's foundation, the less relevant advertising becomes.

Starbucks doesn't advertise and I'm not sure I've ever seen a Whole Foods ad anywhere, yet millions of people drop solid stacks of greenbacks there every year. I don't shop at Target, wear Rudy Project sunglasses, drive a VW or crave a BMW because of advertising. Other than creating awareness for a product that hasn't managed to capture anyone's attention yet (red flag), advertising does nothing to impact most companies' growth.

Building a strong reputation by developing great products, buzz-worthy experiences and generally delighting customers/users is a much stronger strategy than paying loads of cash for advertising.

Have a great Wednesday, everyone. ;)

Trendspotting: Opportunity comes in very small windows.

2008-06-11T07:25:00.000-04:00

Sweet post by Chris Wilson over at The Marketing Fresh Peel this week:

An ability to perceptively spot trends is a vital part of putting your company ahead of the competition. But recognizing a trend is only half of the equation. It’s even more important that you take action. What good is it to spot a trend if you can’t take advantage of the coming wave?

This is where it becomes important to not only look for trends, but to look for them early. I’ve compiled a list of 20 different how to tips, tools, blogs and websites that can help you in spotting trends. They are organized into different categories.

Trend Tips

Get out of your office! Go somewhere that everyone seems to be. Watch people interact with each other. What are they doing? What are they wearing? Who is the center of attention? Why? Look for something different. Something unique.

Listen. Learn to listen to people (even the ones you can’t stand). Try to figure out why they think and believe what they do. Be curious. Ask questions and listen some more.

Volunteer. Getting involved with a project where you can give back will help you to get out of your comfort zone and into an a new environment with different people.

Watch the Celebs. No matter how much we hate it, celebrities often have access to fashions, products and trends before they go mainstream. When it comes to fashion they can even influence trends and consumer buying behavior.

Read something different. Once a week, pick up a magazine or trade journal from a totally different industry. What’s transforming the industry? How could this be applied to your business or product?

Dedicated to Trends

TrendsSpotting follows the behaviors and attitudes of internet users and regularly report and conduct surveys. Contributors to the site express their professional opinions on emerging trends and what they mean to you.

PSFK is one of my favorite sources for discovering emerging trends from around the world. The blog consistently delivers surprising observations. They also host a number of great conferences throughout the year.

Springwise boasts more than 8,000 “Springspotters” from around the world, all on the lookout for emerging trends. The site is a hub for entrepreneurs looking for their next business ideas.

Trend Hunter Magazine bring observations from a wide range of topics. The site provides 99 different RSS feeds, broken down into different categories, so that you can hone in on trends in a certain niche or industry. Trend Hunter also issues a number of reports and presentations.

Design Trends

Cool Hunting is blog that is self described as “a daily update on ideas and products in the intersection of art, design, culture and technology.” I find Cool Hunting to be an awesome source for a look at design trends, modern urban lifestyle, fashion and arts.

NOTCOT is a daily showcase of inspiring design works from around the world, “fighting the good fight against ‘creative block’ since 2005.” (NOTCOT.org, and Tastespotting are some other great sites in the NOTCOT network.)

Design*Sponge is a daily website/blog dedicated to home and product design. The site even sports a special mini trends section, exploring waves of small trends (colors, styles, patterns) as they are spotted.

Josh Spear covers everything from Design to gadgets to travel. It’s a must following for anyone wanting to stay ahead of the curve.

Rapid Online Trends

Google Search Trends is a tool with which you can cross search different terms and compare them. Do some research here.
You will find Google Hot Trends on this same page. This feature has become a valuable source of information providing rapid search trend reports. There have been numerous times where I have spotted major news on Google Trends, hours before the news broke on the national stations. By subscribing to the feed, you will receive updates every hour reporting Googles top 100 searches from the last hour.

Viral Video Chart is the ultimate source for tracking what’s moving in video. Their Top 20 Viral Chart is by far the most popular, but the site also breaks the videos down into different categories to help you fine-tune your research.

Trendpedia is a tool that scans blog content, making it easy to compare popular topics graphically. Find out what’s hot and what’s not.

Twist performs a similar function to Trendpedia, only comparing Twitter content trends.

Summize is a tool that makes it easy to search Twitter updates.

—–
What’s your method for spotting trends?

Read the entire article here.

The manliest dog in the world

2008-06-10T10:48:00.001-04:00

If you follow the assumption that men with um... "manliness" issues tend to overcompensate by buying enormous SUVs or powerful sports cars and adopting dangerous, aggressive dogs like Pit bulls, then I must be pretty damn comfortable about my own macho meter.

Meet Chiquita - Chico's little sister. (Chico is the brandbuilder mascot, in case you were wondering) She only weighs .9 lbs right now.

All I need now is one of these, and I think we can safely brand me the manliest hombre in Twitterville. Booyah!

What would happen if your business no longer existed?

2008-06-10T08:06:00.001-04:00

I love this question on the Biztrek blog:

Stop for a moment to consider what would happen if your business no longer existed. How would your customers react. Would you really be missed? Could they easily get what they need from somewhere else? Would they be equally well off?

Assuming you aren't Apple, Starbucks, Microsoft or Disney, how do you answer that question?

If you're Exxon, your customers will go fuel up with BP or Shell.
If you're Calvin Klein, your customers will buy Kenneth Cole or Ralph Lauren or DKNY instead.
If you're Publix, your customers will cross the street to get their groceries from Bloom or BiLo or Ingles.
If you're Best Buy, Circuit City will handle the overflow.
If you're McDonald's, Burger King and Wendy's will be happy to take over your share.
If you're Joe Shmolinski, perhaps Jim Smith or Lucy Kilgore or Mack Jackson can do your job just as well.

So what about you? What's your unique value proposition? What makes you indispensable to your customers/users/employers/market?

It isn't a rhetorical question. Get out a piece of paper and actually write it down. You need to know what the answer is (1) and you need to be able to verbalize it to others (2) when they need to know what makes you or your product or your company worth their time and greenbacks.

Follow-up reading over at Client-Magnet.

My favorite Twitter posts today:

2008-06-09T23:09:00.000-04:00

Steve Jobs: Two quick observations

2008-06-09T20:48:00.006-04:00

Two things:

1. Is it me, or does Steve Jobs look ill? I don't remember ever seeing him look so skinny. He's skin and bones. What gives?

2. I don't know if Steve Jobs even uses Powerpoint*, but whatever. He knows how to convey his message in one slide without getting into a buttload of tables and graphs and bullets. Look how simple his slide is. I love that.

* Thanks to cdmwebs, I now know that Apple's answer to Powerpoint is called Keynote. How did I not know that? Um... I'm a Microsoft guy. Give me a break already. See? I learned something on Twitter today.

The 20-year epiphany plan

2008-06-09T07:17:00.000-04:00

Music to my ears from Brand Autopsy:

Advertising Age recommends NOT ADVERTISING

Yep, you read that header right — Advertising Age recommends NOT ADVERTISING. A recent editorial in Ad Age shared HMOs (hot marketing opinions) about JetBlue’s current advertising campaign. The gist is this …

“JetBlue is missing the point with its recent ad push. What it needs is to get back to what made it a media and consumer darling: customer service and good internal and external communication.”
“… convincing more people to fly doesn't seem like a smart move for an airline that has trouble handling the passengers it already has. It won't fool new passengers, and it will only upset current passengers. JetBlue achieved its success by being unlike the other airlines. Its good name spread -- via word-of-mouth and smart marketing -- because great customer service gave it a compelling story to tell.”

“Priority No. 1 should be getting back to a place where consumers want to share good stories. Take the money being wasted on that campaign and plow it into customer service.”

Let’s take this a step further. BEFORE any company spends gobs of money on an advertising campaign, it should first spend money on improving the performance of a product/service and on ratcheting up the customer experience. ‘Nuff said! Errrahh!

Maybe it's time for me to stop blogging about this stuff. If even Advertising Age is starting to preach the very thing that this blog has been devoted to for the last 3+ years, I'm thinking maybe my job here is almost done? Maybe?

To the lady who almost killed me today...

2008-06-07T22:04:00.005-04:00

You were driving a white Chevy sedan. I'm not sure what model, but I know it was a Chevy because the logo came pretty damn close to leaving a permanent imprint in my left calf muscle when you almost mowed me down in downtown Greenville this afternoon (see scenario #1 above) at Pendleton & Washington.

Here are a few driving tips for you:

1. Get your eyes checked. If you are required to wear prescription glasses while driving, WEAR them!
2. When making a left turn at an intersection with no "left turn" arrow, YIELD to oncoming traffic! That means cars, motorcycles, moped, and yes, bicycles. It's Saturday afternoon, you're old, and you have no reason to be in a hurry. OBEY THE LAW and wait until oncoming traffic has passed before making a left turn. Why do I have to tell you this?
3. Just because the car in front of you decided to try and turn before I was completely through the intersection doesn't mean you should follow its stupid ass. I can avoid getting hit by one dumbass motorist, but usually not two in a row.
4. I average 25mph when riding downtown. Trust me, you don't have time to turn when I am already engaged through an intersection. Don't I look fast with my racing getup? Come on. You know I do.
5. The part about yielding to oncoming traffic: LEARN IT.
6. When you see that I am two feet in front of you and you are about to hit me with your car, apply the breaks. Slow down or stop. Shit. Whatever. Do SOMETHING to try and avoid killing me. Please.
7. Making horrified faces at me as you're about to hit me doesn't help unless you put your fucking foot on the brake pedal and push down.
8. The accelerator pedal is not the brake pedal. Please consult your car's user manual for details.
9. Just because I have a) mad skills, b) nine lives, c) cycling superpowers, and d) half a dozen guardian angels looking over me at all times doesn't mean you shouldn't at least TRY to not kill me with your car. Believe it or not, I am not looking for an extra survival challenge when I clip-in on the weekends.
10. After coming microns from hitting and killing me, don't just drive off as if nothing happened. You almost just caused a major traffic accident that could have resulted in vehicular homicide. At least stop to apologize or see if I'm okay. Hell, you scared the living bejeesus out of a bunch of people in the car behind you who witnessed the whole scene and thought I was toast. (They really were in total freaking horrified shock. Hands over their faces, eyes like saucers and mouths open so wide you could fit a grapefruit in there.) I swear they were seconds from throwing up all over their dashboard. You should at least have stopped to apologize to them.

This woman, I swear to god, didn't just almost T-bone me at an intersection where I had the right of way, but even upon seeing me in front of her grill didn't attempt to slow down, swerve or stop. Hell, she continued to accelerate through her turn even as she had eyes on me. I can't believe I got through without getting hit. I really can't. A Hollywood stuntman couldn't ave come closer to that fender without being taken out. The worst part about it is that if she had hit me, I doubt that she would have stopped. So if the impact didn't injure me too terribly bad, getting dragged under her car for a few miles probably would have mangled me into a steaming pile of red brandbuilder goo.

I'll say it again: She never slowed down. She never stopped.

I should have chased her down and smashed her driver-side window in a fit of rage, but... she didn't do it on purpose, so no. I wasn't all that angry, really. I got through, yelled at her as she drove away, shook my head at her senile ass - politely nodded and smiled at the people in the car behind her (I should have stopped to give them a hug or something). I lived to ride another day, and she'll eventually just go on to drive her car into a house or something.

Here is a pretty scary (but eye-opening) article on elderly drivers and their chronic inability to handle left-hand turns at intersections.

Also: Great website from the city of Toronto about how to avoid hitting cyclists. (It isn't rocket science, but hey, not everyone behind the wheel is driving with a full set of brain cells, evidently.)

This has nothing to do with branding (again) but whatever. It's the weekend. Nobody reads this blog on the weekend. ;D

Update: 8 June 2008. Almost the exact same thing happened to me again today on Augusta Rd. at the Faris Rd intersection. This old lady driving a navy sedan tried to make a left hand turn at the intersection while I was riding through it. She saw me and slammed on her brakes, which is better than yesterday's episode. But going through this Still though. I wear loud cycling clothes. I ride in broad daylight. What's the problem here? Twice in two days? What the hell?! Old people need to stop trying to make left-hand turns at intersections that don't have left-turn traffic signals to help them get through.

Branding: Poor displays of leadership aren't helping the Air Force shed its less than stellar reputation in the military world

2008-06-06T19:04:00.006-04:00

Ask any Army infantryman, Marine or even Naval aviator what they think of the Air Force, and they're likely to scoff at the question. Some will be polite and try to spin something nice. Most will just tell you what they really think - which isn't great.

And honestly, when this is the kind of decorum the Air Force breeds into its officers as they graduate from its "prestigious" academy, perhaps we can infer that its leadership issues start early.

Without getting too political here, it doesn't help that the Commander-in-Chief doesn't seem to know how to behave in public either. Especially while the US is at war.

Especially as US servicemen and women are dying in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Especially as the Air Force is days away from firing its two most senior officers in a very public and embarrassing series of unacceptable scandals.

This is clearly not the kind of image the Air Force needs to be perpetuating right now.

I won't dwell on the President's bizarre behavior... but I can't help but wonder about the kind of young officer who would find it acceptable to chest bump the Prez.

Seriously. Where are we? In a frat house? Earth to the bonehead in uniform acting like a complete jackass: You are bumping chest with the commander-in-chief. Get a friggin' clue.

Why have uniforms at all if you're going to act like a dumb college kid at the first opportunity to goof off? Why salute at all? Why have any sense of rules and procedures when you're in the Air Force? After all, this is the era of "whatever," right? None of that old, stiff military crap matters anymore, right? The uniform is just for show these days anyway, right? Something cool to wear to score girls on Friday nights?

Think again (from the Guardian):

The US air force's two most senior officers were sacked yesterday after repeated blunders in nuclear weapons handling, including the mistaken shipment of detonators to Taiwan and the bungled transport of six deadly cruise missiles by unsuspecting pilots.
The air force chief of staff, General Michael Moseley, and civilian secretary Michael Wynne were asked to resign by senior Pentagon officials in advance of a report that is expected to pass embarrassing judgment on the nuclear errors.
The resignations had been expected amid simmering tension between the defence secretary, Robert Gates, and air force leaders. Gates has blasted the air force as not fully committed to the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, urging it to send more of the unmanned planes known as Predators into the war.
"Because people were stuck in old ways of doing business, it's been like pulling teeth," Gates said in a speech this spring to the air force academy.
Yet the deciding factor in the military shakeup appears to be two nuclear slip-ups by the air force, which Moseley and Wynne have led since 2005. The air force admitted in March to sending Taiwan nuclear fuses that it believed were helicopter batteries, a gaffe that one senior defence official called "disconcerting".
A bigger mistake came 10 months ago, when six nuclear missiles were flown from North Dakota to Louisiana without any of the air force officials on board knowing about their hazardous cargo. The incident was deemed so serious that President George Bush was immediately notified. The air force unit that flew the six missiles failed a safety inspection only last month, according to the Washington Post.
Moseley was also reprimanded by Pentagon auditors in April for pushing ethical boundaries in his friendship with two private contractors who won a $50m (£26m) contract in 2005 to produce flight shows for the air force.
The Pentagon inspector general found in April that the contract to promote the Thunderbirds aerial stunt team was tainted by improper influence and preferential treatment. No criminal conduct was found.
Moseley was not singled out for blame, but the investigation laid out a trail of communications from him and other air force leaders that eventually influenced the awarding of the contract. Included in that were friendly emails between Moseley and an executive in the company that won the bid.
"It is my sense that General Moseley's command authority has been compromised," Senator Claire McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat on the Senate armed services committee, said at the time.
Replacements for the two leaders were not immediately announced. Forcing out both the uniformed and civilian chiefs of a military service is a rare move, but Gates sacked the army secretary last year amid a scandal over the mistreatment of injured soldiers at the Walter Reed hospital in Washington.
Bush was aware of the resignations but "played no role" in the process, according to the White House spokeswoman Dana Perino.

Having been a military officer, I can tell you with absolute certainty that the type of behavior that led to the Air Force's troubling lack of professionalism over the last few years (and its dreadful reputation across the services) begins with the kind of senseless dumbassitudes displayed during this year's commencement ceremonies: You cannot divorce bad command decisions from bad decisions. The "what the hell" attitude that allows a graduating cadet/officer to treat the President of the United States like a frat buddy is the same kind of attitude that leads officers to lose six nuclear warheads for a few hours, or to think it's okay to sell out their office for financial gain.

Professionals take their jobs, responsibilities and behavior in public seriously. Unprofessional people don't. And in the case of a military organization, lack of professionalism kills.

The Air Force Academy would have done better to train its graduating class to salute the President and not get dragged into his bizarre behavior. I am quite sure that servicemen and women operating in war zones would have respected them a whole lot more for it.

Instead, these graduating men and women in blue only perpetuated the decades-old anti-Air Force sentiment that leads to the reactions I have been hearing all week: "Yeah, well... that's the Air Force for ya. What did you expect?"

I don't know what I expected. Maybe some common sense. Maybe some decorum. I guess I was thinking about the wrong branches of the military.

But then again, maybe Monday, I'll go bump bump chests with my CEO.

Lightning storm during volcanic erruption

2008-06-06T18:51:00.003-04:00

The baddest photo EVER.

“As clouds of toxic ash and dust tower into the sky, they ionise the air, generating an explosive electrical storm. Colossal forks of lightning spark around the noxious plume as it spews from the volcano’s crater, creating an image of raw, terrifying energy - as if the air itself were ablaze.”

Source

The unexpected ecological impact of Second Life

2008-06-05T12:17:00.000-04:00

Fascinating article by Rough Type's Nicholas Carr on the energy requirements of Second Life. (Okay, so it's 2 years old, but it seems more relevant today than it did then.)

"We're running at full power all the time, so we consume an enormous amount of electrical power in co-location facilities [where Second Life/Linden Labs houses their 4,000 server computers] ... We're running out of power for the square feet of rack space that we've got machines in. We can't for example use [blade] servers right now because they would simply require more electricity than you could get for the floor space they occupy."
- Philip Rosedale, Linden Labs

To put it all in perspective, Sun's Dave Douglas looked at kilowatt hours in terms of CO2 production to see what the actual ecological impact of an avatar is: Each Second Life avatar requires 1,752kwh/year, which is basically 1.17 tons of CO2.

How does that translate into plain American? Easy: 2,300 SUV miles (or 4,000 Prius miles) per year. For just one avatar.

Wow.

Read the full article here.

Dave Armano's stairway to Brand Heaven & Hell.

2008-06-04T07:38:00.000-04:00

Simple, but still pretty kickass, as usual.

Vision, Design and Integrity: Yves St. Laurent's legacy

2008-06-03T10:22:00.007-04:00

When Yves St. Laurent died yesterday, we lost not only one of the world's greatest designers, but also one of the world's most visionary and honest business leaders.

His passion for his work, for his designs, and for the people for whom he created clothes and accessories won over greed and the mad thirst for double-digit growth that so many companies are plagued with today. When other couture houses tried to impress with gimmicks and flash, he stayed true to simple lines and understated elegance. While other couture houses obsessed about fashion, he simply focused on style.

Yves St. Laurent never sold out. You won't find the YSL logo on cheap sunglasses or bullshit leather iPod cases. Yves St. Laurent refused to let his house fall into the massclusivity trap.

Massclusivity (mass exclusivity) is what you get when a premium brand like Gucci or Louis Vuitton starts making cheap crap to cater to a younger, broader and usually less affluent audience. This can seriously lower the value and relevance of a brand, but it makes sense if you're looking to cash in on your brand's earning potential. Once you capture market share and get into the malls and less exclusive retail properties though, it's tough to get your cream-of-the-crop status back. That's difference between houses like Dior, Yves St. Laurent, Hermes and Cartier vs. Tommy Hilfiger, DKNY, Ralph Lauren and now Gucci.

A lesser designer would have plunged Dior into chaos back in the sixties, and the Yves St. Laurent brand would have never turned into the cornerstone of occidental style that it is today.

A lesser man would have turned Yves St. Laurent into a Dillard's or Macy's brand. He understood the value of a strong brand. He understood the value of absolute quality. He understood the value of staying true to his vision and ideals.

He was one of the greats.

Read about the man here.

Check out his work here.

I know this has nothing to do with branding, but...

2008-06-02T23:29:00.003-04:00

This is a cyclist's worst nightmare. The rogue drunk driver. The teenage girl texting from behind the wheel of her SUV. The angry guy behind the wheel of his pickup. The confused ninety-year-old.

The math is pretty simple: Bike and rider (180lbs) + Car and driver (1,000lbs) = roadkill. That tiny little foam helmet won't protect us against a 60mph impact with the grill of a Ford F150.

From CNN.com:

MONTERREY, Mexico (AP) -- A car plowed into a weekend bike race along a highway near the U.S.-Mexico border, killing one and injuring 10 others, police said.
The 28-year-old driver was apparently drunk and fell asleep when he crashed into the race, said police investigator Jose Alfredo Rodriguez.
A photograph taken by a city official showed bicyclists and equipment being hurled high into the air by the collision.
Rodriguez said Juan Campos was charged with killing Alejandro Alvarez, 37, of Monterrey.
Authorities said the wreck happened 15 minutes into the 34-kilometer (21 mile) race Sunday along a highway between Playa Bagdad and Matamoros, across from Brownsville, Texas.
Campos said he is an American citizen living in Brownsville. The U.S. Consulate could not immediately confirm that.

Please be courteous and careful out there. Cyclists don't mean to be slower than cars. They don't mean to be in the way either. We just don't have anywhere else to ride but in the same roads as cars. Nobody needs to get injured or killed just because you're in a hurry.

And please don't let anyone you know ever drive drunk. Or tired. Or angry.

Thanks.

Fear is probably the only thing really holding you back.

2008-06-01T20:51:00.008-04:00

On Aug. 16, 1960, Col. Kittinger stepped from a balloon-supported gondola at the altitude of 102,800 feet. In freefall for 4.5 minutes at speeds up to 714 mph and temperatures as low as -94 degrees Fahrenheit, he opened his parachute at 18,000 feet. (U.S. Air Force photo).

What did you do today?

Or rather, what could you have done better today: Could you have fought a little harder for a budget? Could you have stood your ground about going with the best idea? Should you have turned away a HUGE client for all the right reasons? Did you hire the smaller agency rather than the big bloated one because you know it is a better fit?

Whatever your job is - entrepreneur, attorney, recruiter, CMO, creative director, account exec, product manager, copywriter, marketing VP, Business Development manager - let's face it: Nobody is asking you to fly up into a high altitude weather balloon, jump out at 100,000 feet with a diesel truck battery strapped to your ass and a parachute on your back, freefall for almost five minutes through an absolute hell of terror and space-like cold temperatures, open your parachute at exactly 18,000 feet, then land... wherever and wait for the helicopter to come get you.

All you're asked to do is sit at a desk, shake a few hands, come up with some great ideas, sell them to someone, and make them happen.

Tell me again what's so difficult and stressful about your job?

It's a brand new week. Make it count. ;)

Ironman: Lessons to shatter the status quo.

2008-05-30T13:35:00.000-04:00

Excellent post on Business Pundit earlier this month:

Grossing over $150,000,000 in its first two weekends at the box office, “Iron Man” has come out of the gates as one of the top blockbusters of the year. If you haven’t seen it – believe the hype. Bar none it is the best ‘hero’ movie I’ve seen.

Aside from being wildly entertaining, Iron Man serves up a number of lessons that can be carried over to business.

Lesson 1 – Diversify Or Die

Robert Downey Jr., or “Iron Man” in the movie, saw the writing on the wall. While his seemingly flawless company was an industry leader and the best weapons company in the world, it was built on a business model that was fundamentally unsustainable.

Long-lasting businesses function in good and bad economic environments. They morph over time to maintain profitability, growth and viability. Most importantly, they align strategically with the vision of those running it.

If your business is faltering, ask yourself: “What can I do differently”? Know what your core competencies are, find hidden avenues to leverage these competencies, and don’t be afraid of an evolving vision.

Lesson 2 – Build Your Company With People You Can Trust

The biggest lesson I’ve learned about business, and a good lesson from the movie, is that you have to trust the people you are working with. Businesses are built by people – so if you can’t whole-heartedly trust and understand the motivations of those around you, there’s a problem. Look at the key employees in your business. Are they the best individuals to build your company?

Lesson 3 – Build Something That The World Has Never Seen

Cooker-cutter products serve a place in business. However, it is the game changing ideas that lead to industry dominance and sustainable competitive advantage. You obviously don’t need to build a flying iron man machine to achieve unwavering success, but you should be solving an aching problem in your industry. Are your products/services game changing?

Lesson 4 – Know Your Motivations

A lot of people in business, entrepreneurs especially, have disjointed priorities. They are in it for the power, the money, the glamor. Unfortunately, these motivations don’t deliver happiness or strong companies.

Do some soul searching and find out what your life’s work should be. Does it match up with what you’re doing? If not, it’s probably time to change your focus.

If you are looking for some good business lessons or just wanting to kill a couple of hours watching an entertaining movie – check out ‘Iron Man’. It might just change how you think about your business.

Marketing vs. Advertising vs. PR vs. Branding

2008-05-30T07:45:00.001-04:00

In a nutshell.

Hat tip to Francois Gossieaux, who grabbed the baton from Digital Demystified.

Update: Spike over at Brains on Fire just pointed out that the original source is Marty Neumeier's ZAG.

On being the best.

2008-05-29T10:11:00.001-04:00

From Tim Coote's always brilliant and enjoyable blog:

“When people ask me how do you make it in show business or whatever, what I always tell them — And nobody ever takes note of it ‘cuz it’s not the answer they wanted to hear. What they want to hear is here’s how you get an agent, here’s how you write a script, here’s how you do this — But I always say, “Be so good they can’t ignore you.” If somebody’s thinking, “How can I be really good?”, people are going to come to you. It’s much easier doing it that way than going to cocktail parties.”
-Steve Martin.
All of the strategies and marketing angles will be trumped by this one piece of advice everytime - “Be so good they can’t ignore you”. If you’re catching balls in the end zone week after week or motivating people to do their best and it works week after week you will be noticed. People want to notice you because it’s why the world spins. It’s why people are able to get out of bed and go to work. Aspiring to greatness is the honey in the lion.

Damn, Tim. Well put.

Twitter: Something is technically wrong.

2008-05-29T07:37:00.000-04:00

You can always count on Hugh to put it all in a nutshell.

Calling bullshit on "viral". Finally.

2008-05-28T07:37:00.000-04:00

A post dear to my heart from Go Big:

Reminds me of this one.

Every time I hear someone use the term “viral marketing,” I cringe. I know it seems like just a word, but I think it’s a concept that misses the mark and perpetuates some half-baked thinking.

I hated the word “viral” the very first time I heard it in the mid 1990s, probably because it made Marketing sound like we were spreading a disease other people had no choice but to spread, too. At the time, the whole “viral marketing” thing got people excited because it used the Internet to cheaply spread crap like Burger King videos or Hotmail invitations. Dance monkeys, dance.

Now that we’ve all been bombarded on the internet, the notion of something being viral is no more special than any other idea or phrase that catches on. That’s just part of Marketing’s job. For over a decade now, Advertising Agencies all over the country have some sort of “Viral Marketing” as part of their plan to try to get us to ask their version of the Subservient Chicken to do something obscene and then laugh about it. We all get a bajillion invitations to try products and there’s an asston of bite-sized digital entertainment gimmicks you can sneeze all over your friends. No question, you can get the word out quickly but spreading your message is a small part of the picture.

I remember sitting in a Jive meeting when someone mentioned viral marketing and then in the very next meeting engineers were talking about the importance of product adoption. The word “adoption” struck me. Why is spreading Marketing a disease but spreading product usage like bringing in a stray dog? Shouldn’t we be pushing for Adoptive Marketing? Marketing that people want, that leads to products people want? Viral Marketing is merely the quick transaction of ideas. But if no connection is made to the product, the Marketing can (at best) only make an ephemeral nick in brand perception. Adoptive Marketing can be just as “viral” but is so closely connected to the product that if the idea catches on, so does the product. In fact, the product is built to be remarkable and to be the primary Marketing engine. For people to spread Adoptive Marketing it means that within the product and the Marketing they:

- Discover recurring personal significance
- Control their own participation
- Believe it improves their situation

People adopt things they have an emotional connection to. They like it and/or it helps them. Adoptive Marketing is dependent on the product. Ask any Marketer who has the best Marketing and the first company they think of is Apple. But Apple’s ads only work because their product and retail experience backs up the Marketing. Apple practices Adoptive Marketing. The Marketing is the product. The product is the Marketing. You want to talk about the iPhone. You want to use the iPhone. You want to watch the Ads. It’s a social object. You care. You choose. It improves your situation. It’s feels unique, even if it’s not. When you’re successful with Adoptive Marketing you’ve earned the right to be an Organic Meme. Screw being viral.

The problem is most products suck. If your baby’s ugly, go market something you believe in. Or it’s time to sit down with the product and service group and have a heart-to-heart. Yes, I’m sure it’s not that easy but we can’t fix it for you. Perhaps you can think around your product to create a social-cause initiative that makes people love your ice cream, batteries or dryer sheets. No amount of dancing babies or viral videos will cover up the fact your product is boring.

Read the rest of the post here.

John Spence on achieving Business Excellence

2008-05-27T08:00:00.001-04:00

From Change This:

John Spence: "There is no single strategy that will carry your company forever—just ask my buddy Tom Peters, who wrote the fantastic book In Search of Excellence back in 1982, only to watch more than half of the companies he highlighted go out of business! Markets shift, consumer preferences change, new competitors appear, technology advances—and so must you. Even though I can recommend which of today’s popular strategies I believe deserve your attention, there is no guarantee that these same strategies will still be as relevant in 20 years. I think they will, but no one can see that far ahead.
With all of that said, [these] are the six strategies on which all the great companies I studied were relentlessly focused."

Go here and learn something.

Je me souviens.

2008-05-25T23:11:00.005-04:00

From Wikipedia:

Memorial Day is a United States Federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May (in 2008 on May 26). Formerly known as Decoration Day, it commemorates U.S. men and women who perished while in military service to their country. First enacted to honor Union soldiers of the American Civil War, it was expanded after World War I to include casualties of any war or military action.

This photo is of an American cemetery in northern France. Without the courage of young American men, I would have been born in a German-speaking France. Or not at all.

For me at least, Memorial Day is about much more than cookouts.

Thank you to all who serve.

Happy Birthday Gustav!

2008-05-25T08:42:00.000-04:00

Celebrity Birthdays Today: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Sir Ian Mc Kellen, Jessi Colter, Anne Heche, Lauryn Hill, Mike Meyers, and... Evan Tishuk (a.k.a. Gustav)!!!

Happy Birthday, orange coat's creative & technical honcho!

George Lucas needs to stop making movies immediately.

2008-05-24T18:31:00.004-04:00

The LucasFilm logo appearing on the big screen at the start of a movie used to mean I was about to spend the next 90-120 minutes in awe.

And I have to admit that for about ten seconds today, when those familiar green letters showed up, big as a house, I felt the same excitement swell in my chest that I used to feel back when I was ten.

Sadly, my emotional response to the LucasFilm logo spans far enough across the ages to allow me to forget for an instant that George Lucas (who once rocked with Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back and Raiders of The Lost Ark) hasn't written or directed a decent movie in two decades.

Just so we're all on the same page, let's go through the list:

The good:

Star Wars
Game Changer. 100% awesome in every way.
Empire Strikes Back
Actually improved on the original. The quintessential sci-fi adventure movie.
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Pure genius.

The bad:

Indiana Jones & The Temple of Doom
Inflatable raft out of a crashing airplane. The annoying kid from Goonies. Kate Capshaw. Magical rocks? Indian cannibals. Please make it stop.
Return of the Jedi
E-W-O-K-S. (Okay, ROTJ also gave us Yoda, but the ewoks were in it more.)
Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade
Emphasis on "LAST." Cheesy father-son pathos. Derivative action scenes. Again, emphasis on "LAST."
Star Wars: Episode 1
Jar-Jar Binks. The race announcers during the pod race. The horrendous CGI. QuiGon was a patronizing moron with zero skills. We all gave him a pass here, expecting Episode 2 to redeem George a bit.
Star Wars: Episode 2
Awful dialogue, terrible CGI, the Jedi are dumb as hell, and the whiny kid that will one day become Darth Vader does not act like a boy/man in love at all, and no one can act.
Star Wars: Episode 3
Star Wars: Episode Crap. Total waste of three movies and everyone's time.

And now this: Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. How about this: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of How Badly George Lucas Needs To Retire? George Lucas' worst movie to date BY FAR. The saddest part about it (aside from the fact that I wasted 4 tickets and 2 hours of my life watching that gigantic turd) is that Lucas somehow managed to drag Spielberg, Ford, Blanchett, Winstone, Hurt, Broadbent and LeBeouf into this complete disaster of a Hollywood production. I feel bad for them. I really do.

Let me put it as plainly as I can for you: This movie sucks. Absolutely sucks. It is horrible.

Let me break it down:

Concept: FAIL
Script: FAIL
Dialogue: FAIL
Action scenes: FAIL
Characters: FAIL
Excitement: FAIL
Special effects: TOTAL FAIL

I cannot believe such a gigantic pile of crap isn't getting crucified by the critics. Proof at last that they're either a collective of morons or that most of them are getting paid by the studios. Don't believe me? Check out this review from the Pittsburg Post: (It actually made me laugh and puke at the same time.)

"The resurrected franchise has come a long way from its modest B-picture origins, and Spielberg, Lucas and screenwriter David Koepp fall victim to that dreaded disease of CGI-itis near the end. "Indiana Jones" has never been about the special effects, and when they commandeer the screen the actors shrink in every way."

What? Are you on crack? "Modest B-picture origins?" "CGI-tis near the end?" "Indiana Jones has never been about the special effects?"

'"The Crystal Skull" ups the action ante considerably, with Ford and LaBeouf in a motorcycle chase that's like a moving three-card monte with car, bike and occasional bus zipping through the streets and onto campus. Everything is bigger and louder, from an extended jungle pursuit to a plunge over the waterfalls that makes Niagara Falls in a barrel look like child's play."

Puke. The action scenes were so boring and derivative, even my kids were yawning. And so beyond unbelievable and poorly executed that even for a summer popcorn flick, they're downright insulting. In comparison, Michael Bay's Transformers is a friggin' masterpiece.

I hope the check from the studios was worth throwing your integrity down the drain, Barbara. But hey, you aren't alone. Let me expose some of your fellow wastes of space:

Jackie Cooper: "The gold standard for summer movie fare."
Betty Jo Tucker: "From its exciting opening sequence to its clever closing scene, 'Crystal Skull' made me grateful to Steven Spielberg for deciding to film another Indy adventure."
John Beifuss: "The long, go-for-broke opening sequence in the Nevada desert is a triumph that announces that Spielberg and Indiana Jones are not just an explosive combination, they're positively atomic."
Richard Knight: "After 19 years, Spielberg and company have unearthed the best treasure of all - another great Indiana Jones movie."
Chris Farnsworth: "Fortunately, a smart script and great set pieces make this tale of Soviet spies, weird artifacts and a lost city a worthy capstone to the series."
David Cornelius: "Breathless, popcorn-munching adventure flick perfection."

I have to stop I can't handle this anymore.

I can't believe Spielberg actually directed this horror.

I know that there's already a petition to get Uwe Boll to stop making movies... Can we PLEASE get one started for George Lucas as well?

I will let Wade Major, from Box Office Magazine close us out today with this honest and accurate comment: "Utterly unnecessary, unbelievably uninspired and preposterous beyond all imagination."

Brand Tags: One word to describe a brand.

2008-05-23T10:20:00.003-04:00

Go here and marvel at the simplicity, addictiveness, and value of this little brand-recognition experiment.

The Elephant's great Kansas City shuffle

2008-05-22T21:34:00.000-04:00

Without endorsing either of the three Presidential candidates in the US, and without suggesting any underhanded shenanigans, let me propose a thought about USA '08.

It occurred to me last week while having drinks with a dozen or so industry peers - almost all democrats, mind you. The subject of the conversation somehow shifted to politics and the candidates... and I fully expected the group to be happy about Sen. Obama's advantage over Sen. Clinton. That, however, wasn't the case: No one at the table endorsed Obama.

Let me put it in another way, which is perhaps more telling: Not one single democrat at the table trusted Obama. Not enough experience, rhetoric not matching his record, the whole crazy church thing. The underlying sentiment basically came down to this: "What do we really know about this guy? Nothing. He came out of nowhere way too fast. We aren't sure what to expect."

Call it buyer's remorse. Call it gut feeling. Call it whatever you will, but everyone's favorite campaign trail rock star, the guy the press is so quick to attach to Kennedy and MLK... well... maybe he isn't the superstar we've been so eagerly sold as the game-changer/unifier/political superhero America has been craving since Kennedy (or Ronald Reagan, depending what side of the fence you're on).

But we haven't gotten to the meat of it yet. The truly eye-opening opinion I hadn't expected to hear. I'm getting to it. Here it is: Everyone there agreed that if Sen. Obama won the nomination instead of Sen. Clinton, they would not vote for him.

I was kind of shocked since I thought Obama - based on what I gather from mass media - would be a clear favorite.

More surprising yet, most admitted that they would actually switch camps and vote for McCain. These are democrats, mind you. People who are fed up with the Bush administration and ready for a change. People who have ALWAYS voted democrat. (Even Dukakis? Really?) And yet here they are, ready to vote for McCain if Obama beats Clinton in the '08 donkey race.

I just wonder how many democrats around the US feel the same way. Probably a lot. Or rather, just enough.

I am sure every campaign manager knows exactly how many swing voters they can expect to win or lose, all broken down by demos, geos and verticals. The precise impact of these numbers must also be crystal clear to them.

Boiled down to the basics, the equation is simple:

Obama + McCain = McCain wins.
Clinton + McCain = x

What's the Republicans' play? Simple: Make sure Obama gets the nomination. Hillary is the real X-Factor, not Obama. McCain can't shred her. But Obama can with the whole "new dream"/Kennedy/"let's join hands" thing. Let him do it before we even get to the big game.

Genius.

Elections are a lot easier to win when you control the entire board, not just your half of it. The Dems are still stuck in primary mode. The Republicans, on the other hand, are already five steps ahead in presidential election mode.

Which makes the whole "Hillary should just quit" movement more than just vaguely suspicious. The pressure isn't just coming from the Obama camp, and now I think I know why.

For better or for worse, I'm calling November '08 now: McCain will defeat Obama. No Chad manipulation needed. No voting machine hacks necessary. He will win because his people didn't leave anything to chance. Because they knew how to control the board from the very start.

The dems (yes, the voters) are getting played something fierce.

"Divide and conquer" and all.

As eloquently explained by Bruce Willis in Lucky Number Slevin, a Kansas City Shuffle is where everyone looks left, when they should really be looking right.

Yep.

They'll be talking about this one for decades to come.

Photo: Bob Elsdale

The answer to most of your business' problems is simply this: Be helpful.

2008-05-22T00:30:00.004-04:00

Awesome post from Chris Brogan today:

I believe we’re going to shift back to thinking customer service and community management are the core and not the fringe. I believe we’re going to move our communications practices back in-house for lots of what is currently pushed out to agencies and organizations. I believe that integrity, reputation, skills, and personality are going to trump some of our previous measures of professional ability. I believe the web and our devices will continue to move into tighter friendships, and that we will continue to train our devices to interpret more of the world around us on our behalf.

Read the rest here.

Yes, yes, yes, and yes. Chris also talks about bringing value-add and core competencies together - which is actually the bandwagon I have been driving hard for the last couple of months with my management team.

Chris mentions that working remotely will become the norm... I'm not so sure we're quite there yet. Maybe in our lifetimes, but probably not. Too many organizations rely on "sales floors" and "departments." The old "asses in seats" mentality. Not that there's anything wrong with it, mind you - each company has its own specific needs - but most companies still don't have the tools at their disposal to allow their staff to work from home or remote offices. (We're getting there though, and if any of you have ever taken the information worker of the future demo/tour at Microsoft, you'll know what I'm talking about.) The tools are here now - will be fluid and 100% user-friendly in less than a decade, and widespread adoption won't be too far behind.

The issue will never be the technology, it will be the people: Velocity and a sense of expediency/urgency don't usually go hand in hand with working from home. There is something to be said for having a boss breathing down your neck - literally.

But I digress. Chris' post rocks, and for the most part, he's right.

Oh, and I almost forgot: Here's the best piece of advice I've heard/read all month, (perhaps even all year) also from Chris:

Here’s a quick way to really turn around your clients: be helpful.
Duh, sure, but... when was the last time you actually said those two words outloud during a strategy meeting or quarterly business review?

SYNNEX launches Earthquake Relief Fund

2008-05-21T13:30:00.003-04:00

I try to keep Microsoft Sherpa and The BrandBuilder separate, but this is for a good cause:

So many of you have inquired about our Chengdu office as a result of the earthquake and, as you know, we are very fortunate that all of our employees are safe and uninjured. But we also know and see in news, so many are not.

As a result, we have created the SYNNEX Earthquake Relief Fund (SERF) along with Give2Asia in San Francisco, CA. SYNNEX has launched a webpage on the Give2Asia website so that you, your family and your friends may access at www.give2asia.org/synnex for online donations. SYNNEX will be reviewing a list of projects and organizations that are recognized for their extending recovery help to the survivors of the earthquake in Chengdu and its surrounding areas. There will be much to do to help the families that will have been displaced in the next several months and we want to be certain that the much needed monies are provided directly to those organizations that are there and are recognized as first line providers. Also attached (below) is a brief document called “How to Give” that provides information on all the contribution methods that you and others may use to donate to SERF:

how-to-give_synnex

Thanks. :)

Don't sell people short.

2008-05-21T08:12:00.000-04:00

I'm sitting here watching Rocky Balboa on Showtime, and... I'll be damned: It's actually pretty good. What's really surprising is that Stallone wrote and directed it - and both the writing and the direction are pretty tight. Who knew.

Preconceived notions and all...

Here I was, thinking Sly was all washed out, and then he comes up with this little gem.

I should have known better.

Taking inventory of ALL preconceived notions about everything and everyone, and throwing them out the window in bulk.

Advergirl dishes out some A-list wisdom

2008-05-19T15:00:00.002-04:00

Some sweet, sweet words of wisdom from Advergirl:

What's the number 1 reason agencies lose accounts? I would argue that it’s complacency. The agency is coasting. They probably don’t even realize they’re doing it. But after years with a product, it’s easy to get too close to it, to lean on old insights, to produce rather than create.

Taking a strategic approach to every project is fighting the coast.

But, more importantly, it's getting to do the best at your job - who wants to be a pair of hands when you can be a leader?

* * *

Once you've tried out the same Idea three or four times, only to find a big ugly mess at the end, it's just human nature to kill that Idea out on hand of the fifth go round. But a scrappy little rookie might look at it another way. Sure it didn't work the other times; so, what can we do differently to make it successful this time?

* * *

We all get into a groove. The creative brief works like this. Client Z will always want this. For retail, we always do this.

The new kid in the room carries none of that history. And asks - preferably in a brief way - why? Or how? Or what about this? Or do we have research on that?

Keep asking those questions. Looking for holes. There's always more to learn.

'No' is the easiest word to say. Finding a way to say 'yes' can be the first step to great work.

Clearly one of my new favorite reads.

Thanks for the nod, Advergirl Blog!

2008-05-19T12:01:00.001-04:00

From the very awesome Advergirl Blog - hat tip to Dave Armano's fierce Twittering:

Question: What blogs and books do I read to stay on top of trends?

Well, I should say that 'staying on top of trends' is a pretty relative term these days. But, to stay somewhat aware of the cool stuff in my tiny area of addiction/interest, here are my top picks:

Blogs:

Adaptive Path

Advertising Age - CMO Strategy

Andrea Hill

B&A

Bokardo

ChangeThis Newsletter

Chief Marketer

Church of the Customer

How Advertising Spoiled Me

I Believe in Advertising

Lynetter's Online Dev Slides

Marketing Profs Daily Fix

Tom Fishburne: Brand Camp

Trendwatching

Something to mull over:

2008-05-19T08:16:00.002-04:00

The commoditization of everything is turning the US into a 2nd world country.

Business Travel Tip #471: Get to know your cabbies.

2008-05-17T10:39:00.001-04:00

Cab drivers are some of the most interesting people you'll ever meet. And some of the most knowledgeable about the places you visit for business or leisure. be super nice to them, chat them up, and get them to tell you a good story. it'll make your ride to and from the airport a great one, and they probably won't try to stiff you.

They'll also treat you extra nice, which always sets the stage for a great check-in at your hotel or at your airline terminal. Trust me, the doorman at whatever hotel you're going to will take his cues from how well your cabbie treats you as he drops you off. They have radar for stuff like this.

It's fascinating to me how much people open up to you when you engage them with curiosity and enthusiasm. And the upgrades... Wow. The upgrades. Turning on a little charm goes a long way to helping human touchpoints everywhere create a remarkable brand experience for you everywhere you go.

And wearing big Hollywood sunglasses at all times seems to help, for some strange reason.

Go figure.

Heading out to Microsoft CPS

2008-05-12T10:05:00.001-04:00

Fort Lauderdale, here I come!

Perhaps the worst example of product endorsement in the history of web advertising

2008-05-11T22:49:00.004-04:00

I was subjected to this horror earlier tonight while signing out out of my yahoo email and couldn't resist posting about it. Here'smy 90-second rant:

Hey, FRS: This only works if the superstar athlete is a) still competing, b) 100% not tainted by doping allegations, and c) still a role model to anyone with half a soul.

Poor choice on all counts.

Looking forward to the Barry Bonds version of the ad.

Oh, and Lance... stick to selling Nike,Oakley and Trek. Everything else is off limits to you from now on.

Critics who kill Speed Racer are morons.

2008-05-10T20:21:00.011-04:00

Come to think of it, let's just call movie critics as a whole "morons." How about this: Go see movies for yourselves, and make up your own minds as to whether or not they pushed the right buttons for you.

But back to the Wachowski Brothers' Speed Racer: You may hear or read a lot of bad reviews about the film. Things being said will fall along the lines of..."Too cartoonish" or "too C.G.I.-looking," or the most annoying yet "looks more like a video game than a movie." Bleh.

Not to mention the fact that by catering its marketing to a VERY young audience, Speed Racer may not reach its audience and fail at the box office... which would be an awful shame, because it is actually a VERY good movie. You just have to a) completely embrace its style, b) leave your adult brain at home, c) embrace the insanely bold use of the medium, and d) understand the level to which this movie elevate the source material.

Yes, the movie looks like a video game in the sense that it looks nothing like our world. This may be one of the most colorful and purposely artificial movie you'll ever see. The look of the film, with its unapologetic overdose of bright colors, its unbelievably blue skies and the very unique artificial look is part of its genius.

If you don't like the look of movies like "Sin City," "Moulin Rouge" or "300," the visual style of Speed Racer may not be your cup of tea either. If, however, you can appreciate a unique visual style that successfully bridges the gap between the original source material and the movie adaptation, you can easily look at Speed Racer as an art film - which it so clearly is.

The movie is completely over the top in every possible way. As a matter of fact, I would go as far as to say that the film is completely ridiculous. From the laugh-outloud chimp kung fu fantasies to Racer X punching another driver in the face while both cars are performing insane side-flip maneuvers at 500 kph, the movie completely embraces its cartoonish high octane nature - which is precisely why it scores. The Wachowski brothers obviously didn't hold back here - and actually went above and beyond what lesser writers & directors would have created. This movie is as far out there as it could possibly be, and it is refreshing as hell to see a movie so uncompromisingly edgy and full of child-like enthusiasm.

Surprisingly, Speed Racer is absolutely not a brainless visualfest. The script is surprisingly solid, and the actors absolutely kick ass. Just as Robert Downey Jr. elevates Ironman through his inspired portrayal of Tony Stark, Susan Sarandon and John Goodman infuse the movie with perfectly metered and stunning performances during key scenes late in the movie. These moments are absolutely priceless bits of movie-making and bring unexpected depth to an otherwise escapist underdog movie. Matthew Fox shines as Racer X, Emile Hirsch is completely believable and endearing as Speed Racer, and I must say that Christina Ricci is actually pretty hot as Trixie. The kid brother and the chimp are at occasionally annoying (probably not to an eight-year-old though), but overall, they made me laugh alot more than I care to admit.

The Brandbuilder blog isn't a movie review site, so I'll stop here... but I didn't want the bonehead reviews I've read today to negatively influence any of you - my readers - when it comes to this movie. Speed Racer is actually a work of genius. Most people probably won't get why or how, but then again, edgy doesn't appeal to most people. The masses will most likely look at Speed Racer purely as an over-the-top cartoonish movie version of a bad 1980's anime series, aimed at pleasing little kids... but it is on every level an entertaining art film that blends stunningly rendered visual effects, lots of action, superb casting, solid character development, impressive acting, some pretty funny stuff, a classic underdog story, kung fu and chimp humor to create a very unique package.

Mark my words: This flick is nothing short of a classic.

Even if you end up hating Speed Racer, you should go see it - chances are, you'll be pleasantly surprised. Bonus: Check out this article about the film's technical aspects in Wired.

What I learned at the Clemson Triathlon this weekend.

2008-05-10T17:46:00.001-04:00

1. I need an aggressive and consistent training regimen in the pool.
2. I need an aggressive and consistent training regimen on the bike.
3. I need an aggressive and consistent run training regimen.
4. Racing without being well prepared is a dumbass thing to do because it kind of hurts, and to top it all off, you don't win anything.
5. For me, the difference between being race-ready and or not in a sprint distance tri is about 10-12 minutes on the clock.
6. Some of the finest people I will ever know are triathletes. True class acts. Eric, Dave, Mendy, Julie, Janice, Holly, Roby, Beth, Jay, Hal... the list is long and I apologize if I didn't include you here. (You're on my long list.) I am VERY lucky to count these people as my friends.
7. There's no bullshit in triathlon. There is nowhere to hide. The clock doesn't lie.
8. Racing reveals every single flaw. There's no escaping it. What you do with those flaws is your choice - which is pretty eye-opening in and of itself.
9. Triathletes are a bunch of VERY fit and VERY twisted people.

Yeah, I had a blast.

37

2008-05-09T08:50:00.001-04:00

This day in 1971, I was forcibly removed from my mother's womb by an unscrupulous "clope au bec" French OBGYN with a fetish for smelling dog's feet and slapped on the ass by a jaded and prickly old nurse with a nasty ether habit. Or so the story goes.

Let's take an inventory of the last 37 years, shall we?

Places where I've lived:
Paris, France
Abidjan, Ivory Coast
Brussels, Belgium
Madrid, Spain
Landrum, SC (USA)
Lorient, France
Bram, France
Cannes, France
Greenville, SC (USA)

Countries I've visited (in addition to the above, obviously):
UK, Luxemburg, Holland, Denmark, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Bosnia, Monaco, Senegal, Egypt, Djibouti, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Bahamas, Mexico.

Jobs I've had (in no particular order):
Naval Officer, Photographer, Copywriter, Product Manager, Sandwich Artist, Professional student, Ranch Hand, Retail Monkey, Carpenter, door-to-door Salesman, Sales Manager, Brand Manager, Marketing Director, Marketing Consultant, Magazine Editor, blogger.

Time spent sleeping: 12 years, 4 months
Time spent working: 5 years
Time sitting in front of the TV: 5 years
Pounds of food consumed: 15,000
Liters (of various beverages) consumed: 28,000
Words written or typed: Somewhere north of 9,000,000.
Cars owned: 5
Bicycles owned: 14

Here's to another year biting the dust.

photo: yours truly with the paternal grandparent unit. Paris, circa 1980.

And more Seth. Whatever. Call me a sellout. I don't care.

2008-05-09T06:30:00.000-04:00

Post #3 from Seth Godin's blog this week.

No, I am not on Seth's payroll. Stop asking me.

Here it goes:

The first rule of b2b selling:

If it gets to the RFP stage, you lost.

Great business to business marketers (and profitable ones) make the sale long before that happens.

The RFP is an organizational punt, it's a way of saying, "it's all a commodity, we can't decide, cheap guy wins."

The cheap guy, of course, never wins.

Yes, yes, and yes. If you don't already know this, learn it now and remember it always.

And by the way, the best agencies/contractors/consultants/whatever will ALWAYS turn down RFPs. Here's why: If we have to audition for you, a) you don't know what you want, b) you don't care enough about it to know who the best man/woman for the job is, and c) a and b together = you wasting our time. End of story.

Seth scores again.

Tomorrow is the Clemson Triathlon. Ruh-roh.

2008-05-09T00:01:00.001-04:00

I should have stuck to the training plan.

Going into one of the most competitive races in South Carolina with maybe 5 miles of accidental running in the last two months, maybe two miles of swimming in as much time, and no real bike training other than a few long rides is probably not the best idea in the world.

Am I fit? Yes. Am I lean? Getting there, yes. Am I race ready? Absolutely not. Not even close. This is going to be a VERY rough race for yours truly. I'm just hoping to survive.

This is NOT how I wanted to start off the season. Even for me, this is a pretty slack way to pop the cherry on this year's triathlon schedule.

This is what happens when you take a management job with a Fortune 500 company, sure, but that isn't the whole story. All groaning and moaning and butterflies aside, here are some cold hard truths about my utterly demented psyche:

Come Saturday morning, standing on the edge of the water at Lake Hartwell, surrounded by hundreds of men and women far better prepared than I am this time around, worried and nervous and drowzy from not having slept all that well, I will be sporting a possum-eating grin from ear to ear, and I will relish every damn second of the experience.

There was a time when I did come prepared for these things, when I walked away with age group awards and bragging rights, and single-digit rankings. But I was bored. Every race bled into the next. Each season became indistinguishable from the previous one. I eventually lost interest and checked out of the sport for almost two years, opting instead to photograph the races instead of participating in them.

In my own sick, twisted way, not training ensures that I will show up unprepared and nervous and full of self doubt, because at the core of my love for triathlon is the need to challenge myself. To test my will and my body. To overcome the unknown.

Hell, to overcome. Period.

Which is why the last two weeks at work, as challenging and stressful as they have been, as unpleasant and frustrating and time-consuming, have been my best yet.

The truth of the thing is that as much as I love to bitch about being stressed out, as much as I long to hang out on a Mediterranean beach drinking Orangina all day, I am at my best under pressure. I know this. I don't like to admit it and certainly don't want to give my boss an excuse to keep me under impossible deadlines indefinitely, but yeah, I'm one of those freaks who lives for thos impossible deadlines. The painful, uncertain races. The most ambitious projects.

I like the gauntlet. No... I love the gauntlet.

So this Saturday, let it be understood that I won't be walking away with any trophies. My finish time at the Clemson Triathlon will be decent at best, but probably pretty average. I will grit my teeth when the results get posted, and I will kick myself in the ass for weeks for not having trained for it. Months, even. But deep down in my heart, I will know that there was a reason why I opted to skip the runs and the swims to instead work on powerpoint presentations and project proposals and business plans.

It won't be because I want to kick ass at my job. (I could do both the job thing and the triathlon thing if I really wanted to.) No, the real reason is that I like to dig myself in a hole just to see if I can climb out. And how. And how well. I'm sure there's a name for this kind of pathos in psychotherapist circles. And I'm sure I could deconstruct it if I really wanted to take the time. A lurking father complex, a hint of narcissism, a dash of masochism, a spoonful of quirky curiosity, a pinch of social anxiety... Whatever. Who cares. It is what it is.

I guess the way I justify it to myself is this: It isn't like we have to go out and hunt mammoths anymore. We don't have to outsmart man-eating sabertooths. And that's too damn bad. Our foes these days are rush hour traffic jams and telemarketing calls during dinner and obtuse aftercare nazis. Twisted guys like me, we need more to get the juices flowing. Some guys are adrenaline junkies. Me, I'm a stress junkie. That's all it boils down to.

My job, my schedule, my showing up at races unprepared, my tackling public speaking engagements without notes... It's all part of my little life game. Knowing that I am at my best under stress, I find ways to create the stress.

Sick and twisted? Me? You bet.

See you at Clemson Saturday. I'll be the guy with the grin sweating bullets and breathing really hard. ;D

I hate to keep coming back to Seth Godin, but whatever. Here we are.

2008-05-08T12:01:00.000-04:00

So... in a perfect world, I would occasionally bring you a bit of insight or two from Seth Godin's blog every few months or so, but the world is far from perfect. Hence, here we are: Two pieces from Seth's blog in as many days. Sue me for wanting to share. Here it is:

Just got some work back from a new copyeditor hired by my publisher. She did a flawless job. She also wrecked my work. Totally wrecked it.

By sanding off every edge, removing every idiom, making each and every fact literally correct, she made it boring and dry and mechanical.

If they have licenses for copyeditors, she should have hers revoked.

I need to be really clear. She's not at fault. She did exactly what she was supposed to do. The fault lies in the job description, not the job. If the job description of your lawyer or boss or editor or client is to make sure everything is pure and perfect and proven and beyond reproach, they are making things worse, not better. (Unless you're in the vaccine business).

Almost everything you do has some sort of copyediting filter. It might be the legal eagle or the graphic supervisor or the customer service police. They're excellent at making round things fit perfectly through round holes.

Boring and ignored is fine with them, because no one complains.

Fortunately, copy editors have a remedy. It's a word called STET. Which means, "leave it alone, it was fine." Time to teach that to your editors, wherever they may be. Maybe there should be a t-shirt.

If all you want is safe, have baby food for dinner. Just leave me out of it.

Seen it happen. I've never had to punch anyone in the eyeball for sanding off any of my work's edges, but I've spent many a sleepless night re-writing pieces or reworking images or layouts that a subordinate or contractor completely stripped of any semblance of an edge... or style... or voice. It always sucks. And you always end up feeling sorry for the poor kid who screwed the pooch, because ultimately, maybe it wasn't entirely their fault. (How the hell are they supposed to know how to write like me or edit images the way I envisioned it when I shot them?) Design is a very personal thing. Designers are usually control freaks for a reason.

And workaholics.

And compulsive perfectionists.

I feel your pain, Seth.

Another kickass tip from Seth Godin.

2008-05-08T06:30:00.000-04:00

Seth Godin wrote something smart and cool again the other day (he tends to do that):

Make big promises; overdeliver.

If you can define great marketing in fewer words than that, you win.

"Big promises": treating people with respect, improving self-esteem, delivering results, contacting as often as you say you will but not more, including side effects in your planning, delivering joy, meeting spec, being on time, connecting people to one another, delivering consistency, offering value and on and on. Caring. The stories involved in your promises matter. That's often what people are buying.

This is the first place that the equation breaks down. Marketers often make big promises that appear to be unrealistic or are delivered in ways that don't match the worldview of the prospect. Marketers get carried away with themselves and focused on their greatness and forget to tell a story that people enjoy believing.

And sometimes, they make promises that are too small to get our attention. Boring promises are hardly worth making.

"Overdeliver" means doing more than you said you would, which is the secret to word of mouth.

Here, of course, the pitfall is obvious. You made too big a promise and you did your best, but no, you didn't overdeliver, not really. You didn't amaze and delight and yes, stun me with the incredible results of your offering.

Just because it's only four words doesn't mean it's easy!

Bake this into your qwan.

(Don't ask me what qwan is. Please. Just don't.)

Road Rage has nothing to do with branding, but I can't let this go untouched.

2008-05-07T22:08:00.005-04:00

Some jackass tried to take out a group of 50 cyclists with his car today - and pretty much succeeded.

From the Sunday Morning Herald:

Witnesses to the crash have told smh.com.au the group of about up to 60 professional cyclists were riding south on Southern Cross Drive, just south of Dacey Avenue, Mascot about 6.30am when a driver, agitated with being held up, accelerated in front of the pack and then slammed on his brakes.

One of the group said the motorists was "worrying" the rear of the pack, then overtook, pulled in front and slammed on his brakes, giving the riders no time to stop.

The resulting smash forced a semitrailer to lock up, jackknife and screech to a halt behind the cyclists while cars had to swerve to avoid them.
"Everyone's slammed into each other ... there were broken bikes - wheels busted and wheels snapped - and people lying on the road."

"Three female cyclists took the brunt of the accident, careering into the back of the braking vehicle, several of them being thrown into the air landing on the boot and roof of the car."

The best part:

It is understood (the authorities) know who the driver of the car is, and are attempting to contact him now.
It is expected he will be charged, including with failing to stop at the scene of an accident and negligent or dangerous driving.

There was no doubt the driver of the dark blue Ford Falcon - described by other witnesses as in his 30s with a female passenger - had done it deliberately, she said.

That's right. The dude sped off and left the scene of the accident.

Read all about it here.

I hope to god that son of a bitch gets charged with 50 counts of attempted murder, not just negligent driving. I can understand road rage, but this is just insane.

I'm sure that if some nutcase decided to mow down a crowd of pedestrians for the same reason (they were in his way and he was in a hurry), the authorities would be just a tad more outraged.

Negligent driving. Give me a break.

Hat tip to Gavin Heaton.

Twitter Wisdom.

2008-05-06T22:42:00.007-04:00

What passes for indulgence today was once the most basic definition of what it means to be civilized.

Time to bring some of the old ways back.

Notes on the title: Twitter's 140 character limit is already starting to rewire my brain thus: Whatever I have to say, I'd better make it quick and make it stick.

As much as I hate to admit it, not every damn thought deserves a 30,000 word blog post.

The cold hard truth about taglines.

2008-05-06T22:14:00.007-04:00

Great post over at Brains on Fire about taglines. Go join in.

In his post, Spike shares a pretty important rule when conjuring up a tagline (for your your business or for your unfortunate client): "Never use a tagline that just anyone can use. Ever."

Excellent advice - and he offers some pretty great examples to make his point.

I would take things a step further and offer “kill your tagline and bury it deep in the woods somewhere, where no one will ever think to look for it.”

Gucci, Starbucks, RayBan, Yves St. Laurent, Cartier and Bentley may have taglines, but I’d venture to say no one knows what they are. Why? Because a strong brand doesn’t need to explain itself through a tagline.

I hate taglines with a passion. They almost always suck, and rarely add anything to the brand they are supposed to serve.

A few exceptions to put this comment in perspective:

HBO - It isn’t TV. It’s HBO.
VW - Drivers Wanted.
Apple - Think Different.

Why do these taglines work? Because these brands are market disruptors and game changers - and therefore need a little extra definition here and there. Beyond that, creating taglines for most companies is a complete waste of time. The fact that most taglines are boring and interchangeable more than illustrates that point.

Go read the whole post.

Roby is back from his tour in the Stan!!! Copious celebratory beer drinking ahead.

2008-05-06T12:27:00.000-04:00

Yep, our friend Roby is back in the States looking all healthy and whatnot. His war isn't over yet, but he is back for a little while, which is pretty damn cool. It seems that only yesterday, we were waving goodbye and wondering if he'd make it back in one piece. (Not that we ever doubted he would. This isn't his first time doing the military thing after all.)

If you're going to be at the Clemson Triathlon this weekend, you might even score a Roby sighting. (Word on the street is he'll be the runner in a team relay. Hmmm. The plot thickens!)

Anyway, welcome back Roby! Good to have you back.

I'm sure Roby will start lining up graphic design and photography projects in a few weeks, so if you want to get to the front of the line, go to www.f360photo.com and follow the links to his very own section of the site (his contact info will be there).

PS: I hear there will be a war photography book in the works very soon. More info on that in a few weeks. If you're thinking "autographed coffee table book," we're on the same page.

Now stop wasting time reading this blog post and go kick ass on the project you SHOULD be working on right now. Go on! Shoo!

;)

YESSSSSSSS!!!! My Zune-powered rockstar lifestyle finally hits the fast lane!!!!

2008-05-06T08:42:00.000-04:00

While the whole world is sporting ubiquitous iPods (dare I call them "the uniform?"), the more intrepid among us have adopted Zune as our media player of choice. (Case in point, OC's Bear has a pretty kickass Zune of his that has been the secret envy of his colleagues for almost a year now.)

I myself have indulged in the luxury of the Generation-2 80G Zune (dubbed StealthZuneZero in case you're ever within range of my wireless). My Zune has become not only my personal music library (an increasingly respectable one at that), but also a convenient home for my photographic portfolio. Great for traveling, driving around town, and generally feeling cool and hip and all... but the lack of a convenient way to use my Zune to watch video was starting to become a nagging issue with me.

I mean... here I am, on flight after flight to Seattle or San Francisco or LA, and every time, an aisle neighbor pulls out an ipod and watches some kind of movie or TV show on it while I am stuck listening to music. (I could have been watching videos this whole time, but the process of converting DVDs to portable format was too daunting for an OCD pup like me to even consider tackling.

Sigh.

Well, those days are over. The Social has finally caught up with the rest of the world. From Cnet news.com:

A year and a half after debuting its first Zune, Microsoft is finally offering some content that makes use of that big color screen.
The software maker is releasing an update Tuesday to its Zune service that adds a video store with about 800 TV show episodes from NBC Universal, MTV, and a couple of other producers. For the moment, though, the store is far smaller than the TV options from iTunes or even from Microsoft's own Xbox Live Marketplace and offers no feature films.
"We feel it is more important and--customers tell us--to focus on short programming first," said Julio Estrada, general manager of Microsoft's Zune Social unit.
Read the entire article here.

Microsoft still has some ways to go before I am 100% happy with what is arguably a very convoluted and limited video uploading situation, but this announcement makes me happy. Very happy... because it means it won't be long now before this little speedbump is way, waaaaaay behind us.

The wife and kids (also Zunauts) will be excited to hear about this as well to be sure.

"Think Different" is cool and all, but go ahead and BE different: Get yourself a Zune.

OC4 is live!

2008-05-05T16:18:00.000-04:00

OC4 is live.

click here if you know what's good for you.

Ironman Scores, Marvel brand hits new high. The lessons are obvious.

2008-05-04T21:39:00.010-04:00

I've never been a huge fan of Ironman. When it comes to superheroes, I've always had a bit of a soft spot for Frank Miller's work with Batman (The Dark Knight, for starters), Spidey, and the X-Men (mostly Wolverine). Ironman though... eh. He was kind of a secondary superhero in a lot of ways. Not much of a point. Billionaire genius builds metal rocket suit, fights crime for fun. Bleh.

But that changed when I saw the first trailer for the motion picture version - which finally came out this weekend. Score #1: Casting Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark. Score #2: Letting fans/geeks make the movie. Score #3: A great set of trailers. (In sharp contrast with Indiana Jones 4, which so far has a horrendous trailer.)

Anyhoo. The trailer started getting excited about the movie, and I have been anticipating it ever since. I excitedely took the family to see it over the weekend, and... well... I was a bit nervous about it. It's Ironman, after all. How good can it be? I bought my tickets with a mixture of excitement and apprehension: What if it sucked? What if even Robert Downey Jr. and director John Favreau couldn't save a second-rate superhero in his first attempt at becoming a big screen success? (Remember Daredevil? Nuff said.)

But from the very opening scene (great editing), my fears evaporated into thin air. Ironman was rock solid, and yeah, Robert Downey Junior is without a doubt one of the coolest actors in Hollywood. Always has been. He shines so brightly as Tony Stark that he singlehandedly takes what could have been (should have been) an okay Marvel superhero flick into one of the best Marvel movie franchises to date. Don't believe me? Check out these review snippets from Rotten Tomatoes:

"Robert Downey Jr. nails Iron Man. More apropros, change nails to welds. For it is Downey who most significantly raises the quality bar of 'Iron Man' to the classic level of fellow comic book heroes Superman, Batman and Spider-Man. Welcome, new franchise."

"Move over, Superman. This lush, high-octane playboy never tasted so good. Iron Man has not only etched itself the mark of one of the best-reviewed films so far in 2008 but also one of the highest-rated superhero movies of all time."

"Robert Downey Jr., full-swing back into his acting genius, is exceptional as Iron Man. Life for Tony Stark is cool, and you can almost image him doing the Charlie Chaplin waddle across his workshop."

"This might be the most relevant superhero tale we have yet seen."

"Robert Downey Jr. delivers a knockout performance that alone is worth the price of admission to watch."

"It's Robert Downey Jr., having triumphed over his substance abuse battle, who puts the pedal to the metal and scores the freshest new franchise going."

"The best superhero movie since Spider-Man 2. Robert Downey Jr is the film's best special effect."

"Downey could have taken a tragic tack. But he has fun just figuring out how to make the armor suit work. His sarcasm and almost drunken Tony Curtis body language transform the scenes of Iron Man."

"In the proficient hands of Jon Favreau, abetted by a magnificent performance by Robert Downey, Jr., not only does Iron Man pay off, but it raises the stakes for comic book movies to follow, as well as the entire summer film season."

Yet here it is. The cold hard truth that Hollywood studio execs need to read and re-read and learn from:

"Dangerously dependant on Robert Downey Jr. for entertainment. He throws a one-man party during every scene. But when he's off-screen, the film wilts. (Yes, even with Jeff Bridges' anti-Dude.) Re-cast, it would only be a shade better than Daredevil."

Sure, the cgi is impressive, but without the superb casting and directing of Downey, the movie would not have been worth the $10 admission. Something Marvel must have figured out over the last year, when they decided to completely recast the "Hulk" Franchise for the upcoming Hulk sequel (The Incredible Hulk). Not that there was anything wrong with Eric Bana as Bruce Banner, but casting Edward Norton in the role for the sequel is pure genius. Too bad the cg design couldn't have been overhauled too.

Point: When first rate writers, actors and directors start lending their talents to movies based on comic book/graphic novels and take them seriously (as in "not just a mindless popcorn blockbuster cash cow) they raise the bar and wonderful things happen.

Spiderman 1 and 2.
300
Sin City.
And now Ironman.

Take my point and transpose it onto your brand or your agency's work: Are you really taking your latest campaign as seriously as you should? Are you really hiring and developing the very best talent you can? Are you as passionate about getting it right and making a splash as you should be? Are you really the brand development geek you could be? Should be? The design geek you should be? The wordsmithing geek you ought to be? The first rate art director you once dreamed of being?

Even if you aren't being paid like the A-list talent you hope to be, even if you don't have the fancy title and the cool business card and the cool office, are you really working it like Robert Downey Jr.? Taking an average movie script based on a silly second rate comic book superhero and elevating it to something remarkable, lasting and cool?

Or are you letting the source material, the client, the market or even your paycheck justify an half-assed effort on your part?

Half-assed efforts like Daredevil, Elektra, The Incredible Hulk (1) and X-Men 3, may make money, but they only serve to hurt the Marvel franchise. It's interesting to see how a studio, director, team of producers or a casting director can impact a brand so quickly: Botch a Marvel superhero movie, and the sum of its franchises starts slipping. Get one right, and the entire portfolio of Marvel franchises suddenly goes up in value. The same is true of Starbucks, Hyatt hotels, Volkswagen, Delta Airlines, or whatever brand or business you can think of: Every customer experience either erodes the value of your brand or elevates it.

Nobody gives a crap if you've worked for Miramax, Fox, Disney and Marvel if your projects have all been crap. Professionals rise to the top of their professions by taking even mediocre ideas, products, campaigns and projects, and elevating them to new heights. Period. Nobody is going to hand you a golden egg. They're going to hand you a heaping pile of steaming crap, and it's your job to turn it into a work of art. (And a lasting one at that.)

Some might call this alchemy. I call it my job. You call it your job. And that's what sets some of you apart from the rest. You can actually do this: Turn crap into gold. And people around you know it. (If they don't, what the hell are you waiting for? Show them!)

What you want to hear from your clients, bosses or audience EVERY SINGLE TIME you deliver a project is this: "I had no idea it would turn out this well."

And their next breath should sound a lot like a "wow."

Like many of you reading this blog, Robert Downey Jr. has always had the talent to rise to the very top of his profession. Unlike many of you, however, he didn't always have the right mental attitude, the right focus, the right amount of professional fortitude to put his tremendous talent to good use. Yet here he is, cleaned up, ready to make up for lost time, making a hell of a comeback, and handing a movie studio (and pop culture) a hell of a gift in the process. If he can pull that kind of comeback, knowing what hell he crawled out of, so can you. Stop half-assing. Stop hiding behind your "company culture," behind red tape, behind someone else's crappy work or behind an obtuse boss or client. Just kick ass. Period.

Just

kick

ass.

And go see Ironman. You'll have fun. Trust me.

3 tools that will instantly upgrade you to geek 3.0 status

2008-05-01T23:26:00.008-04:00

Gorgeous search app. if you're looking for something a little more stylish than Google or Yahoo. Nothing cooler than functional eye candy. Searchme looks and feels like a cross between Minority Report and Flickr. I like. Above: playing with a BrandBuilder search.

Also, check out Trendpedia, which helps you search and compare trends in blogs. Below: A comparison between Apple, Whole Foods and Starbucks.

Hat tip to the very sharp Andy Woolard.

Bonus link (also from Andy): Muxtape. The coolest/geekiest way to spend a Friday evening cutting good old fashioned mix tapes for the object of your desire (like you used to in High School)... except in an mp3 world. Not at all branding or or business-related (aside from the throwback page design), but check it out anyway. You'll be glad you did.

Mike Wagner on building real value from within.

2008-05-01T08:21:00.000-04:00

Awesome little post by Mike Wagner over at "Own Your Brand":

“What position did you play?” seemed like an innocent enough question coming from my six-year-old grandson. Basketball is on his mind, as it is everyone’s this time of year.

The conventional answer, “I played center.” says so little. I’d rather tell him what I accomplished for the team - it means more.
My high school coach, in his “John Wooden-like” wisdom gave me an outcome to achieve. My position of “center” was just for the program.
We were a very short team competing against much taller teams. My assigned contribution was to get the opposing team’s center to foul out - Period. “How” was up to me.
Some of my opponents were temperamental and easy to frustrate into fouling me. Others were so confident they couldn’t wait to stuff the ball down my 5-foot, 11-inch frame every time I tried a shot - they were easy targets as well.
My position was “center” but my contribution was “strategic foul generation”.
In the business world, the word “title” is exchanged for “position”. People want to know what others do for a living - many reply with their title. But a title says so little!
In your career, it’s better to focus on the outcomes you bring to the team…
Contribution is more important than title – Titles mean a lot in the pecking order found in any organization or business community. However, in terms of ultimate brand impact, titles are about as substantial as cotton candy. Focus on your contribution regardless of title.
You get “playing time” by contributing to wins - Titles come and go. When tough economic times require a hard look at “head count” how do you think decisions will be made - “We can’t let Jim go. We have to have an Assistant VP of Marketing!”? Not likely. To solidify your place on “the team” link your day-to-day outcomes to the brand’s success.
You own the “how” of what you contribute - Own your outcomes. Don’t wait for someone to show you how - it may never happen. Find a way to deliver what the organization needs. Be creative. Be determined. People who know and own their contribution are what every team needs.
Titles do not create great brands. It’s great performances produced by people who contribute like “owners” regardless of what it says on their business cards.

I have nothing to add. Perfect.

photo by christopher wray-mccann

Sushi night at Azia

2008-04-30T22:02:00.007-04:00

The Microsoft gang enjoyed seafood carnage at Greenville's posh AZIA restaurant last night.

Two words: Yummy.

Awesome service, cool digs, $5 martinis (Wednesdays), and basically a flawless dining experience. If you're in Greenville (or ever pass through), I recommend it.

Great food. One of the many perks of hanging out with Bill Gates' crew on a regular basis.

Top: Volcano, Dragon, Shogun rolls + yellowfin, tuna, eel and octopus nagiri.
Above: A delicious sea bass.

Yes, I'm a freak who carries a camera everywhere he goes.

The final nail in the 30-second spot's coffin?

2008-04-30T13:43:00.004-04:00

From Jaffe Juice, caught via Joseph's copious Twittering:

We're all too familiar with the ultimate contradiction in the 30-second spot game - as every year goes by, we seem to be paying more for less. It makes no sense that as viewers continue to fragment to cable, favor video production over consumption or just switch to alternatives from DVD viewing to gaming, somehow marketers are conned into continuing to invest in the cluttered swill of wastage that is continually suffocating the last bit of life in the dying field of creativity.

According to Mediaweek, viewers aged 18-49 for network syndicated spots, viewership has gone DOWN by an average of 12% and some as much as 21% over last year. That equates to about 3 million viewers on average. But Media Agencies are still trying to use scare tactics on advertisers, boasting the fact that ad spots that are not locked in already will cost 30-40% more over last year.

Hat tip: Lori-Laurent Smith

...but wait, there's less!

I opened up my USA Today in my hotel room and looked at the latest Prime Time Nielsen ratings. Last week American Idol, the network's top rated program pulled in 24.7 and 23.2 million viewers for its Tuesday and Wednesday showings respectively.

And here's the kicker: there's another box which breaks down viewers 18-49 (didn't it used to be 24-39? I'm sure these numbers would be worse) and has the same AI numbers at 11.9 and 11.3 million respectively.

In other words, 52% of American Idol viewers are 50 and older??? I'm obviously assuming that a significant chunk of this viewership is 17 and younger...but I'm curious, to what extent do Nielsen numbers cover 17 and under? Irrespective, is it even possible that such a large percentage of viewers of the most watched program are outside of the (inflated) "coveted" demographic?

Read the whole post here.

Media agencies: You might want to rethink your gameplan. That singing you're hearing off in the distance, that's the fat lady singing your lullaby.

Some fine thinking from the 864.

2008-04-29T23:59:00.005-04:00

Brains on Fire's Justine Foo (PhD) on the sustainability of value props, innovation, and the courage of looking beyond conventional ROI:

Maybe it’s the idealist in me, but I’m hoping sustainability isn’t just a trend. I’m hoping this is the beginning of a paradigm shift toward more sustainable business practices in general. Not just with respect to the use of renewable vs. non-renewable resources for manufacturing. But also with respect to the kinds of consumer goods we innovate, and how we communicate about products and services to people. I long to see sustainability as a price of entry for doing business, and yes marketing. Wouldn’t it be nice if you actually kept, for example, 80% of the mail you get instead of throwing it straight in the trash?
We spend billions of dollars on communications that are short-lived and sadly waste paper, vinyl, and other things. We know that mass advertising isn’t having the impact it used to, and that we need to look to other venues like word of mouth. But even then we’re still thinking short term; creating buzz, not lasting energy and enduring excitement.
(...)
You’ll think I’m crazy. But I’m hoping that oil prices stay high. That the “crisis” mainstream advertisers are in doesn’t subside. That consumers continue to grow their demand for pesticide-free, natural, organic. Even that food prices rise. It’s instabilities like these that drive REAL change. Why? Because they create the motivation for finding a better way to do things. They force us to innovate and not relax back into the status quo.

Marketing, like manufacturing, stands at the doorstep of a great opportunity. An opportunity to revolutionize how we think about growth, measure return, and exist in relation to the communities that support us. Will we invest in developing better, smarter, more efficient ways to excite people about our products? Or will we continue to play the numbers game and bask in a false sense of security we feel when we’re promised a reach of thousands and millions of people, even when our strategic objectives have moved beyond raising awareness.

It will take courage to look beyond conventional ROI. It will take dedication and creativity to see new ways to measure return. It will also take companies demanding sustainability from their marketing departments and partners. And the recognition that it emerges from passion and excitement, not impressions.

Source post.

If you think that the gas prices comment is harsh, well... yeah. It is. But when we're too set in our ways to make necessary changes on our own, the universe has a funny way of using the foot-in-ass technique to get us to move. It may not be pleasant, but that's just how it is. Deal with it.

The same is true about business. Way too many companies are still in denial mode: "We've been doing it this way for 50 years and it's worked fine!" (Yet their business is going down the drain and they can't figure out why.) Wake up and smell what's cooking. Numbers don't lie. Customers don't lie. Your bottom-line and market share don't lie. Winners win and losers lose: What is true of athletes, nations, products and even species is also true of marketing campaigns and businesses.

Reality is often too harsh to bear. True leaders accept reality and deal with it. Far too many business executives, however, are not leaders. For them, competition, price pressures and innovation are the cosmic kicks to the rump that force them to cast their "business as usual" mentalities aside and get back in the game, sometimes much too late, when at all

Leaders and the companies they head will survive. Posers will not. I say let natural selection, market forces and user/customer communities sort them out.

Great post, Justine.

Sadly, I had absolutely zero negative brand experiences all week!!!

2008-04-29T22:47:00.004-04:00

I really wanted to have horror stories to share with you after my trip to San Antonio, but I don't! My flights were on time. All airline employees I ran into were friendly and professional. The cab drivers were polite and fast. The hotel was gorgeous and clean. The waiters were great. Everything clicked. Everything rolled like clockwork.

I am flabbergasted. Really. What happened to the broken systems I am so used to when I travel? Could it be that we have turned the corner? Has Delta Airlines fixed its issues?

Were the stars aligned for me this past week?

Has a karmic feedback loop formed around me?

Whatever the case may be, I am not complaining.

Hello San Antonio!

2008-04-23T22:46:00.007-04:00

Not a lot of time to blog tonight, but tomorrow should be a little less of a time crunch. Hanging out at the Grand Hyatt in downtown San Antonio, just a short walk from the famous Riverwalk. So far so good.

Oh, and I led my team to a very acceptable bronze medal in the Varnex/Cowboy Olympics this evening. (I even set a quick-draw record - which, for a non-Texan, isn't too shabby.)

The kid's still got it!

Wednesday is a travel day.

2008-04-23T00:02:00.003-04:00

Heading west to Varnex today.

There will be copious blogging.

End of transmission.

Divide 3.0

2008-04-21T22:11:00.004-04:00

"I realize the conversations I'm having today are going to turn into business in about two years. The problem is convincing everyone else."

- Tim Coote from a Twitter post.

Aaaaaaand... back to Roby's world.

2008-04-21T21:30:00.006-04:00

While we're all going about our daily business - driving to work, shopping at Target or Whole Foods or Starbucks, watching John Adams on HBO, and doing whatever it is we do, tens of thousands of men and women are serving overseas in areas that aren't exactly... um... safe. F360's Roby (photo above) is still one of them - although he should be heading home pretty soon. (Keeping our fingers crossed.)

Just to bring home Roby's current lifestyle, here are some of his combat photographer images from Afghanistan (while his unit trains the locals to kick the Taliban in the teeth without US help):

Good stuff.

It's not you, it's me: Moving to WordPress (for real this time.)

2008-04-21T16:10:00.004-04:00

Dear Blogger/Blogspot,

We've been together for what... three years now? Almost four? Wow. Time flies when you're having fun. We've had a good time together, writing and publishing blog posts. But you know, this last month, I've been seeing another blog... and I think that the grass is greener there. So... I think we should still be friends... but I think that I might be moving to WordPress soon.

I hate to hurt your feelings, and I do stay up at night wondering what the move will do to our technorati rankings, but whatever. Change is necessary. Evolution is necessary. I need to spread my wings. So sometime in the next few weeks, I am going to start moving all of my stuff over to WordPress.

It isn't anything you did. It's just... I need more. Cleaner pages, better reporting, more control over my own posts, better integration with what will, over the next year, become a more comprehensive website.

I will keep you and all of our friends updated, but I wanted you to be the first to know: the brandbuilder will be moving to WordPress in the next few weeks. I've played with the idea several times in the past, but now that I have been testing WP for a few weeks, I understand why the move is necessary.

I'll keep everyone updated on what should be a pretty smooth and painless little move.

Have a great Monday!

Blogging from Varnex this week.

2008-04-21T10:27:00.006-04:00

Welcome to travel week #37. I'm actually in the office today and tomorrow, but getting everything ready for Varnex 2008 v.1 in San Antonio, TX... which is kind of why the blogging has been a little bit light lately. (Sorry, being all corporate and whatnot, making sure my unit hits its numbers and all that.)

I plan to blog from Varnex both here on the BrandBuilder and the Microsoft Sherpa blog, so stay tuned. (Expect at least one blog post here to be about my air travel adventures - as usual.)

And to help things along, I've added a little tool to my travel kit:

As much as I love my Canon SLR's with their GIANT 2.8 lenses, they're kind of a drag to carry around on business trips, what with the extra bag and whatnot. The G9 is pretty tight for several reasons: 1) 12.1 megapixels. 2) It shoots jpg and RAW. 3) f2.8 lens. (Oh yeah.) 4) Full manual mode, exactly like a pro-level SLR: Manual control of the shutter speed and ISO. 5) Even with all that, it still fits in your pocket.

Boo-yah.

If I have time later today, I will tell you all about my triple-sorry experience with circuit City this weekend. It was so bad, I almost feel bad for them. (If anything, almost everyone there was at least friendly, but man, do they need process improvements.) Stay tuned.

Lewis Green on Taking Measure of a Boss

2008-04-16T10:52:00.005-04:00

Great post by Lewis green over at BizSolutionsPlus on how great leadership can build great brands. Here's a taste:

You can tell a lot about leadership by studying how leaders live their lives outside their work. Whether President of the United States or Starbucks or L&G Business Solutions, we can take the measure of a boss not only by evaluating their principles and how they lead at work, but perhaps more so by how they behave when they are away from the office.

Let's take a look at one such leader: Howard Schultz, Chairman and CEO, Starbucks.
Schultz reinvented Starbucks after he purchased the company from its original owners in 1987. Initially, he joined Starbucks in 1982, which was then a small Seattle retailer with five stores. He bought Starbucks in 1987, bringing a new vision that was to be built upon a solid foundation of Guiding Principles, which became the following.
The following six guiding principles will help us measure the appropriateness of our decisions:

1. Provide a great work environment and treat each other with respect and dignity.

2. Embrace diversity as an essential component in the way we do business.

3. Apply the highest standards of excellence to the purchasing, roasting and fresh delivery of our coffee.

4. Develop enthusiastically satisfied customers all of the time.

5. Contribute positively to our communities and our environment.

6. Recognize that profitability is essential to our future success.

Ultimately, these Principles alongside passionate leaders and employees grew the business beyond anyone's imagination. By 1997, Starbucks boasted 1,300 stores, 25,000 employees, and an international brand that rivaled all others. This month, Starbucks Market Capitalization stands at a lofty $14.5 billion.

However, Starbucks faces several serious challenges, as its brand image seems in decline. For all practical intents and purposes, Schultz left the day-to-day operations at Starbucks to others nearly a decade ago.

Schultz recently, as Michael Dell did last year, returned and jammed both his thumbs into the dikes to stem the obvious leaks that have occurred, leading to a decline in the Third Place Experience and a perceived reduction in product quality. One wonders if this is the same Howard Schultz, however, that as a young entrepreneur surprised everyone by his success.

The young Schultz refused to take a salary for several years after buying the company. He insisted on ethical behavior from all. He surrounded himself with smart people. He motivated and inspired everyone he touched. His passion was contagious. And he could be trusted and relied upon in every conceivable way.

Read the rest of the post here.

We can all agree that poor leadership can kill great companies, and inspired leadership can turn small companies into extraordinary powerhouses. How does your boss fare as a leader? Where is he/she taking your organization? If you're a boss, take a step back and be honest with yourself. Are there things you could do better? What are they? What are you doing TODAY, this week, this month to take them off your "I'm not super good at this" list?

As a business, department or project leader, how are you REALLY impacting the brand(s) you serve? If you don't know or can't be objective about it, you might want to ask for your peers' input. Ask them to anonymously tell you one thing you do extremely well, and the one thing they think you should get better at right now.

What's most impressive about this whole Schultz thing is learning that he refused to take a salary his frst few years on the job. How many CEOs today would do the same thing?

Integrity is a pretty powerful thing.

Brand-User engagement: The case for social media

2008-04-14T14:55:00.004-04:00

Excellent post by Gavin heaton over at Servant of Chaos today about the role of social media in building and strengthening brands:

The opportunity for brands to begin building trust and engaging with their consumers through social media and blogs etc is compelling. Not only can social media begin building a network of trust between the brand and its consumers, but the continued (micro) exposure will bring closer identification between the two. It is also important to remember that your employees are also consumers -- and they have expectations of your brand and are well known to be the best source of brand ambassadors/evangelists.
With all this in mind, is there a need for a "chief blogger"?

Go here to find out what Gavin's answer is.

Fixing Death by Powerpoint: The Presentation

2008-04-10T15:53:00.004-04:00

I guess I've always been a decent communicator. Not great, but occasionally good, and most of the time decent. One area that I could improve upon is my powerpoint design skills. Sure, I can present just about anything well with the help of powerpoint, but actually DESIGNING a presentation (slides, content, narrative, etc.) in such a way as to captivate, engage and delight... eh, not so much. Just like many of you, I have mostly settled for creating slides that presented data and organized talking points with bullets.

And yes, I am guilty of using mostly "approved" backgrounds, when I should instead work on creating one effective and kickass slide after the other.

All of this is in the process of changing. I have started creating and filing what will someday become a pretty hefty collection of ready-to-use Powerpoint silver bullets. The goal: cut my powerpoint design times down to almost nothing while producing cool, sticky presentations.

Well... that's the goal anyway.

To see where I am going with this, click on Alexei Kapterev's "Death By Powerpoint" presentation (top of post). For a completely original (and definitely non-corporate) use of powerpoint, click on Blaine Cook's eComm 2008 presentation below.

Good stuff. (And yes, I dig Slideshare a lot.)

Air travel complaints up 60% last year: How can rebranding fix a complete system failure?

2008-04-07T14:13:00.010-04:00

Ah. Air travel. One of my favorite topics (usually filed under "broken system report").

So... according to a recent study of air travel satisfaction, the US air travel infrastructure seems to be heading in the wrong direction. While technology, marketing and customer experience design are making giant forward leaps, the airline industry in the US seems to be taking giant steps backwards... or maybe not since a giant step backwards would actually mean comfortable seats, friendly staff, real onboard food/drink service, on-time arrivals, and no one getting bumped. Ever.

The reality, however, is pretty scary, as anyone who flies the friendly skies on a regular basis already knows. (Don't even get me started about the steel cart of death.)

From MSN.com:

On-time arrivals dropped for the fifth straight year, with more than one-quarter
of all flights late, according to the survey. The rates of passengers bumped
from overbooked flights and bags lost, stolen or damaged also jumped in
2007.

Stolen bags. Hmmm. Yeah. I hope that Homeland Security and the TSA have a backup plan in case the whole baggage handlers as a first line of defense thing doesn't work out.

Six airlines — Frontier, Northwest, SkyWest, Southwest, United and US
Airways — showed declines in every area in the survey, although Southwest still
had the best on-time arrival mark at 80.1 percent. The Dallas-based carrier also
had the lowest rate of consumer complaints, 0.26 per 100,000 passengers.

Still, the airline has not been immune from problems. It is fighting a
record $10.2 million fine from the Federal Aviation Administration for
continuing to fly dozens of Boeing 737s that hadn't been inspected for cracks in
their fuselages.

American, Delta and United airlines recently canceled flights to
perform unscheduled inspections of certain aircraft, and US Airways found
problems on some Boeing 757s after a wing part on one of its planes fell off
during a flight.

Wonderful. In retrospect, maybe having to pay $7 for a ham-like-meat sandwich and being forced to deal with passive aggressive flight attendants with questionable hygiene are the least of my worries.

The Airline Quality Rating study, compiled annually since 1991, is based on
Transportation Department statistics for airlines that carry at least 1 percent
of the passengers who flew domestically last year. The research is sponsored by
the Aviation Institute at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and by Wichita
State University. The other airlines in the survey were AirTran, Alaska,
American Eagle, Atlantic Southeast, Continental, Jet Blue and Mesa.

Among the study's conclusions:

- More than one-third of Atlantic Southeast Airlines flights were late, the worst on-time performance in 2007.

- The airlines also bumped passengers more often, at a rate of 4.5 per 10,000 passengers. JetBlue and AirTran were far ahead of their competitors in avoiding bumping passengers from flights, at 0.02 and 0.15 per 10,000 passengers, respectively.

- AirTran had the best baggage handling rate, at 4.06 mishandled bags per 1,000 passengers. American Eagle ranked last in baggage handling with 13.55 mishandled bags per 1,000 passengers.

Crazy.

Growing up in France in the 70's and 80's, I learned at a pretty early age to discern which European (and non-European) countries had the highest standards of living by experiencing their travel infrastructure - including airlines.

If we are to be a shining beacon to the world, we really can't afford to allow the quality of our air travel to sink this low. We already don't have much of a rail system, so it isn't like we can fall back on Plan B. There are no bullet trains that can get us from Houston to Chicago, from DC to Miami, or from Atlanta to San Francisco.

Some airlines are managing to thrive in this dreadful state of disrepair, as they should. Shame on the airlines that can't adjust to rising costs and aging aircraft. Yeah, sure, prices may need to go up a bit, but you can offset a 5-10% uplift in ticket prices by giving passengers something in return (and no, I don't mean sky miles). It's like everything else. When the conversation drifts to price, then you haven't done a good job of selling value.

If you want to change the conversation and talk about something other than price, then you'd better have something great to talk about. How about this:

1. First, make sure you have the most impressive safety record in the industry, and TALK ABOUT IT. (If US Air's wings lose parts during flight, you want to be on the total opposite end of that spectrum.)

2. Hire professional looking/acting staff. You're in the airline industry, for crying outloud. Bring a little bit of glamour back to your brand experience and make your company's name synonymous with that hint of luxury. I want to be greeted with smiles at the check-in, at the gate, and onboard the plane. I want to be treated like a valued guest, and not like another ass-in-seat hassle. I don't want to be berrated by a power-tripping ogre struggling to deal with another 2-3 lousy years left until retirement. Give me smiles and professional looking people. You know, with uniforms that a) fit properly and b) get pressed every once in a while. Give me enthusiasm and manners. If hotels and most companies in the US can do it, surely airlines can as well.

3. In-flight service: Look it up. Hint: Charging $7-$10 for a POS vending machine sandwich is just dumb and beyond gauche. #1: You're ripping off your own customers, and they will remember it. #2: Food of such insipid quality doesn't belong on your flights. (Not unless you stow wooden crates and live poultry in the same hold as your passengers.) Treat your passengers well.

4. Scratch overbooking from your MO.

5. Invest in some toiletry kits. That way, when the baggage handlers at one of your twenty+ airports steal a passenger's Vuitton suitcases, you'll at least give your angry passenger a) Fresh breath, and b) the notion that while the airport may not care about them, you sure as hell do.

6. Buy aircraft with comfortable seats. (Before buying the damn things, get your senior execs to fly from coast to coast in one of them.)

7. Drop routes that don't make sense. Better to be small and great than big and crappy.

8. Be insanely nice to your passengers when they exit the plane.

9. Toys or coloring books for kids. Yes, even in the era of Gameboys, iPods and PSPs, the ubiquitos free branded toy goes a long way.

10. I hate to sound like Papa Seth, but make te experience memorable (in a positive way). Just like The Standard Hotel makes a point to make every detail of the guest experience cool and story-worthy, an airline can (and should) as well. Redesign your uniforms. Redesign your aircraft interior. Redesign the entire experience of booking, checking-in, waiting at the gate, boarding the aircraft, flying, landing and exiting the terminal memorable. (It doesn't need to eat into your profits either. A little bit of forethought doesn't hurt.) In other words, get your heads out of the numbers for a bit and take a more holistic approach to managing your business/airline.

In other words, build some value.

Stop whining, stop complaining about the price of fuel and the pilots' unions and overcrowding at most of our country's airports, and do whatever you have to do to become the best damn airline in the US (and then the world).

If the issue is Wall Street, fire your board, appoint people to it who can put together a rejuvenation plan, and send them to speak to your investors with a kickass proposal they will rally behind. Make them understand that business-as-usual and damage-control won't cut it in the long-term, and that you have a real plan to get back on track. Not just financially, but from a true market leadership standpoint.

Easier said than done? Sure. Of course. But that's no reason not to try.

Just for sport, let's have a show of hands: How many airlines are doing this right now?

1? 2? 3, maybe? Yeah. That's what I thought.

For shame.

This is not a problem that can be fixed by cutting costs (the equivalent of ancient medicine's practice of bleeding sick patients). This is a problem that must be fixed through cultural change from within the organization: Airlines that stand for something and deliver on the expectations of their most critical passengers will stand out and do extremely well. Those who are merely content to stay afloat, those who fear Wall Stree and fickle investors, those who have no plan to rebuild their airlines as opposed to slowly bleeding them to death or relying on government bailouts will continue down this ill-fated path.

When I bite into a stale $7 POS sandwich on a crowded flight with dirty floors, mean flight attendants and no chance of making my next connection, all I see is lousy leadership, and it sucks.

This really needs to be fixed.

Ohhhhh... Surface!

2008-04-02T15:50:00.003-04:00

As you may or may not know, Microsoft's very awesome Surface technology launches this month in at&t stores in select US cities.

Everything you've ever wanted to know about Surface is just a click away. (And yes, the post there involves wookies, droids and a certain Dejarik version of Microsoft Surface.)

Transparent Blogging: I normally wouldn't direct you, my faithful readers, to one of my other "corporate" blogs, but I already wrote the post on SYNNEX's Microsoft Sherpa blog and didn't feel like re-posting it here. Let it be known that I do manage Microsoft distribution in the US for SYNNEX. SYNNEX does not, however, sell Microsoft Surface technology.

Promise vs. Reality: A visual journey of shattered expectations

2008-03-27T23:44:00.017-04:00

Thanks to Andy Woolard for introducing me to Pundo3000: A German website that compares photos on product packaging with the actual product inside. In some cases, the two are quite similar. In many cases, however (as evidenced by the example above)... not.

Check out a few of my favorite (you can click on each image to see full size versions):

I've learned three things today:

1. Hacksteaks are indeed hack steaks.
2. False advertising (especially on POP/packaging) is rampant.
3. Germans eat a lot of weird stuff. (I mean... what the heck is this?! A corndog/nut bar?)

Imagine if a website cataloged ALL products and brands in this way: Messaging/Promise. vs. The actual experience.

How would your brand fare? (Or your clients' brands?)

Can Massclusivity truly be achieved?

2008-03-27T00:57:00.001-04:00

The question of the day: Can Massclusivity be achieved?

First of all, what is massclusivity?

From Idea Couture's Idris Mootee:

In economic terms, luxury products are those which can consistently command and justify a higher price than products with comparable function and similar quality.

In marketing terms, luxury products are those which can deliver emotional benefits which are hard to match by comparable products.

One challenge is whether or not a niche player can move outside of their niche, or expand their niche without destroying their brand in the process.

Another challenge is once it can successfully move out of the niche, how far can it go until it becomes mass? Is there such a thing as massclusivity?

Let me give you some example of Massclusive brands (brands which USED to be niche or luxury brands but have now begun to focus on mass market distribution rather than exclusivity):

Gucci.
Cartier.
Ralph Lauren.
Chanel.
Mercedes.
Faberge.
Yves Saint Laurent.
Lotus. Tiffany & Co.
Godiva.

The question rephrased is this: Can a luxury or niche brand remain luxury or niche when everyone is wearing, driving, eating or drinking it?

Are you really "thinking different" when everyone owns the same iPod or MacBook? Are you really stylin' when everyone is wearing the same Kenneth Cole, Nike or Puma shoes? When everyone is wearing either one of the top five selling perfumes? When everyone is wearing the same 80's throwback belts and sunglasses? When everyone is sporting Gucci purses and Chanel cell phone cases?

Can a commoditized brand (even if it continues to charge a premium and position itself as a luxury or premium brand) still remain niche when it can be bough at Target or Macy's, or luxury when it is mass produced in Asian factories as opposed to hand-crafted in Europe?

Have we entered the era of the non-brand superbrand? Where unique, non-recognizable, word-of-mouth only "custom-made" works of art (in tailoring, shoe-making, cuisine, timepieces, writing instruments, vehicle alterations, and other accessories) are the new luxuries/niches? (The more obscure to the general public and exclusive via scarcity the better?)

I am not talking about the masses here. They're still buying into the notion that the more well-known the "luxury" or "premium" brand, the more valuable it is. (Hey look: I'm wearing an ugly ass cotton shirt produced by child labor in Micronesia! Between the $280 price tag and the brand name, I know I'm wearing some serious couture!) I am talking about the mavens, the hipsters, and those among us with the sophistication to know real craftsmanship from factory-made crap stamped with a fancy logo and a criminal price tag.

Example 1: Buying your fancy rainforest-friendly 'organic' tea at Whole Foods vs. buying premium quality no-brand (but incredibly fresh) loose leaf tea by the gram from La Maison Du The in Paris (a tea store and salon with such an enviable pedigree and reputation that it doesn't require a website.)

Example 2: Buying your Hilfiger/Cremieux/Lauren/cK suit from Macy's or Dillards vs. grabbing a flight to London to get your next bespoke suit cut on Savile Row.

For all the hype, fancy packaging and gorgeous stores, I wonder if once "luxury" brands can truly be luxury brands if they do any of the following:

1. Advertise on Television, the radio or the web (print ads are acceptable).
2. Sell their products on the internet or via catalog.
3. Have stores or products for sale anywhere near a shopping mall or airport.
4. Have stores anywhere but Paris, London, Geneva, Dubai, Milan, New York, Monaco, Tokyo, and Hong Kong.
5. Don't have a store in at least one of the above cities.
6. Aren't known for custom/one-of-a-kind products.
7. Aren't enjoyed by royalty.
8. Don't charge a ridiculous premium to keep poseurs at bay.
9. Don't require setting an appointment before a sale.
10. Don't have the best artisans in the world working on their products.

True luxury brands don't really need to advertise. The last thing they want is to be discovered by the masses. Their market is the world's old money families who grew up with them. The world's wealthiest. They want clients with the means to project the level of sophistication, impeccable taste and flawless quality that their products embody. Most celebrities are liabilities to them - The Britneys and the rest of the tabloid crowd need not request an appointment. They would rather stick to Kings, Sultans,Princes of industry and true fashion mavens.

Trust me when I tell you that luxury brands aren't available in Greenville, SC or Cleveland Ohio. Luxury brands don't print their mark on cotton T-shirts or baseball caps. And luxury brands don't use bar codes on their packaging.

Oh, and by the way, Rodeo Drive is a complete sham - just like the promise of massclusivity.

Check out the rest of this very interesting presentation by Idris over on Slideshare.

Have a great Thursday, everyone. :)

I Twitter, you twitter, we twitter.

2008-03-25T23:37:00.005-04:00

I finally started using twitter today, and I am pretty psyched about it.

If you're one of the 6% of adult internet users currently microblogging (using twitter) to keep tabs on your friends and colleagues, put your seemingly time-wasting hobby to good use - or at least come up with a better justification for your twitter habit at work:

You - "Twitter? Yeah! I use it all the time! It's a great research tool!"
Your boss - "Really? A research tool?"
You - "Suuuuuure! One can find out all sorts of things thanks to twitter, if they are so inclined."

Enter tweetscan.com (the twitter ap that turns your geeky and questionable tweeter addiction into a pretty kickass "out of the box" initiative that will make you the envy of your cubiclemates).

If you want to find out what people are saying about ANYTHING, hit tweetscan and enter your keyword in the search box. Try it. Throw your name in there. Throw your company's name in there too. Find out what people are saying about anything at all. Your new product. The airline you want to book a flight with. Your kids' top 3 college picks. A restaurant you've been wanting to try. A new movie. Your latest customer program.

It's very cool, pretty effective, and best of all, it's free.

And fresh.

And they didn't call it twitscan... which is a very good thing.

Via Church of the Customer.

Innoventure 2008 is ON!!!

2008-03-24T21:14:00.003-04:00

Where am I going to be hanging out while not at my desk Tuesday and Wednesday?

At Innoventure 2008, of course!!!! (It's where all the cool kids and innovation junkies in the South East will be. How could I miss it?)

If you're going to be anywhere near the Carolina First Center and want to do lunch, call my cellie.

When the grass is greener elsewhere...

2008-03-24T20:14:00.004-04:00

Screw looking for greener pastures. When the grass isn't to your liking, hop the fence and go plant your own:

From kottke.org:

Talented people are leaving Pixar because very few people get a shot at directing a film of their own.

For all the success, however, there's very little room atop Pixar's food chain. While live-action movie studios might crank out more than a dozen movies annually, the digital animation company built by Apple's Steve Jobs barely makes a film a year -- and had no features at all in 2005 or 2002. What's more, all Pixar movies so far have been directed by an inner circle of animation all-stars: John Lasseter ("Toy Story," "A Bug's Life," "Toy Story 2" and "Cars"), Brad Bird ("The Incredibles" and "Ratatouille"), Andrew Stanton ("Finding Nemo" and summer's forthcoming "Wall-E") and Pete Docter ("Monsters, Inc." and 2009's "Up").

Brad Bird is set to direct a live-action movie about the earthquake that hit San Francisco in 1906.

The thing is... not everyone ought to direct. And when it comes to Pixar (since they rock), maybe, just maybe, the grass doesn't get much greener than Pixar's. At least not yet.

My suggestion to ANY disgruntled employee - at Pixar, Yves Saint Laurent, BMW or NBC is this: Don't leave a great company that allows you the privilege of doing fantastic work just because you think you DESERVE better. Or DESERVE more.

Leave because because you KNOW you can do better, and more importantly because you SHOULD.

Pow. Chew on that, Bobo.

The Brand Gap Presentation

2008-03-24T10:40:00.003-04:00

Once again, because:

a) it's good.

b) repetition works.

c) every time I run into this, I remember something I had forgotten.

Success: the hallowed anomaly

2008-03-20T15:49:00.005-04:00

Excellent little opinion about success (among other things) over at Seen Creative:

"You don't have the skeleton key. There are no rules, there are no templates, there are no secret ingredients. Everything is unique and everything is dependent on its own circumstance. You can write all the books, magazine articles, or blog posts you want, but someone will always be able to prove the exception. Something will always contradict.
One reason these businesses are successful is probably because their founders didn't take advice from stupid articles in Wired, or try to ride the latest meme sweeping the blogosphere. They understood that every situation is unique, and they needed to approach it as such. What's right is what works, not what previously worked."

Go here for the full post. (It's good.)

Right. In case you didn't already know it, cookie-cutter solutions don't generate true success. Companies that stifle innovation, rule-breaking, and re-imagining doom themselves to being indistinguishable from their competitors... or worse yet, barely relevant in increasingly competitive markets.

Don't ever underestimate the role that visionary leadership plays in a company's propensity to be a game changer (and by default a culture changer). If a company's leadership doesn't have a healthy mix of ambitious, obsessive and a clear vision, what is driving it, exactly? Where is it going? How will it get there?

If you haven't already added Seen to yout blogroll, now might be a good time to correct that frightening oversight.

Have a great Thursday, everyone. :)

photo by Christopher Wray-McCann

Leadership vs. Managagement: The Presentation

2008-03-20T08:22:00.002-04:00

View Upload your own

Enjoy this pretty astute presentation on Leadership vs. Management. (And yes, watch the whole thing.)
Then ask your boss whether he/she wants you to be a manager or a leader. (Sometimes, organizations aren't clear on this point.) Maybe watch the presentation with them first, THEN ask them the question.
Just bear in mind that you're either one or the other: Sure, you can't be an effective manager without some leadership skills and you can't be an effective leader without some management skills, but when it comes to ROLES, you can't be both a leader and a manager. You have to make a choice.
What will your choice be?

Microsoft: From Blue Monster to Infection

2008-03-19T10:24:00.003-04:00

Working intimately with Microsoft, this is a topic dear to my heart. (I may be shedding a bit of a tear right now.)

From gapingvoid, via Logic + Emotion:

The Blue Monster was designed as a conversation starter. To paraphrase the ongoing dialogue between Steve and I:

For too long, Microsoft has allowed other people- the media, the competition and their detractors, especially- to tell their story on their behalf, instead of doing a better job of it themselves.

We firmly believe that Microsoft must start articulating their story better- what they do, why they do it, and why it matters- if they're to remain happy and prosperous long-term.

If they can do this, well, we don't expect people in their millions to magically start loving Microsoft overnight, but perhaps it might get people- including the people who work there- to start thinking differently. Small moves.

Here's more:

The headline works on a lot of different levels:

Microsoft telling its potential customers to change the world or go home.

Microsoft telling its employees to change the world or go home.

Microsoft employees telling their colleagues to change the world or go home.

Everybody else telling Microsoft to change the world or go home.

Everyone else telling their colleagues to change the world or go home.

And so forth.

Microsoft has seventy thousand-odd employees, a huge percentage them very determined to change the world, and often suceeding. And millions of customers with the same idea.

Basically, Microsoft is in the world-changing business. If they ever lose that, they might as well all go home.

I chose the monster image simply because I always thought there is something wonderfully demonic about wanting to change the world. It can be a force for the good, of course, if used wisely.

It's certainly a very loaded part of the human condition, but I suppose that's what makes it compelling.

And Dave Armano chimes in with this interesting bit of insight on the value of being "infected":

"Everyone at Mix 08 who worked for Microsoft and handed me either a "Blue Monster" business card or had the sticker, seemed different. It was hard to put a finger on, but although they were believers in Microsoft, they also seemed to believe in an external vision that challenged Microsoft to make a meaningful impact in the world.

It's a non corporate honest opinion, and some at Microsoft embrace it publicly.

What's to be learned? Blue Monster shows us that no matter how big or small the company that the world is a bigger place. And external influences can become internal influences. And it teaches us that if we are interested in the evolution of corporate culture, that symbols are important. If we don't find our own—someone will find them for us."

10 additional lessons to take from this:

1. Even giants can be underdogs.

2. Startups and hungry small companies don't have a monopoly on passion: Even corporate behemoths have deeply passionate people helping turn the wheel.

3. We all need icons and banners to rally behind. If one isn't provided, one will be created.

4. Passion is an all-or-nothing equation. If you can't be passionate about what you do, you're wasting your time just working for a paycheck. Even outside of work, if you can't be passionate about something, - anything - you're wasting your life.

5. It's good to have a motto. Or a purpose. Or a mission.

6. Sometimes, the best ideas come from a perfect synergy of inside sentiment and outside interpretation.

7. Less words say more.

8. If monsters are conceptually cool, good monsters are even better.

9. This tastes a lot more like a movement than a campaign... which is why I like it.

10. Anything corporate-related that is worthy of being printed on a T-shirt, business card or bumper sticker is by default a culture-affecting design.

Some of you may sneer at the very notion of something like this having anything to do with the almighty Microsoft, but there is a lot more to the software giant than meets the eye. Working with these folks on a daily basis, I have a pretty clear view of what the product teams are working on, and it is nothing short of astounding. Microsoft is going to change the way we work and change the way we live for the better. If we let them. (And we should.) Looking at it from where I stand - having seen what these guys are working on - the blue monster's words make perfect sense.

Personally, I dig it.

Transparency clause: I manage SYNNEX's Microsoft distribution business in the US, so it is entirely possible that I might be a tad bit biased when it comes to the Redmond giant. That being said, this post probably wasn't the least bit impacted by this bias - aside from the excitement I genuinely feel about the products and applications Microsoft's product teams are working on, particularly in the fields of collaboration tools, unified communications, intelligent devices and intelligent environments.

Have a great Wednesday, everyone.

Leading With Insight

2008-03-18T16:21:00.002-04:00

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I found this pretty sweet presentation on Dave Armano's blog (Logic + Emotion). Enjoy.

being the best is not good enough.

2008-03-18T12:43:00.000-04:00

"Bureaucracy defends the status quo long past the time when the quo has lost its status."
- Laurence J. Peter

Overheard outside the wire today:

"Best is not good enough. You have to be better."

Personally, I would be happy with being the best (it would be a good start)... but I guess I can respect the sentiment: Don't rest on your laurels. Don't ever believe that just because you're #1, you can chill and stop working as hard. There are always improvements to make - and if you feel that there are no improvements left to make, then you aren't looking in all the right places.

If anything, I have more respect for "be better than the best" than "give it 200%". (Hint: There's only 100%. 100.000001%+ is a fallacy.)

It does kind of remind me of those detergent commercials in the 70's and 80's that advertised "whiter than white whites." (No comment.) I guess it's all in the eye of the beholder.

Even if you're the best, there is always someone better, stronger, faster, smarter or hungrier than you just waiting for a chance to take over the top spot. Being the best is not good enough. You have to be better.

Have a great Tuesday, everyone. :)

Lazare Ponticelli

2008-03-17T12:55:00.004-04:00

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
- George Santayana (1863 - 1952)

Lazare Ponticelli was laid to rest in France today after a memorial service with full military honors.

Who was Lazare Ponticelli?

He was the last surviving French WWI veteran.

My grandfather fought in WWI. He was 16 when he went off to fight, and he somehow made it out in one piece. (He then came out of WWII unscathed, which was impressive in and of itself.) WWI was still very much part of my cultural experience when I was a child. I played with WWI toy soldiers and dug little trenches for them in our back yard. The countryside was still scarred by the German artillery fierce barrages of lead and death. WWI veterans were everywhere in France. Old men with canes and thin ribbons on their lapels representing what medals they came home with - green or red, depending on whether it was the Croix De Guerre or the Legion D'Honneur. WWI veterans seemed to be part of the very landscape of France. Every village, town and city had them, and I think that we were better for it. They were a constant reminder of sacrifice and courage. They were a constant reminder that we could do better - and that we should strive to do better.

If we were too lazy to do it for ourselves, we at least owed it to the millions of young ment who walked to the battlefield and never walked out.

They were a constant reminder that there are things that we should never forget.

At any rate, though this has absolutely nothing to do with branding or marketing, I thought that Lazare's passing was worthy of note. The last surviving French veteran of WWI was laid to rest today, and thus a page of history is truly turned.

Is there a point to this post? Yeah. There is. There are many points to this post, not the least of which is that this is the kind of news that could be completely missed by most of us - what with our busy self-important lives and all. Spending all day at work, rushing out to get the kids to their soccer practice, watching Dancing with the Stars or American Idol or NASCAR, polishing our golf clubs, bitching about what the former governor of NY did or what Obama's preacher said or Britney's latest shenanigan. It's kind of sad that we're losing touch with our past because we simply don't take the time to reflect on it. Ever.

Quietly, silently, Lazare Ponticelli died and the world drove right on by. France stopped for him, as they should. It might not have been a bad thing for all nations touched by WWI to pause for a moment to reflect on how little was gained in the 90 years following the "war to end all wars," and how much the world of today is still wrestling with the power struggles that WWI either failed to solve or altered in less-than-stellar ways.

Remember to take some time to reflect on the past. Not just wars, but the kinds of struggles that the country you live in went through so that you and I might enjoy freedom and opportunity. We aren't entitled to either of these things. We have to earn them.

Deserve them.

Every single day.

Give some thought to the fact that being self important little consumers really isn't good enough.

Have great Monday, everyone.

Today vs. Tomorrow: Thoughts on Execution vs. Planning

2008-03-13T21:25:00.000-04:00

You must have long range goals to keep you from being frustrated by short range failures. (Charles Noble)

Sometimes though, it isn't easy to sell long-range to managers who are more concerned with today's numbers than next year's. For them, next year doesn't exist. It's an abstraction. All that matters is what you did yesterday and what you are doing today. This is a difficult paradigm for those of us who spend more time planning than actually executing.

Ideally, as a business, program or project manager, you want to split your time and strategies between winning today's battles and planning your overwhelming victory sometime in the future. (Maybe in 6 months. Maybe in a year. Maybe in five years. Who knows.) My point is that you can't put all of your eggs in the "today" basket or in the "tomorrow" basket. It can't be an 80/20 split either. It really needs to be a 50/50 (or 60/40) split one way or another.

If you spend considerably more time focusing on "today," you will still be in the same spot a year from now - treading water - reacting to everything instead of influencing your business environment.

If you spend considerably more time focusing on "tomorrow," then your execution suffers, nothing gets done, and you'll never reap the rewards of all that meticulous planning you spent so much time on.

This may seem like common sense to most of you, but I can assure you that for tens of thousands of business managers in the US, the equation looks like 90/10 in favor of "today." For these folks, "tomorrow" is something you might get to later, when you have a few minutes to breathe. This is not good.

Don't wait until your car is completely out of gas to get a refill. Don't wait until you have a 102 fever to call the doctor. Don't wait until the morning of a test to study for it.

The world of business is no different.

image: Andrew Testa for the New York Times

The thing about focus.

2008-03-12T11:42:00.004-04:00

The thing about focus - call it a flaw if you will - is that you cannot focus on any one thing for very long. Every once in a while, you have to take a step back, either clear your head or look at the big picture, and return to whatever you were focusing on when you are ready to focus on it again.

"Sustained focus" is a very finite proposition. On a long enough timeline, all focus eventually fades and dies.

And unless you're a chameleon, you can't focus on more than one thing at once.

Therefore, you have to look at focus as a limited (see finite) endeavor.

Given enough time, the brain gets tired of burning a hole in a single idea, no matter how complex and entertaining.

Artists take a step back from their work. They let it sit overnight. They walk away and come back to ponder it. They purposely distance themselves from it in order to change their point of view. This is the same thing.

Whether you are a painter working on a fresco, a photographer looking through a camera's viewfinder, a lab worker peering down at microscopic mites through an electron microscope, a Marine sniper keeping a target in his crosshairs, a tomato sorter in southern Spain, a bodybuilder in Austria, a creative director in Tokyo or a project manager here in the US, there comes a time when focus wanes. When you have to blink. When you have to take a break. When you have to give that focus a rest, if for twenty minutes or ten or five.

In the business world, "focus" is thus forced to become a relative term... much in the way that "quality" has become a relative term.

Relativity may work well in the world of physics, but when it comes to the business world, it is the thread that once pulled, begins to unravel the entire garment.

When you focus, boys and girls, make sure your focus is exactly that: 100% for short but effective durations. Take breaks. Create balance in your workflow - and just as importantly in your employees' workflow.

Focus is NOT relative.

Have a great day, everyone.

image source: sandia.gov

What great design is and isn't.

2008-03-09T19:20:00.000-04:00

Happy Monday!

As you kick off the week with your next project or some concept you need to turn into reality, here are some timely words of wisdom from Blue Flavor:

A great design has a point of view. A really great design will make a clear statement. It’ll be unique in a way that doesn’t necessarily mean it stands out, but it’ll be clear that it has something to say. As such, there will usually people who don’t “like it” and that’s not really a bad thing.

A great design isn’t done by committee. I don’t think you can achieve great design if you have to compromise to please many. Design is best done with one clear vision and an enabled designer who everyone involved trusts to bring that vision to life.

A great design is clear and to a large degree, invisible. A great design should speak for itself and there should never be any question as to what its purpose is.

A great design is written as much as it’s “designed.” The words you choose to use in your designs are as important as anything else that goes into it.

A great design is more than “usable.” If you’re shooting for a usable design, your simply shooting for average. Every design should be usable, it’s much better to be usable and good. Or great.

A great design pays attention to details. If there is one thing I wish I could have on many of the projects I work on is more time and budget to nail down all the little details.

A great design isn’t a template. Along the lines of paying attention to details, a great design will address an entire system in as much detail as possible. This is something that you simply can’t do on the “template” level alone.

A great design takes time and isn’t cheap. This is fairly obvious, but when it comes to design you do get what your pay for, and, along the same lines, if you rush it, it’ll appear rushed.

A great design is never ending. I think, especially when it comes to the web, and interaction design, that a really great design will evolve over time and needs to be looked at, questioned and refined over time.

A great design isn’t perfect. If there is one thing you should pay attention to on this list, IMHO, it’s that striving for perfection in your designs can do much more damage than good. Usually what happens here is that someone isn’t happy because the design isn’t exactly what they wanted to see, and so they want to make changes to bring it in line with that vision. This most often results in compromise to achieve consensus, which also means you’re getting further away from something great. There is no such thing as perfect design, accept that and strive to do something great.

figs by Matt Armendariz

Creating a customer experience culture

2008-03-06T22:15:00.000-05:00

Booyah. From Experience Matters:

We shall focus more on our customers and less on ourselves
We shall get to know more about what our customers really need
We shall formalize a voice-of-the-customer program
We shall incorporate personas in our experience design processes
We shall clearly define our brand in terms of promises to customers
We shall judge every interaction on how well it fulfills our brand promises
We shall engage front-line employees in improving customer experiences
We shall get the executive team to collectively own the customer experience
We shall establish a multi-year journey towards customer-centric DNA
We shall give customer experience the attention that it deserves

Dave Armano adds #11:

11. We shall revive a company culture who's core purpose is to serve people.
That's the foundation of it all. Great experiences that are customer/people-centric are extremely hard to achieve. If you are working for a company that doesn't have a culture of customer-centricity baked into it, then it will be difficult to achieve any of these goals. If your company never had it—you will have to figure out how to build that culture. If you had it and lost it—you'll need to "revive" it.

You can hire all of the customer-centric consultants that money can buy. But at the end of the day, the best results come from a culture focused on serving people. In this case, the people just happen to be customers.

photo by Christopher Wray McCann

Local Burger - This is the kind of idea (and execution) that makes me VERY excited.

2008-03-05T00:13:00.003-05:00

As a reformed meat eater (I'll eat anything that swims, walks or crawls in the water but not on land - at least not anymore) it seems strange for me to get excited about a burger joint, yet here we are. I just caught a glimpse of this incredible little Kansas "fast food" restaurant on Sundance (yes, the TV channel), and all I can say is this: I wish I didn't have to drive all the way to Lawrence, Kansas to eat there. (They have non-meat items on the menu.)

Hey, at least Local Burger gives me a reason to go to Kansas someday... Though I hope someone with deep pockets will catch wind of this incredible concept, take the time to go eat there, and make it possible for Local Burger to open more restaurants around the country - starting with wherever I happen to be living.

Why am I so psyched about Local Burger? Simple: I happen to think that the old adage "we are what we eat" is true on every level. I care very much about the quality of the food I eat. I am not a big fan of hormones, pesticides, antibiotics, chemical fertilizers or food additives. The more natural, sustainable and respectful the farming techniques, the better.

Evidently, the folks behind Local Burger feel very much the same way, which is rare for... a hamburger joint.

From their website:

"Local Burger is leading the evolution of fast food with fresh, organic, local, and sustainable fare that is free of unnatural additives and preservatives. At Local Burger, we consider the special diet, the environment, the economy, animal welfare, and the health of everyone who eats our food. At Local Burger, you'll always know where your food came from and exactly what's in it."

Music to my ears. Here's more:

Local Burger is the brainchild of chef and entrepreneur Hilary Brown, who fulfilled her vision of offering healthy fast food in a casual environment by opening the first Local Burger on September 14, 2005.

Established in historic downtown Lawrence, Kansas, the restaurant sources all of its meats locally and features a variety of burgers, including elk, buffalo, beef, lamb, pork, turkey, and emu, and is home of the World's Best Veggie Burger (it's gluten-free, egg-free, dairy-free, corn-free, soy-free, yeast-free, nut-free and DELICIOUS!).
At Local Burger, Our Mission is to serve delicious food at a fair price with impeccable service while creating a culture of passion for knowing where our food comes from and how it connects us to our world, to our communities, and to ourselves.

Local Burger's interesting, seasonal, and eclectic menu offers something for everyone, carnivores and vegetarians alike, and is super Celiac friendly. Enjoy local gluten-free hot dog and hamburger buns, hemp-milk smoothies, and vegan Caesar salads along with sensational sides like quinoa-millet pilaf and Stevia-sweetened cinnamon applesauce. Those with food intolerances and allergies will find Local Burger heaven on earth... an organic Garden of Eden!

Fast food can mean good food. Who knew? At Local Burger, we can pronounce all of our ingredients. Our food is good for you, good for the community, and good for the environment.

We support local farmers, advocate for the humane treatment of animals and workers, recycle right in the dining room, and compost our organic waste, all while serving food that tastes good and is good for you. Eat here, eat well, and enjoy.
If you appreciate quality, sustainability, and flavor, you'll love Local Burger.

Ahhhhhhhhh...

Seriously. This may warrant a pilgrimage.

All in all, a great concept, a seemingly fantastic execution, and even terrific branding to boot. I'll bet Local Burger even has a small army of very loyal fans.

I expect great things from this brilliant little startup over the next decade.

Please comment from the main page, not the permalink. Thanks. ;)

The BrandBuilder blog: Now in more countries than HBO.

2008-02-29T10:35:00.008-05:00

Way to go, Canada and UK. Making daddy proud! Since I am not exactly growing my readership, all I am doing is spreading the same amount of love to more countries, which is fine with me.

Interesting data on internet users' adoption of Google Images as a search tool. Be careful Googlemonster: You've lost some share (negligeable as it may be) since this time last year.

I don't have data on February 2007 vs. February 2008 browser and OS changes, but I am glad to see that Firefox, IE7 and IE6 are so close together. I use Firfox at home and IE7 at work... which may be pretty typical of most people who access this blog from a non-Apple machine.

As far as the OS thing... I'm a little sad that Mac's OS (which only accounts for 6% of the OS market) is still beating the crap out of Vista, but whatever. The masses will come around sooner or later.

One man or woman can make a difference.

2008-02-28T23:18:00.000-05:00

"The problems of this world cannot possibly be solved by skeptics or cynics whose horizons are limited by the obvious realities. We need men who can dream of things that never were."

- John F. Kennedy

Calling Bullshit on "design"

2008-02-26T22:22:00.000-05:00

Every once in a great while, I cave in to common sense and take a sick day. This was the case today. I rested, I slept, I drank soup and tea,rested some more, and worked my way through a giant box of tissues. The result: This completely derivative post. Read it, follow the link to the original piece, and chew on this idea for a while. In the process, give some thought to the role of design in product development, art, publishing, software, websites, logos, advertising, entertainment, fashion and retail spaces.

Have a great Wednesday, everyone. ;)

"The public is more familiar with bad design than good design. It is, in effect, conditioned to prefer bad design, because that is what it lives with. The new become threatening, the old reassuring."

- Paul Rand

From ideas on ideas, via the Yeti:

Design is such a multi-layered practice that it’s often difficult to define. That being said, I believe that the word “design” is increasingly confused with “style”. For example, to most “I like the way it’s designed” means that they like the way that something looks.

The visual aspect of what we do is highly important, and style has a place in that. For
example, if we want to connect with a particular audience, employing a style can sometimes be helpful. That being said, it seems that style often leads efforts. We have to break this habit.

(...)

As soon as a particular style is hot, legions of designers reverse-engineer the treatment, and imitate it until it’s everywhere.

The challenge here is that as we are bombarded by these styles, designers, by their own accord and that of their clients and peers, gravitate towards reiterating whatever the style-du-jour happens to be. (Think of the swoosh logos of the late 1990s.) It’s easy to do, the pay-off is immediate, and for a short while, one’s portfolio seems deceptively strong. Most times though, this work is void of the research, strategy, and logic that are necessary to do something effective. As a result, it’s in fact a big pile of shiny bullshit.

In turn, we’re left with scads of generic work that doesn’t hold-up for any length of time. There’s no design there, just polish that quickly tarnishes requiring another coat. In the meanwhile, budgets are exhausted, clients are left to with an out-of-date
“look”, and designers are seen as stylists: kooky kids who like to do fun, pointless things. At the risk of being melodramatic, I believe that this approach diminishes the value of our industry and limits our opportunity to contribute to higher-level discussions.

I’m a believer in what I like to call “hardcore” design. This is design focused on results. It can employ any of a multitude of treatments. It’s not personal in nature, unless this is in fact necessary. Hardcore design is driven by insight, strategy and purpose.

This kind of design forces us to see ourselves as intermediaries, who facilitate defined outcomes. To do this, we consider and weigh business, marketing, communications (and other) challenges, and work to resolve them through design. The end-result doesn’t have to look good, even though it might, but it absolutely must work.

For hardcore designers, “does it work?” is the one question that must be obsessed over. Really, this should be the case for any designer anyways; not whether it looks cool, and not if it can win awards. Hardcore design is about taking away the cute, fluffy stuff, and concentrating on what is actually accomplished.

This kind of design typically doesn’t get its due. Many call this work “corporate” (in the pejorative sense), implying that anything “corporate” must be soul-less, bland and the polar-opposite of what we like to think of as creative. This perspective is simplistic and out-of-date. Apple’s marketing is highly corporate and perhaps one of the most stand-out examples of using design to connect with an audience.

The challenge in establishing an effective design solution that reaches a broad audience is in no way less difficult or creative than making work that is personal in nature. In fact, I’d argue that it’s typically much more challenging, as it requires one to dissociate with personal perspectives, in an effort to understand the situation from a more pluralistic standpoint.

Not doing so is, in my mind, what derails so many design efforts. Clients and designers equally fall into the trap of bringing personal aesthetics (that have nothing to do with the task at hand) to projects. As a result, we see lots of pretty, ineffective “design” out there.
(...)

Style will always be there, and it’s for us to employ, just as we would any color, typeface, written approach or photographic direction. And that is just it: it’s a device, and we too often let it drive the effort. You may disagree with me here. You could (rightly) point to a number of groups and individuals who place the same premium on pragmatic design as I; nevertheless, I argue that these groups are in the minority, and that this represents an imbalance in the quality of design actually being delivered.

We have to get our collective heads out of the sand. Everything we do must be held to a higher-standard. Read the entire article here.