Now’s a great time to check in on what’s working and what isn’t working for you on Facebook, twitter, and any other social networking platform you’re on.
Is it still exciting? Has it lost its luster? Are you finding little pockets of successes or have you found yourself lost in a flood of time management issues?
Let’s chat and help each other get out of the muck; and let’s share some best practices that really feel like they’re working for you.
Hope you’ve been well, and hope to see you here.
Guests are limited to 10, so please RSVP as soon as possible if you’d like to attend.
WHERE: The Conversation Factory
WHEN: Friday, May 14, 2010; 12pm – 1pm
COST: $10 (includes pizza & beverage); Students: $5 PARKING:
Please park at the BrackenChase parking lot adjacent to our building off Eliza Rd.
Here’s the article that sparked the idea for this week’s topic. The quote that did it was: “I don’t want a relationship with my deodorant; I simply want it to work.”
In the post Mr. Derek Walker, “the janitor, secretary and mailroom person for his tiny agency, brown and browner advertising based in Columbia, S.C.” goes on to describe a conversation he had with his teenage son while eating a cheeseburger in their car. He writes: “For me, the consumer, the message is the experience. I don’t need to see commercials about how good the food is. I need to see and hear a message that talks about the experience of eating in your car. Price is not my motivation.”
In this day and age, with all the technology at our fingertips, it’s important to understand the difference between what the consumer expects, and what the consumer doesn’t want out of your brand or your company. Some things should be left to the imagination and experience of your customers.
Want in?
Guests are limited to 10, so please RSVP as soon as possible if you’d like to attend.
WHERE: The Conversation Factory
WHEN: Friday, April 16, 2010; 12pm – 1pm
COST: $10 (includes pizza & beverage); Students: $5
PARKING: Please park at the BrackenChase parking lot here.
This Conversation Friday, we’ll cover the many facets of one incident that evolved over two weeks.
It’s got it all: ugly marketing tactics, tweets, blog posts, a big social media name, and ultimately, a diffused story that never got to critical volume — and rightly so. Most importantly, you’ll see how a social media superstar responds to negativity dished out by a disillusioned fan.
It will be an interesting discussion to say the least, and I’m sure you’ll have plenty to say during our session.
Want in?
Guests are limited to 10, so please RSVP as soon as possible if you’d like to attend.
WHERE: The Conversation Factory
WHEN: Friday, April 16, 2010; 12pm – 1pm
COST: $10 (includes pizza & beverage); Students: $5
PARKING: Please park at the BrackenChase parking lot here.
A few months ago, Chris Brogan wrote Stop humping my leg, a post about a salesperson at a conference who persisted in trying to get Chris to sit through a demo.
Funny enough, last week, I got a call on my cell phone from the 781 area code (Boston area). I didn’t recognize the number so I let it go to voice mail. Turns out it was “Bobby” calling on behalf of Chris Brogan, offering 50% off the registration fee for New Marketing Experience in San Francisco.
It was April 1, so I was expecting a punch line. There was none.
I tweeted about it, but who would believe it? Seems like a lame April Fools attempt. Really lame, actually.
Yesterday, however — just 5 days after the first call — I got a second call from Bobby. This time he upped the ante by offering FREE registration to the event. I tweeted again. One person DMd me: “You’re kidding about telemarketing calls from Chris Brogan, right?”
So what’s the difference between a Chris Brogan’s “Bobby” and the conference leg-humper?
Chris was at a conference. I was in sitting in my living room.
If I’m attending a conference, I expect to be sold; but when I’m sitting in my living room, I expect to be left alone. Doesn’t matter what time it is, or that I actually gave you my number as part of the registration process at a previous event (seriously, Chris was the last person I thought I’d have to worry about phoning me). Additionally:
The phone calls were totally unnecessary. Chris is ubiquitous. I know this event is happening. I get Chris’ emails. I read his blog. I follow him on twitter. Why not just send me an email offer or a tweet? That’s where our relationship was. If anyone from Chris Brogan is calling on my cell phone, I expect it to be Chris.
Bobby, the telemarketer, quite literally blew through the script. Impersonal to say the least, and far off the warm, approachable Brogan brand people have come to know, love, and respect.
The follow-up email read, “I appreciate you taking my call.” I didn’t.
It also read, “I’m glad that you are interested….” We didn’t talk, and therefore, I didn’t express any interest.
Quite honestly, I’m disillusioned by the whole thing. I hope Chris hasn’t joined the ranks of mortgage companies and financial portfolio review companies and survey companies who intrude on your life, wherever you are. Who knows? Perhaps we’ll see ads in the yellow pages, an infomercial, New Marketing Labs Snuggies.
I hope not, or I think — as he suggested regarding the salesperson at the conference — he’ll risk screwing himself.
Thoughts? Musings? Leave ‘em here. (No calls , please.)
Thank you for your time today, I appreciate you taking my call.
I’m glad that you are interested in attending the New Marketing Experience program on April 13th. The ground rules are simple: we are gathering our industry friends and experts, you bring your One Big Idea,™ and we’ll work together, all in one room and one day, to turn it into a plan.
As I mentioned on the phone we’d really like to have you there, so we are offing you 50% off with Source Code: TMBOB. For only $99 you’ll have a full day with the experts and your peers and an ebook of everyone’s One Big Idea. Simply click the registration link below and your registration information from last years program and your discount will be automatically generated.
I just wanted to let you know that as a past attendee we are now offering you a complimentary registration for the New Marketing Experience in San Francisco on April 13th courtesy of New Marketing Labs.
We’d really like to have you there, so we are offing you a FREE registration with Source Code: TMF45. For FREE you’ll have a full day with the experts and your peers and an ebook of everyone’s One Big Idea. Simply click the registration link below to take advantage of this special offer.
Seattle-based, Gist, has already amassed some serious momentum in the tech space, so we’re fortunate to have their Marketing and Product Managers (Jennifer Pitts and Rob McCann, respectively) Skyping in for Conversation Friday. A few accolades and articles include:
From my brief interaction with Gist, it’s a super-powerful e-mail contact based hub that updates you with news and information by and about the people you know (the contacts in your inbox), but here’s the official take with Gist CEO T.A. McCann.
I actually joined Gist a few weeks ago and was amazed at how much it “saw” into the web — and what it delivered. Quite honestly, I thought it was a little big-brother-ish, so I deleted my account after a couple of uses. After Conversation Friday veteran and fitness blogger, David Csonka, brought up Gist during our session last week, I invited him to present on it.
Friday afternoon, I announced the topic on twitter, which prompted Gist’s marketing manager, Jennifer Pitts, to chime in. I invited her to be part of the conversation and she agreed to participate along with product manager, Rob McCann.
So, that’s the story.
Do you want in? We’d love to have you.
Guests are limited to 10, so please RSVP as soon as possible if you’d like to attend.
WHERE: The Conversation Factory
WHEN: Friday, April 9, 2010; 12pm – 1pm
COST: $10 (includes pizza & beverage); Students: $5
PARKING: Please park at the BrackenChase parking lot here.
Over the last few weeks, I’ve received numerous pings on Facebook suggesting that I become a fan of this or that candidate. I always click “ignore,” and a few days later, some will ping me again with another invitation (multiple invites from candidates and businesses alike, however, are a whole other discussion that merits its own hour).
Those of you who know me won’t find it surprising that I haven’t fanned any candidate. It’s not that I don’t agree with anyone’s view, it’s that I’d like to keep my business apolitical — not an easy task in Florida’s capital city.
The Conversation Question: Why publicly align yourself with any political candidate if your business has nothing to do with politics? It seems to me the affiliation could really hurt business (and yes, I understand there’s an upside such to alignments)?
Do you fan candidates on Facebook? Why or why not? Are you outspoken on twitter? Do you merely observe? Or do you land somewhere in the middle? Do you know if it affects your business either way? Have you decided to patronize a business or avoid one because of their public political views? (I certainly have, but my decisions had to do more with the tone and intensity with which they offered their views, not solely because their view was different than mine.)
As we head into election season and those invitations when fanning requests and event invitations start barreling in, it would be a great to discuss it all.
Guests are limited to 10, so please let me know as soon as possible if you’d like to attend.
WHERE: The Conversation Factory
WHEN: Friday, April 2, 2010; 12pm – 1pm
COST: $10 (includes pizza & beverage); Students: $5
PARKING: Please park at the BrackenChase parking lot here.
It’s an awesome phenomenon, and a playing-field-leveling reality, and it’s something you’ve heard time and again: big concepts don’t need big budgets to come alive and pull viewers. Everybody can think. Everybody can produce. But seldom do people get both things right.
Today, Calvin Lee retweeted a message from Chris Brogan who retweeted a message sent to him by Matt Holt. They were sharing the link to the video below. It’s just one of a million examples of something any of us could have done, but misheardlyricsguy did it first (mind you the video was posted 2 years ago and it’s still being “discovered” after more than 3,000,000 hits).
It made me laugh out loud. It was hi-fi thinking executed in a lo-fi manner.
By professional design standards, the graphics are cheesy and show no aesthetic taste whatsoever. But they’re perfect. What they show are a personal point of view, solid thinking, and a sense of humor — not to mention the simple that mishearing lyrics (and mis-singing them) is a universally shared and sometimes embarrassing experience.
There will always be a need for designers and writers and photographers and directors and so on, but I’m happy folks like misheardlyricsguy have sprouted from technology’s lo-fi loins.
After reading In today’s Advertising Age post, Why Metrics Are Killing Creativity in Advertising, Patrick Sarkissian’s subhead reads: “When marketing decisions are based on numbers, we lose the desire to be creative.”
Damn that’s bleak. And I certainly don’t see it that way.
What clients are asking for is accountability. They want results for their investment in our big freaking brains. And we have to deliver. Why? Because there is no going back to hoping something works, especially when the price tag for such work is six and seven figures deep. In the article, Patrick Sarkissian explains:
Recently, I had a wicked battle with a client determined to let the numbers fully dictate a new creative strategy.
Thing is, you cannot truly quantify creativity. And in ever-increasing fashion, our clients’ (and our own) rote dependence on the dusty world of metrics is exactly why creativity is going to hell.
Here’s the thing: when you leave it to marketers to explain their business and numbers to you, you’re done.
Think about sitting in a board meeting with them. Shadow them for a week and see what pressures they face. Make them go over the metrics before you sit down and develop a strategy. Once you see their business through their eyes, you’ll probably get a deeper understanding of why your pretty comps spray mounted on black foam core don’t mean a fucking thing to them.
It’s up to agencies and creatives to take the lead and explain to marketers how the world has changed and how bigger ideas — and yes, more creative ones that tug at the emotions or take a sledgehammer to the funny bone — are their best chance to emerge victorious in the constant fight for attention.
I think clients and marketers want to trust us again. They want to be able to have a partner they can look to and solve the problems they face. But if we just stand around bitching about metrics and accountability, that day will never come.
If you’ve lost your desire to be creative in the face of metrics, please feel free to refer those clients to me. I’d be more happy to find freedom within the numbers.
After all my bad-mouthing and techno frustration prior to and during Conversation Friday at The Conversation Factory this past week (I bitched and moaned about the Eris’ short battery life, the quitting apps, the speed (or lack thereof) of the darned thing), I took the phone back to Verizon on Thomasville Road just North of Bannerman in Tallahassee. I was this close (you know what I mean) to getting a different phone altogether, but the Verizon rep, Tony, talked me through the issues and recommended a straight up phone swap. Eris for Eris, no money exchanged.
I told him my 30 days is almost up, so if it’s acting the same I’m screwed. He said, well, if that’s the case, we’ll know it isn’t the phone.
Thank you, Tony.
Turns out I had a bad phone and/ or software. The new Droid Eris I have in my hands is completely different than my v1.0. It’s fast (yes, faster and more responsive than the iPhone), the battery isn’t depleting like the last one did (though I’m sure the iPhone’s battery life is better), all my Google contacts are perfectly in sync (fantastic as I’m a Google head), and my apps aren’t quitting seconds after launch.
I’d recommend the HTC Droid Eris to anyone who isn’t willing to drop calls on an iPhone on AT&T.
I’ve been talking about needing a program like this for a long long time. Fortunately, Jesse Grosjean from HogBay Software developed it. It’s called Write Room — a writing program that harkens back to the days when you could just open Word Perfect on DOS, put your head down, type, and finish a project all in one sitting. Of course, back then the only distractions available were other mesmerizing DOS applications, generating silly ASCII drawings of Christmas trees, and wondering how it was possible to get all that a couple of megabytes onto a 5.25” floppy disc (at least I did).
Today, the distractions are too many and multiplying. Too many widgets, too many apps, too many icons. All filling our screens and cluttering our vision, begging for just a little attention, and then a little more.
Look! A Twitter update!
Is that Simon Cowell in a thong?! Hmmm… wonder if that’s an ass double.
Write Room obliterates these and any other distractions from your line of vision and lets you focus on the writing at hand. It’s dead simple to use and offers a few customization options. Sure, it’s not nearly as robust as Word, but robustness isn’t the reason you’d use WriteRoom.
Simplicity is. And focus is. And finishing the damn piece you’ve been working on for five days is.
Write Room allows you to do one thing without distraction: write.
If you want to use Write Room, you’ll need a Mac running OS X 10.4 or later. There’s a 30 day free trial available, after which you’ll gladly pay $24.95 to continue using it. There’s even a handy dandy iPhone app available for $4.99 so you can create and edit documents on the go.
Happy writing. Well, at least happier writing.
I’ve been talking about needing a program like this for a long long time. Fortunately, Jesse Grosjean from HogBay Software developed it. It’s called Write Room — a writing program that harkens back to the days when you could just open Word Perfect on DOS, put your head down, type, and finish a project all in one sitting. Of course, back then the only distractions available were other mesmerizing DOS applications, generating silly ASCII drawings of Christmas trees, and wondering how it was possible to get all that a couple of megabytes onto a 5.25” floppy disc (at least I did).
Today, the distractions are too many and multiplying. Too many widgets, too many apps, too many icons. All filling our screens and cluttering our vision, begging for just a little attention, and then a little more.
Look! A Twitter update!
Is that Simon Cowell in a thong?! Hmmm… wonder if he’s got an ass double.
Squirrel!
Write Room obliterates these and any other distractions from your line of vision and lets you focus on the writing at hand. It’s dead simple to use and offers a few customization options. Sure, it’s not nearly as robust as Microsoft Word, but robustness isn’t the reason you’d use WriteRoom.
Simplicity is. And focus is. And finishing the damn piece you’ve been working on for five days is.
Write Room allows you to do one thing without distraction: write.
If you want to use Write Room, you’ll need a Mac running OS X 10.4 or later. There’s a 30 day free trial available, after which you’ll gladly pay $24.95 to continue using it. There’s even a handy dandy iPhone app available for $4.99 so you can create and edit documents on the go.
Now’s a great time to check in on what’s working and what isn’t working for you on Facebook, twitter, and any other social networking platform you’re on.
This Conversation Friday, we’ll cover the many facets of one incident that evolved over two weeks.
A few months ago, Chris Brogan wrote 
I’ve been talking about needing 
