Author: Angelo Fernando

‘World’s Fastest Nudist’ and Balloon Boy give new meaning to stunts

/ Angelo Fernando / 1 Comment

I am in the first chapter of Trust Agents, by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith, and can’t help but thinking how the two events  this month are perfect validations for what the book is about.

The Balloon Boy hoax has been condemned by people across the board. But right on its heels comes the other stunt by Zappos, whom no one likes to offend. Turns out this streaker spotted in New York, was an actor, part of  a clever stunt. Which explains the great video (and a YouTube channel). And media coverage.

In both cases the media were duped into carrying the story. Richard Heene, the father of the balloon boy must be smiling.

Gotta mashup idea? Ideas wanted!

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There are so many mashups around us that we have begun to take them for granted. We tend to see more of the video and music variety -like Everyblock and those that are Obama-based. Google has a tool called ‘maplets’ to use the API of their maps.

How about a mashup of a mug and your Twitter followers? Check this out.

So I was glad to hear that there’s a British competition open for mashups, on three themes: Crime, Environment and Health. The winner gets £10,000!

Details here, and also here

Love it when a chart beats a logo

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GatesWatching last evening’s live webcast by Bill and Melinda Gates, I liked how Bill zipped past Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man, and the Windows logo, to note that these ‘pictures’ don’t compare to something completely different –a chart showing  decreasing infant mortality rates.

I love it when presentations don’t use graphics as a crutch. (Love it when the first slide is not the darn company logo, as if to remind the brain dead in the audience as to who is presenting! Full disclosure: I have committed this crime myself, and know it sucks!)

Love it when someone stops a canned PowerPoint preso and uses the flip chart instead to draw some crude Venn diagram or stick figure to explain the point. (If you’ve not read The Back of a Napkin, I highly recommend it, as I have done before like a broken record.)

In somewhat ironic news, this month, Gates (who owns Corbis) supposedly ‘expanded his stock photo empire’ with a small stake in Eastman Kodak.

Quotes of the week ending 24 Oct, 2009

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“Let the little dogs lap, Mr. President. It’s good for the nation’s spleen.”

Kathleen Parker, on the noise from Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh on Obama’s attack Fox News

“For Rush and Glenn and Balloon Dad, the allure of media attention is too powerful to be curbed by a sense of social responsibility.”

John Del Cecato, of AKPD Message and Media.

“So there you have it. Ignite a future for the high-profile navel-gazers of tomorrow with your own bottle of Twitter wine, which goes for $20 a pop.”

AdRants, on Crushpad’s use of Twitter on wine labels

“It’s winemaking, which is usually for us a four or five person endeavor, mixed with Twitter.”

Michael Brill, president and CEO of Crushpad, the winery teaming with Twitter and the pro-literacy group Room to Read.

“Let’s hope the Millennial Generation isn’t becoming the latest Lost Generation.”

Chad Graham, in the Arizona Republic, on how graduates are worried about the present job outlook, their future and even retirement.

“My ‘maternity break’ will end in mid-November.”

Charlotte Shaff, CEO of The Media Push (who blogged about her pregnancy) interviewed by Linda Vandevrede at ValleyPRBlog.com, on ‘Pregancy and PR.’

“First, I felt that after five years my blogging was getting long in the tooth….”

Steve Rubel, SVP and Director of Insights for Edelman Digital, interviewed by Tech Crunch

“For the people, for the planet, for jobs, for you!”

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, on the role of the UN, on the anniversary of the United Nations, which falls today –the day the UN Charter on 24 October 1945 was formed.

Use of video in TSA blog, brilliant!

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Video and blogging have never been better suited for each other. I tell my clients to consider using a simple video camera to record events because you never know when it may come useful.

Not just to CYA, but to capture the energy or interaction of a moment that lends itself to a deeper commentary in a blog post.

But in this case, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) using video in their blog to quickly respond to a complaint, was a perfect way to diffuse the situation. The complaint: That a woman had been ‘separated’ from her child at a security checkpoint. They use 9 videos to support what they say -and these are also posted to YouTube.

Sidebar: Incidentally, if you are contemplating revamping your web site, the TSA web site is a great example of how to make a web site more social media friendly.  Note the 5 social media elements on the right navigation bar, and the request for feedback via the blog etc.

To get back to the blog: One thing about that blog post that’s easy to miss. Notice how they title the post, and the videos. They are not shy to use the phrase used in the complain, “TSA Agents took my son.”

It would been have so easy to spin it into something else, wouldn’t it? Blogger Bob’s comments come across as being truly sincere, and not just a prepared, lawyered comment.

Never too late to start blogging

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Let me start with a rhetorical question: Is blogging past its prime?

I get asked this question a lot since I have been doing it for, what now, 5+ years. So I have to go back and often conduct the 15-point check-up much like the way my car dealership does when I take the old (5-year old vehicle) in for service.

I thought about this again when reading Steve Rubel’s interview, as he was asked by Tech Crunch why he’s stopped blogging and begun ‘lifestreaming.’

Steve, as always makes a great point about where content, and content creators are headed. To him blogging has got long in the tooth, and fallen out of grace now that Twitter and Facebook have become more interesting ways to communicate.

So back to my question, is blogging past its prime, and should someone who has never done it even consider it now. I have two ways to look at this:

1. Telling stories. No matter what format you use, telling your story, has never gone out of style. Think about what some consider one of the most passe formats today, the printed newsletter. I see it doing very well in places as different as Trader Joe’s, churches, and the offices of financial advisers. They sure look long in the tooth to me, especially if I am not the target reader. But they do have plenty of cool content.

2. Providing context. Blogs have an uncanny way of connecting the dots, and putting things in context. Faced with the breathless pace of tweets that appear and vanish (unless you’re monitoring your Tweetdeck or Twitterrific all the time), a blog post is always there, and gives you an opportunity to frames things better, and analyze it from multiple perspectives. The best part, it lets others add their insight as well.

I’ve heard many say that Facebook is becoming the defacto hub of all other social media properties and actions. Hard to contest with that.

But…

Facebook only lets you do so  much when it comes to writing good content. But blog posts can be used to connect the dots, and build on a body of work that is easy to find, link to, and create conversations around.

If you want to see what some other have said on this topic, here are two excellent posts:

What’s the definition of a PR stunt?

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Just as the aphorism goes that “there are lies, damn lies and advertising,” I wonder if it’s time for someone to come up with one about stunts –especially the PR variety.

Let me be clear. I don’t condemn stunts. In fact it might be construed as another word for ‘tactic’ or creative attempt to make a point.
So I was about to classify this latest ‘underwater cabinet meeting‘ by the President of Maldives as a stunt, but I thought I’d put the question to my readers to check the pulse first. I won’t go into the details here, suffice to say that it takes a bit of effort to get your cabinet to strip down to scuba diving suits –and anchor desks to the coral– to pull off something like this.

But back to the definition of a PR stunt. Here are some past examples that might fall into this category.

I know, there are more. But for our purposes, let’s ask if promoting a cause or a brand validates the approach. Governments are quick to blame each other when an international or bilateral crisis arises, calling it a stunt, even though there had been no specific public facing activity. Headline writers find it a useful 5-letter word to spice up a story. (As in this one, that was clearly a misplaced use of money, rather than a stunt).

I would think a PR stunt is anything that

  1. Involves an event or a sustained activity that is staged, primarily for gaining media attention
  2. Is unusual or controversial
  3. Is connected with an extended campaign that does not involve PR or advertising. Behavior modification, for example

The first –-gaming the media –can be dangerous, if done to fool the media. If the balloon incident being debated this week proves to be an act of self-promotion by wasting time and money of a sheriff’s department, that’s a dumb stunt, indeed.

The second —is often creative and harmless. The guy who dons a pizza delivery attire and ‘delivers’ his resume (attached to the box) to a marketing director, is clearly breaking out of the old method (email or mail) to get his application to the top of the pile.

The third –wins my approval, hands down. This is what all good (insert the word ‘marketing,’ ’cause promotion,’ ‘advertising’ as a prefix here) campaigns ought to be.

President Nasheed’s course of action seems more like the third category. He has a point to make, and what better way than for a leader of a country surrounded by –and threatened by– water to do this?

Quotes of the week ending 17 October 09

/ Angelo Fernando / 2 Comments

“the largest-ever social change event on the Web…”

CNN, on the third, annual Blog Action Day. The topic this year was climate change. According to Blogpulse, number of posts about climate change on a given day shot up by 500%

“Sometimes I feel like we’re a colony of ants who’ve come across a cell phone…”

Peter Hagoort, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in the Netherlands. He was speaking of the way the brain processes thoughts and speech in milliseconds, but scientists still puzzle over how this happens.

“This is punitive. This is not just a matter of, ‘This is for the good of the company or the good of the nation.”

Banking analyst Nancy Bush, on the Treasury Dept, demanding that outgoing Bank of America CEO Kenneth D. Lewis returns about $1 million he received so far this year plus his $1.5 million salary for 2009

“iTunes is a pain in the posterior, and I never use it unless I absolutely have to.”

Sallie Goetsch, (she of the Podcast Asylum, a podcast and blog consultancy) in a contribution to For Immediate Release podcast

“Is print dead? No, but it just got a little less tasty.”

Jen Zingsheim, of Custom Scoop, on news that Conde Naste will be shutting down Gourmet Magazine

Quotes for the week ending 10 Oct 2009

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“In the surround-sound media environment of today, there is no shortage of places you can go to see an expert’s view of business and where it is headed. What I took from the first day of the World Business Forum, however, was just how important passion is as a common thread in the people (and their organizations) who are accomplishing something.”

Rohit Bhargava, on the World Business Forum

“While 60% of employees use word processing daily, only 42% actually create documents.”

Forrester Research report on technology adoption in the workplace.

“In a real-time, social media world, marketing has to react immediately to the successes and shortcomings of operations, product development, legal, finance, customer support, and the idiosyncrasies of company personnel.”

Jason Baer, on how social media gives everything a marketing focus.

“A turtle travels only when it sticks its neck out.”

Tweet by @lspearmanii

“Hi! This is your aspirin bottle calling. I haven’t seen you in a while…”

Peter Svensson, of the Associated Press, on the technology that connects the pill bottle cap to an AT&T network.

“Does our Cicero even glance at his speeches before reading them in public?”

George Will, conservative columnist for the washington Post, on Obama’s overuse of words and concepts in his speech at Copenhagen.

“Nice headlamps”

Headline of a billboard ad for a Northern Ireland used-car web site, that got the advertisement banned in the UK. The accompanying visual was not about cars…

Twinterview with Steve England

/ Angelo Fernando / 1 Comment

SteveEnglandStarting at 10 am today, I wil be interviewing Steve England, of NewMediaMarketing.

Steve’s got an interesing background in marketing, and I like to think of him as one of the smartest cross-over marketers in the Valley. What’s a ‘cross-over’ marketer?

I’ll let him explain when we get started.

I’ll let you into something else. I plan to get Steve to demo how easy it is to implement a Quick Response tag in your marketing. Be prepared to use your smart-phone!

Note: I will live-blog the interview here.

————-  TWITTER INTERVIEW —————

AF: Welcome Steve England @englandsc Glad you were able to make it. Let’s try to keep this moving fast since we’ve got a lot to discuss.

SE: Thanks for the opportunity @heyangelo

AF: @englandsc Tell us about how you got into digital marketing, having started out as a Print guy — in the ‘dead tree communications’ business

SE: englandsc I was always about technology and how I could impact consumers more effectively through communications. Print was just a pathway at the time.

SE: My degree is in Visual Communications…social and mobile fall into that channel.

SE: @englandsc Visual Communications?  Most people think of it as putting ink on paper.  You’ve moved past that. Is paper obsolete? Or…

SE: @heyangelo We can make better use of paper by integrating with newer technologies at the same time.

AF: @englandsc Tell us about NewMediaMarketing and the awesome product – Quick Response Tags. People’s eyes glaze when I mention this.

SE: @heyangelo New Media Marketing is an Integrated Marketing agency specializing in channel optimization and focused on growing Mobile opps

SE: @heyangelo Quick Response Tags “QR Codes” are the answer bringing print to life simply by taking a snapshot of them with your Mobile Camera

AF: @englandsc I will have to ask you to explain ‘Channel optimization’ with a for instance –but I have a quick question before that

AF: @englandsc Steve, is this a good example of how a tag could be used? Sans paper most of the time… http://bit.ly/4Cmuvh

SE: @heyangelo Great example, any form of visual communications can benefit from the QR Codes with unlimited possibilities as the result.

SE: @heyangelo QR Codes allow a Marketer to deliver unlimited amounts of information to anyone through the simple SNAP-A-TAG interface

AF: @englandsc And where could someone find out more about a Snap-a-tag interface ?

SE: @heyangelo New groups form online daily in support of the tech. Feel free to follow me here for all breaking news. Also follow MicrosoftTAG

SE: @heyangelo QR Codes, TAGS will play an important role in Green Initiatives going forward through print, online and Mobile communications

AF: @englandsc Did you see today’s story about  the NFL going paperless with tickets? Have the Coyotes heard about QR tags? http://bit.ly/obTKI

NMM: RT @heyangelo @englandsc Steve, is this a good example of how a tag could be used? Sans paper most of the time… http://bit.ly/4Cmuvh

SE: @heyangelo Most important factor when using QR Codes is the consumer experience and the message or call-to-action in the marketing piece

SE: @heyangelo successful marketing is also dependent on unified message within multiple communication channels and convenience to the consumer

AF: @englandsc Let me ask you to demo a tag. Could you point to one, and explain –stepwise –how it works?

SE: @heyangelo on your mobile device go to Http://snapatag.mobi this will walk you thru quick one-time install so you can snap Microsoft TAGs

AF: @englandsc So it’s a download for Blackberry, iPhone or Windows  Mobile. And then?

SE: @heyangelo Once you have the app installed you can scan and activate the content behind any TAG. Also see http://www.beetagg.com as another version

SE: @heyangelo You can find TAG on my Twitter home, my email signature, any of my communication collateral, each results in a unique experience

AF: @englandsc I can see these QR tags on business cards, train stations and cereal boxes. Simplified, mobile pull marketing, finally!

SE: We have examples of video content, Phone numbers, Vcards, microsites, game pieces, surveys, location based maps…it’s endless.

SE: @heyangelo 80% of web-enabled phones can use some version of the QR Codes. More phones are shipped direct from the factory pre-installed.

SE: @heyangelo once you have the app, launch, activates your camera, position over any TAG, SNAP and you’re taken to unlimited possibilities.

AF: So a customer snaps a tag, using a camera, will it directly connect him/her to digital content?

SE: anywhere a user has web connectivity they’ll have access to content linked to that TAG. That content can be changed anytime.

AF: Is Beetag a competitor to Microsoft’s tag?

SE: BeeTagg has a less distinct appearence in their QR Codes than MicrosoftTAG but they result in the same type of experience.

SE: @heyangelo visit our website and discover how the NFL, NHL, NBA and MLB will all be influenced by this technology, SNAP our TAG and see how.

AF: @englandsc Apart from sports, is anyone in the sustainability  space aware of the this new form of marketing?

SE: Thanks for the opportunity to share our thoughts on how we’ll all be communicating much sooner than expected. Watch for TAGS!

AF: Great chatting, Steve! I always learn so much from you. Where can someone find one of your demos?

SE: Checkout www.Greennurture.com they have implementation launching. Using QR Codes is a Global inititive with our full support.

SE: Demos are updated frequently on our website. you can also follow @Newmediamarket or find us on LinkedIn for SlideShare content.

AF: I still like to have a T-shirt with a customized tag! http://bit.ly/4Cmuvh Maybe we should wear some to @podcampaz