Communications

Quotes for the week ending 14 June, 2008

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

“Today, it has become an economic, environmental and brand liability for the company.”

Advertising Age’s jean Halliday, commenting on Hummer, and GM’s CEO Rick Wagoner suggesting the company may dump the brand.

“Scott McClellan is having a ‘Matrix’ moment.”

Mark Dery, who teaches journalism at NYU, on former White House press secretary’s book, and waking up for the dream made up of a media fiction.

“Prime time is still the right time.”

WIRED article on why broadcast ad sales are strong, in spite of the economic slump and other woes.

“Hi. My name is Steve and I suffer from Shiny Object Syndrome (SOS for short).”

Steve Rubel, on how to sift through shiny objects in social media sites such as FriendFeed, that he is bullish about.

“ This is more than a facelift.”

Facebook spokesperson, about the new, improved Facebook with added vitamins 🙂

“Britannica goes wiki without actually admitting it.”

One of the many (in my opinion mistaken) responses to the news of Encyclopedia Britannica shifting gears into a more collaborative model.

“One of the premier political journalists and analysts of his time.”

Tom Brokaw on NBC’s Tim Russert who died of a heart attack.

Wikipedia, now in Search

/ Angelo Fernando / 1 Comment

As the news breaks that Encyclopedia Britannica is moving into a Wiki platform (over and beyond WebShare) Wikipedia is now taking aim at search, with Wikia Search.

Resting on four words, Transparency, Community, Quality and Privacy, it’s a very different experience. There’s an odd but enticing feature –in the area where you expect to see paid ads– that allows you to add a URL to the search results. Results are not very accurate, but these are early days.

Wikia Search lets you register a “social profile” adding the social network ingredient to search. “Search requires a strong social and community focus,” they say, and they are building it through collaboration –much like Wikipedia. Worth watching.

What you say could come back to bite into your book tour!

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

This is a statement disparaging a former White House insider who wrote a book criticizing the White House. But there’s a catch.

“Well, why, all of a sudden, if he had all these grave concerns, did he not raise these sooner? This is one-and-a-half years after he left the administration. And now, all of a sudden, he’s raising these grave concerns that he claims he had. And I think you have to look at some of the facts. One, he is bringing this up in the heat of a presidential campaign. He has written a book and he certainly wants to go out there and promote that book. Certainly let’s look at the politics of it.”

It sounds a LOT like the person being attacked is Scott McClellan, former White House press secretary. The problem is, the person saying it is McClellan! He is talking about another tell-all book by Richard Clark! On March 22nd, 2004.

“And now, all of a sudden, he’s raising these grave concerns that he claims he had.”

Public records are a brilliant thing. But in this age of access, and the ability to drill into search engines and databases that capture history, what you say from a public or private podium feeds your data cloud.

Quotes for the week ending 7 June, 2008

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

“Marketers are horrible at getting close to customers …they say they want it, but they don’t”

Charlene Li, VP-Principal Analyst, Forrester Research, in Advertising Age which picked here as one of the Women to Watch

“But neutrality and readability are two vastly different things; neutrality doesn’t make an article inherently understandable. That’s what an editor does.”

Shel Holtz on the value of good editing, and the role of professionally produced encyclopedias.

“Additive or Core Ingredient? Putting Social Media in the Mix”

Topic at “OMMA Social” a one-day event on social media, on June 23rd.

“Copy gets in the way.”

Seth Godin, on why it is important to use the discipline of the classified ad –paying by the word- when crafting ad copy.

“It’s hard to imagine a public confession more extraordinarily frustrating or profoundly unsatisfying.

Leonard Pitts, syndicated columnist, on Scott McClellan’s book What Happened dealing with White House deception.

“We’re getting treated like air freight.”

Robert Mann, aviation consultant, on the possibility that airlines may adjust ticket prices according to a passenger’s weight.

“When a newspaper moves online, the bundle falls apart.”

Nicolas Carr, writer and member of Britannica’s Editorial Board on the economics of culture and media.

Wikipedians debate Hillary as clock ticks

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

“Presidential candidates are big boys (and a big girl), and they get tough treatment in the media because they are trying to get a very powerful, very important job. We don’t overprotect them on Wikipedia just as the U.S. media and international media don’t protect them.”

There’s an interesting discussion going on (at late as 2.40 pm today) on the edit pages of Wikipedia. As the clock ticks for the presumptive candidate who has all but conceded, it’s interesting to see how those who manage and defend brand Clinton duke it out. Whether you disagree with the biases and inaccuracies or not, you just cannot ignore the Wiki effect.

Social media extends our reach

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

Having been involved in a pandemic flu exercise here at the Decision Theater, this lede about avatars coming down with a flu, flagged my attention.

But the story in the Canadian Press is more about how social networks and other online tools are being used as an extension of (rather than a replacement of) our communication efforts in social spaces. Where as we once relied on traditional surveys and expensive campaigns, we now have Facebook, virtual worlds and something called ‘proximity marketing.’

Characteristics of bloggers

/ Angelo Fernando / 1 Comment

I came across this good evaluation of the “12 traits of successful bloggers” from Darren Rowse.

Creative and Playful, Innovative, Connectors, Community Enablers, Information Mavens, Communicators, Interest, Entrepreneurs, Originality, Perseverance, Focus, Curiosity. Worth a read.

We all have a different set of traits. I am sure my list will be different, with a  few overlaps.

Stopping the phone books

/ Angelo Fernando / 3 Comments

Is there a universal number to be on a ‘do not deliver’ list for phone books?

I just called Yellow Book and asked to be taken off their list. Tel: 800.373.3280.

I understand there is a business model behind the catalog business, and I would hate to see people lose jobs over this, but isn’t it time for regulation to reduce the number of unwanted phone books? What’s wrong with a system where the phone book company asks us to opt-in to receive one?

I notice that two cities are already considering a law to reduce phone books.

The Direct Marketing Association has DMAChoice.org. Isn’t it time the phone companies got their act together?

Avoiding product, hiding logos gain vogue

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

There used to be a backlash against showing the huge ugly logo of a company in the ad …in the late eighties, I believe. That was a reaction to the ‘branding’ mantra.

Now there’s a return to stealth branding, thanks to YouTube and viral distribution.

This ad –if you can call it that — for Levi’s features no close-up shot of the label. Just a few guys doing stunts, diving into their brand, that make it extremely watchable. It has been viewed over two million times todate.

Gawker makes an interesting comparison between Levis and Ray-ban about how the stunt is such a formula for going viral today.

Looks like the idea of hiding the logo has gained vogue, telling us something: People are tired of logos masquerading as ads. A logo is nothing, if it does not give you a reason why to buy or subscribe. I don’t use Skype over Google talk because of the cool blue logo. They can hide it from my call interface for all I care. (It’s so tiny, I don’t even notice it is there.) They have made the experience worth coming back to, and paying for, in my case.