Dell’s green road trip bristling with social media

September 28, 2008September 28, 2008 / Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

Dell is no newbie to new media. I have been tracking them for more than two years, especially Lionel Menchaca’s parlay into social media with the hugely popular DirectToDell, its attention to the blogosphere, its presence in Second Life, the new Digital Nomads effort, and even the use of Twitter for marketing Dell Outlet,

So when I heard Dell’s latest social media effort, a 15-day, 15-city sustainability road trip with non-profit group Grist was headed to ASU and stopping right here at the Decision Theater, it sounded like a program worth writing about myself. On Friday, Todd Dwyer, Dell’s Environmental blogger, came by with Sarah van Schagen, an editor for Grist.

The reason for the visit was to look at ASU’s role in sustainability, with the School of Sustainability, and our work with the Global Institute of Sustainability.

The ReGeneration blog has some interesting features, steeped in social media. There is the grafitti wall, exploiting web 2.0 to get visitors to contribute to contribute ideas to the site. Videos are posted to Quik, and there’s a graffiti art contest with entries like the one on the left.

They have two posts, and two videos worth checking out.

The rest of the road trip is worth following, too!

Quotes form the week ending 27 September, 2008

September 27, 2008 / Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

“Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where – where do they go? It’s Alaska. It’s just right over the border…”

Governor Sarah Palin, in response to a question by Katie Couric of CBS about her experience in international relations.

“When the stock market crashed, Franklin D. Roosevelt got on the television and didn’t just talk about the, you know, the princes of greed. He said, ‘Look, here’s what happened.”

Barack Obama’s running mate, Joe Biden, displaying a poor sense of history, on the Today Show. Roosevelt was not in office at that time, and, radio, not television, was the medium used.

“In what respect, Charlie?”

Sarah Palin, in her first media interview given to ABC News. Charles Gibson asked her about her stance on the Bush Doctrine, about which she didn’t seem to have a clue.

“Turn off the rumor mills, pull down the mocked-up artwork, and say goodbye to the blogger speculation.”

Announcement of Google’s Gphone, launched in collaboration with TMobile. It is the first mobile device built around a Android, Google’s Linux application.

“He wants to socialize Wall Street and privatize Social Security. Talk about upside down.”

Reader or The Arizona Republic, Roy Otterbein or Phoenix, commenting on Bush’s approach to the financial crisis.

“Our 94-year history of leadership in the financial industry has been a source of confidence…”

Copy from a Merill Lynch full page ad, appearing in the September 20th issue of The Economist, whose cover featured a cyclone sucking up brand names Fannie Mae, AIG, Morgan Stanley, Washington Mutual, Freddie Mac, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers.

“Talks are breaking down, I think McCain’s move just proved how important it was to be in DC.”

Tweet by one James Eiden about legislators and the White House hustling over the $7 billion bail out.

“McCain’s bluff called! Un-suspends campaign and attending 1st debate, even though $700B agreement not reached yet”

Another tweet by one Presceile, revealing how the pendulum swung.

“The US President has been wrong about so much during his eight years in office that it is tempting to dismiss his warnings of the impending financial apocalypse as yet more hyperbole – the boy crying wolf.”

Economics editor Edmund Conway or The Telegraph, on the need for the British to act fast too, and stop trying to give paracetamol to someone with a heart attack.

Risk Management and Communication where pundits reign

September 23, 2008September 24, 2008 / Angelo Fernando / 1 Comment

I spoke to a banker a few days back who was practically blaming Suze Orman for the panic about money market accounts. That’s not entirely fair, because Ms. Orman does distinguish between the the FDIC insured kind and the one that isn’t.

“If you own a money market through your bank, it is insured by the FDIC. But that’s not the same as a money market mutual fund…”

(from her web site as of 09/17)

Orman was the face of personal financial crisis management on cable, and these kind of panic-attack shows tend to get recycled a lot.

But how do those entrusted with Risk Management in the face of pundit-induced media panic, plan to communicate through a crisis? Fidelity is taking out full page ads in The New York Times. Like that would calm the nerves! How did the financial juggernauts plan for it, I wondered.

I came across a group calling itself the Counterparty Risk Management Policy Group (CRMPG), with members form Goldman Sachs, Merill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, B of A, Citigroup and others that had put together a plan to prevent ‘future financial shocks.’

The word Communication occurs about 25 times in the 176-page document, which

“recommends strengthening the relationship between intermediaries and counterparties in sales, marketing, and ongoing communications associated with high-risk complex financial instruments.”

and encourages

“prompt and coherent flow of risk-related information within and across business units and, as needed, the prompt escalation of quality information to top management.”

In other words get the message across fast and furious –top-down, bottom-up, even sideways.

But as we all know, the information is stuck in the silos. And what happens then? The media try to pry open these silos and feed us tid-bits of information from pundits. Prompting Talking Points like this from Washington Mutual whose stock had begun to slide:

“On the morning of September 16, personal finance personality Suze Orman made some incorrect comments on the Today Show about the role a bank’s stock price plays in the safety and soundness of a bank…”

To get back to the CRMPG document, the lesson for all organizations is to begin to bridge the gaps between sales, marketing and communication departments long before Suze Ormans of this world communicate on their behalf.