I’ve been doing a ton of reading on buzz — and the art of it — lately. It’s been an interesting journey for me because I’m really tragically connected to cost-per-lead marketing and our word of mouth sources are tough to categorize. I’m on the record as a bona fide hater of word of mouth, as a matter of cold hard fact, as it’s been so very in the way of all my other marketing projects over the past two years. Color me transformed. Three months ago, the entire organization reorganized. The big(tm) budget I managed for our region was centralized to our corporate marketing office, leaving me a whole lot more time for tiddly winks, cross words, melancholy and porn, natch. Somewhere in there, I started listening more intently to buzz marketing folks and their points are making crystal clear sense to me now more than ever. One of them says that the amount of buzz your product or service generates is directly related to the amount of new information your producing about it. Take Apple, for example: over the past three OS releases, they always produce a list of “X new features”. In Tiger, it’s 200. In Panther, I think it was 150. In both releases, enormous buzz. I proofed a brochure the other day from our corporate relations team. It was pretty, as most of their material is. But it shows a distinct ignorance to what’s going on in the market. The copy listed exactly the same verbiage we’ve been using for over a year. The standard copy we used to rely on in yearly cycles is growing stale faster than ever, and our word of mouth buzz is falling even faster than that. I wrote an email to the team with suggestions. I doubt changes will be made, but here’s hoping. The tragedy of the commons in this case is that we’re so huge as an organization now that we’ve forgotten how to put our ears to the ground to hear the hooves rumbling behind us. In most cases, and here’s the bigger tragedy, when we do finally get the ears down, the rumbling has already passed. Challenge: How to re-engage a monolithic organization with fantasies of decentralization in grass roots buzz generation?
Armstrong Williams Column Axed by TMS: http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000749251
OK, so it turns out that someone else was pissed about this Williams thing. Good on ya’ Tribune Media Service.
USATODAY.com – Education Dept. paid commentator to promote law: http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-01-06-williams-whitehouse_x.htm
Well, this is excellent. Not only does Armstrong Williams take the $240k from the Bush administration to promote one of their bass-ackward policies on his newsbroadcast, he publicly advocates that other black conservative broadcasters do the same.
Note: when asked to comment, Ketchum PR, the government’s PR counsel, referred questions to the Department of Education. Let me say that again: The voice of this issue did a hand-off. Hot potato, indeed.
I have such a difficult time with this sort of thing, mostly because I deal with the pay-to-play ad/editorial environment every day. And that is, of course, where the slippery slope began; editorial desks implicitly refusing editorial space on organizations with no advertising history. It’s a very short leap from there to Williams’ slap in the face of public policy media.
Somehow, and I’ll say it’s probably due to the ever-increasing competition for advertising and editorial space in fixed-format media, ad history became the bar or standard by which editorial participation was measured. Williams blatant disregard for this ethical boundary is proof that we’ve come to the next age of media hucksterism: the Advertorial is the standard, and it’s more OK than not anymore.
So, there I was, picking up some DVD cases for my collection, and I decided to stop into my lovely neighborhood VerizonWireless store to check on the availability of the Treo 650. I was chatting with the manager, who now says that VW is SKIPPING the Treo 650, in favor of the 700, which she says is already in early testing with Verizon.
Lies? Damned Lies? Speculation?
I’ll talk more about this later, but I wanted to make sure I remembered to do it. Good thoughts over at Johnnie Moore’s.
[later…]
I appreciate what Johnnie’s talking about here, nay, I’m in bed with it. What a luxury it would be to take my own organization and completely dismantle the marketing organization in favor of sensible marketing and branding. What a luxury it would be to experiment with taking an entire marketing and advertising budget and applying it to “customer experience.” What a luxury it would be to manage to achieve acceptance of such a plan to implement.
Here’s one of many nods to the iPod’s proclivity to lure the unsuspecting music lover to purchase a Mac:
Music To Apple’s Ears
It seems Apple Computer’s (AAPL) iPod music player may be doing what years of marketing have been unable to do: persuade PC owners to jump to the Mac. On Nov. 22, Piper Jaffray (PJC) put out a report suggesting that 700,000 or so iPod lovers either have or plan to buy a Mac in the next year, and that 1.2 million more will do so in 2006. The report, which set a target price of $100, sent Apple shares up 11%, to $61.35 — a four-year-high. But don’t look for Apple to make a serious run at Microsoft’s PC market share. Even with new buyers, Apple will still have less than 3% of the PC market, says Piper Jaffray.
I don’t like the way the writer phrased that first line, “… what years of marketing have been unable to do…” Years of marketing? Unable to do? It’s the rabid and fanatical marketing engine, manifested in tipping point user dynamics, smart market choices, and athletic reaction time to external forces coupled with those brilliant products. The iPod is a strategic piece of a far larger puzzle that just so happens to be one path to the same end.
I’m glad Microsoft decided to take on blogging, because Blogger was really too complicated, what with all the colors and lines and delicious buttons. At least Spaces is full of colors, lines, delicious buttons and content filtering. (As if I don’t get enough of this at work.)
And now, Xeni has performed a highly scientific test on their content filtering scamscheme with some predictable surprising results!
Ahh, the Gerbils are at it again. Got this in my inbox on Wednesday, the day before we’re all out of there for the holiday…
Announcing Company Wide Internet Content Filtering
To protect the Company’s business interests and our employees, the Company has implemented a tool that provides for increased security of our systems. With the participation of various departments, selected categories of Internet content that create risks to the Company and our systems were identified and will be restricted from access. This new product will protect our electronic world from harm caused by Internet searching and related activities and help to ensure a safer computing environment.
An additional feature of this tool is that it provides for greater monitoring of Internet traffic which will allow us to better monitor our systems for appropriate use. Therefore we would like to remind all of our employees that as a regular business practice, activity on the Internet will be monitored for fraud, waste and abuse including personal and other non-business use. Any evidence of inappropriate use may result in disciplinary actions. Any evidence of criminal activity may be provided to appropriate agencies, including law enforcement agencies.
This new service is being deployed throughout the enterprise and will be enabled for your region on Monday, Nov. 29, 2004. Following this date, should a problem related to being denied Internet content that is required for legitimate business purposes, please contact Company Tech Support at 1–800-XXX-XXXX.Information Security Office
To sweeten the 1984-ishness of it, please note that I didn’t change anything in the above passage but the phone number. That’s right, the idiots referred to us as “The Company” over and over and over.
I took the girls to the Turkey Trot today, which stops up at the elephant pen at the zoo. They ended up taking an hour to walk the place after the race, during which time I was sound asleep in the car.
When we all finally reconvened, I asked Sophie what she liked about the zoo. She recounted the usual: elephants, giraffes, meerkats … she even picked up a lesser kudu this time. Then we got to the bats.
“What were the bats doing, Sophie?” Kira asked her when we got settled in the car.
“They were eating fruit and apples.”
I said, “Wait a minute. Does Sophie eat apples?”
Sophie thought hard for a second. “Yes.”
“And bats eat apples too?”
“Yes, dad.”
“Sophie, I think you’re a bat!”
She looked at me, then at her hands, then up at Kira.
“Mom. I think… I’m a bat!”
Happy Thanksgiving.
I’m not up on the history of a presidential administration’s use of video news releases to the scale of our current custodians, but they’re following up on their latest medicare chapter with one on education.
The VNR process seems just crazy to me these days, as we’re all trying so hard to balance the competing interests of mass communication and rebuilding customer trust. Yet, the communications office has chosen to flood the markets with these things once every couple of months, generating more meta-press on the act itself than root press on their target issue.
Right now, Kira is eating a wonderful Russian soup with beef, beets, and onions — all good stuff. It’s wonderful, but not so much for 2-year-olds.
So, I came in and whipped up a tortilla pizza with pepperoni, cheese, and mushrooms and tossed it in the toaster oven. I gave it to Sophie, and after one bite, she says to Kira:
“My dad is just amazing.”
“Why is he amazing, Sophie?”
“Because of pizza!”
Most days, being a dad is fun. Some days, it’s simply exceptional.
Clearly, I’m on a kid’s say the darndest things kick. Acknowledged. Let’s move on to tonight’s tale.
Curt’s over for family dinner. We’re eating Yumms (cause they rock) and discussing how cool child development is. Sophie is talking about the water we’re all drinking “…and Curt has water and mommy has some water and Sophie has water and so does Curt have some water…” etc.
Curt leans over and says to Sophie, “Sophie, what’s the meaning of life? What does it all mean?”
Sophie tilts her head to the side. She says, “It means…” and holds us there, pregnant pause. I think she made eye contact with each of us in the span of about eight seconds. “It means… Curt’s house.”
So there we have it. Curt’s house is the meaning of life.
The art of PR is all about knowing your audience. Who do you need to persuade, and what’s going to convince them? The Kerry and Bush campaigns have very different answers to that question.
The Kerry team takes a laser-focused approach – identifying issues, then targeting each message to a narrow audience segment. Healthcare for moms. Social security for retirees. College tuition for students. Check, check, check. They were efficient. Precise. Did everything by the book.
Meanwhile, Bush goes broad. His people step back and ask: what basic, visceral messages will resonate across demographics? They realize fear and hope are universal. So they tap into those big, lizard-brain emotions. Protection from terror. Traditional values. Strong leadership.
Their communication style matches their strategy. While Kerry dutifully recites policy points, Bush tells stories. He paints pictures. He speaks to the heart, not just the head.
In the end, passion defeats the logic. Bush rallies enough of the masses to clinch that razor-thin win.
Now the question is, what lessons will Democrats take from 2004 as they look to 2008? Will they stick to the traditional playbook of narrowcasting? Or adapt the campaign in bolder, more emotional terms?
Let me be clear: I don’t think we need a fiery liberal at the top of the ticket. But we do need a candidate who can connect with a broad coalition of Americans. Someone who sees that real change comes from moving millions, not just mobilizing the fringe. A leader who campaigns with empathy, not just facts.
The world expects too much progress in one year and too little in ten. We tried to transform a landscape in 18 months that had been eroding for decades. Quick fixes make poor foundations. To build something that lasts, we must practice patience and care.
The Kerry strategists weren’t wrong. But neither were they completely right. In politics, as in life, the most effective path blends heart and mind. The task now is to chart that balanced course.
I just watched the Saturday Night Live Presidential Debate special that was on Monday night this week and I’ve discovered another reason for us to feel ashamed of our collective selves. If SNL is to be any sort of bell weather for our life and times, we’ve been re-living political history for at least the last 30 years without even knowing it. For example:
- In the ’76 Debate spoof, Belushi’s Rolling Stone reporter accuses Dan Ackroyd’s Jimmy Carter of being a “flip-flopper”
- In ’88, Dana Carvey’s Bush stumbles over himself horribly, yadda yadda yadda, something about a “thousand points of light,” at which point what’s-his-name’s Dukakis says, “I can’t believe I’m losing to this guy.”
- In ’92, Bush-Clinton-Perot, well… Carvey’s Perot is almost funnier than Ralph Nader, playing himself, debating puppets.
We went to bed at 10:00 last night, long before the final states were called by the networks. Fascinatingly difficult night, that.
My folks moved to Wales this year. Just before they left, my dad called and told me that if Bush won a second term, they weren’t coming back. Yeah, yeah, he was joking, but this morning, I had this waiting for me in my inbox:
My sincere condolences on the loss of your country for another four years. As we seek asylum here in Europe, we want you to know we’ll be in constant touch. Should you be driven from your home by fundamentalist Christians under the rule of “Bush” for watching “The Simpsons” or some other violation against the State, you’ll be able to reach us immediately, and we will try to get to you and save you.
We’re both involved today in an emergency underground here in the UK. We were simply hoping for the best and preparing for the worst. We have good, intelligent leaders who we believe will offer us the best resistance to the American sprawl should they venture to this island in the North Atlantic.
Until we meet again. Our love to little Sophie. Tell her we’ll send for her as soon as things cool down.
Dad
It’s starting to remind me of the hit series “V,” or, you know, the Holocaust. (Here, I’ll be busted for likening our current political situation to war crimes and other atrocities, but I can’t help but feeling this eerie parallel between the early popularity of Hitler’s propaganda with the German conservative right and the blood red that covered the electoral map last night. If Germany, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, N. Korea et al have taught us anything, it’s that regimes must all start somewhere.)
Then, I picked this up on boingboing.net:
Kerry concedes.
Four more years of a nation led by criminals. I was making coffee with one eye on CNN when the news broke, and I called my dad, a man who’s spent many years fighting for good things, sometimes at great personal cost.“Get over it,” he said, “The way you feel now is exactly how I felt when Nixon won a second term — crushed. I just couldn’t believe America was that stupid. “But remember what happened to Nixon that term.”
“Change comes from discontent,” he said. “And right now, there’s a lot of discontent.”
I love Xeni Jardin (cat’s out of the bag. BFD). She goes on with that post, but I think the opener really sums it up. I look around me at all the people who are in my life: bright, witty people grounded in honesty and integrity. These are people for whom moral values mean more than electability. They’re vibrant people, concerned about the direction we’re headed and longing for something different. How is it that this sentiment, which is so rooted in reality for me and those around me, is such a farce for more than half of our country?
As a marketer, I handle Canada as part of my territory. I spoke to a friend of mine at Channel M — Multivision Television this morning who asked if I was wearing a black armband today. He said that Canadians are stunned. He asked how we could put a party in office that’s so full of shit. I wonder.
It’s funny. I was so confident that we were going to take this one that I’m not sure I did enough on my own. I wrote a bit about it, but since I haven’t worked toward any real readership here, I can’t claim to any wild success in the PR arena. I leave that to friends like Curt and Kath. I feel changed now, though. The lines, the hours that people waited to cast their votes, and the passion with which people fought for this one showed that voting is no longer enough.
It takes talking about the issues by the water cooler, not hiding in the corner and whispering. It takes publicly denouncing false promises and bad policies as cancerous, not relying on the vocal minority to do the talking for us. There is no general public. They do not exist. This game takes practice, and this party just wasn’t ready for it.