CK's Blog

Oh what the community hath wrought...

It started innocently enough. Well maybe not so innocently...but for a good cause. In my push for promoting socially responsible practices, I learned NYC will be touting an official city condom as part of its impressive marketing strategies to decrease the spreading of STDs and HIV-AIDS.

So I thought why not ask you smart marketers for some great copy for the wrappers to generate more awareness while involving the community? And you guys and gals gave me your best lines, check out the ideas 48 hrs. later:

• My suggestion? "I heart NY...and tonight, I heart you."
• Stephen Denny "conceived" this goodie: "If you can make it HERE, you'll make it anywhere."
• Tammy Strnatka leveraged a fear angle with: "Put on a condom or die!" and "Love Kills". Tammy, I'm afraid.
• Social marketing smartie Nedra Weinreich had 2 goodies: first, "For the Big Apple's Big Bananas" and second "Safe Sex in the City"...to which I say, Carrie & Co. would be proud.
• Drew McLellan also offered not one but two with, "Unless you REALLY love her, wear it." and "The price of not wearing this? Child support."
• Paul Barsch suggested a rubber bracelet, akin to Lance Armstrong's "Livestrong" circlet encouraging waiting with: "Save IT for Marriage"
• Mad Ave'r McHale did the math with: "Suffication + Stuffication = Studfication". McHale, you were listening in class.
• Michelle Mullen advocates different messages and packaging the condoms like the candy hearts at Valentines with different sayings on them like "You're special," "I love you," "I respect you," "I'm a safety girl," "I'm doing a science project and I need your help" "Yes it's a large and it does fit".
• Mark Goren went ALL OUT with designer Ryan Mesheau and made two designs. I've shown one at the top right of this post (snazzy, eh?) but the other one you'll have to hop to his blog for...and it involves Lady Liberty and that's all I'm saying.
• Chris Blackman went "old book" with this thinking..."So let me see if I got this: Back in the Garden of Eden, Eve was offering Adam the Big Apple? Maybe the condoms could be sold with a slogan: "Give in to the Big Apple of Temptation." To which I suggested "Give in (safely) to the Big Apple of Temptation". Eve is grinning, I just know it. Adam not so much.
• And Laurence-Helene suggested colourful badge-type wrappers with a short and punchy message akin to these.
• Vaspers turned a witty tattoo phrase into a safety line with "This doesn't mean I love you."
• Matt Dickman went all double entendre with us touting the benefit angle and, um, you know, in his suggestion of "Live Long."
• Rebecca Edmonston suggested a wrapper with a subway logo and the copy: "The safest ride in NYC."

Please feel free to voice in; but over there so I can keep track of all these goodies. I'll be submitting them to the City later this week--they didn't ask for them, mind you, but when did that stop us from doing great work for a good cause?! Remember, the copy needs a NY angle. You marketers sure are smart (and sexy, to boot).

Note: Artwork above courtesy of Mark Goren and Ryan Mesheau.

A little love my way, a lot of love yours

The good folks over at NXTBookMedia were moved enough by the collage that they transformed it from stale PDF into a living, breathing rich media piece...for free! And they're hosting it (for free!).  I thank NXTBook's Marcus Grimm for giving it--and the community--so much love.

They're also going to let me update the collage with more responses (thanks to everyone who has voiced-in since the original piece, I will get to updating the piece with your great feedback. I promise!).

And that's not all: Marcus was kind enough to interview me for Folio Magazine's e-zine, a site serving the magazine publishing industry. You smart bloggers already know the stuff I cover in the interview, but it's a good piece for those just jumping into social media. Again, here's the beautiful piece they created for us. For new readers: please see the project's background here.

P.S.: As is the case is with my luck, this interview--which points readers to my blog--runs the week that I feature me in mouseketeer ears...do hope they have a sense of humor.

Let's get it on marketers...

My city's got me talking sex. What, you thought I wouldn't talk sex on my blog? Actually, you're right. Why post on sex here when I can push the limits with a larger audience over there?  Especially since those readers would love to hear about something other than The Book Club--though I contend books are very sexy subject matter, too.

Oh, and in my push for promoting socially responsible practices I'm also asking for your ideas on copy for branded condom wrappers. Yeah, you read that last sentence right. So let's brainstorm and get, uh, ballsy.

I'm no tease, you needn't hold out any longer--just hop on over to "The Fix" and let's talk (safe) sex. C'mon, let's just do it already...

Two wiki wrongs don't make it write

Microsoft has caused a stink over a Wiki gone wrong. The company offered to pay a blogger to change technical articles on Wikipedia--and now it's really paying the price...

According to the AP, "While Wikipedia is known as the encyclopedia that anyone can tweak, founder Jimmy Wales and his cadre of volunteer editors, writers and moderators have blocked public-relations firms, campaign workers and anyone else perceived as having a conflict of interest from posting fluff or slanting entries. So paying for Wikipedia copy is considered a definite no-no.

Microsoft acknowledged it had approached the writer and offered to pay him for the time it would take to correct what the company was sure were inaccuracies in Wikipedia articles on an open-source document standard and a rival format put forward by Microsoft. Spokeswoman Catherine Brooker said Microsoft had never previously hired someone to influence a Wikipedia article."

Um, so why start now?

Brooker said she believed the articles were heavily written by people at IBM Corp., which is a big supporter of the open-source standard and that Microsoft had gotten nowhere in trying to flag the purported mistakes to Wikipedia's volunteer editors, so it sought an independent expert who could determine whether changes were necessary and enter them on Wikipedia. Microsoft believed that having an independent source would be key in getting the changes to stick -- that is, to not have them just overruled by other Wikipedia writers.

Let me play devil's advocate for a minute (rather than just painting Microsoft as devil).

Perhaps the information is heavily slanted. That can happen. Heck it happens in the media all the time. But Wikipedia is rooted in objectivity and the same rules just don't apply. What I find interesting is how Wales recommends righting the issue, "write or commission a "white paper" on the subject with its interpretation of the facts, post it to an outside Web site and then link to it in the Wikipedia discussion forums".

And here's the epiphany I would have given Microsoft had they asked...

Sure, it's a lot more work than hiring an "independent source" but it could have been a platform for you to showcase--more transparently and far more respectably--how the entry is biased. Further, you could have then turned around and claimed that INSTEAD of trying to rig the system, you may be a poster child for wiki posts done wrong but you're the champion of ethics done RIGHT.

Then the closed-source behemoth could tout its open-and-honest policy. Instead of being reactive, the company's spindoctors could have said, "sure, we're banked enough to hire an army of bloggers to 'write' the wrong--but we didn't. Nope, we used it as a way to show other companies how to respectfully work their way out of similar bias brouhahas."

Now wouldn't that have bought Msoft a lot of goodwill? Silly Microsoft, now you've only called MORE attention to the "may-be-wrong, may-be-right" write.

You could have made it better for everyone and in turn, made it really good for you. But now it's bad for you and your overworked PR cleanup crew. D'oh! I've said it before and I'll likely say it again: Folks, there exist myriad opportunities in mishaps...if you look at them as such.

Psst: Paul and Clay...this might be a candidate for your own upcoming Wiki (which is all about doing the right thing ;-).

A promise begets a promotion

I really enjoy using this medium to share ideas, be it promoting others through posts, giving advice through comments or contributing ideas that another might not have thought of (but might just help them). There are several ways we can spread ideas to help each other collectively...and individually.

Sometimes you need to nudge an idea forward; get a little silly. No worries, I've certainly been my share of zany when the occasion calls. Hey, whatever energizes people and gets the job done. Which brings me to a post I published in early December...

Reading Drew McLellan's blog I noticed that, while on vacation in Disney World, he penned a nifty eight-part series aptly titled "Marketing Lessons from Walt". The series ranged a bevy of best practices in succinct, fun posts that, according to Drew, captured "some of the marketing genius that I believe began with Walt's passion and has now grown into one of the world's most powerful brands." The series provided Drew an opportunity to delight clients and prospects with some truly unique thought leadership...but with one BIG problem.

You see, the posts were already creeping into his blog's archives. And let's face it: 90% of the industry just isn't reading blogs yet, and not at all regularly. Being that Drew is such a fan of "all things Walt Disney" and put so much heart and thought into the series it warranted more care--and far more coverage.  I saw that as a problem...but a problem is just an opportunity in disguise (or, in ears).

So I penned a post promoting the series, suggested an epiphany and posed a proposition: if Drew would spend the time--and the design bucks--to repackage the content into a formal, transferable format, I would help him promote it. The nudge? If he would get me some ears I would wear them proudly and post the evidence HERE on my blog--AND on my MySpace page.

That smart marketer called my bluff. A promise is a promise (and this girl keeps her promises)...

So here I am in all my glory with my one-of-a-kind ears for all the 'sphere to see (just click the pic for larger mug and ears). Drew even honored my request and had them custom-stitch "marketeer" on the ears for me. Truth be told I didn't promise the red bows; they just felt right. Do have fun laughing at me but definitely enjoy the great read that Drew threw his heart and soul into compiling for us. There's a gem in every segment of the series. Ears not included.

P.S. While I find them fitting given the spirit of the shot my mom thinks ponytails are too unprofessional for a businesswoman. To which I reminded her it was a pic of me wearing mouse ears.  She maintains her position.

P.P.S.: Thanks to Gavin for penning a unique angle to this story on using your ears to really listen; it's here.

P.P.P.S: Cam at Chaos Scenario has penned a thoughtful post on Disney's Brand Magic that inspires child-like enthusiasm (told from the viewpoint of his child's experience ). If you thought the pics here were good...go check out the cutie on his blog.

To be brand free

In the last month the red, white and blue recruited another Aussie. "Get Shouty" Blogger Katie Chatfield has relocated from down under to the windy city. And we get a front-row seat: through her many travels Katie illuminates how the different landscapes deliver vastly different brandscapes.

Katie compares last year's experience in China..."In China I’m illiterate, innumerate, I can’t read a map, and I can’t even match word shapes. While your options become very limited, there’s a sort of freedom involved in the experience too--your attention is not pulled by the millions of hungry words contained in the urban streetscape. You are free to attribute meaning as you go."

To this year's experience in the U.S..."I’m finding that I have a similar reaction to brands in the States. I can’t read them. I don’t know what they mean. I can’t put them in a hierarchy. I don’t know the difference between Nordstrom, Bloomingdale’s, and Macy’s intuitively. In a supermarket aisle I don’t know how to make a decision between the hundreds of types of cereal."

And remarks on how freeing these experiences are..."I will make decisions as a consumer, and again it’s a freeing experience. I’m not bound by the heritage of the brand, or by what my friends say about it--only the signs that the brand uses to communicate with me will make the difference."

In this global economy--whether brands are shipped there or new brand buyers shipped here--histories and well-entrenched hierarchies matter less, brand experiences more. With more touch points, channels and media than ever for making a meaningful impact with audiences both familiar and fresh to our products each brand needs to build its case each time, rather than resting on past merits. Along with the round world going flat, everything old is new again.

Marketers of well-entrenched brands may find this daunting, I advise taking a page from Shouty's book and view it as freeing. Check out the full post here.

P.S.: Welcome stateside, Shouty. Should you ever find yourself in NYC, take a stroll down 5th Avenue and you'll experience a bit of brand euphoria. In the meantime, you Chi-town bloggers take good care of her!

P.P.S.: Flooring the Consumer did a tour-de-force post on this subject...swear it should be a full-fledged article in the NYT (or maybe the New Yorker). Read it, really. You'll thank me, yeah really.

Better When It's Bad, Baby.

Many of my clients, prospects, peers and friends have been staying analog to the Web 2.0 world. They fear if they blog something, say something, try something or comment something than somewhere, somehow, someone will say something bad about them, their company or their product line.

I understand that raves are nicer than rants. It's warm and fuzzy when people like you and your stuff--and stone cold when they don't. But feedback, be it expressed vocally, textually or monetarily, is an even tougher pill to swallow after you've blown your budget--and possibly, your job. Here's what I say:

• If they say something good about your company/products? That's great.
• If they say something bad? Even better, baby!

Welcome your critics and love them for their candor. I've learned a lot of lessons through disagreements and debates (debates need not be dirty, just active). Plus, if they're saying something negative online they're already saying it offline. So now they're no longer talking behind your back. That's more polite, no?

Engaging your community--and yes, your critics--should happen at the front end not the back, the beginning of the process, not the end. Sure, not every company can publicize what all they're up to. I get that. But they can engage a group that is encouraged and equipped to weigh in, be it through an exclusive community, advisory board, or all of the above...just be sure to give them the means to express their opinions anonymously so as to decrease bias.

So in this new year maybe you should hope for bad news (even just a little). If embraced and acted upon the feedback can only improve you, your products and your customer relationships--and isn't that a whole lot better? Yeah, I think so too.

P.S.: I know that a lot of you seasoned bloggers already know this advice...but sometimes I need to include posts for those that are just entering the 'sphere (as there are many more out of this space than in it).

Lo-Fi meet Hi-Fi...

A blog that I stumbled upon thanks to my favorite bloke is Clay Parker Jones's Exit Creative. Remember that week when I shut up/shut down? Well, I did--for the most part--but I was able to get my fix at Clay's place because people weren't used to seeing me there. Very clandestine of me, no?

What I like about Clay is that he's truly multi-media...he does these cool lo-fi blogs, like on the left, where he takes pen-to-paper-to-post. And then, being quite the extremist, he's started hi-fi blogging with videos.This one below gives Direct Marketers a talking to, replete with sound effects and action points (ah, how I do love action points).

Your action point? Take 4 minutes and check it out (RSS readers: go here).

One sexy brew.

While not a beer drinker--dirty martinis are this girl's poison--I'm appreciating the route Heineken is pursuing in positioning and promoting their premium light lager, Heineken Premium Light. It's the newcomer on the $30 billion-dollar domestic light-beer block.

First, the packaging: see the sleek bottle on the left with the small neck? Look at how it preserves the Heineken brand while setting itself apart from the packaging of their heavyweight brew.

Next, the ads: They've opted to make the beer even sexier by leaving women out of their TV ads (which beer and liquor ads are famous for) and produced this great :30 spot that started airing last summer featuring the bottle against the song "Don Cha" by the Pussycat Dolls (RSS readers: ad is here).

The results (from this BusinessWeek article) are impressive....

• Higher price: At some bars Heineken Premium Light commands a 13% higher price-per-bottle than Bud Light.
• Heightened projections: Sales estimates are up 50% for 2006 from the company's original projections.
• Sky high forecasts: Analysts forecast Heineken will easily double sales of its light brew to more than 1 million barrels by year-end 2007, taking share from domestic and imported brews.

The sleek, slimmer and far more modern bottle design is "like a pretty girl you coveted," according to Harry Schumacher of Beer Business Daily. Yep, that's one sexy brew.

Do you do what you say you do? (psst: I don't)

Over at Group Review --yep, the Book Club discussions are still alive and kicking folks--one of the areas we're chatting is research, specifically the flaws of focus groups and how social media can help in "keeping it real".

In Citizen Marketers, Huba & McConnell refer to the "artificial reality" of focus groups based on a representative sample of the imagined target audience that give their opinions, get paid, go home...and move on with their lives.  Along the same lines in The Origin of Brands, Al & Laura Ries urge marketers to ask not "what will you do?" but only "what have you done?"

Armed with this advice I'm urging clients to move their research out of 2-way mirrored conference rooms and into the market. So I wanted to share some of the sound bites that have emerged from the likes of Gavin Heaton, Stephen Denny, Gianandrea Facchini, Valeria Maltoni and Laura Ries. Here's what they had to say on the flaws of focus groups...

Comic-Con, Anyone?

Am I meeting anyone at NYC's Comic-Con this February 23-25? Wait, of course I'm meeting people, let me rephrase: am I meeting any of you good bloggers at this good show? I scored a pass thanks to my dear friend Erik Merk (get a blog so I can link to you).

Mack Collier did say back in October that he'd like to come to this--and he would make a fancy Batman, eh?--but I don't think he's gonna be able to make it. Darn. It's quite a scene with many marketing lessons to be learned from this impassioned crowd of Green Goblins, Stormtroopers, Browncoats and Trekkies.

Like last year, there will be many great break-out sessions featuring high-profile artists and studio representatives. Give me a shout out if you're attending. Along with high-tech lightsabers this is a hi-tech crowd so I'll report on all...and get plenty of pics.

Moonlighting Still...

My book wonk has me for a couple more days...so it's like I'm moonlighting, even when the sun is up. To my clients I say, bless you for bearing with me (but do note that I met all my deadlines).

I'm not sure if I'm most enjoying getting different ideas or meeting so many different people. Yeah, it's a tie.

And it's poetic justice that P.R. pal David Reich (below right) has been rockin' the review as oh-so-popular discussion leader--yet David has always played the role of commenter. Better he doesn't launch a blog, we'd be outta business!Thanks to Mad Ave Journal's Tim McHale (pictured on the left below) for spicing up the review with the "Ghost of Citizen Marketers Kane". Author Ben McConnell liked that one.

On a funny note, in addition to learning new things and meeting new people, those bookworms told me of a great Diner here in NYC and the correct definition for the word "verbiage". You would think with the pretty price tag for that MBA I would have already known that (it's a derogatory term, I thought it just meant "copy/prose"). Back to the moon am I...

P.S.: If you've not yet seen Paul McEnany's experience trying to make Kohl's Department Stores a better, um, experience, go see how a retail marketer blows an opportunity. Times two. Yes, this is must-viewing material for all marketers. Proud of you, Paul.

Open for Biz, Bookworms.

Alas I've broken my silence and I'm chattin' up a storm over at Group Review. Oh right, maybe you haven't heard: our Book Club's Group Review is officially O.P.E.N. for biz, baby!

Yes, it's a party. And yes, this party rocks 24/7. I was wonkin' out there late last night...but I didn't have many people to wonk out with. I thought to myself: is it my fate to be a lonely bookworm?  Is it prom all over again where I dance all (gulp!) alone? Is everyone at some other book club ganging up against me?

Then I remembered I jumped the gun...it wasn't open yet. D'oh!

If you're a bookworm then, besides being really cool, you need to go here to learn about getting into the party--and yes, if the Host asks you to dance you have to humor her. If you're not a member and want to check it out you can also go here to learn about it--but since you're not logged in you can't participate. Woe is you...

...but don't fret, you can still join in! As long as you're up for chatting the themes of Citizen Marketers and this groovy new Web 2.0 World, I cordially invite you to crash our party. Please do drink responsibly and mind your manners.

C'mon admit it, aren't you just the slightest bit interested what's going on over there, just a little?

P.S.: Dear Blogosphere: A week or so from now I'll be back to my normal blogging self and won't talk the Book Club for many weeks. Girl Scout's honor.

Girl Finally Shuts Up (enjoy it while it lasts).

I'm gonna be a bit quiet over here for a spell. Between deadlines for clients and getting ready for our Book Club's Group Review, starting this Wed (1/10), I have a pretty full plate so I'll likely not be blogging much in the short-term. Please do enjoy the break from all my yammering (momma says I'm prone to talk too much anyhow).

Once we clear this segment of Book Club--which will be quite the party, do drink responsibly--I'll be back with more surprises in store. But for now I'm just zipping my lips. It's not the least bit personal.

P.S.: If you'd like something to listen to I highly recommend Mack Collier's new podcast series aptly titled "Mind the Gap". In a short-but-oh-so-sweet format (with southern charm, to boot), Mack gives us tangible examples of what to do to engage your community, what not to do (unless you want to be an evil marketer) and some hip music so we can dance the day away.

Well, at least I danced; I understood that was my cue. Check it out here.

Book Club Or BUST! (A long, strange trip to Group Review)

One week away from our Book Club's first Group Review--hitting next Wednesday, January 10th--and, being a NYC girl without a car (the subway is my SUV), I've had to get pretty creative to ensure I'll be to the party on time...

My journey chronicles: hitch-hiking in Times Square; meeting up with some of the Big Apple's rowdiest bookworms; getting in hot water with my southern momma; getting picked up by the National Guard--and sailing the seven seas. Pretty much in that order.

Oh, and a whale is involved. I ask you, readers: what half-decent story doesn't involve a whale?

Want the scoop and all the pics? You needn't hitch a ride, just follow this link to The Daily Fix. With the eventful journey I've been through, surely you won't let a girl down and will have your book read, right? Yeah, I knew I could count on you fine marketers :-).

Now hop on over here for one heck of a tale.

P.S.: Yes, you can still sign-up! You'll just need to get your paws on a copy of "Citizen Marketers", get it read by next Wednesday (it's a quick read) and drop an email saying "I'm in!" to bookclub@marketingprofs.com. "See" you next week...bookworms rock!

C-c-c-courage (the year of).

In this, my last post regaling the New Year, I regale the year of the Lion. For me, anyhow...I think it's otherwise (er, officially) the year of the pig (which starts Feb. 18th).

That lion over there had a tough go at it. But in the end he got his courage. He just needed to do some courageous things.

And then a few more.

And then he understood that he was courageous the whole time. He just let fear get in front of his courage and once he realized it, poof (!), the courage was back out front.

(I hope I didn't wreck the story for those of you who've not yet seen it.)

So this year I'm gonna try do some courageous things. They most definitely won't be as breathtaking as David Blaine's stunts or as brainy as Einstein's schemas, but they'll always involve getting out of the way of my greatest obstacle: me. And getting closer to my markets, and my craft.

I predict I'll come up with some ideas, some will soar...others will tank, I'll fall flat on my face, overcome some fears--both real and really silly--and, when necessary, get back up. While I want to learn a whole lot and do a good bit, I want courage to be my compass this year. And lion trumps pig in my book...especially when he wears a red bow.

Hmmm, can a blog have a mascot? Of c-c-c-course! I just donned him as such and he has a permanent place over there in my sidebar under "About CK" (right beneath my blog's mantra). I doubt I'll face a witch or a wizard but at the beginning of the year anything is possible...

P.S.: To clarify: it's not an "I'm-woman-hear-me roar" kind of year as that's high and mighty. No 'tude here; mine is purely a courage play.

Update (04.28.07): More on the "absence of fear" right here.

Resolving, Uniting, Promoting.

I wasn't going to do--much less publish--New Year's Resolutions. But the sneaky, smart Stephen Denny --aka the "Note to CMO" guy--went and melted my non-resolving resolve by calling me a "uniter" (vs. a "divider") when compiling his resolutions.

So I left some resolutions in his corner that range getting hitched in Vegas (not really)...to getting off my blogging butt (yes, really)...to getting our Book Club on Letterman (I'll really, really try). And I've decided to keep them over there. Why?

Because I love Mack's explosive Z-List Meme--or I should say I love the pure intention behind it--so what I want to do is to point more people to more blogs, but on an individual basis. And I'll do it more throughout 2007. There I went and resolved again...damn you Mack and Denny!

So consider heading on over to Denny's blog and adding a resolution of your own. Or two. It doesn't hurt a bit (and I won't hold you to them).

P.S.: Chaos Scenario's Cam Beck also has some great resolutions and is asking that you post the permalink to your own in his corner...so you might want to check those out, too.

P.P.S: While Denny did not know this one of my all-time favorite quotables is "What unites us is far stronger than what divides us." I resolve to love that quote even more in '07.