March 2008 Archives
Mar31

Life Without the Net

Posted at 1:04 PM • View Comments

So this weekend I had to go without the Internet at my complex. There are times where I will purposely not use the Internet, so I can focus on other things. I had to play host to two special guests, so I didn’t have much time to really worry about it; but it always interests me how much I rely on it. Like most things, I never realize how much I miss it until I don’t have it. It’s like when I get a paper cut, and I have to invent new ways to lift things. Sometimes I get shampoo in there too…ouch!!!

It really is amazing to me about how things revolve around the Internet and how much it makes us a
“need it now” culture. For Saturday, our crew considered going to see an IMAX show. I mindlessly clicked on Firefox and remembered that I was without service. I actually had to call the IMAX hotline to get movie times. I can’t remember the last time I did that. The last time I saw someone do it was on an episode of Seinfeld where Kramer pretended to be Moviefone. Thank God for Google Mobile!! Earlier that morning, I began writing a piece for this blog and needed a little research. Again, out of habit, I clicked on my Wikipedia shortcut…nada!

For those of us that began Gen-Y (1979-1983), remember when we had to learn all of that card catalogue stuff to do research? I don’t think I ever really learned it all that well. Even early in high school, they tried to teach it to us…crazy. In high school and college, I used the Internet constantly for research. Parents used to say, “We didn’t have the Internet. We had to carry books!” I wonder if I’ll say, “When I was in high school, I didn’t have Google Images, Reader, etc. We had to use Lexis Nexis Boolean search!” I turned 27 today, and the Internet is starting to make me feel old!! ;->

BTW, I’m writing this from one of the four Starbucks in the area because I’m still down on Monday morning…sometimes I just have to have the Internet.

Mar23

Nike SPARQ – My Brand is Better

Posted at 7:17 PM • View Comments

I recently made a post about Nike understanding what athletes are about. The Cinderella commercial I referenced was about doing whatever, whenever to get where you want to go. The newest commercial is about their Nike SPARQ (Speed, Power, Agility, Reaction, Quickness) training program. To most athletes, SPARQ is nothing new. It is a training program used to condition athletes for their particular sport. I’ve seen this training program administered by people such as Velocity from early high school through the professional level. Nike has rebranded this program SPARQ and is showing it the public. Yes, the commercials are very cool. The one most will remember is the long version with Saul Williams singing “List of Demands” in the background.

Nike’s brand is just better. If you’re serious about training, then you will head over to their website. The site doesn’t just show off professional athletes’ ratings. It lists individuals you’ve never heard of playing high school football, soccer, baseball, etc…male and female…can find their training results online comparing it to others around the country. If you played high school anything, think about how valuable that knowledge would’ve been then. The top competitors always assume someone else is trying to work harder than them at any moment, so they push. This site can give you even more “juice” to perform better. To get on this list, look at Nike’s scheduled list of events. All you have to do is find the scheduled events, show up and they will test you. Nike offers training videos to prepare or train on your own. Of course, you can even buy SPARQ branded equipment; but, the real value for Nike is in everything but the merchandise. They’ve created a massive amount of conversation from 90 seconds of commercials and a top-notch user interface

Many would call this viral marketing, but as my friend, Darren Herman, has said, “They are creating a conversation with the consumers.” This is what it takes today to be successful in business. The brand doesn’t control the consumers and the consumers don’t control the brands. If either of these is too off-tilt, something will give. Brand communication today is about emerging media. A main component of all emerging media is ongoing conversation.

“My better is better than your better. Thank you very much for coming.”

My Better is Better Than Your Better

My Better is Better Than Your Better

Mar16

Gen Y – Declining Use of Email

Posted at 12:40 PM • View Comments

Declining use of email?

Research suggests that teens rarely use email to communicate. They prefer to send text messages to each other. Considering that they are more likely to be in contact with each other during the day by phone than computer, that makes sense.

But do you think this will continue once they enter the workforce?

In other words, is disinterest in email a factor of their youth, or do you think they will continue to shun email as they get older?

And if so, will business correspondence change as a result?

___________________________________________________________________________________

A business owner on my LinkedIn network posted the question above today. At the time of this writing, I saw many good responses to her question (you can read it here). Some excerpts and common themes were:

“E-mail is the ideal way of sharing documents, files and information in workgroups that are working dispersedly around the globe.”

“Reality is that once you enter the workforce and are no longer able to drop what you are doing to text someone, texting goes away.”

“E-mail will continue to be the medium of choice until a better system comes about. SMS messaging is nice to get something quick out, but you cannot write a business proposal in SMS format, etc.”

I read some good answers, but here are my thoughts. Working in advertising can be an intense daily life…a typical life cycle of an idea is: CMO gets a new idea, passes the responsibility onto his marketing team, they throw it to their agency which in turn has to completely revamp the plan they created yesterday for yesterday’s idea, vendors’ plans get scrapped, which they’ll hear about two weeks later. With all these channels much can get lost along the way just like the telephone game we used to play as children.

Email may decline but it’s still largely useful for storage and lengthy conversations. People used to think phones would die off completely because of email. When I worked in my dad’s company at 12, I remember hearing that phones would be obsolete in ten years. I use one every day. It may not be a land line, since I only use my mobile or Skype; but voice communication is still vital to business. Email is now, and will be more so, used as a filter. It is another ring in the degrees that separate us, and it’s becoming the least credible because anyone has access to it. I used to work for CBS and anyone had access to any employees email in any division of this massive corporation. I doubt seriously Sumner Restone was replying or even reading the emails sent to him unless a screener deemed it necessary. The people he needs to speak with know how to get him. SMS is not the future of Gen Y workers, but mobile is.

I’ll use Mark Cuban as another example, the seemingly rebel owner of the Dallas Mavericks and successful entrepreneur, and dub him the “most tech savvy CEO.” He has a very popular blog which routinely gets at least fifty comments per post. Anyone can email ideas or suggestions to him from the blog. You can find him on Facebook, MySpace and I’m sure countless other social networks. The point is that if you really know him or he wants you to know him, then you will have another way to touch base with him outside of email.

My Blackberry provides you the opportunity to touch base with me via AIM, Yahoo, Google Talk, SMS, MMS or email; and if you have my Blackberry PIN, you can get me on Blackberry Messenger too. And after reading all of those, there are still methods that I’m not using where business is being conducted. I don’t actively use Second Life or WOW, but I know people who would never have otherwise worked together are so now because of their common interest in MMORPGs. All of these niche worlds create new places for people to meet and congregate. Content delivery and quality are being reconstructed to be more efficient and effective in mobile delivery. Intel is about to release a chip that will power a laptop the size of a PSP because some people just need a laptop to run applications not a full blown system. I travel often and don’t need a laptop with huge amounts of storage and/or a DVD player. For around $200, I can buy a 250GB USB hard drive no larger than a Passport and a program that will store and play presentations/movies/games/pictures/etc. I can put the new laptop and hard drive into my jacket pocket…the cell phone into my pants pocket. The point of bringing up the laptop is to illustrate another incentive for content providers to rethink the quality of delivery.

Working in business development, I routinely call media directors, planners and buyers at advertising agencies. Everyone wants a piece of their time. Everyone has something new to show them. The bottom line is that they’re not going to put your idea in front of their client unless it’s A) a better way to do something they already use, B) a game changer that they can’t miss out on or C) they trust you. “C” is the most important because the other two are least likely. They don’t check voicemail at all because they know that, unless they’re waiting to hear back on something specific, it’s probably not anything important. If I want to get in touch with some of the decision makers, I know to try them via SMS, IM or BB Messenger. I even have two senior level ad execs that prefer I get them on Facebook because it doesn’t get flooded with random emails and newsletters…they control their environment. Last week, I had a conversation via SMS with a WPP exec that was attending an AAAA Conference in Orlando. His voicemail, in NYC, said he would be out all week not returning phone calls.

One of the many things my father taught me about running a successful business is that you must change to stay ahead of the curve. In his case, it was all about using new technologies to reinvigorate an old industry…tying things no one else was willing to try.

In recruiting Gen Y and eventually letting them run organizations, people don’t have to become experts on every form of communication or shift entire groups around those methods; but it’s important to be knowledgeable of those forms, and, if needed, hire experts to educate you on them. If you’re older than Gen Y, don’t be scared…reach out and/or listen. If you’re in Gen Y, as I am, be cognoscente of the fact that you will need to grace the presence of the next generation repeating the cycle of older generations today.

Mar11

Jordan Clock Tower Commercial – Become Legendary

Posted at 10:22 PM • View Comments

I was a huge Michael Jordan fan when I was young. I used to try, notice the italics, to imitate him as a kid. I watched the training videos, read the Bios and scraped together what I could on the young Internet. Jordan and Nike have always put together wonderful commercials. They have been consistent in understanding the amateur athlete and showing that they understand via their various branding initiatives. Phil Knight started making running shoes on the back of a pickup truck, and then he gave universities (see Oregon) free stuff if they used it in public and somehow he managed to maintain that image with the largest sports clothier in the world.

Commercials like this give me chills…because whether you’re playing now, have played or are going to play…we all compete. Chris Paul of the New Orleans Hornets make an appearance. Think the NBA loves this guy? Amazing fundamentally, off-the-radar in a star-studded NBA West, in a Cinderella town…potential to be Legendary. Recognize some of the others…Boise State and Appalachian State playing late.

Mar10

Eleanor Roosevelt Wouldn’t Like Starbucks

Posted at 1:43 AM • View Comments

Earlier this year, Howard Schultz decided to return to his vision at Starbucks (SBUX), and everyone is anxious to see if he can turn around the coffee bean behemoth. Hopefully, he can “pull a Steve Jobs.” About a year ago, I gave my McStarbucks theory about Starbucks starting to serve breakfast. Two months ago they began serving $1 cups of coffee and free refills. This latest strategy is furthering of my McStarbucks theory, and it isn’t what the original vision of Starbucks was intended to be.

I should note that I worked for six months at a Starbucks in New Orleans. I wanted to work there. I had become an evangelist for their brand. It had nothing to do with the coffee. It was the atmosphere and the ambiance associated with it. Based purely on flavor, I could name two places in New Orleans that were better for coffee. New Orleans and Austin, Texas were two markets Starbucks went into carefully because of the loyalists’ attitude each city has for its coffees.

Back to McStarbucks, they are offering $1 cup of coffee and breakfast to compete with McDonald’s. The problem is people don’t go to Starbucks for $1 cups of coffee. They go for the $4 cup of coffee, the atmosphere, the passion of the staff and the free refill you can get if you know the secret way to ask. So, one answer to getting that share price up again has nothing to do with $1 coffee. In fact, I can see it hurting before it helps. They don’t need to ward off their most passionate users. They’ve already started doing it. It just hit me the other day that they’re beginning to push me away. Starbucks is now like an insecure woman, and it’s starting to turn me off. Starbucks can be an insecure man too, but I only date women.

Starbucks has become that needy date. I remember when I was fully single, and I’d be out with friends in one of the same five bars around Atlanta on a Friday night. There was always this one girl who just tried too hard to be available. She was usually cute enough and a great disposition, but she was trying to please everyone. I guess it’s sick or just human nature, but it’s a turn off. For me, I needed the girls I dated to challenge me a bit. By challenge, I don’t mean hostile or playing games. I mean willing to go through the process of getting to know someone…not just being attractive and becoming a ‘yes’ person. It was like everything I talked to her about she seemed to have an answer for or was willing to do. The bottom line is it was too easy, and I had no interest. If I’d wanted to do so, I know what I could’ve done. I don’t know what the female equivalent is, but I’m quite certain there is one.

I’ve often told others that Starbucks creates their most passionate users with the partners they hire. Because even I after I left, I continued to push their products because I’d learned about the culture. I’ve even defended them on occasion. I take pride in knowing about the ideals behind Starbucks. This is starting to leave me. Recently, I moved into a ‘live, work and play’ condo development that has a Starbucks 100 yards from my door. It’s pure evil. The past few trips I’ve made to get coffee have taken me five miles outside of my complex to a Caribou (CBOU) or this great little Atlanta shop called Octane. And along the way, there are 3 other Starbucks before I get to either alternative. I have 4 Starbucks within two square miles of me! It’s too much! Please, stop; leave me alone for a minute. Go talk that other guy’s ear off!! Get the point? I’m not sure she ever did.

I do think Caribou and Octane have better coffee than Starbucks, but I used to bypass them most of the time for the atmosphere. Now, I’m literally driving out of my way to get other coffees. Starbucks has made itself too available to me. Atlanta is about to jump to the number seven market in the country, so it demands many Starbucks, but it’s not NYC or Chicago yet. I don’t need two within 500 feet of each other. Starbucks needs to create that passion, want and mystery again. Whenever I go clubbing in Los Angeles, I always have to wait in a line for at least thirty minutes. When I get inside a place, they are never all that special; but I picked it based on the line. They keep that line outside to capture the bewilderment of the crowds, so everyone is trying to figure out what is the hot place for the night. Starbucks needs to get that back because they’re in danger of becoming just another fast food option.

Make me search for you a bit. I keep thinking that you’ll be at my beckon call when I need you. I’ve begun to take you for granted. Go away for a bit…let me miss you. Eleanor Roosevelt must have been a secure woman as she has famously stated, “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.” FDR was a lucky man!

Mar6

Mentors…Brett Favre

Posted at 12:55 AM • View Comments

I tend to relate life through sports. I’ve been in some sort of organized sport since I was 5, so athletics have always proved good metaphors for me when I’m trying to bring things into perspective. They teach so many lessons that are transferable through life.

It doesn’t matter if your pinnacle was PE, little league, high school, college walk-on or the level of Brett Favre. Did you compete? We learn and adapt the most when we are pushed. It builds character that leads to courage which is an element of leadership.

One reason it is so easy to make metaphors from sports are that the results are relatively immediate. It’s black and white. There is no gray area. If the Green Bay Packers lose on Sunday, then I know where they stand that day; and how it affects the rest of the league, which is unlike everyday life where we may not know the results of our actions until weeks, months or even years later. Also, sports help relieve our pain. At the core, they’re just a game. After Katrina, people in New Orleans wanted high school football. After 9/11, people wanted the Mets versus the Yankees. This weekend at the Duke/UNC basketball game, there will be a moment of silence for Eve Carson. One of Brett Favre’s best games was played on a Monday Night after his father died…sometimes we need that break. The most important factor is that fans are emotionally attached to players, teams and/or cities. In America, it’s a fun passion where 50% of the crowd always gets along. Sporting events are like a hurricane of emotion. They don’t discriminate. They create strong response. They make people anxious. They bring people together.

Even if you’re not an NFL fan, I highly suggest you find a clip of Brett Favre’s announcement on YouTube or ESPN. Today, many complain that pro athletes have forgotten from where they came. Brett has not. He commented that his teammates are the reason for his accomplishments and that his position demands the limelight not him. This is something that many seem to forget. He genuinely cares about people. I see it in his eyes and hear it in his words. He is an unselfish man. If he were selfish, then he would just play the three hours each Sunday and not put in the prep time. He said that he no longer had the energy required to put in more than those three hours per week. The amount of time spent prepping for one football game versus any other sport I’ve played is ridiculous. It’s a job 6 days a week for 1 day of fun, and Brett loved that formula for over 20 years.

I use guys like Favre as a metaphor for my life. I may not be a pro athlete or have my life filmed (that could be scary-funny), but I’m doing the best I can with the path I’ve created. I always want to surround myself with people who can make me better and find ways to help propel them. Favre thanked God, as many do, for the gifts he has. I don’t really care who Favre worships. The important thing to me is that he acknowledges that there is something bigger than him. That’s important. It keeps him grounded and well-rounded. In my eyes, I could meet him for a drink and never speak a lick about football because he’s diverse.

Brett knows two ways to life…all-the-way or no-way. The only three things really matter at the end of the day, the season or life are the quality of relationships with family/friends you have, the investments you made in the people you mentored and did you do everything within your power to put yourself in the best position to be successful?