Social Media | Christien Louviere

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Mar16

How to Turn Nike Shox Into Manolos

Posted at 10:05 AM • View Comments

The response to my Nike Shox Wedding Contest and your chance to win $50 has been pretty impressive so far.

The Back-story…

About 6 months ago while discussing wedding plans with my fiancée, I tried to convince her that my groomsmen and I should be able to wear customized Nike Shox as our shoes for the wedding. Somewhat of a debate ensued.

“It will look horrible!” she playfully exclaimed.
“Jerry Seinfeld did it!” I anxiously responded.
“You’re not him!” she responded as if she were my mother.
“I’ll make sure all the Shox match the vests.”
“No, it the worst idea ever!” she exclaimed in her customary, enthusiastic and playful 5-year old like pitch.

At that point, I proceeded to work on her friends, thinking that she might seriously consider it if it had some strong XX chromosome backing. Outside of one that works for an ad agency, the idea never picked up steam; but I did manage to help the girls burn off lots of calories through laughing.

Fast Forward…

Two weekends ago, my fiancée informed me that she had spent $300 on her wedding shoes.

And of course, being made up of XX chromosomes, she can’t help but brag about the “deal” she received, especially since the deal is related to shoes. This price phenomenon is one of those female conversation starters that I’ve never quite figured out, and I consider my female knowledge slightly above average. Anyway, she saved some $600 on the “Something Blue” Manolo Blahniks that Carrie Bradshaw wears in the Sex and the City Movie. If I was a girl, I would have jumped up, hugged her, hit her with a pillow, kissed her and then started to…well, you know all that stuff that Cinemax says that women do when men aren’t around. Unfortunately for both of us, the conversation took more of a logical approach.

“Wait! You get to wear blue shoes with your white (ivory) dress, but I can’t wear my NikeID Shox?” I asked with sarcastic inquiry.
“But, baby,” she said pleadingly. “They’ll look terrible; and besides, no one will be able to see my shoes,” she said hesitantly as if she knew what my next move was.
“Then, whyyyyyy are we spending $300 on shoes that no one will see?” I responded in typical guy fashion I assume.
I then heard a voice from above whisper to me, “Well played sir.”

I’m not really sure what happened next because I think I mentally blacked out from my strategically placed response; but when I regained consciousness she was telling me about something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. The part about blue sounded made-up to me, but I didn’t care because she informed me that if I wanted to wear Nike Shox to the reception only then I could do so. Victory!! A series of questions ensued with the only stipulation being that she gets the final say-so.

The Result

After I declared victory, I told her that I would put my social media skills to the test to help choose the colors of my new shoes; thus, we now we have the Nike Shox Wedding Contest. The goals of the contest are simply to illustrate how the various aspects of social media can be used to create a successful marketing campaign, show how easy it can be to create personal involvement in a brand movement, get people to use their creative talents and for me (and the groomsmen) to be comfortable on my wedding day.

Within 24 hours, I had hits on my site from over 10 countries and a few from Nike’s corporate headquarters. The contest has a little over 2 weeks to go and there have already been 16 submissions. So far, I like what I see, but I’d like to see some more questions to make the shoes as personal as possible. I can’t wait to see what other submissions come forth.

Fine Print: Nike is not officially involved with this contest other than they’ve done their part to keep me as a customer for throughout my entire athletic career. My fiancee is just simply awesome for letting me do this.

Oct28

Facebook Is Dead..Now What?

Posted at 6:05 PM • View Comments

Over a year ago, my friend Darren Herman wrote a post about the social networks Facebook and LinkedIn colliding. I saw this happening on a small scale at the time but not on the major scale it is now. I now have clients, MBA classmates, colleagues, friends, family, Michael Phelps, dogs, cats, etc. all in one place! This is NOT why I signed up for Facebook! I signed up because I wanted to have easier access to my family as well as friends of past and present. Also, when I was single, I could see if that girl I just met was crazy or not. Anyway, like Darren, I wanted a place that I could keep in touch with real people or friends that I’ve actually met.

I have another acquaintance Ryan Coleman, a successful entrepreneur, that runs NextForce and argues (in short) that it shouldn’t matter what picture, videos, etc. are on your site because if your culture lines up with a prospective employer’s culture, then it’s all “gravy.” I agree and disagree with him, and this is where my aggravation with Facebook comes into play.

Gen-Y understands Facebook…the new business networkers (largely Gen-X and beyond) do not understand it beyond having an electronic organizer. I can tell they don’t get it because they have no picture or one, most likely from their company website, and then there is nothing else on their Facebook page. People are becoming scared to put things up about themselves. I have friends looking for jobs that feel the need to take down their walls, delist their relationship status and disassociate themselves with groups their passionate about. I don’t blame them. I would do the same…now.

Facebook is about to become LinkedIn Part 2. It’s going to become a contact tool instead of a place to share things. Facebook isn’t going to be the only one dying off. This cycle will repeat until a solution is found. Maybe an invite-only Ning is the way to go or the ever-elusive ASW. Maybe Web 3.0 is all about tagging people as entities or degrees of separation. i.e. Darren Herman (email, facebook, linkedin, mobile, AIM, in-person) or Ryan Coleman (email, facebook, mobile).

Gen-Y is still another 10 years from being the majority in hiring roles. Until then, I can’t fully buy into Ryan’s way of thinking.

BTW, ONLY add me to Facebook here if you meet any of the following criteria:

1)    I have no idea who you are.
2)    You have 1 or 0 pictures of yourself up.
3)    You are reading my blog for the first time.

Jun4

Real Men Suit Up For Success

Posted at 3:35 PM • View Comments

I love the scene below from Boiler Room (viewer discretion advised) in which Ben Affleck delivers his “Act As If…” speech. The point is that if you’re going to sell, then you have to look the part. It doesn’t matter if you’re in sales or not, you need to dress for the position you want because you’re always selling yourself. The position you want may not even be with your current company; but you need to always look good because you never know who is looking at you.

Unlike the boys hustling shares of stock, we’re not all pulling down $25K per month; so lining our closets with the latest trends seen in Men’s Health or Playboy is not an option. Here are 5 ways to cut some corners with suits and still look good:

1) Suits

Buy the inexpensive styles of the suits you saw in the magazines. Jos. A. Bank and Men’s Wearhouse are constantly having sales on decent quality suits. Pick a store and find a dynamic contemporary pattern you feel comfortable with. Dillard’s and Macy’s always have sales too, but getting a good opinion or measurements from a general department store salesman can be hit or miss.

On style, feel free to venture from the typical browns and blacks as just a subtle charcoal pinstripe or a something cooler for the summer months such as a taupe are fetching. Go with the 3-button suits as they are seen as more stylish.

Also, when shopping for a suit, you will need a second set of eyes because the colors will all begin to bleed together. I suggest bringing a girlfriend (platonic or otherwise) or a gay male friend. If you have a friend that still wears Croakies around his sunglasses for any activity aside from boating, do not bring him!

2) Dress Shirts

If you’re on a budget, then your shirts are the most important aspect of your wardrobe. This is where you get a chance to create your own sense of style. This doesn’t mean buying a Polo dress shirt from a department store. It means looking to some high quality designers and custom clothiers. Spend the $125 required on a high quality dress shirt. You need at least three. Find your style with the likes of Thomas Pink, Paul Smith or Ted Baker to name a few. They can be found online or at your local haberdashery. Never doubt the power of a custom shirt. Check out a company such as Tom James that has been manufacturing custom made shirts for years. It’s big boy time, so only get French cuffs. It takes us approximately 45 minutes less than the average woman to get dressed in the morning, take the extra 90 seconds to put cuff links into your shirts.

3) Cuff Links

Again, you have a chance to exhibit your own style without having to dye your hair or install permanent ink onto visible areas of your body. For the most part, cuff links can be anything you choose. My only rule of thumb is to make sure the metal (usually gold or silver) matches your belt buckle (and watch if you wear one). I can go into any haberdashery and find hundreds of cuff links that will match my shirts and ties. Unless you are close with your client or work in familiar office space, I would stick with a more conservative design during the day. Night time is the time to break out the spinning roulette wheels.

4) Sport Coats

The sport coat is great because there is almost no wrong answer. They are versatile in that one or two coats can pair with many combinations of dress pants or nice jeans. I wouldn’t go nuts like TNT’s Craig Saeger, but you should definitely feel free to express yourself some here.

5) Rule on Blue

I can’t stress this enough. If you were blue slacks or have a blue suit, you need to wear brown NOT black shoes. Unless you are in the United States Marine Corp, there are no exceptions to this rule. Ok, there really are, but to be safe please use brown. If nothing else, the ladies will definitely notice your dress savvy.

Bottom Line

Perception is reality. Dress how you want to be perceived.

Apr7

Size Matters!

Posted at 10:52 PM • View Comments

Recently, I’ve had a few conversations about emerging media and technology with corporate marketing heads. For many companies, they are just now thinking about or starting emerging media departments. One of the common themes that quickly come up is my view on the upcoming generations and the role mobile will play. I’m quick to bring up two points in each conversation.

One, as Cyriac Roeding pointed out earlier this year, the content has got to be redesigned for mobile applications. Companies can’t afford to simply re-purpose online content and then redistribute it amongst cell phones. Too many companies are doing this, and it’s a waste of time. This is discussion for another post though.

The second point I bring up is that companies must start looking past cell phones and iPods. People, especially Gen-Y and early adopters, are about to take their living rooms with them. Recently, I’ve seen Intel ads for a new processor scattered amongst technology sites and LinkedIn. Intel is working on a chip that powers nothing more than a simple computer….no big hard drive, no DVD player, etc. They are designing chips for laptops that won’t be much bigger than a PSP. Need space? Today, you can grab a 250+GB hard drive the size of passport for under $200. My future laptop need be nothing more than a screen, keyboard and USB port. Check out these pictures of the future Lenovo line courtesy of John Bancroft.

Here’s an Intel Netbook via Engadget.

My life would be so easy if I could put everything I need in my jacket pocket. The future of music will be streamed not downloaded. I already mentioned my 250GB USB drive. With the power of Google, new frontiers in social media and the upcoming breakout of Web 3.0, I may not even need that large hard drive except for backup purposes. I could be streaming my life to that little device.

Obviously, the emergence of these devices will help define the direction of mobile advertising. But, how fast will companies digest these new processes? They have to think past the mobile phone with SMS. Companies need to start having more conversations with their consumers. This is one area where I see Twitter becoming so powerful. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but GM is already starting to take the lead on Twitter. I’m glad but surprised. They’re having active conversations with their customers. Now, will they truly hear them?

I wish I’d been born in my 8 year-old Godson’s generation (no official title given yet) because by the time he’s college, he may not have to carry anything more than some sort of laptop and Kindle combination.

Apr2

10 Social Networking Trends

Posted at 4:07 PM • View Comments

Aki Spicer, from Fallon, has a wonderful slideshow about the 10 Social Networking Trends. Here are the 10 topics it covers:

1 Social graphs
2 Social shopping
3 Portability
4 Lifestreaming
5 Crowdsourcing
6 Continuous partial attention
7 Privacy protection
8 Open social
9 Virtuality
10 Measurement 2.0

The best part is his insight into the virtual worlds that will be demanded by today’s youth. And if you get nothing else from it, his best point was that the good and bad of Social Networking is that no one has figured anything out yet!

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

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.

Apr22

Praise Inflation

Posted at 5:10 PM • View Comments

I can’t take credit for coining the term praise inflation
seen in the title. The credit goes to Mr. Jeffrey Zaslow of the
WSJ. Having said that, I did pick up (AKA click to) the article read it
and ‘borrow’ the title…so can I please have my damn cookie now? I’ll be
out to lunch in a few hours…can you please make sure there is an applause
note from my celebration assistant on my desk? Please don’t ruin my day
by disappointing me because I’m having dinner with my uber-attractive
girlfriend tonight on my ego-lifting dinnerware.

No, I’m not this much of an ass…or maybe I am? I am from the same
generation the article titled, “The Most-Praised Generation Goes to
Work,” mentions. Twentysomethings are now coming into their own in
the workforce. Some right out of college, some seemingly hot shot
MBAs…they expect praise for everything they’ve done. I’ve mentioned
several times in the past about crippling people with such low standards of
achievement. Employers and professors are finding it necessary to
compliment every little thing that students/young workers are doing today for
fear that they might damage their already fragile ego. According to
Zaslow, major corporations, like Bank of America, are hiring consultants to
teach older managers how to deal with the sensitive younger crowd.
Or for instance, the Scooter Store and Container Store:

“The 1,000-employee Scooter Store Inc., a power-wheelchair and scooter
firm in New Braunfels, Texas, has a staff “celebrations assistant”
whose job it is to throw confetti — 25 pounds a week — at employees. She also
passes out 100 to 500 celebratory helium balloons a week. The Container Store
Inc. estimates that one of its 4,000 employees receives praise every 20
seconds, through such efforts as its “Celebration Voice Mailboxes.”
Those two examples are so ridiculous that I couldn’t’ paraphrase it. My
initial thought was, “You must be kidding me!!” However after
thinking about it, like the kids coached by Dr. Phil, I’m going to blame the
parents. I really want to blame my peers believe me, but everything is
usually someone else’s fault (insert sarcasm).

When I think about it, I’m not really surprised. We have completely
coddled our youth. The pattern is evident. (Here comes sports analogies.) When my dad was in high
school in the 60′s, they got a trophy in basketball for championships
only…there was no second place trophy. When I was young (in the 80′s) playing
soccer/basketball, everyone received a trophy. In tournaments,
medals were awarded to 1st/2nd place teams. Now, my godson (7) plays
baseball in a league in which everyone gets to bat once regardless of the
number of outs. The poor kids must be sorely confused when they watch the
games on TV; and they must be even more upset when they realize how wrong they
were about the rules of the game and require a hug to get over their initial
shock.

Seriously, a basic human need exists for encouragement, but it should be used as
a way to increase drive therefore increasing self-worth/confidence.
Instead, we have turned encouragement into a crutch that is required for
someone to function on a daily basis. It’s almost impossible for me to
blame my generation though because the majority has been raised so weak that as
soon as something doesn’t go their way, they fold up like a cell phone.
The strength of character is extremely low. It’s so blatantly obvious
today. I don’t watch American Idol, but Simon Cower from the show is the
perfect example. I’ve never understood why everyone hates him. He
tells it like it is and people simply can’t handle it. They cry on
stage. My job requires me to do many presentations. When my
President has the time to come with me, I invite him to accompany me. He
would come anyway, but I’m proactive in my approach because I want to improve
based on actual merit and not fluffy compliments. As soon as we get out
of a presentation, I immediately inquire as to what areas I need to improve on
and how to do it. The man has twenty years on me…the best thing I can
possibly do is listen. I’m no saint, but one thing I realized (too late
as most of us do) is that the best thing I can do is listen. I realized
this in my early twenties, and I truly believe it’s contributed to my
success. I’ve proven to myself because as I’ve gotten older I’ve had to
work harder to listen and noticed that when I don’t tasks can be harder to
accomplish. I’m no one to talk about being sensitive. Anyone that
knows me, probably is aware that I can be quick to get down on myself if I hear
something negative and sometimes I will ‘fish’ to get myself back up.
It’s important to realize it and take control of it. If I got down on
myself every time I didn’t get praise for something, then I’d literally be
checked into a clinic on medication right now. People now want credit for
things they’re supposed to do. Chris Rock said it best, “I take care
of my kids! Hey, Dummy!. You’re supposed to take care of your kids!”
I never been to jail! So what do you want? A cookie!!”

This really scares me because I do plan to run my own company one day, and I
will be in charge of these so-called men and women. I don’t think I will
be good at this coddling thing, but I need to be because most don’t know any
better. And maybe I won’t get the smartest cookies in the jar, but
honestly I’d rather have the average guy/girl with a heart and character.

I truly believe it all goes back to the parents where your foundation is
laid. It doesn’t have anything to do with video games, music or
movies. It has to do with the people you surround yourself with on a
daily basis…your parents are the first ones you’re surrounded with. Of
course, I’ll have a chance to walk the walk when I have kids of my own. I
can only hope and pray that there is someone around to pat my back each time I
tell my kids how godlike they are.

Christien Louviere

Taste of Sales 2.0 w/ a Touch of Gen-Y

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