Meaningless Connections Adding Value

Aw yeah, friends! This is Some Fantastic's 50th post!

*cue streamers and pinata*

Anyhoo, on to the good stuff...

I stole this from Liz Strauss. I surprisingly scored higher than she did. Wierd, eh?

53%

This quiz was provided by - Search & Social - Media Experts

It's true. I'm starting to think of twitter as a place. I'm pretty sure that's not healthy.

Speaking of twitter, a few days ago I noticed Matthew Good was on twitter and facebook. I've been a fan for years, so I automatically clicked "follow" and carried on going about my business on the internets.

I knew I'd never send him an @ message, or write on his wall, or anything like that. But it felt neat that I had the ability to form a connection with an artist that had previously completely unattainable.

To my surprise, he had actually added me back on both channels.

I know I'm only one of hundreds of followers and thousands of facebook pals, but I felt appreciated. I felt valued as a fan.

I thought about how some people (including my former self) don't subscribe to the value of facebook or twitter as they are "synthetic" connections.

Maybe social media connections are meaningless, but that doesn't mean that a small gesture like clicking that "follow" button doesn't make a difference to someone.

Blargh, I wish that came out more concise. But it didn't. You get the idea, I hope.

Black Friday And Buy Nothing

Someone died today because of senseless, empty consumerism. Think about that.

Someone died.

And you know something? I'm tired of being told that I need to "get in the spirit of the holiday".

What does that even mean? Buying something for everyone in your life (no matter if you like them or not), because you are obligated to? Not because you want to, because really you can do that all year, I certainly don't think you need an invitation to show you care, it's only because you feel like you have too. Something about the smell of mint and pine makes us feel like we have to buy things.

Is that what that poor walmart employee gave his life for?

How tragic.

Oddly enough, today is also Buy Nothing Day. A "holiday" celebrated by literally buying nothing. A counter-statement to the huge amount of unnecessary consumerism in our daily lives.

Okay, okay, so I rented a movie today, but that hardly counts.

That was a little ranty, but who cares? Apparently it doesn't matter what you say, as long as your saying something.

I liked that post.

Yikes

My computer is currently running Vista. I have to say, from my previous experiences with the system, I'm more than a little concerned about it randomly pooping out on me.

Apparently Vista agrees with me...

O.o

This tiny post-ette was brought to you by: Owlex's photo adventure. Which took quite some time to load up onto my journal, so I thought I'd post a link to it here.

Aw Yeah, Free Stuff!

I rarely hang my hat at Starbucks, but I happened to be there the week before last getting my fix of vanilla steamed soy milk, when something caught my eye...

(I don't drink coffee, Earl Grey is as strong as it gets for me)

I noticed that Starbucks seems to be giving away a free song on itunes. Every Tuesday, a different song.

I thought this was rather brilliant. It's good for itunes, good for starbucks, good for the artist, and good for me! Smiles all around.

I haven't heard of any of the musicians, and even though I've downloaded three of them, I haven't even listened to them yet.

But hey, I like free stuff.

I know where I'm getting my steamed soymilk next Tuesday.

YES YOU CAN Own A Piece of History...

This maybe the most rediculous product I have seen in a while. Well, outside of that porn shop in London. But that was a different story all together.

This "Obama Victory Plate" comes with everything you could every want including: A certificate of authenticity, A handy plastic display stand, AND bonus COIN with Obama's face on it. All for the low price of $19.95

Who would possibly want this? Personally, I think the best souviner of Obama's historic presidency will be a new progressive America, but what is good is that when you could eat off the president-elects' face?

These commercials have been mocked by everyone who is even a passing CNN viewer. And I have had many conversations about the plates.

So many so, that it got me thinking.

What if it was thier intention to make an Obama product that was so dumb, people would buy it for just that reason. And the people that DID take it seriously (lots of people collect spoons, why not plates?) would also call in to get one.

Maybe, maybe not. But it sure would be brilliant if that was the idea behind these terrible ads.

Now, do YOU want to own a piece of history?



Oh that bright smile, and cunning eyes...

Marketing 101 or 2.0?

A few days ago I was having dinner with a friend. She pulled out some lip gloss out of her purse. And the conversation went as follows.

friend one: Is that the stuff that was on America's next top model?

friend two: Covergirl Wetslicks? Yeah, I saw that and I thought I'd try it. It's got colgate in it or something so it feels like toothpaste.

friend one: Hmm, I'll have to look at that...

I found this fascinating. I like to think if your advertising is so transparant that anyone can tell exactly how you are trying to get thier money, not one person is going to give it you.

I mean, really. Sponsoring America's Next Top Model so that you are mentioned in every single episode for eleven seasons, now that is so transparant it's shameless. No one is going to buy into that, right?

Apparently not.

Not only will they buy into it, they'll tell their friends and create some good word-of-mouth for you.

This is all marketing 101. But that is what I find so interesting about it. I've purposely stayed away from studying tried-and-true methods, as it is clear that they aren't working as well as they used to. But evidently some of them still do.

Hmm...

Forcing My Attention

Ah, it's good to be back.

So I'm sitting at home, a little bored, so I decide to visit my local video store and rent Dexter. I had to start at season 2 because all of season one seemed to be rented.

So I pop it into my PS3, and I seem to be presented with an advertisement that not only cannot be skipped, but also cannot even be fastforwarded through.

Ugh.

If you find yourself forcing your message onto your consumer, maybe it's time to rethink your strategy.

How To Get Things Thrown At You

Last night I attended a local midnight showing of the new Bond flick, Quantum of Solace. Personally, I think Bond is fantastic, so I was more than willing to run on a few hours of sleep before work the next morning.

So I'm sitting in the theatre, 12:05 in the morning, waiting patiently for the movie to come on.

All of the sudden a guy in a bowler hat comes on the stage (yes, the theatre has a stage. It is bizarre) and proceeds to comedically re-cap the first movie, in a decidedly un-funny manner. The guy is blabbing on for ten minutes! I'm starting to get annoyed, but I don't think anything of it.

So then, he finishes up and proceeds to call up everyone in costume for a contest. Ugh. Some of the audience seemed into it, but the vast majority just wanted this guy to shut up and play the movie already.

A movie that some of them had lined up for hours to see AT MIDNIGHT. Midnight, does not mean 12:30. I'm sure many of them, like myself, had to work in the morning and seriously did not appreciate completely unnecessary delays.

Normally, I have nothing but praise for the rio. They have implemented some fantastic and interesting marketing techniques, and are doing well as a result. But this time they really got me peeved.

What they should have done was start the "comedy act" and contest at 11:30, so the packed theatre of people would have some form of entertainment while they wait, instead of cutting into when they should have been showing the film.

Why is this important?

Because your consumers time is the most precious thing you have. Don't waste it. Baad things will happen. Like angry blog entries. Just saying.

Why I Love Blogging

Blogs are absolutely fantastic. You want to know why?

This is why.

If you don't want to read it, that's fine. But you really should.

Dan Ariely discusses poor customer service he experienced with Time Warner. Three comments down, guess who replies? The "Director of Digital Communications at Time Warner Cable."

O.0

Would this have happened if it was published in magazine, or newspaper?

I doubt it.

Just something cool to think about.

Children and Chocolate

I know I said that I would post about chocolate and children. Which is a post that I'd been meaning to do since I started this blog four months ago. I really wanted to get to it because I think it is one of the most brilliant examples of buzzmarketing that I have ever seen.

So here it is:

Every young girl who grew up in the nineties will remember the Kitkat Bar clapping game. It consisted of a few simple clapping movements and a cute rhyme:

Give me a break, Give me a break,
Break me off a piece of that Kitkat Bar!

Chocolately taste going to make my day,
Everywhere I go I hear the people say:

Give me a break, Give me a break,
Break me off a piece of that, Break me off a piece of that,
Break me off a piece of that Kitkat Bar!

Well, that's the version that spread like wildfire through my elementary days. Apparently there are slight variations.

It was easy, it was fun, and most importantly, it got kitkat's target audience thinking about the brand passing along the game to everyone they knew.

So much so, that when I met someone who had no idea about the kitkat bar game, I had to teach it to them. I refused to accept the fact tht there was someone out there who actually did not know it.

Here let me see if I can find a video of someone doing it...



I didn't find out until years later that this actually came from one of the KitKat commercials. I think this is an important fact to take note of.

We had no idea why we were doing it, or where it came from. We were doing it because it was fun. We were doing it because it was cool.

Just another example of a simple lesson:

Give your consumer something worth interacting with, and they will.

When's It Our Turn?

America seems to be the only country in the world who is permanently stuck admist a federal election. Everyone is still all the buzz about Obama, and rumours have started flying about who will run in 2012.

Will this never end?

On that note. I want to talk about the election. This is the last Obama related post until the inauguration, cross my heart hope to die.

I was reading a post in Wil Wheaton's blog, where he talks about how he was discussing the election with friend. It's a great post, but here's the part that's important:

“I guess we’re supposed to be gracious in victory,” I said, “but I’m profoundly offended to hear ‘we need to look forward and not backward’ and ‘we need to stop being so partisan’ from the very same fucking motherfuckers who have been telling us that we hate our country and love terrorists for the last eight years? These are the same people who worked really hard to make sure that I and everyone who didn’t agree with their blind support of Bush and Bush policies didn’t feel welcome in our own fucking country for eight years!”

He's absolutely right. when republicans are hateful, they're patriotic. But when democrats are angry, they're hateful. o.O

One more thing.

I really hate to be one of those people that is constantly linking to other people's blogs, but this is the last time, I promise.

This is from Sasha Dichter's Blog:

rosa sat so
martin could walk so
barack could run so
our children could fly

Beautiful writing is often the simplest.

I've been meaning to get to a post about children and chocolate. Tomorrow for sure. Remind me, okay?

Baby's First Political Robocall

Approximately fifteen minutes ago, I had the privilage of such a unique experience, one that I had been waiting quite some time to recieve.

I just recieved my first political robocall.

Yupp, I was actually quite pleased to pick up the phone and hear "Hello, this is Gregor Robertson from Vision Vancouver..." blast through the reciever.

Well, I was very pleased until I let it play through, and quite frankly, it fell through.

There was no attacks on the other candidates, no slander, no outrageous accusations.

No fear mongering of any kind.

What it did give was a brief overview of the party platform, councillers that are also running from the party, and where to vote. Very informative, actually.

Informative, but boring. However, what can you expect from the guy behind Happy Planet?

I shouldn't have expected anything more than that. But after watching CNN for so long and hearing about all those McCain robocalls linking Obama to terrorism and all sorts of baseless nonsense, I guess I just wanted a little mudslinging. A little shameless attempt to scare me into voting for them.

They even had this thing at the end that said "Press one for your call to be directed to our office." I still use a rotary dial phone, so I couldn't do this. But I can't see the RNC ever picking that up.

So. Why does this matter?

This matters because I believe that robocalls, contrary to popular belief, are a good way to get your message out there. As long as you keep in mind a few things...

1) Make your message interesting. Tell a joke, tell a story. Be engaging. You have the full attention of your consumer right there, give them a reason to keep listening.

2) Have a line at the end that says, very clearly, "to not recieve these calls anymore, press one". Make it easy. No one wants to have to call some random number, and be on hold for twenty minutes, just so they don't get disturbed at home anymore.

3) Don't bash the other guy. Keep your message positive. People don't want to hear about what why they should be hating on someone else.

4) Don't make your phone calls run past five pm. I don't want to hear that I won a vacation to Cuba during LOST. Thank you very much.

The validity of Robocalls are certainly up in the air. Most consumers hang up as soon as they realise it is an automated message. But I really do think this is a viable method that has been given a bad rap because it has been largely poorly implemented in the past.

I think Robocalls could work and be effective, without damaging the integrity of your company.

Thank goodness this blog draws few readers, I think this could get controversial.

I adore comments, tell me what you think! Could robocalls ever be effective? Or should they all burn in hell? Is there a right way to do it?

Something Important

The thought of the day is:

People should not be afraid of thier governments, governments should be afraid of thier people.

Remember remember the fifth of November.

Generation WE

Generation WE is a great idea.It is a site that will allow "Millinnials" (those born between 1978 and 2000) to connect, share, develop, organize, and campaign.

Why is this important? We are ninety five million strong. We are now the largest demographic in the United States. The balance of power truly is in our hands.

Obama's victory was made possible due to a huge youth movement in his favour. This really was the first American election where youth were really motivated to get involved, to get organised, and to really make a difference. A great testament to the power of this movement.

Anyways, here's thier video.


Generation WE: The Movement Begins... from Generation We on Vimeo.

Democracy Prevails

Fuck me, friends, I am so happy.

What a historic moment. I am ecstatic to be alive right now. This is the moment I will be telling my grandchildren about. This is the day when America rised up out of rasicism, out of fear, out of doubt, to finally elect someone who can bring real change to Washington.

I believe in Obama. I believe he can take, not only the US, but the world out of these dark times, when it seems like we are heading towards disaster, when it seems like the worst days of our lives are ahead of us. I believe he can open the hearts and minds of Americans and move us towards a new era of progress.

You know, when I watched Obama's speech tonight, I had a few tears tug at my eyes. America has really dragged itself and the world through the meat grinder these past eight years. They plunged the world into another bloodbath, then pulled us all down into a recession with them.

I watched the election coverage four years ago. I was devastated when Kerry lost. Just devastated. After that, I lost all faith in democracy. All of my faith in the american political system was gone.

After that night, all republicans were evil, and no votes really mattered, because the republicans would just fudge them anyway. But this election has put my doubts to rest.

Tonight I believe in Democracy, I believe in Barack Obama, and I believe, for the first time in my life, in the judgement of the American people as a whole.

What a great night to be alive.

Christ, I am not thinking straight. I went to a really great Obama party tonight, and I am a little wasted as a write this. You could probably tell that much. Oh well, I don't care. I only have two readers.

I love you guys by the way.

This is the night where we pick ourselves up off the ground, and scream so everyone can here, despite all that has happened...

Yes we can.

Happy November Fourth everyone

Something Smells Like Politics...

Happy Election Eve, friends.

I debated wether or not I wanted to make this post about the US election. You know, one of those inspiring get-out-the-vote posts that makes you believe in Democracy again. However, I think I'll save it for tomorrow, because I am too pessimisstic for this world when it comes to American politics.

All I am going to say on the subject for today, is this. If you are an American citizen of voting age please please go and vote. Democracy is out most precious innovation.

Even that was more than I wanted to say. Instead of rambling any longer on this I think I'll direct you to my favourite election-eve post, from Wil Wheaton. Ah, trekkers. Don't you love em'?

Argh, you see I had something all planned out in my head that I wanted to write about, that wasn't election related, but after spending all so much time on my nano, I'm tired of typing.

And gosh that backspace is too darn far away.

I'll see you on the other side history, folks.

I Love The Whole World

This may just be the best commercial I have ever seen. Yeah, I know it's been out for awhile, but it's simply brilliant. It's work like this that truly inspires me to advance into marketing. It provides a breath of fresh air from the tired techniques of the traditional mass driven advertising, and really shows off everything that is great about the field.

Anyways, this is the Canadian version of the ad. Enjoy!

Comment Awaiting Moderation

Occaisionally I come across a blog entry that I feel compelled to comment on. Now, I always put a lot more thought into my comments on other people's blogs, than I do writing my own, so sometimes it takes me awhile.

And you know what? It irks me more when I take the time to write out a comment (especially on blogs that seem to have few of them) and I see the words "Comment Awaiting Moderation." pop up on the screen.

What?

Why would you go on the assumption that my comment isn't up to your standards, instead of going back later and deleting comments where it is needed?

It's counterproductive and insulting to the medium of blogging.

Just my two cents.