DISCLAIMER: I do NOT want to get involved in a political debate and I am making NO statement about any of these candidates. I just want to know what people think of this ad by Carly Fiorina for Senate. Is this the most bizarre campaign ad you’ve ever seen or did I eat some bad shellfish?

Zombie Wolf in Sheep\’s Clothing

I think I’m going to do a series on blogs I like. Some of them might not seem like they have much to do with media or advertising at first glance, but stick with me. I promise they’ll be relevant.

For Part I in this series of Blogs I Like, I’m going to start with Put This On. Their tagline, “How to dress like a grownup,” pretty well says it all. This is a style blog aimed at men, and probably most resonant with guys in the business world who want to look professional, polished, and modern, without looking like a) their dads, b) Steve Urkel, or c) douchebags. It’s a fine line.

Not Good

Good

Obviously it’s a good idea to dress well if you are attempting to make a business deal or get a job or impress people in any way. But it is also a good idea to keep things simple and classy, which is where Put This On comes in. In addition to giving sound style advice (and trust me, gentlemen, I am a GIRL and, as such, I am fully qualified to expound on what looks good on guys), the blog promotes smaller clothiers, vintage shops, and other style blogs. They are also working on videos about specific style subjects, though to date they have only completed one (with excellent production values–Denim).  The thing I really like about this blog is that they practice what they preach–they keep the aesthetics of their site clean, polished, and classy, while providing exceptional content.

And NOW we get to my point about this site. Quality content, sound advice, beautiful aesthetics, and generous cross-promotion. This is the model all websites should adopt. Take heed, media folk. Take heed, and Put This On.

In case you missed it the Grammys were on CBS last night. I say in case because not many people missed them, the ratings were up 33%… I was part of that 33%.

My wife and I weren’t going to watch the Grammys, neither of us ever have. In general we are not huge fans of award shows and our dial rarely ever goes below Channel 4.  However last night something happened. As we were on twitter and Facebook we took notice of all the post’s talking about how crazy this Gaga person looked. Other posts were highlighting how amazing the Black Eyed Peas did, and still others that poked fun at every opportunity.  It was at that moment we realized we had a choice watch the Grammys or find ourselves irrelevant.

Last night CBS added eyes via Social media are you?

CBS is beginning to head down an interesting path in its ad placement for the SuperBowl. They have turned down two “gay-themed” ads so far: one is from male-male oriented dating site ManCrunch.com and the other is from web-hosting service GoDaddy.com. The ManCrunch ad shows two men watching a football game (presumably the SuperBowl) and munching chips. Their hands touch as they both reach for a crisp, and suddenly they can’t hold back any longer–they smooch! The GoDaddy ad is more surprising…it does feature a flamboyant ex-football star, but it also features women in lingerie. Doesn’t that usually get any and all content a free pass? (It does for American Apparel)

In any case, both ads were rejected on the grounds that they don’t meet CBS’s content standards for the SuperBowl and they might offend people. For ManCrunch, the broadcasting company went one further and claimed that they couldn’t verify the firm’s credit (the rejection letter is up on Scribd as well as being reproduced on the Mashable article). However, it DOES look like they’re going to air the Tim Tebow pro-life ad, which is guaranteed to offend at least some people…which people is it okay to offend, and which have to be kept happy? CBS is sending a pretty clear message about what audience bracket they value, which is fine–First Amendment and all that. But still, what about all the gay-friendly sports fans? Seems like a bit of a business mistake to alienate such a vocal consumer group…

Thoughts?

A few days ago it was reported by numerous news outlets that a NJ based PetsMart location had fired an employee for “bringing his dog to work.” The story is a bit convoluted, but it goes something like this. The employee normally worked the day shift and as a favor to a manager, agreed to take on a night shift due to a staffing issue at that specific locale. In doing so, he on his own accord decided that he would bring his dog into PetsMart and leave it in the “Doggie Daycare facility for the evening checking in on it every so often.” A relatively non issue in that it is PetSmart and PetSmart has an open door policy to pets. Plus, remember the store was closed and no customers and very few employees were even there. The night shift seemingly went off with out a hitch, yet a few days later, the employee was called into management’s office and officially terminated under the guise of “theft of services.”

Now the first question that comes to mind is how does “bringing your dog to work” amount to a “theft of services.” That question was immediately posed by the terminated employee. And of course the corporate conglomerate not wanting to cow tow to pressure from a terminated employee’s questioning of their ridiculous actions justified the decision by stating:

“the doggie daycare service is a huge part of PetSmart’s business. Access to the store’s doggie daycare facility is ‘viewed as sale items the same way items on the shelf are. To use the facilities and not pay for it — it falls under the same lines,’” said PetSmart spokeswoman Jessica White.

Now this is where brands need to understand how the social space works. The social world does not stop and continue to go about one’s day just because a corporate “edict” goes out from the C-Suite. No one really cares if this was said by the CEO and treated as the 11th commandment within the confines of the company compound or even only happened in an isolated store in the bowels of NJ. The point is that consumer expectations around the brand have been breached and people have the power and means to voice their displeasure via social technologies like no tomorrow. And this is exactly what happened in this case.

On PetSmart Official Face book page over the course of the last 24 hours, their core fan base of 15,000+ have really stepped up and made their feelings heard. Sentiments of disappointment to outright treason are running rampant across the social sphere, so much so that it has forced PetSmart to issue an official statement and apologize for their lack of judgment. Too little too late IMO, but to date this is the only saving grace in this entire situation:

“We feel badly this happened and has upset so many people. We simply messed up. We didn’t handle it the way we should have, and we’re very sorry about it. Unfortunately, before we made things right with this associate, the damage was done. We’ve certainly learned from it. We still think PetSmart’s a great place to work …and we’re using this experience to make us better. We hope you’ll understand. -Jessica”

What this means is that brands need to rapidly understand that the experience they share with the consumer does not stop at 5pm; people could care less about who or what level made a specific decision and only care that it was a “Branded Decision” and see it accordingly.

And lastly, if people are only thinking that us social media freaks aren’t seeing this as what it is - business - period - think again! While I don’t subscribe to that type of business thinking I do honor it, and I’ll bring up one last business point. If I were a competitor working in their marketing department and saw what was happening, I’d be seeing dollar signs. I’d be all over the competitor’s FaceBook wall speaking directly to all the PetSmart fans who were let down by this lapse in judgment. i’d be literally taking market share from them one by one. In fact, I noticed that a few people were already saying how much better their company’s dog policies are compared to PetSmart. So this isn’t just about social media do’s and dont’s, it’s about business in the 21st Century!

About 15 hours ago Haiti the poorest country in the world was devastated by a 7.5 earthquake. Literally every hospital has been evacuated or destroyed. Almost every government building has been destroyed including the presidential palace and parliament. I was glued to my TV this morning as the photos and stories started to come in, it is totally shocking and sad.

I couldn’t help but wonder what I could do to help these people so I did some research and thought I would share.

I will try to keep this list updated in the coming days but here are some ways you can help.

The Red Cross already has a donation site up
The Salvation Army also has information on their site up
If you know a nurse that wants to help have them check out National Nurses United
Finally check out this Orphanage called Three Angels Children’s relief
The U.S. State department has a text program up Text “Haiti” to 90999 and automatically donate $10 (click link for details)
NPR just posted links to websites where people can take go for info on how to help

Please comment with other suggestions and ways to help.

Sounds easy enough, right? We’re all used to hearing the saying “the customer is always right.” It’s common sense, isn’t it?

Apparently not.

It’s old hat at this point to toss around Zappos as an example of a good business model. If you’ve read even one marketing or business magazine in the last few years, you’ve probably heard all about their willingness to embrace social media and their fun, kooky office culture. Which is great. That explains why their employees love it, and therefore why the company reposes such trust in its employees.

But why do the customers love it? Well, because of the fact that the business trusts its employees and encourages its call center workers to do things like spend hours on the phone with a customer to make sure his or her question gets answered, or send a thank you note and flowers, or even direct a customer to a rival site if Zappos.com is out of stock on a particular item. The employees are truly invested in helping the client get what he or she needs and wants, without the usual customer service nastiness and disinterest. A positive experience generates positive buzz. Pure and simple. Any press may be good press because it gets you air time, but positive buzz is the thing that translates into respect and loyalty from both employees and consumers. In the current downward-trending climate, every company should be doing whatever it can to hold on to both.

In other words, trust your employees. Respect your consumers. Both will reward you for it.

For more details on Zappos’s business model, check out this Business Week article.

Alright, I’ve had my winter vacation, I’ve seen the movie, and I’ve finished the game. I liked the movie a whole bunch. A WHOLE BUNCH. Lots of fun, witty banter, and all the things one would hope for in a collaboration between Robert Downey Jr. and, well, anybody. Mark Strong was also enjoyably lugubrious and Rachel McAdams was cute.

The ending of the game? Not so much. The answer to the last code was guessable from the trailers and the reward was a video response from Inspector Lestrade hinting that Scotland Yard would be calling on Holmes and Watson in the future for help with the mysterious Prof. Moriarty. Rumor has it that Brad Pitt might be taking on the chalk-dusted jacket, but I would rather see Colin Farrell.

So, to sum up: fun game, great movie, slightly lame ending. All with impeccable production values.

And not one deerstalker in sight (thankfully).

***DISCLAIMER: Let me just say, before I get into the actual post, that I love Sherlock Holmes. And mysteries requiring deductive reasoning. And witty banter. And steampunk. But most of all, I LUURRRVE Robert Downey Jr. So beware of fangirlishness popping up in this post.***

We at Nostrum have been fiddling around with augmented reality stuff for a while now, and as part of that, I’ve been researching film promotions. Now, as I warned above, I was already excited for Guy Ritchie’s upcoming reboot of Sherlock Holmes, starring Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, and the delightfully lugubrious Mark Strong. So when Robert (Nostrum’s Robert, not Iron Man Robert) asked me to check out a promotional game for the film, I was happy to oblige and immediately hopped over to 221b.sh. I landed on a nicely designed page depicting a nice darkly luminous Dickensian-looking London…and a ridiculously long load time. The long load time, combined with the huge “Facebook Connect” button, led me to believe that the game was going to be some lame Facebook game where you get two choices: 1. run away or 2. “fight.” And by fight, they mean hit a button and get a message that says “you just fought and won 20 gold coins!”

I was therefore quite pleasantly surprised when it turned out to be a real, participatory game. It’s kind of like the scavenger hunt games that were set up leading up to The Dark Knight, and apparently, for Iron Man 2 (why didn’t I hear about that one??), except the evidence is all in one place. You get assigned a case by Scotland Yard and then put together the evidence to solve it. And here’s the kicker–you need two people to play (ideally). One plays as Holmes and the other plays as Watson, and they each get different evidence and have to consult in order to solve the mystery. Of course, you can play both ends yourself if you’re like me and don’t feel like waiting for somebody else to figure it out. It has all the usual stuff, like automatic status updates and so forth to spread the word, but it’s not a Facebook game.

The mechanics of the game itself are well-done, except that they load too slowly. You watch a video from Scotland Yard or a victim setting up the mystery, and then you read police reports, newspaper clippings, mysterious letters, and so forth, to piece together what’s going on. Then you do some more creative things like chasing down burglars, breaking into buildings, exploring hideouts, and interrogating witnesses. It incorporates strategy games, timed games, hidden object games, and logic games all in one, which is what makes it more fun (and way more participatory) than your average Facebook game. Plus it hints at the premise underlying the plot of the film without giving anything away or relying on teasers like Sherlock Holmes wallpaper or AIM icons (which nobody cares about). In short, it’s fun, it’s intriguing, and it’s well-done.

And it’s ongoing until the film comes out on Christmas Day. There’s a new chapter every Monday. Ok, Holmes, now go find your Watson and get sleuthing.

Alright, I think I managed to avoid too much fangirl blather. What do you say?

Last week I stumbled across a headline that I only expected to see about pending litigation. The headline prominently featured Google and major players in the recording industry. As I gave it a glace I came to learn about a strange/ intriguing website that debuted last week, Vevo. Vevo is a joint venture between major recording companies and Google using the same Ad supported philosophy as Hulu.

Vevo has been called everything from the enemy of good, to the savior of traditional media or at least the music industry. While Vevo is undeniably controversial (a google blog search will amply show this), the site is really a non player at this point. Vevo still has technical issues (in its first week) which bog it down for what the site will be. The site also doesn’t boast nearly the content it will in the coming months.

My personal (Mike) take on the site is critics and supporters are jumping the gun. The site has a glut of cool features, and a ton of potential. However Vevo doesn’t have an identity because its still too new.  It looks like the site will reach a very commendable $25 CPM this week but will that price have staying power?

Its too soon to tell.

Over all I think the site has a ton of potential but is still just over halfway there. If this is the final product its a 50/50 shot for success. If Vevo continually improves and adds features…things could get musical. … (really cheesy I know)

I just ran across this video and it made me very excited and not in a typical advertising manner.  I didn’t think about potential donation capabilities that could rain in from a viral hit or massive success attributed to the marketing team because they nailed the strategic objectives of the campaign; I  got happy because someone on their Executive Team had the forethought to know that this was a positive move for their company and had enough trust in the staff  to believe that this could work and went with it. I could only imagine the back and forth that went on between legal and each department around what they couldn’t do because of X,Y and Z.  But kudos to the Executive and his/her team who green lit this for it truly shows how when passion and company’s culture are on the same page good things can emerge.  And only when every level of a company is engaged and participates in a manner that they are comfortable with does something like this take off.  From the Facilities Department to the Rehabilitation Team to the Executive Suite at Providence Health Services in Oregon, nostrum salutes you and your 2Million viewed (and counting) viral smash….

I remember the first time I walked into a friends house with a computer hooked up to the TV. It was an Apple 1, it was the first time I had seen a computer in the pixelated glory of full color. That was in 1990 just a few years later my grandma scored the mother load “web TV”. This box brought lighting quick 56k dial-up internet complete with 40 mb of hard drive space straight to the TV (circa 1996). Then for some unknown reason it simply went off the market, and the age of the desktop/laptop was ushered in. Now its starting to look like Tech is a lot like fashion and movies; the old gets a little update and comes back as a ‘new’ thing.

In my opinion that’s exactly what we are looking at in the near future with a new offering by yahoo called connected TV. You may have missed the quite application wars going on between cable and satellite providers, but its been quietly brewing as Cable and Satellite try to avoid becoming the next newspaper. Connected TV is Yahoo’s solution to the infighting and my hunch says its going to win.

5 reasons I think connected TV will succeed!

Reason 1: Connected TV works without cable, even dinosaurs like me can get it.

Reason 2: Its open! All of the other major players are terriffed to open TV applications or widgets up to the general public!

Reason 3: It has hardware support! look at the brands providing hardware that is compatible

Reason 4: Its quick! early complaints about the other services is that they are all slow. Even Fios is getting compliants from users

Reason 5: Its universal! which means providers wont get another feather in their cap to control you with.

The great news for advertisers is that this can create a whole new era of permission marketing! Jello will be able to provide recipes on the screen, Chipotle could allow a consumer to order dinner from the TV, Department stores could tell consumers about flash sales… the list could go on and on!  This adds both value and increases brand awareness for consumers/fans.

Who do you think will win?

Other Players

Verizon FIOS Widget Bazaar; AT&T U-verse applications ;  DirecTV apps

OMG. OMG.  take a deep breath.  i had my 2nd reality celebrity sighting (my first was Madison from Million Dollar Listing) last night…at Souplantation!  there I was mid-tomato bite and I spot a “hello there” looking fella.  that fella was Slade!  i quickly scanned the room, as i knew his fair haired maiden had to be only a soup bowl away.  and, there she was in all her beaming blonde beauty - Gretchen from The Real Housewives of Orange County.  no make-up, velour jumpsuit and size 00.  wow she is tiny.  out of the Housewives, she is my OC fav.  i don’t care about all that nonsense with what Tamra says.  i feel like Gretchen may have the capacity to grow and learn, whereas the other wifey’s - not so much.   Read more…

Following in the wake of my post last Friday about the opening of Twilight: New Moon, I found this article on BoingBoing absolutely hilarious. “Fangst.” Teeheehee.

Also, Melissa Balmer had this to say regarding Twilight branding.

“No branding? I humbly disagree, most of the branding has been done w/the face of the beautiful Robert Pattinson (I haven’t seen the movies, or read the books, but any female with eyes saw he was a winner in HP 4). Has everyone forgotten Titanic and that is was truly Leonardo’s beauty that launched a million+ ships? Oh and Twilight was super clever w/it’s stylish book covers - adult women could read them and only those “in the know” knew it was a book for teens.”

Excellent points, Melissa. Robert Pattinson is a brand unto himself. And my kid sister dragged me to the film this weekend, where I was overwhelmed by all the “Team Jacob/ Team Edward” paraphernalia. But I still haven’t seen much official branding except trailers. I’m not asking to be snide–I really do want to know what kind of secret Twihard stuff they’re doing, especially since there isn’t even a year between release dates. Descriptions and links would be greatly appreciated.

And Melissa, I’ve read the books and seen the films (my sister MADE ME) and you’re not missing anything. Stick to Harry Potter.

Nostrum loves the videos that Socialnomics are putting out.

These short bursts of facts and social stats are great for users to understand the potential of the social web. However, everyone must know - as socialnomics points out in each video they showcase - that with all of these success stories there is a substantial amount of TIME put forth by each brand’s marketing team. None of these cases were done on the “build it and they will come manifesto” that for some reason the C-Suite always seem to think will happen when starting a new social initiative. Most, if not all cases are of one key employee rolling up his or her sleeves and burning the midnite oil for the betterment of their brand for little to no compensation other than his/her pure passion for the product of service ( i.e. Gary Vaynerchuk, Scott Monty, The BlendTec Dude).

While we love this video, please remember social media may not require a lot of dollars to start - it still requires alot of capital - TIME!

For all you corporate denizens who have “issues” with social media and all of it’s iterations here is something from one of the biggest corporate behemoths in the world: McDonald’s.

Below is a presentation from Heather Olandi, the Director of PR for McDonald’s regarding how the brand utilizes social media and community building to leverage their message. There are some very interesting ideas and strategic insights included. Love to hear what you think…

my take on the 2009 AMAs.

i thought the award show was trying too hard and it showed.  way overly theatrical for me, and i have a high threshold for over the top.  all the light beams, the costumes, gravity defying sequences, over choreographed dance moves, badly scripted presentations.  don’t mix too many “best of” components from all the award shows and then throw up on me.

j lo - i didn’t see her fall, but I did see her outfit and the boxing number.  that was brow arching enough.  that louboutin song is ridiculous. Read more…

The next film in the Twilight series came out at midnight. And it’s already grossing off the charts.
The thing that eludes me is that there’s been little to no branding for the film (that I’ve seen) and it’s still the most popular thing EVARRRRR (according to my 16-year-old sister). At this point I can only chalk it up to the unholy power of teenage girls. Someone please enlighten me.

All I know is that I will be avoiding the movie theater like The Plague, and hiding under my bed, with a stake in one hand and a big plate of garlic bread in the other.

We’ve all heard the case studies (mostly done in-house) touting @comcastcares as the future of customer service. How it would change the negative image of cable companies…how Comcast customers wouldn’t be so cranky.

It hasn’t worked so far. A few individuals got good service, but were still annoyed. Not ever having been a Comcast customer, I can’t judge too much.

But other cable companies have jumped on the bandwagon as well. And that’s what I do have experience with–I recently canceled my account with Charter Cable. And they didn’t like it, not one little bit.

Here’s the back story–I was moving out of my apartment and didn’t want to transfer my account to my new place. I called May 17th and arranged to have my account stopped on June 10th. All good. I moved out of my apartment at the very end of June, all paid up and good to go. I returned my equipment. Good. I thought I was all done with Charter. Peachy.

So imagine my surprise when I got a call in November. From a collection agency. Saying I owed Charter $130. BIG SURPRISE. So I called Charter customer service and got no help. They were very polite and looked up my account. And they saw that I had paid out and closed the account (I had actually overpaid) but they couldn’t do anything. I was going to have to drive forty miles to the local office and beg them to call off the credit agency and fix my credit score. I was NOT HAPPY.

Naturally, in order to relieve my feelings, I took to the web and made some very angry Tweets and went off to bed. After which, cue Surprise Number Two: when I woke up, I found an @reply from @Umatter2ChrtrG asking if he could help. I explained my situation to him in both tweet and email form, and he connected me with @Umatter2Chtr2. A couple hours later, I got a phone call from @Umatter2Chtr2 (aka Josh). He listened, asked me to wait while he called the billing department, and called me back shortly with the news that the bill had been reversed, the money I overpaid was on its way, and the problem hadn’t even been put on my credit record.

Score. The problem got fixed. After a lot of freaking out on my part.
So, many thanks to Josh at Charter for his help. But that doesn’t negate the months of screw-ups while I was a Charter customer. If all the customer service I received had been that good, I’d still be one.

Conclusion: having a social media VIP line won’t keep your customers from hating you if all the rest of your customer service is terrible. Customer service and product quality should be the priorities, not afterthoughts and Band-Aids.