11/30/2004
Yesterday I sat in on an undergrad advertising class at Emory University and watched a couple of student teams present their final marketing/advertising project. Quite impressive. After explaining an newspaper-based advertising strategy the presenter concluded with - "If there's a mistake it won't matter because it's gone in a day."
An online survey conducted by the Associated Press Managing Editor's National Credibility Round table Project (that's a mouthful!) reported that 20% of readers are getting their new from blogs. (Pew's study came in at 11% ). Interesting quote from the APM Gazette article about the study. "If someone posts something that is inaccurate or incorrect, hundreds of people will correct them - and the good ones acknowledge any mistakes made." Megan Casto, Olympia WA.
What does it mean to marketers?
1. Take a closer look at blog ads. As blog readership increases, acceptance of blog ads as a viable advertising vehicle will also gain momentum. And no, Henry, Blogads, didn't pay me a penny!
2. Errors in this new media do matter. Unlike newspaper ads that are here today...gone tomorrow, the internet "caches" and holds information. In the blogosphere if an error is found it ain't no secret.
All that said, I still love reading the old fashion NYT's on Sunday mornings!
11/26/2004
The day after Thanksgiving sales marks the onset of holiday shopping. What would holiday shopping be without Neiman's Christmas Book? The online version is complete with the famous Fantasy Gifts section. For only $20,000 your shinning knight can sport his very own suit of armor. Diva, you'd look stunning accompaning your knight to the round table in your one-of-a kind $325,000 creation from Valentino.
Or how about His and Her Bowling Alleys - $1,450,000, a limited-edition 2005 Maseratie Quattroporte - $125,000, your very own Zepplin NT- $10,000,000 or a deep flight aviator - $1,700,000? Dream on divas ....
[Sidebar: Found it interesting that NM in a very un pc (politically correct) strategy continues to call their catalogue "Christmas" vs. "Holiday."]
While we're in a shopping mood, how about a present for you? A cute pair of Manolo Blahnik shoes to wear to your Holiday/Christmas/Chanukah/Kwanza party? Manolo has a blog. I think it's Manolo who is blogging...but then again who can tell - no About Us page (that drives me nut!)? Manolo's Shoe Blog is written in a style similar to Yvonne DiVito's excellent Lipsticking blog.
Any guesses on the hot trend in 2004 holiday gifts? IPods - nope. DVDs - nope. Flat screen TVs, computers, retro toys...no, no, no. Deloitte and Touche's Holiday Survey indicates gift cards are the gift of choice. Guess Santa's bag will be a little lighter this year.
... and holiday stress. If you're finding cell phones a little too annoying Smash My Phone will trample, crush and smash them for you. Heard it from: Wonkette
11/25/2004
Interesting article by Philip Kotler, the guru of marketing, in the current Marketing Management about ethics in marketing. Dr. Kotler challenges marketing professionals to examine not only how we market but what we market.
“What if the customer wants something that isn’t good for him or her?”
“What if the product or service, while good for the customer, isn’t good for society or other groups?"
Example: At a time when the American public is battling a war on obesity, Hardee's rolled out Monster Thickburger™. The “mother of all burgers” is a two, one-third pound slabs of Angus beef, three slices of American cheese, four strips of bacon and mayonnaise on a buttered sesame seed bun weighing in at 107 grams of fat and 1,420 calories. Yo Mama!
According to Hardee's chief executive Andrew Puzder this is "not a burger for tree-huggers." However, The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a advocate for nutrition and health, had a different word for the Baby Huey Burger - "food porn."
[Sidebar: To be fair, Hardee’s also has low carb choice. The company is also launching a cause marketing program where one “monstrous” NFL player will work the drive-thru of a local Hardee’s for two hours. The proceeds from every Monster Thickburger sold at that location on that day will be donated to the player’s charity of choice.The Center for Science in the Public Interest calls this - "sinister."]
The debate rages on … “Are we our brother’s or sister’s keeper?” Kotler poses a bigger question, “Do public interest groups and government agency have the right to intervene in the free choices of individuals?” Kotler believes that the problem stems from conflicts among different ethical systems.
More questions arise and there are no easy answers. What are a professional marketer’s social responsibilities? Should social ethics be part of a marketing code of ethics?
Establishing a code of ethics for the blogosphere is something that has been an issue for several years. How do you build a community based on trust? Does the blogosphere need a Code of Blogger Ethics? Here are a few ideas.
Cyber Journal’ Code of Blogger Ethics
1. Be Fair and Honest
2. Minimize Harm
3. Be Accountable
Rebecca Blood’s Code of Blogger Ethics from the Weblog Handbook
1. Publish as fact only that which you believe to be true.
2. If material exists online, link to it when you reference it.
3. Publicly correct any misinformation.
4. Write each entry as if it could not be changed; add to, but do not rewrite or delete, any entry.
5. Disclose any conflict of interest.
6. Note questionable and biased sources.
Joho The Blog (David Weinberger) - Blogger Code of UnProfessional Ethics
I can’t figure out if Doc or David or Chris wrote this. Posted October 16, 2002!
My readers:
...know me. They will judge me according to context.
...are smart. They will not be misled by some stray comment I may happen to make.
...are kind. They make allowances and forgive me ahead of time.
In return:
I will speak my mind about what I care about.
I will not revise too much or too carefully: Blogging about opera is still jazz.
I will not anticipate and reply to every objection: Punctilliousness in pursuit of the appearance of propriety kills voice.
If I apologize, it will be because I have actually betrayed my readers' trust, not because I may have, might have, or could be misread as having done so.
I pledge to keep the reading of my weblog purely optional.
[Sidebar: Take a look at the thread on “Blogo culpa” – integrity in the blog world – on Doc’s site.]
As recently as this month the beat goes on. Jason Calcanis Blogethics.org, wants to organize a committee to draft A Code of Ethics for Blog Advertising .
Heard if from NickDenton
Business Ethics – Top 10 Best Corporate Citizens 2004
1. Fannie Mae
2. Proctor & Gamble
3. Intel
4. St. Paul Companies
5. Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc
6. Deere & Company
7. Avon Products
8. Hewlett-Packard
9. Agilent Technologies Inc.
10. Ecolab Inc.
11/23/2004
Some may call it poet justice ... I just received an "e" from Bob Bly - he's joined the blogosphere.
Welcome Bob! We look forward to some great exchanges and debates on bly.com blog
11/23/2004
Carra, Ben and I had our first strategy meeting for the GourmetStation blog. Lots of energy and enthusiasm in the meeting room at Blue Marble Media. It will be fun to work with people who are excited about seeing how far we can push the vision.
Being the good marketers we are, we first developed goals and objectives. Goal: To develop an adverblog using the “voice” of GourmetStation’s brand icon, T. Alexander.
Objectives
*To build brand awareness among new audiences
*To build brand loyalty with current patrons
*To increase new patron sales
*To increase repeat sales from current customer base
*To encourage informal customer communication and interaction with the brand in a fun, informal environment
Next step: To develop success metrics
Since the voice of the blog will be from T. Alexander, GourmetStation’s icon, there was a lot of talk about the concept of a faux/branding/adver blog (not quite sure what to call this) and the importance of playing it straight with visitors. (Visions of Ranging Cows floated in my mind.) We agreed that one of our first challenges would be to create a back story about T. Alexander – age, personality, background. The more dimensions we could create the richer and more realistic the posts.
Next we began development of a Post/Content Strategy. Post/Content Goal: to reinforce the GourmetStation brand through T. Alexander’s (GourmetStation’s icon) experiences, insights, observations of food, travel and life. Creating a post/content strategy and goal will:
*Focus content/posts
*Provide direction for the look and feel development
*Incorporate GourmetStation's offerings in a non intrusive manner
With a strategic foundation established our conversation turned to post ideas. We agreed T.A’s posts would be as realistic as possible. Frequency: 3-4 times a week. Vary in length: from a couple of sentences to a few short paragraphs.
We quickly found ourselves with a wealth of ideas from local culture and festivals to TA’s personal memories to TA travels and blogging at airports. (Side bar: must research airports with wifi).
Focused back on one of our objective - How could we subtly blend posts with GourmetStation’s special and seasonal offerings? If GourmetStation offers a spring lamb special perhaps T.A. will be traveling in New Zealand blogging about a fine lamb dinner at a quaint restaurant in Kaikoura. Or perhaps TA blogs about dinner with Kiwi friends Jilly and Paul in their new home on the outskirts of Auckland.
We also wanted to explore multi media aspects including: Vblogging (video blogging), audio blogging, photo blogging. A T. Alexander photo album would be pretty cool.
It didn’t take us long to realize that if we were going to make this work, there could be quite a bit of research involved even for posts with only a few sentences. We needed a media/content plan.
*Month-by-month content/media plan will be developed
*Monthly story idea conference call/meetings
Next Meeting – Blog Format
11/22/2004
This month Strengthening The Good (STG) is building an English library for teens in Slovakia. It's a neat project that asks for your gently used books for the C.S. Lewis Bilingual Gymnaziumin in Bratislava.
Great incentive to clean out your book shelves and pack up a few of the old classics you haven't look at since college days. STG has a suggested list of books but your welcomed to send others as well.
Sidebar: STG is a network of bloggers who have joined together to raise money for micro-charities. One blogger...one dollar (or in this case one book) at a time...we can make a difference. This is the first cause marketing strategy to leverage the viral influence of blogs.
11/19/2004
About 50 people attended AiMA's Beyond the Blog Buzz in Atlanta this week. Found it interesting that much of the discussion focused on RSS and blog ads. JR Mayhew and Henry Copeland fielded those questions.
Richard Turner, TBS and the innovator of the Vote Carrie blog, said that blogs gives a voice to the people who want to share knowledge about your product or service. Blogs tap into their passion. [In terms of placing ads] Even if it's a small trafficked site. If the right people you want to impact are reading it can have an impact on your brand and your sales.
Most of the participants were not bloggers and less than half read blogs but the enthusiasm was high and several people stayed until the lights went out in Georgia (ouch sorry!). Altho Atlanta has its share of visible bloggers including Anita Sharpe and Brad Fallon it appears that most companies have yet to discover the impact of blogs. However, I dare say Hot'Lanta is on pare with most of the country.
Must admit that one of the highlights of the night, for this blogging diva, was when Richard passed out the ultra cool Sex in the City goodies...t-shirts, books, and designer pocketbooks!
And added bonus was meeting a new blogging friend Paul Chaney of Radiant Marketing....bloggers are such friendly people. [Sidebar see see David Weinberger's comment in the above post)
11/19/2004
Joho the Blog aka David Weinberger aka coauthor of The Cluetrain Manifesto and divor of the blogosphere kicked off a series of discussions hosted by the Library of Congress' John W. KlugeCenter. Many thanks to C-SPAN for the download of Dr. Weinberger’s speech (since this is a blog and I’ve been reading Joho for ages and feel as though I know him…perhaps I can just call him David?).
The Shape of Knowledge, or, Everything Is Miscellaneous includes exciting and important information and David puts heart and soul into his presentation. In fact, I stopped multi tasking to watch rather than just listen.
Snippets and Sound Bytes About Blogs From Joho
-Places to speak in our own voice of the things that matter to us.
The passion is the essence of blogging.
-Persistence. We write every day. You can come back as often as you want. The more you come back the more you’ll know me.
It is humbling and gratifying to realize that words and thoughts do not fall into a silent cyber void.
-Weblogs are selves – that’s why they matter. They matter to the blogger.
That’s why friendships spring up among bloggers so quickly and easily…we already know each other.
The kindness and support of bloggers is a continuous delight and a cherished benefit of blogging.
-Weblogs are conversations done in response to other blogs … webs of conversation.
Creating dialogue, conversation and community in a world that longs for connection.
-Weblogs are a messy extension of (the blogger’s) identify … links and multiple views in conversation with one another.
I love this concept. The tapestry weaves more amd more complex and the colors create new patterns and experiences.
If links are what makes the web, then generosity of spirit in providing access to links is what makes blogs. Here's the link to David's speech. What are you waiting for? Go watch Dr. W!
Thanks to my pal Greg from Marketecture in Atlanta for the heads up.
11/16/2004
A few quick thought "finds" -
A must if you're in the job search mode! - Heard it from: Kraneland
Richard Eldeman's blog, Speak-up, is one of the best examples of c-level blogs. R.E. is the president and CEO of Eldeman, billed as the world's largest independent PR firm. My question...why only 13 subscribers? Is Bloglines off or is Mr. Eldeman keeping this a secret?
The audio from Paul's (Radiant Marketing,) interview from Easy Bake Blogs is posted. Nice overview on blogging basics and good tips on promotions and valuable comments from listeners. Since it's an audio you can multi task as you listen and learn!
11/15/2004
On November 17 AiMA (Atlanta Interactive Marketing Association) presents Beyond The Blog Buzz.
A panel of blogging experts, moderated by Anita Sharpe of Worthwhile, will share their insights and experiences about the strategic marketing application of blogs. The program kicks off with two mini overviews...Blog 101 (presented by Toby Bloomberg, Bloomberg Marketing/Diva Marketing Blog) and RSS 101 (presented by J.R. Mayhew, Cyfun Media).
The Panel
- Anita Sharpe Worthwhile
- Richard Turner Turner Broadcasting Systems/Vote Carrie Blog
- Brad Fallon Smart Marketing, Inc.
- J.R. Mayhew Cyfun Media BuzzHop
- Henry Copeland Blogads
For more information visit the AiMA Website.
