DN: Is it harder to engage an audience than it was 5 years ago before WiFI connectivity was a conference mandatory?
Yes, because we’re all trained like Pavlov’s pups to check our devices every 14 seconds.  In that regard, there are less people standing up and walking out of presentations because they have to take a call versus email or text. But it’s critical not to let that digital zeitgeist not get in the way of my cardinal rule of presenting – make every talk a gift to your audience.  Meaning, prepare the snot out of your deck and rehearse like crazy and do your best to know the audience you’ll be speaking to.  If you do all that and imbue your talk with passion and try to connect to your audience (by looking them in the eyes, etc) you should earn the right for them to put their devices down.  Point – you’re the storyteller, so make it enchanting enough that you distract them from distraction.

DN: At BDI, at least 3/4 of the audience seemed to have a laptop or iPad open while you were speaking.  Do you find yourself wanting to say, hey turn those devices off and pay attention?
No way. Odds are, at least half of them are tweeting about my presentation and they’re helping market me in real-time! Besides, akin to my earlier answer, it’s not up to me to dictate how someone pays attention.  Before digital devices, a lot of people would take notes on a pad.  That’s how they learn.  If people retain more about a talk because they tweet, who am I to judge?

DN: Would it be worth trying to get the audience to shut down their devices momentarily while you speak?  You’d have their undivided attention but not the extended reach of their social networks.  Which should be more important to a speaker today?
If I tried to get people to shut down their devices, I might get their undivided attention, but it would be mixed with their ire at being told how they should watch my presentation.  I was an actor for years, and it’s essential to know when working with an audience who and when to try to get people to participate.  For instance, when I played a scary character in children’s theatre, I’d always direct my lines to the oldest boys in the audience – they loved the attention but I wouldn’t actually frighten them.

In terms of which is more important, an audience shutting down or getting the reach of their networks, the hope is people actually register what you’re talking about besides waiting for the pithy phrase that will make a good tweet.  But for me when I speak, the most important thing is blow them away with my presentation – that’s the only thing I have control over. The rest is up to the audience.

DN: Knowing that your audience is on Twitter while you speak, are you thinking while you write your speech—gee that line will make a great tweet?
Sure.  Or at least, “this is a good sound bite.”  Puns, sound bites, short and pithy phrases are all ways to aid in retention. Humor is also great – I’ve read cognitive studies saying that if people laugh at something you’ve really connected with them and there’s a 50% higher probability they’ll remember what you said than without humor.

Another cardinal rule of mine – never make it difficult for people to remember or share what you say.  My old acting agent used to tell me when I came back from auditions they’d call the casting directors to get feedback on how I did.  If they said, “John came in here and blew me away” or “John’s choice was way over the top but he was really passionate,” may agent was happy.  If my agent called and said, “how did John do?” and the answer came back, “John who?” that’s when I was in trouble.

DN: Are social media conferences harder to engage than say a group of accountants who aren’t necessarily trying to be the first to share what they just heard?
Every audience is different.  A hard core Social Media audience like SXSW where I spoke last year is definitely device and dialogue (to their social graphs) focused.  But a lot of times they’re the most responsive because they’re already drinking the digital kool-aid. Accountants or folks not as versed in Social Media oftentimes have a vibe/energy of, “prove to me Social Media has an ROI” before you even start talking. So my focus there is usually to not focus on the tools of the trade but the overall value proposition of connecting with relevant to your audience, wherever they get their content.

DN: You mentioned you were an actor in a former life.  This sort of gives you a competitive advantage on stage, don’t you think?
Sure.  I studied the craft of acting which includes working on your voice, dancing/movement, and projection.  But mostly good acting is about connecting with truth to the person you’re on stage with in the moment.  Meaning, you can’t be thinking, “this line will make the audience laugh” when you’re on stage or you’re dead.  You can try to make a joke, but every audience is different.  Your job onstage is to deliver your message or story in a way that best connects to the people sitting in front of you RIGHT NOW.  If they don’t seem to be getting your message, use techniques like saying, “Does that make sense?” after you make a point.  Or say things like, “anyone else heard of SIRI?” and raise your hand, indicating for them to raise their hand.  People don’t mind audience participation if you genuinely seek their response and aren’t a tool.  What you should NEVER do is single someone out and alienate them, ala standup comedian mode.  Or, if you’re going to try and do that, prove that you’re making them part of the act versus the butt of a joke – say something like, “Hi, what’s your name?

DN: Do you get any feedback from these events and if so, why kind of adjustments have you made based on this feedback?
I don’t get as much specific, actionable critique as I’d like.  My old acting teacher was great at this stuff and I recommend this practice technique for any speaker – record yourself rehearsing your presentation.  Odds are you’ll see that you flap your hand with nervous tension, or scratch your head every 30 seconds.  You have to identify these nervous tics so you can get rid of them and focus all of your energy on speaking in the moment.

I have gotten some good advice on talking about technology.  Years ago, someone told me they liked what I said but didn’t get the context of my presentation.  I delved right into talking about specific social media tools without providing a backdrop for what an audience learned.

So in that sense I try to always do the following:

• Research who I’m speaking to (marketers, digital savvy or no, what level of the organization, where are they geographically based).
• Make sure I review the expectations of my talk (what’s been advertised) before I being working on my presentation.
• Find a bookend for the STORY of my talk. Don’t just list facts – what is the POINT you’re trying to make?
• Remind people throughout my talk what I’m talking about.  I’m a big believer in the old adage about what makes a good presentation: Here’s what I’m going to talk about, here’s what I’m talking about, here’s what I just talked about.  Less points made well makes for a more memorable presentation than a zillion factoids.

My last bit of advice – change the world with your talk.  Why get up and talk in front of a group if you’re not wildly passionate about your subject matter?  Pretend you’re at a bar talking to friends, or with your family telling stories around the campfire.  This is not about being hokey – it’s an acting technique you need to hone or don’t get up on stage.  If you aren’t completely excited to tell everyone your message, why should your audience be excited to listen?

The only thing I ask of you, dear reader, is that you watch the video below.  It’s amazing, inspiring and moving. Go ahead. I dare you to watch this and not get involved…

The 2011 September Campaign. Our 5-year-anniversary video from charity: water on Vimeo.

.

So that’s the pitch.  Ready to join me?  Just click here.  Or here.  Or here.  It’s a truly impressive organization. After I set up my new campaign, Scott Harrison the founder of Charity Water sent me this personal note:

• Drew: Just wanted to drop you a personal thank you for starting a september campaign this year. I‘ve been to Ethiopia 16 times in the last couple years, and can personally vouch for our incredible partners there.  So excited to work together to bring them a new drilling rig to help more people–Scott

Not too many CEO’s send out personal thank you notes these days but then again, not too many CEO’s take their business as personally as Scott.  Thanks for the inspiration Scott and good luck!

The big screen
Marci Liroff, a casting director who worked on movies such as E.T. and Raiders of the Lost Ark, explained emphatically how she turned from a Twitter rookie into a Twitter pundit. Noting that Twitter is about “giving, not selling,” Liroff spoke of the film industry’s slow but steady integration with websites such as Twitter and Skype.

Speaking of Skype, famed author Deepak Chopra couldn’t make it to the #140conf but was video-projected in via Skype. Chopra held a captive audience as he spoke grandly of the “human potential” and social media’s ability to achieve peace and harmony through broad networks.

Let’s get physical
The self-proclaimed Lupus Ladies of Twitter, led by Amanda Greene, turned this digital conference into veritable love fest with their emotional testimony. The four women all suffer from Lupus and have used social media to create support networks. Christine Miserandino went so far as to strip from a dress into pajamas to illustrate the point that she is a regular person in pajamas who employed social media to create a support system.

Jack Hidary, an entrepreneur extraordinaire, followed the Lupus Ladies with his own memorable performance. A former neuroscientist, Hidary told the audience to “Go Limbic,” meaning they should target their audience’s whole brain, not just a small part of it. To further his point, Hidary passed out small wooden discs and had the crowd team up into groups of four to create a flying contraption. The “airplane” that flew the furthest won iPod Shuffles for all the team members.

Crowd pleasers
On a panel with other television executives, Steve Krakauer brought social media back into reality. Krakauer, a digital producer from Piers Morgan Tonight (CNN), reminded the social media consumers that Twitter and Facebook need to translate into more income / ratings / viewers, or the social media efforts develop into nothing.

According to Krakauer, social media needs to turn into ROI. Well, according to Ted Rubin, social media needs to turn into ROR, or Return on Relationship. Rubin roused cheers by reminding the audience to “look into eyes, not iPads” in social interactions. Rubin believes people should use the platform (i.e. Twitter) to build personal relationships, not avoid them.

Q: How has guerrilla marketing evolved?

Guerrilla thinking has evolved tremendously in the last 24 months. Press seeking guerrillas have shifted away from street theater to something with online legs. Part of this is fishing where the fish are. Part of this is that if you can gain Likes or YouTube channel subscriptions, your initial contact can turn into a more lasting relationship. Part of this is the press itself—the press is more likely to wax on about a social program than a purely street program at this moment in time.

Q: What’s up with street stunts?

Frankly, I’ve never been a fan or promoter of the street stunt approach. They are typically a brief encounter with little residual value. The challenge with guerrilla has always been to provide a reasonable exchange of value between brand and consumer. In exchange for a consumer’s time, the brand must provide some value, either genuine utility or at least a good laugh. The reason the HSBC BankCab is still on the road after seven years is that the value exchange is extraordinary. First, people love to see an old Checker driving around the streets. Second, when they get in the BankCab, it is a refreshing experience complete with a truly knowledgeable cabbie. Third, HSBC customers get a free ride when engenders brand love. We recently renovated the HSBC BankCab, enabling it to run on compressed natural gas, thus making it a more “green” experience. As street programs go, this is about as good as it gets.

Q: What’s cool right now?

The most exciting area of guerrilla right now, is the social to offline movement. Skittles “Mob the Rainbow” program is one great example of this. Skittles solicits ideas from its 10 million strong Facebook fan base, which sometimes lead to hilarious offline executions. For example, fans suggested sending Valentines to a particular postal worker. Skittles did just that and produced a funny viral video which brought the program full circle. JetBlue is using its strong Twitter following in a similar fashion. Earlier this year, @JetBlue tweeted they were on a particular street corner in Manhattan giving away tickets. In a matter of minutes, 300 eager travelers showed up and of course, JetBlue got some nice ink for this as well. In this way, social media has replaced email as the ignition switch for flash mobs.

Q: How does social fit into a guerrillas plans?

Any marketer considering a physical guerrilla interaction would be crazy not to also bake in a social component. The social component should give the program legs, extending the offline interaction online. It also provides a home for videos and or photos taken of the physical interaction thus sharing these experiences with a larger audience. The social component also helps amortize the cost of the potentially expensive offline component. Finally, the social component provides an opportunity for feedback something that is not always easy to get in the physical arena.

Q: Is the physical street experience dead?

Since marketing success has often been about zigging when others zag, a few enlightened marketers will renew their emphasis on the physical experience and the true engagement opportunity it represents. Touching someone deeply often requires a physical touch. Online dating sites do the matchmaking but typically the fire doesn’t flame until the couple actually meets.

Q: What roles are left for guerrilla marketing?

Guerrilla thinking has never been dependent on one particular type of interaction. It has always been about making more out of less, breaking the ice in order to build meaningful and hopefully lasting relationships. Social marketing has proven its ability to maintain and nurture relationships but the jury is still out on its ability to generate trial from new customers.

Q: How has Renegade evolved from a guerrilla standpoint?

I see social marketing as an evolution of our long-time guerrilla practice. The goals haven’t changed but the tactics  we use continue to grow and evolve. Five years ago, three out of four incoming calls would be from clients seeking guerrilla ideas. Now those same clients are requesting social marketing ideas. The impetuous for the calls is the same—help us engage customers cost-effectively.

["Delivery.com Street Stunt in October"][]

Identify an unmet need

“I was a venture capitalist before I was doing HubSpot, and I was trying to get the portfolio companies to use modern marketing to create blogs to pull people in through the search engines, social media sites, and the blogosphere, and I had a hell of a time making that shift. I had to hire a ton of consultants and a ton of IT people and buy 6 different software packages, and it was very hard to pull off. So that was the gap I basically saw in the market and thought, ‘How do we pull all this stuff together into one simple package and then transfer as much knowledge we can from our heads to their heads and get them to shift the way they market?””

Eat your own dog food

“We are the number one user of our own product. I personally use it every day. A key part of our growth is that we are able to use the product. We feel the bugs at just the same time as our customers feel the bugs, so we fix them as quickly as we can. We know what we want in a software. We’re on the cutting edge of all this stuff. Like Dan Zarrella, for example, is one of our employees. He’s a real cutting edge kind of guy. He’s more leading edge than most, so we try to learn as much as we can from him and build it into the software so that mere mortals can use it, not just Dan Zarrella.”

Replace messaging with valuable content

“The basic idea behind inbound marketing, this marketing transformation I’m talking about, is you want to create remarkable content that becomes a magnet to pull people in. So we create tons and tons of blog articles and the blog articles I wrote 4 years ago still are like magnets, pulling people in through Google. We write eBooks. We create a weekly TV show, HubSpot TV. And we build these Graders, which are basically little tiny pieces of our product that we break off and we offer for free for people to run their site through, and they get a diagnostic on it and they get a score, and based on that score – it’s 1 to 100 – if they get a crappy score, they say, “Well who are these HubSpot guys?” and they end up in our funnel and we show them a demo, take them through a trial and they end up buying the software. So it’s very much part of our philosophy of ‘How do you free up as much knowledge and content as you possibly can and use that knowledge to pull people into your business and try to convert them into customers?’”

Build a community

“There is definitely a big community forming and we do a couple of things to foster it. We have Inbound Marketing University where you can come and there are 15 online lectures you attend – and there’s a test at the end. If you pass the test, you get a badge and you get Inbound Marketing Certified, and those have been showing up on a lot of people’s LinkedIn profiles and resonate these days– our customers are dying to hire them. The second thing is there is an Inbound Marketing LinkedIn group that is very, very active. I don’t know how many people are in there. I haven’t looked recently, but it’s quite an active group in there that’s cranking away. There is a HubSpot partner group. There are a bunch of splinter inbound marketing communities that keep popping up, and we’re just trying to do our best to keep up with them and help them and foster them, and it’s been a big part of our success.”

Inspire a compelling culture

“Culture turns out to play a huge role. When my co-founder and I started the company…in the first two years of the company we didn’t mention the word culture. It wasn’t something on top of our minds. And then about two years in, we did a survey of our employees – the Net Promoters survey. We asked them two questions. Question number 1 was “How likely are you to refer HubSpot to another friend of yours to join us?” on a scale of 0 to 10. Then the second question was “why?” When we got responses from the ‘why,’ we probably had 60 or 70 employees at this point. The two big reasons people like or loved working at HubSpot was 1 – the culture. The culture? We didn’t know we had a culture. And number 2 was that they loved their fellow employees. So at that point we were like ‘OK, it seems like we got something here.’ Why don’t we try to institutionalize the culture and make sure that that doesn’t break. So we hired one of our old professors from MIT to do a project with us to clarify the culture and clarify the mission. Then we tried to institutionalize it in the company. When we do the annual reviews of our employees, the culture is part of that review. There are 7 points in our culture and we grade them. It has become a great part of who we are. I wrote an article about our culture that has been very popular on the Internet. It is called Start up Culture Lessons from Mad Men.”

Don’t try to do it all yourself

“[If you’re starting a business, the] first thing I would find is a great co-founder. It is lonely at the top. Don’t find just any co-founder. A mistake that so many entrepreneurs make is that they find co-founders just like themselves. When you look at the special stars of the early successful teams, like Jobs and Wozniak, there are usually two people with someone who can actually build something and someone who can actually sell something. So my advice would be to find a great co-founder who would compliment you and, very early on, figure out the equity split and figure out the roles, because so many companies die because of a founder conflict.”

Be open-minded about your idea

“Another piece of advice I would give to a founder is to be very open-minded about your idea.  There is a great book called Founders at Work, written by a journalist on the west coast [Jessica Livingston]. She interviewed about 100 entrepreneurs that were successful and I would say that 90% of the entrepreneurs started out with plan A and ended up making money on plan B or C. It took them a while to meander to the idea, so don’t get too stuck on your original idea. Be very flexible and take a while to meander your way to the right idea. The third piece of advice is not to raise venture capital too early. Make sure, if you are going to do venture capital, that your incentives are in line with the VC and that you really want to swing for the fences. Once you are backed by venture capital you are committed down this path. One you become venture backed, you are committed to trying to hit a home run, and you can’t go back to being conservative.”

Kit Yarrow, Consumer Psychologist, Author and Professor had fabulous insights but not enough time to dive deeply into any of them.  Of all the day’s presenters, her’s was the only one I wanted to hear again in slow motion or at least get a copy of her slides to review later.  Here are a few of Kit’s observations about Millennials:

• they have more technology & more opinions than boomers did at their age
• view of themselves as viable and important comes from a genuine place
• sociocultural changes have dramatically impacted their development (technology, child-centricity)
• today the average TV show is geared at teenagers vs when boomers were kids, target was 35 or so
• there is an inter-generational gap between older / younger Millennials (older gen y shared computer, dial up, didn’t have cellphone, didn’t text, etc)
• for younger gen y, technology is a “third hand and second brain”
• all this tech has actually altered their cognitive functioning (they can multitask better)
• technology impacts relationships, facilitates influence, elevates the importance of innovation
• technology is also creating a more superficial relationships
• as on Milliennial put it, “I found my apartment, my job and my boyfriend online so of course, I got my shoes online”
• in sum, “I want what I want when I want it”
• more impulsive, get bored more easily with explanations, jobs, products, in relationships
• more visually-oriented
• inspired by competitive challenges, games, hunts
• responds to active engagement
• personality under the influence of technology since they are overloaded with options and searching for trustworthy guidance
• craving the antidote—a genuine connection and a sense of being seen and deeply understood
• sometimes those needs are understood and fulfilled by brands (Apple, Virgin America, etc)
• though gen y’ers always get their say, they aren’t always heard, which is especially tough for a generations that’s accustomed to getting attention
• they come by confidence naturally (self-esteem movement in schools, etc.)
• they want more which is a double edge sword, creating “choice anxiety” and desire not to settle,
• they have been told all their lives, “you can do anything, you’re special”
• interestingly, this gen are kids and staying kids longer
• in a nutshell, their need for stimulation, yearning for belonging and connection leaves them younger than they appear

The five keys to connecting with Millennials according to Kit are:

• Make it visual contextual intuitive
• Technovate – keep the new products flowing
• What you do is more important than what you say
• Ramp up the emotional intensity
• Humor, irony, drama, fantasy, games, keep it real

As you can tell, Kit had a lot of great info and I wish we got a lot more of her time.  The rest of the day was too rich to detail in the time I have now, but here are a few other observations.

Having seen Arianna Huffington speak twice in the last two weeks, I am truly in awe.  As one Tweeter noted, she is classy, sassy and smart.  She is obviously at ease as a speaker and manages to deliver meaningful content in a way that is informative, enjoyable and inspiring.  I was delighted to buy a copy of her book and of course, to get her to sign it.  Once again, i asked her for an interview and once again, she said “yes” so stay tuned on that front.

J.Y. Park, CEO of JYP Entertainment, spoke of creating “global stars” by training a bunch of young people to dance, sing, model and speak at least two languages.  He is obviously a very talented guy and his track record is impressive.  He offered as his latest example, the “Wonder Girls,” a girl group that performed last night. And while the girls were cheek-pinching cute, you couldn’t help but wonder which one was “Baby” and which one was “Sporty.” They were more like Menudo than Michael, manufactured bubble gum without any true artistry.  I would recommend you watch their video “Nobody” which has been watched over 41 million times to get a sense of their global appeal! And while I have no doubt this group can sell songs and bubble gum today, I’m equally confident the world won’t be talking about them a decade from now.

More to come.

Carol Phillips, a Notre Dame professor and President of Brand Amplitude, provided some great insights into Millennials, the focus of Sunday’s conversation. According to Phillips, Millennials are:

• not as likely to engage with advertising
• excellent filters
• unless there is a coupon or something in it for them, they won’t bother following brands
• reject ads that don’t mean anything to them (DN: what group doesn’t?)
• will accept ads on phone if they get free stuff
• they actually love brands and they talk about brands
• they use brands to express their identity
• more brand conversations that older consumers
• brands that go their own way resonate w them
• brands trying to be cool can be uncool
• Lady Gaga is an exemplary Millennial brand
• striving to be awesome
• delaying by marriage and buying cars
• unique personal narratives will define then

Carol noted that for Millennials, brands happen at intersection of culture. She pointed out that NASA has done an especially good job of appealing to them.  As proof, she showed NASA’s engagement on Twitter, Facebook and Slideshare presentations created by four Millennials on why NASA was relevant.  AstroMike, a NASA character, garnered over 1 million followers on Twitter.  NASA also orchestrated a geo-caching scavenger hunt partnering with location-based service Gowalla. For Millenials, engagement begins with discovery and ends with advocacy. So the challenge for marketers is to figure out how to “be found” to get Millennials to tell your story.  As Carol put it, “its not what you say, its what you do.”

More to come.

I ask for little
when twenty buys a full year
of fresh clean water.

You drink it daily
like water from a faucet.
What if you could not?

Help the Bayaka
get a well and get well too.
Hope springs eternal.

There is nothing funny about not having fresh clean water. Without it, there is little hope. Yet, if laughter cleanses the soul, then maybe the haiku series below will inspire you to help me help the Bayaka. To see a video of the first well being drilled for the Bayaka, click here.

Thanks for reading this,

Drew

A Collection of Jewish Haiku

After the warm rain
the sweet smell of camellias.
Did you wipe your feet?

Lacking fins or tail
the gefilte fish swims with
great difficulty.

Yom Kippur — Forgive
me, Lord, for the Mercedes
and all that lobster.

The same kimono
the top geishas are wearing:
got it at Loehmann’s.

Sorry I’m not home
to take your call. At the tone
please state your bad news.

Is one Nobel Prize
so much to ask from a child
after all I’ve done?

Today, mild shvitzing.
Tomorrow, so hot you’ll plotz.
Five-day forecast: feh

Left the door open
for the Prophet Elijah.
Now the cat is gone.

Quietly murmured
at Saturday services –
Yanks 5, Red Sox 3.

Spirits Make Biggest Cuts in A&P Spending

A new report from Deutsche Bank’s Jamie Isenwater says that the spirits sector has taken a short-term approach by cutting their marketing budgets during the downturn, which almost guarantees it will be expensive to rebuild once the environment improves. In the last 6 months, Pernod Ricard (Sell), Diageo (Hold), AB Inbev (Hold) and Campari (Hold) cut A&P the furthest out of 30 European and US consumer staples companies, while Beiersdorf (Buy), Unilever (Buy), Henkel (Buy) and L’Oreal (upgraded to Buy) invested the most aggressively.

Jamie says that Pernod and Diageo cut their organic marketing spend by -24% and -18% respectively in the first half of calendar 2009. “We remain underweight Beverages with a particular caution on Spirits given the aggressive cutting of A&P spend seen on the back of the downturn,” said Jamie. “We see little earnings rebound for the Spirits sector as a result and struggle to see where earnings upgrades are likely to come from. Pernod Ricard remains a key Sell recommendation and we see little upside to Diageo at current levels.”

LOWER A&P EQUALS LOWER MARGINS. “When we analyze our entire consumer staples dataset we find a similar result – companies that cut A&P see their operating margins fall over time,” said Jamie.

The note points to a McGraw-Hill study of the early 1980s recession that says “companies that maintained or increased their advertising spend in 1980-81 grew over 50% faster in 1982 than those who cut spend and grew over three times faster by 1985. Whilst it may not be entirely surprising that increasing A&P, increases sales growth…a study of the PIMS (Profit Impact of Market Strategy) database shows that those companies who increased marketing spend also increased profits and returns post-recession.”

Deutsche Bank realizes that “in a difficult environment it can be very tempting for companies to cut marketing spend to protect profitability,” but that “the benefits of the cost savings are short-lived with profits dipping in the following year and again the year after as marketing spend needs to be rebuilt.”

Why is A&P spending so important? Deutsche believes it’s because “consumers are prepared to pay higher prices for brands they like and trust.”

Bottom line–spending cuts may help not help bottom line after all!

1. Does your target Digg your ads?

If zapping tv spots wasn’t bad enough, now Digg is allowing their readers to essentially vote ads “off the island” while promoting the ones they like to star status. For the undug, Digg is the highly popular tech-focused news site where the stories are chosen by the users—the more Diggs a story gets, the higher it ranks on the site. And now that ads can be Digged or Buried, marketers will get real time feedback on the relative appeal of their ads to this highly influential target. If you’re targeting techies, this could be the cheapest copy test you ever tried, as well as the most eye opening.

2. Is your marketing worth retweeting?

While the joys of tweeting may still escape you personally, the phenomenal reach of Twitter is undeniable. In addition to the 20 million or so global users, tweets now appear as status updates on Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo and other social networks, extending Twitter’s influence to just about everyone marketers might want to reach. This isn’t kid stuff either. Professionals between 35–49 are the biggest tweeters of them all. So, if you create marketing worth tweeting about, the world will find out about it faster than you can say, “Wow that’s tweet.”

3. Do interns handle your social media?

This is not a trick question. We’ve been asked this a lot in the last month and it is a reflection of a naive belief that it is okay to put a brand’s social media campaign in the hands of novices. One senior marketer even told us that his company uses interns for all of their social media and then shrugs off the lost intellectual capital when the interns move on. As social media advances from the experimental phase to the front lines of customer relationship management, building and maintaining expertise is essential to optimizing results and avoiding PR nightmares. After all, would you ever put an intern on the phone with the press or your top customers?

4. How many customer “love letters” do you get a week?

It is a simple fact—beloved brands do better. Becoming beloved requires achieving customer satisfaction on the basics (product quality) and somehow exceeding expectations via service. Zappos calls this delivering “wow” and does this wherever they can. The Apple Store does this with its amazingly knowledgeable squad of orange-shirted concierges. Others use Marketing as Service to foster brand love, as HSBC does with the BankCab, whose riders send at least one love letter every week. So ask yourself, what could your marketing be doing (versus saying) to generate this kind of passion?

5. Do you have an app yet?

2009 was the year of the app rush for marketers. Everyone from Blockbuster to ZipCar, Betty Crocker to Starbucks, and Fandango to The Food Network cooked up mobile apps for their prospects and customers. In fact, well over a hundred brands joined the fun, some with pragmatic extensions of their service offering (like FedEx mobile) and others with engaging entertainment to enhance their brand perceptions (like Scion’s AV Radio). Given the low development costs of mobile apps and the millions of smart phone users, there is still time to get app happy. And while you’re at it, check out the newly launched CALL THE SHOTS iPhone app that Renegade developed for HARLEM, the new ice cold shot drink imported from Holland. It’s fun, it’s free and it’ll answer the question—how lucky are you really?

6. Did you know Renegade moved?

Back in September we said goodbye to Chelsea Market, our home for 10 years and moved to our new digs in the heart of Greenwich Village, just south of Bowlmor Lanes and north of Patsy’s Pizza. It seems that a few of you might not have our new address so here it is: 41 E 11th Street, 3F, NY, NY 10003-4602. Our phone numbers haven’t changed and we look forward to seeing you soon.

Happy New Year!

This much I know–the Tiger Woods-Accenture partnership was as good as it gets for brand campaigns. Launching in 2003 with the umbrella tagline “High Performance. Delivered.”, Tiger symbolized high performance delivered like no other man alive. In 2006, Accenture took their focus on performance one step further by offering up the wisdom they gained by studying 500 high performing companies. The results of this study were made available to clients and prospects elevating the campaign beyond mere branding to something of genuine value.

At this point they also evolved their theme line to the fateful “We know what it takes to be a Tiger.” I guarantee you that up until two weeks ago every Accenture employee around the world loved being associated with the greatest golfer on the planet. His standard of excellence, his clutch performance tournament after tournament undoubtedly inspired Accenture employees to deliver day after day. Accenture stands alone in its category thanks to Tiger. Now that they have dropped Tiger, they are unlikely to find a campaign that will score (pun intended) on so many levels.

For the most part, I’m not a fan of brand campaigns because they offer very little genuine value to the consumer. Most people tune them out because they talk at the consumer and don’t encourage a dialog. That said, a few cut through because of the massive media weight they receive and or the magnetic presence of a celebrity like Tiger. Of those types of brand campaigns, believe it or not, my favorite was Accenture’s use of Tiger Woods.

Undoubtedly the Tiger campaign hastened the demise of BearingPoint who’s sponsorship of Phil Mickelson paled in comparison. Tiger out drove Phil on and off the course. It wasn’t even competitive. Accenture is on the map. BearingPoint is out of business. And both were started within a year of each other. When BearingPoint started to go downhill, its consultants simply walked out with their clients because neither had allegiance to the brand. The Accenture brand, on the other hand, is bigger than any single consultant, thanks in large part to its association with Tiger.

Admittedly the Tiger brand is now tarnished. Can Tiger redeem himself? Of course. America loves come back stories. Look at Robert Downey, Jr. Look at Hugh Grant. Look at A-Rod. He just needs to take a page out of the Scarlet Letter, the Nathaniel Hawthorne classic in which the heroine is forced to wear an A for Adulterer on her sweater but through her good deeds transforms it into A for Able and ultimately A for Angel. I fully expect Tiger to regain the good graces of his golfing fans sometime soon. While I can’t predict how long this will take, I can say with certainty that the A on his chest will no longer stand for Accenture.

RadioShack to launch rebranding effort as The Shack

RadioShack is trying to turn up the volume on its image by turning off the “Radio” and calling itself “The Shack.” Not to be confused with the Shaq who’s famous in basketball circles, The Shack apparently is a nickname that employees, customers and investors have used for RadioShack.

The Fort Worth-based consumer electronics chain’s rebranding effort begins Thursday with a national television, print and digital campaign and the start of a three-day launch event in New York’s Times Square and San Francisco’s Justin Herman Plaza.

The bicoastal hoopla will include 14-foot laptops hooked up to webcams for live video and audio exchanges. The company isn’t changing the name of its stores. Chief marketing officer Lee Applbaum said the nickname is an attempt at “contemporizing the way we want people to think about our brand.”

“The Shack speaks to consumers in a fresh, new voice and distinctive creative look that reinforces RadioShack’s authority in innovative products, leading brands and knowledgeable, helpful associates,” he said. The company believes it has “tremendous equity in consumers’ minds around cables, parts and batteries,” Applbaum said. Now it needs to get consumers thinking about its ability to keep them “connected in this highly mobile world.”

Ads in the campaign will focus on mobility and wireless products from AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Apple, BlackBerry and Samsung. “Radio Shack is in a desperate battle to remain relevant,” said Drew Neisser, chief executive of Renegade, a New York-based brand marketing agency.

“The name RadioShack is a quaint artifact in a rapidly evolving marketplace in which mobile devices have become the CE [consumer electronics] portal. Using The Shack as a nickname is a bid to update its image and represent the passion loyalists have for the brand,” he said.

However, company leaders may be “hedging their bets,” he said.

When Federal Express decided to become FedEx, consumers had already been calling the company that, and using the shortened name was a no-brainer, Neisser said.

“If consumers are really already using The Shack, then why not commit fully?” he said. “The only reason I can think of is that they are worried about abandoning the awareness and any positive equity remaining with their old name.” Using The Shack in ads only, “the whole thing could come across as forced at best and confusing at worst,” Neisser said.

The creative campaign was developed by Butler, Shine, Stern and Partners of Sausalito, Calif., which was named RadioShack’s creative agency of record in April.

In a sense, we’ve all been depriving ourselves of the sunshine that comes with optimism, talking about the recession as if it was an inexorable force, a cloud that simply couldn’t be blown away. We’ve bathed in recession-strategies, cynical proclaiming that a “crisis is a terrible thing to waste.” Enough already. As far as I’m concerned this recession is over.

That’s right, you heard it here first: The recession is over. Now go tell someone else. And encourage them to do the same. Think of this as a logarithmic round of “pay it forward.” The more we tell each other that the recession is over, the more we will start to believe it and the more we believe it the more real it will be.

Of course, I have no rational evidence to support this proclamation. In fact, rationality has nothing to do it. What we need now is seismic emotionality. What we need now is a tremor of mini-indulgences and perhaps an earthquake of irrational exuberance. Meet a friend at Starbuck’s and splurge on Venti Caramel Frapuccino with whipped cream just because. It’ll do you both good.

No, I did not suddenly take some happy pills. Consumer sentiment is the fuel that drives our economic engine. When we feel better, we spend. And up until recently, we’ve been reveling in our collective misery, and turning penuriousness into an oh-so-chic art form. Enough is enough. Everything is on sale. Buy something already. Nothing like a little retail therapy to shed this malaise.

Earlier I mentioned that I had no rational evidence that the recession is over. And that is true but there is plenty of evidence that our worst days are behind us. In April, consumer confidence actually “soared past forecasts” according to this Yahoo News article. Investor confidence is also growing as the Dow spends a couple of months over 8,000 and the world markets show significant gains. Add it all together and its time to shave those recession beards and let the sun shine in.

1. Where to start

• Register on Twitter.com and provide a complete profile since this will make it easier for people to decide if they want to follow you.
• I recommend you use your full name since this is not about cuteness or anonymity but rather connecting with people you might actually want to meet or at least have a conversation with at some point.
• The next thing I’d recommend is that you download TweetDeck and use this to tool as home base for all your twittering instead of Twitter.com. TweetDeck makes it easy to track the folks you follow, have direct conversations and to “retweet” which I’ll explain more about later.
• When you start visiting other Twitter home pages, you will notice many of have interesting backgrounds or more information. Zugara has created an easy tool to customize your background if you are so inclined.

2. Finding twitterers to follow

• The great thing about Twitter is that you can follow people from all walks of life and it is completely up to you the mix of people you choose to follow.
• To get started, pick a personal passion and a professional passion and look for lists of Twitterers in those areas. You can search for names or topics on Twitter Search.
• Send an email to your peers/friends and ask them if they Twitter. If they do, then go to their Twitter home pages and see who they follow (look for the tiny head shots on the lower right). Then click on some of these head shots and look at those people’s Twitter home page to see if their Tweets interest you. If they do, hit the follow button on the upper left.
• Then look at who these people follow. Ultimately, you start to find the superstars of Twitter who have thousands of followers but only follow a select few. Here’s a list of the Twitter elite according to Twitter Grader. Also, Paul Dunay has compiled lists of C Level Twitterers that is worth reviewing.
• Word of caution–be selective initially about who you follow. It takes a lot of time to follow a lot of people and it may overwhelm you to try to follow too many at first.  One quick means of evaluating a potential tweeter is the ratio of followers to following–beware of the ones who follow thousands but only have a few followers.

3. Read, retweet, share links then share thoughts

• My recommendation is that you spend you first couple of days just reading Tweets to get the hang of it. If you are following people that say interesting things and post interesting links, you will find it endlessly fascinating.
• Then start retweeting or RT. This is the equivalent to forwarding an email and this is very easy on TweetDeck. Just hit the retweet button and then post. Retweeting is a way of paying respect to the author and sharing goodness at the same time..
• I spend much of my time on Twitter reading the articles that others share via links. Because tweets are so short, a whole industry (like TinyURL.com which allows you to create aliases for your shortened URLs) has popped up to reduce the length of these links. Tweetdeck has a built in tool for shortening URLs but sometimes I find it easier to use Twurl which sits right on my Firefox browser. You can download Twurl from TweetBurner which has a bunch of other useful tools.
• Now start tweeting away. My suggestion is that you only tweet about what you’d want to read about. Keep the “I’m eating bagels for breakfast” tweets to a minimum. Honestly, no one really cares unless you’re Barack Obama or Britney Spears (for more celebs who Twitter click here.)
• Once you build a following, you will find all sorts of ways to make Twitter work for you (see my blog post for a few suggestions).

4. Playing catch up

• Twitip.com, Mashable and Twitfacts have tons of useful information about Twitter and will get you connected with all the latest uses, add-ons, variations and extensions.
• Both Blackberry and iPhone have Twitter applications that make mobile tracking and tweeting a breeze.
• Among the essentials add-ons is Twitpic for photo sharing.
• If you are so inclined, you can update your Facebook, Plaxo status and your WordPress blog with your Twitter posts. I have found this to be useful since it simply extends the reach of my tweets and keeps those other pages fresher.
• Once you get the hang of it and start to attract followers, I have found it useful to create an auto response to welcome followers. Some consider this bad form but for busy people it is far better than doing nothing. Tweetburner makes setting up an auto response fairly easy.
• Since you will quickly notice a number of Twitter words like hashtag, tweme, tweetup, and twirt that may not make sense to you, you’ll find this twictionary worth bookmarking.

That should get you started. Have fun tweeps.

Renegade, the New York-based digital agency, announced Thursday that it will operate as a newly independent company.

Dentsu Holdings USA, Inc. has sold its majority interest in the company to Renegade CEO and Co-founder, Drew Neisser. The deal–a result of the directional evolution of both companies–is both amicable and mutually beneficial, according to the companies.

“We believe that being independent will elevate the entrepreneurial spirit that is especially important in this challenging economic environment,” Neisser said. “Without the support of Dentsu over the years, we would not have been able to build the type of organization that we have today. Renegade has always been about helping clients get maximum impact out of limited resources. Being independent will make us that much more resourceful.”–Tanya Irwin 

The Renegade Is Loose. We Repeat, the Renegade Is Loose.

The Secret Service takes a lot of risks for the first family. So it’s only fair that the agency gets the honor of coming up with code names for the president-elect and his family. Various sources within the Buzz recently revealed the not-so-secret nicknames. [DREW NOTE--according to Wikipedia, the White House Communications Agency actually comes up with the codenames!]

Mr. Obama will be known as “Renegade” (move over, Lorenzo Lamas). Michelle, a woman of many talents, will be referred to as “Renaissance.” Malia Obama’s name will be “Radiance,” while little sister Sasha’s will be “Rosebud.”

Former Renegade, Rich Ullman who recognizes opportunity when he sees it, asks “now, what are you going to do with it?” Well, great question, Rich. First, let me assure we are delighted with the Secret Service’s selection and honored to share that name with the President-elect but of course, we will be expecting royalties;-) Second, I am working on my annual predictions letter which will be entitled, The Year of the Renegade and will feature hoops as the annual metaphor. Third, for the moment, there is not third. Any thoughts? I’ve got signed photos of my Obumkin and one unused Obama for President bumper sticker for the best idea out there.

While you’re thinking up ideas, here’s a list of secret service names for past president’s. Can you guess who’s who? For the answers, click here.

• Scorecard or Providence
• Lancer
• Volunteer
• Searchlight
• Pass Key
• Lock Master
• Rawhide
• Timberwolf
• Eagle
• Tumbler

Thanks to Jason Wurtzel for spotting these when they first arrived in the city on November 3rd. Not knowing anything about the program at that moment, I neglected to post Jason’s shots (see below) or to feel any sense of flattery since these were another attempt to copy the HSBC BankCab, which I might add is in its sixth year of driving loyalty to The World’s Local Bank.

Still on the case, Jason then forwarded this snippet about the cabs on The Gothamist:

The Tylenol (global?) “Warming Taxis” will take you anywhere in Manhattan, today through Sunday, from noon to 8 p.m. Your best shot of catching one is heading to a CVS at 630 Lexington, 540 Amsterdam, 272 8th or 307 6th Avenues and waiting for a stranger in a white car to offer you a lift and some Tylenol.

One weekend? Is that really supposed to heat up our feelings about Tylenol? As the Renegade behind the BankCab, that just plain hurts. It wasn’t even a cold weekend by November standards so the warming part fell flat. J&J, a usually savvy marketer, should know better than to treat Marketing as Service as a Band-Aid or perhaps they got ripped off by an unlicensed guerrilla practitioner.

Introduction to Social Media
Here’s the definition of social media marketing from Frog Design’s blog that I used to start the discussion:

Social media marketing is all marketing that utilizes the social graph of both marketer and audience (in fact, the interesting thing is that they can be one and the same) to facilitate and cultivate a conversation. Social marketing is whenever more than two individuals collaborate online or offline for content generation and distribution. Social marketers harness the viral power of social networks in order to grow both the frequency and the reach of conversations exponentially. They know how to feed the social orbit with content that catalyzes conversations. And they understand that an “architecture of participation,” that lets employees be marketers, has become paramount for turning brands into live brands.

Social Media Numbers (or why CMO’s should care)

• 62% of consumers actively seek out and read customer reviews prior to purchase
• 82% of consumers found reading reviews better than researching a product in-store
• 60% of Americans use social media
• 59% interact with companies via social media; 25% do so once a week or more
• 93% of those that use SM believe companies should too
• 56% feel stronger connection to companies that they interact with via SMcompanies should use social networks to solve my problems
• 43% believe companies should use social networks to solve my problems
• 41% believe companies should solicit feedback on their products/services
• 37% want more ways to interact with companies

Renegade also created a Social Media IQ test for these CMO’s at CMOquiz.com which may be of interest.

1. Good is the enemy of great
   • It requires the hearts of lions and the courage of elephants
   • Decline is typically self-inflicted
2. Over night successes are typically 20 years in the making
   • Striving for great is a cumulative never ending process
   • “the moment we think we’re great, we’re dead”
   • If growth exceeds ability to hire great people, you’re in big trouble
3. Must have the right people on the bus even before you decide where you’re going
   • Hire self-motivated people who are committed to doing whatever it takes
   • The “plow horse” typically beats the “show horse” when it comes to great CEOs
   • Have the discipline to confront the brutal facts
4. Find your “hedgehog” concept
   • What are you truly passionate about?
   • What can you be the best in the world at?
   • What is the economic denominator that will make the business competitive?

He ended with a to do list for all the attendees, especially the CEO’s in the audience. Here’s his 10-point to do list that I somehow turned into 11 points:

1. Assess your company’s strengths and weakness (with the Good to Great diagnostic tool on jimcollins.com)
2. Figure out the key “seats” on your business “bus” and calculate the percentage of those seats that are filled with the right people and then make an action plan for improving that percentage
3. Establish your own personal “board of directors” that can advise like “tribal elders”
4. Get some young people “in your face” to challenge your perspective on things
5. Build an internal council for key decision making
6. Ask more questions; make fewer statements (he suggested doubling the quantity of questions & repeated some advice given to him years back–spend more time being interested and less time being interesting!)
7. Turn off your electronic devices and schedule time just to think
8. Create a stop doing list (eliminate the stuff you don’t need to do yourself so you can focus on contribution)
9. Forget titles and focus on responsibilities (titles are inherently limiting and responsibilities ensure jobs get done)
10. Make sure your core values are solid and that you and your team are following them
11. Set BHAG (big hairy audacious goals) for 10, 15, 25 year horizons (establish the risks and then remove them).

Collins also recommended tracking down John Gardner’s book from 1984 called Personal and Organizational Renewal (which could take some work since Amazon notes it is out of print.)  So, who’s ready to be great?

Lest we forgot me hardies, marketing is a battle for hearts, minds and share points. Make your brand strong enough and the battle is easier. You need to fly your brand flag high and often so everyone knows exactly what it stands for. Create unforgettable brand experiences and the word will get around, your prospects will become customers and your customers brand advocates.

So, aarr you ready to join me in celebratin’ International Talk Like a Pirate Day?

Vinyl by Vera: As a first time Olympic host, China was determined to dazzle the world on and off the playing fields. And dazzle they did. I had the pleasure of visiting six venues and each was stunning inside and out. Colorful vinyl graphics spruced up normally dull stadium interiors and architecturally-intriguing structures like the swimming Cube and the Birds Nest were simply stunning. If I owned a stadium, I sure would be studying the Chinese efforts–a little colorful vinyl can cover up architectural short-comings and lift the spirits of all inside.

Landscaping by Disney: Imagine one of the world’s largest cities was landscaped like Disneyworld and you probably still couldn’t picture the floral beauty that enveloped Beijing. Every street, and I mean every street, had perfectly manicured hedges surrounded by perfectly arranged flowers. Red and green flower trees dotted key intersections. Even construction sites were beautified with obfuscating walls covered with colorful Olympic graphics. Rainbow banners hung from every street lamp and road sign. Bright red lanterns hung from most retail establishments. Every tourist spot like Tienanmen Square, the largest public plaza in the world, had Olympic displays that looked like winning floats from the Pasadena Rose Parade.

No Ad Pollution: Following in the lead of Sao Paulo, Brazil which banished all of its billboard in 2007, the Beijing Olympic Committee (BOCOG) used its authority to rid the city of all extraneous billboards. The few remaining boards were all Olympic related, either for the TOP sponsors like Panasonic, Coke and Visa, or for the Beijing Olympics themselves. While this was probably a sad decision for the Chinese out-of-home advertising industry, it certainly illuminated the jarring clutter you often seen in big cities. The elimination of outdoor also increased the visibility of all the new buildings including the amazing CCTV arch and the
torch-shaped building where evidently the athletes stayed.

Lower Air Pollution: For the record, my eyes started to burn the minute I landed in smog shrouded Beijing. After the second day, I felt a constant irritation to my nasal passages. It wasn’t until the third day that I actually saw a bit of the sun. Remarkably, those who spend a lot of time in Beijing, said that the week I was there was the clearest and lowest smog levels they had seen in Beijing in many years. I didn’t feel compelled to wear a face mask like the US cycling team but I couldn’t certainly appreciate their desire to protect their lungs. Take a look at the sky in the picture below (CCTV building) and you’ll have a pretty good sense of the constant shroud Beijingers live with pretty much all year round.

Bottom line–China put on an amazing show. Now how great would it be if the second act involved cleaning up their polluted country. Turns out that is going to take a lot more effort than even the “we can do it all” government of China expected.

Chumby–got to love the name of this “compact wi-fi device that displays useful and entertaining information from the web,” according to its website. Who needs a clock radio when you can use this puppy as the ultimate Internet radio player via a wi-fi connection. At $180 bucks, it feels like a great belated father’s day gift for this gadget lover.

Kindle-One of my clients swears by his Kindle, using it to read his virtual New York Times daily and business books when he is on the road. Developed and sold by Amazon, this nifty device will certainly save trees and cut down on your need for new shelves as it provides wi-fi access to over 130,000 books. It is definitely one of those things that is best experienced first hand and at $360 dollars plus a subscription its hardly a impulse purchase. Nonetheless, I could easily see this on my side table in the not too distant future.

Nokia N800 Internet Tablet-According to CNET, this wireless wonder “is a nice, portable device for on-the-go Web browsing, and it has some worthy upgrades.” Not exactly a rave but at $279, this little puppy won’t set you back too much if you simply want a “travel friendly” gadget for Internet surfing and want to garner a few covetous stares in the airport lounges.

There are many others but I’ve got to get back to work. Be sure to let me know about any existing devices you crave and/or ideas for topping these three before the end of the month.�

I voted at 7:45 this morning. As I came out, a man from a local radio station was doing a “Democratic Donut” poll. He asked me to show who I voted for by choosing a chocolate donut (Obama) or a white powdered sugar donut with pink frosting (Hillary). (I refrained from commenting on the racial stereotyping thing with the donuts.)

Anyway, only 45 minutes after the polls had opened, in downtown Pittsburgh, Hillary was almost two dozen donuts ahead of Obama.  In fact, the Hillary donut boxes were almost empty.

Me? I have white powdered sugar all over my suit now.

Talk about tasty research!  Who needs needs Gallup when donuts can predict a slam dunk.

Mr. Pausch also recently published a book called The Last Lecture that is getting favorable reviews across the country. Here’s some background on the book from the Detroit Free Press:

Pausch, a professor at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University, isn’t about dying, however. He’s about living. Living for his wife and their three young children. Living a good life as long as he can.

A now-famous lecture he gave at Carnegie in September has inspired millions who have viewed it on YouTube to follow his example. He hopes his new book, “The Last Lecture” (Hyperion, $21.95), published this week, will do the same. His publisher is banking on “Lecture ” to become the next “Tuesdays With Morrie,” the mega-best-seller by Free Press columnist Mitch Albom about another dying professor.

It all sounds terrible sad. Amazingly and to his enduring credit, it isn’t. My daughter took many of his suggestions to heart. Of course, she instantly asked to paint her room in response to his suggestion for parents to let their kids be creative and pursue their dreams (I consented!). She also took note about how Professor Pausch had gotten himself admitted to Carnegie Mellon for graduate school after having been rejected. You can imagine how relevant this was to a high school junior who is well aware that the high class of 2009 could face the highest rejection rate in the history of college admissions (the class of ’08 did).

I loved his description of a brick wall as simply a test of how badly you want something. I also found myself checking my own dream list just to make sure I hadn’t written too many of them off (and yes, there is still time for me to learn to surf!) So as you approach this weekend, perhaps it is time to review your personal dream list. If not now, when?

Recognizing the importance of safe water in our daily lives and the billions of people who are still without access to these basic human rights, LifeStraw® was developed as a practical response to the urgency, and confirms our commitment to achieving the MDGs.

Mobilising LifeStraw® offers relief from waterborne diseases of major public concern such as typhoid, cholera, dysentery and diarrhea. As a personal and mobile water purification tool, LifeStraw® is designed to turn most of the surface water into drinking water, thus providing access to safe water wherever you are.

Happened to see inventor Dean Kamen (also founded F.I.R.S.T. robotic competition) on Colbert Report last week demonstrating his amazing water purifier (a far more expensive & robust system than the LifeStraw) and was reminded about it by this email from fellow a Renegade (thanks Phil!):

Dean Kamen, best known for inventing the Segway, unveiled his latest invention on the Colbert Report— a filtration system that will turn any liquid into pure water without the use of any filters or chemicals. The necessity for the invention arose from the fact that 50% of human disease can be attributed to pathogens in drinking water, a number he hopes his invention will erase. Kamen’s inventions have always inspired me because they are intended to sustain or improve human life rather than pursue wealth through consumer products like most inventors.

The necessity of this invention far surpasses that of any alternative fuel source we may be in the process of developing. If you think about all of the blood that has been shed for oil, just imagine what chaos would unfold around the world if there was no longer fresh water to drink. To put it simply— this is huge.

VERY DIFFERENT SUBJECT–AFTER ALL THIS IS THE MUSINGS SECTION

To water things down a bit, I thought I’d spout about Arcade Fire’s latest web video which is as cool and interactive as their last one. This time you get to manipulate six music tracks via your #1 through #6 keys as the “Melville-like” video progresses. The song is called Black Mirror and the URL for the video is oh so cleverly… rorrimkcalb.com/arcadefire.html (read about this in Creativity.) One word of warning, you will have some time to look in the mirror as you wait for this site to load…

Stretch your dollars and enhance your brand by reaching out to non-profits organizations. Non-profits are already feeling the pinch of the slowing economy as their supporters cut back on donations. This happens in every downturn and is really painful for the non-profits who continue to perform an incredible range of socially beneficial services. Mobilize your employees and your customers behind the non-profit you truly believe in and you will be amazed at the good will and good business you will do as a result. The non-profits will be so grateful for your support that they will bend over backwards to ensure you achieve your business goals not just now but for many years to come. It may seem counterintuitive to increase your CSR (corporate social responsibility) now BUT that is exactly why it is worth considering. Your employees will undoubtedly respond with increased loyalty that should also translate into higher productivity.

Of course, as with each of my suggestions, there is a right way and a wrong way. The right way starts by making a sincere commitment like MAC cosmetics and their Viva Glam products which generate thousands of dollars in donations to the MAC Aid Fund. The connection between MAC and Aids is long-standing and sincere. If you plan to partner with a non-profit, think in terms of five and ten year horizons, not a quick hit and run. Consumers have wised up to pretenders and can see an insincere commitment a mile a way.

The wrong way starts with the cry “hey we need a charity” like the one Diet Coke seems to have made with their highly advertising (they bought on the Academy Awards) women’s heart health program. I’m still trying to figure that one out. Okay, let’s see, a lot of women drink Diet Coke and a subset of them may be concerned about their heart health. Hmm. So drink Diet Coke and we’ll donate to the Heart Health Foundation. The link between brand and the non-profit seems tenuous at best and the commitment feels paper thin.

So, here’s the truth–while the Diet Coke connection to Heart Health Foundation feels fake to me, I honestly have no clue if indeed it is. If any of you know better, let me know. Unlike the webinar, blogs are a great way to find/get the truth–you straightened me out about Aveda and can do it again here.

My stops included about 20 different blogs including Noah’s sister’s (she’s blogging about blogs for her college thesis–oh those Briers!) and a Belgian site called BuzzingBee that posted a very funny Volkswagen ad that features a singing dog. Adverblog encouraged a visit to this “hearing test” from the Norwegian Red Cross, one of the cleverest appeals I’ve seen in a long time. They manage to get their message across in an entirely unexpected way–wonder if anyone will find it annoying–I can’t say more without ruining the experience for you.

Speaking of Brier’s, Noah’s recent post on the new Modernista site is going to get a lot of agency heads thinking about their more conventional “who we are & what we do” sites. This one certainly shows they understand the Web 2.0 world. I just wonder if any prospective clients will find what they’re looking for–after about 5 minutes of trying, I couldn’t find one example of their work. Of course, this could be irrelevant since the cool factor probably tells the whole story. (20 minutes later) Realizing I probably overlooked something, I went back and found more navigational options in the upper left hand corner. There I located their mission statement, which I absolutely love:

We believe brands are like people. They have hopes. Dreams. Personalities. Insecurities. But ultimately, brands want love, happiness and a long life just like the rest of us.

And, not surprisingly, they develop relationships just like we do. In our experience, people fall in love with brands that know who they are, that have a clear point of view and aren’t afraid to express themselves.

Our most fulfilling relationships are with ambitious brands who are enthusiastic and optimistic about the world they live in. Our mission is to make these brands matter.

From there, I found myself on Laura Ries’ blog reading her thorough commentary on the Starbucks’ closing and her article called “By the numbers or by the brand.” Looking for a way to comment on her story, I ended up joining Newsvine and posted an extensive comment which begs the question, if a comment is posted in the blogosphere and no one is there to read it does that comment really exist? Gotta go walk the dog while you contemplate that one…

• Newsday: If it weren’t so massive, the arrangement of nine full-sized automobiles hung from the top of the Guggenheim’s spiral, might look like a mobile dangling
• NewYorker: Cai Guo-Qiang, the Chinese installation and pyrotechnic artist, recently told me that as a child he had a recurrent
• New York Times: Cars and Gunpowder and Plenty of Noise – New York Times The Guggenheim Museum’s retrospective of the work of the Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang is nothing if not action packed. The galleries are so rife with the

The guy paints with gun powder. He suspends hurling wolves, exploding cars and arrow-riddled ships. You gotta see it to believe it. And for you Olympic fans, Cai Guo-Qiang is responsible for the pyrotechnics at the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Games (August 8-25, 2008).

In the last week, I’ve received several emails encouraging me to check out various videos for Obama and for Hillary. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised given my party affiliation that the McCain camp has left me alone (we’ll see if that continues after the conventions). I already wrote about the massive success of Obama’s “Yes We Can” music video. On Friday I received an interesting request from a strong Hillary supporter (and good friend) to not only check out a website but also pass it on to friends in specific states (“especially to Ohio, Texas, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wyoming and Mississippi”).

Since video views on YouTube appears to be a new measure of campaign momentum (and Barack appears to be winning this popularity contest hands down), my friend’s email also included a link to a YouTube site. Unfortunately for the Clinton campaign, she appears to be losing the viral vote. A quick review of various pro-Hillary videos on YouTube suggests that her most watched segment has only garnered 160,000+ views. Compare that to the over 5 million of Obama’s “Yes We Can” music video on YouTube and another 6 million or so on DipDive.com it is easy to see who’s got the “big mo” with the viral vote.

Since comedy also plays a part with the viral vote (remember “this land is your land”), I also wanted to share a bit of light satire that compares Barack and Hillary. Clearly, the creators of this are fans of the former as continuous clicking on the solitary headlines reveals lines like “Barack Obama subscribed to your feed” and “Barack Obama built you a robot.” The complementary but not complimentary Hillary site offers up such lines as “Hillary knows all the words to all Celine Dion songs” and inside jokes like “Hillary voted for Sanjaya,” a reference to a not so gifted American Idol contestant. Don’t forget to click on the headlines to see a broad set and to seek out your pop-culture maven if you don’t understand a particular reference (my son caught one of the references to a Lost, the TV show, character).

I’m sure you’ve seen other examples of the viral vote in action. Keep ‘em coming.

UPDATE 2/28/07 from MEDIAWEEK:

As crunch time approaches in the Texasand Ohio primaries, Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama has
launched an aggressive local Web campaign and first major Web effort by a presidential candidate to incorporate video. Mediaweek’s Mike Shields and Katy Bachman have the story.

For more details, and for breaking news throughout the day, go to http://www.elabs2.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=cc4,17l8,21,m887,kn0v,646q,7zwm