The Process of Elimination

You can usually tell when a company's been around for awhile.  Look around at layer after layer of processes, implemented to improve business efficiencies.  Generally, the older the company, the thicker the process.  And the more they're drowning in them.

The problem is, when the process trumps change, you can quickly find yourself old and behind the times, getting smacked around by a bunch of start-ups, beholden to nothing and no one.  The processes that were put in place to make the work better, and our working lives easier, ultimately become stifling, especially when allowed to exist without question.

But the leaders many times are the architects, and have the most to lose from their destruction.  So, what then?  Is the process the most important, or is the evolution/revolution of the final product?

So, I ask this of you management types - Force your employees to question you.  Find time to throw out the process altogether, and challenge your employees to do better.  Make them fight for their ideas ferociously, and give them the room to implement and improve on them.

Making the most badass product will always be more important than those extra few minutes it takes to get there.

New Adventures in Jackassery

It's always interesting hearing the traditional marketer (meaning traditional in MDS (media-dependency syndrome) and traditional in marketing values) who has begun learning some new technology.  It's kind of cute, really.  And it's obvious when their only intention is to take all their traditional model dogma and implant it into the new technology.  It's advertising 1.0 in a 2.0 world.

You'll know when you see these people because they may say any one of the following phrases:
    "I heard some guy talking about podcasting.  We should try that!!"
    "Can't we just play our regular TV spot on the internet?" 
    "I don't need to use it to market with it."

You get the point.  They get caught up with the fact that things are changing, but point the fingers straight at new technology, without realizing that it's not just the technology, it's what it allows the consumer to do.  It's how it changes our culture, and ultimately how we have to change the fundamental strategy behind the work we do.

Anyway, today, I asked a potential co-worker (this guy probably in his late 40's-ish) if he had a blog, which I thought was a fairly innocuous question, especially for someone trying to tout his new-media savvy.  His appalling answer, "Uhh, No, No I don't, and I don't have a myspace account, either, huh, huh, chuckle, chuckle."  He said it in this condescending way like blogs are just a bunch of teenagers, tech-geeks and creepy old women talking about their doll collections. 

What an ass.  First, Friggin' take a look around, man.  Blogs are changing the way journalists and media conglomerates do business.  It's changing the way we get our news and information.  It's completely leveling the playing field, and this ass thinks it's about MySpace?

And my second problem...Why the hell is he talking shit about MySpace?  MySpace is the fourth most popular site on the web and is on the forefront of the social media revolution. 

Point:  If you think blogs and online social communities are just for kids, then you better not work in marketing.  If you do, QUIT YOUR FUCKING JOB NOW!  And, if you think you don't need to become a part of it to understand and use it, I say again, QUIT YOUR FUCKING JOB NOW!

Well, there's my rant for the day.  I'm all in knots over the Mavericks, and I'm taking it out on this guy, I know, but damnit...

If you want some more thoughts on the subject, Mack, over at Viral Garden, is all about joining the community.

Brewing Debate, User vs. Consumer

Joseph Jaffe's been involving himself in a semantic debate over the terminology User vs. Consumer, so I thought I'd quickly weigh in with my thoughts.

I think it's a little more simple than most people are trying to make it.

A USER is a person who uses your product or service. 

A CONSUMER is someone who consumes your brand.  For example, the consumer may be on different levels of the purchasing cycle, including pre-purchase.  A consumer is not necessarily a user or a customer.  They may just not be there, yet.  The consumer absorbs some aspect of your brand, whether it's the product itself, your brand messaging, their sister-in-law's experience, general word-of-mouth, overall impression of brand, what charities you are involved with, some accounting scandal they read about in the paper, etc.

The point is a consumer is not just a customer or a user, because it is also a potential customer, or a former customer you've already lost.  Only using the terms customer or user immediately eliminates your potential growth areas.

So, debate over?

Music for Your Next Too-Cool-For-School Ad Campaign

Is it Saturday again, already?  Yes, it is, and good for you.  This Saturday, I present to you Tapes 'n Tapes, the newest darlings of the blogosphere.

These Minnesota boys have been causing quite the storm lately taking their blend of Pavement quirk and 70's garage rock to the road in the past few months, and will be opening for The Futureheads in July.

I first found these guys on gorilla vs. bear, a fast-rising must read blog for music lovers.  It's been a couple months of listening now, but these guys are still getting at least 3 or 4 spins a week, which is amazing for me.  It's just damn good rock and roll, and a friggin' fun ride along the way.  Go ahead and start with Just Drums.  I'm a big fan of a band that can make a simple song shred so hard.

Perfect For:  Slow-Motion Montages and Ironic Strobe Lights

Myspace.
Home.

Netscape, by AOL

Now that I've explained the ridculousness of the AOL customer service policy, I'll throw them a little good good, and then a little bad.

AOL released the the new Netscape.com just one day ago, and it took almost no time for the father of Weblogs, inc. and the hero of AOL 2.0 (or 7.9, or whatever) to come seeking the wisdom of the masses.  Jason Calacanis posted this blog earlier today:

In the spirit of making the product better I'd appreciate it if everyone would tell me what they love and hate about the site in the comments below. I'll respond to all of the issues as quick as I can, and you guys can feel free to post responses to each other.

Kudos to Calacanis (he just has one of those last names that begs you to call him by it) for being so quick to ask for feedback, and respond to it.  By not shying away from critisicm, hopefully he'll gain a little more insight, and give himself a bit of a reprieve for improvements.

Netscape, on the other hand, has a long way to go.  The process of coupling traditional journalism with digg journalism shows an understanding of what being a news aggregator of today is, but the user experience left me a little empty.  It reminds me of MSNBC.com more than anything else.  They could have solved some of the clutter by enabling the user to individualize the content to their own tastes and interests.  In short, the motor's running great, but the body has a few dents.

But, with JC at the helm, I expect Netscape to evolve the experience, and if nothing else, become at least a player in the news portal game.  For now, you can catch me over at digg...

AOL sucks, real friggin' bad

AOL's been getting quite the little storm the past few days over a HORRIBLE customer service call, in which a caller was simply trying to cancel his account, but the CS representative simply would not oblige the request.  You can listen to the call here.

The caller cited the fact that he never used AOL, and didn't even have the software installed to use it, but the argumentative rep continually badgered him, arguing that his records, in fact, showed that the account was being used, and even went as far as asking if this guy's father was there, because, he apparently was the primary user when it was still in use, although he was not the owner of the account.

Here's AOL's response to the incident:

At AOL, we have zero-tolerance for customer care incidents like this -- which is deeply regrettable and also absolutely inexcusable. The employee in question violated our customer service guidelines and practices, and everything that AOL believes to be important in customer care -- chief among them being respect for the member, and swiftly honoring their requests. This matter was dealt with immediately and appropriately, and the employee cited here is no longer with the Company.

The response sounds good on the surface, but unfortunately, it's a BOLDFACE LIE.  I also had the joy of canceling an account with AOL.  I signed up for a free month, entirely out of curiosity as to what exactly had become of my old internet partner-in-crime way back in the days of dial-up.  Of course, I never had any intention of keeping it.

This guy got off in 5 minutes.  I got off in over 20.  I said from the beginning that I had absolutely no interest in keeping the service, and even explained to him that I had no interest even when I got it.  He continually tried to sell me on their anti-virus software, which I explained over and over that I had no need for, considering I am very happy with my current service.  He put me on hold 3 times, for god knows why, other than making it as difficult as possible for me to cancel.

What ties these two calls together is the obvious fact that both representatives were at least loosely going off an AOL script.  This is not a story of two rogue representatives, badgering and angering customers into hopefully keeping their account active, it's a company policy.  Honestly, does anyone really believe that these guys could give two shits whether or not you keep the service, unless they were getting paid extra to keep your business, no matter what the method.

AOL should have been more honest and upfront with their policies, and work harder to change them.  Maybe Calacanis needs to take over the Customer Service department, too.  If AOL wants to have a prayer of staying alive in these days of the rebirth of the consumer, then they better quit now, or expect more and more retribution until their bad policy infests the entirety of their business ventures.

(Via Boing Boing)

And some other stories about AOL policy...
NY Attorney General Prods AOL Cancellation Policies
complaints.com
AOL Settles Cancellation Policy Dispute
What Part of 'Cancel' Don't You Understand?

Our Advertising Sucks

No one trusts, nor respects an advertiser.  That's a fact, and we should be ashamed of ourselves because we are the only ones to blame.  We ALL spam.  Every one of us.

Obviously, there's e-mail spam, and most of us agree that it's bad, and the majority of advertisers will scoff at the mention of e-mail marketing as just plain old spam in its lowest form. 

The problem is, it's almost ALL spam.  We spam people every day just to earn an extra buck.  We get slammed by thousands of messages a day, our landscapes are cluttered with ugly billboards, our trees are killed by billions of direct mail pieces overflowing our mailboxes daily.  Our televisions are overrun with shit advertising mostly with a SELL SELL SELL, high pressure attitude.  If it's not apparent on the screen, it's almost always there, just below the surface.  Our newspapers and magazines are a cluttered mess of coupons and messages made for everyone and appealing to no one.  We are all spammers, we all steal time from the people who need it most.  We do our best to sell the consumer by taking away what is most precious to many of them.  And it's time for it to stop.

It's time that we stood up against it, it's time we did what is right.  It's time we pointed fingers and did our best to out the worst of us, and the worst in us all.

Advertising today is impersonal, unethical, annoying, loud, boring, lazy, contrived, controlled, unwanted, hated, feared, cluttered, unavoidable, distrusted. 

If we did away with it all, and started it over, wiped our slates clean and made messages that were permitted, requested, helpful, appealing, engaging, responsive and conversational, then and only then can we regain our trust, and our respect.  Sometimes it's best to lose a few bucks in the short run to win back our customers in the end.

So, I propose this.  Ask yourself a few questions about your next campaign before you give it the green light;

Did I offer the customer something in return for their time?
Was it something they wanted?
Did they ask me to be there?
Did they want me there?
How will I respond to them when they speak up?
Do they trust what I have to say?

We are the only ones who can change our fate, or face retribution from the community in the end.  Responsible marketing doesn't mean just not spamming their e-mail accounts, it also means not spamming their lives.

100 CD's for 100 Bloggers

Mark Mack over at Viral Garden (among others) has an idea of how to make marketing music relevant again in a program he has dubbed 100 CD's for 100 Bloggers.  It's a great idea because it's simple, and uses the wisdom of existing fan bases to spread the word.  It's not spamming en masse, but providing the fans with tools to spread the good word.

The program works like this. First, you search for your biggest fans who also blog.  Second, you send them a CD, personalized by the band, and ask them to review it, no strings attached.  It's a good idea because it's so simple.  It will work because it merely makes it easier for the consumer to do something they want to do anyway.  Here are a few of my suggestions:

1) Expand it past just the one band.  Sure, each band would find their 100 biggest blogging fans, but then they would also receive a second CD, that they would be likely to enjoy, also no strings attached.  Why not try and expand one band's community by tapping into another?  As long as the process is genuine and authentic, not based on who's paying what, it could be an added value, and another win-win.

2) Establish a relationship with these bloggers.  Make it easy for them to talk to you down the road.  If there's another band they'd like to write about, keep the communication open so they have the opportunity to find and talk about the new stuff.  Help establish them as the go-to-person for new music amongst their peers. 

3) Create a conversation with bloggers across different acts.  With their invitation to become a blogger for a band, they also receive an invitation to become part of a deeper communtiy.  Give them access to music, give them access to their favorite musicians, and access to each other.  Make personal contact with these musicians paramount.  Give them the references they need to help them write. 

4) Make it easy for them to pass-along the music itself.  Give them a download link to post a single on their blogs, and pass along that link to their friends and readers, so they can hear it first-hand, and maybe talk about it, too.

This is sort of like on online version of Buzz-Oven, which was started down here in Dallas by Aden Holt, and is about to start up in Austin.  The idea is simple, and much like Mark's 100-4-100, but based less online, and is more about a community of music marketers, and less in engaging existing fans of the bands.

Kudos to Mark Mack for a great idea.  Now, Will anyone actually do it?

Music for Your Next Super-Cool Ad Campaign

And here comes another in my musically-oriented Saturday offerings, with the hope of getting rid of the crap music on most commercials now, and replacing it with some tunes I actually want to hear. We'll focus on Michael Andrews, who might actually be a little more well-known than I'll generally feature, but I hadn't heard of him until three days ago, so I think it still counts.

I found this guy through Myspace, which is really becoming my number one source for finding new music. The number of bands sampling their music there is great resource for people like me who like a constantly replenished musical catalogue.

Andrews has written scores for cult-hit Donnie Darko, as well as Zero Effect, Orange County, and music for tv shows Freaks and Geeks and Fox's short-lived Undeclared.

All of this is news to me, but I want to focus on this record, produced in Andrew's home in Glendale, and recorded completely from the hands of MA, as he played each instrument on the record.

He weaves a beautfiul tapestry of acoustic guitars throughout most of this record, making this the perfect album for lazy Sunday afternoons.  His voice is so relaxing, but the music still seems to move more than meander.  He adds enough quirky hooks to keep it interesting, and uses the keys to provide depth and texture.  It somewhat reminds me of The Sea and Cake meets Sean Lennon, but with a little bit more of a more straight-forward approach than either.  With all of it's complexity, it keeps an organic and simple feel.  It's a real nice, comfortable listen.

Perfect for:  Sunday Afternoons and Road Trips

On Myspace.
Home.
Article on Andrews in LA Weekly.

The Big Winner

The NBA Finals are here. My Mavericks started out by sucking, but still kicking Shaq's no free throw makin' ass, but the real winner here by some accounts seems to be American Airlines.  The fat cats at the hemorrhaging airline will have every game played in their house, with the American Airlines Center in Dallas, and the American Airlines Arena in Miami.

So...so friggin' what?  I really do not in any way understand how this will help them sell any more tickets, ever.  In fact, I can't imagine a bigger waste of money.  If someone could please explain to me, how, just by seeing a name, this moves someone closer to buying a ticket, please enlighten me.  I think I may be the only one who doesn't get it.

Does seeing the name make someone not compare ticket prices?  Would someone actually, when buying a ticket, stop and say, "You know what, I know the AA ticket is 20 dollars more than Delta, but, hey, AA sponsored a stadium.  They can have the extra money!"

Just this first quarter American Airlines has lost 162 million dollars.  Wouldn't it work a little better if they took the 237 million dollars they've spent on these two stadiums and offered a better customer experience.  Maybe they could take a page from Jet Blue's playbook and offer free wireless.  Or maybe they could hire flight attendants that gave a shit.  Or they could make a seat that feels like a lazyboy. (Or they could be like Southwest and start a blog - which is actually surprisingly interesting)

When almost every traveler has the ability to jump online, and see everyone's price in front of them, you have two choices:  Make the product remarkable, or engage in a price war.  In a price war, you're assured to lose more times than you win because eventually, you have to draw the line.  If you spend the money on building a fanworthy experience, more people are more likely to gladly pay the price you set.  Just seeing a sign for your business doesn't have that effect, and never will.

And, yes I know, they probably did get SWEET tickets, but it's probably still not worth it.