Advertising is all about having the most amount of people being slightly more than indifferent to you. It's really hard to make people love you. So, that's where we are. Lots of people. Slightly positive indifference. There you go.
Job well done, Ford. And to you, Sony. And you Old Navy, and Room Store, and Mervyn's, Dillard's and Sprint. To all of you, and many, many more, thanks for making me not care just a little more.
(FYI: Sam, open your eyes, guy, they're still there in the comment thread of this post)
And, I'll add some paragraphing cause, you know, I can...
"You know what I find funny? The fact that you continue to try to get your name "out there" by reliving something that happened 7 months ago. What's wrong Paul? Did the buzz finally die and so you had to recap the whole debacle so that your name appeared again on the front page of searches on Kohls and Google Alerts about Kohls? I also find it funny that in this recap you didn't include some of the comments that customers had left praising their local Kohls. That wouldn't help your story out would it?
Well, here's something new for you. Check out who Forbes is interviewing as one of it's Top 100 companies to work for. That's right, Kohls employees. When you own almost 900 stores there are going to be issues on some level. I find it funny that employees complain about the pay when they are told when the job offer is being made exactly how much they will be paid. Also, check out which company's stock is constantly rising. Yup, you guessed it. Kohls. And with the new Vera Wang line debuting this Fall it will only get better. We will have to wait and see how long you actually leave this comment up since I guess you were too insulted by someone making a strong argument against you to leave my last comment up."
But, from hundreds of comments from Kohl's employees left here and elsewhere, I've seen an overwhelmingly negative sentiment. I don't feel the need to highlight all the good comments because, well, there just weren't enough of them to warrant it.
Good for you for keeping up, Sam. But, get over it. It's just Kohl's. It's not like it happened at Mervyn's or something. Then, the world would truly be over.
Sorry for the mid-week music post, but today is a pretty big one, as far as new music Tuesdays go.
First, the much anticipated freshman album, Marry Me, from St. Vincent released today. It's seriously brilliant. But, you've heard me say enough already.
St. Vincent - Jesus Saves, I Spend (mp3)
St. Vincent - Marry Me (Live from SXSW)
Secondly, Austin's Spoon released the fantastic new album Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. I love me some competing awesomeness with two new records. The video for the first single is a beautifully story of a record studio murder.
Spoon - The Underdog (video)
Git yer pownce invites here. Leave me a comment, and it'll be on the way!
Everybody's making phones with shitty cameras attached. Wouldn't it be cool if someone made a really kickass camera with a shitty phone attached?
Someday...
Anyway, go listen to the latest Across the Sound. CK, Jaffe and Tangerine Toad (what?) have a pretty good, and sometimes slightly heated discussion about the Nikon D80 blogger outreach program. I'd be for the program if they had sent me a free camera, but seeing as how they didn't, I'm adamantly opposed. Damn you Nikon!
It's coming. Just a few more days now...
The Age of Conversation, featuring the words of 103 authors from around the world. Every penny of profit goes to the Variety Children's Charity. I might even kick them a couple extra books considering my ranting and drawing might suppress book sales a bit.
Launch date: Monday, July 16th
Formats/Prices:
Hardbacks $29.99
Paperbacks $16.95
E-book $9.99
Authors:
Gavin Heaton
Drew McClellan
Christina Kerley
Valeria Maltoni
Emily Reed
Katie Chatfield
Greg Verdino
Mack Collier
Lewis Green
Sacrum
Ann Handley
Mike Sansone
Paul McEnany
Roger von Oech
Anna Farmery
David Armano
Bob Glaza
Mark Goren
Matt Dickman
Scott Monty
Richard Huntington
Cam Beck
David Reich
Mindblob (Luc)
Sean Howard
Tim Jackson
Patrick Schaber
Roberta Rosenberg
Uwe Hook
Tony D. Clark
Todd Andrlik
Toby Bloomberg
Steve Woodruff
Steve Bannister
Steve Roesler
Stanley Johnson
Spike Jones
Nathan Snell
Simon Payn
Ryan Rasmussen
Ron Shevlin
Roger Anderson
Bob Hruzek
Rishi Desai
Phil Gerbyshak
Peter Corbett
Pete Deutschman
Nick Rice
Nick Wright
Mitch Joel
Michael Morton
Mark Earls
Mark Blair
Mario Vellandi
Lori Magno
Kristin Gorski
Krishna De
Kris Hoet
Kofl Annan
Kimberly Dawn Wells
Karl Long
Julie Fleischer
Jordan Behan
John La Grou
Joe Raasch
Jim Kukral
Jessica Hagy
Janet Green
Jamey Shiels
Dr. Graham Hill
Gia Facchini
Geert Desager
Gaurav Mishra
Gary Schoeniger
Gareth Kay
Faris Yakob
Emily Clasper
Ed Cotton
Dustin Jacobsen
Tom Clifford
David Polinchock
David Koopmans
David Brazeal
David Berkowitz
Carolyn Manning
Craig Wilson
Cord Silverstein
Connie Reece
Colin McKay
Chris Newlan
Chris Corrigan
Cedric Giorgi
Brian Reich
Becky Carroll
Arun Rajagopal
Andy Nulman
Amy Jussel
AJ James
Kim Klaver
Sandy Renshaw
Susan Bird
Ryan Barrett
Troy Worman
Well, since I seem to be all frenched out lately (and realized I've unwittingly started the personal meme of listening to french pop whenever I fly), I thought I'd back up to the band that kicked off the latest round, The Prototypes, a grungy electro-pop band from Paris.
And yes, this one is really short because I'm super mad right now.
Prototypes - Je Ne Te Connais Pas (mp3)
Prototypes - Who's Gonna Sing (video)
You may have heard my raving about the lovely and talented Annie Clark (here and here). She was the first tune in feature, even before it turned into tune in saturdays. And after a year of fairly grandiose proclamations of her impending greatness, Tuesday it all comes true. Her first album as St. Vincent will be released on Beggars Banquet records.
The press is fucking loving her.
And, I'm mad. I've seen her a couple times, but she also played last night (only back in my old college stomping grounds of Denton, Tx). Unfortunately, this was her first time to play with a full band, and I knew nothing about it. So I was lazy, and just went out in Dallas.
So fuckin' a, I'm road tripping it. Kansas City is her next closest stop, so July 26th, assuming no major hiccups, I'll be there. American Copywriter guys, please have a beer prepared. Anybody else live out there that I'm missing?
Here's Annie's new stuff...
St. Vincent - The Apocalypse Song (mp3)
St. Vincent - Now, Now. (mp3)
Fucking, fucking, fucking brilliant, people.
The brilliant Word-of-Mouth guru Andy Sernovitz is having a bit of a contest. It's pretty simple, too. Just go here, and send Andy your stories of great word-of-mouth campaigns. The less money spent, and the less corporate they are, the better. And, if it's good, you'll get a free bottle of Avalon or Capolan wine. If you're not eligible (like you Austin and Max), then he'll send something else. Like maybe a hat or a coupon for free french fries. Do it!
Knowledge can be the one true enemy of traditional marketing.
http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=-2637635365191428174&hl=en-CA
I think that's the basic theme, or the one I came away with, at least, after watching part 1 of the brilliant BBC documentary, The Century of Self. It focuses on the father of both the profession and terminology of public relations, and nephew of Freud, Edward Bernays, and examines the tie between the rise of consumerism in America with the use of psychoanalysis in marketing. The focus is on the consumer in a more passive form, being led by desire rather than rationality.
It's a bit of a frightening look at the tools that were and are used to get us where we are today, both in business and politics. But these traditional constructs are beginning to break down as consumers become more empowered. Irrationality and emotion play a major role, that's for sure, but they seem to be grounded by more reasoned decision-making with so much easily-accessible and readily-available information. Organic has a nice little summary of each part.
Episode 1: Happiness Machines
The
story and relationship between Sigmund Freud - the father of
psychoanalysis, and his American nephew Edward Bernays – one of the
architects of modern ‘public relations’ in the 1920s. Bernays’
techniques of mass-consumer persuasion were deeply influenced by
Freud’s work and applied successfully by many companies to
systematically link mass-produced goods to the unconscious desires of
the population at large.
Episode 2: The Engineering of Consent
This episode explores how those in power in post-war America used
Freud's ideas about the unconscious mind to suppress the savage
potential lurking within each individual. If left to its own devices –
the population would revert to the irrational instincts that resulted
in the previous decade of war in Europe.
Episode 3: The Policeman Inside All Our Heads: He Must Be Destroyed
In the 1960s, radical psychotherapists like Wilhelm Reich, a pupil of
Freud’s, challenged influence of Freud’s ideas in America. Rather than
pursuing repression and control of the unconscious, this alternate
school of thought encouraged self-expression. This resulted in the
atomization of the traditional ‘self’ in popular culture and gave rise
to the Me Generation. Businesses soon adapted to this change but still
used psychoanalytic techniques and researcg methodologies proposed by
groups like Stamford Research Institute’s VALs system (Values and
Lifestyles) to read the inner desires of the New Self.
Episode 4: Eight People Sipping Wine in Kettering
This final episode reveals how politics has applied the same principles
explored in the first 3 episodes to understand and read the desires of
the emergent self.
There's something happening in Philly (and thereabouts I guess, if you include the Spinto Band). But, my little love affair with Dr. Dog has already spawned two more with the likes of last week's feature, and this week's, The Teeth. There's elements of so many bands that I like in their music, and they manage to keep some punkish credentials without being annoying.
From popmatters:
"You’re My Lover Now combines the vocal theatrics of CYHSY (Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah) with the Beatleseque qualities of Dr Dog, but what really sets them apart is their chameleon-like ability to take elements from so many beloved indie bands and make that new mixed-up sound completely their own. At times, the Teeth sound like the Decemberists without the finishing school, Belle and Sebastian minus the Scottish Catholic-school-kid reserve, and Modest Mouse sans crippling existential angst. If the best parts of your record collection somehow got mashed up together by Morrissey, John Lennon, and Joe Strummer, You’re My Lover Now would be the end result."
The Teeth - Bessie (mp3)
The Teeth - Yellow (video)