Pop Art Blog

Leverage What They're Already Talking About

Jen Wakeman — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 17:22:00 GMT

The other day I check my mail (snail mail that is), and find a postcard from Expedia.com. The postcard shows the Golden Gate Bridge in San Fran and reveals the statement "They say "economic stimulus", we say "free vacation.""

Genius! Take something we're all talking about and leverage it for your product or service. Okay, obviously, this is not the first time this has ever happened (Sustainability, anyone?). Nonetheless, I found this instance pretty smart.

So, we all know through the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 the IRS will benefit more than 130 million* American households with payments beginning in May for almost anyone who files a tax return.

Why do I wish I had thought of this first? Think of the other things everyone's talking about: Gas Prices, the Presidential Election, the War, etc. Sure, there are ways to leverage these topics to advertise to your audiences. Yes, these are all things that are very big deals in our lives but all of which are costing us money. The Economic Stimulus however... it's cash in our pockets. Cash that your customers are going to spend. Will they be spending it with you, or with Expedia?

*Estimate from IRS.gov

Authentic Leadership

Tom Paul — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 16:56:00 GMT

I recently helped put on a talk for the AeA Emerging Business Committee. It was entitled Authentic Leadership and it was presented by the leadership consultant Gordon Whitehead. His practice is Captus5 and he writes extensively on the subject of leadership.

Good leadership is what drives organizations. Leadership is first and foremost about people. More specifically, it's about influencing people to do the right things (with heavy doses of motivation and encouragement) and making them better (giving them opportunities to improve and coaching them). And, in a longer term way it's about creating an organizational culture that cultivates and rewards authentic leadership.

Authentic leadership is a particularly effective form of leadership because at its essence it fundamentally respects people. It embraces the connections within organizations, among them, and with communities at large.

Authentic leadership has four key principles:

Be True to Self
Be True to Others
Build Trust
Build Community

An authentic leader is deeply aware of self. This is not in an overly absorbed way, but rather in a way that understands one's own internal personal needs and drives. The ability to be aligned with the core of who one is and to make decisions based on one's internal value structure is essential to an authentic leader.

An authentic leader has empathy, understands the plight of followers. It is in understanding the motivations, the conditions and the pains of followers where leaders rise to benefit human causes and achieve great things.

An authentic leader builds trust. Trust engendered by consistency, fairness and propriety is one one level of trust. However a deeper, much more powerful level of trust is based on hope; this kind of trust binds a follower to the cause.

An authentic leader has a keen sense of community. Consistently solving problems within the context of the organization's history, or at least with history in mind, is important. Change is often the most difficult thing for the average working person to face. Change is what leaders are most often called upon to do. Change that is represented from the community perspective softens the blow and encourages participation.

So how do you develop authentic leaders within your organization? Here are some key principles and ideas:

Take risks! Let your team face adversity and don't bail them out. Let them solve their own problems.
Decentralize power and rotate assignments
Start a reading program and engage the team in learning
Analyze case studies as a team

The best leaders are the ones who focus on putting great people around them, and then work to make them even better. A large measure of humility is required to do this. In fact, of great leaders, humility is one of the most important attributes.

InnoTech Presentation Notes: Understanding LINQ

Andrew Hay — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 19:50:00 GMT

Since I'm posting this in advance, I hope my session titled Understanding LINQ was a huge hit and everyone loved it. I've been working on the content for a while and its tough whittling it down to fit inside the specified time slots; there's just so much cool stuff. I probably phat-fingered some keys once or twice, but hopefully I didn't start my sentences with "So...." too often or speak so fast that I made a whistling noise. I hope you enjoyed it.

Here's what you need to run my demo:

Here are a collection of URLs that I referenced during my session at InnoTech. They're great references for understanding LINQ.

Session Feedback

If you attended the session, would you please provide some feedback using this online survey?

Launch Survey

How Trade Associations Facilitate Innovation

Steve Rosenbaum — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 21:00:00 GMT

There was a great article called "Innovating Through Design" in the Dec. 2006 issue of Harvard Business Review. The article explored how informal collaboration amongst design professionals in Lombardy, Italy, produces incredible innovation in product design.

The Lombardy firms' R&D operation, for the most part, can be found neither inside the companies nor in interactions among them. Rather, it comprises a free-floating community of architects, suppliers, photographers, critics, curators, publishers, and craftsmen, among many other categories of professionals, as well as the expected artists and designers. The members of the community are prized as much for their immersion in a discourse as for their originality.

A takeaway from the HBR article is that strong industry clusters and business communities emerge, not only as byproduct of large universities, but by a willingness of firms and individuals in a region to engage in discourse and collaboration.

Trade Associations as Connectors

From Pop Art's experiences, we have found that trade associations play a huge role in facilitating discourse and collaboration. It is a myth that trade associations are primarily about promoting an industry through activities such as public relations. On the contrary, most trade associations devote most their resources to topics such as "industry standards," "education" and "workforce development."

They connect CEOs with CEOs, engineers with engineers, designers with designers. They build social networks (both online and offline) and hold formal educational seminars.

When I have a business problem, I can share it in confidence with other trade association executives who I have grown to know over the years. When I need to find a new supplier or key employee, I can tap into my trade association contacts. Often, I attend a trade association event where I hear about a new concept, technology or story. The concept may not directly apply to my firm, but I am able to synthesize the ideas and gain valuable takeaways.

The ROI of Building a Strong Community

It may be easy for a company like Intel to justify belonging to a trade association of semiconductor manufactures. But why should Intel support the local software association or advertising federation? Certainly Intel executives already have plenty of peer groups and collaboration partners. And why should a company like Pop Art support a trade association of start-ups, if our company is no longer a start-up and very rarely has a client that is one?

The reason is that companies like Intel and Pop Art benefit enormously from the strong companies that trade associations help foster. It's a low-cost way to build a strong community that benefits the broader industry. For example, a great start-up might attract a stellar engineer to our region, and that engineer might lead a speaking panel that larger companies learn from. Or even better, that engineer (or a friend of the engineer) might later go work for Pop Art or Intel.

When Intel sponsors a trade association event, it builds tremendous goodwill and mindshare. Because Intel is so supportive of trade associations to which I belong, not only am I more likely to buy Intel's products, but I am much more likely to recommend Intel when my friends in New York, Los Angeles or Portland are seeking a job.

And on a political note, when large companies support the community, they are much more likely to receive essential political support from small companies when the large companies really need it. The Small companies will not blindly follow the lead of the large companies; but at the very least the small companies will listen and discuss the needs of the large companies who form the anchor support of trade associations. Simply put, when you get to know somebody, you are more likely to empathize with them.

Trade Associations and Politics

Trade associations are often poorly portrayed by Hollywood, the media and politicians. The "Trade Federation" in the Star Wars films and the "Spacing Guild" in the Dune novels are antagonistic forces that seek to maintain monopolies on trade. Politicians and the media portray trade association lobbying as representing "special interests," often working against the common good.

Some trade associations devote a small portion of their dues to "lobbying and advocacy" activities. Trade associations may also maintain political action committees (PACs) to engage in lobbying. Other trade associations do not engage in any political activities.

I have spoken with CEOs who get nervous about participating in a trade association's political activities. Reasons are cited such as:

"I am not sure that I support their political agenda."
"I don't want my business engaged in politics."
"I don't want to offend our customers or employees."
"I don't want to be a political pawn of big industry."

As far as politics are concerned, I believe that trade associations do far more good than harm. Trade associations play a huge role in educating elected officials regarding topics like: the need for skilled workers, long-term macroeconomic trends and how various legislation will affect businesses. I think it's safe to say that not every legislator understands business and economics. And certainly, not every business executive understands legislative political.

The majority of lobbying that I see from Pop Art's trade associations is lobbying for increased education funding in the arts and sciences. Most CEOs don't earn huge salaries. Most CEOs want livable communities, clean and safe environments and opportunity for all. The political needs of metropolitan CEOs and their owners is most often in-synch with the needs of labor and the community at-large. And when it isn't, there are plenty of voices representing the other side so that politicians can listen to effective discourse.

In general, trade associations won't advocate a policy position unless the vast majority of its membership is in agreement. I believe in change from within the system, and I would rather have my voice heard than sit on the sidelines. Our involvement in trade associations offers us a window into issues and perspectives that we might not have know about otherwise. Our firm benefits from our ability to influence political discourse within trade organizations, and from the power we have to rally other companies to our causes as well as our potential to block the trade association from taking policy positions to which we wholeheartedly object.

Challenges faced by Trade Associations

Trade associations face numerous challenges, including: maintaining membership in light of M&A activity, finding sponsors and putting on events. The bottom line is that there are more and more trade associations, probably too many of them. New trade associations pop-up frequently, but trade associations fade away slowly, and rarely burn-out. Keeping their mission and their content relevant is perhaps the biggest challenge.

Working in a trade association is a tough job. Many trade association employees work 12-hour days, with little job security or financial up-side. They must balance lots of politics and the egos of CEOs who make up their constantly changing executive boards.

The best trade associations have low staff turn-over; this helps their employees to best serve as connectors and helps advance the interest of their members.

The best trade associations also have very dedicated volunteer boards who are passionate and generous in making the association relevant and viable. The best board members are inclusive. They do not promote the "Old Boy's Network" with cliquish and controlling behavior; rather, they are very open and inclusive in welcoming new members and ideas.

Conclusion

The ROI of trade association membership is largely intangible; however, it is outstanding nonetheless. It is in your self-interest to liberally join, sponsor and participate in numerous trade associations. If you are a good member, the trade association staff and board members will go out of their way to help you.

If you are open-minded to talking with other firms, both your competitors and firms not directly in your field, you might stumble upon some new innovations. Successful industry clusters, business communities and ideas will emerge; this is essential to your firm's long-term success and the growth of a prosperous society.

WebVisions and WebVisionary Awards

Justin Garrity — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 15:46:00 GMT

If you haven't signed up to attend WebVisions, you should do it now. If you are not familiar with WebVisions, it is a creative web conference that takes place here in Portland. Many of us from Pop Art are going and if you are there, be sure to say hi. This year, the speakers at WebVisions include: Jeffery Veen, Roger Black, Bill DeRouchy, Lynne Johnson and many more!

I've often thought when attending WebVisions in previous years that it was missing an awards show celebrating the best in web creativity. This year I called up Brad and discussed the idea. He loved it and so here we are. Pop Art, WebVisions, and 52 Limited announce the first ever WebVisionary Awards to compliment WebVisions event this year! Now is the time to submit your work. It is only $15 an entry and you can submit as many projects to as many categories as you'd like. The awards ceremony/party will take place at Holocene the night before WebVisions the conference kicks off on May 22st from 7:00 to 9:00. I hope to see you there!

Corporate Lifecycle Symbiosis

Ben Waldron — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 21:28:00 GMT

One attribute of the Pop Art culture that I enjoy is the tireless pursuit of making ourselves better. We take time out to enjoy successes, but we are looking for the next way we can improve internally and how we can help clients in new ways. In that spirit, the book Corporate Lifecycles by Ichak Adizes was recommended to me by L.B. Day and Frank Roehr - two advisors that I trust. The book is about how all companies follow a certain cycle from infancy to death and some of the pitfalls along the way. This post maps some of the concepts in that book to our business. The graph below describes this lifecycle.

Graph and IP Credit: www.adizes.com

The goal of any company to get within the "prime" stage of this cycle and to stay there for as long as they are able. Even though Pop Art has been around for a decade, my analysis is that we are in the "go-go" stage. I come to this conclusion because the interactive space changes to rapidly, forcing us to change rapidly and adapt. The market makes us an opportunity-driven organization where our company is focused on putting the smartest people in place to be able to capture the next opportunity we see in front of us for our clients.

There are aspects where we opportunity-driving (an aspect of a "prime" company) in areas like close-loop reporting for clients where every time a reaches an interactive touch point it is measured and reported back to against a business objective. This gives is a lens into what is happening on a real-time basis and allows us create opportunities to strengthen brands, sell goods, our understand customer behavior better. To do this our clients must trust us and utilize a broad range of services (creative, media, reporting and technology).

In looking at the lifecycle above, ask yourself where your company is on the curve? From my perspective, there are two stages where a "go-go" company like Pop Art can be the most symbiotic: other energetic "go-go" companies and those that are in "early bureaucracy." I'll explain why.

Teaming two "go-go" companies together is a very powerful combination. The level of excitement needed is present; each company recognizes each other's strengths and capitalizes on them. Momentum is carried by mutual success with calculated risks taken along the way. The two companies can develop a strong partnership because eagerness and culture are very similar in both companies. It can be compared with having a running partner that keeps you going when you are feeling tired - rarely are you ever tired at the same time and you keep the pace up. Eventually these companies are in their prime together.

A company in "early bureaucracy" has once been a "go-go" company and is yearning for those days back. They know there business extremity well, succeeded, but has lost its step. Teaming up with a "go-go" is a chance to get that step back. In the running analogy, you are finding a partner that is faster than you. It is tough at first because it is hard to get up to speed and take risks, but over time the company is nudged back in that prime spot. For the "go-go" company, there are things that are learned and helps elevate it towards that prime role.

An Orwellian Lesson on the Power of a Question

Nathan Goff — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 22:59:00 GMT

In the book 1984, George Orwell illustrates for us the impact of a society that is no longer able to question the world they live in. It is groupthink at its worst. A world that is vacant of critical thinking and learning beyond the basic skills needed for survival. Any individual that attempts to question big brother is quickly corrected or disposed of.

Many companies, and the individuals in them, suffer from a self-imposed version of Orwell's world. The person that starts asking the tough questions is quickly branded "that guy", and is quelled by management or ultimately leaves the organization in defeat. Companies stop questioning the ways they have always done business, and ultimately create a fabricated and inflated view of themselves.

These companies are now in a state of atrophy and can't understand why they are not growing, not attracting top talent, and are generally directionless. The solution begins with the asking of simple questions. Here are a few that come to mind:

Who is our customer and when was the last time we talked to one face-to-face?
What is our current business strategy?
Do our employees know the strategy and where they fit into it?
Why are we in business and what is our company's vision?

Toyota terms this culture of questioning the ‘Toyota Way', or continuous improvement. American automakers have spent the last 20+ years trying to imitate the success of Toyota, but they have continually failed. They are still not ready to cultivate a corporate culture that encourages questioning at all levels of the business. Successful businesses, like Toyota, are able to pull this off.

They say you learn everything you ever need to know in kindergarten. Today I attended an orientation event at my daughter's elementary school. The principal gave us parents some sage advice on what we should be doing to prepare our kids for kindergarten:

Read to them
Read to them
Read to them
Keep an open dialogue with them, and ask lots of questions.

This advice applies beautifully and simply to those of us in the business world. The written word, in all its forms from Orwell to Deming, is a powerful tool for shaping your company and your own personal worldview. It will spark you to question and never stop, which builds stronger, focused, and more passionate businesses.

Speaking at the InnoTech Conference

Andrew Hay — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 03:54:00 GMT

I'll be speaking at the InnoTech Conference in Portland, Oregon on April 16th and 17th. My session will get you started with LINQ, a new feature available in the Microsoft .Net v3.5 Framework.

Language-Integrated Query is one of the most compelling features for your business in the Microsoft .Net 3.5 Framework. LINQ provides a succinct and expressive layer over your database tables, stored procedures, XML, and other objects. You’ll learn how to get started with LINQ and gain some visibility into what’s going on under the hood with this game changing addition to the .Net Framework.

I'll start with some of the fundamental features that enable LINQ to exist including object initializers, local inferred types, extension methods, lambda expressions and then dive into LINQ to SQL and LINQ to XML. Hopefully, I'll have time to touch on LINQ to XSD and some of the other activies going on with this game changer.

I'm also looking forward to seeing some friends talk about Silverlight and agile development practices. Hope to see you there!

What's Your Pet's Name?

Andrew Hay — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 04:40:00 GMT

Such a casual question at party could have terrible consequences when you use weak passwords on the Internet. The best advice is to use a unique password for each account. If you spend all day online like me, plus a little more at home, you've probably garnered somewhere north of 50 or more accounts.

The question to ask yourself is which of those accounts are just fine for a hacker to slip into because you used a weak password? Probably none, right?

Just to put a little more emphasis on it, let's say you use a reasonably good password for your account on Amazon.com and you liked it so much that you've used the same password when you had to create an account last week just to leave a comment on a blog. Now, let's not get too blue and say that blog site was evil and successfully phished your password. Let's just say the security was a little too low on that site and someone else happened to glean all of the e-mail addresses and passwords from that blog.

So now the bad guys have your password. What else can they get into with it? If you've been adhering to the rule, then absolutely nothing. If you've been lazy, then they just need to guess the username or e-mail address to your bank, your corporate Intranet, your social networking sites or anything else you use. Kinda bleak, eh?

How are you supposed to remember all of those passwords? Well some fine folks are working on that very problem with technologies like CardSpace and OpenID. That's all well and good, but what do you do today with the accounts you already have? Start buying more Post-It notes?

Until you've got a better plan, start out by using a tool like Password Minder. Its free and available here: http://www.pluralsight.com/tools.aspx. This is a simple program written in .Net that helps you collect, organize and use all of the various passwords that make up your life. The data is encrypted into a single XML file that you can store on a USB key, copy to every computer you own or anything else that accepts an electronic file.

You can leave the program running all day, so long as you remember to lock your computer when you leave, or you can start and stop it every time you need to pull out a password. This program is great because its simple, it can be copied to any computer and its protected by a secure master password.

Here's how it works:

Download and unzip file from PluralSight.com
Launch the program file name pwm.exe
Create your master password — this is what you'll have to type every time you launch the application.
Add all of your usernames and passwords into the application; each password is unique, right?
Copy the data file to your other computers or keep it on a USB key for portability. This application is light weight and very portable.

Better yet, take a look at a short Silverlight video I made showing how to get started with Password Minder. If you've kept your computer current with Windows Update, then it should be no problem to use.

The Value of Digital Integrated Marketing Programs

Sarah Jones — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 19:49:00 GMT

The discussion surrounding the value of integrated marketing is not a new one. With internet-connected computers in nearly two-thirds of American households it is becoming increasingly important for brands to tie the internet to their traditional marketing and advertising. And, with the internet migrating from a research tool to a retail tool to a conversation tool, it is becoming increasingly important for brands to tie their internet communications together. Niche agencies that focus solely on one piece of a brand online are becoming obsolete. Companies who want to stay on top of their industry and the consumer market need an interactive solutions agency that can guide them through the evolving online marketplace. Current agencies need to:

develop, maintain and evolve a strong website.

build creative marketing and advertising pieces for the web that work with the brand’s traditional messaging.

plan and buy media packages that target the right audience.

stay ahead of developing technologies.

write for and manage organic and paid search campaigns.

partner with PR agencies

provide closed-loop reporting.

All of these pieces work together and build on each other. Layering a web media campaign on top of your search campaign can mean a 20% lift in your conversion rates. Understanding how to design your website for organic search will get you onto the first page of results faster than just putting keywords in your meta tags. Knowing that you cannot plan a “viral” campaign and coming to the table with innovative ideas will get people talking. Not being satisfied with tracking click-through rate and instead knowing who’s coming to your site, how they’re interacting with your brand once they get there, and where in the purchase cycle they are will drive you to continually refine your communications strategy. Understanding what your campaigns are telling and making adjustments will ensure that customers think of you when they’re ready to make a purchase whether that purchase is online or not.

I decided to recently join Pop Art because they are one of these free-thinking interactive solutions agencies that partners with clients to deliver long-term results.

Interactive Entertainment: Lessons from the Gaming Industry

Rodica Buzescu — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 18:25:00 GMT

Once upon a time, computer and console games were the bread and butter of geeks – they brought on the image of people glued to their monitors and lost in a world very far from reality. More recently though, that stereotype has begun to erode. Entire generations are now growing up with digital activities as their main source for entertainment and learning. Other gaming platforms, such as the Nintendo Wii, are already making strides by appealing to non-typical gamers. Understanding how these trends affect the cultural context of a “gamer” and learning from processes championed by gaming companies will pave the way to successful interactive concepts.

An interesting case in point is Portal, a small game that has gained a tremendous grassroots following and has swept almost all the awards at the Games Developer Conference this year. Portal is an unusual puzzle-action experience that focuses on the fun of solving brain-twisters rather than on the average gaming adventure, where players enroll in zombie/monster/dragon killing sprees (read more about Portal here). In a world where games have been outdoing each other in developing incredible physics engines and highly graphical worlds, Portal has boldly gone the opposite way. As leading strategies, they have cut the visual effects down to a bare minimum and focused on top-of-the-line user experience. The power of Portal lies in particular in two characteristics that are highly applicable to other interactive pieces:

integrated narrative and design
scheduled user testing/user acceptance trials that feed-forward into design & production

So, what does the user gain when design and copy play nicely together? Portal's appeal stems largely from using extremely talented writing. When this feature is backed up by a compelling game environment, it creates a seamless storyline. Players end up more engaged and they develop strong affinities for the world/characters. If you want an example of brilliant design, look no further than the most beloved character – the weighted companion cube. People have made videos and music about the cube, they have created and bought plush toys, and some have even developed paper models – all in an attempt to bring back the memory and fun of experiencing this inanimate character into everyday life.

Working in a framework where testing is an integral part of development is perhaps the single, most-important cause of the game's popularity. In typical production, testing is usually the first item on the list that gets cut when schedules are tight. The Portal development team has completely re-thought that process. By testing their game throughout the production process, they were able to fine-tune design and narrative to the point where every step of the Portal journey made intuitive sense to a wide variety of gamers.

The challenge of the future will be capturing the imagination of a new generation of sophisticated web/game users to the point where they feel engaged and entertained in the narrative of your interactive campaign. I always think of the Portal approach when I see companies entrenched in creating something that may not serve the interests of their consumers. And now, hopefully, so will you!

Version Targeting and IE8 Followup

Scott Vandehey — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 17:19:00 GMT

Hooray! The feedback from the web development community convinced the IE development team to change their minds about the default setting for version targeting in IE8 (as I discussed in a previous post).

“In light of the Interoperability Principles, as well as feedback from the community, we’re choosing differently. Now, IE8 will show pages requesting ‘Standards’ mode in IE8’s Standards mode. Developers who want their pages shown using IE8’s ‘IE7 Standards mode’ will need to request that explicitly (using the http header/meta tag approach).”
– Dean Hachamovitch, Microsoft’s Interoperability Principles and IE8

To clarify, version targeting will still exist in IE8, which is a good thing. The change is that instead of defaulting to IE7’s rendering engine, it will default to IE8 — which is the behavior you would logically expect.

You know, it’s really nice to make a post where I can say something nice about Microsoft, and that’s been happening a lot more often lately, thanks to the IE development team. Way to go, guys!

Are You Saying Too Much?

Justin Garrity — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 15:51:00 GMT

Guy Kawasaki had a great post the other day on his blog.

If you want customers to be happy, give them less product Information. Here's a counter-intuitive thought: Shoppers with less information about a product are happier than those with more information."

He cites a study conducted by the University of Iowa's Tippie College of Business.

The researchers used three experiments to arrive at their conclusion. Two of them were consumer test-style experiments in which subjects were asked for their opinion of chocolate in one and hand lotion in the other. In each experiment, one group of subjects was given lots of information about the product, the other group much less. In each instance, the subjects who had little information were more optimistic about the chocolate or hand lotion than those who had more information.
In the third experiment, subjects were given the opportunity to pick a video to watch. They were told one of the movies had received uniformly good reviews from critics, while the other received mixed reviews. Although more of the subjects selected the movie they were told had received uniformly good reviews, those who selected the movie believing it had mixed reviews were more optimistic about their choice.

What is amazing about the study is how the power of justification kicks in when product information is lacking. Consumers will exert a lot of energy convincing themselves that they made a great choice. The full study will be published in the upcoming issue of the Journal of Consumer Research.

What Was I Thinking?

Thom Schoenborn — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 17:13:00 GMT

Great book(s) review from the New Yorker about why consumers make stupid decisions. There’s a lot of “duh” statements in here — Consumers are effort-averse? Really? — but stated in a researched, academic way.

A few Halloweens ago, Ariely laid in a supply of Hershey’s Kisses and two kinds of Snickers—regular two-ounce bars and one-ounce miniatures. When the first children came to his door, he handed each of them three Kisses, then offered to make a deal. If they wanted to, the kids could trade one Kiss for a mini-Snickers or two Kisses for a full-sized bar. Almost all of them took the deal and, proving their skills as sugar maximizers, opted for the two-Kiss trade. At some point, Ariely shifted the terms: kids could now trade one of their three Kisses for the larger bar or get a mini-Snickers without giving up anything. In terms of sheer chocolatiness, the trade for the larger bar was still by far the better deal. But, faced with the prospect of getting a mini-Snickers for nothing, the trick-or-treaters could no longer reckon properly. Most of them refused the trade, even though it cost them candy. Ariely speculates that behind the kids’ miscalculation was anxiety. As he puts it, “There’s no visible possibility of loss when we choose a FREE! item (it’s free).” Tellingly, when Ariely performed a similar experiment on adults, they made the same mistake. “If I were to distill one main lesson from the research described in this book, it is that we are all pawns in a game whose forces we largely fail to comprehend,” he writes.

What is to be done with information like this? We can try to become more aware of the patterns governing our blunders, as “Predictably Irrational” urges. Or we can try to prod people toward more rational choices, as “Nudge” suggests. But if we really are wired to make certain kinds of mistakes, as Thaler and Sunstein and Ariely all argue, we will, it seems safe to predict, keep finding new ways to make them. (Ariely confesses that he recently bought a thirty-thousand-dollar car after reading an ad offering FREE oil changes for the next three years.)

This research dovetails nicely with a messaging/copywriting theory shared in a staff presentation last week: that marketing/advertising copy work best when the rationalization and left-brain justification follow the emotion-inducing photo and headline.

“Lord that's a good looking car. And snappy, and quiet. Oh, baby! Ooh, and free oil changes for three years? My wife will be THRILLED I bought the Lexus!”

p.s. Let's not read too much into the fact that my wife sent this to me.

Version Targeting and IE8

Scott Vandehey — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 08:07:00 GMT

Previously on Web Developer Controversies: Aaron Gustafson from the Internet Explorer development team announced that IE8 will use a META tag to kick the engine into standards mode by targeting a specific browser version, something that was previously done by using a valid DOCTYPE. A lot of people, including Jeremy Keith, think this is a bad idea. Here are some of the more interesting points that have been raised in the discussion so far.

“If IE8 acts like IE8 by default, then IE8 might break [poorly-made websites]. Breaking millions of sites is unacceptable to Microsoft’s brass and to the creators of those websites. It’s to prevent that breakage that Microsoft’s browser developers came up with the new switch. To do its job, the new switch must work the same way the DOCTYPE switch originally worked: namely, it is activated when knowledgeable developers opt in; otherwise it is off by default.”
– Jeffrey Zeldman, Version Targeting: Threat or Menace?

Good summary of the issue. However, I will quibble with one point here. The DOCTYPE made a good switch because it was something you were supposed to be doing anyway, while this new META tag is something I only need to do for IE.

“Unless you explicitly declare that you want IE8 to behave as IE8, it will behave as IE7.”
– Jeremy Keith, Broken

As Jeremy points out in his original post on this topic, when you say it out loud, this sounds like madness. No matter how well-intentioned, and no matter how many times I hear it explained, this just feels backwards to me.

“The fact is, as each new browser comes out and fixes bugs from older versions, our sites need to be revisited. Until we have a chance to do so, our sites shouldn’t break.”
– Jonathan Snook, IE8 to include version targeting

Jonathan brings up a perfect real-world example where version targeting would be very handy - locking old code into the browser(s) it was designed for until you have a chance to revisit them.

“Version targeting is not a bad idea. …As an optional feature, this could prove to be a real lifesaver in some development environments. As a mandatory milestone however, it strikes a blow against progressive enhancement.”
– Jeremy Keith, They Shoot Browsers, Don’t They?

More recently, Jeremy clarified that he thinks version targeting is a fine idea, but making IE7 the default value is a knee-jerk reaction to a short-term problem. It breaks everyone’s expectation of how software should behave, and opens the door to a whole new set of problems in the future.

“Will the backwards-compatible code for IE8 always act exactly like IE8 did, or will there be subtle changes that still break old sites?”
– Eric Meyer, From Switches to Targets

Eric actually wrote in defense of version targeting, but even he raised some concerns about how it would be implemented, and the largest one was this: How can we be sure that future versions of IE will continue to support whatever version of IE we lock our code to? While it’s easy enough to picture IE8 shipping with an intact version of the IE7 and IE6 rendering engines, what happens with IE9+? Will each successive browser release contain every engine? Is it really possible to maintain all of those without making any changes? Looking at the way Microsoft supports backwards compatibility in the Office suite, I’m not optimistic.

“IE7 didn’t… ‘break the web,’ and neither did DOCTYPE switching. …The burden is upon developers and designers to comply, test, and validate.”
– Ethan Marcotte, Code Happy

Ethan raises a point that many people have brought up: Microsoft is taking responsibility for “not breaking the web,” when it’s not really their problem. The only thing that’s broken is software and publishing processes that allow invalid code to go live in the first place.

“But what happens when a multi-billion dollar partner corporation refuses to update and demands, under the terms of its very large service contract and its very steep penalty clauses, that a new version of IE not break …its corporate intranet?”
– Eric Meyer, Almost Target

Of course, as Eric brings up while telling the story of a similar problem he faced during the development of Mozilla, there’s a very good reason that Microsoft is taking responsibility for this “breakage” — Their target audience (corporations) don’t seem to care that the problem is caused by their code. As far as they’re concerned, the problem wasn’t there in the previous version, and now it’s there in the new version, therefore the new version of IE broke their website. It’s bad logic, but we get similar complaints from clients, so I can identify.

And like it or not, web developers like ourselves who are passionate enough about these issues to read all these articles about a proposed feature in an upcoming browser release are not the target audience for Microsoft. It reminds me of the guy from the boat in the new season of Lost, who said “Rescuing your people? I can’t say it’s our primary objective.”

“Therefore Microsoft won’t be inundated with complaints which, in the hands of the wrong director of marketing, could lead to the firing of standards-oriented browser engineers on the IE team. The wholesale firing of standards-oriented developers would jerk IE off the web standards path just when it has achieved sure footing. And if IE were to abandon standards, accessible, standards-compliant design would no longer have a chance.”
– Jeffrey Zeldman, In Defense of Version Targeting

However, it’s possible to take that argument too far. According to Zeldman, nothing less than the future of standards-compliant design rests on this decision. Now, I worship the ground Jeffrey walks on just like every other good standardista - but this seems like a bit of a stretch. IF this happens, then this MIGHT happen, which MIGHT cause this doomsday scenario. Perhaps he’s got some insider information, and perhaps Microsoft is a much more dysfunctional company that it seems, but I don’t think the sky is falling over a META tag.

“The Linux kernel… doesn’t commit to supporting legacy APIs and ABIs. This means that kernel developers are able to make the right design decisions and rewrite broken code without having to worry about continuing to support applications that depend on buggy or poorly designed interfaces …and backwards compatibility does not act like an anchor on innovation.
– Matt Chisholm, Internet Explorer lays Anchor in 1999

Not to hammer the point too much, but the obvious contrast here is Apple and Linux. By embracing emulation over backwards compatibility, they sidestep these issues entirely. If you want to run code that was written for an older version of the OS, you have to run it in an emulator. This places the burden to upgrade on the consumer. In Microsoft terms, if the customer wants the latest version of the browser, but they refuse to update their code, then they need to emulate an older version of the browser for that code.

“The system is opt-in. It’s our choice whether or not to include the optional meta element (or HTTP header) that triggers version targeting. Therefore, in fact, developers are no longer being asked to accommodate Microsoft—at least not beyond the known blemishes of IE7. Instead, Microsoft has committed to accommodating us.”
– Jeffrey Zeldman, Version Targeting: Threat or Menace?

Now, I might just be a simple caveman lawyer, but it seems to me that if I have to do something extra to get the browser to behave as expected, then I’m the one that has to accommodate Microsoft, not the other way around.

“The strong have always been burdened by the weak. It may not always seem fair, but helping where you can is “the right thing to do.” In the case of the ongoing X-UA-Compatible bluster, the strong are the savvy standardistas. The weak? Those who simply don’t know any better. The burden? A single meta tag or http header. Can we move on now?”
– Shaun Inman, Burden

Of course, no matter how you feel about this debate, it helps to put everything into perspective. At the end of the day, all we’re really talking about is a META tag, and you can make things even simpler by setting it on your server, so you don’t even have to put extra markup into your pages.

Personally, I agree with Jeremy Keith that defaulting the rendering engine to IE7 is a bad move, but if it happens, I’ll work around it. Just like I’ve always worked around Microsoft browsers.

Interactive Marketing: A Dark Tale

Justin Garrity — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 05:41:00 GMT

On May 12, 2007, Warner Brothers released the first web teaser for the upcoming Batman Begins movie sequel, The Dark Knight. The teaser was an image of the Batman bat symbol exploding into many pieces. It was mysterious but it was only the first clue into an almost year long interactive marketing campaign that bridged the offline world and the web, and fiction with reality. The following is the chronology of “The Dark Knight” interactive marketing campaign.

May 13th-ish: Fictitious campaign posters were hung throughout major US metropolitan areas which showed Harvey Dent (played by Aaron Eckhart) running for District Attorney. The poster finished with the line, “I believe in Harvey Dent.” This phrase was a nod to what is considered one of the best Batman graphic novels ever written, The Long Halloween. When fans used this phrase as a URL, “www.ibelieveinharveydent.com”, they found a single page website that mirrored the physical posters hung around US cities. A few days later, the posters around the cities were defaced with graffiti that blackened Harvey Dent’s eyes and gave him a bright red smile. The phrase “I believe in Harvey Dent” was appended to now say, “I believe in Harvey Dent too”. When fans went to “www.ibelieveinharveydenttoo.com, they saw this same defaced poster of Harvey Dent and were asked for their email address. After submitting their email address, they were given instructions to “flip” one pixel on this defaced campaign poster. After thousands of fans flipped the pixels, a new image on the site was revealed giving fans the first peek of the “Joker” played by Heath Ledger. On May 22nd, the Joker image was removed and the page now just said “Page not found”. It seemed that Warner Bros took down the site. However, when fans selected the black background, they found that it was actually black on black text that just repeated the phrase, “ha ha ha ha ha” thousands of times. Some observant fans discovered that there were some other characters mixed in with the “ha ha ha”s and when they were extracted, it read “See you in December”.

http://catchupblog.typepad.com/catch_up_blog/2007/05/buzz_in_the_blo.html

Right around this same time, joker cards started showing up hidden in books throughout bookstores around the US. They had an antique look to them and “Ha ha ha” was scribbled on them as well.

In July, before the Comic-Con tradeshow and a Warner Bros panel about the new film, a new website was launched based on the phrase, “Why so serious?” at www.whysoserious.com. It featured an old WWI Uncle Sam, I want you poster but this was defaced like the Harvey Dent posters mentioned before with the black eyes and the red lips. In the corner was a countdown and geo coordinates. The coordinates pointed to a location outside of Comic-Con in San Diego. When fans clicked on the image, they were provided with a recruitment message that read, “Enjoy a career in a lucrative, ultra high-profile field. Our associates make their own hours, enjoy great benefits and, in some cases, work from home.”

http://www.cinematical.com/2007/07/27/the-joker-shows-up-night-before-warner-comic-con-panel/

Fans flocked to the location at the time indicated by the countdown clock. There they were greeted by a string of mysterious vehicles and official secret service looking individuals. These recruiters handed out small green felt bags to each fan. These bags contained a joker playing card, black/red/white makeup, a mirror, instructions that read, “dress for excess”, and the creepy photo of the Joker featured on the ibelieveinharveydenttoo.com site to use as a makeup guide. After the fans finished the makeup, they were given a series of crimes and tasks to complete, including stealing cookies from a girl scout. With each task, fans were given phrases and clues leading up to one fan declared the winner and was quickly escorted away. The rest of the fans received a joker mask that will be featured in the opening sequence of the film as well as a message that read, “Well, that guy earned the job you all would have died for.” When fans went to the site, whysoserious.com, they were now greeted with an update from the Gotham Police Department that claims that the Joker has been eliminated and for all forces to stand down. The photo they featured was of the fan that won the contest and for any fan that was in San Diego that day, they knew that they had only caught one of Joker’s accomplices.

http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=11395

This activity was quickly rewarded by the teaser trailer for the film posted on thedarkknight.com. The teaser trailer features a conversation between Bruce Wayne and Alfred in which Bruce Wayne is frustrated at the new freak criminal element overtaking Gotham from the deadly but predictable mob. This conversation is set against a bleak animated version of the teaser image featured before with the Batman symbol being blown up with the conversation as the audio track.

A couple of weeks before Halloween, whysoserious.com was updated to feature a jack-o-lantern with an animated flame on the candle. The mouth of the jack-o-lantern was cut out in the shape of the bat signal and this was another nod to The Long Halloween. As the days went by and Halloween approached, the candle was slowly burning down. It was clear that this was a countdown to something else that was to happen on Halloween.

http://batman-dark-knight.moviechronicles.com/2007-10/why-so-serious-bat-shaped-jack-o-lantern/

On Halloween, a new game appeared on the site whysoserious.com. It featured 49 clues for fans in 21 cities. The clues asked fans to take photos of alphabetical letters on specific signs in those cities. They then uploaded the photos and when they were all complete, a message on the site read, “The only sensible way to live in this world is without rules.” Now fans could click on the message and they were provided with a new photo and dialogue of the Joker from the film. The audio dialogue said, “And tonight you’re gonna break your one rule.” Everyone knows that Batman’s one rule is to not kill anyone.

http://www.whysoserious.com/

The site then linked over to a new website, rorysdeathkiss.com, and fans were invited to play a new game. They were asked to dress up like Joker thugs, just like the fans did in San Diego, and then take a photo and submit it to the site.

The photos were then categorized and featured on this new site. The promise was that everyone who submitted a photo would receive a prize, but three lucky winners would receive an even better prize. Everyone who submitted a photo received an actual physical copy of The Gotham Times newspaper. In the back of the paper, the three winning photos were featured in an article. The newspapers also featured a variety of content that provided additional depth and clues for the upcoming film and led fans to discover dozens of new websites of business, services, and organizations of Gotham City. The paper also appeared online and was quickly followed by a Joker-defaced version.

http://www.firstshowing.net/2007/11/23/the-gotham-times-is-online/

http://batman-dark-knight.moviechronicles.com/2007-11/gotham-times-online-edition-out-now/

In December, whysoserious.com was changed again to feature a new game. Fans were asked to take a personality test and when they were finished, a hidden clue was provided on the site. The clue featured addresses and a message. The addresses were to bakeries in various cities. The first fan that arrived at these bakeries and gave them the message were given cakes. The cakes had a message written on the top of them that said, “Call me now!!” followed by a phone number. When the fans called the phone numbers, the cakes started to “ring”. When fans tore apart the cakes to find out what was making the ringing noise, they found a bag of clues and a phone buried inside. Following the clues, the fans called a number on the new phone and they then were invited to an exclusive sneak peek at the first 8 minutes of the new film at their local IMAX theatre.

http://www.mefeedia.com/entry/attention-batman-fans/5069632/

For the rest of the fans, there was a new site at atasteforthetheatrical.com that featured a classified at for a car trailer business in Gotham called Gotham City Trailer Coach Co. However, the ad was defaced and the clues indicated a countdown to Dec 28th at 8:00 pm. Fans understood that this is when the new Trailer for the film was going to be featured on the web.

Then, something tragic happened in January of 2008. Heath Ledger passed away.

It is speculated that this viral interactive campaign will no longer continue. Even though it was the actor, not the character, that passed away, it could be a bit too creepy to have the character continue these antics in cyberspace before the release of the film.

Even though this campaign was for a feature film release, it contains elements that every brand can learn a lesson from.

5 Important Elements of An Effective Interactive Campaign

Break Out of the Web. Take it offline and blur the line of cyberspace.
Build a Campaign Over Time. Don’t reveal everything at once. Sustain interest by creating a dialogue with your consumers and brand advocates.
Go Deep with the Brand. Interactive campaigns allow you to target your most loyal brand advocates. Reward them. Don’t stay on the surface.
Use Elements of Game Play. Create mystery.
Leverage Online Social Behavior. Understand that we live in a world with forums, Facebook, Digg, and YouTube. Fans will talk. Give them some space.

I'm not sure who all was involved with The Dark Knight interactive campaign, but I am very impressed. If anyone knows, please leave the information in the comments.

Test for Existence of a JavaScript Method

Andrew Hay — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 07:05:00 GMT

One of my teammates recently had a problem with some Flash injection code. She was setting some properties and then calling a function on a JavaScript object that threw an error. We got a message that said "Object doesn't support this property or method".

We isolated it down to a timing issue by dropping an alert() into the code just before we called the method. With the alert() pausing execution for a few seconds, the browser had enough time to fully instantiate our object. Without the alert(), the method was called before it was built. Its a problem that can make your brain hurt.

Here's how you can test for the existence of a JavaScript method before you call it. You might need to do this if you're working with asynchronous calls or dynamic objects that take a while to build.

I created a sample page to demonstrate the issue and how to deal with it. I put three hyperlinks on the page that each call a JavaScript method. Here's the JavaScript code.

At the bottom of the previous code block, you'll see some JavaScript in the mainline section. This code gets executed as soon as the browser sees it. JavaScript is an interpreted language and the browser processes it in a top-down fashion. So, by definition, the browser already knows about my three methods before it runs my code in the mainline. This is where I define an empty object to test and then create an instance of that object. Just two lines, not much so far.

When I click the link that runs the function named TestForFunction(), I perform some due diligence tests by checking for an undefined object as well as a null object. The last test with the arrow pointing to it is the key part. This will tell me if the method exists without actually running the method. I show one of two messages based on the existence of the method.

The top function named CreateFunction() just spot welds a method onto my object. Even though I've already created an instance of my object, I can still see this method in my instance because I've added the method to the prototype. When this function returns, I've got my new method. When I run TestForFUnction() again, it will see the method.

The bottom method just executes the function I added on the fly. When my DoWork() method fires, it shows a message in the alert() pop-up.

If you find that you need to deal with this type of problem in your code, inspect the object for the method before you call it. If the method doesn't exist, refactor your code to call the window.setTimeout() function for a few milliseconds and check again. Once it exists, your code can continue executing.

Why Clients and Agencies Need to Take a Holistic Approach to E-Business

Steve Rosenbaum — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 00:52:00 GMT

The most successful e-business implementations excel, not just by being great in one area, but by being good in all areas and great in some areas.

Critical E-Business Success Factors

Clear business vision and measurable goals
A marketing plan that drives your campaigns and programs
Scalable and diversified advertising channels
A technology framework that is secure, reliable, extensible and agile
Brand growth, management and evolution
Customer support
Alignment of enterprise activities with vision and strategy

On the Front-lines of Business Development in an Interactive Agency

In the past 30 days, I received the following calls from prospective Pop Art clients:

            Company 1 asks: We need you to “redesign” our front-end graphics.
            Company 2 asks: We need you to “rebuild” our e-commerce back-end.
            Company 3 asks: We need you to do some “online advertising” for us.

The problem with all three of these examples is that the customer is seeking a specific service rather than a holistic solution.

Risks of Point Solutions to Both the Client and the Agency

The agency delivers a great service, but it is optimized for the point solution the client has requested rather than the customer’s holistic needs.
It is difficult and expensive for the agency to get up to speed on the company’s holistic needs if the agency is working in only one functional area. Success in a given functional area will be limited if silos prevent collaboration with other functional areas.
The client is unbundling the agency’s overall solution into specific services. This disrupts the agency’s methodology and erodes its value proposition. This also draws a lopsided use of resources from the agency, increasing project costs.
The client is taking total responsibility for strategy, and relegating the agency to a tactical implementation role. This makes the projects less rewarding for agency team members and doesn’t give the agency a chance to show its business smarts.

There are times when it might make sense for both the client and the agency to engage in a purely tactical project designed for a point solution. However, in those situations, the client and agency should be conscious of the above risks and take specific steps to mitigate them.

Tips for Successful Relationships with an Interactive Solutions Agency

E-business projects are not primarily about graphic design or software development or advertising. While all of those are critical disciplines, they are the last factors to which you need to pay attention!

First think Strategy, then think Planning, then think Implementation. If you want to be agile, the agency working on implementation must also be involved with business strategy and planning; otherwise, it becomes too hard to switch directions. Furthermore, you don’t want to play the game of “Telephone” whereby strategic intent is watered down and misconstrued because the people implementing the strategy weren’t able to interact directly with the strategic leaders.

E-business is incredibly cross-disciplinary. The key to success is culture more than technology. The job of the client executive is creating stakeholder alignment and a culture where people working on the project are working together effectively and feeling that they are having a meaningful impact on the business.
Understand what motivates your agency and the people who work there. Make sure your agency understands your company and your motivations. Be willing to compromise to establish a partnership that maximizes the total rewards of the relationship.
Very few agencies are good at everything. Understand what services your agency wants to provide and what additional services they are willing to provide. Understand your agencies strengths and weaknesses. If you have multiple agencies, make sure that they know their roles, and that they are collaborating and playing well together.

Pop Art’s Holistic Approach to E-Business:

1) We start with a broad assessment. We love reading business plans and marketing plans; we also love helping customers to create those documents if they don’t already exist.

2) We explore and document internal stakeholder needs. What is the sales team seeking from the e-commerce solution? What do the product managers want? What does IT want? What does Operations want? After a couple group sessions, we typically design a survey and do brief 1:1 interviews with at least the top 10 stakeholders. Often this produces unique insights into the business. For example, the operations team may be aware of a valuable new market opportunity that was not previously presented to us. We then share our findings with our key stakeholders, and they have us present them back to their broader teams where appropriate.

3) We explore and document the needs of our customer’s customers. Through segmented focus groups, surveys and 1:1 interviews with customers we are able to validate the business case and gain valuable insight into the psychology and demographics of the target audience. This also helps us produce meaningful customer interactions when we implement the e-business system.

4) We examine research, competitive analysis, 3^rd party solutions and industry trends and best practices to present our clients with knowledge and to help them finalize their goals and implementation plans. This allows us to sign-up for strategies and goals where we feel ownership and ability to guarantee our client’s success.

5) Armed with proper information about the business case, we adapt Pop Art process to the client’s needs and present the client with implementation plans and choices so that the client can make optimal decisions for their business based upon their preferences for balancing costs, assurance, time-to-market and total return.

Taking a holistic approach requires extra effort at the start of the project. However, once you try it, you’ll never go back. Point solutions are simply too risky, too expensive and not very fun. Holistic approaches will lead to better alignment within your organization and its markets while producing maximum ROI and smooth sailing for all of those involved.

Feel encouraged to post comments regarding challenges and successes you have experienced when taking a holistic approach.

Its only Monday, and I'm Already Out on a Branch

Andrew Hay — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 06:34:00 GMT

...or two.

I've had two projects this week where their/my bacon was saved by the branching strategy used for the source code repository. In my line of work, I touch a wide variety of projects. Some are still shiny new and others were written years ago; they're all in a source control repository.

Modern source control repositories (and by modern, I mean things that are not your file server or P:\ drive) let you create a branch. Branching might appear complex at first, but it's really pretty simple - at least conceptually. Here's a little story to illustrate the point of branches.

When I create a branch, I have a snapshot of the code at a particular point in time. So, imagine that on Monday, I have a single branch called the "trunk". It contains all of the code for my web site. On Tuesday, I created a branch based on the code in the trunk. I named my branch "BR-1". When I created BR-1, it was a mirror image of the trunk. I edited the code in BR-1 for a couple of days and nearly got it how I wanted it. My edits were isolated to BR-1 and they did not exist in the trunk.

I got a call early on Friday morning about an important change that needed to go out right away. I couldn't implement the urgent change to BR-1 because it contained my partially completed work. It was a pretty small change; a few hours of brilliant coding and I would be ready for a peer review of my changes. So, I checked out the trunk and made the edit right there and checked it back in. I published the urgent change I made on the trunk out to the live web site in the early afternoon and went back to working on BR-1.

By mid-day on the following Monday, I had finished all of my changes to the BR-1 branch. I had merged the BR-1 code into the trunk too. Now my trunk code contained the changes from BR-1 as well as that urgent change that came through on Friday morning. Complete control with the flick of a switch.

In the previous story, I was able to handle the urgent request efficiently because I used branching to manage my code changes. If I didn't have branching available as a software development tool, I would have some bad choices to make. Either I merge the urgent fix with my own enhancements and risk problems by rushing it, or force the urgent change to wait until my own changes were done; neither are necessary.

Branching is great way to ensure that I can always put my work on the shelf in lieu of more pressing matters. Understanding the concepts of branching is essential to being a valuable member of the team. The keys you actually press to make a branch or merge two branches can be left up to the nerdy folk. For more info, check out Pragmatic Version Control Using Subversion.

When Ignorance Is Not Bliss – A Tale of Social Media, PR and Search Engine Marketing

Rodica Buzescu — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 19:51:00 GMT

In yesterday’s New York Times, Target was reported to ignore the feedback of a blogger. A Target PR representative explained, “unfortunately, […] Target does not participate with nontraditional media outlets”. The blogosphere soon reacted by showing solidarity to the independent writer and wondered our loud, if Target isn't listening to its consumers, wherever they may be, whose input are they considering? The story quickly received coverage on a huge number of blogs and eventually in the New York Times, where it was the most emailed and blogged piece of the day. The impact furthers: a simple Google search with the keywords "target" and "NY Times" yields the Times article in the third organic position.

Levi previously wrote about the tricky reliability of focus groups when gauging consumer trends and gathering comments. It's time to recognize that there is an emerging alternative – you can listen and engage those people who express opinions freely through blogs/social media. Out of the 70 million blogs and counting, many are dedicated to passionately analyzing news and events related to a particular topic. The added benefit is that, unlike traditional media, bloggers are usually extremely timely with their feedback. For on-line initiatives, the implication is that you can react faster and get extra props for embracing criticism.

If your company isn't already thinking about including social media as an integral part of what it does on the web (PR, Customer Service, Marketing, etc.), here's one key thing to keep in mind: all information on the web is consolidated through a user's window into the digital space. The search engine is that window. Bloggers' reviews of products and campaigns, as well as relevant forum posts and YouTube videos, are all indexed by search engines – the same ones you work with in your marketing projects. If you're thinking (as you should) about spreading a consistent brand message through all media, then social media must be a piece of that strategy.

Forget Viral: Start a Wildfire.

Thom Schoenborn — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 19:23:00 GMT

We're all big fans of Malcolm Gladwell over here. And so when I saw this article in Fast Company titled "Is the Tipping Point Toast?" I dug right in. If nothing else, I love a good academic smackdown. The article interviews a former prof who now works for Yahoo, and who refutes the "viral" theory behind a shadowy class we marketing folks call "Influentials." Along the way, he also coins my nominee for the marketing buzzword of the year: Wildfire marketing.

But let's start with the theory and move toward the buzzword. First, Influentials:

"In modern marketing, this idea--that a tiny cadre of connected people triggers trends--is enormously seductive. It is the very premise of viral and word-of-mouth campaigns: Reach those rare, all-powerful folks, and you'll reach everyone else through them, basically for free."

So this former academic, Duncan Watts, basically says that's garbage. He's run some computer simulations based on influence, and basically, there's no real evidence to back up the assertion that some people count for more than others. (A gross over-simplification on my part, but you should really read the article, 'k?)

Which explains why whenever the creative team gets worked up by an interesting online doo-dad forwarded to us, Dave always points out that he'd sent it around a month ago, and none of us bothered to read it.

And here's why:

"If society is ready to embrace a trend, almost anyone can start one--and if it isn't, then almost no one can," Watts concludes. To succeed with a new product, it's less a matter of finding the perfect hipster to infect and more a matter of gauging the public's mood. Sure, there'll always be a first mover in a trend. But since she generally stumbles into that role by chance, she is, in Watts's terminology, an "accidental Influential."

Dave's an influential, any way you slice it. He knows everyone. He's active in the Portland online, design and art scene, he's forward thinking, and he's the most social person I know.

But if our little creative society isn't ready to embrace what he's forwarding, it flops. Or at least gets relegated to the "read later" folder. And think about how often that happens: At some conference we attended last year, the CD of a very successful online marketing group said 9 out of 10 "viral" marketing sites bomb. Which leads us to the notion that Watts has:

Perhaps the problem with viral marketing is that the disease metaphor is misleading. Watts thinks trends are more like forest fires: There are thousands a year, but only a few become roaring monsters. That's because in those rare situations, the landscape was ripe: sparse rain, dry woods, badly equipped fire departments. If these conditions exist, any old match will do. "And nobody," Watts says wryly, "will go around talking about the exceptional properties of the spark that started the fire."

To be honest, if "wildfire" isn't a marketing buzzword by next year, I'll eat my hat. Watts actually calls it "Big Seed," but that's because he's a scientist and not a copywriter. But read on...

In the past three years, he has worked on a new form of advertising he calls Big Seed marketing (this is part of his work at Yahoo, where he is a principal research scientist). [snip] Watts and Peretti set up a regular mass-market ad buy, running banner ads on several prominent blogs and news sites. Like many ads these days, they added a button on the ad that allows people to forward the ad to a friend--a way of collecting eyeballs for free.
The technique marries Watts's two main epiphanies: Cascades require word-of-mouth effects, so you need to build a six-degrees effect into an ad campaign; but since you can never know which person is going to spark the fire, you should aim the ad at as broad a market as possible--and not waste money chasing "important" people. And it worked. The pass-around effect doubled the number of people who saw the Brady Campaign's ad. They paid for 22,582 hits and received an additional 31,590 for free. Another campaign they ran for the Oxygen network quadrupled the audience size, adding 23,544 hits to the initial 7,064.
The ultimate irony of Watts's research is that, if you really buy it, the most effective way to pitch your idea is ... mass marketing.

Wildfire has all the perfect earmarks for being a great buzzword: Smokin' creative is still necessary. Increased accountability. Bigger ad spends. Contrarian rationale. Mass market tactics. And let's face it, lower hopes (double the success) than viral (exponential success).

As for the creative side, I think the best we can do is make the product/service somehow relevant to the lives of our customers. No matter how much glitz and credibility we put behind our sales pitch, no matter how "cool" we make it for the Influentials, if the creative isn't relevant, we're just sparking wet tinder.

cluckcluckcluck Who Are You Afraid Of, Ya Big Chicken?

Thom Schoenborn — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 18:43:00 GMT

I bet you're not trying to be No.1. I bet you're making excuses. I bet there's someone in your company, or in your industry, who OWNS you. They've got the Midas Touch, and you're niggling about process documents and sweating out a 15 percent improvement. No? A new study on professional golfers suggests otherwise. Call it the Tiger Effect; it says in the face of a dominant force, people play for second place. They play it safe.

From Slate.com.

If money motivates, then the prospect of winning the top prize should bring out extreme effort in golf. But when Tiger is playing and you're not Tiger, you face a depressed prize schedule. If you assume Tiger is going to win, then the top prize available to you is $864,000 rather than $1.44 million. That beats the heck out of steak knives, but it's significantly less than the winner's take. Second place—among players who are not Tiger—gets $544,000 rather than $864,000, and so on. While Tiger certainly doesn't win every tournament he enters, he does frequently shift the reward schedule for most of the field.

Which made me think of this damn-the-doubters article by HP CIO John Soat, published in Information Week:

...technology managers must realize that a radical IT transformation is the only way to achieve significant and lasting results. Trying to pick and choose among various and equally pressing IT priorities -- server consolidation, application portfolio management, rationalizing IT resources -- is a recipe for failure. "Choosing is losing," he said. "You're going to guarantee you'll never get finished. The incremental fashion just doesn't work."
A deep dive into a company's technology infrastructure will help open a technology manager's eyes. Some of the 1,240 IT projects Mott cataloged at HP during a 30-day review weren't slated to be finished for 20 years. "If it takes 20 years to finish, it can't be that important," he jokingly pointed out.

So I guess the question we have to ask ourselves when we hedge and compromise: who are you afraid of? Is there a force in your industry or company so dominant that whispers tell you, "Lay up in front of the bunker. Don't lose your lock on 3rd place. You'll look like a chump if plunk it in the sand."

Last story: I met with this guy who used to work at a major footwear company, and he told me a story about their rise to power. "You could create a huge splash, change the conversation, blow a titanic hole in your budget and be rewarded with a promotion. You could come in at half the budget while barely make a ripple, and be exiled to the warehouse."

The culture of his company said the halo effect of radically better work wipes away your sins. I think it's a culture to which every marketing organization should aspire. No? Who are you afraid of?