In preparation for the ever worsening economy, I was sending out requests for endorsements on LinkedIn this morning and wondered (in the name transparency) if there would ever be a way to allow for negative comments? In recent months LinkedIn has had an explosion in traffic and I’ve received invitations to join former coworkers networks at an astounding rate. People I haven’t seen or...
I saw Guy Kawasaki Tweet about an article entitled Should brands ignore social media criticism?, and I had to read/respond. Overall it’s a good article and worth reading. One highlight from the post: But what if some brands are paying too much attention to social media? Is it possible that the most vocal on Facebook and Twitter and in the blogosphere not only don’t represent the...
In these economically conscious times (aren’t they always?!?!?), I keep hearing; How do I monetize my time on a social network? Well aside from advertising (which is the one obvious answer) there are several ways to ways to think about spending time and effort on social networks. To keep it simple and akin to something that the old guard is familiar with; think of it as a branding exercise...
In late 1991 Jason was hiking through the Sonoran desert in Arizona. The terrain was varied with flat spots and rocky outcroppings. As he came up over a ridge the land opened up into a small valley. In the middle was a small box, standing upright, about 10 inches high. He hiked down the interior towards the box. As he got closer he recognized the packaging as a box of Triscuits. When he reached...
By now we all know that as businesses, we don’t own our brand quite the way we used to. (Actually we never did it just wasn’t as easy to spread the word about brands as it is today via the internet.) We also know that if you aren’t participating in the conversation then you’re losing out on an opportunity to build brand equity through transparency. The question becomes;...
For those of you who don’t know who Rick Rubin is you’ll most likely know many of the artists he has produced over the years. An abbreviated version of list contains Beastie Boys, The Cult, Mick Jagger, Johnny Cash, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage Against the Machine, Tom Petty, Weezer, Neil Diamond, Jay Z, U2 and most recently Metallica. Rubin claims he has no technical skill and simply...
For as long as I can remember there has always been a villain/artist/musician. From a theatrical standpoint, this was role invented by Alice Cooper in the 70s. In the 80s Heavy Metal artists such as Ozzy Ousborne, Judas Priest and AC/DC assumed the role. Ozzy bit the head off of a bat, Judas Priest was accused of encouraging fans to kill themselves through subliminal messages and AC/DC’s...
I posted in late September (just a few posts down) about the Rugby Tournament in Aspen that I’ve attended for the last 24 years. I mentioned the need for Generational liaisons as partners to help marketers serve a niche. I wanted to expand on the concept of generations with the context of niche. When I started going to Ruggerfest, Aspen was still a relatively small mountain town in...
Lately I’ve been receiving invitations from Skype and LinkedIn to participate in surveys (hosted by my favorite SurveyMonkey). The most recent arrived Monday and the email read: mIchael, Thanks for responding to our recent message and survey. . . Now I’m all for colorful spellings (and misspellings) of my name but when I first read this I thought it was spam that had somehow escaped...
I have been watching Anthony Bourdain‘s, No Reservations since 2005 and love the show. I appreciate his intelligence, eloquence, humor and how I feel a little more worldly after every show. I have always said that you can’t really know someone until you see the place they grew up. Bourdain’s belief is that you can’t really know a culture until you eat what the locals are...