Closed Circuit Creativity

A lack of funds didn’t stop The Get Out Clause from making a pretty cool looking music video, and in the process gain fame around the world. Fortunately for them Britain has more than 13 million closed circuit television cameras around the country so the band set-up in front of about 80 of them and shot themselves. Then under the Freedom of Information Act they requested the footage from the various camera owners and actually got 20 of them to comply. The result is an effect other bands (or their labels) would have paid serious money to achieve. Amazing how creative you can get when most of the resources you can afford have to be free. 

Since WordPress isn’t allowing me to insert the You Tube player for some reason, you can see the video here.

What’s Your Brand?

I attended a luncheon not too long ago where Shel Holtz was the guest speaker. During his presentation on Social Media he asked how we defined brand. After several very predictable definitions from the audience he shared his definition with us: “The definition of your brand is whatever Google says it is.” He then went on to explain that if you want to know what people think of your brand type it into Google and see what it returns. Not only how you rank but also what is being said.

As I’ve reflected on this I’ve come to agree with Shel. Furthermore, you not only need to be in touch but you should also be adding to what is being said about your brand at this level. You can’t control what is being said, especially within the various social medias but you can at least be aware of it, and whenever appropriate join the conversation.

Not too long ago I spoke with one of my clients about this very thing. They’re a conservative, non-profit group and they came to me about posting a video on You Tube. I told them I thought it was a great idea and it would be a positive way to get their message before a younger public. Then they asked if people would be able to comment on the video. When I told them yes they had serious concerns. As it turned out they were much more interested in delivering their message to the public than in receiving feedback from the public. They ended up posting their video but on their corporate website where they felt they could better control it and where people couldn’t talk about them.

I’ve not yet given up on helping this client enter into the conversation where appropriate. What a shame that they can’t let go and allow people to experience their brand at an interactive level. The public is ready to engage but the organization is unwilling to provide the platform for them to speak. In essence, the organization is unwilling to listen to what is being said about their brand. In our Web 2.0 society there may be no greater offense.

Hackintosh? Excuse Me?

I ran across this while reading my son’s blog and found it bordering on absurd. I have never owned any computer other than a Mac. While I understand that Windows machines are computers, I can’t fully understand why anyone would choose to own one, but that’s another post altogether.

Owning and using a Mac has been like a rite of passage in the Cork family. It’s the only computer our family has ever had in our home and all three of our kids have taken Macs away to college with them. It’s one of the ways we define normal around here. To throw a non-Mac box running Mac software into the marketplace might be attractive to a few, but real Mac users won’t bother. It’s like, what’s the point?

Using a Mac is not just about the software. I mean have you seen the keyboard on the latest iMac, or have you felt the smooth curvature of the new MacBook Air?  It’s not about price. Macintosh is an experience, not some sort of utilitarian device available to the lowest bidder.

Obviously the person who developed this “box” doesn’t understand Mac and the true Mac user. Otherwise they wouldn’t be wasting their time and money. While I understand them trying (Windows has always copied Mac) I don’t understand how they think money could be a deciding factor.

Word of Mouth

Most of us have heard someone say, or have even said ourselves that the best form of advertising is word of mouth. Well, I recently joined The Society for Word of Mouth. I joined mostly out of curiosity but believe like most things that start this way I’ll end up learning along the way. The society has a straightforward, two-fold purpose:

1. To be a free social network for the true believers of word of mouth (or the merely curious);
2. To be a premium educational resource for making word of mouth fundamental to the DNA of any organization.

Most every company, organization, etc. still considers word of mouth to be a viable form of advertising. It just so happens that today the technological landscape has expanded our word of mouth options exponentially. No longer do you have to depend on the literal exchange of words from one mouth to another. And no longer are you limited to only a few sets of ears while sharing these words from your mouth. Today’s word of mouth movement is propelled by a nearly limitless variety of communication options. The company who fails to at least consider all of these options in their advertising strategy limits their reach and this the effectiveness of their campaign. Check out the Society

Client Challenges

Phil Johnson has a great post in Ad Age’s Small Agency Diary; The Joys and Sorrows of Dealing With Clients. He has a couple of interesting theories, one being that

large corporate structures breed and allow a level of bad behavior that would be unacceptable in almost any other social environment.

I have seen this play out on multiple occasions and it’s not pretty.

I think many companies would be appalled by the behavior of some of their employees. These bad behavior types are literally misrepresenting the company. From the Account Service side this is not something we can necessarily change because we can’t cure their bad behavior. What we can change is how we respond to someone else’s bad behavior, and that in turn can impact their behavior. Notice I said impact.

I don’t believe it’s our job to cure the behavior of someone else, instead it’s our job to respond appropriately to their bad behavior. Frequently that means being direct, honest and confrontational in a kind and fair way. Occasionally it just means choking down the words you’d like to say in response. And, response is the key word here. Always respond, never react!

Fifty Couldn’t Be Better

I normally only post this type of thing on Streams, my blog focused more on faith and family. But this is such a special thing that I decided to have identical posts in both blogs.

Being a dad can be the most rewarding thing in the world. There are those times when your heart is so full you don’t think it will hold anymore. This past weekend I had such a time. Although my fiftieth birthday is still a few days away we celebrated over the weekend because our three out-of-town kids were here over their Spring Break. We had a really wonderful dinner at home and retold some funny stories from the kids’ childhood. It was a lot of fun. After dinner our kids brought out some birthday gifts. Jacque (my wife) had told them to be creative, very personal and to not spend much money.

Jessica, our oldest gave me a beautiful scrap book that she had loaded up with stories from her life. On each page she captured a different phase of our life together. Some of the memories were fun and some even a little painful. Each of them express our lives together as father and daughter. Among many other things she said, “I would not be the person I am today without you.” In the back of the book she had written out the words to the song, I Love You, Lord. It’s a song I used to sing to her at bedtime when she was a little girl, and then when she got married I quoted it within the ceremony. It has always been a special song for the two of us. At the bottom of that back page was an envelope and inside was a CD. She and our son Ryan had recorded their own arrangement of the song the night before. Listening to it is just one of those moments for me. It will never get old — go ahead and listen.

Ryan, our fun loving, non-sentimental son (the one who engineered the recording of I Love You Lord, and played drums, keyboards and who knows what else) gave me a card and inside he had written words that I will cherish the rest of my life. While I’m unwilling to share all of them with the world I will proudly say that according to him, I am his hero and inspiration — it doesn’t get any better than that. Along with the card he gave me an N scale, toy train caboose to keep on my desk. He’s always loved trains, and he and I have had some great model train memories over the years. The caboose will remind me of him every time I see it.

My baby girl Aimee made me a beautiful card and mounted it in a floating frame. The card says,

Holds you when you cry, scolds you when you break the rules, shines with pride when you succeed, and has faith in you even when you fail. I love you. Happy 50th.

It summarizes what she knows about me. It will find a special place on my office wall.

Jacque and I are very blessed and proud parents. We’ve got three great kids of our own and two of them have married great kids. Throughout our adult lives people have asked us how we’ve raised such great kids, and while I think the reasons go far beyond this simplistic answer I usually say something like, we spent lots of time together. Much of it around the dinner table sharing the highlights (and sometimes lowlights) from our day, laughing and occasionally crying.

I could keep writing but there’s really no point. God has blessed us and I’m thankful. Turning fifty couldn’t be any better than this!

But It’s My Money

We have a flex plan at work that’s a great way to take care of out of pocket health costs incurred throughout the year. If you’re unfamiliar with such a plan here are the basics. I determine how much I want to contribute to the plan and that amount is withheld from my paycheck throughout the year as pre-tax dollars. As I incur costs not covered by insurance I submit those to the company who administrates our benefits. That amount then shows up in my next paycheck. It’s usually pretty smooth.

A couple of months ago my wife had some dental work done and the dentist did an estimation of what our insurance would cover (most of it wasn’t covered by insurance) and we paid the difference. So far, no problems. Then when I went to the dentist a couple of weeks later I went through the check out process and they said here’s what you owe for today’s visit and we’re also adding on an additional amount from your wife’s last work. It turns out their insurance estimate was a little off and so I paid what was owed at the time – around $60. The next day I submitted it to the benefits administration company and expected to get my $60 reimbursement. Instead I got a letter saying my receipts showed they only owed me $9.

OK, this sort of pissed me off since first of all it’s my money and I’m just asking them to give some of it back to me. Second, I gave them a receipt from the dentist for $60 so just give me my damn money. SO, I send an appeal letter explaining the error of their ways and giving them more documentation than I think they could possibly need. Yesterday I get an email saying that according to the receipts I submitted they still only owe me $9. Did I say this was my money? Then they tell me several MORE things they need if I expect to get my money. I feel like sending them a bill for all the time I’m spending on gathering information so I can get my own money back.

The real pisser in this whole thing – other than not being able to get my own money – is in the ladies signature line. Right below her name it says, “Service is Your First Benefit.” Oh give me a freakin’ break!