It’s Gonna Be FUN!

For the past 3.5 years our company has been managing our projects with a web-based software called Creative Manager Pro. It’s worked out very well for us, although it was a HUGE adjustment when we made that initial switch. I’m at a point where I know the ins & outs of the program so well I barely have to think as I navigate from one screen to another. I’ve grown quite comfortable in my little CMPro world, and for some people I’m probably a little too much of an advocate for the product. This afternoon I spent 30 minutes talking to several people from another agency about the software and answering all of their questions — maybe I am a bit of a freak.

Yesterday the CMPro people loaded their brand new, upgraded, all flash version of their program onto our servers. I’m still a little unsure about the name but I’m having a lot of fun playing with my new Workamajig (yeah, that’s the name). They’ve managed to take what I consider a great project management tool for the creative industry and make it better. And in the process they’ve made it sort of fun. 

The basics of the program remain but what they’ve added is pretty cool. Without going into a bunch of detail they’ve created a flexible palette that users can customize into their own work space. Multiple widgets have been designed for placement on the dashboard. These widgets can be added, deleted, moved, resized, and modified in a variety of ways. You can even make the widgets disappear leaving a clean desktop that is covered in whatever canvas you prefer. OK, I’m going to stop now before you think I’m a total freak.

In a couple of weeks we get to roll it out to the entire company. My task will be to convince everyone else it’s gonna be fun. I’ll let you know how it goes!

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.

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

All In One Place

Check out Alltop. I came across it reading Guy Kawasaki’s blog, How To Change The World. Alltop is a one stop shop for “all the top” news stories from “all the top” sites on the web. The site is very well organized with categories for Work, Living, People, Interests, Culture, Geekery, Good and News. Within each of those categories are a variety of topics. Very cool. Because of my work in brand experience marketing I tend to spend time reading Social Media stories, and because of my role at Premier Studios I end up in the Small Business section. Since I’ve never owned a computer other than a Macintosh you can count on me spending some of my time here. Check it out! 

Morning Song

I noticed something several days ago; every morning when I wake up I’m singing a song. I honestly don’t know if I’ve always done this, if it’s only been in my adult life or just something that has started as I approach fifty (lots of stuff is changing). Some mornings I can explain why I’m singing a certain song. Maybe I heard it the day before while I had Pandora playing at work, or I heard it on my way home. Easier still is when I wake up singing something I heard the night before on American Idol. And, right now at this time in the show’s season that is usually the case for Wednesday and Thursday mornings. 

American Idol has managed to capture the attention of a large segment of the American society. I’m sure there a number of theories out there but I would maintain it’s largely because the brand is so experiential. Sure you can just observe, but even if you’re the coolest of heads watching the show you’ve got your favorite contestant. Go ahead, admit it. You’re engaged! You know right now who you’re hoping goes home the winner, and who you just hope goes home. 

Some of you keep your computer on your lap while you watch the show so you have the the contestants bios at your fingertips. Some go to the website to look at the behind the scenes info and others have purchased your favorite performance on iTunes. Then there are millions of us who have actually cast votes for specific contestants. Regardless of where you are on the American Idol continuum you can’t deny the significance of the experience. Another thing you can’t deny is the intentionality of all things Idol. A brand experience this strong doesn’t happen by accident. 

Perhaps you’re wondering how big of an Idol geek I am, so here are the facts. I try and watch the show every week — I enjoy living vicariously through Simon because I’ve judged several talent shows in my lifetime and was never allowed to speak my mind like he does. I also have my favorite one or two contestants and have cast my votes along the way. I watch the show with my computer nearby, and I’ve watched some of the behind the scenes videos, but I’ve never watched the Ford commercials online. So now you know all of my Idol secrets. What are yours?

 

Now, if I could just figure out why I woke up this morning singing Sunshine On My Shoulder.

People to People

So, if the internet is the center of the universe what used to be? Well, when we talk about the center of the universe I think what we’re really talking about is the core, and I don’t think the core of the universe has changed. What has changed over time is the delivery system. I think the core of the universe has always been, and always will be community. Since time began people have had relationships and developed communities. When humanity first appeared I don’t think they always stayed in their caves. At some point they came out and began to develop relationships. I can imagine there was some courageous developer who decided to create entire neighborhoods complete with cave cul-de-sacs.

Think about this; as humanity continued to evolve they went from singular caves to cave communities to some other form of shelters. Then there were villages where they had a village green or common area for the community (I guess you could call them the village people — sorry) to gather. Then there were towns with town squares and town halls, pubs or taverns — again, places for community. At some point those towns grew into larger cities and the communal areas continued to expand so people were gathering around points of common interest like churches and schools. It doesn’t take you too long before you go from the roadside diner to Starbucks, and from telephones to internet and from snail mail to email.

The internet has allowed community to expand exponentially. When I think about the changes the internet has brought to community two things (there are way more but these are primary) come to mind; immediacy and global. Humanity used to only have community with the few people around them, and I doubt there were many who wandered too far from their cave of origin. As technology has evolved so have communities, allowing people to develop communities further and further from home. We’re now at a point where many of us communicate with, and share friendships with people all around the globe. Sometimes these are people we’ve never met face to face, yet we call them friends and in some cases speak to them almost daily and keep track of them through things like Linked In, FaceBook or Twitter.

The immediacy factor is so common place that it’s become the expectation. People not only want community but they want it now. The internet gives you that. You can even have a virtual community like Second Life and not know real people if that’s your preference. So, while we may refer to the internet as the center of the universe we can’t forget the human connection that is at the core. The thing that’s really driving all of this isn’t the technology but community. It’s people connecting with other people. From a marketing perspective I can’t imagine a more fertile playground.

The Internet: Center of the Universe

Have you seen the monster.com commercial with the ginormous-legged man pedaling the gyroscope at the center of the earth? That’s one of the first things I thought of when I first heard someone say the internet is the center of the universe. Then in my mind I began seeing someone deep in the earth’s core making all of these connections — kind of antique switchboard style. Then as I allowed my mind to expand and catch up with reality I realized how undeniably true that statement is. 

How many things do you do in your daily life that have nothing to do with the internet?  For me that’s a short list. I practically live online and I’m not all that young anymore. My kids and the young kids I’m surrounded by at work live their lives more immersed in the digital world than I, which is a little hard to believe. And it just keeps expanding and people continue to dream up new ways of being connected. Just a few days ago I read a brief update in Fast Company that told how we’re not that far away from our appliances being connected to the digital space. Can you imagine having your refrigerator sending you a text message that your milk is going bad and you’d better pick up a fresh gallon?

This past weekend I decided to experiment with Twitter so I went online and created my account and began twitting (you can follow me here but it’s not that exciting). Very quickly I discovered my 21 year old son twitting with some of our creative staff at Premier Studios. So being a good dad I signed up to follow him (that could have been very handy when he was younger). I found out he was sitting in a Saturday class wishing he were sleeping instead. I immediately jumped on iChat and before the program could fully open a window opened with the words, “sup Dad,” and Ryan and I began a chat while he was in class in Idaho and I was sitting in a hotel room more than 1500 miles away.

 

And yes, I told him to get offline and pay attention to the lecture — I may be connected but I’m still a dad.