CrapHammer

When does language not define a person?

I'm forever awed when my world is torn and I am overcome by the pungent scent of a previously unknown prejudice.  It appears to require this  sudden jarring moment of witnessing myself in a darker light.

This video portrays the power and potential of the self publishing medium.  Namely, to taunt our perceptions of others, ourselves and the beliefs through which we interact with the world.  I have yet to see a video that impacted me this powerfully.

[embedded youtube video below]

P.S. Watch it all the way through.  You'll be glad you did.

I am still drinking in the content at Johnnie Moore's blog where I found this.  Thanks again to Gavin for leading me to him.

Co-Creator manifesto that truly lives up to the name

Go here to download the co-creation manifesto from James Cherkoff & Johnnie Moore.

This is a truly remarkable manifesto that embraces the shift towards creating participation and redefining the role of consumers as co-creators. As brands and agencies alike are struggling to re-align themselves in this regard, this manifesto paints some of the most sensible rules of thumb I've come across. 

What makes this manifesto outstanding, and unusual, is that many of these rules of thumb are paired with success stories, helping to further clarify, motivate and realize the opportunities available.

Many thanks to the brand builder blog for this gem.

Bloggers call for transparency. But do they measure up themselves?

Last week I joined in on the crayon-sponsored second-life coffee chat.  There I sat with steaming coffee in hand attempting to get my avatar into the proper room and oriented so that I was not staring strangely at a wall or other inanimate object.  It's been a while since I've had to chat one handed.  And certainly never while seated in my office.

What began as an interesting experiment quickly turned into a high speed scroll chase.  I was left with all of second life no longer visible as I had enlarged the chat window to cover every area of my screen in a vain attempt to keep up.

So I reverted to private chatting with a few folks and then we all returned to our world, pretending we had been working on something work related.

Before I lost track of the conversation, there was some very interesting discussion regarding transparency.

People were for or against companies using blogs, happy to slam Edelman and quick to demand things like accountability and ethics.  And it became apparent that everyone had a slightly or drastically different concept of "transparency". It got me thinking. It seems to me that what we are really asking for when it comes to transparency is disclosure of intent.

I'm going to say it a little more forcefully.  Transparency is disclosure of intent.

It struck me that it's not exactly fair that we demand this level of transparency from others if we haven't gone through this exercise ourselves.  And I'm likely not alone as I just stumbled across Kate's open and self-aware post where she revists why we blog.

I don't blog just so I can tell people they should get a life.

I don't blog just to cover up my blog envy.

And I certainly don't blog just for the thrill and hits of getting caught up in a meme.

I blog for ALL these reasons.  It's about status.  It's about having a voice that others respect.  And it's about connecting with others whom I respect because (frankly) they are smarter, faster, wiser, sexier, and better dressed than me.  (Masi's socks excluded.)

Why do you blog?

Image Source: Xabier.M

mindblob goes minuscule on us!

I never thought it would happen.  But mindblob has gone minuscule on us.

I take a bit of an issue with his "for children" reference to the video you can watch here.  I found it amazingly brilliant and captivating.  Of course, this likely speaks volumes about my mental age.  ;)

Puts the Star Wars latest saga to shame!  More mindblob!  Share more!

Tags: minuscule, mindblob, Futurikon

Kohls and P&G. Uncaring meets the sneaky.

This article is well past its "Best Sold by" date.  We apologize for any mold and can only blame TypePad as it decided to eat this post 4 times in a row.

P&G launches social networking site for women 
Thanks to Kate for the Capessa announcement and the link to Mack at The Viral Garden who puts forward a strong argument for P&G to be more forthright in their sponsorship and usage of the site.

"But perhaps most troubling to me is, P&G is monitoring the user's contributions to the forums, without telling them they are doing so. 'This is not about selling products. It's about better understanding of consumers and learning about their needs and habits,' P&G spokeswoman Robyn Schroeder explained."

Read Mack's full article.

Kohls gets it wrong.  Big time.

We all make mistakes.  And frankly, if I had to run a nationwide chain of discount clothing stores, it would likely resemble my bedroom at first (read: piles of clothes).  But I'm a businessman.  And after sales or complaints started to come in, I'd sharpen up and quick.

Hee Haw gets a Kohls response

Besides, I'm an anal control freak.  So my stores would likely not look like my bedroom.  Sort of funny that I'm not as anal when it comes to the bedroom.  Oh boy.  Go easy on me.

 

The troublesome first days of corporate blogging

Brendan Hodgson has a wonderful writeup on a metro transit authority and their efforts to launch a blog. 

Here is my favorite quote taken from a comment on their blog by a member of the "general public". 

"The blogosphere appreciates the engagement, but you must understand, you cannot keep us at arms length either. If you and/or your bosses are not forthcoming with answers to our questions and in a timely manner, we will roast you. It is nothing personal, but we will not be denied either. Evasion and doubletalk won't fly. I would suggest you don't even try, the results won't be pretty. We will be all up in your business. We are nosy, and we are relentless, and we have more than one source of information to draw upon. Lies will be found out."

Brendan gives some GREAT insight for corporate bloggers.  I've summarized a few below.  But check out his full post as it goes into wonderful detail on all of these.

• Listen.  Don't just cut and paste PR verbiage.  Listen to your readers and respond appropriately.
• Don't take it personally.  "Articulate, respectful, thoughtful responses and postings will always rise to the top..."
• Do your homework.  Don't respond with the company line unless you have the "proof points" to back it up.
• Be flexible.  You don't own the conversation.  You just have a voice in it.

My hope is that the transity authority in question will continue on with this experiment as they have taken a great step in opening a dialog with their constituents.

P.S.  Can you spot the "non-capessa" photo used in this post?

Image credit: bayat

Saturn - how NOT to run a word of mouth campaign

Sean Moffitt posted this wonderful chart showing the relationship of "desire to influence the opinions of others" to a consumer's engagement with the brand. I was unable to rescue a larger image. So you will have to squint.

I bring it up because it's case in point of what is about to happen here on craphammer. We're about to enter that Hate/New Influencer quadrant.

   

The engine shut off while I was driving downhill... leaving me with very little brakes and almost no steering. I was able to avoid a collision and stopped at the corner. 
- masiguy 

A marketer himself, the savvy masiguy has been in a bit of a fight with Saturn as his car has become a danger to himself and his family.  And Saturn has refused to make things right, in his eyes.

The days of "ignore your audience" and "bean counting" may not be gone.  But the game has changed.  While the accountants at Saturn are trying to figure out how to deal with the fact that their cars may be risking the lives of their customers, those customers are standing up and sharing their problem with the world.  It doesn't matter if the issue is dealer-repair-driven or a quality issue with the cars themselves.  The damage is the same.

Thanks to the champion of the down-trodden, Servants of Chaos, for his post on this issue.  Definitely worth a read.  Also check out the latest post from masiguy as it's not as cut and dried as it may seem.  What it is, though, is a PR nightmare-in-the-brewing for Saturn.  Your audience is now the publisher.  Scary stuff.  ;)

Please use the technorati tags below if you pick up this story.

UPDATE:  Gavin emails Saturn and all he gets is this lousy...

Tags: GM Saturn, GM Saturn Vue, MasiGuy, Bad Customer Service

Green thinslice in a box

European Companies only going "as green as necessary"

The wonderful bitc alerted me to an article in the Times Online regarding a report from the National Consumer Council.  "Many companies promoting their green credentials are only reducing their emissions as far as they are legally required to do so."

A notch against the "industry will regulate itself" argument.  See the full article.

Just for Carol

Thanks to Michael at The Client Side for this one. My Box in a Box is a ripoff of an SNL skit launched on YouTube titled "Dick in a Box" that is taking the online world by storm.  Great article from Mitch at Twist Image about CGM strategies to harness this desire and effort of consumers to generate their own content.

[embedded YouTube video]

Of course, now you have to watch the original.

Thinslicing meme attack

Mike at Own Your Brand created a new meme the other day --  the thin slicing meme.  And it's not about deli sandwiches.  It's now been picked up by Sansone at Converstations so I expect this meme will be taking off.  Ever the bandwagon-eer, Craphammer wades into the fray as well.

Thin slicing is that ability to take a tiny amount of data and infer all kinds of things from it.  We do it constantly, though not conciously.  When we walk into someone's home, we are making quick and fast judgements based on a variety of tiny isolated critieria.  Are their kids screaming?  Is there vomit on the floor? 

Every time I meet someone new there a number of "programs" running inside me that help me infer if this is a fit or not as a friend and/or business associate.

   
1. Are these people "real"?  I am driven by relationships.  And not the small-talk, polite kind.  But rather, the difficult, intense and caring kind.  Perhaps it isn't fair of me to expect this of my clients and partners.  But I do.  And the rewards are worth it.
   
2. Do they care?  Are they passionate?  Do they care about more than their product?  I can see this one a mile away.  It shows in every action.  How they treat their coworkers and employees.  How they speak about their product and customers.  And how they treat their vendors.
   
3. Is someone change oriented? Okay.  This is the hardest one for me because I am a bit of a shit disturber.  I desire to change things when sometimes change is not the only or even the best course of action.  So I have learned to take this into account and surround myself with balancing factors.  But I can't help but look for it.  And man do I get excited when I find it.
   
4. Do they desire success?  This is something I have worked to add over the years.  It's not something I expected to ever require.  When meeting with successful businesses, one might infer or expect that the individuals would be success-driven.  But I've actually found the opposite in a crazy number of cases.  So I constantly have to ask myself, "Is the person just focused on a number of line-item details or on achieving an outcome?"  If they already "have all the answers", they are often not success driven.
   
5. Am I there?  Too often I meet with people that are just going through the motions.  It's that feeling, however fleeting, that I could stand up and select another seat at the table and they would continue to reference my empty chair.  If I don't matter as a human being, then why should they expect me to care about them/their product/their brand?

I tag:  Moffitt, Paul "ze Frenchman" McEnany, Katicus, and Gavin.

Tags: thin-slicing, meme, green, box in a box

Photo Source: omnia

2007, craphammer style.

My apologies for going into hibernation over the Holidays.

Now down to business.

Transit maps as a trend chart

Online memes/trends as a London transit map. Thanks to the folks over at Spacing Wire.

A neat mixture of companies, people and events.  Not sure if I fully follow the logic in all cases.  Thought I would share it for any information design hounds perusing the ol' craphammer.

Click to see the massive version.

A french 2007

One of the best music videos I've seen in 2007.  Okay.  One of the best music videos I've ever seen. Bar none. Check it out.  Thanks to the cigarette toting frenchman over at Hee Haw.

[embedded YouTube video above.]

A French Success Story

Gavin over at Servants of Chaos has a link to a wonderful story about how the French are finally doing something about the homeless situation.  A great grassroots campaign that has helped create movement at a national level. Read more at mindblob's article titled Don Quixote's Children.

Buried Social Media Nugget

Kate buried a wonderful little social media nugget about 2 pages down in a rant regarding the joys of wedding planning.  I'd comment further but she would likely slap me.  So I will restrain myself and just lift this little misplaced gem up into the light.

[BEGIN QUOTE]

Social media's attraction, I think, stems from four key motivators: Create, Meet People, Show Off, and Make Money.

• Create. Self-publishing ... I *fundamentally* believe that we all have an impulse to create.  Blogging, podcasting, even just putting photos on Flickr ... these feed and satisfy that impulse.
• Meet People. A truly global village ... social media is, well, social.  I have several "blog friends" and colleagues.  Some of whom I will meet in person; some I won't.  But these relationships are nevertheless meaningful and impactful.
• Show Off. Reputation capital ... we all want to be perceived as experts in something.  Social Media plus the Long Tail allow all of us to build our reputation whether in digital marketing, model railroad building, or knitting.
• Make Money. Earn a living from what we love to do ... not everyone can make a living from their blogs and podcasts, or even just from their online life.  At least not yet. Though services like BitWine (a pay-per-minue expert service) [TechCrunch review] are trying to make it happen.

So, the point is ... if we know that these are the four fundamental motivators for people to deeply integrate social media into their everyday lives, why, as marketers are we not doing everything we can to support these activities?

[END QUOTE]

Full article: Branding and blogging my wedding .. real-life social media lessons for marketers

Friends of Gavin

Finally, if you haven't stopped by and shared some kind words or a donation to Gavin's family,  please do so.  His father in law was in an awful bicycle accident and we all want Gavin to know he is not alone in a time like this.

Friends of Gavin

Image credit: xetark