Smile Like you Mean It

I'm Moving!!!

2010-03-02T08:04:00.000-08:00

I'm finally saying goodbye to Blogger - I'll be over at caitlinmccabe.com from now on. As you can see, Google doesn't like my Wordpress template so I'm finally making the move!

Ever Been Told You Should "Listen" To Social Media? It's Not The Best Advice.

2010-02-26T07:30:00.000-08:00

The last night I was in San Diego for the OMS conference I'm sitting with a table full of people and we are tired and burnt out so we are giggling like 6 year olds about how many times we've been told to "listen" as part of a social media plan that day. The conversation went something like:
"Hey, have you thought about listening to social media?"
"yeah..... that is a good idea! Or maybe, before that I should listen first! hahaha!"
It was literally about 20 minutes of pure immaturity which you'll see after a few days packed full of learning and business.
After I left though I was thinking about why that was so damn funny.
Is it because "Listen" is such a simple command that it's hard to imagine giving it out as a plan?
Is it because you can't really audibly "listen" to much on the internet - it's really just reading?
Or is it because it's only half the idea, like telling someone to "get in the car and go"?
I think it's the latter.
With so many people urging us to listen I think it has become a bit oversimplified. Are we telling marketers to listen to EVERYTHING that's being said about their brand or industry on the internet?
I would amend that instruction to "listen with a serious filter". You don't have to just turn on your computer and read Twitter or Facebook posts or blogs all day. It's a waste of time and if you don't know how to filter the information you won't be any wiser after reading all of it. As you "listen" online, you need to immediately decide which stuff is just noise. Brands aren't going to be able to work with their community online if they pay attention to all of the noise as well. Look at it this way - a local grocery store sends out coupons to everyone in the neighborhood and wastes a ton of paper because most of the recipients aren't going to be interested. With listening online, you could send every person who even remotely mentions groceries at all a coupon. Better? Yes, slightly but still wasting a lot of time grabbing those grocery conversations. Most brands have 1 or maybe 2 people trying to manage their social media and marketing and print and now they are expected to deal with every person online talking about groceries. What if that grocery store could reward those people who really like their store? Not people with a grocery blog but people who are genuinely their fans? Wouldn't that be a better use of their resources? Sephora thinks so. They have figured out who goes on their mailing list for coupons (sort of fans) and who are their Beauty VIP people (people who buy every pot of sparkles on the shelf.... me). They reward them differently and as a result, people like me who used to go there once in a while now are avid fans. They brought me into their community.
So should you be "listening" online? Yes you should. However, you need to listen with a filter for people who can be in your community, not just every person talking about a certain topic.

Why I Don't Hate LinkedIn Anymore.... And A Little Something I Missed At Home.

2010-02-24T07:21:00.000-08:00

Every time I come to a conference I a: meet some really cool people and b: learn something. Of course, I did meet some cool people, wait you should meet them too. Here's a few:
@jennylemmons
@jaybaer
@leeodden
@Toddliss
I haven't found the rest on Twitter yet. Which leads me to my newest brilliant plan that everyone's Twitter handle should hover in the air above their head so I can find them easily. Someone should get working on that......
Anyway, on my panel yesterday afternoon we were asked what the biggest social media waste of time was in our opinion and I really, really wanted to say LinkedIn because its not very social and I don't ever use it but I didn't think it was going to be appropriate considering all of the LinkedIn love I'd been hearing around OMS over the last day. So I said Facebook ads, which is pretty wasteful too.
Someone else said LinkedIn.
After the panel I was standing around talking and LinkedIn came up which, of course, elicited my usual negative response, and you know what? Right there on the deck of OMS I got schooled in LinkedIn. I admit it. I got 3 things that LinkedIn is good for and I can no longer say that the community has NO value. I stand corrected. Here they are:
1) Questions. I had thought that the questions section was all spam and no one ever really got much business there. Turns out, it's not ALL spam and people that I spoke with last night did in fact get business by answering questions on LinkedIn.
2) Recommendations. I liked this one. LinkedIn is the only recommendation area on a site in which the recommended person cannot edit the recommendation. You have to put it up as is which does make them pretty solid I have to admit.
3) InMail. This one is pretty interesting too. You get to send 10 Inmails per year and no matter how much you pay, you can only send 10 emails to people you don't know on LinkedIn. If you get someone's "cold call" email, you know they paid for it, and chose you to send one of the precious 10 to so you know you weren't just the recipient of a mass email. Not so bad.

Don't worry, while I was in San Diego there were things going on in good old Wisconsin. My sister was at my parent's house when a sheriff car comes rolling up the driveway. She says the first thing that went through her mind was "oh fuckitty". Here's what happened:
Sheriff: "There was a report of a black Ford F250 leaving the gas station with the hose still in the tank."
Sister: "License plate XXXXX?"
Sheriff: "yep, that's it."
Sister " Yeah, that's my mom's"
Sheriff: "Well, she drove off and left the scene"
Sister: "uh..... ok."
Sheriff: "So, what's going on around here today?"
Sister: "Sir.... I don't live here, and I don't pretend to know."

I guess she'd driven off with the gas pump still in the car. She went back to the station long enough to tell the attendant "I have a haircut right now, I need to go" and just left. So they called the police whom she also informed that she was busy having a haircut and they'd need to talk to her later.....

With Social Media Love, From San Diego, and OMS.

2010-02-23T12:35:00.000-08:00

So yesterday I trudged through the snow and ice to participate in my second year of Online Marketing Summit's conferences.
It just so happened that this was in San Diego.
At a nice resort.
Let's just say I generally make every effort to attend conferences if they are in a nice locale (come on, everyone does it).
I started the whole thing off by getting out of the cab in front of the hotel and exclaiming to a group of people that were from Florida and San Diego "look! A duck! Birds!" I have had several other moments since then with a fish in a pond and some flowers that probably make it look like I'm from the tundra or was just released from prison.
I am on a panel today at 3:40 so if you want to see it go here. I'm the super pale one looking like I've never seen the sun.

A Creative Person You Should Know About: Jena Ardell

2010-02-21T10:35:00.000-08:00

To say I've been anxiously awaiting summer would be a mild understatement but when I stumbled across the retro photos of Jena Ardell, I spent about 20 blissful minutes on her site. She photographs lots of beach scenes but my favorites are the lovely little beach bungalows that you can almost imagine yourself in.

Want To See Where The Flaming Lips Live?

2010-02-18T08:22:00.000-08:00

This is where Wayne Coyne, Flaming Lips singer, lives. How awesome is this house? (hat tip: Black Eiffel) It's actually a lot less odd then I thought it would be. The first song I ever heard them put out was Vaseline.... remember that one?

Excuse Me, You're In My Office. Office Etiquette When You Have No Office.

2010-02-18T08:00:00.000-08:00

So, I'm sitting in my favorite coffeeshop and it's one of those days when I'm trying to get something done and I'm totally distracted by two women sitting next to me having an honest to god conversation about how many grocery stores they shop at. I'm not trying to be judgemental but in a moment of smugness I give them a look. Which one of them catches.
"I'm sorry, we're in your office aren't we?" Instantly, I feel bad, it's a coffeeshop! I don't own this place, it's not my office, and they can talk as loud as they want about the merits of different grocery stores all day if they want. I feel like some kind of hobbit protecting my rock from other, more relaxed, people.
"ummm.... yeah.... sort of..... but it's ok." They look very apologetic. I go back to my computer and hope they stop looking at me.
It's weird to me that people are now very aware that any given place could be someone's office. That it's mainstream enough for casual coffee drinkers to mix with a location independent's conference calls and that they try to be semi respectful of each other. Some places are impossible to work (Starbucks, I love you but you have way too much going on in there) and others are just filled with location indie's (Barrique's thank you for embracing us) and everyone has their own limit for how much outside noise they like / can take.
Are there any etiquette rules you observe or have come up with for common spaces and working?
Mine are:
Phone calls - Don't do them in a common space. Go in your car or go outside. Your clients don't want to hear barista background noise, coffee grinding, people talking, etc. There are plenty of people who are going to see this as really unprofessional. Even short calls that are being done for business should not be held in a common space.
Tables - Don't hog up a huge table if the place is packed. If you are working in a place that has natural busy times, offer to share your table if it gets full. On the flip side, don't be afraid to ask another person who is working to scoot over if they are hogging a whole table.
Plugs - share them. If you can't plug in you can't really work. If you see someone looking for a plug offer them a half hour or so.
Don't Get Territorial - Seriously, I have seen people almost get into it over a chair or table that they "usually work in". Don't be 'that guy'. No one likes 'that guy'.
Talking - Some people want to talk to everyone and some people just want to work. Try to be sensitive to what it seems like a person is doing. I've had to leave a place before because "I have a really tight deadline" didn't stop a chatterbox. Other days, I have plenty of time to chat and I think it's generally pretty obvious but it's kind of like airplanes. Every once in a while you get someone who really wants to talk. It's ok to move seats.

Tips For Better Ideas.

2010-02-17T07:42:00.000-08:00

Rethink Scholarship at Langara 2010 Call for Entries from Rory O'Sullivan and Simon Bruyn on Vimeo.
Isn't this such a good start to today?

Renegade Advertising: Vitamin Water Hits Up The Bus Stop

2010-02-17T06:58:00.000-08:00

Vitamin Water has been working hard to capture the energy of the Olympics in its marketing lately with bus stop take-overs and clever writing. I'd definitely give it a sit.

Company Spotlight: Sprite And Their Spark - Paging Captain Obvious.

2010-02-15T09:52:00.000-08:00

I have to say, I'm a little nervous about the Sprite Spark program launching in March. No doubt they researched, spent good money, and tried really hard to make an amazing integrated social plan. At the end of all of this research they have determined that "fresh ideas and experiences are important social currency for teens" to which I wonder if the person who delivered this expensive bit of news was dressed in a Captain Obvious costume.
What Sprite has cooked up is "Innovative TV commercials, an online interactive music mixer featuring content from GRAMMY(R) nominee Drake and a digital film mixer will inspire and enable teens to spark fresh thinking and display their originality. " No doubt this campaign will garner plenty of interest and buzz but is it really innovative? From the previous advertising that Sprite had, it looked like they were going the route of avant garde like Skittles which I think would have been a better direction. Here's the new spot, what do you think?

The Weekend In A Few Words. A Box Of Scissors And Alessi.

2010-02-15T06:09:00.000-08:00

I thought I had been everywhere in Madison since I've been here almost 3 years and winters here will have you scouring every cranny of this city looking for something new but I did it, I found something new. The Love and Hate Art Show at Club Inferno had everything I needed to get my art fix. An artist that was a Zach Galifianakis look-a-like who paints a disturbing family portrait over and over, Betty Page Posters, and a big box of scissors that people seemed instinctively to want to stick their hands in (and as it got later, I saw people sticking their heads in as well)

Also, on Saturday there was a little Alessi bird on my counter that I have been drooling over for years that the New Jersey-ite gave me (the man remembers things that I forgot I even wanted). I think I'm going to use it for coffee creamer. Alessi, by the way, has some of the most amazing kitchen items you could ever want.

A Single Man: Gorgeous Architecture, Great Clothes, And Guys I Could Stare At For Embarrasingly Long Amounts Of Time..

2010-02-13T13:40:00.000-08:00

I decided to cut out of work early yesterday and take myself to the movies. I'd been wanting to see A Single Man for a while but yesterday just seemed like a good day to steal some time for myself. Plus I've been wanting to eat popcorn every day lately.
The house that the main character lives in is absolutely stunning. I wanted to memorize it and copy it exactly. It's pure 60's LA goodness.
The wardrobe (being directed by Tom Ford) is excellent. The best part is that a lot of the looks are totally copy-able. Guys, you should get some thinner ties they look great.
Lastly, I'm not really the kind of girl that normally lusts over actors but good GOD some of the guys were sensational looking in that film. Totally worth it although it was kind of awkward seeing as I was the youngest person in the theater by around 40 years or so. As an added bonus - Julianne Moore's make-up close up is so amazing that I'm tempted to try out the look.

Why You Should Be Pretending And Pipe Dreaming.

2010-02-11T08:40:00.000-08:00

"You can learn more about a person in an hour of play than you can from a lifetime of conversation"

-Plato

I stress people out a lot with my goals. Maybe its because my goals range from Nepalese temple wandering to an Inc. Magazine cover, to somehow making an entire cake out of Skittles. Maybe it's because I'm an Aquarius and that sign is the equivalent of a mad scientist. Maybe not though, I know plenty of entrepreneurs of all signs that have crazy ideas.
Until recently, the New Jersey-ite thought that I wanted to move to Charlotte next month followed by a sabbatical in Spain. He was stressed out about it for weeks without telling me because he has a job that would probably not enjoy one of their few employees calling in from Spain every day. He also told me he wasn't sure how we'd afford something like that since I spent most of my money opening a business this year. I was really surprised when he told me he was worried about it since I was only planning and not doing. I like to be prepared should I suddenly have 6 months that I don't know what to do with.
Pretending used to be something I kept to myself - like it was maybe some part of my 6 year old self that never went away like a skin tag or birthmark. Well beyond the days when it's appropriate for adults to openly be discussing "playing and games" I was still "playing" and I didn't see how that was going to fit in at any kind of business setting. I drove several of my bosses crazy because try as I might to seem focused on only the task at hand it leaked out. I had post-its everywhere with things written on them like "Inc. Mag. - shall I wear a crown?" and "location independence means flexibility for employees to pursue their goals", and "Yes, let's replace the existing normal!".
On a more embarrassing note (yes, let's go there) I still want a tutu or some sort of poufy dress for prancing around in regardless of the fact that I am rapidly approaching 30.

But don't worry fellow head-in-the-clouds-ers I'm prepared to defend this type of behavior in the workplace.
Exhibit 1: Legos. Legos has built a Serious Play section for businesses. Notice that it's gray and boring BUT it's about playing. They believe that by playing together employees will be better able to express themselves and will inevitably access deeper and more complex thought processes and solutions.
Exhibit 2: Google. We all know about playing at work. Pretending at work is different than play. It's not playing a game of ping pong or skateboarding on the company ramp. Pretending is closely related to planning and planning is good for companies. Google has themed rooms all over their buildings to promote pretending, daydreaming, and planning.
Exhibit 3: Pretending helps you achieve. Oxford Journal did a study where they determined that people that could pretend that an object was something else (like a flat rock is actually a plate) were good at communicative narrative - which means that they can imagine that something is different than it is. If you can visualize yourself being successful at building a Skittle cake, then chances are much higher it will actually occur. This isn't terribly new, psychologists and hypnotists use visualization techniques all the time.
Exhibit 4: Pretending isn't as ridiculous as it seems. This is the thing that I think helps me the most and the one that people usually blast me for. Before you comment that I'm being an escapist, think about what some people in different fields must pretend about.
A Mr. Peanut employee must have pretended at some point that one of their peanuts was in fact a little man.
Fashion shows would not be produced were it not for legions of 30 year olds (and older) wanting tutus.
How many times as a weather reporter must Oprah have been pretending to interview the world's celebrities?

Stop Motion T-Shirt War.

2010-02-10T06:15:00.000-08:00

Rhett and Link are a comedic team from North Carolina (one of my Craiglist stalking cities) and they make all kinds of videos. I hadn't seen them until this T-Shirt War video and I think it's a pretty funny idea. You can also buy the shirts so it's also one of the more successful product placement ventures I've seen in a while.
I am really interested to see how product placement in our programming continues to evolve but anyone thinking of doing it - watch videos like these for inspiration. Don't just turn the soda can logo out and smile.

Listening To: Wiley Feat. Emelie Sande - I Love the 90's!

2010-02-09T10:37:00.000-08:00

I sporadically participate with my friends over at FIWK on Music Tuesdays and lately I have been really sucking at it because I haven't heard anything good / I've been too uncool to go and listen to anything.
However, this week? I have been mysteriously bumping into really awesome 90's covers. Remember this 90's gem??

Company Spotlight: Golden Grahams Cereal.... Who Knew?

2010-02-08T13:47:00.000-08:00

I'm surprised. Surprised that I'm actually spotlighting a breakfast cereal for their cool concept when honestly, there hasn't been much of anything really interesting or progressive going down with cereals in a while.
Cereals were king of the television ad. They almost all have mascots like tigers, elves, vampires, and all sorts of other animated beings to get kids attention. Because that's who eats cereal right? Kids?
Wrong. Case in point: one meal I made on a first date was in fact Fruity Pebble rice krispy squares. I think there's a huge missed market with cereals to capture based on twenty-somethings' nostalgia for our favorite cereals back before their sugary goodness was deemed a product of the devil and bad parenting.
Annnyway, Golden Grahams has made a really funny contest called Golden Grant.
It's not as noble as it sounds, the winner will win a whole 12 boxes of cereal. It's based on the twenty-something job search and the fact that while scraping to make ends meet cereal is still a viable food source. I think it's brilliant.
Best parts: Live feed for people to type in their job interview horror story. The reason why this is so great is it's REALLY EASY to participate.

Job interview tip videos that are really cute to watch and appeal to adults, not children.

The only thing I would have done to make this a little more visible is to create a Twitter component and promote it on job sites (maybe they are I haven't seen it). Either way, kudos to Golden Grahams for the tongue in cheek contest!
Ok, now that I've thought about this a bit more I wanted to see which (sugar) breakfast cereals had decent Twitter feeds since they appear to be lagging behind the healthy cereals in terms of social media development. When I looked..... none were active enough to even mention (if you see that your favorite cereal has one and I missed it please leave it in the comments)!! That's crazy because almost everyone I know has some attachment to his/her favorite kids cereal and still buys it on occasion. That's a great fan base for a killer social project.

The Weekend In A Few Words. False Eyelashes, Fresh Tortillas And Eviction.

2010-02-07T18:32:00.000-08:00

I am officially obsessed with making my own corn tortillas. I've been making them at least twice a week and I've moved on to offering to come over to friend's houses and make a stack for them as well. I've been using this tortilla press on the left and a hot griddle (dry) and it only takes about 20 minutes to make 20 or so tortillas. The best part is that all you need to make them is Masa Harina flour, a little pinch of salt, and water so you know there's no preservatives or anything in there. Here's the recipe I use.

In other news, I managed to pull myself out of the winter funk long enough to get dressed up to go out on Saturday. One of my favorite things in life is false eyelashes so I pulled those out and went to the Ivory Room which is a Piano bar that I'm convinced used to be a gym. The New Jersey-ite requested they cover such piano friendly tunes as Rammstein and Lady Gaga......
Here's a great video tutorial for applying fake lashes.

Also, I started Janet Fitch's "Paint it Black" since her previous book "White Oleander" has been one of my favorite books for years. It's slightly more depressing than Oleander (the main character's artist boyfriend dies right away) but I really like the main character, she's got loads of attitude and a cool sounding wardrobe (bright yellow faux fur jacket).
It's inspiring me to paint a mural on my wall which I'm fairly certain will get me evicted.

Company Spotlight: Skittles Has A Bizarre New Site Based On Social Media Again

2010-02-05T06:55:00.000-08:00

Skittles made a lot of headlines when they changed their homepage to be their Twitter feed. It was new, interesting, and got them a lot of attention. Now, they've gone and changed the site again. It's hard to talk about it unless you've seen it so go and look at it here. I'll wait.
It's pretty odd right? It's both full of social media and strange as all hell. It's got lots of video, pictures, and links to their social pages which is usually a good thing. What I'm interested in seeing is how well it's updated. As of right now, they claim 92 Twitter followers on the site but when you go to their Twitter feed, there's 250 or so. They make a bunch of other statistical claims about how many tweets the red Skittles get per minute that I wonder about as well.
I'm not sure this will be a home run for Skittles but what I find interesting is their "full steam ahead" attitude towards the avant garde. Are they the candy version of Lady Gaga?

The Coolest Window Blinds Ever: Thanks UK!

2010-02-05T06:30:00.000-08:00

Aren't these the greatest blinds? They are made by SurfaceView which has tons of really cool image blinds but I sort of have that "I could make this" feeling with them. Remember that stencil book I got? Could I use it to make something like this?

Travel Much? A New Site For Small Products!

2010-02-04T13:48:00.000-08:00

As I get ready for another round of travel (San Diego and SXSW) I've got my eye out for cool travel gear. This site has travel sizes of really nice beauty products that all make it through security check points. Guys, they have men's stuff as well.
This also works great for those of us who like to try a product before we buy a whole tub o' whatever.

Small Businesses, Creatives and Freelancers - How Much Do You Share In A Pitch?

2010-02-04T11:11:00.000-08:00

This post is one I've been thinking about for a long time and now that some agencies are pushing to retain creative rights to their ideas throughout the process, it's doubly relevant. I really suggest you read the article in Adage, it's clearly a growing problem.
When you're a creative team or shop and you make your money by crafting and then executing ideas (designers, social media folks, artists, etc.) it's hard to know how much to give clients in order to show off how great you are and what to keep hidden so that you get the job.
This is made much more difficult when there are people out there that want you to come up with ideas, pitch them on it, not hire the team, but still own the idea that you came up with for the pitch. It's not a ton of people, but enough to make creatives a little nervous.
I sell my ideas and analysis on how a brand should use social media and other new mediums of communication so new clients always want to see some ideas and I don't blame them. No one wants to simply "take your word for it" that you know what you're doing.

That said, know that it's ok to decline to provide a complete idea until you are working together. I am not terribly comfortable coming in the door with a complete idea without having spoken fairly extensively with the client about resources, objectives, team experience, goals, and timeline. Virtually every prospective client that I explain this to completely understands this and respects that I want to create something that might take some time to craft. A free idea just might give you what you paid for it.... nothing.
In my opinion, the pitch process itself is becoming a little outdated given our new mediums to spread messaging. Back in the day when everything was about TV and print, crafting a great message could be done without as much planning. An agency or freelancer could come up with a really great message or idea, blast it out on TV, and even develop the product itself around this great idea. Now, your audience wants to know that your idea is based on making their lives easier and better. Also, they don't want to hear it on TV, they'd like you to be on their medium of choice.
It's almost impossible to do all of this on the front end and provide a slam dunk idea without having some serious discussions with your client.
Because ideas are becoming a lot of work to tailor to the needs of our changing consumers, the people who are coming up with them are getting more and more protective.
To update your pitch process you'll need to explain to your clients that the communication landscape is changing. They don't have one audience - for example Teens. You have alternative teens, music loving teens, brainy teens, career oriented teens, rebel teens, and countless other groups that all spend time in different places with different messaging opportunities. One idea targeting Teens is probably going to flop, or at least waste a lot of money missing the mark.
Show your prospective client how you might target one slice of the Teen audience so they can get an idea of your process and leave the rest until you have a formal contract.

Are You Going To Try An Online Contest? Read This First.

2010-02-02T06:55:00.000-08:00

photo FairyFaye

I hear a lot of talk lately about "doing an online contest" as a way to crowdsource, do something playful and interesting online, and because people think it's easy. Having done my fair share of those let me be the first to say that it is NOT easy. If they aren't successful, you worry about getting votes, entrants, and publicity. If the technology isn't planned out correctly, you will worry that the votes aren't being counted by the interns correctly or that people are uploading submissions but you can't see them. If the contest is successful you will take calls all day from people who have trouble uploading, don't understand your site, don't understand the rules, or want to let you know that someone is cheating. (The number of people who will call you, certain that the person or group with the leading votes are cheating, is just mind blowing. )
My friend Patrick Dillon of Artistichub is an online contest expert, all around cool person, and I wanted to share some of his insights on contests. Artistic Hub focuses solely on contests online and has had some wonderful successes for their clients.

1) What types of companies / industries are best suited for an online contest?

Organizations that have a large fan or customer base online. This is anyone from brands to sports teams. We’re even seeing great results from running generic/humorous contests online for local advertisers, developed and run on media sites like SDNN . “Football Fan Photo Contest” for a cable provider, or “Cutest Holiday Pet Photo contest” for a local pet related store.

2) What are some main things to keep in mind when coming up with a contest?

Contests have 3 necessary components to make them successful.

CONCEPT + METHOD + PROMOTION. A lot of big organizations fall short on the method because they think they can “whip something up in house” and a lot of smaller companies fall short on promotion, because they think their internal team (usually 1 person) can handle all the necessary distribution and messaging. We help clients discover loopholes in their concept all the time.

Tripods only work if all 3 legs are the right height.

3) What are some of the most interesting contests that you've worked on or heard of?

Our Raiders Fan Football Photo (for the Oakland Raiders) contest was really fun. Ran for 30 days and created 1.23 million votes, and 1,656 photo submissions. They had run contests like this before on their own, and had never received more than a hundred photos.

I hear of other great contests all day long, but I really get into the design focused ones. Red Bull did a can sculpture design contest last year that was so cool.

4) What is the most common mistake you see companies making with online video / photo contests?

Either they move too fast creating the method (how they are going to run and manage it), or they fail to put a solid plan together for marketing it. The other big issue is they fail to make the contest “transparent”. Users want to see what’s going on, and they want to be able to share and participate with it easily.

5) How long have you been doing contests?

3years in this way, 5 years before that doing traditional offline contests and
promotion for a big direct marketing company.

6) What kinds of results can people expect from an online contest? What should their objectives be?

Site engagement measured by time on site, page views, votes. Content acquisition measured by submission quality and quantity. Database building measured by new user emails captured.

7) What are your top 3 blogs that you read?

Mashable, Smile Like You Mean It, Killer Startups

To add my own 2 cents to this (and when don't I?) I'd add that the prize has to justify the effort. You can't ask people to go out and create a video for you if the prize is a $50 gift card. The better the prize, the more effort you can expect people to make for their submission.

You can catch Artistic Hub on Twitter Here.

Stress Balls Don't Work... Introducing The Venting Machine.

2010-02-01T08:30:00.000-08:00

I am not a user of "de-stressing" items at work... because they totally don't work for me. I don't want to squeeze a soft ball, I would much rather throw said ball at things (yeah, that's why I don't have them). Here's a vending machine that crashes a dish for a few quarters.

Need To Schedule Facebook Updates Or Tweets For Later? Try Laterbro.

2010-02-01T05:22:00.000-08:00

Laterbro is a cool tool for people who travel, go off the grid, or write a lot of cool clever lines at one time but don't want to post all at once.

The Weekend In A Few Words. Cabin Fever And Huevos Rancheros.

2010-01-31T10:56:00.000-08:00

I woke up Saturday morning with serious cabin fever. It was 5 degrees again and coffee wasn't going to be enough. I wanted to go outside. Real bad. You may not believe it but I can be quite unpleasant when I'm in the throes of a winter bout of cabin fever. I have so much respect for anyone who can live in Alaska.... So the New Jersey-ite and I jumped in the car and headed to the Domes in Milwaukee. To pretend that we were outside. It's 3 biodomes with 3 themes: desert, rainforest, and show (flowers and pretty stuff).

Then we headed over to El Rey which is the most amazing Mexican grocery store where you can get all kinds of things that you can't get anywhere else. Like the flour you need to make tortillas, these crazy snack things that you cook in 10 seconds and are better than potato chips (we bought them because we thought they were interesting pasta!), and super spicy red sauce for huevos rancheros which I could honestly eat every day. This morning we tried it out and it was one of the best Sunday breakfasts we've ever had!

I've been missing Satna Fe a lot lately.... or maybe I'm just missing the sun. Either way... we had a very desert themed weekend. We brought this amazing Santa Fe cookbook with us - I love it because it explains all of the types of chilies and what you're supposed to do with them. Great if you like spicy!

Product Placement Is Growing... But Will It Work? A Clorox Story.

2010-01-29T06:46:00.000-08:00

Clorox and Univision have teamed up to more deftly embed brand messaging into our entertainment by creating a prime time program with Clorox heavily involved. "There has been a change in the way we have thought about messaging, from commercial units to content," said Ellen Liu, director-media at Clorox.

Fine, okay. TV ads aren't working and we have to figure out a better way BUT there's a scary part of this whole thing. Univision Studios is a new arm of Univision and it will serve to create prime time programming for advertisers to place product in - "The whole creation of Univision Studios, frankly, is to build on our capabilities in this area,"
That quote was from the head of sales and marketing. Shouldn't someone who is involved in content development, someone involved in the creative process of show writing or... I don't know.... the head of Univision be commenting on the studio? It seems shady for the sales guy to be so heavily involved in the programming.
I believe this, in a worst case scenario, will lead to programming around diet stories and cleaning or drive through Taco Bell runs.....
Anyone have thoughts on heavy product placement in our TV programming?

UPDATE: Ford and Telemundo have a similar product placement agreement. Looks like the Spanish speaking world is leading the charge for programming around products.

If You Are A Small Shop, You Will Take The Heat. Do It Better.

2010-01-29T06:11:00.000-08:00

Obviously, we don't set out to make mistakes in our work. We don't want to hit rough patches, low traffic times, factual errors, planning errors, or even typos but they happen. They always have happened and they always will. Sometimes it's small like a number typed wrong and sometimes it's an idea that seemed really good but turned out not so good (United not responding to United Breaks Guitars). In social media there's a lot of room for the latter type because to be perfectly honest there's a lot of new things every day that someone is trying to find a way to use to their benefit that no one has tried before.
One of the things that comes along with being a small shop, freelancer, or CEO is that basically everything is personally your fault if it goes wrong. People who do well running their own business have to have no problem sticking their neck out for ideas (good or otherwise).

In larger companies there are whole departments that can shoulder blame. For example: "Oh, the marketing department thinks we should put some more videos on our YouTube Channel" and when no one watches those expensively produced videos it's the "marketing department" that is blamed.
When I personally tell a client that I think we should spend more time / money in a certain place and it doesn't do very well I get phone calls asking me what the hell I was thinking.
What I'm saying here is that small shops really have to get behind their ideas more, think them through more, because they are going to be held more accountable if it fails. (This is also why I think a lot of larger companies are so interested in hiring smaller shops these days). We don't have nebulous scapegoats to blame or whole departments of interns to throw things at.
So how do entrepreneurs deal with the fact that they are front and center?
One of the best ways is not a quick or easy way but it's to thoroughly check your work before it goes out. As in, yourself. Not an intern. If I have a question about how something will work then it will usually be the undoing of the project.
Ask yourself every single question a client would ask.
Even hard ones like "Why do you think this will work?" and "What will this look like in 2 weeks if it's not going well?". Being able to answer ALL of those will not only help you think an entire social media endeavor through but you also won't look like like a moron when the client asks it a week after launch.
Manage expectations and be clear. Really, really important for freelancers and small shops to be to-the-most-minute-detail clear about deliverables. I notice a lot of small shops not even writing up contracts for projects.... this is not a good idea (and probably a whole other post). Sometimes I feel like a total type A insisting on timelines and contracts for everything but the reason I do that is because it's very easy for you and your project partners to have very different ideas on what's being delivered and when and it's not fun to have to straighten it out once it's a mess.
Become Ok with the fact that you will be on the receiving end of fingers pointing, laughing, ridicule, questions, and praise. Because it's simply going to be part of your everyday life. You will be the ultimate comment box and the end of the line so get ready. It happens with larger companies too it's just not so concentrated. Just take a moment and know that it's not the end of the world to have to fix a mistake or clear up a question (laughing is a bit harder).
Don't Pass The Buck. You can never tell a client (or anyone) "well, that was done by so and so, not me". Your clients won't care who did what they will want solutions. I try to move very quickly past the "who came up with this" and "how it happened" and onto "how we will move forward" part. That's all most people want anyway, an answer or solution not a head to put on a stake.
You Can Say "I Don't Know". This is a hard thing I think for entrepreneurs. It's easy to think that the person running the place should have answers but sometimes we don't. I have found that clients can respect it if I say that I'm not exactly sure how this community or site or project will perform. A lot of the trouble is with online, maybe no one has done it before and if you march in claiming that you KNOW exactly how it will turn out you will be wrong. Getting comfortable acknowledging limitations with people is a big step towards taking the heat better.

Designers Making Really Amazing Postcards.

2010-01-28T06:52:00.000-08:00

I love, love, love getting / sending mail and when I saw these I thought of about a million people I'd love to send them to. Hey, if my bills came with these I may be less inclined to throw them out upon opening... The top ones are from Grass Studio, the bottom one is from Lovi Oy.

Is It Geeky That I Want This? Antler Charger Holder.

2010-01-27T17:20:00.000-08:00

Via Urban Flea
This, from Japanese design shop Nendo, is such a brilliant idea. I've got so many charg-y plug-ins that they drag all over the floor. I suppose I could find some kind of organizer but..... I just want these.

Stay Curious People. A Video And A Guilty Pleasure.

2010-01-27T10:41:00.000-08:00

'curiosity' from Nic Askew on Vimeo.
I like this video because I sometimes feel like being curious isn't always given proper due in the business world. Often viewed as 'time wasting' and 'fooling around', curious people take a lot of heat for wanting to know more about things. Seth Godin is worth watching in this video.
My number 1 favorite curious guilty pleasure is Craigslist. I love to explore what it would be like to live in different places in the country by trolling Craiglist and seeing what kind of apartments people live in and what kinds of things they sell and trade. My most recent favorite is Charlotte, North Carolina. I am, however, almost embarrassed to admit to people the ridiculous amount of time I spend checking out cities I may never live in.

Wow, Wal-Mart Made A Commercial That's Actually Funny.

2010-01-27T10:32:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it, but they may just be starting to make commercials that are more interesting than their money saving bit that makes me yawn every time I see it.

If Philips Wants To Bring A Tiny Farmer's Market To My Kitchen I'll Let Them. Because I Was Traumatized By Produce.

2010-01-26T08:38:00.000-08:00

photo by Veer
This is one of the coolest ideas I've seen in quite some time and since I have been produce traumatized twice in my life I pay attention to the ways we can become less dependent on grocery stores for produce.

Once: Living in Durango Colorado comes with some really great perks: skiing, mountains, wildlife but it comes with some serious downs as well. Like being in a grocery store with no PRODUCE in winter. I'm talking no tomatoes, no lettuce, nada. Let's just say this didn't go over well for me. Managers were called, tears were cried amidst the empty tomato bins, and it's blurry but maybe I was asked to leave. I don't remember that as well......
Seriously..... I look at the produce section EVERY time I'm in a grocery store now to make sure I am still connected to the world.
Second: There comes a time in winter in Madison where you might not be able to find certain produce. Like Basil, Avocados, and Good Lettuce. You can drive around all you want but you're not going to find them. Because the produce fairies apparently can't get here in winter. Or Copp's is messing with us. Either way, I can be found loudly proclaiming my distaste for 'tundra grocery stores' for most of January.
Enter the Philip's Kitchen Skyscaper. It's a unit similar to those little biospheres you can buy for herbs but it's bigger and better. Also, it's designed really well isn't it?

Company Spotlight: Slow Cow - The Opposite Of Red Bull

2010-01-25T15:32:00.000-08:00

Slow Cow is a Canadian invention touting itself to be the antithesis of Red Bull. Interestingly enough, you're directed to drink it under the exact same conditions as Red Bull would suggest: when you're nervous, when you have an exam, when you've worked out, etc.. It's got all kinds of interesting goodies in it to keep your nerves calm.
No social media or marketing going on yet but the packaging is very nice and I can see a lot of really cool social opportunity there by positioning itself alongside the 'slow food' movement or even as a direct challenge to Red Bull..... stay posted on these guys.

Wood You Like A Cup Of Tea?

2010-01-25T13:55:00.000-08:00

Love and Scandal are the best sweeteners of tea ~ Henry Fielding
teapot by Jakob Solgren

Hey Freelancers And Freelancer Wannabe's..... Conference In Denver Just For You!

2010-01-24T14:37:00.000-08:00

The 2010 Creative Freelancer Conference will be June 5-6. They've got some really interesting looking sessions like "You Are A Business"and " It's Your Money So Take It Personally". I'd love to see some sessions added around coworking, business dev., and some around freelancers online. It seems like the numbers of people trying to get their freelance business off the ground are growing.

Wow, Banksy's Got A Film: Exit Through The Gift Shop

2010-01-24T14:26:00.000-08:00

This looks pretty interesting.... I've been a Banksy fan for a while but I have to admit I'm anxious for a bigger peek into his life/mind/style. Aren't you?

Freelancers And Location Independents: How To Meet Like Minded People.

2010-01-21T07:02:00.000-08:00

As a location independent I can work from wherever I want, which is great. I can work from Tahiti, or Miami, or somewhere exotic like that but I usually work at one coffeeshop in Madison because I like this one particular chair there. So most days I am slogging away with my breakfast sandwich and coffee and its great.
Except I don't get to talk to as many people as I'd like.
In an office, there's a whole bunch of people right around the corner to complain to, laugh with, and have grocery store birthday cake with. I really miss the birthday cake.
So I was looking around one day and I realized that probably over 50% of the people in the shop with me were there every day also. I even started to play a game of "guess what that person's profession is" with myself based on their computer and working posture. I eventually met one of them and we became friends.
Now I had a coworker of sorts and I was thrilled because my new friend was going through the same things I was.
Still, Christmas was coming up and we didn't have our own office party to go to. I wanted to wear this dress that I hadn't worn in a while and I wanted to meet more of the people in the coffeeshop and I wanted to do it wearing my dress dammit.
So we started a group.
On Facebook. It's called Because We Can, Afternoon Drinks For Cool Small Business Owners. It took maybe 10 minutes. We invited about 5 people since we didn't know that many location independent people. We immediately set up a non office Christmas Party For People With No Office and decided that probably she and I would be the only ones there in our party dresses.
But some people showed up.
They were people from coffeeshops. We said things to each other like "Which coffeeshop are you at? I'm at the Barriques on PD." and "Which site did you use for your billing?" and "Is your December really slow or is it just me?"
I was shocked that people actually came to be honest but I was really happy that I got to wear my dress. Then we got bold and had another one this week. We invited everyone that came last time plus a few more and discussed whether the impending "Ice Storm" that the weathermen were predicting would kill our event. I was going to go anyway since I was really sick of the coffeeshop.
And more people came.
This time I knew even less people but we had a whole lot more conversations about working remotely. A lot of them told me they were really happy we started our group because they were feeling lonely working from home and how it wasn't really enough just to "connect with people online" like so many people will suggest. One woman looked at me and said "it just drives me crazy sometimes. I love, love, love what I do. It's my passion. But this is the price."
I knew how she felt. It drives me crazy sometimes too.

I am really surprised at the number of people out there that I sit next to all the time that are silently working on their dream job. I'm planning social media strategy and they are designing websites, or crime scene clean-up, or someone's finances, or video game makers and I'm happy because now I know some of them. Next event I'm bringing birthday cake.

Here's what we did:
Start a group
pick somewhere to meet that has a good drink special (if you call beforehand most places will give you a special. Make sure you tell them it might just be you in a party dress)
Pick somewhere that's a good place to talk but cooler than where all the other networking events are.
Pick a topic for your event. Feel free to not talk about it but you can bring it up if conversation gets slow.

More Stuff For People Who Suck At Making Things: Ed Roth Stencil

2010-01-20T13:01:00.000-08:00

I saw this book at a tiny shop in New York and turned to the New Jersey-ite and said.
"Oh, I really want this. We could make some badass stuff from the stencils in here.... like the spice rack we made? We could do some stencils on the side... the stencils of the cassette tapes... maybe the headphones....look! Over here!"
And I moved on into the next project in my mind, the next aisle, the next 'I need this' . I completely forgot about the book but The New Jersey-ite gave it to me last week.
Here's why it's amazing: The stencils are not of the flower, duck, tree, breed. None of that heinousness. Get it here.

Need An Online To Do List? Teux Deux

2010-01-18T06:08:00.000-08:00

I tried this out Teux Deux this morning and as a maker-of-lists this is really simple and cool.

Overheard: An Actual Conversation

2010-01-17T12:05:00.000-08:00

At Le Tigre -
Girl : "Oh no! I bent my earring!"
Guy (voice full of judgement): "Oh.... are you one of those people that sells jewelery?"

Deisel's New Print Campaign: Be Stupid

2010-01-16T15:15:00.000-08:00

Not sure I love this but apparently they are being pasted are all over LA. Is this a good message to be sending?

Things You Can Make If You Suck At Making Things.

2010-01-13T21:04:00.000-08:00

photo by flowertrip
Maybe it's just the throes of winter but I've been talking to a lot of people lately that want to 'make something' but they're not sure what to make or where to start. Generally, they come up with something that's sort of an extension of their job. They tell me that they'll maybe just 'fix their resume' or 'go to an exercise class'. Ummm.... that's a horrible cop out and I hate to state the obvious but you're not actually making anything by doing that.
I get it, it's hard to make something that even pros mess up sometimes and it's really disappointing when you throw your whole self into a project only to have it become a testament to your inability to make things.
Short Example: My first cooking experiment about a year and a half ago which started with a difficult recipe translated from Spanish, an $80 trip to Whole Foods, and ended with a Turtle Sundae, tears, and a kitchen that never entirely recovered.
So if you're not an Etsy knitting queen or a super artist yet where should you begin? First, don't think about it like you're going to create something amazing for over the dining room table. Think of it like 'I'm going to make something that will take a few hours and I will finish it'. You might throw this thing away. That's perfectly ok. Here are some ideas of easy things:

Create a room to be your perfect space - This is really fun because you can research all of the great interior design blogs for ideas. Apartment Therapy and Desire To Inspire are two of my favorites. Once you pick one out you can set out to make small changes to copy it. Example, I loved this green kitchen so I created some of its flavor in mine by repainting a bookcase and turning it into a spice rack. See?

go to an antique place and get something ugly - like the above bookcase. Or the frames we got from the antique flea market that were something like $3. Just get something cheap and wooden so that you start learning how to sand things down and repaint them. You can't put your own style onto anything until you have the basic skills down. Also, you'd be surprised at how zen it can be just sanding some ugly thing down and repainting it.
make a headboard - We have no headboard and it completely drives me nuts until I realized there's an incredibly easy fix for that. ANYTHING flat can serve as a headboard. Check this one out below. All I have to do is scavenge some boards and put them together.

make the perfect meal - By that I do NOT mean that you should choose the MOST DIFFICULT thing you can find and make it. Most people I know make the same 5 or 6 things all the time so just trying a few new things can satisfy some of your creative juices. Try my favorite site Tastespotting for ideas.
pillows - Two pieces of fabric sewn together around batting. It really doesn't get much easier than that and the cool thing about it is you get to find fabrics that are exactly your style (and hopefully not too expensive). Make two and put them on the couch and viola! You've made something.

The truth is, the first projects you have are going to probably turn out sort of ugly. You can't be expected to have a good idea of good resurfacing finds, good paint colors, good headboard ideas, etc. until you try it a few times so go easy on yourself when you first start. Good luck!

My Treehouse Obsession Goes On.

2010-01-13T11:34:00.000-08:00

This tree house is by Nicko Bjorn Elliott and I guess it's a playhouse but I would be satisfied if this was my real house. I'm aware by the way that my wish to live in a tree house of some kind could make it seem like I'm somewhat immature. The whole 'living in a fort' thing and all not being the most grown up of ideas. However I think it's not as high on the list as my Japanese toy collection, my propensity to use the New Jersey-ite's grooming tools as cleaning utensils, and the Barbie I just won't get rid of.

AT&T, Twitter, And Not Making Social Media A Quick Fix.

2010-01-13T10:08:00.000-08:00

I have an iPhone which I love on most days. Ok, some days. On the days my calls go through. On the days my calls do not go through I can be found complaining continuously about the iPhone and my service provider AT&T. One day last week I was so angry that I did what any self respecting social media addict would do. I took it to Twitter.

"Dear AT&T, it's not that I don't appreciate all of your late Xmas gifts of dropping EVERY call I make because I do. Really."

So around 2 minutes later someone from AT&T messages me to give her my e-mail because she wants to help me fix the issue. I am impressed. I am thrilled to be heard. I am thinking smugly 'finally an issue that has been solved by a Twitter feed' and also 'damn, AT&T has got a great social monitoring team'.

When I give them my e-mail I get a response from someone else at AT&T about 5 minutes later asking for my number so we can get this all figured out. I am elated. It was so efficient, easy, fast to fix this. I think about all the other companies that should be using Twitter to monitor company complaints (Charter is, Best Buy is).

The next day someone else from AT&T calls me and tells me that I am having dropped calls for 1 of 5 reasons. I ask him if he can check my area reception. He tells me to go and get a new iPhone. I tell him the New Jersey-ite has an iPhone and doesn't drop as many calls. He tells me again to go and buy a new phone to SEE if that works. I am no longer elated.

Social media critique: The Twitter team is impressive and has done an amazing job catching angry people and getting them to e-mail (looking at their Twitter feed that responds to angry Tweets you can see there are a LOT of people hating on AT&T online). The e-mail team is doing awesome in getting someone on the phone with me. After that, not so good. Same old phone company. Here's the thing, Twitter and social media in general can be a great extension of your customer service but the service that you give once the online customer is funneled offline has to be great as well.
Social media is only going to be as good as the company (and service) that backs it up.

Really Great Business Cards And Do We Even Need Them?

2010-01-12T09:58:00.000-08:00

cards here from '50 beautiful cards' DesignCove
I have always been really judgemental about a person's business card. It's not really fair because a lot of people that work for larger companies have nothing to do with their cards, don't design them, or write the copy on them but I still like to judge a company culture by their business card.
I generally like companies that allow the employee to have some kind of personality showing through on their cards. One agency in Chicago has some free association words describing the person on the back of the card like "twin", "photography", etc.
With online networking, LinkedIn, blogs, Twitter, and every other way to contact you online available I am starting to wonder if we even need business cards at all anymore? Honestly, I use them less and less in favor of "I'll find you online".
What are your thoughts, do you use them? Does your personality come through on them?

How To Live To Be 100: Video

2010-01-12T09:17:00.000-08:00

This is such an interesting video well worth the watch for anyone who is vowing to eat healthier in 2010. I started watching this thinking "who would want to live to be 100 anyway if you're sick or frail?" but after watching how healthy these centenarians are I started paying closer attention.

Location Independents, Freelancers, And Those With Niche Talent: People You'll Need To Know.

2010-01-11T11:10:00.000-08:00

I used to say yes a lot, or a lot more than I do now at least. I used to take a project and plan it out and gather people to work on it and boss everyone around until it was done. Because I'm bossy and I enjoy that sort of thing. The problem was, I was spending so much time accepting projects that I am semi good at that I wasn't spending time doing things I am really good at.
Like when I first started out and thought I would be the best person to design a charting feature on a client's website. I am a) not a designer and b) I hate most charts including excel (I will avoid this application at all costs). I was clearly not the right person to do the job but there was a tiny bit of social media need for this client so I accepted it anyway. To make a long story short it didn't go well (understatement).
If you are a niche shop, freelancer, or location indie you should know this: you are not a one stop shop. People don't expect you to be a one stop shop. Do what you're good at and refer the rest. Which leads to my pearl of wisdom for the day and your homework assignment.
Write down complementary services to yours and meet people whose work you trust in those areas.
For example: I get a lot of projects that require an actual designer, a programmer, and a video production crew.
In order to ensure that I work on things I am really good at I started going to local design meetings, stalking designer blogs, and watching a lot of online video to find out who was going to be good / reasonably priced. Then I started referring. I didn't try to manage the project and take a cut or somehow get involved I simply told the client "look, this isn't really my expertise but I have worked with _________ that would be a perfect fit" and turned over the whole thing.
That was really scary because sometimes I turned over projects when I wasn't really that busy and I could have really used the money.
Eventually what started happening was my new 'complementary services' friends referred projects back to me that fit my skill set perfectly.

This will also help you network with a purpose. I need to have a purpose when I network because otherwise I come home with 18 Real Estate broker's business cards and a few others' whose businesses will never want to work with me. If I know I need a designer / programmer on some upcoming projects I know who I want to talk to when I get to the event and I get caught up with the real estate people a whole lot less (no offense real estate industry... I end up talking to you guys because you're more outgoing than everyone else).

Networking purposefully and creating a circle of complementary resources means that when you turn away projects you will look good by providing a solution to your client's problem and you keep the project 'in the family' at the same time. You can probably still boss a little from that distance too if you are so inclined.

A Book For Creatives And Those Who Need Inspiration

2010-01-09T08:30:00.000-08:00

An inspiring guide by Dave Brown of Holiday Matinee to being creative and making awesome. Looks cool, get it here.

I'll File This Under "Horrendously Ironic Ad News": Hanes Drops Charlie Sheen.

2010-01-08T13:22:00.000-08:00

The ads were pulled on Dec. 28th right after he was arrested again for hitting a girl again. Honestly? I am not really sure why Charlie Sheen was chosen to hawk wifebeaters in the first place....

Dealing With A Braggert.

2010-01-08T07:40:00.000-08:00

photo from romantics
I have a situation that has been driving me nuts lately. It's a friend (we work in semi competitive fields) that calls me up once in a while and leaves a message to call her back right away. When I do, the conversation goes like this:
me: Hey! How's it going?
her: great! So great! I'm incredibly busy, my phone's just ringing off the hook with business.
me: that's amazing! Glad to hear it.
her: Yeah, I got a new boss but he just loves me! My job is so great. So busy!
me: really? that's really awesome.

And literally, this conversation goes on and on like this with my range of answers being great, good for you, and that's awesome until I get off the phone. At first, this friend used to make me feel really bad after I hung up. Ummmm, why isn't my life that amazing? My phone rang 3 times today and rarely rings "off the hook" like hers apparently does. Am I just jealous? I am not above being envious but she really takes pains to rub it in and I couldn't understand why she never inquired as to how I was doing. Ever.

The thing is I can't really burn the bridge and tell her to eff off because we see each other sometimes at professional events and I don't want to get into a straight out fight. So if you have to be around a braggart you could try some of these. Come up with fun games for these conversations like:
Can I actually get through this entire conversation by just saying "that's so great!"?
Try to squeak something in about how satisfied you are with your life and watch the braggart ramp up how amazing life is even more.
Play a fun game inspired by Penelope the One Upper from SNL. See if they pick up on it.

I still dread talking to her but it's at least slightly more entertaining now.

I Don't Post Much In The Way Of Accessories Anymore But.....

2010-01-07T14:41:00.000-08:00

via Eastside Bride

I need a new wallet and I love these wallets and pouches by Tracy Tanner and guess what? They are all so reasonable and chic. The little guy at the bottom is $25.

A New Kind Of Surfer Movie: Modern Collective - This Movie Looks Awesome.

2010-01-06T14:13:00.001-08:00

Modern Collective - The First Visions from Poor Specimen on Vimeo.
This looks really good. I wish I was a surfer. Or looked kind of like a surfer. Or had dated surfers or something. Damn Wisconsin.....
From an advertising perspective, notice that Monster is directly sponsoring this movie. I am anxious to see what kind of placement Monster will get in the movie itself and if it will be like the sitcom "perfectly turned cans in the hands of every surfer" type of placements.
Who could sponsor my Wisconsin Tundra Sledding movie? Maybe North Face... or a salt company....

Location Independents: Have A More Productive Day, Not Week.

2010-01-06T13:42:00.000-08:00

photo by Cowe
Being a location independent comes with some really amazing perks like working on my incredibly comfortable couch and being able to go to the gym when no one else is there (this is a really big perk for me since I absolutely cannot stand waiting for workout machines. Traffic? no problem. Waiting rooms? fine. Waiting for an elliptical machine is like a tiny death for me).
Being able to work from anywhere does present some interesting obstacles when it comes to creating a schedule for yourself though. When I wrote recently about my confusion at how I wanted to run my business some of that was just confusion about what to do at what time of day. Being a location independent means that you have to decide how much time you're going to spend on any given thing. This sounds easy but trust me, it's not. For example, how many hours a day should I spend staying current on social media trends? How many hours should I spend on a pressing project if I also need to spend time finding new projects? There is no boss to tell me that I'm spending too much time in one place and not enough in another. Until I came to my December realization:
Break down your tasks into days and not weeks.
The way I was setting it up previously was like most offices do: plan out my week. This just doesn't work that well for freelancers and location independents because we don't just have projects to worry about. We have to factor in new business development, web maintenance, networking, billing, and anything else that pops up. This is how I fixed mine.
1) Determine your goals and the percentage of time you want to spend on them. For me it ended up being 40% project work, 30% writing, speaking engagement planning, and staying in contact with my network, and 20% upkeep of knowledge and new business development, and 10% new site building, accounting, etc.
2) Decide which things should have the most weight. Things that pay me or are going to pay me (new biz dev.) are likely going to have the most demanding timelines so those will have to have sufficient time in the day when I am most productive.
3) Plan your day accordingly. If you know what percentage you want to spend on your goals you know how much time a day you should be doing things. Not every day is going to fit perfectly but most do. It was so amazing how much better this method has been working for me, how many more things I am getting done, and how much happier I am. What was happening before is I would not be doing any business development until ALL of my projects were completely done. This is crazy by the way and should not be attempted. If new business development is going to be 20% of your business than it should be 20% of your day every day.

By planning my day like a microcosm of my whole business things have been running a whole lot smoother from wherever it is I'm working. Any other location independents have any good tips for planning your work day / week?

Brilliant French Lingerie Campaign!

2010-01-05T07:19:00.000-08:00

Aubade www.frenchartofloving.com from Chainsaw Advertainment Company on Vimeo.
via Agencyspy
Wow did French Lingerie Aubade hit the nail on the head with this one. Just look at the people below staring and taking photos trying to figure out if someone really lives up there or not. Playing on people's utter fascination with the lives of others and not going the traditional "girl in bra" route was such a great idea.

Doesn't Anyone Tap Dance Anymore?

2010-01-05T06:37:00.000-08:00

Last night I convinced the New Jersey-ite to watch Cover Girl (1944) with me by telling him it was a great old nostalgic movie. He lasted approximately 20 minutes and then told me that he was going to take the dog for a walk (it was maybe 8 degrees out and 10PM). Ok, fine I admit that maybe there was a little bit too much singing and tap dancing for his taste. Don't you love how almost every old movie includes tap dancing? It seems like that was a standard talent for stars in those days.

Does anyone tap dance anymore?

Post In Which I Break Some Of My Resolutions And Why Confusion Is Ok.

2010-01-04T11:09:00.000-08:00

photo
Nietzsche said, "You must have confusion in your heart to give birth to stars."

I wrote a post last week about New Year's resolutions and I spelled out what I was going to do this year and how I would carry less in my gigantic purse. My purse is at this moment on the counter and still gigantic. I took out a toothbrush and some receipts. I pretended to take out some other things but I didn't really try all that hard. So fine, purse resolution fail.

The other resolution downfall for the year (yes I know we're only 4 days in) has to do with all of the confusion. Not confusion like "which clients do I most want to pursue" or "will social media be big in 2010" but a bigger confusion about what kind of business I want to run and how I'm going to get there.
I have had days where I only want to do social media if it's for a large company
I have had days where I want to write more articles
I have had days that I spend trying to meet new people in my field
followed by days where I am totally over seeing "social media experts" online
followed by days where I am convinced that I only want to work with progressive small businesses

Confusion and I have become close friends.

This drives me crazy because I can't make plans down to the minute for the next 5 years like I want to and proceeded to spend a good portion of December worrying about this whole thing because people always want to know what your next step is going to be and God forbid I say "I don't know". This unsure-ness started to really get to me and the more I tried to eliminate it, the more I felt like I had taken a wrong turn and the harder I tried to get back to my regularly scheduled life where I had one idea and one way to get there.
The thing is, I don't have a crystal ball nor can I hurry things up so it's going to be pretty hard to plan around that.
So then I started reading all these simplify your life blogs like:
Zen Habits
Mnmlst
Quest For Balance

These started to make me realize that maybe it's ok if I take things as they come. Maybe, just maybe, this confusion is even helping. Also, it made my resolutions seem pretty shallow because none of them addressed this large "state of mind" thing I had going on.
How confusion can be a good thing:
Confusion allows you to try things you might not normally try because you have no set plan. When I was approached to do a collaboration that seemed cool but not in my regular plan I said yes instead of no.
Confusion forces you to have a good day. Worrying about my next move was not allowing me have good days so I decided to just go with it. Now, I'm focusing on making the day as productive as I can, not the month or year.
Confusion can make you more creative. All of this craziness has made me start reading voraciously again (Just finished The Boat, it's great) and I started knitting (thanks Mira) and am freelance writing more. I think it's because being unsure of my next step made me start doing things because I liked them instead of for the outcome.

I don't think this phase of "what's next" will continue forever but if you're in the same boat hang in there and try to look on the bright side of confusion.

A House In Stockholm With The Strangest Windows.

2010-01-04T07:24:00.000-08:00

This house in Stockholm has windows like picture frames. Wow.
via Urban Flea

Really Cool Urban Looking Stop Motion.

2010-01-04T06:56:00.001-08:00

parkour motion reel from saggyarmpit on Vimeo.

Company Spotlight: Chiquita Banana

2010-01-03T08:26:00.000-08:00

Somehow I stumbled on the Chiquita Banana website over the weekend and was really pleasantly surprised. I believe that simple, household names have amazing opportunity in social media (like Skittles or Butterball Turkey) because they don't have much to explain about the product and can focus on helping or entertaining people. Everyone knows what a Chiquita Banana is so there's no introduction of new technology or updates to the product to explain.
The Chiquita site has a large number of activities from designing the sticker on the front to a dance off to Chiquita health benefits so I spent a good 15 to 20 minutes there just poking around.
What They've Done Right:
The site is well designed and thought out so this is definitely a nice move forward for Chiquita. I noticed that they are collecting e-mails and data from visitors by asking people to log in so that they can save their sticker designs. This is going to help them build a nice e-mail list of people who are actively engaging with their brand (hint: CEO's really like to see lists like these in the ROI reports). They also have all of the standard "Follow us on Twitter" and Facebook connecting options so that fans of the brand can continuously connect with them. When I checked out the Twitter feed, the updates were interesting although their followers were a bit low.
What They Should Do More Of:
The site feels a little insulated, like a game. Since the setting of the site is a street it might be cool to have a "graffiti wall" with comments from other visitors or a way to engage with each other on the site more.
Also, and I think this is the main issue, they should promote the site in other places. I saw the exact same problem with the Milk site a few years ago. The brand blows their whole budget on the cool site and then doesn't save anything for promotion so the traffic to this amazing site has stayed relatively low.
Lastly, it could be neat to do a little spin-off campaign of the story they have going with the good and bad bananas on the site. For example, make a Twitter feed for the bad banana character and write updates from him.

Overall, really cool site worth checking out!

Wallpaper That Can Replace Your Lightbulbs.

2009-12-31T07:58:00.000-08:00

Welsh company LOMOX has not only developed this amazing wallpaper that is bright enough to replace a light bulb, they have gotten a huge grant from the Carbon Trust to further develop it. One of the coolest things about it is that this type of lighting is 2.5 times more efficient than energy saving light bulbs. I think it's going to open up a lot of doors for the design community as well.
Story at the Telegraph.

Like What You See?

See It Now: Avatar

2009-12-31T06:22:00.000-08:00

I really did not expect my girlfriend B to call me and tell me to see Avatar. She's the kind of girl that really likes romantic comedies and that's about it (example: she really liked Enchantment, hated No Country For Old Men). I knew if she liked this movie then anyone would like this movie and after seeing it I can safely say that any movie fan will find something they love about it. Girly movie lovers will love the art especially in the beginning, Sci Fi fans will be in absolute heaven, and action movie fans will love all of the second half.
My favorite really cool thing about this movie?
Glow in the dark freckles.

In A World That Is Not Making Resolutions, I'm Making Some.

2009-12-29T08:47:00.000-08:00

I don't think it's very cool to make resolutions anymore, no one I know is making them, we don't talk about them, and a lot of people at a lot of parties are making a point to let me know that they think making resolutions is passe.
So I'm going to tell you about mine here since I have done and said plenty of incredibly uncool things here already and if you're still reading then you must not mind so much.
First, I think that most people don't want to tell you they are making resolutions because we want other people to think that we are just fine as we are thank you very much. Having a resolution is like admitting that you have (gasp!) flaws. Or maybe you're one of those people that "makes resolutions every day". Maybe you even keep them. I am not positive that I believe the "resolutions every day" people because making permanent changes to our lives is really hard and if it were as simple as thinking them up every day and then changing forever resolutions wouldn't be as touchy a subject as they are.
So if you are making some resolutions this year, I'd love to hear them. Here are mine, you can use them too if you want:
1) Learn to talk about my accomplishments. a friend of mine recently looked at my LinkedIn profile and announced "you don't know how to brag about yourself." Since she's a dating coach she launched into a long speech about how men get better jobs because they know how to brag about themselves better and women tend to downplay their accomplishments (gross generalization I know). I didn't want to believe her but since we had that conversation I have the sneaking suspicion that in my case she's right. This year I'm going to be proud of what I've done and allow my various profiles to show it.
2) Ask for help when I need it even if I don't know the person that well.
3) Stop buying things at the last second. I buy the most ridiculous stuff in the last 10 minutes at the store. I am the epitome of an impulse buyer. No more.
4) Get smaller purses. You have no idea how many things I carry around with me every day. In no way do I need to haul around a huge bag filled to the brim with things "in case I need them". There are Walgreens' on ever corner and Target's nearly as numerous. I have no kids for God's sake why am I carrying around 20 pounds of purse?

A New Coffee Cup.

2009-12-29T08:11:00.000-08:00

I almost made it out of New York without buying coffee cups. I was in Pearl River Mart in Soho for an hour and came out with only Japanese candy. I perused home stores and didn't succumb to the coffee cup buying madness. Then, while we waited with friends for a table for dinner and were forced to do some more browsing, I came across these. Bought 2. You can get them here.

Commercial Throwdown - Virgin Atlantic vs. American Express

2009-12-23T12:35:00.000-08:00

The brick 80's cell phone cameo in this commercial means it gets my vote as the best I've seen this week.

FIWK's vote is the American Express commercial. I would say mine is clearly the better pick.

What Having Fun Has To Do With Body Language.

2009-12-23T07:58:00.000-08:00

John Rawlings Revlon Advertisement.
Whenever I sit in a meeting and watch someone droning on and on I always think to myself "why isn't this speaker noticing that we're bored?"
When the client checks their watch, yawns, or looks at the door repeatedly I think "wrap it up, we're losing them, abort mission, mayday mayday!" and then I try to tell them by opening my eyes wide to finish up. A lot of the time the speaker doesn't take my cue because they aren't paying attention to cues at all otherwise the client checking the watch thing might have gotten their attention 10 minutes ago.

Now NPR has an article that we can discreetly send to "meeting droners" about how people feel like they are having fun if time has seemingly flown by. In other words, when you think you spent an hour in a meeting but it was really only 30 minutes people decide that they must have had fun.

You might think that being entertained isn't the goal of a meeting or even your job but if people are bored they not only leave your meeting without retaining anything but they also eventually leave their job.

To summarize the article, Sackett (the psychology researcher) says the study could be interpreted like this:
Here's one implication: People often lament that a holiday or vacation is over too soon: It seemed to fly by so fast! "My research findings, however, suggest that once people are back home, the fact that they felt that time flew during their vacation is likely to increase their remembered enjoyment of the experience," Sackett notes. "Thus, while the end of a vacation may be bittersweet, the faster it comes, the more pleasant we'll remember the vacation as being."

So how can we use this study to make our meetings seem like more fun? Don't let people get to the point where they are bored enough to notice every second passing. Even if it means cutting your earth shatteringly interesting talk short. If you're losing people, they are going to associate you with feelings of boredom and that's never a good way to win business or fans. Also, this article would suggest telling your audience that a meeting will last 30 minutes and then end it after 20 - an easy enough "jedi mind trick" to pull of at the beginning of every meeting.

Listening To: Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeros.

2009-12-22T14:41:00.000-08:00

Love this! (via Kira)

Safe Texting Commercial From LG - Give It A Ponder

2009-12-22T10:49:00.000-08:00

The rest of them aren't as good but I think the concept has huge potential because who hasn't had a text they wish they would have had a ponder about before they sent it?

I'm Filing The Tokyo Nail Expo Under "Things I Unfortunately Missed"

2009-12-22T10:00:00.000-08:00

The nail industry is huge in Japan! These were spotted at the Expo November 30th. Just my 2 cents but I'm pretty sure that the above woman is single....... just sayin.

Print Dies And Yet Sites Start Printing Their Content.

2009-12-21T06:13:00.000-08:00

This is Daily Candy's print guide to L.A. and from what I've heard it's really well done. Aside from the fact that I would absolutely read a Daily Candy guide to a city there is another really interesting thing going on here. Websites printing their content. Right after all of the old guard magazines started falling like dominoes and the whole world bought a Kindle and the New York Times Turned it's Sunday Paper into a joke. Here it is, a new guide book.
Oh, and look which of my favorite brands is right there on the cutting edge of it.
So why would websites want to start print versions of their content when print hasn't been doing so well and their websites can distribute their content for free?
I'd wager a guess that it's because websites have something regular print doesn't and that's an idea of what people are liking right now. For example, Daily Candy has a constant stream of outgoing content that they know almost immediately if people are liking or not. They have a good grasp on which articles people like, the way they like to read them, how long they are reading, and all kinds of other data that a magazine just doesn't have. Yes, a magazine can have a focus group or create a survey but a website knows who is reading what and if they like it. So they are going to put that content together, print it, and it will likely sell.
Another company getting into the game in the same way? Reader's Digest. That Titanic half sinking has got a whole load of cool websites that you probably didn't know they had like Allrecipes.com and my guess is that they re content testing there more and more. There is a really interesting article on how Reader's Digest plans to completely re-brand this year here.

So after all of the "print is dead" trouble this year there appears to be a glimmer of light coming from an unlikely place. It will be interesting to see if the web surfing crowd will buy their favorite site's content in a book or not.

Zombie Plates

2009-12-21T06:09:00.001-08:00

These are so cool I can just imagine my sister coming across these in my cupboard and saying "Caitlin...... come on......."
via oneplusinfinity

A Story About My Dad.... Otherwise Titled A Glimpse Of My 80 Year Old Self

2009-12-19T10:39:00.001-08:00

I just couldn't resist telling this story from my lunch with my dad the other day. Now my Dad and I don't get to have lunch together all that often just the 2 of us so I was really excited to pick him up where his car was being worked on and talk his ear off for a few hours.
While we were eating (and I was talking) I noticed that he was looking past me over my shoulder an awful lot. When I turned around to see what he was looking at, I discovered a huge mirror on the wall right behind me.
"Goddamn it. Why did you tell me my hair looked like this?" He proceeded to fix his hair for at least five minutes..... like a girl.....
"I have hat hair, UGH!" More fixing.
I am speechless. My father is nearing 80 and has just spent the last 15 minutes talking about his hair so I am about to fall out of my chair holding in laughter.
He suddenly looks at me and says "Well you know what your sister's say about you? That you never met a mirror you didn't like."

Hat Wearing Recommendations

2009-12-19T10:24:00.000-08:00

lunchbreath made me laugh.

Want To See TBWA's Awesome Office?

2009-12-17T10:06:00.000-08:00

This is their Tokyo office. I just love how it feels so green.
There's a grassy knoll to read on..... need I say more? I wonder if they would think it's weird if I just came in to read every day without working there....

Photos Coffeeshop Lovers Will Love.

2009-12-14T18:42:00.000-08:00

This looks like a heavenly morning. By Victoria H.

~The stars were the same then as they are tonight. ~ Dharma Bums

Whale Coffee Cup!

2009-12-14T13:14:00.001-08:00

I am a shameless collector of coffee cups and even though I in no way need nor will I ever need a new coffee cup I still want this one. It's on Etsy.

Jet Blue's Fangs Are Out With "The Flyer's Collection"!

2009-12-14T06:01:00.000-08:00

Jet Blue has always seemed like the cool airline to fly on. They like social media and gadgets and I always felt like maybe Seth Godin would be sitting next to me. So this campaign kind of surprised me.
Here's what it is: Jet Blue got some retail space in New York City and opened a store called "The Flyer's Collection". Only you can't go in the store because it's never open. The pamphlet outside has a web address on it www.theflyerscollection.com and when you go the site it's a Facebook account with fake products for sale that cheekily makes fun of other airlines.
Granted, the products are kind of funny (The knee jockey, and the snack machine) but I can't help thinking that it's a bit over the top just to cut the other airlines down. I mean, the other airlines are doing a fine job of looking bad all by themselves.What if Jet Blue used the space as a Wi-Fi center and made it look like a plane? I just think that Jet Blue already has a great angle and that's appealing to the ever growing new media lovers. Any other ideas for Jet Blue on how they could better use that NYC storefront?

Miller's "Yellow Snow" Video

2009-12-11T06:34:00.000-08:00

Was it leaked or "leaked"? Who knows, but it's pretty funny.

Can Social Media Ruin My Relationship?

2009-12-11T06:33:00.001-08:00

Everyone needs more social media.
CNN will tell you this. Businessweek will tell you this. Women's magazine's tell us how to Twitter and even the local news stations take us through laughably novice social media tutorials.
As a social media lover I have adopted every single new tool and trick of the trade. So has The New Jersey-ite.
We Twitter and blog and social network all day long and when we go home social media follows us.
We read recipes online to decide what we're going to cook which leads to a quick check of the e-mail (it's right there, on the next tab...) and then The New Jersey-ite forgets that he was supposed to finish something quick and e-mail it off so I take that moment to gchat with Double Americano but his story is long so The New Jersey-ite is finished before I am. We sit down and decide whether we should watch South Park or something I got from Netflix..... then I check Netflix.com to see what I have on my instant watch list. This is how it is.

Months ago we vowed never to answer our phones after 7 but that rule got broken right away so we changed it to we won't answer our phones during dinner. Unless it's really important. And I once pointed out that texting isn't answering the phone and it only takes 5 seconds, just hang on......

I figured that since we were both in the online industry this would be ok. He would be understanding about my incessant iPhoning and I could be understanding about his. Except I feel like we haven't talked in a while. I tell him this via gchat.
I mean, we've talked on gchat, and Twitter, and e-mail, and in person (a bit) but I try to remember when we drank two bottles of wine on the porch and last talked.

I never thought I'd be the kind of girl that said things like "quality time" and I feel like Dr. Phil every time I even bring it up but seriously, is social media conducive to "quality time"?
Can we Twitter and text during our dinner and still pay attention to each other? (My heartfelt apologies to Jun Loayza who talks about his work/ girlfriend balance all the time.....
His girlfriend said she sometimes wants to put herself in his Google calendar to get some time and when I read that I thought "God, that's never going to happen to us." )

So we made some new rules this week about how despite all of the articles insisting that we need more social media, we are going to be removing some social media from our relationship. Starting with dinner, baby steps away from the iPhone.

Penguin Donkey Coffee Table Goodness.

2009-12-10T07:30:00.000-08:00

This table is originally from 1939 and made to hold about 80 Penguin books. I would love, love, love something like this in my living room.

Is It Geeky That I Want This? Monster Laptop Stand

2009-12-09T07:51:00.000-08:00

Made me laugh. MonsterMonster

Cannondale Knows Their Audience - Video To Prove It.

2009-12-09T06:04:00.000-08:00

Wytze's graduation project for Cannondale from Eelke D. on Vimeo.

When a brand wants to make a video for their audience - this should be their inspiration. This incredibly cool bike is for urban women but what's really interesting is how well they know exactly who they want to purchase this bike. Kudos!

Have Patience With Everything... But Mostly Social Media.

2009-12-07T13:22:00.001-08:00

photo from Asiria / Flickr
No one has ever called me patient. Ever. Not to my face or behind my back or any other time that I can remember. I find people who walk slow unbearable. Which I why when I dole out that advice so often I do genuinely feel a bit hypocritical. And I understand when people don't want to be patient or why they think that me telling them to be patient is just me lying to them about if social media works or not.
With all of this in mind, I'm writing a post about patience with social media.

Why We're In Such A Hurry
Basically everyone has heard some story about Ford or Best Buy and how they attribute social media to huge sales. If you knew there were a way to turn an online conversation on Twitter into profits wouldn't you be in a pretty big hurry to try it? Of course you would, so brands call social media agencies to help them figure out how to take their slumping sales and turn them into millions by the first of the year. When I'm a part of these meetings I ask about goals in social media and what they're doing on their site and on Twitter and then I ask them their timeline and brace myself. Sometimes I catch myself wincing.
"We want to do a 2 month test." This is hands down the most common answer I've heard in the last 2 years and it is, for the record, a fine answer.

Why We Get So Annoyed
2 months is kind of a tipping point for a lot of people in social media for 2 reasons.
1) The novelty has worn off and Twitter is just something you have to update, your fans on Facebook are slowing to a trickle, and maybe someone commented negatively on your corporate (or personal) blog. You no longer are thinking about how awesome it is that your brand has friends online and you're wondering what good this is bringing the company. Maybe it has increased sales a bit and maybe it hasn't. You start to wonder if you're wasting your time.
2) Some of your messaging isn't working with your audience and you know you have to change it but you don't know what to change it to. A lot of companies have only a Plan A when it comes to social and month 2 is where you can really start optimizing. If you know how.

So What Can You Expect After 2 Months?
I am always telling bloggers not to give up their blog because no one is reading it. In fact, the only things you can definitely expect after 2 months of blogging are sharpened writing skills and a better idea of what doesn't work. Most people will have under 30 readers after 2 months of blogging.
If you extend this to social media in general, you can expect much the same. A better understanding of the channels that you are using, what works, what doesn't, and some good tricks you've picked up along the way. Can you think up a great stunt and see leverage in 2 months? Yes. But that's a spike, not necessarily the makings for a good long term social presence.

To avoid the loss of novelty issue it's important to have good goals for social media on the outset. Pretty much anything can become a chore at some point so if you are only doing a company Twitter feed because Twitter is fun then you will likely get bored with it and stop updating it. If your Twitter goal is to find and respond to 20 industry related questions per week then it becomes part of your job or your routine. Specific goals let you know that you are moving forward even if you are bored with your blog this week.

To solve the issue of "Plan A didn't work, now what?' you've got to keep detailed data of why certain content isn't working and be listening online. If you aren't getting any comments or responses at all then you probably need to focus on building your audience which means you'll need to listen more. For example, if you are a flooring business and you want to talk about your new product line and no one is responding I'd wager that if you start listening to conversations you'll find your audience is taking about something else. Like which flooring matches which kind of countertops or the best ways to clean flooring. Now if you don't listen at all, you won't figure this out and you'll continue to talk about your new flooring items and people will continue to not comment. In other words, your Plan B should be reactive to what's going on online already.

A Word Of Encouragement
Have patience with your social media endeavor, whether it's a personal blog or a new campaign. If at 2 months you haven't come very far don't give it up. Lots of really successful campaigns getting attention right now are only pretending that they just woke up, tried it, and yay... profits! I know for a fact that Ford has a rather long trail of trial and error behind the Fiesta program.

Dripping Lights - Thanks Denmark!

2009-12-07T05:43:00.000-08:00

How are the Dutch coming up with such clever lighting lately? Aren't these great? Studio Mango has some really great product designs on their site and their crew looks like a really fun group to work with. Check them out.

Travel Much? Samsonite Trolley Luggage

2009-12-07T05:34:00.000-08:00

With the Holidays, people getting married, and the New Jerseyite's family being in, well.... New Jersey we've been traveling a lot. I've tried carry on, check your bag, ways to carry bath products, and I'm getting pretty good at getting through without much hassle (no small feat). My Dad, who has a total knee replacement gets the complete search down every single time we go through security ( whole other story). He comes out of the security area saying "those guys never smile...."
Anyway, this little travel suitcase looks really handy. Plus, it's on a scooter. Which is obviously more fun.
My 2 Cents: Dear Samsonite - if you want to sell a whole load of these quickly you should target the SXSW crowd. I could just see every other person there with one of these!

It's Winter now - Hot Chocolate Time.

2009-12-04T10:17:00.000-08:00

In winter I become an even worse addict of warm drinks than I normally am since you can add hot chocolate and spiced Cider to the mix along with the coffee and tea I normally drink to excess. Today I found these hot chocolate spoons from the Chocolate Company with flavors like Strawberry and Pink Pepper, Brownie, and Amaretto and Macaroons (pictured above, that little vial is real amaretto to pour in).
If you live in the Madison area you MUST MUST MUST go to David Bacco's chocolate shop in Hilldale Mall and have the hot chocolate there. It is hands down the most amazing thing you will ever have.

Personal Branding Vs. Online Writing

2009-12-04T06:42:00.000-08:00

photo by Hazar Sultan
I have a lot of trouble with personal branding. I think most people do which is why there are so many personal branding coaches out there. Good ones. I usually end up talking to them about the city they live in or their families or social circle because I don't think I can ever reconcile the two brands I currently have: a quirky social media addict and a nonfiction writer that now and again feels the need to tell people about how I ran away from college in Iowa or the thrill of spray painting my favorite lines of poetry under bridges.
Personal branding coaches will tell you to write for other people - for the perception of you online. There should be consistency of message across the Internet and other really sound advice. Writing coaches will tell you to write about things not necessarily thinking of your audience. Big problem. Here's a great writing quote from Mary Karr's new book (one of my heroes):

"Tell your stories and your story will be revealed... don't be afraid of appearing angry, small minded, obtuse, mean, immoral, amoral, calculating, or anything else. Take no care for your dignity."

Since I don't want my personal brand to be "that small minded, amoral social media consultant" I have had to have 2 brands online. I don't know what the personal branding coaches would think about this I haven't asked Dan yet. When I write under my personal brand or for clients I am constantly thinking about how my audience will perceive my message and when I write a piece of nonfiction I have to sit near the quote above which is taped inside my writing book and look at it every time I want to delete a sentence that makes me seem mean, small minded, obtuse, or any of those lovely qualities (there are many).

So my word of advice to online writers, bloggers, and those seeking to perfect their personal brands is it's okay to have 2 if they clash with one another and when you are creating something to first think about which brand you are writing for and create accordingly.

Maluca - El Tigeraso Or "Let's Watch Something Different"

2009-12-03T14:31:00.000-08:00

El Tigeraso

MALUCA | MySpace Music Videos

This is awesome on so many levels. I'd use Red Bull cans instead of beer cans. Happy Thursday.

Uber Modern Dentist Office - Japan

2009-12-03T06:14:00.000-08:00

I love this design but I am one of those people that fears the dentist. Actually, just looking at this picture makes me start feeling nervous.
Very cool, modern building but it's maybe a bit clinical for those of us that would rather visit a spa-dentist (does that exist?). In fact, I can almost imagine Nurse Ratchett coming through those doors.

Driftwood Lights -

2009-12-02T12:17:00.000-08:00

Bleu Nature makes the coolest natural home lighting. The site is completely worth going to - I can't read a word but their products are a cross between vacation, spa, and of course, the beach.

Chick-Fil-A Teams Up With The Police Dept. Is This Ok?

2009-12-02T10:13:00.000-08:00

How strange is this? Southern California Police will be handing out free Chick-Fil-A sandwich coupons to drivers who are wearing their seatbelts when they get stopped. I have no clue how Chick-Fil-A pulled this one off and it seems just a touch sketchy being that the Police maybe shouldn't be doing advertising....
Anyone have any thoughts on this?
Read the full story.

Essentials For Social Media And Writers: Something To Say.

2009-12-01T07:58:00.000-08:00

I haven't written seriously in a few years and have started to really get rolling again because I went to Mexico and had some strange kind of writing reality check. My excuse for not writing both publicly and to myself had been "I haven't done anything interesting in a while.... I don't have anything good to say".
In my defense, I spent a great deal of time in my early 20's wandering around the country by green truck doing "interesting" things every day. It was not, I should mention, very lucrative. I'd say in comparison I haven't been doing quite as may "interesting" things as of late at least not in the crazy adventure "you'll-never-guess-who-I-saw-in-the-gas-station-bathroom" kind of way.

Interesting things are also the big currency in social media. With social media everyone is a creator. Everyone is a writer, photographer, and short quip-sayer in order to get people to listen to you and do something like buy your product, follow your Twitter feed, or read your blog.
This adds up to a lot of scrambling in a lot of marketing departments for clever, witty, and relevant content.

Lots of companies I meet with say they are boring and sometimes they are. Plus, lots of people who quit their blogs say that they ran out of things to say. This is basically writer's block. So how do companies and writers start coming up with interesting content?

It's okay to write about struggle even if you're a huge company. I have a quote that I like by Samuel Beckett that says "Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail Again. Fail better." Have I slept in my car in Arizona lately? No. But I have struggled like hell this year with clients, starting my own company, balancing work and relationship, and trying to write again. Struggle is interesting. Companies that can let their audience in on even a little of their struggles will seem more real than the ones constantly tweeting about their latest sale or promotion.

You don't have to get caught up in the posting twice a day, Tweeting once every minute, Facebook update mania that a lot of companies and people think they need to stay relevant. A well placed Tweet or post will serve you better than pure quantity.

Think about what makes you different or why you see things differently. For me, I like to pick on companies with terrible ad campaigns since I am dorky enough to follow ad campaigns (I also say nice things about good ones). I also have a family that lives on a farm even though I didn't grow up on a farm and sometimes I have to go out there and help them in winter. This involves camouflage snowsuits, chasing donkey's around, and feeling like a hillbilly. For an insurance company maybe you see everything in terms of liability. If you look at things on your walk to work just in terms of liability there could be a lot of pretty interesting tweets or posts in there.

Just because nothing "happened" doesn't mean something interesting isn't going on.

Look, Mexico Has Chocolate Lucky Charms!

2009-12-01T06:10:00.001-08:00

Kellog is holding out on us.... these look delicious!

Diving Into The Wreck.

2009-11-30T06:21:00.000-08:00

I don't have my diver's certification but it doesn't stop me from diving while I'm in Mexico. The hour pool lesson you get is enough, I suppose, to put your life in the hands of a 2 foot tube with the lines of my favorite poem "Diving Into The Wreck" by Adrienne Rich running through my head the whole time.
"I put on the body armor of black rubber
the absurd flippers
the grave and awkward mask"

"I am having to do this not like Cousteau with his assiduous team aboard the sun flooded schooner but here alone."

You can't talk to anyone else while you are diving. The world goes on blue mute and thoughts from the very back of your mind can come floating in. Thousands of miles from Madison, Wi. and 35 feet below the ocean with sea turtles and eels I run into myself at age 21.

At the ripe old age of 21 I had decided that Mexico would be a great place to write, drove down to Juarez and paid a woman at the Mexican border $80 to watch my car for a month. I hopped a bus not knowing its destination and hoped my truck would still be there when I got back. I don't know if I would have the balls to do it now. I read the news too much or have grown out of my recklessness.
"My flippers cripple me"

I had come up with this idea of writing in Mexico not because I am a brave and adventurous soul. I was there because I was fresh off of my unceremonious departure from the Iowa Writer's Workshop where I had written for hours a day to get them to let an undergrad like me in. When they finally relented to my constant badgering and agreed to let me attend the classes, I showed up expecting adoration from my writer peers like I had received in my undergrad classes. Most of them didn't like my writing and one guy who already had a book deal (he tells us this within the first 5 minutes of the class) showed up and said that he refused to read my entry. It was quote really a piece of crap end quote.
That made me go all the way to Mexico.
"I came to explore the wreck."

I ended up in a tiny town late at night hoping that the small hotel in my Mexico book would be open and when it wasn't (It had been closed for years) I asked the last shop owner who was just closing up what I should do in my terrible spanish. He tells me his friend can rent me an apartment if I go knock on her door. This leads to my beachfront apartment writing about sharks for a week which never sees the light of day in my writing workshops. It is years before I show any writing to a living soul again.

How funny that my sister's gorgeous wedding brings me face to face with this. She is moving forward into a new part of her life and I am moving backward to Iowa City and poems I haven't read in years. The trip surprised me and now that I'm back, I'm not too sure what to do with it.
You know how when you come home from a long trip you want to just give up everything and open a taco stand somewhere?

She Sells Seashells By The Seashore....Learning To Relax

2009-11-20T05:19:00.001-08:00

Pic from Kitsune Noir
I head to Mexico on Saturday for my sister's wedding and 8 laptop-free days. Except I really don't know if I can even do 8 laptop-free days. I don't think I've ever tried before and that's kind of sick I know.
Here are some great sites to teach us to relax or go on a virtual vacation.... and be happy. Much like my margarita's will do.
The Happiness Project
Color Me Katie
Change Your Thoughts Change Your Life
Zen Habits
Matador Travel

Threadless And Griffin Collaborate And Become An Artist Platform.

2009-11-20T05:06:00.000-08:00

Threadless + Griffin = one awesome case! from Threadless.com on Vimeo.

So Threadless is venturing outside of the T-shirt world and into the world of the Jam Jacket. If you don't know what those are, they're iPhone cases (also I plan to use that word a lot more liberally like as in "you're such a Jam Jacket")
What I like is that Threadless is saying they want to be a platform for artists to get their work onto products and they certainly are well on their way to that goal.

Wait... Is The Internet The New Art?

2009-11-19T10:03:00.000-08:00

Miltos Manetas has a ton of websites. This is one of them. Just this page. How will we categorize this type of art?

If You Are Being Paid To Be An Expert, Don't Be Afraid To Give Your Opinion.

2009-11-19T08:47:00.001-08:00

I went to get my haircut a few weeks ago and when I made the appointment, I was asked what level of hair designer I wanted.
"What levels do you have?" I asked
"6. Level 1 is for recently graduated students all the way up to our top designers at level 6." The receptionist told me.
I didn't understand that. Basically, she wants to know if I want someone who knows what they are doing to do my haircut or not right? So, I go for the highest level because I want a good haircut even though it was really expensive.
When I show up for the appointment, the "hair designer" comes out and asks me 800 questions about my hair, if I color it, when I cut it last,etc. Fine. Great. Then she starts asking me what kind of haircut I want. She asks me how long my layers should be and what to do around my face. She asks me within an inch how long the layers should be and if I wanted the back to be longer or an inch shorter and this went on and on for about 30 minutes.
Finally I just said "look, I'm paying you $180 to do my haircut! I came to you because you are supposed to be good at this. Shouldn't you be telling me what will look good?"
Perhaps that was a little abrasive but I was paying for an expert. I expected one that had some opinion of what I should do. I didn't learn how to do hair, how should I know how long my layers should be?
I also see this in client meetings all the time. Teams of people who are being paid as experts that don't give any kind of expertise. Guiding I can certainly understand but by giving a client (of any kind from hair to advertising to landscaping) a thousand questions so that there is no real thought work being done by the expert is not good work.
Clients want to feel like they are in good hands when they choose any kind of expert and the people that have confidence in their work enough to tell a client that going platinum blonde is an awful idea or that their marketing campaign is actually turning people off is part of that expertise.

Blu Dot Puts Free Chairs All Over NYC.

2009-11-18T06:29:00.000-08:00

Blu Dot has placed designer chairs free for the taking all over NYC, some with GPS installed so you can follow the chairs via Twitter. Really cool idea, wonder if it will work or if people will take out the GPS? Follow the chairs.

Anya Marina Covers TI's Whatever You Like... Awesome.

2009-11-17T12:43:00.000-08:00

Tellin' Time: Cassette Watch

2009-11-17T09:07:00.000-08:00

Cassette Watch by Asos.