I just read an article that my friend Andy posted entitled :
“Pa. teacher strikes nerve with ‘lazy whiners’ blog”
FEASTERVILLE, Pa. – A high school English teacher in suburban Philadelphia who was suspended for a profanity-laced blog in which she called her young charges “disengaged, lazy whiners” is driving a sensation by daring to ask: Why are today’s students unmotivated — and what’s wrong with calling them out?
Today I have been endlessly entertained by all the cool websites and promotional things people and companies are doing for Valentine’s Day.
Here are my 3 favs!
AT&T – Shout Your Love From A Mountain Top :
This is hilarious + awesome. Get a bearded man to shout your love from a mountain top – hence the name! 
You can probably spend a good 20 minutes cracking up at the live stream — er, or maybe that’s just me!
Pepsi is launching a new can for their diet soda. It looks like this :
I’ll admit right away that I am a fan of diet soda. Why? Because it’s better for you of course!
Okay, not really – hundreds of studies have shown that drinking sodas made with artificial sweetener has numerous health concerns. This post isn’t about the health issues of diet soda so let’s put this aside for a moment. My question is :
Is this can good or bad for marketing purposes?
Pondering why I drink diet soda, I realized a few things. Diet soda is all about the feeling. I drink diet soda because it makes me feel good.
This new Pepsi can does NOT make me feel good.
Why? It stands out. Part of the reason diet soda is great, is that it allows the drinker to feel that they are still drinking soda and not a diet product. You can go into a group of people drinking regular cola, stand there with your Diet Coke/Pepsi, and feel like a soda drinker. Could you imagine standing around with this can?
It’s big. It’s tall. It stands out like a sore thumb.
Yuck.
Diet Pepsi is selling fizzy water and confidence. A can of this proportion stands out from the norm and does not offer me equality of other soda drinkers.
This can does not sell me confidence. This can only calls attention to the fact that I chose diet instead of regular. Who would want that? Not me.
Do you like this can?
Over the past few months, I’ve been working on a new business called Continuing Minds teaching individuals and businesses how to use social media effectively through in person workshops. Last night, we made King5 News with our Introduction to Facebook class! Whohoo! Pretty big milestone for us. 
Since we began, we’ve had our ups and downs and it’s been a great learning experience. So far, my biggest takeaway has been:
YOU NEED A PLAN DAMMIT!
Going into the project, I would tell my team things like “Pfff, I don’t need a plan!” “Let’s just stop talking and do it!” Usually, I do things on a whim, make snap decisions, and I do most things without planning. My group told me I needed a plan.
Guess who was wrong?
*Raises hand* You DO need a plan!
Why do you need a plan? Here are 3 reasons:
1.) Plans save you time! While the idea of becoming an overnight millionaire sounds appealing, it is most likely not going to happen. Old fashion hard word and knocking on doors is how it’s done! Turns out, knocking on doors doesn’t work well without a planned out strategy. Without a plan, you’ll waste countless hours knocking on the wrong doors.
2.) Plans help you become a more effective marketer Know your customers! This is easier said than done. If you don’t plan out who your business is going to market to, you’ll do a terrible job of reaching the people who will benefit the most from your service. Marketing takes time, research, and patience. Fully understanding your customers will allow you to serve them better ultimately leading to a better business overall. A marketing plan can help with this!
3.) Plans are good for your sanity! Most of the time, I run around much like a chicken without a head. If you have no plan, you can literally run around aimlessly for days, weeks, and even months. Plans keep you focused. Plans outline goals. Plans get you results!
So…what’s your plan?
I’m having a bit of an ethical dilemma today.
Without going into the details, I’ve got myself into a sticky situation that results in either :
Conformity
or
Non-Conformity
With conformity comes acceptance. With non-conformity comes problems, headaches, and unnecessary stress.
When is it worth the battle to not conform? Does it make sense to stand your grounds if only for a moral victory?
To quote my friend Mr. Kennedy :
“Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.” – John F. Kennedy
Is he right?
Is it worth risking your reputation to stand up for what you believe in? At what point should you consider fighting a lost cause?
I have no effing idea. Maybe you know?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKL254Y_jtc&feature=player_embedded]
My favorite ad of the Super Bowl was without a doubt Chrysler’s ad featuring Eminem. The ad gave me the chills as it defined Chrysler in a new light and verified that a city like Detroit could make a luxury car. “It’s the hottest fires that make the hardest steel.” Not only did Chrysler play on the emotions of viewers but it re-branded Chrysler cars as “Imported from Detroit”. Genius.
Read the script below :
Narrator : I got a question for you.
What does this city know about luxury, hm?
What does a town that’s been to hell and back know about the finer things in life?
Well I’ll tell you.
More than most.
You see, it’s the hottest fires that make the hardest steel.
Add hard work and conviction.
And a know how that runs generations deep in every last one of us.
That’s who we are.
That’s our story.
Now it’s probably not the one you’ve been reading in the papers.
The one being written by folks who have never even been here.
Don’t know what we’re capable of.
Because when it comes to luxury, it’s as much about where it’s from as who it’s for.
Now we’re from America – but this isn’t New York City, or the Windy City, or Sin City, and we’re certainly no one’s Emerald City.
Eminem : This is the motor city – and this is what we do.
Whoa.
What are you thoughts?
The SuperBowl is starting!
OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! Why am I so excited? To see all the ads of course.
Advertisers spend millions to secure a spot and air an advertisement within this football extravaganza. What a glorious day of top notch marketing!
Here are a few resources I’ve found to get the most out of your ad watching experience. Enjoy!
YouTube - After each ad airs, YouTube will be posting it on it’s channel AdBlitz. Now you can watch your favorites again and again! …and AGAIN!
Brand Bowl – Put on by Radian 6 and Mullen, with Brand Bowl, you can see some neat analytics about the SuperBowl ads in real time. With this nifty tool, you can look at things like sentiment and even see how the ad is ranked among other brands during the game. The brand bowl also integrates Twitter so you can chat with other marketing enthusiasts during the game! Whohoo!
Google News – Want to see the blog posts and news articles popping up during the game? By searching Google News, it makes it easy to see what everyone is talking about in real time!
Twitter - Use Search.Twitter.com to see what everyone is talking about! Some cool hashtags are #brandbowl2011 #brandbowl #superbowlads Go take a look!
Anything I’m missing? Let me know in the comments!
“Trust is like a vase.. once it’s broken, though you can fix it, the vase will never be same again.”
The other night I was at the store with one of my good friends. She was making tacos for dinner and wanted to pick up some ingredients. Meat, lettuce, … cooking spray.
We strolled through the vegetable isle, the meat department, and then got to the cooking spray.
One of her remarks was absolutely golden.
Me : “What are you looking for?”
Her : “Pam cooking spray.”
Me : “Why don’t you get the generic one? Same calories, same thing. It’s $4.00 cheaper!”
Her : “But I trust Pam!” *puts in basket*
Me : “It’s the same thing – just the other one is cheaper. You’re only paying for the name!!”
Her : ”That’s okay, I already know this one is good.”
This kind of brand loyalty is what any business hopes for. Trust is key to any strong brand. Once you’ve lost a customer’s trust – you’ve lost their business.
Yesterday, I saw an awesome example of a brand trying to reestablish trust. In a recent lawsuit, a consumer challenges how Taco Bell advertises the use of real beef in its tacos. Often times, when something like this happens, a brand will settle in order to do some damage control for the company. Nothing says bad press like a lost lawsuit.
Instead of going “Shh!” and brushing the issue under the rug, Taco bell addressed the problem brilliantly!
Quick to react, Taco bell took out full size ads in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and others newspapers mitigating the claims. The headline read “Thank You For Suing Us” only to follow with facts about how Taco Bell meat is actually made.
Not only did they do this, but the CEO even made a personalized video addressing the claims. Talk about a great PR move. The plaintiff now looks completely foolish whether or not their [possibly false] claims will prevail in court.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ah05FEWcJWM]
A business should always listen to their customers and overcome their objections to establish a relationship of trust. Well done, Taco Bell. They have regained my trust.
