Arianna O'Dell

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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.

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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.

A few months ago, I started a new business called Continuing Minds with a few other entrepreneurship students at the University of Washington. Our goal is to provide computer training services so that everyone can enjoy technology to its fullest. We’re doing this by teaching in person workshops and offering step by step video tutorials through a subscription on our site. This past Friday, we had our first workshop which was held on the University of Washington campus. We taught an Introduction to Facebook class and had a really great turn out for the first one! Here are a few shots :

Since we started Continuing Minds, we’ve had a number of terrific people offer us their assistance. The Seattle start-up and social media community is so supportive and I’d just like to thank a few people for being so awesome!

@KevinUrie

Kevin of Spring Creek Group and the founder of SMC Seattle is serving as our mentor for the business. He gave us some great guidance about how to take our product to market. Kevin is a great guy to talk to not only about social media, but any kind of marketing. Read his blog here!
@JoeSunga

Joe works at TeachStreet, which we are using as the registration platform for our workshops. Joe took the time out of his busy schedule to meet with us and offer his insight about start-ups, marketing, and social media. Really helpful! Not only is Joe, awesome, but so is the rest of TeachStreet. You should check them out!

@Madelineelectro

See our logo above? It’s awesome and the work of Madeline Puckette CCO of Pungle. She’s a fantastic designer and her own startup is definitely work a look! Pungle lets you shop while donating to charity at the same time.

@Kegill

Kathy Gill is a professor at the University of Washington in the communications department. She gave our marketing copy a total revamp, which was so helpful! Her blog has a lot of great content as well which I highly recommend adding to your RSS.

@StevenMatsumoto

Stephen offered us some great marketing suggestions and helped us think more critically about our business model. If you’re in the market for marketing consultant – Steven is your man!

@KateWalling & @ArryinSeattle

I had been talking to Kate and Arry for almost a year on Twitter but just got the chance to meet them both a few weeks ago. They both had really great advice and insight on how to better market our first class. Two of the smartest gals in Seattle for sure! See what Arry and Kate are up to!

@Marisastoneo

I am terrified of cold calling. t.er.r.i.f.i.e.d! Over the past few weeks, I’ve had to break out of this mindset. Marissa offered some great tips on what makes an effective cold call. Extremely helpful! Check out her new startup @SnappyDesk .

@Nthnart

Nathan gave us some extremely helpful feedback on our website as we were lacking a trained eye for design! Awesome designer that you should meet if you get the chance! Check out his work here.

@BossSeattle

Mike of Boss Creative took some time out of his day to meet up with me and offered some great marketing advice. His creative firm in Seattle has put together many unique and fun marketing campaigns –  Check them out! (Not to mention it’s called Boss Creative – Awesome name!)

@UW_CIE

Sarah, Pam, Connie, and Heather are the always wonderful ladies at the University of Washington’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship . ALWAYS Helpful with any venture I’ve brought into their office.

Thank you so much to anyone else who has tweeted about us, answered a question for me, or provided us with feedback! There were so many people to list here – if I’ve accidently left you out, know that I love you! <3

In the next few weeks,  Continuing Minds will be offering an Introduction to WordPress class. Send me an email and mention this post for a discount on the class!  arianna [at] continuingminds.com

I just watched this little video that I found via @camilomoresala :

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZn_lJoN6PI&feature=youtu.be]

After watching, I’m riled up. Women, this. Women, that. Equal opportunities. Blah. Blah. Blah. Over the past few years of my life, I’ve had numerous feminists try to push down my throat the belief that because I am a women, I’m not equal and deserve more. I’m sick of hearing this, as well as other lies on the subject. What are these lies? Well, let’s see :

1.) Women need to be empowered - Women already are empowered. They can do whatever they damn please in this country. It’s not 1960 anymore. Give me one law that gives men different constitutional rights than a women. That’s right…there aren’t ANY!

2.) Women need more chances – Lies, lies, lies. I AM equal to my male counterparts and have not been denied any opportunity because of my gender. Why? Because I don’t say things like “I can’t because I’m a women.” I say things like “I can because I’m a women and more importantly, a competent member of society.”

3.) There needs to be more women in tech – If a women wants to be in the tech field, they can go do it. If a women wanted to, they could easily enroll in a CSE class or learn to program. There is no neon lit sign that says “Men Only” hanging above sites like Tech Crunch or printed on the cover of Intro to Ruby on Rails.

4.) Marketers need to make ads with girls, trucks, and dirt! - No, they don’t. Don’t blame marketing for gender roles. Marketing helps connects the wants and needs of consumers with a certain product. Effective marketers target consumers with advertisements that are relevant to them and create ads that play on the emotions and attributes of the consumer. “I’ve yet to see a commercial where boys are nurturing and caring” - Taken from the above video. Men and women have different attributes genetically. Fact : Women’s attributes (such as the ability to carry a child) make them more nurturing by birth. Women relate better to an ad that shows them as nurturing as opposed to an ad that shows them blowing things up. Society didn’t do this. Marketing definitely didn’t do this. Nature did.

5.) Women don’t want to have babies and stay at home – Sure some women don’t, but some do. After talking with some of my female friends, a few of them have told me that they would RATHER stay home with kids than have a career. They then said that they feel like society makes them feel guilty for wanting to do so. At this time I’d like to quote my lovely friend Hannah“If it weren’t for women’s rights, I would be at home making my husband dinner right now, instead of being in college and doing this stupid work. Sounds a lot better to me.” Women AND men should be able to choose what ever path they wish without feeling guilty for their choice. Everyone wants different things.

Women and men are on an equal playing field. I am sick to death of hearing women say “Well, it’s harder because I’m a women.” NO. It’s harder for them because they go into the situation thinking that. To all the women I’ve heard say things like this:

STOP USING YOUR GENDER AS AN EXCUSE!

Thoughts?

There is one little magical word that many people need to use more frequently.

No.

Repeat after me.

No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.

You can not do everything. You can not attend every event. You can not join every business venture. You can not say yes to every new opportunity. You can not afford to stop sleeping. You can not live off caffeine. You can not be everything to everyone.

This is by no means about being negative – it’s just physically impossible! Believe me, I’ve tried.

It will go a little like this :

1.) Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes!

2.) Oh sh!t, I have no time for anything, I’m so stressed. I’m not sleeping. AHHHHH!!!!! COFFEE!! MORE! OMG! SLEEP DEPRIVATION. AHH! ANXIETY! STRESS!!!!

3.) BANG! You’ll get sick.

I’ve learned this the hard way about 5 times this past year. Each time I don’t learn my lesson. It’s extremely hard to say no. EXTREMELY HARD. Especially when you have to say it to a family member family or friend.

Say it with me. “NO!”

Pick and choose to do the things that will ultimately make you happy and that you are passionate about! And say YES, YES, YES! to them.

Instead of feeling like this :

You’ll feel like this :

Yes. Yes, there is a such thing as a social media expert. This topic has been been bugging me over the past few years.

“Expert Audio (US) is someone widely recognized as a reliable source of technique or skill whose faculty for judging or deciding rightly, justly, or wisely is accorded authority and status by their peers or the public in a specific well-distinguished domain. An expert, more generally, is a person with extensive knowledge or ability based on research, experience, or occupation and in a particular area of study. Experts are called in for advice on their respective subject, but they do not always agree on the particulars of a field of study. An expert can be, by virtue of credential, training, education, profession, publication or experience, believed to have special knowledge of a subject beyond that of the average person, sufficient that others may officially (and legally) rely upon the individual’s opinion. Historically, an expert was referred to as a sage. The individual was usually a profound thinker distinguished for wisdom and sound judgment.” – My good friend Wikipedia.

For the past years, I’ve heard people say things along the lines of “There is no such thing as a social media expert!” What I find even more hilarious than this statement, is that I’ve often heard people make fun of anyone who deems themselves a “social media expert”. Sadly, the term “social media expert” has been overused by posers, unemployed hopefuls, and incompetent morons. With the over-usage of the word came a stigma attached with the usage of the term.

Today, I’d like to enlighten you on why those who scoff at the term “social media expert” don’t know what the hell they are talking about. Here is one of the many blog posts that argue this incorrect point for your reading pleasure :

Nerd’s Blog

Okay, I know you’re busy and might not have read through this post. Here is a brief synopsis of why they believe there is no such thing as a social media expert and why they make multiple invalid points.

“It’s too new and far too dynamic.” Each Apple product to come out is new and dynamic. There sure as hell are lots of “Apple experts” who could tell you about the product from the inside out. The same goes for mediums like Facebook or Twitter. There can be and ARE experts of these mediums who could tell you more than you’ve ever wanted to know about the platforms. Social media is a marketing channel and avenue for conversation. Marketing is not a new subject. If you don’t know the principles of marketing and how to use them effectively, you don’t know social media. They go hand in hand. Maybe a more appropriate term rather than social media expert” would simply be “digital marketing expert?”

“Each and every one of these sites allows you to have a profile and share information with someone. Ask your “Social Media Expert” if they can explain every single one of these sites to you. :

There is no way anyone could explain most of these tools to you? Lies! I can explain nearly 80% of these tools without the help of my friend Google. The other 20% I could find out in a matter of minutes. The ability to quickly learn a platform and realize the marketing opportunities and customer benefits are much more important than knowing exactly what every platform does.

“This is an area that is endless and it keeps growing.” That’s not an excuse – a social media expert knows that this area is continually growing (like any field!). That is why an actual expert reads. They read. Then then read again. Then they read some more. They also attend workshops, trade shows, and develop their own viewpoints on the subject matter. Becoming and staying a relevant expert on any given subject is a matter is a matter of putting in the hours to learn about a field AND developing an opinion. As with a doctor or a lawyer, a social media expert doesn’t know EVERYTHING. They do however know a great amount of subject matter about their field in comparison to the rest of the population. A doctor has the kind of discretion to recommend a certain type of medicine to achieve the best results. A social media expert can use this same sort of discretion to recommend which blogging platform a business should be on to achieve the best results.

So what does it take to be an expert in a given field? Oh ya know, possessing a cornucopia of knowledge, an array of insight, and an unsatisfiable hunger for learning about the field. While what actually constitutes the definition for an expert is debatable, writer Malcom Gladwell repeatedly mentions the “10,000-Hour Rule”, claiming that the key to success in any field is, to a large extent, a matter of practicing a specific task for a total of around 10,000 hours.” While I find this to not always be true, if an individual puts a large number of (quality) hours into learning any subject – chances are they’re going to know a lot more about the subject than the general population.

Here is what my Twitter friends say :

I believe there IS a such thing as a social media expert.

Disagree? Awesome. Start the duel below :