tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62784340615104884552024-02-19T07:00:14.583-08:00greg krysablog.krysa.comGregory Krysahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16718517870790150850noreply@blogger.comBlogger42125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6278434061510488455.post-67012698160868570042012-02-08T11:36:00.000-08:002012-02-08T11:44:05.847-08:00My New Gig<img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0; width: 638px; height: 360px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUEg_7spGLgiYqnOcqMrpJkyLmUQXB2zW8VxmOwH__hh8RG1bg4SNH9GXn7fyPdfHRzUiLWI6Br_7AwaIFTz6G5iFG0fju-Vv_1FThirKY7_amAJCZtPsbWG5BI6Gc3QaPgUgRHyzawH2m/s400/sheandhe_logo.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5706851188370470674" /><div>I recently started a small strategy, branding, and design agency with my lovely wife Danielle, simply called <a href="http://www.sheandhe.ca/"><b>she & he</b></a>. Going forward, I'll be doing all my <a href="http://www.sheandhe.ca/etc/">blogging</a> on that site and I'd love it if you came by for a visit. Thanks!</div>Gregory Krysahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16718517870790150850noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6278434061510488455.post-16735557168074060552011-07-13T21:53:00.000-07:002011-07-13T23:15:04.375-07:00Godwin's Law For Marketing?<div><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0; width: 638px; height: 517px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1w_ZCTnP7WVlH6EyctXuGOEwpwrMVvXDFGWXEqep1jpK9GO_tiYMytj5mH-NoqHarMQde93ElpSoWXSAkU-oig_ky-IqkgQt2IVdJ5dMHFicYfMIECt67PSOFAhM0hLezUEc2pViRkVR9/s400/Apple_idea.gif" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5629067593105100962" /></div><div><br /></div><br /><div>Are you familiar with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin's_law" target="_blank">Godwin's Law</a>? It states that, "as an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 100%". One of this law's corollaries takes it a bit further and says that as soon this happens, the conversation is pretty much over, and the person who brought up said Nazis / Hitler has officially lost the argument.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'd like to propose something similar for the field that I work in, "as a marketing discussion grows longer, the probability of someone bringing up Apple approaches 100%". And I would like to add to this a sub-law which stipulates that <i>the second</i> this happens, everyone is free to leave the meeting, and the person who said it gets a mandatory day off to find some more original examples.</div><div><br /></div><div>This is not to say that the lovely and talented folks at <a href="http://www.apple.com/" target="_blank">Apple</a> haven't come up with some brilliant ideas over the years (big fan). But like all humans, they've also had some not-so-great ones, and the fact that it comes from Apple doesn't make it canon for every situation / company / brand / campaign.</div><div><br /></div><div>Also, I'd like to add one more clause, stating that extra demerit points will be assigned in those cases in which the person giving the example says it in that hindsight-is-twenty-twenty smug tone as if they were the ones who gave the genius idea to Apple in the first place, "You know, the reason Apple made the iPod headphones white was <i>blah</i>, <i>blah</i>, <i>blah</i>".</div><div><br /></div><div>You don't know. You weren't there ... In the room ... When the decision was made. Money down that if it had been the Zune with white headphones, that same person would be all, "You know the reason that thing didn't move any units, it was those damn white headphones".</div><div><br /></div><div>At this point, I propose we make the law official with this quote from <i>High Fidelity</i>, "Oh, that's not obvious enough Rob. How about the Beatles? Or fucking ... fucking Beethoven? Side one, track one of the Fifth Symphony ... How can someone with no interest in music own a record store?" (Thank you Jack Black, and thank you <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0146882/quotes" target="_blank">IMDB</a>.)</div>Gregory Krysahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16718517870790150850noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6278434061510488455.post-6410845944593181342011-05-08T21:09:00.000-07:002011-05-13T15:54:27.192-07:00Flip It And Make It Better<div><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;width: 638px; height: 500px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzcttw9-IT7c3vM036mScdZkuyiq0gF626Uma7j_4bDlHiHo3nRREhMZ00XY8mTiYB4xibFlHvXRU0rO7lXinB0xdSlLEYVEuVP_f_ebpkmFPpcYNwW8efKriXd_n0gmL0J8jSXlCBjP7T/s400/handstand.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5604745431937848210" /></div><div><br /></div><div>I'd like to share with you three examples of the Internet shaking up established ways of doing things, and in the process, making them even better. And as coincidence might have it, I came across all three through podcasts. (As for the photo above, while it's up for debate whether a hand-stand tea party is actually an improvement on a classic, there's no arguing that it cuts down on unwanted footsy-playing.)</div><div><br /></div><div>Let's start with CBC's <a href="http://sparkblog.ca/spark/2008/09/episode-43-september-3-and-6/" target="_blank">Spark</a> podcast, and Nora Young's lovely voice telling me about new technology every week. There was a story a while back about two chemistry teachers who completely reversed the lecture/homework equation by recording their lessons as podcasts and get their students to listen to them at home. Then, they use class time to help their students in-person with what traditionally would be "homework". So simple and so brilliant -- no extra time is expected from the students, but a genius flip from the typical model of having students passively taking in information in a class, and then struggling on their own at home with the written work.</div><div><br /></div><div>Next, let's move on to the <a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2262289/" target="_blank">Slate Culture Gabfest</a> where one of the topics was <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/22/books/22odyssey.html" target="_blank">Andrew Wylie</a>, a literary agent with some impressive clients -- Saul Bellow, John Updike, and Philip Roth -- who was launching a new venture to re-release their work as e-books. Now, this isn't actually a story of the Internet flipping this around, but wouldn't it be a much more efficient approach to publishing if it was? In the case of Mr. Wylie, his clients are all very established authors who have built their careers on words printed on paper, and now he is looking at taking them digital. What if, instead, all new books came out as e-books first? It would certainly minimize the risk that publishers have to take on unproven authors, not having to worry about overprinting and seeing them end up in the dreaded discount pile. It would also be a much more environmentally-friendly option, with so many less books printed, packaged, and shipped each year. And once some of these new books actually made it to "classics" status, as many of Andrew Wylie's clients' have, that's when you'd actually have a reason to print them in special-edition form for those who wanted a physical keepsake. This has already started happening organically in the music industry -- most content is initially distributed digitally, and to the devoted fans go the limited edition albums and box-sets. Worth a try, no? If nothing else, the trees will thank us ;-) </div><div><br /></div><div>Finally, on to Dan Savage and the <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/SavageLovePodcast/Page" target="_blank">Savage Love</a> podcast. I've loved listening to radio advice call-in shows for years, but this podcast takes it to another level, and fixes all the little things that don't work on the radio. Basically, the format is that people call in and leave their questions as voicemails, and once a week, Dan chooses a handful of the most interesting ones and records his answers on the podcast. In some cases, where he has any follow-up questions, he'll call the person back on the air, and then the answer works very much like a traditional call-in show. The big difference here over the classic format is that the podcast isn't governed by the same standards as traditional radio, so Dan's free to give the kind of euphemism-free sex and relationship advice that people want to hear.</div><div><br /></div><div>And speaking of Dan Savage, I have to mention the <a href="http://www.itgetsbetter.org/" target="_blank">It Gets Better Project</a>, which is another great example of the Internet overturning an old equation. Dan says he wanted a way of telling bullied gay and lesbian teens that while things were difficult at the time, they did eventually get better. The problem was that, in a lot of these communities, he'd never be invited to speak in front of a school. So, rather than going to them, he posted a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IcVyvg2Qlo" target="_blank">video</a> on YouTube and asked them to come to him. Then, over 10,000 other videos got posted with the same "it gets better message", and now Dan gets messages from teenagers who, in some cases, watch these videos on their phones under the covers late at night to help them get through the tough times.</div><div><br /></div><div><iframe width="638" height="393" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/7skPnJOZYdA?rel=0&hd=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div>Gregory Krysahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16718517870790150850noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6278434061510488455.post-2660370885210008282011-03-10T21:31:00.000-08:002011-03-14T16:34:34.247-07:00Tweet Me Up, Scotty!<img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0; width: 638px; height: 431px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc4ye-65MIGt18N5eakjxTwNo-6NoK9m_AVh5dSDKQDGG1aXQTALT8aBQjhvax6MC30YR55UdM2co28gvKPK54sqA6Yy1-hynO30IMYoJ1glAs99WQMf-lc-xUG9CY5bJ1TGv2B9dU8Typ/s400/CaptainKirk.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5582699682754426258" /><div>This week's <a href="http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/feature/2011/03/10/chrysler_twitter_fail" target="blank">Chrysler Twitter hiccup</a> brought up something that's been rolling around in my head for a while. As brands try to find their place in social media, there are two common approaches.</div><div><br /></div><div>Some outsource everything to a third party; but if you understand social media's full potential and you're genuinely interested in engaging your customers, then you'll probably agree this is not the best option. <a href="http://blog.krysa.com/2010/09/social-media-is-to-cocktail-party.html">It's like throwing a dinner party and asking the caterer to host while you go out to the movies.</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Others bring it in-house, but in most cases these are junior-level roles. Which was fine a few years ago, but as these channels begin to gain bigger and bigger reach, the stakes keep getting higher. Consider the fact that most traditional forms of marketing go through many levels of approval before reaching the public, and most tweets go through exactly one ... and things don't always end well.</div><div><br /></div><div>That's why I think there's an opportunity for a new role -- a kind of social media captain (in honour of James T himself). Someone with a rare mix of skills: part marketing director, publicist, ad copywriter, brand evangelist, diplomat, and a great improviser. I picture them sitting in the middle of a room, working closely with a team of community coordinators, all managing different social channels. They have a morning scrum to make sure everyone's on the same page regarding current marketing objectives and programs. Throughout the day, the coordinators are able to handle most interactions on their own, but when they come across potential landmines, or opportunities to reinforce the brand story (or in a lot of cases, both), they have the option to call on the "captain" to quickly craft the right response.</div><div><br /></div><div>Maybe this isn't the right answer, but it feels like a good approach to staying engaged with the growing volume of social media conversations in a timely manner, while minimizing the frantic next-day backpedaling.</div>Gregory Krysahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16718517870790150850noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6278434061510488455.post-55540441589487997962010-10-13T21:25:00.000-07:002010-10-13T21:51:45.765-07:00Wisdom of Crowds or Mob Mentality?<img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 638px; height: 500px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWbr32QjRAlA4kMSrncAGd6CdhkUB_UELZZ6neV0pv6vrIPaVjNNkx228dUZc18TCOejwzQHTmN1exIlLRhftwAStt09w4qCFerAiuMXY8A-QClP0W2MPM9mxxKnQ3pRZoyEiHjYBP7xec/s400/wisdom_of_crowds.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5527754983256200530" /><div>I'm thinking that any brand which has recently launched a new product, delayed a release date, or had the audacity to redesign its own logo, will agree that "wisdom of crowds" and "mob mentality" are just opposite ends of the same (and very short) spectrum.</div><div><br /></div><div>Here's a brilliant reminder from the Python boys that this was true centuries before a single blog or forum was ever published.<br /><object width="638" height="383"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/zrzMhU_4m-g?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/zrzMhU_4m-g?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="638" height="383"></embed></object></div>Gregory Krysahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16718517870790150850noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6278434061510488455.post-38532038756576320812010-10-12T21:38:00.000-07:002010-10-13T08:22:39.638-07:00Tweeting 'bout the Rain<div><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0; width: 638px; height: 549px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlJWYzFOXuAcIOm-82bQsgAXM24IKIJ5mHRYWtgL4qsGwdnGuxpey7z5hrXfPl1qwuXPb-4f6R7_EbO_9gXHGOeJ0AhJ7aoE-aH68MpHzqar3j25v-DY_F9wgb_dYlDW0S2R7sGTt2TNXA/s400/weather.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5527385649932266642" /></div><div>I was on the <a href="http://www.theweathernetwork.com/" target="_blank">Weather Network</a> site the other day and noticed they had a Twitter stream, with tweets about weather across Canada. Now, while I probably won't follow <a href="http://www.twitter.com/weathernetwork" target="_blank">@weathernetwork</a>, I'd definitely follow <b>@weather604</b> or <b>@weather416</b> (both still available). Just a thought.</div>Gregory Krysahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16718517870790150850noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6278434061510488455.post-35266381859940046022010-10-04T21:17:00.001-07:002010-10-04T22:24:14.863-07:00I Like lululemon<img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0; width: 638px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu6YXnlW4jQ_Gvwl1U_9leCZI2I6WnppbxWhyphenhyphenX9z-2swPYim5juqqnxQSWaFocWMluvhCrw8L13vdoHOeJ-voU1RuqMM8qYngMMwhxnMYFCOF4Of91qS8dRiltzoceFHFtj99VfDBUE1WR/s400/lululemon.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5524411454761947250" /><br /><br />Alright, I know, the creativity on that headline is at about 10%, but it's 100% true. From the product side, my wife and I have been wearing <a href="http://www.lululemon.com/" target="_blank">lululemon</a> for years and nothing has ever worn out, stretched, or faded. And we've given this gear quite the work-out (see what I did there?), through eight half-marathons, one full marathon, and Pilates teacher training for Danielle, and five triathlons and years of yoga for myself.<div><div><div><br /></div><div>From a professional side, working in digital marketing, I really like what they've been doing online the last few years. They've got a simple, CMS-y website that doesn't get in its own way and allows them to get content out quickly; a blog updated often, by a variety of authors; a strong presence on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/lululemon" target="_blank">Facebook</a> and <a href="http://www.twitter.com/lululemon" target="_blank">Twitter</a> which they use very well to encourage conversations and answer questions; an email program that only goes out once a week with all of their new products; and a <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lululemonathletica" target="_blank">Flickr</a> channel with a ton of photos -- everything from the professional and posed, to quick snapshots around the office.</div></div></div><div><br /></div><div>And the thing I like the most is that all of this comes through in a casual, friendly way. It's absolutely brilliant that many of the pictures they post are of their own staff showing off the clothes that have just arrived in-store (something that many other companies would never allow, or navel-gaze over for months, trying to figure out "what it all meant" for "the brand"). This not only helps them get content out quickly, but also makes each location even more approachable.</div><div><br /></div><div>What's not to like? ;-)</div>Gregory Krysahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16718517870790150850noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6278434061510488455.post-22663554485483665992010-09-30T21:03:00.000-07:002010-09-30T22:16:53.580-07:00If You're Going to Comment, Please Use a Coaster<img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0; width: 638px; height: 360px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitcxJgkFJIS2pXZhQJGHtTkxb-eYMHeu1-aVskGtqixD9_dGydDypI6lQ_fjk-7tInb-wKtsGXwx8kRq_5dUJCm_q-CAHZ4amKYU8lGHTV63koGRuox7xPYEAwF12N4G4_0Yl7kfh1ncpp/s400/social_media_coasters.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5522927606970225410" /><div><br />Picking up on yesterday's <a href="http://blog.krysa.com/2010/09/social-media-is-to-cocktail-party.html">social media cocktail party</a> theme, when it comes to moderation, I like the "please use a coaster approach". This means that all opinions are welcome as long as they follow a small set of house rules. Things like: no anonymous comments, no spam, and no cussin' -- either the "your product is shit" or "your product is <i>the</i> shit" kind. Basically, everyone's more than welcome to agree or disagree, just be respectful.</div><div><br /><div>This is where the coaster analogy comes in -- if I throw a party at my house, I want all of my guests to have a good time, but I don't want rings on my coffee table when they leave for the night :-)</div><div><br /></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">(The coasters pictured above are available at <a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/53202405/social-drinker-social-coaster-for-social" target="_blank">socialdrinker's Etsy store</a>.)</span></i></div></div>Gregory Krysahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16718517870790150850noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6278434061510488455.post-34237964303019868382010-09-29T21:27:00.000-07:002010-09-30T21:30:14.894-07:00Social Media is to Cocktail Party ...<img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 638px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWZVJxHCx85v9wB-vR77WyUJbDuncBosMzGFNWAsYiUVRfnB3OAmT4PzwzLk2BA0QIcpLEVi1-wL9Huf4eBIzxSJL05ViYBS9M0r2Q0pzQ8NlB5Fj0-q1U0aXvQXy3ve9rZzkqst_QhSu5/s400/BaT_cocktail_party.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5522559733131498546" border="0" /><div>When it comes to managing your brand's social media, the approach I like to take is, "don't farm it out, and don't phone it in". You wouldn't plan a cocktail party and step out to the movies right before your guests arrived.<br /><br />But you see so many corporate blogs, Facebook pages, and Twitter streams launched with the best of intentions, only to be abandoned, used as one-way channels for press releases, or outsourced to external suppliers "working on behalf of". Just doesn't feel the same as being there yourself to hand out the appetizers and make pleasant small-talk.<br /><br />One other thing I've noticed -- as illustrated in the photo above -- cocktail parties and social media are <i>way</i> better when guy-with-eye-patch shows up.<br /></div>Gregory Krysahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16718517870790150850noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6278434061510488455.post-88025143223973054782010-04-08T09:06:00.000-07:002010-04-08T09:17:21.597-07:00Is This Insanity, Too?You know the old saying that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results? Well, I've been thinking lately that the opposite is also true -- doing something different and expecting the same results is probably just as insane.Gregory Krysahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16718517870790150850noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6278434061510488455.post-14723984734103252582009-06-12T15:56:00.000-07:002010-09-30T21:28:14.833-07:00A Definition Of Social MediaSomeone asked me recently how I defined social media and I said that, all technology and buzzwords aside, social media is an opportunity for every brand to have an "over the counter" relationship with their customers.<br /><br />If you were a general store owner years ago, through daily interactions with your customers, you were able to learn their names, what they liked and didn't like, how often they came in, and how much they spent. If you cared enough to ask, you also had the chance to find out why they bought what they did and what it would take for them to choose something different.<br /><br />Centuries pass and things like head offices, marketing departments, and CRM strategies appear. In this new landscape, customers become demographics and pie charts instead of people with quirky reasons for doing the stuff they do. So, if you happen to be someone working on a CRM strategy in a marketing department of a head office, how do you keep in touch with the folks who pay your salary?<br /><br />In my most recent role, one of my favourite parts of the job was grabbing a coffee in the morning and checking in with the conversations on our blog, Facebook, Twitter, etc. There was always something new, like a question that I could easily answer and save a bunch of calls to customer service; a positive comment to boost our collective egos; or someone willing to lay out in very specific terms why we "sucked" (the best market research we could ever get). And this was at a retail brand which has a really cool policy that all of their marketing people have to do an in-store shift every month.<br /><br />The lovely thing about social media is that these over-the-counter relationships are available to brands that don't even have a counter. The opportunity's the same whether you're B2C, B2B, on Main Street, or online.Gregory Krysahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16718517870790150850noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6278434061510488455.post-83419381947732498602009-05-06T09:49:00.000-07:002010-08-08T20:57:38.529-07:00Lemon Daiquiri Anyone?This completely changed the face of advertising fifty years ago.<br /><br /><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; width: 638px; height: 810px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA_WhLWTjv2nuRt6EXiyDKrQFWyyngaWYG30t92CuDZAqf9z1h8DQc6fd0xMaVNMOj9f84s_vzx3Acu3yRS6i5qBQLkqTtp4o4koflp1t0C_ZestVx5iQn0N2iD2nqDziXFKoAp1cLPEXZ/s400/lemonhighres.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5332769776177817346" border="0" /><br /><br />It's one of the brilliant VW ads that came out of DDB in the early 60s. It set a new tone for engaging your audience and is credited with launching the "creative revolution" (if no one has ever made a Che Guevara-style poster of Bill Bernbach, maybe it's time). And a big reason why they worked so well was that they broke away from the over-polished ads of the 50s -- the ones that were lying at worst, exaggerating at best, and just generally painting a picture of everyday life that wasn't very realistic -- and chose to be straightforward and genuine instead (while being wittily written and skillfully art directed, of course).<br /><br />For decades since, people in the industry have dissected the greatness of these campaigns while searching for that new idea that would usher in the next revolution. I don't know if it's exactly the "Lemon" ad of our time, but I'd like to submit this for your consideration:<br /><br /><object height="516" width="638"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/qg1ckCkm8YI&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/qg1ckCkm8YI&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="516" width="638"></embed></object><br /><br />It's a series of videos called "Will It Blend?" from <a href="http://www.blendtec.com/">Blendtec</a> (a maker of food blenders) in which Tom Dickson, the company's founder, uses his product to pulverize everything from iPhones to two-by-fours in a matter of seconds. And maybe this isn't exactly what the future of the ad industry is going to look like, but it definitely feels like a huge step in the right direction. Just as the VW work was a breath of fresh air from the polished fantasies that came before it, the "Will It Blend?" videos are a huge improvement from the 30-second failed-SNL-sketch-ideas that account for the majority of today's output.<br /><br />As I understand it, the Blendtec work was done in-house, on a small budget -- and it obviously shows. But in the day of people consuming more and more video content through YouTube and posting intimate, unpolished details of their lives through blogs, Facebook, and Twitter, I don't think anyone really cares. Instead of hiring a celebrity chef or actor for a 30-second commercial that would cost a ton of money to produce and a whole lot more to get on air; these guys created a video that's three times as long, and put a face to the company that is more knowledgeable and genuinely excited about the product than anyone they could have ever cast. And, if I happen to like what they did with the iPhone, I can watch all the other videos they've produced, check out the <a href="http://www.willitblend.com/">microsite</a>, or go straight to their <a href="http://www.blendtec.com/TotalBlender-Black.aspx">website</a> to buy the blender this second -- after all, if it can handle a bucket of golf balls, I'm sure it will do just fine with some ice cubes. Done.<br /><br />Like I said, this is definitely not the pinnacle yet of what's possible in this landscape of new media opportunities and new audience expectations. However, there's something really engaging about it and I'd love to see where it goes in the next twelve months.Gregory Krysahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16718517870790150850noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6278434061510488455.post-55626981258101992012009-03-27T10:48:00.000-07:002010-09-30T21:29:33.252-07:00Who's The Amateur?I've never worked inside the music industry (sadly, not even a second-hand record store) so I can't imagine all the factors and compromises made along the way to making a music video. Still, I know what I like, and I like this:<br /><br /><object width="638" height="505"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/21OH0wlkfbc&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/21OH0wlkfbc&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="638" height="505"></embed></object><br /><br />Naturally, this isn't the official, label-endorsed video for M.O.P's "Ante Up". I'm guessing that would be this one:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhCNFaaTq1Q" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhCNFaaTq1Q</a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">(Wow, I just finished writing this post and went over to YouTube to grab the embed code for this video to find out that embedding was disabled by request. Who's doing the web strategy for these guys, my dad?)</span><br /><br />Which one do you prefer? I think the first one is brilliant -- watch it again and check out the great work done on syncing up the puppets' mouths to the lyrics. I don't know how long that took, but definitely well worth every minute.<br /><br />The second one is your typical "let's get some extras in a warehouse and make them go CRAZY for this song" approach, and the results show. The first video is creeping up on 3 million views and the other is not even half that.<br /><br />The "amateur" video was made by a 23-year-old. Most likely, at home, on a laptop, for no money. And he even provided links to Amazon where you can (1) buy an MP3 of the song and (2) buy Sesame Street DVDs that this footage came from. If anyone's lawyer contacts this kid with anything other than a juicy "thank you", they're completely out of their mind.<br /><br />I found this video on a blog a few months ago, loved it, sent it to a bunch of people, and a few minutes later, gladly gave iTunes my 99 cents for the non-clean version (cleaned-up hip hop is like decaf, no?). Now I'm blogging about it with the video embedded, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. How long before musicians put out their music for free and people like <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/stianhafstad">stianhafstad</a> get a cut of every concert ticket sold? Then again, what the hell do I know, I still own a few Wham! CDs.Gregory Krysahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16718517870790150850noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6278434061510488455.post-83592236117123372772009-02-23T15:36:00.000-08:002010-08-08T21:00:49.917-07:00Specialized's Riders Club<img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; width: 638px; height: 287px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL2_sRbghdaJkaDBRqOQgzmPMUeOX3LNyyVJIPT5sJi-inAyrUKhDhi6waHWPoZiyHjEueCJ1iHYWK5fg2D5-_dANpMTSuIBDnZYwUNifYyGKLWygIG_lLSa8oFv4yzyYGMKbW3m2XLbSb/s400/specialized.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306144546485426226" border="0" /><br /><br />I've been following Sean Moffitt's <a href="http://buzzcanuck.typepad.com/agentwildfire/" target="blank">Buzz Canuck</a> blog for a while now -- Sean's a smart guy and the site's always a good read. There's a great <a href="http://buzzcanuck.typepad.com/agentwildfire/2008/10/7-questions-with-chris-matthews-global-marketing-integration-manager---specialized-bikes.html" target="blank">post</a> from last October that has an interview with Chris Matthews -- Global Marketing Integration Manager for Specialized Bikes -- about their own online community, the <a href="http://www.specializedriders.com/" target="blank">Specialized Riders Club</a>.<br /><br />The site has a few different features -- people can create profiles, post their favourite rides using Google Maps, keep a journal, etc. -- but at the core, its goal is to help you find cycling routes in your area. Nice, simple, and very useful. And, like many other user-generated sites, the community gets richer as more people join and post their own content. I searched for Vancouver, Canada and found two in my area. The cool thing was that one of the routes was posted by a local bike shop, <a href="http://www.velocitycycles.ca/" target="blank">Velocity Cycles</a>, that has their own ride twice a week, inviting anyone interested to join them. It's amazing how a big company's marketing exercise could have a trickle-down effect to a small shop wanting to get some local exposure. As luck might have it, among other brands, Velocity Cycles also carries Specialized. Best case scenario, someone thinking of upgrading their bike will start showing up for these weekly rides, get to know and trust the folks from Velocity, and when it's time to crack open the wallet, they'll choose to go with Specialized. Worst case scenario, that same person finds a decent route in their neighbourhood, starts posting a few of their own, maybe meets some other cyclists in the process, and all with Specialized's help. That's not a bad place for a brand to be.<br /><br />And that leads to my favourite part of the interview. Chris says that when it comes to this online community, their objective is "simple, and really honest: we want to help people ride more, more often". I don't know if that's Specialized's overall brand vision, but it would be cool if it was. Because a company that wants to help you get out there on your bike more often and get some fresh air in your lungs, gradually starts looking less like a "company" and more like a group of people you wouldn't mind meeting up with for a ride and a beer (or protein shake). And if they're that passionate about cycling, well then they can probably build a decent bike, too.<br /><br />I love this approach to marketing. In fact, I'd love it if Specialized went even further. What if instead of being an offshoot site, the Riders Club community was at the core of specialized.com? Right now, the mothership site is so down-to-business, leading straight into things like bikes, components, shopping cart, etc. Now, all of those things are necessary and it's good that they're easily reachable from the homepage, but it's like jumping right to the sale as soon as I walk into your store -- it's very impersonal. On the other hand, the Riders Club site is all about personality, but it has very little information about Specialized as a company or their product. If the online community was the main metaphor that the rest of the site revolved around, a lot of people would come to specialized.com before even deciding that Specialized is the brand they're interested in. And as a byproduct, the company would get gallons more Google juice from all of the cycling-related conversations happening within the community.<br /><br />The challenge at that point would be to figure out a strategy that incorporated Specialized product into the site. One option would be to add a "my gear" option to everyone's community profile. This wouldn't necessarily have to be limited to Specialized bikes, but those that did, could directly link to the online catalogue for more detailed product information. And given that a good number of the community members are Specialized employees and sponsored riders, you'd get a lot of great cross-promotion. Of course, all of this would be supported by a traditional navigational structure leading to all of the same content, but it would be interesting to see which path actually generated more qualified leads.<br /><br />Before I stop rambling on about this, I think there's one more benefit to this approach. I came across yet another Specialized site today. This one is <a href="http://www.iamspecialized.com/" target="blank">iamspecialized.com</a>, and from the copy in the "about" section, it appears to be dedicated to featuring athletes sponsored by Specialized. If the same effort went into integrating this content in the Riders Club community (which would actually be the backbone of specialized.com) everything would be integrated under one umbrella, <span style="font-style:italic;">and</span> Specialized would keep building equity in a single URL (can you even remember the other two URLs?), <span style="font-style:italic;">and</span> they wouldn't have to keep spending the time and resources to maintain (at least) three (expensive looking) sites!<br /><br />Alright, enough back-seat driving from me. I'm sure Specialized has thought of all of this at one point or another and they have their own reasons for doing what they're doing. As for me, I'm going for a bike ride :-)Gregory Krysahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16718517870790150850noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6278434061510488455.post-86114392127363072232009-02-09T09:52:00.000-08:002010-09-30T21:28:42.356-07:00On Figuring Out CluetrainAs I'm working away at figuring out our interactive strategy, one of my goals is to take advantage of social media as much as possible. In some cases, it's for pure, functional, "why reinvent the wheel" reasons, like using Flickr to manage and share images with our customers. On the other hand, a brand like ours has a ton of potential for social media engagement, and even without us doing much in this arena, there's already a good amount of online chatter -- most of it positive -- about us.<br /><br />In the few cases where we've launched something to see how it would work, the response has been great. It seems as if there's a desire to talk to -- and about us -- and as soon as something appears to address that need, it's very well received. For example, a couple of months ago, we launched a simple blog. We didn't see it as a huge risk since we were investing a bit of money for set-up and our own time to update content. In the two months that we've been up, we're averaging about five new posts per week, traffic has gotten to a nice daily average, we've received over 600 comments, and we're slowly reaching that nice area where our visitors are starting to answer each others' questions via threaded comments.<br /><br />None of this is earth-shattering news and you could definitely say that we're late in the game with even something as simple as blogging. The point is that when it comes to social media, a lot things are really hard to predict. You can build something with the best of intentions but if no one shows up, if people don't start engaging with you, then it's all seen as a waste of time and money. Compared to traditional marketing, like TV or print, you don't have the same issue because you can create the ads, buy your media, and you can be fairly certain that a given number of people will see your message. I guess this is one of the challenges we face sometimes in trying to get organizational buy-in for things like social media. It's hard to sign over a budget, take a leap, and hope that people show up.<br /><br />Then again, maybe the best way to approach this is small and slow. As with our fledgling little blog, you try something, see if it works, and if it does, you do a bit more. This is what made me think of <a href="http://www.cluetrain.com/">the cluetrain manifesto</a> on my way home the other day. I've read it a few times now, and for years I've had a tough time really understanding it. I mean, on paper it sounds fantastic. Especially for anyone in this industry, you read cluetrain and nod your head knowingly as you go along. Then, you consider putting the same ideas into practice and getting sign-off from your CEO and the nodding slows down a bit. I guess it's because the ideas in the manifesto challenge the way that business has been done for decades, if not centuries.<br /><br />So here's the thought I had. Maybe "figuring out" cluetrain isn't about sitting down and crafting a social media strategy that takes full advantage of all these media and audience shifts. Maybe it's a pipe dream to have one of these strategies sail right through C-level approvals. Maybe it's more like learning a new language. If you didn't grow up speaking English, you wouldn't jump straight into reading Shakespeare or Chaucer -- you'd start with "Jane has an apple" and move on from there. Maybe the best approach for us is to launch a handful of these small "Jane has an apple" initiatives over the next year; measure and tweak along the way; try to directly learn as much about (and from) our audience as possible; get the rest of the organization more comfortable with our presence in this space; and take another run at "King Lear" twelve months from now.<br /><br />What do you think? What's been your approach to figuring out how social media fits into your marketing mix?Gregory Krysahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16718517870790150850noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6278434061510488455.post-24874081784166844292008-11-20T08:38:00.000-08:002010-08-08T21:06:03.984-07:00Best. Recruitment. Video. EVER.<object width="639" height="479"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=173714&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=00ADEF&fullscreen=1&autoplay=0&loop=0" /><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=173714&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=00ADEF&fullscreen=1&autoplay=0&loop=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="639" height="479"></embed></object><br /><br />Wouldn't you like to work <a href="http://vimeo.com/173714" target="_blank">here</a>?Gregory Krysahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16718517870790150850noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6278434061510488455.post-31628338437456072932008-10-02T09:42:00.001-07:002008-10-02T11:24:08.125-07:00Being A Good Web CitizenI'm just going through the process of putting together our online strategy and it's a bit like carving something out of a big block of wood. It reminds me of <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117737/">Stealing Beauty</a>, where Liv Tyler's character, Lucy, travels to Tuscany to spend a summer with her mother's artist friends. One of them is a sculptor who's going to carve a life-size sculpture of her likeness. It's a smaller storyline that keeps popping up throughout the movie and a beautiful metaphor for a young woman's own identity taking shape. Blah, blah, blah -- I'll save the first-year film analysis for another blog -- it's a great movie and I highly recommend it.<br /><br />Where this has <span style="font-style: italic;">anything</span> to do with building websites is that this sculptor starts the whole process off with a giant log dragged in from the woods. He stands it on end in his studio and begins by making big, rough cuts with a chainsaw. He gradually works his way down to smaller and smaller tools until he's working on the sculpture's facial features with a little pick. This is what this strategy process kind of feels like.<br /><br />About three months ago, I was working on several other projects but I knew that eventually I'd have to put this strategy together. So, I started a blank Word document, put a shortcut to it on my desktop, and anytime something remotely related floated through the ol' cortex, I added it as a new bulletpoint in the doc. Then, I went through my notebook of ideas that I've kept through a bunch of years working agency-side (the ones that totally won't work for the client that's briefing you at the moment, but will probably be great for someone eles). And then I capped it off with random quotes I'd taken over the years from books like <a href="http://www.cluetrain.com/">The Cluetrain Manifesto</a> (oh, Cluetrain ... like McLuhan's "the medium is the message", I still don't completely get you :-)<br /><br />Nevertheless, by the time I finally looked at this document, it was just over fifteen pages long. The last few weeks, I've felt like that sculptor chipping away at the fifteen-page block of wood. I chainsawed away about five pages of duplicates and things that for one reason or another wouldn't work. And through this process, a handful of key ideas kept bubbling up to the top (am I mixing metaphors yet?). Long story short (if you can't ramble in your own blog, where can you ramble, right?) the one that stuck in my head like a Swedish pop song is "be a good web citizen".<br /><br />I haven't completely sketched out what that means yet, but I think I have a general feel for it. At the end of the day, we're still a private company and we're not about to completely throw our online doors wide open. On the other hand, we're a brand with a fair amount of name recognition and customer goodwill, which means that conversations about us are popping up on blogs, and Facebook, and Flickr, and a good amount of it is positive, so we probably don't need to be overly shy.<br /><br />So, here's my initial thinking of how being a good web citizen would apply to our online strategy. From our company's point of view, I'm seeing the web divided into two areas. There are the online properties that we're going to build, manage, and own. We're the hosts of those properties the way we would be hosts if we threw a dinner party. And so, taking that analogy, if we decided that we wanted our dinner guests to take off their shoes at the door, they probably would because they're trying to be good guests. That being said, we're also not about to become tyrants who boss our guests around. As good hosts, our goal is to make our guests as comfortable as possible so that they leave with a positive impression of us and we keep building on a good relationship. We just don't want to end up with a muddy carpet at the end of the evening :-)<br /><br />I'm hoping that's a reasonable approach. After all, the people at your dinner party are likely to be friends, or at least acquaintances, and will probably be willing to respect your wishes. In the same way, I'm thinking that the majority of visitors to our own online properties will be our <a href="http://blog.krysa.com/2008/03/your-brands-true-fans.html">True Fans</a>. My guess is that they're about 10% of all our customers and about 90% of online visitors. If that's the case, they're like the close friends at our dinner party, likely willing to respect our whole "thing" about using coasters.<br /><br />On the other hand, everything else on the web that's beyond our domains is someone else's party and we're just guests. Our goal is to show up, be fun, contribute to the conversation, and not rearrange the furniture. And we won't try to hit every single dinner party in a night, just the places where our friends, and our friends' friends, are hanging out. For example, we've got a small <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/aritzialoves">YouTube presence</a> and we'll be doing our best over the next year to put as much video on there as possible. I'd like to do the same with things like Flickr and Twitter and find ways to pull as much of that content as possible into our sites. This way, we're making life easier on our own properties by leveraging proven technologies that someone else is perfecting, and at the same time, we're casting out our net even further to audiences that might not know who we are yet, but like our taste in videos or photography.<br /><br />Where this good online citizen thing is a bit more of a challenge is a place like Facebook. We have a handful of existing fan groups that we had nothing to do with. They just sprang up and we thank our lucky stars for them. So, what do we do now? My initial thinking is that this is kind of like a little dinner party in our honour, but nevertheless, it's a party at someone else's house and we're still the guests. I definitely wouldn't want us to be the big narc policing these groups, or create fake IDs to "seed" content. That kind of stuff might have worked on faceless message boards; but not on Facebook where, if your profile was created last week, has no picture and has two friends, the red flags start to go up. My initial thinking would be to show up at these parties with the online equivalent of a cake or a nice bottle of wine. I'd love to figure out a great Facebook app that would resonate well with these fan groups, build it on our own dime, and drop it off on their doorstep with a lovely little thank-you note for being nice.<br /><br />I don't know, what do you think? In the meantime, I'll be working my way down to the little pick.Gregory Krysahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16718517870790150850noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6278434061510488455.post-6438719480642021562008-03-28T11:34:00.000-07:002008-11-12T23:02:33.024-08:00Three Minutes With Kashi<img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; display: block;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcN7NNEWSrKFfEW7D0zHoehSDXKM4d260pu5LYncld2k9iuPZmkbhU-sPPOmfHu2aD8-RyDIShp0Dz3hTLIag3GXQRfUEKqksjN2q66R47NSnOusGfOffaOz4XeLIv6MxLSLH9d6edcLzC/s320/kashi.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5182866743145846242" border="0" />Along the lines of the previous <a href="http://blog.krysa.com/2008/03/bugaboo-daytrips.html">post</a>, I've got one more for you. A few years ago, Kashi Canada launched a <a href="http://www.achieveinnerkashiness.com/">microsite</a> in conjunction with a magazine campaign, if I remember correctly. The whole idea of <span style="font-style: italic;">Achieve Inner Kashiness</span> was to take you through a three-minute breathing exercise.<br /><br />Built in Flash, the site uses photography, moving type, and a soothing voiceover to guide you along the way. By no means is this cutting-edge use of the web, but I think it works. Given that Kashi positions itself in the realm of healthy living, being associated with a relaxing break in the middle of a hectic day is a really smart, subtle piece of marketing. On top of that, when's the last time someone willingly spent three minutes with your brand? How much would you have to pay for three minutes of uninterrupted TV time? In this case, that time is free.<br /><br />Since the offline campaign ended, Kashi has added a link to the microsite on their Canadian homepage, allowing it to live on much longer than the magazine ads. Even if one person a day checks it out, it's worth it. Plus, if they like it, maybe they'll send the link on to someone else. You never know when something like this could go viral.Gregory Krysahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16718517870790150850noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6278434061510488455.post-8553921048088027302008-03-26T16:53:00.000-07:002008-11-12T23:02:33.133-08:00Bugaboo Daytrips<img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; display: block;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPj9PE0qNqwMWImx7itYnL33VEZZ84GbZQ7X7B6neS91yjneB1fMItylpcagidhehku7Iek7XO8DdvLfm1hk91Xv21eC7ZOb_8USqenSeACU_qoM49BmCXjgs3Xl0OcuIKOa_NaoWMjElA/s320/blog.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5182851521781749202" border="0" />I just came across a great <a href="http://www.bugaboodaytrips.com/">microsite</a> from Bugaboo, the company which makes those very fancy, very expensive strollers that seem a few years ahead of their time. I think if <span style="font-style: italic;">Gattaca</span> was being filmed today, you'd probably see one in the background. Anywho, along the lines of <a href="http://blog.krysa.com/2007/03/comecleancom.html">Come Clean</a> from method a few years back, this is one of those online experiences that I love to see. The ones that perfectly capture what a given brand is all about without sounding like a corporate mission statement.<br /><br />The Bugaboo Daytrips site is simply a collection of cools things you can do and see with your kids in a variety of cities around the world. Each daytrip is short enough to walk in an afternoon while your little one enjoys the scenery from the comfort of a stroller. Not only is this a great insight by Bugaboo into what their customers might be interested in, and have a need for; this little gem of a site is beautifully designed, has an intuitive Flash interface, and just the right mix of content and functionality.<br /><br />There are currently more than twenty cities on the site. When you select one of them, a module comes up showing that city's daytrip map marked with interesting things to check out along the way. Each map is downloadable as a two-page PDF with the map on one side and a brief description of each of the stops on the other. Every module also has a "guestbook" feature that allows you to either leave a comment or point out a local attraction that the daytrip might have left out.<br /><br />One other cool idea is that each city's map is designed by a different artist. As a nice touch, every one of those artists gets a little write-up telling their story. A lovely gesture, in my opinion, seeing as there's probably a good chance that some of the people coming to this site might be in a position to hire a designer/illustrator somewhere down the road.<br /><br />There are a couple of useful features on the small global nav as well. You can enter your email address and be notified when a new city is added to the site. You can also suggest a new daytrip by name a city along with a list of interesting things to check out. I hope they're committed to seeing this feature through because the result could be a great site that can evolve for years.<br /><br />My favourite part, though, is the relative subtlety of this whole marketing exercise. At the end of the day, Bugaboo's goal is to sell more strollers, but nowhere on the site are you hit over the head with that message. There's minimal branding with links back to bugaboo.com, where you're greeted with the following objectives:<br /><br />modern mobility<br />modern parenting<br />modern world<br /><br />The nice thing is that the Bugaboo Daytrips site weaves all three of these into a brilliant (and useful) metaphor without having to explicitly mention a single one.Gregory Krysahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16718517870790150850noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6278434061510488455.post-4023398375410933572008-03-12T15:06:00.000-07:002008-03-14T15:52:22.831-07:00Your Brand's True FansLast week, Kevin Kelly had a great <a href="http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2008/03/1000_true_fans.php">post</a> about a concept he calls <span style="font-style: italic;">1000 True Fans</span>. His argument is that, if you take the traditional "long tail" graph, only two big winners typically emerge. On the <span style="font-style: italic;">peak</span> side of the graph, you have the big success stories of chart-topping songs, bestseller books, and overnight-success websites. Then on the <span style="font-style: italic;">tail</span> end, you have those who have used the Web to sell a little bit of merchandise to a whole lot of people. But, if you can't produce an instant hit or aggregate enough "stuff" to serve the masses, is there still room for success?<br /><br />For that, Kevin points to the <span style="font-style: italic;">elbow</span> of the curve. In his opinion, that's where the True Fans hang out. For example, say that you're a musician and you're not half-bad. Given the low-cost distribution capabilities of the Web, as well as the two-way interaction that it enables you to have with a potentially large audience, you should be able to build a base of, at least, 1000 True Fans. They will be the ones buying all of your stuff when it's first released and coming to all your shows. If you can find them, and (big AND here) if you can properly foster a relationship that they find satisfying, Kevin thinks you won't go hungry.<br /><br />I love this idea. And even though Kevin applies his thinking primarily to individuals such as independent artists, I think there's great material here for anyone looking to build a following. I've been working in advertising since 2000 and even though this industry often tries to find the approach that will easily appeal to the broadest part of the market, I started thinking a few years ago that maybe the real potential for breakthrough is not in the average consumer but in the <span style="font-style: italic;">niches</span>.<br /><br />For example, if I'm selling premium gasoline, I want my best marketing people to be talking and, more importantly, listening to those guys who are constantly tuning their cars. Granted, most of my premium gas will be bought by people who crawl to work in 5 km/h traffic, but chances are that for every ten of these "crawlers", there's a "tuner" somewhere in their immediate circle. He's the coworker they ask for advice when considering a new car, or the uncle they call when their commuter starts making a funny noise. He's also the one who tells them that if they put anything less than premium into the new car they bought, not to call him when it starts making a funny noise a few years from now.<br /><br />If my best marketing people are smart, they'll create a place where this guy can go twenty-four hours a day to find out exactly why premium gasoline makes a difference and why ours is better than anyone else's. We'll put everything up there that we know about gasoline and how it relates to automotive performance so that if he wants to spend hours with us, we'll be more than happy to keep him company. And, sure, we'll still do a general marketing campaign for the masses, but it will only be there for context so that when our "tuner" tells his circle of "crawlers" what gasoline to use, they'll have a better idea of what he's talking about.<br /><br />When you really think about it, when's the last time you bought anything because the advertising told you to? It's definitely easier in the lower-cost, lower-involvement categories. A new candy bar comes along and you see an ad for it. It seems like something you'd like and you part with a dollar or two to see if you're right. No big risk. However, look at something like banking. When was the last time you switched financial institutions? It was probably a long process that you didn't decide on in minutes. I changed banks a few years ago when I got married. My wife and I both took the morning off work, went down to the local branch and merged accounts, opened new ones, moved our mortgage, lines of credit, and credit cards. I don't plan on doing that again any time soon.<br /><br />And why did we switch? Well, they're open at decent hours, they have branches and ATMs all over the country, they have the credit card that I like, and their online banking consistently ranks among the best. But most importantly, our friend works there and any time we need to do anything more involved than paying bills, we know that we can do it through someone who won't kill us with bank-speak. Plus, she loves the place and can't say enough good things about it. Of all my reasons to bank there, not a single one came from an ad campaign.<br /><br />Chances are that the last time you chose a bank, you were in one of two camps. Either you were really short and opening an account at your parents' bank; or you were fed up with your current one and a friend / cousin / co-worker / next-door-neighbour couldn't stop singing the praises of theirs. If I'm a bank, those people, the ones with the praise singing, those are the people I want. Those are my True Fans. And I want more of them.<br /><br />So, here's my thinking. I'm guessing that no matter what business you're in -- basketball shoes or faucets, life insurance or sandwiches -- you probably have a few True Fans. Chances are, they're already talking about your brand and generating new business. But right now, they're like a thousand tiny metal filings scattered all over a work bench. And because they're scattered, they're light, they're insignificant, and easily missed.<br /><br />I want you to create a proper online destination for all of your True Fans. One where you share with them everything you know about what you do well. A place where you tell them how your product came to be, why you think it's great, and how you can't stop thinking about ways to make it even better. Give them a forum where they can talk to you, where they can talk to each other, and where you can listen. And create tangible tools that they can use to be even better agents on your brand's behalf. In essence, build a giant magnet that pulls all of those metal filings together and starts to generate a critical mass. Do that well and I don't think you'll go hungry.Gregory Krysahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16718517870790150850noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6278434061510488455.post-70924259870429093562008-03-10T20:54:00.000-07:002008-03-10T20:56:36.834-07:00What If The Only Marketing You Did ...... was by treating all of your existing clients really, really well. How quickly would your business grow?Gregory Krysahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16718517870790150850noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6278434061510488455.post-35962781256070496562007-11-26T13:50:00.000-08:002008-11-12T23:02:33.340-08:00This VAIO Is Not MineWhen I first saw this online ad a few days ago, it got my attention and a clickthrough. Given the fact that even Dell recently realized that plastic comes in more than one colour, I thought it was nice to see yet another PC company trying to compete in terms of product design.<br /><br /><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; display: block;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRa0FM5BeeBUx3ZHul7ZYCYAME3UDKXeQ-Oawi9HT7kjrf0nddgi9aGP1FMcHKbCyDL0NE17FdQ5ihhx0mL-6CiPKGWRrh_YYoV3ifP9PEN5t9da5yNOqkx8DvtVcPQvCHn14HrYnOEbMu/s320/ad.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5137271597829616402" border="0" />Sadly, once you get to the site, you realize the ad's a huge over promise. Turns out that what the fancy Photoshop work is trying to tell you is that you'll be able to choose your laptop's components (nothing new) and then, drumroll please ... inscribe two lines of text just North of the Esc key. Ooooh, someone call Apple and see if they can do something with this! (Sorry for the two Apple posts in one day, but if nothing else, strictly on an online marketing level, they certainly paint a juxtaposition, don't they?)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY97SZGEW7JWYLyC8Qg27ZnAfnMYTDkvfZ6Nqxp3Nm7pq0gSUEykiGD4jvWVbDNK6KXUpMwUC-J5IfAw6jJS9et1KCoKvt1JwvHqkWGxNwSh6AofKU_Qii3sZu0l78EpY0ICHtCgzrmHTB/s1600-h/site.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; display: block; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY97SZGEW7JWYLyC8Qg27ZnAfnMYTDkvfZ6Nqxp3Nm7pq0gSUEykiGD4jvWVbDNK6KXUpMwUC-J5IfAw6jJS9et1KCoKvt1JwvHqkWGxNwSh6AofKU_Qii3sZu0l78EpY0ICHtCgzrmHTB/s400/site.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5137274157630124834" border="0" /></a>Now, I realize that a lot of good advertising deals in metaphor, but I don't think it's particularly working here. After all, there are many companies out there that, for example, will allow you to do things like sending in your own designs to personalize a snowboard. And Nike's been letting kids embroider their name on the back of a pair shoes for years. That is, of course, as long as said kids' names don't translate to a political statement or a tirade against global capitalism :-)<br /><br />At first, I thought I was missing something. The page where you'd be able to design your laptop's cover, even from a predetermined set of images like the new design-your-own-card site from <a href="http://www.starbucks.com/mycard/">Starbucks</a>. I haven't found it yet, but I did find this in their handy FAQ:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">How can I personalize my VAIO® Notebook PC?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">To truly make this VAIO® Notebook PC your own, you’ll want to put your stamp on it. You have the option to engrave a personal message directly onto your VAIO® Notebook PC, up to 30 characters. Preview your message as it will appear on your VAIO® Notebook PC. You can also select the colour of your VAIO® Notebook PC. however, colour options wil differ according to the base model.</span><br /><br />The extreme personalization options are almost palpable.Gregory Krysahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16718517870790150850noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6278434061510488455.post-89085916833453248072007-11-26T11:13:00.000-08:002008-11-12T23:02:33.538-08:00Mac Online Ad<img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; display: block;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoRokfu8ucpn4xKuSxm3lLeji4-la9SF247VJLVyrnuLPwAjGy72BivJiL4y2ECpbEjgbIu4Buj3a9QIK-K9dUvEl082ePrEworfvnb3WbqsajfY1JD1JbV7PQ3sIwhxY4qORj3AViFR53/s320/mac.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5137230928784290562" border="0" />I like this online ad from Apple which extends their John Hodgman / Justin Long TV campaign to the web (Saul Hansell has a post about it in <a href="http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/11/26/a-little-attack-ad-for-apple/">NYT Bits</a> today). I like it because even though this has been possible for a while -- buying more than one space on a page and having the ads play off of each other -- more often than not, it feels forced and more Flash experiment than ad creative. This is a great execution, and a real nice way of integrating the offline talent. You can see a YouTube video of it <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRAUlK8_2VE">here</a>.Gregory Krysahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16718517870790150850noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6278434061510488455.post-62429916767997559542007-10-25T14:05:00.001-07:002008-11-12T23:02:34.229-08:00Welcome to Your Happy PlaceI've worked on the web for a while now and I've built my share of sites, but when I came across this one, I experienced a 50/50 combination of wonder and a immense relief that I wasn't the one with the responsibility of launching this bad boy into the world.<br /><br />I'm referring to <a href="http://www.cleanishappy.com/">CleanIsHappy.com</a>, a website for the Washlet. What <span style="font-style: italic;">is</span> the Washlet? I'm thinking that you already have a good mental picture, but I won't spoil the fun of exploring the site for yourself. I'll just walk you through a few of my favourite parts.<br /><br />First, there's the site's main navigation which, of course, had to include people's faces. Here's the scene in my head of how the talent negotiations went down. Everybody except one person said, "I'll do anything for this Washlet thing as long as nowhere on the site is there a simultaneous occurrence of my face, a toilet, and the word <span style="font-style: italic;">happiness</span>".<br /><br /><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; display: block;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKMx5s0xJAFVcp5uYGiyvRo1GYFXtwup5WNp7-LIKs3bmSjS7yvl7ExysL43ayEiujrK6MYwrfH76RSnxY5ZTMA4yJ3YQr_yCw9Yp5ly_DaCyz0zQ4wr3LLsNyS0x7KtgAfz4PFehvEM_X/s320/happiness.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5125395311290668098" border="0" />Sooner or later in this sales pitch, you're going to be wondering the exact logistics of just how the Washlet gets things done. And that's where the illustrative 3D animation comes in to close the deal.<br /><br /><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; display: block;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHmHHl6jVGfSYyk7cmSengPrtOshWBzM_-bdv_riWbzJW7QHme5ethdAwmqU6BhCiJJ8DRjnqBB8W-grrEyx0Z1M2Kxp8GJfxRXzcniJfcCgZVx8ToTUEC4kIzLp5YZDEiqarmEJvMIgyF/s400/3d.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5130278265769270402" border="0" />But, by far, my favourite part was this bit of assuring voiceover:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Washlet makes it all so easy.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">You just sit down. Do what you came to do.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">And then ... you reach for the remote!</span><br /><br />The REMOTE!?!<br /><br /><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; display: block;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvTTUFBn-Nm-pzkXkjxFz0VgNgwM_tXOLRc3o07SjS07r92Cz-oDtG1jfCL8gXRdrzzYc2kGWC04PCMTRkQnpbgAwM-XDI69tueZAz4KVm4KZGZeT6n1d8xmtIM8CzTKMhsxUEkUMc1dnk/s400/remote.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5130279378165800082" border="0" />Yes, the remote. A thing of beauty. And I'm thinking that if you're the type of person who has ever dialed a pay phone with your elbow, this is your nightmare for tonight :-)<br /><br />All in all, I loved every minute I spent on this site. I'm sure I doubled their traffic stats for that week alone. And speaking of stats, if nothing else, they must have had one of the most successful ad campaigns in terms of clickthrough when the ads driving to this site looked like this:<br /><br /><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; display: block;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6hpJSXYpCUNLMfNWQaDoqlwueR7PeKGDF4cXD4FuTkkxXN8YCpQwUNfQpwTEsz7wKIXMviyNInpC-X98Yn7RZjaivM9sfL0O-C8QWNhSbzkjXR9pGOHhemEBmbn9fDIfTSimal0PVhjPs/s400/banner_1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5130280524922068130" border="0" />Thank you, Washlet, you've made my afternoon. And one other good thing has come out of this. When I sent the URL on to the wise <a href="http://www.azaroff.com/">Mr. William Azaroff</a>, he was inspired to coin the phrase:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Yeah, that's crazy. But is it Washlet crazy?</span><br /><br />I <span style="font-style: italic;">really</span> hope it catches on with the kids.Gregory Krysahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16718517870790150850noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6278434061510488455.post-35706770388601966642007-07-12T16:02:00.000-07:002008-11-12T23:02:34.381-08:003D Learnin'Check out this <a href="http://www.forgefx.com/casestudies/prenticehall/">series</a> of interactive learning tools that were created to accompany "Prentice Hall's middle grades science program". Apparently, close to a 100 were developed, so this is just a sample which includes things like the solar system and seismic waves. My favourite, though, is the catapult simulator, which taught me everything I needed to know about medieval trajectories.<br /><br /><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; display: block;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlOIozow3pqbOJ2qjfFlVdCp_fBdtDQLmmCHa6_dPEMhe-3QfF_gLHudptn_J9wFEqn3bZ_wNbfTgqwsqYZzlOKhDoaX5bAPgFIin1fR-wagL0HN6vuh2iHyETqnflTHTWYASoEmxxNzR7/s320/catapult.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5086457388734830466" border="0" />This kind of makes me wish I was back in elementary school again. In my day, all we had for "interactive learning" was a sharpened stick and a potato.Gregory Krysahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16718517870790150850noreply@blogger.com0