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Web 2.0 Companies in your Backyard

March 26, 2007

Web 2.0 companies are springing up all over the place. I know most of you are thinking that this is just like the Dot Com rush of 1999, but it's different because many of these business models are sound and social networking / user-generated content works (given the right implementation of it).

One company (Matchpoint) in our backyard came to us 6 months ago with an amazing concept - connect professional parents, highly-skilled and intelligent parents who are getting back into the workforce, with each other and ultimately to flexible, contract jobs. It has some elements to LinkedIn, but it is far more visually appealing, niche, and a hybrid full-service revenue model of having real regional managers place professionals in these jobs. Create your own profile on Matchpointcorp.com!

In Seattle, venture capital reporter John Cook, documents the top 100 Web 2.0 companies in the city alone. Here are the top 5:

Atomic Moguls: Next generation fantasy games. (New entry)

Avvo: Consumer-oriented online legal service. (Stealth)

Bag Borrow or Steal: Luxury goods borrowing service.

Beet Inc.: Online music. (New entry)

BeRecruited: Online sports recruiting site. (New entry)

Read his full blog posting with all 100 Web 2.0 listings >>

Comments (0) | Posted by ryan at 11:11 AM | Permalink

Email Liars Club: OMMA

March 24, 2007

Our very own Dylan Boyd with eROI spoke on this panel where the goal was to engage audience participation and guess who the Liar was among the 5 panelists.

First potential liar: Al Gadbut, CEO, Acquire Web
Acquisition Email - is your response true? Al showed examples of acquisition email for an auto-insurance client, non-profit event, financial services client, and telecom client. Was he lying that email recipients actually sent long, valuable responses to acquisition email that so many people perceive as spam? (Not a liar)

Second potential liar: Scott Mencken, Director, Relationship Marketing, eBay
With hundreds of different lists and email creatives for transactional and marketing emails, Personalization is Key! Lots of ways to personalize email:
1) Audience composition
2) Degree/Mix of personalization
3) Email design + production
4) Frequency of delivery

Results: 113% lift in open rates; 285% lift in response rates, and 160% increase in sales.
(Not a liar)

Third potential liar: Dylan Boyd, Vice President, Sales and Strategy, eROI
Offline to Online Lead Capture Case Study for Jewelry company:
PIN-coded direct mail postcards sent to 100k customers/prospects (their in-house list). That postcard sent people to a website where they were asked to do only 1 thing - enter a unique PIN code and click "submit". The following page pre-populated all of their info and asked a few other questions like email address and 2 lead qualification questions, then gave the customer a coupon for limited sale in their physical stores.

Results: 1920 coupons redeemed ($312.50/sale) = $600k in sales
Learnings in this case: use branded URL to instill trust: rogersandhollands.com/vip
Next phase: convert to more email as postal rates are set to increase 7% or more.
(Not a liar)

Fourth potential liar: David Baker, Vice President, Email Marketing and Analytics, Avenue A | Razorfish
Case Study: Creating a New "Beer Affecionado!" Coors Light is the client. David got buy-in from the client to do an Unorthodox concept of a 2100 pixel wide / short email creative where you had to scroll a whole bunch to the right to see all of the creative, however, the main call to action was in the email browser preview pane.

Results: 98% of clicks in the preview pane. Trended older, increase response in women, higher open rates, higher registrations
(Liar: results were better than listed, especially in the ultra high-value customer segment)

Fifth potential liar: Jeanniey Mullen, Senior Director, OgilvyOne Worldwide, Email Marketing 2.0
Case Study: Cisco.com online registrations from a New Subscription Center that OgilvyOne built for them.

Results: 20% reduction in unsubscribes with new subscription center since people knew what they were getting and lists were much more segmented
(Not a liar)

Comments (0) | Posted by ryan at 8:50 AM | Permalink

Shelly Palmer Challenges Status Quo at OMMA West

March 22, 2007

Shelly Palmer kicked off the Day 1 afternoon session with a talk on "Big Media - Disintermediated." I gotta admit that the guy is sharp and came up with some new concepts that I hadn't thought about.

Here are some notes from his talk:
In 701 days, it marks the END of analog TV. The U.S. is going 100% digital.

Myth: With the consumers shift to online, media barons will become a thing of the past.
Reality: Everything about media has been democratized and the playing field has been leveled between media barons and user-generated content (quality, location, production value) EXCEPT Promotion. Big media companies still own the lions share of promotion and they always will so you need to respect it and leverage it (25% of all TV ads promote their networks own TV programs).

Consumers have always had control of their media consumption, but now consumers feel truly empowered and listened to. Media companies want to build that trust relationship w/ readers/viewers/consumers like a trusted friend or family member, so they are adapting their marketing and advertising to be more one-to-one. The new model for media is relationships + engagement with consumers.

CONTEXT (not Content) is King
Shelly gave a great example of the same content having a whole lot more value given the context it resided in, similar to good content being far more valuable on a nytimes.com versus noname.com site. Example:
1. Pawn shop sells a gold nugget for $25
2. Pawn shop w/ legitimate papers proving that this gold nugget is the last of the Machu Pichu treasures of its kind - $25,000
3. Same gold nugget w/ Incan treasure story being sold by Southeby's starts at $25,000,000.

Comments (0) | Posted by ryan at 8:31 AM | Permalink

Online Marketing Media Advertising (OMMA) West 2007 Day 1 Re-Cap

March 20, 2007

OMMA West '07 - Day 1 Re-cap

Overall theme of the event: "High Anxiety"

Topics covered were:
1) Top 10 Online Marketing Buzzwords you need to eliminate
2) Arianna Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post, talks about the power of the Blogosphere as well as consumers need + longing for authenticity, transparency, and like-minded values to the media and brands they consume.
3) Shelly Palmer, Media 3.0 host, coins the next big realization - Context (not Content) is King
4) The new new thing in Social Networks
5) Case studies of HOT trend: User-Generated Video integration into websites - for Media, Big Consumer Brands, and smaller brands
6) Email Liars Club - featuring AcquireWeb, Ogilvy, AvenueA / Razorfish, and eROI

Details to follow in upcoming blog posts...

Comments (0) | Posted by ryan at 1:23 AM | Permalink

OMMA panel: Branding increasingly Difficult in Online World

March 19, 2007

Panelists:
Jason McDonnell, Doritos
Chris Miller, Taco Bell
Todd Riley, GM Planworks
Ajuy Kaul, Lenovo
Chuck Sullivan, Oganic
Rex Briggs, Marketing Evolution

With so much noise of all of these brands coming online, its getting harder and harder to have a lasting brand impression online. Conversely, AdAge reported that branded search is far more prevalent than unbranded keywords which proves that consumers want to go to a trusted source and manage their expectations with getting to a website that they already know a little something about beforehand.

Examples of great online consumer experiences around strong brands:
MyCadillacStory.com
PatriotAdventure.com
BestBuy.com
http://fftf.Doritos.com/

Consumers are going online more than ever, but consumers still rely on magazines, TV, and traditional media for true brand connections. Their is huge opportunity for online branded experiences, but it is much more complex than traditional channels.

Comments (0) | Posted by ryan at 2:58 PM | Permalink

SXSW Monday - Panels

When people think of Texas, I don't think rain is something that comes up in their minds, yet that's what it did Sunday night, rain. It was unfortunate this happened our last night of the conference. We didn't get to meet many new people and most of the night consisted of drying off between stints of running in the rain, a lot. It's ok though, we still managed to catch a few shows and play some foosball on the way home from The Fray Cafe. Let me just say, Leslie couldn't handle me on the table (-; After wringing our clothes out, we went to sleep. It was a nice memory that escaped me the night before.

We woke up to a sunny Austin morning and wished we had a few more days to stay, but work called, so we had to get all we could out of that day. It turns out chance favored us.

The Panels

Scaling Your Community
Jeff and I both arrived late into the first round of panels, this one was the second of the day. We are both very glad we made it as this was our favorite panel of the conference. It wasn't so much of a panel as it was a speech. Matt Mullenweg, of the Wordpress fame, talked about scaling a community. His talk covered four main points; starting simple, bootstrapping, letting go, and embracing it. No better person to give this discussion as his Wordpress software is used by thousands of people around the world. Oh, and Matt is 23, which means he was developing Wordpress while most of us were boozing in college. The good thing though is that Matt comes across as an old soul. He was the most comfortable speaker we saw and by the end of the presentation, the audience was eating out of his hand. I think I cried a little.

Dan Rather Keynote Interview
This panel consisted of Dan Rather being interviewed by Jane Hamsher. Essentially Dan Rather thinks the problem with journalism today is it's lack of spine. I agree. It was really interesting to see such a prominent media figure in a room packed with geeks. Especially the fact that everyone walked out of there saying how good it was. Geeks are hard to please, and in doing that, Dan Rather proved his cross-generation appeal. Not a bad for a last panel.

---

We then headed back to our hotel picked up our stuff. A short cab ride away (with a very friendly cab driver) put us at the ticket counter of Northwest Airlines. It's about six hours of travel to go from Portland to Austin, but well worth it. I have a love for Austin I never knew existed. I am definitely going to head back next year.

Comments (0) | Posted by JoshC at 10:57 AM | Permalink

OMMA keynote, Arianna Huffington impresses

Arianna Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post and named as one of Time Magazine's 100 most influential people in '06, impressed the hell out of me with her bold statements and charisma. She talked about consumers longing for authenticity, transparency, and values. "If you can hit upon this, that's when the magic happens," she continued.

Huffington strongly declared, "Don't be stopped by the naysayers. We have to deal with the naysayers - including the inner-critic in our heads. We must break through our own self doubt."

Mainstream Media has Attention Deficit Disorder! Examples:
1) Anna Nicole Smith is everywhere in U.S. media for an entire month, then it doesn't exist ever again. (Drop it like it's hot).
2) Kosovo - does anyone know what's going on in Kosovo today? No, and we should because lots of bad stuff is happening.
3) Elian Gonzalez - how is he doing in Cuba? Does anyone know?

Key insight on the Blogosphere - bloggers like to take little nuggets, investigate, and make them into stories that get AMPLIFIED in the mainstream media. Many times, blogs are the source of the bigger stories. The Huffington Post is a news aggregator for progressive, political news. 800 bloggers write for free because they want their views out there real-time.

There will always be Print and New Media. Huffington used the analogy of Gilligan's Island - "it's not just Ginger OR Mary Ann - let's have a three-way." Meaning: there is a need for magazines, newspapers, blogs, and other forms of online media.

Fearlessness is key. You need to experiment (what works today will not work in a few years). Your organization must carry the torch like Google, where they accept an 80%-90% failure rate as a great thing. 10% success on big ideas is HUGE. Don't be easily discouraged - most people give up way too early.

Comments (0) | Posted by ryan at 9:57 AM | Permalink

OMMA West Kicks off

3000 attendees at this Online Marketing Media and Advertising show in Hollywood, CA today. Wow!

Apparently, a survey went out with lots of buzzwords that people voted on and should be avoided at all costs - there were 10 of them, but I could only remember the top 7:
7. Viral
6. ROI (sorry, but that will NEVER go away)
5. Buzz
4. Out of the Box
3. Synergy
2. Engagement
1. Web 2.0

Nick Nyhan, founder of Dynamic Logic, is the show's Master of Ceremonies. He leads the discussion with some dazzling facts about the online marketing industry and trends. Online marketing spend is up to $18 Billion; hard to hire again; and VC money is back in a big way.

We're living in an Era of "Control Shift + Options." Digital is about Control.

Advertisers thinking about:
1. Engagement
2. Advertising Opps
3. Accountability

Consumers think:
1. I'm in control
2. Free Content
3. Scary Data

Advertisers / Brands must give up a lot of control to survive in this new world. Consumers are at the center with brands all around them trying to make a connection of the 7,000 marketing messages bombarding the consumer each day.

Comments (0) | Posted by ryan at 2:15 AM | Permalink

Two Old Guys Coin 'Punk Marketing'

March 15, 2007

Former Crispin Porter + Bogusky execs just wrote a book called "Punk Marketing." To be honest, I'm intrigued enough to buy it on Amazon and learn something from them, but it's a tall order to out-punk an industry full of us punks in the marketing and advertising industry.

Here's the article that got me interested:
"Rebels with a Marketing Cause"

The authors of the new book Punk Marketing talk about the emergence of advertising that rejects tradition and embraces edgy attitude

by Reena Jana

Punk-rock impresario and Sex Pistols producer Malcolm McLaren once said, "Punk was just a way to sell trousers." The quote appears, appropriately, in a new book, Punk Marketing, by Richard Laermer, chief executive of public-relations firm RLM PR, and Mark Simmons, a marketing consultant and former executive at hot ad agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky.

The duo defines punk as "an attitude of rebellion against tradition" and the genre of punk marketing as "a new form of marketing that rejects the status quo and recognizes the shift in power from corporations to consumers." They apply the term to any type of ad or marketing campaign that defies traditional tactics--think consumer-generated ads that spread via YouTube or guerrilla-marketing stunts such as the Cartoon Network's controversial electronic displays that were mistaken for bombs by Boston residents last month (See BusinessWeek.com, 02/09/2007, "Guerrilla Marketing Gone Wild"). The book, which is perhaps not as rebellious as the snappy title suggests, is best seen as a neatly organized time capsule of late-2000s marketing and ad strategies."

While Laermer and Simmons christen today's newest forms of advertising "punk," giving them an air of youthful edginess, the authors also place current ad trends within the context of media history.

For instance, Laermer and Simmons point out that in the 1950s, marketers created TV shows to push products. So the current trend of company-produced shows serving as ads, such as those promoting Unilever's Axe body spray on MTV, aren't really a new concept. The authors also argue that the remote control, rather than TiVo (TIVO), delivered the first blow to TV ads. By allowing consumers to switch stations during commercial breaks and skip 30-second spots, the remote forced marketers and ad executives to come up with imaginative ways of capturing consumers' attention.

Taken together, their anecdotes show that truly original, engaging, and--most important--surprising ads will always prevail, whether they're labeled "punk" or not.

The book features the occasional dubious prediction, such as "someone will make a bundle in the next few years with $100 Qwerty keyboard accessories that can be connected to phones." (The idea, presented in a footnote, seems unlikely, as consumers are growing more and more comfortable thumb-typing on small keys.) But the elegantly designed book, illustrated with pencil drawings, offers a spunky snapshot of today's trends. BusinessWeek.com's Reena Jana spoke with Laermer and Simmons about how they coined the phrase "punk marketing," and real-world examples of it, both from the pages of the book and beyond.

What do you mean by the term "punk marketing"?

Simmons: I was a teen in the 1970s, and in 1977, punk was such a breath of fresh air. Marketing needs that same breath of fresh air today.

Laermer: In the States, the whole idea of punk was "stand up and slap people in the face...."

Simmons: And punk marketing is about always having a fresh ideas. We see a need for a punk attitude now.

Laermer: Hence this book. We want people to use it. And that also means making notes on the pages and submitting suggestions to our Web site [www.punkmarketing.com].

What campaigns exemplify punk?

Laermer: Here's an example. I'm not a fan of chain restaurants. But I saw a print ad for Outback Steakhouse in USA Today recently. It featured a picture of a red chili pepper with seeds falling out. It looked succulent. The seeds were shaped like boomerangs [the restaurant's logo]. In tiny letters, there was a line: "Our seeds aren't shaped like boomerangs, but we thought this was funny." I would call this punk, because it's not what you expect from ad copy.

What about, say, Apple's (AAPL) "I'm a Mac" ads. Those certainly have a cheeky attitude.

Simmons: All of Apple's ads tend to work, simply because its products are so good. So their ads fall into place. We're not talking about a difficult brief for the ad executives.

Laermer: I have some criticism of Apple, though. I think they're not looking at the big picture, beyond the ads. I use Apple products, and now I get so much spam from Apple. I wouldn't think Apple would send out a lot of annoying spam. By sending out the spam like everyone else, Apple's not as cool as it seems in the ads. It almost seems like a separate company doing that.

You discuss how companies successfully use blogs as marketing tools. Give us an example.

Laermer: Netflix (NFLX) has a good blog, by [Chief Executive] Reed Hastings. I like reading about upstart companies taking over. You feel like you're part of an inclusive society. But I'm shocked that Jeff Zucker [chief executive of NBC Universal] hasn't blogged more. He's articulate and angry. That's a great voice for blogging.

Simmons: It suggests that he doesn't understand the online world.

Speaking of the Internet, what fresh sites do you recommend paying attention to?

Simmons: Joost, by the guys who first did KaZaa and Skype (EBAY). I'm amazed by what they're starting to do: putting TV, with shows and ads, on the Internet. Others are trying to do it, sure. But Joost is all about simplicity and content. It allows marketers to target individuals really specifically by location and offer them tailored marketing messages. And it has way less ads than traditional TV channels, just a couple of minutes an hour.

That means a more compelling viewer experience. That it's subtle and highly targeted is a marketer's dream.

Laermer: I'm watching an online network called xy.tv. It's a promotional tool for brands like American Express (AXP) to show off their products and services with instructional videos that show people using them. These shows are sponsored by companies. But xy.tv creates the content.

Consumer-generated ads are gaining a lot of attention. Do you think they're just a fad?

Simmons: Totally. We won't see them during the Super Bowl next year. What's long lasting about consumer-generated ads is the broad idea that companies and agencies now need to involve consumers more. If they don't invite consumers in, the consumers can now create and distribute parodies and their own ads anyway.

Laermer: It's important for companies to embrace criticism and play along when they see consumers making fun of their products.

Simmons: Even if consumer feedback is negative, it can be great. It allows a company to learn about its own product. If you can say, "We heard and we listen. So give us another chance," consumers might even trust the brand more.

What are the punk-est ads you've ever seen?

Laermer: There was an ad for Carleton cigarettes that was brash and straightforward. The campaign said something like "Try our cigarettes. You'll really like them."

Simmons: My favorite punk ads were an outdoor campaign in Australia, advertising beef. The ads said, "Buy more beef, you bastards." Funny. To the point. And unexpected.

Laermer: I also liked a recent Chevrolet TV ad that ran during this year's Grammy Awards, featuring different pop songs about Chevy cars. I liked how it made you think of the brand's cultural legacy.

That ad actually sounds pretty mainstream. In your book, you predict that all ads will one day be "punk." If that happens, won't your conception of "punk" lose its meaning?

Laermer: All good marketing and ad campaigns keep people guessing. So in that sense, all good campaigns are punk, as we define it.

Simmons: What we mean is that the current establishment will change in the next few years and adopt today's punk strategies. But there's always a need for fresh attitude to challenge those ideas. And that's punk.

Jana is a writer with BusinessWeek.com in New York.

http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/mar2007/id20070308_915798.htm

Comments (0) | Posted by ryan at 5:40 PM | Permalink

Bald is now Trendy

March 13, 2007

I got an email from one of my good buddies who knows that I'm a huge supporter of my bald brethren. He had this article to share with me - while you read it, make sure to pay attention to the fabulous quotes throughout the article and especially the very end quote to close the article:

"The New Niche: Hair Care for Men Without
By ANNA JANE GROSSMAN
Published: March 8, 2007

THE same week a Los Angeles salon owner was pleading with Britney Spears not to buzz her head, barbers were laying tracks across the scalps of all sorts of men at the Aidan Gill for Men salon in New Orleans.

“We have at least one man coming in for a head shave every day,” Mr. Gill said. “Had Britney come here, we’d have shaved her all the way down. She’d have looked incandescent.” For most of recent grooming history, having a totally bald pate was a look most likely found among men with formidable personalities and names to match — Kojak, Yul, Ike, Warbucks, Clean. It wasn’t a look for John over in accounting.

But in the late 1980s, Michael Jordan shaved it all off. Soon, the world was examining the scalps of Bruce Willis, Andre Agassi, Moby and just about one token character on every TV show — not to mention a swarm of Oscar nominees and presenters this year, including Jack Nicholson (who had shaved his head for a role). The response is a booming market of products being developed and sold specifically to the unhirsute — a new front in the nearly $5 billion onslaught of male grooming products in the United States."

There are gels and ointments to help with the shave, to enhance the shine, to reduce the glare, to help with dryness or oiliness, to block the sun. There’s even a rolling razor to make the daily upkeep less stressful.

“I’m a former comb-over wearer,” confessed Howard Brauner, founder of the two-year-old company Bald Guyz, based in Manalapan, N.J. “I would spend half an hour in the morning making it look right, and then finally I just realized it was ridiculous. Once I decided to really go bald, my wife would get annoyed at me for using her expensive shampoos. But I had to use something to clean my head.”

For that particular ablution, Mr. Brauner now uses a head wash that’s part of the line of products he developed in response to his wife’s complaints. Bald Guyz also puts out pocket-size individual head wipes, for use on the go. And there is a conditioner, to be used twice a week. “Your skin up there is either dry or irritated or oily,” he said.

Men also complain about oily sunscreens that run into their eyes. Instead, there are scalp-specific blocks, like Bald Guyz’s S.P.F. 30 sunblock gel. (About 2 percent of skin cancers occur on the scalp.) For men who have forgotten to block, there is an aloe-and-green-tea moisture gel for burns.

There is also Mission: Control Bald Head Balm, a creamy, nongreasy S.P.F. 15 sunscreen, introduced last year by Sharps (one of the first non-scalp-specific toiletry companies to market a product for bald heads in the same line as products for hair care), and an S.P.F. 25 Complete Head Care Lotion from the new scalp-care brand Matte for Men. HeadShade S.P.F. 15 is a sunblock spritz by HeadBlade, a California-based company that sells products at CVS and Kmart, among other stores.

HeadBlade made its name developing a razor designed for head shaving. A yellow plastic-and-rubber handle loops onto the middle finger and is held in the palm. It resembles a snowmobile, with a razor on the front and two small wheels on the back, which ride on the scalp, keeping it steady.

There are two types of hairless men buying these products: those who do it as a simple antidote to hair erosion and those more diehard types for whom hairlessness is a way of life. Those in the latter group, who have not experienced hair loss at all, call themselves B.B.C. or Bald by Choice. (There’s even a Web site, BaldlyGo.com, that allows visitors to send in their photos to be retouched for a preview before they slather their heads with Barbasol.) The goods are being marketed accordingly.

Bald Guyz targets the average guy who’s made a choice to adopt this look, either because it’s easier than creating the illusion of hair (if he doesn’t have it) or dealing with hair at all (if he does).

The products’ packages feature photos and mini-bios of “real bald guys.” The Head Wipes box shows Shawn, a goatee-wearing researcher from Texas who enjoys jazz and R&B, and Keith, a toothy Long Island firefighter who “puts his life on the line every day, making him a very special bald guy.”

“We’re for the guy who is saying, ‘This is just what nature handed me. This is who I am,’ ” Mr. Brauner said. Many of these bald men might even have some very short hair in spots.

HeadBlade products, however, are aimed at more hard-core baldies. Photos on its Web site suggest that if you use their products, you are likely a martial artist, a drag racer, a pro wrestler or Howie Mandel. For these men, there’s a world of difference between a scrim of head hair and no hair at all. Sure, this lot might not be able to grow a full head of hair even if they wanted to ... but they wouldn’t want to.

There’s also a divide in the nomenclature. Bare-headed folks like Abe Minkara of Dallas, founder of the new scalp-care company Bold for Men, never use the word “bald.” “I prefer being called ‘bold,’ ” he said.

HeadBlade’s founder, Todd Greene, who also avoids the b-word, said he developed the HeadBlade razor in the late 1990s after feeling frustrated with the hand and arm contortions involved in using a regular straight-handled safety razor on his head.

“The HeadBlade is like riding a small car on your head; a regular razor is like riding a unicycle,” he said. “It makes for a faster shave because you can feel your head while you are shaving in order to see what you’ve missed.”

While the HeadBlade has its fans, a sampling of a dozen barbers and head shavers suggested that Gillette’s Mach3 is the most popular razor, although Gillette has never marketed to that specific niche.

Mr. Greene thinks that might change soon.
“There’s a huge head care market that’s been ignored for years,” he said. “Large companies are starting to say, ‘We’ve maxed out the female skin care market, we need to educate men in order to sell them, too’ — and part of that should mean selling to men who shave their heads.”

When it comes time to actually get out the razor, there are several options besides regular foam shaving cream (which head-shaving barbers usually slather on top of a layer of baby oil). Bold for Men has a dry shave gel, which was included in Oscar gift bags this year. The gel is supposed to be used with a wet razor on a dry head. It was developed in part as a way to avoid the foamy mess that head shavers often make on the sink and bathroom floor.

HeadBlade also makes HeadSlick, a nonfoaming mentholated shaving cream, which Mr. Greene suggests using after exfoliating with his company’s gritty HeadShed scrub, and before a post-shave ClearHead salicylic acid formula to help prevent ingrown hairs.

Some, though, forgo razors altogether in favor of using the scalp-specific Magic Shave depilatory, a product produced by a division of L’Oréal USA.

Not having hair does not necessarily mean room in the medicine cabinet where styling products used to be. HeadBlade has two kinds of HeadLube grooming lotions — glossy for those who like the way the sun looks reflected off their heads, and matte for a more understated look. There’s also “Bald & Bold” by Duke, which is supposed to “tone” the look of the head. And for the bald man who does not want to forgo accessories, HeadBlade has temporary head tattoos.

But there are two areas that no company has addressed. One is how to draw attention away from the shadow of hair around many a dark-haired, pale-skinned head only hours after a close shave.

“I hate that,” said Zev Swiller, a Los Angeles teacher. “I’ve thought about maybe waxing to try to keep from getting it. I’ve gotten to the point where I wish I’d just lose the rest of my hair so I wouldn’t have to deal with that look.”

The other need? A product to address head bleeding — because even the most adept shaver occasionally nicks himself.
But, said Mr. Gill, the New Orleans barber, wearing a Band-Aid on the scalp is an indignity that the average head shaver probably doesn’t mind. Even with all the cosmetic products at hand, a bald man is usually a confident one.

“If you get to the point where you’re shaving your head,” he said, “you’ve gotten to the point where you don’t give a damn.”

Comments (0) | Posted by ryan at 5:34 PM | Permalink

SXSW Sunday - Panels

March 12, 2007

Somewhere in the conferencing 101 handbook is a blurb about going out and meeting people at the conference sponsored events. That blurb also details how to drink at a conference, or how not to drink. There was an open bar at the place I went to and next thing you know things got a bit hazy.

So hazy in fact that I was supposed to call my girlfriend, and when I woke up in the morning I called her to apologize for not calling, and it turns out I did call her. Oops. Now she's onto just how much I was drinking. You can take the kid out of Alaska, but you can't take Alaska out of the kid.

The cool part about this whole SXSW thing is all the conversations that occur away from the event itself. I had no idea how much value would come from just meeting and talking to people. Last night I got to meet some of the people whom I respect and follow on the web. Welcome to Geek's Paradise.

Anyhow, on to the panels.

Design Workflows of Work: How Top Designers Work Their Magic
This panel had all the necessary components to be really really good, but it seemed there wasn't much depth to the questions. That being said, I am a big fan of Veerle and I had met Bryan Veloso the night before while in line for the Frog Design party, so it was cool to see them do their thing. I had no idea who Bryan was when I met him, but he was super friendly and invited me to come join him with some people he knew. That's how my night got started. The panelists did confirm my suspicions that we creatives are a different breed.

Deadlines, Clients, and Cashflow: The Business Side of Web Design
This was a good panel to attend for understanding how to manage clients and manage teams. It was one of the thirty minute presentations that goes by really fast. For the most part it was a big long nodding my head in agreement session. It was nice to see all of this useful information in one place. An overarching theme which I think really resonates with me is the fact you have to have standards for yourself. A standard price, a standard in design, and a standard way you work. In not sticking to standards, clients can control the relationship which is detrimental in the goal of doing good quality work.

Ten (er 7) Ways to Run a Startup Like Ghengis Khan
I'm not sure if it was the timeslot, or if the speaker wasn't prepared, or what, but this one should have been titled "7 Ways Ghengis Khan Conquered Asia and Europe." I had a really hard time drawing the parallels between the what the speaker was saying and how it tied to starting a business. Maybe I just don't have the experience. And I have to admit that spelling errors in a PowerPoint really make me question the professionalism of the speaker (I have really high expectations for these people, they are supposed to represent the elite). He could have been hungover, as was I, which would have made it extremely difficult to get through a presentation, THAT I can forgive. Sooooo I signed up for a Twitter account after step 3.

Uniting the Holy Trinity of Web Design
I think this came out as being my favorite panel of the day. The speakers were diverse in their personalities, but all had some really great things to say. I had the privilege of meeting Jonathan Snook last night (fortunately I spoke to him today as well, and he confirmed my reluctance to accept "You were putting them back" he said. ) and it was good to see him up there delivering his points with clarity. He's a really approachable guy and I am happy because I got to ask him some questions one on one, which to me is much more appealing than the after panel sessions.

This panel really gave me some good insights on how I may restore the balance of power in the projects I am involved in. The holy trinity consisted of Development (me), Business, and the Users. Any time those get out of whack, a project can suffer. When they do get out of whack, politics come into play, so all of the panelists also gave suggestions on how to ease tensions or eliminate sed politics and tension.

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Tomorrow is my last day. I hope to catch a few more panels and make a few new friends. I just got a twitter alert, now I know where to go. I think I like.

Comments (0) | Posted by JoshC at 9:50 AM | Permalink

Alternative Email Glossary

This email glossary (that a co-worker sent me) is hilarious - take a read and comment below if you can add to this list:

"Tipping point
Point during a conversation by email where it becomes clear to both participants that they could have sorted things out days ago with a five-minute phone call.

Out of Office Reply
Device used by business people to avoid having to respond quickly to incoming email.

Thank you interval
Time spent wondering if you need to send a thank-you reply to a thank-you email.

Fistful
Measurement unit for spam. 10 spam emails is one fistful. Ten or more fistfuls is one sh*tload. So a sh*tload of spam is anything more than 100 spam emails.

Reply-all blindness
Disease characterized by an inability to distinguish between the "reply" and "reply all" buttons in an email client. Typical symptoms include acute embarrassment and complete loss of privacy.

Junk folder equation
The decision to review the contents of your junk folder is a function of two factors A and B. Where A is the potential value of finding useful mail inadvertently filtered into the spam folder. And B is the depressing prospect of wading through 500 ads for p*nis enlargers just to find an expired coupon for your local hardware store.

CC/BCC blindness
Disease causing the victim to put every address in their distribution list in the CC field of their email client, thus ensuring everyone gets a copy of both the message and the address list. Victims generally only suffer once from this affliction.

Disclaimer text
Long-winded piece of legalese commonly found at the bottom of corporate emails to indicate that the message "Hey John, how was your date last night?" should not be construed as a binding legal contract or a business solicitation. And unauthorized use, disclosure, copying or alteration of this question is forbidden on pain of something undefined (but possibly unpleasant) happening to you.

Can-Spam Act 2003
1. US law designed to restrict the sending of unsolicited commercial email
2. US law designed to allow the sending of unsolicited commercial email

Download uncertainty threshold
Point in time at which it is clear that the incoming email must include a large attachment, meaning either potential work, holiday snaps or another forlorn attempt to do something amusing with Photoshop.

The email paradox
The simultaneous feeling of despair and optimism when you check your email in the morning. Optimism at what interesting messages might arrive. Despair at the thought of finding work, complaints, several fistfuls (see above) of spam, another email from that client/customer/friend you're trying to avoid...and yet more forlorn attempts to do something amusing with Photoshop.

Non-verbal clue
Situation where recipient is left wondering if the phrase "Die, you b*stard, die!" should be taken at face value or is simply another one of those unfortunate email misunderstandings.

Spam surveys
Statistics collected by anti-spam solution providers to give them an excuse to put out a press release once a quarter to tell us that there's a lot of spam around (in case we hadn't noticed.)"

Comments (1) | Posted by ryan at 8:48 AM | Permalink

Bono's Red Campaign Costing Way More than its Bringing In

March 11, 2007

My #1 Online Marketing Prediction for 2007 was that cause-related marketing, if done correctly, would have the most buzz and effectiveness. Dove continues to get accolades for its "Campaign for Real Beauty" and even investment banks like Goldman Sachs are doing the right thing by strong-arming energy utility bad boys to go green.

However, the one campaign that I was sure would out-perform all others in the cause-related marketing arena was the Red Campaign where dozens of major brands charge a premium for their red-colored products and give a significant portion of the proceeds to the AIDS effort in Africa. I may be wrong on this one. AdAge reports that "Bono & Co. Spend up to $100 Million on Marketing, Incur Watchdogs' Wrath" while only bringing in $18 million in revenue (the quick math shows a $82 million loss).

Comments (1) | Posted by ryan at 5:12 PM | Permalink

SXSW Saturday - Panels

After a late night at a Deerhoof concert, we all awoke fairly sleepy. I am surprised I have made it this far without a nap. Today was the first day of the SXSW panels. As with any conference, there are times slots and multiple panels available. Thankfully they release podcasts of each panel so that I still may get the information I missed out on.

There were five panels I attended. Each of them offered a different insight into the topic they were covering. More than anything they made me inspired, warm, and fuzzy. I think SXSW draws all of the rockstars in the industry and they do as good of job being in the audience as they do on their panels. It's refreshing to know that they are still out there seeking knowledge from their peers.

Panel 1 - A Decade of Style
I particularly enjoyed this panel because it was really relevant to what I do. The people on it were all seasoned CSS vets and were able to give a perspective that many of us lack; history.

One of the panelists, Chris Wilson, works for Microsoft and he talked about some of the things he fights for with Microsoft. I have a habit of cutting down MS quite often just because it seems as if there is a complete disregard for standards. It was interesting to hear his perspective and the concerns he has, working on the team that builds the world's most popular browser. Ultimately he worries about backwards compatibility. I still hold my grudge, but he seemed like he was fighting for the right things internally.

Another panelist, whom I had heard of, but only that was Molly Holzschlag. I saw her on this panel and also on the last panel of the day. I think I identify with her most out of anyone at the day. Likes a lot on her plate, is rebellious, and is very individualistic. She also has an energy about her that seems to help bring up the quality of the panel. I really enjoyed what she had to say.

Panel 2 - After the Brief: A Field Guide to Design Inspiration
This was the panel that I think will be the most beneficial to me in the long run. Initially I decided to go to this one because I really wanted to see Cameron Moll, unfortunately he came down with the flu and wasn't able to attend. However, the other two panelists, Jason Santa Maria and Rob Weychart did a fantastic job of alleviating my initial disappointment. These two guys have been friends for a long time and their dynamic was really entertaining. They covered not only how to find inspiration, but how to maintain it and foster it. In doing so, they really helped me understand on how to become a thinking designer versus just a doing designer, a downfall I know I have, but haven't understood how to change it.

Panel 3 - Kathy Sierra: Opening Remarks
Kathy is from Creating Passionate Users and did an excellent job of explaining how to humanize what we do. She gave a good presentation and unfortunately I watched it on a video screen, so it didn't have the same effect. Either way, she highlighted on many things, including the common differences between the audience that FAQs are written for and the audience that actually needs real help.

Panel 4 - TV: The Next Generation
This panel was really interesting because it was the first I went to that pulled in some of my "other" background I don't get to use too much, business. How do the new distribution channels, advertising models, and content providers mix up? Ultimately it's a complex topic and it sounds like the linear model of watching TVShows at a set time is on the way out, but it's a matter of when. I agree with this up to the point that some people don't want to think about what they're watching, they just want to come home and turn on the TV, no choice required. Some people do not care what they're watching, as long as they're watching something. You can't channel surf through choice.

The other point they were making was that some content providers were to small to garner any kind of advertising dollars. While this is true for traditional advertising relationships, the internet provide a solution similar to what google adsense did for websites, would do for the web. Anyone want to talk? Overall it was a great panel and really got me thinking about the industry.

Panel 5 - From to Riches: Life After Code
This panel had Molly Holzschlag as well. It was mildy entertaining, relevant, but by this time in the day I was pretty drained and not sure if my attention span could handle it. There was a lot of discussion on if I am a designer, should I learn to code, and vice versus. Since I am a fan of doing it all, some of the suggestions were lost on me. Another thing I pulled was that you can't be a hotshot coder and a manager...ughhh.

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SXSW Rocks! It looks like I am going to be really tired all weekend, cause I can't say no to any of the events.

Until then.

Comments (0) | Posted by JoshC at 9:50 AM | Permalink

Minority Report: The Technology is Here Now. Jeff Han is a legend.

March 9, 2007

Be delighted. If you aren't impressed with this video and technology advances, you don't have a pulse. With the touch of your fingers, you can make 2D maps turn 3D. You can zoom in and manipulate thousands of images on the fly. You can do anything. Jeff Han is a legend and the future is far closer than we ever imagined.

Comments (0) | Posted by ryan at 5:07 PM | Permalink

SXSW Friday - We have landed

We got in late last night and I went on a little stroll. Stumbling upon sixth street, I proceeded to have my mind blown. Austin is nuts. Portland has nothing on the Austin nightlife. There were hundreds of folks partying in the streets, and I must say warm weather does good things to people. After grabbing some pizza, I headed back to the Radisson, where we are holed up.

Today we started off with breakfast at a Mexican Cafe. I got some chorizo, very good stuff. We then walked up to the capital building and checked out how Texas does it. It was a trip going to the place where GW got his start. I sat on a bench right under his portrait. Jeff took pictures of kids. Leslie wanted to go on a tour and I wouldn't do it. Probably the first of many of my shooting down the poor girl. What can I say, I am grouchy.

Next up was the actual registration for SXSW. A really long line, a schwag bag, and a walk back to the room had us going through the schedule and deciding which panel we wanted to attend. Each day is broken up to around five slots, each slot has about five panels. Considering I wanted to go to about three panels in each slot, I am going to have to make sacrifices. I can't complain. I definitely am going to miss some of the folks I would really like to see, such as Kevin Rose from Digg and Shaun Inman from Shaun Inman.

Around 5pm we headed up to sixth street to a barbecue joint and got some dinner. I had seen a belt buckle that I wanted on the way there that I decided couldn't go any longer without being in my possession. It's loud and obnoxious and Leslie says it fits me well, I also couldn't let Jeff be the only one who purchased a "Southern" hat and got myself as well. No buyer's remorse here, I am styling.

Jeff and I sit here, it's been twenty-four hours since we have felt the light blue glow of the computers on our faces. We like Austin. Leslie had enough of us and went on a walk. Looking forward to tomorrow.

Comments (0) | Posted by JoshC at 9:48 AM | Permalink

Will MarketingSherpa + MEC Labs Marriage Work?

March 5, 2007

MarketingSherpa speaks the marketing language. MEC Labs speaks scientific analysis. MEC Labs acquired MarketingSherpa within the past 6 months and the MarketingSherpa Email Summit '07 is the first main opportunity for 650 email marketers to experience the difference in the culture and business model of each entity.

Anne Holland and Stefan Tornquist nailed it. They almost feel as if they are born to co-present. The audience was engaged, participated and was so focused it was great. Nice work Anne and Stefan. I would love to see more of you two up infront.

I'm impressed by MarketingSherpa's presentation - they get it. They show instead of tell. Case studies and lessons learned sink in immediately. They use pretty pictures to tell me the Before and After and why certain marketing tactics succeeded vs. failed.

MEC Labs is trying to do the same thing, but speaks and shows formulas, science, data, mathematical graphs, and PPT slides with lots of small text on it.

Major disconnect here. So much so that I'm blogging about it during MEC Labs "Multvariable experiment." As a former financial analyst and college graduate with a science degree, I realize that I am clearly a marketer and not a scientist after this conference.

I love the conference, but I've got to question: Will MarketingSherpa + MEC Labs Marriage Work? If MEC Labs has MORE of an influence on the '08 event, you'll see more MarketingSherpa-type marketers tuning out.

I know it will work as MEC Labs is focused on the business, but they need Anne and Crew out infront of the world as their dynamic style resonates with this audience.

Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 11:26 AM | Permalink

VistaPrint Email Case Study

VistaPrint is a Small Business / Home Office, office supply company. First entry to company for most of its 8 million customers is Business Cards. 17 websites in 8 different countries.

Goals: Improve Net Contribution/Impression

Secondary Goals: improve deliverability. Removed non-consumers from list.

Speaker spoke so fast, I couldn't write most of the notes needed for this blog post.

Comments (0) | Posted by ryan at 7:31 AM | Permalink

Transactional Email, Sprint+Nextel Case Study

Transactional messaging expected and favorably perceived by recipients.

Sprint Before: all text emails with no cross-sell, or up-sell messaging

Sprint After: Started with shipping emails. Wanted to Keep personalization and some text. But, there was so much to improve (while still keeping legal and IT happy).

Content the same, but formatting much more professional and lively. Navigation in upper-right and cross-sell opportunities along right-side.
Conversion rate = 8x higher than base emails. Very relevant and timely.

Comments (0) | Posted by ryan at 7:23 AM | Permalink

Testing, Doubleday Case Study

Email is Time Sensitive - performs differently than print, for example: "Buy now, pay later" as offer performed better than "Only $1.99 now"

Members like mystery, but make sure it's worth their click. Need to have a really strong offer on landing page.

Try new things. Creative e-postcard (with powerful image) performed far better than primarily text email with small visual interest.

Lessons Learned:
Stop Guessing. Let the customer decide.
Email does not always work in print.
Customers like mystery and personalization, but make sure it's worth the click or it won't perform very well from a conversion standpoint.

Comments (0) | Posted by ryan at 7:17 AM | Permalink

MarketingSherpa Email Summit '07 Takeaways, Day 1, Morning Session

Along with 650 other email marketers in a giant room in Miami, Florida, I'm now listening to Anne Holland and Stefan Tornquist with MarketingSherpa.

• 2007 MarketingSherpa showed that email is "extremely significant" to company's marketing programs.
  
• 25% of marketers surveyed have no mention of newsletter or email signup on their homepages.
  
• 55% of companies send a Welcome email message within 72 hours. Of those, roughly 1/3 send content beyond welcome - these automated email triggers offer a great opportunity to show examples of previous newsletters or cross-sell or up-sell offers. Strike while the iron is hot and reach out to subscribers right when they are most excited about hearing from you.
  
• Transactional email has become more accepted over the past 3 years. Fewer people are hugely negative or positive towards transactional email as long as there isn't a lot of heavy, "hard sell" marketing speak in them.
  
• Email Deliverability: many ISPs like AOL, Earthlink, Gmail, and Yahoo are primarily Reputation-based which has become much more systematic and mathematic in all that Reputation encompasses. Reputation-based programs promote good marketing.
  
• Reputation Fixes:
  1) Slash your list
  2) Third Parties & CAN-SPAM (do it right)
  3) Rendering
  
• MSherpa recommends that you re-engage with an unsubscriber at the point of unsubscribing. Add 2-3 quick survey questions asking why they are leaving.
  
• Eyetracking: need to teach new designers a data-centric way of where email recipients eyes are drawn to on the email creative. Showed a case study of a more print-driven design that performed horribly on Eye Tools heat map. The other case study showing tightened up copy and strong visual offers performed amazingly where the hottest area of the heat map was actually below the fold. Impressive.
  
• Viewing and Rendering: blocked images are important to take into account. Make sure that your email creative has a mix of images and copy where some copy is above the fold.
  

Landing Pages: this is the most powerful and impactful part of your email campaign.
Landing page copy (44% high ROI), A/B - email offers, Subject line tests, Landing page creative, A/B - email creative

If you forget anything from the above information, just remember this:
ECE = 3lq + 2or + 2bc + 2it + ef + dr
Email Campaign Effectiveness = list quality + offer relevance + body copy + intrinsic timing (send times and urgency) + envelope fields (subject and from fields) + deliverability rate

(formula is courtesy of Flint McGlaughlin, Director of MEC Labs (who just acquired MarketingSherpa))

Comments (1) | Posted by ryan at 5:41 AM | Permalink

Praise to the Barbarian Group

March 1, 2007

Last night, I had the pleasure of meeting and listening to Rick Webb, co-founder of The Barbarian Group, speak on driving the whole viral marketing world forward. As the creators of Burger King's "Subservient Chicken" and Milwaukee's Best "Beer Canon" shown below, these guys continually prove that being original is the only game to play.

Rick's prognostications of the top 4 trends for '07 in the web marketing world:
1. Niche Social Networking
2. Games (adver-games)
3. Branded Utilities (widgets)
4. Entertainment (where video truly becomes interactive again rather than just YouTube)

Comments (0) | Posted by ryan at 12:15 PM | Permalink