Capstrat.com | Insights

Are You Experienced?

rcuthriell@capstrat.com (Ryan Cuthriell) — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 10:12:51 -0400

I visited my local Target the other night to run a few errands with my family. After walking through the store and grabbing what we needed, I stumbled into the CD section just to see what they had. Though the section isn't... shall we say... as plentiful as it could be or used to be, for me it's still refreshing to browse through rows of music instead of buttons on iTunes. I think it makes discovering music so much more fun.

  I used to buy CDs all the time from my favorite independent and major music stores, but they are becoming harder and harder to find. With the rise of iTunes, Amazon and internet radio (along with other sites in which to get music we won't name), people just aren't buying (physical) music like they used to. Myself included.

Just a few months ago, the record industry announced the lowest sales of CDs since they started recording purchasing data.... sad, sad, sad.  
 http://money.cnn.com/2010/02/02/news/companies/napster_music_industry/

  So there I am browsing through the rows of music, hoping to find something worthy of my purchase and a few new albums caught my eye. (Yes, I like calling CDs albums). I ended up grabbing the latest releases by The Black Crowes (a best-of acoustic double album for $9.99) and the new Filter CD ($7.99). Both were excellent prices so I couldn't refuse buying them.  

To my surprise upon opening the CDs, I realized what I've missed by buying digital music lately—outstanding artwork and well designed packaging. Both of these, coincidentally, were the paper digi-pak (not the clear plastic containers) and both revealed wonderful pop-up artwork.

  It made for a better user experience opening the CDs and browsing the artwork while listening to the music. It sounds odd writing this because I remember when that was the only option there was, when all music was only available as tangible products. Some bands and record labels realize the need for this experience and are trying to push the envelope by making new and interesting music and packaging. While it’s getting increasingly expensive, let's not let this impactful artform die.  

There's no denying its importance as a universal language, but music has lost its value by becoming a digital commodity. Buying CDs from artists you love not only helps support them, but you get a better understanding of what the artist is trying to say. I charge you to go buy some real music and fully experience it the way the artist hoped. We owe it to them.

Driving sales with social media is still a mystery to many

aconnor@capstrat.com (Angela Connor) — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 10:48:16 -0400

The results of a new survey conducted by IBM indicate that IBM business partners expect social media to drive sales. Of course they do, right? No big news there. The keyword in that sentence, though, is "expect." They want to see the return on investment and most times they want that return to be sales, something that affects the bottom line. But can you really expect something you haven't given much thought on how to actually obtain?

Better yet, can you listen to case study after case study about Company A's success on Facebook or how Company B made $3 million dollars in sales on Twitter and expect the same thing, if you join those networks even if you are in a completely different industry?

I think some of the case studies we are hearing over and over again are driving some of those expectations. But I also believe that... no I'm pretty sure that the expectations to some degree, stem from a lack of understanding of what it takes to develop smart strategies and tactics to drive these sales and then measuring them to determine success and how to move forward.

This is very similar to the whole idea about building communities. It sounds good in theory, but its much harder in practice and without the stamina, there is absolutely no way to succeed.

But back to this new revelation by IBM. Now that they have the information about the needs of their partners, they are doing something about it and I find it worth sharing.

IBM has launched a new skills initiative to focus on the areas the partners deemed most critical. Many stated being overwhelmed and want to learn more about specific social media tools like RSS, Facebook, Twitter, wikis, videos and setting-up networking communities for engaging with other partners and customers. This is exactly what they will provide, in the form of training sessions, webcasts, podcasts and webinars and in-person workshops. Here is a direct quote from Sandy Carter, vice president, IBM Software Business Partners:

"Many of our partners are recognizing this shift in how businesses communicate with their customers, potential customers, and each other, and yet they have not created a strategy for embracing social media. Through this new skills initiative, we're arming our partners with the skills they need to elevate their sales and marketing teams with social media strategies to establish smarter business practices in the Web 2.0 world."

I think this really speaks to the importance of going back to the basics. As social media manager at Capstrat, I try not to make any assumptions about the knowledge-base of clients. I also seek to understand their industry and more importantly their goals and objectives before making any recommendations on how they can use social media to drive sales, or do anything else for that matter. This is not a one-size-fits all deal, and the research required to get it right cannot be underestimated.

So, Kudos to IBM for conducting the 2010 Business Partner Social Media Survey, pouring through the results and deciding to go back to the basics.

iHate iStock.

dmartin@capstrat.com (Deborah Martin) — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 09:39:36 -0400

Stock imagery is pervasive. I don’t know about you, but I feel like I see the same woman with a pink hat on a banner ad for yogurt, the billboard for resort travel and the flyer for the local gardening club. It’s our job and our passion to create unique, ownable brands for our clients. Stock photography makes that task significantly more challenging.

Unfortunately, stock (like all necessary evils) has its benefits. When we are in the concepting phase of a project, we can easily (and quickly) find stock photos or illustrations that will convey the rough ideas to the client. And in production, stock is definitely more budget friendly than a custom shoot or the time and talent of an illustrator. But I must say this now and pay the consequences later. When we sell our ideas using stock imagery, we are often times selling our creative short.

Our art directors, designers and copywriters all have vivid, visual imaginations. We are adept at creating concepts that are strategic and that will stand out amidst the clutter of marketing messages in the world. By defaulting to stock imagery for the finished product, we are allowing anonymous outsiders to deliver our vision. And it will never be as strategic or ownable as if we did it ourselves. Having said all of that, I know that my feelings about stock won’t make it go away. It’s a tool that serves its purpose. But I’d like to push clients to realize the value of a visual brand and story that belongs to them. Setting aside budget for images or illustrations that can’t be used by any other company on the block is a smart, savvy investment. And I’m just sick of seeing that same woman with the pink hat everywhere. At least Photoshop it and make it yellow.

Dear Client

tcoats@capstrat.com (Todd Coats) — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 21:54:24 -0400

First, thank you for trusting us with your company’s most valuable assets…your reputation and your budget to manage said reputation. You should know we’re humbled by that honor. We probably don’t say enough, but nothing is more important to our work life than making you successful.

Corny sounding isn’t it? We love increasing your bottom line and popularity. Our hope is that will also make you happy. But can we be honest? If we only wanted to make you happy instead of successful, the work could be lackluster. Maybe we’re wrong but we believe you’d rather be successful. So to be fair, we probably will not agree with everything you say or only implement your orders. We believe you pay us to do a lot more. And, we owe it to you.

We also believe ideas are powerful weapons against complacency. So we’re going to ask you, “What impact do you hope to have?” Together if we can make your answer stronger, we’ll probably ask you several more times. Because you believe in making a difference, we believe in you. With our hearts, brains and spines. See, we could be shilling insignificant products but, like you, we want to make a difference. That makes us work harder. So, thanks for understanding us.

Love, Todd.

You talking to me?

mlance@capstrat.com (Mindy Lance) — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 14:48:05 -0400

I was just minding my own business at dinner the other night, and in between family chit-chat, I checked the A-1 bottle to see if it needed to go in the fridge. Yes, indeed, it said in bold red letters: For best results, refrigerate after opening. But in small type underneath, A-1 continued the conversation: For even better results, hide the bottle in the salad crisper behind a rutabaga so you can hog it all. Yeah, it’s that important.

When barraged with constant messaging, direct talk like this smacks you between the eyes. Oh, you’re actually talking to me! It’s like a little gift, breaking through the pea-soup fog of marketing speak, legalese and packaging mumbo-jumbo that dulls our senses. And it does more than just bring a fleeting smile. Even if I forget the line or I don’t consciously think about the brand, I’ve connected to that bottle of A-1.

What a concept – actually talking to the customer/user/consumer as if they’re a person. Of course, that requires looking at the world through their eyes. Too often, brands push out what they want consumers to know: Gluten-free! This is not a bill. Shampoo then rinse. Repeat. Refrigerate after opening.

Important information for sure. We’re looking for that kind of info all the time, and expect to find it. But most of the time, it makes us glaze over. If brands want to build a relationship with customers, they’d better find a way to strike a personal chord. Not just on direct mail or packaging, but at every opportunity with every communications medium. It's such an obvious rule of branding – remember your audience – but ignored all the time.

Frontier, my new phone service provider, just took over for Verizon in my area. I was nervous – I’d never heard of them. Then we got our first bill. The envelope said: Open this envelope. There’s really no better way to say, “Please don’t throw this bill away.” Inside speech bubbles, no less. I already feel like they get me.

Live blog: You can't NOT communicate

aconnor@capstrat.com (Angela Connor) — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 12:31:34 -0400

David Grossman (@ThoughtPartner on Twitter) is on stage. He is setting the stage for what he will discuss, much of which is detailed in his book: "You Can't Not Communicate." Follow this blog post for updates.

12:24: You have to work at communication. There's no magic pill. People are not born natural communicators. It is a learned skill. People often tell him that what he shares is common sense. He says maybe it is common sense, but it is not common practice.

12:30: Moving into what he calls "game changers." You can't lead without communicating. Differentiate yourself. Engagement is a way you can do that. The new norm: The notion of the leader of supervisor is more critical than ever before. The leaders make the weather.

12:36: Engagement and communication is the new currency. Grossman calls these intangibles very important. Employees want flexibility, recognition. Who delivers this? The leader. How do you know if you are meeting these intangible needs? He says the honeymoon period at new jobs is getting shorter and shorter.

12:39: Questions employees have: What's my job? How am I doing? Does anyone care about me? These are "me" focused. Then come the "we" questions. What's our business strategy? How are we doing? What's our vision and values? How can I help?

12:42: What happens when change occurs in our organization? The supervisor must convey this change. Keep people engaged. Question from the audience: Don't we need to do research to determine what's on employees' minds? Grossman: Yes. we're good at doing surveys but not so good at doing something with the data.

12:48: Question from the audience about research indicating any differences in the intangible needs of millenials. Grossman says no. What's different is how you motivate them. Now talking about how face-to-face communication is disappearing in some organizations. says he's an advocate for social media (I'm happy to hear that!) but is not sure about its place "inside" the organization. He says we are not doing enough face-to-face communication. Employees respect that kind of communication even if they don't like the message.

12:55: Consistent, constant communication is needed in today's fast-paced business environment. Now moving to what he calls the great 8 basics. He has asked the audience to refrain from saying "I knew that" when we see this list. Here they are:

Understanding your audience
Making your messages clear and relevant, especially in times of change
Planning your communication (How many actually do this?)
Set context and make information relevant
Listen and check for understanding
Select the right vehicle
Communicate with truth and integrity (He doesn't like the concept of spin. Advocates for truth because that's what employees want)
Match words and actions.

1:01: Question from the audience on advising clients to avoid spin and tell the truth. This person says she tells clients that employees will know they are lying. She has a hard time getting buy-in with that. Grossman says the higher you go up in an organization the more you need truth-tellers around you.\

1:03: Leaders often want to wait to communicate until they have all of the information. But when you're waiting others are telling the story. to get leaders to realize they know more than they think and that is valuable to communicate to employees, Grossman makes a chart identifying what we know, what we don't know, what we're working on and the myths surrounding the information.

1:06: Myths: I don't have time to communicate. This is the notion that a leader has other things to do that are more important than communicating. People won't interpret. And the last myth is: Talking is communication. Asking the audiences for differences in talking and communicating. Says the quality of information communicated by extroverts is low quality. Introverts have higher quality communications. (Me: Really!?

1:13: Extroverts think they are communicating more than they are. Now we move to the common traps:

Communicating with emotions
"Check off the box"
"I don't have the information I need"
Trying to have all the answers

1:14: Now on to questions and a giveaway. Grossman asks: What is our expectation of employees when it comes to communication? Answers from the audience: Ask questions. Seek out information. Sit back and take it. (Geez!) Grossman says employees have a responsibility to ask.

1:17 Another question: In some cases doesn't a leader want to communicate with emotion? Grossman: Yes. there is a difference between being passionate and being emotional. larger conversation ensues around this distinction. He says when leaders get emotional it gets in the way of their communication.

(Author's note: This is wrapping up. This was my first experience with David Grossman. I'd encourage you to follow him on Twitter. I like his style.) -Angela Connor (@communitygirl)

Another $1 billion in federal funds, amazingly, won't help the state's fiscal challenge

ameehan@capstrat.com (Andrew Meehan) — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 16:58:22 -0400

There were some seemingly incongruous announcements on public spending in the past three weeks. First, recent federal actions will funnel about $1 billion into the state’s coffers. Then, the state promptly cut Medicaid reimbursement rates to all providers to save money. Boy, our revenue picture gets stranger by the minute.

First the good news if you’re a fan of continued federal largesse. On August 10th, Congress approved additional federal Medicaid spending for the states. For North Carolina, the action meant about $343 million for Medicaid. The state legislature had already planned for the additional Medicaid spending in this year’s budget bill, but they had planned for more than $500 million. To make up the shortfall, the budget bill allows the state to cut the amounts paid to doctors, hospitals, mental health services and other providers. That’s how $343 million in Medicaid dollars leads to Medicaid spending cuts.

The August 10th Congressional action also sends about $300 million in federal funds to North Carolina for education. The question is – does the state use it to restore some of this year’s budget cuts, or bank it to mitigate next year’s projected budget hole of up to $3 billion?

Finally this week, the Secretary of Education announced that North Carolina would be a recipient of Race to the Top funding, which means another $400 million for education. The bulk of Race to the Top funds will be distributed to individual school districts for new and innovative programs. While the funding is great for many schools trying desperately to improve their student performance, the distribution doesn’t do a thing for the state’s general fund budget.

So that’s how $1 billion in federal funds, while certainly a boost to the state coffers, does not do much to dig the state out of its projected fiscal hole. Is that enough state budget whack-a-mole for today?

An insult to professional state employees

keudy@capstrat.com (Ken Eudy) — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 15:01:24 -0400

One of my business principles is to be fearless. It’s impossible to give clear, decisive advice to a client if you’re fearful.

But I fear Mildred Christmas. Mildred Christmas oversees the North Carolina state government’s Division of Purchase & Contract. She has the posture of a drill sergeant and the diction of an English teacher. And even though she’s unfailingly courteous, you know that if you even think of doing something that violates the state’s procurement rules, she will give you The Look – a lowering of the jaw and a simultaneous but almost-imperceptible raising of one eyebrow. You don’t want to cross Mildred Christmas.

Once, when our agency, Capstrat, came in to make a presentation to a state agency, I began to introduce myself around the conference room table. As I gave my name and extended my hand, the nameless recipient nervously looked toward the end of the table to a baleful-looking Mildred Christmas, who said politely but directly: “They are not to give their names to you, Mr. Eudy.”

We lost that pitch. In fact, we’ve lost more pitches for state contracts than we’ve won in the past couple years, much to my chagrin. You wouldn’t know that listening to Dana Cope, head of the state employees association. He has alleged that Capstrat and I have engaged in something called “pay to play.”

Dana is trying to connect two unrelated things. One, Capstrat won the competition for the advertising contract for the N.C. State Ports Authority last April. Second, my wife and I are hosting a political fundraiser for the Democratic Senate Caucus in our state legislature. One has nothing to do with the other. Yet, Dana says it looks like this fundraiser today is the reason Capstrat won the Ports advertising contract four months ago. He is organizing a protest in front of my home during this fundraising event.

I know. I’m scratching my head, too. But think about what the professional employees in the Purchase & Contract offices around state government must be thinking about Dana’s accusations. I can tell you from experience that they do a good job. (I think they made a mistake when agencies other than ours win a contract! ;) ) For the record, I’ve never tried to apply political pressure to win a state contract. But even if I had, the professionals in procurement at state agencies flat wouldn’t let it happen. And Dana’s accusations defame not just me, but they also defame professional state employees like Mildred Christmas who oversee the agency selection process.

So, what's your creative process?

tcoats@capstrat.com (Todd Coats) — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 15:31:57 -0400

At most presentations “the question” comes up and it usually strikes me odd. I can’t imagine if clients are interviewing more than one creative firm they’ll hear widely varying procedures. One company may start with “absorb” while another begins with “listen” but the process is fairly consistent. I believe it’s important to have a process, but far more important is HOW you do the process. That’s the part that can’t be captured on a slide.

Charting creative thinking is like diagramming lightening. The right conditions can be determined and outcomes predicted however, the real magic of generating ideas comes down to…well…magic. I think it’s a real gift and I believe everyone has this gift, too. Unfortunately, external barriers keep most people from fully exploring their creative side. While I’m thankful for that ‘cause it gives me a job I love, I’m always looking to uncover new talents for our clients. I think about it a lot. Unfortunately, it can get heady real fast so after the bazillionth time I was asked to explain this black craft, I set out to break the code.

Question 1: How do you get ideas?
As funny as it sounds, the neurobiology is straightforward.
You desire something. Your electrons start firing to connect context, history and subjectivity in relation to your goal. That nanosecond thought process eliminates some options while creating more. Then the process is repeated billions of times over until you’re satisfied with the goal. Think about it like this: Imagine your brain is the United States. The highway system is the synapses that connect everything. You’re on the east coast and want to be on the west coast. You don’t have a map but start in an appropriate direction. At each intersection you decide which option will get you closer to your goal. Some turns slow you down and some are dead ends. You backtrack. Serendipitously, some allow you to visit Gatorland along the way. How cool are those happy coincidences?

Question 2: Big deal. Everyone gets ideas. It’s not that easy is it?
The fact that we share common wiring is what convinces me we all have the ability to think creativity. But if that were all it took, I wouldn’t have a job. Those external barriers I mentioned earlier, keep most of us pretty well tethered. Think about when you were growing up how many times someone told you the “right way” to do something as opposed to the most expressive or exploratory way. Coloring inside the lines tells us it is not okay to be different. So, by the time we reach adulthood, our imagination has been suppressed so many times it takes real work to access it.

Question 3: Why do some Creatives consistently deliver?
There are several factors that make some people better creative thinkers than others. From my experience, two common traits separate good from great.
First, believe beyond a shadow of a doubt there’s a better way to get something accomplished. I drove my parents (and now my wife and coworkers) crazy always asking “Why?” Once you master natural curiosity about the world you’re qualified to move to the next step of ideation.

So step one, you believe something needs to be done better. The next step is believing that YOU are the one that can make it better. You have to have an ego. Self-confidence drives you to think you’re all that. Just don’t be a weenie. No one likes to work with weenies. Get those two talents down and the rest is process: research, insight, experimentation, review, repeat.

I’ll post other common questions later. If you have specific ones leave them in the comments. Creative thinking in business is more important. As a matter of fact, a recent IBM poll of 1,500 CEOs identified creativity as the number one “leadership competency” of the future.
Let’s discuss.

Health care reform update: If you like your health insurance plan, you CAN'T keep it.

pmahoney@capstrat.com (Paul Mahoney) — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 12:37:01 -0400

In the long and acrimonious health care debate, nestled among the half truths (reform will cut the deficit), and outright lies (death panels!) was this claim: "Hey don't worry! If you like the health plan you have now, you can keep it." I was skeptical then, and I'm more skeptical now. Two separate national surveys of employers suggest that most businesses expect to lose their health plans' grandfathered status in the near future. Turns out most businesses see sacrificing flexibility and cost-control as too high a price to pay to avoid complying with the requirements of health care reform.

National surveys conducted by Hewitt Associates and the National Business Group on Health (NBGH) both found that the vast majority of employers expect to make plan changes, including shifts in benefits and increases in employee costs, that will in effect revoke their grandfathered status.

What this means for employees is that they will experience both the up- and downsides of reform much sooner than they were led to believe. The elimination of gender differences and the reduction in allowable age bands will lower rates for some, but raise them for others. My concern is that youngest and healthiest are likely to see the biggest bumps, making the penalties for not carrying coverage look a whole lot cheaper than paying for insurance. And since acceptance for coverage is now guaranteed, these young folks can always buy it later if they get sick or have an accident. Insurers already call this demographic "the invincibles" because many think they are immune to health problems.

If this is the predominant trend, hold on to your wallets. Because the remaining folks in the system -- we sicker, older folks -- will end up picking up the slack. Unless I miss my guess, the politicians will blame insurers for this. But the problem is actually hard-wired into the reform package for which they are still taking bows.

Why your communication efforts should include social media

aconnor@capstrat.com (Angela Connor) — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 11:28:17 -0400

Social media channels are such obvious methods for communications that it is truly beginning to boggle my mind why there is still this weird distinction, or separation even, between social media and public relations.

I am not going to post any fluff here to convince you. Heck, I'm not even going to include any stats about the number of businesses using social media or the projections of social media spending for the year 2011.

Here is my message at it's core: If you have something you'd like to communicate, whether it's company news, a pending product launch or specific messaging or opinion on a controversial issue, you have the power to use social media to get that message to your target audience.

Stop waiting on the reporter to ask you the questions about your product, service, or position on that controversial issue and hoping and praying they'll to put a portion of it in their newspapers or on their websites or broadcasts. Distribute it yourself. That's what social media allows you to do.

If you have talking points in conjunction with a press release, create a video of someone from the company delivering those talking points in a question/answer format. Include the link to that video in the press release. You've now provided a digital asset, with your unedited message, that could very well be picked up along with the news and posted on news sites as well as blogs.

This is how you use social media to further your reach. Creating your own content is key.

As a journalist who has worked in many newsrooms and shared responsibilities for their respective websites, I can tell you that digital assets are of high value. If you provide a link to other materials, that's more content for the news organization to post on the page, increasing the time spent on their websites, and believe me, "time spent" is a highly valued metric in the online news space.

This is something I am increasingly introducing, and I've seen the light bulb go off when people begin to get it.

It's the terms that continue to freak people out. Yes, it may be a "social media press release, "or a release that's "optimized for SEO," but again, at the core we are essentially integrating social media into an overall communications plan.

That's how I see it, and that's how I sell it.

Finding new life on Twitter

aconnor@capstrat.com (Angela Connor) — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 16:50:51 -0400

One of the best things about Twitter is it allows you to focus on your interests or areas of expertise in a way that keeps you on top of trends and allows you to appear really smart, if you follow the right people.

They feed you information that you didn't have to find on your own and you can really grow to depend on this constant flow to keep you up-to-date and on your toes.

But have you ever looked beyond your areas of interest or put some thought into the mind-blowing stats characterizing Twitter's growth? Twitter didn't reach the 10 million tweets milestone thanks to your circle of chosen friends and followers.

We tend to inhabit one planet on Twitter and many of us stay there, hardly venturing out.

I'll use myself as an example. I've certainly used my share of hash tags and followed others, but it's mostly at conferences and events or related to some conversation I'm following and it is almost ALWAYS related to my work. While I enjoy all of that immensely, and will continue to be a hash tag using fool, I've realized recently that there are people having loads of fun on Twitter, and it has nothing to do with their work.

I'm not talking about the actors, basketball players and the groupies both attract, but the genuine fun loving people just making up stuff and having a good old time.

I stumbled upon a hash tag today called #omgwhatateen. So, I briefly stepped foot off my planet and spent some time reading the posts and then visited the source and found myself intrigued and laughing quite a bit. This @OMGwhatateen account has nearly 29,000 followers and belongs to more than 1,300 lists. The posts are quotes that are often spewed by teens, such as:

"I can't properly clean my room because I get distracted by the cool stuff I find #omgwhatateen" and "Dear teacher, I talk no matter where I am. Moving my seat will not help.#omgwhatateen" Those are two that made me laugh because both described me when I was a teen. Before I knew it I was hopelessly drawn in.

Here's the bio:

If you're a teen and do these things too, then RT them:) Made on June 18! Top Tweet 21 times! Co-owner: @LoveForeverJB & 1/7 of @BieberDomo ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Then there was the hash tag #unfollowexcuses listing funny reasons used to justify unfollowing another user. Some funny stuff there too. like:

"It's nothing personal, I just realized after reading your tweets that you suck #unfollowexcuses."

Okay that's a bit crude, but it is also funny, and I don't laugh like that much when reading my stream. Now, back to my point. After seeing how many lists the @OMGwhatateen account had been added to, I started viewing some of them. I found cool list names like: "Makes-me-ROFL" and others that I cannot post here on my company blog, but if you look around you will find some of them.

Why am I not having this kind of fun on Twitter? Well, that's a rhetorical question. I know why. It's because I use it professionally and I don't live on Planet Fun.

But I am definitely going to start peeking in on those who do live there and following those crazy hash tags when I need a laugh.

If you come across any, let me know.

The future of UI

jromano@capstrat.com (John Romano) — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 10:29:16 -0400

What is the future of the graphical user interface (GUI) when every action that we want is voice activated?

Apple implemented voice control for calling and listening to music. Google has just announced voice control for a whole raft of actions including:

search
text (no more thumb typing)
email
call
navigate to
listen to (especially cool because it can automatically start a Pandora channel or open lastFM)

And they are promising many more to come.

Voice recognition isn't new, but we know that sometimes all it takes is the an elegant execution of an old idea to make the next new thing. This is something that Apple is amazing at. But Google's mobile search is now being called from voice commands 25% of the time. That is a huge shift in the way people interact with search (one of the most popular computer actions).

Google's new voice commands work by recording and streaming your command to the cloud where Google's computers parse your command, figure out what you want, and return a command to make the phone complete your action. This is notable because they are essentially turning your mobile into a super computer, by offloading the hardest processing to the cloud.

All this science fiction makes me wonder - if (or when) voice commands become the new way to interact with a computer, where does this leave the GUI? Because if we follow this trajectory to its logical conclusion, we will no longer need the GUI for many of the most common actions on a mobile device. All we need the visual interface for is confirmation that the voice command is being performed properly.

If Google does this properly and allows apps and mobile Web sites to hook into its speech command API, any developer could potentially design an app to be voice activated.

Will Google or Apple pull it off? Is the time right for voice activation? When forced to use a keyboard will we soon say "How quaint."

The creation of a chair

Capstrat — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 17:16:31 -0400

I recently watched a documentary: The White Stripes Under Great White Northern Lights, a rare and personal perspective into the band and a behind the scenes of a tour through the Canadian provinces.

Even if you’re not a fan of the White Stripes, you’ll surely appreciate the Art Direction and cinematography of this film. It’s a juxtaposition of grit and beauty. Oddly enough, this raw style turns the entire film into a chair.

How is this accomplished? Jack summates the creative process of the band is a combo of many small things to make the greater whole. For instance, using instruments that are older, inconsistent and don’t stay in tune for very long. Or placing vital stage elements at determined lengths apart as to not make them easy to reach, thus requiring more effort to play. Causing hurried and harried requirements to pay attention to what’s happening in their performance. These details, beyond colors, lighting and sound are critical because they impose restrictions and directly contribute to the band’s success.

So the key element for the band comes down to “restrictions.” Jack continues to surmise how important this is with a simple example. He says “If you have all the time in the world and all the money you could need to execute your idea and you can make whatever you want, it will never get done.” Jack could not be more right. If there are no restrictions and the page is blank to do anything then it will most certainly remain blank.

As a creative team is “building a chair,” it should emphasize this point: Find all the restrictions. Ask for budget restrictions and time lines. What is mandatory? Then do everything you possibly can to build that chair – do it on time and within budget. Commit to possibly illustrating the next project. Place your scanner across the room so you have to get up. Get active or try a new process. Do some push-ups or grab some glue and scissors. Step away from the computer. It might be a chair but it might be the next big miraculous chair that everyone must have.

So what kind of chair am I going to make next, a big old plush Victorian wing-back chair. It might be a little tattered and stained too.

The new rules

Capstrat — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 08:46:42 -0400

It’s no surprise that starkly reduced spending from hospitals and healthcare providers is changing the game for those that market to them. What’s less clear is what to do about it. Some companies are accelerating their push into digital marketing. Others are experimenting with social media. And others are revamping their brochures with messaging to fit the current environment.

While adjustments like these have the potential to improve marketing effectiveness, if they’re not undertaken as part of a more fundamental shift in strategy they may be no more useful than rearranging the proverbial deck chairs. Recent research conducted by Capstrat on hospital and healthcare purchasing trends found that the ways in which today’s buyers research, select and purchase products bear little resemblance to the marketing strategies designed to reach them. From who they target, to how they talk about their products and services and which tools they use to connect with prospects, marketers need a new approach. It’s not just about brand building and supporting the sales team. It’s about making a direct connection with buyers, on their terms.

In this post, we’ll offer some suggestions on how marketers should be changing their model for communicating with buyers at hospitals and healthcare systems, including the research findings that informed our recommendations.

Know your place

As a marketer, you spend virtually all of your time thinking about one thing: your product. How to improve it, how to sell it, how to talk about it, who to sell it to – that’s what you’re paid to think about. In that environment, it’s easy to get tunnel vision. So by the time the next brochure is printed, or that new section is added to the website, chances are it looks like it was created in an echo chamber, where the only products are yours and the ones your direct competitors are selling.

But here’s the thing. Buyers are rarely evaluating your product solely against others in the same product category. They have a finite chunk of money to spend, and they have a lot of options. And if your entire category is deemed less important than others, well, beating out your direct competitors isn’t going to help you win the sale.

Takeaway

You need to understand how your product category is perceived by your core set of buyers in order to fully understand the context in which you’re operating. One easy place to start is by making some calls to current clients. Ask them about the choices they’re facing today, and those they were facing when considering your product. Of course, a more formal survey approach would be even better. Plus, it would give you a reason to reach out to clients and prospects about something other than your product. And that’s always a good thing.

Listen (for a change)

How much of your budget do you spend on listening versus telling? If you’re like most marketers, you probably spend most of your budget on telling. But our research among buyers uncovered some surprising insights regarding what they value most during the sale. When asked “what’s the one piece of advice you would offer to vendors hoping to win your business?” empathy showed up at the top of the list. If you learn their business and understand their challenges, your chances of success go way up. Some choice quotes: “Learn about my business before you come see me.” “Listen to your customer and hear what they have to say – don’t just assume that your product will fit everyone’s needs.”

Are your ears burning yet?

Takeaway

It’s time to introduce some new elements into the marketing mix. Start simple – try a questionnaire. If you’ve been there, done that, how about borrowing a page from the political playbook and going on a listening tour? Visiting customers and prospects in person, with a “no promotions” promise, can be an extremely valuable way gather intelligence and build relationships at the same time. If in-person visits don’t work with your prospect list (or budget), you can do the same thing in a virtual environment with far greater ease.

Dial back the pre-sale. Dial up the peer sell.

Good salespeople focus on making the sale, but great ones know that what happens after the sale is just as important. There’s a big lesson for marketers there as well. Like the sales team, marketers are judged on sales numbers – so it’s no surprise that we focus most of our energy on the lead-up to the sale. Identifying prospects. Reaching them with the right communications at the right time. Helping the sales team close the deal. You know the routine.

But our research tells us that what happens after the sale is just as important – if not more. Why? Because buyers depend heavily on word-of-mouth. They call their friends at other organizations. They engage with peers they don’t even know online. They send out feelers into their own organizations to ask how current users view the product. And in those environments, what you did before the sale isn’t important at all. They want to know what happened afterward. That’s the real story on your product. And if you’re not shaping that story, you’re missing the boat.

Takeaway

Map your current marketing tools against the entire lifecycle of your product. If you aren’t spending at least one quarter of your total effort on what happens after clients purchase your product, you have some work to do. Surveys are one proven way to keep in touch with clients after the sale, and they can provide valuable feedback for the whole organization. Bulletins or newsletters are another great tool in this environment.

No matter what tactics you choose, your goal should be to arm current clients with the tools and information they need to help sell your product to their peers. Make them ambassadors.

Focus on the patient

When we gave buyers a long list of sentences and asked which they agreed with most, the most popular response was “I’m excited about how new technology can improve patient care.” There are a lot of criteria on which a new purchase is judged, but the most important one is still the impact it has on patient care. Even in a tight budget environment, buyers are willing to spend big to get big results for their patients. The impact on patients is an easy thing to get lost in the shuffle when you’re talking about features, price, quality, and all the other key talking points about a product. If all roads don’t lead back to the patient, you’re missing a big opportunity.

Takeaway

Conduct an informal survey of all your marketing content. Is the patient message getting through? If not, there are some simple, cosmetic ways to make the change in the near term, starting with a refresh of your website’s homepage. It’s also important to put this issue on your entire marketing team’s radar.

But at the same time, you should be evaluating deeper issues such as core product positioning.

Stop talking about quality

Is product quality important? Of course. But that doesn’t mean buyers want to hear about it during the purchase process. In fact, product quality shows up near the bottom of the list of factors contributing to an enjoyable purchasing process – only 4 percent of decision makers cited “getting a quality product” when asked what they liked most about bringing on a new vendor or supplier.

What topped the list? Control and simplicity. Buyers are grappling with massive complexity at every turn – if the purchasing process is refreshingly free of unnecessary complications, they’re more likely to buy. Now consider how most companies market their goods and services in the healthcare industry. In most cases, these are highly complex, sophisticated offerings – so marketers naturally strive to head off every question or concern about quality by providing buyers with a mountain of technical specs and jargon. Which is exactly what buyers are trying to avoid.

When in doubt, strive for simplicity.

Get empathetic

When buyers are looking to purchase massive, expensive products and services, they’re looking for something far beyond the product itself. They’re looking for a partner that’s signed on for the same challenges they’re facing – someone who is in for the long haul.

In fact, our research showed that high levels of long-term vendor satisfaction aren’t linked to product dependability or even a responsive approach to customer service. Instead, satisfaction is most closely aligned with the perceived level of empathy they receive from manufacturers and service providers. Yes, empathy. They’re looking for partners who “learn about my business before they come see me,” and who “don’t assume their product will fit everyone’s needs.”

Empathy: check. But what does it mean for marketers? It means you can’t just rely on the sales team to create those long-term, empathetic relationships. You have to foster a more open dialogue with customers that acknowledges the challenges of their situation, and is built not on a model of one-way information delivery, but on a series of facilitated conversations with customers. Because empathy is all about listening.

Go straight to the source

How many of your marketing plans over the past few years have featured “generating awareness” on the short list of goals? Generating mass awareness has always been an important goal – and who would argue with that? Especially in the healthcare marketplace, where new innovations are flooding the market daily, establishing a foothold of awareness can be key.

But mass awareness doesn’t go far when it comes to establishing trust and awareness with purchasers – and that’s where marketers face a huge opportunity in today’s market. Today, only 23 percent of decision makers say they’re happier with their current vendors than they were with the ones they worked with only a few years ago. That means no relationship is safe. Marketers need to be establishing trust with existing customers as well as prospects. In this environment, mass awareness is no substitute for personal relevance. And personal relevance comes from (surprise!) people.

The good news is that technology is making person-to-person communications easier than ever before. That doesn’t mean it’s easy, of course. Nor does it mean you should discard advertising, direct mail or public relations tactics. It does mean that you need to find ways to make these channels support the human side of your sales efforts.

One important way to do this is to add customers to your list of communications vehicles, right beside print advertising, direct mail and online. Because your customers are 12 percent more likely than their counterparts in other industries to say they’re “good at convincing others to try new things.” And 77 percent of them like to share their knowledge with others. Think of them like a highly qualified, ready-to-be mobilized sales militia looking for something to pitch. You need to understand how they communicate with their peers (not just vendors) so that you can give them ready-to-use tools for winning over their peers – information and other relevant content that’s easily forwarded and shared.

Right relevance, right time

Everybody knows that relevance is one of the most important markers of a successful marketing campaign. But relevance comes in different flavors, each of which is best used at different times. Here’s what we mean.

Specific relevance

In-person demonstrations, conversations with sales people – these are examples of specific relevance. It’s used when the marketer knows enough about the target to tailor a very specific message for them, and it’s usually developed only after a series of interactions. It’s rarely achieved on first contact.

Situational relevance

When decision makers are looking for advice or recommendations from peers who have made similar decisions in the past, they’re looking for situational relevance. These peers won’t likely know all the details to guide their decision, but they know enough to offer useful insight. Ultimately, the decision maker alone is on the hook for making the right decision. This is about being informed by people who know. It often arrives through word-of-mouth channels or, increasingly, online forums such as peer review websites or social networks.

Self-selected relevance

This is where a decision maker decides exactly what type of information is most relevant and seeks it out on her own. Using a search engine, visiting a manufacturer’s website – these are all prime examples of self-selected relevance. All three forms of relevance come into play over the course of the purchasing process. The key is to make sure prospects are able to access each type of relevant information whenever they need it most. Programs built around mass awareness usually fall short when it comes to relevance.

First-mover advantage

There’s been a seismic shift in how healthcare buyers approach the purchasing process – our survey only scratched the surface of these changes. The question for marketers is how quickly can they respond to these changes. Those who are able to take these insights and quickly translate them into a fundamentally different approach to marketing are the ones who will come out on top in the next year or so.

We have spent years honing our approach to health care marketing, working with some of the best-known companies in the industry, and today we are working on the front lines of these changes to the industry. For an informal, impromptu discussion with us to find out more about whether we can help you gain first-mover advantage, please call Karen Albritton, president of Capstrat, at 919.656.8272, or email her at kalbritton@capstrat.com.

Having trouble with embedded fonts and HTML text in Flash CS5?

mkibbel@capstrat.com (Mike Kibbel) — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 16:19:47 -0400

I discovered this morning that the SWFs I had previously published with Flash CS3/4 no longer display some of their embedded fonts once I republished them in CS5. Specifically, embedded fonts that are applied as styles for a TextField's htmlText were randomly broken. I'll share some details about how I was able to fix this.

The Old Setup

The method that I've always used in CS3/4 to embed fonts is to create dynamic text fields in the first frame of the FLA somewhere offstage. I create a text field for each font and embed the required glyphs for the application, being careful to choose only the necessary characters to keep the file size down. I write the name of the font in the dynamic text field, e.g. "WhitneySans Medium" in case I need to modify the embedded glyphs later on:

To apply font styles to tags in HTML text, I write CSS rules that reference the embedded fonts. I had some trouble with this at first, but I discovered that in AS3, I could trace out the embedded fonts to determine how to reference them in the CSS rules. This code snippet prints the names of the embedded fonts (note, this code can go in your document class' constructor, and you'll need the correct imports in your .as file):


var fonts:Array = Font.enumerateFonts();

for (var i:int = 0; i < fonts.length; i++)

   trace(fonts[i].fontName);

With this example in CS4, the results are:


Arial

Arial Bold

Arial Italic

WhitneySans Medium

If I were trying to apply "Arial Italic" to <em> tags in a text field's htmlText, I could set up styles like so:


var styles:StyleSheet = new StyleSheet();

styles.setStyle("em", {

   display: "inline",

   fontFamily: "Arial Bold" // this should be the exact name traced out with Font.enumerateFonts()

});

myTextField.styleSheet = styles;

myTextField.embedFonts = true;

myTextField.htmlText = "Work, you <em>damned font</em>!";

Unfortunately, for the particular fonts I'm using, this method breaks down a bit in Flash CS5.

The New Way

The font embedding implementation in Flash CS5 is slightly different and actually quite better for my tastes. Rather than needing to create unused dynamic text fields somewhere offstage, you actually embed all the fonts for your project in one place with the new "Font Embedding" dialog. With your FLA open, click the "Font Embedding..." option in the "Text" menu. Use this dialog to set up all of your fonts in a very straightforward way (I won't go into details – it's pretty easy to figure out):

I don't bother with exporting the embedded fonts as symbols for ActionScript. Perhaps if you needed to load and register fonts from a shared assets SWF file, this would be useful, but for a single SWF file using the methods described here, it appears to be unnecessary.

If you've upgraded from Flash CS3/4 to CS5, you'll notice that your old FLAs' embedded fonts will automatically get detected and pulled into the new font embedding dialog. With the method I describe here, you can safely remove the unused dynamic text fields from the timeline. The font embedding dialog automatically registers and makes your embedded fonts accessible in code. The problem I encountered is that referencing the fonts by name for CSS styles did not work exactly the same way. The enumerateFonts() script from above now traces out:


Arial

Arial

Arial

WhitneySans Medium

So rather than automatically naming each font according to its style, Flash now uses the base font name and requires you to use the font's other attributes to reference it in your code. An updated script is elucidating in figuring out how to do this:


var fonts:Array = Font.enumerateFonts();

for (var i:int = 0; i < fonts.length; i++)

   trace(fonts[i].fontName + " - " + fonts[i].fontStyle);

In CS5, this produces:


Arial - regular

Arial - bold

Arial - italic

WhitneySans Medium - regular

To achieve italic <em> tags in CS5, this is how my code looks: var styles:StyleSheet = new StyleSheet(); styles.setStyle("em", { display: "inline", fontFamily: "Arial", fontStyle: "italic" }); myTextField.styleSheet = styles; myTextField.embedFonts = true; myTextField.htmlText = "Come back, you <em>damned font</em>!";

Rather than just using a font family name, I actually have to use fontStyle (or fontWeight to get to the bold version of Arial). To me, this feels a lot more like the usual experience with CSS, so I think it's a better implementation.

Fortunately, this was a pretty easy patch at the end of the day, and I like the new font embedding methodology a lot better. Happy coding!

Blogging the budget – Teacher jobs saved, for now; cuts elsewhere

ameehan@capstrat.com (Andrew Meehan) — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 15:18:19 -0400

Following my previous post on transportation, we’ll start with a quiz on the difference between the Highway Trust Fund and the Highway Fund. Just kidding. I think I’ve already forgotten that. Instead, let’s get on to the bulk of the budget.

Education takes up more than half state spending and is consistently said to be the number one priority for voters and legislators. This year, the General Assembly managed to protect thousands of teaching positions using federal stimulus money and revenue from the lottery. In fact, the state does not have any teaching positions to "save" using $300 million in recently-approved federal money for that purpose.

But money had to be cut from somewhere in the education budget:

• No raises for teachers

• $3.2 million cut for instructional supplies

• $9.2 million cut eliminates ALL mentoring programs

• $10 million cut (2.4 percent) from school transportation funding

• $2.5 million cut (21.4 percent) eliminates some child and family support teams

• $11.9 million cut eliminates ALL funding for school bus replacement, except for $1 million in emergency funds

• $2 million cut reduces DPI operating budget by 15 percent

Teachers, students and parents might not feel the total impact of these cuts right away, but just like delayed road maintenance, the bumps are felt several years in the future. The mammoth problem faced by legislators is that they cannot simply restore these cuts and make up the difference next year – the budget picture is just getting worse.

Some legislators might want to take the $300 million from the federal government and simply sit on it for next year’s budget. But the authorized uses for the funding are broad, so the money might be used to prevent further cuts in this fiscal year. There are plenty of needs both this year and next, and the Governor and legislative leaders have tough choices to make.

History repeating: Apple will lose - again.

jromano@capstrat.com (John Romano) — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 13:15:45 -0400

Let me start by saying that I love Apple products. I do. This fact makes it even harder for me to say this: Apple is going to get trounced - again.

Apple computer lost the desktop war to Microsoft. Now they are poised to lose another war, this time to Google over the future of mobile. In fact the table has already turned. Android devices are now outselling Apple devices. Android sales have actually doubled to 200,000 activations a day. To a person who respects how much Apple has driven innovation, this is just painful to watch, for the second time.

So look closely, and you see history repeating. Just replace Microsoft with Google.

The Platform

Last time: Apple was fighting with Microsoft over the desktop, the platform of the day.
This time: it's a fight with Google over mobile.

Hardware and software

Last time: Apple sold its software only on its hardware so it could control the experience. Microsoft made deals with gobs of hardware companies and sold its OS like hotcakes.
This time: Apple is selling it's popular iOS only on its iPhone devices. Google is giving away the Android OS to hardware manufacturers like HTC and Motorola. Android in on more than 60 devices, from 21 companies in 48 countries and on 59 carriers.

Control

Last time: Apple prevented software companies from having access to make significant changes to provide everyone with consistently great experiences. Microsoft let its hardware partners modify the OS to customize the experience.
This time: Apple controls its platform, coding standards and the iTunes store. The device's UI is locked down. Android is open source and is routinely customized by hardware companies and providers to help them monetize and distribute more easily.

Once again, Apple will innovate, and others will copy them. The competition will make lower quality products, open them to everyone, and outsell Apple. Eventually Apple will be marginalized and made insignificant.

The one chance they have is to continue to jointly develop industry standards, like CSS3 and HTML5. But the onus will constantly be on them to inter operate with hugely popular systems like Microsoft Exchange and Google's suite of tools

Man... I think I'll go buy an iPhone while I still can.

More Web Fonts

jromano@capstrat.com (John Romano) — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 15:47:32 -0400

The world of Web fonts is here. Now it's just a matter of finding good, open source fonts to choose from. Google's Font Directory is now open and serving up a bunch of new font goodness.

It looks like they have released a bunch of Droid fonts (perfect for making that mobile Web site) along some others. Designers now have 19 more fonts to choose from. I'm partial to Molengo, Droid Sans and Droid Serif. So designers, do you like them?

Need another fontastic resource? Font Squirrel is a fount of amazing fonts. Don't miss it. They feature font-face kits (literally hundreds of new Web fonts) and their amazing font-face generator. It'll save you incredible amounts of time.

Got any other amazing font-face resources. Lemme know.

Rethinking my position on the HTML email

wlangley@capstrat.com (Will Langley) — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 08:51:55 -0400

The inception of this post - I hope of my own creation, DiCaprio - was to compile a pros/cons list for sending HTML emails, as opposed to sending plain text emails. The list quickly became so lopsided that I have instead decided to post a list of reasons why I have decided to become an advocate against sending HTML emails. Email is an aging medium, but I still think it has its place in our arsenal of marketing tools that we wield for our clients. What I do believe should go the way of the dodo, however, is the overly-designed, glossy email project. Here's why:

Microsoft

As of Outlook 2007, Microsoft rolled back its standards/CSS support to that of the dreaded Internet Explorer 6.0. Translation, no support at all. Quoting MSDN,

"Word [and thus Outlook] 2007 supports a subset of the standard HTML 4.01 specification and of the Internet Explorer 6.0 HTML specification. Word 2007 also supports a subset of the standard Cascading Stylesheet Specification, Level 1. Word 2007 uses HTML elements that support a subset of the Word 2007 cascading style sheets properties."

Off in the distance, a pterodactyl screeches. Our email design possibilities have been driven back to the stone age. It's just not possible to rely on any inline CSS and hope to cover all your bases (I'm looking at you, Lotus Notes). And cover all bases, we must. Our corporate clients just cannot realistically drop old email clients because we tell them they should. It's expensive. And we understand that. So, just as we steel our jaw and continue to debug IE6, we must accept our email reality. Font tags. Table layout. CSS nada. That said, we can still create and flawlessly execute beautiful email designs. Buuuut...

Devices

Handhelds are everything, NOW. They no longer represent a burgeoning slice of the pie, about to drop. Devices are here now, and they are taking over the world. Everybody's got one, or is thinking about getting one. And everybody is checking their email on them. Yes, I'm throwing that superlative around, but really, it's not far from the truth. Certainly, decision makers are checking their mail on their phones. And guess what? You're talking about busy people with busy schedules. And you're talking about 300 pixels to work with.

Our standard practice now, as with most, is to offer a plain-text backup to our pretty HTML emails, for those on Blackberrys. But I would submit we should be assuming everyone on our mailing lists is viewing our emails on a small screen, and adjust our strategy accordingly.

Spam, third-party content filters

Spam filters are a devilish and fickle lot. They are trained to sniff out things like image weight and sloppy, invalid HTML code. If your pretty email scores high enough on the spam-o-meter, it's declared unfit for consumption and deflected off into the ether. Most spam filters these days are smart enough to discern the well-intentioned from the Nigerian fortune scammers. But still, why take the risk that your message doesn't even get a chance?

Most modern email clients keep things flowing smoothly by putting a hold on third-party content within your email - namely, images. So you're left with gaping holes in your presentation layer unless and until the user decides to click to receive. If you're like me, if I don't recognize the sender, it's an easy decision to delete the email versus clicking to receive the hidden content.

Solutions/Compromises

I've listed three very meaty reasons to kick HTML emails to the curb. There will always be the client or the case where a snazzy HTML email is the appropriate solution, but I believe, going forward, that these should be the exception, not the norm. We provide press releases to the media in plain text because we are presenting information, not selling. Increasingly, users are becoming more and more aware of The Sell, and we should recognize this before they do. I will be the first to acknowledge that plain text is, well, plain. It's horribly underwhelming to all of us creatives, as I'm sure it might be to many clients, charging us with spreading their message. My solution is twofold.

Focus on the message. We have brilliant copywriters, armed to the teeth with wit and savvy, who know your brand like the back of their hand. A succinct, compelling message will suck you in, no matter the vehicle.
Format that text! Taking the time and care to be sure that your text is properly formatted, that your links lay out and work properly, and that your spacing, line-breaks and justification are all in order will serve you well in the long run.

Again, I'm not vilifying the HTML email - 95% of email clients can wrangle HTML with no trouble at all (though, revisit point #3 about content blocking). I'm merely suggesting we focus more on the message and cut through the gloss, where applicable. I'd love for us as an agency to try and gather our own hard data. A/B testing of some sort? Yes? We always offer plain text as backup, but let's find a way to concretely measure conversion rates in an either/or situation. I'd love to hear your input.

End of an era?

kalbritton@capstrat.com (Karen Albritton) — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 17:47:15 -0400

Three years ago on a trip to DC, my family happened to be in the Senate gallery for a moment of history when Senator Ted Stevens, the longest-serving Republican Senator recognized West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd as the longest-serving member of Congress in history. The Senate chamber was empty for the occasion. In this era, C-SPAN and cable news provide the only audience for these types of proceedings. Senator Stevens had to stall for several minutes as a staff member went to locate Senator Byrd, who was almost a no-show. There was no hiding that these two were well past their prime, but there was also civility, respect and wisdom that often seems missing from politics today.

Since that trip, I’ve had a little more interest in the two elder statesmen. Both used their position to bring jobs and influence to their home states. Neither were without fault or regrets. Senator Stevens’ service ended in scandal. Senator Byrd at one point was a member of the Ku Klux Klan and joined in a filibuster of the 1964 Civil Rights act, a decision he later said he regretted.

Ironically both passed away within weeks of each other, in very different circumstances. I have to wonder if we’ll see the likes of these two in the future. Elected officials who weren’t one-dimensional in their opinions or whose views modified over time. Leaders who could bring the perspective of decades to debate and decision-making. And public servants who were willing and able to deal with a lifetime of scrutiny in the public view.

Track your bit.ly URLs in Google Analytics using TweetDeck

ecarroll@capstrat.com (Evan Carroll) — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 09:18:16 -0400

If you're using TweetDeck, bit.ly and Google Analytics there's no excuse for not tracking your short URLs in Google Analytics. Here's a tutorial that will show you how to automatically add tracking parameters to the short URLs you create within TweetDeck.

Here's an example endpoint URL:

http://api.bit.ly/v3/shorten?login=bitlyapidemo&apiKey=R_0da49e0a9118ff35f52f629d2d71bf07
&longUrl=%@%3Futm_source%3Dtweetdeck%26utm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_campaign%3Dtweetdeck&format=txt

And here are all of the URLs we visit during the video:

Command Line King Fu

jromano@capstrat.com (John Romano) — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 11:49:31 -0400

I needed to go through a couple thousand URLs and pull the TITLE tag for each page. I knew that doing it by hand would be insane, so I stopped by the desk of Mike Artis, our systems administrator and explained what I needed.

Mike thought about it and said "Yea, I could do that."

I asked "How long do you think it would take?"

He said, "About a minute." I thought he was joking so I said thanks and walked away.

He then emailed me a command to put in my terminal (that's that scary window that allows you to access your system using typed commands). Working in the terminal is kind of like popping the hood of an old car and revving the engine by hand. I made a list of URLs and saved them in a TXT file. Opened my terminal and copied and pasted this:

cat urls.txt | while read url; do title=`perl -MLWP::Simple -e "getprint \"$url\";" | tr '\n' ' ' | awk -F"<title>" '{ print $2 }' | awk -F"</title>" '{ print $1 }' | sed -e 's/^[ \t]*//'`; echo "$url - $title"; done

Magic ensued. Out came a list of title tags and the URL of each. Amazing. And what is more is that it took him a minute and a half.

I shouldn't be telling you this though. Sys admins make it their job to tell you that requests will take two weeks when they take five minutes. But that was some serious command line King Fu and the man deserves some props.

The point is that there are power users and there are people like Mike. People who can do things on the command line waaaaay faster than you or I can do in the GUI. People who understand regex, command lines and SSH. These are the people who make things work and keep the machine running. They are necessary so that the rest of us can do our work. And I'm thankful that they are around.

Planning, budgeting and lizard-catching

lbryant@capstrat.com (Laura Bryant) — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 14:11:39 -0400

At Capstrat, we're always ready to handle whatever comes our way--including lizards.

After 1) finding this little guy in my pod, 2) screaming and 3) starting to chase after him shouting directions at anyone who would listen, a few unsuspecting coworkers spontaneously banned together to help. As you can see from the steps above, as any good Web Producer would, I 1) identified the problem, 2) communicated the issue to resources who could help and 3) made informed suggestions for how to solve the problem. :)

Just like any of our projects here at Capstrat, we prefer to draw upon a cross-functional team to get the job done right.

Involved in the chase were a Social Media expert, two Web Producers, a System's Administrator and a User Experience Designer. A special shout-out to our Analytics Director for apparently identifying him as a "Skink".

Thanks folks, as always I'm impressed with the teamwork!

Can guinea pigs be a GOOD thing?

cdorrier@capstrat.com (Claire Dorrier) — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 11:21:17 -0400

Have you ever been referred to as a guinea pig? The newbie who is being forced to test the waters? Think about how you felt. Like you were being used? Like you didn’t matter? Probably so. The connotation of a guinea pig is pretty negative.

Recently, I heard the term "guinea pig" on a commercial for Boost, a popular mobile phone carrier. A girl in her mid to late-20s was strapped for cash and couldn't afford her outrageous cell phone bill. What did she do? Offered herself up as a "guinea pig" in a clinical trial. She was injected with medicines to see if they’d work to make the extra cash she needed to pay her bills. And by the end of the ad, the poor girl’s two eyes had melded into one. Funny, right?

Well, I didn't think so. Unfortunately, it was an insensitive approach to putting a comedic spin to cell phone bills. I think Boost should take a closer look at their creative strategies. Clinical trials, the testing of new medicines to ensure safety and efficacy, are bringing breakthroughs like cancer vaccines and drugs for Alzheimer's, depression and diabetes to patients in need all over the world. Without those trials, we'd be stuck using turn-of-the-century therapies and people would be suffering from diseases because there would not be any promising treatments.

Think about a loved one who is struggling with a disease. Are you hoping that a new research breakthrough will relieve them? Or, think about someone who's living a better life because of the medicine they're taking. What would it be like without that medicine? You get the idea. If it weren't for volunteers in clinical trials, that loved one may not be with you right now. And that may sound harsh, but we, as a general population, need to re-think our perception of clinical trials. It’s not about volunteering yourself to pay a cell phone bill. Without the "guinea pigs," a.k.a. gracious volunteers and patients hoping for a breakthrough, we wouldn't be where we are today. Maybe the term "guinea pig" could be redefined as a good thing. After all, it is a cute little furry animal.

Why more is less

jromano@capstrat.com (John Romano) — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 18:20:11 -0400

Is our culture's infatuation and addiction to choices, options, and features making us unhappy? A new book by Barry Schwartz called "The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less" is suggesting just that. Schwartz, a professor of Social Theory and Social Action, says that when we are exposed to too many choices we become overwhelmed, which leads to unhappiness and even depression.

Schwartz goes on to say that we seek out the very choices that make us unhappy - that we are attracted to them, like bugs to the bug zapper.

This idea has major implications for us designers. If true, our job will be to create experiences that provide balance between stark simplicity and overwhelming complexity. We need to make users feel comfortable, in control, confident and happy by offering the perfect balance between open exploration and focus.

Check out Schwartz's book. It challenges some of our basic assumptions about choice, freedom, quantity and happiness.

Why did Google Wave goodbye?

ecarroll@capstrat.com (Evan Carroll) — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 20:49:13 -0400

Today Google announced that they are no longer going to develop Google Wave and will leave their existing site, wave.google.com online for at least the rest of the year. So why did they give up?

The task was too great.

Wave is great technology, with great potential. And that technology still has the potential to grow. It's real-time collaboration tools were frankly impressive. But despite being more collaborative, more sophisticated and more extensible, it simply was not a replacement for email.

Wave lacked the presence that email has. It's prominence on every computer and mobile device has developed over the last thirty years. That's something that even Google couldn't achieve in a short period of time.

When email was devised it was inspired by what was then known simply as mail. Now affectionately referred to as snail mail, mail served as a pattern to help people understand what email was. Books helped us understand web pages. Early graphical user interfaces grabbed hold of a desktop analogy to describe computing. I'm sure you get my point now. We learn new technology by comparing them to things we understand.

Google tried to reinvent and didn't rely upon an analogy. To me I described Wave as one part email, another part instant messaging and another part something like Google Docs. Others shared that confusion. I remember participating in early Waves that more resembled IM conversations about how to use Wave.

Perhaps if Google had attached Wave to Gmail or Google Docs, tools with presence and strong analogies, it would have seen greater adoption. In fact, the latest update to Google Docs adds Wave-like collaboration. It seems, however, that Google was aiming for a greater plateau, but perhaps the email-status was too high for them to reach. For me when I heard people say "I'd use Wave if I got an email every time it was updated," I knew it couldn't possibly replace email. So when Email notifications came out several months ago, it was the harbinger of the end.

I'll miss the talk about Wave, but I think I'll miss the Piratify bot more. As he would say, "Goodbye t' Google Wave."

Recording usability tests on the iPhone

ecarroll@capstrat.com (Evan Carroll) — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 15:26:35 -0400

This week I tackled a new challenge: usability testing for an iPhone App. As usual I put together a task-based test bookended with short interviews and a survey. Nothing new there. But in any sort of research you want to make sure that your method doesn't adversely affect the results of the test. For usability testing that means creating an experience as close to an actual user's experience as possible. For this test I wanted users to hold an actual iPhone and interact with it naturally. Using a laptop was simply not an option in my mind. This presented a unique problem for recording the test and broadcasting the screen to the next room for the live observers. Here's how I did it.

Typically I use Silverback to record on-screen tests. Silverback uses the built-in camera and microphone on the Mac to record the participant and the audio, in addition to recording the computer screen. I typically run a VNC server on the test machine so that observers in the next room can view the screen. I also set up an additional video camera and connect it to a television in the observation room. This allows observers to see video of the participant and their computer screen live while I'm recording the test using Silverback.

The iPhone doesn't have anything like Silverback, despite the new front-facing camera. So my task turned to displaying the iPhone screen on the computer screen Steve Jobs style. I used iDemo along with ScreenSplitr to accomplish this, but not before Jailbreaking my test iPhone. ScreenSplitr is only available on Jailbroken iOS devices. With the iPhone screen streaming to my computer via USB I now had a means to record the screen using Silverback. But I didn't want the participant to sit in from of a laptop for the entire test but I could sit behind the laptop and have a nice view of the iPhone screen without having to look over the participants shoulder. So now I needed a video of the participant. Using the external camera I mentioned earlier, I connected it to my laptop via FireWire (IEEE 1394). And voila! Now Silverback received video of the participant, could record the iPhone screen and I had a way to observe. I was able to also connect the camera to the observation room television via composite cables. And with the VNC connection I mentioned above, the observers could see the iPhone screen.

Here's a diagram of the setup. You can also view my photos from the testing room and the observation room.

In the end I had a solution that met all of my observation and recording needs. And most importantly, the participant was able to use the device naturally. This proved quite successful for our team and hopefully it will benefit yours too.

Blogging the Budget – Just what is this Highway Trust Fund everyone is so keen on saving?

ameehan@capstrat.com (Andrew Meehan) — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 18:19:26 -0400

As I get into the transportation section of the state budget, I'm thinking about how some budget watchers have, for years, spoken strongly against the transfer of money from the Highway Trust Fund into the state’s general fund. Our roads need all the help they can get after all. But the Highway Trust Fund (despite its seemingly all-encompassing name) is only a part of the state funding for roads. There’s also the cleverly named Highway Fund, which is in no way confusing.

North Carolina ranks second in number of miles of state roads, just behind Texas. This creates a huge financial obligation for the state. The major funding sources for state road construction and maintenance are the highway use tax (HUT), gasoline tax, and license, title and registration fees. In addition, the state receives its share of federal highway dollars. The HUT is a three percent tax on vehicle sales, established in 1989 as a replacement to sales taxes on vehicles. The HUT revenue flows into the Highway Trust Fund, which funds most major construction projects in the state. The Trust Fund also provides funding for paving of secondary roads in the state and funding for street improvements in municipalities under the Powell Bill. When the HUT was created, part of the revenue was designated to the state’s general fund to replace some of the lost sales tax revenue. But that diversion is shrinking as more legislators push for additional transportation funding. The Highway Trust Fund is budgeted for nearly $1 billion this year.

The Highway Fund (without the Trust) receives revenue from several sources, including the state’s gas tax and registration fees. It is used to fund highway maintenance, secondary road improvements, Powell Bill funds for municipalities, the Division of Motor Vehicles, public transportation and rail, and the State Highway Patrol. The Highway Fund is budgeted for nearly $1.8 billion in this fiscal year.

Because of these two dedicated funds, there is no general fund money used for road construction in North Carolina.

This year legislators also created the Mobility Fund, which will take unneeded gap funding of $39 million from the North Carolina Turnpike Authority in FY 2010-11 to fund projects selected by the Department of Transportation. The bill states that the first project will be the second phase of the Yadkin River Bridge project. In future years the Mobility Fund will receive funds freed up from phasing out the annual transfer from the Highway Trust Fund to the General Fund.

Wow. Really Clorox?

anajman@capstrat.com (Allison Najman) — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 10:58:34 -0400

As previously written, I am a big fan of Mad Men. I even stay up past my Sunday night bed time to catch the show so I can discuss it around the proverbial water cooler on Monday morning.

I love the idea that brands are tailoring their ads to the show, however, the execution needs some work. I don’t want to even talk about the horrid Dove ad that was aired last night. The ad I do want to talk about was the Clorox ad.

The ad implies that all “ad men” cheat on their spouses, girlfriends, whomever and Clorox helps them hide the evidence. I understand Clorox was trying to be edgy, but they really missed the mark. In general, Clorox targets women, so it’s really surprising, almost startling to see a brand go so far off their usual path.

First of all, laundry is still a predominantly female household task (76% of us are still responsible for the laundry in our family). As a female shopper in 2010, I am really put off by the idea of a product helping hide my partner’s infidelities.

If I were male, and especially a male that works in advertising, I would be really offended by the generalization that all men that work in advertising are having affairs and are unfaithful.

So, who is this ad targeting? Certainly not women and I would venture to say not the educated and affluent male viewers of Mad Men either. I think their intention was to appeal to the growing number of men responsible for doing laundry as people get married later and gender roles have shifted. And as a marketer, I completely understand trying to go after a new target market, but this ad feels like they are still advertising to men in the 1960’s not the 21st century.

If Clorox wants to target men as more men are responsible for laundry, that’s great, if this is the way they think they will appeal to them, I think they jumped the shark.

And by the way, full disclosure, my boyfriend does all the laundry in our house.

Experience is usability + concept

tcoats@capstrat.com (Todd Coats) — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 15:40:17 -0400

I’m fortunate to work with smart, nice people. We collaborate on solving complex problems, listen more than talk and we try to respect each other’s role. Sounds sickening doesn’t it? Don’t misunderstand it’s not always marshmallows and unicorns, we’ll battle like crazy for what we think is right. Capstrat encourages respectful, healthy debate that yields the best client ideas. Nowhere have I seen this volatile love fest bloom more than our interactive work.

There are so many reasons why. For purposes of this post, shout outs go to our great UXDs Evan Carroll and John Romano. With big love to former UXD Todd Moy too. Those guys along with the talented Cord Silverstein have helped elevate a slice of magic too often missing from user experiences on the web. The big idea. I know…GASP! Isn’t usability the kahuna of all experiences? Yes. Until you realize as long as there’s choice there’ll be a need to turn visitors into users and pedestrians into bona fide traffic. I believe the complete experience is a combination of both excellent usability and concept. Both are complex, require talent to uncover and dedication to collaboration. Our writers, designers and user experience designers prove this daily. I love working with them because of that.

“Capital letter D” design is both a verb and noun. In the world of creative for commerce both the verb of “usability” and the noun of “tangible concept” must happily coexist. Focus too much on the verb, work becomes academic and esoteric. But if the work relies too heavily on the aesthetic of elements–the noun–it’s forgettable and useless. It may be creative but not for commerce. Good design has intent and purpose. Good design works hard and demonstrates elegance in the process. I love seeing this come to life. It’s the realization of insights.

Advertisers can make Disney World even more magical

tcoats@capstrat.com (Todd Coats) — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 12:06:30 -0400

No doubt the relationship between brands and our memory is inextricable. But I just read a study that suggests it’s only the very high level, sweet love of brand essence that sits in of minds. The details are iffy. And interestingly, marketers can help shape those sweet memories, too. Researchers at the University of Nevada are testing the notion that advertisers can manipulate brand love a lot more than originally thought. Marketers can actually control your flashbacks…whoa. They wanted to know what would happen if they “implanted memories into consumers’ minds of things that never occurred?”

The researchers presented a Disney World ad to test audiences that invited them to remember the characters of their youth. Audiences that were shown the ad were significantly more likely to recall meeting a favorite Disney character than those who didn’t see it. So what, right? Well…it gets better.

See this Disney ad was completely fake. While it showed beloved Disney characters like Goofy and Mickey, it also showed Bugs Bunny. Not a Disney character at all. Funny thing is about 16 percent of viewers subsequently claimed that as a child they shook hands with Bugs Bunny at a Disney theme park. Repeated exposure to the fake ad increased the intensity of false memory recall. When asked to give specifics about meeting Bugs, 62 percent recounted shaking his hand. More than 25 percent specifically recalled him saying, “What’s up, Doc?” Particularly funny since everyone knows Disney characters don’t speak.

So, our memories are imperfect. We desire to live in that awesome land of, “Less filling, taste great.” It’s this imperfection of memories that allows us to believe Old Spice is cool again. Because we want it to be cool so badly. Manipulation? Probably. But I believe it proves to marketers that a consistent brand message over time is paramount. While product specifications tend to be forgettable, it’s the sweet spot that tickles the consumers’ emotional response.

Connectivity is overrated

cmataxis@capstrat.com (Carson Mataxis) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 21:49:56 -0400

I just walked into subway to get my five dollar foot long. It's cheap, healthy AND delicious.

As I was filling up my half sweet/half unsweet tea I looked around the restaurant. There were three people in there eating their late lunches and staring at their mobile devices. They're reading e-mails or checking the news or adding friends on Facebook or even letting the twittersphere know that they're eating lunch at Subway. A question hit me like a pile of bricks.... is this a good thing? Are they really more connected?

These days there are more ways than ever to stay in touch, to communicate and to form connections. So are we? I remember a day when you would walk into a restaurant like Subway and people would look up from their food and greet you with a smile or even just passing eye contact. It seems those days are over. The era of virtual connectivity has put an end to spontaneous human connection.

At least at 2 o'clock pm on a Friday in Subway.

Blogging the State Budget – Dept. of Things You Didn’t Know Needed Solving

ameehan@capstrat.com (Andrew Meehan) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 17:37:25 -0400

The funding numbers are the most important aspects of the state budget crafted by the General Assembly. But every year there are also several special, unexpected provisions that govern state policy on a range of issues. That’s why it pays to read the whole thing.

For example, do you want to re-name a local state road after a recent military veteran? Apparently, that is tougher than you would think. See, there are lots of veterans. There are more veterans than roads to name them after. So you can understand (I guess) the Department of Transportation’s apparent prohibition on roads named after specific veterans – saves them time to handle things like planning and building the roads that we desperately need.

But one of the state’s legislators must have said, “well, we understand that and all, but we like our veterans and there are many recent veterans who are heroes. Maybe we should name a few more roads after them. So, figure it out DOT.”

And that’s how we get this provision that you wouldn’t expect to see in a state budget:

ADJUST ROAD NAMING POLICY SECTION 28.4. The Department of Transportation shall remove the existing prohibition on naming State roads after specific military veterans and shall adopt a policy for naming highways after specific military veterans. This new policy shall be part of the Department of Transportation's existing system for naming State roads after people. […]

Good luck DOT!

For mobile marketing, it's (still) about the network

sjohnston@capstrat.com (Shane Johnston) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 09:15:55 -0400

In 1999 I joined Sprint PCS. One of my first projects was to launch the T3000 – a mobile phone aimed squarely at the business segment. And, with a $700 price tag, business segment meant “executives.” The phone was a modern mobile miracle – you could actually synchronize your contacts and calendar to the phone – as long as it was tethered to your PC. And yes, it had to be a PC – no Macs allowed. At the time smartphones made up approximately 00.00% of the market. The term hadn’t even been invented yet.

About a couple of years later I had the privilege of using one of the first air cards. People in airports marveled as I pulled out the PC Card (this was before USB ports), unfolded the tiny antennae, and accessed the Internet at a blazing 14.4 kbps max (this was before airport Wi-Fi – or any Wi-Fi). I’d proudly show how I could access my Exchange server at work wirelessly – if onlookers had about 10 minutes to wait. Oh, and no support for Macs again.

These scenarios are laughable today. If it takes more than half a second for the screen on your iPhone, Droid, or Blackberry to materialize you’re taking it back to the store. Access to email, contacts, and calendar information is ubiquitous. Users measure the value of their smartphones by the user experience and the size of their application stores, with Apple’s iPhone leading the way at 160,000+ applications.

Now, 25% to 35% of all mobile phones in the U.S. market are smartphones. These devices are expected to increase over 500% in new sales from 2010 into 2011. Although RIM Blackberries still have the largest market share, Apple’s iPhone is credited with the huge upswing in smartphone sales – and rightfully so, bringing a completely new and much more friendly user experience to mobile web browsing and application use. iPhone holds second place in market share and Google’s Android platform, in third place, is actually the fastest growing smartphone platform in 2010.

But no matter what smartphone you use; web browsing, application performance, messaging, access to emails and calendars are all inherently dependent on one thing: network performance. When diving into the mobile marketing world you need to ask two questions with respect to networks:

1) Where is my target market?

Is your market concentrated in big cities, small towns, or rural areas? And which big cities? High speed wireless data access is still not widely available in small towns and rural areas. And the user experience could vary from city to city – just ask an iPhone user in New York City compared to Chicago and you’ll get wildly different responses (recall that AT&T temporarily shut down sales of iPhones in New York City earlier this year due to the burden on their network). You will need to tailor your mobile marketing and applications to fit your typical user’s access speeds.

2) How is my target market most likely going to access my content?

Does your target hang out at coffee shops and airports – almost all of which provide Wi-Fi access today? Or do they work in the field and depend on 3G speeds? Or, over-lapping with the question above, do your field targets work in cities with newly launched wireless 4G services offered by companies like Clear? You need to be aware of the bandwidth required for the applications you are making for your targets.

It may not seem like network technology and coverage should concern marketers when making decisions about expanding their brand to the mobile world. But remember this the next time you hear someone complaining about how poorly an application performs on their iPhone or why their mobile website looks so bad on a Blackberry.

For a comprehensive review of mobile marketing come back to capstrat.com to view our darticle on the topic coming out soon.

Commentary on Mad Men shenanigans

vingram@capstrat.com (Virginia Ingram) — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 09:44:21 -0400

This blog post is in response to Allison's article 'Mad Men Shenanigans.' I have a different interpretation of the episode. What follows is a rebuttal to Allison's article on the Public Relations episode of Mad Men.

I love the show and I love the commentary on the industry. I also love the idea of a debate!

I am not so sure the publicity stunt was unethical - though there were plenty of unethical situations surrounding the story.

There are three press pitches referenced in the episode.

The interview of Don in Ad Age.
The story about the two women fighting over the ham in the Daily News.
The interview of Don in the Wall Street Journal.

I think the PR reference is related to all three of the news stories - and not as much about the publicity stunt.

Don interview #1: This reporter made up facts because Don didn't give him a story. Inexcusable.
The ham story: This reporter had a story - albeit fabricated - but took a bribe and reported on a story as if it were fact. Reporting on fiction as fact is inexcusable - unless there were plans to reveal the full story at a later date (and that was def. not the case). Taking a bribe is also inexcusable. But the stunt itself was okay. It's okay to stage a situation to get attention. IT IS NOT OKAY TO REPORT ON IT AS FACT.
Don interview #2: This reporter was called in to do an interview after Don realized that:
a. he couldn't lower his standards to deliver creative that would make the Janzen client happy and
b. to give a real story and boost awareness of his new agency.

Peggy, Pete and Joey got lucky the ham incident didn't turn into a story about the story, but it also sounds like the client made some missteps in their rollout strategy. Two of the four stores that carried the hams were in Jewish neighborhoods. It also sounds like the client dictated the creative to the point that Peggy and Joey thought the work was compromised - but that is probably just the egos of the Sterling Cooper Draper Price employees talking.

I think the lesson here is that if you call in the press, you better be:

prepared to deliver a story
you better be certain the reporter you speak with will do his homework
sure you contact a reputable reporter

Perhaps the Daily News - in 1960 - could be equated to blogs today?

Update July 28, 2010 - Read Virginia Ingram's Rebuttal.

Treasure for a word geek

mlance@capstrat.com (Mindy Lance) — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:02:41 -0400

When you spend your waking hours putting words together, it helps to have a few tried and true tools when you can’t decide if logon is one word or two. So imagine my delight if you can when I discovered the Yahoo! Style Guide. It includes all the terms I can never find in a dictionary or AP (e.g., 24/7) or didn’t agree with (ok, AP did finally switch to website). Plus, you’ll find tips to help you save face when you meet with the Web team: “hyperlink: one word, but the term is dated. Use link instead.”

Yahoo! offers counsel on Web writing, editing, SEO basics and more. A primary feature of the guide is the Word List, which is enlightening and extensive even in its abridged version. It still preaches periods in e.g. and no hyphens in check out when used as a verb. But it also takes seriously new meanings and styling, including Web terms that Webster’s wouldn’t recognize: alt text, CAPTCHA and mashup, and technoterms such as BlackBerry, dingbat and beta. Unfortunately, we’re using those words all the time to discuss, describe and comment on what’s happening on our screens and in our conversations.

As fast as society is changing – think the warp-speed of evolving technology – the arbiters of style need to work overtime to keep up. Thanks to their attention to how new words and meaning fit into our language, we can negotiate a jungle of jargon before it overtakes our communications.

Funny thing though: To see the entire Yahoo! Style Guide, you have to buy the book in printed form. I expected to have to buy an online subscription of “Yahoo’s guide to the Internet age.” Ironic, huh? Guess they still believe in the old-fashioned format.

Mad Men shenanigans

anajman@capstrat.com (Allison Najman) — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 15:30:24 -0400

It is almost a prerequisite to watch Mad Men if you work at an agency. Although, I started watching the show from the beginning, way before I worked at an agency, the show has even more context to me now. Let’s take this example from the season premiere (spoiler alert), aptly titled “Public Relations.”

Peggy, Pete and Peggy’s new creative partner Joey concoct a scheme to help boost sales of Sugarberry Ham near Thanksgiving by paying two actresses to fight over a ham in a grocery store. The story gets picked up in newspapers and ta-da more hams are sold. Beyond the agency and actresses, no one knew this was a stunt, including the client. In the end Peggy tells Don, he should tell the client and thinks the client would be impressed because they increased sales. There is a fatal flaw in that statement, yes, increasing sales is important, but it is not the only goal and should not be attained at any cost. As a client, I would not be impressed.

Maybe not in 1964, but in 2010 fabricating news is considered unethical. As Pete and Peggy discussed why the agency doesn’t do these types of stunts, their discussion was around being able to bill it, not the ethics. Even in 1964, if it ever got out this was a stunt, rather than an organic event, the brand would be humiliated and have a lot of damage control to do. As a client, Peggy and Pete should have considered what the client would think about playing so fast and loose with their brand and reputation. Today, someone would probably get fired over this type of tactic as they should. It’s dishonest and deceptive.

I am not saying publicity stunts don’t happen, look at Richard Branson or Steve Jobs, but we know the difference between real news and publicity. And when a “news” stunt does get uncovered, people feel betrayed and angry (balloon boy anyone?). The last thing you want as a brand is for people to feel betrayed and angry at you .

Regardless of being 1964 or 2010, Don’s instinct of trying “to stay away from these kinds of shenanigans” is spot on. If you can’t increase sales by legitimate marketing strategies and tactics, then you are not being creative enough.

A look at Shark Week

vingram@capstrat.com (Virginia Ingram) — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 22:36:16 -0400

I've been watching a lot of Dirty Jobs on the Discovery Channel lately. It's summer. There are no new shows. And I have a giant crush on Mike Rowe.

Over the past two weeks, I've seen a lot of promotional commercials for Discovery Channel's upcoming Shark Week (beginning August 1). I've heard about it for years. I've seen aquariums jump on the bandwagon. Why does Shark Week exist? And how could there be a sustainable audience for 23 years? With the premiere week 12 years after Jaws.

Shark lovers seem to think they have shark week to educate people on shark safety, but there is still some sensationalism and some debate.

Though my fears are unfounded, I am too fearful of shark attacks to watch. But I think the inventors are genius:

Sharks are universally known, feared and revered.
The Discovery Channel created a holiday week that will have controversy and discussion every year.
Non-fatal shark attacks are frequent enough that a tie in to a real event or story is possible.
The Discovery Channel shows the same shows every year, only adding a handful of new programs.
The Discovery Channel has created an arsenal of reusable promotional materials to entertain those interested.
As a viewer, you may watch to learn what you should do if you see a shark or you may watch to see scary footage - but with 24 hour programming 7 days a week, there is something for everyone.

Though I am not sure I will understand the precise goals of Shark Week, with almost 30 million viewers Discovery Channel was on to something.

Brand engagement

Capstrat — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 17:09:31 -0400

Organizations spend considerable amounts of money, time and energy to promote and protect the value of their brand, and rightly so. A company’s brand carries a big load. It’s not only an indicator of the origin or quality of an offering; it’s personally meaningful, providing emotional and social value for customers. To get full value from your brand, keep in mind that a big part of it walks out the door every evening and returns the next morning. Employees bear the torch for your brand. It’s up to you whether they carry it proudly, or drag it behind them on the ground. Follow these guidelines to keep employees holding the torch high.

Brand engagement is a marathon. Too many organizations launch a short-term promotional campaign to excite and energize employees around brand and think the results will be long-lasting. One and done is not enough. True brand engagement requires organizational change, where the brand culture is ingrained in the organization’s systems, behaviors and symbols. Consider how you can infuse your brand into daily organizational life – meeting agendas, PowerPoint decks, performance management, rewards and recognition – anything that touches your employees.

Brand engagement must be internalized. Posters, videos and other communication channels help convey the brand and culture, but they’re not enough. Real brand engagement comes from within an employee. If your employees don’t identify with the brand and feel like they’re a part of it, how can they convince customers to believe your brand has value? Ongoing engagement data through vehicles such as employee engagement surveys, culture audits and employee input sessions signal where your brand is resonating with employees and where it’s falling short.

Brand engagement starts at the top. Employees closely watch – and mimic – their leaders. And they sense hollow talk pretty quickly, so executives from the CEO on down need to be walking examples of what your brand means. It’s great when leaders naturally adopt their role as brand poster child, but even top leaders can benefit from coaching. Invest in regular executive and manager training to keep brand behavior and culture top of mind.

Sounds easy, right? Of course not. Brand engagement takes time, energy and commitment. But your efforts will pay off in spades in terms of employee productivity and retention, satisfied, loyal customers and a healthy bottom line.

Media relations

Capstrat — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 17:08:38 -0400

Challenge

Workplace Options, a global provider of work-life benefits and employee support services, helps companies increase employee productivity, reduce absenteeism and retain top talent by helping implement work-life programs. Their challenge? In a tough economy, companies are looking to reduce rather than add employee benefits. Workplace Options needed to remind employers of the often overlooked business benefits associated with offering employees work-life and other wellbeing services. To increase awareness within the C-suite and drive sales, Workplace Options sought media coverage beyond the usual trade journals reaching human resource managers.

Our Thinking

To earn the attention of mainstream news media, Capstrat recommended a series of branded Workplace Options polls on work-life service topics such as child care, wellness initiatives and employer-sponsored training to gain insights into employee sentiments. Using statistics from the monthly polls, Capstrat turned data into coverage with targeted pitching to mainstream media.

As economic woes reverberated on Wall Street, Capstrat further leveraged Workplace Options’ polls by publicizing the personal and professional tolls of the economic crisis. Workplace Options produced several polls focused on economic concern, its effects in the workplace and on employees’ sense of job security. Capstrat researched national media coverage trends on the economic crisis and determined which reporters were covering the issue and also potential gaps in coverage. Our analysis informed Workplace Options’ poll topics.

Results

Workplace Options’ polling series gained coverage in top-tier news outlets including The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Inc.com, MSNBC, CNBC, Information Week and Crain’s Business. In total, WPO earned nearly 70 media placements in one year. In addition to detailing the challenges employees across the nation were facing in the workplace, the polls helped build the case for how work-life benefits, such as Workplace Options’ programs and services, could help increase employee job satisfaction.

Several top-tier clients and potential clients referenced the positive coverage in discussions with Workplace Options. The company anecdotally cites the coverage as a part of the increase in business. Based on the success of this program, Workplace Options has now expanded the Capstrat’s media outreach scope to the United Kingdom and Canada.

Kicking It Old-School – The phone

lhester@capstrat.com (Lilyn Hester) — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:33:50 -0400

After religiously watching the Sunday talking-head programs – CNN, "Meet The Press," "This Week," "Face the Nation" – discuss the Shirley Sherrod issue, I found one comment by Face the Nation’s Bob Schieffer really brought the issue home: Check the facts and pick up the phone.

Journalists, editors and copy editors have tried-and-true rules for doing their fact-checking: Assume nothing. Get confirmations. Be accurate. Be thorough. Be fair. Check and double-check information. Often, even in our digital era, this work will be done on the telephone. Schieffer, a self-described “old media” journalist, was taken aback by the lack of simple effort from some of his colleagues.

Yes, it sounds a bit old-school. But investing in a few moments of first-person Q and A will provide more insight than any string of emails and Tweets. I did it when I was a reporter. I do it now in my PR work. I never assume a thing.

When Andrew Breitbart’s now-infamous Sherrod video went viral and then mainstream, a simple call to Sherrod would have made all the difference in the word. The conversation could have gone a little like this:

‘Hi, I’m (insert name here) with (insert media outlet here) and I’m writing a story about your firing (or insert other angle here). I’ve watched Breitbart’s video. Do you think that you were represented fairly in that video? Answer from Sherrod: ‘No! That wasn’t the entire video. Please go to (insert source) and review the whole thing in its entirety. I was misrepresented.”

A Columbia Journalism Review story “After the Storm: How the Sherrod story came up in print” provides some insight on the story, but it goes even deeper – actually questioning why folks from the Obama Administration to the NAACP were so quick to react and how journalists missed the mark.

There are many teachable moments from this, but I’ve always on the side of being inquisitive, asking questions and checking the authenticity of information. Yes, I know in a social media world this may seem old-school, but that’s how I roll.

If you’d like to reach to me, please feel free to call at 919-882-1979.

I don’t “Like” Facebook

anajman@capstrat.com (Allison Najman) — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 10:45:52 -0400

I am the first to admit I am not the biggest Facebook fan (pun intended). I like knowing there is one place I can keep in touch with people when I want to instead of having to email/call people individually and find old high school friends, but my dislike of Facebook comes down to one word: segmentation.

Like everyone else, I have a hierarchy of relationships and I should be able to segment those relationships on Facebook.

Facebook does allows you to segment your friends for your privacy settings and sharing which is great, but what I don’t understand is why I can’t segment my news feed. I hate that news feeds are all or nothing, I either always want to see person’s updates or never. WTF? In the age of personalization, I want to be able to segment who I want to see and when. Without lists and segmentation, Twitter would be completely unmanageable for me, which is what Facebook is to me.

I have mostly kept Facebook to be close personal friends, because those are the people I don’t want to miss anything in their feed, but as Facebook has grown, more casual contacts have requested to be friends. Not that I don’t want to see their updates, I just want to be able to prioritize the updates I see and not miss the updates of my family and closest friends.

Until segmenting for news feed becomes a feature or there is a replacement for Facebook with this feature, sorry friends, my Facebook interactions will be limited.

How do you manage your Facebook friends?

Edit: So, there is a way to segment friends, is there a way to have one of those lists as your default feed? I still find Facebook overly complicated to use.

The Michelin Man and the Gorilla

vingram@capstrat.com (Virginia Ingram) — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 19:42:33 -0400

I've always loved music. I've DJ'ed in several capacities: at multiple weddings, at a classic rock radio station and at two separate college radio stations. But when I picked up my TV-and-Internet-at-the-same-time habit, I gave up a lot of my music listening activities.

You may have read an earlier article about giving up an indulgent TV-and-Internet-at-the-same-time habit. A side benefit? I have rediscovered listening to music in my freetime. And I have had time to write an article that ties my music passion back to my dayjob.

My taste in music is odd. It is either independent label rock (indie rock) or the sugary-est most popular pop music that is currently on the radio (yes, I LOVE the Black Eyed Peas - judge away). Over the years, I've noticed that people with my taste in indie music work in advertising.

The Sea and Cake and Citibank encouraged us to spend our money wisely in 2009.

The Magnetic Fields have helped advertisers sell diamonds (Helzberg diamonds early 2000) and dog food (Cesar dog food commercial in 2006).

In 2006 Of Montreal encouraged us to go Outback tonight. (This commercial was played so often I had to add some additional Of Montreal albums to my collection)

My latest discovery? A song very similar to a Gorillaz song has appeared in a Michelin Man commercial.

I unapologetically love this. The indie bands get to make some money, without selling out. And advertisers and most TV-commercial consumers get to hear great music on commercials without screwing with our memories (an article by Todd that discusses the use of popular songs on TV commercials).

I got dumped via Facebook?

lbryant@capstrat.com (Laura Bryant) — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 15:47:28 -0400

When I wake up in the morning, I don't like to talk, especially not before I've had my diet soda. Hence, I am not a fan of morning radio talk shows. However, this morning my attention was grabbed before I was able to flip over from FM to my "commute CD". Yes, I have one of those and no, I'm not going to tell you what it is. Although to be clear, if in the throws of launching my company's website, it consists of a CD made with 12 tracks of the Rocky theme song. But I digress.

Today the topic of conversation on this particular radio station was getting dumped virtually. I was floored by the number of people calling in and saying that they had been broken up with via Facebook. Can you imagine finding out that your relationship is over via your news feed? "{Insert your ex's name here} is now single." Really? Even a certified Facebook professional such as myself finds this ridiculous.

We've got an office full of savvy Facebook users. I am curious, do you know anyone who has been dumped via Facebook? In a population where both your 60 year old mother and your 6 year old cousin have Facebook accounts, what does this mean for the future of dating, relationships and even marriage?

Why I am glad I am not a Mad (Wo)Man

vingram@capstrat.com (Virginia Ingram) — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 19:47:44 -0400

It's easy to get caught up in the AMC series Mad Men, the characters are flawed, glamorous and brilliant. I celebrate the notion that great creative, paired with a great product, can move the needle on sales and awareness. BUT, despite all that they have right, it is important to look at how far we have advanced over the past 50 years.

On Mad Men research does not impact the work. In early episodes, Don Draper throws away research on the harmful effects of tobacco. Other than focus groups, research is not mentioned. It seems that research is used only if it is convenient. You'd get in a lot of trouble for that today.

The work/life balance is very different. On Mad Men the staff places their job at a higher level of importance than their family. Today we make sacrifices for our jobs, are rarely away from our Blackberries and iPhones and always work more than 40 hours per week, but I have a hard time believing an ENTIRE agency would work on a holiday as they do one July 4th at Sterling Cooper.

The constant party would be tiring. I am glad I don't have 3 martinis while at lunch. I'd either not be able to drink all three drinks, or be a wreck when I went back to the office. Either way it would be embarrassing and unproductive. There is no way I could hang. Who wants to blend work with a party?

I am glad I don't have to golf to win over clients. In one of my favorite episodes a rising star at the agency gets his foot run over by a John Deere. His career is proclaimed to be over. Thank goodness my performance is not based on my golf game. I've spent most of my golfing career learning how to caddy. I still can't golf worth a damn, but I make a great caddy.

If a show were made in 2060 about advertising in 2010 what would they say?

Can you believe people typed in 2010?
Can you believe people carried more than one device?
Look at the size of that computer!!
Look at what this bunch of nobodies did to transform the industry!!

The “Extraordinary” Power of the Legislative Pen

ameehan@capstrat.com (Andrew Meehan) — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 14:08:11 -0400

The 2010 state budget fully displayed the Legislature's ability to make huge changes with just a few words. The North Carolina General Assembly was well into its budget process when word began to come out of Washington, DC that Congress might not authorize an extension of the enhanced Federal Medicaid Assistance Program (FMAP) originally passed under the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA). That’s a bit of alphabet soup that could mean something huge for North Carolina -- $518 million dollars that state budget writers were counting on would be gone from the coffers.

Rather than completely restart the budget process, House and Senate leadership decided to come up with a contingency plan during final negotiations. Out of the final budget’s nearly 400 pages (the legislation and the money report) came just a few lines, under the title “Extraordinary measures to address the potential loss of federal funds.” Just a few lines that prioritize cuts representing 2.7 percent of the budget:

(1) Transfer from the Disaster Relief Reserve Fund established in S.L. 2005-1 $ (30,000,000)
(2) Transfer of unclaimed lottery prize money and excess receipts (35,000,000)
(3) Use of interest from all other funds (50,000,000)
(4) Use of balance in General Fund Availability (23,469,157)
(5) Reduction of Medicaid Provider rates (26,618,975)
(6) Use of funds from the Savings Reserve Fund (37,307,714)
(7) Reduction in Retirement System contributions (139,000,000)
(8) One percent (1%) Management Flexibility Reduction (177,500,000)

It’s looking increasingly likely that Congress won’t come through with FMAP funding, leaving dozens of states with budgets to adjust. The above list is the order in which North Carolina will make its cuts, with the last $177 million in cuts being left up to individual agencies.

NC's investment in conservation brings in the green

agauss@capstrat.com (Anna Marshall Gauss) — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 16:39:01 -0400

When it comes to reaping the economic benefits of conservation, North Carolina excels as a national leader. That’s why federal officials came to Asheville on July 15 to learn about how the state’s conservation efforts can be used to model national efforts.

Approximately 400 Conservation groups and their allies gathered with federal, state and local officials for a listening session, part of President Obama’s “America’s Great Outdoors Initiative”, to receive input on how the federal government can be a helpful partner in conserving more land and reconnecting American families to nature.

That’s right – they came to listen.

The purpose of the 20-city listening session tour is to develop a 21st century conservation and recreation agenda. Federal officials are charged with compiling feedback from community and conservation leaders across the nation on conservation successes, challenges, and needs and how federal government can be a more effective partner in conservation and recreation efforts, and in “reconnecting people to the outdoors.” The information that they gather will be compiled into a report and presented to President Obama on November 15, 2010.

Conservation leaders discussed how smart conservation and recreation projects are benefiting our local economies. Did you know that active outdoor recreation generates more than $7.5 billion in revenues annually to North Carolina’s economy and supports 95,000 jobs?

Our state legislators recognize the economic return on investment in conservation and recreation. Even in a tough budget year, funding for our state’s four conservation trust funds was included in the budget. But times are still tough and next year will be tougher. Now more than ever, North Carolina needs the federal government as a reliable partner for conservation funding to fill gaps in state and local budgets.

The listening session also tapped into a passion for conservation in North Carolina. Tom Strickland, assistant Interior secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks, was taken aback by that passion – he even wishes he could “bottle it up and spread it around the country.”

North Carolina is in a better position that most to put federal conservation dollars to good use. I hope they took good notes…

Click here for more information on the listening session and the “America’s Great Outdoors Initiative.”

Why you need community management training

aconnor@capstrat.com (Angela Connor) — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 12:12:39 -0400

Managing an online community is one of the toughest jobs in the social media space. It requires much more than most people think, including a distinct skill set that is often realized a little late in the game by the person doing the job. And once realized, that person, who is charged with managing, growing and nurturing the community may decide they're not up to it at all or that it simply isn't what they bargained for.

I don't find fault with those people, because it is a job for tireless individuals who are deeply passionate about the community and willing to fail often just to see mild success. And that's tough for a lot of people. The good thing is that you can learn to be very good at managing online communities if you'd like and you don't have to be born with all of the skills that I deem crucial for success, though having most of them, is ideal.

First off, let me be clear about those skills I'm referencing. Here's an excerpt from a blogpost I wrote on this very topic in April of last year, after having managed an online community for two years. Keep in mind that it was written after a particularly rough day, but there can be many of those and you have to be prepared to cope.

"...I’m talking about razor-sharp interpersonal communication skills, the ability to exhibit an enormous amount of tact, an extremely thick skin and a boatload of compassion for people you would rather not give an ounce. Did I mention grace under presssure, courage under fire, openness to criticism and tolerance beyond belief?"

I went on and on throughout that post about it being time to be open and honest about what it takes to manage and grow an online community, largely because I felt it was being sugar-coated by people with great influence in social media. It still is in my opinion, and that's why the training I provide is steeped in reality and one of the main reasons several chapters in my book about online community management deal with the tough issues that a lot of people never truly discuss.

It's never too late to for this type of training, regardless of the stage of your community. It's great to have in the beginning for guidance on seeding content, developing relationships, attracting new members, and growing the community overall, but it's also good when you're looking to regroup, revamp or move on to the next phase. Perhaps you've been without a community manager and want to figure out what kinds of interactive features or editorial franchises might be of interest to the masses. There is always an opportunity to learn and do more and sometimes a fresh set of eyes is all it takes for that new perspective and ideas that will change the community dynamic.

So that's why I think you, or someone within your organization needs community management training. The question is, will you go and get it. I know someone who knows someone, who can help you out. :-)

What does healthcare quality mean to you?

cdorrier@capstrat.com (Claire Dorrier) — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 10:13:17 -0400

To me, quality means the best of the best, not skimping on important features or details no matter the product or service. When purchasing a TV, many engaged consumers will read consumer reviews, ask their electronically savvy friends or family, and talk with a sales man about what’s the best buy. Quality is important, but so is price, ease of use, aesthetics, etc.

But what about more important decisions like choosing a healthcare provider? Does quality cross your mind? What are you looking for? How do you even gauge the quality of your local doctors? To be honest, for me, quality in healthcare is primarily my satisfaction in our relationship. I have never put a critical eye to my doctors' qualifications and credentials. Instead, I just turn to friends for recommendations. I just assume the doctor is good if they went to med school and are empathetic and kind to me. But recently, I learned there's much more to quality than that - and it can be extremely important in life or death situations.

Did you know there are new scientific guidelines released regularly for doctors and hospitals to follow even the simplest of processes? And it's not even a requirement to follow these, but instead voluntary! For example, if your parent or spouse is being rushed to the hospital for a heart attack the provider should determine if angioplasty is necessary and get the patient to the OR within 90 minutes for the best outcome. Or if you’re being discharged after a stroke, you should receive ample time with the provider to go over a recovery plan and your medication list to avoid simple mistakes such as conflicting prescriptions. With limited resources, hospitals are overlooking the simple things that could be damaging to your health and cause re-admittance to the hospital - higher costs, worse health and more heartaches. According to the New England Journal of Medicine, one in five Medicare patients return to the hospital within 30 days of discharge. Yikes!

The American Heart Association, among other organizations, is an advocate for patients. They offer certifications to hospitals following heart-related guidelines, and continuously track progress by monitoring patient data. And it's saving lives. A study last fall found that 355 high-complying hospitals in the program had slightly lower 30-day mortality rates for heart failure and heart attack patients than nonparticipants, which would translate into 1,800 to 3,500 lives saved a year if all U.S. hospitals met the same standards. Of course, following guidelines may not be the end-all-be-all to your health, but it's certainly worth some more research to make sure your doctor is providing the best care and paying attention to important guidelines and processes.

Take a look at this NY Times article for some tips on taking charge. Are you doing enough to measure how your doctor treats you? Make sure you do your homework, so when an emergency arises (hoping it doesn't) you know what to ask and how to advocate for your health.