If you are promoting your expertise in social media a few things you might want to stay away from:

#1) Spamming people

#2) Not replacing the placeholder with an actual name

Yes, you read that right. The email spam I received was addressed to “Firstname_Placeholder.”

Mad Men continues to include real issues faced by advertising (and yes PR firms) in an incredible show. If I wasn’t in this industry, I’m sure I would still be a fan of the show, but for me I get a bonus. I get to watch situations I encounter all the time dealt with by others.  This week’s episode, “The Grown Ups,” was no exception.

The big theme in agency issues this week was the theory that it’s better to be part of a good team than on no team at all. This played out in two different story lines, one between Paul Kinsey and Peggy Olson and the other between Ken Cosgrove and Pete Campbell.

The Paul and Peggy issue came up two weeks ago in “The Color Blue,” when Paul confronted Peggy and accused her of piggybacking on his ideas.  During a working session later in the episode together they come up with a winning idea for Western Union.  Paul’s face at the time didn’t really say if he was incredibly impressed by what Peggy had come up with as a result of Paul’s input or if he was flabbergasted that she had stepped on his head on the way up the ladder once again.

This week we see Paul and Peggy working together in her office and he has moved into a role where he treats her as “one of the boys,” as evidenced by his wink and comment that he “knows a nooner when he hears one,” and is no longer threatened by her. I like to think that he has realized that he has limitations as a copywriter and she makes him better and knows that to succeed his best bet is try and work with her to create great work as opposed to being in direct competition.

Continuing on the thread of competition, there has been an ongoing competition between Ken Cosgrove and Pete Campbell as to who would emerge as the single head of account services after they were both given co-head of accounts titles early in the season.  This week the decision is made and according to Lane Pryce (formerly known as the representative of the British Overlords) while Pete is “excellent at making clients feel their needs are being met,”"Mr. Cosgrove,” Lane explains, “has the rare gift of making them feel as if they haven’t any needs.”

This is an important difference and one completely lost on Pete.  He feels that since he kept billings up near where Cosgrove did he must be doing as good of a job.  The lesson is that if you are doing just what the client asks that means they have to ask, but if you are taking care of everything and making things seems effortless for the client, they don’t feel like they have to ask.

This situation can backfire in some situations as some clients may start to believe that since all of these things ‘just work,” that anyone can do it.  But in this case, so far, the only backfire is on Campbell who takes that he wasn’t chosen for the promotion very personally and retreats to the solace of his darkened apartment and leftovers and several stiff drinks.

If you find yourself part of a good team, grab on, contribute to the best of your ability and enjoy the ride.

Creating content people want to watch. Everyone wants to do it, but it’s not easy. I mean look at Eddie Murphy’s last nine movies.  It’s not easy.

AdAge just wrote about how big brands including MasterCard, Best Buy and Coldwell Banker are creating content direct for consumers, and not waiting for media to distribute it.One thing I noticed in the article. Not all of the companies are making content that I think is helpful.  Two of them are.

Below are some of the examples:

In the article the Best Buy representative says, “”For [Geek Squad], the move to create content was partly about filling the void left by the change in the media landscape,” Ms. Baldwin said. “But it was also about filling a willingness we perceived in our customers for more access to Geek Squad’s knowledge.”

And MasterCard, “has also taken to the web with video interviews of its executives. Andrew Foote, senior VP in the digital media practice at WPP’s Cohn & Wolfe, MasterCard’s PR agency, said unlike three to five years ago when web content had to be polished and professionally produced, MasterCard has gone the low-production route. It’s taping its executives using Flip video camcorders, editing the video on laptops and uploading them to YouTube.”

Here’s the thing, make good content.  Interviews with credit card executives aren’t exactly good content. Find out what is.  Then do it. Don’t do what everyone else is doing. Make something good, and people will watch it.

It doesn’t matter what it, but in this case it’s start doing your own social media for your business.  I had breakfast this morning with a former client and old friend.

He has a staff, but just started a blog, focused on something he knows a bit about, high school coaches.  His reason for starting the blog? He wants to know how they really work before he asks his staff to dive in.  Good leadership and cool, simple idea for the blog. Check it out.

Several friends who run small businesses ask me how Facebook can help them. Below is a great example from a recent LA Times article.

“That’s because more than 70,000 people have declared themselves fans of Sprinkles’ Facebook page, which has its own “vanity URL” at www.facebook.com /sprinkles.

Each day on the website, Sprinkles announces a secret word, such as “ganache,” or “bunny,” or “tropical,” or “love,” and the first 25 or 50 people to show up at any of its five stores and whisper that word get a free cupcake.”

Cupcakes.

I went to college in Stockton. I have a soft spot for the place, even if it is one of the most violent cities in the country.  I like to see positive stories, come out of Stockton, and a few days ago I ran across one.  How about a young medical student who invents an iPhone app to help detect heart murmurs, which he then sells? Yeah, that sounds like a pretty good one.

Read about Michael “Fuj” Fujinaka and iMurmur in the Stockton Record. Way to go Fuj!

I’m a fan of the TV show “Dirty Jobs,” and the host, Mike Rowe.  Last winter I spoke at the annual conference for the Western Fair Association.  I met a lot of people at that conference, and heard a lot of great stories. But the absolute coolest story I heard was from Nancy Riegler.  She and her husband Gil raise camels at the Oasis Camel Dairy in San Diego County, and when I met her she had just heard that Dirty Jobs was going to be visiting their ranch to film an upcoming show.

Nancy wrote about the shooting on her blog, and tonight the episode aired. It was awesome to see someone I had met on one of my favorite shows. In the clip below, you can learn about a traditional cure for dysentary. Note, that I don’t recommend watching this immediately after eating.

I think at some point in my life, I might need to switch careers to some sort of dirty job.

Mad Men continues to include real issues faced by advertising (and yes PR firms) in an incredible show. If I wasn’t in this industry, I’m sure I would still be a fan of the show, but for me I get a bonus. I get to watch situations I encounter all the time dealt with by others.  This week’s episode, “The Gypsy and the Hobo,” was no exception.

There was one major professional topic in the office this week, Caldecott Farms. It seems that Caldecott Farms was a Sterling Cooper client for a long time, until a personal relationship between Roger Sterling and Annabelle Mathis, nee’ Caldecott, soured.  At the time both companies were being run by Roger and Annabelle’s fathers.  Now, 30 years later, things have changed.

Caldecott Farms, which makes dog food from horse meat, is reeling from a negative public perception due to the recent film, The Misfits, (not to be confused with The Misfits who were Glenn Danzig’s first band-yes he did in fact make music before “Mother”), in which Clark Gable plays an aging horse rustler who steals and sells horses that are made into dog food.

Annabelle describes the situation as, ” Caldecott Farms had a public relations crisis followed by disastrous sales.”

The client would like to create a new name for horse meat.  She makes the point that cow meat is called “beef,” chicken is called “poultry,” etc.

The rules are that you can’t change the recipe of the product, or the name of the product.  Don Draper describes this as a “tall order.”

How tall it is is seen when the client and team are watching a focus group of consumers with their dogs who seem to be loving the food they are eating. When the focus group participants are told what the food is, the react angrily and denounce the company and the product.

The client is visibly shaken.  Here’s the issue. There wasn’t a plan in place to deal with that.  When someone is that close to a product, the company was founded by her father, they don’t always see what really happens with consumers.  The Sterling Cooper team should have anticipated this.  She knew that people were revolted and not buying her product, if the decision to include her in the focus group was to jolt her, it was the wrong one.

Understand that clients aren’t just a company. They are people.  Especially if the company is theirs’ personally. Their whole lives are tied in with company and the brand. To the account team, it’s just another pitch. To them, it’s their life.

We all remember the line from “Jerry Maguire,” “It’s not a memo, it’s a mission statement.” Well, with all respect to Cameron Crowe, it seems a little long for a mission statement.

Mission statements should be memorable, they should inspire and they should be actionable.

Mission statements shouldn’t be confused with a tagline. In some cases, they may be the same thing but necessarily.

Mission statements should inform thought and help guide actions. For example, Google’s mission statement is, “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful,” and Facebooks’ is ” to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected.”

Not everyone has one. Not every company has one. Maybe we should. I’ll think about it.

Until then, here are a few of my favorites. What are yours?

Some of my favorite mission statements:

“We are Motorhead, and we play rock and roll.”

“I’m Anthony Bourdain, I eat, I travel, I write and I’m hungry for more.”

Image of Sterling Cooper 40th Anniv from AMCTV

Mad Men continues to include real issues faced by advertising (and yes PR firms) in an incredible show. If I wasn’t in this industry, I’m sure I would still be a fan of the show, but for me I get a bonus. I get to watch situations I encounter all the time dealt with by others.  This week’s episode, “The Color Blue,” was no exception. Two topics for this recap:

- There is little loyalty from a holding company; and

- If your team wins, you win.

Once a company has sold once, all bets are off

Lane Pryce (also referred to in previous posts as the representative of the British Overlords) receives word from London that Sterling Cooper is up for sale. He responds by saying that he can’t understand why as he has cut expenses and increased profits. It’s at that moment that he realizes he has answered his own question. Putnam, Powell & Lowell isn’t interested in serving their clients. They aren’t interested in doing great work.  They are a holding company that happens to buy and sell advertising agencies. Sound like anyone you’ve heard of?  Bottom line, once an agency starts being run by someone who doesn’t have blood in the game, it’s not the same.

If your team wins, you win

Paul Kinsey berates Peggy Olson for making him look bad by refining his idea. “Nobody’s keeping score,” she responds. “I am,” he says. “You do your work. I’ll do mine. Let the chips fall where they may.” (Note the previous paragraph is straight from the official recap. It was very well-written.)

Paul and Peggy are part of a copywriting team that is working on the best accounts at the agency. In their own dysfunctional way together they create great work.  If you find yourself part of a team like this. Drop down on your knees and give thanks. It doesn’t happen very often, and when it does ride it and make the most of it.

Through most of the episode, Paul seems to think that Peggy is piggybacking off his brilliance (which apparently only he can see), but I think at the end of the episode there is a flicker that he realizes that maybe she really is better than him and he should be a little more appreciative.