We live in a world of retweeting (in the olden days it was called plagiarism - ha!) and so in that spirit, I'm going to pretty much cut 'n paste fellow Powerdista, Greg Verdino's post, based on it's eloquence, succinctness and my writer's block.

I'll add my 2c at the end...

Powered's newest client is VeriSign. You might know them as the company that doles out dot com or dot net domain names; sure you actually buy your domains from Go Daddy, Domain.com or wherever but it's VeriSign that handles the registries themselves.

So at SXSW this year, we'll be kicking off some interesting programs to raise awareness and registration of .tv domains. Video is hot and getting hotter, and .tv is the only logical domain choice for content creators who are serious about generating video programming, growing their viewing audience and building their video brand. Here are some of the things we're doing over the next few days to help you get started if you're new to video or get seen if you're already a video vixen.

southby.tv: First of all, you'll want to check out southby.tv. Whether or not you're at SXSW, it's a great place to get a look at some of the cool stuff happening in Austin -- shot by the real people who are in the thick of things. As we say on the site, southby.tv is a "living diary" showcasing video content from the insiders at the festival.  Which brings us to point #2 -- if you're at the event and have your video camera or phone in hand, your content can be part of the southby.tv line-up. Just hit the site, follow the submission instructions and your clips may be chosen by our curation crew.

Here's my contribution:

You can be the Next .tv Star: We're not just giving you a chance to have your SXSW clips appear on our site; we're giving you a chance to hit the weblebrity big leagues (eww, yes, I ready said weblebrity.) All over the event, we'll be shooting audition videos for anyone who wants a chance to win a cool prize package and a shot at being a correspondent for an upcoming Best of .tv web show. The prize includes an all expense paid trip to San Francisco where you'll spend the day backstage at Revision3 and get a private video production coaching session from Diggnation producer Dave Prager, one of the guys behind one of the web's most widely watched video series. And of course, you could become a Best of .tv correspondent...

Read on for more details about how you can audition in Austin over the next few days. Or visit southby.tv to submit an audition directly (and to learn all the rules and legal stuff, of course.)

The .tv Street Team: We'll have a team roaming the event, shooting audition videos for anyone who wants a shot at being the next .tv star and handing out must-have swag. Be on the lookout and make sure you say howdy (or whatever it is they really say in Texas...)

The Bigg Digg Shindigg: .tv is sponsoring Saturday night's Live Diggnation event (7pm at Stubbs BBQ). We'll have a big ol' tent where we'll be shooting auditions for the next .tv star and doing some other fun stuff, so be sure to check it out. If you can't be there, you can also watch the fun when the Diggnation episode hits iTunes.

Special Offers: And finally, to coincide with .tv's SXSW presence, we will have special offers for anyone looking for an excuse to get going with video. Check out the offers page on southby.tv for your shot at freebies and more.

I'm a proud dot teeveer with Jaffe Juice TV AKA jaffejuice.tv into the 80's (episodes) and bearing down quickly on my lethargic audio podcast's 130's. When I launched JaffeJuiceTV, it was really a no-brainer that this needed to be on .tv and that's why I registered it off the bat. For some reason, it's not that intuitive to everyone....but it *should* be.

Think about it for a moment: these days everyone is on video. Every single device has a camera (well except the iPad) built in and the easy of creating high quality video from a Flip Cam to a Web Cam is literally a red circle away.

My point is simple: register it now before somebody else does. Who know one day someone will come up to you and say, "don't I know you from dot teevee?" Hey, it could happen....

Additional links:

• Flip the Funnel's hub

• Share JJTV with your clients, co-workers, colleagues, friends and family 
• Tweet or RT: New JJTV - Have you had a great or bad customer service experience? Add yours here - http://bit.ly/9kyf4r
• Subscribe to the show via iTunes or YouTube
• Leave a video comment

Thank you to HP for sponsoring this show.

You're invited to participate in HP's Employee Purchase Program (EPP) for friends 'n family discounts on the full portfolio of HP and Compaq consumer products. Here's what you need to do:

• Visit www.hpshopping.com/employee/jaffejuicetv and register to join the program
• You'll need to enter in EPP company code: 3807
• You'll receive additional exclusive offers if you sign up for the Monthly EPP newsletter

Click here to be whisked away to Adweek-land to read it there.

There's a terrific initiative called "Change This", which is affiliated with book retailer, 800 CEO-READ.

Every month they release a series of "Manifestos" which are connected to published texts.

The Manifestos are great previews to the books themselves and make for a much better prelude compared to a free chapter for example. 

I've actually published one manifesto before: The Manifesto for Experimentation in association with "Life after the 30-second spot." Note the crayons :)

Well now I'm pleased to be releasing "The Customer Service Manifesto" in association with "Flip the Funnel."

The manifesto talks about how Customer Service is essentially becoming the New Marketing; the New P.R.; even the New Crisis Communication. Here's a little blurb/descriptor:

Never before in the history of business and marketing has customer service been as front and center. So much so that it is being transformed and reborn in front of our very eyes as arguably one of THE most mission critical components that can make or break a business today.

The Manifesto for Customer Service documents this sea change, introduces the 10 NEW rules of customer service and introduces a key hypothesis, namely that customer service needs to be elevated to the front office; to that of a strategic imperative which becomes A if not THE key differentiator in the board room and beyond.

The rise of social media, social networks and word-of-mouth across a connected, digital and virtual expanse have given us a glimpse into the power and potential of the ability or inability to solve problems, address concerns head on and in select – but increasing – occasions, humble a might behemoth corporation and bring it to its knees. It all begins with what is perhaps the most important issue business and marketing execs will need to come to terms with in 2010 and beyond: how to create an organization that is mobilized, structured and empowered to be responsive, empathetic, accessible, connected and human in the hearts, minds, and wallets of their most prized assets, their customers AND their employees.

Bottom line: this is not your grandfather’s customer service.

Download it, enjoy it, Tweet or retweet it (#flipthefunnel), share it and most importantly, use it to your heart's content. 

New from Change This: The Customer Service Manifesto by Joseph Jaffe http://bit.ly/ay2Caw

And if you like what you read, give the book a shot as well.

You won't be disappointed I assure you.

Additional links:

• My Adweek article on at&t

Spread the word:

• Share JJTV with your network, your clients, co-workers, colleagues, friends and family 
• Tweet or RT: New JJTV - at&t flips the funnel (or at least attempts to) - http://bit.ly/attflip
• Subscribe to the show via iTunes or YouTube
• Leave a video comment

You're invited to participate in HP's Employee Purchase Program (EPP) for friends 'n family discounts on the full portfolio of HP and Compaq consumer products. Here's what you need to do:

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• You'll need to enter in EPP company code: 3807
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wow. Just wow. Yesterday of all days, ABC (via it's parent, Disney) decides to play hard ball with Cablevision and pull its programming from 3,000,000+ New York based customers and countless more tri-state (New Jersey and Connecticut) customers as well (CT customers could watch on their local CT affiliate station, but I'd suspect the average viewer within 50 miles of New York doesn't even know this exists)

And all of this on the DAY of the Academy Awards.

Let's assume for a moment I care about the Oscars. And let's assume others do. To be sure, less do than ever before. Less people want to be glued to their TV screens to watch a bunch of self-entitled, affected and overpayed egotists bask in their artificially created glory (kind of sounds like social media experts except for the overpayed part, right?)

The fact remains, Oscar is still part of the holy trinity of programming (Super Bowl, Grammy's and Academy Awards) and so - for now - it still matters.

And so throughout the day on Sunday, Cablevision runs it's propoganda on channels 7 and 707 (HD) with its puppy-dog voiceover looking for sympathy and support. Truth be told, Cablevision's control of the pipes gave it a slightly unfair advantage over ABC, that had to resort to abc.com for it's messaging and full page ads in the newspapers (competing with Toyota no doubt).

That said, Cablevision is the boy that cried wolf. Just a few weeks ago, there was a similar spat with Food Network and HGTV over rights, fees or other irrelevant contratual items that really only affect us normal viewers insofar that it costs us more money for mediocre programming.

At the end of the day, Cablevision might own the pipes, but ABC owns the content and ultimately, if you're a fanboy of Lost or a devotee of Dancing with the D-listers or The Spatchelor, where else are you going to go?

Long story short, there was the usual weekend outrage on Facebook, blogs, Twitter and probably chatroulette (I was streaming the Awards show live on chatroulette all night) and as it transpires, 15 minutes into the show, ABC came back online...well not, online online, but you know what I mean. Pretty sure there was no notifications (push or otherwise to iPhones), FB updates or tweets from the parent companies to actually communicate with their customers and let them know. But whatever.

Incidentally, I'm fairly certain all this happened BEFORE the Disney movie, Up, was "Up" for their award(s).

From a PR standpoint (and I'm no PR hack), yesterday was another embarrassing nail in traditional media's desperate coffin. This - combined with the whole Leno-Coco deathmatch, not to menion the training wheels coming off Hulu's brandwagon (as discussed on last night's Beancast) - signifies an intensification in the demise of TV as we knew it. I'd actually be curious to get some PR professional's opines on who the big loser or winner was in the People vs Cablevision and ABC...

All things being equal, ABC probably should have stayed dark, because the ceremony kinda sucked. It was way awkward with its own Kanye moment of Zen, Stiller singing the Blues, Sigourney weaver almost flashing and two highly unfunny co-hosts that clearly demonstrated how out of touch Hollywood has become with the little people.

Final Grade: D- AKA Up (Yours)

PS On a book related note, this is another example of companies putting their customers last. If ever there was a need to Flip the Funnel, this would the time...as opposed to flipping their customers the bird.

See no evil.

Hear no evil.

Speak no evil.

And a social media debacle. What a wasted opportunity

#fail 

PS Where was all the hyped social media in last night's Oscars?

Additional links:

• Ad Age: To regain luster, oscars get a social-media makeover

Spread the word:

• Share JJTV with the nominees, your clients, co-workers, colleagues, friends and family 
• Tweet or RT: New JJTV - See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. Grammy #fail - http://bit.ly/grammyfail
• Subscribe to the show via iTunes or YouTube
• Leave a video comment

You're invited to participate in HP's Employee Purchase Program (EPP) for friends 'n family discounts on the full portfolio of HP and Compaq consumer products. Here's what you need to do:

• Visit www.hpshopping.com/employee/jaffejuicetv and register to join the program
• You'll need to enter in EPP company code: 3807
• You'll receive additional exclusive offers if you sign up for the Monthly EPP newsletter

I'll be giving a free webinar on my new book, "Flip the Funnel" on Thursday, March 4th at 3pm EST as part of my company, Powered's monthly thought leadership series. You can register here to attend.

Did I mention it's free? But don't worry there will be a virtual tip jar for your universal currency (more on that on Thursday)

See you there....

Whether you're interested in a bit of inspiration, motivation, degradation or deprecation, I'll keep you on your toes and challenge you to face change head-on with a healthy dose of insight, foresight and prescription.

My primary signature keynote presentations are loosely based on my three books, "Life after the 30-second spot", "Join the Conversation" and hot off the press, "Flip the Funnel: How to use existing customers to gain new ones."

Here are few presentation blurbs:

Flip the Funnel: How to use existing customers to gain new ones

What if we got it all wrong? What if we've been going about marketing completely the wrong way? In this provocative keynote, Joseph Jaffe will outline how retention can become the new acquisition for businesses today and in doing so, literally transform the way companies go to market and establish a critical competitive edge and advantage. Using his new “flipped funnel” methodology, Jaffe will outline the notion of customer experience, introduce the 10 new rules of customer service and present a social media-powered customer activation model that harnesses the true potential and impact of customer-generated word-of-mouth, reviews and referrals. If “getting more from less” has become your new mandate, you won’t want to miss a new approach which presents the possibility of doubling your revenues whilst halving your budget in the process.

Retention is the new acquisition

For too long loyalty, customer service and relationship marketing have been thought of as passive, reactionary and/or defensive tactics. No more. In a world that is becoming ever more transparent, networked and dynamic, listening and responding has become a cultural imperative. But the real question is, “with whom?” And the answer is an unequivocal, “our customers”. In fact if you think about it, without our customers we have no business; we have no budget to invest in acquisition or awareness efforts. If this is in fact the case, why do we continue to throw good money after bad wooing strangers with no overt or explicit affinity towards our brand? Why do we relatively ignore our lifeblood – our customers? What would happen if we turn conventional business practices on its head and in doing so, elevate CRM, loyalty and retention marketing to head of the class; from back to front office; give it its deserved seat at the strategic planning table? What might the result be? Flip the funnel and you’ll find out for yourself!

The new customer service

This is no longer your grandfather’s customer service. With the explosive and exponential advances and evolution in technology innovation and adoption, companies have limitless opportunities to connect with their customers in unprecedented ways. No longer considered to be a cost center, but indeed a strategic imperative capable of building the business – efficiently and effectively – from the inside-out. Using a revolutionary “flipped funnel” methodology, author and thought leader Joseph Jaffe will introduce and outline how customer service 2.0 – and its umbrella parent, customer experience – can become a powerful 1-2 punch capable of profoundly differentiating a brand from its competitors, establishing powerful relationships with customer evangelists and influencers and more importantly, arming this base with tools, techniques and incentives to spread word-of-mouth, recommendations and referrals to social networks, trusted peers and communities.

Join the Conversation

Continuing the conversation (literally) about how new forms of marketing are transforming the way brands are introduced, nurtured and strengthened, Jaffe introduces “what comes next” i.e. the rise of “conversational marketing”. The central message is simple: There are literally millions of alive, flawed, human, passionate, influential and authentic conversations going on around you right now: isn’t it time you joined in? The fact remains, all the marketing communication, media, messaging and advertising in the world can only get you so far. At worst, breaking down the door (there will be repercussions!) At best, getting a foot in the door. After which, conversation takes over. Through the power of community, dialogue and partnership, marketing can be a conversation; a welcome guest in the homes, experiences and lives of our consumers, if – and only if – certain principles, pathways and philosophies are put into practice.

Getting more from less using the power of innovation

It’s a double-whammy – a catch-22. You see the world changing in front of your eyes – consumer empowerment, democratization of creativity and content production, loss of control, reduction of trust in a new social media playing field dominated by new phenomena (microblogging, lifestreaming), new players (Facebook, Twitter), new products (Amazon.com Kindle), marketplaces (iPhone App Store) and technologies (Nintendo Wii) – and all the while, spinning out of control at the same time. You’re under increasing and unprecedented pressure to increase sales or at the very minimum maintain status quo, amidst never-ending budget cuts and scrutiny. Innovation and Experimentation are vital and yet seemingly out of reach. Well here’s the good news – investing in “commitment-based” marketing and coping during a recession are not mutually exclusive. In fact, they’re interconnected. By “joining the conversation” through leveraging the power of community, dialogue and partnership, you’ll quickly find yourselves on the right side of the “punch” – the 1-2 punch of growing your business and differentiating your brand from your competitors.

Life After the 30-Second Spot

Centered around his first book. Jaffe discusses the demise of the 30-second spot as the primary communications vehicle and in its place, the rise of bold alternatives to traditional advertising (the “93 colors”) such as interactive, experiential marketing, long form content, communal marketing, gaming, and on-demand viewing. You’ll be introduced to new models such as E.P.I.C., R.E.A.C.H., C.O.S.T. and R.U.E., amidst a cacophony of real-world illustrations and pragmatic and prescriptive advice on how to win in a world where the only constant is change.

There are plenty of other presentations as well, including - but not limited to:

• Integrating Interactive into the Integrated Mix
• The New Consumer
• Web 2.0 (uggh)
• New Marketing for a New Consumer

Of course, there are also custom presentations should you so desire.

You'll probably want to see me in action as well. Here are a few clips to keep you busy:

You can also check out my web video show, Jaffe Juice TV, for a bit more juice.

In 2009, some of my speaking engagements included (some private events not shown):

• Google Client event (Sao Paulo, Brazil and Mexico City, Mexico)
• ANA Senior Marketing Think Tank (Dallas, TX)
• ANA Marketing Accountability Forum (New York City, NY)
• PRSA Conference (San Diego, CA)
• Coca-Cola Workshop (Moscow, Russia)
• ADMA Forum (Sydney, Australia)
• Satmetrix Client Forum (San Francisco, CA)

In 2008, some (private events not shown) of the conference/events I spoke at included:

• Richmond Events/Digital Forum Keynote (London, United Kingdom) 
• Association of Canadian Advertisers Annual Conference (Toronto, Canada) 
• SNCR Forum Keynote (Napa, CA)
• Danish Post Conference & Award Show (Copenhagen, Denmark)
• Televisa Corporate Offsite/Conference (Mexico City, Mexico)
• ANA Integration Conference (New York City, NY) 
• Weekend Media Festival September (Rovinj, Croatia)
• ExactTarget Conference (Indianapolis, IN)
• DMA Keynote (Las Vegas, NV)
• Evenpro Seminar (Caracas, Venezuala)

My bio which you can download here: Download Joseph Jaffe Bio February 2010

Some headshots:

If you'd like to inquire about availability and terms, please drop me an e-mail: jaffe [at] getthejuice[dot] com

We all can help in times of need.

This episode is all about social media actually stepping up to the plate instead of beating chests, hyping, commenting, speculating, positing, tweeting and retweeting...actually making a difference.

I want to see other "so called social media experts" doing likewise.

That's one way we get to show the social media works, is real, and can make a difference.

I want to personally thank the folks over at Nascom (as per the check above) and Mars (donating directly on behalf of me) for their generosity, vision and stepping up when it really counts.

Additional links:

• My original Keynote for a Cause blog post
• For more information on how you can help, visit the American Red Cross.

Spread the word:

• Share JJTV with the world, your clients, co-workers, colleagues, friends and family 
• Tweet or RT: New JJTV - Social media proves its worth in helping Haiti via Keynote for a Cause - http://bit.ly/9EaoQk
• Subscribe to the show via iTunes or YouTube
• Leave a video comment

You're invited to participate in HP's Employee Purchase Program (EPP) for friends 'n family discounts on the full portfolio of HP and Compaq consumer products. Here's what you need to do:

• Visit www.hpshopping.com/employee/jaffejuicetv and register to join the program
• You'll need to enter in EPP company code: 3807
• You'll receive additional exclusive offers if you sign up for the Monthly EPP newsletter

I'm way backlogged in terms of sharing relevant audio content, so I'll list 'em all here:

• My debut on AdVerve - explictly delicious as we dish on the pathetic 30-second spot
• My Flip the Funnel interviews with Mitch Joel on "Six Pixels of Separation", Anna Farmery on "The Engaging Brand" and fellow-Powerista, Aaron Strout on the AMA's Executive Conference Call.
• The latest Beancast episode where myself, James P. Othmer, Scott Monty and Rose Cameron join host Bob Knorpp to discuss the future of mobile, social media, Toyota's dealer mutiny and more

if you're a Jaffe lover, listen at your leisure.

If you have trouble sleeping, sweet dreams.

Mitch and I get together for our monthly "debate". In this episode, we talk about Jet Blue's CMO Marty St George's twitter test to ascertain his agencies' digital savviness. We use this as a leaping off point to discuss the future of traditional agencies in an ever digitizing and socializing world.

My original blog post here

As always, send in your audio comments to me on +1 206 203-3255 or follow me on Twitter (why? I have no idea)

Direct download and listen here

iTunes subscription here

Perhaps the big winner at this year's Super Bowl was Pepsi, scoring a P.R. coupe by pulling *out* of the Big Game and reallocating their dollars to community/cause related efforts.

That said, the irony of ironies here is that the idea and execution itself is so good that it *should* have been on the Super Bowl.

Put differently, when we have the platform, we have nothing to say and when we have something to say, we don't have a platform. Go figure...

Additional links:

• Here's the spot

Spread the word:

• Share JJTV with your community, your clients, co-workers, colleagues, friends and family 
• Tweet or RT: New JJTV - My take on Pepsi's Refresh Everything and how it relates to the Super Bowl - http://bit.ly/97Cj7U
• Subscribe to the show via iTunes or YouTube
• Leave a video comment

You're invited to participate in HP's Employee Purchase Program (EPP) for friends 'n family discounts on the full portfolio of HP and Compaq consumer products. Here's what you need to do:

• Visit www.hpshopping.com/employee/jaffejuicetv and register to join the program
• You'll need to enter in EPP company code: 3807
• You'll receive additional exclusive offers if you sign up for the Monthly EPP newsletter

Google advertises during the Super Bowl. In related news, the Mayan calendar predicts the end of the world.

So how did the Googol do in this Super Bowl? Actually pretty well (even if they did talk out of both sides of their mouth)

Additional links:

• Here's the spot
• Here's a pretty funny spoof (Sorry, Tiger)

Spread the word:

• Share JJTV with Eric Schmidt and Bob Garfield, your clients, co-workers, colleagues, friends and family 
• Tweet or RT: New JJTV - Google's grand entrance into the Super Bowl may have stolen the show - http://bit.ly/ai2sqC
• Subscribe to the show via iTunes or YouTube
• Leave a video comment

You're invited to participate in HP's Employee Purchase Program (EPP) for friends 'n family discounts on the full portfolio of HP and Compaq consumer products. Here's what you need to do:

• Visit www.hpshopping.com/employee/jaffejuicetv and register to join the program
• You'll need to enter in EPP company code: 3807
• You'll receive additional exclusive offers if you sign up for the Monthly EPP newsletter

Xfinity is Xcruciating. It's like AT&T changing it's name to XCingular and then back to the Xat&t.

Instead of pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into convincing us you've changed (when in actual fact, you haven't), why not just change? Why not invest that money into better customer service and better customer experience?

Or if all else fails, just crowdsource it all.

Spread the word:

• Share JJTV and FTF with Frank Eliason, your clients, co-workers, colleagues, friends and family 
• Tweet or RT: New JJTV - Comcast's new name Xfinity totally misses the spot. Here's why: http://bit.ly/9SZAXH
• Subscribe to the show via iTunes or YouTube
• Leave a video response
  

Thank you to HP for sponsoring this show. In addition to their Employee Purchase Program (see below), you can also participate in their very worthy Create Change program. In a nutshell, for every purchase you make at the Direct Store, HP will donate 4% of the total product purchase to support a range of charities in the areas of conservation, education, enrichment systems, healthcare support, disaster recovery and the battle to fight poverty. These charities include: WWF, Junior Achievement, American Red Cross, CARE, Susan G. Komen, Make-A-Wish Foundation®, and DonorsChoose.org

You're invited to participate in HP's Employee Purchase Program (EPP) for friends 'n family discounts on the full portfolio of HP and Compaq consumer products. Here's what you need to do:

• Visit www.hpshopping.com/employee/jaffejuicetv and register to join the program
• You'll need to enter in EPP company code: 3807
• You'll receive additional exclusive offers if you sign up for the Monthly EPP newsletter

Update: Marty has since contacted me via DM on Twitter (although he's not following me back). Nice one, mate! See you in the friendly skies (or in Queens)

Proving #sneaky is as #sneaky does, Ad Age's Kunur Patel "outs" JetBlue's senior VP of marketing and commercial, Marty St. George who earlier, had posted this tweet.

It was an innocent tweet and to Marty's credit, he responded quickly and with the same cheek, personality and tone that is very much "on brand". In other words, he did a great job with a Mea Culpa that was a little irreverent and self deprecating (my personal recipe)

So in the same spirit, I thought I'd share some thoughts and feedback with Marty on his approach and more importantly his hypothesis or experiment. I would've tried 140 characters or less, but there's already a pun for that.

For starters, you don't need to learn anything from agencies (at least the traditional ones); they could learn a lot from you...after all you (Jet Blue) were the first brand (or one of the first) to amass 1,000,000 followers. That's a pretty sublime critical mass to tap into during both good and bad times.

Here's where the experiment goes a little pear-shaped though....

Current TV tried the Twitter experiment before and it blew up pretty badly in their face. I should know as crayon was one of the companies that jumped on the bandwagon and although we ended up in the final shortlist...that shortlist ended up being sucked into the black hole of inaction.

Here's my biggest concern...having an agency exec or two on Twitter means nothing. What you really want to be testing (in the NARROW context of Twitter alone as a proxy of digital savvy) is the following:

• How long have they been on twitter? Not measured in days, weeks or months...but years
• How many followers do they have? Sure, it's easy (REALLY easy) to game the system, but newbies wouldn't know that
• How active are they? Are they ascertaining the full breadth and depth of Twitter's potential and possibilities first-hand (like customer service) or reading about it on an analyst report or in Ad Age?
• How many people in their agency follow suit? Does the agency employ a smoke and mirrors misdirection of having one or two very public personas that "get it", but behind them...they are as sparse as an AT&T 3G map
• How do they stack up in the other digital, social and emerging platforms, spaces, hubs and communities?
• And what's their staying power and track record like with the stalwarts of the conversational space like the lowly "blog" for example?

Unless of course the goal was more of an elementary due diligence process which any teenage daughter about to go on a date can teach her inept father (present company not included) as she Google's her would-be suitor (remember, the curfew is 10pm or else!)...in which case: mission accomplished.

My biggest concern is that you're bypassing your digital agency (which you crowed about), which perhaps should be awarded an elevated status or higher strategic position. Or perhaps you should consider the conversational marketing (or ugggh, social media) solution that is as horizontal as it is vertical.

What you don't want is an AOR that mentions the word, "twitter" in the body copy because that's where the puck is right now, insists on augmented reality as the Killer App and whilst we're on the subject, lives and dies by FourSquare (although a travel related brand does have obvious synergies). Trust me, it'll come..

To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure there are many newcomers (digital, social or otherwise) that have enough experience building world class brands, but then again....I'm not sure that building brands today looks (or works) anything remotely like it did in the very near past. One thing I do know is that it's pretty tough to find the optimal balance between digital and social natives AND the experience, tenure and maturity capable of finding its role and place in the integrated mix - possibly even to lead the entire process.

If you're asking my opinion (and you kind of are as you put it out there in the public domain), focus (or continue to focus) on customer service, customer experience and proving out how "retention is the new acquisition". That's the subject of my new book, Flip the Funnel: How to use existing customers to gain new ones".

Also continue to innovate from the front like your Entertainment-for-all offering and stay true to your democratization of the flying experience (equal rights for all).

You're even included in it with your proactive "Customer Bill of Rights" which followed your infamous Valentine's Day incident (itself included in my second book, "Join the Conversation")

And don't worry, I'm not trying to sell you the book. In fact, I'll send you (and any colleagues you'd volunteer) a signed copy. Just DM me your physical address and I'll ship a copy off to you.

As for your search for your AOR, best of luck. I'd be lying if I told you I wasn't personally interested in the brand's journey and evolution...my recently acquired company worked on American, I fly over 100,000 miles a year and am what you call, an obsessed frequent flyer and "road warrior", and as you'll read in the book, I've been studying the airline business for a while now (the book includes anecdotes, case studies and insights associated with Southwest, American, United, Delta, Virgin America and of course yourselves)

So just stay in touch...especially now that you're one of my 18,000 friends.

P.S. I'm also flying Jet Blue again....as AUS and IAD are on my more frequent destinations of late. Bring back the Blue Terra Chips

Additional links:

• My post on 5 ways Toyota can "Flip the Funnel"

Spread the word:

• Share JJTV and FTF with Jim Lentz, your clients, co-workers, colleagues, friends and family 
• Tweet or RT: New JJTV - Toyota Recall Redux and some steps they're taking to move forward - http://bit.ly/autorecall
• Subscribe to the show via iTunes or YouTube
• Leave a video response

Thank you to HP for sponsoring this show. In addition to their Employee Purchase Program (see below), you can also participate in their very worthy Create Change program. In a nutshell, for every purchase you make at the Direct Store, HP will donate 4% of the total product purchase to support a range of charities in the areas of conservation, education, enrichment systems, healthcare support, disaster recovery and the battle to fight poverty. These charities include: WWF, Junior Achievement, American Red Cross, CARE, Susan G. Komen, Make-A-Wish Foundation®, and DonorsChoose.org

You're invited to participate in HP's Employee Purchase Program (EPP) for friends 'n family discounts on the full portfolio of HP and Compaq consumer products. Here's what you need to do:

• Visit www.hpshopping.com/employee/jaffejuicetv and register to join the program
• You'll need to enter in EPP company code: 3807
• You'll receive additional exclusive offers if you sign up for the Monthly EPP newsletter

If you haven't subscribed yet, what are you waiting for? The first 1,000 subscribers will win a chance for a free webinar, an HP Netbook or 25 copies of "Flip the Funnel". Subscribe here.

In a newish feature, I'll be giving you a sneak preview of upcoming episodes (order and theme subject to change):

• JJTV #75 - Toyota recall redux
• JJTV #76 - x(Finity) marks the spot of a missed opportunity for Comcast
• JJTV #77 - Google and the Super Bowl – Hit? Miss? Or both?
• JJTV #78 - Pepsi & Refresh Everything (even the Super Bowl)
• JJTV #79 - Keynote for a Cause
• JJTV #80 - Grammy Fail
• JJTV #81 - AT&T attempts to Flip the Funnel with new iPhone App
• JJTV #82 - iHAGE/ iHABE
• JJTV #83 - Sour Grapes (are there truly any new ideas?)
• JJTV #84 - One Fish Two Fish
• JJTV #85 - Leave it to Beaver (Vodafone rogue tweet)
• JJTV #86 - The real Web (Burger King and Tony Stewart)

On February 11th, about 100 people came to the Roger Smith Hotel to celebrate the official launch of my third book, "Flip the Funnel".

This is my 5 minute (max) speech which came in at an efficient 8 minutes.

Look out for a cameo by Powered's CMO, Aaron "Hitchcock" Strout.

Special thanks to Powered, Wiley, The Roger Smith Hotel and 1938 Media for making this happen.

Additional links:

• Flip the Funnel book website
• Flip the Funnel on Facebook and on Twitter
• "I've reviewed the book" module
• Amazon.com, BN.com, Borders.com and CEO-READ links to purchase online
• Book launch post on Jaffe Juice
• JJTV #72 and JJTV #73 videos

Spread the word:

• Share JJTV and FTF with your clients, co-workers, colleagues, friends and family 
• Tweet or RT the crap out of this: New JJTV - The launch party and speech of Flip the Funnel - http://bit.ly/fliplaunch
• Subscribe to the show via iTunes or YouTube
• Leave a video response
  

Thank you to HP for sponsoring this show. In addition to their Employee Purchase Program (see below), you can also participate in their very worthy Create Change program. In a nutshell, for every purchase you make at the Direct Store, HP will donate 4% of the total product purchase to support a range of charities in the areas of conservation, education, enrichment systems, healthcare support, disaster recovery and the battle to fight poverty. These charities include: WWF, Junior Achievement, American Red Cross, CARE, Susan G. Komen, Make-A-Wish Foundation®, and DonorsChoose.org

You're invited to participate in HP's Employee Purchase Program (EPP) for friends 'n family discounts on the full portfolio of HP and Compaq consumer products. Here's what you need to do:

• Visit www.hpshopping.com/employee/jaffejuicetv and register to join the program
• You'll need to enter in EPP company code: 3807
• You'll receive additional exclusive offers if you sign up for the Monthly EPP newsletter

This may have been buried in the official launch post of my new book, "Flip the Funnel: How to use existing customers to gain new ones" but there's a party tomorrow (Thursday, Feb 11th) in New York City to celebrate the launch of the book.

Where: Roger Smith Hotel, 501 Lexington Avenue (between 47th and 48th)

When: 6-8pm EST

RSVP: On this post, at the Facebook event page (so far according to the Facebook page, we have close to 90 confirmed attendees and 50 maybe's...but with the snowy weather, who knows what will transpire; we have capacity for about 125 or so)

Why: On my end, because you're my customer and you're special to me and if you need more of a reason, you'll get a signed book and get to network with some of the industry's finest :) 

It's time. It's time to talk about my new book. Finally. It's time to talk about why retention is the new acquisition. it's time to talk about the new rules of customer service and how customer service can become THE key strategic differentiator. It's time to talk about the REAL role of social media.

It's time to ask this question, "what if we got it all wrong?" What if all of marketing was completely backwards? If 75% (or more) of our revenue comes from returning customers, why on earth are we only investing 25% (or less) against them? If 20% (or less) of our customers are responsible for 80% (or more) of our revenue or volume, why don't we know each and every one of these customers by name? What are we explicitly doing for them? Or just watch this video:

The other day my colleague, Greg Verdino (himself an author) basically said to me, "what the hell is going on with promoting your new book?" loosely paraphrased and translated as, "what the hell is going on with promoting your new book?" Or why haven't you done a thing to pre-sell and ramp up buzz etc about the book's release?

Actually until this post, I haven't even officially acknowledged the NAME of the book (with a dedicated post). Here's why:

1. I've been busy
2. There's way too much artificial hype, misdirection and fluff associated with books nowadays. When I began my author journey with "Life after the 30-second spot" in 2004/2005, getting a book deal actually meant something. Today, anyone with a budget can buy a book deal. Or anyone willing to pretty much whore out their integrity by including the word, "Twitter" in a headline gets published. Then there's all the "marketing" tactics hype and the fluff support from cronies (poorly veiled as community). I'm not going for any of this, this time round. I've done it before, but this time - more than ever - I want the content to speak for itself. And I want my readers to help me with the marketing as in "use your existing customers to gain new ones" (the book's sub-head), which brings me to...
3. I'm a big believer in "Using New Marketing to Prove New Marketing" (UNM2PNM) - in other words, letting the book's principles and practices market itself. One of the central messages in the book is, "instead of ending with the purchase, BEGIN with the purchase." Start with the narrow end of the funnel and build from there. Translation: it's less about a big bang and more about "slow and steady wins the race." That's what I'm doing this time round.

So what's the book about?

• It's about the rise of customer experience; the new rules of customer service; the reinvention of retention, loyalty, CRM and service not as a passive, defensive, reactive and static "back office" funtion, but instead as a proactive, offensive, dynamic and "front office" strategic imperative.
• It's about slaughtering one of the all-time sacred cows of marketing, the traditional marketing (and sales) funnel and replacing it with the flipped funnel.
• It's about restablishing order, balance and equilibrium from a lopsided and disproportionate acquisition obsessed and heavy end to an optimized and self-fulfilling ecosystem which builds existing customers into the ongoing go-to-market process and strategy.
• It's about merging customer service and word-of-mouth
• It's about converting loyalists and advocates into evangelists, influencers and ambassadors
• It's about winning in a recession by recognizing that without our customers, we have no business; and without our employees, we have no way of doing business (there's a dedicated chapter on the importance of flipping the funnel for employees)
• It's about A.D.I.A.

 
I could go on, but hopefully that's enough to get you hungry enough to find out more.

The book's foreword was written by The Consumerist's Ben Popken and the likes of Zappos CEO, Tony Hsieh, Best-selling authors Seth Godin and Jeffrey Gitomer, HP CMO, Michael Mendenhall and Panasonic's CMO, Bob Greenberg have endorsed the book.

Case studies include a host of very recent and topical examples, as well as a ton of unexpected and original illustrations including: Zappos, USAA, Virgin America, United (breaks Guitars), Domino's, Umpqua Bank, President Obama (he flipped the funnel and he may need to again...), Delta (Skelter), American Express (#fail), American Airlines, Hyundai, Best Buy, Panasonic, Comcast (cares), CustomInk, Three Wolf Moon, Coca-Cola and more.

Or just watch this video:

Here's a litany of information you might find useful:

• The book's website: www.flipthefunnelnow.com
• The books's twitter profile: www.twitter.com/flipthefunnel
• The book's Facebook page: www.facebook.com/flipthefunnel
• Amazon.com, BN.com, Borders.com and CEO-READ links to purchase online

It's time to P-A-R-T Why? Because I gotta!

If you're in New York City this Thursday, February 11th, come join me for a launch party and mixer at the Roger Smith Hotel from 6-8pm. More information here.

There's more....

I want the marketing thrust to come from "customers" i.e. readers i.e. hopefully you :) Here are a bunch of ways I'm going to be doing this:

"Bulk Sales"

Sounds crude, but in reality it's very much "on strategy" in the form of recognizing and rewarding my customers. So here's how it works: If you purchase...

• 75 books, I'll give you 1 x 30 minute telephone or VoIP Q&A about the book
• 250 books, I'll set up 1 x 1 hour in-person meeting (plus expenses) which can be Q&A book related or can be used for a general brainstorm
• 500 books, I'll provide a 1 x 1 hour webinar presentation with a 30 minute Q&A afterwards
• 1,000 books, you'll get 1 x in person keynote presentation (US/North America) plus expenses
• 1,500+ books, I'll hop across the border for a 1 x in person keynote presentation (international) plus expenses 

There aren't many terms or conditions, but I will just call out the following:

• This is obviously schedule permitting
• My travel preferences are quite particular and I'll need them adhered to (it's a loyalty thing)
• Any requests that involve travel to places like Japan, Australia, Russia, Brazil, South Africa etc. may involve a little more noodling (hell, you're far away!)

"Barnes & Noble (and Borders) Groundswell"

I'm not going to whine too much (more), but let's just say that most of the books you see on the "New Releases" and "Best in Business" section are 100% paid for placements. There's a sucker born every minute and I guess the old school publishers and buyers think you're dumb and I'm dumb. We're not.

So here's what I'd REALLY REALLY REALLY like you to do. Purchase your copy of "Flip the Funnel" in-store at a Barnes & Noble or a Borders. Specifically go in and pick it up and if there aren't copies available, order one. Or two. Or three. Or more.

And let me know about it...so I can let them know about it. As a thank you, I'll sign your copy (or copies for your clients, customers or colleagues perhaps) when I see you. I'll also acknowledge you on my blog or the book's website.

"I've reviewed the book"

There's no reason why "Flip the Funnel" shouldn't get more reviews than Twilight, Harry Potter, Good to Great or even "Three Wolf Moon". Why? Because I'm specifically asking you to review the book on a Barnes & Noble or Amazon.com site.

It's part of the "C" of Content Creation and Commendations in the 3-C Customer Activation Model

As I write in the book, I'd prefer an honest 4-star review over an empty 5-star review (although let me clear, an honest 5-star review is always best!)

When you've done this, please add yourself to the dedicated section on the book's site.

As an incentive (the "I" in A.D.I.A.), I'll pick one (or more) person randomly every month and give them something special (like a phone or meeting Q&A or even a guest slot on the Flip the Funnel podcast)

Of course you can still request a review copy via my publicist...

The Flip the Funnel Podcast

I haven't started it yet, but I promise to have the first episode out in February. This is the "D" of Dialogue in the Flipped Funnel. Every month, I'll tackle one chapter of the book and answer questions about the chapter in particular, but also general themes behind the book. Think of it like a Director's Cut or Commentary, except that you get to interact and participate as you wish.

"The Flip the Funnel Roadshow"

I'll be on the road soon. Dates to be announced. There will be meet-up or tweet-ups which ONLY people who have purchased the book can attend. This cuts right through Acknowledgement (of purchase), Dialogue (as in a delicious glass of Stella Artois), Incentive (see: Stella) and Activation (the community element).

New Keynote Material

I've also developed an entirely new set of material for keynote presentations (and based on reaction at MarketingSherpa's e-mail conference, this is resonating strongly) to complement my "Life after the 30-second spot" and "Join the Conversation" keynotes about new media innovation and social media respectively. If you want to book me for a speaking engagement, find out more here.

Here's a sneak peak at 3 new titles:

1. Flip the Funnel: How to use existing customers to gain new ones - In his keynote, Joseph Jaffe will outline how retention can become the new acquisition for businesses today and in doing so, literally transform the way companies go to market and establish a critical competitive edge and advantage. Using his new “flipped funnel” methodology, Jaffe will outline the notion of customer experience, introduce the 10 new rules of customer service and present a social media-powered customer activation model that harnesses the true potential and impact of customer-generated word-of-mouth, reviews and referrals. If “getting more from less” has become your new mandate, you won’t want to miss a new approach which presents the possibility of doubling your revenues whilst halving your budget in the process.
2. Retention is the new acquisition - For too long loyalty, customer service and relationship marketing have been thought of as passive, reactionary and/or defensive tactics. No more. In a world that is becoming ever more transparent, networked and dynamic, listening and responding has become a cultural imperative. But the real question is, “with whom?” And the answer is an unequivocal, “our customers”. In fact if you think about it, without our customers we have no business; we have no budget to invest in acquisition or awareness efforts. If this is in fact the case, why do we continue to throw good money after bad wooing strangers with no overt or explicit affinity towards our brand? Why do we relatively ignore our lifeblood – our customers? What would happen if we turn conventional business practices on its head and in doing so, elevate CRM, loyalty and retention marketing to head of the class; from back to front office; give it its deserved seat at the strategic planning table? What might the result be? Flip the funnel and you’ll find out for yourself!
3. The new customer service - This is no longer your grandfather’s customer service. With the explosive and exponential advances and evolution in technology innovation and adoption, companies have limitless opportunities to connect with their customers in unprecedented ways. No longer considered to be a cost center, but indeed a strategic imperative capable of building the business – efficiently and effectively – from the inside-out. Using a revolutionary “flipped funnel” methodology, author and thought leader Joseph Jaffe will introduce and outline how customer service 2.0 – and its umbrella parent, customer experience – can become a powerful 1-2 punch capable of profoundly differentiating a brand from its competitors, establishing powerful relationships with customer evangelists and influencers and more importantly, arming this base with tools, techniques and incentives to spread word-of-mouth, recommendations and referrals to social networks, trusted peers and communities.

Flip the Funnel for your business - Powered by Powered

So far, pretty much every marketing exec I've spoken to has been incredibly enamored with the potential and possibility of implementing a flipped funnel methodology for their own business. Over the months to come, I'll be working closely with my new colleagues to develop and implement the book's vision, ideas and processes for key brand (perhaps even yours).

I think that's enough for now. Assuming you've even read this far. Can you tell how energized and passionate I am about this subject? It's my third book and feels the closest to the "truth". They say there's no silver bullet in marketing, but honestly....I think this just might be it!

What are you waiting for? It's time to Flip the Funnel. Now!

PS The idea of doubling your revenues WHILST SIMULTANESOULY halving your marketing budget is both anecdotal and aspirational, but I don't think it's far fetched at all.

It's tough going these days if you work for Toyota or any of its partners. It's tougher being a customer especially with the doubt surrounding loose floor mats and sticking accelerator pads and safety concerns in general. And then there's the perceived broken trust and the lost credibility associated with a brand that seemingly reigned supreme in terms of relationship, bond and loyalty.

Instead of purposely piling on the hurt, I thought I'd offer 5 ideas, pieces of advice and/or feedback on how a company like Toyota - and other companies in similar industries (or not) - can avoid this kind of tumult in the future.

1. Open letters to customers need to be inclusive. Not exclusive. Taking out a full page "ad" in all the major daily newspapers essentially says, "an open letter to our customers WHO HAPPEN TO READ NEWSPAPERS." That's a dwindling bunch these days. Instead, if paid media is going to be used, think about owning YouTube, Facebook, the portals, etc. for a day. In other words, be where your customers are. (see point 4 about social media) 
2. Pull all your advertising that sends out conflicting messages or projects an otherwise detached message. For example, I caught this 15-second TV spot talking about "reliability" the other day...when Toyota's are perceived to be anything but.
   
3. Your website is the first port of call. As shown in this illustration, only about 1/45th of real estate is currently being devoted to the Recall. That's clearly too low. Instead there seems to be an attempt to sell a Prius with a message that talks about harmony and efficiency. What I would be wondering about is whether this Prius was safe or not. This is not all that dissimilar to Domino's that tried to avoid being upfront and direct about their crisis. Decisive, pre-emptive strikes are the order of the day.  
4. If ever there was any doubt about the importance of social media, that should surely be dispelled at this point. Toyota has less than 75,000 fans on Facebook. They have less followers than ME on Twitter. When times are tough, the first place and the first people to turn to are customers, loyalists, enthusiasts, fans, friends, followers, advocates, evangelists...hell, even critics. These groups of people don't magically materialize overnight. They are built, earned and nurtured over time. Toyota has struggled to cope, contain, address and engage because they don't have a place, space or venue to do so (see point 1). And even in these forums, Toyota does not appear to be actively participating and "joining the conversation." There's a fine line between dominating a conversation and fairly contributing to it. Toyota doesn't appear to be in the game. Step 1 is a group, page or presence on a third party social hub. Step 2 is a customer-centric branded community. Step 3 is the ability to active them. Customer service, crisis communication and relationship management are all blurring together at a frenetic pace. 
5. Anticipate these problems. Because they will happen. And they may be product related. Or brand related. Or customer service related. It's not good enough to be caught unawares anymore. Contingency planning has got to be part of a brand's strategy nowadays. Being flexible, nimble, responsive and adaptive are not luxuries. Whilst several of Toyota's competitors like GM, Honda or  have jumped on the brandwagon to essentially kick Toyota whilst it's down and offer to exchange faulty Toyota's for their brand, the tables will turn; the pendulum will swing. It always does. This absolutely applies to any business today.

 
In my new book, "Flip the Funnel," I talk about the need for companies to stop focusing on acquiring new customers and instead focus on their existing ones. If brands begun with the purchase, instead of ending with the purchase, they'd have a unique opportunity to grow the number of potential transactions (via increased basket sizes, repeat purchase and signficantly, word-of-mouth referrals), deliver a superior customer experience and service their lifeblood at unprecedented levels. They'd also have a direct line to them when they needed advice, help, support and rescue.

Let me be clear...this post isn't about selling my book. If you buy it, you'll be better off for doing doing so. If you don't, it's no sweat off my back. I only wish I'd been able to build Toyota into the book as a case study, because it's exactly this type of situation that the book is hoping to help companies avoid and/or best deal with.

In any event, I wish the folks over at Toyota the best of luck in terms of being able to make it through this mess. People have short memories, but when it comes to safety, all bets are off. Toyota will need to painstakingly earn back the trust they've lost in the process. It's doable. But it'll take time, commitment and a genuine attempt to demonstrate staying power. In other words....reliability.

Do you have a social brand? What is a social brand? Can a shoe or a can or a car even BE social?

How come Apple is the "most social brand" when in reality they're anti-social.

I also introduce R.E.A.C.H. - 5 guidelines to determine a brand's sociability...

Additional links:

• Adweek article which references this conversation

Spread the word:

• Share JJTV with your clients, co-workers, colleagues, friends and family 
• Tweet or RT the crap out of this: New JJTV - What makes a brand social? Why is an anti-social brand like Apple considered to be most social? http://bit.ly/socialbrand  
• Subscribe to the show via iTunes or YouTube
• Leave a video response

Thank you to HP for sponsoring this show. In addition to their Employee Purchase Program (see below), you can also participate in their very worthy Create Change program. In a nutshell, for every purchase you make at the Direct Store, HP will donate 4% of the total product purchase to support a range of charities in the areas of conservation, education, enrichment systems, healthcare support, disaster recovery and the battle to fight poverty. These charities include: WWF, Junior Achievement, American Red Cross, CARE, Susan G. Komen, Make-A-Wish Foundation®, and DonorsChoose.org

You're invited to participate in HP's Employee Purchase Program (EPP) for friends 'n family discounts on the full portfolio of HP and Compaq consumer products. Here's what you need to do:

• Visit www.hpshopping.com/employee/jaffejuicetv and register to join the program
• You'll need to enter in EPP company code: 3807
• You'll receive additional exclusive offers if you sign up for the Monthly EPP newsletter

The changing landscape of the agency business and the race between traditional, digital and social agencies to lead branding efforts.

Additional links:

• Adweek article that started this conversation
• Podcast debate between myself and Twist Image's Mitch Joel

Spread the word:

• Share JJTV with your clients, co-workers, colleagues, friends and family 
• Tweet or RT the crap out of this: New JJTV - are traditional, digital or social agencies best equipped to lead brand strategy? The debate continues: http://bit.ly/greatrace
• Subscribe to the show via iTunes or YouTube
• Leave a video response

Thank you to HP for sponsoring this show. In addition to their Employee Purchase Program (see below), you can also participate in their very worthy Create Change program. In a nutshell, for every purchase you make at the Direct Store, HP will donate 4% of the total product purchase to support a range of charities in the areas of conservation, education, enrichment systems, healthcare support, disaster recovery and the battle to fight poverty. These charities include: WWF, Junior Achievement, American Red Cross, CARE, Susan G. Komen, Make-A-Wish Foundation®, and DonorsChoose.org

You're invited to participate in HP's Employee Purchase Program (EPP) for friends 'n family discounts on the full portfolio of HP and Compaq consumer products. Here's what you need to do:

• Visit www.hpshopping.com/employee/jaffejuicetv and register to join the program
• You'll need to enter in EPP company code: 3807
• You'll receive additional exclusive offers if you sign up for the Monthly EPP newsletter

In this episode, I debate whether Barnes & Noble's promotion and distribution strategy for their e-Reader - the Nook - was the best OR worst EVER.

Whilst I'm not sure about the limited supply portion, the in-store promotion via pop-up retail kiosks was sheer genius.

...and I did purchase Nook's for all the crayon employees, so I guess something's working.

Spread the word:

• Share JJTV with Jeff Bezos, your clients, co-workers, colleagues, friends and family 
• Tweet or RT the crap out of this: New JJTV - was the Nook's Promotional and Distribution Strategy the best or worst EVER???!!! - http://bit.ly/7dFBRQ
• Subscribe to the show via iTunes or YouTube
• Leave a video response

Thank you to HP for sponsoring this show. In addition to their Employee Purchase Program (see below), you can also participate in their very worthy Create Change program. In a nutshell, for every purchase you make at the Direct Store, HP will donate 4% of the total product purchase to support a range of charities in the areas of conservation, education, enrichment systems, healthcare support, disaster recovery and the battle to fight poverty. These charities include: WWF, Junior Achievement, American Red Cross, CARE, Susan G. Komen, Make-A-Wish Foundation®, and DonorsChoose.org

You're invited to participate in HP's Employee Purchase Program (EPP) for friends 'n family discounts on the full portfolio of HP and Compaq consumer products. Here's what you need to do:

• Visit www.hpshopping.com/employee/jaffejuicetv and register to join the program
• You'll need to enter in EPP company code: 3807
• You'll receive additional exclusive offers if you sign up for the Monthly EPP newsletter

Really proud to announce that - thanks to two companies (one a large CPG global brand and one a Belgian agency) and my big mouth, I will be donating $20,000 to the Red Cross' Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund/efforts.

It's also been great to see how this has caught on and how many people are following suit. The more, the merrier.

My good buddy, Mitch Joel, and my new colleague, Powered's CMO, Aaron Strout, "sat down" to debate whether the industry needs a dedicated social media agency or alternatively, whether digital agencies are best suited/positioned to deliver on social as just another element of an expanding digital toolbox. The seed for this was an Adweek article.

Clearly, both Mitch and I have our own unique biases. He works for a digital agency and I work for a social media agency. That said, Mitch and I both felt that there isn't enough productive debate (read: disagreement) in the industry right now and so we came to "blows" in the name of conversation.

We're both secure enough in terms of who we are and what we bring to the table to do this and most importantly, we're both GOOD friends and we respect each other deeply.

...that said, you wouldn't know it at times as things get quite heated.

At the end of the day, the result is probably a hard fought out draw and hopefully the real winner is the listener and the industry in general.

So if you want to spend 1h15 of your time listening in, enjoy....

PS The episode was also syndicated via Mitch's Podcast, Six Pixels of Separation

PPS I'm pretty sure I'm right about this :) Just had to throw in the last word (sssh - don't tell Mitch)

As always, send in your audio comments to me on +1 206 203-3255 or follow me on Twitter (why? I have no idea)

Direct download here

iTunes subscription here

Been a little slow on the draw to cross post my monthly stint on The BeanCast, so here is the direct download (which will download automatically if you are subscribed to Jaffe Juice - The New Marketing Podcast)

Topics covered on the show included:

• Haiti Text Messaging Campaign and Best Practices
• Conan versus Leno (Told ya!)
• IKEA's Easy to Assemble Web Video success
• Google leaves China
• Vanity Fair's Tweetheart Racism Kerfuffle

Guests on the show (including yours truly) included:

Bill Green, Publisher, Make The Logo Bigger and co-host of AdVerve

Joseph Jaffe, Chief Interrupter, Powered (Find out about Joe's podcasts, video content and auction of a keynote for Haiti at JaffeJuice.com)

Åsk Wäppling, CEO, Adland.tv

Dave Wilkie, Blogger/Copywriter, Hire Dave at GreenHammock.com and read his blog Where's My Jetpack? (Like to read, or better yet publish, Dave's first novel? Find out more at Random Scratch)

Shmuly Tennenhaus, the man behind the Obamica and the John McKippah (scroll down) is at it again!

This time in response to an incident which just occured involving a young Orthodox Jew who was praying on a plane (doing the ritualistic morning prayer involving "Teffilin" (a set of small cubic leather boxes painted black, containing scrolls of parchment inscribed with verses from the Torah, with leather straps dyed black on one side, and worn by observant Jewish men during weekday morning prayers) and ended up being diverted by a panicked flight crew, surrounded by FBI and taking into custody...but later released.

So much for religious freedom, 'eh?

He put together this video which gets really good around the 2 minute mark. Personally I can't wait for his how-to perform a Jewish ritualistic circumcision using a box-cutter. Cheeky! 

There are (believe it or not) several marketing implications with this affair:

• Shmuly understands "viral"; I've often spoken about a luck factor associated with getting noticed, but cite South African golfer, Gary Player who is quoted as saying, "the more I practice, the luckier I get". Well, Shmuly gets lucky more often than most and his hit:miss ratio is higher than most. Why? I guess you'll just have to ask him...or read on.
• Shmuly is an opportunistic marketer...he acts quickly, decisively and smartly on an issue that is topical, current and relevant (if not to you, then to him)
• He's not afraid to tackle areas which most marketers will never tread
• He has a sense of humor
• Most importantly, in this case he's been able to turn a negative into a positive. In this case, he's been able to shine attention to a passion point: his Orthodoxy and Judaism in general. He's educating those who might never have seen Tefillin before (which by the way includes plenty of Jews these days) and making it OK for a Jew to "daven" on a plane (just travel to Israel on El Al and you'll see this pretty consistently at the back of the plane)

Note to TSA: you'll probably want to scan the Tefillin next time, but just be thankful that they don't come sewn to the insides of someone's underpants.

Change of plan....I'm going to honor all bids of $10,000 or more. And I'm going to extend this until end of day Friday.

So if you'd like a Jaffe keynote at a steal and in the process, be able to contribute to more than a worthy cause, contact me via comment, tweet, Direct Message, e-mail [jaffe at powered dot com] or cell and I'll lock in you.

Remember that 100% of the proceeds will go towards helping Haiti recover from the horrific earthquake.

Think I'll cap this at 5 speeches. Right now I have 2 confirmed. That's $20,000 to the Red Cross to help with Haiti earthquake relief.

So essentially 3 more opportunities to be enlightened, challenged and motivated...whilst at the same time making a difference.

To me, that's a win-win.

Step up people. Step up.

Twitter - with its retweeting policy - seems to be going the same way as Facebook - with its privacy policy: GET BIG FAST.

Perhaps this episode should have been called deja vu.

Come on people....there's more to conversation than reach and CPM's!

Spread the word:

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You're invited to participate in HP's Employee Purchase Program (EPP) for friends 'n family discounts on the full portfolio of HP and Compaq consumer products. Here's what you need to do:

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I passed through La Guardia airport a week ago and saw this billboard featuring their spokesperson, Tiger Woods. Except for the fact, Accenture had turned their back on their cash cow celebrity endorser following his multiple transgressions.

Oops.

The headline of the billboard was even more ironic, "it's what you do next that counts." Indeed.

The body copy read, "We know what it takes to be a Tiger. Talk to us to see how we can help." Indeed

Like you helped Tiger Woods? Perhaps providing him with marriage counselling? Or...when the going got a little tough, you turned and headed for hills...

Oops.

When I saw this, I immediately tweeted about it, recorded and released a JaffeJuiceTV episode, and then on Sunday's Beancast, I noted that Accenture was replacing Tiger with an elephant.

And then lo and behold, today (just over one week later) as I walked by the same billboard, I see this:

 
Coincidence? I think not. I think someone at Accenture and/or their agencies reads Jaffe Juice. In fact, I know they do.

Either way, an elephant never forgets. And neither will Accenture's customers. Nor me.

It's probably testiment only good things, but I've been too busy to focus on the acquisition/roll-up announcement since the day it happened.

I still haven't gotten around to telling about 90% of the people I'd like to tell...including family members! I've had to fend off several friends and family members who snarled the following words: "...this I had to find out from a BLOG???!!!!!!!"

Shortly after everything got announced, all of Powered's NEW executive team from crayon, Drillteam, StepChange and of course Powered, were locked into planning sessions which spanned Monday and Tuesday.

News coverage was pretty encouraging. We pretty much got coverage from every major marketing/media outlet (thank you Agency Spy for this rotten photo of me at CES last year 50 pounds heavier and clearly inebriated), with the exception of Ad Age (I live in hope...) We also got a mention in the New York Times. Twitter coverage (as you can imagine) was extensive. On a personal note (and as someone who once launched a company called crayon), I found that there was considerably less hype from the fishbowl this time round. Normally you'll see these kinds of blog posts with pages upon pages of "congrats" from social media cronies in blind support. This time it appears that people really get how significant this move may prove to be....and so there was either genuine encouragement or badly veiled bitterness.

Either way, it's all good.

We did however get time to do an episode of Jaffe Juice - the New Marketing Podcast and you can listen to the raw MP3 here or the slightly branded one here (as in with JJ bumpers).

It's quite a unique opportunity to hear from the principals of all 3 companies, including crayonista Greg Verdino, Powered CMO Aaron Strout AND even an ex-crayonista and current social media marketer muckety-muck, Scott Monty...so give it a listen if you'd like to hear more about the acquisition, motivations for selling, vision we're buying into and thoughts about whether the industry needs a social media agency (hint: yes)

We also launched a white paper with consolidated predictions from the principals of the 4 companies. I think this speaks to the diversity of the individual offerings as specific pieces of what would be considered to be a holistic/end-to-end social media solution/service. The predictions are:

You can download the entire document for free right here.

I then headed to Fort Worth to present to the amazing folks at Southwest Airlines. I met Christi Day who runs their Twitter account, @southwestair. In fact, just that day, they announced 1 million followers, which is a pretty significant number in terms of being able to acknowledge, dialogue, incent and activate on a daily basis (hint: Flip the Funnel) I also met their CMO and CEO.

Southwest - through Herb Kelleher - is definitely one of the brands which has helped guide, mould and inspire me to be a better marketer.

I then moved on to Miami and got to present to another great brand, that conjures up incredible memories of growing up in South Africa. More on that soon...

And now I'm back for a few days, but gearing up to officially launch my new book, "Flip the Funnel" (which you'll notice I *still* have not promoted or mentioned in any standalone capacity) at MarketingSherpa's e-mail conference in Miami.

And the weather will be great, so I'm hoping for 1 hour of beach time (if schedule allows)

Which brings me back to "Flip the Funnel". Schedule allowing, I'm going to write a complete post on the new book this week. It's officially out (as in, in stores) around February 8th, so there's still time to share with you some thoughts, insights and high level vision behind the book. In a nutshell, I've been overwhelmed with how positively this book has been received by/from marketers. It's NOT a social media book, nor a digital book per se....in fact it's a far cry (thankfully) from all the books telling you to get on Twitter and the like. The book takes me back to my marketing roots and if I can get Philip Kotler to tell me he's proud of me, I'll be a happy camper.

So now it's off to upload the latest episodes of Jaffe Juice TV and then get back to my keynote at MarketingSherpa's e-mail conference.

PS Don't forget that I'm auctioning off a keynote presentation with 100% of the proceeds going to Haiti Earthquake relief. Current bidding is at $10,000 and I can tell you that it's still pretty significantly under my rate card. Find more here.

I wonder if there will be any backlash against Accenture for pulling their sponsorship of Tiger Woods. It shows how fickle and spineless this brand really is....with you during the good times; first to bolt when things get hairy.

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Thank you to HP for sponsoring this show. In addition to their Employee Purchase Program (see below), you can also participate in their very worthy Create Change program. In a nutshell, for every purchase you make at the Direct Store, HP will donate 4% of the total product purchase to support a range of charities in the areas of conservation, education, enrichment systems, healthcare support, disaster recovery and the battle to fight poverty. These charities include: WWF, Junior Achievement, American Red Cross, CARE, Susan G. Komen, Make-A-Wish Foundation®, and DonorsChoose.org

You're invited to participate in HP's Employee Purchase Program (EPP) for friends 'n family discounts on the full portfolio of HP and Compaq consumer products. Here's what you need to do:

• Visit www.hpshopping.com/employee/jaffejuicetv and register to join the program
• You'll need to enter in EPP company code: 3807
• You'll receive additional exclusive offers if you sign up for the Monthly EPP newsletter

A great example of innovation and leveraging media assets (in the form of digital/OOH) in the form of Kodak's Times Square billboard interactive session. Here's Kodak's Tom Hoehn's blog post.

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• Tweet or RT the crap out of this: New JJTV - Your 15 seconds of fame courtesy of Kodak - http://bit.ly/15secsoffame
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Thank you to HP for sponsoring this show. In addition to their Employee Purchase Program (see below), you can also participate in their very worthy Create Change program. In a nutshell, for every purchase you make at the Direct Store, HP will donate 4% of the total product purchase to support a range of charities in the areas of conservation, education, enrichment systems, healthcare support, disaster recovery and the battle to fight poverty. These charities include: WWF, Junior Achievement, American Red Cross, CARE, Susan G. Komen, Make-A-Wish Foundation®, and DonorsChoose.org

You're invited to participate in HP's Employee Purchase Program (EPP) for friends 'n family discounts on the full portfolio of HP and Compaq consumer products. Here's what you need to do:

• Visit www.hpshopping.com/employee/jaffejuicetv and register to join the program
• You'll need to enter in EPP company code: 3807
• You'll receive additional exclusive offers if you sign up for the Monthly EPP newsletter