I’m not sure why, but for some reason, The Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell has come up in four or five conversations I’ve had in the last few weeks.

It’s hard to believe the book has been out since January of 2002. Given the fact it was on most best-seller lists for over two years and still does strong sales, it’s harder to believe how many people still haven’t read it.

Since it still has buzz, here’s an itty-bitty summary/review:

What does the resurgence of Hush Puppies, the reason Paul Revere’s midnight ride succeeded when William Dawes failed, the reduction of crime in New York City and the decline in teen suicide have in common?

Malcolm Gladwell masterfully pulls it all together, showing how the Law of the Few, the Stickiness Factor, and the Power of Context all worked together to help trigger viral epidemics that achieved unprecedented success while other ideas never gained traction.

It’s not quite a how-to manual, and his explanation of how to create stickiness wasn’t as deep as some may like (Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath fills that gap quite well).

But at Outsource Marketing, we’ve been preaching and teaching about the challenges of marketing amid information overload since the late 90’s, and this book promised—and delivered—a better understanding of what it takes to drive word-of-mouth and create buzz.

Read it? How would you rate it?

Comment below to weigh in.

But I don’t love their attempt at creating buzz.

I’d rate the first video PG-13.

View this video

Two women are sitting in a pub having a casual conversation when a rugby team storms the pub, making a huge ruckus. The production quality is good, and you feel for them. Their conversation is clearly over in all this noise, then the phone rings and one woman picks up her Jawbone.

Of course, the noise is gone and she’s able to begin a conversation.

Message sent. Jawbone plain works.

But that wasn’t enough.

Two of the rugby players begin to kiss. Well, not just kiss, but make out. They take off their shirts and really go for it.

Like the the Snickers kiss ad, this video exploited sexual orientation for shock factor or laughs.

There are so many other things they could have done. A brawl could have broken out–chairs and bodies could have flown over the woman’s head. They could have broken into song. A leprechaun could have walked in and done a jig on the table. Whatever.

Instead of creativity, they chose exploitation.

I’d rate the next video R:

View this video

An agitated man walks into an Asian dry cleaner and proceeds to rant about the amount of starch in his shirts. Racial slurs, stereotypes and f-bombs fly.

Then a man ‘in the peanut gallery’ gets a phone call, and since he’s using his Jawbone, the noise is gone. He closes his eyes and enjoys the peace of hearing his call and nothing more.

Once again, message sent. Jawbone works.

But that wasn’t enough, either.

The jackass gets his comeuppance when the family puts a bag over his head and then brutally beats him to death. Oh, wait, he dies of suffocation. There’s no sound, except for the man on his call.

I don’t have virgin ears and I’ve dropped an f-bomb or two in my life. But this video is incredibly insensitive, offensive and violent.

Instead of creativity, they chose cheap racial slurs and Quentin Tarantino-calibre violence.

There are other ads, but it’s really more of the same:

In Hot Girl Gets Wet, a girl relaxing by the pool is interrupted by three loudmouth guys trying to impress her. They jump in, and lo and behold, Jaws Redux.

Wait Staff Eliminates Noise features a rowdy Russian mobster being drowned in his soup by restaurant employees.

THE IRONY

The Jawbone brand is creating buzz all on its own. They have major distribution and are considered by many to be the best Bluetooth headset you can buy.

They didn’t need to resort to exploitational or offensive virals. With minor tweaks, they could have had videos that were immensely entertaining without casting Jawbone as a callous, bigoted and desperate startup.

Put it another way. Can you imagine Apple doing virals like this? Or Red Bull? Or Pepsi? No way.

I noticed jawbonefilms.com is now routed to the company homepage. Maybe they’ve come to the same conclusion.

These videos have been rated well on YouTube so apparently some people like what they are seeing.

So do you love this campaign or hate it?

Comment below to weigh in.

Chris Ballard, President of the the Bellevue-based insurance brokerage was surprised his company was selected. He’d never even heard of the USLBA.

Here’s the email he received, with hyperlinks removed:

I am pleased to announce that Ballard Agency has been selected for the 2008 Best of Bellevue Award in the Insurance category by the U.S. Local Business Association (USLBA).

In recognition of your achievement, a 2008 Best of Bellevue Award plaque has been designed for display at your place of business. You may arrange to have your award sent directly to Ballard Agency by following the simple steps on the 2008 Best of Bellevue Award order form.

The USLBA “Best of Local Business” Award Program recognizes outstanding local businesses throughout the country. Each year, the USLBA identifies companies that we believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and community.

Also, a copy of the press release publicizing the selection of Ballard Agency is posted on the USLBA website. USLBA hereby grants Ballard Agency a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to use, reproduce, distribute, and display this press release in any media formats and through any media channels.

In order to provide you with the best possible service, you have been assigned an award code that can be used on our website for quick access to your award information and press release. If you have any questions or comments, please include this code with your correspondence.

Sincerely,

Ashley Carter
Selection Committee Chair
U.S. Local Business Association

After doing a little sleuthing, the folks at the Ballard Agency realized it was a marketing scheme to sell overpriced plaques.

Chris didn’t appreciate having his time wasted, but took the time to share it with me, and now you.

Here’s a marketing tactic I hate: Winning fake awards or being “nominated for a “who’s Who” list, and all you have to do is pay for $100 award!

Clearly, this is a deceptive marketing tactic in the same category as the phony domain name and Yellow Pages bills that are sent in hopes your A/P department will pay them in error.

“The only way they’d ever get our business is on accident,” says Ballard.

And that, my Responsible Marketing friends, is no way to grow a business.

So, have you or your organization ever been targeted by one of these “faux-wards?”

Comment below to share your experience.

Full disclosure: Outsource Marketing is a Ballard Agency client.

The Mars family introduced the brand in 1929 or 1930, depending upon which source you believe. Either way, Snickers is pushing 80—but you’d never know it by its advertising.

To reach their target audience of young men, Snickers has pushed the boundaries of taste over the last few years. The following ad created quite a hubbub:

Wikipedia describes the controversy well:

On February 4, 2007, during Super Bowl XLI, Snickers commercials aired which resulted in complaints by gay and lesbian groups against the maker of the candy bar, Masterfoods USA of Hackettstown, New Jersey, a division of Mars, Incorporated. The commercial, which had four alternate endings, showed a pair of auto mechanics accidentally touching lips while sharing a Snickers bar. Realizing that they “accidentally kissed”, they, in three of the four versions, “do something manly” (mostly in the form of injury, including tearing out chest hair, striking each other with a very large pipe wrench, and drinking motor oil and windshield washer fluid). In the fourth version, a third mechanic shows up and asks if there is “room for three in this Love Boat”.

The website for the commercials, since taken down, also featured Super Bowl players viewing the commercials and reacting with disgust to the “kiss”. The website said that the commercials would be aired during the upcoming Daytona 500. Complaints were lodged against Masterfoods that the ads were homophobic.

I doubt the ad would have fared well here on The Responsible Marketing Blog, but to Masterfoods credit, they didn’t crawl into their chocolate-covered shell.

Who can forget the Snickers Dark Bar Viking:

Sure, he’s trashing someone’s car (not particularly responsible), but it’s impossible to take your eyes off of it, nonetheless.

Now, Snickers has introduced “Get Some Nuts.” I admit, I laughed out loud when I viewed the following ads:

The site includes Mr. T ringtones, videos, wallpaper and the code to embed the following widget on most social sites and blogs:

As the leader, Snickers could lay low and play it safe. They deserve credit for not doing that.

Sure, “Get Some Nuts” is sophomoric, and it would be hard to call it message responsible, to be sure.

But it certainly breaks through, doesn’t it?

Would you consider this campaign responsible or not?

Comment below to weigh in.

If you have a website, video content can dramatically improve your conversions. Here are a few testimonial videos that we’ve produced for Gene Juarez Academy.

The following video is a self-promo for a small video production company, and it’s so bad, it’s downright entertaining. In fact, it’s been viewed more than 832,000 times and has a 4.5/5 rating.

I’m not sure if this classifies as a viral video because I haven’t been able to determine if it’s real or not. If it isn’t, consider me duped.

Don’t worry, Sharon and Fred do not work with Outsource Marketing.

Video via @adfreak on twitter.

App advertising on the iPhone

I bought the first version of the iPhone within a week of its release and wasn’t sure if I’d upgrade to the new 3G when it came out. But someone pocketed my iPhone when I left it on a counter at a restaurant, so I was forced to buy the new 3G.

It’s all it’s cracked up to be, and more. Part of that more, I was surprised to find, was advertising in iPhone apps. It’s not overly intrusive, but it’s there.

Article via @marktong on twitter.

An award we’re proud to win

We’ve been told we’d win our fair share awards if we’d just take the time to submit our work to the awards shows. I guess we’re just a little indifferent—it’s great PR, but when we share our portfolio, it gets the job done.

An award we are proud to receive is from King County, recognizing Outsource Marketing as a Best Workplace for Recycling for 2008.

One of the smartest things we’ve done was develop an internal “Green Pact” and set out to green our company. We started in 2006, and won the award in 2007 as well.

It’s easy.

It’s fun.

And it’s the right thing to do.

Try it. You’ll like it.

Seen a video, article or news item you think the esteemed readers of The Responsible Marketing Blog would appreciate?

Suggest a topic. If I use it and it receives more than 10 comments, you’ll get some swag or a coffee card to add to your collection.

The company has been criticized on a number of fronts including their record with labor, the environment and vendor negotiations. Incredibly, the company accounts for over 11% of U.S. trade deficit with China, representing nearly 200,000 jobs lost.

Now we have another reason to pick on Walmart: Their re-brand.

Here’s a graphic from the company website showing the evolution of the Walmart logo:

Walmart offered little explanation for the change:

For the past two years, a customer focused transformation has been taking place in Walmart’s U.S. business.

Walmart’s U.S. locations will update store logos as part of an ongoing evolution of its overall brand - customers have already seen this in refreshed store signage and recent print advertisements and TV commercials.

But what really matters is what happens out there in the stores. This update to the logo is simply a reflection of the refresh taking place inside our stores and our renewed sense of purpose to help people save money so they can live better.

Can they be more vague? If they are going to leave the logo open to interpretation, that’s what I’ll do:

The color is more contemporary, and by moving from all upper-case to a capitalized “W” and lower-case letters its more approachable.

But what’s with the ginormous starburst?

At first I wondered why they didn’t read my blog post about marketing without an * because that’s what it looks like—a huge asterisk.

By definition, an asterisk is “used to highlight a particular word or sentence, often to indicate a footnote” or “a blemish in an otherwise outstanding achievement.”

So, where’s the footnote, and why would you want a logo that looked your company name with an asterisk? Can you imagine AT&T*, Apple*, GM*, Microsoft* or Johnson + Johnson* doing this? No way.

Should Walmart go out of their way to communicate that they have a blemish (pick one) on their otherwise outstanding achievement (biggest retailer in the world)?

Even worse, it looks like a big sphincter. So many people already consider them one, does their logo need to look like one?

You know, great branding can help capture and communicate the way the consumer really feels about a company.

Hmmm. Maybe their branding people actually hit the mark.

Nah. Given the amount of products they import from China, this would be even more fitting:

Would you agree that Walmart’s new logo is highly irresponsible, even borderline unforgivable? Why or why not?

Comment below to weigh in.

Read some entertaining comments regarding the Walmart rebranding on Brand New.

Inspiration for the this post came from this article on the smartbrandblog.

Last week, I was interviewed by Jed Sundwall at NetSquared, a group of passionate social media advocates whose mission is to “spur responsible adoption of social web tools by social benefit organizations.”

The focus of the conversation was on what social benefit organizations are missing if they neglect social media, and of course, Responsible Marketing.

Read the interview on the Netsquared blog.

You can also view my Using Social Media to Create Social Good deck, as well as my list of Social Good links on del.icio.us.

Have you seen social benefit organizations put social media to good use?

Comment below to share.

Using social media to create social good is a good thing. But it’s never quite that easy, is it?

Strip2Clothe is a new Virgin Mobile promotion where anyone can submit “fun by not salacious” videos of themselves stripping in order to help clothe homeless youth.

From the Virgin Mobile YouTube channel:

Strip2Clothe is Virgin Mobile’s initiative to provide BRAND NEW clothing to homeless youth across the country. At Strip2Clothe.com, people (virtually) give the shirts off their backs to help homeless kids. Believe it or not, a set of new clothes can be an important first step towards getting off the streets and transitioning into a stable life.

By outfitting homeless kids with new clothing, we hope this basic necessity provides the confidence for them to stay in or return to school, apply for jobs, pursue mentors, and seek safe, healthy environments.

So, don’t just ‘take it off’ — take it ON — and show America’s homeless youth that you’re brave enough to help.

Here’s one of the most popular videos to date. Don’t worry, it won’t get you fired if you are at work.

As you might guess, this campaign has raised hackles for a number of reasons:

The videos are screened and no full nudity is allowed. To date, 64,417 donations have been made.

But it is stripping, and it is teenagers.

So, is Virgin Mobile’s Strip2Clothe responsible or not?

Comment below to share your thoughts.

UPDATE: In response to complaint from parents, participating charities and the general public, Virgin Mobile changed the name of the campaign to ______2Clothe.

Read more about it in Virgin Mobile Pulls Back Racy Campaign, from the Wall Street Journal.

Original post inspired by Striptease clothing drive enrages local charities: Web campaign encourages young people to post videos by Chen May Yee, The Minneapolis Star Tribune

So, is the following Responsible Marketing?

Top Quality & Affordable Forum Population
Paid forum posting is about providing your forum, blog or community a jumpstart, by seeding your site with active conversation & enthusiastic members. From visitors to Google, your site will start getting the notice it deserves!

The notice it deserves? Everyone has to start somewhere, but paying strangers to pretend they are interested in your content is downright sad.

Here’s their pricing:

You can’t buy love

If your blog or forum is a ghost town, does your content need a little help? If it’s worthy, don’t sink to buying a temporary audience.

Instead, share it with the people you know and seek out individuals and groups that might be interested in what you have to say.

If you have quality content, an audience will follow. Like any relationship, first you have to establish trust. And that’s pretty tough to pull off if your conversations are phony.

What do you think about paid conversation seeding?

Unethical or just “faking it until you make it?”

Comment below to weigh in.

Thoughts regarding anything shared today?

Comment below to weigh in.