I wrote my last post with a sense of urgency. My parents went balls-to-the-wall forwarding my email to friends whose email addresses I didn’t have, and yet, after three extensions, I still didn’t meet my own deadline.

I wasn’t worried about not meeting my own deadline, because 1) I’ve been busy, and 2) I thought I had time to fundraise.

I was wrong. So very wrong.

I found out this week that I have JUST A FEW DAYS to raise my FULL AMOUNT of $3900 for LLS or else I’ve got to pay it out of my pocket. 

This is my official plea for help in desperation.

Please, if you can’t afford to donate to my cause, at least forward this (and/or this and/or this and/or this) on to your network in hopes that someone can help a sista out.

Not only will the “do the hustle” deadline still be in effect, but IT’S IN EFFECT EVEN MORE SO THAN EVAR NOW.

I may not be able to do the actual flash mob thing in between now and the May 15 deadline, but I WILL DO IT. Preferably between now and the time I make it to Tahoe (June 1st). And so will Mike. And it will be awesome.

So please, donate what you can to my bike ride for LLS every little bit counts, even $5 … if you’re local to me (anywhere in lower Michigan now, from Detroit to Flint to Lansing to now, St. Joseph) … I’ll take you for coffee at the very least as a thank you.

(THANK YOU SO MUCH to everyone who has donated so far, thank you cards will be in the snail mail as soon as I can sit down to write them.)

 [UPDATE (5/6/12) - Because I sent the corresponding email out late, and then my parents forwarded it to their friends a little later, I'm extendng the "help me hustle, watch me hustle" deadline from EOD Friday, May 4th, to EOD Tuesday May 8th. So if I hit at least $2085 by then, the hustle video idea is STILL ON. Thank you to all my recent donors, especially in the past week! You rock!]

OK, here’s the deal — I haven’t posted an update since March 20th. I got EXTREMELY swamped with work projects, and fell off the riding/workout wagon.

(If you’re just tuning in, please see this post, then jump to this one, then this one, then come on back here. Thanks.)

And since March 20th, I’ve barely raised any money for my fundraising goal. In fact, I inspired my friend Mike to join Team in Training MUCH later than I did, and as I sit here typing this, he’s already raised more than $500 than I have.

OMG WTF

A lot has happened in my life since March 20th–good things, and I can’t complain–but things are getting down to the wire and I have less than a month to raise at least $2815 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society or else I gotta pay it outta my own pocket … which really wasn’t the plan and I can’t afford it.

I have been riding and working out, just not as much as I should have been. I saw Sugarland in Toledo, then got sick the next day, and my first “real” ride was 15 miles at Kensington with my dad … and I was sick.

My next “real” ride was also at Kensington, and though I wasn’t (initially) sick, it was full of unexpected obstacles, including getting a false start and riding with the Grand Rapids Tri Team for about 5 miles before I figured out I was going the wrong way, then I got sick at a petting zoo (long story), then I fell UP a hill TWICE and learned the hard way why that hill is called “The Big Kahuna” … I lost a chain, fell another time because my clippies were too loose, knocked somebody over, have a few beautiful bruises now, and thanks to that little adventure, I’m allowed to say I’m a real cyclist now.

And that was only 30 miles.

After a couple days. I heal quickly, apparently.

I got stuck in traffic the other night and was an hour late for my mid-week ride with my team, and totally missed it because it was getting dark, I wasn’t about to ride a route I didn’t know by myself, and something came up. But, I did find a mill, and it reminded me of my hometown.

Tonight, literally as I type this, I should be at the Detroit Music Awards, which is the biggest night of the year for my friends and me. It’s always a blast, it’s great having everybody in one place at one time, and if you know anything about me, live music is my lifeblood. I never miss it.

But I’ve got to be on the road for a 60 mile ride by 7:30 in the morning. SIXTY.

(I must like to double up on everything, but there will come a point where I can’t do that. I can’t see myself doing a 500 mile ride, then 1000 miles, then 2000 miles … even if it were physically possible, I’d run out of continent. But I digress.)

I’m being a grownup and making a grownup decision by NOT partying with my friends tonight (AS MUCH AS I REALLY WANT TO), because I have to do this.

Being a grownup really sucks sometimes.

Okay, most of the time. But especially when you have to make decisions like this.

I have a month to raise a minimum of $2815. Technically 32 days. Which, if you do the math, means I need to raise almost $88 a day.

I gotta GET ON IT AND HUSTLE.

(No, not this hustle, or even this one.)

Please don’t let Mike beat me to the fundraising finish line.

Many of my team members are having events to raise the dough. Comedy nights, poker nights, that kind of thing.

I know what you’re thinking (if you’re thinking what I’m thinking), but honestly … I don’t have time to put one together in the next month, for reasons that will be revealed soon.

Many people who are doing fundraising efforts offer to go to extremes and shave their heads if they raise enough money for cancer research. My friend Jack did when he was in Nashville, and then he moved to the Detroit market and did it again at WYCD.

I’m not going to shave my head. 

I’ve been trying to figure out what I could do, though, to get you people to donate money for this cause.

Three minutes ago when looking for videos on the hustle, I came across this video of Fran Drescher (a.k.a. “The Nanny”), a cancer survivor:

… and then it hit me.

Though music is my lifeblood, I AM NOT A DANCER. You read that right. I love country music, and I don’t even line dance. Or dance at all. Watching white guys dance is embarrassing enough, try watching this white girl try to dance. Ain’t happening. Know why? ‘CUZ I DON’T DANCE.

But. . .

. . . if I raise $1000 by end of day Wednesday, May 2nd Friday, May 4th Tuesday May 8th, with the inspiration above, I will spontaneously attempt to do the hustle in the middle of an unsuspecting crowd, in public, and get it on video. 

With a self-supplied soundtrack, as in the above video.

I may or may not have a partner with me. But I will be a flash mob of one or two. And I take pity on this unsuspecting crowd when this happens.

I don’t know where this will be yet. It could be a restaurant like the above scene. Or maybe I’ll be on the People Mover. Or maybe I’ll leave it up to you to make suggestions in the comments. But if I have at least $2085 in my fundraising account by EOD May 2nd 4th 8th, I will flash mob some poor, unsuspecting people in public and do the damn hustle dance.

And put it on YouTube.

And embed it here.

And then you can laugh your ass off at this poor white girl who can’t dance.

There may or may not be spandex involved.

What say you? You want to see this happen.

Please donate to my Team in Training fundraising for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society to see it happen.

And let me know in the comments where you’d like to see me do this, because I’m only going to consider locations that donors suggest.

HELP ME HUSTLE, AND WATCH ME HUSTLE!!

kthxbai

(If you are reading this shortly after it is posted, I will be in the middle of that 60 mile bike ride. Just sayin’.)

6.23 miles = 10.03km (3/12/12)

Well, apparently I’m shaping up, and that’s a good thing.

I don’t exactly feel it, but a few weeks ago, I could barely do the elliptical machine for 3k without feeling like I was going to die. Last Monday, I was able to do 10k and felt like I could’ve done more but I was on a time crunch. I made it to my first Wednesday spinning practice, and we were outside, which was nice. This past Saturday morning, I was a bit late, but I went … and our coach said he had us go for 72 minutes and nobody noticed or said anything.

I don’t exactly see it, either, but the other night I was hanging out with a good friend and she told me, rather matter-of-factly, that my butt looked smaller. (Hey, that’s what friends are for, right?) For that, I am grateful, but I still feel like I need to do more. Yesterday I did the elliptical for 7k, and would have gone 10k again but I was on the wrong workout setting and couldn’t figure out how to add more time. Ah well, there’s always tomorrow, right?

A pain in my butt, a pain in my wallet.

One thing I didn’t even think about when I signed up for this 100 mile bike ride, and thus becoming a real “cyclist” and not just someone who rides a bike once in a while, is personal financial investment I’d have to make in equipment. I learned the hard way my very first spinning practice the importance of padded spandex shorts. (I also learned that said padded spandex shorts are to be worn commando — this is becoming an interesting educational experience, let me tell ya.)

I didn’t even think about needing special shoes with special doohickies on the bottom that clip into special pedals with special doohickey spots. (Yep, I really know the lingo, don’t I?)  But I just forked over almost $200 that I couldn’t really afford for said doohickey shoes and pedals. Because I’m going to need them sooner than later. I also realized when seeking help from the salesgirl at Performance Bike the other morning that I am quite possibly the most clueless person to ever walk through their doors. I didn’t use the word “doohickey” at all when talking to her, but rather stared at her blankly and replied to her questions with “uh… I don’t know” or “um … maybe?” or even worse, complete silence … I was too tired to even have “doohickey” in my vocabulary at that time.

My pretty new doohickey shoes and pedals.

Anyway, I bought the doohickey shoes and pedals. The shoes were more than I wanted to spend, but none they had on clearance fit me because that’s what I get for having the most common shoe size for women (8.5). The folks are Performance were kind enough to install the doohickeys and pedals, because obviously I have no idea what the hell I’m doing, and with all that going on I forgot to borrow a trainer from TNT so that I could practice clipping the shoes into my bike’s pedals in my living room. Great. I’ll be missing Wednesday’s practice, too, because I’ll be at a concert. But hey, I have a bike, I have doohickey shoes, pedals with doohickey spots, padded shorts, and I just bought another pair of padded shorts online a few minutes ago.

Someday, hopefully soon, I will look good in spandex shorts again. (And now you know I won’t be wearing underwear.)

But I digress.

Anyway, my point is, I’m making progress. I’m investing a lot of time, money, hard work, and literally sweat and tears lately. According to my good friend, I’m literally working my ass off. 

I’m officially over $1,000 to meet my $3,900 goal for Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and I appreciate all the support I’ve received so far, but I STILL NEED YOUR HELP! No amount is too small, and over 75% I raise is going to go directly toward research in finding a cure for blood cancers and/or giving support and hope to patients and their families affected by these awful diseases. What isn’t going toward that is simply going toward transporting my bike and my butt (padded shorts and all) out to Lake Tahoe so I can complete America’s Most Beautiful Bike Ride.

Please consider donating what you can … every little bit helps. The rate I’m receiving donations has slowed down immensely, and I realize I’m going to have to get more creative in my fundraising efforts now. In my official kickoff post I linkbaited folks with pictures of myself in a bikini (from 10 years ago), but I don’t know if I have any more of those around… so please donate now to help me reach my goal while I’m talking about going commando in padded shorts before I think so hard trying to be creative about this that I end up in a padded room. We don’t want that … at least not before the big ride. After that, everything is fair game.

What are you waiting for? (Did I mention it’s tax deductible?)

Thanks!

(UPDATE: It just so happens that I’ve inspired my friend Mike, whose mom is a lymphoma survivor, to do this century ride, too! It’s not often I inspire somebody to do something positive, and he’s even later joining this than I am, so if you don’t donate to my fundraising goal, please go to his fundraising page, read his/his mom’s story, and consider donating to his. I can’t guarantee any pics of him in a bikini, but hey… whatever works! kthxbai)

You know your workout kicked your butt when after you get home, you later realize that you threw your dirty clothes in your recycle bin and an empty Gatorade bottle in the hamper.

True story.

Last weekend was my second ever spinning practice, and my dad was nice enough to join me and bring a much better bike for me to borrow. I would have written an update that weekend, but as the above illustrates, I was just a TAD out of it. I learned my lesson rather quickly that I needed ample sleep the night before and yeah, it’s probably a good idea to eat something beforehand, especially if you’re out of shape and not used to pushing yourself like that.

Unfortunately I’ve missed both midweek practices thus far, but I have gone to the gym in the interim and got my cardio goin’ on. This past Saturday morning was my third practice, and well, let’s just say that it’s more than obvious I’m a rookie and have a LOT to learn.

But I’ve committed to this. In fact, I’ve officially REcommitted.

Yes, I know I just committed to train for this 100 mile bike ride a little more than two weeks ago. But I was late, and at a certain point in this training period is a REcommitment date for participants, to ensure that nobody flakes out on them. For this ride, there is a minimum amount of money that must be raised in order to recommit, and amazingly, thanks to awesome people like you, I raised that amount within the first 24 hours of announcing this endeavor.

It’s been 16 days since I announced that I was doing this, and I’m almost a third of the way to my fundraising goal of $3,900 for Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

I cannot express my thanks enough to those who have donated so far, and for those who haven’t, please consider donating what you can.

“Music makes booty spin’ round, baby!”

(That’s a line from a ’90s movie, set in the ’80s, called 200 Cigarettes. I highly recommend it if you’re in for that kind of confusing nostalgia with a star-studded cast and very little plot line … you know, like most of your favorite movies from the ’90s. But I digress.)

Another thing I quickly learned was that if I’m going to keep up this momentum, I’m going to have to customize myself some playlists. I recently found this article of the 50 best workout songs of 2011, and while I can’t really disagree with these because hey, whatever gets you groovin’, gets you movin’, but let’s just say this isn’t exactly my kind of “get off the couch and get your butt in gear” type of music.

So I decided to start making my own playlists. OK, so far I’ve only made one, but friends have asked me to share and so here it is. It’s mostly rock/alt/indie stuff with a dash of Miranda Lambert thrown in for a touch of twang. And yes, a couple of my friends’ Detroit bands (Crud, 60 Second Crush) because they rock like that.  (If you don’t have Spotify, you can download it and get a free membership.)

 In the future, I’ll share playlists that are much more refined. This one was more or less just thrown together with no method to my madness.

Speaking of Detroit musicians …

There was recently a great writeup on Detroit musician Stewart Francke in the Huffington Post, and of his awesomeness. Awesomeness that includes collaboration with Bruce Springsteen, writing songs inspired by his conversations with American soldiers, and being a leukemia survivor.

From the article:

“Not every songwriter gets the chance to comment on life and death from where I was,” he points out. His recovery prompted him to launch The Stewart Francke Leukemia Foundation to help fund bone marrow searches for minority and low-income patients since they are less likely to find a match with a family member.

“I also do smaller things on my own, like performances at churches, the Light The Night Walks, and media events,” he says with a passion that’s palpable. “I can’t tell you how much I’ve learned and how much fortitude and hope lives in their (cancer patients) eyes.”

I’ve met Stewart once or twice and have seen a couple gigs, but I can’t say I actually know him. A few of my friends know him much better, have gigged with him and have only said great things about him, yet for some reason I didn’t know he was a leukemia survivor! Add him to the list of people right under my nose I had no idea had been affected. This entire article is great, I highly encourage you to go read it.

So there you have it. More evidence that cancer is everywhere, and you never know who has been affected in some way, shape, or form.

Riding a bike is easy. It’s as easy as, well, riding a bike.

But riding a bike for 100 miles, in the mountains, in a very short amount of time? Not so easy. Which is why it requires training. And a team. (Hence the name, “Team in Training,” imagine that!)

However, no matter how grueling it is, I am reminded that beating cancer is a bazillion times harder. So I’m just gonna shut up, put my “big girl” padded bike shorts on, and deal with it.

Again, thank you to everyone who has donated to help me reach my goal of $3900 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society so far. Yes, I’ve raised quite a bit of that in a couple weeks, but I gotta moving and keep this momentum up! Please consider donating what you can to help, and enjoy the playlist in the meantime.

Thanks!

Well, I survived my first ever spinning practice this past Saturday morning, and I did, in fact, get my butt kicked, but not in the way I thought. Let’s just say that I learned very quickly that I needed to invest in padded shorts! (TMI, perhaps.)

I almost forgot about the endorphin high that exercise gives a person. Afterwards I was in a great mood, and while driving home I heard on WYCD that they were broadcasting at the grand opening of an LA Fitness in Allen Park, and giving away tickets to see Lady Antebellum that night. So I stopped at home, dropped off my bike, and headed downriver to give it a shot. I didn’t win the tickets but that’s OK — I’ve seen Lady A a few times already and honestly I’m not that big a fan. Luckily I was able to score some free bottles of PowerAde, which is exactly what I needed at the time.

I did, however, find the bike I really want:

This is MY kinda bike!

Hey, some things never  change.

I’ve been pretty busy since my first practice, which is why this post is a bit tardier than originally planned. I did have a great start, but as I mentioned in the last post, I’ve got a LONG way to go. So please consider supporting me by donating to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and if you’d like me to stop at a certain mile number on this ride and take a picture in someone’s honor/memory, mention that in the comments when you donate and for whom.

On a related note…

Taylor Swift just launched into her own orbit of awesome. For those who haven’t heard about this story yet, there’s an 18 year-old named Kevin McGuire who is battling leukemia for the second time, and was nervous about prom. What he wanted more than anything was to take Taylor Swift to his prom, so his sister launched a Facebook campaign, which absolutely exploded.  Many people were apprehensive as to whether Taylor would respond and how, and it took a while to get any response whatsoever.

Taylor did respond, via her Facebook page:

Now, if this isn’t the coolest thing EVAR, I don’t know what is.

Actually, I do know what is. Watch the video of Kevin’s story and his reaction to her invite:

(Original source: Taste of Country blog.)

These kind of stories are why I’m doing this. At first it was about getting back into shape, but it quickly became something much bigger. The timing of Kevin’s Taylor Swift story is impeccable, and a heck of a motivation for me. And now Kevin has even more motivation to get through his treatment, he’s got the date of a lifetime!

If you haven’t already, please consider donating to help me reach my goal. The majority of this money is going toward research and treatment for leukemia and other blood cancers, and patients just like Kevin and their families. No, not every patient will get a dream date like this, but wishes do come true and miracles do happen, and your donation will help make them possible.

Thanks!

My dad showing me how to put my bike rack on my car.

Wow, talk about a great start!!

To say that I am both overwhelmed and yet grateful at the response I’ve had since announcing this endeavor would be an understatement. In twenty-four hours, my fundraising total is now up to $770!!

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!

It’s times like this where I am reminded that one should never underestimate the power of their network. I think we all take that for granted sometimes. I honestly didn’t know what to expect when I decided to do this, let alone when I stayed up til 4:30 in the morning putting this blog back together just so that I’d have a place to actually put an official announcement. (I took it down a couple weeks ago because I was tired of looking at it, and was in serious experimentation phase.)

I really don’t know if the magnitude and reality of what I’ve gotten myself into has really sunken in yet. But I’ve made the commitment, I’ve raised an incredible amount of funds for this cause in 24 hours just by announcing it a couple places online, and there’s no going back.

In my first post, I mentioned that I signed up for this not knowing if I knew anyone who was affected by leukemia or lymphoma, but quickly found out that I had a direct connection to two different people who were, in fact, affected by these particular cancers. Since my official announcement yesterday, I now know of at least four different people who are/were. I won’t tell their stories or name any names without consent, but this further shows that it’s practically impossible to not be affected by, or connected to someone affected by cancer, regardless of the type. (In the future, I may synopsize their stories with permission, but I haven’t even thought to ask yet.)

So then I had an idea.

(Don’t say “uh-oh,” I know you just did!)

I went to my folks’ house and picked up the bike rack,  and my dad, and avid cyclist (and the reason I chose cycling instead of running for TNT), showed me how to hook it up to my car. While I was there, their friends Mr. & Mrs. Rose came over to visit and help my dad with some home improvement stuff. Mr. Rose works out and bikes with my dad, who told him about what I was doing.

Little did I know that Mrs. Rose’s father passed away from lymphoma. She wrote a $50 check for the cause, and wrote “Mile #48″ in the memo area. I asked what that was about.

“Think of my dad at mile 48. He was 47 when he died. If it weren’t for the lymphoma, he would’ve made it. He was almost there, ” she said.

I told her I’d stop and take a picture at mile 48 for her, symbolically beating lymphoma and making it to 48 for him.

I can’t not do this now. 

Sponsor a mile

So . . . if you would like to “sponsor” a mile for similar reasons, please tell me which mile number in the comments section of your online donation, and for whom. Or, if you write a check, do as Mrs. Rose did and write it in the memo spot on the check. I will stop at that mile and take a picture for you and for them, in their honor and/or memory, and post it on my blog when it happens.

• If it is for someone who is no longer with us, the mile number would be not how old they were when they passed, but a year older, thus symbolically ”beating” the cancer.
• If you’d like to sponsor a mile for someone who is currently living with or otherwise affected by leukemia/lymphoma, pick a mile number, and tell me for whom and why.
• If you’ve already donated and want to sponsor a mile, just contact me and let me know.

I realize there will probably be duplicates, but that’s OK. I’ll take two different pictures at that mile if I have to. This is called “America’s Most Beautiful Bike Ride” for a reason (I’m assuming — I’ve never been to Lake Tahoe), so it ought to be picturesque.

Thank you once again to everybody who has donated to this cause so far, and if you haven’t yet, please consider donating what you can.

Not only will you be contributing to the fight against blood-related cancers, but you’ll be further holding me to my commitment to get back in shape and stop being so damn lazy.

I have my first practice tomorrow morning and will be meeting my team for the first time.

I fully expect to get my butt kicked.

One thing that annoys the heck out of me about the end of every year is that starting in December, the entire blogosphere becomes Miss Cleo and obnoxiously tries to predict what will happen in the next year in social media/tech trends, fake Jamaican accent and all. (OK, maybe I just read them in a fake Jamaican accent to make them more entertaining and bearable. Try it–you’ll see.)

Yet, seldom do most of those fake-Jamaican-accented, blogging tech prophets actually compare how well their last year’s predictions stacked up to what really happened.

I’ve never been a fan of this yearly tradition of Miss Cleoing*; all it ever does is just stir up more unnecessary noise in the echo chamber. Any idiot can pull predictions out of their butt about what the next year will bring, and few ever do any real research to make educated guesses.

As fate would have it, last year I was charged with doing just that — not pull predictions out of my butt and write a blog post, but researching past and current trends, past and current predictions, what might be under the radar, yet up-and-coming, etc. and, along with the assistance of a colleague, write a big ol’, in-depth paper of educated guesses

predictions for our own “11 Trends to Watch in 2011″ (original, I know).

Unfortunately, because of some situations beyond our control that we could not have predicted, our paper was never published.

However, I’m a pack rat when it comes to research (both digital and hard copy), and upon cleaning my desk a week or so ago, I came across my printed-out research for this shelved project, an inch-thick stack bound together by a binder clip which must have been magical because it seemed to defy the laws of physics. (I should have taken a picture.)  Practically every end-of-the-year Miss Cleo post and whitepaper I could find in the blogosphere, printed out, hand-highlighted, notes written in the margins — it was enough for me to basically say  to myself, “Holy crap, I did this all in vain.” 

Or maybe I didn’t.

I’d like to not think that all of my research and efforts were futile. After all, I did subject myself to combing through everybody’s Miss Cleoing, which not only fueled my disdain for end-of-the-year predictions posts, but was enough to unconsciously get me reading everything in a fake Jamaican accent for the next three months. (It’s funny when you do it in your head but when you accidentally do it out loud … well, I digress.)

Anyway.

Even though it was never published, I wanted to see how I did in my educated guesses

predictions compared to what actually happened. So I dug up the outline from my files and took a look. I didn’t do too bad. I was WAY off on a few things, but you know what? Very few end-of-the-year blogosphere Miss Cleos revisit their last year’s predictions and compare them to reality (or, at least not publicly). But I will.

So here it is. The outline for the unpublished paper, my own attempt at Miss Cleoing last year and predicting what 2011 would hold. I haven’t modified it except to add the preface at the top, and clean up a couple typos.

About the beginning…

From everything I read of everybody else’s, I noticed that there was a LOT of what seems to be a common problem in this field — stating the obvious. In December 2010, many people were “predicting” what was already happening, things that were already a given. Saying that people will use a lot more apps for their every day needs (whether on tablets, phones, in browsers, etc.) is hardly prophecy. It was already happening. Saying “search will get more social” had been happening, too. Growing concern for privacy? That too.

Things that are obviously becoming  (if not already) omnipresent do not count as “trends” to “predict.” That’s called practicing your superpowers as Captain Obvious.

So I acknowledged these things and moved on. After the jump, I’m going to attempt to examine each of these and whether or not they came true. As I said, I know I was way off on a few of these. Some of them I was right, but others, I’m honestly not sure and maybe you can help me out to let me know if it happened or not.

[Note: This ended up being a much longer post than I originally anticipated, but it reads quickly, I promise.]

Oh hai! You’re still reading! Woo! Now, let’s get down to it…

Theme 1: Stop the Insanity!

• Trend 1) People suffer from internet information overload; strive to pare down and simplify their social stream.

I would have to say CORRECT.I don’t know about you, but I’ve noticed a lot of my friends go on mass unfriending exoduses on Facebook, mass unfollowing on Twitter, etc. (I haven’t yet but it’s on my To Do list.)

• Trend 2)  “Everything old is New Again” — smart brands understand Trend 1; need to stand out of the clutter so revert back to tangible content marketing (Sbux pamphlet), direct mail

I don’t know to what extent “smart brands” have noticed they need to bring content marketing back offline in the past year, but I have noticed it. A pamphlet about Coffee 101 from Starbucks I picked up while waiting for my drink. Leinenkugel inserts a newspaper-like publication in their 12-packs.  David Meerman Scott recently wrote about content marketing historically being offline and reminded his readers after being inspired by a placemat from a hotel in Finland.

• Trend 3) Gadgets and other devices continue to get simpler in design, ease of use (see iPod, FlipCam, Jitterbug phone, Amazon interface, etc.)
• “Less is More”

OK, so the FlipCam died, and I don’t know how many grandparents use the Jitterbug phone, but the point was more simplicity in design and function of gadgets. I’d say this could have been filed under Captain Obvious in the beginning, but really, who’d have thought this simplicity and ease of use would stretch so far as a learning thermostatbeing one of the year’s hottest items?

Theme 2: Social/Mobile Melding

• Trend 4) Peace Treaty in the “Location Wars”
• Facebook doesn’t “win” as many project because of privacy, slow adoption, apathy
• Other LBS grow but stay niche
• Gowalla/Whrrl will rise in numbers dramatically, be more mainstream
• FourSquare plateaus and becomes stagnant because of difficulties in partnerships, slow to introduce new features, loses its “cool factor”

I don’t know if I would say there was a “Peace Treaty,” but it was certainly a busy year for location-based services.  Facebook killed off their “Places”  mobile “FourSquare competitor” check-in feature. Groupon bought Whrrl and shut them down. FourSquare raised an insane amount of money and it looks like they’re doing even more partnering. Facebook bought Gowalla.  So I was pretty off on this one.  But whether or not location will ever become “mainstream” … I doubt it.

• Trend 5) SHOPPING because a seamless geo-social-mobile group (or individual) experience (I drew a diagram for this)

Yesterday I bought a Groupon from my phone for a sandwich at a nearby restaurant and within ten minutes walked to said restaurant and got my sandwich. ‘Nuff said.

BLIPS ON THE RADAR:

• Trend 6) Augmented Reality rises, remains niche, but WordLens opens door for tipping point in future

Yep. Augmented reality got a bit more attention but it’s hardly mainstream yet. It wasn’t until later in the year that household brands like Starbucks and Volkswagen Canada (definitely check out that link) started integrating AR into their marketing efforts, but if big brands like them continue to do so, expect AR to be much bigger in 2012. 

• Trend 7) NFC gets more attention, not as big a blip on radar as AR, there are infrastructure reasons for why this will take a lot longer to catch on than people think

Yep. Near field communication is the technology behind the Google Wallet idea. Theoretically, you can pay for something with your phone by tapping or holding your phone close to a “reader.” (NFC can obviously be used for more than payments but I’m using this as example.)

The problem is, not all phones/devices have the NFC chip. And not all merchants have the technology (yet) to process such payments. The biggest hurdles are time and logistics. NFC payments will eventually become commonplace, but just like it took a long time for merchants to be able to process credit card payments, it will take a while for this technology to be widespread and fully integrated. People usually get a new phone every couple years, so outfitting phones won’t be the problem, it will be on the receiving/processing end. It’s going to be at least 2015 before this NFC payments are as common as Google wants it to be now.

• Trend 8) Social Scoring (Klout, PeerIndex, etc.) gets a lot of attention, but lack of accuracy, etc. leads to much debate, this one’s a big miss

If there was anything we (read: I) got sick of hearing/reading about other than the word “occupy” in 2011, it was The Great Klout Debate. Just google “social media influence score”and you’ll see what I mean.

Theme 3: It’s DATA’s Time to Shine! (“DATA is a ROCKSTAR”)

• Trend 9) Visualized Data will be HOT

Personally, I’m a total geek about data visualization. I seek out stuff from FlowingData and JESS3 because it fascinates the crap out of me. That said, because I seek this kind of thing out, I don’t know how popular it was to everybody else. (Help a sista out here?) If I had to guess, I’d say infographics were much more popular in 2011 (there is a difference), but really bad, misleading infographics.

• Trend 10) Email will make a comeback (esp. since the rise of Groupon & clones)

Email never really went anywhere to begin with. I was implying email marketing, thanks to Groupon and its clones, but I don’t know this to be true or not. I do know that every day I get an email from Groupon, LivingSocial, CBS Daily Deals, and a couple others, but I don’t have any stats about the rest of the world and their reception to email marketing, and daily deals in particular. Anybody?

• Trend 11) Cloud consumer data becomes an invaluable resource as brands/corps realize the value in target marking w/the info they already have

I was a year ahead on this one. Seems everyone under the sun is now predicting 2012 to be “the year of Big Data.”

Bonus Round/Conclusion

• Tablet Frenzy – iPad will remain dominant

I’d say this one is true.

• Mobile Handsets – BB is safe in home base in corporate environments (iPhone won’t take over) because BB is much more secure; Android wins in VOLUME of handsets, but iPhone/Apple still dominate

Boy, was I wrong about Blackberry!!  As for the other, as of December 30, 2011, Android has the volume, but iPhone/Apple do still dominate.

• Apple incorporates each of these trends into its brand in some way, shape or form, with design/simplicity, streamlined ecosystem/platform for content, other reasons

I think that the iPhone 4S is a pretty good indicator here.

What do you think? 

If you’ve made it this far in reading this gargantuan post, I’m impressed! Thanks for sticking around.

Overall, I think I did pretty darn well, save for a few things. Of course, many things happened in 2011 that nobody on the “outside” of those projects could have predicted, such as Google+ and the Facebook Timeline. And of course, there will always be the unexpected … in the field of tech communication and the world at large. Which is why I’m not a fan of year-end Miss Cleoing, but I am a fan of research, educated guesses, and postmortem analysis.

Now it’s your turn.

Did you make year-end predictions last year? How did they fare in retrospect?

If you were a year-end Miss Cleo blogger last year, I would love to see you do a similar post comparing how your predictions last year stacked up to what actually happened in 2011. I think it would be both interesting and a good exercise, not to mention a great habit to get into. If you do, please track back to this post so I know where to go look, or drop me a link in the comments.

Thanks, and Happy New Year! Here’s to a great 2012!

 *I just coined that term. I encourage you to use “Miss Cleoing” liberally and incorporate it into our modern lexicon. Attribution appreciated but not necessary.

I absolutely LOVE it when Amazon gives strange pairing suggestions. Like, “People who bought that folk music CD also bought this toaster!”  Some of them I’ve seen are really funny, but I haven’t gotten any good ones lately.

However, almost exactly a year ago today, I was Christmas shopping for my dad on Amazon and needed ideas. So I looked in their gift ideas guide under  both “Dad” and “Boyfriend/Husband.” The latter category had a “Cycling Accessories,” to my delight since my dad is an avid cyclist.

The following is a screenshot that I took last year and posted on Facebook, asking my friends,

“So, should I get my dad the Hello Kitty bike bell or the Disney Princess basket?” 

This year I’m finding myself once again not having any idea what to get my dad for Christmas. So, I went back to Amazon and checked under the same gift guide, and the same categories.

That Hello Kitty bike bell and Disney Princess basket must’ve been really popular last year with the guys, because they’re still there. 

Have you gotten any fun and/or odd Amazon pairings lately? Please share if so! (Links to screen shots encouraged.)