Are men from mars? Then what's with mother earth? Stupid book titles? All wrong. But tonight we sit under the Southern Californian sky with Mars glowing and showing all she's got in her optimal viewing position from earth [~] at least for th next several thousand years. I'd like to say it's her. Not him. She's so bright, glowing, gleaming and glorious. Even touchable. Ready and right here. To be loved. As I cast my gaze on the sky her reddish orange seduces. She's the only beauty in the sky tonight. We all want her. We all need her. As she yearns for our attention. It's a mars party. For you. Me. And everyone.
1:13:20 AM permalink | | trackback disabled due to spam
Last week I received a telemarketers call who identified herself as a representative from a national market research firm located in new Jersey. She explained that she was working for a large mortgage lender who was conducting a survey of homeowners who recently financed or refinanced their home. After qualifying me as a target she indicated that I would received $25 if I participated in an online market research study. She indicated that I would received an email with an internet address of a secure and private website where I could take the survey at my leisure.
Some background. First, I did just refinance my home. Second, I haven't received a call like this in the last two years since my last financing. I'm confident this survey was commissioned by my lender, but I'll never know for sure. Finally, I balked at the survey and showed no interest in the $25. The telemarketer couldn't understand why. I simply explained that I don't like to hand out my email address.
After practically begging me to take the survey I abruptly ended the call. This was exactly one week ago on Tuesday.
Today my phone rang again. Typically I won't answer when the caller ID indicates "private caller" or "out of area". But this call came from a familiar area code so I picked up the phone. Once again, it was representative from the New Jersey-based market research firm. This woman was certainly a higher level telemarketer and she was very careful not to be intrusive and explained to me that she knew that I'd rejected the $25 and the survey opportunity. I told her I'd been happy to take the survey if they'd simply give me the URL of the website. She explained that their client didn't offer that as a method of taking the survey.
the purpose of her call? She was upping the ante. She asked if they paid me $50 would I be willing to part with an email address and take the survey. I tried to reason and make her understand the issue had nothing to do with dollars. But she insisted in making the offer again.
I finally caved. And when I gave her an email address that was the name of the firm she worked for at one of my more dormant domains she was stunned. "How'd you do that?" She couldn't believe I'd make an email address just for this survey. I said that I hope it would keep them honest and faithful.
Moral of my story? Hold out. If they want you or your product/service, they'll always offer more.
1:57:49 AM permalink | | trackback disabled due to spam
For years I've held true to my conviction that I'd never own a Porsche. It's not that I don't find them suitable examples of German automotive engineering. I know Porsche as earned a certain status, if not an enigma among its small yet loyal customer base. And I'm all too aware of its rise in popularity and sales in the US during the 1980's. And I watched its demise as the economy and a slow moving corporate parent bastardized its brand with poor quality product and lackluster new design in the 1990's. A perfect example of a brand that rested on its past laurels and popularity and did nothing to maintain its promise to customers. After all, we're talking Porsche here. Even the best brand equity is as fragile as an egg at the bottom of a barrel of apples. Though the new millennium seems to have brought about a rejuvenated Porsche automobile brand. Though who would've ever thought Porsche would introduce an SUV. Judging by the number of Cayenne's and Boxster's roaming the Pacific Coast Highway between Newport and Laguna Beach, Porsche is selling quite well here in California.
And therein lies the problem. A Porsche, like a $100 bottle of Opus One, may not be the best product. But its image is certain to evoke a reaction among your friends or fellow diners. And that's good branding. And while both these products may live up to their brand image, many times its not the product itself that influences the buying decision, it's the image or those attributes that are attached to that image that the buyer really "buys into."
So when a 24 year old successful mortgage business owner took offense to the black European Sedan that passed him while he was cruising along at 100mph east bound on the Newport Freeway in his 3 week old silver Porsche, he knew he could go faster. Because he had a Porsche. Problem is, he couldn't handle it. And minutes later he was sailing, or rather free falling in his Porsche after taking flight and landing in the Northbound lane of an entirely different freeway (405) run over and decapitated by another motorist.
And my friend Michael lived to talk about it. No, he wasn't a passenger in the Porsche. Though I wonder had he been tuned into traffic control at nearby John Wayne Airport if he would've caught wind or word of the sight that was to shake him in his sleep for days to come. Cruising home at a safe speed Southbound on the 405 (in Southern California we have a propensity to add a prefix 'the' to any of the hundreds of highways and freeways designated by both destination and numerical names; the 405 is also known as the San Diego Freeway etc.) Michael was startled when he saw for a brief moment a flash of silver and then what appeared to be an extremely short precipitable downpour. Then in a blink of an eye a car bounce and roll several times in front of him. He swerved, braked and otherwise kept control of his vehicle while the silver flash materialized as a Silver Porsche and hopped over the guardrail to the opposing lane.
Upon inspection of his vehicle shortly thereafter he found the radio antenna that was on the roof of his desert racer modified Ford Ranger Pickup truck bent at a hear 90 degree angle. On top of that gas and oil was pelted all over the bed and hood of his truck. The Porsche sailed upside down over his truck. As the adage goes, timing is everything. In Michael's case, there's nothing truer to the fact that your life is everything. And damnit, treat it as such. Unfortunately, our Porsche hero hadn't yet learned the ill affect of speed.
When Michael called and related the above story I detected the flutter and fright in his voice. I also felt for the driver who ended his life at the wheel of his luxury brand racecar.
To be sure, it's not the car. Nor is Porsche at fault. But the driver did buy into the brand image. And sometimes this image comes with a degree of confidence. Poorly understood, this ill-fitted and poorly worn confidence is best for movies and magazines. Not for the real world. It could have been a Corvette, Camero, S500 Mercedes or an Aston-Martin Vanquish. And so that's a story of speed and the boy and his Porsche.
But it actually doesn't end there.
Have you ever driven Route 1 between Monterey and San Simeon (home to William Randolph Hearst and his castle early last century)? Specifically, are you familiar with the rocky Pacific shoreline and the windy and twisty Route 1 around Big Sur (made famous by Henry Miller in the 50's and the Esalen Institute in the 60's and 70's)? If not it's some of the most rugged and dramatic coastline in the world. The surf pounds rocky shoreline and 300 foot cliffs while nestled in coves below protected by outcroppings have thrown and fallen volcanic rock tiny microcosm worlds live in tiny tide pools. And during the winter giant grey whales migrate so peacefully past the majestic coast and towering redwoods that complete the coastal scene.
If you've ever driven the road that winds along this coast chances are you've thought once, maybe twice about what would happen if you missed one of the turns and sailed to the ocean below. Sure, there are a few guardrails that alert you to the danger of some of the more precipitous curves. It's hard to drive this road without being taken back by the awe inspiring beauty of the vast pacific, and mile after mile of serene yet fierce coastline and forest that hugs its rocky cliffs. One eye on the road. One eye on the beauty. A strategy that isn't recommended. Thankfully highway one (here's one case we don't call it "the" one) offers a number of stopping places where you can feast either your eyes or the lens of your camera on the scenery I've described.
I was on this road recently. And as I was rounding a tight decreasing radius turn Northbound just north of Big Sur a gathering of 20 or so people on the side of the road broke me out of the concentrated trance of acceleration, braking and shifting I'd been in for the last 80 miles or so. I pulled over to see what the ruckus and gathering was all about.
A large and gruff man with heavy leather gloves was manning the cable from his massive tow truck. Parked just to the side of the road on the shoulder of the southbound lane his cable sailed down hundreds of feet past sage, brush and dried out wildflowers. He barked into his walkie-talkie and slowly started and stopped the winch that pulled the cable onto the spindle in the bed of his truck. Gawkers on the side of the road stood in silence and stared at the cable as it disappeared behind a rocky ledge. A group of motorcyclists gathered on the other side of the tow truck. Several leather jackets were draped over rocks. A reprieve from the 80-90 degree weather.
Then I saw the CHP (California Highway Patrol) officer. I approached him and the man he was engaged in conversation with -- a reporter from the San Jose Mercury News. As the conversation turned casual I butted in and inquired about the gathering and the "situation".
The cop with his crew cut and ubiquitous aviator glasses explained to me that 4 days before a man in his new Porsche Boxster (or is it Boxer? I never knew nor cared) came winding around the treacherous highway, its unforgiving corners and narrow and soft shoulders when he launched the Porsche and sailed high above the Pacific sending him and his passenger to a quick and tragic death.
The winch operator continued to wear his weather gloves while guiding the cable. The crowd on the side of the road continued to grow. And the police officer told me it'd be two hours before the car would emerge from the rocky ledge. He didn't know the speed the Porsche driver achieved prior to taking his car airborne. But it was fast.
That's two wrongful deaths in the last month. Speed kills. Porsche owners seem to want to go fast. Old salt Porsche owners will be sure to comment that it's the new Porsche owner, The first timer, perhaps, that is the common element in my two experiences. I don't care. Don't even care that it's the Porsche. It's merely an observation. And it's my experience. Mine. But it's all too real.
Have you seen George Bush's new site. Eager to jump on the bandwagon and success of Vermont governor and doctor turned grass roots and very successful presidential candidate Howard Dean, George Bush launched his own site to monitor his 2004 reelection campaign.
The site makes not bones about reaching out the blogging community where Dean has been immensely successful in drawing both attention and funding for his campaign.
[...] The Web site also includes a feature designed specifically for [base "]bloggers.[per thou] Supportive bloggers can place a unique news feed box on their Web site that instantly posts news items onto their weblog the moment GeorgeWBush.com is updated.
The site reaches out for Bush fans and offers sections to Join the Team where constituents can "Be a team leader", "Donate" and even order "W Stuff" including screen savers, news feeds and t-shirts, coffee mugs and more.
But what's odd about Bush's news feeds is they don't appear to be true RSS. Rather they are JavaScripts that place a horizontal of vertical side bar complete with the Bush/Cheney campaign logo, scroll bars and a list of "news" release links.
If Bush's effort is to tap into grass roots bloggers, I'm not sure many will want to place a huge ad on their website. But then again, come election time lots of home owners in mu community seem to have no qualms about placing an army of signs on stakes on their front lawns or post bumper stickers on expensive imported cars. So I guess someone will place real estate monopolizing Bush/Cheney news feeds on their websites.
9:14:24 AM permalink | | trackback disabled due to spam
I love reading. Blogs. Newspapers. Books. Personal letters. And magazines. Writing has the ability to move you, make you smile, laugh out loud and even tear. For me it's all of these things and more. And sometimes I come across a sentence, paragraph or entire piece from somewhere I'd least expect it that simply makes me smile at the writing or the composure of words itself.
Such a thing happened to me today in The New York Times. Oddly enough I discovered it an article about the death of Uganda's brutal dictator Idi Amin.
[...] For much of the 1970's, the beefy, sadistic and telegenic despot had reveled in the spotlight of world attention as he flaunted his tyrannical power, hurled outlandish insults at world leaders and staged pompous displays of majesty. [...]
Where else can you combine "beefy, sadistic and telegenic despot" in a sentence. And it just goes on from there. The full article written by Michael Kaufmann is here(free registration required).
11:40:36 AM permalink | | trackback disabled due to spam
The more I play with iChat and my iSight camera, the more amazed I am. Amazed not only for what it's doing now, but my mind wanders and reminds myself that this is BETA software. It's not even ready for prime time.
I just got pinged by Joi Ito in japan. He found yet another cool applet that adds even more functionality to your iSight camera. Check out his post here. As I was messaging him in a standard text message window his icon was moving. I soon realized that this was LIVE! Live streaming. Amazing. It's courtesy a small application written by Andreas Pardeike called iChat Streaming Icon.
Add this to the back of tricks you can use with iChat including this cool AppleScript that posts the music you're listening to in iTunes under your icon in the buddy list window in iChat.
5:11:10 PM permalink | | trackback disabled due to spam
It's 11:30pm the night of August 12th. But it's nearly 3am in New York and the delivery trucks are already dropping the Wednesday August 13, 2003 issue of The New York Times on the dirty sidewalks. Open the paper to op-ed page and once again we have Maureen Down writing about blogs. Rather Blah Blah Blogs.
She's jabbing a few kidney punches in her latest writing about the blog frenzy. And why not. Attack when something's up. And attack it when they're down. No matter what, just attack. Problem is, just cause you call it a blog -- doesn't make it a blog.
[...] The most telling sign that the Internet is no longer the cool American frontier? Blogs, which sprang up to sass the establishment, have been overrun by the establishment [...]
Maureen is of course referring to the vast amount of political pundits and candidates who have seen the success of Howard Dean's campaign and use of blogs and have jumped on the blogwagon.
[...] In a lame attempt to be hip, pols are posting soggy, foggy, bloggy musings on the Internet. Inspired by Howard Dean's success in fund-raising and mobilizing on the Web, candidates are crowding into the blogosphere [~] spewing out canned meanderings in a genre invented by unstructured exhibitionists [...]
To be sure, Dowd has a point. That is many of the new political candidate blogs proliferating are canned, ghost written and sterile. She points to John Kerry and Tom Daschle's blogs as examples. Then poking fun at Bob Graham's self-appointed title of "the original blogger" she finds it interesting that a typical post on his blog simply states: "3:30 p.m. -- Take bus to hotel." Even the Wall Street Journal last week begged the question in Politicians Go Online -- They can run, but can they blog?
Even Dean doesn't author his own blogs. But Dowd finds the Dean blogs interesting or funny. Thanks to Matt Gross who is Dean's blogmaster.
Is that where Down and other think the blogging world is headed. Remember when webmaster was a title at a company? Some might still use this dated term. But it connotates that simple notion that a company had a commitment to its website. And there was someone who was saddled with the responsibility and perhaps even held some degree of accountability to the availability, design and content of a company's website.
In the blog world "blogs" started out as simple extensions or web equivalents of an individual's journal or diary. But soon we had aggregated blogs. Things like BoingBoing, Kuro5hin and others. Blogs were already moving from single personas to synthesized and in some ways "packaged" creations. Good or bad? Who knows. If the essence of a blog is the expansion or expression of the character -- or individual -- then such sites shouldn't be categorized as blogs. they should be simply identified or called what they are: websites.
And thus begins another great semantical argument:
What's a blog?
If Kerry, Daschle and Graham hadn't firmly planted the stake in the ground and called their new "sites" blogs would Dowd had an editorial today?
There's too much pissing and moaning about good blogs and bad blogs. And worrying about some poor bastard's little site that could infect the blogging world and bastardize the whole state of blogging. Phooey. Relax.
Maybe it's time we just move away from the word "blog". Been so damn hard to explain to the unaware for the last couple years anyway. Then maybe we see some better reporting. Better analysis. And better writing. Gee. Then things just might get better.
2:30:01 AM permalink | | trackback disabled due to spam
[...]Forty years ago it cost $500 to buy a factory-made TV and $10,000 to have a nice house built from scratch on a plot of land, a ratio of 20:1. Today the TV costs $200 and assembling the local tradespeople and lumber will probably set you back $200,000, a ratio of 1000:1 [...]
He goes on to suggest how clearcutting forests in British Columbia an then shipping the lumber to China would allow low-cost Chinese laborers to produce houses that could be shipped back to the USA and sold at Wal-Mart.
The tone of Philip's post is slightly serious and slightly tongue in cheek. I'm just not sure how to take him here. No matter what it's madness. In many communities you find that priorities are so weirdly shifted to those things that shine, hum, sing or otherwise are -- well materialistic. You'll see shiny new $40,000 SUVs parked in front of urban dwelling apartments or other questionable run down housing. Of course, the bank likely owns many of these vehicles or other products of leisure.
I have a TV. But for a long time I didn't. Until recently I hadn't used it for much other than watching a DVD. The other night my friend called to tell me that some movie star was going to be on Jay Leno and hinted that he might announced his candidacy for the California Circus Gubernatorial Race. I turned on the TV and found that my satellite service had been turned off. I guess I didn't pay the bill. Funny thing is I have water, electricity, DSL, gas among other recurring things. I guess I just throw those DirecTV bills in with the rest of my junk mail.
Well. I guess I ought to breakdown and have it turned back on. Many of my television-watching friends assure me there are some good things to watch. I'm open. Just need to find the time when I'm not reading.
Then there's the whole governor thing...
6:50:58 PM permalink | | trackback disabled due to spam
You may wonder about today's headline. But I swear it makes sense. Read on....
Have you been following Ming the Mechanic? Just over a month ago he pulled his roots out of the Los Angeles soil and traffic and embarked on a journey to a new country and new land. He moved to France.
This is not new for Ming. He did the same thing in 1985 when he left his native Europe for the wonders of the United States and Los Angeles. Check his weblog. His journey, his experiences and his passion and fearless (some might call reckless) approach to starting anew and chalking up new experiences for both Ming and his family.
I got to meet and know Ming briefly a couple months before he headed to France. His weblog is interesting and insightful. And I've been digging his travel stories.
But one thing really stood out and struck me; reminded me of my passion for travel and adventure. Instead of flying from his homeland in Denmark (where he originally left from for Los Angeles) to Southern France, he drove. His comment here is remarkably true:
[...] There's something nice about tracking the road over land from our new home in Toulouse back to our roots and our home till 20 years ago in Copenhagen. It gives a more tangible sense of where things actually are, compared with jumping around in planes [...]
What's important to me here is how much one can experience by taking the slow road. The scenic route. The overland journey. Too often we're pressed for time and need to find the fastest way from point A to point B. But fast isn't always best. Cruising at warp speed we tend to lose touch. And lose sense of where we're going, where we're from and everything in between. To truly understand the difference in climate, culture, people and terrain, is to experience it. That's why I love driving. Overland. To truly get a sense of the changes from point A to point B. Only then can you really have a true feel for where you've traveled to.
Most time we hop on a plane. Snooze, snore, sleep, watch movies on terribly small screens, pound our fingers on laptops, read books, push attendant call buttons and otherwise cramp up in small seats in a tiny fuselage. Then we deplane after a half a day or so and walk onto new turf. A new land. A different place. Language and currency have changed. The people may have changed, too. But how did you get there? And do you really have a sense of where you are? Sure. You've been staring out the plane window for hours. But do you really have a sense of where you are?
I'm enjoying Ming's journey. I'm sure he has such a sense. And a great sensibility. Good luck Ming. Despite your challenges, things always seem to work out.
3:20:28 PM permalink | | trackback disabled due to spam
I started this post this morning as a comment on Dina's weblog regarding her Creativity Tools post. As I started to get a bit long-winded for a weblog comment, I figured why not just make it a blog post. And if I had yet my TrackBack feature installed we'd be in another one of those great conversations.
Nonetheless, we're talking creativity here. And we're discussing tools. Frankly, it's my opinion that these are diametrically opposed concepts. Let me clarify. If we look at the words semantically and literally this is where I have a problem. Creativity tools. Rather, I see a significance difference in saying tools for creativity.
Over the years I've developed a series of workshops, programs, processes and methodologies for fostering and inspiring creativity. I've drawn on who I feel are the best thinkers in this are including Tony Buzan, Edward deBono, Roger Von Oech, Tom Monahan among others. And in most cases the only "tools" these thinkers would use include pencil, paper, post-it notes, hats (different colors, or images of) and maybe a few other props. Why? Because in many cases "tools" actually will hinder creativity.
I'll explain further. If you look back at the revolution of computer aided design (and I'll focus on graphical for this example) s small company in Seattle in partnership with companies in Mountain View and Cupertino teamed up a developed an entire new market category: desktop publishing. This was big in the late 80's and early 90's. Evolutionary in much the same ways Blogs and social software are for the internet. But I'm diverting. The companies, Aldus, Adobe an Apple. I like to refer to them as the A team, put the power of print publishing to the commoner, so to speak.
You could call these tools (Pagemaker, PostScript & the LaserWriter laser printer) creativity tools. But problem was in the hands of those only with the tools and an entire design cesspool and wasteland resulted. There was never more bad design in a period of a few years than in the early days of desktop publishing. You still see evidence of it today. Too many fonts, bad typography, busy and poor layouts. The trend of tools in the hands of those who prefer to play with tools than think first is all over the web. You've seen the sites. In fact there's a guy who has a website that simply highlights "web pages that suck."
Fast forward a few years and Adobe releases Photoshop. Then we experienced the second coming of bad design, photo composition and typography. Type that glows, drop shadows, collages till your sick. And the list goes on.
And perhaps the worst tool of all: stock photography CDs and searchable websites. Ask any creative director at any agency worth its salt about pet peeves regarding art directors. I'm sure they'll tell you "time wasted searching for stock photos." So many art directors and many weak creative directors will browse stock photography catalogs for hours, even days, searching for an image that will trigger an idea that will make for a good ad, website or other communication piece. Problem here is the art or creative director is closing him or herself off from the ability to think on their own. In my agency I would work hard encouraging our creative team to get away from the computer, the stock books and other tools such as Communication Arts. The best ideas come from inside. They are not on the internet, on the book shelf or buried in some software. I'd say start with the idea. Then begin your search. This is where originality, innovation and creativity are nurtured. Bad habits. Bad stuff. Period.
Don't get me wrong. All of the "tools" I've mentioned, and those that I've forgot or have yet to discover, are all great. But they're not creativity tools. Simply tools that help creative people express their ideas -- once the ideas were thought of, developed and ultimately executed traditionally -- in the mind of the creator.
As for tools for brainstorming. I think many of these things are good. But they are merely catalysts for creative thinkers. I've used Inspiration, NoteTaker, OmniGraffle among others. And I've written extensively here and outside on the need for companies to inspire both creativity and innovation. But creativity starts with the brain, cognition and the ability to unlearn things that have been taught -- much like a child -- only then can you truly be free to think. And only then should you turn to tools in order to help you express and communicate.
And in my workshops. That's what I teach, inspire, mentor or simply experience. Thinking. Collaboration. And reaching deep into your mind or out into the universe. And having fun while doing it.
5:13:09 PM permalink | | trackback disabled due to spam
A little blog technology business for a quick post, if you don't mind. I see that Dave, Jake and the crew at UserLand Software have finally implemented trackback into Radio. Radio is the blogging tool/software that I use here on The Digital Tavern. And trackback is a technology originally implemented by Mena and Ben Trott, the folks that developed Moveable Type, another blogging software/tool.
As I sit with my t-mobile access here in a Starbucks in Napa, I am not in the mindset to mess with my blog's templates just yet. But by the end of this week I'll incorporate trackback. Trackback will allow me and you the ability to see who else in the blogosphere is commenting, referring or linking to a specific Digital Tavern post. Dina, who also uses Radio, has implemented it into her blog and hopes to find it as a useful "bridge to more conversations!"
Until I implement trackback here, unfortunately Liz and Dina won't know that I'm "talking about them" here in the Tavern. Of course, I know they make frequent visits and will discover this in due time. But the beauty of trackback is that this post will ping both Liz and Dina's weblogs and they'll know almost instantly that I've added to their "conversations." Cool.
Of course, those of you using MT have experienced this "coolness" for perhaps a year. But as Radio may have lagged, the adage goes, better late than never. Though it appears that Liz is getting multiple pings from Radio users so there may be some other technical issues that need to be addressed. (since posting Jake has fixed this).
1:24:41 PM permalink | | trackback disabled due to spam
[...] JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) -- A suspected suicide bombing at the Marriott Hotel in the heart of Jakarta on Tuesday killed 13 people and injured 149, shattering hopes for peace in the wake of last year's Bali blasts and underscoring the continued threat of terrorism in the world's largest Muslim nation. [...]
Over the last three years I've spent more than three months touring the vast archipelago nation of Indonesia. Last year when I first read about the bombing at the Sari Club on Jl. Legian in Kuta Beach I had tears in my eyes. Despite my anger when the last time I visited I stumbled onto the ubiquitous Hard Rock Cafe. But calling this bombing outrageous, cruel, pitiful or whatever is an understatement -- to say the least. That's one beautiful and harmonious if not special and spiritual place.
Jakarta on the other hand was never high on my list of Indonesian destinations. I've been there. It's like any large Asian city. But it is the capital of Indonesia. So when I just found out minutes ago another car bomb, apparently suicidal that has killed at least 13 and injured much more in the capital of this great Island country, it made me mad. Angry.
The Indonesian people are some of the most friendly, welcoming and smiling people I've ever met throughout my vast global travel. And it's a little known fact that I see eeked its way into the lead of the New York Times story that Indonesia is the most populous Muslim country in the world.
I plan to be in Indonesia some time in 2005. I just hope between know and then somehow we can make sense of this madness and bring smiles to faces once again. yeah, that's me. The ultimate optimist. Simply always believing a smile, a real, true, down to earth smile can have its effect. Positively pure. A smile.
12:47:35 PM permalink | | trackback disabled due to spam
Who are you? What exactly do you do? Why is this important? And why should I care? No. I'm not necessarily talking about you as a person. Rather simply inquiring about your company. Many of us who work for complex technology companies generally find it difficult to explain exactly what your company or product is and why it's important.
This is where clarity of message is so important. Some people refer to the ability to explain what they do and the key benefit on a short elevator ride. Or over a small beer at a bar? How many different answers do you think you'd hear if you asked everyone in your company the following questions (or slight variations of such)?
What does your company do?
What is important about the product or service you offer?
What are the key benefits you offer to your customers?
Seems simple enough. But fact is, most companies haven't focused adequate energy in developing key messaging, educating employees and partners on messaging and clearly understanding the difference between features and benefits. Sure, it's a tall task. But it's important. Too often companies are afraid to commit to a single message for the fear they might isolate a potential market that isn't directly targeted by such a message. This always drives me crazy. Just because you focus on something clear and consistently communicate this doesn't mean that your company cannot develop supporting products and message points.
So on my recent drive up (the) 5 freeway I managed to stop in my new favorite spot, Buttonwillow, for a Starbucks, fossil fuel and rest room break. That's when I saw another electric hand dryer in the Chevron men's room. Manufactured by World Dryer Corporation, the company has no bones about communicating it's primary message and benefits. They're printed right on the dryer for each and every user to see and read.
Dryers help protect the environment.
They save trees from being used for paper towels.
They eliminate paper towel waste.
They are more sanitary to use than paper and help maintain cleaner facilities.
Home run, World Dryer Corp! Hard not to buy into these benefits. What's key here is that these benefits span both target customer (operators of bathroom facilities) and the customer's customer (in the computer world we seem to call these folks "end users" - hah, I always liked that phrase because it's so silly). Nonetheless, here are the key messages and benefits for all to see.
Now see if you can espouse what your company does and its key benefits in 32 words or 200 characters? To its benefit, World Dryer Corporation has the name of its product in the company name. I'll give you a few more words and a couple dozen characters additional.
You'll be hard pressed. But maybe this is an initiative you could start in your company. Develop core messaging. And with that develop a key concept for your company's brand. And if you gain consensus in your organization and the support to delivering this message to every one of your constituents, you'll find that development of sales materials, marketing messages, corporate websites AND BLOGS will be much easier. Because each of these will reinforce and build upon the messaging. It's really that simple. And easy.
Taking a quick excursion to Northern California for a few business meetings and a little relaxation. Decided to drive the infamous (5) five freeway. After laboring through the relentless stop and go of LA traffic, I finally broke loose just north of Valencia near Tejon Ranch. About 100 miles later and I'm beginning to feel the head nods. A few scary moments where my eyes closed and it was time to pull over for a rejuvenation break. You'll never guess what I found. A drive through Starbucks. Unbelievable. This was a first for me. Well. Not really. I'd seen one on route 80 a few miles east of Berkeley. But in the San Francisco bay area I'd expect something like that. But this drive through was different. And it's best described by the Barista who served me window side. I asked him how long they'd been opened. He explained just six weeks. When I enquired about wireless internet access (T*Mobile HotSpot) he assured me that they would be installing it in the next month or two. Before I rolled up my window, I asked one last question. "By the way, where are we?"
He rolled his eyes and said, "in the middle of nowhere." I pressed for the name of the town. He said "Buttonwillow."
As I pulled away satisfied I'd have my early afternoon caffeine boost, I thought that he and Buttonwillow aren't in the middle of nowhere. They are in the middle of perhaps the greatest state in the Union -- California. Not only that, Buttonwillow is smack in the middle of one of the most fertile and agricultural-rich valleys in the world, responsible for providing much of the rest of our country with tomatoes, melons, walnuts, garlic, artichokes, onions, watermelons and more. But to him, he was truly in the middle of a social and cultural wasteland. Nowhere. With no place to go.
Buttonwillow is a typical 5 freeway pit stop town. Its center of commerce runs about 1.5 miles parallel on the east side of the 5 freeway bookended by a Super 8 Motel and one end and a Motel Six at the other. In between littered with just about every neon fast food franchise you could name. Though tucked behind a tire repair facility and sneaking into the corner of my eye I saw the Willow Ranch BBQ. This must be the place to dine in town. I even noticed two Kern County Sheriff patrol cars in the fairly packed lot.
And they've got a Starbucks. Soon with wireless. Things are happening in Buttonwillow.
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So on my recent drive up (the) 5 freeway I managed to stop in my new favorite spot, Buttonwillow, for a Starbucks, fossil fuel and rest room break. That's when I saw another electric hand dryer in the Chevron men's room. Manufactured by World Dryer Corporation, the company has no bones about communicating it's primary message and benefits. They're printed right on the dryer for each and every user to see and read.
Taking a quick excursion to Northern California for a few business meetings and a little relaxation. Decided to drive the infamous (5) five freeway. After laboring through the relentless stop and go of LA traffic, I finally broke loose just north of Valencia near Tejon Ranch. About 100 miles later and I'm beginning to feel the head nods. A few scary moments where my eyes closed and it was time to pull over for a rejuvenation break. You'll never guess what I found. A drive through Starbucks. Unbelievable. This was a first for me. Well. Not really. I'd seen one on route 80 a few miles east of Berkeley. But in the San Francisco bay area I'd expect something like that. But this drive through was different. And it's best described by the Barista who served me window side. I asked him how long they'd been opened. He explained just six weeks. When I enquired about wireless internet access (T*Mobile HotSpot) he assured me that they would be installing it in the next month or two. Before I rolled up my window, I asked one last question. "By the way, where are we?"
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