Thanks to someone for sending me the latest swimming news. I just don’t know about this new turn of events.
Here’s the thing:
I swam for a Nike sponsored D1 college. All our equipment was Nike. I hated it. Compared to Speedo, they suck. Even in college, I still rocked Speedo goggles and whenever I could get away with it, I rocked Pearl Izumi sneakers. The rest didn’t matter too much.
In lieu of this announcement, let’s play out the Olympics as an amateur swimmer:
1. Rooting for a Nike sponsored swimmer now sporting Speedo’s LZR suit. Swimmer wins. Am I really going to wear Nike? Um, NO.
2. In love with Nike sponsored swimmer who sports Speedo LZR suit. Swimmer loses. Am I going to wear Nike? Um, no… going to go with whatever I currently love / wear.
3. Neither love nor hate Nike sponsored swimmers. LZR suit bombs, but still rocked the trials. Would I still choose LZR suit? Yes. Swimming is a mental thing. HELLO, I didn’t shave my legs for 6 months in order to shave TENTHS of a second off my national times. I know, GROSS… just imagine what I did before Olympic trials in 2004…
Swimming is 99% MENTAL. No matter what the outcome, Speedo’s LZR suit has gotten enough PR, especially in swimming circles, to warrant any swimmer worth their salt giving it a spin (or swim). Which means, no matter what the outcome of the Olympics, Speedo is going to bank some serious ROI. Props to Nike though for stepping up and attempting to generate some positive, feel good PR… unfortunately, still not buying their equipment, but I’m sure others will…
Ladies and gentleman, mark your calendars. Today I signed my first one year lease. It’s not 100% official, but the paperwork has been turned it.
I’m starting to have a mini panic attack, but am breathing deeply and counting to 10. I also keep telling myself that there’s always a way to break a lease; no big deal.
Hopefully I’ll make it through the day without throwing up.
I LOVE this idea. Some guy bought a vending machine, filled the capsules with a fun idea, the toy, a map for the idea and a quarter (refunding half the purchase price). Then, he randomly placed the machines around New York.
I’m totally putting one of these in my office. It will be my latest and greatest toy!
Thanks to Mike for passing along the site I found it on.
A lot of my posts on BDA’s are rants about how much they suck. However, if they didn’t provide a great service, no one would work with them. So today, I’m acknowledging not one, but two BDA’s that got the little details right.
Setting #1: Met with new BDA yesterday to kick off a project. Great meeting, wrote follow-up email. Not only was the reply prompt, but they notified me that “Joe” would be the project lead and might contact me directly with additional questions. Why this rocks: In notifying me about “Joe,” (a) I don’t feel like I’m being pushed off to some random person. (b) I’m prepared if/when “Joe” calls. I know exactly who he is and what he potentially wants. (c) Most importantly, the BDA has quietly, quickly and efficiently set expectations.
Setting #2: Met with new BDA. After meeting, I promptly got a ‘thank you’ email from each person on their team. In addition, the email was sprinkled with phrases I emphasized during our meeting. At the end, there was a link to a website I might like. Why this rocks: (a) I’m old fashioned. I’m all about the ‘thank you’ note. No matter how small, there should always be a thank you or follow-up email following an event. (b) By incorporating my phrases into the follow-up email, I know they listened and understood my needs (c) By adding a link to a website, they connected with me on a personal level. Moreover, they proactively showed me something new and challenging.
Hat’s off to the BDA’s who focus on getting the “little things” right. After all, isn’t everything a “little thing”?
I HATE being indecisive. I wish I could make a f*cking decision. The crazy thing? When it comes to work decisions, I can pull the trigger no problem. In fact, the joke in the office is that if it lands on my desk, it’ll be live by the end of the day. Been working on something for three years? I’ll take care of it in week.
Just a few of the personal things I can’t decide on:
Choosing a new car. Holy crap, there’s a lot of options – model, color, exterior options, interior options, etc.
Choosing a new place to live. Don’t even get me started. Do you know how many potential floor plans there are? AND choosing between one and three bedrooms…
Deciding between Blogger and WordPress. Seems like an easy one right? Oh, NO.
Choosing a name for my dog. Do you even want to guess how long that took? Not to mention how long it took to pick the actual dog.
There’s many more, but I’ll spare you the pain…
I keep trying to tell myself that it’s only for x time and that it will fly by. In fact, everyone seems to be telling me that. But, it’s just not helping
Today was one of those really great news days. Here’s just a few of the better ones happening outside the world of interactive media:
Cool / Artsy / Geeky: Ian Cook, a British Artist, paints using remote control cars. Video and final piece here.
Scientist creates a Periodic Table of Videos. For each element there’s a fun video. Very cool for visual and audio learners and super geeks. For anyone else, the videos are a tad long.
Sex, Sex, Sex:
Library of Congress creates Playboy for the blind. (Yes, I said Library of Congress). There’s also an official Porn for the Blind website.Candoms (no, this is not a misspelling) is a great beverage insulator that rolls onto a can like a giant condom. Maybe these will start replacing bananas and regular condoms in Sex Ed.
German inventor debuts Spray-On Condoms. I’m not a guy, but the thought of putting my junk in a “hissing chamber” does not sound very fun or sexy. I’ll stick to the old rip and roll method, thanks.
Just Plain Bizarre / Gross:
I guilty admit that the tongue action turned me on. But, this ad for Extended Stay Hotels is just weird and definitely did not make me want to stay there.
Every few months, someone in my circle of family and friends poses this question, “Soooo…. what exactly do you do?” This is usually how the resulting conversation goes:
Me: Do you know what Media Buying is?
Grandpa: No
Me: Uh, ok, do you know those ads you see on websites?
Grandpa: Uh, not really
Me: Ummm, ok. Do you know what MySpace is?
Grandpa: You mean that site for pedophiles?
Me: Uh, never mind. You know our website?
Grandpa: Oh! So you made that? Isn’t that a one time thing?
Me: Well, not really.
Me: Ok, you know those emails you get?
Grandpa: YES! You make those? Is that all you do?
Me: SIGH, actually, I have NO IDEA what I do. I just go to meetings and am really, really busy all day, every day.
Grandpa: Ahhh okay. Well, I’m really proud of you for whatever you do.
As a BDA, your #1 function is to make your Client’s life easier. Ultimately, that is your singular goal. Even if you suck, completely screw up the campaign and drive revenue into the toilet, if you make a Client’s life easier they won’t fire you. AND, if you truly are making a Client’s life easier, you’re probably not fucking up; at least not too badly.
“Wow, that seems easy,” you say. “Is that truly my only job? If so, how do I go about doing it?”
Well, BDA, sit back, relax and let me bullet point it for you:
- Spell and format things correctly.
- Keep your budget updated. I guarantee 98% of Clients have no idea where they’re at. If you can quickly spew out updated budget figures, the chances of receiving additional funds is 99%. If you can’t, the money is going elsewhere.
- Review things BEFORE sending to the Client. If you know something is missing (i.e. their new logo), send it back and have it updated, you guessed it, BEFORE showing the Client.
- Tell me what to do. This is what I rely on you for; I don’t have time to research every idea that comes across my desk. Pick the best one. Avinash Kaushik’s Action Dashboard is a good example of this.
- Have the “best” ideas ready to launch. Launching in a week vs. a month makes me look like a Superhero. If you make me look like a hero, chances are I’m keeping you around.
- BE PROACTIVE. Three weeks ago when the creative request was logged, rates were at $169. But, in today’s phone conference it was mentioned that rates dropped to $79. Why don’t you proactively update the creative before sending? You know the Client is going to request that change anyway.
- BE PROACTIVE. BE PROACTIVE. BE PROACTIVE. Yes, this does deserve two separate bullet points said four times in all capitals. It truly amazes me how many agencies don’t do this.
I got a beta invite to Zivity last night, and per some persuasion, I not only signed up to check it out, but am now writing my thoughts on it.
Zivity is a royalty-based social network for female models and photographers that claims to “empower woman to feel their most beautiful and comfortable.” Zivity Co-Founder, Scott Banister likes to compare the site to a “combination of MySpace, Playboy and American Idol.” It’s been around since about August 2007 and is most similar to Suicide Girls or One Model Place, but could possibly be compared to Hot Fitness Models or Nude Models. Conversely, it’s more high end and a lot cleaner looking than all four. Oh yeah, and you get royalties from the site.
However, besides the high end feel and getting to look at semi- and fully nude woman, I can’t quite figure out why people would pay to be part of the community. Here’s why:
- Only female models allowed. By doing this, you’ve just cut your network size in half.
- According to Zivity’s FAQ, after a 31 day trial, members must pay a subscription fee of $10 per month.
- The “value” and social part of the site centers around “votes”. Each user gets five per month and can buy additional ones for $1 each. The value proposition is that for each vote, the model gets $0.60 and the photographer gets $0.20. Okay, let’s do some math. According to the person who invited me, right now there are 50 models and 50 photographers (100 people total). Each person gets to invite 3 people to join the site. Let’s assume that all one hundred people used all three of their invites. And, let’s assume that all those invited joined. So now we’re at a community with 300 people. Now, let’s assume that all 300 people used one of their five votes for the same model (totally improbable). For this, the “winning” model will make $180 and the “winning” photographer will make $60. If you subtract the $10 subscription fee, the model has now made $170 and the photographer made $50. I’m all about making a few extra bucks, but I don’t see $170/$50 (and most likely, significantly less) being worth the time to cultivate another social network, especially one that’s so closed.
- Okay, now let’s do some “real” math. The most popular model on the site is Pearl. She’s garnered 1,270 votes. This means she made $762 and her photographer made $252. Not too shabby for a month, but what if she’s been on the site since they launched in August 2007? The next most popular model has 816 votes and most have less than 200. If you’re looking for quick, easy cash, there’s definitely better ways to do it.
- If I’m a photographer, I’m probably going to place my content in as many touch points as possible. Therefore, as a user, why pay $10 when I can see the same pictures for free on Flickr.
Now, for some of the really stupid things about the site. And by “stupid”, I mean things I don’t like:
- The initial invite from Zivity gives no indication of who the invite is from. I would have totally deleted the invite had my inviter not IM’d me saying to check my email and Zivity.
- There’s no way of linking to specific pictures, only photosets (their word for photo album). This is just lame and defeats (a) the ability to share content and (b) any chance of referencing a specific look, feel, etc. that you may like.
- Same deal for votes. Once you vote, it registers that you voted for that photoset, but not a specific picture. This is dumb as well. If I was a model or photographer, I’d want to know the specific picture that inspired someone to use a vote.
- While they claim to only allow 19+ years of age onto the site, what’s to stop young ins’ from lying about their age and joining?
- In addition, the privacy settings are drastically lacking. I envision lots of prevy men (or women) joining the site and no way for members to block them en mass (you can block specific users similar to AIM).
And last but least, a few neutral comments / observations:
- Last night, I tried “friending” a few models randomly. My inviter was convinced that they’d accept my friendship request as it was in their best interest to increase their network size. So far, not one of the 7 models I friended have accepted. It’s been 24 hours. This leads me to believe the network is very closed (similar to Facebook) or members don’t log in regularly. Either one is not conducive to making $$$.
- Besides making a quick buck, I’m assuming the value of the site is to pick up work by putting yourself out there. This would be similar to Creative Hotlist for graphic designers. If that is the case, then a member’s profile should include measurements like One Model Place. I’m guessing this was left out so woman could feel “comfortable”.
If you’d like to see other’s thoughts about Zivity, below is a sample:
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