Comments (0) When the Olympics hit Beijing in a week, you won’t see any sex shop signs as authorities are conducting a campaign to rid the city of anything deemed “unsightly”. This is just another example of perception vs. reality, and I must say, Asia does a great job of keeping up perceptions.
Photo courtesy of The Big Picture.
The Big Picture by the Boston Globe does a great job converting today’s news into pictures. I love the ones about the Olympic trials for swimming and diving. The diving ones are hysterical; the photographer caught some great facial expressions. The swimming ones show Michael Phelps once again having a less than stellar start and still going on to not only win, but also setting a new world record.
For the last few weeks, I’ve been contemplating switching from Blogger to WordPress. Last night, I gave WordPress a spin. It’s cool and really easy to add extra pages, meaning I could potentially integrate some of my freelance portfolio into the site vs. having different back ends to toggle between. However, when it imported all my blog posts, it screwed up the formatting and didn’t transfer some of the videos and pictures. Also, any links going to my other blog posts will have to be switched. SO… until I fix all the formatting, etc. Blogger will continue to be home sweet home for Whiskey Notes and Parachuting Fish.
A few years ago, I got a tiny, discrete tattoo. Shocker, right? Anyway, one-sixth of it represents dreams let go of. At the time, I was ready to let go of the biggest dream I had had to date. It had broken into a million pieces without any possibility of being able to pick up those pieces and start over. While hard, it was a good lesson to learn and at the time, I convinced myself that I was stronger for it.
But today, I’m not so sure. If I’m completely honest with myself, I don’t think I ever truly let go and therefore, did not become stronger. So today, I am letting go. I’m letting go unceremoniously; nothing to burn or throw into the ocean. I’m simply letting go; no more articles, no more guilt, no more overcompensating or holding others to the same standards… this is the takeaway from this. If I can’t truly let go, I can’t move ahead.
For the girl who has everyone, the Pocket Slutometer helps you keep score of the notches on your bedpost. There’s even a reset button, so when you hit #999 or feel the need to become a born again virgin, you can start over with the touch of a button. So go ahead, get naughty.
I like how Patron has taken their “Some Perfection is Debatable” campaign and integrated it into all marketing channels. The website is fun – people love voting, seeing what others think and occasionally commenting about them.
Patron gets it, unlike MGM MIRAGE’s latest UGC campaign. Forty-eight hours in Vegas, in theory, is a cute idea – it’s fun, it’s cool, it provides real value to the customer (win a trip to Vegas) and MGM MIRAGE is attempting to embrace UGC by allowing the user to have control (a big step for a large, archaic corporation). But, without proper marketing, it sucks. In today’s world, whether you love it, hate it or don’t believe in it, traditional advertising is not dead and your interactive campaign probably won’t takeoff without it (and vice versa).
The way people consume media, both traditional and interactive, has changed drastically in the last few years. Your website doesn’t work like it used to and neither does your traditional magazine. People no longer accept one touch point; they demand many. And hey, the consumer is always right, right
So, the question becomes, why has this specific campaign not been rectified already? Because they are unwilling to sync with traditional. They are hard core believers that UGC, social media and viral campaigns simply need to be released into the wild to catch on vs. putting marketing dollars behind it. It’s a poor mindset and what’s causing the campaign to suffer.
If you’re not already on the “integrating interactive and traditional” boat, now is the time to get on… or have fun sinking.
I’m a little concerned that pigs will start flying and hell will freeze over. Just a few things that crossed my mind in the last few weeks:
There were a few more, but since they were scarier than those listed above, I can’t bring myself to actually make them “real” by seeing them in print.
Luckily, since none of them actually have yet to happen, I think the pigs and hell are still safe; for now.
The other day, Dear Jane Sample wrote about mistakes and reminded her readers that mistakes happen and no matter how big or small, life goes on; it’s not a big deal. While I agree, I don’t accept that. Mistakes shouldn’t happen, especially when presenting, reporting, etc. to someone that’s your senior. This week was riddled with unacceptable mistakes. And guess what? Those mistakes got your ass kicked off the account. Here are just a few of my favorites (or more appropriately, least favorites):
1. Spelling mistakes in presentations or formal emails that are sent to multiple people. Yes, it’s an absurdly little thing. But guess what, that’s the ONLY thing people remember. The fact that you increased ROI by 200%? Irrelevant. Debuting new technology that will change the face of the market place? Will you be heralded for finding it? Nope. Thanks to technology, correcting spelling mistakes is a single click, you can even do it from your mobile phone. In fact, for email, it’s not even a separate click, spell check automatically occurs when you hit “send”. AND for those words spelled correctly but not used appropriately (i.e. “there” and “their”)? Those can usually be found with a quick re-read of the document. Are you telling me you don’t have time to do that, especially when you’re sending to say, the President of X company? Give me a f*ing break. You’re basically saying that an extra two minutes to ensure buy off on whatever is presented is not worth the time. If two minutes isn’t worth your time, then the thousandth of a second it takes to say a three letter word (yes) vs. a two letter word (no) isn’t worth my time.
2. Consistent Formatting. I won’t harp on this one as it’s exactly the same as #1. However, for most people, these are easier to see and even more derailing.
3. Making sure your math / formulas are correct. Same as #1 and #2 baby. If you get called out for a wrong formula, all subsequent ones will either be questioned or completely dismissed.
4. Missing a deadline. For me, this one is COMPLETELY and TOTALLY unacceptable. In 10 years, I haven’t missed a single deadline and I certainly don’t intend to start. Hard to believe, but very real and clearly doable. If I can make a deadline during a forecasted Category 5 hurricane (ended up hitting Miami as a Cat 1 but still very damaging), you can certainly meet one when you are in great health and have no “acts of God” standing in your way.
And the one that KILLED me this week:
X Department sends out ONE “formal” report per month per account. Those reports are one analyst’s only job. Should those reports be 100% accurate? YES. Is there a difference between $0 and $50,000? YES. Did that mistake just royally screw the single number that everyone glances at and understands? YES. Are you going to send a revised report to the people who matter? NO.
The best part of this whole story? At least THREE additional people are supposed to review the report before it’s released. You’re telling me that four people missed such a glaring error? Even if you missed the error, didn’t the end number give you pause for thought? Clearly, you are no longer doing your job. If you can’t do your job, you are worthless to me.
Moral of the rant? Take a few extra minutes to check your work. It will make the difference between a big loss and a big win.
I’m stubborn. Some say insanely so. Because of this, I typically listen to my head instead of my gut. Afterwards, I end up shaking my head, because, you guessed it, my gut has always been right. Except for this week. Not once, but three times in a single week, my gut screamed like crazy and ultimately, I ignored it. It was the first time ignoring my gut actually paid off. Not quite sure how I feel about that. So, the question becomes, do my guts have shit for brains or was this just a one time fluke? I’ll have to spend a little more time thinking about what the takeaway should be from this experience.
Just a few quickies for some good laughs. Courtesy of Someecards.
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