Howard Stern is the Blue Stripe
May 14th, 2012 § 3 Comments
America’s Got Talent is the equivalent of watching a performance by the Wild Men of Borneo followed by Marilyn Monroe. After the odd feats of strength, you can count on seeing a sultry singer captivate the crowd. Then it’s back to something like Mr. Frank Lentini. Besides the sick-fascination-factor, I’m not sure how this circus sideshow stays on television. It needs a common thread, like that blue stripe they painted through China during the Olympics to let marathon runners know where to go. In the form of a shock jock with a mop top, that blue stripe has arrived.
Howard Stern is the new judge on America’s Got Talent and he will change the show. Scratch that. He’ll make the show. And he’s the best marketing asset they’ve got. The self-proclaimed “King of All Media” is joining a panel of judges that includes Sharon Osborne and Howie Mandel. Like I said, I have never been interested in America’s Got Talent because it’s unfocused. It wasn’t a singing competition. It wasn’t a dancing competition. Contestants could choose to juggle chainsaws or river dance. Sporadic. And at the end of the competition a singer always wins. Except for season two where a ventriloquist who was also a singer won. We can make bets on which talent is in higher demand. That outcome, where a singer-always-wins, makes the other talent somewhat irrelevant. Right? It makes the show seem like a fraud and people want the truth. Lucky for them, the truth has arrived in the form of Howard Stern. And in that truth, there’s a lesson about marketing.
The Crate Escape: How to Think in a Fresh Way
May 2nd, 2011 § 5 Comments
Bad ideas stink like sardines and so does the tired, overused phrase: “think outside the box.” If your team leader says, “Alright gang, we need to think outside the box,” you can almost guarantee that you and your fellow sardines will generate derivative, dull ideas. It’s not that you and your smelly sidekicks are lacking creativity – it’s an approach problem. Sitting around the same drab office, day after day, trying to come up with cool ideas is a bad plan of action. Instead of demanding out of the box thinking, your boss should be concentrating on how to give your mind what it needs to be creative. While you and your pungent partners wander around trying to get out of the proverbial box, you’ll fail to see that you’re not even in a box. It’s the wrong analogy. So then, if you’re not stuck in a box, trying to get out of the box is an activity that takes you nowhere. An effort in futility. Gerbil on a wheel. It’s not about getting out of the box. Creativity is about consciously dictating your experiences so that you have creative food to digest. « Read the rest of this entry »
Lowe’s: Let’s Build "Game-Changing Interactive Direct Mail" Together
April 16th, 2011 § 1 Comment
When is a piece of paper, not a piece of paper? I’ll get to that, but first:
GAME CHANGER ALERT…
The separation between radio, television, and newspaper is gone: each is now a media station. The internet is changing everything and it’s only going to move faster. I was working in radio when a new awareness tingled to my nerve endings. I realized that I no longer worked in radio, I worked in a media station. The sound I put out on the AM dial was my primary tentacle, but suddenly I was producing video for the web, writing blogs, and uploading each show so that people could listen at their convenience. « Read the rest of this entry »
How to make people laugh (and make them feel nervous)
April 12th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
I know of a Frenchman who is chided by his countrymen because, although he has enough money to last several lifetimes, he continues to work. Of course,this Frenchman now lives in America where your job is inextricably tied to your identity. Let me explain this connection between job and identity. If you and I were to meet on the street, at some point during the course of our conversation, you would probably ask me two questions:
1. Where are you from?
2. What do you do?
In response, you would expect me to name the town in which I live and the job for which I am paid. In communication theory, scholars say that one of our primary goals upon meeting a stranger is to reduce uncertainty. One way to reduce uncertainty is to categorize people based on their occupation. When you ask somebody, “What do you do?” you don’t expect him or her to answer, “I paint sea turtles on sand dollars.” We expect to hear more about that person’s job. I am not one to accept the order of the day, so I have come up with a magical phrase to replace the tired, overused, category-inducing question, “What do you do?” « Read the rest of this entry »
The Mexican Man Gave Me a Gun: Mean World Syndrome in Old Mexico
March 23rd, 2011 § 2 Comments
If a Mexican man hands you a gun and tells you to shoot, do it. It was 10 a.m. on a Wednesday and I was standing near a surf-side tavern when two hombres handed me a gun, pointed at a pig, and told me to shoot. For me, this is a normal Wednesday. My amigo cocked the gun, flipped open the sights, and POP – I missed. Shot two – POP.
I nailed the pig.
Before my wife and I went to Cancun, I heard from several people who told me Mexico is dangerous. “You’re going to Mexico? It’s really dangerous down there,” they would say. When I arrived south of the border, I heard the same thing from other travelers. It didn’t take me long to zero-in on what was going on. In communication theory it’s called Mean World Syndrome. In your neighborhood it’s probably called Quit Watching So Much TV. George Gerbner, who coined the term for this cynical mindset, says approximately 25% of Americans are heavy viewers who watch more than four hours of television each day. That’s a lot of television. Here’s a statistic that might put things in perspective: today, by the time you graduate from high school, you have observed 13,000 violent deaths. How many of those deaths did you see in real life? Probably none. Heavy television viewers see violence and think the world is awful. « Read the rest of this entry »
The #1 Problem with Managing Social Media
March 16th, 2011 § 2 Comments
Generating relevant, interesting content is the number one problem with managing social media. I recently did a social mediaseminar called “Facebook, Soap Operas, and the Death of Email.” The Soap Operas portion of the presentation was all about content. I’ll get to that in a second. But first, in advance of this seminar, I met with my team at Choice Marketing to find out about the challenges they face when managing social media accounts. The recurring problem for us, our clients, and for independent people is coming up with content that is social. If you’re a banker, you know that banking isn’t a naturally social event. Do we go to the bank in groups and chat about our balances? Probably not. Do we take out loans together….make it a big party? Of course not. For the most part, banking is not a social topic. So, if you product or service is not inherently SOCIAL, what can you do?
3 Sales Lessons from a Victorian Village Hippy
March 12th, 2011 § 2 Comments
I learned how to sell from a guy with a foot-long goatee. Yes, he had a ruler-length mound of facial hair protruding from his chin and, on the evening I was enjoying a glass of Bordeaux, the goatee had a beard-ponytail at the bottom. Rob was his name and he was an awesome hippy. More impressive than his affable nature and gladiator goatee, was his ability to generate excitement. The guy could have sold silver to Glenn Beck. On this particular day, my man Rob was selling steak. « Read the rest of this entry »
Are You Sure You Want 10,000 Fans?
March 9th, 2011 § 6 Comments
Have you ever been to a dead Facebook page? The owner has put up tons of cool content and every piece of it is two years old. Painful. If you’re just getting started in social media, or if you feel your page is withering, this post is for you.
Adonis DNA: PR Strategies from Charlie Sheen Quotes
March 5th, 2011 § 8 Comments
Charlie Sheen is indeed #Winning, even after publicist Stan Rosenfield quit. For those who don’t know, due to Sheen’s erratic behavior, CBS executives pulled the plug on the show Two and a Half Men. During times of scandal, one of the best PR strategies you can implement is “Show Up, Or They’ll Make You Up.” Hollywood scandals tend to generate bizarre and unfounded speculation. In the case of the Platoon star, we need not speculate.
Charlie Sheen is definitely “Showing Up.” And that’s what he should be doing. He’s a celebrity, right? If you’re a celebrity your job is to be famous. Charlie Sheen is more famous today that he was in January. Is it a bad idea that he is “Showing Up” SO MUCH? Perhaps. I think, eventually, people will get bored with him, but Charlie is spouting off Sheen-isms such as, “The only thing I’m addicted to right now is winning,” that are impossible to ignore. WE are addicted to watching Charlie try to #win. So, from Charlie Sheen, what can we learn about PR, managing chaos, and #winning? Here’s the run-down based some of the best quotes of the year:
1. “I don’t live in the middle anymore. That’s where you get embarrassed in front of the prom queen.”
Live in the extremes. Aristotle would disagree, but we’re talking about celebrities. If you’re a star, existing in the mediocre void between mega-fame and near destitute is career suicide. Embrace the whiplash you experience between Oscar nomination and Sober Valley Lodge. The point here is to know your job. He’s a celebrity. He understands the position and lives it. « Read the rest of this entry »
"Let’s Do This" Joplin, Missouri
June 9th, 2011 § 29 Comments
An EF5 tornado hit my hometown of Joplin, Missouri. My family and I are blessed. We suffered no damage. Avoiding the path of demolition was like hitting the lottery because about 30% of the town is gone. I was on a disaster documentation team and my journey up and down each street inspired what you’re about to read.
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