Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Speechification: Politics Unusual

So here we are in the midst of the 2008 election season. To date, the best speech I've seen is the unfortunately un-focused on diatribe given by Dennis Kucinich (Ohio's favorite leprechaun) at the DNC.



In terms of rhetoric, I thought it was beautifully written. "Borrowed money to bomb bridges in Afghanistan and Iraq. No money to rebuild bridges in America." Boom goes the dynamite. Hope you had fun as a potential VP Pawlenty. That's where you lost it and McCain decided to go with everyone's favorite hockey mom slash diplomat.

But then someone came along and did it in a different way, and while it might not have been better, it was definitely different and intriguing. A beautiful mix of the freak out videos of the 60's with the ability of technology to quickly allow anyone with a computer to make a statement within minutes.

Monday, September 29, 2008

I...can't...believe...it.


They say that 99% of success is showing up. In the case of one William Shatner, that seems to be true. Thanks to a trip down memory lane from actor Christopher Plummer, it has recently come to light that with a little luck (and a healthy dose of syphilis) you can forge a path to stardom. Check out the article here.

For those further interested in the beauty that is William Shatner, I encourage you to read his autobiography: Up Til Now.

Live long and prosper, indeed.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

No One Understands

I came across an article in Monday's USA Today regarding the lack of empathy emitted from US doctors in patient-focused settings. The basic gist is that physicians responded to more existential questions from their patients concerning the nature of life, death, etc., with empathy only 10% of the time. While physicians were adept at diagnoses, prescription of medication and all other technical aspects of their job, their bedside manner seemed lacking. But so what? It's not like doctor's are in a service industry right?

I disagree. If we look at a line up of 100 docs and only 5 of them have the ability and tact to service the whole patient and not just the shells that are our bodies, my assumption is those 5 will receive the bulk of patients. With access and records and patient driven reviews becoming more and more important in how we choose care, the ability for a care provider to help us stay positive and look at the minutiae of life will rise on the list as the technical skills even out. And not only that, but the power of positive thinking is being shown more and more to affect patient outcome.

Look at cell phones. I know plenty of people who have switched providers simply because the service was horrible. Not the transmission of radio waves between towers but the, "I'm on the phone trying to figure out why I got charged $90 for SMS messaging last month service but I can't understand the person on the other end of the line and they don't seem to really give a shit about me," service.

To me, this is really no different than the doctor scenario. The question then becomes is it fair to ask doctors to also develop a skill set in general psychology along with a 7-year specialization in cardiothorasic surgery? Is it fair to ask that your cell phone carrier have great customer service? Or should they be relegated to providing excellent coverage only? With regards to mobiles and doctors, I don't know, but I bet those that don't won't be as successful in the long run.

Friday, September 19, 2008

I didn't want to...

But after watching this video on the marketing expertise of Radiohead, I had to.

Watch it. It's worth it. It's interesting to see how keeping something simple and giving fans (customers) the tools to engage leads to (GASP!) engagement. Why make it hard to do a UGC remix? The people doing it already love you. Others will trickle in and either convert or be impressed.

So, now that I've achieved the basic find a nugget of insight that someone else already found and repost it, I'll move on to my own. Luck for us, it also involves online marketing so we won't have to completely shift gears.

Seventh Generation, makers of natural home cleaning products, recently launched a digital campaign. Banner ads. Microsite. All that jazz. Nothing earth shattering about that.

But there's also a page for "Show What's Inside" which is where I think things get interesting. It seems like every day we hear about a new chemical that causes cancer or speeds the aging process or is just generally bad for you. Obiously, part of Seventh Generation's deal is NOT having that problem by avoiding things that are toxic. But, even with the whole natural focus, they still have some ingredients that the average Joe or Jane wouldn't know. And compared to the rest of the playing field, SG's product ingredient lists read llike haiku versus Petrarchian sonnets.

Answer? Create a widget for PC that allows you to look up ingredients. Even better, make that widget mobile so you can put it on your phone and TAKE IT WITH YOU TO THE STORE. Now I don't know what their market is because I didn't plan for this, but my assumption is Gen X, a few kids, "care about the environment," trying to be organic, definitely have a cell phone (probably a smart phone) and willing to look into things as a skeptic. That's gut though. Should that be the case, this work is brilliant because it allows naturally curious consumers to assess the claims of SG vs. the big guys and choose SG based on merit alone.

Educate the consumer. Help them make objective decisions. Engage them on a natural level in a natural setting. Get a customer.

http://www.quantcast.com/seventhgeneration.com

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Don't Toss Me Bro!!!

Mmmm! Lunch time. Tummy rumbling. Mouth watering. Head thinking, "I'm sure going to enjoy that food I brought in yesterday but didn't get to because I went out for lunch."

The glint of the refrigerator light sneaking through the gap as you open the door. Searching, searching, searching for that delicious pile of meat, bread, cheese, lettuce, tomato, mustard and onion you begin to become frantic as you can't find it.

Suddenly, a light goes on in your head!

"I bet some son-of-a-bitch ate my sandwich! Some disrespectful a-hole decided he/she was soooo hungry that they couldn't walk across the street and get their own sandwich. And since mine was in here for a WHOLE DAY, of course I didn't want it. Why would I want a DAY OLD sandwich? I mean eww right. Except that I did want it. And I want to eat MY GODDAMN SANDWICH RIGHT NOW! But I can't because your lazy ass couldn't get his/her own food."

No more my friends. No more.

Some genius has done an exemplary job of new product development. Someone who has been on the front lines of the no-lunch-in-the-fridge battle. It's a sandwich bag - with what appears as mold printed on the outside.

That's right, camo for your submarine. Personally, I think it's genius. A simple idea with the power to change interoffice dynamics.

Check out the Anti-Theft Lunch Bag. Order it.

Your only problem now is the office mom tossing it in the trash prematurely.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Herrro?

"So then, after I graduated from college, like, I totally, like didn't know what I wanted to do with my life. So then I started, you know, waitressing and it was, like, so much fun! I don't really, you know, read books. I think they're so outdated. Because, well, you know....."

BOOOOOOOO.

A bad date. Meeting the significant other's friends for the first time. Having to wash your grandmother's feet with Epsom salts. Used to be, you had to talk with a friend to get them to call you at a prearranged date and time. You'd make up your half of the conversation. They'd say dumb things on the other end so you could create some semblance of a conversational banter.

No more. Now there's getmooh.com. The name is an acronym that stands for Get Me Out Of Here. And it does just that in theory. You pick a time and date. You enter a phone number to call. getmooh.com calls it. Done. So far, the only drawbacks I can see is that it's free. And I say drawback because that means you can only do two calls a day. But, perhaps in the near future there will be a paid option that will allow them to purchase more minutes for mayhem...

Please use getmooh responsibly.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Genius

It's the simple things in life. Coffee that is hot but not scalding. Your girlfriend cleaning her hair out of the shower drain. Your media player making a playlist for you based on the kind of song you are in the mood for?

That's right people, iTunes 8 is here. And while I'm not usually a tech guy in terms of egregious promotion, the Genius function is pretty darn cool. Basically, it takes a song you choose and then builds a playlist around it using online information, other iTunes user preferences and song selection and your song library. Heck, it even tells you what songs you should download (there's got to be something in it for them) to round out your ideal list. Not earthshattering, but pretty darn nice.

"Keep doing different things until you find one you love."

That's a quote from my grandfather as it relates to the world of work. But I felt it quite appropriate to this story about Nepalese man working on wife number 25! Turns out 1-24 kept eloping with lovers. It must be hard to have that many women just not GET you. But, you keep on dating women 20 years younger than you and eventually it works out. Congrats Ramchadaran!

BUT

what I really wanted to post about is this: CREATURES FROM EARTH SURVIVING IN SPACE!!! You might be thinking, "Cool story Hansel, but I'm pretty sure we all saw that in 1969 when the Apollo landed on the moon bro." But I'm not talking spacesuits and radiation-proof walls. I'm talking tough-ass critters with the ability to shut down their bodies to survive the most extreme conditions. Basically, they meditate themselves into safety and come back when it's safe. And they're referred to as Water Bears, how cute is that!

Anyways, scientists exposed them to cosmic radiation and the vacuum of space and most of them survived. Some of them even managed to survive the 1000x stronger solar radiation they were exposed to and were able to reproduce successfully upon return to Earth.

So what's the cool thing? Besides being similar to Sea Monkeys in the ability to shut down their metabolic processes, scientists believe that the Water Bears can repair their own DNA to counteract any ill-effects. That means payoff for us humanoids if we can figure out how. Definitely better than this situation.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

www.umbrellatoday.com

Over the past few days here in Minneapolis, fall has snuck up on us like an estranged baby-momma on MoPo: "You are the father!!! [SMACK!!]" Yesterday, September 7th, was a perfect example of the bipolar weather patterns. With highs of sunny and warm and lows of cold and drizzle. While it made for a decent biking day, overall it just messed with ones emotions. And of course, as I enter the work week, the questions and continual overcast begs the question,

"Do I bring an umbrella today?"

If you're like me, you don't know what channel is the weather channel, don't have a weather forecasting umbrella, and don't like using your cell phone to hop on the interweb and find out. Luckily, there's an easier way. Thanks to the kids over at Lifehacker I came across this cool little widget: Umbrella Today?

The name, which brings to mind the inquisitive stylings of our Ecuadorian cleaning lady, says it all. Simply type in your ZIP code and it tells you if you need an umbrella. Don't have access to a PC early in the morning? No prob, you can enter your cell number and it will shoot you a text at a time you designate informing you of the days brolly needs.

No more guesswork. No more wet heads. Bon apetit!