• Phil and Steve on "On The Record... Online"
• You Can't Kill Rock 'N' Roll
• Updates From The New Communications Forum
• earSHOT: Vol. I, Ep. 2
• PSA: Practice Safe Text
• Rules, Rules, And More Rules
• Denuo is De-oldo
• Multi-Directional Media
• Server Logs: The New Pitch/Spam
• WOMM: One Marketing Hand Should Wash The Other

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Eric Schwartzman interviewed me and Steve for the excellent "On The Record...Online" podcast. Here are show notes, and here is the MP3. I recommend you subscribe to the series, as Eric has had a run of great guests, including The Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg, Cluetrain co-author Doc Searls, and others.

Technorati Tags:
pr, public relations, eric schwartzman, edelman, podcasts

Last weekend, my girlfriend and I caught the Sevendust show at the House Of Blues in Hollywood. After the de rigueur body search at the front door, the security guard noticed my girlfriend's digital camera and politely asked us to go back to the car and drop it off there — strict no-cameras-allowed policy.

Harrumph!

We made our way to the balcony/mezzanine level, looking down on the stage. About halfway through Sevendust's set, my girlfriend pointed to the seething throng of fans below.

There they were: Somewhere in the middle and about ten feet from the stage... About a half-dozen of them... Bobbing with the band's scalpel-precision rhythms...

...were the tiny, glowing, color LCD screens of cameraphones.

Sure, most of these cameraphone pictures probably turned out grainy and blurred, and will be nowhere near the five-megapixel quality provided by the camera we ended up stowing in my trunk.

Nevertheless, it underscored for me what most of this blog's readers probably already know: Technology, and particularly convergence, makes the concept of message control very much an illusion. This includes control of (and access to) the visual message as well.

Technorati Tags:
music, cameraphones, sevendust, house of blues, womm, word of mouth

I'm finalizing my itinerary, packing my podcast gear, making last-minute changes to my speech, and otherwise getting ready for the New Communications Forum in Silicon Valley.

Look for me to blog about the Forum here on Talkshop. You'll also see this Flickr photoset fill up with pictures throughout the week.

Technorati Tags:
conferences, newcomm forum, edelman, sncr

We just uploaded the latest edition of earSHOT: The Edelman Podcast.

In this episode, our U.S. Eastern Region President Matt Harrington discusses "The Proper Power Of Persuasion," and Cathy Kirkman, partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati talks about the key intersections between the law and social media.

You can download the episode as an MP3, or subscribe to the podcast feed to ensure you get the latest episodes automatically.

Show Notes (Runtime: 00:21:03)

00:15 - Host Phil Gomes introduces the show.

01:14 - The show receives its first comment, from Neville Hobson, co-host of "For Immediate Release"

02:03 - Edelman's Matt Harrington discusses "The Proper Power Of Persuasion"

05:11 - Phil introduces interview with Cathy Kirkman, partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

06:19 - Phil kicks off interview: "What are the three key legal issues that face social media?"

06:45 - Kirkman on telecom law

11:24 - Kirkman on copyright

16:46 - Kirkman on the consumer's legal voice

20:12 - Show wrap-up and disclaimer

Technorati Tags:
podcasts, pr, public relations, edelman, earshot, talkshop, wilson sonsini, law, blogs, blogging, cathy kirkman

We’ve been taught that it’s not polite to point. And I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the thumbs-up sign is losing rank as the most popular hand gesture. (I’d be referring to the comeback of the peace sign, obviously). But we use our hands for so much more. So please spread the word that there’s a real physical health threat to our digits today. [Seriously? Yes, stay with me here.]

Virgin Mobile launched a new website showing that the high levels of text messaging today increase risk of repetitive strain injury (RSI). Apparently,

Chiropractors recognise that text messaging regularly over a long periods of time can cause repetitive strain which may cause short-term and long-term injuries," said Dr Matthew Bennett, a spokesman for the British Chiropractic Association.

When text messaging, the tendency is to keep your shoulders and upper arms tense. This cuts down the circulation to the forearm, when it actually needs a greater than normal blood flow to achieve the consistent movements of the thumbs and fingers."

In somewhat related news... boredom has fallen into the wide open arms and limitless arousals of the Internet (here’s where pointer's really at risk with hours of clicking your mouses). eMarketer reported new data from Pew Internet & American Life Project saying that about 40% of Internet users hit the web "aimlessly" without clear purpose – besides having nothing else to do. Even with the thousands of television channels that people can access today, people are now going e-channel surfing.

Is this good news for interactive marketing? Yes. Is this also a threat to how we work? Well, there are some adjustments we should consider making. Online advertising and promotions have been strategically targeted to relevant audiences; you know... those interested in similar or related topics. Well, maybe relevancy of the topic isn’t the key driver anymore. Maybe it’s simply a shot of boredom with a splash of A.D.D.

Technorati Tags:
Marketing, Internet, Health and wellness

David Parmet earns the distinction of introducing us to the term "icky chills."

There's been a rash of advice on how to become a better blogger, which has inspired David's reaction.

While the term "blog" certainly evokes certain expectations of how the publishing platform is used, far too much attention is paid to "tips and tricks" beyond the goals of self-expression or relating to a particular community (micro or macro) in near-real-time.

Technorati Tags:
pr, public relations, blogs, blogging

I think it's great that Publicis has decided to join the word-of-mouth fray by launching Denuo, and I wish them all the luck in the world. They're going to need it. I've pasted the first paragraph of the good old-fashioned "announcement via press release" that Cheri Carpenter at SVM Group sent to Steve Rubel below.

Paris, Feb. 22 — Publicis Groupe today announced the launch of Denuo, a major new strategic initiative designed to anticipate and exploit the rapidly changing digital, interactive and mobile communication environment. Denuo is a stand-alone business -- but is not based on any pre-existing industry model. Denuo's model rests on three pillars, and will function simultaneously as a strategic consultant, an inventor of solutions and as an investor in partnerships. The unprecedented new venture ["denuo" = 'afresh', 'anew' in Latin] will be led by Rishad Tobaccowala, chief innovation officer of Publicis Groupe Media and celebrated industry visionary who was identified by Business Week as one of the top business leaders in 2005, and by TIME magazine as a key "Marketing Innovator."

It all sounds rather Orwellian, doesn't it? And while the intention is clearly to create a bleeding-edge marketing think-tank, it also comes across as decidedly old school. My take: what they're really trying to do is to show advertisers how they can change what they do and where they do it without really changing what they do or how they do it. The perfect low-risk proposition, or is it?

Well, it is perfect, save for one glaring omission: I – and I speak metaphorically on behalf of the 5 billion "I's" out there – don't want to be exploited by Denuo or anyone else. I want more than a simple say in what I see, hear, touch and experience; I want and expect total control.

My charge to all you communicators out there looking to connect with me is this: Listen to me. Get to know me. Talk with me, but not to or at me. Trust me with the controls over our relationship. And I will pay you huge dividends in return.

The old days and old ways are gone forever.

Welcome to the Me2Revolution.

Technorati Tags:
me2revolution, pr, public relations, wom, womm, word of mouth

The “multi” of “multi-media” is pretty much assumed today with the lines between various mediums increasingly blurring. People are getting communications and entertainment where and when they want it. That checkout line at the grocery store doesn’t seem as long as it used to since you’re now tuned into your iPod watching the end of that “Lost” episode you missed and when that’s over, you’ll switch to a podcast on the latest in Torino.

With all this, it’s not surprising that television networks are checking out the buzz around those viral videos that make their way in and out of inboxes and IM conversations throughout your day. Of course the networks want to see if there’s a way they can cash in and take them primetime. Funny considering that these videos hit the web since there's essentially an open door policy – low entry costs. You find something funny or produce a low-budget video, share it... throw out the line and see if people bite. But as general mass convenes online throughout the day now – at home, at work, at Starbucks – these often short excerpts of mainstream news/entertainment or homegrown, amateur videos have achieved ample reach.

So now we have VH1’s “Web Junk 20” – showing the best of what’s been around the block online and then allowing people to submit their own. Whether the next generation “America’s Funniest Home Videos” meets “Jackass” concept excites you or not, this is yet another example of co-creation with consumers. Even television networks are listening – learning what was liked on the web – to determine TV programming and allowing consumers to create additional content. Is your company embracing the benefits of co-creation?

PRWeek's Erica Iacono also reported this week how "Video goes DTC." As more people look to the Internet for videos, broadcast PR (e.g., MediaLink) is seeing how they can dodge the media filters and go straight into the iPods of the people now through the likes of Google video. However, it's yet to be seen how popular corporate VNRs will be to the average consumer without the handsome voices of our favorite news anchors reporting it.

To the degree that journalists and bloggers drown in misguided pitches and spam, so too do my server logs at my perso-professional site.

This was a needling problem for some time, but what were once tiny grubs of static logfile entries are now pupating into squirming masses.

Ew.

URLs that are supposedly linking to me attempt to entice with promises of free phentermine, various snake-oil cures, and so on. Do they think I'm paying attention?

Now, like most any blogger, I look to my server logs as yet another means by which I can see who is linking to me. Sometimes, people have ended up on my blogroll that way when their site slips the watchful gaze of, say, blog search tools.

These marketers must know this, too.

There's much to learn from Jonah Bloom's excellent post-conference editorial in AdAge, reposted with permission on the WOMMA site.

I'll point to one part, in particular.

There's too much for all types of marketers and agencies to learn from word-of-mouth techniques for those to be the purview of one person or department exclusively. One of the core aspects of word-of-mouth marketing is that it requires monitoring of the conversation, listening rather than just talking. What is learned from such a dialogue must be used to inform the full breadth of marketing activities, otherwise it is being wasted.

Bloom rightly warns that word-of-mouth capability should not sit in a "silo" but, rather, be a discipline that permeates all functional areas of the marketing department.

Does anyone really think that, even a year from now, we're going to hear "Hey! That's Bob! From our word-of-mouth department!"

Technorati Tags:
womm, word of mouth marketing

Flash back to 1985. "We Are The World" was the Grammy-winning song of the year. Kids packed video arcades that smelled of stale sweat in order to pump quarters into the 8-bit entertainment marvels of the day. Mark Knopler and Dire Straits decried a world where rockstars got "money for nuthin' and chicks for free."

And we drank Tab.

In Back To The Future, one of the year's most popular movies, there was an exchange that would clearly be lost on most people watching it today:

Soda Fountain Owner: You gonna order something, kid?

Marty McFly: Ah, yeah... Give me a Tab.

Soda Fountain Owner: Tab? I can't give you a tab unless you order something.

Today's Tab drinkers are a few but passionate bunch, evoking memories of another relatively small group of brand devotees.

Steve Isaacs, a self-described "Tab nut" and former Washington Post editor who teaches at the Columbia Journalism School, has been told by several doctors not to drink it. "I tell them to go to hell," he said recently.

My master's instructor at Annenberg asked me what brand I'm "loyal to without reason."* To be the answer to that question is every marketer's goal.

*: In case you were wondering.

Technorati Tags:
brands, branding, tab

eMarketer just released new data on how US marketers view the importance of WOMM.

• 62% consider WOMM "extremely" or "very" important
  
• 71% are currently using or planning to use WOMM – with another 14% considering it
  
• Top reason US marketers do not have a WOMM plan is a lack of metrics - followed by an uncertainty of how to integrate WOMM into current marketing efforts
  
• 72% expect to generate results by within a timeframe of few months or less – with most expecting results within a few weeks
  

Those were the seven words that killed the Internet boom, so sayeth Bob Metcalfe.

So, it would seem that few are taking my New Year's post to heart. Basically, I'm not sure where all this jumping up and down and jeering gets us.

You see... One company has dipped its toe in the blogosphere, and folks are making a meal out of the metatarsals.

As Kate of MyNameIsKate fame points out:

No big corporate entity is going to do it RIGHT the first time out. Or the second. Or maybe even the third. But they are trying and they will contribute to the evolution of the blogosphere.

This reminds me of when a couple of guys go out for a drink and see the same girl in a bar. At one point, one guy starts making fun of his buddy in some lame attempt to impress a girl who knows better.

So, when you spend so much time and energy dissing fellow communications colleagues, exactly whom are you trying to impress?

Technorati Tags:
blogs, blogging, mcdonalds

An article by Dave Evans at ClickZ caught my eye discussing the TIVO/DVR generation by way of Jamie Kellner’s (Turner Broadcasting) proposition that “ad-skipping consumers violate an implied contract and should expect to pay ‘as much as $250 per year’ in additional fees if they want ad-free TV.”

But who can deny that consumers are at, or quickly nearing, saturation point.

Interruptive communications is out... (Enter stage left, WOMM)

So Evans proposes a “what if” situation: “What if marketers cut ad budgets by 50 percent and lowered the price of their products in return?”

As marketers, we naturally cringe at the thought of cutting budgets. And marketing is clearly important as it’s the sales pitch beyond the store counter. However, if the savings are passed on to the consumer, allowing them to buy more products – and we’re in a new age where the focus is on the consumer’s entire experience with your company – how can we not consider? Evans shares Amazon.com as an example of cutting budgets and reducing shipping.

So if there were less advertising – where else can the company's voice ring true?

A comprehensive, planned WOMM campaign is an investment. However, what fraction is this investment compared to advertising today? And as possibly the counter-curse to consumer life interruptions, seems to me to be an undeniable force at the marketing table.

TalkShop is a blog about word-of-mouth and the Me2 Revolution, published by Edelman and hosted by Phil Gomes, the company's Senior Counsel, Online Communications. This blog pulls in thoughts and opinions from members of the worldwide Edelman network.

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