Kerouac's Brand Gap.

This month marks the 50th anniversary of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road being published. I think about poor old Jack from time to time. Not the super cool, burning to live, image of him, but the sad, lonely alcoholic who died at 47 while still living with his mother. After Road was published; the fame that it brought became a monster that devoured him. Why? Maybe he just couldn’t manage his brand. He is credited for being the avatar of the beat generation, but I would argue that he didn’t create that persona.

A section of US culture felt a great void that 50’s Americana simply could not fill. America’s subconscious created the figure without a name or face. Jack brought both and filled the need along with his rude, whiplash tenderness, prose. He played a part he didn’t create. He coined the term beatnik, but it was Allen Ginsberg who put the name out there. I contend that without Allen, the beats would have never been seen as a literary movement. The thing with Allen though, is he was far too counter-culture to fill the icon role that Jack did. I think it could be said that a communist, Jewish, homosexual, pothead may even be too counter-culture for today’s mass consumption.

The brand gap? The role he filled was the archetypical cool, rugged indifference. When you actually read his work however, what you see is a deeply sensitive, perhaps frightened, wildly excitable man. In the end, I think it may have been that difference that came with his fame that wounded him the most. At the time, the world wanted one so badly that they refused to see the other.

Brand Came Through for This Muggle

Last Friday's release of the final installment of the Harry Potter series rivaled the release of Apple's iphone in terms of hoopla and throngs of devoted fans waiting in line for hours to be one of the first to have it. JK Rowling and Scholastic scored big with 8.3 million copies sold in the first weekend in the U.S. alone.

Amazon made promises to the two million customers who pre-ordered the book to have it to them by 7 p.m. Saturday. The whole thing really was a gamble considering that Amazon was relying upon third parties to execute on the promise. An extraordinary event like the release of "Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows" can put a huge strain on a company's infrastructure. Quite thankfully Amazon came through with everything they promised me. My copy of the book was in my grubby little mitts by 10 a.m. Saturday morning (and I finished all 759 pages in 24 hours).

Others weren't so lucky. Read about Kottke's disillusionment. He's not alone. Click here and here to read other's frustration vented.

Regardless of who you want to blame - Amazon or UPS - the Amazon brand took a hit. In my case, I'm singing Amazon's praises (but then I received my book via U.S. Postal Service), but for those who are still waiting, there's no doubt their connection to the brand has been eroded. 

Naked Conversations

I reviewed Naked Conversations: How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel for the Sioux Falls Business Journal. The Recommended read in the November 1 issue can be found on their website here. But, since it was edited to fit their space and a subscription is required to read it, here's the full text:

What do you call a low-cost tool you can use to communicate with your customers, investors, employees and other stakeholders individually and simultaneously? Naked Conversations co-authors Robert Scoble and Shel Israel call it a blog.

Both “A-List” bloggers, the authors admit their bias as “blogging champions” who deem blogs essential for business. They passionately document the right – and wrong – way to blog. Their advice ranges from the broad, be authentic – not corporate, to the specific, how to choose a title for your blog.

Hundreds, if not thousands, of businesses (including 40 companies from the Fortune 500 list) have jumped on the blogging bandwagon. How do you know if it’s right for yours? The bottom line is this: If your customers want a blog, you better start one before someone else starts one about you.

Although the book was written as things like RSS and podcasting were just emerging, much of the advice in the book will not soon be dated. If you think a blog might be right for your company, this book belongs on a short list of resources that you can’t afford to ignore.

If you're interested in more from Scoble and Israel, you can check out the book's blog where Shel Israel regularly posts or visit Robert Scoble's excellent blog. Happy blogging!

Attention = the new commodity

Ahhhh…vacation. I took two days off before Memorial Day Weekend to give myself (and my family) a five-day weekend. We spent the time in the Black Hills of South Dakota, which is one of my favorite places in the world (pictured to the right). We spent time fishing, hiking and soaking up the sun well off the beaten path.

In addition to the rest and relaxation, I caught up on some reading—two books that are relevant to this blog: All Marketers Are Liars by Seth Godin and Life After the 30-Second Spot by Joseph Jaffe (many thanks to Joseph for supplying us with a copy). I’d been meaning to get to these books for a long time and this vacation supplied me the time to get to both.

With the proliferation of blogs, I’ve noticed myself spending less time with books. It just seems that by the time a book comes to print, everything included therein has probably been covered by the blogosphere. However, this particular vacation I was without an Internet connection and my Treo was out of range, so I was forced to read the old way…and was rewarded for doing so.

One thing that jumped off the pages of these two marketing texts was the importance of gaining the attention of the consumer. The cluttered media landscape (which is rendering the 30-second spot irrelevant) has led to the “attention economy” with time “the new currency” states Jaffe. Rather than ROI, we need to focus on the “consumer’s ROA: return on attention."

Godin calls attention “the unstated precious commodity” and tells marketers that they “can no longer force people to pay attention.” Both authors reference the effectiveness of “permission marketing,” the title of a previous Godin book, and Jaffe calls for the introduction of “permission advertising.” The permission is necessary because marketers waste the time of today’s time-pressed consumers at their own peril.

Both authors see attention gained in similar fashions. For Godin, attention is earned from the consumer by telling a compelling story that does not conflict with their worldview. Jaffe urges advertisers to get attention by crafting advertising that is real, relevant and beneficial to the consumer (hint: it’s tough to do that with a 30-second TV ad).

This is consistent with what our agency regularly discusses with our clients. In our view, the first job of good advertising is to stop the consumer and get them to pay attention. The consumer is not looking for your ad; in most cases they’re actively trying to avoid it. That’s why they signed up for the “Do Not Call List,” bought a DVR and installed Google pop-up blocker. An ad can’t convince its target to do anything if it doesn’t first get someone to pay attention and today that’s harder than ever to accomplish.

I’ll be blogging more about these two texts in the coming days (perhaps even review them), but I first wanted to highlight a theme or two that was present in both. Following all the vacation reading, I have a lot of thoughts to share with Fresh Glue readers.

Incidentally, public relations pros have joined advertisers in discussing the importance of consumer attention. In a presentation titled “Communicating on the Read-Write Web” by Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson, of For Immediate Release fame, attention is called “the scarcest resource.” The presentation is well worth the read.

Good enough...or remarkable?

Where were you when good enough stopped being good enough? Maybe you weren’t even aware that it had. Maybe you’re still stuck in an (insert organization type here) that’s good enough…and dying.

Enough already! If your customers don’t leave an interaction with your company/product/service and rave to others about it, you won’t last. If your customers aren’t talking about you, no one else will. To get them to talk about you, you have to wow them…you have to be remarkable.

“But,” you say, “we make bicycle seats or hair brushes. We’re not remarkable.” You’re right. Ninety-five percent of what you do is NOT remarkable and you know what? All of that can be done from India for one third of your cost. I came across a listing on Adrants with the subject line: partnership with your ad agency for creative design from India. The body of the listing read:

Our ad firm can dish out good creatives for any kind of advertising. Very innovative when there is a specific need. We cover Print campaigns, posters, any other kind of POS merchandise, hoarding designs, invites, magazine page layouts for articles, backdrop designs, You should find us cost effective with jumpstart of half a day after your brief due to the time zone. So if you want some peace now drop us a line… (Emphasis mine).

Cost effective. No kidding. And you thought only customer service and manufacturing jobs were moving overseas.

Because 95 percent of what you do is no different from the designer in India is precisely why the last five percent is so crucial…because that’s where you can become remarkable.

THE BIG MOO is Seth Godin’s clarion call for businesses to start being remarkable or start dying. It’s not a handbook or a textbook and it doesn’t have a 12-step process to becoming remarkable. If you think that exists, then you also probably still think you need an MBA to succeed in business.

The book is a collection of 33 individual essays on becoming remarkable. Each essay will inspire you and show you how easy it is to become remarkable.

Yes there are extraordinary features: none of the essays are credited, proceeds go to charity, blah, blah, blah. (I cover some of the features in an earlier post that explains how I came across a copy of the book). All of that is secondary to this: THE BIG MOO will force you to think about how you can become remarkable. I had to reread most of the essays, because halfway through each one I found myself thinking about similar things I could do and wondering why I hadn’t done them already.

This book will engage you. Stop being good enough and start being remarkable. Start with THE BIG MOO.

Moo...Bzz...Moo...Bzz

Good enough isn't good enough any more. There's too much competition and customer expectations are too high. But, what's the answer? Perfection? No, according to Seth Godin. The answer is to be remarkable. Godin has been preaching this message for a while, most notably up to now with Purple Cow.

He continues the theme with the forthcoming book (his last) THE BIG MOO and I was able to score an advance copy (I'll get into how in a minute). For the book, which Godin is editing, he approached 32 co-authors with recognizable names like Malcolm Gladwell and Tom Peters and got them to write individual pieces on how to become remarkable. Every contribution is uncredited and 100% of the royalties go to one of three charities.

The book is inspirational. "Stop Trying to Be Perfect and Start Being Remarkable" is emblazoned across the top and each essay contains an example of how someone did just that. My favorite is about a bike mechanic named Reggie and the little things he does to become remarkable. What the book, and especially that story, does is show how easy it is for any business to become remarkable. If you're still trying to be perfect or just getting by, you owe it to yourself to buy this book.

Practicing what he preaches, Godin is promoting his book with innovative tactics. His primary markeing strategy is to get it in the hands of influencers. I was able to get a copy by participating in the BzzAgent campaign for the book. BzzAgent is an online word-of-mouth marketing company that gives products to BzzAgents (like me) that will Buzz about the product. So, consider yourself Bzzed!

UPDATE: The book is Sold Out! But Seth promises more.

Citizen Journalism (without the blog)

Apparently, you don't need a blog to be a citizen journalist. I recently learned about a new (to me) kind of citizen journalism when I received an email from Jerry Weissman, author of In the Line of Fire: How to Handle Tough Questions...When It Counts. Here's the opening sentence of the email:

Several of your Amazon reviewer colleagues have given highly favorable reviews to my forthcoming book, In the Line of Fire: How to Handle Tough Questions… When it Counts.  I would be honored if you would consider adding your review to that list.

The email included how I could secure a copy of the book and accompanying DVD if I promised a review. I replied that I would be happy to review both and sure enough, they arrived at my doorstep within a week.

My first thought is that this is an extremely effective promotional technique. Although nothing in either the email or the package sought to influence my review, the fact that he's mailing these for free to Amazon reviewers can't hurt the reviewer's perception of the author. If you send it to enough, odds are such that more of your reviews will be positive than negative. In fact, most of Weissman's reviews at Amazon are five out of five stars, so it appears to be working.

But, just how valuable is a positive review on Amazon? The best example Chris Anderson gave of his concept of The Long Tail was another book, Touching the Void, that was resurrected by Amazon. Even though it was by associating it with another popular book rather than reviews, the same web site was at the root.

In addition, although a review in the New York Times may be read by millions, it won't be staring in the face of someone contemplating an online purchase. Be honest. Have you ever purchased a book on Amazon without reading at least one review?

As for Weissman's book, an initial scan captured my interest, but I've been too busy to write my review. I'll let you know once I've finished it. As for citizen journalism, I guess you don't need a blog. Who knew?

Never Blog Alone

As readers of this blog are aware, I have posted on networking before and referenced the book Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi. Well, I recently stumbled upon his blog and thought I'd pass on the link. I particularly enjoyed this post on how he likes to be contacted for networking opportunities.

I added Keith's blog to my list of RSS feeds and signed up for his "Tip of the Week" email. Networking is too important to ignore and you can't learn it any better than from Keith Ferrazzi.

Winning through communicating

I recently read Winning, the latest book from former GE CEO, Jack Welch. While Welch has numerous insights into the world of business management, I was particularly interested in how often he talked about communications. In fact, much of the book can be read as a testament to the vital role that communications plays in running a winning business.

In his chapter on leadership, Welch lists eight rules for leadership. Every one of the eight rules deals primarily with communication or has a communications aspect. His tips include: no vision is worth the paper it's printed on unless it is communicated constantly... And Trust happens when leaders are transparent, candid and keep their word.

On change, which he calls a critical part of business, his first piece of advice is for leaders to communicate a sounds rationale for every change. When a business is facing a crisis, he recommends complete and continuous transparency. His method for managing people requires a transparent framework that everyone in the company understands.

You often hear corporate heads of marketing and communications talk about the importance of gaining access to the "C-Suite." I think Jack Welch would agree.