Risley Ranch

One Story

After reading Dan Pink's book A Whole New Mind, I implemented some of the action items he suggested to help keep my right brain improving.  One interesting suggestion was subscribing to "One Story."  According to their site:

"One Story is a non-profit literary magazine that features one great short story mailed to subscribers every three weeks. Our mission is to save the short story by publishing in a friendly format that allows readers to experience each story as a stand-alone work of art and a simple form of entertainment. One Story is designed to fit into your purse or pocket, and into your life."

I received my first story this weekend and read it immediately.  Entitled "Muscle Memory" by Katherine Karlin, it was a tale about a young girl following in her father's footsteps to become a welder on the ship yards in Louisiana. 

This clever little short story was a welcome diversion from the typical business and marketing stuff I usually read.  Looks like it will definitely be worth the minimal subscription price.

KC PRSA Presentation

I had the privilege of presenting to the Greater Kansas City PRSA chapter last week.  The subject:  "Building Public Relationships Through Social Media."  We hosted about 40 or so folks at Barkley.  It was a great crowd.  Very in tune with the subject matter, and very engaged.  I've posted the presentation below, along with an appendix of data.  Thanks to Tracy Richardson for inviting me and the chapter for allowing me to speak.

Download prsa_sm_presentation.pdf

Download prsa_sm_appendix.pdf

Technorati Tags: PRSA, Presentation, PR

Hello Twitter

Yes, I'm way late to the party, but I decided to give Twitter a try.  My colleague, Dustin, and his awesome presentation yesterday at our brown bag, convinced me.  Follow me if you like.

Technorati Tags: Twitter, microblogging

Get mobi

I'm no mobile expert -- that title belongs to guys like Mark and Dustin at our shop -- but I saw an online show today about Admob, and I was super impressed.

Fast Company magazine (one of my favorites) has launched Fast Company TV, and they have social media guru Robert Scoble hosting.  It's an awesome site.  And the first show I saw was an interview between Scoble and Admob founder and CEO Omar Hamoui.  You gotta watch this video, and make sure to watch the end where he runs a demo.  Too, too cool.  Maybe this is old news, but I was impressed.

I think the most prophetic thing Hamoui said was that we have yet to tap into the next phase of mobile advertising -- local targeting.  Although Admob can target in a variety of ways, it can't yet geo-target.  In the next two years, however, when devices are installed with GPS standard, look out.

Technorati Tags: advertising, marketing, mobile, mobile advertising, Fast Company

Inspiration for the day

Noted jazz musician Herbie Hancock wrote an article in United Way's Hemispheres magazine.  On a 15-hour flight across the Pacific Ocean, you'll read anything, so I picked it up.  I loved this paragraph:

"Reinvention is relishing the idea of looking for a new way of doing something, so you present something that's fresh.  Exercising your creative abilities is one of the most important aspects of a human being -- or organization.  The more you explore looking at things differently and creating another way to look at things, the more choices you'll have to invent a new framework, a new environment.  Consequently, you'll be able to do something others have not."

Keepn' it fresh

I'm proud to say Barkley is now an official sponsor of a development cycling team.  We're partnering with Hincapie Sportswear, a leading manufacturer of clothing for performance cyclists. Hincapie was founded by George Hincapie, who is one of the U.S.'s most successful elite cyclists.  He rode with Lance Armstrong in all seven of his Tour de France victories.

The Hincapie-Barkley Development Team pairs elite racers with young riders and mentors them in their quest to join the pro racing circuit.  The team will participate in many events throughout the U.S. in 2008.

We didn't do it for the PR (but this article in the NYT was a nice bonus).  We did it for two reasons:  1) to learn about the category; 2) to get direct feedback from people who are in the category.

IV Whitman, who heads our account planning group, deserves the credit for the idea, and our leadership deserves credit for taking a chance on the idea.

Technorati Tags: Barkley, Hincapie, Cycling, Lance Armstrong

Social media and philanthropy

I've been consulting with the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation (GKCCF) on social media issues this year.  It's fun.  They're a group that does fantastic work in the Kansas City area and also sees the value social media can bring to not only their efforts, but the efforts of the community as well.

Laura McKnight, their President and CEO, is a personal friend and an outstanding leader.  Her team has propelled the organization into a leadership position in the community-foundation category.

What I love about working with them is how open-minded they are to exploring new ways to communicate not only with their current donors, but prospective donors and the community at large.  They are willing to take risks, to prototype, and to experiment.  And that's the best way to approach social media, in my opinion.

Here's some examples of what they've done:

Laura maintains a blog.

They've developed a MySpace profile.

They are tracking philanthropy on the web via a del.icio.us profile.

You can chat with one of their staff via Yahoo IM.

And they're working on a Facebook profile.

They are also actively monitoring the blogosphere to look for opportunities to engage with bloggers who are interested in philanthropy, especially in Kansas City.

These activities will create a solid foundation in the social media space for them and attract them to the next generation of donors -- Gen Y.  Look for the GKCCF to be leaders in this area too.

Technorati Tags: GKCCF, Philanthropy, Community Foundations, Kansas City

Cluetrain @ 10

Mark February 23, 2008 as the ten-year, Cluetrain gut-check presentation.  Doc Searls gave a presentation that day in New York, and I just discovered it via his blog post.  It's outstanding.  It's part history lesson and part updated vision. 

Torrents of water have passed under the bridge since Cluetrain was published in January 2000, but sometimes it feels like we're still back in that time.  As more marketers have "discovered" social media, it's become more bastardized.  As a purists, I'm finding it harder and harder to convince people and companies to use social media in a way that doesn't turn it into another advertising medium.

Doc says it best when commenting about Facebook:

"It's absurd and it's insane and it's also terribly popular...I don't want to knock it for that reason...a lot of people love Facebook...but how much of it actually is bullshit."

"Now you're not just a face.  You're a target.  And a tool."

"It's still, still about selling eyeballs to advertisers.  Welcome to 1997.  It's ten year's later and it's the same crap."

Indeed.  I checked my own Facebook front page tonight, and what new app did I find right there at the top?

This is what Jesus must have felt like, shouting into a hurricane of years of accepted practices with twelve guys behind him saying "it's cool, it's cool, we got your back, keep shouting, we'll shout too."  But the hurricane just got bigger and louder until it blew him over, and the disciples were left to try and make sense of the pieces.

So the first half of Doc's presentation is a bit of a lament about how far we have not come since Cluetrain was published, and being a Cluetrain disciple, my blog post echos that lament.  But then Doc goes into a list of his ten "hopes" for the future -- hopes that were implicit in Cluetrain, he said.

My favorite is #7: "Markets will be understood in terms of relationships," which relates to his #8, "We'll be able to manage vendors as least as well as they manage us."  This sets up Doc's discussion of VRM -- vendor relationship management, where the customer requests the relationship -- "real relationships between truly consenting parties, whether those relationships are enduring or transitory," Doc says.

"It tests the belief that markets can be truly free and open.  And in control by customers as well as vendors.  With real relationships, not just coerced agreements we call 'relationships'."

I've been a believer in the Cluetrain philosophy since I read the book in 2001.  It's the only reason I've chosen to stay in marketing and public relations.  It's because I believe in the power of "real relationships" and the role PR can play in bringing them about between customers and companies.

In December 2004 and again in April 2005 I wrote posts about this subject and offered an extension to Doc's "markets are conversations" meme, which I called the "un-marketing manifesto."  It's March 2008, and we're still talking about it.  Something tells me we'll be talking about it in 2015 too.

Technorati Tags: Doc Searls, Cluetrain, VRM

Ice cream capital of the world

This week I was in Le Mars, IA visiting our client Blue Bunny.  Le Mars was officially designated the Ice Cream Capital of the World® by the Iowa State Legislature in 1994. More ice cream is produced in Le Mars by a single company—Wells' Dairy, Inc.—than in any other city in the world.

In my previous trips, I never had a chance to go to the visitors center, but this time we did (I made my work colleagues, Tracy, Pacia and Wendy pose for this picture).

It's a must-do stop if you're ever near the city.  It tells the story of the Wells Family, provides a glimpse into ice-cream making and even has an interactive center for kids.   

And at the end of it all, you get to eat Blue Bunny ice cream in the old-fashioned parlor.

Technorati Tags: Ice Cream, Blue Bunny, Le Mars IA, Ice cream capital of the world, Barkley

You're the problem (and so am I)

David Roberts hit the nail on the head in his recent Fast Company article, "Another Inconvenient Truth." He said:

"The uncomfortable fact for many green marketers--and targets of that marketing--is that genuinely going green would mean giving up most of the products and services that clutter our consumer culture. It would mean simplifying, valuing time and people over stuff. How can most products avoid the sin of the hidden trade-off? With a simple label: "You don't really need this."

Greenwashing isn't merely a result of poor labeling standards and consumer protection. It's part and parcel of an economy built on trade in material and energy waste. Until we are collectively ready to really go green, greenwashing will be with us. Naturally."

We consume.  That's what we do.  It may not be right, and it may not be sustainable, but at this point in our history as a species, it just is.  I want to help companies with their sustainability practices, but I know they are damned if they do and damned if they don't. 

So the next time you curse a company for allegedly greewashing, take a look at all the food packaging you threw away this week.  Ask yourself if you left your computer on overnight.  Check the gas mileage on the car you're driving.  Count the number of flat-screen TVs in your house.  And time yourself in the shower.  All the energy you use everyday to drive your appetite for consumables, comfort and convenience is the root cause of environmental problems today.  Don't blame corporate America for not doing enough until you're doing enough yourself.