Mercedes-Benz, heritage and snarling V8s

Shot before the debacle over The Tonight Show, Jay Leno and a film crew attempted to re-enact “Rendezvous”, a film I blogged about back in November (essentially, a race car driver strapped a camera to the bumper of his M-B 450 SEL 6.9 and raced through the streets of Paris at speeds up to 140 mph). This time, though, they used Mercedes' new SLS AMG and the streets of Los Angeles.

To appreciate the SLS AMG is to understand racing in the ‘50s and ‘60s. A couple generations removed, I certainly have much to learn about this era. Yet it left quite a mark on those who lived through it, and I’ve heard countless stories from older “dyed-in-wool” car guys about it. Valerie thoughtfully bought me Go Like Hell for Christmas, and I’ve had a great time reading it so far. It details the battle over the 24 hours of Le Mans between Enzo Ferrari and Henry Ford II (which, with help from folks like Carroll Shelby and Lee Iacocca, led to the development of the GT40 and the modern-day Ford GT). And it gives context for just how engrossing high-stakes racing was for millions of fans all over the world.

With that said, the SLS AMG’s spiritual predecessor is most certainly the extremely-desirable 300SL Gullwing (pic below, a good example will fetch $10 million) – Mercedes' worthy competitor to Ferrari. From a business standpoint, the kids who obsessed over these race cars then have grown up - and the lucky few can now afford this car. To say the least, heritage is important for a car whose cost is well into the six-figures - and the SLS AMG delivers.


For these "kids" and, well, anyone else who likes fast cars, the bark of the 6.2L V8 is simply awesome. (And something that makes me want a Mercedes in a way I haven't since I was a kid myself). Take a look, put on your headphones and crank the sound:



This is a fun one, too. Years ago I read about how Ferrari engineers had gone to great effort to design the underbelly of the F360 to create tremendous downforce, keeping the car firmly on the road at high speeds. As it happened, the engineers explained, the downforce was so dramatic that a pro could hypothetically drive it on the ceiling of a tunnel at speed. In this new ad, it seems Mercedes chose to show how that would work in the new SLS AMG - and enlisted none other than Michael Schumacher to do the driving:



You can learn more about how Mercedes is using Facebook, Twitter and an iPhone app (which currently has some nice features - including the exhaust note - but the game has not yet launched) to promote the SLS AMG here, or simply look at the Facebook fan page here. MercedesBenzTV is a great resource for quality content as well.

IKEA fans tagged what they wanted and won

In this clever promotion for an IKEA store opening, the store manager uploaded pictures of the store's showrooms to his photo album and any "fans" who tagged the products with their names then won those items.



The promotion brilliantly used Facebooks platform to IKEA's advantage, and thousands of people were exposed to IKEA's products in the process.

Yet as of November Facebook promotional rules have changed. For starters, you need Facebook's permission (and an ad buy). Also, third-party apps are largely required to run a contest on Facebook (for other rules in plain English, scroll to the bottom of this page). A few other helpful pointers for brands and agencies can be found here.

Why all the rules? I imagine so Facebook can generate revenue, and to prevent the platform from becoming overrun with promotions.

Conan's parting words

I saw the clip below today and felt it was too simple and true not to share. After a long and ugly public battle and with the audience overwhelmingly on his side, he used the opportunity to dole out some meaningful advice.

If you prefer not to sit through the ad pre-roll, I'll just cut to the chase:

"All I ask of you is one thing: please don't be cynical. I hate cynicism - it's my least favorite quality and it doesn't lead anywhere.

Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen."

The iPad?

This is not a product review (the best place for that, at least from the social media perspective can be found on Mashable). I doubt anyone will argue that Apple iPad is a ground-breaking product. It will have a huge impact on the marketplace, having tied together the best functionality from a number of gadgets. Perhaps for some, with the $499 iPad they will no longer need a separate computer. Yet the jury is out on just how successful it will be.

It's been an exciting day observing all the buzz, both positive and negative. Gauging from all the major sites (particularly Google, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube) as well as a few others trying to catch a piece of the buzz (like The Onion here and here), I suppose the most overwhelming reaction to the iPad – beyond the typical praise from die-hard Apple fans – was the outrage over the name, which has a connotation surely Apple did not intend. What were they thinking?


How did Apple not predict the reaction, especially with this Mad TV parody (with 74,000 views and climbing) posted over two years ago?


It's pretty clear people have strong opinions, and they're freely sharing them on YouTube below the skit:


I'm also surprised at how absent Apple appears to be on Facebook about the iPad. The largest fan page (growing from 500 to over 2,000 fans in the past couple hours), was clearly not built by the folks at Apple - and isn't portraying the iPad in an especially positive or informative light:


Yet people within my network have been buzzing about it all day:



Naming issues aside, a very important takeaway here is that these people aren't talking about the iPad with the intent of driving sales for Apple. They're talking about it because it's cool (or not), it's the first of it's kind, they know their friends are interested, and they're gauging whether or not they should buy one.

People have always discussed products in similar ways - amongst themselves. The difference is now they're doing it with their friends in online networks - and as a consequence the discussion is more open and accessible than it's ever been. There are no barriers, geographically or technically. Word can spread infinitely faster than ever before.

The present and future of digital media

If I had a thousand hours to invest in articulating my observations on how I see digital marketing evolving, it would look quite a bit like this. I've also embedded the deck below (though it's much easier to simply download the PDF).
Two Thousand and Ten Digital Marketing Outlook
Given the enormity of the document, I have highlighted below a few quotes and passages that jumped out at me as being particularly insightful, truthful and meaningful for any brand proactively seeking to understand and give its customers the information and tools they need to make it through their our ever-more complex and digital lives.

Key quotes:
“2010 is about content on the web. Paid for or for free, it’s in bite size chunks, it knows what
you want, when you want it and it’s always available wherever you are.”
— Matt Farrar and Rob Noble, Great Fridays

“Rather than spending another misguided year trying to “engineer” viral campaigns that will propagate themselves, regardless of consumer intentions, it’s time to refocus our marketing efforts to align with the way that people actually behave.”
— Ivan Askwith, Big Spaceship

"The most effective digital platforms have shifted from “disruptive” to “productive” by
providing a service or utility...[They] fundamentally change the approach from “how we reach
our customers” to “how we make their lives better."
— Ken Martin and Ivan Todorov, Blitz

“Great digital agencies are going to find ways to tell more stories and build more interactive experiences to reach larger audiences across increasingly fragmented channels.”
— Jason Bangerter, StruckAxiom


Change in Online Marketing Spending in 2010
— According to Senior Marketing Executives Worldwide

Where digital marketers’ priorities are this year, and rightfully should be:


Where the budget and immediate support is going:


People are more mobile than ever. Where before people’s digital media consumption patterns were relatively simple, people now consume media on multiple platforms on their computers – stemming mostly from search engines, social networks and email - and on numerous applications through their mobile devices. Consumption will only grow in volume and complexity. Analyzing your best customer’s patterns will make it easier to plot out how best to provide them with content they value however, wherever, and whenever suits their preferences and ever-changing habits. If relevant and seemingly valuable to their network, they will share it and amplify your brand’s value.

Ken Martin and Ivan Todorov from Blitz included this diagram in their passage:


Excerpts from the most insightful passages:

Slide 45
“The Social Landscape in 2010: Where We've Been, Where We're Going & What We Do When We Get There”
— Brian Wiener, CEO, 360i

"TV advertising, while still very powerful, is becoming less effective and efficient by the minute. Advertising dollars are concentrated where consumers are spending less than 25% of their time. Within online budgets, consumer-generated media represents almost 20% of time spent but less than 3% of the dollars. More significantly, the Internet has altered the rules of customer engagement forever."

Where We’re Going:
1. Social Media is Mobile.
2. Earned and Paid Come Together.
3. Measurement is Critical.
4. Transparency is Not Optional.
5. Change is Inevitable


Slide 25
“Digital Branded Content Syndication”
— Pete Caban, CEO/ Head of Digital, Mekanism

"Digital content syndication is the ace in the hole for the digitally savvy CMO in 2010 and beyond

Think of someone you know who is graduating from high school in 2010. They will have 3G Smartphones with embedded video cameras, loaded with hundreds of affordable content creation and distribution tools; apps for finding local coffee shops, bars, and music venues to help them explore and express their newly found freedom. They will be watching YouTube HD and Hulu and Vimeo when they aren’t on Twitter and Facebook and iTunes. Since they grew up on DVDs and DVR and On-Demand, they are time shifters, and going to be the toughest bunch that we’ve seen in a long time to reach via television.

What they won’t be doing however, is paying much attention to paid media. This demographic is doing so much of the content sharing (a.k.a syndication) themselves, that they have become virtual content publishers. This new, real-time communications paradigm makes it generally impossible, and certainly cost-ineffective to intrusively buy and insert advertising the way that IAB banners and video units managed to do for the past dozen or so years, against a more static, less mobile web ecosystem. Whether they know it or not, these digitally super-charged ‘kids’ are the medium.

'The Class of 2010' are living, breathing, passionate people who are redirecting traffic and content in real-time, based on personal interests, relationships, and the culture of the moment.

What will leading consumer marketers be doing differently in 2010 and beyond in order to turn this profound challenge into a game changing opportunity? Hundreds of leading brands such as Electronic Arts, Nike, Unilever, Microsoft, Pepsi and Fritos are planning to redirect dollars once allocated to paid media campaigns into digital content syndication programs, in order to ensure that they can successfully attract and engage millions of fragmented audiences, such as the 'Class of 2010.'"


Slide 31
“How CMOs Will Harness Digital Platforms in 2010 to Forever Change The Way Consumers Interact With Brands”
— Ken Martin, Chief Creative Officer and Ivan Todorov, CEO & CTO, Blitz

"As the digital adoption rate by consumers continues to skyrocket with new trends like Twitter, Facebook, Augmented Reality, touch walls, gesture recognition and ultra-portable devices, marketers will no longer view these platforms as standalone touch-points, but instead, as seamless engagement opportunities that keep their customers continually connected to a brand story whose plot can shift and influence purchasing decisions throughout the day.

Connecting platforms and touch-points is critical in enabling the continuation of the brand story throughout the daily routine of consumers. In doing so, we are able to provide more value and
relevancy to consumers’ locations and activities.

Engagement Levels Vary:
Level 1 – Gag | Impact – Low | Cost – $
Usually seen on digital billboards, banners or simple iPhone applications, gags use the “big-pop” strategy— they get your attention quickly, disrupt and make you laugh. Gags are very short lived and your consumers’ attention quickly moves onto the next thing.

Level 2 – Utility | Impact – Medium | Cost – $
These ordinarily come in the form of a calculator, recommendation engine, price finder or similar task-oriented feature. With a utility, it is important to intelligently utilize available contextual data to provide in-the-moment value. An iPhone application can be more than just a novelty that is used to kill time. Instead, for example, it could tap into a location based service (LBS), determine the proximity to a Gap® store, and offer a coupon for a new shirt thereby offering utility and value to the consumer.

Level 3 – Social Connectivity | Impact - High | Cost – $
Social networks allow consumers to effortlessly share their positive experiences and activities with your brand. Simply give them the tools to help spread the word and influence community opinions: iPhone apps, websites, online activities (such as completion of shopping experiences), Twitter and digital board SMS campaigns. Connect consumers with popular social networks, like Facebook, and watch as they fight for brand bragging rights.

Level 4 – Brand Customization | Impact – High | Cost – $$
Build brand customization platforms that give consumers the tools to invent, create and invest their time by personalizing the product and making it their own. The ability to customize and express individuality builds stronger brand affinity and loyalty. For maximum impact, customization platforms should be linked with social media to allow users to flaunt their customized products and influence their peers.

Level 5 – Brand Lifestyle | Impact – Highest | Cost - $$
The highest engagement level is achieved when brands provide everyday services, utilities, customization and social ecosystems that enable consumers to truly live the brand. As demonstrated by Nike +, Nike leveraged product usage data and integrated it within a social network, creating a community of cultish belonging. Clever utility encourages competition and Nike utilized this strategy to make the campaign a tremendous success."


Slide 47
“Stop Spreading Viruses & Start Giving Gifts”
— Ivan Askwith, Director of Strategy, Big Spaceship

"Viral isn’t what a marketing campaign is, but how that campaign spreads... It’s a function of
deliberate choices that each consumer makes about what is worth sharing and why.

Content, on the other hand, is only shared through intentional decisions. Unless consumers have
a strong, personal motivation to share with each other, nothing gets passed along to anyone. If we want people to share things, we need to stop thinking in terms of 'viruses' and start thinking in terms of gifts' — things that people choose to give for specific reasons.

We need to understand that effective marketing is no longer about making consumers serve our agenda, but finding meaningful opportunities to serve theirs.

It’s time to focus on creating value that consumers will have a personal stake in sharing with each other. We need to develop content that people will share because it reflects their personal values and sensibilities, helps them recognize others who share those values, and creates opportunities for satisfying interactions… We need to stop asking people to talk about our brands, and start helping them talk through them… When it happens, it will be because consumers got what they want from us, and not because we got what we wanted from them."

The Silver Lining

I finally had a chance this weekend to read the overwhelming quantity of white papers and blog posts I'd collected over the past month, as every thought leader in digital media is doing their best to communicate where they see media, marketing and communication heading over the coming years. It’s fascinating and not always encouraging.

For all the problems in the world, it gives me great comfort to know that just about anyone from just about anywhere in the world can get access to extensive information on just about anything. For the first time in history, people can be as knowledgeable as they choose to be. To give some perspective, according to former Amazon.com Chief Scientist Andreas Weigend, more data was generated by individuals in 2009 than in the entire history of mankind through 2008. (You might want to read that last sentence again.)

When you consider books were only available to a tiny percentage of the population only a couple hundred years ago, this is a hugely important development – with ramifications we cannot begin to imagine. We're going to continue to see a tremendous amount of innovation in our lifetime. Some for the worse, yes - but considerably more for the good.

What’s your Rushmore?

Herman Blume: What's the secret, Max?
Max Fischer: The secret?
Herman Blume: Yeah, you seem to have it pretty figured out.
Max Fischer: The secret, I don't know... I guess you've just gotta find something you love to do and then... do it for the rest of your life. For me, it's going to Rushmore.

I believe that inside everyone is a passion - whether they know about it or not - that they are willing and eager to pursue with reckless abandon. They care so much that they can’t help but throw themselves into it completely, always looking for ways to do it better. For Max Fischer, it’s going to Rushmore. For some people, it's football. And for others, fashion. Other folks feel compelled to write great poetry, climb the highest mountains, or find the cure.

Lance Armstrong races bikes and Valentino Rossi races motorcycles better than anyone. Tiger Woods plays golf, Steven Spielberg makes movies, Elton John plays the piano, and Steve Jobs creates ground-breaking products better than just about anyone. The list goes on. These extraordinarily accomplished people figured out what they wanted to do, and relentlessly pursued it. And continued to pursue it long after they had grown successful. We see these stories every day, but still scratch our heads as we wonder what to do with our own lives.

What’s stopping any of us from doing what we inherently do better than anyone? Fear of failure or rejection? Certainly all of these people failed – and continue to fail – far more than most of us ever try. But they keep doing it because, well, it’s their Rushmore.

So what’s your Rushmore?

Best Buy: Getting it right

By now nearly all marketing professionals are thinking about how brands should be active in social media. Many are debating where brands are getting it wrong (myself included; see “United breaks guitars” below). Not enough are talking about brands that are getting it right - and at scale.

Of the social brand presences I’m familiar with, Best Buy is doing the best job of experimenting with and finding the best ways to engage their customers, helping them get answers to their questions, and driving sales.

Barry Judge, Best Buy’s CMO, shares his thoughts here:


Some insight into how the folks at Best Buy look at social media at the macro and micro level:
Best Buy (Community 2.0 Conference)View more documents from Gina Debogovich.

To start, every brand should have a presence on Facebook. No two brands should have the same approach, and it’s clear that Best Buy understands this. Their presence has evolved significantly over the last few months, and they have no doubt learned a great deal from each iteration. Just as with any smart digital initiative, they can analyze what works and what doesn’t by looking at the numbers, and optimize from there.

With roughly 20,000 fans six months ago, between a one-day Facebook promotional push (which brought in nearly 200,000 fans), heavy cross-promotion, and positive online buzz Best Buy now has over a million fans on its Facebook fan page. Aside from bragging rights, every time Best Buy posts on the page, a sizable percentage of that fan base will see the post through their News Feed. Facebook has become an "earned" CRM channel. Facebook sensibly added an algorithm a month or so ago which selects the most "relevant" posts based on activity and pushes them into user's feeds. Of the 250 or so pages I'm a fan of, Best Buy's is one of only a handful that now make it through to my News Feed. Best Buy ensures each post has a specific call to action - helping to ensure they emerge from the clutter. Even if only 5% of the fans click through, they still have 50,000 people taking action.

Many brands keep the communication stream one-way to ensure fans don't post something that might negatively impact their brand. In Best Buy's case, they have the resources and are wisely using them to interact with both the happy and not-so-happy customers:


Best Buy isn't looking to re-create the dotcom experience on Facebook; rather, they’re effectively inserting the brand into the dialogue between the in-market buyer (the publisher of the post) and their potentially more-informed friends (the commenter on the post).

The "Shop + Share" tab is exactly what socializing the Best Buy brand should be, and they're learning from it as they go. The experience starts (below) by laying out the value proposition for first-time users:


As a user I can then search for the item I'm thinking of purchasing:


Upon making my selection, I can elect to publish to my Wall for all my friends to see and make comments. The first time I used this application months ago, I received 15 comments - and abundant information to make an informed decision using my friends' trusted advice:


Their presence on Twitter – Twelpforce (Twitter + help force) is smart and innovative. It's also invaluable to them given the on-going transition to real-time search. If a customer has a question, Twelpforce is there to answer it - whether on Facebook or Twitter (and therefore Twitter, Yahoo Search or Bing). Given that people tend to use search engines when they're researching options or getting ready to buy, Twelpforce has proven itself a masterstroke:

People are indeed talking about brands on Twitter. Given Best Buy's active role in social networks, they accomplish two key objectives: 1) help their customers, and 2) proactively improve Best Buy's reputation by being a constructive part of the dialogue:

These efforts are being driven by the quality work the company is doing to find a better way to reach their customers - which includes empowering it's people to try and fail. The more proactive Best Buy is, the more positive the signal they send to their customers. Incrementally this approach will improve sales as well, if it hasn't already. At such scale, showing that there are engaged professionals behind the brand states loudly that Best Buy is listening, responding, and genuinely trying to help their customers get what they need wherever they are.

Forest for the Trees

I've been thinking about what I’d say in this post for a while, reflecting on the oughts (chart to the left), and anticipating what 2010 and the new decade will mean. I'm stumped. There's so much to say. And so many are saying it (good examples from smart people are here and here).

The writing is on the wall everywhere, and I find myself discussing it with people from varying perspectives frequently. Few of the people I speak with understand what's going on, and in fairness it is hard to see the forest for the trees.

I keep thinking to myself how I’d like to write a post that clearly and succinctly sums up the story - and neatly addresses all the objections I hear from people about the effectiveness or need for social media marketing - or whatever it's evolving into.

Social media is a moving target - evolving on a week-by-week basis. And that's good. It's necessary. It’s tough to be in the middle of it, but whenever I step back I'm enthralled with all the progress we're making as an industry.

A few wholly inadequate observations:

- Wherever possible marketing channels are going global, largely into the BRIC countries - as that's where the growth will be occurring over the near term, and therefore potential for the greatest profits. As it happens, social networks are very much a global phenomenon and fit neatly within any organization's global ambitions.

- Social media is maturing quickly - with the accelerated transition driven mostly by the recession, and marketers' need to find more cost-effective channels to connect with existing customers and win new ones through positive word-of-mouth.

- Mobile is going to be big, eventually. Countless investors have gambled on and lost big to learn that, again, this year has not been the year for mobile. Even with the advances of smart phones - especially the iPhone - an effective marketing platform has yet to surface (please correct me if I'm wrong). Yet there is no doubt our ever-more sophisticated smart phones will get smarter, and they will be instrumental in our day-to-day lives, helping us buy the stuff we need as we go about our business. But we're not there yet, however promising the Apple app store is.

- Real-Time Search has enabled social and search channels to converge. Twitter was largely useless to a typical marketer (U.S. users spend 4 million minutes monthly there vs. 16 BILLION minutes on Facebook), until Twitter and the top search engines agreed to work together. Then real-time search happened. And, well, the potential for that to impact peoples' purchase decisions is tremendous. It's already happening.

With unique monthly visitors ranging between 128 and 146 million, Google, Yahoo and Facebook are the key online hubs today:


Networks like YouTube, Twitter and MySpace don’t have the same volume of traffic, but for particular audiences they’re very influential:


There are many more social sites, but the numbers drop off dramatically from here. And we all know the long-tail can lead to big results in the right circumstances, so they shouldn’t be discounted. For niche brands in particular, these sites are where you’ll probably find your most passionate advocates.

I think a successful approach for marketers can be well described by a phrase I’ve been using a lot lately: “throw a bunch of (relevant and compelling) stuff on the wall. See what sticks.”

Users (people like you and me) are in control – they (we) ultimately choose what technology, idea, product or platform succeeds. Our task as marketers is to help them spread the word about the good things we are doing, and how we're making their lives easier, better, more efficient and everything else that matters to them.

With the thousands of technologists, developers, strategists and venture capitalists who have jumped into the space over the past few years – social media has evolved dramatically in what seems like a nanosecond. As a channel, for a variety of stakeholders (most importantly, the users), it has evolved as it has needed to - and no doubt it will continue to evolve.

The future of Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, MySpace, GoogleWave, or another platform that doesn't yet exist is in the hands of the people who choose to use them, or choose not to use them. The platforms will evolve, new ones will emerge, and irrelevant ones will disappear as users' needs change and the technology adapts around their needs.

Yet the fundamentals won’t change. We should all be focused on leveling the playing-field, taking care of our customers, communicating about our task at hand honestly, and spreading useful information wherever our customers are.

Astoundingly few marketers have learned how to effectively use these channels to engage their customers, recruit new ones, and help spur along the revenue stream. Yet the market will adapt a business model to fit, as many smart companies already have. And there are many, many more just around the corner. We’ve only seen the beginning. Here’s to an exciting, innovative, and productive 2010!

United breaks guitars

Technology, CRM, branding and marketing objectives aside - this is why every marketer must have a smart social media strategy in place:


On a whim I searched for “United Air Lines” on YouTube. Among the highlights of what I found on the first page of results:
- The infamous “United Breaks Guitars” video with nearly 7,000,000 views
- A Mad TV parody with 1,400,000 views
- A hopelessly saccharine commercial from 1982 with 165,000 views, with a comment posted prominently just below: "Come fly with Nancy so she can break your guitar!!!"
- “United Airlines Sucks” - featuring a very unhappy customer sharing her awful experience with the airline - with 160,000 views

Each of these are very negative portrayals of United, speaking mostly to how poorly the airline treats its customers.

Now compare the audience of those videos with, say, an in-flight promo - probably the only video that United would actually want associated with their brand - with just 12,000 views. It’s pretty clear who has the loudest, most influential voice here.

United isn't going to fix its problems with an ad campaign, or some other traditional but ineffective tactic in today’s environment. They need an honest presence that effectively faces their toughest challenges, as well as the platform to make their customers' experiences with the airlines as positive as possible. What they don't get right initially, a well-executed and proactive presence will speak volumes to United’s customers about the airline’s genuine efforts to provide a better experience for their customers. If they don’t make drastic changes to their approach, they’ll most certainly continue to fall flat on their face - which can’t translate well to the bottom line in the end.

The audience is in charge

I've been told that my hometown - Tulsa - is statistically the most average city in America. True or not, it's a more honest representation of what America is actually like than New York could ever be.

There for the holidays, my parents graciously offered to babysit Hannah so that Valerie and I could go see Avatar in 3D at one of the local theaters.

Mid-way through the film there was a technical problem and the movie had to be "rebooted". What amazed me even more than the film (which has evolved the motion picture considerably, by the way) was watching a sea of smartphones light up all around as people "checked in" on Facebook, posting about what they thought of the movie, complained about the theater, or like Valerie looked up the actors, back-story and other details on imdb. What these people were yapping about on their iPhones and BlackBerrys across the country had a much bigger impact on what their friends chose to do afterward than the several-hundred million dollar marketing blitz the studio used to support the film. Truly, the way we interact and communicate has changed profoundly; we're far more engaged, connected, informed and empowered than we've ever been.

In this environment a marketer can be as successful or not as they choose to be. We've never had more choice, or a more level playing field. The opportunity is staggering for those clever enough to make it work for them.

Clever

In a well-presented direct mailer yesterday I received my new Starbucks Gold card. As one of Starbucks’ best customers (no kidding), they graciously give me neat perks. And I value them. The key selling point to me on the gold card was the 10% discount I get on every purchase.

The letter in this mailer included a shiny new gold card and well-written letter telling me how much they know I love Starbucks, that they love me right back, and to show their love will now be giving me more perks. The key perk – as the copy stated (below) – is that I get one FREE cup for every fifteen I buy. I thought to myself as I was reading the letter that I could put that offer to good use, and was feeling like a valued customer.


A minute passed and I thought again. I didn’t see anything about that 10% discount.

Clever, clever…

The copy was so well thought-through that they got me to momentarily forget that my discount had in fact been demoted from 10% to 6.7%. Nice! Yet I don’t mind. I know their margins are slim (considering the hundreds of hours I’ve sat in their Manhattan stores consuming their wi-fi as I worked feverishly), and I get a lot of value (i.e., caffeine) out of my patronage to their business. I’m happy to pay an extra 3.3%. And I admire their wily copywriters for fooling me.

Twelve Years Old

I finally found a couple hours to cobble together elements of a project from my childhood. Part of a series of palatial homes, office towers, and car drawings I created primarily during middle school – I spent by far the most time with the plan detailed below: my design for the ultimate home (from my 12-year-old perspective).

What I think is of particular interest is that I created this in the worst year of my life: 7th grade. Kids tend to be at their meanest and most vulnerable at this age, and given that I was chubby, wore glasses, had terrible acne and was an introvert - I was an easy target for abuse. I also had plenty of time on my hands. With books and objects all over the house, I began studying architecture early, and at this time was heavily influenced by the Beaux-Arts style. I spent countless hours envisioning this ultimate home, decided where I would build it (Long Island, New York), and went about laying out the plan.

It brought me satisfaction and purpose as I put it together. Over-the-top as they often were, no one teased me about my drawings. I felt this was the one thing I could be okay with in my life. It really helped me through some tough experiences that I felt would never end. I wouldn’t go back to those days again for anything, yet that I had the time and inclination to dream stuff like this up (I think) is fantastic.

The site plan
I decided on the land I'd use by looking at a map my parents had of New York. I looked for a location close to the city with waterfront views. I settled on a spot on the North Shore I liked and blew out the proportions from the map. I calculated to the best of my ability the size of the land I'd need. (I imagine my calculations were horribly inaccurate, but I don't think I cared too much even then. I also had never been to Long Island and had no idea just how well spoken for all of this land was.) You can see (below) the main house is in the middle, surrounded by formal gardens. There would be a long drive leading to the house, surrounded by a luxury development I was thinking I could build on the property.


Below I've zoomed in the on the house - with the garage attached to it's right. I was intrigued by the seamless flow possible by putting the plan on an axis, and I applied that theme everywhere I felt it made sense.


Front elevation of the house
The exterior is nothing special; I wasn't focused on the facade (most of my effort went into the interiors and spacial arrangements). The house combined design cues from Marble House, Philbrook and Versailles. The house had four primary levels. A horseshoe-shaped drive led up to the front entrance on the main level where guests would arrive. To the left, below on the ground level, were three archways for cars to pass through to drop passengers en route to the garage. While there are no windows on the facade, there is a 4th floor.


I didn't draw capitals for the columns. I drew one on the far left, but realized I had no method for standardizing such a detailed feature through the rest of the elevation. I never got around to finishing it.


Cross-section of the house
In these views you can see the outline of the 2-story Great Hall and Grand Staircase, along with formal rooms to the right and the Master Bedroom on the second floor to the right. You can also see the two-story kitchen and pantry.



The Ground Floor
Axis continues to keep the flow manageable. A long gallery stretches from the east end of the house to the west - and on to the garage. In the west wing there is rectangular pool with a 4-story atrium (I had the Gardner Museum in Boston in mind when designing it) and changing rooms to the side.


In the middle is a library patterned on the one at Biltmore - with the same dimensions. To the east is a weight room. Above is a gym with dimensions intended to hold a basketball court and to the right is a 3-lane bowling alley.


West of the library is a staircase going up to the main floor. Beyond that is what I assumed would be the most common entrance to the house - the porte-cochere. Cars would drive up to the entrance, and curve around to the garage to park.


The Garage
Lying west of the main house, the garage is connected to the Ground Floor of the house through a long gallery. With space for 46 cars, it never occurred to me to cut back on costs for how to store my collection. It would have been a sight to see! The hub of the plan was a courtyard - where I figured I'd spend a good deal of my time. Above the garage, complimenting the hundreds of pyramid-shaped skylights above to bring natural light into the garage spaces, would be the formal garden that the main house would overlook.


The First Floor
Without the foggiest idea how I'd entertain (again, I was twelve) I laid out the First Floor to accommodate hundreds of guests. To give some perspective, the 50-foot high Great Hall could accommodate the typical 2,500 square-foot American home. There were a series of enormous rooms branching off - all typical of the grand Gilded Age homes I so admired then.


A close-up on the main floor library - with it's sliding door. I assumed I'd want the option to close the doors or leave them completely open, even to the outside terrace in the evenings, so I designed pockets to enable the doors to slide in.


The Second Floor
As the Great Hall rose a full 50-feet (two floors), a staircase and gallery surround it leading to east to the master suite. To the South and West are seventeen (17) guest suites.


Close-up of the master suite - To the north was an elaborate room covered entirely in a dark-red marble - with steps leading up to a tub, overlooking Long Island Sound. Below that is a bathroom suite, his and her changing rooms and an enormous master bedroom.


I sweated the details, making sure all fireplaces, doors, sinks, bathtubs, toilets, etc. were appropriately-proportioned - even in the guest suites.


The Third Floor (but really it's the 4th)
Since no one could see this floor from the outside, I had much more flexibility for how I could lay it out. In the middle was a full-size Tennis Court open to the roof. Just above were a Moroccan-style sitting room and stairs to a roof-deck with a view of Long Island Sound. To the east was a movie theater. To the south was a 24-room servants wing (Each room was 10 feet square and had two windows).


A long gallery to the west led to guest suites and my kids' suites. I felt each of my two kids (wild guess?) would have as much privacy as they wanted. Each would have their own gallery with a view down the 4-story atrium to the pool on the Ground Floor - and they shared access to a play area and hot tub on the roof.


I was particularly excited about this room - with it's Moroccan influence. I pictured this as a relaxing, rejuvenating space with a large skylight pouring light in to the room.


While I cannot imagine wanting to build a house like this today, I suppose there was no harm in sketching it out then. It serves as a fun reminder of the kid I used to be. Now that I've blogged about it, I now have easy access to look at it anytime - which feels like time well spent.

The Weather Man

I have found myself looking back recently on a movie I saw a few years ago. It follows the life of a character played by Nicolas Cage who fails miserably at everything he attempts except for two tasks - delivering the weather, and archery. It's humbling for him - and anyone who invests themselves in the film. What's so uncomfortable about the movie is that anyone can relate. I hated the movie, and found it a chore to watch. But the last sequence more than made up for those two hours of torture.



Here's the quote:
I remember once imagining what my life would be like, what I'd be like. I pictured having all these qualities, strong positive qualities that people could pick up on from across the room. But as time passed, few ever became any qualities that I actually had. And all the possibilities I faced and the sorts of people I could be, all of them got reduced every year to fewer and fewer. Until finally they got reduced to one, to who I am.
- From “The Weather Man”

What is it that you do better than anyone? Figure out what that is - and do it well.

How big social media really is

A friend posted this video on Facebook today, where I've seen it posted quite a few times already. Maybe you have too? Its old news now - posted over 4 months ago. And I think it makes it all the more powerful.

A few of the mind-blowing stats...
- There are over 200,000,000 blogs, and 54% of bloggers post or tweet daily.
- 13 million articles are posted on Wikipedia, and studies show Wikipedia is more accurate than Encyclopedia Britannica.
- 25% of search results for the top 20 brands are links to user-generated content.
- 78% of consumers trust peer recommendations. Only 14% trust advertisements.
- Only 18% of traditional TV campaigns generated a positive ROI. 90% of people who can TiVo ads do.
- Something I’ve been saying for a long time and feel through and through: “Social Media isn't a fad; it's a fundamental shift in the way we communicate.”

1,150,825 views of this video and counting...

Just a few updates...
- Facebook is up to 350 million users - 100 million just in the US.
- Facebook would now be the THIRD largest country - not the fourth.
- 77% of YouTube, Twitter and FB listings appearing in brand searches are from a party other than the marketer.
- YouTube broadcasts forty percent of all videos viewed online in the U.S. - over 10 billion every month

What does all of this mean? Brands - if they ever were - are not in control. So if you're a marketer, your product or service better be good or getting better.