Gripes and Grins

Doc Ellis and the LSD No-No

NoMas-nyc was created by Chris Isenberg, aka "Ise" (pronounced IZ). Like many of our classmates at Stanford, Chris went the startup route -- media, fashion, art.  His creativity is on display at nomas-nyc.com.  Chris and I were friendly in college, but no friends.  We had one very good friend in common -- a roommate that pitched on the baseball team, and later pitched several years in the Baltimore and Arizona organizations. 

From time to time I hear about No Mas.  On business in New York, I'll see the hipsters wearing No Mas gear on the streets.  I'll hear about the amazing bags and apparel from friends, or read reviews of No Mas gear in mens fashion rags in executive lounges in airports and hotels. Chris has done well, and he is still into the things that he always loved.

Isenberg is a true baseball fan.  Really, he is a sports junky.  You have to know this to understand the No Mas line and the art he produces.  The following animated short was produced by Chris -- you'll love it.  It's got a feel that matched the innocence of the 1970s, when American was experimenting in all directions and the fashion, art was 'far out'.  The short is about one of the most astounding events in baseball -- the day Doc Ellis through a no-hitter after a two-day acid bender. 

Nice work, Chris. 

Scribblenauts: Coolest spelling game ever

I just got a chance to look at this demo, I think it's from the GDC (games developer conference), but the show is irrelevant.  This might be the coolest method for teaching spelling I've ever seen.  I'm really loving what we do at SmartyCard.com, and I really like the math methods over at CarrotSticks.com, but this is awesome -- so creative, you have to see it.

Why crowd sourcing ads will work for SmartyCard

I just sent the email below to Chris Breshears of Phase One Accelerators and Adrienne Allen, VP of Creative, SmartyCard.  I've been struggling with how to communicate why I haven't felt good about our nascent parent marketing efforts at SmartyCard.  Some of this rambling screed is tainted with my own growing discontent with the metrics-driven creative determinations so prevalent in advertising today.  But, outside of that, I'm being brutally honest about our initial shortcomings and what is driving me to crowdsource ad creative for our next round of parent-focused creatives.  Would love any comments.

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First, I want to thank Chris for jumping into the good fight and responding to my madmen request by

1. not laughing at my pathetic emergency budget and
2. replying summarily “sounds like a dream gig”
   

Second, I want to thank Adrienne for forcing me to talk through this — you’re a real creative pro.

Chris, a dream this will not be, but it sure as hell is going to be fun.  We look forward to your arrival next week, but in the meantime, Adrienne has her kick-ass team working in a new, inspired direction.  And, I’m soliciting inputs from the customer.

To recap, I feel a bit ashamed.  I let our first round of Mom-focused creative develop without thinking critically about our customer.  I was lulled by the unquestionable success of our tween marketing, which is really rooted in a natural connection between the SmartyCard art, our tween audience and our brand promise of “fun and rewards”.  

All of the external voices selling us mom media are telling us to think like other brands.  I’ve seen and produced enough drek in my lifetime.  Call it my Don Draper moment (I wish I was drinking an old fashioned now), but the moms at Blogher really spoke to me.  Like my own wife, this “class” of moms are distinguished and funny.  They aren’t the two-dimensional characters that potential partners describe and casually tag with terms like “soccer mom”.  If anything they’re sardonic, self-deprecating GenXers, aptly named because of they are impossible to categorize.  

Last night really spoke to me — my daughter’s school picnic.  A professional soccer player asked me if Chloe could join her clinic, another lamented the lack of alcohol and a third encouraged me to bribe my kids with chocolate.  These moms all highly successful in their own right — just like the moms at Blogher.  And, they are all seeking any reason to make light of their situation — the situation being officially “harried”.  Or, more specifically, exhausted from lack of sleep, self-medicating with wine, stained, permanently fighting off a cold, arm weary from carrying kids and their belongings, and generally being the central hub of the family and home.  These women are super-heroes, sustained by their own sense of humor and the laughs they share with their peers.  Our basic value proposition is strong.  The brand is tight. But, we’re not going to connect until we give moms a laugh.  I’m sure of this.  And, per Adrienne’s thoughts, no careful combination of stock art and graphics is going to work... It’ll all end up like mary-fucking-poppins.

This is why I posted that we’re going to “crowd source” ads.  I posted to the company blog, I tweeted, I posted to our affiliate marketing moms.  That post got retweeted and I’m collecting ideas and feedback to share.  I apologize for not giving you a headsup before doing that.  But, honestly, I’m pretty sure we’re doing the right thing by bringing moms into the creative development process.  I just want every guarantee that we’re connecting with our audience... Avoiding drek at all costs.  

Thanks for your support, thanks for scrambling on this new effort.  Enjoy your weekends.
Aaron

Media Gripe: AP coverage of NYC bombing clueless or using Brad Pitt or both

Associated Press writer Colleen Long just posted a "Fight Club" bombing story.  Here is the pick-up in Globe & Mail. Brad Pitt's name is referenced multiple times, no mention of Chuck Palahniuk or real world Cacophony Society, the organization that inspired Tyler Durden's "project mayhem" crew in the book written by Palahniuk. 

The facts are sad, and the suspect is obviously misguided.  But, the coverage is also stomach churningly stupid and, or nefarious.  Not to equate the story with bombing coffee shops and foreign consulates, but it's pretty bad nonetheless.

What's so wrong here?  Chuck created the characters of Fight Club.  The story is his making.  If anyone were to be identified with this bombing, Chuck should be the one.  But what kind of distribution would that Fight Club story get?  Answer: Not nearly as much as the one with Brad Pitt's name splashed on it. 

Long and her editor are either clueless about the fact that Fight Club was a book first, or they have made a conscious decision to leave out these details and bait search engines with Brad Pitt's name.  Either way, this is piss poor writing/editing.  Someone let me know if you find an unabridged version of this wire story that does include Chuck or the Cacophony Society.

The AP and the half-dozen big-market newspapers that picked up this story in the first hour should be ashamed of themselves.

The case against marriage... or, how 'smart' people look and sound idiotic

So, I'm waiting for a call to start, and I go to Drew Curtis's Fark.  There's an MSNBC story on the top of the stack, tagged with "ASININE" and the descriptor "I cheated on my husband and destroyed my marriage. Obviously the problem is that I didn't have enough husbands, and a community of women to communally care for my children "

The genius of Fark cannot be underestimated.  Everyone I know is burning the candles at both ends because they have it all -- marriage, kids, good jobs, career challenges, outside interests.  And, for the most part, no one I love or befriend is so fucking thankless or self-absorbed as to bitch about these challenges.  And, no one I hang with is so fucking narcisistic as to extrapolate their own personal challenges as indicative of a "meta" experience for the American society as a whole.  Warning: Rant coming!

The video below, and the companion story in the Atlantic, by Sandra Tsing Loh, is the most self-unaware example of authorship and publishing ever.  While elegantly written, and a well constructed argument, the premise is so fucking ridiculous that I wanted to carve my eyes out with a rusty spoon.  In short, women ( really people as a society) need to rethink the need for marriage. 

Have we learned nothing from the political times?  Do we not know that marriage is a religious institution or a personal/individual choice to apply for a state sanctioned class, defined as the voters of a state or municipality choose to define it (I'm pro gay marriage, btw)?  Why should the media pedal these ludicrous ideas of rethinking marriage as a societal construct?  My friend Jeremy Zawodny would have some juicy thoughts on the media's interest in perpetuating this shit, but I digress.

The main point here is that this lady is a characature, a very ugly distortion of the people involved in the divorce rate.  Who cheats on their husband and ruins a bueacolic life because they aren't getting enough out of their relationship? 

The answer is simple: Idiots that don't understand life -- that's who.  Life, and this includes marriage, is what you put into it... and, yes, you're an idiot if you're in your forties or fifties and you've been married twenty years and you don't know this.  Sandra is most definitely an idiot.

In the article, Sandra chooses to cast her life and effort as thankless efforts, and even casually chides the new (read younger) American male trying to put more into their home-life by taking on more traditional female/mother efforts around the house.  In the video she jumps right into challenging the realisticness of marriage in a modern context... what?!

I feel sorry for Sandra's ex-husband and her next victim.  And, based on her self-glorifying descriptions of her parental superpowers, I'm betting that her kids need some sympathy too. 

As for the read, it's idiotic drivel, but if you want to see a smart person come undone in their own qwerty juice, read it.  Here's the video of an interview with a half-witted Viera and some other random that actually has some common sense.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Return of the Grin: No kidding, I think I love Sarah Haskins

Nothing better than a funny woman.  Seriously.  My wife is deadpan funny.  She is also funny insulting in a mean-spirited kind of way that stings and then a 1/2 hour later I'm laughing, all by myself, at how much I must of had have pissed her off when I did my usual annoying things, like...TMI edit.

Anyway, funny is the new sexy. It's also the old sexy if you waded through the hot end of the shallow collective gene pool in college.  C'mon, you know what I'm talking about guys.  How many times have you been chatting up a pack of ladies long enough that your eyes start to carve off pounds, pick out better outfits, better hair, more cleavage or better breath.  Nothing like a funny lady to make your imagination go all Mrs. Potato head while she is cracking one liners about Czech whore-houses or snarky mockery of the douchebags in the club. 

And, truth be told, women are the superficial species.  Their "hot" guys are always Brad Pitt or "Markie Mark" and most definitely not Jon Stewart, or anyone else on the Daily Show.  If you told me that Wyatt Cenac is getting laid anytime this month, I'd eat your boogers. 

Ladies, don't give me that Jimmy Fallon shit, or start talking about uber-rich Hollywood former SNL cast members like David Spade, slobbing their way through Hollywood nightclubs, luring wannabe actresses and singers by showering in eu de film break fragrance. 

I'm talking about a funny normal dude with a blog or a lame-ass cable access TV show.  If Wyatt Cenac has no chance, dorky blogger guy has no chance.  Ask any dork from G4TV.  Hell, you know that Tosh.0 is going out to AREA tonight with wingmen because even with his new show, he still isn't getting laid.

Now, in contrast, Sarah Haskins is HOT.  Her hilariousness is what is HOT.  Hotter than Amy Poehler, hotter than Chelsea Handler, even hotter than Samantha Bee.  Note: Don't get me started on 30-rock cast... yeah, those two are funny, but the production values feel fake-funny, and I'm not into saline or "rolexes" sold on the street below midtown. 

Anyway, check out Sarah Haskins on Target Women.  She needs her own TV show.  No, sorry CurrenTV, you're not really TV. 

Good night!

Tom Foremski covers MySpace event, quotes Michael Cerda and Ben Dean.  Very interesting take on details of the developer program.  The next month will be really interesting. 

Back to the shill

I've powered through my first bout of blog fatigue.  Things have been busy at work.  We've got a new partner in the queue.  Plenty Of Fish is now the biggest dating service.  Oh, and I've been traveling a bit with Jangl CEO and co founder, Michael Cerda.  But I've also been wrapping up a home renovation that has lasted 11 months, requiring 2 lead contractors and a dozen subcontractors.  And, my son Jack got very ill -- he had a scary brush with a Staph infection that created several tense moments over a week.

But, my poor brand experiences haven't let up.  If anything, they've been getting more frequent, more interesting.  But, I'm not going to throw stones tonight.  Instead, I'm going to stay true to my name and shill.  First, let me set this up. 

The afore mentioned 11-month renovation was bid upon by one the most prominant contractor in my area -- Los Altos, Mountain View.  The guy estimated 6 weeks last March, then did next to nothing until May.  Then he told us to leave town for a week.  We started to make plans, and then waited for him to start on our kitchens and living rooms before leaving.  We waited him out -- months without functioning bathrooms.  Finally, in September, with the job completely abondoned, we awarded the contract to Phil Montalban.

Phil bid and estimated 6 weeks to get the kitchen done, if I did all of the demo.  So I did.  Then, Phil slid a week.  Then our cabinet order got fouled up by the folks at EXPO.  To make a long story short, Phil is still working on moulding in my kitchen. 

So, how does this happen?  Because the construction and renovation business in California favors the contractor -- supply of projects far supercedes the number of contractors.  And the situation is exacerbated by the dozens of dependencies in the materials supply chain.  I'm absolutely convinced that contractors abandon jobs and take months to finish projects because the finish work is time intensive and has low-margin (because it's outsourced). 

Since our first job abondonment, I've heard dozens of stories about Jack Meyers and other contractors in my area, who are largely unable to finish their work and leave money on the table.  Often times the contractor will cite the lack of materials and vendors as having caused delays that force them to walk from the project.  Specifically, its cabinet manufacturers, tile, finished hardware, lighting fixtures that create lags, somewhat unexpectedly.  It was this realization, along with recognizing that contractors don't generally hang out and talk much, that let me appreciate the massive opportunity ahead of DiggersList. Warning, the following is shill

I kid you not, DiggersList is one of the best ideas I've seen or heard of since I started working in Silicon Valley back in 1995.  It's basically Craigslist + eBay + Contractors.com - subscription fees.  It was founded by one of SoCal's best contractor insurance specialists and his whiz kid brother with nice PHP kung fu.  It just launched, but already has a thousand listings from contractors that are trying to buy and sell materials on a regional basis. The company founders have a few bigger ideas that may involve providing back-office services to contractors, like insurance, and vendor reputation management and contractor reviews for consumers.  But the basic business is focused on a high-margin class of materials and services that would pique the interest of the biggest players in listings and auctions.   It'll be interesting to see if these guys can fly under the radar long enough to build and prove the value of this vertical to the big boys in listings and auctions. 

Jangl getting props for Friendster app

Jangl at the top of lists
I'm seeing more of these Jangl-in-Friendster accolades since yesterday.  Lost in the Bebo and Facebook announcements, Friendster made a PR push starting Tuesday, and Jangl was one of the first apps in.  Unfortunately, they asked us to keep our PR machine parked in the garage, so we couldn't really publicize... well, at the last second they sent us a huge set of PR guidelines and release templates that no one had to time to read, let alone write a release and submit for approval.  But, it's good to see their team get into reactive mode and start making some noise about all of the cool widgets that people developed to their platform.   The critics in Friendster seem to like Jangl. 

But, this whole situation does remind me of something funny that happened with a social network partner earlier this fall... I had this call with a head of marketing at a social network, and the guy came at me with a "this is the understanding we have with your CEO" sort of conversation.  Ask anyone that knows me, pulling rank is generally not a good way to start the conversation with me.  But, I played it out, because I care about the members of the community.  Anyway, this guy responds to our PR guy's press release by telling us that we can't say anything because we (Jangl and un-named company) have an NDA in place.  Here is my best recollection of phone conversation...

Me (quizzically): "So, let me get this straight, we can't say anything about our relationship or the app we're launching tomorrow."
marketing guy: "That's right."
Me:                  "So, what are we supposed to say after the release (of the app to their directory)."
marketing guy: "Nothing."
Me:                       "I don't think you understand, after the product is released, and Jangl is in the featured position in the directory, how are we supposed to comment when asked by the bloggers, press, etc."
marketing guy: "Nothing (sounding annoyed to be repeating himself)."

At this point, I started the conversation over, talking slower.  And, then, when we were back to how to handle press inquiries, I tried a new angle...
Me (incredulouslY): "Okay, so maybe zero of your millions of members will notice the app in the featured widget space, which I hope isn't the case... what are we supposed to tell our customers that contact us?"
marketing guy: "I don't think you understand, we need you to not respond..."
Me:                      "you don't want me to respond to customer queries..."
Marketing guy: "Oh, okay, so I guess you need to do that.... we'll get you a statement."
Me:                         "yeah, I think we need a drawer statement for the press too."
Marketing guy: "why? (sounding flabergasted)...WE AREN'T issuing a release and YOU AREN'T issuing a release, and, as I've said before, we're all under NDA."
Me:                       "right, we covered the NDA, but, let me just ask you a hypothetical... so, are you aware we're doing an ad campaign on your network that starts as soon as the app is available."
Marketing guy: "Uh, yeah."
Me:                       "So, what happens if a member of the media sees the ad, and then maybe clicks through and installs the app."
Marketing guy: "Oh... uh, I think I see where you're going now."
Me:                         "Look, all I'm asking for is a simple statement -- can you give me the name of a PR guy that can give me the statement?"
Marketing guy: "Well, we aren't really doing a release..."
Me:                         "Right (through clenched teeth), how about, 'We will have more details about partner apps at a future time, we're not announcing a platform or partnerships at this time'?"
Marketing guy: "Okay, let me put you in touch in our PR guy"

15 minutes later, I get an email with a press statement that says precisely what I said on th phone.  And, I kid you not, 15 minutes after that, Marketing Executive guy calls me and asks me to complete an NDA that he is going to send me electronically. 

Like it or not, this is he web 2.0 reality.  These kinds of conversations happen a lot.  Organizations get out of sync.  Media relations procedures, marketing campaign logistics -- all of those wonderful "best practices" I learned at Microsoft -- they're all basically passe since rapid product development and flat, founder-driven organizations are making and un-making business decisions at these "startups" with mammoth reach.  It's a brave new world, and I'm just documenting the silliness.   

Happy Birthday Ferf!

Happy Birthday, Ferf! 

Chrs McIntyre, aka Ferf, is the founder of Podcast Alley, one of the few sites rolled up in the beginning of PodShow.  Most importantly, Ferf, along with Pdilly, became one of the two leading authorities on all things podcasting as the demand for indie audio and video blew up in the summer of 2005.  Ferf's bio is on Podcast Alley, with a more complete and personal entry on his own blog. He is a self-proclaimed nerd, and that nerd has a herd of admirers, including me.

In 2004 Ferf wrote a simple directory for podcasts during a road trip, and uploaded it at a Starbucks in Tenesee --

Nashville

I think, but the details aren’t that important.  After just a few months, he was feeding Apple iTunes with their podcast directory info, and providing most of the recommendations for Adam Curry's PodShow for iTunes.  Inside of two years he had some 80,000 shows in his directory.  Today, PCA query results (even as a part of PodShow) dominate the natural results for all things podcasting related.  He has tens-of-thousands of contributed articles to PCA from people passionate about a/v production and distribution online. He has truly created community, something genuine.  And, to his credit, he hasn't become an asshole while achieving success. 

Ferf and PCA are one of those great little Web2.0 stories you don't read about in mainstream media.  He is an incredibly valuable guy at PodShow -- and he busts his ass to help people find what their looking for... I can think of a lot more devious ways to spend time.  Happy birthday buddy.  Are you old enough to drink yet?