2010 January

There's More To The Story, If You Care To Look. As disorganized as some people are, as seemingly random and unintentional as some of our choices may be, our minds inherently operate mostly linearly. We make quick assessments based on first impressions and related experiences. Another way of putting it is that we're most comfortable sorting the people and pieces of our lives into similar profiles.  And once they've been placed and new (often validating, sometimes self-selected affirmation) bits...

5 Lies Social Media { fill in the blank } Tell Their Clients "I've been doing this a long time." "Do you have anything new going on?  That's what we need to focus on." "It's okay that the folks in <xyz department> don't 'get' social media. We don't need them." "I can have <your brand> up and running in no time." "Once I've set everything up, its pretty minimal upkeep from there." First, the terms {"expert," "guru," "maven"} and the like just don't belong in a job title. ...

A colleague and I were recently discussing some features of Facebook pages.  An example frequently cited as a well-designed page (in the creative/app sense) is PINK by Victoria’s Secret.  With 1,702,953 fans, this branded page certainly has an audience with its target demographic – late teen-to-mid 20-aged women and to a lesser extent, the males in their lives (not to mention males who simply appreciate the lingerie maker’s, er, assets). If you notice the brand’s wall, you’ll see a host...

The plus-sized model isn't aspirational enough for the brand. We need someone attractive, but not too. The target for our dog food product is a married female, and in the photo you're using there's no wedding ring. All the copy must be in French and English. Disclaimer sections, too. We won't have the focus group results for another 4 weeks but need you to begin concepting now. Can you make it Christmas-y without using red? Or using the word 'Christmas'? A friend shared this hilarious...

Ten In Ten During 2010 For awhile now, I've been mulling over this idea about featuring video interviews of interesting local folk with backgrounds in journalism, new media, marketing communications, and the arts. I've been fortunate to come to know (or know of) so many talented people in the east-central Iowa (Waterloo-Cedar Rapids-Iowa City) area and love the idea of introducing my readers to the passion and skills these people have to offer their community and employers. My goal for 2010: ...

Last year, I published a post of of links to 2009 prediction posts made by others. This year, I've collected over 55 prediction/forecast posts and a slew of review/analysis posts (both on 2009 and the decade). As we close one year and breathe a collective, fortifying breath before propelling into the next, its important that we take measure of pressures, events, and developments across a spectrum of input areas shaping life and business: economic, political, technological, philosophical, cultural,...