Citizen Brand

99 Bottles

Some people get all the good gigs.  My colleague, Jeff Risley, spoke about social media this week to the Craft Brewers Conference in Austin, Texas.  Nice work Jeff.  Go ahead, have another.

Wanted: More ads like this one

I'm betting the Roanoke Times will have plenty of candidates to choose from for the job of executive editor because of this want ad.

Thanks to B.L. and Amy for pointing it out.

Chances are they will get a few resumes that might not be ones they are looking for but what does that matter.  Think of all the buzz being created about the newspaper.  Newspapers know they are in a fight for their survival right now.  I'm glad to see papers like the Times and the Lawrence Journal-World that understand how to live in the new age and still put a paper in the driveway every morning.

Aspiring editors should dust off their resumes and answer the Roanoke Times want ad.  I think that paper might be around for a while.

Times they are a changin'

Need evidence change is in the air?

Jeff Jarvis recently told us that television and YouTube are going in opposite directions, viewership wise.

Steve Rubel pointed us to an Associated Press story saying e-mail is officially old school already.  Consider this quote from the article: 

“In this world of instant gratification, e-mail has become the new snail mail,” says 25-year-old Rachel Quizon from Norwalk, Calif. She became addicted to instant messaging in college, where many students are logged on 24/7."

But wait a minute, maybe the more things change, the more they stay the same.  Back at YouTube, as Adrants points out, the days of no control by the 'Tube may be on the wain.  Freedom of the airwaves can only last so long I guess.

Half lives are getting shorter for everything it would appear.

Anyone want a used Blackberry?

Chevy smart or not?

I can't decide if Chevrolet is the smartest company in the world right now or the most naive?

McLir explains.

If you decide to make your own commercial, please let me know.  I want to see it.

Immigration protest

There is a great back-story to Monday's protests in Los Angeles regarding the immigration debate raging away in the USA right now.  FastCompany.com tipped me off to it.  The story is how it is that 500,000 people knew where and when to go for the protest.  Half a million people learned primarily from two sources: radio and social networks.

I checked out Blogging.LA to learn more about the protest itself and the great thing about it was there were no arrests, no violence but lots of passion for this hot button issue.  The reason it is a hot button issue is because like so many other major issues of our day (social security; health care; poverty etc.), immigration has been ignored until it (and the other issues) reach some sort of crisis point and everyone rushes to judgment.  That is not the way good laws are made.  I believe we have a simple guidepost regarding the immigration issue in the US and that is the inscription on the Statue of Liberty.  "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free."  End of political comment.

I do want to return to the protest and how it was organized.  Half a million people in one city were mobilized via Spanish radio and via web based social networks.  In this election year, if I'm running a political campaign, I am paying a lot of attention to what happened in Los Angeles on Monday.  A candidate on the wrong side of a hot button issue might find themselves staring out at a half a million people who are not there to support him or her, but rather to remind the candidates who is their real boss.

And from a non-political communication point of view there are two take aways.  Radio still works and the new social networks are finding their voice.

Taming of the Bull

Thanks to Mike Manuel for directing us to lifehacker who describes this fine tool.  I can't wait to try it out.  Let me know what happens if you use it.

We can all use a little less bull in our life.

The ultimate gift

My friend and colleague at Barkley Evergreen, Jeff Risley, is fully engaged in a cause.  His Mother has PKD and needs a kidney transplant.  Jeff is trying to see if he is a match so he can donate one of his kidneys to his Mom.  He's keeping us all up to date via his blog.  It is quite a process he is going through but as he would be the first to say, it will all be worth it if he can help out his Mom.

Today he mixes business and his personal interest in this cause.  Jeff was not impressed with how the PKD Foundation is marketing itself.  Jeff makes some great points.   I have a feeling we might be giving these guys a call soon to see if we can help out. 

The things that divide us

I usually go to Allen Fieldhouse on the University of Kansas campus to watch my Jayhawks play basketball.  But in May of 2004, I walked into that historic building with my wife and youngest son and about 12,000 other people to witness a rare occurrence:  two great political leaders having a great discussion about the issues of our day without demonizing one another.  The two leaders were Bob Dole and Bill Clinton.  It was a hot day.  None of us packed in their minded the heat.  All of us relished the moment.

Their message that day was simple.  Democracy is a work in progress.  It requires debate and compromise.  It does not do well if we talk at each other but not with each other.  And that is the problem today.

What has happened to us?  It is difficult to sit down with someone of differing political views and have a conversation about your differences.  We get uncomfortable and quickly try to change the subject.  And when reasonable people are not willing to have those kinds of discussion, a vacuum is created.  The vacuum is then filled by those with extreme viewpoints that are intolerant of any one elses's views but their own.  Rational debate and the hope for compromise is gone.

One of our creatives here at our company, in concert with some other people he worked with in a previous life stepped into the vacuum.  Their creation is called The Red/Blue Project and it is designed to do one thing: make us all think about our intolerance of other viewpoints.  The fact is we all have degrees of intolerance.  This will make you think about your own.

Visit the site, look at the television spots, jump on the Red/Blue blog or let's talk about it here.  Or go find someone you know you disagree with on some issue and ask them to sit down and talk about your differences.  It all starts with one conversation.

Ordering a Pizza

Ernie Schenck kicks off the week with a look at where our brave new world might be headed.

We all love our technology and what we can do with it but we also would like to know that privacy is still a sacred concept.  Of course, we are right in the middle of this battle since our job in marketing communications is dependent upon finding out as much as we can about "the audience."  The conundrum for us (at least for me) is that we all are able to argue all sides of this debate.

The more information we have on our audiences, the better we can develop products and services that make their lives better, easier, cheaper, etc.  On the other hand, the more information we have on our audiences, the less privacy they have.  And there exists a greater possibility that this information will fall into the wrong hands.  'Tis a tangled web indeed.

Check out Ernie's post and watch the flash animation and let's talk about this issue a bit.

Vault Radio

I heard a great story on National Public Radio this morning about Vault Radio.  It's a unique musical offering that's part of a site called Wolfgang's Vault.  It consists of live recordings from the glory days of rock on the stages of the Fillmore venues, Winterland and others.  All live just as the bands played them without digital enhancement.  Yes, there was a time like that.  Check it out.

My musical selections tonight include Dylan, Citizen Cope, Gordon Lightfoot and the late Jimmie Spheeris.  Of course any song shuffle around here will always land on a tune or two from Sinatra.  What are you listening to this weekend?