The Elusive Fish — Creative Services

Hyperlinks may subvert hierarchies, information may flow freely and the tyranny of geography may be toppled by the Internet, but despite the marvels and wonders this communications tool affords us, it’s important to remember simple Newtonian physics are at play.

Newton’s First Law.
An object at rest tends to stay at rest.

This is doubly so when that object is someone’s behind, firmly at rest in a chair facing the computer.

The rate and ease at which ideas pass along the net give it the appearance of a frictionless medium. Bookmark, email, blog and tweet this idea and it will smoothly spread across the globe.

But transforming an idea to action, aye there’s the rub. That’s where the true mettle of an idea is tested. Few ideas have the momentum necessary to propagate onward, let alone push an individual out of their chair. Getting them out the door and into the streets? Best of luck to you.

Unless your idea attains significant velocity, or is of such weight and importance, do not expect the object at rest to do anything other than remain at rest.

Y’canna break the laws o’physics, Cap’n. Plan your approach knowing that you’re not getting that rump out of the comfy chair without a good push.

Can your goals be achieved through the propagation of an idea?

Every Creative Commons licensed work is an invitation to share that work. By passing along the work, you also spread the idea that the sharing of intellectual property can have value. You bring awareness of the Creative Commons and, along with it, the larger ideological issues that surround intellectual property and copyright.

Seth Godin talks a good deal about this in his book, The Idea Virus. Don’t worry about having to get up out of your chair. Seth has made a copy available for download, free of charge. In making his book free and available, he makes it all the more likely that you’ll divert your time and attention towards his ideas. The greater his ideas take root within the business culture, the greater the demand will be for his thoughts and opinions in future. Future book sales and consulting gigs made possible by the spread of an idea.

Can you defer, delegate or eliminate the need to physically move?

Getting folks to dedicate an afternoon towards making pies for bake sales in support of the local hospital is far more difficult than wresting a cheque out of their hand. Far easier, still, is allowing folks to make a one-click donation. Take Child’s Play, for example. Each December, the gaming community rallies to raise toys and cash for children’s hospitals around the world. The idea is quickly spread throughout the community by way of links, banners and badges. But the giving of toys is made easier still by way of wishlists on Amazon.com and cash donations via PayPal. Last year, they raised over $1.3 million.

And speaking of Amazon, has buying ever been easier? I log in and immediately find what I’m looking for. If I’m ready to buy, one-click and it’s on it’s way to me. If I’m not sure, reviews from other consumers help firm my decision or push me towards an even better purchase. I don’t have to wander aisles, hunt down sales clerks or wait in lines. In but a few days, the products will arrive on the doorstep. Their new gadget, the Kindle, even saves you the trip to the doorstep and satisfies that desire for instant gratification by downloading the book directly into the machine, any time, any place.

If you can’t, realize that you will need to build your idea into something of significant substance or to such a velocity that there is no choice but to take action.

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On October 23rd, I had the pleasure of sitting on a panel with Donna Papacosta and Dr. Joan Vinall-Cox, speaking on the subject of blogs, RSS, wikis, social bookmarking and so forth. Here’s my end of the discussion:

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I’ve watched and rewatched the newest video in Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty, and each viewing leaves me with a sick pit in the bottom of my stomach and a slow, seething anger.

The video pulls on the emotional heartstrings and it does it well. We see a beautiful young girl, with so much life and potential and beauty. And then the onslaught begins. Hundreds of posters, magazine covers and billboards come flying at us, displaying unattainable body proportions in sexually objectified manners. Then come the promises. Become younger, slimmer, smaller, tighter, softer. Get the perfect skin. It really works. It really works. A timelapse view of a woman’s body through yo-yo dieting as the pounds come off and then fly back on and then shed away only to return. Pills. Salads. Gym memberships and more pills. Vomiting. Then rounds of assorted surgeries. Finally we return to the beautiful, young girl who has not yet been hit with the onslaught. Talk to your daughter before the beauty industry does.
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The other day, I was asked, “when was the last time you posted an article to your blog?” I was embarrassed to answer ‘not since May.’ Actually, the last post was mid-June, but still far too long to be riding on tweets from Twitter alone.

So let’s have at it, and leap right into the fray.

Mitch Joel and David Jones both have excellent posts a couple days ago around the issue of younger PR & Marketing bloggers with less experience, and are they potentially shooting themselves in the foot by issuing absolutes without fully understanding the topics on which they speak.

Mitch raises the specter of how an inexperienced ranting may reflect years from now when Google still dredges the article to the forefront. “…go back and look at some of the stuff you wrote five years ago,” Mitch advises, “I know that my opinions at that moment may not reflect my current state of mind.”

Now, I’m sure that Mitch isn’t advocating self-censorship when he advises people to “be a little more careful what they post.” I agree. Don’t post in haste and don’t post in anger. The rule I hold for myself is that I never put into writing anything I wouldn’t feel comfortable defending in front of a boss or a judge.

Use the cup of coffee rule. Before you hit ‘publish‘ or ‘send‘, go out and get yourself a cup of coffee. When you’ve come back, reread what you’ve writ. Is it really the writings you want preserved for all time, or is it the ravings of a crazy person? If the later, make judicious use of the delete key.

Dave asks if those with experience should step in.

If I’m about to burn my hand on the stove, I’d hope that one of my more experienced peers would shout me a warning. But I also know that sometimes the only way to truly learn is when you actually go ahead and burn that hand on the stove. Sometimes no matter what was said, or who said it to you, it really doesn’t sink in that the stove is hot until your fingers are sizzling away on it.

Which brings us back to the question of, what happens if three years from now the first thing that shows up on Google is that you burned your hand on the stove? How do you keep yesterdays published mistakes from being tomorrow’s roadblock?

Three words: tend your archives.

Two or three times a year, take a day off from your usual blogging and review your archives. Slow news days or days when you’re in the creative doldrums are perfect for this. Reading through and reviewing your works of past can be a good way of building perspective on how far you’ve come and just which way you’re headed.

Now - as you read you are going to find factual errors, you are going to find places where you made mistakes, and you are going to find at least one or two instances where, in retrospect, you made a complete ass of yourself. Make note of these posts, because it is time to tend to them.

Now - no matter how tempting it may be, don’t delete the post. Don’t try and hide it. The idea is to come clean, not sweep under the carpet.

Where there are factual errors, correct them. Strikeout the text that is wrong, and add a parenthetical comment that explains your mistake. It’s difficult It’s quite easy to do, and most blog systems will kindly date stamp your strike through to make it clear when the change occurred.

Where new information later became available, add an update to the post and link to the newer information.

Where you absolutely cringe and regret the words you wrote … well, that will be the subject of your blog post today. You are going to write a message to your younger self and explain why they’re wrong and point out exactly what’s led you to recognize those mistakes. Be ruthless with your past self. They’re the one person that can’t hound you in comments. And once you’ve fully explained to your past self whey they were wrong, post an update to the original post that links to your newer understanding on the subject.

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How many different ways can a social media endeavour go wrong? FanLib counts the way.

FanLib is a social network site that aims to create a ‘MySpace’ for authors of fanfiction. Their heavy handed, often misguided and just plain clumsy efforts to monetize a community give the rest of us valuable lessons to take note of.

Fanfiction are stories about characters or settings by fans of the work as opposed to the original authors. Fanfic has a long history, but the internet has really helped push a hobby and pastime into a thriving community. For pretty well any TV show, movie or book with a following, you can find a collection of stories penned by fans who wish to explore further or alternative renditions. There are numerous forums, archives and collections dedicated to the practice.

Enter FanLib. “In synch with the Participation Age, FanLib’s community-driven online experiences produce consumer-generated media that is ready for the marketplace. The result: More value for marketers, more manageability for producers and, most importantly, more fun for fans.” Can I see a show of hands from anyone who feels that sounded sincere and authentic? Yeah. Me neither.

Their intial stumble onto the scene was to spam a number of authors of fanfiction. “Dear [insert fan name], I saw some of your [insert media property] fan fiction online and really enjoyed your writing. We’re impressed by your writing and value your opinion. That’s why we’re inviting you…” Flattering until you realize every other fanfic author you know received the same letter with the same praise.

I highly recommend a quick read of miera_c’s exchange over this email. Of specific note is when the one email to her which still included some of the company backchannel discussion, “She got a little hostile in her second reply, but it looks like she’s softened up a bit.”

If you were to poll the average guy on the street to describe who would write fanfiction about Star Trek or Harry Potter, I’m sure the answer would be either ‘teenage boys’ or ‘one of those trekkies that lives in his mom’s basement’. But if you were a part of the community, you would know that the majority of fanfiction is authored by women in their mid-twenties/thirties. So it is almost predictable who FanLib chose to target with their ad campaign.

Around this point, FanLib’s previous marketing materials came to light. They’ve been removed from the website but live on in Google cache. Of specific focus was the following:

MANAGED & MODERATED TO THE MAX
All the FANLIB action takes place in a highly customized environment that YOU control.
* As with a coloring book, players must “stay within the lines”
* Restrictive player’s terms-of-service protects your rights and property
* Moderated “scene missions” keep the story under your control
* Full monitoring & management of submissions & players
* Automatic “profanity filter”
* Completed work is just 1st draft to be polished by the pros

You can just imagine how much the community appreciated the colour in the lines concept as most fanfic is geared towards colouring outside the lines.

Now - when the community you’ve decided to thrust yourself upon is questioning your sincerity and motives, and your entire business plan depends upon them providing you with free content, what do you do? Well, according to the FanLib marketing playbook, the only thing to do is flame respected members of the community.

Granted, in an interview Chris apologized for his “…idiotic post across multiple blogs and for my offer to open a dialogue that I was unable to follow through on…”. But immediately following that interview being posted, Chris votes favourably for himself and FanLib in a poll asking whether the interview changed your mind. Under the username mimbo, Chris writes “Cool! I’ve been hoping for a site like this”

You can find many other examples across the net where Chris posts under ‘mimbo’ yet fails to disclose his connection to the company.

Needless to say, it’s a safe bet that the $3 million in financing this company received is going to see an absolutely lousy ROI.

The saga continues to play itself out at the Livejournal community Life Without FanLib.

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I didn’t catch it when it originally came through the feed from Crunchnotes, but after both Shel Israel and B.L. Ochman commented on a video from the Wrike development team, I had to take a look. Shel asks “(1) What is the name of the company? (2) Just what did they launch?” B.L. adds “I hope they know more about software than they do about marketing.”

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For those who’ve asked to see more of the comic strips I did last year for the Ontario Government’s internal campaign on privacy, click on the image to read the Stan Slade: Privacy Investigator strip on Identity Theft.

I’m very particular about my online identity. I know some people who are free and loose about others sending emails or IMs from their accounts, sharing bulletin board or online gaming accounts amongst friends and family, picking up and dropping identities faster than most people change their shirts. Personally I couldn’t do that.

To me, an online identity is sacrosanct. When you encounter someone online - be it in a virtual world, in a chat room, via discussion group or blog - the only thing you have to judge them on is the words they use. Letting someone romp about in my identity, putting their thoughts and words to my name; it would be like letting someone romp about in my soul. I just couldn’t do it.

So when the notice from ebay arrived that my account password may have been compromised, it left me a little perturbed. Fortunately, it would seem ebay suspended the account with no damage done to my reputation. But is a bit of a reminder that there is a LOT that needs to be done in the space of identity. That the only thing that separates the interloper from yourself is a username/password combo is hardly reassuring.

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So by now I’m assuming that the blogosphere is abuzz with the viral marketing aspects of Starbucks’ free cup of coffee. From what I gather, a two hour free coffee promotion was quietly posted to their website and advertised nowhere else. I ran across it first on lifehacker and within minutes had received a notice of the promotion by way of email. I for my part blasted the message along to the HPCA mailing list. I imagine the results are going to be a little mindblowing to the marketing execs at Starbucks just how far and wide this promotion reached.

But I wonder if the reasoning behind the promotion was fully explained to the ground-level staff. As I stood in line with all the others, awaiting my free cuppa joe, the demeanour of the staff was far from pleasant. Frenzied and frustrated would be the most generous description one would give. But more surprising were the comments of a gentleman whom I’m assuming was the manager.

“What’s going on?” asked a lady who had ventured in for a tall chai.

“Ugh“, grumbled the manager, “Well, it’s not because our coffee’s any good - this line’s here for free coffee.”

Wow. I’m not a regular Starbucks patron. I actually make a stop out of my way to get to a Second Cup for my Paradisso Dark. This free coffee promotion was the first thing that’s brought me into a Starbucks since a meeting with a client in October, and was that manager’s best shot at winning me and my daily coffee buy. Quite frankly the opportunity is lost. Either the man has no belief in the value of his product … and if the staff don’t believe in a product, why the heck should I? … or he had utter disdain for the droves entering his door this morning and why would I choose to give my money to someone who can’t tolerate my presence?

So while the promotion may be a rip-roaring success elsewhere, I can tell you it won’t be doing much at Yonge & Bloor.

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Maggie Fox writes that ghostwriting a blog is just a bad idea. But is it?

Flogs and astroturfing are definitely wrong, and should be viewed upon with full disdain. Flogs, for the uninitiated, is a fake blog. Often these take the form of a ‘independent third party’ who writes at great length why they love Brand X … all the while the blog is authored by members of the Brand X marketing team. Lesser known but still heavily used are the blogs or comments to blogs that take the point of view of a citizen concerned about a particular political issue, yet the ‘citizen’ is a paid member of a particular lobby. This is also known as astroturfing, as opposed to the more authentic grassroots movements.

I’m not against the idea of a character blog. I think a blog in which it is fully known that the situation is fictional can be a great creative outlet. It’s just too often the one heading up the character blog is a hack, and so the results tend to be lame. But just because the majority to date have been lame does not invalidate that particular use of the medium. Sooner or later someone will craft an incredibly compelling and moving work using blogs as their medium and a lot of people will be left scratching their heads wondering ‘why didn’t we think of doing something like that?’

Ghostblogging. Is it an outright bad idea, or is there room for it given that best practices are followed?

I have a web design client who is currently using a ghostblogger. He’s a tradesman, running his own business. Between driving from one end of the GTA to another to handle calls, he still has the day to day management of his business, never mind his family life and other ties to the community. Unlike those of us who work in front of a computer all day and can easily switch between one window and another, it’s not so easy for him to find the time to blog.

As well, he was not fully confident in his ability to write. He has a lot to say, and he certainly has wisdom and advice to impart. But a blank screen with a blinking cursor, he knows would be intimidating, never mind the concern that the words that end up on that screen may not read the same as what he actually means to say.

And so a ghostblogger was called in.

The way they work together is to connect on the phone and have a conversation, over the course of which, she draws out of him the details of what he wishes to say. She’ll then draft a post and send it to his marketing consultant and myself for comments and criticism, with a final draft being offered to the tradesman for approval.

I can’t speak for what the other two add in to the mix, but my own input is to try and steer away from any marketing language and to more freely shared knowledge. “Treat it as if you are at a dinner party“, is my standard response, “and someone has approached you and asked you about that problem. You don’t hand ‘em a brochure. What do you tell them?”

When I compare the conversations I’ve had face to face and over the phone with the emails and written missives I’ve had from the client, I can say that the ghostwritten blogs are much closer to his true voice than his writings are. My hat goes off to our ghostblogger for being able to capture his tone and words so well.

Is this the optimum scenario? No. Any impediment between your words and another’s mind is something to be avoided. But -and I may be reaching with this comparison- if the words come to you through the lips of a translator, and not the person themselves, does that lose authenticity? Our ghostblogger takes the client’s spoken words and translates a long rambling conversation into a concise and digestible written article. Optimum - no. But to be avoided completely?

I would be very interested in advice and opinions from the community. Should ghostblogging be classified side by side with flogs and astroturfing? If not, what are the steps one should take with a ghostwritten blog to still walk on the side of the angels? Should it be disclosed upfront that it’s ghostwritten? Written in an interview-like format?

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Every now and then, a job lands in your lap that is an absolute joy to work on. Such was the case when I landed a contract with the Office of the Chief Information and Privacy Officer for Ontario. They were launching an initiative to educate government employees on the importance of privacy and how to be more vigilant with the information they are responsible for. Typically that would mean a booklet of some form, a series of brochures and fliers. You know; the sort of thing that either sits in an untouched pile in the HR dept, or that lands on a desk only to land moments later in the trash, or shoved into a file folder never to see the light of day again.

Mark Robinson and his team decided to take a different approach to gain the attention of their audience and hold it. Rather than lecture on the specific points, they took a storytelling approach, creating a series of film noir vignettes. Through the drama of Stan Slade: Privacy Investigator, they would be able to cut through the normal information clutter and drive their point home.

These dramas were a series of short videos that would reside on the provinces intranet, however to compliment that for their printed materials, they wished to use comics. And that’s where I came in, providing a half dozen short strips. Initially these were to run in a printed newsletter, but over the course of the project, the imagery from the strips was integrated into the videos themselves as both an intro and during the credits.

The strips were released in tandem with the videos, between September and December of last year over the province’s intranet. From what I understand, the project has had great success, with other provinces and institutions looking to use the materials in their own efforts at educating on privacy.

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