Acapella

I have, what can only be described as a very, very, eclectic taste in music. One of my pleasures is a capella. Especially geek a capella. Now I realize that a capella is geeky in and of itself - but my a capella must be extra geeky. For a while, The Blanks sated my need for geek a capella with their renditions of 'Charles in Charge', 'The Six Million Dollar Man' and the theme to 'Underdog'.

But UW Redefined have completely taken geek a capella to new hights with the nintendo medly. God - must find mp3 of this.

The Coca-Cola Shindig

So, there's this swinging shindig going on over at Coca-Cola's pad. People are dancing. People are chatting. People are having a good time. A couple of people in the crowd ask who the host of this amazing shindig. A fella points over to Coca-Cola, and says 'there he is, that's our magnificent benefactor and host for this evening'.

Coca-Cola looks up and bellows "DON'T YOU DARE POINT AT ME!"

Conversation ceases. The needle on the record skips. Suddenly everything's become weird and awkward.

Sigh ... Coca-Cola. That's no way to act as a host, and you should know better. Next time someone's pointing at you, regardless of what they may be saying, just nod or wave in acknowledgement and carry on the party.

cheers.

[story on adland: Coke threatens fan-site due to link]

Year Two

Another year has come and gone for my little nook and cranny of the Internet. Once again it's time for the obligitory navel gazing and number crunching.

The Comics

Number of new Comics: 49
Total number of panels: 324

The overwhelming majority of comics were of my weekly 'Drawing Board'. That there are not 52, belies the fact that I skipped the script here and there. Much better than last year's tally of 31.

But the real benchmark to my productivity on the comics front is the number of panels. The output there is only a tad better than last years 304 panels. Still a far cry from the output level I'd like to be at, but given the number of things I'm currently juggling, it's not bad.

The goal for the following year is 500 panels.

The Blog

Number of entries: 60 (same as last year)

Again the blog is a surprise to me. Last time I'd thought I'd only written half as much as I did - this time I was sure I'd written twice as much. On the other hand, I do think the quality of the posts has improved. The blog is starting to gain a definite direction and focus; something it was sorely lacking a year ago.

Visitors

Number of visitors to the site over a year: Webalizer shows 19,826 visits

A definite improvement over last year's 16,625 visits. My gut feeling is that I've maybe 35-40 regulars who visit once or twice a week, probably an equal number who visit maybe once a month, and the remainder are one time visitors who have Googled in or followed a link to a specific comic.

Money Money Money

Of the 95 comics on the site, 32 require payment via BitPass.

BitPass Sales $0.55
Donations, BitPass $1.00
Donations, PayPal $15.00
Amazon referals $21.48
Google Adwords $11.34

Total Revenue: $49.37

Cash generated by the site has made a decline from last year's $72.84 with donations and BitPass sales taking the greatest hits. I believe the drop in sales can mainly be attributed to a lack of new for-pay material.

BitPass donations vanished - something I attribute to the site redesign. As originally designed the site was much more a personal endeavour. As such, I think folks were more inclined to leaving me tips. When the redesign shifted the focus to my professional offerings, the tips, understandably, dried up.

That's a trade-off I'm willing to accept. Income from my web design and illustration work jumped from being the occasional extra spending cash to accounting for one out of every five dollars I earned.

So there you have it. Here's to year two - now on to year three.

Thou shalt not...

I don't know if these things come in a pair of stone tablets in addition to an RSS feed, but Steve Rubel has posted his 10 Commandments for the Era of Participatory Public Relations.

Listen actively to what your publics have to say. Tell the truth. Honor and treat your customers right.

Maybe I've just always been ahead of my time, but don't these seem like good ways to run your business no matter what the era?

Surprise!!! but then you expected that, didn't you?

Interesting discussion between Johnnie Moore and Seth Godin regarding storytelling and surprises over on Johnnie's blog.

It is possible to surprise but the surprise should be consistant with the worldview you're aiming towards. People like surprises if it's the kind of surprise they might expect based on their worldview.

If I'm writing a mystery novel, it is quite okay for me to have a surprise ending where the detective is actually the killer. People would actually applaud such a surprise. But if I were to end my mystery novel by revealing that the killer was not the butler as everyone expected, nor the detective as some may have inferred, but rather the dastardly work of an evil wood nymph who lived in the forest outside of the estate... well, it would be a surprise, that's for sure. But as there were no intonations of wood nymphs anywhere in the book, the surprise would likely anger the majority of my readers.

Consistancy. Authenticity. These are the real keys. You can shock, surprise and amaze; but it must be within the paramaters of the worldview you're aiming for.

And just one more thing...

Oh - just one more thing regarding my idea below for digital cameras at fancy resorts. It needn't be the resort that pilots the project. Right now the bulk of the population is in transition between film and digital. This would be a perfect way for a company to showcase their product to a lot of people in a real and interactive way. If I were Sony or Fuji or a manufacturer of digital cameras I would be approaching every major resort with a view and be offering to outfit them with cameras and even offer to pay for the setup if it gave me the opportunity to co-brand.

The best advertisement for your product is your product. Giving someone the use of one of your top models for a day when they had forgotten a camera at home will put you front and centre in their mind when they make the decision to switch or upgrade.

Oh - and just one more thing regarding WestJet. As a courtesy, when I mention a company in a blog entry, I'll sometimes email them a copy. I have no illusions that the only other person reading this is you, so if I want something to be heard I'll have to email it. Well, what do I find in my email right at 9am this morning but a response from WestJet. No - not an automated form letter, but an actual response from a very friendly customer service rep named Lesley. Lesley starts by greeting me personally "Good morning Rob" and then thanks me for the feedback and assures me that it will be shared with the staff who were on my flight. I have no doubt in my mind that it will.

If any company is wondering how to build a relationship with their customers, is wondering how to engage the people using their service, WestJet is a company to learn from.

My Kingdom for a Camera

My trip last week brought me to the beautiful Fairmont Banff Springs nestled amongst the Rocky Mountains. No matter which direction you turned, there was a postcard image facing you. I only wish I had thought to bring my camera. The person I was working with wished she had brought her camera. Throughout the resort you could hear people cursing themselves for not bringing a camera. There was a bear with cubs within view of the restaurant - one golden sunrise and spectacular sunset after another - an elk giving birth on the fairway of the golf course. Oh, if only anyone had a camera.

This to me seems like a golden opportunity.

What I would do is equip each and every room with a digital camera. The room would also have a dock for the camera from which the images could be downloaded directly onto a laptop or sent to the hotel's server. Strike a deal with a local photomat to make the images accessable for development should the guest choose to do so, photos to be delivered to the room by next morning and the charges added to the room bill. Create an online photo album with the resort's branding and links to the main site and provide the guest with a simple to remember URL they can use to share the images with friends and family, and host those images for several months after the guest's stay.

The costs to run such a program would be the initial expense to equip the rooms with cameras and docks, along with the creation the underlying framework for sharing the photos online and with the photomat. I'm sure there's an IT professional on staff to deal with the internet connections and maintain the hotel's network, so there would be no need for additional staff, though additional servers and storage would be required to handle a couple hundred image files per guest per day.

The impetus for any resort offering such a service would be towards offering this as a pay-per use service (I have visions of $24.95 per day to use the camera, $5 service charge to have developed images delivered to your room, $12.95 for storage of images on the server, etc. etc. etc.). It would certainly recoup the costs within a few months and become another profit centre. However I think that nickle and diming over the cameras would limit their real potential - which is to create a viral means of promoting your location while at the same time creating an even better stay for your guests.

Every person who cursed the lack of a camera as they drove up the the hotel and walked into the lobby would suddenly feel incredibly good to find a complimentary camera for their usage in the room. The good will between the resort and the guest has suddenly climbed considerably. Then as the guest snaps photo after photo, the hotel benefits from a surge of traffic to their site as the guest shares the images from their trip.

Imagine being able to slap your resort's logo up every time a guest showed slides of their vacation. Imagine having a reservations clerk standing in the room every time your guest showed photos from their last trip. This is the real benefit to the resort. This is why making the service free of charge would be of greater benefit to the resort.

But pay per use or free of charge, I can't understand why such a service is not already in place.

A tale of two flights

Last week I flew from Toronto to Calgary aboard WestJet and then made the return flight aboard AirCanada. I can tell you that from this point forward, whenever and wherever I can, I'm flying WestJet.

It's not that I had a bad experience on Air Canada. In fact every prior flight I've had has been aboard Air Canada. They're very professional and the service was good. I got on the plane. Had my complimentary drink of cola. There was a bump or two of turbulance, which had been preceded by a calming announcement from the captain. Purchased a chocolate bar. Had a cup of water. We landed. As I left the plane the stewardess thanked me for flying Air Canada. All fairly routine. All fairly straightforward.

Now, I can speak of how I had twice as many offers for drinks, pillows, etc. on WestJet. I could talk about their brand spanking new partnership with Bell ExpressVu, giving each and every passenger a dozen channels to choose from via satellite. Heck, I could even talk about their allowing you to keep the headset rather than confiscating them for reuse at the end of each flight.
But what really made the difference were the quips. From the gate came the boarding announcement, "Anyone travelling with small children, or travelling with somone acting like a small child, or if you wish you were a small child, please come forward now." During the initial pre-flight instructions, the captain advised that when the seatbelt light came on that we please stop chasing the stewardesses and return to our seats. He warned that there was no smoking on the flight and if anyone was caught smoking they would be asked to immediately step off the plane. After the plane had landed and was slowly taxiing up the runway, the stewardesses began to try to outdo one another with extremely corny jokes. Each one more a groaner than the last.

I've since learned this is par for the course on their flights. I've heard tale of one pilot who likes to try to deliver the five minute safety speach in under thirty seconds, with the stewardesses franticly trying to follow with the actions. I've heard of the entire plane bursting into song when delayed on the tarmac due to weather. Every person I've chatted with who'se flown Westjet has enjoyed it above and beyond Air Canada. And the thing is, what WestJet does that makes them better is not costing them a cent. Air Canada can spend millions on ad campaigns and it won't come close to having the same effect on me as the corny joke told to me by the stewardess as we rolled up to the terminal. It all comes down to hiring people who enjoy the work, and giving them a little free reign to really have fun.

Air Canada provided transportation. Westjet provided an experience.

There and Back Again

I've been away on a business trip for the past week. Lots of thoughts, lots of impressions and a couple of ideas. But first there's just shy of a thousand emails sitting in my inbox and a comic which I thought had been uploaded before I left...