How the Smartphone Evolved by HTC

Quietly I'm becoming a HTC fan...

Olympic Coverage: Do you value story more than sport?

On Facebook today Redscout asked the following question:

NBC’s Winter Olympic coverage will no doubt be engineered to deliver emotion in spades. Do you value story more than sport?

As a fan of both the Summer and Winter Olympics, I was immediately inspired to answer with the following:

When it comes to the Olympics....yes. Most of the athletes are not front of mind for even the biggest sport enthusiast. By offering a story it allows sport enthusiasts, Olympic lovers, or channel hoppers alike to become connected with an athlete and cheer them on as if they knew them all their lives.

What are your thoughts? Do you value the story more than the sport?

I'm A Fan? Are you?

I am TOTALLY diggin': We're All Fans. It's a user (fan) content generated website promoting the GRAMMY Awards . Content comes from the web as well as fan submitted photos, tweets, videos, etc.

This campaign is a great example of how traditional media channels can be complemented by strong social media strategies.

We're All Fans combined with the GRAMMY Nomination TV Special (aired Dec. 2, 2009), Facebook, Twitter, print ads and more will encourage interaction with the intended audience and build anticipation that will hopefully translate into increased viewership on January 31, 2010.

Great analogy & very insightful

What brands can learn from online dating http://bit.ly/Z4Skx @PSFK

Adina Nyree / Certified Organic Debut Album

Adina Nyree is a multi-talented singer and spoken word artist whose deb ut album ‘Certified Organic’ drops on November 14, 2009. Please show her love & support.

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Adina Nyree combines soulful vocals with rhythmic melodies and thoughtful prose. With elements of soul, jazz, pop, and blues, she describes her brand of music as “a return of good, real (un-sampled, original) music with lyrics that mean something, that stand for something.”

'Certified Organic', the debut album, can be purchased at adinanyree.com or any live shows and will be available for sale on iTunes and cdbaby.com later this year. The first 100 people to order a copy will receive an autographed free poster of the 'Certified Organic' album cover. Ten percent of 'Certified Organic' album sale profits will be donated to amfAR, Save Dafur, Stop Global Warming and Amnesty International. For additional information visit http://www.adinanyree.com.

'Certified Organic' CD Giveaway: Go to http://tinyurl.com/Nov5AdinaNyree for details on how to win.

NYC Tri-State Residents: Come to the album release party on Saturday, November 14th at the Bassline Jazz Club an d help Adina Nyree usher in a great album of music, song and spoken word. Party starts at 7:30 PM. Advance tickets are available at http://www.adinanyree.com for $25. Tickets will be $30 at the door. Tickets include admission, appetizers and the BRAND NEW 'Certified Organic' CD.

Thank you for all your support.

~ Adina Nyree and the Band

Tell me your thoughts: Pepsi Amp

Snippet from one of my October Facebook posts. Share your thoughts...

Do you think this app is alienating to women? Do you believe this is acceptable for the Amp brand? For Pepsi as the parent brand? If you are agree with the article, do you feel the same about Dove and AXE their parent company Unilever?

http://mashable.com/2009/10/12/amp-before-you-score/?awesm=fbshare.me_Dov

JM: A man associated with the use of this application should be embarassed. If a man does not have a sister or niece he should at least think of his mother and grandmother before using it. This can potentially ruin reputations of women as users post of their exploits through this application. Those who support this childish and immature application should be shamed.

CF: Marketing at Pepsi has lost it's mind. But given the other markers in our culture, and here I mean American culture at large, it falls in line with the anything goes mentality. Won't be very cute in the hands of middle school and high school students.

A must for tea drinkers

I'm addicted to YOGI tea - very fabulous and so many different kinds to enjoy!! I stopped buying other teas a long time ago.

My long-time favorite is the Egyptian Licorice Mint. Don't add a sweetener before you taste. You'll love it!

A Change in Guard: it's not always a bad thing

As you may or may not know, it was announced a couple of days ago that Publicis picked up the Corona Light account. I'm excited for the agency as Corona Light is it's opportunity to reenter the beer category. One AdvertisingAge article I read about the account move was similar to others; however, the comments to the article also caught my attention.

The first comment was promoting a 16 year-old campaign for another beer.
The second comment focused on the article and the good that could come from the change.
The third and fourth comments both couldn't understand why the change was needed.

It were these last two comments that encourage me to write a comment of my own. Here is what it said:

There is more than one way demonstrate the perks of a light beer and definitely more than one scene to place Corona Light in. The change in agency is the brand taking an optimistic stance on how far Corona Light can go. Thinking the brand's continued growth is directly correlated to keeping along the same path of the prior agency's work is, in my opinion, a leap in logic. Corona Light has a higher possibility to grow, if it breaks away and stands out on its own. It is more difficult to do so under the shadow of the historically more prominent (by revenue and recognition) brand - Corona Extra.

Do you agree or disagree? Let's start a conversation.

Google Notebook: A hidden Gem

Google Giveth, and Taketh Away: Google Video, Notebook, Catalog Search, Jaiku, and Dodgeball to Shut Down

At first I panicked when I heard Google Notebook was being shut down, but was able to breathe again once I read it would remain functional even though additional development would cease.

Notebook is a Firefox add-on I discovered last fall. I use it A LOT! Try everyday. Google definitely has an unprocessed gem. I hope, sooner rather than later, Google will take it out of the freeze station and put it back into the incubator and help it grow.

Twitter: Hard Hitter for Better or for Worst

Who says word of mouth is shared at the pace of snail mail? Out of all the different types of social media (SoMe) out there today, I believe Twitter is the most effective in getting the word out quickly than any other source. This "gift" from technology is a double-edged sword making it both good and bad for brands.

Let's take Motrin for example. Using Twitter Search I looked for "Motrin" mentions on Friday, November 14th and Saturday, November 15th. One page of results come up with statements such as these:Then someone surfing the Internet comes across the new Motrin ad posted on its website.

Unfortunately for Motrin several moms find it offensively patronizing, which began the negativity buzz on Twitter. After sleuthing around using Twitter Search the earliest "tweet" about the ad is from crunchygoddess on November 15th at 10:28PM EST and the buzz picks up from there. Within my circle of followers and following, I received a "tweet" shortly after 5PM EST on November 16th sharing the news and now it's my turn to pass it to you. Below is a video montage that was posted to YouTube after a fellow Tweeter (KatjaPresnal) learned of Motrin ad at 11:07PM EST on November 15th.

Video Credit: Katja Presnal

Result:(1) The word is spreading requesting folks to boycott Motrin and the products of its parent company Johnson & Johnson. (2) Kathy Widmer, Vice President of Marketing for McNeil Consumer Healthcare, responded to concerns about the advertising on the Motrin website. See email to Katja Presnal for actual correspondence. (3) Motrin's website is down as of November 17th at 2:36AM EST and has been down for several hours now as they take steps to remove the ad from the website. Evidently, the brand felt it was better to take the entire site down that to have people bogging down the server and aid in the spread of negative buzz. (4) Motrin has spent thousands of dollars to place a magazine print version of the ad and now is taking steps to remove it from circulation. Unfortunately for the brand, this will take longer since it is currently on newsstands and in distribution. (5) In this season of pink slips, the Twitter question of the moment is "will those responsible for this blunder get their own customized version?"

Lesson to Learn: Use your target audience as a sounding board BEFORE you launch a new campaign or decide to try a new tactic. Talk to them and listen to what they have to say. If you don't seek out the true subject matter experts, folks will definitely get the buzz going in the way you would prefer to avoid. They say bad publicity is better than no publicity, but in this case...I think Motrin would beg to differ.

A flawless campaign...brands should take note

Out of the seven elected presidents during my life time so far, I am old enough to remember all of the campaigns beginning with Reagan's first election. You have to admit no matter what your political beliefs may be, Obama has been running a rather impressive & progressive campaign.

Most recently Obama can even be found campaigning on Xbox 360.
Is Obama's campaign persuasive enough to influence the vote? Well at least one person thinks so...

"The Obama campaign is just incredible… Who would have thought of this? I am a registered Republican BUT what the heck… I’ll vote for Obama. If he runs the country the way he’s run his campaign, things will only get better." - Terry Andersen, posted on Gigaom

We Are The Ones Song

Couldn't resist...plus I like the song. Thanks Pops for sharing the link with me.

History in the Making

On August 28, 2008 history was made similar to the history made on the exact same day in 1963 45 years ago when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his “I Have A Dream” speech.

On August 28, 2008 history has been made and I was lucky enough to be alive to have experienced it first hand. Once again August 28th will go down in not only Black History books, but ALL history books...every single one of them. However this time I was able to witness it, remember it and savor it so one day it could be shared with my children.

If you don't already know or haven't a clue as to what I am talking about, I'd like to introduce the 1st African American accepting the presidential nomination...Barack Obama!

Michelle Obama - 25 August 2008

Amazing speech....there should be no critics. It is extremely rare in this day and age for the love a family has for one another and the sincere conviction a person or group of people have for a cause to come through so well. I doubt anyone will see or more importantly feel anything remotely similar at the other convention next week. This is why the Obama brand is so strong & inspirational.

Dunkin' Gets Dunked

This is one of those things I just do not understand the importance of. Call it ignorance, naivete, or whatever, but why should a company have to pull an advertisement because of a piece of clothing worn by the spokesperson?

Per Advertising Age, Dunkin' Donuts has decided to pull its online ad with Rachel Ray wearing a scarf that left-wing conservatives say symbolize the Arab men associated with the jihad. Granted I believe the scarf is a hideous accessory, but saying it promotes a warfare? That's a little too much. What do you think?

PS...as a sidebar: Just came back from a trip to Barcelona (or Bar-tha-lohna) where Dunkin' Donuts goes by Dunkin' Coffee. I always find it interesting to learn of company or brand name changes because of the country or culture.

Copy never made me smile so much...

This picture was taken last semester by a 2nd year for a beauty-focused project. I loved the copy "Waxing has only made me stronger." since it is a Nerissa original. Yes, us business folks can generate a good line every now and then, too.

Overuse of Brands (in school)

Here's an old post I started weeks ago, but didn't finish until today. Enjoy!

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For the record, I enjoy attending the Adcenter. Oops...I mean Brandcenter. There is just a little area of annoyance I have when professors use certain brands to prove their points or bring a concept to life. The examples are almost always the SAME PRODUCTS / BRANDS!!

I probably shouldn't complain too much. The Brandcenter "professors" are active working advertising professionals and not college trained educators who strive to teach the entire breadth of the advertising industry from a book. (Then again there are books who use some of these same brands as examples as well.) I just wish it wasn't automatically ASSUMED that everyone at the school is interested in or actively use:

Apple, Starbucks, Netflix, Ukrops, GEICO, UPS, Nike

Is it me? Am I continuously shopping in the wrong places? Am I the anti-brand? Here is my take on the products listed above.

first time Apple owner. If it wasn't highly recommended by this school, I still wouldn't own one. Never saw what the big deal was and still don't.


not a coffee drinker. I have to gift cards given to me almost 2 years ago. I carry them around in anticipation I will actual use one.


never used personally. If motivated, I can definitely find movies that I wouldn't mind seeing. There just aren't enough of them out there that entice me from recall alone.


This is a regional (maybe VA only) based grocery store. Yup, me too. Never heard of it before. One day I'll check it out to see what all the hype is about.

Ah! A product I actually use! Gosh darnit, just remembered...my premium is due soon.

absolutely abhor this company. UPS rarely delivers a package on time. I've had to literally hunt down the delivery truck en route to pick up packages before. The shining point was when UPS was used to send a package less than 10 miles overnight. UPS lost the package! After 8 months, I'm still trying to get reimbursed for the lost items.

Haven't bought anything Nike since the 90's. Since I'm discovered a better running shoe (and now I don't run at all), Nike hasn't given me a reason to want an expensive gym shoe.

All of this makes me acknowledge that the industry is full of brands I do not personal use or buy, but will eventually work on. Once on the account, I will of course become intimately familiar with the product or brand. However, in the meantime, does it say something about the type of consumer I am when I have little to no interest in the most popular brands everyone else can't get enough of?

Conviction to the Extreme

As part of my Strategic Brand Concepts class, I read Conviction a white paper written by Kelly O'Keefe. A brand's conviction is defined by O'Keefe as "an internal conviction about how to run a business based on [the company's] own values, not on the whims of the customers." Well, I discovered a brand who has taken conviction to the extreme.

Situation: While a grocery worker was on break a store manager requested help with
stopping a shoplifter

Conviction: Whole Foods Market enforced its policy that under no circumstances should
an employee ever physically touch a customer

Result: Grocery worker fired for stopping shoplifter

How far is too far to take a brand's conviction? Given the regional nature of the story, there may not be any major negative impact to the brand; however, does the brand really wants to risk that?