Buzz on Google Buzz Getz Big Buzzer

If you had a cruise ship with no passengers, it wouldn't matter how decked out with luxurious and useful amenities, fantastic movies, art and music it was, or if it had a great cruise director to organize the guests and activities. With social media, just like with like parties, having the ship all to yourself is not a good thing. 

For two days now the buzzers have been buzzing about Google Buzz. The Google gaggle clammered, "Google's got a Facebook. It's Google's new Twitter. It's got update streams, comments and media sharing, right in your email!" My first reaction was, "Oh, like Yahoo?" 

Note the "buzz up" button at the bottom of this blog. It's not for Google Buzz, it's for Y! buzz. That's Yahoo. Yahoo has had it's own social network for years now, since Facebook was an infant. The Yahoo 360 Beta, which was great like MySpace in the beginning, finally closed in 2009 because not enough people were on it. Yahoo integrated much of the 360 info right into their regular profiles. I can blog, update, comment, connect to other people, media sites, apps, get feeds and news, and so on right from my Yahoo email or home page.

Here's a look at my barely populated Yahoo stuff...

... and here's a look at my barely populated Google Buzz stuff:

Underwhelming.

I know Google is big, I know they're everywhere, they even ran my favorite Super Bowl commercial. But sober up techies, another social network is just another social network, no matter who owns it and this is sort of a knock off of Yahoo anyway. So it's not benefits we're comparing, it's location. Where do you spend your time? Do you feel like relocating everyone you know and all of your information? If you already use gmail as your hub, it will be great for you. If not, it's just another added feature that lives there. I don't see all the bees buzzing away from Facebook, Yahoo, Twitter or whatever hive they've already built, I see it as simply a benefit to gmail users.

PS: click the "buzz up" & Digg buttons, please and thank you!

('’)

Your Mom's not judging the 2010 ADDYS

How many of you still have a ribbon you received for a painting, a clay pot or maybe the long jump in elementary school? Or a medal for gymnastics or ballet? How about those bowling and wrestling trophies? Special awards for achievement in college? Plaques and certificates from professional organizations? 

We are an award-crazed culture, and while some of them seem bought or gratuitous, the good ones help keep us in line, help good creative thrive, inspire innovation and yes, make us feel all warm and fuzzy if we win.

We have loved reward, recognition and attention since we were infants, when just a smile from our mother meant ultimate success. It's part of our basic human need for significance, and sometimes I think creatives in the advertising/marketing field (along with those in entertainment) got more than our share of that craving. 

We're all grown up and in the cold, hard, competitive world now and our successes don't happen by virtue of existence and a smile alone. Our mothers were much more liberal with the "good boy/girl" praise than the ADDY judges are, which contributes to the coveted National ADDY ranking within a few steps of the holy grail. Professionally speaking, of course. 

What's so great about the ADDYS?  

First of all, it's hard. If you win a National ADDY Award, that means your work has made it through three rigorous competitions, three different sets of qualified judges from all over the country, with three different sets of competitors at each stage. Local. District. National. Over 60,000 ADDY entries are judged each year for their creative excellence – first in an entrant's local area, then at a larger regional level (in my case it's the 4th District which includes all of Florida and the Caribbean), and finally at the national level where the big dogs run. Win at national, and your compadres are the biggest agencies in the world. "Hello BBDO, DDB and Satchi & Satchi, nice to stand on the same stage with you today!"

Second of all, it's hard. Every year I marvel at the magnitude of it. Imagine if you will, the people-power it takes to run 200 competitions locally before moving up to the larger districts then national. Imagine how many judges are traveling during ADDY season, how many entries are being shipped, opened, displayed, put away, shipped, opened, displayed and put away again. Imagine how many showbooks are being produced, how many winner reels for galas are being made, how many party themes are being dreamed up, and just how grueling it all can be. Now imagine that it is all done by volunteers. Maintaining the highest standard of integrity, fairness and quality takes a lot of knowledge and experience... and passion. Thousands of people enthusiastically spend time away from their families and jobs, pouring their energy into running top-notch competitions across the country.

Third of all, respect. I just took Sally Hogshead's fascination test and "prestige" came up as my top fascination trigger. That means I really value awards (at least those that are really worth having, only the prestigious ones)! If your first thought is that it's about vanity, think again. In life we all are salespeople, we've got to wave our own flag high or no one will see it. Professionally we spend most of our time showing or telling people how great we are so they will give us their trust and money. I can run around all day and night saying that I'm good, but an ADDY says it for me. Let's face it, even a great portfolio isn't always proof enough to a client who doesn't understand the power and reason behind visual communication. An ADDY says "award-winning," and that means respect. 

I stand on both sides of the ADDY competition process. I judged two different competitions in Florida this year, have judged others in the past, have been local ADDY Chair and and district  ADDY Judging Chair, and I enter my work. No matter how much I am involved behind the scenes, I still never know how my work will be judged. The Ocala ADDY Gala is February 18th, wish me luck, I won't know until then how I fared this year!

Good luck to all of you entrants out there, of ADDY and other competitions. Keep reaching high and stepping up your creative, and keep supporting other winners around you. They deserve a smile, some applause, an "atta boy," an award... some validation and respect for their good and hard work.

Pants-down, the best top 10 list this year so far!

Listen Kanye, I'm real happy for you, and Imma let you finish, but "Pants on the Ground" is the best act to parody, EVER!

If you have some musical or comedic talent, you'd better get your pants on the ground because it's rocket-viral. Cover General Larry Platt's heartfelt, catchy ditty from American Idol, and you could get your 15 minutes. Don't worry you don't have to clean your room - in fact, I think laundry helps with the acoustics. You just can't buy this kind of coverage.

I'll save the long blog and get right to the meat. Here are ....

Little Black Mask's Top 10 "Pants on the Ground" Parodies (as of today):

Jimmy Fallon is a master at imitating rockers. This is beautiful.

WOW, this came as a surprise!

Dark, moody sensitive-rock and hip glasses.

He's sensitive and emotional, hey, it's a passionate song.

This guy has a downloadable version, in case you want to play it while you jog in the morning.

Malaysian Punkish Rock version, I dig it.

Sock monkey hat and a blue guitar, folk girl gets in the game.

Is he one of the Bens?

IF "Pants on the ground" was filipino remix.

Last but not least...

Drunk Lady Remix *hic.

2010: the year of reinventing. What really matters?

I've watched it warming up for a few years and now it's really starting to bubble. We are in the midst of a profound shift - Corporate America and all of the stress it has caused us is crumbling, or at least evolving. The ceaseless, mindless race for productivity is giving way to make room for a higher mission to come into our work. The state of the economy and all of the lost jobs have been like rocket fuel for this professional reinvention.

People have been hitting bottom financially and professionally, then unbelievably, often finding another even lower bottom, only to realize that broke or not, they are actually happier somewhere inside where the true self lies.

The creative/advertising/marketing industries have changed radically over the past few years and there's more to come. Those who aren't embracing new technologies and philosophies are falling behind. The "market of one" doesn't trust advertising any more. Logos and designs are being sold by stock companies and crowdsourcing grows in popularity. Interactive is now the hub of a media plan, and it's changing daily. Analytics improve but it's harder to track financial results of marketing efforts. There's no formula today that will work tomorrow. We are in the great unknown, unexplored space.

At a time like this, faced again with infinite possibilities we haven't seen since childhood, instead of the predictable rut we've been held to by golden handcuffs, we are searching our souls to find our passion again.

Erik Proulx not only is an example of this himself, but he has illustrated it beautifully in his documentary, "Lemonade" (tagline, "It's not a pink slip. It's a blank page."). He tells the story of people in advertising who after being laid off have made creatively explosive changes, finally doing something that matters to them. Definitely watch this trailer!

Jacki Semerau writes of finding your "why," saying, "Simply making a living isn't what truly makes us live." She has reconnected with her "why" and founded the Strong Single Mom Network, which is poised to shine nationally. Watch for it.

Many people I know are turning to their passion and inner-calling which comes from a higher source. It might be an Account Executive turned inspirational novelist, or a shift in focus in an existing business to bring some "cause" into it. Look around, you'll see examples of it everywhere. What about you? Are you finding new meaning in what you do or are you starting to do something completely new? How are you reinventing yourself in 2010?

This blog could lower your interest! It's almost guaranteed!

Advertising is a really big word, and it keeps growing all the time. It contains mediums, philosophies and specialties that are expanding and changing at a mind-numbing speed.

What method or tactic you take depends on the medium, market, budget and brand. The message shouldn't be the same across the board. Direct mail, for example, needs to get the recipient's attention, interest and trust immediately in order for them to open, read, then act on it. A billboard needs gain the driver's attention and be memorable enough for them to act on it later, but it has only a few seconds, a visual and seven words or less to accomplish this with. An ad in a coupon section of the newspaper needs to visually "pop" out of all that noise as well as contain a perceived savings enough to get the reader to act on it. The list goes on, and while the strategies vary for the different forms of advertising, they all need to be honest.

Truth in advertising might sound like an oxymoron, but for the most part, it's the law. Did you notice that I said "perceived savings" about the ad in the coupon section? Just because something is true doesn't mean it's not slanted in its view. Different people have different points of view, different ideas of value. With behavioral marketing exploding the way it is, different people are actually seeing different ads when they go to the same places – ads with their needs and interests in mind. I'm a big fan of it, from both the perspective of the consumer and the advertiser. What I don't get is what's going on with some of the Facebook ads.

Can someone please explain the strategy to me that prompted this photograph to be in this ad?

Does a hippie-type guy speak to moms? Random. I see tons of things that make me tilt my head and wonder, "WTH??" Like this one with Oprah:

What does she have to do with this coffee? Is she endorsing it? My bet is no. Who's going to call the ad police about that one? I just pass it by with the rest, thinking that the internet really still is the wild, wild west. Still a lot of law and order to come, which will probably both help and restrict us. In the meantime, each to their own ethics, and the prospecting opportunity is spectacular.