Archive for the ‘Blogroll’ Category
You mean my iPod can do more than play music???
Here’s a neat article on the Top 10 Uses of an iPod That You’d Never Expect.
Among my favourites:
– Record Flight Data
– Cut Medical Bills
– Polish Your Bowling (a hat-tip to the current Cricket World Cup)
– Get some education
– Commit Theft
What are your favourite non-traditional iPod uses?
Tags: ipod, unconventional, imaginative
DRM and the Fight for the Future of Music
Those of you in the GTA will likely have noticed that BBC World has replaced CNN Headline News on your TV dials. While I’ll admit to occasionally missing Glen Beck and Nancy Grace spit bile at anyone who comes across their path, this is clearly a change for the better.
One of BBC World’s programs is Click. Click is weekly review of web/tech/media issues and news. This past week’s edition focused on Digital Rights Management (DRM). In short, it took a look at the technology/software behind DRM and how it is being used by major music companies as a way to fight piracy and protect intellectual property (you can find the bulk of the episode on the website).
Though I’ve recently seen examples of how new media tools have allowed independent bands to establish/connect with an audience (here and here), I have a number of reservations about whether this really indicates a sea-change in music distribution or merely a couple of good examples of what can be done (not, I should add, what we can expect to become the norm anytime soon).
– Most acts sign on to major labels because they help off-set production and marketing costs. Studio space & time, recording & production equipment, distribution, promotion and so on are very expensive activities and beyond the reach of most independent, small or just-starting-out bands. Though improved technology and new & powerful distribution channels are making independent production more realistic.
– When bands sign on with major labels, their contracts (typically) are not for a defined period of time but rather for a certain number of albums. This makes it very difficult for the artists to sever ties with their label without long and drawn out legal battles. It also means that the only way to break the contract (barring, I suppose, gross mismanagement by the label is to pump out a couple of albums in quick succession which could ultimately harm the artist if they are concerned with quantity rather than quality).
– It will, I believe, take a number of major artists adopting direct-to-consumer distribution for there to be any real pressure placed on the majors to change their tune (pun intended, but sheepishly offered). You see, even if artists are able to break their contracts with their labels it is highly likely that the label will retain the copyrights for any material produced while the artist was under contract. This was famously demonstrated when John Fogerty (the voice, guitar and songwriter behind CCR) was, for many years, unable to use the name of the band he created or in some cases even play music that he wrote as his previous label owned the copyright. There is so much money to be had through back catalogue sales that the labels will not simply release the rights to the artists, nor will the artist likely want to lose the revenue associated with their creations.
– It is true that artists have much to gain from going direct-to-consumers (ie. the lion’s share of revenue vs pennies per sale), but the loss of the back catalogues will temper those moves.
– Frankly, many artists (particularly established artists) are too lazy to take a stand and start the revolution. It will take a major artist with a social conscience (say, Radiohead or U2) to even make music executives consider alternate approaches to their business..
What is encouraging is that the tools exist for artists to take greater ownership of their creative output and deliver their work directly to consumers. In time, I’m sure we’ll see more artists (particularly those starting out) taking this approach. The will and interest certainly seems to be there in some quarters. It should be encouraged. But it will be a long time before that becomes the norm and an even longer time before old favourites will be available in this fashion.
PS. I should note that my claims about the music industry and its artist contracts are based purely on my own observation/reading. If I have misrepresented how these things work, I’m happy to be corrected.
Tags: DRM, musicians, copyright, downloads, direct-to-consumer
Marcomedy Caption Competition #1
I’m a big fan of the BBC’s online caption competition. It’s a great source of humourous and often insightful comments on pics taken from events around the world in the past week. So with a tip-of-the-hat to the venerable Beeb, I present the first edition of the Marcomedy Caption Competition.
I figure the marketing and PR folk who (occasionally) visit this space are smart and creative types who like to stretch their intellectual muscles and show off a bit. As the competition evolves, I’ll do my best to find pictures that speak to something relevant to our chosen discipline (of course, I welcome submissions from any and all). But in honour of St. Patrick’s Day (a day near and dear to my Guinness pumping Celtic heart), I present this picture of a police deputy and his speed gun:
For those not familiar with this kind of competition, the idea is to submit a short caption that follows a "what are they saying/what would observers say about" format.
Now, the Rules & Regs:
1. A new competition will be held each Friday (or as close to it as my schedule permits).
2. Submit your caption in the comments below.
3. Captions will be accepted for judging until Thursday evening. You can submit multiple captions if you’re so inclined.
4. All submitted captions will be judged by me. Though votes for your favourite caption (that isn’t your own) are encouraged.
5. Entries will be judged on their creativity, relevance, insight, humour and so on.
6. The winner will be announced in the following week’s competition.
7. There are no formal prizes (unless someone wants to step up and sponsor the competition…;-) except the glory of victory. And isn’t that the best prize of all (who said "NO!")?
Have fun and Beannachtái na feile Padraig agat (trans. Blessings on the feast of St. Patrick to you).
100 000 dials and counting (or Ma Bell owes me some commission)
(Warning: Seriously NSFW language in this clip)
The first thing in sales is to get on the phone. You have to talk to people – real people, not voicemail. It’s a bit of a numbers game. Common belief is that sales can be compared to a funnel. For every 100 calls, you’ll get 10 live contacts and that will lead to 1 sale. And, as usual, common belief holds up well under scrutiny.
Cold-calling is hard. You have to overcome call-reluctance and set goals to keep you on task. You have to toughen your skin so rejection just bounces off of you.
It’s a funny, fickle game, too. Some days everything’s going well. You’re making live contacts. Conversations are going smoothly and you’re booking meetings or taking orders (Taking names doesn’t count. Unless you’re kicking ass). And there are other days when you hardly speak to a soul. Those that you do speak to may be unpleasant or are just too busy (they may just be saying that, though).
I’ve had to make a lot of sales calls. Maybe not 100 000, but it’s been one of my primary responsibilities for the bulk of the last 5 yrs. As I move into public relations, I’m taking stock of how this experience will help me down the road.
From what I can gather (and have been told by those who would know), business development responsibilities at PR agencies are concentrated at the senior levels (say Account Director and up). Some agencies have a group who’s main focus is business (or corporate) development, but this is much less common. For entry & intermediate professionals, it seems that the expectation is that some attention is paid to biz dev, but that the expectations for results are pretty modest.
Having said that, it also seems clear that being able to generate revenue for your firm is a key element in advancing your career. After all, the higher up you move in the firm, the more you will have to pay attention to business development. So starting early and practicing often has its advantages.
For those of you who may not have much experience with biz dev (which is probably most people starting out in PR), here are some tips to keep in mind:
– You need to dedicate time to making sales calls. It can be daily, weekly, monthly. But if you don’t book time in your calendar to make those calls, something will always come up that prevents you from doing it.
– Make sure you do your research. Know who you’re calling, why you’re calling, what the company does, how they do it, who they currently work with, what you can do that meets their business needs (and what those needs are), etc…Have they recently reviewed their ad agencies? Are they planning on doing the same with PR? Can you anticipate changes in their industry that will require significant PR activity?
– You’ll probably find that most people you talk to are satisfied with their current agency. Fair enough. But I can’t stress strongly enough that you should avoid bad-mouthing the competition. There’s a couple of reasons for this: There’s a good chance that the person you’re speaking too (if it’s the right person) will be the one who hired that firm. Slagging the other agency is questioning their judgment and will make them defensive. Also, it reflects poorly on yourself and your firm if you spend time bad mouthing the competition rather than informing the prospect about what you can offer them.
– Selling isn’t telling. Sure you need to introduce yourself, the firm, why you’re calling. But just talking to someone isn’t going to get you very far. A better approach is question-based selling. Ask questions that will help the prospect realize that you can do the job better than their current agency. Just telling them that you can won’t get you very far. There are plenty of good books out there on the subject of question-based selling.
– Be persistent. There’s an old adage that persistence wears down resistance. It’s true…to a point. But if you work hard to build a relationship with a prospect, offer them something of value even if they aren’t looking to switch shops at the moment, you’ll be on their radar when the time does come for them to evaluate their agency relationships.
– And a couple of final thoughts: Make sure you’re speaking to the right person (a.k.a. the decision maker). Be respectful of their time (if they say it’s not a good time, accept that & use it as an opportunity to book a meeting or follow up call). Stay positive (even if all you’ve received is rejection, keep your chin up. People can hear your mood in your voice) . Follow up (either with info or a thank you for their time).
I’ll end this by saying my experience comes from ad sales. I haven’t done PR biz dev (yet), so there might be a different dynamic in play. Get input from senior members of your firm. Their experience will be invaluable. It will also show that you’re committed to building the business and, even if they don’t expect much, they’ll surely admire your initiative (as long as it isn’t taking away from your primary responsibilities…). Thus endeth the rant.
PS. Real sales is not (or at least should not) be like the Glengarry Glen Ross clip. But it’s a great scene and does contain some kernels of wisdom….A-B-C, A-I-D-A.
Tags: Sales Tips, PR, Cold-calling, Business Development
A Marcomedy Reader (or stimulating the old grey matter)
Tip of the hat (and top o’ the mornin’) to Michael O’Connor Clarke for his Want to be good at PR? Then READ more post. He’s absolutely right that it takes a curious and absorbent mind to make the grade in PR (or marketing or sales). The post also made me take stock of my reading habits. So I present: A Marcomedy Reader.
Websites I read:
These are sites that I visit regularly, if not daily. I find that more and more the web is my go-to source for info (guess I’m just one of the herd there).
– globeandmail.com – for Canadian news and perspective.
– cbc.ca – see above.
– the star.com – for local news.
– Marketingmag.ca (also the Marketing Daily) – for Canadian Marketing news.
– Economist.com – for insight and analysis on global affairs.
– bbc.co.uk – for global perspective and football (the old skool kind) news.
– guardian.co.uk – for insight and commentary (see their decent podcast roster).
– canoe.ca – for sports and entertainment news.
– the superficial.com – for celeb gossip dished out with biting sarcasm.
– Fark.com – for a good survey of the irreverent, inane and intriguing.
– newsvine.com – for interesting news, politics and tech tidbits.
Blogs I read:
Too many to mention (and so much link love would make me look like a gigolo), but check out the CanuckPR toolbar and you’ll get a good idea of my starting point.
Newspapers I read:
– The Globe & Mail – I mostly just get the Saturday edition as I read the website during the week. I find the Focus section to be of particular value.
– The National Post – To see how the other half think. I am left-leaning (for the most part and certainly when it comes to a social agenda) and turn to the Post for the other side’s views.
Magazines I read:
– Marketing mag – The go-to source for Canadian marketing industry news.
– Strategy mag – see above (minus to go-to…).
– The Economist – I don’t get The Economist every week. I usually pick it up when there are special reports on topics of interest. But it is hands-down my favourite magazine. Not just for its penetrating analysis, but also for its surprisingly wicked sense of humour.
– Maclean’s – For good Canadian political and social reporting.
– Mojo – In my view, the best music magazine going.
Books on my bedside table:
I generally like to switch between a work of non-fiction and work of fiction. Right now, I’m reading The Upside of Down by Thomas Homer-Dixon.
Recently, I’ve also read:
– The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson
– The Double by Jose Saramago
– Naked Conversations by Shel Israel & Robert Scoble
– The Colony of Unrequited Dreams by Wayne Johnston (btw. possibly the one of the finest book titles I’ve ever come across)
This is by no means an exhaustive list. There are many websites I read frequently (CNN, Google News, AdAge, ESPNSoccernet, etc…) and haven’t included and there are several magazine (Atlantic Monthly, Fast Company, Canadian Business, Toronto Life etc…) that I pick up when they catch my attention. You’ll notice that the bulk of my reading is from quite traditional media sources. I don’t claim to be a trend-setter or a "sophisticated bohemian" (I’ll leave that to others). I’m certainly a fan of the irreverent, the amusing or the oracular but I like to know the big picture. I do, though, have a few sources I go to when I want to get some dirt under my fingernails.
Now, what’s on your reading list?
Tags: reading list, marketing, pr
Your Friday Distraction: A lesson from a romance in lower mathematics
A wonderfully distracting piece of animation from the golden age of MGM cartoons (Actually, I only assume it’s the golden age because that’s how we tend to refer to things from this era).
The Dot and The Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics is the sweet story of The Line’s unrequited love for The Dot (who prefers to frolic with the free-spirited Squiggle). The Line works to improve itself and, after realizing its full potential, eventually wins the heart of The Dot.
After seeing all that The Line has to offer, The Dot confronts The Squiggle and challenges it to be as dazzling, clever, mysterious, versatile, erudite, eloquent, profound, enigmatic, complex, and compelling as The Line.The Squiggle cannot perform to these standards and The Dot realizes how untidy and graceless he is. Then the narrator offers this gem:
"And suddenly she realized that what she thought was freedom and joy was nothing but anarchy and sloth" (9:05)
Good food for thought.
Tags: MGM, classic cartoons, marketing, pr
Don’t get blinded when a client turns on the lights
If I think back to my childhood trips to Disneyworld, one of the highlights was the Space Mountain roller coaster. It was the closest Disney came to a thrill-seeking ride and, as an impressionable 10 year old, I was wowed by its frantic twists and turns. What made it even more exhilarating was that the ride was in total darkness (minus one illuminated tunnel).
I found this video on YouTube that shows you what Space Mountain looks like with the lights on:
Now maybe it’s the fact that I’m now more roller-coaster savvy or just more jaded about what constitutes a truly thrilling experience, but it doesn’t seem exciting with the lights on.
There’s a lesson here in client management. Good relationships are built on trust. That trust is earned through open dialogue, honest & insightful counsel and effectively managing (and delivering on) expectations. Often there are hard questions and troubling issues that need to be addressed. Doing so is important to advancing the relationship even if we often don’t want to hear what they other person has the say. But it’s important to be prepared for what is revealed when you get your answers. You should anticipate the range of possible responses (which won’t be too hard if your relationship is built on a solid foundation) and come up with the plans to address each contingency.
Don’t be left stunned and blinking when the lights come on. Both you and your client will be disappointed.
Tags: client service, relationships, roller coaster, Disneyworld
Watching Big Brother (now in beta)
Yet another example of how social media is fostering improved dialogue, greater openness and transparency, and enhanced accessibility to the political process.
I had previously highlighted the British government’s online petition site, now I’ve been pointed to Open Congress – a site that brings together official government information with news and blog coverage to give you the real story behind what’s happening in Congress.
Among the features* we’ll soon be able to see on the site are:
-User Logins: the ability for users to register a username and password with OpenCongress and create user profiles, making it possible for site visitors to contribute their time, writing, and social wisdom to OpenCongress in the ways outlined below.
– Bill Summary: spaces to summarize arcane legislation into plain language, demystifying the process so that everyone can understand how bills work and their implications.
– Collaborative Analysis: spaces and message boards to contribute collective analysis of important legislation. Together we can do more to identify conflicts of interest, wasteful spending, and potential corruption. Also, we can identify instances of praiseworthy legislation and acknowledge when a politician keeps a pledge.
– Bill Tagging: a good way to make the Congressional process more intelligible is to allow people to "tag" bills on OpenCongress, creating folksonomies and providing an easy-to-understand summary of a bill as it’s commonly described in the national press. For example, if you’re looking for a bill about the internet issue of "net neutrality," OpenCongress will make it possible to find bills that have been tagged by users as such, so that you don’t need to know a specific bill name to find the information you’re looking for. We’ll work to make this tagging work with bookmarking services, such as del.icio.us, so that tagging bills becomes an easy and popular practice for web users.
– Action Calendars: tools to keep track of when important legislation is scheduled for a vote, and to identify the most productive windows of time to contact Congresspeople with your feedback. For example, OpenCongress will make available feeds for iCalendar and other popular calendar applications so that you can be conveniently reminded to contact Congress about issues and bills you care about.
*from OpenCongress.org
Of course, the site comes complete with (or will soon have) a full complement of 2.0 applications: RSS feeds, blogs, tagging and bookmarking tools, and coverage of each representative and their voting patterns, contributions and presence in the news and blogosphere (think of this like their facebook page ;-).
I’m particularly intrigued by the Collaborative Analysis mechanism. There has been a sharp decline, in my view, in the skills of activism and dissent. Too much reactionary noise and not enough communal and thoughtful engagement. This has the potential to be a model for reviving healthy and productive dissent (rather than the disengagement that seems pervasive nowadays – I, of course, make a sweeping generalization here. I realize there are many people who are involved in the political/policy discourse who work very hard to make a difference).
Kudos to the folks behind this site for pulling together a wonderful resource for those interested in learning more about what their elected representatives are doing and for helping to cut through hot air.
Tags: e-government, social media, transparency, accountability, US
MarComedy: Don't make me laugh 