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Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Buy My Second Book Today (And Save The World)

Imb_ageofconversation2 Ok, before I get into too much trouble - let me explain. Today is the release of a project that I am honored to be involved in, and you could arguably call my second book, though I am sharing author credit with 236 other authors I highly respect. The book is called Age of Conversation 2, and is an exploration of social media and its impact on business. Engagingly subtitled "Why don't they get it?" the book is broken down into 8 key topics:

* Manifestos
* Keeping Secrets in the Age of Conversation
* Moving from Conversation to Action?
* The Accidental Marketer
* A New Brand of Creative
* My Marketing Tragedy
* Business Model Evolution
* Life in the Conversation Lane

I chose the "Manifestos" topic for my contribution, because it seemed like a big idea, and also because I knew it would come first in the book so my contribution would be earlier in the mix of over 200 others. That plan clearly worked, because my article titled "The Control Myth: An Inside Look At The Worst Advice In Marketing Today" is on page 5 (I can't help it, I'm a marketer even in a room full of marketers!).

Though I was not part of the first edition of Age of Conversation, that was also a great compilation, and this time around the project is twice the size and has contributions from many authors, bloggers and others that you will definitely recognize. No matter if you are a pro and already understand much of this world, or someone trying to figure it out, I guarantee you will find lots to learn from in this book. And you'll also help a worthy cause as all the proceeds from the book go to benefit Variety, the Children's Charity.

So what are you waiting for? Visit http://stores.lulu.com/ageofconversation and get your copy of Age of Conversation 2 in digital or print format. And flip to page 5 to see my counterintuitive contribution about control and branding. I'll give you a hint ... the future is NOT about giving up control. That's the control myth and in my piece I share the perception shift required to get past it.

Full Author List For Age of Conversation 2:

Adrian Ho, Aki Spicer, Alex Henault, Amy Jussel, Andrew Odom, Andy Nulman, Andy Sernovitz, Andy Whitlock, Angela Maiers, Ann Handley, Anna Farmery, Armando Alves, Arun Rajagopal, Asi Sharabi, Becky Carroll, Becky McCray, Bernie Scheffler, Bill Gammell, Bob LeDrew, Brad Shorr, Brandon Murphy, Branislav Peric, Brent Dixon, Brett Macfarlane, Brian Reich, C.C. Chapman, Cam Beck, Casper Willer, Cathleen Rittereiser, Cathryn Hrudicka, Cedric Giorgi, Charles Sipe, Chris Kieff, Chris Cree, Chris Wilson, Christina Kerley (CK), C.B. Whittemore, Chris Brown, Connie Bensen, Connie Reece, Corentin Monot, Craig Wilson, Daniel Honigman, Dan Schawbel, Dan Sitter, Daria Radota Rasmussen, Darren Herman, Dave Davison, David Armano, David Berkowitz, David Koopmans, David Meerman Scott, David Petherick, David Reich, David Weinfeld, David Zinger, Deanna Gernert, Deborah Brown, Dennis Price, Derrick Kwa, Dino Demopoulos, Doug Haslam, Doug Meacham, Doug Mitchell, Douglas Hanna, Douglas Karr, Drew McLellan, Duane Brown, Dustin Jacobsen, Dylan Viner, Ed Brenegar, Ed Cotton, Efrain Mendicuti, Ellen Weber, Eric Peterson, Eric Nehrlich, Ernie Mosteller, Faris Yakob, Fernanda Romano, Francis Anderson, Gareth Kay, Gary Cohen, Gaurav Mishra, Gavin Heaton, Geert Desager, George Jenkins, G.L. Hoffman, Gianandrea Facchini, Gordon Whitehead, Greg Verdino, Gretel Going & Kathryn Fleming, Hillel Cooperman, Hugh Weber, J. Erik Potter, James Gordon-Macintosh, Jamey Shiels, Jasmin Tragas, Jason Oke, Jay Ehret, Jeanne Dininni, Jeff De Cagna, Jeff Gwynne & Todd Cabral, Jeff Noble, Jeff Wallace, Jennifer Warwick, Jenny Meade, Jeremy Fuksa, Jeremy Heilpern, Jeroen Verkroost, Jessica Hagy, Joanna Young, Joe Pulizzi, John Herrington, John Moore, John Rosen, John Todor, Jon Burg, Jon Swanson, Jonathan Trenn, Jordan Behan, Julie Fleischer, Justin Foster, Karl Turley, Kate Trgovac, Katie Chatfield, Katie Konrath, Kenny Lauer, Keri Willenborg, Kevin Jessop, Kristin Gorski, Lewis Green, Lois Kelly, Lori Magno, Louise Manning, Luc Debaisieux, Mario Vellandi, Mark Blair, Mark Earls, Mark Goren, Mark Hancock, Mark Lewis, Mark McGuinness, Matt Dickman, Matt J. McDonald, Matt Moore, Michael Karnjanaprakorn, Michelle Lamar, Mike Arauz, Mike McAllen, Mike Sansone, Mitch Joel, Neil Perkin, Nettie Hartsock, Nick Rice, Oleksandr Skorokhod, Ozgur Alaz, Paul Chaney, Paul Hebert, Paul Isakson, Paul McEnany, Paul Tedesco, Paul Williams, Pet Campbell, Pete Deutschman, Peter Corbett, Phil Gerbyshak, Phil Lewis, Phil Soden, Piet Wulleman, Rachel Steiner, Sreeraj Menon, Reginald Adkins, Richard Huntington, Rishi Desai, Robert Hruzek, Roberta Rosenberg, Robyn McMaster, Roger von Oech, Rohit Bhargava, Ron Shevlin, Ryan Barrett, Ryan Karpeles, Ryan Rasmussen, Sam Huleatt, Sandy Renshaw, Scott Goodson, Scott Monty, Scott Townsend, Scott White, Sean Howard, Sean Scott, Seni Thomas, Seth Gaffney, Shama Hyder, Sheila Scarborough, Sheryl Steadman, Simon Payn, Sonia Simone, Spike Jones, Stanley Johnson, Stephen Collins, Stephen Landau, Stephen Smith, Steve Bannister, Steve Hardy, Steve Portigal, Steve Roesler, Steven Verbruggen, Steve Woodruff, Sue Edworthy, Susan Bird, Susan Gunelius, Susan Heywood, Tammy Lenski, Terrell Meek, Thomas Clifford, Thomas Knoll, Tim Brunelle, Tim Connor, Tim Jackson, Tim Mannveille, Tim Tyler, Timothy Johnson, Tinu Abayomi-Paul, Toby Bloomberg, Todd Andrlik, Troy Rutter, Troy Worman, Uwe Hook, Valeria Maltoni, Vandana Ahuja, Vanessa DiMauro, Veronique Rabuteau, Wayne Buckhanan, William Azaroff, Yves Van Landeghem

Posted at 08:37 AM in Advertising, Blogs, Podcasts & Vlogs, Consumer Generated Media, Ideas , Public Relations, Random Thoughts, RSS & Content Trends, Social Media Marketing, Stats & Analytics, Strategy & Planning, Web 2.0 | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0) | View blog reactions | Save to del.icio.us |

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

6 Reasons Virtual Events Are Getting So Popular

I just spent the day today at the Future of Social Media Conference in London. It was an event put on by a leading trade show group here in the UK responsible for what most consider the largest Internet trade show in the UK, Internet World which is held annually. The conference was a packed session, with nearly 300 marketers in the room (easily doubling the organizers original estimates for attendance) and all the attendees where busy figuring out what role social media should and could take in their marketing strategy. One of the interesting questions asked during the day was whether virtual events may start to overtake real life events like this one due to financial pressures. My response was that I think they currently compliment each other and will continue to do so, yet it does raise the point of the current popularity of virtual events.

In fact, I am being featured as one among many video interviews at a very good social media focused virtual event for small businesses called SolutionStars Video Conference which is put on by Network Solutions and hosted by my friend Shashi Bellamkonda (affectionately known as "shashib" by his growing rank of Twitter followers). The event will have a great roster of speakers (see the end of this post for a full list) and I highly recommend you tune in for part of all of it tomorrow if you can. The bigger trend this event fits into, however, is the rise of virtual events as a viable method for learning. I believe there are six big factors driving this current popularity:

Recession economy and budgets. Yes, I said the "R" word. If you were lucky enough to work for a company that actually had a conference budget, chances are you are seeing that budget reduced or disappear. This is the most obvious reason for the rise of virtual events ... they are cheaper.
Filling the void. I do not, however, believe that this budgetary pressure will lead people to not attend events. They will just get more selective about the ones that they do attend. So for arguments sake, let's say there is a marketer who usually attends 3 conferences a year. Next year this same marketer may only be able to attend one, but can virtually attend another 3-4 throughout the year. More and more we will see virtual events filling the void and making training, learning and networking possible on more occasions than currently possible.
Bring together a fantasy team. When done right, virtual events also allow you to bring together a group of speakers that would be very hard to bring together at the same time for a physical event. As a result, the caliber of speakers across the virtual event can often be higher because it is easier to get a commitment from experienced speakers with very busy travel schedules.
Allow for multitasking. Sometimes the toughest thing about an in person conference or event is not getting the budget to go, but finding the time to be out of the office for an extended amount of time. With virtual events, you can go on mute on a conference call and multitask from your desk. Getting work done while attending a virtual event is a pretty powerful benefit.
Small business friendly. At many large events that I attend, it sometimes seems that small businesses are the ones that are left out because it is only the bigger companies that can afford to send people to conferences. I strongly believe the smartest small business people are the ones who ARE investing to go to the right in person events, but virtual events can often work better for small businesses simply because of the tradeoff in time and budget commitment, as well as the fact that they can be less intimidating.
Built in archive. As an entire event is hosted online, all the content and conversations the event generates are also online. When the time comes to create an online achive of the event, it is usually a very simple prospect because the bulk of the content and conversations are already online and it is simply a matter of aggregating it together.

List of participants in the Solution Stars Video Conference:

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Ariana Huffington Shares 4 Secrets Of Creating A Successful Blog

Yesterday at the MarketingProfs event, Ariana Huffington took the stage for a keynote presentation sharing some lessons she has learned about building a successful blog network with the Huffington Post. Though she definitely ignored my advice to speakers about spending some time at an event to get to know the attendees (she was barely off the stage before heading out the door), she did share some interesting points in her talk that should be useful to most marketers:

Make it easy for contributors to contribute. One of the hallmarks of growth for the Huffington Post has been the site's ability to become the defacto location for any big celebrity to share their thoughts via a blog post. Not a purist about blogging, Ariana's point of view on blog posts was simple - if someone shares their thoughts transparently and honestly, the site can publish it as a blog post. To make it easy for Hollywood celebs like George Clooney and Jamie Lee Curtis, she has a team ready 24/7 to capture blog posts via dictation, email, or any other method someone might submit it. Benefit: You don't have to try and teach Rene Zellweger how to use Wordpress (potentially a full time job on its own).
Have a point of view. In one particularly revealing moment, Ariana talked about how journalism should not be an exercise in covering all sides of a story, but an investigative search for the truth - which is usually on one side or another. Of course, anyone who reads the Huffington Post knows which side she thinks the truth is on ... but there is a certain logic in media seeking the truth instead of working hard to keep everyone happy with a mention of their points of view. The only trouble, of course, is who gets to decide the truth. Benefit: Visitors to your site have a clear idea of what you stand for and what your voice will be.
Provide a safe environment. As Ariana explained it, getting new contributors would be tough if they felt that they could be attacked on a personal basis on everything they wrote. For that reason, she also has a team of real time comment "pre-moderators" who approve or reject comments in real time. Benefit: Arnold Schwarzenegger can blog about California issues without getting an influx of comments asking what the hell he was thinking starring in that dumb male pregnancy movie.
Build on your big hits. One point when it was clear the Huffington Post arrived was when PerezHilton.com linked to the site. Interestingly, this big hit also offered a chance for the site to understand how big spikes like this relate to capturing consistent readers. Ariana shared that 72% of the visitors to Huffington Post from that hit never returned. Of the remaining 28%, they came and went, and over time, they found that 7% stuck around and became regular readers. Multiple that effect over three years of traffic and big hits, and the result is their current traffic of more than 20 million unique visitors per month. Benefit: Getting noticed consistently by the big sites can lead to a measurable subscriber gain if you focus on measuring it.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Blogwell: A Blog Conference Worth Attending

It is a commonly known fact that CEOs often call one another for advice. In the world at the top, sometimes the only person that can really understand you is someone in the same situation. It's why the happily married tennis stars are married to other tennis stars, for example. When it comes to social media, this idea is the premise behind a group that was formed by my friend Andy Sernovitz that I have been watching grow with interest. The group is called the Blog Council, and it was founded with the simple idea of bringing large companies together to help one another solve their common challenges in using social media and scaling it up across an entire large enterprise.

Coming up very soon is the first event from this group which may very well be the best deal for a social media conference you are likely to find this Fall season. For just ~~$300~~$200 (see Andy's comment below), you'll have a ticket to attend a day featuring 8 case studies from some of the largest brands using social media today, including Dell, Cisco, Intel and UPS. I'm proud to say a few of our clients will be making speaking appearances there, and it's the ultimate irony for me to be promoting an event that I won't be able to make personally due to another travel conflict ... but I highly recommend attending if you have anything to do with working in social media at a large company.

To make it even easier for you to convince your boss to let you go in this tight economy, you can use the code "rohitbookdeal" when you register and you'll get an additional 15% off your registration AND a free copy of my book, Personality Not Included. So basically you can attend a great social media conference with actionable insights you'll be able to take directly back to your company and get a halfway decent book all for ~~less than $250~~$170. That's pretty much everything but the Ginsu knives, unless Andy manages to sign up Ginsu between now and the event on October 28th ... in which case you might actually get those knives as swag.

See all the details and register at http://www.gaspedal.com/blogwell (use code "rohitbookdeal" to get 15% off and a FREE copy of Personality Not Included).

Monday, October 20, 2008

Why Only Stupid Marketers Use Age As A Demographic

Sometimes I can't resist a post that will result in a few irate responses. This is likely going to be one of them. It is essentially about my distaste for something that I have seen far too many marketers blindly rely on ... age statistics. Just about every web site that tries to sell advertising reports on the age stats of their visitors. Television programs report on their ability to reach wide demographics whether it is the "coveted" 18-34 males or moms from 25-44. Let's face it ... this is a pretty idiotic way to report and to target for lots of reasons. Here are just a few off the top of my head:

People are age shifting and not living lives based on their ages.
The top end of a demographic (34) has almost nothing in common with the low end (18).
Age demos leave out influencers, gift buyers and others for whom a message may be relevant, but don't fit the age requirements.
Focusing on age can take you away from emotional or relevant benefits.
People lie about their age all the time.

Now let's focus on a secret that smart marketers already know. Age doesn't matter. What matters is relevance. Of course, there are some types of messages that work better for teenagers and others that work better for moms. But my argument is that if you find the right 25 year old that thinks like a teenager, or a 36 year old mom (who may technically be outside your age demographic), then that's a good thing. So here's my open question ... should marketers stop thinking about age demographics and refocusing on methods of targeting that actually matter such as interests, affinity groups, location, and others?

Thursday, October 16, 2008

The Softer Side Of Measuring Social Media

How do you measure your social media efforts? How should you? Most people in the industry talk generally about measuring engagement as a concept and cite examples such as time spent on a site or number of comments, or inbound links as ways to track this. Others talk about ad equivalency (ie how much you saved by avoiding paying for advertising to achieve the same results) or even tie social media efforts directly back to sales and conversions. All are good models and we use a combination of these on just about every client engagement.

Today at the Executing Social Media event in Atlanta, I shared a thought that I have been having over the past few weeks about a missing element of measurement that has been surprisingly important to many clients we have worked with. Consider it the "softer" side of social media measurement. Here are a few examples:

Metric: Internal Bragging Rights
Depending on where you work, this can be a big motivator. Being able to talk internally about a new social media effort or innovative marketing program is something that can build reputations of those involved, as well as lead to better internal responsibilities and possibly promotions and other good things.

Metric: Industry Recognition
Recognition from peers is a big deal as well, particularly the higher up in the marketing chain you go. Though some CMOs may not admit it, getting the envy or appreciation from other CMOs is just about the best compliment you can get. This doesn't necessarily need to be about winning some sort of award, just getting industry credit.

Metric: Lessons Learned
Sometimes failures can be the best thing to happen to a social media campaign. Doing something wrong gives you the chance to learn from your mistakes and perhaps even make your next campaign much more successful. The problem is that most metrics would record a campaign like this as having no redeeming qualities. That's not quite true and though most marketers know it, many don't have a way to share it.

Metric: Media Non-Coverage
An obvious numbers-based metric is about volume of coverage but there is a softer side of social media measurement when it comes to media. This could include avoiding negative coverage - for example if there is a journalist seeking brands that "don't get it" and your brand is not on the list because of your efforts. Another similar example might be having your brand's point of view portrayed more accurately as a result of social media content you have online.

Metric: Testimonials
One of the most powerful effects of social media is the testimonials that you often get from customers, employees and just about anyone else. These testimonials provide powerful stories that can be retold within an organization. Even if there is only one great video or a single great blog post, these can take on outsized importance when reported as part of social media measurement for a campaign.

To be clear, I'm not suggesting that the "real" social media metrics we might report don't matter. Only that there may be a softer side of metrics that we too often forget, but that do make a difference.

Posted at 10:14 PM in Blogs, Podcasts & Vlogs, Brands & Branding, Media Planning & Buying, Social Media Marketing, Stats & Analytics, Strategy & Planning, Technology & Innovation, Web 2.0, Word of Mouth Marketing | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0) | View blog reactions | Save to del.icio.us |

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

How To Launch A Successful Blog In The First 90 Days

Starting a blog is not for everyone. There are lots of reasons not to blog, including having the time to keep a blog up to date, having something to say, and the fact that blogging is becoming an increasingly crowded space making it far tougher to stand out than it may have been in the past. Why would I start a post about successful blogging with all these cautions against blogging? Mostly to make sure that if you are going to start a blog, you are getting into it without a false expectation that it can solve all your problems or how much work it will be.

Assuming you have the right idea in mind, the question I get asked most often is how you can make your blog as successful as possible. Here are some tips for new bloggers on what you may want to focus on in your first 90 days of blogging:

DAYS 1 TO 15:

1. Find a good niche. Think hard about what you want to write about. It has to be something you are passionate about and interested in, otherwise it won't work. The more specific you can get, the better. You can also broaden it later, but in the beginning you need to find a subject that you can own.

2. Choose a name and URL. This is a tough thing, but just as many companies these days do, you should let available URLs drive how you name your blog. If you can't get the URL, don't use the name. And make sure you plan to put your blog on a specific URL, whether you are using Typepad or Blogspot or any other service. Trust me on this, you'll eventually wish you built your blog on your own URL, whether you think so today or not.

3. Grab a template and launch quickly. The biggest paralysis new bloggers have is wanting to get their new blog just right. In the first few weeks of your blog, the most important thing is to find your voice - so forget about design just launch it with a ready made template. Chances are remote that search engines will list it that quickly, and you'll have a few weeks to get it right.

4. Add Google Analytics. Google has a free tool called Google Analytics which gives you some great metrics on your blog all for free. It requires you to do a bit of tricky cutting and pasting to add certain code to your blog, but it is totally worth it to do it early so you'll have metrics from the first days of your blog to compare to and see how far you have come.

5. Create an editorial calendar. Some football coaches head into games scripting out their first 10 plays as part of their gameplan. You should do the same. Figure out the topics for your first ten posts, and then write them steadily. Not only does this get you thinking ahead, it also gives you a sense of how many posts per week you can realistically write.

DAYS 15 TO 30:

6. Reevaluate your blog title. At this point, you will likely have several blog posts to look at and a better sense of what you enjoy writing about. It's the perfect time to check the title of your blog and theme that you set earlier and make sure it still accurately describes what you want to write about. If it doesn't, now is the perfect time to fix it.

7. Design your blog brand. Now that you have your theme and several posts, you can design your blog. At this stage, you may just want to add a logo to an existing template or do something more custom. Either way, by having your blog brand set and several posts in your archive, you can really see what your design will look like.

8. Get your blog listed. It's also time in these two weeks to get your blog listed on all the search engines by submitting it. You should also claim it on Technorati, and submit it to any other sites in your particular industry or area of focus. Remember, you don't need to focus on promotion right now, this is just about getting your site listed.

9. Set up your feeds. Many bloggers today (including me) are using Feedburner to syndicate their RSS feeds and offer email subscriptions to their blog. Whether you choose to use Feedburner or not, setting up your feeds and making them available to readers will be important as you start to grow your blog.

10. Learn the art of headlining. In blog posts, titles make a big difference. Particularly because many readers will be accessing your content through RSS and the title may be the only thing you see. To deal with this truth, you need to think like a copywriter and treat your blog post titles like headlines. Learning to write good blog post titles will be a major skill you will use all the time.

DAYS 30 TO 60:

11. Set your targets. You'll probably be getting close to finishing your first ten posts by now, or at least worrying about what you'll write about next. Based on what you've been able to do in the first month, set a target for yourself of how many posts you will try to write per week. My target is three and I usually stick to it.

12. Learn the 25 styles. More than a year ago, I wrote a presentation designed to answer the common question from bloggers of what to write about. To help you fight "bloggers block" - view the presentation and learn the techniques. They will help you figure out what to write about, as they have helped me.

13. Contact your influencers. Now that you have a month of blogging experience, it's also time to start asking for advice and introducing yourself to those who inspire you. Create a list of bloggers that you look up to and then religiously email one person from that list after you do a post. Ideally it will be someone who would be interested in your post and likely to respond to it.

14. Actively share your posts. In addition to emailing them to your influencers, you should start finding appropriate social networks and sites on which to share your blog posts. This could mean submitting them to Digg, or posting them onto del.icio.us with keyword tags. Essentially, you want to try a few tools to get your blog posts out there tagged and saved.

15. Integrate your blog into your profiles. At the point when you start your blog, you are probably already using other social networks such as Facebook or LinkedIn. After the first month when you have some good activity on your blog, you can add the URL to your profiles and make sure that your network knows you have a blog.

DAYS 60 TO 90:

In these days, your main focus should be on content and connections. Try to create the best blog posts you can. Those that have insights, a strong point of view, and are highly shareable. If you can really succeed at having this great content, people will pass it along and your blog will have the greatest chance of getting passed along too. At this stage you should also make sure that you are using all of your social networks to also spread the word about your blog and your posts. The reason I don't have specific lessons at this stage is that you're starting to get into the point where you will probably be finding your own way and techniques that work for you. The best advice I can offer at this stage and moving ahead beyond 90 days is to try and stay as consistent as possible, and continue to create the best content you can, and share it with people in your network most likely to help you spread the word.

Good luck with your blog! And if you have a blog where you used these suggestions to help you launch, please leave a comment and let other readers know how these suggestions worked for you.

Thursday, October 09, 2008

Comcast's Actual Social Media Policy No One Knew About

One of the most useful panels at Blogworld Expo a few weeks ago was one featuring two of the most powerful customer service success stories using social media, and the characters behind them. Tony Hseih from Zappos (featured on The Personality Project several months ago) and Frank Eliason, the Comcast customer service manager behind the @comcastcares Twitter account. During the panel discussion, Frank shared something about Comcast's social media policy that was fairly surprising - they have a completely open policy and have had it for years. Their official point of view is that their employees are allowed to participate authentically, as long as they disclose their affiliations, don't divulge secret or proprietary information and don't act as though they are an official spokesperson or allowed to speak on behalf of the brand.

How could this have been the policy for years at Comcast? And if it was, why were there not more employees participating in social media? As it turns out, the real reason is because many managers at Comcast assumed the policy was that they could not participate, even though it was actually the opposite. So they forbid their direct reports to use social media. Unlike intentionally silent companies such as Apple that forbid employees from engaging in particular forms of social media, Comcast had never made such a policy. The lawyers had never shut employees down from participating on blogs. Everyone just thought that they couldn't do it.

The result was that managers were telling their direct reports not to do it, and direct reports were listening. So one of the big changes that Frank brought about in the customer service team was to educate them on the actual policy, which was far more open. His ongoing battle continues to be bringing a human face to Comcast, but as he explains it, the traditional media success that he has realized opened the eyes of Comcast to the power of what he was doing and gave him credibility within the organization to do more. Which leads to an important and interesting lesson behind the early social media success of Comcast: that if you can use social media tools create results that people start to notice, then combining it with PR and media exposure can be the catalyst to transform a single small-scale effort into a vast company-wide initiative.

Check out my interview with Frank, the latest post to the Personality Project:

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Chili's Solves Your Takeout Problems

The restaurant chain Chili's has a new marketing campaign out called "Right and Right On Time." It is based on three surprisingly revolutionary concepts in the category of takeout food:

They will get your order right
They will give you an exact time to pick it up.
They will print your order prominently on their packaging

For most restaurants, home takeout is an add on service. It is something they offer to customers who are in a rush, but do not consider it a main part of their business. Though there have been a few notable exceptions such as Outback Steakhouse's curbside pickup service, there is relatively little innovation in home takeout for the simple reason that no one is focusing on it. Chili's campaign has a simple premise summed up in the following spot - that you don't need to leave ordering carryout to luck anymore:

Simple, memorable, strategic and effective - and very likely to go "viral" not necessarily because of a great creative message but because a restaurant actually getting your takeout order right every time is worth talking about. Sometimes the best viral campaign is one where you deliver a great experience in an unexpected way.

Monday, October 06, 2008

Saving the Personality Project: How I Avoided Killing My Blog

About six months ago, I launched an ambitious idea related to the release of Personality Not Included called The Personality Project. My idea was to collect 100 of the most visionary minds in marketing, art and business and invite them all to contribute a single blog post to a collaborative group blog. I launched the site at www.thepersonalityproject.com and had a brilliant initial list of folks agree to participate. For several months, the content was great ... I had posts from Dave Balter of BzzAgent, Premal Shah from Kiva.org and many others. Then I ran out of time to recruit new entries and follow up on them. The content was getting old, I had no new posts and my great idea was rapidly dying and I just didn't have the time to save it.

So over the last few months, I started to think about how I could bring the site back to life - and even whether I should. Along the way, I had an interview with my good friend Scott Jordan and added him to the project as the first video entry. Looking at my calendar of events coming up in the Fall, I realized that I would be meeting many of the people who I was pursuing to participate in the project in person. Getting them to take the time to write an entry may be an uphill battle, but surely I could grab five minutes of their time and do a video interview? Video is a lot easier to capture, more engaging and real, and frankly ... can have more personality than words written on a page if done right.

So at Blogworld Expo a few weeks ago, I tried the experiment out and captured several people on video. Once I did, I realized that the solution to my questoin of saving the Personality Project was simple - convert it to a video blog. I'll still feature written contributions and have a few coming up, but for the most part the new entries on the site will be a series of video interviews all exploring the same topic: why personality matters. Check out my latest video - a conversation from this past weekend with Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park and look for lots more content over the next few weeks and months until I hit 100. Let me know what you think!