Another serving rant July 29, 2010

I saw this article from Reader’s Digest on Consumerist.com — “20 secrets your waiter won’t tell you.”

Some of it is the usual garbage — you know, the writer/publication solicited a whole bunch of people in food service and picked out the craziest ones. As is the case with many of these lists, some of these items are definitely the exception, and not the rule. For example, I’ve worked in a lot of establishments and I’ve never seen anyone mess with a credit card payment. If someone is being a douche, generally you want to get them out of your section as soon as possible.

That being said, there are a few that ring especially true:

• The one about hot tea. Dear GOD I hate serving hot tea. I understand it’s my job to get the guest what they want, but not only is it a pain in the ass to serve (teapot, cup, saucer, lemon, honey, spoon AND the teabox selection), but people ALWAYS want refills on hot water. Technically you aren’t supposed to take anything from the table back into a serving area/the kitchen, so for every new round of hot tea, it’s an entire tray’s worth of stuff. And it makes the table cluttered *ARRGHH*
• Lemons. It’s true, we don’t wash them and every single server dips their hands in the lemon bucket dozens of times each shift.
• Being recognized as a regular Monday-Wednesday is definitely true. The restaurant is generally less busy, but those are often prized shifts because regulars come in, and people who go out during the week are either on dates (where they tend to tip well, which is also in the article), business meetings (where they ALWAYS tip well), or dine out regularly and are familiar with etiquette. Fridays and Saturdays are freaking nightmares.
• Avoid holidays. The article is spot-on about avoiding Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day, especially. Our kitchen fell apart one Father’s Day at once place I was working at. The chef literally just walked out in the middle of the hellish 6-hour dinner rush.

Reading this made me laugh, and then I stopped laughing so hard when I realized that I’m planning on re-entering this industry in a month. :-\

Currently loving: Wearing jeans all week at work :), my new haircut (not too short when curly!), that it’s peach season! Perfect addition to a green monster

image from Adikos

Marketing to Online Communities July 22, 2010

It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of social media and online networking. At the tender age of 10, I began my foray into this realm with a membership on the Nintendo bulletin boards (BBS, if you will). And, I was hooked.

Things have changed a little bit, but 15 years later I am still pretty thoroughly involved with iterations of these types of sites, particularly Reddit. This oddly coincides with parts of my profession as a public relations/marketing professional, where my job is to reach people. This will come into play a little further along.

If you haven’t heard, Old Spice recently did a social media campaign that I fully intend to case study when they publicize the results. In a nutshell, they took their popular “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” character and translated his presence from TV commercials to online videos. I don’t need metrics to tell you that the campaign was an outrageous success. In an Internet marketer’s dream, the videos “went viral” on some of the most cynical and cutthroat web sites on the Internet, including Reddit and 4chan.

As you can imagine, people went haywire over what Old Spice did. There were blog posts and articles in the New York Times. In forums where marketers are shunned, terrorized and run out of town, the team behind TMYMCSL managed not only to stay in the arena … incredibly, some of the videos (and the campaign itself, eventually) attained meme status.

Of course, people everywhere are analyzing the campaign (especially in my industry) — what did they do right? How did they pull this off?

While the lynchpin of this entire campaign was Procter & Gamble’s willingness to give the Old Spice marketing team the freedom to conduct the campaign as they saw fit (see PRtini’s post for more on that), I think there’s another reason that was equally important:

They used the right people for the job.

Sure, TMYMCSL had already gained some momentum through TV commercials. (“Swan dive!”) But the people behind the online campaign weren’t resting on those laurels. They created videos that not only achieved the goal of promoting Old Spice products, but (and this is crucial) they did it in a way that incorporated the tone, memes and attitude of each community. That is, they demonstrated knowledge of and prior involvement in the communities.

In my 4-year experience with 4chan and Reddit alone, I’ve noticed that a good number of users on these sites think they are above marketing. They can see right through your crappy messaging and client/product placement. These sites often have a “hivemind” mentality, and if you come in intending to pimp a product/client and NOT add anything to their community, they’ll run you out of town (and if it’s 4chan, they’ll probably order thousands of pizzas to show up at your office’s front door).

How is this NOT what Old Spice did? During the campaign, they managed the following:

• Transparency. They didn’t hide that they were promoting a product/brand.
• Commitment. They made good on promises (creating video responses for top-voted comments on Reddit, for example).
• Respect. They observed community guidelines (on Reddit, they posted the campaign thread to the r/entertainment Subreddit).
• Understanding. They incorporated community jokes when appropriate (“monocle smile,” from Reddit).

Essentially, the tone of the videos was: “We’ve been here before, and we’re creating something we think you’ll find funny.” And so the Internet laughed.

All of this being said, I saw a ProfNet query this morning asking for PR media specialists to talk about 4chan. Specifically, “Is 4chan the equivalent of a tough neighborhood you just don’t want to mess with? Or is it the most visible part of a growing Internet community that will fight back when they feel they’re being pitched or marketed to?”

At this point, I think you know where I stand. I’ll be really interested to see this column when it comes out.

Note: You’ll probably notice I refer to Reddit a lot more than 4chan in this post. TBH, it’s because I monitored this campaign from my desk at work and while my boss is pretty cool about this kind of stuff, I don’t think he would approve of 4chan

image from homard.net

Random Friday July 16, 2010

You know, I had a very coherent idea for a blog post today, but threw it out (well, actually just delayed it) to announce the following:

• While peanut butter is fantastic, this morning I discovered that there is such a thing as “too much peanut butter.” I didn’t have any fun fruit to throw into my green monster and I refused to have a plain one on a Friday (gotta take every chance you can to celebrate the end of the week). So, I swiped the jar of PB from our pantry and put nearly 2 tablespoons in. THIS IS TOO MUCH. It tasted amazing at first, but about halfway through my stomach and even my tongue were like, “you know what? we’re about done here, Lex.” I powered through it and I think the extra protein kept me full until 12:45, but … yeah, maybe less next time.
• I just had a fantastically fun Friday lunch with a bunch of people in PR/social media here in Orlando. We met up at Dexter’s in Winter Park with a visitor from up north: Jason from IWearYourShirt.com. We definitely talked some business, but somehow I managed to mention the combine derby I went to, as well as the lady who cut me off on I-4 while eating corn on the cob last weekend. Sometimes I wonder why I can’t have normal stories, and then I realize that I laugh every time I tell these. Sometimes I have fun being me (well, most of the time) 🙂

Check out my lunch (before I demolished it): The cast iron skillet salad with salmon. Lookie, you get real (although less pretty) pictures now that I’ve entered 2010 and gotten an iPhone!

Have a wonderful weekend! With any luck, I’ll have my thoughts on the Old Spice Guy’s (well, Procter & Gamble’s) social media campaign this weekend or Monday. Here’s a huge hint: I LOVED IT.

Currently loving: Soreness from yesterday’s Pilates workout, Happy Hour with coworkers tonight, and the obligatory “IT’S FRIDAY!”

Letter writing June 25, 2010

In case you haven’t noticed in the 135 posts preceding this one, I’m kind of a “do stuff” person. I’m not the type to just sit around bitching about something that makes me unhappy.

That’s not to say I don’t do my fair share of bitching, but when it comes down to it, I feel much better having done something … getting involved in some sort of (hopefully) positive change.

I am also kind of an extremist in this category of people. Yes, yes … I am a letter-writer.

As a communications professional (seriously, the job description is “relations with the public,” people), I realize that there are a myriad of ways to get in touch with people and companies. But, also as a communications professional, I firmly believe that few are as effective as a rational, well-thought-out letter.

Of course, it’s way easier to shoot off an email, a Tweet or pick up the phone … but that’s why I like letter writing. Now that there’s a variety of arguably less labor-intensive ways to contact companies, there’s less competition for your letter in the mail bin. And this may be my naiveté showing through, but I firmly believe that someone reads all those letters. It may not be the CEO or even his assistant, but somewhere, someone is reading the letters. And if I am able to calmly and articulately present a rational argument, as well as my desired outcome … I like to think that that someone will pay attention to my letter, and even pass it on to someone who has some decisionmaking power.

I’ve written letters for a variety of reasons. Some have elicited responses, others have not. But you know what? I usually feel better regardless, having stated my case and given the company (or individual) in question a chance to respond. If they respond (even if I don’t get my way)? Kudos to them for acknowledging me.

If they didn’t respond? As a communications professional, screw you. Depending on the severity of the issue and the tenor of the complaint, you’re missing a valuable opportunity to make a customer feel important. And in an age where it’s easier than ever for people to express themselves … don’t you want to make sure that every customer is singing your praises instead of cursing you to the high heavens (*cough cough* Carnival is a terrible cruise line)?

Here’s just a sample of the reasons I’ve written letters over the years:

• Carnival Cruises’ mangled mishandling of a casino dispute between their casino manager and BF (no response, this was probably the worst experience because it was a customer service issue)
• Dan Fouts being an all-around terrible college football commentator and hijacking the conversation any chance he got to talk about when he played for the Oregon Ducks (no response, but Fouts was MIA the season after I wrote this letter. I will continue to take credit for this)
• Subway employee from Gillette, Wyoming holding my wallet after I left it there and drove to South Dakota … and then sending it to Florida on her own dime with all $450+ and credit cards still intact. I wrote a letter both to Subway corporate and the individual franchise (no response back, but I hope she got something. Talk about good karma on her)
• At the tender age of 12, I wanted to work for Nintendo, so I wrote a letter to the CEO of the company at the time, including a writing sample and a resume (the head of their HR department wrote me a letter back, telling me that my work was fantastic, but unfortunately due to labor laws they couldn’t hire me until I turned 16. I know he was probably just being nice, but this story still makes me happy. I still have the letter)

So, as you can see, I’m not exaggerating when I say that I am one of “those people” … a letter writer. And clearly I started from a young age.

But you know what? I get shit done 🙂

Currently loving: It’s Friday!, Yoga Download‘s “Hip Opening Flow” (got back into Yoga last night yeaaaaaahhhhh), wearing a fun sundress to work today

image from David Spender

The Procrastination Monster June 10, 2010

I’ve studied with procrastination my entire life. When I was younger, I was awful, especially in high school. I was routinely staying up until 4 a.m. to finish papers, reading assignments and homework. I pulled an all-nighter the night before the AP US History test because I hadn’t even cracked the AP study guide book my parents had so helpfully bought me … and I read it all. in. one. night. (I got a 3 on the exam, BTW)

Throughout college, I was actually better about procrastination. It may have been that I really enjoyed setting my own schedule, without parents to tell me what to do, sports to schedule around, etc. I’ve always been kind of an independent kid, so I think that’s mostly the reason. The other part of the reason was that I realized life without guilt (some assignment hanging over your head) is so much more fun than life with guilt.

Sure, walking over to The Coug at 2 p.m. on a Wednesday was going to be fun no matter what. But let me tell you, it was way more fun when I realized that I could stay there as long as I wanted (and maybe even partake in a few extra beers …) because I didn’t have to rush home and crank out an 8-page paper on communication theory.

I’ll be honest, it didn’t happen this way all the time. I definitely procrastinated in college, but I did FAR fewer all-nighters in 4 years of college than I did in 3 years of high school.

I’ve tried to take this idea to heart — that getting not-so-fun stuff out of the way early makes room for fun opportunities down the road. Sometimes, that’s not enough.

At work recently, there’s been 2 MONSTER assignments that have been plaguing me for a couple weeks now. I’m not sure why, but they kicked me back into procrastination in a big way. I’m not in danger of missing a deadline or getting in trouble, but those assignments have been hanging over my head every single hour of every single day … in the office and at home. I haven’t been this bad since high school.

I think part of it has to do with me having unreasonable expectations of myself. Also, I have been told (and I happen to think the same) that I am a good writer, so for me to feel like I have no idea where to start or what I’m doing is a big raincloud over me.

It’s getting down to crunch time, though, and I plowed through the first part of one of the assignments this morning, and kept telling myself: “You just do your best. If you do everything you possibly can to make this the best product you can, including research, reviews and editing, nobody can make you feel bad about it. Not even yourself.”

And you know what? Knock on wood, but it hasn’t been as bad as I’ve expected. Maybe just stewing on it for 2 weeks built it up in my head, but for the first time in 14 days, I feel like it’s going to work out okay. 🙂

Currently loving: Last.fm (especially on Xbox Live), finally going to my chiropractor this afternoon (post-surfing whacked back/neck), committing on some big decisions in the next few days …

image from SOCIALisBETTER (yes, that is sort of what my procrastination monster looks like, thank you for asking)

The Holdout May 28, 2010

I know that I am not the last person on Earth without a smartphone … but I often feel that way. In fact, I was taking a customer service survey for Mint.com the other day, and I came to the realization that the answers to the obligatory question “What kind of smartphone do you have?” have changed dramatically, even in the last six months. There used to be a couple options, and then the “I do not own a smartphone” option that I had no shame checking.

In the Mint survey, there were more than SIX other options. Clearly, there is enough of a demand for smartphones that not three, not four, but SIX smartphone options hold enough of the market share to be listed on a survey.

I am starting to feel lame when I go places now with a group, and we get lost/need a restaurant or bar or gas station/can’t remember the name of a song that is playing/need an answer to a random trivia question, and someone goes, “Wait let me look on my iPhone!” (longest sentence ever, sorry)

My mind snarkily responds, “Oh, I’ll do it … NOT.” I look morosely at my poor little beat-up slider phone and get that “sad panda” feeling. Thanks, brain. Way to rub it in.

I am not an early adopter by any stretch of the imagination. I usually like to wait at least until 2nd gen items come out (with Apple, I often like to wait for 3rd gen) before making the purchase. The price has often gone down by then, and more bugs are fixed. But, I feel kind of ridiculous at this point.

I held out at first for some legitimate reasons, mostly being price and the whole 1st-gen thing. Since then, it’s been the price. I’m not a heavy cell phone user (I currently have the smallest plan for voice and texts that AT&T will allow me … and it still costs me nearly $60/mo). I don’t particularly want to carry around my work email with me all day. It will compel me to work when I’m not at the office, and I hate that.

But I’ve been wanting an iPhone more than usual lately. I even played with a coworker’s for 20 minutes (and did the worst possible thing and went into the app store swoon) to see if it was fun enough to justify the cost. See, it would be between $100-200 for the phone itself initially, and then an extra $30 a month for the added data plan (bringing my bill to $90/mo).

I may sound lame, but that’s just a lot for my current budget. It doesn’t even come down to value … I realize that there is so much I would use the iPhone for. Maps, restaurant locators, Mint, fitness/calorie tracking, Pandora, email, games …

I guess I just get stuck on the asking price. Call me old fashioned, but I’m used to free upgrades, dammit!

Is it worth it? Should I just bite the iPhone bullet and ride off into the sunset, my wallet a little lighter (and my face glued to my new toy)?

Currently loving: No real plans for the long weekend, my lunch salad monster (spinach, quinoa, shrimp, avocado, tomato, green onion, hummus), my badass teenybopper playlist on Grooveshark!!

Image from Spanination

Image from Gonzalo Baeza Hernandez

Vanity Plates May 20, 2010

You know, I had a disclaimer written to start off this post to try and avoid offending people. But you know what? I don’t care. I think vanity license plates are just plain stupid. I think they are showoffy in most cases, or for shock value … and I dislike attention whores. Or, if your plate is actually a funny joke … that’s great, but who are you going to explain it to? You can’t exactly yell over traffic and inform the people around you. If nobody gets it, IT IS A BAD JOKE.

If you do it just to stump people, I hate you too. Because I end up thinking about it for an inordinate amount of time, and then getting frustrated and sticking your plate with the dumbest justification I can think of.

Some examples of this may include:

If you are wondering where this rant comes from (I know I get random, but this is pretty out there), there’s a legitimate reason. See, someone came in for a second interview today at my office.

Before I go any further, I should explain that my office is free-standing, and nobody parks in our parking lot but employees. We all know each other’s cars, and if there’s one that doesn’t belong … we notice.

So, said individual comes in for a second interview (so they are familiar with the parking lot situation) … in a car with a vanity plate reading “DGYSTYL.” Better, it is parked right in front of our front doors.

I have no idea if my bosses are going to call the person back or what (and they totally know about it), but from my POV that’s a pretty piss-poor move. It’s not work-performance related, but I think it speaks to your personality; it says you don’t spend a lot of time thinking about how others perceive you.It’s one of those things like your email (please tell me you don’t put emails like “blondiesurfergyrl194784” on a resume), or how you treat a receptionist when you go somewhere to interview.

Who expects to be taken seriously when the only personalization you have on your vehicle says “doggy style”?

I realize there are a number of excuses this individual could make. Maybe he/she used to be a pet groomer. Perhaps it was funny when they got their car in high school, but they never bothered to change the plate. Maybe it’s a friend’s car.

But I don’t think any of these hold water. Seriously, we live in Florida. You don’t have a front license plate on your car. If you were thinking about it at all, wouldn’t you back your car in? JUST SAYIN’.

Currently loving: Starbucks soy coffee frappucinos (I never knew you could get soy milk in those), Under the Dome on audio book by Stephen King, that dinner will be made when I get home (<3 crockpot)

“satan” image from uberculture

“urme imu” image from pheezy

“mai m3” image from mai le

I BURST WITH PRIDE … May 18, 2010

… instead of Greek food. To celebrate our office manager getting her US citizenship, we ordered Greek food and had an office lunch together today.

It should be noted that I love Greek food. Yesterday when we submitted our orders, I was awful and ordered a gyro platter (deconstructed gyro).

First thing this morning, I went and changed my order to a Greek salad and an order of hummus in an effort to align the meal with my less meat/dairy/bread goals.

Sure, I still had feta on my salad and I had 2 small triangles of pita bread. But considering what I first ordered, I am proud of myself 🙂

Currently loving: that Stephen King’s Under the Dome on audio book is waiting for me at the library, that I found Veggie Booty at Publix yesterday, and that my sunburn is finally fading!

Odd words May 5, 2010

I must not have used the word “queue” very much until recently, because every time I go to type it (and I type pretty fast), my fingers have to slow down and awkwardly hit “ueue.” Like they’re thinking, “are you sure? ue … ue?”

PR 2.0 Chat! April 7, 2010

I have to plug myself for a second and direct you to my friend and former colleague (Heather Whaling) PRtini’s web site. Last night, during the #PR20chat she helps run, one of the questions was centered around “people you SHOULD know.” Guess who made the list 🙂 Thanks, Heather!

I mentioned it in the comments on her site, but this right here is why I love social media. Let the naysayers (“you’re so narcissistic blah blah blah”) say what they will … Twitter enables me to constantly be plugged in to people who I think are funny, or who consistently bring value to their followers.

“Value” can be defined differently for everyone, but for me, it’s some mix of the following:

• Humor
• Unique insights about PR/SM
• Distributes interesting information (links to articles, etc)
• Conversational
• Asks good questions

That being said, I take Heather’s endorsement (and yes, it was made with full disclosure that we worked together) as a huge compliment, and that I bring value through my Twitterstream.

I also made sure to follow everyone else on this list (which I’m pretty sure almost everyone else did as well) … and I’m liking them already. I’ve found a fellow Yankees fan!

image from carrotcreative