February 07, 2010

110 books in 2010. #3: The Little Blue Book of Marketing

Last month, I facilitated a series of workshops on communication planning. Seeking inspiration as I prepared for the sessions, I went to my pile of books and found The Little Blue Book of Marketing (subtitle: Build A Killer Plan in Less Than A Day) by Paul Kurnit and Steve Lance.

I agreed with the authors’ premise—planning works best as a collaborative process—so I began with high hopes. And The Little Blue Book does contain many tips on facilitating a planning session.

The most valuable of these provide advice on stimulating participants’ thinking before and during a planning session. The authors suggest three different ways to do so:

Thought-Starters. Questions you pose to participants ahead of time to “get in a good mind-set for the meeting.” Examples include: What’s the most indispensable technological device in your life, and why? What’s the most successful advertising campaign you can think of? What was the biggest innovation in your product category in the past five years?

Warm-ups. Exercises “to get the creative juices flowing.” Warm-ups are “relevant to the task at hand, yet removed enough so there’s no right or wrong response.” Examples include: Who is your favorite superhero and why? If you were stranded on a desert island, what are the three things you’d bring? Which three websites do you find most indispensiable?

Workouts. Facilitation sessions to move the plan forward, and relate directly to what you’re trying to accomplish. For marketing, these could include: What is the most impressive characteristics of a competitor that could apply to your brand? Develop the worst product idea you can imagine for your company, then flip it 180 degrees to make it a great idea.

Although these techniques are designed for marketing planning, they could easily be adapted to any planning session.

However, despite some helpful hints, The Little Blue Book was ultimately disappointing. There’s not much content here: It truly is a little book, with not much substance and too much repetition. And although the book is clever (catchy chapter titles and quotations), I would have appreciated less style and a lot more how-to substance.

Also, I’m puzzled: Why “Little Blue Book”? Made me think of the little red hen, but I’m not sure how she relates to marketing or planning.

Posted by Alison Davis at 01:24 PM | Comments (0)

February 05, 2010

Hot in video: How to

Pop quiz. What are the most compelling headline words/phrases? Answer: "You" and "How to."

That's because we human beings are fascinated by ourselves ("Are you talking to me?") and are equally interested in learning how to make our lives easier and better.

It's also why one of the fastest growing categories of video is "how to."

For example, Howcast, a site that offers original videos on topics ranging from How To Talk To Your Cat to How To Make Jello Shots, is currently streaming 25 million videos a month, and also shows content on YouTube and offers iPhone and PDA apps. (To learn more, read this Tech Crunch blog.

And 5min,a syndication platform for video, has 150,000 videos in categories from food to home to health to pets. The site has more than 30 million unique viewers. (Read this TechCrunch blog for more info.)

Think about you could add how-to video to your communication mix. For instance: "How to conduct a performance appraisal." Or: "How to understand the company strategy." Or: "How to make your workplace safe."

The possibilities are endless . . .

Posted by Alison Davis at 11:10 AM | Comments (0)

January 24, 2010

110 books in 2010. #2: What It Is

It’s probably too early in the year to report that I have discovered my favorite book of 2010, but time will tell if I find another book as original, moving and useful as What It Is by Lynda Barry.

What kind of book is What It Is? Now that’s a tough question. The short answer is that it’s a
non-fiction autobiographical how-to-write comic book.

Confused? Quite frankly, so was I. I found the book after attending a web workshop called Visual Thinking for Writers, produced by VizThink, an organization that promotes visual thinking. The session was facilitated by Austin Kleon, who calls himself “a writer who draws” and who recommended What It Is.

So, I bought it. And, when it arrived, I didn’t know what to make of it, so I left it on the table in my office, occasionally flipping through the pages to browse the funky drawings and comic-strip-looking pages.

Then last week, I decided I would sit with the book until something happened. Somewhat to my surprise, something did. About halfway through, I was completely transfixed. I developed a crush. I fell in love.

Here’s why:

• What It Is is a valuable book for writers, especially if you need inspiration, are trying to get out of the corporate-speak trap, or need to overcome a block. Although the advice is geared toward writing fiction, I’m finding that it applies to any kind of writing.

• Artists would also benefit from the book, especially to understand the interplay between memory and visuals and writing.

• If you need help being creative, What It Is offers practical suggestions for how you can “keep the pen moving” to stimulate ideas.

Are there any negatives? Yes, indeed. The title is terrible (What? It Is?). A contents page and some introductory copy would have been helpful; as it is, you have to plunge into the book without knowing how it works. And if you’re very literal, and expect precise recipes, What It Is will probably not work for you.

For me, despite its weaknesses, the book is a revelation. It not only is helping me with my writing, it's also encouraging me to learn to draw.

Seek inspiration? Consider What It Is.

Posted by Alison Davis at 10:09 AM | Comments (0)

January 21, 2010

Please, please, please kill the Corporate Speak

A communication organization I know and love is offering the following learning session: "Mobilizing Employee Attitudes, Strategies to Build and Maintain Workforce Consent: The Politics of Employee Communication."

Huh? I don't know what the title means, but if it was designed to impress me with its erudite sophistication, it's having the opposite effect. I'm appalled that anyone would create such a fractured, convoluted piece of writing, much less an organization that espouses effective communication.

We communicators should take an oath to be clear, concrete and authentic. We need to work hard to stamp out Corporate Speak, words that sound impressive but don't mean anything, and any communication that appeals to MBAs in corner offices but seems false to ordinary cubicle dwellers.

The first time I received an email promoting this workshop, I cringed and hit "delete." This time, I had to do something. So here goes:

Dear Beloved Communication Organization (you know who you are): Let's practice what we preach. Let's avoid the shoemaker's daughter syndrome. Let's take out our powerful red pen and kill Corporate Speak.

It's not always easy, but it's the right thing to do.

Posted by Alison Davis at 08:53 AM | Comments (0)

January 19, 2010

How fast is your food?

I like to follow food trends, because I believe that what and how people eat is a leading indicator for other behaviors and preferences.

So here's an interesting one: People have broadened their definition of "fast food" to mean more than burgers and fries, according to a survey by food service consultancy Techomic, "Fast food" now includes such establishments as Panera Bread and restaurants that offer take-out.

The shift is partly as a result of the weak economy, which has caused restaurants to lower prices and offer more budget-friendly options like take-out.

Other findings:

• Nearly half (49%) of consumers now report eating at fast-food restaurants at least once a week, while 20% say the same about full-service restaurants and 16% about fast casuals.
• Nearly a quarter (24%) report having increased their visits to fast food restaurants in the past year. This was the largest increase reported among restaurant formats.
• 52% say that a traditional "fast food" meal should be delivered within five minutes, but consumers are willing to wait a bit longer for items they consider "food fast."

You are what you eat.

Posted by Alison Davis at 07:26 AM | Comments (0)

January 18, 2010

Guest Book Review: A Millennial on Millennials

Here I am just a few weeks into the new year and already my resolutions are slipping. I vowed to read 110 books in 2010 . . . so far I have read one.

And I know you're not going to give me credit for this entry, because I delegated the assignment to Carly Sikorski, who interned with us during the winter semester break.

However, I thought it would be appropriate for Carly, a Millennial herself, to give us her take on a book about Millennials. Here's Carly's review:

Keeping the Millennials: Why Companies are Losing Billions in Turnover to This Generation—and What to Do About It discusses the new influx of young people into the workforce and the issues that arise as a result. Millennials, people born between the years 1980 and 1999, are transforming the professional world as they introduce unique qualities into the workplace:

• Culture
  
• Perspective
  
• Language
  
• Work ethic
  
• Relationship with technology

Like generations before them, such as the Gen Xers and the Baby Boomers, Millennials have been viewed as threats to the existing order. Many workers, especially those who are well tenured at a company, may resent the new presence of the Millennials. It can be intimidating not only because of Millennials’ different personalities, but also because of the systematic restructuring that may be necessary to adapt to their presence.

As a Millennial myself, who is about to enter the workforce, I have to admit that the language used in this book was a bit disconcerting at times. For example, the current rush of Millennials into the professional realm is often analogized to an invasion—as if my peers and I are more closely related to insects or aliens than human beings.

Overall, however, the book pains an accurate picture of the different ways that Millennials experience and interact with work. It gives workers and managers, many of whom have been in the game since before we Millennials were even born, a useful prediction of the changes that lie ahead, and tips on how to handle the transformation.

Beware, however, not to put too much stock into the Millennial stereotype. It is true that Millennials bring new practices and challenges into the workforce, but so has every other generation. As much as Sujansky and Ferri-Reed make it seem like my generation represents an unprecedented revolution in the professional realm, the effect probably won’t be all that different from what has already occurred in the past. After all, Millennials, although we have our own ways of doing some things, are really not so different from everyone else.

Thanks, Carly!

Posted by Alison Davis at 08:23 AM | Comments (0)

January 14, 2010

Why care about Conan O'Brien?

I don't even stay up until 11:30 (and I've never seen Conan O'Brien), but I've been following the NBC/Leno/Conan story anyway. But not until I read Simon Dumenco's blog in Advertising Age did I understand why.

Conan, writes Mr. Dumenco, has "suddenly become an unlikely (Harvard-educated, multimillionaire) everyman: the freckled face of American job insecurity, a well-meaning hard worker who spent years paying his dues but has now been declared redundant by the halfwit overlords driving his company into the ground."

Suddenly, it all makes sense.

Posted by Alison Davis at 08:00 AM | Comments (0)

January 13, 2010

Updates, minute by minute

When helping our clients improve their communication vehicles, the conversation often turns to employees' expectations about timeliness, transparency, simplicity and other key communication attributes. For better or worse, these expectations are increasing because employees apply the same criteria to internal communication as they experience in the media, marketing and other external communication. In other words, employees think internal communication should be as fast, as clear and as straightforward as, say, CNN.

Want an example? I just visited cnn.com to get the latest update on the Haiti tragedy. As you'd expect, CNN has a full spectrum of coverage, including this amazing update which posts a new item as often as every minute as the story develops.

The definition of "what's current" keeps changing. It's a struggle to keep up, but we need to try.

Posted by Alison Davis at 04:18 PM | Comments (0)