This time of year is just hopeless for me to blog.

Here's a fun new mobile application from those clever folks at Oddcast.

Avatars everywhere!

Well, everyone, we did it. Personally, I'm not surprised. I always knew I'd make the cover of Time someday.

After all those years of getting clients on the cover and in the pages. It's nice to be acknowledged. I can Digg it.

Dude.

Amazing.

The word is out. This movie star was at our uwishunu happy hour as well.

Last night I was in NYC, seeing all of my old pals at the MMC Tree Trimming. Their happy, smiling faces were a welcome site.

I've been crappy blogger here lately, sorry 'bout that. I've been busy with this other blog action.

Last Friday, we had a great happy hour, attended by our local blogging friends like this indie rocker, this new friend, the blog name we love to scream, my AIM cohort, these NYT's darlings, the dopest karoake mc around, Philly's steaming hot turntable master and even the guy in my alarm clock. And so many more. So, so many more. We brought the roof down. My email was flooded with emails on Monday about that party being the heat.

If you missed that party and you uwishunu, then, know about the next happy hour. It's going to be nut. And I know how y'all liked the laptop stations to blog your faces off. They'll be there again. As many as we can wire.

Hope everyone had a terrific Thanksgiving. I had a great time playing with my new cousin, Rainey, and capturing her first Thanksgiving on my camera phone.

Napkins Are Fun!


As I've talked about many times, I love my phone. It's loaded and functional, unlike many razors, that look hot, but fizzle out. In fairness, I must admit I'm predisposed to UTStarcom, as it's former brand (Audiovox), was a client. They make quality products and I'll tell you that now, NOT on their payroll.

I've also filled many a post with my faith in the future of mobile technology as a critical lifestyle tool for the world. The cell phone is going to become more and more of a lifeline for all of us.

Today, I reconnected with an old business contact of mine who is now at Mango Mobile, a mobile content and messaging company. I am so excited. Their capabilities and technology are endless.

Wait until you see what I do with them.

It's all about mobile. I can't talk that enough.

I received a video today from Memo54, whom I don't know but has found me on Veoh.

I watched the video, and it *is* adorable, so I'll bite and play along. Here you are readers, Memo54's viral video. I don't know if this is the next lonelygirl15 or what.

But here it is:

One great thing about the mass availability of technology today and the global audience that users can reach is the empowerment it provides us as citizens and individuals.

Here's an example of video captured by a citizen during what appears to be an unjust and inhumane act of law enforcement, now on display for the world to see.

WARNING: Not for the faint of heart.

Now see this is a reason to watch the local news.

Thank you, Channel 10 for giving me a reason to come back TV news. More of this, please.

Here's a cool Mogwai Link that a friend just sent me. Being both a Mogwai and a Zidane fan, I'm loving these clips.

The thing about prog rock that a lot of people can't get into is the abstractness of the music. Some people prefer music that is literal, or more simply, lyrical. What I love about prog rock is that it leaves most of the interpretation open to each listener. It can be a song of many things to many people.

For those people who need the literal in their music (like Oops, she did it again !), they can listen and watch clips like this that bands and fans are creating with common laptop tools and absorb various interpretations of music with literal images.

In the case of Zidane, very hot images...Thanks Mogwai!

Ahhhh widgets. Soon to be in 2007, what the word "podcast" was in 2005. Ubiquitious? Not quite. Not "ipod." But up there. Definitely up there.

Here's a clever application.

Appealing only to non-Philly sports' fans, of course. Because a philly sports fan doesn't need a widget to count down to the second how long it's been since we won a championship. It's a mental soundtrack in our heads.

Like Phil Collins in repeat. Ugh.

It's things like this that make today's internet truly a great experience.

I'm interested in hearing from any PR people who have been using the proposed social media press release tenmplate from Shift or one they created.

Anyone using it? Anyone receive any feedback from media on it? Let me know.

I attended a dinner tonight at The Franklin Institute. I'm ashamed to admit that I haven't been there since I was a girl scout and we had a troop sleepover there. It was the most fun sleepover I can remember. We stayed up all night, running around the exhibits, crawling through that heart. It was better than Disneyworld, and that's the truth.

The dinner was to honor a wonderful man that Philadelphia owes a great deal to - Ralph Archibald, the man who is known as Ben Franklin to Philly residents and visitors from all over the world. You may recognize him from this:


Ralph, or Ben, pretty much just rocks. He's a cornerstone to this town and I don't mean because of the legacy of Ben Franklin as a founding father of Philadelphia and the United States. I mean this man, who is so accurate in his portrayal of the historic icon that even the people who know him personally slip up and sometimes call him Ben, rocks because even when he's not at an event or providing a tour, he's just spotted walking or sit around town dressed in his ancient garb. Like it's perfectly normal to be dressed like it's 1776.

Even better though, is that this man knows his history and is a true humanitarian. Whether giving a national interview or a local tour, if a person comes up to speak with him or ask a question, he will patiently speak with them, or look to find them after.

Ralph is one of those rare people, that I can look at and think, life is so much better than I credit it. I should be doing a better job of participating in life. I should be a better person and remember to project a better outlook. Looking at our Ben Franklin, makes me proud and happy.

So Huzzah to you Ralph!

I've been way too busy to do much updating about social media.

Busy doing what?, you ask?

uwishunu. Oh, how uwishunu.

And you will. Soon.

Someone wrote me today, "I always figured that if you were a guy you'd be like Dulli." That would be Greg Dulli.

Interesting. Maybe when I was a smoker. He smokes as artfully as I did. And there is an art to smoking like that. Ask any of the 10's of people who picked up the habit from watching me.

Here's a textbook case illustrating why it's critical for parents to keep an eye (not sensor, be aware!) of their kids' presence on online. A 14-year-old honestly may not be aware that voicing a physical threat against the President - even though it may seem like semantics to the kid - is very serious federal offense. Parents, on the other hand, should know this. And I think that parents should be involved enough with their kids to catch something like this and correct it before it harms their child. I know parents can't be everywhere at once, but as a parent, it's your job to do the best you can to protect your child and sometimes that means getting into their business, e.g. MySpace page. Kids, if you want privacy, write in a journal on paper. That's something parents shouldn't read. MySpace is public domain and should be treated as such.

This situation reminds me of when the movie "Kids" came out. I was in college then; I was that age when you are just in between that kid mentality and adulthood. That film was painful for me to watch because I was seeing it from both sides. What I left thinking from that movie theater was, "Where were their parents??

Parent-child relationships today and even for the Generation after me - I guess that's Gen Y - are very different from my generation's. My parents weren't Baby Boomers, they are older than that generation. They had no interest in trying to be friends with me and my brother; they clearly understand that their role in my life was defined as "Parent" and that didn't mean they felt any need whatsoever to pander to my needs. The new model for parenting seems to be that parents are cool and hip and down with their kids. I think that's both good and bad. But the best aspect to how my parents' generation approached parenting - as "Parents" - meant that they set the rules, they were in charge and I'll tell you, because of that, they protected me from a heck of a lot of harm.

As the world changes with this social revolution, I don't envy the job of parents out there. You have a heck of lot of work cut out for you in raising today's kids. You don't just need to make sure that your kids aren't drinking and driving or doing drugs or hanging out with the wrong crowd at school, you have that whole online element to patrol. Making sure that your kids aren't just not befriending strangers on their way home from school but also online.

It's a lot of work, but it can be done. It must be done, for the sake of keeping children safe.

The only thing I can think of right now is it would certainly be nice to think of that Field of Dreams now in pitching rotation with Cory.

My heart goes out to his friends and family, as well as his passengers'. Also not to be forgotten, are those in the area who were injured, displaced or may have lost irreplacable sentimental property.

The Illedelph reports that the eagerly awaited Philly wifi is coming and is available in my neighborhood, Northern Liberties.

But, since God clearly hates me, it's no dice for the kid here. Bitter much?

In other news, Philebrity's Weekender is just days away. Get your tix ASAP. I just bought mine.

This photo (see the last shot) captures the emotion of yesterday in Philadelphia better than any description I could provide. It was a suspense-filled game and I'm proud to report that our fans, often rebuked and vilified in the press, showed that we can behave even under the most competitive of circumstances.

I'm going to be honest. Yesterday's win meant more to many of us "Iggles" fans than the NFC championship wins. We hate us some Cowboys and more than that, we loathe T.O. Whipping their Cowboy hides on our home field felt like Christmas.

I'm going to marinate in this win for a while.

So I hit the ground running at work. On my first day, I had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of my new neighbor and one of Philly's blogging elite, Philebrity.

Yesterday, I had the distinct honor of meeting The Honorable Mayor Street, who graciously welcomed me to the City of Philadelphia. And I also met a new cool friend, Kendra.

It's only been a few days here and it's safe for me to say that I've fallen head over heels in love with Philadelphia and the feeling is mutual, since this is "the city that loves you back."

I'm a little bit afraid for my NYC friends, when they come to visit. I have a strong suspicion we're going to see a lot of them moving camp here soon.

Philly rocks it. With Whiz and without;)

Well, I'm here and it's fantastic. It's been a whirlwind ride, moving out of NYC and into Philly in one day and having a weekend to settle and start a new job on Monday (yesterday).

No cable yet, so updates will be sporadic when I get a chance at work. More to come soon.

Now I remember why I haven't moved in 10 years. It's an enormous endeavor. And giving yourself 2 days to pack up and move isn't the best lead time. I'm exhausted and I haven't even started the actual moving process. Tomorrow is the big day!

My excitement level is high. I can't wait to move into my gorgeous new apartment and get started living my new life in Philadelphia.

Well, the time has come.

After 8.5 rewarding years, I'm leaving Marina Maher Communications. I have accepted a new Director of Social Media position with the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corp (GPTMC) to help promote Philadelphia as a tourist destination.

There are some very special people who will be stepping into my Emerging Media role on a freelance basis and leading my team. I couldn't be more thrilled to have such talent to pass the reigns to or as heput it, "Not sink the ship."

There's a piece of my heart and a lot of my sweat in that practice and team that I built. We're the people who brought you thisPR campaign. And we did one hell of a job with it, if I do say so myself. It's still being covered. And many more exciting emerging media campaigns that I have helped plan and will be executed over the next year.

That said, it's time for me to move on. Philadelphia and the surrounding areas have a story to tell and I'm going to help them tell it. I couldn't be more excited about joining this incredible team of talent at the GPTMC. And what better time than as the Phillies have a shot at the Wild Card!

So, after 11 years of PR agency life in NYC and living in Manhattan, I'm relocating to the Illadelph, another NYer adding to the droves seeking a better quality of life and finding my way to Northern Liberties, Philly's newest up-and-coming neighborhood.

My last day at work here will be Tuesday, September 26th and my first day at work for the GPTMC will be Monday, October 2. The few days in between there, I'll be packing up 11 years of my life and moving down the turnpike, to America's Next Great City.

Stay tuned for the next chapter. Goodbye NYC, I'll remember ye from the days you were cool.

Thank you to my friends over at The Idolator, for alerting to me to this ridiculousness.

Let me tell you, readers. I've let this band slide under the radar, allowing them to proceed as the novelty act that they are. I haven't mocked the goth Jordan Catalano and his Manson-lite rocker persona that he so desperately projects with his band 30 Seconds to Mars.

But this, really gets my Irish up. Many celebrities live in an alternate reality. That doesn't usually bother me unless it directly affects me. Jared, has just become my problem.

I guess Jared missed the social revolution. I guess he was filming "My So Called Life" when Matt Drudge broke an international story that changed Presidental history. He probably doesn't even know that Matt Drudge is a blogger.

Jared Leto's ignorance, isn't of interest to me. His outspoken stupidity, however, is of interest.

As a blogger, I take umbrage at his comments and therefore, I won't contribute to his sales. I won't buy his merch, I won't buy tickets to his shows, I won't buy his MP3's or his albums and I won't contribute to his box office.

I urge everyone out there to similarly show Jared that we aren't "yesterday's parachute pants," where it hurts him - in his pocket.

Ex-Rocketboom star, Amanda Congdon is seriously disturbing me.

She should never speak on camera without a script. I feel like I just saw Cher without hair and makeup.

There's nothing to write here. There's just a sign pointing HERE.

The Denton empire's much-speculated-next project. With my friend writing for it.

Finally. FINALLY. Give me my MUSIC. Give it to me steamed or scathing. Just serve it up.

This site completes me.

I'll admit it. I spent the early part of this morning and my lunch hour, hobbling around town on a sprained ankle, desperately searching for my own copy of Surity Fair. Four newsstands, 3 bodega's and 1 Christian bookstore later (who knew there were Christian bookstores located midtown??? Fascinating!), I located the sold out issue in another area of town and begged the proprietor to put 3 issues on hold as I sent an intern out of the door on this Mission Nearly-Impossible.

Like some other bloggers, I don't believe that Katie actually actually gave birth to a baby, so clearly I needed this 22-page exhibit to carefully examine the evidence. My verdict? He's gooooooooooood. That Tom Cruise is one crafty SOB. That baby looks just like both of them. Almost eerily so.

One last thing. Matt Lauer,, did you really have to use the tabloid term "Brangelina" in your interview with the VF writer? Come on now, Matt. Don't be glib, Matt. Don't give in to the US Weekly mentality. Have you already forgotten to tongue lashing that your colleague (and Aneglina BFF) Ann Curry received from Angie on-air when Ann referenced an issue of the celebrity weekly? Are you intentionally working to sour Ann's "in" with the pillow-mouthed Mother Teresa?

Raise the bar, Matt. Raise the bar. If we can't count on you to elevate our news depth, who can we count on? Certainly, not your old coffee clatch mate who has turned to youtube-like gimmicks to define her broadcasts.

I read the Second Life story in this week'sRolling Stone (Sept. 7th issue) and I saw a new value to the community.

More than just its' own economy, with users spending real money on virtual purchases for their avatars, it's become a music experience. Real artists have created avatars for themselves and are using the site to play "live" concerts. This is great news for musicians and music lovers.

After living through the corporate rock 80's and the manufactured pop late-90's, it seemed like never again could someone like Bob Dylan break unless he looked like Justin Timberlake and had the backing of Clear Channel. Second Life has the potentional to change that.

As artists reach consumers virtually, it will mean less for them to look like Jessica Simpson and mean more for them to have substance, sound and talent.

As a music lover, and sometimes an admitted music snob, I couldn't be more thrilled.

Thank you, BrooklynSki Club for alerting me to the fact that your site and its' contributors are not a bunch of sniffling blow addicts ripping rails through Billyburg. I can't say I'm not slightly disillusioned at the dangerous, wild lives that my imagination had painted for you all, but carry on with your boroughtastic blogging mission.
*~*
Last night I had the distinct pleasure of witnessing this and I must say, I think Billie Jean King stole a bit of my heart last night. What an eloquent, thoughtful, intelligent, charming and engaging speaker she was at the dedication/renaming of the USTA complex.

Billie Jean King was just a little bit before my time, but coming from a tennis family I learned both fundamentals and history. I learned about the battle of the sexes and became familar with Billie Jean as a retired player who provided expert commentary and rose to leadership positions within the WTA. And then of course, her alternative lifestyle.

What I never knew, was how eloquent and distinquished Billie Jean could be. What a mentor she was to younger players - when she easily could have lost herself in her own legend and ignored progress. What a humanitarian she could be to those who came after her.

Last night she spoke passionately about public parks and tennis courts, how they belong to the people and we should use them. It struck me that one of the disadvantages of becoming such a globally connected society (through social media), is that while shifting our consciousness to crimes and concerns around the world, we can lose sight of what's right in front us. We can get lost in Darfur or AIDS or poverty or education and forget the simple pleasures that make up our offline community.

I'll admit, I waxed nostalgic during her speech, to simpler times as a child. A time without home PC's and even before atari. A time when playing wasn't Second Life, writing in your diary meant a bound book with blank pages rather than Diaryland and when talking to a friend, you meant actually next door at their house rather than IM. A time when parents spent weekends with their kids - and not checking email, answering mobile phones or driving to the corner.

During those times, BOTH of my parents, would tell my brother and I to put our sneakers on, and the four of us would walk with our wooden tennis rackets and metal basket filled with tennis balls, just a 1/4m to the nearby public tennis courts and hit balls for a few hours until dinner time.

They'd run us kids all over the court and we loved it. We'd drink from the public water fountain; bottled water only existed if your septic tank was contaminated. The four of us would laugh and yell and run and hit and not even notice that the whole afternoon had passed and it was too dark to even see the balls come over the net. Then we'd walk home and have dinner together. There isn't a single night I can remember - unless it was the rare sleepover - that we didn't all eat dinner together.

My parents celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary on July 15th of this year.

All of this crossed my mind at last nights' US Open. During the match, as a family of four sat behind me and the mother and father explained the game to their son and daughter, I found myself pulling out my mobile phone at Arthur Ashe stadium and calling my parents at home to tell them where I was and provide a firsthand account of the match.

Remember when MTV used to be cool? I do. That's how old I am.

I'll admit it, I'm still an MTV watcher. Leave me alone, I'm a music addict. I have to get my fix anywhere possible. So I went to this site to see MTV's dip into an interactive VMA's this year.

Oh. My. Lameness.

There used to be a time when MTV was the bastion of cool. Cutting edge. So I guess they decided to go back to cool and try to be a tipster on trend with NYC. They missed the mark.

Top 5 NYC blogs they list: Stereogum, ProductShopNYC, the Music Slut, Last Night's Party and BrooklynSki Club.

Now, I'm not a hater, so I'm not beating down on any blogs. That said, ummm, does Last Night's Party even cover NYC parties anymore? Great photos on the site - don't get me wrong. I love seeing naked drunk people licking strangers as much as the next person. But that site is supposed to give you a feel for NYC? I subversively love that they linked BrooklynSki Club because I always thought that site was born out of a group of Brooklynites who liked to go out and do drugs together. I mean, that *is* the double entendre, right?

No mention of my favorite NYC blogs: Gawker (I mean, you want to know what what's going on in NYC? No one chases the NY Post or the hallowed halls of Conde Nast like Gawker), animalnewyork who cribs the tag art scene around town, East Village Radio - probably the #1 coolest thing about NYC is this Internet radio station that operates out of a tiny defunct storefront in the east village with rotating locals talking and spinning on-air and hot, sometimes-major bands actually pop in and do interviews. What about Ultragrrl who is not just one of the hottest DJ's for the hottest party in town, but also now a local celeb in her own right? And of course, the city's other rawk czar, Miss Modernage.

I can't even get into the "hot parties" they've listed on the site. My head is spinning.

Must. Erase. Memory. Of. VMA. Site.

I'm back!

Vacation was excellent. I didn't update here because I truly stepped back and worked on resting my mind and as much fun as this blog can be, it is work. It's related to my work.

So I returned to the office on Monday and really hit the ground running, catching up on a week's worth of work and news as quickly as possible and then leaving to catch a flight of town for a client meeting early on Tuesday.

Had a great meeting with some of my favorite clients at 8am (not my best hour of the day) and then flew back out of town around noon.

Tonight, I had the delightful opportunity thanks to a former client to see a movie I have been waiting for: Invincible.

It was fantastic! If you're a football fan, if you love to root for the underdog, if you ever watched a professional sports game and thought "what would it be like to be on that field?" - you've got to see this movie.

I'll admit it, I am religious Philly sports fan. That basically means that I set myself up for heartbreak every year. I know it going in. I know we'll probably never win a professional sports championship again in my lifetime. I scoffed at Sox fans and their curse. PUH-lease. They don't even know curses. Philly knows curses. It's a town built on heartbreak. Even one of our greatest landmarks - the Liberty Bell - has a crack running through it. That doesn't stop this town. Philly's got HEART.

And yeah, maybe we threw some snowballs at Santa, but can you blame us? What the heck has Santa brought us? Not a Superbowl ring. Not a Lombardi trophy. He brought us T.O. one year and I think we see where that got us. And maybe we threw some Duracell's...I can only assume the batteries were already dead...

Anyone who knows me, knows I am Rocky obsessed. I love the movie because it's a great triumph-over-the-insurmountable story and it does a superb job of showing the color of Philly. The character of the town. Philly's got real flavor. But my favorite thing about Rocky, that he has a one in a million chance. Just a bum from the streets. That's a story that most of us can relate to. It's the American Dream - work hard, be focused, determined and you can succeed.

Invincible is the new American Dream: an average Joe playing in the coveted NFL.

Dream on, everyone. Or live the dream with Papale.

I'm on vacation and let me tell you, it's fantastic. Right now I am sitting alone on a porch on a quiet street in a seaside town, with a cool breeze, drinking a very light pinot noir. This is my idea of heaven.

In between riding my bike around town and to the beach, challenging 9-year olds to fierce boogie boarding competitions and visiting a rotating circle of local friends' houses for happy hour in beach attire, I'll also be sorting through my delicious. Great time to catch up on all of that reading I haven't had a chance to get to.

Beyond that, I've also been trying to work out the kinks with my winksite feed. Has anyone else noticed that it's a chore to navigate to find your links? More often than not, I can't access my feed on my mobile and end up going to the member directory to choose my favorite blogs manually.

That's it for now. I'll be sure to check in and tell everyone how GLORIOUS my vacation is....;)

I'm up late playing catch up and just read something from Mike Manuel that struck a chord for me.

As a PR person who focuses on the emerging media arena to service all existing agency clients and client prospects, I see how critical it is to maintain the Brand champion POV and focus on the fundamentals of PR.

The numbers and viewership for emerging media vehicles can be exciting. For years we wondered what happened to TV viewing audiences as they dropped lower and lower. We are finally finding those audiences on other screens and hearing their demands for how they want their content.

It's easy to get caught up in the excitement of new vehicles or tactics and lose sight of the fundamentals. PR comes down to generating NEWs. It's not just how we serve it up but more importantly, what we choose to serve, in order for today's consumer to take a bite.

It's good news and bad news for both ends of the PR industry. The need for senior level counsel and strategic thinking isn't going away; experienced professionals must still lead planning and management. That said, mid-level to junior staffers and new grads have enormous, valuable contributions to bring to the PR business. They bring the knowledge of the new tools in our toolbox.

I know we all say it and hear it all the time, but at the risk of sounding cliche, I'll say it again. Today is a golden age for PR. At time when we truly function in our capacity and relate to the public, vis a vis how they want to reached, on behalf of our clients. After a long period when advertising and controlled messaging ruled mainstream media, the tables have turned and PR has the power to influence the new gatekeeper to consumers - consumer generated media.

I think it's exciting. It may require an enormous amount of work, however the opportunity to be a pioneer and establish new models for our business is riper than ever.

If I haven't updated as frequently as I should or would like to it's because I've been busy working and monitoring all of these changes that have been evolving with emerging media.

How about that Digg Kid making the cover of BusinessWeek? Good for you, Kevin. Certainly makes my work easier as I spend a great deal of time educating colleagues and clients about influential community edited sites like digg.

There's a lot of campaign talk starting. Campaign engines are starting. I love campaign time, not only because I get excited about the democractic process (although I do...) but also because I love to see campaign tactics evolve. I guess it might be similar to a someone with a passion for carpentry watching "This Old House."

Howard Dean changed the game a few years ago by showing how the Internet can be used to mobilize voters and support fundraising. MoveOn.org picked up where he left off. The Bush campaign used an old smear tactic made-new and "swift boated" Kerry.

And now, ages before campaign time, we have an Al Gore parody already on youtube.

I expect the podcasts, viral videos, social network profiles, rss feeds, text messaging opt-in's and blogs to amp up any day now. And I look forward to it.

The world is in the process of a massive social revolution and if a candidate can't navigate these waters, I can't imagine I'd feel confident in him or her as representative of this nation.

Further to the last post, apparently the truck tagged with the Times iconic "T" wasn't a marketing campaign at all, but part of a shoot being produced for The New York Times Magazine. Thanks Animal, for setting me straight.

And props to ESPO for their work.

It's so hot that I'm actually running out to purchase an emergency cell phone battery after work...because, you know, God forbid I be without text capibilities in the event of another blackout.

Oh, BTW, that's little tip for anyone out there caught in a blackout. Texting rather than making calls on your phone uses less battery power.

And finally, I can't decide how I feel about this. As a long time fan of street artists worldwide (Go Banksy), I can appreciate the idea of going street for a marketing campaign, but I'd hope that you have the product to back up that approach. And I'm not thinking the "Old Grey Lady" that we all know and love is street.

That said, who knows? Maybe she's about to announce a new grandaughter? Hopefully something goth. I'm seeing a tabloid sized black-sheet with white English Gothic font. Underground, black market. A broadsheet you can only get if you know where to find it and what the password is. Something people store inside trenchcoats.

Now's a great time for the NYT to step it up. Live up that campaign.

"It ain't over 'till it's over." Oh the joy.

He had a million and one chance. He was just another bum from the streets.

And so begins my Rocky Balboa countdown!

Nothing like a story/post that tells me everything and nothing at the same time. Come on! Tell me what my inactive, non-contributing self is worth, damn it;)

A question was raised to me this week - and now I raise it to you - about the marketing potentional of social bookmarking sites.

Who sees the future in social bookmarking? Consumer contests? Company incentives tro consumers for bookmarking and tagging? Whatchoo got? Lay it on me via comments or email.

I've been crazy busy lately and the only free time I've had, I've spent sleeping. Therefore, I don't have much for you right now.

Here's something. Freecycle is one of my favorite web sites because it's not just useful, it's also helpful, and I really think we should all try to be more helpful to (wo)mankind.
Life is too short.

I've been thinking about life being short lately as well. August can be reflective time for me because it's the precursor to September 11th. This year marks the 5th anniversary of the attacks. More than a handful of my friends were killed in the World Trade Centers'.

So I mentally prepare for the enslaught of media coverage, the barrage of prayer emails, the proliferation of powerpoint's filled with images of soldiers in Iraq as I think about my friends and laugh at the good times we had together and wonder if the rest of America still takes a moment to look at their faces. So many of them, so young. So vibrant. Good people.

Maybe this year will be the year, that someone does something truly meaningful to commemorate the victims online. Skip the viral emails with the blame games and the horrific photos of the buildings that most of us can't erase from our memories anyway. Maybe this year, someone will use Web 2.0 tools to spotlight the warm, smiling faces of almost 3,000 people that were killed in-flight or sitting at their desks on a beautiful Tuesday morning five years ago.

If only we used our powers for good more often;)

You know, back in this day, this is the kind of entertainment I had as a kid:


Today, my friend's 9-year old brother is spending all of his free time on this.

I don't know...my Mom always told me I was sitting too close to the TV. What about these kids with eyes glued to monitors? Will they be a generation of Mr. Magoo's...who incidentally, won't know who Mr. Magoo is?

*sigh*

I'm writing this from my laptop, with my iPod plugged into it, a lamp lit next me, satellite radio on behind me (but signal going in and out, no surprise) and sitting directly next to a sliding door to my balcony with metal fencing, during a massive lightening storm. So should this entry not post incomplete - call 911 for me;)

I've been thinking today about the state of broadcast television. Share/ratings keep dropping thanks to those crazy kids on the INTERNET (what do they do on that blasted computer all day?!) and broadcasters are scrambling to stop from bleeding out.

NBC took some steps in the right direction with youtube partnership and everyone else is trying new distribution methods, like selling episodes online. It's a start, but what I can't figure out, is why broadcasters don't see the answer right in front of them: flip the model.

You know that there's a demographic still watching TV, maybe a bit older, those who aren't wedded to other screens. TV is the screen they know. Those people, baby boomers and beyond, will continue to keep TV their primary screen and you don't want to lose that market. What you want to do, is pull in the younger viewers who like the social media revolution they have online.

And that's where my idea comes in to play. This week we heard a lot about Time Warner's investment in veoh. The cable conglomerate sees the future in consumer generated video.

Now what Time Warner and broadcast properties neeed to do, is flip the model and bring consumer generated video to their line up. We already have a plethora of On Demand channels. We know that On Demand is the future, be it portable devices, PC's or TV's. What they need to do is make that web content available On Demand on TV.

My mother and her generation (pre-baby boomer) have all heard about the Diet Coke-Mentos video from MSM coverage but for whatever reason, they haven't seen the video online. Now On Demand on their TV, that they understand. If there were a tab for viral video on that TV menu, they'd be able to participate in this social media revolution in the way they are most comfortable.

And I'd venture to say that some teenagers might think it's pretty dope to order up their favorite viral videos on the telly as well.

So step up broadcasters. Make your opportunities, stop fighting the New World, join the revolution.

Ok, one more post today because I just saw this. The Empire Strikes Back! Loves it.

This is public service announcement for a great band, OK Go. The band behind one of this year's greatest music videos is announcing a dance contest open to anyone, via youtube.com. Winner gets to dance onstage at a show with the band. Check it out:



In other youtube discoveries, here's a video I had link because it's so well produced:


Well done everyone.

I've been away on an extended low-tech holiday weekend. My blackberry died and I didn't bring my charger (Freudian slip?); for the first time in a months the incredible shooting pain in my wrists and fingers has subsided. It's a glorious time.

I spent a great deal of time biking and on a beach and some time explaining how wifi works to my aunt and uncle, while helping my Dad upload massive software code files to an FTP site.

Most importantly, I've been licking my wounds since Brazil was ousted from the World Cup and then my beloved Germany was eliminated by the lazy, injury-faking Italians.

This piece captures some of my feeling toward the Italian futbol team. Fakers. Lazy, crybaby fakers.

So I'm back for a day or two to return to the work week until the weekend. Until then, Viva la France!

There are two questions that come up in my line of social media pr: 1) What do we do if someone says something negative about us online and 2) how do we measure it?

Marketers are terrified of these two questions and with good reason; something negative said under the cloak of online anonymity has the potentional to spread faster than an electrical fire through a a block of matchbox houses and real, agreed upon reach measurement are the things that successful programs and future marketing budgets are based on. Brands within public corporations have to make their numbers - they have stockholders to report to. They don't have the luxury of operating in silo's or aborbing risk with surplus cash somewhere else - that's a CEO decision. And a mighty one to make.

As marketers, we are at point where we must sink or swim. We know that many of our target consumers and brand loyalists are living online - we have data to prove that. We see mobile handset sales, so we know they own mobile social media - but how are they using it? What are their competancy levels? Where is it going?

There are many X factors. And there will be for some time to come. This is the new frontier, and like the wild west, there are some already there at the forefront, staking claim and quietly getting rich, not telling anyone else for fear of letting the secret slip and losing marketshare. What the established know and some of us in the realm know, is that there's room for more - it's up to us to get to the frontier and drive our stakes in the ground.

No, there isn't a roadmap yet. There will be missteps.

Measurement is not accurate. New forms of measurement are evolving. Much like a product can be negatively reviewed in mainstream media (MSM) and other outlets may pick up that story, the same may happen in consumer generated media (CGM) - the smartest, savviest of marketers will accept counsel on how to manage and in some cases leverage those outcomes. Life will go on.

More than anything, social media is a living, breathing medium. Constantly evolving, more rapidly than broadcast or print ever did, and that's part of what what makes it so exciting to me. The constant challenge to keep up and evolve with it.

A presocratic once said, "You can never step in the same river twice." That man was true to his words, I can only imagine his thoughts on social media. He'd have to say them twice as fast, just keep up with it.

Also, in response to the latest frivolous myspace lawsuit that's been generating media attention, maybe I should sue Murdoch?

I want financial retribution for the minutes/hours of my precious life I've lost to time wasting bulletins and event notices that my so-called "friends" post with complete and non-stop abandon.

I'm considering creating a myspacepolice.com domain and setting up templates for various myspace "tickets." It's time to take some action against MySpace spamatics.

Hey Murdoch, on second thought, forget the lawsuit. Make me an offer for MySpacepolice.com. I'll sell it to you for a bargain price of $5MM;)

I am wowed by the students of NY's Adhouse Advertising School who submitted several of the most impressive ads I've seen in years.

These students truly hit a sweet spot of arty, edgy and attacking NYC's equity. As someone who has lived in NYC for 11 years (yikes!), it really made me think about what this town used to be and *gulp* what it certainly has lost in its' gentrification over the years.

Well done, students! And hats off to Philly for not censoring some of the more racy submissions.

Crispin, Porter + Bogusky: look sharp and staff up, here's the future of creative!

Today is a great day, because my friend, who is also my personal PR project, got a nice mention in Rolling Stone, thanks to fellow fan Ben Folds who gave him a shout out onstage and to Rolling Stone. Very Cool. Love Ben Folds.

His name is Corn Mo and if you don't know it yet, remember it, because like Dave Holmes said on TRL a few years ago, Corn Mo is "The Future of Rock." Word.

You never know where Corn Mo is going to show up. A few years ago, he popped up onstage and fully robed at a number of gigs with The Polyphonic Spree during their tour with Bowie.

Corn Mo rocks an accordian like you may not have known an accordian can rock. In a word, he's supadope.

Here's a booking I helped him with a couple of years ago, watch him bring the house down on Jimmy Kimmel.

And if you are a They Might Be Giants fan, check this.

Someday, Corn Mo will rule the world. Until then, you'll have to check here for upcoming dates and arrange to see this legend-in-the-making in the flesh.

Don't be afraid to yell out "Freebird," he's got a mean rendition to play.

Awesome. His money can't buy his way into Bungalow 8, but it just might buy him Dan Rather. (NY Times subscription required)

In other news, hats off to Bill Gates. You may not like his evil empire, his dominance of the PC industry or his software that arguably issues more patches than innovations, but the man is valiantly making an effort to truly aid the world which is more than many other moguls out in the world.

No names mentioned;)

Here's a live opportunity for corporation/CEO to leverage what may initially appear to be a critically detrimental-to-the-Brand online experience.

The question remains, will Zucker see this as the opportunity it is or remain passive and therefore allow this to snowball into something bigger?

The clock is ticking.

I switched from PC to laptop a couple of months ago and I just can't get the knack of this set up. The keys are too far away. With a PC, I type like the wind!

Some other complaints: It is an effing pain in the arse to load my CD collection onto this thing. Holy Hannah! It's taking me months! And I don't want to load my new iPod until I have my whole collection on here, so I don't have to cherry pick tracks as I go. Who has the time for this? I mean, I realize that I have a large number of CD's, but I ain't close to the collection this dude rocks. And his floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall collection is vinyl. Whaddya do with that?!?

I have perspective to add to the discussion that myspace is jumping the shark. Do I think MySpace is played? Yeah. But I'm not Kansas City. I'm not even Culver City.

The early adopters out there, may not think the MySpace client is good enough and they may seek out open source or other options they can run independently on their machines to interact with friends and contacts. Those people are not the masses, they are EARLY ADAPTERS, ahead of the curve, and the curve, is a bit longer than some may think.

MySpace will not be the leading P2P forever. I agree with that. But for now, its' 84 million user database excites those masses that congregate on it. And if MySpace continues with unique content deals and special promotions that connect with the target users - like secret shows with actual COOL bands - then most of those 84 million will continue to live there.

A few years down the road, as the options become easier to use and more accessible, mass market will start to build their own P2P networks with mix and match components they can download for free. Before that, though, there will be new P2P options that steal myspace's marketshare by being the web 2.0 or (dare I say it - *gulp* - 3.0!!!?) version of them. It's the nature of the beast.

I give myspace 6 months for sure, 1 year strong, with tapering off of use at the end of the 12 month period. Anyone willing to take the over or under on that?

I'm here! Sidetracked with a big event this week and this Ben Roethlisberger news...terrible tragedy. I'm an Eagles fan (Go Birds!) but being from Allentown, PA, I have to own up to some Steelers blood too. Very little, but it's there nonetheless.

Wears a helmet for a living and doesn't put one on to move 55mph+ in the open air?

Hindsight sure is 20/20.

Positive thoughts and prayers going out Ben and his family.

The landscape for PR is rapidly changing; some say it's the golden age of PR. More experienced professionals recall the bubble burst of 2000/2001 and proceed with caution. Often, my colleagues and clients ask me for my opinion on today's changing landscape and so I share it with you.

It smells like 1999, it looks like 1999, it feels like 1999, so is it 1999 and will the bubble be bursting around the corner much like it did then? My answer is no. Will there be some fall out? Sure. There will be a few iwon's out there and there will also be google's. No, there's no formula to know which is which. If you're a techie like me, you have experience and a decade or so of CES exhibitions under your belt to act as an organic barometer; to the rest of you, good luck. We're mostly on even ground.

The difference today for online and mobile components are the same differentials that spelled success in the broadcast industry back in the day - widely available cable. In this case, widely available broadband and wireless. Making cellular handsets now ubiquitous and high speed internet connections available in far reaching regions for a reasonable audience bring with it large audiences.

If we bring it, they will come.

In the 1990's when web 1.0 components and services launched, the audience was limited and inconsistent. Even the niche who had home PC's or work PC's with good connections, couldn't be relyed upon to be a consistent audience. They would turn off the computer and go to traditional media as a resource. That's no longer the case. Factor in the lack of credibility traditional media has provided in the last few years (arguably, because overwhelmed reporters were using an old model and unfairly competing against the new, real time online model), and it's easy to see why many individuals turn to the 24/7, secure "live" web for news, searches and purchases.

Today, masses have access to the technology. Prices make it accessible to many economic levels. Second generations and mobile units make it convenient AND affordable. Consumers are here, unlike 1999, when it was still too hard to connect and the playing field had too few players.

So yes, gas prices and oil are causing consumers pain. The deficeit is skyrocketing and whispers of new inflation rates whirl around us. All of this accounted for, I still think emerging media will grow and prosper, and more than ever PR is a critical approach via emerging media to connect directly with consumers and engage in a dialogue. People are going to want to connect with other people and be entertained when stuck in their houses because they won't fill their tanks for car trips.

And they're going to stick with the Brands who dust off the corporate speak and show that they are part of this lifestyle, whatever that may be, and not an irrelevant old guard.

You know, Wikipedia is great. You know that, right? I don't need to tell anyone who's found this site about wiki's and how valuable of an information source they are.

That said, you may not know how flippin' brilliant wikiHow is. Well let me tell you. WIKIHOW IS GENIUS.

I'm comfortable enough in my Gen X status to admit that, yes, I *am* interested in reading how-to instructions to Run Up A Wall and Flip. In fact, I may or may not, during my old cheerleading days, have done so myself as a schoolyard parlor trick. I'm too decrepit now to re-enact those glory days, so I'm loving that wikiHow is here to take me back.

Or, I may need to brush up on my Moonwalk. And if that's the case, I appreciate the warning that wikiHow provides with this how-to entry:
Warning: May cause humiliation when not done properly. Because that's a fair and important consideration to breaking out an unpolished moonwalk that you learned online. That's helpful.

wikiHow is a very cool collaborative project. A word to the wise, to any of you marketers out there who are wiki-obsessed and see this as a prime marketing tool to reach those Gen X, Gen Y's and Millennials, note #3 in the site's "About" section.

3. Limit egregious self-advertising

wikiHow exists to help people, not for product promotion. While we encourage useful articles about how to shop and buy things, writers should refrain from creating articles to purely promote one specific business without providing useful insights to our readers. While you are welcome to post an external hyperlink, the wikiHow community reserves the right to delete hyperlinks or entire articles that over step the bounds on self-advertising.

For details read the wikiHow policy summary.

So in other words, it would be okay if, hypothetically speaking, the guy in the pix for the Run Up A Wall and Flip entry was wearing Vans but it's not okay to write an entry on how to enter Vans' next skateboarding documentary.

Now that's a sure shot boogie that'll rock your soul. Jam on it.

And from the French Open, Rafael Nadal is blogging. This doesn't have much to do with PR, beyond the fact that it's good publicity for tennis and The French Open. I just had to link it because it may be one of the most poorly written blogs I have ever read and yet, I continue to go back to it. Like a train wreck that I can't stop staring at it. It's horrendous.

I'm going to give Nadal the benefit of the doubt and believe that perhaps he does indeed have some sort of mental capacity and personality and that it's just not translating into English, which in fairness, isn't his native language.

I don't know what PR agency is handling this, but I must commend them - it's a brilliant idea. I can't wait to see the media coverage that's generated with the person brings the O'Doul's and their mom.

Because you know someone will.

Kudos to Crumpler's brand champion who stood behind the fun-loving Aussie equity and embraced a risky idea because it resonates with their target. I'd love to see more Brands taking risks like this.

So, you may have heard about the big Yahoo-Ebay announcement today. Big news, but what's more interesting to me is what's buried way way down in the story...how Yahoo advertisers can leverage Ebay's skype to speak directly with consumers.

...explore building another marketing vehicle that would allow advertisers to connect with prospective customers on the phone instead of through their Web sites. If the experiment works, it would mark Yahoo's entrance into "click-to-call" advertising...

*Very* interesting. I bet Larry and Sergey aren't so happy today.

I received my PepperRubel T-shirt today, thanks Josh! Meanwhile, Ebay bidding for the signed version continues to climb.

I was home visiting family in Pennsylvania over the weekend and as things inevitably do, family and friends asked me about my work and tried to understand what I do. Fortunately for me, now that my work is focused and dedicated in the emerging media realm, I hear less of "Oh, I need a publicist, I'm writing a book..." or "I saw your commercial the other day." Now I hear, "Can you help me set up my WiFi?" or "Can you look at my iPod?" or, from those *very* advanced individuals, "Do you have blog?"

It's hard to explain marketing on the web or via mobile applications, partially because while everyone knows that marketing exists, many don't exactly know what it is let alone how it applies to the new technologies that people around the world use everyday to send and receive information.

The way that I've been looking at this area lately, beyond the fact that it's an opportunity in almost every way to influence buying decisions, build brand awareness/recognition/loyalty and drive trial, is as static vs. live.

Last week, at Syndicate, I stayed for Doc's presentation and he spoke at length about live searches. I won't get into that here - you can bug Doc for that;) However, the topic of static vs. live that he spoke about is exactly why PR is a critical partner for emerging media applications.

Online/mobile multimedia spaces are the exact opposite of the traditional product marketing world. In the past, big brand marketers would be unlikely to change a brands' logo or packaging unless the brand were in trouble. For instance, in the magazine world, the word "relaunch" has been a dirty word. Editors heard relaunch and waited for pink slips to be issued.

In this new world, relaunch is the formula for success. Anything that remains static, is old. Passe. Played. Just one week following a few myspace profiles and you won't recognize an individual's page from hour-to-hour or day-to-day. And same with the brands on myspace who are winning the battle of friends - they are smart enough to understand the formula that Madonna tapped more than 20 years ago. Give members a reason to come back. Change your look. Change your content. Change your image.

Now, the real stretch for marketers, is to keep changing without losing your brand identity or equity. That's the challenge in this live vs. static world; never lose your Brand Champion.

So how can PR help? In a fast moving world that's no longer "Pre-launch, Launch, Sustain" but rather, "Pre-launch, Launch, Sustain, Relaunch" - PR professionals finally have the chance to do what we've been saying we could do all along: relate to the public.

There's no time to change a pre-planned media buying schedule when your beta home page has been leaked two weeks before launch and consumer/media feedback spreads like wildfire. However, a smart PR team can quickly leverage that leak, respond to it and make it into an opportunity for the Brand.

And that's why this blog is called, pikpr;)

So my cameraphone depictions of the PepperRubel T-shirts may not be the "shots seen 'round the world," but they are now the shots seen 'round the Valley.

All that and I didn't even get a stinkin' t-shirt...

All I want is what I have coming to me. All I want is my fairshare.

People are seeing things...and it's not the Stormhoek.

First Parmet notes that Josh was seeing things at Syndicate yesterday.

I rolled into town later last night after a long day of traveling for business in the East Coast monsoon and headed to a blogger happy hour (thanks again, Britt!). I met a webrity or two and I started seeing things too:





Maybe I'll get a clue when I hit the Roosevelt later today.

Well, E3 kicked off yesterday, so it makes sense that everything I'm seeing today is related to gaming. I guess you could say that everyone's getting into the game....sorry, couldn't help myself;)

VH-1 announced they're getting into the gaming business, adding free game downloads to their site (and pay-for play trial), featuring some old skool favorites like "Joust" with new games that tie back to their new brand character, like "Escape the Paparazzi." I wonder if TV Land is smacking their sister station for beating them to the punch with an old school gaming revival?

But this took the cake for me. A clever viral marketing/branding tool created and stealthily seeded by the AI franchise or the genuine product of a superfan game builder? You tell me.

Continuing on my motif here of mobile phone applications, I found something else today that I think is GENIUS.

When I was in college we didn't have cell phones. THAT'S. HOW. OLD. I. AM.

Anyway, SOME of us, (names not included to protect the innocent) noticed that the waffle bar, the late night pizza's and the all-beer diet had packed on some lbs, and we made a pact that when we saw each other eating late at night, we'd ash our cigarettes on our friends food so they'd stop eating. When you're in college, approaches like this seem like great ideas...

This service sounds like a much healthier approach. The folks over at Sprint have created an interactive "teledieting" program for camerphone users to honestly report in to a nutritionist. Check it out.

Personally, I may take a page out of this dude's book and set up a Treadputer. It's something I've been thinking about for years and he beat me to it. Wave of the Future. Loves it.

Seems like I've been traveling all of the time lately, or not around my PC to update. I guess I don't have much of an excuse - I could update this little piece of online real estate via crackberry or even winksite ...but how realistic is texting a blog entry anyway?

Because I'm always on the go, I'm heavily reliant on my mobile devices. I definitely don't use my blackberry nearly as much as other crackberry addicts; primarily I tap it for work email and I limit responses on it as much as possible. There's nothing worse than being on the receiving end of a text-heavy "plain text" blackberry directive. I live in a People world, as much as I like to cop that I have a New Yorker intellect.

Therefore, it stands to reason that I am pretty much beholden to my phone. And my phone, I'll have you know, is pretty rad. I have the Verizon/UTStarcom 8940 and it's pretty much changed my life since I got in January. Not only does it have video recording capability, but I subscribe to VCast, so in the past, when I'd run out in the morning without having time to wait for a TV weather report, now I watch it on my phone as I'm getting ready. I can watch clips of the morning shows on my phone as I'm walking in btwn meetings, or even catch up on the entertainment shows and MTV news.

It's getting to the point for me, where my phone is becoming my secondary information source (behind the Internet(1st), and TV dropping down to 4th after print). With that in mind, it should come as no surprise that I love what Paypal is up to. I love the idea that if I go out to dinner and someone wants to put the whole bill on their card, I can simply transfer funds from my account into theirs via phone and not have to worry about running out to an ATM machine. I think it's fantastic that if I'm in an airport or a car hearing news of some sort of plea for non-profit funding, I can use my phone to instantly make a donation.

I mean, those little milk cartons and cardboard donation boxes from grammar school were cute, but I have a hunch that letting users text donations from their phones will reap greater sums than the pocket change of the past.

I'm behind on blog entries! Never fear, I am still living here. I've just been traveling a great deal for work.

Here's something to check out. My all time favorite mobile social networking application is trying a promotional beta. here's the link.

And if you're not on dodgeball, then you aren't geting out enough. Check it!

Someone's been busy! Verizon made a number of announcements recently. First, I saw that America's favorite teen crush (sorry Teddy Geiger, you're almost there...), Adam Brody, has cut a deal with the wireless carrier to create exclusive animated content. He's created a fictional comic, which will be animated and featured in fourteen 3-minute episodes on the wireless carrier's vCast feed. Verizon V-Cast viewers get all sorts of other little extra's with this: like ringtones, behind-the-scenes footage (not sure how that works with a graphic novel...Adam Brody sharpening colored pencils? Clearing his throat before a voiceover?), etc.

Verizon also announced a partnership with Heavy.com to provide comedy shorts on vCast.

This announcement brings with it the question of Heavy.com's advertisers - specifically, do they get to ride the mobile application wave too?

From a PR perspective, it should be interesting to see how long it will be before Brands can pay to place original content for viewing on vCast and what kind of viewership/measurement system someone develops to show networks and advertisers the value of buying into vCast.

Will there come a day when our phone bills are subsidized for watching a 15-minute branded infomercial on our handsets? Or will a barter system evolve - more pix and text messaging and peak minutes in exchange for watching advertising?

Time shall tell. Until then, I'll keep watching my phone...literally.

Thanks Mr. Parmet, for the link yesterday. I'll have to step it up here in the event someone may actually be reading...

I've been around in the blogesphere for about 10 years (yikes!) but static for a big chunk of time due to various evolving demands of my job. It's fun to be back and see how the tools have changed.

I used to be a Bravenet component girl but I thought I'd try this Blogger service and see how evolved the arena has become. It's ok...the html publishing format is nice, but over the next few weeks I may try to Pimp My Page because there are number of features they are missing here - starting with a "click" counter or a visitor tracking system. It's nice to be able to track the people who flame your comments section or just see who's reading. I'm a big fan of checking ISP addresses.

And that brings me to something I've been thinking about this week: the online medium is seeing a lot of traditional branding tactics transcending into this medium. Online stunts - such as the narnia rap battle (nice effort guys - hope it gets you PAID and off of free video sites) and "flaming" (ripping on established "online" stars to establish yourself and build a following)- are two tactics that I'm seeing more and more. The latter really ticks me off. I call that "hijacking celebrity for celebrity." It's an old O'Reilly tactic. Bill O'Reilly jacked up his viewership numbers when he attacked George Clooney on his show. Right now, desperate vloggers are flaming one of my favorite vloggers, Bowiechick.

At least O'Reilly was man enough to attack someone without hiding under the cloak of anonymity, like a lot of online flamers do. It's certainly easy to attack people online from the safety of a basement and an anonymous username miles away. That's one of the downsides of the Internet.

That said, I love that bloggers and vloggers like Bowiechick have the moxie to keep putting themselves out here in the public online forum.

My life would certainly be a lot more boring without them.

Today I was reading CoolHunting about Adidas' recent campaign for Adicolor. The Brand commissioned 7 directors to film shorts for each Adicolor hue.

So yeah, this concept has been executed with much fanfare before by BMW, Coke, etc. I didn't expect much.

That said, I opened up the "white" version and I almost spit my water out all over my keyboard.

Since about 1998, I've been shouting to my colleagues that porn was going mainstream. That Porn was "the future of America." About a year after that, the LA Times added an "adult film industry" beat reporter to their staff. I felt a small twinge of victory. I did. I'll admit it.

And here we are in 2006. With Jenna Jameson starring in one of the hottest ads I've seen cross over into the mainstream. Check it.

Hats off to the director, Tronic, for taking what could have been a lame, mainstream assignment and making it sexy. Literally.

Can't wait to see what the other 6 directors come up with.

So today I discovered Snubster and I have to tell you, I'm hearting it pretty hard.

I'll admit, I'm on myspace. And friendster. And dodgeball. I'm social networking myself all across the spectrum and I have been since most of these sites kicked their initial servers into gear. Since I have been a long time user of many of these sites, I'm comfortable admitting - it's getting old.

This contest out there right now - to connect with as many strangers as possible just to have "the most friends" (friends that you've never met? how exactly is that a friend?) - is pretty vapid if you sit down and look at the model that surfers are buying across the globe. And if you look even harder, you may become cynical of the crop of new social networking sites that are popping up like dandelions; you may even see them as outright pathetic.

I'm not there yet. I'm keeping my myspace.

However, I can appreciate what snubster is doing. The anti-social network. How Suicide Girls. Underground but mass. Counter-culture/subversive without being polarizing or niche.

So we'll see how they do. They're beta testing now, so who knows if they make it or how they will evolve. Right now I'm just happy typing into my list that Paris Hilton is officially "dead to me."

I haven't updated in while. I'm slackin'. What happened to my generation? Ten years ago the media were calling us slackers. Hollywood made movies about us slacking. Now everyone my age that I know, who vowed never to become their parents and spend their lives toiling for the man, work double the hours our parents worked. Generation X has truly lost its way.

I was thinking about this generational work-life predicament two weekends ago after having lunch with some friends. We discussed men our age, who seem to be leading a trend of quitting their jobs and not working. More and more, the model seems to be that Gen X women work and men do not. They don't make excuses about not working, they aren't unable to work, they simply do not want to work and quit their jobs. We sat and thought about this phenomenon and as we took inventory of our friends who are couples, we could only name a handful of them whose male partners are gainfully employed.

We considered this societal shift and some of the causes of it. A backlash to feminism? The result of our working mothers making it look too easy? The next evolution of the metrosexual: first he became comfortable getting a manicure, now he's playing house? Or more likely, now he's playing X-Box in the house.

As I walked home though the West Village, I stepped right on someone's street team marketing campaign.



Chalked along Sixth avenue and 10th Street, for several blocks, was this URL.

I don't know if this kind of grassroots, guerilla marketing tactic is successful enough generate traffic, but it got me to the site.

And I kinda wish I hadn't gone there.

Someone forwarded an e-mail to me recently that I think is something we are all going to see more and more of, particularly within corporate communications, as Corporate America jumps on the Cluetrain and learns that blogging isn't something to be contained or ignored.

The email contained a "boilerplate" along the lines of an autosignature and simply stated:

This e-mail is bloggable
This email is: [ ] bloggable [ x ] ask first [ ] private

*~*
This is great CYA tool for corporations/businesses/brands/consumers looking to legally bind their employees or contacts from disclosing potentionally proprietary information. It's also a concise way to communicate to recipients what information is acceptable to pass along and what is not.

We've all read, and cringed at, those internal memo's from a CEO or management delivering company news or new policies that have somehow "leaked" to sites like Gawker or F*cked Company.

With the simple add of "bloggable" or "not bloggable" senders are newly empowered to protect sensitive information or details that could be negatively interpreted by individuals outside of an organization - people who don't have the history leading up to the policy. This add has the potentional to place legal culpability and accountability back in the hands of the new "citizen journalists."

Bloggers beware. And suddenly, Goliath finds a way back into the saddle....

First, argh! I had some links in this entry and my HTML isn't working in this Blogger system. Grrr. If you can help me with some basic coding/tags, please comment.
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I have to admit, I usually find the Olympics a snore. It's a terrible thing to say, since in theory, it's an inspirational and ancient tradition of physical competition. That said, I feel like this is a credible opinion, since I actually attended an Olympics - LA in 1984.

My parents thought it would be an adventure to take the family West. Make a summer of it, if you will...fly to Denver and spend two months traveling to and through the New Frontier. I hated it. I was 11 years old, at that awkward stage when you are a physical mess, mid-transformation from child to adolescent, and I just wanted to hang out with my friends who were also awkward. Instead, I was sucked into a Griswald adventure.

As a thinking, functioning adult, I can admit the experience was landmark. I can also remember how much I hated sitting outside on the high metal benches of UCLA that summer, reading Judy Bloom as the LA sun beat down on me in my pink corduroy OP shorts, and briefly lowering my book to watch Greg Luganis and others dive like a divine human specimen.

I just didn't want to be there. And there were some standout athletes who wowed me; the memory of Mary Decker being tripped on the track right in front of my eyes, but for the most part, that was the year that I started to abandon the Olympics. I'm sure the ensuing adolescent and young adult stages that followed play a part in why I wasn't interested. I had crushes and note passing to focus on!

This Olympics is different. Maybe it's because I'm a marketer. In my world, the Olympics are really about pending endorsement deals.

This year, however, the athletes have been a breath of fresh air. Even if their disputes and comments are a soap opera , I love that the snowboarders and skiers approach the Olympics like it's just another day they decided to get up and ski. And some shoot their mouths off and other's hold their medals up to their eyes like spyglasses and announce goofy things like that they have crushes on other atheletes.

For the most part, they don't speak in soundbites and they don't deliver key messages. They are everyday people who have just done extraordinary things.

What a breath of fresh air! I look forward to their upcoming endorsement deals that make them ubiquitious. No really! At least they have an accomplishment that propelled them into the limelight and some of them are not manufactured professional athletes. A refreshing change and well deserved.

I'm staring at you. Is it working?

Welcome to my new blog. I should have something up here soon...