Smart is the New Black

There’s been a lot of ‘smart’ talk lately. I’m not talking about our new President who graduated with Magna Cum Laude Honors at Harvard Law School. I’m talking about Smart Grids, Smart Meters and Smart Appliances. What are these things and how are they going to turn us into smart people?

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Tags: creative insights, GE, Jesse Berst, smart appliances, smart grids, smart meters, SmartSynch

Should your brand Facebook?

Now that’s a big question. Who belongs, and who doesn’t belong on Facebook (along with every other social media outlet) is one of the biggest questions facing marketing managers today. Truth? It depends.

If you’re looking for a stock answer, it may be time to adjust your expectations. At least, for the time being. And while you’re doing that, you might want to invest some time crash-coursing the social media channels that are out there and what makes them unique. Here’s one recent dive into the MySpace/Facebook discussion.

See who else is Facebook marketing with this “just in” from retailerdaily.com. FB comes in at the bottom … but the bit about Kmart on Twitter is fun too.

Tags: brands, creative insights, facebook, myspace, Social Media

Have a website? That’s so last week.

I don’t know if you heard, but websites are dead. At least that’s what the makers of Skittles think.  Skittles.com became the first site to completely embrace social media. So much so that their home page is Twitter. Their product page is Wikipedia. Videos? YouTube. Photos? Flickr. There’s no company generated content on their site until you get to the contact section. Just think about the money they saved on web development!

Go ahead, check it out. I’ll wait.

Back? What do you think? Are you comfortable enough with your brand to have your customer do all the talking? Apparently Mars Snackfood is. They are doing something that might be the future. Or it might be a complete failure. No one knows for sure yet.

One thing’s for certain though, Skittles is embracing complete transparency. And that’s the world the next generation lives in.  So we’d better get used to it if we want to start marketing to them.

Tags: creative insights

Women’s History Month – Elizabeth Gilbert

Elizabeth Gilbert is the author of the 2006 #1 New York Times Bestselling memoir “Eat, Pray, Love.” In it she tells the story of her year traveling abroad by herself after a difficult divorce.

In 2008, Elizabeth was named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World, by Time Magazine. She was also a journalist for such magazines as SPIN, GQ, The New York Times Magazine and O, The Oprah Magazine. Her GQ memoir about her bartending years became the Disney movie “Coyote Ugly.”

Below is her inspirational talk at the 2009 TEDTalks. Gilbert tells about the impossible things we expect from artists and geniuses and how if we take a page from history, success and failure is not something that should be placed on the individual.

Tags: creative insights, Women's History Month

Suppelsa, king of social media? Hardly.

Today’s Chicago Tribune is praising WGN’s Mark Suppelsa as the king of Facebook. But like a lot of people out there right now, he’s doing it wrong.

In a list that ranks the number of Facebook friends local TV personalities have, Suppelsa comes out on top. He has 5,000 friends with nearly 2,500 more people waiting to be his friend. Mark has been constantly updating his status line and communicating with his friends. He says he keeps it light but every once in a while he’ll throw out a question to get feedback from his fans. This sounds an awful lot like Twitter.

Here’s a great example of knowing these social networks and using them correctly. Mark has a huge fan base built up but it could be bigger. Facebook has limits to the number of friends you can have. But with Twitter you can have an unlimited number of followers. I’d love to befriend Mr. Suppelsa. He sounds like a great guy. But I can’t. There are friend limitations—but even if there wasn’t, I’d still have to get approval from Suppelsa himself before I could see what he’s up to. On the other hand, you can follow whomever you want on Twitter.

If Suppelsa were to switch to Twitter, he could probably double his network of fans in a day. It happens that fast. And for someone in the public eye who wants to feel connected, it makes sense to switch. It’s not just about being on a social network, it’s knowing which one is right for you.

By the way, Suppelsa does have a Twitter account. He’s only updated twice. He has 295 followers. I’m one of them. I’m waiting Mark.

Tags: Chicago Tribune, creative insights, facebook, Supplesa, Twitter