Eco Optimism

Crackle.com: Missing the Media Point Online

This morning, I made an amazing discovery: Crackle.com, Sony's online TV network. It's a database of shortened TV shows and films, perfectly served and edited into snack-time feasts.  Truth be told, I found it while searching for Three Stooges clips.

For this sort of content, it's much better than YouTube.  The quality is higher, it's legal and you don't have to wade through terabytes of lousy home videos to find what interests you.  AND, when you strike a vein you like, the videos just role into one another ... perfect for my three-year old son's Spiderman obsession.

Now... what's wrong? That I found the site in a round about way, where ideally it would come up in my search for THREE STOOGES, right?

Part of the reason is that Crackle seems to have missed a MUST HAVE online marketing technique for their sort of business: the emerging communications practice of offsite search optimization. It's also know as SEO PR, Ambient Content, and other home-made names.  In short, it's using RSS press releases and content to capture attention at the critical moment of search, while also boosting search rankings by securing incoming links from authoritative sites.

The crux of the technique is issuing frequent RSS press releases containing good content and optimized for search engine rankings. By often, I'm talking at least weekly, and likely every few days. And before you get all "don't bug the media" on me, understand that THESE ARE PRESS RELEASES IN NAME ONLY. It's about the content and the links, baby.  That's all.  For this, we don't care if the media ever even sees them.  We get to them in other ways (hear evil laugh track here).

It starts with choosing keywords: things people are searching for related to your business or site.  You can get ideas on Google Adwords.  There they will tell you how many searches are conducted for each term, and alternate terms to consider.  

Then, as I said, crank out the content so the next time I search for THREE STOOGES or SI SWIMSUIT or even JOHNNY CASH, Crackle comes up as one of the top links on Google and Yahoo! (collectively, these two capture about 75% of all searches on the Internet.)

Of course, there's lots of things to know about optimizing the site itself with "link-based pages" and techniques to meta-tag information (the text used to identify your site to the search engine, and to describe the content in search rankings).  But that can wait today.  For now, suffice to say that anyone like Crackle who wants site traffic but is not using SEO PR is in my humble opinion ... cracked.  (Sorry, I can't help myself.)

The Anti AIG: Beneficial Financial Group Combines Doing Well With Doing Good

While AIG is handing out millions of dollars to execs who lost millions of dollars, a smaller insurance company in Salt Lake City has quietly gone about its business of awarding top performers in an entirely different way.

Next month, Beneficial Financial Group, a 100-year-old company, will take its best agents on the incentive trip of a lifetime. But instead of sipping margaritas at a seaside resort, their reward will be quite different: building a permanent latrine system in the remote Mayan outpost of Chimaxyat, Guatemala. (Note: Beneficial is a Cercone Brown client.)

Three years ago, Beneficial decided to break away from the traditional posh incentive trips as a way to attract agents that embodied the family values of the company.  If you can remember that far back, the Dow was surging and it was commonly believed that financial advisors could be any sort of human being as long as they made you money.  As a company that has always believed prosperity is measured by quality of life, peace of mind AND financial wealth, that sort of logic just didn't work. Thus, the service trip to Chimaxyat was born.

The village of 275 or so people has no running water or electricity.  There is a small school house (which the BFG agents have worked on the past two years) and precious little else. They speak an ancient Mayan dialect, so your high school spanish is of little use here. But its beauty is beyond compare, and its simple joys are frozen in time.   

And if you're wondering if agents motivated by this sort of adventure service can make you money, too, consider that Beneficial has seen unprecedented growth in the past three years. Not bad for a company that was founded just six years after the Spanish-American War.

As business continues to wrestle with economic and environmental change (the very point of this blog), it's great to see the confluence of commitment, values and healthy bottom lines. Let's hope that this sort of unconventional but effective thinking becomes the norm, and the foolish bumbling a la AIG becomes a thing of the past.  We'll all be better for it.

I'll post news from this year's trip scheduled for April 17-25.

Dying Newspapers Leave "Integrity Vacuum"

Okay, "newspapers" and "integrity" in the same sentence may already have you laughing.  Let me start by admitting that in recent years, most media outlets have not held to the highest standards of journalism. Political leanings are no longer hidden, and with shrinking staffs true reporting has become rarer than a fedora.

But still, the craft of journalism plays a major role in keeping some level of objective mass messaging in the U.S. and abroad.  Let's face it, when the filter is removed between organizations and the public, everything becomes harder to believe.

This week, the Seattle Times closed, and venerable papers across the country are teetering on the edge of the abyss. And it's not just newspapers, Best Life magazine shudders in May what I'm sure will be a series of glossy periodical closures in the next 36 months.

True, this is largely economic fallout, but there's something more afoot: corporate self-publishing.  As a PR pro, I've been telling clients to bypass the media for years and communicate directly with consumers.  But not until recently has it been so easy: RSS releases with embedded video and links to microsites are our standard form of campaigning these days, not cold-calling media.

True, we still enjoy strong personal relationships with press, especially the lifestyle pubs, and nothing is as powerful as a good hit in a traditional outlet.  But as more and more firms begin practicing PR 2.0 tactics, the balance of objectivity will be severely out of whack.

Good PR folks know that overly commercial messages on the Internet are useless.  But insidious spin can be even more dangerous, and not just to readers.  Nothing will kill a company faster on the Net than dishonesty.

So PR folks turn more to RSS feeds, microsite campaigning, social media PR and even search engine optimization, the entire profession needs to step back and take a long, cool drink of integrity.  

This new Wild West of public relations is a dangerous place. In the past, a curt "no thanks" from a journalist only hurt the ego.  As we wade directly into the waters of public opinion, the rip tide of objectivity will churn with considerably more power and wrath.

Sperry Top-Sider Tackles "Real Value" for Changing Consumer Landscape

Lately, I've really been harping on aligning your business to fit into what I see as permanent changes to the culture of consumerism in the United States.  My last few posts have cited studies and experts that corroborate the view that marketers won't be able to solely appeal to Americans' spend happy ways, that instead each will need to find a way to bring "real value" to the equation.

For many companies, the green movement has provided the context to providing a greater value to consumers. However, while green commitments are important, they are fast becoming status quo and unless its part of your brand DNA (folks like Seventh Generation and Patagonia), it will be hard to use green as lasting platform.  

You gotta go with what is most real to you and your target, finding that cross-section of passion that speaks to them in both practical and emotional ways, equally and powerfully.

One company that has quietly affirmed its "real value" is Sperry Top-Sider. (full disclosure: they are a long time client of Cercone Brown & Co).  They are making serious moves to bring value to their consumer base.

First, they recently announced a joint effort with the  New York Yacht Club (NYYC) to reignited the roots of competitive sailing.  Together they will launch a new regatta this fall, the Invitational Cup, that brings sailing back to the early days of the America's Cup. Back when the best amateurs from across the globe competed for bragging rights and the love of the sport, and before such events required sponsorship from the world's largest corporations just to compete. Granted, yacht racing isn't something that most of us can afford to do, but for those that appreciate seamanship, this is a grand and pure stage not seen since in the sport for a long, long time.

And at a time when most are scaling back R&D, Sperry is coming to market with the most technically advanced boat shoe ever created.  Called the ASV Collection, anti-shock and vibration, the shoes save the feet, leg and lower back from the severe pounding of waves.  Instead of bringing the same-old to market, they have identified a real need and provided a real solution... which is exactly my point about REAL VALUE.

So, to succeed as Americans change their consumer focus, I believe you need to bring more to the table than ever before.  Something that's true to your brand, and important to your target.  And PLEASE, it doesn't all have to be green focused.  Consumers care about green, but we're fully rounded people.  We care about a lot of things. For Sperry customers, it's the passion for the sea, and that's what the brand brings (by the way, they also provide a lot of environmental support through Oceana, but just don't wear it on their sleeves.)

Bottom line: Find what hits home, then drive it home.  And that's real value.

Best Life Magazine Closes: Sign of the Times

May will be the last issue of Best Life Magazine, the lifestyle alter-ego to Men's Health. Like MH, it was a well-written publication dense with content for the under 40 male.  They will be missed.

But let's face it, it's tough to be in style these days.  People are closing their wallets.  Last year's fashions are looking fine in the closet.  Especially when guys are afraid that layoffs are just around the corner. Needless to say, this translates into lower advertising support, and Best Life was a victim of the squeeze.

Too bad.  Good guys.  Good work.  We wish the entire staff good fortune in their next endeavor.

Story Links:

http://blogs.reuters.com/mediafile/2009/03/11/best-life-ends-life/

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/rodale-stop-publishing-best-life/story.aspx?guid=%7B304FC5B6-44FC-4A4E-9B19-0B5AFC466644%7D&dist=msr_1

New Approach to Consumption Likely, Expert Predicts

Like the young who came of age during the Great Depression, today’s young people may be deeply imprinted by the experience of the economic collapse. This formative memory is likely to foster more careful spending and saving in years to come — as it did for the Depression generation.

These words were recently written by Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, who directs the John Templeton Center for Thrift and Generosity at the Institute for American Values and is the co-editor of the forthcoming book, “Franklin’s Thrift: The Lost History of An American Virtue.” (read more here)

Ms. Dafoe is a believer that this wild economic times are likely to produce an America much different than the one we saw in recent years... a nation of stuff collectors.

This isn't to say that Americans won't spend in coming months and years, it's just that our collective values are likely to focus less on material things as they had in the past. Therefore it's imperative that companies focus on a larger view of value to embrace this new consumer outlook.

For instance, look at Timberland. They've had their challenges in recent years, but the company seems to be finding a much more natural place for itself with its recommitment to the environment and social responsibility.  And in the process, they are slowly and surely building a lasting, loyal customer base that shares these common values. In the end, it may not be the wild ride that was Timberland's climb to hip-hop fame, but it will be sustainable (no pun intended) because its authentic to who they really are.

This is the sort of brand soul searching needed today.  And it all doesn't have to be green.  Tomorrow we'll look at a company making similar commitments, but not necessarily environmental.

Recession Forcing Permanent Changes in American Consumer

A few months back, I published an e-book called Simplinomics.  In it, I contended that the economic, social and political forces afoot would cause dramatic, lasting changes to the culture of consumerism in America.  And that while this would hurt, this change would make things better for all of us in the long run.

Now, much of this sentiment is corroborated in a new study by Context, a Baltimore-based research firm that works with the likes of American Express, P&G and Kraft Foods.  In their study, Grounding the American Dream, they state:

"From our research it is clear that the consumer today is not the same as the consumer just a few short months ago. We also believe that this new dream and this new “grounded consumer” are here to stay. 

Our culture and economy are going through a rite of passage. From anthropology we know that no true rite of passage comes without pain, but as we also know that great opportunities emerge from these moments of transformation."

Amen.  Now the trick is to align your business with this new consumer landscape.  Download the entire study here and the Simlinomics e-book here.

Recycling: What's Wrong With This Picture?

At my house, we recycle religiously, as do many across the US.  And we're real proud of ourselves. But I think it's time we rethought recycling.  It's waste that's killing us. Too much packaging and still too much consumption, at least from where I stand.  

Check out this photo I snapped in front of my house this morning:  one lonely bag of trash, but a virtual mountain of recycling.

Granted, this isn't all bad.  And to be honest, it's a month worth of recycling and a week of trash,  But still it illustrates the point that REDUCE is the new RECYCLE.  What we don't use is much more important than what we reuse.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Mafia Wind Energy Plot Foiled

Being an Italian-American, I've watched the Godfather somewhere in the neighborhood of 1.2 million times.  In fact, my oldest brother learned the basics of Italian (which he speaks pretty well) from Godfather II.  "Cicc', a porta!"

So with the glamorous suit-and-tie Mafia in my head, you can imagine my surprise to hear the latest Mafia plot to invest in wind power in Sicily.  INVEST.  Not steal.  Not intimidate.  Not even to extort... To invest.

Acccording to the Associated Press: Italian police on Tuesday arrested mobsters, businessmen and local politicians who allegedly used corrupt practices and bribes to gain control of a project to build wind farms in Sicily.

Operation "Aeolus," named after the ancient Greek god of winds, netted eight suspects, arrested in the Trapani area of western Sicily, as well as in Salerno on the Italian mainland and in the northern city of Trento.

Police in Trapani said the local Mafia bribed city officials in nearby Mazara del Vallo so the town would invest in wind farms to produce energy.

So Mafia muscle is now used to get in the front of the line to invest in clean energy.  Can you imagine? If this isn't a sign of changing times, what is?

Next, we'll hear the the Mob will is no longer in the "sanitation" business, opting instead for a back-room interest in American Girl (why else would that store be so impervious to recession?)

I guess clean energy is truly an offer we can't refuse.