7-Eleven’s offer customers a choice of cups when they buy coffee during presidential election years – you can choose one with your candidates name on it or stick with their traditional ‘non-partisan’ cups. A couple weeks prior to the election, I bought a cup of coffee from 7-Eleven on the way to my sister’s house. I deliberately chose the one with my candidates name on it, knowing my sister was strongly for the other candidate. The conversation that occurred after she noticed my cup went pretty much like this:
Sister: “Are you allowed to choose which candidates cup you want?”
Me: “Yes.”
Sister: “…And you chose that one?”
Me: “Yep.”
Sister: “You know because of him…” The opinion stated here is being purposely removed as it doesn’t pertain to what I am writing about now and I am not looking to start an argument for or against any of the candidates.
Me: “I don’t agree with that.”
Sister: “Really? Ok, then.”
Obviously, my sister and I are divided when it comes to our political opinions. However, despite that divide, we remain sisters, remain family, and have each others back always. We can be divided, argue about our division, yet still remain a strong and united force to be reckoned with. That’s the really cool thing about family.
It’s also the really cool thing about the United States of America. We can argue our differing political opinions amongst ourselves. We then have the opportunity to express our opinions in the voting booth. And later, as the election results come rolling in, we all collectively cheer or groan depending upon our opinion of the outcome of that vote. But we aren’t afraid to go outside of our homes that evening or the following day because the opposition is rioting in the streets and harming people. We don’t punish those that did not vote for the winning parties with jail sentences or worse. Instead, we resume our day to day lives until it is time to resume the fight for the next election.
I hate it when I read others saying that American is divided and therefore cannot stand much longer. Untrue! It is because America is divided and the way in which we are free to handle that divide that America is strong and will remain that way. We are able to embrace and express our differences freely and openly and still remain a strong and united country – that’s what makes America so awesome.
To those that believe otherwise – I’m sorry for your loss of common sense.
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Tags: politics, voting booth
Ad for GiftBaskets4All.com
One of the most important elements of the fictitious website GiftBaskets4All.com’s brand is that they strive to meet their customers needs, big or small. This is why, for example, they offer both pre-made gift baskets – for those who do not have or want to take the time to custom build one – and custom gift baskets and why they offer customers a multiple number of ways to place their orders. The viral marketing campaign designed for the website sought to promote the fact that they really do go the extra mile for their customers both through the “Go Thee Xtramile” videos and the free Thee’s Gift Ideas application with the hope that potential customers would think to themselves “Why would I want to go to just any website when I have the option of going to one that will work to give me exactly what I want & need?”. The ad below is intended to appear in conjunction with either the viral videos or the application and it reinforces the “extra mile” concept while offering customers a quick and easy way to click over to the main website and begin their purchases.
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A small ad I created based upon the final frame and call to action in my Thee Xtramile video below. Ideally this would not be a partially looped video ad but rather a flash based (or similar) ad. This ad answers why you should visit Thee (and ultimately GiftBaskets4All.com) and provides you with a clear call to action to visit now…
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Thee Xtramile Concept Video
This was created as a concept video on behalf of a fictional website (and app) as part of an assignment for my viral marketing course. It was designed to be the first in a series of videos called “Go Thee Xtramile” starring Thee Xtramile (The Extra Mile), who is so intent upon making sure that her customers have the best and exactly what they need that she continually takes the concept of going the extra mile for a customer to entirely new level of extreme. For example, after Thee gets a letter from a customer looking for a housewarming gift, she realizes that the perfect gift would include some deep-sea gems off the bottom of the Pacific Ocean and sets off to get some. Rather than jump on a boat as most of us would, Thee is so excited that she simply jumps in the water and starts swimming, ultimately fighting off some sharks by biting them in return, attaining what she swam out there for, and arriving back at home to put together her gift idea right in time for the customer.
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Tags: concept, video, viral
Though I had actually seen the last minute or so of this video a couple of weeks ago, I never saw the full video until today. It is truly hilarious – so much so that my neighbor just called me to ask what was so funny because she heard me laughing my head off at 8:30 this morning. It stars some of the most handsome male celebrities around today including (I’ll list as many as I can off the top of my head) Matthew McConaughey, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Ethan Hawke, Tony Romo, Ted Danson, Rob Lowe, Sting, and more – and of course, the most gorgeous of them all – Jimmy Kimmel. Jimmy is, as would be expected I’m sure, the esteemed president of the Handsome Mens Club and the video provides us all with a rare glimpse inside of a typical meeting of these top secret club. Check out the video here:
What’d think? Personally, I feel that everyone needs a good laugh some times and this video definitely did it for me. I also think it was really pretty cool that so many big names were willing to be in on the joke and do a cameo spot. And I must say that I sympathize with you, Jennifer Garner, my husband’s bromance can get to be too much at times too…
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Tags: funny video, handsome mens club, jimmy kimmel, oscars
Hello Again
So I would like to offer a quick apology for disappearing for a time. Work, school, and family have taken up all my time and I let some things drop for a while including this blog. However, at least for now, I am back. And for the next couple of weeks, I will posting some various things for a course I am currently taking in viral marketing so if my posts are a little off topic, again, forgive me. Off topic they may (or may not) be, but hopefully at least they will be fun and/or interesting…
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Banish Common Sense
If you have spent any amount of time listening to the radio in the last couple of days, you probably heard mention of this year’s list of overused or useless words and phrases that should be banished. If you haven’t, you can check out the full list by visiting Lake Superior State University’s website. Personally, two off of their list that I most agree with are “green” and “bailout”.
Now I am not at all opposed to the concept of going green for the most part but what I find really annoying is the fact that there really is no agreed upon definition for what is or is not green. If you talk to one person, a product is not green unless every aspect of it is environmentally friendly. On the other hand, a lot of people consider products, let’s say shampoo, that themselves are environmentally friendly but may not be packaged the same, still to be green. And what about products that the contents really aren’t that great but the packaging is fully biodegradeable? And what is environmentally friendly – methane from cows…I will assume at this point that you get the picture. If you want to introduce me to new terminology, please be sure that there is actually a definition for that term first.
Bailout. As with several million other Americans, my frustration with this word is endless so I won’t even start. You can get a general idea of my thoughts if desired by reading my post “For $700 Million, the Answer is…”It’s Not My Problem.”
But I do have a suggestion for a word that it seems has unfortunately become useless. Common sense. Apparently, looking around at the world today – the politicians, the executives, the influencers, etc. – common sense is not something that is used with any regularity. So often, I wind up dumbfounded when listening to those who are purported to be “experts” in their fields. I often think to myself “Does this person actually believe the things coming out of his or her mouth?” I mean, regardless of your particular education or experience in life, if you just take a moment to step back and apply common sense to a lot of the scenarios playing out around us and be honest enough to acknowledge the results even if you don’t agree with them, one couldn’t help but ask them, “Are you serious?”
So with this reasoning, I woefully submit to the list the now useless term, common sense. RIP.
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Tags: bailout, banished word list, common sense, green, lake superior state university
Assessing the Impact of ?#@*&%!
The big story this week is once again coming out of Chicago. People nationwide are talking about the corruption charges facing Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. One discussion point in particular that has arisen from this scandal caught my attention – where is the line between business as usual and corruption? Pondering this question, it occurred to me that the answer directly relates to communication and, well, common sense.
Most of the quotes attributed to Gov. Blagojevich, and even one from his wife, that are being pulled from the complaint contain some form of the “F-word”. For example, when referring to the Chicago Tribune, he states, “our recommendation is fire all those f*****g people, get ‘em the f**k out of there and get us some editorial support.” Later he speaks of President-Elect Obama saying, “motherf****r [the President-elect] his senator. F**k him. For nothing? F**k him.” A quote from the Governor’s wife also contains the word, “to hold up that f*****g Cubs shit. . . f**k them.” These statements have infuriated people across the United States. But are we angrier about the content of the above statements or about the way in which the statements were made?
Consider this. If the above statements were made without the cursing and in a gentler manner, would there even be a corruption complaint with these statements included? I’ll revise the above quotes to allow us to better assess the impact of the cursing in comparison to speaking, as many of our mothers told us to for years, with a polite, firm tone without it.
When talking about the Tribune, “Our recommendation is that those individual’s that we have identified be disciplined and possibly terminated from their current positions. We hope in the future to have more support stemming from your editorials.”
In reference to Obama, “I’m very upset about President-Elect Obama wanting us to select his choice for senator without being willing to help us with our current situation as a sign of his appreciation.”
His wife’s quote, “It may upset them but we need to consider putting a hold on the Cubs deal.”
All of a sudden, the statements don’t look or feel so bad to us when we hear or read them. So is the line between business as usual and corruption found in the manner in which a statement is spoken? Apparently, it very well could be.
Let’s quickly look at another, more personal, example. How many of us have become really pissed off at our partners because of something that they said? How many of those partners, when confronted, have looked completely confused about what they did wrong? Has the ensuing argument ever contained the words “the way you said it…”
This is a classic argument in my household usually occurring after comments like “Do this…” or “What the hell were you thinking…” Had the comment been altered a bit and presented “Would you mind doing…” or “I didn’t understand why you chose to…” oftentimes the argument would be avoided completely.
Another scenario that the way in which we speak is frequently an issue is with children. I often find myself attempting to explain to them that it is okay to feel angry, hurt, or upset but it is not okay to scream at me or throw tantrums. Instead a better way to handle would be to simply talk to me and say, “Mom, it really made me angry when…” Sound familiar?
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Tags: blagojevich, communication, corruption, cursing, fine line, obama, scandal
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For $700 Billion, the Answer Is…”It’s Not My Problem.”
Faced with this scenario, more than 250 employees at Republic Window and Doors in Chicago decided to stage a sit-in to demand their vacation and severance pay. Their sit-in has become national news and has drawn the attention of numerous figures including the Rev. Jesse Jackson who attempted to act as an intermediary between the workers and Bank of America, the institution who owns Republics line of credit. He attempted to persuade BofA to extend Republic’s line of credit to allow these workers to keep their jobs or at the very least, extend it enough to allow the employees to all receive the pay they expect.
It has been reported that Bank of America’s response was something along the lines of the employees pay wasn’t their problem.
I have a problem with this. Not just with the callousness in the attitudes of some of those involved, it goes further than that. My understanding of the principles of economics in our country is that jobs and employment are essential for recovery. And no one should know that better than a member of the industry that (a) started this mess in the first place and (b) is the beneficiary of a $700 billion bailout financed in part by the very same employees that “aren’t their problem”. So it seems that this situation is very much BofA’s problem and that this is exactly the type of situation that a portion of the bailout should be used for. The last thing that I expect is that anyone of the “brilliant” minds out their in the banking industry will recognize this and make it their problem so Bush…Obama…members of Congress…Senators? Stand up and step in here – you passed the bailout, you handle the issues.
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Tags: bailout, bank of america, chicago, factory, jobs