Corrupting words

Posted by Christopher S Penn on Aug 31, 2010 in Advertising, Marketing | 5 comments

Once upon a time, the word gourmet conjured up sumptuous, rich foods of the highest quality:

It was something we desired, something we sought after, something we aspired to.

Then someone’s marketing department got a hold of the word and corrupted it beyond recognition into this sad joke:

Once upon a time, there were a few select companies that were actually industry-leading. Now the marketing departments of the world have deemed everyone industry-leading:

As Syndrome says in The Incredibles, once everyone is special, then no one is special. Everyone is industry-leading to the point where it’s a meaningless term. Every food is gourmet, every wine is vintage, every company believes its customer service is the best, every consumer good is luxury, every event is exclusive, every customer status is elite, every product is innovative.

What’s the competent marketer to do when the incompetent marketers around him or her are corrupting words faster than he or she can use them meaningfully? At a certain point, the thesaurus runs out.

How do you handle the business of being remarkable when all the words to make remarks have been used up?

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No longer lend your strength to that which you wish to be free from

Posted by Christopher S Penn on Aug 30, 2010 in Awakening | 9 comments

Lend your voices only to sounds of freedom
No longer lend your strength to that which you wish to be free from
Fill your lives with love and bravery
And you shall lead a life uncommon

- Jewel, A Life Uncommon

Tell me what you struggle against and I will know that it is powerful, because you spend energy, time, resources, money, and strength struggling against it. Sometimes, it’s a worthy opponent. Rape. Murder. Child slavery. Genocide. These are powerful dark forces that need the armies of light to be marshaled against them ceaselessly. These are enemies worthy of any crusader’s judgement and merciless verdict.

Sometimes, however, you admit your own fears and inadequacies when you only stand for what you fight against, rather than what you fight for. You grant your enemy, whatever it is, legitimacy in your struggle against them. Every time you rail against Barack Obama or Rush Limbaugh, you prove that they’re potent forces to be reckoned with, otherwise you’d not spend time and energy on them. Your battle validates them. Every time you protest a Muslim mosque’s construction or lack of a minority in technology, you reinforce your own position as one so lacking power that you cannot solve your problems any other way than by tearing someone else down.

Tell me instead what you stand for. What you fight for. Show me through your actions that if you emerge victorious from the struggle that you won’t immediately set your energy against tearing me down, because otherwise I’ll believe that you will. Instead of opposing a mosque, build a church or grow an existing one’s community and charity. Instead of opposing the other candidate, demonstrate your commitment to the people whose votes you seek that you are capable of good works with or without an opposing party. Instead of shouting me down, ascend past me so fast that I have no choice but to look up to you.

You have more access to power, to superhero-like powers than ever before in human history. You sit at your desk, basking in wireless networks that let you reach out and touch more of humanity than ever was possible. You can effect change and mobilize people on the other side of the planet with your capabilities. You have the superhero powers. Do you have the superhero’s courage to stand up for something, to do something, to make the world a better place?

… because in the world of superheroes, the person with great power who seeks only to tear others down and destroy?

That’s the evil villain.

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Why you’re probably wrong about lighter fluid

Posted by Christopher S Penn on Aug 28, 2010 in Foodblogging | 6 comments

One claim I’ve heard repeatedly about lighter fluid and grilling is that it imparts a flavor to your food. Sorry folks, I’ve got to call Bravo Sierra on this. Let’s hit the science!

Most lighter fluid is an aliphatic petroleum distillate of some kind, similar if not identical to naphtha. While individual manufacturers don’t disclose the exact ingredients of their lighter fluids, it just takes a quick Google for the MSDS (material safety data sheets) for just about any consumer product to at least get an idea of what’s inside, if not exact composition.

So let’s look at some of the properties of this class of chemicals:

• Most boil in vapor below 200 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Most ignite below 500 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Most charcoal grills cook at temperatures from 500 – 800 degrees Fahrenheit.

Basic chemistry says that even if you dump an entire bottle of lighter fluid onto your grill, unless the food is on there while you’re pouring on the fluid (which is stupid for different reasons), there will be no trace of it left by the time you’re actually ready to cook. I can’t think of a single part of a charcoal grill interior that would be less than 200 degrees Fahrenheit, which is when these fluids would boil away.

The basic truth is this: lighter fluid, unless you’re pouring it on while the food is on the grill, simply boils up and burns away far too quickly for it to have any impact on the food you’re cooking.

Full disclosure: no one from the lighter fluid industry paid for this post. It’s just me getting cranky at misconceptions fueled [pun] by lack of science knowledge.

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Are you hiring a social media strategist?

Posted by Christopher S Penn on Aug 27, 2010 in Marketing, Social media | 2 comments

Are you looking to hire a social media strategist? Take your social media strategist job description and replace the words social media with military.

Think about that for a second.

How silly would it look for the US Army to advertise for the position of Field Commander by saying:

Wanted: someone who can talk a lot, tweet, monitor the battlefield and comment about it, blog some, and help boost our overall reputation in the trenches.

Is it more likely that the US Army, if it advertised for a Field Commander, would have a job description that reads like:

Must be able to win battles with overwhelming force and create decisive victories.

What if you’re not sure what victory is in social media? You might be in trouble. A lot of trouble. Consider clarifying that before you hire someone.

Is social media strategy as clear cut as military strategy? It’d better be if you want to win anything.

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Draw this

Posted by Christopher S Penn on Aug 26, 2010 in Advertising, Marketing | 5 comments

Get out a sheet of paper, totally blank. Go sit by yourself somewhere, no technology anywhere nearby.

Now remember the most important visual marketing campaign you did this year so far. Maybe it was a flyer. Maybe it was an email campaign. Maybe it was a new web site design or redesign.

Draw it from memory on the page.

Now go back to your computer and compare your drawing to the actual campaign.

• Did you remember the calls to action?
• Did you remember the design?
• Did you remember the content?
• Did you remember nothing at all except vague ideas?

If you were the manager of Old Spice, would you be able to sketch out Isaiah Mustafa in the bathroom wearing a towel?

If you are the CEO of your company, were you able to draw at least the homepage of your web site and its main call to action?

If you didn’t remember anything, then go back and figure out what you need to do to make your campaign more memorable, because if you can’t remember it, for sure your customers and prospects can’t.

Get this and other great articles from the source at www.ChristopherSPenn.com! Want to take your conference or event to the next level? Book me to speak and get the same quality information on stage as you do on this blog.