moBiLOG: Suns wax Kings

Thank you Sac Bee for use of the hospitality suite. Those mini
burritos were delicious. But, boy were they filling.

Thank you,
Sterling

Sent from my yuppie iPhone

Bagna Calda Night

Bagna Calda Night has been attended by the Wiskerchen (and relatives) clan for, man, probably 20+ years. This was my second year in attendance. Anything I do twice is considered, on my island, tradition.

20 or so gather in the heavy, plastic enclosed porch at Chris' aunt and uncle's out near Mogul. Space heaters keep us warm. Wine flows. 8 electric skillets with oil, garlic and butter await our dumping meat, veggies and more meat and veggies in the hot, bubbling love.

Bagna Calda is absolutely a smell disaster. You REEK after, so the preferred method is wear old clothes that you don't mind getting messed up with stank. Last year, Chris surmised that we should just shop Saver's for the clothes. One thing leads to the next and you've got yourself a multi generational freak show with flare to spare.

Enjoy... (click on any photo to link to the slideshow)

What's good for the goose is good for the gander.

I do the 'subscribe' thing for media research and statistics. I came across this blurb from the Center for Media Research. The scientists at the Center walk around with PDA's and take notes while observing people in glass enclosures. This time, they peeked in on web socialites...

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Emotional Business Bonding on Social Networks

New research from Communispace, supporting the hypothesis that people are looking to fulfill six essential social needs online, and drawing on the Maslow hierarchy of human needs, concludes that businesses that help facilitate those needs are more likely to create deeper emotional bonds than usually exist between companies and customers.

In the report by Julie Schlack, Michael Jennings and Manila Austin "Meeting Business Needs by Meeting Social Needs...", the Communispace researchers, building on the work of social scientists, have identified the specific social needs that are met through participating in social networks.

The study addresses "Six Social Needs" and relates them to Online social networks, suggesting that business can take advantage of these observations in creating more affinity with their prospects and customers.

1. Online social networks provide people with the ultimate tool for defining and redefining themselves, as evidenced in profile pages on Facebook and MySpace.
2. The need for autonomy, recognition and achievement are essential to our sense of self-worth and are fulfilled in online communities, blogs, and social networks that provide a way to develop and manage a virtual reputation.
3. People have a need to both seek and provide help to others. Mutual assistance between strangers is a phenomenon that has been uniquely enabled by the Internet.
4. Online communities are becoming the way people find, create and connect with others "just like me" - people who share similar tastes, sensibilities, orientations or interests.
5. A sense of belonging or affiliation alone is not equivalent to a true sense of community. Achieving a real sense of community requires long-lasting reciprocal relationships and a mutual commitment to the needs of the community as a whole.

Communispace referenced its other research on social networking behavior and found that when companies meet the full range of social needs, they gain trust and deep insights into their consumers and community members. And when companies go still further to actively embrace and act on people's ideas they fulfill a sixth social need.

1. People want to be reassured of their worth and value, and seek confirmation that what they say and do matters to others and has an impact on the world around them. Meeting all 5 + 1 of these social needs generally requires the level of intimacy and facilitation that are the hallmarks of smaller, invitation only online communities.

The study abstract and additional information about Communiscape can be found here.

Ok, so here's what I like about this: it puts the gun in your hand and more fish in the barrel in regards to target marketing. Consumers are gathering in networks, making it known what they like and don't like, what they will use and not use, and then providing opportunities for the marketplace to insert relevant information that may, or may not, lead to a sale. Consumers say, "I choose you." and then give you the gate key. I'm not going to go into the diatribe about brand value, it's obviously the car that got you to the gate in the first place, but I must admit that social networks are creating marketing dynamics like nothing ever seen before. Your brand has to, somehow, validate someone according to these six criteria. Brushing with Crest makes me important because they donate toothpaste to poor communities in (x) and I care about the (x) people! I subscribe to a blog from a person who writes about the (x) people. I'm going to tell my friends about it. What we are creating is a culture of brand advocates thru networks. These networks have always existed, loosely, with the brand advocates generally being housewives or Buick owners, etc. Now, we have aggressive networks with the ability, as read about in Malcom Gladwell's The Tipping Point, to move a brand up in the food chain virally. And in a lot of cases for reasons that have nothing to do with the product, but something the brand is doing that resonates with the community. What's good for the goose is good for the gander. Right?

I am compelled to write down a list of brands I use regularly and communicate the qualities that keep my eye on their ball. I bet I come across a few, with scrutiny, that have some sort of social marketing aspect. Uh, oh. I think a new module is about to grow legs on the old bloggerooney.

moBiLOG: do I need this?

Hats off to the Melting Pot, location of the company Christmas dinner.

P.S.
I was just thinking about how many companies canceled their Christmas Party this year, in particular our largest client who throws an absolute doozy. They are a home builder, so you can understand why. We had a very turbulent year as well. Sometimes I had to entertain the thought of 'what now?' and thankfully we came up with some bold moves to keep us moving forward.
I'm thankful for the group at Media Directions and Turn 2 Powersports Marketing. We're a small, scrappy, innovative and absolutely determined office with vision, passion (overused but legit) and education.
2008... we're comin' for that ass! YOU get ready.

And So This Is Christmas... here it is right on time

Time for me to post Charlie Brown's Christmas Kwanzaa. Long live the tradition.

My Christmas Card 2007

moBiLOG: nuff said

moBiLOG: guitar hero 2

The addiction continues.

Get uncomfortably energetic with Power Thirst

Boldly Go

I was recently in Scottsdale pitching my services (marketing, branding, advertising) to a variety of motorcycle dealers from all over the country. My pitch was conducted over a two day period, 9 meetings per day, 40 minutes of one-on-one with the dealership principal. It was an amazing opportunity to survey the triumphs and failures from market to market of businesses using basically the same marketing schemes. Not surprisingly, those that had never used an agency were frustrated with their marketing and further, most of them had no marketing plan to speak of. The theme that came up time after time was cutting of the marketing budget as sales have slowed - an overall trend. I kept replaying the Old Spice commercial in my head, where the guy is in the locker room just after playing basketball and realizing his choice of deodorant matters. “I used to think cutting my marketing budget was a good idea (turns to different camera); DUMB.”

Cutting your marketing budget in a down market is like a NASCAR driver pulling into the grass and stopping if there’s a wreck ahead. Down markets are a car wreck and you should boldly go, maintain levels and use the situation to gain on the field. Now is your opportunity to work harder than you ever have to take the advantage and surpass your competition. Stand on the gas, break from the pack and gain the favor of a segmented and finicky customer base that wants to know why they should choose your brand over another. And everyone loves a winner. So win.

In all of my meetings during the Scottsdale trip, there was only one business owner that walked into my hotel room and really understood the value of what I was offering. Ron Glassman, with his son, owns one of the largest dealerships in the country. Mr. Glassman is near retirement age, comes from the car business originally and has seen every peak and valley our economy has thrown at him. And his philosophy is absolutely dead on: Maintain your advertising and sell your way out of a down market. I can’t express the rush that I got listening to this man explain his point of view. You have to appreciate a man that is basically saying it’s up to a business owner to understand the value of their business is their brand and their position in the market place is directly related to the amount of effort exerted — consistent excellence during the pre-purchase, purchase and post purchase customer experience — to maintain that position. If the guy across the street cuts his marketing in half, your marketing values just doubled and if you have the better brand, the better staff and the better promise, your business just doubled, too.

A down market can be a scary thing, but the truly successful business professionals in any field understand that down markets have consistently produced giant opportunities. Build your brand, maintain consistency and you will have customers for life. Guaranteed.

Sterling Doak is a brand strategist and creative director at Media Directions, a premier marketing firm in Reno, Nevada.

moBiLOG: keeping it sexy

I like my old school crib because I have a wood burning fireplace. It is nice to have the new cabinets, marble counters and oval soaking tub; at some point I will enjoy those luxuries. But for the moment, it is nice to stoke the fire. The sound of wood burning is magical...like listening to the breath rapidly expelled from a dissapointed Christams shopper when the salesperson explains the last {enter inferior electronic device here} was just sold moments ago. Maybe your little fat nephew will be happy with a gym membership instead. Nothing says holidays like exhaustion and exacerbation.
Enjoy!

One week without a car

I'm a BMW owner. I love my 3 series. I bought it used a few years ago. It's a 2000 with 80k on it and it runs like Carl Lewis. I purchased this vehicle because I wanted something that would run deep into the ODO, go fast, have top notch fit and finish and not be a Honda. I own the car, so at this point the only payments I make on it are to the mechanic for routine maintenance. Well, the old bird came down with a cracked radiator, so I shuffled her on over to AutoMotion. I'm plugging these guys because they kick serious ass. They do everything the local BMW dealer does except they do it from the front, where I can plainly see if I might be getting... expletive omitted.

Anyway, I take the car is last week. I had to leave for business to Scottsdale Sunday, so I dumped the rig off in hopes that it would good to go when I got back. It wasn't. The shop has had a comedy of errors trying to get the correct part - bla bla - cool thing is they eventually had to nix the after market and go with factory parts. Generally, this means I pay more, but because they have taken an extraordinary amount of time, they ate the cost. Nice of them. But this isn't the point of the story.

I was just doing some laundry and thought to myself how it really hasn't bothered my not having a car for a week. Sure, it's a pain in the ass, but I've been able to do everything I needed to do. Now, a few months back I broke my smart phone and I almost lost my mind. It's just very interesting to me that, given the choice, I would almost rather forgo transportation in favor of my means of communication. And that is b.s. What the hell good are all these forms of communication good for it there's nothing to talk about?

When the car comes back home, I'm going to make a pact with her: we're going to travel more next year. More trips to the bay, national parks, Vegas, Oregon... hell, might even go see my man Kevin in Phx. Who knows how many miles are left on her. She should see some good road before she goes. I can survive without my phone, I can't survive not having an adventure to call about.

moBiLOG: Phx airport is home away from home

I love this place because they have free WiFi. Anyway, just leaving
via Scottsdale where we met and pitched 18 Powersports (bikes, ATVs,
snowmobiles, etc) dealers from around the country. We provide brand
strategy and basic marketing services and were well recieved. This
particular industry is, frankly, behind the curve on marketing
practices and we didnt know to what degree we would be persuasive.
Well, we were.

When I'm settled I'll break it down. Stay tuned.

Thank you,
Sterling Doak

Sent from my yuppie iPhone

moBiLOG: last Nevada homegame

Currently 38F and smirky at the stadium.