Jaffe Juice

In the spirit of my continued quest to drive home the following point to marketers, "Facebook is not the silver bullet you seek" (nor is it capable of slaying a rapid werewolf, vampire or zombie...read on), here is a tremendous source/resource which you can thank me for later.

Or rather, just thank the following blogs, which provided the breadcrumbs that took me to this gingerbread house: here, here, here, here, and ultimately here.

The gist of the thread is simple, Facebook apps are declining in popularity. The questions are two-fold: is this (already) evidence of Facebook fatigue and/or to what extent is this trend direction permanent versus some kind of a "correction"

For what it's worth, I've had a number of conversation with blue chip marketers who have seemingly and giddily dived head first into Facebook as a cure-all "non-traditional" investment - one in the financial services sector and another in the family entertainment/event (whatever that means) space. In both cases, they've veered away from pursuing a more stable and deeper conversational strategy path in favor of "wild short-term success" (my words, not theirs). I wonder to what extent this is focused on Facebook apps, in which case they might want to think about reconsidering their eggs-in-one-basket position.

As the chart below demonstrates, the top 10 apps on Facebook have all declined or slowed down quite significantly from their peaks to present day.

Note of course that in many - if not most - cases, we're talking about an incredibly small window or timeframe e.g. Funwall, which has only being Bacn' through cyberspace for 5 months. That said, how many of you on Facebook that have the Funwall application (I'm assuming 90%+) are considering uninstalling it? Again, I'm assuming a large number, which would support the above assertion(s)

Anyway, check out Andonomic's Leaderboard and decide for yourself if Facebook is following MySpace, which in turn is following Yahoo!'s lead off the board so to speak.

So I'm sure you saw BIGResearch's 11th SIMM study, which reveal some interesting factoids, including the fact that just 5.5% of people fully pay attention to TV commercials when they come on.

"Whoa," as Keanu might say.

41.2% are channel surfing, 33.5% talking to others (in the room or on the phone) and 30.2% mentally tune out.

I wonder where IM'ing, checking e-mail and other web-related activities would fall (most likely the tuning out part), together with ad-zapping/skipping/TiVo/DVR-related activities (again, most likely channel surfing)

How accurate and/or representative is this finding? Deep down in your gut you just know it is closer to the real truth than not.

Adding to the cluttered environment aside, doesn't this just become a game of math at the end of the day i.e. assessing the calculated risks and rewards of weighing a success:failure exposure and reach rate of 5.5% against the propensity and probability of making one's quarterly numbers and keeping one's job?

There's got to be a better way that is both more efficient and effective, and commensurately less risky.

And of course, there is.

So why aren't more marketers taking this route? (cue: Super Bowl music NOW)

As always, my thanks to Deliver Magazine and USPS for their support and partnership. Audio comments to +1 206 203-3255. In this episode, Scrabulous, UNM2PNM, Quality v Quantity, Conversation Starters, Charity and the Stupid Bowl. Don't forget to join the Jaffe Juice Facebook Group.

Direct download here
iTunes subscription here

0m - Scrabulous Intro

8m - Updates on UNM2PNM - 115 requests in; 35 to go; request your review copy here

12m45 - An inaudible audio comment from a Brit. Please identify yourself :)

14m55 - A real conversation starter from Adam Broitman: 10 quality relationships or 5 million impressions? You decide

23m32 - Audio comment from long time listener, Richard Gatarski

27m - Deliver Magazine's 7th Conversation Starter on Product Innovation, R&D and Marketing's role

40m50 - Closing the book on the Month-long Celebration on Experimentation and the chosen charity

47m30 - Thoughts ahead of this year's Stupid Bowl. Have advertisers done a poor job of engaging the blogosphere?

55m30 - Playing out with David Usher's "And so we run"

Let me just say off the bat that I don't begrudge brands from participating in Advertising's Spectacular Spectacular. It's one of a handful (literally one hand = 5 fingers...count 'em) of mass reach opportunities left (even American Idol is starting to suffer cold-water shrinkage)

This year, it would appear that advertisers are working harder (as they should) to "amplify, extend and enhance" their efforts (read: do whatever the hell they can to justify their investment), including a robust mobile promotion from Anheuser-Busch and a cacophony of consumer-generated/participatory efforts.

That said, it still got me to thinking (thanks to an interview I conducted over the weekend) about the real high stakes environment of "The Big Game"

• For starters, the fact we rely on YouTube (which wasn't even around 2 years ago as a Super Bowl Hail Mary) as much as we do is in of itself an indicator that advertising in the game isn't enough (anymore)
• ...which validates the point that Super Bowl advertising is all about the P.R. (Today Show Donny Deutsch mentions etc).
• Which is all well and good, except for the fact that unless you're in the top 5, you've pretty much flushed your money down the toilet. That sounds like a twisted game of Russian Roulette to me. Remember CareerBuilder and Cramer-Krasselt?
• Bonus impressions aside, let's talk about actually breaking through the clutter through the message i.e. creativity. Why is that so many advertisers no doubt will run repurposed creative as opposed to putting their entire hearts and souls into something compelling?
• ...and speaking of breaking through the clutter, there's the medium part. With half the audience divided between males and females, there's almost always 50% wastage built into the value proposition (there's your answer Mr Wanamaker).
• ...but it gets worse. Have you ever watched a Super Bowl yourselves? Of course you have and most likely you're at a party, where the noise of the crowd, coupled with the sound turned down essentially means that audio is not a factor in the package...
• ...and clearly neither is having one's full faculty in tact. It's called ALCOHOL people and most of us are inebriated enough not to remember where to purchase widget x the next day (save the efforts of 10+ commercials from Budweiser reminding us to keep on drinking throughout the game of course)

I can't help but wonder where the research is that proves the Super Bowl actually drives product i.e. sales. I don't have the time to do the analysis (if you'd like to do it, just post your findings in the comment section or e-mail me and I'll repost), but one type of litmus test is to look at the advertisers that are returning versus the newbies as an indicator of efficacy.

The last case study that existed was the dot com example, where companies ploughed up to 50% of their budgets into 1 or 2 Super Bowl commercials and to thank them for their efforts, they went out of business.

Anyway, just thought I'd provide some sobering thoughts to balance out all the pre-game viral buzz.

Again, I don't begrudge any brand from giving it a shot. It's a great platform and opportunity to hit it out the park, with emphasis on "hitting it out the park" as a necessary prerequisite.

Go Giants!

105 requests are in with only 45 to go (request yours here). The full list is in the extended post.

I've also started this Facebook Group for participants to upload, share, update, connect etc.

In addition, several people who already had purchased the book are going to participate in the program. Thank you to Caroline Maerten @ Rolling Talks, Reed Smith @ Reed all about it, Mark Goren @ Transmission Marketing, Dr Mihaela Vorvoreanu @  PR Connections and Steve Dow @ Mediageek.

Quite a few of the participating bloggers have posted about the program ahead of their reviews. They include this, this, this, this, and this.

The good news is that most books are making their way (or have arrived) at their respective destinations and although it's still a little early for reviews to come in en masse (with the exception of Bob LeDrew and Lewis Green who must be speed readers), here are some from people who had already purchased the book, however still participated in the program:

• Valeria Maltoni @ Conversation Agent - REVIEW (Sentiment: positive)
• Doug Haslam @ Topaz Partners - REVIEW (Sentiment: positive - with a warning that this book is not intended/written for the epicenter of the fishbowl)
• Jeremy Brook @ Lowe/Rivet (Australia) - REVIEW (Sentiment: positive)
• Bob LeDrew's review @ Flacklife is here - REVIEW (Sentiment: positive)
• Lewis Green @ Bizsolutionsplus - REVIEW (Sentiment: positive)

Of course, the real test of this particular experiment will be to what extent 150 reviews help sell the book (or not). The assumptions (or hope) going in are that a) all participants will review the book as promised and that b) the reviews will be positive (I say that from the perspective of being the author, but also based on the initial reactions/consensus to date)

It's still to early to tell, however I have seen somewhat of a jump in sales activity within the past week, although it's a little more tricky to determine if it's because of UNM2PNM, a generous discount, my Facebook social ad or all of the above.

Of course I will keep you all updated with as many statistics as possible.

This is at the end of the day an experiment steeped in the 3 pillars of conversation: community, dialogue and partnership. In other words, this is as much your experiment as it is mine. From the UNM2PNM logo designs (this one is courtesy of Greg Smith) to people like Beth Kanter volunteering to do a book giveaway as her part in this program, it's encouraging to see people expressing themselves creatively and experimenting likewise.

I hope you will do similarly. In fact, if you've already purchased the book and would still like to review it, please contact me and I'll make sure I add you to the growing list. Please also make sure you include the Amazon.com affiliate purchase link when you post for tracking purposes (all proceeds going to charity)

Hmmm....I just got back from taking the kids to a local arcade and while I was there, I bumped into Charles Marrelli, whom I haven't seen in a few years.

Then I get back to my computer and see this ad.

Coincidence?

I think not.

I stumbled upon this Facebook group, the "International Delete Your MySpace Account Day" group, which this year, will fall on January 30th.

The description says a lot:

Dear Myspace - Because you claim over 200 million accounts and don't report on actual active users like Facebook (60 million), we are grouping together to delete all our empty, dead, double, and never-been-used profiles on your ad filled site so that you true numbers can shine. Don't get too excited when you see a big spike in logins on Jan 30th, it is just so we can delete our dead accounts.

Do I need to say any more, except that what goes around, comes around?

It's no secret that "Talent" is - if not THE - one of THE most critical focus areas for companies in the marketing communications space right now - specifically the agencies. You're not going to attend a single conference without an entire panel being dedicated to talent or a high ranking executive talking about talent is one of the primary challenges, concerns or focus areas on his or her agenda.

ATTRACTING digital talent has become increasingly difficult for the agencies. This is a global phenomenon and is applicably pretty much across the board. In recent time, this had been worse in the mid-level range, due to a void vacated by the exodus caused by the dot com bust. Nowadays however, it's pretty pervasive in all areas of the business.

Of course this is now compounded by the fact that digital talent is not enough to cover the expanding consideration set of "colors" in the box of crayons, including - but not limited to - social media, word-of-mouth, co-creation, consumer generated content and social networking (to name a few)

And as if this wasn't enough of a conundrum, it's become glaringly apparent in the past few weeks that the agency world cannot hold on to its existing talent either - particularly in the leadership category.

This list includes my friends (know 'em and love 'em all) Denuo's Nick Pahade, OMD's Sean Finnegan, Tribal's Paran Johar, Mediavest's Adam Gerber (his new venture just raised some fresh new money) and Ogilvy's Eric Wheeler and underscores the push-pull reality of the business at the moment.

PULL: The easier of the two forces. Digital industry "vets" or old-timers want new challenges. They also want to cash-in or cash-out and who can blame 'em. They've worked too hard, been paid too little only to see 25-year old millionaires created at times overnight. The lure of start-ups in the technology and social media/networking space is just too great at the moment. They are well-funded and can offer the one thing that agencies cannot - EQUITY (substantial). They desperately need to figure out how to court, woo and win over both Madison Avenue and the brand marketers. First of course, they need to figure out their business models...and who better than to work with those who acted as purse string arbiters.

PUSH: As per the earlier point, agencies are infamous for overworking and underpaying. That however, is probably a bit outdated in terms of current applicability. Agencies have lost the spark that once had employees willingly staying until witching hour. Today people work late under duress...if at all. And it really doesn't matter how much money is being thrown at execs....because the VC world can come up with more.

Perhaps the more important PUSH point is the ephemeral one that is associated with being respected, trusted and empowered to effect change and innovation. Commitment to digital is either still superficial and/or not bought into across the board. Perhaps Carat's experiment will buck this trend i.e. promoting digital stars to the ultimate leadership position and helping infuse digital commitment across the cultural board. Carat does need to score a big win to prove this new working model (they recently lost a large auto client) and I'm crossing fingers for Scott Sorokin and Sarah Fay (and indirectly David Verklin) who are both great, talented stars.

It's a 1-2 punch of ATTRACTING and RETAINING talent that could conceivably become a knock-out punch that causes the kind of tipping point that will revolutionize and restructure the agency world and its importance and role with brand marketers.

Until then, I would caution brand marketers at the moment to really do their due diligence when it comes to partnering with an agency that needs to demonstrate acute digital and social media strategic leadership. The market is filling up with too many Houses of Cards.

Forget The Long Tail. The same for the Fuzzy Tail. Instead, might I introduce you to The Hummy Tail.

Proving once again, how content is immortalized on the social Web, on August 7, 2006, I wrote a brief post called Hump that Hummer, outlining a new website called I humped your Hummer, where anti-Hummer "enthusiasts" expressed their thoughts about the invasion of the roadsnatchers.

Anyhoo, yesterday (January 23rd, 2008) "Nikki" posts this comment:

I own a HUMMER H2 and compared to a Toyota Prius we are angels. Toyota Prius' have killed 100 miles of forest around the mine in which their battery parts are mined. And our gas milage is no different then a Yukon, Suburban or any other similar sized vehicle. You just hate me cause I am 28 and own a $65000 vehicle! I have yet to hump a hummer but I have humped in my truck. It's great getting off on expensive leather! A civic or a corolla probably doesn't have that kind of quality eh? Plus my two children are safe and that is WHAT MATTERS! Take your little cars and drive them. But I will KEEP MINE FOREVER!!!!!!!

Classic! My best comment ever. In her brief rant, she outlines exactly why people feel the way they do about Hummers.

...but then something happens. She returns to the scene of the crime, calmer, cooler and more collected (perhaps she drove over a little old lady on her way home from soccer practice) and writes this comment:

Ok, that was a bit harsh on my end. i apologize for the mean civic comment-I had two accords myself when I was younger. But hummers get a bad wrap. We are environmentally no worse than a Yukon or similar sized suv. We are just easier to pick on because we look worse. Go after the uppity soccer moms living in the burbs. I am truly a down to earth person defensive about people who pick on our trucks. Again I apologize for the comment. Nikki

Nikki, apology accepted. In fact, let me just say that I love you. You are truly my new favorite commenter. I appreciate your passion and for the first time feel differently about Hummers and their drivers...well, at least you.

You probably stumbled upon Jaffe Juice through a typical Google search, but now that you've found it, I hope you enjoy an environment where people aren't afraid to say what they feel, even 18 months after the fact!

A. Performance of My Facebook Social Ad
B. Performance of UNM2PNM
C. The fact Amazon.com has reduced JTC to a ridiculous $13.91 It's back up to $19.77
D. Join the Conversation is a great book
E. All of the above

A. Facebook Update:

I created a new social ad to runalongside my first one. This time I included the word "Marketing" in the subject header and a few keywords in the body copy such as influencers, community, word-of-mouth and social media.

Here's the performance to date:

Generic Ad #1 (Title/subtitle of book): Impressions - 4,996; Clicks - 10
Custom Contextual Ad #2 (Marketing in header): Impressions - 4,107; Clicks - 18

B. Performance of UNM2PNM

101 requests so far with just 49 to go. Definite boost in terms of posts about participating. Still too soon for reviews en masse, however a few early ones are in.

C. Not sure what's up with that....perhaps the Algorithm needs an overhaul or perhaps Amazon is doing it's part to make sure that everyone in the business world has a copy of the book, which is awfully generous of them.

What I would recommend is that you BUY THIS BOOK NOW at this price point. Take advantage of a ridiculous fee which will allow you to buy one for yourself and pass one or two on to clients, bosses etc.

Seriously.

D. Reviews are starting to come in like this one.

Thank you to Deliver Magazine and USPS for making episode #100 possible and for their partnership. Audio comments to +1 206 203-3255. Join the Facebook Group and Conversation.

Direct download here
iTunes subscription here

0m - Props to Matthew Ebel for his creative direction and production of Episode 100. Get yours today!

7m25 - Audio comment from Internetologist, Len Hause in Austin

16m45 - Revisiting UNM2PNM. Request your review copy here

20m - More on Join the Conversation - why don't you become a co-author of the blog?

21m40 - Musical Dave Delaney from Podcamp Nashville

24m30 - My first social ad and a bit of commentary on About-Facebook

34m15 - Some audio feedback on Conversation Starter #4 from Simon Young (my interview on the future of radio with Mark Ramsey here), Dave Guerra and Peter Stephenson.

45m30 - Conversation Starter #5 on Virtual Worlds

54m30 - Winners & Losers: Actually just losers this week with the trio of Target, Hasbro/Mattel and Ford

I'm testing the revolutionary new ad platform from Facebook, with "Join the Conversation" as my guinea pig.

From a total universe of 22,862,080, I selected 25+ year olds interested in Marketing as my subjects, leaving me with 2,140 potential book buyers.

I checked "Add Social Actions" to my ad and look forward to Jay Moonah giving me free advertising :)

So far, so good: 13 impressions and 1 click with a CTR of 7.69% Up to 133 impressions now with still 1 click. 0.73% CTR. Perhaps I should optimize?

Wish me luck.

I'm pleased to announce that no less than 90 bloggers, podcasters and/or editors have requested review copies of "Join the Conversation". The full list (I'll replace URL's with blog/podcast names when I get a chance) is below:

http://www.robertjohned.com, http://www.freshpeel.com, http://www.digtrends.com, http://www.minterdial.blogspot.com, http://www.cottercity.com, http://blog.beforethehype.com, http://www.troyrutter.com, http://typeapr.com/blog, http://www.advertising2.net/, http://www.geoffmanning.com, http://www.lgbusinesssolutions.typepad.com/solutions_to_grow_your_bu/, http://www.jasonfpeck.com, http://www.usefullunacy.typepad.com, http://www.radicaltrust.ca, http://www.behindthebuzz.com, http://www.derrickkwa.blogspot.com, http://www.3i.wildfirestrategy.com, http://www.blog.brandexperiencelab.org, http://fontainedepierres.blogspot.com/, http://www.profitablesignals.com, http://www.digitaldigs.wordpress.com, http://www.NewMediaSandbox.com, www.magicwoodworks.com/blog, http://www.armourpr.wordpress.com, http://www.flacklife.blogspot.com, http://incentive-intelligence.typepad.com/, www.chamika.com/insights, http://www.happypixels.ca, http://www.blog.coolz0r.com, www.eaonpritchard.blogspot.com, http://www.jameyshiels.com, www.designsojourn.com, www.anewmarketing.com, http://www.fasterfuture.blogspot.com, http://www.blogspot/therkel, www.fabianocoura.com, http://www.www.marketingovercoffee.com, www.sociallyadept.com, http://www.faminecity.com, http://crossthebreeze.com, http://www.shakegently.com, http://www.leanforwardmedia.blogspot.com, www.paul-woods.com, www.mesheast.com, http://blog.brainstormbrand.com/, http://www.benrowesblog.wordpress.com, http://ijump.co.nz/ijump-blog, www.thefinanser.com/, www.altamirano.org, http://www.uwehook.blogspot.com, http://blog.cuemployee.com, http://www.thehalogroup.net/blog/, www.BandWidthCamp.com, www.christophebouten.be, http://www.pirkka.typepad.com/digikko, http://www.myeastbayagent.com, http://www.fleeep.net/blog, www.planetsab.de, http://www.ninefish.com/blog, www.askacopywriter.blogspot.com/, www.startupblog.wordpress.com, http://www.craigelston.blogspot.com, http://www.shopperculture.com, http://www.sirkin.com/nonprofit_emarketing/, www.marketingusabile.blogspot.com, http://www.greenaffiliate.blogspot.com, http://www.compassioninpolitics.wordpress.com, www.teehanlax.com/blog, http://www.jimmpodcast.com, http://www.monicahamburg.wordpress.com, www.tacony.com/myob, http://www.antti.vilpponen.net, www.minorissues.be, http://cadenceblog.typepad.com, http://www.thethingis.typepad.com, http://www.constantbeta.com, http://www.viaspire.blogs.com, www.schafer.com, http://www.asymmetricbizcult.com, www.danavan.net, http://blog.nextnewnetworks.com/, http://techpopuli.net, www.contagiousmagazine.com, www.destinymaker.org, www.persuadersonline.com, www.conversationmarketing.com

In terms of progress, the first batch of books to those in the US were shipped out last week and to my knowledge have all arrived at their destinations. Those abroad (and/or people with PO Boxes) will receive theirs a little later.

Some bloggers have already posted about participating in the experiment, for example: Paul Hebert @ Incentive Intelligence and Jason Peck @ Take a Peck. Others, including people who had purchased the book anyway, have already reviewed it such as Valeria Maltoni on one of my new favorite blogs, Conversation Agent.

Beth Kanter @ Beth's Blog: How nonprofits can use Social Media had already purchased a copy and so she chose to do a book giveaway on her site to the reader who left the most compelling comment as to why they should receive a review copy.

All in all, I'm thrilled at the level of interest and support from the social media world. Whilst I hope I do inspire and surprise you with various insights, reflections and ideas, I hold you all as co-conspirators and fellow authors in many respects.

I also look to you all as like-minded messengers and the book as a self-contained, branded and merchandised message.

At the end of the day, I wrote this book for the mainstream marketer that has the financial resources to invest in the power of conversational marketing, but not necessarily the human resources needed to deploy smartly, strategically and considerately.

By giving this book to those who most urgently need it, my hope is to play a small cog in the larger machine of change management.

To those, who still want to participate, you can request your review copy here.

Armano is on to something here with a post about what he calls Ambient Interruption.

...it's ironic that the new form interruption now comes from our peers.  It's pervasive, subtle and ambient—it surrounds us at all times and manifests itself in various forms of technologies and devices. 

We've even coined a phrase called Bacn, which is the automated permission marketing equivalent of Spam.

Another point of irony is the notion of permission marketing.  Yes, it worked for a while...(but) we've given our friends and favorite brands permission to "interrupt" us, through e-mail, text, IM, social networks—you name it.

David calls it empowering. I'm not so sure I'd go that far. On one level, there's the A.D.D. effect on workplace productivity from constant interruptions that have the potential and tendency to derail and distract us. This takes on much more dire consequences from a right brain perspective.

On another level, there's the F-factor (F = Facebook), where the automated nature and dilution of what would constitute a true "friend" is extremely vulnerable to abuse. Compound this with grubby and stained inroads from marketers and Ambient Interruption becomes a lot more visible and explicit.

I guess my questions would be two-fold:

1. Do we make the distinction between peer-to-peer and brand/corporation-to-peer interruptions?
2. And if so, what would we call this new form of interruptive marketing?

Dave Guerra wrote this post a few month's back where he compared Donald Trump, Duran Duran and myself to one another.

So what do Joseph Jaffe, The Donald, and Duran Duran have in common? Rhythm. They got a rhythm that is "uniform and a well-coordinated action", they keep things moving, they don't let anything get stale (they wouldn't allow it). After all, it is their name that has been recognized, it is their name that gets people to buy their books, gets people to pay outrageous prices for their buildings, gets people to keep wanting to hear their music for almost 30 years. Do you have the rhythm? Because in the end, RHYTHM IS THE POWER.

This weekend, he wrote this post, which referenced these "Trump traits" from CNBC's "The Millionaire Inside". I thought it was as good a time as any to revisit these traits as an internal branding checklist.

•     Find Your Passion - major check - I call it the lifeforce...
• Be Tenacious - major check
• Don't Fear Risk - check - although at times I think I hold back based on the grounded realities of having 3 kids, a mortgage and college funds to have to pay. That said, I don't think we can ever truly reach for the stars if we don't throw all caution to the wind. Risks can absolutely be calculated and mitigated, but as the saying goes...a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
• Revenge Can Be Good (don't take crap from people) - I haven't done well on this count at all. The Donald would not be pleased. Nor would Jason Calacanis, whom I think is the poster child for putting his head down, staying the course and sticking it to anyone who sticks it to him. He'd taught me a lot. In 2007, there were certainly a handful of people (thankfully no more) that I should have fought - back - harder. I gave them a free pass, listening to the advice of others who told me to avoid burning bridges, ruffling tail feathers and the like. I also refused to abuse my platform - Jaffe Juice - to amplify my message. Was I wrong? What would you have done?
• Know Your Subject - I'm learning all the time about what makes our clients, partners and even fellow crayonistas tick 
• Negotiate Face to Face - All too often we fall victim to taking the easy way out - by relying on predominantly e-mail; In 2008 I need to pick up the phone more often and where practical, give more face time (perhaps crayon client ooVoo can help!)
• Build Your Brand (by being persistent) - check - sometimes I'm perhaps a little too persistent and like Gene Simmons on The Apprentice, try and stay true to myself...to a fault.
• Get in the game (Real Estate...hmmmm)
• Think Globally (the world is truly flat)
• Negotiate a new deal
• Have a killer idea - major check - lack of ideas or vision isn't my problem, it's prioritizing them and...
• Implement your idea well - ...executing them that counts. To be sure, this is where I want to overdeliver 200% in 2008.
• Have Confidence - major check - While I'll never be accused of being confident, I think there's a fine line between the right amount of confidence and the double-edged sword of being over-confident or self-doubting. In 2007, I wavered at times by not following the same advice I give out to clients. There's a reason why celebrities never read the newspaper and whilst I'm by no means calling myself a celebrity, I use it as an example to reference the blogosphere and what it can do particularly well (and by well, I mean badly)
• Never Lose Focus - check - I'm probably being kind to myself by self-reporting a "check"; I think there's probably a clear distinction between being passionate and focused; Whilst I am pit-bulled focused on the rise and importance that conversational marketing will play in the future of all branding and marketing  communications, sometimes it's the path (or journey) to get to the finish line that can become somewhat confusing or even distracting. There are no short-cuts in life. Period.

That's my partial internal checklist. Thanks Dave for the reminder and inspiration.

So how did you all score in terms of your own rhythm?

After seeing Marc Zuckerberg helping 60-minutes' Lesley Stahl set up her Facebook profile, I friended her and today she accepted my offer. As of posting this, she has 604 friends.

My question to you is whether you think that's a little or a lottle (as I say to my son), given the power of Prime Time broadcast TV.

PS She's a Scrabulous player, but might not be for long...

Case 1: Target

After a blogger, focusing on media & marketing's influence on kids, sent a mail to Target's Corp Communication dept voicing concerns about a series of offensive commercials, what she got back was this:

 Good Morning Amy, Thank you for contacting Target; unfortunately we are unable to respond to your inquiry because Target does not participate with non-traditional media outlets. This practice is in place to allow us to focus on publications that reach our core guest. Once again thank you for your interest, and have a nice day.

I have another phrase for "have a nice day," which might as well have been substituted instead.

Case 2: Hasbro/Mattel

It's official. Hasbro and Mattel have pulled the ole cease 'n desist on Calcutta-based software developers Rajat and Jayant Agarwalla, for their wildly successful Facebook app, Scrabulous (I haven't played it, but I have sung it's praises - literally - to the tune of HSM2's Fabulous; esoteric I know, but sure to amuse a few readers)

Case 3: Ford (indirectly)

Initially Cafe Press pulls a calendar featuring a Mustang enthusiast groups' coveted (I added that in) Ford Mustangs, for fear of legal action from Ford. In a bold move, Ford's legal team had this to say:

"(the company) has no problem with (Ford) owners taking pictures of their vehicles for use in club materials like calendars…We do have an issue with … individuals using Ford’s logo and other trademarks for products they intend to sell."

[update: Todd Defren informs that the above Ford response actually came in the comment thread, which I'm not sure is a plus or a minus, given the response itself]

Todd Defren offers insightful commentary on his blog about all 3 cases and picks up on a thought from Jeremy Pepper about truth(iness) versus blogosphere truth(iness).

My 2c to add to this evolving conversation is likewise not to shoot from the hip (on this particular occasion), but instead to add what I hope will be an original perspective to the dialogue (I strongly recommend you follow all the links and pick up on the secondary links as well)

One of the first insights or parables into marketing that I was ever taught was that perception is reality. It often doesn't matter what the truth is but rather how it is perceived. If blogger telephone (a modern day representation of broken telephone) ends up riffing on a pesky fact, it can still be resolved before it snowballs out of proportion, if - and only if - a brand is plugged into the conversation. Otherwise, all bets are off.

Target aside (this isn't the first time they've demonstrated an abrasive customer-uncentric attitude - see pages 145-147 of Join the Conversation), I think that both Hasbro & Mattel and Ford (not unlike the entire music industry when it comes to the Long Tail archives of songs) missed out on a critical and pivotal insight: people are talking about them; they are in the conversation set (as opposed to consideration set).

What is needed here is the third pillar of Conversational Marketing: partnership. Instead of joining them, brands try to beat them (as opposed to "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em) and ultimately this just creates a lose-lose.

In both of these cases, an opportunistic lifeline is being handed to forgotten brands (the conversation already in progress) to join in.

And as for Target, I would take David Jones' advice for their PR people to read my book, which is featured in their bookstore (and in light of American Idol's speedwobble premier, amidst the writer's strike, perhaps they should double up on Life after the 30-second spot as well) and I would start with the cover of the book, which features roughly 600 of the 2,000 bloggers and if you look closely, you'll see an incredibly eclectic and diverse mix of Target (or ex-Target) customers.

With 70,000,000 (give or take 5,000,000 either way) blogs out there and recent Nielsen research indicating that Mommy blogs may have eroded up to as much as 10% of the coveted (there's that word again) 25-54 year old female morning broadcast TV audience, such a brazen attitude could come back to bite in the bulls-eye (the one where the sun don't shine)

Last night's return of American Idol wasn't as triumphant as one might expect. The seventh season scored ratings which were the lowest in 4 years.

This, in the wake of the news that sponsors like Ford, Coca-Cola and AT&T will pay a record $35 million, up from the $30 million from season 6.

Now here comes the interesting part, articulated logically in the Adweek article (which obviously came out before AI7 did:

...but the advertisers are likely to get an even better return on their costly investment than they had hoped for. With the writers strike having shut down production on most original scripted programming, Idol, which premieres Tuesday night, is expected to be an even bigger ratings juggernaut than ever.

Nope.

Which begs the questions to be asked:

• Is the damage from the writers strike causing somewhat of an umbrella effect on all TV watching?
• Could this be the catalyst that delivers the final straw that broke the 30-second camel's back?
• Are people continuing to wean themselves off television in favor of a variety of entertainment alternatives - from gaming to DVD's to online video to fragmenting cable to books?
• Has the bubble of contrived control and artificially inseminated celebrity finally burst (in favor of the rise of citizen journalism/consumer generated content etc)?

Personally, I'm not so sure I'd be engraving tombstones just yet, but I do think that when pretty much TV's number 1 program has a 4-year fall-off in light of literally being the only game in town, there's an irreparable crack in the dam wall, which no finger is going to plug anytime soon.

Or it could just be this dude that's doing the damage.

Congratulations to Uncle Seth's Jay Moonah who is apparently Blockbuster's newest spokesperson. Take THAT, Jared.

I hope he'll divulge some juicy specifics of the royalties he's receiving for being in Blockbuster's advertising.

Props to Facebook for the role they played in making this incredibly innovative, unique, original and empowering act happen.

Jay - don't forget the little people on your ride up the Facebook charts.

Who knows...with a bit of luck and a lot of hard work, you too might find yourself on a Facebook ad, feed or app.

Ta-da. It's here. The 100th episode. It's a special one (you'll have to listen for more). Much thanks to the brilliant people at USPS and Deliver Magazine for making this possible and the one and only Matthew Ebel for his help. Audio comments to +1 206 203-3255. Join the Facebook Group. Rock on.

Direct download here

iTunes subscription here

If you've never listened to a podcast before (and certainly if you've never listened to mine), give this a whirl and subscribe.

I truly believe that podcasting remains THE most underutilized new marketing approach (and one with the most potential). in the box of crayons. Mine focuses on marketing, but you name the passion and there's probably a podcast with your name on it out there.

Whether you're commuting to work, jogging on the road or exercising at the gym, think about the failings of radio and where podcasting can not only pick up the slack, but propel audio citizen journalism to the next level.

Enjoy!

I was interviewed on NPR today ahead of Steve Jobs' annual Macworld Keynote address. I took the interview on my cellphone on the train into NYC which beat the last time, where I hid in the staff toilet at Pershing Square. Listen here.

A couple of weeks ago, I was also interviewed by Mark Ramsey, who runs one of the Radio Industry's largest blog/podcasts called hear 2.0. Part 1 of the Interview, including audio and text transcript is here, where we chat about the radio business, including some of the following questions:

•     In your book, Joe, you say "Conversation trumps communication.”  Tell me what that means?
• Radio, TV, and print are considered "traditional media vehicles." How are these different from the digital and interactive tools of the conversationalist?
• Suppose I am a radio station and I want to get deeper into the conversation business. Focusing on the listeners, what are some ways that stations could dive headfirst into conversation?
• Yes, I agree. I think that radio views itself in the business of selling spots and everything is evaluated against that metric. There's little understanding about how getting deeper into podcasting, community, and conversations, might relate to our ability to maintain audiences and sell spots.

I'm not sure it would be fair to say Marc Zuckerberg was overly poor on 60-minutes tonight. The dude is in his early 20's and he's achieved what most of us will never achieve in our wildest dreams.

That said, I do have concerns about Facebook as a business - to echo the tweet from Jim Turner, who put it best in 140 characters or less.

More on this soon...

I'm guessing it's the half spent against the half of all US consumers frequently engaging in consumer generated content:

NEARLY ONE-HALF OF U.S. MEDIA consumers are frequently creating online content for others to see, according to findings of a new survey commissioned by Deloitte & Touche USA LLP. The finding...marks a 12 point escalation from a prior survey commissioned by Deloitte in the spring of 2007, challenging the conventional assumption that online content creation is limited to a niche group of technology-savvy individuals, the company said.

Source: MediaPost/Deloitte

As 2008 slowly cranks up to a deafening roar, my travel is slowly settling in and I thought I'd share some early calendar events and commitments. Of course if you are in the area(s) mentioned and want to meet, we can absolutely make something happen.

February 9th - Podcamp Nashville, where I'll be delivering one of the unKeynotes, as will former-crayonista and current-all around good guy, C.C. Chapman. Although Matthew Ebel will have left the building for the snowy shores of Boston, I'm looking forward to spending time with people like Dave Delaney, Kelly Stewart, Kevin Reeves and more

Oh and if you're thinking of coming to NashVegas, don't forget to sign up to their Twitter updates.

February 26th - DMA (Direct Marketing Association) Leaders' Forum 2008 Keynote in Aventura, Florida. My session is called a Leaders Spotlight Exchange and will be a highly interactive session focusing on "Life after the 30-second spot"

February 28th - I'll be moderating a CEO/CMO roundtable discussion in Los Angeles, focusing on Join the Conversation. This small and intimate session is by invitation only and is being sponsored. For this reason, if you are a Director or VP-level marketing, brand or agency exec and would like to attend, please e-mail me privately and I'll see what I can do. The good news is that it will be simulcast as an episode of Jaffe Juice - the New Marketing Podcast.

March 19th - I'll be keynoting at Richmond Event's Digital Marketing Briefing at Savoy Place in London, UK. I gave a similar keynote in New York City towards the end of last year.

That's more or less what Q1 looks like from a speaking perspective. There is also a planned CEO roundtable discussion in Atlanta in association with the GSU and as soon as a date is confirmed, I'll share that.

Also wanted to give a quick shout out to the much anticipated Blogger Social '08, which will take place in New York City, April 4-6. Blogger Social is, to my best knowledge, an unprecedented meet-up of like-minded bloggers from all around this wonderful planet.

Kudo's to CK, who continues to champion this like none other.

Here's a who's-who list of attendees to date:

Susan Bird Tim Brunelle Katie Chatfield Terry Dagrosa Matt Dickman Luc Debaisieux Gianandrea Facchini Mark Goren Gavin Heaton Sean Howard CK Valeria Maltoni Drew McLellan Doug Meacham Marilyn Pratt Steve Roesler Greg Verdino CB Whittemore Steve Woodruff Paul McEnany Ann Handley David Reich Tangerine Toad Kristin Gorski Mack Collier David Armano Ryan Barrett Lori Magno Tim McHale Gene DeWitt Mario Vellandi Arun Rajagopal Joseph Jaffe Rohit Bhargava Anna Farmery Marianne Richmond Thomas Clifford Lewis Green Geoff Livingston Kris Hoet Connie Reece CeCe Lee Jonathan Trenn Toby Bloomberg Seni Thomas Darryl Ohrt

...as well as a YouTube "promotional video"

The latest advertising industry sentiment research is out from Advertiser Perceptions and the magic eight ball for the ad biz right now would read, "you're behind it"

Hardest hit was broadcast media with 22% and 16% feeling that broadcast TV and radio budgets will increase this year, down from 29% and 26% when the survey was last conducted (April/May 2007)

Not surprisingly, online topped the pops with 76% reflecting anticipated budget gains versus 21% stagnation and 3% drops. The next highest increase percentages were mobile @ 55% and cable TV at 34%.

Personally, I think the whole study is total crap. For starters, where is search or is that being bundled into online...and if so, why? Also where is social media and/or social networking, which arguably (I'm reaching) deserves a line item on consideration lists?

Definitions notwithstanding, my ire is really raised with the casual causal relationship being inferred between sentiment and budget shifts (or at least broken down into up, down and no change) Television still commands the lion's share of budgets and surely "status quo" would be perceived as a complete business victory.

Am I wrong in thinking that there are lunatics out there still trying to increase TV's share of the overall budget?

To the folks over at Advertiser Perceptions, what else you got? Please send me some more intelligent reflections of sentiment (like perhaps job security or advertising as a percentage of total marketing spend) if you want me to reassess this.

46 review copies of