The past two months have been spent in caring for my mother-in-law.  This has involved living in the Philadelphia area for an extended period, a hectic but pleasant Christmas and more than sufficient time to think about what goes on about us while we are doing “work.”

Here is the first of my observations, with others to follow:

The University of Pennsylvania Hospital has a new pavilion dedicated to dealing with sick people.  The facility, from top to bottom is superb.  Each examining room (on the floor we visited) is equipped with the requisite examining table, a desk area with stool and two chairs.  One chair is of normal size.  The other is 50% larger.

This larger chair started a chain of thought that went something like this…the U of P wouldn’t put in larger chairs unless they were needed, they are needed because people are larger, people are larger because of the quality of health care and nutrition they receive when they are young…no they are larger because they are obese. 

A visual observation of other patients (very non-scientific) reinforced my thought about the obesity issue.  There are a lot of sick, obese people in hospitals today.  Why are they obese?  Too many calories, not enough exercise.

Obesity has become an epidemic, and if not stopped will soon overwhelm our medical system with costs that could be avoided.  Some have called for taking away obese children from parents which they see as a form of child abuse. Certainly there is a precedent for Government action, as the Surgeon General was the power behind attempts to ban smoking.

My recommendation is less draconian and stems from my business background.  Place a significant tax on sugars (all types, cane, corn syrup and anything else that adds empty calories).  This will make high caloric sugar based items more expensive, and the monies raised can be used to offset the increasing costs of medical care.

In the 1700s, all that was available was refined cane sugar.  It was so highly prized that it was kept under lock and key and taxed.  Per capita sugar consumption, along with obesity, Type II diabetes, hypertension and other related medical problems was low.   In the 1700’s the average Englishman consumed about 4lbs of sugar a year.  Today it is estimated that the average American will consume over 150lbs of sugar a year.  I don’t think our bodies have evolved over the past 300 years to accommodate change of this magnitude.

As with all simple recommendations, this one doesn’t stand a chance due to the significant lobbying power of the food producers who will see their profits plummet.  Others will say that it is a regressive tax on the poor, for if they want to eat sugar, it will cost them more as a percentage of their income than the rich. 

To the food producers and lobbyists I ask, how do you sleep at night knowing that you are killing people?  To those concerned about the tax inequality, how much are you willing to be taxed in the future to pay for even higher medical costs?

As you can see, sitting in an extra large chair, with time to think, took me down a path of advocating for significant taxes on sugars.  While this is probably an imperfect solution with unintended consequences, the alternative that is facing us as a nation appears much less palatable.

Your thoughts?

RHM 1/17/2012

PS  Wide seats have a larger impact than just in hospitals: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/16/nyregion/transit-agencies-in-new-york-area-consider-wider-seats.html?

 Living in the Boston area for a sports fan is quite a trip. The Celtics, Red Sox’s, Patriots, the Revolution and the Bruins!  I follow and play (more like I participate) in a number of sports. One of my favorites is hockey.

I’d like to give you some insight onto what actually goes on in a 50’s and over hockey league.

During a face off, the ref (whom I know and who is a very good hockey player) stated to me, “You guys are so slow; I can’t tell a fast break from just skating.”  Talk about boosting one’s ego!   

I also heard one player say to the ref, “please give me a penalty, I am out of breath!

During  a shift change one of my teammates stated,” I can’t  do these fast breaks any more”, to which I said,” John, you only had one fast break”, to which he said ,” yes one too many!”

Jack, one of our right wingers, was in our opponent’s zone when from across the rink he got a pass (which was just a tad behind) and in a split second, Jack let go of one of the best slap shots I ever saw, but unfortunately he also lost his balance and crashed into the boards. What really happened is that Jack was falling and he tried to save himself by using his stick. The puck actually hit the stick NOT Jack hitting the puck!

In the locker room at the end of a game, there is dead silence for about 5 to 10 minutes while everyone tries to get their breath back, then  instead of a couple of cold ones,  friends offer sports cream or ice packs, and everyone goes straight home and tries to get their energy back.

Well, now you know the inside of hockey and what happens to kids who don’t grow old but just become a little, or a lot, slower.

RHL  5/18/11

To be honest, my first reaction was, “who did they talk to come to this conclusion?”  But after taking a deep breath, I did some “research” of my own.

Consider the follow factors that have an impact on tradeshows:

1-      Tradeshows used to be a “get together”, a chance to catch up, exchange resumes for attendees and booth duty/sales/show management personal.  Granted there was real business being done for the show and lots of preparation for it, but in past years most shows were more oriented towards a “reunion atmosphere”.  With the economic down turn, it became an act of God to go to a show from the vendor side.  As for the attendees, it was basically the same situation.  So on the positive side, this major constraint has caused vendors to be very focused and provide real value, make important announcements, and thus shows have become a better value. On the attendee side, those showing up have specific purposes, like a real intent to get information, seeking specific product or service data, and a tradeshow is one way to accomplish this.  These forces have resulted in better qualified leads (potentially more leads even if the funnel is now smaller).

2-      While, the absolute number of tradeshows and attendance is on the decline, the ones remaining are either of better quality (content) or specific (like pharmaceutical)  or niche  industries (like needle pointing)  Thus companies are now utilizing tradeshows to marquee their company/brand and offerings for certain types of buyers.

3-      While digital marketing activities are becoming a bigger piece of the marketing budget, there still is some concern about their effectiveness, reluctance to change, and the lack of a track record with new metrics to help justify the related expenses.

4-      While the Internet has become a source of information about companies, products, and services, it also provides a great way to get the message out and a quick glimpse of what you might see about a company or products at an upcoming tradeshow.  Thus some of the potential savings from the traditional promotional activities can be put into the actual shows themselves.

5-      Lastly tradeshows still provide the best lead generation activity, the sales person!  Tradeshows provide in one place an opportunity to make numerous “sales calls” and start or build relationships.

A few key points:

A-     Do not always jump to new technologies just for technology sake.  Look at what is appropriate for your company and products and how it supports your overall marketing strategy.

B-      The issue regarding tradeshows is not about; “is this the correct amount to spend?”, but “how do tradeshows fit into our overall marketing mix and is there an integrated plan that tradeshows support and are supported for overall maximum impact?”

See you at the next tradeshow.

RHL 01/25/11

My article on the Always-On culture elicited some comments about Nicholas Carr’s new book “The Shallows.”  The July 4^th weekend provided a great opportunity to read and contemplate Mr. Carr’s work.

Basically he feels that the Internet, while providing us with unlimited information, is making us stupid.  He is referring to Internet users growing inability to concentrate, focus and contemplate on a subject for a long period of time.  He cites numerous examples of why “deep” thinking is required and how multi-tasking doesn’t work.  In short, knowing where to find information doesn’t mean that we “know” that information.

Equally disturbing is the concept that computer aided “intelligence” will become the judge and standard setter for humans.  As an example he cites the emergence of a computer program that will be able to analyze and judge written essays – the type used for college admissions.  Since the program will follow established rules, higher rankings will apply to those who adhere to rules the most.  Innovative, creative people need not apply.

Mr. Carr often refers to HAL, the computer in the 1968 movie 2001: A Space Odyssey who thinks that he is more intelligent than humans, misbehaves, and is ultimately shut-down by the humans.  Mr. Carr’s fear is that we will become so associated with the computer (Internet) that we won’t be able to shut it down.

One of the reviewers of The Shallows equated it to Rachel Carson’s book, The Silent Spring where she highlighted the issue of DDT usage and its impact on the environment, especially the bird population.  This reviewer is correct. The Shallows is a must read for anyone using the Internet, in order for them to understand the personal and emotional risks that go along with intense continued usage, as well as the long term implications to our society.

It is interesting to note that others are beginning to express similar concerns.  Two recent articles are:

• Alex Beam’s column in this morning’s Boston Globe, titled @Prince I (Heart) You
• Breaking the Email Addiction, by Tony Schwartz in The Harvard Business Review, 6/29/2010.

The implications to Marketers relating to the issues Mr. Carr raises are significant.  If, as he suggests, our brains adapt to external stimuli, then a whole new set of interrupt driven, attention grabbing sight and sound occurrences can be expected.  If there is retreat or moderation in Internet usage, a reversion to old practices or a combination of old and new practices may occur.

Seeing that it is important to be unplugged for a while, and that our brains need to be exercised in different ways, I am making it a point to read at least one book a week.

Read The Shallows and tell me what you are doing to make sure that your brain doesn’t become an extension of the Internet, and as Marketers how you interpret Mr. Carr’s thesis.

RHM  7/13/2010

Looking at the ad a second and third time confirmed my concerns.  While it shows a cute boy, in an inverse situation, and mentions Doritos, I find the context disturbing.

Specifically the ad seems to highlight:

• Being a single mom is OK; they have no problems
• Leering after a woman’s behind is part of what a man does
• Violence (slapping) is an acceptable form of behavior
• Physically getting is someone’s face is a way to enforce your position

Underlying these actions is that the actors were black.  Would this ad been as “cute” if the actors were Asian or Native American?  Does portraying blacks in this way reinforce a positive stereotype?  What would have been the reaction if the adult had slapped the child?

I wonder if Doritos’ Marketing management asked and answered these questions when they oversaw the production of this ad, and paid about $1.5M for the airtime?  I wonder why they thought that this was acceptable ad to show to over 100 million Americans?

I recognize that the Dorito commercial is not the only offensive commercial every made.  Knowing the multiple influences on Marketers to differentiate themselves, I wonder if they have lost sight of basic Marketing 101:

• Know your customer (Who is it in this commercial, smug white people, stereotyped black people, mis-behaving 4 year olds?)
• What is the message? (What is Doritos try to express, humor, wisdom, knowledge?)
• What is the offer? (How different are Doritos than their competitors, what to they offer me, the buyer. that is different?)

If Doritos was interested in “playing nice” with their customers, and not highlighting unacceptable social behavior and reinforcing stereotypes, could that money have been better spent on education?

Or am I out of touch with marketing and advertising today?

RHM  2/12/2010

VOIP is basically transmitting packet data (voice is data) over the Internet versus traditional voice (circuit switched). The two basic advantages of VOIP are: the convergence into a single “network” of voice and data and lower costs. Given these advantages, it is not a question of “if” but “when” that VOIP will be ubiquitous.
While the use of VOIP is growing rapidly it is still a small percentage (15-20%) of overall usage in the United States. You will see reports that IPBX (Internet Private Branch Exchange-switches that handle phone calls) installed are now greater then PBXs, but that only means IPBXs that handle both traditional voice and VOIP; not the number of actual users that are deployed. So before you buy or use VOIP service, you should understand the following issues and get answers to how your selected service provider (SP) is addressing them.

1- What happens to my phones when there is a power failure? Conventional phones still work when there is a power failure, not so with VOIP.
2- What is the quality of VOIP that is provided by the SP? If they and you don’t have enough bandwidth or have high delays, you will experience congestion, gobbled or choppy phone calls.
3- Reliability of the VOIP service. Again traditional phone systems have 5 “Nines” reliability; currently VOIP has a high (relatively speaking) number of lost calls or interruptions. Find out what the SP guaranteed reliability rate is and make it part of the Service Level Agreement (SLA).
4- Security for VOIP is definitely a weakness (one major problem is 911 calls are not well addressed). If you business or usage needs to be protected, again understand the vulnerability of VOIP and how the SP is addressing this.
5- What functions does the SP that you are considering offer. Remember not all SP are created equal. Features like SLAs (have services like reliability rates, call quality, local or international calls supported), bandwidth required to utilize their service, and type of broadband (digital, cable modem, high speed dial) vary from SP to SP.

VOIP like any previous and future technology has positive and negative factors; This posting addressed the top considerations from a user’s point of view.

If you are the CMO and are considering on implementing VOIP (probably a question of when not if) do you understand the issues and potential impacts to your enterprise? Make sure you understand what is required to support the service and what the selected SP is providing. If you want to know more about VOIP or need assistance with marketing or business development for VOIP products or services, contact us at  www.firealarmmarketing.com with your request.

RHL 12/3/2009

While all the facts are not known, the actions that contributed to the stories are real:

• People are social and like to share their activities with friends and family.  The Facebook, My Space and other social networking sites allow them to do this.

• Some people are less concerned about their privacy and activities than others, or their “friends” are, which results in inappropriate pictures and comments being placed on social networking sites.

• Employers, colleges and now perhaps insurance companies are using the content on social networking sites to evaluate people and make decisions.

This pattern of “investigating” or obtaining reputational information has extended to companies.  In today’s B2B environment it is common for people meeting for the first time to have conducted a “background check” of the other person by looking at their LinkedIn page, pipl, zoominfo, and/or a web site.  In addition, buyers and buying committees now take the time to review comments about new products, latest releases and companies before meeting with salespeople.  This background information allows the buyer to winnow down the short list to 2 or 3, condensing the process and saving time and money.  The buyer can also gain added knowledge about the products and vendor, providing an edge if there is price negotiation in the purchase process.

As the CMO, are you comfortable with your company’s reputation?  When is the last time you Googled your company or newest product?  Are you tracking and responding to what is being said about you in blogs, comments and other postings?  If not, why not?

Contact us to help answer these questions.

RHM  – 12/1/09

Earlier this week I had the opportunity to attend a panel discussion on B2B use of digital media.  The meeting was held in a very cool, very hip company location, where I was easily the oldest person by 10-15 years.

During the discussion, the term “digital immigrant” was used (meaning someone coming into the   digital age/environment).  A member of the audience asked for clarification of “digital immigrant.”

The moderator responded:

“If you can recall using a pay phone, you are probably a digital immigrant.”

Most of the audience laughed and nodded in agreement, while some were probably wondering what a pay phone is.

As I post this on my blog, and send it to my Facebook page via tweetdeck, I wonder if the “digital natives” shouldn’t worry more about someone cutting off their allowance instead of tying to type cast segments of the population.  I think the “immigrants” are catching up to the natives faster than they realize.

A quick poll: are you a digital native or a digital immigrant?

I will be in the phone booth waiting your call.

RHM  10/30/2009

In the past, Marketing people collected and retained “portfolios” of their work, to show others, and in the event of moving to a new job to show prospective new employers. These portfolios might contain samples of creative work, brochures, campaigns, Point-of-Sale displays, and so forth. Today, these creative works tend to be electronic and contained on computers.

How can a Marketing person construct a portfolio, especially when faced with a layoff and only having access to his/her material through a company issued computer?

Can they, should they, send copies of the material to their personal email address or copy it to a flash drive or CD? If they do, will it be detectable? What about the legal and moral issues?

Starting with technical questions:

Does deleting emails sent to personal addresses make it harder to find? Not really, especially if the company is intent on looking. There are built-in Microsoft tools as well as multiple third party tools and services available.  In addition, there could/should be logs that indicate activity, pointing to both the origination and deletion of the emails. Advanced Outlook Express Recovery is an example of one of the many such tools that can be used.

What if they were copied them to a CD or thumb drive instead? This makes it a little, but not much harder.  An examination of an employee’s computer can show what was downloaded, to what and when, fairly easily. There are a significant number of forensic tools available to IT administrators to help them discover what was downloaded, if this becomes a question.

On the non-technical side.

Today virtually all companies require a new employee to sign a series of documents as part of the hiring process. One is an Acceptable Use Policy (AUP), which specifies how the company issued computer and the Internet can and should be used during daily activity and in conducting company business.  Basically, the AUP says that everything on the computer belongs to the company and that they can fire you for cause if they find you are looking at porn, gambling, selling goods on eBay, watching ESPN, or anything else they prohibit.

A second document is an Intellectual Property Policy, which says that anything developed by you, while working for the company, belongs to the company.  This prohibits you from taking the formula for Coke, or anything else you developed, while working for the company.

The key is how these documents are interpreted.

If the Marketer is parting on good terms, many companies allow the employee to take copies of past presentations, brochures, white papers, etc. that are samples of the person’s work and in the public domain.  Not allowed would be the report that shows a 200% increase in sales due to the work product.

In addition, if the employee takes generic information that he/she has downloaded off the web, there is usually no problem.  If, however, the company has an agreement with Gartner/Forrester, etc. the proprietary nature of their reports is a no-no.

My observation is that it is in an employer’s best interest to allow a laid-off employee to take his/her information. It shows that the employer trusts the employee, and that by allowing him/her to have the information it potentially shortens their time between jobs. As a result, positive feelings are maintained. It also allows the new employer to make a “better” decision, as they can evaluate the prior work product as part of their hiring decision.

If the Marketer is not leaving on good terms, the employer (1) can easily find that he/she copied information, and (2) has legal standing to cause some problems, i.e., cancelling severance pay, no recommendation, etc.

If the company conducting a layoff does not have a “walk’em out the door” procedure, the Marketer might want to work with his/her manager, saying, “I have worked here for X years, and would like to take some personal and developed information on my computer; will you spend some time copying them to a thumb drive with me?”  The manager might say, “you know what our policies are, copy what you think is appropriate and let me review it.”

If the policy is to escort the laid-off people out the door, cutting off access to their computer, the Marketer might want to provide his/her manager or the HR manager with a list of documents and/or files that he would like, and ask him to forward them to him/her.

Either way, everyone knows what is happening and the company buys into what the Marketer is doing.

When talking with potential new employers, the ability to illustrate work product provides a significant advantage. In today’s electronic age, obtaining copies of this work in the event of being laid-off is difficult, but it can be done. It requires that the Marketer understand how the company interprets its policies and/or by constructing a detailed listing of documents and files beforehand.

Are you prepared?

RHM 7/29/2009

Today’s Internet tools can be seductive. There is relatively little or no cost to set up a web site, blog, construct a presence on LinkedIn and facebook, conduct podcasts, post videos on YouTube and tweet. Based on the enormity of those connected to the Internet, reaching only a small percentage will yield a fantastic return.

Has nirvana arrived? Unfortunately, not yet.

There are costs, both obvious and hidden, that are required in order to be a successful user of the current and emerging social networking tools. For example:

Policies. Before leaping into the use of social networking tools, corporate policies must be established. Who will blog? Is training required? Is there an editorial policy? If facebook pages and tweeter are going to be used as customer input media, who is going to monitor them, and what is the expected response time? Unless buy-in is obtained by all functions, the risk of being flamed in blogs as a poor vendor potentially offsets any gains using other tools.

While there are no out-of-pocket costs in establishing policies, the energy and political capital expended by the Marketing Manager may be significant.

Training. If there are going to be several people blogging, tweeting, appearing on podcasts or YouTube and responding to customer requests, they should understand what they are doing, how it fits in the larger context of the Marketing/Corporate message, and what ground rules, if any, must be followed.

Once the policies have been established, training can follow. However, a curriculum must be established and the message delivered. If no-one on staff is available to do this, outside resources must be engaged to do construct the courses and do the first round of training.

Blogging. If this is to become the unofficial voice of the company, the person(s) chosen to blog through the company site must be a mixture of Marketing, CTO, Sales and Management, with a sense of humor. If successful, this person will be the spokesperson at events and may be one of the leads in closing large sales. Few people can cover all these bases so using multiple people helps, especially when the bloggers are expected to respond to competitive blogs or analysts’ reports.

The costs related to blogging, whether it is one person or several, is ensuring that the blogs are timely, accurate and content rich. To the extent that each blog can be reviewed by someone for grammar and usage is a plus.

Our experience, confirmed in conversation with others, is that it takes the equivalent of one person, full time, to originate content, respond to news/comments, and attend shows and seminars, etc. in order to generate 3 blogs per week.

LinkedIn and facebook pages. While the initial posting can be relatively static, reflecting the official voice of the company, comments and discussions require origination, monitoring and responses. These pages can be used to communicate with “fans” or “contacts” to deliver specific messages or announcements. These can also be the place where fans and contacts take the company to task for poor performance or perceived slights.

The size of the company and their inclination to use these tools will drive the cost. Certainly daily monitoring is required. Responses will depend upon policy, but must be timely. One estimate is that if a company is going to engage in this area, ½ of a full time employee is required.

Twitter.If multiple people are using twitter, under their own name, there is no cost other than training and potentially monitoring. If the company chooses to tweet, i.e. @Acmetoolanddie, then the intent of the tweeting needs to be defined and executed. It is possible that one of the bloggers could be assigned the role of corporate tweeter, but some one should be monitoring all the tweets, both originating from and about the company.

Again, depending upon the size of the company and their intent, the resource requirement will vary. At a minimum, ½ of a full time employee may be required.

Podcasts. One of the surprises that came out of the silent film era is that several of the silent film stars could not make the transition to “talkies” because their voices didn’t work. The same may hold true in trying to move bloggers to podcasts. Some will work, some won’t. If a new personality is required, this will be another added expense.

If the thought is to use podcasts as a vehicle to distribute information about the products, i.e training manuals, installation manuals, etc. careful consideration must be given to the nature and tone of the presentation. Here, using outside professional talent may be the best long term approach.

YouTube. One early approach was to have the summer intern go around the office and shoot video of all the players. While still interesting, and part of the social networking fabric, savvy Marketers are using YouTube to enhance their brand and deliver messages.

The resource requirement in using YouTube depends upon the intent and message.

Have you scoped out all the obvious and hidden costs in using social networks? Have all the policies and procedures been put in place…is there complete buy-in by all functions as to their responsibility? Are you budgeting for an additional 2-3 people, plus training and professional expenses, for social networking in 2010?

Next – What is the right mix of “traditional” and social networking tools?

RHM 7/9/2009