ChaosScenario

Taco Bell Gets Pwned by 50 Cent

In a move to be cool and connect to their young demographic, Taco Bell made a colossal blunder.  Never. Mess. With. A. Rapper's. Street. Name. Ever.

According to AdAge,  "Back in July, the chain sent an "open letter" over the PR wires encouraging 50 Cent to drive up to one of their locations, rap his order and then change his name to 79, 89 or 99 Cent, just for the day. In turn, the Yum Brands chain would donate $10,000 to the charity of his choice."

For those of you that haven't read 50 Cent's (aka Curtis Jackson) wiki entry, I implore you to do it now.  The guy was shot 9 times close range by Mike Tyson's bodyguard in 2000.  50 was shot in the hand, arm, both legs, chest and left cheek.  Jackson rebounded but Tyson's bodyguard was gunned down 3 weeks later.  I could go on and on because his story is fascinating.  Oh, and the name "50 Cent"? Jackson says it's a metaphor for change.  Jackson chose the name "because it says everything I want it to say. I'm the same kind of person 50 Cent was. I provide for myself by any means."

Jackson sued Taco Bell for not getting his consent.  For a brand that's trying so hard to be cool this just reeks of desperation.

So this begs the question, would you ever mess with a guy that can't die and will provide for himself by any means?  I know I wouldn't.  50 Cent = 1 Taco Bell = 0. - John Herrington

Beware Navel-Gazing Straw Men on Second Life and in Real Life

Yesterday I came across this article on MSNBC that claims a bank crash that took place in the virtual world Second Life foretold the current economic crisis. The author says Second Life can provide "real-life lessons on the patterns of free markets and unfettered capitalism." Maybe it can, but be careful what conclusions you draw from those lessons. There are physical costs and incentives associated with the real world that a virtual world like Second Life cannot duplicate.

MSNBC's chief source is a highly credentialed professor out of Cornell, who also authors the blog Metanomics. However, comparisons between the real world and the virtual world to conclude financial markets cannot simply be left alone to self-regulate is a straw man.

The conclusion this straw man enables is tempting for two groups of people:

• Second Life fanatics
• Those who are inclined to believe that the problems in this economy can traced back to insufficient regulations.

So if you fall into one of those two groups (or worse, both), beware bias that might prematurely lead you to MSNBCs conclusion without a thorough vetting.

No market is unregulated in Second Life or in any other life -- especially the real world, where banks and businesses are under such stringent regulations that they hire teams of consultants and accountants to ensure they won't be fined, fired, or thrown in jail for misreporting their numbers.

On top of that, at some point in world history, before law and order were established mainstays of organized society, real life bankers really had to fear being tarred and feathered by mobs with pitchforks if they did not behave honestly. That's a pretty convincing incentive to not rip anyone off.

I won't say the same mob justice isn't possible on Second Life, but it doesn't sting as much when it happens to your avatar.

Now, at least the law gives people some recourse if they have a grievance due to fraud. And this is true no matter what life the promises are made. Then it's just a question of jurisdiction. And if all else fails, Second Life can ban access to its platform or certain types of transactions -- that in itself is another form of regulation that puts to rest the premise that Second Life represents life without regulation.

It's complicated and it makes for an interesting academic discussion, which is probably why an academic is exploring it. However, we need beware of hasty conclusions. - Cam Beck

Dr. Pepper + Guns n Roses = We Win

Who would've thought that Axel Rose could actually give everyone in America a Dr. Pepper?  If you haven't heard, the soda maker made a pledge to give a free Dr. Pepper to everyone in America if Guns n Roses released their long awaited album "Chinese Democracy" in 2008. 

GNR has come through, in a big way, and DP has responded with allowing people to print off a coupon on their site.  Good luck trying to get their site to work though.  It seems like even if you hate Guns n Roses (the new album is heinous, btw) you've got to love the fact that they came through for you this time. -John Herrington

Credibility Is in the Eye of the Beholder

As a sports fan and a student of human behavior, I've always been amused when either watching or discussing football with friends and associates. Typically, the improprieties one will tolerate varies greatly depending on which side he wants to win.

In American football parlance, a fan of one team may view incidental contact as flagrant pass interference on the part of the opposing team, while if his preferred team committed a blatant act of pass interference, he may argue, with vein-popping ferocity, that the foul was incorrectly called, or they may appeal to a higher authority, demanding the refs just "let the players play."

In that case, the credibility of the referees is affected by the fan's affection for the team. Unfortunately, it has nothing at all to do with if the call was right or wrong.

I wasn't the most gifted soccer player in high school. I played somewhat the same way a rhinoceros would play. While playing in the European finals, while tracking the ball (and not looking where I was going), I collided with another player who was already set. He went down hard.

(Happily, he was not injured).

The ref blew the whistle against me, and it being a home game, a lot of the crowed booed the call and yelled out "C'mon, ref!"

Amidst the boos from our side, I heard one guy bravely yell, "Nope. That was right. [laughter]. That was a good call."

And it was. Only by some miracle did I escape a yellow card.

Sometimes I think that companies rely on some similar miracle to be seen as truly great.

Business Credibility

Unless they are what Alan Wolk calls a "prom king brand," companies rely on different mechanisms to build the same sort of penalty-ignoring affection for their brand. Here is an incomplete list:

• Celebrity endorsements
• Humor
• Irrelevant details
• Jargon
• Sponsorships

However, as we gain access to information about just about anything, anywhere, we can afford to be a little more discerning about our purchases.

As consumers, we can be and have become a whole lot more fickle in our loyalties, too. Truthfully, that's how we should have always been.

That means that brands have their work cut out from them. They must not and cannot rely simply on gimmicks and advertising to build their brand. That misses the point entirely.

Gimmicks do not build a brand. Ads do not build a brand. In fact, no amount of marketing is going to build a brand. Character builds brands.

Just as teams should not rely on magnanimous or sight-impaired referees to keep their penalty-count low, nor should companies rely on humorous, celebrity-seeking, slightly ignorant consumers to build theirs brands.

If you want to be seen as great, you first have to be great. In everything that matters.

Before you take out a single ad, you should first deal with that issue, and then ask yourself why consumers would care. - Cam Beck

Your Time Is Now

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

That's what they say, at least. For as long as I can remember, it has been the foundational argument of those who resist changing the status quo in favor of unproved methods.

The deterioration of the stock market over the last year and the struggles of advertising industry over the past decade teach us that it's past time to recognize a new paradigm.

It may not be broken yet, but it will break.

Prepare now for when it does.

Then, when times get bad, you're ready to make your move, because the fear caused by an uncertain future will make people open to trying these new, unproved methods.

If companies and individuals did this -- dedicated a small portion of their budget to research and experimentation -- we wouldn't ask the government to try to level out the peaks and valleys of the cyclical economy by juggling the interest rate, printing more money, or promising to bail out and temporarily prop up companies with faulty, legacy business models and management.

The secret to success

There is no secret. There's just hard work. And by the way: start at your own desk.

You could rely on blind luck to inspire similar dedication in your staff. But you exponentially increase your chances if you're there. Leading from the front. Listening. Evaluating. Experimenting.

Be smart about it, but don't be afraid to fail and don't be afraid of no. If it isn't exactly broken now, it's only a matter of time. Will you be ready for it?

If not you, then who else is there? - Cam Beck

Update: While we're on the subject, check out this brilliant piece by Jim Stroup on Exploiting Success. This is a much better alternative to propping up failures.

Fit to Sell

Sometimes it amazes me that with all of the fitness programs that become fads, we have what at least one expert called an obesity epidemic in America. A lot of these programs tell us that losing weight is easy, that it requires little to no thinking--or even effort.

"Take this pill. [Insert medical-sounding jargon]. The pounds will melt away."

"Eat these pre-packaged meals. [Insert celebrity endorsement]. Watch the weight fall off."

"Eat raw foods only. [Insert conspiracy theory]. You'll lose weight and feel better.

"Eat only meat. [Insert atypical before and after examples]. You'll lose weight."

The promise is that they can work, and to some extent, most (not all) of these fads and plans may work to some degree -- if you only want to lose weight are willing to do the work (which is clearly and prominently displayed in low-contrast mouse-type at the bottom of the ad).

With an audience that frequently jumps from one fad to the next, those concerned only with selling may believe the biggest challenge is getting them to believe that this one will work better than the last one.

Actually, biggest challenge is convincing them to do the work required of them.

Coming to the end of my 3-month quest to lower my obscenely high cholesterol levels, I can now say with some authority how difficult it can be to turn away that second portion, to refuse to eat the cookies staring me in the face and calling my name, to wake up at 3:30 a.m. to work out alone when I'd rather be curled up under my blankets with my wife, and to put everything I have into it -- knowing full well that I'd be tired and sore afterwards.

During this quest, I set some measurable goals. Weight loss was not one of them. My primary goal was to improve my cholesterol levels.

Consequently, I wouldn't be able to see if the sacrifices I was making were actually producing results I needed them to produce until after the whole thing was over.

(For the record, though, I happened to lose some weight in the process -- more than I thought I could stand to lose.)

While grand promises about better health, more strength, better looks, and a better sex life may get customers through the door, setting unrealistic expectations about what it takes to succeed will not get them to sing your praises.

Giving Thanks

The impetus for improving my health was my high cholesterol, which I discovered when getting a routine physical I was required to have before going to scout camp with my son this summer.

My motivation was to be around to enjoy my family for many years.

My inspiration was Jason Falls and his efforts to help himself and others stay fit through Twit2Fit.

The program I used was P90X. My wife bought it for me, and she worked hard to make sure I had access to all of the nutrition I needed to be successful.

The program is simple, but it isn't easy. There's really no "gimmick" to it: Burn more calories than you take in (if your goal is weight loss). The workouts are structured in a way to prevent plateauing, which sounds good enough to repeat, but I didn't care about anything but my cholesterol.

Here's a little something to chew on:

I didn't even finish the first workout.

There were several occasions that I thought I wasn't going to make it through the entire thing. There were times I thought I'd eat my pre-P90X words.

"I can do anything for 90 days," I said. "I can stand on my head."

In the end, I lowered my overall cholesterol from 247 to 203.

The new number, while a vast improvement, is still a little high, so I know it's something I am going to have to continue to monitor. However, now that I'm accustomed to eating better (I was forced to in order to stick with the program), it's something I plan to continue doing -- hopefully for my entire life.

Why P90X: A Marketing Lesson

Like I explained, my wife bought the DVDs, the bands, and the weights. I can't say that I would have bought it, but only because I'm stubborn and I'm the sort of guy who thinks he can do anything for 90 days without any outside help.

Plus, P90X includes some "pansy" exercises like yoga, and I wasn't about to buy that (what a mistake that would have been!).

Like any good 2.0 consumer, she did a little Google search and found the video testimonies of a lot of people who tried it.

The folks who market P90X encourage such testimonies through community and meaningful contests. Their forums are filled with people who have done it or are doing it.

These people encourage one another. Because results are possible (in other words, because P90X can deliver on its promise), the community organically convinces new members that they, too, can do the work the program requires.

At times, the program is difficult, but they realize that and have developed a means to get people to push through it -- not by their own marketing, but through the encouragement of others -- because they understand that their advertising isn't going to work nearly as well as the testimonies of those who have done it. - Cam Beck

Tough Times Are Coming

Today I have a guest post running over at Lewis Green's website. Here's a snippet:

The news of the day is littered with examples of businesses filing for bankruptcy, of people losing their homes, of banks going under or demanding favors in the form of taxpayer money or guarantees, and of rising unemployment. The stock market has dropped several trillion dollars in the past few months. At a glance, it appears as if all of these things, together, will be catastrophic.

But they aren’t. At least they don’t need to be.

Read the rest at BizSolutionsPlus.

Lessons on Facebook -- from my wife

Working in social media and living in it are two different things. This became even more apparent to me a couple of weeks ago when my wife found Facebook.

People are surprised when they find out that, although I make my living in digital marketing, not everyone in my immediate family is as into it as I am. I guess after telling certain people about 'cool' things and getting that glassy eyed looked, I chose to only tell those who seemed to care.

These last few years I think having a spouse that is not necessarily on the cutting edge of social media and internet marketing has helped. It keeps me grounded in reality. In a lot of cases, she's the stereotypical target market. She serves as a great dose of reality.

So here's a list of things that I've learned from my wife when she joined and got active on Facebook:

1. It's about connecting with old fiends. Once she realized that she could find people she went to high school and college with, she spent literally hours looking up all kinds of old acquaintances.
2. It's about pictures. My wife is an amateur photographer but never really got into Flickr, Photobucket or even Snapfish. She's posted all kinds of photos on Facebook however because she knows her friends are logging on all the time. I guess that's why Facebook is the heaviest used photo site.
3. The best apps are the ones that allow her to connect with others in a clever way. There are a lot of apps that allow you to dress up your profile. The ones that are the most interesting to her are the ones that she help her engage with friends, give an excuse to say hi or share something about herself and encourage others to do the same.

- Paul Herring

You Think You Have Problems?

When I get discouraged and think that my life is pretty tough, God finds a way to wake me up to reality. Things are never as bad as we make them out to be.

Last night I was to attend a court of honor for a young man who earned his Eagle rank in Boy Scouts.

• I was late getting out of work
• I couldn't find the gift I wanted to buy the new Eagle Scout at Borders
• I had to shovel dinner in my mouth and was still hungry when I finished
• I had to remind my son all the things he was supposed to do to prepare himself for the ceremony
• I couldn't catch a break on the lights
• I got lost on the way there
• I was exhausted
• I was late getting to the church

As quietly as I could, I sat in front of one of the Assistant Scoutmasters, who had his family there, including a son dressed in a scout uniform. I knew him from reputation (he's now attending college), but at the moment, all I could think about was how everything was going against me and how I'd explain my tardiness to all who noticed.

I was being self-absorbed.

The pastor was already giving a testimony of the new Eagle Scout, and at the moment I arrived, he was relaying the difficulties the scout had endured all of his life.

I won't go into it in detail here, but for reasons not associated with scouting at all, it involved multiple surgeries and inconceivable pain and hardship.

Though we'd excuse him if he did, he did not complain. Not once.

Then the Eagle Court was called, and all the Eagle Scouts in the audience made their way to the podium to offer support and accountability to the newest member. The young scout behind me -- the son of the Assistant Scoutmaster -- stood up as well. He, also, is an Eagle Scout.

And he is completely blind.

Another Eagle Scout assisted him to the front. All the way he had a tremendous glow. He knew the scout being honored and was very happy for him.

I smiled, too. And for the moment I forgot about how poorly I thought my day was going and just swelled with joy for the young men both on the stage and in the audience for their dedication and accomplishments.

But most of all, I was grateful for their spirit. It reminded me that things are never as bad as we think they are. And that even if they are, we do not need to be a slave to them. - Cam Beck 

Hold and Die

Today is the 233rd birthday of the United States Marine Corps. One Marine who isn't here to witness it is the American hero, Col John Ripley, who passed away last month. Here's a video of a small portion of his amazing story. (Hat tip to Gannon)

(Feed readers click through).

His orders were to hold and die.

Not hold OR die. Hold AND die. Implicit in the orders are not one, but two promises.

1. His men would accomplish their mission against overwhelming odds.
2. They would die while performing it.

So what happens?

As Col Ripley put it:

"When you know you're not going to make it, a wonderful thing happens. You stop being cluttered with the idea that you're going to save your butt."

The uncluttered mind is unencumbered by the desire for self-preservation. It can free you up to focus on the transcendental ideals of love for the things you should have been devoted to all along.

Most of us are very blessed to not have to face the same circumstances as Col Ripley, but perhaps we can all learn something from his noble example.

Stop worrying about the terrible things that may happen -- to your job, to the economy, to your life -- and just focus on serving your fellow man. You may find out what Col Ripley found, that they were safer as a result of it, anyway.

Semper fi, Colonel. And happy birthday. - Cam Beck