Fizzle Pop Weekly Round-Up

Pop -Amber Alerts Now On Twitter. Seems pretty brillant to me, so why so few followers? They only have 210. Maybe that makes this a Fizzle?

Fizzle - Did you know that Facebook had a music service? Yea, me either. Mission: "Join thousands of bands and music artists all over the world who are using Facebook to connect with fans and spread their music." Did they rip that off from MySpace?

Pop - The mother of social media lists. Have you ever had a client ask you to provide them with examples of how other companies were using social media? Look no further than this list!

Pop - The father of social media lists. Here is another list that gives examples of companies using and being used by social media marketing. I believe the list above was based off of this list. There are examples from a total of 277 brands!

For those who think that gross is funny

MTV ad takes aim at water waste.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/oct/14/mtv-switch-climate-change

Blogs Can Change Lives

I just wanted to take a moment to highlight a very exciting contest that Sony Computer Entertainment America and mommy blog 5 Minutes for Mom are leading the charge on.



Show your support by spreading the news about the contest to friends and family and nominating a child if you know of one in need.

FREE download of Seth Godin's new audio book, "Tribes".

I'm sure everyone here knows who Seth Godin is, but for those of you who don't - all you need to know is that he is the writer of the most popular marketing blog ever and is the author of the bestselling marketing books of the last decade. With that I bring you a FREE download of his latest book "Tribes". You can listen to it in just over 3.5 hours.

Get a FREE download of Seth Godin’s new audio book, “Tribes,” for a limited time. NO CREDIT CARD REQUIRED.

Audible is the leading provider of audio books and spoken word content on the internet. Audible content can be downloaded to your Apple iPod and hundreds of MP3

Here is Amazon's description of the book:

A tribe is any group of people, large or small, who are connected to one another, a leader, and an idea. For millions of years, humans have been seeking out tribes, be they religious, ethnic, economic, political, or even musical (think of the Deadheads). It’s our nature.

Now the Internet has eliminated the barriers of geography, cost, and time. All those blogs and social networking sites are helping existing tribes get bigger. But more important, they’re enabling countless new tribes to be born—groups of ten or ten thousand or ten million who care about their iPhones, or a political campaign, or a new way to fight global warming.

And so the key question: Who is going to lead us?

The Web can do amazing things, but it can’t provide leadership. That still has to come from individuals— people just like you who have passion about something. The explosion in tribes means that anyone who wants to make a difference now has the tools at her fingertips.

If you think leadership is for other people, think again—leaders come in surprising packages. Consider Joel Spolsky and his international tribe of scary-smart software engineers. Or Gary Vaynerhuck, a wine expert with a devoted following of enthusiasts. Chris Sharma leads a tribe of rock climbers up impossible cliff faces, while Mich Mathews, a VP at Microsoft, runs her internal tribe of marketers from her cube in Seattle. All they have in common is the desire to change things, the ability to connect a tribe, and the willingness to lead.

If you ignore this opportunity, you risk turning into a “sheepwalker”—someone who fights to protect the status quo at all costs, never asking if obedience is doing you (or your organization) any good. Sheepwalkers don’t do very well these days.

Tribes will make you think (really think) about the opportunities in leading your fellow employees, customers, investors, believers, hobbyists, or readers. . . . It’s not easy, but it’s easier than you think.

Fizzle Pop Weekly Round-Up

Fizzle - Yahoo's first attempt at creating a social network to compete with the likes of MySpace & Facebook failed. This week they try again. Will they be successfull the second time around?

Pop - Prominent bloggers from Dell, Yahoo, Facebook, and Kodak discusses the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Business Bloggers during a panel discussion at Blog World Expo. Check out their collective experiences on what it takes to be relevant and authentic in the corporate blogosphere.

Undecided - Futbol meets Football. In an attempt to teach non-americans to understand the game of Football, the NFL has created Coach Stilo, a fictional character designed to enlighten the foreign market on the finer points of the game. Sounds like it could be a Pop. I'd have to hear the coach's New York accent first though.

Fizzle - A business plan you say? Without a viable source of revenue, being loved and being used is no guarantee of future success for these Web 2.0 darlings. Buh Bye MySpace. To be honest I'm surprised to see Zillow on the list. Twitter on the other hand doesn't surprise me, but I think after their involvment with the elections and their announcement of the new CEO (The co-founders are basically swapping places) I think they may make it afterall.

Dressing for PR Agency Success

My early morning reading led me to this PRWeek article about how to dress for success at an agency. The article was less of a “how-to” and more like a reiteration of what most of us already know. The PR agency world is casual, business casual at best. The lack of uniformity sparks creativity they say.

One fashion agency says it gives employees clothing from client brands to build loyalty within teams. Thinking along those lines, what does your dress code loyalty look like if you work with technology and geeky gaming companies?

Crocktober UPDATE

With a delicious (though late) start, Crocktober is officially underway!

Updated Schedule:
Oct 16 - Delicious; Libation B to comment with recipes
Oct 23 - Cliche Crock, sponsored by Charlie
Oct 30 - open
Nov 6 - Chili Crock, sponsored by Rob McMurtrie
Nov 13 - open

There are still two weeks needing sponsors, so if you would like to volunteer, please claim a week!

And Xbox Meets Politics

The Obama campaign, leaving no stone unturned, has embedded ads into Xbox video games.

Is it advertising, marketing, PR, or just smart?

Max Gladwell Says PR is Broken

BACKGROUND – “Max Gladwell™ is not a person or a even a pseudonym but rather a branded online persona. Max Gladwell™ is a blog with its own identity and point of view. It is the collective conscience of those who engage as authors, commentators, friends, fans, bloggers, critics, followers, contacts, subscribers, viewers, users, members, and/or visitors. Max Gladwell stands for virtue, reason, creativity, individuality, capitalism, democracy, humanity, trust, objectivity, freedom, and the pursuit of happiness.”

So, Max Gladwell had this to say about PR...

“As far as we can tell, public relations is broken. On one hand you have these large, aging firms that don’t get blogging and Web 2.0. On another hand, you have those that are focused so much on blogs that they are valuing quantity over quality. And finally you have those that “get” Web 2.0 so much that they’re trying to make this simple business of publicity into something it’s not.”

Additionally, Brian Reich (co-founder of EchoDitto.com) has written a new book called Media Rules: Mastering Today's Technology to Connect with and Keep Your Audience. It offers important tips for public relations professionals as we strive for media placements to please our respective clients.

"'Written in an engaging and accessible style, this reliable resource skillfully discusses what it takes for today's business leader and entrepreneur to survive and thrive in the new communications universe. With this book as your guide, you'll quickly learn how to view everything you do as an organization through three broad lenses: everything is fragmented and blurred, small things can gain great attention, and we are all connected.'"

Here's One Way to Entice Diners in a Bad Economy

CHOW Food Group has come up with a clever way to beat the stock market blues.

But Will it End up in the Daily Hooker?

Ann Curry does stand up.

Looks like the Dalai Lama is yesterday's news...

Boo! Happy Holidays

It's not even Halloween, but the holidays are coming early this year to Wal-Mart, Macy's and other big-box retailers. In a "Thanks, Captain Obvious" assessment, economists are predicting a "lousy" holiday shopping season this year, forcing retailers to bring out the singing santas, Christmas tree sweaters, and sale-priced electronics a bit early. Wal-Mart said their shoppers are increasingly living paycheck to paycheck, so they need to spread out their holiday shopping over a longer time frame. Let's just hope we don't sink into the next Great Depression...I can't handle seeing those giant, lawn snow-globes being sold next to the sunscreen.

We noticed this trend in some recent pitching for a client. While trying to secure radio giveaways for an October promotion (non-holiday related), we were told that all giveaway spots are taken by advertisers promoting their holiday products early, and that these spots (typically easy to get with just a week or two notice), were taken 3 months ago.

Something to keep in mind...

Steve Jobs Can Never Die

Steve Jobs Heart Attack Bogus Report Sends Apple Stock Reeling

More evidence that the fate of Apple is tied to Steve Jobs and his health.
"Citizen journalism" apparently just failed its first significant test. A CNN iReport poster reported this morning that Steve Jobs had been rushed to the ER after a severe heart attack. Fortunately, it appears the story was false. We contacted an Apple spokeswoman, who categorically denied it.

Bacon and Mayonnaise Lovers Rejoice!

I know many of you out there are bacon lovers. I also know many of you are mayonnaise lovers. So why not mix the two? That's right, from the makers of BaconSalt comes Baconnaise.

The Seattle Times reports starting October 11th baconnaise, a bacon-flavored mayonnaise and sandwich spread, will start arriving at local QFCs and Pike Place Market. Also, if you want information on the launch party at the Kangaroo and Kiwi Pub visit http://www.baconsalt.com/.