Return on Intention

Stop what ever you are doing right now, and go tune into your local Pop-music station. Listen to the next 10 songs. Do you detect a pattern in the subject matter? Most of the lyrics in a lot of musical styles, not just pop-music, revolve around love and/or relationships. Why?

Pop-music is called pop-music because, well, it’s popular. If its popular, we have to assume that it’s representative of an idea or societal definition. If this is true, then why are we all so obsessed with love and relationships?

The answer is the sense of belonging we all need. Humans are social creatures, and to be as such, we rely on relationships to help understand the world, and ourselves. People tie in the quality of relationships they have with their happiness, identity, and sense of self worth. That explains the love thing. Love, as we believe it to mean, is the ultimate sign of acceptance. We as humans, above almost all else, require to be accepted on some level.

There are many books, and probably blogs on this subject, so I won’t labor much more to make the point of acceptance as a basic human need and motivation. What I will point out is its relevance to marketing.

In marketing, we spend a lot of time, energy and money on communicating to our customers in “a human voice”, or in the proper context. So the obvious question becomes, what part of your marketing plans and initiatives plays to the basic need of belonging? This is one of the keystones to branding. What does your brand stand for? If your customers don’t know this, how would they know if they want to accept your brand? Do the actions of your company and its marketing stay true and consistent to these ideals? And finally, how can your customers feel that they belong, if they don’t have an opportunity to have a relationship with your brand?

I ran into this post from Mark Bixby about Kleenex’s new spots. Take a look at it here. Mark couldn’t be more right…but the story doesn’t stop there. To support this campaign Kleenex built a website found at letitout.com (let it out) . On this site you’ll find the same theme of Kleenex as an emotional support product but also asks the user to get involved by uploading pictures, videos and stories about emotionally charged moments in their lives, presumably where Kleenex could have been with them. The creative on the spots were great and the follow-through on the site was equally as good. The angle they are going for begs for interactivity and it delivers.

The spots connect emotionally and in a relevant way to the audience in mass. The website lets the consumer interact with the brand and the concept with Kleenex being overly intrusive. These two steps give customers a real reason to evangelize about the product, or at the very least, tell all their friends to go check out the site to see their contribution. Expect some good word of mouth. This is the making of a good campaign.

Nice catch Mark.

Bryan Person has tagged me for the 5 things meme. The 5 things meme is where you are supposed to write 5 things that people may not know about you, and give you the ability to “tag” someone else so they have to do the same. To see more 5 things click here.

1. The few. The proud. The Eagle Scouts.
Yes I am an eagle scout. In case you didn’t know, that is the highest rank a youth can achieve in the Boy Scouts of America. I am proud of this achievement, but I have mixed feeling about telling the world. For every 1 person who finds out and thinks its neat, there are at least 9 others who love to give me grief for it. My wife is one of the 9. She can’t resist making a comment whenever I am tying something down in the back of our truck… oh well. The secret is out.

2. Fridged Froggy
For most of my youth I was a competitive swimmer. I have books and books of winning ribbons from swim meets that sit in a box in my garage. My best event was the 100-meter butterfly. Most swimmers I have met think the butterfly was the hardest stroke to do. I’m not sure if that is true or not, but that opinion is why I took it on and trained for it. I can say this, however, I can’t do the butterfly anymore…. It’s too hard.

I later became a lifeguard at the local Boy Scout Camp. While there, they had a 5:00am mile swim. It lasted a week at a time and I of course participated. At 5:00am the water was pretty cold, so they gave the event the name “Fridged Froggy”.

I also take credit for saving Ramon Garcia’s life by helping him to get to shore at a lake we were swimming in.

3. Play that funky music white boy.
I am a drummer. I’ve been playing the drums ever since I was about 7. For about 3 years I had the privilege of being a professional musician during my years in Tampa Florida. The highlight of my music career was opening for the Dave Mathews Band at the Ice Palace. If I can find our CD, I’ll put it on the podsafe music network.

4. Square and Compass
I am a master mason. No, masons are not devil worshipers. No, masons are not secretly conspiring to control the world (although if we we’re, would I tell you?) The Freemasons are a group that is founded on brotherly love and charity. The premise is to take good men and make them better by passing on hundreds (or arguably thousands) of years of collective knowledge. There are so many misconceptions about the masons I cannot even attempt to dispel them all here. If you have a question, there’s a lot of ways to get a hold of me.

5. It’s all about the texture.
I am a texture eater. That basically means I judge what foods I like by the texture it has just as much as the flavor. This led me to eat a very restricted diet for many years (beef). Then I married a woman who eats everything. After a few years my pallet grew. I then learned the wonders of cooking. To quote (approximately) one of my heroes, Robert Rodriguez, “You’ll have to eat for the rest of your life, you might as well learn to cook.” I love to make Chinese and Italian food, and sometimes, it comes out pretty good. While I have come along away, and make a pretty mean peanut noodle, my wife still hasn’t been able to get me to eat seafood (fish, crab, lobster and shrimp all have a very similar texture…and I don’t like it).

Here’s who I’m tagging: Ramon Garcia, Brian Warren, Mark Bixby, Kevin Silver, Kelly Patrick Robinson. You’re turn guys.

Technorati Tags: five things meme, Ramon Garcia, Brian Warren, Mark Bixby, Kevin Silver, Kelly Patrick Robinson

 ROI - Barcamp ABQ 3 - Vincent: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The third installment from Barcamp Albuquerque.
Vincent Thome talks about CMS (content Managment Systems).
- Running Time – 1:04:19
- 00:01 – Meeting with Vincent at his office in Albuquerque
- 22:25 – Whats the best CMS for your project

On Wednesday, November 29th, I met with Giles Bowkett at the Satellite Coffee in North-West Albuquerque to talk about our experience at Barcamp Albuquerque. I arrived about 30 minutes before Giles did (he drove in from Santa Fe) and asked the manager if we could record a podcast there. I was amazed when she asked what a podcast was. I had just assumed that working in a coffee shop that offered free wifi and was filled to the brim with people on laptops that this concept wouldn’t be foreign to them. I was wrong. Apparently our job as teachers and informers is far from over.

I would like to note how interesting it is that whenever I set up my equipment somewhere (my rig isn’t super small and portable, I actually drag out the entire mixing board and mic stands) a small crowd seems to gather. I guess we all love the idea of having a voice.

The changes in business and marketing are not due to brilliant single person innovations, but come from a change that is occurring in society. Everything is going to fundamentally shift, or at least it should. This isn’t just my imagination either, if you want more proof, pick up a copy of Joseph Jaffes Life After the 30 Second Spot, and then watch this:
Sir Ken Robinson on TEDTalks

We have been BUSY… and it seems that the blog and podcast is usually the first to get missed. I am trying to contact all the presenters at barcamp to interview for a few minutes before their presentation. If you presented and are reading this… leave a comment or email me…other wise, look for the presentations coming soon…