Whiskey Notes and Parachuting Fish

First, because I love saying it… I TOLD YOU SO.

Second, part of me feels bad for all of the smaller agencies that attempted to throw their hat into Current’s RFP process.

In case you missed it, here’s the skinny: Back in April, Current TV’s VP of Brand Marketing put out an RFP for Current via twitter. Ohhh Ahhhh. It was new. It was cool. It was “cutting edge”. Every agency and their sister kissed ass and replied. With that, Jordan Kretchmer increased the list of participating agencies from five to fifteen. Of course, it made for a great blog post

It’s two months later. What’s happened? Well, Krechmer has left for a venture start-up (aka he was asked to resign), Current hired a new SVP of Marketing and they’ve decided to reassess, internally, their marketing strategy. Hmmm… guess where that leaves the participating agencies. Yep, NO WHERE. The RFP is on hold indefinitely.

Here’s my questions:

WTF? How do you put out an RFP without having it reviewed by someone at your company? Don’t you think at that time someone would have realized they’re not quite ready to go down this path?

The takeaway?

Everyone’s time is valuable. From the person putting out the RFP to the people within the agencies participating. Don’t screw around. Don’t waste people’s time. Oh yeah, and have balls. Tell people straight up, “No, you’re not the right fit.” That way, they don’t waste their time, you don’t waste your time and everyone can move on.

PS – I did it too, but it sure does suck when spelling/grammar mistakes in your RFP are made public.

There’s a problem with the Facebook goes after Twitter debate that no one seems to want to admit. It revolves around human behavior and habits.

For five years, Facebook has conditioned it’s users that the site is “safe”. In Interactive Marketing speak? It’s a walled garden. With that in mind, how many people have uploaded slightly un-PC pictures? How many have their full contact information in their profile? How many of your friends openly posted semi-private life details on your wall? My guess is a lot. I know I have. Why? Because Facebook is “safe”. There’s privacy controls. In fact, their privacy controls can segment “friend” by “friend” what each of your connections can see.

With that said, here’s the problem with all this talk of going public:

1. Your user base has to reset their privacy controls. Really? You think you’re going to get a large majority of existing users to do this? I don’t think so. Forget the part about all the un-PC pictures, how many people actually know how to do this, let alone are going to? To put this in perspective, how many users have chosen a vanity url? Ummm, that would be less than 5%.
2. You have to retrain your user base. I don’t know about you, but I like having a “safe” place to share un-PC pictures with a large portion of my friends. I like having status updates that only close friends see. To top it off, most of my friends don’t even save contact information anymore, they just look it up on Facebook. What happens if Facebook takes down the wall? Well, I don’t know about you, but I’ll be deleting the photos and contact information. Oh yeah, and I won’t be making any fun status updates any time soon.

Twitter was an “open” network from the beginning. They don’t need to retrain behaviors. Personally, I think it will be a long learning curve for Facebook users.

I talk a lot about “the little things”. To me, the little things are important. To me, the sum of all the little things is much greater than one big thing.

Of course, some people criticize me. They say my standards are too high. But, when you add up all the little things, the ones that pay attention to detail are the ones that win.

My latest real-world example is the process of choosing a new agency. I got several proposals. All fantastic. All very different. And all scored on a 1-6 scale of several factors. Sure, some really won in terms of the presentation, but, when you break each one down piece by piece, objectively in an excel spreadsheet, you know who wins? It’s the agency that dotted all their i’s and crossed all their t’s.

Yes, maybe in the grand scheme of things it doesn’t matter that the love of your life snores, or that someone spelled your name wrong, but you also never know when all those little things added together are going to equal a win… or a loss.

I love the thought behind Paul Isakson’s post and the below speech by VP of Marketing Innovation at Coors Light, Pat Edson.

In a nutshell, Edson talks about going beyond the 80% of insights that your competitors have too. Instead, focus on the 20% of ideas that no other competitor is doing. Then, stick to that program. Put 100% of your efforts behind it. And, don’t drop it and move on to the next “big” idea as soon as it under performs.

Too often, Marketers, Clients, CEO’s, etc. don’t have the guts to see an idea to full completion. It’s like playing a game of chicken; most of us don’t have the balls to hold our position. If we did, how do you think our strategy might perform? Does the long-term potential compensate for potential short-term losses? If you believe in an idea, that’s a gamble you have to be willing to take. I know I am. What’s your gamble?

Dear BDA,

Thank you for responding to my RFP. I’m sure a lot of time, effort and thought was put into your response. With all that time, effort and thought, it would behove you to spend an extra 20 minutes or less doing a little grammar and spell check. Remember, the little things count. Here’s a few tips:

1. Spell the name of the person receiving the RFP correctly.
2. Spell check the name of platforms you have “extensive” knowledge of. It’s simple really. Just check the url. The name is right there.
3. Double check that you answered all the questions… not a single agency got this.
4. If you don’t know a piece of the brand, don’t ass-u-me. Getting it wrong kinda screws up your whole strategy
5. If the Client suggests you schedule a phone call FOUR times to understand their business model… well, maybe you should swallow your ego and take them up on that.
6. BONUS: Formatting consistency. It’s the littlest of things, but thanks to several anal bosses and a background in print, formatting inconsistencies kinda throw me off course. Oh yeah, and they bug the hell out of me.

I couldn’t find anything more hysterical than last year’s picture I posted, so I figured this year, I’d go for cheesy and sentimental.

Happy Father’s Day to:

To the dad that took me horseback riding every Sunday and taught me how to waterski

To the dad that taught me how to throw a baseball and dunk a basketball

To the dad that took me to my first swim lesson and drove me to all the others

To the dad that visited colleges with me

To the dad that supported my move to Vegas

To the dad that bought season tickets to the Heat and drove 3 hours each time I wanted to see a game

To the dad that taught me how to change a tire and be self-sufficient

To the dad that’s always been there… Happy Father’s Day!

Frank Eliason aka @comcastcares wrote a great post about business cards being passe.  It got me thinking. Besides an ego trip, what is the point of business cards these days?

• - You can find me on twitter
• - If you text my name to 21691 you can get all my info (I know, snazzy that I have my own keyword and SMS business card )
• - You can find all my contact information via Facebook
• - You can find most of my contact information via my Google Profile
• - You can find my email address via Linkedin
• - You can find all my contact info in my email signature
• - Most companies have the same email address structure – it’s either your first initial and last name or your full name @companyxyz.com

So… why do we need business cards? Because we all have egos

It’s another thing to compare- how cool is your business card compared to mine? It’s perfect for whipping out when you want to bypass a restaurant or club line. See? I’m a big shot and it would do your career (or wallet) good if you treated me as such.

How cool is your “ego”?

Just a few things I learned this weekend:

1. Men are total babies. Even the smart ones.
2. Passive aggressiveness drives me crazy. Just say what you have to say. To my face.
3. I’m still waiting for the guy that makes it past the two week mark and isn’t a total prick. I guess my guy picking skills still suck.

Just a fun one… you need one of those every so often:

1. Aspire to be Barbie – the bitch has everything.

2. If the shoe fits – buy them in every color.

3. Take life with a pinch of salt…. A wedge of lime, and a shot of tequila.

4. In need of a support group? – Cocktail hour with the girls!

5. Go on the 30 day diet. (I’m on it and so far I’ve lost 15 days).

6. When life gets you down – just put on your big girl panties and deal with it.

7. Let your greatest fear be that there is no PMS and this is just your personality.

8. I know I’m in my own little world, but it’s ok. They know me here.

9. Lead me not into temptation, I can find it myself.

10. Don’t get your knickers in a knot; it solves nothing and makes you walk funny.

11. When life gives you lemons in 2009 – turn it into lemonade then mix it with vodka.

12. Remember where ever there is a good looking; sweet, single or married man there is some woman tired of his bullshit!

13. Keep your chin up, only the first 40 years of parenthood are the hardest.

14. If it has Tires or Testicles it’s gonna give you trouble.

15. By the time a women realizes her mother was right, she has a daughter who thinks she’s wrong.