An October 27 BtoB article talks about a Rubicon Consulting study which points out two key reasons why marketers need to pay attention to blogs and social sites…

1. “80% to 90% of user-generated content is produced by less than 10% of users”

2.  The online reviews of this comparatively small group of users, “drive more purchase decisions than newspaper articles, reviews by Web site editors or advice from store employees.”

Wow! – user generated reviews are more influential than newspaper articles or Web site editors!

But simply advertising on social sites doesn’t work well according to an e-Marketer article on 10/28.  The mantra here is - become part of the conversation. Be believable. Honest. Genuine. Transparent. Talk with, not to, people. 

Similarly, an Adotas.com article (10/29) covers a BuzzLogic study in detail, pointing out the influence of blogs among blog readers. Some key tidbits (definately read the article though…) are:

1. Blog links signal trust by the author

2. Blogs influence and sway purchases

3. Relevant ads on a trusted blog get response

4. Blogs are not just tech

With all this in mind, an important thought (quoted from 10/29 eMarketer article) is:

“It’s important that retailers (and marketers – my addition here) don’t just slap up a page because everyone is talking about Facebook. An effective presence requires that you carefully consider what your customers are looking for, what you would like to communicate, and what role a fan page should play in your overall online strategy.”

Ahh, strategy & planning.

OK, so, it’s October and summer is gone. Good bye, hot. Good bye, humid. You don’t need to worry about heat stroke or dehydration anymore.

Now we are in a season where it gets down below freezing at night. Maybe there’s snow on the ground or the puddles are slicked over with ice in the morning.

Imagine that on one of these days you’re commuting to work by bike or just out for a nice fall ride. Then, it starts to rain or it’s slushy. One of those damp, cold rides.

A ride where your chamois soaks up water like a diaper. You’ve got a nice black, gritty streak up your back and flecks of dirt between your teeth and in the corners of your eyes as you pull up to home.

Warm shower. Hot drink. FOOD! Are waiting for you inside so you quickly tuck your bike into the shed or garage. Shower and change and your shivering has subsided. You move to ‘lounge heaven’ on the couch. Feet up. Furiously feeding your face. Maybe watching an old Tour on the telly…

Meanwhile, outside the sun is setting. The temperature is dropping. The snow is maybe swirling. The dirty drops of water on your bike frame are slowly coming to a stand still as they freeze. Slowly turning into roots of ice snaking down your seat tube. Icicles build like stalactites from the bottom bracket while you drift off to sleep listenting to Phi Ligget’s accent on TV…

Someday soon after, maybe an un-seasonably warm day, you suit up. Ready and raging for a bike ride. You skip in your cycling shoes out to the shed to get your trusty steed. By now the the icicles are long since melted and evaporated – only a memory and a grey stain up the back of your jersey now.

Tire pressure. Check. Chains not too crusty from that last ride so, ‘Let’s Ride!’

Push the bike into the driveway. Feeling good! Hop on as you roll to the street. Ah, joy! Feet to pedals. no go. Pushe a little harder. No dice. The cranks simply are not moving. Sigh. Stop the bike and slowly get off while looking at the crank.

What the heck? Is my bottom bracket seized? Chain jammed? I really wanted to go riding! Checking. Checking. All seems good. Grab the cranks and they don’t move, forward or backward. What the heck is wrong with my bike!?!

As you rode in the rain, water seeped into your frame set through vent holes in the tubes. Welded/brazed bikes have these vent holes to let heated gases escape the tubes during construction.  Then, the bike sat in the un-heated shed where the water froze. As you know, freezing water expands. In this case, it expanded so much it split open the chainstay of the bike and jammed into the chainring keeping the crank from spinning and you from riding.

Bummer.

It is now time to put your frame in the recycling bin and help the economy by buying a new one from you local independent bicycle dealer.

In over a dozen years as a bike shop mechanic, I have seen this twice – in the same month.  Beware. Don’t let this happen to you!!

 

I love the concept for the new ‘unbottle your tea’ ads discussed in Stuart Elliot’s NY Times article.  The ads encourage consumers – including a new market of women 25 to 35 who drink tea in bottles – to brew green tea and bottle it themselves instead of buying ready to drink teas (which Redco Food’s dosen’t make, BTW).

Save money, better health, save the environment. I love it. The campaign has all the pieces everyone is a buzz about right now. (Besides, I am a big fan of Redco Food’s Red Rose and Salada teas and have been unbottling tea myself for the past decade.)

What bugs me about this campaign is Elliot’s mention of the budget – $200,000 estimated media expenditure. This great campaign is asking people, even consumers who aren’t currently tea bag buyers, to change their habits. I’m sorry but $200,000, a nice website, coupons and a sweepstake ain’t gonna do that…

Lipton – the 800 lb. gorilla in the tea business - spends over $20 million (2006) in the US to advertise their brand and that’s just selling tea – not trying to change consumer habit.

For Salada’s sake, I hope it works. The campaign looks great.

About the middle of this week one of my favorite radio DJs, Claudia Marshall, of one of my favorite radio stations, WFUV, posed a question to her morning show listeners.

Has Bob Marley’s music become Muzak?

She argued that Marley was a revolutionary “in his time.” I don’t have training in classical music but I’m sure some of the great composers were revolutionary “in their time.” And, as a Literature major, I’ve read many authors who were revolutionary “in their time” who nobody reads anymore…

Claudia’s (we’re on a first name basis) question struck me because earlier that week I had noticed that some pretty charged songs from Crosby Stills & Nash, CCR, the Beatles and Dylan as well as other revolutionaries “in their time” were being played at my local supermarket.

I was so surprised, in fact that it was noted via text on my Tweet…where I wondered (in less than 140 characters) if Megadeth would be playing at the shopping center in a decade.

I think for music to become Muzak or ‘elavator music’ it has to have had mass appeal.  The ‘masses’ shop where elevator music is played so it has to be appealing to the majority of customers.  Of course, in reality, Megadeth won’t ever become Muzak – not enough people listened to it then or now to recognize the songs.

So, is the ‘alternative’ music played in stores like Hot Topic, PacSun or Zumiez (or the CDs sold @ Starbucks) actually ‘alternative’ or is it just piped in tunes for a different group of consumers?  Ant music?

So, like so many other revolutionaries, Marley’s music has become Muzak. So many people grew up listening to it that are now regular shoppers with good incomes.  Many are AARP magazine (one of the largest circ, highest cost magazines for advertising) readers and members. Many have heard Marley while visiting the Caribbean and that sound has become an integral part of any Caribbean vacation. Why, even Jamaica itself used “one love” as muzak to promote the island as a tourist destination….

With all that in mind, revisit Bob Marley’s music and his lyrics.

“Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery
None but ourselves can free our minds…” -Redeption Song, Bob Marley

Burton’s Love line features 1970’s Playboy models. Google it for images and articles. You’ll get 15 million responses…

So, what do you think? Art? Marketing? Good? Bad? Right? Wrong?

Part 3 in a 4 Part Series: Part 1 – Naked Ladies: Part 2 – Much Ado about Nothing: Part 3 – More Ado about Nothing: Part 4 – Nothing. Does it End?