Mutually Inclusive PR

Career Shift from Creative Director to Suit Salesman

Anyone who follows Hugh MacLeod's view of the branding world at Gapingvoid.com has seen his interest shift from the advertising world to the world of high-end tailors.

First he help his friend start a blog by a "bespoke" tailor in England.  References to suits and tailoring have been more and more a part of MacLeod's postings lately, and he finally fessed up that he's way more interested in promoting tailoring than in writing about marketing and branding.

Not your average career track, but a new project calls your name, why not heed the call?

Big Boxes and Wal-Mart Hammer Toys, Books

Seth Godin responds to a New York Times story about the impact Wal-Mart is having on innovation in the toy business.

A few years ago, similar concerns were raised by Canadian publishers, who are pressed on both sides by the Wal-Mart and Chapters-Indigo behemoths. Publishers have to choose between marginal profits on large volumes of sales through the giant retailers, or missing out on sales altogether.

I haven't seen much in the media lately about the publshers' conundrum. This 2003 post on Dooney's Cafe suggests small publishers and small bookstores continue to be squeezed to extinction by the big box store syndrome.

The commoditization of books leads stores and publishers to focus on bestsellers and proven series like the Dummies books.

I wonder if the rise of online ordering is giving small publishers any kind of second life. You would think the distribution/profit margin issues that keep a big retailer from stocking a wide selection of new poetry books in each of their locations could be overcome if they only had to keep stock in one warehouse somewhere.

But I don't hold out a lot of hope that Amazon.ca and Chapters.ca are leading to a renaissance in Canadian publishing. I'll have to pump some of my publishing friends for a glimpse at how they are surviving in the new marketplace.

The Daily Battle to Connect with Others

I've been visiting my Mom for the last couple of days, watching her do a cognitive dance with the world around her and try to match her thoughts with what she sees. Then she feeds the information back - through speech - and watches for a reaction.  She looks for facial expressions, cues that she is getting through.

It's something we do every day, without thinking. But because Mom is fighting her way back from a stroke, her efforts at communication are very deliberate. She knows her slightly twisted face doesn't reinforce her comments the way it normally would. She knows she sometimes isn't connecting with people, so she tries another tack.

It's hard to watch someone who has always been able to talk without effort struggle so much. But I also admire her for working so hard, without giving up.

"I'm working on my sense of humour," she said to me yesterday. "Sometimes I can't tell if I'm getting through to people. If I tell a joke, and they laugh, I know I'm getting through."

I have never heard such a straightforward rationale for using humour to make a connection with the people around you. If people are frowning, it could be because they are concentrating, or because they don't agree with you, or they don't understand you, or they are day dreaming. Maybe they have indigestion. If they are laughing with you, at least you know they get the gist of what you're trying to get across to them.

A stroke is no laughing matter. She is in pain a lot of the time, and sometimes she gets disoriented when she's talking about her day. That may get better as her brain recovers from the shock. Or she may always have to deal with a bit of fuzziness around the edges.

But with a cheerful attitude that belies the effort it takes, my mother fights each day to stay connected. When she gets a big smile from the person she's with, she knows it was worth trying.

To everyone who visits, to all the caregivers who work with her daily, and to the friends and family members who have gone out of their way to help normalize things for a woman whose life was torn apart by a blood clot, I offer my sincere thanks.

All of the effort and kindness means a great deal to her, and to my sisters and me.

Usability Testing Imitates Reality

Usability testing is all about getting participants to suspend disbelief enough to walk through the use of a product, as if they didn't have a roomful of people watching them, and engaging them in a task. Oh, and the observers have to shut up, or it doesn't work.

Getting people to act natural in those circumstances sounds implausible, but Jakob Nielsen's blog Alertbox argues that it really works. This posting describes the motivation participants have to succeed in these kinds of tests, and offers tips and pitfalls for testers.

The process even works when you replace a usable web site with a paper-based walk-through of how the site would work.

While usability testing has its limitations, it's definitely worth considering. Or, you could just trust your hunches about how people behave, and hope for the best. It's your choice.

Which Airline Would You Choose?

I flew WestJet yesterday, and the flight attendant doing the spiel over the PA system says, "In the cockpit today is John, my husband." (Applause from the passengers.) And Dan, my ex-husband. It's okay, they get along fine." (Laughter.)

My spouse flew Air Canada last month. Spent some time on the tarmac before the crew admitted they couldn't get the plane started because it was too cold (don't they have heaters for that sort of thing?).  She appreciated the honesty of their remarks, but wasn't too excited about the apparent skimping on maintenance. This was her third experience with Air Canada where they didn't seem to have the plane ready for flight.

Personally, I don't have a problem with Air Canada, but she has moved over to the WestJet camp. She would rather fly with an airline where people are willing to chat and joke with each other. She figures that kind of corporate attitude might lead to the maintenance people mentioning malfunctions before the plane is full of people, rather than after.

Vancouver - Glad I Brought My Sunglasses

I'm in Vancouver for a few days, visiting friends and family. So glad i remembered to bring my sunglasses.  Sometime today Vancouver will set a record for hours of sunshine during February (151.5 hours, but who's counting?).

This is nothing new. In all my trips to Vancouver in the past 5=6 years, I think I've only had two days of rain. Must be all that Prairie sunshine I bring with me! ;-)

Does Your Web Site Need an Analyst?

Quick, who are the most important people to have on your web site redesign team? Designer. Content editor. Programmer. Subject matter expert. Looks good, but where's your web site's analyst?

Hurol Inan makes the case for the use of web analytics to figure out who is using your site, and whether the navigation and other functions are effective. Without knowing how your site is currently being used, and what parts aren't doing their job, how can you make informed decisions about what to fix?

And through that analysis, Inan says, the users of the web site have their say about what is working for them, and what isn't.

This stuff is pretty basic project management (base decisions on research), but it's amazing how many projects skip that important step.

Link courtesy Usability in the News.

ING Direct's Ad Firm Wins US Account

Since 1997 Canadians have watched Dutch actor Frederik de Groot implore them to "Save your money" by taking advantage of virtual bank ING Direct's few products. It all started with just one savings account, but there is now a range of savings accounts, RSPs, business accounts, loans and mortgages available.

The ING Direct concept was a bold experiment in Canada. The "bank" consisted of a web site and a toll-free phone line. Were Canadians ready to adopt Internet banking? You bet. ING wasn't the only financial institution to go that route, but they found a niche and have served it well.

After eight years of helping ING Direct grow to $12 billion in assets in Canada, Toronto agency GWP Branding Inc. (warning - flash/Quicktime needed) was awarded the US account, reports the Globe and Mail (online article by Keith McArthur available free for a few days, then goes paid).

The Canadian ads have been memorable. Simple, earnest, direct, with the bright orange Dutch colours always subtly showing up as part of the background. GWP president Bruce Philp is quoted by the Globe, saying it's not a given that the agency will use de Groot as the face of ING Direct in the United States.

Holy Hoe! Beware URLs with a Hidden Message

Is Lake Tahoe offering a little something extra with their vacation packages these days?

The innocence of  www.GoTahoe.com  becomes a bit more risque when you take away the capital letters and use modern vernacular for a prostitute. 

Suddenly, the URL can be read  www.got-a-hoe.com.

Hmmm. Makes you wonder whether this went through focus groups before they launched the slogan. And if they did, maybe there weren't enough potty-mouthed participants to notice the possible interpretation... 

On the other hand, it could be a reference to gardening, which is one of North America's most popular hobbies.

Thanks to CanuckFlack for directions to the Tahoe site.

Red Cross Leaves Blood Mess Far Behind

It would have been hard in the late 1980s and 1990s to think of an organization more under seige and burdened down by a bad image than the Canadian Red Cross.

The tainted blood scandal threatened both the agency's long tradition of collecting and distributing blood for Canadians, but also its fund-raising and disaster relief work, water safety programs, and every other activity it was involved in.

Fast forward to today, and it's hard to think of another non-profit that is doing as good a job of maintaining goodwill and strong relationships. After staring oblivion in the face, the Canadian Red Cross cut its losses, got out of the blood business, dug deep and rediscovered its core identity, and has been going from strength to strength ever since.

Its relevance is reinforced every time there is a natural (or unnatural) disaster -- the Quebec ice storm,  the Red River flood, the Ontario blackout. The organization has emerged from the frenzy of fund-raising and relief efforts around the South Asia tsunamis with a 10-year bankroll to fund ongoing, meaningful aid to the region, and a powerful image in Canadians' minds.

Canadian individuals, companies and governments donated $160 million toward Red Cross tsunami relief (plus federal government matching funds on some of that amount), contributing to the $1.4 billion donated globally to Red Cross and Red Crescent societies.

A decade ago, the Canadian Red Cross was the blood agency that also did other stuff. Now, it stands out as the organization that responds when bad things happen. Barring some unforeseen organizational hand grenade, the future fund-raising, service delivery and image building potential for the Canadian Red Cross shows a lot of room for growth and stabilization.

(No, I don't volunteer for the Red Cross, but I did apply to work for them once.)

Update: The first draft of this wasn't very clear about the fact the CRC is no longer in the business of collecting, preparing and distributing blood products.