Remember a couple of years back when a bunch of us took up this new social media thing and subsequently threw our noses up in the air at the PR world? Basically, we said why send out a press release or focus on media relations when there is this great new way to reach people? Remember how we spewed out statistics about how readership was dwindling and the press release was dead? Remember how we all thought those ignoring “social media” were behind the times or lazy? Remember?

Most likely you do. After all, it was just a couple of years ago. But isn’t it funny that despite the short amount of time that has passed, we’ve failed to realize that social media is breeding laziness. And worse, it’s turning us all into that species of fat, immobile blobs as seen in Wall-E. But hey, at least we’re fat, immobile experts right?

Here’s the problem. We started hounding PR hacks because they implemented tactics simply because “that’s how it’s always been done.” There was no strategy. We couldn’t believe someone would simply publish a press release without regard for whether or not there was a better way to reach people. The real reason (and I feel like I can say this because I was as guilty as anyone else) we continued to blindly do things like this was because we were lazy. Our clients paid us, we could follow a formula and be done without much thought. Now we find ourselves in exactly the same trap with social media.

The root of the problem is that we lost site of what social media is – a tactic. Plain and simple, that’s it. It’s not a strategy. Once we figured out we could make a little money we began to duplicate the same press release formula from a couple years back – jump on the bandwagon, figure out the minimum I have to do, call myself an expert and attach a rate to it. Once complete, we were ready to spout our knowledge on “Re-Tweets” and Facebook Groups.

But even the laziest of people can’t possibly ignore facts forever right? Like the FACT that 72.7% of people recommend a product face-to-face. Like the FACT that when asked how they communicate after a purchase, 63% said face-to-face with a family member, friend or peer versus three in ten who communicated via website and less than one in ten who communicated via online social network. Like the FACT that nearly 90% of word of mouth buzz is generated offline.

Social media is a great way to extend a message to an audience that lives online. It’s a tactic that works amazingly well when used strategically as part of a larger Word of Mouth Marketing strategy. So the next time a social media expert comes to you with a grandiose strategy, say, “Thanks a lot. This looks great. But what pray tell do you have planned for the other 90%.” And if they stare at you blankly, respond with, “That’s ok. After all, you’re just a social media expert.”

Park&Co recently had the pleasure of producing a series of 3 videos for Arizona Nutritional Supplements (ANS); a corporate video for ANS, a piece describing their partnership with a national organic health food store, and the third showcasing their Nu-Vite line of products.

This was Park&Co’s first video production shooting with the Red One camera. DP Howie Meyer and an A-Team crew shot “feast-for-the-eyes” footage, which Dave Routt expertly edited to toe-tappingly upbeat tracks. The results with the RED were exciting. Contact Park&Co if you’re interested in learning more about what the RED camera can do.

Our ongoing efforts to educate as many impressionable minds as possible in the ways of our craft have gone largely unnoticed. Hard to get the kids to read or listen when they think you’re just some weird stranger babbling about kerning and typefaces. In the interest of finding students who actually want to hear what we have to say about the ad biz, we’ve recently hired two interns who had no idea what they were getting themselves into.

Forrest Nutter is our creative intern and joins us from the Arizona State graphic design program. When he’s not sweating out designs for Park&Co, Forrest is a Barista at Starbucks. But don’t think we hired him just for the afternoon iced coffee recipe, although we do enjoy that little pep in our afternoon steps, because the young man has the proverbial skills to pay the bills. Forrest narrowly avoided a host of other career paths, from Marine rifleman to sous chef, before coming to Park&Co. However, fate stepped in and serendipity brought Forrest to us. Now if only we could find something for serendipity to do while Forrest works.

Tiffany Franquemont is our account services intern. She’s a student at the University of Missouri where she studies strategic communications. Tiffany’s obviously learning a lot at school, because when it comes to communications, she’s a pro. She’s got more Facebook friends than you can count (1,055). Well okay, obviously you can count them. Twitter? Let’s just say she doesn’t get all the hype. Really, does everyone need to know what you’re doing all of the time? We’re concentrating on showing Tiffany the always glamorous “behind the scenes” action in advertising, as that’s what we specialize in here at Park&Co - glamor.

Finally, for the third year in a row, Parker Howell is joining us from Chapman University in Orange, California where he’s studying film and business. Being a film major has some sweet perks, and not just the awesome fact that you get to say “I’m a film major.” The main advantage – actually making films. Some of Parker’s more recent productions are titled Superchief and Poor Profits. Don’t you dare call him an oxymoron though.

Welcome to our newest team members, and here’s hoping that when you’re finished at Park&Co, you still want to work in advertising.

Let it not be said that Shawn Hardy, our hard-working art director, doesn’t go the distance to finish any job. Could it be a lesson learned from hours of grueling competition with himself and the elements? Shawn is an avid triathlete, and he’s gained an appreciation of the journey by swimming, cycling and running an amount miles most of us get tired just thinking about. After many shorter-distance excursions, Shawn recently completed his first full triathlon, in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. I sat down to ask him a few questions about the experience.

Right off the bat, why triathlons? By that I mean, of all of the sports you could choose from to be actively involved with, you may have chosen the most grueling. What drove you to that?

I was a swimmer. I swam all of the way through college and after college, kind of gave up on organized sports. I had just done that for my entire life. But my youngest brother has forever idolized Lance Armstrong, and got himself involved in cycling, and just looking for another outlet to be active, I got involved in cycling with him. After I got into cycling, it was kind of a natural progression back into swimming and now running.

What do you for training?

The basic formula is swim, bike and run - alot! More than you could imagine if you’re not into the sport. But, once you get into it, it’s pretty manageable. Training for Ironman we* did 2 to 3 swims, bikes and runs a week.

As the races approach, how does your training change?

Three weeks away from the race, you shorten your distances and take it a little easier so you’re rested for the race. At that three weeks point you’re kind of at the crescendo of your distances and time spent in training.

So do you train harder when you know that big race is coming?

Yes and no. At the peak of training, you’re the most exhausted because it’s the end of the training cycle. For an Ironman, that’s about 6 months. By that point, you’re pretty sick of doing the same routine you’ve been doing for the past 6 months. The effort level is probably lower due to exhaustion. When the three week period prior to the race approaches, you begin to ease up on your distance and so you start to feel less and less tired.

Tell us about one of the phases of training, you’ve referred to as a “brick.”

A brick is when you do a bike followed by a run. It’s called a brick because your legs feel like bricks. The point is not to get a longer workout or mimic a triathlon, but to mimic the pain of running immediately after biking. Just getting mentally tough. The tougher and more accustomed you are to that pain, when it comes down to the race, you can handle it that much better.

Do you find that you’re tougher in other areas of life as a result of putting yourself through the physical and mental anguish of doing a triathlon?

Absolutely. You kind of realize that everything is a journey, and it’s about the trip and not the end result. You also realize that everyone is on a personal journey. During a triathlon, you’ll be passed by someone 20 years older than you, or 100 pounds heavier, or 20 years older and 100 pounds heavier and a woman, and myself being a man, you just realize that life has a level playing playing field. You have to move through it based on your own pace and goals. You can’t judge others, only yourself, based on your personal goals.

How long does it usually take you to finish a race?

Ironman took me about 13 hours and 50 minutes. We do several half Ironmen which takes me about 5 hours. We also do Olympic distance triathlons and those take about 2 hours to complete.

What are the distances for each of those races?

Olympic, which is the shortest one I do, is a one mile swim, a 24 mile bike, and a six mile run. A half triathlon is a 1.2 mile swim, a 56 mile bike and a 13 mile run. The Ironman, the one I just completed, is a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and finish with a 26.2 mile run which is a full marathon.

With the races being as long as they are, how do you stay nourished?

You have to eat a lot of food. It becomes challenging because you get really tired of sports food and sports drinks. You get creative. We boil potatoes the night before, cut them into little pieces and put lots of salt on them, because the salt is important to replace due to the strenuous exercise, then put them into little sandwich bags. So we eat lots of small potatoes on the bikes and the runs, In addition they have tons of food and water and sports drinks on the course. I’ll eat lots of bananas if they have them on the course. They’re really easy to get down. Dry food is difficult to swallow, so I try to stay away from that. Dry mouth gets really bad. They usually have pretzels on the course because they’re salty and they taste good, but I tried eating them once and I almost threw up, so I just stay away from the dry food.

It’s actually funny. I read a newspaper article before the race that said a person would have to eat a 27 pound turkey by themselves in order to equal the amount of calories burned in an Ironman. I wish I could remember the number but I want to say it’s around 120,000 calories. They also hand out warm chicken broth during the run and then they give you soda when you’re finished to help you replenish the sugars in your body.

So how long will you be doing triathlons? Do you think it’s something you’re committed to for life, or will you just stop when you don’t feel like doing it anymore?

I think I’ll do it, pretty much forever. You’ll see lots of 70-year-olds out there doing it. I don’t think I’ll always be as competitive as I am now or as into the time it takes, but again it’s mostly about the journey. Being outdoors, active and healthy.

So there are some pretty healthy 70-year-olds out there?

Oh, you wouldn’t believe it! There’s one that did like, 3 Ironmen just this year. I don’t think I’ll do an Ironman every year. When we finished we said, “it’s great to get our lives back!”

How important is it for you to improve every time you do a race?

I would say that 80% of it is about staying active and being healthy, enjoying the outdoors and being social. It’s a great social outlet. You meet a lot of very motivated individuals doing this, which is probably the best part about triathlons. Triathletes are also usually pretty motivated people, so I would there is a bit of wanting to keep track of and improve your progress. So the shorter distance triathlons, it’s a little easier to give yourself time goals and try to place higher in your age group. The main point of the Ironman though, was mainly just to finish it and enjoy it. To cross the finish line standing up with a smile was our biggest goal. And we did that!

So when is the next one?

I think we’re doing a half Ironman in October. We may sprinkle a short race in there, but October is the one we have planned.

Do you plan on doing another full one next year?

Probably not for another 2 or 3 years. It’s just such a grueling time commitment that now we’re excited to do half that distance, which might sound a little crazy, but to us seems a little more manageable.

Well, that’s about it. Congratulations on finishing this first Ironman, and good luck on the next one!

Thanks Josh!

Thanks again to Shawn for taking some time to tell us about this great experience, and the world of the triathlete. Now, how many readers will be joining him on the next one?

*For those of you confused by the constant references of “we” that Shawn made during the interview, he’s speaking of his girlfriend, Nicole, who is also an avid triathlete.

I saw this adage.com article today with the headline: “What Crispin’s Lauded BK Work Doesn’t Do: Gain Ground on McD’s.” It definitely made me stop and think - what the______?  Crispin has rekindled interest in this long standing brand, developed clutter cutting creative (Whopper Virgins, Whopper Freakout), they debuted the Subservient Chicken, brought back the King (although a bit disturbing to me), and made the Whopper Family commercials a delight to watch. Crispin was Ad Age’s 2008 Agency of the Year for crying out loud. Now, with all this going for them, wouldn’t you think that everyone would be happy and BK sales were over the top?

Well, unfortunately, according to the article, there are differing opinions on what a success Crispin’s campaigns have shown at the register and how they compare against the 300 pound gorilla in the room – McDonald’s. From a branding perspective, Crispin really has done a great deal to revitalize the chain. Remember, BK had gone through four agencies in four years before hiring Crispin, and BK did pass up Wendy’s for the #2 spot in burger chains during Crispin’s watch. But McDonald’s is still way out front of everybody and gaining share (is that really surprising to anyone?). And there was some controversy over two TV ads, Sponge Bob Square Butt and the banned Texican Whopper.

According to the adage.com article, there also seems to be rumblings from the front line franchisees that there is a decline in traffic and sales and there is too narrow a focus on the young male targets. Having worked on franchise accounts, I understand the power and influence of their voice and how they can impact advertising campaigns.

This article just confirms to me a harsh advertising reality. An advertising campaign must move the needle per the client’s expectation. That’s really the bottom line. Even a creative powerhouse like Crispin, with all the great work they’ve done for clients and accolades lavished upon them, there is this one litmus test that has to be passed. And in some cases, in the client’s view, Crispin didn’t.

A few examples:

1. Crispin resigned the Miller Lite account due to differences in strategy. Coincidentally, Miller said they pulled the popular “Man Law” campaign developed by Crispin due to declining sales.

2. ConAgra Foods left Crispin, who resurrected the deceased Orville Redenbacher in a series of commercials that generated tons of buzz, but it seemed mostly negative.

3. And who knows what happened with the Nike Running Shoes account. The relationship lasted about one year. With those two companies and their philosophies, it would seem like a marketing match made in heaven.

But no matter what, Crispin will undoubtedly continue to push/rip the envelope, do great work, win accounts and make headlines for both themselves and for their clients (hey, I’m blogging about them). For any agency, that’s a very nice place to be.

There are companies that people love, and there are companies that people love to hate. Throw in some transparency through social media and people will really tell you what they think, in a very public, and negative manner.

That’s what AT&T is finding out on their facebook page.

AT&T is, of course, the only choice for a service provider to Apple’s iPhone, and they’ve taken quite a hit with the release of the iPhone 3GS by being slow to support features taken for granted on other mobile networks.

The contempt is palpable. Example of such criticism:

Let’s see, where do I begin. I’ve “wasted” over $3200 in the past two years in your service and iPhone handsets.

I had expected to upgrade to the 3G S today, but when I realized I wouldn’t be receiving the subsidized price I was simply stunned. Even more so that you are the only carrier _world wide_ that wasn’t ready for MMS and internet tethering.

I wouldn’t become a fan of AT&T if my life depended on it. I’m a loyal Apple Customer, and that’s the only reason why I’m with AT&T.

And:

Do you guys strive to have mediocre service? Or do you just take pride in it?

Ouch. I have to give AT&T credit for not taking this page down or deleting comments (that we know about). They’re trying to confront the problem by giving customers a place to voice their concerns, even if some of those concerns are irate rants. To be fair, there’s also some good comments.

It’s a good example in this day and age of how social media can keep a large corporations in check.

A couple of weeks ago, Google introduced its newest cool thing, Google Wave! At first, I was having a hard time understanding what this was and what I could do with it. Reading through the online documents did not help much, but what did help, was watching the hour plus video of the demo. If you have an hour to kill, watch the whole video.

Google Wave

For those of you who don’t have the hour to spare for the video, here’s a description from their website:

Here’s how it works: In Google Wave you create a wave and add people to it. Everyone on your wave can use richly formatted text, photos, gadgets, and even feeds from other sources on the web. They can insert a reply or edit the wave directly. It’s concurrent rich-text editing, where you see on your screen nearly instantly what your fellow collaborators are typing in your wave. That means Google Wave is just as well suited for quick messages as for persistent content — it allows for both collaboration and communication. You can also use “playback” to rewind the wave and see how it evolved.

The simple explanation is…it’s an online collaboration tool. The application or “Wave” is running in real-time and can support multiple media formats like, text, photos, etc. Multiple people can be invited to contribute content to the Wave, which is essentially just a conversation.

Wave example

The way I see it, this is a replacement for the email trails we send back and forth every workday on a particular subject. These emails get to be so long that after a few replies it’s hard to get a fix on the order of dialogue. Within the Wave, this “conversation” is happening in real-time and if you enter the conversation late, there is a “playback” button that allows you to replay the conversation by stepping back through it a response at a time. It’s kinda like Instant Messaging on steroids.

Here are some interesting links to learn more:

• Google Wave (main website)
• Google Wave Developer API (for the nerds)
• Signup for updates and information
• Video of live demo

Dane Platt and William Carey discuss their unique golf ball recycling program while offering you a FREE sleeve of Earth Golf Balls for a test drive. See below.

When I think of an “Eco-friendly” golf ball, I can’t help but picture those exploding joke golf balls made of chalk that you tee up for your unsuspecting buddy.

Then I met Dane Platt and William Carey of Dixon Golf.

And they introduced me to the Earth Golf Ball, the world’s first high-performance 100% eco-friendly golf ball.

These guys didn’t just stop at making a really green golf ball (more about the ball in a second), but they activated a recycling program that gets golfers involved beyond just playing a round.

“Golf, in its essence, should the greenest of all sports.  And yet our industry is still 10 years behind the times,” said William Carey.

Platt and Carey said that they want to incentivize golfers to recycle the standard golf balls that are made with heavy metals and do nothing for the environment. When you turn in any golf ball at a pro shop or store that carries the Earth golf ball, you receive a 50 cent discount on a new Earth ball. You get a $1 discount when you recycle a Dixon Earth ball. The program recycled more than 38,000 golf balls on Earth Day alone.

The Earth golf ball is organic to the core, and has replaced the heavy metals, like lead, tungsten and titanium, with a proprietary organic compound that is essentially like salt.

But is salt like chalk?

“The problem with completely biodegrable golf balls is that they do explode on the tee,” Dane pointed out. “So that doesn’t work so well for performance. What we have created is a high-performance ball that can be ground up and reused in all sorts of other new products, while we’re taking the heavy metals out of the environment.”

PGA Tour Partners sent a dozen balls to 125 golfers to test against the likes of Titleist, Nike and Callaway high-performance balls.  The Earth golf ball received a 92 percent approval rating. When asked what the Earth ball is like compared to the competition, Dane said the quality is between a Titleist Pro V1 and the NXT Tour. The company even has a long drive champ in it’s corner, with Sean “The Beast” Fister using their Eco-Distance ball in competition.

“You can’t make a crappy ball, call it eco-friendly and expect anyone to buy it if it’s not going to help their game” William said.

Do You Want To Take A FREE Test Drive?

I asked these green golf innovators if they wanted to put their Earth golf ball to another test: Having you, my readers, test drive and comment on their ball? They have so much confidence in the performance of their new green ball, that they were generous enough to give me four dozen to try. If you would like a FREE sleeve of Earth golf balls, please send me your name and address through my contact form, and I’ll send you a sleeve (while supplies last).  All I ask in return is that you give your honest review of the ball in the comment section on this post. And please play the ball and review it within one week of getting the FREE sleeve. I’ll be taking the new Earth ball for a spin this weekend.

A tip of the golf cap to Dane and William for not just making an eco-friendly golf ball, but for taking their drive farther by activating a terrific golf ball recycling program.

(This post appeared earlier today in Park’s, “A Brighter Shade of Green Marketing” blog at ParkHowell.com)

I did the majority of my growing-up during the 1980’s and ’90s, although my wife will probably tell you I still have plenty of that to do. During my childhood I typically had just a few thoughts going though my mind, and most of them involved toys or eating. One of the other things running through my head on a regular basis was growing-up. What would I do? Who did I want to be? In those formidable years, while I was making life-altering decisions like whether to play inside or outside, there was an ad campaign that spoke to me, and an advertising agency that did a great job.

As far as ad campaigns go, one product has been consistently masterful throughout my life – milk. You know, the delicious white beverage that comes from cows? Sorry for being inconsiderate if you’re lactose intolerant, or is it milk-sensitive? One can never be too careful in today’s politically correct world, you know. I digress. Since I was a young whipper-snapper, milk has been wooing me in a way that no other product can match. The first campaign I have vivid memories of watching had the message down so well, I was a milk-drinking maniac for many years. Those commercials had a tagline I’ll never forget – Milk: It Does a Body Good. For those of you who aren’t currently smiling and remembering the campaign fondly, here’s a sample:

What more could a kid ask for in a drink?

• Astronauts? You bet!
• Kangaroos on pogo sticks? Of course!
• Hanging upside down? Do kids like anything more than that?
• Dressing like a robot? Got it!
• Parachuting cows, kids in rock bands, and dancing milk cartons? All here!

Now before I get too far off on my nostalgic trip, I’ll bring it back to the real subject of this post. Advertising agencies, and ad campaigns for that matter, can be life-altering. When McCann-Erickson created the Milk: It Does a Body Good campaign, they cut out a swath of my childhood and pointed me toward greatness. I’ll be sure to write an extensive post when I finally get there. Really though, the campaign painted milk as what us marketers call an “aspirational product.” Kids everywhere dreamed of beating up bullies, getting the girl, and making the football team all because they were drinking milk. It was the secret to every Gen-Xer’s success, at least when we were little.

McCann-Erickson knew what we were thinking, and simply showed us how to get there. A few glasses of milk and we were on our way.

One of the cool things about running the Water - Use It Wisely conservation campaign are all of the great notes and videos we receive from concerned Earthlings.  In fact, just last week someone sent us a video about the water conservation merits of taking a bath with a friend (A bit creepy to show here).

Today, we received this incredibly thoughtful letter from a fourth grader in Chesterfield, MI, and I just had to share it with you.

Dear Water Use It Wisely,

Water is getting wasted more and more each day. I want to help out and teach people how to conserve water. Please continue reading because your organization is very influential. I had an idea if you could send some workers from your organization to schools all around the world, and they could inform the students about water usage.

Did you know that every minute, 1,000,000,000 (0ne billion) tons of water falls to the earth from rainfall? We are lucky for rainfall water. It helps fill up our lakes. There is about 326,000,000,000,000,000,000 (326 quintillion) gallons of water on Earth. Yes, this is tons, but it is getting wasted. I want to keep this number BIG.

Everyone needs water - so why waste it? I think it is very irresponsible to let the water run when you are not home. The core democratic value, Common Good, supports my issue. This means that we can all work together as a community, country or even continent!

Water conservation is very important. We can use water with respect by making good choices. Take a shower instead of a bath, use an automatic dishwasher instead of hand washing. You can buy Earth-friendly window cleaner spray, so that the bacteria doesn’t get in our drinking water and make it dirty. If your washer isn’t full then don’t start it. With water being wasted every day, by the time we get to the 3000’s we are going to have to survive on milk and juice!!! Won’t that be boring?!?!? That means we have to give our dogs a bowl of juice instead of water with their food. I mean, c’mon, we’re talking real life here!!

Water wasting needs to come to a stop and without delay. Water Use It Wisely, PLEASE inform people about their water usage! It is a big role in my life. It would be really awesome if you take part in spreading the news about this! Thanks tons!!

An impatient fourth grader waiting for a reply,

Mya

We should all be so passionate and eloquent about our good green Earth.

(This post originally appeared yesterday on Park’s “A Brighter Shade of Green Marketing” Blog)