Sometimes being productive requires taking a step back, or in our case turning out the lights. With social media running wild over the last year and everyone jumping on the bandwagon, it’s hard not to get swept up in the euphoria.

But at Park&Co we pride ourselves on Word of Mouth based on strategy. So when we took a hard look and realized our agency Facebook page wasn’t generating any Word of Mouth we decided to go dark. At least until we can give people a reason to talk about us.

Until then, we replaced the usual self-aggrandizing agency drivel with something far more valuable – fishing bloopers! Take a look.

Most local TV ads are made with no money, no concept, no production values, and no shortage of obnoxious yelling. And in case you didn’t catch the phone or address of that car dealer, accident attorney or mattress warehouse the first time, don’t you worry, Vern, you’re gonna get it again…and again…and again.

With a dash of fun and creativity, it’s easy for a local commercial to soar mightily above this din, and I recently came across one from central Alabama that hit me like a fence post to the jaw. It was made by Rhett and Link, two guys who started I Love Local Commercials and are touring the country producing free spots for local businesses they take a shine to. Who knew honesty could be so effective. Or so funny.

That number again is 256-737-0438.

In this age of high tech social marketing tactics like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Flickr to help engage the customer, it seems like face-to-face customer service tactics can get a bit lost. Well, I was fortunate to see that for some, old-fashioned customer service is still a priority. I recently experienced first-rate treatment at, believe it or not, an auto repair center.

I had been taking my truck to The Car Repair Company for routine maintenance and occasional repairs, but I hadn’t been in for a couple of years. Well, one day the maintenance light in my truck went on and so I took it to The Car Repair Company. They still had me on record and told me come on in and they’d take care of it.

Now here are the three things that I felt exemplified above normal customer service:

1. Like everyone in the car business, The Car Repair Company has had some challenges, but Jim Atkinson, the owner, was very upbeat when I came in. They normally will give you a lift to your work when you drop off your car. I thought with business being tight and all, that I would have get my own ride. But Jim, yes the owner, said that he would still take me to my office if I needed a lift, and he did.
2. They informed me that one of the repairs would take overnight, but I told them that I had no other transportation at my disposal, so I would bring in my truck in the morning. Jim felt that the repair on the lower ball joints should be done for safety reasons and offered to rent me a car and deduct the cost of the rental from the price of the repair. Not too many places would offer that.
3. I had one glitch on my transmission service, but I didn’t come back to The Car Repair Company for few weeks to get it checked out. Instead of saying it had been too long, Jim told me to just bring it in. A minor inspection and minor adjustment was done while I waited and at no cost to me.

I’ve always liked the Car Repair Company, but this one experience demonstrated a commitment to customer service that wasn’t just lip service. It solidified my loyalty to them over other service centers. Most importantly, it reminded me that as an agency, Park&Co needs to keep doing the most for our clients at every opportunity in order to keep their loyalty. Like The Car Repair Company, it’s what we demonstrate above the norm that makes the biggest and most lasting impressions on our clients.

Here’s the thing about numbers – they suck. They cloud people’s judgment. They associate meaning to things that are meaningless and often take away from what really matters.

Take sports. Let’s compare A-Rod’s statistics to Scott Brosious’s, the man who stood at third base just a few years prior to A-Rod in New York. Scott Brosious, who retired in 2001, is a career .257 hitter with a total of 141 home runs. A-Rod is a career .306 hitter with 553 home runs. Over his entire decade-plus career, Scott Brosious didn’t make nearly the sum of money that A-Rod will this year alone at $28,000,000. Yet if they each strolled down Broadway, New Yorkers would heap praise upon Mr. Brosious in a way A-Rod could only dream.

Why? Because beyond all the numbers that A-Rod’s accumulated he hasn’t provided moments or built relationships the way Scott Brosious has. The clutch hitting and late-inning dramatics that Brosious provided is the equity that has made him a Yankee legend despite his pedestrian numbers. So what does this mean? It means that if you’re spending time worrying about accumulating more Twitter followers and monitoring your blog traffic your missing opportunities to build moments and share experiences that naturally make you more valuable.

I’m done trying to poke holes in social media outlets. They aren’t the problem. Twitter is a perfectly effective and maybe even revolutionary medium. The bigger problem is the people who use social media and their infatuation with building numbers instead of meaningful relationships.

We’re so concerned with numbers and having to measure something that we associate false values so we can rationalize our own existence. Right PR people? Height + Width X ad rate X 3 = PR value? Following that formula in PR makes us devalue the real target audience because we’re always searching for the biggest. It’s the same as building a social media campaign around accumulating followers instead of cultivating relationships. You neglect those that really matter.

“Our goal is to accumulate 10,000 followers by the end of this effort.” What happens if you achieve your goal? Now you’ve got 10,000 people who on the other end are just happy that you increased their numbers for them. How often do you actually go through and read what your followers have to say? Probably not often because you’re just happy to see that number on the right side of the page grow. Here’s a news flash – so is the person on the other end. They don’t really care about you either.

The sad part is we seem to be ok with that. As long as we see numbers grow or have something quantitative to shoot for we feel like we’re striving towards something. And the truth is, we are. It’s just that we’re striving towards something completely meaningless.

In a perfect world we’d say, “Screw numbers, they’ll come if we do our job right.” If we work to provide value to others and establish relationships the numbers will come in greater force than they ever could have otherwise. But it doesn’t work that way because it’s too damn hard. How do we measure if someone feels connected to our brand and how do we know if they feel compelled to share what we have to say with others? I sure don’t have the answer. But I do know that strategies built on numbers mislead and misrepresent. Ask A-Rod. Ask Scott Brosious.

As a marketing writer, I’m sensitive to words or phrases that seem to come out of nowhere and then get used and abused to the point of nausea. Here are four hackneyed examples that trigger a gag reflex every time I hear or see them. Let us kill them at once and dance and make merry upon their graves.  

Solution – This word is the kudzu of business communication. A decade ago, someone thought it was cute and introduced it into the American marketing lexicon. It has now spread to every corporate name, tagline or pitch on the continent. There are no products or services anymore, only solutions. For all its appetite, the term wields about as much descriptive power as whatchamacallit. Something to keep in mind next time you think of using it in reference to anything but an algebra problem.

Robust – This is a current favorite to describe any kind of system, website, program, intiative, menu, solution—let’s put it this way: if you can dream it up, there’s a way to describe it as robust. I think it’s supposed to mean that your thing has more features or characteristics than the average thing. What it really means is that they weren’t worth mentioning by name.

Best-in-Class – I’m told this particular virus came out of Detroit’s auto industry. How ironic is that? What class? Whose class? Under what authority and criteria are these things formed and judged? Call me a stickler, but I’m going to need a lot of supporting documentation when someone makes this kind of claim. Though yesterday, I made a trip to the men’s room, and I’m pretty confident in describing the result as best-in-class. Documentation provided upon request.

At The End Of The Day – Have you  noticed that nothing remotely significant happens in the morning or afternoon anymore. It’s like living in a bad Twilight Zone episode. There seems to be only one part of our 24-hour cycle that matters now. In the final analysis…that is to say, when all is said and done…I mean, the bottom line is…or rather, ultimately, it’s all about the end of the day.

Got a word or phrase giving you the dry heaves? Submit a comment.

What are you doing with that old dust-covered Atari you have sitting in the basement? That useless printer? Or the Zenith TV you got as a graduation present that’s been replaced by your 52″ flatscreen?

If you’re like most consumers, chances are you will dispose of your electronics, and all of the toxic material inside, someplace rather than a recycling center specifically designed to handle e-waste. These are the findings from a Rocky Mountain Poll released this morning by Behavior Research Center.

According to the study, here is how consumers typically dispose of electronics:

* 39% would donate to charities such as Goodwill Industries
* 25% would palm it off on a friend
* 15% would simply put it in the garbage destined for landfills
* 4% said they have no clue what to do with their electronic stuff

The primary challenge to recycling e-waste is the relatively low consumer awareness of how and where to recycle. The study found:

* Awareness declines in rural areas
* Awareness declines among younger consumers (who are the most likely to own and update their electronic equipment)
* Awareness “falls off” in middle and lower income groups
* It also appears that a special public
 information campaign may be needed for Hispanic consumers who are among
 both the most likely to have unused equipment at home (59%) and are the
 most likely to believe that it is okay to dispose of such material in
 the garbage (34%).

Earl de Berg, Chairman, Behavior Research Center

According to Earl de Berg, Research Director at Behavior Research Center, “There are private companies in Arizona that specialize in receiving, recycling, and otherwise disposing of used electronic equipment, but they appear relatively invisible to consumers. These companies are principally oriented to providing services to business, industry and government, even as much of the toxic e-waste problem is in the basements, garages, and homes in our neighborhoods. A clear need exists to increase consumer awareness of specific recycling options.”

Private companies like West-Tech Recyclers target commercial accounts, even though they are a great resource for consumers.

de Berg added that it may be reasonable to conclude that much 
material that is currently stored in garages and closets will still end 
up in city trash barrels unless specialized collection centers do more
 to make the pubic aware of their services and locations.

One option for consumers is Earth911. This is a terrific online resource to find out where to conveniently recycle just about everything, including electronics. But it still requires them to take their old electronics to a specialized facility.

To read the entire study, click here: rocky-mountain-poll

I was lounging in our backyard pool this past weekend when my six year-old son caught sight of the bottoms of my feet. “Mommy,  your feet need the Pedi-Egg,” he said. “You can get it at Walgreen’s. You better go today!”

Besides being shocked and embarrassed, I was surprised and rather impressed that my son recalled not only the name of the product, but what it was for and where to buy it. Why a six year-old would pay attention to a Pedi-Egg ad in the first place, I will never know, but that weekend, I went to Walgreen’s and purchased myself a Pedi-Egg. And I am happy to report that my feet are now baby-bottom smooth.

So what did this experience teach me as someone in the marketing profession for over 15 years? I’m now sold on the fact that while I may tune out a TV ad that is truly directed at me, the brand is still reaching me through the power of my children. It’s a bit scary.

And I am not alone. Friends of ours lamented how their five year-old son is obsessed with TV ads promoting Oxi-Clean. My friend Lisa said she was complaining about not being able to get the soap scum  off her shower door. Her son came in the room and said, “Mommy, that won’t work. You need the power of Oxi-Clean to get that soap scum off.” You can guess the rest. Lisa went to the store (I bet it was Walgreen’s) and bought  one of the many products containing some fun-to-say Oxi-Clean ingredient to clean her shower. And it worked. She was bombarded by TV ads for Oxi-Clean all the time, but it took her five year-old son to get her to actually go out and buy it.

The moral of the story is to never underestimate the TV advertising messages your children are not only exposed to, but truly processing and proselytizing. You never know when a timely pitch from your brand-loyal bambino will send you straight to the “AS SEEN ON TV!” aisle of your local Walgreen’s.

Imagine a casual but elegant evening under the stars where you can mingle with the community as well as your friends and family. You’ll sample gourmet cuisine and watch a champion horseshow while supporting educational opportunities and scholarships for disadvantaged Arizonans!

This year’s Evening of Goodwill has been revamped into a casual night at a new location, Los Cedros. It is a world-class equestrian center and houses some of the most talented, beautiful horses in Arizona. Los Cedros is an actual citadel and its unique architecture lends itself to a casually elegant atmosphere.

The Evening of Goodwill is a wonderful and enjoyable way to help one of Arizona’s oldest and largest nonprofits build a foundation of self-sufficiency for those in need through the power of education. The proceeds are used for both post-secondary scholarships and education initiatives for at-risk youth attending their ecademie Charter High School. Casual wear, including denim, western wear and sundresses are all acceptable for guests. This year, ticket prices are $100 – with $40 of that being tax deductible. Park&Co is a proud sponsor of this event.

Please purchase your tickets today. Through your support, you help Goodwill of Central Arizona put people back to work. And at this time, this is a critical service to many.

Goodwill of Central Arizona’s 9th Annual Evening of Goodwill

• Saturday, October 3, 2009
• 5 PM - 10 PM
• Los Cedros, North Scottsdale.

For more information about sponsorship opportunities, silent auction donations, tickets and more, please visit eveningofgoodwillaz.org today.

How long does it take you to act on an advertisement that strikes a chord within you? Less than a month ago, I saw an ADT TV commercial – a dog rescued from a house fire because her smart mum had an ADT alarm protecting their house. Take a look.

Several days later I saw an ADT van passing me in the street, a couple of days after that I saw two of my neighbors had put up ADT signs in their front yards and then just last week a colleague asked me if I had ADT installed at my house. Not an alarm system, but by the brand name ADT. Impressive.

It certainly felt like someone was trying to tell me something. I called ADT – a charming voice on the other end of the phone told me they could have a representative at my house within 2 days.

My sales rep couldn’t have been more helpful. He carefully advised me how to bring the existing equipment up to date and make it work for my family’s lifestyle. Yes! It couldn’t have been easier. Less than one week later a technician installed new additional equipment, serviced the existing system, replaced what needing replacing and reprogrammed the entire system.

The whole experience was quick, easy and much less expensive than I expected. I now have peace of mind that my home and pets are safe when left alone. Isn’t it great when an advertisement actually makes a difference in your life? Bravo to W.B. Doner & Company for producing such a compelling ad.