Thursday, December 18, 2008

Bono - I'm thinking of you

I am a pretty big U2 Fan ... and one of my faves is "Do they know it's Christmas" from 1983. It was performed by Band Aid. There's a classic line, that Bono belts out. It goes like this, "Well tonight thank G_d it's them, instead of you." He's at his throaty syrupy best and whenever I hear that song, that's my best part.

And you know, that song is now almost a quarter century old. Nothing's changed! Except one thing. I am truly glad for what I have. I have a good business. I have a family that loves me. And I have my health.

Happy holidays and I every day, thank G_d that it's them, instead of me.

My 2009 resolution: Give more money to them.

Thanks for the inspiration Bono.

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Integra Leadership - I like ya!

I’ve got to hand it to Sabine Fischer and Sue McKee - the principals behind Integra Leadership Inc. We met through sure happenstance about 18 months ago, and Sue was instrumental in helping our business through a rocky time ... we just needed to find our direction - Sue really helped here.

Then I got busy and for sure so did Sue and we really have not been in touch for about six months. It was with surprise that I received an email from Sue - a newsletter --- and it was a lovely one at that. Well formatted with very meaningful content - and just the right length. Took about three minutes to read and I felt that I had learned something.

Although I will take credit for planting the idea in Sue's head about a year ago that a newsletter would be a worthwhile initiative, I have to give Sue and team far more credit than I would give myself. Why? They implemented it --- and in today's busy times, even implementing what may seem like a silly little newsletter (and this newsletter sure is not that), takes a lot of time, planning and effort.

So Sue, Sabine and team ... well done!! I raise my hat!

Monday, November 17, 2008

Talk is (Not) Cheap

Last week I had the pleasure of attending http://talkischeap.pbwiki.com/ at Centennial College.

It was a really cool experience for a few reasons -

1. I met a bunch of hop youngsters in the final throes of the college's PR program. Each student was hip in their own way and certainly many will be a force to be reckoned with once they graduate and get jobs in the biz. I like this!

2. I met a really neat thinker - Brett McAteer (out of Ottawa). It was really a chance meeting and Brett's right wing views really interested me a lot. In an email Brett sent to me the day after ... "I’ve got it! We should be calling this potentially huge niche not press and not public and not media relations but Social Relations. That’s it. I’m going to start the world’s first SR firm, later today, after changing the oil in my car. You ready? It was a pleasure chatting with you, John.

Brett, I am ready in a big way --- hhhhmmmm --- now you got me thinking

3. Nice to sit in on the podcast with a bunch of Toronto PR associates --- very interesting. But I gotta say that I am still unconvinced about the world of podcasting. People are so busy these days, it's like who has the time. Anyway, I suppose there is a space for everything on the planet.

That's it for now. I am nearing the end of another 15 hour day. Woo Hoo!

Friday, November 14, 2008

Some of us just don't get it

Wow ...

A client called today looking to have us manage their ad budget, and a fairly hefty one at that. It is a national buy - $120k (nothing to sneeze at). So, I had one of my people call up to get rates. Our experience with the Montreal Gazette was brutal.

1. It took her 6 minutes on the Gazette's site for us to track down their phone number (surely companies should make it easy to be contacted, especially when they are the one's doing the selling). Rule 101: If a buyer cannot contact you, they will go elsewhere. This is especially true in the internet age when you have three or less clicks to capture interest

2. So we called, and there was no human to speak to. I repeat ... no-one. Just a voicemail saying if you know the last name of the person to whom you want to speak, please enter it now, otherwise leave a message. This is hardly the greeting a new customer wants to hear. How would I know the last name of the person I need to speak to if I have never called before?

3. So, I left a message 6 hours ago.

And am still waiting to be called back.

Meanwhile, we have taken our business elsewhere.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Sometimes media can make things better, othertimes worse

I think it’s more than fair to say that right now, the world is in the dumps about its globally spiraling stock markets. Seems like every day, one after another, is a bloodbath ... whether you're in Singapore, Sydney, London or New York. And there is no doubt that millions of people worldwide have lost trillions of dollars - me included.

But the past that really gets my goat here is the media. It's doom and gloom all the way, every day. Seems to me that they only interview doom-sayers ... surely, there must be a person in-the-know-about-stocks somewhere in the world, who has something positive to say - someone who can perhaps defy conventional wisdom!

Why are the media not spending some time with Warren Buffett, the Oracle of Ohama? He's been buying stocks big time lately ... now mind you, they are all quality stocks. He's very bullish about matters. Nooo - instead the media choose to only interview doomsayers who seem to feed off the detritus of yester-years' strong markets.

Come on media! Please balance your interviewees. It's not all doom and gloom out there. There is a silver lining in this black cloud. Seek someone who's positive, (or at least neutral) and I can assure you - you'll find. And hey, if you are at a total loss, you can always pick me. Good news can be contagious

Saturday, August 16, 2008

The Costs Of Class

You know, it really is true --- what goes around comes around, or as they say, in our business - the worm turns. Last week I think I did something that showed some class.

I sent some flowers to another top-notch Toronto PR agency ... the reason why I did this is really academic now, but I think it was the right thing to do.

More importantly, the right thing of the PR agency to do, was to thank me for the gesture. Don't get me wrong - I don't require accolades or anything like that, but recognition is always nice ... and they too did the right thing.

Within minutes of them getting the flowers, I was called by the agency thanking me. And in today's age when class is sadly out the window, it was a nice act.

Thanks ...

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Starbucks' Response

Surprise, surprise! I got a response from Julie S at Starbucks Coffee Company about my posting with respect to their "double-cupping" policies. Seems as though they are doing what they can about the environment ... please read on.

Am I satisfied with the response? Guess so ...


Thank you for contacting Starbucks Coffee Company.

Starbucks white paper cups, used for hot beverages, are made of paper fiber and the industry standard liner (low-density polyethylene plastic). The paper provides the rigidity for the cup, while the plastic layer keeps the paper layer intact by protecting it from the hot beverage. This plastic layer also makes the hot beverage cups unrecyclable in most paper recycling systems. We are continually evaluating alternatives to the current plastic coating, and are currently conducting life cycle assessments for bio-based plastics.

We have spent more than ten years looking for opportunities to decrease the environmental impact of our disposable hot cups, which represent more than half of all the paper we buy. We are now focusing our efforts on addressing the source of the paper we use to make our cups. We believe our biggest impact has come from the introduction of our white 10 percent post-consumer recycled fiber (PCF) hot cups in our U.S. and Canada stores in 2006.

Starbucks was the first company in the United States to use 10 percent PCF fiber in hot beverage cups which, according to Environmental Defense's Paper Calculator, has significantly reduced the amount of wood we use by 11,300 tons - the equivalent of 78,000 trees in the first year alone.

Though Starbucks pays a slight premium for the PCF cups, we believe the long-term impact of using this more environmentally-friendly option is worth the additional cost. Our commitment to corporate social responsibility initiatives such as this underscores our long term investment in continuing to operate our business in a responsible way.

Other actions taken by Starbucks to reduce the environmental impacts of our disposable cups include:

Working to eliminate most double-cupping by utilizing corrugated hot beverage sleeves made of 60 percent post-consumer recycled fiber.
Offering customers a $0.10 discount when they use their own reusable cups. Customers in the U.S. and Canada took advantage of this offer more than 17 million times in fiscal 2006, keeping 674,000 pounds of paper from going to the landfill.
Providing "for here" mugs for customers who choose to enjoy their beverages in-store.

I hope you find this information useful. Thanks again for writing.


Julie S.
Customer Relations
Starbucks Coffee Company

Monday, July 14, 2008

Starbucks - what are ya thinking?

Make no mistake, I am not a tree-hugger ... not by any stretch of the imagination. I still consume what I need, enjoy a good piece of meat, but one thing that I will say, is that I am socially aware and in fact, waste very little.

Pardon the pun, but I have a big beef with Starbucks. Why is it that whenever I go to any Starbucks, and I have gone to approximately 20 in the past 60 days, my hot beverage is double-cupped? In other words, they use 2 cups for every hot drink. If the drink is heated to like a gazillion degrees, is that really necessary? Is hot simply not hot enough?

Just do the math and you'll see the hundreds of millions of cups Starbucks uses every year. Now double that!

Get my picture? I bet.

For a company that prides itself on caring for the environment, I'd be interested in knowing their rationale.

Watch this space for more details.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Vegas - You're a Class Act

I've just returned from yet another trip to Sin City, my first non-business trip there in 5 years. Vegas is a class-act all the way. Here’s why:

First - you pay big bucks and you get incredible quality, and lots of it. Proof positive was the $39.99 buffet at the Wynn. (Imagine having a hotel named after you?). You could choose whether you wanted the Nova smoked salmon with Egyptian capers or the Pacific smoked salmon with the Spanish capers.

Second, their hands are so far in your pockets, AND you feel good about that. When you stop and think about that - it's amazing. They get me to spend big money and feel good. I am a social drinker, but I felt exceptionally good at Tao dropping almost $40 on a martini for me and one for my wife.

Third, everyone was well behaved. For a city where it's always happy hour and that hosts some 300,000 tourists every weekend, I did not see one incident that would have jarred the senses. I guess the steep prices of fun keeps the "riff-raff out".

Finally, the marketing and PR is so damn pervasive - it's so damn good. The spin masters there are able to change your perceptions and guide your behavior - you're putty in their hands. I know it and they know it. I love it

Hey, I can't wait for CES 2009 --- Vegas, I'll be back

Monday, May 12, 2008

These Guys Really Get The Art Of A Special Event

Two Tuesdays ago, after having fed Jason and Amanda breakfast, I duly opened the front door of the house to wait for the carpool to shuttle them off to school. Pretty usual stuff so far. I returned into the house to finish my breakfast. Within a minute or two, Amanda, all of seven and cute as a button flew back into the house. “Daddy, daddy,” she crooned in her syrupy and ever-so-cute juvenile voice. “There’s a party outside and all the neighbors are going to come.”

“Huh”, I exclaimed, looking sleepily up from my dry cornflakes.

With little option, but to join the party, I abandoned by breakfast and headed to the front door. Across the street from our house stood a large awning with two industrious people – neither of whom I recognized - seemingly barbecuing with a bunch of neighbourhood kid gathered closely around.

Hmm? Barbeque for breakfast?

On walking closer, they sure were not cooking anything. Rather the two guys were the Barbeque guys – a company that cleans and refurbishes barbecues. The family had hired them to clean their barbeque. Nothing profound here!

So what do these guys get about a special event? They had two options. There’s nothing glamorous about cleaning barbecues at all. Clean my neighbors' barbecue in his back yard quietly and without fanfare or do it on the street, beneath an attractive awning and create some buzz.

The chose the later option!!

Barbeque Guys, I gottta tell you that what you did was surprisingly low tech, but it sure did create buzz on my street – and by the number of people you attracted and business cards you gave out are anything to go by … you held a great special event.

Best wishes for success

Monday, April 7, 2008

Blogger Burnout

I've just finished reading a really, really scary piece in the New York Times about how bloggers are getting burned out and then dying.

It's at http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/06/technology/06sweat.html?ref=technology

The situation just is not right --- Bloggers are obsessed about breaking the story when it's merely seconds old. Get beaten, even by a second, and you, (as a blogger) risk lost advertising revenues and reputation. In other words, it's a death spiral. And it really is, in that two prominent bloggers Russell Shaw and Marc Orchant, both died as a result of stress-induced heart attacks. Om Malik, also had a heart attack, he was lucky and lived.

So what's happening here? Someone will break a story before it actually happens? Is this what the internet has done to the business of news?

Other prominent bloggers complain about weight loss or gain, sleep disorders, exhaustion and other maladies born of the nonstop strain of producing stories.

No good guys. Hang it up. Being first is not worth dying for. No way. Just take it easy and if things slow down to break-neck speeds, that's fine too. The world will wait. After all, today's news is at the bottom of tomorrow's birdcage. Does it really make that huge of a difference whether today begins at 9:03 am as opposed to say 4:11am?

Monday, March 31, 2008

Stuff About Stuff

I wanted to thank my dear friend Collette Kim for sending me a link to one of the best and most effective blogs I have ever seen. It's at www.storyofstuff.com, put together by one Annie Leonard. It's good for adults and for sure very good for children to see this

The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.

The whole earth matter is very topical right now, due largely in part to Earth Hour last weekend, as well as that the earth is literally falling apart as a result of our selfish attitudes.

And last week, I saw first hand the sloppy attitudes of the average Canadian consumer. Like any health conscious guy, I do work out at my local meat market of a gym. Nothing irks me more than to see someone having washed their hands, tear off like 2 meters of paper towel with which to dry their grubby paws. Yikes... what a waste.

So here's the conversation:

Me: Excuse me sir? (very politely)


Him: What (in an irritated tone)


Me: It would be great if next time you washed your hands you took less towel. We gotta keep some of the earth for our grandkids (even more politely)


Him: Shut the f%&k up, you f#$&*^g tree-hugging idiot!

That pretty much summed it up. Pretty frightening stuff!

Yo musclehead --- wake up!!

Friday, March 7, 2008

Sometimes talent is better than perfection

I was in Vegas a few weeks ago for CES ...WOW! There's too much to see, to do, to eat and enjoy. I also made a number of interesting observations with respect to business. In addition, I did make a couple hundred bucks at the Bellagio, playing poker. It was an interesting game, 4-8 Texas Hold'em with a 1/2 kill. But more about that later.

There's an old saying: "The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary."

Well, what can you say about the price of perfection -- or talent?

One of the restaurants at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas offers two cognacs. One is named Perfection. The other is Talent.

The price of Perfection is $695.
But Talent? Talent costs $1,090!
Imagine the bar tender who gets a 20 percent tip for pouring those drinks!

Of course, there's a message here. Which is more important? Talent or Perfection?
One main cause of procrastination is the quest for perfection. People just can finish projects! Sometimes they are so overwhelmed with the idea of being perfect, they can't even get started.

They might be brilliant, but they can't get the job done.

On the other hand, talent is rare. It takes talent to come up with new ideas, see the boundless possibilities and put a plan in place to bring them to fruition.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

I really gotta hand it to Apple

You know, Steve Jobs and the guys at Apple, really really get it! Why?

Because they know their stuff, know their customers' hot-buttons and talk the right language. The perfect example's of this are the recent Apple/PC ads which I caught on youtube for the umpteenth time earlier this evening. Please see http://youtube.com/watch?v=VCL5UgxtoLs. Every time I see the ads, I pretty much roll off my chair with laughter

Here's what Apple really gets. One: The ads are perfectly irreverant, while being perfectly human. Face it ... we all know the quirks of PCs. I am a PC user myself, but increasingly find Macs to be cool and sexy. Two: The ads are not putting the PC down, but rather talk about the business just as it is ... no biases. Three: they are short, sweet and to the point -and that's what I love so much. Fourth: they are classy, well-conceived and pithy.

Steve and the people at Apple, I salute you …

Monday, January 14, 2008

Report from CES in Las Vegas

I was in Las Vegas last week, representing a couple clients, each of whom was launching new services. It was really cool, but then again, that's to be expected. It was CES after all. And this was Vegas. Woo Hoo!!

Vegas is like Disney for adults - and we all know what a good job Disney's marketing people do.
If there's ever been a town that just ropes you in, it's Vegas. First, everyone,and I mean everyone has their hand out for a tip. I'm not complaining though - because the service is so good. The cab drover, does not simply open the door of his car with a mumbkled hello. He really opens it emphatically and with a flourish like he's happy to see you. Doesn't matter he doesn't care how you are. Anyone know any other cities that boast this ... now mind you, that little opening of the door just cost me three bucks, but hey, it sure is worth it. I am feeling good.

Vegas truly is a city that gets it --- big time. Everything is done with a flourish. Everything costs and arm and a leg - but hell - so what - they're hell-bent on quality and ensuring you're having a good time. And despite being rivered at the poker tables more than a few times, a good time was had.

Vegas, I'll be back in April for the CTIA show