Rebranding the Pig

by Kim Taylor

We all know pork as “the other white meat” … the hugely successful ad campaign from the 80s still resonates today.  But, not enough I guess for consumers who apparently still fumble when trying to decipher the pork chop from the butt.  I’ll admit, when I’m selecting pork chops, it comes down to two things:  bone or no bone.

If the National Pork Board (yes; it’s is a real thing) has its way, the pig will take a page out of the cow’s book leaving consumers with a whole new menu of choices using an already familiar nomenclature—Pork Loin Chops become Pork Porterhouse Chops and Pork Top Loin Chops become Pork New York Chops, and so on.

The Pork Board has done its research and is providing retailers with a whole range of tools to encourage success including a labeling system that takes it one step further by telling the consumer the best way to cook their particular cut of meat—another nod to the beef industry—after all, who doesn’t know the best way to cook a filet?

Only time will tell whether this naming campaign is a success, but for now there’s only one thing left to say … that’ll do pig, that’ll do.

Report or Comment? When a Journalist Retweets, it’s Hard to Tell

by Dan Ward

I returned from a meeting this afternoon and saw this in my twitter feed:

“@JebBush a flip-flop-flip on immigration? Wow. I fashioned you more of a baseball player than a gymnast. My bad. #notsurprisedatall”

The tweet was authored by Debbie Wasserman-Shultz, chair of the Democratic National Committee, so the partisan tone is to be expected.

But I don’t follow Rep. Wasserman-Shultz. I saw her message because it was retweeted with no additional comment by Tampa Bay Times Political Editor Adam Smith, who I do follow.

Now, if you read Smith’s twitter profile, you will see the message, “Retweets are not endorsements,” but that is only clear if you take it upon yourself to look at his profile. My first thought upon seeing the tweet was, “wow, that’s quite a partisan message for an objective journalist to forward on to his followers.”

Based on the disclaimer in Smith’s profile, I understand that he retweets comments as part of his journalistic responsibility to share information, rather than as endorsements, but I do wonder whether a disclaimer on a profile goes far enough.

Is it my responsibility as a follower to determine whether I’m looking at a report rather than an editorial comment, or is it the responsibility of the reporter/editor to ensure his followers know the difference?

Don’t Be a Hero

by Kim Taylor 

Have you ever written a blog post because you hope it’ll remind you to practice what you preach?  Consider this one of those.

Everywhere you look, employers are running leaner and meaner than ever.  If the recession taught us one thing, it was that we could indeed do more with less.  The problem with that concept, and the pressure that comes along with it, is that “more” is this nebulous idea, and we never really know when we’ve reached a point where we’ve done enough and when it’s “okay” to ask for help.

As a self-proclaimed master multi-tasker, I’m quite possibly the worst delegator.  But, as a leader I know I have to do better.   That’s why when I read these tips from Inc. magazine, they really resonated … especially this one:

Stop believing you’re the only one who can do the job properly.

Just because an employee does things differently doesn’t mean he or she won’t do the job right or as well. If you establish expectations of the goal and the standards to follow, then methodology shouldn’t be an issue. An important and often overlooked part of delegation is that it helps develop employees for advancement and creates a better work environment.

Next time you’re trying to be your company’s hero by taking on task after task, which will inevitably lead to missed details and deadlines, try delegating.  Hero status comes from getting the job done—no matter who does it.

Unintended Message

by Dan Ward

By all means, insurance company Zurich should celebrate its 100^th anniversary today. It’s an impressive milestone for a solid company.

But let’s not celebrate the failure to edit banner ad copy in the wake of Friday’s tragic mass shooting in Newtown, CT.

Nearly every news site in America is leading with stories and photos from Newtown, so “Today we celebrate” is not the best message to send at the top of a news home page. In the case of The Wall Street Journal, the banner ad ran above a photo of a hearse. The image is jarring, and certainly does not send the message that Zurich intended.

As communicators and marketers, our job is not just to sell products and services, but also to protect the reputation of the companies and clients we serve. Sometimes that means making last-minute changes to advertising and communications plans based on events that are outside of our control.

Gone Are the Days

by Roger Pynn

Consumer trends are a strange force.  We’ve seen liquor consumption plummet as drinkers took to wine.  We’ve gone from watching “the three networks” to relationships with dozens of cable channels tailored to our specific interests.  And, of course, we throw away perfectly good clothes (or, hopefully donate them to charity) as fashions change like the seasons.

But this trend may be the one that historians talk about for generations.

Just as we’ve studied the Ice Age, the Industrial Age and the Space Age, this makes one wonder if there will one day be an age called The Uninformed Age.

Friday Finds | September 21, 2012

by Kim Taylor

Here are some goodies I found online this week:

The Temperature of Your Office Affects Employee Productivity – No really.  This Fast Company article tells the whole story, but apparently cold employees are uncomfortable and distracted costing employers 10 percent more per hour, per employee.  Yikes!

Twitter Profiles Are Starting to Look a Lot More like Facebook – Your profile page now has a Header Image in addition to the standard Avatar.  Sarah Evans shows you how to update your Twitter Header here.

Preparing For a Brainstorming Session and Need Some Creative Inspiration?  Look no Further than Google’s Creative Sandbox.

Murally – Murally, is a new creative collaboration platform that’s being touted as “Pinterest for Pros.”  Give it a whirl for your next vision board or creative project.

Slickplan – The team at Slickplan made creating sitemaps for your next website a cinch.  Even better … you can create your first one for Free.

And, just for fun … Wednesday was International Talk like a Pirate Day, and even our Commander in Chief got in on the action.

Honorable Mention goes to the U.S. Navy for their Facebook Post, though.

Friday Finds | September 14, 2012

by Kim Taylor

Here’s what caught my eye this week:

Apps for Employee Retention – Looking for a way to give your employees a pat on the back?  Apps like GiveAWow, iAppreciate and Sparcet capitalize on social sharing your employees are already accustomed to, and most offer both desktop and smartphone versions.

Two Big Brands Overhaul Their Logos – USA Today and eBay this week unveiled major changes to their brand’s logos.  The common theme between both redesigns:  simplicity.

Grey Poupon Only Wants Fans with Good Taste – Elitist mustard brand Grey Poupon took snobbery to another level by requiring fans to apply to The Society of Good Taste, otherwise known as their Facebook page.  Brilliant move by CP + B.

Does “When” Matter More than “What”? – PR Week’s Tumblr page shares this useful infographic about the best and worst times to post on social media.  Do you agree?

Shortcuts You Probably Aren’t Using – How much more efficient could you be if you scrapped your mouse and navigated through your programs using only your keyboard?  Here are a few shortcuts I learned this week:

In Excel, if you want to navigate from worksheet to worksheet within the same workbook, you can use Ctrl+PgDn and Ctrl+PgUp.

In Word, change the line spacing from single to double space in a flash:   Select the entire document (Ctrl+A) and then Ctrl+2 to double space or Ctrl+5 for 1.5 spaces.

And, just for fun, Postcardly turns your emails and photos into postcards.  Users simply send an email with a photo attached and Postcardly generates a postcard with your message on one side and the photo on the other.  No more excuses for not writing grandma!

Friday Finds | September 7, 2012

by Kim Taylor

Here’s a collection of the neat things I found on the Web this week:

“Pitch Pinning” – Combines Pinterest with Pitch Engine to give your news release a social layer.

Smore – Smore is to fliers (note the correct spelling) what Weebly is to websites … a great turnkey solution for quick-turnaround projects.

“What Bill Clinton wrote vs. what Bill Clinton said” – This is simply fascinating for any speech writer or communicator and a heck of a lot of ad-libbing.

The Wall Street Journal’s WorldStream – Don’t think video is important to journalists?  Think again.

Typography is all around us and now there’s an app for that.  Enter, font.ly.

Irrive is described as a social scrapbook.  It streamlines all of your check-ins, photos, status updates, etc. into one easily shareable place.  File Under:  Why didn’t I think of that.

And, just for fun … this is a pretty genius solution for separating the egg yolk from the egg white.  Bonus points if you can actually understand her.

Who is your competition?

by Roger Pynn

 

 

From time-to-time someone will ask “who is your competition?”  They want to know what firms we consider competitors.  Our reply has always been that all firms are competitors, but that we believe we compete for business based on who we are … not who else a prospect may be interviewing.

We also firmly believe that we compete against ourselves … against the bar we set … against the obstacles of achieving new goals for ourselves in mastering the art and science of what we do.

So I was inspired by Seth Godin’s evaluation of “competition as a crutch.”  He’s right in saying “competing with yourself is more difficult, requires more bravery and leads to more insight.”

Knowing and respecting your competitors is important.  It enables you to capitalize on what you do when talking to prospects.  But you should never sell “against” them.  If you do it only wastes time you should devote to selling your own strengths … and smart prospects know that when they ask.

Well done, JC Penney!

by Kim Taylor

The last time I remember reading anything about JC Penney’s digital strategy, they were under fire for questionable SEO practices—to put it mildly, they were ousted by The New York Times.

Today, however, they’re generating buzz online for a holiday campaign featuring Quick Response (QR) Codes.

QR codes, while perhaps not quite “mainstream” yet, have been used in retail advertising and weekly sales ads, but JC Penney is hoping to replace traditional gift tags with Santa Tags they’ll supply with each store purchase through the holidays.

Each tag lets its gift-giver record a personal message—abolishing the need for that pesky “From:”  field on your gifts.

The clever application doesn’t stop there.  They’ve also incorporated the ability to thank the gift-giver with text response.

Well done, JC Penney.  This is almost as good as not having the Kardashian Kollection in your stores.