Tune into Tewksbury

I'm an ESTJ - what are you?

2007-10-28T08:36:00.000-07:00

Recently the ad agency where I intern had all the employees take the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) test - you know, the personality-type test - the one that tells you how introverted or extroverted you are and whether you think with facts or intuition. Anyway, this agency is growing and they are trying to be smart about it too. Everyone talks about cross-collaboration (or at least our BoD breakout session did) and says "to hell with silos" - so it kind of makes sense to do these kind of tests to know who you are working with on a team - or more importantly HOW these people work in order to have good cross-collaboration. The MBTI is interesting stuff - but if you ask me, it's too hard to remember what each combination (ESTP or ISTJ - is supposed to mean or who has what trait and in what order. but then again, that could be because i'm an ESTJ (aka "Life's Natural Administrator") and I think everyone should agree with me anyway. Seriously, this book Type Talk at Work says that my types are "remarkable at just about anything they do" (i agree) and that under stress my type might "become opinionated to the point of losing reason" and "take criticism very personally" (also agree). It seems like this MBTI stuff is pretty true to form; here are some other examples I find telling about my type (of course, I already knew this - this is purely for others to learn [haha]):

"If anything gets [this type] in trouble, it tends to be their EJ attitude toward life, a type given to freely expressed opinions. They can be surprised when others see things differently, and that can lead to some hearty, even abrasive, arguments. From the ESTJ's perspective, it's an open-and-shut case. Having packaged the argument so neatly and precisely, how could anyone possible disagree?"
"As Extraverted-Thinking types, they are not only objective in their decision making, they are also up-front and outgoing about those decisions - often to the intimidation of others."
"Their ET management style is to 'take names and kick ass'."
"They do not cope well when things do not go as planned. They have no tolerance for disorganization, tardiness, sloppiness, or inappropriate behavior."
"Their innate compulsivity makes it difficult for ESTJs to relax. It's been said they they are capable of turning reading into competitive sport."

All of this reminded me of one of our first reading assignments in Just's class last year - you, you guessed it: Teams that Click. I wonder how much better some groups would preform if they knew who had what personality? hmmm.

Sitting cool on my stool

2007-10-27T23:18:00.000-07:00

Truckers are awesome. They are some of the most genuine, interesting, and friendly peope i have ever met. Last weekend, Caitlin and I attended the East Cost Truck Nationals show in Petersburg. Technically we went to the show for our cultural explorations assignment. Our motivations were to find means other than the internet to immerse ourselves in this culture. But that reason quickly became insignificant when we found ourselves thoroughly enjoying seeing the amazing artistry applied to these trucks - from paint designs to hardwood floors in the cabs - and feeling a rush when we watched a truck powered by a jet engine reach speeds north of 140mph!!

I've learned a lot about truckers so far this semester: they are great people who have immense pride in their trucks; it is a diverse workforce doing diverse work that drives (no pun intended) the goods of our economy; and they are entrepreneurs sometimes risking it all to run their own business.

I am grateful to the people that I've met so far and for welcoming us into their culture.

I F'ing Love Hummus

2007-10-16T07:21:00.000-07:00

No, not really - but a bunch of people do - so much so that they created a group on Faceback professing their love - along with 268 other groups.

There are even 230 posts on "hummus" on YouTube.

I find it fascinating how people can flock together over topics as random as hummus on the Internet.

We are researching truckers - guess how many Facebook groups there are on that topic? 335. Guess how many YouTube posts? 2,250.

What else?
500+ groups on Facebook for chocolate.
500+ groups for yoga.
174 groups for almonds.
89 groups for gummy candy.
500+ groups for UFC (one with nearly 11,000 members).

So do these micro media vehicles dilute or bolster community and culture? Does it detract value for the loyalists if everyone claims to be a part of have an interest?

I preferred it when UFC and MMA wasn't so "mainstream" - when there were just pockets of crazy loyal fans. Now fighters grace the covers of ESPN magazine and sports illustrated. And the number of fights have increased from a few to a dozen a year.

Even more obscure things like Krav Maga (90 groups) and Bikram Yoga (57) are prevalent among the micro media trends. Is it cool that so many other people share the same interests as me? Or is it annoying? I'm not sure yet. But I do appreciate the resource for research!

blogger's block

2007-10-08T20:35:00.000-07:00

I have a list of things I find interesting, but not sure they deserve their own blog.

1. Masstige. Today we talked about this in Brand Channels class. It's a strange and real and complex phenomenon. Over the summer I read a Euromonitor report on the Democratization of Luxury: the Masstige class. Then I was concerned about premium chocolates entering the mass level retailers. Today it came up when we were discussing salon-style shampoos being sold at Wal-Mart. What else falls prey? Vehicles? Does the oxy-moron "affordable luxury" communicate this trend? What premium categories are safe from democratization?

2. Gossip Girl.

3. Ok - I swear I had a list, but some how it seems like it dwindled down to just two topics and one is really to embarrassing to write about.

4. Experienced my favorite presentation thus far at the adcenter tonight: FreeFaithProject.org for igniting a conversation about religion. It was a tough topic - especially after Brand America - but this one proved to be the most insightful and interesting. And for once, I am actually grateful for an assignment . . . if it had not been for it, then I would have continued to ignore religion, or the lack thereof, in my life. I guess the same can be said about Brand America too - I was pretty much ignorant to all the abilities and actions individuals can take to save the environment.

KSR

A true culture crash

2007-10-08T20:19:00.000-07:00

So I was watching my TIVO'd episode of Ultimate Fighter 4 (Hughes vs. Serra) and found it interesting that Hughes brought religion into the Octagon. Matt wanted to instill a harder work ethic in his team, so he had everyone read a book in the Bible. This is a true culture crash because the Bible is the last thing i expected to see on the show or endorsed by one of the fighters. I am not judging - but it messed with my perceptions. I see MMA fighters as these tough, brutal, crazy, dangerous dudes. Seeing them involve religion in their training to hurt their opponents just seemed off to me. but i have to admit - it was a little refreshing to see that these guys really are normal.

then it got me thinking about the stuff we do that brings religion back into or to the forefront of our lives. My senior year in high school (1996) my horse, Petey, and I flipped over a fence. It was number 16 - we had 3 left to go. Prior to that date, my mom had kind of given up on religion. She went to Mass on Easter and Christmas, but really had no intentions of going or practicing beyond that. Then we had the accident. What is it about fear that drives us to some higher being or to find faith? Ever since that day, and especially on every day that I competed, my mother has been to Mass once a week. Makes me wonder what would happen if she stopped going?

KSR

Advertising 2.0

2007-10-08T19:55:00.000-07:00

Overall it is a good white paper - but I especially enjoyed Chapter 2 on Media Democratization and Its Effect on Mass Media. I love the concept of democratized media: how it's all about being bottom-up versus top-down and micro, not macro.

Chapter 3 talks about the power of WOM. Why is it that WOM is always forgotten about or taken for granted? This chapters details stories of how rapidly, and potently, negative WOM can spread on the Internet via blogs. Here's an excerpt:

The value of brands
Of course, brands add value to products, and brands are - and one could argue, will be - created
by advertising, not by blog posts. That is true. But in this hyper connected world, consider
the damage that has been done to brands in the following cases, all triggered or powered by
individuals using their own micro media.

In June 2005, Jeff Jarvis wrote about his recent purchase of a defective Dell notebook
computer, and the very bad customer service he received from Dell, despite having payed
extra for extended service9. He used his own blog to communicate the problem. Jeff started
to receive comments from a couple of other angry Dell clients, and the word was being
spread amongst peer bloggers. Later on, the story was picked up by traditional media such
as the New York Times, The Guardian, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal. Dell
sales stalled, and in October 2005 Dell issued a profits warning. A study revealed that
Jeff Jarvis had indeed had a great influence in creating what was called Dell Hell, which
eventually caused Dell’s stock price to fall. Without any doubt, the Dell brand has been
damaged in this process.

On September 12, 2004, someone posted in bikeforums.net that he had managed
to open a Kriptonite Brand bike lock by using only a Bic pen. The following day, a forum
peer confirmed that post by posting a video file of the lock actually being picked. A couple
of days later, the story ended up on Engadget.com, one of the worlds leading blogs about
technology and gadgets. Dozens of other bloggers followed. Within a week, the story got
into the New York Times, under the headline ‘The Pen is Mightier than the Lock’. Only
after appearing in the New York Times, the company decided to post a statement on its
website, but severe damage to the brand had already been done.

More recently, Blogger Mark Russinovich posted to his blog that Sony’s music CDs
automatically installed digital rights management software on hard discs upon playing
the CDs on a computer, practically hacking the PC’s system. He called it unethical and
possibly illegal. Almost immediately other bloggers picked up the story, echoing it on
their own blogs. Once again, traditional media picked it up and Sony ended up aborting
the sales of 50 CD titles, and replacing all CDs already sold by new, virus free versions.
Fred von Lohmann, senior intellectual property attorney for the Electronic Frontier
Foundation: “It seems crystal clear that but for the citizen journalists, Sony never would
have done anything about this”.12 Once again, this affair has clearly affected the company’s
reputation, at least amongst tech savvy users, which happens to be one of the most
important and influential targets for Sony.

These are three very clear examples of what happens when companies make mistakes in a hyper connected world.

Pretty empowering, huh?

I had to think WOM a lot this summer and one of the vendors I was working with was Talk Marketing (http://talkmarketing.com/home.htm). I thought it was pretty ingenious how they employed PTA leaders, book clubs, or special "influencers" to raise awareness for a product/brand through some good ol' WOM.

Long live WOM.

KSR

Diagnosis: Blogaphopia

2007-10-08T08:35:00.000-07:00

It takes balls to write a blog. To write about a plethora of topics and assume that other people want to read about them.

I've done some ballsy things in my life: I did the equestrian discipline Eventing at a national level (and survived a flip and fall with my horse); I am a yellow belt in Krav Maga (I had to stop after my fourth surgery - a flag football tackle accident); and now I do what TIME just dubbed the "most controversial" yoga - Bikram, which is a practice for 90 minutes in 110 degrees heat.

But writing a blog seems to create the most opposition for me. Usually when I don't like something - I avoid it. I hate doing sit ups, so I don't do them. I can't (more like won't) eat at Subway, so I avoid the place. But with blogs - I don't have such liberties. See, I have to maintain a blog for class, and well, considering that I am trying to graduate with a masters degree in advertising, I should probably give blogs more credit as they are are becoming (if not already) a mainstream media vehicle.

I think blogs are great - I just don't know that I know enough "blog-worthy" info. I was never much a diary writer - so I find it hard to write about something unless it has a purpose. I enjoy reading blogs, however. I even rely on them for research and view them as a credible resource (maybe more so than they really are). And I love how blogs amplify a consumer's voice - especially if said consumer is voicing negative points of view.

So (all good sentences start with "so") - I will try this thing called blogging - but don't blame me if it starts out slow and painful.

KSR

NASCAR: a culture or cult?

2007-09-10T14:22:00.000-07:00

I don't get NASCAR - but apparently I am in the minority as millions of people watch or attend NASCAR events making it the most watched spectator sport (I believe even more so than the Superbowl). (Interesting factoid: in 2006, the NYPD came out with the statistic that, on average, six people die per weekend at a NASCAR event.) I think I want to understand it though because it is a marketer's goldmine: fans takeover entire towns (restaurants, hotels, bars, wal-marts, etc) and who needs to worry about viewers skipping commercials?? The ads are going round and round the track on the car, the driver, and the team. But how did it get to be this way? And what kind of dues would I have to pay to gain entry to such a clan? I missed my opportunity this past weekend at RIR, but it got me thinking about all the buying power the NASCAR fan community has. Wouldn't every marketer want a bit of it?

To be continued . . .

I miss NJ

2007-08-23T19:06:00.000-07:00

I don't care what any of you say - the Garden State rocks. I miss it.