Get out the vote!

Just popped on Twitter and saw a tweet from Mark Earls that plugged this post from Neil at Only Dead Fish. I don't know how long he's been doing this, but just seeing it motivates me to read more blogs. Thanks for the inspiration!

And if you're a planner (and read blogs), go vote!

Why should you blog? Sensibility.

At the agency, we have had an influx of The Atlantic, tons of them are lying around, (mostly in boxes on 11, FYI). I picked one up this morning for the article titles "Why I Blog" by Andrew Sullivan.

For anybody curious about the benefits of blogging or even what a blog is, you should definitely pick up a magazine and read the article. For the quick-tip minded, here are the excerpts I most enjoyed:

• Blogging enables writers to express themselves in ways that have never been seen or understood before. It is to writing what extreme sports are to athletics: more free-form, more accident-prone, less formal, more alive. It is, in many ways, writing out loud.
• The simple experience of being able to directly broadcast my own words to readers was an exhilarating literary liberation.
• The key to understanding a blog is to realize that it's a broadcast, not a publication. It if stops moving, it dies.
• The blogger is a node among other nodes, connected but unfinished without the links and the comments and the trackbacks that make the blogosphere, at its best, a conversation, rather than a production.
• A blogger is like a host at a dinner party. He can provoke discussion or take a position, even passionately, but he also must create an atmosphere in which others want to participate.
• People have a voice for radio and a face for television. For blogging, they have a sensibility.

The Culture Snack should be a dumping place for insights, ideas, and arguments so that we each can make our individual planning brands stronger. With an influx of the same information, we are forced to be creative, to put our own spin on things, and come up with our own opinions, validating them with links and comments, and then taking this content offline into a meeting with conviction from your likeminded community.

You can find this post and others at the Culture Snack.

Yo Momma

Postcardsfromyomomma is kind of like Postsecret for moms but in a reverse way: readers submit emails from their mothers, thus displaying secrets of moms.

Great insight for any mother/daughter brand.

Here's one post titled "My husband lives like a pauper"

Did I tell you that I called the producer at Millionaire to re-schedule my air date? I told them I relocated to Reno and that I couldn’t make the July date. They said,”No problem…we’ll call you and send a letter after we look at the schedule”. I really think I can do well on that show. If I make some big bucks I will NOT give it to my husband. I will split it up between you and your sister. My husband doesn’t need money. He’s got his squirreled away and lives like a pauper so I’ll dispense any award money where it will be put to good use.

Leading With Insight

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Got this from Think Tank Treasury (great planner thinking). If you're not sure what an insight is or how you can go about finding one, look this through.

Slide 21: "You shouldn't be afraid to reframe the problem."

Slide 58: "Insights help uncover and reframe the true nature of the problem."

Presentation by Matthew Milan of Critical Mass (site in beta).

blogs make us think

Yesterday I stumbled on 90 Day Jane > a 24 year old girl who has decided to blog about her last 90 days of life. Some call it a hoax, others have taken her plea for help very seriously (the amount of comments she has gotten will make any blogger a little jealous). Blogger.com finally reacted and took her blog off the map, but she persevered on her own site and now...I'm not sure what's happening. You decide. Apparently she is posting something to Post Secret revealing the project for what it is. Hmmm...

Jane made me think. Some of her posts are about the digital age, how connections made online may not be of much value when taken offline, and how relationships today may be more fake than ever because of this. I have made many connections with fellow bloggers and am inspired by Jen at Innovation Feeder to give a shoutout to those that make me think the most.

Noah Briar - always making new connections and pushing the limits of what we consider to be integrated communications.
Russell Davies - if there's a planning celebrity, I'd say it's Russell, this uber planner is seemingly down-to-earth. I'd love to chat if you ever make it to Dallas.
Daniel Mejia - from Columbia, he blogs in English and has a very on-point perspective about planning and strategically weaving brands into people's lives.
Amelia Torode - I always like what she has to say, very down to earth and super smart.

(check the side bar at right for more)

I don't know if Jane's mission is real or has been side-tracked by the numerous connections she has made with fellow bloggers, but I can say that being part of this community is important to me as if we all worked together in the same planning department. And that means something online and off. Inspiration is just a click away. :)

Web 2.0 Plain Jane

When I get online these days it's a click, click, click activity. There's not really much thinking involved, it's more of an instant gratification game: If I click on Myspace will there be new messages, comments to check out; if I click on Gmail, will there be emails from friends or just newsletters; if I click on Popsugar, will there be some juicy celebrity photos that will feed my curiosity. By the time I'm done clicking through all my sites, I'm worn out. Sometimes, I'm left emotionally void (i.e. I have not be instantly gratified). I hate this feeling. As I'm sure most of you do.

It's this ridiculous, repetitive fetish that has left me a thoughtless, Web 2.0 Plain Jane. Damnit. A little less then a year ago, I was like Dora, The Explorer: ripe with ideas and optimistic energy. The Internet was my playground, there wasn't a website I wouldn't have gladly spent an hour on just to figure it out. I was hungry for it all, curious about how it worked, and determined to find the connections.

The blog became my door to the world where I'd wanted to be. It was a resource, a network, a playground, a scrapbook, a journal, and a resume. A blog is a wondrous thing. And so I am dis-heartened that I've neglected its value for the past several months. The click click click mantra has taken me to my blog and then away to another site just as fast: no thought involved, just action > like a habit. Gross.

And so I'm breaking that habit, right here right now. I'm stopping here at JPIA for a little blog-TLC. My inspiration came from the blogosphere: a post at Innovation Feeder read When was the last time you did something for the first time? (thank you Jen) While it may not be my first time to blog, it is a first for me to draw attention to the Internet rut of sorts I've fallen into. I don't want to be a Web. 2.0 Plain Jane. I probably don't have the energy or time to be Dora, The Explorer, but who I can be is a Junior Planner. I'm pretty good at that...just lost site of it for a while.

Thanks for listening. As always, plan on. :)

What Not to Wear

I'm giving a plug for my friend Addie who will be traveling to New York this weekend to continue filming WNTW.
She has a great perspective on how image can/should be communicated and cared about. As a copywriter at The Statesman, her colleagues are supporting her transition.

'Tis true that everyone enjoys their own 15 minutes of fame here in America. Happy Friday.

a green push

I'm going to make my digital self carbon neutral. How? I'm going to give you a Green entry loaded with sites where you can get the 'good stuff'.

Triplepundit - people planet profit; website provides news, tips, books, blogs and lots of research studies (click here for a study on Green Technology Consumers or here for a 25+ page report on Climate Change 2007).

Dothegreenthing - have you done a green thing for December yet?

Patagonia - their Footprint Chronicles are something every company should imitate.

Egg Log - catch a marketing pioneer's thoughts on going green

Bestgreenblogs - yep, an aggregated source of lots of Green good stuff

Treehugger - the most popular...er...well-known, their last quote of the day:

"By all indications, our responses to things tell us who we are, what we value, why we do (or don't do) the things we do. Material culture is social culture, and social culture is intrinsically connected to making -- and yes, to saving things." - Jessica at DesignObserver

Worldchanging - I like them for their outlook: the tools, models, and ideas already exist for a better future...we just need to put the pieces together.

Here's to a greener 2008.

connecting the dots

where do all you go for blog feedback/conversation threads? By this I mean, if you have a blog > where do you go to see who's talking about it? Or who has linked to it? Sites I check/bookmark are:

• blogs where I have posted comments
• Technorati
• My Blog Log > I can't really figure this tool out
• Digg
• Del.icio.us

Looking for some new ideas...

if Einstein blogged

Want to know your Blog's readability level? Go here and find out.

Via How does your Blog stack up against the rest? Thanks Cam!

(look to the right and down for usability purposes, and BTW, I have NO idea how they calculate their answers. I don't feel like a Genius: Did Einstein really ever know how smart he was when he was equating? This is basic stuff that I'm sharing.)

For Blog's Sake

I was over at Misentropy just now, reading what blogging does to planners. I think it should more accurately be titled: what blogging does FOR planners. Here are some of his highlights:

• helps us take notes
• mimics the process of memory formation
• helps us all grow big but remain small: i.e. we can have a multitude of conversations from one small place online, spreading our brand and our ideas everywhere but remaining in one place at the same time.
  

He leaves some more reasons unexplored: the 'Sandbox Universe,' the 'Mesh Memory' system, and the 'Free Lunch Cafe'. Send him a note over there if you want to know more, and let me know when you do so I can hop over and read it too. :)

I think blogging is great. I think growing, exploring, enthusiastic planners should be encouraged to blog: to share and develop their ideas. It's also very encouraging to read a blog and be inspired to push an idea further. A blog is a great digital example of how hard people work and how much time they devote to the important things in life (their life). A blog needs attention, it needs to be cultivated, organized and shared.

These are some planning/idea/creative blogs that get top honors for their devoted author and audience participation.

• Diablogue
• NoahBrier.com
• Herd
• Whistle Through Your Comb
• Russell Davies
• Get Shouty

And if you're a TED lover, hop over to Keeping Track to see a list of the 150 posts so far.
Blog on!

consumer responsibility

wanted to share a response I gave at Now in Colour. Andy talks about the choice consumers have to pay what they want for the new Radiohead album and asks: if you decide to be tight, are you cheating the musicians, or yourself?

• Great post! I love that I don't have an answer. I think this topic comes at a good time in the history of consumer-honesty (with themselves). It's sort of like Planning for Good on Facebook (more here) or All Day Buffet. People want to do the right thing; they'd like to imagine they have good intentions; at the end of the day, they want to be happy and feel good.

• Planning has a huge role to play here (I think). If we can properly identify what consumers' needs really are, then we're one step closer to making them feel good and happy about themselves and their purchases.

• When I saw the Radiohead news a while back, I thought Cool! But I think I thought cool, only because it's so unique. Go Radiohead! If we give consumers the responsibility to think for themselves before they're ready to, then we might be opening a huge can of worms. People love to place blame and find fault (is it really human nature?) and this kind of free-for-all sounds like it might have loopholes. Who knows. I don't.

• Anyway, still don't have an answer. I really liked your thinking process. So keep it up!

Today is BlogDay

What IS blogday?

• BlogDay was created with the belief that bloggers should have one day dedicated to getting to know other bloggers from other countries and areas of interest. On that day Bloggers will recommend other blogs to their blog visitors.

The site suggests that we mention 5 blogs that deviate from our own blog subject theme and in a thought-provoking manner:

1. Kanardo
   
2. HispanicTrending
3. EggLog
4. Mashable
5. AllDayBuffet

There ya go. Happy Blog Day. Blog oN!

harnessing your chi

this post is inspired by Scott Goodson's Feng Shui Marketing. this would be considered a strand maybe...off of that information. would the techys out there concur?

he emphasizes the essential balance between marketing elements so that energy flow is accentuated. This flow affects consumers and ultimately, he says, to engage in a full dialogue, consumers need to be rewarded with this energy.

i would like to add on to that with the notion of chi. Shoot, just checked wikipedia and i've been mis-spelling 'chi'. it's Qi for cryin out loud. :P Qi is a good term to use when describing how elements come together to produce a positive outcome. In a marketing/advertising sense it means that all the elements should work together > harmonize them.

1st - it's good to know what elements you need in the mix, just throwing random stuff in isn't going to help you organize how they should all interact. Focus.
2nd - prioritize. i think this is where media planning might come in...if a message needs more emphasis or play then make sure it's in the right medium.
3rd - think about the outcome; the feel; the big picture. what should the result of our efforts be? align the elements.

maybe this sounds hokey pokey (and it does, a little bit) but as i'm typing it, my chaotic brain is already feeling more relaxed about putting ideas into action. and isn't that what PLANNING is all about? oh yeah, and a little classical music now and then doesn't hurt. :)
for some more in-depth help harnessing your qi > whatever it be: more energy, desire to be happy, time management, etc > check out Steve Pavlina's blog and website. For a warm-up, ponder what he has to say about productivity:

• The sad truth is that most people are so incredibly bad at managing their time that rock-bottom personal productivity is simply accepted as normal. (so is half-ass, bad advertising) So anyone who can consistently invest 80% of their time each day in intelligent, productive activities is going to look like an overachiever by comparison. The average college student in particular is probably operating at only 20-30% of their capacity.

customers rock!

just found this blog today on customer-service and customer experiences. I will be adding it permanently to my list.

Planners, we need to always be mindful of who we're talking to, what they're experiences are, and what they're really thinking/feeling/saying.

Customers buy the brands we inspire them to love. It's gotta come full circle.

Chris Anderson

Wired magazine is pretty brilliant. Editor in Chief, Chris Anderson has a blog, check it out.

I got linked to Chris through Ed Cotton's Q&A with Ad Week. Ed considers Chris a thought leader.

This is a cool rant by Chris:

• The Intelligent Design movement has opened my eyes. I realize that although I believe that evolution explains why the living world is the way it is, I can't actually prove it.

• So, by this standard, virtually everything I believe in must now fall under the shadow of unproveability. Most importantly, this includes the belief that democracy, capitalism and other market-driven systems (including evolution!) are better than their alternatives. ~ Chris Anderson, Editor in Chief, Wired magazine

random touchpoints a brand can have

• business cards
• coasters
• flyers
• beer sleeves
• bumper stickers
• bathroom media
• menus (rest. biz)
• public spaces/properties - state & regional govts are looking for money from somewhere
  
• blogs
• craigslist
• product packaging

What is media? I read today on whistle through your comb blogspot that EVEN people can be media. Makes you question what media really are and what their job really is.

Media is about communicating information. ok, prepare for a rant:
My friend Adelle today said that art is about a methodology. I think some art is about a method, say if it's about illustrating a period of time or a cultural movement, then there's certain information that goes into a piece like that. Well...if we think about smart advertising; it should take into account a lot of the information of the time period as well, to be effective in reaching the right people. ANYWAY, advertising is art is information is media. and account planning is the method by which advertising can make sense in the world. dar...maybe this is just a rant.

what type of planner are you?

GO HERE to learn more about connections planning and interactive strategy. Account planning is spreading its wings to encompass more than the ol adage definition.

I am trying to network with planners via their websites/blogs. Blogs are the best. Granted I have a lot of free time to donate to this relationship because I'm jobless. ;P

PLAN OF ACTION: find a blog, read it, comment on it, start a dialogue, call them to talk on the phone/in person, and see what happens.

a plug for blogs

I hope not to get addicted to just copying and pasting cool stuff I find on the net, but that Romanian AP group has some great interviews on their site.

This question was answered by Mark Hancock, Planning Director of Proximity in London.

Why do you think so many planners have started to blog? Is blogging helpful in any way for a planner?

• Blogging has been a godsend for many planners because it means you can test out original thinking and collaborate with like minds from other disciplines before applying it to a clients business. It also means that you have to synthesize and condense your thinking initially, then express complexity in an interesting way - which is the essence of great planning.
  

COOL! do it. blog. *share ideas*

planners need an outlet

I don't have to list all of the planning blogs out there to get the point across that we need an outlet for our mental debris.

i have a journal, in which I scribble thoughts and accounts of the day's happenings as I see them. But then there's the online world--so complex and wonderful and diverse and creative.

A blog serves the purpose of collecting all the inspiration we find daily on the www. And as we're trained to do, we share ideas via blogs, hoping for comments to structure them and make them stronger.

We are in the business of ideas. Blogs are a journal for them online. ya?