‘Copper’ + Iron & Wine = how you nail a promo.

With so many boring, forgettable and lookalike TV ads, it’s rare that one just grabs me and makes me not only want to pay attention, but delve into its world. So I was exceedingly pleased when this promo for the BBC America show “Copper” (with excellent placement during extremely popular “Doctor Who”) captured my fancy:

As arresting (pardon the pun) as its visuals are, the song selection jumps out as perfect and haunting. That’s Iron & Wine doing a gorgeous cover of Stephen Foster’s “Hard Times Come Again No More,” a parlor song from the mid-19th century — the time where “Copper” is set in New York City’s teeming, tussling and corrupt Five Points neighborhood. Sam Beam’s voice and the lyrics craft a simultaneously mournful and hopeful tapestry, depicting a time when the country was divided and bloodied in the Civil War and yearning for a light at the end of the tunnel. (The song is also building buzz in the music press.)

The visuals themselves are unforgettable: The cinematography, gritty and compelling, paints the series perfectly. From the scenes, you get just a hint of what’s going on, not too much but enough that you want to learn more. It helps that it’s teasing a series rich in character, plot and action.In class I talk about the importance of calls to action, and whether content we see moves us to do something. Well, this is what this spot has done:

• I started watching “Copper.” The first season is available on Netflix, and it’s stirring entertainment. It’s not cheerful, for sure, but it is cinematic in scope and extremely compelling. This promo teases the second season, coming this summer, but gives the world that missed the first season time to get up to speed.
• I wanted a copy of the song. Alas, in searching for a copy of this beautiful recording, I learned Iron & Wine has not yet made it commercially available. I’d buy a copy in a heartbeat. But in the meantime, I searched through Amazon and listened to many, many versions. I ended up downloading The Chieftains cover of the song, which closes with a minute of bagpipes (which is awesome). Here’s hoping Beam makes a version of this available soon to capitalize on the attention.

Normally I say that a TV spot should include multiple mentions of its product (audio and video) to be more effective, but for outstanding examples you throw the rules out the window. This promo grabs you for its full minute, pulls you into its enthralling world, and leaves you wanting more. I love it. And it’s already moved me to action in two directions. That, then, makes it very successful.

When unicorns fight bears, we all win: Book(s) on Business of Awesome/Unawesome reviewed

Businesses and organizations have opportunities to be awesome and spread awesome in person and on the Internet every day. Businesses and organizations also have opportunities to be unawesome and spread unawesome in person and on the Internet every day. Fortunately, author/blogger/speaker Scott Stratten (aka Unmarketing) has these phenomena more than covered with his must-read two-headed book, The Business of Awesome/The Business of UnAwesome.

It’s two books in one, unflinchingly honest and unstoppably funny, but it makes one unifying point: How much you care about your customers says far more about your brand than anything else. We’ve all had good customer service and bad customer service, and these experiences linger with us long after we remember our purchase, our meal or our stay.

The Business of UnAwesome side chronicles the many awful things companies do in customer service, marketing and social media. The misguided case of the unfortunately named Boners BBQ, which assailed a customer via social media for her even-handed review (and incorrectly claimed she didn’t leave a tip). Using social media to blast information but never respond to questions. Unbelievably awful marketing gimmicks. Lavishing gifts on new customers while ignoring your loyal customers. Poor use of QR codes. So many truly terrible things somehow conveyed with great entertainment.

If that side says beware the trolls, the Business of Awesome side asks you to embrace the unicorns. Stratten repeats the beautiful story he told at #pseweb about how one man’s heartfelt apology saved his whole view of Hilton Hotels. Even awesome people and businesses make mistakes, but he shows how they make things right. Stratten lovingly details customer service that brings a smile instead of a frown, social brands that make loving them fun, small gestures that make huge impressions, companies that don’t take themselves too seriously but are very serious about pleasing their customers.

A unicorn boxing a bear, or why Chad Frierson from Austin’s Pizza is awesome.

He saves perhaps the greatest example for last: John, a customer who placed an online pizza order and added a small, silly request in the comment field, “Please draw a unicorn fighting a bear on the box.” Chad Frierson from Austin Pizza’s Call Center took the order and knew it wasn’t something the stores were equipped to do. So he drew a picture of a unicorn boxing a bear on a Post-It and sent along with a nice explanatory note ending with “I hope this suits your needs.”

“Needless to say this is the greatest thing of all time,” Stratten worte. “John uploaded the picture to display its awesomeness, which then went viral and was seen by millions of people. This story reigns supreme over all others, not just because it includes a unicorn, although that certainly helps. This was done by somebody in a frontline position with seemingly little autonomy, at no cost to the company, in an industry not known for being mind-blowing. It was done with immediacy and personality, without focus groups or a meeting beforehand. … He simply decided that unawesome is unacceptable, saw the window and acted on the awesome …”

If you’ve enjoyed perusing Stratten’s @unmarketing Twitter feed, checking out his blog or seeing him speak live, you’ll love this book. If you haven’t, yet you work in social media management and/or customer service, you really should catch up on his awesome work.

The branding of blizzards and the commodification of catastrophe.

In the media swirl around Winter Storm Nemo, many wondered why blizzards suddenly had names, like hurricanes have. Simple: It’s part of a new branding strategy by the Weather Channel. We have names like Nemo because it’s all about the Benjamins.

Weather Channel’s rationale behind the branding, er, naming of storms speaks volumes. Extracts follow:

Hurricanes and tropical storms have been given names since the 1940s. … Important dividends have resulted from attaching names to these storms:

• Naming a storm raises awareness.
• Attaching a name makes it much easier to follow a weather system’s progress.
• A storm with a name takes on a personality all its own, which adds to awareness.
• In today’s social media world, a name makes it much easier to reference in communication.
• A named storm is easier to remember and refer to in the future. …

Finally, it might even be fun and entertaining and that in itself should breed interest from our viewing public and our digital users. [Emphasis mine.] For all of these reasons, the time is right to introduce this concept for the winter season of 2012-13.

In this lesson on branding 101, the most important bit is that “should breed interest from our viewing public and our digital users” part. Translation: Branding storms will raise ratings and readership, which means higher revenues. Getting attention for your business is much easier when you have a well-defined and memorable brand, and storms are no exception. This comes, after all, from the media company that brought us the “See Friends at Risk in Severe Weather” feature. (And who finds a storm bearing down on them “fun and entertaining”?)

Video blogger Ze Frank nailed this years ago when he did an episode of The Show on branding: [F]or a brand to be successful, its emotional aftertaste has to be stronger than the more general brands that are associated with it. Your grandma, unless your grandma is Grandma Moses, isn’t as strong as the general brand “grandma.” But “grandma” is a stronger brand than the more general brand “old people.”

And “Nemo” is a stronger brand than “winter storm.” It’s easier to sell a weather disaster with a name, especially a cute one with a pop culture reference. Calling it Nemo launched a million “finding Nemo” and “just keep swimming” references and related memes. What about reasoned discourse over this storm? Ain’t nobody got time for that!

Branding storms and creating added media attention also help spread one more thing: Panic. With Nemo, like Sandy this summer, the Twitterverse filled with tweets in the order of “[College hundreds of miles away from us] cancelled classes. Why won’t my school? Don’t they care about our safety?” When you’re hoping for the shared experience of the brand Nemo, little things like geography and meteorological factors are less relevant than the feeling of being left out. Lining up for the sequel to Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, it’s as if, to paraphrase Death Cab for Cutie, the world was flat like the old days and storms can travel just by folding a map. (Disclaimer: I never fault my college or any institution for closing in the name of safety. Ever.)

Perhaps one positive offshoot could be a return to hyperlocal coverage with the volume turned down on hype. When he gave a revised and reasoned forecast on Nemo late Thursday, 9WSYR meteorologist (and SUNY Oswego alum) Dave Longley had a rather remarkable statement on his Facebook page:

I NEVER write a forecast for ratings or what I think people want to hear. I write a forecast based on the information that is presented and how it might impact CNY. I put everything into each and every forecast and I live each forecast to the end. That is my commitment to you the viewer and me as a scientist.

This, then, is where the Dave Longleys and the scientists of the world diverge from the Weather Channel, which is selling branded infotainment. Seems like it’s only a matter of time until “I Found Nemo” T-shirts crop up in their online store.

Pleased to meet you: The power of introductions.

Seems like I’ve spent quite a bit of time lately introducing people to each other or being introduced to people. And that’s pretty awesome.

Whether via Twitterduction (introduction via Twitter), inclusive email or face-to-face, introductions are where the magic happens. It’s where you can bring together two creative people who can take projects known or unknown to greater heights than they ever could alone. It’s where you can connect a solution to a problem. It’s where you can start anything from a friendship to a relationship, a collaboration to a business partnership.

Think about the people you’ve met who helped you, mentored you or otherwise brightened your life. Everyone we know can benefit by meeting new people who share interests, problems or passions. Social media does make this easier — I’ve encountered so many people there that I’ve later met (and were impressed by) in real life — but don’t neglect opportunities to put together two or more interesting people face-to-face with a handshake, over coffee or for a meal.

So, have you introduced anyone lately? If you haven’t, introducing two people who don’t know each other but would benefit from meeting virtually or in real life this week may be a modest goal. And who knows — it could prove the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

management by wandering around, revisited.

“You are out of tune with the times if you are in the office more than one-third of the time.” — Tom Peters, “Thriving on Chaos”

One could wonder if Peters’ 1987 quote no longer applies now that we can connect with the world via email, social media and countless new channels without leaving our offices. I would argue his point is more valid than ever.

I’m bad at this. I spend way too much time in front of my computer in my office. There was a running gag where our web/new media coordinator, who reports to me, and I would say “good morning” to each other face-to-face for the first time in the afternoon. But this is marginal management on my part, so I’ve made a point to try to check in with her early in the day, every day.

Moreover, working on a college campus, it’s really hard to get a picture for what’s happening from the island of our offices. Getting out and around helps immensely.

Peters had a term for this: Management by wandering around. It’s not complicated. Just by walking around your area, talking to your employees, co-workers, bosses and the like (in our case, students!), you not only maintain a good line of communication but can improve how everyone does their job.

I notice this most when I get out of my building and go through places like our Campus Center. In buildings teeming with offices, casual spaces and interesting people, I often find myself in conversations that solve some kind of problem for one or both of us, move a project along or spark a whole new collaboration. Sitting down to lunch or talking over a cup of coffee provides a much richer, deeper and more fruitful conversation than text messages or email, Facebook or Twitter ever could.

This is not to discount online communication. I’ve worked on good projects and formed great friendships with people before meeting them in person. But meeting them face to face — interacting in three dimensions in real time — makes the relationship so much richer. The same goes for your bosses or employees, your colleagues and your students. Social media can facilitate connections and communication, but it can never replace in-person interaction.

So … if you’re reading this in your office, I offer this simple challenge: Get out from behind that desk and wander around to talk face-to-face with at least three people you don’t normally speak with over the course of today. It could prove much more fruitful than you imagined!

last words for 2011: top 20 albums.

Once again, friend and fellow music fan Andrew Careaga asked me to participate in his HigherEd Music Critics combined countdown this year. I submitted a Sweet 16 for him, but have since caught additional new music to expand to a Top 20.

20. Wilco, “The Whole Love.” Jeff Tweedy’s most self-indulgent work since “A Ghost Is Born,” but at least the new album is more listenable.

19. Rachel Yamagata, “Chesapeake.” I keep waiting for Yamagata’s material to catch up with her voice, which is warm and sweet as honey. Still waiting, but it’s not the worst wait in the world.

18. Death Cab for Cutie, “Codes and Keys.” This is a comfortable and tidy record, which is to say fairly uninteresting in Death Cab for Cutie terms. Is it wrong to muse that Ben Gibbard’s breakup with Zooey Deschanel may bring DCfC back to better material?

17. Lenka, “Two.” Lenka’s follow-up to her smashing self-titled debut is a bit of a step back. In shooting for an album of love songs with more electronica/dance touches, she still brings a fine voice but some of the material comes across as lightweight.

16. The Roots, “Undun.” This will garner a lot of critical raves, and it has some very good moments, but Us3 and Digable Planets were crafting similar brands of hip hop fusion nearly 20 years ago. And arguably doing it better.

15, The Rural Alberta Advantage, “Departing.” I generally liken them to a Canadian version of Neutral Milk Hotel, and while the RAA’s second full-length album isn’t as good as their debut “Hometowns,” it’s an intriguingly offbeat effort.

14. Drive-By Truckers, “Go Go Boots.” Any album by the Athens, Ga. roots rockers is bound to contain wonderfully twisted storylines, cheating lovers and dead bodies. In that context, this album does not disappoint.

13. Ryan Adams, “Ashes and Fire.” It takes some getting used to, this happier and mellower Ryan Adams, but the outstanding songwriting and songcraft remain. “Lucky Now” is easily one of the top singles of the year.

12. City and Colour, “Little Hell.” With gems like “We Found Each Other in the Dark,” “Grand Optimist” and “Northern Wind,” singer/songwriter Dallas Green continues to excel.

11. Feist, “Metals.” Her follow-up can’t match the sterling standard set by “The Reminder,” but listening to her voice deliciously treat words like cherished lovers is always a pleasure.

10. Mother Mother, “Eureka.” This album from the quirky Canadian band features two superlative tracks — “The Stand” and “Baby Don’t Dance” — plus enough other good songs to warrant attention.

9. Augustana, Augustana. This band just seems to get better every album. And if “Wrong Side of Love” sounds like a Killers song and other tracks appear to veer into Jayhawks territory, well, I don’t consider that bad at all.

8. Dum Dum Girls, “Only In Dreams.” I’m a sucker for the retro-girl-band-rock sound, and few acts do it better. The Dum Dum Girls deliver the goods with “Bedroom Eyes,” “In My Head,” “Coming Down” and other tracks that shake, shimmer and shine.

7. Big Talk, “Big Talk.” As much as I love Brandon Flowers, this album by Killers drummer Ronnie Vannucci Jr. shows talent runs deep in the band. Big Talk delivers relentlessly Killeresque catchy riffs drawing influences ranging from Big Star to the Cars, pulsing through top tracks like “Katzenjammer,” “Replica” and “Girl at Sunrise.”

6. Colin Devlin, “Democracy of One.” Whether in the Devlins or on his own, Colin Devlin offers lightly tinged Irish vocals and often deceptively dark lyrics over cinematic backdrops. “The Heart Won’t Be Denied,” “Raise the Dead” and the title track show this combination in fine form.

5. Matthew Good, “Lights of Endangered Species.” One of Canada’s best singer-songwriters never stands still, as this album injects strings and horn sections into his brooding, captivating material. He’s done better albums, but new songs like “Zero Orchestra,” “Extraordinary Fades” and “Non Populus” have become fan favorites.

4. The Damnwells, “No One Listens to the Band Anymore.” I have a bias with this album, since I supported it via their Pledge Music fund drive, but the results speak for themselves. Not a bad track here, and in a fairer world, marvelous melodies like “Feast of Hearts,” “Werewolves” and “The Monster” would easily merit plenty of airplay.

3. The Wiyos, “Twist.” How can you NOT love a rocking retro-jazz-blues-Vaudeville album nodding to “The Wizard of Oz” and opening with the lines “Last night my house came down on the witch/Now Munchkinland round here’s got one less b*tch.” The songwriting, musicality and atmosphere on this whole effort just deserve so much attention, and even admiration.

2. Florence + The Machines, “Ceremonials.” The combination of Florence Welch’s tour-de-force vocals and the imaginative arrangements on this set can be breathtaking. Captivating tracks such as “Only If For A Night,” “Shake It Out” and “Never Let Me Go,” among many others, show that Flo has leapt to the top ranks of female singer-songwriters on today’s scene.

1. Frank Turner, “England Keep My Bones.” My favorite discovery of the year (thank you, Lindi Himes) also released what I consider 2011′s best record. Could be best described as a young Billy Bragg with a better voice. The simple-wisdom set opener “Eulogy,” hometown paean “Wessex Boy” and rousing “I Still Believe” are among many standouts. The version with a half-dozen bonus tracks is worth it for the stunning “Balthazar, Impresario” alone.

can 3 positive things a day help keep the blues away?

Among all the high-tech talk at HighEdWeb11 in Austin, many key takeaways involved the importance of people and treating others well. Perhaps the best example involved a suggestion from Alana Riley of the Berklee School of Music in her project management presentation … a non-technical activity turned into a daily ritual.

Alana’s outstanding presentation — separated into three sections of people, documents and things — perhaps was most memorable for her examination of the “soft skills” and the human side of the equation. She cited studies that show we think better when we’re happy, and how being positive (or negative) can correspondingly impact the end result. I loved this quote: “It doesn’t take much to make someone feel appreciated. And it doesn’t take much to make someone feel unappreciated.” It’s something we really need to think about all the time, but we don’t. And that wasn’t even the golden nugget!

The true prize of her session was her suggestion that, at the end of every day, we take time to write down three positive things that happened to us that day. “I’ve been doing it for a few months now + really enjoy it,” she said in a follow-up tweet. “It really does train your mind to be more positive “

It’s a very intriguing idea that, by making a conscious effort to look for the positive, this can impact our focus and our disposition in positive ways. It would be easy to be skeptical at first, unless you’ve met Alana. She exudes a kind of positivity that tells you there’s something to this theory.

I started the day I flew home from HighEdWeb, and recalling the positive interactions (if also bittersweet goodbyes) with friends made that day easy. Not every day since has had its share of gimmes, but it really can train you to keep a kind of running tally, where a switch goes off and you think: “Aha, there’s one!” Positive things can be personal in nature — being pleased with a great workout, eating healthy, finishing a project — but the ones that make me smile most involve helping and interacting with other people. Maybe, in a way, focusing on the positive makes one more aware of the relationships around us we take for granted? And, perhaps, doing so can make those relationships, and those around us, more positive in nature?

Hey, if nothing else, give it a try and see what happens. You may be positively surprised.

rip steve jobs. i can’t imagine a world without you.

I was introduced to his inventions in eighth grade. Weedsport Central Schools installed a computer lab filled with Apple IIc and Apple IIe machines. I’d used computers before, but nothing like these. They just made sense. They worked. They inspired me.

So many things Steve Jobs and Apple made inspired, enlightened and expanded my knowledge and imagination. To learn tonight that he has passed away feels like a punch to the gut. There’s emptiness. There probably shouldn’t be. But to think how much his vision and genius impacted my life — the lives of so many — that it’s hard to categorize my feelings.

I’m typing this on a Macbook. There’s another Macbook next to me on the coffee table, as well as an iPad and my iPhone. My iPhone — I had a dream I lost it, truly a nightmare because I felt so helpless. I use it to check my various social media communities, do email, surf the web, listen to music, send texts, keep time, light my way as a flashlight. About 10 feet away is my iPod for jogging. I don’t use a stereo; my music collection spins on iTunes. In my waking hours, I’m almost always in the same room with some Apple invention, or more than one.

As a society, we lionize celebrities, rock stars and pro athletes. Their accomplishments are comparatively minimal. Tweets about Justin Bieber? Fleeting and faddish. Media orgs treating Madonna’s appearance in the Super Bowl™ halftime show as breaking news? Ludicrous. News outlets acting like something a Kardashian does means anything? Ridiculous. Steve Jobs’ contributions are wider, deeper and longer-lasting than just about anyone in this era.

I literally can’t imagine a world without everything he and his team has created. A world without him, in some way. But now I have to.

if you’ve got a great story, tell it.

When he was around your age, people would, by today’s standards, consider him a failure. He dropped out of college. His first business venture fell through. He was unemployed and had no idea what to do with his life. But when he changed his focus to caring for others, he found his true calling. … He not only founded a college, but he helped launch an educational revolution.

Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to tell more than 100 resident assistants a great story. It’s one we don’t tell nearly enough, about how Edward Austin Sheldon, the founder of what we today call SUNY Oswego, overcame early obstacles to create a college and the Oswego Method of teacher education, which subsequently impacted colleges across the state, around the budding United States and as far as Brazil, Japan and the Philippines. Traditional historiography requires our dead white male heroes to appear bound for greatness. Sheldon, if viewed at the age of many of our students, seemed anything but.

But his flaws and challenges make him not only more human, but much more accessible and a role model to those trying to find their own ways.

As a child, Sheldon hated school, but detesting the rote memorization method eventually influenced his educational philosophy. He begged his father to let him stay home on the farm. When finally inspired by an outstanding teacher at a new private school, Sheldon managed to make it into Hamilton College. Illness and an apparent panic attack during an oratory competition made him drop out of school. He met a man who was opening a nursery in Oswego. Borrowing money from his father, Sheldon entered the business venture and moved to the Port City only to learn the nursery was a sinking ship. He received property in exchange for his share, but otherwise found himself in a strange city with no job, no direction and no real prospects.

But then he turned his life to caring for others. And so began a remarkable transformation from lost young man to one of the world’s foremost educational minds. In a bustling port boomtown full of immigrants, he worried about the welfare of the youngest residents. A house-to-house survey discovered 1,500 children who couldn’t read or write. He worked to establish a ragged and orphan school, and one of the main donors made Sheldon being teacher (over his initial protests) a condition of her support. So began an unlikely educational journey that saw the farmboy, college dropout and former failure develop a fresh way of teaching — the Oswego Method using active object teaching (with objects, charts and maps engaging students) combined with in-school practice training — when he founded the Oswego Primary Teachers’ Training School, with nine pupils meeting in a cloakroom in 1861. From there, all he did was help revolutionize the way the world viewed education.

Now 150 years later, I’m doing everything I can to put that story back in play. We have so many first-generation students and young folks eager to make a difference, just like our founder. If any of them have any self-doubts during their college years, they have an outstanding role model on perseverance, adaptability and the benefits of caring for others. It’s a great story, but not our only one. If you have great stories wherever you work, you should find ways to tell them as often as possible.

if you’re getting criticized, at least you’re doing something.

A hack writer who would not have been considered fourth rate in Europe, who tried out a few of the old proven “sure-fire” literary skeletons with sufficient local color to intrigue the superficial and the lazy.
– William Faulkner on Mark Twain

I picked up a copy of Bad Press: The Worst Critical Reviews Ever! over the weekend at the Oswego County SPCA‘s yard sale fundraiser. In addition to being full of words spiteful and sensational over works famous and forgotten, it offers a great lesson for everyone working hard at something who suffers the barbs of the jealous, the ignorant and the uninformed.

[I]n the restricted space of two-thirds of a page, Cooper has scored 114 offences against literary art out of a possible 115. It breaks the record.
– Mark Twain on James Fenimore Cooper’s “The Deerslayer”

At conferences and in online communities, I hear from such folk regularly. They talk of some exciting new direction they try to steer their institution toward, only to deal with cross-currents of those who prefer still waters to charting new currents. Of plans for the greater good that garner resistance from those looking to pad their own ego. Of ideas for user-centric websites that get blank stares and requests to prominently post a mission statement that means nothing to anyone.

The scientific machinery is not very delicately constructed, and the imagination of the reader is decidedly overtaxed.
– New York Times review of H.G. Wells’ “The Invisible Man”

Such motivated, creative people who deal with criticism and petty complaints  have something in common with the recipients of brickbats in this book: They’re doing something. Perhaps something awesome. Perhaps something that represents a small step in the right direction. And perhaps something slightly misguided. But they are trying to break a stale and staid status quo. They are trying new things. Good for them! If you’re one such person, good for you!

This obscure, eccentric and disgusting poem.
– Voltaire on John Milton’s “Paradise Lost”

Great writers did not become famous by not publishing their work for fear of criticism; they forged ahead believing their work had value and a potential audience. Whether anyone’s fresh ideas succeed or not, there is much more success in trying something than in never taking risks at all.