The Difficulty is in Clarifying the Obvious

There's nothing to see here...

2009-04-19T15:47:00.002-04:00

This blog has been pretty dormant, but only because I've been so busy on the neboweb blog: Visit the neboweb blog and read the latest

We're all above average and do more than our share.

2009-01-13T15:44:00.002-05:00

I've often talked about the fact that 80% of drivers think their in the top 30%, and everyone thinks their kid is above average. Apparently there is a technical term for this. It's called unconcious overclaiming (hattip to: Gretchen Rubin). Basically everyone overestimates their own contributions and underestimates others.

In Gretchen's post she brings up the fact that overclaiming leads to resentment. What an obvious, but valuable insight. If you think you're carrying the load you tend to resent others contributions. Just imagine the implications this has on tax policy, or even your relationships with a significant other.

What's the solution? Perhaps, it is a greater sense of humility and grace towards others contributions.

Often overclaiming is merely a matter of ego and wanting to take credit for something. But, how often does the desire to take credit get in the way of getting something accomplished.

Benjamin Franklin said one of the most important lessons he learned was that you can get a lot more accomplished if you let others take the credit. Make you wonder if that had something to do with how he was able to start a fire station, build a hospital, found a university, create the first US library and is considered a founding father of the US (not to mention the rest of his accomplishments).

The 100 to 1 Rule

2009-01-07T20:05:00.004-05:00

Luke Sullivan was an author that changed the way I approached marketing & advertising. His book "Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This: A Guide to Creating Great Ads" is the best book on copywriting that I've ever read.

Recently while working on copy for the next version of the neboweb site I started to get frustrated about the quality of the headlines I was concepting. Then I remembered his one piece of advice. Write 100 headlines for every 1 that you want to use.

Even Luke Sullivan realized that persistance trumps talent.

It's not about the hours.

2008-12-29T10:58:00.006-05:00

Seth Godin recently posted on the infamous "10,000 hours" that Malcom Gladwell mentions in the book "Outliers" -- his point is that the 10,000 hours to become an expert doesn't seem to hold up.

Couple comments on this. This seems to be a common misunderstanding of the orignal research completed by Don Norman. It's not enough to just do something for 10,000 hours and become an expert at it.

It takes two additional components for the hours to be meaningful -- it requires deliberate practice & objective feedback. Deliberate practice means that you're challenging yourself to improve, correcting errors and practicing at an appropriate level of difficulty. Objective feedback means that you have an understanding of what good and bad is. I would bet that 1,000 hours of deliberate practice is worth more than 10,000 hours of rote repetition.

Also, Seth seems to equate expertise with commercial success. Is Britney Spears an expert at singing, or is she a marketing success that happens to sing? There seems to be a difference. 10,000 hours rule is for people that want to master a craft that can be practiced. And in these cases the research is solid.

But, the reality is that there are exceptions. Picasso didn't practice 10,000 hours, but he was a once in a century talent when it came to painting. Cezzanne easily practiced 10,000 hours. He only became an expert through deliberate practice of his craft. His early paintings sucked.

There are always exceptions to every rule, but if you want to rise to the top your field in your chosen craft -- 10,000 hours isn't a bad goal to set, but what's just as important is the quality of your practice. Are you challenging yourself to improve, or merely repeating what you're good at?

Although, I do agree with Seth on one core point -- 10,000 hours doesn't necessarily equal success.

Rejection

2008-12-17T10:11:00.006-05:00

I'm used to being told, "no," but it never gets any easier.
Two weeks ago I got invited to come to NYC to meet with Seth Godin to discuss an opportunity to spend six months working closely with him on what he termed an Alternative MBA.

Seth Godin was one of the first authors that I really devoured when I got into marketing. His insights always seemed clear & applicable. I remember spending days reading the archives of his blog. "Purple Cow" & "Permission Marketing" really effected me. And while I felt some of later books could be repetetive and a little heavy on anecdotes; I still consider him one of my favorite marketing-focused authors.

So with an opportunity presenting itself I booked a ticket for that upcoming monday.

When monday came, I hopped on a plane on at 6:00 am and made my way to NYC. After a 2 hour delay and a 2 hour entire flight sitting next to a crying child, I headed to the ASU loft where I was staying for the duration of my 3 day trip. App State has a place on E 24th & Park that alumni can sleep at for only $35/night, and since I was already sacrificing a lot for this trip I decided to stay at the loft for monetary purposed despite the communal arrangments & hostel-like atmosphere.

That night I went to bed quite early, and had a night of fitful sleep (communal sleeping is completely dependant on your bunkmates).

At 5:30 am I got up, readied myself and headed to Grand Central Station to take the 6:53 am train to Hastings-on-Hudson. Once there I met all the other applicants. It was a diverse group with some pretty remarkable people. Most were young, many were idealists, and almost all were looking for a new direction in their lives.

The meeting that morning was interesting. It included group interviews with everyone interviewing each other, and a one-on-one interview with Seth. Having interviewed with him many years ago for an internship I knew what to expect. 3 minutes one on one is all you get. He makes decisions based on his gut instinct when it comes to hiring and has always felt interviews are only there to confirm your initial impressions.

The details of the meeting and the program I can't go into (I signed an NDA), but he was basically looking to create a peer-learning environment of smart & focused individuals looking to change the world.

That afternoon several of us shared the train back to NYC, ate lunch & then went to the MET. It was snowing and a bit surreal to be traipsing around the city with people who I'd only met that morning. Conversation flowed easily even though everyone was exhausted.

We all parted ways and made half-hearted promises to keep in touch even if we didn't make the final cut. Out of the thousands of responses we were the final 20 people, and we all knew that it was likely that only a few of us would get the chance to take the next step.

Although, I wasn't even sure that the opportunity would really be worth the sacrifices I'd have to make -- I still wanted the chance to participate. It would provide a confirmation that Seth Godin thought I was remarkeable enough to take me under his wings, share his experience and teach me what he thought was important. I still remember the disappointment from the original rejection letter when I applied for an internship with him many years ago after I felt like I botched my phone interview.

When I opened my email this morning, and got the email that essentially said -- "It's not you. It's me." -- those feelings came back strongly.

Maturity is a bitter disappointment for which no remedy exists, unless laughter can be said to remedy anything. -- Kurt Vonnegut

So, tomorrow I go back to the real world and as the feelings of disappointment pass. I'll start to laugh again.

It's not a phenomenon. It's a movement.

2008-01-08T12:45:00.000-05:00

As most people know, I've been a supporter of Barack Obama's campaign for president since he gave his announcement speech in Springfield, IL. (http://www.barackobama.com/2007/02/10/remarks_of_senator_barack_obam_11.php). It was a speech that spoke to the disillusionment that myself and my generation feel towards the political status quo, and an invitation for all of us to work together to remake the world we live in.

However, I'm not speaking purely as a supporter in this post. I'm merely making some observations about what some see as an odd phenomenon of a campaign. A few of my family members have called recently expressing amazement that Obama has been able to overtake Hillary Clinton in the early primaries. A few have caught his soundbites, a few have even watched highlights of his speeches and they often say that his rhetoric is too lofty and non-specific. They question his chops and experience. They wonder why he's not more specific in his pronouncements, but I think this is precisely why he is succeeding...

There is a place in politics for establishing the grand themes of an election. These create the narrative and backbone of your candidacy. Campaign speeches are not policy speeches. Campaign speeches are meant to inspire, provoke, and allow you to connect with a candidate on an emotional level. They are not meant to be laundry lists of policy ideas. They are meant to encourage your support for a given candidate. To make you feel like you have a part in this process that so often seems removed from the reality of our every day lives.

It seems interesting to me that at the point in which Obama's campaign sagged (especially in media attention) was during the summer. This coincided with his emphasis on policy specifics and issue-based pronouncements. His speech to automakers in Detroit regarding fuel consumption, and his speech to the Council on Global Affairs in Chicago regarding his vision for a Foreign Policy & Security -- while detailed and important got limited coverage.

The truth is that politics is much like advertising. First you must establish your message and your brand. Barack Obama's message is that he wants to unite Americans to tackle the difficult problems were facing and transcend partisan gridlock. His brand is hopeful, energetic and most importantly authentic. My generation (those under 35) have grown up in an age of inauthenticity. We've been blasted with advertising since we were out of the womb and have a sixth sense for pandering. So when we see someone who is honest about their past (even the unflattering aspects), who takes stands on unpopular issues despite the potential consequences (eg. Iraq War circa 2003) and who avoids the standard political gamesmanship of attack politics -- we take notice.

This approach has also created a mobilization of volunteers that is unprecedented. Thousands log on to his website every day and use his online phone banking system to call their local peers to keep everyone informed of the campaign. Speeches and articles are distributed, events arranged and a community is built. As we saw in Iowa, the result of this mobilization is unprecedented turn out.

People under 35 were never lazy. They were merely disillusioned with a poll driven politics that smelled of political calculation, and reeked of inauthenicity. They needed someone to organize them under a positive cause and teach them how to reach out and organize their peers.

Who better for this task than a former community organizer who had to overcome the hardcore disillusionment of the poorest communities in Chicago and convince an alienated populace that they could make a positive difference in their lives if only they were willing to stand together united as one.

While the pundits act suprised and others just now take notice -- this is not something that happened over night. This is a movement that was built through the hard work of thousands of volunteers and inspired by a Candidate who has never forgotten who he is or how hard the challenges are that stand before us.

New Getty Images Website

2007-08-08T22:50:00.000-04:00

Just got an email. Looks like getty images is getting a brand new site.

Now sure when it's going live, but check out the preview below.

New Getty Images

Overall the site is a success. The AJAX search box on homepage is a bit forced, but forgiveably functional. The larger images and new width are more suitable to today's landscape. The new search interface actually seems to take some cues from istockphoto (which getty acquired last year).

I'm not sure it will dramatically improve my user experience, but I think it's a solid iterative upgrade. Design is freshened up and there are few usability tweaks.

I give it a 8/10 ;-)

There's a new typeface in town

2007-08-08T16:36:00.001-04:00

Roadsigns are about to get a makover. The federal highway association has preliminarily approved a new typeface for our interstate road signage. The new typeface is called ClearviewHwy, and was designed for maximum legibility and ease of recognition. The type designer was James Montalbano.

Overall it reminds me a bit of a love child of Adobe Jansen & FF DIN, but it's really a well executed typeface. Kerning is a bit odd in some of the examples, but it's still better than the old FHWA Series E type in my opinion.

I wonder just how many folks will actually notice once the change takes place? If I see it out of state (not coming to GA anytime soon from what I understand) I'll take a photo and post.

You can learn more about the project below:

http://clearviewhwy.com/ResearchAndDesign/

Corporate Theme Songs

2007-07-31T16:45:00.001-04:00

The always reliable copyranter pointed out a recent post at night crush about corporate theme songs. Check em out. I'm playing these at the next neboweb holiday party.

The worlds worst corporate theme songs

Can you feel the energy? It's brand-f*cking-tastic!

The 12 types of Ads

2007-07-23T13:05:00.000-04:00

Great article by Seth Stevenson in slate today. He basically reviews the findings by Tedd Gunn that all advertising breaks down into 12 master categories/forms. He also has a great slide show accompaniment

A summary from the slide show is below:

12 Universal Ad Types

-Demo of product: ie. iphone launch commercials

-Show the need/problem: ie. cingular dropped calls

-Symbol, analogy, or exaggerated graphic to show problem: Lamisil's nasty foot germ.

-Comparison: charles schwab/talk to chuck (my broker doesn't listen)

-Exemplary Story: situation where product use saves - VW crash during idle chat

-Benefit causes story - ad back-to-front, by imagining a trail of events that might be caused by the product's benefit - Women chasing and tackling Axe Deodorant User

-Presenter/Tell-it - UPS or old school "Aleve worked for me" testimonial

-On Going Character: Geico Caveman, Insurance guy that was president in TV show "24"

-Symbol, analogy, or exaggerated graphic: Demonstrates a benefit of the product with symbolism. Meet the slowskys for comcast high speed.

-Associated User Imagery: The advertiser showcases the type of people it hopes you'll associate with the product. Nike/Gatorade athletes working out in rain etc.

-Unique Personality Property: These spots highlight something indigenous to the product that will make it stand out. Dyson Vacuums

-Parody or Borrowed Format: Coke side of life; grand theft auto made nice

Check it out here..

New article coming soon :-)

2007-07-11T13:57:00.001-04:00

Sorry updates have trailed off a bit. Between planning a wedding, out-of-town guests and running neboweb things have been a bit busy :-)

New article will be coming this friday.

Cartoon Frog Wisdom

2007-06-28T11:26:00.000-04:00

Thought I'd share this little nugget of wisdom with everyone.

Slate.com launches video version of magazine

2007-06-26T11:19:00.000-04:00

Looks like slate.com (one of my favorite online mags) has stopped taking baby steps with intermittent video features and has joined the online video party full bore.

Slate says the launch of SlateV (V for video -- no points for clever naming) is intended to fill "the sweet spot between cnn and youtube." And to bring their "irreverent wit, sharp intelligence, and counterintuitive insights" to the online video space. All the major magazine features are now video casts.

Hopefully this doesn't mean they're going to discontinue the print versions. In today's multi-tasking work place it's much easier to peruse an article in small chunks, than to stop/start video segments.

Only time will tell if SlateV is ahead of the curve or just a failed attempt to make a great online print-style magazine into a CurrentTV series of video-mag shorts.

Serendipity vs. Blowback (random thoughts on a friday)

2007-06-22T11:52:00.001-04:00

"Serendipity is looking in a haystack for a needle and discovering a farmer's daughter." -- Julius Comroe Jr.

Every decision and subsequent course of action has unintended consequences. Some times these effects result in positive discoveries (serendipity); other times they have negative reactions (blowback).

My favorite example of serendipity is Louis Pasteur's discovery of the vaccine. Pasteur was studying chicken cholera. He had previously isolated the bacteria and prior to taking a holiday he left specific instructions for his assistant, Charles Chamberlain (our hero by chance), to infect the chickens with the latest cholera culture. However, Charles forgot to administer the bacteria and left for vacation instead.

Upon his return he exposed the chickens to the now month old bacteria. The chickens took a slight illness, but soon were healthy again. After re-exposing the healthy chickens to new (and full-strength) cholera bacteria he discovered that they were completely resistant. Vaccination had been discovered. One of the most important discoveries in recent human history was basically the result of a mistake. Vaccination was discovered because Charles Chamberlain was in a hurry to get out of the lab and on a holiday.

On the other end of the spectrum is blowback. Blowback as a term originated in Military Intelligence circles to refer to the negative un-intended consequences that arise from clandestine operations.

Perhaps the most relevant current example of blowback in today's era is Osama Bin Laden. Everyone is well aware of the US involvement in funding anti-soviet forces in 1980's Afghanistan and many have noted that Osama was a US creation, but it's not really that simple.

Originally from Saudie Arabia, Osama Bin Laden left college and joined the afghan independence fight in 1979. By 1984 the independantly wealthy Bin Laden was in charge of an anti-soviet group called MAK (Maktab al-Khidamar); MAK was a primary recipient of support from Pakistani Intelligence Service (PIS); which in turn was a favored agency through which the CIA funneled money into the afghan resistance. With CIA assistance the PIS is estimated to have trained 80,000+ Afghan mujahideen for anti-soviet operations.

But, despite the billions of dollars that the US funneled through PIS into groups like MAK -- it was an estabilished rule that US officers should avoid direct contact with the mujahideen and that they would not have direct oversight into how the money would be distributed.

Thus the US made a calculated decision to outsource it's management of funding of the anti-soviet afghan insurgency to the Pakistani Intelligence Service. Obviously the Pakistani Intelligence Service had very little motivation to ensure that the money was distributed to those whose long term goals aligned with US interest. Thus bin laden rise to prominence was a result of US funding and pakistani decision making in allocating those funds.

Through his leadership in MAK; Osama Bin Laden built a personal network and by 1988 he had split off from MAK to form a islamic military operations that is group now known as Al Qaeda. Without the support of the US and PIS it's entirely possible that Al Qaeda would've never been created.

Every decision has unintended consequences and those effects can alter the course of history. What decisions are you currently mulling over? Are there consequences beyond what you imagined? Can you even prepare for something that's not even on your radar screen?

Are you a bystander?

2007-06-18T14:36:00.000-04:00

At lunch today I was reminded of the story of Kitty Genovese. If you're not familiar with the story, or the social phenomena that's named after it -- it's intriguing, relevant and disturbing.

Kitty Genovese was a young woman who was murdered in Queens, NY in 1964. As she was walking to her apartment late one evening she was approached by her attacker, Winston Mosely. Winston Mosely stabbed her twice in the back and her screams awoke her neighbors. A dozen people watched as she was attacked. The attacker left briefly and she struggled into an apartment building. The attacker soon returned and dealt her death blow.

Her case is upheld as the pre-eminent example of the bystander effect. The effect basically observes that a lone individual will usually intervene when another person needs help. However, if there are multiple people present; people are much less likely to intervene. Each bystander assumes that someone else will intervene. It's a classic case of diffusion of responsibility.

Well this effect was in full force today while I was eating lunch at a local Cuban restaurant. Outside of the window -- a mid 40's female and a mid 30's male were dealing drugs. The female would approach a stopped car, take money and then the male would make the hand off to the customer. This was in the middle of the afternoon in front of a busy intersection. Multiple people noticed the event, but nobody reacted. They observed, said they couldn't believe that they were being so obvious in broad daylight and walked out the door of the restaurant. So I called and reported the activity to the police (it's my neighborhood).

But, this effect doesn't only apply to neighborhood watches. Think about your business. How many projects are enacted without clear project ownership and accountability? How many times do executives pass down general mandates without specifying a project owner, objectives, timeline or next steps? It's often harmless and seems like a small project to the person initiating. "Let's create new landing pages", or "Let's revise our sales script." But the reality is that the project will stall until someone takes a commanding leadership role. This is because each team member assumes that someone else is handling it, communication falls apart and all your left with is shared accountability. And shared accountability means no one will take the blame. Each person will rationalize that they thought the other person was taking the lead. This is also why large project teams become highly in-efficient without experienced and seasoned leadership coordinating the multitude of parts.

So before you accept, or delegate your next project; make sure that your project team has a leader and not just a bunch of bystanders.

So Kevin Willis just came in our office

2007-06-14T15:58:00.000-04:00

A 7 foot tall 12 year NBA veteran just stopped into office to check out the inside and see if it was available for rent as a retail space.

It's been a bit of an odd day...

What creating a great meal and an effective website have in common

2007-06-14T15:51:00.000-04:00

IT ALL STARTS WITH THE CONCEPT

A great meal starts with a concept. And as with all good concepts it should relate to the target audience. Want to cook a valentine's day dinner for someone special? Base it on a love story like hero & leander. Prepare each course to represent an aspect of the narrative. Start with the fire (spicy pineapple carpaccio), then incorporate something from the sea (scallops on a bed of roasted yellow pepper grits?) and end it with darkness (dark chocolate truffles coated with creme anglais). Make it cohesive and have it build-up to a climax.

But, know your audience. If you're target audience is your fiancee's parents -- then leave behind the fancy food and go for comfort. Don't scare them. Make them comfortable, make it memorable and make it tasty. Go for homemade mac & cheese, hamburgers that ground with foie gras for extra richness and a simple broccoli saute or maybe smashed potatoes.

A website should work the same way. Start with the concept. Take the EarthLink DSL & Phone microsite. The audience skewed a bit older, so it had to be approachable. The product was a bundle of two completely disparate products with different value propositions (speed & savings). So how could we communicate the positive nature of a bundled product. How do you communicate that they are better together than apart? We decided that the phone and the modem had fallen in love. It wasn't a bundle; it was a marriage that saved you money. And the creative execution worked.

PLANNING IS ESSENTIAL

The french refer to proper pre-cooking prep and planning as mise en place. It ensures that everything you need is set in place and at your finger tips. This means when it comes time to start cooking you don't waste valuable time chopping, measuring and washing. You can focus on the goal at hand -- cooking an ingredient to perfection.

The web world is very similar. Before we start a project we develop creative briefs that outline the project's target audience,their goals, the business objectives and the website requirements. Then we develop site architectures that show navigation flow. After that we develop wireframes that outline content and navigation on a per page basis. Only once all this planning is set in place do we start the design process. This means the designer can focus on creating an effective design without tons of back and forth on content requirement etc.

Does this process mean that it takes longer to come up with the initial concept? Possibly. Does this process mean that we're more efficient with our designer's time and can nail down a viable design concept on the first try? Definitely.

THE EXECUTION SHOULD BE SOLID

All the planning in the world can't save a badly cooked dish. Cook your pork chops to burnt and no amount of prep will make them tender. The same goes with web design and development. An ill-conceived concept can't be saved with planning. A confusing and ugly layout can't be salvaged through multitudes of documentation. It may cover your ass and show you're reasoning, but it won't help the end product.

If you're a professional in this industry there is no excuse for bad execution. It either means you didn't focus properly, you didn't allocate the proper amount of time, or you're not really a professional.

YOUR GUEST'S HAPPINESS MATTERS THE MOST

At the end of the meal only one thing truly matters. Are your guest's happy? Did they asks for seconds? Did they brag to their friends about what they experienced. The same thing goes for the web. People always talk about viral in regards to the web, but at the end of the day the most viral thing in the world is a great experience. Did it make you smile, did it make you laugh or cry? Was it memorable in positive manner? Would you send it to a friend?

Rising Crime Rate in Atlanta. Blame ice cream sales, or do we just need more feet on the street?

2007-06-14T09:43:00.000-04:00

If you live in Atlanta, you've probably noticed a raise in violent crime over the last 3 months. Every week a new murder leads the media coverage train. So why is crime in Atlanta on the rise (22% up from 2005).

Is it a national trend? Possibly, the national violent crime rate is up 3%, but we're way ahead of the curve in that regards. And it doesn't appear to be seasonal --as I've tried to rationalize it that way to my slightly paranoid fiancée.

Historically the murder rate has always trended positively with an increase Ice Cream sales. In poly-sci 101 this was known as a false causation -- ie. correlation does not imply causation. Murder Rate really trends with the weather. As the daily temperature increases so does the murder rate. And when the temperature goes up, so does ice cream consumption. These two completely unrelated phenomena are actually correlated on the same variable. This was covered in depth in the excellent book "Freakonomics."

So, now the question is what does all this have to do with Atlanta. Well, there's another trend that is worth looking at, and that has to do with the number of police officers actively patrolling a city. It may not be a surprise, but Atlanta has dramatically fewer police officers per 1000 people than other, safer major metropolitan cities -- Atlanta currently has 3.5 police officers per 1,000 residents vs. 4.5 per 1000 in New York (according to creative loafing). Combine this with a dramatic increase in the ITP population over the last five years, which is leading to rapid gentrification of lightly policed areas, and now you have a potent mix for violent crime.

What to do? Well, Chief Pennington needs to start making his mark. He's re-organized the narcotics force and supposedly been tackling corruption. Now it's time to go back the basics. We need more cops on the street and we need better communication with rapidly gentrifying communities.

Its not rocket science, but it will make our city safer and ensure that ATL can continue it's rapid growth.

Do we really need another blog?

2007-06-13T18:45:00.000-04:00

This is a blog named after a quote I once read. It's from a gentleman named Bill Bernbach (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Bernbach).

EDITOR CORRECTION: The quote is actually from Jay Chiat; another great advertiser, but I didn't feel like re-writing the post or re-titling the blog. Sometimes you just have to roll with your mistakes.

Anyway, Bill Bernback is the guy that came up with Volkswagen Beetle's "Think Small" ad campaign. Quite possibly the greatest ad campaign of the 20th century. I remember seeing those ads in a book on advertising when I was 20. They made the profession seem clever and almost noble. A profession that took a company's differences/strengths and turned them into something unique and special that was worthy of admiration.

Thinking small was really about thinking different. My perception was that Advertising was cooler than the I.T. industry and it appeared to reward merit more than politics and public affairs (my original career ambitions). That's why I got into the interactive marketing industry and that's why I decided to start neboweb (http://www.neboweb.com) out of my brother's guest bedroom 4 years ago. Thankfully we're far from the guest bedroom and we now have the type of office most often seen in HBO sitcoms. It used to be an art gallery and it's in the warehouse district of west midtown Atlanta. What a cliche. As vonnegut said, "We must be careful because we often become what we pretend to be."

This blog is about thinking different and somewhat about me. Hopefully that's a plus and not a minus. I appreciate your time and will try to make it enjoyable. After all do we really need another blog?