Danny Brown

podcaster - author - creator

Insights

AdAge and The Power of Response

Lines and LazinessThere’s an interesting story happening at the minute online with AdAge and Lindsay Ferrier, who blogs over at Suburban Toil. It concerns an article published yesterday on AdAge by Lauren Barack, and a quote she used from Lindsay’s blog.

In the AdAge piece, Lindsay is quoted as saying she deserves all the free swag that advertiser’s and PR companies send to blogging moms: “I worked hard for my swag, okay? I freaking deserved it.” Reading that quote, you’d think Lindsay was nothing but a shill that’s out for all she can get.

Where it becomes interesting is that the blog post the quote was taken from is a satirical piece, with Lindsay actually decrying the way this year’s BlogHer conference seemed to have devolved into a free-for-all grabbing spree by some bloggers. Lindsay mentions this in the comments section of the AdAge piece, as do several other replies.

Lindsay’s comment was posted at 9.17am this morning. As of writing (almost two hours later), there is no reply from either AdAge or Lauren Barack, nor has the piece been amended. This seems like a missed opportunity for AdAge and Lauren.

One of the things that is repeated time and time again in this space is the importance of monitoring the conversation. The slightest negative response can soon flare up into something much bigger, and this is now being seen in the comments of the AdAge piece, Twitter, and Lindsay’s blog.

What could have happened and what could happen next?

  • AdAge could/should have amended the article.
  • Lauren and/or AdAge could/should have apologized to Lindsay.
  • AdAge could/should do a follow-up piece about fact-checking, relevance and the importance of timely conversation.

There’s no doubt that AdAge offers an excellent medium for some of the best media news around. Lauren Barack is also an award-winning journalist. But it’s clear that what may have seemed a harmless quote was taken all out of context and could have been seen as questioning Lindsay’s integrity.

It could have been avoided with a simple email to Lindsay prior to the piece. Even when the shit hit the fan this morning, it could have been handled better with a clear response. So far, this hasn’t been the case.

If you’re still dubious about the importance of monitoring and responding, the AdAge/Lauren Barack/Lindsay Ferrier triangle is a great example of why you need to.

Are your ears burning this morning?

  • Update: Lauren has responded to the comments with this reply, although it could be argued it’s not exactly apologetic.
  • Update: AdAge has since added an addendum to the post, apologizing for the gaffe.

Creative Commons License photo credit: svenwerk

Why Conform?

Think about it – “conform” is made up of the words “con” and “form”. To me, that says, “Form an orderly line so we can con you.”

Who wants to wait in a line just to be duped?

Toasted Bagels and the Art of Good Business

Light and dark.Every morning, I make the same breakfast. I’ll put the coffee on, then make myself an egg bagel. Pop the bagel in the toaster, fry up a couple of eggs, and good to go. Except it’s not.

Every morning, without fail, my smoke alarm goes off. “Adjust the toaster,” you might say. I did, and still the alarm goes off. “Cook the eggs on a lesser heat,” another good suggestion. Which I’ve tried. And still the damn alarm goes off.

Off course, it being a smoke alarm, I can’t adjust the sensitivity on it – too unsafe, right? Or is it? Couldn’t the manufacturers allow for sectioned adjustments, say one at a time until the problem is solved? There’s a big difference between cooker smoke and fire smoke, after all.

That got me to thinking how user-friendly we are to our customers.

Look at the iPod. Officially, you can’t replace the battery on it when it runs out, you need to have an authorized dealer do this. There are plenty of solutions online so you don’t need to go the official route, but why make it so much of a runaround in the first place?

The same goes for some laptops, other consumer electronics, customer queries and more. Basically, we’re not making things easy for the end user – instead, we’re pissing them off. Why?

To me that says, “We’re Company X and we think you’re too stupid to act for yourself. You will always need us around – get used to it.” How can that be good for business?

Look at the recent Zappos sale to Amazon. Zappos are known for having an amazing culture that makes everything easy, from employee satisfaction to customer sales and follow-up service. The result? A whopping $847 million purchase. Ease-of-use encourages success.

We’re smart people. We know when not to mess with things, but we also know what we’re capable of dealing with. If I can use a product, I should (mostly) be able to amend that product’s settings for my own personal use.

Otherwise, is there even any point to your product to start with?

Creative Commons License photo credit: hfabulous

What the Cool Kids Can Teach Us About Selling Out

My friend John Haydon shared a link with me to a video by Youtube user italktosnakes (Kristina Horner). It’s a video response to another Youtube user, nerimon (Alex Day).

In both the videos, each discuss the merits of being paid to advertise products on their Youtube channels. What’s interesting is their take on how companies are approaching this. Kristina praises Ford for its Fiesta initiative (which she’s part of) while Sanyo’s “insert here” example by Alex shows a company still getting to grips with the new tools.

Each video also acts as a nice rebuff to marketers and advertisers who say that Gen Y aren’t worth dealing with as they don’t have the influence or business savvy of older media users.

How about you? Would the approaches talked about in the videos work on you? How can businesses reach you?