This Memorial Day Weekend, I spent the weekend at my hometown catching up with people I haven't seen in two decades. It was just under 20 years ago, I dressed up in a white gown and got a piece of paper signifying my passage into the "real world". Little did I know that I would go through a number of these rites in my lifetime - aside from high school...
I spent a lot of time catching up with people at the three events I went to - and discovered something interesting - while our class had almost 400 people in it - only about 25% of the class showed up to any of the events. But what was interesting was that every person that was there - knew at least two other people in our class that was not at the event. Which, conservatively, meant that the entire class should have gotten wind of the event - whether by phone, email, website or WOM.
The question is - how could we make sure this happens effectively? In other social circles I am associated with - email, Skype and IM are the three main connection mediums I use. In a project I am working on, the urban community uses mobile, SMS and email (to a lesser degree) with a *very* strong referential bias. In an alumni group like mine, the number of people who use these media are very different - and can find that it must be a challenge to reach everyone in the network solely relying on a particular medium.
For my high school graduating class - I am going to see what I can do to make the bonds stronger for the next reunion. Maybe five years from now, maybe ten. And with my brother having his reunion in two years, we shall see how the network effect operates in the future...
Tuesday, May 31
Monday, May 23
Using blogs to forward a meme - Little Women on Broadway
Last night, I was out with a number of women bloggers, all invited by Kaliya Hamlin to see the final show of Little Women on Broadway. Interestingly enough, Little Women is a show on Broadway that made the financial decision to go from Broadway performance to road show - from a strong understanding of the economics of running a show. Scott Frieman, a producer of the show, joined us for dinner and discussed their "social media strategy", which was started with their own Little Women Blog.
Scott explained some of the economics of the show - including the fact that Little Women was one of the least expensive shows on Browardway today - which determined much of the marketing mix that were planned for. Scott, who had been in the software industry for 15 years, and his wife were discussing the need for more "grassroots marketing" and brought Kaliya onboard to be the "blogmaster" of the Little Woman Blog and help to create their "social media strategy".
Leveraging the connections within the blogging community - and applying some of the old media techniques (comp tickets to the show), a number of female bloggers - Liza Sabater of Culture Kitchen, Mary Hodder of Napsterization, Betsy Devine of Funny Haha, Esme Vos of MuniWireless, Elayne Riggs of Pen-Elayne on the Web, Laurie from The Unofficial Apple Weblog and Suzy Conn of Blogway Baby. The goal - to have female bloggers discuss the show and begin some positive word-of-mouth on the upcoming road tour.
So, a show - with a built-in audience - connecting with the potential evangelists - and then the creation of a communications channel through the Little Women Blog. Here is some innovative thinking in an industry which would normally focused solely on the big billboards of Times Square, the full-page ads in the New York Times and TimeOut - working a completely different strategy. Will it work? Not sure - as I write this post, none of the bloggers I mentioned has put anything on their blogs - but what is word-of-mouth? And how does the meme grow and become something that takes a life of it's own? Mary Hodder and a team of bloggers are working on this concept - and one that I look forward to hearing about as the need for understanding the growth of a meme begins to take shape across the webspace and the blogosphere.
My Opinion on Little Women on Broadway
Funny thing, as I went into the show with a group of female bloggers, I kept having this vision of Jeff Foxworthy complaining about going to a "chick flick" - and how it would be a weepy, sappy show. I remembered "Little Women" vaguely from Mrs. Roland's 11th Grade English class and something about the sense of independance of women in that era. Combine that with a musical score and Broadway sets, and I was a little worried I would get something that would be a 21st Century accounting of feminism in that era.
How wrong I was. While the first 15 minutes did not engage me (and the seats at the Victoria Theater were quite small), the show captured me upon return to Joe's childhood and the Marsh family. The musical numbers were, in a word, "powerful". I was amazed at Sutton Foster (incredible voice and could easily take the place of Hilary Swank for depiction of a tomboy) and Maureen McGovern (another astounding voice and stage presence) - as well as the rest of the cast (personal affection for Jenny Powers as the older sister Meg Marsh and her turn with love meeting the tutor from Boston).
While the National Tour Cast has not been determined at the time of this posting, the story itself is engaging (as it had been in high school) and has moments of beauty and poignancy that make for a worthy night out. I know that I will tell my family (in Florida) about going, if they can.
Scott explained some of the economics of the show - including the fact that Little Women was one of the least expensive shows on Browardway today - which determined much of the marketing mix that were planned for. Scott, who had been in the software industry for 15 years, and his wife were discussing the need for more "grassroots marketing" and brought Kaliya onboard to be the "blogmaster" of the Little Woman Blog and help to create their "social media strategy".
Leveraging the connections within the blogging community - and applying some of the old media techniques (comp tickets to the show), a number of female bloggers - Liza Sabater of Culture Kitchen, Mary Hodder of Napsterization, Betsy Devine of Funny Haha, Esme Vos of MuniWireless, Elayne Riggs of Pen-Elayne on the Web, Laurie from The Unofficial Apple Weblog and Suzy Conn of Blogway Baby. The goal - to have female bloggers discuss the show and begin some positive word-of-mouth on the upcoming road tour.
So, a show - with a built-in audience - connecting with the potential evangelists - and then the creation of a communications channel through the Little Women Blog. Here is some innovative thinking in an industry which would normally focused solely on the big billboards of Times Square, the full-page ads in the New York Times and TimeOut - working a completely different strategy. Will it work? Not sure - as I write this post, none of the bloggers I mentioned has put anything on their blogs - but what is word-of-mouth? And how does the meme grow and become something that takes a life of it's own? Mary Hodder and a team of bloggers are working on this concept - and one that I look forward to hearing about as the need for understanding the growth of a meme begins to take shape across the webspace and the blogosphere.
My Opinion on Little Women on Broadway
Funny thing, as I went into the show with a group of female bloggers, I kept having this vision of Jeff Foxworthy complaining about going to a "chick flick" - and how it would be a weepy, sappy show. I remembered "Little Women" vaguely from Mrs. Roland's 11th Grade English class and something about the sense of independance of women in that era. Combine that with a musical score and Broadway sets, and I was a little worried I would get something that would be a 21st Century accounting of feminism in that era.
How wrong I was. While the first 15 minutes did not engage me (and the seats at the Victoria Theater were quite small), the show captured me upon return to Joe's childhood and the Marsh family. The musical numbers were, in a word, "powerful". I was amazed at Sutton Foster (incredible voice and could easily take the place of Hilary Swank for depiction of a tomboy) and Maureen McGovern (another astounding voice and stage presence) - as well as the rest of the cast (personal affection for Jenny Powers as the older sister Meg Marsh and her turn with love meeting the tutor from Boston).
While the National Tour Cast has not been determined at the time of this posting, the story itself is engaging (as it had been in high school) and has moments of beauty and poignancy that make for a worthy night out. I know that I will tell my family (in Florida) about going, if they can.
Wednesday, May 18
Are you prepping for 2008? 2012?
Funny thing - coming away from the Personal Democracy Forum in New York this week, there is a lot of discussion about what people thought were good tactics and bad ideas during the conference sessions. But the most intriguing discussions were happening off the conference floor - where people were playing armchair politics - figuring out who was doing what, who was helping whom...
Does this mean that I think other influentials (read: elected officials, party organizers, community leaders) are less important? NO. But, the power of the Internet is found in the people that you do not connect to normally, and are given permission to discuss your views with - on their terms. Whether at the workplace, in the bathrobe, after the evening news - it is the TiVo shifting nature of getting the information when they want it - not when the network news shows it.
Any candidate that is serious about building up for the 2008 election is thinking of their Internet strategy - how will they begin and continue the conversation? The parallels to direct mail are compelling - think about the size of the list and the percentage that will convert. But the problem with this model - it is very short-sighted. If the people on the list are thought of as direct mail - they eventually fatigue - and do what I do: either filter out the emails into the Bulk Email box or make a filter for the emails to look at them "when I have time" - which is often never.
Making the effort to engage and converse is the power of the list - longevity of the mailing list is what is the power. Come back to the adage I have mentioned before - it is more cost effective to keep a customer than to acquire a new one. Now, my email list providers might argue against that (What? I have a list for $0.02 per name, how can you beat that?), but I come back to quality - if it takes 1000 emails to generate a quality candidate, is it truly worth it?
Gov Vilsack, Sen. Bayh, Gov Bredesen, Sen Edwards, General Clark - are you listening?
One thing I noticed - the real indicator of a candidate is their understanding of the new medium - and how it can be the powerhouse for the future campaign. If you take a look at the possible contenders that are making news today:
- Senator Clinton is going full steam with her new site - building up a mailing list war chest though events and email signups - almost rivalling what Kerry was doing at the height of the 2004 election - and we haven't event gotten to the real primary.
- John Kerry is building upon his original 2.9M - rumours at the PDF were placing his list closer to 3.1M - and applying his PAC powers to other candidates and issues for future benefit.
- John Edwards is still sending emails out to his list of 600K - and potentially growing his coming effort for the 2008 campaign.
- Tony Blair has continued his conversation campaign with the Labour supporters even after his win - continuing to keep his supporters informed and in the loop.
- Betty Castor is still communicating with her supporter base in Florida - supposedly for her upcoming bid for Governor of Florida.
Does this mean that I think other influentials (read: elected officials, party organizers, community leaders) are less important? NO. But, the power of the Internet is found in the people that you do not connect to normally, and are given permission to discuss your views with - on their terms. Whether at the workplace, in the bathrobe, after the evening news - it is the TiVo shifting nature of getting the information when they want it - not when the network news shows it.
Any candidate that is serious about building up for the 2008 election is thinking of their Internet strategy - how will they begin and continue the conversation? The parallels to direct mail are compelling - think about the size of the list and the percentage that will convert. But the problem with this model - it is very short-sighted. If the people on the list are thought of as direct mail - they eventually fatigue - and do what I do: either filter out the emails into the Bulk Email box or make a filter for the emails to look at them "when I have time" - which is often never.
Making the effort to engage and converse is the power of the list - longevity of the mailing list is what is the power. Come back to the adage I have mentioned before - it is more cost effective to keep a customer than to acquire a new one. Now, my email list providers might argue against that (What? I have a list for $0.02 per name, how can you beat that?), but I come back to quality - if it takes 1000 emails to generate a quality candidate, is it truly worth it?
Gov Vilsack, Sen. Bayh, Gov Bredesen, Sen Edwards, General Clark - are you listening?
Friday, May 6
Andrew Rasiej for New York Public Advocate
Never been one to speak on the web about my candidates - my work for JK was always behind the scenes, my enthusiasm for the online success of the Dean campaign was always something kept quiet, and my support for the removal of GWB was what spurred me to return across the pond - but, for a first, I have decided to use my skills to help a candidate who i know and respect - and believe would benefit a community with his skills.
Andrew Rasiej for NY Public Advocate
I grew up in Florida, lived in Indiana, California, London and Washington, DC - but the only major city in the US I have not made my own has been New York. Until now. While not a resident in New York, my work has brought me to this fair city and I have seen both positives and negatives over time. And one of the positives I have seen has been Andrew Rasiej (pronounced Roo-shay).
Andrew has been a tireless advocate for the use of technology to improve public services - whether it be for schools (see MouseNY) or politics (an early supporter for Dean and the founder of the Personal Democracy Forum). I met Andrew at the very beginning of my political career in a loft on the Upper West Side where we discussed the seismic shift we saw coming with the confluence of the Internet and politics. Andrew was one of the few advocates for technology policy change in politics, helping then-Senator Bob Kerrey on various technology political initiatives in Washington, DC. And over the years of knowing him, he has toyed with the idea of making a difference in New York - whether through campaign for someone else - or for himself.
Well, a number of weeks ago, Andrew deciced to run for the New York Public Advocate role - essentially a vice major job in New York, though independent from the Mayor's Office - since it is a separate elected official. The role is essentially an influencer role - rather than an authority role - which has appeal to me in my experience as a product manager. What has attracted me to Andrew's campaign has been his decision to make the Advocate office a distributed office - where the public would become part of his social network - and be part of the advocate network. Rather than relying on postal mail, and what Andrew thinks is the issue - he would rather use the concept of distributed democracy to learn of the issues, determine what is relevant, and to leverage the network to accomplish the solution - rather than assuming he knows all the answers.
Wait? A candidate who does not know all the answers? Someone who subscribes to the Wisdom of Crowds? Willing to only accept small donations of $100 only? Is such a thing possible? I'd like to think so.
If you would like to learn more about Andrew and his platform, join the campaign at advocatesforrasiej.com . Or learn the news at the campaign blog or what Andrew Penenberg from Wired says.
Andrew Rasiej for NY Public Advocate
I grew up in Florida, lived in Indiana, California, London and Washington, DC - but the only major city in the US I have not made my own has been New York. Until now. While not a resident in New York, my work has brought me to this fair city and I have seen both positives and negatives over time. And one of the positives I have seen has been Andrew Rasiej (pronounced Roo-shay).
Andrew has been a tireless advocate for the use of technology to improve public services - whether it be for schools (see MouseNY) or politics (an early supporter for Dean and the founder of the Personal Democracy Forum). I met Andrew at the very beginning of my political career in a loft on the Upper West Side where we discussed the seismic shift we saw coming with the confluence of the Internet and politics. Andrew was one of the few advocates for technology policy change in politics, helping then-Senator Bob Kerrey on various technology political initiatives in Washington, DC. And over the years of knowing him, he has toyed with the idea of making a difference in New York - whether through campaign for someone else - or for himself.
Well, a number of weeks ago, Andrew deciced to run for the New York Public Advocate role - essentially a vice major job in New York, though independent from the Mayor's Office - since it is a separate elected official. The role is essentially an influencer role - rather than an authority role - which has appeal to me in my experience as a product manager. What has attracted me to Andrew's campaign has been his decision to make the Advocate office a distributed office - where the public would become part of his social network - and be part of the advocate network. Rather than relying on postal mail, and what Andrew thinks is the issue - he would rather use the concept of distributed democracy to learn of the issues, determine what is relevant, and to leverage the network to accomplish the solution - rather than assuming he knows all the answers.
Wait? A candidate who does not know all the answers? Someone who subscribes to the Wisdom of Crowds? Willing to only accept small donations of $100 only? Is such a thing possible? I'd like to think so.
If you would like to learn more about Andrew and his platform, join the campaign at advocatesforrasiej.com . Or learn the news at the campaign blog or what Andrew Penenberg from Wired says.
eCampaign comes to a close - but will the conversation continue?
This morning, Matt Carter sent the last email from the Labour Party 2005 campaign - thanking me for my support and hard work this campaign. And, as suggested, the Labour Party sent two emails on Election Day - one from my good friend John O'Farrell and one from John Prescott. Again, it was focused on the goal - get-out-the-vote. The question is - did it work?
How do you measure the effectiveness of a campaign
Funny thing, the Internet. In the Valley, the world revolves around the perception that the Internet is a separate world (World Wide Web, blogosphere) - having its own dimensions, rules, mores and constraints. In dotcom v1, the understanding of the offline/online mix was torn between total takeover (read: The Internet will completely destroy the offline world with efficiencies not possible in the physical realm) to physical redemption (offline brands takeover online successes) to successful synergies (read: Dell, Walmart, online banking, etcera). But politics - this is another effort. This is an effort of brand persuasion that, based on the actions of the "company" over the past period, you have to overcome perception with messaging either positive for the company or negative for the competitor. Im political terms, this is called increasing the positives, or increasing the negatives. And, in this world, keeping customers from buying period can be a benefit.
Where does this lead? Into the discussion of how the Internet effort is NOT an individual effort within the marketing and campaign mix. From the lessons of business, the Internet campaign must be designed to integrate with the rest of the campaign message - and can leverage the concept of targeted messaging due to the synergy of lower-cost database mining, customer profiling, and email communications.
Labour won, but so did the Conservatives
Today, Michael Howard stepped down from the head of the Conservative Party - but he should take some pride in the fact that his campaign was more successful than others gave the Conservatives credit for. Using the skills developed in America and Australia, and combining the skills from effective retail direct mail marketing - the Conservatives were able to win in the constituancies that either Labour or the LibDems were focusing their efforts. Instead of treating the country as a whole and only using broadcast as a means to communicate their message - the Conservatives seem to have been especially effective in tailoring their message to the targeted communities to win over support. And, not being a resident in one of the targeted constituancies, I could not see any content being sent that was focused. The next step will more than likely be the refinement of the email campaign - where messages become tailored even more so as the databases that drove the direct mail campaign are turned onto the email lists.
It is this refinement that I wonder about - and will the Parties start to realize the conversation is just beginning? Instead of shutting down efforts in the short-term, will they continue their efforts to maintain the communication channel? Labour, Conservative and LibDems all have more information of their supporters - why not think of them as the influentials that they are - abd build the relationship?
How do you measure the effectiveness of a campaign
Funny thing, the Internet. In the Valley, the world revolves around the perception that the Internet is a separate world (World Wide Web, blogosphere) - having its own dimensions, rules, mores and constraints. In dotcom v1, the understanding of the offline/online mix was torn between total takeover (read: The Internet will completely destroy the offline world with efficiencies not possible in the physical realm) to physical redemption (offline brands takeover online successes) to successful synergies (read: Dell, Walmart, online banking, etcera). But politics - this is another effort. This is an effort of brand persuasion that, based on the actions of the "company" over the past period, you have to overcome perception with messaging either positive for the company or negative for the competitor. Im political terms, this is called increasing the positives, or increasing the negatives. And, in this world, keeping customers from buying period can be a benefit.
Where does this lead? Into the discussion of how the Internet effort is NOT an individual effort within the marketing and campaign mix. From the lessons of business, the Internet campaign must be designed to integrate with the rest of the campaign message - and can leverage the concept of targeted messaging due to the synergy of lower-cost database mining, customer profiling, and email communications.
Labour won, but so did the Conservatives
Today, Michael Howard stepped down from the head of the Conservative Party - but he should take some pride in the fact that his campaign was more successful than others gave the Conservatives credit for. Using the skills developed in America and Australia, and combining the skills from effective retail direct mail marketing - the Conservatives were able to win in the constituancies that either Labour or the LibDems were focusing their efforts. Instead of treating the country as a whole and only using broadcast as a means to communicate their message - the Conservatives seem to have been especially effective in tailoring their message to the targeted communities to win over support. And, not being a resident in one of the targeted constituancies, I could not see any content being sent that was focused. The next step will more than likely be the refinement of the email campaign - where messages become tailored even more so as the databases that drove the direct mail campaign are turned onto the email lists.
It is this refinement that I wonder about - and will the Parties start to realize the conversation is just beginning? Instead of shutting down efforts in the short-term, will they continue their efforts to maintain the communication channel? Labour, Conservative and LibDems all have more information of their supporters - why not think of them as the influentials that they are - abd build the relationship?
Wednesday, May 4
One day left - and a ramp up in email...
After watching the campaign emails all this time, I now am intrigued to post that the campaigns have steps up their efforts - at least from the Internet point-of-view.
Labour - Tony and Gordon communicate
As anticipated, the Labour Party sent out two emails - one for fundraising on Tuesday (since Monday was a Bank Holiday) and today, a communique from the two men who run 10 Downing Street. Interestingly enough, the campaign seems to be following the wisdom of the consultants - if the populace thinks that Labour will win comfortably, their supporters will not consider the vote important and ignore the polls. So, while staying clear of communicating action statements ("Labour will..."), they are using the threat of a Conservative government if people do not come out to the polls. Interestingly enough, Labour hit upon the true nature of the email campaign methodology once again - communicate to the audience (Labour supporters) a problem (potential voter apathy), outlined the potential bad outcome (Conservative government) and how the reader could help (get to the polls). All designed to play to the individuals who have been reading the emails - and to get them to act.
Conservatives - someone learned KISS
After watching the continuation of the Conservative email campaign, this afternoon (2pm GMT) the Conservatives sent one of their best emails - from Michael Howard with a more compelling subject line and using video communicating the tactics of Labour (using the fear of a Conservative government) versus the party of action which the Conservatives are positioning themselves. Attached to these video links are a eight-point plan as to what a Conservative government would do in power in the first two years. Keeping it Simple and easy to read.
While this email is very pretty and has very compelling elements, again - there are challenges that can be learned from.
But, a much better showing of the email than I previously commented on. One question will be - how soon does Zack and his team respond with an email to attack the Conservative plan?
LibDems - MIA?
In the closing days, the LibDems emails have almost become placid with the same rote content - and arriving much later than expected. In the final two days, no major calls to action - just a link to Mr. Kennedy's comments on the future of the party. The disappointment in this is the opportunity for the party to leverage their third-party status and draw out their supporters. From a recent Economist article, the LibDems enjoy a very strong support from the more Internet-saavy Britions - here is the channel where they can make a difference. With the final day, I look forward to a surprise in their campaign.
Labour - Tony and Gordon communicate
As anticipated, the Labour Party sent out two emails - one for fundraising on Tuesday (since Monday was a Bank Holiday) and today, a communique from the two men who run 10 Downing Street. Interestingly enough, the campaign seems to be following the wisdom of the consultants - if the populace thinks that Labour will win comfortably, their supporters will not consider the vote important and ignore the polls. So, while staying clear of communicating action statements ("Labour will..."), they are using the threat of a Conservative government if people do not come out to the polls. Interestingly enough, Labour hit upon the true nature of the email campaign methodology once again - communicate to the audience (Labour supporters) a problem (potential voter apathy), outlined the potential bad outcome (Conservative government) and how the reader could help (get to the polls). All designed to play to the individuals who have been reading the emails - and to get them to act.
Conservatives - someone learned KISS
After watching the continuation of the Conservative email campaign, this afternoon (2pm GMT) the Conservatives sent one of their best emails - from Michael Howard with a more compelling subject line and using video communicating the tactics of Labour (using the fear of a Conservative government) versus the party of action which the Conservatives are positioning themselves. Attached to these video links are a eight-point plan as to what a Conservative government would do in power in the first two years. Keeping it Simple and easy to read.
While this email is very pretty and has very compelling elements, again - there are challenges that can be learned from.
- Use text whenever possible
The use of a graphic for the eight-point plan looks good - but due to spam filters and slow connections (Digital Britain is still not a reality), graphics are not seen unless the reader allows the graphics to be downloaded.
- Summarize the point of the call to action
The use of the video is good, but the placement (in the center top of the page) with no explanation except the link description does not incentivise a reader to click on the link aside from the most interested of folks. Why should I click on these links? And what should I do? The first half of an email (think of the above the fold concept in newspapers) are designed to capture the reader - and lead them down to the next step. - Be consistant with branding and personality
Ironically, while I like the fact that the oppressive blue template was removed - the branding disappeared which was present in the other emails. And, while the email came from Michael Howard, it was not "written" by him. Just by putting his name and a catchy subject line does not build the relationship. The previous email from Liam Fox was more personal and connecting.
But, a much better showing of the email than I previously commented on. One question will be - how soon does Zack and his team respond with an email to attack the Conservative plan?
LibDems - MIA?
In the closing days, the LibDems emails have almost become placid with the same rote content - and arriving much later than expected. In the final two days, no major calls to action - just a link to Mr. Kennedy's comments on the future of the party. The disappointment in this is the opportunity for the party to leverage their third-party status and draw out their supporters. From a recent Economist article, the LibDems enjoy a very strong support from the more Internet-saavy Britions - here is the channel where they can make a difference. With the final day, I look forward to a surprise in their campaign.
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