Eminent writer Bob Bly dissects the difference between direct marketers and non-direct marketers. In my experience, his analysis is spot-on. I had a client where both mentalities struggled for dominance. The incumbent mentality (non-DM) was all about branding, impression, design, and well known for it. A team of direct marketers was brought in to handle …
Author Archives: Garrick van Buren
Care and Feeding of Your Harshest Critics
Marqui is paying people to test drive and blog about their content management system. From Marc Canter on the origins of the idea: When I first came up with the idea – the question was poised “what if they blog something negative?” My answer was “that’s a good thing! Can you imagine how powerful it …
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How to Stifle Teamwork – Part 2
“Rating and ranking engender competition, not collaboration” – Esther Derby, An Alternative to the Yearly Performance Review I always felt annual performance reviews existed for disconnected management to reinforce hierarchy. To know that their prime purpose (in employees’ minds) of securing an individual salary increase actually incents people to not collaborate is doubly disheartening. Compare …
Job Security is the Ability to Get a Job
My sister and I recently shared a phone conversation on the state of work. While she finishes her undergrad, she’s working for a temp agency. She’s continually negotiating with the agency on work; she calls the temp agency with her schedule, they call her with jobs. When there’s a match, there’s a match. If not, …
First Crack 11. Folk Music & Copyright Issues
Jeremy Piller and I discuss the Intellectual Property Protection Act and some other copyright issues. He shares the history of folk music and how it wouldn’t exist with copyright protection. Links mentioned: Peace Coffee Jib Jab, copyright vs political satire at Reason Magazine NYTimes: Does a Free Download Equal a Lost Sale? Public Knowledge Reacts …
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Control vs Distribution
One of our current projects is with a client with a reputation of being extremely protective of their brand. They know the value of having customers distribute their brand message yet they’re struggling with the lack of control that entails. Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle rearing it’s ugly head. This is the same dilemma political candidates had …
More Slack Keeps Projects on Track
Plans are worthless, but planning is everything. There is a very great distinction because when you are planning for an emergency you must start with this one thing: the very definition of ’emergency’ is that it is unexpected, therefore it is not going to happen the way you are planning. – Dwight D. Eisenhower Swap …
First Crack 10. Europe For Beginners
St. Paul, MN, the feel of Europe without the pain of a poor exchange rate and a review of Steffanie Mueller’s Deutsche fur Anfanger podcast. Intro: Christopher Mark Brooder from CMBDG. Listen to Europe for Beginners [11 min]
First Crack 09. Wheels of Italy
An iChat conversation with Christopher Mark Brooder from CMBDG.com covering high-end audio video equipment and the Minnesota-based Wheels Of Italy group. Intro: Bill Boulger from IndieTickets.com. Listen to the Wheels of Italy [16 min]
First Crack 08. Advertising is Broken
A rant on the inherent conflicts between advertisers, traditional media publishers, and the new participatory media. Intro: PodCat from Podcat’s Best of Podcasting. Listen to Advertising is Broken [13 min]