Advertising Either Credits or Discredits Both Brands

Kristina from BrainTraffic and I were discussing podcasting over lunch today, specifically – relationships between advertisers and podcasters. As always, we concluded the most logical, credible solution is the conventional, NPR-esque, announcer-mentioned sponsorship IT Conversations is exploring.

As Kristina stated, this model helps guarantee the both podcaster and advertiser are interesting and appropriate to the listener. In the best case, the result is a “peanut butter in my chocolate” combination like IT Conversations and GoTo Meeting. This combination raises the credibility of both brands. I might even be able to use GoTo Meeting to create an IT Conversation. Everyone wins, including the listener.

Worst case scenario, it’s an advertiser trying to buy street cred like:

In this case, the opposite happens, both brands are discredited.

From Laura Reis at The Origin of Brands Blog:

“Vogue did not decide to cover the latest trends off the Wal-Mart runaway. Vogue editors are not suddenly endorsing Wal-Mart over Prada. Vogue simply took Wal-Mart’s money and ran.”

Stinson Auto Brought the Neon Back to Normal

Back when Saint Paul the Auto Repairman fixed my tie rod end, he noticed the front brakes needed to be done and warned:

“You’re going to lose a caliper.”

He also warned the alignment was off. To go straight, turn the steering wheel 60 degrees off normal. No, Jen didn’t want me driving the car until both problems were fixed.

I poked around CarTalk’s MechanXFiles for a reputable repair shop nearby. I found Stinson Auto, just a few blocks away.

Yeah, it’s that local, half-run down auto shop you drive by and wonder if they’re any good or just a front for the mafia.

I gave them a call, dropped the Neon off, and at about 4pm, they call me with an estimate. Reasonable, especially considering they planned on fixing it yet this evening.

Six hours later – yes – 10pm.

“This is Joe from Stinson Auto, wondering if you’d like to pick up your car yet tonight.”

(I waited until morning)

They far surpassed my expectations on all accounts, that’s NE Minneapolis for you.

Thanks Joe.

Stinson Automotive Inc
(612) 788-9229
3300 Stinson Blvd
Minneapolis, MN 55418

Two Thoughts on Cooperation

The first two posts I read in the news reader this morning were on cooperation. Both with the same “conflict is generally unnecessary” point. I thought you’d enjoy.

“…cooperation is the norm, it’s conflict that needs to be explained.”
– Alex Tabarrok at Marginal Revolution

“…everyone in the organization that wants customers on a regular basis needs to take a breath and realize that we’re always on the same side. The challenge (and the benefit) is in acting that way.”
– Seth Godin

An Emotion Connection Tells Us What Matters

In Newsweek’s cover story “Reading Your Baby’s Mind” on baby’s brain development, new research is profiled into the “babies learn foreign languages easily” phenomenon. The research states, a baby can easily learn a second language easily only if the secondary language is spoken by someone the baby has an emotional connection with.

“…without the emotional connection, the babies considered the tape recording just another background noise, like a vacuum cleaner.”

That’s right, language tapes in the background are just that.

This isn’t something we outgrow.

The New York Times article Team-Building With a Twist details the pains companies are going through to connect their employees on an emotional level.

As with babies and foreign languages, it only clicks if the parental figure finds it valuable enough to join in:

“Without a doubt, we’ve been able to map our chapters’ development based on whether or not the chapter president went through this experience.”

CollegeRecruiter.com is Podcasting

Over the weekend we set up and launched the CollegeRecruiter.com podcast using BetDirCaster.

Integration into their existing site went quickly. More quickly than I anticipated. I’m excited about podcasts like this; timeless information to a niche audience in 10 minutes or less.

    This also gave me an opportunity to tweak BetDirCaster. It now;

  • formats the duration correctly for itunes:duration (HH:MM:SS).
  • displays the tracks’ artist in the itunes:author tag, before it grabbed the podcast Admin’s name.

If you’re using BetDirCaster and having problems with the track description displaying correctly, download the latest BetDirCaster. Progress has been made on that bug, and I could use some feedback on how far along we are.

Where Everyone Prefers Your Name

I’ve been a customer at RCU for as long as I can remember. For all those years, our relationship has been just as I like my relationships with financial institutions – uneventful.

They’re upgrading their system and sent out a letter alerting customers to the changes they might be expect and when to expect them. The biggest change – account numbers. The account number you’ve been accustomed to has changed. In the letter, RCU consoles;

“Please know that our staff will be able to assist your quickly if you provide your current Account Number, however we’ll know you better by your NAME!” (emphasis theres)

Such a refreshing change from the customer as account number mentality.

What’s Your Favorite Open Source Project?

Hello gentle reader, I’m looking for your favorite open source projects; applications, websites, services. If the code is available for free and you’re a big fan, throw them in the comments.

    I’ll start:
    WordPress – weblog engine and content management system
    Ruby on Rails – web application framework
    CocoaMySQL – OS X desktop MySQL database manager
    Adium – Multi-protocol Instant Messaging client