Dino Baskovic Can’t Lose

It's only Tuesday and already it feels like Friday.

For starters, my company released its annual sales figures this morning.  A step in the right direction amidst a global recession.  And while it's never "polite" to praise the PR team, tonight I'm breaking with tradition.  Go team.

On tap for tomorrow: a call with Europe, training, brainstorming and probably more follow-up from today's announcement.  My intranet vendor will monopolize most of my morning on Thursday, not that I mind a bit.  Remind me to return those Wii titles to Blockbuster that evening, because I am old school and still rent from a brick-and-mortar, and they are not kidding about late fees this time.

As for Friday, I am eager to talk to InterCom, a respected group of communication professionals based in Kalamazoo, Michigan.  My "Cosmic Conversations" presentation will cover the role of social media in organizational and corporate communications:

The rapid growth of social media has not only altered the way that people consume news and data, but has reshaped the way professional communicators message to publics in an ever-evolving information landscape, where the lines of traditional "mainstream" media and the digital world continue to intersect. 

Dino Baskovic, manager of social media and online public relations for Amway Corporation, will share his insights on modern approaches to social media based on his experience with creating blogging platforms and interactive engagement strategies for many companies and organizations.  This presentation takes a "cosmic" view of Web 2.0-driven communications and will include best practices and lessons learned from real-world case studies past, present and future.

Join us on March 12th!

I will post my presentation onto SlideShare shortly thereafter, but not before a brief stop at Bell's Brewery, a favorite Ka'zoo stopover.  Based on the reviews from Yelp, Urbanspoon and Foursquare, their beer is nothing short of stellar.  And if you haven't heard of the three fan sites I just mentioned, then brown bag it to InterCom or download my preso this Friday and see this whole "cosmic" thing for yourself.

Leave it to my ol' boss to remind me, the 35-year-old whipper snapper that I am, to keep on top of nonsensical wacky web fads.

Do you remember that one goofy viral video of the band OK Go on treadmills from a year or so ago?  Their newest installment blows well past it.

Remember when MTV used to have innovative videos like this?  Heck, remember MTV?  Anyway, there is a back story to this Rube Goldberg machine-inspired meme.  Apparently the band was upset when their record label prevented them from earning royalties on the YouTube version of the video if said video was embedded on other websites and not directly viewed on said YouTube.  A recent op-ed by OK Go's lead singer elaborates on the issue.

What makes this new video -- 3.4 million views and counting -- even more intriguing than the last -- only 1.4 milliion views -- is that State Farm subsidized it.  "State Farm," you ask?  Yeah, me too.  Some where, some how, the band and the insurance behemoth made fast friends so that the video would benefit both parties (more coverage at BusinessWeek, Digital Media, Mashable and TechDirt).  Social media circles are buzzing about the secret handshake, whether this is a isolated case of strange bedfellows or a sign of brand synergies to come (State Farm has two subtle placements in the first 60 seconds, then the band thanks them outright at the close).

Business speak aside, it's just a refreshingly cool and creative music video.  Watch it.  Love it.  Share it.  You don't even have to like the music.

Thanks, boss.  I owe you one.

UPDATE: YouTube Darlings OK Go Say Bye-Bye to EMI (Mashable, March 10, 2010)

Five o'clock on Friday.  Quittin' time.  As the TGIF status updates spill all over Facebook and Twitter, I turn to my trusted bourbon of choice, Maker's Mark.

Not that I need a bracer so late in the day.  Then again, the night is young, I haven't blogged in a bit and I need some "spirited" material to end the week.  'Nuff said.

The above billboard photo is borrowed from the Maker's Mark Facebook fan page.  Like most bourbon/whiskey/spirits/beverage brands, Maker's is an active social marketer.  Bill Samuels, Jr., president of Maker's Mark, personally and frequently blogs with new recipes, sampling events and other good reasons to get my butt back to Loretto.  (Last time I visited, I dipped my own bottle in red wax, dined at their downtown Louisville steakhouse and ordered a personalized barrel which awaits my return.)

I am also a card-carrying member of the Maker's Mark Ambassadors -- and that's no joke, they give us business cards.  So when I stumbled on the fan page today, I was pleased to see the Ambassadors in action.  I don't know how this started, but the M.O. is to announce yourself as an Ambassador from where ever you live along with well wishes on their wall.

Now that is grassroots branding at its best -- from the Bluegrass State, no less.  Simple, personal, influential.  I guess all of those holiday tchotchkes they mail each year to Ambassadors pay off.  That, and some consistently good and reasonably priced hooch helps.  So what if Maker's Mark "only" has 40,000+ fans on Facebook, compared to one pickle's 1,500,000+?  Memes come and go, but the marketers will take a smaller but fiercely loyal fan base any day, myself included.

Hats off to you, Mr. Samuels and company.  Online and off, your sense of community is truly on the mark.  And now, I think I'll find myself a rocks glass.

Mashable's Pete Sizemore summed up the the Kevin Smith and Southwest Airlines snafu quite well:

Southwest’s use of social media in addressing the situation could be said to be commendable.

It appears that some Southwest employee eyeing Echofon caught the tweet and immediately recognized his handle.  Even if he wasn't an avid fan of the View Askewniverse, said staffer undoubtedly saw the 1.6-million-plus followers and Verified Account seal and didn't hesitate to wake the customer relations veep outta bed.  The blog post went up faster that you can say "snootchie bootchies!" and I doubt most large airlines would be so nimble given the same circumstances.

The story has survived several news cycles with observers falling into the "die Southwest!" or "try a treadmill Smith!" camps.  No need for me to weigh in either way, though I must call out this: Silent Bob simply can't silence this story just because he wants to:

DONE with this. @SouthwestAir blogs, so I blog: http://silentbobspeaks.com/?p=393 G'night, folks. Let's talk about anything else tomorrow.

This story will end when it wants to, not just because he is suddenly tired of it.  Sorry, but that's jut now how life works.  Think of that the next time you are so fearless with a flip phone, Bluntman.

I love Nickelback.  There, I've said it.  They're Def Leppard for the new millennium, their music is rife with radio-friendly riffs and cherry soda pop lyrics and I don't care:

"I love you.  I have loved you all along..."

That's me, singing along in the car like a sissy.  But before you stop reading in disgust, I've seen your iPod.  Manilow?  Puh-lease.

Critics pan Nickelback so widely that it's become an Olympic medal sport.  Love 'em or hate 'em, their music sells extremely well.  Like any big act backed by a major label, they have a flashy home page, fan sites, the requisite MySpace profile and more than 1,400,000 fans on Facebook.  Oh, and some friendly competition from a pickle.

As reported last week (Billboard, CHARTattack, Switched), somebody launched a Facebook page of a pickle (your garden deli variety) with the sole intent of attracting more fans to the pickle than Nickelback.  The pickle is well over the million fan mark and is gaining on the band fast.

Diehards and detractors alike are in on the action and the pickle has already spawned its share of mashups and merchandising.  At the end of the day, it's a harmless prank involving an inanimate object and all in the name of fun.

Or is it?

Keeping it kosher
I googled around and saw no response from Nickelback, their record company, any lawyers or publicists.  No word from from their web site, blog, even the band's own Facebook wall.  Not a peep to the press.  Nothing.  I'm assuming they know about the pickle, that by now somebody brought it to their attention.  Which leads me to wonder, "Do they even care?  Will they have a sense of humor about the situation, perhaps go so far as to root for the pickle to prevail?  Is the band staying mute and letting it blow over for some reason?  Or are they 'lawyered' up?"

Any variation of scenarios can play out.  You can see the band serenading a larger-than-life pickle live on stage, Flip cams capturing the footage and securing the gherkin a 60-second segment on a future episode of VH1 "I Love the '10s: 2010" for posterity.  The Facebook meme ultimately fades into obscurity, Nickelback releases another crappy album and I lap it up like a sick puppy.  We all move on.

Maybe the band has other plans.  Some musicians have zero, and I mean zero, sense of humor.  Even if Chad Kroeger and fellow band mates find the pickle utterly hysterical, that doesn't mean the suits-and-ties think likewise.

"We will vigorously defend our intellectual property"
It would not surprise me in the least to read of a cease-and-desist filed by the band or the label, even a lawsuit claiming irreparable damage to name and image.  At the very least, infringement of legal trademark.  And maybe it's not just the Facebook account holder that is disposed, but Facebook as well.  Any ISP that refuses to block their domain could find itself in the crosshairs.

Sounds far-fetched?  Welcome to marketing.  The music world has struggled with its love-hate relationship of the web since the advent of Napster and the iTunes Music Store.  Never mind that the tiniest blip of a blunder is tweeted and a musician's image is tarnished overnight (this means you, John Mayer).  While the dill debate pales in comparison to that asshat's gaffe, if ticket sales slump, you better damn well believe that pickle is going down.

For most of us, Facebook is fun and games.  We don't see the harm in a silly little pickle, nor care what repercussions the world's most popular social network may face should the subject of said silliness turn sour.  It's a pickle, for chrissake, I know.  But I get nervous posting copyrighted material to my blog, and I am very much in the minority when it comes to respecting original works.  Heck, the header graphic that leads this post is stretching it.

Regardless of my pathetic, bedroom poster-like devotion to Nickelback, I am pulling for the pickle.  I figure it'll top a million-and-a-half fans by the end of next week, if not sooner or a sexier Facebook fad swoops in first.  If the Canadian quartet is cool with the cuke, they may even be able to grab more attention, fans and $9.99 downloads.  Maybe the lead singer is the lone punman, that is a pickle in his leather pants and he is happy to see us.  Maybe that's TMI, but there's a lotta bread-and-butter on the line, and I mean the green kind that folds, not crunches.

Over the years, I've mingled online in one form or another with the web greats.  Rubel, Garrett, Zeldman -- even a guy by the name of Berners-Lee.  But nothing compares to this, by far my proudest ping.

Note to Chase: do whatever Kevin Smith says, no matter how absurd.  And I'm really sorry about the slam, but it was great to see you again with the Mrs.

As I browse through some of my favorite all-time Super Bowl ads (and am still torn between "Wassup" and "Gerbils" but that's just me) I can't help but think of all the hubbub surrounding Pepsi's call to sit out this year's ad blitz in place of a philanthropic web campaign called the Pepsi Refresh Project.  The news first broke back in early January (February for some slowpokes) and had me first thinking, "Good for them, why not try?"  Who needs to spend millions of dollars year after year on silly little spots when you can save the world through social media?  From a marketer's perspective, what better brand refresh is there than that?

Fast forward to tonight's game, and I can't help but wonder if Pepsi is wishing they hadn't bucked the trend.  SI writer Richard Deitsch reports that CBS expects record ratings for Super Bowl XLIV.  As Deitsch highlights, it's the first time in ages that both top seeds from the AFC and NFC made the game.  President Obama is part of the pregame show.  The Saints' take their first ever shot at the Lombardi trophy, pre- or post-Katrina, while the Colts aim to secure a dynasty.  And while it's never been achieved, over 100 million viewers may tune in for epic football, The Who and Lady Gaga at halftime and -- o, yeah -- the ads.

Honestly, though, it Pepsi's bet on the big game going to fizzle or go flat?  I can't say for sure.  Nobody can except consumers.  I'm rooting for the socially responsible side of Pepsi but, after recent reconsideration, am befuddled by their brand strategy.  Think about it:

1. It's all about the eyeballs.  Maybe Pepsi figures this won't impact bottom line one way or another.  I call that bluff.  Business is business, nothing personal.  This is one of the biggest TV events each year in the United States.  Tonight's game may be one for the record books.  By all means, seed some good deeds, but explain to me again why you don't want to be party of broadcast history?

2. Videos go viral.  By the way, this is nothing new.  Perhaps Super Bowl ads are horribly overpriced, but so what?  They go on YouTube, are blogged, shared, tweeted, rated, you name it.  They live online forever, their brand messages forever etched into our collective psyches and bemused by Monday morning quarterbacks after many a Super Bowl Sunday to come.

3. Beat Coke.  That's Pepsi's job.  Stave off the imitators, separate fashion from fad (diet, flavored, energy) and out-muscle their biggest competitor.  Oh, and appease shareholders.  That too.  Maybe Coke's current Facebook campaign is their way of playing catchup, but you don't see Coca-Cola backing down on ad spend.  Heck, they even give a 20-second sneak peek of their two spots just for partaking in the promotion.  They can do both, so why can't Pepsi?

Media circles were abuzz over Pepsi's move, and PR nodded its head at the kind of coverage money can't buy.  That was four weeks ago.  Not yesterday's but last month's news. The Refresh Project will live for some time and make the world a better place, I truly hope.  But that's not why I buy soft drinks.

We're just moments away from prime time and the pundits are feverishly postdating their analyses.  Will the experiment work?  We shall see.  In the spirit of full disclosure, I should reveal that I prefer Coke over Pepsi, which has subjected me to near fist fights over the years.  And this is a good time to put down my blog, pick up the remote and join the rest of the world to watch the Saints beat the Colts, 31-24.

This blog is the sole property of Dino Baskovic. Any re-transmission of this post for commercial or personal use without the express written consent of Dino Baskovic is strictly prohibited.  Oh, who am I kidding?

Wakey wakey, egg on facey:

You may want to upgrade your browser.

You're using an old version of Internet Explorer to browse Facebook right now. Facebook will work better for you if you upgrade or switch to another browser.

Upgrade to Internet Explorer 8
Switch to Firefox
Switch to Safari
Switch to Google Chrome

Ah, the joys of being on a corporate build.  Of course, I'm going rogue on IE7 (the standard here is still IE6 on XP).  I can't get IE8 until our Windows 7 roll-out, so I'm told by super-secret sources.  Until then, I'll keep sneaking in my Mac.