Let’s call this a “guest post”… This weekend my sisters and I will be raising funds and awareness for lung cancer research before, during and after the University of Louisville’s football game against WVU at noon on Saturday. We’re hosting a birthday cookout for my mom, Nancy Huhn, at the Parrish House at which we’ll be offering free hot chocolate, coffee, donuts, hot dogs, and, well, some literature that helps people understand how poorly funded and misunderstood lung cancer is given the stigma associated with smoking cigarettes.
We’re on a mission to make a difference and hope you can help us simply by showing up and learning more about what you can do to help. Even if you don’t want to partake in all the free goodies, please come by and help me with a C-A-R-D-S cheer! I’ll let my mom take it from here…
My name is Nancy Huhn. I am a two year survivor of lung cancer. The lung cancer diagnosis was my 50th birthday present. It’s hard enough to hit one of those milestones, but learning you are now fighting for your life quickly eliminated any concerns about wrinkles and gray hair.
Because I have never smoked, doctor’s were baffled when my chest pain turned out to be cancer. (In fact, I had to request the chest X-ray!) When I asked the doctors what caused this, I was shocked to learn, just how
little they know about the causes. As we both know, lung cancer is not a lifestyle choice. I thought about several factors against me. I grew up in a home with chain smokers, neither of whom died from lung cancer. Our home had a coal furnace. I worked in smoking environments up until 15 years earlier. The doctors believe that none of that was a factor. We then had the radon levels tested in our home of 11 years, we were shocked to learn we had an average reading of 12.4. Being Stage IV, they said, my cancer was probably present for 5-6 years.
The oncologist I saw here in Louisville, recommended that I go to a National Cancer center and try to get involved in a clinical trial. I was in a clinical trial until this summer, when a tumor began to grow in my left eye. I am being treated by Dr. Alan Sandler at Vanderbilt Medical Center. Everything about Vanderbilt is impressive, and I wish we could offer similar care in every US city.
In honor of my 52nd birthday, my children are hosting a Lung Cancer Awareness fund raiser. The fund raiser will be held this Saturday at the University of Louisville vs West Virginia University game. This has become
a big rivalry in the Big East Conference and we’re expecting a big crowd. We’ve had many things donate from a variety of businesses and friends.
We’ll be offering hot dogs, hot chocolate, cookies, donuts, coffee, etc to any interested passers-by.
The money we collect will be sent to the Lung Cancer Foundation of America. After searching around, we liked this organization the best when trying to match up our long term desires for funding more research to
prevent lung cancer.
Thank you in advance for your support, and we look forward to seeing many friends and fellow University of Louisville fans [and maybe a WVU fan as well] this weekend. Happy birthday, Mom, and Go Cards! -NH
Back on November 6, I had the pleasure of joining Scott Clark and Jason Falls to provide a basic overview of social media and online marketing strategies to a group of more than 60 people at an event called “Digital Dialogues” hosted by Bill Dotson and sponsored by the Lexington Advertising Club.
The slides we used in our presentation can be found at slideshare, though I think there is more interesting dialogue in the video below in which we address questions and concerns of the audience:
I tried to create a leave-behind document that maintained a logical crawl-walk-run progression of involvement in social media; the introductory copy is below:
Social media strategy uses objectives, tools and outcomes to serve as your road map for navigating a journey. Social media - much like any journey - requires attention, decision-making, and pace. Social media should be treated not as a bolt-on solution, but more as a set of tools, ideas and methodology which combine to facilitate your ultimate goal: first-person insights and interactive dialog.
Just as in the off-line world, social media relationships and conversations can be nuanced, require undivided attention, and may ebb and flow over time. At its core, social media makes it easier to discover, preserve, extend and interact with conversations already taking place about you, your brand, and your interests. It is not a panacea or plague of any sort, so we offer these objectives and these recommended tools to begin your journey of discovery, connection, and interaction.
For the entire document that discusses a few examples of how to get started with social media, please download the PDF. I welcome any feedback, suggestions, ideas these resources may generate. Thanks a million to Bill Dotson for putting together this event and attracting its attendees!
It seems that virtually every marketer under 40 has either already become an ‘expert’ or aspires to become one with respect to social media’s implications on brand perception, marketing communications, and customer service. One common theme I’m observing is a decidedly cynical, “consumers are in control of your brand!” rally cry. I’m calling bullshit.
If you’re doing your job as a marketer, you already know the needs, brand perceptions and aspirations of your customers. They’re not in control of your brand; your brand is merely vulnerable to externalities such as their tastes, preferences and the degree to which you deliver on promises you make to them.
If a cable company promises the best, fastest, or most reliable internet connection available and fails to deliver on those promises, people bitch about it.
If a multi-gazillion-dollar, multi-year revamp of the world’s most popular [by volume] operating system promises a ground-breaking, innovative update and winds up delivering a product that sucks more ass than a tsetse fly, people bitch about it.
I’m writing this from a plane so I’ll make a quick parallel… the pilot and flight crew are in complete control of this aircraft: it’s velocity, vector, and passenger comfort. It’s what they’re paid to do in exchange for their expertise and skills. At any moment, however, a wide variety of factors can significantly alter the variables that make for a perfect flight. Unexpected weather, air traffic, “the unlikely loss of cabin pressure”: procedures and systems are in place to ensure that despite these threats, this Southwest crew will still do everything possible to deliver passengers and cargo safely and in a timely fashion to the predetermined destination. The perks of staff personality and unexpected positive surprises exceed the customer expectations that these basic promises will be fulfilled.
The only power or control consumers have over brands is limited to their assessment of how well you’re delivering on the value you have promised them in exchange for what they have offered you (cash, attention, loyalty, etc).
Emerging and collaborative communication channels - a.k.a. social media - indeed provide a voice to consumers with respect to their perceptions of your brand. You, as the marketer, have precisely the same power to listen and respond, however, and that – without a doubt – is where the true power of social media and brand ambassadorship resides. Customers and unofficial spokespersons can definitely produce and maintain the majority of the conversation around your brand; how well you listen and respond is your core objective as a ‘new’ or social media marketer.
Social media makes it easier to discover, preserve, extend and interact with conversations already taking place about your brand. It is not a panacea or plague of any sort.
Anyone that says differently is using controversy to sell books or related social media snake oil.
There’s lots of popular press already harping all over Google Chrome as a game-changer in the “war” against Microsoft, et al. though in my [limited, cursory] search I’ve not seen any assessments that parallel my own vision of what this means for Google from the standpoint of technological strategy and scalability of ‘the cloud’.
Wired says Chrome was aptly named given common design elements associated with web browsers. That makes for a cutesy red herring - I think those Googlers think abstractly and creatively like I do. The name Chrome fits because it is a common element layered upon a willing substrate. Chrome fits because the Greek origin of the word means “color” and Chrome can be reflective of the entire visible spectrum.
Mkay, I’ll dispense with the metaphorical musings and cut to the chase: the Chrome browser is not about web pages or applications as we know them. Chrome - the browser - can be applied to a variety of substrates that may or may not exist at present. Sure, an all-out assault on entrenched desktop operating systems are a no-brainer. But what about the OS platforms and interfaces for mobile, embedded [household electronics], interactive TV, point-of-purchase, home automation…
These are not teh applicationz u seek…
Slap some Chrome on deez…
Add one part ubiquitous connectivity and a dollop of the complete sacrifice of privacy to obtain…
A text sent to your mobile device: “I noticed no one is home and your garage is still open. Reply 1 to close and arm the security system.” Home automation can happen anywhere IP is available.
On a restaurant menu or point of sale: “Press to view ingredients and a map of their origin.” Google buys E Ink in 2010 for enhanced extensibility and utility of the cloud.
Amazon reminds your automotive dashboard that you’re low on milk as you approach a convenience store. Google Proximity Alerts and Bezos’ Bonanza regularly stock your fridge and drain your wallet.
Digital television offers cross-pollination of web content and services. Like Emeril’s blender? Buy it. Think that politician is full of crap? Overlay the twitter backchannel.
Sorry, cable conglomerates: a la carte TV channels and brand-agnostic video consumption is nigh.
The Department of Education subsidizes “interactive education” initiatives to cut costs, deploy vetted ‘collective knowledge’ and facilitate global and local collaboration.
Stuck in a foreign land without a translator or cultural savvy? Never again.
Digital photos and video include embedded meta data that provide a virtual timeline of conditions, events, commentary, and context to your pocket.
I have no qualifications or rationale other than pure conjecture to come up with these scenarios, but I’m certain the Chrome browser can and will serve as a conduit for elucidating and facilitating knowledge exchange, commerce, and location- and behavioral-based artificial/suggestive intelligence. It’s not about what the browser will display, it’s about what the browser will suggest, connect and convey.
As likely as any of these ideas may materialize, I might also find myself embracing a luddite-like lifestyle in a digitally-unscathed corner of the globe. Am I off my rocker?
When a good friend of mine from college reached out to me earlier this year in an effort to catch up after many years of separation of time and distance, I let him know that I would love to catch up with him again soon now that he was back in Louisville. Days, weeks and months passed, and I only learned of his obituary in the local paper from another friend. He was literally dying when I told him I was “too busy” at the moment to meet up with him, so you can imagine my feelings of remorse and disservice as a friend when I snubbed his invite to reconnect due to my mounting professional and personal obligations.
Brad is not the only important individual I’ve neglected over the course of the last year due to mounting obligations in my life, but it was especially painful to learn of his death. He knew he was dying, but he didn’t and shouldn’t have had to disclose this detail when he reached out to me. With this unfortunate event in mind, and compounded by the fact that I’ve neglected to nurture the many relationships and personal needs and duties as a happily married man and father to a beautiful young daughter, I have decided to resign from my position as the new media strategist at Yum.
My last day is June 13, though I remain a loyal fan, consumer and advocate for Yum’s efforts to make the world a better place. The decision to leave my role was a very difficult one to consider and negotiate, but I know I’m doing what’s best for my family and personal health.
If there are inflection points in life, one of them for me was the winter of 1998 when I got to know Brad and the many people and experiences I encountered while studying and living in Mexico. My time then and there changed my life for the better. Ten years later I find myself at another important inflection point that considers my personal character, and my needs as a father and husband.
I’m not sure where I’ll end up next in these next steps of my personal and professional journey in life, but I am certain the right path will reveal itself. I will truly miss the outstanding people, experiences and learning opportunities afforded to me by virtue of being part of the Yum! Brands organization, though I look forward to a new chapter in my life in which my priorities and perspectives match my personal values, virtues and needs. I couldn’t be more thankful for my time with this incredible company and its people, but I look forward to dedicating my remaining days on this earth - as ephemeral as they may be - to making a positive difference in the lives of those that surround and remain most important to me.
“What do we leave behind when we cross each frontier? Each moment seems split in two; melancholy for what was left behind and the excitement of entering a new land.” - Che Guevarra, The Motorcycle Diaries
If you’ve been trying to get back in touch with me and have been affected by my ‘unavailability’, I would love to share a coffee/beer/conversation sometime in the next few weeks as I consider my next steps. I look forward to contributing again to the world that has afforded me such incredible opportunities to learn, grow and share. While I attempt to figure out what’s best for me and my family, I remain committed to accommodating any request to discuss ideas, opportunities and your needs of me as a friend/colleague/business partner.
Thanks to all for your support and understanding of my decision to hit the reset button on my priorities and planned contributions to the world. I look forward to sharing the experiences and conversations that will transpire in the near future.
My first order of business in this transition: I’m making time to treat my mom to lunch.
“No one goes there anymore; it’s too crowded.” - Yogi Berra prognosticating the future of blogging
With SO many other thought leaders and wisdom available in other places, I reluctantly choose not to add content to this blog on a regular basis. Scour my blogroll for some fascinating ideas and insights from others who dedicate the time and resources to share their brilliance.
Me? I’ve resolved to remain active in twitter to share and learn on a regular basis. Follow me there for my thoughts and contributions: http://twitter.com/nickhuhn.
For the past three days, I’ve met a lot of new faces and also had the opportunity to hang out with some more familiar ones that I don’t get to see as much as I’d like to while back in the bluegrass. Sessions have varied wildly in quality and substance, so I’m glad this overwhelming experience has been rescued entirely by the more casual encounters and conversations that happen as a result of simply showing up.
Some valuable lessons I’ve absorbed at SXSW so far:
Among others, Henry Jenkins from MIT and Jason Fried from 37 signals encouraged us to fail forward. Nothing has to be perfect out of the gate. In fact, most things start small and improve with collaborative and iterative feedback cycles.
Twitter is by far the best communications tool I’ve ever known. For the past few days I’ve used it to enable logistics, to broadcast noise, to filter noise, to break the ice, to LOL. Metcalfe’s law is in full effect here; critical mass achieved and then some.
While freedom may cost a buck-0-5, it also means different things to different people. MySpace is beautiful because it enables relatively unbounded self-expression; MySpace is hideous because most people have “bad” taste.
No amount of free alcohol can turn off the feeling of having a swarm of bees in my externally hyperstimulated yet strongly introverted personality.
What’s the difference between a revolution and a civil war? The perspectives and objectives of the winner.
Standing in line with friends has been just as much fun or more fun than the parties.
Some unfortunate things I’ve observed at SXSW so far:
Smartypants people that boast of their smartypantsness can be really #$%#$& annoying.
Saying ^&*$, *$%^, @#$%, and ^&%@% makes you and what you have to say to an audience that much f*cking cooler
When speakers say “social media isn’t a one-way conversation like me speaking to you right now” while hundreds twitter and/or liveblog commentary based on their every syllable, it makes them seem a bit out of the loop.
Even the most independent of thinkers can be pattern-thinking members of a mob. it’s human nature; let’s accept it.
“Intermediate” sessions were typically painfully pedantic.
Prevailing theme of many speakers: ‘Adapt to the changing rules of the game. Or die trying.’ I still don’t see too much deviation from consensus. I want to see others that zig when everyone else zags.
Some general observations and related experiences outside of the panels:
Smorty71 is certifiably one of the best guitar hero players in the world. (video soon)
I do not aspire to be an influencer or gain notoriety. If it were to happen I would only hope that it were as ephemeral as it were insignificant.
Signal-to-noise ratios seem to vary by listener preferences.
SXSW has been an incredible and elucidating experience. It’s great to converse with so many like-minded people and have access to some of the greatest interactive / social media champions who are all doing their part to change the world as we know it. Each moment seems to yield value and interesting perspectives, and I enjoy immensely the energy and excitement that fuels the “revolution” in marketing and media.
I wonder though if it is truly a revolution or only a realization of the obvious: people talk, people listen, people form and share opinions. To me, the true power of social media is illustrated and proliferated at an accelerating rate thanks to the new tools and platforms that changing technology and pervasive self-publishing provide.
If I come back next year, perhaps I will share a lot more than I consume.
I’m thrilled that Social Media Club’s new Louisville chapter is already attracting a lot of people and discussion. Big ups to Falls and Earwood for executing on an idea which was destined to blossom among the digerati in the ville. Before our last meeting, Jason Falls asked me to fill in as a featured speaker for the evening. Normally not too many people derive value from anything featured or spoken by me. Thankfully I had the great fortune of playing clean-up after outstanding presentations and discussion led by Brian Wallace of NowSourcing and Aaron Marshall of DBSinteractive. Both offered great overviews and angles of selling social media to execs and clients, as well as some best practices and caveats. Honestly, I don’t really have anything to sell since my ‘vendor’ days are indefinitely on hiatus, so I wasn’t sure what compelling reasons anyone might have to listen to me. So I volleyed an example of selling lemonade as a child and how it might apply to social media to marketers. Since I hadn’t prepared one iota before the meeting, the concept wasn’t exactly developed when I lobbed it to the crowd. So I’ll give it more thought and detail here:
Marketing a product, idea, or whatever ‘viral’ ‘microsite’ for which your client wants to use to social media to ‘increase awareness’ only works as well as your efforts to sell lemonade would have when you were a kid.
{{diddly-doot, dream sequence}} So you spent all morning mashing hundreds of lemons into deliciously sugarfied juice, making pretty posters to hang on the neighborhood stop signs, and even got a nice comfy chair to sit in while you waved and screamed at the passing cars. Dozens, no, hundreds of neighbors and passersby see your lemonade stand, honk at your cuteness and a few even make time to buy a refreshing glass.
After your long day of hawking the citrus grok, your mom comes outside to help you tear down and revel in your success as a budding entrepreneur.
Mom:”So how’d it go today? Sell a lot of lemonade?”
Kid:”OMG mom! Like a bazillion of people came by and waved and honked and a ton of people said they’d come back to buy a LOT later on cuz they didn’t have their wallets on them.”
Mom: “So exactly how much did you sell?”
Kid: “Well, not much since this busy intersection doesn’t let most people stop to actually buy the stuff. And the rain kinda sucked. But like SO many people saw us and honked.”
So flash back to the present… {{doot}} this analogy reminds me a lot of what I’m observing as more and more marketers attempt to embrace this new-fangled-social-media-magic-pixie-dust to enhance the spread and velocity of any sort of message.
For far too long, traditional marketers and advertisers have gotten away with using hollow but hard-to-replace metrics like impressions and awareness. When we apply empty metrics like those to the childhood lemonade stand, we’d jump with glee at the 87% awareness at that busy intersection and even doubly so at the tens of thousands of impressions we may have received that day. The more sophisticated and refined analytics that can be applied to social media marketing initiatives, however, tell a story that most marketers might not want to hear:
Something about your efforts might really suck: your location, your timing, your message, or - gasp - maybe even your lemonade.
Is there a correlation between awareness, impressions and increased sales? Absolutely! But the days of listening to, “half of my marketing budget is wasted, I just don’t know which half,” are far behind us. New tech and tools provide us elucidating insights into data-driven interactions, conversions, and subsequently customer loyalty. Tech-based media also allow these campaigns and relationships to be measured and managed more effectively. A significant hurdle associated with tech/social/new media, however, remains the scary proposition of what messages can be enabled and propagated rapidly. No one wants to hear that their lemonade sucks.
We all agree that social media offers no panacea for marketers. Here’s what it does do:
Technology accelerates the consumption and spread of media.
Conversations and multi-channel media are not new or unique. Technology, however, makes our interactions more transparent, transportable, and enduring. And therefore more influential and authoritative.
Technology provides new ways to interact with people that may have otherwise never found you.
Technology-based media both initiates and perpetuates the conversation among and between individuals and people that represent brands. As in other areas of life, follow-through is often more powerful than the first impression.
If your marketing efforts indicate abysmal redemption / conversion / loyalty rates, maybe you should look at the way you’re making and selling your lemonade. More posters and honks aint gonna cut it, junior.
To put a bow on all this, I’ll summarize by suggesting to both marketers interested in social media and little Louie the lemonade mogul:
Understand that your lemonade better taste good. So good that people gush about it or chime in when others are.
Understand that some people won’t like your lemonade no matter how hard you try. How will you accommodate or otherwise satisfy these people?
If you really want to sell some lemonade, you should probably do more than slap up signs and hope that awareness and sales maintain a positive correlation.
Understand that only a small portion of your customer base is loyal enough and excitable enough to actively engage with your product in socially influential way. i.e. You don’t want BIG numbers, you want meaningful interactions.
The most successful purveyors of lemonade might use word-of-mouth marketing (testimonials, brand ambassadors, guerrilla marketing) to make sure their product breaks through the clutter no matter where they are situated. Interconnected masses can surely drive rapid and extensive awareness, but it is the personal - or trust-based - relationships that create engagement.
For instance: I love all my Sony stuff. So much so that I’d consider myself a Sony bigot of sorts. But I won’t be caught dead playing a ‘viral game’ or responding to an ‘innovative’ video ad unless it engages me in precisely the same way Sony products make my life easier, faster, and more enjoyable. Sony will have nailed marketing with social media when they send me an opportunity [not an 'ad'] that invites me to recruit my friends into the Sony family in exchange for some exclusivity, exceptional value, or genuine entertainment. Presently, I am only passively enamored with my array of Sony gear, quietly waiting to buy something else I think it cool. But that won’t happen until I become actively engaged with the brand again.
What are you doing uniquely to sell your lemonade? How are you deriving benefits from listening and responding to your customers and fans? Media are inherently vocal and social by definition - remember to take advantage of that.
I got to spend a lot of time with my wife and kiddo today, and it was a welcome change from being hunched over a pair of laptops for most of the weekend. I’m still way far behind on many things, but I couldn’t be happier to spend time where it matters. Today was a wonderful day, and here are the videos to prove it:
Harper’s vocab seems to expand every day; she continues to blow our minds while keeping us perpetually entertained. There is a distinct possibility that she’s inherited a wily recessive gene known as extroversion… Harpie, you’re the bestest. More on my youtube channel…
In defiance of the brain drain that plagues my home town of Louisville, Kentucky, I've chosen to carve out my career path here. I sometimes wonder, however, if it's time to spread my wings and find other opportunities in areas that interest me such as Silicon Valley, the Silicon Alley, Europe, or anywhere else in the world.
More on my 