Not sure what letter it is, maybe it’s an “I” for inappropriate.
Janet Jackson is about to perform on Good Morning America, and of course, the network is insisting on a tape delay so that they can bleep her or blank her if she misbehaves. Reuters | Breaking News from Around the Globe
Perhaps she should perform in a burka.
Whether or not you were shocked (shocked!) at the improprieties she demonstrated at the Super Bowl, there’s really no reason to assume that every single time she goes on television she’s going to expose one part or another, any more than there’s reason to believe that Howard Dean is going to start screaming or that your Audi is going to suddenly accelerate and run over the kid down the street.
Humans are really bad at extrapolating, which is why brands work and you should care a lot about making a significant first impression you can live with.
Janet Jackson was a third-rate brand. Michael’s sister, okay singer, hit record maker, decent dancer. Nothing exceptional, no “Mona Lisa” only-one-in-the-world qualities to her. Until February. Now she’s got that scarlet letter. She’s been branded. Possibly forever.
Of course, now that she’s got the brand, she’s actually LESS likely to start parading around naked on morning television, right? But playing to the brand is easy and fun and safe, so the folks at ABC institute the bleeping delay, just to be safe. Reinforces the brand, protects the network.
March 15, 2004
So, yesterday, for the second time in a week, I was harassed, yelled at and threatened.
By a garage parking guy.
My Prius doesn’t start like most cars. You have to press a button and there’s no key required.
When I get to the garage, I calmly invite the attendant to learn how to drive my car. With no exceptions, they refuse. They’re offended. They are, after all, professionals.
So, yesterday, when I went to pick up my car, not one, not two, but three guys had to climb into my car and try to figure out how to start it, jabbing and pressing everything. My offers to teach them were rebuked.
Finally, I said, “I’m sorry, I don’t have time to have you play with my car any more…” they got really angry and started saying things you can’t say on the Howard Stern show.
I think I’ll make a sign and hang it from the steering wheel.
March 11, 2004
Which means it’s going to be hard to get me to shut up for a while about it.
Read Doc’s second post on the ubiquity of it. The Doc Searls Weblog : Wednesday, March 10, 2004
What will make this work (or not work) is that we don’t yet have an amazon, ebay, yahoo or google of RSS. It’s still too homemade.
March 10, 2004
Keeps going up.
Consider the case of Red Sky At Night – Great deals on Helly Hansen, Sperry Top Siders, Sebago Docksides, Teva Sandals, Brass Lamps, Boating Books, Brass Clocks, Ships Bells, Hand Bells, Boat Shoes, Deck Shoes. I ordered some shoes two weeks ago (my son is in a play) and let them know when we needed them by.
The date came and went, and no shoes.
Shoot.
So we had to go out and buy a pair the old-fashioned way. Two days later, the shoes got here. I just got a call from the person who handled our online order, and, unprompted, he refunded all of our money and told us we could keep the shoes.
Cheap?
Nope.
Worth it? Well, considering that it costs $10 to $200 to get an online customer using various forms of media, and that they just got one for good, yes, it was a good investment.
March 9, 2004
the surprising thing is that the Times (and the rest of the industry) think Particle’s approach is new and novel.
This is the future, folks. The Unorthodox System: First Build a Fan Base, Then Record an Album
March 8, 2004
www.whatbrandareyou.com
Check it out.
March 4, 2004
…in Detroit. reveries – marketing insights and ideas. Here’s an excerpt:
Nissan’s “Carlos Ghosn recently declared that design was now on a part with investment strategy, the most fateful decision a modern corporation can make.”
Indeed, the auto “industry’s economics,” Mr. Jenkins goes on to suggest, “have also become impressively Hollywood-like … Nowadays,” he observes, “any reward for shareholders will have to come from gratuitous profits earned on ‘hot models’ that customers are willing to pay more than a commodity-box price for.” It’s a trend that started with the “retrofusion” of the new Beetle and Chrysler’s PT Cruiser, and continued with “the 2001 Thunderbird, this year’s Chevy SSR and next year’s Ford GT. That pace picked up, Mr. Jenkins suggests, with “the Bauhaus-inspired Audi TT … and a series of Volvo non-boxes inflected with the sensibility of Swedish furniture design.”
March 3, 2004
We’ve got people from the UK, Poland, California and New Jersey coming to my seminar on March 25.
Just wanted to remind you that there’s six seats left. If you’d like to come, drop me a line at sethgodin@yahoo.com and I’ll send you all the details.
Seth
March 2, 2004
the Permission Marketing horn.
It’s all true. A VC: Permission Marketing
February 25, 2004
