Broadbandito

Interactive heaven with 2011 Mustang

2010-07-02T12:25:00.000-07:00

I drive a Toyota 4Runner. I like my Toyota and think they are very reliable vehicles. I had a Ford. Once. But something made me take notice when I started to see ads for the new 2011 Ford Mustang and hearing about how the NASCAR Nationwide Series was bringing a Mustang front-end to its new cars, so I started doing a little digging online. What I found was near perfect interactive execution and strategy.

According to Scott Monty, Ford's social media guru (@scottmonty), the campaign is the brainchild of Team Detroit.

What do I like about this campaign so much?

Total market segment understanding:

This campaign knows it's core potential customer base and knows how to appeal to them while still keeping the door open for new enthusiasts. I believe the accomplish this best with their 'Unleashed' video shorts. Instead of just appealing to sports car enthusiasts in a general way, they focused on segments within that category such as drifting, drag racing, rally racing, video game racing and bonding road trip outings.

Excellent interactive production values and execution:

The site itself offers a little bit of something for everyone such as a customizer that allows you to create and share your dream Mustang as well as user generated stories and videos that were part of a contest.

But what impresses me most is the creative execution that went into the videos. The storyboarding, the shoots, the post production, and most importantly, finding the subject matter and stories to tell. These videos are a clinic on how to attach human emotions to steel and machine.

They've taken the emotional attachment people have with their cars to a new level. I mean, they even got blind people to be passionate about the car.

Party With A Purpose? Or just FAIL?

2010-07-01T07:11:00.001-07:00

A few months ago, I heard of this event called "Party With A Purpose". According to the organizers of the event:

We’re 20- and 30-somethings, and we like to have a good time. The only thing better than having a good time is making a positive impact at the same time. So we’re throwing a Party with a Purpose that will be equal parts glam cocktail bash and global health awareness raiser.

At first, I thought that's pretty cool. Then people started tweeting about what a great turnout, what was going on and then all the money they "raised". The consistent number was $13,225. I'm assuming that's the figure they announced at the event so attendees could tweet it.

But the thing that bothers me is that the party cost $21,000 to put on. It was underwritten by sponsors. Maybe I'm crazy, but it seems to me that the event was -($7,775). People who attended, got $21,000 worth of party and in return they gave you $13,225 for the cause.

To be fair, the event organizer said it was an "awareness" event first and foremost. The money "raised" was to show people what a little bit could do to raise funds (attendees paid $25 per ticket). But this really seems disingenuous in a big way. No, a little bit was not what it took to raise the money. It took almost double the amount.

Here's the email response I got from the organizers:

Hello,

I was updating the Party with a Purpose blog today and saw your post regarding the $21,000 the party raised for underwriting the cost of the event versus the $13,225 raised for the Rotavirus treatment program in Kenya. My apologies for being late to respond, but I wanted to give you an explanation. In order to get an upscale cocktail party for 500 people completely underwritten so all net income from ticket sales would go to benefit Rotavirus treatment, we had to raise $21,000 from corporate partners. The event was an awareness-raiser, first-and-foremost, but we wanted party attendees to know that by giving a little ($25 per person was our ticket cost), collectively the benefit could be significant. Because of our contribution the Ministry of Health in Kenya will be able to reach their national health policy goal of installing an Oral Rehydration Therapy Corner in every clinic throughout their country.

Were you able to attend the party? I would like to hear your feedback.

Thanks!

Prior to this email, in a Twitter exchange it was claimed that a total of $34,000 was raised. I don't think it's semantics, but an outright misrepresentation of the facts. To include the money spent on the event as "raised" is extremely misleading when only $13,225 actually went to the program in Africa.

The organizers tweeted that "we raised $13,225!" and the attending tweeters retweeted it over and over. The event was a huge success! Young people rock! Seattle rocks! And so forth. Has our society come to this? Where in order to get young people to participate in doing good, you have to put on a $21,000 party just to make them feel good? I'm sure the cause would've been just as happy getting the $21,000 instead of $13,225. I know it costs money to raise money, but not if you're in the red doing it. How about some transparency here?

Here's what I think they should've done:

Actually use Social Media to expand the "awareness" and funds raised. If it was truly an awareness campaign, why not setup tools and ideas on how the attendees could get the word out about the cause so more funds could be raised? Having a page setup on the site that accepted online donations would've been a great call to action for attendees to tweet and post on their Facebook pages or blogs. That would have truly utilized the power of social media.
Spend less on partying. It would be a sad statement about 20- and 30-somethings and Seattle if you can't raise awareness or funds for a worthy cause without a ritzy $21,000 cocktail party. I've seen tens of thousands raised through simple spaghetti fundraisers where the food costs nothing or a few dollars to make and people pay double or triple because it's for a great cause.
Setup a long-term program to track the awareness and fundraising post event. Even if the event netted less than the original amount spent, maybe over the course of a year, the money raised could have been doubled. Available analytics could easily track shared links, "likes" and members of a Facebook page.

Maybe I'm the only one that sees the irony in having a good time at an "upscale" $21,000 cocktail party so you can send $13,225 to help people in Africa, but maybe this is philanthropy in Seattle. That's $42 worth of "party" for a $25 "donation". Go figure.

Tadich Grill ala Anthony Bourdain

2010-06-28T23:10:00.001-07:00

Anthony Bourdain continues to be my travel muse. I rented a car with GPS on my trip to San Francisco just so I could make sure I found the Tadich Grill before it closed (I had about a half hour to make it from SFO before it closed).

Here's the scene from No Reservations that inspired me to go:

And here's my video:

I had the specialty Tony refers to and it was delicious!

Why do I love NACAR?

2010-06-26T08:56:00.000-07:00

That's a question I'm often asked. The answer can be split into two primary reasons with one being personal and the other being a hybrid of personal and professional.

Personal

On the personal side, the Speed TV promo for NASCAR says it best: "I believe in God. I believe in Family. I believe in Country. I believe in NASCAR". That may evoke a few chuckles, but I've never seen another sport be more consistent and true to its values. There's an invocation before every single race. The drivers have their families on the track and often bring them on the road in motor homes. The sacrifice of our men and women in uniform are recognized and honored at every single race.

It also seems to be a requirement that every team and driver support charitable organizations in any way possible, especially children's charities. Almost every driver has a foundation and they manage to get their sponsors to donate generously.

And directly related to the racing, it's not just going left on an oval. That's just an uninformed view of the sport. Each track has it's own characteristics from the banking, track surface, length and speed. Then there's the tuning of the car before and during the race and pit strategy. The personalities of the drivers and the rivalries give the sport a WWE feel as well.

Professional

Professionally, NASCAR is a master of marketing. They know their core fan base inside and out to keep them happy while knowing who their next niche base is getting to know them well enough to reach them and make the sport appealing to them. This goes back to their slogan of God, family and country for the core fans, and bringing in the likes of Danica Patrick to the Nationwide Series to gain new fans.

For advertisers, there's no other sport that parlays the marketing into every aspect of the race. From the obvious team sponsorships visible on the car to highly publicized charitable contributions, advertisers are intertwined into every aspect of the sport. I love diving in and learning how it all works, the creativity and the execution. I learn something new every week and it makes me say, "I'm not worthy!".

In the end, NASCAR speaks to me. I find myself nodding and agreeing with many of the viewpoints of the drivers and the TV commentators. I love the music of NASCAR. I respect the recognition of our troops by the fans and NASCAR. The side benefit is that it's fun to watch too.

Some Favs

Here are some of my favorite NASCAR ads (The Speed TV/Fox promos are nowhere to be found online):

Two down...

2010-01-06T22:38:00.001-08:00

OK now that I'm taking to Tabatha, I just need Jeff Lewis! Too bad Tim Gunn's not on Bravo anymore!

Social Media and the Monkey House

2010-01-02T15:15:00.001-08:00

Over my career I've worked on a lot of things, mostly around communications, marketing and product development. The main reason I've stuck to these circles is that I am a consumer of it all and it's part of my personal life as well.

For example, when I was designing DVR user interfaces and finding cooler ways to find digital entertainment, it didn't feel like work because in a way I was also doing it for myself and not just my target customers. I feel the same way about social media. Be it Facebook, Twitter, FourSquare, or YouTube, it's not always about work, especially if you do it as part of your job or it is your entire job. You need to look at how different segments use it.

I think there are good guidelines out there from "pros" explaining to other "pros" how to use social media for business. But I think one needs to be careful not to get caught in the trap of living in the monkey house. Tim Gunn explains the monkey house best. (I have a video of it, but it violates like a dozen copyrights so...we'll see how long it stays up).

My point is: Don't get too caught up with the pro blinders on and look outside your social (network) circles to keep things in perspective. Most "pros" have only been doing it for a couple of years too so they can't be THAT much more of an expert than the average person right? Even the founders of Twitter had no idea people would be using it in so many different ways for so many different reasons. There's definitely more than the official business ways to use it and that's why it's so successful. Once you box something in with too many rules, the cool people scatter and move on to the next big, cooler thing--It's the circle of life!

Personally, moments like this keep me engaged in social media:

That's Chad Rogers from Bravo's 'Million Dollar Listing' calling me out for questioning his reality.

That's an up-and-coming jazz singer I saw on NBC Nightly News. She was amazing so I found her on Twitter to ask her if she was going to tour in the US. Nothing on her Website, but ask her directly and get the answer!

And this is MCA recording artist Mallary Hope who I talk to a lot on Facebook and Twitter. I love country music and it's just fun to actually talk to the artist like this. I mean, what other medium lets you do this? I got to meet her at the Evergreen State Fair this past summer and she and her manager actually knew who I was when I said my name. Made me feel special...and made me a bigger fan. Sure, it's marketing on her part, but goes beyond that when you start having a conversation about Bedazzling a Snuggie.

Just plain ol' fun.

Red Bull Air Race Experience

2009-12-25T10:10:00.000-08:00

This video pretty much sums up the experience of a Red Bull Air Race in Budapest. Highly recommend it!

Two legged dog bring hope to injured vets

2009-12-16T15:30:00.000-08:00

That's just amazing and inspirational.

Very entertaining top three travel spots by Tim Ferris

2009-12-11T08:25:00.000-08:00

Random - China Episode 2 Part B from Glenn McElhose on Vimeo.

Most of you who know me, know that I'm a HUGE fan of Tim Ferris, author of the Four-Hour Work Week (now you see why I'm a huge fan). This is a video of his top three (and then some) locations and cities from his extensive travel. Good stuff and tips.

90210 in 98027

2009-12-08T00:13:00.001-08:00

I'm walking through the Issaquah Costco buying toilet paper, stewed tomatoes and...WTF? Is that the guy from 90210 in meats? Damn it is! I follow him around while I Google what his real name is on my iPhone while trying to make sure it's him. Rob Estes! And now I was ready to accost him and get a photo. He was hesitant at first when I asked if it was OK to snap a shot, but then he relented. He was like, "Wait. You don't want to be in it?". I'm like, "No. Getting you shopping at Costco is way better than me getting in the shot". And with that he laughed, I took his picture and we went our separate ways. He headed into frozen foods while I made my way up front to check out.

IKEA shows creativity is not dead.

2009-11-25T18:24:00.000-08:00

Now this is a brilliant use of Facebook for marketing:

NYC Fall 2009

2009-10-31T08:43:00.000-07:00

I recently got back from a short weekend trip to NYC and it was GREAT! Highlights included Fuerza Bruta, A Steady Rain and this great place in Willamsburg called Diner.

Blogging Dead?

2009-10-31T08:34:00.001-07:00

It's been more than a month since my last blog post and frankly, this is starting to feel like work. What happened?

I believe it's a combination of Twitter and Facebook. These two applications have made it easier to share opinions, what you're doing, photos, videos, links and whatever else you want to share with friends and the world. Add to that the complimentary applications such as TweetDeck and there may be really no place the blog anymore unless you're a commercial blogger.

I recently started using foursquare and like so many new applications coming to market these days, it seamlessly integrates with Twitter. So you get to update friends about where you are and where you like to hang out without having to have your friends join the same app.

I don't have the data, but I'm sure if you Googled it, you can find usage metrics on blog sites such as blogger and WordPress. I'm wondering how the growth of these sites have slowed or perhaps declined?

The Mutual Stalking of a Country Star

2009-09-04T14:56:00.000-07:00

There's a story behind this photo.

It started out simple enough. I was on Facebook and saw a post from the New York Times about the new country singers coming out of Nashville who were following in the social media success footsteps of Taylor Swift. The article essentially focused on how sites such as YouTube, MySpace, Twitter and Facebook have changed the way artists and music labels promote themselves or even get discovered.

I read the article and looked up some of the artists on iTunes to preview their music. I bought a few songs that I liked and "fanned" some of the ones I really liked. And then I wrote on Mallary Hope's Facebook wall that I liked her song 'Love Lives On'. I didn't think much about it until I got a reply post saying something about how she liked saying my last name. I commented on a few of her posts here and there, went on my trip to Budapest, bought a new espresso machine and posted something about drinking too much espresso one night:

And Mallary commented on the post out of the blue. So this girl's got time and the determination to keep in the loop with the 1,500+ fan/friends.

She was coming up to Seattle to open for Blake Shelton at the Evergreen State Fair, so I decided to go and listen to her sing and support her young career. I wasn't sure if we'd actually meet but we were exchanging a few tweets on Twitter so I was hopeful. In the end I got to meet her after the concert and now she's got a fan for life! First the Breadman from Portland and now country star Mallary Hope!

Power to the social media!

Budapest: Day 6 (The last day)

2009-09-04T11:30:00.000-07:00

By day six I felt like a local making my daily trip to the cafe down the street for my espresso and pastries, and making small talk with the staff there. I digress here, but almost every Hungarian I ran into spoke English. It appeared they could speak Hungarian, English and German fairly well and some knew Russian as well. I barely know two languages including English!

This is arguably the best non-Red Bull Air Race day of the entire trip. I really had no itinerary for the day and just decided to head out to the Holocaust Memorial Museum. It was the first day it rained, which was a welcome change from the hot, dry days I had the whole trip. The museum was very well done and I was extremely surprised by how much it moved me. It was a fairly small and simple museum, but it rivaled the Jewish Museum in Berlin in terms of impact. Kudos to the curators.

After the museum, the rain had let up so I decided to head over to the City Park to find an antique fair. When I got there, I had a very nice walk through the park and stopped by the replica of a Transylvanian Castle. I never found the antique fair, but it may have been bumped by the AnimeCon. While looking for the antique fair I would occasionally pass a few teenager dressed up like Halloween. It wasn't until I came upon this building that looked abandoned that I figured out that they were having some sort of anime festival in the park.

I didn't have any other plans so I paid my fee and went into the anime festival where I found hordes of cosplay teenagers walking around so I snapped several photos. About halfway into the fair, two girls came up to me and started speaking, what I guess was Hungarian, to me. I finally figured out that they wanted to take a photo with me since I was Asian. I was the only Asian person there, in fact. Then more people showed up and wanted a photo taken with the Japanese dude. It was actually a lot of fun.

After that, I decided to just walk down the main road back into the center of the city. Along the way I found some interesting buildings and alleys as well as the opera house. I hung out in the park by the main metro station to rest a bit before heading back to the place I was staying at. I wrapped up the evening with a great steak dinner at an Argentine steakhouse, followed by the same delicious ice cream I found in that neighborhood cafe.

Budapest: Day 5

2009-09-04T11:25:00.000-07:00

I was really tired on the fifth day and I had seen almost everything on my "to do" list so I decided to roam the city and figure out what I was going to see from point-to-point when I was there. I thought I was feeling a bit sick, but I think it was just a combination of too much dairy and not enough sleep.

I headed back to Castle Hill to check out the folk art festival that was going on and had lunch along the Danube. There were several food vendors along the river because of the festival. After that, I headed back to the metro station and got off in a neighborhood known for its shops and cafes. I wandered up and down streets for a few hours before resting at a cafe and having some incredible ice cream followed by an equally impressive espresso (You gotta hand it to the Austrians...they left their mark when they ruled this part of Europe).

Budapest: Day 4

2009-09-04T11:21:00.000-07:00

Most, if not all, of day three was spent at the Red Bull Air Race and evening fireworks show. Day four was the first whole day of sightseeing I enjoyed. The day started out at the Great Market Hall followed by a trip to Westend Center, the largest shopping mall in Central Europe.

I then headed up to Castle Hill and ended the day with a trip out to Memento Park, where an entrepreneur gathered all the communist regime statues and put them on display a few miles outside the city for tourists.

Budapest: Day 2

2009-09-04T11:15:00.000-07:00

This was the first day of the Red Bull Air Race so I just had the morning to explore the city after my first full night of sleep following a 30+ hour day. The took the M1 metro line to Hero's Square to catch the rehearsal for St. Istvan's national holiday celebration, which took place the following day.

I also went to the House of Terror, where both the Nazis and Communists interrogated, tortured and executed Hungarians during their respective occupations. It was a very sobering place, especially in the basement where isolation cells were located and where actual torture and hangings took place.

The Red Bull Air Race Experience

2009-09-04T10:53:00.000-07:00

What can I say about the Red Bull Air Race (RBAR) than simply amazing! My trip to Budapest actually originated from seeing the RBAR online and then finding great a great airfare there. I had always wanted to visit Budapest so the two elements working out made it easy to go. I opted to purchase the VIP package since I was going 4,500+ miles on a 13-hour-each-way journey.

It was everything I thought it would be and more. The event is first-class, top-notch all the way. The folks over at Red Bull know how to put together and event and treat their guests. Your every need was met and then some. The experience was made more "interesting" because I met a group of Austrian guys who were a bit out of control. The big plus was that they knew everyone so I ended up tagging along with them to the RBAR airport to meet the pilots after the qualifying round--We had a police escort to get there faster through Budapest rush-hour traffic!!!

I'd love to go to another RBAR and am eagerly awaiting the 2010 schedule.

These are photos from the qualifying round:

These are photos from the championship:

And a few videos from the day:

The Budapest Trip

2009-09-02T13:05:00.000-07:00

I've been back for a few weeks but I never had the chance to post anything about my Budapest trip in August until now. First of all, it was the first international trip I'd taken by myself so that made things very different and also explains why I'm not in many of the shots (which some may say is a good thing).

This is where I stayed in Budapest: Danube Guest House If you're ever in Budapest, I'd highly recommend it as Zoli and Bob are excellent host and the accommodations are top notch--read my review on TripAdvisor.

It felt a bit dicey when I first go there, but once I got my bearings and shook of the 13-hour flight fatigue, everything was fine.

First stop was the Great Synagogue right down the street from where I was staying. It's the largest synagogue in Europe.

This is a tree in the courtyard of the synagogue, which if turned upside down, becomes a menorah. The tiny leaves each have the name of a Hungarian family that was murdered during the Holocaust.

I had dinner at this cool placed called Menza that was recommend to me by Bob and Zoli. I had goulash and some Hungarian beef stew thingy with dumplings.

My last stop for the evening was the Szechenyi Baths. It was the perfect place to soak for several hours (until I got a massive cramp in my calf!) after a long day!

Scrapbooking on Facebook

2009-08-06T09:01:00.000-07:00

Instead of simply linking to the NY Times article, the person handling Jessie James' Facebook (maybe she's doing it herself?) decided to cut and then scan the article.

Of course, since she looks like this, I'm not going to going to say anything more.

Look at me! I'm F'n American!

2009-08-04T09:29:00.000-07:00

Nothing screams quality than an American car right? There are a lot of things wrong with American automobile manufacturers, but here's one thing I'd like to see them address: Their logos.

Seriously. Have you ever been driving down the highway and spotted a car that made you say, "Hmm...not bad"? Then you saw the [insert American manufacturer here] logo and purged the thought from your head.

How can you make cars people want to buy when you can't even design a decent logo that won't mar your car with it? It goes against almost every branding rule, but is it so bad if people love the way the car looks, but can't quite figure out who makes it? They'll remember the logo, but not the name. It's a bit of a stretch I know, but these are desperate times for US auto makers.

The other plus is that people will really think it's the "new" [insert American manufacturer here]!

Take a look at some quality brands. The common denominator is that there's very little color, if any, and they're all silver! They blend into the car, not stick out like a sore thumb. Chevy makes matters worse by making their logo gigantic on every car!

The rest of the world:

The Americans:

I need to go back to school...

2009-08-01T09:41:00.000-07:00

He lost me at "Hello my name is David." OK, seriously. I followed him on the first diagram he went over on the white board (barely), but then my brain stopped and then moved on to thinking about squirrels fanning their nuts because it was sooooo hot the last few days in Seattle.

I ♥ Marrisa Mayer!

2009-08-01T09:40:00.000-07:00

If you don't know me...I not-so-secretly love Marissa Mayer. She's one of the many reasons why Google is not so worried about Microhoo! No, Mr. Ballmer...you're the one that doesn't get it.

Healthcare Girlie Men

2009-07-29T08:03:00.000-07:00

The healthcare industry, especially on the insurance and provider segments, tend to want to portray themselves as struggling just to survive. Bullshit I say. Having worked at a health insurance company and several hospitals, I can say from personal experience that there are a lot of inefficiencies and lack of innovation in the industry. There's also apathy and a lack of urgency to do something about it. They need a hard kick in the ass, not reform.

I'll use this analogy to explain my opinion on what needs to happen:

The healthcare industry likes to act like a group of disabled people who need all sorts of assistance such as non-profit status, better reimbursement, etc. just to make it. Crutches.

So let's say we have a room full of these disabled healthcare companies being represented by people on crutches and standing around whining and moaning. And let's say I'm Obama.

I walk into the room say hi to everyone and smile. I walk over to the nearest person on crutches and I shake his hand and ask him, "Can't you all work together and innovate how you deliver healthcare so it's less wasteful and more efficient? Then it won't cost so dang much and we can make our dollars go further to serve more people. I mean, you really don't need those crutches do you?"

The man shakes his head and says, "No, I really do need these crutches."

I, still playing the part of Obama, purse my lips and say, "That's too bad." I then grab one of his crutches out from under his arm and smack him hard in the head. Hard enough to knock him down. I tell him to get up. He says he can't. So I smack him about 5-8 more times really hard. I tell him that if he doesn't get up on his own, I'll keep hitting him until he's dead.

He slowly gets up on his knees and starts crawling out with everyone else watching in shock.

I know walk over to the next guy and ask him the same thing. This guy gives me his crutches and walks out. The next guy hesistates a bit so before he can answer, I take his crutches and beat the crap out of him until he's unconcious.

The rest of the people start to drop their crutches and walk out of the room...some start running.

I think you get my point.