Motivation or Distraction?

This morning, author and behavioral economist (and inspiration for the title of my weblog) Dan Ariely wrote a short, but thought-provoking blog stating that the proliferation of small luxuries have incentivized people to work harder, which has created new markets for these items.

While I think there is indeed some truth to the first point (particularly if goals and planning are involved), I also think that these things have brought about the "keeping up with the Jonses" mentality. If we didn't all have to have the coolest new car, or the bigger house with all the cool gadgets, perhaps we Americans wouldn't be in the current economic crisis...caused in great part by frivolous lending so people could buy that big house they couldn't afford.

However, from an economic standpoint, I can't argue with the second point, that our need to acquire these items has definitely created markets where none existed before. The speed of innovation and technology, while mind boggling at times has helped to create jobs, find new ways to enhance productivity, and even assisted in making us feel better.

So if we are motivated by luxuries, that's perfectly fine, but realize that we don't always have to have the new car or the iPhone right now. In-fact sometimes the slightly used car and free subsidized Android-based phone are just as good...and you get to keep some of that money you worked so hard for.

Remembering a "Different Kind of Car Company"

I am now driving my second Saturn automobile. In fact, since purchasing my first Saturn 4 out of the 5 members of my immediate family drove or still drive Saturns. They are good cars. Or I suppose I should say they were good cars. In 2010, alongside legacy brand Pontiac, and Hummer, Saturn was killed by parent company, GM as part of their attempt to escape bankruptcy.

So what happened?

To answer that question let's go back to 1985 when GM created the Saturn brand. Though it would be more than 5 years before the first car rolled off the line, the fledgling company did reveal a prototype, which definitely shows some styling cues seen on the S Series when it finally launched.

In many ways Saturn was an ambitious experiment. It was a wholly-owned subsidiary of GM, but they had their own factory, dealer network, the "no haggle" pricing structure, and vehicles that shared little with other GM brands. According to a quote from a Saturn dealer interviewed in a 1992 TIME magazine story, "Most of our customers don't know who makes the car, so when people come into the showroom and we explain that Saturn is a separate corporation, they think of it as Saturn first and GM second." In short, Saturn was for all intents and purposes an independent auto company. And while it may not have been an overwhelming money maker for GM, Saturn did build strong customer loyalty. From the same TIME article,

Saturn has in abundance what many of GM's other products so desperately need: prestige. The upstart division's high-quality products have proved so popular that customers have to put their names on waiting lists. If Saturn can translate its popularity into profits, the formula could help save the rest of the giant company.

Apparently the popularity did not translate into profit.

Beginning with the larger L-Series in 2000, Saturn started borrowing platforms from other GM vehicles. In fact by the time of closure, there was not a single unique body style in the Saturn line up; all but one model being badge-engineered Opal cars (The Outlook crossover SUV, while not an Opal vehicle, did share a platform with many other GM vehicles.) The plant in Spring Hill Tennessee built specifically for Saturn, had been retooled to produce the Chevy Traverse. Virtually everything that made Saturn unique and exciting was gone. Saturn was no longer treated as independent of GM and had become no longer relevant.

The experiment had failed.

So when it came time for GM to divest itself of the brand, there were few companies interested in buying. The brand had been tarnished. Rather than continue to push boundaries and encourage innovation, GM instead got lazy and doomed the brand to mediocrity. Sure the cars may have been of good quality, but if you look at an Opal Astra and a Saturn Astra the ONLY differences are the logo (the grille itself is virtually the same) and perhaps the side of the car on which the driver is seated.

Am I sad that the company is no more? Yes and no. Obviously, I like the brand, and had it been sold, would continue to support it. I would actually have liked to have seen GM take Saturn in the direction of Toyota's Scion subsidiary: stylish, hip and uncompromisingly unique. However, if the best we could have hoped for was an avenue for GM's foreign marques to be sold stateside, then it is probably best that the brand was dissolved sooner than later.

I hope that people look at the history of Saturn and realize that when creating a product or a brand, it is ok--and sometimes necessary--to reinvent so as to stay fresh in the evolving marketplace. However, to remain relevant companies must not lose sight of their core competencies.

On the Road Again

I was on the road almost all day yesterday, so no blog for Feb 17th, but there's more to come, so watch this space.

A Follow-Up to Violence in Videogames

As a timely follow-up to Sunday's blog post about media violence, Toronto institution, Ryerson University today released some statistics from a scientific study looking at the issue of violent video games.

Turns out the media content has little on Emotional Memory. From the University's press release:

The researchers hypothesized that video game players would be less sensitive to the negative images and therefore show reduced memory for these materials. The results, however, showed no difference in the memory of video game players and non-players. Moreover, exposure to video games was not associated with differences in self-reported arousal to emotional stimuli.

"The findings indicate that long-term emotional memory is not affected by chronic exposure violent video games," said Bowen.

Will this and further research end the debate on violent video games? Probably not, but as with anything knowledge is power. Personally, I'd be interested to see if these findings bear any weight on the pending Supreme Court case Schwarzenegger v. Entertainment Merchants Association. (#08-1448)

Finally, let us not forget that it is ultimately the decision of the parents to police the content being consumed in their household, and not the government or media vendor. Associations such as the ESRB, the MPAA and the RIAA exist to offer insight into the content of their respective media.

For further information on the issue of violence in video games, including some interesting demographic statistics (hint: gamers are older than you think), the Entertainment Consumer's Association is a good reference point.

For the Love of Old Spice

Happy Valentines day!

Love is in the air. Can you see it? can you feel it? Can you...smell it? To celebrate, I wanted to take a moment to highlight the brilliant ad campaign that is the Man Your Man Could Smell Like!

Here's the newest spot.



Now, while the spots follow a very standard formula of witty writing, clever visual trickery and light sexual innuendo coming from the smooth-talking former football player, Isaiah Mustafa. But the best thing about the campaign is that it doesn't stop at TV.

The promotion famously went viral last summer when Old Spice took social networking into the next frontier. Primarily using Facebook, Reddit and Twitter, fans made comments, to which individually-tailored responses were produced and uploaded to YouTube--in many cases within moments of the original tweet.

But did you know they're still putting videos on YouTube? They Are! Check it out!

Now I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't say something about the ROI (return on investment), so I'll reference a story in Adweek discussing those very numbers from the time after the YouTube extravaganza. 107% is not too shabby at all.


So there you go. Have a great Valentine's Day, and keep it fresh!

Violence in the Media?

For years--decades even--there has been discussion over a link between various forms of media (popularly including films, hard rock music and video games.) This well-written article at Wired.com By Jason Schreier uncovers an especially weak argument that video games lead to rape. In 1999, the Columbine massacre was considered to have been inspired by everything from video games to the Basketball Diaries, to industrial music. Back in the 1980's, musicians from Frank Zappa to John Denver infamously sat before congress defending their art against Tipper Gore and her Parents Music Resource Center. I could go on and on.

As a gamer and one who generally enjoys consuming media, I will be the first to admit that my imagination can take off in wild directions when presented with new ideas in games, music or movies, but does my love of James Bond films make me want to go out and kill people while having sex with multiple women? I enjoy Metallica as much as the next guy, so does that make me a satanist? As a matter of fact, the founder of Satanism, Anton Lavey, was a fan of Ayn Rand, as am I, so that MUST mean I'm a Satanist, right?

Which brings me to what really bothers me in this ongoing argument of violence and media. It is not the issues of censorship and artistic freedom that bother me (important arguments, though they are), but rather the fact that this rhetoric is so often based on making cause-and-effect relationships where none exist. For example: I'd love to see the science proving that Eminem's music has led to an increase in wife killings in the last ten years, but I doubt such research does not exist. The problem is, that people are making this kind of connection all the time, with no proof to back it up.

What these arguments rarely take into consideration is personal responsibility. It was easy to blame Sarah Palin for the shootings in Arizona until it came out that the shooter was not politically motivated. (Note, I make this point not to defend Palin's rather inappropriate actions surrounding this event but merely as an example). Maybe the Fort Hood shooter was just an angry man. Maybe the kid at Virginia Tech was just disturbed. Why do their favorite movies or video games have to factor into it? Unless an undeniable link can be made, or the perpetrator explicitly states, "yeah, I picked up a Dragunov, went to the 4th floor window and started shooting because I'm a fan of Call of Duty," I think perhaps we need to look at other things besides the media being consumed prior to such an event.

In the wake of terrible tragedies, I certainly understand the need to find a reason, but why is it so acceptable to "blame the media" (be it video games, music, movies, or whatever) rather than turning to the psychological or criminal profile of the person who is responsible for the act?

What do you think?

Audiobook Recommendations

In the last few months, I have been listening to many many audiobooks, and as I've had a bit of trouble thinking of something to write today, I figured I'd share some of the highlights I have discovered.

The first book, by Dave Logan, John King and Halee Fischer-Wright, is called Tribal Leadership. (A complementary download is available c/o Zappos.com). This book is a real eye-opening look at company culture. Based on the study of several businesses, the authors reveal the five stages of tribal culture, from street gangs to world-class organizations driven by values--not competition. In some ways this book is part psychology, part sociology and part case study with a dash of Dilbert and even an appearance by Lumbergh.

Seth Godin's book, Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us explores similar themes of leadership based on connecting like-minded people. And, really, what more can I say about Godin? If you have any interest in marketing, you have to read his work!

Finally, I would like to share a brief (and free!) lecture given in 2004 by former internet advisor to the Doward Dean campaign, David Weinberger. (Note, an Audible.com account is required to download.) Weinberger discusses how blogs and new media are fundamentally changing the way in which knowledge is gathered. Think of the difference between Britannica and Wikipedia. There are a couple of places where this lecture shows its age (at one point social media is mentioned, with Friendster given as the main example) but the ideas shared here are really interesting, and valuable.

I'd appreciate your thoughts about any of these audio programs, and would love to hear any recommendations you may have to give.

For the Love of Customer Service

I had to call the phone company to question some fees on our latest bill. I was dreading this call. I fully expected to be on the line for the better part of an hour, crawling through endless phone trees and finally talking to some unhelpful and cranky person.

Thankfully, this was not the case. The Sprint phone system was fairly easy to navigate, and the woman on the other end of the line was not only professional and helpful, but was friendly, and - given the circumstances - was even a joy to talk to. The problem was solved, the bill fixed and best of all, the representative did not have to "talk to her supervisor."

Sometimes it seems that in business we forget that no matter how good our products are, or how efficiently we run our businesses, it is the people who are in direct contact with customers who can make or break loyal fans.

Isn't it sad that good customer service is the exception and not the rule?

Day After Ad Bowl Thoughts

Confession: I missed the big game. I do not have cable service, and did not leave the house. Hulu is just so much cheaper, I can watch it through my PS3, and really don't mind catching up on shows a day or two after the original air date. (Case in point, while others were watching the football game that NFL won't allow anyone to say, I was getting caught up on SNL.)

But I digress. More important than missing the game, I missed the commercials. So, in order to see all these fantastic (?) spots about which everyone is talking, I've got to find them on the interwebs. And, since many people have already done the work I've not had to look too far. Here, we have a collection of all of the commercials, and for the film buffs among us, IGN has put together a collection of all the movie trailers that aired during the game.

I will only say one thing; that I am surprised that Volkswagon chose to release their brilliant spot days before the big game. Seems like a careless thing to do with such an expensive ad buy, but then again, the fact that it has over 16,000,000 on YouTube shows that perhaps it wasn't that careless at all.

On a side note, should I regret not having seen the half-time show?

The Big Game

Seems that in the hub bub of arrends yesterday, I missed my daily blog post,* so I will simply pose a question? Packers, Steelers, or ads? What are you rooting for?

*For today's music-themed blog post, head on over to ryannims.com

Camel SNUS Advertising FAIL!

As a former smoker -- now over 1-1/2 years without a cigarette -- I know how hard it is to stop. I still have momentary cravings. And, while I vowed to never become one of those judgmental, preachy former smokers, I do feel the need to call shenanigans on RJ Reynolds.

So, Camel is trying to get you to stop smoking in 2011. Great, right? WRONG! This ad seems to be selling not smokeless tobacco in little white packages, but rather appears to imply that the little metallic can of tobacco is some sort of aid for quit smoking.

Now to be fair, the ad copy DOES offer SNUS as an alternative to smoking, but that does not change my first impression. And I have got to imagine I'm not the only person out there who misread the marketing message.

What do you think? Clever headline or advertising fail?

Yellow Pages - Or an Old Dog Learns a New Trick

The Yellow Pages has been a ubiquitous institution for well over a century, and for most of that time, was a leader in the market for finding solutions to household problems -- categorically indexed by such needs. Whether a person needed a tree trimmer who works on Sundays, a print shop to quickly turn around a thousand business cards or a used book shop specializing in romance novels, they knew where to turn. For the majority of that time, the "Yellow Book" was also a wonderful and effective advertising channel. So the John Q's Tree Trimming Service could get more business from having a full-page, full-color ad in the appropriate category. In the last two decades or so, (likely a side effect of the break up of "Ma Bell") the Yellow Page model has been so successful that they have found competitors in the market they once owned. Yes, YP has had a good run.

That is, until the internet showed up.

Now, information gathering has become effortless, and there are now literally hundreds of options for finding information on products and services. Google searches, local Yahoo listings, Facebook business pages (and their connected advertisements), Yelp (having recently moved to Austin, this service has become a lifesaver on numerous occasions), and the list goes on and on...

So what did the Yellow Pages and their competitors do to compete with this new challenge? Why, they added a second book of course! A smaller book. (I suppose the idea being that a smaller, more portable version somehow adds value?) Even more recently, YP has added a CD Rom to the mix, so now one finds TWO dead trees and a beer coaster in a nice screen-printed plastic bag on their front porch... And the homeowner will most likely throw the two books in the recycle bin, the disc in a drawer somewhere, then get on the internet to find their local services.

However, it would seem that the Yellow Pages have finally taken the hint. They recently rolled out a new website at http://www.yellowpagesoptout.com/ where one can finally opt out of receiving the aforementioned package of two books and CD. On the site, there is also information on recycling and environmental impact. Wherever you stand on the political issue of sustainability, I think we can all agree that this organization has shown a great deal of wastefulness in its delivery system of late.

In this time of new media and focus on environmental stewardship, this is a responsible step in the right direction for an aging product. There is also a lesson to be learned in that we all must recognize the changes in the market place and adapt,or quickly become irrelevant. What do you think? Will you be opting out?

Blog Month?

Captain's Log: Stardate 04390.00

I had this thought that during the month of February, I would write a blog a day, seeing as I have three weblogs that have not seen much use of late. However -- due to circumstances such as ongoing car troubles, the threat of frozen water pipes and of course good things such as freelance projects -- I have not taken the time to sit down and write.

But no more excuses. Here I am. And I have a couple of drafts in the can*, so stay tuned. Same Bat time, same Bat channel.

*with or without campy television references.

~ r

Note: depending on the subject matter discussed, daily blogs may be posted on any of my 3 blog sites here or at ryannims.com or ryannims.wordpress.com.