Sane Advice for the Green Bay Packers

As today's King Kaufman column at Salon.com suggests, perhaps its time to break Brett Favre's consecutive starting streak to allow him time to adequately heal from his encounters with the Dallas Cowboys defense, last night.

It won't happen of course. But it does make some sense.

I'm as rabid a GBP fan as the next Wisconsonite, but perhaps the TEAM would better positioned 5 weeks from now, if Brett were allowed to heal and Aaron Rogers allowed to gain some playing experience.

In this smoke and mirrors season, where some way, somehow, the Packers have rolled up an impressive 10-2 record, the youngest team in the NFL has been playing above expectations - buoyed by a defense that is proving itself one of the best in the league and supported by a young receiving corps and a new running back that from time to time, show signs of brilliance.

I thought that last night was a pretty impressive show by Aaron Rogers. Perhaps we should give Brett a well deserved couple of weeks off and start thinking about getting everyone healthy for the playoffs.

Treasure Map (to cheaper gasoline)

I just discovered a service from Mapquest that shows gas prices across the country. Try it for yourself. You can specify a local address and be presented with all the stations in your area with their prices.

Hope it saves you some money.

The Best Christmas Gift Ever

As we approach the Christmas season, there's one gift you can give this year that epitomizes the spirit of the season.

They are Kiva Gift Certificates.

In case you aren't aware, Kiva is an organization that facilitates micro-loans to underprivileged entrepreneurs in developing countries. They have an amazing loan repayment rate of 99.6%. No interest is charged on the loans, but when they are repaid, you can reinvest your gift by lending again to another deserving person.

Wouldn't this be a cool gift for your children? Introduce them to the gift of giving - year round.

To learn more, click here.

And Happy Holidays.

In the Best Interest of the Game..

On the eve of the biggest game (so far) in the Green Bay Packer's season, (which will only be seen locally by Green Bay and Milwaukee markets and anyone who owns a satellite and a subscription to NFL network), it causes me to wonder out loud whether the NFL is acting in the best interests of the game or in the best interest of the owners.

If you're attempting to optimize short term revenues, they're probably on the right track... auction off broadcasting rights to the highest bidder - regardless of the impact on the fans.

Let's not take into account the fact that by hosting the game on the NFL Network, you automatically exclude 66% of the country from watching. After all, it's all about the money and (if you're the NFL Network) forcing fans to subscribe to your service or worse yet, migrate from cable to satellite AND subscribe to your service. Here's ESPN explaining the situation.

In the short term, there will be griping and grumbling, but if you really want to watch the game I'm sure you can find a bar willing to broadcast it.

NFL games are already divided up among CBS, ESPN, NBC, FOX and the NFL Network. If the trend continues, watch for the birth of the NFC Central channel or the AFC East channel or maybe the Kansas City Chiefs channel.

Yes folks, there's no end to the market segmentation that this trend could produce. Taken to the extreme, the NFL could eventually migrate to an entire pay per view model.

Tomorrow morning, fewer than half of the normal number of Wisconsonites will be talking about the big game after having watched it.

And I cannot understand how that is in the best interest of football.

XP Makeover

For those of you who currently run Windows XP, but lust after the look and feel of Vista, the folks at makeuseof.com have written an article about 5 free software downloads to enable you to put lipstick and mascara on your Windows XP operating system.

Or perhaps you're one of those people who are downgrading from Vista (as recent Apple ads suggest), but want to preserve the pretty user interface.

Now, I have to admit that I haven't used any of these yet, so I can't personally testify as to how well they work or if they cause any unexpected system problems, but if the article's comments are any indication, they appear to work quite well.

Good luck with your XP makeover!

My Christmas Gift to Culvers

This weekend we travelled back to Canada for a family pre-Christmas party.

Whenever we make the trip we always have three "to-dos". We visit Swiss Chalet (a franchise that specializes in roasted chicken). We visit Tim Horton's (Canada's most famous coffee and donut chain) and finally we try to drop in at Harvey's (a burger chain that features my favorite hamburger in the entire world.)

Yes - our lives revolve around food.

One of the menu items at Harvey's is Poutine - an unfamiliar (to Americans) but delicious mixture of french fries, cheese curds and beef gravy.

As soon as I saw it on the menu, the idea struck me.

This would be a perfect menu addition to Wisconsin's favorite local food chain - Culvers. Think of it. Culvers originated in the heart of cheese country. We love our Green Bay Packers.

Introducing Packer Poutine. Mmmmmm.

I think it's time Wisconsin adopted this delicious treat and made it it's own. Philly has cheese steak sandwiches. Chicago has deep dish pizzas. We have beer and brats. But we need a great side dish.

By the way, in case you don't know, this dish isn't heart or diet friendly - which makes is soooo good.

C'mon Culvers. Let's introduce Packer Poutine before the playoffs!

The REAL Price of Black Friday

Brady Forrest of O'Reilly Radar writes about a recent trip to China where he discovered a treasure trove of product knock-offs. iPhones, iPods etc.

Now that China is becoming the manufacturing center of the world (and some would say stealing American manufacturing jobs), they've also long been taking something arguably more precious.

Our intellectual property.

China is quickly becoming America's largest economic threat. And perhaps the world's as well. They are poised to become the world's largest consumer of oil and seem to have little regard for (or any interest in) developing and/or following responsible environmental policies.

Never mind our massive Chinese trade deficit.

Never mind China's human rights record.

Never mind the recent news filled with manufacturing horror stories from China - tainted pet food, lead painted toys, Plastic aqua dots made from the same chemical found in date rape drugs..

Because tomorrow, millions of us will line up outside Wal-Mart - China's single largest product distributor, to buy cheap stuff for Christmas.

In America, Black Friday celebrates the most profitable retail day of the year. We revel in all our cheap holiday purchases.

In China, they celebrate Black Friday for a different reason. Every Black Friday symbolizes another nail in the U.S. economic coffin.

It's tough to fight an economic war when your citizens are providing aid and comfort to "the enemy".

Believe it or not, I'm NOT a protectionist. I don't believe that we should necessarily impose restricted trade or tariffs on goods from China.

I do believe that we need a public discussion and debate about the price we're really paying for those $1100 50" LCD TVs.

"Have a great day and thank you for shopping at Wal-Mart."

Rush to Judgement

Amazon just announced a brand new reader called Kindle. Click the link to see a short video explaining it's features. Over the past 24 hours I've been reading countless reviews of the new device.

Let me save you some time. Depending upon who's review you're reading, it's either "been there, done that" or the "next big thing".

One thing is certain. We're in a rush to judgement. And that's a mistake. Books and magazines have been around for hundreds of years. With all their drawbacks (weight, storage, environmental impact, lack of search, time to purchase) we're used to them. We know how they work. They're part of our everyday lives. They're familiar.

And it's for these reasons we should wait several weeks before reading any meaningful reviews. If there's one thing for certain, many people resist change - until they've tried it or been exposed to it for a period of time. And we're suffering from a lack of experience with the product.

On the face of it, Kindle offers the advantages of (virtually) instant delivery of your reading material, be they newspapers, magazines, blogs or books. It's lightweight and doesn't take up much space. It has a battery that enables it to last a long time.

It's biggest disadvantage? It's new.

Another disadvantage? It has hit the market after the iPhone. Now iPhone customers are suggesting that their phones would also be a good place to read books. While I understand the desire to consolidate a book reader into the iPhone (after all it already has a browser), I'm not sure how well it would work as a book reader. Smaller screen, shorter battery life etc.

So my advice? Keep an open mind and judge slowly.

Start reading the reviews mid December after early adopters have gained the wisdom of having actually used the product!

AdSense of Humor?

There's something about this story on The Raw Feed, and the embedded ads that struck me funny....

The "Big 10" Economy

The Big 10 Network is the gift that keeps on giving - to local bars.

While the majority of Badger fans hate the fact that they can't see all their beloved Badgers football games on cable TV from the comfort of their own homes (because Time Warner and Big Ten Network couldn't reach an agreement on broadcasting rights), local establishments with satellite TV are enjoying a tremendous benefit.

Last Saturday, my wife and I journeyed to the Marcus' Majestic Theatres, because they were going to show the Badger's game in hi-def in their Palladium theatre. For the uninitiated, the Palladium theatre features a huge screen along with food and (alcoholic) beverage service within the theatre itself.

We were running late, and showed up about ten minutes before game time. Fans were streaming into the theatre. As we entered the lobby, we heard the staff telling people that they had sold out (tickets were free) - even after opening a second theatre. They did allow a few fans to sit/stand in the lobby to watch the game on the screens there (but without any sound).

Apparently fans began lining up outside the lobby doors at 9:30am (for an 11:00 am kickoff). The lobby doesn't even open until 10am!

Marcus Theatres must be jumping with joy. Their best promotion ever - thanks to the greed of the Big Ten Network.

On our journey home, it was pretty easy to tell which bars featured satellite TV. As we passed by several local haunts, their parking lots were jammed to capacity.

Maybe the Big Ten Network is a blessing in disguise - for the local economy.

Go Badgers! You'll be in my thoughts - if not on my TV.

Getting the Priorities Right....

Is it me or is the current Writers Guild Strike getting waaay too much coverage on TV? This morning as I write this, the TV coverage continues with up to the minute "person on the street" interviews with the disgruntled scribes.

The hosts are talking about the "first casualties" of the strike - David Letterman, Jay Leno, Jon Stewart, Steven Colbert. Sounds like someone needs to organize a bake sale. Each of these shows uses somewhere between 5-20 writiers for their nightly comedy content. With all that brainpower, you'd think they'd be funnier.

"Next up...Pakistan".

Huh?

You just transitioned from a 12,000 member union strike (that no one I know cares ANYTHING about) to equally brief coverage of the suspension of rights (martial law?) in Pakistan - an alleged ally in the fight against terrorism. The same place that (allegedly) hosts the summer home of Osama Bin Laden. A country with at least 20 nuclear bombs in its arsenal.

Oh - now we have breaking news that this has been the deadliest year ever for our soldiers in Iraq and Mary Matalin is now stating this is proof that "the surge" is working.

And now, back to the ongoing strike in New York....

Maybe the networks have it right. Now is the time we need a few laughs.

Reach

Taking a look at Google Analytics this morning helped really underscore something about Web2.0 technologies - Reach.

I write blog entries as if I'm talking to a neighbor over coffee. I envision the audience as local and familiar. I never really saw the communication in any other way. I'm grounded in the physical world with my local network of friends and business associates here in Wisconsin.

This morning I looked at who was visiting my blogs and was shocked to see that people in seventeen different countries/territories were reading my work!

Seventeen countries!

I suppose for some bloggers this discovery seems pretty trivial, but I've been working in technology for more than two decades and while I understand that people in virtually every country on Earth have browsers and internet access, I never expected any of them to actually visit my blogs and read my work!

After 18 months of blogging, I've discovered "reach".

And it makes me wonder how many companies have yet to learn about "reach" - the chance to craft a unified coherent message (marketing, communication, or whatever) around the world.
Or how many companies understand how that message can be crafted FOR you - by unsatisfied customers, or by competitors in other countries, you may not even be aware of.

Understanding reach and putting strategies in place to leverage (or respond to) the reach of the Web, needs to be a vital component of corporate strategy. Now, you need to manage your message - everywhere.

You never know who's listening - or where they're listening from.

Web2.0 Lessons (So Far)

Over a year ago, I began my Web2.0 experiment. I decided to find out what all the fuss was about and so I signed up for a free blogger account and wrote my first blog entry. That was in June of 2006.

In the past 18 months, I've experimented with a second blog (Liquid Canuck) , a Squidoo lens, an e-book published on Lulu.com, an instructional video on YouTube (for our 5Rules company) and I occasionally write for our company blog at the 5Rules website.

I use sites like Technorati, Del.icio.us, Flickr, StumbleUpon, Digg, Reddit and Truemors.

Here's what I've learned so far.

1. When writing for the web, having a subject focus will help set expectations for your readers. My first blog, is a mixture of personal stuff about my family, living in Germantown and business and technology lessons learned. This mix makes it difficult for readers to know what to expect from day to day and this impedes reader loyalty. So I started a second blog to try to separate business lessons from family, friends and home life - (I'm still not very good at it!)

2. Readership improves when I write something I'm passionate about or hold a strong opinion about. Readers like to be with you or against you.

3. I try to write everyday, but if I'm uninspired, I'd rather not write anything at all. The lack of frequency hurts readership, but crappy articles hurt readership more.

4. We're a nation of watchers. My experiments with YouTube and video demos prove this out (at least in my case). Our instructional demo video gets several views per day on YouTube. Our video demos at 5Rules are viewed about 8x more than the same information in screenshot format on the same website. Average length of visits DRAMATICALLY improved when we added video.

5. YouTube videos work like ice fishing. You bait the hook and position the rod over the hole in the ice and wait for nibbles. They're out there working like bait 7x24x365. Provide an interesting value proposition, valuable information or entertainment and you will be seen.
In my opinion, web based video is the single biggest underutilized marketing and communications opportunity for business today.

6. The rules for success in the web world are no different than for the brick and mortar world. The rewards go to those who provide the best value (information, services, entertainment, networking, products or services). And the web allows the word about great companies to spread fast! (and bad ones too!)

7. The web puts everyone on equal footing. No longer do huge marketing dollars guarantee an advantage. Viral videos on YouTube probably sold more Mentos and Coke than did their respective company's huge ad budgets - even if the result was that their products were used in combustion experiments rather than being consumed!

Need another example? Look no further than how Captain Jim, a Charter boat fishing captain, competes with Cabella's.

8. The Web2.0 world really offers you the opportunity (at virtually no cost) to build a networked fanbase - to connect with customers and colleagues in a way that is far more difficult, expensive and time consuming in the "real" world.

And we're all just getting started.

Great Data Visualization Example

Here's an interesting mashup brought to you by O'Reilly's Radar blog. It's called wikipediavision. This mashup enables you to watch Wikipedia edits in (near) real time.

While this isn't something that the average Joe will do for hours on end, it is a powerful example of data visualization - something that every business should be experimenting with.

Want to reinforce your image as a Global company? Why not show an interactive map demonstrating each realtime sale around the world? Are you a locally based company trying to build a local business? You could do the same thing to help reinforce the message that lots of local customers trust your products or services.

Want to visually demonstrate how a cross-selling campaign is working? Show companies that are purchasing (for the first time) from multiple product lines. Flag telemarketing sales as they occur and show them to your internal call center.

There are thousands of ways data visualization (in the form of mashups) could impact your business.

The Perfect (Geek) Storm

Last night my son returned from work just as a Boston Red Sox player had stolen second base. In case you weren't aware, Taco Bell promised America a free taco should anyone steal a base in the World Series. (You can collect on Oct 30th from 2pm to 5pm).

When he heard the news, my son, who is a picky eater and seems to exist on Taco Bell (how's that for an oxymoron?) declared "This is the best day ever!" A free Taco from Taco Bell and tomorrow Leopard (Apple's new O/S) is released!

I guess for a geek - it's a perfect storm.

Told You So.

Back in July I wrote a post called Color Me Cynical about how we were going to start seeing nature's colors used by the world's biggest polluters, in an effort to market themselves as environmentalists. Isn't the logo pretty? Doesn't it remind you of daisies?

Today BBC reported that BP has been fined $373 million for fraud and environmental transgressions.

Doing the Right Thing for the Wrong Reason

If people like Seth Godin can't convince you that permission marketing is the path to take to grow your business in the 21st Century, you may be persuaded by Catalog Choice.

As reported in Guy Kawaski's blog, Catalog Choice is an organization funded by environmental groups to help reduce the tremendous waste and environmental impact caused by the printing and distributing of 9 Billion (that's with a "B") catalogs per year.

The service is free.

It acts as a slightly more cumbersome "unsubscribe" button - for paper catalogs. The website handles the communications with the catalog publisher. You simply sign up for the service and list the catalogs you no longer want to receive. After about 10 weeks, the catalogs should stop - or you can report "abuse".

I hope the service is effective in forcing those "old school" Direct Mail Marketers to begin to really embrace Web2.0 "permission marketing" - even if they're doing it because they have no choice.

The Bullshit Poll

A couple of days ago, I wrote how Chris matthews is Joan Rivers, complaining about how the political pundits are talking about everything BUT the issues.

Thanks to Jeff, who provided me a link to a video from the Onion News Network, who feel the same way.


Poll: Bullshit Is Most Important Issue For 2008 Voters

eWeek's Subscription Blunder

I'm not sure which genius developed the subscription process for eWeek, but I do know that they should be shot.

Today I received an email from eWeek, offering me a free subscription. Of course, the fee for subscribing is divulging information about your position, buying influence, industry and I.T. budgetary information. It takes a minute or two to complete all the questions.

I'm fine with that.

But don't position your publication as a trusted source for I.T. decision making - a source that will help me be more successful in my career, and then, within seconds of my subscription, undermine that sales pitch with a poor cross-sell.

Case in point.

No sooner had I signed up for eWeek, when I received a confirmation email and an offer to subscribe (for free) to CIO Insight and Baseline magazines, from the same publisher.

Less than 60 seconds earlier, I had just completed their subscription application and when I clicked on the subscribe button, they were asking me to provide the same information again!

With processes like these, I don't know you're going to help ME be more successful.

Any thought to a one click subsciption for other Ziff-Davis publications after I've completed the application? Or a chance to subscribe to other Z-D publications within the original subscription process?

Note to Z-D: If you're wondering why the cross-selling efforts aren't yielding the desired results, put yourself in your customers' shoes and try out the subscription process for yourself.

Chris Matthews IS Joan Rivers

I used to be a fan of the Sunday morning political talk shows. I watched MSNBC nightly to see Chris Matthews and his guests dissect the political landscape.

But recently I've come to the conclusion that Chris (and all the other pundits, liberal and conservative alike) are as relevant to the political scene as Joan Rivers is to the Oscars. They're all part of the same circus and their commentary has no affect on the outcome.

I think the final straw was when I saw comedian Steven Colbert make an appearance on Meet the Press and get treated like a serious Presidential candidate.

If you've watched recently, the pundits debate "issues" like "Is Obama Black Enough" and spend time talking about Hillary's "cackle" or her cleavage or John Edwards hair or whether Ann Coulter's vile remarks are helping or hurting a democratic candidate. They talk about which Republican can court the religious right or which candidate is most like Reagan.

High school stuff.

They aren't covering a United States presidential race. They're treating this like an election of the High School Prom Court. Now I ordinarily wouldn't have a problem with that, except that the High School Prom court won't be leading the country after they're elected.

The political pundits have the same informational impact on the 2008 Presidential race as Joan Rivers has on who wins Best Actor - none. It's all about style, swagger, who's hot and who's not. It's about who is buzzworthy. "Who are you wearing dahling?" It's a friggin' popularity contest instead of a contest of ideas.

I understand that to win, people need to vote for you. They need to like you.

Our parents used to vote for people who proposed ideas to make each of our lives a little better, healthier, safer, more prosperous, more free. It seems like our generation pulls the lever for they person they'd most like to have a beer with.

And it's a shame. Because I think that if the political pundits scratched below both parties talking points, they could help move the debate on the issues forward. They could help clarify where each candidate stands. They could help the nation actually decide on a candidate based on what they would DO when they got into office. They could hold people accountable for policy details and for action.

But that would be harder than commenting on style.

I want to know how any candidate can accept special interest donations and claim to be unaffected by them.

I want to know how any candidate who proposes that private health insurers are the answer to our health insurance crisis, will offer coverage to everyone, affordably - including people with pre-existing or chronic conditions.

I want to know how no-bid government contracts for services are in the best interest of the American people and why we have to out-source Iraq security to Blackwater or our port security to Dubai.

I want to know how we will transition from oil based energy to alternate fuels.

I want to know how we will address global warming, border security, illegal immigration, outsourcing of manufacturing jobs, the declining dollar, torture, trade deficits, the national debt, the future of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid.

And I want to know that before November 2008.

Chris Matthews et al, can continue to cover breaking news - like how many 9/11 references Rudy has made in a recent speech or whether Obama is wearing his lapel flag pin.

Or they can drive discussion and debate to help us elect an effective President.

Otherwise stop wasting my time.