Sounding all too familiar

I’m getting a little worried about the state of marketing and social media conferences being held in Toronto. On any given week, I get at least one announcement about a “Must Register” conference I shouldn’t miss. I read each conference outline carefully looking for new information, new case studies and, yes, some new and refreshing speakers. But I keep seeing same old, same old. For such a burgeoning sector like marketing and social media, I’m surprised we aren’t seeing a slew of new best practices and case studies that the players are willing to share.

Our agency is earmarking a lot of dollars to attend these conferences and the last thing we want to come away with is: “I’ve heard it before.” I have two staffers at Mesh this week, so I hope to hear about some original new ideas they picked up.

Recently I received two conference overviews from the CMA. One was a word-of-mouth conference called From Mass to Grass and the other was a branding conference entitled Brand Navigation. Both conferences offer up some fine speakers, but frankly I’ve heard a number of the speakers before and not sure I would spend $745 to hear them preach the same gospel.

Here’s my suggestion. Maybe organizers can start implementing a “pay as you go” model. Let’s say you just want to attend the luncheon keynote and one plenary session. Well, you just pay for a pass for those sessions. I would probably attend more events this way. Case in point, there are two individual sessions at the aforementioned conferences that suit my needs. The closing keynote at the WOM conference by Douglas Rushkoff looks very promising and original, while Chris Staples is also giving a fascinating closing keynote at the branding conference. Actually, I could listen to Staples recite the phone book for $745 – he’s simply brilliant!

Right now there’s an insatiable appetite to learn and glean as much information and best practices from leaders who are pioneering social media against marketing, branding and PR. But I hope conference organizers don’t keep retreading the same solutions and faces just to sell tickets. After all, shouldn’t conference organizers be guided by the fact that they should produce great conferences with compelling content, than just use these events as a license to print money?

I do live in Wonderland, don’t I?

The Annual Closet Switcheroo

Ah … spring is finally here (if you were in Toronto this weekend, you know I'm slighty off by this statement ...brrrrrrr....) and for me that means making the closet switch.

Now most guys have no idea what this means. But for my female readers, you know the drill. Basically it’s taking your itchy wool winter suits to another closet in your house while you transfer your entire summer attire (including bags and shoes) into your main closet. This ritual signals the season for open-toed sandals, and many of you can ditch the control-top pantyhose. Well, some of you anyways.

I did the closet switcheroo this weekend and the best part was getting rid of all those dull dreary colours that I’d been staring at since October. You know the ones: black, midnight black, off-black, washed out black and the dreaded “I thought it was black when I bought it but it’s really dark blue” .. I can’t believe how much black I wear during the fall and winter. I look like some post-war widowed Italian lady all winter long. Well, those schmattes will now go away for another season, to be replaced with cheery hues of pinks, blues, the whitest of whites and, of course, a delicious range of shades in ecru (that’s beige for my male readers).

After my closet is ready for spring and summer, I go shopping to add a few more pieces, like some trendy bits and a few new summer halter dresses. But I do have one fashion wish for this summer … I pray that designers will not bring back any of the following fashion faux pas:.

Ultra low–rise jeans: These jeans are just wrong for women who are still sporting a muffin-top due to little junior … or those whose little ones are all grown up and off to college. Please, if you have a heart “up” those waists. And while you’re at, make sure you add at least two percent Lycra to the mix for those days when one piece of chocolate just won’t do!

Spiky stilettos: Jimmy Choo, Manolo Blahnik, and Miu Miu all played a dirty trick on us gals. They designed the highest of heels, made us sport ugly toe-cleavage and made us pay a G-note for shoes to feel like a real woman. Well, my bunions are saying “no” to high heels this summer. It’s comfy wedgies and Nike Air heels for me!

Ballerina flats: Ballerina flats should be reserved for young girls, or tall women whose legs go on forever. The rest of us look like waddling ducks in those ridiculous things called shoes.

Oversized handbags: I’m not sure what the fascination is with giant sized metallic handbags. Are these women running away from home? What are they carrying in those sacks? You can fit both Olsen twins and a laptop in those hand-bags. Ladies, all you need to ever carry is a credit card and lip gloss.

And finally, the worst summer offence they need to haul to a faraway landfill site is:

Empire-waist mini dresses: No, no, no. Women should not be dressing like their eight-year old daughters in dresses that only look good on ultra-skinny runway models. These dresses make most women look pregnant. Pair this dress with ballerina flats, a pixie haircut and you’ve got Rosemary Woodhouse.

Now, I can’t really comment on men’s fashion … but I will!

Skinny Ties: One word - stupid. America voted. You can only wear a skinny tie if you are Ryan Seacrest.

Happy Closet Switching Ladies!

You lost me at “Hello”

I’m sorry if I am being a tad harsh on future would-be PR interns, but your cover letters to me can only be described this way: GAH!!

Let me run down the biggest mistake when sending me a cover memo with your resume attached: Get my last name right! I know, I know, I have too many vowels and Ls in my last name. Sorry, blame my ex. He gave it to me, along with a Tylenol 3 headache that lasted about 8 years until we divorced. But I digress. Please, if you are sending me a letter then at least get the “Ms. Rusciolelli” right. I’m easy to please, really.

When you spell my last name wrong, two things instantly happen – I don’t read the rest of your cover letter and I quickly trash your accompanying CV. No saving it, no lovely response telling you how much I loved your letter, that I have no openings right now but will keep your CV on file ... nada, niente, zilch. Why? Because when you can’t spell my name that tells me you are sloppy, hurried and careless. Three attributes that don’t go over well in our business. Do you have any idea how many emails and letters we send to media, clients, analysts, politicians, dignitaries, CEOs and VIPs every day? Well, I don’t really know the answer either, but it must be a ton for sure. One misspelled cover letter could cost us big.

So, a little advice my dear young students: when sending those well crafted cover letters to me that you agonized over writing, get my name right and you’ll get a response. Maybe not the response you want, but you will hear from me. Promise.

Oh, and by the way, if I read “To whom it may concern” (why I still get those is beyond me?) your email address instantly goes into my spam filter and I place a much needed call to your parents.

Remembering Madeleine

It was one year ago that Madeleine McCann went missing while vacationing with her parents in Portugal. I remember watching the news in utter shock (I think when you have young children you feel a mother’s pain even more) and thinking to myself, “How could those parents have left their children 50 meters away while having dinner? What kind of parents are they?” Then I realized how hypocritical my thoughts were.

It was five years ago this past April when I left Rachel, my daughter, who was two at the time, playing in the backyard by herself when I walked into the kitchen to grab her a juice box. I was in the house no more than a couple of minutes when I returned to find that she had vanished. After screaming for her and doing a quick search around our property, I called 911. They dispatched a team of police and emergency crews in an effort to locate my missing girl. It was 25 minutes later when she was found, face down in the pond of the golf club behind our home. She was not breathing. She was blue in the face with a very cold body temperature.

With help from my neighbour and two wonderful constables from 22 Division, Rachel was revived at the scene. She was then rushed to the Hospital for Sick Children, where a team of doctors and specialists brought my little girl to a full recovery. It was determined by her body temperature that she had been in the water at least 15 minutes. After a few short days at Sick Kids, she was home again playing with her dolls and toys. No injuries were sustained, no brain damage, nothing. I had left my daughter alone for two minutes, that’s all.

Rachel survived a terrible accident. I lived through a parent’s worst nightmare that ended up being a miracle (actually, it was hypothermia that saved her, but I’d like to think God had something to do with it, too!). But not all incidents like this end up with a happy ending. The McCanns know full well that their innocent action led to the biggest mistake of their lives. They left their children in what they thought was a safe environment not too far from where they were dining. It sounds all too familiar.

Madeleine’s parents aren’t villains. They are victims. On the one-year anniversary of this little girl’s disappearance, let’s also remember her parents who have to live with their actions every single day of their lives.

I could have easily been that Mom you would have referred to as the mother who neglected her child. Instead, I’m the blessed mom with the very, very lucky little girl.

I’m grateful that Rachel has no recollection of the incident. I, on the other hand, will never forget it for as long as I live.

The Talented Mr. Sacca

Yesterday I had the pleasure of speaking at the annual Communitech conference in the Kitchener-Waterloo area on the subject of public relations and social media. I thought it was an exceptionally orchestrated event, with some terrific keynotes and panel discussions throughout the day.

Chris Anderson, editor of Wired Magazine and author of The Long Tail, was there to kick things off. Chris started right in showing his famous Long Tail graph and discussing the Pareto 80:20 rule. He was great, of course, but as soon as there is math involved before 11 a.m. my head hurts. I left after 20 minutes cuz I had to set up for my breakout session anywas.

And speaking of my session, I had an enthusiastic, standing-room-only crowd who listened attentively as I discussed the onslaught of social media tools shaping our traditional PR world. For those who wanted my PowerPoint presentation, please email me to request a copy cuz I can’t remember who wanted it from all the business cards I collected yesterday.

I stayed for lunch (the chocolate tart at the end was delish!) and sat with a patent lawyer who works in the Waterloo region and an old acquaintance of mine, Eric from DECODE. The lunchtime keynote was Chris Sacca, a former bigwig at Google who headed up Special Initiatives for the company. He’s now a VC investing in very early stage companies in the consumer web, mobile, and wireless space. I had no idea who he was so I asked Mr. Patent Lawyer what Chris invests in. To which he replied: “Oh, he was an early stage investor in Twister.” Huh? The ‘60s contortionist game? I quickly surmised he meant Twitter and corrected the dear man. (at least I found someone in the joint who knew less than I did about Twitter!)

I listened intently as Mr. Sacca took the stage. I had no idea what to expect from this guy and well, he blew me away. I was so impressed with him: his humility, his intellect and his mild-mannered approach to public speaking. He had a kick-ass presentation (the word kick-ass was used so much yesterday, I wanted to shout out to the audience that we use that word liberally in our mission statement!).

Chris did an awesome impression of a southern Baptist Republican senator, and got a rousing applause when he told his story of confronting the Bush administration and winning key decisions for Google. But perhaps what I liked most about Chris’ address was the endearing way he spoke of his old bosses at Google, Larry and Sergey, and the culture they built at the Google Campus. His fondness for the company he used to work for came through loud and clear. It was so refreshing to see such ambassadorship of a brand from a former employee (yes, I know, he made a gazillion dollars out of Google, but still …). Without a doubt, the mythology of the Google brand certainly lives up to the tales of great free food from 18 cafes, pet insurance and open mic sessions for all 17,500 employees every Friday afternoon complete with pizza, beer and snacks. And that’s just scratching the surface.

Chris Sacca certainly has a great talent for storytelling. As for that Twitter thingie of his, I still don’t know ….

Ethics in PR

I’ve been enjoying my time as a panelist on Inside PR and lending some commentary on social media and PR in general. The last few shows dealt a bit with the issue of PR and ethics. I can’t remember the genesis of the dialogue but it had something to do with tobacco companies receiving qualified PR representation. That discussion generated some very interesting call-in responses from Joe Thornley and Shel Holtz. I’m not sure where we netted out (there is no right or wrong on the show), but I made the comment that ethics and ethical behaviour is very much predicated on one’s personal beliefs and value system. While PR professionals have a “code of ethics” most adhere to, the question of ethics and ethical standards also pertain to the kinds of clients and mandates a firm represents. After all, aren’t we judged by the company we keep?

I know first-hand that running a PR firm is a huge responsibility and I need to set the example by the clients we take on and represent. I am ultimately responsible and accountable for every brand we represent in the public domain and what we say about them. I believe a company’s ethics starts at the top and filters through the whole organization. We also, as a collective team, must embrace and fully support our clients’ actions, products and services, while at the same time serve as their public conscience. We need to be their brand ambassadors 24/7. That’s the kind of unwavering commitment to PR and to our clients that we need to demonstrate each and every day. Because if you don’t believe in your clients’ brand or products, you cannot serve them well, or at all.

There isn’t one client on our roster that I am not proud of. I have no issue representing a bottled water company, a cola company, a video game company, an alcohol or automobile company. It’s only been on a few rare occasions where we declined to pitch business because there was a perceived ethical issue in what the company produced or stood for. These decisions are not easy to make and are not based on some textbook guidelines. In fact, so much of our personal beliefs and core values come into play whenever we deal with a client. If you feel that representing a hunting association is just ethically wrong, you have every right not to compromise your own beliefs and not to represent that client.

At the end of the day, your ethics can never be waived, compromised or challenged. You live your life by your own personal code of what is right or wrong. While fitting that into a workplace can sometimes be challenging, you have to be true to yourself at all times and be able to sleep at night with a clear conscience.

I know I do, each and every night.

Going 'Green' in moderation

If you think you're too small to make a difference, try sleeping in a room with a mosquito.
- African proverb

Well, it has finally happened. I am making my own baking-soda-vinegar-water cleaning solution at home to scrub my tub and sinks. It would be a lot easier and faster just to use Vim or Ajax, but the "greening of Julie" is starting in meaningful baby steps. Did I say baby steps? I know a lot of PR and ad agencies are making public announcements about their eco-friendly habits and policies in their offices, but before I decree a "green edict" at my own office I better practise what I preach. It's kind of like recommending a blogging tactic to a client when you've never blogged yourself. Better walk the talk first.

Our family is undergoing some simple changes that are easy to adopt - like switching to low-energy lightbulbs, turning off lights and TVs, buying only rechargeable batteries and reducing waste. I've also bought my daughter a Klean Kanteen for water. We recycle like crazy.

Still, I drive a 4x4 (it's not a big one) and the lease comes up at the end of the year. I will be looking at something more economical and green. But I still need a vehicle that can haul huge cans of tuna and bathroom tissue from Costco, as we seem to go through a lot of the stuff!

I think adopting a greener viewpoint and putting it into practice should happen in small incremental steps. In my opinion, going green is akin to dieting. If you want to drop 10 pounds, don't cut out bread, pasta, rice, butter and sugar all in the same week. Most people who try to do everything all at once, usually have a relapse after one whiff of nonna's sugo Bolognese! If you are too strict with yourself, you'll be deprived and meaner than a snake by the end of the first day of dieting.

Likewise, on your first day of going green don't try to retrofit your home with solar panels. The cost is astronomical and you should probably start with a small compost in your backyard – with or without the earthworms! The Green Living Show is coming up in Toronto (Clinton is back .. does this guy have a house in Toronto?) and I'm sure there will be loads of earth-friendly advice to be had.

Moderation is key; and making wise, easy-to-adopt solutions that you feel good about will eventually lead to making a difference. Yes, even one person can make a huge difference on our big blue beautiful planet.

Celebrate upcoming Earth Week for the rest of your life.