Little Deaths and Scattered Thoughts

Lying on the couch at 12:40 p.m. watching the oak leaves outside wistfully sigh from green to yellow.  Week seven recovering from the car accident I chronicled earlier. While I occasionally get antsy I’m never bored.  Too many books and blogs to read, podcasts to listen to, applications to try, plug-ins to play with.  And now, with Hulu, www.hulu.com there’s a new world of programs to watch–Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock specifically. Great article in Oct. Wired on how Hulu is yet another step in changing how we live.

(Feel the synapses crackle in joyful rearrangement).

A friend loaned me season four of The Office, whose characters had to have been based on real people on my campus.

We were just featured on the front page of the Wall Street Journal and in USA Today and I decided to produce a radio spot around it

I’m now allowed to walk up and down steps so I hiked slowly upstairs to my studio and wanted to hug my mic. It felt good to record and mix again.

Last night I played with a set of new Giant Squib omnidirectional stereo mics, hand made for $65 and outperforming mics that sell for 10 times the price. They’re designed with the Zoom H2 in mind and they’re perfect.  Take this as an unabashed endorsement.

Reflecting on how the embodiments of the 20th and 21st centuries debated last Thursday. McCain was smug and kept falling back on war, security, fear.  Obama was realistic, hopeful and referred to Google. Talk about brands!  Up to the mid-20th Century, Mississippi was openly segregated. In the early 21st century in a debate in Mississippi, moderator Jim Lehrer pointed out  to the two candidates:  “One of you is going to be the next president of the United States. . . .”

*

The breeze outside gently detaches a little army of leaves that spin downward, not seeming to mind their little deaths, their return to earth.

Blogs, Microsoft, Apple & Brands

I follow a lot of blogs outside the higher ed realm, searching for new ideas, different ways of approaching problems, and new trends.  Here are a few from Ad Age I thought BHE folks might be interested in.

10 Reasons Your Corporation Shouldn’t Blog is right on.  As usual, the responses are just as insightful.

Microsoft Vs Apple Fight Enters New Round is a fascinating look at how Microsoft is trying to change its image by ripping off  (or  riding on) Apple. The first “rounds,” by the way, were the Bill Gates/Seinfeld ads which went viral (as planned, I suspect).  While most professionals felt the ads failed, I thought the concept was genius.  Judging by responses, I’m in the minority.

Here’s the link to the article about the first ad.

Why genius?  The concept of Bill Gates satirizing himself, being a straight man to Seinfeld, takes guts but it also shows Gates with a nice comic (read “human”) touch.  Also, it was developed for the Web where it hit more viewers than any TV spot.
The second spot was even better and elicited this article, . . .an Ad About Nothing.

While the videos are clever, I’m most interested in the writer’s take on it, as well as the comments, revealing other pros’ thoughts, and more importantly, their feelings.  Professionals actually get worked up when talking about Microsoft and Apple!
One of the comments mirrors my own feeling that Apple is not selling computers and iPods.  Apple sells a lifestyle.
The articles/comments provide provocative insight into the competitive, uncertain world of today’s advertising and Apple’s success in creating a brand as a way of life.
Isn’t that what we’re all striving for?

Visionary Marketing, Ethics, Student Blogs. . .

Being on my back in a brace for possibly three months has been an interesting experience.  It can be solitary confinement or temporary liberation.  Like anything, the quality of your reality is a state of mind.  I’ve had a lot of time to research, read and realize that no matter how much time one has for the Web, it’s like going through stars in a galaxy only to find there are a million more galaxies.

You can get lost in space on the Web.

But in all my explorations I did stumble upon one of the best articles I’ve read on the Web, marketing and the direction things are taking.  It’s long but Bob Garfield is one of the visionaries in his field.  It’s worth your while to read. We’ll see if facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg takes his advice.  I wonder if any of us will take his advice?

And then there’s the post on the PR Junkie blog about Sara Palin’s writing style and what it reveals.  it begins “Call it amoral or disgusting, perhaps even illegal, but thanks to a group of hackers. . . .”  Both the post and the responses are thought-provoking and  should be of interest to PR folks and anyone dealing with the Web, communications and privacy issues.

Thanks to my news director who forwarded this to me, I see there are other pros in the field who occasionally use the term douche bag.  This editor found himself in the middle of a controversy.

Finally, Kyle has a good post on first year student blogs at Wofford. I’m wondering, Kyle, and others who have student blogs, if you could give an update on how you choose students, how much you monitor content (I’m all for letting them write what they want, within reason) and what the results are.  How do you measure the success or effectiveness of each blog? I’d like anyone who deals with student blogs to weigh in on this one.

To Kyle, The Future, and Blogging

While going through some blogs this afternoon I reread Kyle’s six month report on blogging.  When I first read it I apparently never scrolled all the way down where he asked several of his favorite bloggers to post thoughts about what blogging meant to them.  I was honored that I was on the list and horrified that I hadn’t responded.
His post was dated July 8. . . .
That’s a century in the blog world.
But I’ll proceed anyway.
I’ve been a writer since I was a teenager.  I became a newspaper reporter I was 18.  I’ve written for newsletters, magazines, radio, TV and the Web.  I published a novel a few years ago.
Writing to me is communication.  I love sharing news, thoughts, posing questions, getting responses. Interaction.
Blogging is among the most gratifying forms of communication I’ve done.  I bask in the freedom of writing a post of any length, anytime.
Looking for a comfortable niche, I chose higher ed marketing, though there are many professionals out there with more knowledge and expertise. I find myself scrambling, as Kyle notes, to keep up with the latest news and developments in the field.  Maybe 10% of what I find goes into my blog.
One of the surprises in my blogging venture is that the most popular posts tend to be those that are about my own experiences in PR, writing, and most recently, a personal journey.  It underscores a couple things:
-People are hungry for knowledge
-Everyone loves a good story
The BlogHighEd community is a joy. The diversity of age groups and professions creates a wide variety of information to be shared and discussed.  I like the musings of the veterans. I love the energy of the younger professionals. I learn from your discoveries and experiments that you share with enthusiastic generosity. I read your posts knowing that I’m watching and interacting with pioneers at work, people who will be the future leaders in your fields.
That’s what blogging is for me.

It’s community in the best sense of the word.
Kyle, I hope this post is a case of better late than never. Comments, as always, are appreciated.