Scott Gray's Weblog » original work http://rsgray.com Thoughts from the Nintendo Generation Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:00:49 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 Google and Verizon threatening Net Neutrality http://rsgray.com/marketing/google-and-verizon-threatening-net-neutrality/ http://rsgray.com/marketing/google-and-verizon-threatening-net-neutrality/#comments Tue, 10 Aug 2010 01:38:54 +0000 scott http://rsgray.com/?p=157 I’m probably not going to add anything new to this discussion, but I wanted to point out this issue that I think anyone who spends more than 5 minutes online needs to be aware of.  I first saw this over at Dvice.  I’ve done some research online and didn’t come up with anything new to this story as the deal appears to be both fairly new and being kept fairly hush hush.

image about the google and verizon deal

image detailing the deal between google and verizon that could end net neutrality

Essentially it boils down to Google and Verizon working out a deal where some websites (google) can pay the ISP a small fee to make it possible to have their pages load quicker than another webpage. Another option on the table is that ISPs will become like cable providers where they only carry a set number of pages (abc, cbs, nbc, usa, syfy, etc) and for a small fee can get access to others (hbo, showtime, etc).  Either way this spells really bad news for small businesses, internet marketers, and everyone who accesses the internet.  Right now you can use PPC and a bank account to help rank a page somewhat in Google, but the biggest pull for Google is relevant interesting content.  Content that is getting reposted, pingbacks, and dumped on slashdot/digg.  Having this great content can allow a small business or a basic blog to beat out larger companies, this is fantastic! This means that you have a much better chance of finding what you are wanting, and it gives a certain amount of survival of the creative (ie- successful internet marketers are the ones who are creative NOT necessarily the ones with the largest checkbook). Another implication is the paying by companies to have bad comments/reviews about them load slower than their websites which would in turn decrease visits, and then not rank lower in google.  This takes away a significant amount of the power from the internet. It frankly puts us in the same ballpark of China censoring the internet, except instead of a unified government we’re going to have whomever can pay the most money.  I’ve tried to make this a reasoned argument, putting up a few thoughts based on the limited information coming out about this deal.  I strongly urge anyone reading this to get themselves up to date on this deal and take action. Visit this site for some more.  I found this quote over at alternet.org.  As they pointed out is amazing how fast a company with the motto: “don’t be evil” can slide down the slippery slope of profit:  ”Today the Internet is an information highway where anybody – no matter how large or small, how traditional or unconventional – has equal access. But the phone and cable monopolies, who control almost all Internet access, want the power to choose who gets access to high-speed lanes and whose content gets seen first and fastest. They want to build a two-tiered system and block the on-ramps for those who can’t pay.”

]]> http://rsgray.com/marketing/google-and-verizon-threatening-net-neutrality/feed/ 0 May you live in Disruptive times http://rsgray.com/marketing/may-you-live-in-disruptive-times/ http://rsgray.com/marketing/may-you-live-in-disruptive-times/#comments Wed, 23 Jun 2010 19:36:22 +0000 scott http://rsgray.com/?p=142 May you live in Disruptive Times
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]]> http://rsgray.com/marketing/may-you-live-in-disruptive-times/feed/ 0 Mascots + Branding + Twitter http://rsgray.com/marketing/mascots-branding-twitter/ http://rsgray.com/marketing/mascots-branding-twitter/#comments Thu, 10 Jun 2010 23:24:40 +0000 scott http://rsgray.com/?p=138 A few weeks back I was invited to talk to an upper division marketing class at the University of Montana on how they could incorporate new media and social media marketing into their final projects.  One of the groups had a VERY commodity product, and one that at first glance was/is pretty boring. The group was disparaging of trying to find a way to use the “cool” technologies that I had just spent an hour talking about (twitter, facebook, blogs, foursquare, yelp, etc).  I gave them a pretty simple answer that they loved and I thought I would talk about it here b/c it has recently come up again for a current client.  That answer is Mascot.

mascotsThe student group had beef jerky.  Now except for the “SNAP INTO A SLIM JIM!” commercials of the 90′s beef jerky while admittedly delicious has never really been what one would consider Hight Tech, or a candidate for social media marketing.  But a beef jerky mascot on the other hand could be.  I told the group to create a rancher or possibly even a chicken (a la Chick Fil A with their cows) but don’t just create a little image of this mascot, but go full out. Make a backstory for this mascot, mascots are a chance to go completely creative.  Maybe Hotrod the Chicken (maybe it’s spicy jerky) grew up with Monty (the U of MT mascot) and they picked on the younger Slash (the Missoula Mauler’s mascot),and back then he was just called Rod. but one day Monty stole Rod’s girlfriend b/c Rod was just kinda boring. And on that day Rod changed his name to Hotrod and vowed to NEVER be boring again! (ok, yeah, a little simplistic, but you get the point). So now we have this cool backstory and graphics for Hotrod, this is where the new media comes in.  At no point has there existed a technology to immediately connect with people and actually interact with them on the scale that we now have with social media. So use it! Create a twitter feed for Hotrod showing him doing all kinds completely outrageous things (like surfing ON a shark off the Great Barrier Reef). Create a #hashtag for Hotrod’s out there to post about their adrenaline fueled activities. Create a facebook account and fan page. Treat Hotrod like he was a real person, responding to emails, joining adventure clubs and talking with people.  The biggest thing is to treat him as a larger than life celebrity and people will know him, and then by extension your product that Hotrod supports in the same way that sports stars endorse wheaties, or Ashton Kutcher those cameras that he’s got. The great part is that except for some app devo, and some graphics Hotrod could exist completely on free social media sites.  Give him a twitter feed showing pics he took while jumping out a plane, or scuba diving. You could prbly go several months before you would even (if you really want to) need to create a costume for you mascot.

]]> http://rsgray.com/marketing/mascots-branding-twitter/feed/ 0 Facebook for Fun & Profit: the Sequel http://rsgray.com/marketing/facebook-for-fun-profit-the-sequel/ http://rsgray.com/marketing/facebook-for-fun-profit-the-sequel/#comments Fri, 09 Apr 2010 16:07:26 +0000 scott http://rsgray.com/?p=129

]]> http://rsgray.com/marketing/facebook-for-fun-profit-the-sequel/feed/ 1 Brand Management and Google Alerts http://rsgray.com/marketing/brand-management-and-google-alerts/ http://rsgray.com/marketing/brand-management-and-google-alerts/#comments Fri, 05 Mar 2010 18:13:16 +0000 scott http://rsgray.com/?p=124 I’m sure this isn’t a new topic, but I thought I would talk a little bit about brand management online for small businesses.  Many small businesses believe that because they are not using the internet that their business is not being talked about online. This is frankly stupid.  There are many sites out there like yelp and zagat that allow users to create profiles for businesses, services, restaurants, etc. and then vote on their experiences. Also people have their own blogs (like this one!) where they can rant and rave about the guy they bought their new car from or the mom & pop coffee shop they went to last week.  And this doesn’t include forums, wikis, twitters, facebooks, and what have you that let people say pretty much whatever they want.  In other words, just because you are not online talking about your small business doesn’t mean that other people aren’t.  To that end you need someway to monitor what people are saying about your company, or website (if you have one) online.  There are a couple of options here: 1. would be to spend every hour of every day doing google searches, crawling over tweets, facebook, yelp, and all of those other sites mentioned above 2. pay someone to do this for you 3. dupe an intern into doing this for you 4. pick up some software that you have to pay for to do it 5. use Google Alerts.  For most small businesses options 1-4 are pretty prohibitive.  So I’m gonna talk about Option 5.  Google Alerts. Alerts is a free system provided by Google that allows you to enter various keywords and then get either a daily digest or an instant email when something is posted with those keywords.  So what I usually do for my clients is to create a Google Alert with their company name inside of “”. This means that by and large if someone write an article, posts on a forum, etc with that company name I will get an email about it. (I usually create these an instant alerts as I want to know ASAP when someone comments about a client). Now sometimes these will not be talking about your business especially if you have a common word as your company name or if it is a common company name.  But the nice things is that these alerts work just like google so if the company was AlteredGames and it is based in Missoula, the alert would be “AlteredGames” + Missoula. This would return all mentions of AlteredGames and Missoula.  You could also add other identifiers so you knew it was your company.  Next I like to set up an alert or two that is a daily digest and is more concerned with the industry or area. So if we were doing a restaurant in Missoula, the alert might be: “local restaurants” + Missoula. This just lets me monitor what’s being said about the general area, and may provide some good places to drop a link or a comment about the business to help drive traffic.

These are just a few tips for a very powerful tool that Google provides. The biggest thing is just to remember, if you are doing your job right SOMEONE is talking about you online even if you aren’t. And in this day and age it is important if you are not the one leading the conversation that you are at least aware of what is being said.

]]> http://rsgray.com/marketing/brand-management-and-google-alerts/feed/ 0 Iron Man 2 Alternate Reality Game http://rsgray.com/marketing/iron-man-2-alternate-reality-game/ http://rsgray.com/marketing/iron-man-2-alternate-reality-game/#comments Tue, 15 Dec 2009 23:08:06 +0000 scott http://rsgray.com/?p=110 So, it looks like Iron Man 2 is joining the ARG movement.  The rabbithole for this appears to have been a Stark Industries recruiter wandering around Comic-con.  Here’s a link to what was on the business cards she was handing out.  This will take you to the website: www.starkindustriesnow.com which has a letter from “Tony” and a link to apply for employment with Stark Industries.  Some of the questions are fairly stereotypical like employment history, but others like this: “What term describes the superposition of two or more waves resulting in a new wave pattern?” are a little trickier.  I applied, but have yet to receive anything, maybe I didn’t get the physics questions rights… In addition, several ‘news articles’ have been released: link and here.  The best people can do is look at what words are darkened, and the clipping below of the man walking on air.  Is it related?  This is definitely generating some buzz, but from an ARG perspective, a LOT of people are scratching their heads trying to figure what the clues mean and what to do with them. If anybody has any clue please drop me a line, in the meantime we can memorize what’s been released and hopefully a new clue will emerge that we will lead us in the right direction besides in circles…?

]]> http://rsgray.com/marketing/iron-man-2-alternate-reality-game/feed/ 0 What else can we do with Alternate Reality Games? http://rsgray.com/marketing/what-else-can-we-do-with-alternate-reality-games/ http://rsgray.com/marketing/what-else-can-we-do-with-alternate-reality-games/#comments Sat, 12 Dec 2009 21:32:45 +0000 scott http://rsgray.com/?p=102 I just had a great phone conversation about Alternate Reality Gaming with Jake Kahle.  In it we discussed that the majority of ARGs are being used to market video games, movies, tv, et cetera. But I’ve been thinking what else can we use them for?  And since most of these ARGs are being run very large scale, can small businesses possibly get in on this new… tool? game? technique? life?  So I thought of two different scenarios in which ARGs could be used to 1.) build community and ties 2.) be implemented by a small business

1.) The Secrets of the Omega Society:Where do most people today build a significant number of their life long connections? Colleges! So I thought why couldn’t a college especially during orientation, begin and run an ARG.  The plot could surround a secret society (the Omega Society) known for having the best dorms, best seats at sport’s events, private galas, the top students, etc. (all kinds of good rumors to get students involved).  The rabbit hole could be something like a clue in the orientation pamphlet (perhaps the secret societies’ symbol is a greek character Omega?) or perhaps, there is a website for students to log into to create a social profile for the university and located at the bottom is a link a la the Net. Maybe a short ‘home video’ style runs on campus tv at 1 am that is a student hiding in the omege societies lair (he gives his name which if payers look up takes them either to his facebook page, or to an article he wrote for the university 4 years ago on the society). Either way, the game should leave clues that require a range of different types of students to complete.  There should be math clues to encourage those students to become involved, items placed near sporting equipment so those s inclined would see them.  In addition, bury the various clues in the different orientation events in order to drive new students to these to build up attendance and traditional ice breaker techniques.  Recruit different RAs, tourguides, freshman advisors, an even professors to act as puppet masters.  The ARG would culminate in an initiation ceremony involving the winning team, and prizes awarded in the form of box seats to sporting events, a nice quad for Omega Society members.  The nice thing about this one is that it could be possible to recruit one year’s winners to be the next year’s puppetmasters!

2. Secret of the Stolen Recipe: For this one we’ll go back to my first post about a small restaurant here in Missoula, MT.  Here is a way for a small business to possibly run an ARG on their own.  The rabbit hole for this one would be to place a new item on the restaurant menu, but have a piece of tape or something to look last minute placed over the item with a note saying: “due to unforeseen circumstances this menu item has been pulled”.  Waiters/waitresses acting as puppetmasters if asked could vaguely reference someone trying to buy out the restaurant which if looked up would send to a social profile or perhaps a few fake ‘news’ sites talking about th same guy buying up buildings in the area, maybe there is a clue written in the bathrooms saying: “I know who has the recipe” with some some numbers scrawled below (the numbers lead to a GPS coordinate AND a google maps location both with a new clue of some kind).  The idea is that this gentlemen is stole this prize winning (another hook!) recipe in order to keep the restaurant from earning a bunch more money so he could buy it for some nefarious purpose (perhaps to get to the hidden prohibition-era treasure hidden in the building?) The key here would be try and keep as many of the clues in the restaurant thus driving customers back to find out the next clue, and to involve LOCAL scenery and people as much as possible.   The goal would be to generate more community feelings around the restaurant, increase brand awareness, and bring in new customers.  Many of the clues would require man hours but little cost. Maybe paying for a po box to drive someone there, some URLS to create dummy pages, maybe a two day ad in the local paper, but that would be about it. And even those if done write could be cut out all together.  The culmination of the game could be a date and time, along with the gps coordinates of the restaurant.  The time would be for when the restaurant is not open, and whoever shows up with the correct password could be treated to a free sampling of the ‘stolen recipe’.

These are just two of the many different ways in which ARGs could be used in ways other than for tv, movies, and video games.  The key is that people have fun. If you have any other ideas for innovative ways to use ARGs please, pass them along.

]]> http://rsgray.com/marketing/what-else-can-we-do-with-alternate-reality-games/feed/ 1 Social Media Tips http://rsgray.com/marketing/social-media-tips/ http://rsgray.com/marketing/social-media-tips/#comments Mon, 07 Dec 2009 17:15:10 +0000 scott http://rsgray.com/?p=82 • Always keep personal and professional separate. This doesn’t mean that you can’t have coworkers on your facebook or friends on Linkedin, but always think carefully about whether you want a potential business relation to see pictures of you with your sister’s baby or celebrating at a Griz game
• Think about each social network you are going to get involved with. Just because everyone has a myspace page, think about is it really relevant to what you want to do and who you are. If you are really interested in the music industry, then myspace might not be a bad fit as it is becoming a more music/entertainment based network. But don’t just jump on the bandwagon of a social network, think about what having your ‘brand’ on there would mean by association
• Always check your privacy settings for any social profile. Just because you only use your facebook account for personal friends and acquaintances, remember that others can search for you and possibly see information. Google now allows you to search over social networks for information, so if you have pictures of you doing things you don’t want future employers, clients, or business contacts to know about make sure your settings are done right
• Always add value to the social network. This means providing information that users actually want to know about. Now, keep in mind the specific audience of each network when figuring out what value is. On facebook with family and friends, a picture of your dog in a Santa outfit in front of the tree would be added value to your friends. That would not be value added information to your LinkedIn connections (but that paper on HP’s marketing strategy might be!) Plus the better the value, the more likely somebody is going to retweet or repost it so you get to increase your audience without you lifting a hand
• Build quality relations. By quality we mean relevant. In other words, don’t spam invite a bunch of people. The days of who’s got more friends on myspace are over, it is better to have 10 relevant industry specific ‘friends’ then having 400 strangers. In fact, a lot of professionals online will either think you’re a major party animal meeting bunches of people, or you’re a spammer concerned with quantity over quality
• Don’t SPAM! Let me repeat that DON’T SPAM!!! This goes back to value add. But it also means, don’t be constantly sending out requests to help you out with something, or asking people to post comments on blogs or asking for a retweet
• Remember the Golden Rule. Treat other people online like you would want to be treated. If somebody is wrong about something on a forum, politely explain the correct answer. Would you want somebody to attack you for being an idiot (or ‘flaming’ you) if you are wrong or to politely explain (possibly even in a private message) what the correct answer is?
• Try to listen to other people. This means that instead of posting meaningless “oh, that’s a great point”, try to add something to the conversation. And just like any real conversation, make sure to adjust what you are saying to what other people are saying. If you are on a forum discussing accounting techniques and someone post a different opinion after you posted, listen to what they said, and make sure to reference what they said in your post
• Really all of this boils down to just be nice online. At the end of the day whether online or offline, nobody wants to be associated with a jerk

]]> http://rsgray.com/marketing/social-media-tips/feed/ 0 Tool for finding Employees with Initiative http://rsgray.com/original/tool-for-finding-employees-with-initiative/ http://rsgray.com/original/tool-for-finding-employees-with-initiative/#comments Thu, 03 Dec 2009 16:49:24 +0000 scott http://rsgray.com/?p=70 A few days ago a friend and I were lamenting some of our coworkers over the years who have just completely lacked initiative. We started thinking about different ways in an interview process you could figure out whether a potential employee possessed some level of initiative. It took us a while, but I finally hit on it.  Bring the interviewee into a room. The only things in the room are a bean bag chair, a television, an original Nintendo, Kid Icarus inserted, and the manual for the game.

Ask the interviewee to play for a few minutes and then leave the room.  Proceed to your hidden cameras and watch what they do.  Now, any old school gamer out there, will know that you NEVER look at the manual. The original nintendo controller only had a direction pad, select, start, A, and B.  If the interviewee, immediately reaches for the manual don’t look to them for initiative in the future. If on the other hand, they grab that remote and proceed to systematically figure out for themselves what each button does, all the while a big grin on their faces? Yeah, those guys you can trust to not be afraid to hit a few buttons and see what happens and then use that knowledge to beat the game.  They might break your internally built software a time or two, but they’ll only help make those systems better in the future.

Why a beanbag chair? Because I’m a little sadistic and would get a kick out of seeing people in suits trying to look all dignified while sitting in a bean bag chair ;-)

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