It’s one thing to rise within a small Midwestern company to international recognition, it’s another to return to the Midwest and create a new dynamic environment for others to thrive. Mary Ann O’Brien’s midwest roots grew with the success of Gateway computers during her marketing career with the PC giant where she became Executive Vice President for Marketing. She left Gateway to grow as an entrepreneur as one of the individuals who started Hotpaper.com, a B2B Application Service Provider (ASP),that was innovative for its time at the turn of the century allowing for the instantaneous creation, delivery, archiving, and re-use of customized documents in a mobile environment. Hotpaper was purchased and O’Brien returned to the Midwest setting up OBI Creative in Omaha.

Mary Ann O’Brien A Social Media Innovator from the Midwest from Albert Maruggi on Vimeo.

O’Brien weaves a marketing and advertising background with social media and mobile marketing to lead this transformation of the communications profession. In this conversation we highlight the integration of platforms and message formats and the changes in how the audience is defined. It must also be noted that O’Brien gives of her time back to the community. It’s a reoccurring theme of the innovators in the Midwest we met along the way during our SxSw roadtrip. Whether it’s being Chair of the Small Business Council or contributing as a member of the Executive Council of the Omaha Chamber of Commerce, or being a sought after community leader for a number of innovation projects, somehow there is enough O’Brien energy to go around.

In this interview I found O’Brien’s description of a campaign her agency created for Gateway to have the elements that successful integrated campaigns must have today. A connection between customer and company, online and offline touch points, and a means for customers to engage on a social platform. The lives of consumers are seamless and so too must be the way we approach them.

This series featuring social media innovators of the Midwest is brought to you by Verizon Wireless. In our next segment Danny Schreiber of Silicon Prairie News in Omaha.

In 2010 Marketers and PR professionals must resolve their personality crisis. It is an issue that Age Ad editor Ad Age Editor Jonah Bloom highlighted at the ANA Conference this week in this 3 minute Ad Age video The issue is whether marketers are media organizations. Bloom highlights how companies including Red Bull have created so much content that they license it to others, they have also become the destination for that content like what can best be described as Red Bull TV

No they are not jibber jabbing about Red Bull this or that, they are covering the things their Fans, Friends, Followers, oh yeah, customers are into. It’s about your universe.

The same is true for public relations. Look, half of us in PR either were or wanted to be journalists. We either didn’t want to travel every two years, (that was my reason), or the pay stunk, or the hours stunk and the list goes on. But the idea of covering issues that impact people, industries, governments, are still all there.

Companies will struggle on how to deal with declining traditional media and still worse, changing viewing habits of those traditional media customers. Nielsen is in the middle of a heated debate over how they are counting viewers for local stations that don’t watch the real-time content.

I contend that 1) social community participants reward candor, 2) the web rewards fresh content that others find relevant as measured in one regard by links, with better search results and 3) we live in an on demand, go direct environment.

It is a huge mistake to interpret this as a green light to pummel the public with heretofore defined advertising dribble wrapped inside user generated content, however, it is an opportunity to reconsider what advertising and PR look like in your company. The world is dying for you to engage them, support them, be associated with something that enriches them; Help them do something that makes them better, makes their lives easier.

The interuption ad is moving from a blur you tuned out to an annoyance consumers will hate. Really, have you ever seen one of those pop-up ads that is over part of a website you want to click on? Not cool. From an advertising perspective, participate in what the audience is participating in, support its delivery not as a trojan horse where ads pop out, but as a guest coming to dinner bringing something they enjoy so much they wanted to share it with others they enjoy being with.

On the PR side consider this different perspective on PR, It would give you greater freedom to engage you audiences, more opportunities to be heard, and perhaps the greatest benefit of all, new digital information assets that are relevant for sales.

1. 1) Tarnished trust – too much nefarious attempts to game the system. (Don’t worry though the government is looking into the matter.
2. 2) Too much stupidity, yes my good social sympathizers I realize stupidity exists everywhere and my stupidity may be another’s genius, however when you are presenting Twitter to a company or a group and the Twitter Trend gets into less than appropriate topics for the audience, (watching out for my personal brand here, let’s just call it R-Rated an then some) it diminishes the attractiveness of the medium – I’m just saying.
3. 3) False expectations unrealized. Companies looking to cut costs rather than understand the social culture that jumped on social media in the Fall of 08 spawn a ton of negative press
4. 4) Societal issue of $$ and influence. Isn’t it ironic how social media has picked up the term influencers and is now facing an issue of ethics related to influence peddling. We need to get to a place in our culture where supporting a family, which includes making money, can be done in a perceived ethical manner online. So why are we getting hung up on disclosure? Oh, that’s right item number 1.

This blog’s headline is Four Things That Can Kill Social Media, not Social Media will Die. Social media is at a plateau. We’ll spend some time at this level of usage until companies and consumers sort out issues like trust, reliability, and whether spending time with social media is a good use of their time and business investment.

My take is in the near term those that jumped on for quick profits and low cost marketing may well drift away as the medium assimilates regular users. Those that value the communities in which they participate will out the social hucksters. The purists may need to compromise on the way corporations realign resources to adopt their own brand culture with that of their social communities. By this I mean, paid blogging is not necessarily a sell out, the economy is changing, and the blogging community should allow its own members to pursue a living out condemnation.

If Society Wants Candor, It Must Change

I would hope that society recognizes companies that own up to mistakes, without undue punishment. If society wants a different relationship with companies in a capitalistic economy, then it and the media need to alter their part in this relationship. The “gotcha” style of journalism or a quick to criticize and/or generalize public may have a different reaction to a company’s candid behavior. That’s right, this includes investor communities as well. If new candor and transparency is not reflected in the stock price, then all this happy transparency talk may be for nothing.

Companies that make an attempt to play by the social web’s culture with a more transparent face to the consumer should also be received in a different light. This new relationship then will feed on itself. Candor becomes recognized in its culture and others will follow. This is how the social web can bring about change and become as much a movement as it is a marketplace. This is the promise of social media as a movement and not a marketplace. It strips the 20th century illusion of brand “perfection” and reveals the people behind the curtain which ultimately is who we interact with in any brand relationship.

I jumped into the fray on how will advertising morph in social media when I commented on one of my favorite thinkers, Stowe Boyd’s blog post on syntax for advertising or sponsored tweets. I’ll just pick up here from that post and subsequent comments. The issue is should Tweets that are paid for have an AD or #ad in each of them. Brian Solis continued this conversation in a Tech Crunch called Full Disclosure to which I commented.

I hope that revenue generation and market awareness/demand morphs from interruption and manipulation into support and association. An example is this, interruption – my blog post about toys is paid for by Mattel and is about Mattel. This Mattel toy is terrific, my kids use it all the time, yada, yada, yada. Clearly something I’d label AD (advertisement).

An example of support – my blog editorial content is about kids and learning. I am able to focus on kids and learning because Mattel gives me a portion of what I need to pay my mortgage every month. I don’t say good or bad things about Mattel based on their check. I just focus on my editorial content and my readers. Something I’d label SP (sponsor)

Another wonderful example of support and association is the SETEPS program in St. Paul, MN at the University of St. Thomas. STEPS stands for the Science Technology, and Engineering Preview Summer camp. My daughter benefited from this experience just last week by learning about aerodynamics, building a model plane and flying it, all for free, because these companies funded the STEPS program. Will I buy from them or invest in them? Yes. Is this form of product/company awareness better than a commercial that attempts to convince me I’m lacking something in my life?

Social media is about having a stake in each other. That doesn’t mean social media is not a place to market. It’s a place to make an investment in, a place to unify across a like-minded community. This concept is not new, organizations do this all the time today in giving back to the community. Social media allows this “feel good” form of marketing to have greater impact and be a more accountable source of direct revenue and other measurable business objectives for a company that fully embraces the concept, the technologies and the communities.

Ok perhaps I’m a protective parent, with 5 kids, however, you’d be hard pressed to make that label stick on me. That’s why I don’t think I’m overreacting when I say “What were they thinking?” when this print ad was produced for the Citi American Airlines Advantage card. What gives me this reaction is the combination of the picture they used, and the potential thousands of similar images they could have used. Take a look below. It appeared in the February 1, 2009 issue of the American Airlines in-flight magazine American Way.

Isn’t that kid on what looks to be a ledge? My reaction was dumb parent, dumber ad. As you can see I wrote that on the ad. OK OK let’s just say it’s all photoshop right? Why use it when there must be others with the same captivating beauty of nature? Perhaps it is the shock value they were going for, and I’m the dumb one that is too protective.

As a little million to one shot, I was sitting in 26F on flight 557, an MD-80 from MSP to ORD when I wrote my missive in the magazine. It’s my physical way of sharing social media. If you find it, let me know.

Meanwhile what do you think -dumb ad or overly protective dad that’s afraid of heights?

Edgy advertising can sometimes cut the wrong way. Motrin is finding that out the social media way as mommy bloggers, Twitter Moms, and even a few dads are chiming in regarding an ad about fashionable baby carrying techniques.

It’s not like this is a new trend — baby slings have been around for a long time. The latest fashion, combined with the ability to comment on it, is what is giving Motrin a migraine. What are your thoughts about baby slings and social media-savvy moms giving Motrin a piece of their mind?

Use this nifty opinion tool to view the ad by clicking on the image, then share your thoughts by using words expressed by others in the list and rating them, or add a new sentiment to rate. You can also provide more details than a word in the text box. At least those moms using slings can get something off their chest without dumping the kid.

I have five children, personally I used the on the shoulders technique. Not with all five, mind you — if I did, we’d be in the circus.

Disclosure: we help Quick Comments with some strategy consulting. It just happens to be perfect for this blog post. If you want to use the widget for this Motrin ad question here is the code:
<iframe width="225" height="602" frameborder="0" src="http://qcwidget.com/widgets/3ee5981b3bd3" ></iframe>


The social media idea path is like watching cells grow and multiply. Here is the exciting path of this idea related to Dunkin’ Donuts and the Super Bowl. Sunday, January 20, I’m on Twitter the night of the Green Bay/New York Giants NFC Championship game. People tweeted about the final moments of the game and upon its conclusion, I started tweeting with my Boston friends who like Dunkin’ Donuts, how that popular east coast franchise can capitalize on the Super Bowl with two teams competing from their two largest markets, Boston and New York City. Those friends included Doug Haslam, Chip Griffin, Geoff Livingston (DC guy but also responded to tweet string), Scott Monty, Sarah Wurrey, and Mike Volpe.

A quick review of the Dunkin’ Donuts website reveals that Dunkin’ has extensive experience working with NFL promotions and even has run contests with both the New York Giants and New England Patriots. Excellent. Dunkin’ Donuts slogan is America Runs on Dunkin’ – Are you thinkin’ what I’m thinkin’?

On Monday, January 21, I thought of an idea and blogged about it on our marketing blog about a Super Bowl contest that ties into the slogan, Dunkin’ Donuts Has a Super Opportunity , the team with the most rushing yards would earn for that market a free something, maybe a Dunkin loyalty card with a free cup of coffee loaded on it or a free coffee during the two hours after the game (you get the picture). I also sent in a link to the idea on the Dunkin’ Donuts website, through customer relations.

on Wednesday, January 23, I received the resonse below. I’ve given the response grades, and invite yours as well. A couple of more data points here. 1) I did not submit to a PR or media inquiry because I did not find an email for one on the site at the time and 2) Dunkin’ Donuts is currently running (pardon the pun) a user generated campaign on You Tube called How Do You Keep America Running.

Here is Dunkin’s reply to our Rushing Yardage contest idea:

Dear Albert,

Ref # 4488839
Here are my grades for their response:

1) Timeliness they at least replied within a couple of days. – A Excellent,

2) Sincerity, it looks like a boilerplate response – C to me some of the copy is a bit condescending , however, I can understand this given that someone might claim rights to an idea, which leads to my next grading topic,

3) Legal cover, nice job lawyers – A

4) Brand loyalty impact, has the response improved your feeling of the brand – B While the response did not uniquely notice the submission, it did attempt to respond in a timely and polite manner and for that Dunkin’ Donuts deserves some credit.

Overall It’s a B, time for another coffee.

OK, here’s the picture, literally: This is the picture from a billboard ad from the Target Corporation.

Some people, namely Flickr user Bennett4Senate, suggested that this image is suggestive. I won’t touch that issue with a 10-foot pole in this blog post. I direct any who wish to dwell on this to Justice Stewart Potter and his definition of obscenity. This post is about corporate public relations and understanding bloggers.

In that context, let’s say that this image is a tiny, tiny ember in a campfire…

One of those people who believes this image is suggestive is also a blogger, Amy Jussel. Amy asked the Target PR department for “an explanation” regarding the billboard. Target’s response?

Good Morning Amy,

Thank you for contacting Target; unfortunately we are unable to respond to your inquiry because Target does not participate with non-traditional media outlets. This practice is in place to allow us to focus on publications that reach our core guest.

Once again thank you for your interest, and have a nice day.

For the purposes of this post, let’s just call this statement “highly combustible material,” kind of like a tank full of gas vapors.

Remember our tiny little ember, the concern over the content of the ad? Well, now Target has thrown its highly combustible material all over our gently burning little ember with this PR policy (or was it an ad hoc decision?).

To many corporate PR types, and unfortunately some of their PR agencies, the blogosphere is seen as some kind of enclosed place, sprinkled with a few nutjobs and corporate saboteurs, where stuff doesn’t get out much.

If this were an actual, real-world highly combustible material, here are the steps Target would follow:

Removal of explosive or combustible gas or vapors from tanks and other enclosed spaces: “Highly combustible or explosive materials must be placed carefully into a rotary kiln or other type of combustible disposal equipment because of the likelihood of explosion or blow back when the material reaches the heat.” (Courtesy of http://www.freepatentsonline.com)

This scenario is not as easy as disposing of physical highly combustible material. This a much less predictable scenario involving people, advocates with agendas, emotions, subjectivity, their children, and a large corporation – not to mention the other fuels in the blogosphere, like gaining traffic, stimulating conversation and acquiring links.

To the Target PR agencies and staff: A train-load full of gas vapor looks tame in comparison to the volatile mix that you are faced with in this scenario. By responding to concern about the billboard with that statement, the issue shifted from a tiny ember (concern over the image) to a burning torch (a blogger scorned). Result: explosion and blow back, as bloggers rallied around a community member, perhaps even seeing a suggestive picture when there is none.

After spending a couple of decades in communications and dealing with political issues, here are some suggestions for when you’re faced with questions from bloggers in the future:

1) Bloggers can also be customers, parents, investors… Don’t dismiss them as not your “core guest” or “target market.” At the very least, answer the question. You might not give the answer they want, but at least you’ll have answered.

2) Before answering the question, get a lay of the land: Examine whether people are talking about this issue online. Ask your own call center and customer service departments if they have received calls on the issue. Consult with them on how they would handle this type of call. While you might view this as one quirky inquiry, it may be a smoldering campfire in the middle of the dry season.

3) Take the medium of blogging seriously. Every PR person worth his or her salt has had to deal with an issue advocate in the industry. Every industry has them, whether it’s some writer in mainstream media who has it out for you or a blogger with a clear agenda. Stonewalling is no way to make that individual go away.

4) The blogosphere gives advantage to first movers. It can ignite on a rumor and sifts out the truth over time. Jeremy Pepper’s beautiful post is an essential read on blogosphere truth vs. real truth. It’s just like in politics: 99.5 percent of the time, the advantage is to the accuser. For the same reason negative campaigning is effective, a single blogger that can get two twigs to burn can potentially to build a fire. If the premise that started those twigs to burn was wrong, as a company, you need to make sure you pour plenty of water on it early. This tactic holds even more weight when an issue is not a rumor or based on the subjective view of a prolific few, but based on fact.

5) Separate the influencer from the influencing idea. Sure, you might have a blogger that is after you like white on rice. However, be on the look out for that one issue on which they may be right. Kryptonite lock is the classic example. When a blogger pointed out that the locks could be picked with a Bic pen, the company faced a serious issue. It reacted quickly and communicated to its core audiences, explaining the steps the company would take to make things right.

One last point: I have said on this blog several times how social media is making politics-style communication skills necessary at the highest levels of corporate communications and PR departments.

This issue – the tiny ember, you’ll remember – was about a Target billboard ad that contained a picture of woman (in winter attire, wearing a scarf, hat, mittens and boots) on a Target logo (a bull’s-eye). Those who pointed the ad out discussed how women are depicted in society, characterized by the blogger who inquired to Target about “the universal issue is sexualized ad slop, and how we need to just freakin’ STOP it.” It wasn’t about some defective product, store cleanliness or a warranty issue. At its roots, this was a political issue. Target then misjudged the grassroots potential of the issue itself and the medium through which it is communicated.

To social media types, the lesson here for the blogosphere might be this: The perception that can come from situations that started with that first tiny, tiny ember is that the blogosphere can, at times, look like a young, self-important child in a big family, throwing a tantrum when it doesn’t get noticed.

The following is a conversation between Al Social and Darrin Marketer, their names have been changed to protect the innocent; they are both avid Twitter users with two very different perspectives on the platform. We invite you to interrupt them with your comments.

Al Social – Twitter has done so much to enrich my life.

Darrin Marketer – yeah me too

Al Social – This summer I kept in touch with the family while kayaking the Fjords of Norway, imagine that texting from my phone to post to a blog, website and mobile while in the water.

Darrin Marketer – Yeah, I saved 20% off a computer on Dell outlet

Al Social – New ideas about global warming from Tris Hussey, social media insights from Jeremiah Owyang and Todd Defren. Santa Cause gives twitterers great places to contribute to social change.

Darrin Marketer – it’s the greatest freakin’ opt-in Ad server on the planet, these people are agreeing to follow companies just to get essentially ads pushed at them. I’ve got plenty of clients using twitter to hawk their stuff and getting people to agree to get it.

Al Social – no dude, it’s not about ads it’s about idea exchange. You are just gaming the system. It’s all about the collective of people to advance change.

Darrin Marketer – yeah right, ok I got an idea, let’s get people to follow some company that pushes the latest super bargains for that week, what’s wrong with that? It’s all about me baby, all about me.

Al Social – No no, it’s a snapshot at people’s life is not a bazaar.

Darrin Marketer – that’s where you are wrong my friend, life is a bazaar, and everyone is trying to scrap a piece of turf, a piece of attention. Twitter is just another way to pull the spotlight over to you and there is nothing wrong with that. Oh and your boy Santa Cause, he’s helping promote business, so my friend you just proved my point.

Al Social – Well you are surely not being creative, you’re slapping an old model over a new way of connecting. That’s going to ruin it.

What do you think? Is twitter an opt-in ad server, a social hang out, or both?

An observation from the Society for New Communications Reserch conference in Boston, Dec. 5 and 6: Social media is like having babies.

Why? As a father of five, I speak from experience:

1) There never really is a good time. You can wait till you have enough money, till you think you are in the right job or house, but really, the right time never comes. So if you want ‘em, get busy.

2) The first child is always nerve-racking. From the first ultrasound to the child’s first steps, everything is a big deal, full of uncertainty and doubt.

3) As things progress, and if you are fortunate enough, you may have another. The entire process is a bit easier but still intimidating, which leads to a greater appreciation for parenting — and your children.

Segue to the Coca-Cola and Mentos videos that entertain millions on the Web. It’s a fascination with seeing common things behave uncommonly. It is the quirky progression that draws you into these video vignettes created by eepybird productions. These guys are actors, not marketers. Their approach to life is to engage people in what they are doing. Hmmm — that’s a good thing.

Big companies with iconic brands like Coke are extremely protective, and rightly so. After all, getting involved in any form of social media is not child’s play. It can seem more like playing in traffic, and every parent is nervous about their kids crossing the street.

Luckily, there are rules. Last night at the Society for New Communications Research dinner, I had a conversation with a senior executive from the Coca-Cola Company. I came to these conclusions about entering social media for corporate marketers:

1) Social media is a playground of ideas, with plenty of ways to stay safe.
2) Observe the way consumers interact with your brand. The more fun they have with it, the greater the reason you should be a conduit for them to share it with others.
3) Creativity is the art of discovering where the playground ends and the street begins.

Stay tuned to Coke. They will be coming out with another element of the social media in their virtual world playground real soon.