My first day with HSR is Monday, March 30, 2009. HSR is an integrated marketing communications firm, and arguably the best business-to-business agency in the world. I’m not big on hyperbole, so by my decision to join you know that I must have been impressed with the people I met and the work I observed during the interview process.
I’ve always maintained an interest in the business of business, so I’m looking forward to the challenging aspects of a new life in the agency world especially with a B2B focus. “I’m long on imagination, and short on resources,” I told them. I think this move will be a good match in my goal to find equilibrium.
Leaving Louisville will be bittersweet indeed, but arguably overdue. I look forward to meeting the more of the HSR crew [and working with Ryan DeShazer], and immersing myself in a forward-thinking environment with respect to digital strategy and interactive marketing. The transition from Louisville to Cincinnati will prove to be a logistical challenge, but I’ll be glad to see many old friends and make new ones too. Pete Blackshaw, Dave Knox, Kevin Dugan: you’re on my radar and I hope to see/meet you soon. Skyline Chili, Chipotle, Montgomery Inn: consider yourselves in my cross hairs also.
I’ve accepted a role as a Senior Interactive Account Executive and I hope my career continues to blossom as I learn and grow with the organization. This should be an interesting and exciting new chapter in my personal and professional life. Thanks, all, for the well-wishes.
Yes, there will be a lot of continued discussions about web 2.0, social media and the like, but this year I’m really focused on immersing myself in conversations that deal more with the intersection of all these shiny objects with real-world applications in technology (especially mobile, retail POS), marketing (augmenting customer and brand experiences) and business objectives (show me the money). I like to ‘think outside the browser’ so my goal is to encounter others who do the same when it comes to interactive.
With a stack of new contacts and business ideas, I’ll return refreshed and energized. Also, I revel in the prospects of sampling some quality BBQ, [breakfast] burritos, and Shiner Bock as well. I’m looking forward to a memorable long weekend of friends, fun, and frontal lobe fecundity. Austin, here we come!
Samuel Clements and his prescient words on the current state of the U.S. economy:
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain
“When the end of the world comes, I want to be in Kentucky, because everything there happens 20 years after it happens anywhere else.” – Mark Twain
These sorts of questions are circling around my head these days:
What information is broadcast from a mobile phone in a passive state?
When will biological authentication have meaningful, affordable applications?
Why is digital media still stored and distributed on pieces of cheap plastic?
For all the ‘connectivity’ associated with the internet, why are conversations and interactions still difficult to aggregate outside of their silos or platforms?
I’d welcome any thoughts, resources or feedback. I’ll probably share the results of my research on one or more of these topics later; just hoping to solicit responses from anyone else who might be interested or dabbling in these topics. Thanks in advance…
Let’s call this a “guest post”… This weekend my sisters and I will be raising funds and awareness for lung cancer research before, during and after the University of Louisville’s football game against WVU at noon on Saturday. We’re hosting a birthday cookout for my mom, Nancy Huhn, at the Parrish House at which we’ll be offering free hot chocolate, coffee, donuts, hot dogs, and, well, some literature that helps people understand how poorly funded and misunderstood lung cancer is given the stigma associated with smoking cigarettes.
We’re on a mission to make a difference and hope you can help us simply by showing up and learning more about what you can do to help. Even if you don’t want to partake in all the free goodies, please come by and help me with a C-A-R-D-S cheer! I’ll let my mom take it from here…
My name is Nancy Huhn. I am a two year survivor of lung cancer. The lung cancer diagnosis was my 50th birthday present. It’s hard enough to hit one of those milestones, but learning you are now fighting for your life quickly eliminated any concerns about wrinkles and gray hair.
Because I have never smoked, doctor’s were baffled when my chest pain turned out to be cancer. (In fact, I had to request the chest X-ray!) When I asked the doctors what caused this, I was shocked to learn, just how
little they know about the causes. As we both know, lung cancer is not a lifestyle choice. I thought about several factors against me. I grew up in a home with chain smokers, neither of whom died from lung cancer. Our home had a coal furnace. I worked in smoking environments up until 15 years earlier. The doctors believe that none of that was a factor. We then had the radon levels tested in our home of 11 years, we were shocked to learn we had an average reading of 12.4. Being Stage IV, they said, my cancer was probably present for 5-6 years.
The oncologist I saw here in Louisville, recommended that I go to a National Cancer center and try to get involved in a clinical trial. I was in a clinical trial until this summer, when a tumor began to grow in my left eye. I am being treated by Dr. Alan Sandler at Vanderbilt Medical Center. Everything about Vanderbilt is impressive, and I wish we could offer similar care in every US city.
In honor of my 52nd birthday, my children are hosting a Lung Cancer Awareness fund raiser. The fund raiser will be held this Saturday at the University of Louisville vs West Virginia University game. This has become
a big rivalry in the Big East Conference and we’re expecting a big crowd. We’ve had many things donate from a variety of businesses and friends.
We’ll be offering hot dogs, hot chocolate, cookies, donuts, coffee, etc to any interested passers-by.
The money we collect will be sent to the Lung Cancer Foundation of America. After searching around, we liked this organization the best when trying to match up our long term desires for funding more research to
prevent lung cancer.
Thank you in advance for your support, and we look forward to seeing many friends and fellow University of Louisville fans [and maybe a WVU fan as well] this weekend. Happy birthday, Mom, and Go Cards! -NH
Back on November 6, I had the pleasure of joining Scott Clark and Jason Falls to provide a basic overview of social media and online marketing strategies to a group of more than 60 people at an event called “Digital Dialogues” hosted by Bill Dotson and sponsored by the Lexington Advertising Club.
The slides we used in our presentation can be found at slideshare, though I think there is more interesting dialogue in the video below in which we address questions and concerns of the audience:
I tried to create a leave-behind document that maintained a logical crawl-walk-run progression of involvement in social media; the introductory copy is below:
Social media strategy uses objectives, tools and outcomes to serve as your road map for navigating a journey. Social media – much like any journey – requires attention, decision-making, and pace. Social media should be treated not as a bolt-on solution, but more as a set of tools, ideas and methodology which combine to facilitate your ultimate goal: first-person insights and interactive dialog.
Just as in the off-line world, social media relationships and conversations can be nuanced, require undivided attention, and may ebb and flow over time. At its core, social media makes it easier to discover, preserve, extend and interact with conversations already taking place about you, your brand, and your interests. It is not a panacea or plague of any sort, so we offer these objectives and these recommended tools to begin your journey of discovery, connection, and interaction.
For the entire document that discusses a few examples of how to get started with social media, please download the PDF. I welcome any feedback, suggestions, ideas these resources may generate. Thanks a million to Bill Dotson for putting together this event and attracting its attendees!
It seems that virtually every marketer under 40 has either already become an ‘expert’ or aspires to become one with respect to social media’s implications on brand perception, marketing communications, and customer service. One common theme I’m observing is a decidedly cynical, “consumers are in control of your brand!” rally cry. I’m calling bullshit.
If you’re doing your job as a marketer, you already know the needs, brand perceptions and aspirations of your customers. They’re not in control of your brand; your brand is merely vulnerable to externalities such as their tastes, preferences and the degree to which you deliver on promises you make to them.
If a cable company promises the best, fastest, or most reliable internet connection available and fails to deliver on those promises, people bitch about it.
If a multi-gazillion-dollar, multi-year revamp of the world’s most popular [by volume] operating system promises a ground-breaking, innovative update and winds up delivering a product that sucks more ass than a tsetse fly, people bitch about it.
I’m writing this from a plane so I’ll make a quick parallel… the pilot and flight crew are in complete control of this aircraft: it’s velocity, vector, and passenger comfort. It’s what they’re paid to do in exchange for their expertise and skills. At any moment, however, a wide variety of factors can significantly alter the variables that make for a perfect flight. Unexpected weather, air traffic, “the unlikely loss of cabin pressure”: procedures and systems are in place to ensure that despite these threats, this Southwest crew will still do everything possible to deliver passengers and cargo safely and in a timely fashion to the predetermined destination. The perks of staff personality and unexpected positive surprises exceed the customer expectations that these basic promises will be fulfilled.
The only power or control consumers have over brands is limited to their assessment of how well you’re delivering on the value you have promised them in exchange for what they have offered you (cash, attention, loyalty, etc).
Emerging and collaborative communication channels – a.k.a. social media - indeed provide a voice to consumers with respect to their perceptions of your brand. You, as the marketer, have precisely the same power to listen and respond, however, and that – without a doubt – is where the true power of social media and brand ambassadorship resides. Customers and unofficial spokespersons can definitely produce and maintain the majority of the conversation around your brand; how well you listen and respond is your core objective as a ‘new’ or social media marketer.
Social media makes it easier to discover, preserve, extend and interact with conversations already taking place about your brand. It is not a panacea or plague of any sort.
Anyone that says differently is using controversy to sell books or related social media snake oil.
There’s lots of popular press already harping all over Google Chrome as a game-changer in the “war” against Microsoft, et al. though in my [limited, cursory] search I’ve not seen any assessments that parallel my own vision of what this means for Google from the standpoint of technological strategy and scalability of ‘the cloud’.
Wired says Chrome was aptly named given common design elements associated with web browsers. That makes for a cutesy red herring – I think those Googlers think abstractly and creatively like I do. The name Chrome fits because it is a common element layered upon a willing substrate. Chrome fits because the Greek origin of the word means “color” and Chrome can be reflective of the entire visible spectrum.
Mkay, I’ll dispense with the metaphorical musings and cut to the chase: the Chrome browser is not about web pages or applications as we know them. Chrome – the browser – can be applied to a variety of substrates that may or may not exist at present. Sure, an all-out assault on entrenched desktop operating systems are a no-brainer. But what about the OS platforms and interfaces for mobile, embedded [household electronics], interactive TV, point-of-purchase, home automation…
These are not teh applicationz u seek…
Slap some Chrome on deez…
Add one part ubiquitous connectivity and a dollop of the complete sacrifice of privacy to obtain…
A text sent to your mobile device: “I noticed no one is home and your garage is still open. Reply 1 to close and arm the security system.” Home automation can happen anywhere IP is available.
On a restaurant menu or point of sale: “Press to view ingredients and a map of their origin.” Google buys E Ink in 2010 for enhanced extensibility and utility of the cloud.
Amazon reminds your automotive dashboard that you’re low on milk as you approach a convenience store. Google Proximity Alerts and Bezos’ Bonanza regularly stock your fridge and drain your wallet.
Digital television offers cross-pollination of web content and services. Like Emeril’s blender? Buy it. Think that politician is full of crap? Overlay the twitter backchannel.
Sorry, cable conglomerates: a la carte TV channels and brand-agnostic video consumption is nigh.
The Department of Education subsidizes “interactive education” initiatives to cut costs, deploy vetted ‘collective knowledge’ and facilitate global and local collaboration.
Stuck in a foreign land without a translator or cultural savvy? Never again.
Digital photos and video include embedded meta data that provide a virtual timeline of conditions, events, commentary, and context to your pocket.
I have no qualifications or rationale other than pure conjecture to come up with these scenarios, but I’m certain the Chrome browser can and will serve as a conduit for elucidating and facilitating knowledge exchange, commerce, and location- and behavioral-based artificial/suggestive intelligence. It’s not about what the browser will display, it’s about what the browser will suggest, connect and convey.
As likely as any of these ideas may materialize, I might also find myself embracing a luddite-like lifestyle in a digitally-unscathed corner of the globe. Am I off my rocker?
When a good friend of mine from college reached out to me earlier this year in an effort to catch up after many years of separation of time and distance, I let him know that I would love to catch up with him again soon now that he was back in Louisville. Days, weeks and months passed, and I only learned of his obituary in the local paper from another friend. He was literally dying when I told him I was “too busy” at the moment to meet up with him, so you can imagine my feelings of remorse and disservice as a friend when I snubbed his invite to reconnect due to my mounting professional and personal obligations.
Brad is not the only important individual I’ve neglected over the course of the last year due to mounting obligations in my life, but it was especially painful to learn of his death. He knew he was dying, but he didn’t and shouldn’t have had to disclose this detail when he reached out to me. With this unfortunate event in mind, and compounded by the fact that I’ve neglected to nurture the many relationships and personal needs and duties as a happily married man and father to a beautiful young daughter, I have decided to resign from my position as the new media strategist at Yum.
My last day is June 13, though I remain a loyal fan, consumer and advocate for Yum’s efforts to make the world a better place. The decision to leave my role was a very difficult one to consider and negotiate, but I know I’m doing what’s best for my family and personal health.
If there are inflection points in life, one of them for me was the winter of 1998 when I got to know Brad and the many people and experiences I encountered while studying and living in Mexico. My time then and there changed my life for the better. Ten years later I find myself at another important inflection point that considers my personal character, and my needs as a father and husband.
I’m not sure where I’ll end up next in these next steps of my personal and professional journey in life, but I am certain the right path will reveal itself. I will truly miss the outstanding people, experiences and learning opportunities afforded to me by virtue of being part of the Yum! Brands organization, though I look forward to a new chapter in my life in which my priorities and perspectives match my personal values, virtues and needs. I couldn’t be more thankful for my time with this incredible company and its people, but I look forward to dedicating my remaining days on this earth – as ephemeral as they may be – to making a positive difference in the lives of those that surround and remain most important to me.
“What do we leave behind when we cross each frontier? Each moment seems split in two; melancholy for what was left behind and the excitement of entering a new land.” – Che Guevarra, The Motorcycle Diaries
If you’ve been trying to get back in touch with me and have been affected by my ‘unavailability’, I would love to share a coffee/beer/conversation sometime in the next few weeks as I consider my next steps. I look forward to contributing again to the world that has afforded me such incredible opportunities to learn, grow and share. While I attempt to figure out what’s best for me and my family, I remain committed to accommodating any request to discuss ideas, opportunities and your needs of me as a friend/colleague/business partner.
Thanks to all for your support and understanding of my decision to hit the reset button on my priorities and planned contributions to the world. I look forward to sharing the experiences and conversations that will transpire in the near future.
My first order of business in this transition: I’m making time to treat my mom to lunch.
In defiance of the brain drain that plagues my home town of Louisville, Kentucky, I've chosen to carve out my career path here. I sometimes wonder, however, if it's time to spread my wings and find other opportunities in areas that interest me such as Silicon Valley, the Silicon Alley, Europe, or anywhere else in the world.
I have joined a top global agency (with a focus in B2B) at the North American headquarters in Cincinnati: GyroHSR. More about me
twitter feed...
10 years ago I routinely staid up til 4:20 a.m. Now that's when I wake up. #unawesome2 days ago
Repeat after me. Social web is NOT about brands. (via @tomob) 2 days ago
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