simple truths

Truth Consulting on Entertainment Tonight

2012-01-12T07:06:00.000-05:00

Katy Perry Drops Out of People's Choice Awards; Beyoncé and Jay-Z's Baby Drama
January 10, 2012

Truth Consulting President Linda Ong explains how the celebrities' handling of their private affairs impacts their
very public personas.

Courtesy: Entertainment Tonight/CBS Television Distribution

Truth Consulting in The Hollywood Reporter

2012-01-04T20:09:00.000-05:00

'Real Housewives': The Guiltiest Pleasure on Television

An inside look at Bravo's juggernaut franchise, a big business built on cat fights, controversy and the reliably bad behavior of an economic class that rhymes with "bitch."

Would anyone like a glass of wine?" asks Ramona Singer, the petite, blonde and manic star of Bravo'sThe Real Housewives of New York. It's lunchtime, and the Pinot Grigio-guzzling 54-year-old -- known for her erratic onscreen behavior and unfiltered commentary -- is doubling (not at anyone's request, mind you) as an on-set bartender during an Oct. 17 photo shoot for this publication. Dressed in a tight-fitting, blue satin cocktail dress, she flits around the Hollywood studio, swishing in and out of dressing rooms, offering anyone within shouting distance a taste of "Ramona," the label she launched in 2010.

"It's half the price-point of Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio and tastes better," she says of the six-plus bottles her assistant has delivered, before adding, "Blind-tested!"

Real Housewives of Atlanta star NeNe Leakes (a new player to the wine industry herself) stifles a laugh before turning her attention to more important matters -- like choosing the right six-inch Christian Louboutin heels from a collection an assistant is pulling out of a Louis Vuitton roller bag.

"I made it very classic, so it outlives the show," Singer continues, pouring a glass for a Bravo publicist who reluctantly accepts before offering a sample to Caroline Manzo (New Jersey) and Vicki Gunvalson (Orange County). Both decline, barely looking up from their phones.

Kyle Richards (Beverly Hills) breaks from describing her new book (Kyle Richards: Life Is Not a Reality Show) to stare wide-eyed at Singer, who fluffs her shoulder-length coif and struts through a sea of 25-plus groomers, stylists and assistants, leaving a trail of half-empty plastic wine glasses in her wake.

The scene is a cocktail of uncomfortable and funny, with a sprinkling of car crash on top.

But seriously, what were you expecting? Classy? Regal? Singer and her oft-bleached and Botoxed counterparts haven't helped Bravo create its most successful franchise -- valued by one insider at upward of a half-billion dollars -- by emulating Princess Grace. Frequently foul-mouthed, often catfighting and always self-promoting, the women from the original series (The Real Housewives of Orange County) and its six subsequent iterations (New York, Atlanta, New Jersey, D.C., Miami andBeverly Hills) dominate water-cooler discussions, both virtual and real, by showcasing at times the worst of female behavior. Especially the kind of behavior among a certain class that rhymes with "bitch."

Yes, these women are rich (or at least lose more money than most people make in a lifetime). Yet the franchise has become a perfect distraction for viewers in the age of Occupy Anything. It's the kind of train-wreck television that Americans, with all their woes, probably shouldn't be watching; but on any given night, 2 million of them -- mostly women ages 18 to 49 -- are glued to one version or another of the multipronged soap opera, ready to blast, blame or bewail the kind of behavior that's left even Oprah aghast. "Literally, my mouth was open," she said last year of watching Housewives. "I thought, 'This is on television?' "

If the Housewives shock and repel critics and cultural guardians alike, the public loves them. The Nov. 6 season debut of Atlanta drew 2.9 million viewers, the franchise's highest-rated season premiere. (By contrast, the fourth-season premiere of AMC's critical darling Breaking Bad attracted 1.9 million.) Bravo has earned anywhere from $35.6 million to $162 million in the past two years alone from ad sales forHousewives, according to Larry Fried, director of SQAD, a media cost data provider.

"Who would have thought that a fairly modest series would be here six years [later] as our longest-running franchise?" says Lauren Zalaznick, chairman of Bravo's parent, NBC-Universal Entertainment & Digital Networks & Integrated Media. "It's beyond incredible. It's absurd."

With Housewives international formats already airing in Greece and Israel, and a Vancouver spinoff to bow in March, NBCUniversal says casting is under way for a Housewives offshoot in France (a make-or-break market because of its broader reach and its potential for greater ad revenue), with Australia's Gold Coast, Asia (Indonesia, Singapore and Hong Kong) and the U.K. soon to follow -- meaning that Housewives would be television's first docu-soap to franchise overseas. Bravo's half-billion-dollar empire could soon be worth multiples of that.

"People want to watch rich girls behaving badly," explains Linda Ong, president of brand strategy adviser Truth Consulting. "The franchise started as a real-life Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous but became this cultural analysis after the economic breakdown. Every town became a sociological experiment, a very real-time reflection of what was happening to the 1 percent."

But drama, not anthropology, keeps the franchise alive. Offscreen, it's had to deal with the shooting of Ashley Jewell, the former fiance of Real Housewives of Atlanta's Kandi Burruss, who was killed outside a strip club in October 2009; D.C. stars Michaele and Tareq Salahi crashing a White House dinner a month later; the crazed trip to rehab in December by Beverly Hills' Kim Richards -- and, above all, the suicide of occasional Beverly Hills castmember Russell Armstrong, whom the series depicted as a cold businessman in a seemingly loveless marriage.

Bravo and the Housewives were savaged in the wake of Armstrong's death, with calls abounding for the show's second season to be canceled. But ratings for its Sept. 5 debut were up 42 percent from the first-season premiere, which aired less than one month after his suicide. (Armstrong's death, so far, has been addressed only in that debut episode.)

Bad taste? Perhaps. But isn't that in keeping with a brand whose stars disproportionately live in McMansions and catfight as often as they shop?

Despite -- or because of -- these controversies, Housewives continues to flourish in the competitive A.D.D. world of reality TV, where even powerhouse Jersey Shore is beginning to show signs of wear and tear (ratings dropped 13 percent to 6.6 million for the fourth-season finale).

Part of Housewives' success lies in its ruthless willingness to replace its stars. Reported contract threats have been met with firings, and prominent stars have made surprising exits -- such as Jill Zarin, whose contract was not renewed at the end of New York's fifth season (see sidebar, right).

Still, Bravo offers each of the Housewives an unparalleled opportunity to develop her own brand. Combined, the Housewives have published more than a dozen books; received product deals from makeup and jewelry to sex toys and alcohol; average well over 100,000 Twitter followers (Atlanta's Leakes has nearly 600,000); and receive an approximate six-figure salary each season (the New Yorkcast is drawing a $250,000 payday for season five) -- not movie-star money, but steady income for people arguably of limited talent.

Bravo has benefited even more. Helped by its other tentpole franchise, the Emmy-winning Top Chef, it has seen profits balloon 122 percent since 2006, from $135 million to more than $300 million, according to SNL Kagan. And the network has done this without dependence on any single producer to sustain its golden goose -- unlike, say, Two and a Half Men's Chuck Lorre or Keeping Up With the Kardashians' Ryan Seacrest. Instead, it doles out responsibility to six different entities. (Only Evolution Media handles two: Orange County and Beverly Hills.)

Notes Zalaznick: "This is probably the only franchise in the world where the franchisees are not produced by the same production company."

This is an excerpt. For the full article, click here.

Truth Consulting Announces the Release of Truth Culture Decoder™: Reinventing Reality Fourth Edition

2011-12-08T17:18:00.001-05:00

TheOnly Syndicated Study Analyzing Cultural Shifts and Their Impact on HowViewers See Reality TV

Analysis of Over 650+ Unscripted Showson 50+ Networks

Brooklyn, NY – December 1, 2011 – TRUTH CONSULTING, anindependent consultancy specializing in connecting brands to culture to movecompanies forward, today announced the release of its “Truth Culture Decoder: Reinventing Reality Fourth Edition,” thelatest edition of its landmark analysis of the cultural context of today'sreality and unscripted programming.

Building on the success of its custom Truth Culture Decoder studies and previous syndicated editions,Truth Consulting, based in Brooklyn, said the new edition identifies a new, pronouncedcultural shift in our society. "Three years after the economic collapse of2008, reality TV has come to hold a truly dominant position in American popularculture,” said Linda Ong, President of TruthConsulting. “Reality TV has become a lens through which the culture seesitself. People use reality TV as a way to understand what’s going on in theworld, and has emerged as a metaphor with the political and with current events.”

Through their decoding of over 650 unscripted shows across over 50networks since early 2010, Ong and her team have observed that reality TV is aprime factor in the normalizing and explaining of this new world to theAmerican television audience. “The genre has become a prism refractingexperience into various categories across a spectrum, from the hardworking andthe down and dirty (Storage Wars, Swamp People) to the spoiled andself-entitled (the various Real Housewives and Kardashians series), from the weird and garish (JerseyShore) to the pathologicaland pathetic (Hoarders)” said Ong. Truth Culture Decoder™ unearths the deeper themes that resonatetoday with viewers.

Fueled by semiotics – aresearch methodology long used in consumer product development – the Truth Culture Decoder is the only studyof its kind to help broadcast and cable networks align their programmingdevelopment and marketing with the current cultural mindset – from content,development and talent selection to promos and advertising.

The Truth Culture Decoder identifies relevant social themes, brokeninto codes under three categories – Dominant:What the world looks like today; codes that everyone recognizes and agreeson, and are most prevalent in society right now; Residual: Ideas fading into the past; codes that are widelyaccepted, but appear tired or dated through overuse; and Emergent: Fresh ideas about changing times; codes that define newperspectives, not simply fads or trends. Taken together, these codes not onlyidentify, but demystify, the impactful context needed to be incorporated inorder for a show to be a success.

Truth Consulting haspioneered the use of semiotics – reading, analyzing, interpreting andexplaining the unwritten cultural codes that guide our daily routines andattitudes – in the television and media industry, and was the first tointroduce this methodology via a customized tool that makes the findingsimmediately actionable, as well as individual program assessments and culturalconsultation.

For more information,please contact info@truthco.net

ABOUT TRUTH CONSULTING:

Founded in 2000, Truth Consulting is an independentconsultancy connecting brands to culture to move companies forward through Insights, BrandStrategy and Mobilization. In addition to a widerange of top media and entertainment brands, the Company’s clients includeonline, publishing, consumer products, travel/leisure and non-profit brands. TheirInsights division was launched in 2010 with the introduction of Truth Culture Decoder™,an innovative methodology used to gauge the cultural relevance of brands. TheCompany’s Founder and President,Linda Ong, has been at the center of some of the most high-profile brandtransformations in the industry, includingAnimal Planet, Bravo, Logo, Nickelodeon and Oxygen. Having served on the boards of AIGA/NY andPROMAX/BDA, Ong is a popular industry speaker, commentator and Ad Age op-edcolumnist. Her work has received numerous awards from prestigious industryorganizations including American Women in Radio & Television, The NYFestivals, International Monitor Awards, Promax/BDA and CTAM.

###

Press contact info:

Linda Ong

President, Truth Consulting

linda@truthco.net

347.763.1855

Truth Consulting in The Hollywood Reporter

2011-11-23T17:32:00.001-05:00

How to Turn $12 Million Into $5 Billion in One Hour

9:00 AM EST 11/20/2011 by Marisa Guthrie

THR goes behind the scenes with the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, a model of marketing genius, on the eve of its CBS broadcast.

Do we have the gun?" Todd Thomas, the collection designer for the 2011 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, set to air Nov. 29 on CBS, inspects a lavender tulle tutu worn by supermodel Lily Aldridge, wife of Kings of Leon lead singer Caleb Followill. "The gun," is a glue gun. And Thomas, who has seen his share of runway mishaps during nearly a decade with Victoria's Secret, needs it to tack up under-layers of tulle that have come loose in the back, slightly obscuring Aldridge's g-stringed derriere.

It is five days before the Nov. 9 runway show, and about 30 people are jammed into a small room on the 12th floor of the midtown Manhattan headquarters of Victoria's Secret. Thomas, Sophia Neophitou, the British fashion editor who came aboard as head stylist last year, and Monica Mitro, executive vp brand communications and events and a 17-year veteran of Victoria's Secret, are furiously working to put the final touches on 69 looks to be worn by 36 models, more than ever have walked the runway at the annual underwear spectacle. Today's fitting is its own media event; fitters, dressers and assistants jockey for space in the stuffy room with photographers, reporters and video crews.

"There are a lot of people here today, darling," says Neophitou, lifting her mane of grey-flecked black curls from her neck. The windows are thrown open in a futile attempt to lower the temperature in the room.

Aldridge's lavender tutu is paired with a black velvet corset, diaphanous lavender push-up bra and red satin heels with ballet straps.

"Can you walk for me pretty girl?" asks Neophitou.

Aldridge flounces toward Thomas, Neophitou and Mitro. Neophitou rises from her Eames swivel chair and gently pats Aldridge's breasts.

"They look good," she purrs, "amazing."

♦♦♦♦♦

Despite appearances, the Victoria's Secret fashion show is not really about fashion. Yes, the foundations of the runway getups are bras and panties that are available at your local Victoria's Secret store. But you can't buy Brazilian supermodel Alessandra Ambrosio's gold-plated wings festooned with 105,000 Swarovski crystals.

Broadcast in more than 180 countries, the $12 million made-for-TV-event attracts the world's top models and features A-list musical guests. And it's all designed to burnish a brand that peddles fantasies to everyone from teenagers to suburban housewives of America.

"It's become a performance-slash-lifestyle-slash-variety show and, of course, with models wearing intimate apparel," says Francois Lee of ad buying firm MediaVest. The special has shifted from "just an extension of a catalog to really showcasing the lifestyle aspect of the brand."

The runway show started in 1995 as a modest proceeding at the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan and has been televised regularly since 2001, when ABC first put it on. CBS has had the show since 2002 but did not air it in 2004 -- a response to the national outrage over Janet Jackson's Super Bowl nipple flash on the network. The TV special is designed to send consumers to the web or the company's 1,000-plus retail outlets -- just in time for the holiday season.

And it works: Victoria's Secret, founded in 1977, last year raked in net sales of $5.5 billion.

"It's the only one-hour network show dedicated to a single brand," says Mitro. "It puts our brand in front of millions of people around the world during the crucial holiday period."

CBS licenses the show from Victoria's Secret for slightly more than $1 million, well below the $20 million it pays for the Grammys. The show is not exactly a ratings blockbuster -- 9 million viewers tuned in last year, compared with nearly 27 million who watched the Grammys this year -- but it does bring younger viewers to CBS; more than half of the 2010 audience was in the 18-49 demo.

"We are a big-tent broadcaster. We want everybody," says Jack Sussman, executive vp specials, music and live events at CBS, who oversees production of the show. "This diversifies our portfolio of specials."

Although it has never drawn an FCC indecency fine, the show has intermittently raised the ire of watchdog groups including the Parents Television Council. But despite the copious amount of taut flesh on display, the TV special features no pixilated nudity. "There are the occasional issues that come up unexpectedly," says Sussman. "But that's the beauty of postproduction."

And Sussman, who says the show's viewership is 60 percent women, the same as for most of broadcast TV, has his own decency filter: "Do my two teenage daughters want to see it? Will my wife watch it? And will my mother not turn it off? And this show gets through that filter."

The special is a mashup of runway spectacle, musical acts, behind-the-scenes fodder and vignettes about some of the models. And it has increasingly lured top-tier musical guests, critical for creating buzz. The Black Eyed Peas, Justin Timberlake, Usher and Katy Perry have all been paid to appear. This year's show, held at the Lexington Armory in New York, featured performances from Nicki Minaj and Maroon 5 -- whose frontman, Adam Levine, dates Victoria's Secret model Anne Vyalitsina -- and headliner Kanye West. He was joined onstage by surprise guest Jay-Z; they performed "Niggas in Paris," an F-bomb-laced paean to fame and materialism, as Jay-Z's pregnant wife Beyonce sat in the front row. (It had yet to be determined if the song will make it into the broadcast.)

Leslie Wexner, the septuagenarian billionaire CEO of Victoria's Secret parent Limited Brands, is a staple at the show, which is also known, and judged by, the hodgepodge of celebrities it attracts. Russell Simmons, Michael Bay (who has directed Victoria's Secret commercials), Debbie Harry, Donna Karan, Alexander Wang and former French Vogue editor Carine Roitfeld attended this year. Orlando Bloom, husband of Australian supermodel Miranda Kerr, could be seen cheering demonstrably when his wife, who gave birth to their son in January, sauntered down the runway wearing the collection's now iconic $2.5 million Fantasy Treasure Bra -- designed by London Jewelers and embellished with nearly 3,400 precious stones including 142 carats of diamonds.

Haute couture it is not. Maryna Linchuk wore a bubble skirt that looked like a frosted pink donut and Shannan Click sported a bra festooned with a blinking heart on each breast. None of these outré items is available at Victoria's Secret stores. Still, the show gets more national media attention than anything on the runways at New York Fashion Week.

"It's one giant PR stunt," says Linda Ong, president of branding firm Truth Consulting. "It's about getting people to keep this very mass-market brand top-of-mind. The celebrities, the million-dollar bra. They always have some model who just had a baby, and so it's all about how much weight she lost. It's a pseudo-event. But because of the PR machine, people cover it like it's news."

That exposure can be a career maker for models. Former Victoria's Secret spokesmodels Heidi Klum and Tyra Banks have parlayed that fame into media mogul status.

"It puts millions of dollars of advertising behind you," says Ivan Bart, senior vp of IMG Models.

Victoria's Secret spokesmodels can earn $5 million a year, while those who don't have contracts with the company pocket $10,000 or more for the runway show alone, say sources. IMG Models has nine women in the runway show including Kerr, Lily Aldridge and Candace Swanepoel, all of whom have lucrative contracts as Victoria's Secret spokesmodels.

"By promoting the brand you're getting more experience doing publicity, events, speaking on camera, talk shows -- everything that it takes to be a brand ambassador," says Bart. "That gives you tremendous visibility and opportunities."

♦♦♦♦♦

The acrid smell of hairspray and burnt hair permeates a long, cavernous room on the fifth floor of the Armory. It is Nov. 9, the day of the runway show, and the bomb-sniffing dogs from Spartan Security Services have cleared reporters and photographers who have made their way into the hair and makeup rotation, a five-hour media op with a buffet. The models -- wearing matching short magenta satin robes -- mingle with the media mob while they are alternately assaulted by an army tugging at their tresses and dabbing lip gloss on pillow lips. (There are 21 makeup artists, 19 hair stylists and 50 dressers.)

A paper sign clipped to a heavy blue curtain indicates the "bronzing" corner. And a peek through a crack in the drapes reveals dressers slathering spray tan on a topless model. "Make sure that the girls have no shimmer at all on the body," admonishes head makeup artist Tom Pecheux.

In another corner, the $2.5 million Fantasy Treasure Bra is displayed on a form while security specialist Darren Pittman stands sentinel. ("I have to stay with the bra," he says.) It will appear in the Victoria's Secret holiday catalog, though it isn't likely to find a buyer. In fact, none of the multimillion-dollar Fantasy Bras has been purchased. They end up getting dismantled, say sources.

But all of that bling is simply stitched onto the Victoria's Secret Gorgeous Push-up Bra. And that particular fantasy can be yours for about $50.

BY THE NUMBERS

142: Diamond carats in Fantasy Bra
100: CBS production staffers
50: Dressers
36: Models
9 million: Viewers in 2010
3: Bomb-sniffing dogs

Truth Consulting in Ad Age

2011-11-22T07:51:00.001-05:00

HEED THE OCCUPY-WALL-STREET MESSAGE: WE BOOMERS DON'T GET IT

Ads Glorifying Success and Perfection Won't Fly With a Younger Generation That Feels Angry and Betrayed

Published: November 21, 2011

LINDA ONG

This Halloween, I didn't need a costume. All I had to do was roll out of bed to be one of "The Walking Dead."

That's how the 20-something Occupy Wall Streeters see me and my Boomer peers. They have been inspired by the turbocharged ascendancy of AMC's "Walking Dead" series -- a gorefest-with-thought that follows the survivors of a zombie invasion -- to stage "zombie walks" across the country. For them, members of my aging generation are literally the walking dead, having depleted their generation's natural resources and squandered their financial futures.

They're not wrong. We raised our Millennial progeny telling them they could do -- and be -- anything they wanted. We gave them trophies, showered them with tutors, surrounded them with soccer, ballet and piano lessons, got them into the right schools. It's not so much their sense of entitlement that accounts for their anger toward us, as many say, but their sense of betrayal. We raised them to feel their success was inevitable. And then we blew it with credit-swap derivatives, hyper-inflated property values and crazy-ass Ponzi schemes.

Now, they blame us, their parents, for their inability to get a job. In the "Walking Dead" story notes online, Andrew Lincoln, who portrays the anti-zombie hero Rick, draws the connection. "[The show] is about what happens . . . . when everything is stripped away." IronE Singleton (T-Dog on the show) compared the zombie apocalypse to growing up in the projects of Atlanta.

Even the show's plot lines hint at what we're now telling our kids: "Don't count on us." The perfect metaphor for our dilemma occurs when a hunter mistakenly shoots Rick's son while trying to pick off a deer for dinner. See, we just can't help it, even when we're trying to make things better. We are the enemy within, and we're eating ourselves alive.

Mind you, this generational conflict is a different breed from the now seemingly innocent youth rebellion that we Boomers went through. Gen Y is literally fighting for its future in the anti-Wall Street movement.

Max Brooks, son of Mel and author of "The Zombie Survival Guide" and "World War Z," wrote that zombies "reflect our very real anxieties of these crazy scary times." Brooks thinks the genre's popularity will boost the economy to the tune of $5 billion, but you can bet that the only pockets getting lined will belong to one generation –- mine. With Boomer life expectancy forecast to outpace all previous generations, we owe it to ourselves to understand the frustrations of the Millennials we've let down -- and pave the way for the rise of a new world that outlives even them.

We Boomers should stop criticizing Millennial "whining" and admit that their generation is facing adult problems of our making. For the advertising industry, this means not trying to impose Boomer values –- success, perfection, consumerism, aspiration -- but understanding that our point of view is out of touch with a generation that's merely trying to unwind the chaos we've wrought. By partnering with them to empathize and find solutions, we can help ensure their future -- and ours -- is a shared one that they can lead.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

LINDA ONG is president of Truth Consulting.

Truth Consulting in The Hollywood Reporter

2011-11-05T09:52:00.002-04:00

Kim Kardashian's Divorce Exposes Her Ambition for Fame and Money, Say Brand Experts (Analysis) 4:26 PM PDT 11/4/2011 by Jethro Nededog

"She was impulsive and flighty and naive or money hungry. I mean none of these things are good qualities," Truth Consulting's Linda Ong tells THR.

Kim Kardashian may not fully understand how Monday’s quickie divorce filing has affected the way people look at her, otherwise known as her brand. Yet, experts in the marketing field already know that her actions have damaged her brand identity and threaten to change how the masses and future employers view her.

“Now, what she’s done is shown that she is as shallow as people like Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan and the train wrecks of Hollywood that we detest,” Ong continues. “She’s exposed herself as really not one of us, but someone who is the kind of person we thought she wasn’t.”

PHOTOS: 19 of Hollywood's All-Time Shortest Marriages

“She’s completely betrayed the expectations of her brand, because she was a girl with ordinary values, ordinary hopes and dreams who happened to be very glamorous and exotic and happened to be living a very extraordinary life,” President and Brand Strategist at New York’s Truth Consulting, Linda Ong, tells The Hollywood Reporter. Ong’s company produces a comprehensive biannual cultural analysis of reality TV, which they started in January 2010.

PHOTOS: Inside Kardashian Inc.

Christine Kirk, CEO and founder of the Los Angeles-based boutique PR and social media marketing firm, Social Muse Communications, also believes that damage has been done to Kardashian’s brand, though she doesn’t call the affect “shallow.”

"Now, what she’s done is shown that she is as shallow as people like Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan and the train wrecks of Hollywood that we detest" -- Linda Ong, brand strategist

“I think it’s more about revealing her desire, her hunger for continuing to grow this empire that she’s built,” Kirk says. “And I don’t necessarily think it’s shallowness, I think it’s getting caught up in maybe dollar signs and the overall potential that the wedding could have on her overall brand and her empire. And I think that she revealed that.”

PHOTOS: Hollywood's Top Earners

Kardashian’s actions after the divorce filing was confirmed didn’t help with the impression that she was driven by monetary gain either. Kirk points out that soon after the news broke, Kardashian tweeted that she’s leaving for Australia to launch her and her sisters’ Kardashian Kollection handbag line.

“It was literally posted about an hour after the divorce announcement was made,” Kirk says. “And that was kind of the last message on there for at least 24 hours and I just thought it was an ill-timed tweet.”

STORY: 10 Signs Kim Kardashian's Marriage Was One Big Hoax All Along

And then there was the statement she released on Tuesday where she admitted that she should have called off the wedding, but she was caught up in the “hoopla” of the event, E!’s filming of it, and her fear of disappointing everyone involved.

“I think it was a very calculated effort to make her more relatable,” Ong says of the statement. “I think what it did was prove she was materialistic, because the fact that she’s cited the TV show is a big clue, right? It’s not that ‘I didn’t want to disappoint my family.’ It was like ‘We had a TV show.’ It tells you that the goals were fame and money.”

COVER STORY: How the Kardashians Made $65 Million Last Year

“And you know the fact that she didn’t want disappoint people, sure everybody can relate to that,” Ong adds. “But the reasons that she gave for going on with the show are literally that her primary motivation was she had to make good TV, so she could make money, and stay famous and get endorsements and that is what’s obvious in her statement.”

“While she’s known for her sponsorships and things like that,” Kirk says. “Maybe people didn’t realize just how much this kind of thing takes over. And we’ve seen that it’s kind of taken over Kim in that way.”

STORY: Kim Kardashian, Kris Humphries' Divorce By the Numbers

So, the big question is will Kardashian’s divorce and subsequent actions affect her ability to make money. The experts tell us there are still opportunities for her even if the public’s view of her has changed.

“When people hire and when they do endorsement deals they are looking to have the same qualities and the same credibility as the person that’s endorsing them,” Ong explains. “She was impulsive and flighty and naive or money hungry. I mean none of these things are good qualities.”

“It will depend on the brand,” Kirk says. “Certainly, conservative, family-oriented brands won’t want to hire her for their spokesperson. But, there will be others who don’t care and will want to ride the wave of the buzz around this.”

STORY: Kim Kardashian Divorce Caught E! by Surprise, Holding Emergency Meetings

One thing is for sure among the brand experts that THR has spoken to, though. The upcoming new season of Kourtney and Kim Take New York will have no shortage of viewers.

“If anything, there's even more of a fascination now with Kim Kardashian,” Bob Horowitz, President of Reality TV production company, JUMA Entertainment (Ultimate Merger, The Singing Bee) tells THR. “This will be huge for the Kardashian brand on E!."

“It will be kind of similar to the Taylor Armstrong situation with the Real Housewives,” Kirk, who’s careful to point out that big fans of the reality star will probably rally around her, but brand identity includes how the masses view a product. And she says that curiosity will definitely translate into big numbers for the upcoming series.

STORY: Kim Kardashian Flees Australia Amid Divorce Controversy

“People are going to want to tune in just to see what they can see, to read between the lines and see the events leading up to a tragic event,” she says.

On the other hand, while Kardashian’s brand has suffered as a result of the failed marriage and her actions after the divorce filing, the experts agree that her family’s brand has been greatly strengthened by their support of Kim at this time.

“I think they’re doing everything right,” Ong says. “I think you know their whole message is family, family, family. ‘We stand by our sister. We stand by our daughter.’ What they’re communicating to the public are exactly this ordinary person values. Some people will buy it, but other people are going to say “yeah right.’ I think if I was their communication strategist, I would give them the same advice. The worst the family could do is turn against her.”

Email: Jethro.Nededog@thr.com; Twitter: @TheRealJethro

Truth Consulting in Ad Age

2011-09-16T06:48:00.025-04:00

To Do Our Best Work, We Need Time to Play

Published September 15, 2011

Americans Venerate Their Work Ethic, Especially in Hard Times, but the Most Creative Solutions Emerge When the Mind Takes a Break From Work

When President Obama took a nine-day vacation to Martha's Vineyard in August, we heard lots of griping about what an ill-timed move that was, especially given the dismal state of the economy. The GOP even created obamagetaway.com, an e-postcard generator to send snarky postcards picturing our casually (or sometimes barely) dressed commander-in-chief, with headlines like "Finding a wave in Martha's Vineyard is almost as hard as finding a job."
But now that the summer season is over, and everybody with a job is hard at work after the Labor Day holiday, I have to wonder, what is our culture's problem with play?
Sure, Americans are rightly proud of their famous -- and long-heralded -- work ethic. Hard times such as these especially call for hard work. It's not surprising to see the growing appeal in popular culture of the heroic down-and-dirty manual laborer and his old-fashioned blue-collar ethics. This theme is evident in everything from the Levi's "Everybody's Work Is Important" campaign, focusing on the post-collapse town of Braddock, Pa., to the rise of Southern-fried reality TV shows like "Swamp People," where real-life alligator wrangling is just another day at the office. Even the Kardashians are in on the act: "My girls' work ethic is second to none," said mom Kris Jenner in Redbook.
Don't scoff. Those mink eyelashes don't glue on by themselves. The Kardashian version of hard work -- grueling mani/pedis, relentless photo ops and shooting the umpteenth season of their series -- may seem like a piece of cake to someone working the night shift, but nobody makes $65 million a year just by showing up.
All this veneration of nose-to-the-grindstone is well intentioned, but it belies a reality that many Americans would rather not face: Hard work isn't always what it's cracked up to be. Endless hours on the job don't necessarily lead to new ideas, creative solutions or even the greatest productivity. The mind needs breaks to do its best work.
"When we take time off from working on a problem, we change what we're doing and our context, and that can activate different areas of our brain," said R. Keith Sawyer, a psychologist at Washington University and a leading researcher of human creativity, in an interview in Time magazine. "If the answer wasn't in the part of the brain we were using, it might be in another. If we're lucky, in the next context we may hear or see something that relates-- distantly -- to the problem that we had temporarily put aside."
Similarly, neurologists believe that creative thinking requires a shift in brain wave states -- from alpha to beta -- to generate those "aha" moments that many of us have experienced. It might happen in the shower, or while driving a car or jogging in a park -- the psychological equivalent of popping a champagne cork.
Once, meeting with a client offsite, I nailed an elusive vision statement during a bathroom break. They're still talking about it. A former boss used to joke that he'd toss me subway tokens to come up with great ideas because I had found so many while riding the A train.
He was onto something. We process information constantly, but need to allow our synapses time to work their magic without our well-meaning intervention. As managers, it's crucial that we create opportunities for felicitous interaction among employees -- field trips, coffee breaks, group lunches -- to facilitate random connections among people and ideas. This way, they can get work done when they're not even trying.
The cafeteria at Google's main headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., is strategically situated in the physical crossroads of the campus, guaranteeing spontaneous and collaborative input from varied staffers. "At lunchtime, almost everyone eats in the office cafe, sitting at whatever table has an opening and enjoying conversations with Googlers from different teams. Our commitment to innovation depends on everyone being comfortable sharing ideas and opinions," says the Culture page of the Google corporate site.
So I'm all for a presidential round of golf every now and then, in the hope that while chipping out of a sand trap with his best buddies Barack Obama might find the "aha" moment that will lead to a fresh solution to our economic crisis. There's no need to fret the next time you see your team lingering next to the coffee machine. Just because they're not at their desks, it doesn't mean they're not working. They might just be coming up with your next great idea.

Truth Consulting in The Hollywood Reporter

2011-08-18T07:03:00.033-04:00

The Business Behind Kim Kardashian's TV Wedding

4:16PM 8/18/2011 by Leslie Bruce

A likely ratings bonanza for E!, the Aug. 20 nuptials of Kim Kardashian are a perfect storm of $100,000 ad spots, a $1.5 million photo sale and lots … and lots … of freebies.

If reality television is the pop-culture equivalent of the NFL, then a celebrity-reality wedding is, well, the Super Bowl. When E! star Kim Kardashian marries the New Jersey Nets' Kris Humphrieson Aug. 20 in Montecito, Calif., cameras will document the nuptials for the network's two-part special Kim's Fairytale Wedding: A Kardashian Event(airing Oct. 9 and 10).

E! has a history of capitalizing on talent weddings: Kim's sister Khloe's wedding to Lamar Odom brought in 3.2 million viewers in November 2009, making it the most-watched broadcast in the network's history at the time. The Kendra Wilkinson-Hank Baskett affair on Kendra drew 2.1 million viewers in August 2009, E!'s best first-season finale since 2002. Horizon Media's Brad Adgate predicts that Kim's wedding could attract 5 million-plus viewers. He posits that if the event aired live, it could lure "a Jersey Shore-size audience" of 8 million. "The Kardashians have contributed to E!'s growth and serve as some of the network's key talent," says Lisa Berger, E! president of entertainment programming.

"Kim knew that to get where she wanted personally, she had to create a relationship with her fans," Kris Jenner told THR this year. With three unwed daughters left, Jenner has a formula. "All my girls are following suit, even the little ones." While this wedding might not get the 17.1 million fans who tuned to ABC when The Bachelorette's Trista Rehnwed Ryan Sutter in 2003 (beating that week's Monday Night Football game by 2 million viewers), reality TV has become a key tool for the billion-dollar wedding industry. Vendors rarely receive the mass publicity a Kardashian wedding can provide, says celebrity event producer Tony Schubert, so many offer free goods. Because Kim is viewed among many brides-to-be and bridal hopefuls as a tastemaker, association with her is priceless. A single tweet from the star can get a brand's name in front of nearly 9 million followers (dress designer Vera Wang is already receiving frequent mentions), compared to the 200,000 circulation of a wedding magazine like Brides.

Schubert says a wedding of this scale could easily cost $500,000-plus, but not only will the family not spend money, it will likely make money. In addition to E! fees and gratis goods, Jenner -- the mastermind behind reality TV's $65 million 2010 paycheck and point person on all Kardashian-related deals -- negotiated a whopping $1.5 million weekly magazine deal for exclusive photos, according to insiders. And while E! does not get a cut, insiders say the network could earn nearly $13 million in ad revenue (the usual $5,000 ad spot rate is expected to run upward of $100,000). Why does this all work? "The Kardashians represent a new type of exotic subculture," says Truth Consulting's Linda Ong. "Today, when most people are just trying to survive, seeing them thrive gives us all hope."

THE INVITATION Luxury invitationers Lehr & Black designed crystal-embellished black-and-white engraved gatefold invitations for the affair (they also created invitations for Khloe's 2009 wedding to Odom). With a 500-person guest list, Event Eleven's Schubert estimates the designer invites cost well over $10,000 to create, but it is believed that in exchange for publicity, the company comped the bride the stationery.

THE FACELIFT In June, the 55-year-old mother of six went under the knife of Beverly Hills plastic surgeonGarth Fisher. It is uncertain how much Jenner paid for the procedure, but his "pinnacle" facelifts start at $50,000. She has openly discussed it, leading one to believe publicity in exchange for goods could be part of the deal.

THE BACHELORETTE PARTY On top of the seven-figure deal she inked late last year with Tao nightclub for a handful of 2011 hosting gigs at her favorite Las Vegas haunt, Kim negotiated another $50,000 to host her bachelorette party there. After arriving with family and friends on the Palazzo hotel's private jet, the bride-to-be settled into the $2,000-a-night penthouse courtesy of the hotel.

THE CAKE On July 29, the happy couple went cake tasting at Hansen's Cakes in Los Angeles (they reportedly want to re-create the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's royal cake). While luxury wedding cakes average about $6,000, the insider says the bakery is gifting it to the couple. "They're going to get free publicity," says Schubert. "They can make this cake in three days and move on to the next."

THE DRESS Legendary designer Vera Wang created a $20,000-plus custom wedding gown for Kim that is being given to the bride-to-be along with extensive fittings and alterations.

THE RING The 20.5-carat stunner has been estimated to have a $2 million price tag, but a source close to the family says that, like Khloe's 9-carat engagement ring, the Lorraine Schwartz bauble was given to the couple for a fraction of the cost.

THE TV DEAL With three shows already on E!, the Kardashian franchise is expanding to include the two-part wedding special (the family currently splits a five-figure salary per episode). Although direct income from the shows is usually the least lucrative slice of the Kardashian empire, they offer an unparalleled platform for the brand.

THE ENTERTAINMENT According to an insider, Jenner is hoping to land a star performer like Christina Aguilera or Jennifer Lopez to serenade the newlyweds at the reception. While private concerts from these pop divas begin at $1 million, Jenner is unwilling to offer compensation.

SOMETHING BORROWED Three months might seem like a short engagement, but compared with Khloe's nine-day engagement to Odom, 90 days seems like a lifetime. In little more than a week before Khloe's wedding on Sept. 27, 2009, the Kardashians were able to secure the same luxury vendors (including a custom Vera Wang) they are using for Kim and Humphries' big day and a $300,000 deal with OK! Magazine for exclusive photos. The two-hour wedding special for Khloe and Odom, which aired as Keeping Up With the Kardashians' season-four premiere on Nov. 8, 2009, averaged a record-breaking 3.2 million viewers and pulled in $15,000 per 30-second ad spot.

Truth Consulting in Ad Age

2011-08-11T20:54:00.024-04:00

Relevance and Authenticity Are Dead. Long Live Culture.

JUST RELEASED: Truth Culture Decoder: Reinventing Reality SUMMER/FALL 2011 Edition

2011-07-08T08:14:00.008-04:00

Analyzing Over 600 Unscripted Shows Across 40+ Networks

Now with NEW Decoder Index Scoring System

Contact linda@truthco.net to reserve yours today.

Truth Co.'s own Scott Hamrah in The Paris Review Daily

2011-06-02T16:38:00.008-04:00

ARTS & CULTURE

The Coke Side of Life

June 2, 2011 | by A. S. Hamrah

“Liz Taylor knows it, the president knows it, the bum knows it, and you know it.” —Andy Warhol

Evel Knievel on the set of Viva Knievel, 1977.

Coca-Cola is the brand par excellence, the marca di tutti marche, the brand the other brands dream about being (even though the brands never sleep). Nothing else is even close. When it comes to what a brand is, Coke, as they say, is it. According to the branding consultancy Interbrand, Coke has a “brand value” of seventy billion dollars, which is twelve billion more than its nearest competitor, IBM. That’s a strange measurement, brand value, because it takes several nebulous things into consideration, including probably love. While many people are fond of Coke, some of them to the point of addiction, who even likes IBM?

Coke’s status is not merely economic or pop cultural or emotional or psychological. Coca-Cola transcends those categories to compete in the broader realm of speech, of monosyllables. We’re told that Coke is the second most recognized word in any language, after okay.

There are 6.9 billion people in the world, and according to The Coca-Cola Company they drink 1.6 billion Cokes a day. I don’t have the figures for this, but it may be that right now the only thing people on this planet are doing more than breathing is drinking Coke. There may be more people drinking Coke this very minute than sleeping. There may be more people drinking Coke than being awake.

A member of the Coca-Cola pep squad in Casablanca, Morocco, wearing custom-made happiness slippers, 2010.

To celebrate the 125th anniversary of the invention of Coca-Cola by the Georgia pharmacist John Stith Pemberton (who made the elixir with cocaine in it as a substitute for the morphine he craved), The Coca-Cola Company has partnered with the boutique publisher Assouline (they actually have boutiques) to publish a book called Coca-Cola. Last Tuesday, Assouline and Coca-Cola threw a party for the book, which is really two books, one a special edition that goes for $650, the other a trade edition that costs ten times less. To accompany the book, the two companies also launched an iPad app that retails for $4.99.

They debuted these items at the IAC Building, on the corner of West Eighteenth Street and the West Side Highway, the Frank Gehry–designed office tower that looks like a pile of Lexus fenders and features a hundred-foot video screen, the world’s largest, in its first-floor gallery. Kelly Bensimon, the ex-model featured on the reality-TV show The Real Housewives of New York, and Whitney Port, a cast member of another reality series, The Hills, acted as “VIP attendees” at the party. They mingled with the guests in the same hairdo, resembling plastic Coke bottles, the kind that makes a crinkle noise if you squeeze them when they are empty, not the iconic glass bottles that are curvaceous and pleasant to hold.

At the open bar, bartenders served special Coke-based drinks in real glasses. One was made out of popcorn-and-butter-infused brandy and Coke, an off-putting combination featuring a spirit I wish I’d never heard of. This drink sought to connect the common with the classy in a way antithetical to the very nature of Coke, and underscored the questionable aspects of a party dedicated to a $650 book about a product that costs a dollar and symbolizes America-the-classless-society, an aspect of the brand the book hits hard. They called this cocktail a Filmograph Redux, not exactly a name that will make people forget rum and Coke. They did not serve a Lindsay Lohan, which is the exact same drink as some other drink, I can’t remember which, except it has Coke in it.

Sammy Davis, Jr., on the set of Porgy and Bess, 1959.

Assouline is the favorite publisher of people who stack their books horizontally, people who need big, heavy books to make sure their tables don’t float into space. As an Assouline product, the book announces that it is not another of the millions of Coke collectibles found at flea markets and on eBay, many of which were manufactured under a regime of heavy-duty, middle-American nostalgia and feature images of Santa Claus and polar bears. The Assouline version of Coke is post–Mad Men but pre-Reagan, something from a time before air travel was torture and before there was Diet Coke (a pure product of the Reagan era). The Warhol Coke-bottle painting that graces the cover of the $650 edition takes us back to a time before merchandising and intellectual property issues dominated corporate thinking. Could an artist like Warhol use the same imagery today without getting sued or having to cut the brand in on the profits? Could he do it without clearing permissions or preselling it as brand integration?

Coke is proud of Warhol. The book quotes from a statement of his, which repeats the word Coke a Gertrude Stein–ish eight times: “What’s great about this country is that America started the tradition where the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest. You can be watching TV and see Coca-Cola, and you know that the president drinks Coke, Liz Taylor drinks Coke, and just think, you can drink Coke, too. A Coke is a Coke, and no amount of money can get you a better Coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking. All the Cokes are the same and all the Cokes are good. Liz Taylor knows it, the president knows it, the bum knows it, and you know it.” The bum may or may not know it. I couldn't ask him because he wasn't invited to the party.

The book quotes Henry Miller, too. In The Air-Conditioned Nightmare, Miller wrote that “without a Coca-Cola life is unbearable.” Yet that’s part of a longer passage, a list that indicts the nightmarish America Miller found when he returned after years abroad. Here are a few other things he lists with Coca-Cola: “internal douche treatments, lousy photography, institutes of religion, faces lifted, warts removed, flatulence dissipated, business improved, limousines rented.” You should know better than to use something from a book called The Air-Conditioned Nightmare to bolster your brand. Clearly, Assouline and Coke don’t expect anybody to read that book. I’m positive they found that quote by searching Google for Coke quotes.

Many interesting things have been said about Coke that the book leaves out, though perhaps not as willfully. Where’s the quote from Slavoj Žižek explaining the undefined “it” that Coke says it is? For Žižek, as for the early Coke executive Robert Woodruff, who said that “Coca-Cola should always be within an arm’s reach of desire” (that’s in the book), Coke represents the eternally unsatisfied emptiness we seek to fill with something ungraspable, something Coke made eminently graspable in the form of its perfectly curved bottle, which was designed so you could recognize it in the dark by touch. The “contour bottle” debuted in 1916, the same year Einstein proved via the general theory of relativity that space was curved. A significant coincidence, I think. Other famous commenters on Coke who are MIA include Billy Wilder, who made a whole Mad Men–era movie about selling Coke behind the Iron Curtain, and Jean-Luc Godard, who mentioned or showed Coke in almost every movie he made in the 1960s. If Coke can claim Warhol and Miller for their own, surely they will absorb others.

These days the Coke commercials on TV feature sleepwalkers with subconscious urges to drink Coke and people who see the Coke curve everywhere they look. Coke is the Master Controller of desire in these ads, a Big Brother who knows our urges better than we do. Interactive Internet versions of their TV spots suggest we go to work for them: “See what it's like to be a worker in the Happiness Factory and help deliver bottles of Coke!” Another recent campaign features animated bugs, suggesting Coke has saturated humanity and now wants to go after the insect market. Which is kind of like trying to find people willing to buy a $650 book about soda. At the party I asked the app designer who he thought would actually buy this special edition. “Mostly Coke execs,” he said.

A. S. Hamrah is a writer living in Brooklyn. He writes film criticism for n+1.

NOW AVAILABLE Truth Culture Decoder: Reinventing Reality WINTER 2011 Edition

2011-04-16T17:08:00.002-04:00

Truth Culture Decoder™ findings featured in USA Today

2010-07-30T11:01:00.012-04:00

Click here to view the full article.

Truth Culture Decoder™ in Multichannel News

2010-06-28T21:57:00.012-04:00

Click here to view the full article.

it's here!

2010-03-14T09:38:00.023-04:00

We're pleased to announce the launch of our first syndicated study: Truth Culture Decoder™: Reinventing Reality

An innovative new tool that explains the cultural context you need to help drive ratings.

Completes and contextualizes your consumer insight research
Focuses programming content, development, talent
Makes marketing and ad sales efforts more relevant
Reinforces your brand messaging
Aligns organizations and introduces new language for new ideas

black arts

2010-03-05T19:00:00.014-05:00

You're no doubt aware my imagination is somewhat limited when it comes to color. I've dressed exclusively in black since the '80s, after a bad DayGlo experience in college. But I've never felt the pull of the color – until now.

This week, ADAA: The Art Show opened at the Armory (not to be confused with art at the Armory Show, which was actually at the Pier, as Paolo clarified). !

As a frustrated artist, I'm always in awe of the creative prowess of true talent, and some of the folks in this show were no exception. But mostly, one thing kept grabbing my attention: the artistry of Black.

Entering the space, my eye was immediately drawn to Fred Wilson's elegant, sensual blobs of black Murano glass, casually blotting the walls like so many glycerine tears. I had to resist the temptation (and Paolo's too) to fondle them, moving my gaze instead to the intricate black-on-black mirrors, which seemingly reflected my soul more than my appearance.

We then wandered into April Gornik's amazingly photographic charcoal landscapes, transfixed by their ability to dimensionalize depth and light with a single color. I've been a huge fan of April's innate ability to wrest emotion from color – but these are new favorites.

Roaming the aisles, I loved how Glen Rubsamen's LA-esque palm portraits and Allen McCollam's digitized, embroidered cameos embraced the poetry of silhouette with a distinctly modern sensibility.

Artists are always at the forefront of social change. Maybe the use of all this black – the absence of color – signals that we should start to fill the void.

Or maybe it's me that should lighten up. In fact, I've had my eye on this little Fendi number for Spring. Next time we meet, that might just be me wearing white.

reality 2.0

2010-02-28T16:36:00.006-05:00

Ten days after the devastating earthquake hit Haiti, there were more signs of trouble. Not on the ground, but in the culture.

More specifically, on TV.

The Jersey Shore finale registered a 4.8 on the Nielsen scale. 4.8 million viewers, of course.

4.3 million adults 18-49 watched the Hope for Haiti telethon the very next night.

In the weeks since, 3.1 million people have donated over $32 million to date through the Red Cross' mobile giving program.

A statistical coincidence? Perhaps, but I think a sign of the times.

What does this say about us in general – and our society at large?

For the past six weeks, Scott Hamrah and I have been trying to answer exactly this question. Intrepid readers already know that earlier this year, Scott joined Truth as Semiotic Brand Analyst, establishing our Insights team. After spending the last year decoding cultural cues and codes for forward-thinking brands like Animal Planet, Telemundo, History, Reader's Digest and Sundance Channel, we've fielded our first syndicated study. And we could think of no juicier subject than my personal favorite: Reality TV.

Now in its second decade as a legit (!)TV genre, reality is a key driver of more nightly lineups than ever before. But more often than not, a hit comes out of nowhere, while a sure-fire concept fails to impress. What gives?

The Truth Culture Decoder: Reinventing Reality offers a snapshot of the Dominant, Residual and Emergent themes connecting with viewers today. We've sifted through over 100 current shows to map the unseen, but ever powerful, connections between them, making sense of what people are responding to – and what they're not – and why.

Here's a sneak peek at the findings:

See how the economic crisis is spawning hit shows
Find out the single mistake most "feel good" shows make
Learn why we're over Humiliation – and what's next

Informing programming, marketing and ad sales initiatives, the Truth Culture Decoder: Reinventing Reality is a diagnostic, creative and actionable tool that lends in-depth insight and context into how consumers see Reality TV today – and where they're going.

We're excited about our findings, and can't wait to share them with you. Let us know if you want to learn more.

animal instincts

2010-02-15T15:19:00.002-05:00

Every year around this time I start asking everyone when they were born. It's not nosiness – it's Chinese New Year. This weekend we rang in the year 4707, meaning the Chinese had 2,694 more years to mess with people's heads than the rest of the world.

The twelve signs of Chinese astrology (I'm a rabbit) are based on a twelve-year lunar cycle, with a different animal symbolizing personality traits, fortunes and frailties that, like their Western counterparts, are uncannily accurate. This, the Year of the Tiger, is yours to celebrate if you were born generally after February 4th in 1950, 1962 or 1974 (most January babies in the following year are the same sign, causing further confusion in the West).

In honor of the holiday, here's a look at the Chinese zodiac signs for some of today's biggest brands. How closely do these horoscopes hew to their public perceptions?

GOOGLE

Established 1998: Year of the Tiger

Tigers are born leaders – noble, fearless and respected fighters who stand up for their beliefs. Naturally hard-working, tigers accomplish tasks with enthusiasm and efficiency, always in a hurry to do things right.

Tigers are difficult to resist, with magnetic characters and a natural air of authority, so they attract followers and admirers. Warm-hearted, sociable and friendly, they're characterized by being frank, honest and open.

The tiger's confidence can be perceived as arrogance, because tigers like being obeyed – not the other way around. They tend to renounce tradition, often rushing in where the more cautious fear to tread. They can be passionate and rash, fueled by action, and often thrust by destiny into the spotlight.

The lucky tiger represents the greatest power on Earth, and is the emblem of protection for human life.

APPLE

Established 1976: Year of the Dragon

Dragons get things started – and keep them moving. Gifted, intelligent, tenacious, willing and generous, Dragons are born leaders. They're feisty and graced with power and luck.

Their power indisputable, Dragons are born monarchs. They're idealists, perfectionists who are born thinking they're perfect. Dragons are aggressive and determined; going after what they want is second nature.

When a Dragon enters a gathering, the room starts to simmer. The Dragon carries a self-assurance to impressive, and an inflated ego so visible, that it's useless to try to tell him anything.

Those born in this year have an inherent knack for attracting money, and they generally enjoy their prosperity. Dragons can do anything.

FACEBOOK

Established 2004: Year of the Monkey

You'll find Monkeys at the center of attention. Their charm and humor is the key to their popularity.

Monkeys are fun-loving, cheerful, energetic, and clever. Give a monkey a boring book to read – he'll turn it into a musical. Better yet, he'll invite everyone to see it free. That's how talented, creative and generous monkeys usually are.

Lively, likeable, witty and highly sociable, the Monkey is talkative and a fascinating conversationalist – attracting a wide circle of friends. Monkeys need continual stimulation to keep themselves interested and amused.

Monkeys are highly adaptable and versatile. They quickly assimilate facts and figures, picking up new skills and techniques almost instantaneously. In business, their opportunism couple with their keen competitive instinct gives them an eye for that tiny opening into which only Monkeys can insinuate themselves. Monkeys revel in the thrill of the new.

Now, read these horoscopes again. Only this time, replace the animal with the brand name. Pretty freaky huh?

Check out your brand's sign and let me know what you find. And by the way, according to Chinese tradition, you have until February 28th to celebrate.

Horoscopes gratefully excerpted from Garrick's Palace of Stuff.

call me co-dependent

2010-02-07T13:05:00.004-05:00

Ten years ago, in the third quarter of SuperBowl XXXIV, a group of colleagues and I anxiously huddled around the then-ahead-of-the-curve flat screen, jumpy with nervous energy. But we weren't watching the two teams scrappling on the field, indifferent to our mission: awaiting 30 fleeting seconds of glory.

And then, a hush; the tiny pink caps littering the air, the smug little fist pump, and then it was time for someone else's moment. But our history was now indelibly recorded: the SuperBowl spot announcing the launch of Oxygen, called "Super Sunday's best ad" by Adweek's Best Spots, who singled out the petite fist as "easily the most striking image of the day."

A few months later, I gave birth to my own brand. Truth Consulting started more as a hedge than a bet; I was buying head-clearing time until I could figure out my next move. Plus, I didn't know if consulting would be a good fit for me, or if anyone would hire me. There was no business plan, there were no grand pronouncements, there were no deals in place.

In 2010, this accidental entrepreneur is celebrating ten stunning years of success. No one is more surprised than me to still be handing out the same card. And it's all thanks to you – the amazing menagerie of respected clients, partners, creators, believers, provocateurs, sistuhs, work husbands, fairy godmothers and godfathers. Because I never once enlisted a sales rep, made cold calls (ick) or did any marketing. Every one of you built this company.

Through the years, I've remained steadfastly independent, keeping Truth a solo act and spurning opportunities to grow or take part in larger endeavors. Which was a great model, relying on an ever-changing and expanding network of talented people to help serve clients in the most customized way possible. I've never taken, and refuse to take, a cent from partners. I recommend the best people for the job.

The truth is (pardon the inevitable pun), I'm in denial that I'm running a business. My mantra for projects has always been:

Do Good Work
Work with People You Like
Have Fun

So you'll no doubt be surprised to hear: after ten years, Truth has hired Employee #2, Scott Hamrah, as Semiotic Brand Analyst. Because, like all brands, Truth has evolved and diversified. In addition to providing services for Strategy and Execution, we're now excited to be announcing our new research arm, Insights.

In the next few months, you'll be hearing more about what we're doing and how you can take part. We'll be looking for ways to get your input and advice as always, because we still can't do this without you. Call it co-dependency.

Thanks for ten.

Can't wait to see what happens next.

sign here

2010-01-31T10:35:00.010-05:00

Last month, a fierce debate erupted in an already contentious landscape. But this was not about health care, the economy, or whether Ronnie should forgive Sammi.

This was about something more important: graphic design.

The origins of a colonial-era symbol found in Lower Manhattan, long embraced by African Americans as a mark of triumph over struggle, were called into question by a leading history journal. Could it be that the proud logo for the African Burial Ground Museum is actually the creation of white slaveowners?

And all around us, new signs of life are cropping up. Literally.

Take a look:

Smartphone icons are now popping up on ads for Design Within Reach, likely doing more for brand image than actual sales.

Over breakfast, Rob Ortiz and Frank Radice introduced me to Esquire's full-on embrace of augmented reality and its signature mark.

The ad industry created a standardized icon to direct consumers to digital privacy policies.

And thanks to one snarky designer, there's now a "SarcMark" emoticon to avoid misinterpretations of witty sarcasms. (This could have kept me from trouble a few months back.)

Guess none of this is really new. We're just inventing the modern-day semiotic equivalent of ancient hieroglyphics.

rock'em sock'em

2010-01-17T09:50:00.018-05:00

A reformed control freak, I still have a tendency to lose it when things don't go my way. But even my worst temper tantrums seem tame lately.

NBC vs. Conan vs. Jay.

Snooki vs. The Situation.

Elizabeth vs. John Edwards.

China vs. Google.

Rush Limbaugh vs. Haitian earthquake victims.

Got a problem with that?

Get in line.

Already, bad behavior is the reigning sentiment of the new decade – replacing the passive aggression of the Aughts (ugh, don't you hate that!). It's no longer about taking sides – but about deciding which shot will inflict the most damage. Dr. King would be mortified by all this trash-talking on this, his big long holiday weekend.

Maybe it's for the best that we're finally all just putting it out there and letting the fists fly. Good thing I've taken up boxing with Paolo. Those of you who know my moral opposition to exercise should take note: it's not exercise.

These days, it's a skill set.

timing is everything

2010-01-10T14:02:00.011-05:00

"Why now?"

It's one of the first questions I ask a new client. As in, what's going on in the culture that makes your brand especially appealing at this exact point in time? What conditions or mindsets dominate society today that your brand can connect with – or counteract?

If you've ever lived through a re-launch with me, you know there's one comment I won't tolerate: "We tried that already." Because sometimes, a great idea is just ahead of its time.

What would have been a small, and small-minded movie only a few years ago is now a mainstream, buzzy Oscar pick with box-office mojo (as of today, it's raked in almost $55m on a $25m production): the scarily accurate Up in the Air, which New York Mag said "might be the timeliest, most zeitgeist-capturing movie released this awards season."

Walter Kirn's original book was published in the pre-9/11 summer of 2001, which means he conceived and wrote it in the tail end of the dot-com booming 90s – an era when you could travel while keeping your shoes on the whole time. There were some layoffs, but no one you actually knew was affected. And back then, George Clooney hadn't yet made the transition from Thursday night TV idol to full-on Movie Star®. Imagine if the movie had been made with 1998 Best Actor winner Tom Hanks?

Growing up, continually frustrated by an inability to get my way with my mom, my dad would always counsel (and console) me. "There's a good time for everything," he said.

Meaning, when you try something is often as important as what, how or why.

free falling

2009-12-20T17:41:00.016-05:00

After 2 hours of trying to dig the car out from 20 inches of snow, I began to resign myself to the higher forces of nature (and the powers at AAA). Like the Na'vi people in yesterday's pre-blizzard matinee of Avatar, the key to life might be to stop fighting the larger world around us, and just embrace its raw, untamable disregard for civilization – and Monday morning meetings.

As my semiotician partner-in-crime Scott Hamrah says, Out (of Control) is IN. Whether it's Tiger Woods (who couldn't have just a simple affair but a skankfest of 14+ women), my new addiction "Hoarders," Snooki et al of "Jersey Shore," or the chaos at Cop(Out) 15, everything seems to have gone haywire.

Maybe that's why Paolo's new favorite show, Arrested Development, seems especially resonant right now (up 10% at imdb.com) – but didn't quite connect when it first aired in 2003. As whacked out as their family is (incest, alcoholism, embezzlement, infantilism, narcissism, and Liza Minnelli, for starters), there's something refreshingly normal about it. It may be that reliable dysfunction feels reassuring in times when even the Obaminator falls short.

Happy holidays. See you in 2010.

the list that keeps on giving

2009-12-13T20:37:00.012-05:00

Glad to hear so many of you found some helpful gift ideas in last week's post. In the spirit of hanging onto things (inspired by my newfound addiction to Hoarders), I'm recycling last year's gift guide – six sustainable ways to give like you mean it.

Etsy:
OK, so this crafty DIY-meets-social shopping site is a client, but I'm sold on the idea of spoiling friends (or myself) while supporting home-grown businesses.

Good Magazine:
If you haven't checked out this poster zine of the zeitgeist, don't let that stop you from gifting some worthy person with a subscription. Their "pay as you wish" model puts every dollar you deem appropriate to the non-prof of your choice. Plus, Open's Scott Stowell is the Design Director, so you know it's fun to read and good looking to boot.

Kiva:
Last year, Puja Vohra sent me a gift certificate to microfinance third-world small businesses. So far, I've invested in a beauty salon in Nigeria, a computer business in Peru, a foodseller in Vietnam and a seamstress in Tajikistan. Each time a loan is repaid, you reinvest in another biz.

Branch:
Those of you previously on the Truth Co. holiday gift list will recognize this design-minded e-tailer of all things good and green. Tell owner Paul Donald I sent ya.

Catalog Choice:
While you're at it, give yourself (and the planet) the gift of decluttering your mailbox. Register for this free service which contacts all those catalog companies on your behalf, nicely asking them to stop. It's quicker than a phone call and actually kinda fun!

And at the risk of nepotism, support the family business –
daRosario Organics:
Some of you already know me as the Cheap Marketing Officer of my husband's eponymous line of truffle products. Unlike the chemically-derived flavoring of all others, daRosario products use REAL truffle ingredients and are USDA 100% Certified Organic. We love the oils and salts on comfort foods like grilled cheese, white pizza, mashed potatoes and chicken pot pie – even popcorn and chips. And for dessert, try the latest: truffle honey drizzled on vanilla ice cream or ricotta. Available through e-tailer Earthy Delights, in NYC via Fresh Direct andFairway, and The Cheese Store of Beverly Hills.

the name-dropper's holiday gift guide

2009-12-06T16:10:00.005-05:00

We had barely checked out of our villa after a laid-back Thanksgiving in Jamaica – when it started. "Merry Christmas, mon!," the bellboys and skycaps rang out in Rockette-like precision from resort to airport, cued by the annual flight of newly bronzed vacationers.

And so, it's time. Here's the second annual TruthCo Holiday Gift Guide, with a little help from my friends and family, along with some new pals who made my week an especially memorable one.

My new BFF Al Gore signed a copy of his latest book, Our Choice: A Chance to Save the Climate Crisis, ($16.49 at Amazon) for my sister-in-law Patricia. You can chase him down on his current book tour, or just buy a Sharpie ($1.49 at Staples) and fake it.

Don't tell Rosario, but this year, he'll be unwrapping a Citizen Folding bike (6-speed "Tokyo" model, $164 at CitizenBike.com, $28 for the cool carrying bag), so he can tool around the city without taking over the apartment.

Just when you thought premium spirits were all the rage, along comes Super Premium: Casa Dragones Sipping Tequila ($274.99 at Wally's). Bob Pittman, mogul and now proud distiller, had me taste-test his soft, multiply-filtered 100% agave against Patron – which reminded me of paint thinner ($38.88 at Lowe's) by comparison.

His bottle's beautiful packaging is a gift in itself, but you could also tie up holiday surprises in one of Sharleen Smith's lovely, cloth-made sustainable gift bags ($5 and up at WrapNatural).

If the folks on your gift list are heading to warmer climes this winter, outfit them with vibrant, paparazzi-friendly beach towels, bags and bedding from Royal Hut (available at Calypso St. Bart h's Broome Street location). Owner Chris Blackwell, who graciously hosted an intimate post-Thanksgiving lunch for us at his amazing Jamaican plantation (including private, stream-fed swimming hole), relaunched the line this past week at in honor of his beloved (by Bono, among others) late wife Mary Vinson.

Maybe Tiger Woods should take his cue. Or, maybe Mrs. Woods should swap the five-iron for what's on Paolo's Christmas list this year – a Best Made Company axe ($250 and up at BestMadeCo and Partners and Spade). We're visiting founder Peter Buchanan-Smith this week to see them made, and pick one out, as long as Paolo promises not to use it on me.

Still looking for something for the impossible-to-please? Try the gift of life. Head to Rockefeller Center to (RED)'s Pop-Up Shop, where everything you buy helps provide vital medicine to AIDS patients in Africa (Stella McCartney for (RED) T-shirt, $28). Yes, (RED) is a client. And no, I haven't met Bono. Yet.

Happy shopping!

candyland

2009-11-20T21:04:00.003-05:00

Sugar is my crack.

Seems I'm not the only one jonesing for it. All over New York, signs of candy-coated goodness are sprouting in a riot of sweetness.

Today at the MoMA, Tim Burton's treacly creatures ran amok in the macabre playground of his imagination.

Over at the New Museum, Urs Fischer's gummy sculptures have been melting in gooey splendor.

And the past three weekends, Will Cotton put his surreal candy landscapes where his mouth is, selling scrumptious macaroons and other caloric confections out of the back of Partners & Spade.

The icing on this trend cake is a sugary script that's both modern and retro at the same time – without a hint of saccharine.

Sweetness, like a sucrose version of The Blob, is taking over the city one street at a time. Literally: the newest Billy's Bakery is now a block from my house. Sweet.

(re)imagine that

2009-11-15T14:46:00.002-05:00

In case you haven't heard, AMC's new version of "The Prisoner" is not a re-make. It's a re-imagining.

Which makes it very trendy.

As of today, the New York Times has used the word (as noun and verb) "re-imagining" 8,730 times in the last 30 days, according to its own search results. And that's after using it only 190 times in the previous 11 months. What's going on?

I first encountered the word – which, like "ginormous" (519 uses since 1851), I thought was a make-up word, a few years ago. A network had hired me to help guide them through a redesign, but the president found the phrase too aggressive, perhaps tacitly indicting the work that had come before.

I never took the word seriously until last week, when I read that Disney is giving Mickey a bad-ass makeover, "taking the risky step of re-imagining him for the future," according to the Times. (Side note: it's funny when the brand that practically invented Imagination™ feels compelled to re- it.)

The etymology of the prefix re- goes back to 13th century French, where it meant "back to the original place, again" and also conveyed a sense of "undoing." In Latin, it means "again, back, against" and is used to intensify the meaning of the word that follows.

Seems the phrases relaunch, rebrand, redesign, refresh and now, re-imagine are used interchangeably, but people use them to create distinctions along a scale of dramatic change.

So while admittedly imperfect, here's an attempt to provide clarification on the different shades of Re-:

Relaunch: (n.) a do-over; (v.) to start from scratch; make people forget about the thing that was there before, and attract fresh young people instead of those losers who supported the old brand. Always means a new name, new products, new faces, etc. Ex.: The also-ran Houston Oilers relaunched as the Tennessee Titans and advanced to Super Bowl XXXIV after only 3 years, something the Oilers were unable to do in 36 years as a franchise. If you grew up in Houston, you will share my pain.
Rebrand: (n.) a makeover; (v.) to shift a brand's position, even when the product is essentially unchanged, welcoming new consumers without scaring away the core in droves. Might include a name change, but at the very least a spiffy new logo. Ex: Philip Morris, the evil tobacco manufacturer, relaunched as Altria, the leader in responsible products for tobacco consumers.
Redesign: (n.) a new wardrobe; (v.) to enhance or improve an existing position by making it visually more modern and appealing to the existing consumer. Logo is updated, or imperceptibly tweaked so that only design Nazis can detect it. Ex: Tropicana, who successfully confused loyal customers by making their packages look generic. Which one has the pulp?
Refresh: (n.) a patch job; (v.) to update and add elements to the existing mix. Usually occurs when a the creative team has worked the current package to death, but management doesn't get why a new one has to cost so much. Ex. Oh, never mind. You've no doubt lived through this.

So what about Re-imagining (or Reimagining, minus the hyphen)? Maybe it's best used when selling in any of the above to clients, upper management or board members. Let's hope they're reading the paper.

lumberjacks beware

2009-11-03T09:11:00.021-05:00

Even after working in the fashion biz way back when, I've never considered myself a slave to fashion. But I can't help but notice a big new trend – love this season's studs and over-the-knee boots – even more so when it doesn't work for me.

Yes, folks. I'm talking plaid.

Not the cool, modern, Christopher Bailey Burberry graphics, updated and recolored in hot new ways that would make a bagpiper blush. I'm talking horsey, slubby, log cabiney, Bunyanesque flannel – the kind, for a moment, we thought chic through grunge-colored glasses. The kind that can instantly make you feel you've rolled out of bed with the flu. (I'm having flashbacks of a red plaid nightshirt in high school).

Semantics Note: Plaid is not to be confused with Tartan, as About.com clarifies: A regular plaid is an intersecting pattern of stripes running horizontally and vertically. A tartan plaid is an intersecting pattern of stripes running diagonally. (Meaning, tartans are just drunk plaids).

These familiar patterns have a long and emotional history among the Scots, who first developed their signature graphic by region, dyeing and weaving according to local tastes and available vegetable dyes. In the mid-nineteenth century, specific weaves were adopted by clans as signs of heritage and family pride. Call it branding, Edinburgh-style.

But back to the matter at hand: I just can't bring myself to wear plaid. Let's attribute it mostly to the fact that there are, to the best of my knowledge, no Chinese lumberjacks. And unless you're curled up in front of a roaring fire with little else on, it's tremendously unsexy. And the image of a sexy Chinese lumberjack is just... wrong.

one big teachable moment

2009-10-10T09:20:00.014-04:00

A few years back at AIGA's MOVE conference, I saw multimedia goddess Laurie Anderson speak about her recent stint as NASA's first artist-in-residence. Aside from the thrill of breathing the same air as one of my early creative heroes, I was struck by the parallels she drew between rocket science (no snark intended) and the creative process.

All that came back to me this week when I heard about LCROSS, the latest space mission, being publicly dubbed a failure. The hotly anticipated "spectacular cloud of dust and ice" was visibly less than, um, spectacular – leaving millions of pocket-protected throngs hopelessly crushed.

Never mind that the mission's initial objective – crashing the spacecraft into a designated lunar crater – was unquestionably, if not spectacularly, achieved. But no one really focused on that – we wanted the light show.

Failure is, by definition, relative. Twenty years ago, crashing a spacecraft into the moon would have been deemed a colossal failure. Today, it's Step One.

Like the concept of "value" (the ratio of perceived worth vs. cost), failure is a ratio of desired objective vs. outcome. Basically, they're both expectations games. Failure, and success, are most certainly in the eye of the beholder. (Ask Obama).

Those of us in the business of invention know the corporate desire for risk-taking is often lip service; what they're really saying is "innovate but don't fail." Most companies are toxically intolerant of failing, focusing only on success – which almost guarantees the same mistakes will be made again, constructive suggestions will go unheard, and heads will roll. But the person thrown under the bus is often best positioned to fix things.

As part of its culture, NASA spends more time analyzing their failures than its success. "Failure-based decision-making" is embedded into early stages of conceptual design to ensure maximum creativity with minimized risk ("innovate/don't fail.")

Meaning, the best way to avoid failure – is to succeed at it.

call me flirty

2009-10-04T12:01:00.019-04:00

Couldn't sleep Thursday night. At 4:30am, thanks to a tummy tight from Chinese pork BBQ, I had to get out of bed and go online.

But researching my latest branding project only got my beta waves buzzing. So I turned to the insomniac's best friend: MTV. And I was mesmerized.

Nestled amidst Green Day and Lady Gaga and Bat for Lashes videos, I discovered an exciting new product in the commercial wasteland known as DR. The marketing gurus we can thank for Slankets, OxyClean, and Hairdini are onto a new thing: the skankification of Middle America.

For only $9.99 you can order the Flirty Girl Fit, the "hot new body makeover system" that guarantees you'll lose 2 pants sizes in just 10 days just by learning the "world's sexiest dance moves."

That's right, lose weight by pretending you're a stripper.

Or, is it exotic dancer?

Those of you who know me well are familiar with my moral opposition to exercise. But the promise of a "sexy, slender, awesome body" without the "boring, tedious workout" is music to my ears. A Booty Beat DVD, bonus Chair Dance DVD, and a Flirty Girl Fitness Pole – yes, a stripper pole! – all for under $10? Those ladies did indeed look long, lean, beautiful, tight – and as respectable as PTA moms. Who wouldn't call the toll-free number?

In the DR world, an idea that seems SNL parody-worthy at first often works its way insidiously into the mass market. When you consider the Topsy Tail generated over $100 million in sales, you'll start getting the picture: Jazzercise for real (not just Real) housewives.

something to believe in

2009-09-27T11:42:00.021-04:00

Maybe it was the boots squeezing the oxygen out of me, but I think I had a religious experience this week. Or it was as near to transcendence as a self-proclaimed agnostic can achieve with 20,000 other people in the middle of Giants Stadium.

U2 was in town.

Back in my Austin college days, U2 was a staple of my soundtrack (along with The Smiths, Tears for Fears and Talking Heads), and one of the favorite spins at 10-cent drink night at the Boathouse. Practically running the oxide off my audio cassette of War, I spent a lot of time at the wheel of my Toyota Corolla howling the lyrics to "New Year's Day."

But aside from great music, the lads from Dublin stood out for the religious underpinnings of songs like "I Will Follow" and bold political statements like "Sunday Bloody Sunday." Their ability to infuse strong beliefs into Top 40 entertainment made for my most memorable concert ever, at a small Houston venue in 1984.

So when my (RED) family invited me to join them on the floor of the stadium this week, I jumped at the chance to stand close to the stage, even in inappropriate footwear, for close to 6 hours. And I was not disappointed.

Deftly weaving showmanship, politics and religion – Bono led a rousing chorus of "Amazing Grace" – I felt myself swaying to the fervor of an old-time tabernacle. Maybe it's no coincidence that the night's crowd smashed the stadium's house record held by Pope John Paul's visit in 1995.

Still, I was mesmerized by the band's ability to elevate our consciousness beyond just a rockin' good time without coming off as preachy self-aggrandizing. It seemed perfectly appropriate to segue from "Desire" to fighting AIDS in Africa, to world debt, to Bishop Tutu, to asking the heavens (or just the monolithic, massive, mechanized video screen above) for the liberation of Aung San Suu Kyi.

I wondered how many of the thousands of beer-swilling, slam-dancing attendees truly appreciated the plight of the woman whose face adorned the paper masks the band distributed; but no matter. That was the point. The next time she makes the news, maybe some of them will pay attention.

My feet still hurt. But my soul is thriving.

ms. manners

2009-09-20T20:26:00.002-04:00

With all the recent chatter about civility, it's high time we set the record straight about what exactly we expect from each other in terms of behavior. Or rather, what we mean when we talk about manners.

Let's start with the low-hanging fruit: apologies. Any apology that ends with a qualifier is automatically disqualified as such. As in, "I'm sorry if..." or "I'm sorry, but..." or the most heinous of them all, "I'm sorry, it's just that...." Apparently, as much as people like to point fingers these days, we as a culture have grown allergic to actually taking the blame. Every apology lately, from Serena to Kanye to U.S. Congressmen, has a baked-in hedge. Just say two words and leave it at that. (Note: "My bad" works here too).

Next in line is the thank you. Even though it seems to be the first thing (next to the almighty "Please") we teach our kids, as adults we often seem to find it extraneous, implicit, or worse, irrelevant. Not to get all Emily Post on you, but e-mail doesn't help, though it does count in a pinch. But it's not the equivalent of a phone call or better, a hand-written, personal note. I'm always impressed by kids (under duress, I'm sure) who manage to scrawl a thank you, even boilerplate. Not that the kids are preternaturally well-mannered, which is only rarely, if ever, the case. It's that the mom felt it was important enough to nag them about it, possibly at the expense of other pressing nags.

You can't talk about thank you's without mentioning giving. I'm not speaking of charitable giving, which of course has its own merits; or occasion-based giving, like birthdays, weddings, holidays, promotions and baby slash bridal showers. I'm talking about random acts of kindness – the helpful introduction, or card/gift/bouquet that arrives on your doorstep unannounced, unnecessary and totally appreciated. The one that says "I was just thinking of you" or "This reminded me of you." To me, this is the height of manners – proactive etiquette.

Now, I'll be the first to say I'm not perfect. I've egregiously violated my own code at times. But it is the standard I hold myself up to.

So to those of you I've offended and someday will offend, let me just say: I'm sorry. No if's, buts or it's just's.

temper tantrums

2009-09-13T21:33:00.011-04:00

Last night, I let Paolo really have it. Something about dirty socks, again, on the floor, again – but it's never the little things that actually set me off. It's more the daylong Chinese water torture drips of 13-year old independence that eventually push me to a nuclear reaction.

I decided to cool down by turning on the news. And then I realized, it's not just me. Everyone's losing it.

Serena. Joe Wilson. Even on the VMAs tonight, Kanye couldn't stop himself from humiliating poor little Taylor Swift with his bad behavior. What are we, a bunch of crybabies?

I'm sure each of these ill-mannered moves will attempt to hide behind First Amendment-esque excuses. But there's a difference between speaking your mind and just plain rudeness.

In a time where we all feel entitled to Tweet or post (or ahem, blog) our latest and lamest cerebral diarrhea, it's not surprising the discourse has gotten a bit foul.

catch this

2009-05-17T19:35:00.008-04:00

Down at Gretel's office for a meeting this week, I absent-mindedly set a glass of water atop my MacBook Air.

"Really!?!" Ryan said more than asked, with perfectly punctuated precision.

Perfect as compared to its source – "Really!?! with Seth and Amy," the Weekend Update feature reprised this Saturday night on SNL.

Part feigned incredulity, mostly moral superiority, the skits seem to capture the sentiment of the era, where reason and logic are mass-market (thankfully). Past targets have included Larry Craig, Michaels Phelps and Vick, Blagojevich, Spitzer and AIG. Low-hanging fruit, to be sure, but fun, familiar fruit, that's perfectly innocuous.

But then I saw it: the new Lowe's spot. To prove how low their prices are, the commercial shows a couple wandering through the store, exchanging "really"s as they eye each astoundingly low price tag.

Regardless of your familiarity with the bit, the joke is an easy get – thanks to a simple, catchy phrase I'm sure we'll be hearing more of.

Catch phrases trace their origin to the 1700s, when the catchword was the first word of the following page inserted at the right-hand lower corner of each page of a book (picture that). The meaning extended to a "word caught up and repeated" (especially in the political sense) by 1795. So it's a close cousin of the tagline – but that's another blog post.

Really.

things my mother told me

2009-05-10T16:50:00.010-04:00

My mom didn't plan on raising a brand strategist. In fact, she barely understands exactly what I've been up to in the ten years since I left Oxygen (where, despite not getting what I did there either, she sure understood "Oprah"). She doesn't even have cable.

Still, she's responsible for my career.

Like Mom, I never knew roles like this existed in the world. And like most kids, I grew up in awe of the "uniform" jobs – doctor, fireman, policeman, and stewardess, in my case. That's right. I grew up wanting to be groovy.

(Know that scene in Catch Me If You Can, where Leo emerges from the TWA building, arms linked with the bubbly hot mini-clad air hostesses? That's what I'm talking about.)

But some years later (probably due to 70s-era hijackings), I traded glamour for introspection – and set my sights on being a writer. It wasn't aspiration so much as aptitude that drove my work, and soon my teachers took notice. This daughter of a physicist nearly failed physics and chemistry, but always got straight A's in English.

So when it came time to declare a major at The University of Texas, the school's progressive liberal arts curriculum seemed a logical path. I would major in English, take a slew of creative writing classes, and graduate with a B.A., pen ready to write The Great Chinese-American Novel.

Only, Mom had different plans. "Major in English?" she said incredulously. It was more indictment than inquiry. "What are you going to do with that degree – be an English teacher?"

Now, no offense to English teachers and other academics. My mom, with a Masters in Social Work, has nothing against the greater good. It's just that the greater good is pretty lousy with money, and she had no intention of supporting me a day past May 25,1985.

"Absolutely no majoring in English," she continued. "You have to have a marketable skill."

Perhaps no single word in the English language strikes such fear in my heart today as the word "marketable." I'd never even heard it before that afternoon, when the hard Dutch-accented consonants fired off her lips like poisoned stinging needles in my eyes. And then she said it:

"Why don't you go to business school?"

Ouch. The dream was shattering in slow motion. My voice, still unheard by so many, was being strangled prematurely, and I couldn't even squeak a response. It was all just so unfair, I thought, as she tossed the course catalog my way and said, go find a practical major.

Groaning under the weight of the Yellow Page-esque book, I listlessly started with the A's. And not five minutes later, it appeared:

ADVERTISING, B.S.

A B.S. in B.S.! Holy Ogilvy and Mather – This is IT, I thought to myself. A discipline that combined art with commerce, existentialism with capitalism. I would get to do what I loved and keep Mom happy.

I didn't know it at the time, but the UT program was one of the top ad schools in the country. Its graduates are among the top creatives at the most recognized shops. And while I abandoned the agency biz for the glittering entertainment industry after only a year, I use what I learned there every day. It's a move I've never regretted, even thought the country is now short one impoverished, badly needed English teacher.

And today, every brand I work with has a little bit of Mom in it.

pick a side

2009-05-03T17:00:00.013-04:00

My heart is broken. After all these years together, believing we shared the same values, he's betrayed my trust and taken up the banner of the enemy.

That's right. Paolo is getting a PC.

Since birth, I've raised him with the understanding that a Mac is more than a piece of hardware – it's a badge of honor. It's the calling card of a true creative, a diehard non-conformist, a sign of superior intelligence.

But that kind of thinking is precisely why he's rejected the platform wholesale. Not because he doesn't subscribe to those ideals. But because all the cool games only work on the aesthetically and functionally inferior PC.

It's not just adolescent rebellion manifesting itself in his choice of laptop. To his credit, Paolo has been willing to give Apple the benefit of his doubts with their Intel-fueled MacBook. Marketed to skeptical DOS fence-sitters like him, the model boasted its bi-platformality – switching seamlessly between OSX and Windows. Only, none of the hundreds of dollars worth of PC games we eagerly bought work on a "non-native" PC.

At first, I thought it was just me; I tried Parallels, I tried Boot Camp. But it's been a long, frustrating, and ultimately unfruiful three years. Last week , I paid a generic geek squader to tell me what I already knew: it just can't be done.

Maybe I should have read the fine print more carefully. I admit, the idea of digitally having it all was incredibly seductive. I get that one of the main selling points of Macs – virtually virusproof – is more a matter of low popularity than superior engineering. And I don't deny the appeal of souped-up hardware to the gaming set (see Microsoft's shamelessly pandering PC spots). But I still passionately, desperately, wanted to believe.

So I'm throwing in the digital towel, and reluctantly buying an ugly-ass, clunky, unintuitive, communist-inspired PC (Windows XP, 2.e GHz or Core Duo Processor, nVidia video card, Direct X, 512, 64, blah blah blah). Paolo claims he'll just use it for games, still messing around (doing "real work") on his Mac – but I'm no fool. Despite his best intentions, he's gone to the dark side, and I suppose that, like any mother, I simply have to let him go.

He might be a PC, but I love him anyway.

the rise of the middle ages

2009-04-26T11:25:00.017-04:00

She's frumpy, old and – let's face it – hard to look at. But when she opens her mouth, it's clear that she's got talent.

No, not that one. I'm talking about Maude.

I couldn't help but feel a certain sadness upon hearing of Bea Arthur's passing. She wasn't a role model – in fact, I never really paid her much attention. But she stood out in a business where sex appeal and youth are cost of entry.

Today, in this Susan Boyle era, seems we're also rejecting the young/restless model of success. Suddenly, it's OK to act your age – middle age, that is.

Abercrombie & Fitch, the youth-obsessed brand that made anyone over 30 painfully aware of their age, reported over 30% decreases in same-store sales in March – a month where most retailers were starting to breathe again.

The L.A. Times claims "The New Modesty" is all the rage among tween girls, citing the move to more grown-up, sedate styles as a backlash to Britney-esque padded bras and slutty stilettos.

And BET announced Centric, a new venture targeting older viewers. By "older" they mean 25-54, but it's significant in that Viacom, who built a business on defining youth, acknowledged there is business life north of 49.

Maybe it's an Obama-induced return to reason that's pushing a more mature sensibility, but I think we're seeing the beginnings of a larger trend.

The media-centric Boomers are getting older, and we simply refuse to be unhip. There's a reason our Millennial kids like hanging with us – because we've consciously raised them without the generation gap that defined (and instigated) the rebellious parent-child relationship we grew up with. We're our kids' buds – listening to the same music, wearing the same clothes, even taking them to concerts. Like them, we're cool. And determined to stay that way.

Let's hope the Andre Balaszes of the world will do for "senior living" what The Standard Hotel did for Holiday Inn. Because we Boomers won't go quietly into the sunset. We'll redefine "retirement" the way we've redefined parenthood: as an active, stylish hip-itome of modern lifestyles.

We'll make retirement sexy.

by any other name

2009-04-18T15:51:00.059-04:00

I'm done with brand strategy.

It's not that I don't like my work (I do), or that it doesn't give me pleasure (it does). It's just that in this economy, those words provoke eye-rolling, evoking bad memories of 90-page decks getting dumped into drawers.

Brand strategy, it seems, needs re-branding.

Not that everyone has issues, or that I haven't tried to enlighten people. I take exquisite pleasure at converting nonbelievers whenever there's a chance. It's a personal quest to restore valor and honor to the name of brand strategy, and brand strategists, everywhere.

I've always loved a good fight, and have long believed names are an empty vessel. But it's tough when you're a one-woman band, especially when you're not in control of the context in which it's viewed. Sometimes, the thing you call yourself is a non-starter.

You may never have ordered Patagonian Toothfish at your fave restaurant, but you certainly did when it was called Chilean Sea Bass. The sexier, consumer-friendly name grew the market – 25 times over.

I'm currently in conversations with a non-profit about rebranding a much-maligned canine. And I'm having a tough time picturing loads of parents swarming breeders, tykes in tow, scooping up a litter of Pit Bulls, without taking a name change into consideration.

Even the multi-branded Millennials/GenYs/iGen/

GenMes are wrestling with their identity. At opening night of the New Museum show "The Generational: Younger than Jesus", I saw this video, which captures it perfectly.

Google turns up 24 million results for "brand strategy." And now, when anyone with enough thumbs to Tweet can call themselves a brand strategist, it's lost cachet. Remember the late '80s, when anyone with a Mac and some Emigre fonts was – Ta Da! – suddenly a designer? It's like that, only more dangerous.

Maybe the surest sign I should toss the brand strategy shingle came this week, with Bethenny and Ramona arguing over who knew more about branding. (Still, my money's on the Skinny Girl).

That's just one reason brand strategy is so misunderstood – it's only as good as the people behind it. Not surprisingly, there are still a lot of executives at altitude sickness-inducing levels who consider it a "nice to have." Or a fluffy marketing expense. Or another offsite that seems to go nowhere. Recently, the respected head of a network told a staffer they didn't have time for brand strategy – because they needed to focus on ratings. As if!

Apparently this exec was unaware of recent success stories, such as the network that relaunched last year with a spanking new brand, but the same slate of originals. They posted (and continue to post) record-breaking ratings for every show. (I'm being coy because I worked with them, but you'll figure it out ;-)

So, I'm done with "brand strategy." Need your help coming up with a new name:

What would you call a valuable tool that focuses and drives business planning and decision-making?
That liberates your creatives to do whatever they want while having the confidence to know what's right?
That mandates more efficient and effective structures and processes, minimizing micro-management and increasing proactiveness?
That aligns and unites all the different divisions of a company around a common goal?
And that clearly, quickly and compellingly tells consumers why they should choose your product above all others – and continue to do so?

Whatever the name, I call it good business.

wild things

2009-04-04T10:07:00.048-04:00

Is it just me, or are things getting pretty hairy?

The poster for Spike Jonze's eagerly awaited retelling of Where the Wild Things Are says it best. The hairy beast inside every one of us is just dying to get out.

Everywhere you look, hirsute is in. Maybe it's just the inevitable knee-jerk to metrosexual manscaping, but I think it's the sign of a larger cultural (maybe male) desire to express our inner, homegrown power – even when we're in the kitchen.

A recent arti cle on Brooklyn's new culinary movers and shakers notes, "they also share an aesthetic that’s equal parts 19th and 21st century, with a taste for bold graphics, salvaged wood and, for the men, scruffy beards."

Who knew Mose Schrute was the poster boy for hipster chic?

There's even a line of T-shirts for the follicularly inclined.

Maybe all that Lincoln talk around Obama's election inspired millions of men to put down their razors.

But ladies, we need not feel left out just because we can't compete on the facial front. There are plenty of ways we can get in on the furry action – witness Boost Mobile's :30 ode to armpit hair.

Which of course, begs the question about Brazilians. Will wild and wooly replace the landing strip?

vital signs

2009-03-29T16:36:00.021-04:00

Whenever I travel, I look for local signs to help shed light on the culture. And in Turkey, where even the coffee grinds weigh in on your future, the street signs speak volumes.

Enjoy.

letter from istanbul

2009-03-25T05:21:00.010-04:00

Wasn't planning on filing a dispatch during my Spring Break, but brand strategy knows no boundaries, even here at the mystical crossroads of East and West.

It started the minute we entered the city, where we were welcomed by a familiar face: that of Barack Obama.

Now, the Prez isn't scheduled to visit Turkey until next month, but local Garanti bank obviously isn't waiting to take advantage of a good thing. They're using the iconic Obama as a spokesperson for low-interest loans. Apparently, they're not worried that archrivals Shepard Fairey and the Associated Press might find common ground in a copyright infringement suit.

But the bank is not the only clever marketer in town. The daily Radikal reports that a local company has applied to register "Barack Obama" as a commercial brand for clothing, socks, footwear and hats. Oh, and for consulting in business management, accounting, catalogs, electronic and retail environments, along with trade shows and exporting.
Talk about focus!

As I navigated the truly Byzantine halls of the Grand Bazaar, brushing past a man in a familiar T-shirt, I wondered: is Obama the new Che?

At least the Argentine Marxist revolutionary didn't have to hawk
frozen food in Germany, as Scott Hamrah found in USA Today.

Let's just hope the economic crisis doesn't damage Brand Obama.
Or else all this stuff will be on sale.

grey matters

2009-03-08T22:41:00.010-04:00

A lot was made this week of Obama's newly faded temples. But I'm more interested in the stuff in between.

The human brain contains roughly 100 billion neurons, linked with up to 10,000 synaptic connections each, according to Wiki. But despite centuries of scientific investigation, much about how the brain works remains a mystery.

Lately, I've been doing a lot of thinking about thinking – or more precisely, how brains work. So when Martha McCully invited me to her "Women and the Brain" event for Project ALS, I jumped at the chance to better understand my most valuable asset. Billed as "Taking Care of Your Brain: Sex, Stress, Mood, Memory and More," the panel of neurologists, psychologists and gender specialists offered different perspectives on how men and women think, and think differently. Among the more fascinating findings:

"Stressing out" is a primal instinct: this hormonal reaction is the female manifestation of the more male-centric "fight or flight" response. It likely originated as a protective mechanism to help preserve the young.
We can't help but pout: when met with a stressful situation, the related chemical in women's brains takes longer to dissipate than in men's – as much as 24 hours more. Which explains the silent treatment.
Good news for the road not taken: every time we experience something unfamiliar, a new pathway is carved in the brain. And every time we repeat an experience, we retread the same path – giving literal meaning to the phrase "stuck in a rut."

Seems like marketers might be hopping on the cerebral bandwagon, too. This week on the Today show, Martin Lindstrom talked about "NeuroMarketing" – the marriage of branding and neuroscience. A self-proclaimed "brand futurist," he made the rounds hawking his book Buy•ology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy (and likely trying to get you to buy into the Martin Lindstrom business). According to his website, "NeuroMarketing uses high–tech brain scanning techniques, such as fMRI and EEG, to investigate brain activity. This neuro–imaging hardware enables us to examine and analyze what really drives our behavior...."

Very Orwellian kind of stuff, especially with the scary electrode-wired cap and pupil-dilation monitor. But really, it's pop sociology, saying more about how we perceive advertising than about driving purchasing decisions, and just the latest in a string of titles on "irrational" behavior. It also nods to The Hidden Persuaders, Vance Packard's seminal tome on subliminal advertising – which gave me freaky nightmares in college.

If you buy Lindstrom's argument that we can predict and control behavior by understanding the brain's responses to ads and stimuli, he's a better mind reader than I thought.

As marketers, we must never fail to appreciate the mere complexity and mysterious beauty of the human brain.
Anything less is just a head game.

let them eat cake

2009-02-28T13:23:00.019-05:00

In these strange days of inconspicuous behavior, where it's either prudish or practical to avoid any outward display of self-indulgence – and TMZ is the newly appointed arbiter of ethical behavior – it's good to know one tradition is beyond reproach: your birthday.

Not since the fifties has good clean fun been so downright enjoyable. And this week, birthdays gained new prominence as a socially acceptable form of attention-getting. On Tuesday, Apple shareholders rose to their feet with a rousing chorus of "Happy Birthday" aimed at their ailing, absent chieftan Steve Jobs. Rabid well-wishers even posted congratulatory YouTube videos to mark the digital messiah's 54th.

And he's in good company. Marge Sandwick, Alan Goodman, Lisa Sherman, Tina Potter, Puja Vohra, Linda Schupack, Adam Pincus, Erinn Williams and Tom Ascheim are all celebrating, too. (If I've left you out, friend me.)

Thank Facebook. I'm fascinated by how a simple, throwaway registration request (MM/DD/YYYY) has become a mechanism for social broadcasting. On one glorious single day, all your social networks converge to post their happiness – for you. And we revel in it, because that one day of recognition brings the few moments of pure joy we actually feel entitled to.

While historically ingrained in most cultures with religious, emotional and often political significance, not all societies recognize (or accept) this date as exceptional. I learned this the hard way years ago, when I made the mistake of trying to cajole a Dwight Schrute-esque co-worker into sharing some birthday cake. Turns out he was a Jehovah's witness. "We don't believe in celebrating birthdays," he said curtly. I felt bad for his kids, who probably get hammered on theirs now.

And then I ate his slice.

happy meals

2009-02-22T18:46:00.002-05:00

Last weekend for Valentine's Day, my husband and his foodie friends prepared a recession-defying feast featuring foie gras, caviar, lobster, truffles, quail eggs and other artery-challenging delicacies.

So this weekend, I put in an even more indulgent culinary request.
I wanted a bacon cheeseburger.

Seems that trading down is pretty fashionable these days. Backstage at Bryant Park, fashionistas were swilling joe from "McCafe"-branded cups instead of Tattinger from crystal flutes, part of McDonald's corporate sponsorship of Fashion Week.

Oddly enough, the fashion flock didn't turn up their mineral-powdered noses at the idea of low-brow lattes. The company served up over 13,000 cups of their premium brew in an attempt to wean folks off their Starbucks habit – or catch the ones already looking to save a buck. And even the fashion royalty are proclaiming their reverse-chic love for Mickey D's, with Julia Restoin-Roitfeld sniffing about the superiority of the chain's Parisian outposts. Have the beautiful people deemed golden arches the latest status symbol?

It's paying off. Despite the cultural emphasis on healthy eating and anti-obesity initiatives, McDonald's reported domestic same-store sales were up over 5% in January. Which makes sense, of course, when "value meals" are involved, but I think it's indicative of a less rational phenomenon: just as lipstick sales go up in a recession, we like to eat badly when we're depressed. "People know it's cheaper to eat at home, but it's an inexpensive way to lift their mood--especially if they're working late. Workplace morale is low, stress levels are high--people are looking for short-term gratification," says Nancy Upton, an expert on hedonistic spending.

Don't I know it. In the aftermath of 9/11, I traded yoga & pilates for Ben & Jerry's. And I've never looked back.

color my world

2009-02-08T09:17:00.011-05:00

Feeling a little blue right now. Not sad or depressed.
I'm just writing.

A new study, published Thursday in the Web site of the journal Science, found that in cognitive terms, the color blue enhances performance on creative tasks and brainstorming. Turns out color impacts how we behave – red, for example, sharpens our analytical skills and eye for detail.

That's not news in the East, where color has long been associated with well-being and healing. In Hindi and Buddhist ideology, each of the seven chakras (energy forces) are guided by a specific color, relating to different dimensions of consciousness, emotional response and physicality.

Likewise, architects and interior designers always connect color with behavior in real-life environments. So it's a good thing yellow is headed our way, according to Stroll Magazine's report from the recent Paris Furniture show. In color theory, yellow – "the color of sunshine" – conveys joy, happiness, intellect, and energy.

Even Pantone named "Mimosa" (Pantone 14-0848) the "Color of the Year" for 2009, bumping off last year's 18-3943, "Blue Iris," by claiming it "embodies hopefulness and reassurance in a climate of change."

To celebrate, Pantone and GAP opened a pop-up store next on 5th Avenue, exclusively selling limited-edition T-shirts in Mimosa, as well as other colors coveted by design freaks. The shop's run just ended today, but you can find other PMS-inspired stuff (everything from flash drives to rugs) online.

Don't expect to see me wearing 14-0848, though – black is still the go-to (ok, only) color in my wardrobe. Maybe because that way, I don't wear my emotions (literally) on my sleeve.

The next time you see red, feel blue or go green with envy, just remember what Coco Chanel said: "The best color in the whole world is the one that looks good on you."

the end of all or nothing

2009-02-01T10:41:00.003-05:00

Facebook has jumped the shark. I know, because I'm finally on it. And now, friends are freaked at how "on it" I am. But that's why I resisted for so long – I'm an all or nothing kind of girl.

But black or white polarity is no longer relevant, or even fashionable. The Liberal vs. Conservative, my-way-or-
the-highway extremism that characterized the last era has given way to a comfort with – even yearning for – grey areas.

Yes, give Obama some credit. But we live the blur everyday – in a high-tech culture, buying food that reflects pre-industrial values. We go online to buy and sell handcrafted wares. And even the Republicans just appointed their first black party chairman.

Nowhere is this more evident than on Facebook, where personal and professional lines are crossed – or obliterated. Call it "per-fessional." We exchange intimate and inane personal tidbits with people we know professionally, but the reverse doesn't hold true. We don't want to do business on FB. That's what work e-mails are for.

So now the backlash is on, with folks complaining about getting de- (or un-)friended, and free Whoppers for sacrificing 10 "friends" resulting in 233,906 poor souls on the wrong end of the delete key. Which has led to calls for sub-definitions of the word.

But the idea of boundaries will always be antithetical to the web. We can't apply physical properties and old-world analogs to the purely abstract Internet, says a pal who consults on national cybersecurity policy. In the digital realm, containment is a nonexistent concept.

Absolutism is dead. Long live blur.

reading the tea leaves

2009-01-25T17:42:00.001-05:00

As we come down from the high of finally getting you-know-who safely ensconced in office, perhaps no two words have better reflected the mindstate of the country than those on the cover of the current issue of Good: "Now What?"

But the question I always ask brands is: "Why Now?"

As in: what about this time in our culture makes your brand especially relevant to consumers? What's going on in their world that connects with your business plan? And how do we harness that for the future?

For brands to be forward-thinking in this radically shifting market, they have to intuitively empathize with their consumers – or risk irrelevance. Dev Patnaik, a business strategist and author of the just-out “Wired to Care: How Companies Prosper When They Create Widespread Empathy,” said now-suffering auto and airline execs were living in a bubble before their industries tanked – driving only American-made cars, and getting VIP treatment that's a far cry from the misery us civlians have to endure. "Companies make better decisions and make decisions more quickly when they are in alignment with the folks who actually buy their products," he told the New York Times.

Lately, I've been creating reports and tools to help clients better put themselves in their consumers' place, in partnership with Scott Hamrah, an experienced semiotics researcher. Together, we crack the codes of brand-specific areas to identify what's emerging, dominant and receding, then map it in a context that's immediately actionable, yet with long-term implications for the brand and business.

Parts cultural anthropology, trend forecasting and cool hunting, semiotics research has long been used by consumer product behemoths to guide product development and package design. But media companies have yet to embrace this methodology. The ones that do will build their brands and drive programming, marketing and sales – because they'll know what consumers are often unable (or unwilling) to articulate via traditional methods.

We may not be able to read minds. But we can see the signs.

post-cool

2009-01-18T18:47:00.018-05:00

I was eight years old in 1971, when my parents moved us from Ardsley, NY to Houston. And it was then that I discovered: it was chronically uncool to be smart.

The kids mocked me mercilessly for being a comparative "brain," forcing me to temper my natural instincts in order to fit in. I even got beat up after a Girl Scout meeting. By Girl Scouts.

Ever since then, I've just wanted to be cool.

So you can imagine my joy as Obamania sweeps the country this week. Unlike the former occupants, it'll be hard not to find the brainiacs in office the least bit sexy. Intelligent, educated, worldly, articulate, calm and capable, they're ushering in a new Age of Reason. Where reading (and writing your own speeches, as Barack is said to do) is not only cool – it's hot.

I even thought about this while watching Woody Allen in the excellent PBS documentary series, "Make 'Em Laugh: The Funny Business of America." Woody's roles are always a hot nerd fantasy, doted on by stunning women who seem to be blind to his obvious deficiencies. Which only made him seem more attractive.

Probably no phrase captures the zeitgeist so perfectly as "hot nerd." I first saw it this week in Maureen Dowd's op-ed piece, but apparently it's been around – a Google search produces no less than 16,000 results, including a song by a band called The Hot Carls. I'll bet these guys are nerds too.

So after years of trying, I can finally relax. I'm over being cool.

forget your troubles, c'mon get happy

2009-01-11T16:47:00.009-05:00

A new year, a new President, a new screwy world order. Nothing's for sure, but one thing is certain: we'll all be watching lots of TV. The past has shown that television viewing grows in unsteady times. But what the heck will it look like?

For clues, it's helpful to look at the kinds of culture that soothed battered souls in the aftermath of the Great Depression. The economic wasteland that was the 1930s deputized icons like Shirley Temple, James Cagney, Frankenstein and King Kong. The pure, original voices of Steinbeck, Hemingway and even Cole Porter defined a new American authenticity never heard before. We can also thank this sober period for screwball comedies, lavish musicals and gangster movies. Even football owes its emergence as a national sport to the decade that birthed Gone with the Wind – the book and the movie.

If all this (and more!) was created in just ten trying years, it's evident the stress cultivated fertile imaginations – because of – not despite – the barren times. Which makes sense. I'm always at my most creative when faced with the highest order of tension. (Imagine if Van Gogh had been a happy guy.)

Like television today, entertainment then provided a cheap and easy panacea from the harsh reality of hard times. They served as a window into better times and better lives – but often thrived on seeing greedy Madoff-esque folks implode at their own doing.

Maybe we can't (or don't want to) re-live our past, but we sure can learn from it. Perhaps the work we create now will help guide future generations through their own disasters, economic or otherwise.

ghosts of christmas past

2008-12-20T15:30:00.016-05:00

I'm not normally one for nostalgia, but this week I kept seeing the holidays of my youth.

Maybe it was the flu-induced fever or the chill of the economy that made me want to, as Lauren Zalaznick suggested, cuddle up with a Hot Toddy.

I probably caught the darn thing wandering around a North Fork tree farm in the freezing cold, where I took this snap of Paolo re-enacting "A Charlie Brown Christmas."

Which is why I was tickled to see Apple's "Tree Trimming." Bringing their Mac and PC Guy to Rankin-Bass-esque life for the second holiday in a row, the spot delightfully evokes The Land of Misfit Toys for those of us late Boomers. It almost made me watch the Miser Brothers' Christmas special... until the Toddy wore off.

Still, I did something I haven't done in years... watch a traditional sitcom. I'm not talking post-modern funny like Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Office or 30 Rock, which you already know I love, but the '50s era 3-camera format Paolo and I rediscovered on Gary Unmarried. I have never seen this show before, and I can't guarantee I will again, but to my surprise, I actually found it... funny. And well-written.

Was it the flu talking? Or is Steve Seidmon right when he predicts the sitcom will make a comeback?

Two things that likely won't be coming back anytime soon: hair combs and pocket watches, as in my fave dysfunctional Christmas tale, O. Henry's "Gift of the Magi". Which seems a fitting (though bleak) parable for this year's election: Obama gives us badly needed leadership, only we've sold the country he was elected to rule. Mr. President, don't you love what you got this year?

Have a Holly Jolly. I'm heading South, to see family in Texas, and spend the New Year with Lee Hunt and his family in Mexico.
See you in 2009.

happy, happy, joy, joy

2008-12-07T21:28:00.001-05:00

Despite the grim news this past week, I kept seeing smiley faces everywhere (even at Barneys). And we're not talking the ironic, Ecstasy-giddy smiley, or a pathetic Band-Aidesque one, but the genuine, hope-infested kind.

Maybe it's because, as a just-unveiled British study reveals, happiness is contagious, even among strangers. "Emotions have a collective existence — they are not just an individual phenomenon,” says the paper's author, whose previously published research showed that obesity and quitting smoking are likewise socially contagious.

So while it's been categorically unhip to embrace unbridled positivity, right now it might be the next big trend. And if, like many of our industry colleagues, you had to give, get or hear bad news this week, I recommend that most reliable dosage of feel-goodism: the movies.

Even if you can't bear to check your cynicism at the concession stand, you'll emerge from the Oscar-buzzy Slumdog Millionaire with a smile on your face – you'll even want to stick around for the closing credits.

Prefer to stay under the covers? Rent my all-time holiday fave, Love Actually. It'll turn even the most joyless Hugh Grant hater into a hopeful (and hopeless) optimist.

Which feels especially appropriate right now if you substitute "happiness" for "love" in his opening line: "If you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling that love, actually, is all around."

:-) Pass it along.

buy like you mean it

2008-11-23T20:51:00.007-05:00

In Minneapolis this week to help a client pitch Target's business,
I discovered what's perhaps the newest way to shop:
airport vending machines.

Unlike the usual Coke-and-Pepsi or candy bars, these were no nickel-and-dime operations. We're talking iPhones in a Best Buy machine. Seriously. There was even a Proactiv Skincare machine, conveniently plopping out the stuff Jessica Simpson swears by (or is paid to). But as brilliant as they might be, I'm in a different frame of mind this year.

So, with the holiday rush about to descend upon us, here are a few suggestions for consumption that's more conscious than conspicuous. And that might make you feel as good as the lucky recipient.

Etsy:
OK, so this crafty DIY-meets-social shopping site is a client, but I'm sold on the idea of spoiling friends (or myself) while supporting home-grown businesses. One of you is the lucky recipient of the bag at left...

Good Magazine:
If you haven't checked out this poster zine of the zeitgeist, don't let that stop you from gifting some worthy person with a subscription. Their "pay as you wish" model still puts every dollar you deem appropriate to the non-prof of your choice. Plus, Open's Scott Stowell is the Design Director, so you know it's fun to read and good looking to boot.

Kiva:
Last year, Puja Vohra sent me a gift certificate to microfinance third-world small businesses. So far, I've invested in a beauty salon in Nigeria, a computer business in Peru, a foodseller in Vietnam and a seamstress in Tajikistan. Each time a loan is repaid, you reinvest in another biz. (BTW, Puja just had baby Mira, the greatest gift of all!)

Branch:
Those of you previously on the Truth Co. holiday gift list will recognize this design-minded e-tailer of all things good and green. Tell owner Paul Donald I sent ya.

Catalog Choice:
While you're at it, give yourself (and the planet) the gift of decluttering your mailbox. Register for this free service which contacts all those catalog companies on your behalf, nicely asking them to stop. It's quicker than a phone call and actually kinda fun!

And at the risk of nepotism, support the family business –
daRosario Organics:
Some of you already know me as the Cheap Marketing Officer of my husband's eponymous line of truffle products. Unlike the chemically-derived flavoring of all others, daRosario products use REAL truffle ingredients and are USDA 100% Certified Organic. We love the oils and salts on comfort foods like grilled cheese, white pizza, mashed potatoes and chicken pot pie – even popcorn and chips. And for dessert, try the latest: truffle honey drizzled on vanilla ice cream or ricotta. Available December 1st through e-tailer Earthy Delights, in NYC via Fresh Direct and Fairway, and The Cheese Store of Beverly Hills.

Happy shopping. And have a great Thanksgiving.

out is the new in

2008-11-16T21:59:00.001-05:00

I'm anxiously awaiting Tuesday's release of Malcolm Gladwell's latest book, Outliers: The Story of Success.

On his site, he defines "outlier" as "a scientific term to describe things or phenomena that lie outside normal experience" – for example, an usually cold day in the middle of summer. He then applies the concept to his theory that success isn't determined by individual effort or good luck. It's actually the product of seemingly unrelated cultures, communities and circumstances.

From lawyers to hockey players to software entrepreneurs to pilots, Gladwell tells us, "it's remarkable how many patterns you can find in the lives of successful people, when you look closely." Can't wait.

If, like me, you're a fan of The Tipping Point or Blink, you already know what an influential and critical thinker Gladwell can be. And if so, you'll understand how I felt at Chelsea Market a few months back, having coffee with Jane Olson. There he was, sitting at the next table, and I chatted him up like a wacko intellectual groupie. I just had to connect for one brief, fleeting moment – hoping some karmic connection was forged for life.

community, organized

2008-11-09T21:26:00.016-05:00

xkcd.com

Well, we did it.

As Ruth Bernstein so aptly put it at Sundance Channel's Elvis Costello bash, we just rebranded America. From CEOs to stay-at-home moms, so many friends and colleagues were hands-on in the campaign. Determined not to let this election be decided by better organized, but less kindred, souls.

And like any relaunch, the hard work has just begun. The grass roots networks (and passions) that have been hard at work for the past two years can't just sit idly by. We've got to realize that real (not just virtual) participation is community 3.0.

Luckily, that won't be hard. Existing social networks will grow, and more will emerge. Even I, the most ardent social-networking Luddite in the industry, just signed on to Loopt, a cool new way to stay connected.

Equal parts Facebook, Twitter and GPS, Loopt is a "social mapping network" that literally lets you stay on top of your friends' every move via cellphone. You can even find new pals just by seeing who's in your hood. It's a snap to set up and free to download. Add me as a friend at 917.349.7730 to see.

And we can say: Yay for us.

revenge of the nerds

2008-11-02T13:14:00.019-05:00

Ever since I was the only girl on the 5th grade "Mathletics" team, I've always been in touch with my inner geek. So it was with great pleasure that I reveled in geekdom all week. For me, the highlight of Monday's Sundance Institute gala was dining with new BFF (and favorite 30 Rocker), Judah Friedlander, who did not disappoint on the show's long-awaited season premiere.

And it was with great fascination that I tuned into PBS, for the Nova episode on fractals. A fractal, according to Wiki, is "a rough or fragmented geometric shape that can be split into parts, each of which is (at least approximately) a reduced-size copy of the whole." Being the brand geek that I am, I can't help but apply this concept to my work, and consider fractal branding.

Which means, if we think of brands as fractal beings, they would be made of an infinite amount of smaller iterations (initiatives, shows, promos, design, departments and people) that are encapsulations of the brand itself. Makes stupid sense, but I never thought of it that way.

Just like I never connected the election with Sesame Street, as B.J. Novak so brilliantly did in the NY Times this week. His theory that candidates are either geeky Berts (Obama/Biden) or doofusy Ernies (McCain/Palin) is just so right.

Fingers crossed: long may the geeks reign.

power tools

2008-10-26T08:55:00.004-04:00

I grew up in a hardware store.

Every Sunday morning, my dad would pack me in the car and head off to the hardware store for a few hours. While he scrupulously gathered the doodads and geegaws for his various inventions, I wandered the aisles aimlessly, mentally stockpiling all the odds and ends I might someday need to make something fabulous.

I still do the same. Only today, instead of taking inventory of wingnuts and vise grips, I collect ideas. And instead of wielding soldering irons and jig saws, I create tools.

Lately, I've been working with clients to establish better internal brand processes. With so much work needing to be done so quickly (and in this economic environment, for so much less), the right brand tools are essential.

These range from the simplistic (a checklist to make sure everyone's following the same process) to the more sophisticated (an intricate grid of criteria to lessen the subjectivity of decision-making). The important thing is collaboratively creating a tool that everyone actually uses.

Or so says an article from last year's New Yorker Magazine (one of the ideas I've pocketed along the way). In it, hospital studies proved that checklists reminding doctors of routine sanitation procedures reduced infections, improved morale and even saved money. That's compared to hospitals whose doctors "said" they followed the same process – but inadvertently skipped steps, or did them in the wrong order. Same held true for pilots – and trust me, you don't want to be flying on a plane without a checklist.

They must be on to something. Seems like a cottage industry has sprung up on the web for sites that offer pre-built lists, or help you make your own.

Making "stupid little lists" might seem remedial and time-wasting to the seasoned executive. But if it works – and even saves lives – why not try?

score one for the caveman

2008-10-19T17:37:00.014-04:00

If you haven't yet seen SNL's ratings-busting Sarah Palin- Tina Fey encounter, you missed more than a clever skit.

It was a case study in multitasking marketing. Because the star veep nom wasn't the only one to promote her current project.

Tina and Alec Baldwin's 30 Rock reference was woven seamlessly into the opener. During the monologue, host Josh Brolin and Oliver Stone ham-handedly plugged their just-opened W. And before he dropped the Max Payne mention, I thought Marky Mark was just riffing on a past parody by threatening Andy Samberg – which he had plugged the night before on Jimmy Kimmel Live. Uh, did I miss anything?

Maybe we just can't help ourselves. According to a recent piece by NPR, scientists say our ability to multitask is a remnant of our evolutionary past – contributing to our survival as the fittest. We could hunt for food, keep track of our clan, and not lose our way back to the cave all at the same time. They attribute this to a sophisticated switching system in the brain that prioritizes thoughts of greater importance in the frontal lobe, separating them from mere distractions.

At the same time, "studies show that we frequently overestimate our ability to handle multiple tasks." In fact, as I type this, I'm watching a cooking show with Rosario, telling Paolo to get off the computer, and munching on a salad.

Um, where was I?

bless the beasts

2008-10-12T21:27:00.000-04:00

Must be something in the air, but everyone's going ape over animals (and I'm not just talking about Beverly Hills Chihuahuas.)

This week, Tina Brown launched (in beta) The Daily Beast, which I instantly bookmarked thanks to neato features like "Chea t Sheet" and the deconstructionist "Big Fat Story." Tagged "Read This, Skip That", it's the bastard child of Huff Post and The We ek, with the good looks of New York Magazine thrown in. I've always been a Tina fan, even through the disappointing Talk days, and I'm rooting for her here. If you are too, check out her hysterical Q&A in the "About Us" section.

And for creatures of a more – or less, actually – animated sort, head to 7th Avenue South, just north of Bleecker Street, by 10/31. Under an unassuming awning which winkingly marks The Village Petstore and Charcoal Gril l, British artist/prankster Banksy has literally set up shop, mounting a menagerie that feels like Disney animatronics on Ecstasy.

I can't decide whether my favorite exhibit was the fishsticks swimming in the fishbowl, the monkey diligently surfing Discovery Channel, or the chicken nuggets feeding on cups of BBQ sauce – but Paolo and I loved it all. It was funny, it was weird, it was provocative, it was creepy, it was smart, it was stupid.

Most of all, it was an altogether different beast.

branding the maverick

2008-10-05T18:06:00.021-04:00

Great piece in today's New York Times about the origin of the word "Maverick." Turns out it's the surname of a progressive Texas family (note to McCain: do some fact checking).

Its use dates back to the 1800s, and rancher Samuel Augustus Maverick. Contrary to custom of the day, he refused to brand his cattle, thinking it a wasted effort to track livestock on the land he considered more worth his attention. So an unbranded calf was called a "maverick."

But today, the companies we call mavericks tend to be the ones with the most clearly defined brands. Even "un-brand" brands like Muji are cultishly adored for their functional aesthetic, minimalist philosophy and commitment to sustainable production. Oh yeah, and cool products too.

So whenever "maverick" gets a bad rap – from signifying lazy ranching (then) to political posturing (now), the ideology remains the same – that of an independent thinker. To brand or not to brand is never really the question.

head games

2008-09-28T21:25:00.002-04:00

This week's political theatrics got me reminiscing. Back in freshman year of high school, my partner Kyra Buchko and I won third place in the Texas State Debate Tournament.

I'm not really sure what attracted me to this misfit assortment of hard-partying nerds, aspiring lawyers and drama rejects. I certainly never envisioned the profession I'm in now, but I developed skills and learned lessons then that still serve me today. Sure, the public speaking was great practice, but every mental joust required strategy, focus, thinking on your feet, and the ability to anticipate and withstand withering critiques – all while building strong, cohesive and fluid arguments. But most of all, I learned how to think like the other guy.

Wikipedia says, "one large misconception about debate is that it is all about argument; it is not. The major goal of the study of debate as a method or art is to develop one's ability to play from either position with equal ease."

Because the format of a high school debate meant you could be arguing either for or against the same case based on a coin toss, you had to have a 360˚ view of the issue. You had to know how to exploit (and defend) every weakness and cement (and destroy) every strength in the case. You have to be able to sympathize with the other side because in the next round, it could be you.

So now, I can't help but strive to understand what the other guy's thinking – whether it's a client, a creative, the competition or the consumer. Sometimes it gets me in trouble. But more often than not, it gets me ahead.

little creatures

2008-09-21T18:06:00.014-04:00

I was invaded by aliens this week. It started when I uploaded Spore, the latest virtual civilization game from Will Wright, the wizard behind The Sims. Only instead of letting you play God with oblivious "humans," Spore lets you play Darwin.

Starting with a single cell, you control the genetic mutation (and survival) of customized creatures who evolve from sea to land, and eventually outer space. With a robust menu of body parts, defensive plating, and many different skin

colors and surfaces to choose from, think of Spore as "survival of the fittest" meets Project Runway – "auffing" included.

That's a better concept than what I saw Tuesday night: scary bad movie Christmas on Mars, by one of my fave bands The Flaming Lips. Seven years in the making, it retells the traditional holiday story with an fairy tale, extraterrestrial twist. But even the Adam Goldberg and Fred Armisen cameos couldn't save this obnoxiously loud sleigh crash of a movie, which is a great ad for day jobs. Funny thing is, in the right hands (Spielberg or Tim Burton?) it would probably be a box-office hit.

Speaking of, I'm curious to see what becomes of The Day the Earth Stood Still remake coming in December. This weekend, we rented the original, which was only marginally better than Christmas on Mars. I fell asleep after the silver dude emerged from the saucer. Guess I'll have to see the remake to see what happens next. Or not.

hitting the bullseye

2008-09-14T21:22:00.002-04:00

Some of you already know I've been a loyal Target shopper ever since they sucked me in with their cutesy Michael Graves spatula. Since then, I've racked up countless charges on my Target Visa buying clothes, detergent, towels, make-up, sheets (amazingly soft and sturdy bamboo ones!), shoes, appliances, stationery, even food – and anything else on my list that's in their aisles. I've even toyed with pitching a book idea of moving into Target for a year to live out of the store. I think I could do it.

So this morning, I high-tailed it to Target's latest pop-up "bodega" just blocks from my house. For 4 days only, they plastered the Soho space floor-to-ceiling with post-Warholian grocery garb (including soup cans individualized for each beaming designer's face). Some of the items were disappointingly ordinary, but had the effect of making the slightly interesting stuff inordinately more so. Proof? Somehow I walked out of there with $135 worth of clothing – context is everything.

We'll see if the same holds true when Project Runway moves to its new network home. At Friday morning's taping of the last-ever Bravo finale, I couldn't help but foresee the demise of one of my fave shows as it moves to less fabulous real estate – the Wal-Mart that is Lifetime vs. the bullseye of Bravo's Target.

Crappy iPhone photo, from left to right: Michael Kors, Nina Garcia, Fern Mallis, Harvey Weinstein, Rachel Zoe, Christian Siriano, Padma Lakshmi, Heidi Klum

Wal-Mart's pathetic attempt to bring high fashion to their aisles failed miserably because it was marooned in the context of a brand that stood (and stands) for low prices, period. Target's vision of "Design for All" led to a systematic revamp of every department – it's a promise they deliver on every shelf.

So sorry, Heidi. Admittedly I'm biased, but I just don't see myself turning to Lifetime, even for you. After this season ends, I'll be saying Auf Wiedersehen.

what i did on my summer vacation

2008-09-07T15:23:00.008-04:00

I took a blogging break this summer. Surprisingly, some of you actually noticed! (Thanks, I missed you too.) Here's how I recharged.

Went off the grid.
Finally took the plunge and disconnected my home land line. Then, while sailing the Atlantic coast (Martha's Vineyard - Cuttyhunk - Newport - Block Island - Greenport), found some of the last few dead zones in the Northeast. (E-mail me if you want them).

Perfected the quasi-Olympian sport of beach reading.
On my list, the typical mix of high/low:
1. Bringing Home the Birkin - secrets to scoring the coveted bag
2. Schooled - "The Devil Wears Prada" meets the bitchy world of private school tutoring
3. LoveHampton - the debut novel of the fabulous Sherri Rifkin!
4. This Republic of Suffering - how the Civil War shaped modern ideas about death and dying
5. A Voyage Long and Strange - a writer explores what really happened in America between 1492 (Columbus) and 1620 (Plymouth Rock)
6. 1453 - the post-Crusades history of the Christian/Muslim fight for Constantinople (advance reading for my upcoming Istanbul trip) – not to be confused with...
6. 1421 - the year China discovered America, not to be confused with 1492 or 1620 or... oh, never mind.

Went in for long-haul TV.
Watched our boys kick Nazi ass in all twelve hours of "Band of Brothers."
Then, two weeks' worth of Olympics. Dazzled by the first night's cast of billions. Slow to realize why endless matches of beach volleyball merited primetime slots. Disheartened to see the closing night turn into every country's worst opening ceremony nightmare. When Jackie Chan starts singing, it's over.

And of course, the Democratic and Republican miniseries – er, conventions. Is it just me, or does Sarah Palin have a Tina Fey thing going on?

Created my own social network.
Signed up for an account with Ning. Haven't gotten any further.

Danced a margarita-fueled solo on a water trampoline.
Don't ask. Tina Potter assures me the photos have been destroyed.

Hope you had a great summer too.

see you in september

2008-07-04T11:23:00.000-04:00

am taking a break for the summer. enjoy yours!

stupid games people play

2008-06-29T21:06:00.006-04:00

Last week, egged on by my son Paolo's relentless pursuit of mindless entertainment, we started loading up the DVR with episodes of Unbeatable Banzuke and Ninja Warrior from G4.

In case you're unacquainted with shows that treat people like human pinballs, they're part of a subtitled Japanese TV genre known as batsu games, or punishment and humiliation games.

You may be amused to know I've long been a fan of Spike's MXC, which mashes up Japanese teambuilding, mud-swamped obstacle courses and the kind of sophmoric commentary only Adam Carolla could provide (I'm pretty sure that team wasn't really composed of "master bakers").

But my affection for stupid game shows goes back to the '70s – (yes, I had the home edition of Beat the Clock) – when I visited my grandmother in Holland and fell in love with Spel Zonder Grenzen.

Games without Frontiers, as it's known in English, aired from 1970-1977 in the Netherlands, as the Olympics of stupid games – bringing together a pre-
Unionized Europe to battle themselves silly on padded playgrounds. Exported to the States, it lost a bit in translation when it re-emerged as Battle of the Network Stars, but at least we got to watch Farrah break a sweat.

Fast-forward to Tuesday nights, when we can now enjoy Wipeout (the super-sized, Americanized extreme sports-on-steroids version that looks for any excuse to say the word "balls"). And my new favorite, the oddly compelling reality show I Survived a Japanese Game Show! – a hybrid of The Amazing Race, Survivor and batsu games.

Maybe it's our wartime need for absurd escapism that, as in the '70s, makes watching spazzthletes compete in goofy gladiator shows so appealing. Or maybe it's because, like them, sometimes it feels good to be a little stoopid.

gather. lunch. repeat.

2008-06-21T21:04:00.001-04:00

Every year at the PROMAX conference, I search for common themes among the various sessions to begin evangelizing about. This year, it wasn't all the talk about multiplatform marketing that got me excited. It was lunch.

In Wednesday's "Sticky Wisdom" session, Troika's Chuck Carey described his company's policy of a providing a catered meal every day as an investment in innovation.

In my Thursday case study session on Animal Planet's rebrand, creatives Michael Eisenbaum and Jamie Dugger cited the network's communal lunch table as a breeding ground for ideas.

Wikipedia traces the origins of the free lunch back to 1870, when saloons across the country offered up complementary meals to hungry cowpokes – provided they purchase at least one drink. Even then, they knew the way to a man's wallet was through his stomach – and the key to riches was through the bar tab.

Even Google and Bloomberg recognize the power of a pasta salad. And in case you're wondering, it has little to do with the chow. Hamburgers, sushi and steak are just an excuse for bringing together people who don't always have a need to connect. Because when they're not thinking about thinking, casual conversation can spark real results. Call it spontaneous creative combustion.

So whether you're brown-bagging or expense-accounting your next meal, don't do it alone. Your brainstorm is waiting for you.

blame hallmark

2008-06-15T16:50:00.013-04:00

I hate fake holidays.

While I'm all for an excuse to party, I have to admit to some eye-rolling when May and June roll around. The obligatory card, flowers, gifts, phone calls and/or visits to pay homage to Mother and Father feel forced on me as a result of some corporate conspiracy hatched by the greeting card companies. I blame Hallmark every year. This morning they sponsored my local all-news radio station, in a guilt-inducing attempt to own the day.

Of course, the etymology of "holiday" stems from "holy day," and probably no one's laid claim to the calendar more than the Catholics (as my husband likes to remind me). Their year is crammed with individually named "Saint's Days," that originated with commemorating the deaths of martyrs. Apparently the Catholics were a perishable lot, and soon the calendar was bursting with so many homages to Vituses and Bennos (June 15th and 16th), that they ended up creating a generic "All Saint's Day" on November 1.

It reminds me of the illogical mantra we used to hear (and now repeat to our own kids): "But every day is Children's Day!" (According to Wikipedia, no one can decide on an actual date, so this is in fact truer than any of us were ever led to believe.) Well, if every day is special, than none of them are.

Still, working with media clients in developing their brands, I often ask them: what existing holiday would they co-opt? Or what new holiday would they invent?

Some connections are obvious:

Earth Day – Planet Green
Oscar Night – E!
July 4th – Fox News
Gay Pride Week – Logo
April Fool's Day – Comedy Central

But others require a bit more thought. Here are some upcoming holidays up for grabs, and some suggested sponsors:

Baby Boomer Recognition Day (June 21st) – TV Land?
Take Your Webmaster to Lunch Day (July 6th) – Wired Magazine?
National Personal Chef Day (July 16th) – Food Network?
Cow Appreciation Day (July 26th) – GAC?
National Mustard Day (August 2nd, and not to be confused with any local celebrations) – ESPN?
National Duran Duran Appreciation Day (August 10th) – MTV?

These are real, I swear. Feel free to send a card. But if it slips your mind, you can always celebrate I Forgot Day (July 2nd).

oreo nation

2008-06-08T22:29:00.010-04:00

This week, at long last, Barack Obama got a chance to breathe. But I'm all in a huff about how the media has relentlessy hailed him as "the first black presidential candidate."

Black? He's half-black. Which makes him a white candidate as well. To me, he's the first Oreo candidate.

Seems everyone's always eager to categorize ideas (and people) in only one dimension. Personally, Obama represents the face of the nation – my son's, that is. I asked my half-Chinese (likely mixed with Indonesian ancestry), half-Italian (Sicilian, which means part African) 12-year old which ethnic box he would tick on a standardized test: Caucasian or Asian? Without hesitation, he replied "Other."

"Other" might be a good way to describe Planet Green, a network I helped launch (along with the relaunch of Oxygen – yes, it was a busy week!). While people logically assumed this would be a commendable endeavor from parent co Discovery Networks, the launch team knew that karma alone wouldn't get anyone to actually watch.

So we created a brand that could compete with the rest of TV. A newfangled hybrid of good-for-you green and easy-on-the-eye enter- tainment, the channel is more a Green Entertainment Network than an activist's agenda – TV for bright greens.

Time will tell if this approach brings more folks to the green party than an earnest, straight-ahead appeal. But I'm hoping my favorite writer, F. Scott Fitzgerald, was right when he said: “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.”

We're trained by much of society to accept things at face value. But when the faces (literally) change, so should our expectations.

sex and the [YOUR BRAND HERE] city

2008-06-01T22:53:00.022-04:00

Like millions of fans of the series, I was looking forward to the premiere of the "Sex and the City" 2-hour plus commercial – er, movie, this weekend. Despite the tepid reviews, it was notable for its emotional authenticity (SPOILER ALERT: Carrie's gut-wrenching, bouquet-thrashing scene when Big fails to show at their wedding was the most realistic portrayal of female rage I've ever seen on film).

It's also worth noting for its glossy yet blatant parade of product placement –
a lesson on how not to do it today.

Unlike the plot-worthy mention of Manolos throughout the series' run, the movie's heavy-handed plunking of branded product into virtually every scene lacked any hint of self-awareness – tiresome, unironic and unfortunately stuck in a pre-Botox era. (For the most brilliant takes on product integration ever, see Talladega Nights' family dinner scene , and 30 Rock's winky endorsements for Verizon and Snapple).

You can just imagine the script sent to potential sponsors:
"CARRIE, distraught, takes a swig out of a [HIGH-END WATER BRAND] water bottle."
"SAMANTHA haughtily orders [EXPENSIVE LIQUOR BRAND] margaritas for 4."
"Montage of [HOT FASHION BRAND, HOT LABEL, AND YET ANOTHER HIP BRAND] shopping bags stuffed in trunk of [$$$ AUTOMOTIVE BRAND] SUV."

I took an unofficial tally of the brands that got prominent mention or face time (not including numerous other brand cameos - click here for an even longer list).

Aside from the bolfaced brands you'd expect to see (Manolo Blahnik, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Hermes, Dior, Prada, Lanvin, Christian Lacroix, Chanel, Vogue, Vivienne Westwood, Carolina Herrera, Vera Wang, Diane Von Furstenberg, Mercedes Benz, New York Post/Page Six, New York Magazine, Tiffany & Co.), there's also full-frontals of:
- Pret a Manger
- SmartWater
- Manhattan Mini Storage
- Cointreau
- Skyy Vodka
- Duane Reade
- BagBorroworSteal.com
- Bluefly
- VTech
- Apple MacBook Pro
- iPhone
- Cup O'Noodles

Now, you could argue that those on the first list were plot points for NYC cred. But Cup O'Noodles? Why stop there? Apparently the producers were unable to secure a sponsor for Charlotte's chocolate pudding diet in Cabo. By that point, you were straining to tell if it was Jell-O or Kozy Shack, because you just knew it had to be something. And not getting Kaopectate to cure her subsequent Montezuma's revenge was a missed opportunity. Aren't you just dying to know the fashionista's anti-diarrheal of choice?

Plot or not, the branded integration was as flat-footed as this season's gladiator sandals. Let's hope the sequel (if there is one) is more arch.

maturity prevails!

2008-05-21T23:34:00.005-04:00

Much as I'd like to, I can't take credit for David Cook's upset win over puppy-dog-faced Archuleta, but I do hope I played some small part (not the least being - it was the first time I've ever called and texted in my vote).

So to those of you who heard the rallying cry, and picked up your cell in the spirit of defiance, I thank you. And when you hear David Cook on the radio (and don't have to wince hearing the little guy), you can thank me – and some of the other 79 million boomers, who refused to live in a "High School Musical" world.

whose side are you on?

2008-05-18T21:40:00.000-04:00

So it's come down to this: two candidates who couldn't be more different, with the world waiting to see who will emerge victorious.

One is the picture of youth, hope, the future – a clean-cut, cross-cultural prodigy, marred only by his inability to liberate his ascending star from a controversial father figure.

The other is an experienced, skilled and mature player, whose unparalleled ability to manipulate tradition is tempered only by the inescapable shadow of a family member with demons of his own.

Fevered supporters of each are tearing up the blogosphere trying to sway votes. Because they know the outcome will impact our lives for years to come. And my question to you is: whose side are you on?

Yes, I'm talking about the American Idol finale this week: the Dave vs. Dave showdown. David Archuleta, the unironic – some say creepy – angel, up against David Cook the unshaven – some say arrogant – auteur.

It's not just a contest of musical preferences. This is a generational battle for the very heart of pop culture. And I for one, refuse to live in a "High School Musical" world. Just because prepubescent girls are surgically attached to the auto-redial function on their cellphones, those of use above the age of 12 must rise up against the tyranny, and let our (digital) voices be heard.

I'm calling for a revolution.
Can we not band together in the interest of taste, originality and the fight against easy listening, and man the phones Tuesday night?
Can we not equally display our ability to wield technology, in the interest of not having to roll our eyes so much?
Can we not rally in force, those of us who actually listened to Nicole Ritchie's father – not yet knowing it was horrifically uncool?

This is a question for the ages – meaning, the metaphorical 18s vs. 49s. C'mon, people – pick up the phone! Vote early and often for Dave Cook. It's time for us to be heard.