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Category Archives: Randomness

Asking hard questions on the weekend…

Posted on May 10, 2008 in Causes, Randomness

There are many things that we would throw away if we were not afraid that others might pick them up. –Oscar Wilde

Closets full of clothes and basements full of stuff…but we still buy more & lag when it comes to giving. Oscar Wilde’s quote made me laugh…and then think. So as a follow-up to my “sufficiency” article a couple of days ago, I am asking myself a couple of hard questions on giving this weekend.

One hard thing to reconcile as a marketer is balancing the need for growth with sustainability. Consumer spending makes our economy move and we definitely depend on it more than ever. But over-spending is an epidemic in the US (click here for the numbers). How can we give more when we are in over our heads in debt? One way to reign in all of the spending (read greed) would be to see a surge in lifestyle change combined with giving. On the giving side, according to Intelligent Giving the avg. person from the US gives roughly 2.0% of their income to charity. This is anemic, but when compared to Brits (1.0%) and the French (0.1%) Americans seem quite generous. There are encouraging signs of an upsurge in philanthropy and giving over the past few years as influential celebs like Bono and Bill Clinton have made it a focus. Bill and Melinda Gates have demonstrated amazing examples of giving.

Maybe we should shift our mindset the next time someone comes up and asks for a donation…all to often our response is: I don’t have the cash, so I better not. But if we are honest this lack of cash has not stopped us from over-spending when a purchase is for us & benefits our own world. Indeed, we don’t let the fact that we “just don’t have the cash” stop us from upgrading our lifestyle though we may not have the means…so we need to ask ourselves if acquisition and upgrading does, in fact, = our life (wouldn’t this be sad). I am challenging myself to get more creative & find bigger ways to give…even when “I don’t have the cash.”

Note: Andy Stanley influenced the closing paragraph.


Here is a good recent blog post on the state of philanthropy from tactical philanthropy

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Friendly challenge to Tom Peters…In Search of Eco-Boomers

Posted on May 4, 2008 in Causes, Randomness

As Boomer consumers head into retirement everyone knows they are going to present a huge market opportunity. In a recent blog post called I Do Love you Lee…BUT, Tom Peters noted:

“We (BOOMERS) are the fastest growing, the biggest, the wealthiest, the boldest, the most (yes) ambitious, the most experimental & exploratory, the most different, the most indulgent, the most difficult & demanding, the most service & experience obsessed, the most vigorous, (the least vigorous,) the most health conscious, the most female, the most profoundly important commercial market in the history of the world—and we will be the Center of your universe for the next twenty-five years. We have arrived!”

Tom also goes on to say that pretty much everybody is doing a horrible job serving the boomer consumer. In his words:

Here is my current report card on the market’s (manufacturers, retailers, designers, marketers, product and service developers) effort to understand and encompass and exploit this Incredible-Humongous Expanding Market Opportunity:
Awful.
Dumb.
Disgraceful.
Insane.
Stupid.
Pitiful.
Embarrassing

So, OK Tom the gauntlet is thrown. You have issued a challenge. Agreed, companies do need to wake up a bit more to this huge opportunity, though ironically many of the companies you are referring to are themselves probably run by Boomers.

I would argue that in fact many big companies do work very hard to understand consumers. A recent book by A.G. Lafley (P&G’s CEO) outlines the “Consumer i Read More »

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How to get an English speaking corporate marketing job in Europe + Weekend

Posted on May 3, 2008 in Geneva, Randomness

Over the past few years I have had several people ask me how to find & get a corporate job in Europe. So I thought I would put up a couple of ideas and see if the post sparks more questions. If it does, I may do a follow-up.

First, it is funny how the grass is always greener on the other side. I have met several Europeans who also dream of working corporately in the USA. Indeed, there are advantages and disadvantages to both scenarios.

Generalized advantages of working in Corporate Europe:

1. 30+ days of vacation (in several countries) from the start + more paid public holidays: A recent OECD survey showed that Americans typically put in 1877 hours vs 1562 per year in France. OUCH!
2. Getting paid in Euros/Pounds/Swiss Francs: As the dollar continues to weaken, making anything but dollars becomes more attractive (maybe this will turn around as the Bush administration moves out)
3. Generally more job security (not as much churn/burn) though this can have a dark side as the labor pool tends to be more rigid.

Generalized advantages of Corporate US:

1. Lower taxes vs European countries (Generally speaking, though tax rates are coming down in some countries)
2. BIG upside if you can make it to director/VP or above (US executives tend to earn way more than their European counterparts)
3. Stock option packages offered earlier in career: Not 100% sure about this one as I don’t have the data, but from qualitatitvely talking with others and reading a couple of different articles this seems correct.

So, it does depend a bit on what you value more. Do you want to spend a few years potentially earning less, but having significantly more vacation days early in your career? I do read about more and more 20/30 somethings opting out of this more extreme US corporate version of the “deferred life plan” (working for 30+ years and then retiring to see the world). Tim Ferriss writes eloquently about this trend in 4 hour work week.

There is definitely no magic formula…one of the biggest challenges is obviously language. ‘Targeting the UK is your easist bet as there are no language barriers and there are plenty of US firms who have set up Pan-European operations there. Only drawback for the UK is the island location somewhat restricts your ability to do quick trips across several different countries (if that is your reason for spending a few years working in Europe). So, if you are looking to work on the continent my biggest tip would be to target multinational Pan-European headquarter locations. Pan-European organizations tend to leverage English as a common language and they offer fertile soil for your search…especially if you applying from abroad. There are really good specialist English speaking professional sites popping up every day. One that is particularly good for Genevan Jobs (and jobs across all of Switzerland/Europe) is jobsingeneva.com. There are also great expat sites like expatica that offer tremendous amounts of country info and job listings in English. Of course, Monster and other job sites also have international job boards where you can begin your search as well.

If you have already sent through several applications with no luck, you may want to consider extending your education in Europe. Top US MBA programs now have European campuses. I have talked with several people who have done a semester abroad, learned the local “ropes” (and language) and then gained internships. Via the internship they were able to demonstrate their value and so they were offered full-time jobs. This is certainly the longer road, however, you probably have a bigger advantage if you are already living within the country where you want to work. Plus, you can use the semester abroad as a “trial run” to see if you really want to work in Europe. Europe is very diverse and work cultures vary from country to country.

I have been in Europe for 10 years now. I enjoy working here, but I do have different reasons for staying (wife is European). The good news for current job seekers is that there are opportunities in English popping up everyday as the world continues to rapidly globalize.

Hope this helps a bit. These are just a few of my thoughts on the subject and of course I do have more tips. If you want to extend the discussion, send over an email (see the about me page for details) or leave a comment. I always like hearing about the experiences of others!

WEEKEND is here in Geneva. We are off to Annecy which is a small, cute city on a lake in France.

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New Design for m-cause: Green, blue & boats

Posted on May 1, 2008 in Randomness

I have a new blog design up. If you are subscribing via a reader, please take a moment and go over to actual site. Would love your feedback.

I want to give some “props” over to Adrian at Rubiqube for the design & technical work. If you need a guy who is into design and “blog know-how” then call-on this rock-star freelancer for assistance. I wanted to work with Adrian because he is a blogger himself and is into all the latest/greatest plug-ins, widgets, and whatever else.

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Weekend: Victor HUGO vs the lawn and the lizards of Geneva

Posted on April 25, 2008 in Geneva, Randomness

This weekend my grass is as high as a forest.  My wife, who is German and an extreme culture fan, is currently so embarrased by the current height of our lawn that she has even turned down my counter-proposal to check out a Victor Hugo exhibition at a nice residence near Geneva (picture below) to ensure that I cut the grass.   I will let you know if we managed victory this weekend or not.  One other fun thing for us as the Geneva summer nears are the lizards that reside under our deck.  My nephew enjoys these lizards big time.  There is also a funny (at least to me) blogpost about these lizards in our backyard over on my brother in law’s blog Fraser’s News (he shot the video).  Fraser’s blog is great…he and his family will be visiting us in Geneva soon.    

photo_historique_2.jpg

The Fondation de l’Hermitage

 

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Obamania alive in Euroland…but how much is he into change?

Posted on April 23, 2008 in Randomness

I have been amazed at how passionate my European friends & colleagues are about the upcoming US Presidential election.  I have not seen this level of interest over here before (and I have been living in Europe across 2 Bush elections).  As the democratic drama unfolds, many of them (English, German, French, you name it) are more up to date on the superdelegate counts than I am.  I think many younger Europeans were so dissillusioned by Bush that they forgot (or never knew) how raw and grassroots American democracy can be–if given good candidates.  Indeed, Obama “mania” seems to have fully gripped many in Euroland; most of those I talk to seem to be firmly in the Obama camp.   

From the “cause side”, however, some over at Talk Left have recently been giving Obama a hard time for the fact that he gave so little to charity between 2000-2006 (in % terms, not absolute).  The Clintons, on the other hand, are big givers and cause supporters.  Bill even wrote a full book about it.   Those that want to see social change & progress (more often than not)–are almost naturally drawn to give.  So, why has Obama lagged on the giving side ?(in % terms)…he does seem to give quite a lot of his time to volunteering.  And, he does seem to have an interesting volunteer plan in his platform.  In any case, we probably don’t know the full story.  Talk Left admits that it is possible the Obamas made gifts to other worthy causes that were not deductible for federal income tax purposes.

In another interesting development, Joseph Jaffe challenged Obama’s marketing (and Clinton’s marketing for that matter) as old, dusty, and traditional (e.g. again, Obama is all talk & no walk) in a fun post over on Jaffee Juice.  Apparently, Obama spent a lot ( $9 million versus Clinton’s $5 million) above the line on TV in the Pennslyvania loss.  Jaffe then provoked Obama, saying in effect that he would offer himself up as a marketing advisor if Obama would respond to the post.  I would imagine Jaffe as a kind of modern day Rosser Reeves for Obama.  Side note:  Reeves designed the first, “innovative” TV ads for Eisenhower, helping him defeat the more TV averse Stevenson in the 1952 election. Reeves was also the mastermind between the M&M slogan “melts in your mouth, not in your hand” and creator of the term Unique Selling Point.  You can check out how he developed the first Eisenhower (long format) ads on livingroomcandidate.com. 

In a master stroke, Jaffe’s post seems to have worked as either Obama or someone from Obama’s camp responded very quickly. 

Yes, politicians & their staffs are also grappling with the same fundamental media & medium changes& shifts that “day job” marketers.  Jaffe’s post is provocative and fun, but in the end, it does seem that Obama has done a pretty good job using the new tools (Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, myspace, etc.) overall.  You can also check his blog out at my.barackobama.com.  Obama was probably not overly focused on reaching younger people in Pennslyvania anyway (those more receptive to web 2.0) with his message as many of that demographic were already behind him.   

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Are you a Corporate Athlete? + Earth Day

Posted on April 22, 2008 in Causes, Randomness

Every now and then go away, even briefly. Have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work, your judgment will be surer. To remain constantly at work will cause you to lose power –Leonardo da Vinci

Today, I was in P&G’s corporate athlete training. This training grew out of some work done with Jim Loehr, author of several books like The Power of Full Engagement, and founder of the world famous Human Performance Institute in Orlando, Florida. The idea of this book (and a big part of the training) is that you should focus on managing your energy vs managing time…what resonated with me as a former track & field Division I athlete were the “life hack” ideas around balancing your energy expenditure with strategic recovery during the day (kind of like interval training).

Earth Day: Morgan Clendaniel on Good magazine’s blog wraps-up the Earth Day 2008 events. Mr. Magazine talks about how TIME Magazine, for the second time in its 85-year history, left its red border behind in favor of the green border to celebrate Earth Day and the war on global warming. Joel Makower on Two Steps Forward takes us through a slew of new surveys & concludes that the data is mixed on whether or not consumers are really changing their habits in favor of green products. He does note that sustainability buzz abounds and only continues to grow (up 50% vs. last year). Reuters notes that this year’s Earth Day has a decidedly more Corporate & Political Feel…from the P&G side, we had several events internally around Earth Day today on the Geneva campus. I took off at lunch during Corp. athlete training to support the booth for our Bike to Work initiative. To raise awareness about the initiative, I even made a bit of a spectacle of myself by driving a Pringles branded bike through the hallways…telling people to sign-up (upsetting our facilities manager a little bit–but delighting the Sustainability team). I might even be brave enough to add a picture with the bike to this post later. Another activity we supported was that all the food in our lunch room was supplied from local Swiss providers. I could go on about the range of activities happening (there are a lot)…all this to agree with the Reuters article and say that indeed, corporates are getting much more involved in Earth Day.

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Into the Wild (24K to Oxfam) & Swiss alternative movie theaters

Posted on April 19, 2008 in Causes, Geneva, Randomness

Just walked out of a great weekend movie.  Into the Wild is a thoughtful journey into the real life story of Christopher McCandless, an American wanderer who decided to hike into the Alaskan wilderness in a self-discovery experiment.  The movie is obviously very late to European theaters, over 6 months (around as much time as Chris McCandless spent in the Alaskan wilderness before his tragic end).   Early in life, McCandless became tired of the rat-race and excess societal materialism.  After finishing his undergrad studies at Emory, McCandless (a man on a cause mission) had 24,000 left in his college fund account.  However, instead of continuing down the traditional career patch, something snapped & McCandless found himself sending the 24K to Oxfam and then leaving on his adventurer experiment. 

There is a discussion on whether or not McCandless is romanticised in the movie as some believe he underestimated nature (he was not well equipped for the journey in Alaska–he did not even bring a map).   Regardless of this debate, I found the movie raised some great questions on relationships & society.  In addition, it was cinematically beautiful and as it follows McCandless through the Great American West…reminding me of a year I spent in Arizona and working summers during Oklahoman wheat harvest.  Oh yes, nothing like a movie full of Eddie Vedder which totally fit with the 90s setting of the film.  I will pick-up this soundtrack very soon. 

So, if you don’t want to go to Alaska, you could try your own experiment like Judith Levine did (take a look at the link).   

Other sidenotes:  We saw the movie in a “popcorn” free alternative Swiss theater (I cannot watch a movie without eating, so I consumed ice cream instead).  In addition, when you watch a movie in the Version Original (English) you have loads of subtitles in Switzerland (German + French at a minimum)  

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Playing with widgets, books I am currently reading

Posted on April 19, 2008 in Randomness, Uncategorized

I am experimenting a bit more with widgets as I learn the blogging “ropes”–check out the Amazon widget below (books I am currently reading). I will also soon be releasing a new site design (hopefully as soon as early next week) that looks more professional. Heading off to see a movie tonight. Have a great weekend.

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Selling via WHY?, Top 6 songs on my iPod & biking to work

Posted on April 18, 2008 in Marketing, Randomness

As the weekend approaches I am making sure the iPod is warmed up. The Top 6 songs on my iPod right now are: Mr. Ambulance Driver–The Flaming Lips; Missed the Boat–Modest Mouse; Hey Ya!–OutKast Jigsaw Falling Into Place–Radiohead; Learn To Fly–Foo Fighters; Party Crashin’–Evangelicals

Yanik Silver, author of Moonlighting on the Internet and the always interesting internetlifestyle.com blog threw up a good “reminder” post on persuasion recently.  Yanik is a very transparent blogger who has inspired many people to start their own online businesses. The crux of his post is that transparency sells. Just by using the word BECAUSE in advertising text you can sell much more. In the post, Yanik quotes Maxwell Sackheim, originator of the book of the-month concept, who says this: “Whenever you make a claim or special offer in your advertising, come up with an honest reason why, and then state it sincerely. You’ll sell many more products this way.” My company, P&G, has long been a master at the “reason to believe” approach. It sounds simple, but many large/small companies forget the power of this approach. However, as consumers start purchasing with their conscious, more & more they are looking behind the simple functional benefits that companies have used so successfully in the past.

Next week is Earth Day and I will try to get myself (and others) to participate in a biking to work contest sponsored by P&G. I hope to get some encouragement from you guys & gals (my online community) to do this.

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