Silence has its purpose
Posted by Michael Walsh (Check me out!) on June 17th, 2009
Tagged as: Asides
I’m about to go to the Milan Politecnico to follow a congress on Publicity, creativity, marketing and new media with Philip Kotler.
I really wish I could summon up the excitement to learn - that state of mind that comes when you’re on the pulse and ready to expand your mind as I could do with a serious dose of inspiration right now. No offence to Kotler, but no matter how intellectually lofty and well intentional, I really need to see more social media action from the people I’m going there with.
Show me they’re up to speed, and I’ll move on.
Silence must be one of the most frequently used words of this blog. It seems to crop up time and time again and I’m beginning to wonder whether, given a bit of effort, I could rank on the first page of Google for it.
My silence isn’t distance. It’s a sign that I’m still not free from the clutches of the needs of others which in turn means I’m not free to decide how much time I can dedicate to this site.
My silence isn’t empty. My days are full of challenges and miracles and, professionally speaking at least, I meet every single one of them.
My silence isn’t ignorance. I’m constantly pushing my knowledge, understanding and direct experience of social media.
Silence is a cloaking device. It takes you off the radar, which is pretty good for productivity, but sadly very bad for publicity.
So what’s cooking? Actually quite a lot.
First of all, and more or less in line with the McLeod Principles I’m putting in the hours. Lots of them. Second of all, and perhaps most importantly of all, I’m keeping my day job as a) it pays the bills while Plan B gains traction and b) it’s actually a pretty amazing experience.
So what’s Plan B? I’ve discovered that the hardest part of starting anything worthwhile isn’t the cost of the object itself, it’s my cost. The time needed to get something off the ground is, frankly, far more than you have available and this is the single biggest hurdle to moving the game on.
Plan B is focused on freeing up time by aligning what I do in my day job with what I’m planning to do. And that’s where Social Starter comes into being.
Social Starter is, quite simply, The Acer Guy success story replicated for other clients. Call it a Social Media Starter Kit (hence the name).
Social Starter is also one of the reasons I’m finding it hard to summon up any form of excitement about today’s congress, as I’m tired of witnessing Social Media torn apart and analyzed by professionals when I’d rather be forging another relationship with another client.
Still, you can’t win them all and as Hugh correctly points out, “everybody has their own private Mount Everest they were put on this earth to climb”.
See you after the conference.
Update, I Twittered about the meeting but have to admit I was expecting to get much more from it.
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Deadwood
Posted by Michael Walsh (Check me out!) on January 22nd, 2008
Tagged as: Asides
Anyone following my transformation will know that I work for what Scott Karp describes as a linear company, with linear communication processes and linear results. The scope for change if we/they are to effectively embrace “the dynamic nature of online content” is truly biblical and the urgency to do so is, at best, frightening.
Is change possible? My largest client recently engaged McKinsey to carry out an in-depth analysis on the brand’s core and perceived values. The results, which I’m afraid I cannot publish here, were hardly surprising and oh-so-very predictable. At a consumer level, the company (and its product range) lacks character and personality. It doesn’t “own” any particular value proposition except for cheap and reliable which in my book is hardly a plus.
The most bizarre result of this analysis was that, according to McKinsey, no two IT vendors actually occupy the same value space in the minds of the public. Therefore none of us are actually competing… WTF?? Remind me of that each time someone buys from HP.
There is of course a positive side to this. It forces management to face reality and take action. In my client’s case they have decided to turn up the heat a little and move a little deeper into the premium brand segment but rather than approaching this shift with a differentiated and highly-tailored media mix with on- and off-line initiatives, the powers that be are afraid of challenging the status quo of their time-honoured processes and opinions and hence my ideological loss the other day.
When human resources puts pen to paper you get bureaucracy, no matter how you look at it. So why should HR be allowed to churn out brand values? It’s like legal department writing marketing material or product managers given free reign over trade unions. They can guide the thought processes, but surely it’s unwise to permit them to dictate terms.
If anyone trying to make a difference in marketing has seen the Layer Cake, I’m sure the final scene where Eddie Temple (Michael Gambon) explains to XXXX (Daniel Craig) the ways of the world is all too familiar. If anyone’s sat through a 10-hour analysis session and at the end asked themselves what the hell the point was, that cake seems to have no end.
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David Armano hits the American nail on the head.
Posted by Michael Walsh (Check me out!) on January 6th, 2008
Tagged as: Asides
“Change. It’s just a word.
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Back on track
Posted by Michael Walsh (Check me out!) on October 21st, 2007
Tagged as: Asides
Many times in the past few weeks I have had an itch in that area of the brain where “you know it’s right” feelings come from.
I have been lacking both on my blog rhythm as well as on my commitment to the cause, whatever that may have been… and just like Neo awakening for the first time on the Nebuchadnezzar, it’s been a painful rehabilitation. But now the new world has begun to take shape and that itch is there for a reason - it feels just right.
We have started the ball rolling and only time will tell if it was in the right direction. So from now on, this blog will also tell of our ups (and downs) as we re-shape our world with two new online activities.
The copywriter has changed forever and everyone I have come into contact with through this medium and beyond has played an important part in reshaping my beliefs and redirecting the course of events. This is no small private illumination, this is a full-on re-activation of everything I had promised myself I would accomplish.
So for now, it’s back to the drawing board.
I am starting to map the lesson program of my online language course -Â I need to produce one thousand grammar modules before I go any further. So far I’ve got 380 down so there’s still a long way to go, also because once I’ve logged all 1000, I then have to reorder them, modify them into a coherent whole and produce video material for each and every one. And that’s before I get to writing the support material.
It’s a major challenge, particularly as I’ve been sitting on this idea for 10 years now. In fact for that very reason I’d go so far as to say that it’s the single most complex project I’ve ever been involved in in my entire life. But the web is the right medium (as Ken Robinson would say) and now is the right moment. Seeing it come to life is simply magical.
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Brilliant Apple support sets a new high-water mark
Posted by Michael Walsh (Check me out!) on October 16th, 2007
Tagged as: Asides
I’m not one to hide my feelings. When I’m angry you can see it a mile off (my wife 2) and when I’m happy I breathe an infectious enthusiasm for the most trivial of things that’s almost annoying. You’ll be relieved to know that by nature, I’m more happy than I am angry 
Yeah, I’m a touchy-feely sort of guy at heart, which is why I’m a copywriter and not a sheet metal worker, although I suspect even they have their moments.
I’m also not one to rant over other people’s shortcomings as if planting a flag for consumer rights every time something goes wrong with something I’ve bought, seen or had to do with professionally or personally. To quote Massive Attack: the big wheel keeps on turning, and I’m more than happy to look after my own, slightly smaller one thank-you very much.
However, there are moments when all this talk of principles and morals falls flat on its face and you let loose with something wholly unexpected. I’ve had notable negative explosions, I think the most memorable public one was my criticism of ShinyShiny’s treatment of Acer.
I’ve also stated publicly (although I don’t remember where) that I’m thoroughly impressed with Dell’s telephone support service. Yes, I have a Dell and when it went wrong they were simply amazing on the phone.
Now it’s time for me to compliment someone I never really thought I would. Apple.
Back on the 6th September, I ordered the 16GB iPod Touch complete with personalized inscription as a present to myself for my new son. The day before he was born, it arrived. Perfect timing. I immediately loaded it up, registered it, transfered a bunch of stuff over and took it out to show it off (well wouldn’t you?). Took it home and spent the evening with it hooked up to the hi-fi and had guests over for dinner. All very impressive.
The next day I slipped out to charge it up again. Connected it to my PC and BOOM! It all went dark. I have no idea what shorted, but not only did the iPod die, it also became incandescent for the next 4-5 hours - in fact I had it in my pocket when we went to hospital as I wasn’t sure if the thing was going to explode and burn the house/car down!
On Monday I contacted Apple support. They pointed my to the nearest Apple Authorised Service Provider who congratulated me as I was quite possibly the first person in Italy (Europe?) to have returned his iPod Touch. Anyway, they took it in and said they’d be in touch. Fast forward one week and a brand new iPod Touch just arrived in the post, complete with original inscription. No questions asked.
I understand all your arguments in defence of the poor old consumer, and that, yes, it was the least old Steve could do, but I think they went the extra mile to keep me a happy customer, and deserve the genuine thanks I’m giving them. Oh, and yes, it’s one hell of a product.
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You can’t outrun change when it’s you evolving
Posted by Michael Walsh (Check me out!) on September 24th, 2007
Tagged as: Asides
In this life of volatile emotions, when something breaks it’s usually because something else is trying to get out.
The agents of change are powerful motivators as we are all fine-tuned into seeking out the next big thing. Yet despite being as big and as cumbersome as a
When one of these bright red agents comes down our street we see it a mile off, let it drive past, quickly read the destination and if we decide it’s going in the general direction we’re interested in, we hop on.
Once aboard, we pay the modest fare (money, toil, late nights, some other personal sacrifice) and only get off when we see another, bigger, brighter agent heading to the next Promised Land.
This is all very well, but whatever change made us jump on in the first place was outside of us (it was on the bus), not inside.
Every now and again life catapults you headfirst into the path of one of these agents and the blow leaves a mark a mile wide on your soul, and changes you forever.
As so it is with this copywriter.
The last time I looked at how this blog started, I didn’t recognize myself. Nothing deliberate but back then I was so busy trying to see whose paths my thoughts and experiences would cross that I didn’t notice the profound shifts taking place closer to home.
I have never been an academic. It’s one of my personal skeletons I defend by saying that for me structured academic intelligence simply gets in the way of my own understanding of a subject, slowing down my responsiveness and interrupting any emotional enjoyment I’m expecting to feel.
Take music for example. I couldn’t tell you the difference between Mozart and Mahler, or name more than a few of the myriad of music styles that have emerged since their time, but I have an innate sense of rhythm that is almost physical. I can actually “see” the most complicated percussion breaks and follow complex, computer-programmed drum sequences like they were softly flowing trickles of water. It just clicks.
These past months have stunned me into the silence you can see between this and my last post. Something new and unexpected just clicked, bringing a new order to my world that conflicts so much with so many of the things I have done to date that I am radically re-ordering my priorities.
In two short months I have read: The Cluetrain Manifesto, The Dip, The Tipping Point, Blink, The Assault on Reason, The Wisdom of Crowds and Out of Our Minds by the brilliant Ken Robinson. Then I wrote the corporate brochure of my biggest client (you try believing what you’re writing after a preparation of this calibre
If that wasn’t hard enough I then sought comfort in trying to take the corporate voice of this same client outside the accepted boundaries of damage limitation and it came straight back at me. Not from outside, but from within.
And then something broke
These discoveries refuse to be categorized as mere acquired knowledge that makes me function better as a copywriter, rather as agents of change that have brought an innate knowledge to the surface that makes me function better as a human being.
After years of perfecting my art, I now see the value (and lack of it) in many of the things I do and there’s the rub. How do you reconcile your personal thoughts and professional actions when they are in blatant disaccord?
On paper the answer’s easy, yet I’m willing to bet that no-one reading this is foolish enough to believe that anything truly worthwhile ever is.
I have a plan, and I’m really looking forward to sharing it.
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