What’s up with you?

Here it has mostly been quiet. I’ve been asleep more often than not all week. Saw the gastro doc on Monday and finally on Wednesday started to “go” again. Ugh…more than a week filling up. The hardest part about colonoscopy prep is doing without my beloved 800 mgs of Motrin every 6 hours. Yesterday my  aide went to town for me and I asked her to pick up some acetaminophen. Cheap! 50 caplets are only $1.29 at Aldi. I hate acetaminophen and never voluntarily take the stuff. It makes me feel sick. I have now realized that icky feeling from Vicodin is the acetaminophen. Without Motrin my joints are all swollen up and I hurt all over. The acetaminophen seems more like a distraction to the pain than a reduction of inflammation. Ick…

Wednesday I had two nurses here for my yearly review for services. Their organization gives me the lifeline pendant around my neck and the health aide. Lots of questions. They said something to the effect that they have never met anyone with as many health problems as me. Hey! They were supposed to cheer me up! One of the women had not been here since my stroke. She was impressed that I now have furniture

My entire bed is falling apart. The box spring is a size smaller than the mattress and the bed frame is held together with packing tape. I turned the mattress over a couple of months ago, but both sides are “delaminating”. Something maybe half an inch thick is all bunched up in the middle, yet overall the mattress sags way down and the box springs are REALLY creaky. Hopefully someone will get a new bed and put their old one up on Freecycle. This one looks like years ago it might have been a hotel mattress. It sure beats sleeping on the floor like I did when I first got here!

The more I learn about the ethos of social media, the more baffled I am when I read examples like this one that Emily recently blogged about.  I mean this is Johnson & Johnson making this mistake!?  I guess in fairness it’s important to mention that ad company Taxi  was the one responsible for the Motrin account, but still? 

What’s baffling is the tone of the ad not the fact that Twitter became a soapbox for offended moms.  I understand where the company was going with this ad.  I have “worn” two babies in a Bjorn, and yes, I often felt like I needed Motrin, and lots of it, after “wearing them” for long periods of time.  However, some think this is no laughing matter, check out Babywearing International, Inc.  This was so avoidable in my opinion.  Johnson & Johnson had established relationships with plenty of moms.  Not four months before this campaign was launched, they were courting mommy bloggers at a Johnson & Johnson Baby Camp event. Johnson & Johnson is known for being a family friendly employer and in 2008 was an eight-time honoree on Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” in America. They, meaning Taxi, should have utilized these relationships and tested the ad with moms first.   

Also baffling is that Taxi wasn’t monitoring the mayhem.  According to blogger Joyce Schwartz, when she reached Taxi’s Director of Corporate Communications to get a comment on the over 2000 blog posts about the Motrin ad, she had to explain what Twitter was to the ad rep. In 2008, there was an estimated 4-5 million people on Twitter, and about 70% joined that year.  I still don’t find it reasonable that this person at the ad company didn’t know about Twitter and therefore wasn’t monitoring it on behalf of clients.  According to Taxi’s current client list, they are still managing the Motrin account. 

Go figure?

The New York Times in July 6, 2009 published an interesting article regarding the potentially fatal risk of taking tylenol and ibuprofen. The story titled “Reasons Not to Panic Over a Painkiller” states that tylenol (due to liver damage) kills about 400 people and hospitalizes about 42,000 every year in the United States. Ibuprofen is even worse. More than 100,000 Americans are hospitalized each year with complications associated with ibuprofen and an additional 15,000 to 20,000 die from ulcers and internal bleeding linked to their use.

The reason I am mentioning these facts with such a ubiquitous medication like tylenol and ibuprofen is because many patients have a distorted sense of what is risky and what is not. I had one parent who refused to give her child zyrtec or benadryl for severe allergies as she did not want to “add poison to her child’s body.” Though such sentiment is usually laudable (and in some cases, even encouraged by me), in these particular cases, it’s odd to say the least, mainly because she was giving her child repeated doses of motrin and tylenol for symptom relief. As far as I know, zyrtec and benadryl has not killed anyone. Tylenol and motrin have… many times.

Or get this… the average woman puts on herself 515 chemicals on her body everyday through self-inflicted use of body and facial moisturizers, perfumes, deodorants and various other make-up products. Click here to read more on this.

There are many other such examples, but it is always nice to have in perspective that even supposedly “safe” medications really aren’t safe if taken improperly.

Read the NYT story here to read more about the risks of tylenol and ibuprofen.

I hadn’t thought of the effect carrying your baby on your body would have on your back, neck and shoulders. I just assumed it’s a lot easier than lugging around a big pram when they’re just little. Apparently the advertisement above was not received very well and the company pulled the ad. Personally, I can’t wait to carry bub around in a sling!

Last Wednesday morning while putting on my left sock I tweaked my back again.  I thought it’d be much like the last episode I mentioned in that I’d be back to normal in a few days, unfortunately this bout is getting worse …at times.  During rehearsal yesterday I couldn’t bare to sit, the night before that I was unable to sleep and all through work (the shop) I’m fussing about trying to find any sort of comfortableness in anything I had to do.  It’s been awful.

Interestingly enough though, after taking a two Motrin from the sister while at dinner last night, I was actually able to stand upright and walk away from the table in minimal pain.  The odd thing was though, every time I took a step with my left foot I would feel a ‘click’ in my lower back/hip area.  It didn’t go away either, and this morning, now that the pain is back, when I force myself to step through, I can get the click to happen regularly again.

So yeah, something’s rotten in the state of my Denmark back and as much as I fear the chiropractor, I may have to bite the voodoo doctor bullet and see the guy.  I think I’ll give myself a few more days and some self-induced stretching therapy of sorts first, and failing that, drag myself to see someone.  I may also try that Robaxacet crap as well.  I hate taking medication though.  Your body hurts because something’s wrong and covering it up isn’t fixing he problem.

The most annoying thing about this pain is that it doesn’t stick to the back and instead ebbs into my upper leg/hip/mid-back and groin areas as well.  It makes it hard to breath, hard to do something for any prolonged length of time and really hard to transition between different positions …sitting to standing for example.  Argggh …I hate pain!

Can they do spinal implants yet?

Image from blog.bioethics.com

]]> http://epicurienne.wordpress.com/2009/11/04/new-york-food-talk/ Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:16:22 +0000 epicurienne http://epicurienne.wordpress.com/2009/11/04/new-york-food-talk/

It’s that time of year again, when a weekend in New York looms in Big Apple style on the pre-Christmas horizon. I have long associations with this city; it was in New York that, as a foetus, I first kicked my mother from the inside out, thrilling her with the reality of impending motherhood. It was as a teenager in New York that I first rode in a stretch limo and played the piano with my feet at FAO Schwarz, just like Tom Hanks did in Big. It was in New York that my Stateside friends threw me a surprise birthday party, the only one I’ve ever had, when I’d tiptoed out of London in order to avoid another year older. And now, decades after launching that first little kick, the inspiration to skip, and jump my way up and down that little island known as Manhattan still ignites me from the moment I start to plan a visit.

Some people like to shop in New York City. There’s certainly plenty of opportunity to do that: from bargains to be found at Century 21, located somewhat eerily adjacent to 9-11’s Ground Zero and its ever-present conspiracy theorists, through to the air-kissing environs of Barney’s and Bergdorf’s at the other end of the spender’s spectrum.

However, shopping is not what gets my Big Apple Fires a-burning; it goes deeper than that for me. There’s a vibe about Manhattan which ripples invisibly through the air, up and down the grid of streets and avenues, and straight into my soul. It’s the small things, as much as the skyscrapers, that thrill me here: the excitement of buying Motrin at Duane Reade (SO much better and more cost-effective than Nurofen), Chinese being spoken in Chinatown in front of windows of crispy fried ducks hanging by their feet, a glimpse of hand cuffed to briefcase in the diamond district, meetings beneath the clock at Grand Central Station. A smile threatens to break every time I see a yellow cab with bent plastic fender or when I hear someone in a deli order “pastrami on rye!” or when I pass a man wearing a battered Yankees cap or when a debate starts over where to find the best bagels in the city. Even when struggling to decide whether to go to the MoMA, the Guggenheim, the Whitney or the Frick because, goshdarnit, there’s just too much choice, I feel a constant buzz buzzity buzz.

Plenty of people go to New York to make money and/or spend money and there’s plenty to do there for all tastes and ages. Shoppers ogle at the animated Christmas windows, romantics sigh at chestnuts roasting on street corners and in every crowd you will spot Big Brown Bloomingdale’s Bags. It’s a melting pot of art and culture and music and design and hippy and chic – all in a mere 23.7 square miles. As might sound familiar to those In The Epicurienne Know, it’s New York’s food that really gets me going. There’s such a wealth of variety to be had, just begging for the attention of food lovers like me. So where have I been so far?

• The Red Flame Diner with its bottomless cups of coffee and evil stacks of pancakes swimming in maple syrup and crispy bacon is a breakfast favourite. It’s so busy here at weekends that there’s no time for pleasantries. Order, eat, pay and move outta the way for the next in line. Please note: I’ve never seen the place without a line, but it does move fast and it gives you plenty of time to read the How To Help A Choke Victim poster, just in case.
• Les Halles, the restaurant called home by travelling chef Anthony Bourdain. With a mouthful of cassoulet you could close your eyes and think yourself in Paris, so authentic is the atmosphere. It would be easy to believe that a tornado had picked up a brasserie in France and plonked it down, intact, in the middle of New York.
•  Nobu Next Door is the no-reservations little sister to Nobu, located just next door to the main restaurant in Tribeca. It serves delightful small plates, including Nobu’s signature black cod in miso but it’s a bit of a trek and to be assured of a table, you really need to get there after 10pm. Even then, there will be a queue. Your patience will be rewarded, if you can stay awake after a long day exploring New York.
• Mama Mexico’s on East 49th Street (and another located on Broadway) is a Mexican food-lover’s mecca. The guacamole is made at your table by one of the friendly wait-staff, tasting better than any other guac on earth, there’s plenty of choice and the portions are so humongous that we watched an entire table of eight leave smiling with doggy bags. Not one of them finished their main. Nor, as it happened, did I. Mama Mexico’s even offers take-out, a BIG reason for me NOT to move to New York. I’d probably never cook again.
• Union Square Cafe is a place I will always cherish because the grim-faced bouncer carded me there when I was a ripe old 27. I laughed as I pulled out my passport. “This is no laughing matter, ma’am.” he growled. Au contraire, mon frère! I took being asked for ID as a massive compliment, though, and told him so, bless his size thirteen cotton socks.
• Spring Street Natural was recommended by a former colleague who knows New York well. I had a divine tuna steak there, served rare to perfection. The food is as healthy and organic as it is possible to be, but not at the expense of taste or portion size.
• Brasserie Ruhlmann on Rockefeller Plaza is faithful to Art Deco style, as it takes its name from a great designer of that era – Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann. Another former colleague whisked me into this restaurant for lunch and a whirlwind catch-up session when I was in town a few years back and my, what a treat! The food was divine, the service infallible, and the atmosphere absolutely authentic. The disappointment was in having to squeeze as much out of it as we could within the one-hour lunch-break time-frame. I guess I’ll just have to return when we’re less hurried.
• Heartland Brewery is a chain with multiple locations. It’s ideal for a laid-back bite with a Heartland beer in hand. The menu is quintessentially American fare with old favourites like Classic Caesar Salad, Clam Chowder and St Louis Smoked Ribs. You can have Maine & Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes with a side of Idaho Mashed Potatoes or a burger of free-range South Dakota Bison with Hand Cut Idaho Fries, ‘cos ‘dem taters dere dey all do come from Idaho, ya know. Being a brewery I must also mention their beers. They have great names like Indiana Pale Ale, Farmer Jon’s Oatmeal Stout and Indian River Light. I tried Cornhusker Lager and very pleasant it was indeed. With more time on your hands, you might even be tempted to take a Voyage of Beer, enjoying a sampling of Heartland’s six classic beers.

Other New York experiences in the Epicurienne catalogue include eating very average Chinese in an ominously-empty Chinatown restaurant, (now I am furnished with foolproof tips for that area so hopefully history won’t repeat itself in that neck of the woods) where the biggest action took place in the fish tanks. I’ve lunched with the glitterati at Barney’s and twirled spaghetti in Little Italy and ordered pizza delivery at a friend’s Midtown apartment. I’ve hung out with the son of an Irish immigrant who made his fortune pouring beer for the folks of the Upper East Side and I’ve stood with dropped jaw as a woman ahead of me at Dean & Deluca ordered a “skinny decaf soy latte” which is very Sex and the City but defeats the purpose of drinking coffee in the first place. However, my finest hour when eating in New York? Sitting opposite the man I love in the Pomodoro Rosso and NOT getting dumped. You see, the Pomodoro Rosso is THE recommended break-up restaurant in the comedy series, Seinfeld. It also does a very good Sunday brunch menu, which is some consolation if you’ve only just realised that ‘he’s just not that into you’.

That’s all for today. In the next instalment I’m going to write about places on the Epicurienne Hit List, New York Edition. I may need some help choosing where next to dine…suggestions are welcomed because this is a case of so many eateries, so little time. And sadly, only one mouth.

So I woke up this morning at around 4:30 with a killer headache and massive body aches. So I do the usually you know grab the thermometer and find out what my temperature was. I stick it in my ear and wait…beep I pull it out of my ear and look at the screen and it reads 101.3. So i go downstairs and tell dad and he gives me 2 Motrin to take. So i take those go back to bed and wake up again around 5:50 and I feel great like I was reborn. So I tell mom that I’m going to school and she tells me ok. So before I go she tells me that I need to take another Motrin at 10:30. So 10:25 rolls around and i feel fine then about 10 minutes later and I’m about dying so i go to the nurse tell mom and get sent home. Now I’m here typing this watching “The  View” with mom because there is nothing else to do. I recommend everyone if you haven’t already go get your flu shot.

I spoke recently at a NMA Live event on Online PR and reputation management. Here’s the video of me talking. The case study I shared was around how not to do social media and how easily brand reputation’s can be destroyed by ill-thought out social activity.

Warning: You’ll need some stamina to watch the video. It’s over 20 minutes long.

Despite what some spittle-lipped sharpsters might try to sell you, social media’s rapid behavior-changing adoption is still far from settled enough for anyone to analyze and measure.  The marketing industry still bobs chest deep in the churning waves, making assessment difficult at best.  The one incontrovertible truth is that in remarkably short order, Twitter, Facebook and other social networks have powerfully reset both who we communicate with and how, leaving brands scrambling to determine just what to make of it and how to adjust.

Today’s consumers enjoy a radical new level of access and empowerment; marketers enjoy a unprecedented access and insights.  And everyone involved must now balance the benefits of another powerful new platform even as we assess the drawbacks and limitations.

All of which makes Catharine Taylor’s latest post on Social Media Insider a great jumping off point for timely client discussions.  Under the provocative heading “Is Social Media Turning Us Into Whiner Nation,” Catharine raises the issue of determining the relative quality of social media input.  Sometimes this dialogue can inform and reshape productively, but many times, they amount to so much hyper-empowered bitching.

On one level, companies can consider all of this new social input the equivalent of having a world wide complaint desk that’s always open–a vastly enhanced, far more powerful version of the old one-employee department that existed solely to provide disgruntled shoppers an outlet for their frustrations.  And to a point, that’s reasonably accurate (consider Motrin, and just recently, Amp).  Social media provides a mass channel for opinion, and it can be skewed heavily by special interests or a vocal minority.  Worse, the most destructive of those opinions often spring from people far outside a brand’s core target, rendering them less relevant but still potentially damaging.  Should brands respond then or should they abide, enduring a temporary tempest before the shouters move on to the inevitable next offense, another issue of another new day?

These are questions brands and their advocates must address.  Like it or not, advertisers are well served to monitor these inputs, and make adjustments if necessary.  But to do that, we must all get more skilled at assessing those tweets and blogs–their relevance, resonance and virulence.  And we must also get better at assessing positive feedback; it’s far too simple to slip into easy acquiescence after hearing one or two glowing reviews.  Positive sources can be just as suspect as negative ones.

Perhaps the greatest irony of this new reset in the advertiser-consumer relationship–from a one-sided platform driven by wealthy brands to a two-way dialogue powered by basically anyone with broadband–is how hard it is for marketers to reconcile the fact that consumers now have a voice.  And speak up.  Pretty loudly sometimes.

We always thought that was our job.

By Dennis Ryan, CCO, Element 79

So I thought to myself, it could be the last nice day for a while.  We’ll try to get out and take a walk.  He had been such a great boy all day.  We played outside for a bit, then headed out with the jogging stroller.  I had brought several things to keep him occupied, thinking we would get around the walking trail before heading home.

I was wrong.  We got to the corner on the main stretch, and I thought, okay, let’s head on the trail.  That was when the screaming began.

We were now half a mile from home, and the boy was SCREAMING!  I’ve dealt with clients who had issues, and with outstanding customer service, resolved whatever arose.  A 1 year old, half a mile from home, who wants to get out of his stroller, pull off his hat and run the other direction is another matter all together.

I decided to carry him for a while up what I call “the hill of death” in our neighborhood.  He then decided NO – he wanted to get down and go whatever direction I was not in and SCREAM.  So here I am carrying him the best of my ability until we finally get in front of our neighbors, where I put him down, and he proceeds to throw himself down and scream even louder.

Rest assured we finally made it home.  We walked in the house.  I took a deep breath, and went to get him some Infant Motrin since he is teething, and I know a few teeth are bothering him (maybe the culprit for the outburst).  He is now in his crib for a nap and I am typing with very tense shoulders.

With clients I could always easily rectify the situation, or provide an answer that took us to the next place or helped us come to a mutually beneficial solution.  A teething one year old who doesn’t want to ride in the stroller is a whole other situation.  Hard to rationalize with one of those.

I’m quickly discovering there are challenges whether you are home all day, or at work all day with a bit of variation.

I guess I shouldn’t complain too much.  He made it through grocery shopping and the meat store with ease.  At least now we were in our own neighborhood…

I think I need a nap too after all of this!

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Yesterday, a group of us at Element 79 took part in a conference call as part of an Omnicom initiative via the Harvard Business School called The Digital Transformation.  The featured speaker was Diane Hessan, CEO of Communispace: a fast-growing social networking company with an enviable client list (that includes, somehow, both Coke and Pepsi–genius).  She took us through her company’s offerings and learnings, which primarily boil down to creating smaller online communities of deeply-engaged opinion leaders selected to provide a sort-of ongoing super focus group that’s allowed insider access to a company with an eye to helping them truly connect with their market.  Breezy and incredibly candid, Diane’s stories of how Communispace developed from a software provider to a leader in the social network space made the hour long presentation feel like sixty seconds. 

Communispace creates bespoke social networks for each of their clients and while their services are not cheap, they do provide truly insightful perspective that a typical focus group could not.  Using social networks to gain deeper understanding of market wants and needs simply makes intuitive sense.  It was all very fascinating.

But the anecdote that leapt out to me above all others was a casual aside regarding Motrin’s Twitter debacle (read this for some background).  Amazingly, among their highly networked, deeply engaged social networks, barely any Communispace power consumers had even heard of the incident.  This big day of reckoning for Johnson and Johnson, the crowning achievement of corporate responsiveness to a Twitter-driven issue proved to be largely a tempest in a very small teapot to the world at large.  Practically speaking, outside of a very narrow band, no one cared.  And that’s very telling…

Objects Online May Appear Larger Than They Actually Are

For all of our obsession about new media, for all of our hand-wringing about the rise of social networking and the profound ways that Web 2.0 impacts both culture and daily behavior, this reportedly seminal moment in citizen-informed activism created barely a ripple on the surface of public awareness.  And yet it fueled countless blogs and online debates about the pervasive influence of Twitter and other new social mediums.  To anyone in those networks, it was big news.

And that is the point: the world of forwards and retweets and pingbacks can create an ecosystem of incredible influence through the sheer volume of the message.  Spark a debate on Twitter or any other leading social network and you will hear volumes of opinion loudly amplified, albeit in their specific closed systems.  This sturm and drang does not necessarily reflect popular offline opinion.  The very insider nature of such closed systems exaggerates the impact of any lightning rod issue.  Micro-blogging platforms acts like a microphone; creating very loud noise, but often in a closed room.  Meanwhile, the larger non-networked, TV-watching crowd continues their obsession over inanities like the travails of Jon and Kate, blissfully unaware of the drama brewing in one isolated social network.

So once again, it is up to an agency to help clients sort out the meaningful from the localized, the truly impactful from the trivial, when it comes to deciphering the impact of various messages among social networks.  Should you react?  Or should you respond: intelligently, cogently and appropriately?

Responding is always the better path.  These days, it takes consideration and prudence; two qualities not particularly emblematic of advertising agencies.  And so once again, the market dictates we evolve.

By Dennis Ryan, CCO, Element 79

When I think about what women want and respond to versus what we see from most advertisers, I am reminded of the Pink Floyd song, “Comfortably Numb.” A line from the song states,

“Your lips move, but I can’t hear
what you are saying.”

I speak with several male marketers who are very proud to tell me how they conduct research and focus groups to study women. A few even have female review boards. It always seems to be a great start, but deeper discussion typically reveals that it seems to be more of a means to justify the advertising campaign than it is a true study of listening and getting to the root of what women want. The sad truth is that most of these male marketers take this “feminine” information and then sit down with several other men to analyze what women want and need in advertising. Few ever think about bringing in professional marketing women to shed light on the proper perspective and to help them figure out what the women want and are saying. And the disconnect begins.

In these economic times, and with advertising media ever-evolving, it is more important than ever to connect with women and to stop spending advertising dollars that are missing the mark. Women want to connect personally and emotionally with a brand and be talked to in a way that says you understand them. I believe these groups of men are like the Pink Floyd song: they watch the female buyers say what they want but are not LISTENING to what they are saying and implementing those needs. Many companies are missing the mark and not growing to their full potential due to this disconnect. Here is a little insight into the ever-changing women demographic–study them, listen to them, and connect with them before it’s too late and your brand is no longer relevant.

One important thing to know is that you must study women first. You have to know who you are talking to before you can hear them, and today there are more layers within the demographic than ever before. For example, mom bloggers are no longer 29-55. The female demographic is no longer broken down by age; rather, it is broken down by categories such as “Working”, “Working at Home”, “Running a Home Based Business”, “Stay at Home Mom”. Holly Buchanan, writer of The Soccer Mom Myth, says that the number one mistake marketers make is assuming that all women think alike.

Just because women may be in the same demographic group does not necessarily mean the similarities continue. She says to remember that just because a wife or daughter may like the idea, it does not mean that all women will. Marketers “really have to do research to find out how groups are different and how they are similar.” It’s important to do the research to find out how groups differ and what their similarities are. From momswhoblog.com speaking of Holly Buchanan’s thoughts on stereotypes.

After studying the demographic, you must listen. It’s time to move away from developing “messaging.” It’s time to start integrating “listening.” The days of shouting messages are over. You will gain her interest and trust in a two-way conversation, not in shouting. Listening to online discussion acts as an ultra sensitive weathervane to hear the unexpected, the unprompted, and to observe entirely new ways in which brands, categories, and unmet needs may be expressed. Women are the primary buying force, making 85 percent of all brand purchases. Women know their demographic, and they also know that advertisers need to focus their marketing dollars towards them.

So, you know the demographic and you are listening to what they are saying. Now, it’s time to connect. Women want a place to interact where it is clear that the space was well thought out for them. Women do not want to be insulted. A good example of how to do this in the wrong way would be Della (Dell) and Motrin. I have to say that Dell quickly made changes to their site based on the immediate responses of women, but they definitely learned a tough lesson about talking to women in the correct way and how crucial it is to understand them fully before you put out something that you think they might like or connect with. Dell had a great idea in putting out a site focused on the female buyer. However, they insulted the Web savvyness of their female buyers with some of the content, and the response of the women’s online community was quick and overwhelming in its efforts to let Dell know that the site was not what they wanted.

Women are online and they are including you in the conversation right now—whether you are participating or not. 42 million women in the U.S. are involved in social media weekly. It’s time for you to build an online presence with authenticity, solutions, and experts. Build a brand that includes the community and engages them. Men, don’t just market to women. Know the layers within the demographic. Don’t gather a group of men to try to figure out what women want. Instead, ask a woman and then listen to her. Women are on the web gathering information to build trust to make a purchase. In building this trust, you need to engage them. Don’t just talk at them or shout messages. Connect with them, and produce something that will engage women and not insult them.

But keep in mind this requires earnestly listening to them, not just hearing what they say.

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Stephanie Holland is President and Executive Creative Director for Holland + Holland Advertising, Birmingham, Alabama. Working in an industry that is dominated by men, she is one of only 3% of the female creative directors in the country. Stephanie works mostly with male advertisers, helping them successfully market to women. Subscribe to She-conomy by Email