Join the SocialVibe team! Our tremendous growth is pushing up hiring plans for some rock-star product managers and developers. If you love social media and have experience building consumer applications, integrating with social network platforms and/or building advertiser-facing services (i.e., reporting) please let me know.
*Update* Check out this morning's front page article in the Los Angeles Daily News about SocialVibe.
Adam Stein, a writer for the World Changing blog has an interesting post today regarding the viability of vertical farms in large cities. The basic premise is that we need to grow food more locally, in controlled environments to mitigate the impact of global warming, and in vertical structures to limit the impact on urban
populations. Stein throws water on the fire, but it is clear that people are trying to light a few matches on this idea. In his post, Stein mentions Colbert's recent discussion on the topic - it is funny segment (when is he not) worth watching.
A quick search on the web found some interesting urban (and moving towards vertical) farming projects in Los Angeles. I am going to make a point of visiting this project soon.
Photo Source: NY Times
I drive by this Hummer each day on the way to work and back home, and it has not moved in weeks. I guess gas prices are cementing what once was a moving billboard. If you live in LA and want to learn Salsa dancing, give this business a try :) Heck, I might. After clicking over to their website I learned I can burn 1500 calories in a session and dance with 30-50 women. What more do I need (just don't tell my wife). Plus, they claim to give back to many charities! Hmm....maybe they are getting a good ROI on this high priced billboard.
...Oprah Winfrey's endorsement. Or at least that's what 59 pages of research tells us from two Economics professors at the University of Maryland. They claim that Oprah brought Obama 1M additional votes, more than the difference in overall vote totals between Clinton and Obama. Of course Oprah's influence is unlike any others. Poor Huckabee didn't have a chance with Chuck Norris by his side :)
Blogging has been a little limited over the past week as the family has been dealing with the loss of our family dog. Max, pictured here with my youngest daughter, was really a member of the family – for fifteen years.
He was always a little bit of an underdog, and a fighter. We found him as a stray on the streets of Eagle Rock (in Los Angeles) at the young age of six months. When he was one a large dog (imagine Cujo) literally grabbed him by the head and threw him about 10 feet (no joking). When he was nine he was sitting in the passenger seat of my car with his head out the window when I had to suddenly hit the brakes (when going about 40 miles per hour) to avoid a car in front of me. Max flew out the window landing on the road below. When he was thirteen a coyote mauled him, leaving him with broken ribs and lacerations on his esophagus. Now at the age of fifteen he couldn’t see or hear real well. In fact, a few nights ago I
had to rescue him from the pool as he had accidentally fallen in. Yet, none of those incidents took him down. Rather, it was a more traditional cause – a car. He had slipped out the front gate (unfortunately left open by a gardener) and got hit by a neighborhood SUV. Really, though, even the SUV didn’t take him out. Instead, it just crushed his pelvis. We decided to put him down as we weighed the risks of surgery, his prospects for a pain-free life after surgery and his other conditions.
Max was not a big dog. He never weighed more than 16 pounds. He was a mixed breed of some kind – though most certainly some Lhasa Apso breeding. The neighbors are already saying, don't you want to get a big dog next time around. Maybe a Lab or Golden Retriever?
Nah, I don't think so. I will take another underdog.
Last Friday was a sad day with the passing of Randy Pausch. I, like many others, have followed Randy's life over the past year and found inspiration in his message and attitude as he battled pancreatic cancer.
One of my more meaningful experiences at SocialVibe over the past six months has been the opportunity to engage with the leadership team behind the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN). PanCAN is the only national organization established to fund research, provide community support and search for a cure for pancreatic cancer, and yet they face multiple challenges. There are very few advocates for pancreatic cancer as those stricken with this disease will face almost certain death within a year. As Randy has stated, "there are no Michael J. Fox's out there". Moreover, while pancreatic cancer is the 4th leading cause of death due to cancer in the United States, research in this field "constitutes less than 2% of the National Cancer Institute’s federal research funding". We certainly hope to help PanCAN become even more successful in meeting its mission and improving the outcomes of all those impacted by this disease.
While you may have already seen the Last Lecture, you may not have seen Randy's recent commencement address at Carnegie Mellon. If not, check it out this short six minute video. Whether you are a college student, halfway through your career, and hanging out in retirement....his simple message is worth hearing.
I have been running around Dallas the last few days talking with some prospective partners, but on the trip I have had the chance to dig into "Stirring it Up", the new book by the CEO (or CE YO) of Stoneyfield Farm (the world's largest organic yogurt producer). One subject Hirshberg tee's up is the concept of multlple corporate goals. As he says "At Stoneyfield, however, our goal is more than making money. We aim to be both sustainable and profitable. When we make decisions, we consider the alternative in terms of whether their impact will move us closer to, or further from, sustainable profitability".
Hirshberg goes on to argue, that in their case (and he would suggest for others as well), the multiple goals can be managed together and in fact support each other (i.e., their focus on sustainability has led to greater profits).
For a parallel discussion on this topic check out Justin Fox's post yesterday "Maximize which profits, and for whom?" which takes on the classic Friedman line that the "social responsibility of business is to increase its profits."
More to come.
Brands, charities and people coming together to make a difference...and this is just the beginning.
It was great to read that Phil Ressler is jumping in as the CEO of BigStage. I got to know Phil pretty well during his tenure at Clearstone Venture Partners. He was partly responsible for me jumping out of Y!, and we had the opportunity to review a number of really interesting business concepts together.
He is a thought-leader in the area of 'tech-enabled media" and all around class act. It will be interesting to see how BigStage competes with the other avatar companies out there as they appear to have several advantages with their proprietary technology, key relationships wih media companies and broader vision of building an online digital representation.
The Millennial Generation (those born between 1982 and 2003) is expected to be the largest and most ethnically diverse generation in American history. One of the strongest characteristics of this generation, as thoughtfully outlined the book “Millennial Makeover”, is their civic minded attitude with a fervent orientation for engaging with others (individuals, non-profits, government and corporations) to create meaningful social-economic improvements.
Managing this change is important for brands looking to engage with this new generation of customers. The Cone Cause Evolution Study, an online study completed by Cone LLC a strategy and communication agency (and member of the Omnicon Group), further illustrates this new environment:
- 83% of Americans say that companies have a responsibility to help support causes.
- There was a “dramatic increase among both men and women who say they consider a company’s support of causes what to buy or where to shop”
- 85% of Americans would consider switching to another company’s products or services because of a company’s negative corporate responsibility practices.
- 88% of Americans want to hear more from companies about their cause efforts and advertising is the preferred method of communication.
As the report summarizes: “American’s expectations of companies are at a all-time high. Cause is no longer a “nice to have”, it is a “have to do”….doing good has become an expected business strategy.”
At first glance, it doesn’t appear the large brands are listening. Several weeks ago Giving USA released their annual report breaking down charitable giving by donor type (individual, foundation, corporation, etc). Charitable giving reached a record $306B in 2007. Yet, individual giving represented the lion’s share of donations with over $250B (or 82%). Corporations, meanwhile contributed only ~$16B to charities, representing 5% of all giving. As it turns about, corporate giving has consistently been less than 10% of individual giving. Many companies are clearly following Milton Friedman’s view the that the “social responsibility of business is to increase it’s profits”.
Thankfully, for many brands the commitment to “doing good” goes beyond their charitable contributions. An ecosystem is developing around Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). In addition, brands have started to look at their advertising budget to create a more emotional relationship with their customers through programs traditionally aligned with the field of “Cause Marketing”. There have been a number of interesting and successful applications in this space. However, today the Cause Marketing industry is believed to represent less than 1% of the entire advertising market (estimated to be ~$300B). (Note: I am not a big fan of the "cause marketing" moniker as it is self-defining and limits what can be a broader set of customer engagement strategies).
Brands are contributing only 5% of all charitable giving, and using less than 1% of their advertising budgets for "cause" related efforts. Yet, it is unmistakable that consumers want and expect more.
In an environment where the old axiom - "half of my marketing works, I just know which half" - still holds true, it's time for brands to look at both $300B markets (charitable giving and advertising) and reconsider their investments in time and money. The opportunities to deeply engage with customers and drive effective marketing spend (to drive higher profits) while impacting community and social change are becoming too large to ignore.
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