Alberta Business Marketing

I've never before written a post after someone has passed away.

Perhaps it's because I'm writing this on a MacBook Pro. Perhaps it's because we have over a half dozen Apple devices in our home. Perhaps it's the way I see my 3 year old daughter effortlessly using an iPad and technology without a second thought. Or perhaps I still remember when I first used a computer (Apple IIE) and how it was a moment of 'child-like wonder'.

I'm sure you have heard, Steve Jobs the founder of Apple and until recently its CEO, passed away yesterday due to the scourge of cancer. He left behind a wife and young family. He also left behind a legacy as an innovator and someone who demanded excellence. Someone who never contented himself or his company with the status quo.

Indeed I had the privilege to work at Apple but I only saw him once from a distance when I travelled to headquarters in Cupertino, California. But let me tell you that you felt his presence throughout the Apple and it was firmly ingrained within the company DNA.

Words that come to mind as it relates to Steve Jobs and Apple as a former employee? Excellence. Drive. Innovation. Marketing. Simplicity. Financial Performance. Ruthlessness. Secrecy. Vision.

Now I'm not about to suggest that Steve Jobs was perfect. But really who amongst is? He was no deity but one would be naive to deny the tremendous impact Steve Jobs had on marketing, technology and perhaps our society at large especially in the past decade.

Whether it was the founding of Apple. Being later unceremoniously removed from the very company he founded. Returning back to Apple to help it rise like a phoenix from the ashes and the precipice of bankruptcy. Taking Pixar Studios to the next level and making it a blockbuster company in terms of computer animation. Steve Jobs consistently made his mark.

Steve Jobs took an almost bankrupt company (with financial help from Microsoft) and made it one of the largest companies in terms of market capitalization on the planet. He did so by launching innovative and revolutionary products such as the MacBook, iPod, iPhone and iPad. Each of which significantly raised the bar in terms of the quality of products that companies in the consumer electronics industry produced. Each also severely disrupting other established industries such as music and entertainment.

So here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The trouble-makers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. Like Steve.

Sulemaan Ahmed
Twitter @sulemaan

Tags: Branding, Customer Experience, Digital, Get it off your chest, technology, This and That
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Times are tough. Lots of people are competing for fewer jobs. And applying for jobs can be difficult at the best of times to begin with.

I recall when the economy was 'good' and I'd receive dozens upon dozens of qualified resumes. Ones that actually met the hiring criteria and didn't have any grammatical errors, typos or inappropriate profiles on social networks. (Yes, any employer worth their salt is going to Google candidates, check them out on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.)

But even with sufficient filtering a hiring manager will still be overwhelmed in a tsunami of resumes. So what do job seekers do? How does one differentiate themselves? How does one stand out from the crowd? What can they do that is innovative?

A friend of mine, Heidi Jackman, is the CMO at Sliderocket. The company was founded in 2007 with the simple goal of building better presentations because we all know how painful some visual presentations can be.

Heidi recently forwarded me an terrific story. Where an aspiring job seeker by the name of Hanna Phan put forward her intent of looking for position at SlideRocket. But she didn't do via resume. Take a look here or below.

Pretty impressive. As Heidi aptly commented "This is both such a great story, an amazing show of creativity and a bright spot in our tough job economy."

So I'm sure it's no surprise to you that Heidi hired Hanna. Here is an explanation in Hanna's own words of why she did something different.

My point is not that everyone should use SlideRocket although I'm sure Heidi and Hanna would love it if you did.

Figure out as a leader, marketer or job seeker (agency side or client side) what you can do in a genuine and innovative way to stand out from the crowd. Odds are you can. And odds are it's not just another campaign or resume.

Sulemaan Ahmed
Twitter @sulemaan

Tags: Branding, Human Resources, Marketing Talent, This and That
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The dog days of summer are coming to a close… (a - like you need the reminder and b – what is a dog day?)

Well I’m glad you asked - according to Webster’s, it’s the period between early July and early September when the hot sultry weather of summer usually occurs in the northern hemisphere; a period of stagnation or inactivity.

It won’t be long before the kids are back in school, vacations are a distant memory, and you are back in the groove.

Which begs the question, how well is your groove working for you?

I often hear people lament – specifically on the work front – that there simply aren’t enough hours in the day. Well the hours in a day are finite, how we use those hours is a choice.
How does one in essence create more time?

Rule # 1 – Multi-tasking is a myth. While we may be able to do a couple of rote tasks at the same time doing two or more things at once and/or switching tasks consistently – reading the report, checking e-mail, talking on the phone, back to the report – means our brain literally has to shift gears as different tasks use different parts of the brain. This mental gymnastics takes time – both the switching and the refocusing. Commit to a task and stick with it to get more done in less time.

Rule # 2 – Energy = Productivity. You can have the best of intentions; be sitting in front of your computer, and even typing words however, if you are not in a peak state (i.e. high energy) you are accomplishing less. When we are in “flow”; that state where time flies by and what we are doing feels effortless, we achieve our personal best. We need to be accessing all of our brain to be in flow. Physical activity helps, drinking lots of water, and getting plenty of rest to name a few.

Rule # 3 – Prioritize. Business guru Peter Drucker said it best “Do first things first and second things not at all”. As human beings we are social creatures and research has shown “feeling in on things” is a prime motivator for employees. So much so that I believe people attend meetings they don’t have to, throw their hat in the ring to be part of a project when their expertise could be better utilized elsewhere. Make a list of everything you are currently working on. Prioritize what you feel will yield the highest return based on your organization’s goals. Do you have the time you need to work on this? If not, what could you drop to free up time? If you lack objectivity bring a trusted colleague into the scenario to help and offer to do the same for them.

Time really is on your side, it’s up to you to make sure it stays that way.

Shelley McQuade

Tags: This and That
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Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F) was recently in the news because they had offered to pay celebrity Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino from the MTV reality television show Jersey Shore to not wear their products.

You read correctly. A&F offered to pay Mr. Sorrentino to not wear their product. It was their view that he portrayed a negative impact on their brand based on his demeanour and behaviour on the show. A spokesperson for A&F said "Mr. Sorrentino's association with our brand could cause significant damage to our image."

It's interesting to see how A&F doesn't want a reality-television celebrity to wear their clothes or promote their brand. There is no doubt this was a deliberate marketing publicity stunt by A&F and I'm obviously not the only one to make this observation as one friend aptly noted. Needless to say many people have been discussing this news be it via own social networks and in the news.

The last time that A&F got this kind of publicity it was for another reason. And not a good one.

A&F is definitely going against the norm by asking a celebrity not to use their products. In most cases, companies would be desperate to get that kind of free publicity. It's no secret many companies pay millions of dollars for product placement in television shows and movies. Regardless of your opinion of "The Situation", there is no denying that A&F gets an incredible amount of free exposure from him that would otherwise cost a ton of ad dollars if A&F tried to run an equivalent ad campaign.

All of this is tongue in cheek of course because if A&F's request was serious about protecting their brand, their legal department would simply have to contact MTV (the producer of Jersey Shore) and told them to cease and desist. Subsequently their logos and brand would then have to be 'blurred' out in future episodes.

MTV of course wisely played along with the whole thing and didn't get their nose out of joint. So both A&F and Jersey Shore got a lot of free publicity from this move especially during the critical 'Back-to-School' phase of the calendar. Although it must be said the financial markets didn't quite respond positively to the recent fiscal results of A&F.

So perhaps we shouldn't quite yet conclude that paying celebrities to not promote a product is the new black.

Sulemaan Ahmed
Twitter @sulemaan

Tags: Branding, PR, This and That
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Now I'll openly admit I've been a proponent of LinkedIn as I've previously written. I’ve often said if I was on a desert island and had to choose one social network (from a business perspective) - it would be a tough decision because other social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and others all have significant merits but my choice would be LinkedIn. Based on this quick online (unofficial) poll others think the same way.

I'd also like to make it clear I'm not an employee of the company. I don’t own any stock in the company. Nor do I do receive any financial remuneration from the company.

What's the reason for this disclosure? Well I wanted to make that clear despite being a proponent given that LinkedIn has recently been in the news about their social ads. What happened was that LinkedIn was automatically opting-in its +100 million users into a social advertising program.

The way the social advertising worked was that when a LinkedIn user viewed a third-party advertisement on the social network, they would see others in their network who followed or recommended the promoted brands. So in a way it appears to be an endorsement of sorts.

Grab the pitchforks. Queue the outrage and threats to leave Linkedin from the commentariat on websites and blogs across the digital space. Indeed many people got annoyed by the social ads as it reminded some of the controversy surrounding Facebook a few years ago. Candidly, I first found out about this when someone I followed on Twitter flagged this blog post by Steve Woodruff which provided step-by-step instructions in how to unsubscribe from LinkedIn social ads.

Since I read Seth Godin’s Permission Marketing years ago I’ve always believed that as a best practice customers or users should opt-in to your marketing – as opposed to making them opt-out. That could have been a better way for LinkedIn where they could have avoided this controversy. However in fairness I’d also like to bring up a few points that come to mind:

(1) Years ago when Google started embeding advertising overlays in their videos, I tweeted my annoyance. I mean having the audacity to subject users to advertising! I was corrected by my friend David Jones who subtly noted “What do you expect when using a service for free?” I had to admit he was right. Doesn't the same principle apply with Linkedin? Most people use the basic service on LinkedIn which is free but as any company Linkedin has various operating, marketing and technology expenses. Revenue must come from somewhere such as advertising - especially when answerable to shareholders as a publicly-traded company.

(2) Very few people read the Terms of Service (TOS) when signing up for social networks. But LinkedIn does stipulate what happens when you sign-up for using this social network. No the TOS aren't as short and as simple as a blog post but they are there for anyone to review. So it’s not like they were nefarious and snuck something about social advertising under the cover of night.

(3) Speaking of cover of night, LinkedIn did post on their blog back in early June about changes to their privacy policy and also again in late June about their new social ads. So they were telling members what they planned to do.

(4) If LinkedIn were planning on burying this issue surrounding the issue of social ads, why would they continue to leave it on the homepage of most users and feature it as a top headline in the LinkedIn Today section? (Per screenshot below.) Does this strike you as a company trying not to be transparent?

(5) Lastly, LinkedIn quickly responded to the concerns of their members and modified some of the ‘social ads’ to reinforce that member’s trust was very important. They also showed how members could unsubscribe from social ads with one click.

Could LinkedIn have communicated more appropriately with members? Yes but beyond maybe making the service opt-in to begin with or communicating in the original blog post how people could opt-out, I’m unsure of what else people expect of them. Some have suggested LinkedIn could have emailed members but I can’t help but think some people would get outraged with spam in their inboxes.

At the end of the day LinkedIn could have improved a few things but they responded to the community. I’m also sure they learned their lesson. I don't believe one should judge based on a single error but rather what is done to correct it and ensure it doesn't repeat itself. So I won't quite be deleting my account or becoming LinkedOut from LinkedIn quite just yet.

Sulemaan Ahmed
Twitter @sulemaan

Tags: Digital, privacy, social media, This and That
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