Hypenotic

Knorr has reduced the sodium in many of its products. To announce the change they’ve introduced a character named ‘Salty’ into their ads and social media campaign. The ads are the personification of cuteness. Who could resist the moment when the salt pours out of his eyes in place of tears?

The idea to personify Salty and generate sympathy for him is really good. And the TV spots do a great job of being funny and original, and making something as mundane as salt reduction worth talking about at the water cooler. Kudos to DDB Canada.

In the social media department, Salty has posted some pretty awesome pictures of himself on Facebook, like his most recent Olympic adventure (so patriotic). The Facebook and Twitter campaigns called SaltysLife are intended to bring the tiny figure to life. The dedicated Sidekicks sitelette invites us to “Follow Salty on His Adventures.”

But, do I want to? What would I get by following or friending Salty?  A novel, funny ad does not easily translate into a solid or “follow-worthy” social media campaign.

My first contact with Salty was on Twitter when I noticed he was following me. When I checked out his Tweets, I found him very self-centered. Just links to Facebook pictures of him, some Knorr product and recipes. If I’m going to follow someone on Twitter (even a fictional character) then I want that person to be fully dimensional. And, Twitter is the perfect medium for Salty to tell us what he’s up to since he lost the Knorr gig and the stuff he cares about. Here are a few potential SaltysLife Tweets that would bring the little fellow to life in a funny, shareworthy way.

• Hydration is overrated people. Eat more salt!
• Watching the Olympics live in Vancouver was no fun. Just alot of shoes.
• Got ice to melt? I’m available!

Beyond that like all good Tweeters, Salty’s Tweets need to be more useful and relevant. How? By sharing useful information about salt, even if it’s laced with Salty’s disappointment with the “propaganda” coming out against him. If I was Salty’s social media mentor I’d advise the following:

• Link to important research about Salt, like this video by Marion Nestle (Salty Tweets  ”Who believes Marion Nestle anyway. What is she like an expert or something?”)
• Talk about the health benefits of Pepper like this article does (Salty Tweets “Look at how my so-called-friend Pep is stealing the limelight”)
• Highlight the health benefits of salt reduction (Salty Tweets “Don’t act like you don’t like bloat. Don’t believe the hype about salt reduction”)

There you go Salty, you’re no longer jobless. Now you’ve got your work cut out for you.

I found myself starving at Home Depot yesterday. I begrudgingly stepped up and ordered a veggie burger from Harveys. I’m 1/2 way thorough the phenomenal book Eating Animals, which, if you’ve read it you know–it leaves no choice but the veggie burger.

One of the main take-aways from Jonathan Safran Foer’s investigation of where our meat comes from is the absolute meaninglessness of language when it comes to food. As Foer says about the term “free range:”

Applied to meat, eggs, dairy and every now and then even fish…the free-range label is bullshit. It should provide no more peace of mind that “all natural,” “fresh,” or “magical.”

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Think about it.  Those backlit signs with the manually-applied characters that churches use to recruit parishioners are the original tweets. Today’s Toronto Star profiles these signs featuring clever (under 140 character) proclamations like:

“A Toyota’s not the only thing that can be recalled by its maker”

“Want to talk to God? Try knee mail.”

“Remember, even Moses was a basket case once”

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Johnson + Johnson’s new social media campaign tries to help moms by giving them helpful tools to put their babies to sleep. The dedicated sleep sitelet features videos on the key steps to get babies to sleep. But, there are some key ‘What Not to Do” tips that emerge from J+J’s approach to the sleep videos:

• Overproduced: The videos are too slick. They look like they were shot in studio. This is the youtube age. The drawback to being overproduced is you look corporate–and not trustworthy.

• UnRealistic: These babies are cooing and being adorable. Anyone who has ever bathed, massaged, or put a baby to bed knows their is nothing realistic about this picture. Babies writhe, resist, cry, fuss, giggle. It’s not helpful to demonstrate putting a baby to sleep without showing these realities. And the moms? They are waaaay too calm, pleasant, pretty, coiffed. These folks need to come to my house for a healthy dose of what bedtime looks like (see photo for a purview into our calming bath ritual)
• Branded: I’m sure the J+J folks are patting themselves on the back for creating a helpful spot that isn’t pushing product. And yet, they are trying to brand an issue and approach that they simply didn’t invent.

From Johnson’s, the first and only brand with the first and only 3-step nighttime routine that’s clinically proven to promote better sleep for babies and toddlers

Please J+J. Stop trying so hard. Just be helpful, realistic and stop trying to get yourself in the picture. Just being helpful gives you the benefit of the halo effect, no need to make claims beyond that.

Online video can be great. And these videos are on a topic that is very relevant to new parents. The J&J  execution, however, is where it all goes down the drain.

Dove has launched a new men’s line. Like Dove’s Real Beauty campaign, Dove’s male targeted campaign seeks to challenge gender stereotypes–this time taking on the external beauty pressures men face. Unilever did the research and shared some interesting findings about male gender identity, including (from the Toronto Star)

• 80 per cent of men in Canada believe they are falsely portrayed in the media – that the washboard abs, bulging pecs and ripped biceps so often featured in television and print ads do not reflect their pale, doughy reality.
• Men reject advertising that portrays the ideal man as rich, implausibly handsome and aggressively ambitious– real men are more inclined to value their personality and sense of humour over money and possessions.

To combat these stereotypes Dove created a big, splashy ad called The Road to Comfort that launched during the Superbowl. It’s a good spot targeted to men who are at the stage of life where they are literally and figuratively comfortable in their own skin and want to abandon traditional ideas of male identity and embrace who they really are. The men’s care products are targeted to men who are ok using male targeted cosmetic brands.

I’m not the first to notice that Unilever, the same company who owns Dove, also owns Axe; the brand famous for promoting the Axe effect. Not sure what the Axe Effect is? Check out this ad where women in bikinis run (with their breasts freely bouncing) from every corner of the globe, magnetically drawn to a man who is spraying himself with Axe fragrance.

This kind of brand-hypocracy is not a new problem and it’s a growing phenomenon as companies buy up more and more existing brands. Consider that Fair Trade chocolate brand Green and Blacks is owned by processed foods giant Kraft. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

How do you feel about a multinational speaking out of both sides of its mouth? Is it hypocritical or do you feel it’s better to use your dollars to vote for brands that carry positive social messages ?

To Head of Big Movie Studio,

Recently you’ve been doing alot (like making this ad) to help me see that pirating films is wrong because it’s like stealing from the artists who worked so hard to made those movies. So, when I went to license a film for a fundraiser for my daughter’s nursery school, I made sure I went through all the proper channels like paying $350 to show Horton Hears a Who to kids under 5 and their folks.

When you took $350 from a nursery school, it would have been really, really helpful if you would have told me what happens to the money. Because, when you told me that I could go rent the film to show it to the kids, I felt a little bit ripped off.  Like for $350 you couldn’t mail me the film?

So then you mailed the movie to me. I searched the whole invoice envelope and there was nothing in there about where the money went. No pictures of the nice editors and stunt men who worked so hard to make the movie and deserved to be paid. Instead I received a whole long note telling me I had to pay to return the film, and another note all in caps (CAPS!!!) that said:

EFFECTIVE JANUARY 1, 2010

THERE WILL BE  $2.00 PER DAY PER VIDEO/DVD LATE FEE FOR ALL MOVIES

IN ADDITION CUSTOMERS MAY BE CHARGED FOR ANY LOST OR DAMAGED VIDEOS/DVDS

I just want you to know that when you write in ALL CAPS I start to feel very bad inside. I start to feel that you’re not very nice to me when all I’m trying to do is raise a little money for some kids and support some artists along the way.  I suggest next time you tuck a little note in with the invoice that makes me feel good about what I’m doing.

P.S. If you were nicer, maybe less people would want to steal your stuff.

P.P.S. For some way better Anti-piracy ads check out this one from Jack Black and this killer ad from the UK

Yours truly,

Jodi (Pippa and Jayne’s Mom) and social coordinator My School Cooperative Nursery

There are many great resources to guide you in getting started on your Twitter career (Chris Brogan’s Twitter Etiquette Guide is a particularly good starter). Many of these guides help you by drawing the connection between real-life etiquette (e.g. cocktail party behaviour; introduce yourself, listen before speaking, etc.) and your Twitter life. But I’m actually experiencing the reverse-there a few key things that Twitter has taught me about relationships and how to cultivate them that I didn’t know before. In other words, Twitter has taught me lessons about life. I’m going to use examples from my very own Twitter account to demonstrate what I’ve learned since Twitter came to town:

• Make others feel good about their successes: I love hearing that someone’s enjoyed a blog post I’ve written or a link I’ve shared. And because I know that, I’m always delighted to be supportive of others. On Twitter you do it by ReTweeting (RTing),  replying to a post or DMing someone to say “good job.” In real life you do it by thanking people, complimenting them in front of others, or taking a quiet moment to tell them you’ve noticed something they’ve done well.
• Be Generous: On occasion I throw a question up on Twitter like “What’s the story with the new Canada post mailboxes?” I’ve also used Twitter to put out a call for help like when I was searching for Grannies for the Fiesta Farms website. People extend their generosity by answering the call. And I in turn do the same. This is the key to community building. And, it’s just good karma. So now when someone randomly asks me if I can help them tear-down at an event I’ve enjoyed being at, I lend a hand.
• Be Open: Meeting new people is fun. Following friends of friends of friends can lead to…new friends. You never know what you might discover by following someone new. I follow Gui Alinat (@chefgui) on Twitter. Gui is a French born chef who lives in Tampa, Florida. Don’t ask me how I started following him. I couldn’t tell you. I do know that the other night we were Tweeting about what we were eating when the rest of the world was watching the Superbowl and eating Chilli. I was eating Moules Frite and he was having leftover Veal Cheeks (who has veal cheeks hanging around in their fridge?) and we were fast friends. I apply this to other events I go to. Someone may not look like your type, but I’ve met many great people by striking up a conversation and seeing where it goes.
• Be bold: At an fundraising event the other night, I was annoyed that people were speaking over the charitable representative who was there to talk about the devastation in Haiti. I started typing a Tweet that was milder than I really felt about the situation. Than I thought screw it, I’m going to say it the way I want to. I wrote “When at a fundraiser you should be quiet when someone from the charity gets up to speak.” Others agreed, and it was re-tweeted several times. Of course there are times, in the real world, when it makes sense to soft-pedal issues. But more often than not, people like you best when you take a clear stance on an issue.

Twitter has enriched my life. It has. It has introduced me to new people and a much more social way of being in the world. Unlike Facebook, where it’s all about chatting with ‘friends,’ building relationships with virtual strangers is tremendously educational and humbling. I’m learning that there’s still alot more to learn–both online and off.

What has social media like Twitter, Facebook, etc. taught you about life?

Yesterday’s news that magazine sales at newsstands are plummeting across North America should come as no surprise to those who have seen traditional media like newspapers struggle to find their footing in the face of social media. Loyalty is hard to come by in the magazine world. Magazines are a discretionary purchase. Gum? hand sanitizer? magazine?

So how to cultivate loyalty among a fickle readership. Give them something that resonates on a deep values level then they won’t be fickle. They’ll be devout.  That’s exactly what Mary Jane’s Farm has done. Imagine a magazine where readers write in to say:

“Thank you Mary Jane for reminding me what was most important in the world, who I wanted my daughters to grow up to be, and how I could return to my true self.”

True Self. Wow. Imagine a Lucky magazine reader saying that (ha!).

Mary Jane’s Farm is not just a magazine for famers or want-to-be farmers. It is for women, rural and city folk alike,  for whom the values of the farm resonate deeply. Basically those who believe in the values of homesteading–be they NY corporate lawyers or stay at home moms in Idaho. In fact, one of the magazine’s credos is “It’s not where you live, but how you live.” And they have four different bloggers; city, rural, ranch and suburban.

For Mary Jane’s Farm, no matter where you’re from, you’re part of their community if you subscribe to the following 5 core values:

1. Want to know where your food comes from
2. Participate in its production
3. Care about family
4. Create community
5. Make something with your hands

In his book Making Meaning, Nathan Shedroff points to 15 core meanings that help create long lasting relationships with consumers.

One of the primary ways Mary Jane’s farm creates meaning for it’s readers is through the value of community which Shedroff defines as “a sense of unity with others around us and a general connection with other human beings.”

There’s an awful lot of talk about the word community these days. Throw up a facebook fan page and “bam” you’ve got a community. Those of us who have ever belonged to a community know it’s about much more than pushing a button, or being a fan. It’s about being a committed participant on a ritualized level. Think about Harley Davidson devotees or those who follow the band Phish from state to state.

When you speak to people’s core values, you are not discretionary. You are core to their lives. As one Mary Jane’s farm Facebook fan puts it “I pinched pennies to get this magazine coming this year.”

Mary Jane’s Farm leverages the power of their values based brand in several ways.

• Content: The magazine does not suck. It does not exploit its readers by overloading them with ads. Instead, it fills the magazine with useful content on subjects that matter to its community–from preserving, to cast-iron recipes, to sharing quilting and profiles of subscribers.
• Farmgirl Sisterhood: When you join the sisterhood you get a bunch of special perks like a newsletter and access to the online forum but you also get a badge–the first of many you can earn for things like crocheting, community service, going green, etc.
• Real-Life Meetings: The Farmgirl Sisterhood and Chapters get-togethers where all the members get together for a good ‘ol time. I’m dying to go.
• Lots More: There are countless ways to engage with the Mary Jane’s Farm brand. You can stay at their B&B, get their books and other products like sewing patterns, organic beef, etc. watch “Farm U” videos and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Seriously.

When you do something that is authentic and resonates on a values level a community forms around your brand. A Twitter feed or Facebook page means little if an emotional chord isn’t being struck. Would people pinch pennies to afford your product? Would they want to chat with others who also buy your product? Would they want to sleep in your B & B if you had one? Would they want to wear your badge?

This is the definition of community. As the Mary Jane’s Farm girls might say, the rest is hogwash.

On Friday Jessie made us real Jamaican Akee and Salt Fish. It was fantastic.

One particularly interesting thing about meeting Jessie (especially since this was the last webisode–for now), was that she was part of the WTN cooking show Lovin’ Spoonfuls that aired in the early 2000’s. Hosted by fabulous David Gale, the show was a definite inspiration to us as we considered how to bring Fiesta Farms‘ ethnic dimension (it’s history and product) to life on the site.

Lovin’ Spoonfuls focused on grandmothers and their recipes. And, like the Fiesta Farms series, it featured grannies from around the world. In the episode that featured Jessie, she  made Peas and Rice, Jerk Chicken and Christmas Cake.

Plainly said, Lovin’ Spoonfuls was way (way, way, way) ahead of it’s time. As producer Allan Niven says about the grandmothers in the story of Lovin Spoonfuls:

These are people who are not often portrayed on television. The tend to be seen as irrelevant…they were really not portrayed for who they are, which is people with a real body of experience.

Remember now, Lovin’ Spoonfuls predated YouTube. In other words, it came before the mass democratization of video content. Before YouTube, there were only 2 kinds of video you could watch in your living room; video filmed professionally (TV, film, etc.) that tended to include rather conventional characters,  and home movies which only you could see, in the privacy of your home.

Of course YouTube and other sites like Vimeo have made the line between professional and home movies virtually invisible.

Nowadays anyone with a Flip or an iphone can make a movie that anybody can watch in their living room. And, like everyone else, seniors now have new opportunities to express themselves online.

Have you seen the Ottawa version of the Raging Grannies taking on Stephen Harper? Or the original Raging grannies slamming CBS for running pro-life ads on the Superbowl? Well, say no more.

There are a few Grannys whose cooking has taken the internet by storm:

• Clara’s Depression Era Cooking where Clara cooks affordable food and tells stories from the Depression era
• Feed Me Bubbe Kosher cooking set to Klezmer
• Geriatric 1927: Peter Oakley’s response to Gordon Ramsey’s Cookalong (watch for the nose picking)

There are actually fewer seniors cooking shows than I would have imagined. Perhaps that’s because not enough have access to the “means of production”– your basic video camera. It’s incumbent upon younger folks to film their grannies, bubbes, Omas doing their thang. As we all know, when these folks go, their recipes often go with them.

Do you know of other great seniors’ cooking shows? I’d love to hear about ‘em.

I spent the day with my friend Arlene Stein’s Oma; a woman from the Alsace Loire region of France (right at the border of Germany). She prepared an amazing stuffed beef dish called Rouladen.

Early on I noticed that Oma used a product called Bisto in almost everything she made. She mixed the white powder with flour and water and presto, she had gravy. Oma was clearly taken by the stuff. She remarked “look it’s white, but when you add water it’s brown.”

I thought that Bisto must be some obscure find from a European deli. But, no. It appears that Bisto is a massive phenomenon. Bisto just celebrated its 100th anniversary and dominates the British grocery market. Bisto is so big in fact that it’s entered the nomenclature.

Type Bisto into Twitter and you get results like this one. “How’s life anyway hun?<< all gravey like Bisto”

My perception of Bisto as an old lady brand was further shattered by my realization that they have an absolutely kick-ass social media campaign.

Ads like this one from the 80’s show that Bisto has always been positioned as part of the family. Now Bisto has taken it one step further by taking on the issue of family meal time. For years experts have espoused the importance of families eating together, but realities often get in the way. Bisto asks families to work hard to eat together at least one night a week.

The campaign kicked off with a moving ad campaign focusing on the value of family meal time. The campaign’s significant social media component lives on the dedicated ahh Night website. The website engages visitors by highlighting the issue and the benefits of family meal time; A Bisto sponsored study revealed how rarely British folk eat as a family (less than 1/3 do it once a week). It also highlights information from a respected psychologist about why family dinners are vital.

Then, the site engages families in making a change by asking them to take 3 simple steps:

• Download and sign a “contract” pledging to eat dinner together one night per week
• Send family or friends an email invitation to dinner
• Make a delicious meal (recipes provided) using – you guessed it – Bisto.

Once you’ve signed up, you receive regular tips to help your family stay the course.

What makes this social media campaign such a good one for Bisto?

• Right Fit: If fits with their brand; Family and food is what Bisto has always stood for
• Relevant: Family meal time is a real issue that need to be addressed
• Useful: The simple tools and information help families make the change
• Do-able: They are asking people to pledge one night a week. And the they make the process of engaging simple
• About the Issue: Sure Bisto does (at the end of the day) promote recipes made with the stuff, but really, it’s about the issue, not Bisto

So there you have it. Cooking with Oma turned out to be about much more than old world cooking. It lead me to discover a pretty cutting edge social media campaign. Truth is, campaigns this good make their own gravy.

Thanks Wanda. Tomorrow, I meet Jessie and her daughter Nicole from Jamaica.