how to be nice to people. generally, this works to your advantage.

So after a few hours of learning basic Photoshop utilizing my killer photo-editing skills and playing around with the CSS and HTML, a new www.mallorydash.com is born!

Check it out, and if you have any ideas on how I can make it more awesome (and I can subsequently Google how to do it) then please leave a comment…

Till later–

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A lot of chatter has been going on about Pepsi and their DEWmocracy campaign that they’ve been working on for the last few years, bringing out new flavors of Mountain Dew and involving consumers along every step in the process. Mashable has a good round up of what the company is doing for the Mountain Dew brand during this round of DEWmocracy, and the news is made even more interesting by the fact that the beverage giant is not going to be taking part in any Super Bowl ads this year.

Most are touting this whole crowd-sourcing business as a major win for Pepsi- including the consumer somewhat in R&D, market testing, product naming, etc… But I can’t help but think this smacks of desperation to “be cool” in the social media space- the dorky kid asking out the hot girl to the prom, even though he’s wearing a tuxedo-shirt and didn’t even remember to bring a corsage.

According to Mashable, the DEWmocracy site attracted almost half a million votes in early 2009 during the creation of the Voltage flavor of MD. That’s cool and all… but where is Voltage now? Where will any of these flavors be in a few years?

Instead of crowdsourcing to come up with totally brand new  ideas that probably don’t have that great a success rate, how about pulling a Dominos and improving on what you already have? The most successful campaign in my point of view from Pepsi lately has been the Throwback series of beverages- Besides the comforting sight of nostalgic packaging and *thank goodness* no HFCS- it’s a nice step back into a territory where the consumers are already familiar with the product and not expected to take an uninsured leap into the proverbial unknown.

I’m big on simplicity. I’m big on focusing on your core strengths and showing those off and constantly improving those to the fullest extent. Coming up with ridiculous off shoots of secondary brands just doesn’t seem like it makes a whole lot of sense when it comes to making a lasting impact with your consumers.  (Also, I guess I should point out I just really hate the taste of Mountain Dew.)

Its not that I don’t love social media. I do. I really do. It just seems to me like big brands are taking giant steps too early, and pouring tons of dinero into something that may not really put the R in ROI. What do you think?

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I love shoes.

To be honest, I don’t have a whole lot of shoes. I got my go-to winter boots, wear-with-jeans boots, a pair of Converse and a few cute heels. But there is nothing better than a new pair of shoes. And recently, I needed to get some new sneakers. It’s all part of this New Years Resolution bidness.

So, after seeing a segment on Good Morning America about the best running shoes (OK, OK, my mom sent me the segment after SHE saw it), I decided to go with the Asics GEL-150 TR. After doing some research, the shoes ended up cheaper on Amazon, but with the free shipping both ways I decided to go with Zappos for the first time, given that there was a distinct possibility I’d have to send them back since who knows with shoe sizes and fitting. Of course I suppose there was the old “go to the store and try that shiz on” route… but if I did that I wouldn’t be writing this post, would I?

[click to continue…]

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I’m reading the latest Dan Brown book now, The Lost Symbol (not an affiliate link, just think you should check it out).  I’m only about 150 pages in, but one of the themes that has struck me is something out of what are called the Noetic Sciences. Now,  I’m not here to suggest that Dan Brown is one of America’s geniuses, or that whatever he writes about is the whole truth and nothing but, but the guy can really write some engaging stories, and I often find myself learning something new every time I open one of his books.

And this idea of Noetics has really intrigued me. Basically (and I’m generalizing here), if enough people think about a certain thing, and focus all of their energy on that one thing, physical matter can be transformed. It’s supposedly the power of Intention- according to Noetics, human thought has mass, and therefore gravity. The gravity of a human thought then has the power to shift… well.. anything.

This is all pretty new-age-y and I’m as skeptical as the next person. But what if your consumers had the power to affect your brand in a real way? Doesn’t that sound a lot like the types of movements being made in social media campaigns around specific brands? From the Skittles homepage to Zappos customer service (post on that later) to really, any brand out there on el Internet, we see it firsthand that consumers are indeed shaping the way that brands act, through individual tweets, blog posts, and conversations.

What does this mean for the future of brand management? Not to beat a dead horse, but the brand itself is now in the hands of the consumers. It’s up to brand managers and marketers to respond quickly to the shifting moods of the customer and adjust their strategies accordingly- or else your brand’s image is out of your control. Perceptions are evolving faster than ever now that everyone is able to get information, reviews, and opinions immediately on the connected web.

Would love to hear your thoughts on this.

photo credit: amanky

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No idea what’s going to go here yet. Perhaps pictures. Perhaps funny stories. Perhaps lyrics to songs I like. Perhaps… nothing.

Yours,

Mally

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