IBZ Group, LLC Blog

I apologize, I'm sorry, mea culpa....

2011-04-23T08:19:00.001-07:00

OK - I know I gloat a little about the weather here in DC. Most of the time it is bright and lovely - even in winter. As a transplant from Western New York (WNY) I so thoroughly appreciate the more temperate climate -- and most of all, I adore Spring in DC. Back home in WNY we used to joke that we had 2 seasons - winter and road construction. I remember snow as late as May - and as early as the beginning of October. So, since I moved to DC the beautiful, warm Spring days and the glorious variety of gorgeous trees and flowers coming to life on a near daily basis are a soirce of joy- and pepper my conversation and other correspondence. BUT - I think the weather gods are laughing at me this year. Here it is almost the end of April and I'm still wearing multiple layers and a heavy sweatshirt. The Cherry Blossom Festival was cut short when the wind and rain blew the blossoms off the trees. And my yard is begging for attention, but it's too darn cold to do anything! Oh, I know - with all the weather and weather-related catastrophes around the country and the world this year I have no right to complain. So I apologize for my selfishness, and I apologize to Mother Nature, to the weather gods and to anyone I have offended with my exuberance about the usual Spring in DC. Now -- PLEASE can we commence with a real Spring in DC?

In the beginning....

2011-03-20T08:01:00.000-07:00

In the beginning, I was not very impressed with Facebook. To be honest, I thought why waste my time reading about someone's lunch...unless of course that person provided a restaurant recommendation or a recipe. But no, people were posting such inane trivia as "I ate a salad for lunch."

Over the past year, however, I've become a fan. I had to learn as much as possible about social networking for the work I do - marketing communications. Every client and potential client I come into contact with wants to know how they can use social networking to further their message delivery. But, that's for another day. Today, I want to begin telling just a little about Facebook's (FB) "good works."

I'm an animal rights advocate - so much of my FB time is spent encouraging rescue and adoption and ending animal abuse. Last week I received the following post on FB:

URGENT DUMPED SENIOR DOLLY NEEDS A HOME!!!! QUEENS,NY
MARCH 15, 2011 Queens, NY *Senior Declawed Girl Dumped in Dumpster* PLEASE, if anyone has room or can help this kitty, contact: Valerie voula@nyc.rr.com It just Doesnt End... ***Over the weekend, this cat was found after having been locked in a cat ...carrier & dumped in a commercial dumpster in Long Island City. Luckily a man found her & pulled her out of the dumpster where she would have been compacted & killed. She must have been in the carrier for a long time. When she was rescued, all she could do was drink water because her stomach had shrunk. Despite all that she had been through, the second she was let out of the carrier she climbed into our arms & started purring. We have named her Dolly. She is 12 years old, declawed & in great health. She has a slight eye infection that is being treated now with antibiotics, but other than that she is in perfect health. She's got many more years left. She loves to be held and is a purr machine. She is extremely gentle. She made no fuss at the vet's office, not even when they drew her blood. She really is the sweetest girl! Because she is healthy & seemingly well-taken care of, we think that her owner had died & Dolly had been put in carrier & dumped with the rest of the trash. She is living in a crate in a hallway because the people who are caring for her are allergic. She really deserves a loving home. Please if you know someone who can give this old girl a warm, comfortable home & the love she so deserves, she's worth it. Unlike the inhumane person, who considered Dolly, worthless trash to be squashed & compacted, we know she is a sweet, gentle soul who deserves to be a treasured lap cat, living her golden years in comfort. She wasn't really into getting her picture taken because she was so busy trying to get us to pet her! If you know someone who can foster or adopt Dolly, please email me: voula@nyc.rr.com Please help as well by forwarding this email. Thank you!

There are many "animal people" on FB - and the response was terrific. We all wanted to find a loving home for this sweet kitty.

And now the good news.

The following note greeted me first thing this morning:

Hello all

Dolly wanted me to let everyone know that on Sunday, 3/20/11 at 1PM, she will be heading to her new home in Jersey City!!!!! Her new brother will be home to welcome her!

Thank you again for all your emails & all your concern & especially for wanting to help save this sweet girl. Dolly sends you all giant purrs. Dolly's new dad is thinking maybe a Facebook page for all her new fans! Will let you all know. Please update any Facebook links & such - Dolly is going to a loving home!

Have included a pic of Dolly's gorgeous little sweet face on the night she met her new dad!

Giant purrs.
Dolly & Valerie

I'll share more animal advocacy information and success stories as time goes on. For the moment, I'm thankful that in 2011 we have a tool such as FB to help make good things happen.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times

2011-03-17T06:49:00.000-07:00

In 2011, as we view the position of communications on the national and world stage and our role as social marketing communicators today and into the foreseeable future, we are reminded of the words of Charles Dickens: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”

As technology advancements continue to evolve, giving us near limitless communications tools and the opportunity to share information and deliver messages around the globe in a matter of seconds (or less!), we think –
Yes - it truly IS the best of times for information sharing and delivering public information and communications.

In 2011
• We can broadcast the announcement of a medical breakthrough across the world in seconds
• Physicians can collaborate with their counterparts in other cities, other states and other countries in real time to share clinical data or conduct patient consultations, improving quality of care and reducing cost.
• We can see the devastation of an earthquake in Japan while it is still happening.
• A NYC oncologist can deliver a seminar to medical students in classrooms at each of the top medical schools throughout the country without leaving his office
• A journalist in Montana can conduct a face to face interview with a a protesting educator in Wisconsin while looking outside his window at the snow capped Rocky Mountains.
• We can create and disseminate a video about animal cruelty to millions of people via the web in less time than it takes to write and distribute a flyer to people in our town.
• As a result of social media, a North Carolina researcher is able to collaborate with a researcher at CalTech (California Institute of Technology) via one of many social networks that specifically serve the research community, like ResearchGate (www.researchgate.net ).

And yet, while it is the best of times, we sometimes wonder if for communicators, it is the worst of times.

Every day, each of us in this country is subjected to thousands of marketing message impressions – some say over three thousand. A 2004 Yankelovich study showed that nearly two-thirds of Americans felt bombarded by too much advertising and marketing, that most of it was irrelevant to them, and that marketers didn’t treat them with respect. The messages vie for our attention. They compete with one another to be the most noted, the loudest, the most engaging, and the most important. And frankly as consumers, we can’t absorb them all, let alone be influenced by them, let alone actually respond. Our brains sort them as they arrive, a kind of message triage. Which are the ones we need? Which are related to what we care about or the way we live? Which are really helping us? We have learned not to respond to instructions; we must be persuaded. We have learned to resent messages that don’t seem to understand our needs and our values. We have learned to distrust sources to which we feel no relation. We ignore anything that doesn’t immediately show us personal benefit. So every day we run the risk of completely missing important information because of this overwhelming volume, because it’s so hard to see what’s truly important. Our first reaction is to ask why we should care, and the communicator’s first responsibility is to provide an answer to that question. Without it, the dialogue stops before it has even begun.

The challenge of delivering social marketing-based communications outreach and relevant messages in 2011 is considerable. By nature, the message broadcasts information to a group of people, not an individual and may be seen as irrelevant to individuals who need to hear it. It may ask for behavior change, not necessarily through an immediate action but through attention over considerable time – and our attention in this society is a commodity in short supply. Often, the information comes from the government, and may be viewed by some communities with distrust. It is about research or medicine, or safety, or security, or cruelty -- topics that may make us uncomfortable, so we choose to ignore them. These messages require great care if they are to be heard and understood, and not merely delivered.

So - how do we cut through the clutter, and demand the attention of those that need to hear our messages. I'm hoping to post my thoughts and those that come to me from others over the ensuing weeks!

Is there anything dumber than texting while driving?

2010-04-17T14:32:00.000-07:00

Driving to the store earlier on a busy road with the usual Saturday afternoon traffic in the DC Metro area, a car suddenly slowed to a near stop in front of me. Good thing I was paying close attention and was fast on the brake, or it could have been ugly. As I moved around the car I saw the reason for this near collision--the driver was TEXTING!

Distracted driving is killing and/or injuring thousands in this country. How can people possibly continue to put themselves and their loved ones - as well as other drivers on the road at risk. Have we become so consumed with our own self importance that we can't allow a few minutes to elapse without a message or call?

Distracted driving has become a priority issue for the National Highway Traffic Administration(NHTSA). To some degree, we are all both perpetrators and victims of driving while distracted. The person profiled 2007 article below from Edmunds.com, while seeming extreme - is just the tip of the iceberg as more and more distracted drivers take to the road.

Multitasking Mania and Distracted Driving
We do it all behind the wheel, oblivious to driving safety
By Dale Buss, Contributor http://www.edmunds.com/ownership/driving/articles/120378/article.html

Mark Stevens is a multitasking maniac. A couple of months ago, the White Plains, New York, marketing consultant was working his cell phone with one hand and his Blackberry with the other while trying to steer his Mercedes SL500 with his wrists and knees — when he plowed it into a rental vehicle in an Enterprise parking lot. That followed his fourth ticket in four years for talking on his cell phone while driving.

"If you are a determined multitasker, it's an addiction — and you can't stop it," said the 59-year-old Stevens.

Talk about distracted driving. Even during a short trek, he said, he's likely to sip a Diet Coke and a bottled water, eat a sandwich, read a copy of The Economist, write notes to himself and listen to NPR, in addition to performing his cell phone and Blackberry action — oh, and driving. "I'm a driven person, and that's why I do all this stuff while I drive." Efficiency, not safe driving, is primary.

Although he may represent an extreme, there's a little bit of Stevens in many of us. Multitasking while driving has become endemic — and epidemic — on American roads. More drivers are trying to figure out what other duties they can perform while driving. Insurance companies, meanwhile, are trying to make drivers keep their eyes on the road and their hands on the wheel. And automakers are caught between consumer demands for more capabilities and conveniences — and the safety and legal concerns that often compel vehicle designers to make multitasking more difficult.

The growing number of cultural references to multitasking resonates with all of us. They include the TV ad depicting a group of business colleagues moving all their office functions into a car and the Allstate Insurance commercial in which spokesman Dennis Haysbert tsk-tsks viewers about multitasking.

The reasons for multitasking are many. Ever-longer commutes are tempting time-starved Americans to invent ways to spread more tasks over the hours they must spend in their vehicles. Also blame cell phones, video entertainment systems and iPods. Throw in the fact that many drivers apparently don't care that they might be annoying — or even alarming — other drivers by applying mascara, drinking hot coffee, reading a pulp novel or selecting station XM 132 all at the same time.

A recent survey by Nationwide Insurance quantified some of the trend's scary dimensions. More than 80 percent of drivers surveyed identified themselves as multitaskers. Sixty-eight percent eat while driving; texting or instant-messaging while driving, or fixing hair, is practiced by 19 percent of drivers; 14 percent comfort or discipline children while behind the wheel; and 8 percent drive with a pet in their laps.

Weather conditions had little effect on drivers' tendency to multitask. Even those who perceive themselves as safe drivers admitted doing outlandish things behind the wheel, including changing clothes, balancing a checkbook and shaving.

And multitasking is going to increase before it wanes. About 35 percent of Gen Y-ers say they always multitask, compared with 30 percent of Gen X-ers and just 21 percent of baby boomers. Those differences are amplified in important behaviors such as fiddling with a cell phone while driving: 37 percent of Gen Y-ers admit doing it versus just 17 percent of Gen X-ers and only 2 percent of boomers. About 89 percent of teenagers reported seeing other teens on their cell phones at least sometimes while driving, reports a recent State Farm Insurance survey.

The problem for drivers and insurance companies is that drivers are just bad at multitasking successfully. About 80 percent of all crashes are related to some form of distracted driving, according to the U.S. government.

"Driver behavior is only getting worse," said Bill Windsor, associate vice president of safety for Columbus-based Nationwide Insurance. "Car design and safety features have helped reduce fatalities over the last 10 years, but there are signs — such as an increase in fatalities among pedestrians and motorcyclists — that problems with driving behavior are starting to outstrip vehicle and roadway improvements."

Governments, insurance companies and other players can mitigate the problem to some extent. Four states and the District of Columbia already outlaw the use of handheld phones while driving, and at least 38 states currently are debating bills that would specifically regulate text messaging while behind the wheel, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Highway designers are trying to add more rumble strips on highway shoulders to startle those who've strayed to the side, and creating greater numbers of safe rest spots along the nation's roads.

But a large part of the responsibility and opportunity for dealing with multitasking rests with automakers themselves. The scope of their dilemma is perfectly underscored by the fact that an alliance of General Motors, Toyota, Nissan and Ford spent $6 million over the last four years to study driver distraction and develop solutions. Their conclusion was that drivers can safely withstand just about any amount of aural distraction in a vehicle as long as they keep their vision on the road in front of them.

"It was a lot of expensive research just to validate the idea that you should keep your eyes on the road," admits Rich Deering, GM's senior manager of crash-avoidance system development. "But this is an issue that won't go away."

The auto industry is pulled in two directions. As quality and other differences among vehicle brands have dwindled over the last generation, car companies have turned to comfort and convenience features in their battle for market share. In the process, they have converted many of their vehicles into rolling living rooms and offices. Passengers are invited to watch movies, thanks to rear-seat entertainment systems; work on their laptops, courtesy of ample power outlets (including 110-volt connections) throughout the vehicle; and use OnStar to tap into sports scores and stock-price quotes on the Internet.

Vehicle designers even encourage drivers to engage in more multitasking by, for example, increasing the capabilities of audio systems, providing devices and slots to facilitate mobile-phone usage, and cramming every square inch around the driver with drink holders, trays and even laptop compartments.

It's hard to keep drivers away from all those distracting goodies that, nominally at least, are meant only for passengers to enjoy.

"We need to provide reasonable accommodations for a wide variety of activities that people want to do in their cars," said Andrew Coetzee, vice president of product planning for Toyota Motor Sales, USA. "We do have responsibilities to meet the needs of customers. It's up to customers to use them at their discretion."

Yet automakers have taken measures to limit multitasking by drivers — or at least make it safer — in specific areas:

Navigation systems
The industry's unspoken agreement bans navigation screens that require drivers to lower their heads more than 30 degrees from a straight-ahead position. Also, many automakers won't allow front-seat occupants to enter destination addresses manually while the vehicle is in motion.

Meanwhile, they're all working on improving voice-recognition technology so drivers won't have to touch navigation screens at all. Based on several years of experience with its OnStar system — which relies on a customer-service person to give drivers oral directions — GM is convinced that voice interaction largely takes the danger out of navigation systems. "We're just not seeing a crash problem there because, with OnStar, drivers can keep their eyes on the road," Deering said.

Bluetooth
Despite some states' laws to the contrary, drivers aren't going to stop using cell phones while driving. So automakers are doing their best to make it as safe as possible. Installing hands-free technologies such as Bluetooth across their entire lineups is a major focus. "There's a social responsibility we feel in developing a system like that," said Coetzee. "It's taking a more reasonable approach than just saying, 'Don't use a cell phone when you drive.'"

Audio systems
Automakers are pushing to integrate vehicle sound systems on digital platforms and to create easy interfaces with MP3 players so there is a central, convenient source of control on the dash — instead of the makeshift assemblages of iPod cradles, extenders, power-port plug-ins and other devices that many drivers now use. Most vehicles already are available with steering-wheel-mounted audio controls.

Fold-down front seats
Many vehicles now offer fold-down front passenger seats with flat backs that drivers can use as makeshift desks, as well as110-volt power ports to power their laptops.

Food and beverage handling
This is an area that exemplifies how automakers can enhance the multitasking experience without making it more distracting or dangerous — the ultimate win-win tactic. Chrysler, for example, figures that as long as you're going to demand drink holders, they might as well help you maintain the beverage temperature you want. So in the Chrysler Sebring and Dodge Avenger sedans, there's a cupholder option that allows drivers to keep drinks warm or cool. Other manufacturers have expanded the number, sizes and locations of their front-seat cupholders to put beverages within easier reach. Even the tiny Mazda Miata now has door-mounted cupholders capable of holding a regular-size Starbucks coffee.

Chrysler, for one, has drawn the line at installing food trays up front. "We actually looked at a compartment that would hold a fast-food hamburger or other sandwich," said Ralph Gilles, a product vice president for Chrysler's Jeep unit. "But that was the point where we were inviting a little more activity than we really want from the driver. And what could you add for food beyond that?"

Because there's no sign whatsoever that Americans are going to multitask less, auto designers are going to have more and more such internal discussions — leading to increasingly difficult decisions.

"You could say we're only helping the dysfunctionality of America with some of the things we do in vehicles now," Gilles said. "But it's the reality of the marketplace."

Welcome to our blog!

2010-04-13T14:42:00.000-07:00

IBZ Group, LLC is a network of professional consultants who bring years of experience and successful execution to every project - large or small.
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