Is Reputation Management able to take down the Mega Corporations of the World?

Beware businesses of the world, the consumers are taking their revenge on you for years of abuse. Recently I read an article about a mom who found a foreign object in her daughter's cereals. She called the company who then asked for photo evidence. Long story short, after losing the photos sent and sending coupons for more of the cereals they probably will be avoiding for the rest of their lives, here we are now, the readers, hearing all about how Raisin Bran pretended that the problem didn't exist until backed up against the wall.

It's pretty obvious that many companies like to cut corners for the sake of saving a buck or two, especially in this rather tough economy. What I just can't comprehend is why they still spend millions on TV ads and so little on reputation management, one of the cheapest ways to do good by the consumer.

How does it work? It's quite simple really. Company screws up. Customer complains. Company ignores. Customer gives terrible reviews, or worst, creates a blog and SEO it. IF company does its reputation management correctly, the complaint is located and companies tries to make amends, preferably over the phone to understand customers dismay and resolves the issue. What happens if they don't? It gets picked up, shared a couple thousands people and spread like wildfire on the Internet, and inevitably on the news. Then the company has to spend thousands of dollars fighting the media, looking like idiots, making feel good campaigns ala Johnsons and Johnsons.

AT&T, Apple and BP all had their recent blunders with Reputation Management. Companies are not quite fast enough in hiring social media teams and when they do, they often hire young professionals with not quite enough experience or grace to understand how to treat someone the right way. Somewhere between the "OMG Stacey WRU@" valley girls and the "yay I typed an email but how do I send it" guys, there is a very thin layer of social media users who not only enjoy but understand the technology. Unfortunately, I think it will be a couple of years before companies understand what's best for them and how to choose the right candidate. After all, Marketing execs are usually Baby Boomers and Cereal Moguls are too busy trying to make kids sugar slaves. Few of them really know what this new generation of graduates will do for them or how to trust them with their multimillion dollar reputations. Will Reputation Management kill some of them? A year ago I would have said no, now, it's all up in the air. We can't rely on the dreamy TV campaigns presented to us with flags waving and women and children laughing at a breakfast table on a sunny morning to tell us about how great a product is. (not that you see it anyways, you have a DVR or buy your fav. episodes on Itunes.) You can't trust their own website to tell you what a great brand it is, there's an admin that controls every entry and discards your comments. (Yeah I am looking at you Sephora.com). What's left? Tweets, online directories, Facebook groups and the Blog Nation. And there you have it.

In the meantime, customers will continue exercising their right to discontent online and share it with the world. Don't get me wrong, so will I and I feel by no mean sad for any of them, if anything just sad that they didn't have someone like me on their team to help them out. (not conceited, realistic!) 

 Let's face it, we live in a difficult world for dirty little secrets and the Internet is making sure of that. Heads up Mr. Corps. and Misses TM of the world: the Internet is forever for you too.





What do Sasquatch and Red Lipstick have in common?

The answer? Both have been presumably seen in the Pacific Northwest but no one can prove it. Have you ever had the temptation one morning to put on something that is considered bold and interesting? For some time now, I struggle with the thought of putting on some red lipstick at work.

On the East Coast, I wouldn't even have blinked an eye and put on some Fire Engine # 72 on my pout on the way out the door. Here, in the Seattle area, the lip is prudish. If you walk on the streets, you'll notice that no one, even sometime the most "Gothesque" chick on the street wears anything more than a demure pink or lip gloss. Where does this stigma of the painted lips comes from exactly? How do MAC counters make a living exactly?

I am fascinated by the sexually charged red you see in fashion magazines this year. When I think red lipstick, I think French, I think Power Woman, I think High Fashion Editor at Vogue Magazine, I think Marilyn Monroe, I think Geisha and I get dizzy at the thought of this velvety girlie dream. It is unclear how men sees the plump scarlet mouth of their feminine counterparts. My man for one hates lipstick as a hole, thinking of it as a barrier to the routinely morning kiss. For some others, it objectifies the Femme Fatale so often presented in yesteryear's cliches.

If you can take away anything factual from this story, it is that lipstick can be traced back to as early as 5000 years ago in Ur, near Babylon where ancient texts described the process of crushing precious gems to smear on one's lips. Furthermore, the ancient Egyptian women squeezed out purple-red color from iodine and bromine, leading to serious diseases. With time, it came to be known as ‘the kiss of death’. It is said that Cleopatra’s lipstick were made from carmine beetles, which when worked with pestle gave a strong red color pigment. This was mixed with ant’s eggs, which provided the base. Apart from this, henna was also one of the preferred substances amongst Egyptians. To provide the shimmer to the lipstick, fish scales were used.

But back to the strong urges pushing me to apply Moulin Rouge Number 53... It is with great sadness that I've noticed it not being well received by the Pacific North West Coast girls. Perhaps the absence of Fall colors leaves them uninspired. Perhaps it just doesn't add up with their North Face jackets or maybe, just maybe we're just all red lipstick closet wearers. In the meantime, until I feel especially irreverent one of these gloom and doom mornings, I will bite down on my Rose Petal # 14 and walk anonymously among them.


Sad........... Jewel tones are so luxe this season!

Sexiest Men Alive?

There is a growing culture out there and we're not talking in the bacterial sense here. We're talking about this urban chic nerd foodie tendency that's now being touched by the mainstream cable channels like the aptly named Cooking Channel. We're talking about more than basement beer brewers and eco bake sale extravaganza. We are now returning to the art of making real food. Now that organic snacks are flooding the Costcos of the world, the general public no longer frown upon this once rebellious minority of rooftop chicken coop owners and dill pickle chemists, or sees them as granola people mashing grapes in Birkenstock.

It's been twice this week that I've heard of the Mast Brothers and their New York handmade chocolate operation. With bushy beards and a wildly Amish looking vibe, they expertly go back to the roots of chocolate itself, glorifying its process like the artful science it should be. I think that in our quest for processed foods of all sorts and the simplicity of shoving virtually anything in our trapholes we sometimes forget the quasi eroticism of liquefied luscious chocolate goodness, its history and the incredible journey it had to take to end up here. Appreciation should not only live in the mind of these foodie renegades but within the public eye as well. After all, I'd rather talk about cocoa liquor than Lyndsey Lohan.

Nevertheless, Mast Brothers, I bow to you. Even with your quite alarming quantity of facial hair, anyone who make chocolate look delicious and smart deserves to kick George Clooney off his pedestal. Chocolate IS sexy.

http://www.mastbrotherschocolate.com/

Welcome to me?

Welcome to me. Me isn't too complex... Just a little bit... Okay maybe a lot. I am not going to pretend to be the super blogging wizard, just take notice of the things that surrounds me, some musings about life in general and the questions no one really takes the time to articulate. I don't expect praises or commentaries but I am willing to take some people for the ride. Are you in?