Last minute Shopping - Books

I spent some time on the 24th of December picking up some last minute Christmas gifts…books. I love to wander through a good book store, sipping coffee and picking over books that I have never heard of from authors I have never read. It amazes me how many books I have found on clearance tables that have turned out to be personal favorites and it is likely that none of these would have been found by me on Amazon or any other online book seller.
Is it possible to find the same “hidden gems” in the “people who bought this book also bought” reminders?
I had not really considered it before but at one time, one of the promises of the on demand world was a greater exposure for the independent author…with a greater ability to self publish. I don’t think that’s our current reality.

Last night I read an article in Fast Company online (although I did also buy the magazine).
The author suggests that the end of the book as we know it is inevitable. I suppose it’s true to a point – with the new tablet readers the technology will become an easy alternative. However, I find it difficult to imagine a world where books are dusty relics of a past generation as the author suggests.
The article outlines a great future in the electronic word replacing books of pure learning, textbooks, manuals, biographies etc. The possibilities are tremendous but to think that the same reasoning is true for works of fiction – that’s where I get lost. The real pleasure in reading fiction is the personal visualization of the described word…imagination. Suggesting that the author would be able to add visuals to a work of fiction would eliminate personal interpretation. How many books have you read that have been made into disappointing movies? Movies, by their nature present the interpretation of some director or screenwriter. Characters look different, stories are altered and scenery is not as imagined. Movies are a completely different experience. even with books I don't want the author to tell me too much – which is likely the reason I could never get through a Michener novel.
Crossing over media can be a great thing if the application is right. I suspect that using the same ideas with works of fiction would mean that all novels would end up like a Ken Burns styled movie. As great as his work is, I certainly would not want that to become the standard for fiction?

Off the Grid

It has been a long time since I have been “out of commission” due to illness. At the very least it has been a long time since I have been out of contact for more than an afternoon. Unfortunately, for the last few days, I have been totally off the internet grid. Among other things, it has made me realize how much I have become dependant on the Internet news and information.

During the last few days, when awake, I did try to watch some TV news but found they devoted a lot of time to stories that were of little interest to me and the ones that did catch my attention were overly sensationalized and lacked depth. It is really interesting how on line news has changed the level of information we have… how many different directions a story can take with the simple click of a mouse. At some level, it reminds me that packaged news programs limit our knowledge and understanding much more then we are aware. On the other hand, while we are equipped to have all the information at our fingertips, is there so much information available that we lose interest in anything that does not quickly stimulate us.
Case in point might be the recent United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen

Over the last four years, motivated by both business and personal interests, climate change, environmental impact and the global and local concerns about sustainability have been a part of my daily reading. For me, trying to educate myself, to disseminate the variety of information and wade through the complexity of the challenge has been a monumental challenge. At first I found it easy to read articles and form opinions. The more information I try to filter the more conflicting opinions I have. Then begins the process of challenging the information. What is real versus what is politically motivated? Who’s interests are being served?

Unfortunately, it leads to a very cynical view of how the world is approaching the issues and what the real issues are?.
Back to Copenhagen and I think many people lose interest in the event simply because they get buried in massive amounts of conflicting information.

Have a great day!
George

Holiday Travel

OK – So this embracing the winter season to make it more enjoyable is not really working for me. It is hard to believe that winter does not officially start for a couple of days.
I admit to enjoying those beautiful sunny winter days when snow covers the ground. Unfortunately, Toronto has less of those picture perfect days and more of the overcast and damp ones where the chill gets right into the bones!
How my ancestors ever ended up in this climate I will never understand.
I would like to try living in a warmer climate and one day might get the chance. In the meantime, I have committed to more travel – more holidays.
I love to travel and was interested to hear from a friend of mine, that the company he works for (GAP Adventures) had really encouraged all their staff to get Twitter accounts and Tweet through out the day. I found an interesting interview with the company founder and CEO (Bruce Poon Tip) on how company has integrated social media into their company culture. http://www.thestar.com/travel/article/733063--tourism-and-twitter-a-match-made-in-cyberspace

The story of the company, the founder and social media are great reading. I have never really tried the adventure traveling that they specialize in but reading all this has me considering something out of the ordinary. Maybe next vacation…

Actually, I think travel is one of those things in life that brings people together through common experience. Everyone I know can tell a great story about something that has happened in an airport, on a plane or crossing a border on a road trip. When hear people tell their stories it always reminds me of this clip about lost luggage that was sent to me a couple years ago. It made me laugh the first time I saw it and every time since.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dhkm6sgPdtk&feature=related

Cheers and safe travels this holiday season.
George

‘Tis the season!

I read a few weeks ago that the Salvation Army would be accepting credit card donations at their “kettle” stations. Earlier this year, they had introduced a “text” giving program where individuals can make a donation simply by sending a text message on there cell phone http://www.salvationarmy.ca/2009/12/07/text-hope-salvation-army-launches-it’s-first-ever-text-message-giving-program/
Add this to their campaigns on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube and the new age of generating awareness and donating is upon us.

Yesterday, I was walking through a local mall and was approached by a woman working a kiosk, soliciting donations for “Save the Children” I found it difficult to say that we already sponsor a child.
Like most people we know, we contribute to charities when we can, we help organize, attend and support fundraising events and from a business standpoint we sponsor a great many charitable events every year. Also, like most people I know, I often think I can and should do more. The interaction with the volunteer in the mall makes me pause and think.

I am always fascinated with the rapidly changing world we live in. It seems that everyday there is a new discovery or event that makes us stop and take notice. At the same time I find it difficult to reconcile the rate of technological change versus the suffering that we see daily in the news of people all over the world. Recently, I was watching a television special on the Beatles and the commercial breaks were entirely filled with ads for sponsoring a child in Africa. The backdrop to all the images of children in poverty was the John Lennon song “Happy Christmas (War is Over)” - maybe better known as “So this is Christmas”. It seems odd to me that we have been unable to find a way to solve the problem of world hunger.

A couple of years ago I attended a “One X One” Gala during the Toronto International Film Festival. This fundraiser was hosted by Matt Damon and was in aid of H2O Africa
This charity is creating public awareness of the water crisis in Africa and gathering support for clean water programs in effected regions. I am not sure how much money this one event raised but I seem to remember that it was well over $1,000,000. And this was a single event – one single evening!
The point is, with all the money donated to charities each year, and all our resources, why are we still struggling with hunger and clean water crises?

Last week was the first test flight of the Virgin Galactic – a commercial spacecraft that, in theory will allow people to buy access to a trip to “outer space”. http://www.virgingalactic.com/ An absolutely remarkable achievement and yet, how do we reconcile this kind of wealth with a series of ads asking for $1 per day to support a child in a poverty stricken third world country? At http://www.water.org they ask for a $25 donation to provide a person with water for life.
I struggle to understand this - the disconnect between the money available (and donated) and the technology available with the needs of nations ravaged by poverty and disease. Surely there is something wrong with this equation. Truth is that I am an optimist…perhaps naively so…but if we don’t question, how can we ever hope to effect change.
In the spirit of the season, do something nice for someone today and have a great day.
Cheers,
George

Environmental Considerations

In an earlier posting I mentioned that I follow several blog postings daily. The one I mentioned is Jessica Watson – a 16-year-old Aussie who is sailing around the world http://youngestround.blogspot.com/

I think the reason I like following Jessica’s attempt is that I am trying to imagine how she must feel. The great sense of adventure mixed with the feeling of complete solitude. These are emotions and feelings that the average person does not get to experience often enough in a lifetime. It will be interesting to find out how she copes with the solitude as she gets longer into her journey. Will the telephone calls home and the internet access be enough to compensate for being alone?

I have had lots interesting responses to my first blog postings and have been forwarded more articles and links than I have able to sort through. The ones that I have read have been excellent and I am really getting an education on some of the technology that is out there. I am also finding out how much information is available. The question is how many of the thoughts are unique and how many are simply the same thoughts over and over again?
Is forwarding a link without adding some of your own thoughts or ideas simply creating internet waste? Maybe not…maybe forwarding ideas that you find interesting is creating a new level of intelligence - more people getting more information.

As we consider environmental issues in our world we should be considering the impact of the cyber world. Is there a way to measure this impact?

Today I have more questions then conclusions…
Have a great day.
Cheers,
George

Well, I am about a week into Twitter and find myself still trying to get a good sense of it. I have not sent out my link to anyone yet but have picked up a few followers along the way. I find it interesting to follow who is following whom.
In the process of linking to some of the vast number of users, I am struck with a couple of questions. First, is there a common method that is used gain followers? I'm curious, as there are some individuals that have huge followings. I know there have been some pretty high profile campaigns for people to get followers (I think Justin Timberlake was one) which I understand, but how does a regular “twitterer” accumulate thousands of followers? (Hmmm – twittering sounds vaguely illegal or at the very least wrong. I was going to write “twit” but am not sure that is the right term either– is tweeter correct?)
The second and perhaps more important question – is how can anyone possibly follow thousands of twitter sites? I came across someone yesterday who was following 83,693 sites. How is that possible? In the short time I have had an account, I am following 19 people/ businesses and am already having trouble keeping up. Can anyone really follow 250 sites? I see lots in the 1000’s…maybe I’m missing something.
It occurs to me, that being active in the social networking world is time consuming. Between Twitter and a regular blog posting, time management is really important if the postings are to be meaningful.
My learning continues. I am also starting to understand the protocol of posting information and crediting both the source and the source of the source. In other words, it is not enough to tag an article; I am told that it is protocol to tag who sent it in the first place. So, in my first blog I mentioned a print rep in Colorado and an article on Social Media that inspired me. If you are in sales or have any interest in sales, there are some fun postings that I have enjoyed reading. Here is the link to it (with my apologies - http://superseller.wordpress.com/2009/11/30/what-the-fk-is-social-media-the-basics/
Have a great day!
Cheers,
George

Winter arrived here last night in typical Toronto style - snow overnight followed by rain today... which means a slushy drive into work and a messy day overall. Having said that, I am still trying to embrace the season. Last night I layered up, put on my Margaritaville toque and braved the 45km winds blowing off the lake. I am trying...

While doing research for this blog and to increase my own knowledge, I have found some fascinating articles, some clever items and some things that are just plain fun. Like this link http://www.cheerfactory.com/
Aside from the obvious smiles and interest in the program itself, I think many of these applications are great branding tools. This Cheer Factory site ties into the Gap’s advertising and if you click through to the TV commercials there are several viral ads created by the Gap. All designed to build good will and brand awareness.

Branding is one of those things that many companies miss the boat on…particularly small to medium sized organizations. We spend so much time concerned about sales, productivity, overheads etc., that many companies never address advertising or branding opportunities. Creating a brand is a often a slow and systematic process. As a printing company, we have managed to create a brand in an industry where branding a mid sized company is almost unheard of. It has been done slowly, over many years and, while not a defined strategy, in hindsight is clearly one of the cornerstones of our success.

I recently had a conversation with a high-end real estate agent and we spoke about their advertising and mail outs. He does not expect to sell a house on the strength of an ad in a homes for sale magazine or with a colourful “just sold” card in the neighbor's mailbox. They invest in these vehicles to create an identity for the agent…a brand.

In my brief experience with the Social Networking media I am realizing that many blogs, and Twitter and Facebook/ MySpace are about creating personal brands. To find out about the company – go to the company web site. To find out about the person – follow the blog.
http://www.replytoall.nl/reputatie-management/authentic-personal-branding/

Cheers,
George

Embracing The Season

Welcome to Monday and the start of a new week. It is a cold clear morning in Toronto with the anticipation of snow in the middle of the week. I generally hate winter but have decided to try to change my attitude and embrace the season. It may help so that I don’t spend the next 4 months dreaming of warm destinations. We’ll see how it goes.

Friday night we celebrated the beginning of the season with our annual C.J. Graphics Open House. Contrary to most of my conversations over the last few days this event was traditional social networking – live and face-to-face. It is always a great evening to renew old friendships, and meet socially with people we do business with throughout the year. To bring it forward with technology, pictures of the event can be seen at www.cjdigital.ca/facebook



In addition to being able to thank our clients and suppliers for their support throughout the year, we make the event a fundraiser for the Daily Bread Food Bank. I have not seen the final tallies but there was a tremendous amount of food brought and the live auction was a great success. Thank you to everyone who attended.

In response to my first blog posting I have been overwhelmed with articles to read and links to follow up on. For anyone interested in the business of new media, Lee sent me a great article on the rapid rise and fall of MySpace. I think it is worth noting that, with technology changing so quickly, keeping up with and integrating the latest technologies is critical to continued success.

Have a great day!

Cheers,
George

Ground Zero

Well – this is blog day one for me and I will admit that I really don’t know where this will go. I have been following a couple of blogs with interest for a few months and recently was forwarded a link that related to sales and the print industry. While this blog from a print rep in Colorado is not updated often, the information posted is interesting with some humour. I was particularly drawn to an article on social media and how useful it can be as a tool to publish information and communicate with a large group of people. I am interested in how to combine all new forms of media with traditional vehicles to create great advertising and communications.

I should point out that I am not a techie but I do love innovative thinking and execution and while I have a love of gadgets, to date, my social networking has been limited to a LinkedIn listing, a new foray into Twitter (which I don’t really get yet) and email/text (not that either of those count). I don’t have a Facebook account despite the fact that some of my sales reps insist it is the best way to mine for business. Having said that, I do embrace new ideas and technologies. Through our Interactive Group and Digital Company we are producing new and innovative marketing communications vehicles everyday.

I hope that through this blog, I can communicate some ideas and learn from other people’s thoughts and opinions.

For anyone interested, one of the blogs I have been following (not print related) is: http://youngestround.blogspot.com/

This is a daily posting from a 16 year old Australian girl who is attempting to become the youngest person to sail solo, non stop and unassisted around the world. I find it interesting that we can follow the day-to-day progress as her attempt unfolds – the physical and mental challenges not to mention the simple magnitude of what she is trying to accomplish.

Cheers,
George