The Fairest of Them All

Let's hear it for the what is arguably the most successful print campaign of all time, Sports Illustrated's Swimsuit Issue! 

As Dina Spector reports in Business Insider, this issue has spawned a $1Billion empire, will go to 3 million subscribers and will sell more than 1 million copies on the newsstand. On The Today Show Matt Lauer said this issue will be viewed by over 62 million.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/sports-illustrated-swimsuit-issue-1-161000843.html

Last year SI offered the issue on four digital platforms including a tablet edition and iPhone app.
What a great opportunity for Time, Inc. and Sports Illustrated to evaluate the impact of print vs. digital with this property. Is there a spike in digital subscriptions as well? How does the viewer experience differ between print and digital?

All I know is I won't be seeing the digital version at my dentist's office. How do you measure the value of pass along readership to your advertisers in a digital format?

As for cover model Kate Upton, congrats on your second cover. It was worth the frostbite you suffered shooting in Antarctica!

Pop Culture and Social Media Success!

Two brilliant examples of pop culture and social media marketing happened this week which makes for a particularly happy PinkyonthePulse!

The Super Bowl is not only the biggest football game and advertising venue of the year, it's also the biggest social media event. We all get to be commentators via Facebook and Twitter. How many of you watched the game on a big screen and had your laptop and smartphone at hand? And a jumbo bag of potato chips? Maybe that was just me.

I admit, after the Calvin Klein Concept ad everything that followed was a blur until Beyoncé snapped me back to attention. She truly matched the mega-wattage exploding around her. The Twitter feed was equally dazzling.

Advertisers had instant feedback on how their dollars were spent. And then the power went out and one little tweet became the star. FOR FREE!

ChicagoBusiness.com reported:
"Power out?" Oreo posted to Twitter. "No problem. You can still dunk in the dark." The tweet was retweeted 10,000 times within one hour, according to AdAge, which noted that the Oreo graphic was "designed, captioned and approved within minutes."

Read more: http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20130206/BLOGS08/130209861/why-oreos-super-bowl-ad-went-viral#ixzz2KASrJIVC

Hasbro scored a Social Media success story by announcing their new Monopoly token "A Cat," which will eventually replace the retiring "Iron." Hasbro sparked huge votes on Monopoly's Facebook page which boasts more than 10 million likes. Counter campaigns to save other tokens were also launched. The cost for this huge buzz $0. Read more from CBS News here: http://cbsn.ws/XNGeVp

Lastly, you probably never knew his name, but you surely knew and loved his product:
André Cassagnes, Etch A Sketch Inventor, is Dead at 86.

How many of you spent hours like me, dialing in intricate patterns only to have a sibling "accidentally" jiggle it and erase your masterpiece?  http://nyti.ms/12nCH5P

Share your pop culture memories with us!

#LastPrintIssue

I'm trying not to take it personally. NEWSWEEK ended their 79 year run as the number two news magazine with their December 31, 2012 issue. Just because a magazine that has been around since 1933 has decided to go digital doesn't affect me, does it? Let me just take a moment to remove the dagger from my heart. 

Most of my career has been spent sending ad materials to magazines and newspapers. For many years we would ship huge packages with 20 sets of film (NRREU & PRRED) plugs progs and tops (a progressive proof run on a press to simulate what it would look like in the magazine before the ad ran.) That process took hours and several people to physically process the materials. All replaced by the touch of a button and a digital transmission in seconds to multiple printing plants.  

I spent most of the weekend watching back to back episodes of Downton Abbey. I had heard raves about it from several friends and finally jumped on the bandwagon. The BBC series depicts the cushy lifestyle of one British family in 1912 and the staff that serves them. It's all about the juxtaposition between rich and poor, old and older, tradition and change. Do I identify more with the Dowager Lady Crawley (fabulous Maggie Smith) who laments about any deviation from her youth or Lord Crawley (stoic Hugh Bonneville) desperately trying to keep up with the times while preserving the past. 

Change is inevitable no matter how hard we try to avoid it. "Change is good," we say. We really don't have much choice in the matter, do we? TIME marches on ; )

Oh, Sandy

Could we have ever imagined the amount of grief the name "Sandy" would bring us in 2012?

My mouth gapes open, my heart is in a vise, my throat catches, tears flow.

Widespread devastation along the east coast in late October wiped away entire communities leaving people homeless and businesses decimated. In an already terrible economic time, this blow by Mother Nature was especially cruel. Over 250 lives were lost. Sand and salt water took down steel and concrete. Memories of summer days "down the shore" washed away in an instant.

Hurricane Sandy damage can be fixed. It can be swept up, hauled away, rebuilt. Time and money can repair most of the material damage. It will never be the same for sure, but we can heal. In some cases things will even be better. A new "normal" will resume. I don't mean to trivialize the lives lost here. They are a significant loss. NYC Mayor Bloomberg and NJ Governor Christie should be commended for their swift action and warnings that surely saved a significant number of lives.

When I heard the news about Sandy Hook Elementary last Friday it literally took my breath away. What started as a mind-numbing breaking news story while watching "The Today Show" hit me like a sucker punch minutes later. I barely gave the news a second thought when it was first reported: a school shooting, the killer is reportedly dead, three injured. Fifteen minutes later a flash news update on my phone, 18 children dead. Before I could turn the TV back on, the count went to 27 dead including 20 children. Six heroic teachers who put themselves between the gunman and the kids.

NO! How can we wrap our minds around this tragedy and even begin to get back to "normal"? How can we remember all those names and keep them in our hearts? We may not know anyone personally affected by these deaths, yet we are rocked to our core because they were leading the lives WE lead. OUR kids in school, Our teachers, OUR community. Innocence lost.

What can we do to sweep up this tragedy and rebuild? Gun control and mental health care are starting points for discussion. These are polarizing issues and I don't like to argue.

Instead, I like the idea of practicing acts of kindness. We can't clean up this mess, but maybe we can make our new angels proud of us. Let's try.

Quentin: Have your people call my people

Just like you, I invent celebrity encounters. You know, like what would you say to Channing Tatum if you saw him in an elevator, how you would counsel Lindsay Lohan, etc. One celebrity encounter I have prepared for is to meet Quentin Tarantino in a restaurant. Since I live in Los Angeles and eat at restaurants, I have reason to think this is a possibility.

I was reminded recently of why I wanted to meet Quentin after seeing the very cool Tarantino timeline on www.miramax.com created by fusioncreativela.com. Can you believe it has been 20 years since Reservoir Dogs was released? Believe it, and check out the Tarantino XX 20th Anniversary Box Set.

This pop art graphic trip down Tarantino memory lane brings back disturbing highlights from his movies in a good way. The only thing missing is a soundtrack and that is what fuels my fantasy meeting.

I don't think I can ever forgive Quentin for what he did to the part of my brain that retains the melody for "Stuck in the Middle With You" by Stealers Wheel and the images from Reservoir Dogs together. Deep down, I know Quentin and I have similar taste in pop music, although he definitely "sees" things differently than I do. I was grateful to hear "Didn't I Blow Your Mind This Time" from the Delfonics in Jackie Brown and "Son of a Preacher Man" by Dusty Springfield in Pulp Fiction.

So I decided to play into Quentin's dark side with my song suggestion. I first heard it on a British 60s compilation CD. "Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart" was a #5 hit in the UK for Gene Pitney, better known in the US for his hits "Who Shot Liberty Valance" and "Town Without Pity." I was hooked on the song from the minute I heard it. There have been several covers and even other recordings by Pitney, but it was the version on this compilation album that caught my attention. There is a haunting quality to the song with an incredible crescendo that would go perfectly well with a Tarantino inspired slaying. Envision Tom Jones' "Delilah," only not so obvious. Check out Pitney's best version on iTunes in "The Brill Building Sound."

My entry on the Tarantino timeline would simply say "2013: Chance meeting with crazy fan inspires  script for "Heart."

I'm too late for Tarantino XX, stay tuned for Tarantino XXV.

Chair Potato is the New Couch Potato

After attending the ThinkLA Trends Breakfast (#ThinkTrends) earlier this week at the Beverly Hills Hotel, all I can think about is that I'm going to need a new chair. Right now I'm sitting on a dining room chair with an extra cushion and it still is not very comfortable. My office chair hurts my back.

Chairs were not a trend discussed in the "We Are Connected" theme by three dynamos of the Digital Age: Ciaran Bossum, Director of Digital Strategy & Brand Participation at Saatchi & Saatchi Los Angeles; Jonah Peretti, Founder and CEO of Buzzfeed and Co-Founder of The Huffington Post; and Dr. Jeffrey Cole, Director, Center for Digital Future at USC Annenberg School for Communication. Over 500 attendees were privy to the presentations, almost all of whom were clutching their smartphones and multi-tasking as the behavioral charts projected on room monitors said they would.

Bossum’s message focused on the shift in consumer behavior to multi-platform and second screen experiences. We watch TV while simultaneously multi-tasking and the primary content delivery vehicle is our phone. We are used to shifting across platforms from our big screen TVs to our laptops and iPads (sequential usage). Consumers are now comfortable purchasing on line, but we better be able to do it on our phones or the deal may be off.

Our social behavior is changing the way we use our devices too. We want to share our experiences with our friends by tweeting or posting comments with others watching an event at the same time (simultaneous usage), especially during live events like the Super Bowl.    

Peretti, who shared his hilarious journey from taking on Nike on “The Today Show” to his Rejection Hotline http://bit.ly/Ww83zW , is an expert on how things go viral. BuzzFeed is the first true social news organization that provides a pioneering mix of breaking news, entertainment and shareable content. Once thought of more for its humorist lists like “13 Simple Steps to Get You Through a Rough Day,” BuzzFeed recently hired Ben Smith of POLITICO as Editor-in-Chief and scooped the news media when President Obama visited Afghanistan.

Peretti encourages adding to humor to the mix. He compares the current social media landscape to “Publishing is now a Paris Café.” It’s okay to read Sartre and and pet the dog. He says it’s about fun and the human experience. 

Cole traced how the mass medium has shifted from radio to TV and now to digital viewing. When TV became the focus we started watching three hours a day. That time came at the cost of family conversations and reading a book or magazine. Now we have expanded our viewing time from 16 hours to 44 hours a week and he expects this will go to 55 hours. 

It was Cole's discussion about e-commerce and our use of the internet that made me think about getting a new chair. Cole said while we were reluctant at first to purchase online, now it has become such a part of our daily lives that we are making even the most mundane of purchases because we will get them in 48 hours. Amazon is pushing that delivery window to same day--order by 10am, receive by 6pm. Why go out in the rain to buy kitty litter if I can have it delivered to my door? Cole predicts that Amazon will deliver cars to our doorstep in the near future. 

Another point Cole made is that we can't escape the internet. For every hour we may surreptitiously surf at work, we spend three hours at home working. We sleep with our phones. Now we fluctuate between "FOMO—the Fear of Missing Out" to wanting to turn it all off with what The New York Times called "JOMO—the Joy of Missing Out."

So I ask you, is your chair comfortable enough to handle these digital trends? We already work from home and shop from home. I'm not sure I'll need a car delivered to my home, but I know I am going to need a better chair!

Print and Social Media Marketing: So Many Questions

I came across my job search notebook from 2006 when I was laid off from NBC and I'm amazed by both how much has changed and how much is still the same.

Six years ago Monster.com was THE job search engine, now I barely look at it. The first iPhone was released in June 2007. I was not using Facebook or LinkedIn, neither were my peers. Social Media Marketing and blogs did not even exist!

One question I asked myself then is still valid today: Do you think your current job will exist in five years?

Print was still a robust industry in 2006, full of car books, annual reports, magazines and books. The paper industry was not viewed as a public enemy. Home Entertainment was phasing out VHS tapes for DVDs. People bought books in real bookstores and from Amazon.

Now the print industry is getting back on its feet after a drastic decline in 2008. We lost some of the best printers in town over the past five years, but thankfully, many have remained as robust as ever. The Advertising Production Association of Los Angeles, my original social media marketing source, once with over 700 members has declined to 250 members and will mark 2012 as its final year. The paper industry has a tough job in convincing America that it is the sustainable resource it always has been.

My way of thinking about the future has changed. In 2006 I was asking myself "What do I want to do for the next 20 years?" Now I realize the old model of remaining with a company for the "rest of my career" is no longer viable. I have always been the loyal employee, working 5 or more years, but those relationships are no longer the norm. Now I want to focus on what is new and how I can contribute in a fresh way.

One question remains personal to me from 2006 and now: How can I help the print industry? Is there a function I can take on as the voice of the print industry that will help both vendors and buyers connect to what's next?

There are so many events offered for personal and professional growth. I wonder who has time to go to them all. And if one goes, what happens to that knowledge? I would like to be the person attending informative events and reporting on them to my industry peers. That's why I started Pinkyonthepulse.com. Can Print and Social Media Marketing work together?

One last question: What's next?