January, 2008 | Virginia Miracle

Catching up on “In the MotherHood”

By virginia.miracle | January 2, 2008

Maybe it’s because I work. Maybe it’s because I am new to the Mom game. Maybe it’s because I don’t DVR Ellen. Whatever the reason, I missed “In the MotherHood” when it debuted last Mother’s Day. MotherHood is a series of 5 webisodes. The situations are submitted by and voted on by real life moms responding to assignments such as sharing their child’s most public meltdown or most embarrassing potty training story. Professional screen writers turn the winning plots into truly funny scripts that are then acted by Leah Remini and Chelsea Handler and directed by Peter Lauer (who automatically has my respect because he has 3 director turns on Arrested Development on his long resume).

The site is “co-conceived” by Suave & Sprint and hosted by Microsoft. I’m not sure what those 3 brands have to do with each other, but the numbers, submissions, and end creative product seem to indicate success in creating a hub for mothers to share stories. The series was promoted and aired on the “Ellen” show which drove online viewership. On a quick peruse of the forums, I saw that many of the threads are still active months after the voting and content closed. I look forward to checking back to see what choices the brands will make to continue the engagement now that they have assembled such a large audience. Maybe the goal is just to host the conversation, advertise on the margin, and benefit from the brand glow.

By the way, the reason I found out about this expos facto was on an “encore” presentation of Leah Remini’s guest appearance on Chelsea Lately. Now that, I DVR.

A Humorous Toast to Superfluous Integration

By virginia.miracle | January 1, 2008

I am lucky enough to still be on the holiday mailing list for my long lost friends on the left coast – Cole & Weber United. This year, their greeting was so good that I feel moved to share. Instead of sending a boring paper card, they sent an integrated media map for spreading CWU holiday cheer through every buzzy vehicle of the year – including YouTube, flash mobs, gaming product placement, street teams and a Times Square execution. My favorite inclusion here is the new mandatory new marketing element – the Facebook strategy. That will make this piece carbon datable to 2007 in years to come.

I’m guessing that CWU, like most agencies, feel the pressure satisfying the request of clients who want to include every shiny new marketing vehicle in their programs – regardless of their appropriateness. While some may be just the ticket to reaching your audience, starting with a foregone conclusion inhibit client/agency partnership in putting together a strategy to reach customers where they are and engage them in a meaningful conversation or brand experience. In the interest of full disclosure, I once did this to CWU when I was their client and they were trying to indulge me by experimenting with a branded character MySpace integration. That sounds “so 2005” now, doesn’t it? Let’s hope 2008 is the year of meaningful customer engagement and less meaningless noise.

Bite Sized Resolutions

By virginia.miracle | January 1, 2008

Like the rest of us, I am thinking about resolutions today. 2008 is going to hold a lot of change for my family – a move, new jobs, and a new city among them. Because of the impending changes and my past resolution success record, I am going to start off making resolutions for what I am going to tackle for the next 13 days until I begin my new gig and my weekly commute to Washington, D.C. Every day for the next 13 days, I commit to:

a) Spend 30 quality minutes interacting with the baby with no distractions

b) Blog (this one does not count – a little too meta)

c) Work out

d) Take a family walk – fresh air is good for everyone

e) NOT eat French Fries or any other member of the tasty friend potato class – including tots, browns, and the wedge. If my life was a cartoon, my arch nemesis would be a perfectly crisped golden brown french fry wearing a black hat and cape who lurks around every corner, waiting to tempt me to the dark side.

f) Not feel guilty about everything else I am not working on while I’m trying to be diligent about the above.

Happy New Year everyone! I wish you luck thinking about your own resolutions – be they new year or new fortnight.