I see myself as a problem solver, but even more so a puzzle solver. By this I mean putting together pieces that others may not even see as a part of a puzzle. Or other times there isn’t a puzzle to be solved and I still try to force the pieces together. That was sort of the theme for today, determining what is a puzzle and what is not? This to me sounds a lot more productive than calling everything a problem.

Let me start with an example. One of my best friends put a message on my Facebook profile pleading with me to stop blogging. He is doesn’t see the point of posting insights up on a page and I think he still views it as an online “diary”. That is ok, blogging isn’t for everyone. However, as I read his comments busting on me, it dawned on me this is a great way to come up with a clear explaination that I can present to people who don’t see the value of blogging and are quick to dismiss it. So, I am going to start sending him different points of views about how blogging is a great way to connect with customers, as well as friends and family. After, all he posted on my Facebook profile so is already on board with Social Media. Do I dare tell him his Facebook profile is essentially a blog about him? Nah, he is a smart guy he will figure it out.

Puzzle One of the day created, solution imagined, all that is left is the execution. (Bryon, you are going to love this, cheers).

Second example or puzzle of the day, my brother and I had a great conversation about the new ways people are deciding to advertises when budgets get tight and a majority of companies are turning to digital media. We came to the conclusion that there are some fundemental shifts that are going on in our industry, however the rules still apply even if the mediums change. In a nutshell, is a great image produced with oil paint any less appealing to the viewer then if it was printed on a color laser printer? To your traditionalists, yes, to a consumer, no. Here is the thing though, conversations like this are where the lines of a puzzle needing to be solved and a lot of pieces available that sound like they might be good together cross. Can you come up with one solution to this? No, there are too many variables included.

And that brings me to my point of this post, it is important to keep an open mind to all new innovations, trends and tools at your disposal, but make sure someone else’s ideas don’t become extra pieces in the puzzle you are trying to solve. Identify early if there is a puzzle to be solved and use your experience to determine this, then use everything you can to best solve the puzzle for you.

Mashable announced their Open Web Winners today, and the article mentions some of the numbers they had participate this year.

Over 100 Blog Partners have helped make this the biggest Open Web Awards to date with 50,000 total nominations, 80,000 total votes in the first round, and 90,000 votes in the final round. Our blog partners come from 25 countries and are written in 10 different languages.

I used Mashable as an example here not only because it is an informative site, but because it too has become a buzz word. Websites in the coming months needs to be re-evaluated and developed as mashed-up sites. By mashed-up, I mean put together using 3rd party social media outlets as features (widgets) along side the core site content for the company or product the site is promoting.

This is kind of a no brain-er for anyone who has been in the online world for more than a year, but what is going to be interesting is how are the social media networks going to survive offering free services? As more and more large traffic sites start relying on these free outlets, like Twitter and Facebook as their main source of customer service, who pays the hosting bills for all of this traffic?

What are the options that are available that can generate revenue for these companies, and still keep an audience that is used to free and fun? First thing that comes to mind is Advertising, but there are a number of catches to this. With the simple nature of social media networks and social widgets, the two way conversation is the key and what company would want to possibly promote other companies and products on their websites or while talking to their customers. That would be like sitting at a Chili’s and having Applebee’s sponsor all of the TV’s in the bar. (Trust me I have seen this happen).

OK, what if the social networks charge extra to have advertising free services for business users? Simple you couldn’t because there is no way to tell who is a customer and who is a business. Or are they both now?

To end my ramblings this morning, I wanted to put this thought out there. As the next few month unfold, with the world economy in a slump and more and more people are unemployed, how will social media survive? It exists because it is free, it’s popularity will continue to grow, but as the saying goes, there is not such thing as a free lunch.

The article hit on the idea that there is a lot of time wasted on groups coming up with worthless slogans and that slogans are no longer a valuable asset to a brand. I think that we have become so used to cleaver slogans that we look right past them. Marketers have realized this for awhile now and pushed another phenomenon that I am not sure what to call. It is the use of versions, sequals, types, 2.0, and other descriptors. If you aren’t following what I am describing, just watch cable television for about 10 minutes. CSI:Miami, CSI NY, CSI Torrington, Wyoming.

When I started in the Internet marketing world, it was all the craze to start naming the versions of your websites in the same manner that software developers have been doing all along, and thus was born Web 2.0. Wait a minute is Web 2.0 really a new form of slogan? It has the properties of a slogan in that it is creative, following the trend of the products it is associated with. Yet, it doesn’t describe what Web 2.0 is or how it can be used. Since Web 2.0 has been used so loosely as a buzz word, I think Web 2.0 really has become a new form of brand slogans.

Ok, so now we have an example of a slogan and a descriptor that really doesn’t fit and this is my point and what I think all marketers need to start thinking about. No longer can you put together just another cleaver slogan that is catchy and will stick with people. Now, with all of the worthless wording that is being thrown at customers, a brand name can still benefit from a slogan being associated with it, but that slogan needs to create buzz itself or at least thought.

Here is an example, if I decided to start using this as my brand and slogan, “JakeLudens.com Part of Web 3.2″, the audience that I have for my blog would be intrigued and wondering how I became part of Web 3.2, when most have only heard of Web 2.0. This would be much more beneficial than if I started using, “JakeLudens.com Purpose. Profit. Perfection.” Most of you would just look right over this and view my blog as just another WordPress Blog.

So is the slogan dead? Does it need to be killed? No it isn’t dead, but the old way of using slogans needs to be killed and no more time needs to be spent thinking up cleaver slogans, time needs to be spent making slogans that make brands cut through competitive marketing efforts and tell audiences who the brand is and what it can do for them. We now have a market place where customers are very conscience of how they spend their money and the customer’s needs taking over the focus of the customer’s need to be cool.

This past weekend I helped my brother clean out his garage that had been filled with old toys that my parents brought out to us from Wyoming. Now, ironically my garage is filled with these toys, but I had a chance tonight to start going through them and cleaning them up to donate or sell. While I was unloading some of the boxes, besides being nostalgic, the thought came to me about how companies create flash in the pan buzz about toys simply for the holiday season. I wonder how many children beg for toys during the holiday season that only months before they had never heard of? I’ll be honest I know I did that as a kid and I am sure my parents were not too pleased that I lost interest only weeks after the holidays were over.

I feel this is exactly how the Internet has come to operate on a constant level, not just for holidays or special events. We are all glued to email, Blackberry, Iphones, laptops and desktops, waiting for the next buzz to come our way. It could be an email from your boss or the top story to break on Yahoo. It could be any number of internet guilty pleasures we have all come to embrace. Yet just like the toy that we begged our parents for each Christmas, we lose interest after a short time and are off to see what is new on YouTube.

The thing is, very few people recognize that this is how they are living their lives. Advertising people especially need to make sure they take a step back from the BUZZ in order to keep a window open so that they might be able to grab some of their customer’s very short interest span. (I would use attention span, but I don’t think any of us really pay attention) I think about how much time I spend, after I hear about a new innovation or marketing tool, waiting to see the practical use for it. Rather, I should be looking at what need it fulfills and why there is even a need in the first place.

Think about it, what need did the Hampster Dance really fulfill for anyone ? All these things did was kill thousands of hours of time and unimaginable amounts of brain cells. But wait… think about all the traffic that that webmaster got simple because of a flash in the pan?

Here was their list and if the stunt resulted positively or negatively:
1. Aqua Teen Hunger Force – The Boston Bomb Scare – Negative
2. Nathan’s Doc-Approved Dogs – Positive
3. Last Days of Disco – Chicago White Sox “Disco Demolition Night” – Negative
4. Oprah’s Free Cars – Negative not for Oprah, for Pontiac
5. Taco’s New Bell – Fake purchase of The Liberty Bell – Positive
6. Steal This Identity – LifeLock – Negative (Lesson here, don’t challenge hackers.)
7. Guinness’s Bar Book – Positive
8. Snapple’s Giant Meltdown – Negative (honestly, I have never heard of this one.)
9. By Land, Sea and Air – British billionaire entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson – Positive
10. Name That Town – Hey for a 1950′s radio show this was ground breaking – Positive

So it is Friday and I am in a marketing and advertising critique mood, so here are my picks for my favorite and least favorite marketing stunts and advertising endeavors. (mine are in no particular order)

1. Kleenex Napkin commercial – “They don’t fall off your lap!” – I wrote a post about this commercial back in September.

2. Zoo York Roaches – Having been a skateboard kid growing up, this is one of my favorite Shock and Awe campaigns.

3. VW’s Tribute to Jerry Garcia Ad – I have the issue of Rolling Stone that has this ad in it. I think it is the definition of knowing your customers.

4. Budlight’s “Real Men of Genius” – Anyone who still enjoys or is forced to, listen to sports on AM radio is with me on this. Great way of using an inexpensive advertising medium.

5. Save By Zero! – I personally hate this commercial – Not only does it not make sense – this YouTuber says everything in his title for this clip, “Toyota Saved By Zero Loop From Hell Campaign” – Oh and don’t forget The FIXX sang that song.

6. Apple’s “1984″ – I am a huge Orwell Fan, and yes this commercial was genius, but anyone in advertising knows this. (awww remember books?)

7. Affiliate Marketing. – Hey some one buy this or buy this Please, Please, Please buy this.

8. Golden Palace.com - Jesus Toast, forehead ads, pregnant ads, oh and you can gamble there too. It was fun while it lasted.

9. Cap’n Crunch – I feel this was the beginning of the demise of literacy. Do kids even know how to spell Captain? When did MTV become a word? I would love to just LOL about all of this, but it really concerns me how the intelligence level is going down and the apathy level is going up in our society.

10. Viral Marketing – The reply all button started it all and now if you make a fool out of yourself or do something creative and it is digital, everyone knows about it.

Myspace has had its ups and downs, but now with Facebook and other so called “professional” social networks, I really think that Myspace is a waste of time for most affiliate marketers. I think Myspace has its place for celebrities and musicians to promote their brands or their music, but just take a look at the ads that affiliate marketers are purchasing on Myspace. I remember a while back I was asked to read through the advertising contract for placing ads on Myspace. It was a very in-depth document and I think for the price there are many other avenues affiliate marketers can go down. In fact, I recall reviewing the stats from the one ad campaign that we did do, we had thousands and thousands of hits, and never did make a conversion on the offers.

So is my space an out-of-date affiliate revenue source? Lets go there right now and see what ads come up…Singlesnet.com, Taylor Swifts new album promotion, (with video, nice touch), Websinglez.net for Emo Singles – hey wait a minute this looks familiar, have you ever read the Classified section of your neighborhood “Weekly”, “Citylife”, “Thrifty Nickel” newspapers? Thats right, Myspace has turned in to an interactive cheap classified section, promoting singles, music, hooking up with a sexy someone tonight, Man seeking Woman, Woman seeking Man, etc. I wonder if Rolling Stone still has their classified section with their new layout? I hope not, they should save the trees and just use Myspace.

Myspace is a great marketing outlet for large companies that have no problem throwing away millions of dollars just for the sake of saying they have ads on Myspace.

If you are over the age of 18, you have most likely seen the incredible amount of tax money that has been taken out of your paychecks. This money has been starting to get disputed by the younger generations who think that it is unfair to pay in to social security because by the time they are at retirement age, inflation and population will wipe out any benefits that they could possibly count on. Futhermore, the cost of insurance and medical treatment is so expensive that even some of the larger corporations are cutting back on benefits or insurance all together.

The only solutions to these concerns in the past few years have been the privatization of retirement savings for the country and the socialization of medical treatment for the country. This got me thinking today. Privitization of the retirment funds of this country has not been accepted because of the concerns that individuals as well as the markets can’t be trusted to sustain the money needed to support the population. And Socialised medicine, we this is the USA, and anything even hinting towards socialism is instantly called Communism and dismissed. So what can the United States do before the majority of the population is too old to work, but too poor to live?

Here is an idea, start a war under false pretenses. This gives a great platform to ship off the youngest population that can vote and hold a job, control their pay and their lives. This takes money out of the private sector of the capitalist society by making sure these individuals are paid not to produce any profits, but only to use their pay to buy taxable items. Granted they can’t spend any of their pay, but their wives and children back home can. This literally takes a large portion of our population out of the consumer pool, but still allows them to feed the beast.

Next to make sure the war is supported by the consumers in the United States, increase the cost of the most popular and most used commodity of all, oil. But wait, this doesn’t encourage spending or does it? The largest fear in the United State is to lose you job when times are “bad”, so the last thing American’s are going to give up is driving to work, regardless of the cost. So in fact isn’t there more being spent? Sure, families are cutting back on the “expensive” brand name foods at the grocery store, but have you ever seen the option for generic gas? Think about the ratio, save 50 cents on canned corn, spend $25 extra dollars on a tank of gas.

So what to do next, I know attack the American Dream. Owning a home is part of the American Dream and an even bigger part of the American Dream is keeping up with the Jones. If the guy across the street has a big house, then everyone on the block needs a big house. This is not a new thing, however in the past there were safe guards against keeping up with the Jones. If you didn’t make enough money to have a house the size of a castle, then you simply didn’t live next to a castle. Even more so there was no way to borrow more money than you could afford to pay back in a reasonable amount of time. Well, now we have seen what happens when that safe guard falls and individuals are allowed to borrow way more than they need or can afford. Now the government magically took control of the 51% of all the mortgage payments for the next 30 years. That is a great way of taxation without representation, pay up because we own your house. Scary.

Finally, we come to the announcement from today. The government now bailed out one of the countries largest insurance companies. Not just bailed them out but gave them enough tax payer’s money to own 80% of the company. That is a quick way to control the cost of medical care, just control the insurance premiums. After all the cost of medical treatment is only high because of the amount of insurance doctors as well as patients have to pay.

I am going to close with one of my favorite George Orwell quotes, I think we all need to take a step back from our own distractions and see what is really going on.

All political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome. – George Orwell

This morning on NPR there was a conversation going on about how the housing market colapse and the true effect that forclosed and abandonded houses have on neighborhoods. Once one house falls beyond repair, they said that the property value in a 1/8 mile radius drops, start adding 3, 4 and 5 forclosed and abandoned houses and you get into miles of depressed house values. It is called the broken window effect, and is mentioned a lot in the book The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell.  I read this book a while back and it was a great book and I think it really illustrates what our society is seeing right now. We have hit the tipping point in terms of consumer confidence. But that is obvious. I mean how can you be confident in spending any kind of money if you can’t be sure you will ever earn it back and why would you put it in the bank if the bank is only going to close or be sold off.

Is this the start of out next Great Depression or can out government and large corporations find a way to pull the blinders over our eyes again? It is to the point in our history that the gap between rich and poor is just too large. We are witnessing the natural leveling out of our economy as far as I see it. Today showed how fragile our economy is and we saw how false the country’s most inflated salaries really are. I can only imagine how it would feel to watch your entire nest egg for retirement or for sending your child to college, disappear in a matter of hours, all the while not spending a dime of it.

Sorry big buisness, this one fell on you.

I found one of my favorites on YouTube tonight, check it out:

I mean, was this a real issue back then? It started to make me think about how much we have come to “need” things that really serve no real purpose other than to fulfill another need that is pointless as well. But what if the needs that we create are our evolution of needs. In the beginning you need food, water, shelter, but then we started to define our food, water and shelter and we added companionship. Food needed to be cooked as well as caught, water must be fresh, shelter needs to have a door, and now we have heard stories about babies who never have human touch eventually die from it.  (That one might be an urban legend, but still the idea is there) What if we have come so far in this society and listened to advertisements so intensely that we now physically need the products we buy?

Being back in Wyoming really changes your perspective on current advertising and I started thinking while I was back there that advertising has lost one very important thing and that is being direct and to the point on what the advertisement is for. Let me explain. One of the best things about advertising is the imagery that it creates in your mind. However there is definitely a place for advertising that doesn’t leave anything up to the imagination, it tells it like it is. Best place to see what I am talking about is take a drive to any small western town. You see old, faded signs that say Food, Gas, Eat at Joe’s, OK maybe not the last one, but you get my point. I saw this a lot on our trip to Idaho earlier this summer as well driving through some of the small towns of Nevada.

What would happen if advertising went back to the way it used to be and all we had were signs that were direct and to the point. What if Best Buy’s signs all the sudden just said “Electronics”, or Applebee’s just said “Food”? I think an interesting thing would happen to our current society. I think what would happen is the neighborhood diner would make a come back, you would go down to the Johnson’s Diner, not the Chili’s. I think you would go to Gibson’s Electronics, not Best Buy. I think this is one thing that large corporate advertising has taken away from our society, along with franchises. What if your menu still looked like this?

I was thinking about this most of the weekend and the thought really went 180 degrees on me while I was on the flight home. We have become a cookie cutter shop society and elaborate as the advertising has become for the large chain’s of stores, I think we really haven’t gone away from a sign saying “Food” or “Gas”, we just now see it as Domino’s and 7-11. And there you have it the true power and evil of branding.