Recommendations: Worth reading or viewing
Occasionally, I will recommend a news article, book, blog post or a short video clip to view. This “eperini Readview” references online video — the fastest growing medium.
What do you think?
Please view. It’s worth it!
by Michael B. Perini, ABC
perini & associates
Silos: Silver. Red. Multi-colored. Often standing alone or in twos. All across America. Perfect for a farm. No so, when conducting public relations activities.
Here are some examples of what I mean:
Today, with the way that consumers take a decision journey before deciding what to buy, what to support, what to attend, this lack of coordination and integration of all your marketing techniques is a must do! In other words,each tactic (technique) supports each other and continues to move the prospective client through your marketing system.
Let me reinforce, please. Instead of simply doing ONE marketing technique then walking away, consider creating a marketing “NETWORK” of techniques where one technique encourages the prospective customer to participate in another marketing technique.
Here are some examples of integrated marketing techniques.
Silo Marketing is often found in business, nonprofit, special event organizations. Is it in yours? I would like to know why? And what your next steps are to remedy this problem.
Occasionally, I will recommend a news article, book, blog post or a short video clip to view. This “eperini Readview” references the promise of technology.
How many times a day do you check your email? The question Jessica Bennett asks: Could modern gadgetry be making us more lonely than ever?
What do you think?
Please read more. It’s worth it!
By Jessica Bennett, NEWSWEEK
How many times a day do you check your email? When you wake up? Before bed? A dozen times in between? If you’re like many of us, the red blinking light of a BlackBerry is the first thing you see each morning—you’ve got mail!—and the last glimpse of color to fade out before bedtime. It’s constant and nagging—yet most of us say we can’t live without it. Add Twitter, Facebook, and the rest of our social-media obsessions to the mix, and the technology that was supposed to simplify our lives has become the ultimate time-suck: the average teen spends more than seven hours a day using technological devices, plus an additional hour just text-messaging friends.
The advantage to all that gadgetry, of course, is connectedness: email lets us respond on the go, and we are in touch with more people during more hours of the day than at any other time in history. But is it possible we’re more lonely than ever, too? That’s what MIT professor Sherry Turkle observes in her new book, Alone Together, a fascinating portrait of our changing relationship with technology. The result of nearly 15 years of study (and interviews with hundreds of subjects), Turkle details the ways technology has redefined our perceptions of intimacy and solitude—and warns of the perils of embracing such pseudo-techno relationships in place of lasting emotional connections. Turkle talks to high-school students who fear having to make a phone call, and elementary- school children who become distraught when their toy robot pets “die.” She wonders how her daughter will remember their relationship 40 years from now, if every long-distance communication between them happens via text message. But for Turkle, a psychologist by training, the biggest worry is what all this superficial engagement means for us developmentally. Is technology offering us the lives we want to live? “We’re texting people at a distance,” says the author, the director of the MIT Initiative on Technology and Self. “We’re using inanimate objects to convince ourselves that even when we’re alone, we feel together. And then when we’re with each other, we put ourselves in situations where we feel alone—constantly on our mobile devices. It’s what I call a perfect storm of confusion about what’s important in our human connections.”
What can’t be denied is that technology, no matter its faults, makes life a whole lot easier. It allows us to communicate with more people in less time; it can make conversation simple—no small talk required. It can be therapeutic: robots are now used to help care for the elderly; in Japan, they’re marketed as a way to lure addicts out of cyberspace. But it can also be seductive, providing more stimulation than our natural lives make possible—our days suddenly an interconnected chain of messages and connections and constant stimulation. (Compared with a hundred retweets and a flurry of text messages, a single conversation over dinner seems awfully boring.) “The adrenaline rush is continual,” Turkle says of our wired lives. “We get a little shot of dopamine every time we make a connection.” One high-school student she spoke with put it simply: “I start to have some happy feelings as soon as I start to text.”
But are any of those feelings on par with the kind we feel when engaged in real, face-to-face intimacy? Online, you can ignore others’ feelings. In a text message, you can avoid eye contact. A number of studies have found that this generation of teens is less empathetic than ever. That doesn’t spell disaster, says Turkle—but it does mean we might want to start thinking about the way we want to live. “We’ve gone through tremendously rapid change, and some of these things just need a little sorting out,” she says. If she has her way, the dialogue will start here—and not just on somebody’s computer.
by Michael B. Perini, ABC
perini & associates
A logo. Every business, special event director or issue advocate should know what the criteria is for making a logo go from “OK” to “Greaaaat!”
You see logos everywhere. They tell us who you are; what your brand is.
Gap, Inc. learned recently just how powerful logos are when the public panned the redesign of its iconic symbol. Louise Callagy, Gap Inc. Corporate Communications, wrote in a statement, “We’ve learned a lot in this process. And we are clear that we did not go about this in the right way. We recognize that we missed the opportunity to engage with the online community. This wasn’t the right project at the right time for crowd sourcing.” Small design elements and knowing your audience makes a difference.
Neils van Quaquebeke and Steffen Giessner of the Rotterdam School of Management showed logos of 100 Global companies to two groups of participants, as reported in the December issue, Harvard Business Review. One group rated them on attractiveness and symmetry; the other judged whether the logo suggested that the company behaved ethically. The findings: Rationally or not, people associate symmetrical logos with more ethical, socially responsible behavior.
When you decide to have a logo let a professional graphic designer do the work. The small fee you might have to pay will return a significant investment over the long term.
Yes, there is software available to the consumer or garage designer to construct a logo, but will he and she use the criteria below that we implement for our customers. Most will not because they do not have the education or experience or they don’t want anyone challenging their artistic abilities.
Here are guidelines from the website Famous Logos that we agree and stick with for clients as the list reflects elements many professional logo designers use as their checklist for a successful logo:
Memorable: A logo that is memorable is the cornerstone to branding and creating your corporate identity. Visual recall is everything when you are establishing a brand for your company. If your audience can remember the logo, or at least know what you do or who you are when they see the logo, you are successful at designing a memorable logo.
If your logo doesn’t have instant impact with the audience, you may not have a memorable logo.
Your target audience will probably only see your logo for a few seconds, and if they can’t recall anything about it, branding may be difficult with your current logo choice.
Timeless: Choose a logo that is timeless and classy. Yes, a good logo is timeless. Trends come and go, and your logo will be dated and cliché’ after a while. Choose something that will always represent your company mission, special event or the issue you are advocating. 
If you do it right the first time, it will never have to change.
It is not recommended to redesign your logo often. This complicates visual recall and makes it difficult for your audience to recognize your company, when the logo has been changed.
Appropriate: Be true to the industry and complexion of the business. The logo that is appropriate for a family fun center would not be appropriate for a legal firm. Fonts and colors will determine the essence of the logo.
Again, the theme should be industry and company appropriate. We ask our clients to answer these questions:
1. Who is the target market?
2. Define the psychographic profile (customers, supporters, etc.).
3. Specific focus of expertise.
4. Industry logos (or other logos) you aspire to.
Be appropriate in your design and deliberate in choosing styles that match the industry.
Simple: This could be the most important feature of a good logo. Why? Simple sells. A logo that is simplistic is memorable. It is timeless.
Simple encompasses many other traits of a good logo.
Complex designs are hard to see, hard to understand, and hard to remember. More complex logos are difficult to reproduce and can be more costly to print. Logos with an intricate design are not as scalable as simple logos.
A small, complicated logo, can end up looking more like a smudge on a company pen or keychain.
Scalable: Logos need to be reproduced at all different sizes. It doesn’t matter what makes a good logo, if it can’t be reproduced in different sizes.
Distinctive: When your audience only sees your logo for a few seconds, there needs to be something that stands out. A unique design will lend itself to higher visual recall, providing it is also simple, as mentioned above. A distinct design will be remembered.
Strong without color: There are times when businesses must reproduce logos in black and white, and if your logo requires color to make sense, there is much lost in translation.
Be sure your logo makes sense in black and white. We show our clients the designs first in black and white before we add color.
If this sounds like a lot of elements to consider, well, it is! A logo can be who you are or not. It’s your choice. I would like to hear your comments about logos you like or not!
