I’ve had some experience with SCVNGR – not only are they great people – but their platform is pretty stellar.  I’m excited that they are getting such great local exposure with The Boston Globe Trek – they are homegrown after all.

Good luck to all – I am planning on kicking some arse.

The more I grow, the more I realize that the Dunning-Kruger effect explains a lot.

My intention is to start chronicling how the project is going  - to track the challenges and the triumphs – so it seemed appropriate to extend a formal introduction.

And with that: Hello!

Meet Leroy Stick – the man behind @BPGlobalPR. His press release is a lot of brilliant – and a reflection on how important social media is for our culture:

“So what is the point of all this?  The point is, FORGET YOUR BRAND.  You don’t own it because it is literally nothing.  You can spend all sorts of time and money trying to manufacture public opinion, but ultimately, that’s up to the public, now isn’t it?

You know the best way to get the public to respect your brand?  Have a respectable brand.  Offer a great, innovative product and make responsible, ethical business decisions.”

Read the entire press release here >>

Today – he sent me the following:

BP’s catastrophic oil spill got YOU down?

Clean-up Attempt (And Reason to Live) #79 . . . Tsunami Bill: A Hero Among Us

Right now, Tsunami Bill is being transported across the Louisiana Bayou in the back of a Heavy-Duty Ford F-350 pick-up with special re-enforced suspension (suck on it Howie Long!), toward a sky-high diving board scientists have strategically erected at the edge of the Gulf Coast.

There, he will say good-bye to friends, family, his girlfriend and long-time synchronized belly-flopping partner Calista Flockhart, as well as for some inexplicable reason, the entire cast of the hit MTV reality series Jersey Shore, before ascending the massive structure for what experts hope is a successful, though probably deadly, plunge that empties the Gulf of Mexico of all water, oil and annoyingly fragile sea life.

Absurd though this latest idea seems, officials at BP issued a statement just this morning, noting that they had ”exercised all reasonable means of clean-up, including reaching out to Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck for ideas, since those two guys did such a good job in saving the world from that killer asteroid in Armageddon”, and that they were left with no other choice but to sacrifice Tsunami Bill, whose constant presence at Hog Time! All You Can Eat Buffet in Shreveport had become “quite a nuisance” anyway.

This terrific post from my friends over at Black Coffee is definitely worth a read. We have definitely become a culture who takes its identity from the brands we consume. This is a little troubling, but it is the case. If I say to you “Apple, NPR, Banana Republic, HBO, Starbucks” you’d have a pretty good idea of the person I’m referring to – on a surface level of course.

I was especially pleased that they quoted Edward R. Murrow on the value of truthfulness.  Quick highlight:

Given how fast competitors can copy one another, brand value is moving from features and benefits to an expression of the companies beliefs and values, giving context and added relevance to the offering.

Read more: Brand Values

Now, groups are banding together to address the issue – in a true geek call to arms. The most popular as of late, Diaspora* “will let users set up their own personal servers, called seeds, create their own hubs and fully control the information they share.” (Read the NYTimes article here).

It is easy to take for granted just how much personal information Facebook contains – personal information that they actually claim as their own.  It will be interesting to see how the backlash plays out – there is a group advocating for a Facebook protest day next month, and other groups are coming out to say they’re already ahead of Diaspora*’s goals.

As @evanmcd pointed out in our talk last night – Facebook is like this decades AOL. Remember when it seemed impossible to get online without being on AOL??

Indeed, the times they change.

So of course, I love their 50 Year Anniversary Campaign – asking 10 bands to cover a cult classic and 10 director to create the videos. Fantastic stuff. The Noisettes cover of the Buzzcocks Ever Fallen In Love with Someone – genius.