(Photo courtesy: Chicago Tribune)

If a Chicago-area pastor’s goal was to create a little buzz, it has certainly worked.

But will that buzz around his church’s cash weekly giveaway lead people to a meaningful, personal relationship with Jesus?

Only time will tell. Maybe the real goal is to raise awareness of the church itself and its impact on its community. In any case, not unlike many PR and marketing campaigns, you can’t always measure it and judge it while it’s still in play.

I read about Rev. Dan Willis and his Lighthouse Church of All Nations in Alsip, Illinois on the PR Junkie blog, as well as a story in the Chicago Tribune.

The Tribune explained the premise:

At each of the three Sunday services, the Rev. Dan Willis pulls a number of one seat from a bag and the worshiper in that seat wins a cash prize. Two of the churchgoers win $250 and the third gets $500. The church gives away $1,000 each Sunday, Willis said.

The tactic is working, according to Willis, as he focuses his messages on what the Bible says about certain aspects of money and debt-free living:

Willis concedes the cash prize is a gimmick to fill the pews. But he’s unapologetic about the plan, because it’s working. On a typical Sunday, his church draws about 1,600 people to its three Sunday services. But since the money giveaway started, about five weeks ago, the congregation has grown to about 2,500 each week, he said.

But besides increased attendance, a story in the Southtown Star says Lighthouse is actually seeing an increase in the weekly offering too. And it’s giving him a chance to teach financial discipline.

I have no problem with the premise. I’m actually surprised though that attendance at the services has jumped during the giveaways. I’m guessing more of the “regulars” are choosing to make sure they make it to church each Sunday rather than them getting many new faces into their building.

But the lure might not just be about the money.

At a time like this, we all need to hear the message Willis is preaching on. Relevant, biblical lessons on our finances and debt hit home… hard. Maybe that’s what people are connecting with. Not necessarily the cash.

Yes, many churches are into marketing. Yes, they’re using tactics traditional churches are scoffing at.

But I’d argue the critics of these kinds of tactics should renew their own efforts to strengthen the faith of their flock and make better efforts to lead more people to Christ. It doesn’t have to be flashy or gimmicky.

Just be relevant to the daily lives of the people who walk through your doors every weekend.

Relevance goes a long way, whether you’re marketing a product or a message.

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Anyone who knows me well knows that I have have zero patience… for crappy customer service.

Usually, I let the offender know via a nice old-fashioned letter. Feels good to get it all out, stick the stamp on, and see what happens. 100% of the time I get a call or letter seeking to remedy the situation.

I’ll be doing the letter-writing thing again for what I experienced today at a Verizon store in Apple Valley, Minnesota.

But… I also want to let it breathe a bit here on my blog. Because an online rant seems fitting for a company that tries so hard to get it right in its ads and in what it does online. And, is trying so hard to compete with Web favorite, Apple. Case in point, the whole iPhone envy “There’s a map for that” campaign.

Well, as Yoda said, “Do or do not, there is no try.”

By the way, I’m not holding my breath for a response on this one. Because I simply don’t think the particular store manager on duty today cares, or is informed enough about the phones Verizon sells.

The issue:

I went into the store last week on the first day I was eligible to upgrade my phone. I chose an LG Dare. Liked the touch screen. Liked the features (micro SD, the camera, video, etc…) and it was in my budget with a $100 rebate. Went home, put the phone on the charger overnight and saw it was fully charged the next morning.

At noon, I pulled the phone out of my pocket for the first time. I thought it was odd it was already down one bar. Used it once in the afternoon, saw it was down to two bars. At 5pm, as I got into my car for the drive home I looked at it again… one bar of battery life. By the time I pulled into my garage it was dead.

Must be a bad battery I thought.

I charged it up again overnight, but the next two days brought the same result. So I figured, better go get a new battery.

Friday night, I stopped into the Verizon in Apple Valley and explained my situation to the service rep. He took my phone, noticed the make and model, said nothing about it and comped me a new battery.

Saturday morning, I put the fully charged phone on the kitchen counter. Picked it up at 5pm when I left the house to go shoot video at a high school football game and saw the phone was down halfway to two bars. Huh? Guess it wasn’t the battery. The phone stayed in my pocket until after the game when I went to call my wife… the phone was dead.

Clearly, it wasn’t the battery.

So I trudged back into the Apple Valley store today, explained my situation, told the rep I wanted my phone replaced because clearly it wasn’t operating as it should.

I expected an “Okay, let’s try another LG Dare.”

Instead, I got “Okay, you’ll have to pay the $35 restocking fee though.”

“No, I won’t,” I replied. “Not for a defective phone.”

Enter clueless manager. Should have gotten her name, she deserves the pub. She came out and told me the battery life I was experiencing was normal for a touch screen phone. “You’re going to find that with all the touch screen phones. My BlackBerry Storm is the same way.”

Really. 8 hours of battery life? Not even enough to allow me to use it on the commute home from work each day?

She then told me I would have to pay the restocking fee to replace it and try another one.

Idiot.

I told her I didn’t think so, and then she went to look for another LG Dare.

When she came back, she told me she’d waive the restocking fee but I would have to choose another make and model of phone. They were out of the Dare.

Given her ringing endorsement of the touch screen phones Verizon offers, I didn’t want to even bother with the Versa or any other phone with a touch element if crappy batteries are the norm. Who would buy one, I’m thinking? Until I bought the Dare, I’ve always been able to get 3-4 days max out of my phone battery.

I chose a fairly basic phone, for less money, and left the store. Disappointed that I’m stuck for another two years with a phone I’m not excited about. (I’ve been a Verizon customer for several years, renewing faithfully every two. My wife has her phone, my son has one and my in-laws are on our plan. We’ve got a few bucks tied up in Verizon).

As of right now, I’m not exactly a satisfied customer. Might be time to take my family’s phone business somewhere else.

Enter the next chapter:

When I got home this afternoon I decided to search for any other customer stories about bad batteries and the LG Dare. Or just customer reviews, good or bad, about the phone. Or, solutions I should have sought, if any exist.

Yes, I found some complaints about the battery life.

But I was pissed when I also started reading comments like the following on this page:

“One of the strong points of the DARE is the Battery life” (with a link to a review that says: I’ve been using the standard battery since Sunday morning, its now Monday afternoon and I still have a full level bar without using my phone constantly. I made a few calls, two text messages, and phone on 24 hours, and took one photo, not to bad.)

And:

“Great battery life here as well. I can go a couple of days without charging even when using bluetooth for almost all my calls, texting, and using the web browser. This phone gets the best battery life of any phone I’ve used on Verizon.”

I know online reviews only tell some of the story. Sometimes, they’re planted company propaganda.

But they do provide some perspective.

I can only assume the manager I met today doesn’t know what she’s talking about. If battery longevity is an issue with the Dare, why didn’t the rep I talked to Friday night throw that at me?

Remember, he comped me a new battery.

Why make the statement that all your touch screen phones have horrible battery life? Not exactly the sales language Verizon’s higher-ups want you using, I’m guessing.

So what gives? I guess Verizon’s just another company that can’t see the big picture. It’s about the customer, Every customer’s situation is unique.

Don’t assume every customer is out to get you and is lying about their experience. Don’t pretend to be smarter than your customers.

Don’t make stuff up.

Can you hear me now?

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Now there’s a blog headline that can’t be ignored, right?

With just four words it proves the case of the marketing effort I got a chance to learn more about at the annual workshop for the National Association of Bar Executives (NABE) Communication Section – in Las Vegas, appropriately enough.

In a session titled “Marketing Las Vegas in the Pasta Economy,” Terry Jicinsky, the senior vice president of operations for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, talked about the “What happens here, stays here” campaign.

Before I go into some details, I’ll explain the pasta reference. Jicinsky defined it as an indicator of the choices Americans are making in terms of discretionary income. That is, the number of people/families staying home on a Saturday night eating a cheap pasta meal versus going out for dinner.

Makes sense.

Las Vegas clearly is a discretionary destination. And that distinction requires a different approach to marketing and public relations.

Jicinsky outlined his case to the professional communicators in the room by considering the challenges we have in common:

-How do we get our message out?

-Where do we get our message out?

-How do we get people to care about our message?

-How do we get people over a certain perception?

Vegas certainly is perceived a certain way.

But it’s not by accident.

The “What happens here…” campaign actually began back in 2002. Only recently has Vegas gone back to it, as its marketing bread and butter.

But Jicinsky spent a lot of his time talking about the impact of the recession on the convention business in Vegas – and a bit of Vegas-bashing from President Obama – that forced Vegas to go on the offensive to and create a sub-campaign for 2009 – Vegas Means Business.

With 22,000 annual business events in Vegas and all the people who attend them, Jicinsky said the recession-fueled drop in convention business has been brutal for the efforts to fill the city’s 145,000 hotel rooms.

To try and increase the meeting business, Jicinsky highlighted the first of three points for communicators:

*Take on a cause

The cause, to combat “the anti-convention in Vegas” crowd, unified the hotels and politicians to get out in the media and tell the one story that companies with conventions to plan needed to hear – that Las Vegas has more hotels and more meeting rooms than anyone else… and is built for the convention business.

As part of that effort, and beyond it during the recession, Vegas turned to Jicinsky’s second piece of advice:

*Play the media

It’s the free publicity card… Give the media a story. With overall tourism to the city tailing off in the recession, the “Vegas Bound” campaign and Cranfills Gap, Texas came into the picture. Vegas offered all of the small town’s hard working citizens a free vacation. The campaign got huge play in the media, including several major media hits. Here’s a look at how Vegas packaged up part of the story on its YouTube channel:

Jicinsky said coverage of the exploits of the citizens of Cranfills Gap earned them more than 400 free mentions on TV, in print and online.

The playing of the media continued with the return of the “What happens here, stays here” theme. Ads like this were once again aimed at reminding the average American why Vegas is attractive, by offering a unique twist on life in their own home towns:

Jicinsky’s third point of advice for marketers and communicators was:

*Tell a story

Can’t get any simpler than that. Jicinsky said every business and organization can find their own way to tell their own stories, and make their content top of mind with their target audience.

One of the stories Jicinsky said that Vegas also has tried to tell through marketing is about its many restaurants, in an effort to remind would-be visitors that the city has many great places to eat. You may have seen that in its “Your Vegas is Showing” campaign.

I know I’ve rambled here a bit, but the session with Jicinsky was really interesting and hopefully this brought some of it to light for you.

Going into the session with Jicinsky, I would have argued that the “What happens here…”  campaign has become so entrenched in the U.S. that they could pull all the TV ads and other significant marketing and still not see a drop in tourism.

That may be true. But clearly Vegas still has a need to communicate and a strategy for staying a top business and discretionary income destination for people who like – and can put up with – the sinful nature of Sin City.

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Did you catch the latest episode of The King and Us, a Burger King-sponsored cartoon that airs during the Fox NFL Sunday pregame show?

While the first few of these have at least been mildly amusing for the Fox football fan audience (including this from Week 1), the latest clip was just plain lame and an example of a brand letting a network have a little too much leeway:

Apparently, the script for this gem was written months ago, when it was trendy to make jokes about singer/actress Jessica Simpson’s weight gain after breaking up with Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo.

Seriously, even Jay Leno has moved on.

The clip above featured cartoon versions of Cowboys coach Wade Phillips and players Jason Witten, Marion Barber and Romo discussing Simpson.

Fake Witten says, “Unlike Tony, at least Jessica comes up big when it counts.”

Fake Phillips says “Is Jessica around? We could use a defensive tackle.”

A fake Simpson even appears in the cartoon, standing next to a fictional Kyle Orton of the Broncos, saying “Sorry boys, I only lose weight for winners.”

Har, har har.

I doubt that Witten or Phillips signed off on those witty zingers. You’d think the NFL Player’s Union would require some involvement by the players in something like this, the way they do for video games like Madden, etc…

You’d also think BK would have some say in at least reviewing the spots before they air. But apparently not – or they don’t care – according to the AdvertisingAge Adages blog which got little input from Burger King’s Katie Boylan in its wrapup of this waste of network airtime:

…Boylan confirmed that the chain sponsored the skit, but Fox created it. She declined to comment further. A Fox Sports spokesman said that Burger King does not approve the sketches before they air.

Fox apparently doesn’t realize the clip missed the mark. As you saw above, they include it on their YouTube channel. You’d think BK would have told them by now to take it down if they sensed the criticism of the spot would hurt them.

Last I checked, you could gain a few pounds eating at BK. Man or woman. So I guess they’re the perfect sponsor for what passed for comedy on Sunday.

No such thing as bad publicity, right?

This is the same BK, as the DailyFinance points out, that had an ad this year for the “Super Seven Incher” (as seen on PopWatch on EW.com).

Nice.

For her part, I think the now-slimmed down Simpson is missing a chance to say something, anything, on her Twitter account. Apparently, her reputation and a chance to get the public on her side isn’t as important at the moment as her dog being snatched by a coyote. But I digress.

What do you think of the Simpson skit?

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Having written on this blog before about “Deltalina“, who stars in Delta’s renowned in-flight safety video, it’s only fitting that I spotlight another airline’s safety video – and PR campaign – which debuted last month. And has been a huge hit on YouTube.

It’s from Air New Zealand, and takes what Sports Illustrated has done with body paint and bikinis for its annual swimsuit edition to a new level. Yes, flight attendants, pilots and other airline staff, wearing body-painted uniforms.

The safety video, and a related commercial, are well-done… and in good taste.

Even with this closing image in the safety video, after one of the flight attendants turns around and walks away from the camera in this strategically blurred shot:

Here’s the safety video:

Here are some funny bloopers from that safety video.

Now to the TV commercial, related to the theme:

Again, well-done. I also like that Air New Zealand produced a video that shows the behind-the-scenes work that went into that commercial – a brilliant PR move to add to the curiosity of the campaign:

I also like their YouTube channel name… “AirNZnothing2hide” – where you can see the videos in the campaign, And, they also feature everything on a website for the campaign.

Clever.

For more background, The New York Times has some interesting details about the campaign, here.

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Seriously?

A puking woman, supposedly because she found porn on her husband’s computer, was supposed to help Microsoft sell Internet Explorer 8?

Clearly the video, designed for the Web – not TV, was supposed to push the edge a bit. But Microsoft misjudged the potential reaction and pulled it from its “ie8video” YouTube channel yesterday after a bit of a backlash. And 255,000 views.

Titled “O.M.G.I.G.P.” I found it on YouTube here, consider yourself warned:

According to this story in the Brisbane Times, the spot was described by one veteran technology commentator as the “worst tech commercial ever”…

And in a statement, Microsoft said the ad was intended to be a “tongue-in-cheek” look at IE8’s InPrivate Browsing feature using “irreverent humour”.

Great, I’ll get IE8 so my wife won’t know when I’m looking at porn, thus preventing her from puking over my lack of respect for her.

That’s the sales hook? Nice.

Here’s the PR spin from the Microsoft statement: “While much of the feedback to this particular piece of creative was positive, some of our customers found it offensive, so we have removed it.”

“Much…” of the feedback. “Some…” of our customers.

Better to have “some” buzz, then “much” respect, right?

Puke? Porn?

To me, the trouble starts with the fact the clip was directed by “comedian” Bob Goldthwait, who starred in the Police Academy movies. Not necessarily a barrel of laughs. Goldthwait also directed the three other spots in the campaign featuring actor Dean Cain. Those other clips are mildly amusing, but still odd to say the least.

Poor Dean Cain.

Take the time to watch them and decide for yourself. I will say that the most amusing of the rest is titled “F.O.M.S.,” the Fear of Missing Something on the Web:

Here’s another one, “S.H.Y.N.E.S.S.”:

And the final, least funny of the three, “G.R.I.P.E.S.”:

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I don’t think it really matters what industry you’re in, in a communications or PR role or not, but chances are you’ve heard someone utter the phrase “it’s about doing more with less” a few times this year.

It’s now officially on the corporate buzzword bingo card. We get it. We’re all doing more with less.

Bingo!

It got a little ridiculous for me when I was doing some video work at a marketing trade show/conference back in March, when every single marketer I interviewed dropped the line. Granted, at least they took a stab at defining what that meant for them and their marketing colleagues, no matter where they worked. Having less money your budget means you have to get more for the dollars you do have. Makes sense.

But doing more with less should be the mantra whether the economy is in the toilet or not. You owe it to yourself, your boss, your volunteer capacity… to always attempt to do more with less. There’s nothing honorable about wasting money on ineffective tactics, PR or otherwise. Waste is a sign of inferior leadership, not something to be admired.

Parents involved in kids activities – like Scouting and youth sports – know the importance of stretching every dollar. You don’t plan a weekend campout that costs $200 per kid, you aim for $100, etc… You don’t pay for college students to coach your organization’s baseball teams if you have a willing, qualified parent who can do the job effectively.

It’s about being efficient.

But it’s not just about money. In PR, it’s about resources and tools needed to get the results you are looking for. Where can you realize savings along the way to the desired project end? Whatever you do, in doing more with less, should still lead to more brand visibility. More conversations. More revenue.

If I’m going to be taking the time to research and write a news release for a client’s Gizmo version 3.3… There’s no reason my research work can’t also provide me with enough material for a post on the corporate blog, in addition to the news release. In fact, nearly every interview I do related to a news release I’m working on is also recorded on video or audio – that way I’ve got a soundbite or podcast option if the project is worthy.

Do more – blog posts, podcasts, white papers, etc…

The trouble for communications and PR pros is there are still only 24 hours in a day. That’s another post. But the more/less mantra means you might have to be more selective about the projects you say ‘yes’ to. If you’re in a corporate setting, like me, it’s hard to say ‘no’ when various clients around the business come to you with requests for your expertise.

And if there are a few less of you in your role in your office than their was a year ago, clients need to understand that what used to be a one-week turnaround could be more like two, depending on your workload at the time. You still need to do quality work. Doing more with less shouldn’t affect the quality.

Doing more with less. Scott Anthony at Forbes.com also framed it nicely a few months back. Worth checking out his post for more insight on this.

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Catching up on podcasts again. Mitch Joel had a great conversation last month about digital marketing and social media with Avinash Kaushik, “Analytics Evangelist” at Google (Six Pixels of Separation #152).

“Orgasmic” digital marketing, in fact.

Kaushik is the author of Web Analytics: An Hour a Day and the Occam’s Razor blog.

If the mere mention of analytics makes you run for the door, this podcast will blow away any thought you have that analytics are boring. Kaushik is enthusiastic about his craft.

First off, we all need to understand this stuff better. And by stuff, I mean how to measure the impact your social media efforts are having on behalf of your company, brand, etc… What do you measure? How do you do it? What’s significant and what isn’t?

Are you measuring and caring about the wrong things?

And, how you can capitalize on the conversations on the Web that are happening about your company, for good or bad?

The title of this post came right from Kaushik in the conversation with Joel, after Joel asked him if businesses and brands really want two-way conversations in this day and age on the Web, since it doesn’t lead to big sales overnight. It’s more of a long-term effort.

“You don’t have a choice,” Kaushik replied.

In 2007 and 2008, he says, businesses still had a choice in how to interact with customers – and do what they had always done if they wanted to - but we’ve reached a point where it is mandatory that you have two-way conversations.

“The influence channels that have worked thus far – TV and coupons – don’t work anymore and they will not work anymore at a rapidly escalating pace. With every passing day the slope of the curve is becoming more and more hard to reach.

Another great takeaway comes toward the end of this podcast, when Kaushik says he spends four hours a week learning about something new he didn’t know about before. If you aren’t, you will be irrelevent. If you are, you will be at “the top of the mountain,” Kaushik says.

Good advice, indeed.

Anyone doing marketing, PR or corporate communications must listen to this podcast. Whether you think you know what social media is about, or not.

Kaushik’s smarts are scary. His enthusiasm is contagious. Listen to this podcast and learn.

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You know what I’m talking about, right?

Clearly this insane trend of inserting “ads” into the TV scripts and reality show scenes is already out of hand. But rest assured, it hasn’t reached its peak. We’re in for more of it, and who knows what how it will evolve. I’m seeing more and more of it and it really challenges the intelligence of the consumer, doesn’t it?

Can you picture the boardroom scene with networks and advertisers?

Closeup. Joint being inhaled.

Network exec coughs, and says… “I got it… We’ll put the commercials… (coughs and giggles) …into the script!”

Closeup. Smoke blown across the table.

Closeup. Advertiser laughs a hearty, sinister laugh.

You don’t think that’s accurate? Maybe I’m embellishing a bit.

The biggest cuplrit, at least from what I watch on a regular basis, is “The Biggest Loser.” Chew this gum, use this plastic bag, drink from these water bottles…

Enough!

The worst offender, one I admit I’m taking my wife’s word for, is a recent “Days Of Our Lives” episode where a character touted the convenience of Tyson Chicken.

Yeah, that’s a natural product placement.

Even my kids are pointing it out to me now. What’s odd is that product placement in movies has never really bugged me, probably because it’s less overt. A main character drinking a Pepsi in a movie is no big deal. But a main character in a TV show drinking a Pepsi saying to another character “Hey, have you tried the new retro Pepsi?” just doesn’t work.

It’s just dumb.

Hey advertisers! We get it that you’re not making money from your commercial breaks… we do. But viewers aren’t stupid. I guess the only way to make it stop is to stop watching. For most people, I suppose, it hasn’t ticked them off enough to do that.

Desperate times apparently have called for desperate marketing measures.

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1. The question portion of any of the major beauty pageants are now the main creators of YouTube moments from the show. The questions are lame. And you can almost see the contestants’ heads spinning as they search for anything remotely intelligent to say. Almost.

Sunday night’s Miss USA show didn’t disappoint. Before Sunday night nobody knew Carrie Prejean’s name outside California. Little did she know when she reached into the jar and pulled out Perez Hilton’s judge number that Prejean – Miss California – would be making news as the unlucky recipient of a question Hilton had planned about gay marriage,

Forget the question, forget the answer… this post isn’t about that. The story that isn’t out there yet is if NBC knew what Hilton was going to ask. I’m assuming they did. Doesn’t matter I suppose.

I bet Prejean – or any of the other finalists – wished she would have drawn Kelly Monaco’s judge number out of the jar… because the winner, Miss North Carolina Kristen Dalton, got Monaco’s hard-hitting “Do you believe that taxpayers money should be used to bail out struggling U.S. companies?”

Dalton actually started her answer by saying,”That’s a tough one.”

That’s the YouTube moment nobody’s talking about. And that’s your Miss USA 2009, America.

2. Speaking of Web hysteria, B.L. Ochman offers up timely “Lessons from the Amazon, Domino’s Debacles” on BusinessWeek.

3. From Brandweek, “What It Takes To Be a Top Marketer,” is a profile of Proctor & Gamble’s Roxanne Watson, who manages the Tide brand.

4. Some great stuff once again on Conversation Agent, “50 Content Ideas that Create Buzz.” Including #18, Add value in exchange for attention. One of the best ways to add value to others is by being generous with links to other good content.

5. I went to college in Wisconsin, worked in TV in two cities in the state…. so I know the folks in Dairyland can be a little… um… er… off. But you have to admire this research at UW-Madison involving Twitter, highlighted by MSNBC.

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