Who needs a movie?

If you have a website, video content can dramatically improve your conversions. Here are a few testimonial videos that we’ve produced for Gene Juarez Academy.

The following video is a self-promo for a small video production company, and it’s so bad, it’s downright entertaining. In fact, it’s been viewed more than 832,000 times and has a 4.5/5 rating.

I’m not sure if this classifies as a viral video because I haven’t been able to determine if it’s real or not. If it isn’t, consider me duped.

Don’t worry, Sharon and Fred do not work with Outsource Marketing.

Video via @adfreak on twitter.

App advertising on the iPhone

I bought the first version of the iPhone within a week of its release and wasn’t sure if I’d upgrade to the new 3G when it came out. But someone pocketed my iPhone when I left it on a counter at a restaurant, so I was forced to buy the new 3G.

It’s all it’s cracked up to be, and more. Part of that more, I was surprised to find, was advertising in iPhone apps. It’s not overly intrusive, but it’s there.

Article via @marktong on twitter.

An award we’re proud to win

We’ve been told we’d win our fair share awards if we’d just take the time to submit our work to the awards shows. I guess we’re just a little indifferent—it’s great PR, but when we share our portfolio, it gets the job done.

An award we are proud to receive is from King County, recognizing Outsource Marketing as a Best Workplace for Recycling for 2008.

One of the smartest things we’ve done was develop an internal “Green Pact” and set out to green our company. We started in 2006, and won the award in 2007 as well.

It’s easy.

It’s fun.

And it’s the right thing to do.

Try it. You’ll like it.

Seen a video, article or news item you think the esteemed readers of The Responsible Marketing Blog would appreciate?

Suggest a topic. If I use it and it receives more than 10 comments, you’ll get some swag or a coffee card to add to your collection.

Walmart offers always low prices, but at a cost.

The company has been criticized on a number of fronts including their record with labor, the environment and vendor negotiations. Incredibly, the company accounts for over 11% of U.S. trade deficit with China, representing nearly 200,000 jobs lost.

Now we have another reason to pick on Walmart: Their re-brand.

Here’s a graphic from the company website showing the evolution of the Walmart logo:

Walmart offered little explanation for the change:

For the past two years, a customer focused transformation has been taking place in Walmart’s U.S. business.

Walmart’s U.S. locations will update store logos as part of an ongoing evolution of its overall brand - customers have already seen this in refreshed store signage and recent print advertisements and TV commercials.

But what really matters is what happens out there in the stores. This update to the logo is simply a reflection of the refresh taking place inside our stores and our renewed sense of purpose to help people save money so they can live better.

Can they be more vague? If they are going to leave the logo open to interpretation, that’s what I’ll do:

The color is more contemporary, and by moving from all upper-case to a capitalized “W” and lower-case letters its more approachable.

But what’s with the ginormous starburst?

At first I wondered why they didn’t read my blog post about marketing without an * because that’s what it looks like—a huge asterisk.

By definition, an asterisk is “used to highlight a particular word or sentence, often to indicate a footnote” or “a blemish in an otherwise outstanding achievement.”

So, where’s the footnote, and why would you want a logo that looked your company name with an asterisk? Can you imagine AT&T*, Apple*, GM*, Microsoft* or Johnson + Johnson* doing this? No way.

Should Walmart go out of their way to communicate that they have a blemish (pick one) on their otherwise outstanding achievement (biggest retailer in the world)?

Even worse, it looks like a big sphincter. So many people already consider them one, does their logo need to look like one?

You know, great branding can help capture and communicate the way the consumer really feels about a company.

Hmmm. Maybe their branding people actually hit the mark.

Nah. Given the amount of products they import from China, this would be even more fitting:

Would you agree that Walmart’s new logo is highly irresponsible, even borderline unforgivable? Why or why not?

Comment below to weigh in.

Read some entertaining comments regarding the Walmart rebranding on Brand New.

Inspiration for the this post came from this article on the smartbrandblog.

Last week, I was interviewed by Jed Sundwall at NetSquared, a group of passionate social media advocates whose mission is to “spur responsible adoption of social web tools by social benefit organizations.”

The focus of the conversation was on what social benefit organizations are missing if they neglect social media, and of course, Responsible Marketing.

Read the interview on the Netsquared blog.

You can also view my Using Social Media to Create Social Good deck, as well as my list of Social Good links on del.icio.us.

Have you seen social benefit organizations put social media to good use?

Comment below to share.

Using social media to create social good is a good thing. But it’s never quite that easy, is it?

Strip2Clothe is a new Virgin Mobile promotion where anyone can submit “fun by not salacious” videos of themselves stripping in order to help clothe homeless youth.

From the Virgin Mobile YouTube channel:

Strip2Clothe is Virgin Mobile’s initiative to provide BRAND NEW clothing to homeless youth across the country. At Strip2Clothe.com, people (virtually) give the shirts off their backs to help homeless kids. Believe it or not, a set of new clothes can be an important first step towards getting off the streets and transitioning into a stable life.

By outfitting homeless kids with new clothing, we hope this basic necessity provides the confidence for them to stay in or return to school, apply for jobs, pursue mentors, and seek safe, healthy environments.

So, don’t just ‘take it off’ — take it ON — and show America’s homeless youth that you’re brave enough to help.

Here’s one of the most popular videos to date. Don’t worry, it won’t get you fired if you are at work.

As you might guess, this campaign has raised hackles for a number of reasons:

The videos are screened and no full nudity is allowed. To date, 64,417 donations have been made.

But it is stripping, and it is teenagers.

So, is Virgin Mobile’s Strip2Clothe responsible or not?

Comment below to share your thoughts.

Post inspired by Striptease clothing drive enrages local charities: Web campaign encourages young people to post videos by Chen May Yee, The Minneapolis Star Tribune

Authenticity is the marketing buzzword du jour, and for good reason: There’s a huge trust gap between marketers and consumers and the more “real” you can be, the better.

So, is the following Responsible Marketing?

Top Quality & Affordable Forum Population
Paid forum posting is about providing your forum, blog or community a jumpstart, by seeding your site with active conversation & enthusiastic members. From visitors to Google, your site will start getting the notice it deserves!

The notice it deserves? Everyone has to start somewhere, but paying strangers to pretend they are interested in your content is downright sad.

Here’s their pricing:

You can’t buy love

If your blog or forum is a ghost town, does your content need a little help? If it’s worthy, don’t sink to buying a temporary audience.

Instead, share it with the people you know and seek out individuals and groups that might be interested in what you have to say.

If you have quality content, an audience will follow. Like any relationship, first you have to establish trust. And that’s pretty tough to pull off if your conversations are phony.

What do you think about paid conversation seeding?

Unethical or just “faking it until you make it?”

Comment below to weigh in.

Thoughts regarding anything shared today?

Comment below to weigh in.

Breakthrough creative agitates. It makes people uneasy, or angry. It might make you laugh or cry. And it always makes people feel—or think. Or both.

But breakthrough creative doesn’t happen often enough.

The excuse I’ve heard most often is “We don’t have the budget.”

Well, some of the best marketing you’ll find doesn’t necessarily come from the largest, best-funded companies in the world.

To the contrary, some of the best stuff being done today is coming from the last place you’d expect it: public service announcements (PSA’s) from governmental entities and from non-profits—two groups with smaller budgets.

That’s why I often say:

A big idea and a tiny budget is better than
a tiny idea and a big budget.

Three examples:

In “Teenage affluenza is spreading fast,” World Vision produced a video that contrasts the lives of suburban children with those in the developing world. The video was created to drive kids to www.40hourfamine.com (Australia) or www.30hourfamine.org (USA), and ultimately “do something else,” “do something real,” and just “do something.”

The next video includes a series of five ads. In them, the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board of Ontario explains that most workplace accidents are avoidable—by introducing you to workers, then showing them injured or killed in graphic workplace accidents.

Here’s a :30 second spot that will lighten things up a bit. I won’t spoil it by sharing what it’s about.

I’ve shared other breakthrough (and sometimes questionable) ads from MTV’s Staying Alive Foundation, Charity Water, Transport for London, PETA and a few others.

While the production of these videos surely wasn’t free, they were created with relatively small budgets.

You can break through without a big budget. But you’ll never break though if you shortchange the idea.

What’s your take?

Comment below to weigh in.

Jeremy Tanner (@penguin on twitter) shared the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board of Ontario ads with me. Thanks Jeremy!

To raise awareness regarding the AIDS pandemic in South Africa and commemorate World AIDS Day, The Cape Argus newspaper used their page numbers to share statistics provided by UNICEF and the South African Department of Health.

View several examples by clicking here.

The statistics are chilling. The awesomely simple and creative execution is inspired. And it’s encouraging a conversation about this oh-so-important topic.

Now that, my Responsible Marketing friends, is creativity.

Where have you seen truly inspired creativity?

Comment below to share.

Inspired by this post in Adverbox.

A movie filmed in 14 months, across 42 countries with a cast of thousands.

No, it’s not the second coming of Cecil B. DeMille.

It’s one of the best examples of a viral video you’ll see: in 17 days, this video have been viewed nearly 4.6 million times.

As crazy as it may sound, “Where the hell is Matt?” will probably be the best 4 minutes and 29 seconds you invest this week and it might even bring a tear to your eye.

As I watched, I couldn’t help but wonder when the sponsor’s ad was going to appear. What are they trying to sell? A video like this needs funding, right?

Well, the sponsor was finally listed in the final 2.5 seconds, after the credits.

This is an incredible (and commendable) show of restraint by the sponsor, I’d say. Given the nature of the video, I’d argue they’ve built significant good will.

Do you believe virals like this are too subtle and should do more selling, or is this approach a breath of fresh air?

Comment below to weigh in.

To view a higher resolution version of this video, click here, then select the “watch in high quality” link right below the video.

Mario Sundar, Community Evangelist at LinkedIn shared this with me via Twitter (follow Mario). Here’s his post on the topic.

.

Prime rate to remain stable, Bernanke says

By Gene Weingarten
The Washington Post
Sunday, June 22, 2008; Page W32

If you are like I, you are pretty sick of reading articles about how the financially-troubled newspaper industry is making desperation budget cutting moves: Downsizing its products, laying off staff, buying prostitutes for advertisers, and so forth. But believe me, you’d be even sicker of it if you were INSIDE a typical American newsroom these days, where it’s sometimes hard to hear over the 200 decibel background drone of human whining.

One frequent newsroom complaint is that they are cutting back drastically in the use of copyeditors. It’s true, but I for one am not complaining. I say good riddance.

The era of the copy editor is gone. Copyeditors were once an important part of the journalism process, back when journalists weren’t as educated as they are now. Back then, your typical reporter was named ‘Scoop” and he was a semi-literate cigar-smoking, fannie-pinching drunk with bad teeth in a wrinkled suit and a card that said PRESS stuck in the hat-band of his fedora, and they’d generate their stories by bribing sources, pistol-whipping people into talking, eavesdropping from inside closets, etc. A reporter was hired for cheek and muscle, not their writing skill, so you needed an extra layer of editing.

Copy editors were fine-tuners, fixing basic but important things that a first line of editing might’nt catch: Typos, errors in facts, spelling, syntax, punctuation, clarity, word usage, style, parallelism, and not letting sentences run on. They would also bear principle responsibility for headlines, photo captions, story jump lines, as well as catching the occasional, inadvertent cultural insensitivity. Because the job requires patience, maturity, intelligence, attention to detail, and an extremely sedentary workday, fat old Jewish ladies have often made good copyeditors.

But nowadays, things have changed. “Scoop” is gone. Young reporters are all named “P. Laurence Butterfield Jr.” and they arrive at their first newspaper job fresh-faced and competent, straight from New Haven, Conn., with their high-faluting Princeton educations. They don’t need copyeditors.
This is a true fact: I’m writing this column the very week after dozens of copy editors left my newspaper through an early retirement buyout, and I have noticed no difference at all whatsoever in the quality, accuracy or readability of the product.

The inessentialness of copy editors is underscored by the advent of sophisticated spellchecking systems which have introduced a hole new level of error-free proofreading. No longer can we say that the editor’s penis mightier than the sword. The sword’s main foe is a computer now, and the computer is up to to the task.

But nowadays, things have changed. “Scoop” is gone. Young reporters are all named “P. Laurence Butterfield Jr.” and they arrive at their first newspaper jobs fresh-faced and competent, straight from New Haven, Conn., with their high-faluting Princeton educations. They don’t need copyeditors.

Truth to tell, I feel badly for all copy editors whom, I’m afraid, will suddenly find themselves out of a job. Time has past them by, however, defeated the Red Sox 6-5 in extra innings and it doesn’t make sense for us to weep for copyeditors anymore than it makes sense for us to lament the replacement of bank tellers with automated ATM machines.

So to all my former copyediting colleagues, I wish them a soft landing. Finally, I’d like to give particular shoutouts to my friends Pat Meyers and Bill O’Brien, two longtime copyeditors for the Washington Post who took the early retirement: We’ll miss ya, guys, even if we didn’t need you all that muck.

How good a copy editor would you be?

See how many of the 57 errors of fact, grammar, syntax and style in this column you can catch, and then read the corrections.

Gene Weingarten can be reached at weingarten@washpost.com.