The Kmiec Ramblings

Awesome write up by Avinash Kaushik about making reporting dashboards more useful. He titles his approach, “Action Dashboards.” I, like many of you out there, thought I had the dashboard format mastered. His, recommended dashboard approach is a nice evolution from the ones I created while at ConAgra Foods and is something I’ll be incorporating in the future.

I highly recommend you read the entire article.

This comes courtesy of my friend Ashley Vaness. I’d seen it before a while back, but it still brings a smile to my face.

Ok…so I was dumb. I erred and mistakenly deleted the WordPress database on thekmiecs.com. For those not in the know, that basically means ALL the content for the site was lost. I didn’t panic, because I assumed that GoDaddy had a database restore option in the control panel. Not so much. So I call GoDaddy technicaly support and explain my situation. They say, no problem we can restore the database remotely. I breathe a sigh of relief. However, she says, it will take 5 days to complete. Bummer, but hey better than nothing. Then she says, and THERE WILL BE A $150.00 charge to restore the database. I’m ticked of course, but don’t have an option. Fine, I say.

So I wait…and wait…and wait. I trade many emails back and forth with tech support, who by the way really is fantastic, and finally got the site back up.

I think GoDaddy’s customer service handled the situation poorly. They didn’t set my expectations; when I expressed dismany and questioned the situation they just passed me off and essentially told me tough.

The lesson learned here is back up your database.

No seriously…paint that shit gold. I just like saying paint that shit gold. Ok, I’ll stop saying paint that shit gold. Crap, I just said paint that shit gold again. Ok, ok, ok I’m done. So Colle+McVoy just launched a new site called PaintThatShitGold.com.

The site let’s you capture and subsequently tag just about any site out there on the web. Don’t like the IRS? That’s cool, paint that shit gold. Not a fan of Obama? Yeah, me neither…so paint that shit gold.

Why did we decide to let people paint that shit gold? Glad you asked. The site was built to support the launch of Atmosphere’s new album, “When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold.”

Not only can you tag the web, but you can listen to songs from the album and use a REAL freaking equalizer to customize the audio.

I wish I had actually worked on this project, instead of just being the guy who kept saying, PAINT THAT SHIT GOLD. So what are you waiting for? Get out there and Paint That Shit Gold!

I have an issue with how we, in the undustry, look at clients. Too often we get caught up in this desire to do “Good Work.” Many agencies and people view good work as the ability to do things that are “creative,” “out of the box,” “showcase worthy,” or “award worthy.”

I disagree. “Good Work” is work that drives our clients’ business. Good work is work that generates results. Good work is work that makes our clients look and makes us look like good partners.

Good Work, is not always about being edgy, different, or new. Often, good work can be considered boring. But, boring can be good work. We need to remember that fact and be happy to be doing good work that while not sexy, makes a real impact.

Great article at AdAge; I know I rarely say that, but seriously this article is fantastic. I’ve been preaching the need to go beyond the click as a means of measuring success. Finally a large marketing player, Kellogg’s has the balls to challenge their media buying agency, Starcom, to invest in a cost per interaction campaign.

Good things are ahead indeed.

Convergence. There I said it. Yes, I used a horrible buzzword. Sometimes convergence is bad. Ever been to a Long John Silvers &  KFC fast-food restaurant? If you have, then you know why fish sticks and the colonel’s chicken should never converge. In other cases, convergence is VERY good.

When we think of Google, we think of www.google.com. You go online, search for something, and Google returns results. In the absence of a Google chip for your brain, the good folks at Google have given us two great FREE search options for when we’re away from our computers: GOOG-411 and Google SMS. Both of these are great options for those of you who are sans iPhone.

GOOG-411 is a free 411-phone service. You simple dial 1-800-GOOG-411 and tell the voice-automated system what you are looking for and where. Google then gives you the answer. The days of paying a $1.00 or more service fee for using a 411 service on your cel phone are over.

Google SMS allows you to text message your search query to 466453 (’GOOGLE’ on most devices) and Google returns you a text message back results. For example, try movies 55402 and be wowed.

So why does this matter? Search is taking place beyond the browser. This opens up new opportunities for our clients and us. These search methods are only as good as the data they rely on. Making sure our data is up to date and easily accessible is critical. This has serious implications for clients like Erbert and Gerbert’s. Consumers should be able to find E&G stores from online search, phone, and text. We have more to think about than just the browser.

So we heard Cora’s first word today. It wasn’t mom, or dad, or asshole (as made famous by Meet the Fockers). No, it wasn’t anything normal or ordinary. Her first word was actually a phrase; she’s an over-achiever. Earlier this morning she said, “Uh-Oh!”

If there is one thing W+K can do it’s TV. The work they do for Nike is amazing. It actually blows me away that Nike thought they needed Crispin on board for Nike Running. But, hey I’m sure someone smarter than me is making those decisions. This is their latest work and it’s amazing.

The copywriting make this spot. You can apply the same point being made about basketball to the work we do on a daily basis. While some may make the work look easy, the reality is we great work comes through effort.

I like Shaq. Well for the most part I like Shaq. I’m a Bulls fan, so when Shaq was on the Magic I really disliked him. But, on the whole it’s tough not to like him. I also can’t stand the Spurs; they have players that are so easy to dislike. For example, you have the flopper Manu Ginobli and of course the soft Frenchman Tony Parker, who just happened to some how land Eva Longoria.

So with that said, you’d think I’d have no problem rooting for the Suns over the Spurs. But, there is a BIG but. The Suns have players I can’t stand…they have Raja Bell (dirty player), Steve Nash (overrated), and of course Mike D’Antoni (ugliest coach ever).

I’m torn. I really want Shaq to get another ring, which would prove again Kobe needed Shaq and not vice versa, but I’m not sure I can.