Get To The Grapes

Okay, so even I’m shocked by this one.  Gourmet magazine will publish its last issue November 2009.  The magazine has been in publications since December 1940.  Yes, 1940!

The New York Times reported that Conde Nast was up in the air between which food title they were going to shut down – Gourmet or Bon Appetit – and given that Gourmet was considered the more upscale of the two, they decided to keep the book for the ‘masses.’  Given the economy, it seems consumers are looking for more value than ‘gourmet.’

The magazine has won numerous awards over the years for photography and editorial, so it’s a sad day in the publishing world – as well as for the close to one million people who either subscribe to or purchase the magazine on the newsstand. 

I just finished the book “Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business” by Neil Postman, and let me tell you, it’s not a light read.  A quick read yes, a light read no. It’s thought provoking and profound.  Although I don’t agree fully with all of the author’s philosophies, he does make you think about our culture from a different perspective.  In the age of social media (Twitter and Facebook) and a culture based around imagery, sound bites and ‘drama,’ this book will get you thinking about epistemology; more importantly, media as epistemology.  It’s a great read and one I’d recommend to everyone – especially marketers.  As we are early adopters of technology and new media, we owe it to ourselves and others to utilize them in a smart, thoughtful and intelligent way.

So between blog posts and tweets, pick up a book – preferably this one.  Still not sure if you want to dive in?  If nothing else, read the ‘foreward’ that follows. It’s powerful and succinct, and it alone will make you think.

FOREWARD: Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman

–We were keeping our eye on 1984. When the year came and the prophecy didn’t, thoughtful Americans sang softly in praise of themselves. The roots of liberal democracy had held. Wherever else the terror had happened, we, at least, had not been visited by Orwellian nightmares.

But we had forgotten that alongside Orwell’s dark vision, there was another — slightly older, slightly less well known, equally chilling: Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World.  Contrary to common belief even among the educated, Huxley and Orwell did not prophesy the same thing. Orwell warns that we will be overcome by an externally imposed oppression. But in Huxley’s vision, no Big Brother is required to deprive people of their autonomy, maturity and history. As he saw it, people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think.

What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism.  Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy.  As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny “failed to take into account man’s almost infinite appetite for distractions.” In 1984, Huxley added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us.

This book is about the possibility that Huxley, not Orwell, was right.–

As a consumer of “infotainment” and a professional in the communications field, I have a great appreciation of our media, yet I do continue to question how a nation who gets its news and knowledge in sound bites will affect our culture.

According to Mediabistro, Time Inc. today announced that the September/October issue of Southern Accents will be its last.   The magazine has been in publication for more than 30 years.  Our clients have graced many Southern Accent pages over the years, so it’s sad to see it go. However, in this economy it’s survival of the fittest.  There were too many shelter titles and the best ones are rising to the top.  Other shelter magazines already buried include: Country Home, Cottage Living, O at Home, Home Companion, Home Magazine, Blueprint, House & Garden andHouse Beautiful SIPs… Who’s next?  If you need to get your Southern Accents fix, the website will supposedly stay in operation: http://www.southernaccents.com/

What is Twitter? I don’t get it. It doesn’t make sense. Why do people waste their time? These are common comments I hear regarding the micro-blogging website. 

So what is Twitter? Well it’s far more than a micro-blogging site for friends and family.  It’s become a hit among celebrities, marketers and businesses.  News stories are breaking not through CNN or Fox News, but through ‘tweets.’  When U.S. Airways Flight 1549 went down in the Hudson, it wasn’t reporters breaking the news, it was individuals, both on the flight and on nearby ferries feeding details to ‘followers‘ who then shared it with the media.  And now, just as people begin to question the legitimacy of Twitter (after all, 60% of Twitter users fail to return after a month), we are receiving first-hand reports from Iranian protesters about what is happening on the ground in real time.  So, is Twitter anything more than a waste of time? Try plugging in the search term #IranElection.  On Monday evening (06/15/09), Twitter was registering about 30 new posts a minute with that tag. Stilll Thirsty…? 

We all know that newspapers are hurting… The Internet has changed the game and newspapers have been late to evolve.  Case in point: our own hometown paper: The Sacramento Bee.  ‘The Bee’ has enjoyed a monopoly for a very long time and while it sat back and enjoyed the lack of competition in the region, the Internet came along and changed the game.  As a marketer, I don’t believe that the Internet will make print obsolete: however, I do believe print needs to evolve and change to stay in the game.  It needs to be relevant, fresh, and easy-to-read.  So, ‘The Bee’ has recently evolved.  It said it was making “improvements” for its readers when the fact of the matter was it was doing it for its survival.  It has laid off more than 50 percent of its editorial staff.  And although I commend some of the changes (the USA Today-ish front-page), some are more hokey and ‘cowtown-ish’ then ever before.  My biggest issue is with the business section.  As a local business owner who really considers myself a ‘big city’ agency simply based in Sacramento, I was appalled to find the new business section in the local “Our Region” section of the paper.  And worse, the business section actually follows the Obituaries.  Yes, I have to actually thumb through the ‘obits’ to get to the business section.  As a 35 year old business person, I am not yet ‘into’ the obits.  As a resident and business owner in Sacramento, I want nothing more than ‘The Bee’ to succeed, however, with changes such as these, I am afraid ‘cow-town’ is just what this paper is continuing to “Bee.”   

Phelps celebrating more gold in the 4x100 relay.

I was driving home from San Francisco with a couple of Merlot team members and got in a conversation about Michael Phelps.  One of them mentioned the 100 relay (that I wanted to watch, but missed) and said it was amazing.  She said that everything from Jason Lezak, who literally seemed to add a motor to his feet in the last leg of the race, to watching every muscle in Michael Phelps’ body ripple with intense excitement from the win, was an incredible event that I just had to see.  So, she emailed me the link  (You’re welcome. Enjoy!), and yes, she was right, it was seriously one of the most exciting things I have ever watched. I have watched it at least three or four times.  The athleticism, the intensity, the overall excitement of American’s seizing the win was absolutely amazing!  So something that would be inaccessible after the event to most, is now accessible to all.  And whatever endorsements Michael Phelps would have had in previous years of TV-only coverage, should and will be ten-fold given the power of the Web.  Blogs, Twitter, the entire realm of social media is here to stay.  We as marketers need to embrace it, use it, and capitalize on it, because change provides us the opportunity to evolve.  And evolve we must, especially as marketers, in order to capitalize on all the opportunity that lies at our fingertips, literally.  We have had clients that question social media and their need to participate, and although true, not every company should, they are few and far between.  If you have something worth talking about, you better start talking.  I mean, blogging, Twittering… 

As a busy CEO, marketer, volunteer, wife, new mom, etc., finding time to keep up on news, politics, trends, pop culture, best-selling books, art, wine and yes, even celebrity gossip, is difficult.  Enter The Week.  It’s “All you need to know about everything that matters.”  Okay, not quite, but it’s pretty close.  Given that we’re in the midst of a political showdown, it’s hard to keep up with both sides of the story.  The Week, however, provides just that.  It takes key issues and provides excerpts from media around the world and across both sides of the political aisle.  For busy execs, it just might be the digest of ‘everything that matters.’  If you’re an “I only get my news from the Net,” kind of person, trust me, you might just want to try this ‘old school’ reading.  This digest-version of what’s happening in the nation, and the world, is pretty good stuff.  (more…)

Journalists have been given a hard time lately and rightfully so. They editorialize when they should be reporting. And the traditional tough questions have been replaced with ’softballs.’ Friday, June 13th was a sad day for journalism because we lost areal journalist. A man that worked hard, asked tough questions and did his job the way it was meant to be done. He didn’t have ‘Ditto heads’ or ask ‘What say you?’ He wasn’t lumped into the ‘liberal media elite,’ he was simply regarded as a talented journalist and a well-liked and respected professional. Tim Russert was known for his straight-forward interviewing style and was one of the first journalists to actually ‘quote’ his guests and have them explain the true meaning behind it. When the guest tried to talk around the question, he’d re-read them their exact quote and ask them to explain the rationale behind their words. Now that’s a journalist! When watching him interview someone, I never walked away wondering why he didn’t ask the obvious questions, because he did. He asked the questions his guests didn’t necessarily want to answer, but that all of us wanted to hear. It seems as though our journalists are getting younger and prettier instead of smarter and simply better at their jobs. Unfortunately, for us the viewers, with the loss of Tim Russert, we will most likely be stuck watching wanna-be actors and actresses more interested in their white teeth than the White House.

If you thought you enjoyed reading blogs, hold on to your ‘wine glass’ because we’re creating a Merlog – two, in fact (see our agency Merlog “The Water Cooler”). “Get to the Grapes” is just that – a place to gain insight and access to the world of marketing (and other things of interest to me. In this industry blog (or Merlog as we like to call it), I’ll forego pretentious ponderings and simply get to the grapes about what’s happening in marketing and the world. Agency life is our life and we’d like to share with you our thoughts, ideas, and expertise from the agency perspective – and trust me, in this business, it’s a unique perspective. So, come back often and leave us a line – we encourage the conversation.