Product launches: Why put on a circus when you could be like Disney World?

Do you remember when you were little, and the circus came to town?

It was spectacular.

The circus, for all its excitement — the animals, the trapeze artists, the clowns, the daredevil acts — came into town, did a few shows with some cool stunts, and then they left.

That was it. You might be left with a plastic inflatable monkey or some other cheap overpriced souvenir.

A couple weeks later, the circus was barely a memory in your mind — it went out of town just as fast as it came in.

Now think about Walt Disney World.

Those who have been fortunate enough to go to Disney World when they were younger (or older, as my case would be) know that no matter how long you stay at the park(s) — it could be a few days, a couple weeks — you are left with many, many memories for years to come.

Walt Disney World is no circus. You don’t go in and out and then forget about it. It is an experience, one whose vision is to ensure that “each and every guest has the best time of their life,” a place where “dreams come true” and memories are made. It sticks with you, and on your way home, you already can’t wait to go back.

Which would you prefer, the circus or Walt Disney World?

Disney World, of course.

Why is it, then, that when companies launch new products, almost all of them prefer the circus approach?

Here’s what I see all too often:

Company X has a new Thingamabob coming out. It could a new phone, a car, a gadget, a boat, it doesn’t matter. They’ve talked about it for a long time, gotten some press about the long-anticipated, brand new Thingamabob. So, when it comes for Thingamabob launch day, what does Company X do?

All the usual tactics. They go to certain cities, solicit high profile journalists and/or social media pseudo-celebs, spend an insane amount of money on treating them like kings for a day, tons of media buys, the whole shebang. Company X parades around like bulls in the china shop of their choosing, hoping, just HOPING, that they’ve done enough to generate some good press for the Thingamabob in traditional media, get the social media pseud-celebs to blog and tweet about it a lot, and hey, maybe even sell a few Thingamabobs!

And then Company X rides their china-shopped bull into the sunset and calls it a “product launch,” and talks about it ad nauseam, patting themselves on the backs until it’s time for the next Thingamabob circus to come to town. Lather, rinse, repeat.

This is old. This is tired. This is not memorable.

WHY in the world do companies insist on doing this?

Apple, on the other hand, takes a more Disney-esque approach.

Rumors of the new iWhatever start circulating all the top tech blogs for a long time. Because of the loyalty Apple has from its fans, they start chatting feverishly about even the possibility of a new product long before there’s any official word. (There may or may not be an accidental or purposeful iWhatever “leak,” but that’s a different story for a different time.)

Finally, the day comes for the iWhatever launch.

Apple holds a special keynote presentation, hosted by their CEO, Steve Jobs. Journalists and other important people are invited to attend. The same presentation is also put on the web so that anybody who wants to watch the presentation can. Apple builds up enough anticipation and excitement about the iWhatever that people come to them. Much like Disney World. Jobs does his thing, reveals the iWhatever and all the cool stuff it can do, does a few live demos of it, then tells you how much it costs and when it will be officially available for purchase.

When that day comes, people flock to their nearest Apple store, some camping out overnight outside just because they HAVE TO HAVE THE iWHATEVER. After the initial fervent fans have their iWhatevers, more people flock to the stores if not to buy one, but to at least play with one so they can tell their friends, “Yeah, I was at the Apple store the other day and got to try out an iWhatever, it’s amazing.”

The entire process of an Apple product launch is an experience. It resonates. It sticks with people. Apple doesn’t have to bring a dog and pony show to town, people come to Apple, and people tell all their friends about it.

Much like people come to Disney World.

Now, ask yourself, which would you prefer your product to be more like, a circus or Walt Disney World?

Which do you think sells more product, makes more money, generates the most loyal fans, creates the most memories?

Circus photo via David Shankbone at Wikimedia Commons.

Fun with Twitter: Do your “overheards” tell a story?

One of the joys many people, including myself, find with Twitter is the beauty of the tweeted “overheard” statement, which is some odd statement that is, well, overheard, that you just feel compelled to share with the rest of the world. (Because of character constraints, “OH:” is usually used before the statement instead of “Overheard” though I confess when I first saw people using this I wondered what Ohio had to do with anything.)

Usually neither attribution nor context is given, which makes them that much funnier. In fact, in my office, it’s become somewhat of a competition between coworkers to see who makes my “overheard” tweets. I work with a very creative, linguistic bunch and there’s never a dull moment in our conversations. My overheard tweets aren’t always coworkers, mind you, oftentimes they’re friends outside the office, like at gigs or something.

Anyway, the other day I decided to see which gems I had tweeted “OH:” recently, so  I went to my profile and searched “OH:” in my tweets only. Twitter only archives the past few days now, which I just learned, but the tweets in my past few days’ archives were not only hilarious, but kind of sounded like a funny story if you read them in chronological order.

Keep in mind that NONE of these tweets are related in any way, shape or form, and most had completely different contexts:

To “get it,” you have to read from the bottom up, but to make it easier, here they are in succession:

“That’s like, WAAAAAY down the road. Like Friday.”

“Haven’t you seen Subway commercials? Don’t you know the right way to say it?”

“I wore so much black I out-blacked myself. Black is the new black!”

“You are the reason that dress was invented.”

“Woo! It’s nice and bright in here! It makes me wanna take this dress off!” #unrelatedtothelasttweet

“We’re going to drool all over her like a pork chop.”

“… and it doesn’t give you the risk of having quintuplets!”

“You just want me for my numbers.”

“You gotta perpetuate the SEO-ness of your lineage.”

“Who the hell are you and why are you soliciting me?!”

OK, maybe it’s only funny to me, but I’m curious to see if anybody else’s completely unrelated overheard tweets also look like they kinda tell a story. It’s an interesting and fun exercise.

Here’s what you do:

1. Just view your own profile on Twitter.
2. Plug “OH:” (or “overheard,” whichever you use) into the search box and make sure that the box is checked to read only your own tweets.
3. Read from the bottom up.
4. Do they kinda tell a story?
5. If so, take a screen shot & share.

Come on, you know you want to. It’s fun!

YOU’RE INVITED: Special Meatcannon Tribute/Benefit show featuring Detroit rock’s finest SATURDAY, AUGUST 7

On June 3rd, some friends and I lost a dear friend very suddenly. His name was Joe Scharf, but we always called him “Meatcannon.” To this day I have no idea the story behind the nickname, but that’s what we always called him. He was a good friend, a loving husband, and proud father to an adorable 2 1/2 year-old boy named Gavin. Meatcannon (or “Meat”) was the most dependable and sought-after roadie in the Detroit rock scene.

The last time we saw him was at Dana’s wedding on May 23. He was so happy, carrying Gavin around on his shoulders, a proud papa. It had been a while since I had seen him, but he and his wife Alyssa were moving back to the D and we were very excited about all the fun times ahead of us. Little did we know that would be the last time we saw him. Ten days later, he was taken from us way too soon.

Because we’re a cohesive bunch, we’ve decided to throw a special rock-n-roll tribute show for our beloved fallen brother — some of his best friends/favorite bands are coming together to celebrate his life and raise money for the Joseph Scharf Scholarship Fund, which will help pay for Gavin’s college. Below is the copy from the official press release:

Rockers Unite for Tribute to Roadie Joe Scharf aka Meatcannon

Tribute and Benefit Show at the Token Lounge on Saturday August 7, 2010

Doors are at 7:00 p.m. and the show starts promptly at 7:30 p.m.   Ages 18 and over are welcome to attend. Admission is $10 with 100% of the proceeds benefiting the Joseph Scharf Memorial Fund, administered by Citizens Bank.

In addition to the great live music, there will be a 50/50 raffle, and silent auction with items from Lucky Monkey Tattoo, Zodiac Vodka, Rock N Roll Gangstar Apparel, concert tickets, music memorabilia and more! Friends and family will also be on hand, sharing and celebrating Meatcannon’s life with rock and roll road trip stories and other humorous tales!

Joe Scharf aka Meatcannon began roading for some of Detroit’s most notorious rock bands in the early 80′s. Known for his unshakeable dedication, strong work ethic, and raucous sense of humor, Meatcannon led band tours to SXSW (Austin, Texas), the legendary CBGB’s (New York), Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and Hollywood’s Viper Room, in addition to festivals all over the country.   Joe even served on a music industry panel discussing his roadie work at the 2005 Motor City Music Conference.

Tragically passing away at the age of 42, Joe left behind wife Alyssa, and young son Gavin. The Joseph Scharf Memorial Fund benefits Gavin’s college education.

Don’t miss this celebration of Joe Scharf’s life. ”His heart was into the work and we can thank Meatcannon for all he did for rock and roll by participating in this tribute”, explains Sponge’s Vinnie Dombroski.

The Token Lounge is located at 28949 Joy Rd. in Westland, Michigan, ph: 734-513-5030.

Please join us tomorrow night, August 7th, at the Token to raise money for a good cause and celebrate Meatcannon’s life. This is going to be a helluva show, some of Detroit’s finest in the rock scene, and Meat wouldn’t want it any other way.

Natalie Merchant awakens from 8-year slumber with Leave Your Sleep, leaves a lasting mark on Ann Arbor with two shows 7/27/10

When it comes to artists, true artists in every aspect, few are as pure (and under-appreciated) as Natalie Merchant. Formerly known as the lead singer for 1980s college-rock phenom band 10,000 Maniacs (yes, they’re still around), Merchant built quite a cult following for herself after splitting with the Maniacs in 1993 and releasing her debut album, Tigerlily, with hits such as Carnival and Wonder.

I am among that cult following.

Since leaving her label Elektra in 2002, Merchant’s only album had been The House Carpenter’s Daughter, which resurrected many all-but-forgotten gospel and folk songs. However, up until recently, I had always regarded her 1998 release Ophelia as her best work.

After an eight-year hiatus from cutting any albums or touring at all, Merchant is back with Leave Your Sleep, which is sure to be considered her magnum opus for years to come.  In these eight years “off the map,” she focused on raising her daughter Lucia, and between Motherland and motherhood arose a creative curiosity in children’s poetry.

A week ago today was a very special day for a die-hard like me. I was able to catch not one, but TWO performances by Natalie Merchant in downtown Ann Arbor.

At the very last minute, she agreed to do a special noon in-store performance at Borders Bookstore 01. Lucky for me, this is about 5 or 6 blocks down the street from my office, and I can’t think of a better way to spend a lunch break than to watch one of my favorite artists perform for the first time in eight years in an intimate performance in a bookstore, with a special meet and greet afterwards.  Ann Arbor’s 107.1 hosted the event, and broadcast half the show on air. (Tip: If you go to their website and sign up to be an “Insider” (it’s relatively hassle-free), under “Audio Archives” you can stream the six tracks they recorded.)

I only wish I thought enough at the time to write the entire setlist down in my BlackBerry, but was too captivated by the performance to think of anything else but how awesome it was to be there. I took a few shots with my phone, but AnnArbor.com has a nice gallery of that performance you should totally check out.

The main show itself was . . . wow. For someone who has seen her as many times as I have throughout the years, I can tell you that it was much different than “the usual,” but in a good way. Overall, she collaborated with over a hundred musicians on Leave Your Sleep, all of whom are named in the liner notes of the album, and her live band was much different than she’s had it in the past. There was no drum kit, nor a keyboard/piano, but plenty of strings, including a cello, an upright bass, a banjo, a fiddle, the usual lead and rhythm guitars, a snare, and an accordion and a tuba thrown in for good measure.

The first half of her set was entirely composed of songs from Leave Your Sleep, and each song had an accompanying story about the poem it was grown from, along with slides of the poet and educational, sometimes amusing commentary beforehand by Ms. Merchant herself, on her research of the poet, the song, and how it came to be.

She opened the show with her adaptation of obscure poet Charles Edward Carryl’s poem The Sleepy Giant, about a giant who used to eat little boys and is now reformed, much to the relief of the little boy to whom giant is speaking.  From there she led into her adaptation of the classic Mother Goose The Man in the Wilderness, a song with a very classic Merchant-esque musical arrangement, in the same vein as her Motherland album.

However, the rest of the first half of the show was anything but classic Natalie Merchant musically. One of the things that stands out about Leave Your Sleep over her other albums is the amount of thought and research that went into every song, not only about the poem and the poet, but the time period in which they were written, the musical stylings that accompanied the era, and of course, her creative liberty to adapt the piece. In all of Merchant’s performances, she is not just a singer, but a full-out interpretive dancer to each and every song, and this show was no exception.

For example, not much is known about the British poem The King of China’s Daughter, whose author is unknown, however the song itself has a very classic Chinese sound to it, and in fact, she had some very talented Chinese musicians record the song with her for the album. She danced a hypnotic interpretation to the arrangement using a Chinese paper lantern as a prop, and took you back to one of the ancient dynasties right there in the theatre. (Or, as someone I know would say, “it sounds really plinky-plinky.”)

In The Janitor’s Boy, by child prodigy Nathalia Crane, whose first book of poems (by the same name) was published at the age of 11 in 1924, Merchant appropriately adapts the poem to a very swanky, jazzy arrangement in the style of the 1920s, and glides across the stage as if to portray a sultry lounge singer.

She closed the Leave Your Sleep portion of the show with a haunting song entitled Equestrienne, by Rachel Field (1894 – 1942), a song so haunting it’ll linger with you hours later. Here’s a video of her doing the song at the Philadelphia show in April:

The encores. Oh the encores. . . .

. . . the encores began the second half of the show that night, where the majority of the audience would be a bit more familiar with the material, as she began with Life is Sweet and played other more-well-known hits such as Carnival, Wonder, and closed with Kind and Generous (typical). But it was a couple rare nuggets that she threw in that had old school fans like me in love with this show — she played Eat for Two, from her 10,000 Maniacs days, the lead track from Blind Man’s Zoo (1989). I can’t honestly remember the last time I saw her do this live, if ever, but . . . what a dramatic performance. She slowed the tempo down significantly from when she did it back-in-the-day, and the song was all the more intense with abrupt breaks at strategic intervals — if it gives you any indication, I literally watched this one with my mouth open and chills down my spine.

The other pleasant surprise? Don’t Talk, another 10,000 Maniacs-era one, from 1987’s In My Tribe album. I was very glad she threw in a couple of the really old songs for the die-hards, and all in all, I can’t say she’s lost any of her stage presence and/or zest over the years. Natalie Merchant is looking and sounding better than ever, and though she said she “won’t be coming back to Ann Arbor for many years to come,” I can only hope that isn’t true. She’s in a league of her own, one of the most seasoned singers, songwriters, and all-around true artists of our era, and it would be a shame to not see her again for another eight years.

Natalie Merchant Full Set List 7-27-10 Michigan Theatre, Ann Arbor

The Sleepy Giant
The Man in the Wilderness
The King of China’s Daughter
Nursery Rhyme of Innocence and Experience
Spring and Fall: to a young child
maggie and milly and molly and may
The Peppery Man
The Janitor’s Boy
Bleezer’s Ice-Cream
Adventures of Isabel
Calico Pie
If No One Ever Marries Me
The Dancing Bear
Equestrienne

1st Encore:

Life is Sweet
River
Eat for Two
The Worst Thing
The Letter

2nd Encore:

Carnival
Don’t Talk
Wonder
Michael Row Your Boat Ashore (improv)
Kind & Generous

Note: All links to albums in this post are Amazon Affiliate links.

Here is a link to AnnArbor.com’s review of the show.

Amazee: A winning alternative to Ning for cause-based communities

In April 2010, custom social network service Ning decided that they were going to start charging and do away with their free service. Beginning August 20, Ning will charge the following for usage of their custom social network platform:

(Features included in each plan are not shown because of space.)

As you can imagine, this decision by Ning caused (and is still causing) quite a stir among users and administrators of such networks.  Even if it’s only $2.95, many administrators of smaller groups are unwilling to pay for it, and many are struggling to find effective Ning alternatives, especially nonprofits and “cause” networks. There’s even a Facebook group dedicated to prevent Ning from doing so.

Well, have no fear, activists — Switzerland-based Amazee is stepping up the plate and offering FREE Ning migration service to their platform.

What is Amazee, you ask?

Though it hasn’t caught on in the United States (yet), it’s a popular custom platform for projects and reaching goals, whether it’s fundraising or non-monetary aspirations. It’s very popular in Europe, South Africa, and elsewhere in the world.

Here’s a quick video Amazee made explaining the benefits of migrating to their platform:

Welcome, Ning refugees! from Amazee on Vimeo.

From Amazee’s blog:

First of all you’ll get a lot of the features on Amazee which you’ve been accustomed to on Ning*: You’ll be able to post blog entries, upload pictures and embed videos, you’ll have your own forums for discussion, and have a good overview over who’s doing what in your group and on the platform.

Next to that we are taking your Ning experience to the max: There is no limit to the number of members a group can have (Ning only allows for 150), there are no limits on storage and bandwidth (Ning only allows you for 1GB and 10 GB respectively), you’ll be able to set up events and have people rsvp directly in your group (this is not possible at all at Ning) and you can add an unlimited number of RSS feeds and content boxes to your group (Ning has 1 and 3 respectively).

Furthermore we allow for maximum online collaboration and promotion by supporting a solid Facebook integration: You can easily recommend your group on Facebook, if you like you can even sign in to Amazee with your Facebook account. And the icing on the cake: You’ll get a reliable and competent community management on top of all that. For free, of course.

I’ve had an account at Amazee for over a year and have been (minimally) involved on this platform with a few projects in South Africa, and absolutely love the functionality of it. There are other Ning alternatives, like GroupSite and Mixxt, but personally, I don’t find the others very conducive to the needs of collaborative activism.  Amazee, on the other hand, was designed for that very purpose.

So if you’ve got a cause-based community on Ning, don’t fret – head on over to Amazee and they’ll make migration easy, painless, and free.

Have you found any other good Ning alternatives? Please share in the comments below if so. Thanks!

Note: I got no form of compensation for writing this post.

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