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Dan Soschin

  • ClickZ Live Toronto – Session update and discount code

    Use Dan's Discount Code for ClickZ Live Toronto 2015
    Use Dan’s Discount Code for ClickZ Live Toronto 2015

    In an effort to beat the heat this summer (I live in the sub-tropics and it’s hot, I mean like step out in the sun and fry an egg type of hot). So, what better way to take a break from the heat and head north of Tampa. Way north… How about Toronto?

    I can’t think of a better way to spend a few days in Toronto then with the good people of ClickZ Live. I contend that ClickZ continues to put on the best conferences around for digital marketers and search marketing.

    If you’d like a 25% off code, use this one:

    Dan Soschin ClickZ Live Toronto.

    Advancing with Social Analytics: Measuring Social Marketing

    Everyone knows the implied value of social marketing, but how do you identify your true ROI and provide reports to others? All material covered in this session will be using free tools and not premium social media platforms. So yes, you CAN try this at home! You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, but most importantly you’ll learn how to use Google Analytics, Excel dashboards and Microsoft Word case studies to measure and report on the value of your social media campaigns.

    Hope to see you there!

  • How to redo a corporate website in 12 weeks

    Ultimate Medical Academy Website

    Website relaunch projects don’t have to take a year (or more). In fact, when executed properly by skilled teams, you can rapidly deploy (or redeploy) a new website. Here’s how I recently relaunched the website for my school, Ultimate Medical Academy:

    • PREP PHASE (12 weeks prior to project start; or launch minus 24 weeks)
      My web team (consisting of two employees) tested out some concepts for the new website by piloting the technology and styles on smaller projects ahead of time. We knew we wanted to push the envelope quite a bit with the school’s site, but we didn’t want the site to be the first time we tried all the new bells and whistles. Like any good web team, we have and actively manage a project backlog or road map that goes out about a year. This helps us understand what’s ahead and manage our time effectively. It also enables us to pilot some new techniques ahead of time. So, beginning about six months earlier, we had two very small websites to build for other projects at UMA. In each of those builds, we tried a few new things. Some worked, while other ideas didn’t pan out as we had expected. These sites served as a proving ground for new ideas.
    • RESEARCH PHASE (week 1)
      First, we formed a steering committee that included the following members of the marketing team: web manager, web developer, copywriter, brand director, creative manager, search marketer, and me (the VP). That’s it. This group would make all the decisions, with the VP (me), holding veto power and general oversight of scope. The web manager would be the project manager and oversee development and the day-to-day project plan. Next, we asked each member of the steering committee to spend a couple hours looking at and documenting sites they felt were “great.” It didn’t matter what your definition of great was; just that you came back the next day with a good list and could present it to the team. More on that in a moment. The other task we completed early on in the first week was to discuss the results of a brand perception study we had completed months earlier which helped us understand what our customers really wanted out of their experiences. During this phase we met pretty much daily to discuss all the features and aspects we wanted to include in the site. We reviewed everyone’s wish list, sample sites from their research, competitor sites, and so on. The end results was a ranked list of features into a couple of buckets: things our site must do at the launch, and things we wanted the site to do eventually. While we knew that a success project needed to have some elasticity to accommodate unforeseen needs along the way, it was also important that we minimize scope creep to hit the 12 week goal. At this point in the project we did not worry about “how” to do something, just whether we wanted to do it. Later, during the development process, we would tackle how to address items that were excessive in development time and light on ROI. The goal was to come out of the week with a solid list of features. Additionally, during the first week (and carrying into the 2nd week), we identified every major department at our school (about 10) and met with each stakeholder group’s leadership for about 60-90 minutes. During these meetings we explained the project’s goals, set expectations, and solicited feedback/input into the site. The questions we asked were fairly basic:

      • Does the current site meet your needs?
      • Do you use the current site? If no, why not?
      • What would you want out of a new site?
      • What other sites do you like and why?
      • Who can we work with on your team to help update your section’s content/copy?
    • DEVELOPMENT & DESIGN (weeks 2-12)
      Now the sprint begins. We kicked off three separate initiatives at once because we knew that if we ran the three parts of the project in serial order, we wouldn’t hit the 12 week goal.

      • Our copywriter began rewriting what would become nearly 200 pages of copy
      • Our designer began mocking up the different templates for various site sections
      • Our developers started work on the templates and sandbox config by having the three teams work in concert, we had to communicate daily to ensure pieces fit together, especially with how copy was to be produced. For example, our copywriter had to work with the other two teams on headlines to ensure there was enough space for various copy elements incorporated into the template designs.The designer had to work closely with the developers to ensure that his designs could be easily reproduced in the code.As the VP of marketing, I had to ensure that project requests outside of the web reboot were minimized in order for the teams to be able to focus primarily on the website project. We set aside 20% of our week (about one day) for other projects, but ultimately were able to reduce that a bit further. We did have to supplement our 12-week schedule with a few late evenings a couple weekends, but nothing too dramatic. We wanted to use the extra time mid-project rather than wait until the end and scramble. This gave us a much more predictable finish date, as we did our “long hours” mid-project and then glided in. Though, I don’t want to underscore how close of a finish it was. But more on that later.
    • COMPLIANCE & REVIEW (weeks 4-12)
      The majority of public-facing content marketing produces is reviewed by an independent team to ensure that what we are saying is legal and compliant with a score of very specific regulatory requirements governing advertising and communications within the post-secondary education space. This means that everything we write needs to be reviewed. To ensure the compliance team was up to the task, our steering committee met with their team early on to set expectations. We shared the site concept to generate excitement and provide context. We also checked in regularly and developed a good system for sharing feedback, collaborating and obtaining sign-off efficiently. The web developers used draft copy for development, with little formatting or editing, as much of the content would have to be replaced. In other areas, they simply used lorem ipsum types of placeholders, since we knew the copy was going to change during the review. I also reviewed all the copy to ensure the messaging was consistent with my objectives for the new site. This meant that I had to provide a very fast turnaround on the nearly 200 pages of copy; so scheduling the requisite amount of time and attention to this project was key.
    • WEEKLY COLLABORATION (weeks 1-12)
      Early on in the project, the steering committee met almost daily. As week three approached, meetings were scaled back to 2-3 times per week. The meetings were used to:

      • Review progress
      • Allow team members to ask questions about features/specs
      • Address issues in real-time
      • Make on the spot decisions
      • Discuss new findings and limitations
      • Review features and scope to reevaluate the two buckets (must have and nice to have)… ultimately, a few items that were found to be heavy in development time and low on ROI were pushed from must to nice. At this point, we began keeping a list of post-launch features that would go into weekly “agile sprints” where we would release new features over time.It was important to understand that we wanted to launch a core website in 12 weeks, not a site that had 100% of everything everyone wanted. So, working with the web manager, we discussed whether certain features could wait, and adjusted the project scope as necessary.
    • LAUNCH PREP (weeks 9-12)
      To set expectations, the actual launch window I provided the school’s leadership was much broader than our target. This would allow me to squeeze a few more weeks of work if needed. So, when communicating out to the organization, I provided a month-long window, with emphasis on the end of the month. However, internally, we were managing to the early-to-mid part of the month.Additionally, I began speaking with members of the leadership team about the site, and even provided “sneak peaks” to a select few individuals, mainly the senior leadership team at the Academy. It was important that I provide them a brief overview of the site so they knew what to expect. I also wanted some feedback, to ensure we were not missing anything critical on the site. During these meetings and demos (about 3-4 took place), we also gauged feedback and excitement to understand where we might want to focus a little extra last minute effort.Since we had planned so well, and sought early input from each department, we found that the site delivered on everyone’s expectations (often exceeding it when it came to look and feel). A couple minor items came out of the demos and the team quickly adjusted what was necessary without losing too much steam.
    • QA / TESTING (weeks 10-11)
      While testing was on-going throughout the project, we expanded the testing efforts around week 10 by bringing in a couple of additional team members for a few hours to help test on various devices (tablet, iOS, Android, IE, Chrome, etc…) This helped us find as many issues as possible in the shortest amount of time. Issues were funneled directly back to the development team and tracked accordingly. The copywriter reviewed all copy once again; and I personally tested a wide variety of devices and stepped through the majority of the site.
    • GO/NO-GO (week 11)
      With about one week remaining in our sprint, we had a go/no-go meeting with the steering committee to understand what was still remaining on the project list and why so we could work through those last roadblocks efficiently.
    • THE LAUNCH (week 12)
      I opted for a soft launch on a Wednesday. This meant that we would coordinate with the information technology team that controls the DNS settings and make the switch in the afternoon after one final go/no-go call between myself and the web manager. Once the switch of the DNS was made, the QA team did another full walk through of the site across their devices and platforms. This revealed a few last minute items that needed to be addressed. Believe it or not, our old site was not heavily used by staff or students (mainly only prospective students), primarily because it was simple and didn’t include a lot of information. So we knew we could do a launch without communicating it widely to everyone at the academy. And, those few extra days of being live and testing; and collecting feedback from the few people that new the site was live, would be extremely valuable. The good news is that there were no major issues. That following Monday, we did the full launch which included an email to all staff, an announcement to our students through the online student portal, posters throughout the building, and information on the staff intranet. We also created a scavenger hunt, with five questions… Staff had to find the URLs for specific items, such as “what page features a picture of an employee dressed as a Rubik’s Cube?” Anyone who answered the questions correctly got a souvenir school pennant and was entered into a raffle for a school sweatshirt. This contest, along with the email announcement helped drive awareness about the site and all the new features.

    So what worked and what didn’t?

    Overall, the prep and collaboration really proved to be the cornerstone of our success. I cannot underscore how important these processes were. It was equally important to have full buy-in from senior leadership and to protect the team from competing priorities/projects.

    Of course the team would have liked more time. That would have yielded minimal differences though. Of course more time would allow for more scope, but we’re releasing new features weekly. It was important to launch a new site quickly with a solid foundation, and then focus on additional features. So more time would not necessarily have yielded a higher quality site – just more features. It may have reduced stress a bit, or eliminated a few of the extra days we spent across a couple late nights and weekends. But I have a feeling we would have used those late nights and weekends even if we had more time.

    I owe the success of this project to the steering team (especially John Klingler, the project manager for this endeavor.) It was a lean team, that continues to meet to this day looking at new features and specs to make the site even better. They did the hard work and were successful; I’ll bask in the moment of accomplishing a great feat and then jump into the next project “business as usual.”

  • Social Media in Sweden

    I’m excited to announce I have been added to the speakers list at Bring Dialogue’s annual conference taking place in Strömstad, Sweden August 23-26. I will be hosting a workshop on my trademark L.E.A.D.E.R. strategy for social media engagement to 500+ attendees from across the European Union in this large marketing conference that focuses on branding, CRM, social media and other emerging trends in the world of marketing.

    Here’s the link to the conference web site (sorry, some of it is in Swedish): http://www.dialogkonferansen.com/2015/.

    I’ll provide more links and info as they are made available.

  • Thinking of quitting? Think again…

    Bernard Marr just penned a brief piece on why not to quit your job. He touches on a few solid points, but I believe he misses a very important one that I’ll opine upon here:

    Look in the mirror. It’s you, not your boss.

    Sure, we’ve all read the articles about bad bosses, signs your manager stinks, and how to deal with annoying co-workers, but if you’re chronically unhappy, maybe it’s you!

    Thinking of jumping ship and quitting? Chances are you’ll run into many of the same things that make you unhappy at your new job. And you’re trading in stability (stable, predictable job and environment) for a large amount of risk.

    What risk?

    You DON’T know how happy you’ll be at your new job. You’re making a false assumption that new and different equals better… and that’s a poor assumption, at best.

    Leave your job but taking all your bad habits with you won’t result in the change you’re in search of; the change needs come from within you.

    My best advice is to drill into what’s making you unhappy at your current job and work hard at reversing that with patience, persistence and a little sweat. It’s not easy, but it’s generally a more risk-adverse path. Young inexperienced employees fall into this trap all the time. They are too scared and timid to approach their boss/co-workers/management to create meaningful dialogue, so they jump ship, only to be back in the position (emotionally) in another year or so.

    Changing jobs comes with enormous amounts of risk. The recruiter is luring you away to the new employer and likely is providing you with a filtered view of reality because they want to fill the role. So, they are “selling” you the role. And when you sell, you tend not to highlight the negative stuff. Think back to how you were lured into your current role? Was it mostly puppy dogs and rainbows? Most likely it was. But the underlying issues you are experiencing aren’t necessarily because they didn’t share with you all the details of your current role – or even the negative elements. Changing jobs replaces something you know a lot about (your current job, role, tasks, employer, industry, etc.) with something you know almost nothing about except a recruiter’s pitch and perhaps some public websites. That’s not apples to apples. It’s apples to dynamite. Are you taking this new job for an increase in pay of 15%? Do you earn $70,000 a year? If so, you’re giving up job security for less than $1,000 a month increase. Is it worth it?

    Young employees fail to evaluate risk accurately. Don’t fall into this trap.

  • Back on Tour in 2015

    As many of you know, I took a new full-time position with Ultimate Medical Academy earlier this year. On top of the new job (which required relocating my tribe from the DC Metro to Tampa, FL), being a dad for a toddler required a brief hiatus from the speakers circuit. I’m pleased to announce that I’m back on tour in 2015 with the first two stops announced:

    • Social Media Summit 2015 – Las Vegas – “Reputation Management: How to Listen & Engage Your Customers while Maximizing Success and Minimizing Risk”
    • Social Media Summit 2015 – Chicago – “Branding & Social Media”

    In Las Vegas, I’ll be hosting a two-hour workshop on engagement and listening strategies. I will also be discussing my “trademark” approach to social media – LAETER”. Here are the details:

    Your customers are talking about you on the internet whether or not you’re listening. A few negative comments can cause your reputation and sales to plummet; while a happy customer can evangelize time and time again. This hands-on session will provide attendees with social listening strategies that can keep their team and their C-level executives on the forefront of what’s being said about their brand (and competitors) – and how to plan a proactive rather than reactive approach.

    Takeaways include:

    • Tips and tools for listening (and what to listen for)
    • Using the “LAETER” approach (listen, acknowledge, empathize, triage, escalate and resolve)
    • When not to respond and how to address trolls
    • Adding value to your business
    • Educating employees on the importance of corporate reputation on social media

    For Chicago, I’ll be giving a 45-minute presentation on branding via social media:

    Should you argue with your customers on Facebook? How do you draw the line between defending your business and antagonizing a troll? Your customers are talking about you on the internet whether or not you’re listening. A few negative comments can cause your reputation and sales to plummet; while a happy customer can evangelize time and time again. But not all negative comments can spell trouble. Learn how to engage unhappy customers and turn them into brand evangelists. It works and we’ll show you how. We’ll also help you spot potential land mines so that you don’t make things worse. It’s an art as much as it is a science.

    Takeaways include:

    • Using the “LAETER” approach (listen, acknowledge, empathize, triage, escalate and resolve)
    • When not to respond and how to address trolls
    • How to fight back and when to throw in the towel
  • Defending your turf on social media

    Typically when I speak at conferences on the topic of social media, it’s not long before someone invariably asks the question,

    “Should I respond to a negative review/comment on Facebook page?”

    The answer is certainly not a simple one – in fact, I’ve spent an entire session speaking on the very topic. So a brief opine on the page here will not necessarily do this topic justice. What I will offer up instead is a framework for evaluating the basic tenants for making a well-informed decision.

    • Easy stuff:
      • Did you screw up? Let’s face it, sometimes your customers have to call you out. If so, cop to it, acknowledge every so humble, vow to correct it, and move on. Don’t make a big deal about it (unless it is a big deal!) If you are a good business, you can take constructive criticism and your customers will love you for it.
      • Is the person factually wrong? I had someone recently get all dramatic that my organization was supporting a political party because they were naive enough to associate a political sign on the property of the office space we rent with our business. They never thought it might be placed by another tenant… and, their post went on dramatically (and made many ridiculous comments) about what our business stands for, just by judging a few people who were coming and going from our building). In this case, we were quick to calmly point out that our business didn’t place those signs (explaining that the space is shared). We also went on to explain that we have many programs and policies in place that contradict the assumptions the poster was making (and provided examples). Interestingly enough, the poster deleted their comment pretty quickly. Another win for us.
    • Harder stuff:
      • Is the person trying to pick a fight?
      • Is the person complaining and not making any sense?
      • Is the person unwilling to be helped?

    For the hard stuff, you need to understand that social media is often a game of chess. The better players anticipate the various reactions the opponent will have to your move. So if you reply to a social media “hater”, you need to anticipate and prepare for all the various possible replies. Using this mentality, chart the probability that the person is simply going to argue with you further. Is that a good outcome? Drawing more attention? Probably not. Engage if you genuinely believe the outcry is for help – not hurt. But tread carefully. You can always be empathetic.

    The empathetic approach:

    • Sorry you’re annoyed
    • We want to help
    • We want to understand
    • Do you want us to help?
    • DM us your issue and we’ll help offline
    • Or, indicate that you have contacted them offline

    When engaging a hater online, and you reach a resolution offline – but the hater doesn’t update or remove their post… it’s okay to ask them to do so. Or, simply reply back to their post and say, “I’m glad we were able to resolve the issue for you. Let us know if we can help further.”

    Just remember, you don’t have to reply to every post. And sometimes your customers will come to your defense. But make sure they take it easy. Loyal brand advocates can be a lethal army. We’ll talk about that later.

  • Why public utility companies need to have media relations staff

    It doesn’t matter if you are a public company, private company, non-profit or somewhere in-between; one thing is for certain – your customers are everything to your business. Now, one could say in the case of a public utility, since they have a monopoly, they don’t really need to care about their customers. And you might be right, which is why most public utility companies are still in business despite generally having satisfaction ratings that mirror the airlines and wireless companies.

    Yet, what if I told you there was a benefit to having good customer service?

    If your customers loved you… because…

    • You answered the phone quickly, and at all hours…
    • You replied to email in less than 24 hours…
    • You offered live chat…
    • You were empathetic, caring and good listeners when it comes to your customer’s lives and challenges
    • You participated in the community…
      • through events…
      • charities…
      • public education…
    • You cut people a break once in a while

    So, if you did all this, wouldn’t your customers love you? Wouldn’t your image be sublime? When a public utility staff member says where they work, they’d be greeted with a smile rather than vitriol?

    Still think it won’t get you anywhere?

    What if I told you that having a strong brand as a public utility would probably go pretty far?

    • Enable you to sell/justify rate hikes (wouldn’t we all pay 1c more per gallon of water if service was superb when we needed it?
    • Enable your locality to pass better legislation because people respect you…
    • Get reelected?
    • Raise taxes?

    Now, thanks to the goofs that run Pasco County Florida’s water utility, we’ve learned a good lesson here. Recently a customer of their’s contacted them when they received a bill for more than $3,000 (600,000 gallons of water), despite normally having a water bill of around $100. It seemed odd, so they did what anyone would do – they called the utility company to see what the issue was. But Pasco said the bill was correct and the customer would have to pay it. Pasco suggested to the customer to check their plumbing for leaks. So, the residents paid the county $190 to check the meter and the county declared the meter was fine. The county said they could follow a payment plan.

    Gee thanks. Pay $3,000 and by the way, you’ll probably owe us twice that next month, because that was just a partial bill for 19 days.

    So the residents contacted Tampa News Channel 8 (a local NBC affiliate). I would have contacted an attorney myself, but hey, that’s me. The good people at News Channel 8 hired a plumber for an independent test. He determined that it was physically impossible for that much water to even pass through the pipes in that amount of time. And if by chance he was wrong, where the hell did all the water go? It surely would have flooded the house or the street and be noticed.

    So the news channel contacted the utility and the utility would not comment. They contacted the county, and a county spokesperson, without really know what the hell he was talking about said if a faucet was left on, it’s possible 23 gallons of water an hour could have come out. But the bill shows 1,000+ gallons per hour over certain periods. He later called back and said he meant 23 gallons a minute. Here’s the real rub, the couple wasn’t occupying the property, and the water usage is now back to normal.  Here’s were customer service and media relations come into play. A better response would have been,

    “We agree that the bill is unusually high. There are a number of things that could result in a bill like this, so we are working with the customer to investigate whether it was an error in our billing system, our meters, or if in fact, the homeowner has a plumbing issue that needs remediation. We hope that together, we’ll be able to get to the bottom of this as soon as possible.”

    How hard would that have been? How hard would it be to help this customer? Would a little empathy and assistance gone a long way? Yes. Now, many of the 4 million plus residents of the Tampa Bay region think negatively of Pasco County and it’s public utilities commission. That could have been avoided very easily.

    Some times people are just jackasses. I’m not why people think its better to be a jackass than helpful and compassionate. One might say it’s easier to be a jackass, but I don’t buy that argument.

    Oh, and by the way, all of Tampa Bay’s utility companies are this incompetent. This is not new. Maybe I’ll write about how Tampa Electric cut my power because I hadn’t paid a $700 deposit, even though I provided physical evidence I had.

    Sometimes I feel like Rick Moranis in Space Balls… I’m surround by assholes. At least now I know why people want to privatize utilities.

    UPDATE 10-1-2014: I just learned that Pasco County’s inspector general is now investigating the matter further… because of numerous complaints received across the county. Sounds like this is just the beginning of a big PR mess.

     

  • Email etiquette tips for the office

    How do you handle the following scenarios?

    1. Your co-worker is on vacation, and you just started a project that you have a question about, what do you do? Do you craft that quick email message and hit send, knowing that it will sit in your co-worker’s inbox while they are out? Or do you wait until they return?
    2. Your co-worker is on vacation, and you have some general information/update about something they are interested, do you forward?
    3. Your co-worker is on vacation, and you have an emergency question, do you send them an email?

    At my place of work, these are all scenarios we deal with regularly as members of a large team that relies heavily upon email to communicate. But how we handle each of the above can set the tone for our relationships and respect for one another.

    In our example (1) above, if the co-worker is the only one who can answer your question, why bother sending the message if it will just sit in the in-box? Respect your fellow team member, and wait to send the message. Simply draft it up, hit save, and hang on to it. You may also find that while they are out, you were able to answer the question by asking someone else, or figuring it out on your own – thus never needing to send the message in the first place. Learn to be resourceful. By sending someone an email (that isn’t too important), while you know they are out, it’s saying to that person that you really don’t care they are on vacation. It also makes it difficult for your co-worker to check their email while they are out, because they have too many messages and don’t know if there are any that are important.

    But what about example (2)… your message isn’t important… so don’t send it. Wait. You can craft a message that says, “I wanted to wait to send this to you until you returned, so as to not bother you while you are out.” A message like that goes a long way to earning the mutual respect of your teammate.

    But it’s an emergency! Example (3) may be the rare exception… so ask yourself this, “is it such an emergency that it warrants a phone call or text message?” If that’s the case, then it may be suitable for you to send the message after all… but in reality, if it is a true emergency, it may be time to pick up the phone and call your co-worker who’s drinking Peña Coladas on a sandy beach somewhere. Be careful, as you’re crossing into difficult territory, so phrase your inquiry with caution and apologize for the interruption.

    Your co-workers earned this time off, just as you did. If they are out sick, don’t bother them unless they are simply working remote to quarantine themselves… after all, they are sick and need to recover.

    But above all, you need to KNOW YOUR CUSTOMER. By this, I mean that if you are working with someone who genuinely wants to be included on every last thread and expects to be included, even while they are out – then forget about the above – and honor their wishes…

    Happy emailing… or not emailing… chose carefully.

  • Stop using exclamation points (please)

    As the head of marketing for a large organization, I have to edit a lot of copy. Press releases, collateral, web pages, blog posts, print ads, emails and so on… In fact, most marketers have to write copy as part of their role. But most marketers are pretty bad at it. I previously discussed Mark Twain’s view on brevity and why your marketing copy probably stinks.

    However, just yesterday, a small “pocket reference guide” made it’s why to my inbox for review. The guide, meant to be a quick reference tool for students to identify who to contact in each department, included descriptions of departments and some FAQs. Fairly benign content, in my opinion. There were about four pages of copy. And it was a quick and easy edit.

    I found that the copy was a collection of small paragraphs most likely written by multiple individuals, so it took a little finesse to achieve a unified tone and style throughout the piece. What amazed me the most was that nearly every passage used exclamation points.

    Over the course of four pages, I found 23 —- TWENTY THREE —- exclamation points.

    Needless to say, by the time I completed my edits, we were down to two – one in the title and one in the initial welcome section.

    Then it occurred to me, no one knows how to use an exclamation point. Not marketers for sure, but also few people in academics (save for your English major).

    An eloquent marketer should be proficient at devising creative ways for emphasizing importance and excitement without adding a superfluous amount of exclamation points. Exclamation points are overused and make copy sound juvenile or informal.  So unless that is your goal, please do without, except in rare cases where you are genuinely convening something that is extremely exciting.

    Oxford Dictionary explains:

    “People tend to use a lot of exclamation marks in informal writing such as emails or text messages, but you should avoid using them in formal writing.”

    And that pretty much sums it up.

  • Omega Coaxial – quite possibly the best commercial of 2013

    First, watch this commercial:

    Now, please consider that Omega never really touts features or benefits… they don’t even play into lifestyle per se. This is simply an emotional piece tied to the brand’s rich legacy of elegance, luxury, accuracy and provenance.

    The commercial pairs an amazing sixty seconds of CGI with an excellent score (Smiling by the British composer Harry Gregson-Williams). And this commercial would score a perfect 100 if it qualified “the most perfect mechanical watch movement in the world” with the phrase “quite possibly”. Without this qualifier, technically Omega is making a statement of opinion; which is okay; but not necessarily substantiated by data (internet folks, please correct me if I’m mistaken). I know, I’m being picky. But I don’t score many commercials anywhere near a 99/100.

    What’s even more special about this commercial is that the images relate to the brand’s provenance:

    • Sailing (official time piece of America’s Cup)
    • Aston Martin (James Bond wears an Omega)
    • Cycling (official time piece of the Olympics)
    • Moon landing (astronauts landed on the moon wore Omega)

    And even from the beginning, you’re able to tell it’s a commercial about a watch, even as you get lost in the magic of the animation.

    Well done, Omega.

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