WAL*MART: Plans Dropped For First NYC Wal*Mart

The New York Times is reporting Vornado Realty Trust ended negotiations with Wal-Mart for its Rego Park, Queens retail development after intense opposition grew from neighborhood, labor and environmental groups as well as small businesses to the proposed 132,000-square-foot store. An unidentified executive said the real estate developer had hoped city planning officials would approve the Rego Park project before it became publicly known that Wal-Mart was involved.

Hopefully all sides involved in Round 1 of Wal-Mart NYC have learned how not to introduce the nation's most contentious retailer to an urban marketplace such as New York. From the beginning, Wal-Mart hasn't been forthcoming with the public, or willing to put in the time with leaders representing the communities involved. Now hearing that the developer involved in the project intended to be just as allusive shows that those involved underestimate the heated opposition that Wal-Mart can spawn.

If Wal-Mart expects to locate in New York City, and eventually they will, despite the capacity for organized opposition in the city, they (and their developers) need to be forthcoming and cooperative with all the interest groups that will claim to have a stake in the outcome of the project. The City Council member representing Rego Park, Helen Sears said, "I am hopeful that if Wal-Mart attempts to locate another site, whether in Queens or Brooklyn, the Bronx, Manhattan or Staten Island, that its officials work tirelessly to improve workplace benefits and conditions so that New York City will welcome it with open arms. Until then, we can only offer our backs." [ The Boxtank ]

LANDMINES: The UN PSA Nobody Will Air

Very powerful PSA that drives home the deadly reality of landmines around the world. If you want to do something about landmines, we suggest Adopt-A-Minefield.

Since December, Richard Kollodge of the United Nations Mine Action Service has been trying to get TV to run a PSA underscoring the dangers of land mines. CNN, Lifetime Television and ABC affiliates KGOT-TV and WJLA-TV have flatly refused, he said. Dozens of other broadcasters are ducking the issue. Each year nearly 20,000 people are killed or seriously injured by land mines in 80 countries. Mr. Kollodge's job is to do something about it. [ AdAge ]

VIRAL: Onward Christian Buzz Soldiers

BzzAgent style covert word of mouth has always struck me as a little sinful. A good product should be able to create positive word of mouth without incentivizing the testimonial and the person being buzzed should be aware they are not getting unbiased information. Using buzz agents to push the good news about religious products through faith channels strikes me as downright evil...Having just cast that stone, it would seem like a natural next step for someone to build an army of buzz agents to push green and sustainable products.

"Passion" Work Sparks Christian Buzz Network
After collaborating on "The Passion of the Christ," two marketing firms plan to employ the same techniques in a new Christian-focused word-of-mouth network.

Ground Force Network, a joint venture between online-oriented Buzzplant, based in Nashville, Tenn., and offline-focused Strategic Marketing Solutions, based in Dallas, bears some resemblance to mainstream viral players BzzAgent and P&G's Tremor. Ground Force recruits volunteers, which it calls Field Agents, and gives them samples and incentives to spread the word about clients' projects. The difference is that Ground Force works only with Christian and family-oriented clients.

"We're unashamedly focusing on that niche," Bob Hutchins, president and owner of Buzzplant, told ClickZ News. "What the world realized after 'The Passion of the Christ' is that there's a sleeping giant here that, if mobilized properly, can be mobilized to make a major impact both financially and culturally."

Ground Force has so far collected over 1,000 names for its database of volunteers, but hopes to grow it to 3,000 by the end of March. Clients include Girls Only, a conference for teen-age girls; "Madison," a film starring "Passion" actor Jim Caviezel; The Afters, a Christian rock band; and The Makers Diet, a Bible-based holistic wellness program. Both Hutchins and Ground Force execs have ties to the Christian music industry. They expect to garner clients through those relationships.

When new Field Agents sign up, the company asks about their interests and about themselves, which allows the firm to later target e-mails to recruit for specific campaigns.

"We ask what their interests are, what kind of music they like, what kinds of films they watch, what they feel their gifts are," said Christine Piccione, whose title at Ground Force is "ground war leader." "Our goal is to be able to go into our database and target people who have those specific gifts and interests" that fit a client's product.

The company segments volunteers and clients in two main categories: the college market and the church market. As young people are more likely to spend time online, college market campaigns more frequently employ online marketing techniques. Church market campaigns rely more on traditional word-of-mouth methods like phoning opinion leaders such as pastors or other ministers.

Once Field Agents decide to join a campaign, they're armed with a variety of off- and online marketing collateral. Ground Force creates e-cards or viral Flash presentations people can forward to friends. SMS techniques, like creating flash mobs, are also part of Ground Force's arsenal. It provides volunteers with suggestions to employ these resources to best effect.

"We're doing this with a group of people that is ready and willing to spread the word about products they believe in," said Piccione. "It's just a matter of equipping them with the right tools."

Ground Force conducts the online measurement one would expect, tracking passalong and streaming audio listens, for example. For offline techniques, such as poster or flyer campaigns, the company uses Web site URLs and encourages volunteers to report back, so it can keep track of success metrics. Field Agents who are particularly successful receive incentives, such as a chance to win a prize or a phone call from a member of the band they promoted.

So far, blogs aren't a significant force in the Christian niche, according to Piccione and Hutchins, though they expect to work with diet bloggers to promote The Makers Diet beginning in March. One blogging-oriented trend has caught Hutchins' eye. Because Ground Force works with music industry clients, he's looking into how podcasting might be employed in Ground Force campaigns.

"This is really kind of groundbreaking for these companies and the things that they're working on. They've never really had a true grassroots campaign, say behind a teen girls conference or a book publication," said Hutchins. He suggests word-of-mouth marketing is particularly successful in this niche. "It is a tight community. People do take the word-of-mouth very seriously, especially when the gatekeepers are talking about it." [ Clickz ]

TOBACCO: Truth Campaign Works

While the American Legacy Foundation's Truth campaign has been found, through a recent study, to have prevented 300,000 kids from smoking, the money that funds the campaign may dry up. The fund comes as part of a $206 billion settlement between 46 states and the tobacco companies. As part of the settlement, large tobacco companies can cease funding the campaign if their market share drops below 99 percent which may soon happened as small tobacco manufacturers grow.

Even if the fund stays solvent, it's an unequal war. Last year, the American Legacy Foundation spent $58.9 million on the Truth campaign while, in 2002, the tobacco companies spent $12.5 billion. [ Adrants ]

BROADBAND: Broadband Overtakes Dial-Up

Data drawn from eMarketer's latest Broadband North America, 2005 Spotlight Report shows that Internet access crossed a significant threshold in late 2004, as the number of broadband Internet users in the U.S. surpassed dial-up users for the first time. Broadband households will significantly outnumber dial-up households by the end of 2005. [ eMarketer ]

UNIONS: Rebuilding Labor

It's time for SEIU to revision and rebrand union organizing at the community level. It's time to invest in efforts that reach out to non-traditional audiences and partners. It's time to focus resources on engagement strategies that reposition the union’s role within communities and build deep and long term relationships with citizens. This is what needs to happen if unions want to refuel worker advocacy for the next 50 years. These are the sage recommendations of Dan Carol in his open letter to Andy Stern on AlterNet:

Dear Andy Stern:

No, I am not weighing in with any thoughts on the internal "future of the labor movement" debate roiling on in Vegas next week. You think I am crazy? That's not my gig.

But I did want to flag some emerging, massive opportunities that SEIU, and all unions, can capture in areas that aren't traditionally the province of labor.

I'm talking about building the union halls, community centers and even the malls of the 21st century.

Because right now, as you well know, Wal-Mart is winning.

Now don't misinterpret my message: It's awesome that you are (a) seeding smart bi-national organizing strategies, (b) embracing online technology, (c) leading the charge against Wal-Mart, (d) targeting younger workers and immigrant populations on the rise and (e) aggressively pushing the labor movement to do more organizing.

Honestly, I hate to add to your to-do list, but now is the critical time to have a serious re-examination of what exactly "organizing" is. Because it's time to get busy with non-traditional organizing models designed to develop deep citizen/worker engagement strategies and build sustainable new models to refuel worker advocacy for the next 50 years.

In the growing freelance economy of some 10 million independent workers and 25 million part-timers, workplaces are no longer where as many people gather. They gather at the movie theater, on the soccer field, or in their church, or online. Worse, they don't gather at all. They cluster in their own apartments. They retreat to the safety of the walls they know. They home school.

They also turn off – after all, the average American is bombarded by about 4,000 marketing messages a day. So who wants to be sold on joining anything, let alone a "union"?

Given these trends (don't kill the messenger!), we should expect that unions will keep declining in size and influence unless they are using the most sophisticated techniques to market and deliver on a vision of community broader than simply workplace organizing and better benefits.

A big challenge, although not a new one to you or other folks who remember Charles McDonald's excellent 1985 tract, "The Changing Situations of Workers in their Workplaces," which suggested new approaches to increase labor's effective reach by 2000.

Except now we're actually in the 21st century – so how to reach "non-traditional" audiences and start a conversation about career, or college, or child care, let alone the need for workers to organize?

I'm talking about a Purple Bank to match Wells Fargo.

I'm talking about the appeal of Apple's iPod stores.

I'm talking about creating places for mixing together – and mixing music. A new union hall that combines child care and after school programs and job training site and urban theater district – all in one.

I'm thinking about a reverse AARP model – where instead of reaching out to 50-year-olds with Modern Maturity magazine and health insurance pitches on their birthday, we offer a hand out to new parents, from L.A. to Louisiana, with support services. And then grow a trusted relationship with thankful parents from there.

I'm arguing for patience – because sweaty palms, "pa-leeese, join the union" marketing will scare most folks off. We can't rush these conversations until they're ripe.

I'm envisioning a new union/SEIU media and membership network – constructed in partnership with community technology centers in 140 cities, in tandem with mayors like John Street who want community-owned wireless internet access rather than cable companies to be the last mile to citizens, with new voices from the streets and the barrios who'll learn the ropes in your studios. Say the word, and we'll sell the music and the gear on a jacked-up Purple Ocean internet radio system operating at a fraction of the cost of the old UAW radio network.

In other words, let's not just reorganize the AFL, let's re-brand it, dammit.

Think about home shopping networks and imagine a Progressive QVC. Think about our own purple-clad "Avon" ladies and gentlemen going door-to-door for more than just voter turnout and a traditional canvass.

To make it happen fast, I'd suggest partnerships with Rodale, Costco or other progressive companies. Did you know Rodale alone has a lifestyle database of over 20 million subscribers?

Because we can't really fight Wal-Mart without offering serious shopping and lifestyle alternatives – and that means corporate partners and new capital strategies.

How do we partner with private, non-union companies? Any company that wants to sell to your members will need to sign on to a new Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval, a hybrid union bug, evincing their support for living wage and Starbucks-level health care or whatever fundamental fairness and open dialogue can bring.

Yes-yes-yes: this stuff is a little fuzzy. Yes, you will need to experiment and fail. But can anyone argue that a $2,000-per-member acquisition cost for a $300-per-year union member that pays off in seven years is a business model that can work well all by itself?

This new union hall/community center/media hub model isn't hard to imagine. Local 1199 in New York looks that way now. But now we need to do it in 150 more cities, creating not only community media centers but urban-labor-environmental and business alliances around community economics, clean energy jobs and new capital strategies driven by Steel, Solidarity and the SEIU.

So no matter how things turn out in Vegas, let's not just fight about how much "organizing" bucks are spent and who controls them, but what they are spent on.

And let's remember what sometimes 16th Street has forgotten over the years in saying no to exploring new terrain: the perfect is the enemy of the good. [ AlterNet ]

THIRD SCREEN: SMS Alerts

Hello advocacy groups! This is the near future of online mobilizing. Imagine an action alert with real teeth. Imagine blasting a message on an impending vote via SMS to your members' phones and then allowing them to call their Reps office by pressing a key. Imagine your members then pushing another button and the message is sent to their phone list. The switchboards would be smokin'.

Yahoo! Sends Driving Directions To Your Phone
We were seriously wondering why Google hadn’t already rolled this out (especially with their movement towards the geographical with maps.google.com and their purchase of Keyhole), but Yahoo’s definitely beaten them (and everyone else, it seems) on the driving directions via SMS tip. Hit the “Send to Phone” link on their Yahoo! maps page and you’ll get the data via SMS, with images also available with your data connection (you do have a mobile data plan, don’t you?). [ Engadget ]

MEDIA: Googlezon Wins In 2014

Interesting vision of how Google will rule the media landscape in 2014 from the Poynter Institute for Journalism. From the Google Grid in 2006 to Googlezon (Google buys Amazon) in 2008 to the mysterious and Matrix-like birth of EPIC in 2014. This Flash piece take a newsreel style look at the coming hyper world of consolidation and personalization. Of course, it's pretty "guns and butter" in it's simplicity. Nothing about what role consumers will play beyond passive demo spoon monkey, nothing about the big content players like Disney and Sony, and nothing about web services like Yahoo and Barry Diller. Also, this vision plays out in a very linear fashion. Technological evolution rarely follows geological time; it is all about the catastrophic event that changes the landscape quickly...although 9 years is pretty quick. Crystal balls are fun, but by their nature they always raise a thousand more questions. Watch it.

VIRAL: MSN Search's Viral Fake Out

MSN like so many folks just don't seem to get the point of a viral campaign. Viral advertising is not an ends, it is a means. Viral should work toward creating conversions for the product or campaign, not for the ad. Viral should create buzz, not hype. An organization should market consistently across all its touch points to create a meaningful brand experience. Unless you are phishing or pulling a telemarketing scam you can not create this meaningful experience if any of your touch points lack AUTHENTICITY. Buzz, according to David Lewis, 'is the infectious chatter that spreads from consumer to consumer about something of genuine interest to them.' If viral marketing is to survive and thrive as a tactic it must be trusted and genuine. If not, it's just so much hype.

MSN Search Incorporates Past Virals Into New Viral
Instead of coming up with its own viral content, MSN Search's new campaign, MSNfound, takes existing virals and weaves them into a six-character narrative. Each character has a video lead-in and lead-out to an already-popular viral clip, including the stylings of David Bernal, one of the dancers in VW's "Gene" ad, and Virgin Mobile's Dog Judo.

To get to the clips, the user runs a search for a pre-detemined keyword, which yields a results page with the next piece of content embedded at the top. Ultimately, the viral clips lead the user back to each character's "journal".

Maureen McHugh, a freelance writer who worked on this campaign, wrote about the site in her blog, but the entry has mysteriously disappered. [ Adland ]

CULTURE: Movies To The People

The Maoist International Movement reviews movies...from a Maoist perspective.

The Incredibles
Just as the heroic entrepreneur of Libertarian and Republican fame finds him or herself strangled by government regulations in Amerika, this story is about the restraints of the mediocre on the meritorious superheroes known as "Incredibles." What makes this a fascist movie is precisely the alleged exposure of bureaucracy in an insurance company, which by itself would be progressive or socialist. Combined with the notion of super-heroes being better than bureaucracy, the effect is fascist, because we do not really see an economic solution for the insurance company problem. Instead, the movie bemoans the competition that led to the creation of the insurance company while supporting competition of superheroes. It does not fit together coherently, but we've learned historically that fascism does not have to be coherent for the masses to take it up. [ MIM ]

PODCASTING: The Rise Of The "Sliver-Cast"

The NYT jumps on the podcasting hype train today. Although I have yet to meet anyone who has listened to a podcast, several of the casters in the story claim to have daily downloads in the thousands.

The real interesting story here is not the iPod, but the availability of low cost recording software and the continuing evolution of the internet as a communication medium. It's obvious there wouldn't be so much chatter about podcasting as the new bottom-up media channel of choice if the name and identity weren't attached to the most popular and hip electronic gadget to emerge in several decades. The term podcasting was coined on the idea that folks would download these shows and play them on their iPod, but I think that might be more ideal than reality. Getting into the habit of downloading a podcast, uploading it to your iPod, and then removing it when you are done smacks of too much effort. If podcasting takes off it will be because the audience is listening through a medium of minimal effort and around which they can schedule a consistent and comfortable routine in their day. (Hmmm...maybe the old fashioned desktop?)

Will podcasting take off? It will have it's run as the flavor of the moment and savvy groups will strike early and build audiences while the cool factor is still running high. Over time the podcasting universe will get cluttered, popular favorites will emerge, and then they will get swallowed by bigger and broader media networks...and then we sit around and wait for the moblog craze, then the Triocasting craze, and then the chip-in-the-brain-casting craze....

VIRAL: Viral's Popularity May Undo Viral Effect

Viral marketing may have jumped the shark, now that The New York Times covered the practice of inspiring viewers to spread ads. More than even other word-of-mouth marketing methods, viral marketing is a tactic that must be perceived as somewhat subversive to actually work. The increasing popularity of the tactic among even large marketers such as fast food giants and paper towel makers may make audiences inured to future efforts. [ Marketing Vox ]

DEMOCRATS: Data For All My Friends

With the DNC reasserting itself under Dean what does this mean for ACT's effort to deliver a rival to Demzilla with Acxiom? Why pay when the DNC is giving it away?

Hill Dems get into Demzilla

Outgoing Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Terry McAuliffe has given the House and Senate political committees access to “Demzilla,” the massive computer voter database that has brought the DNC closer to information parity with the Republicans. [ The Hill ]

SEARCH ENGINES: "Click Pockets" On The Rise

The subject of click fraud has been around for a while and gained a fair amount of heavy attention right before Google went public. USA Today catches up on the story and says some experts believe "anywhere from 10% to 20% of the clicks are made under false pretenses." This represents some serious cabbage as industry research firm eMarketer expects $7.4 billion to be spent on search engine advertisingi n 2008, up from just $108.5 million in 2000.

The scary vision for progressive groups is a bunch of Freepers cackling and clicking away on sponsored links for our favorite search terms to inflate our pay-per-click spending.

WAL*MART: Low Prices Uber Alles!

The latest Wal*Mart fun...
The very good American Rights at Work campaign says:

Wal-Mart's recent announcement that it will close down its store in Jonquiere, Quebec, is much more about its hostile labor relations strategy than its bottom line. The company says the store will close because it hasn't turned a profit. But, a closer look at Wal-Mart's practice of opening and closing locations suggests its anti-union stance might be a more accurate reason for its decision.

.....................................

The More You Sell, The Less You Make

Something is not quite right with that headline. As long as a business has sound fundamentals, how can it be the more a business sells ... the less it makes?

Two words : WAL*MART.

According to a recent BusinessWeek article, only 9 of the 38 companies generating 10% or more of their total sales volume at Wal*Mart are recording above-average profitability and shareholder returns.

Proctor & Gamble, which generates 18% of its sales volume through the Wal*Mart channel, is one of the nine. The article mentions P&G has found prosperity at Wal*Mart by not selling commodity goods like paper towels. Instead P&G focuses on selling goods such as Olay skin products which command higher margins and are not easily commodified by private label producers. [ Brand Autopsy ]

.....................................

And if you didn't catch the amazing Frontline episode "Is Wal-Mart Good For America" you can now watch the whole program online.

CULTURE: Tie A Yellow Arrow...

The YellowArrow project brings new meaning to NYC tour guides by merging together stickers, graffiti and interactivity. Residents can place yellow arrow stickers on spots around the five boroughs as a way to draw attention to meaningful, overlooked places. When you visit NYC and see an arrow, you send a text message to YellowArrow with the sticker's specific ID number and you immediately receive a message back about why the point is important to someone.

YellowArrow takes the medium of stickers to the next level by connecting people and what makes them feel good about their environments. It's also a way to bring authenticity to "place" and say, "check it out." And for those that find them, it's about discovery. Christopher Allen, one of the project's originators says, "It's a network of people who are passionate about the place they live. It's a chance to be involved in a collective art project."

Yellow Arrow first emerged on the Lower East Side of New York in May 2004, and has now reached almost every state in the U.S. Localizing the global is next - people outside of the U.S. have been requesting arrows. [ Influx ]

VIRAL: Ethics...Pass it on

The Word of Mouth Marketing Association released its code of conduct today, an industry wide effort to tackle the issue of ethics in word of mouth marketing. The WOMMA Code establishes guidelines and best practices so marketers have a framework with which to plan and execute ethical word of mouth marketing campaigns.

At the heart of the Code is what WOMMA calls its Honesty ROI - honest disclosure of relationship, opinion, and identity. This demands that those who are spreading a marketer's message by "word of mouth" disclose their relationship with marketers in their conversations with other consumers; that they be allowed to form their own honest opinions and let those with whom they're communicating form their own opinions; and that everyone be transparent and reveal their identity to anyone with whom they're communicating. [ Adrants ]

Wonder how Dave Balter from BzzAgents and WOMMA founder will reconcile his paradox? Remember BzzAgents? They're the company featured in a NYT Magazine piece in December that exposed the dark world of BzzAgents. BzzAgents are an army of word of mouth drones who secretly leverage the trust and confidence of family, friends and coworkers to talk-up their life changing experiences with Al Fresco sausage and other consumer goods.

ORGANIZING: Bowling Alone...Knitting Together

Robert Putnam's groundbreaking book Bowling Alone focused on the collapse of American community and the loss of our social capital. Two recent articles show us that social networking is not all about Friendster and Orkut. Real people are getting together and forming real social networks.

The Washington Post talks about the rise in popularity of giving circles.

We Make Money Not Art highlights politically active knitting groups who produce work with an activist bent and hold "knit-ins." In case you didn't know it we are in the middle of a knitting craze in this country and it's attracting large numbers of women and men into tight social networks where issues and activism are discussed as purl stitches are made.

MARKETING: The Next Big Interactive Thing

Blogs, blogs, social networking, blogs, handhelds, blogs, and blogs. According to AdAge, those are the next "big things" coming from the iMedia Brand Summit in Florida. Sometimes we think people just like saying the word blog. As marketers look to capitalize on the blog phenom more commercial marketers are buying ad space on niche blogs and some are looking to bring bloggers into the fold with freebies or cash (blogola) or seed blogs with fake posters. The last two tactics present obvious challenges for the blogosphere as it looks to make good on the promise and maintain the validity of bottom-up media.

Groups looking to push an issue through a blogger or seed blogs with fake postings be warned. The blogosphere can smell a rat a mile away and they will unleash a backlash that can undermine your campaign. Business 2.0 shakes the backlash stick at MTV2 for seeding blogs with fake insider postings in its MTV2 viral campaign.