Responding to Jacelyns' question about: What would you consider to be social media/"regular" media?

What would you consider to be social media/"regular" media?

I would agree that Facebook and Twitter are "Social Media.. I also think that when my children and grandchildren text each other and their friends that, that is a form of "Social Media". Sending out an e-mail could be considered a "Social Media" The internet itself is a form of Social Media. The information we receive can be good or bad, true or false and we look at it all day long and it all comes to us in one way or another through a Social Media Platform.

Do you think that the internet is a form of Social Media?

When marketing a new product how important is timing? How important is persistence?

I recently read an article about Kind Fruit+ Nut Bars (The New York Time April 2009 by Kelly K. Spors) In which the owner  of the company tried many times to interest  Starbucks in selling his company’s KIND bars.   He said that he tried many times to interest Starbucks in his product.   After 5 years of promoting his product he was finally offered the opportunity to sell 3 of his flavored bars in Starbucks.  What finally made Starbucks look at his product?  I think that it was several things, one the owner of the Kind bars never gave up. He took every opportunity he could to find different avenues to reach his goals, his sales teams called Starbucks to gauge their interest. He gave bars to friends of the Starbucks chief executive.

When the owner of Kind bars, Mr. Lubetzky spoke at the World Economic Form in Davos, Switzerland about his philanthropic work through his Peace Works Foundation, he reconnected with a Starbucks director of international business development. They became friends, the Starbucks executive offered to give Mr. Lubetzky a tour of Starbucks headquarter In Seattle, Washington, Mr. Lubetzky used this opportunity to meet additional executives and hand out samples of KIND bars. Additional he kept in e-mail contact with a food and beverage chief and when he noticed an article about how Starbucks was rethinking its food strategies, he set an e-mail to the executive and reminded her of the Kind bars and a Yale pilot study indicating eating 2 kind bars a day can help people lose weight.

In the end Mr. Lubetzky had a good product, was persistence in selling and promoting Kind Bars and had good timing. Starbucks soon agreed to sell more than 500,000 bars.

Was it just timing or was it the unwavering persistence in promoting the Kind Bars?

In response to Tylers Blog about Technology

Are we ready to fully rely on technology? or should we at some point say maybe things are not to difficult and we do not need so much extra in life?

I am not ready to rely fully on Technology . I still enjoy talking on the phone, I like hearing my friends and families voices so I may use technology to reach them , but I still want that personal contact. I  believe that technology has made our lives easier.

I can remember a time when I used a typewriter to type letters, you probably can't imagine having to use one, but I do. When I started to use the data processing system that allowed me to not only correct mistakes quickly and easily and  had the capability to save documents,( that in the past documents had to be typed with  a layer of carbon paper and then a piece of plain underneath, think about it, a mistake could make you have to start completely over) it made my job so much easier and faster. Using technology to make our life better is wonderful, but there is a limit to how I want to use technology. 

When I was working I spent 6 to 7 hours a day working at my computer, before we relied so heavily on e-mail and our computers to get our work done we actually had to move around more and have contact with our co-workers. You had to get up from you desk and walk down the hall or take the stairs up or down a flight. Walking around gave us a chance to stretch, maybe even lowered our stress level a little. That all changed when we all started using outlook to communicate with our co-workers and our work was all done on the computer. We didn't have to call or move from our desk.all day. So I don't believe that we are ready to rely completely on technology.

What would be the best uses for technology today?

Should Businesses pay to place flattering news in print and broadcast media?

Recently I read an article discussing a new way of advertising taking place in China.

China is a country that censor news all the time especially politically delicate news coverage. Now however, the print and broadcast media in China have been allowing companies to buy coverage for a price.  Many public relation firms and companies in China acts as brokers in buying flattering coverage- which in China is referred to as” soft news or paid news”.  A company recently paid 10,000 a page for a five page feature in the Chinese version of Esquire. 

The journalist who wrote the piece stated that Chinese laws and regulations ban promotional material that is not labeled as such, but the practice is so widespread that many publications and broadcaster have rate cards listing news for sale prices. This practice seem very deceptive to me, we look at articles in our magazine such as Business week, Times and know that the reason that they are featuring this company or this person is that they have created a news product or they have a major accomplishment that is noteworthy. I hope that this pay for new or feature articles does not spread to the US.  If it does it could effect how we see our Business Leaders.   

Do you believe that we should allow businesses to pay for Coverage?

In response to Aislynn's Blog on ESPN for Women Adds A Sponsor Question:

Do you think ESPNW is hitting the right age for their target market or do you think their age range is off? I personally think their should be another channel added to the few that ESPN already has that shows more female sports, what do you think?

I believe that by saying 25+, it could mean any age over 25.  I think today having, two daughters (in their late 30’s and early 40’s) and a granddaughter (age 15) that are very interested in sports, who are: interested in eating right, who eat organic foods and watching their weight, would be very interested in sport channels that are directed to women and that focus on their wants and needs.  There are websites that are specifically dedicated to women’s sports such as:

 http://www.womenssportsinformation.com/

 http://www.womenssportsnet.com/

 http://www.womenssportsfoundation.org/home

I think that women today are very interested in their health and how to keep healthy.  Having a channel that helps them discover a sport or sports that appeal and interest them would be beneficial. A women’s sport channel would be good for teenagers too.  Too many girls today want to look like super models so they don’t eat right and have unrealistic ideas about what girls should look like. Being healthy, eating right and striving for realistic body size would be so much better. A women’s/girls sports channel could let girls see what really healthy active girls should look like.   After all you need to eat properly and take good care of yourself, it you want to excel in sports. I think it would help girls gain the proper perspective about how they should look, what they should eat and how they need to take care of themselves.

Having a Sports channel or channels directed to females could be beneficial. Do you think that a Women’s Sports Channel could help teenagers have a more realistic positive view of how they should actually look, and would it help them to stop judging themselves against how models look on Cable?

Do Brazilian Blowout Products need to update their current product labeling and provide salons and product users with clearer, detailed and more truthful information about their products and how to use them safely than they are providing now?

Do Brazilian Blowout Products need to update their current product labeling and provide salons  and product users with clearer, detailed and more truthful information about their products and how to use them safely than they are providing now?

Recently, I was watching Good Morning America, and the topic of deceptive ingredients and how to properly use these hair smoothing treatments, caught my eye.  My daughter uses one of these products and has always assumed based on what her Hair Stylist  and in the information that she was given about the product, assured, that the product did not have the ingredient Formaldehyde and  that it was safe to use and no special equipment would be needed during it’s application.

Elisabeth Leamy, reported on Good Morning America ( 2-29-12)  that five months ago the federal government put out a hazard alert about the hair smoothing product "Brazilian Blowout", warning that it contained liquid formaldehyde which can turn into formaldehyde gas when heated.  She went on to say that they had visited 16 salons and every salon told them that they had no safety concerns. Twelve of the salons said the product contains very little formaldehyde and four were not aware that it had any. All the salons had outdated versions of the product’s literature and bottles, which said   “formaldehyde free”

Now the company’s bottles of solution carry a warning label to alert stylists to the potential formaldehyde risk and the need to perform the treatment in a well ventilated area.

What concerns me is that there many more of these hair smoothing products out there and OSHA says that they may contain formaldehyde or that can expose you to formaldehyde during use, even though they may not list formaldehyde on their labels.  They went on to state that some manufactures list synonyms for formaldehyde on their labels, and they can do  this because when formaldehyde is dissolved in water or another substance the chemical composition is slightly changed giving the chemical a new name.

Consumers and stylists need to know and understand the products they are using and the risk factors that they may be exposed to. Using these types of products could cause future health risks to both the stylist and the consumer.

I think that many of these products are using deceptive labeling, and their advertising could be misleading.  Do you agree?