A friend of mine who I’ve come to know through the online community known as #UsGuys, is a popular DJ in Vancouver, British Columbia. His name is Dave Reynolds of 99.7 FM The River, the morning DJ of a rock station with an eclectic playlist. He has a voice you can’t stop listening to and a heart bigger than the Great White North. Put it all together and his show is irresistible.

Every year at this time, Dave raises money and food donations to feed those less fortunate in the Campbell River area. But how he does it is quite a story…

The River Relief Truck

Dave lives in an extremely big but unfancy 53' transport trailor, called the River Relief Truck, until he fills it with food. This year, he suffered through freezing cold nights when his heater wouldn’t work but he had a bigger mission and a higher call. Somewhere along the line, he cut his hands adding blood to the equation (and perhaps, a certain amount of symbolism as well). Helping Dave get out of that truck became almost as important as feeding the hungry and people responded — not just those local to Campbell River, but from all over the nation and even the world.

The power of community

Remember that online community I mentioned? Well, it’s a pretty special group of people and Dave leveraged not just the power of radio, but the power of social media to get the story out (my friend, Ty Sullivan, wrote a wonderful post on this). Live video streaming along with his live radio show brought his efforts home for us all and inspired people all over the world. Over time, Dave has forged bonds with many people online — through Twitter, Facebook and even through some live video chats I hosted where you really get a sense for a person (somehow video makes smoking cigars and drinking tequila as you are shown the outside of somebody’s home very real).

Now it was time to bring this all together in an effort to help others. When the first truck was filled and we thought Dave would finally be able to go home to a warm bed, he threw us a curve ball: he announced that he was staying on and would now fill a second truck too!

People responded again. A third truck, over 1000 turkeys, countless boxes of food and A MILLION DOLLARS later, 9000 families would now have a holiday meal that they wouldn’t have had otherwise. In fact, they were able to not only fill the Campbell River Food Bank, but went on to fill the Gold River Food Bank too!

Creativity and labor of love in action

Dave put a stake in the ground and together with the help of countless volunteers, the world responded. He inconvenienced himself in a creative, dramatic display of helping others. And it worked!

It kind of makes me think of someone else who suffered to help others, especially during this time of year. I don’t think this idea was lost on others, either — and the payoff was turkeys, food and dollars. As Dave said, it was nothing short of a miracle.

But we can do this stuff.

Happy Holidays!

Here’s a great video on the River Relief Truck and this news article did a nice job introducing the initiative.

Some friends of mine from the Twitter tribe, #UsGuys, had the novel idea to stage a three-day virtual conference named usXsw for those people not able to attend this year’s SXSW extravaganza in Austin, TX. Rather than sit home and pout, they know it’s always better to get in gear and turn a negative into a win. With more than 250 participants and over 4000 tweets, the event was a resounding success. 

As an add-on, a few of us orchestrated a live video chat and billed it as the usXsw After Party. Jeff Namnum of Socialisle, @SocialSchoolLI and a recent member of #UsGuys, suggested the idea and hosted the event. Of course, meeting by live video provides several possibilities for engagement. We tossed around the idea of focusing the chat around selected topics, similar to what was being done in the Twitter conference, but quickly abandoned that after a test drive proved it was fun simply spending time together in our virtual party hall. We decided real value could be derived just from giving people the opportunity to finally see each other and talk together after weeks of tweeting, strengthening the relationships of those we’ve met online. It was a blast! And if you don’t believe me, then you weren’t there for our virtual fist bump!

Exploring new ways to share and develop real, meaningful communities online, requires venturing beyond Twitter’s 140 and Facebook “Likes”. Oddly enough, pushing these online relationships deeper increasingly means driving these relationships further offline. This is how many of us are propelling our newly assembled, globally-amplified networks to bigger things and richer experiences. Beginning with short tweets and comments, posting photos and then moving onto email, video and finally to real life meetups — this seems to be the natural progression of meeting strangers online and converting them into truly meaningful friendships and business relationships in real life. The world is indeed getting smaller.

Lights, cameras, action

As #UsGuys continues to expand and grow globally, perhaps even venturing into other endeavors, video is the right thing at the right time to push our relationships to the next level. It’s also a great tool for facilitating virtual work meetings and planning discussions since geographical realities make meeting in person impractical. 

Many of us have Skyped together, but video conferencing is offered as a premium service requiring member fees so it’s not practical for larger groups that desire the flexibility to video chat at any time. Other services are available, however, that allow people to join in chat conferences at any time for no cost. A service called Tinychat allows up to 12 people on camera simultaneously and up to 400 others joining in through live texting (and tweeting out these same messages if they choose). People can also join by sound only without activating the camera, but it uses up one of the 12 assigned video slots (replaced by a black box).

The texting function is good too and adds a whole other dimension to the communication. It gets really fun when additional commentary flies under the radar, and sometimes at the expense of those speaking on camera (kind of like talking behind someone’s back except this is right under their noses). Being able to tweet out any of these comments at any time is an additional bonus.

Early adopters

Our forays into video have already offered value, even though the technology has been glitchy at times, usually because of either broken video or sound dropping out. Sometimes poor connections are at fault; sometimes it’s because people have difficulty finding the correct setup that works best; and sometimes it’s because people haven’t switched off other applications using a camera or microphone, causing interference. And yes, sometimes people just don’t notice their microphone is muted. I’m guilty of that one (for some reason, Tinychat defaults to a muted microphone — I assume to protect the user from inadvertently broadcasting a private conversation).

#UsGuys Afterhours Party

As we continue to familiarize ourselves with the technology and how best to utilize it, I like keeping it simple for now. I thought it would be a good idea to hold a regularly scheduled #UsGuys Afterhours Party every Thursday at 10:00 PM EST (hosted on this website). Pure fun may seem trivial to some, but just as other people prefer to “fill the world with silly love songs”, anything that helps strengthen bonds and deepen relationships is a pretty strong benefit in itself. What’s wrong with that?

I know when I’m spending too much time online. It’s when my eyes bug out and feel like they’re going to fall out of my head. Everything I see past three feet is blurry.

Intense work, nose to monitor, reviewing thousands of photographs looking for the perfect image, kerning the type for a perfect fit, aligning elements to the grid, creating color palettes, sliding a graphic element over so it “kisses” a hairline rule… the hours fly by. 

While this happens, and well aware of the dangers of multitasking, I check emails and respond promptly. I may look at the news and see what the market is doing. Now throw in some Facebook updates and a lively Twitter chat or two: those never-ending updates and flickering streams of information. Scanning multiple columns in HootSuite — reading from bottom to top, left to right, up down, right left — Grand Blurry Station! I’m sure many of you can relate.

The antidote? My chair

That’s right, my chair — that beautiful, big leather recliner out there in the family room. That’s where the really great things happen. 

It’s where my online self ends and my offline one begins. It’s where I think things through, without the “help” of Google. No alerts vie for my attention when I’m in my chair, telling me I’ve received another email or a new mention on Twitter or Facebook. No links are being pushed at me by well-meaning friends portending to have the answers for this or that (as long as I leave my iPhone behind, that is!). It’s when I get away from those things that the real answers come — the deeper answers to things I may be struggling with. 

My best concepts and design ideas always seem to come from the chair. Admittedly, there are distractions there too: someone may switch on the television, a magazine beckons, sometimes I doze off… I know I eat far too many meals there and the mini-fridge is within arm’s reach. But that’s fine — it’s all good. It’s still where great things happen.

Clout vs. Klout

There’s a social media metric called Klout that aims to measure our online influence. It can be a helpful gauge for one’s online activities, as long as it’s taken in context with all of one’s other endeavors. Although flawed at measuring true influence on many levels, it scores one’s online stature with a number. Being flawed beings ourselves, it plays to our weaknesses and egos — even those who acknowledge its various shortcomings get caught up in the gaming aspect and become obsessed with their Klout scores. Mine stands at a respectable 62 (just checked it this morning!).  

Now, as I sit in my chair (okay… lie in my chair), the ideas keep coming. The cat strolls by and meows. My youngest child jumps on my lap. I can practically hear my Klout score dropping… but so what? Everything is starting to make sense again. Clarity.

Klout be damned.

Only after building your network can you use the podium to its fullest potential. When it comes to getting your message out, there’s no sense shouting from the rooftops if no one is listening.

This is what social media can do and is where its power lies. It is where new relationships begin and existing ones are strengthened, creating a receptive audience that listens. And it doesn’t stop there because engaged audiences generously rebroadcast these same messages throughout other networks, amplifying them and expanding their reach even further!

My business, strategic design/branding/advertising/communications, has traditionally been mostly about making the podium higher and louder. It is about making messages that are informative, compelling, on target and that stand out from the crowd. Now, with social media, it’s still about this and more. An exciting new addition has been added, but it still takes well-executed branding to blaze a path and make sure you are both seen and heard.

Surround your audience and connect the brand

Social media is a powerful tactic that does a lot of upfront legwork, smoothing the foundation for businesses and brands as they engage, build networks and create buzz. But the key to remember is integration. This goes beyond just social media because a smart strategy will surround your audience, utilizing all the various tactics in all the various media. Good branding and a cohesive design strategy will connect the brand as you connect your network. It ensures that your brand will speak with one voice through all the media touch points: social, web, video, print, experiential, etc. 

When it comes to making sure your message is noticed, no tactic should be left unturned. Go ahead — build your network and speak from the podium. But don’t leave the branding strategy at the door.

There certainly seems to be a lot of interest in logos these days! As evidenced by Pepsi, GAP, Starbucks and others — people love to shoot down logos.

I find this phenomenon fascinating. I always thought logos, as important and visible as they are, were mostly ignored by the public at large. Vying and wrestling for our attention, they are just there, in all their crass glory — contributing to so much of the visual clutter we see every day. People generally tend to program themselves to tune out distractions — as a kind of coping mechanism.

It’s no secret that social media has given voice to the legions of people looking to express themselves. But where is this passion for logos coming from? Is it new or has it always been there? We know how much brands can mean to people, but logos? Has our capitalistic society so consumed our consciousness that we are now “one” with our consumerism, and logos really are like old buddies? 

Or is it something else? Is it simply a herd mentality that mobilizes and propels us to start throwing darts? It’s all in good fun, right? Logos are easy targets — simple, little defenseless visuals that they are. If we know and relate to a brand, perhaps we feel it’s our god-given right to criticize. After all, it’s our hard-earned dollars that made them who they are, right?

I’m guilty too

When it comes to logos, I’m as critical as anyone. With the GAP debacle, I was right in the thick of it and spewing my opinions. As a professional designer/creative director, there were real concerns — not just about the logo per se, but also about the process itself and how a major corporation was going about its rebranding while devaluing the design profession. 

Recently, Starbucks has also raised passionate discussions about their plans for a logo change. Again, the comments have been overwhelmingly negative and harsh. 

But I find something here very telling: with Starbucks, those in the professions of design and branding seem much more measured in their criticisms. The broader public, though, seems just as angry and snarky as they were of GAP. It’s open season on logos again — no distinction is made between the two experiences although both are somewhat different. I have witnessed this same behavior on several of my own logo projects over the years.

Pros and cons(umers)

As professionals, we tend to be analytical in our assessments — exploring the rationales behind the solutions; paying attention to the overall objectives and strategies. But for casual observers, the reaction is just a natural response. They either like it or they don’t. Are these the opinions then, that are “more real” in a way? Aren’t these the same people who will be reacting in the marketplace and making purchasing decisions? They certainly won’t be giving logos very much thought when buying their jeans and Grande Lattes.

Do the experts really know something more?

I think what it comes down to is this: When a logo and new identity program is rolled-out, it is usually done in a strategically deliberate fashion — planned just as carefully as the design phase. Logos usually aren’t just foisted on the public who are then asked what they think. At least that’s not how it used to happen.

Recently though, and partially enabled by Facebook and Twitter, some companies seem compelled to let the cat out of the bag early, before the logo has been given a proper introduction. Surely, companies know this will invite criticism, especially in this climate of logo-bashing. Maybe all they want is early buzz, even if it’s negative. They probably see no harm in crowdsourcing opinions in order to head off any problems early on. But does this in itself invite problems? At the very least, it is likely to produce inaccurate feedback.

Give change a chance

Whatever the case may be, it is clear that people have fun shooting down logos. But if people were given the opportunity to let them breathe, the result might be different. People don’t like change, so abruptly foisting a new logo on someone cold welcomes a negative reaction. 

It is common for logos to grow on people with time. As they gain familiarity, good logos fit naturally with the rest of the branding strategy and then all the rest starts to make sense, propelling the brand to new successes. When executed well, the change is noticed but not obtrusive. Hopefully, it’s never off-putting.

Many companies, especially larger ones, are notorious for possessing insecurities, particularly around identity change time. They like to test the waters. Understood. They also like publicity. 

But perhaps these branding changes would meet with less resistance if companies stopped jumping the gun. And for those who just like taking aim at logos, maybe they’d be a little less trigger-happy if the poor little things were given more room to live.

Like many, I first approached Twitter with skepticism and trepidation. Like my first engagements with other social media, I stuck a toe in the water before jumping in further. LinkedIn and Facebook gradually gained steam, and soon became valued communications channels. But Twitter? That was different.

I started by following a few people who seemed to have interesting things to say, and then began tweeting a little myself. Gradually, I gained followers and started to “get it”. Twitter is a great way of perusing a vast landscape of leading experts in any profession, industry, interest or hobby. But only recently have I come to appreciate its full power: direct access to these same people and the ability to engage with them in real time.

When people are on Twitter, and by that I mean actively using it, they are receptive to the experience and open to engagement: monitoring the continuous dialog, responding to tweets and replies, direct messages, new followers, and the like. Perhaps they are also monitoring who is mentioning them and retweeting their tweets (not to mention, of course, surfing the web like never before, with tweets leading them to great content including images, video and blogs — and then leaving comments there too!). The interaction never ends! 

Real power

But recently, I discovered something else. Hashtags. By following focused Twitter content, identified by the # symbol placed before subject or group names, one can view tweets relating only to that subject matter. This helps bring order to the chatter. And when you find a group you really like, the conversation can be so persistent and intense, that real connections are made and Twitter is transformed into something much more personal.

I was lucky enough to find a great group called #UsGuys fairly early in my Twitter life. It’s a stream of quick-thinking minds from different backgrounds, chatting 24/7 (I see the term “addiction” used a lot). Admittedly, it’s sometimes like social media with ADHD. Jumping into the busy stream can be intimidating — I was shooting for a swan dive, but probably made something more like a plunge. Never before have I seen the potential for developing real relationships, enabled by an online platform, than I have here.

Doing online to go offline

Through Facebook, I have visited with friends I haven’t seen in twenty-five years. With LinkedIn, I have setup face-to-face meetings and developed professional relationships. Now with Twitter, the net is cast further, wider and more quickly — cross-pollinating ideas, stimulating creativity, marshaling resources and galvanizing people — with potential like I have never seen before. Further connecting is now happening on the other social media channels. Face-to-face meetups are also in the works. And, ironically, this is where I think online is going: fueling our ability to establish real connections in the offline world as well. 

Online converted to offline; professional to personal. I can’t wait to see where this all goes.