Reading people’s comments at the end of USA Today online articles is like watching a horror movie.  You want to read them, but they’re so terrible you have to cover your eyes to make yourself stop looking.

Today, I came across a USA Today article on Volunteer Vacations.  I’ve been wanting to blog about my recent trip to Hungary with Habitat for Humanity but struggled because there is SO much to cover, I couldn’t possibly do it justice.  There is one point, however, that I’ve been wanting to make as it seems fitting to the subject of our blog.  Lucky for me, some guy reading USA Today just did the work for me.

The story briefly addresses the typical concerns I hear voiced in regards to my 2 Habitat trips, “You can’t possibly accomplish anything in a week.” “It’s self-serving to make a vacation of someone’s poverty,” “Do you even know how to build a house?”  Of all the obvious responses I could throw back to those nieve questions, of all the good I could prove I’ve accomplished in one week, there is this small point that is often overlooked by others and “Skeptic-all” says it beautifully.  I hope it resonates with you and I hope even more that it inspires you.

Finally.  A USA Today comment I can appreciate:

Skeptic-all wrote: 9d ago

I’m not naive. People have motives, but there really is something good happening here. Little kids watch a man goofing around, laugh, and are entertained. He happens to be from the U.S. and it’s an image some will remember in a world where political actions and conflicts do so much more to shape negative impressions of our country today. As a country, we could afford creating more positive images like those of Mr. Krupp-we could use some good press. Who cares that he makes a few bucks from marker boards

In 2003 and 2004 I had the honor of working with Stonefield Development managing their public relations as they rebuilt a neighborhood in Scripps Ranch following the Cedar fire. Their task of rebuilding 81 homes in Scripps Ranch was the larget group rebuild effort ever following a natural disaster.

While we have not taken any official surveys, we’re pretty sure that they went 81 for 81 in customer happiness. Try doing that in any industry, never mind an “industry” where all 81 customers were reluctant buyers–they didn’t want a new home, they never asked for their original one to burn down.

Stonefield is taking an active role in rebuilding after the Witch Creek fire in the communities of Rancho Bernardo, Poway, Rancho Santa Fe, Escondido, and whoever else needs help. The 2007 San Diego fires were not as devastating–and have since gotten far less post-fire media coverage compares to 2003–but tell that to the homeowners who lost everything. Bailey Gardiner is tasked with strategic planning and media outreach for the group and custom home rebuilds.

Why does it feel like pro bono work?

-Stonefield is family owned. The Pack family cares. Every week during our team meeting they make decisions that will benefit fire survivors–often at the expense of their own business. Sometimes it seems like a non-profit in that way. I suppose they are a not-for-maximized-profit company.

-In 2003 they made a promise to deliver at a certain price per square foot. Being new to the rebuilding game (who wasn’t?) they underestimated. Then labor, lumber, cement and other costs went up. Other builders went back and asked for money. Stonefield decided to eat the costs themselves. You know, just like those pro bono oil companies do when unexpected production costs arise.

-In all our marketing efforts the end goal is to get people to choose Stonefield. Because I witnessed first hand Scripps Ranch in ‘03, you are confident the people that choose Stonefield will be taken care of at every step of the process. During this trying time they help people that need help, that feels like pro bono.

-The executives of the company are not polished, slick, fast talkers. They are humble and stumble on their honest words. It feels like a non-profit when you are working with people that aren’t doing something just because they are good at selling something, but because they care.

-In 2003 when the real estate market was sky high, they were one of the only builders to step up and tackle a project that had never been done. They jumped right in, it was like a graceful bellyflop at first, but they wanted to do it. It’s 2007 and the real estate market is down, builders are struggling for revenue, and all of a sudden, everyone wants into the pool. Non profits don’t act out of convenience to themselves.

This time, we’re aiming for a stylish swan dive.

We work with all our clients to meet their business goals and objectives. And Stonefield certainly has them as well. But, it’s uniquely satisfying when you are hired and it feels like a pro bono account as well.

If you ever wonder why Fox News is so successful at convincing people, it’s because they take complex subjects and boil them down into the simplest black and white explanations and present them in 10 minutes or less—usually 2 minutes. Some would argue that this is a bad thing. I agree with those people. It fails to take in all sides of an argument or encourage critical thinking.

But, when it comes to marketing, simple is better. We are in the convincing business, not in the education business, and the two should not be confused. Fox certainly understands this. Most marketers do not understand that customers only care, and can process, one thing. So, communicate that one thing well—solve their need. Don’t bog them down. They want to move on to whatever is next in their life anyways. If a magazine ad has more than 5 sentences, I don’t read it. I can’t. I’m trying to get through the magazine so that I can move onto the next one, so that I can get to bed and get as much sleep as possible, thus resulting in a higher degree of efficiency at work the next day—which creates more work. You get the idea.

What if the key to selling a product was boiling down complex technological concepts so that a technophile can understand why you are better? And, your brand and company depend on it. Would you develop a jargon filled ad? Apple gets it.

UPS uses a whiteboard to simply explain why you should choose them in real world terms. No details necessary—the consumer will fill in the blanks. If they don’t, then they weren’t your target anyways. If they want more information, they will seek it on their own

Need to explain why global warming matters? This guy gets it:

I always wonder what that one deciding factor is when a company chooses a new agency to represent them. I don’t know what it was that made Nike chose to move their running-shoe from their longtime agency to someone else. Why would you make a change in just one department, especially when your company led the market share in footwear last year?

I’ve seen the first commercial from the new agency, and I must say, I am not impressed at all. It looks like a cross between a commercial with the Capital One Caveman and trying to get you to buy a new gym membership. Nike’s goal is to promote their shoes to the more “serious” athlete in each sport. Sounds like a good idea, right? But why would you choose to use the tagline: Need Motivation. Run with Nike Plus? I’m sorry, but I would think that if you were a serious runner, you wouldn’t need the motivation to get out there and run. I’m a serious runner and at this point, I don’t care about what Nike Plus, a mileage counter, a pace counter, a music device, etc…can do for me while I work out. I want to know what the actual shoe can do for me and my body.

I’m curious to see the results of this campaign and to see if it actually increases Nike’s running shoe sales. I do think the sales for this campaign would be higher if they targeted those people that are moderate runners. Those are the people that need the extra motivation to get out there and run. Only time will tell if Nike made a good decision.

With Internet expansion as a medium, a growing demand for richer, more user engaging content and better overall user interface experience, laid the ground for more powerful frameworks to emerge for building Rich Internet Applications (RIA), interactive applications that bring real life animated content in a very responsive (almost real time) manner.

Although many technologies (Adobe Flex, OpenLaszlo, Microsoft Silverlight, AJAX) can be used for building RIA, it is clear that Flash video format became the standard for video on the web and with 98% acceptance of its Flash Player gives Adobe (Flex) advantage among its competitors.

Internet browser with all of its inconsistencies and limitations clearly had a different purpose at the time of its creation. After Flex went open source I slowly started to shift from design to development world. Adobe’s Flex is arguably the most important new Internet development tool for building Rich Internet Applications or applications that run in the traditional browser but utilizes an intermediate layer that can bypass the traditional page refresh that has been a standard of most current Web applications.

Kevin Lynch (former Macromedia CTO and current Chief Software Architect at Adobe) in his interview at Flashforward shares his excitement on Flash and the way developers are delivering technologies, naming some of his favorite application examples like picnik, buzzword …

So in conclusion Rich Internet Applications are the future of the internet because:

1. they offer richer interface (www.scion.com) that provides a more engaging user experience without the need for page reloads.
2. they offer real-time feedback and validation to the user, triggered by user events.
3. they have look and feel of a traditional desktop application (fidelity labs)
4. they include a full multimedia experience, including audio and video (fordvehicles.com/flex/)
5. have capabilities such as real-time chat and collaboration that are either very difficult or simply impossible with traditional Web applications

Over the last 5 years we’ve seen reality TV go from being a small portion of the shows on television to literally dominating the on-air world. Is it any wonder that the web would be the next medium to turn “you-centric”?

Most people are familiar with YouTube, but within the last year I’ve witnessed a host of other sites that have taken advantage of web users’ fascination with personalization.One good example is SimpsonizeMe—Burger King’s Simpsons Movie promotion where you can turn yourself into a member of the Simpson family. And now with the holidays fast arriving, ScroogeYourself and last year’s ElfYourself – both a part of OfficeMax’s holiday promotion convert you into a dancing, prancing personalized video greeting card.

These sites are not only clever, but their viral nature makes them wildly popular amongst users and companies who use them as clever self-promotions. I think this trend will only continue and is an interesting new web technique to consider when creating our own online advertising ideas in 2008.

Flipping through various magazines I notice a trend amongst most ads, they don’t display prices next to whatever product is being advertised. So naturally, it caught me by surprise when I came across an H&M ad in which a model was featured wearing one of their bras and beside the photo it read: $14.90.

More often than not I hear how advertising agencies want to create ads that ‘make people think’ by not giving away too much information. Such strategy will leave people hungry for more information, thereby leading them on a search for more. I’ve always agreed with this strategy, that is, until now.

As a consumer, I appreciated seeing a price next to the product in the H&M ad. Some say it’s tacky, I say it’s helpful. Why? With a brand like H&M, I would have thought that I couldn’t afford their merchandise. Maybe I’ve been in the dark about how affordable their product really is. Nonetheless, as I come across their ad in publications like Riviera and In Touch Weekly, I find myself immediately drawn to log onto their website (which I soon came to find won’t allow me to order anything from the US- why is that?). At the end of the day it seems people are more likely to seek those things they know they can afford, while ignoring those things they either know or assume are out of their price range.

Bottom Line: Thank You H&M for disclosing your affordability.

Aw Christmas time……if you aren’t brave enough to face the crowds at the malls, you’re likely ordering online. And with $18 billion already spent, you aren’t alone.

Remember when you would flip through catalogs and place orders by phone? Yeah, I’m dating myself a bit, but I’m willing to bet it’s been close to forever since you’ve done so. In recent years it seems like if you aren’t purchasing in the store you’re ordering online. And if something in one of the catalogs does catch your eye, you still go to the website to check it out, see it in every color, view it in all its 3D glory and then finally place your order.

I can remember as a kid WAITING for the Toys R Us and Sears catalog to come in the mail so my brothers and I could mark it up with what we wanted for Christmas. What do kids do now? Blog about it? Post a bulletin on MySpace? Put it on Facebook? Times sure have changed and with over $800 million sold online in ONE DAY, I’d say the days of earmarking catalogs are long gone.

P.S. Mom & Dad, in case you’re reading this blog, I’d love these in chocolate brown!

The third most popular story yesterday on the third most popular online news source in an op-ed about Oprah Winfrey backing Barack Obama.

According to People.com my reliable, “credible,” up-to-the-minute online news source with images to boot, Oprah said of her backing Obama, ” ‘I’m here because of my personal conviction about Barack Obama and what I know he can do for America.’ “

Vague. While I haven’t been following the road to the 2008 primaries as explicitly as I should be, I do watch, read and listen to the news. At some point, I hope to learn something more vote-altering (read - less vague, more telling) about the presidential hopefuls from media commentary than percentages of American voters who prefer a woman vs. man, white vs. black, Oprah vs. …and who is against Oprah?

She is, according to a Today Show correspondent yesterday, the most well known (does this equate to well-respected?) woman in the world.

She deems a book merely decent and every bookstore within a fifty-mile radius of all major cities is sold out of all copies.

Her favorite things show gets women in a tizzy so crazy it’s been imitated on SNL.

Robinson, author of the op-ed piece, is saying Oprah’s fanatics may not follow her in this go ‘round just because Obama is black (Oprah is too, did you know?)? What is it about politics that stunts Oprah’s famous seal of approval from swinging the votes of her fervent followers?

Can the woman who owns rights to every foreseeable genre of media truly not impact the 2008 election - due to skin color? It’s never that simple. My bet’s that Ms. Media Mogul’s public relations team is putting its money on Oprah changing this election, one book clubber at a time. Or, she has a new show/book/magazine/production company/school for girls waiting in the wings to be unveiled.

I’ll be forward and boast that traveling is my forte. I am GOOD at navigating airports, subways, cities and foreign menus. I look forward to putting myself in awkward situations with language barriers, being irrationally judged and please, go ahead, ask me about our president. Most importantly, I am GOOD at airplane etiquette – or what Delta Airlines has coined, “Planeguage.”

Many other travelers, however, are not. In attempts to bring airplane etiquette to the table, Delta has created a series of short animated videos that poke fun at the nuances of traveling. There’s the “Lava Dance,” “Middleman,” “Miracle on 34th row,” “Kidtastroph,” etc. They are clever, catchy and as a seasoned traveler, hysterical. Rather than teach, they subtly point out the issues so that, as Delta spokeswoman Betsy Talton says, the videos “help raise travelers’ consciousness about what it means to be good travel companions.”

Well done, Delta.