I was just trying to explain social media to my 82 year-old dad.  You can imagine how that conversation went.

“What?”  he said.  “SOCIAL MEDIA”, I said loudly.  “You know, kind of like word of mouth advertising, only even more personal.”

“What?”  he said again.  Sweet guy, very smart engineer in his day.  And not too up on the latest marketing trends — not that I blame him.

Finally, I landed on an example that he understood and could relate to.   “Pop, do you remember that old TV commercial from the 70’s about Faberge Organic shampoo?”  Luckily he did, but not until I had to recite the lines……”I told two friends.  And they told two friends.  And so on, and so on, and so on…..”

And then it dawned on me.  Could the makers of a smelly shampoo have unexpectedly hit on something far more important than how many bottles they sold?  Or was that exactly the point?

At least now my pop understands a little more about what I do.  And just maybe I do too.

Recent posts by Jon

• Resolving to resolutions - December 30th, 2008
• Setting the tone for a great client relationship - December 19th, 2008
• Recruitment advertising - old and new - December 8th, 2008
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• Art for the artists - November 19th, 2008
• The Cost of Creativity - November 14th, 2008
• A new voice in real estate joins the blogosphere - November 5th, 2008
• Emotional bonding in the branding process - November 3rd, 2008
• Marketing in a Crazy Economy - October 27th, 2008
• The Plain Talk about Marketing Jargon - October 21st, 2008
• BG Wins Awards for PR, Blogging and Creative Design - October 17th, 2008
• The Five Pillars of Brand Management - October 10th, 2008
• Adios Direct Mail - October 6th, 2008
• We're going to Interbike - September 23rd, 2008
• Horseracing ads break for Golden Gate Fields - September 18th, 2008
• Marketing to Millenials - September 16th, 2008
• My Grandma-Influenced Career - September 11th, 2008
• Shopping Center Proud - September 2nd, 2008
• Even Stuart Elliott agrees (mostly) - August 27th, 2008
• ESPN ad shows class - August 27th, 2008
• Faberge Organics the father of social media? - August 17th, 2008
• A Sap for the Olympics - August 15th, 2008
• Don't EAT the koolaid? - July 29th, 2008
• Go Baby GO! - June 5th, 2008
• Who are we? - June 1st, 2008
• Brand-spanking Old - May 20th, 2008
• Fork you. - April 1st, 2008
• The Media Cavalli-cade - March 27th, 2008
• Will the Union-Tribune Survive? - February 7th, 2008
• And They Are Surprised No One Reads It - February 1st, 2008
• Holiday gluttony or bonding? - November 14th, 2007
• Emmy Awards rants - September 19th, 2007