Strangers In The Niiiiiiiight . . . . .

Hi Jeneane. Still love your stuff.

Hey Marek J, you still killing me man. If I were half as funny as you I'd be half as funny as something really funny. You Crazy Gonzo Motherfucker.

Sorry for the long silence. When people say "shit happens" they often fail to mention that it happens TO you, know what I mean?

Anyway, think of it this way: GM has kept Chris fed and watered for some considerable period of time.

That's no mean feat, is it?


"It can't just be intellectual"
Sexual, by ???

Gonzo Marketing for those who drive Blazers for 0% down

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Still listening

I'm still here (glad I put that RSS feed in to keep track of this one)

Great to see Chris (and the others) last week - if Halley or Denise has RB's handwritten off-the-cuff demolition of that sleazy COO from Harrah's (I looked in the dictionary under venal, and there was his mugshot) we should post it here!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY EVERYONE LEFT WHO EVER READS AND WRITES HERE!

Hey brothers, hey sisters, happy birthday!! If anyone's left out there--anyone? anyone at all?--today I wish you and the Gonzo Engaged team blog a happy one year anniversary.

Yes, it's been quiet here lately, but all indicators point to a spike in postings soon------stay tuned to see what else our friend and favorite "nut marketer" Chris Locke has in store for us............................

[cliff hanger].

-jeneane

I thought we WERE all out?

Here's a reply I prepared earlier.

While I'm passing, I'd like to mention ProSUA - the Campaign to Promote Science and useful Arts The current campaign is to make all congressional and Senatorial candidates aware that we care about the copyright over-reach issues. Track down your candidates and ask them questions, then blog the results. It's that simple.

BlogTheVote2002USA

OUT!

Subject: I have visited your website gonzoengaged.blogspot.com

Dear Sir/Madam,

I have visited gonzoengaged.blogspot.com and found it is a thoughtfully-designed one with much helpful information but poorly listed in many search engines. It's time to do something. Find a most effective way of advertising, find FULLPROMOTE! Best Service, lowestcost! Fullpromote will instantly submit your website to all the famous searching engines around the world.

I didn't know this was my website. Everybody out!

Gonzo or Bozo?

Ericsson's pushing it a bit
In one initiative, dubbed Fake Tourist, 60 trained actors and actresses will haunt tourist attractions such as the Empire State Building in New York and the Space Needle in Seattle. Working in teams of two or three and behaving as if they were actual tourists, the actors and actresses will ask unsuspecting passersby to take their pictures.
Presto: instant product demonstrations.

Today I am Celebrating the Poets Amongus...

Martin Jensen posted this poem earlier this year. Somehow it rang true and it rang Gonzo marketing chimes.

Through a fish, darkly

I read some of it via Babelfish and it looks interesting.

I think there is some commonality with my mediAgora ideas. here's my new short summary:

mediAgora defines rules for a market in digital media so Creators get credited and paid for their work, and Customers choose to pay a fair price.

Why is this needed? Because the media marketplace is riven by conflict between companies that profit from scarcity of physical goods and access, and those who assume that because works are easy to copy they need not be paid for. In either case, the creators lose out.

mediAgora is GPL-like, as a work sold through it can be incorporated in other works under the same terms - if you use my music as a background to your video, your customers should pay me the price I set for that music, as well as paying you your price for the video. This avoids the endless rights haggling that hinders so many productions.

mediAgora rewards you when you promote a work in a way that leads to a sale. Share new music or movies with your friends, and when they buy their copies, you get a cut. Creators don't see their royalties disappear in unaudited promotion fees - payment is strictly by results.

We all create - free speech and a free market can get us paid.

Metáfora

Metáfora is a brazilian project. It´s very intersting to realize how easy is the conversation in our markets. As Tom Matrullo said once the gigantus homos analiticus have a suspicious mind. I do believe that countries like Brazil, India and... Italy(?) have a diferencial for new markets approaches.

An Open Source Project

Let me introduce the Metáfora Project. It´s a kind of open researching and developing of ideas based on the open source initiative ans free software movement. But instead to aplly it to software we are working to catalize the conversation in markets. Using the colective intelligence and copyleft concepts to the intelectual production.

The Metáfora site uses the wiki interface in order to to ensure to all its members the ability to add new ideas and projects to add news ideas and projects. We have already about 55 members (and growing speedy) and several new projects (including the Daniel Pádua´s Blogchalking). I really think it´s going to succed as an engaged pro active community case. BTW... it´s written in portuguese... no translation till now

Marketing a market

I know everyone is citing Janis Ian on the Internet debacle but check out the rest of her articles - talk about voice!

She explains far better than I ever could why we need to make something like I propose at mediAgora

Locke on Gonzo

Mother gonzo is running off to a parent-teacher conference, but not before I point you to George Partington's great interview with Chris Locke on Gonzo Marketing. I like the part where Chris slams his ankle into his desk. Okay, I haven't read the whole thing, but that struck me as a genuinely human moment from a genuinely human guy. I'm sure there are more gems just like that. Read on... gonzo on...

Honesty needed for business

George Trefgarne, city edito ro the Daily Telegraph says that post-Enron, INtegrity is demanded more then ever before:
In the Noughties, many people suspect those in power tell porkies. Teenagers are especially cynical. You might think it rich coming from a generation that is itself pretty untrustworthy, stealing mobile phones etc, but according to a new survey in the latest issue of The Face magazine, around 80 per cent of 16- to 29-year-olds reckon you can't believe corporations or the media.

Such sentiments are not confined to yoof. The Daily Telegraph's poll by YouGov last week found more than half of all voters don't trust the Government.

You could be forgiven for thinking the world is run by gangsters. Well, would that it was, some might say. At least they have standards, which is more than can be said for an executive selling shares in his company even as he knows the whole thing is about to go down the pan; or a dodgy accountant; or a spin doctor trying to stitch up Black Rod; or advertisers making wildly exaggerated claims; or the ex-directors of Equitable Life, who disgracefully tried to wriggle out of a promise of guaranteed annuities.
[...]
But government failure is as much to blame as market failure for this phenomenon. Leaving aside the issue of spin, our poor education system is not much help in the development of "social capital" - the human values and skills on which a market-oriented economy rests.

But, generally speaking, the last thing we want is the Government sticking its nose in and interfering. Far better for individuals to take responsibility for their own conduct and dust down the values on which the market is, once again, putting a premium: honesty, self-restraint and personal integrity.

Is your word really your bond? It had better be.

A call for Gonzo Authenticity?

Young Grrrl Reveals All...

The Andrea James interview is available for your edification and delight. Come on by. Also, a little memic propagation wouldn't hurt if you find that you've enjoyed the interview.
-fp-

Gonzo Marketing Movie from 1947

Seasonally inappropriate, but the movie I watched tonight was Miracle on 34th Street which has Santa founding truth-based marketing. 'Don't buy it here at Macy's - go to Gimmels where its cheaper'.

I vote for "Authentic"

Wow! What a scathing, unkind piece that personally attacks all those people who were willing to share their actual life/work experiences with a product. The switch stories are individual and obviously heartfelt and it was, imho, a stroke of Gonzo genius on Apple's part to choose to market its products this way. As a recent convert myself I've been meaning to submit a story, and Orlowski's piece was probably just what I needed to prompt me to take the plunge and explain why my Mac is not "a punishment surrogate, a child substitute or a masturbation object," but the most innovative and headache-relieving computing tool I've ever had the pleasure of using. They could easily re-brand from "Apple" to "Advil." (May have to throw that in.)

Apple's Real People - Gonzo?

Andrew Orlowski attacks Apple's Real People Ads:
Ease of use is a strong suite for Apple - particularly with its recent consumer apps - so unusually for advertising, this is a new campaign which promises to something approaching the truth. It's a strong premise, but what sinks it is the execution.

Quite frankly, this new ad campaign is terrifying. No, it's worse than that - it's a theatre of cruelty that makes victims of Apple's loyal Macintosh user base.

I think he is unnecessarily abusive about their looks, but is it just that seeing people in Ads who aren't models disturbs him? Is Apple's switch campaign Gonzo? Are these people's voices authentic, or has the process of selection removed that?

Some Gonzo Thoughts On Corporate Blogging

From Sean Carton, clickZ, "Macromedia Blogs and the Death of the 'Official Story.'"
From Dave Rogers, Can Blogs Find A Place In The Corpocracy?
From me, "'Official Story,' Meet 'Trusty Spokesperson.'"

(Phew, I could use an injection from Shelley's Needle about now.)

Global Warming - a feedback proposal

Here's an idea that struck me last summer when CA was going through power cuts every time it got hot.
Pass a law requiring all Air Conditioning to be solar powered.
Baseload electricity can nicely be supplied by Nuclear & Hydro (or Gas if you must - we should still stop using Coal, and reduce dependency on Oil).
The bulk of the power spikes in hotter parts of the US are driven by Air conditioning demand, which is almost perfectly correlated with available solar energy.

Eat your feeds

I think we now have an RSS Feed

Deconstructing Me

I thought you all might want to see Frank Paynter on Jeneane Sessum over on Sandhill. I may not pull out all the stops, but I confess enough I think, what with the losing my virginity to my husband, smoking pot in college, and wading my way through family alcohol torture. Oh I think I mention blogging too. Not to mention sex in the sea, bowling alley, and other places. GONZO! --jeneane

Cluetrain, MS and the British Government

It seems someone at Microsoft UK wants to make Chris Locke into a liar. You remember that opening passage from Internet Apocalypso?

We die.

You will never hear those words spoken in a television ad. Yet this central fact of human existence colors our world and how we perceive ourselves within it.

"Life is too short," we say, and it is.

Well, some of the millions MS spent on launching the X-box went on an ad specifically designed to falsify this claim:

It starts with a woman giving birth to a baby boy who then shoots out of a window in a surreal sequence.

Viewers then saw the boy ageing rapidly as he flies through the air screaming, before violently crashing into his own grave.

The advert ends with the payoff: "Life is short. Play more."

Fortunately this crisis has been averted. The British Independent Television Commission has banned this shocking violation of normality.

Is this a sinister quid pro quo deal, with Doc Searls flying in to dispense clues in return?

Lets leave the last word to Chris:

We die. And there's more than one way to get it over with. Advertising has some serving suggestions for your premature burial.

Warming Jitters

Thanks for your input, Kevin. This is such a complex issue. There's plenty of room for diasgreement on approaches to the problem. What disturbs me is the level of denial. It takes adroit, committed leadership to move a culture out of denial. You won't get it from W on this issue.

What's he concerned about? His conservative base, apparently. After hearing their outrage over the EPA report, Bush is quickly distancing himself from said report. So it's back to square one: "Folks, don't believe what my experts are telling you. We don't necessarily have a problem here. Get on with your lives." Why am I not surprised?

The media are equal culprits in this. Have you noticed how back-page the coverage has been? Media defenders would probably retort that the media is just following the public. Joe Public doesn't give a shit, so the media isn't going to give a shit either.

It isn't just the prez that's got to provide the leadership. The media has a role as well. But where is it going to come from? What scares me is that the Republicans have developed too many political smarts. They know there aren't any votes in this. Forget the Earth. It's War, baby, all the way to re-election.

Anyway, Kevin, thanks for the link to Viridian. There's a lot there and I haven't had time yet to absorb it. It looks promising.

My wife tells me that I'm addicted to worst-case scenarios. While she may be right, I can't help thinking that a bit of alarmism is appropriate in this case. The threat of nuclear attack is the only thing I can think of that's more alarming than global warming.

Global Warming

OK, Tom, I'll take the bait. Kyoto would have done nothing to stop this. What would work is tradable carbon quotas, but Kyoto wasn't into that. If you want people to use less energy, put the price up. It worked for us in California.
Moving electricity generation baseload to nuclear from coal is the biggest, cleanest thing we could do about this. Strangely, this is never high on the list of pro-Kyoto activists either. Here's what I said in April:

US nuclear generation creates about 2,000 tons of high-level waste per year.
This worries people, and it is thus treated with lots of care, and its storage is the subject of much debate.

Coal generation, creates about 100 million tons. And it's exempt from being treated as hazardous waste!

Coal waste has approximately 20-30 parts per million of Uranium.

Lets do the maths then:

100 million tons x 25 parts per million = 2,500 tons of uranium from the coal industry per year.

So, the coal industry is generating more nuclear waste per year as the nuclear one, but they are just chucking it in landfills and the atmosphere.

And that's just counting Uranium, not other radionuclides - never mind greenhouse gases, Mercury and other toxins that last forever, unlike radioactive waste that has a half-life.

According to the DoE, there are 2-3 billion tons of coal finings already lying around near coal mines - enough that its worth them researching a way to turn them back into coal.

Getting us weaned from coal generation onto nuclear and other alternatives should be the focus of energy policy.

Now what we really need is a massive class action suit against coal companies for poisoning us, creating greenhouse gases and dumping radioacive waste into the atmosphere.

For a Gonzo approach to this whole subject, go visit Bruce Sterling's Viridian group

Blogtank Massive Failure Project

Hey guys. Just wanted to invite you to a discussion to put Gonzo Marketing into practice at Blogtank. I asked a question and people responded. I also wrote some ideas about how to proceed. Come over and Make Some Noise. Thanks

Revival Anyone?

Maybe we need a little political crossfire to get this blog moving again. It's worth a try, at least. So, in that spirit, I'll reprint my post today from my blog:

Catch Those Alpine Meadows While You Can

Time to bestow another one of my "Huh? Lemme See If I Got That Straight" Awards. This time the award goes to George W. Bush and his entire environmental team. They quietly issued a report today--"U.S. Climate Action Report 2002"-- admitting, after years of denial, that, yes, global warming is actually happening and, yes, it presents a serious threat to the quality of the environment.

Oh, and the responsible party, according to the report? Human beings. How about that? Thought it might have been those pesky dolphins.

If you're tempted to say, "Way to go, W! Glad to see you got it right this time," consider the Administration's recommendation for responding to the threat. I'll quote from the New York Times so that you won't think that I'm making this up:

"It recommends adapting to inevitable changes.(my emphasis) It does not recommend making rapid reductions in greenhouse gases to limit warming, the approach favored by many environmental groups and countries that have accepted the Kyoto Protocol, a climate treaty written in the Clinton administration that was rejected by Mr. Bush."

And what are the changes which the report predicts and asks us to "adapt to?"

"the United States will be substantially changed in the next few decades — 'very likely' seeing the disruption of snow-fed water supplies, more stifling heat waves and the permanent disappearance of Rocky Mountain meadows and coastal marshes, for example — (yet) it does not propose any major shift in the administration's policy on greenhouse gases."

The Bushies are trying to have it both ways. They will try to say to the environmentally-conscious swing voters that they've cleaned up their environmental act, while at the same time doing nothing to offend the Big Energy Crowd to whom they're beholden.

You'd like to think that they won't get away with it. I wouldn't count on it. First of all, the candy-ass, pussyfooting Democrats have shrunk from developing any authentic voice to effectively question and counter-attack this mean-spirited, dangerous mindlessness to which we are being subjected.

Secondly, according to political observers, suburban Moms are no longer the swing vote that counts. Suburban Dads have deftly been identified by the Repubs as the new swing vote treasure. This group, by and large, loves the beat of the war drums, and they're too exhausted from all those hours in their office cubicles to give a shit about Alpine Meadows.

Well, I've managed to break my self-imposed rule against ranting. I couldn't help it this time. Sometimes those shithead Boys-Currently-In-Charge just cause me to lose it.

Bop a Rep

Wish they'd had this back when I was fielding scores of calls every week from cliche-spouting media reps--a great new game on the Web, "Upfront."

The media buyer starts the game with a supply of staplers, bagels, and other projectiles which are pelted at the virtual reps as they pop up from behind desks and filing cabinets--mouthing their usual lines like, "'We'd like to talk to you about out-of-the-box ideas' and "creating new paradigms," or "building long-term relationships."

The game was developed and is offered by G4, the media network for gamers. Is this a great marketing ploy or what? Looks like they've got some "out-of-the-box" types over there.

Egads

I'm with you Tom. It won't be "blogads" that help this happen. But there is something to the regional flavor emerging in some blogging pockets--the Boston bloggers, and some on the west coast as examples. They would be my go-to source if I lived in those areas and needed to find out how reliable a business was, or if I were traveling to the area and wanted to know the best hotel for my family. But as I'm finding out now, I'd be just as likely to pick up the phone and call one of them, because I it seems that I'm talking to at least one blogger--who have actually ceased being "bloggers" to me and have crossed the chasm to "friendship" -- every week.

Ah, for another post, another time.

j.

Blogads

The article is called "Making a Living from Blogging," and it offers some stimulating thoughts. But this seems a bit much:

"Eventually, a sufficient density of local blogs could make Blogads an effective tool for selling local goods and services."