How to BP (Be Proactive) helping gulf restoration

This is, of course, ostensibly a marketing blog, so my thoughts and comments thus far (my last blog post, in fact) have focused on the PR/brand implications of BP’s pathetic PR response to the Deepwater Horizon disaster. (Since I posted that blog entry last week nothing has changed. In fact a few days ago, BP’s CEO Tony Hayward hit a new low by saying that he “…wants this to be over so I can get my life back…” as if he was more impacted by the disaster than the eleven men killed in the explosion and the thousands of gulf residents who have subsequently seen the destruction of their livelihoods.) It’s taken a little time for it to come ashore, but on Friday Pensacola, Florida residents saw the first tar balls wash up on shore, and of course Louisiana – and their state bird, the once – and now once again – endangered Brown Pelican, have been effected the worst.

PR aside, at some point we have to step in where BP's platitudes do not. However, not all of us can race to the gulf to wash birds with Dove detergent, but alternatively, here are a few links that will accept your donations:

• Adopt a pelican International Bird Rescue Research Center (IBRRC)
• Donate to gulf restoration through the NWF (National Wildlife Federation)
• Help fishermen and the Louisiana seafood industry via protect our coastline.org: Also donate by texting ‘gulf’ to 77007

Oh, and one last thing: In spite of media coverage to the contrary, no one wants your hair: So you can keep your locks, Repunzel.

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• Pelicans, Back from Brink of Extinction, Face Threat From Oil Spill (nytimes.com)

How much is a friend worth?

A month or more ago when Burger King was running its Facebook promotion that encouraged users to delete 10 friends to receive a free Whopper, a friend of mine posted on his status that he "is not going to give up a friendship for a Whopper." Well, that’s a kinda low threshold for my value as his friend, though to be certain, I'm glad I qualified.

So what is a friend worth? Poets and songwriters might couch it in elegant prose and a clever turn of phrase, but a new study by University of Chicago Economics professor Gabriella Conti affirms that being popular – particularly in high school – is quantitatively valuable later in life. In the study, Conti and colleagues measure the association between popularity in high school and later wages.

From admittedly dated data (the raw data was gathered in 1975 from 4000 men who graduated in 1957) The subjects were asked to name up to three of their closest friends and used the number of times ta person was mentioned as a measure of that person’s popularity, and then compared that to a person’s earnings.

The takeaway?

They found that, after controlling for variables, each extra close friend in high school is associated with an increase in earnings of 2%. The study concludes that either social skills carry forward to the working world or simply, friends tend to help friends.

Given the subjects and the data are dated, it begs the question as to whether the data carries forward to friends through Social Media net out as an increase, and if friends that are exclusively 'virtual' friends have the same impact.

Either way, its bad news for social misfits who take solace in the idea that one day they'll be lord and master over their current adolescent tormentors. The data doesn't seem to support the fact that the computer club president will one day be in a position to hire and fire the varsity quarterback. On the upside, years later he might still be able to hack that football hero's fat bank account.

The (Burger) King of Online Advertising

While Outdoor advertising is mostly ugly, television ads universally inane, and radio advertising has arguably the worst creative (few creatives are experienced enough to use the medium well or have the budgets to maintain high production values) it is actually online advertising that I find the most annoying. However, as a nascent medium, the approaches used continue to evolve and banners, particularly flash banners, have continued to progress from the aggravatingly distracting (think lowermybills.com and their dancing video clips) to the growing movement toward branded entertainment. Google itself has created an entire department within their AdWords franchise to develop the concept.

Branded entertainment takes an established business model and moves it to the web. New content is being developed with the goal to entertain, not distract the user. The result is more and more engaged viewers, and a more positive brand association between the user and the sponsor. The latest 'name' to develop this type of material is Seth McFarland of Fox Television's "No Way I'm Letting My Kid Watch That" er, "The Family Guy". He is creating unique "webisodes" that will be syndicated through AdSense to sites targeting 18-34 year old men. The first ones from the Family Guy creator are sponsored by Burger King, which places an animated ad (also by McFarland) featuring the BK king mascot runs before the animated short plays. The content is ostensibly unrelated to Burger King or its products.

MacFarlane indicates that creating the webisodes frees him from the constraints of television (Really? It's Fox, its thirty minutes, not thirty seconds, and I don't find The Family Guy particularly restrained!) So McFarlane gets another creative outlet, Burger King gets access to prospective burger eaters, and those burger eaters are entertained instead of merely distracted.

Online advertising is quickly becoming the Cinderella of advertisers. Once only favored by media buyers, agency and other creatives are also now seeing the potential of building a brand online by entertaining and engaging customers online, not annoying them into submission.