Archive for October, 2009
Check out 2009’s most popular Halloween costumes along with Hershey’s Trick-or-Treat website
Halloween is quickly approaching which happens to fall on a Saturday this year, so there definitely will be an increase in trick-or-treaters and in parties. So if you haven’t gotten your costume, or your kid’s costume yet, there’s still time. According to shopping search engine, SortPrice.com, here are the most popular kid and adult costumes this year:
Most Popular 2009 Kids Halloween Costumes
- Transformers’ Bumblebee
- Batman
- Buzz Lightyear
- Cinderella
- Harry Potter
- Hannah Montana
- Traditional Princess
- Bakugan
- Dora the Explorer
- Sponge Bob SquarePants
Most Popular 2009 Adult Halloween Costumes
- Vampire
- Sexy Nurse
- Michael Jackson
- Star Wars
- Sexy Santa
So with kids it’s the movie and TV characters that dominate the top spots again as usual. For adults I guess there’s not much of a surprise there either with sexy costumes being what most women seem to gravitate to. I thought maybe Sexy Santa was a costume for men to wear, but instead the link to photos of the costumes proved me wrong.
Anyhow, I’ll probably take out my devil ears and put them back on as I answer the door for the trick-or-treaters. This will be the first year that we won’t have either of our two daughters home for Halloween since they’re both off at college, so it will be much quieter. We always seemed to be the house that they and they’re friends in the neighborhood would end up hanging out, so I will miss it.
Hershey’s has created a fun promotional micro-site just for Halloween this year at Hershey’sTrickorTreat.com. It’s a great resource for moms (and dads) who are planning a party for their kids or just decorating the house. Hershey’s has included many different craft and activity ideas, spooky recipes, costume and decorating tips, party planning guides and even resources for teachers for their classrooms.
Hershey’s has also included a variety of pumpkin stencils to choose from which range from easy to difficult. My husband is the king carver and always tries to out do the rest of us every year. So check the site out. There are some fun downloads as well.
So I wish you all a Happy Halloween and hope you enjoy the night. I think we could all use a little fun diversion for at least a day.
Once Upon a Time in America
Once upon a time in America women were Moms who stayed home and lived in the kitchen. They bandaged bruised elbows, served cookies and cocoa and made sure the dust bunnies were banished to the wastebasket.
That was once upon a time. I was a child then. And, that person did not live at my house. Which why I think of that time as a misty fairytale era.
Today, women are active in all facets of industry - sales, communications, marketing, medicine, engineering, and any other career parth you care to name. Some of these women are Moms, i.e. – females with children, usually children still at home. Some of these women are executives at large corporations or small businesses. Some of these women are entrepreneurs. Some are single, some married, some choose to remain childless, some ache for a child but have none.
Some of these women are emerging personalities - still in their late teens and eager to be rid of that childish label. Some of these women are young, the world calls them Generation Y. Others are young but are part of something called Generation X. The two are exactly the same, but different, as my niece used to say about two very different but similar items/movies/foods/toys/books.
Once we leave Gen Y and Gen X-land, we enter into…”old” where women are labelled Baby Boomers or Seniors, and they are alternately looked upon as powerful divas with money to spend (on themselves, their kids and grandkids, and on charity), or as aging matriarchs who eagerly join groups like The Red Hat Society , often perceived as clinging still to the spice of life they felt in their youth.
None of these labels or descriptions reflect the real women I know.
This point was brought home to me today when I was over at Engage: Boomers reading Matt Thornhill reporting on the popularity of social media with the boomer crowd. His numbers showed that more women than men use the tools we consider part of social media. His math says “76% ” of Facebook’s recent new adult users are women. (Facebook, it would seem, is the tool of choice these days. I am not a fan. I am there because you are there, but…it’s NOT my fav place to be.)
But, of course, the people engaging in social media, dominating social media, are women!
That’s not Matt’s point. I dug that realization out by myself. Matt’s article is actually a rub against news reports citing an increase in adults over 45 at Facebook as proof that boomers love social media. Because of that number shift, Matt points out that marketers believe they need to embrace social media to reach the boomer market, as if it’s the holy grail. No, he didn’t say “holy grail”… I did.
Matt advises marketers to: “Hold your Benjamins.” (gotta love it! he’s so clever and such a good writer)
As he explains, via Stanford psychologist Dr. Laura Carstensen, “Older adults narrow their social interaction to maximize positive emotional experiences and minimize emotional risks of investing time in relationships that are not positive.”
Here’s my problem – I’m totally on board with emotional connections, but…Matt seems to be stating that social media isn’t the answer because we don’t have an emotional connection to “it.” Ummm… hello? I am not wedded to social media, any more than I was, in the past, wedded to my newspaper. So, yes, I have an emotional attachment to the people, but since the tool allows me to connect with them more effectively, I find myself attached to it, also.
Dr. Carstensen says boomers are selective about who they network with. True? Yes and no. Really, I separate family and friends from business colleagues, but I use social media to connect to all of them. And, guess what…the two overlap. Clients often become friends. Social media allows me to manage that. I definitely get stressed when twitter is down or when I can’t get in touch with my network via this blog. Someday I’ll videotape my emotional state when that happens. Or, maybe not.
I’m not arguing with Matt. I trust his research and I agree with his statements. Here’s what I think, though – once upon a time in America, life was all about people talking to other people, where “people” was mostly women because women like to talk. And…then the PC was invented. And women slowly but surely discovered the power of bits and bytes and talking to people in far, distant places. Wow!
Boomer or otherwise, women fell in love with the net (it doesn’t get more emotional than that), and claimed it as their own. An explosion of voices connecting across not only states but countries. Woman to woman, Mom to child, wife to husband, daughter to Mother, sister to sister, and on and on.
As Dr. Carstensen says, we are selective. But, in a different way, I think. We are selective enough to hang around in more than one social circle, online and offline. We are emotionally connected to all of them, in some way. The key is to understand that one circle may hang out on Facebook, another on Twitter, and yet another down at the local coffee shop.
What’s up with this adoption of social media by “the boomers” – most of whom are women? What does it all mean?
For me, and many of my women friends, it means you need to stop calling us “old.”It means we’re tired of being labelled “boomers” (seriously, the association is a negative one). And we don’t really need you so, if you want to build a relationship with us, tread carefully. Get your wife to introduce you. If you’re female to begin with, get your mother to introduce you. If you’re already a member of our group and we’re dissing you – look hard in the mirror and ask yourself, “Am I too much about me, when I should be more about them?”
Get a head start by hopping over and reading Matt’s article. It’s worth your time. I’d love to know your thoughts on it.
"Help, I’ve been sending out Tweets for months and no one ever responds!"
by Guest Blogger, Lena West, Chief of Social Media Strategy at xynoMedia
I was about to go on stage to speak at a conference when a woman ran up to me. She was completely out of breath and she stammered, “I’m on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. I’ve been sending out Tweets for months and no one ever responds! What am I supposed to do about this?? I’m just wasting my time! I’ve wasted so much time!”
I had a few minutes before my presentation began so I took the time to ask her a few questions about her business:
- What type of business are you in?
- How exactly do you help your clients? What type of service(s) do your provide?
- How long have you been in business?
- Who is your market?
We went on in this question and answer mode for a few minutes and finally, I looked at her and I said flatly, “You don’t even need to use Twitter if you don’t want to.”
To which she replied, “Really?! I don’t?”
This happens a LOT. When you don’t take the time to figure out who your market is, where they are and what type and format of content they want from you, you can waste a LOT of time doing things that really don’t make sense.
For some reason, business people have been led to to believe that they need to be everywhere. It’s just not true. The only place you need to be is where your market is.
Hint: Your market may not just be your potential clients, your market may also include your centers of influence and your peers.
Bottomline: So, if you can cover all your bases using LinkedIn alone, I say fish where the fish are and don’t make work for yourself.
Your Health and Mine: Michelle Obama Speaks Out
I’m a fan of our First Lady, I openly and honestly want you to know that. I have been a fan of all of our First Ladies, regardless of political persuasion. Well, I wasn’t much taken with Hillary, back in the day, but I’ve come around.
Today, I wanted to share this video with you. Blair, from KaplowPR, sent it to me. It’s an important message about our health – yours, mine, and everyone else’s. Regardless of that big idea you have, or how much support friends and family give you in your new start-up, without your health, you are nothing. We are nothing.
In this video, thanks to iVillage, Michelle Obama shares a personal story about Sasha, her daughter – and the fact that healthcare is more than important, it’s a vital necessity for every human being, certainly for every person in America. The video, according to Blair, is designed “to get women involved and to encourage them to ask personal questions about health care.” What questions would you ask? Here’s one from me: Why can’t I get the same coverage in CO as I get in NY? (I can’t, btw. I’ve already investigated. As someone with fibromyalgia, this is a big concern…)
Your Health and Mine: Michelle Obama Speaks Out
I'm a fan of our First Lady, I openly and honestly want you to know that. I have been a fan of all of our First Ladies, regardless of political persuasion. Well, I wasn't much taken with Hillary, back in the day, but I've come around.
Today, I wanted to share this video with you. Blair, from KaplowPR, sent it to me. It's an important message about our health – yours, mine, and everyone else's. Regardless of that big idea you have, or how much support friends and family give you in your new start-up, without your health, you are nothing. We are nothing.
In this video, thanks to iVillage, Michelle Obama shares a personal story about Sasha, her daughter – and the fact that healthcare is more than important, it's a vital necessity for every human being, certainly for every person in America. The video, according to Blair, is designed "to get women involved and to encourage them to ask personal questions about health care." What questions would you ask? Here's one from me: Why can't I get the same coverage in CO as I get in NY? (I can't, btw. I've already investigated. As someone with fibromyalgia, this is a big concern…)
I’m Not A Social Media Expert
By Guest Blogger, Mary Schmidt, Marketing Troubleshooter
Recently Yvonne asked – via FB – what terms we preferred when talking about social media – did we grok and rock with "social media expert" for example. My reply (as regular readers would know) is that I don't like the "e" word. Anybody and everybody can (and seemingly does, based on Google searches) use it – and no real expertise is required.
As I've noted elsewhere, having a blog (or tweeting or posting on YouTube) doesn't automatically make anyone a "social media expert." I can replace the handle on my toilet, but that doesn't make me a plumbing expert. (It also took me about an hour and half to do that seemingly no-brainer task.)
Then today, I get this email with the subject line, "Social Media Experts Wanted." (Normally I'd delete unopened but I was pondering this blog post so….)
We are working with many internet marketing and social media experts in launching our new site. Please check out the promo site http://BlastOffNetwork.com.
If you are interested in working with us email me back directly or visit http://ItPays.me
That's it. No further explanation. Just a stone cold email blast. I assume someone somewhere bought a list of "thousands of bloggers" and my name was on it. Sigh. Yet another example of combining the worst of two worlds – old-time interruption marketing and the new "you can't hide" Internet technology.
These folks must assume I'm breathlessly waiting by my computer hoping for something to fill my time. (Sorry, clueless ad/PR firms – unless you're Don Draper offering to come to my house with martini shaker in hand…I'm not interested in an outta da blue email pitch.) In this case, I'm expected to go visit a web site to find out more about something I've never heard of…with no reason given as to why I should. (Although, the "itpays.me" address makes my web flim-flam antenna quiver.)
Seems (in a very quick visit to the web site; I'm busy) that Blastoff is another "sell to your friends" network marketing scheme ("Sign up your friends!") – with a shopping portal mixed in. You can shop at "hundreds" of online stores. (Um, I already go to Amazon and have my favorite stores, both online and offline. Why would I want to complicate my online life even more?) Then there's:
Blastoff Network is your launch pad to the internet which can be
customized with your favorite news, music, videos, blogs, social
networks and shopping, all in one place!
I can already do that – to the extent I want to…so?
The actual "thing" may even be good, but…a lazy marketer, using outdated methods, has turned me off. Don't let this happen to your company or new product launch. Social media – or any other new and shiny thang – is no substitute for real marketing.
(Of course, I'm already seeing Blastoff recommendations/links popping up over at Facebook. Oh well…"hide" "hide" "hide" [If you're wondering how to hide a friend's status or application, you've got to roll the mouse over the empty white space next to the friend's status and it'll show up.] FB has done a darned good job of hiding that feature. Gee, wonder why?;-))
It’s a Woman’s World – Are You Part Of It? I’m Not.
This week I was on a conference call set up by Maria Shriver – you know, Arnold's wife, and a Kennedy at heart? She invited bloggers and 30 of us called in. Now, I'm name-dropping on purpose because Maria has partnered with some key people (celebs and other 'well-known' names) to create what she calls A Woman's Nation, based on The Shriver Report.
So far, so good, right? Wrong.
I can see that Maria Shriver is attempting to do good. I can see that her over 400 page report (who is going to read ALL of that?) has content relevant to women and women's issues, including wages, home life, and the power women of a woman's purse. But, her website and her women's conference turns me off. Why? Because all I see are big names, powerful celebrities, a lot of promoting of Maria and her friends. These are not women reflective of ME!
Interestingly, Melanie Notkin was a bit unhappy with Maria's conference call and her work, also. For those who don't know Melanie she is the founder of Savvy Auntie – a powerful group of women who represent close to 50% of the female population in the U.S. These are women who are not *** shock *** Moms! (can I say that? aren't Moms all powerful? don't I write about them all the time? yikes…Melanie sure set me straight and I'm now setting you straight)
In Melanie's letter on her Savvy Auntie site, she takes Maria to task for focusing almost exclusively on the Moms and families that are inclusive of Moms and Dads. She says, "…when speaking of the nation's women and the economy, women without children who love, nurture and support the children in their lives should be part of the conversation. The women who have discretionary income and time that they spend on our economy should have a voice."
Well, who can argue with that? Not me. I know many PANKS, as Melanie calls them (Professional Aunts No Kids). I so agree that Melanie and I discussed this issue on the phone and I will share that with you next week. We had quite the conversation.
In the end, Maria Shriver did what the wowowow gals did – they tapped into celebrities, big names, famous people, women of influence in business – good women, all. But, not reflective of me. Not, dear reader, necessarily reflective of you.
There is no diversity in this movement; it lacks the very substance it promises to deliver. Ok, it may be chock full of stats and reports, and while it reflects the world we live in today, it does not help us solve anything.
Because beyond the report, Maria and her 'friends' are stuck in the box the U.S. likes to put women – a box that not only ignores PANKS but ignores me. I'm a Grandmother – divorced and living with my partner, Tom. I'm an entrepreneur. I'm a woman who lives in the real world, with you, all of my Lip-sticking readers. And, if Maria wants me to 'join' her movement (A woman's nation changes everything), she needs to include women like me on her panel, in her website, and especially on her homepage(s). At present, the "box" she lives in contains Moms with children of indeterminate age, and usually, a Dad… the predictable American Family.
Before I join, before I participate, I need to see you there, dear reader. I need to see women who are as diverse as the big outdoors. We are all different. We are all powerful in some way. We are not all Moms (let's define that – today, a "Mom" is a married woman with children, who is between the ages of 25-35, IMHO; she's the one the brands are pursuing like crazy!).
WE, the women of the U.S. I live in, are also PANKS and GrandMoms and gays with children. We're women of influence because we are out there helping our sisters be all that they want to be! We have come a long way – just on a different path than the celebs Maria culled for her movement. Our path is one that leads to creating leadership out of talent, not celebrity.
Let's tell Maria we'd like to be included in her movement, but she needs to invite some of us in to her inner circle – to give voice to the large number of women her report that her "woman's nation" ignores.
Here's my last word (until you get to listen to my podcast with Melanie): I do not want women who have never walked a day in my shoes to read stats and do research and then tell me how I feel and what my life is like. I am open to embracing the cause – it's a good one. But, when they clearly do not understand me, or many of my closest friends, I have trouble believing they can, or want to, help me.
My cynical nature says they want to be applauded for stepping up – and bringing their fancy friends with them.
p.s. to all the partners at a woman's nation: hey, niche blogs like mine and sites like Melanie's are also worth your attention – we can reach the real women who need and buy your products.
Pink Boxers Promotion Supports Breast Cancer Awareness Month
As the month of October is starting to wind down we've all probably seen our share of "Pink Promotions" with October being known as Breast Cancer Awareness month. Back towards the beginning of September I wrote this post about the cause in which I highlighted a great online promotion — a t-shirt design contest developed by Hanes, the apparel sponsor of Passionately Pink for the Cure which benefits Susan G. Komen for the Cure.
There are many brands that have become supporters in one way or another to help create awareness and raise funds for breast cancer research. However, there are also those that are capitalizing on the "Pink" in order to sell product and are contributing to the cause very minimally. So as consumers we always need to be aware of the differences. Yes, these are some of the issues we would rather see the FTC focusing on than us bloggers. But that's another topic!
Anyhow, I like to write about the positive marketing campaigns being done for this cause. Here's a local promotion running in Tempe, Arizona (where I lived for a year B.C. kids), which I just had to share. It doesn't use any new whiz-bang technology. It's just really innovative and funny.
Fulton Homes, a large residential home builder in Arizona, teamed up with local radio station, 98.7 The Peak, and the county Sheriff, Joe Arpaio, to raise funds for the cause. All month Peak listeners have been encouraged to purchase a pair of Sheriff Joe’s legendary pink boxers. The Peak has been promoting the promotion on their website as well as utilizing social media such as Twitter and Facebook.
From what we've been told Sheriff Joe is notorious for making inmates wear pink underwear as a method to control inventory. Ironically, these boxers have created quite a demand among the public so Fulton Homes got the idea to sell some with proceeds going to Susan G. Komen for the Cure.
Sheriff Joe has made himself available for some public appearances where he has signed these limited edition pink boxers and has stated “I am proud to support this wonderful organization and encourage people to take action by buying a pair of pink boxers.”
You can still purchase Sheriff Joe’s limited edition pink boxer shorts and contribute to the cause by going online here.
I mentioned in my last post on this topic that my mom is battling breast cancer, so this is a very personal cause to me and my family. I received quite a few comments from that post, so I realize many of us have personal stories to share. I'll be heading down south in a couple of weeks to visit my mom and dad. They've had a rough past month. So pray for all those living with cancer every day and try and support those brands that are true to the cause. Thank-you.
Rape is not a reportable crime to big business, apparently
We discuss women's issues here, in addition to social media advice, and marketing to women online. The issues I tackle are ones I consider too important to ignore, and this is one.
I hope all of my readers are acutely aware of the gang rape incident which happened to Jamie Leigh Jones while at her job at Halliburton/KBR… where she was not only assaulted in the worst way, but she was locked in a shipping container without food or water, for a full day – to PREVENT HER FROM REPORTING the attack.
Last week, Sen. Al Franken helped pass an anti-rape-lawsuit amendment essentially stating that the government, OUR government, will NOT do business with contractors who deny employees their right to sue over sexual assault allegations. This came from Jaime's bravery, once she was released from her job and had returned to the U.S., to open her mouth and speak about this atrocity.
If you're asking, WHY? WHY do we need this bill…why is reporting rape not acceptable? You are echoing a lot of other women's, and men's, voices. More amazingly…
Here's the kicker – the amendment was passed – 68 -30. That's right, 30 senators voted against it. 30 Republican senators (and you know what, I'd be writing this if they were Democrats – with more vehemence, but they weren't – they were Republicans and they were far more worried about Halliburton than about the horror this young woman went through – and the fact that her right to report it had been not only openly but physically, denied!).
I turn you over to Dory Devlin at the Yahoo! Shine network, where she asks, "How could righting something as clearly wrong as this prompt 'no' votes from members of any party?"
Indeed. For a good commentary on the issue, I offer Jon Stewart's "rape-nuts" rant from The Daily Show. He brings the story true focus, and leaves us (me) wondering what century I'm in.