EXPO hiring sales talent…midwest/NYC

Through the magic of interconnected news feeds, I’m sure a lot of my high school friends will see this, (sorry), but we are hiring at EXPO. It’s post-worthy to the extent that anyone growing as opposed to shrinking has got to be good news generally, right?

Our founding sales exec, David Rubinstein, has nurtured a pioneering team that has launched the adoption of video commerce within the nation’s top brands. We’re very proud to be expanding his group to support the growing flow of F500 companies seeking insights & experiences from our authentic, accountable consumer knowledge base.   As you can guess by the location of the position (Chi/Cin/Min/NYC), we’re working with some of the largest consumer brand names out there. We are looking for someone to help those companies navigate the world of social commerce safely, effectively and valuably.

Here’s the link to the job post, please pass it on freely:

FTC Endorsement Guidelines for bloggers

PART I.  THE QUICK READ JUST FROM THE BLOGGER POINT OF VIEW

The FTC guidelines for endorsements have been published and can be found here.  There are three main sections of interest to bloggers, and the marketers who support their voice.

1)      Definition of endorsements/testimonials

2)      What is required of the consumer contributors and marketers

3)      Disclosing ties to marketers

Additionally, there is a fourth part that concerns only the marketer, which comes into play if they use/feature the blogger’s testimonial in an advertisement.  Then, common sense would kick in that the content needs no less care than they apply when they write a scripted ad, such as claims reviews.  I’ve not covered that here due to the inapplicability to bloggers on how marketers use their content, but will in future postings.

The FTC seems to be focusing on bloggers “because he or she is known to have wide readership within a particular demographic group that is the manufacturers’ target market.”  By acting as the ’speaker’ of the content, and also as the publisher of that content to their audience, the FTC seems to believe that the blogger was selected by the manufacturer to receive some benefit (ie free product, payment) because of the blogger’s direct ability to spread the message to their target market.    The FTC seems to equate a blogger’s following with a celebrity’s following — and indeed celebrities are similarly covered in the new Guides.  Essentially, the blogger was acting as a conduit for a marketing message to be delivered to his or her following.  If the blogger chose to deliver that message, the blogger becomes part of the direct advertising chain.

While the main guidelines begin on page 55, there are a lot of interesting materials in the “Supplemental Information” that covers consumer generated content, including around pages 8-15, a39 and 51.  I’ve summarized and tried to interpret from my non-legal reading of the document.  The following are some more detail on the three main points for bloggers and other consumer contributors.

1)  Definition of an endorsement or testimonial covered by the Guide

The FTC is saying that anytime there is a known, agreed upon tie between the blogger and marketer, this is an endorsement.  Here is an example that they used to help you determine what they’re looking for as a tie between you and the marketer.

• Example 8:  A consumer who regularly purchases a particular brand of dog food decides one day to purchase a new, more expensive brand made by the same manufacturer.  She writes in her personal blog that the change in diet has made her dog’s fur noticeably softer and shinier, and that in her opinion, the new food definitely is worth the extra money.  This posting would not be deemed an endorsement under the Guides.Assume that rather than purchase the dog food with her own money, the consumer gets it for free because the store routinely tracks her purchases and its computer has generated a coupon for a free trial bag of this new brand.  Again, her posting would not be deemed an endorsement under the Guides.  Assume now that the consumer joins a network marketing program under which she periodically receives various products about which she can write reviews if she wants to do so. If she receives a free bag of the new dog food through this program, her positive review would be considered an endorsement under the Guides

The FTC included some “supplementary information” to help clarify their position, especially based on the thoughtful comments provided by some of our colleagues at WOMMA and BzzAgent.  The FTC said that they would need to look at the overall relationship between the blogger and the marketer, such as:

• Whether the speaker is compensated by the advertiser or its agent
• Whether the product or service in question was provided for free by the advertiser
• The terms of any agreement
• The length of the relationship
• The previous receipt of products or services from the same or similar advertisers or the likelihood of future receipt of such products or services
• The value of the items or services received.

These would go into the decision whether the blogger was disseminating a marketing message to his or her following.  My advice to bloggers is not to spend a lot of time trying to decide if you are covered by these definitions.  If you’re not sure, err on the side that you are.   The FTC believes that the advertiser selected you to blog about their content because you have influence with your audience.   Therefore, the FTC wants to ensure that your communication over the audience you have built is taken seriously when an advertiser-requested message is attached.

2) Taking responsibility for what you say in your content

When something is considered an “endorsement” and covered by these Guidelines, what needs are your new responsibilities expected by the FTC?  Basically, they want you to take responsibility for what you say and how far you go when describing the product benefits.  You shouldn’t make product claims that aren’t your personal experience with or opinion of the product.  For example, you shouldn’t say that the product will do the same thing for everyone since you don’t know that is 100% true.  If you do, the FTC believes you should take responsibility for these claims that are misleading or not supported by evidence.  That’s what marketers currently do when they write ads and tout claims.  They have to back up everything they say with evidence.

The FTC believes that marketers should help guide you in the types of claims you can make, and monitor your content to make sure it conforms.  However, it believes that you and the marketers share liability since you’re both in a relationship together.

An observation from the Guide:  The FTC seems to take a position that if you speak about your personal experience with the product, and keep it to your own opinion of the product, that this may not be making a product claim.  I’m not quite sure about this yet, but there was some language that seemed to imply that.

3) Your responsibility includes disclosing your relationship with the marketer

This section is simple to the extent it is what it says.  If you have a relationship with the marketer, you should disclose it.  As discussed in the definition of an endorsement, the relationship can include where you are paid or get free product.  Again, my advice is not to quibble with whether you are covered, and simply disclose whatever relationship you have with the marketer.  The Guides don’t really discuss how to disclose the relationship, but it should be obvious and clear to anyone that is reading your blog.

• The blogger is also liable if she fails to disclose clearly and conspicuously that she is being paid for her services.
• For example, an individual who regularly receives free samples of products for families with young children and discusses those products on his or her blog would likely have to disclose that he or she received for free the items being recommended.  Although the monetary value of any particular product might not be exorbitant, knowledge of the blogger’s receipt of a stream of free merchandise could affect the weight or credibility of his or her endorsement – the standard for disclosure in Section 255.5 – if that connection is not reasonably expected by readers of the blog. Similarly, receipt of a single high-priced item could also constitute a material connection between an advertiser and a “sponsored” endorser.
• If the blogger is actually paid by the advertiser or a third party acting on its behalf, disclosure certainly will be warranted.
• Example 7:  A college student who has earned a reputation as a video game expert maintains a personal weblog or “blog” where he posts entries about his gaming experiences.  Readers of his blog frequently seek his opinions about video game hardware and software.  As it has done in the past, the manufacturer of a newly released video game system sends the student a free copy of the system and asks him to write about it on his blog. He tests the new gaming system and writes a favorable review. Because his review is disseminated via a form of consumer-generated media in which his relationship to the advertiser is not inherently obvious, readers are unlikely to know that he has received the video game system free of charge in exchange for his review of the product, and given the value of the video game system, this fact likely would materially affect the credibility they attach to his endorsement.  Accordingly, the blogger should clearly and conspicuously disclose that he received the gaming system free of charge.

I am going to write more shortly on these rules.  We believe that ever more than before, Expo continues to act as the clearinghouse for the best way for consumers to engage in authentic, helpful and relevant product dialogue.

Solvate: New New York City Business

Julie Ruvolo, who pops up everywhere on the digital scene all at the same time, has joined a startup that went alpha this month. www.solvate.com

The concept revolves around creating an uber-database covering answers to common customer service issues that people individually need to solve hundreds of times each day. Solvate allows frustrated customers to not have to re-invent the wheel each time one of us has a problem someone else had before. For example, something like “How can I return my cable box back to Time Warner so I can cancel my cable subscription” probably takes us 45 minutes working through TWC’s byzantine call centers before we find out our options. And even then, we probably only find the option that one customer service rep knows, which I bet would be a different option if we were connected to another rep on another day. Meanwhile, I know hundreds of other people had to have gone through this…why don’t I know what they know?

Solvate plans to standardize the ‘answers’ to these questions, so that Solvate agents (and I assume the online public) can provide fast solutions to the second client who asks the same question.

Solvate charges by the man-hour to find the solution, and is currently offering your first hour of agent time for free. So, I tried it out by asking about the best online site to find a deal for a Disney Cruise. I know that Disney itself doesn’t offer many deals directly to cruisers, but they do offer them to agents (who then can pass on the deals to cruisers). Solvate did work, I did get a list of places from “Ryan C”, my Solvate agent, that offered consistent specials and weren’t shaky fly-by-night travel sites. I’m not sure if it saved me time, since it was just an online search. But, I would guess that if my problem involved customer service reps, and phone calls, and escalations, and specific departments, Solvate would save me time and aggravation. And if I was the lucky second person that asked a question, I am sure that the pain of the first person would benefit me. I think the trick for Solvate is to hone in on the problems people would be willing to pay Solvate to solve. ate.

Good luck, Julie and Solvate. I’ll call you back when I need to cancel my cable subscription so I can get FiOS.

Action plan for startups in a down economy

I’ve been through two of these, like many of my fellow serial entrepreneurs. Once when the bubble burst around my ‘convergence’ company, Oxygen Media, and now again with my current company, Expo Communications. We’re in a period of high revenue growth, so it isn’t easy to distinguish what is critical spending and what is not. But you should be motivated thinking that your competitors – whether they compete for your customers, users or funders – may be acting faster and more decisively than you are right now. Here were some tasks that I’ve found effective for long-term strengthening:

Sequoia: What to do in an Apocalypse

NYC Crashes Techcrunch Party

Last night Bill Hildebolt and I attended the annual Techcrunch Meet-up in the valley. There was a definite dearth of East Coasters there. We did meet some new folks at cool SF companies. But more importantly, we saw a bunch of old friends at even better SF companies. Here’s a more detailed run-down of some of the HBS contingent we saw there:
Heather Harde : has to be one of the classiest people in the joint. CEO of Techcrunch, and our personal ticket connection. (Heather, we should have pulled a Todor and just yelled “BUT WE KNOW HEATHER” at the doorpeople.) Michael A, I don’t know you, and while you looked like you adore Heather, as a woman I have to implore you not to give your beautiful CEO a noogie on the head during speeches. It’s a hair thing.
Tom Patterson : gets second billing because it was his “not-yet-40” birthday. He got sung to by a bunch of drunk entrepreneurs (I think the VCs were lip synching) and a free cake. I thought that big fake check was for you, too, but alas, it was for malaria . Tom’s the CEO of Wize.com, a soon to be partner of Expo.
Raj Kapoor: whose lovely doctor wife Lydia is due any day! MD at Mayfield and one of the best friends an entrepreneur could have, having been a great one himself.
Carol Linburn , group product manager for mobile authoring at Adobe and one of the nicest people in the valley. Trying desperately at the party to feel like an entrepreneur again. We asked her to go back to work that night and, for the love of all that is holy, get flash working on the iPhone.
Steve Abernethy The founder of squaretrade.com and the only guy I know that got kicked out of the Apple store during the iPhone debut because of anti-competitive practices. Steve, Expo taped at the NY Apple store without incident…
Todor Tashev: Director of Investments at Omidyar Network. His wife sings with Sting.
Erik Eklund. Stealth. I’m afraid to even link to his LI profile.
Dana Shapiro Marotto , Marketing at ExpertCEO that just launched in Q2 of this year. Dana, how did you get into HBS with a CPA? Did you just not put that on your application?
Elliott Ng in marketing at Uptake.com, who we saw in line and then completely missed the entire rest of the party.

Was great to see others, like Bong Koh, Deb Schultz, Sam Lessin (another NYC interloper, but he’s like 12 so he fit right in).

Oh, and I cannot fail to mention that as a NYC citizen (our car-related excitement is limited to flagging a hybrid taxi), despite all the change-the-world ideas at the party, the most motivating was seeing Jason Calacanis’ Tesla up close and personal. Bill was hyperventilating. Go electric.

P&G Social Media Lab

Procter & Gamble’s Social Media Lab

P&G was one of the top 10 brands that our members wanted to talk to. So, we felt pretty lucky to be asked to participate in the P&G Social Media Lab.

P&G marketing has historically been known to try to impact consumers directly. When they can’t find solutions to help them reach the right people, they’ll pioneer their own, like Tremor, and Vocalpoint. Direct ownership of these initiatives by the brands gets into its own thorny issues about influencing consumers, and disclosure.

The P&G Social Media Lab, I believe, helps broaden P&G’s perspective on how to harness the power of passionate consumers — beyond the simple, direct control of them. By exposing their brand managers to a broad range of robust community sites in a learning environment, their marketers are afforded the proper structure to evaluate and understand the strengths of this delicate, but powerful new source of consumer connectivity. The Lab helps facilitate the conversation between partner and marketer by instilling an even playing field for learning, and, more importantly, a structure to define success. The lab’s focus helps the conversation not slide into the predictable marketing mode of “what’s the CPM and how many eyeballs can I get”. I find that trodden line can singlehandedly stunt the emergence of new models and lead to unnatural, force-fit projects best suited for old media. Instead, our partnership discussions have been directed to define how engagement, influence, and dialogue can be measured (and priced) to ensure that the right consumers — the interested consumers — are reached. Our projects are focused on impacting the buying process, and on developing metrics which measure our members’ purchasing influence. By being invited to help craft the right success metrics, social networks involved in the Lab are empowered to make sure that their ‘consumer conversation’ projects don’t go as astray as they have when demographic reach and frequency became the end goal.

We talked a lot internally about how the P&G Social Media Lab helped ‘even the playing field’ for us so that we could influence how P&G brands should define success with our community. Because we are hyper-focused on our members’ expectations and needs, we think we can easily create something that will leave our community and P&G better off than when we started. Can’t say that for most of the eyeball deals I’ve done.

For the more official story on the social media lab…see Deb Schultz’s blog.

Apple Store iPhone debut in New York, video courtesy of our intern Billy

We have a 19 year old intern from UCLA in our company this summer. He is pretty interesting because he’s got some great film making skills already under his belt. In discussing how to get us some great consumer video, he thought up the idea (the night before) to go to the iPhone opening in NYC. He got some great footage, edited it and put it up on the same day. Because he was in a self-professed “good mood” he left out the two “criticisms” that he heard that day about the iPhone (the whole thing about not being able to connect because of the problems Apple was having with their system). He even put together his own music.

His presence in the company is a fun reminder that fearlessness will always be a big part of entrepreneurialism. I hope you enjoy his creativeness to real consumer reviewing the iPhone!

2008 the year of renegotiating long term contracts

If you are in a long term contract, or about to enter one, think about reopening pricing. A few things:
1) retainer companies are losing clients as clients take a closer look at overhead
2) with the emergence of startup activity in 06-07 and outsourcing overseas, there is a lot of price competition in the service industry
3) you’d be surprised what a company with high fixed costs (ie staff) is willing to do to keep some semblance of a retainer

I signed a 12 month contract with webex.com because I just assumed the sales rep was selling me the right sized product. Turns out they had a cheaper product available online that the rep was not allowed to sell on the phone. I am trying to cancel the contract, and they are trying to keep me as a client. The conversation has been fascinating.

I’m not saying to try to nickel and dime your outsourced firms because they need to survive, too. But all is fair when you simply do your homework on what the current environment is yielding. Your partners need to stay competitive, and you shouldn’t be funding their other clients who may be getting a better deal.

Thoughts to come….maybe

I totally think I don’t have the time for this blogging crap.
“Post everyday”
“Post twice a day”
“Write on searched topics”
“Build a following”
“Have a point of view”

My god, if I had the time to do all this stuff, shouldn’t I be fired from my job? How do you people all do this?

My turning point was the sxsw Interactive 2008 conference in Austin Texas. Find some podcasts here. So awesome. So inspirational. So fun. Met and talked to bloggers, developers, cool people, who all seem to find the time.

So, I decided I’m just a loser.

I hope that I can post often, on searched topics, for a following, with a point of view. Doubtful, but let’s give it a whirl.

-D