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I got mail (yes, real physical, paper mail) yesterday and couldn’t help but laugh when I saw some other guy’s name “or current resident.” A few years ago I had the term “junk mail” eradicated from my vocabulary and replaced it with “direct mail.” But what says “junk” to a consumer more than the “or current resident” label?
Let’s take a look at the two sides to this:
1. What happened to me yesterday. I received mail intended for a previous resident of my apartment. But am I supposed to believe that the “or current resident” makes it relevant to me too? It would have to be a very very very enticing offer for me to open mail that was intended for someone else.
2. What if the mail had said “Tim Laubacher or current resident”? Direct mail pieces attempt to make the mail feel personal and relevant to the recipient. But saying “or current resident” would leave me, the recipient, believing that the mail is really for anyone, not just me. It’s like being invited to a very special party, or if you don’t want to go, please give the invitation to the next stranger you see, or just toss it up into the wind.
Now, I don’t know all the legal requirements with direct mail. I’m just taking a mail recipient’s perspective on this. I also have not seen ROI directly related to “or current resident” pieces. That information would be useful to look at, because one man’s opinion is not more powerful than actual industry statistics.
Today, I took some trash out before getting in my car and heading to work. I live in an apartment, so I share a dumpster with all my neighbors. This fact must be perfectly clear for any entertainment to come from this story. So what did I see, when I got to the dumpster? A trophy. Upon closer inspection, I saw not one, but two trophies. The first to catch my eye was a bowling trophy, followed by a golf trophy.
I stood there in disbelief. Who threw out these trophies?
Was a husband forced by his wife to throw out these trophies to start 2009 in style? Maybe a family’s apartment was getting too cluttered with children’s Christmas gifts, so the trophies had to go. Or perhaps it’s much deeper than that. Maybe a man, let’s call him Robert for the sake of story telling, threw the trophies away out of shame. Perhaps Robert was an athletic star growing up, but as he neared his 40th birthday he felt he had lost a step. So maybe Robert began taking performance-enhancing drugs to dominate the local bowling and golf leagues. And now, years later, he looks back on his multisport stardom and he’s ashamed of himself.
But it’s probably not that dramatic. Either way, those trophies come with a story. I just wish someone was around to tell it.
(I hope you can see now why it was vitaly important to understand that I go to a community trash dumpster. If I had found trophies in my own trash, we’d all know they were mine. That’s not the case here. I’m way too competitive to toss out plastic symbols of athletic prowess.)
I was just thinking about some of the terminology I used to use writing papers in grad school. Somehow, the terms “synchronous” and “asynchronous” communication just popped into my head tonight. Well, communication and cognition professor Sam Bradley would probably explain that a thought didn’t actually just “pop into my head,” but that’s what it felt like.
And when thinking about synchronous and asynchronous communication, I started thinking that maybe the line between these two form of communication is becoming less well defined. I should probably try to define these terms. This is an oversimplification, but basically:
synchronous communication: real time, such as face-to-face conversation, talking on the phone, live chat on a Web site
asynchronous communication: not dependent on timing, such as leaving posts on message board, e-mail
In the 1990’s, when Internet access began to increase in households across the world, we saw a few great examples of these classifications. Web sites were generally static and consisted of content being placed in cyber space for any to read on their own time. The fact that users could get content on their own time was the asynchronous part of the communication. Message boards began gaining popularity, another example of asynchronous communication, as a user could pose a question for a community and return to the forum minutes, hours or even weeks later to see responses.
At the same time, online chats allowed users to connect to each other in a more conversational format. These synchronous chats could be used for various purposes including discussion between people with similar interests on topics like music, sports and whatever else you can think of. Some companies have utilized chats connecting customers with customer service representatives. Instant messaging also represented a form of synchronous communication, as it connected two people sitting at their computers.
These are just a few examples of synchronous and asynchronous communication. But what is clear is that most ways of connecting people were fairly easy to define as one or the other. But now, it seems to me that people want the freedom of asynchronous communication (we do things on our own time, think DVR) while still having the ability to get real time feedback in a conversational format.
That’s where text messaging and Twitter come into play. Cell phones are everywhere, carried by people young and old. But a phone conversation requires both parties to be available at the same moment. So text messages were invented and a person can send a text to a friend knowing that the friend can return a message when they have time. This is actually less frustrating than playing phone tag with voicemails, although it is nearly the same (except text vs. audio). But despite lacking the constraints of time dependency, texting can feel like a conversation. When cell phone users opt to text back and forth with very little delay between messages, you get something similar to real time conversation. Text messaging seems like asynchronous communication wearing synchronous communication’s clothing. Or is it the other way around?
And the line becomes even more blurred with Twitter. You can have a conversation with a community of people by broadcasting thoughts to all who follow you. When two or more Twitter users are tweeting at the same time, it is essentially synchronous communication. But the technology gives users the ability to express thoughts and return to check for responses by scrolling through messages or checking replies with the @username.
As technologies advance, they provide more versatile communication. The communication becomes more difficult to define in categories but more powerful and convenient for everyone.
I just saw a video on Yahoo.com of a journalist in Baghdad throwing both of his shoes at President Bush. See the video here.
What’s most shocking to me is that the journalist got away with throwing a second shoe. I guess I sort of imagined that the instant a journalist looks ready to throw anything, secret service would have jumped all over the guy. I’m guessing security understood that the media in the room did not possess any weapons, but I’m still surprised at the casual defense of this minor incident.
To his credit, Bush showed some skills and avoided both shoes.
Today, I was doing some Christmas shopping at Best Buy. On the way to checkout, I found myself looking at the sign saying, “restrooms.” Fair enough. But they sure look like refrigerators to me.
Come to think of it, a few years ago I noticed a fridge with a TV screen on the door. Maybe this is just the next step in fridge technology.
refrigerador con baño
I guess that explains what the bottom compartment is for.
If you know me, you probably already realize this. I’m competitive. I’m not just a little competitive. I’m extremely competitive. The thought of losing is terrifying and makes me uncomfortable.
This competitive nature isn’t limited to just one or two aspects of my life. I don’t like losing in a sport, any sport. Yes it happens. I’m not Michael Phelps or anything, but I avoid losing at all costs. I don’t like not understanding something, whether it’s the logic behind some problem or even a memory that I can only partly remember. I get angry at myself for forgetting things, because I figure I should somehow be better than that.
I am actually pretty embarassed by how competitive I can be. I’ve learned to control it a little better over the years. But people still realize it and joke about it. The thing is, my competitiveness is like this possession of mine that I get frustrated with, but when others give me a hard time for it I get really defensive. Weird but true. Beth and Marcie tell me I’m too competitive at volleyball at Flannagan’s. I believe them but I hate hearing about it.
So do you know how I deal with this competitiveness? At times, I have to treat it just like others might an addiction. I have to keep myself out of tempting situations. I really don’t like to play boardgames, because there’s so much chance involved I might lose, so I try to stay away from them to not have to deal with it. I prefer to play videogames alone, because I’ve turned a few fun times into less than fun times by destroying a friend in a college football game or something similar. I’m not good at playing nice.
Where does this all come from? I’m not really sure. There was probably a time when I was a kid that I realized winning felt alot better than losing. I know it’s like that for everyone, but for some reason I have a hard time getting over losses. I was 17-2 in tennis my senior year (along with my doubles partner, Brian), but you better believe I remember my two losses were against St. Thomas Aquinas and Wooster. For the record, we beat Wooster the other time we played them. Of course, I had to mention that, since I’m competitive.
My competitiveness has probably contributed to the 4 fingers I’ve broken playing football. No, those weren’t my fingers. I often put a little too much on passes and it’s resulted in broken fingers for two friends my freshman year of college (one was with a glow in the dark football), one flag football teammate my sophomore year, and a radio DJ I was working an NFL Experience event with. Also, my competitiveness probably helped sprain my friend Jon’s ankle when we were playing basketball at Jesse Owens North in college. I was driving for a lay-up and noticed the look in his eyes telling me that he was going all out to block my shot. Well I made sure to go up strong and he came down awkwardly with a sprained ankle putting him on crutches for weeks. I don’t want to even talk about the fact I’ve knocked pitchers out of games in baseball as a kid (line drive up the middle to the shin) and in softball in college (line drive up the middle to the gums).
Now I work in advertising, as a Brand Strategist. Being able to help a client build a brand and show great return on investment are wins. Being part of a new business pitch process that leads to new business is a win. Finding great insights through research that guide advertising decisions in the right direction is a win. So I guess I’m in the right place. I just hope nobody gets hurt along the way.
Sunday afternoon I had the pleasure of touring The Hoover Company main facilities in North Canton, Ohio, with my father and sister. More accurately, we toured what was once the home of The Hoover Company until Whirlpool sold the vacuum brand to Hong Kong-based Techtronic Industries (TTI) and the main plant was closed down in the last year.
To understand why this trip meant so much to me, you’d have to know that my father was a Hoover employee for 39 years. He worked at The Hoover Company before being drafted into the Army when he was 18 and returned to the factory upon his return to Ohio. In some of his early years there, he worked in paints. For most of my lifetime, he worked with plastic injection molding. He worked most of his years working the night shift and not until I went off to college did he switch over to day shift.
Now, in a time when many define “career” as a series of occupational changes, my father spent his entire working career with one company. In sports, when a player is drafted by a team and retires with the team 12 years later, it’s considered an accomplishment. My father spent about 3 sports careers with the North Canton-based global brand.
After TTI closed down the North Canton facilities after 100 years of operation, my father was forced look elsewhere for work, but the building and a lifetime of memories are still there, about 15 minutes from my parents’ house. My sister and I couldn’t pass up the chance to walk through the facilities when we found out they were giving tours.
I can’t really put into words all the thoughts I had walking through the empty workspaces of factory workers, engineers, and even the company founder, “Boss” Hoover. I was sad to see a deserted place that was once one of the largest employers in the area. I was happy to see the smile it brought to dad’s face when he told us stories around every turn of the tour. I was cold. Honestly, it was really cold out Sunday and they don’t heat many parts of the buildings now.
The tour guide mentioned that efforts are being made to fill the empty spaces with stores and condominiums. Anything that can bring work for men and women of Northeast Ohio is good in my mind. Maybe next time I tour the grounds of the once great Hoover Company I’ll be looking at a condo, while still thinking about the quality men, women and vacuum cleaners that used to call the place home.
There are many reasons I don’t write on this blog as often as I should. Some of the culprits include working hard at b&a, enjoying the beautiful sunny weather in Ohio, watching Cavs and Buckeyes basketball and spending time with my girlfriend, Janette (the word fiancee is still weird to me, but I’ll get used to it).
But a major reason I don’t blog enough (is it cool to use blog as a verb, too?) is that when I think of something to write about, I bat it around in my head for a while before coming to some conclusions and then I move on. Most of these thoughts never make it from my brain to the keyboard.
A few months ago I was having arguments in my brain about tag clouds. Over the weekend I was thinking about the evolution of the high five and how it relates to the variations of hugs used. I’m sure there are 3 or 4 things daily that would be worth sharing here to get your thoughts on, but I just end up killing the topic too quickly.
So I’m going to make an effort to write about things before I overthink them. That’s the effort I’ll make. What’s your role in this? If there is any topic you’d like me to blog about, share it with a comment here. Want me to write about my long obsession and constant heart ache with Cleveland sports? How about my musical interests? Want to know why I got into advertising? Would you be interested in knowing why I work in advertising yet I despise many of the world’s largest brands?
Let me know what’s on your mind so I can make sure to get it into my mind and hopefully on this blog.
I haven’t blogged lately, so to all 5 of my readers, I apologize. You see, I’ve been pretty busy lately. I got engaged to my girlfriend, Janette, on the evening of Thanksgiving. So I’m extremely excited about that!
For the last few weeks, I’d spent my lunch breaks shopping for a ring, but now that the ring is on Janette’s finger, I might have more time to think and write. Maybe. We’ll see!
