The custom YouTube video @oldspice wrote just for me!

So Old Spice paid to be the “sponsored trending topic” on Twitter yesterday, which coincided with their launch of a great new social media campaign. If you haven’t seen it, this campaign involves Old Spice monitoring the @oldspice account replies, writing some witty reply copy, and having their beloved spokesmodel Isiah Mustafa act it out for us. Here’s a good overview on Mashable. He got people with massive numbers of followers to tweet about it to their minions, and obviously this went viral really fast.

My friend George G. Smith Jr. sent a tweet to @oldspice on Tuesday. And I replied. And then George’s girlfriend Alana replied. And we tweeted back and forth about it:

George: Hey @oldspice, got any advice on how to impress my girlfriend who wishes that she could have a guy who smells like you?

Me: @GeorgeGSmithJr is “find a new boyfriend” an option?

Alana: @joshmishell that’s pretty harsh! Luckily for this one, she’s on twitter cc: @georgegsmithjr

Me: @amedmunds hehe – well, i figured you’d see it, and i just wanted to give mr. g smith jr a little crap. don’t really dump him.

Alana: @joshmishell thankfully I don’t take everything on twitter seriously cc: @georgegsmithjr

Me: @amedmunds i try not to take @georgegsmithjr too seriously, either.

Alana: George where’s the witty backlash? RT @joshmishell: @amedmunds i try not to take @georgegsmithjr too seriously, either.

George: @joshmishell I bet you would take me seriously if @oldspice made a video for me! #helpmeoldspiceguyyourmyonlyhope

Me: @GeorgeGSmithJr we’ll just have to wait and see. p.s.:this is not the @oldspice you are looking for.

Last night the Old Spice dude replied to us via YouTube video. As of writing this, they’ve posted 203 videos so far. Very cool to be one of the lucky ones! This video has more than 117,000 195,000 370,000 750,000 (!) views already. (if video error happens below, click here to watch it at YouTube).

It’s a pretty awesome thing for them to do. Even though I did point out that, as a Jew, we’re contractually obligated to God to say that we don’t care about bacon (even though it’s mighty tasty).

Canned replies are not a good idea in Social Media, and these short and sweet one-on-one “conversations” are the perfect recipe for getting people to conversate about their brand.

But the question begs to be asked: The next time these people go to Safeway to buy anti-smell stuff, are they going to choose Old Spice? Obviously that’s what they’re banking on, and I bet it will work.

Here’s what George had to say about it:

Any time you can combine Bacon, my ego, and hilarious jokes into one video – you obviously are doing something right…..

All in all this is a brilliant campaign, especially because it really has nothing to do with one of the most boring (but oft-used) things in the world – soap. But it’s got the entire social media community talking about them. The only thing I question is that they paid Twitter to be the sponsored trending topic because it definitely would have trended that way anyway. But it guaranteed that they’d be on that list.

I also love that these custom spots are directly connected to their other television spots. It’s important to have an integrated campaign that works across all their communication channels.

Will I buy Old Spice next time? Maybe, I’m not sure. But I can definitely tell you that I won’t pass right by them next time I need some body wash or deodorant. I can’t wait to see more stuff like this from big brands.

The buck should stop with the Governor

As it said on a small sign on Harry Truman’s desk when he was president, “The Buck Stops Here.” This means that no matter what his administration was doing, ultimately Truman was responsible for the actions of those below him.

The Colorado political atmosphere was rocked when Governor Bill Ritter announced he wasn’t seeking re-election in 2010. A few candidates have emerged to replace Ritter (a Democrat), among them former craft beer tycoon and Democrat John Hickenlooper. He’s definitely my choice this year. But this post isn’t about politics, it’s about honesty.

A story broke recently that Republican Gubenatorial candidate Scott McInnis plagiarized some documents from twenty years ago for his articles entitled (idiotically, I might add) “Musings on Water”. I might also add, that McInnis was paid $300,000 for these articles through a Hasan Family Foundation fellowship. From the DenverPost.com story:

Spokesman Sean Duffy said Rolly Fischer, a Glenwood Springs engineer who worked at the Colorado River Water Conservation District handled the portions that used Hobbs’ work without attribution.

Hobbs declined comment when contacted by a reporter in Glenwood Springs this afternoon.

Dr. Malik Hasan and his wife Seeme Hasan have both said that should the allegations of plagiarism prove true, the would expect McInnis to return the money.

“The Hasan Family Foundation takes the issue of plagiarism extremely seriously. At no time was it brought to our attention that Mr. McInnis used information not cited or unethically used work that was not his own,” Seeme Hasan said in a release.

McInnis’ response was that someone else was responsible for the plagiarized content.

Unfortunately for McInnis, his name is clearly on these articles, making it his responsibility. This person wants to run for Governor and has put his name on documents without doing things like checking his references? Doesn’t exactly seem like he’s into things like paying attention to detail, claiming responsibility for things with your name on it, or fessing up when you’re fucking up.

I’m not saying this because he’s a Republican, I’m saying this because we can’t have people in Government who are untruthful about essays on water. Not that these musings are a big deal, but you have to wonder what else this career politician will be not-so-truthful about. We need politicians who are honest, ethical and willing to take responsibility for their actions, not just people looking to get re-elected.

Scott McInnis should take responsibility for not checking his references on these articles. He got paid what amounts to an ass-load of money for this, you’d think he could fork some out to hire editors.

Photo Essay – David Grisman Bluegrass Experience, Ogden Theater

I went to the David Grisman Bluegrass Experience show at the Odgen Theater last Friday. They played a strong (and long) set of a wide variety of bluegrass tunes, and David gave us a great (but long) history of the origins of bluegrass. The crowd was boisterous, and at times it was a little tough hearing the music through the more traditional microphone setup. I’ve said it a million times, but David Grisman is one of the great living musicians (not to mention a Jew! Yay us!). I brought my camera, wandered around, and got some really great photos. This was really fun show to be at, and a really fun show to shoot. I haven’t been to too many shows recently, and even less frequently have I brought my camera along. Perhaps I’ll start doing this more.

Here’s a link to the whole photoset, but the highlights are below.

The definition of “clutch”

Did you watch the Rockies/Cardinals game last night? The Rockies were down 9-3 going into the 9th inning, and pulled off an incredible come-from-behind win. Lefty Seth Smith’s 3-run home run in the bottom of the 9th capped an incredible and unexpected win. In his post-game interview, Seth (Eli Manning’s backup QB at Ole Miss, by the way) had the greatest quote:

“Clutch is preparation meeting opportunity.” – Seth Smith

I really love this saying. And it definitely makes me think about my current situation.

Last week I had opportunities to get two sizable jobs that would have jumpstarted my fledgling freelance business, and would have gotten me off Unemployment. Both slipped through my fingers. My new goal is to be better prepared for next time, so that when similar opportunities come up, I can snap those jobs up.

So I’m working on expanding my expertise and promoting my talents better. I’ll get the hang of this eventually.

Something about being clutch is also knowing what it’s like to just miss out on being clutch. I think that missing out on these helps us understand lots of things about ourselves, and hopefully I can take these near-misses and translate my knowledge about them into bullseyes. Opportunity is everywhere.

This just in: I’m not geeky enough for @igniteboulder

I was going to wait for the video from my “Be Your Own Guitar Hero” presentation at Ignite Boulder 11 to be posted before I blogged about it. But I think it will take a few posts to get my full thoughts out. Overall, I think the evening went incredibly smoothly – the all-volunteer organizers are amazing people and are to be commended for their hard work. I also really enjoyed getting to know the presenters beforehand, which is also a whole post in itself.

First up: Geekiness

A lot of the feedback from Ignite Boulder 11 apparently said that our presentations weren’t geeky enough. I for one am relieved that my content wasn’t deemed “mega geekalicious” – I’ve always worried that I was too geeky for most people, but happy to know that apparently I’m not geeky enough. I would imagine my “less than geeky” status would qualify me to have a plethora of dates with “the ladies” – but I’m just geeky enough to not get most of those. But I digress.

My concerns with the “up the geek factor at Ignite Boulder” feedback are as follows:

• I think that the geekiest people would be the ones sending feedback the most. So these stats about having to “Geekify” Ignite are skewed. I have no stats on the number of feedback submissions, and the IQ of each submitter. But as they say, the squeaky geek gets all the grease.
• Isn’t geekiness a factor of how passionate you are about the topic you’re presenting about? I am geeky about music and about bad video games that make you press meaningless buttons on a shiny plastic guitar (read: Guitar Hero). But if you’re not that geeky about music/bad video games, then you won’t see this topic as being geeky enough. But then again I’m an art major.
• Didn’t people get to vote on half the topics to be presented? I think more people should have voted on the lower end of the scale when they were voting for these sparks. You get what you vote for. Well, half of what you vote for.
• I also had jokes about Futurama and Burger Time. How much geekier do you need to be?

I have plenty more to talk about, and most everything is positive. I just thought this needed to be posted before everything else. My speaking experience at Ignite Boulder 11 was nothing short of phenomenal, and I really loved hearing the audience laugh at my jokes, and also the “FREE BIRD!” calls as I went to pick up my guitar.

I was happy as shit about the geek-factor of Ignite Boulder 11. But rest assured I’ll be talking about something geekier than anyone can come up with in the future. Like Star Wars galaxy cantina music theory contrasted with Klingon Opera tonality.

Ultimately I’m every bit as geeky as I want to be, and I think it’s a nice balance if I can make 1400 people laugh at my jokes and clap for my music.