Category : Blogs & Blogging

Why WikiLeaks Is The Pirate Bay of Political Intelligence

Posted by Samuel Axon at 10:43 pm

WikiLeaks is currently in the news because its Afghan War logs comprise one of the largest and most controversial intelligence leaks to date. But while WikiLeaks is relatively new to the public, it is actually a product of a long-established culture. That culture has already had a banner-bearer; a quintessential exemplification of its values — The Pirate Bay. WikiLeaks is akin to The Pirate Bay, but for another purpose.

WikiLeaks disregards the letter of the law and grants political analysts and citizens new information, then defends that choice with an argument for a higher virtue: Freedom of information and knowledge. The founding figures behind WikiLeaks and The Pirate Bay each claim to place that value above all others — that, and a little bit of anti-establishment zeal.

At this point, its name is merely symbolic — a statement of philosophical association. WikiLeaks is not a wiki, but shares the same culture, along with The Pirate Bay, Linux, and the open-source movement. For decades, the members of this “hacker” community have espoused the free flow of information in a world without borders, where no institution, neither corporation nor government, could hinder independent thought and the democratization of knowledge.

The connections between WikiLeaks and The Pirate Bay are not merely conceptual. There are also more direct correlations. Both WikiLeaks and The Pirate Bay have been hosted by Swedish Internet service provider PRQ, which also hosted the website of insurgents in Chechnya who sought a publishing platform that would not represent any established state. It’s the Swiss bank of Internet providers, and a bastion of 21st century hacker values and individualism.

In The New Yorker’s detailed profile of WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange, it’s clear that he belongs to this tradition. He began his adult life as a computer hacker with no formal education. Though he did eventually attend college, he had nothing good to say of the experience. This was in part because his mother discouraged him from traditional education, fearing it might rob him of his individualism and will to learn. Today, it seems almost as if Assange is trying to live out the radical philosophies of Ayn Rand.

We all know the stories of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs — computer whizzes who dropped out of college because they had technological revolutions to tend to. Assange is in some ways cut from the same cloth, though his choice has not yet earned him dramatic wealth, and his commitment to openness is more radical.

But through his project, the tradition has reached the world stage in a whole new way. Computer hackers with this Internet-born, fundamentalist philosophy of information and individual entrepreneurship are not just dictating the terms of technology and digital entertainment, but of journalism, political discourse and military engagement.

WikiLeaks and The Pirate Bay are also similar in this regard: You can say what you will of the ethics of it all, but you have to admit it’s remarkable.

[img credit: Markchew2010]

More About: afghan logs, bittorrent, hacker culture, Opinion, piracy, the afghan diary, the pirate bay, wikileaks

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Branding Your Kids – the next BIG thing?

Posted by Ed Roach at 3:20 pm

I’ve got these good friends of mine who live in Kentucky. It has been a pretty traumatic summer waiting for college season to arrive. You see, they just sent their only child off to his first year of University. They are so very proud of him. He didn’t have any scholarships, well-placed contacts, or remarkable grades – he achieved his first real goal in life thanks in some part to branding.

His folks are colleagues of mine in the branding world. When the family gathered around the supper table, and prepared themselves to go through the groups of university brochures and browse the impressive websites, it wasn’t lost on them that they would also have to pitch their son to the universities. He would have to be branded. It would be an enlightening experience for him, and an assurance to them (the parents) that he put his best effort into getting accepted into his school of choice.

His resume wasn’t your typical binder containing exactly what would be requested but a more visual and intuitive presentation. His brand was polished, and it showed. Here are some of their branding highlights:

• His brand values were defined much like any great brand.They explained his commitment to these values and how they compliment the school and their value systems.

• His brand personality was visually presented using a “vision board.” This board contained words, pictures, colors, anything that portrayed his ‘personality’. His colors were used consistently through the presentation.

• His differentiator was his passion for the school. He chose them. His life goals matched their scholastic mandate.

• His visual image (or logo if you will) was designed to strike an emotion with the reader, who would no doubt judge their son on first impressions, not unlike the business world. Photos were designed to display his pleasant disposition and vigor of youth. He was a classic example of “their ideal student.”

• To further cement a favorable impression his personal interests and social skills were detailed to help establish a good profile.

• Aligning all his best attributes, their son refined his brand and enjoyed a boost in confidence. He realized a positive benefit with the genuine opportunities in defining his brand, aligning all his best attributes.

• He gathered favorable testimonials to his good character and included them to attest to his brand.

These were the main ingredients in their recipe to brand their offspring. Essentially branding your college student is another form of personal branding. The visual topper to this was a large branding board that visually showed everything about “his brand.” One glance at this board and you see his brand instantly. Since a picture is more powerful than the written word, this huge effort made it’s desired impression … he was accepted into his first school of choice. His confidence in himself helped him land on the student paper the first day on campus with a photo assignment. His passion you see is photo journalism.

His brand succeeded and gave him a powerful advantage. It’s his job now to make it better every day to help in his quest for glory.Similar Posts:

• Visual Branding: What message are you sending?
• Brand Booster 21 Day 13: Brand Image
• Your Brand is Your Character – So Don’t Tarnish It
• In Branding, Sometimes Seeing is Believing
• How To Start Your Business With A Great Brand

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Dork Your Brand!

Posted by Ed Roach at 6:56 pm

You’ve got your cool little business, you’ve had some degree of success and you’ve done it all on your own. The only bar you’re interested in raising is the pub down the street. Who needs all those consultants and brand gurus when you can keep your hard-earned beer money and find the cheapest student or cousin to spin your magic.

Well I’m here to make your day and save you tons ‘o dough by giving you ten ways to “DORK YOUR BRAND!”

1) Don’t even think about being consistent with your image. The trick here is to have one logo on your stationary, another variation on your signs and when you do a trade show, something homemade would be outstanding.

2) Brand values – frankly that’s for pansies. Just do what it takes to get the business. View those people you have to walk on to succeed as mere stepping stones. Don’t concern yourself with your reputation.

3) Find the perfect opportunity to blend in with what your competition is doing. If they are doing great then they must be on to something. “More of the same,” I always say to Dorks. You don’t want to risk standing out, you might be discovered for who you really are. There’s probably more money running with the pack anyway.

4) Did you know that you can get a logo designed online for free? That’s right, no need to worry about demographics, first impressions, market share or what ever. Image is for movie stars, your running a bizness. The less things cost – more for you, right?

5) Don’t ask – don’t tell. You’re only looking for trouble asking your stake holders what they think.

6) Are you going to one of them trade shows. Stay away from a professional presentation and get yourself one of those free folding tables and dress it up with blue skirting like all the other dorks. We’re blending in again, that’s the ticket. (Now you’re catching on).

7) And while you’re at the show, and you want to catch a stare or two, don’t waste your cash on relevant materials promoting a unique message – get yourself a booth bunny! Hey sex sells and even if hurts your brand – what’s the harm in a little fun.

8.)Keep dropping your price until you are the lowest price in your bizness. Don’t let nobody beat you.

9) Don’t bother trying to forge relationships with customers. Let’s face it, you’ve probably got enough friends, and besides they’d probably expect you to pick up the tab.

10) When the phone rings, it’s not important how your staff answers it – just be glad it’s ringing. There’s no point wasting friendly on some Nancy just looking for the cheapest deal.

Well that’s the branding game in a nut shell. One thing I can guarantee you is, if you decide to “Dork Your Brand”, you will make one business person very happy…

…that person is your leading competitor.

This article was inspired by SBB commenter Steve, over at Pinnacle Displays, and Nichpreneur Michelle for encouraging us.Similar Posts:

• Brand Booster 21 Day 14: Brand Logo
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consulting, ed roach

THE introvert’s guide to selling

Posted by Ed Roach at 6:35 pm

Not everyone throws on their spidey outfit and relishes leaping into the fray of the business sales arena. As a matter of fact a great deal of people sell because it is just part of what they do. If they could get the sales some other way, they’d probably jump at it. In the mean time all of the reluctant sales people out there, have to do they best they can with the few sale skills they have.

For the past few months I’ve been in touch with several reluctant sales people from around the world, and we’ve been sharing tips and techniques that has made selling a little bit easier. None of these contacts are Anthony Robbins clones or Dale Carnegie wannabe’s, BUT the one thing they did have in common was that they are introverts in an extroverts world. They’re tired of the books on sales that assume you love to put yourself out there.

So guess what? I’ve taken this valuable conversation and put them together in a little eBook that I am giving away for the asking. It was a pleasure putting together this information because of the insight it gave me. This is my first offering in the eBook realm. I call the effort, “The Reluctant Salesperson: An Introvert’s Guide to Selling.”

If you see fit to add this eBook to your reading, I’d love it, if you’d drop back here and let me know what you think. One thing about blogging that I find immensely gratifying is the breadth of opinion – all of it with the goal of helping all of us improve how we do business.

…for all the reluctant sales people who may be too shy to drop by my site and pick up a copy, I don’t mind if you get a friend to do it for you.

All the best.Similar Posts:

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People – ya gotta love ‘em!

Posted by Ed Roach at 6:41 pm

If your brand is your reputation (and it is), then it’s important to keep it on track. Everything that you do and say will reflect on that brand. How you say it is one of the toughest tasks when trying to keep your brand image compelling over all media.

I regularly drop into blogs and business consultant’s websites to check out some tip or suggestion that I may find of use. I can’t tell you how many times, I’m confronted with a brand image that absolutely contradicts the message they’re sending. As consultants, they are by nature a people business. Their job is to help people with problems and situations in their area of expertise. What sort of message are they sending if their sites and blogs are totally void of humanity. Not a single shot of a person. I want any consultant I hire to like people.

Businesses in the manufacturing sector are also guilty of this error. Lots of shots of real estate but nothing of people actually working the shop floor. One , that made me chuckle said that it was “their people that made the difference”. Guess what was missing in their literature?

The restaurant and hotel industry are great for this – lots of shots of expansive dining rooms, luxurious guest rooms and health clubs with no “body” in any one of them. As people, we all love to look at other people. We are a social species by nature. How you position people emotes a certain attitude. Diversity among the people we use, sends a powerful message. We go where the people are. Have you ever noticed that people are more apt to check out a new restaurant or store if there are people there when they get there. Nothing is more alluring than a parking lot full of cars at a store opening. There is nothing inspiring about a health club with no sweating bodies in sight. Humanity inspires us.

In the use of people shots, one simple tip in setting up the shot is an old design rule. Never have the model looking outside of your frame. It sends the eye away from your message. They should be looking in – our eyes follow their eyes. One that I employ is cropping. In a head and shoulders shot, cropping off the top of the head sends the readers eyes downward into the eyes of the model. When ever I use pictures of people I am always careful when choosing their use. I want the message to be consistent across the board and their use must compliment my brand. Even my own picture sends messages. One shot I particularly like is to a peer of mine – not friendly enough. “You are much friendlier than that picture suggests”‘ she often tells me. When we got together, she shot one that was more appropriate in her mind. It is the one most often seen of me out there.

Use people (images) to your advantage. Have them in your corporate colors. Be sure that they are of the correct demographic. Don’t have a genX ‘er in your materials if they are not your target audience. The wrong shot can alienate as powerfully as the perfect shot. Overall, remember that when choosing people shots for your brand, they must conform to your brand message. Don’t sacrifice this important point on the alter of creativity. Your brand communicates a specific message to its audience who are willing receptacles.

Say Cheese!

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branding, branding experts, consulting, ed roach, ed roach by the hour, recession, retail, slow economy

Put Your Wrench On The Branding Team

Posted by Ed Roach at 8:59 am

So you’ve decided to to start taking a serious look at your corporate brand and you are left with the task of assembling your branding team. Your branding team is a group of individuals pulled from your brand’s stakeholders. They would be gleamed from the three essential groups: employees, suppliers and customers.

One of the issues you will have at the end of your branding process is buy-in among employees. Stand back and take a visual on your employee group. Most are your garden-variety employee, but a few, while good workers are out-spoken and quick to judge. Other employees look to them for direction. They typically see initiatives coming down from the corner office as “just more work”. They do their best to put a negative spin on the initiatives and are a drag to getting things done. We call these folks, “wrenches” because they throw a monkey wrench into everything you do.

The trick is to include the Wrenches in the branding process. The theory is simple and basic – you want the wrenches to become advocates for the brand initiatives. If they are part of the solution, then they will use their energies to push it through to the employees stakeholders. Just imagine how empowered they will feel being included in the high-level branding sessions with the leaders of the company in attendance – actually wanting their valuable input.

Now, when the brand process is complete and ready to roll roll out to the employees, you have their key mouthpiece on your team. That monkey wrench is now a brand hero – everybody wins.Similar Posts:

• You’ve Got a Brand Strategy – NOW WHAT?
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branding, branding experts, consulting, ed roach, ed roach by the hour, recession, retail, slow economy

Selling The Pain!

Posted by Ed Roach at 10:20 pm

When you want to get your message in front of a target audience, you’ve got to be creative in your approach. During the last week, I was planning on attending an industry organization’s annual general meeting with my wife, Rose – who works in this industry. It was her first time taking part in such an event and she wanted me to accompany her. I pondered as to how I might leverage some business leads while attending and what immediately intrigued me was that during the day’s events was a two-hour window where companies could display their services to attendees taking a break and having a “beverage” while networking. So, naturally I inquired as to the availability of the display space. To my dissatisfaction, it was only open members or suppliers to their immediate industry.

Bummer.

Not one to ignore an opportunity to spread my message somehow, I developed an idea I think you’ll find amusing. I decided to develop “pain point postcards”. Before I elaborate on exactly what these are, let me define “pain points” first. As in any business, there are issues that keep you awake at night. These issues are the things that cause you psychological pain. These are the challenges in business that throw up barriers and irritants, holding you back from your goals, resulting in lost income potential.

To take advantage of pain points as a strategy targeting my audience’s attention, I engaged in a little guerilla marketing. I am producing a series of 5 postcards roughly 6″ X 4″ in size. On the front side, the entire surface is black and the text is in white. This is where I boldly spell out the pain point. For instance: “Are you finding that there is nothing that differentiates you from your competition?”

On the back is the brand logo for “The Branding Experts” and contact info ONLY. No answer to the pain point question. My goal is to drive them to a special web-page dedicated to this effort. You cannot get to this page without having seen and picked up the postcard AND acted on it. A great way to track the effort. I will place these cards all over the event and hotel where many of the attendees are staying. The web page will provide solutions to the questions. Distributing these Pain Point Postcards is where you must also be bold. You are no doubt staying at the same hotel as your target audience. Leave them message side up on the reception coffee table. The counter in the john. The counter at reception. Anywhere that they might catch the eye. Ideally place all 5 messages in close proximity, as this is a bigger effect.

If you are even willing to invest more funds to the effort, you could see if a billboard close to the entrance to the exhibit hall or hotel is available on a 3 or 4 day basis. Here you would exhibit your most compelling statement. That and your weblink is the ONLY message here.

Prior to the show, try and get emails of the attendees and do html email blasts with the black and white messages. Expose them to the pain points in as many locations as possible within a tight period of time. I would even go so far as putting magnetic cards on the interiors of the elevators. Pain Point promotions can be invigorating as you become somewhat of a guerilla in your technique. Outside of the billboard, the expense is minimal, it is merely your effort that should be inspired. Try it yourself soon and come back and let us know how the experience benefited you. We can compare notes.

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