Disney to the US SEALS

2011/05/13 By Bill Sanders View Comments

Wow. The sheer lack of respect. I’m not astounded that Disney pulled this stunt, but I am astounded that those in charge of the trademark office don’t have the common sense to reject this out of hand on the basis of well, sheer common sense. WTF!?

Some congresscritter should take the reform of the trademarks as well as the patent office on as a cause. There is enough screwed up stuff in both cases to make a career.

In a perfect example of a big media company looking to capitalize on current events, The Walt Disney Company has trademarked “Seal Team 6,” which also happens to be the name of the elite special forces team that killed Osama Bin Laden.

The trademark applications came on May 3rd, two days after the operation that killed Bin Laden… and two days after “Seal Team 6″  was included in thousands of news articles and TV programs focusing on the operation.

Disney’s trademark applications for “Seal Team 6″ cover clothing, footwear, headwear, toys, games and “entertainment and education services,” among other things. more…

I hope the Navy sues Disney and wins.

 

Filed Under: General, Media Tagged With: , , ,

Facebook PR Debacle: If not for Ethics Violations, Fire Them for Incompetence

2011/05/13 By Bill Sanders View Comments

In case you haven’t seen the news:

The social-networking company secretly hired a public-relations firm to push stories critical of Google’s privacy practices. But the strategy backfired when bloggers and journalists disclosed Facebook’s behind-the-scenes role, forcing the company to explain its tactics.

Facebook hired WPP Group PLC’s Burson-Marsteller to pitch journalists and security experts on stories that questioned Google’s practice of collecting information from people’s Facebook and other social-networking accounts. Read more

Everyone involved at Facebook, Burson-Marsteller, and WPP Group is (or should be) embarrassed and ashamed. I wonder what they were thinking. Did they really believe they could use social media to run a behind-the-scenes smear campaign against a major competitor and get away with it? Social media is known for being transparent. Anyone that reads the news on a regular basis would have bet that this would have ended badly.

One might argue the case against firing the individuals responsible on the basis of character or ethics violations, but I defy anyone to argue that they shouldn’t be fired for incompetence.

 

 

Filed Under: General, Leadership, Social Tagged With: , , , ,

Social-Loco: The Power of Conference

2011/05/06 By Bill Sanders View Comments

20110506-061258.jpg
I spent yesterday at the Social-Loco conference enjoying listening industry luminaries and the technorati discuss the current and future state of social location services and their impact on our lives.

From dozens of ad-hoc recommendations from Robert Scoble to two new product announcements from Marrisa Mayer of Google, it was easy to get lost in the deluge of information, perspectives, and opinions.

In thinking about the energy and optimism that saturated the room, I found myself reflecting on why I believe most people spend the money and time to attend conferences. Most people that I talk claim to go to conferences for one of two reasons: Information and/or networking.

I think there is a third reason to go. Even if I don’t learn anything or meet anyone new, just being in the presence of so many ideas and competing opinions gives rise to new ideas and new ways of looking at my industry, business, and client opportunities.

Kudos to ConvergeLabs for putting on a relevant conference that fills an interesting gap in the “So-Lo-Mo” space. The news and posts that the event spawned are numerous and wide ranging.

Thomas Clabum of Information Week leveraged the conference announcements to address Google’s social strategy

As did Ben Parr of Mashable. (His post had garnered over 1300 tweets as of this morning.)

Ronnie Kerr summarized and put in perspective the lack of “check-in” mentions at the conference

I thoroughly enjoyed the interactions, seeing old friends and making new ones. I also enjoyed the information both from the stage and from the vendors. But most of all I enjoyed the energy and left with some new ideas, insights, and solutions.

Filed Under: Media, Social Tagged With: , , , ,

Tainted by Financial Self-interest

2011/05/03 By Bill Sanders View Comments

Tom Foremski takes issue with financial bias in reporting – particularly in regard to start-up coverage. In his opinion, “The only acceptable bias is a thirst for a great story and selecting the best startups to write about.” Notwithstanding the fact that we all bring bias to virtually everything we do, I agree with Tom on this issue: Financial bias tends to override even relationships.

Media coverage is very important for startups. It is how they gain respect in their community, it is how they can win investors, and it is invaluable in helping to recruit staff.
Positive media coverage will also help gain users of their products and services, providing valuable marketing services that could cost tens of thousands of dollars.
But the only reason media coverage of a startup and their product is valuable is that the media coverage is seen as a neutral third party — it has no financial bias in its reporting.
Continue reading here…

Filed Under: Leadership, Media, Startups

Osama bin Laden Dead

2011/05/01 By Bill Sanders View Comments

Osama bin Laden

A “Historical Moment.”

I, as everyone else, remember exactly where I was when I first heard the news of 9/11. And I have often wondered why, with all the full might and intelligence of our military, that we had yet to locate Osama bin Laden.

But now, we have. I’m sure we’ll learn more in the coming days of the search, operation, and killing of bin Laden. For now, we can be grateful that justice has been done, and without the loss of additional American lives.

Update:

I predict that it won’t be long before someone in the news media attempts to draw a parallel between the celebration outside the White House at the death of Osama bin Laden with the celebrations throughout the middle east on 9/11. They will conveniently forget to mention that in the case of the earlier, it was a celebration of the loss of innocent life, and in the case of tonight, it is a celebration of justice (however poor in taste some of the celebrations may have been).

Filed Under: General, In The News, Leadership Tagged With: , ,
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