Time Warner Cable: You Call That PR?

Time Warner is having some negotiation issues with channel providers. It's not new; it happens because everyone wants more for less. This round of cooperation turned into much less and led to a few channel blackouts. Okay, we understand.

But then I got this email from Time Warner. See if you can spot the terrible copywriting that stinks of an angst-ridden, petulant tween blogger:

On July 9, 2012 Hearst Television chose to black out their signals from Time Warner Cable customers rather than continue negotiations, and despite their CEO saying just two weeks earlier that broadcaster blackouts are unfair to consumers.

...

Q: Why is this happening again? It seems like this happens all the time.
A: Unfortunately, these kinds of disputes have become more common over the past few years. Cable TV prices are rising and one cause is higher fees being demanded by greedy broadcasters – as their advertising dollars decline, they want cable customers to make up the difference. And if we don't agree to their outrageous demands, they take away their programming. We don't think it's fair for TV stations to hold programming hostage for our customers, and we are working hard to keep the programming on our lineup while also trying to hold down the cost of TV.

Q: Why shouldn't I just go ahead and switch to DirecTV/Dish/FIOS/AT&T now?
A: Switching makes no sense; most of these contract blackouts are over within a matter of days. But switching isn't really the answer — any provider you switch to may eventually face the same kind of blackout threats. In fact, the American Television Alliance reports that broadcasters have blacked out signals in nearly 100 different cities since January 2011, with customers of DirecTV, Dish Network, AT&T U-Verse, Verizon FIOS and other major cable companies suffering actual or threatened blackouts. We think blackouts are unfair to viewers, which is why we continue to negotiate hard on your behalf to try to keep prices down.

Q: Will you be crediting me for the channel(s) that go dark?
A: Remember that customers do not pay for channels on an individual basis — they pay for a package of channels plus the technology and service required to deliver those channels. So we do not typically offer a credit for channels that have been blacked out.

This is considered Public Relations? This isn't even high-school level persuasive writing. "Greedy broadcasters?" "Outrageous demands?" So, being the gadfly I am, I went to Time Warner Cable's website and submitted a query along those lines: Was it really a good idea to take a serious issue with many facets and turn it childish and churlish in an open letter to all of your customers?

I even received a timely response. Tell me if this sounds familiar (emphasis mine):

On July 9, 2012 Hearst Television, the owner of several stations in our Midwest Market and one station in Hawaii, chose to black out their signals from our customers rather than continue negotiations - despite their CEO saying just two weeks earlier that broadcasters? blackouts are unfair to consumers.

Time Warner Cable is always negotiating new contracts with TV stations and networks. We've reached hundreds of agreements with other broadcasters without public dispute, and what Hearst is demanding is out of line.

We think it's wrong to put viewers in the middle of business negotiations. We know our customers are tired of these public contract disputes-and so are we.

Unfortunately, instead of continuing negotiations Hearst TV has chosen to black out there signals from our customers. They are demanding a 250% fee increase for the exact same programming, most of which is available for free over the air or online. We don't think that's fair.

There is more, but I think a rehash with spelling errors is enough to get the point across.

Time Warner has its issues (with cable and internet and customer service), but I've never seen both an angry PR letter and a customer service response that was so obviously ignorant of the original communication. They literally responded to a concerned message about an unprofessional communication with another unprofessional communication. When I posed this question to their Facebook page, my post was quickly deleted.

I'm not interested in an apology or creating a mess for them when they're already dealing with one. More than anything, this is a teaching moment:

1. If you're sending out a mass email to your customers that deals with a topic you are no happy with, argue your point with the facts, not name-calling invective. You will appear the petty fool and nothing more; you've already lost.
2. If you are offering to receive emails from customers and respond to their concerns, read their emails. Respond appropriately. And check your grammar.

Don't Forget the Wide Lens

Some days I can feel so out of touch, as both a business and a person, so mired in the every day little items that it becomes daunting to even look up. But when I do, I realize I'm working through a microscope.

Working the small ends of things is not a bad practice - it's how it keeps many of us detail-oriented. But if we dig too far into it, we can also lose perspective. We need to sometimes remember the wide lens.

My realization of this came from reading an article on science fiction everyone should read. It mentioned Azimov's Foundation series and I started digging into the synopses and it was spanning hundreds of years and generation after generation and the galaxy itself and I thought to myself: why do I not entertain my role in the world - on occasion - just like this?

I'm not saying visit your life in reference to the next ten thousand years of the Human Race in the Milky Way Galaxy, but in the larger picture of what are you doing this year or this decade in your field? How are you affecting others? How are you playing your part in both life and business and what exactly is the long game?

This plays hand-in-hand with being over and on top of life; get buried and it's difficult to dig out, but imagine you're addressing things while flying above the clouds and you take the control.

So while the phone calls and emails and tiny detail does matter, don't get entirely lost within it or you will one day be looking up and wondering what happened last week, trying to get a grip on what's going on "outside."

Finally, don't be intimidated by the feeling that everyone else has everything running perfectly; for the most part, everyone struggles to find a balance. Find yours. And welcome.

Friday Videos: Kangaroos, Cookie Monster, Beagles, and Pee Wee

As I ramp up the restructuring of my blog, let's keep it entertaining. Here are some of the most interesting videos I came across this week:

Catching a Kangaroo

I don't know what this is, besides a very odd 30 seconds.




Cookie Monster: Share it Maybe

Between this and Mr. Rodgers, PBS has it going on. Sounds like a blog post on viral media and public television coming up.




Beagle Flips Out Over Lemon

Exactly what it sounds like :)




Pee Wee Herman Voices the Dark Night Trailer

From Jimmy Fallon




Have a great weekend!

Refresh that Favicon.ico Like a Boss

I was working with a client last week and we had changed her website's Favicon - that little 16x16 pixel graphic that pops up next to the title in your tab and sticks to anything affiliated with your site? Yep, that one.

So the next day she calls me and asks if I'd made the change. Having done so, I immediately realized what the issue was: the cache.

When you go to a website for the first time, your browser will pick up that Favorites Icon and sock it away in the cache. If you make changes to the page itself, a simple refresh will do the job to see the new content. But since that only refreshes the page - not the whole site - if you make a change to your favicon.ico, you will not see that change.

You've got two options:

Clear the Cache

Every browser is different, but get in there and clear the cache. Refresh. That should do it. Not my preferred method.

Just Refresh the Icon

Unfortunately, I'm always riding over 5 tabs with logins set and clearing the cache may be quick, but the reset process to get back to where I was is anything but. So I use the following quickie:

• Go directly to the icon by typing it after the root in the address bar, generally "favicon.ico" - for example, http://www.ejmdesigns.com/favicon.ico. You'll see the icon.
• Refresh the image like you would a web page (refresh icon or F5).
• You're done!

So with that quick little trick, I can see myself or let a client confirm that the favicon.ico has been changed in seconds. And not have to log back into 5 different email accounts, 2 forums, Twimbow...

Badvertising: Dr. Pepper

I like Dr. Pepper; I have since I was a kid. And Diet Dr. Pepper? Really, it tastes darn close to its regular, HFCS-laden brother. But in the last couple weeks I've seen both of the following advertisements for Dr. Pepper and thought #FAIL. Let's take a look.

Always One of a Kind



Here we begin our journey with the greyed corporate masses, the herd, and the single break-away man stripping down (revealing his true self) to the iconic maroon Dr. Pepper shirt. He's a pepper!

But then everyone gets in on it. Suddenly, people are popping up in pepper tees like Sneeches pumping through the belly star-stamper machine. NO!

Yes. By the end of the commercial, the message that flowed through the first fifteen seconds of the spot or so has completely lost its weight; everyone is wearing the shirt. Everyone is One of a Kind. Except for fat people; I suppose no overweight people were harmed in the making of this commercial - but they also cannot be peppers :(

You too can be unique...just like everyone else.


Dr. Pepper TEN: It's Not for Women

(Action Movie)


(Man Shed)


Somehow, the marketing folks here managed to insult both women and men. And miss the point.

The desire, clearly, is to take something you would not normally associate with diet soda - men and "manliness" - and suffocate it with testosterone tropes until it taps out in the target consumer's head as "must be manly." The problem is they're attempting to rent a room in the house that beer - and sometimes whiskey - owns, and has ...forever.

It doesn't work, even on an underlying psychological level. I would argue that the absurd juxtaposition of forcing diet soda into these masculinized shop/action movie/bar/potato gun situations is actually working in reverse. "Diet soda at the bar? Why not just carry a purse. Wait, where are those guys' purses?" And suddenly the men are feminized and the message by the end is that Dr. Pepper TEN will make you more lady-like.

Misogyny

Sidenote here: you can do all those man things without the endcap comments. Okay, "Keep your romantic comedies" is quaint because haha women like romcoms. But "Keep your gardening"? That rides a little too close to the edge of domestic stereotypes for good taste. "Yeah, keep your gardening, as soon as you make me that sammich! You have that baby yet? Shutup! I'm in my shed!"

Yes you are, manly-man. Drinking Diet Dr. Pepper out of your purse.

A Few Motivational Reminders

Breathe
Deeply.

Walk
With every step a testament of intent, a way down your path.

Work
With organized purpose, and be able to stop.

Rest
As you've earned it. Relax, sleep, but never stop dreaming.
And ...breathe.

Marketing of Pixar's Brave

After taking a bit of an "I'm just busy" hiatus, we're back to bring inspiration along with a hefty dose of SEO, SEM, marketing, social media, and all things geek and tech. This falls into a couple different categeories.

I saw yesterday that Pixar released a new, more expanded version of their upcoming movie Brave. Here it is:



Looks pretty amazing - which is what I say every time a new Pixar movie comes out (exception: Cars2 *shudder*). But then I saw someone else posted Pixar's Japanese version of the trailer (with subtitles):



The difference in content, focus, and tone is remarkable. Obviously the American version is pandering to what the brand of Pixar itself means to the American public, its family-focus, bring the kids, not scary at all, ha-ha funny. It appears the Japanese version focuses more on developing the story and culture and leaving us with a serious linger on mystery and potential danger. And while I think their branding/marketing is spot on for the masses, the Japanese version makes me want to see it more.

What do you think? Are they spot-on with their marketing? Should they have done something different? Which one do you like better?