Twixt Christmas and the New Year

Today in this part of the country, the muffled stillness of deepening snow emphasizes the quiet pause after Christmas and before the commencement of the new year. Here's a timeless description of these between days from a collection of essays by British historian Hilaire Belloc. He talks about the importance of ceremony during this week to "modern men" in a "terribly changing time." This is part of that essay, first published in 1928:

"Now, you must not think that Christmas being over, the season and its glories are at an end...

In the midst of this season between Christmas and Twelfth Day comes the ceremony of the New Year, and this is how it is observed:

On New Year's Eve, at about a quarter to twelve o'clock at night, the master of the house and all that are with him go about from room to room opening every door and window, however cold the weather be, for thus, they say, the old year and its burdens can go out and leave everything new for hope and for the youth of the coming time...

While this is going on the bells in the church hard by are ringing out the old year, and when all the windows and doors have thus been opened and left wide, all those in the house go outside, listening for the cessation of the chimes, which comes just before the turn of the year.

There is an odd silence of a few minutes, and watches are consulted to make certain of the time, and the way they know the moment of midnight is by the boom of a gun, which is fired at a town far off, but can always be heard.

At that sound the bells of the church clash out suddenly in new chords, the master of the house goes back into it with a piece of stone or earth from outside, all doors are shut, and the household, all of them, rich and poor, drink a glass of wine together to salute the New Year.

This, which I have just described, is not in a novel or in a play. It is real, and goes on as the ordinary habit of living men and women. I fear that set down thus in our terribly changing time it must sound very strange and, perhaps in places, grotesque, but to those who practice it, it is not only sacred, but normal, having in the whole of the complicated affair a sacramental quality and an effect of benediction: not to be despised.

Indeed, modern men, who lack such things, lack sustenance, and our fathers who founded all those ritual observances were very wise."

Here's to a fantastic New Year in 2010.

Ten Breakable Habits (for a remarkable presentation)

Here's an excerpt from this week's TechRepublic with a preview of my new book on presentations, coming out on February 12th. If you're looking for an easy way to get your next presentation to the next level, these are the first five of my ten recommendations for do's and don'ts:

1 - Stop: Being an information resource.

Start: Being the funnel, filter, and guru.

Put away the teleprompter. Presenting is more than giving a speech. You're changing data into information, knowledge, and with a little luck, wisdom.

2 - Stop: The train - there's no track.

Start: With the end in mind.

Invest the amount of preparation time in your presentation that will make it a winning experience for you, like an athlete whose first goal is self-improvement.

3 - Stop: Trusting the human ear.

Start: Polishing your shoes.

Don't keep it simple; make it simple. Transform a complicated thought or process into something that is easy to see and appreciate.

4 - Stop: Explaining your slides.

Start: illustrating your ideas.

The images you use will create lasting impressions if they connect with your words. We're a visual culture and need the combination of content and visual emphasis.

5 - Dont: Focus on everything.

Do: Build around a unique value proposition and an unrefusable offer.

The ability to define your message in terms of a UVP and UO is the central piece of making your presentation remarkable. Keep your other points ancillary to these two.

For a list of all ten breakable habits, see the article in TechRepublic's "10 Things" column here.

You can find more details on the book at www.tenbreakablehabits.com.

Christmas Cheer and Marketing - Good, Bad and Ugly

In the early darkness of the morning after Thanksgiving it begins. The promotions leading up to Christmas are a harbinger of the general economy and the December campaign can bolster those lagging year-end figures, particularly in retail.

So effective marketing in the competition for those final discretionary dollars of the year is critical. Although the zeitgeist is one of generosity, the board of directors is looking up from the balance sheets and saying "You know that last dime? We need it." Are there marketers out there who are successful in appealing to both the rock and the hard place?

Some companies have seized the opportunity to be Christmas-friendly. In a recent survey of that category by John Stossel, the pole position is held by Bass Pro Shops, followed by Cabela's, Lands End, K-mart and Sears. Other businesses are more inclined to be snowy, frosty, wintry, festive, etc. in hopes of appealing to Obama's "no longer Christian" nation. Retailers will have all of January to figure out whether they offended the right people.

Here are some other pre-12/25 strategies you may be seeing out there lately - see if you think they're effective:

Good
- Megabus is giving away 100,000 free seats on their Facebook page on trips booked for 1/6-3/20.

- Apple has a free Christmas music download set (20 songs) on iTunes.

- ELF Cosmetics is offering free shipping on any purchase.

- Joseph A. Bank is offering $550 suits for $180.

- Cepia's hot new "Zhu Zhu Pets" are under $8.00 each (and the rumors of toxicity are false).

Bad
- Verizon doubled its early-termination fee for smartphones last month.

- Joseph A. Bank evidently clears at least $370 on its normally $550 suits.

- Today, stores sold out of Zhu Zhu Pets within minutes of getting a shipment, pushing the eBay price up to $35.00.

Ugly
- The girls in Gap's seasonal ad saucily tell their parents they won't wear that (old stuff) anymore, and if they don't like it, they can "talk to the moose." (The only sign of seasonal cheer at the brick-and-mortar store reads, "Do the moose. Shake your caboose.") The moose video has already generated some spoofs on YouTube.

- Mitsubishi is running ads with the jingle, "We wish you a Mitsubishi."


On that note, I want to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas. God bless us, every one.

______________________

Some of you have asked about the Discovery Channel's "Everest: Beyond the Limit" with John Golden's amazing summit climb described in my 10QatAtime interview with him in October. The update is that the episode was delayed but is now scheduled for Sunday 12/27 - see the link here.

Marketing Obama's Noble Steps

Since the Nobel Prize committee's surprise decision in October to recognize President Barack Obama for the 2009 peace prize, a great deal of discussion has ensued around the reasoning in the decision. The arguments revolve largely around the timeline and general requirements for accomplishments, rather than plans or intentions.

Interestingly, the peace prize is an anomaly among the thirteen Nobel Prizes. It doesn't carry the "tested by time" caveat for qualification, so there is plenty of room for interpretation by the committee on what ought to be considered. The formal award statement describes the decision as recognizing Obama's "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples," primarily through work toward nuclear anti-proliferation and a new international political climate. Also cited is his role in "meeting the great climatic challenges" in the world, echoing the 2007 award to Al Gore and his climate-change (formerly "global warming") panel. The Peace Prize is again unique among the thirteen Nobels in its presentation, as the only prize given in Oslo rather than Stockholm at the specific, and somewhat enigmatic, request of the dynamite inventor himself.

Curiosity about the field of nominations in which President Obama competed will have no doubt waned by the time nomination records are unsealed in 2059, but the field of past recipients into which he has been inducted is certainly a distinguished cast. Among the honored peacemakers are the Dalai Lama, Kofi Annan, Desmond Tutu and Mother Teresa. Notable achievements from the Cold War days came from both Mikhail Gorbachev's Glasnost and Lech Walesa's Solidarity. For his part, Mr. Walesa has been bold to note that on the basis of actual contribution, his award was harder earned. Critics also point out the absence of any recent Republican presidents, whose peace dividends have evidently not made the cut.

The next of what civil rights activist Rev. Jesse Jackson called President Obama’s “noble steps” in the process is to travel to Oslo today to formally receive the award. In addition to the medal, the $1.4 million cash prize has already been promised by Obama to an unnamed charity. Based on the widely-reported costs of up to that exact amount for the President’s recent trip to Copenhagen, the cost of the Oslo trip might be better offset by a “donation” back to the taxpayers who are funding the trip, rather than another perceived federal redistribution.

Seth Godin's Top Ten for Business Laggards

Is your business running on all cylinders in terms of new media? If so, you can bypass this one.

Author and internet übermarketer Seth Godin has written up an intriguing list of ten recommendations for businesses (and organizations or clients) that are web laggards. (It's the sick who need a doctor, right?) Those who qualify have:

- No real website
- No social media
- No permission assets
- No real cash

All ten of them are good, but these are my favorites:

- Use gmail to give every person in the organization that can read English an email address.
- Start an email newsletter using Mad Mimi or Mail Chimp. Give the responsibility for the newsletter's creation and performance to one person and offer them a bonus if they exceed metrics in sign ups and in reducing churn.
- Offer a small bonus to anyone in the company who starts and runs a blog on any topic. Have them link to your company site, with an explanation that while they work there, they don't speak for you.
- Start a newsletter for your vendors. Email them regular updates about what you're doing, what's selling and what problems are going on internally that they might be able to help you with.
- Get a white board and put it in the break room. On it, have someone update: how many people subscribe to the newsletter, how many people visit the website, how many inbound requests come in by phone, how long it takes customer service to answer an email and how often your brand names are showing up on Twitter every day.

Here's a link to the rest.

Thanks, Seth.