Pooh and the Chicago Technology Community

This week I attended the ITP Policy Kickoff Meeting. I sat with some interesting people - Bret Johnson, director of the Homeland Security Innovation & Entrepreneurship Center
and Laura Hale, founder of a fan fiction history wiki.

I'm not going to comment on the ITP or its role as yet another technology advocacy organization in Illinois. Ron May covered the topic quite nicely in his newsletter.

What I found frustrating at the meeting was Chicago's typical "second city" technology industry attitude. Everyone knows that Chicago is WAY down on the list of locations where VC's invest and that the East and West Coasts are pulling talent from here. Please don't tell me that again.

Can the Chicago tech community please lose the "kick-me" sticker on its back? No one at the meeting mentioned that Fast Company named Chicago the 2008 U.S. City of the Year!

U.S. City of the Year: Chicago | Fast Company

Maybe it was old news to some, but what a great endorsement from a magazine that bills itself as: "A blended media website and community platform for people passionate about business ideas. Our core topics of concern are innovation, technology, leadership, management, social responsibility, design, careers and work/life balance." The award is definitely worth repeating.

Here's one quote from the article:

"A punk rocker from Wales once declared that he avoided L.A., because there they talked about whom they were going to play with; and he avoided New York, because there they talked about the projects they were going to do. In Chicago, he said, they come to work -- without regard for what others might think."

In the world of Pooh, you might say we view ourselves as Eeyore, the intelligent, humble and slightly depressed donkey. Silicon Valley sees itself as Tigger, the bouncy, egotistical tiger who thinks it can accomplish anything, but often doesn't. If Pooh were a VC, would he give his money to Eeyore or Tigger?

Oh, Fast Company, Chicago's tech community says "thanks for noticing me".

Comment on Dim Bulb: The Ethics of Ethics

Here's link to my good friend's branding and marketing blog, Dim Bulb. He discusses whether socially responsible corporations actually have an advantage in the marketplace.

Dim Bulb: The Ethics of Ethics

As Jonathan points out, and several people commenting confirm, consumers often don't "do as they say". Ethical consumerism sounds good but people aren't always willing to make the personal sacrifice.

I was a vegetarian for many years. Inevitably the topic came up during meals and most carnivores at the table felt compelled to explain why they were eating less meat. Usually, the reason involved their health. They assumed I didn't eat meat because I wanted to be more healthy. I try to be a healthy eater, but that wasn't the reason I was a vegetarian. I was a vegetarian because I was opposed to factory farming and the inhumane treatment of animals. When I mentioned factory farming as the reason, generally the friendly conversation about meat-eating ended rather abruptly.

The conclusion I draw from this (based purely on my personal anecdotal evidence) is that the majority of people change their behavior if there is a direct benefit to them. For most people, "doing the right thing" in a consumer situation doesn't result in enough of a direct benefit to make them change their behavior. Helping an old lady across the street provides direct feedback to the do-gooder. However, helping an old lady earn a living wage in Bolivia by purchasing fairly traded goods isn't quite the same.

What's my point? The best advertisers don't just rely on consumer's conscience to spur them to action. They give consumers a direct, personal benefit plus an ethical benefit. Clorox delayed the introduction of their Greenworks line by 6 months to make sure that it worked as well as other chemical-based cleaners. Many other eco-friendly lines of cleaners had failed to win over mainstream consumers because they just didn't work as well. The Greenwork's website contains an amalgamation of direct consumer and environmental benefits. While it might not win over the people who are already using environmentally friendly products, it goes a long way in giving the average consumer a reason to pay slightly more for a "green" product.

Elections and Nationalism

I ran across this poem and it spoke to me during this election year.

My Country Awake
Where the mind is without fear and the head held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by Thee into ever-widening thought and action;
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

- Rabindranath Tagore

Asia's first Nobel laureate and named one of Time Magazine's most influencial Asian's of the 20th centurty, Rabindranath Tagore, was the greatest writer in modern Indian literature, a Bengali poet, novelist, educator, and an early advocate of independence for India. Tagore's influence over Gandhi and the founders of modern India was enormous, but his reputation as a writer and mystic has caused many to ignore his role as a political activist. In fact, one of his songs became the national anthem of India and another the national anthem of Bangladesh.

Tagore's travels lead him to write of the folly of borders and patriotism. He stressed the need for new world order based on cross-cultural values and ideas, the "unity consciousness." His ideal was the Universal Man. Tagore warned of the dangers of nationalistic thought. "Patriotism cannot be our final spiritual shelter; my refuge is humanity," he wrote.

In this U.S. election year, let us dream of a country where we are without fear and united, not with ourselves, but with the rest of world. Let us strive for unity and hope for Peace.

Let our minds be free to the possibilities of what should be and not what might happen. And with open hearts and minds, let our country awake to a new day.

Superbowl No Chicken Dance for the Patriots

It's nice to have a Superbowl where the game is SO much better than the ads. How many times have you spent the Monday after the game discussing the ads and not the game with your colleagues at work? Not this year. What a game!

I'm not a big football fan, nor did I have a preference for either New England or Giants going into the game. But, I couldn't help cheering for the underdog Giants as they came from behind in the 4th quarter. Now that's good football.

On to the Chicken Dance. As you may have read, KFC challenged any scoring player or Tom Petty to do the Chicken Dance during the game. If they completed a 3 second dance, KFC would donate $260,000 to charity. NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy called it a case of "ambush marketing 101" and warned that any players participating could face stiff fines.

Chicken Dance winners and losers?

NFL is a big loser for even commenting on KFC's "ambush marketing". Why dignify the challenge with a response? Comment board traffic was overwhelmingly negative towards the NFL with one poster renaming it the "No Fun League".

KFC was a slight winner. They managed to jump on the Superbowl marketing machine without spending more than the cost of a press release distribution. They'd be a big winner if they had figured out a way not to seem so crass and opportunistic.

The players and Tom Petty were winners. Of course, neither the players nor Tom Petty Chicken Danced during the game. With the quality of the performances all around, they focused on winning the game rather than KFC or any of the other Superbowl hype. True professionals.

What a game! (Did I say that already?)

The Blurring Lines of Entertainment

Despite the cold weather, My husband, son and I were nice and toasty last Saturday at the Girl Talk/Dan Deacon show at Metro. Markus and I stayed in the balcony while my son, Mars (aka Button), joined in the fray below.

Both Girl Talk and Dan Deacon blur the line between performer and audience. Dan Deacon performs in the middle of the crowd instead of on the stage. He becomes, not a showman for the audience, but the leader of a massive party experience. Everyone participates. Everyone is an entertainer.

Girl Talk (Gregg Gillis) performs on the stage, but invites people up on stage with him. Like Deacon, the crowd becomes the entertainment. Of course, Gillis became part of the crowd several times by crowd surfing or jumping in and dancing.

I'm not sure if the decision to break down audience barriers is because the performers are both solo acts and it's difficult to pull off a full set by yourself or because of the personalities of Deacon and Gillis. Both seemed to be humble and accessible - a sort of anti-rock star.

Both Deacon and Gillis are products of the current digital age of user generated content (can we think of a new name, please? DIYc?). With the collapse of the industrial music complex and the speed of exposure on the internet, it's no longer anointed stars that make it on to the stage. It's people like Deacon and Gillis who understand that creating an environment of social participation and interaction is the future of entertainment.

In the future, everyone is famous.

Tech Cocktail 7

My law firm, Fitzgerald & Hewes, LLP, is one of the sponsors of Tech Cocktail 7. Stop by our table and say hello if you're there.

Details:

Date
Thursday, February 21, 2008

Time
6:30 pm CT - 9:00 pm CT

Location
John Barleycorn Wrigleyville
3524 N Clark St
Upstairs
Chicago, IL 60657

Be sure to register right away. The event is often fully booked.

Ignite Chicago

Last night, my law firm, Fitzgerald & Hewes, co-sponsored the first Ignite event in Chicago. Ignite events are happening across the country. Thanks to the efforts of Sean Harper and Jesper Andersen the Chicago entrepreneurial community showed up to the party in their party dress.

If you're not familiar with the Ignite events, here's brief description:

If you had five minutes on stage what would you say? What if you only got 20 slides and they rotated automatically after 15 seconds? Around the world geeks have been putting together Ignite nights to show their answers.

Last night's event was a cross between a tech event (with free drinks thanks to us sponsors) and a poetry slam. Very cool. You could feel the brainwaves and creativity in the air. My husband, Markus Giolas, founder and president of Real Talent, hopped right on the shadow sculpting contest. We'll see if he won.

Ignite Chicago - don't miss the next one.