Does Your Area Code Affect Your Personal Brand?

A lot of smart people have given a lot more thought to personal branding than I have [here's a provocative post from David Armano to get you started].  But I've never seen a discussion about how - in a time when caller ID is ubiquitous - your area code affects your personal brand.  I have no doubt that some area codes carry certain advantages and others, baggage.

With the advent of national calling plans more and more people find no reason to change their cell phone numbers when they relocate.  In fact, keeping the number from their previous city is a way of clinging to an old identity [my wife being one example - I can't imagine her ever giving up her 917].

MapAreaCodeTimeZones

Even more interesting to me are businesses using VOIP to route numbers to more desirable area codes than their actual physical location.  I suppose for some businesses this makes perfect sense [executive recruiters is one that immediately comes to mind].

And all you New Yorkers know the desperate battles fought a few years ago to secure a 212 when 646 first hit the scene [by the way, a New York friend of mine believes the 646 stigma is over for cell and home phones, but might still exist for businesses].

Net-net ... clearly we take our area codes very seriously as a statement of our identity.

Does 917 imply sophistication?  Do you think someone from the 305 is more free spirited?  Is everyone in 617 scrappy?  Do 303ers live a more balanced lifestyle?  Is every caller from 312 calling from the middle of a steak dinner?  When you see 323 do you think slick?

Don't get me wrong - I love my 312.  But I guess if I had to map what I want others to think of me onto an area code, I would choose 415.  When I see 415 I think sophisticated, savvy, tech-forward [but not too geeky] and open-minded. 

Do you judge people by their area code?  If so, how?  And what area code do you think best represents you? 

An Unintended Consequence of Harsh Economic Times

The economic news is grim, for sure.  Just today the New York Times reports nearly 600,000 jobs have been lost in January alone.  And just look at the list of companies ... whether you work on an auto assembly line or make advertisements, no job is untouchable (except perhaps outplacement services). 

But today, on the anniversary of Bob Marley's birthday [you know, One Love, One Heart], I'm struck by an unintended consequence of all this bad news.  I've noticed, even more so than after 9/11, a sense of empathy.  A sense of one-for-all, all-for-one.  A sense of, I'll help you out, because I may be asking you for help a month from now.  Or even better, I'll help you out because it's just the right thing to do.  A sense of, let's share some good news in all this misery.

Maybe I'm blind to reality, but don't you see it?  A few examples on my radar:

  • Jeff Woelker takes the time to post tech-related job openings in Chicago on Chicago Tech Report.  I haven't asked him about why he takes the time to do it, but I can only guess it has something to do with Karma [and that he's just a good person]
  • Noah Brier and Rick Webb have started a Twitter handle @mediaisthriving to serve up some refreshingly positive news about the media industry.  A welcome respite from all the bad news.
  • As I previously posted, David Armano activated his social network to help a family in need, with incredible results.
  • I notice a tremendous amount of chatter on Twitter between job seekers and industry leaders.
  • Even I have gotten into the act, fielding several calls, tweets and emails from people looking to make contacts.  I try to help the best I can.

So while very insightful men like Steven Overman express a sense of disappointment in how brands are behaving during this extraordinary time, I hope he sees that many everyday people are rising to the occasion - in our own small, but hopefully impactful, ways.

Please share your stories of positivity ... they will most certainly be appreciated.

P.S.  Happy birthday, Bob.

Bob marley

Innocent Keeps It Simple [Therefore Effective]

The next time someone tries to sell you on a complicated [and expensive] technology solution that's sure to engage your customers, ask if their technology can deliver as simple, delightful and powerful an interaction as the one I had this morning with Innocent Drinks on Twitter.  Read from the top down.

"Sorry, Good morning" was great.  But "Good evening" 4 hours later - out of nowhere - was brilliant. 

Well done Innocent - there's a reason you are often cited as a model brand in the social media space.

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QTip v Questlove on Twitter [Celebrity Tweet-Off Round 2]

In a recent post I compared the Twitter habits of Shaquille O'Neal and Lance Armstrong.  Both received high marks for their transparency and embracing of new technology.  In the end I gave a slight edge to Shaq because he's less polished, relatively engaged with other Twitter users and is pretty amusing.

Round two is a hip-hop battle for the social media age.  Q-Tip, the leader of A Tribe Called Quest versus Questlove (according to Wikipedia, also known as BROther, ?uestion, Brother Question and ?uestlove), drummer and producer extraordinaire from The Roots.  Using the same criteria as Shaq v Lance ...

  • Q-Tip has 7,568 followers and follows 3,127 [a ratio of 2.5:1]
  • Questlove has 9,594 followers and follows 289 [a ratio of 33:1]
  • In the week of Jan 18-25, Q-Tip Tweeted 51 times; Questlove ... well I stopped counting at 200 [the man is prolific and was clearly inspired by the inauguration]
  • 32 of Questlove's last 60 Tweets have been @replies; versus 18/60 for Q-Tip.

Looking at the stats I have to give the edge to Questlove, mainly for his frequency and relatively high @reply ratio.  Unlike my previous post I'm not going to get into the subjective stuff ... I'll leave that for you to decide. 

But I must say that more often than not I breeze through Q-Tip's Tweets while I try to actually read most of Questlove's.  Below are a few favorites that show a funny, conflicted, self-deprecating man ... not unlike many of us.  As I said in my previous post, I really give both these guys credit for opening themselves up like this ... I suspect their fans truly appreciate it - I certainly do.

Questlove Twitter  
So who do you think wins this one?  Any other celebs doing it well?

Shaquille O'Neal v Lance Armstrong ... On Twitter

Comparing Lance and Shaq in terms of their professional abilities is difficult since they play such different sports [can you say with any confidence that Lance is a better cyclist than Shaq is baller?]. But Twitter is even ground for these giants, and I think it's time to compare celebrity Tweeter @lancearmstrong v @the_real_shaq.

Read more

Hotel and Technology Roundup

From 2004-2007 I logged hundreds of thousands of air miles, countless nights on the road and roughly 30 international trips (and probably the same amount of domestic).  That's all to say, I know a thing or two about staying in hotels.  And while mercifully, I don't travel much any more, it's still with great interest that I notice articles and blog posts about hotel marketing/experiential innovations.  Thanks heavily to Springwise, here then are a few things I've Flagged For Follow Up recently:

Interactive Surface Technology at Sheraton:  Guests at Sheraton hotels in Boston, Chicago, New York, San Francisco and Seattle can use Microsoft's Surface technology to access entertainment content, local tourist information and information about other Sheraton properties worldwide.  Springwise recently documented the collaboration.

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Westin Chicago Designs Special Rooms to Fight Jet Lag:  Also from Springwise, Westin Hotels and Philips have partnered to design a concept room specially aimed at helping jet-lagged travelers combat sleep troubles.  Amenities include Philips' new blue-light ActiViva lamps, a light therapy box at the work desk station,  a eucalyptus shower fizzer in the room's "Heavenly Shower," a guided-meditation sleep TV program, a special room-service menu and specially designed running local running maps.

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New York City's Pod Hotel connects guests with each other before arrival:   Once guests have booked their reservations, they are sent a link to the hotel's PodCulture blog and a  user ID, which allows guests to connect and interact with others who will be there at the same time.

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Sheraton (again) Invites People to Experience Their Brand In An Unconventional Way:  As part of their Global Out of Office Day, Sheraton invited New Yorkers to work from Central Park, where it recreated its new Link@Sheraton lounges [a collaboration with Microsoft to infuse useful technology into its hotels].

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W Hotels Gives Guests a Quiet Place for a Cell Phone Call:  This is something I am particularly proud of since I was Nokia's point person on this project.  Simple concept - a modern take on the phone booth, combining Nokia Nseries technology and great looking design.  Visit PSFK to read a short interview with Carlos Gomez de Llarena [the designer from R/GA with whom we worked on the booth design and interaction].

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Key Learnings:

  1. Make sure it works
  2. Make it simple
  3. Make it additive
  4. Work with the right partners to bring your vision to life
  5. Help people fight the loneliness of business travel
  6. Make it surprising and fun
  7. Understand the context in which the technology exists
  8. Experiment until you find something that really resonates with guests

Someone Is Listening

A few days ago I asked if anyone was listening.  Well, apparently someone is [but not one of the brands listed in the post].

Actually, the brand that's listening to me is Six Apart [the owners of TypePad].  A few days ago I tweeted "Liking the new interface for posting on Typepad."  Within a few hours I received a notification that Six Apart had started following my Twitter Stream.

Hardly significant, I know.  But in some small way makes me feel that much better about being a TypePad customer.