This is not a political blog post. I’m neither endorsing or not endorsing the idea that we should or should not re-elect President Obama.

This is a slam on the campaign communication team who spams my inbox for donations.

Here is the email I just received:

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From: Barack Obama
Subject Line: Hey

Andy –

My upcoming birthday next week could be the last one I celebrate as President of the United States, but that’s not up to me — it’s up to you.

This July deadline is our most urgent yet, coming after two consecutive months of being significantly outraised by Romney and the Republicans.

And if you pitch in $3 or whatever you can before midnight tonight, you and a guest will be automatically entered to join me at my birthday get-together next month:

https://donate.barackobama.com/My-Birthday

Thanks. Hope I’ll see you soon.

- Barack

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Why does this bug me?

• Maybe because I imagine the most powerful person in the world might address me in a way other than saying, “Hey.”
• Maybe because the sentence, “My upcoming birthday next week could be the last one I celebrate as President of the United States, but that’s not up to me — it’s up to you” implies that the most powerful person in the world is dependent on a $3 donation from me.
• Maybe it’s because I get 3-5 emails a week from these guys and each day the sky is falling a little lower.
• Maybe it just doesn’t look right for the President of the United States to sign his name, “Barack.”  Like if I saw him in person I would slap him a high five and call him “Barack.”
•  Maybe I can’t imagine being a German citizen and receiving an email from Angela Merkel with the subject line, “Hey” and signed, “Angie.”  I can’t even imagine getting an email from Steve Ballmer or Marissa Meyer with the subject line, “Hey.”

Earlier this week, my oldest friend gave me a call.  We grew up together in New Orleans, and he delivered some sad news.  Another friend of ours, “Chris,” had died of a drug overdose.

I hadn’t been particularly close to Chris in the last 20 years, but it always stings when a childhood friend suddenly passes away.  And this one stung a little more, because I had been in contact with him in the last few months.

You see, Chris had been battling alcoholism for a while.  A skilled computer programmer, he’d lost his career due to his drinking issues.  My friend had me contact him to see if there was any work he could do for us.  It turns out his skills matched some work we needed done, so I asked if he wanted to work on a small project for us.

His response surprised me.  He needed to rebuild his career.  He needed something to occupy his time.  But he had to turn down my offer, because taking a part time gig would have made him lose his state and federal benefits.

So here was a guy who had fallen in a hole.  And instead of the system encouraging him to get out of the hole, it was sending food, water, doctors and money INTO the hole.  The system was doing what it could do to keep him satisfied in the hole. To be worth leaving the hole, he needed a really great job offer.  But he couldn’t take small offers and show he was back in order to prove he was ready for a good offer.

And so instead of a guy doing some part time work and rebuilding his career, you end up with a guy with nothing to occupy his time, leaving alcohol rehab, and 12 days later finding something harder that killed him. Thank you system.

I don’t like teams from Oklahoma. I root against any team that Clay Bennett may possibly want to support. That’s what makes this so hard for me to say.

Oklahoma State deserves to play LSU for the BCS title.

That actually hurt me to say.

Now, do you remember the old days, when there was no overtime? In that situation, LSU and Alabama Version 1.0 would have ended 6-6. Both teams would have ended the season 12-0-1. It would be clear that we needed another 60 minutes to settle things.

However, we have overtime. We have Conference Championship games. And we have Conference champions.

Now, I would argue that the SEC Championship was a farce caused by the impractical practice of artificially manufacturing a divisional split of East vs West or North vs South. What we should have had in the SEC was SEC #1 play SEC #2. LSU vs Alabama for the SEC Championship. Winner goes to the BCS. That’s real drama. (For the record, we also saw this play out in the Pac-12. We should have seen Stanford at Oregon, not UCLA at Oregon. The divisional thing is just dumb.)

But we didn’t have that. The SEC created their rules, and their rules caused Alabama to be shut out of their own Conference Championship game. So Alabama should feel aggrieved, upset and annoyed, but they should be taking their case up with their Conference while they prep for the Sugar Bowl or whatever their best option for a non-BCS title would be.

Meanwhile…

- Oklahoma St won their conference. Granted, the Big 12 without Nebraska isn’t the same, but it isn’t Conference USA or the Mountain West. They are a Conference Champion from a top 4 Conference.

- Alabama has already lost to LSU. Stanford lost to Oregon who lost to LSU.

- Boise State and Houston had to go 13-0 for any legitimate claim.

- The other Top 4 Conference Champions have 2 losses (Oregon and Wisconsin).

So, in lieu of 2 undefeated teams, Oklahoma State is the only 1 loss Conference Champion from a Top 4 Conference.

Alabama fans – you had your chance. You actually had two chances if you count Overtime as a redemption. You blew them both. You should be out.

We should be seeing LSU vs Oklahoma State.

Quite often in marketing, we focus on the “Acquisition” aspect of the formula. How do we make someone aware of what we’re selling and then get them to buy it? And usually, the marketing team will get laser focused about the campaigns they are running, evaluating whether those campaigns are being successful.

But only the savvy marketer will audit the entire company. Is there anything else going on in any other division, where customers are literally being driven away?

Let’s take a personal example. Years and years ago I bought an Acura from Acura of Seattle. No, out of good marketing, personal laziness or just because I don’t know any better, whenever I need something fixed, or just to buy a certain part, I call Acura of Seattle. The number is even in my Contacts List. (Well, it was. Not anymore. Thanks Apple. Different story.)

So I need a simple part, so I call the guys down at Acura of Seattle. They don’t have the part, but it can be there in a few days. No big deal. Inconvenient, but not inconvenient enough for me to go looking somewhere else. But then comes the kicker.

Acura of Seattle: “We’ll need you to come down and pay for it in person, then we can have it sent to you.”
Andy: “I’ll just give you my credit card over the phone.”
Acura of Seattle: “Can’t do that. Need you to drive down to Tukwila and pay in person, then we’ll ship you the part.”
Andy (Staring at phone): “Or I can call Acura of Bellevue.”

And so I call Acura of Bellevue. They need to order the part as well, but tell me to just come in tomorrow and it’ll be there for me. Done deal.

So when it comes time for me to buy a new car, it really doesn’t matter what kind of clever marketing campaign Acura of Seattle throws at me. Facebook, Twitter, Direct Mail, it really doesn’t matter. All I’ll really remember is that Acura of Seattle wanted me to drive to Tukwila for no reason and Acura of Bellevue was helpful.

Moral for the marketers: Find out if other parts of the company are crushing your campaigns…

(Note: Most of this is also reposted at the Social3i.com blog)

Working in an emerging industry like social media, and with clients from Microsoft down to small startups, we’re in a unique position to see a ton of entrepreneurial start-ups. We play with tools from Simply Measured and Visible Technologies, work with WordPress Plug-ins and developers, and see everything from new Facebook radio applications to sports energy drinks.

So, when a publisher like Geekwire sets up a Fireside chat with Rich Barton, it’s kind of a can’t miss event. I’ve seen Rich speak a number of times, and his mantra about online marketing carries with me whenever I see a new business plan. His line is simple to remember and generally dead on: “Whatever can be free will be free, whatever can be found will be found, and whatever can be rated will be rated.”

But last week at Spitfire, Rich added one more message to the Seattle VC and entrepreneurial community. He said (and I paraphrase here), “The problem with the Seattle Entrepreneurial community is that no enough people swing for the home run. It takes just as much energy to walk out of the dugout and bunt as it takes to walk out of the dugout and swing for the fences.”

It’s a fair and accurate comment, and something even more extraordinary when you consider that besides Barton, there are at least 4 or 5 other Seattle based entrepreneurs who went long a decade or more ago:
- Bill Gates, who put a PC on every desktop.
- Howard Schultz, who put a $4.00 cup of coffee in everyone on the planet’s hand.
- Jeff Bezos, who made it possible to buy anything from anyplace, anytime for a market price, and get it delivered almost overnight.
- Paul Allen, whose goals are so big and audacious he probably overshoots them by a few years (ie space travel.)

Barton’s message which every marketer should hear as well – “Pick a Big Hairy Audacious Goal and don’t surround yourself with any team members who don’t think that big. People have an amazing capacity to do huge things if a huge goal is set before them.”

It seems like a good lesson for all of us in either digital marketing or entrepreneurship.

Now, to understand where this article comes from, you’ll probably have to have known me for a few decades.  So if you didn’t know me in 1988, you’ll need to imagine two high school kids going to a Mariners game, buying $3 GA tix, going up those big grey ramps at the Kingdome, and climbing the fence that separated the good ramp from the bad ramp.  Fast forward a few years later, when a friend (who I won’t identify) created fake press passes.  We were able to get into Mariners games for a few years before the jacka$$ screwed it up.  (And that’s a different story.)

So what I’m saying is, I believe that a team should let its real fans support it, even if they can’t afford to.  And the entire experience about attending a ball game should be about FAN EXPERIENCE.  No more no less.

Now, baseball is kind of unique because it is something passed down from generation to generation.  People like or dislike baseball when they are 3 years old because their parents like or dislike baseball.  And their parents like or dislike baseball because of their parents and etc… In the grand scheme of things, the Seattle Mariners marketing department has really had little impact on whether I like baseball or not.

Which leads me to my issue.

I’ve shared season tickets since 1996.  I really don’t care that much that the team has stunk for 10 or 11 of those 15 years.  It’s just something I pay each year, like insurance, energy bills and gas.  I own a little piece of real estate inside Safeco Field.  I go to my little 2 seat condo every 6th game, pay too much for a beer, and just enjoy my 3 hours.  And for 15 years or so, it’s been realtively peaceful.

So enter 2011.  On one hand, I’m excited again.  I’ve seen Pineda and Felix throw gems.  I’ve watched the Yankees and Phillies.  Dustin Ackley hit a home run.  Life is exciting. What could I possible complain about?

Ushers.  Yes ushers.  Or more accurately, ushers crushing fans.  Ushers becoming part of MY game experience.  Ushers who seem endorsed by the Mariners to make the ballpark experience kind of stink.

We sit right next to the VIP section – scouts, wives, execs, etc…. And most of the time, NO ONE sits in these seats.  I mean, no one.  Mariner wives seemed to be on a collective cruise in April and May, because they sure weren’t at Safeco.  And you didn’t see many scouts around charting Milton Bradley, Ryan Langerhans, or Michael Saunders.

Now the last 3 games I’ve attended, I’ve lost at least a half-inning each game as the same Mariners usher booted people who were minding their own business.  Incident #1: A group of 10 boisterous fans who were spending a fair amount of money at the concession stand on beer.  I give them full credit.  They recognized that there were a bunch of kids sitting near them in their assigned seats in Sec 128.  So as a group, they moved ONE section over to Sec 129, where there were 80-120 empty seats, so they could enjoy themselves without disturbing the kids.  I think that’s heads-up fan behavior.  And for this act of courtesy, they got booted.  For being in the wrong seats. Because in the 7th inning, there was still the chance that one of the wives would be showing up.  

Incident #2: Two fans are discussing the poor performance of Chone Figgins in 2011.  I’m not sure this is really a debatable point.  But there was one woman who took offense – Figgins’ fiance.  Not his mom, not even his wife.  His fiance didn’t appreciate that someone who was actually at the game, had noticed that the guy wasn’t exactly earning the money he was spending on her Gucci purse.  So, the fans got booted.  Apparently, you aren’t allowed to talk poorly about a player having a poor year if his fiance is in the same section as you.

Incident #3: 4 Phillies fans have tickets in Sec 129, row 30.  Now, that row is super cramped, so they shoot forward 4 rows to Row 26, where only a couple of people are sitting.  One of the Phillies fans starts a debate with a Mariners fan about how much better the Phillies have been since 2001 than the Mariners.  Again, I’m not sure how this is debatable.  The best response from the Mariners fan should have been, “But you live in Philadelphia.  I’m actually glad the Phillies exist so you have a reason to get up every day.”  Instead, they got booted.  Apparently debate between fans isn’t allowed at Safeco either. 

So my question… I love baseball. I like to go to a game and experience it the way fans in other cities do.  But, do I need to just accept that the Mariners VIP’s have thin skin? Or is this uber-usher out of line for continually looking for people to boot?

Ok, I’ve had 24 hours to be mad about about this.  It’s easy to say, “The vote was rigged.  Qatar and Russia bought the Cups.”  And while that’s probably true, I don’t think you can just end the conversation there.

For one thing, we’re a country in which college alumni will pay $200k to have a 20 year old quarterback come play for their school.  It’s not as if we’re above the whole corruption thing.  If the World Cup was up for sale, we were certainly making our own backroom deals.  So let’s not pretend we’re innocent angels who weren’t prepared to fight dirty.

Also, we need to look at FIFA.  This is an organization that oversees soccer confederations on 6 continents and hosts 12 different soccer tournaments across the globe. Sponsors include companies like Budweiser, Adidas, Coca-Cola, Emirates, etc… Source: Wikipedia.  This is a huge company.  They aren’t just running the Poinsettia Bowl and taking bribes to give Notre Dame a bid.  This is a multi-national, multi-billion dollar organization, whose chief motivation is to make make money for everyone involved in the group.  So, for the sake of argument, let’s assume these guys aren’t idiots.

So, making these assumptions that we were ready and prepared to bribe officials, and that FIFA is made up of smart guys, why did England and the US get shunned?  Here are some reasons I can imagine:

1) The U.S. story is old – Look, I love Morgan Freeman too.  And Bill Clinton has charm.  But we came out with the message of, “Look we have a lot of stadiums already, and lots of hotels too.  Plus, we have a diverse population.  It’s a slam dunk, no risk, low-hanging fruit alternative.”  It’s kind of the same argument the Hyatt gives you when you are planning a wedding. “Look, we have a big boring conference room, you can have a choice of steak or chicken, and there will be plenty of parking for the guests.”  Not very interesting.  Meanwhile Qatar came in with an entirely new message. “Sure we have no stadiums and no infrastructure.  But we have money – and lots of it.  So we’ll build shiny new carbon neutral, solar powered, soccer specific stadiums that we’ll take down after the event, hook them up to a futuristic transportation system, and develop a giant version of Sim City that the world will marvel at.  Think Disney World for Soccer.”  That really is a more interesting wedding than one at a hotel.

2) The Perceived Decline of the West – These games are being held in 2018 and 2022, not 2010.  And the rest of the world looks at the U.S. and says, “Hmm, I don’t see where they are making their comeback.”  I mean when the city of Detroit is eating itself block by block to get rid of unused buildings, I’m not sure where you see that the U.S. is a solid bet to be thriving in 2022.  Meanwhile, Qatar and Russia have all that gas and oil money.

3) The Nobel Prize Angle – On one hand, I kind of think FIFA should be congratulated for taking such a giant risk.  They are telling a country in the Middle East that they have faith in the region.  Now, at least someone has the responsibility for keeping the lunatics at bay.  Anyone involved with the 2022 World Cup, especially Qatar’s Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, will have Mid East leaders on speed dial every time they start to get itchy trigger fingers.  If the World Cup brings some level of stability to the Mid East, which in turn brings some sort of cooperation between West, East and Mid East, then give Blatter and his guys the Nobel Prize.  

4) We don’t have the most money anymore – Let’s face it, this election was bought.  And that’s an election style we used to like, because we had the most money.  We don’t anymore.  This is an international economics story, not a sports story.  Maybe now we can admit it’s time to change the way we do things.

I’m sure I’ll add to this post soon.

(Additions)

5) One thing that surprises me is that FIFA has now made it impossible for China to get a World Cup until at least 2034.  And who knows what the world will look like by then.  

6) JR makes a good point below that diversification could be a reason.  But, diversification doesn’t explain going all the way to the limit of Qatar.  You could have solved the diversification point with any of the candidates – Australia, Spain/Portugal or Netherlands/Belgium.  

7) To expand on a point I was trying to make above, it’s an absolute pity that the U.S. couldn’t make any kinds of claims to have carbon-neutral stadiums and an efficient transportation system 12 years from now.  Doesn’t that seem weird and sad that it doesn’t even cross our minds that we could lead the world in architectural and transportation innovation?

It’s this guy to the right.  David Silverman, Vice President and Communications Director of the American Atheists.

Now, he’s not a jackass for being Atheist.  I support atheism.  I mean it’s really a silly thing to argue about here on earth.  One day we’ll either die and find out atheists are wrong, or we’ll die and won’t be doing anything at all, so what’s the purpose of arguing about it.  To me, it’s the same as if Muslims want to fast during Ramadan.  It doesn’t bother me, so why would we argue about it.

But this where Silverman steps into new territory.  

You see, there’s a stretch of highway in Utah.  And the good people who live in Utah decided they should remember state patrol officers who died in the line of duty by placing white crosses on the highway.  This seems like a nice thing to do, no?

Well apparently folks like Silverman are so insulted by this affront to atheists, that since 2005 — YES 2005 — he’s been going to court to stop this.  

Here’s a guy with apparently so little to do, that he’s going to go out of his way to stop a tribute to honorable people who lost their lives doing an honorable job, just because the memorials are in the shape of a cross.  

Now, if the Utah wanted to call the stretch of road, “Highway to Heaven” or “Ascension Blvd” I might follow the Separation of Church and State argument.  Same if before every Jazz game fans had to recite a pledge to God and remember the 14 dead.  Along those lines if all fast food restaurants in Seattle were closed during daylight hours during Ramadan, or if no one could serve meat of Fridays during Lent, I’d throw a fit.

But really, do we need to protest crosses memorializing fallen officers, especially in a state based on religion?  I say no. And I think it warrants Silverman and his cronies for some sort of jacka$$ award.  So if that gets me kicked out of atheist heaven, so be it.

It’s been a long time since I got on a political soapbox, but I need to vent a little about the Seattle City Council.

I’m not going to stand up and advocate that Arizona was right or wrong for passing their controversial Immigration law.  Like the U.S. Attorney General and most people with an opinion on the matter, I have not read the whole law from cover to cover.  However, unlike most others, I will refuse to pass judgement on a law that I have not read.

But that being said, I can’t even fathom how the Seattle City Council would have the hubris to pass a resolution which “urges Seattle city government to refrain from sending employees to Arizona and from entering into new contracts with businesses headquartered there –when legal and practicable.”

It’s one thing to manage and mismanage your own city.  But you cross a line when you tell another state that you could do their job better than them.  And you cross another line entirely when you actively and willfully go out of your way to harm individuals and businesses in that state.

Furthermore, the Council shows its complete hypocrisy, making sure the resolution does not interfere with the city’s biggest contract with an Arizona company: the red-light camera agreement with American Traffic Solutions.  This borders on the insane.  The Council is so upset about the potential civil liberty infringement upon the legal and illegal residents of Arizona caused by asking potential illegals for paperwork, that it is boycotting doing business with the state.  EXCEPT – it is fine with crossing the fuzzy line of infringing on the civil liberties and privacy of Seattleites with their profit generating “Gotcha” Red light cam program. You have to re-read the last sentence several times to let it sink it.  The Council is incensed at Arizona for allowing their State Police, when there is probable cause, to ask someone for proof of legal identification papers; BUT the Council is fabulously in love with its contracted army of 29 Orwellian traffic cameras that take pictures and send tickets to our own citizens.

Federalism works because people can move from state to state if they have objections to the laws their government implements.  It becomes an inherently flawed system when the state government cannot make decisions on behalf of its citizens, due to the fear that another state will punish it.  If this practice took hold, California, New York and Texas could pretty much dictate the laws of every city and state in the U.S.  

Furthermore, Seattle has our own issues that have gone unsolved for far too long, without wasting time debating how other states are handling theirs.  

Finally, the fact that the resolution passed 7-0 should scare everyone in Seattle into actually paying attention in 2011 to the next election cycle.  Not one person on the Council found it shortsighted or hypocritical to threaten an entire state based on their reaction to a law they had no influence on drafting.  What’s next?  Will we boycott buying products from any state that bans gay marriage or abortion?  How about we boycott doing business with any state where a Senator votes for sending more troops to Iraq?  Where does our Nanny-state City Council want to draw the line when telling other states how to run their business?

If I were Arizona, I’d respond by issuing a $1 million tax on every flight that lands in Sky Harbor Airport from a company based in Seattle.  Or put a $1 million per location franchise fee on every coffee company based in Seattle.

Disagree with me.  Am I way off base here?

People who haven’t watched Saturday Night Live for years are raving about last weekend’s Betty White episode.  The masses took control.  They created a Facebook page demanding she get to host.  They promoted the show with reckless abandon through blogs and Twitter.  And then they watched, either live, on Hulu or YouTube.  The reviews were outstanding.  SNL had it’s highest rated show in 18 months.  All thanks to someone’s devotion to an 88 year old TV legend.

So that made me think about some other articles I’ve read recently.  SI had a nice piece on Hank Aaron.  The death of Ernie Harwell brought tributes from across the land.  CNBC continues to replay a great interview with Warren Buffet.  All of a sudden, being old is cool again.  

So what caused this?

It wasn’t long ago when old was synonymous with being almost dead.  An entire generation of new voters rushed to the polls to stop John Mc Cain from getting the keys to the White House.  Bob Dole looked impotent in his race vs Bill Clinton in 1996.  And we all have sheepishly wished bands like Kiss, The Eagles and other legends from the 60′s and 70′s would just stayed retired.

But look what happened when we put all our faith in the “young” generation.  We had a President busted for an affair with an intern.  Another President running around starting wars on a giant credit card.  Our young movie stars are dying of drug overdoses or ending up in jail.  All those hot shot 25 year old CEO’s in 2000 brought the economy to collapse, thanks in part to the 40 year old VC’s.  Then in 2008, the hot shot 35 year old Finance folks brought the economy back to its knees with a derivative debacle.  We put our faith in the young, and have learned the young are a lot like us.  And if we wanted someone like us running the show, well maybe we’d run the show ourselves.

So maybe there’s a new appreciation for the old.  Not ALL the old, but the old who have passed through the past decade with grace and aplomb.  Betty White never went on Celebrity Apprentice.  Hank Aaron didn’t try to regain spotlight during Barry Bonds’ Home Run chase.  Ernie Harwell never hosted Best Damn Sports Show, Cabo Edition.  The kept being classy, and now maybe, the mainstream is leaning back towards classy.

Perhaps, just perhaps, shows like Jersey Shore and the Hills have become tired.  Maybe we’ve grown weary of Lindsey Lohan, Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie types.  Could the Octomom and the crazy people from John and Kate plus 8 disgust us?  

So what does that leave us?  For the last 10 years we’ve shunned making stars of what would have been the “new” old to make stars of the young.  So with that void, what we have to fall back on now is the “old” old – at least those who are still alive.  Betty White, Carol Burnett, Dennis Hopper, Sir Alex Ferguson, Vin Scully, hell even Queen Elizabeth is back en vogue.

Anyway, while my data is arguable, my hypothesis is that Betty White on SNL is an indicator that “Old” has made a comeback.  In a world of confusion, we liek to look to those with historical knowledge – not theoretical suppositions – to show us the way.