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In 1993, AT&T released a massive ad campaign called “You will.” How many of them came true? (EZ-Pass, books online) and how many of them didn’t? (Faxing from the beach, or public phones with Skype built in?) (Who still uses a public phone??)
Anyone remember these?
Which ones do you resonate with?
*Thanks to the Bad Pitch Blog for reminding me about AT&T and making me look up these commercials when I should be getting ready for dinner.
Shot with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 105mm, 1/400th Exposure, 100 ISO, Apeture at 7.1
Posted on July 5th, 2009 7:31 pm with 4 Comments »
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Sometimes, things that seem like such a good idea only become that much more noticeable when they fail. Like Passport machines - I paid a fee, took a background application, went in for a personal interview, and finally got my sticker - Lets me blow past the immigration lines at all major US International airports.
Landed at EWR from Bogota about an hour ago. Walked down to immigration. Four other planes (at least) landing at the same time. Lines at EWR usual level of insanity, plus/minus 20%.
Walk up to the woman, this was the conversation.
“Hi, ma’am, I have the PCB sticker, (hold up passport) can you point me to the machines?
“They over there, but they don’t work.”
“They don’t work?”
“Nah, they haven’t worked since they installed.”
“Can I look at them?”
“Yeah, but when you see they don’t work, you gotta come to the back of the line.”
I walked over, and halfway through, saw the lovely “OUT OF SERVICE” line, written in black magic marker on a piece of loose leaf paper.
If I was allowed to use my camera in the Immigration line, I would have shot a photo.
25 minutes later, I get to the passport control officer.
“Where are you coming from?”
“Bogota, Colombia.”
“Business or pleasure?”
“Business.”
“What do you do?”
“I’m an entrepreneur, and start companies.”
“Oh. What kind of companies?”
“All kinds. Internet, Social Media, agencies…”
“What kind of agencies?”
“PR agencies, mostly.”
“Oh.”
Me: “Hey, speaking of agencies and Internet and computers… Any idea when the out-of-order GOESPASS machines behind you are going to be working?”
“No.”
“No idea at all, huh?”
“Are you being sarcastic?”
“What? I’m asking a ques… You know what? Never mind. Thanks.”
I walk away, secure in the knowledge that if I had ANY question of whether I was back in the US, and EWR specifically, it was answered.
As I was walking out, I happened to see a supervisor.
“Excuse me - Any idea when the GOES pass machines are going to be operational?”
“Yeah, soon.”
“Really? That’s great news! What’s soon?”
“I dunno. We’ll put them up eventually.”
Sigh.
Posted on June 27th, 2009 4:20 pm with 2 Comments »
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Posted on June 26th, 2009 4:41 pm with 2 Comments »
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When I started HARO, it was a small group of people, and sending out urgent queries on Twitter seemed like a natural outcropping. Made sense. A no-brainer.
With almost 50,000 Twitter followers, reporters LOVE the reach we have, and use these urgent queries often.
The rub, however, is that some people just want HARO urgent queries, and don’t care about the many humorous situations and TSA anal-probes that make up my daily life. Can you believe it? Me neither.
Anyhow… Thom, my COO (and Dopamine blocker) suggested that we work to grow the HARO brand - not take it away from the Peter Shankman brand, but help grow it as an entity by itself. Not that it hasn’t been - but it should be more. And I agree.
So as of this morning, all urgent queries will now go on the Help A Reporter Twitter Feed - and NOT on my Skydiver feed. I encourage you to sign up for the Help a Reporter Feed today, so you have a better chance of continuing to get great press opportunities through HARO.
And I’d also ask you - Don’t unsubscribe from my personal stream. That would hurt my feelings, since we all know my self-worth is based on my Twitter count. Well, it’s not really, but I like to think that the majority of my followers are there because I have worthwhile things to say on the world of social media, content, marketing, PR, advertising, customer service, travel, and hey, life as a whole, as well as the HARO urgent queries. As of now, I have 45,412 followers. I do hope that keeps up.
Posted on June 23rd, 2009 10:01 pm with 25 Comments »
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