I’m tweeting this: Twitter is this year’s hot marketing tool at San Diego Comicon

Friday, Jul 24th, 2009 by JacquiK | 0 Comments
Filed under: Community, Customer Focus, iPhone, Marketing, Social Networking, Twitter

Based on media coverage alone, Twitter would appear to be mainstreaming to the tune of a MySpace or Facebook. In reality, the Twitterati remains a small but vocal segment of the Internet, identify trends and riding them for brief cycles.

This week represents the motherload of all Twitter cycles, as the Twitterati descend upon San Diego Comicon (SDCC). There is a long and glorious cross-over between technophiles and comics/sci-fi/fantasy fans–and SDCC is their harmonic convergence. (It’s so much more than a “nerd prom.”)

The obligatory marketing tool for this year’s SDCC is Twitter itself. Every major media outlet has set up either a general Twitter account for “reporting” or individual accounts for reporters… in many cases, both. Through cross-promotion through traditional media (house ads in magazines), online (“follow us on Twitter” announcements on Websites and stories) and Twitter itself, everyone is attempting to get your attention.

I follow several of them normally, and this week, I’m getting spammed with SDCC coverage. I appreciate the effort, but a vague tweet and link will not get my attention. (The Ausiello Files actually tweeted “I just had a really interesting interview with…” and a link. You had to click to find out who it was.) While this may seem cute and intriguing, I found it cloying. I’m already reading hundreds of tweets. Give me a reason why I should click yours.

What I find far more interesting is the artists themselves. Actors, comic artists, writers, and others all can be found on Twitter, discussing their experiences and providing tips on where to find them. (Heroes alum Brea Grant mentioned she was going to return to a booth unannounced for additional signings after numerous Twitter followers failed to see her during a scheduled signing.) Many artists also share goofy personal photos from the floor that won’t show up in People.

HBO, Showtime, SyFy, and other SDCC-friendly networks are trying out a similiar approach this year, setting up show-specific Twitter accounts for shows represented at the con, including True Blood and Dexter. The accounts focus purely on giving fans insider info about the shows. Show-related panels are announced early enough that fans have a shot at getting to the right hall and scoring a seat. Personal appearances, including some “surprise” appearances at partner booths, are also slip-streamed. It’s a small thing, but it means a lot to fans. And for those who couldn’t get there, videos and other tidbits are posted and linked in a timely fashion.

This fan focus shows an awareness of what comicon truly is and isn’t. Yes, it’s a major promotion opportunity for the production companies, comic artists, actors, and so on. But it is also the world’s largest celebration of all things geek, which certainly includes Twitter.

Well, this year, anyway.

Know the code: 5 quick tips to clean up your HTML (or why WYSIWYG tools are bad!)

Thursday, Jul 16th, 2009 by DaveK | 0 Comments
Filed under: How To, Newsletters, Work Tools | Tags: , , , , , , ,

Though I’m a writer/editor/consultant by trade, I’ve been coding HTML since I launched my first site in the mid-’90s. Back then, you had to know the code, which was constantly evolving. I still remember how cool it was when Netscape added background images (I think it was v0.91b).

Nowadays, most people use tools that take care of all that pesky HTML for them. Only problem is that, despite a decade plus of evolution, these WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editors still don’t do a very good job. Working as I do with a number of organizations, it surprises me sometimes how little HTML some of the people who work daily on the Web know – and it shows in the lack of control they have when creating even simple layouts. When I look at the underlying code, it’s often a sloppy mess that reveals a telltale trail of many failed attempts to add a simple line break or modify a font.

If you want good results, you still need to know the code. Here are some tips to gain greater control over your Web-based content:

  1. Never paste directly from word processing documents into a WYSIWYG editor. Your resulting code will be a nightmare that’s nearly impossible to read and modify. I believe many folks’ fear of HTML stems from having once looked at this type of intensive machine-built code! Instead, paste first into a plain text editor such as Notepad to clear the formatting (while you’re at it, search and replace any curly quotes, non-straight apostrophes, long dashes and compressed ellipses with their standard equivalents). Finally, cut and paste the raw text into your page editor and then add any formatting you need either using the WYSIWYG tools or, if you’re brave, directly with an HTML editor.
  2. Review your code. Most WYSIWYG tools add unnecesary HTML. They may introduce incorrect font tags, add non-breaking spaces ( ) that can affect layout and create unhelpful ALT text (used to describe the content of an image). Learn your way around and fix any errors before they are published.
  3. Learn some easy HTML. You don’t need to master stylesheets and scripting to build in HTML. Start with the basics: STRONG (bold), EM (italics), FONT (to control font selection, size and color), BR (line break), P (paragraph), A (anchor, which is how you make links) and IMG (for adding images). You’ll work your way up to master coder in no time. Note that this will NOT make you a professional developer; HTML is a simple markup language and NOT the same as writing software. But it’s a start, and can be a valuable job skill. More skills = more opportunities.
  4. Use WYSIWYG strategically. Fancy HTML editors often provide good tools for complex tasks, such as table creation. You can build your table layout using a WYSIWYG editor and then switch to HTML to fine tune it, as needed.
  5. Re-use, re-use, re-use. Once you have a piece of code that works, recycle elements of it. Save your favorite code snippets someplace handy (I use OneNote, but Notepad is fine too). And if you’re creating pages or HTML e-mails that are part of the same campaign and really need to be consistent, you should re-use the code (changing out images, links and copy where needed) rather than rebuild it from scratch. Otherwise, you’ll end up with a muddled mess that delivers a sloppy customer experience.

Why we’ve abandoned big banks: No service for small business and, oh yeah, many are in trouble

Wednesday, Jul 8th, 2009 by DaveK | 0 Comments
Filed under: Small Business | Tags: , , , , , , , ,

For years, we thought that most banks were about the same and the thing that distinguished them was how many ATMs they offered and whether they charged you for checks and other services. When we moved to Seattle in the mid-’90s, we amended that to include nice, local community involvement and customer service – largely thanks to our first personal banker here, Ryan, who set us up at the Ballard neighborhood SeaFirst and made our migration from the East Coast painless.

Since that day, we have stuck with local banks. When SeaFirst was gobbled up by Bank of America, we almost immediately felt the difference in corporate climate. After checking their reputation, we ditched BoA for Washington Mutual, which at the time advertised a bunch of horse-riding grandmas who were saving their citizens from out-of-town banks. Free online bill pay (albeit with certain minimum balances) and series of fantastic bankers (most recently the irrepressible Lindsay at the branch down the street from our home office) sealed the deal.

Alas, as you probably know, WaMu made some bad loans – more than their share, really – and were bought out by Chase. Not remembering how bad out-of-town banks had been to us, we thought we’d give Chase a chance and enjoy their expansive network of nationwide ATMs. But then they started in with the letters demanding that we, in essence, re-apply for our home equity line of credit.

A few things to set this up:

  1. We have always paid our bills on time and kept our debt low, paying off projects we charged to our line of credit in their entirety twice since we started using it.
  2. WaMu had, without asking, twice increased our line of credit far beyond what we’d ever reasonably need for home improvements. If they did this for everyone who had a line of credit, it’s no wonder they went out of business.
  3. Our house, thank goodness, is worth more than we paid for it – so even with the larger line of credit, we’d have been covered.

Our read on Chase (hindsight being 20/20) is that we never had a chance. They said that they wanted us to document our small business income to justify our line of credit, but they never listened to us, did not request specific additional documentation and filed several appeals on our behalf without our consent and involvement. In short, we were railroaded. They froze our line of credit and sent us a letter that, if you read between the lines, told us we were free to take our business elsewhere and, oh yeah, don’t let the screen door hit you on the way out.

We asked around on Facebook and nearly all of our friends recommended going with a credit union over a bank. Considering all of the problems banks are having these days, this actually seemed to make sense. We’d always avoided credit unions because they tend to have few ATMs and fewer branches to visit when you need to make deposits or talk to a banker.

But, if you dig beneath the surface, the situation is pretty good for credit union customers. BECU was once only for Boeing employees,  but is now available to all Washington state residents. They have agreements for free ATM access on the Co-op Network and you can visit a number of sister credit unions to make deposits and talk to a teller. There’s one of these a short walk from our house, right next to a community center where our son spends many afternoons. So most of our concerns about access to cash and a convenient place to deposit our checks have melted away.

BECU so far has been very supportive and moved our line-of-credit loan very cleanly and efficiently. We have to go a little further out of our way sometimes and we’re still learning where to find all of the fee-free ATMs, but for us it’s worth it to have our money someplace we trust and believe in. BECU is a not-for-profit, so they’re not motivated by greed—just to provide the best value and service for their customers.

If only more businesses shared this philosophy.

How I finally got an iPhone 3G S – and the joys of migration!

Wednesday, Jun 24th, 2009 by DaveK | 0 Comments
Filed under: iPhone | Tags: , , , ,

iphone3gsYou’d think it would be easy to buy a $500 iPhone upgrade, but the combined efforts of AT&T and Apple made this exceedingly painful. Let me briefly share my experience should you choose to follow in my footsteps. I’ll also offer a few pointers for transferring the contents of your prior iPhone to a new one and enjoying the new iPhone 3G S features.

Even though I bought my iPhone 3G last December, I decided I wanted the 3G S for a few reasons: added storage (I’ve already filled my 16GB model!) and better camera topped the list.  Since my original purchase was so recent, I did not qualify for the fully subsidized $300 price, but was offered the 32GB model for $500 (still better than $700 with no commitment). If you bought a 3G last summer, AT&T recently expanded the offer,  so check: You may qualify for the best price.

Rather than brave the launch day lines, I ordered mine last Thursday from the Apple Store online and was promised delivery in about a week. Alas, I noticed during my semi-frequent online order status checks that it was unceremoniously cancelled on Monday. No explanation. I called Apple’s customer service and, despite the fact that I should have been preauthorized after going through their upgrade wizard, I received some vague excuse that AT&T had not validated my offer and I would have to clear it up with them.

I called and then ran down to my local AT&T Store, where they were backordered 7-10 days. I went ahead and placed an order for the 3G S from them in case that proved to be my only recourse, but I had been hearing that the Apple Store across the way had ample supply. Midday Tuesday, my AT&T rep informed me that they could not clear the problem with my account but that I could buy the 3G S at full price from the Apple Store and then walk over and get a $200 credit on my cell phone bill once AT&T re-upped my 2-year commitment. The net here is that I paid an extra $18 in sales tax, but didn’t have to wait an extra week. AT&T promptly canceled my order and promises the credit will appear by Friday.

So now I had an iPhone 3G S but it would be hours before I could start playing with it. The AT&T rep offered me the option to swap my SIM card from the old phone, meaning I could use my old iPhone for now and activate the new one instantly when I got home and was ready. I first backed up my old phone again, and then swapped the SIM and plugged in the new one. The restore process was painless and relatively quick (about 15 mins) but this only restored my core settings and mail accounts. Apps, music, videos and picture galleries were not present when I turned on the new iPhone. Getting these over required a full sync.

It’s worth noting that I am using iTunes on an older Windows XP machine with USB 1.0. Until recently, I had a USB 2.0 card installed but due to conflict problems I had to remove it. (I really need to move iTunes to a newer machine, but every time I attempt any kind of iTunes move it takes six months to get everything fully functional again!) Since Apple depracated FireWire sync, my only option was a 6-hour slow transfer of my apps and media. Once this completed (about midnight), there was still a little work to do. Here are some tips to make this easier:

  • Have passwords handy. For security, all Exchange or POP e-mail  accounts require you to re-enter your password in your new iPhone. Exchange and voicemail prompt you immediately after you turn on the phone, and you’ll need to set a security passcode on your iPhone before Exchange will work. I had to reset my voicemail password, which can be done by calling AT&T customer service or logging into https://www.wireless.att.com/. POP mail passwords need to be entered in your Mail Settings. I created a password-protected cheat sheet with the passwords I require most frequently so I didn’t need to wade through my master list to find the handful that I needed.
  • Check your apps. Some apps may require password re-entry or account recovery to the new iPhone, though surprisingly many do not. Spend a few minutes launching the apps you use most often and see if they need anything to run. Amazon, Slacker, Tapulous and Flight Control are a few that needed some recovery work. Kindle required me to delete and redownload all of the books that I had bought, though free samples and the older public domain free books still worked fine. 
  • Try the new apps. Go ahead and click Compass. You’ll probably never use it, but it’s cool, right? Fortunately, the compass functionality will help other applications with things like directions (though it sounds like you’ll need to pay AT&T a monthly fee to run GPS apps – boo!). OK, now launch the Camera and try the new focus and video camera features. Next hold down the Home button until Voice Control launches. Say something and see if it does it. (I tried, “Play On the Go Playlist” and never got it to work. It was comical, really. I’ll need to start naming my playlists with voice recognition in mind.)
  • Revel in the speed. Apart from the three big changes above and the potential for greater storage space, the 3G S’s real advantage is speed. It really is faster. Loading and clearing e-mails takes me a lot less time, and I no longer have to click back and forth to mark some of the bigger messages as read.
  • Show battery percentage. The 3G S has a hidden new feature that shows your battery percentage next to the visual battery indicator. Go into Settings, General, Usage to turn it on.

iPhone 3.0 is here (if you can get it)

Wednesday, Jun 17th, 2009 by DaveK | 0 Comments
Filed under: iPhone | Tags:

The new iPhone 3.0 firmware is out, and it’s free for iPhone users ($10 if you use an iPod Touch). With some 40 million people hitting the Apple servers nearly all at once, getting it may take awhile.

I made the mistake of putting off an iTunes update last week, and it was required for this iPhone update. That delayed me an hour. Then I had to actually download the iPhone update, back up the phone and then have the install validated by an Apple server. That last part proved to be the weakest link in the chain – it took about 20 tries for the first phone, and 50 for the second. The install itself took maybe 15-20 minutes (per phone).

When my iPhone finally came back to life, there was a new app, Voice Memos, installed at the bottom right of the first page of app followed by a new 10th page – so now you can have 164 apps instead of 148. The extra page is blank except for the front page icon that was bumped by the new “official” app (read: cannot be removed), but the good news is that moving icons is now a lot easier. Your pages of icons do not reshuffle until you release the app you are moving. Too bad cut and paste doesn’t work for icons, but this is still a huge improvement.

I also ran into problems updating apps from the App Store on my phone, thanks in part to a new terms of service agreement that kept timing out. Unless you really need a particular app or app update right away, you might wait until things settle down – probably later this evening.

In the meantime, if you’re looking to find out what’s new beyond the widely reported big features, read How To Use The Best 40 Features of iPhone 3.0.

TweetDeck gets all iPhone-y (and adds multiple accounts!)

Wednesday, Jun 17th, 2009 by DaveK | 0 Comments
Filed under: Community, iPhone, Social Networking, Twitter | Tags: , , , , , , ,
TweetDeck for iPhone

TweetDeck for iPhone

Back in April, I deconstructed what I thought was wrong with TweetDeck. Now I only do this sort of exercise with products I think show real potential. I did the same on BusyGamerNation.com for the Nintendo Wii user interface and twice for the Xbox 360 (but never got around to the PS3).

I critique because I care.

It appears that someone at TweetDeck is listening. But they have their own ideas too. And it’s hard to tell whether it’s getting better or I’m just getting used to the ever-growing array of columns that stretch off the right side of my screen.

The big news is that TweetDeck is now available for iPhone. And it’s free. The column metaphor actually seems to work well with a touch screen where you can swipe to quickly flip columns. I currently trade off between TwitterFon (slightly old version since people dissed the latest update) and Twinkle (nice for community tweets though Seattle lately has been overrun by overly dramatic teens and tweens with iPod Touchs who feel the need to text for attention every 12 seconds or so!). I’ve also toyed with Twitterific but so far it hasn’t stuck.

TweetDeck for iPhone looks promising, though it is a little crash prone (not unusual with first gen iPhone apps). What might keep me coming back is this: Sync with my desktop TweetDeck. The way this works is that you either use the iPhone app or the newest PC version of TweetDeck to create a TweetDeck account (yes, another password to remember). You then login to the other version and it offers to sync your columns – to a point. The iPhone version doesn’t support Facebook (at least not yet) so that’s not carried over from your desktop. Nor are any secondary accounts you add. You have to manually add these in both places. And sync’ing doesn’t seem to work from the iPhone back to the desktop, though I could be wrong. I’m still testing this.

Wait, did you catch that? Multiple Twitter accounts are now supported – on both versions! Other new desktop app features include unlimited columns, trends for any column, reply all, YFrog support, spam reporting and smart filtering. Supposedly there’s a conversation window, which sounds great – but I couldn’t find it.

Still, all in all, TweekDeck continues to show promise. Just when I was about to go fishing for alternatives.

Unblock your brain: How fun, games and nursery rhymes can help you at work

Thursday, Jun 11th, 2009 by JacquiK | 0 Comments
Filed under: Copywriting, Facebook, Games

Anyone who has to put words to paper for a living encounters the dreaded blinking cursor eventually. The one that keeps blinking because you can’t think of anything to type. Well, besides your name and possibly the date. And no, that won’t get you 200 points on the SAT, despite what the kid next to you said.

You don’t have to be a professional scribe to encounter writer’s block—you don’t even have to be writing. It can be present in brainstorming sessions, project planning and yes, even tests. (I’ve been out of school for 20 years, and have taken many skills tests since then.)

Every writer develops a ritual for ridding themselves of the dreaded block—and they love to share them. The most common ones I’ve heard are exercising (“I think best when I walk”) or bathing (“I do my best thinking in the shower.”) Then, there are the unconventional ones.

A college professor once advised me to just start typing something I know by heart. His favorite was the nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” (Seriously.) He believed that if you just start typing, the words will come. This was particularly impressive because back then, he used a typewriter. He would write his piece, change paper and then re-type it on a clean sheet. Eccentric, but it worked. I can only imagine how happy he was when computers came around.

My Mom, an extraordinary copywriter with a wall full of awards, has kept a copy of “A Whack On The Side of the Head: How You Can Be More Creative” in her office drawer for as long as I can remember. It’s like a grown-up version of those activity books parents get for kids before a long trip, except instead of connecting the dots and coloring, it offers puzzles, brainteasers and other exercises to get you thinking outside the proverbial box. Or just thinking, period.

I recently inherited the well-thumbed book, and I can see why she kept it close by. Not only does it stimulate the mind, it’s pretty fun, too. (I don’t remember her ever mentioning that part.) I’ve found myself thumbing through the book in the evenings just for enjoyment. But honestly, I haven’t used it much to unblock myself. When I need a whack on the side of the head, I go to Facebook and play Bejeweled Blitz.

The Bejeweled games are basic match three games (match three, get points) with a few twists. Match four-in-a-row, get a bomb. Match five-in-a-row get a power gem that eliminates all gems of the same color when you use it.

The Facebook app, which I believe is number 10,432 in the PopCap Bejeweled family, is the perfect brain stimulus for a videogame fanatic like me. It’s quick, has a built-in time limit (1 minute per game) and requires the brain to make fast decisions. An ill-placed bomb can take out a power gem before you can use it. Match three too fast, and you might miss a match four or five opportunity. Just finding matches can set your brain into overdrive, and by the way, the 10-second countdown is on.

As an added bonus, PopCap has weekly drawings for multiple prizes. Earning high scores, and more importantly, getting friends to play and earn scores, is the key to reaching the milestones required to enter. Prizes range from games to the Holy Grail, a PopCap laptop. (Good luck reaching that milestone, kids.)

But that’s all just bonus. The real value here is that I have easy access to something that stimulates my brain, has a built-in time limit and is there when I need it. Just like my mom’s book.

Although last time I looked, the book wasn’t giving away laptops.

WordPress Plug-in Watch: iPhone theme, sharing, auto-Twitter and not-so-Simple Tags

Tuesday, Jun 9th, 2009 by DaveK | 0 Comments
Filed under: Blogging, Community, iPhone, Social Networking, Twitter | Tags: , , , , ,

After years grappling with Movable Type for our gaming site blog, I’ve recently come to really embrace WordPress’s simplicity and extensibility. One of the things that makes it so great these days is the ease with which you can add and update plug-ins used to improve the features of your blog. In most cases, you can just click a link to install or update a plug-in (no more FTPing files!).

There are thousands of plug-ins to choose from, so from time to time I’ll call out the ones I have found indispensible or at least highly valuable, plus the occasional one I’ll suggest with reservations (and helpful tips to save you the trouble we had implementing it). Here are some of my favorites so far:

WordPress iPhone themeWPtouch iPhone Theme. I found this theme when browsing a friend’s blog and immediately installed it for our own. It greatly speeds up load times and improves readability for iPhone visitors, who have the option to turn it off if they prefer your default view. The way this makes your site look like an iPhone app is pretty compelling (see picture at right).

Add to Any: Share/Bookmark/Email Button. If you write something worth sharing, you want it to be as easy as possible for your site visitors to do just that. You can select which social networking/sharing mechanisms are displayed by default. Hovering over the Share or E-mail This Post link opens up the full list, which is constantly expanding (see icons and link at bottom of this post).

WP to Twitter. This highly configurable plug-in automatically tweets your blog posts. We use this only for new posts, so any updates/edits do not result in an unwelcome Twitter flood. URLs are automatically shortened using the Cli.gs service, though we had some problems until we created and entered a Cli.gs API key.

Simple Tags. If you don’t want to spend a lot of time adding tags (aka keywords) to your posts, this plug-in can help, although it can be tricky to get working. First, you have to add at least one tag to a post before it will function at all (you’ll get a “Javascript must be enabled” message but that’s probably not your problem). The autotagging feature only pulls tags you have entered previously and applies them, where relevant, to existing posts. Once it’s up and working, use tag suggestions to find common keywords in your articles and apply them quickly. After you have a decent set of local tags, the auto-tag feature can help you quickly generate tags for older posts that don’t have them.

Have you had different (better, worse?) experiences with these plug-ins? Have a favorite plug-in that nobody loves but you? Let us know!

Social Media Trend Watch: Facebook and Twitter go to the gamers

Monday, Jun 1st, 2009 by DaveK | 0 Comments
Filed under: Community, Facebook, Games, Social Networking, Twitter | Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Facebook on Xbox 360 (click to enlarge)

Facebook on Xbox 360

Normally I wouldn’t post gaming news to this site (that’s what BusyGamerNation.com is for) but the news flash that Facebook and Twitter are going to launch on Xbox 360 consoles this fall should interest everyone who works in social media and community.

The game is about to change (again). It’s one thing to tweet and post status updates from a mobile phone. Typically, you’re out in the world tapping in texts about your work, meals and entertainment. Usually with bleached out twitpics of food that hopefully tastes better than it looks. We’re all used to that.

Now, expect a lot more gaming chatter. Once this feature launches as part of a long overdue Xbox 360 dashboard update, people will post pictures and achievements from their games. Trash talk will go a lot wider. And scheduling for group play of games and other activities, such as movie watching via Netflix Instant Queue parties (also launching soon), will compete with tweetups and Facebook events for your attention.

If you make your living in social media and don’t play games, now is the time to start.

UPDATE: Nintendo announced that its portable, the Nintendo DSi, will be getting Facebook integration this summer. But it will be limited to uploading images taken with the DSi’s camera. So the only impact here will be an influx of crappy low-res pictures, many with special effects such as stamps applied using the DSi’s primitive photo editing tools. Still, more evidence that social media is going to become more gamer-centric.

Not-So-Stupid Marketing Tricks: Bruno vs. Eminem

Monday, Jun 1st, 2009 by JacquiK | 0 Comments
Filed under: Community, Facebook, Marketing, Social Networking, Twitter | Tags: , , , ,
Bruno (Sacha) sells his movie

Bruno (Sacha) sells his movie

How do you solve a problem like the “Bruno” movie? You let life imitate art. Sacha Baron Cohen pulled off one of the year’s great publicity stunts Sunday at the MTV Movie Awards, in the clip viewed round the world. Susan Boyle who? Between Sunday night and Monday, it was all about the backless chaps and Eminem’s outrage—at least until the target audience discovered E3 had started.

The actual event was not all that shocking for the venue. Howard Stern also ascended in backless chaps from the rafters way back in 1992 to promote Fartman, a movie he never got around to making. Older viewers may also recall Eminem’s 2002 MTV Movie Awards showing, in which he made homophobic comments about singer/producer Moby and attacked Triumph the Insult Dog, essentially throttling a puppet.

Over the top aerial stunts? Homophobic reaction? Mock(?) outrage? In short, we’ve seen this show before. And yet, it worked. Within 20 minutes of the moment airing live on the East Coast, blogs (including mainstream entertainment sites) were buzzing about the confrontation. #Bruno and #Eminem began trending heavily on Twitter. And everyone tried to add the clip to their Facebook.

As the day progressed, bloggers studied the video like it was the Zapruder film. Everyone agreed that Baron Cohen’s descent was carefully planned and rehearsed. But why didn’t Eminem move? There was plenty of time for him (or anyone in that section) to get out of the way, but they all stayed frozen in their seat. Conclusion: He was in on the joke.

By late Monday morning, the Internet had decided, and “sources” had confirmed, that the rapper knew Bruno would be descending into his lap. He just didn’t know it would dressed like a fallen angel from the West Hollywood Victoria’s Secret. We all know the rapper is a homophobe—remember Moby? And the “Bruno” persona is all about bringing out the worst in homophobes for laughs. Match, point, game over.

At least, that’s what the social networkers decided for a couple hours. By late day, yet more insiders (my money is on people from the Universal Studios, MTV and possibly Eminem camps) had leaked that the entire thing had been planned, and everyone knew everything. Yes, even that. The audience had been mass punk’d.

E3, perhaps the only event on the planet save Comicon that could have pushed this out of the Internet zeitgeist, took over the early afternoon. By late afternoon, Bruno and Eminem were overtaken by Left 4 Dead 2, Xbox 360 Facebook integration and other news from the event. By the time you read this, it will be old news.

And it’s almost exactly 24 hours since the whole thing began.

So what did we learn?

1. You can still reach a mass audience in today’s splintered entertainment world. Between 500+ cable networks, Internet radio, iTunes, Hulu and the gazillion social networking sites, it has become almost impossible to reach everyone. The stunt may have been in bad taste and NSFW, but you can bet it was passed around heavily today.

2.Traditional marketing doesn’t always rule. Bruno, a comedy, is set for a July release in the U.S. If this was say, a Judd Apatow release, you would have seen the trailer approximately 10,502 times by now. Yet until just a few weeks ago, Bruno’s only real exposure was a Red Band (restricted) trailer on MySpace. Even with a regular trailer in theaters, you’re unlikely to encounter it with the same painful frequency as say, “Land of the Lost.” The clip of “Bruno” landing face first in Eminem’s lap is likely to stay with you a lot longer than the sleestaks, however.

3.Your target audience doesn’t have to be watching for you to reach them. You don’t have to be a Disney-level marketer to figure out that the squealing young girls who sent Twilighters to the stage time and again are NOT the target audience for either Bruno or Eminem. Nor are they old enough to enjoy either one without an adult to buy the ticket or album. It doesn’t matter. All it takes are a few high-profile blogs and tweeters to describe what happened, often with colorful descriptions of Baron Cohen’s outfit, to get the Internet abuzz. You may not have seen the New Moon cast, but by now, you’ve seen Bruno’s full moon.

As the stunt fades into the distance, the question becomes, “who won?” Well, let’s examine the not-so-scientific evidence:

  • Baron Cohen and distributor Universal Pictures will have to wait until July to see if the movie enjoys any bounce, or if people are so over Bruno by then. (Universal expects a small opening followed by long legs, similar to Baron Cohen’s Borat film.)
  • Eminem was nowhere to be found on the iTunes top 100s the day after, but his fans might be more likely to buy a physical CD than go to iTunes. Or perhaps they just want to discuss his behavior—his musical performance does not appear to be the topic of conversation. Which leaves…
  • MTV, which managed to squeak a buzz-worthy moment out of an overall lackluster, and often dull, show. By cracking down early and often on illicit video postings, MTV controlled where you could go to find the video. I found plenty of places where I could view it other than MTV.com—but the official videos were clearly imprinted and credited to MTV. The network is also no doubt counting on a bounce for future showings. Eminem’s attempt to beat down Triumph the Insult Dog gave a nice bounce for repeat viewings—but that was before the Internet became a television set.

So hats (pants?) off to a marketing trick that managed to be both smart and stupid at the same time. I for one can’t wait to see Bruno.

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