L&S Unscripted

I hate flying. The rising costs of flights. The crowds. Waiting in long lines. Flight delays. Losing luggage. Losing my mind. Sitting in the middle of two less than appealing seat-mates. Sitting through a three hour flight with a little monster behind you who won’t stop kicking the seat. Just me?
The point is, flying can be downright miserable, no matter how much you pay.

Granted, tougher (and necessary) security measures are part of it and the fact that the airlines are hemorrhaging money isn’t helping. But, there is something I think the airlines can do to…

• Make the flying experience as fun as the investment
• Make flying more affordable for the masses
• End price confusion…while preserving margins

My solution? Add more tiers of service to the flying public. You want to pay an arm and a leg for the same flight but ‘better’ service? Here you go. Can’t afford a flight, but don’t mind flying uncomfortably? Standing room for you.

I suggest an airline test the following concept:

First Class – Much like the old days with ample legroom, attentive flight attendants, a gourmet meal (w/ real silver), free booze, hot towels, slippers, etc.

Priced: $1000 — $1200

Executive Class – Friendly service with comfortable seating, a good meal (plastic utensils), discounted booze, priority boarding and lavatory-sharing with First Class passengers.

Priced: $600 — $800

Economy Class – Decent service, adequate legroom, soda/water and snacks for a fee and limited lavatory.

Priced: $300 — $500

Limited Class – No service, bench seating, water and lavatory only in emergency, board the craft moments prior to take-off and have to make the ‘walk of shame’ past other travelers.

Priced: $69 — $99

I never liked that old saying, “Nice guys finish last.” I don’t like it because often it is true. I also don’t like it because it isn’t true.

In the end nice guys finish first. Because they can look at themselves in the mirror and people respect them. Sometimes people even say nice things about them when they aren’t around. So maybe it isn’t that they finish last. It’s more that, because they are nice, they don’t call attention to themselves and don’t get the credit they deserve when they deserve it.

Let’s take Mt. Vernon, SD native, Iowa Hawkeye star and Minnesota Viking Linebacker Chad Greenway for example. He is a nice guy. I say that even though my wife went to high school prom with his uncle. I have to say it. Because it is true. Only a nice guy would have his NFL draft party at Wermers’ Lounge in his hometown while helping dad on the hog farm. And only a good guy would commit to donating $5,200 to Sanford Children’s Hospital if he makes the NFL Pro Bowl team.

That’s where you come in. Players are selected to their position in the Pro Bowl by three votes. The coaches, players and fans each have one vote. Chad is near the league leaders in tackles and forced fumbles. A number of Facebook groups and other social media efforts have sprung up in support of Chad’s Pro Bowl bid. Look them up. Get out there and join the fun. And most importantly, go to www.nfl.com/probowl/ballot and vote for Chad. As they used to say in Chicago, vote early and vote often. On the NFL site that is encouraged. Be sure to vote soon. The deadline is December 9^th.

So why has all the viral dust begun to stir in support of Mr. Greenway. Mostly, because he’s earned it on the field. And in part, because he is a nice guy. Here’s your chance to help the nice guy finish first. And then maybe we won’t have to hear that annoying old saying anymore.

Vote for Chad!

Said another way, don’t leave Chad hanging.

Sorry, couldn’t help myself on that one.

So as not to be forgotten in all this “refresh”, “redesign”, “rebranding” merriment, Lawrence & Schiller (http://www.l-s.com) has gotten a face lift.  Orange is the new black, as they say, but we’ve kept some of the old black as well.  This new design was aimed at making our agency seem more fun, because that’s what our clients said we were.  Once the flattery buzz wore off, we knew that we had a honey (pun) of a task ahead of us, and this website “refresh” was just a small part of that effort.

Talent from a number of teams was pooled, and extensive work was done on not only the web design and development but the SEO, copy, and information architecture as well.  We’ve added a new homepage flash that is more informative as well as being flashier (pun, again).  We’ve also created a Team Culture page to better showcase the habitat within which we work.  Not only that, but our client teams (Mint, Phoenix, Fuel, and Synergy) each get a page, giving clients a better idea of who it is they’re working with, even before they’re working with them!  We’ve also improved our What We Do section, better showcasing how we Understand, Plan, Implement, and Evaluate for our clients.

For the most part, the site is unchanged.  You can still read how we go 5280, view some of our work, and, of course, apply for a job (hint, hint).  Whatever your fancy, head on over and take it for a spin (pun, again - I’m awesome at this!).

Today I was searching for a particular event on a very large national site. I searched a 10-day timeframe in July 2009. I understand that it’s only November 2008, but I found the auto response a wee bit passive aggressive …

Perhaps I was being a little optimistic I’d find information this far out, but I didn’t think I was being unreasonable. While I’m sure whoever penned this line meant nothing negative by it, it’s a good reminder to make sure the tonality of your site copy remains consistently positive and helpful.

More importantly, in this instance there was no clear path to move me forward from this page. Offering a link to last year’s event, other relative content or a chance to revise my search dates would have been more proactive than the response alone.

Ask yourself, if a customer asked you for information face-to-face, would you answer the same way your site does?

Well, this is the week of Thanksgiving, a time for me to sit back and remember why I like my life so much. First of all, I am thankful that I live in Sioux Falls. If I listen to all the local and national news, it seems that the outlook is very bleak across the country. But not here in Sioux Falls – the city was selected by CNN and CareerBuilder as the best place to find a job. Click here to see the article.

There is a lot of change happening around the building, which is another reason why I am thankful. People are changing office spaces and sitting with new teams—which means new creative ideas and maybe some new besties in my life. I get to move away from my current cubemates (they’re like cheddar), and my new team is more complicated (more goaty, if you know what I mean). . .

I really have admit that I am truly appreciative to be part of a great company and a great city. Sometime we focus on the wrong things. From my favorite show, “I wanted a Harry Winston choker for my birthday. Instead I got a conscience.” Last week our leadership outlined a 2009 Economic Stimulus package, which is essentially a plan for 2009 goals (and my inspiration for this post). I appreciate the fact that the company is being “prudent” yet looking at rewarding performance in these times of economic uncertainty. I could be working in a different city, or for a different firm, but L&S works for me because the people here care about my future and are focused on moving forward instead of what’s happening today. This agency is like my family, and now I’m ready to get with the program and fast.

Today Google announced the release of a new product (is it a weekday, does the moon revolve around the earth?!) called SearchWiki. It allows searchers to re-rank, comment and delete search results while logged into their personal Google accounts. These customizations are only viewable locally, but it’s hard to believe Google doesn’t have some grand scheme planned using all this data.

L&S web team members weigh in …

	EC: Too many questions come up to even know where to start, but #1 is how/when will this effect clients? (We don’t change the way we optimize pages, but all of a sudden client links can either be promoted really high or removed from the list altogether.) Do they plan on modifying their formula in the future to give higher rankings to links that have been promoted? Is this part of their master plan to know everything about everyone? Honestly, I think it will help them get more paid advertising (Would they do that :)) It would be a good way to weed out some of the crap that has accumulated over the years.
	RT: Very interesting – I’m with you, EC. I can’t help but think that Google will build this into their algorithm. If we’re doing our due diligence and optimizing sites for relevant search results, this will help us - people will find our sites useful, rate them and position the real sites above the junky sites out there trying (many times, successfully) to trick Google into believing their content is relevant. Google keeps adding body parts, brain, eyes, ears, what’s next?
	MR: This seems like a slightly uncharacteristic move for Google. Does anyone know if this lived in the labs first? Normally they beta test a feature, until it hits a certain popularity / critical mass, then they integrate it in. This thing seems to be going straight to the people, which either means it’s something very valuable to Google’s customers or it’s something very valuable to Google. Should be interesting…
	RT: It’s such great intelligence for Google – my bet’s on “what’s in this for them” while also improving search engine results, hense a better user experience. Win, win.
	KG: I love the idea of Google eventually building this into their algorithm – consumers replacing robots to determine relevance. Like EC said, it could clear out a lot of the junk pages … as well as render any remaining black hat SEO tactics obsolete. Power to the people!

Lawrence & Schiller received two Sioux Falls Business Journal Readers Choice Awards this week:

Best advertising agency
Best web site developer

http://www.argusleader.com/article/20081119/BJNEWS07/81118064

Thanks to our Clients for allowing us to work on the many great projects that attributed to these awards!

It has been brought to my attention that I needed a title. First of all, I’m flattered because that means I’m official. And you know what comes after a title, that’s right, business cards. Yippee! Just in time to show-off at holiday gatherings. After many sleepless nights, I ended up rejecting:

Blogger-in-chief – too trendy

Manager of Futuring – too made-upy

Brand Champion – too everyday and too implied, I’m ALWAYS that

Creative Functionality Facilitator – didn’t want to make the any “creatives” around here feel even more insecure

For awhile, I was going with Sasquatch because of the fact that everyone talks about me but doesn’t know for sure if I actually exist. (Hello people, these words of insight don’t just magically appear…)

So after much hullabaloo and an episode of “True Blood” – my title will officially be Shapeshifter. It’s because on any given day I get just as excited for award-worthy creative work as I do a spreadsheet that shows amazing ROI. I could be a using Classic Yahoo one minute and signing up to be a Beta Tester on another site the next. I might play the role of agency den mother or high-fivin frat brother. I jump around from being 22 and loving my first job out of college to being 72 and still being amazed at this industry. Not to mention how much fun all the other ages in between are. Each with their own perspectives and challenges I can’t wait to share. Being able to transform into different personas is going to be A.W.E.S.O.M.E. But did you know I can also transform myself into animals? It’s pretty obvious what my fav is going to be….a fly on the wall.

The new Great Western Bank (http://www.greatwesternbank.com) does not want to be called a “redesign”, so we’ve dubbed it a “refresh”.  The jargon in web development can get pretty complicated, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for more.  We called this a refresh, because our strategy was about more than just updating the look; we knew that a website like Great Western Bank’s deserved comprehensive polish and care.

We utilized valuable analytics, client feedback, and an assortment of other metrics to help us work with the bank to direct their web presence into the future.  While the refresh certainly boasts a refreshingly lighter look and feel, the functionality behind the scenes has gotten a tune-up as well.  You can search for bank locations using the improved Location Finder, explore how GWB is working hard at Making Life Great, securely access your online banking straight from the homepage, and much more.

Now, that’s a website that makes you say, “Ahhhh…”

Today is Friday and typically not alot of “meetings” so . . .I have some time. Interesting that today was the unofficial day of the scarf. In South Dakota, we have fully embraced the scarf as our winter necklace. Its too bad because I really like “the scarf” as a fashion accessory but now since its became standard L&S wear, I obviously will not be wearing my faves as frequently. Don’t believe me? I had a few helpers in the agency take these pics. So - what’s your take on the next item to make it on the L&S hot list?