Book love

On Katya's Non-Profit Marketing Blog today: Believe Me: The Book.

This is a concept I fully believe in: storytelling. This book is designed to help anyone with something to sell (an idea, a cause, a product, your car, etc.) find, build and spread their story. I get really excited about this idea, because it seems so obvious and yet so few people/groups/organizations do it. Storytelling is intrinsic to human existence, interaction, survival, and yet it's not often tapped -- especially in the non-profit world -- to build a case for a cause. Many fundraisers learn that donors want to see numbers, results, "measurable impact;" and some donors do want to see that. But just as many--if not more--are much more interested in the who of the cause; the why of your mission. (How is also a big crowd-pleaser.) If you can insert real people and real impetus into the messaging around your cause, you'll be that much more successful.

Good Examples:
- charity:water
- Books for Asia (to be fair -- I work here)
- The Girl Effect

But a story doesn't need a video to be engaging. Kiva.org is a great example in that each loan benefits a specific person for a specific project, for a specific timeframe. This brings both types of donors together: the ones looking for measurable results, and the ones looking to put a face on their donation. Best of both worlds!

Trilegient

I am angry.

Yesterday, I got a call from my bank alerting me to "unauthorized activity" on my credit card. It turns out someone had used my card for silly things and we had to cancel it and issue me a new one. Ok, this happens, whatever. The guy I talked to sounded like a sullen 17 year old who hates his job and couldn't care less about the hassle and irritation canceling a credit card can cause. Whatever, not that big a deal, but I'm not very impressed with Wells Fargo right now because of this guy.

Today I called customer service to ask them to expedite the new card and send it to my office so I can sign for it when it arrives. Easy enough. At the end of the call, the representative said "Now ma'am, we definitely don't want you to fall victim to identity theft or fraud again, so I'm going to transfer you to our identity theft protection partner who has some valuable information for you."

"Ok," I think, "she's going to give me some helpful tips for protecting my identity online and preventing this from happening again."

She transferred me to a representative from a company called Trilegient, who proceeded to verbally assault me with a clearly (and poorly) scripted pitch about their credit monitoring service "available for one month for just $1 and then after that for just $12.99 a month with all the following features and bells and whistles and hassle and misery to protect your identity and your financial future by ensuring that most of your disposable income goes to fraud prevention services."

This bombardment included:

• nothing about how this benefits ME. Not as an anonymous voice/bank account but as an individual person with individual needs/goals/etc
  
• NO QUESTIONS. NOTHING of the sort, "Is this something you think you might be interested in?" "Have you considered a credit monitoring service in the past?" "How can we make this program more attractive to you?" "What would make YOU happy?" Instead, she said "I'm just going to go ahead and withdraw $1 from your account today, over the phone, to get this started," before I could even said "hold on."

Earlier this year I "fell victim" to the freecreditreport.com trap and ended up paying for two months of "service" before they finally canceled me. So, I was not about to enter into any more similar programs, ESPECIALLY when I didn't ask for it and the woman was basically attacking me with this pitch. I completely rebuffed her, saying "no, no I've had bad experiences with this in the past, I'm really not interested, it's not an issue of cost I just really don't want to get into it at all. Seriously." FINALLY she (in a huff) got off the phone and I just sat there in my chair, shell-shocked--and completely, totally pissed off.

There is NO way I would ever accept services from a company that:

a) doesn't care enough about me as a customer to train their sales reps to have a real conversation with me rather than firing off an unconvincing pitch
b) didn't ASK me if they could present this offer. I did not give them permission to offer me anything.
c) has a long and sordid history of extremely shady and dishonest dealings with customers, leading to months and sometimes years of financial hassle and distress.

Ok, so I'm angry at Trilegient. Whatever, I never have to deal with them again, they are out of my life.

But I am ALSO angry at Wells Fargo. Nearly to the point where I want to pull all my money out of there and start completely anew with another bank, another credit card company, another whatever that will actually respect me enough to ASK me before they throw me to the Trilegient wolves. Why are they partnering with this shady character anyway? Haven't they read the complaints -- or at least heard about them? This makes me seriously doubt Wells Fargo and its ability to effectively and compassionately serve its customers.

I'll let you know if I switch banks. It's looking pretty likely.

BTW, if you didn't follow the link above, here's a scary example:

Diane of Westland, MI August 14, 2009

I was given a trial offer for $1 & was told I could cancel within 30 days. I have tried calling them to cancel but the phone# they gave me isn't operational. If I can't find a way to get in touch with them they will start billing my credit card for a service I don't want. I have now been laid off my job and am on a strict budget. I can barely pay my bills.

They say you can cancel and give you the wrong phone number? SHADY.

I Am Nestor Makhnor

From TVTropes:

Nestor Makhno, the great Ukrainian anarchist revolutionary, caught a group of German officers going to a party held in their honour by Ukrainian landlords, who had welcomed the invading Germans. After executing the officers, Makhno and his men dressed in the German army uniforms and attended the party in their stead. Much of the conversation at the dinner party circled around Makhno. At the end of the meal, a toast was offered to the capture of the dreaded anarchist Nestor Makhno. Makhno drank off the toast and announced, "I am Nestor Makhno." In the silence and horror which followed, Makhno tossed a bomb into the room as he and his men leaped out the windows and escaped.

SO badass.

Twilight Soundtrack Outreach Email

Source: Twilight Soundtrack

Dear Twilight Movie/Audio book Soundtrack Coordinator,

Not sure who to contact but I wanted to introduce our project to you…We're in SF and would love to gain more visibility with the Twilight demographic. We just listened to Twilight on tape and we feel our sound really syncs with the message of the book. We particularly think we would appeal to those interested in vampire-human love and unrequited bloodlust, specifically in the 10-35 year old age range. We’re in kind of a weird position, we’ve been played on Freak Zone on BBC and charted on independent radio, and have had some good reviews and press in the wire and sound projector, but no movie/book soundtrack exposure or anything vampire-related. We would really love to be included either in an upcoming film or audiobook, and I’m pretty sure the audience would be receptive. Some links below (can also send vampire credentials upon request): Thanks!

http://www.myspace.com/thelickets
http://www.lickets.com

The Internet is a Geek

Source: My Gmail inbox

(More) Perks of having a farmer for a father

Source: Bob Paz Signs

Today, a friend forwarded this article about the "impossibility" of cow-tipping.

Now, hold on a second, I said to myself. On countless occasions I've heard my dad regale us with tales of his youth: driving a tractor with one kid running the pedals and the other manning the steering wheel; passing his driver's license test at 14 with flying colors because he'd been driving since age 10; and most importantly, COW TIPPING. Though my dad may be one to embellish for dramatic effect, I find it hard to believe he would invent an entire childhood pastime just to make my brothers and I go wide-eyed. Although, staring me right in the eye was this assertion by the Times Online:

"The sport of cow-tipping has been debunked as an urban, or perhaps rural, myth by scientists at a Canadian university."

This "debunking" is said to be the work of Margo Lillie, a doctor of zoology at the University of British Columbia, and her student Tracy Boechler who reportedly "have conducted a study on the physics of cow-tipping."

Hold-the-phone-moment #2. "Conducting a study?" "physics of cow-tipping?" Am I to believe TWO researchers have been PAID to investigate the PHYSICS of COW-TIPPING?! Pardon my capitals. It's just too ridiculous to believe. From the article it sounds like this might have been a student project, in which case--waste of a thesis topic. Zing.

Anyway, they claim that "a cow standing with its legs straight would require five people to exert the required force to bowl it over. A cow of 1.45 metres in height pushed at an angle of 23.4 degrees relative to the ground would require 2,910 Newtons of force, equivalent to 4.43 people."

Blah blah blah physics blah blah Newtons etc etc. The point is, as my dad will quickly point out, it's not about the force, it's about the technique.

Here's the solution, straight from the "horse's mouth":

"Well, interesting, but unfortunately they should have asked someone how exactly it is done before doing an extensive study. :) When done properly the tipping part can actually be done with one hand by one person. The person merely kneels down by the cow---reaches through and grabs the back leg on the opposite side. When the cow lifts its foot you merely pull it toward you and push the cow over with the other hand. These guys need to go back to the farm! :)

Tada! Debunking officially debunked.

Feelin' Fancy

Koura Trolley carry-on

Behold! My first piece of personally-purchased, possibly overpriced, pretty, posh luggage. Given that you can't so much as step in an airport without being charged for breathing, let alone any bags you might want to bring with you, I decided it was time to invest in a "real" carry-on suitcase. And where better to indulge my consumerist whimsy than at a local-yet-wholly-Japanese fancy luggagery? Aside: luggagery should really be a word. Like haberdashery. What do you call a place where they sell luggage? Is there a single word for that? Again, there should be.

The best part? It was 60% off! On the website it was posted as marked down significantly from the list price, so I had already rationalized a hefty expenditure as a "bargain"; so an additional discount made it just that much more irresistible. It might not even really be big enough for everything I need/want to bring with me on this 10-day trip, but maybe that will just encourage me to pack even lighter. That's it: not bringing the running shoes! What's a vacation for if you don't also get a vacation from the gym?

Anyway, I'm really happy with my new bag--at least pre-travel. We'll see how I feel after I drag it around the East coast for 10 days (planes, trains, automobiles, here I come!).