I was recently contacted by an online marketing firm in Baltimore that has been hired by a business consulting company to “get the word out about their blog.” They want us to plug it and link to it - but only if we find it interesting.

It had to happen sometime.

As of today, Technorati is actively tracking 26.7 million blogs. That’s a lot of clutter. So I guess it’s only natural for this progression to happen. After all, we’ve seen an entire industry of blog-related (read: web 2.0) companies popping up. Just like word of mouth marketing companies or even iPod accessory companies.

It’s one thing for a kindred spirit to contact you and ask you to check out their blog. It’s another to be solicited by a paid third party. Shame, shame.

Your gadgets are cool. But your customer service is not. Yesterday I was setting up a friends new Treo and trying to get it to talk to her Mac so it could setup the email from Entourage. I called her provider, Verizon (which - surprisingly - got me to a real, pleasant person in a very short time) who then connected me to Palm support. I could hardly understand the first guy who made me feel like an idiot and then, after about three minutes, hung up in the middle of the sentence.

So I tried for a while to figure it out myself. And I almost did, but still had a few questions. I couldn’t find a number to call on the Palm website, so I called Verizon again and told the guy that Palm “accidentally” hung up on me, to which he replied as he laughed, “No comment.” After talking to him for a while, he gave me the number for Palm support. I called the not-so-toll-free number and was greeted by a woman who asked me what my problem was. She transferred me to Mac support and - I kid you not - they proceeded to be put on hold for 24 minutes. On my dime. And then they just hung up on me before I even spoke to someone.

I’m not a complainer. And I don’t use blogs to whine and get my way. Palm has remarkable products, but unremarkable customer service. Can they survive on just remarkable products and still treat their customers this way? Can any company?

You know, it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything from our esteemed Curiosity Team… and I’ve really been working them hard, so I thought it was time to share a little of the fruits of our labors again.

A little while back, I asked them to share reasons why someone might send flowers. And I thought the responses were WONDERFUL. I love posing simple questions like this, because simple, open questions just leave so much room for interesting responses. We got everything from the tried and true to the completely outlandish ramble… and I loved every word of it!

• Thank you, apology, birthday, wedding, anniversary, mother’s day, death in the family, death of a pet, new child, get well, cheer up, congratulations, new house, new offiec, just because, guilt, the flowers were on sale (I’m sure it happens)
• As often as possible. Weekly when I’ve got the money. My wife deserves flowers as often as I can get them.
• Any time is a good time for flowers. Especially when it is not a special occasion. Guys like to get them too (but they probably won’t tell you).
• Birthday, anniversary, death in the family, good luck/congratulations wishes
• New job, b-day, bad day, secret admirer, anniversary (well, since mine would be with a guy I probably wouldn’t, but I think it’s a good idea for them); any type of congratulations (law school, lost weight, good hair day, house warming); send them to yourself if you are in a bad mood, or secretly to someone you have to deal with who is in a bad mood… make them wonder who they’re from and start being nicer to everyone. If you are in trouble, or trying not to be. When invited to dinner or staying in someone’s home. Opening night of a play, new birth, funeral, etc. One of my personal favs was sending a black carnation funeral arrangement to my roommate’s store on her 30th birthday. It was at the mall so lots of people saw it come in.
• Anniversary, birthday, for no real reason, because they had a bad day, to say I miss you, to say get well, to say congratulations.
• Nice dinners. When you’ve offended someone, or when you’ve been cranky at the wrong person for no reason (I actually just gave flowers for that very reason last night!)
• Flowers can be sent for many reasons - birthdays, anniversaries, funerals, Secretaries’ Day, to celebrate a new job, for a play/music performance, to say thank you, Mother’s Day, House warming, to cheer someone up, to someone who’s sick…
• After you’ve forgotten to send them flowers on their birthday. Although, then you have to send them twice as many to make up for the mistake.
• Flowers, definitely for these events: Funerals, Birthday (especially for romantic purposes), Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, and for extra brownie points: any day of the week when least expected (I would rather have them SENT to me though rather than send myself).
• Moving, Death, Marriage, Birthday, Thank you, Baby, Graduation, Mother’s Day, Secretary’s Day
• Divorce finalized, their team lost the big game, going on as an understudy, send them to your parents the day you leave for college.
• As a male, there are only 2 times you get flowers. 1) you are sick int he hospital and 2) you’re dead. I hope I don’t get flowers any time soon…
• I send flowers for a couple of reasons - birthdays are top of the list because you can look at the calendar and say, “shoow, (insert name)’s birthday is tomorrow! I don’t want her to think I’ve forgotten!” So flowers have saved me more than once! I also send flowers occasionally, just to say “you’re a nice friend” or “ya done good.” To tell you the truth, I’d probably send flowers more often if there were a florist that offered more free-form bouquets. Bouquets like you’d get at a farmer’s market - cut spring flowers with no fancy arrangement or vase.
• Flowers? All the usual reasons… a play opening, a birthday, an anniversary, valentine’s day, mother’s day, Easter, to say you’re sorry, to say thanks for the great evening, to say “I love you,” to say I miss you, to say congratulations for something, to say “you’re special” for no particular reason, to express sympathy, to celebrate a divorce, to celebrate retirement, to say goodbye or bon voyage, or maybe even to yourself to say “I’m proud of myself, even if nobody ELSE sends me flowers!!”
• Flowers would always go to a female. The occasions would be: Birthday, Mother’s Day, Birth of a child, Loss of a loved one, Illness, Any sort of difficult time (stress, bad breaks, job loss, etc.), Random surprise for my wife (I do this BEFORE I get in trouble - builds up good will for the times I do mess up!)
• I decided that there really isn’t an occasion that you couldn’t send flowers - death, birth, I love you, just because, congrats, oops I ran over the cat, your mom’s a witch - but I still love you!, and a whole list of possible “I’m sorry” occasions. Which got me to thinking maybe there are times you wouldn’t send them or it may be kind of weird. For example: The “Thanks for mowing the front lawn” bouquet, “Thank God you shaved your legs” (What? Send a cactus?) “Sorry I slept with [insert name here]” (like it’s gonna help), Any inner work related flower deliver other than bosses day or secretaries’ day probably wouldn’t be appropriate. Ex: “Sorry I’m late… AGAIN!” “Looking forward to my review next week, boss man” (Any flower delivery with “boss man” in the verbiage is in my opinion a bad idea) Sorry to get off subject - Not doing too good with my first assignment… Maybe I should send you flowers.
• Never predictable or formal. The only good time would be completely random/spontaneous.

See… there is a reason I love these people! They’re just plain fabulous. There are so many wonderful insights and sparks of ideas floating around in there… I love sharing. And I invite any of you faithful BOF blog readers to join the fun! You can read more about the particulars of the Curiosity Team on my original post, and if you’re on board, drop me an email.

This is an amazing group… I hope you’ll join the conversation!

As I sat among kindred spirits at the recent WOMMA conference (BIG kudos to Andy and his crew for pulling off this amazing event), I heard these words:

Be authentic.
Build trust.
Listen first, then talk.
Appreciate.
Be approachable.
Honesty. Always.
If you have a soul, people will respond.
Tell your story in such a way that even a five year old can repeat it.
Let people know what you stand for.

It struck me that the very things that make a person remarkable, also make a company remarkable.

Today, we here at BOF have been emailing back and forth about the fact that Budweiser is spending oodles and oodles of money on Superbowl advertising, not only for the purpose of awareness, but in order to have the most talked about ads in the Superbowl. Anheuser-Busch marketing exec Marlene Coulis says “Water-cooler talk is really important. It’s a measure of success.” Of course, as our First Impression, Chris, pointed out, “I personally wouldn’t have a problem talking about how funny a Budweiser ad was while sipping on my Coors Light or my Miller High Life.”

That’s where so many buzz and viral marketing tactics get things wrong. Richard Branson can parachute naked into Times Square… and I still didn’t sign up for Virgin Mobile. Subservient Chicken can get a gajillion hits, but I still had no idea it had anything to do with a chicken sandwich until months after the fact. There’s too much emphasis on the medium instead of the message.

So… I saw this post today on the Hidden Persuader about a guerilla campaign by Duval Guillaume in Belgium to promote bowling. It’s simple, it’s clever, it’s everywhere and it’s (wait for it…) RELEVANT TO THE PRODUCT. Heck, this is the sort of thing that becomes almost self perpetuating. If I saw enough of these cleverly placed bowling balls, and I’d start assigning the same thing to every round object I saw without their assistance. It’s not a billboard or a big flashy Superbowl ad or a funky mascot in a garter belt… it’s not jarring you out of your life and your day, it’s just finding a way to incorporate their message into everyday life. It’s not an in-your-face yell, it’s a genuine conversation… and I even have the choice on whether or not to engage in it. And if I have a choice… I’ll probably go ahead and listen.

In fact, now I kinda want to go bowling.