I recently presented on 'Content Mapping the Buyer Experience' at the 2011 Canadian Marketing Association's (cma.org) B2B Summit in Toronto. Gotta say, it was an impressive (oversold) event. The combination of a good agenda, great people and interesting content made for time well spent.
I'm an advocate of supporting the 'Buyer Experience' which goes beyond the traditional buying cycle. How so?
1. The Buyer Experience includes various stakeholders, such as influencers, partners, end users, procurement, executive sponsors, etc - all those involved in a purchase decision - and looks at their motivations and involvement along the buying stages.
2. I include the loyalty cycle after the deal closes as part of the Buyer Experience. This is a discipline that is often managed separately under a 'customer experience' or 'customer satisfaction' label. While this is all well and good, I prefer to include it with the Buyer Experience because customers are potential repeat buyers. Having a holistic view of your buyers - even after they become a customer - provides a better view into patterns, people and purchase characteristics.
3.The Buyer Experience also includes all the pre-buying cycle activities that are done before the vendor is ever contacted or even knows there's an opportunity in play. With the evolution of social media, word of mouth, and user generated content, the Buyer is exposed to a wealth of information - an incredibly powerful and influential force, that impact the buyer's perspective, perception and purchase decision criteria. If vendors aren't including this in their content marketing strategy, it's a missed opportunity.
While I could have spent all day on the topic, here's what I covered in the thirty minute session. Enjoy.
itzCorinne
- itzCorinne
- Toronto, ON, Canada
- My Big Hairy Audacious Goal in life (yep, James Collins' concept) is to be featured on the cover of Wired Magazine. That would be super cool. Until then, I'm featured on Twitter at @itzCorinne. Follow me!
Top 25 List, 2010
Alltop
11:07 PM
9:06 PM
Interview conducted at the EU Content Strategy Forum 2011 on Gamification and Content Strategy.
Do I really sound like that??!
8:38 PM
I'll be honest, this one was a beast.
Aside from verifying all the sources and data - developing a narrative from a frog's POV (which I must thank designer Julien Tremeur) was an interesting experience.
I'm fascinated on how the topic of Gamification is controversial. I've seen how it ignites strong reactions and opinions - positive and negative, with few between. The only times I've received Tweet-beats (the affectionate term I used for being flamed via Twitter), has been related to my editorial or posts on gamification.
Regardless of where you stand, I'm interested in your feedback... even if that means you're compelled to tweet-beat me. :-)
Enjoy.
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Here's the follow up to my EU Content Strategy Forum 2011 presentation - I refer to it as the 'long deck'. The CSForum deck is what I presented live. This iteration provides the details, background and data which I referenced in the "Gamification and Content Strategy" presentation.
Enterprise Gamification by itzCorinne
View more presentations from Corinne Schmid; namely EU Content Strategy Forum 2011 - Sept.6th. Conference presentation.
11:30 AM
Very cool info graphic on Content Strategists from Richard Ingram. EMBED
1:56 AM
Here's a first: I'm 0% Interesting according to my Twitter infographic by Visual.ly.
That explains my "Strongest Connections": my long term super boring BFF Britney Spears and buddy Barack Obama.
Yep, totally boring. I'll need to work on that.
11:07 PM
Is Your Content the Victim of Gobbledygook?
I’ll never forget when my CMO told me to use my “weekend voice” as we reviewed messaging for an upcoming product launch. My response that I had considered my Small town Redneck mouth wasn’t nearly as funny to him as it was to me, so I quickly added that I would incorporate my ‘weekend voice’.
In Search of the Messaging Silver Bullet
Messaging and positioning isn't easy to do well. It's expected to be compelling, differentiated and unique. Well, in truth - these elements don't magically combine in our minds and then effortlessly roll off our tongue. Like watching the gold medal Olympic gymnast land a back flip and split jump on the balance beam – landing gold medal messaging is the result of hard work that requires practice, hard work and balance of several elements:
- Market trends
- Competitive Forces
- Industry and Economic factors, including macro and micro economic elements and even government legislation
- Business Goals
- Buyer Motivations and Points of Pain
- Product / Service capabilities
Especially for technology marketers, messaging is often a translation function that takes the product input points, like tech specs, and translates them into something everyone else can understand and want. The example I frequently use, if a developer were to promote a Sushi restaurant, the positioning statement may read, “We Sell Cold Dead Fish”
Sure, this is factually correct; it’s just not appetizing. On the flip side, the Onion demonstrates “step too far”
So how do you develop messaging that can create compelling content?
1. Do your homework.
Yep, that's right. Homework. Most people instantly jump to SWOT analysis. Here it comes - I do not like SWOT analysis because I've rarely seen it done well. Too frequently the analysis element is missing and it’s a laundry list of facts, claims and statements that do not provide meaningful information. I also find it too ambiguous that doesn’t provide structure for the analysis. However, if it is the outcome of a PEST or PESTEL evaluation, it can provide meaningful analysis. I always start with PEST/PESTEL.
It's probably obvious, I’m a big fan of Porter’s Value Chain and methodologies. Why? Because it works.
For generating compelling messaging, I find that using Porter’s 5-Forces and PEST analysis is a good way to start to identify the factors noted above that establish the basis for messaging based on industry, market, buyer and economic factors.
You can read the description for PESTLE here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PEST_analysis Succinctly PESTLE provides structure around influential factors related to
- Political
- Economic
- Social
- Technological
- Environmental
- Legal
2. Know Your Buyer
From here, an understanding of the buyers and motivations can identify the points of pain, business issues and related factors that will guide the overall message development. Knowing where your solution impacts the buyer's business process to provide value is essential.
3. Write It Up
There is absolutely an element of trial-and-error in writing messaging. A good way to test the message is to review with existing customers and ask my two favorite questions:
So What? Who Cares?
If the message does not clearly answer these two questions, then I'd recommend taking a closer lok at step 1 and 2.
4. Test the Message
The old adage holds true, “would your grandmother understand?” That's great if she does but I strongly recommend putting those analyst dollars to use. Reach out to the key analyst groups you work with and have them review and comment. In this process, understand when and why they would short list your offering and when they wouldn't. In my experience, they’ve provided actionable feedback and helped steer positioning towards areas of strengths and real differentiation. Speaking of differentiation, always check competitive websites to ensure you’re not ‘me-too’.
5. Evaluate the Voice and Language
So now you have some candidates. While the message may be on point, the choice of language, voice and words are also significant. This is where David Scott Meerman can help with his Gobbledygook Grader.
According to Wikipedia , Gobbledygook is
"The term gobbledygook was coined by former US Representative Maury Maverick, then working for the Smaller War Plants Corporation, in a March 30, 1944 memo banning "gobbledygook language". It was a reaction to his frustration with the "convoluted language of bureaucrats.” He made up the word as an onomatopoeic imitation of a turkey's gobble."
So what does that have to do with messaging and marketing? Meerman’s Gobbledygook Manifesto on slideshare provides an overview.
4. Try the Goobledygook Grader
Meerman helps the technology and messaging marketer with a Goobledygook Grader, an online tool developed jointly with HubSpot that looks for buzz corporatese words. Meerman’s slideshare on the topic provides background and the Grader online tool provides an honest evaluation of your copy based on buzz and overused hype term.
Check out the Goobledygook Grader here:
Other sources for language and terms is non other than Seth Godin. His Business Cliché overview is time well spent.
Summary
Like the Gymnast – Messaging isn’t a simple practice. It takes considerable work and practice to get right. The approach I recommend:
- Porters 5-Forces
- PESTEL Analysis
- Competitive Review
- Customer / analyst review
- Goobledygook Grader.
What tools or methodologies do you use? Are there tools out there that you rely upon? Send me a message or post a comment below.
9:46 PM
I've seen a lot of really cool content lately that was about.... content!
Digital media becoming mainstream opened up a world of possibilities to communicate and express ideas in radically new and interesting ways. Formats and delivery mechanisms continue to mash-up; evolving content into the intersection of both art and science. Check out my new favs:
This infographic from Marketo looks at the face-off between advertising and content marketing. Marketo is a marketing automation company, positioning themselves as a revenue performance management company. I started following Marketo back when they had under 100 customers and within a few years their website claims to now have over 700. They have a lot of useful and informative research, reports and best practices - it's worth checking out their site at www.marketo.com.
From the website: The data for this rockin’ infographic came from Marketo’s Content Marketing Cheat Sheet and the 2010 B2B Content Marketing white paper on benchmarks, budgets, and trends from the amazing content marketers at MarketingProfs and Junta42!
Cool Content about Content #2: Push Pop Media's Digital e-Book: Our Choice by Al Gore
From an unlikely source - Al Gore. Yep, his follow up book to An Inconvenient Truth called Our Choice, that Push Pop Media took to a whole other level with a next generation digital e-Book. You know it has to be good when it's featured on Ted.com. As you'll read on the website, software developer Mike Matas demos the first full-length interactive book for the iPad -- with clever, swipeable video and graphics and some very cool data visualizations to play with. The book is "Our Choice," Al Gore's sequel to "An Inconvenient Truth."
Cool Content about Content #3: Content in the Cloud - Cloud App (author Tom Jenkins)
This is a triple threat: content on content that provides an immersive content experience for iPad. Tom Jenkins' follow-up to the ECM Trilogy book series went mobile and interactive: Content in the Cloud - Cloud App. Everything you ever wanted to know about Enterprise Content Management,16 chapters featuring innovator stories, case studies, videos, podcasts, and a bunch of other cool stuff. It's free and is available in English; and sadly NOT French, German, Japanese, Spanish and Swedish as it suggest on iTunes. Here's a preview:
Full disclosure: yep, I work at OpenText and I 100% stand by listing the Content in the Cloud as one of my fav's - especially when it was the first iPad immersive book app (and one of the first iPad apps overall thanks to its super talented developer/designer/you won't believe what this guy can eat in a day Jonathon P).
If you've seen Cool Content about Content, I'd love to check it out - either list it in the comments below or message me.
Enjoy the Content about Content!
11:38 AM
Let me start off by saying: I'm not a gamer. Never was. No shocker that my first reaction to the term 'Gamification' was less than favorable and I wasn't going to waste a moment of my time on such nonsense.
Three minutes later, I've opened a dozen browser tabs with various search results for Gamification, Gamify, Game Layer, Game Dynamics, Game Mechanics, there's no shortage of related terms. Having dabbled in the MMO and MMORPG industry (business planning, not playing), I was definitely intrigued...but not convinced about its use for non (video) gaming applications. Then I found these two videos:
1. Seth Priebatsch's TEDxBoston talk (July 2010), The Game Layer On Top Of The World.
Seth talks about the "game layer" being constructed on top of the existing social infrastructure (which Priebatsch notes is already established and is called Facebook). At the root of it: gamification has the potential to motivate and drive behavior towards specific actions and outcomes.
2. Jesse Schell's infamous DICE 2010 Design Outside the Box presentation.
Perhaps you're one of the million people who already viewed the video, Jesse has an entertaining and quirky way of presenting the 'unexpected' and the possibilities. He presents how game mechanics and dynamics could - and will - soon apply to our everyday lives.
Gamification 101
Gamification is the use of game design, game dynamics, and game mechanics in non-gaming applications. In other words, it's NOT about playing video games at work and having a game controller instead of a keyboard. Summarizing the two key terms defined by Michael Wu, Ph.D Lithium's Principal Scientist of Analytics, on the Lithium blog:
"At the most fundamental level, gamification is the use of game mechanics to drive game-like engagement and actions....in everyday life, we are often presented with activities we hate, whether it is boring chores or stressful works. Gamification is the process of introducing game mechanics into these abhorred activities to make them more game-like (i.e. fun, rewarding, desirable, etc.), so that people would want to proactively take part in these tasks."
Wu continues about game mechanics. "They are principles, rules, and/or mechanisms that govern a behavior through a system of incentives, feedback, and rewards with reasonably predictable outcome. Some of them are so predictable that they can almost be seen as a kind of behavioral or psychological reflex, much like the patellar reflex of your knee when tapped by a physician."
What does this mean for Work?
Sky's the limit! While gamification is only in its infancy, given the rapid adoption of consumer-based applications, like social networking and communities, into the work environment (given a fancy industry term called 'Consumerization of IT'), it will ramp up quickly. While more prevalent in B2C markets, the opportunity to increase participation in learning, education, loyalty programs and product innovation and testing is ubiquitous.
Where is this going in 2011?
R Ray Wang writes how Gamification Will Drive Future Enterprise Software User Experiences in Trends: 5 Engagement Factors For Gamification And The Enterprise which outlines how the enterprise can apply game mechanics and dynamics to improve engagement and participation within the business and also with partners, customers, suppliers and other stakeholders.
What's this got to do with Content?
- Social was about connecting, collaborating and engaging with others. We saw Content become increasingly (now exponentially) user-generated. Gamification is about participation, motivating behavior and rewards. Content will be much more pervasively co-created as well as user-generated.
- Digital content is the current standard; gamification requires mobile access, delivery and publishing for all content, content/social/gaming objects and their associated interactions and processing.
- Content marketing was the new black in 2010 and will evolve to becoming interactive and immersive (gamified) in 2011.
- Content strategy and strategists will be essential element for planning and execution.
Gamification is a new opportunity for innovation, monetization and productivity.There are already some well documented successes:
- Innovation: website modernization can increase brand awareness, loyalty and customer engagement. Much more than your traditional loyalty program Microsoft, Google, Playboy, Ford and others have realized these benefits by adopting game dynamics.
- Monetization: DevHub increased engagement rate of 300% and increased revenue for virtual goods grew to 30% of overall revenue within 3 months.
- Productivity: Microsoft gamified software development testing to drive significant improvements and user participation. Microsoft’s Beta1 Game from the Vista release increased beta testers by 400% and their Language Quality Game for Windows 7 had users provide feedback and commentary on 500,000 screenshots.
- All of the above: In November 2010, a co-created report between Stamford University and Seriosity Inc published a report that presents the significant benefits gaming and virtual world would bring to government and its citizens: Government Uses for Games and Virtual Worlds: Optimizing Choices for Citizens and Government Workers in the Areas of Energy Efficiency, Educational Assessment, Worker Productivity, Safety and Health, and Quality of Information Exchanges.
How companies adopt and deploy 'gamification' is yet to be seen. I recently published an article via CMS Wire that looks at the potential to improve sales enablement and productivity through gamification. While many have doubts about the validity and value in the non-gaming world, the industry research and support suggests that it's not a passing fad:
- Gartner included Gamification in its CIO New Years Resolutions, 2011
- Venturebeat.com writes that over $25 million US went to businesses using gamification as a core customer strategy and at least one $100 million fund dedicated in part to gamification was launched. You can read more on Venturebeat's website which has an entire stream dedicated to
- M2 Research estimates that the production of gamification projects will generate $1.6 billion in revenues by 2015 with an average growth rate for the next two years of 150%.
- Bloomberg Businesssweek writes that Gamification is a trendy technique to build addictive websites and has raised the number of return visitors by 20% for some sites.
I'm sure we'll see a few business-related early adopter / experimental applications in 2011. From my perspective, a lens that combines enterprise software, mobility and MMORPG experience, I see several immediate opportunities:
- Product Testing: as noted above about the success Microsoft has experienced
- Sales Productivity: there's no better captive audience to deploy an incentive-based, reward-driven, status granting gamified application. We joke that sales is coin operated; what if we gave them lots of virtual coins for giving feedback, co-creating content and participating with communities? As noted above, I detail some examples via CMS Wire.
- User Adoption: gamify learning systems and work process. Whether it's onboarding, product training or domain/subject/application specific learning - make the experience tolerable and potentially fun. The more end users who know how to use a system, application or process - this will increase productivity and even may lower the TCO of enterprise software purchases and implementations.
7:11 AM
How have your behavior, actions - even beliefs, changed over the last year or two? I'm willing to bet your behavior and actions on making a purchase have changed and I'll go out on a limb to say that it's because of User-Generated content.
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Sidebar: "User" generated content...really? Why is it that only drug dealers and techies call their consumers "users"? I've seen some references to "consumer' generated content... well, I'd say that users are consumers (by any definition, not just techies and drug dealers). My point is that in this social, collaborative and connected world, we use a term that de-humanizes content created by people when we call it 'user' ... I digress....
----------------
The world is a mash-up. And User Generated Content is at the heart of it. The impact of UGC on the B2C world - and increasingly B2B world is significant. You can read more about my POV on UGC and how it impacts the business world in the March edition of KM World Magazine at UGC KM World Magazine.
What is more interesting is the 'mash-up'. UGC is the collision of the business and consumer world - no matter if you're a B2C, B2B or government organization. It's the new reality. Are you ready for it?
Consider:
1. People talk. The fancy new term for it is, "Word of Mouth". Whether you're a vet, a grocery store, restaurant or major brand - people are now empowered to share their experience, their POV, their recommendation - whether you like it or not. Unfortunately, the more they DON'T like it, the more likely they are to tell others about it. AKA: Misery loves company. The personal and consumer world has infiltrated the business/corporate/government operating environment - what's your plan to embrace it and use it as a source for change/improvement?
2. People talk ALL THE TIME - and increasingly (thanks to the social infrastructure) to people whom they've never met before. We're tweeting and status updating and LinkedIn'ing our opinions, interests and beliefs all the time to the masses in the Cloud.
The business world needs to accept that when people have something to say - ready or not - there it is: tweeted, retweeted, Facebook status update, etc. It's for all to see. The sad irony is that when we we've had a great experience, we relish in our contentment and have a great day. When it goes sideways: we're on our iPhone, Blackberry or other device to tweet about it before the situation/incident has even concluded. In many instances, the world could be notified of it before you are - and before having the opportunity to correct it.
3. People have influence and impact on your business, brand: The champion of mind-controlling tapeworms (a great profile I came across on Twitter) could be as influential as CNN. We're all publishers and media outlets! This could mean that the person from high school who you can only recollect as being the recipient of wedgies, is now the person with significant influence over your brand.. .subsequently your company's brand equity... subsequently, the company's EPS. No joke, if you aren't paying attention to or embracing UGC, it could be too late when you do. You may think wedgie-tapeworming guy doesn't matter, but the reality is that you should care that much more!
Bottom line: hellooooo brand new world. The Madmen of the 60's no longer dictate. This is not a command and control Marketing 1.0 world. The upside of Marketing 2.0 (enter UGC): the inmates ARE running the asylum and calling out the perpetrators of bad business, bad practices, bad... well... just being bad. If that's not you - or your business - then you have nothing to worry about. Even then, drop your guard for good service, good business, good practice - let's just hope that Guy K or someone else who's listed 24,000 times on Twitter doesn't hear about it first.
We're evolving from the Enterprise/Web 2.0 world of Engagement to the new 3.0 world of Participation. Consumers are engaged and now participating far more frequently on Twitter, LinkedIn, Blog sites, Online communities, etc. And there are millions of them out there. It's an exciting time when your words - your voice - matter and have impact. For the business and government world - I hope you're listening.
7:34 AM
Just for fun - if Shakespeare were alive today.
Forgive the iambic pentameter transgressions; I did try to stay true to original. Enjoy.
Forgive the iambic pentameter transgressions; I did try to stay true to original. Enjoy.
To Tweet, or not to Tweet.
That is the question:
Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of Twitter/Tweet fortune,
Or take arms against the sea of Facebook’rs
And by unfriending end them? To blog: to tweet:
No more; and by a tweet to say we end
The heartache and the thousand retweet forwards
That Tweetdeck propogates; ‘tis a consummation
Devoutly to blog each week; To blog, to Tweet;
To Tweet; perchance Slideshare: ay, there’s the rub;
For in that Slide of Shares what Tweets may come
When we have Slideshare’d, this Twitter coil,
Must give us pause; there’s Tweetmeme
That makes calamity of so many Tweets;
For who would read the blogs and tweets of time
The Facebook status, the proud man’s contumely,
The pangs of ‘Is Single’, status updates,
The embarrassment of social break-ups,
That Single status of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With no Zuckerberg? Who would ZB bear,
To grunt and sweat under a billion life (worth),
But that he dread of Social after death,
The undiscover’d blog draft from whose bourn
No followers, retweets; puzzle the will
And makes us rather bear those Tweets we have
Than blog to others that we know not of?
Thus Social Networks make cowards of us all;
And thus the Facebook hue of networking
Is socializing with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great brand and earnings
With this regard their websites turn awry, and fail to engage with social. – Soft you now!
The fair Tweet, Facebook, Blog, in thy social cloud,
Be all my sins remember’d
10:15 PM
It’s been over a month since I got home from a family Christmas in British Columbia. Within minutes of being here, I knew something was terribly wrong: my little man Mars, a Sugar Glider, was critically sick and needed emergency care.
While his fate is still uncertain, his care and recovery up to this point can be credited to the power of user-generated content and the social infrastructure that supports it. Oh yeah – and a super fantastic vet, Dr. Mitelman at Kingston Animal Hospital in Toronto.
Meet Mars.
Nine years ago, I faced a similar situation when my first sugar glider became ill. At that time, there was no YouTube, Facebook, Yelp (or even the concept of Word-of-Mouth) nor such prevalent use of Rich media like videos or pictures - Flickr.com did not exist. Despite the medical care, this little sugar glider died in my hands within a few days.
Today, the wealth of online resources, networks, and user-generated content combined with using rich media (photos and videos) may just save Mars. Here’s how:
1. ‘Word of Mouth” helped me find the right vet.
Like any parent with a sick child, you don’t want just any doctor. Despite my very limited options – it was New Year’s eve day and we’re not dealing with a ‘normal’ kind of pet, I wanted credentials and feedback on Kingston Road Animal hospital – all of which I found on Yelp.com. The comments from pet owners, the Word of Mouth content, validated that it was the right place to go.
2. The social infrastructure located other Sugar Glider experts.
Mars needed emergency surgery and until the test results came back, the course of action was uncertain. He had a gaping hole in his chest – the size of a quarter – and it was deep enough that I wasn’t sure if I was looking at his ribs or spine.
Unsure of what caused this, Dr. Mitelman and I would have to wait – and given the holiday weekend, it could take longer than expected. Things were not looking good for Mars.
Undeterred, both Dr. Mitelman and I reached out through the social infrastructure to find answers and the recommendations of other Sugar glider experts. Dr. Mitelman reached out through VIN.com, a veterinarian specific hub where he could collaborate amongst the 42,000 worldwide members.
I found a Sugar Glider-specific vet site, reached out (despite not being a vet) and within minutes received a reply and great support from Val Betts, the owner and President of Sugarglidervetinfo.com. She recommended an ‘e-collar’ for Mars and pointed me to a website where I could download the directions to make one. I also found an instructional video on YouTube which was incredibly helpful.
3. the social infrastructure enabled me to share pictures and video for monitoring his recovery.
It’s January in Toronto, Canada. There’s snow. And at times, a whole lot of it. During these times of arctic-like conditions, driving is not advisable, or even a possibility. But sharing videos and pictures via YouTube and Flickr is.
Using a FlipShare camera (best purchase ever), I could film Mars, edit the footage in minutes and then directly upload to YouTube. Likewise, taking photos didn’t require National Geographic-like finesse or equipment – my Blackberry was just fine. I could share the media with Dr. Mitelman and also with Val, who is located in Texas,
It hasn’t been easy to provide the care he needs and monitor him around the clock. He needs food, water, medicine, wound cleaning, bathing (often a combination thereof) every few hours. [I’ll spare you the details on the 2am glider enemas] . Having the support found online and the over-the-top attention from Kingston Road Animal Hospital (they call regularly to check up on him), has provided support, expertise and ongoing treatment that wasn’t possible nine years ago.
This is the first time I’ve relied on social tools and technology in my personal life – in this Veterinarian 2.0 experience. We’re not sure of the outcome yet (fingers crossed), but social and UGC could very well be the reason why my little man Mars survives.
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Social and User Generated Content mentioned and used:
A big shout-out to Dr.Mitelman and the staff at Kingston Road Animal Hospital.
http://www.beachvet.com/
By far the most compassionate, attentive and committed vet and staff I've ever experienced. I don't know too many doctors who will call in a prescription at 11pm at night for a human, let alone a pet!
What the heck is a sugar glider?
No – it’s not a rat, or even related to the rodent family. They are marsupials.
Yes, like a Kangaroo or Possum
Yes, females have pouches and give birth to Joeys.
Yes, they have a lifespan much longer than hamster - they can live up to 12-15 years.
No, they don’t go to the bathroom on me.
No, they don’t ‘fly’, they glide, hence the name Sugar ‘Glider’
I’ve had pet Sugar Gliders for over 15 years and it has certainly been the topic of interest, ridicule and amazement – bottom line, I adore these little creatures.
12:29 AM
Nothing like an Award show Red Carpet to provide creative inspiration. Or so I thought. The 2011 Golden Globes Red Carpet was anti-climatic and missing the O...M...G moments brought by the likes of Bjork, Cher and other Red Carpet shockers from days past. Where was my muse?!
I found the endless parade of perfection to be, well...kind of boring. I wasn't expecting my source of inspiration to be the lack thereof. The outcome is a departure from my regular Content-related postings but here's the Opinion piece I wrote for Blogcritics.
Article first published as Golden Globes Red Carpet: Hope for Hollywood or Hopelessly Boring? on Blogcritics.
Golden Globes Red Carpet: Hope for Hollywood or Hopelessly Boring?
Another Golden Globes Red Carpet has come and gone. The gowns, the diamonds, the to-die-for shoes. No shocker that Anne Hathaway was absolutely stunning, Natalie Portman and Jane Krakowski showed elegant pregnant, and I have to admit I’m a Helen Mirren fan. She also looked amazing but could have left out the tacky comment about the multimilion dollar diamond necklace. I don’t think any of us were questioning if it was cubic zirconia.
The media cannot get enough of Hollywood power couple Brad and Angelina who once again dominated the TV coverage with the most mentions prior to their arrival and even after they were off the red carpet. Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones made an appearance; Catherine always looks timeless and one has to admire Michael for winning his battle with cancer.
The glitz, the glamour, the Golden Globes – does anyone else find it a bit… well… how shall I say…tired? I was more entertained by the TV commercial for Big Bang Theory than by seeing Sandra Bullock was sporting a new hair style – she’s got bangs! Even Helena Bonham-Carter with her different colored shoes was more expected than shocking.
Is this a sign of the times? Has Hollywood grown up and relegated the Bratpack-style antics to TMZ? That’s not to say that media pundits like Perez Hilton, the hilarious Fugly critics (gofugyourself.com), and notorious Joan Rivers won’t have ample material for their reviews this week. I have hope for Hollywood but it’s also becoming hopelessly boring. It’s a catwalk parade of the rich and beautiful and sadly, less about the art and accomplishments for which they are coming together.
Maybe next year Paris Hilton could try another motorcycle entrance. 'Cuz that was hot.
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