colour me zen?

Someone in my social media circle questioned the current infatuation with ‘adult’ colouring books – not ‘adult’ as in people without their clothes, but 'adult' as in more sophisticated drawings than rounded cartoon bears and their cheerful companions. It’s a fad that seemed to take over the Christmas shopping list quite quickly. I bought one for a kid straddling that space between childhood and tween-dom - hoping it would somehow fit this awkward age, another friend received one from her friend. The art supply store had an entire shelf devoted to these bound books filled with intricate designs, marketed as meditative. I’m not certain I fully understand the meditative angle, but based on the discussion I ended up having buying that particular present, I guess other people question this marketing angle too.

Basically the discussion had in line was whether or not artsy people needed a colouring book. I, and apparently this man’s wife too, argued that for people who wanted to feel creative but maybe didn’t know how to go about it, for them, this was a place to filter that energy and have an outlet. I mean isn’t this the 2010’s version of the velvet poster art we all did back in the *cough day?!

Being a little crafty already I feel like I have an outlet for the part of me that occasionally wants to make something. I sew, I tinker with beads, I dance, I write this blog, I can draw/paint reasonably but honestly that doesn’t come so naturally. In a weird twist the first time I noticed an ‘adult’ colouring book it came from the McCall’s pattern company – they’d released a  small collection of drawings of a this year’s popular pattern offerings. I downloaded and printed them but in the end, the creative process for me is finding fabric and then figuring out what I might make of it. Because in the end you can imagine whatever you want but if you can’t find the fabric you’re after it’s all moot. And I find my method more satisfying, although time consuming because all the ‘good’ fabric stores are across the city. Although I think I lost the point here, the point was, the colouring book concept is interesting, but maybe not so much for me – so far.

This modern world demands a lot of a person - rather demands that you appear a certain way. Facebook demands the appearance of meaningful interactions with friends and the presentation of a specific life. Twitter demands short, astute, and insightful appearing observations and quips. Pinterest demands the appearance of organized, glamorous and well fed aspirations. Instagram demands all of the above in pictures -I think, honestly I, thus far, have opted out of Instagram, Tinder, Snapchat and whatever might be trending this week, because I can barely keep up the facade of Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. Although if I’m being honest I use Facebook to promote my agenda of the absurd, and admit that I spend a lot of my life being a dork. I find Twitter most useful as an outlet as a consumer, a conduit for information I find interesting and very occasionally for being part of a trending topic. But the idea that all of this creative energy spent on keeping up appearances, one wonders if a simpler outlet might be the answer everyone was seeking. Perhaps this idea of a meditative activity does make sense?

Having been raised by wolves, well artistic wolves, I have spent a life around arts, less so now, but it’s still part of my life. When I wanted a particular Christmas tree decoration and couldn’t find what I wanted commercially, I went to Pinterest, stole an idea and whipped up a few myself, because I could. So in that same breath, does the idea of sitting down with a preset drawing and filling in the spaces with colour appeal? Well no, but that's me.

To finish where I started, what is the fascination with these colouring books? I don’t know. I make assumptions that it fulfills a need for those seeking a creative outlet but not certain where to find it. Am I right? Don’t know. But I am wondering if McCall’s has a spring edition of theirs.

P.S. I think it’s absolutely charming that my spellcheck doesn’t recognize Facebook as a word - or spellcheck for that matter.

fasten your coat tails, it’s going to be a bumpy night

Petitions. Sigh. If you’re at all on social media, you’ve seen these. So much so that the other day I jokingly suggested I was starting a petition to stop stupid petitions. Like the ‘Say no to Kanye’ petition started, and ultimately failing, in protest to the scheduling of Kanye West in the closing ceremony of the recent Pan Am games. I’m not a Kanye West fan. I don’t care about Kanye. But if you want to make your point. Don’t go. It’s a version of voting with your dollars, but nothing sends a message better than no one showing up for something.

On the coat tails of the ol’ petition is the newest cousin, the ‘by paying attention to cause A you must not care about cause B’ stance. The most recent of which was the head shake inducing ‘if you care about Cecil the Lion, you don’t care about Black Lives Matter’. Let’s back up a second. To me these are both interesting situations, complex and layered, beyond that 140 character limit of a Tweet. But, again, from my perspective, completely different things. Yes I have feelings about hunting for sport. Yes I think there’s a huge issue in the US and Canada wherein people are not treated equally. But having feelings about one does not negate my feelings about the other. Having said all that I now have feelings about riding the coat tails of one issue to bring attention to the other. And they’re not so positive.

The thrill of social media is that, if you want to, you can express any old opinion you want. However trolls thrive in anonymity so post-er beware. And then there’s the situation where you don’t want to insult friends or family because you have such polar views about a particular issue. As in I know a lot of non-conservatives holding their tongues over the ‘genius’ of a particular loud mouthed Presidential contender just south of the border. On the flip side, perhaps there’s a way to respond opposing views in a tactful, thoughtful manner which is, fortunately, the more common reaction in my particular social circle. That and the always useful; to completely ignore the post and instead spend time on videos of bears, cats and/or goats doing ridiculously cute things.

It’s a short post this time. I don’t really have a conclusion, but then again, I probably won’t sign your particular petition. Opting instead to choose my words carefully. 

P.S. Apologies about the bears video, it's a fantastic time sucker.

state of the uhf or how i accidentally started watching commercials again and it’s bad.

The off-shoot of having cord cut my cable, studied advertising and watching social media sweep up and encompass just about all existing models of ‘traditional’ media makes one, well me, hyper aware of what might be going on. During a recent online discussion with someone I know mostly through online discussions, we discussed that by and large, the traditional television advertising model hadn’t changed in over 70 years – although, in my opinion, we have two more generations to get through before the demand for change will eventually have to be met. Although in a weird twist, the modern product placement within TV shows reminds me of the early days of show sponsorship, so are we coming full circle?

However, off on a side bar, I’m all up to date with what my options for step-in bathtubs, stair hoists and reverse mortgages (for the house I was never able to afford) are! But, back on point, our discussion turned to how to determine the efficacy of popular social campaigns. Citing the Dear Kitten campaign by Purina, which I think is rather entertaining and did share on social media, but did it compel me to switch my cat to their food, well no. So how do we determine if this campaign was successful? I don’t actually know. The time tested success factor would come down to cold hard cash but is product recognition and a sense of community now more important? Again, I don’t actually know.

Any woman who wears make up knows there’s a new mascara introduced every week of a calendar year. One common thread through all mascara advertising - which is basically lifestyle advertising, because, really, it’s dirt to put on your lashes – is that the ideal achievement is a smooth, plump, lengthening clean lash, which if you want to look like the girl in the ad, means time consuming and expensive lash extensions. Maybelline’s new Chaos mascara eschews all that and suggests that theirs is the only mascara that will give you that clumpy, smudgy, mussed up look you didn’t know you were supposed to want. My current theory is that they have a warehouse full of the stuff and found it didn’t do so well in the test market tests - and if that’s the case, kudos to their marketing team. Also works on your boyfriend.

Swiss Chalet has, over the years, and mostly unsuccessfully, tried to expand their menu and thereby their customer base. In my personal opinion this has been a failing prospect. Why not embrace and do the thing you’re good at; consistently prepared rotisserie chicken with a potato product side, and that salty, addictive ‘industrial gravy’ that we call dipping sauce. The latest campaign centres around chicken wings, which oddly, Swiss Chalet is not very good at, and trying to make ‘the Chalet’ as cool as your local pub. And whenever I see the product shot of two men digging into their plate of wings, branded beer glasses in clear sight, I think those guys look whipped (and then I giggle.) Let’s face it, dudes are gonna go get wings and beers and they’re gonna do it at the local pub, or some chain that specializes in keeping sports on multiple screens, all the time. Not at Swiss Chalet.

Insert-car-manufacturer-here ad for getting Millennial’s into cars.  Millennial’s are not getting their driver’s license in record numbers, and don’t buy cars, or so do way less than previous generations. Also Millennial’s don’t watch TV!

Want to know where to get an overpriced payday loan? No amount of fuzzy mascot or purposely homemade looking ad will stop that fact that these people are charging you about 60% interest, and apparently not spending any more than they have to on the advertising budget.

The Fonz selling reverse mortgages. Just writing that makes me feel old. And I’m not even in the target demographic.

And finally, you heard it from the horse’s mouth. They may have cleaned up the Trivago guy, but he’s still sorta creepy. Even clean shaven and in a suit, but it might be the poor taste joke about getting ‘Lucky’ in a room.

"and a little of that human touch" (springsteen lyrics)

It’s 2015.  We’re in the future of the movies of (some of) our youths, as in Back to the Future was set in 2015. Blade Runner's date is rounding the corner. So while we collectively look to see what fiction imagined, we find ourselves living some innovations that weren’t imagined, or perhaps were not imagined the way they manifested. We do not have driverless cars, but cars that park themselves are here, and Unattended Train Operation (driverless) transit is already in use. 

So while technology continues forward, often the most sophisticated algorithm in the world still doesn’t quite get it.  While I’m always awed that the PC Plus program has a pretty good idea when I need more popcorn, a product I don’t consume on a cyclical basis, there are times when a little decorum and humanity is needed.

The recent episode with Uber comes to mind. In the middle of a rash hostage taking in Australia, Uber’s booking system noticed an unexpected uptake in cab usage – you know from people running for their lives – and the system’s usage metrics kicked in and started upping the cab fees. An innocent enough reaction given circumstances that fall within normal range, but, clearly, in this case a place where a touch of good old human metrics would ‘get it’. Similarly, but quite so crudely, this year’s Facebook ‘year in review’ feature took posts with the most “Likes” and used those posts to create a snapshot of a person’s year. The part the coders failed to get was the sometimes, in a method of support, people - myself included -  will Like a post that isn’t necessarily positive, but in a show of support, say when a goal isn’t reached, or a loved one passes on. 

I consider myself an amateur enthusiast of analytics and the part that I find the most interesting is the story part of the analysis, but in both telling and creating stories, options have to be considered. We all know computer code doesn’t do so well with grey concepts. And truthfully, it’s almost impossible to consider all angles, a human fault, but consideration to how people act and use features should be part of the story here. The Uber example was almost impossible to predict; the idea was the increase cab fees during peak demand times, like the end of Saturday night, or after a major sporting event, or even more vindictively during a transit shutdown or major storm. A concept, not loved, but understood by anyone who tried to rent a car over a holiday or book a hotel room for a major event. But the Facebook situation isn’t that far of a reach, and yes the post is editable, but the articles I found mentioned instances where a loved one who had passed away, was featured in this auto generated post, and understandably was startling to those users.

Most of these systems are pretty ubiquitous. Like the popcorn, or the Amazon recommendations, or that fact that certain government bodies that might be watching my consumption habits in order to be keyed in to my potentially devious plots… unfortunately what they found out is that I buy a lot of makeup and eat a decent amount of pizza. Revelatory, I know!

I had a tersely written, complain-y description of the automated job search filters currently in use. Needless to say, since I’m actively looking for work, perhaps, a bit of human review might make the entire process just a little more fruitful, for both parties.

Similarly trying to track down an answer to a question on a government form used to be a tedious task of being puzzled, reading complicated language on a website and sometimes in a fit of exasperation, calling to listen to options on an automated phone system. Although my last few interactions with government were very human indeed, I was assigned a person who handled my case, answered my questions, and who I talked to each time I needed information. And believe me when I say, it’s rather unsettling to get straightforward, logical answers from your government.

As we mature into this technology - and we all use it. Algorithms suggest what we might like on shopping sites, on movie sites, when browsing for the next thing to read perhaps we, the royal we, will get better at considering situations that may not fit the norm, and require intervention. However when thinking in evolutionary terms, we humans may be the weak link, but I think we’re still best equipped; after all our gray matter considers all the colours.

and the winners are... - not really a post

CBC announces the top marketing blunders of 2014, and in the video part (sadly not the printed version), Target Canada is called out for failing, apologizing for its failure but not actually doing anything to fix the failure (at about 1:42).  Plus some other doozies.

And we'll start the year out with a few more.

at what cost?

Someone posited a question on Twitter recently asking what was the worst thing about being single; I know she was looking for emotional and non tangible reactions, but my reaction was that the worst part was the cost.

According to North American statistics (read US because Stats Can isn’t collecting data right now – don’t get me started, it’s a mess) we have officially tipped the scales and now more than 50% of households are now single. This is historically significant. It is socially significant. And it makes me wonder if finally marketers might start to consider changing the way they vend based on this new information. Read small sizes, with proportional price tags.

It’s the old mayonnaise dilemma I have about once a year when I need mayonnaise. The half-sized jar is 30 cents less than the full sized jar, but I will toss out half of the full sized jar, but it’s so much more economical to purchase the larger container. In truth I generally wait until one of them is on sale and then purchase that one. But it leads to the same question. Why am I asked to pay the same rate for half the product just because I’m single (or can’t consume the volume of product in the larger container)? The obvious answer is just to purchase the larger container on the off chance that I might consume more and then I’m not in the position of paying more, but that leads to food waste, which leads to a whole other argument about consumption and here I am still standing in the grocery aisle with a ethical dilemma over a goddamned jar of mayonnaise.

The basics and fun of life are still designed for couples, or more than one person. Rent, well other than me, who has amazingly low rent - I live as if I have roommate in terms of dollars - but for everyone else, coming up with that sum of money every month can be challenging, especially if you’re a woman and still make 30% less on average than a man for no reason that makes any sense. Vacations, while not the basics of life, are not half the cost for a single person, because most of those advertised rates and deals are based on double occupancy. And then there’s the good old ‘because female’ rationale for why things like deodorant, shampoo, razors and other genderfied items are more when you’re a woman than they are when you’re a man. Marketplace ran a show on this.

Sure there’s value in volume and in some cases it makes sense. It doesn’t cost that much more to wrap plastic around 12 rolls of toilet paper than it does 4, so it makes sense to offer it in larger packages. And let’s face it, 4 toilet rolls isn’t going to last all that long, although on the flipside, the toilet roll storage basket in my teensy little bathroom holds exactly 12 rolls, so those monster 30 packs are virtually useless to me. Sure they don’t go bad, but in my surprisingly reasonable apartment, there is very little storage space, and no place to put them until I need them. Ok, ok, I have a freezer and I can take a bigger package of say chicken and wrap it up to freeze and use later. But what if it’s something I haven’t tried and I’d like to try it once before deciding to buy a 3 month supply. Or would like to only heat up half that frozen convenience lasagna so that I won’t be eating it for the next 7 days?!

But this goes beyond marketing and consumables. Let’s talk taxes. Under Harper, a new, albeit controversial, tax break is announced for families. Great if you qualify and you have a family. Sure you’re paying for things I don’t have to consider such as educating someone other than myself, but where’s the break for me joining a gym or taking an exercise class? Only for kids you say? Hmm. They aren’t any. None. You might be able to claim some of your portion of rent under Ontario tax benefits, but so can anyone regardless of marital status. Yes, you get the same crappy education tax breaks of any student, but you aren’t able to claim yourself as a dependent and it goes on. In fact an article in The Atlantic pegged this number in the US as being over $1 Million dollars more to be single over a lifetime. Read it because the numbers are astounding.

Why are these financial penalties for being single? (Which I totally stole from an interviewer on HuffPost.) The more I read on this subject the angrier I became and if you listen to this interview you can heard the opinion of women with much more knowledge of the subject than I have. I don't have a pithy ending statement for this one. I keep trying to form a sentence about considering as a society why we revere marriage so much and why can’t we extend similar privilege to single person households too, but we need to be at a point beyond consideration and be at a point of action.  Let’s start with taxes and work backwards from there.