But Will It Blend a Rake? George From BlendTec on Viral Videos

Yesterday I sat in on George Wright's session at the Ragan Communications "New Social Media" conference I'm at in Chicago. George is the brain-daddy behind the wildly viral Will It Blend? video marketing campaign that launched about a year ago. He told the wonderful story of how, as the new (and first) BlendTec "marketing guy," he wandered through the manufacturing plant one day and noticed a sizeable pile of sawdust on the floor. He asked, "What's that about?" and was told casually that was how they tested their blenders... with 2 x 2s! A great idea, borrowed handy-cam, one chunk of lumber, a six-pack of coke, a handful of marbles, four golf balls, and an iPod later... voila! An new twist on an ancient form of marketing was born: intentional online viral marketing. The videos are now snagged from their own little podunk website in Utah as quickly as they're put up, slapped on to youtube and immediately hit the #1 favorite list time after time. It's the power of that little red "share" button on youtube.

Of course, viral marketing itself isn't new. It's been happening for at least as long as women have been buying shoes. The online version of it is simply when you see something that makes you pay attention--something interesting, unusual, funny, bizarre, intriguing, etc.--you pass it along to your friends. I had actually seen one of the "will it blend?" videos before yesterday as a result of viral sharing, so it was really interesting to hear the whole story and meet the man behind it. George is a delightfully self-effacing "marketing hick from the backwoods with a blender and a rake" who, with a $50 budget and a blender, got six million hits on his marketing experiment in the first week. Of course, the fact that he ended his talk by blending a rake was pretty impressive too.



BTW: The latest "Will It Blend?" video of Chuck Norris versus the bad guys mixing it up (sorry:) is a hoot and shows that even with an idea this powerful, you still need to introduce the element of the interesting or unexpected to keep up the momentum.

I'M GETTING MY GREEN CARD!!! I think...

About a week ago, I got an email from our immigration firm with a letter attached from the USCIS (United States Customs and Immigration Services). I thought I'd include it here for the interest of those dear souls who have travelled the past seven years with us in our immigration adventures. It is a document that brings our family great news, I think. I hope. But I'm not entirely sure.

I share it here to primarily let you know that something is happening. Also, I hope it will explain why in the past when I have started trying to explain the latest episode or movement in our immigration process over these years, my listener's eyes begin to glaze over and all of a sudden they remember an important errand they must tend to immediately. All the communications between the US government and our family have shared the same level of transparency of meaning, tone, and timing. (It's been three weeks since the letter is dated and so far, not another syllable has been issued regarding my status.)

In case the font is a bit small in the image I've posted of the letter itself, I've re-typed the pertinent section below so you can celebrate the moment with us. That is, when and if you can figure out what exactly the news is. And when you do, will you please let me know?

"This notice refers to your Application for Employment Authorization (Form I-765) filed on May 29, 2007, in which you are requesting employment based upon your filing of a pending application for adjustment of status to lawful permanent resident under Title 8, Code of Federal Regulations, (8CFR) 274a.129(C)(9). Upon consideration, it is ordered that the request be denied for the following reasons:

Title 8, Code of Federal Regulations, (8CFR) 274a.129(C)(9) states, in pertinent part:

'Any alien who has filed an application for adjustment of status to lawful permanent resident pursuant to Part 345 of this chapter may apply for employment authorization during the period that application is pending.'

A review of your record indicates that the Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status (I-485) you filed with this Service has been approved. The Form I-485 is therefore no longer pending with this Service and you are ineligible for employment authorization under 274a.12(c)(9).

There is no appeal to this decision. Please note that aliens who are lawful permanent residents of the United States are authorized to engage in employment. Please refer any question to your local INS office."

Someone Should Really Fix This Mess

Every once in a while, my News-Pater sends me a scan of some piece of note from their local fish-wrapper on Vancouver Island. The latest installment was a delightful piece on the demise/need for preservation of the English language by Iain Hunter. I was caught up short by this line:

"It's easier, I find, to maintain that anything in danger from vanishing from this planet should be preserved, and leave it to others to find ways to stop the planet itself from vanishing."

Much in my life these days echoes this sentiment... that all I can really handle right now is to maintain a small position on matters, and leave the BIG questions to those either smarter than me, or at least to those who get more sleep. The world and all its confusions and complexities and desperate need that someone know something for certain and act on it to fix things is quite beyond me these days. All I really know is who I care about and how much I love them and how incredibly vulnerable the whole shiteroo is to misunderstanding and miscommunication and messiness. We are in desperate need of a Savior.