Thinking by Peter Davidson

Oprah opens "Angel Lane" in Houston, TX Wednesday on her show. The first 12 families are shown their homes that are full of goodies from show sponsors all coordinated by Oprah's supper designer Nate Berkus. I guess I missed the show where she explained how the first 65 families were selected for homes. I think that's an important piece of information. No one person or organization can help everyone affected by hurricane Katrina but the question will always be asked how do you determine who gets help and who has to wait.

It's also interesting to examine how much of this effort is about Oprah, her personality brand and her TV show and how much is true compassion for fellow Americans. Sure there is plenty of compassion from Oprah and her viewers through her registry. But what will the experience be for the 65th family to receive a house? Will there be food in the pantry and sheets on the bed? If the TV cameras aren't there will the yards have sod? Will the napkins have napkin rings? Does it matter? In a world where home makeover shows spend millions of dollars on individual families to create product placement filled ratings grabs for Television what has become of compassion for the sake of compassion?

Oprah talks a lot about how many have suffered and continue to suffer. That was Tuesday's show. So is the help she's providing with her viewers, sponsors and Habitat for Humanity significant or are there better uses for the resources she can raise? Do you provide a lot of help to a few or a bit of help for many? Does TV make that decision?

A landscaped cul-de-sac subdivision of 12 landscaped homes looks good on TV but would a village of 20 or 25 Katrina Cottages be a greater help to those profiled on yesterday's show who are in greater need. Could it be that the toasters from Target have something to do with it?

An alternative to the camper like FEMA trailers, Katrina Cottages are small semi permanent structures that acknowledge the architecture of the region while being transportable and able to be factory fabricated. At scale the cottages are reported to cost the same as the standard FEMA trailers. In five years are we still seeing FEMA trailers dotting regenerating communities or are we seeing clusters of Katrina Cottages and larger homes growing from the seeds of these modest cottages? Good alternatives and ideas abound for areas devastated by the storm. Perhaps more help could be provided by Oprah's viewers and charity organization if it weren't so much about Oprah herself and product placements.

Many will say that whatever Oprah does to help is worthwhile and I would agree that something is more than nothing and it all adds up but the greater question of what compassion looks like in America is worth asking. Is compassion for those that need a hand up only good for ratings and TV cameras or is their still room for human to human compassion that's more about truly helping people.

Oprah sent reporters to sit with those in tent camps and mold filled dirty devastated apartment buildings without roofs and plumbing but she sure was front and center on site when it's time to give out the spiffy new homes.

Related:
Oprah Joins the Long Tail for Disaster Relief
Oprah's Favorite Things 2005
Oprah and I had Jury Duty Today

Technorati Tags: advertising, Angel Lane, camper, decorating, disaster relief, habitat for humanity, home decorating, Home Makeovers, housing, hurricane, Katrina, Katrina Relief, Live Tiny, Nate Berkus, Oprah, Oprah Winfrey, Oprah's Angel Network, personality brand, PR, prefab, prefabricated houses, product placement, Houston, TX, Target

Personality Brand extraordinaire Oprah cooks up a ratings bonanza stew today by combining designer Nate Berkus with hot Desperate Housewives girl Eva Longoria. Longoria has bought a house for her back woods family and wants Nate Berkus to decorate the family room. This is the perfect intersection of hot personalities. It's sure to be a good ratings grab for Oprah.

The Texas home family room is designed in a Mexican inspired theme incorporating both the cultural heritage of the Longorias and their love on plants and animals. Moma Longoria has never had a dishwasher and now she has a spanking spiffy stainless steel model. Of course the entire project is sponsored and each sponsored element gets a mention. I suppose viewers are interested in where they can get the products.

The show continues with Eva Longoria's basketball player boyfriend 23 year old Tony Parker from the NBA San Antonio Spurs. Add another hot personality to the stew. Something for everyone.

Now comes the obligatory kissing of the Oprah ring by presenting a $50,000 ring to Sponsor a Katrina house. Celebs know that this is a good way to get and stay in Oprah's good graces.

The show continues with "Desperate House Makeovers." Doing a kitchen for a couple that ripped out their kitchen and didn't have enough money to replace it. Hmmm. Good planning there.

I wonder how much of the design work is actually done by Berkus and how much is done by his staff and dictated by who is willing to donate products to the show? The impression is that he does it all but I have an inkling that it's all handled by others and Berkus learns a script for his tours. Many will want to believe that he does it all but that's just not how design firms work. Berkus probably sets a design theme and his designers fill it all in.

The point is that a successful personality brand is the centerpiece of a much larger organization. Just as Martha doesn't actually do everything she presents to her audience neither does Oprah or Nate Berkus.

Technorati Tags: Desperate Housewives, Eva Longoria, Home Makeovers, Interior Design, Nate Berkus, Oprah, Ratings, San Antonio Spurs, Tony Parker

It's a Cleaning Robot Christmas. Three of the top 15 (as of this writing) items on the Kitchen & Housewares Top Sellers list at Amazon.com are cleaning robots. Could it be the ultimate husband gift for the practical woman? A cool techno gadget he can play with while also a "practical" gift for the woman. Do women really see the value in things like Roomba robots or would they rather have one of the goodies on Oprah's favorite things list?

So much energy and attention is focused on making humanoid robots but it's these types of limited function robots that will rule the day for the immediate future. Viva la machina!

Technorati Tags: Amazon, automation, cleaning robots, innovation, iRobot, Oprah, Oprah's Favorite Things, practical gift, top sellers, Roomba

The annual Holiday marketing bonanza "Oprah's Favorite Things" is upon us. Personality brand Queen, Oprah, is flocking her fan swarm towards this years list.

This year the audience is full of unsuspecting Katrina heroes. Nurses, hospital workers, animal rescue workers, shelter workers, guy who sold White Sox world series tickets to fund trip to gulf coast with relief supplies and many others. Of course, Oprah springs it that this is the favorite things show and the audience goes crazy. This years list includes items for $25-$1600. Women in uniform applaud calmly no jumping or carrying on. Dignified. Video pieces coming out of commercials tell the stories of individual heroes.

The Santas helpers who pass out the goods are from the UPS store. Even the help has become a product placement.

The Unofficial List
Philips-Stein - Dual face diamond watches-Madonna's favorite
Burberry - Coats/ leather shoulder bags
Ugg boots - Uptown Lace Up $180
Garrett Popcorn - Cheese and Carmel 17lbs. Tin $117
Apple - Video iPods 30GB $299
Ralph Lauren – Oprah Carmel colored Cashmere sweater $498
Pure Color - corduroy pants $160-170
Perfume - Lovely by Sarah Jessica Parker $62
RIM/T-mobile - Blackberry + 3mo. Service $299
Deeply - Fudge Brownies –2lbs. $25 — "The best brownie I've had in my whole life." Oprah
Nike - 3ID Workout shoes $95 - personalize them online
Kashwere - Bathrobes - $145
Williams Sanoma - Croissants- shipped frozen to your door 15 for $39.95
Philosophy - Hope in a Jar face Cream- $105 for 8oz. Jar.
Philosophy - Picnic basket of Grace bath products $214
Fox & Obel - Oatmeal cookies tin $49.95
Oprah 20th Anniversary DVD collection $35
Sony - Vaio Laptop w/DVD player $1600 – Oprah pitches the marketing spin. "Wouldn't you like to be in the airport and somebody says 'Where'd you get that?'"

Not too many small business's represented on the list this year. No "success making" endorsements that will catapult a small brand to the forefront. Maybe the game of getting your product on the list is getting too difficult/expensive for smaller brands.

Sony and Phillips-Stein get an extra thank you at the end of the show.

Here's the official list.

Technorati Tags: Apple, B2C, BlackBerry, Burberry, Deeply Brownies, DVD, Fox & Obel, Garrett Popcorn, iPod, Kashwere, Katrina, Katrina Relief, marketing, mobile computing, Nike, Oprah, Oprah's Favorite Things, personality brand, Phillips Stein, Philosophy, promotion, Pure Colors, Ralph Lauren, RIM, Sony, Sony Vaio, T-Mobile, Ugg boots, Williams Sanoma

It's that time again. Marketers and customers alike will have their eyes glued to Monday's Oprah show when she defines what's cool for her millions of fans. Oprah's Favorite Things show has become a major event each year as products instantly gain major cache once the queen herself endorses them. Never have we seen such an amazingly powerful infomercial.

Update: Here's the unofficial list

Technorati Tags: branding, gift idea, infomercial, marketing, Oprah, Oprah's Favorite Things, personality brand, PR, promotion, television, trend, viral marketing

Finally, a book from the new Nate Berkus empire minted by Oprah. Personality branding at it's best.

Related:

Nate Berkus: Jumped the Shark?

More on Nate Berkus

Nate Berkus Branding

Technorati Tags: personality brand, book, Nate Berkus, home decorating, Oprah, book selling, book writing, decorating

Every once in a while I run across the future of the music industry. While the music labels(RIAA) fight to protect the status quo from which they profit hugely while the majority of musicians struggle to survive, some musicians are finding their way in this new world of digital tools and experiences.

The path from unaware to raving fan is shorter than ever before. It used to be that musicians had to be "discovered" by the record industry who was looking for a profit vehicle to build their own bottom line. Everything was to the advantage of the record company. Commercial radio play was everything and those that had it had a chance those that did not didn't have much of a chance to even break even with their recording and tour expenses. No wonder there were payola scandals. Radio station programming directors and DJs had the power to make or break a music act. I think we all know something of how it has been.

Now we see how it could be. Musicians can rise or fall based on talent and story. There are new promotion pathways to expose new listeners to music and musicians they have not heard before.

Just this morning I heard on a popular podcast a song by a group I had not heard of before. The song was from the Podsafe Music Network. This is a web service that connects musicians and podcasters and provides free music tracks that podcasters can include in their shows as long as they provide proper attribution and links to the musicians and the Podsafe Music Network. Podcasters report back to the service when they play a song the network reports back to the musicians when their music is played. It's a win win for the musicians and the podcasters.

The path for those discovering new artists is smooth and easy. Hear new music on a podcast. Click through from the show notes to the Podsafe Music network, listen to additional songs by that artist, click through to the artist's website, read the background, tour information, learn about albums, subscribe to their blog and their own podcast all so you can experience the story of the music group. At any point along the way you can click trough to iTunes and purchase the music. First listen to revenue is but a few mouse clicks. No need to remember the musicians name and drive to a music store to buy the album.

All this without the radio, the record company, physical distributors, managers, publicists, or record stores. Is it any wonder that the status quo players are fighting for their survival while the emerging interests like Apple iTunes, The Podsafe Music Network and the many popular Podcasters are flourishing. The ground is shifting.

So what's the path I followed. DSC 250 (Adam Curry's Daily Source Code podcast) ---> DSC Wiki shownotes ---> Lascivious Biddies page on the Podsafe Music Network ---> The group's website ---> iTunes music store album purchased.

Along the way I subscribed to the BiddyCast podcast so I can experience the ongoing story of this great group. So today I went from not knowing this group to becoming a fan, purchasing their music, joining their direct communication channel(giving them personal permission to communicate and market to me) and now blogging about it. That times thousands and millions is the future of the music industry.

If you like smart writing, tight musicianship and beautiful feminine harmonies you'll want to discover Lascivious Biddies also.

Technorati Tags: permission marketing, RIAA, Podcast, innovation, Podcasting, Daily Source Code, Podsafe Music Network, iTunes, Luscivious Biddies, Adam Curry, iPod, Music Industry

The definitive personality brand Oprah announced today on her season preview a personal contribution of $10 million to Katrina Relief. She did not specify how her donation would be used. This is an attention getter people. It's significant and that's the point. It will get PR attention and thereby propel the both the Oprah hurricane relief efforts and the Oprah brand itself.

The Oprah brand masterfully knows her customers fans. She also announced a program through here charity to furnish "Katrina Homes." Designed like a wedding registry this allows her fan base to "shop" for household items to sponsor for Katrina Homes.

This is a potentially powerful relief fundraising model as it taps into the interest that many Oprah fans have in shopping and allows them to tell themselves a story about how their monetary contribution is being used. If you read the site carefully it includes a disclaimer saying that funds donated will be used to meet the greatest needs. While you can tell yourself that you are sponsoring x number of toasters for Katrina relief the reality may be that your funds are used differently.

I think there will be a parade of companies donating "stuff" for the Katrina homes as product placements on the Oprah show this year. The Oprah brand is a powerful entertainment/marketing force and they have found another vehicle to connect Oprah to her customer fan base and advertisers products. Without the marketing connections there isn't the money that fuels the entertainment.

Regarding Katrina relief efforts we are seeing the presentation of different stories that appeal to different world views. Paging Seth Godin. Relief fundraising is being tied to all sorts of products and celebrities. Whatever your world view or interest there's a relief effort that is tailor made for you. From environmentalists to faith based efforts. Musicians are appealing to their fans with benefits and sales donations. Soap opera TV stars do telethons. Jay Leno does his celebrity signed motorcycle thing again. Even the big charities offer a choice of story that you are contributing towards. Are you supporting the secular Red Cross or the Christian Salvation Army? Are you saving sick, scared puppies or are you volunteering your time as a medical first responder?

In a long tail world even disaster relief has fragmented into into multiple channels designed to appeal to different world views.

Technorati Tags: branding, customer, customer insights, emergency, fundraising, habitat for humanity, hurricane, Jay Leno, Katrina, Katrina Relief, long tail, Oprah, red cross, salvation army, Seth Godin

On this day, August 14, 1945, comedian Steve Martin is born in Waco, Texas.

Technorati Tags: 1945, birthday, comedian, Steve Martin

On this day, August 12, 1964, the father of fictional ubber-spy James Bond, Ian Fleming died of a heart attack at age 56.

Technorati Tags: 007, 1964, James Bond, Ian Fleming, puppy