Adventures in Candyland

I know there’s that whole underlying Google backlash brewing just below the surface - they’re tyrants, they’re planning to take over the world, they’re just plain mean and evil - that kind of thing.  And in fact, wasn’t it just last week that we heard about Google acquiring DoubleClick, an online advertising company - can you see antitrust issues down the road?  So its safe to say I started out a bit skeptical (okay, cynical) about Blackle.

If you haven’t searched with Blackle yet, its basically Google search with a black screen.  Why?  Well, Google explains that its an attempt to be more environmentally friendly.  In the first conversation Sweet Talk had about Blackle, I was convinced that it was a great marketing stunt from Google.  With green living so hot right now (see Lauren’s post below) and more and more companies trying to find ways to be eco-responsible (btw - I have no idea if that’s a real term), it seems an obvious time for Google to craft and present that image as well.  The launch of Blackle this month garnered some good publicity - so much that it actually went down for a bit after the onslaught of visitors.  But I wonder how many people have switched to Blackle as their homepage.

Despite my cynicism about Blackle being a marketing stunt, I checked it out anyway.  It looks pretty cool.  And here’s what Google has to say about it:

“How is Blackle saving energy?

Blackle saves energy because the screen is predominantly black. “Image displayed is primarily a function of the user’s color settings and desktop graphics, as well as the color and size of open application windows; a given monitor requires more power to display a white (or light) screen than a black (or dark) screen.” Roberson et al, 2002

In January 2007 a blog post titled Black Google Would Save 750 Megawatt-hours a Year proposed the theory that a black version of the Google search engine would save a fair bit of energy due to the popularity of the search engine. Since then there has been skepticism about the significance of the energy savings that can be achieved and the cost in terms of readability of black web pages.

We believe that there is value in the concept because even if the energy savings are small, they all add up. Secondly we feel that seeing Blackle every time we load our web browser reminds us that we need to keep taking small steps to save energy.

How can you help?

We encourage you to set Blackle as your home page. This way every time you load your Internet browser you will save a little bit of energy. Remember every bit counts! You will also be reminded about the need to save energy each time you see the Blackle page load.

Help us spread the word about Blackle by telling your friends and family to set it as their home page. If you have a blog then give us a mention. Or put the following text in your email signature: “Blackle.com - Saving energy one search at a time”.

There are a lot of great web sites about saving energy and being more environmentally friendly. They are full of great tips covering the little things that we can all do to make a difference today. Try Blackling “energy saving tips” or visit treehugger.com a great blog dedicated to environmental awareness.”

And yes, after reading this, my cynicism miraculously vanished.  As part of a recycling, Prius-driving family, how could I not set Blackle as my homepage?  So…this post is my plug for Blackle.  It might be just a marketing stunt, but at least it’s one you can feel good about - one search at a time. 

Last weekend I attended AltBuild at the Santa Monica Airport featuring manufacturers of green building materials, green architects and other businesses that make it possible to build sustainable homes.   It was packed.    

Green living has become so mainstream, an amazing thing, but I sometimes I have to wonder is it’s all a  result of a massive marketing campaign primed for a backlash, or will this finally become an everyday reality for Americans.

For decades, green living has been the norm in Europe.  There’s an article in last week’s New York Time Magazine talking about just that. “Why Are They Greener Than We Are?” which talks about how sophisticated green architecture is completely common in Germany and the Netherlands. So with all the technology, talent and incessant talk, why is it so hard to make our buildings sustainable too?

Once again, it seems as America has somehow made it more difficult than it should be by creating bureaucracies and impeding the creativity of architects by almost mocking their innovative ideas.  At this event, I was also struck by the high cost of materials that are made from recycled elements and earth minerals.  Shouldn’t building with these kinds of materials be less cost-prohibitive? 

I hope that the mean green media machine taken over, but that we continue on this path towards awareness of our surroundings and the movement becomes more of a way of life than a trend.  That it won’t seem life an effort to make changes, but that it’s just the way it is. 

I have really fair skin.  No, I mean REALLY fair…you know, like that glow-in-the-dark, kind of see-through fair skin.  So when I went to the dermatologist yesterday, I was pleasantly surprised when she told me my skin was in pretty good shape as far as sun-damage is concerned.  She wanted to know if I grew up in SoCal…apparently people who grow up in SoCal have lots of skin damage.  So I must have been lucky that after one or two sunburns in high school, my parents started grounding me if I got too much sun.  Actually, they pretty much put the fear of god into me, and now I’m one of those people who enjoy tropical vacations from under an umbrella, where I’m still slathered in sunscreen and wearing a hat.  But back to my dermatologist…

So then she asked me if I wear sunscreen.  I told her I wear daily moisturizer with SPF 15.  And here’s the news I want to share…she told me that in her opinion, that’s pretty much like not wearing any sunscreen.  Huh?  Here I thought I was being so good, protecting my face every day from that evil, blazing sun.  Turns out that this type of sunscreen is a chemical sunscreen, which means it absorbs the UVB rays and kind of disperses them throughout your skin.  What more, she said those SPF numbers don’t really mean all that much because they’re derived from a lab.  Basically, in a controlled environment where some guys in white coats apply exactly the right amount several times a day, I’d be 15 times less likely to be burned than if I was standing in the sun with no sunscreen on.  But do I apply the right amount?  Do I apply it evenly?  Do I reapply? 

So what’s a fair-skinned maiden like me to do in Southern California?  Well, the dermatologist recommended using a sunscreen with a physical blocker, like zinc or titanium (think lifeguards with white noses).  She says the minerals in physical sunscreen actually reflect all the UV rays away from the skin.  Lucky for me, she says they make these sunscreens now so that they absorb better than they used to.  That’s good ‘cause I just can’t imagine being any whiter than I already am.

Doesn’t it seem like people don’t really care about Martha Stewart like they used to?  Wasn’t it just a few years ago when people couldn’t stop discussing her guilt/non guilt?  Her attitude?  Her prison time?  Would she be a kinder, gentler Martha? Would she have come-back or fall into obscurity (ok, no one thought that).

In the end, it seems she came out on the other side mostly unscathed, and with even more media properties to boot .  I mean she’s got her show, an entire channel on Sirius Satellite and maybe 5 magazines.  This woman knows what she is doing.

I only started thinking about the Martha situation again after I read this article in BusinessWeek called “Queen of the Product Pitch.” The piece explained how if an  advertiser spends $250,000 worth of 30 second spots during her show, the advertiser gets to help build a branded segment in her show – in essence an advertorial (you know, those pages in magazines that looks like editorials and read like an editorial but are really meant to ads). 

When I first read this, I thought it seemed deceitful – even with a full disclaimer that the time was bought.  See, I’m in PR and one of the first things you learn is that you can’t buy editorial just because you buy an advertisement (in any reputable entity that is).  But here Martha is blatantly hawking the wares of companies like Dixie and Hewlett-Packard Co. so she can continue to increase the worth of MSLO.  I mean a lot of people still follow Martha’s rules like little sheep.  But then again, Martha won’t just put her seal on anything.  I mean, she may be a capitalist, but she’s a smart capitalist.  She wouldn’t dare dilute her appeal by offering up any old crap because its makers pay her to say she likes it. She actually does have to like to endorse it.  She knows, her audience goes to her because she is a total snob, her taste is immaculate and many people, even if they claim to hate her, still respect and want to emulate the “Martha Stewart Lifestyle” as little or as much as they can . 

You want the most buttery foie gras?  She knows you have to get it flown in from a geese farm in Périgord, France.  You want recycled paper made from olive bark in Italy.  She will tell you the tiny paperie store in Boston that carries it.  You want to know the best toilet paper to wipe your butt with?  She will say Scott (I only know this because I listen to her daughter, Alexis’ show, “Whatever” on the Martha Stewart Sirius channel and that was her and her mother’s choice. She is even snobbier, grumpier and dare I say more opinionated then her elder, but for some reason she’s grown on me).

You get the picture right?  Her audience trusts what she has to say and she is not about to ruin that.

So – even if it is a little underhanded, she is still working to help people find the best toilet brush to clean their porcelain god (lots of potty references here, hah?).  So I guess I can give her a pass on making the money.  I also believe that today, with so much media confusion, it is near difficult to break through with your brand even if you sell good products.  I’m also in Marketing, so in a way, I applaud the opportunity to hit the right audience in a way that is meaningful to them and with a good product!  So it kind of is a double whammy. 

Oh I’m such a conflicted girl, but lucky for us all (or some of us at least), Martha is not.

Is that why customer service is so bad these days – is everyone in the service industry trying to get their daily workout by being so rude?  Since Sweet Talk is a service-oriented business, maybe we’re more sensitive to it, but it just seems to us that every single time we’re in the position of “client,” utilizing services provided by others, we encounter unbelievable rudeness these days. 

Don’t get me wrong, as three women we certainly have our share of bad days when it seems like putting a smile on our face is much harder than being just plain rude.  But come on…whatever happened to the old adage that the customer’s always right?  We all know the customer isn’t always right, but aren’t service providers supposed to make them feel like they are? 

And we find it particularly annoying in clothing boutiques, when the girls behind the counter act as though they’re Hollywood royalty – need we remind them that a smile goes a long way?  Then again, maybe they’re just working out.

In the last month, I have read several articles about Twitter.  For those of you unfamiliar with this free service, it’s a global community of friends and strangers answering one simple question: “What are you doing?”  You can answer that question several times a day, an hour or even a minute by posting short updates from your cell phone, IM or on the web.  Then your friends can always know what you are up to.  And, you can receive up-to-the-second updates about what your friends are doing too.  I think there are merits to this service in marketing or a professional setting like a conference, but it’s the personal side of it I’m a little confused by.    

It’s an interesting concept for a working mom whose social life drags for lack of time and energy…a seemingly easy way to keep in constant contact with your “peeps” that doesn’t require long drawn-out phone call or emails.  But I don’t know anyone who Twitters (maybe I’m too old?), and I’ve spent all day wondering what exactly I would Twitter about.  I mean does anyone really need updates about what I’m doing at my desk all day or that my toddler peed in the potty today?  Should I take a timeout to text that major accomplishment to my Twitter followers?  And if I make my profile public, are there people I don’t know in the world interested in any of the above?  Actually, maybe they would be…when I logged on today, I saw that someone had just woken up and another was tying his shoes.  

I find myself wondering…if I Twittered all day long, what would I have to talk about when I finally did have a chance to really connect with someone.  I think I’ll add up the seconds I’d spend texting updates all day and call one of my friends at the end of the day to chat for a few minutes and catch up. 

I live in Santa Monica and almost every day (well, that might be stretching it) I try to get up and go running.  Personally, I don’t think there is any better place to live and be active in LA.  There’s always a lot going on and interesting people everywhere - never boring.  A lot of times I’ll run down to beach and take the path down Ocean Ave, which of course is amazing. But even more than that, I like to venture through the neighborhoods to check out the diverse home styles.

See, I’ve become obsessed with architecture, particularly modern architecture.  It’s not that I don’t like other styles, because I do have a true fondness for Mediterranean and Spanish style homes (meaning I would be ok living in one – haha), and each style certainly has it’s own beauty,  but really, I adore the clean, open and austere sensibility that only can be conveyed through a modern home.  So as I run through the eclectic streets of Santa Monica, I peruse each street, anxious to find that one home that will be mine some day soon (oh yes I’ve already found it). 

I only really recognized my discerning eye during the last three years while handling publicity for a modern architect and modern furniture store.  I think the combination of the two was like a double whammy on my brain and now I am completely obsessed on educating myself on Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius – the original masters of modern architecture- I’ll be spending lots of time at Hennessey + Ingalls. But I think my real point here is that this perspective gives me an advantage anytime we help our clients design their materials. I abhor messy, overly colorful and pointless design – it makes no impact.  I think design that reflects and communicates a clean, modern, tasteful and functional aesthetic creates such a stronger impression in the eyes of the people seeing it.  See – I am in this business for a reason

Now someone tell me how I can make this place mine! And it’s green! More on that later…..    

So… let me be the first to welcome you to Sweet Talk PR’s blog, “Adventures in Candyland,” the chronicles of three female entrepreneurs on their way to making it big in the communications world.  That sounds pretty cliché, but we have to tell ourselves something as we thumb through the pages of Lucky Magazine, unable to purchase anything we desire due to the severe lack of funds that comes from starting your own business.  And though it pains me not to be able to buy those sexy wedges or that bag I’m completely captivated by, I know it is for a greater good. 

Seriously though, superficialities aside, for ten some odd years, all of us have been working for others, somewhat in charge of our own fate, but somewhat not. Now, we are truly the captains of our own ship and whether we sink or swim (another bad cliché – too apropos to pass it by), it’s all in our hands.  Some days it seems scary, but mostly it’s liberating, educational, exciting and yes, even fun. Not to say, we don’t have our bad days, but hey, it’s all par for the course.

So come get to know us and join our team as we travel through this truly uncandy-coated adventure.  Yes we may be Sweet, but I promise we’re not shy, so it should be pretty interesting.

When I was a kid, my dad worked in Culver City.  Where the heck was that?   It was definitely not a high-rise in Century City or Downtown.  In fact there were about two restaurants – the Sagebrush Cantina and the kind of no-name Thai place.  Dad leased and sold industrial and warehouse space.  But that was a long time ago. 

If you haven’t yet experienced the renaissance of Culver City, you should.  There are the more than 30 art galleries that have popped up on South La Cienega, the Kirk Douglas Theater and several good restaurants and wine bars.  And those industrial spaces – they’re now creative office space. 

In the months since we began Sweet Talk, it seems like everywhere we go, someone is talking about the CC: the handbag designer we did our first new biz pitch for has her office there; how ‘bout that new wine bar with the cool prepaid cards and the tiny teardrop-sized tastes; the amazing daycare for children of Sony employees; “we’re looking to buy a condo…in the Valley OR Culver City;” date-nights at Ford’s Filling Station for dinner and then the Jazz Bakery.  So my dad took us for a tour: we were shocked by the sheer number of cars parked everywhere; we had one of the best lunches we’d had in weeks at Beacon; we browsed HD Buttercup and stopped into a postage-stamp sized boutique/gallery.  We were intrigued by the eclectic, artistic, edgy vibe. There’s a sense that a lot’s going on there.  “I told you to buy a house in Culver City,” my dad says as he wraps up his tour.

Check out the CC on June 2, 2007 during the Culver City Art Walk.