Why Mom Bloggers Aren’t Flipping for Just a Sample of Your Product
June 9, 2009
We’re back to one of my favorite topics — Bloggers and Compensation.
There’s a few folks out there who will tell you that if you ever pay a blogger for anything, you’re violating some ‘purity code’ – some imaginary Blogger Code of Ethics that we all got to vote and agreed upon (there isn’t one, getting bloggers to agree on anything is like herding cats.)
The thing is? There are different types of commercially related blog posts. There are reviews (where a blogger gives you her opinion on a product, company or service), there are announcements/informational posts (similar to press releases, usually just a heads up – but sometimes links to deals or sales) and there are contests/giveaways (where opinions don’t necessarily enter into it, but prizes are given away on the blog that are supplied by a 3rd party.)
But these are *very* different types of posts from the blogger’s perspective.
Even though it may take someone about the same time to read each of them? It doesn’t take the same amount of time to create or maintain them.
We constantly get emails from PR people that seem to think that all we really ought to post are the announcement type. It seems that they often mistake bloggers for “new reporters” and think all we should do is repackage whatever info they email to us. (Come to think of it? There are some blogs that do seem to do just that… but not most.)
We also often get emails that say “we would like to send you a sample of our product or service for your review if you are interested.”
But lately, increasingly, companies are turning to the contest/giveaway model and approaching bloggers to see if we want to hold promotions to give away either samples, trial-codes, or prizes to our readers in order to promote their company or products.
Some of them get what it is they’re asking for and some don’t.
We don’t have “web guys” who do the work for us. Hosting a contest? Means figuring out the details, creating all of the content, posting the contest, running it fairly, monitoring entries for validity, choosing winners and notifying them, plus either fulfilling it by shipping at our cost, or acting as a go-between for the company and then posting the winners.
But it seems that there’s people out there who think that all that work isn’t really work. That they shouldn’t have to pay bloggers for doing the same work they would have to pay the guys in marketing, PR, and those who do their own websites.
If you, as a business, went to your web guys and said “we need you to run a contest on the site – create the design, the contest rules, the elements and the content, run it, monitor the entries for validity and to make sure no one is cheating, then contact the winner(s) and get back to us with that info – oooooh, yeah, and we can’t pay you your salaries this week, but would you like some free laundry detergent or diapers instead?“ They’d laugh their butts off. Well, before putting in a complaint with the local labor board and putting their resume on Monster.com, that is.
Yet that’s what keeps repeatedly being asked of us. “Will you work for free?” And for many of us, the answer is now becoming “well no – I’ve got this other company over here who is offering to compensate me for the same work and isn’t treating me as if being a blogger and/or a mom somehow made me lose my business skills and common sense.” Because seriously?
Yes, I love helping my readers experience new things and potentially win something… but I’m not going to be the only person working for free in this equation.
And that’s not because I’m some sort of prima donna who thinks I’m important. Yes, you can tell me that there’s “a ton of mommy bloggers who would jump at this opportunity.” But all you’re telling me is that you will take advantage of anyone you can. Whether a blogger is an “A-Lister” or someone who is still building her audience? They still have to do the EXACT same amount of work. Essentially, you’re asking people to work for free for you “for the exposure” or for “a product sample” but you? Yeah you there offering me this wonderful opportunity for my readers? Are *you* getting paid? Or do you just do that PR & marketing gig out of the goodness of your heart because you love it so?
How much is a bottle of laundry detergent or a package of diapers? Somewhere between $15-25 depending on the size? That’s just horrid. It works out to about $2-5 per hour or less if you run a contest right. One that isn’t just a few lines of “hey, company X is giving away a year’s supply of potpourri” or “this author wants me to hold a contest to give away 5 copies of his new book comment here to win.” One with no promotion, no concern about running a fair contest, no checking to make sure you’re doing a good job.
Would YOU work for that?
Sorry – I just needed to get this out there. When bloggers ask to be paid to host your contest on their sites? We’re not being demanding or unethical – we’re getting fed up with being treated like “mommies” or clueless bloggers who don’t know any better. You’re sure as heck getting paid by whatever company you work for or are doing PR for. Are *you* being demanding or unethical expecting someone to value your time and effort?
And yes, I love being a part of the chain that gets awareness about your client, your product, or your business to your potential customers – but while I may write for the love of it? That’s different than working for you for free.
In the interest of disclosure? This post was in no way contributed to or sponsored by anyone. These are my own thoughts & opinions and I’m more than willing to give you this piece of my mind for free. Or, well, at least for the price of the bandwidth that I’m paying for and the server hosting that I’m paying for and well… you get the point.
It’s Not About the Mommies, It’s About the Criminals
May 26, 2009
There’s this little drama that keeps swirling around the blogosphere. It involves paid-blogging, product reviews, honesty, transparency, integrity, liability, blah-blah-blah…
You can go debate it elsewhere if you like. There’s a ton of bloggers sure they have the answer and it’s whatever position they happen to hold on the matter. Do a quick Google and you’ll find a lively argument and people ready to verbally eviscerate each other over what you should or shouldn’t do. Or skip it – it’s getting kind of old, honestly.
But lately, every time you read one of these, they bring up the fact that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is considering revising their guidelines (for the first time since 1980!) and that it’s looking at Bloggers and how Social Media is impacting marketing.
Unfortunately, this is usually being dragged out as some sort of threat to “Mommy Bloggers” and whomever dredges it up tries to use it to imply that moms who blog product reviews “better watch out!”
Okay, seriously people. Let’s get to the real, shall we?
1) Moms (and Mommy Bloggers) aren’t the only ones out there doing product reviews. It’s just that they’re the latest group to get focused on by mainstream media and by marketing bloggers. But Tech Bloggers have been doing reviews for years. Magazine writers have been doing product reviews for years. Did you think that every one of those beauty & fashion magazines that tout the latest boots or makeup haven’t been sent samples? If so, you are living in fantasyland.
Companies have long been sending product samples to those who review – be they old-school magazines, bloggers, or even the currently-hot-but-totally-misunderstood-and-mislabeled “Mommy Bloggers.”
2) The FTC? They’re trying to revise their guidelines so that they have the power to go after criminals. That’s right, I said criminals. Those perpetrating fraud on consumers. Those guys. The bad guys.
Don’t know who they are? Here… let me show you.
Now, given that I don’t want to drive traffic to scammers, I’m not linking these websites, I’m just doing screenshots. Each small image links only to a larger, more detailed capture of the sites.
Now, what’s the difference between these “blogs”? The names (Alexandra vs. Claudia) and the locations (Georgetown, TX vs. Aurora, CO) – but other than that? Not much. Same pictures, same text, same everything.
As I said, I’m not about to drive traffic to these scammers – but you can see from the URL’s in the image above that they aren’t presented as marketing sites – they come across as blogs. Mommy Blogs.
I suspect that like many of these scams, these particular sites will disappear soon enough – to be replaced by the exact same everything but on new URLs. So I deliberately linked the images above to a basic scroll capture. For whatever reason, SnagIt couldn’t get the “comments” that are at the bottom of each page — if you’re really curious? They are simply text that is the exact same on both sites with the exception of the names, and are designed to imply that people have tried these and they work.
So why would the FTC want to be able to go after these guys?
Because if I’m a woman desperately trying to lose weight, and I come across one of these sites, I’m probably only getting in so far before I give up. What $50? $100? Then I’m certainly not going to tell anyone I got scammed. But I’m also not going to take the time and money required to sue them. Besides, how do you sue a con artist successfully?
This is where the FTC comes in. If they have not only the ability but the mission to “get these guys”? Well it benefits us all. Because “these guys” are going to keep suckering people in by pretending to be “moms who just stumbled on this amazing secret!” and it doesn’t do any of the real Mommy Bloggers and Product Reviewers any favors.
I’ve never known a real Mommy Blogger who claimed that she lost 25 pounds in 2 weeks using a miracle cure. But these sites above? I’ve seen their ads on Facebook and on Google. In fact, that’s where I first saw them. I clicked through an ad because it said that someone “near me” had discovered this “free” miracle weight loss method. I was curious what the scam was.
But I knew it was a scam before I clicked… My heart goes out to the overweight woman who gives it a try only to find out that she’s signed up for “autodelivery” and auto-billing… or given her credit card information to some guy in Malaysia.
So enough with the scare articles about the FTC coming to get us all, okay? Honestly, they’re just trying to make the Internet less scummy… and Mommy Bloggers? Not scammers. Not scummy. Really.
Ice Bar Orlando
March 30, 2009
Forever and a day ago, I was lucky enough to go down to Orlando to meet the folks from Izea and to hang with some blogging friends of mine while we toured SeaWorld’s upcoming Manta experience.
During the trip though, we were also treated to an experience at Ice Bar Orlando and boy did I get asked a lot of questions about that experience!
Since a number of folks asked what it was like to go to an Ice Bar and since it was my first experience, I promised back in January (and February and probably March… sheesh!) that I would post some pictures and a recounting of the outing!
Like any true geek, the moment I found out we were going, I went to their website and started looking up every little detail I could. Fortunately, Ice Bar Orlando has a slick website that is also informative… so before going I had even looked up a map of the floorplan that let me know that local twitter friends could meet us in the Chill Lounge after we had experienced the ICEBAR section – so we had a small tweetup* there as well.
Step By Step
Dinner ran late that night – so we were a bit later to Ice Bar Orlando than expected. Having missed our reservation window, we had to wait for the previous group to finish up their time. So we were given little glowing badges and spent a few minutes playing around in the Chill Lounge. Ashley Edwards from Izea, Julia Roy and I couldn’t resist playing around in a ball-bearing chain curtain that hung near the window.
I really wanted to keep the glowing badge – but apparently that wasn’t part of the deal. Still, I got to suit up and go into a bar completely carved out of ice, so I guess I can live without the flashy jewelry.
The ICEBAR itself is pretty awesome. Kept at 27° F, the entire thing (except for the floor, thankfully for those of us capable of falling at the mere thought of ice on the ground) is made out of ice. The furniture is carved out of ice, the walls are ice bricks, there are elaborate ice sculptures around the room. Even the glasses are made out of ice.
Because of the overwhelming “iciness” of the bar, suitable attire is required… Fortunately since no one tends to stock winter clothing in Florida, the bar provides heavily lined ponchos and gloves. As modeled by my friend Ashley.
So we donned our ponchos and gloves and entered the ICEBAR after surrendering our flashy badges. (Can you tell I really wanted a flashy badge? Yeah, sigh.)
It was the nicest feeling after hours spent in the Florida heat. This Colorado gal was happy to be in the chilled air of ‘normal winter’ instead of humid and hot. While I often find myself dreaming of sunny climes on days like today (current outside temperature? 23°F) it turns out that I’m more of a cold weather girl after all. So the chill was refreshing and welcome. We bellied up to the bar where our drinks were served in glasses made of ice (seriously cool! Keeps the drink nice and cold without ice cubes!) And began lounging about on the fur-covered ice couches. I finally had a chance to chill out (yeah, I know) and chat with friends like Carri Bright from Izea (pictured left).
Any rumors that half way through I got fed up with the poncho and removed it are completely true.
Of course, I don’t recommend that for most people – but I was approached by a fellow sojourner from Finland who had removed his as well and we basked in the chilly goodness amidst shock from our warmer climate friends.
We sat around drinking and chatting and taking pictures of everything and anything we could… until the toes on all of our feet started feeling a bit numb – then took a last round of pics (my favorite is this one of Ted Murphy, Izea’s CEO lounging on the Ice Throne…) and headed out into the Chill Lounge to meet some more Twitterpals and regain feeling in our extremities.
A few hours later, we rolled out with the general consensus that Ice Bar Orlando is a must see experience. I know it will be on my agenda next time I’m in Orlando. I can’t wait to show it to GeekDaddy and anyone else I can drag along!
So if you’re in Orlando for a family trip and can steal away from the kids? I highly recommend checking it out. Don’t forget to bring your camera – and if you think of it? Socks are good.
Administrative Note: This post is completely unsolocited by either Izea or Ice Bar Orlando. Requests to post details of my adventure there came from friends and readers. This post is uncompensated in any form. I shouldn’t have to post that, but I wanted to make it clear – this review is 100% the opinion of the author.
*tweetup: meetup of folks who use twitter
24c vs. Vitamin Water (sponsored)
March 30, 2009
The Setup
When I gave up soda at the beginning of 2009, one of the hardest ones to give up was Jones Soda. I got hooked on their Cream Soda down at BlogWorld Expo last year and I’ll admit, I’ve always been kind of partial to their quirky, offbeat approach to being “the little guy” in the soda world.
So when they contacted me to see if I wanted to compare their new 24c Water against Glacéau’s Vitamin Water I was totally game. Yes, they offered me a small stipend for my time and effort, but I would’ve done it regardless – as I’m always on the hunt for new drinks to replace the void that soda has left in my life. Sh! Don’t tell them that tho… if they knew how much fun it was for us to do this test, they might decide not to pay me – and I need to be able to afford more flavored enriched water!
Okay, so the Test then
You know that there’s probably an easy way to do this – but if you’re half as geeky as my family, easy isn’t nearly as fun as “scientific process.”
With the help of GeekDaddy – I set up a “triple blind” taste test of the 5 sets of flavors to be compared. First, we took 5 pairs of blue plastic cups and labeled the bottoms with a sharpie so that they had a number and a letter to represent each pair (i.e. 1a, 1b thru 5a, 5b) and put each pair in front of the bottled pairs. Then slid them around a few times, turned them over and assigned the appropriate bottle to each one on our list.
The first list was essentially just showing which bottle went to which cup. But after listing each one, GeekDaddy and Buttercup went into the other room while I poured each one into it’s respective cup and lined them up by pairs. Then before calling them back in, I shifted each pair around a few times randomly so I didn’t even know which one was which.
Then I went into the other room while GeekDaddy came in and did the same – playing the shell game with each one. Then he went and randomly switched the order the pairs were in. All we knew at that point was that each cup in the pair went together.
I came back in, sent him out again and rotated the cups yet again. At this point, unless you had memorized the color and clarity of each one, there was no telling which was which. We kind of tried to vary the taste order by color – but we knew we were going to be drinking water and eating saltines in between each to clear our palates.
So we started a new page and made a list that would allow us to taste each one and record which one each of us liked best. At this point, the kidlet was getting a bit impatient… after all, all this cup switching and whatnot was keeping her from “drinking the water already Mommy!” I have to admit, I was more than ready myself.
The Water
Before we get much further, I suppose you’re probably wondering my now what flavors of water we were comparing.
To save you from trying to peer at the picture above that has cups on top of bottles and determine what they were, I’m going to take a moment to show you what we were ‘experimenting’ with here.
Glacéau’s Vitamin Water has titles for their water, whereas Jones Soda’s 24c is just named by flavor. Since “energy” and “endurance” don’t exactly indicate the flavor, I just went ahead and used the flavor titles in my research data. Besides, the name for the Vitamin Water Blueberry-Acai-Pomegranate one is likely to bring in a lot of the wrong kind of traffic, see the picture if you want. We couldn’t get an exact match on flavors, but here were the lineups:
The Results
I know you’ll put up with a few more pictures here – just because well, I wanted to make sure that everyone wasn’t baffled by the process. We had cups that we couldn’t see the designation on, we had a hidden list that went with the cups, and we had a bunch of yummy water to try.
So you saw the randomly selected order above. I was keeping notes by hand, but it didn’t take long for the data to migrate to a spreadsheet. Yes, it’s true, I’m one of those kind of geeks. You should see the dozens of spreadsheets on my hard-drive, you’d laugh.
Anyhoo… as you can see, with the exception of the first go round, there was no unanimous decision. Nor were our palates always in agreement. I did take some notes as we went – but I think you can see for yourself that while we all loved #1 & #5, #4 wasn’t exactly a winner with any of us.
So we’ve got our list… to decipher it, I made another list (yes really!) of winners by cup.
Then I went back and deciphered the cups – because seriously, if you’re doing a triple-blind test, it’s kind of one of those “now which one does that mean we liked?” And because I like you enough to do it for you? Here’s the deciphered results: 
So what does that mean? Well, the Glacéau Vitamin Water Tropical flavor was a hands-down winner over the 24c – but for the rest of the groups, 24c edged out Vitamin Water on flavor. Granted, as you can see by the notes, all of us would drink either brand when it comes to the Peach Mango flavor. After Thoughts So they’re pretty comparable flavor-wise, but 24c tends to be a bit better to us on most variants. The prices are pretty comparable as well. So why choose one over another? Well, the 24c waters have 500% of the USRDA of Vitamin C and they seem a bit more vitamin enhanced than the Vitamin water… so that might be the tipping point for me. But honestly? I was a little disappointed in the labels. Yes, labels – I know, I should only be focusing on the flavor, content and vitamins – but I’m sort of hoping that the marketing guys at Jones realize that part of the reason I always gravitate toward their product is that I can find it in the drink case at the convenience store. Given how similar the labels of the 24c product are to Vitamin Water? I’m liable just to grab whichever one is closest in the peach mango flavor. Still, it’s nice to have some great new options to help me out in my resolution to drink healthier… Just don’t expect me (or my family) to go with the Berry-Pomegranate versions of either. They’re the only bottles that got poured out rather than finished following our experiment. Ick. Tasted like perfume.
Bring on the Peach Mango!!
*Administrative note: as mentioned early in the post and in the title – the author of this post was compensated by Jones Soda in order to participate in the taste test. All opinions expressed are the author’s or where noted, her family’s. Jones Soda and their representatives had no editorial input over the post, nor were the opinions in any way affected by the compensation, nor the amount of compensation impacted by the findings.
What is Your Time Worth? What’s Worth Your Time?
December 13, 2008
Today, Twitter and parts of the blogosphere are all abuzz with the debate over whether “sponsored” contests & posts are genuine or whether they damage the credibility of the blogger.
This seems to have started when Jeremiah Owyang [@jowyang] a Senior Analyst at Forrester Research tweeted: “Kmart paid Shoemoney $500 resulting in buzz from paid blog post 300+ comments http://snipurl.com/7yi5w “Buying” social media is effective”
From there, the discussion moved to the fact that Chris Brogan [@chrisbrogan] had also been involved in the project and had posted his Kmart contest over at Dadomatic. Then the twitterverse exploded and the blog posts started.
Apparently, when one of the most trusted guys in Social Media is involved, it becomes a big deal if you think that money might be involved in the equation.
Barbara Gibson from ABC wrote an interesting post here that Chris replied to in the comments. Barbara’s post starts from the viewpoint that a blogger taking money is selling his or her integrity. So her analysis from that starting point is inevitable.
Here’s the thing: You can’t sell your integrity. I’ve worked with many people of high integrity. I say “worked with” because they were getting paid for what they did. Integrity isn’t dependent on a vow of poverty. What it really means is that your position can’t be bought. That no amount of money is going to get you to do something that goes against your values, morals and beliefs.
So, with so many weighing in on this, why I am? Because I’m anticipating the next phase of this discussion.
If you take a look at the last post here, you’ll notice it’s a Walmart & Nickelodeon contest for a $500 Walmart gift card. All of the ElevenMoms have a similar contest up. It’s really not all that different than the K-mart contest is it? They have 5 bloggers posting contests for $500 K-mart cards, we have 20-some bloggers posting contests for $500 Walmart cards.
What’s the difference? Well, it does come down to that ’sponsored’ word. The Izea bloggers received a $500 gift card themselves. We did not. The Izea bloggers went to K-mart, bought things using those cards, blogged about it and then gave the chance to do the same to one of their readers. I didn’t go shopping at Walmart with a $500 gift card, blog about it, and then do the give away – I just posted the opportunity for one of my readers to win.
But in both cases, there’s a lot of work being done. There’s the initial post. There’s sorting thru the hundreds of entries to make sure that invalid ones are thrown out, that there’s no duplicates, that people are following the rules. Then having to choose the winner, get their information, get the card out to them. All this administrative work? I’m doing out of the goodness of my heart so one of my readers will win something cool. If the contest were being held on the companies’ sites? They’d have paid people doing it. I don’t have a staff here, so it’s just me and my time and effort.
Now let’s take the money out of the equation. Blogger X has a company send him/her 2 toasters – one to keep, one to give away to a reader. Or maybe it’s not toasters – maybe it’s a Wii, or an iPhone, or a MacBook Pro, or a fleece jacket (all promotions I’ve actually seen) – and the blogger says “wow! I just got to play with this new item… I love it, so here’s a chance to win it.”
That situation I just described happens every day on hundreds of blogs. I’ve never heard anyone saying “OMG!! I totally don’t trust Blogger X’s opinions of electronics anymore because he had a contest giving away a laptop!”
But now that we’ve added money into the equation there’s a brouhaha.
So let’s add a new dimension to this, shall we? Am I “more trustworthy” because I put in all that work for free? Or are the Izea bloggers “less trustworthy” because they saw their time and effort as valuable and believed they should be compensated for it?
My answer is a resounding NO.
Let’s get down to brass tacks here, shall we? I participate in the Walmart ElevenMoms program because I actually believe in what we’re doing. I shop at Walmart *gasp* regularly. I did before I got involved in the program. I actually like saving money and getting good deals. I love the thought of some reader of mine having an extra $500 to help out with the holidays this year. I know that will go a really long way at Walmart.
Since I’ve gotten involved in the program, I’ve been accused of ‘getting paid as a Walmart shill‘ – and when I revealed that I was not paid accused of ‘setting MommyBloggers everywhere back by setting a poor example and letting companies think they can get free work out of us.‘ I’ve read that I must be getting ’secret kickbacks’ and that there’s ‘no way’ I ever shopped at Walmart. I’ve been called a lot of names. It’s been interesting, to say the least.
But I just keep doing what I’m doing. Because if I didn’t believe in the program, I wouldn’t do it.
If K-mart had come to me and said “would you like to participate in this contest we’re doing with Izea?” I would’ve said yes. Why? Because I shop at K-mart too. *gasp* And again, I would love the idea of giving one of my readers $500 to help out with the holiday and it would go a long way there.
Would I have said “no! My time is worth nothing! Keep the $500 gift card for me, I’ll do it for free!” Hell no. If offered I would’ve said “thank you for recognizing that my time is worth something – please be aware that if you want me to actually review the store in the post, rather than just running a contest for a gift card, I will be giving my honest opinions in the review – positive & negative – and I will be making sure that my readers understand that this is a sponsored post.”
Do I think that the Izea bloggers did exactly that? Yes. I know most of those bloggers. I trust their integrity. They’re not going to be taking money from or running a contest for a company that they don’t believe will benefit their readers. If “Pyramid Scams R Us” came calling, not one of them would’ve done it – no matter how much money or ’sponsorship’ was involved.
You can’t buy integrity. You can’t sell integrity. If you have integrity? Money isn’t relevant. If you don’t? Money is the only relevancy.
Look, the only time I have problems with paying bloggers to post something is when it’s deceptive. There are a number of models out there right now that are paying bloggers to post where the payment part is being glossed over. Sites with high profile bloggers who are definitely being compensated but where that part is as hidden as it can be. If you’re going to get all feisty about paying bloggers? Let’s point the spotlight at people who aren’t the ones saying “SPONSORED POST” all over it.
Now – tell me why I’m wrong.
A Quick Post – Because You Need Great Hair!
November 1, 2008
This is just a short post to point out that link/badge to the right -> in my side bar that looks like this:
What is that? Well… if you follow the link – you’ll find a site where you can get a free sample of the “Mystery Shampoo & Conditioner” that we 11moms got to try out in Bentonville. You can also see some videos of some of my gorgeous fellow 11moms getting makeovers with this Mystery shampoo & conditioner.
I will tell you that we ALL loved it.
And we’re waiting anxiously for the reveal ourselves so we can find out what it is and go buy it. (Yep, you heard me right, we don’t know what it is either!)
So go click – get a free sample – see what you think. And if you don’t love it, I’ll be surprised. But comment back here and tell me why if you don’t, okay?
Yay!! Free stuff!
That’s The Way (Uh-huh, Uh-huh) I Like It – Part 3 of 3 Ford
October 28, 2008
Okay, now for the fun part. Well for me anyways! I get to tell you what I thought and what I learned that helped me to form my opinions about Ford and their new safety measures. So if you’ll excuse me, I’ll just pull up this milk-crate, climb up and get started.
I learned a lot in just 1/2 a day spent at Ford’s Dearborn Development Center. I’m sure for the professional journalists, it was sort of an ‘old hat’ routine. Come in, listen to presentation, test new stuff, interview key people – then go write article. They do it all the time and it showed by how comfortable they all were with the process.
For me? It was kind of a wonderland. I felt like the little kid who got to stay up late. I got to see inside this company I’ve known about all my life. I got to go on the bus to the super-secret place and see neat new stuff and get in cars and drive on the test track! Tell me that doesn’t sound like fun and I’ll tell you that you’re either a jaded automotive reporter or you’re just not getting it.
The really cool part was that the same enthusiasm I have above? It was also showing in the folks who work for Ford and took part in putting on this Media day.
From Sue Cischke (VP of Sustainability, Environment & Safety Group) and Paul Mascarenas (VP of Engineering) on down to folks like Jeffrey Laya (Safety Method Engineering Supervisor) who made me drive really fast toward a balloon car and then wait an unbearably long 2 seconds until the Collision Warning system alerted me to swerve around it, and Prashanth Shankar (Product Design Engineer) who managed to keep his lunch down and smile on his face the whole time he rode with us as we “drifted” in an out of lanes on the high-speed track to engage the Lane Departure Warning, the people at Ford were honestly and genuinely excited about this technology. It made it easy to get excited right along with them.
Prior to this day, I really wasn’t aware that Ford Motor Company has more 5-Star Safety Ratings than any other automaker. Seriously – it has the most top-rated safety picks of *any* automaker. Did you know that? Because honestly – if Alex Trebec had asked me on Jeopardy for $500 “this automaker has the highest number of models that have received top safety ratings” I’m not sure I would’ve come up with “What is Ford?” So I probably would’ve lost just due to that question. (But now I’m ready for it, so bring it on Alex! Just as soon as I brush up on my Geography & Opera again…)
Okay, all that Jeopardy-dreaming aside, the MyKey™ feature got the folks in the Center most excited. When they described what it did, I instantly understood why.
Yes, I know there are some who will think that the MyKey™ is “over-parenting” or maybe even bordering on “helicopter parenting” – but I don’t agree. Here’s why… because both of those phrases refer to parents who are trying to protect their precious offspring from any sort of harm or trauma. In this case? There’s more to think about than just your kids. When you put an unexperienced teenage driver behind the wheel of a car – you are handing him/her the keys to a deadly weapon.
Set aside (if you can) the fact that Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for young adults ages 16 to 20 and let’s focus on the fact that better than 50% of all U.S. car crash fatalities last year occurred when the vehicle was traveling 55mph or higher. 
Better than half. And those fatalities? Yeah, they weren’t all from the car with the driver at fault. Some of them were just ordinary people in the wrong place at the wrong time, doing exactly what they were supposed to be doing. People and families just like you or me who were at the mercy of someone else in a multi-ton vehicle going really fast down the road.
Is it a good idea to limit the speed of a vehicle of an inexperienced driver? In my book, unequivocally yes. Then again, GeekDaddy and I have shared our “I don’t know how I walked away from those years alive” stories about youthful driving antics and stupid things we did behind the wheel of a car. So we acknowledge just how likely it is that Buttercup is going to grow up to take risks that could put not only her, but someone else’s child/spouse/parent on that fatalities list.
But we’re not going to tell her not to drive. It’s an important and useful skill. It’s hard to be vehicle-less in our society – and besides, we both love cars. So if Ford wants to help me make it safer for her to be out there? Well I’m thrilled. Yes, she’s a good 10 years away from that necessity… but it’s nice to know that other responsible parents will be out there making their kids safer too. Because I drive on the same roads as those inexperienced teen drivers and I’d like to come home alive too.
What it comes down to though is whether or not a parent will use it. There will always be parents who will and parents who won’t. We all parent in our own way and according to our own philosophies. But for those who will? Thanks Ford, for making it standard. Because safety shouldn’t come at a premium in my book when lives are on the line.
Still with me? Or am I getting too preachy up here on my soap box? Well, I’ll assume that some of you still are and cover the other safety features now.
Collision Warning with Brake Support – I totally could’ve used this to avert my last ‘accident’ a couple of years ago. The guy in the van in front of me kept stopping short for a couple of miles. I kept telling myself I ought to get out from behind him… But I wanted to stay in that lane for where I was going so I didn’t. We stopped at a red light. (I say we, because of course I had a very young Buttercup in the back seat strapped in her carseat at the time… shudder.) The light changed to green. The traffic (including the big white van in front of me) surged forward. I put my foot lightly on the gas, then glanced down. I swear it was a glance. But it was long enough for the guy in front of me to decide (once again) to slam on his brakes. Did he have a reason? No. Did the laws of physics care one whit about that? No.
If I had been driving a Ford equipped with Collision Warning with Brake Support, my glance would’ve turned into me stepping on my pre-primed brakes thanks to the light & sound alerts and swearing at Van-boy and hoping Buttercup didn’t pick up any of those words. Instead, we slammed into his very solid bumper going about 10-15mph. This resulted in some serious front-end work on my car and a ticket from a nice officer who gave me a break b/c he knew just what I was talking about with the short-stopping so he only cited me for ‘unsafe driving for the weather conditions.’ It could’ve been a lot worse. But it could’ve been avoided altogether if I’d been driving a Ford with this system. Definitely a thumbs up in my book.
Lane Departure Warning – this seems like it’s got a number of different potential markets. Elderly drivers in my neighborhood seem to have a penchant for drifting over into the next lane. But it’s not just the elderly who are often paying attention elsewhere or suffering from conditions that might make for lane-drifting. The first year of Buttercup’s life, GeekDaddy and I were suffering from a level of sleep deprivation previously unknown to either of us. To say that she was a poor sleeper would be akin to saying that War & Peace is ‘a bit long.’ We spent that first year (and part of the next) going through life as zombies. In particular, there were many days that driving to and from any place was more a matter of half-awake routine. Lane-drifting? I know we both did it. Would’ve been nice to have the warning!
But let me add a note here. When I say ‘drift’ I mean drift… as in ‘gently moving slowly from one lane into the next without really being aware of it.’ One of the gentlemen of the press – who shall remain utterly nameless out of respect – in my party of 3 with the esteemed aforementioned Mr. Prashanth Shankar driving around the high speed track to test out the alerts had a hard time with this concept. After an entire lap of him veering sharply from lane-to-lane and remaining unsuccessful in his attempts to set off the alert, I felt compelled to try and keep my breakfast down in the back seat by speaking up and telling him “drift! It’s drift! Not lunge! Think ‘talking to someone in the passenger seat and drifting over’ not ‘try to take out the pedestrian for 50 points!’”
Granted, I was a bit um, strident. But I was trying to keep my bagel & cantaloupe from redecorating the back seat. May I also mention that Stephanie Brinley of Auto Pacific has nerves of steel and a cast-iron stomach? She managed to look down and write her review of the systems from the back seat during all of this. That woman is amazing!
Anyhow, the point of this test wasn’t so much the camera-driven Lane Departure System as it was Ford asking for feedback on the types of alerts. In the end, we all agreed that it would be nice to have a series of options, the audio alert that came from the speaker side that was being drifted to, the seat vibration alert on the same leg, a combination of both, and the ability to turn it off. No one was particularly impressed with the steering column alerts. Mostly because they didn’t really serve to tell you which direction and partially because it felt more like something was wrong with the steering than an alert. In my case, the last alert would have been useless in Colorado in the winter – as it pretty much felt exactly like what driving down a snow-covered street feels like. But I liked the solution we all did. I’d even probably ante-up the extra money for it, given the chance.
Blind Spot Mirror – I didn’t get to test, so no opinion. It seems like it makes sense, but I’m aware there’s a number of aftermarket options like this… so unless it was standard, can’t see that I’d pay extra for it.
BLIS (Blind Spot Information System) with Cross Traffic Alert – I loved this. But more for the parking lot functionality than anything else. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve been parked between two huge Suburban Assault Vehicles and needed to back up out of a parking space “blind”. You slowly creep backwards, craning your neck, hoping that nothing is —-ZZZZZZZZZZOOOM!—- Suzy Suburbia in her haste to get to the nail salon goes whipping across, threatening to take out your bumper, your rear quarter panel, and any stray animals in the area. You jam your brakes on, the car lurches, you breathe a sigh of relief and start creeping out again.
With the Cross Traffic Alert? Long before Suzy gets even remotely close to you, a light goes on and an alert sounds, and you get an idea which side she’s trying to cut you off from. This would work just as well to keep Timmy the Paper Boy from trying to embed his bicycle in your wheelwell too. Or Buffy the neighbor-child from seeing if she can wedge her tricycle underneath your bumper.
The BLIS part? Where it tells you if someone is in your blindspot while driving? I’m torn. I think it’s really useful – but I’m sort of afraid that it would replace the tried and true “look over your shoulder first” method. It’s just sort of one more thing that can be helpful – if you’re the sort who would like the extra protection like I am.
I don’t know that I’d pay extra just for the blind-spot while driving alert, but bundeled with the ability to back up without having to worry about Suzy or Timmy or Buffy? Yeah, I’d probably go for it.
On the way back to the airport, I had a conversation with one of the writers from Wired’s GeekDad. We were discussing whether or not such technology makes people inherently lazier. Do we start trusting the technology rather than watching out for ourselves?
That’s a tough one.
I have friends who can’t get anywhere without their GPS navigators now… and no one seems to ever remember phone numbers because they’re stored in their phones. Do we come to rely on technology too much? Perhaps. But if the technology provides us with something that we clearly aren’t doing? Then I think it’s a good thing. So yeah. The odds are darn good that Buttercup’s first car will be a Ford if they keep pushing the safety technology envelope forward.
Thanks for letting me come play with the big guys for a day, Ford. But more? Thanks for making my world, and my family’s and friends’ world, safer all the time.
And just because I owe them a big shout out, Thank You to the following people at Ford for working so hard to make that day happen: Braine Bennie, Shuml Bhuva, Jim Buczkowksi, Sue Cischke, Sheryl Connelly, Jerry Engelman, Stephen Kozak, Jeffrey Laya, Michael Lopez, Paul Mascarenas, Thomas Miller, Matt Niesluchowski, Andy Sakisian, and Prashanth Shankar. But a huge thanks also to Zoe Siskos of Social Media Group and the best dressed man in Social Media, Scott Monty of Ford, for letting me have this opportunity.
Getting There is Half the Fun – Part 1 of 3
October 12, 2008
A week ago on a Sunday afternoon, my family dropped me off at the airport. I got on an airplane thinking I was headed to Detroit… only to go nowhere pretty fast for the better part of an hour & a half. Sitting on the smallest commercial jet I’ve been on in years, watching the rain stream down the windows and the pilot and flight crew attempt to charm a planeful of cramped, cranky, unhappy passengers armed only with a microphone and their wit* I thought about taking out my laptop to start this first post and realized that there was no way I was going to get it unwedged from beneath the seat in front of me.
You’re probably thinking ‘well, at least it would’ve been posted sooner’ and I’d reply yeah, but I don’t usually post that many curse words. So instead, I sat there reading People magazine and thinking about how I had gotten there.
This is the first of 3 posts I’m going to write about this. I decided to break it down into three for what seem to me to be very plausible reasons. Reason #1? Because if I didn’t break it into multiple posts my usual long-winded tendencies might overwhelm even the most dedicated of readers – there’s so much to write about after what I experienced in a short 24 hour period. Reason #2 – there are really 3 different types of posts. This first one is all about the trip itself. My usual rambling narrative (for those of you familiar with these little jaunts of mine) that talks about the trip itself, the adventures and mishaps, how I ended up going – you know… GeekMommy’s life as brought to you by the fine folks who keep the Internet up and running for us!** The second one will be one of those ‘all facts, all tech, all wicked cool! Wish you could’ve been with me to hear this in person’ posts. Because honestly – if you got to this site from a search engine query related to Ford Safety Media Forum keywords the last thing you’re going to want to hear about is my travel drama and you’re just going to want to hear all about the cool safety features they were introducing. The third and final post? Well that’s my opinions. Yes, technically, I could be all journalistic and just leave it at number two – but the thing is? I’m not a journalist. I was there with dozens of really talented, really professional journalists and I know that some of them have already done some amazing writeups on the information so you can Google away and read those if you want impartial. Me? I’m a geek, a parent, and blogger – you ~know~ I’ve got an opinion (or 3) so I’m going to express them here. But I will be putting that in its own little post. Again, because not everyone cares to hear what I think… (yeah, I know, right? heh!)
So where were we? Oh yes. Sitting on the plane, in the rain, not writing.
You see, last week, I got a contact from Zoë Siskos – an amazing woman who works at The Social Media Group and whom I happen to follow avidly on Twitter. She wondered if this event that Ford was having Monday would be something I’d be interested in covering. She sent me a brief overview of some of the new features. I wiped the drool off of my keyboard and emailed back that of course I’d love to go!
Since we were short on time and since I had a bunch of other stuff on my plate, I didn’t really push for too much information. I knew that @QueenofSpain (Erin Kotecki Vest) had attended a similar Ford event and had really enjoyed the experience so I signed on board and trusted that the folks at Ford & the Social Media Group knew what they were doing inviting me. I suppose that turns out to be for the best, because otherwise I might’ve been too intimidated to go. There were a couple of other parent/tech bloggers there – Dave Banks from Geek Dad, and Daddy Troy and Daddy Brad from Dad Labs were there as well. Which made me feel a bit less overwhelmed when I found myself in a room full of serious automotive journalists… but only a bit.
Fortunately for me, the amazing @scottmonty (Scott Monty) was along for the ride and he put me at ease right away – as did every person I met from Ford during the experience. So I kicked over into “interested parent mode” and “avid driving enthusiast perspective” quickly and watched as the event rolled out around me.
I will back-track a moment to say though that I did experience my moment of panic. Thanks to the storm, I didn’t get in to Detroit until just past 11pm and didn’t get into my hotel until nearly midnight! Which meant when I found myself without the next day’s agenda in my room, I didn’t dare bring myself to wake someone else up to hold my hand and reassure me that I was in the right place. Again fortunately for me, Tony McCloud from Ford and the aforementioned Scott Monty got me thru the rough bit in the morning without reacting negatively at all to my sleep-deprived mildly hysterical antics.
I should mention that I discovered a neat Catch-22 about traveling by plane these days! You see, as we were boarding, there was a storm looming… we would’ve made it out in time, except that the one lavatory on the jet needed to be serviced before we left. That 10 minute delay meant that we were sitting on the plane waiting to back up when the lightning storm hit. In a lightning storm out on the plains, the Airport Manager (a job my sister-in-law’s Dad used to fill at DIA for many years) can and usually does call for the ground personnel and ramp attendants to come off the tarmac. This is apparently because there have actually been incidents where someone was struck by lightning. So, when this happens, there’s no ground guy to back the plane up – so the plane can’t leave the gate. Additionally, the gate agent isn’t allowed down the ramp, so there’s no way to deplane the passengers. This means that you’re officially stuck in limbo. Can’t fly out. Can’t get off.
Yes, yes – I know “passengers bill of rights… yadda yadda…” but honestly? Nothing the crew can do about it. They’re just as stuck as you are. In this case, they tried to make the best of it, but we sat there in the rain for an hour and a half wondering if the 3rd engine that powered the lights, air conditioning, etc was going to use all the gas before we could take off.
So then. Now that we’re done with the plane drama – back to the event itself.
I found myself getting on a shuttle and going over to the Ford Product Development Center with many other badged folks… most of whom were asking each other if they ‘were in Paris last week? ‘ A bit of Googling that night let me know that they were all abuzz about the Paris Motor Show 2008. As I said – these were some very serious automotive journalists. Fortunately, there were a number of women amongst them. So although I was the only non-Dad blogger there, I didn’t stand out simply due to my gender. Which was a welcome surprise that told me not a little bit about my own preconceived bias.
photo by Erin Kotecki Vest
They started out by feeding us. Then gave us a presentation on the new My Key (which as I mentioned earlier will be covered in the next post!) and an overview of what safety features we were going to be seeing and testing that day. The overview included rules of the track – because yes, we were allowed to drive (under the supervision of some very helpful and knowledgable engineers) on the actual high speed test track in order to experience some of the features in action – and what we were going to be testing for the time we were there. Then we piled into vans by colored bands (mine was blue… and when the blue group was merged into the remaining purple and green groups I noted that I could be either by the simple addition of a different primary color! Yes, I know… ubergeek) and headed out to the facility.
After the tests we were fed yet again – Lunch! And most excellent, I might add – while listening to a more in-depth presentation on My Key showing us a computer simulation of the programming of a key.
It all ended way too quickly. Personally? I wanted to go badger the engineers more, asking geek question after geek question… but that’s not really what I was there for. Shortly afterward we were whisked back to the hotel, then I got in a car with Dave from Geek Dad to head to the airport as we said goodbye to the guys from Dad Labs while they did the same.
The way home saw me stopping over in O’Hare – where my flight to Denver had a wait list of 100 people and a ‘confirmed but not seated’ list of a couple dozen. They were asking for volunteers for a bump to the next flight with flight voucher – and since I can always use one of those, I called up GeekDaddy and let him know I was going to volunteer and would be in a couple hours later. Unfortunately for me, the 2 unhappy gate agents got distracted at the wrong time by the most inebriated woman I’ve ever seen in an airport… and they took my name off in order to bump me, but then forgot to, so they ended up putting me back on the flight. Given that the woman in question was passing out in the ‘premier’ carpeted line and that she didn’t know her own name or the name of the party that had her ticket? I can kind of sympathize. While waiting, I did hear the senior agent they called in to handle her figure out that she was a) in the wrong terminal, and b) at the wrong airline, and c) going to be taken away in a nice wheelchair now…
The flight home from there was relatively uneventful. I was in the exit row of a 757 tho, so I had leg-room for the first time in awhile. But I was happy to be home, yet thrilled to have been included. It’s not every day you get to see life-changing technology being introduced to the public. But as I said – that’s for the next couple of posts – which I fully intend to get to you tomorrow. Sort of a 2-for-1 since it’s late deal.
*apparently, when he announced initially that ‘at least we had free snacks’ the pilot wasn’t aware that United had cut back in that regard just recently and there wasn’t even a stale pretzel to be had in the galley… he retracted it and politely asked us not to mutiny
**and of course, the wonderful folks who host my site – lunarpages.com – and the fine folks at Ford who made the whole story possible.
Come Back Tuesday…
October 4, 2008
I’m totally going to explain this shortly – but I hope you’ll bear with me… I’m short on time this weekend.
Come Tuesday, I fully expect to explain that widget off to the right that you see that says YouData.com on it… If you don’t already know who YouData.com is, you’ll want to know. If you do, my apologies for the fact that it’s currently mangling the size of my sidebar. I haven’t had the time to tweak the WP template to accommodate it yet.
But I will. Tuesday. I swear.
It’s just that tomorrow I’m flying out to Michigan for something else truly exciting, thanks to the good people at Ford. But that will be something else I talk about on Tuesday.
Oh my gosh – I so totally have the coolest things to share with you. But not until Tuesday.
Did I mention that you should come back on Tuesday? Yeah. See you then!! 
Review – VTech KidiArt Studio
October 1, 2008
Last week, a very nice woman by the name of Kristin contacted me. She works at Edelman on the VTech account and was wondering if I was still interested in being part of VTech’s Demo Team.
When I was out at BlogHer this Summer, VTech had one of the most intriguing booths out there. They kept bringing out toys that I just knew I couldn’t go over and play with – because I’d end up buying every one for my darling daughter and also because I knew I’d feel guilty about it if I got to play with them and she didn’t. So I went over – made mental notes about what things were probably going to have to go on the Christmas list this year. Oh, and let them know that I’d love to be part of the VTech Demo Team given the chance.
What’s the VTech Demo Team? Basically, moms who will have a chance to test out VTech toys and share their experiences. It’s feedback for the VTech folks from real parents and their kids. In this case, it’s also information that I’m going to share with you, dear readers!
So when the box containing the VTech KidiArt Studio showed up on my doorstep last Friday? It was met with great anticipation! After all, this was definitely on the Christmas list… so a little Christmas in September wasn’t exactly unwelcome.
As you can see in the slide show, it was taken out of the box as quickly as possible. But due to my own state of illness on that day – it was left up to GeekDaddy and Buttercup to set it up and get it going. Which they did.
Then Buttercup proceeded to get obsessed by it for the next 4 days.
She played with it until the batteries died. She begged for new batteries. She played with it after the new batteries were in. She showed it to her best friend T when she came over for a play-date on Monday… and they played with it until the arguments about who should get the pen got beyond bearable and I sent them off to play something else.
So. You’re getting the idea already that this particular toy is getting a thumbs up, right?
It didn’t take Buttercup very long to figure out the interface. One of the things we do with new tech toys is just let her start playing with it. Yes, we keep the manual nearby – but if it’s too hard for her to figure out on her own? It’s losing points pretty quickly. Fortunately, it didn’t take her terribly long to figure it out. The icons are easy for a kindergartner to figure out – the pen & table interface is pretty easy to get used to as well.
She played with all of the various features. She seemed to understand it better than I did… Then again, I’m all for a toy that she gets well enough that I don’t have to help her to every little thing with.
Buttercup is the kind of kid who loves playing with Microsoft Paint on the computer for as long as she can – or any other program that has “graphic capabilities” – so I figured that she’d like having her own ‘electronic art studio’ and I was right. What I didn’t count on was that she’d want it to do more than it did. She was a little disappointed that “make your own movie” was really about doing stop-motion photography with clip-art. She’s gotten too used to livestreaming video I’m afraid. (Go figure.)
Okay, so to shorten this up a bit – let me put this in more of a bullet-point list for you.
Things We Liked
- Easy to set up
- Easy to use – even for an almost-6 year old who hasn’t read the directions
- Lots of clip-art and different things the software allows for
- Ability to expand (apparently – there are or will be other cartridges available for this – or so GeekDaddy tells me.)
- Child-friendly environment – the sounds, little character voices, pictures and clip art provide a great atmosphere for kids.
- Having the ability to plug it into either the TV (using S-video jacks) or the computer is a nice perk.
- It continues to be interesting the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th day. Altogether too often, electronic toys lose their allure after about day 2 here. It’s only the good ones that stick around longer than that. This one has.
Things We Didn’t Like
- The batteries rand out rather quickly, despite putting 8 fully charged ones into it on Friday, by Monday morning, they were drained. GeekDaddy tells me he thought there was some way to plug a power-supply into it, but one wasn’t provided… and the site seems to imply that batteries are required.
- The camera isn’t the highest quality – and seems to have a strange delay that means that the picture is actually taken about 1 full second after the sound of the ‘click’ and the frame freezes… because when you see the actual picture, it’s not the same. Which is not good if you have a child who likes to squirm about right after the click.
- The camera also seems to “flip” the picture when it’s pointed at the child. Images from the desk come out as shown – images taken of the seated child do a mirror-image flip.
- The pen-drag interface isn’t as smooth as a mouse… so it takes a bit to “get it”. Buttercup picked it up after a bit, but Mom & Dad still have issues.
- Lack of light source – the camera doesn’t have a flash, and it doesn’t do very well in low light. We had to open the windows and turn on extra lights to get decent pictures. A flash would be nice.
When it comes down to it, the plusses actually out-weigh the minuses. This is a fantastic educational toy as well as one that masquerades as pure entertainment from the kidlet’s point of view. It improves motor function and fine motor control, spatial relationships and shapes.
On a scale from 1 to 10, 1 being “wouldn’t use it even if it was free” and 10 being “impossible to drag the kids away from it, plus an amazing deal for the price” I’d give the VTech KidiArt Studio an 8.5 – but only because of the lack of a power supply and the weirdness with the camera. All in all, we *do* have to drag Buttercup away from it – which is how I know the battery thing is an issue.
So yeah, it’s worth putting on your Christmas list if you have an artistically inclined 4 to 7 year old in your house. I firmly expect that Buttercup will still be playing with hers through then!
Administrative note: This review was not paid for. The VTech KidiArt Studio was provided by the company for my review and feedback. The company had no influence or input on what is contained in the product review above. All opinions expressed are those of the author and those attributed to others specifically named in the review.
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