Dahle Communication

Are the Belgians Trolling American Beer Drinkers?

I know it's been sometime since I've posted here (is a 3 year hiatus a bad thing...) but I've been wanting to get back into writing more consistently, so why not talk about beer. And not just any beer, but America!

In case you haven't heard, this summer, Budweiser is changing it's name to America until the end of the election in November. No I'm not kidding. This is a real thing that is happening.

Why would one of the most ubiquitous names in American beers need to change its name? When it comes to marketing, if you have a strong brand identity, you don't usually change your name. However, Budweiser apparently felt differently. Apparently they made the switch "to inspire drinkers to celebrate America and Budweiser's shared values of freedom and authenticity." Seems like an interesting idea.

I have a better theory though. I'm pretty sure that Americans are being mocked a bit and we don't even know it. Perhaps its slipped your mind, but the most American beer out there (which if you asked most people, which beer would you identify America with, Budweiser would be in their top 3 picks with 80% placing it first) is actually owned by a Belgian company named AB InBev, head-quartered in Leuven, Belgium. 

Could this be just a slight mockery of America and the state of our elections this year? We do have a reality TV star who's never been elected to any political office and who's announcement was followed by the New York Post publishing a picture of him as a clown and his campaign is currently viewed by many as a circus. I wouldn't put it out of the realm of possibility.

Regardless if you agree with Trump or not, a good portion of the world is wondering what in the world America is doing right now. Perhaps, just perhaps, the Belgians, who own the most American beer of all time, wanted to tap into some patriotism of the election year to try and cut down on the rise of craft beers that have been eating into their profits for several years now.

If there is one thing I do know though it is this: I'm not motivated to drink more Budweiser then I already do. Which honestly is only when I'm at someones house and they offer it because its the only thing they have. I'm going to make a fairly educated guess that a lot of you won't be putting down your Sam Adams, Boulevard or Shiner's anytime soon due to the change. But, it did get them into the news - and me back to writing - so all in all, it has already had some good impact.

15 Minutes - Including Q & A - A Book Review

Many of us have seen lousy presentations after lousy presentations. I am sure most of you have asked a simple question: "Why are these presentations so bad?" Well, there are a lot of reasons to be sure. I am sure that I could fill an entire blog post just listing the problems with PowerPoints - which I would have to do in bullet format of course.

There are a lot of people trying to change this however: Duarte Design, Garr Reynolds, Sticky Slides, your truly, Joey Asher and many others.

Joey Asher though has an interesting idea that he is trying to get people to believe in. His concept: no presentation should last longer than 15 minutes - and that includes the Q & A time as well. Revolutionary? probably. Will people do it? Maybe.

The book itself is quite short and to the point - which is exactly what Joey wants all of us to do with our presentations. However, the effectiveness of it is its simplicity. He breaks down exactly how to put together a 7 minute presentation and how to prepare for the Q & A at the end.

I'm almost wondering if Joey did Extemporaneous speaking as a high school student because his method is exactly what I have taught my students for the past 10 years:

1. Start with a hook

2. Give a preview of your main points (keep it to three)

3. Body of the speech

4. Review

5. Call to action

It's a great way to make sure your point gets across to your audience. Joey breaks it down a little bit more than I just did, but I don't want to give away all of his good tips and suggestions.

He goes through each area and helps you figure out how to take a presentation that used to be a long-winded, soul-crushing event to a short, persuasive and effective presentation.

If you are having trouble shortening your presentations then I would highly recommend picking up this book. It not only will teach you a lot of key ideas, but it is something that you can also keep with you for a reference guide in case you need some help.

The only question really is - will people have the gumption to follow his suggestions? It's a long shot, but one I'm hopeful for.

Directing the message - Tiger finally speaks

In my previous posts regarding Tiger Woods, I discussed how his NOT talking was hurting him. He was being quiet while the rest of the world was talking - and what the rest of the world was talking about was not good. Sadly, Tiger's representatives were adhering to the old-school philosophy of public relations: that they can control the message.

If you are unfamiliar with that type of logic let me explain. Back in the day before social media and websites like TMZ.com, public relations was all about controlling the message. The PR machines would hold their press conferences when they wanted, they would only release statements that they wanted and they dictated what the newspapers and talk-show hosts would talk about. A good PR person would be able to spin a story and the major media corporations then ran with that story.

 That is now an archaic model. As anyone who is familiar with todays internet will tell you - that just doesn't work anymore. We've seen how certain videos can go viral within hours on youtube, something can take over the trending topics on twitter within minutes and sites like stumbleupon, Digg, Technorati and others spread news at such a fast rate that everyone finds out about it within hours.

It is because of this that PR machines can no longer "control" the message. At best, what you can do is help direct which way you'd like the discussion to go - almost like a discussion leader would do in a group setting. You can't dictate what people will say, but you can at least give them some direction. This is what Tiger should have realized right away - sadly he didn't, so the message went anywhere and everywhere with no direction coming from Tiger.

With that said, Tiger is starting to do some things that are going to help start directing the message more. He gave his apology in a lengthy prepared statement. He gave a 5 minute interview to ESPN and he is going to return to golf at The Masters. All of these steps are starting to direct the message in a way that will help Tiger Woods return to golf. While he will never have the universal respect that he once did, these steps are at least beginning to help the process along.

I will say that the decision to come back at The Masters was a great decision. The Masters is better than anyone at being an old-school style facility. They are a private club that determines who gets in and who is shut out. They can decide which media members will get passes and who doesn't. This means that someone from TMZ probably is not going to get a media pass to this event. Hecklers will be at a minimum and will be swiftly thrown out if they cause a disturbance. So Tiger's first event back - which could have been a disaster - is going to help by being more controlled than other events would be.

Overall, I still think Tiger Woods could have done a much better job with his brand. It is now damaged so severely that he is going to have to create a new brand - and it is going to be very hard to do so. However, his current actions are at least a starting point.

Piano Stairs - Why messaging is important

If you look at almost any statistic out there, America is not a very healthy nation. The Obesity Society's research shows that 49 out of 50 states have over 20% of residents listed as obese and 3 states have over 30% of their residents are obese - needless to say, not good.

Why is this? A lot of reasons and excuses have been given. One that I have noticed is that people exercise a lot less. Things have become automated for us. We take the elevator or the escalator instead of the stairs.

That's where this video comes in. The incentive to take the stairs is not a strong one - the incentive to take the escalator usually wins out. Note: If you are wondering why I'm talking about incentives, I'm reading 'SuperFreakonomics' which is all about incentives, which really all of you should read.

The Fun Theory wants to change that incentive and put together this video. They changed the message of the stairs from something that takes work to something that is fun. Many more people took the stairs because it wasn't looked at as work or difficult anymore.

Use this idea in your speeches and presentations. If there is something that hasn't worked or you feel could be better - change it. Reworking your speeches is something that can really make a difference in the effectiveness of it. So even if you have given a speech several times, take a look at it again and see if there is something you could change to make it even better. 

Remember: it's not a matter if what you are saying or presenting will help people - it's a matter of how they are hearing that message. So change it - and you might see a huge change like one seen in this video.