I am not talking about net worth; I am talking about your life. How much is it worth? This is a question many of us have pondered at one time or another, rhetorically of course.
Now through a trendy new investment strategy: you can cash-in on your personal value through a Life Settlement. I was shocked to read on SmartMoney.com that people actually sell their life insurance policies to investors - an estimated $10-$15 billion in face value alone last year.
Whether people need extra money to pay their bills because social security no longer covers medical expenses or, alternately, they realize they are financially set and have no reason to keep paying life insurance premiums - calling a life settlement broker is now an option.
The sobering criteria: to be a wise investment, you must (according to life expectancy charts) only have about 12 years left. These voulture-esque investors don’t want to be kept waiting too long. After all, one man’s death has become another man’s pay day.
Despite the benefits and drawbacks of cash-in-hand, people need to be cautious of the motives behind the transactions, like why is their insurance worth so much to these investors? And maybe a more important question: is it a good thing that people can be bought and sold like stock?
Our office in San Francisco is officially open! The construction build-out is complete and we are up and running. If you find yourself in the city by the bay, please drop by or give a us a call!
BLASTmedia
The Hearst Building
#5 Third Street, Suite 723
San Francisco, CA 94103
This Sunday Ellen DeGeneres will take the stage to host the 79th Annual Academy Awards. Most people tune in to see the night’s biggest awards which include Best Actor / Actress in a Motion Picture, Best Supporting Actor / Actress in a Motion Picture and the big daddy of them all - “Best Picture”. The buzz around Hollywood says that every award has a favorite, except Best Picture. Babel, The Departed, Letters from Iwo Jima, Little Miss Sunshine and The Queen are all strong contenders, but who will win? This might be the very reason people will tune in and watch the three hours of acceptance speeches that precede the big award – or maybe they will just wait until 10:50 p.m. Will you tune in, and why?
For the last couple of months, media new and old have been reporting of the rise of another dot com bubble. Web 2.0 has been the reasoning behind the new bubble argument – look at BusinessWeek’s cover story on Digg and their founder, or the attraction to Linden Labs’ Second Life. But as I grabbed my TiVo remote and hunkered down to watch my favorite sports talk show, PTI, I was startled to hear a sports story concerning Wikipedia, a poster child for everything Web 2.0. Apparently Fuzzy Zoeller, a pro golfer and inflammatory figure (remember his comments about Tiger and the Master’s Champions dinner) is not too amused that his Wikipedia entry contains things like that he abused his family, drugs, and alcohol and now wants to sue the individuals he thinks are responsible for posting those things to his biography.
The argument here isn’t what is right or wrong with Wikipedia, but rather when does Web 2.0 become just the Web? Is it when we have mass adoption and it becomes a story on your favorite sports talk show? I think the term Web 2.0 is an industry term that allows companies to feel like they are contributing new technologies, cutting edge social networking features etc etc…but if you ask the everyday user, would they know what Web 2.0 is? I could poll all of my friends - college educated, gainfully employed individuals - and I would wager that less than five would know the term Web 2.0. They would just tell me that YouTube, MySpace, Wikipedia are all just part of the Web…and I think that’s when you know that your new technologies have made it, when they become just part of the web. How would you define Web 2.0?
Drunk driving charges, steroid use, domestic disputes, and assault. These are just a few of the actions of professional athletes that have been making headlines nationwide lately. With the news of Indiana Pacers Jamaal Tinsley and Marquis Daniels surrendering to police after Wednesday’s victory over the Milwaukee Bucks for their roles in a February 6th bar fight, I’m wondering what leads professional athletes to behave so ridiculously. Is the pressure to measure up to their competitors too much? Do they not know what else to do with themselves other than act out of control now that they’ve made it into the pros?
I went to the Pacers game Wednesday night, but it’s hard to get excited and root on your team when you don’t really respect them as people. News of the infamous 2004 Pacers fight at Detroit even spread around the world - while I studied in Athens, many Greeks asked me about it when I told them I was from Indianapolis. It’s hard to be proud of your city when its highest profile citizens are making headlines for something far from winning games.
But beyond damaging what people like me think, what effect will these athletes have on children? Ask ten little boys what they want to be when they grow up and I bet that at least five of them will mention how they would love be to be a star in the NBA or a MLB pitcher. How many children do you see wearing their favorite athletes’ jerseys or begging their parents to get a new pair of shoes because of who’s endorsing them? Kids are like sponges—do we really want them to have criminals as role models?
Some pro athletes are standing up and saying that what their counterparts are doing is negatively impacting kids. Others realize how much of a responsibility they have and simply do what is expected of every citizen by obeying the law. What a crazy concept!
All pro athletes aren’t to blame. I’m sure most behave within the law, and many help their communities by donating to charities or mentoring kids. I think it’s about time to get some sportsmanship back into the game. Are you scared of what impact pro athletes are having on American kids?
It’s all about instant gratification. The past couple mornings watching the Today Show I've seen features about people trying to live without their modern conveniences, including Forbes managing Editor, Dennis Kneale and a family with four kids.
It is both funny and sad to see how much they, and we, rely so heavily on instant access to news, communication, food; you name and it we want it: NOW! The whole “patience is a virtue” saying is so 1950’s.
Actually, it’s pretty scary to think about what would happen if we had to live without our cell phones, ipods, computers and TV’s. We would have to go back to writing with pencils, reading hardcopy, waiting on snail mail and paying the phone companies for long distance…Who wants to live like that?
People are afraid to be alone, cut-off from the world of email, and shudder, life without a soundtrack provided by a tiny MP3 player. Think: cooking from scratch all the time.
At least I know that if I ever want to see a grown man cry, all I have to do is take away his BlackBerry and access to internet. I can’t help but wonder if all this instant gratification found through technology is making us stronger, or just lazy? What do you think?
A couple of months ago, Kelly posted about trying to find talented individuals to work with us at BLASTmedia. Last night I had a great opportunity to have dinner with the Dean of Liberal Arts at Purdue University, Mr John Contreni. He treated me and two other Purdue and Liberal Arts alum to a great dinner at the student-run John Purdue Room. After dinner I sat on a panel with the Senior Vice President of Marketing Communications at Smith Bucklin, the President of Indiana Oxygen and the Director of the Lafayette Parks Department to discuss with Purdue students (mostly May graduates) career networking opportunities and how we have grown in our professional careers. It was a good turnout with about 15-20 students attending. I was surprised at the great questions we received and how eager they were to find a job and learn what it takes to be successful. I actually saw a lot of myself five-plus years ago in many of them. As we work to hire new employees and as we continue to grow, it is reassuring as we step out on campuses to see the drive that these students have to be successful. Maybe there is talent out there waiting to be discovered and perhaps they just don’t know how to find us? Hopefully more of these opportunities will be presented to us and we can continue to discover these bright young minds that are eager to jump out into the real world and begin their careers. Let us know – how do you network and how did you find your first job? You might help a young mind reading this blog!
So, I contacted an editor at Geek.com about reviewing a new game from our client Phantom EFX. There were a few good things that came as a result. ONE, the editor at Geek.com (Brian Osborne) requested a copy of the game and TWO, we discovered that he only lives about 15 minutes from our Indy office! Since we rarely deal with local Indy press (only one Indiana-based client), it is very unusual to find an editor so close!
Of course, we thought it was a good idea to have lunch and Brian suggested we meet at the local B-Dubs (Buffalo Wild Wings for all you not familiar). Margie and I met with Brian, who writes part-time for Geek.com and posts daily about the latest consumer technology products and news. Score! He looks for companies and products that not everyone and their mother is currently covering and he was excited to learn more about all of the cool products we left with him to check out.
Brian was super-nice and it was great to meet someone here locally who contributes to such a well-known tech site. We also found out he is Chairman of the Indiana Chapter of March of Dimes, so expect to see a post later this Spring about our BLAST WalkAmerica team!
You may or may not have heard (and/or care), but this past weekend, pop-singer Britney Spears went to a hair salon and shaved off all of her hair. This obviously caught the attention of the media and of the millions of people that love Britney and have followed her career for years. It has left many wondering why such a public figure that seems to have it all would do such a thing, and is she on the verge of a nervous breakdown? She is going through a very public divorce, and her every move is scrutinized on celebrity blogs, newspapers, TV stations, etc… Did all of the media attention that she has been receiving over her career finally lead her to a breakdown?
We here at BLASTmedia work day in and day out to get spectacular media coverage for our clients. Media coverage for our clients equals success, and ultimately a boost in sales. We love what we do, and we enjoy establishing working relationships with editors, reporters, bloggers, etc… There is nothing more satisfying than when a story runs featuring one of our clients or their products, and you know that your hard work made that client happy.
What is the fascination with celebrities that make us want to follow their every move? I can understand big celebrity news – like an arrest, death, birth, etc., but a haircut or a new Sidekick? Really? It’s frustrating because we have clients that could actually HELP SOCIETY by receiving media coverage. For example, Hopscotch Technology has developed BOB, a media time-management device that is a tool for fighting childhood obesity. Britney shaves her head, and the Today Show is all over it. But what about the people, products, and companies that are truly trying to make a difference in the world? Clearly, a celeb’s stint in rehab or new baby is more exciting to the general pubic than a media time management device, but frustrating nonetheless. It is truly captivating how the media can help/hinder a person or company to such a great degree. What do you think our fascination is with these celebs?
Clients like coverage, but clients LOVE national coverage! It has been a great day at BLAST, and it’s not even lunch time…we had two clients in national newspapers today. One of our newest clients, Data Drive Thru, is included in Walt Mossberg’s personal tech column in The Wall Street Journal. Walt discusses new ways to transfer files to a new computer and mentions Data Drive Thru’s data transfer tool – The Tornado. Another client, Tanita, has their Innerscan body composition monitor reviewed in a great article in The New York Times, including an image of the scale. Both of these articles took some time to materialize, but the effort will be worth it as our clients anticipate a spike in sales and Web traffic over the next few days! We could call it a day based on the results we’ve had. Instead, we go back to the phones and email, knowing that today our clients are in LOVE - and we didn’t have to buy them a box of chocolates or a dozen roses. USA Today, here we come.
I'm wrapping up a week of traveling and catching up on some reading and thought I'd pass along two items that caught my attention this week:
The first is a fantastice video I stumbled across on YouTube. For you Web 2.0 ers, I think you'll enjoy.
One of my favorite photographers and all around cool guys, Thomas Hawk, has a great posting on his blog about the brilliance of Apple and Steve Jobs -regarding the DRM issue.
BLASTmedia polled some of our favorite journalists this week and asked them, "What is your biggest pet peeve when it comes to PR people?" We deleted all the responses reading "when PR people ask me what my PR pet peeves are." Here are the answers...
PJ Jacobowitz, Product Review Coordinator - Ziff Davis Media/PC Magazine
"This is a tough one for me. Since I used to be a tech PR person I really try to talk to everyone and really try to see if there’s a fit for their client here at PC Mag. Call me or email me anytime; I'm always available to talk, unless it’s during Lost - that’s the best show ever. If I had to request one thing from everyone that I email with, it would be to at least at beginning of the email chain put their contact information (like you do). Sometime I’ll go back and forth with someone and need to grab them on the phone and I’ll realize I don’t have their number handy in their email. Also, I hate when they turn down dates with me. J/K. "
Jenn Andrilik, Assistant Editor - Child Magazine
"I never mind a PR person following up with me, but when I have given them a yes or no answer (usually when it's a no answer is when it bothers me) and they keep checking in to see if anything has changed. I won't give a for sure answer unless I know for sure, so when we have said no, we mean no."
Ann Cates, Producer - MarketWatch Radio
"For the most part, I’ve had nothing but positive relationships with PR people. I would say my biggest pet peeve is PR people who won’t take no for an answer. They’ll keep calling or e-mailing even after I’ve told them I’m not interested in the story. There was one guy a few years ago who kept doing that and was so aggressive that I was finally forced to tell him never to contact me again. And believe it or not, he STILL kept pestering me for a while!"
Jen DeLeo, Gearlog
“When they send me press releases that have nothing to do with technology products. For instance, an e-mail regarding Henna tattoos.”
Anne Stuart, Executive Editor - Redmond Channel Partner Magazine
"Pitching a completely irrelevant story. I remember getting one at CIO -- a business magazine for IT executives -- on how parents were using the Internet to research and arrange family vacations. At the time, online trip-planning was a brand-new trend, so the story idea wasn't necessarily bad in itself--but it was completely wrong for our audience. The publication I edit now is a trade magazine for executives at Microsoft partner companies. So it's annoying when I get pitches for, say, stories about IBM's partner community or for stories that belong in general-interest consumer publications. Secondly, pitching a story we've already run. This just happened last week--someone e-mailed to pitch a story on Microsoft partner grassroots groups. There's a lengthy feature on that exact topic in our current issue and on our Web site."
Keith Shaw, Programming Director - NetworkWorld
"Probably my biggest pet peeve with PR people is when they are unresponsive to questions that get originated from the journalist. They seem very responsive to calling us with stuff that they're pitching, but when we need to find a PR person for a project that we're working on (product test request, customer contact request, etc.), then they seem to vanish."
Colleen Oakley, Senior Editor - Marie Claire
“Lindsey doesn’t come in town to party enough :)”
Cristina McEachern, Associate Managing Editor - VARBusiness Magazine
"I would say the biggest pet peeve for me is when PR people call me and ramble on with their pitch and don't let me get a word in. If they are going to call and pitch it should be a very brief intro and then let me tell them what I think we can do with it. Any PR person that calls me and I can't get a word in edgewise for the first two minutes is not going to get very far with me! Also, they really should be familiar with the publication. You don't know how many calls I get and the PR person doesn't even know what a VAR is!"
Darrell Proctor, Technology Editor - Rocky Mountain News
“When PR people send me a pitch and then continue to follow up almost daily wondering what I think about it. I will have already told them to wait a week, and if you haven't heard anything, then follow up in a week. If you don't hear from me within 10 business days, chances are I'm not interested. On a side note…it's a lot easier for me to respond to pitches from people I actually know or have worked with previously than someone who appears out of the blue."
Peter Krasilovsky, Analyst - Kelsey Group and Local Onliner
"“People who are unfamiliar with my work, which is so easily accessible on the blog. PR people who act like they want to be my "friend." PR people who throw other analyst reviews in my face, trying to browbeat me. I just wonder why they don't use my stuff instead. PR people who suggest they can buy me with consulting if I cooperate in promoting their client. I take myself seriously as an objective analyst, always.”
Doug Stanley, Technology Editor - Tampa Tribune
“The answer to your question is easy: People who cold call to make pitches. My listing in the directories that PR folks use makes it very plain that I prefer to be contacted by e-mail. I simply don’t have time to take cold calls. Still they come -- every day. The people who call to ask whether I’ve received their e-mails are particularly annoying. If it didn’t bounce back to you, rest assured I received it. I know how to get my e-mail – I write a tech column.”
Les Shu, Editor - ComputerShopper
“I think for the most part PR people do their jobs and 95% of the time they’re fine. My only peeve is that when I need something, sometimes it’s very difficult to track down PR people, or they don’t have the information ready. Simple requests like images and releases shouldn’t be hard. It should be something that’s handy and ready to go.”
