Category: Portland

Update on the Freak Dancing Story

The Oregonian’s Sunday print story on the issue was solid. It presented views from principals, chaperones and students. It also touched on the history of skirmishes between parents/educators and teens about their dancing — which, apparently, dates back at least to the nearly 1900’s and the Turkey Trot.

[This last tidbit came from Julie Malnig, a social dance historian at New York University. I had no idea that there were jobs available as social dance historians.]

It seems as if the Oregonian knows they’re supposed to be using this web video thingy, but they can’t quite figure out how or why. Below the subhead, the O once again tries to lure you to their web site to see “video from last weekend’s Blackboard Music dance in Beaverton.” The pitch is accompanied by a color photo of teen torsos. Don’t listen to the carnival barker, folks. There’s still nothing interesting under the tent — it’s the same poorly-lit, substance-free video that was on there yesterday.

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Give the People What They Want?

All us traditional-media types recognize that all roads head to the web. My radio group knows it, the TV stations know it, and the local newspaper knows it. What we’re all trying to figure out (along with everyone else in the country) is how to get our erstwhile listeners, viewers and readers to move to our web sites when they make the move.

In today’s print version of the Oregonian, they go for the lowest common denominator: a promise of hot teenagers engaging in sexually-suggestive dancing.

“Teen’s freak dancing revs up controversy”, screams the headline. “No matter what you call it, the sexually-charged movement is changing the high-school dance.” There’ll be a story in Sunday’s paper, but if you just can’t wait, you can “watch a video on freak dancing at www.oregonlive.com/news/multimedia.”

While I respect the O’s desire to get people onto their web site by any means necessary, they’ve made a couple of big mistakes:

1. The video itself is difficult to find. A trip to OregonLive’s Multimedia Page presents you with one featured story (at this writing, it’s about a church fire). If you want the freak dancing video, you’ve got to hunt for it.

2. Once you finally get there, the video itself is virtually substance-free. The scenes of actual dancing are very poorly lit, so concerned parents won’t learn anything about the dancing itself. Nor is there an in-depth study of the issues involved — if you’re wondering about the evolution of teenage dancing, and how this version of teen dance differs from what’s come before (weren’t they complaining about this stuff in the 50’s?), and what it all means, you won’t find it in the video. A couple of high-school kids get some face and mic time, but they have nothing interesting to say.

If you’re going to lure your readers to the web site, you need to reward them somehow when they get there.

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The Best Apology

Things sometimes go wrong in business, in spite of our best efforts. And as Seth Godin points out, there are all sorts of ways to apologize, some better than others.

Here’s one that really got it done. I walked into the Lloyd Center Men’s Wearhouse here in Portland on the last day of the winter sale. They didn’t have the shirts I wanted in my size, so Tammy, the store manager, ordered them for me at the sale price. They were to be delivered from another store, but when I came back in on the appointed day, they hadn’t yet arrived.

How did Tammy handle it? She asked for my phone number, and promised to deliver them to me if I couldn’t make it back. Tonight, after the mall closed, she came by my house and dropped them off. The right shirts, hand-delivered to my house by the manager. No extra charge.

Next time you need clothes in Portland, make time to visit Men’s Wearhouse in Portland. Ask for Tammy.

Attack of the Clutter Monsters

Wondering why you can’t seem to get anyone’s attention? “Anywhere the eye can see,” says the New York Times, it’s likely to see an ad.”

When I first posted this, I tested the link to the article, and was taken first to an ad for a Sony notebook. That’s not happening now — I guess you only get that annoyance the first time you go there. Subsequently, you go straight to the article, but there’s still a little ad (actually, rotating ads for various movies) in the upper right corner.

Nice unintentional irony there.

You’re on Candid (Cell Phone) Camera

Would you change anything about your store or office if you knew that your customers were recording their experiences, and could post them folr all the world to see?

Well, it’s happening. Check out the cell phone camera slide show from Paul McEnany’s visit to Kohl’s. Thanks to Church of the Customer for turning me on to this.

Whatever you’re doing — good or bad — is fair game for the internet.