Why Discount Codes Are Unsustainable And Need To Die Off Now

As a recent nominee for the "Best Public Advocate For Sustainability" award here in Southern California, I take what works and what doesn't work seriously! As the Creative Director for an Advertising Agency that enjoys all things Sustainable, I especially want to advocate for what works when it comes to putting in hard work for honest pay. However, I now find myself eager to advocate against the use "Discount Codes" by Conference or Seminar organizers and want to see them die off this year. 

The business practice is very straightforward: it's cheaper to sell tickets to my Conference if I find people or organizations with a mature network to sell them for me in-exchange for a fee and call them "Media, Marketing, or Community Partners". Let's call it "leveraging". And all I have to do is give them a custom discount code (let's say 10% off). The benefit to you is some extra income and looking good for helping out. For years organizers of Seminars, Symposiums, Workshops, and Conferences have been complacent and continue to operate under the false premise that Discount Codes are profitable. They are not. 

But they seem to work so well, what can go wrong? First, it discourages this business offering the codes to work hard like everyone else and adapt to changing times. Second, the practice discourages this business to be creative and pay for other forms of marketing and advertising. Third, the practice does not require the organizer to guarantee anything. The truth is they can canel the discount at anytime and are not required to give you advance notice, no matter the risk to you or your organization's reputation. It's all about them and their goals. And guess what! You are not special unless you are given the only discount code. 

Now some organizers feel as though they are impervious to change, especially when there are so many gullible young professionals. And frankly why should they change if there really are so many gullible young professionals to convince to work for you for free. I think it's time to give them reason a change and now.

So, if you're 22 to 40 years, I think we should stop being so guillible and dropping our pants and giving away our hard earned (newly acquired) networks. If someone emails, calls, FB, or Tweets you offering a discount code, say "Do you have anything better?" I for one am a 32, young professional in San Diego, California who spent a lot of time and money paying for my transportation and waredobe to attend the 48 networking events I attended just last year (not to mention cellphone minutes, emails, coffee and lunch meetings just to maintain that network). I must say no working for free and no to handing it over to someone who did'nt work for it. And I refuse to support anyone or anything with a Discount Code to market the sale of tickets. You can be the most Sustainable Conference in town, but if that's your angle then I know you don't care about true cost.

I'd rather support the following to earn a discount:

- Hosting an Instagram contest 

- Developing an app where I have to play a game and win 

- Clicking on or just seeing a damn good advertisement 

- Having an Influencer I respect tell me I should attend

But what do I know? I'm just an agent of disruption and make talk worthy ads. 

Add Shot - BigBike Group revs up San Diego's Mobile Scene

It's no secret to anyone who knows me that I love my Starbucks and especially adding a shot of espresso when I want to get something done right then. Using that metaphor, San Diego based businesses have much to accomplish in 2013 and require an "add shot" to their marketing and advertising plans. As Creative Director, I want to run all of the best campaigns in San Diego County. As a visionary, I see where the solutions are and because I have the gift of research, I can execute like nobody's business.

My Partner's Work

Let's face it. Mobile is where it's at. Not tomorrow. Right now! I purposely coined "Add Shot" to not only serve as my agency's term to pitch the Mobile trifecta, which takes aim at the Mobile website, the Mobile app, and Mobile advertising, but also a brief manifesto of what's to come and the effects on my Client's bottom line.  I'm an agent of disruption, so at the risk of appearing wonkish I promise to drop data to support my claims.

By the way, how does your site look on an iphone or android? Does in conform to appear clean, clear, and legible like this (pic left)? While every other agency spends all year pushing for responsive web design that automatically adjusts to the users adjusts to fit the users screen resolution (which is really for blogs), BigBike Groups runs against the gain on this debate. One of our top focuses in 2013 is to release the best mobile specific websites with separate content to dramatically improve load time and feature API keys to improve brand connectivity and sharing. Why does this debate matter? A 2011 Compuware article titled "What Users Want From Mobile" states if your site does not load with 3 seconds 60% of them will leave and never come back. Mobile is an art. Companies selling products, food, and services deserve better.

Windows Phone

As Creative Director, getting the right mobile website matters for me to focus on #goodvertising and for my mobile ads to matter and produce the results that show my clients the money! Seriously, creating rich media ads including video ad units, gifs, and interstitials are challenging enough and they commanded a greater click through rate of 1.1% in 2010. So wasting a better CTR and that potential customer's trust on a slow loading site makes no sense to me and serves as the first opportunity to save the client money.

It's also apparent that device makers are fully aware of the culture influence on society their toys have and so do the users. Yet, did you know 2/3 of our time on mobile phones are used for non-communicative activities with the average American spending 94 minutes per day utilizing mobile apps vs. web-based consumption? Mashable called 2012 The Year of Mobile Advertising and the Atlantic covered the national acceleration of mobile advertising accurately.

BigBike Group Mobile Ad Campaign

As for popular apps go in San Diego, there is a rush for publishers to develop and launch to appease their subscribers and not lose ground on readership, however San Diego is so diverse. From the craft beer scene having an app to the local tourism app to the County Parks app, and everything in between, there's a niche for advertisers to fill and not worry of competing with 5 other ads of the same page. It just takes a good eye and a skilled firm to lead the way. Thus developing an app should also be no light conversation either. I believe a brand selling a product or aiming to increase employees engagement or creating a loyalty program or wanting to increase demand with a game, they  should have a Mobile app.

Also, did you know San Diego was dubbed the "Wireless Capital of the World" over Silicon Valley by Forbes Magazine just last year? It's true. Forbes tech contributor Mark Fidelman's June 27th piece pointed out the concentration of wireless employees in San Diego is 484 per 100,000 residents, compared to Silicon Valley's 375 per 100,000. Plus Novatel CEO Pete Leparulo's quote lends our mobile industry some credibility when he said, "San Diego for wireless technology is an amazing place. It's what I image Detroit was like during the heyday of inventiveness." Not bad, but what about San Diego's mobile market?

Well, besides the thousands of high wage employees of telecom companies that either carry a smartphone and or tablet device (just ask any Qualcomm employee), San Diego County has 3.1 million residents, 4000 square miles—and an ultra conservative estimate of 500,000 mobile devices in adult households according to Scarborough Research's *outdated stats from 2007, or closer to 1.5 million compared to National estimates of 52% released at CES. Yes, the range is wide, however the evidence is self evident.

I also believe its "The Year of The eWallet" for San Diego and advertising to the ewallet user will pay off in huge divided ends. I think there's clout here since Scarborough ranked San Diego as one of the top tech savvy cities in the country and the swipe of the mobile to pay for food, drinks, products, and more just completes the rave review.

Now, I'm not going to discuss my firm's strategies of how I present all of this and pitch, so that some young ad executive at a competing firm looking to prove something can turn around and copy me, but I will say to those who could be potential clients reading this... let's meet for coffee soon.    

Email me at yevesperez [at] gmail [dot] com or tweet me @frshprnzcleantc.

I Was Wrong! New Poll Says 61% of Latinos Voted Yes On Prop 37

I can admit I was wrong in my previous post "Why Prop 37 Fell Short". My conclusion was that our movement had a latino problem and we would not win without winning their vote. My evidence was based on looking at counties we lost (%) where latinos make up the majority of the population or close to it. However, the real numbers say otherwise months later.

Based on a new poll commissioned by the Center for Food Safety Action Fund and conducted by the independent polling firm Lake Research, the strongest support for Prop. 37 came from Latinos (61% yes), Asians (61% yes), African Americans (56% yes) and Democratic women (60% yes).  As a group, Caucasian voters turned down the measure 58% to 42%.  Voters under 30 approved of the initiative (55% yes), as opposed to voters 65 years or older (61% no). Reflecting election results from the Secretary of State’s office, the initiative won in Los Angeles County (52% to 48%) and the San Francisco Bay Area (56% to 44%).

The survey found that every major demographic group, with the exception of Republican men, supports the concept of required labeling of genetically engineered foods.  Of special note, Prop. 37 won the Election Day vote 51% to 49%, but lost with early absentee voters 46% to 54% — an indication that early, high-volume attack advertising by Prop. 37 opponents was countered effectively by the “Yes” campaign’s late surge in GE food labeling information and outreach.

Looks like the data shows we lost with the elderly vote when it comes to labeling genetically modified food. Read more here: http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/2013/01/09/post-prop-37-poll-shows-strong-public-support-for-future-ge-food-labeling/

Never Give Up On A Dream

Years ago I was blessed with a dream... a feeling... a vision for change and I risked everything (and I mean everything) for that dream. I still have the single sheet of lined paper that I wrote this dream of a club down because I knew at that moment, it would come true and I wanted to remember that feeling of 'awe inspired'. I called it the Eco Investment Club. This was my role to play in a struggling Green Movement. And yet, over time and trying to figure out and finagle to make money the dream begin to slip out of my hands. Then, one day, the Eco Investment Club was no more. I was sad, angry, resentful, and all around crushed after losing control of the domain http://ecoinvestmentclub.com to an ex partner, but I had to let it go.

Over the years, I read articles in Inc. Magazine about entrepreneurs losing control of their companies and getting kicked out and then wanted it all back under the old name, but couldn't... so they had to give up. It pained me to no end to contemplate giving up. But then the story Steve Jobs always gave me hope because I had passion coming out of my ears!

  

So, I waited. The company closed. The domain came back up for sale in auction. I prevailed. And now the Eco Investment Club is mine again. I had a hard road. The Green Movement still struggles. I struggled. My name was mud, because I gave up on my values, and my name of the web was out my control, too. I risked too much, but now http://yevesperez.com is mine and is pointed to the club, because we are now one and the same. Fredrick Douglass said, "Without struggle, there can be no progress." I believe it. I am the real Yeves Perez. I'm sorry for my mistakes and wrongs, but I'm not giving up. I am the green Sean Parker, an agent of disruption. And I will never give up again as long as I'm alive.

Cheers to 2013!

http://ecoinvestmentclub.com

Why Labeling GMOs Will Eventually Win - My Facebook Chat With Paul Hawken

For those that find Facebook chat annoying, stupid, or down right intrusive, you should just close your Facebook account now since you're obviously closing off your friends and what's important to them. But not Paul Hawken. Yes, the world renowned environmentalist, entrepreneur, journalist, and author Paul Hawken. And since Prop 37's defeat was and still is important to me to understand and I decided to pinged him up to chat about and here's a few pearls of wisdom he gave me that I care to share:

Paul to me: sorry for the delay. been giving some talks and don't go here every day

Me to Paul: Listen, i'm a concerned father of two and i truly believe we keep losing huge political battles because we have not truly won the latino vote. PROP 37 is the most recent defeat that has many aroundd the world wondering what went wrong!

Paul to me: Nothing went wrong.... it went right. Be patient. When people oppose the wealthy ruling classes on issues of basic human rights, they are virtually always defeated the first time out. This is a great result. Look at many issues...this is the pattern. This one did amazingly well first time out. The food companies know they are dead on this issue. They know it is coming back. They know it will win no matter how much money they spend. Have faith in people and patience with the process. Lies eventually fail and this one will fail sooner.

Me to Paul: I understand what you mean as far as a trend, however this one could have been stronger than it was the first time out of the gate (and if after looking at the post election results and retracing the campaign's tactics - we have a serious Latino problem). I wrote a blog post about my observations. http://yevesperez.blogspot.com/2012/11/Why-Prop-37-Fell-Short-An-Opinion-From-A-Perez.html The more I look into the early data the more I get upset. We lost by 550,000 votes and after looking at what Counties we lost the more it reinforces my theory that we lost the Latino vote. Here's the data. Counties lost (No votes) w/ large latino population: San Diego 53%, Riverside 60%, San Bern. 60%, Fresno 63.6%, Madera 65.5%, San Joaquin 60%, Sac 60%, Placer 64%, El Dorado 62%... and more! That means we lost be 10 to 20 points in areas the would have delivered us a victory. If we would have flipped these results, we would have won by close to 700K - 800K votes!

Paul to me: Yves...I love your impatience. It is why it will eventually win. And it makes sense to lose the Latino given what they saw was scare ads about food costs. You are on top of this. I am grateful people like you are doing what you do.

I not afraid to lose some FB friends or draw criticism for saying this, but if you believe you're too important and too busy to check the content of a friend's chat message to you well then it tell me you just don't care. As for me, I win.

Give me a K+ on Klout or endorse one of my skills on LinkedIn if you agree.
www.linkedin.com/in/yeves
http://klout.com/frshprnzcleantc/

Why Prop 37 Fell Short - An Opinion From A Perez

I woke up with a highly contagious smile this morning after going to bed knowing my Country had just re-elected the greatest President I've ever known. I always knew President Obama to be a movement leader, yet I dreamt last night that the movement to label genetically modified food was really winning in the Polls. But then I woke up and logged on to Facebook.

Needless to say I didn't need to check the Prop's status. I knew it fell short when 9 out 15 posts from my friends read: "What Happened?" and "WTF?" Here's what I think what happened.

As this miraculous push to re-elect President Barack Obama was finally realized, a somber Republican strategist named Mike Murphy gave his party this gut check: "We have a Latino Problem." My response was "no shit!"

But after reading Prop 37's failure stories, the posts, and as many tweets as I can handle I'm ready to concede we have a Latino problem.  Let me explain. One of our best friends is a couple that lives in Ocean Beach (which is arguably one of the most progressive neighborhoods in the predominately conservative San Diego County) and our 3 year old daughters are like sisters. My wife and I love these newly weds, however when you're really friends with someone you can't help but talk about what's important to you as in this case GMO and organic foods for our kids. The wife was born and raised a Ramirez and I know how the Latino Hispanic culture thinks. Traditions!

She not only believes that organic food is just too expensive, but she (and the culture) is not very receptive to invest in this movement. Its foreign, its weird, its predominately white, and it is not the mainstream tradition. In just the last year or so, my family and I have discovered our new favorite vegetable. Anyone who knows us knows we love kale... kale chips, kale in soups, kale sauteed, etc. My daughter eats the kale off my plate! It's now a tradition in my house now. Her first time having it was at my house and she referred to it as "deer food". She likes it now and after years of being friends and educating about GMOs she voted Yes on Prop 37. But that's just one family. What about her cousins, her mom, and all her relatives?

What about the Gonzales families, the Fernandez families, the Mendez families, the Rodriguez families, the Rosales families, the Torres families, the Vargas families, the Mendoza families, the Fuentes families, the Rubio families, and the Perez families? That's just a few Latino Hispanic names, yet just this name group alone could equate to over 1 million plus eligible voters and I didn't see a Yes On Prop 37 campaign engage with this group. I did see one event poster on Univision.com for a Nov 4th rally but it was not written in spanish and was too little too late. I take responsibility myself for not engaging these voters. My excuse is hallow in hindsight just because I don't speak spanish. Yes, I said... I'm a Perez that doesn't speak spanish. It was a missed opportunity. I should have thought of this after watching "The Garden Movie," a documentary of South Central farmer being eradicated from their community farm.

I'm not making this claim lightly. I googled Yes on 37 latino leaders, Mayor Villaraigosa position on Prop 37, Assemblyman Ricardo Lara position on Prop 37, Senator Ron Calderon position on Prop 37 and nothing came up. I do credit the California Latino School Boards Association and Carmen Ramirez, City Council for Oxnard for endorsing Yes on 37, but it was not enough. In fact all the farms, consumer groups, democratic and environmental caucus, and green living leaders were just flat out not enough. The truth is the California Latino Hispanic population would have been enough... they were and are still the answer.

I want to conclude with a question. If corn is one of the highest GMO crops in this Country, then why was there no connection and therefore no clear case made for a major population in California to vote Si and protect a diet staple, Masa?