DestiCorp 2.0

If the "Web is Female" and "Chicks Rule" Why Do Men Dominate SM?

OK - so the abbreviation in the headline  was to jack up my viewing stats!

This is really about Social Media and the longer, more thoughtful article is here. This post is just a tease.

Anyway the stats now show that women outnumber men on most Social Media sites and I am grateful to a man, Ian Delaney,  for pointing this out on his post here.

So why is it that men do most of the programming and participate and dominate most of the technology conferences?

I think it's time women (as customers) get more assertive - perhaps we could develop a pink usability rating widget that could be slapped on sites (embedded without permission) that showed just how relevant and useful it was from a woman's perspective. We'd all rave about the ones with five ribbons and you know how talkative we women can be....Anyway, guys, in keeping with the SM theme, read the article and do as you're told at the end of it. It's right here. 

A Tale of Two Men and Two Canadas

Indirectly and directly Lester B Pearson, Prime Minister of Canada (1963-1968) saved many American lives and put this country on the international map. During the depths of the Vietnam war, it was customary for some American backpackers to sew the new Canadian Maple`flag (which Pearson introduced) on their backpacks to avoid being recognized as Americans.  Pearson also introduced universal health care, student loans, the Canada Pension Plan and helped raise Canada's status as a country and sustain its reputation as a peace keeper concerned about the developing world. 

How things change. Now many countries in the Commonwealth wish Canada to leave and the green backpackers are likely removing the maple leaf from their packs. Our international reputation and appeal as a country is in quick descent as evidenced in the Guardian article here and a few concerned citizens have assumed responsibility for presenting Canada's  brand to the world - see previous post on Reputation.

Increasingly Canada' s pristine image of wilderness stretching inifinitely into the horizon is being tarnished by scarred images of black, bitumen encrusted deserts. as described by John Vidal in this four minute video here: 

 

 

  

While Harper's policies were in alignment with the Bush administration - the world is literally and metaphorically a lumberyard to be exploited - the new US administration are expressing a different view (even if they are constrained by a conflicted Congress) and even China is shifting its position..

But this is not just a tale of two men but two countries. While Harper and the national government are dragging their feet on issues like climate change, Canadian leaders at the community level (across provinces, in cities and on First Nations lands) are actively stewarding the land and acting responsibly. While men in suits prevaricate in cities, hoards of caring individuals with varying levels of political status are showing they care about the land and are protecting Canada's vast forests as best they can as described in another article here. There are plenty of reasons to be both proud and stand on guard for Canada.

  

Canada's boreal forest - all 1.3 billion acres of it - stores the equivalent of 27 years' worth of current global greenhouse emissions, soaking up 22% of the total carbon stored on the earth's land surface. If that dries out, the release of greenhouse gases would be catastrophic. 

So given that we Canadians may have lost any right to tell the world what to do and how to behave (and appear to have little appetite to do that anyway), we can focus on conserving the precious green resources that provide the scenic backdrop to every tourist photo, provide succour to many of our iconic critters (beaver, moose and bear), soak up our carbon and provide the clean air we breathe. This is no longer a philanthropic action on the part of the tourism community but vital to its long term survival and credibility. Regardless of whether you believe climate change is occurring or even caused by human activity, simple housekeeping logic suggests that failure to take care of the food in the larder avoids hunger or sickness.

National Parks in Peril from Climate Change

Climate Change is the greatest threat our national parks have ever faced. That's the conclusion of a new report we're releasing today, along with the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization. National Parks in Peril highlights the 25 national parks most at risk.

via switchboard.nrdc.org

The "we" referred to above is the NRDC - that has issued a comprehensive report on current and future impact of climate change on the national parks in the US. Given that National Parks in Canada are likely to experience greater warming levels, such a study for Canada's parks would be timely. Please let me know what might exist. Go to the NRDC site for the report and check out the interactivity supporting this map showing the impact on western US. 

The livelihood of thousands of people involved in tourism around such parks in North America will be negatively affected over the next 20 years and,  given that during that short period, we know that global energy demand will rise by 50%; global demand for food will rise by 50% and water availability will decrease by 30%, the impacts on scenic values, ecosystems and biodiversity both in the Parks and out of them will sadly worsen.  Whether the tourism industry acts to avoid such changes depends on whether it really does care for future generations.

Any state, provincial, or national DMO that fails to include a strategy for carbon reduction in its future strategies is failing both the industry it serves and the future generations that might be their clients.

Brands as Change Agents - so says Unliver's CMO

The big firms are slowly waking up. At Media Week's Media 360 Conference, Simon Clift, the global CMO of Unilever responsible for selling €40bn worth of "soap, soup and tea", said the world had changed more than marketers have accepted or absorbed, and heralded "a new era of remarkable opportunity" - see here

While that may not be earth shattering, what I did find exciting to learn is the fact that Mr. Clift went on to say that "brands should be an agent of change" - a sentiment my colleague Leon Benjamin and I have,  in our own more modest way,  been pushing for nearly a decade as you can see here on an old, homemade site called Business For Good. 

See: Brands should be "agents for change," says Unilever cmo - WARC News - WARC.com.

If Simon Clift or someone at Unilever is reading this (he, he), I would strongly recommend Terry Barber's excellent post on what business leaders can learn from non profit organizations. He gives four suggestions:

1. Inspire customers by helping them believe in something they once thought was impossible. (It worked for Barack Obama)

2. Show genuine appreciation for their business (how many companies have you ever received a thankyou card or email from?)

3. Help him see that he is a part of a bigger community of world changers. One of the most powerful fund-raising terms is the word join. “Join the fight.” “Jointhe cause. “ “Join me”—all indicating that you can be a part of something much bigger than yourself.

4. Communicate how you are making the world a better place - see excerpt below...

I recently met with a CEO of a Fortune 500 Company and saw this principle illustrated in the most dramatic fashion. Throughout the building there were maps with pushpins marking various towns, cities, and villages around the world where this company and its employees were providing clean drinking water for indigent people groups. There was an underlying message there that said, What we are doing as a company is helping to make the world a better place. No matter what kind of business you are in, learn from the nonprofit sector that you can inspire your customers by illustrating how you are making the world a better place.

Do you aspire to inspire your customers? Give them something to believe in that they once thought was impossible. Demonstrate genuine appreciation for their business. Help your customers connect with other customers to illustrate that they are part of a bigger community, and communicate how you as a business are making the world a better place.

Lead and they may follow. Teach and they may learn. Inspire . . . and they will never be the same.

Alot of my work is for destinations - very rarely do Destination Marketing Organizations lead their communities and invest in making the destination a better place. As marketers they feel they can and should leave this to others. New Zealand is different - if you read their tourism development strategy. they believe that tourism should take the lead in ensuring the country lives up tothe highest standards of sustainabiility. They have to, after all, they're 100% Pure.