My 2nd Memphis Flyer cover story (and unexpected cover photo)

Two years ago, I was only dimly aware that my article might be the cover story for the Earth Day issue of the Memphis Flyer, but when I looked for my article and found myself staring back, it was a bit of a shock. Not that I'm complaining!

EXCERPT (Read the rest of the article here)

The oldest evidence of human activity in Memphis — a spearhead designed to slice through a mastodon’s thick hide — was discarded at Nonconnah Creek 13,000 years ago, behind what is now the Sam’s Club on Winchester. The rain of litter on the creek hasn’t slowed much since then.

The newest evidence of human activity in Memphis is a plastic Sprite bottle. And right now, it’s blowing out of the back of a pickup truck on Bill Morris Parkway. During next week’s thunderstorm, it will be flushed down our storm-water system to join thousands upon thousands of other plastic bottles that migrate down Nonconnah Creek and into McKellar Lake.

I followed another bottle flotilla earlier this month, steering my Coca-Cola-red polyethylene canoe down Nonconnah Creek with local environmental activist Scott Banbury.

(Read the rest of the article here)

Content marketing: It works, but remember to include the content

https://soundcloud.com/officialsxsw/moving-from-story-to-narrative

Deloitte's John Hagel: "Moving from Story to Narrative" 

I should be plugging my freelance writing practice right now, but I'm still digesting the slide-free presentation by Deloitte's John Hagel at South by Southwest Interactive last month, entitled "Moving from Story to Narrative."*

Most of my freelance writing practice involves reinforcing companies' marketing strategies with actionable content. So Hagel really got my attention describing how the "old" way of marketing with content—telling stories—has always been less effective than the practice of creating "narratives."

• STORIES are finite and they are about the storyteller or others, not about you. 

Bridgman Pottery is in Southern Living

To honor my wife's birthday, I'm reposting this bit about her spotlight in the January 2011 print edition of Southern Living. Melissa is a potter dba Bridgman Pottery.

Southern Living runs a recurring feature called "Best of the South: Made by Southern Hands," focusing on regional artisans (craft, food, furnishings etc).
This issue's feature is subtitled "Breakfast Time," highlighting food and serving ware made in the South.
An editor at SL was searching on Etsy for breakfast-related crafts last summer and found Melissa's old-school egg cups on her online store there.
I am still very, very grateful that Melissa ignored my advice to make a ceramic rack for microwaving bacon.

Applebee's and a Catch-22 of social media marketing

What happened to Applebee's on Facebook, Twitter and Reddit last week has been described with many metaphors: "implosion," "meltdown," "disaster" and others.

I liken it to the Battle of Little Bighorn that cost General Custer his life in 1876. However, Applebee's isn't going to "die," and the company is not a victim of its own hubris like Custer. But the "action" on the Facebook page may resemble the final hour of Custer's life: Thousands of current and former waiters "circling" the normally bland/cheerful corporate page, furiously pumping arrows and spears into every new post the company made in an attempt to explain its actions during the last week of January.

Slate coverage:
When Applebee’s tried to impose an automatic 18 percent tip last week on the bill of Atlanta pastor Alois Bell, she crossed it out, reduced the tip to zero, and added the note, “I give God 10%, why do you get 18?” A waitress posted the receipt online, earning Bell nationwide derision and the server a pink slip for violating Bell’s “right to privacy,” according to Applebee’s. Over the weekend, the restaurant chain suffered an avalanche of criticism. [Note: I neglected to include "avalanche" in my list of metaphors!]