Since the publication process is always a hard time, I must share the fact that, yes, I finally have my first scientific publication, so here is the reference to my first publication:

Bélisle, Jean-François and H. Onur Bodur (2010), “Avatars as Information: Perception of Consumers Based on Their Avatars in Virtual Worlds.” Psychology & Marketing, 28(7), 741–765.

Some exposure in the news

Furthermore, my article has also been discussed in the news; here are some links related to my scientific article in both English and French.

In the language of Shakespeare (English)

1. Discovery news;
2. Science Daily;
3. Red Orbit;
4. Physorg;
5. Eurekalert;
6. Medical News Today;
7. Science Codex;
8. Infozine;
9. One India;
10. BNP Paribas.

In the language of Molière (French)

1. Sciences et avenir
2. Canoe;
3. Branchez-vous;
4. Journal Metro;
5. Rue Frontenac;
6. Techno-Science.net;
7. MSN.ca;
8. Synchro Sympatico.

I must admit that having some exposure in the news is flattering for the author, but I’m pretty sure it doesn’t mean that much for the reader. Furthermore, I must admit that not being the “corresponding author” (the author who is responsible for the manuscript as it moves through the journal’s submission process) for the article influenced the way media framed their discussion about my article and since every time I’m reading an article, I always remember that this article has been written by humans, then here is a short humanistic story about how my article was conceived.

The first step towards the main idea behind the article

The first step towards the main idea comes from a short discussion in the summer of 2006 with Professor Jacques Nantel that ended up with Professor Nantel proposing me to read a professional article entitled “Avatar-based marketing” written by practioner Paul Hemp and published in Harvard Business Review.

The emergence of the main idea

After reading the previously discussed short article, it gave me the idea to study more clearly “who was the user behind the avatar?’ Aside from the article, this idea mainly emerged from my past as a teenager in the 90’s when I used to spend many (too many) hours on Internet relay chat (IRC) forums and consistently asked myself the question: “who is the user behind that username”. Thus, the Second Life universe/metaverse reminded me that question but more in a “Cyberpunk” fashion.

Writing an article for my Master degree

Once I had a research question, my first objective was to write my Master thesis to earn my degree. However, since I already knew I wanted to thereafter continue to PhD studies, I decided to write it as a scientific article. It had the advantage of being both useful as a Master Degree and as a “possible” publication. Furthermore, it also matched well my writing philosophy which stipulates that “shorter is better”, but also that “shorter is harder”.

Sample of avatars used for my scientific article

Some modifications before submission

After wrapping up my Master degree at HEC Montréal, I moved to Concordia University to work with Professor Bodur for my PhD studies, where he helped me to shorten the article and make it more relevant from a marketing perspective.

The review process

The article was sent to Psychology & Marketing on June 2008, and three rounds later on June 2009, it was accepted for publication. I was lucky and happy to have wonderful reviewers who asked useful questions which helped to increase the overall quality of the paper. Professor Bodur and I had some nice time discussing online perceptions and I remember spending hours in my room cogitating about how to best answer the reviewers’ comments, that was a great time, anyway!

From “forthcoming” to “publication”

Once an article is accepted for publication, it then has to be published; it can take weeks, months or years before it is finally published. In my case it took 14 months. The article was accepted in June 2009 and published in August 2010, but available online July 6th 2010.

Can we expect another article on the same topic?

At the beginning of 2009, I decided to change orientation and transferred to McGill University to focus more on a “modeling” perspective rather than on a “consumer behaviour” perspective. I am currently working on topics which are miles away from this topic. My new best friends are “statistics” and “innovation management” books and articles piled up in my office both at home and at McGill University. However, I must admit that I still have strong knowledge of the topic, so any updating would be less efforts than for any new topic? We’ll see. I hope you enjoyed the story of my first scientific article, so if you enjoyed the story, enjoy the article!

Rock on!

Jean-Francois

I must admit that this post is way much “shorter” and less “controversial” than my last one entitled: “Looking to Create Some Buzz – Get Inspired by the Top 10 Buzz-building Actors of the Rock and Metal Music Industry History“, but it may be as informative to some of you, especially if you’re interested in business best new practices. So here is my announcement for the “Canada’s marketing & innovation conference” that would be held in Montreal on September 30th 2010. Speakers include:

• Seth Godin (Linchpin, Tribes, Meatball Sundae, The Purple Cow, All marketinga re liars, Permission Marketing) on Leadership & Creativity
• Jeffrey Gitomer (The Sales bible, 12.5 Principles of Sales Greatness) on Customer Loyalty & Sales
• Avinash Kaushik (Web Analytics: An Hour a day, Web Analytics 2.0: The Art of Online Accountability and Science of Customer Centricity) on Brand Measurement & Analytics
• Mitch Joel (Six Pixels of Separation) on Digital Marketing & Social Media
• Max Lenderman (Experience the Message: How Experiential Marketing Is Changing the Brand World) on Experiential Marketing
• Andy Nulman (Pow! Right Between the Eyes: Profiting from the Power of Surprise) on Strategy & Innovation

Seth Godin

Furthermore, readers’ of my blog (yes you are one!) can use the following promotion code SK23 when registering or by following this marvellous link: http://www.theartofmarketing.ca/promo/SK23

If you are a student and want to register for the program you can use the following promotion code ST10 when registering or by following this link: http://www.theartofmarketing.ca/promo/ST10. Students will receive significantly reduced tickets that are limited, but they must present a student card upon entry.

And before I forget, for those who are curious and wanted to know more, the website for the event, is: http://www.theartofmarketing.ca.

Hope to maybe see you there!

Jean-Francois

PG-13 – Parents Strongly Cautioned – Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13 –

Strangely, one of the buzzword of the moment in marketing is the word “buzz”, it seems like every organization wants to create some buzz, but many of these organizations fail to do so when it comes to create what can be considered as “The Buzz”. When it comes to buzz, one interesting inspiration is the music industry. Last week, the German industrial-metal band Rammstein gave an eccentric show in Quebec City using pyrotechnics to accompany – and as part of – their musical performance (for more on this performance, I recommend these three videos: Part I (starting at 1:54), Part II, Part III). However, this story is no exception in the world of music, and especially when it comes to rock and metal music. This is why, in this post, I proposed you a summary of the most prominent Buzz-building actors in the history of Rock and Metal music. This also illustrates how the music industry can be an interesting playground when it comes to generate/test new ideas. So open your eyes and let’s get ready for some in-your-face stories.

1. Alice Cooper – The Father of Theatrical Live Shows

Considered by many experts as one of the father of theatrical live shows, Alice Cooper emerged at the end of the 60’s and had most of his success in the 70’s presenting live shows that features guillotines, electric chairs, fake blood, boa constructor and baby doll. However, it is during a show at the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival in September 1969 that his reputation developed, when spectators thrown a live chicken on stage and Cooper picked it up and had thrown it out over the crowd expecting the chicken to fly away. Naturally, instead of flying, the chicken plummeted into the first rows occupied by disabled people in wheelchairs, who reportedly proceeded to tear the animal to pieces. On the next day, the incident made the front page of multiple national newspapers which reported “that he had bitten the head off the chicken and drunk its blood on stage”. It was only the beginning of a new era.

Representative video -> School’s Out (See below)

2. Black Sabbath – The First Heavy Metal Band

Formed in 1968 in Birmingham, United Kingdom (UK), by a line-up including vocalist Ozzy Osbourne and guitarist Tony Iommi, Black Sabbath has been named as the “Greatest Metal Band of all time” by MTV. However, along with being extremely heavy for the 60’s, Black Sabbath fame on stage performance came when singer Ozzy Osbourne ate a bat (pigeon) on stage during a concert (See this video for those interested: Ozzy Osbourne eating a bat). The band was also known for its performance on stage, especially the one of vocalist Ozzy Osbourne who was always shaking his head while bent at the post of the microphone; a gesture which influenced a generation of music bands. After Ozzy Osbourne was replaced in 1979, Ronnie James Dio took the stage as vocalist and is often credited as having popularized the famous “devil sign” which is similar to the “sign of the horns” in Mediterranean countries.

Ronnie James Dio doing a devil's sign

Representative video -> Iron Man (See below)

3. Kiss – Putting the “Brand” in the “Band”

Well-known as a rock’n’roll band, it is more as a rock’n’roll “brand” that Kiss have made its name. Formed in 1973 in New York City by a line-up including guitarist/singer Paul Stanley and bassist Gene Simmons, Kiss made itself a name using specific makeup design, and presenting live shows which featured fire breathing, blood spitting, smoking guitars, and pyrotechnics. The band is also known for having licensed its name to more than 2,000 product categories. As a lucky one, I had the opportunity to attend one of their concerts last year in Quebec City last summer. Even at 60 years old, they were still entertaining.

Representative video -> Detroit Rock City (See below)

4. Guns N’ Roses – Sexy Hair, Sexy Girls and Unsexy Incidents

Led by eccentric and undisciplined vocalist Axl Rose, as well as guitarist Slash, Guns N’ Rose (GNR) was considered as an icon band of the Glam/Hair Metal movement in the 80’s. Their looks and attitude included debauched lifestyles of late-night parties (widely covered in the tabloid press), very long backcombed hair, use of make-up, gaudy clothing and accessories (chiefly consisting of tight denim or leather jeans, spandex, and headbands). GNR’s vocalist Axl Rose is also famous for tackling a fan who was illegally filming the show with a camera. After being pulled out of the crowd by members of the band, Rose said: “Well, thanks to the lame-ass security, I’m going home!”, slammed his microphone on the ground and stormed off stage. Furthermore, in 1992, at Montreal Olympic Stadium, as GNR were performing the second part after Metallica’s vocalist James Hedfield was injured on stage after stepping too close to a pyrotechnics blast, GNR were therefore forced to go on stage earlier. The sound wasn’t really good, and after some songs, Axl Rose decided to end the show, claiming that his throat was hurting. This behaviour later led to an infamous riot around Olympic Stadium.

Representative video -> Welcome to the Jungle (See below)

5. Metallica – Attitude and Talent

Formed in 1981 in Los Angeles, California and known as the premier band when it comes to trash metal and modern metal music, Metallica brought a lot of attitude and a more manly approach to metal music. The band also brought extremely raw performances which notably include Kirk Hammett solos on guitar and Lars Ulrich now famous fast drumming technique. Furthermore, there was a time where the band was nicknamed by some metal specialists as Alcoholica due to abuse of alcohol. The story behind the band is exposed in the 2004 documentary entitled “Some Kind of Monster”.

Representative video -> Enter Sandman (See below)

6. Red Hot Chili Peppers – Never too Hot

Formed in 1983 in Los Angeles, California by members including vocalist Anthony Kiedis and bassist Flea, the band soon made their reputation of special live performances and California style wearing. The band has made its reputation out of eccentricity with the infamous “sox on cox” outfit where each of the members where playing live on stage naked with only a long sock to cover their genitals (See in this video: Sox on cox). However, after some years in the dark, the band finally earned success after recording the cult album “Blood Sugar Sex Magik” in 1991.

Representative video -> Give it Away (See below)

Parody of the video by Weird Al Yankovic -> Bedrock Anthem

7. Nirvana – The Anti-Marketing Attitude

Emerging as the most popular band of the Seattle grunge scene (Alice in Chains, Mudhoney, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden) with their second album entitled “Nevermind” in 1991, Nirvana was considered by many experts as the most influential “band” of the early “90’s”. The band adopted an “anti-marketing” attitude and casual wearing such as the infamous grunge shirt. It was a time in the 90’s where it was common to cross on the street a group of teenagers all wearing a Nirvana t-shirt. Unfortunately, the activities of the band suddenly ended, when vocalist Kurt Cobain committed suicide in 1994.

Representative video -> Smells Like Teen Spirit (See below)

8. Marilyn Manson – Whatever it Looks Like, As Long as Its Ugly

Professional provoker Marilyn Manson alias Brian Hugh Warner, started to terrify parents of teenagers in the early 90’s. Everything he made since then is perfectly described in the sentence: “talk to me in good, talk to me in bad, as long as you talk about me”. Furthermore, in the case of Marilyn Manson there had always been a duality between the beauty and the beast as the Marilyn Manson name comes from the contraction of the busty “Marilyn Monroe” and the infamous murderer “Charles Manson”.

Representative video -> Sweet Dreams (cover of Eurythmics; See below)

9. Rammstein – Sometimes Its Better Not to Understand German

Formed in 1994 in Berlin, Germany by members including one-time junior olympic swimmer Till Lindemann as vocalist. The band is well-known for their strange and provocative videos, unique music style that blends metal and industrial music, and provocative performance on stage. For instance, vocalist Till Lindeman is well-known for lighting himself on stage with fire (See video: Till Lindeman lights himself on stage) and masochist behaviors such as slapping himself. Other behaviors include when keyboardist Christian “Flake” Lorenz surfs over the crowd using an inflatable boat (See video: Christian “Flake” Lorenz surfs over the crowd using an inflatable boat).

Representative video -> Feuer Frei (See below)

10. Slipknot – Bad Clowns and Heavy Music

Emerging from Des Moines, Iowa with their first album simply entitled “Slipknot” in 1999, and with a first video clip entitled “Wait and Bleed” and banned on MTV, the 8-member band was once considered as the heaviest band on earth. The band originally includes all members dressed with nasty clown masks that covers their actual identity and costumes that seem to be directly borrowed from a horror movie. The band is also characterized with extreme live performances which has culminates with the “Jump the f*** up” gesture. (See video: “Jump the f*** up” gesture)

Representative video -> Left Behind (See below)

Conclusion

In conclusion, are you inspired or are you simply disgusted by the description of these moments of buzz-building in the music industry? Did you understand the recipe: (1) a minimum of talent as a necessary condition, (2) a unique style, (3) cool wearing, (4) special live shows and (5) attitude!!! Any other popular bands that could/should have been considered as a major buzz-building actor in the rock and metal music industry without copying too much the style of these already described bands?

Rock on!

Jean-Francois

In the last few days, the Old Spice man struck back. But who is the “Old Spice man”? The “Old Spice man” was an integrative part of what could/should be considered as one of the best ad of the 2010 year (see below), logging more than 13 million views on YouTube.

The “New” Concept

The concept following-up the February 2010 Old Spice ad includes more than a single ad as it consists of a single ad similar to to the original one (see Should your man smell like an Old Spice man?) and multiple YouTube videos answering back comments related to the February 2010 ad posted on social media platforms by either well-known personalities (e.g Alyssa Milano (see below), Ashton Kutcher) or users with a large and influential network. Was the strategy new? Not really! Answering back comments from individuals considered as “important” is an old and primitive strategy. Was the tactic used new? Yes it was! Using YouTube to answer back these comments can be considered as new, at least in North America.

Capitalizing on Previously Created Buzz

As previously stated in my post entitled Demystifying Viral Marketing – 7 Myths of Viral Marketing: “viral marketing campaigns should be considered as long-term strategies that should be used to attract new users and propagate awareness”. In this way, the February 2010 ad created buzz, and capitalizing on this previously created buzz was brightly executed using a new tactic.

The Next Step

Once again, as stated in my post entitled Demystifying Viral Marketing – 7 Myths of Viral Marketing: “one of the fundamental objectives of viral marketing campaigns is to gain a larger database [and to] turn [users] into loyal users (consumers)”. Thus, the next step for Old Spice would be for sure to turn this “buzz” into customer loyalty.

The Old Spice man in the February 2010 ad

Conclusion

Bringing back the “Old Spice man” using a new tactic was certainly a bright idea for the Old Spice brand! However, once users know about the tactic used, would it be a bright idea for another company to use the same tactic? Absolutely not! The buzz was there for mainly two reasons: (1) because consumers perceived the tactic used was new, and (2) Old Spice capitalized on previously created buzz. Thus, using the same tactic would be redundant. So what do you think of this Old Spice tactic?

Jean-Francois

The omnipresence of the orange color floating all around me due to the presence of the Netherlands in the 2010 World Cup final reminds me my days spent in Amsterdam last month (June) at the beginning of the tournament. But commercially what it reminds me, is an analogy to the famous sentence by Henry Ford: “You can buy it in any color as long as it’s black”, when referring to the Model T in 1908. Thus, when thinking about the presence of the Netherlands in the 2010 World Cup final, a team that most soccer (football) fans would refer to as the “Oranje”, I can analogously propose the following sentence: “I will buy it in any color as long as it’s orange”. Simply think all the objects left from these dark and cold Halloween-related days that one company can finally get rid of (sell) on these extremely hot summer days. Moreover, what a good occasion to sell a box of 12 orange popsicles at a higher price than a mixed-color one? The “orange” is the air, it’s time to sell! But for those who might want to know more, why are the “Oranje” named that way? And what the orange color is broadly associated to?

That's me in Amsterdam, half-awake and really happy to have an orange doughnut for breakfast

The origin of the Orange jersey for Netherlands

I always remember, when I was about 9 years old, my time spent learning to associate flags with their related countries. When arriving at the Netherlands flag, I used to give “France” as the answer due to the fact that both flags incorporate the same three colors. So why are the “Oranje” all in orange and not in red, white and blue? First of all, orange is the historic national color of the Netherlands, originating from the coat of arms of the Dutch founding father William of Orange-Nassau. Furthermore, the top red band of the current flag was originally orange, but the orange dye was light-sensitive and used to fade to red, so it was later officially changed to red.

A flag comparison between Netherlands and France

The “pop” psychology of the orange color

So what about the power of the orange color? Overall, the color is associated with fun, warmth and energy, and can stimulate activity, appetite and encourage socialization. For more on the topic, I would suggest the second book written on the topic by the color expert Leatrice Eiseman entitled “Color – Messages & Meanings: A PANTONE Color Resource”.

Conclusion

So what do you think? Do you have orange antiques to sell or are you jealous of my orange doughnut?

Jean-Francois

After some über-interesting vacations across Europe, the uncorrelated 2-1 win of Netherlands over Slovakia at the 2010 World Cup, the performance of Lady Gaga at the Bell Center, and this awakening theme of “let’s move” (July 1st is the national Moving day in Quebec) floating all around me, I have decided to change the purpose of my blog, to reflect more closely my everyday reality, which could synthetically be resumed as:

1. Reading amazing scientific and non-scientific articles;
2. Computing some marvelous code for my own research;
3. Summarizing and expanding results related to my research interests;
4. Exchanging common and weird thoughts with academic colleagues or with students;
5. And most importantly……. liking what I am doing and having fun, that’s priceless.

Let's Move ... Oh Yeah... Good Luck.

Thus, in relation to my everyday reality this blog will slowly change:

1. From an online marketing perspective to a more integrated marketing perspective, which is much closer to an everyday marketing perspective.
2. From an applied-practioner perspective to a more applied-academic perspective, following with humility the tradition of the well-know blog Freakonomics.
3. From a distant professional type of writing to a more personal approach, which is mainly a switch from a “book-type” of writing to a more “diary-type” of writing.

What do you think? I simply hope you’ll enjoy it because I am already liking this new perspective,

Jean-Francois Belisle

After a month and a half of hibernation due to work overload, I am finally back. Yesterday afternoon was the 18th game the Montreal Canadiens played in this year NHL playoffs, their highest number since the memorable 1992-1993 season (18 years ago) when they won the Stanley Cup. NHL hockey playoffs, starting at the beginning of April, always represent an opportunity for me to apply my predictive skills through online hockey pools. Since I am generally estimating models using “hardcore” statistics methods, predicting some hockey players’ behaviors is not that much different, but it is as interesting.

Jonathan Toews of the Chicago Blackhawks; certainly a must have for every pooler

Overall, I rank around the 90 percentile for more complicated pools (i.e. with a salary cap) and a little better than average for simple pools (i.e. pick your top 16 players for all playoffs), since the more complicated the less randomness and the more space for strategy. However, as an active user I noticed that of the three online hockey pools I am registered this spring, most of them fail at answering a simple question: How can they optimize the value of my registration?

Some results, for those who thought I might be lying about my rankings

Most of these pools are incorporated into websites without clearly defined objectives. However, each of these websites could benefit from clear business-oriented objectives for these online hockey pools. Following the well-known SOSTAC© developed by PR Smith, this short post is trying to define a simple marketing plan using web 1.0 tools to get the better off online hockey pool once a user is registered to the online hockey pool.

1. The Situation

• Some dudes in the organization thought it might be a good idea to add an online hockey pool to the website.

2. Overall objective

• Maximize revenues from the online hockey pool.

3. Strategy

• Get the attention of more poolers by sending timely updates through emails.

4. Tactics

• While users are registering to the online hockey pool, allow a visible option for email updates containing the following modalities: (1) Every day (2) once a week, (3) after each playoff round, (4) Never.
• Add targeted ads to these emails.

5. Action

• Following permission marketing principles, send your timely emails as users have previously asked.

6. Control:

• Track how much revenue is generated by these emails through: (1) advertising in emails and (2) advertising on the website.

Some extras

• Build a database from these users/poolers for the next year.
• Force users/poolers to discover other parts of the website.

Sounds simple and straightforward? Yes it is? But most organizations having an online hockey pool on their website don’t follow this simple plan!

Conclusion

All in all, purely from a hockey fan perspective, only participating to online hockey pools is an experience that I simply appreciate. However, in light of this post, I clearly think that most websites integrating online hockey pools could take advantage of this asset by strongly implementing simple online features such as the ones previously proposed. What do you think? Any other super cool ideas to add some icing on the cake?

Jean-Francois Belisle

Last week, brands’ psychoanalyst (sometimes referred as cultural anthropologist) Clotaire Rapaille was fired by the Quebec City mayor Regis Labeaume from his role as a brand management (image) consultant for the city because mainly of curriculum vitae falsifications. The news arrived more than a month after being hired to a $300,000 3-month contract to propose a branding plan for Quebec City. By trying to push too far his own marketing, Clotaire Rapaille completely violated the fundamental principles of personal branding and lost a portion of his credibility. When reading all these stories about Rapaille, one question came off the top of my head: Is Clotaire Rapaille feeding or failing marketing?

Clotaire Rapaille

Why is Clotaire Rapaille feeding marketing?

By qualifying himself as an anthropologist, Clotaire Rapaille first reminds me cultural anthropologist Grant McCracken who to my limited knowledge in this field, was one of the first high-end anthropologist marketing consultant to sign lucrative consulting contracts with multinationals (Coca-Cola Company, Diageo, IBM, IKEA, Chrysler, Kraft, and Kimberly Clark). Perhaps the hiring of Clotaire Rapaille is the sign pointing the beginning of an era of lucrative consulting contracts for marketers’ anthropologists. On the academic side, this hiring could reinforce the appeal of cultural anthropology in marketing at the undergraduate and MBA-level, a field led by the York University crew (Russell W. Belk, Eileen Fischer, Robert Kozinets & Detlev Zwick) and growing in importance in the Montreal area (Zeynep Arsel and Annamma Joy at Concordia University and Jonathan Deschênes, Jean-Sébastien Marcoux, Marie-Agnès Parmentier, Yannik St-James at HEC Montréal) and especially at HEC Montréal.

Why is Clotaire Rapaille failing marketing?

By being fired from his consulting contract with Quebec City, Clotaire Rapaille makes marketing sounds like magic in the eyes of the populace, which is completely false. Surely, marketing is not a hard science at the same level as pure mathematics. However, marketers are not magicians or should not claim to be, let magic to mindfreak like Criss Angel. The discipline takes its roots in psychology, anthropology, statistics, economics and computer science, which creates a sexy melting pot. The “science” of marketing is based on empirical generalizations, strong conceptual frameworks and learning-by-doing case studies that lead to best practices.

Magician Criss Angel

Conclusion

Briefly, one sure thing is that Clotaire Rapaille is a good example of a personal branding failure. However, the Clotaire Rapaille personal branding failure has had negative and positive spillover effects for all those working in the field of marketing in the province of Quebec and perhaps even in North America. What do you think? Any other comments?

Jean-Francois Belisle

Every week, like everybody around me, I am getting older, that’s nothing new and nothing really imaginative to say as a first sentence of a post. However, with communications facilitated by social media, it seems like every week I hear the news that the girlfriend of an old friend of mine will give birth to a beautiful 9 pounds baby. Each of these times, I feel much older than only a week older since this situation is not part of my everyday life for the moment.

However, for any new parents, besides all the joy, the gifts and the baby showers which come with the newborn, there is also the hard task of choosing the baby name. And personally, how many times do you hear your friends saying the name of their baby, and you just tell yourself: “that’s so common” or “that’s so awful”! Most of the time, you stay polite and once arrived back home you have a short discussion with either your girlfriend, boyfriend, wife, husband, dog or cat, about how the new baby’s name sounds so ugly to your ears and how the parents did a poor job of choosing the “right” name. On my side, when talking about a newborn name, as an online marketing “freak”, all types of different digitally-oriented questions popped-up to my head:

1. Is he already on Facebook?
2. What do we say about this newborn on Google?
3. Is he already tweeting?
4. With who is he/she already connected to? To celebrities or to all-star burglars?
5. Is his/her full name short enough to be typed in a tweet?
6. Is his/her name easy to recall for his/her future portfolio “URL”? Is this URL still available?

Little kids having fun

Even if my list of questions sounds more pathetic than poetic to some of you, I personally feel that the task of choosing a name for a future baby is a hard one. On a rational perspective, it’s much more like choosing a name for a new brand, you want the name:

(1) To reflect the personality of the child (which you suppose will be aligned with yours);
(2) To be unique (nearly absent when you run a research query on Google or any social media websites, see Namechk);
(3) To be common enough (so it doesn’t sound like a new planet name and other kids with get fun of it);
(4) To be easily pronounceable (similar to point 3).

What a hell of a brainstorming task! Personally, if one name satisfies each of these conditions, I would go for it. Is my name qualifying for all of these four conditions? Not really for condition 3, simply “Google” me with “Jean-Francois Belisle” and you will find out that I’m not only what I claim to be in my “Who is Jean-Francois Belisle?” page, I am also a University Professor in Latin America History at University of Ottawa, the director of the “Association des Galeries d’Arts”. Oh, I forget, I am also an author who wrote the books “Town House, Country House: Recollections of a Quebec Childhood“ in 1990, “Annie-la-rousse” in 1991, and the testosterone-packed book entitled “Parler en male” in 1999.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it seems like I am either positioning myself to be invited to one of these baby names brainstorming sessions or either to be kicked out from all these festivities due to my digitally-oriented point of view. But anyway, any additional thoughts on the topic? And what would my life had been if my name was Erasmus Belisle?

Jean-François Belisle

Erasmus de Rotterdam, since I thought a picture of Erasmus would be interesting here

I spent the last few days/weeks computing some R functions for automating a multiple variable selection of linear models using the LASSO and the SCAD penalties. It took me time to create my code, but at the end of the day, it is freshly automated and it is able to perform a statistical task in a few seconds which would have taken me days to run using standard statistical software.

And the Relationship with Online Marketing?

So what is the relationship with Online Marketing? Well, my automated program has allowed me to save time in the future, and that is exactly an objective that should achieve any organization who wants to take advantage of web features. However, these organizations should do even more than only saving time, they should also build online customer loyalty through automated programs. My latest example is related to a sport that I cherish, which is hockey. Living in Montreal, I have the chance to live in a city which is home to the team with the most Stanley Cups in the NHL history, the Montreal Canadians who played their home games at the Bell Center. I also have the chance to be 2 hours away from Ottawa (Ontario) where the Ottawa Senators play their home games at the “Scotia Bank Place” in Kanata, which is a few miles away from Ottawa. Over the last week, I attended a game in both of these arenas. This was the third time I went to Kanata to see a hockey game during this hockey season, and every time, a day before the game, I always receive an email similar to this one presented below.

“Dear Jean-Francois,

We are looking forward to seeing you on Game Day to watch the Ottawa Senators vs. Toronto Maple Leafs on March 6th, 2010 at 07:00 p.m.

Doors for Ottawa Senators games open at 5:30 p.m. for evening games, 11:30 for 1:00 p.m. games and 12:30 for 2:00 p.m. games.

Here’s everything you need to know to make your game day run smoothly.

HOW TO GET HERE
• Scotiabank Place is a quick 15 minute drive from downtown Ottawa. Click here for directions and a map.
• Scotiabank Place Parking Tips
• Public Transportation

TICKET PICK-UP

Before the game:
If you haven’t already received your tickets by mail, printed them on-line or picked them up, tickets can be picked up with the credit card used for purchase and photo ID matching the credit card at any Sports Experts location in Ottawa.

Paperless tickets:
If you selected paperless delivery, your tickets have been delivered to the credit card used for purchase. Bring your credit card used for purchase and your photo identification matching the credit card to the game. DO NOT visit the box office. Go directly to the ticket taker. They will swipe your credit card, verify your identification and print a receipt displaying your seat location.

TRADITIONAL TICKETS ARE NOT ISSUED WHEN SELECTING PAPERLESS TICKETS!

At the game:
Express Ticket Kiosks are located at Gate 1. Tickets may be picked up at the kiosks by swiping your credit card used for purchase or at the box office windows with credit card and photo ID. Wait times can be in excess of one hour so we recommend, when possible, picking up in advance!

WHERE TO EAT
Scotiabank Place – the place to eat. Six restaurants to suit every budget from stone-fired thin crust pizza to chef attended food stations featuring prime rib. Eat dinner then walk to your seats to enjoy the game! Reservations available at each restaurant.

Full restaurant descriptions and menus
RESERVE ONLINE or call: 613-599-2582

SCORE ONLINE
Score, the Ottawa Senators’ game-day program, is now available online. Along with reader favourites such as player profiles and opponents previews, Score Online features bonus links to bio pages, video highlights and photo galleries. Click here for the latest edition.”

Email I received before the Ottawa Senators Game

And After the Game

Furthermore, after each game in Kanata, I always receive an email similar to this one below.

“Dear Jean-Francois,

We hope you had a great time at the Sens game on March 6th, 2010.

FULL GAME RECAP

For a complete recap of the game, including player statistics and photo galleries, go to www.ottawasenators.com, your home for exclusive Ottawa Senators information.

You can also see the post-game interviews, video highlights and more on Sens TV

2010 Score Magazine Survey

Tell us what you think of Score, the Ottawa Senators’ game-day program, by participating in this survey, and we’ll enter you into a draw for two club seats to the Senators vs. Philadelphia Flyers game at Scotiabank Place on March 23.

Special post-game ticket offer

Eastern Conference battle! Watch Chris Pronger take on the Sens. Tickets starting as low as $39.14. This offer will apply to 100 ends,
200 ends and 300 upper and lower level.

- March 23 at 7:30 pm

Visit capitaltickets.ca/promo and reference the special code: XXXXXXXX

This offer ends Friday, March 19 at midnight and is available by Internet only.”

… And With the Montreal Canadians?

That’s not the end of the story, so what do I receive before and after each Montreal Canadians game? I always receive “nothing”. The tickets are always sold out anyway even when the team is playing like a minor league team, so perhaps the organization thinks there is no need for building online customer loyalty through automated emails.

My conclusion

In conclusion, I am not a huge fan of any hockey team, I like the game from an objective perspective. However, last Saturday, I decided to buy a hockey shirt for the Ottawa Senators game, the game was coined as the “Battle of Ontario” and I decided to support the Ottawa Senators by buying a “Daniel Alfredsson” shirt, and sincerely the two emails that I showed you both had an impact on my decision of buying this item. So what is the lesson of this story? Don’t take me for granted? Innovation in online sports marketing comes from organizations in markets where it is harder to load the arena? Anyway, any additional thoughts on the topic?

Jean-Francois Belisle