VITA GLOBAL NETWORKING BREAKFAST - March 17th

Yes, your favorite Media Mindsetter [that's me] will be speaking at the VITA GLOBAL NETWORKING BREAKFAST on Wednesday, March 17, 2010 fromt 7:30am until 9:00 am. The special topic is “Doing Business within the Gulf Cooperation Council.”

Here's the lineup, the confirmed speakers are:

Dave Josephson, Director, Western Region, Export Import Bank· Trade finance solutions
· Overview of how the Export Import Bank develops business with Gulf Cooperation
Countries

Ghassan J. Sader, President and CEO, Sader Hospitality Worldwide LLC
· Relationship among Gulf Cooperation Countries
· How business, tourism and culture intertwine for economic prosperity for the region

Michael Lloyd, Vice President, Marketing, Unique Image Inc.
· How the collabortion of Unique Image, The Economic Alliance and VITA can assist
your business
· Capturing the emerging market in the Middle East

It's all going down here:
The Valley Economic Alliance Building
BFG Board Room
5121 Van Nuys Blvd
2nd Floor
Sherman Oaks, CA 91403

Make Your Reservations Today! Non-Members are $25; VITA Members are $20. Call Darcy at 818-379-7000 x 109 or email her - dwinters@economicalliance.org.

Expanding your knowledge of the global market is essential to continued success. Don't miss out.

Syria as a Viable Tourism Destination?

Okay, So where am I?

I just returned from another trip to Damascus planning the 2011-13 Media and Communications Plan for Syria and things couldn't have gone better.

I mean I don't usually pat myself on the back, but here is a case where I am compelled to do so. I mean it's not often David bests Goliath. Here's a case where I was told something was impossible and we made it very possible.

Q: Did you ever think that Syria could get positive press in North America media?

A: Well, they are!

***Warning - Shameless Self-Promotion***

And, it’s all because of the innovative and distinctive first ever North American Delegation to Syria in October 2009 that we lead at Unique Image, Inc...

-U.S. Sanctions? No problem.

-No Twitter or Facebook access? You don't need them with all of the turn of time attractions from Crusader Castles to Roman ruins.

-No American brands, like McDonald's and Starbucks? Substitute with old world hospitality of the bustling restaurants with five-star food.

We have been able to overcome it all and and gain phenomenal press across the continent (8 million in circulation and counting!). I'm talking about top publications like More, San Francisco Examiner, ALO magazine, Travel Weekly, Philadelphia Inquirer, Dreamscapes, Four Seasons magazine, Long Island Pulse, Reviewit, and more.

Now comes the hard part:::keeping it going. You can bet that we can and will. The only thing that could ever stop us is conflict in the region.

We've launched pioneering international programs partnering with government and economic developmental agencies, trade associations and chambers of commerce. Our efforts have greatly expanded the scope of cultural, consumer and business-to-business prospects in the U.S. and the Middle East. We are the folks that guided historic sister city agreement between Los Angeles and Beirut signed into effect by the Los Angeles City Council.

Make the impossible, possible?

I love the sound of that.

GREEK SUPERSTAR COVERS ALO HAYATI SPRING, 2010 ISSUE

Here's the latest news release from ALO:

For Immediate Release

GREEK SUPERSTAR COVERS ALO HAYATI SPRING, 2010 ISSUE

Los Angeles, California…March 17, 2010…Greek superstar Anna Vissi graces the Spring 2010 issue of ALO Hayati, the world’s premier, English language Middle Eastern culture and lifestyle magazine. The singer details her climb to best-selling female artist and wide appeal – from pre-teens to those over 50.

Never a stranger to dissecting controversial issues, the 1.2 million circulation ALO presents dueling views on the 2010 U.S. Census. The Spring, 2010 issue is on newsstands today.

“Should you give a damn about the 2010 U.S. Census, or should you just damn it?” explores the three decade road the Arab-American population has traveled to be counted in the census.

Northridge, CA-based Unique Image Inc. has published ALO Hayati for five years, despite a failing economy that has rocked the publishing industry. In an effort to save production costs, the Spring 2010 issue will switch from sheet-fed to web-fed press. Readers should experience no change in the quarterly’s quality. Distribution will increase, through new outlets in Europe and the Middle East and via an agreement with Kable Distribution Services.

"ALO’s mission – to promote cross-cultural awareness especially between the West and Middle East - has never been more crucial,” says Michael Lloyd, Editor-in-Chief. “Companies are increasingly looking to us as a valued international media consultant that brings stellar connections to the table.”

The magazine continues to increase visibility, readership and subscriptions. Publisher Wafa Kanan cites the vision that corporations, advertisers and community leaders have in “risking investment in an ethnic, breakthrough publication, the portal for the fastest growing community in the U.S. We look forward to greater interest from Fortune 500 companies as well.”

The rich culture and positive influence of the Middle East is becoming more known. Such awareness requires open communication, which ALO Hayati represents.

Each ALO Hayati issue showcases the most elegant and daring fashion from international designers - from Parisian catwalks, Hollywood red carpets and New York sidewalk haute couture. This month: Elie Saab unveils nine sexy bridal looks.

Other Spring 2010 features include examination of the growing trend of Middle Eastern single women over 40; “The Man with Four Wives,”; “Best of the Middle East,” which details power brokers, destinations, music and food that demand notice in the Middle Eastern region; how an Arab-American dealt with an arranged marriage, forcing her to navigate a labyrinth of cross cultural mores; and “Never Judge a Country by a State Department Warning,” which takes readers deep inside Syria, a fascinating country packed with antiquities and dichotomy that is surprisingly safe.

ALO Hayati Founder Wafa Kanan recently led the first North American delegation to visit the Syrian Arab Republic. As Founder and President of Northridge, CA-based Unique Image, a branding and marketing firm, Kanan assembled a select group of influential media “to connect cultures through lifestyles and commonalities we all share,” she said. Kanan’s non-profit ALO Cultural Foundation shares a similar mission to heal rifts in cross cultural understanding.

Kanan, a Lebanese entrepreneur and humanitarian, moved to the United States in 1990 after coming of age amid Lebanon’s destructive civil war. ALO magazine was launched in April 2005, with a current worldwide distribution that includes retail giants Barnes & Noble and Borders franchises, international hotels and airlines, VIP lounges, travel agencies and tourist bureaus.

Fashion, film, television, destination travel, cuisine, health and fitness tips—all topics one expects to read about in a lifestyle magazine—also fill the pages of ALO Hayati. The focus remains on the Middle East, North Africa and the Mediterranean, but the target audience extends to people of all cultural backgrounds.

“Alo, hayati” is a common Arabic expression of affection. Literally “Hello, my darling.” The phrase is shared between parents and children, spouses, lovers and friends alike. It expresses the open-ended, positive mission of the magazine. ALO Hayati is not beholden to any religious or political viewpoint, and so has the freedom to address fascinating and sometimes controversial topics with candor and openness.


ALO Hayati Website

ALOMAGAZINE.COM is the definitive Middle Eastern culture and Lifestyle website with thoughtful and provocative editorial and feature content. The ultimate source and voice of Middle Eastern, North African and Mediterranean culture both in the region and in Diaspora. Reporting the latest styles and Entertainment with extensive fashion and music showcases, comprehensive coverage, streaming videos, travel guides to the region all within an interactive forum aimed at bridging diverse audiences. The site offers surveys, on line shopping, blogging and more.

Website: www.alomagazine.com

Haifa Mesmerizes the States

If anyone wanted an unbiased opinion of Lebanese diva Haifa Wehbe's USA concert tour, they picked the wrong guy. I have an affinity for Ms. Haifa. The modern Arabic Marilyn Monroe, who also appears in ALO Hayati magazine's Spring 2010 beauty feature [for which I am the editor] is a show stopper.

So there she is. Statuesque somehow on her curvaceous 5'3" or so frame tightly wrapped in an Elie Saab number. Working out with her band prior to the Connecticut performance at the MGM Foxwoods, hitting high notes while swiveling her hips in that flirtatious voice. I'll tell you this, she had me at "high heels."

If that microphone had kept talking, it probably would’ve advised Haifa to stay right there. Whenever she takes a the microphone, the room stops; eyes mesmerized in fantasy.

At the MGM, the singer wasn’t content to stay in one place for very long, seducing us with her hips and airy voice. Her 100-minute, 22-song set was a jumble of seduction that had men doing standing ovations while sitting down and women hitting their dates for staring.

She was riveting and our eyes drink her in like a fine French wine.

"Haaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrd!"

The best part about the Olympics is women's curling...they become strangely attractive over two to three hours. Almost how waitresses in a bowling alley become after a few games.

Postcards and Voodoo Dolls

Memo to the Marketing Department:

Stop sticking pins in your Direct Mail doll. However the post office may have offended you--What, did it take one of the stripes from Old Glory? Did it say "I love George W. Bush?" Misspell your Twitter update?--surely you've punished the greatest promotional vehicle enough. It's time to remove your hex.

And, don't act as if you don't know what I am talking about. The last 24 months have been brutal for the often-maligned junk mail and not once in your recent trip to the outer rims of the world have you thought to connect to your neighbors with a pretty landscape postcard. When you put the finishing touches on your second quarter marketing budgets where was the love for paper, ink and postage? I bet you there was love for banner ads, Facebook ads and the lot.

I mean, really, who's going to keep my bills company in the mailbox? My associates at other firms have seen it coming while others say "it's plain weird."

It's more than weird; it borders on the catastrophic. Direct mail spending will decline 39 percent during the next five years from $49 billion in 2008 to $29 billion in 2013! Are you kidding me? Disastrous! It is just a streak of rotten luck. A tried and true medium being pushed back by the new kids in town? No, a dry spell like this can only be the work of the Deities of the Online Wonderland. Internet is King. Long live the Internet.

Is it really too much to ask to drop some intelligent print media at the post office? Is e-mail instead of direct mail really the end-all-be-all answer? Judging by what advertisers spent on e-mail marketing in 2008, $12 billion, and what it will spend in each of the next five (over $16 billion), it seems so.

Here's the catch though: the Direct Marketing Association studies show that when snail mail is added to eDirect marketing, the effectiveness of the total campaign rises three-fold. That's a 300% increase.

So why do all of the promotional experts torture the direct mail piece by leaving it on the shelf while less worthy targets enjoy the marketing spotlight? The telemarketer is a pain in the posterior for decades, yet spending there was UP 5% in 2009. Remarkable!

Beware the marketer that tells you to abandon the direct mail world. Although the changes in spending are systemic, not cyclical, in nature, there is a place for this medium. It does create the greatest value for marketers when it is used as one component of sophisticated, data-driven, multichannel marketing programs.

On second thought, all you haters out there keep sticking those pins in your dolls. Don't worry about lifting your hex. Direct Mail is strong enough to break it on its own.

Networking: Always Be Closing!

"A-B-C. A-always, B-be, C-closing. Always be closing! Always be closing!!"

The words resonate.

They resonate everytime I go to those networking things. You know the ones everyone says you have to hit because you have to network in a time where we type our social interaction instead of speak it.

Those words belong to Alec Baldwin's super-duper salesman Blake character in Glengarry Glen Ross. He's inspiring. Intense. Undeterring. He lets you know that coffee is for closers, only.

Always
Be
Closing

Those are the ABC's of business. If you want to compete in this global world you have to ask for that order. Then demand it. I hate these networking things. A bunch of cliques where they circle the wagons effectively locking out the walk-up. One guy always camped at the iced shrimp. And then there's the know-it-all who can't be bothered by your trival conversation. Yet, you have to get out of the office to meet those new people. You gotta close!

Now I'm not a command-the-room-kind-of-guy. I'm definitely the get-to-know-you-kind-of-guy. I like to sit down with you and have a drink and bond with you in a beneath-the-surface conversation. Next thing you know we are doing this regularly, doing deals and having fun along the way. Relationships are so much better than networking, aren't they?

But since you have to be out there you might as well do it right. These events are full of companies vying for users’ attention so you need to separate yourself from the competition. You can do this by creating a compelling headline for youself with a opening billboard that explains who you are and what you do without it being like trying to figure out E=MC2 or why Jim Caldwell looks like a coaching Avatar.

After you get the someone's attention, keep it. This is where creating persuasive content comes into play. THEIRS, not yours. Listen to what they want and who they are. This is like a date and always that no matter how much they laughed at your jokes in the Monday morning recap meeting your date is more concern with their feelings. Paramount to everything is that they want to know you like THEM!

If you have someone's attention, now you have to get your new best friend to take action. Map a plan right there. Set a meeting. Show up on time. Be intelligent. Make it simple. It should be a simple step to get someone to want to do business with you, no more. You have the answers they need. Show them. Find a way to get to the cigars.

So if you haven't been following, remember coffee is for closers only and cigars are for the fun once you close.

Remember luck isn't for closers and don't forget to follow me on Twitter (twitter.com/MarketingVIP) and Facebook (facebook.com/MarketingVIP).