Archive for February, 2009

Thanks to you all for the kind words, prayers and support over the past week. Without question the toughest week of my life.

If you are in NZ and would like to join us this weekend to celebrate Marty’s life we will be gathering at the Empire Tavern at Noon on Sunday.

As we deal with the shock and pain of losing someone so dear to us so unexpectedly, we are comforted in knowing that Martin’s legacy will live on for generations to come. One only needs to spend a few minutes with the children, parents and teachers who benefited from the incredible passion Martin had for teaching to see the amazing difference he made in their lives.

To ensure that even more people will be touched and enriched by Martin’s incredible passion and talent, we are creating the Martin Lark Foundation. The Martin Lark Foundation, or MartinLark.org, will be dedicated to improving the lives of children in Thailand and elsewhere. We will do this in specific areas of need and also by providing children with better access to world-class education in the English language through scholarship programs and access to online resources that enable teachers to teach better.

To memorialize Martin’s fun-loving spirit we will also be building a playground at the orphanage near Martin’s home and creating a scholarship program for the English program he created here.

We invite you to join in our efforts and to see the difference one person can make. Your donation can be sent to MartinLark.org, 3801 N. Capital of Texas Hwy, Suite E240-148, Austin, Texas 78746-1416 USA

A big thanks to Kristen, Casey Jones and the brilliant team at RD2 for helping set this up so quickly.

I got one of those calls nobody wants to get – my brother Martin has been killed in a terrible accident in Thailand so I’m heading that way and plan on tuning out to focus on family. He was the shining light of our family and imagining the universe without him is hard to comprehend.

When times like these strike you become deeply thankful. Especially for my brilliant wife (in so many ways) and Sophia and Zach. Figuring out how to get me and family members to Thailand in one hour is an amazing feat… We love you!

And hey, you appreciate people who go out of their way without any skepticism. American Express Platinum figured out how to get me to Thailand the fastest way possible and made it happen. And to Qantas who treated my Mum like royalty, held the flight for her, drove her around the airport, upgraded her without her asking and escorted her through customs… You are heroes!

Mashable, one of the leading blogs on social networking have included Dell as one of the top 10 smartest brands in social media.

Maybe we do need posters. This is a cool frame” Keep Calm”. The message so easily could have been “don’t panic”. Which creates the inverse frame, “panic” Like: “Don’t Think Of  An Elephant” — what are you thinking of?

Most of us harness peer pressure in our messages to drive sales actions. Customer references, “9 out of 10 prefer…” … are good examples. But what about driving other actions. In the latest HBR, Noah Goldstien points to some great examples  of how to do this.

First, how could hotels get more folks to reuse the towels rather than requesting new ones? They adjusted the message we all see today to one, truthfully stating, that the majority of other hotel guests reused their towels. Participation went up 26%.

But it doesn’t always work this way. Robert Cialdini found signs at Arizona’s Petrified Forest National park highlighting that others had stolen petrified wood not only proved less effective but resulted in more theft than when there were no signs at all.

And, in another study – when California households were told they were using more electricity than their neighbors they reduced consumption. But, when they were told they were using less, they increased consumption.

The messaging lessons:

1. people respond to messages that point to the behavior of others
2. the more similar the people, the more potent the effect
3. show approval of positive behavior (when California households got a smiley face for low electricity usage they continued with their winning ways…)
4. test messages for responses and tune
5. measure message outcomes vs. resonance (I might be aware of the need to reuse towels but be doing nothing about it)