Monday, February 28, 2011

How does Tea Party do it?

As I've observed the events of the past few weeks unfold here in Wisconsin, I'm often finding myself wondering how the Tea Party is able to get their followers to believe all their lies and rev up their base.  And then, because I've been involved in different marketing campaigns, I start to realize how it's being done.  I would venture a guess that the Koch Brother's and Karl Rove have been a big part of the marketing of the Tea Party brand, knowing exactly how to get that base fired up.

But why then, aren't the Dem's, Liberals, Progressives able to do the same?  Well, for one, I don't think they have the immoral leaders like the GOP and Tea Party do.  Another point of fact that I've found to be true is that Liberals and Progressives take the time to research things before running with them.  I find that for the most part, we tend to base our decisions on facts and not feelings.  The Tea Party get's told that Obama's coming for their guns, and they just get all nuts and start ranting right away, without going to other sources of information to find what is truth and what is not.  They tend to be like those who send along e-mails without going to snopes first.

So then, how do we fire up the base?  A few thoughts I have.  Since so many non-union people seem to really despise those benefits that union member's enjoy, why not try and sell the non-union people on what a union could do for them?  The big argument I always here from non-union people is that unions protect the bad employees, and to a point, that is true.  I recall numerous occasions where I was supposed to defend a union member who had gotten themselves into a bind, all the while knowing that this person was just playing the system.  And when I talked about how frustrating that was to my grievance committee members, they told me to remember that they were the minority, and not the majority.  And I soon learned that if a supervisor really wanted that person fired, all they would have to do is perform their job like they should.  Thorough documentation of ones misgivings, or work issues, is usually enough for most arbitrators to find just cause for disciplinary actions by the company.  It just takes diligence, which I have found very few supervisors to have.

It was much easier for these supervisors to blame the union for protecting the shitty worker than it was for them to do their job and perform the tasks necessary to discipline those employees who they were always complaining about.  It's like the situation where my wife works.  They have a teacher who is still on probation, whose activities in the classroom are less than desirable and in some cases, downright abusive.  But, because administration doesn't have the balls to do the right thing, they blame the teachers union.

It's a lot like what the GOP, Tea Party, and Gov. Walker are saying currently about the unions.  AFL/CIO, and all of the other union leaders, you need to rebrand your unions.   You need to start selling the idea of unionization to the citizens of this country.  To show them that it's not what Fox has been spewing, and that unions have afforded people many great benefits that they realize in their day-to-day lives.  Let's get the tide to turn in favor of unions, and let's start today.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Marketing is Key in Today's World

As I was marching with the other anti-Walker protesters in Madison on Saturday, I was amazed at how some of those who are pro-Walker can be so dumb.  Then it came to me when I saw a sign slamming Walker for quitting college, I was reminded of what the degree was that he couldn't complete.  It was a degree in Marketing.  And I realized that this is exactly how we have gotten to this place in history.

Not only have the Democrats done a lousy job of marketing their brand, but the unions have as well.  Fox and followers have made it a point to paint unions as bad for America, at the same time promoting the ever widening income gap as truly great for America.  In fact they've made it seem downright patriotic.  Let's take a look at a few examples from the past few years.

The auto industry, through bad management and bad investments with pension's in Wall Street schemes that were nothing more than grand con games, blamed the unions for their troubles.  Not only did they make it a point to get the mainstream news media to say so, they also placed ad's stating as much, and giving the unions yet another black eye.  I would call that an pretty good marketing ploy on the part of GM, Ford, and Chrysler.  Here's where the unions blew an opportunity.  See, the big three were saying how the benefits and such for the union members was killing their bottom line.  That is when the unions should have spoken up and shown the country how the difference between the lowest wage earner and the top 50 executives at GM was far greater than any of those between the same group of employees at Toyota.  Instead, they allowed the big three to make the argument that companies like Toyota and Honda didn't have all the pension issues that the big three had.  And, instead of just taking and swallowing that bitter pill, the unions should have again pointed the blame towards poor management of the pension funds, and the illegal activities of Wall Street for the pension issues.

Maybe that's what unions need to start doing.  A re-branding so-to-speak.  Especially geared towards the under 40 crowd who have been heavily influenced by the anti-union sentiment of the big corporations.  It's time for unions to start once again, selling their brand as being as American as baseball and apple pie.  Prime examples of times to do so would be whenever a new news release comes about something bad or toxic that was made in China, the unions could jump on that and state safety numbers from products made by union members here in the United States.

Look over the history of companies or brands that have suffered from poor marketing, and think about how marketing could help bolster the image of unions.  It's time for unions to employ the services of some of the great marketing firms and re-brand themselves before it's too late.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Governor Walker - Tales of a Half-Wit

The longer Scott Walker is Governor of Wisconsin the more I am amazed at how such a half-wit could become governor.  The guy dropped out of college after 4 years, with what his campaign people stated was a 2.59 GPA.  So, who is able to afford to go to Marquette University and drop-out before they get a degree?  Did daddy pay his tuition?  And how does a dolt like him fool enough people into thinking he can actually manage an entire state?  They guy couldn't even handle a country for christs sake.

What really irks me is here we have yet another Republican who certainly never had to work for anything in his life.  Everything was handed to him as he went along his merry way, continuing to fool those around him.  So how DID he actually make it to being governor?  Well, let's start with the Karl Rove money machine.  He was backed with a hefty amount of money, and some of that money came directly from Karl Rove's corporations set up strictly for funneling money to political campaigns.  Why did the Rove Machine choose Scott Walker over Mark Neumann?  Simple, and as much as I didn't really care for some of Mark Neumann's ideas, one thing I recognized was that he wasn't as apt to be corrupted by the Rove Machine.  The difference too between Neumann and Walker is that Neumann believes in capitalism, whereas Walker believes and is controlled by corporatism.

And now, here we sit.  The state of Wisconsin is faced with an autocratic leader who wants to impose his will on the state.  He reminds me a lot of an old supervisor we had.  He hated unions, and thought he could go about doing anything he wanted to try and mess with the people in the mill.  Hell, he even had some of those on the union executive committee scared because of his tactics and his smooth talk.  Until the day came where I stood up to this clown, and went toe to toe with him and watched as my union rep's backed down.  It took me going further up the chain in the union to get things straightened out and to get this guy to back down.  I only hope that the state workers are able to do the same with this poor excuse of a governor.  If not, then move over China because Wisconsin workers will begin to challenge you for those $20 a week jobs sooner than you know.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Unity is Key

In the past week, I've been able to witness two great displays of unity, and how integral that unity was to achieving a goal.

First there were the protesters in Tunisia and Egypt.  Pulling together for a common cause, these people were able to bring great attention to their causes.  In doing so, they also were able to get the support of a lot of people worldwide.  And why?  I think a big part of it has to do with the fact that these people all were willing to risk it all for the betterment of themselves and their society as a whole, without fear of repercussion or even possible death.  They planned and toiled to make sure that what they were about to do would be successful.  As the protesters gathered in Tahrir Square in Cairo, you could see that the strength in numbers was having it's effect not only with the protesters themselves, but with people in the military, and the media as well.  Respect had been gained, and the peoples' grievances were heard.  Not being an avid follower of middle east politics and lifestyles, I can only comment on the truly sensational act of seeing all these people pull together for a common cause and to see the great outcome of such an event.

Last night, I was witness to a different sort of pulling together for a common cause.  I watched my favorite professional team, the Green Bay Packers win the 45th Super Bowl.  They not only persevered through many an injured player during the regular season, but also through a few devastating injuries to veteran players during the biggest game for many to date.  How did they do it?  By pulling together for a common cause.  They all wanted this win.  All of them.  Those on injured reserve, those unable to suite up, those who probably wouldn't play, and those who were fortunate enough to play.  All of them worked together to make it all happen, and in doing so showed millions of people that no matter what obstacles are placed in front of them, it is possible to achieve anything through hard work, and doing so in a unified manner.

Although each of these events are highly different.  And one is much more important to life than the other.  Both examples show what the power of unification has on an anticipated outcome.  Americans should learn from these examples, and use them as a guide to help better ourselves, and to work towards a common goal that brings betterment to us all.

Unity is Key

In the past week, I've been able to witness two great displays of unity, and how integral that unity was to achieving a goal.

First there were the protesters in Tunisia and Egypt.  Pulling together for a common cause, these people were able to bring great attention to their causes.  In doing so, they also were able to get the support of a lot of people worldwide.  And why?  I think a big part of it has to do with the fact that these people all were willing to risk it all for the betterment of themselves and their society as a whole, without fear of repercussion or even possible death.  They planned and toiled to make sure that what they were about to do would be successful.  As the protesters gathered in Tahrir Square in Cairo, you could see that the strength in numbers was having it's effect not only with the protesters themselves, but with people in the military, and the media as well.  Respect had been gained, and the peoples' grievances were heard.  Not being an avid follower of middle east politics and lifestyles, I can only comment on the truly sensational act of seeing all these people pull together for a common cause and to see the great outcome of such an event.

Last night, I was witness to a different sort of pulling together for a common cause.  I watched my favorite professional team, the Green Bay Packers win the 45th Super Bowl.  They not only persevered through many an injured player during the regular season, but also through a few devastating injuries to veteran players during the biggest game for many to date.  How did they do it?  By pulling together for a common cause.  They all wanted this win.  All of them.  Those on injured reserve, those unable to suite up, those who probably wouldn't play, and those who were fortunate enough to play.  All of them worked together to make it all happen, and in doing so showed millions of people that no matter what obstacles are placed in front of them, it is possible to achieve anything through hard work, and doing so in a unified manner.

Although each of these events are highly different.  And one is much more important to life than the other.  Both examples show what the power of unification has on an anticipated outcome.  Americans should learn from these examples, and use them as a guide to help better ourselves, and to work towards a common goal that brings betterment to us all.