Writings from Force 5 Basecamp

01/28/11

The day before yesterday I got home from work and was greeted by a plain brown box, correctly addressed to me, on my front porch. I thought this was rather curious, as I had not ordered anything. I brought the box in from the cold (it was about 12 degrees outside). My kids were with me and they were just

01/21/11

A few weeks ago I was reading the usual list of technology sites and came across an interesting debate on how Microsoft is planning to embed ad blocking technology into its browser, while Google and Mozilla will not. The items that were discussed got be thinking about what I use and how that relates to the Web as a whole.

01/11/11

Recently in the local news WNDU reported how the “Freedom from Smoking” program started last week. The report was based off of the Tobacco free program in St. Joseph County which is involved in helping the public stop smoking. Tobacco Free of St. Joseph County has been a client of Force 5’s for over a year now. Force 5 recently

01/11/11

My blog post last week on discoverforce5.com left you with this question:  “How much should a marketer promise about an experience?”  Probably better stated as : “How do I promise people enough to move them to action without setting them up for disappointment once they make the move?” I had several conversations about this last week.  It was clear this question hit home

01/07/11

2010 was a big year for the tech industry. New markets became relevant, Facebook reminded us no one is anonymous, web technologies were given a second look, and TV was rethought. 5. Old Spice “I’m On A Horse” campaign finds a new way to promote. The campaign had legs from the beginning. Remember this? And this .. Old Spice later

01/05/11

Almost every modern website has a “search my site” module of some sort added to it. In this How-To I’m going to explain how to set up Karamasoft UltimateSearch to automatically rebuild its index on a repeating scheduled basis in a Microsoft Windows hosted environment. First, you will need to obtain the UltimateSearch software from the Karamasoft site, found at:

01/03/11

Marketers are promise –makers.  They use their promises to set expectations high enough to move consumers to action: to buy their stuff, read their books, to come to their show, etc.  PT Barnum made big promises.  He promised, “The Greatest Show on Earth” – the ultimate claim – not a better show anywhere on the planet.  I imagine his customers

12/28/10

South Bend, IN , December 28, 2010– Force 5, a brand development and marketing communications firm located in South Bend, IN, today announced that its Privacy Policy has been certified for compliance for the third year with the Safe Harbor Principles of the U.S. Department of Commerce. In October 1998, the European Commission’s Directive on Data Protection went into effect.

12/28/10

Our Digital Crossroads Over the past few years, we’ve seen a shift from what we know as your typical computer. A few years ago (heck all the way back to the Apple II), computers, more or less, took the same form; A monitor, CPU, with a mouse and keyboard. Recently, with the onslaught of touch screen smartphones, we’ve seen a

12/20/10

I was at church this Sunday and received a good reminder. Let me take a step back, this was the weekend when the little people come up from little people church to big people church and sing a few Christmas songs. So here comes the first group, 4-7 years old, I believe. The girls have on their new tights and

12/09/10

Having duplicated content within search engines is a very common problem that is often overlooked. You would think having duplicated content will be good for your search rankings, although that is not the case as it may be not useful to the end-user. www-vs-non-www (Problem) Search engines recognize your www.your-domain.com and your-domain.com as two separate websites. You may not be

11/22/10

When I was a kid, I loved watching the The Road Runner Show cartoon on TV after school.  Yes, it was a little violent. Yes, it was a lot predictable. And no, it really wasn’t very funny.  But what I liked about the show was the Coyote’s creativity.  What imagination! I mean really, this dude had some creative chutzpah!  He came