Origin Stories: Grandpa Bud

Bud Sworden, WWII veteran

Veteran’s Day seems the right occasion to share a Kean Communications origin story about my Grandpa Bud. He was a WWII veteran who was building roads in rural Eastern Washington on December 7, 1941 when Pearl Harbor was attacked. On December 8, he was in Spokane at the Army recruiting station. He wasn’t your typical recruit. In 1941 he was 39 years old. The Army made use of his skills, and he was engaged in building roads and airstrips in North Africa, Italy, France and Germany during the war.

He was born in Idaho and left school after completing 8th grade, which he explained was common in farming communities in the 1910s. He worked as a farmer, a fisherman, and in road construction. He was very humble about his war experience. He didn’t talk about it much. When he died, he left me a box of war mementos with small trinkets from his war years. Including a ring made by a German POW that he supervised in N. Africa. The ring was made from the metal a propeller of a down German aircraft and the POW had been a jeweler in civilian life.

I spent a lot of time with my Grandpa in my childhood. He was a quiet, steady, and warm presence. He was a voracious reader and loved history books, spy novels and westerns (Zane Grey was a favorite.) He always encouraged me, a fellow voracious reader, in my reading and emphasized thinking critically. Another item he left me was a first edition copy of “Out of Africa” - I loved the movie and he told me to read the book.

After the war he started his own business as a commercial fisherman. He was a great outdoorsman and loved hunting, camping, and clamming at the Oregon coast. He could fix most anything and woodworking was a hobby of his, as well as playing cards and pool. My grandparents had a pool table in their basement and he had a 1940s pin-up in the basement. He had a weekly poker game, too.

I wondered what his life would have been like if he had the opportunity and privilege of further education. He read widely and was very knowledgable. At his memorial service, one of his poker buddies said to me how proud grandpa was that I was attending school at University of Oregon. All these years later I still get a bit choked up about it because I always wanted to make him proud of me.

Misinformation Madness

Illustration of person pushing against icons representing misinformation

A couple of weeks ago, I was at a conference listening to a panel about misinformation and disinformation, which has been compounded by quickly produced (and sometimes dubious) AI content and shrinking newsrooms. Honestly, it was pretty depressing. The shrinking newsrooms at the local level and the lack of outlets that practice rigorous and investigative journalism is profoundly damaging in so many ways. While AI can be a useful tool, it also accelerates the pace at which misinformation can be churned out, and increasingly, AI can make something false look real.

What can help stem the tide?

• Media literacy - Training people of all ages to vet what they see on online, broadcast or in print.

• Advocate for Accountability - Misinformation can have real life consequences, such as people not getting correct information in an emergency (a hurricane, for example) or getting scammed and losing money, and more. Could misinformation be treated as we treat product safety? Look at the warnings on products you buy. They are there because manufacturers know that they are accountable for the safety of their products. Is there a way to hold people and organizations who knowingly spread misinformation which harms people, accountable?

• Authenticity- Here is where I believe marketing, communications and PR can make a difference by creating authentic communications and community building. People respond to people and trust their communities. Products, services and brands can choose to share authentic stories and build trusting communities.

Perhaps I am naive, but I hope and believe that eventually there will be pushback against the tide of misinformation, and I hope people realize that they do not need to tolerate it.

Taylor Swift and Cookies

Taylor Swift and Nutter Butter cookies. Huh??

No doubt that Taylor Swift is great at marketing and developing loyalty to her brand. She achieves this through community building, authenticity, vulnerability and care and cultivation of her loyal following. She is great at evolving her craft and bringing her community along with her by building excitement and creating a sense that her fans are insiders. Fans feel part of something larger than themselves.

Now to Nutter Butter cookies - these have been around for awhile, I remember them from when I was a kid. The Nutter Butter brand recently made quite a splash on social media, specifically, Tik Tok. Nutter Butter made some unhinged fever dream videos about their cookie and influencers started talking about it. They talked about it as a “teaser” with comments like “Nutter Butter are you ok?” The influencer boost and the weird nature of the videos has resulted in millions of views. The ultra weird nature of the videos speaks to something that is crucial to marketing and communications - the attention economy - and the tsunami of messages everyone absorbs every day through traditional and social media. Nutter Butter has used absurdity to break through.

And what does Nutter Butter have to do with Taylor Swift, you ask? I think one main feature is that they are playing the long game. In this instant gratification world, people are quick to abandon a strategy or creative content if immediate results are not achieved. Nutter Butter did not just throw up weird videos in the last few weeks. They have committed to the bit for a year. They didn’t do a “one and done,” in scrolling through their Tik Tok account the early videos got 40k - 60k views. Now the views are in the millions. Taylor Swift is masterfully playing the long game too, using community, vulnerability, authenticity and intentional care of her fan base throughout her musical evolution.

It is not known at this point if Nutter Butter can sustain the spike in their brand interaction as long as Taylor, but their commitment to the bit has paid off with a win in the attention economy and that’s no easy feat.

Origin Stories: Dad Part 1

This will probably be the first of many origin stories about my dad. He had a huge influence on my life and work. I thought this origin story should begin and the beginning. My dad was the ultimate “girl dad” before that phrase came into popular usage.

From the time I was a little kid he reinforced to me that I was smart and capable. Probably without intending to do so, he made sure that I knew that being a girl was no limitation. He also let me like “boy things” without trying to persuade me not to like those things. Here is where the John Havlicek shoes come in. My dad was a big basketball fan. In addition to the hometown team of the Trailblazers, he liked the Celtics. I watched games with him when I was little, and around age 8, I noticed some of the boys in my class had John Havlicek tennis shoes and I wanted them. My dad said yes, and took me to the Sears shoe department. The salesman said these were boys’ shoes and tried to show us the “girl shoes.” My dad, who was a pretty intimidating guy, said, “No, she wants these shoes, and shoes are shoes, so measure her feet and get her the shoes.”

I didn’t realize it at the time, but it was a powerful lesson that I absorbed that day - I didn’t need to be confined to how the outside world defined me. I could also stand up for myself and refuse to accept something less or different because I was a girl.

He wasn’t trying to make me a substitute son or anything like that. I liked plenty of girls things too and I was not a tomboy. I was crazy about Barbies, so he got me the fanciest Barbie townhome (with an elevator!) but he also gave me Matchbox cars, that I collected in a shoebox.

I was so fortunate to have someone in my formative years who showed me I was smart, and capable and that being a girl didn’t need to be a limitation, and not only that, if someone tried to make being a girl a limitation, you could say no, that’s not what I will settle for.

Frame the Story

“…Transported to a surreal landscape, a young girl kills the first person she meets and then teams up with three strangers to kill again.”

This TV Guide description of the 1939 movie classic “The Wizard of Oz” is technically true and kind of funny, but probably isn’t the way most people would describe the movie. It is a great example of framing. We frame pictures, but we also frame stories.

“The Wizard of Oz” is a movie rich with enduring and emotionally resonant themes, which is what makes it a classic over many generations. It’s about friendship, family, fantastic journeys, obstacles, good and evil. But what might be most resonant is that it’s about discovering the power within yourself, which you’ve had all along.

How is this related to communications, marketing, and PR? The essential skill of framing. When you tell a story designed to persuade people to feel some way, take a specific action, or reinforce your brand, the story has to be properly framed. The story of your business, nonprofit, or even yourself is rich with compelling aspects you can share to engage people. The challenge is not only identifying the element of your story that is most engaging for your audience but sharing it compellingly and concisely. This takes us back to the clever TV Guide description which is framed in such a way that it would appeal to people who like crime or murder mystery movies. I loved the “Wizard of Oz” but even as a child, I didn’t understand why Dorothy would leave Oz to go back to Kansas! If I were writing the TV Guide description it would sound like this: “Young girl has adventures in a magical land full of possibility, but inexplicably returns to her Depression-era dirt farm in Kansas.”

Framing your story is not easy. You need to get in the mindset of what appeals to your audience - are they crime and murder mystery fans or are they prematurely cynical children? Putting yourself in the mindset of your desired audience is the first step to framing your story. You can do it! To quote Glenda the Good Witch, “You’ve always had the power, my dear, you just had to learn it for yourself.”

Attention Economy Part 2: Monsters

I believe it is important to view communications and marketing efforts through the lens of the attention economy - the highly competitive space of garnering attention for your message.

Now that we are past Labor Day in the heat of another competitive election year, the competitive nature of messaging through traditional media, social media, and other platforms will become MONSTROUS!

According to a July 1 story from The Hill, a record breaking 10.7 billion dollars will be spent on ads this election year. This was before the election dynamic changed with Biden dropping out of the race and Harris picking up the reins for the democrats.

In addition to the ad buys, segments of the creator communities on social media will be churning out political content as well, and some of it will be controversial and maybe outrageous.

There is not much comms and marketing folks can do about the election year amplification of the attention economy, but one thing - let those you serve know that these election year dynamics affect the amount and the cost (in paid ads) of attention you can garner with your best efforts. This is especially true if you are trying to reach folks in battleground states.

The mental image that comes up for me is Godzilla rampaging through a city.

Stay safe out there y’all.

Origin Stories: Grandma Part 2

In thinking about starting Kean Communications, the example of my grandma loomed large for me. She (the absolute stunner pictured here) started her own real estate company at the age of 27, in 1946.

In an era when women could not get a mortgage or buy a home, it was not until 1974 that women could get a mortgage without her husband or male co-signer. This is outrageous, but I digress. So, how did a young woman in the 1940s establish and run a successful real estate company for 15 years?

• Resilience - In general, I’m pretty anxious. My grandma was always one to advise action and getting back up when I felt knocked down. She was the epitome of resilience. She lost her mother when she was nine, lived through the Great Depression, left an abusive marriage when the stigma around divorce was strong, worked on Swan Island helping to build ships during WWII, had a daughter and started her own business as a single mom.

• Provide value - As a woman in an era of rampant sexism, she knew she had to find a way to stand out and be taken seriously. One major thing that she said she did was to make connections with banks and lenders. The other crucial piece was learning about VA loans, which were new back then - it became part of the GI Bill of Rights in 1944, and there were a lot of returning service members looking to buy. This expertise gave her an advantage. She also chose to sell homes in the neighborhood she grew up in. She knew the schools, churches, parks, and the community well. Back then, this section of Southeast Portland had many Irish and Italian American families. My grandma was Irish American and really proud of it and loved her community.

I think resilience and cultivating ways of providing value is timeless. When the going gets tough, I try to remember her example and her saying, “this too shall pass” when I felt hopeless about a situation. In starting Kean Communications, I’m always thinking of unique ways to offer value to folks I may work with and hopefully follow grandma’s inspiring example.

The Cake Method

Have you ever had a delicious piece of cake? Baked to perfection with incredible flavors. A great cake requires quality ingredients, the proper cook temperature and more. How is this even related to marketing and communications? Approaching your project with the cake method helps bring you a good result with stakeholder input at the right time. Below is the cake method for marketing and communications:

1. What kind of cake are we making? Who is the audience? What is the occasion? Are there any preferences to take into account, for instance, does the guest of honor love chocolate? Our marketing/comms project needs to ask similar questions - audience, occasion, known preferences.

2. Assemble the ingredients. We need to make sure we have everything to bake a great cake - flour, eggs, spices, etc. In marketing/comms this means having the right tools and tactics for our project.

3. Bake it. It is time to pop it in the oven at the proper temperature for the right amount of time. In marketing/comms this means the time to execute on the plan while making sure the conditions are right.

4. Frost it. The cake is baked to perfection, now is the time to make it even better! In marketing and comms, it is time improve and perfect your project by making enhancements.

Why is the cake method important? It is a useful analogy for the creative process that helps prevent confusion and wasted work. There needs to be clarity about what the project is, or it is impossible to assemble the right ingredients (tools and tactics.) There needs to be clarity about the crucial moment of putting the cake into the oven - how sad would it be to throw away a chocolate cake after it is baked because someone wants a spice cake? In a similar way, how sad is it when marketing/comms folks have to scrap a lot of good work because there was not clarity and agreement from the start. For marketing/comms folks, ask the question, “What amazing thing are we going to make together?” and use the cake method.

Turkey M&M Pizza

A pizza with turkey and M&M candies

I saw this on Twitter (aka “X”) and laughed and kind of wanted to cry as well. Most communications and marketing folks will know why this image can prompt tears as well as laughter, as we all have had the experience of a “group project” press release, article, blog post or piece of collateral that spirals out of control and is no longer effective.

It is not that stakeholder input is not vitally important - it is! But it is most valuable at the beginning of the process when the communications or marketing professional is collecting information on the purpose, message, the audience, and key points. Once those key pieces are conveyed, it is important to trust your communications and marketing folks to take it from there to write the piece with further input from a smaller, tight circle of stakeholders.

The best approach is to identify relevant stakeholders and discuss the purpose, message, audience and key points, and then let the comms/marketing folks draft the work and share with that tight circle of stakeholders who value the skills and knowledge of the comms and marketing teams. The process gets derailed when the comms and marketing folks don’t have clear direction, when there are too many people involved in the process, and there is lack of clarity. Other stumbling blocks, which can be kind of touchy to address, are that some people want to contribute just to contribute and it doesn’t substantially improve the piece, and the other is that many folks fancy themselves excellent writers. To quote Carrie Fisher from “When Harry Met Sally” - “Everyone thinks they have good taste and a sense of humor, but they couldn’t all possibly have good taste and a sense of humor…” not everyone is a good writer, but perhaps more importantly, not everyone knows what best practices are for communications and marketing across a multitude of platforms.

Maybe there is an occasion for turkey and M&M pizza, but more than likely, there is a lack of clarity about what should be on the menu.

P.S. If you haven’t seen the classic film, “When Harry Met Sally” here is a link to the wagon wheel coffee table argument scene with the brilliant Carrie Fisher.

Why?

It is the fundamental question - Why? Anytime someone makes a decision, consciously or unconsciously, they know why.

Why was Kean Communications founded? I have worked in the nonprofit communications and marketing space for a long time. In small, medium, and large nonprofits. Budgets and maximizing impact are always top of mind. Staff members wear many hats. It is hard to find external help that doesn’t require a lot of money and often those service providers want to lock in a long-term retainer. Kean Communications was founded to provide “help when you need it,” and help how you need it. You may need outside assessment and recommendations around your current communications or marketing plans, help with content creation, or help with PR.

Kean Communications is here to serve small businesses. My parents and all four grandparents were small business owners. I didn’t realize it until later, but growing up in this environment prepared me well for the challenges of nonprofit work because many of them are the same, tight budgets and having to wear many hats. Kean Communications is here to help small businesses when and how they need it.

I hope Kean Communications can provide help to nonprofits doing great work to make our communities a better place to live and help scrappy small businesses thrive! Interested? Shoot me an email: stacy@keancommunications.com for a free 30-minute consultation.

Origin Stories: Grandma

 “Creation myths, or origin stories, tell us what a culture believes about how humans came to be. They can also tell us much about what that culture values. These are often religious or spiritual explanations for human life.” - From the Smithsonian Learning Lab.

Imagine escaping from an abusive marriage and needing to find a way to support yourself and your two-year-old daughter. Now, imagine the year is 1946. Options for women were limited, and very few women owned businesses.

My grandma didn’t need to imagine it, as she lived it. She started her own real estate company, “Colonial Realty Co.” and ran it successfully for fifteen years until a traumatic injury forced her into early retirement.

I knew grandma in her retirement years and I was lucky enough to spend a lot of time with her. I remember she, as a child of the Great Depression, wasted nothing. Everything was saved and used again. She was also incredibly kind and generous.

I remember asking her how she made her business a success, and she said, “I made sure to have good relationships with banks and loan officers and helped guide buyers through the financing process so I could show them homes that they could afford. The VA loans were new then and people needed advice. Not many people were thinking that way back then, and it helped my business a lot.”

In founding Kean Communications, I thought of Grandma and how thinking of the needs of her clients and being of service as keys to her success, and will strive to make it a foundation of Kean Communications as much as it was for Colonial Realty Co.

The Attention Economy

“In the attention economy, anyone trying to connect with an audience must treat the user’s time as the ultimate resource.” - Jakob Nielsen

What is valuable? Usually, something scarce, difficult to obtain, or linked to “your money or your life” - things that impact your economic status or your physical, emotional, or spiritual health.

We now live in an “attention economy” where one of the most valuable assets is the ability to capture the attention of people who are typically bombarded with 3,000 to 5,000 messages per day. Think about your day - do you check social media, watch TV, read articles, or listen to the radio and podcasts? How much content is vying for your attention? How do you choose from the vast array of content available in your pocket on your “phone?” (and how many of you use your smartphone as a phone?!)

Some of the content out there isn’t especially valuable or edifying, as people ratchet up the outrageousness to capture eyeballs and the news cycle. Additionally, there is “content candy” - sweet and irresistible cat memes, jokes, adorable babies, and more.

In a world awash in all kinds of content designed to pull you into mindless scrolling or participation in the slinging of insults, political or otherwise, the competitive stakes of the attention economy are very real. Communications and marketing have become that much harder in the attention economy that provides endless options for consumption. Before embarking on a communications plan, it is very important to understand the current environment. Know that you are competing with cute cats, outrage, misinformation, and more.

Free Puppy!

Cuteness overload, right?! What’s more adorable than a puppy?

And a free puppy? All of this cuteness for FREE? Free of charge, no money, no cost - it is irresistible.

Ok, I’m about to be a buzzkill - there is no such thing as a free puppy that you bring home. Puppy ceases to be free once you need to feed him, when you need to replace your shoes, or when you buy all sorts of carpet cleaner to get those potty stains out.

Aside from the economic costs, people who have puppies know that there is a time cost as well - puppies are like toddlers - they need supervision and lots of attention.

I love puppies, I have nothing against puppies, but they are not FREE. Similarly, social media marketing is not free, it requires attention and money if you have paid employees or an agency working on your social media marketing. In the nonprofit world, folks are offered “free” help, which sometimes doesn’t turn out to be free when implementation, maintenance, and usefulness are considered.

With puppies, social media, or other free offerings, just be ready for the expense and attention required to maintain your puppy, your social media, and other “free” offerings.