Hello readers, this is an update from jott.com. I'm actually calling a phone number and it's transcribing what I'm saying and posting to my blog. That's really, really cool. listen Powered by Jott

On my annual "spend-all-my-xmas-money" trip to the mall this week, I decided to stop into Delia's. If you've never been, it's a lighter version of Wet Seal. I checked out their jean wall and to my surprise I saw stickers that said "petite" and those that said "short." "Huh?" I thought. What's the difference? Surely a store wouldn't carry TWO petite-length inseams. "It's probably a difference in the rise, then," my mom suggested.

Well, I thought hell had frozen over when the salesgirl told me the difference is 2-inches. Petites are 26" inseam and short are 28" inseam. Not to mention that they carry down to size 00, which was pretty tight on me, and I'm only 95 lbs or so.

So, Delia's made my day. I walked out with a fab pair of Bailey low-rise flares in size 0-petite for $40. And they felt great, too - not stiff like many other new jeans I've bought.

Turns out they've had down to a 26" inseam for the past year, but I've never noticed. So right now there aren't many on their website (www.delias.com) but I'm sure they'll have more when the new season starts up just before spring.

 

And if you're like me and hate paying shipping, try the coupon codes at RetailMeNot.com (http://www.retailmenot.com/view/delias.com):

HOL7
$25 off purchase of $75 or more cannot be combined, exp. 1.31.08

free4u
Free shipping on entire order

DTFW25
free shipping over $25

D4FREE
Free Shipping on your first purchase

 

Here's a list of Delia's store locations.

Happy Shopping! 

Well, my boss basically just told me that we have no budget to do marketing research this next academic year. No money to figure out the readership of our employee and community newsletters, no money to ask people why they send their kids to our schools or why they take them out to attend a 'better' school.

This past year we left some $50,000 or more unspent. This, even after I kept harping on my boss to get going on marketing research. We had plenty of money to do it this year, but we didn't.

My time here is done.

I just applied to a position at one of our feeder schools (same community, different grade levels). They have a full marketing staff there - 2 designers (hopefully I'll become one of them), a copywriter/PR/broadcasting expert, a marketing director who has expertise in video creation, and a part-time secretary. They do marketing research every year (or at least every other year) and focus on one specific thing: enrolling students.

They have a real marketing department.

To hell with the people I work for now. Let their student enrollment hemorrhage and their budget drop year after year. Will they finally learn when they realize they have to cut jobs and salaries? Will they finally learn when people drop like flies to go to other districts?

Nah. They won't learn. It's a school district. They'll just keep doing a shitty job year after year, and pat themselves on the back for doing it. And they'll keep getting money from the state.

Oh well.

I'm a graphic designer for a public high school district. I've had more than one person ask me, "Why does a school district need a graphic designer?" Some of them are designers themselves, so it is not as if these people are the kind that don't understand the impact of brand management and well-designed marketing materials.

But really, why does a school district need a full-time graphic designer? In the two years I've worked for the district I've designed a new (albeit boring) logo to replace the hideous and ugly one they've had for 30-some years; I've reorganized, updated, and redesigned the district website; and I've designed a few banners and posters and other miscellaneous items, mostly for employee recruitment.

But what impact have I had on our (supposed) number one goal: student recruitment? I don't have anything to prove it (our admin team isn't smart on data-management), but my guess would be that not one student has enrolled in our schools directly or indirectly because of the work I have done. Am I just too impatient?

Or, is brand management for an entire school district a battle I can't win? Why is it that after two years even I can't sum up our "brand" in one sentence?

I would like to just say our brand is "High expectations for every student" or something like that. But the brand is in the mind of the beholder, and just me and the marketing materials saying it won't make it so.

Another question I have is, does the district really have a brand? What is it made of? Is it a conglomerate of the individual school brands? It can't be, according to the rules of Positioning. Then what is it? And does it matter? I think it should matter if we're going to have any marketing materials at all. There is no point in having marketing materials when you don't have a unique, focused message.

Here is an analogy: the school district is Procter & Gamble, and the high schools are Tide, Bounty, Cheer, Downy, Ivory, and Era (all P&G brands, by the way). Then what is the brand message of Procter & Gamble itself? To me it is "home cleanliness & hygiene products."

However, I don't buy Gillette Venus disposable razors because they're a P&G brand (I didn't even know they were until I looked at P&G's brand list). I buy them because the product, as compared to its competitors, appeals to me the most (for whatever reason that might be: price, looks, recommendation from a trusted source, etc.). I wonder if this structure holds true for our school district as well: parents don't send their kids to our schools because they're part of this district, they send them because the individual schools appeal to them the most, as compared to the competition. Then why sell the schools under the banner of the district name?

One problem we face is that our administrators (including principals) are squeamish about our schools competing against one another. There isn't any gain if a student leaves one of our schools to attend another of our schools. We get the same amount of money for enrolling that child, no matter which campus they choose.

But I sense that there is also a resistance to marketing each school separately (positioning) because they think that it defines the "haves" from the "have-nots." It's no secret that three of our schools are in the millionaire-type neighborhood and the other three are in the lower-middle class neighborhood (if that high at all). This is a fact that has a part in defining each school's brand, whether we like it or not.

However, what else makes each school different from its other schools, including our major competition, the charter schools? Just from my desk at the main office I see that one school is about Tradition, and another is about Pride, and yet another is about Diversity. These are three unique concepts. But if you try to suggest this Positioning mentality, the principal of the Diversity school might say, "But, we're also about Pride. Can't we be about Diversity AND Pride? Oh, and we're also about Academic Achievement!" They don't understand that when you stand for everything, you stand for nothing.

So, back to my original dilemma: what is the district's brand message? Should we just make it something generic, like "Students are our first priority"? Should I give up on branding and just make everything look pretty, like a good little graphic designer?

Al and Laura Ries... help! Branding is much harder than you make it out to be!

I love love love Craigslist. Thanks to that site I just found and bought my first car, a 2002 Mercedes Benz C230 Coupe for $9,995 (sweeeeet).

But, have you ever been looking for something on Craigslist and just gotten annoyed by having to click on each link to see the item's photo? I have. Tonight I was looking for a couch to buy and after 15 minutes of clicking I decided there's got to be a better solution.

Thank goodness for the internets!

The solution is a site called listpic, which I found through the Google of mashups, Programmable Web.

The site is set up exactly like Craigslist, but when you get to your city's listing pages (ex: furniture in Phoenix), the page is filled with photos of items matching your search. It even has a slider for you to choose the size and number of photos to see (much like iPhoto).

(click for full size image)

If you're on Craigslist as often as I am, check this site out! It's a major time-saver.

 

Other Craigslist mashups I love:

• HousingMaps: mashes Craigslist rentals/housing lists with Google Maps
  
  
• Weekend treasure: Garage sales from Craigslist mashed with Google Maps (best to try this on Friday nights)

 

Are there any Craigslist mashups or tools you use? There aren't many, but I hope there will be more soon!

I think it's official: I'm done with Twitter. It was cool while it lasted (all of a month for me) but I am so much more hooked on Jaiku. Here's why:

• Comments for each post. I can't tell you how many times I've browsed the Twitter Public Timeline and wanted to respond to someone's tweet but couldn't. Unless I'm missing something, you have to be mutual friends with a person for them to see your response on your feed (you know, when people say "@so-and-so..."). I actually remember an instance where one person added their Twitter feed to Jaiku, and someone else could only respond to their tweet via the comments area in Jaiku!
  
  Also, I like how commenting becomes an ongoing conversation, like an organic, less-structured message board.
  
  
• Icons. They're pointless, yet I'm addicted. My favorite? The straightjacket. Although this one makes me laugh:  
  
  
• Feed Adding. As Leo Laporte has said, Jaiku is really about presence: not just what you're saying on Jaiku itself, but what you're Digging, blogging, listening to, or taking pictures of. It's your daily digital timeline all on one page, aka 'lifestreaming.'
  

 

So now that I'm done with Twitter, I need me some good Jaiku widgets, gadgets, plugins, and whatever else you geeks have got out there. Here are the one's I've found so far:

 

Jaiku Gadget for your Google Homepage... er, iGoogle
Install it at: http://code.google.com/p/jaikugadget/wiki/Installation

This one is pretty good. Honestly, the only reason I added it to my Google homepage was to get access to the extra icon set that you can't use from the Jaiku website. I wish I could make the size of it larger but other than that, thumbs up! 

---

 

 

Juhu - a Mac OSX client for Jaiku
Download it from: http://juhu-mac.blogspot.com/

If there's a web-based widget/gadget/plugin available for whatever it is I'm trying to do, I'll undoubtedly prefer that over downloading an app that I have to install on each computer. But for curiousity's sake I decided to download Juhu. It's pretty simple and the design looks sweet. You don't even need to add it to your dock because you can have it open when you turn on the computer and toggle 'hide' or 'show' via the tiny icon in the menu bar. 

 

 

 

Again, I wish I could make the screen larger. I can only see three people's posts in that tiny window! And scrolling is a pain, especially since there is no scrollbar. But you do get access to the extra icon set! I have faith this app will get better with time. PS: Don't be fooled by that 'X' in the top left corner. I had to go through the OSX Activity Monitor to make it close for good!

---

 
 

 

Jaiku posting widget for Mac OSX Dashboard
Download it from: http://www.exove.fi/blog/2007/04/24/jaiku-widget-for-mac-os-x/

This one is only meant for posting, not viewing. And you don't get access to any of the icons. But hey, it's good for sneaking a quick Jaiku post in behind your boss's back at work! (Not that I've done this... yet.)

---

 

   

Jaiku widget for IMified
Get it by adding one of the IMified contacts to your AIM, Yahoo, MSN, or GTalk/Jabber buddy list: http://www.imified.com

If you haven't heard of IMified you should try it out. It's like the newer, smarter cousin of SmarterChild. Via IM you get access to your Google Calendar, to-do lists, del.icio.us feed, and make posts to your Twitter, Blogger, WordPress, or Jaiku accounts - plus much much more. This could be especially handy for those of you who can access your IM client on your cellphone.

 

---

(image provided by SourceForge.net)

Jaiku Moblet for J2ME devices
More info at: http://sourceforge.net/projects/mjaiku

Speaking of cellphones, this mobile app isn't ready yet, but if you've got a J2ME phone you just might want to keep your eye on its progress.

---

 
 

 

 
Sideku for Windows Vista Sidebar
Download it from: https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/pjakubo2/www/sideku/index.html

I don't have Vista so I can't try this one out. Your reviews in the comments are appreciated.

---

 

Additional Jaiku tools:

• Jaiku Plugin for WordPress. Post Jaiku updates via your WordPress dashboard. http://www.douglaskarr.com/projects/jaiku-plugin/
  
  
• Jaiku Presence Badges. http://jaiku.com/settings/badge

So, is there a Jaiku tool that you use that I'm missing? Do you have a "wish list" of features you're looking for? Ready, set, comment!

EDIT: Petteri Koponen (one of the Jaiku co-founders) pointed me to another great Jaiku tools list on Digital Craig's blog. Check this site for a few things I've missed, including Anothr (somewhat similar to IMified), Nitwit (a desktop app), JaikuGrowler (adds Jaiku updates to Growl), Jaiku-Plazes Quicksilver Script, and Twaiku.