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Dear Readers,On September 12, 2007, I had a kick-off meeting with the Syrup team. Syrup is the agency I chose to develop SavvyAuntie.com and the branding, including the logo. It was a stunningly beautiful day in New York City, just on the cusp of fall, and I remember clearly the walk from the Canal Street exit on the 1 train to 12 Vestry Street in Tribeca that afternoon...The decision to work with Syrup was an easy decision in some ways, difficult in others. It took exactly 2 months from the day I decided to be an auntrepreneur to this day, the kick-off meeting with the creative team. Looking back, perhaps two months is not a long time considering I had only thought of the idea weeks before. But those two months were full of decisions and indecisions. Working with an agency like Syrup meant a big investment. Were there more economical ways of achieving what I envisioned?I looked...I spoke with a few smaller agencies. And I spoke with some freelancers who do great work. But none had all the skills I needed to develop SavvyAuntie.com. It took me about a month to realize if I was going to do this, it had to be done right. There's much more to the development of a website than design. Or programming. There's the user-interface. There's architecture. There's functionality. There's usability. And it all has to embody a brand experience that is meaningful, unique and unforgettable.
When I finally came to the right decision to engage a full-on creative agency, there was only one agency I wanted to work with: Syrup.
I had a wonderful history with Syrup. When I worked at L'Oreal USA corporate, responsible for the company's internal and interactive communications, I agreed to meet with Syrup after a cold-call to my office. They showed me their work and I was immediately impressed. I hired them to redesign L'OrealUSA.com back in 2005. The new site was nominated for a Webby Award for Best Beauty Site. Because it was a corporate website, not a consumer website, it was especially exciting to be nominated in that category.
Syrup also works with GE, Hearst, Nike, Coty, and many fashion brands. I knew that if I wanted a destination for PANKs (Professional Aunts No Kids), that talked to them without talking down to them, I need to work with an agency that understood women.
I needed to work with Syrup.
So I called Rob Holzer, the CEO - and a friend - to ask him to work with me. Of course this was in the summer of 2007 when digital agencies were so busy, they could hardly keep up with the work they had. And that's exactly what Rob told me when he turned me down.
So I called again. Rob and Jakob, his business partner and Chief Creative Officer, were on their way to a summer retreat for the weekend. I was on the deck of a friend's house in San Francisco, pleading my case. I needed to work with Syrup.
And they finally agreed. They love me and they loved my idea. They would make it work. And boy did they make it work.
So on September 12th, 2007, as I walked across Canal Street, ready to kick-off the work for SavvyAuntie.com, champagne bottle in hand, I was confident I was making the right decision. The incredibly talented team at Syrup would help make Savvy Auntie the premier destination for aunts.
And it is.
In that meeting, I told Jakob and his team that I wanted to win a Webby Award for best Family site for SavvyAuntie.com. It had to be that good.
And it is.
I found out earlier this week that SavvyAuntie.com and Syrup are nominated for a Webby Award for Best Family/Parenting Website. The other nominees include Disney's Family.com, WebMD.com/Parenting and Kaboose.com. Just to be nominated among them is no small feat.
The nomination means that SavvyAuntie.com is among the best of the best. And there were tens of thousands of entries for the Webby Awards this year.
I'd like to say thank you to Rob, Jakob, Omino, Dana, Paul, Joerg and everyone on the team that made this happen. And since the nomination is also based on content, I'd like to thank all the Savvy Experts and guest Experts who have contributed. And thanks to all the Savvy Auntie members who have posted their own content to the site. And to Dave Finkelstein of Quarksoft which built the site.
And I'd like to thank you, Dear Readers, who have supported me all this time.
While the Webby Awards is presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a 650-person judging academy whose members include Internet co-inventor Vinton Cerf, R/GA's Chief Bob Greenberg, "Simpson's" creator Matt Groening, Arianna Huffington, and Harvey Weinstein, there's also a way that you can show your support, if you like.
The Webby Awards People's Voice awards let's fans vote for their favorite in each category. To vote, you must register and go to the Living section and choose Family/Parenting here: http://savvyauntie.com/l/Webby. It's Auntie vs Goliath as I am up against major-league companies for votes. But that's never stopped us, has it?
It IS an honor to be nominated. Truly. And on May 5th, when the winners are announced, hopefully I'll find myself crossing Canal Street, with a bottle of champagne in my hands....
XOXO,
Auntie Melanie
Dear Readers,
I've been nominated by various Followers on Twitter for the Shorty Awards in the "Brand" category. The Shorty Awards award those voted on by people on Twitter as the best short form communicators in their category. For those who don't know, Twitter is a social media platform that enables people and companies to communicate in 140 characters or less. I cannot say enough about how Twitter has enabled me to develop groundswell support for my company and gauge how my brand is affecting those around the country and the world. (Twitter has also enabled me to connect with my business heroes, advisors, Savvy Auntie Experts and much, much more. But more about that in another post.)
I didn't really pay too much attention to the Shorty Awards but appreciated all the nominations I was getting by my Followers on Twitter in the brand category. But things changed last week when I was notified by the people at the Shorty Awards that I was a finalist in the category and that there would be an awards ceremony in New York City on February 11 and..... and my ego kicked in.
All of a sudden I wanted to "win." Even though I am not sure I should win. After all, I think Tony Hsieh, the CEO of Zappos, should win if we're going to be legitimate about who is the best brand communicator on Twitter. But Twitter.com/zappos is not a finalist. Marvel is a finalist and so truly they should win. But they are not currently winning.
Over the last few days since the finalists were notified, Twitter.com/SavvyAuntie has been neck-and-neck with Twitter.com/MarthaVan. Heard of her? I hadn't. Her profile says she's the "Creator of Action Wipes. Gr8 after a ride, hike, climb, camping, Burning Man, Coachella and more. “Your face is not a baby’s butt. Don’t wipe it like one”." And I started to think that "Martha Van" isn't a brand. It's a person. "Action Wipes" are the brand. And so I started to ask people to vote for me because "Savvy Auntie" is a brand. I even sent Direct Messages (private Twitter messages) to Twitter friends asking them to vote for me.
And the whole time I felt like an idiot. After all, the winner, in my honest opinion, should be Zappos.
And then I really felt like an idiot when I received a note from the people at the Shorty Awards that the price for the awards ceremony would be $60 (free for me as a finalist). So if I did win this thing, I would have to then go back to the same people from whom I asked for a "vote" and ask them to shell out $60 to attend.
This has gotten way out of hand.
I am really honored (I am serious here) to have been nominated. When people nominate and the vote for you for the Shorty Awards, they have to say why they are voting. And frankly, I was so touched by so many of the things that people wrote about me and my brand.
And that's more than enough for me.
I am spending way too much energy exercising my ego in the Shorty Awards. Do I really need to win this to be proud of the fact that in six months Savvy Auntie has the recognition and buzz that it does? No. It's silly.
While it's not fair to pull of out the race because it wasn't my decision to be a finalist (it was the voters' democratic decision), I am no longer asking people to vote for me, checking my stats or frankly, caring. Those who have voted for me, I have thanked. If I haven't thanked you yet, it's coming. Because that's the "win" here. The win is having people who care enough to recognize me and my efforts...and a way for me to say thank you. The best shorty award vote came from someone I don't even know: "smarkowski: @shortyawards I vote for @SavvyAuntie in the Shorty Awards Finals for #brand because she asks politely and sends thoughtful thank you notes."
Awards programs like these benefit the companies that initiate the awards programs more than the people who receive the awards. It's a profit making and/or traffic driving endeavor that plays on the egos of small (and large) businesses like mine. It's not a fair awards ranking program. It's a popularity contest and the nominee with the most energy to aggregate votes, wins. Basically, they aren't fair in a number of ways.
The award I really want to win will coming up in a couple of months. It's the Webby Awards. I have no idea if Savvy Auntie is even a finalist yet. But I want that award because it will recognize the team from Syrup that worked so hard and so professionally with me to develop the brand design, website design and strategy, and much more. Plus, it's decided on by experts in the digital media field and not a popularity contest....other than the People's Voice part of the awards program...which is already giving me agita and I haven't even been nominated yet. The primary part of the Webby Awards is about the work that my team did and that is completely legitimate and I honor the opportunity for them to be recognized.
Here's more on the Webby Awards: The Webby Awards is the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet. Established in 1996 during the Web's infancy, The Webbys are presented by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a 550-member body of leading Web experts, business figures, luminaries, visionaries and creative celebrities.
To be clear, I value the people's votes for Savvy Auntie in these contests more than anything. But I am sick about how it feeds my ego, making me feel like I am part of a high school popularity contest, and so I won't do it anymore. And I won't ask for your votes anymore.
Because that's entirely your decision.
XOXO,
Auntie Melanie
PS - Follow my brand life on Twitter at www.twitter.com/savvyauntie. Please excuse all the "vote for me" tweets from the other day. :)
