Changes in Latitudes or Changes in Attitudes - Jiffy Lube Live's New Tailgate Policy

Yesterday, news broke in the D.C. area that Nissian Pavilion Jiffy Lube Live would no longer allow tailgating. The news was first released on the venue's Facebook page and then via an official statement:

The safety of the fans is of paramount importance and we have an ongoing commitment to work with the local police department on all shows to ensure a safe environment for all of our fans. As part of this commitment, it has been determined that it is in the best interest of the fans and their overall experience at the venue to not allow tailgating.

Yeah, right.

If this was about what is in the "best interest of the fans" then the venue would have released this information at the time that tickets went on sale for the first concert of the season or at least prior to the sale of Jimmy Buffett tickets which, is by far their biggest concert of the season and the one that has the biggest tailgate.

What you have with this announced via Facebook is an amateur Public Relations move. Just because you have a Facebook page to promote your brand or company does not mean that you can post reforming procedures and subtly announce changes to your audience. What Live Nation, the operators of Jiffy Lube Live, are now realizing is that using a social platform which is supposed to create engagement to their brand to get more people to buy tickets and attend concerts is now doing the opposite. The use of social media is now creating a greater negative buzz about the policy. While many in PR and marketing live by the quote "All publicity is good publicity" in today's world where brand reputation is based on people's opinions and sales increase with recommendations from friends it is a major risk to come out with reform on social media sites.

If this policy was really about 'fans safety' the venue would have announced that they no longer sell beer/wine/spirits inside the venue and the price of such products would be reduced from the gouging price of $7.00+ per drink. According to reports the facility has hired more security and police officers to patrol the parking lots to site violations. The resources should be used instead to encourage responsibility for of concert goers and maybe increase the presence of DUI checkpoints to increase public safety.

Unfortunately, the venue is mostly enforcing a standing Virginia law regarding drinking in public areas. This law has been on the books since 2006 but in my experience has rarely been enforced. The venue has enforced other drinking related laws such as drunk in public, drunk driving and underage drinking.

It will be interesting to see what actually takes place this concert season at Jiffy Lube Live and to see if other venues take up this policy. The litmus test will be the Jimmy Buffett concert, will Jimmy decide to have "Changes in Latitudes" and move the concert this year (and future years) for will Jiffy Lube Live have "Changes in Attitudes" and realize their PR mistake.

One thing is for sure, "Only Time Will Tell".

Sometimes Your Online and Offline Lives Sync

Everyday we try to get our work done but end up taking the 21st century smoking break: web surfing.

For me, I call it research, as I am usually trying to find new ideas to integrate marketing into my low (read non-existent) budget. So, you can usually find my Twitter feed running faster than the Roadrunner or an article from Mashable on my screen with the hope of spark an idea.

Well, today I came across a "must read" headline from Mashable: "HOW TO: Sync Your Online and Offline Marketing Campaigns". The well written post by Dana Zemack provides a short "how to" for integrating online marketing plans with an "offline" event. Offline, is a real event where people interact face to face, yes, these still do exist.

After reading through the first few points I come across a video which I watch without any hesitation. As I do with most videos, I have the video on one screen while working on another project on a second screen, listening for something interesting.

Today, I got more than something interesting. 30 seconds into the video I was no longer at my desk but in my freshmen door room at Elon (Sloan 201). Why? Sounds of that door room came flooding back through my speakers. The spokesperson in the video was a person I knew in college. The voice belonged to Lexy A. the (then) girlfriend of my freshmen roommate. I couldn't mistake that voice who would spend time hanging out.

It is not everyday that you are on a major site and you personally know someone that is a part of a video package.

The piece, by the way, is excellent and an interesting look at the marriage of online and offline marketing.

Sometimes, you are lucky enough to have your online and offline life sync.

"Let's Move!" U-S-EH?

This is not a knock on Canada, Mike Green, the Washington Capitals or the Chicago Blackhawks. First Lady Michelle Obama has been the champion of a program called "Let's Move!" an initiative to get America's children active for at least an hour a day. The campaign has teamed up with celebrities and athletes alike to get out the message that kids need to be active and that does not mean repeating Up Up, Down Down, A, B, A, B on a Nintendo control pad. This is not a knock on what the First Lady is doing nor the campaign.

However, I saw this tweet from @NHL today and I thought, What's wrong with this picture?

The problem isn't that the NHL is partnering or that this is taking place during the Blackhawks visit with the Stanley Cup to the White House. The problem? The featured players are from CANADA! Wouldn't it make more sense to have John Carlson (Natick, MA) and Patrick Kane (Buffalo, NY) be the highlighted athletes for national effort for the United States? Both are young and popular in their markets and throughout the U.S.

I think the initiative is great and even I need to remember to get out once a day and be active. But come on, knock-knock, White House press/community relations department, doesn't someone realize that they should highlight US stars for a US campaign?

Brett Favre

So, aftDC is a BIG Vikings fan and when I mean big I would say just as much as I am a Caps fan (maybe even more). So big, in fact that in our Fantasy Football league she took Brett Favre as her QB...IN THE SECOND ROUND!

This may be the best spoof I've seen in a while. Enjoy!

Hockey Joke

Once in a while there will be a really funny e-mail chain. While I hate to see "FWD" in the subject line you hope for the best but fear the worst. Today, especially with all the work I've got on my plate, I received a gem. I'm sure that you can replace any sports team into the punch line but I'll take it in the form in which I received it. Thanks to one of my STH seat buddies from 107. Enjoy!

Dad's Profession


David was in his 5th grade class when the teacher asked the children what their fathers did for a living.

All the typical answers came up - fireman, policeman, salesman, etc.

David was being uncharacteristically quiet and so the teacher asked him about his father. 'My father's an exotic dancer in a gay bar and takes off all his clothes in front of other men.

Sometimes, if the offer's really good, he'll go out to the alley with some guy and make love with him for money.'

The teacher, obviously shaken by this statement, hurriedly set the other children to work on some coloring, and took little David aside to ask him, 'Is that really true about your father?'

'No,' said David, 'He plays for the New Jersey Devils, but I was too embarrassed to say that in front of the other kids.'

Voice of Reason, Coming from Comedians?

Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert's "Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear" in 2010 made headlines, "scared" Republicans, "invigorated" Democrats and was theme of "stick it to the man" for Independents.

The way I saw it, however, was more of "hey 'traditional media' isn't this what you're supposed to be doing?". Time and time again I find myself being drawn to political satire such as The Daily Show and Colbert Report to even The Onion or late night personalities. Why? Because they are actually being "fair and balanced".

The shooting that took place in Tuscon, AZ is a tragedy and is still a shocking event. From all the information I can gather from news reports, the suspect acted alone and without any motive to make a political statement. Yet, blame is being put on political talking heads and sections of political parties by the mainstream media.

However, while pundits, commentators, journalists and columnist all play their usual games of speculation and finger pointing there is a voice of reason, which comes from a comedian.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Battle of the Bans
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog</a> The Daily Show on Facebook

You see, Stewart makes a very reasonable point (2:26):

"Most of us don't need clarification on the whole 'Thall shall not kill' thing. And for the ones that do, clarification never seems quite specific enough."

TRANSLATION For many laws they only affect those that already abide by them, not the ones that don't care who are the intended targets (ahhh).

Need an apples to apples comparison?

You're only making a law for the good apples, the bad apples don't care what the good apples do, the bad apples will try to spoil the whole bunch.

Another point made by Stewart and a growing question among many Americans, why do government officials/employees get special treatment ov

er other (private) citizens? Other than their job title what makes them different or more important? I can think of a lot of private citizens and/or company officials that the general public does not agree with and whom I assume have had threats against them personally or threats against their company.

Additionally, while the intent of Rep. Brady (D-PA) is to prohibit the use of threatening symbols (allowing this would be in violation of the First Amendment) I find it hard to believe that the language in the proposed legislation would clearly define what is/is not allowed. Working in a government affairs shop and seeing how legislation and regulation is written the original intent far exceeds what is presented. I can see Target (the private retail store) having to reconfigure their location map. Why? Because they brand very well and use their "target" symbol on a map to visually represent their store locations, thus fall within the definition of showing a "violent symbol" in a political district. While this would seem like two separate meanings by rational people must legislation based on the wording does not differentiate rational vs. irrational intent.

What happened in Tuscon is beyond horrible and I pray for the families and people affected by this senseless act.

Before any rash decisions are made, let me leave you with what I believe is a rational statement and one that I have not heard from the "mainstream" media:

"We end up enforcing laws and forcing everyone to live by rules that only attempt to prevent the last thing that was done by the least controllable among us. It doesn't have to be this way. We must not give in to fear. We must empower our better judgment to create a society where violent rhetoric and imagery is frowned upon, not because it drives the unbalanced to action but because it's inherently wrong." - Jon Stewart

Ideas for the post were provided by this Huffington Post article and provided the embedded link above. The image of the Target map is from www.target.com.

A view from the "Not So Cheap" Seats

Aside from the picture with aftdc, I think my favorite is from the Hendricks/Downie fight in which I captured Hendricks sweater over his head. Brooks is my favorite player so there are a lot of pictures of him (ladies, you're welcome). Varly gets a bunch of shots because I felt like I could talk to him through the glass.

A full post about the experience of sitting on the glass will come soon, I promise, the delay is the fact that work has priority.

Great dining find in Dupont

In 2010, aftdc and I set a New Years resolution to try one new restaurant on the Washingtonian's Top 100 list each month. We were able to eat at 12 restaurants in 2010 but ended up breaking the trend in October, which aftdc believes is breaking the resolution. I think we did what we set out to do, which was to try new places in and around DC.

I give this background to say that we have been to a number of different places and have some favorites and some least favorites.

Last night, we were looking for something to complete of our "pizza and wine" mood and craving.Being yet another cold night within the Beltway we ventured a short block around DuPont circle. We ended on P street and after being satisfied by the initial menu ventured down into UrbanaRestaurant and Wine Bar. We have probably walked, run and biked past this place a hundred times through our routines but had never ventured down the steps and into the establishment.

The adventure was well worth it!

As aftdc says, the mark of a good eatery or watering hole is how crowded it is and this place was well visited. For a Thursday night the place was well trafficked but was not overcrowded. We decided the take seats at the empty pizza bar, which ended up having single patrons come and go after a light dish and a drink. Urbana is connected to the Hotel Palomar Washington DC which allows for Urbana to cater to hotel guests, business travelers and locals alike. The lounge area just behind the host stand was well populated with small groups taking up the seating area. The decor was great and sitting at the pizza bar was a pleasant experience.

Our waiter Jake had some spot on recommendations for both of us. I am a sucker for mussels and had the PEI mussels. After some debate I took Jake's recommendation of the saffron, tomato, and spanish chorizo. It was prepared perfectly and the chorizo gave the tomato sauce a great bit of bite. Aftdc stayed on the original theme of the night of pizza and ordered the brick oven Margherita. From New Years we learned that 2007 was a great year for California wines so we decided on a bottle of Zinfandel from Napa Valley called Porque No? which was just as good as the Zin we had on NYE. We started with a Cheese & Charcuterie with amish cheddar and midnight moon cheeses with soppressata and prosciutto di parmameats. I will be the first to admit that I'm not a blue cheese fan and the amish cheddar was not to my tasting. The midnight moon was great, especially with the meats.

The decor and food were fabulous and so was the service. The manager, who was previously at FireFly, was very nice and we had a great conversation.

All in all I think we have found a new place to become regulars as the wine menu was fantastic and there were a number of entrees that need to be discovered.

James Van Der Beek is Killing it right now

I'm behind on my post about the Caps vs. Tampa Bay game and it's because I'm busy "sticking it to the man". But in the meantime thanks to @LevyDR and his tweet "James Van Der Beek is Killing it right now" I post this:

Asshole For Hire from James Van Der Beek

Yes Dave. He is.

Stimulating A City

As an update to my post below I wanted do want to point out what the Winter Classic does to a city. For Caps fans, most all have read @TedLeonsis's blog and no doubt read this article. But based on my experience (I'm talking to the Yinzers) this is what sharing your stadium for one night did for your city: Winter Classic expected to help Pittsburgh economy.

And for the well educated Pens fan that tried to argue that Washington was a worse place because we have Obama, I want to clarify two things:

1. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania helped send him to D.C.

2. The Winter Classic is an example of a true stimulus using the free enterprise system.

Go CAPS!

Pittsburgh vs. Shittsburgh, a Winter Classic Experience

The title of this post is a pure representation of the beginning and ending to our Winter Classic experience. I have been to the majority of Pennsylvania, including Philly, Harrisburg, Gettysburg and even Higgins in the Schuylkill Valley. I have driven around Pittsburgh but had never actually been to the Steel City. I would say that 75% of the people we interacted with were great fun and we had fun banter about the Capitals and Penguins rivalry. The other 25%, well, that left such bitter taste in my mouth that I don't see myself ever needing to return to the city, ever.

Pittsburgh

• The food we had was great. When we arrived in the Steel City we headed straight for a culinary landmark, Primanti Brothers (pronounced Permanni) in the Strip District. While we stood in line (one of many throughout the weekend, more on that later) this was well worth the wait.
• Science Center- 3 of the 5 of the group went to see Lord Stanley's Cup and I thought Science Center was nice. We stood in line for over an hour but created good conversation with the Pens fans around us. Good first experience of meeting opposing fans.
• New Years Eve dinner was arranged with more Capitals fans at a fantastic restaurant Toast Kitchen and Wine Bar located in Shady Side. The food here was great as well, I'd recommend the Shrimp and Grits appetizer. Being raised on Southern Cuisine I am sometimes hesitant to order this traditional Southern meal North or the Mason/Dixon but the addition of brown sugar caught my attention and did not disappoint. The Lamp was good as well and the smoked ham tasted like bacon, and that is always good. Our group arrived a little late to meet the rest of our party so I'm not sure if we just stuck out or if someone knew but near the middle of our meal, as a party was leaving, they did a little "Lets Go Pens" chant (as loud as you can in a quite establishment). We talked to one of these spirited guests for a moment and he asked us about our experience thus far in the city, thoughts on the game and a parting "enjoy" and "good luck". A few other parties gave a few more "Go Pens" as they left and the spirited banter continued.
• We drank the night away at Le Mardi Gras and drink we did. This establishment didn't care which team you cheered for with their generous pouring of drinks.

With the announced delayed start time we stayed out late and

ended up taking our time to leave the hotel. With the forecast ever changing we didn't want to lung around layers which also added to our lollygagging.

• From the hotel our group split some went to Fatheads in the South Side. The GF and I headed down to a great sports bar, Mullen's, located right next to PNC Park. Being about 2PM I thought it would be crowded being located near Heniz Field and showing the bowl games. We lucked out and posted up at a table-top spot right near the door. We made friends with a Penn State/Pens fan and his table of locals. We headed to a sports bar as the GF needed to watch her team wearing red in the Rose Bowl. Being in Big 10 country and both of us rocking the red with both Capitals and Badgers gear we got a few looks. The bar obviously favored Pens fans but there was a good amount of red throughout. We had a great waitress, for as busy as she was we always had fresh drinks (bloody mary's). We had great conversations for the 5 hours we were at the bar and felt great leaving the bar (well, GF was nervous about the ending of the Badger game and for good reason).

It was when we left the bar that our opinions changed from the city of Pittsburgh, in which we should come back to PNC Park for a baseball game, to never coming back to the city of Shittsburgh. I know that any city is going to have fans that are not the norm but compounding events and people changed our opinion about the city.

Shittsburgh

From the minute we started walking down General Robinson Street I knew that this wasn't

going to be a pleasant stroll to the stadium. Even at 7PM a good hour before the anticipated puck drop, the Pens fans started jawing. Now, I'm no dummy, I understood that I was a visitor in a rivals town but in my experience NHL fans have been different from NFL fans or so I thought. The most disturbing moment occurred as we walked past one of the tailgate lots on the after crossing Tony Dorsett Drive where a group of Pens fans were jawing with their normal BS of "Ovi sucks", "Win a Cup", blah, blah, blah. What got me is when one of the females in the group got up in my face and stared walking backwards for about 10 yards telling me how much she thought I sucked (Strike - 1). I didn't say a word and kept walking. All I can say is, WTF? Looking back, these folk where what I learned were "Yinzers" down south we'd call them 'necks or trash.

The worst put down that I heard during the walk:

"Why do you let your girlfriend dress you?" - What is that even supposed to mean? At least I'm wearing red, this was coming from a guy in a powder blue jersey?

We cautiously walked around the fan zone and was glad to see that lead singer of the cover band had a Caps jersey on. There was not much to see without a line so we headed to our seats.

Inside the stadium the experience was great. We ended up sitting around a red and white clad friends and very little foes. Our seats were good and we were able to see the guys, especially Erskine's scrap with Rupp. The atmosphere of the game was great and really enjoyed all the pageantry of the event. Inside the stadium there was only one moment that was annoying. If we were on the ice the woman walking down the stairs would have either received a cross checking or boarding penalty when she shoved me from behind while I was handing a towel to GF. Sweet, thanks.

The best part of the game came with 5 minutes remaining of the 3rd when the Pens fans started leaving. It was great to see all the RED ROCKING the stands of Heinz field as the Pens players and fans left us enjoying a victory.

It was again outside of the stadium that the colors of the city, black and cold, came out. Upon instructions from out hotel and a cab driver from earlier in the day we headed to the Rivers Casino to the Cab Stand to catch a cab. Only to be cussed at and continuously told to "win a cup". What this translated to in my opinion is that Pittsburgh, unlike Washington, can only live in the past and does not look to the present or future. What does the Cup have to do with winning a regular season game? What does the Cup have to do with winning a highlight anticipated game? From there we stood at a "Cab Stand" for 2 hours (Strike 2) before the Capitals fans finally taught the Valet and Managers and Casino how to run a real cab stand. The service was horrid and included an employee of the casino flicking off the line comprised of both Capitals and Penguins fans. After 2 hours we finally got into a cab though from the 90 mile per hour driving and running red lights I wished I had never got in the cab. (Strike 3)

I hope that when Washington hosts the Winter Classic that we get to host the Penguins to show them how a real city runs.

I enjoyed the Winter Classic and the time spent with the class of Pittsburgh but I have no desire to ever return to Shittsburgh again.

It was an overall great experience that I cannot wait to relive when the Classic comes to DC. Now, those two points are collected and next up with Tampa Bay which will be yet another experience I will write about soon.

Until then I continue the echos from Saturday night.....C-A-P-S, CAPS! CAPS! CAPS!