I’m never one to ignore a challenge, so when 3fold’s CEO announced a friendly office decorating competition I took him quite seriously. Last weekend, after two years in my office, I finally put art on my bare walls.

Among the various pictures I’ve hung, there’s now a vintage Clairol ad on one of my shelves that my co-worker, Alicia, found for me in the June 1960 issue of Life magazine. “Does she…or doesn’t she? it asks. I find myself staring at the model’s red lips and simple wedding band, curious about what her life was like. But what I really love is the ad’s story, which I first read about in Malcolm Gladwell’s 1999 article in the New Yorker.

You see, this ad was created by a woman–Shirley Polykoff–a junior copywriter at Foote, Cone & Belding. Female copywriters were rare in the 1950s ad world so Polykoff was certainly an anomaly. In 1956, she was given the Clairol account just as the company was launching “the first hair-color bath that made it possible to lighten, tint, condition, and shampoo at home, in a single step.”  (In my head, Mad Men’s Peggy Olson is perhaps modeled after Shirley. Makes sense, right?)

“Miss Clairol gave American women the ability, for the first time, to color their hair quickly and easily at home,” Gladwell writes. “But there was still the stigma-the prospect of the disapproving mother-in-law. Shirley Polykoff knew immediately what she wanted to say, because if she believed that a woman had a right to be a blonde she also believed that a woman ought to be able to exercise that right with discretion. ‘Does she or doesn’t she?’ she wrote.”

The campaign led to overwhelming Clairol sales, and hundreds of other hair color options now available in today’s drug stores.

About ten years after the successful Clairol campaign, another brilliant female copywriter emerged: Ilon Specht, who created the advertising for L’Oreal’s hair color line. You’ll have to read Gladwell’s article for the full scoop on her campaign’s strategy. Trust me, it’s worth the read.

But one thing that really sticks out in Gladwell’s article is this:

“They were brilliant copywriters, who managed in the space of a phrase to capture the particular feminist sensibilities of the day. They are an example of a strange moment in American social history when hair dye somehow got tangled up in the politics of assimilation and feminism and self-esteem. But in a certain way their stories are about much more: they are about the relationship we have to the products we buy, and about the slow realization among advertisers that unless they understood the psychological particulars of that relationship-unless they could dignify the transactions of everyday life by granting them meaning-they could not hope to reach the modern consumer.”

Specht and Polykoff’s findings have never been more relevant. Reaching the modern consumer is about being part of their everyday life, understanding their passions, responding to their frustrations.

Today, exactly 90 years after the 19th Amendment passed, I can’t help but be thankful to work at an agency where females represent a large majority of our work force. We are following in Polykoff’s steps, although I would imagine we haven’t had to fight as hard to get to where we are today. She fought for us.

I’m also thankful I work in an age where the consumer is our focus. How fun that I get to connect daily with the very consumers I’m trying to reach–whether it be through the copy I write for an ad, Twitter or Facebook.

Does she… or doesn’t she? It’d doesn’t really matter anymore. And that feels really good.

Facebook just announced Places, bringing location-based functionality to the hugely popular social site. Is it a Foursquare killer? Who knows. Should your business be aware of Places? Absolutely.

If you’re ready to figure out how to use Places for your business, here’s what you’ll need to do:

To claim a Facebook Place.

1. You have to check in via a mobile device. If your business isn’t there, you click Add and fill in the necessary info.

2. You have to (oddly) find your check-in on an actual computer (not a mobile) – this is listed in the Newsfeed of your personal Facebook page.

3. Click on the Place name you checked into.

4. This takes you to a Place URL for that business. At the bottom of the page, find the link that says “Is this your business?”

Then this gets a little bit wonky…privacy wise. Or, looking at it another way, is refreshingly stringent about your identity’s safety.

5. To claim a business, you fill in the contact info for the business and yourself, including your position. Then you have to attach a copy of the business’s official documentation:Official documentation for your business (please provide a copy of one of the following):
- Articles of Certificate of Incorporation (for a corporation)
- Certificate of Formation (for a partnership)
- Local Business License (issued by your city, county, or state)
- Better Business Bureau (BBB) Accreditation

Personally, I hesitate to set this up because 1) Facebook believes in open everything, so I’m not sure how much information I want to give them, especially in the form of a copy of a business license; and 2) it would be extremely difficult to claim another’s business, so how necessary is it?

On the other hand, without claiming your business, you can’t edit your Places info.

It’s quite possible I’m being paranoid, but it’s something to think about before taking the step to claim your business on Facebook Places..

For a bit more detail: Mashable’s Places Guide

No matter how much of a city-lover you are, there are some downsides to the urban life. Our fellow 3folder, Alicia experienced this first-hand this week, waking up one morning to discover her beloved cruiser bike gone.

3fold loves Sacramento. We are avid supporters of our Midtown neighborhood and big fans of bike commuting. We are also big ol’ softies when it comes to helping out our own…and apparently our friends and colleagues (around town and in our various social media networks) are even more awesome.

Thank you to everyone who pitched in on our “Alicia-On-Wheels 2.0” bike replacement fundraising drive! It means a lot. You’re all amazing and we’re blessed to know you.

Only a year ago, finding a Google Wave invite in your inbox was a much coveted techie win. When I received mine, it was a little bit like Nerd Christmas had finally arrived. Breathlessly opening the email, I clicked on the link taking me to my shiny new social networking toy, ready to learn all its wonders. An hour later, I was still confused and, frankly, a bit bored.

What was Google Wave exactly? I’m not sure. Sort of a social network-collaboration tool-instant messenger-news feed on speed, I think. For its advocates, Wave’s strength was this lack of definition. For the rest of us, this wishy-washy concept was its greatest weakness. And, because of this general lack of understanding, Google Wave has been put to out to pasture.

All is not lost, though, for Google Wave lovers (do these people really exist?). The largely Australian-developed product will stay up through the end of the year and, according to Google, may be built into other projects in development.

Still, everyone can generally agree, Wave was a big fat failure. But is this such an awful thing? Maybe not.

Any successful business knows the importance of failure, especially when it comes to innovation. Wave’s failure offers some valuable lessons for Google…and the rest of us.

1. Innovation is not Certainty’s BFF. Being an innovator is a little bit like being crazy–you’ve got the wings strapped on and you leap off the cliff hoping you soar or, at very least, have a net to catch you. Innovators create without any guarantees that an idea will work. And, even if it does, who knows if it will have actual value. Even a company like Google, known for its wealth of talented employees and deep pockets for invention, had not figured out a way to determine beforehand if a market for Wave existed.
2. Some types of uncertainties can be resolved early, many can not. Sometimes the only true way to find out if your idea has merit is to make the investment and see. Google set out to pioneer a risky project and (very) publicly launched it so it could see how the market reacted and learn from the experience. Of course, launching a product when all eyes are watching for any hint of weakness is daunting, but, should it succeed, the rewards can be staggering.
3. Sometimes success is defined in ways that have nothing to do with the actual idea succeeding. Developing a better process, streamlining a technique, building the infrastructure for future ideas, or inspiring your team to try new things without fear of failure are all worthy outcomes of a tried-and-failed launch. By launching Wave, Google proved to existing and potential employees, customers and competitors that the company values innovation. When recruiting the best and brightest talent is more difficult than ever, potential employees are drawn to organizations that allow them to take risks and explore their creativity, and the development of innovative projects helps retain them.
4. Failure is the best way to succeed. The first step in innovation is almost always a big ol’ failure. Historically, many of the most innovative products and services are built on the rubble of bad ideas, failed attempts, and unexpected roadblocks. Organizations that learn to accept and deal with these failures can become pillars of leadership, with cultures that have a high tolerance for risk and staff that doesn’t become paralyzed by second-guessing.
5. Know how to tell when to pull the plug. Good managers of innovation develop clear metrics to measure performance of a product launch and are not squeamish when it comes to shutting it down. The ability to recognize a failing project and reallocate the intellectual and financial resources its consuming quickly to other more promising endeavors is critical to innovation success. Google Wave had a year to gain traction. When it didn’t, Google cut its losses and is focusing on the next big thing. In fact, some of Wave’s technology is already being applied to the communication and collaboration features of already successful products like GMail and Docs.

Of course, Google is not exactly the Average Joe of business. Unlike many organization, where big risks can make or break them, Google has the resources to tinker with new ideas relatively risk-free, seeing how 98 per cent of their revenue comes from advertising…the rest of their stuff is essentially a hobby. Smaller companies and managers, especially those without alternative revenue streams, take a much bigger risk with innovation.

But, of course, true innovators love a good risk. Even those that end in failure.

Have your smoothie and eat it too? A smart, new marketing campaign is hitting back at the ever-expanding menus of fast food chains. Apparently, Jamba Juice has had enough.

The smoothie giant recently launched a cheeky new “commercial” for the ‘Cheeseburger Chill’ smoothie. As soon as the video hit social networks–a play on the super-positive, hyper-wholesome image of McDonald’s commercials (complete with rapping employees)–people took notice.

And were a little disgusted.

Bewildered customers rushed to the site only to learn Jamba Juice was, in fact, not blending up delicious meaty-cheesy-smoothie goodness. Instead, they were challenging their fast food counterparts, saying their attempts to make high-quality smoothies was as ridiculous as Jamba blending up burgers.

This campaign accomplished what it set out to do–it got people’s attention. Jamba hooked people into the farce (“No way!”), drove them to the website to learn more (“That can’t possibly be true… can it?”), then delivered their central message (“Oooh, I get it. Funny!”). Added bonus: visitors to the site received a $1 off coupon for a smoothie of their choice (“Sweet!”).

Of course, there were also many who missed the joke by not doing their research–at least one appalled foodie blogger reported the video as truth and several Facebook commenters and re-tweeters bought into the ruse without first checking the site. Fortunately, Jamba Juice’s campaign was well-executed, clearly explained and offered an added value to loyal fans. A few misunderstandings didn’t ultimately cause the campaign to backfire.

What do you think of these April Fools-style marketing campaigns? Do they work or are they too risky for a brand if too many people don’t get the joke?