Helping brands connect with the American Worker

Here’s how higher fuel prices may help the blue collar economy.

Higher fuel costs and escalating wages overseas are beginning to tip the scale back towards making it more economical to manufacture in the United States.

This is especially true with larger, bulkier items that are difficult to ship.

I saw this in my own neighborhood just last week.

I called an advertiser on Craigslist about a bicycle rack that was still new in the box. When I went to the address, it was a warehouse.

Inside was a man and his wife, son, and daughter-in-law. Together they ran a business in which they rent the warehouse and buy vendor returns from major retailers. They receive truckloads of rejected merchandise, inspect it, then sell it on Amazon.com, eBay, and Craigslist. The owner said he uses Craigslist for anything that is too heavy or bulky to ship, like my bike rack.

I didn’t think about the global implications until I read about Bruce Cochrane in North Carolina. He has reopened the family furniture factory that he had to close because all the furniture manufacturing jobs had moved to China. It was particularly painful to close the furniture factory – it had been in his family for five generations.

After closing the factory, he made trips to China as a consultant for Chinese furniture makers, all the while feeling like he was contributing to the downfall of his own American industry.

But now, as an insider in China, he sees Chinese wages and fuel prices rising and believes now is the time to get America back to work.

So did all the workers he called to come back to work when he re-opened the factory. For example, Cochrane asked Pat Hendrick to return as purchasing manager. She was thrilled but would only come back if the company promised not to import anything. She didn’t want to be involved with a company that may put another American worker out of a job.

Hendrick’s job offer was an answered prayer. Literally. Every day while she was unemployed, she says, she had prayed she would find work. One day, she tried something a little different: “I said, `God, I’m tired. You’re going to have to drop a job in my lap that you know I can do and have people there that I can get along with and work with. I’m just leaving it in your hands.’”

Cochrane called at 8:59 a.m. the next day.

You may have even seen Bruce Cochrane in the first lady’s box at Barak Obama’s state of the union address this year, though he says he’s never voted for a democrat in his life.

Sometimes the timing is just right. See Bruce’s full story, “Furniture company’s revival has global message”

It’s time blue collar workers share some of the spotlight.

Today a singing competition (“American Idol”) dominates television ratings. I don’t think it’s outrageous to think that tomorrow’s next big television hit could be “American Worker” – a place where work and values can still get you to the top.

Russia is already doing it. President-elect, Vladmir Putin, recently announced a competition for the best blue-collar workers in Russia, as reported in a Moscow Times article, “National Blue-Collar Worker Contests to Award Cash to Welders, Masons.”

“We have decided to hold a competition for the first time for the five following nominations: the best welder, best mason, best miner, best electrician and best truck driver,” Putin said.

Here in America, we don’t have government sanctioned competitions to boost productivity – competition is inherent in a free market economy.

But wouldn’t it be fun to have such a competition? Once we found the best Blue Collar workers in the country, wouldn’t it be fun to pit them against the best in the world? Wouldn’t it be fun to have a Blue Collar Olympics?

Of course, in America, the competition wouldn’t have to be run by the government. We would monetize it and make it as big as the Blue Collar worker is in real life in America.

Local unions and subcontractors will enter their best workers for the public relations value. There would be preliminaries and eliminations that lead to “workoffs” (instead of playoffs) and finals that would be televised.

Each Blue Collar specialty will have sponsors: Hobart would sponsor the welding competition, Quikrete would get behind the masons, DeWalt would sponsor power tool categories. Every manufacturer that sells to blue collar workers will want to be part of it. And retailers like Home Depot and Lowe’s would fund the television broadcasts. Maybe Bob Seger will loan his classic song “Like A Rock” as the theme song for the show – or Chevrolet trucks can become the major sponsor.

The winners receive seed money to start or grow their own business in their trade. They will become teachers of their trade and live as the true heroes they are.

If you are with me on this, comment below and share your comment in your favorite social media.

Who knows, maybe Rupert Murdoch or Ted Turner is watching and wondering how to make their next billion.

Work can be your profitable friend. 

Television’s “Dirty Jobs” expert Mike Rowe says on his website:

“Our society has slowly redefined what it means to have a ‘good job.’ The portrayals in Hollywood and the messages from Madison Avenue have been unmistakable. ‘Work less and be happy!’ We’ve stopped making things. We’ve convinced ourselves that ‘good jobs’ are the result of a four year degree. That’s bunk. Not all knowledge comes from college. Skill is back in demand. Steel-toed boots are back in fashion. And Work Is Not The Enemy.”

Here’s how you can live that concept in your blue collar workplace:

1. Demonstrate that work is our friend. 

I work with less than a dozen people in my office. Because we work mostly with blue collar companies, the work ethic rubs off on our employees. They see that our Clients are real people with small (or no) egos. Our employees become more “real” themselves and stay ego averse.

2. Treat co-workers as adults.

Even though most of our employees were kids when we started working together, I don’t hound any co-worker and I don’t drown them with mandatory reports.

I just drop by their office a couple of times a day, see what they are doing and tell them what looks great and what doesn’t look so great. If they ask, I tell them how I would make it better. If they don’t ask, they make it better on their own and, most times, they make it better than I would have made it better.

No one has to make an appointment to talk with me. I look forward to seeing the great work they are doing, so I go see them.

3. Share the profits.

We have a fair and equitable bonus program. We split whatever profits are made – the people who worked the most get the highest percentage of the bonus pool.

4. Encourage play.

We have a Play Day once a month – when work allows – and no less frequently than once a quarter – even if work doesn’t allow. As a group we have raced go-carts, made ceramics, been to movies, and other fun things. Each Play Day activity is suggested by – and voted on – by the group.

And play is not reserved only for Play Days. One day I came back to the office from a meeting and found folks bowling in our main hallway with a real bowling ball from one of our Clients. I was able to roll the ball in a straight line for about 75 yards – all the way into the open doorway – and managed to get the high game for the day.

5. Find soul feeding work

This may be the hardest part of my job. There is lots of grunge work out there and people will pay you to do it. But every good employee wants to be proud of his or her work. Give them every opportunity to do that.

I don’t have a Harvard (or any other school) MBA – see “About Me”  but I can tell you that working this way works.

Additional articles that may be of interest:

• Mike Rowe’s Got Your Back
• Blue-Collar Jobs Suffer Most in Economy’s Blues
• Blue Collar Farmers Bring the Farm to the Consumer Through Social Media

Companies that provide a blue collar service or are trying to reach blue collar workers should explore the possibilities of expanding their reach in social media by using Pinterest.

Time Magazine named Pinterest one of the top 50 websites for 2011. It is one of the hottest new social media sites with enduring specialties that qualifies it as the next ‘Twitter.’  Its value through venture financing has soared from $40 million to over $200 million in only a few months.

Pinterest (pronounced to rhyme with interest) is a vision board-styled social photo sharing website and app where users can create and manage theme-based image collections. The mission statement of Pinterest is to connect everyone in the world through shared tastes and the “things” they find interesting. Wikipedia

A site like Pinterest helps provide a place for discovery, saving and sharing. 

Pinterest is like a giant scrapbook of ideas. When you find things of interest, this new platform allows you to upload those images as Pins and place them on customized , themed Boards and organize and share them on any topic that you choose. Others can follow your Boards and add comments. You can also allow them to post to your boards.

A ‘Pinterest Picture’ is worth 1000 words.

People tend to be “eye-minded”. I think this is one of the primary reasons this site has become so popular.

Studies by educational researchers suggest that approximately 83% of human learning occurs visually.

There is a soothing quality in using Pinterest.

Once you spend some time understanding how it works you’ll find it fun and very addictive. I’ve personally spent hours on it.

Even thought Pinterest is far behind site visitors comparative to Facebook, it is making up for it in the amount of time spent on the site. An incredible 88.3 minutes was spent in November, according to comScore. This number is third only to Facebook (394 minutes) and Tumblr (141.7 minutes) and is also twice the amount of time that the average user spends on Twitter and 10 times the time spent on Google +.

Here’s an example of a  blue collar service using Pinterest. Steve Singlak is promoting his recently launched company Stone Farm, based in Newtown, CT. The company provides exterior stone and outdoor living products. Click on the link to view their Pinterest Board.

The company also has an active Facebook page and  Twitter account. Steve has also created a blog, “If Stones Could Talk: Outdoor Living by Stone Farm”.

Here are a some ideas on how to use Pinterest for your agency:

• Showcase your company’s brand, service or products in a unique way
• Great potential for internal use with your company’s marketing team – storyboards, branding strategies, concept ideas, campaign ideas or design ideas
• Enhance visual thinking and planning
• It has important potential for your social media marketing mix
• A great way to keep tabs on current trends within your space
• Potential for greater SEO (you can embed Pinterest to your company’s website or blog)
• Interact with your audience by testing product ideas and concepts

To help you get started I recommend Rob Lammie’s a Pinterest: A Beginner’s Guide to the Hot New Social Network

A special thank you to Chris Dessi who provided inspiration for this post by his recent Social Media Today article, “ Blue Collar: The Forgotten Demographic in Social Media”

Manufacturers should follow Nascar’s lead in social media marketing.

Nascar’s roots lie deep within the working class. It is huge entertainment among those that put in their hours on the job but need to find their fulfillment and fun elsewhere. But even the working class is changing. Fewer teens among blue-collar families are tinkering under the hood anymore. There’s also an erosion of loyalty among the major automobile manufacturers and race car fans are not as passionate about rooting for Chevy, Dodge or Ford.

Media has also changed rapidly over the course of the Great Recession and the rise of new media. Nascar was finding it more difficult to connect with a younger audience from among blue collar families.

“The media landscape has changed so much and we were slow to change to it. We need to have a bonfire instead of 10 campfires if Nascar wants to speak effectively to attract new fans.” - Steve Phelps, CMO Nascar

Sports reporter Ken Belson, in a New York Times article, Reacting to Its Stalled Popularity, Nascar Checked Under the Hood, shares Nascar’s proactive steps to stem the tide of lagging attendance, TV ratings and sponsorships.

Among those steps Nascar will do a better job of embracing social media. Drivers were encouraged to use Twitter and Facebook to communicate because Nascar’s $5 million worth of research showed that young fans were more likely to follow the sport if they connect with a specific driver.

One of the first examples of Nascar’s new found love for social media came at the 2012 Daytona 500. When drivers stopped following a collision with a safety truck that caused a tremendous fireball, one of the young drivers, Brad Keselowski, pulled out his cellphone from his protective fire suit and started tweeting updates, uploading and  posting photos and answering questions from his Twitter followers. Within a short period of time his Twitter following exploded from 65,000 to over 225,000.

Keselowski said, “Obviously, my generation is obsessed with technology and access, so that was a chance to use both.” He went on to say, “I’m a fan of the sport, too and I’m part of that important 18-to-49 [age] demographic. So I find myself asking, ‘What would I want to see?’ That’s what I want to try to show as an athlete/entertainer, whatever you want to call me. I was tweeting things that night that I would want to see. I didn’t think about it any harder than that.”

Some fans were shocked that a driver had a cell phone with him during the race but Nascar officials were quick to defend Keselowski stating that he did nothing wrong and subsequently giving drivers their blessing to put cellphones in their race cars. Further evidence that Nascar is going to pay much closer attention to the changing media landscape in the future and be quicker to change with it.

Click on the following link to read Ken Belson’s article, Reacting to Its Stalled Popularity, Nascar Checked Under the Hood

Additional articles that might be of interest:

• Blue-Collar Jobs Suffer Most in Economy’s Blues
• Blue Collar Farmers Bring the Farm to the Consumer Through Social Media
• Green is More Blue Collar Than You Think

Blue collar jobs typically require less education but our economy has changed and blue collar workers must adapt. 

A blue-collar worker has been defined as a member of the working class who performs manual labor. Blue-collar work may involve skilled or unskilled, manufacturing, mining, construction, mechanical, maintenance and transportation.

Here are some stats that have blue-collar workers singing the blues:

• In 1969, 95 percent of all men between the ages of 25 and 54 had a job.  In July of 2011, only 81.2 percent of men in that age group had a job
• The average amount of time that a worker stays unemployed in the United States is now over 40 weeks.
• There are considerably fewer payroll jobs in the United States today than there were back in 2000.
• If you can believe it, the median price of a home in Detroit is now just $6,000.
• In 2011, about 5 percent of all jobs in America were manufacturing jobs compared to 20 percent back in 2000. Nationwide, more than 4 million manufacturing jobs have been lost from 1998 to 2000.

The less educated, the higher the unemployment rate reaches. If a person has a college degree the unemployment rate is just over 4 percent but for high school dropouts the rate is over 14 percent.

“In 1967, among men with a high-school degree between the ages of 30 and 50, 97 percent had jobs. Today, it’s 76 percent.” – Don Peck, author of Pinched .

Gone are the days when a high school degree was sufficient.

“There are more job requirements than there used to be and a number of employers will only hire people with degrees in special programs. They expect them to come in at a much higher level than they used to. Gone are the days when a high school degree was sufficient.” Patricia McKeown, president of Bellingham Technical College (BTC).

The following Reuters 2010 chart shows the level of unemployment broken down by the level of education.

Social media has helped farmers tell their story and build community among themselves and their consumers.

Farmer’s are able to collaborate using social media. It is a great way for them to improve their farm operations by sharing ideas and best practices. They also share market and industry news.

The AgChat Foundation empowers farmers and ranchers to connect communities through social media platforms. Using blogs, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, they bring farmers together from across the country.

Over 10,000 people, from farmers, chefs, consumers and even blogging moms follow conversations in Titter using #AgChat in a moderated conversation every Tuesday night.

Farmers are also able to bring the farm to the consumer using social meda. They share live reports from the farm, upload photos and videos, post recipes, anything that provides helpful information to consumers from the producers about where their food comes from. The producers are getting real-time feedback and the consumers are getting more accurate information. It’s a win-win.

Grace Smith, writing for the Alabama Farmer’s CO-OP, recently shared these 7 ways Farmers’ were benefiting from social media:

1. Sharing information and ideas with other farmers and learning from other farmers, ranchers and associates of agriculture.
2. Providing quick, responsive networks and communities for farm use and important emerging issues.
3. Marketing farm and ranch products.
4. Connecting and interacting with consumers, creating conversations and relationships with them.
5. Allowing agriculturists to share positive information.
6. Educating people who are not associated with agriculture.
7. Widening the scope of local farmers.

Read Grace Smith’s article, , “Farmers Learning the Benefits of Web-Base Social Media”

Here are some additional “Blue Collar” articles that may be of interest:

• Blue Collar Migrating to Green
• Blue Collar Mike Rowe’s Got Your Back
• Green is More Blue Collar Than You Think
• Blue Collar Says Don’t Fence Me In

Whatever you may think of Mike (I like him), he speaks clearly for the working men and women of America. Watch the 10-minute video about his initiative to build a sounding board site for working people. 10 minutes is a long time, I know, but it’s worth the listen. He’s less of an actor and more of an advocate in the piece.

Most of America’s infrastructure was built between the Great Depression and the years immediately following WWII. That means that many of our roads, dams, bridges, public buildings and underground systems are 60-80 years old. Most of that will need replacing in the next 20 years.

Bruce Watson of DailyFinance.com writes more about Mike’s mission, his website and foundation MikeRoweWorks.com which is aimed at advocating and supporting blue-collar labor.

It’s going to be the hard-working American worker who’s going to do most of that work. I just hope it comes in time to save them from financial ruin.

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S. A. Habib is the founder of Locomotion Creative, a brand marketing and design company in Nashville, TN.

Follow Habib on Twitter

In the article Saving Chevrolet Means Sending ‘Chevy’ to Dump, Richard Chang of the New York Times points out some of the stupid things brand managers do to powerful brands that can have profound effects on their future. Specifically General Motors. What GM is trying to do is get people to refer to GM’s biggest brand as “Chevrolet” and not simply “Chevy“. C’mon people! If you love your friend, don’t you connect better with him when you call him Buddy and not by his given name?

Paul Worthington of Wolff Olins, a brand-consulting firm, said it best in the article when he pointed out that consumers “will call you whatever they want to call you“. That’s their prerogative and as a brand, you should want that. You should want consumers to engage with you on their terms. That’s what makes powerful brands.

Some of the world’s best brands are referred to as nicknames of their more formal monikers: FedEx, Coke, Mac. What better way to make a connection with consumers?

Sometimes marketing directors just need to get out of the way.

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S. A. Habib is the founder of Locomotion Creative, a brand marketing and design company in Nashville, TN.

In light of the recent antics by well-known athletes, I couldn’t help but wonder how their affiliated brands are affected. Particularly, I’m curious about how Steeler Quarterback Ben Roethlesburger has affected the carefully crafted blue collar brand that is the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Steelers have spent decades cultivating an image of hard-working, honest, loyal players, owners and coaches. Their fans have followed suit. They relate to their brand beautifully in this industrial, family-oriented city.

So what happens now that Big Ben has acted like a spoiled frat boy in his recent visits to bars and restaurants across the country? How will he, the face of the franchise, affect how fans view their beloved brand?

It’s a good lesson. As carefully and successfully as we build brands, their reputation can be tarnished by the stupidity of a few.

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S. A. Habib is the founder of Locomotion Creative, a brand marketing and design company in Nashville, TN.

Follow Habib on Twitter