I have an extended relationship with Xbox 360. For a couple of years, their marketing team has reached out to me on and off for various releases. Up until January of this year, I would always (politely) decline. I'm a simple type of gal and the Xbox controls were just too complicated for me. Also, I didn't want my family to be video game couch potatoes like the television stereotype. That is why we were strictly a Wii family.
 
The Kinect (formerly known as "Project Natal") invite in January changed everything. I usually write how flattery gets you nowhere with me, but sometimes it does just a little. In their outreach, Xbox shared how they had heard great things about me and my site from fellow bloggers. I don't know if they were telling the truth or not, but in theory, it's always nice to be respected by your peers. The pitch hooked me with this line: "You’re always looking for the next big thing, and it is because of that unique perspective that I want to invite you, on behalf of Xbox 360, to be among the first to experience our next big thing." They then went on to describe Project Natal and invited me along with my family and a few friends to check it out way before its launch date. As I'm typing this, I realize that the January pitch drew me in where similar pitches usually didn't. I don't particularly care about flattery and I don't even really care about being first. I just care about relevance - is the product going to make my life easier, simpler or more fun? So what made this pitch different? Ultimately, I think that the two things that changed my mind were:
 
1. It really was a unique product. (Your body is the remote control!)

And

2. Xbox expressed a desire for an ongoing dialogue with me. The fact that they had been so consistent in periodic outreach before (when I wasn't even interested) caused me to believe that this wasn't just "talk". It turns out that my hunch was right!

In February, I attended the Natal event with my family and other gamer family friends. Although I couldn't really take a lot of video (because it was a prototype), I shared my initial thought and opinions with my readers on Xbox 360 "Project Natal" Preview.  I started talking and emailing back and forth with several readers and friends who had game systems in their homes. My conclusion:

"Project Natal" might very well be the Coleman family Christmas gift this year. Why? The controllers are easy to use…because you really are the controller. (Besides the couch potato aspect, the other thing that had turned me off to the original Xbox was that the controllers just look too complicated. I’m a simple woman who likes simple, easy to use things.) If ease of use and activity levels are important to you in your family gaming systems, you might want one too…

After that, I pretty much forgot about the system...until the end of March. As promised, Xbox kept the dialogue going. This time I was invited to a special June Xbox event to kick off the E3 expo in Los Angeles. When I expressed that it was near my wedding anniversary, they extended the offer to my husband as well. So, we happily headed West. I could go on and on ad nauseum regarding all of the things that Xbox did right in planning this special event, but I don't want to bore you to tears. (You can read about the highlights here and here.) Rather, I will highlight the two things that stood out to me the most: attention to detail and variety of social media participants.

1. Attention to detail: I don't know if I have ever felt more taken care of at a corporate event. It was so obvious that Caylen, Jessica and Chrystina had really taken the time to consider our needs. I have planned a lot of events in the past - from small get-togethers to large weddings. Let me tell you: care is in the details! Although I was impressed by the big launch, Cirque du Soleil show and such, it was the little touches that meant the most. Putting stamps on the LA postcards in our arrival bags stood out most of all. I was also tickled as Jessica and Chrystina discussed how they had decided against putting LA Dodgers caps in our bags. (Good call by the way...we are New Yorkers.)

And

2. Diversity of attendees: I attend a variety of events primarily in NYC. Some are primarily mom bloggers. Others are primarily traditional media. A few are a mixture, but they usually all target the same audience (i.e. moms). As I wrote:

I really liked that Xbox was smart and brought a variety of different bloggers and vloggers to the launch of Project Natal/Kinect. It was a great mix of people. Heidi was the only other mom/blogger that I personally knew beforehand. For me, it was just interesting to see how Kinect will appeal to a variety of audiences in different ways. For instance, initially I didn’t understand why a beauty vlogger would be interested in covering this event until Melissa mentioned that she has two different video channels – one is focused on beauty and the other is more lifestyle focused. She would talk more about this on her lifestyle channel, because it is something that her (predominately) female viewers would be interested in learning about both for themselves and/or their significant others. That makes perfect sense. As a mom, my view is a little different from her take. There were also some hardcore gamers there. Their audience has just been waiting for this new technology. It’s new, unique and it looks like it will be a lot of fun. Who wouldn’t want to learn more about this?! There was something for all of us to report back to our core readers. Kinect really is an evolution in gaming. Later, I learned that gold medal Olympian bobsledder Steven Holcomb was even part of our group!

Drum Beat at the Galen Before Kinect Launch  in LA
Photo courtesy of Heidi

After trying out the more advanced version of Kinect, I have been raving about the system online and off. There was a group of us who were excited to buy the system when it was released for the holidays. Once again, I kind of forgot about it...until Xbox sent me the newest Xbox 360 system along with a package of other related "goodies". Honestly, I won't be using it until Christmas, because I still only want to use Xbox when Kinect becomes available/when I am the remote control. (Besides, I have to pay taxes on that generous package, so it's going to be the family Christmas gift anyway!)

In any event, I think that Xbox has done an amazing job of reaching out to a variety of media - both traditional and social. It's no small wonder that Kinect ended up being one of the most highly anticipated gaming launches. The holiday season will reveal whether their push leads to actual sales, but I have a hunch that it will.

Earlier this month, I received an email from a reputable clothing company that wanted to outfit me for BlogHer '10 since I'm both attending and speaking on a panel at the conference this year. The note came as a pleasant surprise, but I was't sure how to respond. Eventually, I politely declined the offer. The line was great...it just was not great for me. A couple of weeks later, another wonderful clothing company unexpectedly offered to provide me with outfits for BlogHer. This time, the answer was a resounding, "Yes!" Below is how I went from a "no" to a "yes"...

1. First of all, I needed to figure out what I thought about being outfitted for a blogging conference in general.

I had conflicting thoughts initially. Part of me thought. "It's always fun to shop for clothes. This is great!" The other part of me questioned whether or not it was tacky to be outfitted for a blogging conference. So, I asked other bloggers for input by sending out a tweet. Everyone who responded thought that it was a positive thing if the brand was a natural fit.

2. Secondly, I just needed to be honest with the first company.

Although I turn down way more things than I accept over at my Mom in the City blog, it was hard to say "no" to the first clothing company. That is simply because they were the first company to initiate this particular type of relationship (dressing me for a particular event). Although the idea was cool, I had to remember one of my favorite sayings,"Just because you can doesn't mean you should." Bottom-line the first brand was just not my style. I would not have written about them on my site, because they are not my core readers' style either. Everything is not for everyone...and that's alright.

3. In the end, things worked out the way that they should have.

I am so glad that I said, "no thanks" to the brand that was not a fit. I have several "BlogHer-worthy" clothes hanging up in my closet anyway, so I simply forgot about it. I must admit that before I forgot about it, I did think for a few moments about the places that I shop at/that would have been natural fits - the Gap, Banana Republic, Ann Taylor Loft, White House Black Market, etc. I would not have reached out to them and asked them to outfit me though. That would have been tacky (in my eyes anyway). To finish the story, one of my "natural fits" companies ended up contacting me so I'll be wearing a few new things to BlogHer after all. Yay!

All of that to say:

-Bloggers, don't just say "yes" because an offer is on the table.  I'm with Oprah on this one: "Doubt means don't." Hold out for the good fits. You (and your readers) are worth it!

-Marketers, don't just try to match yourself with a blogger simply because he or she might be "out front" in some capacity. Hold out for the good fits. You don't want to align yourself with someone who will just take your "stuff" and not be enthusiastic about it/share about it to others. That defeats the purpose of your marketing.

That's my opinion.

What do you think? Should bloggers and marketers just take what they can get and be happy or should both sides wait for good partnership fits? 

Every week (or so), I will share a few posts that I have been reading that are focused on blogging and social media.  I know that there are a gazillion posts a week, but these will be the ones that I especially think are worth a "click-through" in order to read the entire post.  I will start off with a couple of posts that I read this week from two of my favorite bloggers - Jennifer James and Chris Brogan.

Make the Ask (Chris Brogan)

I am not a fan of multiple blogs.  My life is too full (or I'm just too "lazy") to maintain more than one.  That is why I designed my Mom in the City blog to have several different sections....but all on the same blog.  That has worked pretty well for the last five years.  Over the last couple of years, I have become more active in the blogging/social media space.  I have spoken on panels and at conferences, done some consulting and such.  To date, I have just written about such things on my blog under the "My Life" heading.  After all, the act of blogging is part of my life.

Recently, I noticed a problem with my "hodgepodge" blog approach though.  My core readers (who have been with me from the beginning) don't really "get" the blogging/ social media world.  They are simply moms who want a glimpse of how I live and what I like as a NYC based mom.  Since I noticed that I have more thoughts and opinions - based on my own observations and/or questions that I get asked a lot from other bloggers - I decided to move the"insider" talk to a separate space.  (Personally, I hate when people are having a conversation around me that I don't understand.  It's as if they are speaking another language.  I just don't want my non-blogging readers to feel left out by holding blogging conversations on my Mom in the City blog.) That is the purpose of this blog.

I won't have a posting schedule on this mini-blog.  I will simply write when I have something to say. For some reason, I think that might be pretty often.  I already have over 10 post topics from observations and conversations in the month of June alone.  (I decided not to go further back than that. I want to stay forward focused!)  If you have any questions that you would like to get answered or topics that you would like for me to discuss over here, simply email me at kcoleman@mominthecity.com.  (I know a lot of super smart people.  If I don't know the answer, I'm pretty sure that I can connect you with someone who does!)