Twelve Tips from the World's Most Innovative Companies

If you could ask Google’s Johanna Wright for some business advice, she might suggest, “Constantly seek new ways to delight your users.”

According to Ms. Wright, Google adds “about 100 quality upgrades to the search engine each quarter” and notes that any time the company could be running between 50 and 200 experiments.

Here are some other tips from businesses featured in Fast Company's "The World's 50 Most Innovative Companies."

 

• Never lose sight of the customer experience. Empower employees to be creative in their goal to create addictive products.  “One of our core values is that everyone is the CEO of the thing that they do,” says Mark Pincus, Zynga founder and CEO of social gaming company (think Farmville).

• Be genuine and real (Andrew Mason, CEO, Groupon)

• Make the commonplace sexy (Groupon, Trader Joe’s).

• Recognize opportunities in trends (as in “sustainable” and Nissan’s Leaf)

• Redefine how you communicate (Twitter)  

• Use mobile to increase engagement says eBay’s VP of mobile platforms Steve Yankovich. “We want consumers to engage even when they don’t have a purchase in mind.”

• Use creative copy to get attention. DonorsChoose.org is headed by a Bronx science teacher who uses “catchy headlines” as part his fundraising efforts that have raised roughly $30-million for needed schools.

• Grow your user base (Facebook)

• Create communities among your fans (Reddit, Awl Network)

• Reward loyal customers (Foursaquare)

• Find creative ways to extend great campaigns. Over two days, Wieden + Kennedy  shot 200 videos of the Old Spice guy who responding to tweets in real time.

You can read about these companies and see the full list as it appeared in Fast Company here.

Inspired? Want to add your own ideas? Leave a comment.

Airline Safety Briefings and Imaging: The Challenge to Capture Attention

Fly the same airline enough and you can pretty much recite the pre-flight safety briefing from memory. It’s easy to tune out because it rarely changes.

Recently though, the new United has given their safety briefings a lot of creative attention. Now, when the screen drops down, you could see any number of different versions of the safety briefing.   

While United President and CEO Jeff Smisek casually updates fliers on what the airline is up to, there are multiple messages. The update may have been recorded in a control tower or while walking a concourse in O’Hare. 

Different hubs are featured which adds to the visual interest. 

Embedded videos could show the painting of an airplane at warp speed or feature employees in a spirit of cooperation. 

There are a variety of cabin shots that accompany the traditional copy.   

This safety briefing is no longer the easy-to-ignore, same old thing.

Probably inadvertently, the pre-roll to the video I watched (yes, watched) this afternoon was shown. "March 1-15." An expiration date on an airline safety briefing video? 

I’m impressed.  

I don’t know what percent of their fliers United projects will see any of these videos more than once or twice but I’m guessing it’s a pretty small number which makes this initiative all the more noteworthy.

Could any of your station imaging be minimally effective (particularly for heavy users) because it’s been running unchanged for a long time?

Could a change in style or voice or copy recapture attention?

Could setting a start and stop time for each piece of imaging help it stay fresher and more effective – even something for you own ‘frequent flyers’ to look forward to?   

Quick Marketing and Promotional Checklist

As you finish putting together your spring marketing and promotional plans, try running your ideas through these eight filters:

You know exactly who are you trying to reach (you may have multiple targets) and what the desired outcome from your efforts is for each target.  

All aspects of your plan have a positive (or at least neutral) effect on your overall brand strategy; any aspects that could have a negative impact have been reworked or eliminated. 

From your target’s perspective, you’ve identified your most powerful attraction(s) and that what you’ve chosen has the greatest chance of stimulating the desired behavior.

From your target’s perspective, your product and message are perfectly aligned. 

Your efforts are brand-saturated. That is, your marketing/promotional effort won’t easily be confused with a competitor and thus benefit them as well. 

Your efforts have ‘stand-out-ability.’

You have multi-platform exposure and, if necessary, a calendar for launching different efforts at different times.

The staff is fully informed of your plan, goals and, if applicable, their role.

Have some additional filters you’d like to share? Love to hear them.

A Very Worthwhile Way to Spend Four Hours this Tuesday

“What is important to a radio station in 2012?”

That was the key question we used for building Albright& O’Malley’s annual pre-CRS seminar which happens Tuesday, February 21 from 12:30-4:30 at the Country Radio Hall of Fame’s Ford Theater in Nashville (get a last minute invitation below).

This year’s conference is called “Winning Tactics and Truths” and there are plenty of both.  Here are the topics we have in store for you:

Mapping the country audience

For seven years, A&O’s online research study “Roadmap” has been trending listeners’ music lane preferences, format and station satisfaction, social and competitive media usage, and more. This year’s data from nearly 6,000 country listeners includes a shift in music lane preferences.  We’ll share that and a whole lot more.

Differentiating your brand

We’ve got a musical take from the BDS team and a non-musical look from the incredible Tim DuBois who speaks about unique brand characteristics that can inspire brand loyalty and passion.

Making digital dollars

A programming and sales win-win with members from the Federated Media/Ft. Wayne team presenting two turn-key events that you can take home.

Growing ratings with social media

The team from DMR Interactive shares a remarkable case study.

Talent development

Cliff Dumas and Randy Lane from the Randy Lane Company share the three universal principles that great shows have in common and the two words that will transform any show tomorrow.

Online Analysis

Becky Brenner reports on social media as a business model and radio’s advantages.

Another A&O conference tradition is an ‘up close and personal’ performance and meet and greet with a hot new performer. This year we’re thrilled to have our sponsor, Broken Bow Records, present the terrific Dustin Lynch who’ll perform at 2pm.

To those who have already RSVP’d, we are so looking forward to spending a great afternoon with you. Feel free to Tweet your experiences #aopcrs.

If you haven’t reserved a seat yet, please email Jaye, Becky or me. There’s no charge and the sessions are open not only to clients but also to stations in non-competitive markets.

And if you need info on CRS 2012, you can get it here.

Can’t wait to see you Tuesday afternoon!

The "Super Gesture" and Your Station's Content Filters

Yesterday my partner Jaye Albright wrote a timely piece about the M.I.A. “Super Gesture” on Sunday and the number of country songs with PG13 lyrics (20+ according to her Google search).

A number of readers weighted in (accurately) on "the way it used to be" in country.

But Country’s cume composition is dramatically different than in our not too distant past. Anecdotally A&O sees many markets where 18-24 or 25-34 is the top cume cell – even if 45-54 is still the top AQH cell.

The "safe for the whole family" position belongs to Contemporary Christian radio and has for years now. If you're trying to "out-safe" that format, you really need a new filter.

Filters ('tests' that content has to 'pass through' before getting on the air) will vary by station of course, but one you might consider is, “Would this make it to network TV before 9pm?” Or maybe you prefer multiple demographic filters like "What's the appeal for both 18-34 and 35-54?"

And of course one of my favorites, "Who will care about this?"

What are your filters?

Trying to Turn the Titanic: What We Can Learn from Sears

There’s no shortage of experts weighing in on what Sears should do following its announcement last month that it will close up to 120 stores.

I'm neither a retail nor financial expert. But I find Sears’ trials relevant because there is much to be learned from studying second-tier brands and declining brands but also because there are some pretty obvious radio parallels.

Analysts frequently pointed to Sears’ deep, ongoing cost-cutting as a major factor in the company’s steady decline. Others also cited management issues, lack of vision, loss of brand identity, not recognizing the changing landscape, and weak customer service.

Some experts see Sears’ problems as too big and having gone on so long that Wears will be unable to survive. Others who believe Sears can turn things around believe there brand assets that can be leveraged, and customer service can be dramatically improved. And doing both is critical to survival.

Brand Assets

Sears has assets to be sure: Kenmore, Craftsman, DieHard and Land’s End are all strong brands themselves, potentially strong enough to revive the struggling Sears parent brand.

The great Jack Trout recommended Sears “take advantage of Kenmore's leadership, and position it as the No. 1 family of appliances in the end. They should do the same for Craftsman, which is America's favorite brand of tools, by far. Perhaps it's time for a next generation of DieHard battery that dies a little harder. Could their paints use some sprucing up? If they do a good job with their brands, more people will go to Sears.”

The Motley Fool’s Rich Smith noted that “Sears is Craftsman tools –high-quality wares, priced reasonably. Sears is also Kenmore appliances, a way to buy a Whirlpool washing machine (Whirlpool is one of the companies making the machines behind Sears' private label) at a better price. And of course, Sears also has a softer side, as represented by its Lands' End clothing line. At least, that's what Sears was "once upon a time."

Retail consultant Mark Freiman of Focus Management Group, a financial advisory and restructuring firm said, "They have got some iconic brands that if they had the capital behind them and the right merchants in the company, they could be turned around."

Most stations have assets to leverage: a wildly popular talent, a history of listener connectivity, unique stationality, our-of-the-box thinkers, geeks, staffers who excel in social media, a mascot, street team, heritage or newcomer, signal and more.

Take an inventory of your assets. Are famous (or could be famous) for something that’s not presently being exploited? As Jack Trout advises, if you have a meaningful position in the consumer’s mind, market it. Update, improve or reinvent once powerful assets that may be suffering from some tarnish.

Putting heft behind your biggest brand assets pays off.

The Customer Experience

Steve Hoch, a marketing professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, was graphic in his description of Sears' brick and mortars telling Fortune Magazine, “The stores look like they are from the Eastern Bloc."

We've heard stations that fit that barren description.

A turn-off in one aspect of our product often hurts another. Shabby stores are damaging Sears’ online business. Same for on air.

If as Jack Trout suggests, an improvement in Sears’ brick and mortar stores could yield in-store time and more purchases, there’s a lesson here for us too.

If our on-air product was a store, what kind of shopping experience are we providing? What percent would be interesting, fun, and welcoming, that extended the experience and created a repeat ‘buyer?’ What percent is dated, cluttered or boring, that shorted the experience and failed to provide a reason to come back? What are we trying to sell that no one cares about?

Identifying and leveraging assets, and providing the best possible customer experience seem like an obvious strategy -- yet they're part of the problem facing the 10th largest retailer in America.

Let’s make sure they’re not our problems, too.

Albright & O'Malley's Annual Pre-CRS Seminar and You're Invited

“What did you learn?”

That’s one of the questions most frequently asked of Country Radio Seminar attendees. 

One of the more frequently-asked questions that Jaye, Becky and I get leading up to CRS is, “Are you doing your pre-CRS session again this year?”

Once again, that answer is “yes!” And of course you’re invited – Tuesday, February 21^st, 12:30-4:30pm at the Country Music Hall of Fame's Ford Auditorium.

There’s no charge for attending the Albright & O'Malley Pre-CRS Seminar but you will need an invitation which you can get here (it remains our policy that if we’re working in your market but not with your station/group, you’ll have to find out about things second hand – sorry!).  

While you’ll read more about A&O’s Seminar in the weeks ahead, here are some of the people and panels we’ll cram into 4 hours:

·         Jaye, Mike and Becky reveal the results from our online perceptual, “Roadmap 2012.” This will be the first look at what will be our 7^th annual online study of Country P1s.

·         How hard is it for a country station to differentiate itself on music alone? You might be surprised by some of what you see in this exclusive presentation that BDS has prepared for A&O.

·         Tim Dubois is synonymous with the birth of Arista Records that launched the careers of Alan Jackson, Brooks & Dunn and Brad Paisley (among others!). He is also a Grammy-nominated songwriter, was awarded Pollstar’s Record Executive of the Year and named one of entertainment’s “101 Most Powerful People” by Entertainment Weekly. Tim will speak on branding and what it takes to uniquely separate your product.

·         Let’s Get Engaged: The Surprising Parallels between Ratings and Social Media Success - an Arbitron/DMR study that provides new insights into radio’s unique social media opportunities presented by DMR Interactive COO Andrew Curran.  .  

·         Win-Win: Programming and Sales in a Digital World. The Federated Media team from WQHK in Ft. Wayne will present multiple case studies that you can profitably replicate at your station.   

·         Plus Talent Coaches Randy Land and Cliff Dumas and A&O’s Becky Brenner with an exclusive analysis of 50 country radio station websites that will stimulate your creative juices.

Broken Bow Records/Stoney Creek Records are our gracious sponsors and will supply our entertainment with a surprise artist.

Jaye, Becky and I hope that you will join us. Again, that’s Tuesday, February 21st, 12:30-4:30 at the Country Music Hall of Fame’s Ford Theatre. And if you haven't registered for CRS yet you can do so  here. 
 

Then when people ask you, “What did you learn?” you can ask THEM, “You mean at CRS or at the A&O Pre-Seminar?”

Tweeting? #aopcrs

2011: A Very Good Year for Country Music

This was a good year for current country music.

Actually, it was one of the best - at least when talking about year-end test scores. 

Across our metrics, nearly all scores were better than 2010’s and some were the best since Albright and O’Malley began year-end analyses in 1998.

Songs in the top third of course score better in all metrics than those in the bottom two thirds. This year though the Total Positive gap narrowed significantly. Not only were the Total Positive scores better for the top tier (the best since 2001), the scores for all songs were the best since our first year of tracking this in 2000.

Second-tier songs definitely had softer Like-A-Lot scores but many had very strong Total Positive scores. In aggregate these are the best Total Positive scores since we began tracking them in 2000 – good news for stations needing Millennial Variety.

Artists with top testing songs looked like the winners’ list at a 2011 awards show with Millennial Artists dominating the top 1/3. 70% of A&O’s top third were from mid/late Millennial Artists with Blake Shelton and Jason Aldean each placing three songs inside our top 1/3.

2011 also saw the most number of different artists place songs in the top 1/3.

Despite the prominence of Millennial Artists it continues to be difficult for new artists to break into the top 1/3. In 2011 only two new artists (previously without a significant chart position) cracked the top 1/3: Thompson Square and Brantley Gilbert.  2007 was the last year new artists made up a significant percent (20%) of the artists in the top 1/3.

While the footprint of Historical Superstars is smaller by comparison and none had songs in the top 10, Kenny Chesney, Toby Keith, Reba and George Strait all had music in the top 1/3.

If you’ve followed Albright & O’Malley's Roadmap data and blogs over the years, you’re not especially surprised.  Earlier this year I blogged that the 2011 Roadmap showed that Top Millennial Artists are scoring well across the board but that listener passion is still very high for millennial music from pre-millennial artists like Tim McGraw, Kenny Chesney, Toby Keith and Alan Jackson.

Last year's Research Director Inc/Inside Radio study showed how a wide a demographic swath country cuts attracting roughly equal cume ratings 18-34 (16.6), 18-49 (16.5) and 25-54 (16.4). The broad strength of 2011’s currents is great news for a format where the cume ratings are nearly identical across 35 years.

While a stations will have differing strategies for this year's music, the good news of 2011 is that the benefit of a year of strong currents is not just immediate. Many will continue to live lives in recurrent and gold categories that can be leaned upon during times when the currents aren’t.

#accjms11: Smart, Passionate People Talking Radio

Fill a hotel ballroom with smart people and have them talk about a shared passion for radio for 2 ½ days and you can be guaranteed there will be good take-aways.

Here are some of mine (paraphrased) from the just-concluded Arbitron Client Conference and Jacobs Media Summit for 2011 in Baltimore.
  
Tripp Eldridge, President/CEO dmr

• Social success = helping create and strengthen relationships. Connect, enhance, encourage and facilitate relationships; make the community feel special.
• “Likes” are like cume. Engagement is like TSL.
• Games can develop community. Community is what drives success.

Glenn Enoch, VP/Integrated Research ESPN

• Two of ESPN’s seven cross-platform principles: New media creates new strata of users; Best platform at the moment.
• A heavy user of one platform tends to be heavy users of others.

Edison Research/ Melissa DeCesare, VP

• Moms balance traditional and modern media. 89% listened to radio in past week, 53% learn about new music first on radio (vs. 29% on Internet; 9% on TV), 60% would keep smart phone and give up TV if they could only have one.

Edison Research/Larry Rosin, President

• In-car landscape is increasingly complex; the good news is cars don’t turn over quickly. Traffic information is being attacked by emerging technologies. Does/should radio care?

David Lebow, President/Revenue, Group Commerce, Inc.

• There is no such thing as deal fatigue.
• Radio Brands have e-commerce assets including the size of audience, brand trust, strong local voice and relationships with advertisers.
• Relevance runs amok when there’s no targeting.

Warren, Kurtzman, President, Coleman Insights; Bill Rose, SVP Marketing, Arbitron; Philippe Generali, President/CEO RCS & Media Monitors

• 93% of the lead-in audience is there at the end of a stop set (not necessarily the same listeners; includes listeners coming to the station during the commercial set as well as leaving it).
• Commercial free sweeps may help the brand over time more vs. in the moment performance.

Michael Sheehan, CEO, Hill Holliday

• Technology may be changing the game but people love great stories.
• Radio needs to make music relevant – radio needs to re-assert itself as the relevant medium of discovery.
• Relevance is the secret to sustained success. It’s the fuel to how far your content will travel.

Bob Pittman, Chairman of Clear Channel Media and Entertainment Platforms

• We need to tell our story better. If buyers don’t understand the value of radio, we’re doomed.
• Don’t let advertisers 'test' radio with sub par reach and frequency. Have the courage to tell people they're not spending enough to be successful.
• Radio is the beacon for the tribe

James Cridland/Managing Director Media UK

• Radio Brands are fragmented making it hard for journalists to write about radio whereas it’s easy to call Pandora who’ll be happy to tell you why radio is dead. 
• Improve the Internet look and feel. Radio needs to make the user experience look better, cooler. 
• Multi-platform is the right platform. 
• Why didn’t radio protect word ‘radio’ – Pandora isn’t radio. We failed to educate our audience that Pandora isn’t radio, it’s a music collection. 
• The only reason commercials are annoying is that they’re not relevant.

Ed Schultz/MSNBC’s “The Ed Show”

• First question: is this talent killer-competitive.
• Can they sell? Can they make listeners react and want what you’re selling? Can they sell themselves?
• How connected with the clients are the talent? How often do they update their pages, site, feeds, etc.?
• Expand your brand. Don’t let the show be small.“
• Ideas are to be cultivated by people in authority.”

Jeff Pulver Chairman/Founder Pulver.com and creator of the #140 Character Conference  

• New media would like to have the audience of old media. “Now media:” fusion old and new media.
• Social media teaches you how to interact; you connect with people – like radio.
• If you don’t know something, anything and everything is possible.

Jim Farley, VP/News & Programming WTOP/Washington, DC

• Listeners are always telling us what they want. Check what’s trending and talk about it instead of boring things and when there’s nothing going on.
• WTOP itself is only one vehicle to deliver the brand.
• Don’t give up on HD. It’s coming. HD icons on the dash board are going to save our ass.

Ron Rodrigues, Arbitron Marketing, Arbitron Radio

• Political consultants know that their campaigns can be more effective if their media buys target likely voters, or voters of a political persuasion. That’s a great advantage for radio and all of its formats. Each of them represent a lifestyle, and a such each of them represent a distinct group of voters that would be of interest to one political campaign or another.
• Candidates can target voting lifestyles by format.
• Spoken word formats represent the most enthusiastic voters. Opportunity for music formats: wider spectrum of voters, register-to-vote, GOTV efforts.

Walter Sabo, COO Merlin Media

• The biggest competitor is our own audience.  (A child in school) can make a video and show to the world without anyone’s permission. And it’s free.  And they can get 10-million views in a day.
• A computer is there to interact with. If entertainment isn’t interactive, it’s dull. Media is designed to be social.
• The secret of digital business is nobody knows anything. Just hit refresh. Don’t worry about analogue things like what song goes next to another. Just hit refresh.
• Sell radio’s biggest number.
• Make listeners co-conspirators.
• Experiment.

 Charlie Sislen, Partner, Research Director, Inc.

• Finding places where you station does not meet format benchmarks can help you focus on ways to grow TSL.

Attend and have some take-aways you'd like to add?

Quick Checklist for A-B-ing Your Competitors

This week we got a preview of a new study of PPM data from Arbitron in conjunction with Mediabase and Inside Radio which showed country stations, whether ranked first or tenth, had similar patterns of spinning currents.

Regarding the percent of top-10-charted songs played IR notes, “The percentages hardly vary whether the station is No. 1 in 25-54 (18% of spins) ranked No. 2 - No. 5 (17%) or ranked No. 6 - No. 10 (16%).”

There was less difference in the percent of songs spun that were charted between 11 and 20 and no difference in percent of played songs that had chart positions between 21 and 50. 

No surprise. 

When comparing country stations in a market I typically have a longer list of differences not related to current music.

Here are some common differentiating factors/branding elements to listen for when A-B-ing or looking for competitive opportunities:

1.    Non-current music characteristics: Chronology, Tempo, Core Artists and their exposure

2.    Commercials:  Load, execution, quality. Are there differences listeners will readily pick up on?

3.    Talent: Uniquely enhancing the listening experience or detracting for it or simply invisible?

4.    “Feel Good” factor

5.    The “Buffet Line:” What’s on it and what percent of it would I come back for/did I really want to consume?

6.    Promotional activity

7.    Stationality/Imaging

8.    “It” factor: Intangibles that cause me to believe I’ve made the best/most relevant/best values-match choice.

9.    Degree to which my pre-tune-in expectations were met.

Have something to share that differentiates your station or a competitor?

The Row-Five Test

Gordon M. Bethune’s name was painted on the Triple-Seven at the gate next to mine.

Well-deserved!

If you’re not familiar with the name, Gordon Bethune was Continental Airline’s CEO during their turn-around and for a number of years after. During this time their customer-focused initiatives turned customers into real fans of the airline and the man running it (I’ve been a Continental evangelist for many years).

Gordon’s book, “From Worst to First” chronicles Continental’s about-face. It’s a fun read (especially if you fly) while serving up a good bit of management common sense – one piece of which, “The Row-Five Test” is the subject of this blog.

The Row-Five Test is simply about finding out what the customer sitting in Row Five values and is willing to pay for, and then giving it to him. At the same time, the Row-Five Test ideally prevents force-feeding customers things they neither need nor want - and then charging them for it.

Tom Asacker’s blog  this week had a related take. Consumers determine ‘value’ based on what he or she “feels he is getting in exchange for his time, attention, and money" adding, "whoever develops and delivers the best evolving composite of value, for their particular audience, wins.”

What value are listeners placing on your station’s offerings?

Before the end of the year, take an inventory of what’s on the air. One at a time, evaluate each in terms of how listeners perceive its value. Will they feel it's worth 'paying extra for’ in time or attention, sitting through extra commercials or not hearing one of their favorite songs?

Lists will be different across stations and listeners themselves will have a different hierarchies of what they feel has worth.  Populating a list is easy; constantly keeping the audience's perspective as you work through it is the challenge because it's so easy to mingle what’s valuable to us with what’s valuable to listeners.

The danger in doing that of course is that we could be “charging” listeners for things that fail the Row-Five Test.

ON SUBMITTING MP3s FOR THAT JOB OPENING YOU'RE PURSUING

The company’s mission is to hire the best person for the job. Your mission is to BE that person.  Don’t let application missteps become part of the equation.

Yesterday my partner Jaye Albright posted a ‘how to hire’ blog. This blog is about ‘how to improve your chances of being hired.’

With the help of Talent Coaches Tommy Kramer and Randy Lane , here are five ideas.

Lead with your strongest material.

The expression “there’s no soft opening in show business” couldn’t be truer when it comes to your audio presentation.

Tommy advises, “Put your best stuff FIRST. No "introducing" yourself or "building up" to your best stuff. Most people listen for about 30 seconds, and make the decision right then about whether they want to hear any more. (Just like listeners do.) I want to hear your WORK.”

Randy concurs, “The order of your content is critical. Be sure to put your strongest piece of content first to engage the PD immediately (just like in PPM).”

Songs on CDs are sequenced in a way to maximize the listening experience. Your submission should be too.

Showcase your unique talent and personality.

Come back to it several times.  Your mission is to stand out. Help PDs to understand why you’re more uniquely entertaining.  

Randy says, “If you’re going to demonstrate your skills interacting with callers make sure that comes through. Too often we hear demos that highlight great callers with little interaction from the air talent.”

Short is the new black

This is my favorite expression in so many instances, but it certainly applies to your submissions. Keep your air checks to around 3-4 minutes but have a full hour ready to send as a follow-up.

Tommy advises a short resume, too.  “List the last job you had, and the two before that. Nothing else. I don't need to know what years you worked as a board op on a station next to a wheat field on Sunday mornings doing ‘The Manure Hour.’”

Demonstrate you can do the basics too. 

Randy says,” It will help you to include a break selling the radio station in some way so programmers won’t think it’s all about you.”

Make it easy to find your material again at a later date by including your name in the name of the files you send (mikeomalley_resume.doc). 

Fail to do this and the best case scenario is a PD has to search through a bunch of generic-named files to find yours (if he hasn’t gone through the trouble to rename your file for you in advance); the worst case is your Resume.doc file has been overwritten by someone else who also used a generic name. 

And for me, please, don't make me track down links. I'm not going to do iit

If you’re someone who hires and have some additional recommendations or a talent who has a helpful experience to share, your comment could be instrumental in helping a fellow professional showcase their best work and get back to work.