StephanieQuilao

Business Trends: When Will Social CEOs Become Norms Versus Exceptions

I jumped into the #socialchat tweet chat and saw this fascinating infographic from CEO.com about the future of the Social Savvy CEO. The most eye-opening part is how younger CEOs (40 and under, born 1972) are using social media to communicate with the public. The 40-49 group is interesting because in that span you have the tail end of the Boomers, and the beginning of the Gen X-ers (born 1965-1980) who grew up with the Web, so jumping into social is an easier transition.

The younger CEO group is significantly more social as social media has now become a necessity to business versus a "because we should." The 40 and under crowd is growing up with social and embracing it faster than their older counterparts because social is no longer just for business.

Social has become a part of everyday life. So, for these younger CEOs communicating with the public via social networks would come naturally. 

After games, social networking is the 2nd most used category of apps. Makes sense. When we're done playing Words With Friends, we head to Facebook to see what fun is happening on our stream, and then tap over to Twitter and Instagram for our micro-social-interaction fix. And now with Pinterest, you have to pry the phone from my cold-pinning fingers.

And oh yeah, all this socialness is part of our jobs now. In fact, valued resume experience and background checks now include your public social activity. As the Founder of a mobile healthy living apps startup, who was a professional blogger for six years prior, social networking for me is as natural as breathing. I can't even fathom doing business without interacting with our customers and the public through social.

As far as branding goes, there is so much noise and competition going on that getting and retaining anyone's attention will go to the ones who are good at bonding with people through social networking. Why? Because we like to to buy and promote people we like and love, and make an effort to connect with us. As we move into a more Empathy-driven ecomony, CEOs and Founders who are accessible and mingle amongst the people will win.

During #socialchat, I asked in what year would social CEOs become norms vs exceptions. The consensus was in 4-5 years.

I think it could happen within 3-4 years. The iPad is only a little over 2 years old and look how much that one device changed things. It's no longer unfathomable for some new technology to come out and cause dramatic change in a short period of time like months versus years.

CEOs are under more pressure to be profitable, and thrive. Social media and now mobile are clearly making and breaking not just companies but whole industries like newspapers and publishing. Smart CEOs will embrace social sooner than later.

So what do you think. When will social CEOs become norms versus exceptions?

My Reaction To Under Armour For Women's "What's Beautiful" Campaign

In a nutshell....

Photoshopping can go either way right? I tweaked the original ad shown here on their Facebook page.

Let's see how long before they make me take this down as I manipulated their artwork. But honestly, when I first saw this ad, those were the immediate thoughts that popped into my head. If this was Glee, I felt like the head of the Cherrios was trying to rally us "real girls" like she can relate to us to not take it any more.

Then there is this video which is basically a rally call to "Take Back" what the media and beauty industry has taken away from us which is supposed to be more realistic standards of beauty.

As a consumer and a Fitfluential, Under Armour for Women's new "What's Beautiful" campaign breaks my heart. I have long enjoyed Under Armour for women because they make good stuff, and I have always liked their overall message of being athletic and strong. One of the reasons I've kept the 40 pounds off for four and a half years now is that I strive for fitness and healthiness goals versus skinny goals. Being back in my skinny jeans is a by-product of overall healthiness versus an end-game.

I like the spot with Jennifer Lopez who is now 42 years old, and is a glowing example of how the 40's can be an amazing time in a woman's life. The 40's doesn't mean everything just falls apart into middle-aged Crone-time. JLo killed it on the American Idol season finale! 

All of the wording of the "What's beautiful" campaign is beautiful. If you close your eyes, and just listen, it's a great message. Because yes, we as consumers are tired of being pushed these unrealistic standards of beauty. Even teenage girls are getting tired. I love how 14-year-old Julia Bluhm rallied a petition and got almost 80,000 signatures to help urge Seventeen Magazine to start adding more images of real girls.

Where Under Armour just failed, and epically in my opinion, is the models they chose to go with this message. The women they chose are really no different looking than the same images we are tired of seeing. Yeah, they got more muscle than your typical fashion model but here it's splitting hairs. For a quick example, the Summer Olympics are coming up, and how many of those female athletes even come close to looking like these UA girls? I felt like I was watching Bar Refaeli doing pull-ups and kick around a soccer ball which honestly does nothing to inspire me.

And speaking of chicas, which UA mentions in this commercial, where are the chicas, the Latinas? I know they were being metaphorical, but I'm being literal. I didn't see one Latina in the commercial unless one of the two playing soccer was supposed to be her. They both looked white to me. There was a quick face shot of a Black woman, and zero Asian women. The lack of women of color represented in fitness and health advertising is another one of my pet peeves, but I'll save that subject for another more detailed time.

I also say "girls" because all of the UA "What's Beautiful" models I've seen so far look like they are 24-years-old, 28 tops. So what about some images of athletic women who are in their 30's, 40's or 70's and 80's like 86-year-old Johanna Quaas who's still wowing crowds with gymnastics, and 76-year-old Ernestine Shepherd who is the Guinness World Records' holder of oldest female bodybuilder...oh and besides bodybuilding she runs marathons nearing her 80's.

If I saw these ladies draped in Under Armour, I'm breaking out my credit card. I aspire to still be running in my 80's versus stuck lounging in an old folk's home waiting to kick the bucket. Johanna and Ernestine are impressive! 24-year-old Bar Refaeli looking athletes are boring and do nothing to move us...because we've seen it a million times. Or, just continue using that image but be upfront about your idolized version of perfection.

Being an idelist, I will hold hopes that Under Armour will get it right next time or at least try better.