Category: values

Major Announcement! New FTC Toolkit and Site Compliant program – Webinar

As many of you know, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued new rules relative to endorsements and testimonials.  Now, if you use endorsements and testimonials in your marketing (and every marketer worth their salt does) you could be fined thousands of dollars for “deceptive” advertising EVEN IF ALL YOUR TESTIMONIALS ARE ABSOLUTELY TRUE!

I’ll be leading a Webinar with my friend, marketing partner on this project, client, and internet marketing Guru, Joel Comm next Monday, November 9th at 6:00pm MOUNTAIN time. The Webinar is free, but space is limited. You can sign up HERE.

Again: sign up for the free Webniar Here.  Do it now.  Space will fill up quickly.

The new rules go into effect December 1, 2009.  Yes, in only a few weeks.  So are you ready?

Do you even know where to begin?

No?

I didn’t think so.

Well, don’t feel like the Lone Ranger. Most people don’t – and it’s not your fault because the new guidelines were just released a few weeks ago and they are subject to some different interpretations.

Joel and I will be discussing many of the implications of the new rules and introducing the project, product, and system that I’ve been working on almost non-stop ever since the new rules came out. Really, I’ve been dreaming about this stuff. Just ask my wife and friends – they’re sick of listening to me talk about this. Of course as a co-author of this product I’m hugely invested and probably a bit biased, but I’m convinced this is really going to help a lot of people quickly figure out what they need to do.

The product is a guide to the new rules we’re calling the FTC Toolkit. It is a thorough guide to the new rules including analysis, self-assessment checklists, sample disclosures, sample agreements, and sample policies. Incredible stuff here because I’ve not been working on this alone. I’ve assembled a team of lawyers, marketers, and communications professionals with over 75 years of combined experience in the relative material to develop the Toolkit.

We haven’t stopped there, because the FTC isn’t stopping there. These rules are going to evolve as the FTC starts enforcing the rules against people who don’t comply. So, people who purchase the FTC Toolkit will be able to join the Site Compliant(tm) program and receive ongoing updates to the Toolkit content and other timely information as the FTC begins enforcement.

And, we didn’t stop there. Members of the Site Compliant(tm) program will also be able to apply for and be able to use what we believe is the Internet’s first compliance “Trust Seal” that they will be able to proudly display on their site as a signal to consumers and to the FTC that they, as a member of the program, are taking a proactive and affirmative approach to being and remaining compliant.

This has taken a lot of work by a bunch of people over the last few weeks. If you were going to invest in this content from a lawyer on your own you would be need to budget at least $50,000 in legal fees, because my team has at least that much otherwise-billable time invested in this product.

Join us on the free Webinar to learn more. Again, that’s THIS MONDAY, November 9th at 6:00pm Mountain. Sign up HERE.

Remember to sign up NOW because space on the Webinar is limited.

Target Rich Environment

My friend Joel Rothman posted the following discussion relating to the FTC’s attitude toward the new rules regarding deceptive advertising in the context of endorsements and testimonials.  This is seriously important stuff for everyone that uses testimonials in their marketing – which is everyone.  So, PAY Attention!

… Then Vladeck (speaking of David Vladeck, Director of the Federal Trade Commission Bureau of Consumer Protection) turned to the new FTC Endorsement Guides.  Everyone held their breath.

Before I go further it is important to remember that Vladeck comes from a consumer protection background.   He led the Public Citizen Litigation Group for 20+ years.

On the endorsement guides Vladeck’s message was clear:

1. Disclaimers like “results not typical” are useless and will be attacked by FTC.

2. Advertisers who make claims “will be held responsible for their claims.”

3. If your promotion relies only on testimonials “you will have a problem with us.”

Vladeck described this area for the FTC as a “target rich enviornment” in which they intend to pursue violators using all the resources at their disposal.  And when the 1000+ enforcement personnel at the FTC run out, FTC plans to call on the state attorneys’ general.  When the AG’s are too busy, Vladeck says that they will do as the FDA does and publish warning letters on the internet in order to “bully companies into compliance.”

Despite the backpeddling FTC has done in the media recently, Vladeck made it clear that he will enforce Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act and the endorsement guides.  It was as if Vladeck was drawing imaginary targets on foreheads around the room…

I spoke to several attorneys and CEOs at the reception that evening about the regulatory problem the enforcement guides present and everyone agreed that the problem is very serious.  One observed, candidly, that the problem was that “you never know what marketing is doing until it is too late.”

After all, lawyers and regulatory execs are considered “sales killers.”  We are never consulted by marketing in advance of a promotion for fear we will put the kibosh on the latest profitable social media marketing strategy.

So what’s next from the FTC?  Who knows.  After all, it’s a “target rich environment.”

For the full article. Visit Joel’s blog HERE.

Joel and I are working together on a new product and program to help companies of all sizes and in all niches become and remain compliant with the new rules. I should have more news about that to share with you on Thursday or Friday of this week.  If you are interested in helping promote this product, email me.

Creativity—You’re Full of It!

The American Bar Association asked me to write the introductory article for the November Issue of The Young Lawyer (one of their many magazines for attorneys). The issue is dedicated to the theme of Creativity.  It’s on the streets now, so I can finally share the essay.  Enjoy.

—

Creativity—You’re Full of It!

By Kevin E. Houchin

You’re full of it! You really are. There’s no way that I’m the first person to tell you. You can’t deny it. You’re full of it up to your eyebrows.

Full of creativity. You were born with it. You are made of wonderful, delicious, colorful, smelly, heaping globs of creativity!

As a child, your humanity burned with the divine spirit of creativity. You imagined games. You imagined friends. And, you even created vivid experiences that existed only in your mind but existed nonetheless.

Then, you went to school.

You learned to live by other peoples’ rules and their ideas of how and what you “should” be. Walls grew that blocked your view of those wonderful places in your imagination. Those walls grew until finally the creativity of your heart, spirit, and right brain were all but abandoned in favor of subjects that could be objectively tested with multiple-choice exams and computer-graded bubble sheets.

Then, you went to law school.

Your walls were adorned with thorns and you were not even allowed to have ideas of your own. Any creativity you were allowed to display was carefully disguised as nuanced synthesis of precedent (other people’s ideas—the older and less original the better).

It felt like you had suddenly become unworthy of being the source of an idea or thought. You felt like a slave to a footnote or maybe like a footnote yourself.

But, you’re not in law school anymore. Now, you’re the only “source” that really matters. Your senior partner may determine your job status and salary, but you get to decide how much credibility to give those things.

If you’re feeling trapped in a job that doesn’t allow you to express your creativity, you have the power to change that. You don’t have to leave your job to feel more fulfilled. Rather, start chopping through the thorns and breaking down the walls that decades of education have placed around your creative spirit. Trust me, you can do this and still be an effective lawyer. It may even be the secret prerequisite to a happy and satisfied life in the law.

There’s no simple seven-step process to recovering your creative spirit. The journey is different for each of us. A simple start is to look for creative opportunities that already surround you. You happen to be holding one of them in your hand. This issue of The Young Lawyer is dedicated to helping lawyers recognize opportunities for expressing creativity in their lives and work. Use it to jumpstart ideas for creative outlets that you would enjoy. Paint, play music, sail, climb, write, spend time with family, do community service, sing—do something other than work.

It’s time to start living a more creative life. Read these articles. Fuel your spark of creativity, and then share your flame. You’re full of it!

The kind of notes that make one’s day…

I received this note as feedback from the article I wrote to introduce the November issue of the ABA Young Lawyer Magazine which is dedicated to Creativity.  The article is titled “You’re Full of It!”  As soon as the ABA puts the issue online, I’ll post the article. Until then, they have exclusive first publication rights.  🙂

—

Mr. Houchin:

I just wanted to thank you for writing such a necessary article in the YLD Newsletter. What you wrote resonated with me on a host of levels, and it arrived in my office at EXACTLY the moment I needed to hear someone outside of my own mind remind me of all the creativity that I have been trying to find time to cultivate and enjoy. The practice of law can feel all consuming. Conflict is a daily part of the practice. Nonetheless, the antidote is exactly the cultivation of the creative.

Just a note to say, your words were very necessary and came at exactly that right moment.

Thank you,

Tanisha M. Bailey-Roka, Esq.

Thanks Tanisha.  🙂


An Idea Worth Sharing

As many of you know, I’m a big fan of TED talks.  I’m also a big fan of Dan Pink’s Book A Whole New Mind.

For those of you who don’t like to read much… (well, first, start reading more), but in the mean time.  Watch this: