Grasshopper -- the virtual phone company (focusing on small business / entrepreneurs), who released the Entreprenuer video I posted last week, has a new viral video hit.

Parodying Jay-Z and Alicia Keys: Empire State of Mind, New Dork, Entrepreneur State of Mind pokes fun at the internets and showcases famous entreprenuers.

Brilliantly Stupid + Viral = SUCCESS

Brilliantly stupid -- the perfect combo to make you smile and forward to a friend. Which means VIRAL success for Grasshopper! This video shows how a company who does hit it virally can make a name for themselves.

Using YouTubers with Previous YouTube Success

Grasshopper used Pantless Knights to create this video. This looks like a new trend: companies using YouTubers / videographers with an established audience and a record of success and sponsoring a video. See State Farm sponsoring OKGO, This To Shall Pass video post.

Current views (as of this post) in the 1 month Grasshopper posted this video: 490,997

And for giggles, the OKGO Video, which I posted about on March 4 -- at the time had 2,095,808 then, today has 11,708,228 views.

This Week in Viral Video

In other viral video buzz, I’ve been forwarded, read tweets or Facebook posts on the other 2 videos numerous times the last few days:

Target is brilliant. There rebranding the last several years has been top notch. Big designers have turned their coolness factor up several notches. One thing that I am totally loving that Target is doing, is their gift cards. They have taken the typical standard blah blah blah gift card, and gave it pizazz!

Who wouldn’t want this? Check out their "thumb war" gift card, that I bought just so the kids could play with. Now they fight over it.

Target doesn’t charge extra for these, and in stores the funner gift cards can be found next to the card aisle. Also just noticed Target started carrying several of their fun gift cards online, the thumb war is still my favorite!

Excellent marketing Target! You have me buying gift cards now more than ever before!

A few days ago, I received 2 emails forwarding the new OK GO -- This To Shall Pass video. Their inital viral video sucked me into being a fan. This band gets it. Viral videos can make you. And they don’t just do it, they go ALL out.

When I initally showed this to my husband, I noticed it only had 78,000ish views. I told Sean, let’s check it in a few days. Well here I sit, writing a blog post and watching Anderson Cooper -- he just mentioned this. I went and watched again -- WHAM 2,095,808 views! And by the time I post this -- that number will rise even higher.

Having a husband and son who LOVE Rube Goldberg machines, made this video even more popular in our casa. My 4 year old watched it at least 3x, paying attention to each detail and making silly comments. My husband it busy trying to figure out how a effects b -- and as for me and Z, we just love the music.

Syyn labs, a creative engineer group helped put this together, as well as SUPER clever marketing sponsor State Farm. Notice the truck in the opening?

State Farm logo, then the thank you at the end. Brilliant partnerships all around, but State Farm, who would of thunk they could make this fit? Taking chances with unlikely partnerships pays off!

If you haven’t watched the first huge viral video from Ok Go -- check it out here. This launched their career, sold millions of records and who even knows how much money they are making from YouTube marketing. This video currently has 49,925,634 views!

If you are going to do it, go all in or stay home. Everyone wants this type of success -- but it takes risk and not conforming to the man to make it happen.

A new Twitter friend @sara417 posed the following question to me tonight:

What can kidless friends of new moms do to be most helpful?

Good question!

My knee jerk reaction is: don’t judge your friends parenting skills until you have kids of your own. Poor Sara probebly thinks – wow she is rude, but I totally hope it didn’t come off that way!

I say this because honestly I was SO guilty of this pre-kids. My husband and I knew we wanted kids and went thru many infertile years yearning for kids, watching our friends have them and then JUDGING our friend’s and family’s parenting skills. And then we had kids.

• I can now say that I have a 20 second (5 seconds went out with the first one) when a binky drops to the ground.
• The idea of some germs strengthening the immune system – now sounds like a good idea!
• Breast feeding, as much as I was an advocate for it with the first kid. When I couldn’t produce milk – and was working I suddenly realized formula wasn’t evil.
• Pre-washing baby clothes isn’t as easy as just pulling off tags.

In all seriousness though – here are a few things that kidless friends can do to help new moms (because, let’s face it – new moms need all the help they can get – whether it’s their first or their fifth!)

• A phone call or even a simple email to say "I’M THINKING OF YOU!"
  • As busy as people are now adays, just the outreach to a new mom, who is dealing with an on-slaught of newness can make her day.

• A meal is nice – a gift certificate can be NICER!
  • While a home cooked meal is always great, immediately after a baby – it also means having to schedule times to meet people and the feeling of needing to be prepped for friends coming over just adds an extra rain cloud to the storm. So if you aren’t extremely close to the friend, an idea to purchase a gift certificate to a fast food place or restaurant that does take out would help tremendously. With #2, we lived on take-out and fast food for the first month as we adjusted.

• Nothing says SURPRISE! like a random gift on the doorstep
  • Again I have to stress the stress of a new mommy. Your schedule is off. You have a new little thing living in your house, who, how or what is going on. Sleep is something you don’t remember. Life just is a bit crazy for those first few weeks. A little surprise, nothing expensive but something thoughtful on the doorstep will always bring a smile to someone’s face. Think simple, even toilet paper (don’t wrap the house!), a card on the door, a box of cookies, a cupcake, flowers – it’s really the thought that counts not how much you spend.

• Give Mommy a BREAK!
  • One of the best gifts I received last time was a pedicure gift certificate. I recall enjoying the 30 minutes to myself a week or so after my last kid arrived. Call up the husband to see if you can schedule an hour out with the new mom and take her to get pampered. If the husband can’t be left alone – give mommy a break by watching the baby for an hour.

• FRIENDS till the end.
  • I know it’s hard when friends start having kids and you are kidless. I remember when my friends started having kids and we were still kidless – feelling as if my friends and I had nothing in common. They had their child to talk about – and well, me talking about my beloved puppies just didn’t compare. Try to find connections with other things beyond the kiddos. Believe me – she will appreciate you as a friend without kids. Friends with kids, we tend to play silly games – whether it’s keeping up with the latest development of what my kid vs. what your kid does, or who has the latest and greatest baby gear (ugh, I hated this, hope I don’t sink to that level again!). Friends without kids are worth their weight in gold. My kidless friends give me that reality check of the world minus my new appendages.

Thanks for asking Sara! Hope these help!

MOMS: What advice do you have on how your kidless friends can do to be most helpful?

How often do you step out of your box in thinking? What if you knocked down the walls that surround you for a few minutes and think "what if?".

This past weekend I was apart of a break-though – out of the box thought that turned reality. The results were out of this world. Not only from a company stand point, but from a customer and an employee stand point. New ideas that we never would of thought of have resulted because of one BIG out of the box idea.

What BIG idea are you saying "no" to? What if you said "yes"? The worse thing that could happen is that you would fail, which would mean you would have to pick yourself right up and start again. Just sayin.

Jones Soda released a new flavor – just in time for Thanksgiving… Tofurkey and Gravy soda!

Some people are crazy for turkey around the holidays… others not so much. For those of you with veggie leanings, Jones teamed up with the good folks at Tofurky® to bring you a meatless option.

We created this special soda for all you veg-heads out there. Best served with mashed potatoes and a couple of laughs, we hope you enjoy drinking it as much as we enjoyed making it.

Sadly, all I can think about is how bad a belch would smell after drinking this stuff.

How great is this? I have vivid memories of watching Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds movie in high school.

Each year I forget about what a great costume this would be at Halloween. Tonight I stumbled upon this and think this maybe the greatest Barbie doll every made!

Amazon is selling these – I think I have a few people in mind who would love this. (minus me!)

This made me LOL! Fantabulousness from Catbird

Yes folks, this means you should NEVER – EVER use Comic Sans. Repeat after me…. COMIC SANS IS EVIL.

Show your Comic Sans hate by supporting Ban Comic Sans (they sell these fab NO COMIC SANS stickers! -  a MUST-HAVE for designers!).

Z’s last birthday, she turned 6. What to do. I had heard much to do about the American Girl store at the Galleria and thought – PERFECT. We’ll make a day of it, get her a doll of her choice and celebrate her day.

We made our way to the store, where we immediately encounter psycho upper class moms who have made their daughters up to look exactly like the dolls in the store. These weren’t cute little 3 or 4 year olds – these were 9 and 10 year olds looking all weird carrying around dolls. I kept thinking, I don’t get this.

I sucked it up. My husband made faces and gave me the STARE as soon as he saw how much a doll was. I kept thinking “it’s her birthday”. Then it hit me. WHY. Why would I blow $100+ for a doll for the same doll Z could buy at Target. I told Z she could have $100 shopping spree at Target if she wanted to leave. She dropped the doll and say “can I get a Tinkerbell?”. Yes, deary, you can have your Tinkerbell. She spent $30 and was ecstatic with her Target purchases.

While sure, I know there is a whole thing with American Girl – but it’s not just for me and my fam. I just can’t do it. Then tonight, I saw this article on Gwen – American Girl’s new doll. There is one thing extra special about her. She’s HOMELESS! Oh… wait – and she is $95.

I get all kinds of forwarded crap emails and I Snopes everything. Everything I can find is this is really legit. This is a BIG Mattel, American Girl FAIL. They should at least be addressing this – TRUE or FALSE. If this crap is true -  at least donating $85 of their $90 profit per doll to homeless causes.

Some humor from around the web.

This is from American Girl’s web site – a comment about the doll:

“I love my Gwen doll. I was hesitant at first as the advertising showed her as a hippy-ish character and I was afraid her hair would always look like it did in the picture. (I got her right after she came out and they had her hair in a different style)But once I pulled it out and took the head band off I was amazed by how pretty she was.Her hair doesn’t get nearly as messed up as some other doll’s with longer hair a nice feature. It’s never gotten frizzy on me either. I don’t use the squirt bottle on her hair she doesn’t appear to need it.

I was rather disappointed by the lack of items for Gwen though. I expected some outfits and a real book for her. I think she would have been rather interesting to read about and I just don’t know. I went online a week after I got her to purchase her Pjs and another outfit and we ended up with getting Kirsten’s stuff. It looks cute on her but Ag doesn’t seem to have done more then create a lovable doll and a side personality. So if your looking for a doll to read about I’d recommend Chrissa or another historical girl doll.”

And I love this from the New York Post

And while you were snoozing, the creators of American Girl, which is sold by Mattel, got bold. They engaged in all-out political indoctrination.

Snuck into the collection is a doll that comes with a biography that is weird and potentially offensive enough to keep Mom running to the Maalox. Gwen, you see, is harboring a terrible secret.

She is homeless. A homeless doll.

In the history books that come with every American Girl doll — bringing to life these little monsters until impressionable little ones believe they are actual people — you learn that Gwen’s father walked out on the family. Her mother lost her job.

As the little kiddies learn to read about this doll as if she’s a human being, one learns that, as fall turned into winter, Gwen’s mom lost her grip.

Mother and daughter started bedding down in a car.

For $95 — more than your average homeless person would dream of spending on a rather mediocre baby substitute — Gwen Thompson can be yours. A mixed message if ever there was one.

Sorry Gwen, you won’t be finding a home with us. I hope that American Girl can at least ante up some of those profits for good. Or better yet, I wish that more people who can afford these dolls would spend the $10 at Target for a cheaper doll and give the other $85 to good. Just a suggestion.

At work, we recently broke up with a vendor. It was nothing they did – just monetary wise it didn’t produce the return we were hoping for. While breaking up with a vendor isn’t 100% like breaking up with a boyfriend – there are similarities. And I mean, we were together for a year.

Why am I writng about this? Because of the way the othe rcompany handled the separation. Not that I expected them to call over and over, leaving nasty voice mails and bad things on my Facebook wall – or anything like that (can you sense some of the break-ups I dealt with in my past?).  The company went out of their way to be accommodating and to make sure we were happy, even though they were losing our business.

They have taken extra measures in our “final days” to help us get the most out what we had left in our relationship – I mean contract. The last email I received from our sales rep – “If you ever find this need again, just remember us”. And that I will. Even if we do not use the company – I will for sure have a recommendation handy to anyone I know needing their service.

This whole situation left me thinking 2 things.

1. What can we do to make sure our customer base feels cared for?

2. Why can’t all break ups be this nice?

Fortunately, I am done with dealing with crappy boyfriends and finding that perfect relationship in my love life. But unfortunately, I know there will be many more break-ups with vendors. I can only hope more companies realize the value of seeing the relationship thru until the end (good, bad, sickness and health).