We can all agree that this is pretty awesome.

Found this jem as I was sorting through a bunch of storied DVDs and CDs. It was a birthday present or a Christmas present from my sister and my brother-in-law who just happen to be local media darlings themselves. One of them is even an AMPIA award nominee.

Members of the Wildrose Party (and, to a lesser degree, the Alberta PCs) need to be shamed into realizing that while hateful thoughts and words may play to a vocal minority, it makes them (and by extension, the rest of us Albertans) look uneducated and out-of-touch. It’s one thing to derive some perverse glee from driving a jacked-up 4×4 with a Skidoo in its box while Ontarians look down their noses and call us rednecks under their breath; it would be another to allow the rest of Canada to think that we’re trapped 100 years in the past and that we’re only worth tolerating because we happen to be sitting on a trillion barrels of oil.

It Doesn’t Matter

It doesn’t matter how photogenic or well spoken Danielle Smith may be. Don’t be fooled by her pretty smile or the “accidental” faux-pas of a poorly placed decal on her campaign bus; the intolerant, American/Republican behavior exhibited by her and her Wildrose ilk is unacceptable and should be cause for ridicule and scorn from the rest of us.

As Canadians, we’re taught to be polite and turn the other cheek when someone has an opposing viewpoint but I suggest that during the last week of this election, we drop the gloves and we tell our Wildrose supporting grandparents, co-workers, friends and family that we are bitterly disappointed in them for even considering to vote for these closed-minded individuals that so obviously fear progress.

We share our fears and doubts online but the audience that most needs to hear our concerns may not have Twitter accounts or smartphones or high-speed Internet. So lets all do something that flies in the face of our famous Canadian passiveness: let’s respectfully talk politics with people that may not share our views. Tell your friends and family that hateful behavior and the marginalization of any Canadian – regardless of race, sex, or orientation – is unacceptable in this day and age. No longer should it be considered polite Canadian behavior to turn the other cheek when the rights of fellow citizens are threatened. And more than anything, let’s get the word out that this is the most important election in a generation and it’s critical to get out and vote.

Allan Hunsperger, Ron Leech, and specifically Danielle Smith should be ashamed of themselves for willfully attempting to undo 50 years of progress in this province. However, should the Wildrose achieve its goal of forming a majority government, the rest of us will wear the shame of not making our voices heard.

Have you ever had a strange tweet sent from your Twitter account or somehow sent an email from your account without your knowledge? If yes, there’s a good chance your account was compromised.

There are a lot of different hi-tech ways a dedicated theif could use to get his/her hands on your private details but the truth is that gaining access to your personal info probably doesn’t require a high level of sophistication. In all likelihood, your password probably just isn’t secure enough to begin with.

“A vulnerability? In MY password?”

It’s more common than most people realize. You’ve most likely seen one of those lists of the most common passwords and patted yourself on the back when yours didn’t make the cut but the truth is, there’s still a good chance that your password just isn’t strong enough.

Why a weak password fails

If someone is trying to gain access to one of your accounts, that doesn’t mean there’s a single person sitting in front of a single computer making random guesses about what your password may be. Like almost every other tedious task in our society, the repetitive job of password guessing is now automated. According to Wikipedia, “As of 2011, commercial products are available that claim the ability to test up to 2,800,000,000 passwords per second on a standard desktop computer using a high-end graphics processor.”

What makes a strong password?

It’s not really a word (or IS a phrase). Is your password a single dictionary word? It’s not strong enough. You need to have a long string of random characters stuck together in a mishmash or, if the site you’re logging into allows it, you could use a passphrase (multiple words used together).

It’s all lower case or upper case. It’s not strong enough. You need to use a mixture of uppercase, lowercase, and numbers.

It’s less than eight characters long. Eight characters is the bare minimum when it comes to passwords. If you’re using a short password, you’re in big trouble.

You use the same password for online banking, Facebook, email, Amazon, etc. This is really bad news. Even if you’re unconcerned about having your social media account compromised, once someone gains access to that one password, they’ll try it everywhere possible in the hopes that it will lead to more valuable personal information (ie – credit card or banking info).

“I get it. My password sucks. Now what?”

You need to start changing passwords right now. You need to be sure that:

1. Every account gets its own unique, unrelated password that only works at that specific site;
2. That the new passwords are all made up of random strings of random characters;
3. That you use passwords that are a MINIMUM of eight characters long. 10′s better, 12′s good, 14+ is great; and
4. That you’re using a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters along with numbers. If the account you’re securing permits it, use special characters (!, &, *, etc) for added security. If the account will let you use a passphrase, even better.

Keeping track of your passwords

This seems impossible to keep organized, right? You might end up with dozens or even hundreds of individual passwords so how do you know which site gets which login? I can recommend a couple of options.

Hi-Tech

A password manager will automatically keep track of all your logins and passwords and encrypt them online for you. When you sign up for a password manager account, you enter your email address and create one very strong, easy to remember password and this “master login” will allow you to be automatically logged in at various sites using all your unique passwords and site specific credentials. Depending on which manager you use, the price varies from free to under $100.

LastPass and RoboForm are two of the more popular managers out there and searching “password manager” in your prefered search engine will give you a bevy of other options.

Lo-Tech

Some of the more tech-saavy readers will shriek when I suggest this but if a password manager seems too involved, consider using a log book like this one from Amazon. Yes, it’s undoubtedly less secure than a password manager and if someone ever got their hands on it, you’d be in trouble but in my opinion, a log book you can keep locked safely in a drawer or filing cabinet at home is much more secure than having the same login/password combination for every site you visit. If you travel a lot, I’d highly recommend that you don’t go this route. These types of notebooks are small and easy to lose (and easy to steal).

Other tools

HowSecureIsMyPassword.net – You can use this site to play with different combinations of words, numbers, characters, and phrases to see what arrangement is most secure. The truly paranoid amongst us may be worried that this website is nothing more than a password collector for a clever identify theif but I have my doubts.

StrongPasswordGenerator.com – If coming up with random passwords isn’t your strong suite, you can get this site to create them for you. The password managers typically have a built in password generator.

Nothing to share other than this made me laugh. It came from that Jordan guy @ http://cavok.com.

That’s not to say you should ignore your intuition and run an ad with which you’re not 100% comfortable. If you feel the commercial is offensive or difficult to understand or doesn’t accurately convey your message or USP, share your specific concerns in an honest and non-confrontational manner. Radio professionals are thick skinned and only want to provide you with effective advertising of which you can be proud.

What don’t you like?

You typically will get to hear your finished ad before it goes to air. When you listen to it and you have some doubts, it’s important that you’re able to give specific feedback as to what it is you don’t like. Simply stating, “I don’t like this. Try again,” can lead to endless revisions that are frustrating for both parties and ultimately don’t bring you any closer to your goal. Do you not like the music? What about the music don’t you like? Too loud? Too heavy? Does it overpower your message? What about the announcer? Does he or she have an accent that makes the message difficult to understand? Are they speaking too quickly? Are words slurred or incomprehensible? When you’re able to precisely explain your concerns, true radio professionals are happy to either make revisions or better explain the rationale behind why your commercial sounds the way it does.

“My ad doesn’t sound like an ad. It sounds weird.”

We’re inundated with advertising clichés and marketing boilerplate and as such, our brains are becoming increasingly capable of filtering out the expected. That’s why it’s important to surprise listeners and force their brains to actively process what it is your commercial has to say.

Depending on the situation, this surprise may be provided by a unique sound effect, an out-of-market announcer, or an interesting choice of words. However, from time to time, inspiration will strike and the stars will align and you’ll be presented with a commercial that is truly unlike anything you ever expected to receive. While your initial reaction may be to refuse the script and to request something that “sounds more like an ad,” give serious consideration to this oddball piece of copy. The same elements that give you pause for thought will also force listeners to carefully consider exactly what it is they’ve just heard. This consideration is what creates messages that resonate and gives you a powerful commercial!

Let’s review the five steps…

1. Don’t confuse listeners with more than one specific message per commercial.
2. Complement your radio marketing with an easy to use, easy to find website.
3. Clearly differentiate yourself from the competition.
4. Know in advance what needs to happen in order for your radio campaign to be deemed a success.
5. Your radio advertising needs to appeal to potential customers.

Grow your business with compelling creative.

If you follow these five action steps and implement them into all of your radio creative, you’ll be able to maximize your marketing budget and create results that will make your competition jealous.

There’s no secret to making radio work and there’s no mystery as to why some ads succeed while others fail. Just as in so many other aspects of your life, clear, effective communication is crucial to achieving your goal. By providing a radio station’s audience with a compelling benefit that only you can provide and by wrapping said benefit inside a fascinating, easy to understand message, you’ll be light years ahead of your competitors. You’ll grow your business while they lose sleep.