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The Lones Group – A Lesson In Brand Awareness

Nick Bastian — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 12:38:04 +0000

The Lones Group – A Lesson In Brand Awareness is a post from: Rail Life

Brand awareness. Companies pay big bucks for it or work very hard to get it. Often, they do both. Anyone that says that a good brand is easy to come by is sadly mistaken.

I happen to recall a situation where Chicago’s Horizon Realty damaged their reputation by suing someone over a tweet about mold. From what I recall, the lady that was sued said “Who said sleeping in a moldy apartment was bad for you? Horizon Realty thinks it’s okay.” A person from Horizon responded to the lawsuit publicly by saying “We’re a sue first, ask questions later kind of an organization”. Let’s just say, I don’t think Horizon got the best bang for their buck in that one…

Fast forward to yesterday when Inman News posted a story titled “Real Estate Zebra hit with trademark suit.” ( Sorry there isn’t a link but they run a subscription site and you probably can’t get to it unless you want to pay for it. If so, find it at inman dot com. )

The Inman article immediately grabbed my attention because Daniel Rothamel, the author of “The Real Estate Zebra” blog, is someone I happen to respect quite a bit. I can remember meeting him in 2008 at the very first real estate barcamp in San Francisco. He’s a class act, for sure.

Apparently, the Lones Group, which lists an address in Bellingham WA on their web site, feels they are the only ones that should be able to use a zebra in their marketing of anything real estate related. If you type “The Lones Group” into Google, they list a description of themselves as “The Lones Group provides complete marketing solutions for the Real Estate Industry”… Yes, marketing solutions FOR the industry. What’s crazy to me is the fact that Daniel IS a real estate agent. I don’t see how the two compete for business. One appears to market TO the real estate industry while the other markets to buyers and sellers of real estate.

Of course, if someone decides to slap you with a lawsuit, you can either roll over and give in to them or you stand up and fight for what you believe in.

So far, there has been quite a buzz about the ill-advised suit filed by the Lones Group. Yes, there will always be two sides to every story and these two sides look like they will have to be dragged through the court system before a decision is made. I don’t know anyone at the Lones Group and had never heard of them before yesterday. What I now know is that they write something called a “Zebra Report”. For years I have known Daniel as “The Real Estate Zebra.” Similarities? Maybe. The fact that WA and WV are over 2500 miles apart and the parties are two different businesses, kind of makes my head spin when I think of why this suit would be filed. In fact, some people might consider a lawsuit like this a type of brand suicide for the Lones Group.

If you want to learn more about the case, you should take a look at the article titled “The Lones Group v. Rothamel: A case study in destroying your on-line reputation”. It’s another well written blog post by Jay Thompson who knows a thing or two about building a powerful brand.

To me, the damage done to the reputation of The Lones Group will far outweigh anything they could possibly hope to get from “winning” a lawsuit. I’m sure there will be many more articles written about how one hurts their reputation by filing something like this. I believe Jay will be adding them to his blog post, and there will be many comments on Facebook, Twitter, etc. I guess the lesson here would be to think before you sue…

If you want to learn more about how to help Daniel fight this lawsuit from The Lones Group, you can visit the Zebra defense fund web site:

Now for a disclaimer that I basically stole from Jay. ( I hope he doesn’t sue me .) I am not an attorney in any way, shape, or form. I consider Daniel Rothamel and his family (also parties to the lawsuit ) personal friends. And until yesterday, I had never heard of The Lones Group. I have no idea if they are good at what they do, nor do I really care – that’s not the point. The article above is simply my personal opinion, which I freely admit is biased and slanted due to my relationship with the Rothamel’s.

Governor’s Office of Highway Safety To Issue Award At Tempe City Council Meeting

Justin McHood — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 00:29:20 +0000

Governor’s Office of Highway Safety To Issue Award At Tempe City Council Meeting is a post from: Rail Life

Today it was announced that Tempe Police Chief Tom Ryff is going to be receiving an award at the upcoming Tempe City Council Meeting on Thursday.

From azcentral:

Alberto Gutier, director of the AZ Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, said in a letter that he plans to present the award to Ryff at Thursday’s Tempe City Council meeting. “After his appointment as Chief over four years ago, Tom Ryff assembled an executive team and command staff to implement a reorganization strategy that has transformed the Tempe (Police Department) into a technologically advanced law enforcement agency.”

In a letter that was sent to Mayor Hugh Hallman asking for the time in the upcoming council meeting by Gutier outlined just a few of the programs related to traffic enforcement and safety in which Chief Ryff was intrumental and for which he is going to receive the award:

Established and implemented the Major Collision Investigations Team
Institutionalized the concept of specialization in the Traffic Bureau
Promoted the use of technology for the investigation of Vehicular Crimes
Implemented and taught Accident Reconstruction curriculum at the national level
Implemented and created curriculum for officer training in Impairment recognition
Emphasized training in effective criminal prosecution for impared driving violations
Emphasized officer use of criminal statutes to achieve prosecution in DUI cases
Worked with GOHS to establish the grant program by which law enforcement agencies can share resources for statewide DUI task forces

Congratulations to Chief Ryff for his contributions and recognitions in keeping our streets safer. GOHS – Chief Tom Ryff Award – 2011

REBlogWorld in Vegas– Where The Cool Kids Play

Nick Bastian — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 05:42:54 +0000

REBlogWorld in Vegas– Where The Cool Kids Play is a post from: Rail Life

The buzz for the annual REBlogWorld and the BlogWorld & New Media Expo in Las Vegas is beginning to get pretty loud. This years events will be jam packed into three days of amazing material and out of this world fun. Yeah, I said fun. As in Las Vegas style fun and games with the entire conference held at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center.

Billed as the “World’s Largest Social Media Conference,” people come from all over the globe to attend this annual event. Anyone interested in new media, social media, monetizing media, Facebook, Twitter, podcasting, video blogging etc can and should attend this Granddaddy of all geek fests. Everyone can use an excuse to get to Vegas once in a while and this is a perfect opportunity to learn some cool stuff from people considered to be the best in their industry and to have a great time while doing it. Within the conference, there is also the Social Media Business Summit where all aspects of the business of social media will be covered for thousands of attendees by 200+ speakers, 150 educational sessions, and more than 100 exhibiting companies. Seriously, the amount of information available is like drinking water from a fire hose. Come see professional bloggers, mommy bloggers, God bloggers, military bloggers, real estate bloggers and just about any kind of industry related information you care to consume. If you need 10 reasons to go to Vegas for a conference like this, check out what my friend @nik_nik has to say.

For my friends in the real estate industry, REBlogWorld is the day before BlogWorld ( Oct 14 ) and will have some very cool speakers filling out a day of great industry knowledge. How about this for an early line up:

Content Creation vs. Content Sharing – Brian Solis
Using analytics to listen to your customers. Heavy emphasis on AB Testing – Gahlord Dewald
Using Video in Real Estate Blogging – Dale Chumbley & Ted Mackel
Innovative Ideas for Real Estate Blogs & the Secret Plug-ins Needed to Make Them Happen – Stacey Harmon & Ricardo Bueno
Developing a Fail-Proof Content Production Cycle for Your RE Blog – Garron Selliken
Introduction to CSS, How-To, Tools to Manipulate – Kelley Koehler & Dave Smith
Is the Real Estate Blog Dead? – Panel – Rob Hahn, Sarah Stelmok, Jay Thompson (plus+)
WordPress 3.0 – Case Studies, Benefits, Examples of how the new features can be utilized in Real Estate – Reggie & Nicole Nicolay

If you hurry, there are some discount codes available on the REBlogWorld site that will save you a boatload of cash. Should you need any more information, contact the REBlogWorld Team or shoot an email to reblogworld AT gmail.com.

When looking at pricing and discounts, make sure and pay attention to the “full access pass” which I believe is worth it’s weight in gold. The full access pass is good for:

Social Media Business Summit sessions on Thursday, Friday & Saturday

Full access to all show events and all conference sessions on all three days

Special Thursday-only Social Media Business Summit Keynotes

Thursday Partner Programs (REBlogWorld)

The Exclusive Thursday Networking Luncheon

FULL ACCESS BREAK AREA (which includes lunch & snacks on all three days)

Last years conference was a blast and I met some really great people. Check out the video below for some more information about the 2010 REBlogWorld Conference.

Save Cash, Win Dough at MOJO

Rail Life — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 16:02:28 +0000

Save Cash, Win Dough at MOJO is a post from: Rail Life

It’s the 6th of July and it’s hotter than a firecracker. If you want a quick break from the heat on the cheap, it looks like our friends at MOJO Yogurt are giving 50% off of their super cool froyo today! I noticed a tweet they sent out late last night that says:

“Drum roll please…. *Independence* it is!! Spread the word to your peeps to say the word of the day for half off tomorrow!!”

The timing is good because today at 5PM is the deadline for this weeks METRO Max Rewards contest where you can win FREE Yogurt from MOJO. Through the METRO Max contest to win either a $50.00 gift certificate or one of two $25.00 gift certificates.

“Mojo Yogurt has offered to giveaway one $50.00 and two $25.00 gift cards to riders. To enter, send an email to max@metrolightrail.org telling us about your favorite yogurt flavor and topping combination at Mojo. All entries must be received by 5 p.m. on Tuesday, July 6, 2010. Only one entry per person allowed. All METRO Max Rewards subscribers, followers or fans are eligible for this and future contests.” – METRO light rail.

Just so ya’ know, I don’t have anything to do with today’s special mentioned on Twitter. You should probably verify with them as to any details of the offer. Follow MOJO at http://twitter.com/MojoYogurt

There is a super cool MOJO just south of the light rail station on Mill Avenue. Stay cool today and keep “Rockin’ the Rail Life!”

Weekend extension of light rail hours takes step forward

Rail Life — Thu, 07 May 2009 22:21:00 +0000

Weekend extension of light rail hours takes step forward is a post from: Rail Life

Today, members of the City of Phoenix Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee met to discuss (among other things) agenda item #7 which read:

Extended Weekend Light Rail Service: This report provides the transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee with information, cost, and funding alternatives to provide extended light rail service on Friday and Saturday nights.

Many options have been considered with the final recommendation being 20 minute service until 2:00 am on Friday and Saturday nights beginning July 1, 2009. It was my understanding that the extension of hours will be done on a one year trial basis after being heard by Tempe, Mesa, and by Metro's board on May 19th for their approval. Mesa and Tempe have a much smaller stake in the system than that of Phoenix, but Mr. Simplot mentioned his understanding that Mayor Hallman of Tempe was in favor of extending the hours, and another person mentioned that she believed Mesa to be supportive as long as Tempe was on board.

While this was mainly a council discussion, they did take public comments. The only public comment was from Steve Weiss of the Downtown Voices Coalition who made some excellent points about the downtown business climate. Steve was careful to point out that an extension of the light rail hours isn't just about people partying until the bars close.

With little opposition so far, this extension of the light rail hours sounds like it could happen by the July 1 time frame. The "trial period" will be an interesting test. Will enough people use the system to justify approximately $300,000 in added cost? ( I believe that was the figure given.) Will any restaurants or bars begin to stay open later? Will there be an effect on overall ridership numbers? How will the economic impact of the extension be looked at?

Rail Life “Flickr Pic” of the week – Climbing and Crawling, Rail Life style

Rail Life — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 22:25:00 +0000

Rail Life “Flickr Pic” of the week – Climbing and Crawling, Rail Life style is a post from: Rail Life

Last week was about as busy as it gets around here with lots of fun things to work on. By Friday, I was looking forward to "EVFN" to end my week. I knew Saturday was going to be a long day of "Climbing and Crawling" but was really looking forward to it. (Saturday morning was the annual Climb to Conquer Cancer followed by the Light Rail Pub Crawl in the evening.)

The "Climb" went well and the Rail Life team was well represented by a bunch of really cool people. I want to sincerely thank aLL of those who participated in donating money: Dru Bloomfield, Elaine Hanson, Jay Thompson, Chris Polito, "Bubba," Cathy Hagan and Dan Saban. "Team Members" (donating climbers) consisted of Sandra Acosta, Boni Bastian, Lisa Cain, Angela Castro, Nancy Castro, Tyler Hurst, Sylvia McClusky, Justin McHood, Gregory Montgomery, Emily and Jeremy Podborny, Marilyn Russell, Rob and Dina Sell along with Lori and I. This annual event means a lot to me as I lost my grandfather to cancer as a young boy and my mom is a cancer survivor. The large number of family and friends that have been touched by this disease is mind numbing as well. Again, thanks to all of you!

In case you are wondering, the "crawl" went well. I got to hang out with a really fun bunch of people and had a great time. Some pics of that event can be found on our "Flickr" page as well.

Remember… Rail Life has a "Phoenix Light Rail Group on Flickr." Basically, we want to share some of our pictures from the community and allow people to add their pics (or videos), as well. These can be light rail related, but we also want pics of your favorite spot, restaurant, sports team, community, etc

More businesses locating near light rail

Rail Life — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 17:03:00 +0000

More businesses locating near light rail is a post from: Rail Life

The City of Tempe and the Mill Avenue District welcomes Comerica Bank on Mill Avenue just south of the light rail station at 3rd and Mill. While the paper recently reported on some of the casualties of Mill Avenue, the city knows there is a new interest among certain types of business in the area. At Rail Life, we have been fortunate to meet with many of the people from the Chamber, the City and some of the business groups focusing on re-energizing a technology and social media "vibe" to the area. While a bank might not be the sexiest business to open in Tempe, it is great to see positive developments in an area we feel has so much potential. In talking with several business owners near the northern part of the Mill Avenue District, I hear optimism of a renewed interest in part from the accessibility of light rail. There is even a rumor of a new brewery coming just east of Mill in the (hopefully) near future. Said Richard Stuart of Lunchbox Collective: "We see a ton more foot traffic in the area since the opening of light rail." Generally, foot traffic means good things for business.

Here is a release from the Community Development team at the City of Tempe. Thanks Kris, Maybe I'll see ya' on Monday morning to check out the coffee and pastries. :-)

New bank celebrates branch on Mill Avenue

Comerica Bank shyly opened its doors at the end of December but now, they are hoping to be a more vibrant part of the Tempe community.

On Monday, March 2, at 8:30 a.m., the bank will host an open house. Stop by for coffee and pastries and a look at Tempe's newest bank. Members of Tempe City Council will be on hand. Meredith "Russ" Russell, president of Comerica Bank operations in Arizona, is also expected to attend.

Comerica Bank is located in the new Fifth and Mill Building, on the southeast corner of, well, Fifth Street and Mill Avenue. It's adjacent to Dunkin' Donuts. This branch in the heart of downtown Tempe could assist the more than 20,000 employees, 65,000 students and the thousands of tourists in the downtown each day. It is just a block from the light rail station at Third Street and Mill Avenue.

Metro responds to Sheriff Joe’s “Con Rail” use

Rail Life — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 18:14:00 +0000

Metro responds to Sheriff Joe’s “Con Rail” use is a post from: Rail Life

Yesterday, on Twitter, I said… Arpaio's "Con Rail" trips make for an interesting media frenzy… You know he hates the attention, right? The responses were immediate and were opinionated. Today, I discussed the idea with a friend who use to work for a Colorado County Sherriff's department and had picked up prisoners from the airport. Never once did they pay for parking. He said he does't think it is a good idea to use the light rail for carrying prisoners. "That is an accident waiting to happen."

Today, Metro issued this release concerning the transportation of prisoners on the light rail line.

For immediate release
January 28, 2009

METRO concerned with the Sherriff’s Office new inmate transportation plan

PHOENIX — Since yesterday’s announcement by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office to transport inmates on light rail, METRO has received passenger feedback expressing concern for their personal and family safety.
METRO’s goal is to provide a safe, secure and reliable journey for its passengers. Any situation that creates concern for passengers and discourages ridership is of great concern to METRO.
The METRO light rail vehicle, much like any public transit vehicle, is not a controlled environment and not designed for this application. Transporting inmates using public transportation is not a common practice nationally and has not occurred locally on the Valley’s bus system.
It is anticipated that the METRO Board of Directors will consider a resolution requesting the Sherriff’s Office to reconsider this proposal in light of concerns expressed by Valley residents. METRO would welcome an opportunity to discuss with the Sherriff’s Office better solutions that meet everyone’s needs.

Riding Light Rail New Year’s Eve? Share your story!

Rail Life — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 13:31:00 +0000

Riding Light Rail New Year’s Eve? Share your story! is a post from: Rail Life

We had a GREAT time on Opening Day of the light rail line by sharing a bunch of cool pictures and "tweet up's" with everyone. In fact, our group now has over 400 light rail related pictures! If you are heading out tonight and you are taking light rail to get there, feel free to add more pics to our "Light Rail Group" on Flickr and be sure to tell everyone where you are or what you are up to via Twitter. Just use the hash tag of #raillife so people can follow along.

If you don't know what Twitter is, sorry. BUT, try checking it out, you just might find a cool new way to communicate for 2009!

Again, Happy New Year! from the Rail Life crew..

Arizona to Receive Transit Funds

Rail Life — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 11:22:00 +0000

Arizona to Receive Transit Funds is a post from: Rail Life

We got this news release this morning and thought some of you might be interested.

PHOENIX (Dec. 29, 2008) –Revenues from the Local Transportation Assistance Fund II (LTAFII), which are generated from the Arizona state lottery, have been released by Governor Janet Napolitano from the 2009 fiscal year state budget. Realizing how transit is crucial for finding work, getting to jobs, doctor appointments, school and shopping, the Governor has approved that the state-provided funds be available to 95 cities and towns throughout Arizona.
“With a significant decrease in vehicle miles traveled in the state and across the country, it is important to continue to provide alternatives for travel,” said David A. Boggs, executive director of Valley Metro. In October, Arizona reported a 6 percent decrease in vehicle miles traveled, while the U.S. reported a 3.5 percent decrease over the same period one year ago.

In MaricopaCounty, more than $ 7 million dollars will be provided to 24 cities and towns and the county, which will provide much relief in the continued transit operations of services that serve as a lifeline for many seniors, disabled and low-income residents. See attachments for a complete list of LTAFII distributions and projects in the state.

Valley Metro/RPTA is an organization of 14 local governments that provides or funds transit services to citizens in the greater Phoenix metropolitan and surrounding areas. For more information about Valley Metro public transit services, call Transit Information at (602) 253-5000; for callers with TTY (602) 261-8208; or visit the Valley Metro website at www.ValleyMetro.org.