DJ Campbell and Chelsea Star will be mixing up the beats for you. So come on down to Holocene this Saturday and see what the city by the bay has to offer.

Dj Campbell has been throwing down the dance party jams for a decade. A notable credit is the “best party in SF,” called Hot Pants, which DJ Campbell and Chelsea Starr started and has been going off for over 6 years.

DJ Campbell also kicked off Rebel Girl in SF and still is a frequent guest. Campbell loves a good mix of party hits and is most interested in everyone going wild on the dance floor. In her free time she flies off to dj for private parties on tiny islands with umbrella cocktails.

Chelsea Starr is a San Francisc- based dj. She throws the queer party, Hot Pants, which is now in its sixth year, and plays at queer and straight parties all over San Francisco. She’s also played in Seattle, New York, and LA. Recently, Chelsea Starr was featured in the SF Bay Guardian’s annual Hot Pink List of Queers to Watch, and last year was one of GO Magazine’s Hot 100 List.

Double Down is July 26th and every fourth Saturday
at Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison at 10th.

Five buck cover

It’s just like high school (or college for that matter) all over again. It’s the night before your paper’s due, and while you know the subject matter front to back, all you have to show for it is a blinking cursor and circles under your eyes. And you thought, boy, I can’t wait ’til I graduate and never have to do this again!

And then you decided to start your own business. And the time has come to put together a visual representation of what you do. And the blinking cursor and the dark circles are back. To avoid adding a few gray hairs to the mix, try this exercise and start brainstorming your brand.

Remember, organic branding takes honesty, creativity, and a commitment to consistency.

1. How is your environment changing?

2. Who are your major “competitors” today? Is the list changing?

3. For what are you known?

4. How well are you known? Perceived? By whom?

5. How do you define your market? Your marketshare? Is it increasing or declining? Why?

Target Audience
To whom is this communication addressed? What other stakeholders will be affected?

Objective
What is this communication expected to accomplish among the target audience? What is our specific project goal—to raise awareness, increase understanding, or change behavior? Is it measurable?

Perception
What is the target audience’s current knowledge/attitude? What knowledge/attitude is desirable?

Message
What is the key idea to be communicated which will accomplish our objective?

Method
What is the most appropriate vehicle for delivering the message? What makes this vehicle most appropriate? Are other options worth considering for any reason (time, expense, impact)?

Other Requirements
What other requirements must the communication meet? Is there mandatory information to include? Is it connected to other projects? How do any connections affect project design and use? How will this communication be branded?

Budget
What is the budget for this project? How is the budget determined?

Timeline
What is the project start date? Due date? Other milestones?

Measurement
What is the measurement of success for this communication? Can it be quantified?

Dee Lieber is the owner of Organics Anonymous, a Portland Oregon design and marketing firm. She is a branding specialist who helps her clients establish (or re-establish) their identities, target their niche, and gain brand loyalty by utilizing their websites, logos, and print advertisements as valuable marketing tools.. Dee is a member of the Portland Area Business Association - Portland’s LGBT Chamber of Commerce. Visit Dee’s website at: OrganicsAnonymous.com.

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Such a thing happened to me this very morning. I attended a large business networking meeting sponsored by our metropoiltan chamber of commerce. The group was ably facilitated by a straight woman who specializes in business coaching and courses for small enterprises. Near the end of the event, she made an announcement about her upcoming seminar on permission-based sales techniques. The title of her course: “Ask. Don’t Tell.”

I am an advocate of permission-based selling and I would have a hard time coming up with a more clever title for a course on it. The problem? It’s a playful take on one of the more offensive and discriminatory policies ever enacted by our government: the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” code that requires gay and lesbian soldiers to basically “”play straight” while serving in the armed forces in any capacity.

What if I playfully entitled my course on how to qualify sales leads “Apartheid Sales Techniques” or “Applying Jim Crow To Your Business Networking?” At least those examples are historical policies. “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is very much alive and in effect - and, well, quite offensive to a huge community of people.

I know that the woman who invented the name of her course means no harm (I can just tell those sorts of things. Don’t question it, k?) I would think, however, that a person who coaches people on how to market their businesses would put a little more thought into her course titles.

It may be a cute title, but it kinda annoys me.

What do you think? Does it bother you? Can you think of any other examples of ill-named courses?

Post Topics: Gay Business Portland, Lesbian Business Portland Oregon, Don’t Ask Don’t Tell

You want some of this?

Post Topics: Portland Gay YouTube, Portland Gay and Lesbian Life, Portland Gay

When I was in 6th grade I really wanted to play basketball with the rest of the “cool” girls in my class. But you know what my mother said? No. She was afraid that I would start walking and talking like a man…or a gay (I swear she must have known then!). So instead, I joined the cheerleading team. But I’m a cheerleader! (Pun definitely intended). Worry not, for as Alice Walker says, “you can’t keep a good woman down.” After putting in my time with the pom-poms, I ended up pursuing basketball in the 8th grade and went on to play varsity at the University of Chicago. And the cheerleaders even made up cheers for me…

I’m not so much scornful of my mother as I am a little sorry for the poor dear. According to her sweet soft simple heart, her beautiful daughter played basketball and turned gay (and she could have dated any boy she wanted!)… and the only finger her son ever lifted was “pinky-out” when holding a glass of wine. Now, what I’ve always marvelled at is that my brother’s nickname since forever has been Butch. But Butch is a Bitch? And I’m kind of a bitch too…but am I a bitch because I’m butch?

So I ask you, is butch a bitch…or is bitch the new butch?

Dee Lieber is the owner of Organics Anonymous, a Portland Oregon design and marketing firm. She is a branding specialist who helps her clients establish (or re-establish) their identities, target their niche, and gain brand loyalty by utilizing their websites, logos, and print advertisements as valuable marketing tools.. Dee is a member of the Portland Area Business Association - Portland’s LGBT Chamber of Commerce. Visit Dee’s website at: OrganicsAnonymous.com.

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