CEO Threatens Your Business Blogger

Branding BlunderMike Jingozian is the Founder of Angel Vision Technologies. And presents an outstanding case history on wrong-headed public relations management. A Branding Blunder.

In retaliation to my analysis, Jingozian has threatened to make a donation to Amnesty International. In my name. The Horror. The Shame.

Jingozian, accused of academic credential enhancement by Alert Readers of this blog, admits his mistake for confusing a Harvard certificate with a Harvard sheepskin.

Easy to tell the difference: the degree is in Latin, I think. The certificate, on very nice 20lb bond, is not.

Mike apologizes.

Sort of.

Mike “Jingo” Jingozian sent me the longest email that I have ever received. He sends some 1600 words from his Oregon commune. He requested that I “post it in it’s ENTIRETY.” Emphasis his. See extended entry. He speaks of suing. World Peace. Debt,hunger,war,healthcare,disease,pollution. And homosexual love.

(You can cover a lot of ground in 1600 words.)

“Jingozian” keeps popping up on my blog site meter and inbox. By Google referrals and a number of emails from Alert Readers who know him.

His brand mis-management deserves further study. On mistakes to avoid.

But I could be wrong on my approach. Besides not recycling. Jingo tells me, “There’s a peaceful warrior inside you crying to get out.”

When is the Left Coast ever going to slide off into the Pacific?

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Thank you (foot)notes:

Angel Vision’s site.

Free Consulting to the AV team: Exercise caution whenever using the ‘reply all’ function on email. 2 reasons:

If by error, it can make the sender look, well, “stoopid.” Bad for a tech-savvy company.

If deliberate, it can slander the receiver. Bad for business.

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From: James Haselhofer [james@mail.angelvisiontech.com]

I would remove the comments about Jack’s ego. I’m a fair hand with written argumentation, and when dismantling another’s argument, you always want to stay away from ad hominem attacks (or anything that can be perceived as such). The impulse is strong to insult stoopid peeple I know, but you’ll come off better in the end for having never done it. Also, I would shy away from claims that will be construed as hubris. Readers like confidence, not arrogance. A well reasoned argument will function as the confidence you need. And it’s the reader you’re trying to convince, not the person you’re addressing (you can’t change their mind anyway).

My 2 cents.

Take care,

James

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From: Mike Jingozian

Sent: Monday, January 02, 2006 3:06 PM

To: replacewithjackemail

Cc: Angelique Jingozian; Ben Mason; Chantel Wheeler; Cory Otjen; Dirk-Jan Boekee; Emily Sorensen; James Haselhofer; Jason Vosburgh; Jeff Otis; Jen Bell; John Bohlmann; Lindsey Perkowski; Matt Adams; Richell Wilson; Tiffany Stafford; Cornelius Gerrit Swart; Ray Reznick; Matt Zodrow; Scott Rice; Christine Felter; Richard Butler (ARD@IPNS.com); Karen “Penney” Dollar (pkdollar@gmail.com); Laura Parker (parker.productions@juno.com)

Subject: from Mike Jingozian – please feel free to criticize any of this letter so long as you post it in it’s ENTIRETY

After reading this over, I’ve decided to post this on our website. I think that many people could benefit by the exchange. We are going to create a new section called “What people are saying” and feature this letter and provide links to your website. We get thousands of visitors to our website per day. We’ll even feature it in our newsletter!

Ben: Let’s include this exchange in the book.

By the way, you can see Jack’s website here: /archives/2005/12/whats_the_best.html. There are 2 other articles as well.

Hey Jack!

This is Mike Jingozian — the guy you just LOVE to denigrate. What’s the problem? If I accidentally said that I have “2 Masters Degrees” instead of saying the

“I have one Masters Degree and one degree that’s like a Masters Degree”,

then I truly apologize.

I was wrong.

Yes, unlike you (apparently) I make mistakes. In fact, in a day, I’m lucky if I get more things right than wrong. What I will say from now on is “I have 3 degrees, one from Harvard” Is that okay with you? (Yes, “Mr. Oxford” I know exactly what you’re going to say now. You are quite predictable).

I suppose I could email to you photos from my graduation ceremony or scan in the appropriate page from the alumni directory, but then you would just claim that we were good at using Photoshop, right? After all, you control what appears on your website. Perhaps I’ll create a blog on my website and point all my website visitors to yours. Just imagine how embarrassing this would be for you. I’m sure that this would not affect your business very much.

Really Jack — wha’’s the problem here? We removed you from our database, why are you pursuing this?

There are a lot of problems in the world… the debt, hunger, war, health care, disease, pollution, the self-interest of our government leaders… the list is long — very long. Why do you spend so much time criticizing me? There’s so much other news that’s far more important than me. I like the attention, but I’ve been the main feature in 3 articles now. I would really like to know.

As far as my terribly marketing skills are concerned…we’ve been growing from between 240% to 400% EACH YEAR since we started 5 years ago. I founded this company on $45,000 and last year we made close to $3 million. We wouldn’t be growing at this incredible pace if we were not VERY good at marketing and advertising –for both ourselves AND our Clients. Marketing which you just LOVE to criticize. The bottom line is we provide an EXCEPTIONAL service to our Customers and it shows in our success. Criticize as much as you want, but it shows a clear lack of understating of basic marketing and what we do. How can we possibly be so successful if we are doing everything wrong? With all due respect, you are wrong. It is your ego that is preventing you from seeing this. There’s nothing wrong with that — we all have egos.

As for how I choose to manage my company, well… most people say that it’s the best company they’ve ever worked at. Moral is very high, everyone loves working here and (you’re going to love this)… I’m writing a book on Holistic & Zen Management Principles. (I’m sure that this news will make for some real juicy writing in your next newsletter!) If you have a problem with this, then so be it. Feel free to complain as much as you want, but I really don’t see how I manage AngelVision is any of your business. Please enlighten me Jack.

What cracked me up most were your comments about the Customer quotes. I’m even laughing now. Rather than acknowledging the abundance of positive feedback we regularly receive from our Customers, you complain that we wasted paper — it’s even funnier when you consider that we ONLY send out our Info Pack AFTER someone ALREADY attended our Coffee with AngelVision presentation. But that’s the human ego at work. (By the way, we now have 12 pages of Customer quotes — so we’re wasting even ANOTHER sheet of paper! Just curious, do you write to all the companies who send you junk mail, catalogues and magazines and ask to be removed? Do you even recycle at YOUR house and office?) My guess is no. Let’s just build weapons and blow the world up. See what I mean about the ego?

As far as getting comments from people who interviewed with us or were asked to leave — well, there’s a reason why they’re not on the team. Since we hire based on character, desire and chemistry (and not experience), we end-up interviewing a very large number of people. Unfortunately, resumes don’t include this kind of information. What can I say, we do everything wrong here at AngelVision. (Something tells me that you wouldn’t make it on the team either. Jack, perhaps this is the source of your frustration). I’m sure lots of people we interview are upset that they weren’t offered a job and search for my name on the Internet. I’ve also had to fire many people and I’m sure that they are not happy either — over 20 in fact. I could give you a long list of people who don’t like me. Perhaps you can form a support group.

Seriously, as for just about everything else you wrote Jack, much of it is false — our pricing policy, my bio, our tag line, I could go on and on. (However, I did like the remark about sitting around the campfire singing Koombayia). That was just about the ONLY THING you got right. But, that’s okay. There’s about 20% of the population that is just very ego centric and you belong in that group. I used to be there myself. I was very arrogant, ego-centric, self-important, etc. (probably worse than you — hey I sold timeshare, how bad does it get?)… but through a lot of self-discovery and exposing myself to different philosophies, I’m no longer. I am content, peaceful and in complete control with my feelings, events, stories, etc. The past has no effect on the present. It’s a wonderful existence. True bliss (well, most of the time). I could help you with your problem if you want. The rewards are unimaginable. Free coaching from me, Jingo. Some people would pay a fortune for this Jack.

Which reminds me… how come you never write about the work we do for the community or the pro-bono movies we produce for charitable causes? Or that we have a very low-pressure sales approach or that we save our Clients thousands of dollars in sales costs or that we are transforming how companies market and advertise? Guess I missed that.

Let’s face it Jack, I just annoy you somehow. Something about me bothers you. Perhaps you’re jealous, feel threatened or have a secret love affair for me — who knows. It’s nothing personal as far as I am concerned. You are welcome to write whatever you want. In fact, it’s a source of amusement to people close to me. It doesn’t bother me. If it did, I would have already sued you for printing these lies. After all, defamation IS against the law Jack. But push me further and I might make a donation to Amnesty International in your name. Now, THAT would REALLY piss you off I’m sure. In fact, I can’t wait to see what you have to say after you read this email.

Oh, and be sure to check this out our animated Christmas Card as well: http://www.ImpactMovie.com/greetingcard. I’m sure you can find lot’s of terrible things to say about this. Opps, I didn’t say “Holiday Greeting”… I guess am I evil.

By the way, for those ‘more enlightened’ people reading this, I receive an extraordinary amount of email from people (Clients, companies, team members, and so on) – over 50 emails in December alone. About 95% is extremely positive. About 5% is just plain nasty – I mean TERRIBLE. You would be surprised at what people say. But that’s human nature. There’s no sense taking it personally or getting angry over it. If you choose to play big in this world, there are many people who will try to derail you for all sorts of personal reasons. Remember, it’s not their fault; it’s just what they know. So, don’t let mean, arrogant people bother you – even if someone cuts you off on the highway. It’s the way they were brought up. All we can do is love them, support them and encourage them to see the light.

Be well Jack. I hope you have a terrific 2006. Remember, there are people out here that love you. There’s a peaceful warrior inside you crying to get out.

Jingo

Oh, I forgot… the Learning Channel is filming a reality show that involves us. (Again, terrible marketing, I know). If you want, I’ll let you know when it’s going to be aired. I’m sure that you’ll have a lot to criticize about us after that as well. I can help you Jack, I really can. I wouldn’t have spent the time to write this letter if I didn’t see wonderful possibilities within you. You might want to start your journey by attending Landmark Education. It is truly an extraordinarily experience: www.LandmarkEducation.com. Check into the Forum. There are so many other great things I can turn you on to. (By the way, this goes out to everyone who is reading this).

Ultimately, you will choose to make this email mean whatever you desire, that’s your prerogative. After all, everything is a choice. I really wish you the very best Jack. Peace brother.

Mike Jingozian

Founder and CEO

AngelVision Technologies

www.AngelVisionTech.com

503-620-3377

Our Impact Movies avoid unnecessary paper waste, help preserve our valuable natural resources such as forests and oil, protect wildlife habitats, and do not contribute to landfills.

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From: Jennifer Bell

Never mind, I went to his site.

I suppose that every successful business must have critics… I’m suprised to see that he’s spoken to Jeff so much!

He does have a point about our sales kits though – they are quite paper heavy. Especially considering our email tagline. Couldn’t we make the pages double sided at least?

Funny stuff though!

Jennifer Bell

AngelVision Technologies

AOL Screenname: AVT Dev

503-620-3377