In physiology, a smile is a facial expression formed by flexing muscles most notably near both ends of the mouth but also around the eyes. You can fake the mouth part, but faking smiling eyes is really hard. Actors train for years to be able to deliver a “real” smile on cue. Most of them end up using sense memory to put them in a remembered place where they really did smile. It is a disconnect between the eyes and the mouth that usually betrays an imposter. If you covered John McCain’s or Hillary Clinton’s mouth would you know that they were smiling if you only had their eyes to go by? Rudy Giuliani, on the other hand, seems to have it down. He’s not the most handsome guy on the planet but when he chooses to smile his eyes twinkle. It really does seem real, doesn’t it?

Researchers have identified a number of different types of smiles. The two that predominate are the “Duchenne Smile” and the “Pan American Smile.” The Duchenne Smile, named after the researcher Guillaume Duchenne is the most studied and involves the movement of both the zygomaticus major muscle near the mouth and the orbicularis oculi muscle near the eyes. It’s believed that the Duchenne smile is only produced as an involuntary response to genuine emotion, and is therefore considered the “genuine smile.” Due to the involvement of the muscle near the eyes, it’s believed that you can tell whether or not a smile is real by whether or not it reaches the eyes. The “Pan American Smile,” on the other hand, is the voluntary smile involving only the zygomaticus major muscle to show politeness (it was named after a stewardess on the now defunct airline “Pan Am”). Considered insincere, this type of smile is also referred to as the “Professional Smile.”

The most studied smile of all of course is the Mona Lisa’s. If you look at the painting’s right side it is instantly evident that she has definite up-turned lips for a smile. Leonardo even made her cheek muscle a little tensioned with the slightly highlighted skin on top and shadowed below her cheek. This muscle looks a little thick in her cheek as it pulls her lips up. A definite gentle smile is going on there.

But her eye on this side does not demonstrate the signs usually associated with a real smile. A real smile has laughter lines at the outer corner of the eyes where the skin crinkles up. The muscles involved can not be easily controlled consciously and usually activate only with a real smile. These muscles also affect the eye lids and cause them to tense up with a real smile. In her case the lower eye lid does not have the same thickness and tension as her other eye. Hence, this eye is very relaxed and there is no smile evident in this eye.

What makes her so fascinating is that we are always guessing about what she is really thinking. Her eyes and her smile communicate two entirely different but not necessarily oppositional emotions. . . which is great if you're a painting. . . but not so great if you are striving to be a "sincere," seemingly honest seeker of White House residency.

So should you coach a smile out of a politician if he or she doesn’t smile naturally? I don’t think that a coach would really get very far telling Dick Cheney to lose the grimace and replace it with sunshine. Nor would it be advisable in my opinion. Stretching that far out of character is always transparent. But it’s also not "acceptable" for a female politician to be caught pulling “a Cheney?” Think about it, how often have you seen a female politician repeatedly scowl?

Left to her own devices I bet that Hillary could be pretty dour. But that’s unacceptable from a female. So, she has been obviously told to lighten up. She recently said that women had to work harder to be taken seriously than men. Maybe that’s it. Maybe she has had to be serious her whole life and now they’re telling her to get happy.

Condi, on the other hand, seems to be a sunnier personality by nature but within the past couple of months has been told to dim the smile a bit. Maybe she has to work to be taken more seriously and a serious face is taken more seriously? Check it out... those teeth are much more covered these days. And then there’s Nancy. I’m not sure that I have seen any real facial expression from her. But she sure does look perfect.

Let’s face it, we don’t really gravitate to people who rarely smile. But then again, we don't really trust people who smile all the time. So, if you’re giving a speech the key is to do what the actors do: build a couple of moments into your speech where you are guaranteed to emit a real smile. This can take some doing. It doesn’t happen by chance unless you’re Bill Clinton or Pat Buchanan (one is amusing to many, the other at least amuses himself).

It’s variation of emotion and facial expression that reads as genuine to an audience. So paint your speech palate with contrasting emotional colors instead of monotone earth tones and beware of what Confucius observed: “I do not want a friend who smiles when I smile, who weeps when I weep; for my shadow in the pool can do better than that.” Smile! You’re on candid camera!

He was everywhere on TV for a while. Partying with his friends in the Sentra, picking up a blind date in the Sentra (she timidly asked “Do you live in this car?”) Ordering Pizza to be delivered to his mobile apartment: The Sentra. Donning racing glasses to test the speed and agility of the Sentra. And finally watching the sunset with his friend “Toast” and the Sentra.

In a way Mark Horowitz is a cult hero... In a way. To make sure that he personified fun when he did the talk show circuit CrowleyCom was brought in. We’ve been working with Nissan for close to a decade... but must admit that this was one of the more amusing assignments to date.

Next assignment: CrowleyCom goes to Tokyo to work with Nissan’s global leaders. We’ve never worked in Japan before... Should be interesting.

CrowleyCom prepped Dean before a satellite media tour touting the benefits of a Sneeze Free Garden Makeover. And no... He didn’t wear the cape for the interviews.

	Here are a few of Dean’s tips:
		Avoid gardening between 5:00 -10:00 a.m. (the pollen count is highest then)
		Water frequently (keeping the dust and mold from rising)
		Replace straw with black plastic mulch, rocks or gravel to cut down on toxic mold spores
		Use the right plants including tulips, begonias, roses or daffodils
		Refrain from using trees and shrubs with small flowers
		Avoid using male trees and shrubs (ask your local gardening shop on how to tell male from female)
		Wash away allergens (rinse your hands, clothes and hair after gardening)
		Have an effective allergy medicine like Benadryl on hand to relieve sneezing, itchy watery eyes, runny nose and scratchy throat (Dean’s been using Benadryl for over 25 years)

But if you watched the show you know how much “personality” also factored into a judge’s scores.

No one knows that better than Lisa Rinna. It was her personality as well as her dancing ability that captivated onlookers (not so for her illustrious husband Harry Hamlin!). And so, when the media focused their spotlight on her the day before the announcement of the winning team (looking for the inside scoop) Lisa talked about the rigors of the contest. What are the defining characteristics of a true competitor?

In addition to being in top physical shape Lisa observed that the contestants’ smiles played a key role in their overall impression. And how did she maintain her winning smile (we asked)? Oral-B’s New Triumph toothbrush... she replied. The CrowleyCom team delighted in preparing this star for the rigors of a satellite media tour.

Seagate Debuts
FreeAgent At CES

Scotts Valley, CA In a bold move, Seagate Technologies launched an entirely new consumer brand at CES this year. Small is definitely in.

But as you entered CES’s gateway you encountered a gigantic mountain of paper, including photographs and documents. This was Seagate’s (or should we say Chait’s) way of emphasizing how much content we carry through life with us.

Capitalizing on consumers’ insatiable appetites for small portable consumer electronics devices with big storage capacities, Seagate’s FreeAgent includes a line of matchbook-size portable storage devices that enable you to leave your laptop at home. Imagine being able to take all of the contents of your computer (including photos, music files, videos, software applications, e-mail) with you in your pocket? Then imagine that this tiny device not only contains a drive of up to 750GB, but also a software stack to manage and encrypt files. And, FreeAgent devices won’t leave passwords or data traces on remote computers.

FreeAgents are “data-movers,” where it’s all about content management. They provide the ability and freedom to manage your content anywhere, anytime, anyhow. FreeAgent users can automatically transfer files to a flash drive, copy email and contacts from Microsoft Outlook to an iPod and automatically load your favorite photos to a Shutterfly account. One version offers free online data management similar to previous efforts by Google and Amazon. And, FreeAgent products look cool.

Does cool matter in the storage world? It does now! Enclosed in thin black casings FreeAgents radiate an organic, luminescent orange glow. If you get the desktop version you’ll be sure to draw comments like “What is that? That looks really cool.” CrowleyCom worked with Seagate’s FreeAgent leadership to articulate the excitement of this new brand. My... My... My... how the storage world has changed!

Snap.com is for people who prefer television over radio. It’s for those of us who know it when we see it. For those among us who are sick and tired of wasting time going to irrelevant sites. For those of us who want to act rather than deliberate. Idealabs is the Pasadena incubator who brought us Overture (the innovator of the pay-per-click model that reaped them $1.6 billion dollars when sold to Yahoo). Obviously seasoned in search, Snap.com is challenging the way we search.

With the investment world fixed on search and its potential to deliver R.O.I., Snap is poised to deliver just that. CNBC’s Squawk Box devoted a whole week to interviewing the CEO’s of the most up-and-coming search startups. Snap.com is the only one that is actually up and running.

Does it have a head start on the competition? You bet. Which made preparing the leader of Snap.com to squawk on the box that much more enjoyable for CrowleyCom.

One of the primary reasons why Countrywide Bank has grown so quickly and dramatically is because of the superb rates they offer savers. The unique combination of having a physical presence and rates that rival Internet Banks has been particularly well received by retirees. If you go to Bankrate.com you’ll always find Countrywide’s rates at the head of the pack.

Countrywide Financial Corporation has been prescient in its drive to diversify over the past few years. It is this diversification that has enabled CFC to weather the hills and valleys of the mortgage industry, seizing opportunities in areas where a pure-play mortgage bank would not be able to compete. Countrywide’s businesses include insurance, capital markets, banking, and of course its core competency, mortgage banking. CrowleyCom continues to work with Countrywide executives as they articulate this successful diversification story to the press and select financial audiences.

The redesigned grille has four twisted chromed slates inspired by traditional Japanese swords. It’s longer, lower and wider than before (making it considerably more palpably aggressive). Magnesium paddles on the Sport models reside behind the steering wheel. And yet, it’s smoother and quieter than previous generations.

Except for the sound system... “quiet” it’s not. Infiniti is introducing “Studio On Wheels” by Bose, featuring the first three-way front door speaker array using 10-inch woofers with an audiophile quality head unit incorporating a 24-bit Burr Brown Digital Audio Converter. It also includes a 9.5-gigabyte music hard drive that enables you to download up to 3000 songs and play MP3 or WMA files off an in-dash compact flash card slot.

For the past decade CrowleyCom has been working with Infiniti. We’ve witnessed nothing short of a metamorphosis. You’ve come a long way baby!

Roselle is retiring a little earlier than anticipated because of an auto-immune disease that’s caused by inhaling toxins. One cannot help but wonder if the massive clouds of dust that she heroically led Michael out of on 9-11 caused her condition. But she’s doing fine and has earned a little rest after keeping such a whirwind schedule.

When a guide dog retires they can be adopted by their blind handler. If this person is unable to keep the dog or find a suitable home the dog puppy raiser (who raised the pup for between 15 and 18 months before being placed with a blind person) is given the first opportunity to adopt the dog. If neither of these options works Guide Dogs for the Blind has a list of people who are waiting to adopt a retired guide dog.

No doubt Roselle will probably still be a media darling. We’re sure her friend Larry King Live will want to know what she has to say about retirement (maybe she’ll ask Larry if he himself has any plans to step down). When Michael pairs with a new dog the Hingson family will be a three dog family (they already have one retired guide dog). According to Michael, when a new guide dog is introduced into the family with a previous guide dog present there may be a bit of jealousy at first. But inevitably the dogs bond and become playmates. Three labs raising occasional havoc together should be quite a spectacle. Don’t you think?

But with over fifty-percent of their business being interactive these days... perhaps it’s time to be more visible. And with corporate and entertainment clients knocking at your doors perhaps you should open a northern office. Well, not that northern... How about Glendale? So, this year the Long Beach native has come to Tinsel Town (not exactly the embodiment of understatement). With a proven commitment to the power of design, the power of collaboration, the ever-growing power of new media and the ultimate power of truth over trend... maybe The Designory can teach Hollywood a thing or two. CrowleyCom continues to empower these “creatives” as they define their brand for new clients and the media.

To have a pink diamond or a pink sapphire certainly distinguishes you from the ordinary. And, pink stones are very “in” right now. The Collection includes all sorts of pieces built around precious stones like diamonds and sapphires as well as semi-precious stones like pink tourmaline, rose quartz, pink topaz and pink mother-of-pearl set in rose and white gold. Select pieces of the Pink Panther Collection include the Crown of Light, a rare 90-faceted diamond that offers more brilliance and clarity than traditional 57-facet diamonds. For one-of-a-kind pieces from the Pink Panther Collection you’ll have to spring with $50,000 or more. Gentlemen will be tantalized by the Inspector Clouseau Collection which includes cufflinks, tuxedo sets and bracelets.

You’ll have to travel a bit to view The Pink Panther Collection in person. It can be found exclusively at Diamonds International retail shops domestically in Juneau, Ketchikan and Skagway, Alaska and internationally in Belize City, Belize; Cabo San Lucas, Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, Costa Maya and Cozumel, Mexico; St. Thomas, USVI; Nassau, Bahamas; Aruba; St. Maarten and Barbados. The “tough task” of helping MGM Consumer Products executives bring sparkle to their media interviews was left to CrowleyCom. MGM, by the way, owns the world’s largest library of modern films (last count it was around 4,000 titles).