MVP of Communications: Your friend, Twitter

Most of my friends are well aware that I spent a couple of days last week at this year’s Boards Summit conference in New York. The publishers and editors of Boards Magazine have been producing this event for 10 years now, to support and help lead people from all points around the globe who are actively involved in the commercial production industry, and other sectors directly engaged in creating breakthrough marketing initiatives. The organizers outdid themselves this year, at a time when changes are playing out faster than ever, requiring us all to rethink, revisit, and then redouble efforts to seize any potentially viable opportunities, even those where there is little or no expectation of profit. Read more

Setting the stage for your phenonemal event…

Fast Company Magazine’s Elizabeth Svoboda put together a really fascinating story on San Francisco-based multimedia design lab Obscura Digital in the July/August 2008 issue, and you can check it out in all its vibrant glory by following this link: Obscura Digital’s High Def Projections. Another really interesting, video-laden piece on this unique company from July, written by Kara Tsuboi, appears on CNET’s newly redesigned site here: Video: The swirling, surreal world of Obscura Digital. As Kara writes in her piece, ” Read more

How to ace your next speaking gig

It seemed to work out pretty well for Sir Isaac Newton, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Stephen Hawking, among many others, so I hope you won’t mind me metaphorically standing on the shoulders of giants in presenting this MarSciTechtainment entry. This week, I am returning to one of my favorite thought-leading sources — Rohit Bhargava — to share his advice on how to stand out as a conference or tradeshow speaker. His blog entry on this subject provides a more substantial foundation and exploration of the topic, so if this is of interest, I highly recommend you check that out. In the meantime, I hope my spin on his tips will help you stylishly, effectively woo the next crowd you face.

1. Be real. In the forthcoming book entitled NoiseFive from my clients at global creative and brand-engineering agency ATTIK, one of my favorite pieces of hard-earned advice contained therein is this brilliant little pearl of wisdom: Don’t try to be something you’re not, or it can cost you your business.

2. Keep it simple and focused. Ensure that attendees walk away from your presentation knowing exactly what your point was, do it in a conversational, respectful way, and hit your points in the fewest words necessary. (Period.)

3. Down with bullets. Rajit references Garr Reynolds’ Presentation Zen in urging us to use visuals to make points instead of bullet points.

4. Engage the audience. Questioning the audience during your presentation enlists their attention (know what I mean?). Inviting their questions deepens the shared experience. Greeting them afterwards can pay off in ways you’d never imagine. Another simple but effective trick I have picked up is to intentionally scan the faces in the crowd from one side of the room to the other as you speak, so that attendees know you’re making an effort to personally communicate with each of them.

5. Before leaping, listen. Rajit builds a strong case for ‘talking last’ as a panelist. Deftly tying together others’ points in making your own is an excellent way to maximize your speaking appearance.

PowerPoint love à la Japanese chatter…

You may be familiar with the expression which says that nothing worth doing is easy. That nicely sums up my experiences over the past several months which have finally led to the publication of this blog entry on the subject of the new-ish social phenomenon uniting people in major cities around the world to share… their… slideshows. Yes, it sounds like a concept whose ship sailed long ago, but two very bright architects in Tokyo named Mark Dytham and Astrid Klein have brought it into vogue, by holding festive shows-and-tells where individual presentations are strictly limited to 20 slides, with 20 seconds to talk about each one (meaning you’re up and back down in less than seven minutes flat). Named for a term which reportedly translates in Japanese to mean ‘chatter,’ you may be surprised to learn that pecha-kucha night offers cosmopolitan convergence in one cool hotspot or another virtually every night of the week. To find out where, check-out the calendar at pecha-kucha.org.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEA8uxieuR8]
I was turned on to this subject after reading about it courtesy of Daniel Pink in last September’s Wired Magazine. For his piece, Daniel crafted his own very interesting entry, and inspired me to do the same. Truth be told, it has taken me this long to put mine together, and even now, I see that tweaking remains in order. Anyway, I have wanted to share this development here for some time, and even in its current state, this particular Powerpoint of mine winds up being pretty meaningful to me. As such — at least from my perspective — it delivers on one of the widely reported benefits of this new version of open-mic night: word is, the time constraints are likely to turn even the beastliest presentations into beauties. I hope you fancy it as well.

The brands and messages behind this year’s historic Super Buzz…

Yesterday Fox reported that more than 107 million people tuned in to watch its broadcast of Super Bowl XLII on Sunday, making it the most-watched Super Bowl in history — and positioning the NFL’s Super Bowl hands-down as the world’s most-watched television programming of modern times. Voluminous media coverage before and after the game informs us of the exorbitant prices that brands pay to tie-in their marketing — and of their successes and failures. Today I wanted to share two different lenses into the companies who boldly ventured into this year’s Super Buzz.

First, I encourage you to visit a story written by Dorian Benkoil for the Jack Myers Media Business Report, which reports on “Super Bowl Websites: Winners and Losers.” Since most of this year’s much-hyped ads were designed to drive web traffic, Dorian’s analysis provides an interesting quick-read on the bottom-line results of this year’s Super Bowl marketers, while also providing the links (where available) to go see what the shouting was all about. And next, in the event that you somehow have missed the ads themselves, Advertising Age’s Super Bowl XLII coverage has them all available on-demand, along with the news-worthy highlights from the events surrounding the day that the New York Giants defied expectations and upset the all-but-perfect New England Patriots.

Bootcamps for both sides of your brain…

Today I discovered The Professional Network Small Business Resource Center, a truly amazing site from Nielsen Business Media offering tons of up-to-date information on starting and operating a business. It’s hard to imagine a richer underlying resource for this information, considering NBM’s trove of market-leading trade magazines covering entertainment, media, marketing, retail, travel, professional performance, real estate, design and healthcare, its numerous directories and business-to-business products, plus events, conferences, and trade shows. Among the Small Business Resource Center’s offerings, I learned about a free full-day Interactive Marketing Virtual Conference and Trade Show from Adweek Media set for Tues., Oct. 16, on the subject of “Staying Ahead of Technology – And Your Competitors.” The presenters include leading journalists from Adweek, Nielsen, Brandweek and Mediaweek, plus many other VIP luminaries. Click on the event’s title for full info and to register.

On Nov. 15, after you’ve dialed-in the latest technological innovations, you might also consider attending what media sponsors Advertising Age and Creativity refer to as Bootcamp for your Right Brain: The IDEA Conference 2007. Register by Oct. 16 to save $100 off the admission fee ($575 after that) and plan to reap scores of business-driving new ideas in the course of networking with some of the business world’s most provocative innovators. Put it all together and you’ll have a brilliantly productive and heady holiday season, and a high-power launching pad for the 2008 of your dreams. Ready set? Go!

Adweek splashes best media plans of the year…

Since 1999, I’ve had a front-row seat to the creation of some really impressive advertising work spanning all forms of media, and I’ve come to appreciate the glorious alchemy of media companies who take my clients’ great work and place it in front of the right audiences at the most opportune times. On June 18, Adweek published its Media Plan of the Year Special Report, edited by Tony Case, offering a fascinating examination of some of the biggest and most dynamic media companies’ most impressive feats. Stories cover: campaigns with spends more than $25 million, $10 million to $25 million, less than $10 million and $1 million or less; and best uses of national television and cable, interactive, nontraditional media, mobile, magazines, newspapers, local television and cable, radio, out-of-home and multicultural strategies. The report — currently available as a PDF by following the link above — is a treasury of great ideas, seen all the way through to the results each campaign generated.

While the marketing budgets for most small companies pale compared with those driving these winning plans, still, the contribution from Richard Brunelli covering Best Use of Nontraditional Media is just one of the report’s case studies which I feel can inspire breakthrough ideas to fit virtually any budget. In a nutshell, when Seattle-area McDonald’s restaurants switched to 24/7 operations, they employed OMD Seattle to attract the business of the region’s male Gen Y night-owls. The tactics included distributing over a quarter-million coasters featuring a responsible-drinking message to nearly 100 of the city’s hippest pubs. On sidewalks outside selected establishments, enlarged French fries on sidewalks offered revelers the chance to “walk the fry;” those failing the sobriety tests could hop into customized Fry Cabs for safe rides home. In another campaign facet, riders in Seattle cabs were targeted with “lost” wallets, featuring the driver’s license of a famous red-haired clown, a list of the area’s all-hour Mickey D locations, and coupons for food and discounted admission to a hip McDonald’s Summer Jam concert. Delivering a solid increase in after-hours traffic, the campaign also produced a groundswell of public appreciation, and may have even played a part in reducing the city’s DUI arrests, which were reportedly down 4% during the campaign month of July, compared with the previous year. Be sure to check out the full report for more ideas that may make you say, “I’m lovin’ it!”

The secrets of publishing a great art book….

I’ve been keeping an eye on powerHouse Books — the Brooklyn-based avant-garde publisher of photography, art, and pop culture titles — for some time now. Launched by Daniel Power about 12 years ago, pH publishes the works of visionary artists and cultural icons while forming their own base of cultural gravity through exuberant initiatives including powerHousemagazine, exhibitions and events at the powerHouse Arena, and regular email updates that place Brooklyn and pH in the center of a very cool universe.

Today I received a heads-up announcing their powerHouse Summer Workshop Series, offering four Saturday workshops specially designed to guide and instruct artists, photographers, designers, writers and packagers on the secrets of creating compelling art book projects. Here’s a quick summary of what’s on:
. MARKETING YOUR WORK: Publicity, Promotions, & Sponsorship Opportunities. Instructor: Sara Rosen, Publicity Director of powerHouse Books and Publisher of Miss Rosen Editions. Date/time: 7/28/07, 10AM-2PM.
. MAKING THE BOOK PART 1: Image Analysis & Sequence Editing. Instructor: Daniel Power, Publisher of powerHouse Books. Date/time: 8/4/07, 10AM–5PM.
. MAKING THE BOOK PART 2: Book Design & Dummy Preparation/ Presentation. Instructor: Kiki Bauer, Senior Designer of powerHouse Books. Date/time: 8/18/07, 12PM-5PM.
. MAKING THE BOOK PART 3: The Edit and Sequence. Instructor: Craig Cohen, Associate Publisher of powerHouse Books. Date/time: 8/25/07, 10AM-5PM.
All workshops will be held at the powerHouse Arena in Brooklyn. More information is available online at www.powerHouseBooks.com.

Event marketing 2.0

I’ve just read a very interesting story in the May/June issue of The Hub (a Reveries.com publication) authored by Charlie Tarzian, who is CEO of CoActive Marketing Group. The story appears under the headline/subheading of “Pencils and Towels: Put the marketing into event marketing and help make CMOs brand heroes again.” This story makes it very clear that there are very different kinds of “marketers.” As for Mr. Tarzian, he has worked in direct marketing, and he also formerly ran the publicly traded interactive agency Euro RSCG Worldwide New York. Suffice to say, giving his clients solid returns on their marketing investments is, by now, tightly laced into his DNA.

So imagine his surprise when he took a client meeting with business development agents representing NASCAR’s Nextel Cup, Busch Series and Craftsman race circuits, and being told that somewhere in the vicinity of 33% of sponsoring a vehicle went toward brand “activation” — which reportedly amounted to little more than “putting up a tent and giving away pencils and towels!” In my opinion, the reason to check-out this article is to see what steps Mr. Tarzian recommends for integrating events into a company’s overall marketing plans, and for making sure that the targeted interactions with a brand’s end-users result in real knowledge and returns. My personal takeaway: If you’re just giving things away and not leveraging interactions to learn more about your consumers, or creating an ongoing dialogue with them, or moving them toward a purchase, or empowering them to spread the word about your brand — you may as well throw in the towel (and pencil).