2012 ReCourses New Business Summit

On January 25-27, I had the pleasure of joining nearly 100 other professionals representing dozens of creative services firms in Nashville to attend the 2012 ReCourses New Business Summit (NBS). Hosted by ReCourses principal David C. Baker, and Blair Enns of Win Without Pitching, the event’s subtitle reads, “Using Your Positioning for More Reward, Impact, Control, and Fun.”

When it was all over, I asked many of my fellow attendees to provide two words that best describe their takeaways from the event, and the word cloud embedded above reflects their input. For anyone who has not spoken with me or others about our remarkable experiences at the summit, this provides quick insight into its powerful impact.For a bit more background, Read more

Sharing Secrets: Public Relations Expertise

The publishers of Brand Republic, the UK’s leading online destination for people working in the advertising, marketing, media and communications industries, offer an editorial on their website entitled “What’s the secret of a long ‘marriage’?” In that, Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO chief executive Farah Ramzan Golant offers these wise words: “The key to long-term client relationships is constant reinvigoration…. You should constantly be looking at how you can do things differently, keep freshening the account teams and stay ahead of the game.” As a PR practitioner providing ongoing, dedicated counsel to a small roster of clients, I firmly believe in these vows, and back in December, I participated in an enlightening webinar hosted by Vocus and presented by PR industry thoughtleader Deirdre Breakenridge, who is the author of “PR 2.0” and “Putting the Public Back in Public Relations.” Entitled “Eight Techniques of the New PR Champion,” the knowledge and insights Deirdre shared really blew me away. Read more

Primer for the new year

For me personally, this is the time of year when business takes center stage after many weeks of relative inaction. In my experience, strategic focus is essential at this moment in order to maximize the best opportunities while also understanding all the real imperatives of success and ensuring they are given top priority today and tomorrow.

Fortunately, I have many wise, experienced friends and counselors who have provided a virtual MBA of priceless information, motivation and inspiration over the past few weeks for free. Here are six links I feel are very likely to help your upcoming actions soar in the right directions. Some lead to articles, some to eBooks; each is highly recommended. Read more

Killer reels: echolab and Kultnation

By now I’m sure you’re well aware of my deep respect for high-end visual and sound design. Among the inspirational friends I consider to be emerging masters in these complementary storytelling fields are sound designer Gavin Little of echolab and director Marco Vinicio, aka Kultnation. In the recent past, these gentlemen (heralding respectively from Dublin, Ireland, and Mexico City, Mexico) have collaborated often, and I hope you’ll agree that the results are quite spectacular. To experience their latest works, please visit www.vimeo.com/echolab and www.vimeo.com/kultnation. Read more

Leviathan’s magical holidays

This spot for the Illinois State Lottery was produced by Energy BBDO in Chicago, directed by Dom Bridges of Bob Industries, and features visual effects from design-focused production studio Leviathan. As Leviathan’s Jason White recently explained to SCREEN Magazine:

“We appreciate this engaging story. Something we can all relate to. Effective and emotive. We really got behind the aspiration of the spot concept – capturing these amazing gift revealing holiday moments.”

Today, White and his colleagues reported on their very successful 2011 in SHOOT Magazine. Here’s wishing you many magical moments and dreams come true over the days ahead.

Needham Rising

This has been an eventful year for everyone at global creative agency ATTIK, including its co-founder and executive creative director Simon Needham. The San Francisco Egotist is currently featuring a brief article Simon contributed entitled, “What I learned this year.” He also shared some career advice with the publishers of Creativepool.co.uk back in November in this ‘5 minutes with Simon Needham‘ article. I thought you might also enjoy the in-depth video interview embedded above. From ATTIK’s humble origins in northern England, Simon’s obviously come a long way, and he has many exciting developments shaping up for 2012 and beyond. For more information, please visit www.attik.com.

Killer reels: B-Reel

Founded in 1999 with full service offices in New York, Los Angeles, London and Stockholm, B-Reel specializes in the field of advanced digital productions on multiple platforms including web, mobile and out-of-home media. They collaborate with sister company, B-Reel Films on integrated campaigns. B-Reel Films is a traditional film production company.

B-Reel swept the 2011 Cannes Lions’ Awards with a Cyber Grand Prix, a Golden Lion and three more awards from its 15 nominations, and in July, it was named the most awarded digital company in the history of the prestigious FWA Awards. Since November of 2005, B-Reel has earned 57 Site of the Day honors.

For more information, visit www.b-reel.com and @B__REEL