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ADMIN

Logo Confusion - Close, But No…

May 12, 2008 | 2 Comments

Source: Comunicadores
Nod: Notcot.org

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Posted by toddand | Filed Under Advertising, Design, Humor, Marketing

Webby Awards Winner’s Gallery

May 7, 2008 | Leave a Comment

The Webby Awards, the leading international award for internet greatness, has a sweet Winner’s Gallery.

The gallery was designed as a fun and interactive way to see all of the Nominees and Winners from the 12th Annual Webby Awards and includes links to the work and the ability to filter entries a number of ways. For instance, the “trends” filter shows entries with the top 7 tags entered by users during the People’s Voice voting. And the “Winner Type” tab allows you to select from Webby Winners, People’s Voice Winners and Nominees.

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Posted by toddand | Filed Under Advertising, Blogging, Design, Links, Marketing, Media, Public Relations, Social Media, Technology

Two Case Studies Demonstrating the Power and Speed of Social Networks

April 20, 2008 | Leave a Comment

As a marketing professional, I quickly understood the potential of social networking platforms like Twitter, YouTube, Digg, Facebook, Flickr, and blogs. However, many friends, family and professionals still find it difficult to fully grasp their power, capabilities or uses.

For those who don’t “get it,” I have two practical and personal case studies that shed light on the speed, reliability and benefits of social networks:

Case Study No. 1 // Earthquake – Friday morning (April 18), shortly before 4:40 a.m., my wife and I suddenly awoke to our entire house shaking! The walls, bed and dressers were all rattling and continued to shake for a good five seconds after I was fully awake.

I quickly turned on the alarm clock radio, which was set to WGN 720 AM.

No news.

Being from the Chicago suburbs where tornadoes are the natural disaster of Mother Nature’s choice, I never suspected earthquake, so I leaped out of bed and circled the house looking for what caused the shaking. I thought the house was about to blow up!

By 4:50 a.m., I was in front of my computer checking news sites. Still nothing. I turned on WGN’s streaming radio and still nothing. I remembered Matt Dickman’s Micromedia presentation and how he referenced the quick Twitter responses to the Minnesota bridge collapse, so I checked Twitter, a free social networking and micro-blogging service. So, I checked Twitter.

Sure enough… the first message I read was from a St. Louis user who exclaimed EARTHQUAKE!?

A quick search found dozens of Twitter messages already posted about the earthquake - the first I could find was from @safetyguy1656 at 4:40 a.m. CST, only three minutes after the quake was officially documented by the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

Adding reliability, many of the twitter posts (”tweets”) included links to the United States Geological Survey website with information about a then-reported 5.4 magnitude tremor (later confirmed 5.2). My wife and I were both glued to Twitter for the next 20 minutes, exchanging messages with fellow members to get the latest info and “eye witness” reports. here are what some of the messages looked like:

As we read Twitter, WGN finally reported the quake. Twitter had scooped Chicago’s “superstation”… and by nearly 10 minutes! According to fellow Twitterer (a Twit?) @badgergravling, Twitter and Wikipedia had scooped mainstream media (MSM) for a recent UK earthquake, Heath Ledger, etc. And, according to Matt Dickman, Twitter announced the Minnesota bridge collapse almost 45 minutes before MSM.

Thanks to the instant emergency information gratification of Twitter, I’m hooked.

Case Study No. 2 // Tricia – A few weeks ago, my family was shocked to hear that my sister, Tricia, was diagnosed with an aggressive breast cancer. We knew it was serious when the doctors immediately scheduled her for bilateral mastectomy surgery.

With no history of cancer, this hit Tricia and our entire family hard… and with absolutely no warning. Needless to say, it was and still is very scary.

Days after the diagnosis, friends and family asked how they could help. With Tricia’s permission, I created 4tricia.com to give people ideas and help raise a few extra dollars to offset the giant costs associated with battling breast cancer (i.e., medical expenses related to surgery, hospital care, doctors visits, prescriptions as well as wigs/headwraps, travel, lost work time, etc.). As a blog, 4tricia.com also serves as a therapeutic writing outlet for Tricia to share her progress and feelings.

With the family in a state of emergency, I asked Tricia if she wanted me to share her story with my network of blogger friends. I explained it would reach thousands of altruistic people around the globe. She agreed as she thought it was more important to share her story and raise awareness than keep private. Plus, the fact that it hit a young, 30-something with no family history of cancer may help open some eyes and push people get get more regular check-ups.

Two days before Tricia’s double mastectomy, I sent out a distress signal via toddand.com and a personal email to several friends and family.

“I’m asking for your thoughts and prayers this weekend,” I said. “And if you have a dollar or two to spare, your contributions would be greatly (greatly) appreciated.”

I posted the message and sent the email just around midnight, just before I went to bed. When I woke up six hours later, the signal had been heard by many and echoed across Twitter and several other blogs.

Within 10 hours of launching the website and sending an email, we had 10 donations.

Within 72 hours, we had more than 60 contributors and about $6,000 had been raised! Donation amounts ranged from $5 to $500!

The prayers, well-wishes and donations came from all over the world – Australia, Iceland, Belgium, England, Canada and across the United States.

What made this outpouring of support unique and so completely amazing to my entire family was that 1) it was so unbelievably quick and generous, and 2) it came from people we had never met face to face. I explained to my family that, by blogging, I am part of a close-knit community of like-minded professionals who are willing to help fellow bloggers at a moment’s notice.

Thank you to those who quickly wrote about or pointed to Tricia’s website and helped raise prayers and dollars: Todd Defren, Kami Huyse, Shannon Whitley, Connie Reece, Melissa, Scott Baradell, Leo Bottary, Drew McLellan, Kristie Wells, Gavin Heaton, Steve Woodruff, Susan Reynolds, Lani Anglin-Rosales, Joel Postman, Karl Long, Karen Swim, Dan Mosqueda, Brendan Cooper, Sally Whittle, Brian Solis, Scott Monty, Douglas Karr, Bob Mertz, etc.

As Tricia said in an update post, “Your unending prayers, words of support and encouragement, and generosity are what keep me going and have touched me in a way words cannot express. To simply say ‘thank you’ doesn’t seem like near enough.”

While my family probably still doesn’t fully comprehend social networking and blogs, they are now completely aware of the power and responsiveness of the community. Whereas before my parents would have likely just smiled-off any mention of “blogging,” now their ears perk up with keen interest at any mention of the word. For instance, my dad recently clipped and gave me a magazine article about blogging.

To incentivize the 4tricia.com fundraising (which clearly wasn’t needed), I said I’d raffle off four prizes to those who donated more than $1 in the first week. Those winners are: Leigh Householder (Power 150 t-shirt), Scott Baradell (4tricia t-shirt), Merredith Branscombe (Power 150 pen) and Brendan Cooper ($25 iTunes gift card). Please email me your snail mail addresses and I’ll get the prizes in the mail asap. Thanks!

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Posted by toddand | Filed Under Blogging, Educational, Marketing, Media, Public Relations, Social Media, Strategies+Tactics, Technology

Social Is The New Search

April 16, 2008 | 4 Comments

Popular Mechanics has an interesting article titled “How Social Networking Could Kill Web Search as We Know It.“

According to the venture capitalist friend of reporter Glenn Derene, “search, as we know it, is dead.”

In a nutshell: As we continue to populate our Flickr, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts, building bonds with like-minded users, people will turn to their networks rather than search algorithms for information. According to the article, “the people in your online social network should know you better than a mathematical equation, right?”

Check out the whole article, but here is one noteworthy paragraph:

But what may turn out to be the strongest signal of all is the footprint you make with your online identity. Consider how much information you voluntarily provide on your Facebook profile. Now imagine if you could combine that with your Netflix renting and Amazon buying habits. Then throw in the suggestions of your friends and the pages you visit the most often. All those various sources of information about you are currently stored in different locations—on your computer’s browser history, on your Facebook page, on the servers for Netflix and Amazon—but just imagine how accurate a search could be if every time you had a query, the mass of data about you that exists on the Internet could inform the results. (Google and Yahoo already do this to a limited extent by tracking your search history to refine results, and surely startups will try.)

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Posted by toddand | Filed Under Advertising, Blogging, Educational, Management, Marketing, Media, Public Relations, Social Media, Strategies+Tactics, Technology

Power 150 in Wall Street Journal

April 16, 2008 | 4 Comments

I woke up to an email from Scott Baradell (of Spin Thicket fame) informing me that the Power 150 made The Wall Street Journal. Here’s a short excerpt from the article:

Small businesses looking to pitch their products or services to influential blogs have some help these days.

A host of Web sites and free tools are allowing companies to find out who the top bloggers in their industry are, what they are writing, and how readers are responding. Being informed about what is being said can help a small business craft a pitch that will garner the attention of both the bloggers and readers.

Some Web sites list the most influential blogs in a specific industry. For example, AdAge Power150, run by Advertising Age magazine, shows the top media and marketing blogs, while eDrugSearch.com’s HealthCare100 ranks the top English-language health-care blogs.

UPDATE: Check out Mr. Baradell’s flattering tribute. Thanks, Scott!

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Posted by toddand | Filed Under Advertising, Blogging, Marketing, Media, News, Power Profiles, Public Relations, Social Media, Technology

Ad Age Power 150 Roundtable

April 14, 2008 | 4 Comments

To kick off Blogger Social 2008 and take advantage of so many marketing bloggers being in NYC, Advertising Age Editor Jonah Bloom hosted a Power 150 roundtable discussion, which the magazine covered in this week’s issue with an article titled Separating Brilliance from Blabber. In addition to the edited transcript, Ad Age also ran a related story on corporate blogging and the chief blogger role.

As David Armano writes, Ad Age is engaging new voices and broadening its editorial net to include alternative sources of information.

Along with myself, list manager Charlie Moran and Jonah, the marketing bloggers (along with today’s Power 150 rank) who participated in the roundtable included:

1. David Armano (Logic+Emotion) – P: 26
2. Rohit Bhargava (Influential Marketing Blog) – P: 44
3. Matt Dickman (Techno//Marketer) – P: 123
4. Anna Farmery (The Engaging Brand) – P: 107
5. Mark Goren (Transmission Content + Creative) – P: 236
6. Lewis Green (bizsolutionsplus) – P: 148
7. Ann Handley (Marketing Profs) – P: 57
8. Gavin Heaton (Servant of Chaos) – P: 97
9. Sean Howard (CrapHammer) – P: 138
10. Geoff Livingston (The Buzz Bin) – P: 76
11. Paul McEnany (Hee-Haw Marketing) – P: 198
12. Darryl Ohrt (Brand Flakes For Breakfast) – P: 115

Blog coverage of the roundtable:
Advertising Age Proves that Bloggers Can Sit at Large Tables (Hee-Haw Marketing)
darryl: too sexy for online adage (Brand Flakes for Breakfast)
Power 150 roundtable (Techno//Marketer)
The Chief of Blogs (Servant of Chaos)
Understand. Act. in that order (Blog’M)
Ad Age Summons Bloggers To The Table (AdPulp)
Ad Age Engages Industry Bloggers (Logic+Emotion)

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Posted by toddand | Filed Under Advertising, Blogging, Management, Marketing, Power Profiles, Public Relations, Social Media, Strategies+Tactics, Technology

Marketing Bloggers Converge in NYC

April 10, 2008 | 6 Comments

Last weekend, dozens of the most creative and influential marketing bloggers from around the world gathered at Blogger Social ‘08 in New York City. They came from near and far, including Canada, Mexico, Europe, the Middle East, Australia and all over the U.S.

While most are finding it hard to describe the weekend in words, I think Gavin Heaton may have summed up the experience best when he said the time together helped solidify the transition from community to friends.

I have too many great memories from the weekend to share in one post, so I’ll highlight just one conversation that stands out. Friday night, at the 14th floor lounge in the Library Hotel (quite possibly the best hotel in all of NYC), Luc Debaisieux, Matt Dickman and I discussed how big agencies are extremely slow to integrate emerging media and social networks with their tactical menus while the nimble smaller firms have quickly embraced everything. Luc tossed out a Jurassic Park metaphor that was spot on - the big agencies are the T-Rex dinosaurs slowly pounding along and the small firms are the Velociraptors zooming by. Coincidentally, the Jurassic metaphor also applies to the merger and acquisition activity.

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Posted by toddand | Filed Under Advertising, Blogging, Marketing, Public Relations, Social Media

Chicago’s Best Blogs

April 10, 2008 | 3 Comments

The Chicago Tribune just profiled me as one of Chicago’s Best Blogs. Like Ad Age and the Power 150, this is a nice traditional/social media crossover, and I’m discovering lots of fellow Chicago-based bloggers.

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Posted by toddand | Filed Under Advertising, Blogging, Design, Marketing, Media, News, Public Relations, Social Media, Technology

Power Profile: Only Dead Fish

March 30, 2008 | 2 Comments

Neil Perkin started out stacking shelves at his local supermarket, but today is director of marketing and strategy at IPC Media, a UK consumer magazine publisher. He has authored his Only Dead Fish blog since December 2006. Only Dead Fish currently sits at No. 149 on the Power 150, a global index of nearly 600 marketing blog.

How would you describe your blog to your mom?
My Mum isn’t big on blogging so I’d probably have to start at the beginning. I think I’d tell her it’s just me writing about stuff that interests me so it’s mostly about advertising, social media, communications, with a healthy dose of culture and design. And the odd post on chickens.

What blog post (of your own) are you most proud of and why?
Tricky question but probably a short post I wrote on how advertising and media planning is still littered with military analogies - we talk about ‘target’ audiences, ‘hits’, ’strike rates’, ‘impacts’, ’strategies’, ‘tactics’. The point I was making was that using this kind of language now seems to define the association between the brand and it’s audience in all the wrong ways and so if we are ever going to change the relationship that advertising has with people, we should change the language. The post generated a lot of discussion on the blog and was picked up by the marketing press here in the UK.

Neil’s Power Profile continues… Read more

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Posted by toddand | Filed Under Marketing, Power Profiles, Social Media

Genius Wine Label

March 30, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Source: Noisy Decent Graphics

Remember those “Loft For Sale” fliers hanging next to the elevator at college? This is kinda like that. Now you can send one lucky party guest home with a little reminder of the wine you served. At least… one guest… and only if you serve this type of wine. Still, it’s a great idea and more wine bottles should have it. In fact, like McDonald’s, wine makers should run a Monopoly game promotion - I’m sure that would make wine sales skyrocket!