The Last Lecture - A Dying Professor’s Final Words

March 2, 2008 | Leave a Comment

This was Dr. Randy Pausch’s last lecture. It deserves 10 minutes of your time. This is exactly what I’d want my kids to know if I were dying.

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Posted by toddand | Filed Under Educational, Humor, Presentations, Random, Video 

Bill Clinton Endorses Bararck Obama

March 1, 2008 | 3 Comments


This is the political find of all finds. Bill Clinton endorses Barack Obama… sorta kinda. I’m lovin’ politics in the new media world. Everything you say and do will one day be held against you. Source: Neatorama

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Posted by toddand | Filed Under Politics, Presentations, Social Media, Video 

My Nordstrom Creative Strategy

February 24, 2008 | 8 Comments

I worked at Nordstrom for three summers during college and I will forever be a Nordy. Not because I’m 6′ 5″ and it’s one of the only places with clothes and shoes that fit me, but because Nordstrom is where I first learned and used SWAT - sales with advanced techniques. Boy, did I know how to sell children’s shoes!

A year ago I wrote about the legends of Nordstrom’s unbelievable customer service. Around that time, I was extensively researching Nordstrom for my MBA creative strategy class. Throughout the whole semester, we worked on stepping-stone projects that culminated in one final presentation. The assignment was to determine a company problem and a strategic creative solution. Unfortunately, the professor also asked us to take a stab at some of the creative tactics, which you’ll notice aren’t so creative. Sorry.

So, here is my creative strategy for Nordstrom. It may be a bit dated already. Since I’m a PR guy by education and trade, I’d love to hear thoughts from some of the creative ad bloggers, including John Moore, Darryl Ohrt, CPJ, Leigh Householder, Mark Goren, Ed Cotton and David Armano. For the record, the class was very casual so I took a slightly humorous approach to presentation, which you’ll notice with some of the image choices.

SlideShare | View | Upload your own

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Posted by toddand | Filed Under Advertising, Design, Educational, Management, Marketing, Presentations, Strategies+Tactics 

Fly on the Wall: Fixing the Newspaper Crisis

February 20, 2008 | 1 Comment


Sam Zell’s Talk at the Chicago Tribune from margaret on Vimeo
Length: One hour - Source: Daniel Honigman
Due to its length, I highly recommend watching at least the first 25 minutes and the last few minutes starting at 57:15 for the most emotionally-charged Q&A.

This is it! This is your opportunity to be a fly on the wall during the Chicago Tribune stop of the great Sam Zell Tribune Tour of 2008. As the Tribune Company’s new chairman and chief executive, Zell visited several company offices to share his vision with employees.

As a straight-talking, gunslinging business executive, he also shared a few vulgarities. At the Orlando Sentinel, Zell was caught on video saying f@%k you to a reporter after her question.

Beyond the bad language, which isn’t the story here, this video is unbelievable insight for any management student or business executive wanting a case study on how to build the bottom line and save a company in a downward spiral. It also provides some great talking points for leaders to take note. And for those monitoring media trends, this is the best behind-the-scenes glimpse I’ve seen of how one newspaper plans to tackle the crisis.

According to today’s Tribune story and the video above (skip to 57:15):

“I’m not disrespecting anybody. I’m trying to make everybody uncomfortable,” Zell said. “This business has been eroding before your eyes and you’re worried about my language? … Everything I said was with an intent to get everybody to get off their [behinds] and understand this is a crisis. We’ve got to save this business. We’ve got to make this work. And we’ve got to prioritize what we get all pushed out of shape about. … If we keep operating the way we’ve been operating, there is no future.”

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Posted by toddand | Filed Under Educational, Management, Media, Presentations, Strategies+Tactics, Video 

Blogger Social 08 and Library Hotel

February 3, 2008 | 11 Comments

I’m pumped. I’ll be attending Blogger Social in NYC from April 4 to 6, 2008 - representing the Ad Age Power 150.

Blogger Social is essentially a weekend-long happy hour for bloggers to share best practices and casual conversation. With dozens of marketing bloggers in attendance (check out all the attendees below), I’ll be scouting new marketing and emerging media topics and tactics. Registration is open until February 15, so you still have time to sign up!

I was originally looking to stay at the Millennium and Paramount hotels. Instead, I opted for the hotel built for bloggers - Library Hotel. The location is practically the same - midtown Manhattan, three blocks from Times Square. The price is just a few bucks more than Millennium, but daily breakfasts and a wine/cheese dinner receptions are included. The reviews of Library Hotel are 100 times better than Paramount - according to TripAdvisor’s popularity index, Library is No. 4 out of 338 NYC hotels. Millennium is 107 and Paramount is 240.

Bottom line, if you’re attending Blogger Social and haven’t yet booked a hotel, consider Library Hotel. I’d love some company. Even if you have booked your hotel, you should still be able to switch for no fee since we’re still two months away. And if you need more convincing, here it is…

UPDATE: Library Hotel has agreed to offer a $20 discount (per night) for all Blogger Social attendees. However, this is based on the hotel’s availability and cannot be guaranteed. In addition, this can only be offered if Blogger Social guests call the sales director directly to book as Yogini Patel is the only person that is authorized to provide any discounts. You can contact Yogini at:

Yogini Patel
Director of Sales & Marketing
Library Hotel…is now a smoke free environment.
Phone: 212-204-5413
E-mail: yogini@libraryhotel.com
Website: www.libraryhotel.com

In addition to free wireless internet and complimentary deluxe continental breakfast every morning, the hotel stay includes a DVD player with free selection from the hotel’s DVD library of the American Film Institutes top 100 films, in room safe, in room mini-bar, plush bathrobes and slippers, bottled spring water, hand-held hair dryers, makeup/shaving mirrors, newspapers, complimentary health club privileges nearby. Oh, and did I mention the complimentary wine and cheese reception each evening from 5-8pm.

Plus, while I was researching images for this post, I found that 800-CEO-READ blog recommended Library Hotel in 2006.

library.jpg

BLOGGER SOCIAL 08 ATTENDEES:
Susan Bird Tim Brunelle Katie Chatfield Terry Dagrosa Matt Dickman Luc Debaisieux Gianandrea Facchini Mark Goren Gavin Heaton Sean Howard CK Valeria Maltoni Drew McLellan Doug Meacham Marilyn Pratt Steve Roesler Greg Verdino CB Whittemore Steve Woodruff Paul McEnany Ann Handley David Reich Tangerine Toad Kristin Gorski Mack Collier David Armano Ryan Barrett Lori Magno Tim McHale Gene DeWitt Mario Vellandi Arun Rajagopal Joseph Jaffe Rohit Bhargava Anna Farmery Marianne Richmond Thomas Clifford Lewis Green Geoff Livingston Kris Hoet Connie Reece CeCe Lee Jonathan Trenn Toby Bloomberg Seni Thomas Darryl Ohrt Joe Kutchera Paul Dunay Marshall Sponder Chris Kieff Tara Anderson Jason Falls Paul Soldera Roberta Rosenberg Saul Colt Todd Andrlik Nathan Snell Ryan Karpeles Mike Sansone Jennifer Laycock

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

Presentation Training from Politicians

January 27, 2008 | 4 Comments

In my humble opinion, Bill Clinton was the last great communicator in the oval office. Unfortunately, the 2000 and 2004 elections featured candidates with sub-Clinton communication skills, which may have contributed to them being two of the closest races in U.S. history.

In 2008, all politics aside, I think we have two extremely well-spoken, articulate and generally likable candidates - Barack Obama (D) and Mike Huckabee (R). Hillary, Edwards, Mitt, McCain and Rudy have bits and pieces of potential, but Obama and Huckabee easily take the best communicators cake in my eyes. And while both Obama and Huckabee sound a bit preachy at times… wow, can they deliver.

Huckabee is brilliant at effectively interjecting humor and has much more of a straight-talking, quick-wit delivery. Check out his Leno appearance. Obama is king of the pregnant pause and has much more of a passionate, sincere delivery. He also has a great sense of humor as demonstrated on his Leno appearance. Both have unbelievably quotable material.

For those of you who missed Obama’s victory speech last night, it was one of the best I’ve ever seen (watch it below) - better than Iowa and the 2004 Democratic National Convention. I believe. Also below is a great montage of Huckabee’s greatest clips. Again, all political views aside, there are oodles of presentation skills and best-practices to be learned from these two.

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Posted by toddand | Filed Under Educational, Humor, Politics, Presentations, Video 

Google’s Rapid Ascent in the Shadows of Microsoft

December 19, 2007 | 1 Comment

google_graph.jpg

Nod: Dutch Cowboys

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Posted by toddand | Filed Under Presentations, Random, Technology 

Great Speeches in (Recent) History

November 6, 2007 | 1 Comment

First to secede. First to succeed.

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Posted by toddand | Filed Under Humor, Politics, Presentations, Video 

Social Media Relations = The Release + News Room

September 30, 2007 | 23 Comments

As promised, here is the “Social Media Relations” presentation I gave at the Ragan Communications Social Media Summit last week. The presentation is a quick history and overview of the social media release and news room with some facts and stats to support the reasons for using it. For much of the Q&A, we discussed whether or not the social media release should replace the traditional version. A few seemed to think the social media release would be a great new tool for all reporters - of old and new media.

As the social media release gains popularity, I don’t think we’re faced with an “either or” proposition. I told the audience to use their discretion and make the call based on their knowledge of the journalists they’re pitching. I know reporters who work for organizations that block all video and I still know reporters who have difficulty navigating the web.

A hybrid release might make sense across the board - a release that improves on the traditional template, but doesn’t quite include all of the components of the suggested social media release template (Todd Defren, creator of the social media release template, reminds people this is just a suggested template). For instance, I love the idea of using bulleted news facts at the beginning of all releases - similar to what CNN.com does with all its stories now. And I think sending contextual links to other relevant stories is important, when applicable. I’m also a big fan of providing multimedia elements whenever possible. However, I’ve just described more of a multimedia release than a social one. I haven’t provided for comments, sharing or community-building.

Todd Defren and I agree that the purest form of a social media release is a blog post. And that’s exactly why I believe the best solution for a social media news room (and therefore a social media release) is a blog engine. Instead of building a social media news room from scratch, why not build it from a Wordpress template and almost immediately gain RSS, search functionality, categories, comments, archives, easy video integration and a menu of cool widget options. Every release, or post, that you publish is instantly a social media release. And better yet, you’re engaging in the conversation at your corporate site instead of a third-party newswire. That’s what we did at Leopardo. Although,we disabled comments so our news room is more of a monologue. While I understand the importance of social media and “conversation,” I wanted to take small bites when applying social media for my company. Comments is a big obligation and responsibility because I think it’s critical that you (the organization) be committed to responding to all comments in a timely manner - typically within 30 to 60 minutes. Anyway, I digress. Here is the presentation.

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

A Week of Speaking About Emerging Media

September 26, 2007 | 2 Comments

raganconf.jpg
mktgprofsforum.jpg

As I write this, I’m waiting for my laptop to reboot (I hate Vista) so I can tweak my “social media relations” presentation that I’m giving tomorrow at the Ragan Communications Social Media Summit. If you’re there, stop by and say hello. Stay tuned, I’ll be making the presentation available to my readers. Next Tuesday, October 2, I’m joining an impressive group of panelists for a discussion on “How B2B Marketers Can Leverage the Power of Emerging Media.” The panel includes:

David Armano, Vice President of Experience Design, Critical Mass
Mike Gamson, GM, New Business, LinkedIn
Matt Lohman, Director of Business Development & Research, KnowledgeStorm
Rick Murray, President, me2revolution
Chris Yeh, CEO, Ustream.TV

I’m looking forward to that conversation!

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Posted by toddand | Filed Under Blogging, Educational, Marketing, Media, Presentations, Social Media 

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