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THIS JUST IN: Bloggers make mistakes
February 19th, 2008 • 1 comment Uncategorized
Tags: blogger journalism, ethics, journalism, podcamp toronto
If I were working for a newspaper today, I would still call Ford. If I had opted to blog about this over the past couple days, I would not have. I’m as guilty as anyone else. (And thank goodness I passed on this story.)
Why podcasts will take over the world
February 5th, 2008 • Uncategorized
Tags: podcamp toronto, podcasting
In February of 2005, I wrote a story in the Globe and Mail about how leading edge marketers were using a new technology to reach consumers — The podcast. One example: Warner Bros. was releasing a daily podcast from Paris Hilton to promote her new film House of Wax.
I called a bunch of smart people at various ad agencies and branded content companies. Most had no idea what a podcast was.
In a year-end piece at the end of 2005, I opined that podcasts were a waste of time for marketers that were jumping in. People wanted to listen to music, not words, on their iPods, I wrote.
I was wrong.
As the months go by, I am increasingly convinced of the power of podcasts. In the spring of 2006, I recorded twice daily podcasts from the Cannes Lions Advertising Festival. I was still skeptical. I still hadn’t begun listening to podcasts myself. But I came home to tremendously positive feedback from ad agency folk who had visited the Rivera vicariously through my podcasts — some of which I recorded on the beach in Cannes, complete with ambient wave sounds.
Now I listen to five to ten podcasts a week dealing with marketing, public relations, social media, and, um, fantasy baseball.
Podcasts are growing like crazy — an estimated 29,114 per cent in 2007 according to one estimate. And that growth will continue. Cars of the future will automatically download your favourite podcasts and have them ready for you to listen to at your convenience. There will be high-quality on-demand programming, targeting each and every interest and hobby — and that will take a serious toll on traditional and satellite radio.
We’re big believers in the power of podcasts at com.motion. That’s why we’re proud to sponsor Podcamp Toronto on Feb. 23 and 24. It’s a free unconference dedicated to this exploding medium. You can find more information and register for the conference here.
The inspirational quote I would have shared
February 1st, 2008 • 2 comments Uncategorized
Tags: advertising, bill bernbach, social media marketing, veritas
I messed up.
Each Friday, we finish up our weekly staff meetings with an inspirational quote. For the first time it was my turn. And I completely forgot.
I was going to use a quote from Bill Bernbach — the “B” in ad agency DDB. I like the guy. I refer to him and his legacy when I’m trying to help clients and prospective clients understand and appreciate the way social media is redefining the entire marketing communications landscape. Bernbach is given credit for helping to launch a creative revolution in advertising around 1960, one that would forever alter the way in which marketers speak to consumers. The impact of social marketing is just as profound. I describe it as the second major revolution in marketing, with Bernbach’s being the first.
Bernbach was also a quote machine. Here are some of his gems:
“A great ad campaign will make a bad product fail faster. It will get more people to know it’s bad.”“Advertising doesn’t create a product advantage. It can only convey it.”
“In communications, familiarity breeds apathy.”
“Nobody counts the number of ads you run; they just remember the impression you make.”
“Our job is to sell our clients’ merchandise… not ourselves. Our job is to kill the cleverness that makes us shine instead of the product. Our job is to simplify, to tear away the unrelated, to pluck out the weeds that are smothering the product message.”
Today the quotes are a little dated. They came from an era when the best way to sell stuff was through TV ads. There were only three or three television stations in most markets and people watched shows in groups at predetermined times. The Internet wouldn’t come to people’s homes for another 35 years and digital video recorders were still 45 years away.
But replace the words “advertising” with “social media” in his quotes and they are just as relevant as they were in 1960.
With more than 15 years of digital communications experience, I've delivered award-winning and sophisticated marketing solutions for Fortune 500 corporations, major government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and household-name consumer brands. I ensure the successful execution of digital and social media business strategies to build profitability and grow market share on behalf of our clients. I stay abreast of relevant new technologies in the Web 2.0/social media space in order to contribute a point of view while remaining focused on ROI to drive the right message to the right people at the right time.
I’ve been working in or around the social media revolution since 2005 and I am grateful to be exploring this new media landscape with com.motion’s clients. As managing director, my role is to guide our clients through the use of new technologies and to provide innovative ways to engage their stakeholders online. Shiny new Web 2.0 toys are great to play with but our recommendations are always strategic and focused on reaching the right people, with the right message across the right channels.
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