Volunteer vacation in Costa Rica

The power of Social media and a NYC storm

This week a devastating storm hit New York City.  Unfortunately for me, it was right outside my front door and to see my place of refuge and emotional attachment changed in a matter of 10 minutes,well, it's very sad. 

But besides dealing with the emotion of the huge loss, I put on my social media hat and jumped into action and started taking load of photos.  I was at the "ground-zero" of the storm and this type of response to an event, is what makes social media so powerful. You don't have to wait a day or a week. Amazingly we report in real time, even before the reporters got there. As a matter of fact, I had already posted a photo of the damage an hour after it happened and not one reporter was to be found. They must of picked up my photo in my twitpic post or someone else's, and decided to show up when the next shift began, at 6am. 

And thinking about how powerful our collective presence is, I can't help but to think of helicopter/plane crash over the Hudson that happened August 8th. Although there is a backlash on youtube about the gory video posting, it provided necessary details to the press and NTSB.  

Social media is an incredibly powerful tool. Yes, there are misleading and false stories that can do damage. There will always be the few that ruin it for the many. But in the hands of honest folks, we, as a collective community,  are changing the way in which almost all information is obtained, viewed and disseminated.  And that's pretty powerful.

An appropriate little plug. Central Park could really use your help.

The summer of social media for social causes

My volunteer vacation in Costa Rica is just 2 weeks away and besides dreaming of the beautiful, tiny Pacific coastal village that consists of 200 hundred people and a bunch of turtles and eggs that need to be saved, I'm actually rather excited to be hands-on and involved in really making a difference. It feels good to do something. It doesn't have to be as dramatic as living in an isolated corner of Costa Rica, you can do so much good right from your little laptop.

To get you started, I got some great links that will help you make a change in someone else's life:

Start with Beth's Blog. She is the guru for nonprofits in social media.

Join in the on the twestival which hopes to be the biggest fundraising event in history.

Want to change something, raise awareness, take action? Go to change.org

Gotta cause? Get it up on Facebook. They really make it so easy and provide great resources for fundraising.

Nothing like video to communicate a compelling story. Youtube has video volunteers and a nonprofit program that will help you get your message out to the world's largest online video community.

And just because I love this terrific charity, Kiva, I'm giving it a plug hear. Hey, that's another simple way of doing good. Give your favorite charity a mention and a link on your blog.

It doesn't take much to change the world. I'll be doing it one turtle egg at a time in just a short while. In the meantime, I'd love to hear about your favorite ways of using social media for a social cause.  

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Desperate for business, should creative work be free?

About a week and a half ago, I made a presentation to a small agency about social media. By the end of the presentation, they felt that social media could greatly benefit their client. They felt confident enough in my abilities to request that I work up strategy, do some brainstorming with them and finally present a social media campaign to their client. I estimated about 40-60 hours of work. Sounds great, right? Wrong. The agency proposed all this work would be done for free and if the client chose to integrate social media into their existing campaign, then of course,  I would be awarded the work. For sure, my 20 years plus in advertising working up tactical plans, creating programs, concepting campaigns, managing teams, building brands, and all that other stuff certainly had a strong track record and was well worth something. As I am relatively new in the social media genre (clearly the reason for "free" offer),  and clearly knowing my years of experience would be valuable, I counter offered a compromise, a reduced rate.  I never heard back nor did I not accept the work for free offer. 

I bring up this story as it seems this is the way advertising is going these days. Somehow, in all our desperation to win business, agencies are giving away our most precious product, creativity. Last week Adweek published an article about the much talked about Zappos pitch where the RFP was posted to Adweek. Basically, what it boils down to, was that over 80 agencies responded and over 20 were selected to present creative to Zappo's. Imagine those lousy odds of winning and still, 80 agencies were willing to give it all away for free. If I was a betting girl, I'd say, that's a real long shot. And hey, it wasn't even for that big of a purse. More interesting was Michael Wolfson's blog post commenting on his agency's Zappos submission, the RFP process as a whole and the heated debate that has erupted on Adweek and his blog in response to his stance.  I say, kudos to him and his agency, Ignited, for not being afraid to take a stand in hopes of swinging the pendulum to a more respectful and trustful way of doing business.

No other professional business gives their work away for free. (see well worth it, could go viral video) We are to blame. Only by working together and establishing new rules, and a "just say no" attitude, will we ever be able to regain the respect of our client and be a true partner to them. Hell, I did. Now who has the courage to join me?

BRUNO: Best case study in social media vorld

Bruno's outrageous MTV stunt, that seemed to have become viral within a hour, prompted me to start following him via his social media network. I did this for my own amusement but professionally I was curious in how this branding comic genius was going to role out his product, BRUNO, the documentary. In between watching hilarious posting on my Facebook about his little black baby OJ being a fabulous accessory and watching vorld premieres on you tube, I was scouring the web looking for great case studies in social media for a client presentation.

The more I looked, the more I realized, following in Obama's footsteps Bruno was one of top case studies in rolling out a brand via social media. Each premiere opening was carefully choreographed to be fresh, new and outrageous, feeding his followers with comic content that was well worth sharing.  His consistent postings on facebook and "tvitter" have never broken character and actually provided great content you'd like to share with your friends. (He just posted an iphone app I'm downloading now!). His great offline co-branding with GQ was another great stroke of marketing genius. Do a search in google and you'll get well over 30 sites and blogs posting the article and photos. And talking about photos, the publicity shot with OJ, is just too funny. Top it all off  with a little PR, 10 reason's why you should see Bruno, by Bruno, on Dave Letterman. The next time your looking for a great case study in social media marketing, put Bruno on that list. 

The twitter revolution

Last night I was up till 1 am watching the #iranelection twitter feed. Tonight, the same. I dig down for old feeds and then scroll up to new feeds as they come in by the second. Look, this just in:  RT Report: Basij Going Inside Hospitals & Beating Injured Protesters & Taking Them To Prison (Confirmed) #IranElection. 

I'm fascinated, riveted.  The power of twitter is enabling people on the ground to communicate in real time. I find myself slowing down to listen, taking a voyeuristic view as if it's a car accident.

I respond to tweets. I change my setting to participate in social justice and to aid those fighting for democracy. I'm in disbelief yet I feel fulfilled  that I was actually having an impact so many miles away. And yes, I was. The collective voices of America, right now, are aiding the fight for democracy in Iran. How historic is that? It's a social revolution. Twitter has clearly demonstrated it's ability to aid in global collaboration.  Those silly 140 characters have transformed into an emotional cry for help. This reality based medium has changed the world, forever. Clay Shirky articulates the situation far better than I ever could on his blog.

As a native New Yorker who was in NYC on 9/11 I can't help imagining, if we had this resource on that day, would more lives have been saved? 

Understanding web 2.0 leads to greater creativity

This week adholes did a great twitter post with a link to bnet. Apparently Saatchi and Saatchi failed to secure a URL to it's own name and a brilliant London based viral shop secured it for it's very own promotion. The result, the little engine that did, Asabailey Viral Advertising,  out-shined, out-created the advertising giant. At the same time, they clearly demonstrated their expertise and creative chops. Kudos to them!  Out of the box, web 2.0 creative thinking can only be implemented by knowing what's in your toolbox. So if you think just any old creative can do social media, think again. Traditional conceptual creative thinking is a strong foundation and entry point. To get to play in the web 2.0 big league, ya gotta know the tools.

How to make your campaign go viral

I just spent the last couple of days in various conferences and workshops at NYC internet week. The big question that kept popping up was, "how do you go viral"?  All of us web geeks wanted to know the formula. We all craved finding out the secret to instant low cost fame. If you've viewed or interacted with a viral campaign, it's easy to figure out the first step. Do something so overwhelmingly emotional, something that rocks your core, something funny, stupid, outrageous, smart, etc. Well, you get it.

Baekdal.com has a nice way of laying out the formula and includes ways to push it even more. But, no guarantees as there really aren't any. Techcrunch has a valuable posting but I have a little problem with the ethics. Maybe I'm naive, but do you think Simon Cowell did all that false interacting to make Susan Boyle go viral? 

And speaking of viral... how can I blog about viral without sharing?

My favorite finds of the week and oddly enough, very opposite in tone. Actually, Wake up humans is so haunting that you'll need Pearl to snap you out of shock.

Wake up Humans- hauntingly brilliant campaign by Amnesty International

Pearl the Landlord- Funnyordie are the funniest writers on the web. 

A brand overhaul for Susan Boyle

OK, so everyone thought Susan Boyle should just be beautiful from the inside. Stay true to your inner self and don't change the "brand" we all fell in love with. Except for my dear friend, Dennis Regan, a fabulous retoucher, who thought things should be a just a bit different.

What's the deal with twitter?

I can't tell you how many times over the last few months  I've had a conversation about twitter that doesn't end up with an, "I don't get it" "What can you really say in 140 characters" and "I don't care if so and so is shopping for milk". Funny thing for me, I intuitively got it and find it an invaluable professional tool that is very rich in content.  So to get the "deal", check out Adam Cohen's blog;  a simple 7 step list that shows the value of twitter in 2 minutes or less.  Try it! As for where I personally go to find the best links to follow, check out tweetmeme and Mrtweet. Once your in the groove, here are 10 ways to keep your followers. Happy tweeting!

Using the world around us

It's more and more difficult today to get through the clutter, and marketing saturation only grows with every year. It’s for that reason that guerrilla ad-campaigns are becoming so prevalent in the industry.  Besides that, stumbling upon a great guerrilla campaign leaves the viewer with a great ah-hah moment and a sense of muse having interacted first hand with a brand.  Take a look at some of the recent, most effective and ingeniously simple guerrilla marketing campaigns. Now just for the fun of it, wouldn't it be a blast to put that ceiling image of people looking down a hole in a public restroom.

Jet Blue-seat monster

Fabulously funny little animation with no words at all, clearly demonstrate the tortures of traveling and jet blue's promise to change it. 

One more thing to brand—your twitter page

I thought twitter was all content; snappy, clever and valuable in 140 characters. Who thought you'd need a design guru and visual brand guidelines for tweeting. Until I found this site. Great inspirations for twitter backgrounds. So much to brand, so little time. I'll let you know when I got mine in the zone.

"Life is for Sharing" from T-Mobile

On the 30th of April, tens of thousands of people descended on Trafalgar Square in London to share a moment in Karaoke history. The packed sing-a-long event was T-Mobile's second "Life is for Sharing" event following on from a hugely successful T-Mobile Dance, held in Liverpool Street Station in January. (I like the sing along better as it seems more authentic)

Not only is this spot-on, fabulous branding, but imagine what a feel good day it was for so many people.  So come on T-Mobile, bring this bright spot to Grand Central. If you don't, maybe someone else will. In either case, I'll be there with my microphone and lousy singing voice.

Real fun with flash

Kudos to the creatives and techies who put this one together. It's a hoot. Now go on, give 'em a kiss. It only makes it more fun.

Going Viral

Three Secrets to Make a Message Go Viral Combine relevance, emotion and a good idea, and you're on your way.