PORTLAND--It's raining hard this morning, but there are no dampened spirits inside the Doubletree Hotel's conference rooms. Jason Keath is seeing to that. He's the event organizer from North Carolina, here in Portland to put on Social Fresh, a conference about social media. Social Fresh is also playing in St. Louis, Tampa, Nashville and Charlotte. And word is definitely out, for people from as far away as Boston and …
Juggle This: Brand Curated, Produced And Sponsored Content
John Winsor, CEO of Boulder-based crowdsourcing agency Victor & Spoils tells an interesting story on his personal blog about a friend who in the outdoor equipment industry. According to Winsor, his friend's company is well supported by its customers, some of whom have posted popular fanmercials on YouTube. (Yes, I just made that word up.) People, who love his brand, are making their own spots by the hundreds. And, …
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Big Ideas In Small Packages
I've never met David Baldwin of Baldwin&, so I don't know if he's humble or not, but he sounds humble in this Q+A with Bart Cleveland, care of Ad Age's Small Agency Diary. He also provides great answers (while sounding humble), which makes me want to pause and listen. Q. Most agencies think they are different, but it's shades of gray. Most sound the same. What have you done to shape your firm to be truly …
This Is One Way To Do Memorable Advertising
Tim Nudd of Adfreak says, you'd have to put Staples' "Wow, that's a low price!" guy near the top of the annoying ad characters pile. Then, before I can even consider his claim, the sage journo points to this People magazine piece on Jennifer Love Hewitt's desire for organization. Weird. …
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That Looks Like Variety’s Dinner They’re Eating
LA Times entertainment reporter, Patrick Goldstein, is on a story that sheds light on one of my favorite topics--the lingering sense of entitlement in managers of businesses being forever altered by the Web. My sources at a number of different studios say that Variety Editor Tim Gray and various entertainment reporters at the trade have been telling publicity execs that if they give casting scoops to any of Variety's …
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When Crowdsourcing Is Co-Creation
According to Ad Age, Kraft Foods has scored a hit for its Lacta chocolate bar in Greece by crowdsourcing a 27-minute branded-entertainment film, involving the audience in everything from writing the story to casting the film and styling the actors. Lacta "Love in Action" - η ταινία from LactaFilms on Vimeo. The plan was to run the film online, but the making of the movie created such a buzz in Greece that the …
Cities Desperate For Some Google Fiber In Their Diets
Google is planning to test ultra-high speed broadband networks in one or more trial locations across the country. Municipalities with populations from 50,000 to 500,000 have until today to get their bids in. But many cities are going well beyond the required Request for Information--they're creating advocacy campaigns to interest the decision makers in Mountain View. The city of Bellingham, WA is one that's leaning …
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Cinderella In March, Scary Stuff
On behalf of vitaminwater's Revive brand, LA-based sports marketing agency, Zambezi, created three NCAA tourney-themed spots that rely on the star power of actors like Nick Swardson, Kevin Farley, John Farley, and Katrina Bowden. Here's one of them: …