Rick Clancy Seemed Worried. An excerpt from “Groundswell”

An excerpt from Chapter 1 of Groundswell by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff We were meeting him for breakfast before an all-day meeting. He was grappling with a force he didn’t understand, one that was growing all the time. Bloggers. Discussion groups. YouTube. Consumers whom he’d never met were rating his company’s products in public [...]

The Ultimate Endorsement for Social Media?

Take notice late adopters, the benefits far outweigh the risk. The Department of Defense formally OK’s the use of social network sites like Facebook and Twitter. Quoting an article from cnet:  “The Pentagon says it recognizes that social networks, among other Web capabilities, are useful tools for interaction both within the Defense Department and between [...]

What kind of listener are you? Four types explained.

The Fortune 500 companies executing best practices on Twitter all started with one basic premise: Listen. Ambient listening (a phrase taught to me by Aneta Hall) is harder than it sounds, especially when conversations move from online to offline. Keith Ferrazzi is fond of describing a conversation with his colleague Dr. Mark Goulston. According to [...]

Dear Chief Marketing Officer, It’s time for your January Gut Check.

Today is the last business day of the first month of the year. Sometime in the next week, Chief Marketing Officers throughout the Fortune 500 will be called to the CEO carpet to report on your marketing effectiveness for January. Are you ready for these four questions? 1. “Last year you told me you needed [...]

Get Caught Doing Good.

Pepsi announced in late 2009 that it would sit out the Super Bowl. Instead, they focus on a new cause-oriented marketing campaign early next year. This campaign is a long term term, multi-millon-dollar grant program for charitable causes selected by consumers. According to Steve Drake, Cause Marketing happens when a not-for-profit and a for-profit partner [...]

YouTube Top Videos of 2009: #3 – JK Wedding Entrance Dance

Marketing Value: Low* (but note the asterisk below) Views: Over 33,000,000 The video generated over 127,000 comments for a comment to view ratio of 76 for every 20,000 views. (High interaction. People were talking about this video.) Did you see it?: [Me: Yes] Did you forward it?: [Me: No.] Reaction: This video inundated Facebook. It [...]

YouTube Top Videos of 2009: #4 New Moon Movie Trailer

Marketing Value: High Views: 31,000,000. The video generated about 70,000 comments for a comment to view ratio of 45 for every 20,000 views. (Medium interaction.) Did you see it?: [Me: No. Although I'm quite certain my wife watched it. Multiple times?] Did you forward it?: [Me: No] Reaction: By all accounts this was a lousy [...]

YouTube Top Videos of 2009: #5 – Evian Roller Babies

Marketing Value: Medium to High Views: almost 14,000,000 The video generated about 7,000 comments for a comment to view ratio of 1 for every 20,000 views. (Low interaction.) Did you see it?: [Me: Yes] Did you forward it?: [Me: Yes] Reaction: Some people thought this video was truly entertaining, although many commented that it was [...]

Itay Talgam: Lead like the great conductors

Ok, this is a long video. Much longer than typically posted here. It’s highly entertaining and engaging. (especially if you enjoy classical music) It includes two of the ten commandments for conductors: 1) If you sweat by the end of the concert it means that you must have done something wrong. 2) Never look at [...]

“It’s Hard To Believe People Lived This Way”

Forward this to your Twitter and Facebook skeptic, but you might want to do so on a floppy disk. Innovation and introspection. Here’s why this matters: Today’s best leaders realize that they must prepare for today,  but with an eye on tomorrow.