Stability, Not Panic, Is What Partners Seek
Posted
by Reuben Steiger
on
10.15.08
@ 12:42 PM
In recent weeks, I've become a helpless politics and market watcher, holding my breath for the latest tweet indicating which way our capitalist, house-of-cards empire might fall. Through it, I've been relatively silent, and, to be quite honest, it reminds me most of the days and weeks following 9/11.
In fact, a few nights ago, Angel Island caught fire in the middle of San Francisco Bay. With my sister, I drove to the Marin Headlands to watch more than 700 acres burn. As we stared at this surreal volcano-like image in the midst of a sea of normality, I remembered how I felt following 9/11. As we watched those burning ashes, we had so much pent-up emotion following the bloody dot-com financial meltdown and plunged headlong into the uncertainty of recent years. We also, perhaps for the first time, used social software to bind to others: I remember not having cell reception in N.Y. but staying in touch with others via e-mails, blogs and IM.
I Think So, but There's Hope, Thanks to Three Emerging Tactics
Posted
by Reuben Steiger
on
06.26.08
@ 11:33 AM
Reuben Steiger |
The internet's potential as a storytelling medium is a topic close to my heart for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, I care about it because I'm running a company that attempts to use the net to tell stories.
Secondly, I'm having trouble filling an executive creative director position. Many of the likely candidates for this search bring with them impressive resumes from the interactive world. They are familiar with the broad array of technologies and tools that define digital production, but often have gaping holes when it comes to creating compelling narratives as opposed to beautiful websites or effective campaigns.
So let's begin by asking: Just what is a story? This may seem self-evident, but bear with me. Rather than giving my definition, I'll just use the one from Dictionary.com.
Story (noun): a narrative, either true or fictitious, in prose or verse, designed to interest, amuse, or instruct the hearer or reader; tale. Stories also traditionally have a beginning, middle and end as well as a Who, What, Where, When and Why.
Has the internet failed to create stories? I think it has (and often begin my presentations by throwing down this gauntlet). Let me explain.
Why It's Important to Pay Attention to What Kids Are Spending Real Money on
Posted
by Reuben Steiger
on
05.23.08
@ 01:13 PM
|
Reuben Steiger |
Sometimes the most amazing things happen right under our noses and we miss them because we're not in fourth grade.
Take a stroll down the aisles at your local Target, Wal-Mart, Walgreens or Rite-Aid and you'll notice an interesting phenomenon -- pre-paid gift cards for as many as
26 virtual worlds. Let me try to explain what this means (if you have a fourth grader, feel free to skip the next couple paragraphs).
There are roughly 100 million people in virtual worlds at the moment and the vast majority of them are kids and teens. These worlds, which in general are rather simple looking, allow kids to hang out together on the web. Jeff Yang of Redpoint Ventures, a prominent investor in a variety of these worlds (he was also the sole venture capitalist behind Myspace), likes to call these worlds the "new mall." Collectively, the kids in this "mall" are spending over
$1.5 billion on avatars, clothing, pets and the like. That's real money on virtual stuff.
Second Life or Not, Virtual Worlds Are Here to Stay
Posted
by Reuben Steiger
on
04.17.08
@ 10:25 AM
|
Reuben Steiger |
I'm sitting in the airport in Venice, writing my first blog post. I've spent the past few days attending the Venice Festival of Media, a conference attended largely by delegates from media buyers for the large networks as well as folks from internet heavyweights like Yahoo and Microsoft and traditional content companies like NBC Universal.
Much of the conversation focused on the "changing media landscape" -- everyone seems broadly aware that media markets are increasingly fragmented, digital is on the rise, social media is a critical piece of online activity and engagement trumps pure reach. Various networks recently announced that they will be mandating training to teach their television buyers how to better understand digital. Yet truth be told, my impression is that despite our industry's best intentions, the problems outnumber good old-fashioned measurable solutions.
In future posts, I'll dive deeper into solutions available today that solve many of these problems. For today, it probably makes more sense to introduce myself to you all and paint a picture of our business.
From 2004 to 2006 I worked at Linden Lab, the company that makes Second Life. While I was there, we grew our product from an obscure 3D virtual world into a place with hundreds of thousands of registered users. One of the things I focused on was bringing the first corporations in to conduct experimental projects -- in doing so I discovered an interesting market opportunity.
Posted
on
04.11.08
@ 06:35 PM
Chris Abraham, president of Abraham Harrison
Chris Abraham is blogger who specializes in social-media marketing with a focus on blogger outreach, blogger engagement and search-reputation management. Chris lives in Berlin and Washington.
David Armano, VP-creative at Critical Mass, Chicago
As VP-Creative for the Chicago office of Critical Mass, David Armano leads a 40-plus person team across a variety of disciplines and clients ranging from P&G to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. A thought leader in the areas of digital marketing and experience design, he writes the popular
Logic Emotion blog, currently ranked in the top 50 media and marketing blogs according to Advertising Age. He's been a creative lead at firms such as Digitas and Agency.com and earned his interactive stripes with the Chicago Tribune. He currently resides in a near-northern suburb of Chicago, not far from Lake Michigan, and when he's note working, surfing the net, or riding his motorbike, he can be found spending quality time with his wife and two boys.
Hashem Bajwa, digital strategy director at Goodby Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco
Hashem Bajwa's role is a mash-up of planning, new media and creative. He's charged with sprinkling digital innovation with creative teams at Goodby as well as globally with client HP. He leads the agency's outreach with Silicon Valley and Web 2.0 companies as a matchmaker of technology and creativity to form new kinds or brand partnerships. Hashem's career began at the United Nations in 2000 working in communications & research, and in 2003 moved to McCann Worldgroup as an account planner. In 2007 he was the youngest person to be named in AdvertisingAge's "40 Under 40 to Watch" ...at the ripe old age of 26.
David Berkowitz, director of emerging media for 360i
David Berkowitz helps marketers reach their target audiences when, where and how they "live" online. At 360i, David works with clients including NBC Universal, Office Depot, MTV Networks and others, to leverage marketing opportunities at the nexus of social marketing, mobile and emerging media. When not thinking about the latest and greatest ways to communicate with audiences online, David can be found on
Twitter, blogging for 360i's
Digital Connections or at
Inside the Marketer's Studio.
Josh Bernoff, senior VP-idea development at Forrester Research
Josh Bernoff is responsible for identifying, developing and promoting some of the company's biggest ideas. He is the coauthor of the bestselling book "Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies," a comprehensive analysis of corporate strategy for dealing with social technologies. Since Groundswell was published in May 2008 by Harvard Business Press, Abbey Klaassen from Advertising Age
picked it as the best book she's read on marketing or media and Amazon's editors put it in the top 10 business books of the year. Josh is currently working another book about the impact of technology on business. He blogs at
http://blogs.forrester.com/groundswell.
Craig Daitch, senior VP of creative solutions for Measure2x
Craig Daitch has lived the life of both entrepreneur and big agency exec. As senior VP of creative solutions for Measure2x, he develops cutting-edge promotional marketing campaigns built on the behavioral data used to drive purchase decisions. He comes to it after leading Digitas' emerging channels practice and, prior to that, curating PHD's North American innovation practice. Before agency life, he was on an entrepreneurial streak, having founded emerging technology agency Eiko Media, where he developed cutting-edge advertising solutions on behalf of clients such as DaimlerChrysler, General Motors, AT&T and Sony Ericsson. He also co-founded Simplewire Inc., a wireless messaging infrastructure and software provider, and was at the forefront of promoting the convergence of mobile blogging as well as J2ME games and applications. Craig received a BA from Western Michigan University and is active in the social media space, where you'll catch him
twittering and
blogging on trends in our industry.
Colleen DeCourcy, chief digital officer at TBWA Worldwide, New York
Colleen DeCourcy is responsible for developing and implementing a global digital strategy for the TBWA global network and its digital assets. Her areas of expertise range from digital postproduction and motion graphics design to creative campaign development and planning across digital platforms. She's been a champion of innovative methods of persona development and implementation and was cited extensively for her unique approach to persona development in her work with DaimlerChrysler while chief creative officer at Omnicom digital agency Organic. Colleen was one of AdAge's 25 Women to Watch in 2006 and is the Cyber Lions Jury President at the 55th edition of the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival this year.
Darren Herman, head of digital media-group director at The Media Kitchen, New York
Don't say he hasn't been busy. Over the past 10 years, Darren Herman has started five companies, sold two and raised more than $40 million in venture capital. Named one of BusinessWeek's Best Entrepreneurs in 2006 for his founding of videogame ad company IGA Worldwide, Darren recently moved over to agency life to lead the digital practice at The Media Kitchen, part of Kirshenbaum Bond + Partners. In addition to emerging media, his love of Apple runs deep. He's owned: an Apple IIe, Macintosh LC, Quadra 630, PowerMac 6100, PowerMac 8600, G3 (blue and white), Powerbook G3 (Pismo), iBook G4, MacBook, iPhone, MacBook Pro (Intel). He blogs at
darrenherman.com and recently released his first book, "Coloring Outside the Lines: Confessions of a Digital Native."
Kelly Mooney, president and chief experience officer, Resource Interactive
Kelly Mooney is a 20-year veteran of consumer-centric marketing. She's the author of two business books: The Ten Demandments: Rules to Live By in the Age of the Demanding Customer (McGraw-Hill, 2002) and The Open Brand: When Push Comes to Pull in a Web-Made World (New Riders/AIGA Design Press, 2008).
As president and chief experience officer of Resource Interactive, Mooney inspires business leaders to welcome consumers into the value creation of their brands and leads a company of award-winning interactive marketing teams in the development of brand-building consumer experiences for companies such as Procter & Gamble, Hewlett-Packard, The Coca-Cola Company, Victoria's Secret, Best Buy, L.L. Bean and WalMart.
B.L. Ochman, marketing strategist and blogger, WhatsNextOnline.com
B.L. Ochman helps companies integrate social media tools and blog advertising into their communications strategy to engage their audience and increase their sales. She is an Internet marketing strategist to Fortune 500 companies including IBM, McGraw-Hill, American Greetings, Ford Motors, Simon & Schuster, Cendant, Kaneka Corporation (Tokyo:JKFC), and others. She is internationally respected blogger whose blog about internet marketing,
What's Next Blog, is rated No. 31 in the world by
Ad Age Power 150, where she also is Number One among women business bloggers. She heads the creative team of Whatsnextonline.com.
Ian Schafer, CEO and founder of Deep Focus, New York
Ian Schafer believes "interactive" is not just a medium -- it's a philosophy. And that belief informs the work that comes out of his full-service agency, Deep Focus, winner of a 2007 Cannes Promo Lion, a 2007 IAC award, two 2007 Webby Awards, including one for People's Choice, and a nod as OMMA Magazine's 2007 Media Planning & Buying Agency of the Year. Since its founding in 2002, Deep Focus's roster has grown to include HBO, Glaceau, TruTV, MSG, Comedy Central, New Line Cinema, Picturehouse, CBS, Nike and Bacardi USA. Ian is a 2007 AdAge Media Maven and resides in New York City with his wife, Cheryl, and dog, Mookie. Follow him
on Twitter or check out his blog at
IanSchafer.com.
Reuben Steiger, CEO, Millions of Us
Reuben Steiger founded Millions of Us to help businesses understand and harness the power of virtual worlds and online communities. Prior to founding Millions of Us, he was the evangelist for Linden Lab, creators of the 3-D virtual world Second Life. In that role he was responsible for business development efforts and bringing the first wave of corporations and commercial developers into Second Life. Until 2002, he was chief development officer at OVEN Digital, where he helped build that company into the world's largest privately-owned internet consultancy with 11 offices and 350 employees worldwide. Reuben holds a B.A. in English Literature from Brown University and lives in Marin County with his wife and two young children.
Troy Young, chief marketing officer, Videoegg
VideoEgg Chief Marketing Officer Troy Young began his work in interactive media in 1992 when he worked on the launch and management of the first newspaper-owned online service in Canada. Prior to joining VideoEgg, Troy served as exec VP-chief experience officer at Organic, one of the world's leading digital marketing agencies. Troy spent his first three years with the company building the Canada office. Prior to joining Organic, Troy was a co-founder and managing director of Vickers & Benson Direct, Interactive (now Arnold Worldwide). He is a graduate of the Queen's University Business School.
Mat Zucker VP-executive creative director at Agency.com
Mat Zucker recently rejoined OgilvyOne as executive creative director. Previously, he was head of Agency.com's New York creative department, where he led 30 creative directors, art directors, copywriters, information architects, designers and developers for clients British Airways, CIT, LG Electronics, Mars and Del Monte Foods. Before that, Mat was executive creative director at R/GA for Subaru and Johnson & Johnson and led digital work for Acuvue, Clean & Clear, Johnson's Baby, Splenda and Viactiv. Prior to R/GA, he logged six years at OgilvyOne worldwide in New York as senior partner and group creative director for Cisco Systems, American Express, Ameritrade, Andersen and The US Office of National Drug Control Policy. Mat is among the earliest advertising creatives who emigrated to the Web and has helped pioneer brands in emerging media, including video and podcasting.
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