I’ve always wished there was an interactive marketing version of the reality TV show Shark Tank, or something akin to a digital marketing version of American Idol or X Factor. I’ve also always wanted to be a rock star even though I have absolutely no serious musical talent apart from my claim to fame of briefly appearing as Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady and Action in West Side Story while in high school. Pretty far from Rock Star status. But I recently had both wishes granted and it was an awesome experience.

Last week I had the incredibly interesting opportunity to journey to Taipei to co-host an annual event called Interactive@Taiwan. This event brings together leading interactive agencies in Taiwan to host a meeting featuring select speakers from abroad whose companies have gained some degree of international recognition for their work in order to learn from them. Each agency participating sends a cross-functional team that then competes over the course of three days to ultimately present the best concept based on a Challenge Brief. The featured speakers work with each agency team in workshops to refine their ideas and concepts in a near crucible-like environment to arrive at a final presentation, which then is judged by the speakers, with awards granted to the best concepts.

While previous years they focused mostly on the creative aspects and invited speakers like the ECD’s of companies like AKQA and W+K, this year they wanted to focus on the importance of technology in combination with strategy, marketing and creative… they looked to companies who have really brought technology and creative together in a unified manner to make a difference.

I was pretty honored when they reached out and invited me based on their awareness of the great work we’ve done for Coca-Cola on their Open Happiness campaign and the work we’ve done for HBO’s True Blood.

It was also pretty cool to be in the company of the other speaker, Nathan Martin, the CEO of Deep Local which brought the world the Nike Chalkbot and Nog Pong. I can say that in the course of the week I gained a tremendous amount of respect for Nathan and the work Deep Local does.

We set the stage for the event talking about how our agencies marry the fields of creative and technology, art and engineering, marketing and digital, all while staying true to the importance of understanding the brand, the personas of the target market, the desired business results, and the importance of the insights and big ideas. We talked to them about our different models for how we do this to come up with truly innovative ideas and then be able to execute on those ideas. From there we issued them a challenge that basically involved them coming up with concepts for one of their current clients or prospects that involved both digital and post-digital executions that were “outside the box” and leveraged technology beyond simple basics or common approaches.

For two days straight we met with every team in succession, one after the other, several times a day. They brought concepts for brands like HTC, China Trust Bank, FamilyMart, Heineken, Giant Bikes, Samsung and more. It felt like Shark Tank with the weird aspect of being one of the judges and critics. I’m definitely not always right- just ask my wife, my boss, our CMO, or our ECD. But it was amazing to see how much they valued my input and commentary on how to improve their ideas and executions.

Not every idea was great, and many took a long time to work through to something really cool and viable. But in the end, 10 teams from 10 different agencies presented amazing ideas and concepts. There were a few that were fantastic, others that were great, and others that were good and just needed some work. I definitely learned things. I learned how agencies on the other side of the planet are thinking and operating. I learned areas where they are well ahead of the West like RFID/NFC, QR, and mobile gaming. I learned how they operate against very different demands, budgets, and cultures. I hope they learned a few things from me too.

Lastly, my hat is off to the people and culture of Taiwan. I did not deserve it, but they treated me like a rock star while I was there. They are some of the most hospitable people on the planet, I have rarely felt so welcome and well taken care of, and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

I only wish everyone back here in the U.S. thought I was as smart as everyone over there did.


Added bonus: While I was there it was Taiwan’s 100th anniversary. Fireworks abounded. Very cool to see. Watched it from the top of a building in Taipei thanks to a guy named Mouse and his company Webgene .

Last week I attended a great interactive marketing conference in Indianapolis (and yes, got a side dish of Katy Perry while there!) Of all the things I learned about unified marketing, one of the most interesting sessions I attended was about Email Design in the Mobile Inbox Age.  The presenter was Chris Studabaker from ExactTarget.

The Definition 6 team at the Katy Perry concert from ExactTarget Connections 2011.

Chris answered the question “What is mobile email?” with the following explanation: Email + mobile.

Social Media Week is here, and well, we’ve been keeping busy being social.  I recently got the chance to conduct a “6 with D6” Interview with Henry Copeland, founder of BlogAds.com and of the SUXORZ awards, an event that showcases the worst social media campaigns from the previous year.  

When Henry is not selling BlogAds, he says he’s “generally running or playing ping-pong with his kids, cooking with his wife, playing with his dogs, or reading.”   Some of the blogs that he frequently reads within the BlogAds network include ObscureStore.com, Wonkette.com, PerezHilton.com, ReadWriteWeb.com, DailyKos.com, and Drudge.com, although he claims this is more for “taking the cultural temperature than really consuming news.”  

We encourage you to sign up for SUXORZ, which takes place on Thursday, February 10^th in NYC (where Definition 6’er Jon Accarrino will play “Social DJ”), or read more about how Henry got involved in social media.

6 with D6: Henry Copeland

1 - What changes do you anticipate taking place within the blogosphere in the next 3-5 years?

Since we got started in 2002, there's obviously been a giant proliferation of the number of blogs.  And there's also been a lot of professionalization.  But, as folks like Huffington Post disappear into the belly of the corporate beast, I think you'll see a resurgence of small and medium-size blogging, folks who are doing it because they love it, not because they want to cash out for $315 million. There are still lots of folks out there just finding their voice and lots of “unserved” publics.  In some cases, these will be people just doing it to scratch their own itch.  In some cases, these will be 'house blogs' by companies that are passionate about one topic or another.  And in some cases, these will be self-supporting bloggers.

2 -     Both BlogAds.com and you personally have been huge pioneers in the social media landscape.  With all the proliferation of devices like iPad and connected TVs, how much is social media device-driven?  Or is the behavior of sharing and consuming media evolving the device market?

I'm tempted to say I'm not young enough to answer that question.  But I'll take a shot: I think blogs were perfect for PCs...everyone who works in an office or goes to school has one AND has 30 spare minutes a day to create or read content that is 50-500 words long. Now, mobile devices seem to inspire the production and consumption of more micro-content, tweets, check-ins, pokes, etc. 

3 -     If you could go back in time and edit your 2002 Pressflex essay that floated the idea of BlogAds, what would you change?


Ha, I would have been a little less cocky. :) I thought BlogAds was going to change the world OVERNIGHT. I didn't realize it would be two years before we'd sell more than $200 in ads in a single month.  But overall, I'm happy with the way those predictions about how “people-power-media” would explode and completely upend the media and advertising markets.  When you think of all the stuff that's come since then -- whether it's YouTube or Twitter or Reddit or Quora or Facebook -- we're still just beginning to guess all the fun things people can do for, or with, each other when you let them connect in real-time online.

4 - How can marketing agencies like Definition 6 use BlogAds to help our clients?

Two things.  First, we can let you really deliver your client's story across a wide spectrum of blogs.  Second, there's a lot of emphasis at agencies on using the commoditized ad units -- the IAB units you can buy on every site on earth. We think it is very important to use the right unit to tell the client's story. Flashy 300x250s and 728x90s have their time and place, but there are times you want to channel what the community is saying about your brand in Twitter or let the community re-tweet your ad.  So when it comes to ad units, the medium can be the message -- a conventional ad unit that was born in broadcast, often an IAB unit, most likely tells a conventional story that's rooted in the "we talk, you listen" mode of advertising. 

5 - What do you see as a game changer?

Yikes. I think we're still scratching the surface of organizing all the data and relationships that social media is encouraging us to generate. In a sense, we're in an arms race with ourselves, steadily producing more information, then scrambling to create containers/structures to help us keep track of that information, and then having to create structures that contain THOSE new structures.  We've got so many signals, we're creating news.  So at some point, I think we're going to hit a point where the majority of people say, "OK, I'm done, this is good enough for me. I don't need any more filing cabinets for my filing cabinets."  That could be two “Facebooks” from now, or it could be we're just about there right now. 

6 - Tell us more about the SUXORZ awards which are coming up this week. What has changed over the last few years?  What has improved? 

This will be the fourth year of the SUXORZ.  How time flies when you've got terrible social media advertising to laugh at, right?  Since the first couple of years, it appears companies have gotten better about not trying to pay consumers to shill for them.  Or companies have just figured out how to do it more covertly and not get caught.  Last year, the sins were more of omission rather than commission.  Companies implemented half a social media campaign -- Tweets on a billboard! -- but forgot to watch what people were tweeting and ended up with a lot of profanity beside their logos.  We're still sifting through nominations to figure out what the trends will be this year.  You can make nominations on our Facebook page.

Being that we’re a unified marketing agency, it only seems right that we give our take on the Super Bowl ads that aired last night, so here’s our collective montage of the Definition 6 opinions.

Our special thanks to Def6 participants: Asa Sherrill, Creative Director; Ashley Reed, Social Media Manager; Chris Wojda, Senior Brand Planner; Frank Radice, Expert In Residence; Jeff Katz, President & COO; Michael Johnson, Account Executive; Paul Hernacki, Chief Technology Officer; Ryan Kantor, Marketing Intern; Chris Thornton, CMO; and Charlie Eisenhardt, Senior Editor.

Get ready for our list of touchdowns, incomplete plays, penalty flags and halftime show reviews (we had to throw in SOME football references!)

Enjoy and please comment with your own thoughts. Oh, and you may want to check out AdAge.com's list of Superbowl ads so you can follow along.

Some of our Favorites…because they were humorous, well-produced and made a lasting impact on us:

“The best overall spots were the Fox promos...especially for 'House, MD,' 'X-Factor,' and 'Glee' (the Chevy product placement was fantastic!)”

“Good showing by Verizon, Motorola, BestBuy.”

“I liked the Kia ad. Where I was, everyone was guessing what brand it was promoting as it was running and BMW was blurted out. I thought it was a sharp looking car, and I’ll keep it in mind when I need a new car.”

“Helmets off to the NFL commercial during the Super Bowl!  Of course, it had star power and humor from The Brady Bunch to Modern Family but 'Best Fans Ever' was exactly what Roger Goodell and the NFL needed.” 

“I loved the Careerbuilder.com ad and the Coca-Cola ‘Siege’ one.”

“Favorite lines of the night from BestBuy's ad with Ozzy Osborne: ‘How many G’s are there?’ and ‘What’s a Beiber?’  Nicely done.”

"VW 'The Force' was awesome.  Glad they released the :60 earlier though.  Liked it better than the :30."

Missed tackles…for not enough brand identity, not funny, or just plain blah:

On Doritos, “The Best Part” (aka the finger-licker) – “Strange and disturbing. Funny concept, but poorly executed.”

“The Snickers ‘new’ Betty White - Richard Lewis and Roseanne Barr – were funny yet the concept was the same as last year.  They missed the mark.”

“Also disappointing were the Bud ads ‘Wild West’ and ‘Product Placement’.” 

Def6’s Superbowl MVP ad:

You guessed it - the 2 minute Chrysler “Imported from Detroit” ad featuring Eminem.  It does pose the question though – does longer viewing time contribute to the success of this spot?  There was a lot of controversy last week leading up to this, but we feel that it was well-produced, and evoked emotional connections with the viewers.   I guess the real question becomes – was it worth $8 million?

“This broke the car commercial mold and presented the heart and soul of Detroit! Normally I think using celebrities in commercials is gratuitous and unnecessary, but (the brand of) Eminem represents this feeling of Detroit. Chrysler & Fallon, great work making me care about American cars again.”

“Chrysler ad was truly awesome. I’m from Detroit. Had me misty eyed and wanting to buy a 200, feeling dirty for owning an Altima.”

“The best part of the whole night was the Chrysler tagline (the ad was very good, the tagline was great) ’Imported From Detroit.’  The insight into how removed most of the country has become from the Motor City is extremely powerful.  I just hope the products can deliver. That said, BMW's designed and made in America messaging was equally great.”

Gross-out Factor Winner - VW “Beetle”:

“I personally HATED the VW Beetle – had to close my eyes. I’m a huge bug-aphobe.”

On the sidelines, but still worth talking about:

"The Teleflora ad with Faith Hill totally caught me off guard.  It was one of those 'wow, did they really just say that' moments."

"The worst part of the whole night (in regards to brands) is Christina Aguilera's personal brand.  Talk about a negative brand experience that she will forever be remembered for. Ouch!"

Half-Time Review

The Black Eyed Peas performance – exciting, hip and trendy or simply played out? 

I really don’t want to get too down on this performance since it seemed that the NFL and FOX wanted to bring currently trendy music bands back into this widely viewed performance as opposed to the safer rock bands we’ve seen over the last few years (thanks Janet). 

The most interesting thing we’ve found is that it definitely evoked an emotion – you either loved it or hated it.    

“I thought it was awesome to see such a show – I was even dancing and fist-pumping along in my living room!”

“Terrible performance – not sure what you’re doing on that stage if you can’t hit your notes, but the lite-brite suits and choreography were killer!”

"My son just asked me if this was 'Tron: The Musical'."

“I heard they could have gotten the Foo Fighters, but chose the Black Eyed Peas instead. What a terrible call! The Black Eyed Peas are a generally over-edited band so it's no surprise they can’t hit notes live. I enjoyed watching all the middle aged people at the Super Bowl party stare in disgust though. Slash from Guns ‘n Roses was the highlight for me. Not sure why Usher showed up, just to lip sync.”

“I thought the half time show was lame. While The Black Eyed Peas are a great group, the production value of the broadcast seemed too tame, even dull, and therefore the energy and excitement of their live performance was hard to embrace. Watching the half time show I thought back about prior performances – the explosive energy of The Who which no medium can contain, and of course the shocking publicity stunt by Janet Jackson.  I wondered, do live half time performances also need a 'gimmick' to break through the clutter of viewers’ expectations of what constitutes Super Bowl entertainment? Much like the Super Bowl TV commercials, live half time shows may need more than Slash and his amazing guitar playing to break through the history of torn bras, mad rockers and fireworks that viewers have come to expect.”

“Yeah, on Facebook the consensus about the Half Time show was collective yawn. Comments I read made fun of the fact that the BEP's phoned it in as they usually do and the bells & whistles were predictable and tame.”

So there you have it…the D6 SuperBowl winners and losers.  While this year’s #brandbowl was not an overwhelming great set of advertisements, one thing is clear.  You should go buy a car.  We can’t remember which one, but the auto industry will surely need to recoup the money they just invested.

 

About 18 months ago we bought a post-production business in Manhattan Creative Bubble (now definition 6) and  unified it into our interactive agency because we fundamentally believed that the future of the internet and marketing was brilliant story telling. We wanted a group of story tellers and emotion creators to be a core part of our team and have the capabilities to produce work for Hollywood, TV and Madison avenue at a world class level.  We have achieved this and since unification have won a Clio, an Emmy, an IBIXX, OMMA, ADDY, ProMax and even Small Agency campaign of the year from Advertising Age.  But what I did not expect was to be so engulfed by the discussion regarding "What is happening with TV, entertainment and the internet?"

 

Most of the conversation has sounded like "who moved my cheese?" especially to an outsider who never had cheese in the first place (cheese is consolidated broadcast advertising dollars and limited distribution channels such as movie theaters and DVD's). Ultimately, I've come to believe the issue isn't that TV is dead or dying, in fact it is growing and thriving, or that VOD is going to destroy Hollywood. The issue is that ad buys are more complex, dynamic, fragmented and content distributors are having to work harder to maintain margin and that content producers are having to become more sales savvy because they need to have more customers than the limited number of broadcasters and theater distributors from days long ago.  Everyone blames the internet, the Millennial’ s, the mobile revolution and cord cutters for fragmented the audience and making it harder and harder to find a digital dollar vs. digital penny.  As a response, we are seeing a slew of "Smart TV's" internet enabled televisions with app stores, over the top content, deals with VOD organizations and social integration. Awesome! Fantastic! we will bring the distractions from traditional living room TV into the living room and then we will get all the dollars in one place again and things will just be beautifully profitable for us again.   Except…..

 

Who asked you to make the idiot box Smart? I want to watch TV, not necessarily watch a specific show, just watch TV.  According to a #CES panel where either Nielsen or TV guide said "70%+ of the people who sit down to watch TV don't know what they are going to watch until they sit on the couch" - ok, I buy that, and to me that means I still want it to be easy, passive, yes I want to do discover, but not necessarily search and explore like I do with Google, Twitter and Pandora. Stations and networks are good, they have themes, they have repeats, they have marathons in case I've fallen behind or want to get immersed on a weekend afternoon in a new series. So stop touching my TV, I want to sit back, relax and watch the "History of Steel" or "Golf" or "The Guy from the 70's painting and talking in that soothing voice" - I don't want to grab content, make my own playlist, find my favorite actor that cross references with Kevin Bacon to kill 20%-50% of the time I have to WATCH TV. Leave my few times a week I have no plan, and only want to enjoy.  Now if you can make it work with my iPad and come with me on my phone when I'm in line at the supermarket, then I'm all yours and I look forward to the new adventures of "TV and Me".

Follow Michael on Twitter @mkogon

I've traditionally never said anything about a trip to Las Vegas, but in the spirit of shared experiences, I wanted to highlight a few things from CES 2011 that I found worth noting #CES (hangover habit from the conference).  I think out of everything that I saw and heard, the following really stuck out to me: 1) Build a platform 2) Exports are key 3) Droid Tablets 4) Multi Screen TV watching 5) Mashable throws a hell of a party 6) Facilitate Networking to add value

 

1.       Build a Platform - In our unified marketing agency, we talk with customers about paid, earned, and owned media all the time.  We firmly believethat a company should strive to have a robust owned media asset platform upon which to leverage and create additional earned media by adding value and asking others to contribute to their ecosystem.  In effect we want companies and brands to think about developing a platform for future development. # CES brought out many examples (App Stores by TV and Cable operators and Telco), but the one that I found very intriguing was the Ford Sync Developer Community.  The idea that a car company would be embedding within its vehicles a platform for third party developers to provide solutions inside the vehicle is just amazing.  We in America spend so much time in our cars, it is very exciting to see what tools and capabilities we will be handed over the next 24 months.  Personally, I would like the sound cancelation application for long family road trips as well as the "clean and closest bathroom app" – Note: I have two daughters. In a company and brand sense, if you can build a platform for others to add value to, then your customers, suppliers and you benefit and will enjoy a higher value than if you merely communicate with each other.  A platform mentality will encourage you to think about connecting with each other and that is what is required for the always on and always in motion society we live in today.

2.       Exports are key - the Innovations Power Panel was fantastic - I encourage you to take an hour and watch it.

 

The panel was fantastic and talked about many things:  education, tax policy, infrastructure, but the comments regarding Germany's economic strength and focus on Exports really caught my attention.  Applying the thoughts to business and brands; aligning ones company exclusively and daily around producing something those outside your business want and value is a very powerful idea.  I know that is what we should all think about because we are supposed to be customer centric, focused on adding value to others, etc. etc. But much of the time I hear folks talking about their challenges, it has a lot to do about internal stuff and not enough about the export we are making that others value. If we think in terms of being a country, do we want to be an import or export company?  It seems to me that focusing on being a trade surplus organization is better and creates more value for everyone over time.

 

3.      Droid Tablets - the year of the Tablet #CES 2011, that was probably the most tweeted phrase day one and in almost every release about the show. And it certainly was in many ways.  There must have been 1500 different tablet manufacturers and by end of 2012 everyone who wants a tablet in any country will be able to find one that fits their needs, budgets, and networks. But to me the thing that will have the biggest impact will be the Droid Tablet, the free OS and readily available app developers from the Droid phone will make the tablets richer and more robust than any first generation platform ever. Apple will still be "King of the World" and RIM's efforts should be rewarded by corporate users and Samsung has a wonderful new place in the market headed there way. But I predict the Droid Tablet will be much like the AK-47 - the world's workhorse in its category for years to come.

 

 

 

4.       Multi-Screen TV watching - I think that people like to lean back and watch TV and not lean forward point a device at a screen and try to navigate a computer type experience from their couch. And I think people like to have a tablet or laptop on the couch so they can do more than one thing at a time.  So to me the smartest "Smart TV" was the Viera Connect from Panasonic - It took the remote, turned into a tablet and allows you to control the smart internet enabled TV from a computer interface 6 inches form your face and then watch the results on the big screen. It allows you to view content that is in parallel with each other on both screens (it should make Bad Girls Club and Fantasy Football fans more glued than every before); It opens up a whole new world to advertisers, marketers and programmers to be able to have access to both screens in the living room and to add value in new ways not yet "Seen on TV". I'm very excited about what we can do for brands, broadcasters, content creators and consumers with this new multi-screen interaction capability.

 

 

 

5.      Mashable throws on hell of a party - The Mashable Awards started with a great VIP event serving 21 year old McCallan and various meats on a stick, rolled right into a 1000+ person theater with a great DJ team, well produced videos and a great overview of all things social, digital and hip; Followed by an after party in the club and then, and then and then…..Thanks guys, looking forward to Orlando.

 

 

6.       Facilitate Networking to add value -  every sentence for about 72 hours had a #CES when I typed and I found it interesting that on Friday I spent about 10 minutes just watching my TweetDeck column with #CES.  It barely could keep up and was moving about 3 tweets a second and in at least 5-7 different languages.  There was a good amount of PR content from manufactures, but mostly it was comments caught by participants during panels, keynotes, demo's and conversations that were being documented, shared, RT and discussed. I guess we had long format blogging a few times a day three years ago, and press releases and video before that.  The energy that a full community dialoguing continuously and in real time was amazing and empowering.  I sent a lot from @mkogon and my recommendation is that if you have a supplier show, customer event, user conference, sales rally or other major gathering, you incorporate a #hashtag, a social media DJ, large screens, readily available Wi-Fi and encourage your audience to participate via social media. It will make your networking event more valuable and your participants more connected to you and to each other.

 

So there you have it, I've got another post coming about "Who asked you to make my idiot box smart?" and a few others that came from the show.

 

 

It’s that time of year again. A time for reflection and a time for predictions. On the outside chance you did something this year besides monitor your RSS feed from Defining Insights, we thought this would be a good time to reflect on the top posts of the last 12 months.

For those of you that don’t know, Definition 6 has a very open corporate blogging policy. All of our employees are welcome (and encouraged) to contribute to the blog. With a team that spans many different areas of expertise, we find this is a great approach to keeping our customers and other friends up to date on the latest trends in digital marketing and emerging technology.

It’s also an opportunity for us to share successful approaches to unified marketing, helping you develop and leverage strategies that deepen relationships and improve marketing ROI. Without further adieu, here are the 6 most-read posts of 2010:

#1 “Nike ‘Write the Future’ Ad Breaks Viral Video Record” by Jon Accarrino

It should come as no surprise that the leader of Definition 6’s social media operations published the most-read post of 2010. Before joining Definition 6, Jon launched many of NBC’s first social media initiatives, including the Twitter accounts of many of the Today Show stars you know and love.

Leading up to this year’s World Cup action, Jon had the foresight to write a quick review of Nike’s ‘Write the Future’ ad. As fans took breaks from vuvuzela tooting to search the Web, many stumbled across Jon’s post.

You can read the original post (and watch the video again) here.

#2 “Best Practices for Facebook Pages” by Ashley Reed

Definition 6’s social media team must know a thing or two about producing and sharing content on the Web, because its Atlanta-based social media manager Asheley Reed wrote the second most-read post of 2010, “Best Practices for Facebook Pages.”  Ashley’s post was jam-packed with practical information top brands can use to get more out of their Facebook marketing efforts. If your organization has a Facebook Page (or is thinking about launching one), you may want to check out Ashley’s post here. Of course, you might also find value in here “Why People Like Brands on Facebook” post as well.

#3 “How You Like Me Now?” by Matt Timpson

Matt Timpson gives us a great argument for why companies should open blogging to more employees. Matt doesn’t work in marketing, he’s not a client manager or on the sales team, he works in the engineering department.  But he contributed one of the most-read blog posts of 2010, an in-depth analysis of Kia’s 2010 Super Bowl ad (you know, the one with the Sock-Monkey, Squeak-Monster and the Robot?). With an unassuming title “How You Like Me Now?” (a nod to the music used in the spot), his post climbed the charts. If you are familiar with the commercial, you might find his analysis interesting. It’s hard to believe Super Bowl spots are right around the corner.

#4 “Babes... And Some Other Basic Truths About Re-Connecting With Audiences Online” by Al Leach

Al Leach leads the national strategic communications practice for Definition 6. Needless to say, he has a way with words. While the content of Al’s post is written from the point of view of a veteran communications professional, the lighthearted headline and lead demonstrates a point about capturing attention in a short attention span world. Al’s post presents 4 self-proclaimed “truths” about communicating with audiences today - a great read for any communicator. Read Al’s post here.

#5 “The Gap Logo Fiasco” by Chris Wojda

Work for an iconic brand? Want to generate a lot of buzz this year? Have an intern redesign your logo and swap it out on your website - the blogosphere will go wild and you’ll be top of mind for a couple of weeks (at least). While that’s not exactly how it played out, some suspect Gap’s re-branding efforts from this past summer were a publicity stunt. With ‘serious’ re-brands, you would typically see signs at stores change. In this case, it was really just the logo on Gap’s website. Regardless of what the strategy really was, Gap made a lot of noise with its logo ‘fiasco’ this past summer. One of Definition 6’s leading brand strategists, Chris Wojda, couldn’t resist chiming in with his ‘two cents’ on the whole mess. Read his take on Gap’s logo swap here.

#6 “Unified Marketing: A New Model for a New Era” by Michael Kogon

One of the most significant events for the agency this past year was our own re-branding effort. As most of you know, Definition 6 is now a Unified Marketing Agency. Definition 6 CEO introduced positioning and why we feel so strongly about this model in all that we do. The fact that this post rounded out the top 6 posts of 2010 shows that not only did the message resonate with you, but also that we continue to see coincidences with the number “6” in everything that we do. To get the full scoop on what our Unified Marketing Agency positioning is all about, read Michael’s post here.

Chris Thornton is Chief Marketing Officer of Definition 6 and was recently named “CMO of the Year” by the Technology Association of Georgia’s (TAG) Technology Marketing Association. Chris also serves on the board of the Atlanta Interactive Marketing Association (AiMA). When he’s not blogging, you can find Chris tweeting at @CMORocks.

It is a very difficult task for brands to choose a new marketing agency. There are lots of promises - and just like prom night - everyone is looking their best. But once the decision is made, reality sets in.

You thought you knew what you were getting, but then the estimates change, timelines extend and the people you thought were going to work on the project and no longer available. Make sure you get the truth before you sign the contract.

So how do you avoid making the wrong decision and ensuring you get the truth upfront before you hire an agency? Here are three suggestions that can save you the headaches later on:

1. Process. Process is key. Great ideas are magic, but creating them is a science. Can your agency clearly show their process and demonstrate its value? How do they manage you through this? What are the key milestones and deliverables.

2. Impact. Impact on your business. Cool ideas that don't increase revenue aren't really cool? How do they plan on measuring the results? Does your agency talk about ROI?

3. People. People create and execute ideas. Who is really working on your project?

Given the importance of your unified marketing strategy, not to mention the financial and resource investment, it is essential you spend the time upfront to ensure the both you and your agency understand the rules of engagement. You should have clear project definition and criteria for evaluating success.

This will manage expectations for all parties involved, reduce cycles spent on dealing with distracting issues but most importantly it will reduce the risks associated with the project and keep you in control.

Sean-Michael Daley is Group Account Director for Definition 6's Dallas Office.


(Image Credit: "How Could You Say No?" by kennymatic)

I’ve been thinking a lot about generation gaps lately. Maybe it was celebrating my 40th birthday (or celebrating my dad’s 70th)? Maybe it is my disbelief that my youngest daughter is now 4 and prefers my iPad over watching television? Regardless, this age thing has been on my mind lately.

As a unified marketing agency, we tend to look at the issue of generational gaps through the lenses of a brand, a consumer and a marketer all the time. The most striking view for me is the world view, how do age gaps across the world affect how we consume information, engage with media, talk with each other, or conduct ourselves daily?

WIIFM - What’s In It For Me?

My dad used to always say “Everyone listens to the same radio station - WIIFM – the ‘What’s In It For Me?’ station.” When you’re selling something or marketing a product, you need to tune into WIIFM if you want your audience to pay attention.

We’re all shaped by the media we interact with over the years, which starts out when you’re young. For a lot of us, our first interaction with media was via a radio, others the television and now – as is the case with my daughter – through consumer electronics like iPads. It’s fascinating to think about the long-term impact of this technology on the next generation.

Young children right now are the pure definition of a ‘digital native’. They will always know a world where all answers, media, content and so on are accessed in real-time in the palm of their hands. I’m probably most curious about the social networking aspects of this digital lifestyle, as they’ll grow up as more of a “we” generation.

They’ll have friends they’ve never met, but respect their opinions and support each other through Facebook, share memories through Flickr and listen to music through Pandora – of course, they’ll use platforms that haven’t been invented yet too.

I believe this shift in interpersonal communication will break down stereotypes and biases that have long existed. Perhaps things like house size, skin color, race, religion or gender will matter less to the social networked generation.  Maybe they’ll care more about freedom and access – and they’ll want their voices to be heard, because their ideas are valid and their age is immaterial. We as marketers need to take these shifts into consideration, because it influences so much about how purchasing decision are made.

Remember the Good Ole Days?

If the older generations are movie stars and heroes, then I propose Millennials are the Composers and Conductors. That’s what they do most – they connect with friends and associates. They share information, and things they find funny, interesting, sad or provoking. They do it all the time, constantly regardless of what else they are doing. It is the thing they are always doing. Children today can walk, chew gum and text at blazing speeds.

Your TV spot isn't interrupting their TV viewing, the problem is the TV show isn't as interesting to them as their friends are (if you don't believe me, look at all the success when a show incorporates live social into broadcast vs. those that don't).  You don't have advertising clutter - you have complete abandonment of caring about your promise. They don't care who is watching the details of their life, because they find the details of their friends more interesting - and sharing is caring. And they only mention your product or service if they love it (okay, “Like” it) or hate it.
 
If you really want to be part of their day, add sound, video and content to the ecosystem of the millennial. Make it easy to share, comment, edit and reuse, so they can conduct it into their community.  Put yourself out there so that by finding you, they can be more informed, funny, and provocative, and they will share that with their greatest gift, their relationships with others. And if you digitally unify your life into theirs, they will buy your product and service and give you their money.  More importantly, you won't be an interruption or a bother, you will be a welcomed friend and don't we all just want to be "Liked" more?!

Regardless of the generation stereotypes you fall in, we’ve all become multi-taskers. As marketers, we need to realize that for multi-taskers to care about us, we have to make ourselves part of their fragmented lives. It’s this multi-sensory marketing that will enable multi-taskers to be more efficient.

If you want to be part of their day, add sound, video and content to the ecosystem of the millennial.

As the CMO of a unified marketing agency, I attend a lot of marketing conferences (more than you would believe). You get to a point with marketing conferences where they all start to look the same - and it takes a lot to surprise me. I was surprised twice last week.

First, I attended the best marketing conference I've ever been to... and it was in Indianapolis. Second, it was hosted by a software company. The ExactTarget User Conference, Connections 2010, was an outstanding educational, inspirational and impressive experience. I was blown away.

Then again, it's hard not to be moved when you have conference speakers like Sir Richard Branson. He is an amazing guy. He really believes he cannot fail at anything - and therefore rarely does. He spoke of commercial flights to space NEXT YEAR on Virigin Galactic. 

I mean, I still am impressed I can to the Internet when I am on a plane.  He also gets it.  My favorite quote was “Conversations can change the world, one person at a time, one moment at a time.” Branson has built his success by bringing the right message at the right time to the right people. Which is fascinating, because historically brands have felt consistency and repetition were keys to success. But Virgin’s founder has built a brand based on collective and dimensional experiences.

There were several other fascinating speakers who contributed as well…Andy Sernovitz, author of “Word of Mouth Marketing  was spot on in his thinking when he said, “Advertising is the cost of being boring ” - and that earned media was gained by creating things worth talking about. Jeffrey Hayzlett, former CMO of Kodak, is always entertaining and did great on his panel. 

From an educational standpoint, the guys from ExactTarget did great showing us not only where they are taking the platform as a centralized location to manage the conversation, but also backed it up with some wonderful research on email and social media…reminding us yet again, that social media only increases emails importance vs. kills it. 

I also enjoyed some great insight from Michael Donnelly of The Coca-Cola Company (disclaimer: they're a client). He reminded us of the power of Metcalfe’s Law: “Fans aren’t necessarily there to share with us, fans are there to share with each other.” He also made it evidently clear to one audience member that you should not misquote him on Twitter. 

Overall, Connections 2010 did a great job of really demonstrating this brave new world of marketing…one defined not just by the message, but the intersection of message, context, and persona.  Conversations with your customers are what matter.  Real-time relationships are how you move the bottom line.  Are you ready to change your approach?  Your customers are moving with or without you.  In the immortal words of Richard Branson, “Screw it…let’s just do it.”

As you can see from our new website, Definition 6 is now a Unified Marketing Agency. It might look like something that happened over night, but it is an approach we have been refining for years now.

There is only one constant in marketing today: change. Customers change. Technologies change. Mediums change. You change. As an agency, we too must change to help clients better manage business performance. It’s something we’ve been doing for 13 years now.

Unified marketing is our most dramatic transformation yet. It’s an evolved approach to marketing that is designed to challenge conventional wisdom in the agency world.

While some are looking to add more capabilities, we’re looking to develop a better model equipped for the realities of marketing in an always-on and always-evolving marketplace.

Unified marketing is our new approach to strategy and execution. Rather than thinking in terms of campaigns, we think in terms of real-time experiences - every time a person interacts or transacts with your brand. Our unified marketing strategy framework is designed to help clients create experiences that unite brands and people in motion - in real-time.

Experiences come in many forms, and not all points of engagement are predictable - but smart brands can plan to build collective, dimensional relationships with customers with each and every experience.

Our Unified Marketing Approach

Our unified marketing approach is designed to help you identify where your best opportunities are to engage and connect with your most valuable customers. We create meaningful - often one-of-a-kind - brand experiences that are relevant to your audiences and build collective value.

Unified marketing is a departure from start and stop, short-sighted and disconnected marketing campaigns. It’s the beginning of a mindset that looks at relationship building as a constant, persistent effort across all experiences.






















There are four stages to our unified marketing strategy framework:

•    Find & Define the right audiences that represent the greatest brand opportunity for you

•    Engage & Connect through more meaningful and relevant experiences that strengthen your relationship

•    Build & Maintain your relationships to build collective, dimensional value over time and foster reciprocity across your communities

•    Understand & Optimize through insight and real-time data, making better informed decisions to drive better interaction and transaction

This process enables us to continually refine and optimize campaign performance in real-time, ultimately helping our clients build more meaningful brand experiences and relationships.

Proving the Model

We’ve put our unified marketing approach to the test with several clients and are pleased to report the results have been impressive. We’ve also continued to build out our capabilities to support the unified marketing model. Our acquisitions of Creative Bubble and Leach Communications, the opening of our Dallas office, the addition of 100+ new team members, and some of the most impressive work we’ve done to date, are all strategic moves to execute on our unified marketing vision.

We’re beginning to see the results of our work, you can see it through the impact our people are making, and we hope it creates more opportunity for us to work together.

We look forward to talking with you more about our unified marketing approach and how we create brand experiences that unite people and brands in motion.

Note: Please visit the What We Do section to learn more about our Unified Marketing Approach and process.

What’s the biggest buzzword around social networking right now? If you guessed location-based services, it would be hard to argue with you. If we ask you again in six months, chances are good you’ll answer the social graph.

The social graph questions keep coming up in client and prospect meetings. What is the social graph? What do we need to know about the social graph? How can we use the social graph to deepen relationships with customers? So on and so forth...

While I can’t answer every question you have about the social graph, I can help to start framing the conversation for executives struggling to gain a deeper understanding of the impact social graphs will have on their business.

For starters, the social graph is just a fancy way of describing relationships or connections with people, places and things. It’s a map of your social connections and preferences – a visual data model if you will, with hubs and nodes. For you, your social graph could be the Connections you have on LinkedIn, the places you’ve checked in on FourSquare, or the brands you’ve ‘liked’ on Facebook.

For illustrative purposes, there a few dozen lacrosse fans who are my Friends on Facebook. How many of them are from upstate New York? Syracuse fans? Of those, how many also listened to a lot of grunge in college, now live in Atlanta and work in marketing for an integrated interactive agency?

Granted, there’s probably not another one of me – at least not that specific, but you can see the potential. You’ve never been able to slice and dice data with this level of precision before. It’s this unprecedented level of targeting that gets innovative marketers excited, while privacy advocates reach for their pitchforks and torches.

Of course, my example above only illustrates relationships between connections and doesn’t get into activity, preference or myriad other social graphs that can be linked to one another. For example, who likes the same things or has been the same places as me? Who’s reading this article at the same time you are? These are questions you will be able to answer as social graphs get more sophisticated.

Where Did The Social Graph Come From?

Social graph has been popularized by Facebook, the world’s largest social network and the company most likely to serve as the epicenter for social graphs. While Facebook has plans to be the only social graph, recent announcements like its “Open Graph” suggest the company is happy remaining the epicenter of all social activity online. Plus, it’s unrealistic that Facebook could sustain a monopoly over the social graph – we all want to use other stuff.

With offerings like “Open Graph”, any electronic asset online can be linked to an individual’s social graph. In the months to come, look for this to include every place you go, everything you do, and everything you buy.

While Facebook has a lot of influence, there are no rules to the social graph. Any piece of social data can be woven into your graph to provide a more accurate picture of the interdependencies between your relationships and preferences. Privacy concerns aside (a future post perhaps), this stuff is truly amazing.

In the first wave of the Web, we were excited to discover new websites via links to other sites or search results. Early social networks encouraged us to link to one another, which dramatically accelerated our discovery of mutual relationships and made networking (the human kind) much faster – and in many ways enjoyable. Now everything is getting out there.

What’s All This Mean for Business?

For starters, you’ll start to have a crystal clear view into who your potential and current customers are. In the short-term, this will provide you with tremendous targeting advantages over your competition. For the 1st time ever, you’ll be able to customize incentives for all the 32 year old homemaker motor cross fans that have purchased a tofu burger from you in the past year.

Keep in mind, the more accurate you can target customers, the more accurate customers can target you. It is yet to be determined how consumers will react to the knowledge that they are your best customer. How much longer will it be before Foursquare mayors start demanding more incentives for the role they play in your viral marketing? What happens when Blippy users start demanding special incentives for all the purchases they’ve made?
These are good problems to have. Smarter brands and smarter consumers always forces us to innovate and push the needle farther. And who doesn’t love a good challenge?

Bottom line? The social graph takes a lot of the fun out of the guessing game of life – learning about people and things over time. Only time will tell whether or not instant gratification is a good thing or not. As marketers, it’s hard not to get excited about the potential to target with the greatest accuracy, reliability and ease ever. Bring it on.

At the same time, let’s tread forward lightly. We don’t want to create such huge concerns over privacy that regulation and oversight come in to drain the life out of the creative process.

What do you think? Are social graphs a good thing or a bad thing? Do you want people to know what kind of ice cream you like or what kind of car you drive? How much sharing is too much?

What do you want? Those of you that are CMOs, Brand Managers, VPs of Advertising or Marketing, what do you really want?
 
Whenever and wherever this question is asked, the answer is always the same: Results! You want results and you want them now (it’s the same thing you wanted yesterday, and the same thing you’ll want tomorrow).

If you are in the agency business, you should never lose sight of this basic marketing need. If you are in-house and spend your money on advertising and marketing, I hope this helps you think about how to find people who can improve those results faster.
 
This topic has been on my mind since I got together with a group of marketing professionals earlier this month. We started off talking about how to produce ROI reports for their CFOs and finance counter parts. Ultimately, what everyone really wants to see is results.

How you define results and what value they deliver for your business may vary, but here are some sample measurements based on our discussion:

•    Brand health metrics
•    Units Sold
•    Leads Generated
•    Awareness and Recall levels
•    ROAS
•    E-mail marketing conversion
•    Increased Foot Traffic
 
How can agencies produce results more consistently when results are so varied by each client? Here are six suggestions for ways I think agencies can be prepared to provide a variety of results for a variety of clients and also for the same customer who has evolving needs over a long period of time.

1.    Understand your client's business. If you are not as much a management consultant as an ad person, then I think you will fail in the future. Today's marketing and advertising challenges, impact customer service, public relations, product develop & procurement as well as IT, finance and channel relations. Now, they always have, but now that the world is digitized and visibility is possible; the demand to work on more than just demand is higher.

2.    Understand customer behavior. One of the things I think Agency can do better than most client-side marketers is getting to know the end customer and the customers along the way.  We can and should provide outsider insight into the purchase drivers that lead consumers or businesses to buy from clients. By being involved in the insight business, we can help our customers produce the results they need.

3.    Be more social. So much has been said about this over the last 18 months, so I'll share why I think agencies need to become more social. We are in the business of communications and in connecting companies and customers. The landscape has evolved where the cost of distributing messages is virtually zero and the demand for connection is 100%.  When demand is this high and the cost is so low, there is an unlimited amount of success you can have for you and your customers if you tap into this skill set.

4.    Learn math and how to analyze data. I became a Speech Communications major because it had no math requirement. I bet a lot of people who are in our field did the same thing, I know it.  Math has never been a problem for me, I just didn't care to do any more formulas or equations. Then I got into advertising, and as I did Nielsen store data, GRPs, category management, research, coupon redemption and media plans, it became clear that math was going to be a big part of my life. When I started our Integrated Interactive Agency in the 90s it become clear that math, engineering and analysis would be at the center of much of what we would do to help clients. A strong analytics capability and good math people, programmers, engineers and analysts are essential if you are serious about producing results and proving those results.

5.    Learn how to produce.  Content, code, sounds, event. From branding to social, to broadcast to micro-cast. From visual to technical, and in-home to the 6th screen. A good partner doesn't outsource the doing to sub-contractors, it is no longer acceptable to do the boards, the concept, the design, the plan and then hand it off. In these days and times, buyers expect ongoing interactions and learned messaging overtime. The mediums must be an integrated seamless experience or you will lose sales and revenue for your clients. That is not the result they want.

6.    Ask your clients what they need to thrive. So I end with this, what do you need to thrive in your current marketing and advertising role? We are listening……….
 

Social media marketing is at the forefront of integrated interactive marketing programs underway at almost every Fortune 500 company out there. Corporate blogging, online video and podcasts are among the most popular strategies used by the world's largest comapnies. But what about Twitter?

What might surprise you is how quickly Twitter is growing as the social medium of choice among Fortune 500 companies. According to recent studies like “Fortune 500 and Social Media: A Longitudinal Study of Blogging and Twitter Usage by America’s Largest Companies,” conducted by the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and Financial Insite, a Seattle-based Research Firm, Twitter is the platform of choice for Fortune 500 social media marketers.

The study examined the 2009 Fortune 500 in an attempt to quantify their adoption of social media tools and technologies, finding that 22% of Fortune 500 companies have a public-facing corporate blog – six percent more than 2008. The study also found that 86% of these blogs link directly to a corporate Twitter account, a 300% increase over 2008. Even more corporations have Twitter accounts, but not all link to them from their blog.

It would appear that Fortune 500 marketers are moving fast to Twitter for engaging with their key audiences. Of course, upon further analysis, you’d find that only 35% of these Twitter accounts are active – described as having been updated within the past 30 days. If I’m reading the study correctly, that means 65% are not being actively used.

While Fortune 500 companies have realized they need to be on Twitter – probably as defense against username squatting – few have truly embraced Twitter as a social channel. 

Of the groups that have engaged most heavily with Twitter, the insurance industry is leading the way, with 13 active Twitter accounts according to the study. Of course there are also companies like Exxon Mobil, the #1 company in the Fortune 500, that have no presence on Twitter.

A separate analysis of Fortune 500 Twitter, “The Global Social Media Check-Up” conducted by Burson-Marstellar, found that 79% of Fortune 100 Global companies are using one of four popular social media platforms, with Twitter leading Facebook, YouTube and corporate blogging as the platform of choice.

65% of Fortune Global 100 companies have active accounts on Twitter, while only 54% have Facebook accounts, 50% have YouTube channels, and 33% have a corporate blog. There is still plenty of room for improvement here.

Why Is Twitter the Preferred Platform?

Nobody knows for sure why Twitter is so popular, but there’s a good chance that it’s because it’s the easiest platform to launch. Companies can have a Twitter account up and running in a couple of hours (or less). There is a lot more work to do to launch a YouTube channel, corporate blog, or Facebook presence. It also takes considerably less resources to manage content production and audience interaction on Twitter than these other platforms. It’s a relatively low-cost and low-maintenance option for getting in the social media game.

Are Fortune 500 companies getting any value out of Twitter though? According to the Burson-Marstellar study, the answer is “yes”. Twitter accounts to the Fortune Global 100 average 1,489 followers. This doesn’t seem like much when you consider the average Facebook fan page for these companies has more than 40,000 fans, but it's progress.

A full copy of the new research report can be downloaded here: http://www.umassd.edu/cmr/studiesresearch.

 

 

I recently read that the White House has chosen an Open Source CMS (Content Management System) to develop their government Web site. This announcement caught my attention for several reasons--not only are many agencies moving their clients to open source and praising it's virtues, I also started using Drupal this past year and found it remarkably fast and easy to setup and maintain my own Web sites with quality results. Despite some criticism of open source over the years--more and more commercial (and government) developers are choosing it.

It's hard to argue against the benefits of free software, especially when results show that the software does what we expect, often exceeds expectations, and provides more opportunities for expansion than many proprietary products. While relative newcomers Drupal and Wordpress lead the pack for CMS offerings, open source mainstays such as Linux and Perl have been around for many years--not only surviving, but thriving over time. In a study by Amit Deshpande and Dirk Riehle of SAP Labs, LLC, Total Growth of Open Source results have shown that "the total amount of source code and the total number of projects double about every 14 months." Open source enables freedom for both users and developers to move & change quickly when needed, as well as providing more flexibility with software decisions such as to upgrade or not to upgrade. It's really no surprise that businesses and individuals are moving to open source at exponential rates.

Of course, Open Source has always been very much associated with Free, although there are other solid reasons to choose it beyond its cost. The pool of development resources is not limited to a specific company or provider, but instead is seemingly unlimited. As a specific open source project becomes popular, more and more developers start contributing, growing and adding to the code. Not only do they enhance the software to make it better for everyone, but they also create markets for their own support services. The better the code is--more people will use it-- and the more support is needed. Large developer communities have evolved around each software project, contributing to its growth, and administering its support. These open source communities are continually coming up with new innovations, powerful add-ons, extensions, and effective tools.

With so many open source choices available, even the ubiquitous LAMP stack (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and Perl) has come to be accepted as generic term for any completely open source application stack--substituting interchangeable parts from other sources that include "PostgreSQL, SQLLite, Apache Derby," as well as "PHP, Python, Ruby, Groovy and JavaScript." Even behemoth Microsoft has entered the game with their own Open Source CMS Platform.

Additionally, interactive ad agencies are able to offer their managed computer services at lower rates when developers take advantage of Open Source technologies. This enables clients to do more within their budgets. Every size company can now take advantage of Website integration, online advertising, and interactive media development due to the emergence of open source and accumulation of knowledge brought to us by the developer community. Businesses across industries are now embracing these technologies, taking advantage of interactive media, and using a more integrated approach to marketing with the vast number of new tools that are now available from these creative, innovative communities of developers.

I've been hearing the phrase "Drinking from the fire hose" more often than usual lately. The curious thing is that it's coming from Interactive Media Professionals (including myself), as much as from end users. With the exponential growth of the Internet and its related technologies, we now have access to more information, in more places, in more ways than ever before. Web 2.0, Social Media, Application Software Development, Mobile and related technologies are having a profound impact on Interactive Marketing Strategies. Many agencies are capable at traditional & online media marketing, or they may have strong technical capabilities--but, it is rare to find an agency that has all of these abilities and deep technical resources such as Definition 6.

To follow the fire hose analogy--anyone faced with that situation would get out of the way. The high volume and velocity of incoming data require some type of control and direction to be useful to ourselves, our clients, and our business.  Developers, interactive designers, and marketers are faced with the same questions as consumers--how to manage the onslaught of incoming information. Interactive Ad Agencies are faced with the additional responsibility of creating new tools to distribute information in a clear and meaningful way. These interactive professionals are the firemen holding the hose. 

At the height of the dotcom boom, an old colleague used to remind me that technology is simply a way of doing things. As the old broadcast model of advertising becomes obsolete, and user discovery & social interaction drive engagement, the function of marketing itself must now change to meet these communication challenges. This new model now poses new questions about where marketers should be, how they communicate, and when that interaction will occur.  I still remember the first  7-Eleven convenience store that opened in my neighborhood, and discovering that name comes from its operating hours—--it was a big deal to be open until 11PM! Marketers didn’t create more ads to attract customers from 9-5, they simply changed to meet customers on their own terms.

Integrated interactive marketing campaigns must be open and immersed in the culture to create value and be relevant. Successful marketers are positioned alongside their target market, making use of tactics such as Branded Content and Branded Entertainment to engage the user, enabling them to discover that value on their own, and decide what truly fulfills their needs. This is not an easy task, and creating meaningful user interaction grows out of qualified analysis of users and their interactions. Those of us in Media and Advertising have been exposed to these ideas before, but never before have these been more important to interactive design. Today's consumer has become a partner in the design process, and defines how we approach our interactions with them. Social media tools such as MySpace, Facebook and Twitter provide marketers with a limitless cache of information to help segment, target and engage users as never before— which only highlights the need for efficient processing of data.

Our obligation to clients is to find the relevant information, manage and organize it, and disperse it to potential customers.  To do this, we interpret client requirements and translate those requirements into a meaningful Interactive Experience. We need to collect and analyze enough user data to create strong, branded messages that reach the intended target. In addition, we must combine data with the tools and applications that make it meaningful to those target consumers.

In this new age of discovery, the true Integrated Interactive Agencies are taking the time and effort to find the tools necessary to do the job, or when needed, create them. With information coming constantly from every direction, those who are efficient at organizing, managing, and presenting it will be successful. Otherwise, we're just spraying a fire hose.  If we attempt to do that, consumers will just get out of the way.

Intuition can guide you to the place of innovation, and analysis guides you to the method of innovation.

Driving down costs is the goal of every business in every industry. Identifying and nailing down Cost Drivers in a Interactive Media Agency is one of the most challenging aspects of Innovation due to the service model and diversity of projects. The more diverse the services and the more capabilities an organization has, the harder the cost drivers are to innovate. This is the challenge.

Create Measurability

In order to analyze data, you need to collect data. The first step is to establish a normalized set of information, and discover commonalities that you measure over time. It's difficult in service business models to identify measurable practices since commonality between projects may not exist. In contrast, it is much easier to find measurable actvities within consistent services. For example, in the realm of public service such as law enforcement, response times can be measured which can lead to innovation in terms of communication technologies, route mapping, and routine patrolling route generation to optimize the response times and measure improvements. In the same light, commonality and metrics need to be put in place so that you can innovate. Without this baseline set of metrics, most improvements are subjective and can be hit and miss.

Measurability and Interactive Marketing

Interactive marketing strategies and improved search engine optimization follow the same metaphorical principle. Because optimization is always a moving target, you have to establish a control on your marketing practices and only change a few independent variables at a time, such as keyword density, or keyword targeting in ads, in order to see their effect. In the case of organic search results, the effect of changes may take weeks or even months before they actually show results. To top it off, search algorithms and prioritization change "without notice." To discover these changes requires a scientific mindset for the search engine optimization consultants.

The cost drivers in Search Engine Marketing involve keyword market prices. Camping a commonly used keyword for PPC can cost you a fortune. Using longtail strategies and finding ways to effectively identify your product, service or company is the innovation point, and only good analysis and keyword research will get you there. Consistency is the rule of the game to establish and maintain hold of brand loyalty, market share, market segment, and also online in terms of keyword ownership, and search engine rankings.

Internet Application Development

With Internet Services, the identification of cost drivers needs to be built into the process by abstracting out parts of the process that show commonality and measurability. This should be the starting gate through which your innovation charges. Like online marketing, application development is a moving target. New technologies explode onto the marketplace on a regular basis, tempting you to change how you do business. Again by using a scientific approach, by controlling your process and making sure you change a few things at a time, you can drive changes from the right point of view rather than hype, and effectively make improvements on your cost drivers.

Despite recent articles claiming the decline of adoption for social networks like Facebook and Twitter, social networking is an ever-growing, ever-expanding beast. Consider for a moment, that MySpace and Facebook really just got the whole thing started. Now there are networks popping up everywhere, corporate networks like Yammer, entrepreneurial  networks like ParnterUp and advanced social aggregation tools like the promise of Google Wave.

Slowly but surely, even traditional companies, with traditional practices and traditional mindsets, are realizing the importance of social. Don't believe me? Here's a real world example: 2 months ago I felt like the last person on earth that hadn't engaged in some form of social media. My friends, my wife, my family and my coworkers all had MySpace pages, Facebook pages and Twitter accounts. I was proud, a renegade, a leader, not a follower! Now look at me, as I write this blog, I'm monitoring Yammer communications from Definition 6, Tweets from my favorite people, I've checked my Facebook page twice and I just submitted a request to Google to be a beta tester for Google Wave even though I know I'm too late. Believe me, social media is relevant!

Okay, now what? Well, before you go building out your social media strategy and corporate policy, take some time to understand what impact social is currently having on your online presence and your brand. My suggestion: start simple, work with your website analytics team and develop a baseline. What volume of traffic comes from social networks? What is the bounce rate of those visits? What is the conversion rate of those visits? What is the retained visit conversion rate? (thank you Brandt, awesome article about meaningful conversion metrics!) And, if at all possible, monetize clicks from social. Odds are, there will be some form of expenditure for your social media strategy, baseline these metrics before you begin or you may never know if you're succeeding.

Don't rely on website analytics alone! Imagine this scenario. Scott, Jeremy, Jack and Mitch are looking for the best Vegas dinner destination prior to Frank's bachelor party festivities. Jack gets a promotional email from your restaurant describing the best Saturday night drink deals in town. Scott has been watching Twitter for "Vegas Restaurant" tweets hoping to get an indication of the best spot. Jeremy has been on a dozen restaurant review sites. They all come together in Google Wave to discuss. They invite other friends and family to chime in on their last Vegas experience. They finally decide on your place because of the drink deal (good choice). Mitch calls in the reservation and the Vegas plans are set. In all, across numerous networking sites, there were 21 mentions of your brand, 14 people commented about your restaurant, 13 other people hadn't even heard of your restaurant before conversation "Wave". And a $500 dinner was booked at your restaurant...all without anyone ever going to your website!

Hard to measure the impact of social media if you're just looking at website analytics. You've succeeded at integrated online marketing, but you may never know it. Work with an interactive agency capable of measuring, baselining current social impact (website and elsewhere), as well as the capability to develop a social media strategy that meets your objectives and expected ROI.

I’m excited to share with you that Definition 6 has recently acquired Creative Bubble , a leading New York City video editorial, design, sound and production company. This acquisition comes on the heels of our recent private equity investment  and solidifies our commitment to expanding both our capabilities as a full-service interactive agency, as well as our national presence by creating our New York office.

I’m most excited about the expanded capabilities we are now able to provide clients around rich media and video production. Through this move, our expanded team now includes a team of professionals that have been recognized by numerous organizations for its technical and creative accomplishments, including the receipt of 7 Emmy Awards and 13 Emmy Nominations for their work developing original and re-purposed content for cable and broadcast television programming.

There is no question that the addition of Creative Bubble greatly expands our ability to provide clients with a new range of services, build on technology, innovation and outstanding creative, to help capitalize on new and emerging opportunities for digital content production and distribution.

Over the course of the past couple of years, Creative Bubble has established itself as a leading provider of rich media and video production services in the New York market. You’ve seen their work for Sesame Street, Nickelodeon, Nick At Night, TV Land, Food Network, HBO, MTV, CBS Sports, Court TV, Comedy Central, Showtime, Lifetime Discovery Kids, TRIO and USA Network.

Through the addition of Creative Bubble, Definition 6 will continue to serve clients from both offices with the latest in interactive marketing, rich media and video production services. For now, please review our new Rich Media and Video Production Services overview and view the video that highlights some of Creative Bubble’s work.

We look forward to sharing this news with you individually as we move forward and invite you to contact us to learn more about our expanded rich media and video production capabilities.