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 Definition 6 threw a wildly successful soirée in the trendy Virginia Highlands area of Atlanta, GA. Located at The Warren City Club, one of the few members only clubs in the city, the location deemed to be a perfect setting matched with the amazing southern weather that comes along in the beginning of October. If your dying to see pictures head over to our Facebook page to view!

It was a great evening to celebrate another year of supreme work with our clients over drinks and some delicious food prepared by the amazing staff of The Warren. 

The buzz of the night was the brewing excitment over Dad's Garage Improv comedic performance. The party would not have been the same without the fine gentlemen from Dad's Garage. The Marketing team was fortunate enough to attend a show several weeks earlier while in preparation for the party and after all the laughs, they knew the right crew was found for the gig. Shout out to Lucky and the rest of the guys!

We also want to thank the great sports for going up on stage and interacting with the show: Jeff Katz & Paul McClay from our Definition 6 family and Amy Pedersen from Coca-Cola. You guys were great!




We are so thrilled that everybody was able to come out and have as much fun as we did. There is nothing better than getting together with our favorite clients and sharing a night of laughs among some of the best people in our business. We're on the edge of our chairs waiting for the next Definition 6 Party... and we can't wait to see you there!

There's been a lot of coverage regarding Facebook's recent changes, but what do these updates mean for marketers?  Overall, the key features that Facebook announced place a huge emphasis on engagement. The key takeaway is that it will be increasingly important for marketers to create and share compelling content and experiences on a consistent basis in order to stay relevant. 

Below is an overview of the main changes and their relevance for marketers.
   
Timeline: Timeline will replace users’ old profile pages, and allows users to aggregate and organize all actions taken on Facebook that matter most to them. Users can highlight important life milestones and group content and actions (videos/photos/posts) with that milestone. It also allows users to edit their timeline, even back to the time they were born. Facebook applications can also display actions taken with that app in the timeline (if user permission is granted). 

What it means for marketers: Actions that are most important to users will appear on the Timeline – think status updates and photos rather than day-to-day actions like ‘Liking’ a brand. These day-to-day actions will be shown in the Ticker (see description below). That means that brands will need to find ways to appear in the timeline, and one way to do that is by creating social applications that engage their audience. 



Timeline cover: (increased image space to customize)
Source:  Facebook.com/about/timeline

Social Apps: Social applications allow users to add storytelling into their timeline. Think verbs instead of nouns. Instead of ‘liking’ a band, users can express they are ‘Listening’ to that band; ‘reading’ a book, ‘running’ 3 miles, etc. Additionally, now brands can create custom social actions like ‘flying’ ‘cooking’ ‘drinking’ or any other verb. These apps all utilize Facebook’s Open Graph, and users can give permission for these apps to post their activity on the Ticker and Timeline. 

What it means for marketers: Brands have the opportunity to create social actions through branded applications. The action won’t only say “Ashley ran,” but “Ashley ran 3 miles with Nike+.” All of these actions will appear in the Ticker (see below), but brands can request that the actions appear in the Timeline (increasing exposure). The goal for brands will be to generate frequent actions within users’ timelines.

In addition to creating branded applications, advertisers will be able to deliver sponsored stories against social actions, and even segment for more accuracy. For example, it will be possible to promote to all "listens" from the band Coldplay. The new sponsored stories will only be generated from applications, but advertisers don't need to own the app where the action takes place to target against the behavior. 
 



Example of social apps within a user’s Timeline: 
Source: Facebook.com/about/timeline

News Feed update & Ticker: Facebook updated the news feed, changing how stories are presented to users. The Facebook homepage is now organized by Top Stories and Recent Stories, with Top Stories being displayed much more prominently than recent stories. The first updates that a user will see when logging in are the most relevant posts since their last visit – whether that was 3 days or 3 months ago.
   
Facebook’s algorithm will play a role in determining what are “Top Stories,” but users are able to edit their feeds, either by unmarking a Top Story, or marking a Recent Story as a Top Story. (Screenshot below). Facebook will then learn from this behavior and serve the most relevant content as Top Stories. 
 


Ticker – Facebook has also added the “Ticker” to the top right corner of the newsfeed. The Ticker streams live updates – think day-to-day activities like tagging a photo, liking a brand, commenting, and other Open Graph actions. The thought here is that less important updates are displayed in real time, and don’t distract users from the more relevant stories. Users can join the conversation by clicking on one of the stories in the Ticker.



What it means for marketers: Users now have more control over their news feed, so it becomes more important for brands to share compelling content (rich media, like photos and videos, help to naturally boost EdgeRank – Facebooks algorithm). Brands with irrelevant updates will have lower visibly (but will still appear in the Ticker). Facebook's EdgeRank algorithm will play a major role in determining whether brand updates are seen, but branded social applications and sponsored stories can increase the likelihood of a brand message reaching a mass audience. 




Here are some resources for more information:

http://www.brandchannel.com/home/post/2011/09/22/Facebook-f8-Timeline-Announcement.aspx

http://mashable.com/2011/09/22/facebooks-changes-marketers/

http://www.brandchannel.com/home/post/Facebook-Timeline-Social-Apps-Branding.aspx

http://www.allfacebook.com/facebook-feedback-loop-2011-09

What do you think about Facebook's changes?  Let us know in the comments below, or reach out to us on Twitter at @ashleyhreed or @accarrino.

Recently, I had the pleasure to attend the ExactTarget Connections 2011 Conference in Indianapolis, IN.  One of the sessions I attended was for insights on designing email marketing to be actionable.  I learned a few ways to get subscribers to engage more with email marketing rather than just read it.

What’s in a number? If we’re talking about a bank account then quite a bit. But when it comes to email marketing, there are a lot of differing opinions. Some might say that the sheer size of the subscriber list is the driving force behind a successful campaign. The more subscribers they have, the better the campaign. I’m sure this has worked for many companies at one point but now it’s really time to rethink the shotgun email approach because frankly, I can’t take it anymore.  Recently I attended ExactTarget’s email marketing conference, Connections 2011, and the theme for this year’s event was “The Power of One.” One thought, one action, one individual. If each has the power to change the world just think about what it means to your company. It’s no longer acceptable to market to the masses with one message.
 

• Segmentation and Relevancy: Your customers are unique and the interests of one may not be the same as the interest of another. When you group your subscribers based on similar traits and characteristics, your message becomes more relevant. A relevant message will keep them coming back to their inbox again and again. One thing to remember is that what someone tells you they’re interested in may be very different from what they’re actually interested in. You’ll have to find the right balance between quantitative and qualitative analysis and optimize on an ongoing basis. Subscribers will never stay in the same segment forever so you have to be agile and keep up with their ever changing demands and give them what they want. 

• Trim the Fat: There could be many different reasons why people suddenly stop opening your emails. Maybe their interest has changed and your message no longer pertains to them, or maybe they’re just not that into you anymore. Whatever the reason, try to target them with a re-opt in campaign before you let them go. Give them the opportunity to tell you why they’ve been so distant lately. It could be hard to accept but if they unsubscribe, they’re no longer a liability to your reputation. If they’re still not responding then it’s time to let them go.  Update their status to “unsubscribed” and call it a day. Stay focused on those that really want to engage with your company because that’s where you’ll see the most return on your investment. 

The Apple IIe to my current array of Apple devices are just a few of the things my mind ran to when I heard the news of Steve Jobs passing early yesterday evening.  From an irony perspective, I was in the midst of finally upgrading my MacBook Pro to Snow Leopard so that I could go to Lion when the news came across.  I sat back and had a chance to reflect, as the disc whirred in my optical drive.

My first computer in the early 80’s was an Apple IIe.  My mother was a Math teacher at the time and she was on the forefront of the technology curve and was embarking on her own path that would turn her into a Technology Specialist.  Besides writing ‘go sub’ routines my favorite pastime in Computer Class was opening up the CPU and pulling the audio cord so we could play “Hard Hat Mack” and “LodeRunner” without the teachers knowing.  From the IIe I moved on to the Macintosh SE.   For those of you that don’t remember, that was the first ‘all in one CPU/monitor’ package, and it was fairly popular in the schools.  At this time, I was also introduced to Apple Talk and the ability to network 5 or more computers together and even add in a shared printer!

As I entered the business world I drifted away from Apple at about the same time that Jobs drifted away from Apple.  But, as my business world changed so did my ability to experience the change of Apple’s market strategy, which included Jobs re-entry to the company.

I have been an early adopter ever since.  I remember ‘spinning’ the slide wheel on that first, bulky iPod and
realized how much the world was about to change.  With each successive release it seems like I have upgraded until I moved over to the iPhone and was able to integrate my phone and audio devices together.  I was on the original list for the iPhone4 and waited in line to pick mine up on day one.  I am typing now on my MacBook Pro and am the proud owner of not just an iPad but also the new iPad2.  I have also spread the ‘Apple fever’ to my children.  My girls, 11 and 9, both have iTouch 4’s and our favorite thing to do is FaceTime at night before bed as we live a 1,000 miles apart.  That smile I get from them and the ‘live’ kiss sums up for me what the mind and spirit of what Mr. Jobs means to me.  He, and Apple, have helped ‘connect’ the world in ways that we only dreamed about less than one generation ago.

 
The above image is from www.Apple.com

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.

Jon Accarrino, Michael Pinckney, Donna Drake and Frank Radice on the red carpet.

WILLiFEST 2011 took place this past weekend in Brooklyn, NY with over 100 films premiering in four different venues over the course of four days. Despite the rainy weather, there was a great turnout Friday night for the hip hop horror film premiere of "You're Nobody 'Til Somebody Kills You," - a film directed by Michael Pinckney and executive produced by Spike Lee.  Donna Drake from the TV Show "Live it UP!" was on the red carpet collecting interviews with the cast and crew.

Locomotive Distribution hosted a private screening at the Knitting Factory where the film's stars showed up to dazzle the red carpet, do interviews and watch as this long-awaited film project launched.  One of the film's top actors, Nashawn Kearse, plays Manchild, a rap star who is the potential next victim of a serial killer on the loose aimed at hip hop stars.  Other stars in attendance included Assiatou Lea, and Jacinto Taras Riddick.

The Hitchcockian film had the right mix of a thriller and hip hop movie with special appearances by rap icons Doug E Fresh, Big Daddy Kane and Ed Lover. 


Nashawn Kearse on the red carpet.

Jacinto Taras Riddick being interviewed at the premiere.

After the film screening, Locomotive Distribution hosted an after party at Trash Bar, a local joint in Brooklyn, where the director and many of the film's stars partied the night away. 

On Saturday, WILLiFEST continued with a block party and some amazing panels which showcased the importance of sound in film, as well as distribution for independent film makers.

Frank Radice moderated a panel entitled "The Sound and the Fury: Music for TV & Film from Some of the Industry’s Best – From Sonic Branding to Creating the Mood." Panelists included Michael "Boogie" Pinckney, director of the movie and founder of Black Noise Media, Mark Constanzo, a well-known foley artist, and Chad "Kotchy" Curlow, a sound editor at Definition 6 who worked on the music in this film.  Mark Constanzo was recently interviewed on the Today Show describing what he does on a daily basis.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

This panel showcased one scene from the "YNTSKY" film where we showed the clip "naked" (with dialogue only), then with foley added to it, then with music tracks mixed in, and then finally with it all together, highlighting the mood changes and importance of how sound can change a scene.

The second panel was hosted by Locomotive Distribution's Gabriel Gornell and Colleen Seldin, talking about the importance of packaging when it comes to making your film/TV show marketable for distribution.  Gabriel pointed out some key things to consider while making your film, like where does it fit in the landscape of the market you are interested in distrubution?  Colleen also pointed out that while you are probably putting all of your money into the film to make it spectacular, you should always consider leaving a portion of it aside for marketing, allowing you to create a potential pitch-tape in order to get your production out to potential buyers.


Gabriel Gornell and Colleen Seldin of Locomotive Distribution

All in all, this was one weekend jam packed with excitement and creativity.  If you missed out on WILLiFEST this year, keep an eye out for next year's schedule!  And if you would like more information about the "You're Nobody 'Til Somebody Kills You" movie, please contact Locomotion Distribution at info@locomotivegroup.com.

The days of an artist continuously, if ever, going platinum and multi-platinum are behind us, but that doesn’t mean the people aren’t listening. Existing and emerging platforms continue to help shape the music business every day.  Take for instance a young new hip hop artist out of Pittsburgh who at the tender age of 19 has over 135,000,000 YouTube Views on his channel… and he is not signed to a major label, but has stayed loyal to his independent label Rostrum Records.

So, you've been downsized or made redundant. But you're certainly not ready to throw in the towel.

You've been paid lots of money over the years by some big company where you learned and refined the exact skills they needed you to have in order to make their business work.

Now it's your turn to do it for yourself. But where do you start? You've always had the company to give you business cards, cell phones, laptops, desktops, probably an office or a cubicle, and maybe an assistant and an expense account.

Now it's all gone!

But it's really not if you know what to do.

The most important thing to remember is...Your Name is your Brand!

Your skills are still there and your experience has taught you how to hone them.

Here are 5 practical starting points to get your personal brand going.

1.  Register yourself as a company or a partnership (first name last name company) This is easy to do, but you may have to wait in line at City Hall for a while.

2. Get your own URL. (You can lock that down at any number of place like name.com. Own your name if you can with your first name & last name.com (joeschmoe.com). Make a basic web page (you can do that a places like use.com).  Make it simple and use your new URL as the title (JoeSchmoe.com)

3.Get your own e-Mail address appropriate to your URL. firstname@firstnamelastname.com (you can do this for your business at google Apps) (Joe@joeschmoe.com)

4.  Print business cards that are very simple. Your name, your URL, your e-mail address, and your mobile phone number

5.  Start a Facebook fan page and a Twitter Page for your company. Show links to them on your website. Make a Linkedin page and get someone to do a Wikipedia page for you.

After you have populated your sites and pages with your expertise, experiences and some examples of your work (make sure you use video), get out there and network.  

Hand out your cards, talk up what you can do for a potential client.  Get their card....and then...Follow-Up.

A great example of personal branding is the recent campaign by Matt Epstein called "Google Please Hire Me" where he created a website and a video all focused on landing a job at Google.  He even worked his personal brand into the URL playing up the double entendre of "ME" to reference his initials.



TalentZoo also released an article last week entitled, "10 Strategies to Reinvent Your Personal Brand" which outlines many of the topics I touched on above.  In fact, it even further discusses ways in which you can improve your personal brand by being a catalyst or being a source of great knowledge.  In this day and age, you need to market yourself even more to differentiate yourself from the ever-growing talent pool.

Of course you need a strategy and you must understand how to use all of these tactics...but you've got to start somewhere.

Now let's get this party started.

Jamie Christner, our Director of Analytics, took to the podium last Tuesday with the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) to speak about data. Being my first event as a Definition 6 employee, I was truly psyched to take it all in, including the Maggianos. 

So what exactly IS sexy about data once your strip it down? As marketers, we see a lot of data ranging from click through rates and conversions to engagements and social media ROI.  But what makes that data "sexy," Jamie says is when that that data in turn produces an appealing body of facts which call out applicable and actionable insights. 

And once you have collected the data as it relates to your business goals, the real gem is what you can forecast with that data.  But, NOT all data is sexy. Poorly tracked, lost, incorrect, un-trusted by users and knowingly repurposed data skews results and is of no use in trending actionable insignts. Keep the reigns tight on what exactly your analytics should be tracking, always referring back to your client's KPIs. Some key takeaways include:       

• Every business rates “applicable” or “actionable” in a different way. Sexy is in the eye of the beholder
• In this economy, announce your successes.  Let the numbers tell the story. Company budgets are being slashed left and right, so speak up on the positive effect you are bringing in
• Budget justification must be sexy enough to catch the interest of stakeholders
• Start pulling data out from analytic software applications if you haven't already 
• Web analytics can help close the gap between cross-channel marketing tactics
• Data reports should be short & sweet
• Don’t provide the client with unnecessary information but if you need more reduce your KPI’s   

Data isn’t going to be beneficial or attract the listener if it focuses on one single feature. Evaluate and measure performance across all brand interactions and your client will feel more like you slipped them a Maxim Magazine than a data report.

Most marketers are now beginning 2012 strategy and planning sessions, as well as budget reviews.

However, given the economic situation these days, it may also be prudent to take a look at your current media mix and spend some time to adjust your plan that will actually affect business for 2011.

Our CEO, Michael Kogon, wrote a great blog post on 6 Marketing Steps You Should Take Before October 1st, with insights into tactics that will be beneficial to your company's revenue.

Are you adjusting your marketing strategy this year?

Last week Definition 6's Jon Accarrino wrote a blog post titled "Zappos Gets Naked for New Marketing Campaign."  Did you see it?  If not, click the link to check it out! In short, Zappos has taken on a new campaign featuring naked models, to affirm that fact that Zappos is "More than shoes."  Later in the week, Zappos took the campaign a step further, by placing a rich media ad on Yahoo.com and other sites featuring a naked man from the banner ad running around the webpage.

Check out the video below to see what kind of trouble the naked man gets in to... and will he ever get dressed?



What do you think?  Are these advertisements effective in shaking the assumption that you can only buy shoes at Zappos?  Is this rich media campaign entertaining, or is it annoying?  Perhaps even offensive?

Definition 6's very own Mark Emery spoke at the IAB Mobile Marketplace on July 18th, 2011, discussing "Who's Buying...Who's Not...and Why? The Buyer's Side of the Story." IAB's Willow Duttge caught up with Mark after the panel to ask him a few questions.


Mark touched on some very interesting points, including his opinion of when he believes mobile should be considered as part of a client's strategy, how sometimes it is the first screen, and how mobile users relationship is very personal with their devices.  He goes on to say that is "the first thing they reach for when they wake up in the morning and the last thing they put down at night."  He also is seeing more mobile growth beyond just "I need an iPad app."

How are you planning for mobile?  Leave your comments below on what you'd like to see more of in the mobile space. 

Apparently Zappos is striping down for its new marketing campaign... and we mean all the way down. In an effort to raise awareness of their expanded product offering beyond just shoes, their new ads feature people just wearing, shoes. That's it. The ads feature naked models jogging, riding a scooter, hailing a cab and playing Frisbee in public. In a recent New York Times article, Ryan Holiday, the director of online marketing at American Apparel, who has gotten in trouble before for racy ads, had a good take on what Zappos is doing. He asked, “Are they doing it because they want to get attention from blogs and Web sites that will write about it or are they doing it because it’s the ad campaign that speaks most truly to who they are and what they want to sell?” What do you think? Do you like the naked Zappos ads? Does "sex sell"? Please leave a comment below.

On Monday of last week I had the (mostly) pleasurable experience of speaking on an IAB mobile advertising panel in New York. I say mostly because, technically, 10% of me burst into flames on the subway and never actually made it. 

Panels like these used to be the stuff of software geeks, carrier overlords and some gnarly, unholy combination of the two. The conversations were invariably technology focused as people scrambled to make sense of a fragmented industry growing at a bewildering pace. It took a few years longer than it should have, but at some point walled gardens, WAP decks and SOAP APIs gave way to use cases, ROI and sound design principles. 

The conversation has shifted again, and now people are beginning to contextualize mobile as part of a branding continuum, where digital, traditional and emerging media converge to tell a story that engages people in motion. Simon Bond, CMO of BBDO, pointed to a study his firm had done which found people are more likely to wake up and reach for their mobile device rather than their lover (or themselves, for that matter). Razorfish is doing really ground-breaking stuff in mobile advertising, working with publishers and networks to create dyanmic new ad models. Michael Collins of Joule talked about how the metrics mobile provide are on par with - even exceeding in many cases - the analytics available on the desktop web. 

At Definition 6 we are bringing serious innovation to our mobile clients. From mobile websites that predict behavior and present contextualized experiences, to mobile marketing applications that leverage unique combinations of variables like speed, distance, orientation and time of day, we are helping our clients deploy mobile marketing strategies that transform their businesses.

Check it out:
 


It begs the question - how is your firm using mobile marketing and advertising to build your brand? If you aren't, somebody else is. 

Every so often I post things to this blog and Michael Kogon (Definition 6, CEO) says: "Great post... I'll be sure my kids don't see it."  I can't guarantee that this will be a great post, but I can pretty much guarantee that he won't let his kids read (or at least watch) it.

I like Google+. +1.
 
It’s interesting to see how many people are almost afraid to say so, stick their neck out, or venture to say this is going to make it. I’m guessing this is mostly because they scrambled to praise Google Wave, and Google Buzz and were later proven wrong. And they were still recovering from Marketer’s PTSD from their ventures into Second Life.
 
But I’m willing to say I think Google+ will be a hit.  

There are so many thinks I disLike and -1 about Facebook: their abhorrent privacy practices, the way they try to decide who my friends are and whose posts I should see, the way they make control over selective posting difficult (the big difference with how Google implemented Circles is usability), the way they make grouping people difficult, their immature handling of API updates, their authoritarian control over brand flexibility on their site, the minimal real estate they offer brands while still applying extensive limitations on use, the fact they insist on it being a destination site instead of an integrated part of your overall web experience, and the fact that I simply don’t trust them. Using Facebook and developing for it feels like a massive step backward in time to the days of AOL and Prodigy.
 
Google+ definitely has a lot of room for growth and improvement. But there’s so much to like. I love having a do-over on my friends list, there are many people I didn’t Friend because I barely knew them but I would connect with them on Google+ and just put them in the circle I felt comfortable with. I love the ease of control over friend/follower categorization and the ease and obviousness of selective posting. I love the ease of export and that it’s termed Data Liberation and Google Takeout, the ease of Circle views is awesome, the very free form posting ability, the fact they have made it an integrated part of your web experience, and not just a destination site with Like buttons funneling to it.  Mashable published a great cheat sheet for Google+ that you can check out, too.
 
It needs a Wall, an iPhone app, and maybe a few Profile improvements. I really want a hashtag equivalent. Lots of work to do on how brands can use it to engage their audiences. Really the main misses in Google+ are what they haven’t yet done but could easily do, what they have implemented I really like.  It lools like a lot of the stuff is already in the works, too as seen on Geek.com article.
 
I have big and pretty well founded hopes that they will be far better about how they handle API updates and major changes for those of us that want to develop for their platform. I believe they will be far more flexible about how they allow brands to build in and around their platform or just incorporate it into theirs. That alone will keep me hoping this makes it. And I think this could be a major Trojan horse for expansion of Android and Chrome market share.
 
I think Facebook will be around and competing for a good while and will remain very relevant. They’ve gained too much market share and mindshare and too many users to just go away. But I think they have a very real competitor. By contrast, you don’t hear Twitter users constantly pleading for a new Twitter or a Twitter competitor. But you hear it all the time from users of Facebook. That’s not a good position to be in, especially when someone the size and caliber of Google actually releases something that’s pretty equivalent and compelling.
 

It's not every day you have the opportunity to work on something that screams cool from almost every aspect. Let me see if I can summarize this particular opportunity: vampires, witches, werewolves, Alan Ball, Anna Paquin, Alexander Skarsgard, Ryan Kwanten, Kristin Bauer, Deborah Ann Woll, HBO, Social Media, Facebook, complex Flash layering, detailed motion design, great creative, great script, personalization in full motion video, high availability, cloud farms, CDN's, open source, high performance where every millisecond in processing counts, and integration with multiple SaaS providers and their API's. 

That pretty much describes what Definition 6 recently had the opportunity to work on and launch with the hit HBO show True Blood that premieres season 4 this Sunday, June 26th. We helped them launch a Facebook application called IMMORTALIZE YOURSELF that takes a piece filmed exclusively for this purpose featuring many of the famous cast as a bridge between season 3 and season 4 and using Facebook connect you'll find you and your Facebook friends are a part of the video. Some go missing, others apply to be Fangtasia dancers, and you get to be an assassin. You're all featured in the show's famous credits and opening. And when it's all over you can re-do the whole thing but pick which friends you want to be in which roles. And while the concept of using a bespoke video with social aspects may not be entirely new or unique, I feel pretty safe in saying that the level of detail we achieved in the personalization is pretty rare. Everything looks far more a natural part of the video than almost anything done previously. A lot of love went into that effort. The same goes for attention to detail in the performance of the application for something involving so much Flash, video and detailed interactions.

Plus it's just cool. It's also pretty rare in this business to do something that achieves a 99.9% positive sentiment rating with less than 0.05% technical failures in application delivery. You can check it out for real yourself here. And you can see an example of one of the videos below, this one featuring many of the team members at Definition 6 that worked on this project.

And as an added benefit, I and many of the team members had about 45 days to immerse ourselves in the brand by watching 3 seasons of a show with brilliant dialogue, and a great story that's chock full of fantastic effects, great actors, and plenty of hot vampire sex.

Our thanks to a great client. The True Blood team wrote a great script, and all the video production work and editing was done by HBO Creative Services. As always the cast and crew of True Blood were fantastic in their performances. The marketing team at HBO continues to push the edge with great ideas and non-traditional campaigns. What they have done on True Blood previously and with this piece shows how they combine innovative thinking with creative brand authenticity.

We're lucky at Definition 6 to enjoy a long-standing relationship with HBO, spear-headed by the Managing Partner of our Post-Production division, Rob Ortiz, who has been working with HBO for over 25 years. Rob, our team at Definition 6, and the great Creative Services team at HBO, especially Becca Schader, Chris Denniston and Chris Spencer, all combined to concept, POC, flush out the idea, and drive this piece with Marketing and Interactive. It's fantastic working with people like these who continue to show they are thinking well beyond the traditional 30-second spot on how to engage fans and grow audiences in a rapidly changing landscape. True Blood is rapidly approaching 8 Million fans on Facebook, and it's pieces like this that can change how you reach and interact with those fans.

Waiting Sucks. So go check out the app. And don't miss the season premiere this Sunday on HBO, 9PM EST.

 ... there is just something about a New York Post headline that can't be replicated on my iPad.  The look, the feel, the aura... like a New Yorker cartoon... they're just a thing of beauty in their own weird way.  A few days ago, The Post had this to announce:

Now, call me childish or immature, but in the game of grabbing attention (and when you really boil it down that is what we all get paid to do as marketers... lets be honest here), Obama may beat Weiner... but nothing beats The Post.  Printed tabloid newspaper headlines are truly something to behold and The Post is the all-time master.  There's just something about them that I love and fear I will surely miss in the very near future.

 

And speaking of Weiner... check this out.