Killer reels: Juniper Jones

Brief Banner Film from the creative force, Juniper Jones.

Based in DUMBO on Brooklyn’s waterfront, Juniper Jones is the creative force dedicated to creating custom-tailored solutions.

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Sales expertise for creative entrepreneurs…


universal positive readers already know that I’m a big fan of author, speaker, and advisor David C. Baker. By visiting David’s website, you can find information on his books, upcoming events, and much more.

If you haven’t already read it, I also encourage you to review this candid interview with my dear friend Lisa Cleff Kurtz, who is a philanthropist, education and arts activist, and a bona fide rainmaker.

Many other noteworthy experts also offer sage business development advice that you can easily find online… often for free. Here are five more that are definitely worth subscribing to right away.

Read moreSales expertise for creative entrepreneurs…

Marketing Imperatives: Center Everything Around Your PR Strategy

I have a longstanding working relationship with a CEO who recently changed jobs. Coming into his new company, he told me that his mantra was this: He intended to center every marketing initiative around PR strategy. In virtually every industry, I’m seeing many wise marketing industry leaders endorsing this idea. Another prominent example from the past several years comes from Jason Harris of San Francisco- and NYC-based Mekanism, where in an interview with HubSpot.com, he described his agency’s framework for creating shareable content.

“Our approach is to always think about the PR headline. Why will the idea, content, innovation, etc., travel? Why will people care, and why will they want to talk about it and share it? If there is no PR headline, the idea won’t be shareable. That is our goal on every project.”

The video I’m embedding with this article perfectly demonstrates the increasing focus on PR, presenting the 47-minute “Content & Storytelling: Is the PR Landscape Shifting?” session from the 2014 CDO Summit in NYC.

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Media Spotlight: Creators

Creators was VICE’s arts and culture platform, covering every aspect of the creative process. Its mission was to make art more accessible to a wider audience with diverse voices reporting on emergent arts and artists.

From sculpture and light projections to street art and dance, the platform’s curators and contributors immersed themselves in cultural hotbeds and travel to the far corners of the globe to explore the spectacle and color of making art today.

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Sharing secrets: Smart planning and production for marketing content

Ever since hearing that failing to plan is a sure plan for failure, I have been a firm believer in taking the time necessary to diligently and intelligently lay out plans for anything I’m seriously aiming to accomplish. When I attended the ReCourses New Business Summit (NBS) back in 2012 thanks to David C. Baker and Blair Enns, I witnessed a new approach for how creative businesses and professionals can change the way they handle sales. My understanding on the secret is this: The key is to think and operate like a publisher. Along those lines, naturally, the business model requires successful handling of content. The NBS lessons were very timely for me, as you have seen here; I have deep admiration for innovative publishers of all sizes, and as time moves forward, I hope to follow the best of them and achieve my own version of greatness.


Over the past two years, this idea of content marketing has really caught fire, so for anyone beginning the planning process of fathoming these types of practices and putting them to work in new ways, you are in luck. It’s my pleasure to share five different highly qualified paths toward brilliant content marketing – each of which is focused on helping to facilitate solid thinking and planning.

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Olympic openers

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Danny Boyle’s 2012 Summer Olympics “large-canvas nation-themed spectacle” of an opening ceremony will always be remembered as one of the most eccentric and memorable Games’ kickoffs in history. Since NBC’s broadcast reportedly attracted nearly 41 million viewers, THR has also named it the highest rated Summer Olympics opening of all time.

My reaction:

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Great to know: Filmmaker Jonathan Lim

I recently had the chance to meet filmmaker Jonathan Lim, whose dramatic feature film “Pali Road” is opening in theaters in 20 U.S. cities across America later this week. Jonathan wrote and directed the film, which was entirely shot on-location in Hawaii and is the first Hawaii-China co-production in history. While Jonathan describes it as a mystery and a romantic thriller, here’s how it’s introduced by the programmers of the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, who have chosen the film to close the festival’s 32nd edition, this Thursday night, 28 April:

“…As stylish as it is mysterious, ‘Pali Road’ by Jonathan Lim echoes the most daring and challenging of classic Hollywood mysteries. If you look closely, you’ll find a hint of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1940 romantic mystery “Rebecca” starring Joan Fontaine; and maybe even espy a nod to George Cukor’s legendary “Gaslight” (1944) starring the great Ingrid Bergman…”

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March 2016 Inspiration

Featured Image: Tongue Point, Washington, USA, by yours truly. Notes from On & Up, my personal blog: “Throughout time, the areas all along Washington State’s Highway 112 corridor have been home to people of the Klallam and Makah tribes: Exploring their cultures and histories are wonderful aspects of visiting…. During our visit, we searched for … Read moreMarch 2016 Inspiration

Sam Jones, Off Camera

[Written on February 23, 2016] This has been a spectacular day for me. I began preparing for it a couple of years ago, when I was able to reconnect with one of the most phenomenal people I’ve met in my career – the acclaimed photographer and director Sam Jones, who is the force behind Off Camera. Sam launched his original on-camera interview series back in 2013 as a website, magazine, TV show and podcast, and when I wrote about it, he sent me a warm response. Knowing that the show is now beginning its fourth season, today I made a plan to look-in on it again. After spending the whole day binge-watching clips from the show’s YouTube channel, here is my takeaway: Sam Jones is profoundly influential to me, and I am certain that everyone else watching his show must feel the same way. Here’s why.

Read moreSam Jones, Off Camera

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