Social Networking – Page 4 – universal positive

Sharing secrets: Scion Motivate’s “Visual Identity” panel

May 10, 2024August 25, 2014 by Roger Darnell

I have written in the past about the serious 2013 campaign automotive brand Scion launched to help motivated young professionals scale their careers upward. Those multifaceted efforts included a series of brand films where they convened very bright and successful creative industry achievers to provide spot-on insights about key business imperatives. You can see for yourself that what they created packages the real, proven stuff. In the 10-minute episode embedded above, in order of appearance, you get to meet Justin Thomas Kay of Doubleday & Cartwright, Joshua Prince aka Dust La Rock of Fool’s Gold Records, Cody Hudson of Struggle Inc. and Longman & Eagle, and artist Kenton Parker… and hear their candid responses to these questions:

Great to know: Allison Dollar

March 21, 2024August 11, 2014 by Roger Darnell

It’s safe to say that the illustrious Allison Dollar has had a huge impact on my professional career, beginning with assignments she gave me in 1993 and 1994 to write the annual Florida Regional Production Guides for the national film and television industry trade magazine “In Motion,” which was published by Phillips Business Information (PBI). Allison and I have kept in-touch over the years, and her unique expertise and first-hand knowledge of cutting-edge innovation across the media landscape is a constant reminder of how lucky I am to know her. Read on for more of Allison’s background, and to learn about a fascinating upcoming panel discussion she is co-hosting on 21 August through the Interactive Television Alliance (ITA), the non-profit she established in 2002 to represent the interests of companies that create, distribute and enable interactive programming.

Spotlight on innovation via yours truly and Fast Company

March 21, 2024July 14, 2014 by Roger Darnell

Reviewing the nine-year history of this blog, innovation is one of the most oft-recurring themes. With the main goal of providing you with more information about myself and my business activities, but also seeking to incorporate developments I find illuminating from the fields of marketing, science, technology and entertainment, anything that might provide insight into new thinking or new ways of achieving success in these areas makes it onto my shortlist for universal positive posts.

To me, the above video produced by Fast Company during its 2013 Innovation By Design conference is a perfect example of the type of inside information that really helps us all understand specific ideas and strategies we can adopt to do things differently, and most likely, better. Here is another great story connected to innovation in product design.
. 10 Lessons My Startup Team Learned from a Massive Product Launch

On 14-15 October, Fast Company’s Innovation By Design Awards and Conference will return to NYC’s Metropolitan Pavilion, and advance registration is now open.

Read moreSpotlight on innovation via yours truly and Fast Company

Have you seen our cosmos?

March 28, 2024July 1, 2014 by Roger Darnell

The National Geographic Channel and Fox teamed-up this year to launch the new 13-part documentary series starring astrophysicist and author Neil deGrasse Tyson, who has proven to be the perfect person to fill Mr. Sagan’s enormous shoes.

Days we are sure to remember

March 21, 2024June 16, 2014 by Roger Darnell

Richmond, California-based Mountain Hardwear creates performance apparel and equipment designed to empower outdoor athletes to live boldly. At the time when this post is going live here, if you wanted to find me, you’d have to travel to the Kalaloch Campground in Forks, Washington, along the outer edge of continental USA’s northwesternmost coastline in Olympic National Park. My family and I have been planning this excursion for the past couple of years, and it’s a dream come true. Apparently, my dreams are a lot like those of the individuals behind Mountain Hardwear… and their customers.

Earlier this year I started noticing the company’s “Days You Remember” video series, and I bookmarked it as the perfect thing to share in today’s blog post. All the videos are tagged with this statement that resonates very deeply with me:

Sharing secrets: Know your audience!

March 21, 2024May 15, 2014 by Roger Darnell

When trying to communicate with someone, it is vitally important to understand who that person is, whether or not they speak your language, their age, where they live… and also, factors like what’s on their mind right now, and where they are physically. The point of this article is to emphasize that communication – and marketing – is usually a waste of time if the particulars of the human beings comprising the audience are not taken into account. Personally, I’m shocked at how often people fail to address this mission-critical first step, explained so effectively by Seth Godin in the video presented here.

Effective communicators like Mr. Godin begin their programs by assessing their target audiences, exploring the relevant demographics and/or psychographics, and analyzing data. Indeed, the information we exude into the world is measured and used… whether we know it or not.

Case study: Smart ways to communicate

May 9, 2024May 12, 2014 by Roger Darnell

To me, one of the best ways to understand how effective marketing works is to look at campaigns that have won the most or the biggest creative industry awards, and you won’t find a recent campaign that has been more successful at winning major awards than this one from McCann’s office in Melbourne, Australia. I discuss many awards submissions with my clients every year, and in my experience, oftentimes what makes a project award-worthy is the documentation you can provide – especially when you can clearly present valid results the work has helped deliver. This theory is backed-up by the documentation for Dumb Ways to Die from McCann Melbourne, which was named “Most Awarded Agency” by Advertising Age in 2013 thanks to this project earning numerous “best of show” honors from the major international programs, including a record five Cannes Lions Grand Prix (in the Film, Integrated, Direct, PR and Radio categories).

Here are some highlights of the verbiage the agency used for this project, which was produced for Melbourne Metro Trains.

Sarah Klein, Tom Mason and Redglass Pictures: Thanks for the documentary

March 21, 2024March 31, 2014 by Roger Darnell

What is the magic that allows us to connect across any span of time, distance or imagination to experience the lives and lessons of others? Of course, it’s what we simply call the story. For me personally, some of the most riveting and impactful storytelling of my lifetime has been courtesy of filmmaker Ken Burns. Like legions of other Americans and fans of quality historical entertainment all around the world, Mr. Burns’ epic works have reached me thanks to television and the internet. And while his past projects have helped shape my world view and my aims for living, beyond his work, he is mostly a mystery to me. For all of these reasons, I’m very thankful to the filmmakers Tom Mason and Sarah Klein of Redglass Pictures who created the powerful short film embedded here… to offer us all more insights into Ken Burns himself and his unique perspective on story.

“We live in a rational world where absolutely we’re certain that one and one equals two, and it does,” Burns says in the short film, “Ken Burns: On Story.” “But the things that matter most to us, some people call it love, some people call it God, some people call it reason, is that other thing where the whole is greater than the some of its parts, and that’s the three.”

Read moreSarah Klein, Tom Mason and Redglass Pictures: Thanks for the documentary

Coming soon to HBO: “Silicon Valley”

March 21, 2024March 26, 2014 by Roger Darnell

I find it interesting that the executives behind “Silicon Valley” chose the recent SXSW Film Festival to host the world premiere for their new HBO series. From everything I’ve seen, anticipation is ramping up quickly for the official April 6 debut on HBO. I thought I’d share the trailer with you and also pass along a taste of the great review by The Hollywood Reporter’s Tim Goodson. Be sure to check-out the full story.

In Goodson’s words, “The Mike Judge-created series about life in modern-day Silicon Valley

Read moreComing soon to HBO: “Silicon Valley”

Explore brand as possibility with Lippincott

March 11, 2024March 18, 2014 by Roger Darnell

Lippincott is a leading brand strategy and design firm with a 70-year heritage crafting authentic stories, memorable experiences and winning strategies for the world’s most iconic brands. Its expertise spans all aspects of brand building including strategy, design, experience innovation and organizational engagement. Recent clients include 3M, Delta Air Lines, Hyatt, Infiniti, Samsung, Starbucks and Walmart. Lippincott is part of Oliver Wyman, a global professional services organization owned by Marsh & McLennan Companies.