Social science and social media

I've been thinking about how to engineer a business trip to Washington DC since receiving an e-mail a couple days ago about an event at the Library of Congress on June 23rd. On that day, there will be a talk by a cultural anthropologist and assistant professor at Kansas State University, Michael Wesch. According to his bio, Wesch is a "media ecologist exploring the impacts of new media on human interaction." He posted a video on YouTube on this topic...

Wither static corporate web site

It was almost exactly a year ago that I wrote about how marketers needed to rethink corporate web sites. In particular, I commented on the proposal put forth by one blogger on how the prevailing approach by vendors of publishing static, one-way information on their sites is "irrelevant." Because most corporate sites only contain static content filled with hyperbole, customers and prospective customers don't use it to make purchasing decisions. Rather, they trust the information they get from peers in...

What are you doing this summer?

That's the question we posed to our great group of people and then walked around with a video camera to find out. We thought we would share it with you as we gear up for what promises to be an idyllic Memorial Day weekend in New England. We'd love to hear about what you're doing in the comments here, or below the video on our Facebook fan page.

CMO Study Says Marketing Budgets Won't Be Cut

The Boston Business Journal summarized a study by the CMO Club that indicated that the overwhelming majority (71%) of their members surveyed won't be slashing marketing budgets this year despite concerns about an economic downturn. Other key findings: When asked which budget line items would be cut first, advertising and mass marketing strategies (32 percent) were cited most frequently. Online strategies, such as search engine optimization and online marketing campaigns, were cited as the least likely to be cut, followed...

Wall Street Journal watch continues

We've been following the slowly unfolding changes at the Wall Street Journal from when Rupert Murdoch fought to acquire Dow Jones to what kinds of changes he's been forcing since the acquisition took place last year. The latest event on the timeline occurred yesterday, as the paper reported this morning the appointment of Robert Thomson as managing editor of the Journal and editor-in-chief of Dow Jones. The most interesting aspect of the story was centered on the fact that Thomson...

No Job for a Woman

In the earlier days of our agency, after I bought out my male co-founder and before I became part of Omnicom, I often was approached by vendors and organizations because LP&P was a "woman-led organization." I always blanched at this notion and said, "no, LP&P is run by a person who happens to be a woman." I never wanted to play the "woman card." I told interviewers, clients and prospects that one reason I loved the high tech field is...

CBS Buys CNET

If I had 50 cents for every time I hear someone say "trade media is dying," I'd have a nice big chunk of change on my hands. Today's news that CBS is buying CNET is quite the proof point for this trend. I've always viewed CNET as the predominant wire for fast-breaking and quirky technology stories, and my hope is that the former media outlet's agenda does not change with the acquisition. But that is probably naive of me to...

Boston Herald to Patriots: Oops, my Bad

One of our New England Patriots fanatics sent me an email this morning that said, "I never thought I would see the day when a major local newspaper would put an apology for irresponsible journalism on its front and back page." As I am sure most everyone is aware, the Boston Herald has apologized for the story it ran two days before this year's Super Bowl that the Patriots allegedly taped the St. Louis Rams walk through practice prior to...

How I decide on friend requests

As we've mentioned here recently, Twitter use has exploded at the agency. Facebook preceded it, and I hear the same questions now that I heard when people were building their Facebook networks. How do you find people to follow? And the more important question, how do I determine if I should follow someone, especially someone that follows me? These questions, a post by Mark Glaser this week, and the in-process BusinessWeek story on Twitter, inspired me to type up my...

If only we all had columns for "Do-Overs"

Whenever I media train someone, I always tell them to pause and think before responding to a reporter's question so they can formulate a concise, accurate response. The outcome should be a well-phrased sound-bite that will be deemed newsworthy and printable. This approach also helps protect them from shooting from the hip with a glib response they will regret later. "Your most controversial statement will be placed right over your picture," I warn them. Well, Jack Welch had one of...