News

f/3 at Mad Art, including fave photog Geoff Story

Stacey Rynders

geoff_story_pic Two of my favorite things – Mad Art Gallery and Photography. The show f/3 opens at Mad Art Gallery and features three artists Leah Oates, Shawn Michelle Smith and Geoff Story. Opening reception is from from 7-11pm tomorrow night, Oct. 2, 2009. The show runs through Oct. 27.

Geoff Story is one of my favorite photographers with a talent for capturing people – whether as a freelancer or as the associate creative director at TOKY Branding + Design. I’ve unwittingly been on the other side of his lens more than once, and though i hate being in front of the camera, it is his work that I chose for my Facebook profile pic. This is a show to check out!

Internet: Too Much Free Speech?

Stacey Rynders

PhotobucketYesterday brought the news that Google was being forced by a Manhattan Supreme Court Justice to reveal the identity of an anonymous blogger, who was “talking trash,” about Canadian-born model Liskula Cohen on a blog called Skanks in NYC. The blog has since been taken down, but the samples I’ve seen of the copy were truly pure trash… upped by the ante of anonymity.

In the many discussions about the role of the Internet on how we as a society receive our news, there has been much discussion about accountability and reliability. As a communications strategist, I’ve talked to many clients about the need to be more aggressive about negative online commentary about their business. The Internet has changed the rules because it makes it so easy to publish anything – true or false.

In the case of Liskula Cohen, she argued that she should have the right to sue the blogger for defamation, because the blog posts undermined her credibility and made it more difficult to get jobs. I can see this as viable. Hollywood seems to run scared at the first sign at a little controversy. Note how Michael Phelps was dropped so quickly for possibly smoking marijuana.

The larger question, however, is how accountable should bloggers be? Frankly, I have to admit to being biased. I’m trained in journalism from the University of Missouri of Columbia where entire classes are dedicated to libel and slander. One wrong fact in a news story and your grade dropped a letter – this includes a wrong phone number. So, while I like the Internet’s ability to share so much information and to bring the world to your fingertips, I admit that I’m not so fond of the anger- or hate-motivated speech that happens on the Internet.

Where is the line? And how can it be adequately enforced? Share your thoughts!

Augmented Reality – pretty cool stuff

Stacey Rynders

Check out this YouTube on a GE Augmented Reality piece. Today at lunch, Todd Shasserre was talking vaguely about some augmented reality projects that he’s helping develop at Mozaic. My comment was a gross simplification – “It’s so Jetsons.” Imagine printing an image off your home computer, holding it up to your camera or an IPhone then a moving digital image literally emerges in front of you. Think of the marketing possibilities – an engaging consumer message that customers will want to show everyone! Talk about viral marketing. Imagine sitting in a restaurant where three or four people are using their IPhones to share an augmented reality message with friends – a bevy of digital pop-ups. It seems so surreal and utterly fascinating.

Now, there are some kinks still being worked out that involve making augmented reality interfaceable with so many different software platforms. But there will be campaigns rolling out in the next year. Mozaic is a company to watch! They are doing innovative, super-techie creative marketing.

Twitter Marketing: 15% one-day sales hike for pizza joint

Stacey Rynders

32-twitterlocal-051809Blogger Lisa Young Twittered about a recent Advertising Age article that gives a pretty compelling example of Twitter Marketing provided solid ROI.

“In a test run April 23, an exclusive-to-Twitter promotion brought in 15% of the day’s business.”

$0 for a Twitter account + Time to Manage (or outsource management) = 15% one-day growth

This is a hard ROI stat for print, radio and tv to combat. Of course, a lot depends on the message, culling a following and time to effectively manage a company’s tweeting. I know some businesses are still fighting the need for social media integration into their marketing plans; but it is time to join in or become obsolete.

If you are interested in this topic, check out and join the Social Media Club of St. Louis. There’s an event tonight (with a lot of RSVPs from local marketing gurus) at Atomic Cowboy at 6pm.

Only 1% of Web sites Mobile Ready?

Stacey Rynders

gima_logo1 Discussion at last night’s Gateway Interactive Marketing Association meeting was all about mobile technology. Mobile video. Mobile Marketing. M-Commerce. Is the mobile wave here yet?

The answer to that question was varied, but the one resounding statiistic tossed out for consideration is that only 1% of all Web sites are mobile ready. Compare that measly 1% to the 30 million I-Phone and Blackberry cellular users accessing the Web via their mobile.

Something seems a tad bit off about this number. Whether mobile marketing is here or not or whether your company needs an I-Phone app is not the problem; it’s whether your Web site translates to mobile applications without going crazy. Start with the basics; then experiment with your marketing campaign.

If you don’t know if your Web site translates to mobile technology, talk to my friend Barbara Hines with Anchor Mobile Marketing. She can help you find the answer.

SAVE THE DATE FOR THE NEXT GIMA EVENT – June 17: Business Speed Dating

Microsoft Competes With Twitter

Stacey Rynders

Microsoft Releases Twitter-like Product, called “Vine”

By: Rob Hubert

The once innovative and dominant company from Redmon this week announced their plans to start a public beta of it’s Twitter-like “notification system”, called Vine. I don’t really understand why they would invest in this type of a product without a clear return on investment. Twitter is not generating revenue at the moment and just recently announced premium pay accounts. Will Microsoft actually be able to turn a profit from this type of product?

Read more…

NPR saving journalism?

Stacey Rynders

If you want to know where to sink some advertising dollars, it is most definitely with NPR. The news organization has grown its listenership by 98% in the last decade. That’s right, GROWN. This is stark contrast to the fact that newspapers have lost 11.4% of readers and tv news is down 28%.

NPR reaches 26.4 million listeners weekly compared to USA Today’s 2.3 million and Fox News’ 2.8 million. These numbers are largely due to the organization’s ability to harness new media as part of its dissemination tactics. There are still some hiccups for monetary support of the organization, but Fast Company’s recent article is interesting in how NPR has leveraged the power of new media. Read Fast Company’s article.

Creativity Goes Up When Budgets Are Tight

Stacey Rynders

Inspiration on a Dime
April 03, 2009
by The Creative Group
Do Lean Budgets Impede on Creativity?

* 5 quick tips to promote creativity

When the going gets tough, the tough get more creative, a new survey suggests. 40% of marketing and advertising executives polled said campaigns become more innovative when budgets are lean. 26% felt that tight spending had no effect on creativity levels, according to The Creative Group.

Advertising and marketing executives were asked, “In general, do you think advertising and marketing campaigns become more or less creative when budgets are lean?” Their responses:

Much more creative
9%

Somewhat more creative
31%

No change
26%

Somewhat less creative
24%

Much less creative
8%

Don’t know
2%

“In a challenging economic climate, businesses rely on their marketing teams to develop campaigns that resonate with consumers who are more selective in their spending,” says Megan Slabinski, executive director of The Creative Group. “Firms that lack the resources to support traditional marketing initiatives may be willing to go out on a limb and try something different.”

* Do you feel like creativity is suffering or branching out in new ways?
Join the Discussion

Slabinski noted, however, that not all belt-tightening fosters creativity. “Our research shows that tight deadlines are a top source of creative blocks,” she said. “Consequently, marketing teams that are stretched too thin may have trouble generating quality concepts.”

The Creative Group offers the following five tips for promoting creativity among employees:

1. Find the focus. Help staff members prioritize projects so they have sufficient time for the most important tasks. Eliminate less critical duties, or delegate them to other personnel.
2. Surround your team with ideas. Ask staff to post any designs, artwork or quotes that they find inspiring on a wall from which everyone can draw inspiration.
3. Brainstorm in the morning. A separate survey by The Creative Group indicated that the morning is the most creative time for a majority of professionals, so hold meetings intended to generate ideas in the early hours.
4. Bypass burnout. Bring in freelancers during your busiest periods to prevent workers from becoming overburdened.
5. Don’t forget to have fun. Find inexpensive ways to celebrate successes and bring levity to the job.

The Creative Group specializes in placing a range of highly skilled creative, advertising, marketing and web professionals with a variety of firms on a project and full-time basis. They also are HOW’s official career partner.