Jan 28, 2008

Seven things I learned at Sundance and one thing I left

cross posted to New England Mamas & Snapshot Chronicles

You'll have to go to film sites like Movie City News and Cinematical for reviews of the films, and Entertainment Weekly or E!Online for the star sightings and gossip. I was only in Park City for a few days, and mostly involved in work for my client's party. Saw only one film, CSNY Déjà Vu, and only a handful of celebrities. But I did learn a few things that I thought you'd appreciate.

1. Do not park in front of 7-11, buy a few things and then go have lunch. Even though it's not marked a Tow Zone, you are very likely to get towed. The person driving our car (not me) was understandably upset, but it could happen to anyone. And probably did. Apparently towing is big business in Park City during Sundance due to the extreme lack of parking.

2. Sundance Film Festival merchandise goes on sale the last full day of the Festival. I could have saved $10 on the ball caps I bought the day before.

3. Films start on time. Events at Harry O's generally do not. From my experience, you can add an hour to the stated time that doors will open. So, for example if you are planning to eat at the ChefDance dinner, which "starts" at 8pm, and get hungry around 5pm, you can safely have a good-sized snack because you won't see the first course until 9ish and the entree at 10, 10:15 pm. 

4. UGGS are lovely but if you are limited on suitcase space, pack your waterproof boots instead. Luckily, I knew that one going in and had mine.

5. The walk from the Eccles Theatre to downtown is about 2.5 miles on a lovely walking trail. If it is warm enough (30 degrees was fine), it's worth it for the lovely views of the mountains. You'll also see a local landmark, a tree chock full of shoes, that's been there for at least 20 years according to a resident I met on the path.

6. In addition to being extraordinarily talented, the folks in the Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band are absolutely delightful and down-to-earth. If you like the blues, I highly recommend Shepherd's recent documentary and album, 10 Days Out: Blues From The Backroads. It was nominated for two Grammys and when you watch/listen, you'll know why.

7. CSNY Déjà Vu is a superb film. If you like the band, even just a little bit, and do not like our current president, you'll probably enjoy the movie. If you think Bush has done a great job in Iraq, on the other hand, you probably won't, even if you normally like the band. I loved the film. Draw your own conclusions.

Oh, and the thing I left? My voice. I came home with a cold that nearly qualifies as laryngitis.

Tags: Sundance, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, CSNY Deja Vu

Posted @ 11:01AM in Sundance | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

Jan 23, 2008

Notes of the Urban Blues

cross posted to Snapshot Chronicles

I haven't been posting here too much because I have been jamming to bring up two new client blogs, a podcast and doing media & blogger outreach for Electrified: The Story of the Maxwell Street Urban Blues. Hopefully after Sundance, things will settle down a little bit and I can get back to ruminating about marketing topics.

In the meantime, if you'd like to follow the action at Sundance and the big Electrifed party at Harry O's on Friday with Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Hubert Sumlin, you'll find me over at the film's new blog, Notes of the Urban Blues. Friday, I'll be interviewing Phil Ranstrom, writer/director/producer of Electrified at the HP Broadcast Studio, and during the party Friday night (and into the wee hours Saturday morning), we'll try to get some clips up in near real-time. I'll also be live-tweeting so please feel free to follow me at twitter.com/sgetgood. And don't worry, I won't be hurt if you follow me just for the weekend and then unfollow :-)

Notes of the Urban Blues was designed by the very talented Leslie Doherty of Swank Web Style.

Tags: Sundance, urban blues, Maxwell Street, Phil Ranstrom, Electrified

Posted @ 11:01AM in Customers, Sundance | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Jan 16, 2008

Sundance will be "Electrified"

I mentioned in last week's post about Torchwood that I would miss the first episode because I would be at the Sundance Film Festival, and promised more information this week.

I'm going out to the Festival to support a new client, Maxwell Street Documentary, at the premiere of the film, Electrified- The Story of the Maxwell Street Urban Blues.

The film will be launched at a party at Harry O's in  Park City next Friday January 25th. In addition to the screening of the film, there will be a live performance by acclaimed blues guitarist Kenny Wayne Shepherd and blues legend Hubert Sumlin. Actor Chevy Chase will be master of ceremonies. Fender has also donated a limited edition “Electrified” guitar that film executive producer Les Walgreen will present  to online auction house Charity Buzz for an auction  to benefit The Center for Environmental Education Online.

I'm doing media/blogger outreach and developing a blog for the film. If you are going to be at Sundance on the 25th and would like to come to the screening, email or Twitter me.

Electrified tells the definitive history of the Chicago blues. Narrated by actor Joe Mantegna, the film chronicles how the urban neighborhood of Maxwell Street created a unique environment of commerce and cooperation that led first to the hard-driving sound of the urban blues, and ultimately to rock and roll. Interviews with many of the legendary bluesmen who “studied at Chicago’s Maxwell Street school of music,” including Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, Charlie Musselwhite, Jimmie Lee Robinson and the “father of rock and roll” Bo Diddley, complement the film’s historical narrative and create an exceptional history of this important era in American music.

A companion film, Cheat You Fair: The Story of Maxwell Street, documents the last days of the historic Maxwell Street market. It premiered to critical acclaim at the Chicago International Documentary Film Festival in April 2007, and is scheduled to be shown at the Amnesty International venue at Sundance January 18-20 and the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago on February 2.

Both Electrified and Cheat You Fair were written, directed and produced by longtime Chicago resident  and Emmy nominated producer Phil Ranstrom who began the projects in 1994 shortly before the Maxwell Street market was demolished.

We've put some short clips from both films up on YouTube. They are all great, but here are my two favorites:

"We come up the hard way..." Uncle Johnny Williams on how the blues were born

Eddie "Jewtown" Burkes performing "Step It Up And Go"

Tags: blues, urban blues, Chicago blues, Maxwell Street, Sundance, documentary, Phil Ranstrom, Les Walgreen

Posted @ 5:01PM in Customers, Social media, Sundance | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Jan 9, 2008

Cleaning out the cupboards

I really do have some awesome posts planned, just no time to write this week. So instead, I thought I'd clean out my virtual cupboards of some goodies for you. Don't look for a theme, these truly are "small pieces very loosely joined" (nod to David Weinberger.)

First, some science fiction. Torchwood begins its second season on 1/26 on BBC America, and a few more trailers have surfaced. Official trailer. Two scenes from the first episode. Warning: As Twitter pal Dave Parmet and I discussed yesterday, Torchwood is DoctorWho with the naughty bits (his words) and without the most annoying David Tennant (mine). In other words, expect to see some adult relationships of all sorts in the show. And on these clips.

Battlestar Galactica is (finally) due back in April, and spoilery bits are starting to surface on YouTube. Here's the latest one.

Now, unfortunately, I will not be able to watch Torchwood on the 26th because I will be at the Sundance Film Festival. Tough break, huh. I'll have more information for you on Monday, but the short version is, I have a new client who is premiering a film during the Festival and I will be going out for the launch party on January 25th.

Speaking of Sundance, be sure to check out HP's Backstage At Sundance blog. Longtime readers will recall that I helped develop this blog two years ago. Last year, they started featuring videos of impromptu performances by musicians attending the festival, a tradition I believe they plan to continue this year. 

BlogHer Business and New Comm Forum are both fast approaching. At BlogHer, I will be speaking, including a case study from a client project. More on that when the agenda is published.  At New Comm Forum, I will be moderating an "Alumni" Panel during lunch on the first day. We are inviting attendees from previous years to share a social media/ new communications project or campaign that applied the knowledge they acquired at New Comm Forum. The criteria are pretty simple:

• you attended a previous New Comm Forum;
• your project was done sometime in the past 18 months and you are free to share information about it;
• you've never spoken at a previous New Comm Forum.

If this sounds like you, contact me at sgetgood@getgood.com or  twitter.com/sgetgood.

Finally, colleague and friend Kami Watson Huyse has a great post today -- an interview with John "Pat" Philbin, the senior communications person who took the heat for FEMA's fake press conference last fall. You can read it on her blog or listen to the full interview at For Immediate Release.

My virtual cupboard is now pretty bare. Meatier posts next week. Promise!

Tags: Torchwood, Battlestar Galactica, Backstage at Sundance, Sundance, BlogHer Business, New Comm Forum, FEMA, Kami Huyse, John "Pat" Philbin

Posted @ 5:01PM in BlogHer Business, Ethics, Science Fiction, Sundance | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

Jan 29, 2007

A spectators-eye view of Sundance: Interview with blogger/artist Evelyn Rodriguez

(long post)

I was lucky enough to have a long chat last week with writer/artist/saloniere/marketer Evelyn Rodriguez about her visit to the 2007 Sundance Film Festival.

Evelyn used to live in Salt Lake City, and attended the Festival many times as a spectator. She now resides in San Jose, California, and described this visit -- her first since 2003 -- as the first time she attended the Festival as an artist.

Among her many projects, she is working with Click.TV, an online video company that develops tools for video annotation, commentary and social interaction that make it easier to search and engage with segments of interest. "For instance, in a day-long congressional hearing, you can jump straight to the part that's on the bill that you're tracking. And then join in on an online interaction discussion at that timestamp about the issue."

She went to Sundance to find out what was up in the world of film, and most particularly video. She hoped to meet other people who were exploring the alternative medium of digital video. Even a low budget film costs at least $1 million, she said, but video is a different, more accessible world, with fewer barriers to entry. "I met people that teach a No Budget Film School, people working on social microfinancing to finance films, and people helping to film-makers self-distribute their films. I walked out of the X-Dance film, "Chasing the Lotus" ready to buy a DVD. There's got to be a way to capture that impulse."

She was somewhat surprised that when she told friends and acquaintances that she was going to Sundance, many replied they "don't go to Sundance anymore" because it is too commercial. While she agrees that the Festival has changed -- for example, she doesn't remember quite so many corporate lounges, which now effectively take over the Main Street storefronts during the Festival, she felt that Sundance still had something for everyone, from the avant garde to the nearly mainstream. And the fact that so many companies want to be associated with the Festival adds value; she cited two examples that enhanced her Festival experience: the Krups Café co-sponsored with Salt Lake Roasting Company at New Frontiers on Main which showcased video art installations, multimedia performances, panels, and a digital microcinema, and the Adobe/HP equipment demonstrations/workshops.

This year, Sundance has really embraced social media -- Second Life, YouTube and iTunes among other things. We talked at length about whether more people are or will now be aware of independent film as a result of blogs and other social media. Or I wondered, is it more a case of the "long tail" chasing itself?

Evelyn suggested, and I think she's on the right track, that perhaps in our age group (we are both in our early 40s), the same people are likely to be engaged with social media and interested in independent film, but in younger groups, say mid-20s, social media like YouTube et al are reaching a much broader, diverse audience. The fact that a film is classified independent may not even matter for the younger folks, who will just recognize that they saw something cool that they liked on a friend's MySpace page or in a YouTube clip.

Arin Crumley of "Four Eyed Monsters" grassroots indie fame was videoblogging Sundance this year on behalf of the Festival. While behind camera taping the Social Networking panel, he added how he'd engaged with Flickr, YouTube, MySpace, blogging and everything at his disposal to promote the video. Said Evelyn: "They even had visitors to their website vote for cities to show the film assuming if they had critical mass they could arrange a screening. One of the six 'cities' was Second Life. I myself watched "Strange Culture" at the New Frontiers microcinema while the film was simultaneously premiering in Second Life." She said the Q&A with the director and with subject Steve Kurtz of Critical Art Ensemble alternated between the live audience and the SL theater avatars.

Evelyn and I also discussed how social media is starting to change HOW we will see films. The only way for an artist to get his or her work seen won't be the local movie theater, whether it is the local 10 screen Cineplex or an art house. Only 120 films last year got theatrical release across the nation. Distribution business models are on the cusp of change. Online alternatives, the growth of digital video and the possibility of interaction with the story are blurring the lines between artist and audience. Stories won't necessarily have a beginning, middle and end, or even a script. For example, David Lynch's INLAND EMPIRE was shot 100% in digital video, and the script was written scene-by-scene as the taping unfolded. And Lynch is distributing it himself.

You also don't need a film school degree or expensive equipment for decent digital video. Evelyn believes that we will see more and more "regular folks" using video to tell interesting, impactful stories. While making a documentary film has been a lifelong goal, it didn't seem feasible to her until now. Soon, she'll embark on a digital video project that will start shooting in post-Katrina New Orleans in late February. She's also exploring the idea of communities, colonies, ensembles, collectives, and Salons of artistic creation -- bringing dancers, theater directors, writers, filmmakers, videographers, sculptors, social media visionaries and all sorts of people together in real as well as virtual space, to see how they stretch one another and push the edges of what's possible in social art and social video. "Online video feels like the earliest days of cinema to me. When people were so enthralled by its novelty, as one audience member said at the Web 2.0 panel, that even a clip of someone sneezing was engaging. So these are pretty exciting times to be exploring this medium."

And in the end, isn't that what Sundance is really all about? Inspiring us to share our creative vision with the world through the medium of film and moving pictures.

To read more from Evelyn, check out her blog, Crossroads Dispatches.

3-30-08 Comments closed due to spam attacks

Tags: Sundance, Backstage at Sundance, Evelyn Rodriguez, long tail

Posted @ 3:01PM in Sundance | Comments (0)

Jan 20, 2007

I'm Backstage at Sundance

In case any of you were wondering where I've been for the last week, and warning, where I am likely to be much of next week as well, I'm Backstage at Sundance.

Well not literally of course. I'm covering general news and monitoring the blogosphere for interesting Sundance tidbits for the HP blog, all from GetGood Strategic Marketing world headquarters in Hudson, Mass. But as we all know, there's only so much time to blog in any given week, so for the next little while, most of my writing will be over there, not here. And of course there's lots of great Sundance blogging from the folks on the ground at the festival -- film reviews, press conference reports, celebrity sightings. Be sure to check it out.

A few things I definitely want to note for my marketing and PR readers. I posted yesterday at Backstage about how Sundance is really embracing social media. In the last two weeks, they announced deals with iTunes and YouTube. Starting Monday, folks will be able to purchase short films from this year's festival on iTunes. And on YouTube, there's going to be a Sundance Channel section with all sorts of Sundance content -- festival coverage of course, but also clips from programming and so on. Not to mention the festival screenings being held in Second Life. More details and links in my post over at Backstage at Sundance.

HP is trying something new with the Backstage blog this year: "En Español." Many of the general posts as well as posts of interest to the Hispanic audience will be translated into Spanish. From HP Hispanic Marketing Manager Kathleen Haley's post today:

... we will have the most exciting entries about the festival, as well as specific entries that are relevant to the Hispanic market and our Hispanic readers -- whether that be a celebrity sighting, a great movie (Padre Nuestro or Summer Rain directed by Antonio Banderas) or a big event. Keep coming back to see the latest on HP and Sundance en Español!

Finally, regular readers know how strongly I feel about donating to charity, early and often. Friday at Sundance, actor Kevin Bacon announced a new charitable initiative that plays off the well known game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.

Together with Network for Good, Bacon has created  sixdegrees.org, a charitable community in which celebrities and regular folks alike share their favorite charity. When you donate to someone’s charity through sixdegrees.org, you can display a “badge” from the person whose charity you supported on your Web site or blog. Linking us all together by doing good.

You can read more about sixdegrees.org and Network for Good at the Diva Marketing blog and my Backstage post (updated).

Tags: Sundance, Backstage at Sundance, HP, Hewlett Packard, Network for Good, Kevin Bacon, Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, sixdegrees.org,  iTunes, YouTube, social media, Sundance Channel

Posted @ 7:01PM in Blogging, Charity, Sundance | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

Jan 15, 2007

HP Snapshot Diaries Contest

More client news.

As part of its Sundance activities, HP is holding a photo contest called Snapshot Diaries. Entrants submit 6-10 related photos with captions that tell a story. The winning entry will be turned into a short movie by film director Matt Pope like this one.

Grand prize is a trip for two to Sundance 2008 (airfare, hotel and event tickets), and there are three great runner up prizes of HP gear.

Contest begins today January 15, 2007 and ends January 28 2007. You can find all the details and rules at HP’s Sundance site, www.hp.com/go/sundance.  

From January 20 to February 20 on the Sundance Channel, you'll also be able to see Snapshot Diaries from eight Sundance Film Festival attendees -- actors, filmmakers, volunteers, agents, publicists -- who will document a day in their life at the Festival using an HP digital camera to create "snapshots."

I'm doing blogger outreach for the contest, focusing on parents and film aficionados. Spread the word :-)

Tags: HP, Sundance, Snapshot Diaries, Sundance Channel

Posted @ 7:01PM in PR, Sundance | Comments (0) | TrackBack (2)

Jan 4, 2007

Sundance, New Communications Forum and BlogHer

Whew. The holidays are over, so we can get back to work. And sanity. I still have some thoughts to share on the "Microsoft Vista-Edelman-bloggers get PCs" brouhaha of last week, but haven't had time to pull it all together the way I'd like as a commentary, so stay tuned for that.

However, I realized this morning that I have a bit of blog housekeeping to do. A few events that I am involved with are approaching, some faster than others, and I haven't said much about them. Until today.

First, the Sundance Film Festival is coming up later this month, and once again I am helping HP with the Backstage at Sundance blog. The blog is just getting restarted with previews of the Festival and should be in full swing by the time Sundance starts on January 18th. 

In March, I am speaking at two conferences. First, on March 8th, I'll be leading a session on Viral Marketing at the New Communications Forum in Las Vegas (March 7-9 at the Venetian). We still need case studies, good and bad, for the discussion, so if you are planning to attend, and have a project to share, there is plenty of room for one or two people to join us in the hot seats. Just email or call me.

Then at the end of March, I am doing a couple of things at BlogHer Business in New York City. On Thursday March 22, I'll be doing a blog case study interview with small business blogger Shirley Frazier and on Friday March 23, I'll be part of a session on blogger relations. And there is a whole lot more going on at the conference, so I urge you to check it out before early bird registration ends this month.

Tags: Sundance, New Communications Forum, BlogHer Business

Posted @ 11:01AM in BlogHer Business, Sundance, Travel | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Feb 17, 2006

HP Auction Results and Thanks

The HP Auction to benefit Habitat for Humanity ended last night. Top portraits in the Auction:

1. The Police (by Kevin Mazur), winning bid $1025
2. Jessica Biel, $640.16
3. The Beastie Boys, $505
4. Terrence Howard and Lucy Liu, both at $455
5. Kevin Smith, $405

HP is matching the winning bids on each portrait, up to $1000 each.

A huge thank you to all the fan site, forum and list owners who helped spread the word to their fellow fans. In particular, we are extremely grateful to Jessica Biel and www.jessebiel.com for including the auction in two emails to her fans.

And my personal thanks to blog pals, old and new, for mentioning the auction:

• Toby Bloomberg, Diva Marketing
• Elisa Camahort, Worker Bees
• John Cass, PR Communications
• Mack Collier, Beyond Madison Avenue
• Yvonne DiVita, Lip-Sticking
• Maria Niles, Fizz from Consumer Pop
• Betsy Palmieri, Contrary Valley
• Robyn Tippins, Practical Blogging

NOTE: June 3, 2007 -- Comments and Trackbacks closed on this post due to comment spam.

Posted @ 1:02PM in Blogging, Charity, Hurricane Katrina, Sundance | Comments (0)

Feb 13, 2006

Browster Promo, HP Auction, Presidential Potshot

From blog pal Elisa Camahort (Worker Bees), news of a Valentine's Day contest from her client Browster. Originally conceived of as a local contest for a V-Day dinner at a chic San Francisco restaurant, the company realized that dinner at a restaurant eliminated anyone not in the Bay Area. So it added three iPods as prizes. Well done! Check it out!

Three days left in the HP Charity Auction to benefit Habitat for Humanity. Lots of people are checking it out, but the bidding is slow. Please take a look -- if someone you know is in the market for an HP Photosmart printer, you might be able to get it at a good price, and help out a deserving charity. Plus you get a neat signed WireImage photo of a celebrity that you can keep or give as a gift or re-auction for that matter. Some of the celebs: Aaron Eckhart, Matt Dillon, Jennifer Aniston, Catherine Keener, William H. Macy, Al Gore and Terrence Howard.

Finally, tip of the hat to BL Ochman for the Dick Cheney Quail Hunt game. Nuff said.

Posted @ 7:02PM in Blogging, Charity, Holiday, Marketing, Sundance | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Feb 9, 2006

Auction Bargains!!

Just a quick update on the HP Charity Auction to benefit Habitat for Humanity.

Some pictures have certainly rocketed through the roof -- Jessica Biel, The Police and The Beastie Boys, but there are still bargains to be had, you fans of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Toni Collette, Aaron Eckhart, Daryl Hannah and Rufus Wainwright.

Please check it out and help spread the word -- with an email, a blog post, a phone call. Whatever you can do. More people means more bids means more money for Habitat for Humanity.

Thanks.

Posted @ 10:02PM in Charity, Sundance | Comments (0) | TrackBack (2)

Feb 7, 2006

Charity Auction Tips; the Make The Difference Network

The best thing about working on the HP Charity Auction for Habitat for Humanity is the people I meet doing the fan outreach. They are always so willing to help spread the word.

Today, as I was working away at my desk, I answered the phone and on the other end was Jon Biel. He's the father of actress Jessica Biel, one of the stars whose photo is in the auction.

He had found me through the Backstage at Sundance blog and my own Web site (helps to have a unique name!) and was calling to find out more about the auction so he could include it in an update to Jessica's mailing list.

He also wanted to introduce us to the Make The Difference Network, a web portal co-founded by father and daughter:

MTDN is a "National Wish List" where people who want to "Make The Difference" can search, find and fund specific "Wishes" and "Needs" that have been listed by nonprofit organizations. (from their home page)

I think they have a very cool idea. Smaller community charities can't muster the same support that the big charities do, in no small measure because they can't get the word out. Many companies want to help but they don't know where to start. This provides a forum for both funders and charities to find each other.

Just one more reason why I really love this project!

Speaking of the auction: as I posted the other day, the auction is live, and ready for bids. Please check it out. Some tips:

• Check when your auction ends. You MUST be at your computer when your auction ends. Otherwise, someone will jump in and just top your bid. There is a huge market for celebrity autographs, and a whole lot of savvy eBay vets. You must be in a position to place a closing bid in person if you really want to win.
• If you want the printer, and think buying it through the auction is a good way to also give back, good for you. A tip: some of our stars are really well known and their photos will go for a lot. Some of the prices are already climbing up there, and the auction has only been live for one day. Others are less well known, and you may be able to get a good deal. So, watch the auction and bid appropriately.

Tags: Charity, Sundance, Jessica Biel, Habitat for Humanity

Posted @ 9:02PM in Charity, Sundance | Comments (0) | TrackBack (1)

Feb 6, 2006

HP Charity Auction is Live

The HP Charity Auction to benefit Habitat for Humanity is live. Check it out.

Tags: Charity, Sundance

Posted @ 8:02PM in Charity, Sundance | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Feb 1, 2006

Roadmaps Round-up: a bit of everything

Tonight my three seven-week old Scottie puppies have decided to WAKE UP at 9 pm. I would post pictures but they won’t pose :-(  Maybe tomorrow.

Lot of interesting stuff this week. I’ll start with Robert Scoble’s post about bloggers clearly posting their contact details. While I draw the line at birthdate (TMI), I agree that site owners should publish contact information, whether blog, LiveJournal or  Web site. If you are worried about spam, there are enough email services (gmail, hotmail, yahoo etc) that you don’t have to expose your main email address.

I ran into this problem a lot in the last week as I started fan outreach for the HP Charity Auction. I have very specific rules about how this outreach is done: individually, and only to fansites or blogs that have recently been updated. We want to be sure that hearing about the auction truly is of interest to the site owner and readers. We also NEVER post directly to forums or bulletin boards. Which makes finding a valid email address or contact link really important. For the most part, this is pretty easy. But in some cases, I have to walk away from a site that probably would really like to know that a certain star’s photo is part of the auction because I just can’t find an email address. And that’s a shame.

The lesson for marketers? Make sure your prospects can easily find an email address on your site or blog. It’s probably the most important thing on your site.

Moving on. Fred Wilson on Web. 2.0 is an oxymoron.  Fred, as he so often does, has it dead to rights.  Calling “it” Web 2.0 implies something static (and something that can be hyped, yuck). The reality is, this “stuff” is constantly evolving. Labels just don’t work. Let’s move on.

Speaking of labels, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the latest “a-list” dust-up. You wanna know more – read Media Orchard, Naked Conversations and Beyond Madison Avenue. I am personally pretty much done with the topic. Not on it. Don’t care.

In the practical tips category, both Blog Business World and ProBlogger talked about Andy Wibbels’ blog editorial calendar. I haven’t used this particular tool, but I am a strong believer in an editorial calendar for business blogs, and most particularly group blogs. You have an objective for the effort, otherwise you wouldn’t be doing it. An editorial calendar ensures that the important topics are covered. Not as big a deal with an individual blog but I find that I follow something like a calendar anyway. In any given week, at least one post is a round-up (like this one), one is original content and the third (on a good week) is a toss-up between the two. Or I post a picture of the dogs or the kid :-)

If you don’t already read Jay Rosen’s PressThink, you should check out this post Guest Writer Andrew Postman: Introduction to the 20th Anniversary Edition of Amusing Ourselves to Death by His Dad, Neil Postman. There is an absolutely wonderful “easter egg” in Jay’s post. (Hint: click on Andrew Postman’s name – it’s not a link to his bio). And no cheating – I’m not going to put the link here – you have to go to the original. It’s that good. And not just for the “easter egg” – read the whole thing. It will make you think.

Speaking of thinking, a blog I am enjoying (and I don’t even remember where I got the first link to it) Dave Rogers’ Groundhog Day. One recent post: Competing Messages: Getting Your Cluetrain™ Ticket Punched. He concludes the post:

“As always, I'm an authority on nothing. I make all this shit up. Do your own thinking”

Yup. That’s a philosophy I can get behind :-)

Tags: Blogs, Blogging, Marketing, Web Marketing, Sundance

Posted @ 10:02PM in Blogging, Marketing, Sundance, Web Marketing | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Jan 29, 2006

Sundance ends, HP charity auction begins

Cross posted on Backstage at Sundance

Well, Sundance opened with “Friends with Money” and closed with “Alpha Dog.” There has to be a message in there somewhere – perhaps more than one. :-)

The awards were given last night – FilmBlab has the list  and all the corporate sponsors and beautiful people are packing up and going home. Returning Park City to the residents, skiers and boarders that normally make up the winter population.

It was nice to see so many films by and about women: the afore-mentioned “Friends with Money,” “Stephanie Daley,” and “Come Early Morning” among them. And to hear about films like “Little Miss Sunshine” that almost didn’t get made…. and then hit big. I’m also looking forward to “Thank You For Smoking,” the uncut version. :-)

Now that the film festival is over, the work on the HP Charity Auction to benefit Habitat for Humanity begins in earnest. My job, as I’ve mentioned before, is to reach out to the online fan bases of the celebrities who participated. They are, after all, pretty likely to want to bid on a signed poster and autographed photo printer of their favorite star.

UPDATE: Here's the complete list as of January 29th.

Jennifer Aniston (pictured with Catherine Keener)
Jessica Biel
Nick Cassavettes (“Alpha Dog” group photo) **Updated**
Nick Cave
Toni Collette
Matt Dillon
Aaron Eckhart
Ben Foster (“Alpha Dog” group photo) **Updated**
Gina Gershon
Al Gore
Daryl Hannah
Josh Hartnett
Emile Hirsch (“Alpha Dog” group photo) **Updated**
Terrence Howard
Catherine Keener (pictured with Jennifer Aniston)
Lucy Liu
William H. Macy
Joel Madden of Good Charlotte
Guy Pearce
Laura Prepon
Michael Rapaport
Kevin Smith
Amber Tamblyn
Justin Timberlake (“Alpha Dog” group photo) **Updated**
Wilmer Valderrama
Rufus Wainwright
John Waters
Anton Yelchin (“Alpha Dog” group photo) **Updated**
The Beastie Boys
The Police: Sting, Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers (photo only)

The eBay auction starts February 6th.  You can see thumbnails of most of the portraits on the WireImage site , and by the time the auction begins, you’ll be able to see images of the signed posters and printers on the auction site.  We’ll also be posting some of the images on Backstage at Sundance.

So, check it out, and pass the word!

Tags: Blogs, Blogging, Charity, Sundance

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Jan 28, 2006

Public Company PR: The issue of material disclosure

One of the things that happens when you have a time-sensitive project like the HP Sundance blog …. You end up blogging there a lot, and “at home” not at all. And a lot of interesting stuff has been piling up in my bloglines for “when I get around to it.”

So here’s the first issue that caught my attention when I wasn’t perusing WireImage for pictures of Jennifer Aniston, Wilmer Valderrama, Amber Tamblyn and Josh Hartnett for posts about the stars in the celebrity auction.

Todd at Topaz Partners and Amy Gahran of Contentious have been discussing whether press releases (and the newswires) are really required to meet SEC disclosure requirements for public companies.

The Topaz post that indexes a series of posts on the topic: Blog series: Press releases, public companies and blogs .

Amy’s post on same: Disclosure, Press Releases, and Life Support: Can We Pull that Plug After All?

So far, their conclusion is that yes, the wires are still probably the safest bet for a public company to guarantee compliance for material disclosures, but they seem to be moving to an argument that the form of the press release could change and the company would still be in compliance.

Here are some of my thoughts on the subject.

• Navigating the material versus non-material question is not easy, especially for smaller public companies. Sure, the financials and major corporate changes are easy. Material. New reseller. Not material. Unless it’s a major new channel for you and then it might be.  New product. Probably material. Product upgrade. Not material. Or maybe it is….if it is likely to affect your results materially. And so forth.
  
  There are a lot of gray lines when you get going and that’s why corporate communication directors at public companies (a job I have had more than a few times) have a tendency to treat everything with the same process as material news. It is safer, and in the total scheme of things, the fee for a release on pr newswire or business wire is WAY cheaper than the fines and damage to reputation of the firm if you’re wrong. 
  
  So, in order to really explore new methods for the dissemination of non-material news, we need a bit more clarity here. Until then, public companies are a bit stuck.
• I notice they are going to touch on audience in later posts. This is key, because one of the principal audiences for public company news is the financial markets. Financial analysts are trained, and I mean trained, to watch the wire. You have to go where the audience is, and deliver the info to them in a way they will understand. And they want to go to one place for every firm – not lots of different places for different companies. So, even though RSS delivers the info to them, if everyone isn’t using the same method, it’s more work for them.
• The press release. Anyone who does corporate communications for more than two minutes learns that the press release is almost irrelevant to the ultimate dissemination of the news. It satisfies disclosure requirements, and as I’ve written before, it has a form that we can easily decipher.
  
  It is important that it be well written but as far as reaching the media, the word gets out because you contact the right people with the information with the right “pitch.” And because you provide access to newsmakers, fact sheets, photos and other back-up materials that flesh out the story.
  
  I think we are asking an awful lot if we jettison the press release, and begin subjecting media to multiple different formats that make it harder to understand what is going on. And for some things (financials), the format is pretty well defined. For good reason. Creative approaches are generally frowned upon when it comes to financial results.
  
  Bottom line: we need a standard format for organizing the news. The press release works okay for me so I am in no hurry to replace it. But that doesn’t mean that it is the only thing I do to reach media (and other audiences) for clients.
• In this context, I look at the new media as simply another way to get the word out.  A blog can be very effective, but you still need your PR person, for a variety of reasons, not just to reach out to MSM. And you need your sales force or channel partners to reach out to end user customers. And so on.
  
  When an announcement is definitely NOT material, it makes sense to use a blog to start getting the word out. That’s exactly what we’ve been doing with the stars in the HP charity auction I’m working on right now.  A press release about the auction went out before Sundance started, and a PR person is doing her magic at Sundance. But we’re officially announcing each participant on the blog. Another press release won’t go out until the very end of the festival summarizing everything we’ve already announced on Backstage at Sundance.
  
  But the blog is not sufficient in and of itself. We’re still using regular PR outreach. And we still have to reach out to fans, which is a process of online research and individual emails to fan sites and blogs to let them know that their favorite celebrity’s signed photo is in the auction. And of course, remember when you reach out to bloggers and Web sites, you had better target your audience. Know that they’ll likely be interested in what you are sending, or it’s just spam.
  
  It is the sum of the activity, not any one activity, no matter how cool, that gets the result.

Anyway, I’m looking forward to more of their discussion. Check it out, and join in.

Tags: Blogs, Blogging, Charity, Sundance, PR, Public Relations, Marketing

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Jan 24, 2006

More about Sundance blog and charity auction

HP's Backstage at Sundance blog is progressing nicely. The bloggers are doing a great job sharing their experiences at the festival. And I am having a blast pulling WireImage pictures to accompany our posts about stars who've agreed to participate in the charity auction.

For me, the fact that we are announcing who is participating in the auction on the blog is pretty much the most exciting thing about the blog.

Yes, you read that right: HP is using a blog as a primary method to disseminate news. Now, granted, not news related to its core business, and definitely news well suited to online outreach. And we are also doing PR outreach in the traditional fashion.  But there won’t be a traditional press release about the auction participants until the festival is over, whereas we are releasing the names of the stars on the blog as they join.

Bottom line, in my opinion, it is a very positive step forward when a big company “gets it” in any fashion, large or small.

And the blog is about more than the auction; the HP employees who are its principal writers are on the ground in Park City as volunteers and staff for HP’s many activities throughout the festival. They are blogging about being there, who they meet, where they eat. And so on...

I particularly wanted to alert my readers to the auction. Of course, some of the stars are very well known like Jennifer Aniston and The Police (!) and their pics will probably sell for a lot (or at least they will if I do my job!). But some are less well known, if equally talented, and it is possible to get a cool picture and a cool printer for a decent price that also benefits charity. What could be better than that! Last time, I bid on (and won) the picture and HP printer signed by Alan Cumming. We love the printer and the picture is going in my son’s room (Alan Cumming was in X-Men 2.)

Check it out. Tell them I sent you :-)

Tags: Blogs, Blogging, Charity, Sundance

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Jan 19, 2006

Sundance, HP and me

As some of you know, last fall, I helped HP promote a charity auction of celebrity signed photos and printers from the Toronto Film Festival.

Well, we’re back :-)

HP is a presenting sponsor at the Sundance Film Festival, which opened today, and is doing the auction again, this time to benefit Habitat for Humanity.

As a sponsor, HP has a lot of activity at the festival – from providing the technology backbone to the entire festival, as well as all the festival “printables” (posters, signs, and so forth) to a pretty neat consumer promotion where attendees can win HP digital photography gear. Plus of course, the HP Portrait Studio produced by WireImage, where all the celebrities come to get their portraits done.

As part of the overall Sundance effort, HP decided to do a blog. With all the staff and volunteers on the ground in Park City, we had all the makings of a cool blog: stuff going on and people there to write about it.

So, Backstage at Sundance was born:

The Backstage at Sundance blog is your backstage pass to what’s happening at Sundance. HP is a presenting sponsor at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, and a group of HP employees have agreed to blog all about it. So those of us who can’t be there will feel like we are! Everything from what’s happening on the streets of Park City to interviews with the stars coming into the WireImage Portrait Studio, to film reviews, to a backstage look at the HP technology that’s powering the festival. It will all be here! Plus, the blog will have the first look at the celebrity photos that will be available in our charity auction on eBay in February.

I helped HP with the blog’s editorial development including helping them clarify the overall objectives of the blog, training the bloggers (most of them new to the medium) on general blogging principles, giving them some general guidance on what “blog what you experience” means, identifying  “beats” such as film reviews and Portrait Studio reports, and generally supporting the writer-volunteers. I also am blogging for them (from a distance unfortunately) during the festival and auction, mostly about things I find on the ‘net about Sundance.

Our hope was that the bloggers’ excitement at being at Sundance would permeate their writing, and from initial reports, I know it will. I spoke to one of the bloggers this morning and she was jazzed! She had arrived in Park City last night, and already had about four blog posts in her head from people she had met everywhere from the airport to the shuttle to the restaurant at dinner!! She just needed to get online and write the posts!!

And that’s the key – real people will be blogging from Sundance all about their experiences. HP products may be mentioned, but the bloggers have been told that there is absolutely no requirement to ever mention a product. It fits what you want to write, go for it. It doesn’t, that’s fine too. A fun, entertaining blog will enhance the HP brand far more than a bunch of posts about products. 

Some of the things we blog you may be able to read elsewhere. And some you won’t. For example, the PortraitStudio is not open to the public; Backstage at Sundance is the only place you’ll be able to get behind the scenes. As well as get a first look at which celebrity portraits will be in the auction.

And for me, that is one of the key parts of the blog. I will again be doing the fan outreach for the charity auction once we know which celebrities have agreed to participate. Having an active blog really helps set the stage.

So: if you are interested in the Sundance Film Festival or think you might want to bid in a charity auction to benefit Habitat for Humanity, please check out Backstage at Sundance !!!

Tags: Blogs, Blogging, Charity, Sundance

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