Sojo Lounge

2012-02-07T12:18:00.002-05:00

Sojo, Inc.'s Super Bowl Ads Countdown

10. Go Daddy .com

9. Audi

2012-02-07T12:15:00.005-05:00

8. M&M

7. Coca -cola

2012-02-07T12:12:00.002-05:00

6. Eternal optimism

5. Best Buy

2012-02-07T11:48:00.001-05:00

4. Chevy

3. history Channel

2012-02-07T11:42:00.003-05:00

2. Chevrolet

1. Kia

The ideas, trends and innovations behind the world's most revolutionary marketing strategies in 2011

2011-12-14T17:22:00.001-05:00

Once a year the team at Contagious Magazine rounds up the highlights, tell you what's important and why, and push it out to the world, for free.

The Most Contagious in 2011. The team at Contagious Magazine spends their days finding, filtering and reviewing the most innovative exercises in branding, technology, and popular culture, and delivering their collective wisdom to their subscribers. http://www.mostcontagious.com

The social media challenge for consumer packaged goods brands

2011-11-17T19:12:00.001-05:00

by Martin Bishop

Director, Brand Strategy, Landor

The brands generally acknowledged as social media stars—Starbucks, Nike, Zappos, and the like—have something most CPG brands don’t: deep and engaging relationships with consumers.

This allows them to take advantage of social media opportunities: creating strong communities, setting up Facebook pages people will “like,” and having content generated by an avid tribe of followers. When a brand reaches a certain level of consumer engagement, it can spend its time nurturing supporters, nudging and channeling their social media activity.

Though every CPG brand might wish to be loved so intensely, few reach the top of the relationship ladder. When you come right down to it, who wants a relationship with a bar of soap? Or as one commenter put it, responding to a blog post on the death of branding: “They buy something to drink because they’re thirsty. Not because they f****ng LOVE Coke!”

Simply mimicking the behavior of brands that have highly engaged audiences doesn’t work; social media applications have to be aligned with the strength of a brand’s consumer relationships. There are too many examples right now of brands assuming that their customers care about them when the reality is that most customers couldn’t care less. Read Martin's full article...

How to Succeed On Social Media

2011-10-02T23:13:00.001-04:00

For the next14 business days, beginning Monday, October 3, 2011, we will provide you withbest practices to help you succeed with social media.

Best Practise#1 - Mission and Purpose: Know your existing audience and those you’re tryingto reach, then design a mission and purpose for each social network. What workswith facebook may not work with twitter. Remember those fans you have onfacebook may not be your followers on twitter. Create a mission and purpose foreach network. This should be no more than three sentences!

Facebook to be reborn TODAY… Facebook once again will change the world of social media!

2011-09-22T00:31:00.001-04:00

Ok, so now you must know that Facebook’s goal is not tohave more users – it’s now over a whopping 750 million! But instead their maingoal is to become the socialentity that supports, powers and connects all and everything on the web. Nomatter who, what, why, where. Facebook will move forward in achieving that goalthis Thursday (September 22, 2011 at its f8 conference in San Francisco.

In recent times Facebook launched three defining changes: theyrevamped Friend Lists, a real-time new ticker, and the subscribe button. Friend Lists lets you share contentwith only your closest friends, and the ticker lets you have real-timeconversations with your friends. Subscribe lets you fill your News Feed withpeople you admire and respect.

On Thursday, Facebook will be reborn.Prepare yourselves for the evolution of social networking as Facebook roll out anew phase designed to enhance the emotional connection its users have to eachother through Facebook.

Tell me what you think of the newchanges.

Rob Janoff, the Apple logo designer speaks out about the logo

2011-09-14T19:09:00.000-04:00

The Apple logo is one of the most famous logos in the world.People tattoo themselves with this logo and have serious relationships with it.It has not changed in 30 years and may go on for another 30 with no drasticchanges. Read the interview with Rob Janoff and share your comments. Read more...

Keeping it social: A 10-step guide to developing a social media process that can be applied to any organization.

2011-08-01T13:20:00.002-04:00

Over the past couple of years, social media has emerged as a marketing game changer that puts customers back at the centre of the organisation and provides marketers with a new set of tools to listen to and converse with these consumers and to encourage them to engage with their brands.

In their recently published book,Marketing Communications - Integrating Offline and Online With Social Media Today (Kogan Page, 2011), PR Smith and Ze Zook point out that social media is not just a marketing tool, it's a new way of running a business that requires a new company culture.

The following is a 10-step guide to help marketers get to grips with developing a social media process is reproduced from the book.

Step 1: Start monitoring and listening
A social media audit establishes an organization’s reputation (and your competitors' reputations). Develop a comprehensive monitoring strategy to discover the issues: what can have an impact on your brand?; the influencers in your marketplace; the platforms or places where your customers (and influencers) congregate (the influential networks, including blogs, discussion groups and other social networks); and, the opinions customers have about your product, your company and the competition. If your brand or industry discussions are focused on one or two platforms, this makes it easier to concentrate your efforts.

Step 2: Set priorities and goals, and don't try to cover all social media outlets
It is not possible to engage in all conversations everywhere. Pick the more important ones initially. Not all online conversations have the same impact. Identify the more important ones. Learn when and when not to engage. Have clearly defined objectives and know exactly what you are trying to achieve with social media (ie, reposition the company, develop relationships, establish the brand as credible, grow awareness, etc).

Step 3: Agree key messages
Have crystal-clear messages. Be ready to engage with the target audience in a meaningful way (give them what's relevant and important to them). What topics and key phrases does the organization want to be associated with? Prepare canned messages for a range of issues or situations so they can be tailored easily. Show the team how to create links, back links and retweets. Share guidelines for what is and isn't appropriate.

Step 4: Develop good content - help and share
Your content has to be valuable; otherwise you're just shouting or 'making noise'. You have to be prepared to help and share good content. Do not sell primarily. Sales may follow good content. Social media is not a direct marketing tool. Share articles, presentations and videos that are relevant - these can be yours or someone else's (as long you credit them and link to them). Only add comments to other discussions if you are being helpful and relevant.

Step 5: Recruit and train the team of spokespeople
Whether it's a blog, a Twitter account or a YouTube channel, you need to identify who is in the team, ie, who has permission to write a blog post or a tweet or upload a video. Who handles responses? Is it certain people for certain issues? Is it one spokesperson or several? Equally, who monitors what? Who reports to whom? Once you have your team trained, brief the rest of the organization. Share the strategy with the whole organization.

Step 6: Commit time and resources
You need a consistent stream of useful content. Don't just dabble. This requires clear briefings, training and motivation, which in turn requires resources. Monitoring requires resources also, whether you use an outside agency or do it in-house. Once you start proving the value of social media, you should find it easier to allocate resources to it.

Step 7: Constantly promote social media
Just as all organizations now promote their websites in everything they do, so, too, should social media be promoted. Announce your Twitter handle (name), Facebook page or LinkedIn profile at every opportunity. Add it to all the company's email signatures and collateral. Announce it at conferences and news releases. Add the details to slides, news releases and the letterhead. List it on your website. Post all presentations on your social media sites. In fact, all offline communications should be integrated with social media, ie, Twitter, blogs and Facebook announcements about an upcoming conference. Videos and photos of the event and speeches can be uploaded to YouTube and Flickr respectively.

Step 8: Integrate online and offline events
The online social media team or consultancy needs to work more closely with the offline team, as it needs to know what marketing events are happening in advance. As the website is a conduit, it can get more bang for its buck if it is integrated, ie, brief video production companies and photographers as to what formats and style are needed for web use. A shared schedule of events or an outline plan to allow the integration and leverage of various marketing assets onto social media platforms (like ads, promotions, videos, etc) is essential.

Step 9: Plan for success
Although it may take some time to build up your networks and followers, be prepared for a sudden influx of comments, visitors and enquiries. This is a nice problem to have. However, if the organisation cannot handle the incoming web traffic with its comments and enquiries, it could end up generating a lot of negative PR. Develop credibility before raising visibility.

Step 10: Measure, measure, measure
Don't play Russian roulette by (up)loading your message, pushing or spinning it out and then closing your eyes and hoping for the best. Watch the analytics. See if traffic has spikes as a result of any particular posting. What posts generate a buzz? One new discussion on an e-marketing group in LinkedIn generated more than 2,000 responses. It was called 'Social media is crap', and had a detailed post of why the person felt it didn't work. Watch what generates visitors, conversions and good comments (as opposed to negative comments).

This article originally appeared in Marketing Age, Volume 5, Issue 2, 2011

Clash of the Titans-The Social Network Wars

2011-07-12T19:12:00.011-04:00

By Parashar Bhatt

Just a couple of weeks ago, Google launched its 4th attempt to enter the social networking space with Google Plus. Do you Remember Orkut, Wave, and Buzz? Not surprised you don’t because Google failed to grab a successful stake on the social network platform with these first 3 attempts. But this is the first social launch since Larry Page took over as CEO and declared that social was a major battleground.

Google+ is based around the idea of circles. A circle is group of friends. Circles can upload and share content, update each other, even participate in a little group texting. On Google Plus, you can engage in spontaneous video chat by announcing to your circle of friends, acquaintances and followers that you are virtually hanging out. This "hangout" feature gives Google a crucial early advantage over Facebook, where video calling is a one-on-one, PC-to-PC affair.

So just when you think that Google+ has an advantage offering features that Facebook lacks, the world’s largest social network introduces video calling made possible through a partnership with Skype. Not even ten days have lapsed since Google announced its social networking product, and Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerberg played the master strategy of killing two birds with one stone by announcing the Facebook Skype tie-up. The first one is pretty obvious, which is getting close to Google's worst enemy Microsoft. How you ask? Microsoft bought Skype last month for $8.5 Billion! *insert dramatic music* The second is for Facebook, who is not to be underestimated, to play the role of the kingmaker in the clash of the titans.

Let's face it. Facebook can never really be what Microsoft or Google really is. Social networking has its limitations and a peak beyond which it just cannot go. But in this battle, the Yahoos, Twitters and Facebooks of the world play a very crucial role, that of deciding who wins and who loses or who gets on top and who remains the underdog.

Google versus Microsoft is a saga that can be compared to none in the history of enterprise. While in the earlier times corporate battles were fought over years or even decades, this is probably the first time a startup, Google, challenged the then mightiest company on earth, Microsoft and in less than 5 years of its launch Google became enemy no. 1 for Microsoft. Not many companies have enjoyed the success Google got so easily. It wasn't competing just on products, Google shook the very foundation on which the software enterprise model was based on. It changed the rules of the game. Facebook did the same for social networking, something Google and Microsoft tried many times but couldn't succeed.

Facebook holds power for its mass appeal and is the real thorn for Google. No one even came close to Google in terms of advertising. Google has literally become an advertising mogul. Google's growth is fueled by advertising. Its war ammunition is supplied by the advertisers to fight Microsoft. Problem now is that Facebook is a far superior platform for advertising. Reason for this is the profiling of users. Based on Geography, Interests, Demographics and the minutest detail no one comes even close to Facebook. They have the masses and the absolutely stunning profiling of its users.

In simple words, Facebook has the masses and the stickiness to attract the advertisers. What can hurt Google the most is the advertisers leaving Google for Facebook. The Facebook and Skype association is probably the best missile Microsoft has so far. It's time Google did some overhauling and rewired its thinking, which did work at one time, if its wants to survive. For now Facebook and Microsoft have the lead and a huge one at that. Touché, Zuckerberg, touché.

What do you think of the Google Plus? Who will come out on top? Share your thoughts.

The Sunday Times Launches the Social List The List Will Unveil the World's Most Influential Social Networkers

2011-05-20T15:07:00.003-04:00

This week, The Sunday Times launched The Sunday Times Social List at http://www.the-social-list.com, an ever evolving list of who's who in the world of social networking.
The information will be drawn from the biggest social networks - Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Foursquare, - The Sunday Times Social List system adds up your social networking activity and measures how much interest it generates amongst your friends and colleagues in order to work out how well you score.
It’s free to join, participants need to simply link up with the social networks they use and want to be included. Every morning The Sunday Times Social List will make its calculations.
People's results will change daily as new people join and scores are updated.
On the results page you can see a list of the top 2000 most socially wealthy people at any given time. You can also see how you compare with friends and colleagues who have also signed up.
To help people see where they are in the grand scheme of things, they are allocated a rank when they join and a badge that goes with it.
May the best tweeter win!

More than 30 Social Media Stats on Video - Transformed All our Lives

2011-03-30T18:13:00.009-04:00

From Erik Qualman's Blog

I AM AN EARLY LINKEDIN ADOPTER

2011-03-28T21:54:00.002-04:00

I earned my bragging rights today for being an early adopter to LinkedIn. After announcing earlier this week that it passed the 100 million user mark, professional networking site LinkedIn sent emails to its early users on Saturday, March 26, 2011 thanking them and telling them exactly when they joined.

I received my e-mail from LinkedIn Co-Founder and Chairman, Reid Hoffman on Saturday and although I was one of 1 million recipients I realized once again how dead on I was in predicting the social media phenomena. I happened to be member number 530915 in fact!* The email, signed by LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman himself says “In any technology adoption lifecycle, there are the innovators, those who help lead the way. That was you.” This email also served as a reminder of how quickly social media spreads – in just a few years you can go from 1,000,000 followers to more than 100,000,000.

Four Ways To Get Your Legal Department On Your Side When Implementing Social Media Strategies

2011-03-24T14:08:00.004-04:00

It always helps to approach your legal department with a written document that outlines a social media plan that will already have accounted for any concerns they might have as to the risk of being active in the social media space.
Even slow industries are getting their feet wet in the social media space. Subtle remind your legal department that being slow to adopt gives your competitors the edge – but DO NOT forget that once you turn on the social media facet you can’t just turn off the tap!
Work with your legal department to come up with a plan for dealing with the risks that might come to pass. Don’t just avoid social media – having a plan always works.
Help your legal team understand that using social media can help protect your company in many ways, from the risk of your brand eroding in the public’s eyes as well as being misunderstood.

Old Spice Social Campaign Case Study

2011-03-01T10:33:00.002-05:00

Old Spice Social Case Study from Digital Buzz on Vimeo.

How did they ever make a Facebook movie?

2011-02-03T19:33:00.003-05:00

Here are the links to the four parts of the behind the scenes documentary:

Six Most-Viewed Ads of 2010 on You Tube

2010-12-28T16:34:00.006-05:00

Job Openings at Sojo

2010-11-10T22:49:00.002-05:00

Do you dream in digital? Sojo is seeking people who are imaginative, ambitious and passionate about what they do. We are looking for people who are willing to learn and to teach and are curious knowledge seekers and fluent in the technologies that define our world today and are shaping our future. If you're a communicator and creative and you understand how the Web connects us, and if you're a unique talent, a visionary, an experimenter, and you're looking for an environment that lets you shine – then you maybe meant to work with us!

We know that everything we are and everything we achieve is because of the people who work with us.

Here at Sojo we value and reward superior performance; for intelligent people who think and act creatively; and for people who want to have fun, please contact us.

Open Job Positions:

Mistakes organizations make using social media networks

2010-07-01T13:20:00.001-04:00

Even if your company is firing off tweets every hour and constantly tending to its Facebook page, how do you know if it's working? Before getting your organization to use social media you should first decide how to measure your efforts and what characterizes success. Is it the number of hits on your organization's Web site, is it the number of fans on your facebook – what are the metrics?

Here are a few mistakes organizations make:

Not Every Organizations needs Social Media

Not every organization needs a facebook and twitter. Analyze your individual needs and figure out what you are trying to achieve and the audience you would like to reach. Maybe you should be on LinkedIn instead of facebook and twitter. A government contractor may need to connect with key government allies while a night club may want to attract more clientele.

Don’t leave it up to the intern

You should NOT handover your social media responsibilities to the most inexperienced staff members. Your organizations social media strategy should be implemented by someone who posses strong communication skills, understands your organization’s message and vision and is not shy when dealing with the public. Social media is after all about being social and personal.

The conversation has to be on a two way street

Social media communication like any relationship should be conducted on a two way street. Organizations too often see using social media tools as just another way to push out information. Bombarding people with advertisements or press releases won't earn you many followers, it’s all about engaging your audience in dialogue.

You must follow up after the connection

Your organization should not bring people together then abandon them with no follow up. Use social networks like Facebook to continue the engagement on a regular basis with those who attend your organization’s big conference or event.

Starbucks beats all consumer brands on social media

2010-06-10T18:29:00.012-04:00

Starbucks’ huge Facebook audience makes it the highest-ranking brand on social media, according to a ratings study done by London-based Famecount, a media measurement service that aggregates popularity across social media channels.

Coca-Cola pulled in second, but Famecount ranks it well behind Starbucks. Whole Foods came in at No. 3, based almost entirely on its 1.7 million followers on Twitter.

2010-05-02T23:06:00.006-04:00

BP Oil Spill and Social Media

As one would expect, BP is taking a severe beating in social media right now, when consumers vent their frustration with the effects of the disaster. On Twitter, thousands of tweets are currently being published mentioning BP in connection with the oil spill. Many of them are also directly addressing BP’s US corporate Twitter account with angry comments, suggestions and questions. More...

2010-04-25T21:48:00.003-04:00

Obama Fights Goldman With Social Media - Forbes.comhttp://www.forbes.com/2010/04/22/obama-g...And he's winning. Corporate image managers--especially those at Goldman Sachs--have a lot to learn from the administration's Web savvy.

2010-04-11T20:59:00.003-04:00

More and more businesses are biting that bullet and getting involved with social media and employing agencies and or individuals to implement their social media strategies. It involves sending out tweets, posting messages on Facebook and constantly carrying a camera to get video on YouTube. more...

2010-02-07T23:33:00.003-05:00

Click Here to Watch All the Super Bowl XLIV Spots.

Social Media Making News and Changing the World - Haiti - U. S. Army - The Vatican

2010-01-25T11:55:00.016-05:00

Social Media Among Haiti's First Responders

In the aftermath of natural disasters, first responders are partnering with software developers and other tech experts to help in humanitarian efforts.

Guest host Audie Cornish speaks to NPR's social media manager Andy Carvin about hacking events called "Crisis Camps," taking place in Washington, D.C., and other cities Saturday. Listen Now…

Source: NPR

The U. S. Army Launches a Social Media Website

The U.S. Army has launched a new social media website for Army personnel.

A new Facebook-like social media site aimed at the U.S. Army tech community aims to make discussion of sensitive information easier and safer.

Called milBook, the new networking tool offers a centralized location for Army personnel to discuss military topics that were previously done through potentially insecure emails, chats, wikis and blogs.

Since its launch in October 2009, 18,000 users have signed up for MilBook. Like Facebook, MilBook users can choose what information they want to share. MilBlog allows users to share news, photos, ideas and insights in real-time. Want to Know More…

Pope Encourages Priests to Blog, Vatican Hops on Social Media Train

The most digital-savvy Pope in history has called for Catholic clergy everywhere to reach out to the masses via blogging and social media. Pope Benedict XVI released a message to priests explaining the difficulty in communication due to a shift from traditional means to online means of conversation. The Pontiff urged priests to spread the Gospel by not only blogging, but by taking advantage of the many multimedia sharing options available now. Pope Benedict is leading by example by utilizing YouTube in his spread-the-word campaign. Want to Know More…

Before launching a new product use the Monkey

2009-12-08T14:44:00.001-05:00

Approaching a project without the proper input from the right people or the intended target audience can be disastrous. Fortunately, there are a few ways to getting critical feedback before finalizing on a project or before putting a new product on the market.

SurveyMonkey.com is an excellent online source to quickly get the opinion of friends, family and consumers about almost anything. It’s faster than approaching random people to receive feedback about a particular product and it’s great if you need quick input from buddies that are half way around the world. Basically, you create a form with a few questions that pertain to your project. You can send the form to whomever you desire and the results are accessible through your account on SurveyMonkey.com.

The above image shows two new packages that are being considered for Camels’ cigarettes. They have involved the consumer by giving them the option of voting for their favorite new package design.

Many companies setup booths in public settings to perform a competitive and comparison analysis for new products. This can be achieved by taste testing if the product is food or studying how the consumer interacts with a new product can provide valuable information. Often companies compare their products to a competitor’s product with hopes that their brand will be in favor with the consumer. Tropicana probably could’ve avoided their recent failure of rebranding their juice carton, if they would have used an online survey to get the valued opinion of the consumer. Ultimately we have to please the consumer; therefore, Tropicana made the decision to return to their original juice carton design.

Social Media and Thanksgiving

2009-11-24T17:12:00.002-05:00

What says Thanksgiving in 2009 – family, turkey, sweet potatoes, football, fall leaves and twitter and facebook!!

Did you say Twitter and Facebook!! Social media adds a whole new twist to the holidays. All the information and what to do when traveling, cooking preparations to festivities.

Check out these social media treats!
@butterball on Twitter
twitter.com/butterball
Just in case you need help preparing your thanksgiving meal – please check out @butterball on Twitter with actual instructions on how to prepare dinner, gift card giveaways, recipes for stuffing and more.

Google gives everyone FREE Wi-Fi for the holidays
freeholidaywifi.com/
Thank you Google! The company announced last week it's working with airports across the country to provide free WiFi as a holiday gift through Jan. 15. It's currently available in 47 airports.

Thanksgiving on Facebook
bit.ly/thanksg
Thanksgiving on Facebook! Check out this page and write anything you want about the holidays, from recipes, to loving memories of your holiday. Lots of awesome recipes!

Wi-Fi body scale
withings.com
A Wi-Fi scale. Yes, I said it. This scale connects to the Internet so you can keep track of what you eat - pound by pound. There’s also an iPhone app to go with it. You can tweet your progress too!

Please Tweet me with helpful thanksgiving and social media tips I might have missed. http://twitter.com/sojoinc

Google Wave - The email Killer

2009-10-27T14:15:00.011-04:00

E-mail as we know it is based on the snail-mail format: you send a message; your friend receives it. Google Wave makes mail collaborative and instant. When you type a message to a friend, he or she sees what you're typing as you type it. You can jump in and start drafting a reply before the initial message is complete. Google Wave also lets users collaborate on editable documents, called Wikis, share photos, update blogs, set appointments and chat in big groups. You can add conference calls to a Wave. A translation function called Rosy will translate chat messages between languages as you write.

Watch How Google Wave Works

Twin brothers Lars and Jens Rasmussen are the brains behind Google Wave.

Jens Rasmussen is a member of Google's technical staff, currently based in the Sydney office, and with his brother Lars is co-founder of the Google Wave effort. In early 2003, the brothers co-founded a mapping start-up, Where 2 Technologies, which was acquired by Google in October of 2004. Jens joined Google and worked as one of the lead engineers in the team that turned this acquisition into Google Maps, now used by millions of people around the world.

Lars Rasmussen is a member of Google's technical staff, based in the Sydney office, and with his brother Jens is co-founder of the Google Wave effort. In early 2003, the brothers co-founded a mapping start-up, Where 2 Technologies, which was acquired by Google in October of 2004. Lars joined Google and worked as one of the lead engineers in the team that turned this acquisition into Google Maps, now used by millions of people around the world.

Coca-Cola’s “Open Happiness” Campaign Is Using Social Media

2009-10-26T10:25:00.003-04:00

Coca-Cola is taking an interesting and bold approach towards social media and is using it to engage its supporters worldwide. The soft drink giant will be sending three bloggers to more than 200 countries in a year to find out what makes people happy as part of their “Open Happiness” campaign.

It’s all part of Coca-Cola’s Expedition 206 - www.expedition206.com. As of today there are only 11 days left to vote for your favorite team to have the privilege to travel the world to 206 countries within 365 days in 2010 where Coca-Cola is sold.
Adam Brown, director of Coca-Cola’s Office of Digital Communications and Social Media explains: “It’s about telling the story that involves Coca-Cola, that involves the attributes of what Coca-Cola is about, optimism and joy.”

To top it all off Coca-Cola will cover the bloggers’ travel expenses and plus pay them a salary. The bloggers will go from country to country in record speed and blog about their experiences. As Coca-Cola consumers you have the opportunity to suggest a to-do-list for the bloggers to check as the expedition unfolds.

I hope my favorite wins!

Now thru November 6, fans can visit expedition206.com and vote for which team of Ambassadors will get the chance to take this unbelievable trip!

Disney is Transforming Its U.S. Stores –Disney will spend about $1 million a store to redecorate, reorganize and install interactive technology

2009-10-18T20:39:00.005-04:00

Disney has teamed up with Apple’s Steve Jobs and his retail team to turn its stores into entertainment destinations. Disney plans to revamp all of its 340 U.S. stores, complete with theaters where children can watch clips from their favorite Disney films. Visitors can use interactive displays and book a Disney Cruise.

Disney claims the new look, branded “Imagination Park,” is going to be unveiled in spring of 2010 in the New York area. Steve Jobs, who has been on the Disney board since 2006, provided the company with proprietary information about the development and operation of Apple’s high-tech and highly successful stores.

“It’s about making this an experience rather than just picking up a toy,” said Disney rep Shawn Turner. “We want them to leave feeling like they had the full Disney experience. They don’t necessarily need to go to the park to have that experience, they can get it at the local mall.”

Bates said that the challenge is to balance the active experiences of interacting with the brand with the more passive experiences of buying products. The Soho Apple store in New York has done this successfully, he said. “You have to make sure that the activities are reinforcing the core brand message, and that they are not just enhancing the store experience, but they’re reinforcing the bigger brand message,” said Bates. “You have to build a brand experience that’s enriching enough in its own right, but also amplifies that experience after they leave the store.”
Read More on the Disney Interactive Stores in the New York Times

Ford Goes Zero to 60 on Social Media

2009-10-13T01:58:00.004-04:00

Zero to 60: Ford’s Social Media Story, by Scott Monty; presented by GasPedal and the Social Media Business Council from GasPedal on Vimeo.

Social Media and the Generation Gap

2009-10-08T13:10:00.001-04:00

Today’s teens are aware of Twitter but are certainly not using it. Thanks to Britney Spears and Ashton Kutcher – they know what it is but are not interested in it or other micro-blogging tools – as you well know with teens this can change at any time. Instead teens are crazy about Facebook and spend a heck of a lot of time micro-blogging about their status. They constantly update their friends on what they are doing and enjoying. The primary forms of communication tools today are: text messages, video/Skype, IM, and Facebook.

As for email – I am yet to meet a teen that is hooked on email – in fact not many people under 20 use email. They use email only as a tool to respond to something related to work or to set up accounts on social media sites. As teen parents and grandparents become more involved in social media - email becomes less relevant.

Another distinct difference with teens and their parents and grandparents – is privacy. Although teens care about their privacy they do so differently than the previous generation. When their parents go out of town they have the lights set to come on and off automatically and have a friend get their mail – on the other hand teens broadcast to the world their whereabouts.

Ben & Jerry's New Social Cause - Hubby Hubby Ice Cream

2009-09-15T09:16:00.003-04:00

Ben & Jerry’s has always carried a social message important to its founders. They are known for their euphoric ice cream flavors and dedication to social justice. They refused milk from cows injected with growth hormones before it became the trend, but because it was the right thing to do. They continue to use as much local milk as possible, supporting many Vermont farmers.

Ben & Jerry’s celebrates the beginning of the freedom to marry for gay and lesbian couples in Vermont with the symbolic renaming of its well-known ice cream flavor “Chubby Hubby” to “Hubby Hubby.” In partnership with Freedom to Marry, Ben & Jerry’s hope is to raise awareness of the importance of marriage equality and, to show its support, by offering “Hubby Hubby” sundaes in Vermont Scoop Shops throughout the month of September.

The packaging features a wedding cake with two happy grooms perched on top. A campaign supporting the renaming says: “Now more than ever, Vermont is for lovers…and for lovers of marriage equality.”
I am anxious to see how this plays out for the Ben & Jerry’s brand as this is directly related to the brand itself. People know Ben & Jerry’s to be a socially conscious company, but this is new territory even for them. Consumers choose a brand based on their ability to identify with that brand. They buy a particular brand only because it feels right for them - as if it was specially made for them. For the past two presidential elections legalizing gay marriage has been a hot topic; one that even liberals are known to shy away from. Most Americans do not believe in same sex marriage and are pretty vocal about it. How many people will want to buy the gay marriage ice cream?

It will be interesting to watch how Ben & Jerry’s more conservative customers react to this. Although it’s a new age, especially one for social networking – Twitter and facebook and many companies use this avenue to dramatize their message. But will Hubby Hubby fall by the wayside just because of the association? Will the overall brand be in danger because of its link to the issue? There is also the chance that it will pay off for Ben & Jerry’s after all how many ice cream makers are as outspoken about social causes.
Let’s see what happens.

The Mommy Blogger Debate

2009-08-19T13:12:00.002-04:00

So much media coverage on the Mommy Blog-Ola – I had to put my two sense in.

First off "Blog-ola" is the free goodies, products, trips and other perks many marketers give to bloggers with the hopes of getting favorable reviews about their products and services. This shift is very evident in the “mommy-blogger” world, where they are proving to be quite influential with their readers and therefore quite valuable to marketers.

Lines become very blurred between companies and mom bloggers. Bloggers would once have sponsors sponsor their writing, now it’s the other way around and many mom bloggers are writing for companies, like Wal-Mart. The authenticity is gone and you are left asking questions like what is the real motivation behind this blogger’s backing about a particular product.

Are marketing firms to be blamed – for luring innocent moms to blog about their clients’ products in exchange for free goodies and trips? I say no. After all I am the mother of three children myself and I hold all my children accountable for their actions! Period! So moms are writing at their own risk, and putting their own integrities on the line.

Bloggers really just need to be direct and upfront in disclosing whether they are paid or getting freebies. The site Blog With Integrity asks bloggers to sign and post an ethical pledge. The Federal Trade Commission is also considering new guidelines to help clarify advertising content in blogs.

Firefox reaches 1 billion downloads

2009-08-03T13:32:00.005-04:00

In our offices at Sojo – you can tell the age difference of staff by the browser they use. Staff in their late 30s and higher, is more likely to use Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. While those younger, use Mozilla’s Firefox. Firefox is on their way to Browser domination!

Mozilla Corp.'s Firefox browser passed the 1-billion download milestone on Friday, July 31, 2009.

The Internet browser was first released by Mountain View-based Mozilla in 2004 and today has an estimated 31 percent share of the world market or almost a third of the market. It’s a shrinking margin for Microsoft in an area that they formerly had near complete domination.

Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer is No. 1 with about 60 percent, far ahead of the rest of the pack which includes Google Inc.'s Chrome and Apple Inc.'s Safari which have less than 5 percent of the market. This lead however does not look very stable for Microsoft.

Use Twitter to your Advantage

2009-07-22T00:46:00.004-04:00

Marketers should use Twitter to their advantage? Twitter is more than spitting out information about you or the company you represent – it’s about becoming involved in the ongoing dialogue... and staying involved. Twitter is not the place for one day or one night stands for that matter, but a place to build sincere and meaningful relationships that can last. Twitter demands lots of love and attention – in fact the very same ingredients in building any meaningful relationship.

Get to know your voice and your message well. Know that you must practice what you preach. If you tell your customers something on Twitter you have to deliver it.

You can use Twitter to:

Expand and improve your customer service support
Reach new customers and keep them informed on new product launches
Get the message out about breaking news
Create brand buzz
Get the word out about events
Alert customers to recent newsletters, blogs and articles
Happy Tweeting!

Facebook valued at $6.5 billion

2009-07-15T15:56:00.004-04:00

Digital Sky Technologies, a Russian Internet investment group plans to purchase at least $100 million of Facebook's common stock at $14.77 per share from common stockholders. This annoucement was made yesterday, Tuesday, July 14, 2009.

Search Engine Optimization and Michael Jackson

2009-07-02T13:22:00.007-04:00

For my Blog this week I anticipated writing about Search Engine Optimization and the benefits of optimizing your website. However, as every possible human being on this planet knows our Pop Icon, Michael Jackson passed away last Thursday, June 25, 2009.

What does that have to do with search engines you might say? I’m here to tell you everything!
Last Thursday the news of the Pop star’s death took center stage around the world and on the Internet. The speed at which this story unfolded online was very fascinating and impressive and as a marketer and online strategist very appealing. The online news agents Wikipedia proved to be the fastest – faster than Google and Twitter.

In fact Google News had so many delays due to the searches for “Michael Jackson” they posted an official statement:

"The spike in searches related to Michael Jackson was so big that Google News initially mistook it for an automated attack. As a result, for about 25 minutes yesterday, when some people searched Google News they saw a "We're sorry" page before finding the articles they were looking for." - Source

Twitter has created a new real-time web. Google had a time lapse in indexing – more than 3 hours! With such a delay people were going directly to specific news websites to get the information on Michael Jackson’s status instead of doing the typical Google search, as the delay was so behind.

The following is how the news spread on the Internet – starts at 19:21 and ends 23:47

x17online.com breaks the news about the pop star – a really small entertainment news agent and post photos and a brief story - 20 minutes before the larger entertainment sites like TMZ.com .

TMZ.com posts "Michael Jackson -- Cardiac Arrest" - the story is distributed to hundreds of thousands of people via RSS.

Wikipedia reports Jackson's Cardiac Arrest - A member of Wikipedia adds the news of the Cardiac Arrest to Jackson's Wikipedia article. Before any other news or social media source.

Ten minutes after the first click from TMZs Twitter to TMZ.com where the story of his death is posted. Reports of his death start to show up on RSS feeds and eventually Twitter.

10 minutes later CNNbrk tweets that Jackson goes to hospital – to 2 million followers
Wikipedia freezes Michael Jackson page - After an explosion of edits to Jackson's Wikipedia article, editors take the step of locking it down in protective status.

Two and a half hours after it all started Wikipedia editors mention Jackson's death on the article discussion page.

bit.ly link reaches high of 2,500 clicks a minute

Three hours later - "RIP Michael Jackson" tops Trends on Twitter Story takes the next step and appears on Twitter's Trends. Tens of millions of Twitter users now can see the story.There are now over 2000 mentions a minute of Michael Jackson on Twitter and Twitter overloads and falters.

Google News Results of Jackson's death start showing up on the results page for the query "Michael Jackson" Finally after a whole three hours.

The Internet felt the loss of Michael Jackson just as much as the fans did. I would liek to hear your comments. If you want regular updates - follow us on twitter.

Shall We Twitter?

2009-06-25T16:26:00.005-04:00

You can say a lot in 140 characters or less! That’s the twitter way. Your success on twitter depends on the frequency of the updates, your tone, the content and how relevant what you say is. Be upfront about who you are and what you are trying to sell.

Your brand’s Twitter objectives should be to create as many followers as possible by having ongoing conversations and skillfully injecting your brand messages without it being very obvious. Don’t commercialize the channel as tweeters are very sensitive and can quickly respond with negative to perceived violations.

Five reasons to Twitter.

1. Twitter is Hot. Twitter can assist you with today’s trends - find out what's hot and what’s not.

2. Join the Conversation. Use Twitter to express yourself or your brands view point. Tweeting also helps you gain credibility and attract a following of believers that can help you spread your message – globally in any market possible!

3. Monitor Your Brand. By monitoring Tweets about your brand you are better able to know your customers needs, improve customer satisfaction and gather marketplace and product intelligence.

4. Satisfied Customers. Several brands have added Twitter to their customer service process with raving results – so much so that their customers are talking positively about it. They include JetBlue, Whole Foods, Dell and Starbucks to name a few. They have attracted a significant number of followers and built buzz about the responsiveness of their brand’s to service related issues.

5. Brand Promotion. Use Twitter to announce new services, new products, events, new clients, and just about any message you want to get out to the public and fast. See you on Twitter – Sojo’s Twitter

Delivering Your Brand

2009-06-23T10:38:00.003-04:00

I had the opportunity to fly British Airways the fall of 2005 – all my friends and family have heard the story about the customer service representative who upgraded us to business class without telling me or my girlfriend. We were coming back from London on a girl’s only trip and had just had a blast in Paris, Zurich and London.

On entering the aircraft and looking for seats all the way in the back we noticed our seats didn’t seem to exist, until some kind stranger said – “those seats are to the front of the plain” note the British accent. After we got over the initial shock that we were seated in business class we quickly settled into our new seats. It was nothing like I had ever experienced – the seats could double as a bed and came with dividers so you could tune out other passengers when you were ready to get some ZZZs. The fight crew were amazing and just plain attentive. They kept giving us warm rags for our hands before and after every meal, and a menu that had five course meals like any five star restaurant, newspapers available in at least five different languages, and as many drinks as we could manage. What a life – I thought! We enjoyed the service so much we were surprised and disappointed when the pilot announced we were landing at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta. We could have flown another seven hours.

I have told this story so many times that I was now an evangelist for British Airways and I know I have influenced my friends to fly them. In order to beat the competition and do more than just survive, brands must deliver more than expected, they must make the brand experience so memorable that people do exactly what I did – keep talking about it – hasn’t it been now almost four years!

Brands through digital communications can turn word of mouth brand evangelism into a major viral campaign. To be successful your brand has to be extraordinary – it must satisfy customers’ needs and expectations. Brands that fail – actually fail to deliver on their promise to their customers. In the digital world this type of delivery can really be fatal. It does not take much time to get angry customers riled up online. Start the process and see what your customers are saying about you and use this knowledge to improve your brand experience.

Social Networking Exclusively for the Wealthy

2009-06-10T20:04:00.007-04:00

The very wealthy seem to have had it with the free for all mentally of the web and are launching their own networks. Most wealthy people are afraid to hangout on social network sites due to privacy issues or that’s what they claim and have been leaving Facebook and LinkedIn. Instead they have turned to social networking websites like Quintessentially, aSmallWorld, Squa.re and Diamond Lounge.

Some of these social networks mirror their offline counterparts with strict invite-only policies and rigorous application processes based on job title and connections. Squa.re and Quintessentially, are more lenient than most and only require an existing member to invite you.

Wealthy-consumer participation in online social networks is on the rise, according to a January survey by the Luxury Institute. 805 people were surveyed, each with a minimum gross annual income of $150,000 in 2008, of which 60% said they participate in a social network. Wealthy members in the leading social networks were 16% for MySpace, 13% for LinkedIn and 11% for Facebook.

The wealthy want to leverage the global social advantages of the web too – connecting with people of like-mind around the world from London to Dubai. So these exclusive networks offer them this very opportunity in a safe environment. They can connect online to find true love, find their next luxury yacht, similar to a Craigslist except its high-end, or find out which part of the globe has the best event for that weekend.

For those of you out there who are unhappy with the social networks that accept everyone – maybe a luxury social network is for you – let me know what you have to do to get into the club.
Please feel free to drop me a line if you happen to be a high-end social butterfly online – gibsons@sojoinc.com

Sojo, Inc. Featured on MSNBC.com

2009-06-02T15:47:00.007-04:00

I invite you to read an article featuring Sojo, Inc. on MSNBC.com by Diane Mapes "Holy Twitter! They're tweeting from the pews"

Holy Twitter! They're tweeting from the pews

In April, interactive marketing firm Sojo, Inc. surveyed 145 churches with memberships between 500 and 25,000 and found that 32 percent of them said they use Facebook, 16 percent are on MySpace and 10 percent are on Twitter, with many more chomping ... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30970139/

Getting Back To The Basics

2009-06-01T16:54:00.003-04:00

Too many marketers are caught up in the fringe benefits of being online, like pay-per-click, blogging and the latest SNS – Social Network Sites. This is of course extremely important but means nothing if your website is outdated and the web experience you provide for your customers has no impact. So let’s get back to the basics… (Download the PDF - http://www.sojoinc.com/pdf/perspectives_2.pdf)

A poor web experience may have a greater impact on a company's brand than a poor presentation or customer service call gone bad! The presentation and customer service calls all have the potential of a quick fix if there is a follow up visit or the next customer service representative gives the customer a better experience. But if a brand’s website fails to deliver on a promise, then visitors leave with a diminished opinion about the brand and the company…forever!

Your website is successful if your customers feel good about your site. Customer satisfaction online means a good web experience which translates into increased revenues and encourage customers to speak about your brand and company in a positive light. Instead of focusing on web analytics and counting how many people are coming to your site, start with how your customers feel about your website. You know this by your ability to engage them. Before beginning your website design project, get a plan together outlining your strategy to engage your customer. Be sure to measure how successful your engagement is. Feedback from customers in the form of a survey, an email or comment online is an engagement. Clicking onto your site does not mean engagement, it means foot traffic much like at the mall.

A customer that reveals something about himself or herself online mean they care, which means you have been successful in engaging them about your brand. Read more Sojo Perspectives

Send me your feedback about this blog entry directly to - gibsons@sojoinc.com

Marketing in Any Economy

2009-05-27T21:42:00.003-04:00

Marketing today more than any other time in history is in constant motion. This is due in part to technological advances and to an economy that’s not just national but global. And just in case you have been in hibernation – both the Global and American economies are having a long winter and spring is not insight! (View Sojo Perspectives http://www.sojoinc.com/insight/perspectives.htm)

The economy changes like seasons of the year. Changing politics, the rise and fall of formerly main stay companies and financial institutions, Wall Street’s uncertainty, cultural diversity, apprehension of war, terrorist attacks and full blown out war all affect – your company’s survival. The take away is that your marketing cannot stop! History has proven time and time again that those companies who stay the course with marketing – SURVIVE!

Ignore marketing and prepare to be buried and it may not be by your competition as in the good old days. Today it could be your own employees, shareholders or customers. With that said marketing then is not just about advertising. It begins with your strategy. Do you have one? What is it? How did it come about? What type of research went into it? If you don’t have one then what marketing initiatives if any are you doing? How has the economy affected you and your customers today? What is your messaging to your customers, employees, shareholders and to the media? How do you manage your departments? By following basic marketing laws you can make your company profitable given any economy.

Communicate a position of confidence, stability and strength, and get the message out to your clients and customers. Many studies show that companies which slow marketing spending lose out now, as well as after a recovery. Let your customers know that they have picked a winner.

Some basic laws of marketing include: Market research; Create a message that represents what you stand for; Know your competition; Know your customer; Know how best to reach your customer – online – offline; Know what your customer expects from you.

Social Media and Social Consciousness

2009-05-19T10:13:00.007-04:00

Integrated Marketing today involves more than advertising and direct mail. It’s about messages that can reach people around the world in an instant. It means being socially conscious and politically aware and it also means being able to communicate on a global scale. It means understanding your target audience – who they are – what they like - no matter were in the world they happen to live.

When I talk about integrated marketing with our clients – I make sure to include the Interactive/Digital components of their marketing, social media including how they will incorporate social networks – MySpace, Facebook, Blogs, Twitter, etc. and I always make sure their messages and actions around social responsibility are included.

For all of us involved in marketing today, you would have to be living under a rock to not know that as a marketer you now have to combine marketing innovation with social and environmental concerns. Better known as Sustainability Development and Marketing.
Sustainable development and marketing are concerned with how today’s business contributes to some of the most significant challenges the world faces in this century – from climate change and the environment, to health and safety for workers globally.

Companies create a competitive advantage by understanding the global communities in which they do business. In recent years, hundreds of companies have developed ethical reports and policies on environmental performance. These initiatives seem to appear more where consumers make decisions to switch brands that they feel do not respect social responsibility issues.

Integrating sustainability values into a brand can contribute to market growth, after all a company’s corporate responsibility can become that company’s differentiator in a market place where price and performance are the same.

Although a company’s brand is about value and self image, consumers want to know more about the company behind the brand. To understand just how relevant sustainability marketing maybe to your company or business – ask yourself and your team these simple questions:

Are social and environmental issues on the radar of our customers?
Do social and environmental issues have any impact on our product offerings or our company’s reputation?
Is our company’s survival threatened by changes in the global economy and environment?

History has proven that consumers naturally follow brands that lead. So as a marketer you must encourage brands that create sustainable principles. (Visit Sojo's Greener World - http://www.sojoinc.com/green/)

Twitter Has No Time Zones

2009-05-15T09:36:00.010-04:00

Image courtesy of ABC

Everyone is still talking about Twitter. One thing I think everyone is realizing is that Twitter, more than any other social network, is the best at spoiling the ending of a much anticipated television show.

For example, last night many Americans geared up to watch the season finale of Grey's Anatomy. I know this for certain as Twitter informed me - it was one of the top trending topics being tweeted last night. It's no secret (unless you just don't watch the show), one of the main characters has had a brain tumor in the last few episodes. Plus, in the "real" world, there has been a lot of speculation that this person who plays the brain tumor patient was leaving the show to pursue movies full time. So the debate was on: Does she live or die?

But of course there was more. There is always more (well, if they writers are good). And as the plot thicken, I clicked on the hashtag marked #grey's. There were a lot of "OMGs", ohhs and ahhhs, and just generally people showing their disbelief over the season finale's storyline.

And then I saw that the people on the West Coast were just settling in to watch their season finale of Grey's Anatomy. I say their because if they were not careful on Twitter and were tempted to clicked on the little hashtag marked #grey's, they would be eliminating all element of surprise for themselves. How sad, I thought.

My point is, Twitter can be used as a real time discussion of all things - except for subjects that have surprise endings. Twitter does not know the meaning of time zones. So, for the people in other time zones that wanted to get on Twitter last night and discuss Grey's Anatomy as the show happened, well, it just wasn't possible because within that same stream were people who had already seen the show.

So, with new technology, comes new habits we have to adapt. If we do not want our endings spoiled, we have to learn to stay off of Twitter (well, Internet period).

Sojo Designers Especially Love This

2009-05-12T13:00:00.003-04:00

Watch Font Conference on CollegeHumor

Sojo's Graphic Design Goes to the Movies

2009-04-27T17:17:00.009-04:00

Recently we designed an 8 foot banner for E L Music Publishing, which they will use for movie/music premiers. The banner will first be seen at the premier for this movie:

Vote for the 2009 Peachtree Road Race T-shirt!

2009-04-23T08:55:00.006-04:00

Click here to vote for your favorite!

For the non-Atlantans, here is a little history on the Peachtree Road Race. The Peachtree is held every year on July 4th and sponsored by the Atlanta Journal Constitution (AJC). Until recently, in 2008, it was the world's largest 10 K race with 55,000 registered runners. And according to Wikipedia, in 2008 the Vancouver Sun Run had over 59,000 registrants, however the Sun Run is two races, a 10k and a 2.5k; the Peachtree has just one. (Take that Vancouver Sun Run.)

Thus, every year over 60,000 people try to register for the limited 55,000 spots in this race. Why? For the prestigious T-shirt every year (only available to those who finish the race)? The glory? To beat someone's time? Your own personal victory? Perhaps we will never know unless we participate.

Here's a look at some of the other shirts that have been designed over the years.

*All images via AJC

For all things Peachtree Road Race related, go here.

Happy Earth Day!

2009-04-22T11:32:00.006-04:00

In celebration of Earth Day today, we would like to share with you a few tips to stay green from our Creating a Greener World website.

Use low-flow faucets, showerheads, and toilets in your bathroom
Use compact fluorescent light bulbs – they reduce emissions by about 65% as compared to a regular light bulb.
Caulk around windows and weather stripping around doors
Bring your own cup to work for coffee
Go paperless; pay your bills online
Car pool or walk or ride your bike when you can
Bring your own bags to the grocery store
Eliminate junk mail at work. For no fee, the EcoLogical Mail Coalition will eliminate the junk that former employees receive at work

Sojo has a unit that specializes in advising organizations and corporations on sustainability. Many organizations today have new sustainability policies they have to abide by and we can help you do that. We can help you communicate your policy to your employees and customers, and assist you in boosting your corporate social responsibility reputation. And most of all, by working together, we can make our home a little greener for ourselves and future generations.

For more tips, visit our Creating a Greener World website and contact us today to see how we can help you go green.

32% of Influential Churches in the U.S. are on Facebook

2009-04-12T08:55:00.000-04:00

Social Networking is Shaping Religion Today

According to a survey Sojo recently conducted, 32% of the country’s most influential churches surveyed are using Facebook. Some of the churches surveyed included:

World Changers Church International in College Park, Georgia
Calvary Chapel of Ft Lauderdale
North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Georgia
Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky
Second Baptist in Houston, Texas
Word of Faith International Christian Church in Southfield, Michigan

Of the churches surveyed, 32% reported either having a Facebook page or group for their church or for its individual ministries. All 32% of the churches using Facebook stated that they initially started using Facebook as a means to connect with their Facebook-using members. Now, the top reasons for using this particular social network is still for connecting with members but has evolved as a tool for communicating important upcoming events and volunteer opportunities to members of the congregation that use Facebook. One church reported that they wanted to stay "relevent" to what its' youth in the congregation was using to communicate.

In this survey, junior high and high school membership averaged to be 1,063 members. Averages for college student and members in their early 20's were not applicable.

Two churches surveyed reported that their pastors had personal MySpace pages. MySpace and YouTube tied for being the second most used social networks among the churches we surveyed. Twitter, one of the fastest growing social networks right now, is currently only being used by 10% of the churches in Sojo's survey. Several churches mentioned they were looking into possibly jumping onto the Twitter bandwagon.

Surprisingly, only 10% stated they were using Tangle (originally GodTube.com), the world's largest faith and family-based social network with 550,000 registered users. And another 10% stated they were not using any form of social networks.

Below is a breakdown of the social networking sites revealed in our survey.

The Stories behind the Big Brands

2009-03-31T22:47:00.000-04:00

Neatorama tells the stories behind some of our country's biggest brands. I really enjoyed reading them! Check out the top 10 food brands, car brands, Hollywood Studio logos, and tech logos.

Morton Salt

Betty Crocker

Paramount Studios

Ford Motor Company

Canon

Even Carnival Cruise Lines is going Interactive

2009-03-31T12:29:00.004-04:00

Want a pet fish but don't want to have to deal with the maintenance of feeding the fish or cleaning out the tank? Just find one of Carnival Cruise Lines interactive fish tanks and you can create your own digital fish!

Carnival saw an opportunity to utilize empty store windows to their advantage. When pedestrians walk by the window, sea life move in response to their movements. Using your cell phone, you create a fish, and even come back to feed and interact with your fish later!

Currently the interactive aquariums are in Baltimore, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, New York and Washington D.C.

New Website Launched!

2009-03-26T11:35:00.002-04:00

Yesterday we launched Taffi Dollar's new website that we designed and developed! It has been such a joy to work with the World Changers Team!

Also, check out the social networks that we launched earlier this month for Taffi as well.

The History of the Internet

2009-03-20T10:44:00.005-04:00

Microsoft released version 8 of Internet Explorer and a funny video on the history of the Internet.

Social Networking Sites Launched

2009-03-19T11:11:00.009-04:00

We've been super busy here at Sojo!

Recently one of our clients ventured into social networking waters and we couldn't be more happier! Now they are unlocking even more opportunities to further connect with their audience. Not to mention, we had a ton of fun creating these sites for them!

Be sure and check them out!

Taffi Dollar's Facebook

Follow Taffi Dollar on Twitter

Taffi Dollar's MySpace

Taffi Dollar's Ministry MySpace

Social Media Sites: Who is on Them?

2009-02-27T09:12:00.003-05:00

Here's a FUN look at who is on some of the more popular social media sites according to Cory O'Brien. This is by no means, scientific evidence.

Who else is on Facebook? We are! Find us on Facebook.

The Silver Lining

2009-02-13T11:30:00.007-05:00

Innovation is everywhere.

It can come in the simplest forms - and are often born from problems or tough times.

Despite the current automobile industry crisis, take for example Henry Ford. He often wondered, "How can I get the people to the work?" His solution arrived when he changed the form of his question, "How can I get the work to the people?"

From that problem, came a little creativity, and a big innovation: The assembly line.

The assembly line later led way to a total reinvention of the work flow - the mass production, which allowed for more affordable goods (not to mention higher wages for Ford employees). Now that owning a vehicle was more of a reality, this created a higher demand for the product. This innovative work flow that Ford Motor Company instilled would become the example that many other industries would follow.

Simply because Henry Ford reformed his question.

Challenges often breed more creativity.

And sometimes, we can accidentally stumble across a discovery. For example, chocolate chip cookies, Post-It Notes, microwaves, and Penicillin were all discovered accidentally while the person was trying to solve another problem.

Thus, we must always be open to new ideas and new ways of thinking...especially during challenging times. You never know what great innovation or invention could come out of it!

What’s New in the World of Sojo

2009-02-11T16:12:00.004-05:00

I don’t believe we’ll see another year in our life time like 2009 has started off to be. It’s going to be a year of positives and negatives.

I know for sure though that it will be a year of shake ups and shake outs – leaving only survivors!

We started the year with a new President – who won an election that had never been run before! It was full of life and suspense, made for TV drama– in fact no other election had been watched so closely – GLOBALLY! Not just by Americans but by people World Wide. More importantly to Sojo, it was an election won by creating a strong brand, implementing a well thought-out marketing plan and using the web and it’s Social Networks to WIN! It has created a precedence that I am sure we will see in the future of almost any election big or small.

On another note for 2009 – Industries that have been around for generations are now being threatened – Life has certainly changed on planet earth. The new consumer is not just technologically savvy but globally aware and strategic with their buying power! Hence the car industry and other industries that haven’t changed much in operations and selling propositions in the past 100 years are being forced into the 21st Century – those who make it – Great – those who don’t will give way to the new and innovative!

I love challenges – in fact, Sojo was started during challenging times – who remembers the technology shake out of 2000-2001? Our Sojo team has taken on 2009 with a vengeance and in looking for the best solutions for our clients – we know full well – happy clients translates for us to great company. We are the Toyota of our industry – providing our clients with the BEST services and solutions out there at the BEST price.

What an awesome time we live in – let’s celebrate and take it on 2009!

Brand New: Logos

2009-02-11T14:30:00.004-05:00

Ever see redesigned logos of well-known brands and then find yourself googling them to compare the old with the new? Okay, maybe that's just me.

Anyhow, Brand New is a great design blog that focuses on corporate and brand identity work. And with some hilarious commentary to accompany.

Here are a few side-by-side looks at some of the brands they feature.

Now whether the new design fairs better than the old, well, I'll let you decide.

Still not on the wagon?

2009-01-29T09:15:00.004-05:00

The media has changed so much in such a short amount of time and it affects all industries, especially the journalism industry. There is the traditional media relations method of press releases and pitching, but that is only one aspect now. Nowadays, with social networking, RSS feeds, and blogs - and just so much information floating around in cyberspace, organizations have to compete even more to get noticed. Because of the advances, journalists' method of finding material to cover has changed.

I recently came across an article via one of my twitter friends, @sallyfalkow, that confirmed my thoughts. She posted a recent report from Bulldog/TEK group reporter's survey on her blog.

It went a little something like this:

More of What Journalists Want

The second annual survey of working journalists across all media generated responses from 2,386 journalists, of which approximately 48% were editors or editorial staff and 34% were reporters or writers. The survey tracks the resources journalists use to search, follow and report news and features material.

There‘s been a significant increase in usage of blogs, social media and RSS feeds to stay on top of the news.

* Almost 75% of journalists read one or more blogs to keep up with the subject matter they cover, compared with only about 70% a year ago.
* 29% of journalists regularly read five or more blogs to keep up with their beat, compared with about 26% last year.

Social media use has seen an even bigger jump

* 75% of journalists use social media to research stories, compared with about 67% last year.
* Almost 38% of journalists now say they visit a social media site at least once a week as part of their reporting, compared with only 28% last year.
* More than 53% now say they visit a social media site at least once a month, up from about 44% last year.

Tracking news with RSS Feeds has increased too:

* 19% of journalists report that they receive five or more RSS feeds of news services, blogs, podcasts or videocasts every week, a gain of about three percentage points over last year
* 47% of online journalists track more than five feeds
* 41% of journalists receive at least one regular RSS feed, a gain of over four percentage points.

Digital Assets – a new PR skill

23% of the journalists polled say they seek audio or video material from corporate websites at least once a month—an increase of about three percentage points over the past year.

Among journalists working in national television, some 10.3% seek audio or video material once a week or more and that number jumps to 46.7% seeking such material at least once every three months.

Among journalists working in local radio, some 38.4% seek audio or video from corporate websites at least once a month.

Online News as a Resource

51% of journalists report that they use Google News and 32% use Yahoo! News services to follow the news. That means they are searching news sites for information and you need to have all your digital assets - press releases, video and images - optimized for search.

Technology - blogs, social media, RSS feeds, SEO - they are all here to stay. Still feeling overwhelmed? It's okay, we are here to help. That's what we are here for. Take a look at our website to see how we can help you. Or better yet, email me at nicole.galletta@sojoinc.com with any questions you might have.

Technology Transforms All Industries

2009-01-20T12:20:00.000-05:00

Today is a historic day in the making. Today we inaugurated our 44th president.

One of the many things that makes Barack Obama different from any other presidents we've had is how he has embraced technology.

Every day, new forms of technology come out to enrich our lives - making our tasks and every day life more comfortable, more communicative, and more productive. New forms of technology have an impact on every industry in the world. Even when you're the president of United States.

One of the new things we saw during the last election, especially from Obama, was the use of social networking sites including Facebook, Myspace, YouTube, Flickr, Digg, Twitter, and Linkedin among others. Obama created a personalized website and blog to encourage direct interaction among the people. He used email blasts and text messaging to send out announcements to his supporters. And he relied on his BlackBerry heavily to manage his campaign and stay abreast on issues happening throughout the world - so much so, that he has already expressed what a challenge it will be to give it up during his presidency.

During his election he expressed his plans of appointing the first-ever national chief technology officer, a move that has potential to bring much-needed innovation to America's governmental sectors.

This is one example of how every sector is touched with technology advances and changes. Companies can either embrace the changes and adapt or get left behind.

The United States of Logos

2009-01-17T20:13:00.004-05:00

The United States of Logos

Posted using ShareThis

On GD USA Website

2009-01-09T09:55:00.001-05:00

Our Do You Know Sojo? self-promotional piece can be found on GD USA's website now.

Ads on Edge

2009-01-08T09:16:00.003-05:00

Ads on Edge

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: branding recession)

More information encouraging decision makers to change advertising and marketing spending, not cut it. In challenging economic times, all areas - professional and personal - need to be evaluated and altered, but not necessarily eliminated completely. This slide show presentation from The Economist, while aim solely on print advertising, can be applied to all elements of marketing, not just print.

Arby's Hijacks Atlanta Billboards

2009-01-05T15:31:00.000-05:00

Arby's, which is headquartered in our home city of Atlanta, has recently taken over many billboards in the city without having to pay for the expense of actually being on a billboard. How so?

By hijaking the billboards! And for their current campaign, "I'm thinking Arby's" it works pretty well.

Here is a billboard of one of Atlanta's local weather meteorologists, Dagmar Midcap, that was recently taken over by Arby's.

Season's Greetings!

2008-12-23T14:21:00.003-05:00

While I was waiting

2008-12-23T13:30:00.002-05:00

The excitement of food, gifts, meeting family and friends, and leaving work early during the holiday season can come to a staggering halt when you see those dreaded words “flight delayed” or “cancelled.” Nature cannot always be predicted and with the increase of holiday travel, we should expect the unexpected. My record for waiting on a flight is twelve hours, which doesn’t compare to those who’ve endured weekend sleepovers on an airport bench because of severe weather. The high possibility of delayed flights around winter and the holiday season should be expected and one should come prepared.

For those of us who didn’t come prepared:

What services and features does your airport offer?
Pearson Airport in Toronto has “10 minute manicure.” Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport offers “The Airport Art Program,” which has sculptures, paintings and installations setup throughout the airport. Some of the pieces are for sell.

Scan the area
With all these people waiting around someone has to be flying solo or willing to engage in a conversation. Scan the area, break the ice with your neighbor, see who’s sitting or standing alone.

Shop around
Every airport should come equipped with a bookstore. Browsing through the latest periodicals is a great way to past time and to learn something new.

Hone in
It’s okay to listen to someone’s conversation. Chuckle at their jokes to lighten the mood, and slowly invite yourself into the conversation by adding a few words of your own. Proceed with caution because every conversation may not be so inviting.

Get your monies worth
Do you know every feature on your $600 phone? Now is the perfect time to figure it out.

One Word
Sudoku

Naked Ring Finger
See that lady over there? Let’s see what you got!

Year End Assessment
This is a perfect time to evaluate yourself and any goals that you set out to accomplish before the year end. New Years is right around the corner, jot down resolutions for the upcoming year.

Explore and find out what your airport has to offer and if nothing else you can always eat at the concessions.

We're in the November/December 2008 Issue of GD USA!

2008-12-22T09:23:00.004-05:00

Sojo's Self-Promotional piece, Do you know Sojo? can be found in this month's GD USA!

Don't Cut the Budget, Just Change It!

2008-12-08T09:10:00.006-05:00

Often times during tough financial times, companies feel like they should cut some unnecessary spending. And more often than not, the marketing department is the first area to get budget cuts. Various studies over the years, however - like the ones featured on the Financial Times website, prove that marketing is beneficial and even crucial, in times of recession.

According to one study featured on Financial Times, Kellogg's maintained its marketing spending during the 1930s depression, while Post did not. Kellogg then dominated the dry cereal market for the next half-century. As shown in a McKinsey & Company report, the companies who increased their spending in a recession were the only ones whose profits rose substantially when the economy recovered.

The companies that kept their marketing budget in tact, or increase them, were able to keep their voice heard, thus allowing consumers to stay familiar with their brand. And by keeping or increasing their marketing budget, these companies were able to increase market share and profitability over time, ultimately making their companies stronger players than the companies that decreased or eliminated their marketing spending.

It's snowing!

2008-12-05T10:21:00.003-05:00

There's some light snowing going on at Sojo Lounge! Kind of like the snow we actually had here in Atlanta, Georgia earlier in the week!

The weather forecast is predicting it to snow all month long at Sojo Lounge.

Can I have your attention please: Banner Ads

2008-12-03T11:55:00.004-05:00

Has anyone noticed that banner ads are a lot sexier than they use to be? These mini, yet flashy animations are much more impressive than their static counterparts that were displayed back in the day. Unfortunately, flashy doesn’t necessary mean a hit. A “hit” is when the user actually selects the banner ad to view the web page.

Banner ads are key components of branding a company’s identity. Ideally, the company wants you to click the ad, visit their site and hopefully purchase something. A memorable ad may stick around unconsciously and the viewer may search for that product or service at a later time. Many people have caught on to the schemes of online freebees and the success rate of banner ads have dropped since their initial introduction. The integrity that a company upholds in the public’s eye is key to their longevity. If the product or service can’t be offered for free then maybe providing general information or a discount is more suitable.

Getting your banner on sites that has major traffic can be costly but the ROI may be worth it. Sites that are targeted more should equal more hits for your banner. There are also businesses that will post your banner ad on publisher’s web sites. A less costly route is to exchange banner space with a partner or client, which is where building relationships can finally pay-off.

Annoying as some ads may be, banner ads can be just as entertaining as a new movie preview. With applications such as Adobe Dreamweaver, Adobe Flash and Paint Shop Pro, these compressed, interactive and motion packed ads can deliver an entertaining message.

Ads on Tests and Quizzes?

2008-12-03T09:54:00.003-05:00

After budget cuts, a teacher at a San Diego high school decided to cover his printing costs by selling ads on the bottom of his test and quiz papers! Two-thirds of the ads are inspirational messages written by parents. Two ads were from an engineering firm and a dentist office. With the ad sells, the teacher surpassed the amount needed for all his printing needs for that semester!

Tough times call for more creativity!

source: USA Today

Sojo, Inc now on Facebook

2008-11-26T14:50:00.003-05:00

Sojo, Inc. has a Facebook page, become a fan! We will be updating content weekly and interacting with fans.

Sojo, Inc. Facebook Page

RSS Feeds Right to Your Inbox

2008-11-26T10:41:00.011-05:00

RSS feeds are becoming quite useful. RSS (Rich Site Summary) is a standardized format for delivering regularly changing web content - such as sites with blog entries or news headlines.

If you have a favorite blog (like the Sojo Lounge blog) or website that regularly updates its content, you can subscribe to its RSS feed. However, not every site has syndicated its content, in other words, it is not accessible via a RSS feed.

RSS feeds can be read using software called RSS Reader, Feed Reader, or News Aggregator. This software allows you to grab the RSS feeds from various sites and display them conveniently in one place for you to read. My Yahoo, Bloglines, and Google Reader are popular web-based feed readers. Disney, Wired, CNN, and Forbes are among some of the sites that syndicate their content.

Many blogs and website have icons on their site that indicate they syndicate their content. This icon is the most recognizable representation of a RSS Feed.

From that icon, you can usually subscribe directly to that website's content, however every website is different.

You can subscribe to our blog by going to the "Subscribe to our RSS Feed" feature. There you will see the icon above. Click on "Posts" and you will see several options. You can get Sojo Lounge full blog posts to several of the most popular web-based feed reader software as described earlier. You can go directly to our RSS feed url by clicking on the "Atom" option. Using the drop down menu, you can opt to have the RSS feed delivered straight to your Outlook inbox.

Happy RSSing!

Business Holiday Cards: To send or not to send?

2008-11-25T11:37:00.000-05:00

The holidays are just around the corner and according to the retail stores, the holiday season is already among us.

So, the question is: To send out business holiday cards or not to send out?

The answer is yes. Now more than ever, companies and organizations should be sending out holiday greetings to their customers, clients, and business associates.

Here's why:

Warm Fuzzies
Your customers will appreciate the gesture. You can in turn, show your existing customers you appreciate their business. Whether you are sending a card to a customer you've had for years or to a potential customer, they will be happy you thought of them. Sending out greetings is a way to touch base with customers, nurture business relationships, and enhance customer loyalty.

Name Recognition
Name recognition lends credibility to your brand. Credibility is great for business.

Impression is Everything
Sending out holiday greetings gives your company an opportunity to stand out and make a good impression. And if you do design work, like we do, it gives also you a chance to show off what you can do by sending out your own creative holiday cards.

Head Start to Upcoming Year
The holidays are the perfect time to create or update your customer list. This list will proved to be useful throughout the upcoming year throughout all your marketing efforts. By sending out holiday cards, you will know that your customer list is updated at least once a year (given that you actually take the time update your list). It is very important that you update this list every year. Businesses merge and companies move to different locations, not to mention you've probably made a good many business contacts throughout that year that should be included.

Now that you know why you should send holiday greetings to your business contacts, here are a few things to remember:

Your Message
Keep in mind that not everyone has the same beliefs. "Season's Greetings" or "Happy Holidays" are generally some of the safe bets. Conveying the right message inside of your card for your audience is crucial. Also, the message you convey represents your company, so choose wisely.

Avoid the Rush
Remember that post offices across the country will be extremely busy during the holiday season, so to be sure your cards arrive on time, aim to mail out your cards before or during the first week of December.

Personal Touch
A handwritten address on the envelope and a hand-signed card can go a long way. It avoids that "mass mailing" look and shows your customer that you genuinely cared enough to take the time out and personally sign the car.

Interactive Greetings
The same ideas above should be applied to interactive cards. Of course, the "personal touch" aspect changes. It should still be applied, just applied differently. With interactive cards you can personalized them to your audience, and even send out specific cards to specific parts of your audience. Interactive cards should sent in a timely manner. Unless they are wishing a happy new year, cards should be sent out before the holidays. Otherwise, it is kind of like showing up for a parade that's already passed by.

Take a look at our interactive greeting.

Simple, Yet Often Forgotten

2008-11-25T11:24:00.002-05:00

Some of the simplest ways to promote your company, organization, or website:

Include your company name, logo/branding, and website on everything you print
Business cards
Company stationery with matching envelopes (with branding)
Product labels
Packaging
In your phone greeting and/or hold message
Signs in your office or store
Trade show displays

Perhaps the simplest of all is in your email signature. Imagine how many emails you send out per day and how many potential people or markets you could be reaching...you might be surprise how far your business could go just by placing your url in that little corner of your email.

Investing in Change

2008-11-20T13:30:00.002-05:00

“Not only am I paying their salary, now I have to pay for their training classes too!” This may or may not be what your boss is thinking when it comes to tech training for employees.

When one is hired for a job, a particular skill level and talent is expected for job performance. Technology, market strategy, and communication are forever updating and changing. With a new President whose campaign motto is “Change,” how do we keep up? Technology and knowing how to use technology goes hand-in-hand, therefore training is vital for any business.

Investing in the wrong training for your employees can be costly and useless. Here are a few things the boss should consider, ask and do before signing the dotted line:
∙ Interview the prospective trainer
∙ How will the training benefit our company?
∙ Find out what your employees think will be useful for the company?

Once training has begun the boss should periodically check with the trainer to see how his/her employees are learning and performing. The boss should also check the employees’ views on the trainer.

Finding out what works best for your employees can help make the decision of hiring a trainer or not. Other revenues should be considered such as DVD training, how to books, etc. Why pay to outsource when you can have it done in-house? Investing and setting aside time for specific training can cut the cost of outsourcing, bring new business and increase the overall quality of your company.

Don’t fire your employee, upgrade them!

A Peace of Mind in a Struggling Economy

2008-11-11T14:12:00.005-05:00

With headlines reading bankruptcy and foreclosure at every corner, isn’t it time to gain a sense of peace. Recent surveys are reporting that 8 out of every 10 Americans are stressed about the security of their future. I believe that one should stabilize their mental, physical and spiritual state of mind, before making important decisions about their future, especially if they have suffered the loss of their job or major investments in this economy.

Taking a day or two to rest is essential to maintaining a healthy lifestyle. I propose taking a weekend to explore the beauty of nature and ease your mind of the cares of life. Fall is in and we are in the perfect season to see nature at its finest. The trees are colorful and the atmosphere is serene. Go hiking, find a bike trail, and explore the habitats of wildlife. Don’t let anxiety or depression sneak up on you; take the initiative to focus on something more positive.

Nature is just one way to maintain sanity, find what works best for you. Massage therapist, date night etc.

Obama + marketing = winner

2008-11-10T22:34:00.013-05:00

This has truly been an amazing month watching the election wind down. History was made!

Even more amazing to me is Obama's campaign - aside from his policies, plans, and views, there's his marketing. As someone that works in the marketing industry, I was able to see both sides to Obama - the presidental and the marketing. He was everywhere and purposely made sure of that - MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Even his website links to a number of social networks - Facebook, Myspace, YouTube, Flickr, Digg, Twitter, Linkedin - to name a few. His website is crisp, clean, and user-friendly and his messages, plans, and stances on issues are clear on the website. He has a section of downloadables, his website is personalized for you, and there was even a website created solely for the purpose of addressing smears.

I followed him on Twitter and got up-to-the-minute updates. Someone from his camp even updated his Twitter the moment the news was announced that he would become the president-elect. I know, I checked. :)

On top of that, Obama even purchased ad space (the first presidential candidate to ever do so) in video games such as XBox 360's "Madden 09" or "Guitar Hero."

Countless artists have rendered their creations in support such as the famous "Hope" poster.

Musicians have written and infused his speeches into their music.

And Obama's presence on YouTube is unmeasurable.

The amount of content that Obama supporters have created is simply astounding! It's no wonder Ad Age named Obama 2008's Marketer of the Year! Obama truly embraced the social networks and the viral marketing world and made it work for him instead of against him. No doubt, he set the pace and the path for the presidential candidates after him.

Obama’s Win Offers a New Brand for America

2008-11-10T12:32:00.004-05:00

I expected President Elect Obama to win the elections last Tuesday night but I was unprepared for the wave of emotions that swept through me when I realized what had really just happened. I have worked in the world of marketing and technology for almost 20 years and have had the chance to work across all party lines with democrats and republicans, black and white, old and young, rich and poor and this is the first time in our history a brand has managed to speak to ALL - Globally!!

What President Obama has accomplished, no matter your affiliation, you have to admit has been profound! His win represents a new beginning for all of America and the World. It’s a break away from past ideology and way of thinking. We are back to the reason of why I followed my dreams and came to America – “The land of opportunity where anything is possible with hard work, faith and determination”.

A strong message was sent around the globe…America is the world leader, they are democratic and progressive. As Americans we cannot forget that the World is always watching us and in the last few years most people outside the U.S. from Africa to Europe saw us as “The U.S. against everyone else.” The feeling now is that America has changed with this election and the World will be a safer place for all of us that live on this globe.

Without a doubt Barack Obama's win has given Brand America the immediate boost it so badly needed. But Brand America now has some serious work to do. Let’s all roll up our sleeves as the real work starts NOW!!

Sojo Wins Davey Award!

2008-11-07T16:32:00.009-05:00

Sojo recently won an international Davey Award in the nonprofit print campaign category for their Babies Can't Wait campaign in conjunction with the Georgia Department of Human Resources!

Two pieces from the Babies Can't Wait campaign.

Milestone Poster

Milestone Brochure

1960's President comes back to talk about environmental issues and reporters get beamed up!

2008-11-06T15:11:00.006-05:00

Technology amazes me more and more each day.

Greenpeace recently launched a digitally altered video of one of JFK's most famous speeches for their new digital ad campaign.

Frankly, it's kind of creepy to me, but the fact that they can take video of one of our presidents speaking in the 1960's and altered it so that he is addressing issues pertinent to today is amazing! The question is would JFK have agreed with this video's stance?

Another very interesting form of technology was used for the first time during the election coverage. Hologram interviews!

I am still trying to figure the relevance of this...it seems like it sort of loses a personal touch.

Ask your Boss for Dual Monitors

2008-11-04T13:39:00.010-05:00

Dual monitors are a treat for those who need to run several applications simultaneously. The ability to jump back and forth from monitors, drag and drop items from one application to the next without having to select the application on the menu bar is a major time saver. Dual monitors in the workplace are common for many professions such as broadcast designers, architects, graphic designers, etc.

Some of you may be thinking, “Why do I need dual monitors?”

Here’s why:
• Dual monitors are great for organization.
• Experts have recorded an average 25% increase in work flow and productivity with the usage of dual monitors.
• View several program applications simultaneously.
• One monitor can be used for work and design purposes, while the other monitor is used to search the internet or rapidly view incoming emails.

Drawbacks:
• Purchasing additional video memory (VRAM) may be required to boost the visual performance for the second monitor since both monitors are now feeding off of one video adaptor.
• Purchasing an additional monitor, but in most cases purchasing two monitors are less expensive than one large monitor.

At work, I have the luxury of working on dual monitors. I only regret going home to a single monitor.

You Can Vote However You Like.

2008-11-03T13:27:00.000-05:00

In honor of Election Eve I give you the students of Ron Clark Academy, here in Atlanta, singing a cover of T.I.'s Whatever You Like.

Here are their lyrics to the song:

Obama on the left
McCain on the right
We can talk politics all night
And you can vote however you like
You can vote however you like, yeah

Democratic left
Republican right
November 4th we decide
And you can vote however you like
You can vote however you like, yeah

(McCain supporters)
McCain's the best candidate
With Palin as his running mate
They'll fight for gun rights, pro life,
The conservative right
Our future is bright
Better economy in site
And all the world will feel our military might

(Obama supporters)
But McCain and Bush are real close right
They vote alike and keep it tight
Obama's new, he's younger too
The Middle Class he will help you
He'll bring a change, he's got the brains
McCain and Bush are just the same
You are to blame, Iraq's a shame
Four more years would be insane

Lower your Taxes - you know Obama Won't
PROTECT THE LOWER CLASS - You know McCain won't!
Have enough experience - you know that they don't
STOP GLOBAL WARMING - you know that you won't

I want Obama
FORGET OBAMA
Stick with McCain and you're going to have some drama
We need it
HE'LL BRING IT
He'll be it
YOU'LL SEE IT
We'll do it
GET TO IT
Let's move it
DO IT!

Obama on the left
McCain on the right
We can talk politics all night
And you can vote however you like
You can vote however you like, yeah

Democratic left
Republican right
November 4th we decide
And you can vote however you like, I said
You can vote however you like, yeah

I'm talking big pipe lines, and low gas prices
Below $2.00 that would be nice

But to do it right we gotta start today
Finding renewable ways that are here to stay

I want Obama
FORGET OBAMA,
Stick wit McCain you gone have some drama
MORE WAR IN IRAQ
Iran he will attack
CAN'T BRING OUR TROOPS BACK
We gotta vote Barack!

Obama on the left
McCain on the right
We can talk politics all night
And you can vote however you like, I said
You can vote however you like, yeah

Democratic left
Republican right
November 4th we decide
And you can vote however you like, I said
You can vote however you like, yeah

You have the freedom to choose. Isn't that great?

If you don't know the story of how the Ron Clark Academy started, you should. It's really inspirational. It was even made into a tv movie starring Matthew Perry as Ron Clark.

www.ronclarkacademy.com

When brands battle...

2008-10-30T16:19:00.003-04:00

Wow, this Mac vs. PC thing is getting interesting!

As brilliant as the Apple commercials are...I think Microsoft did an excellent job responding back with their ad, "I'm a PC."

I think this was the much better route to go, marketing wise, than the ones with Gates and Seinfeld.

I saw another Apple commercial that just came out that took a direct jab at Microsoft for spending a said $300 million on their advertising rather than using money to fix the actual problem - VISTA. Here are the following two jabbing Apple ads:

And then I see this - a more low-key Microsoft ad made entirely from PCers.

If you are a PCer, you can upload your own "I'm a PC" video here and possibly be on TV!

What would truly be ironic is if the "I'm a PC" ads were created on a Mac. According to this article, they are.

To be fair, I know several people that have and use VISTA and have absolutely no problems with it. They love it!

Efficient Website Developement

2008-10-23T15:14:00.001-04:00

I thought this was an interesting article.

In April, the Web Marketing Association had our WebAward judges review both Hillary Clinton's and Barack Obama's Website in a head to head challenge. Senator Obama's Website won the challenge and he went on to win the Democratic nomination (I'm not saying it was because of us, but you have to wonder)...

Well, we are at it again. This month we asked the WebAward Judges to compare Senator John McCain's Website with that of Senator Obama's. Across the board, Senitor Obama's Website was consistently seen as better in all aspects of Website development.

Here are the results.

Design - Asked "which Website has the most pleasing design?" WebAward judges selected the Obama site 4 to 1 over the McCain Website.84.5% of them voted for Senator Obama's Website and 15.5% selected Senator McCain's Website as better looking.

Innovation - Website innovation also went in favor of Barack Obama. By the same margin as design, the vast majority of WebAward judges (82.4%) thought the Obama Website seems more innovative, while only 17.6% favored McCain's.

Content - In terms of having the most appealing content, judges again selected the Obama Website over John McCain 's Website, although by a narrower margin than the first two criteria. 71.6% of the WebAward judges felt barackobama.com has more appealing content for visitors compared to 28.4% for johnmccain.com. WebAward judges also found that the Obama Website is more effective for telling the candidate's story and attracting contributions and voters to its cause (72.2% Obama vs 27.8% McCain).

Ease of use - Senator Obama's Website was seen as easier to use by the WebAward judges than Senator McCain's. 73.8% selected barackobama.com as easier to use compared to 26.2% of WebAward judges who felt johnmccain.com was easier.

Copywriting - It is obvious that both campaigns have excellent writers on staff. Neither Websites have any of the editing issues some large organizations can experience. However, the WebAward judges gave the advantage to the Obama site (70.1% over the McCain site 29.9%).

Interactivity - Interactivity makes a Website more than just an online billboard and both candidates were effective in giving visitors to their Websites plenty to see and do. Nevertheless, once again the WebAward judges gave the edge regarding interactivity to the Obama Website (75.2%) over the McCain Website (24.8%).

Technology - Use of technology is evident in both candidates' Websites, however, the clear favorite for the WebAward judges was barackobama.com winning 82.4% of the votes compared to johnmccain.com with only 17.6% of the votes.

When the WebAward judges were asked "If the election was to be held today. Which candidate would you be more likely to vote for?" 54.6% responded Barack Obama, 15.7% responded John McCain, 11.1% voted neither and 18% reported that they are a non-US judge and can not vote for anyone in a US election.

Regardless of who you will be voting for in the next presidential election, Websites are going to play an ever increasingly important role in how candidates get their messages across to the American voters. Based on the findings of this survey by some of the top Internet professionals available today, the Web Marketing Association names barackobama.com the winner of the McCain vs Obama Website Challenge. We wish both candidates the best of luck in their efforts to become the next President of the United States in the November election.

Bill Rice
President
Web Marketing Association

2008-10-16T14:42:00.003-04:00

Dramatic Cuts in your marketing budget call for creative ways to keep your brand in the minds of your consumers and partners. – Incorporate Social Networking Sites into your marketing TODAY!

I am always amazed at marketers cutting their budgets in times of economic doubt. I am a true entrepreneur at heart and am intrigued by the ideas that come out of us during hard times and history has shown us that the brands that continue their marketing are the ones that survive. Social networking sites today is a God sent tool for brands. There is no better or more cost effective way to interact with your customers than through a social networking site. After all they play a vital role in the brand-building process and there are so many to choose from; like MySpace, Facebook, or LinkedIn.

Somewhat like dating – you should look before you leap, before getting involved with a social networking site. Please do your homework and get to understand the type of people your brand will be spending time with. Listen to what they are talking about, what are their interests and determine if your brand brings any value or is relevant to them.

Be smart about choosing who to hang out with. Just as we tell our kids that their friends say a lot about who they are. Figure out your brands objective before becoming friends with others in an environment that may not do justice for your brand. I was intrigued by the Mazda Design Challenge and how Mazda launched their branding initiatives of its 2018 MAZDA3 on Facebook. Mazda asked Facebook members to post concepts for the 2018 Mazda3 and Mallory McMorrow was named the winner of the Mazda Design Challenge. Mazda launched this branding initiative after they realized that their target audience was hanging out on Facebook. Facebook members submitted hundreds of designs and voted on the design features they’d be interested in. Mazda was able to interact one on one with existing and potential customers, getting immediate feedback and insight into what their customers expect of them and want from them. Mazda obviously put a lot of thought into this initiative and didn’t just reproduce an existing ad or video for Facebook. The brand strategy was true to Mazda’s business objective and they developed a new way to reach and interact with new and existing customers.

Twitter. Amazing.

2008-10-14T11:01:00.009-04:00

Social networking is getting more and more amazing. I previously wrote a blog about the uses of Twitter. I, myself, am becoming an avid twitterer. I am simply amazed at how useful and entertaining a simple tweet can be. Just last night I "tweeted" about how The Locator, a show I just happen to stumble upon, is one of the greatest shows on television right now. And this is coming from someone who does not watch a lot of tv! Anyways, I tweeted about my enthusiasm for the show and the next morning I got an email announcing that WEtv, the network the show is showed on, is now following me. When I went to their twitter page, I found this:

@holdentrue if you like The Locator you can follow Troy on Twitter at @TheLocator! about 4 hours ago from web in reply to holdentrue

Even more interesting is how, we as a society, can just make up words. Since the birth of Twitter, words like "twitterer" and "tweeted" are become more and more well known.

Here is a fun video I found that may provide you some twitterism.

Like it or not, social networking has a big influence on the marketing industry now, and it's here to stay. Follow Sojo, Inc. on Twitter @sojoinc or myself @holdentrue.

Ad Age's 2008 Marketer of the Year

2008-10-02T16:54:00.005-04:00

There are six candidates.

Do these surprise you? Maybe so, maybe not. See why the staffers at Ad Age chose these six finalists.

My Best Friend's Birthday

2008-10-01T16:53:00.006-04:00

Google, my best friend, is celebrating its 10th birthday! It's amazing how far its come in just ten short years! Can you imagine your life without Google?

Here's a look at what Google looked like in 2001.

Even better, you can search Google just as it was in 2001. When you type in "seo," search engine optimization does not come up in the search. The term, "social networks" doesn't refer to the "social networks" we know today. And "microblogging" rendered absolutely no results.

Amazingly, Twitter came up just the same as it is today, but Facebook was still showed up as a searchable database just for Harvard. Search results come up for Senators McCain, Obama, and Biden, but not surprisingly, not Governor Sarah Palin.

The year 2001 is Google's earliest available index.

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In the aftermath of natural disasters, first responders are partnering with software developers and other tech experts to help in humanitarian efforts.

Guest host Audie Cornish speaks to NPR's social media manager Andy Carvin about hacking events called "Crisis Camps," taking place in Washington, D.C., and other cities Saturday. Listen Now…

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Vote for the 2009 Peachtree Road Race T-shirt!

Happy Earth Day!

32% of Influential Churches in the U.S. are on Facebook

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Even Carnival Cruise Lines is going Interactive

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The United States of Logos

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Arby's Hijacks Atlanta Billboards

Season's Greetings!

While I was waiting

We're in the November/December 2008 Issue of GD USA!

Don't Cut the Budget, Just Change It!

It's snowing!

Can I have your attention please: Banner Ads

Ads on Tests and Quizzes?

Sojo, Inc now on Facebook

RSS Feeds Right to Your Inbox

Business Holiday Cards: To send or not to send?

Simple, Yet Often Forgotten

Investing in Change

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