Mitch Joel's Blog: Six Pixels of Separation, page 342

Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #73

Is there one link, story, picture or thought that you saw online this week that you think somebody you know must see?

My friends: Alistair Croll (BitCurrent, Year One Labs, GigaOM, Human 2.0, the author of Complete Web Monitoring and Managing Bandwidth: Deploying QOS in Enterprise Networks), Hugh McGuire (The Book Oven, LibriVox, iambik, PressBooks, Media Hacks) and I decided that every week or so the three of us are going to share one link for one another (for a total of six links) that each individual feels the other person "must see".

Check out these six links that we're recommending to one another:

Economic Treadmill: Why We Are Destined to Burn Out - Dyske . "'It would be interesting to see everyone suddenly stop their treadmills, turn off their iPods , stop watching the TV monitors mounted in front of them, stop chewing gums, and think, 'Hey, wait a minute, what the hell are we doing?' Sounds like many of our lives. A good essay that lines up with Alain de Botton 's Status Anxiety ." (Alistair for Hugh).

The Graphing Calculator Story - Pacific Tech . " Ron Avitzur built a graphic calculator for the Mac. He did this in secret, at Apple headquarters, without a contract or permission to be on site. This is the story of what happened -- in many ways, his project had merit and lacked politics, which may be why it succeeded. Reading this, I wonder how much it informed Apple's near-draconian focus on merit and ruthless internal competition. One thing may not have changed in Cupertino: 'when the engineers requested technical oversight, our manager hired a psychologist instead.'" (Alistair for Mitch).

A Brief Rant on the Future of Interaction Design - Bret Victor . "Surely, the iPhone and iPad are the most significant advances in the technology of interaction design in the past decade. Put an iPad in front of a one-year old, or a previously technophobe, and you know that to be true. But really, what have we got with an iPad? Pretty stuff under glass. Brett Victor asks: is touching cold glass the best interaction we imagine? This is an impassioned plea to think about interaction that truly embraces these most amazingly designed things: our hands and fingers... that yearn for much more than cold glass." (Hugh for Alistair).

Greatest Copy Shot Ever Written - A List Apart Magazine . "I'm not quite sure if this is tongue in cheek or not, but here's a great article analyzing the characteristics of some of the most memorable advertising taglines (aka 'copy shots') in the past couple of decades ('Don't leave home without it'  American Express , 'Reach out and touch someone' - AT&T ). Nick Padmore does some statistical analysis (complete with pie charts!) to determine what is the most perfect copy shot ever written. He looks at characteristics such as length, metaphor, wordplay, repetition and rhyme. So what's the best ever copy shot? 'Good to the last drop'? 'Reach out and touch someone'?  Follow the link to find out." (Hugh for Mitch).

The Tweaker - The New Yorker . "What was the true brilliance of Steve Jobs ? Was it the Macintosh computer? The iPad? iPhone? iTunes ? How he affected our culture and our society (changed it, moved it forward, etc...)? Leave it to Malcolm Gladwell (author of The Tipping Point , Blink , Outliers , etc...) to go in the complete opposite direction... and be right. In this article for The New Yorker , Gladwell asserts that Jobs' genius came in the minutia of the details. The constant tinkering and tweaking to get something exactly right (in his eyes). This obsession is what made Steve Jobs both a genius and a disaster to work for. It takes a certain kind of person to be able to cope with the maniacal details that Steve Jobs would obsess over. As Gladwell so delightfully demonstrates: that's why there are so few geniuses. More often than not, people like Steve Jobs are incompatible with the rest of us. Thankfully." (Mitch for Alistair).

The Truth About Amazon Publishing - paidcontent.org . " Amazon is one of the companies that has fascinated me for well over a decade now. They went from selling books online to becoming one of the most interesting retailers and technology companies in the world. This article looks - in depth - at what their book publishing business looks like. Amazon is both a threat and friend to the book publishing industry (a frenemy) and I'm not sure I've seen a better analysis of their book publishing offering to date."

Now it's your turn: in the comment section below pick one thing that you saw this week that inspired you and share it.

Tags:

a list apart

advertising

alain de botton

alistair croll

amazon

amazon publishing

american express

apple

att

bitcurrent

blink

bret victor

complete web monitoring

copy shot

dyske

gigaom

hugh mcguire

human 20

iambik

interaction design

ipad

iphone

ipod

itunes

librivox

link

link exchange

linkbait

macintosh

malcolm gladwell

managing bandwidth

media hacks

nick padmore

outliers

pacific tech

paidcontent

pressbooks

ron avitzur

status anxiety

steve jobs

story

technology

the book over

the new yorker

the tipping point

year one labs

Google+ It's Time To Make Your Move

Is Google+ going to be the right move for every business?

Of course not. That being said, your business must make a move into Google+ right now. Today. Please, don't wait. Earlier this week, Google introduced Google+ Pages for business (more on that here: Google+ Pages: connect with all the things you care about). While some people hop on for the sole reason of being on every hot and new, bright shiny object, my immediate rush in is for reasons that may not seem so obvious at this point.

It's a land grab, right?

Why not secure your brand as quickly as possible so others don't do it? The best move is to be proactive? Yes. That's part of the reasoning to secure your page as soon as possible, but it's only a smaller fraction of the bigger equation.

Google permeates the Web. 

Think of search, think of Gmail, think of Android, think of Google Reader and just keep on looking. While I'm not the first one to say this, it's clear that whether or not Google+ lives on forever in its current incantation, it does look likely that Google sees this functionality as the underlying social layer that resides within all Google products and services. Now, if you're afraid to deep dive on Google+ because you don't think it can compete with Facebook in terms of viability as a stand-alone online social network, it's still important to have your own piece of land on Google+. The fact is, that many millions of people are there and they're talking, commenting, sharing and more. If they're doing any (or all) of those activities about your brand, you're not allowing yourself to have a platform to both listen and respond on.

Yes, this is more work.

Fragmentation and more channels is the new reality for Marketers, so whether or not Google+ becomes core to your marketing and communications activities, it's still crucial to - at the very least - be present and be able to respond. At this point, worry less about Google+'s opportunity to trump Facebook and focus on the very basics. This won't require a ton of time, effort or resources, but could come in handy should a customer service issue flare up or should you have a communications challenge that needs to be met.

Now, it's your turn... are you in, out or sitting on the sidelines with Google+?

Tags:

android google reader

business

communications

customer service

facebook

gmail

google

google plus

google plus business pages

marketer

marketing

media channel

media fragmentation

online social network

social layer

Your Name Matters

Here's a truth: I never follow anyone on Twitter whose username is the name of a company.

You may already know that I am a Twitter Snob (more on that here: The Trouble With Twitter - Confessions Of A Twitter Snob). I don't follow everybody back and while I'm fascinated with the discourse on Twitter, I don't think I'm all that good at it (see: The Value (And Waste) Of Twitter). I am constantly adding new and interesting people, but I never... repeat: never... add anybody if their username is that of a company.

Following brands.

I only follow brands I find interesting (slight corrections: brands that I am head over heels about). There are not many of them out there (only a handful) and - more often than not - I unfollow them if the majority of the content is the brand trying to perform customer service (no offense to the brands doing this, I'm just - personally - not interested in following everyone else's ordeals, etc...).

If it's you... make it about you.

It's hard to make heads or tails of who to follow when it's a company name, generic corporate logo and the majority of the tweets (while personal) are to individuals that I don't know. I can appreciate (and I'm thankful) if companies find my tweets valuable (that's the whole point of doing it in the first place), but I have no appetite for the automatic follow-back. I like to follow people. Real people. Using real names. While I understand the need to have corporate profiles or those based on non-real names, it seems like this is also a point of discourse in Google + (more on that here: Google+ Backpedals On Its Real Names Policy). Pundits discuss Social Media as being all about the "conversation." The value for me, personally, comes from the real interactions between real human beings that takes place. It also comes from great content becoming as shareable and as findable as possible. The way stuff gets shared is, usually, through real people who have developed a semblance of credibility within an established community.

Real brands get real interactions when they involve real people.

Fundamentally, this is what excites me about our new media. Yes, there's no issue/problem with a company Twitter feed of Google + business page for those customers who want to connect in a less formal way with a brand, but it's certainly not the be all or end all of the opportunities. In the end, I believe that your name matters and that great brand reflections are delivered by real people, who are using their own name with an earnest desire to connect.

When you use your own name, you are standing up for and behind something. Don't forget the value in that and the credibility it brings to building true relationships.

Tags:

brand

brand reflection

content

conversation

corporate logo

credibility

customer service

google plus

new media



social media

tweet

twitter

twitter snob

A Simple Way To Rethink Your Brand Narrative

Many brands fail to realize that the branding game is not one of broadcasting and Social Media.

The true marketing imperative is to tell a great brand narrative. It's a cohesive story that takes place over time and in different channels. Brands often grapple with how to integrate Digital Marketing and Social Media into their marketing mix because they're consistently working off of a very traditional mass media/broadcasting mindset. Don't get me wrong, there is still plenty of time and space for traditional advertising to help a brand gain attention, traction and mindshare, but what we've really uncovered through the digital channels are more options and different ways to engage, connect, share and grow.

A different way to think.

In my Blog post, The Next Layer Of Social Media (October 26th, 2011), I talked about thinking of your media as passive, active and then a combination of the two. By elevating your marketing to that height, it gives you the freedom to rise above the channels that are currently popular. It also forces you to focus on the business case behind doing anything. Once you've figured out your comfort levels in producing passive and active media, it then becomes the challenge of figuring out what you need to do next. While some brands are starting to get their wheels beneath them (and better understand how to pull it all together), the truth is that all too often you have brands trying to be more social in very traditional media (like when TV commercials have that hue of being "social") and more often than not, you'll find brands being very traditional (and broadcasting-like) in the more social channels (like when brands beg people to "like" them on Facebook to enter a contest).

The space between.

If all a brand does is blast out messaging about themselves, it becomes a broadcasting model. If all a brand does is try to engage in the Social Media channels without ever asking for the sale or prompting their audience to better understand the business rationale behind all of the content they are creating, it could be fatal as well. The brand narrative (consistent and across all media) is crucial for success, and here's a simple way to start thinking about it...

Our interests. Why is your brand doing this? What are you trying to say? Who are you saying it to? What channels are being used? What's the point? How will this affect your business in a positive way? What is the overall economic value that these efforts will bring to the business? What do you need the customer to do?

Their interests. What do the customers want? What are they looking for? What will make them connect? What do they need? What channels are they active in? What do we know about them? What's the point for them? Will they really (really) care?

The real story is in the middle.

Our interest. Their interest... and the real story lies somewhere in the middle. If it's all about us, the customer doesn't care. If it's all about them, they may not remember us. Imagine this model as a venn diagram and think about that little, overlapping space in the middle. That's where the real story lies. That's where the great brand narratives of our time are created. That's the creative white space to focus on.

Remember: great stories are created, nurtured and shared over time. It's long, hard work and it only gets more complex as it starts working and getting traction.

Tags:

active media

advertising

brand

brand narrative

branding

broadcasting

business case

contest

digital channel

digital marketing

facebook

marketing

marketing mix

mass media

passive media

social channel

social media

storytelling

tv commercial

venn diagram

3 Things About Facebook

Facebook continues to grow, change, add, adapt and connect us all (whether you like it or not).

In the past few weeks there has been three pieces of content that best frame Facebook's place in our society. For some, it's easy to write off Facebook as the online social network du jour. This would be a mistake. While the company has deep challenges ahead of it (like getting a better grip on marketing opportunities and truly creating a more comprehensive mobile strategy), if you're at all interested in marketing and media, do yourself a favor and spend some time reading, watching and thinking about this...

Charlie Rose interviews Mark Zuckerberg . In this exclusive interview, Charlie Rose sits down with the famed founder of Facebook (and CEO) along with Facebook's Chief Operation Officer, Sheryl Sandberg. Pay close attention to the dialogue around business, strategy, growth and the future. Facebook is not just about friends creeping on each other's profile.

Why Facebook Will Win . The current issue of Fast Company creates a four-dog race for technology and business supremacy. This article article pits Apple, Google, Amazon and Facebook against one another. Beyond a world where Microsoft doesn't even make it to the final four, it may appear (on the surface) that Facebook just snuck into this list against those behemoths. If that's what you're thinking, you are sorely wrong.

Facebook Will Be 50% Of Online Retail By 2015: Infographic . In the end, most people don't understand Facebook. They don't understand or respect the information and data that they have and everyone else struggles to understand the inherit value of a place that truly has become ubiquitous in how we are connected as people. Facebook is an economy and society unto itself. While that may sound like big words and hyperbole, it's hard not to see the impact of Facebook, when you start looking at data like this. It's all about how people make choices... and huge mitigating factor in making purchasing decisions revolves around our social circles.

With each passing day, Facebook becomes an ever-more interesting company to watch, analyze and lament.

Tags:

amazon

apple

business

charlie rose

content

economy

facebook

fast company

future

google

infographic

mark zuckerberg

marketing

media

microsoft

mobile strategy

online social network

purchasing decision

retail

sheryl sandberg

social circle

strategy

A Life Without Technology

There's no doubt that technology brings with it some scary things.

The scariest of them all is of the uncertainty. Human beings are creatures of habit and any introduction of anything new typically raises an eyebrow (at least) or pitchforks (more often). It's a somewhat common theme that is tiresome to me, but one that rages with debate throughout the times. If you study history, many of the same arguments that are made as to why the Internet is ruining our society and culture can be found when we first saw the introduction of public speaking, the printed word, telecommunications and on and on.

The common plight of smartphones and mobile devices is that they are shackles that handcuff an employee to their work

Twenty-fours hours a day and seven days a week. While your boss may have an expectation that because you have a BlackBerry you should be responding to their emails at 6 am on a Saturday (emergency or not), this is less about your boss' disposition and more about a common lack of education as to how to use technology to get the best results. Many people are often shocked to hear that my iPhone never makes a peep. I get one silent vibrate for text messages (and I'm quick to block those that I do not know) and two vibrations for a phone call. My iPhone will not beep, vibrate or blink when emails, tweets, or Facebook updates arrive. Why? It's my job to best manage my technology (and not the other way around). The people I work with know that email is the best form of communication with me and that if it's an emergency, to please call. On the other side of this communication, I check my emails (and other digital notifications) when I want (not in the moment that they happen). The phone does ring, but it's only on a rare occasion (for those emergencies).

There's a macro lesson here.

If you think your kid is spending too much time on their iPad and not enough time outside getting some exercise, don't blame the iPad. Before the iPad, they were playing video games, and before video games they were watching TV, and before TV they were reading comic books. Throughout history, you will uncover generations of youth who would rather sit around and play than go outside and play.

It's not technologies' fault that a kid is lazy... it comes down to parenting, values and the child's disposition.

The Waldorf School of the Peninsula is one of over 150 Waldorf schools in the United States that doesn't allow technology or gadgets for students up until the eighth grade. These are not the wired classrooms we keep hearing about. In fact, they're traditional classrooms - the ones you might see in a Norman Rockwell painting (yellow pencils, wood desks and all). The reason why this particular school is getting so much attention is because it is located in the heart of Silicon Valley and hosts children whose parents work at companies like Google, Yahoo and Apple. It seems so counter-intuitive that the story (which I originally saw in The New York Times in late October titled, A Silicon Valley School That Doesn't Compute), has become a hotly discussed topic... Where else, but online.

Do kids need Google?

Can kids learn math better from a teacher than an iPad? What good is an education if a child can't learn how to use a physical dictionary? You can see how the discourse evolves. The answer to the question is (obviously) no. Kids do not need Google, a great math teacher is much better than an iPad app, and it's important that kids know what a book is. But, there's something else we need to remember: our values were created in a different time and in a different place. Let's rephrase the question: am I doing my child a service or disservice by not allowing a component of their education to include computers, technology and connectivity? This is not a zero sum game. Think about it this way: the current jobs that the majority of my friends are working at didn't even exist as occupations when I was in High School. Should a child be lugging around five textbooks in a backpack that's causing them spinal disc herniation or does an iPad not only enable them to have a lighter load, but the ability to also create, collaborate and engage more with their peers (when used correctly)?

Look into the future.

What do you see? Do you see a world of cubicles, desks and paperclips, or do you see a very different world? So, while some may think it's important to keep technology away from our kids for as long as possible, I'm open to argue that it's not an all-or-nothing proposition. I can't imagine my kids ever using a HB pencil when they finally enter the workforce... In fact, I'm willing to bet that they probably won't even be using a keyboard and a mouse on a computer like we do today.

So yes, history is important, but not more important than preparing them for the future.

The above post is my twice-monthly column for the Montreal Gazette and Vancouver Sun newspapers called, New Business - Six Pixels of Separation . I cross-post it here with all the links and tags for your reading pleasure, but you can check out the original versions online here:

Montreal Gazette - Children not outside playing? Don't blame technology .

Vancouver Sun - not yet published.

Tags:

apple

blackberry

business column

comic books

communication

connectivity

culture

digital notification

education

email

email etiquette

facebook

gadget

google

internet

ipad

iphone

mobile device

montreal gazette

newspaper column

norman rockwell

occupation

postmedia

public speaking

silicon valley

smartphone

society

technology

telecommunications

television

text book

the new york times

the waldorf school of peninsula

twitter

vancouver sun

video games

vocation

workforce

yahoo

The Ultimate Question

Episode #278 of Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast is now live and ready for you to listen to.

Do you know what the ultimate question for your business is? The evolution of customer service and brand loyalty is a topic that has captured the imagination of Fred Reichheld for over twenty years. In 1996, the Bain Fellow published his first book, The Loyalty Effect: The Hidden Force Behind Growth, Profits, and Lasting Value. Recently, Reichheld (along with co-author, Rob Markey) published a newly updated version of his 2006 seminal book, The Ultimate Question (now titled, The Ultimate Question 2.0). So, in case you were wondering, the ultimate question is: "How likely is it that you would recommend this company to a friend or colleague?" A businesses ability to not only understand the answer to this question, but to benchmark their success, led Reichheld to create and champion the Net Promoter Score System - which companies (the world over) now use to define how much love their consumers have for them. It was an honor that Fred agreed to take part in this chat. Enjoy the conversation...

You can grab the latest episode of Six Pixels of Separation here (or feel free to subscribe via iTunes): Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast #278.

Tags:

advertising

bain

bite size edits

blog

blogging

blue sky factory

book oven

cast of dads

cc chapman

chris brogan

christopher s penn

customer service

digital dads

digital marketing

facebook

facebook group

fred reichheld

hugh mcguire

in over your head

itunes

julien smith

librivox

loyalty rules

managing the gray

marketing

marketing over coffee

media hacks

new marketing labs

new promoter score system

online social network

podcast

podcasting

pressbooks

rob markey

six pixels of separation

social media 101

social media marketing

strategy

the loyalty effect

the ultimate question

the ultimate question 20

trust agents

twist image

What Is A Blog? The Question That Won't Go Away

By the way the conversation flowed at this year's BlogWorld & New Media Expo in Los Angeles, you would think that Blogging was brand new.

Rick Calvert (the CEO and co-founder of BlogWorld and New Media Expo) invited me down to moderate a panel called, Building A New Media Empire> The panel also featured Deanna Brown (CEO of Federated Media), Lisa Stone (co-founder of BlogHer) and Michael Stelzner (found of Social Media Explorer). It was yesterday morning's keynote (which was also the last day of this three-day long conference) that brought out a ton of in-person discourse on Blogs, Blogging, Social Media and the future of media. In all of that, it seemed like everyone (including yours truly) grapples and struggles with the definition of a "Blog." In more than a few sessions, speakers and participants would ask questions like, "is The Huffington Post a Blog?" or "is TechCrunch a Blog?"

What is a Blog?

While some may call me a traditionalist, I think there are certain aspects of online publishing that does identify something as a Blog, and they include:

RSS feed.

Comments.

Journal like publishing design - meaning the content runs chronologically from newest to oldest.

Trackbacks.

Permalinks.

Archive by date.

A semblance of opinion and character in the content.

Do you need to have all of them?

Absolutely not. The real challenge is that many news websites reside on a Blogging platform and this causes some confusion. We also see many more corporations building websites on WordPress platforms because the content management system is just that much easier. Yes, it's increasingly difficult to say, "this is a website, but this is a Blog," and perhaps we are closely getting to that moment in time when it becomes identifiable simply by, "knowing it when you see it." As Blogging became more pervasive (back in the early 2000s) and then audio Podcasting (followed shortly thereafter by video podcasting), I made the argument to simply call it all "publishing" (actually my original term was, "instant publishing"). At the end of the day, Blogging is a publishing platform. It allows anybody to have a thought, and to share that thought in text, images, audio and video, instantly and for free for the world to see.

Instant publishing.

Is Twitter a Blog (some call in micro-blogging)? Is flickr a Blog (you can post pictures, comment on them, archive them date, etc...)? Is tumblr a Blog (some would argue that tumblr is a Blog mixed with more social layers)? Michael from Social Media Explorer agrees. He prefers to call himself a publisher over a Blogger. I'm quick to agree that whether it's the business book, Six Pixels of Separation, the Blog or the Podcast, it is just publishing, but I still prefer to say that I'm a Blogger and Podcaster (especially over titles like, "journalist" and "writer"). For some reason, those words resonate with me. They make me feel like I don't have to hold myself to the standards of a traditional media (and if you're asking, yes I do write differently when it's for this Blog or when it's for a newspaper). The content that I publish here - by the sheer fact that it's a called a Blog or a Podcast - gives me the right to experiment more text and audio. To be more irreverent and to test the waters of text and audio.

Blogging still feels more punk to me... and I like it that way just fine, thank you very much.

(No, this is not a new thought. More riffing on this from 2006: A Blog Is Like Lemmy From Motorhead ).

Tags:

blog

blogger

blogging

blogher

blogworld

business book

conference

content

content management

deanna brown

federated media

flickr

future of media

instant publishing

journal

journalist

lemmy

lisa stone

michael stelzner

micro blogging

motorohead

new media

new media expo

online publishing

permalink

podcaster

podcasting

publishing

punk rock

rick calvert

rss

social media

social media explorer

techcrunch

the huffington post

trackback

tumblr

twitter

website

wordpress

writer

New Ways Of Working

As much as we embrace change, we are all creatures of habit.

Back in 1988, I became interested in actually publishing magazines. Prior to that (in and around my teenage years), I was always fascinated with journalism, newsletters, writing, media and marketing those messages. It's hard to understand how it happened, but I became a magazine publisher in my mid-twenties. Around this time, modems were already pervasive and the online chatter in BBS forums was active (considering how few people actually had connectivity). I can remember the first Web browser and I can also remember seeing news articles online for the first time.

It didn't scare me. It excited me.

Without having a legacy business in publishing, the Internet wasn't threatening at all. In fact, it was the complete opposite. The Internet was a new opportunity. It was another place to tell and share a story. When I first used Blogger, I had a similar feeling. Suddenly, I could write and publish to the world for everyone to see? Wow! On top of that, those who were interested could subscribe to my writing (via RSS) and be notified the second I published anything online? Crazy! But wait, it gets better: those people can also leave comments (that I can respond to), they can create their own Blogs and they can share the links too? FTW!

Publishing wasn't traditional and new... publishing was just publishing.

Without knowing it, I was in the middle of a huge revolution in media. We're all, still, in the middle of it. Older textbooks from university didn't even have mention of these channels. The founders of these new channels were acting like their way was going to be the only way in the future... and then there was us: the people working in media. I'm often asked what makes someone successful in marketing, media and communications. I used to think it was about understanding change and embracing technology. That's only a small part of it.

Success comes from not just accepting the new but working in the new.

Yes, you have to know where we have been to know where we are going. Yes, it's important to not just focus on the tools or channels. But, in the end, the successful bunch are those who embrace new ways of working. Are there exceptions this? Yes? Anomalies? Of course. Even big and lumbering companies can pivot and change when they truly embrace these new ways of working. The challenge is that most of the time these new ways of working are not taken on with true tenacity. They're brought into an organization and eventually ghettoized within the organization.

Change is hard. New is hard.

Nothing new here. Nothing you have not heard before, but when was the last time you took physical action to create new ways of working? Yes, it could be as simple as a new piece of software or changing your physical location to something more profound (like operating your twenty year old business as if it were a newly minted startup). I struggle with this (and you should too). The trick is to do your best to constantly look, evaluate and integrate new ways of working. Along with that, it's critical to be a student in the course of life on news ways of working. In the end, this is where you will find an edge and a new perspective in your work. But, most importantly, it will enable you to be in a constant state of iteration that will (hopefully) keep you (and me) from becoming anything but traditional.

Give yourself a fair chance to always be working on new ways of working.

Tags:

bbs

blogger

change

communications

connectivity

journalism

linking

magazine publishing

marketing

media

media revolution

newsletters

online article

online chatter

publishing

rss

software

startup

web browser

work

working

writing

The Beast About Strike

It's not about me.

Many people know me as the public face of Twist Image. I deal with it and I don't mind it, but once you're a client of ours, you can see how our 100+ employees (across two offices - or as we like to call it: "one office with a very long corridor") care and dig deep to deliver great Digital Marketing results for our clients. It's a great team, and everyone who works in a company knows that you're only as strong as the team that you surround yourself with. The Twist Image team spent over six weeks in training for a very special Flash Mob that took place on Halloween in Montreal. As you can see from the video below, everyone in and around the Victoria Square vicinity (which intersects the downtown core and Old Montreal) had a very special trick and treat during lunchtime on Halloween day.

Team effort.

It really was a full-on team press/effort. Everything was done by our team (without any external help). The choreography was led by our Senior QA Engineer and the make-up was led by one of our System Administrators (...I kid you not). As you can tell by the results, it takes much more than choreography and make-up to pull something like this off. We had people figuring out how we would capture it, how to ensure that the live music was loud enough, and we even had some last minute scrambles as our destination is the same spot that the Occupy Montreal movement is still... occupying. In the end, I'm really proud of our team. And for those who are curious: no, I did not take part. I had too much travel to make the commitment, on the day of the flash mob I was in two big client presentations and ultimately, this event involves two things I'm really not good at: dressing up and dancing.

That being said, it makes me smile every time I see it... (and proud too)...

Tags:

choreography

digital marketing

flash mob

halloween

michael jackson

occupy montreal

online video

teamwork

thriller

twist image

victoria square

youtube