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Archives for March 2011

March 9, 2011 By Dawn Walnoha Leave a Comment

Of Blogging and Minimalism

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Minimalism, according to that great oracle Wikipedia, describes a movement in art “where the work is stripped down to its most fundamental features.” When it comes to writing, Beckett, Carver and Hemingway were masters at saying what they needed to say without a lot of extra words and fuss. This is an inspiring idea when it comes to blogging.

Having recently moved into a new apartment, I have been struck with sudden real-life minimalism. I have large blank walls and a lack of chairs. The American consumerist inside of me is itching to fill up the space with all kinds of conveyor belt-produced tchotchke which is undoubtedly destined for the landfill. Yet on the other hand, living sparsely has its benefits. I know where everything is. I never have to embark on a spelunking expedition just to find my phone bill or a pair of tennis shoes. There’s never a burning to desire to take inventory of an over-stuffed junk drawer, nor do I hear exhausted sighs from piles of donation bags that hope someday they will finally be taken to the local Goodwill. Everything is exactly what it appears to be. There’s beauty in the cleanliness and simplicity.

I’ve seen this simplicity reflected in the some of the blogs I read daily. Many modern bloggers have stripped down the bells and whistles of their blogging sites, choosing only to focus on their content. This is a revolutionary concept for a word hoarder like myself, but given my new Malevich-like lifestyle, it is something that intrigues me.

According to legend, Raymond Carver was pushed into minimalism after an editor at Esquire advised him to use five words instead of fifteen. As bloggers, perhaps we should consider a similar challenge. What if we just gave readers great words, interesting starting blocks for intelligent conversations and cool content? It’s possible our readers would be turned off by the lack of shiny things blinking all over our blog. But maybe without the verbal excess, our company’s true vision and personality would actually have a moment to shine.

Filed Under: Blog Content Management, Blog Marketing, Brand Engagement, Digital Engagement, Social Media Management, Social Media Marketing Tagged With: blogging, Social Media Marketing

March 8, 2011 By Dawn Walnoha Leave a Comment

International Women’s Day Gets a Boost From Bond & Other Brands

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Every March 8th for the past 100 years, International Women’s Day has been celebrated around the world. With the turbulent uprisings in the Middle East and global economic unrest, International Women’s Day is more relevant than ever. Thanks to social media marketing and a little help from James Bond this year’s celebration is garnering some big-time headlines.

Equals, a UK charity partnership lead by Annie Lennox, released a special digital film campaign for International Women’s Day with serious star power. The film is narrated by Oscar winner Dame Judi Dench and features her James Bond co-star Daniel Craig. Dench rattles off some statistics about domestic violence and pay inequality that especially shock in modern times like ours before posing the question to a silent, smug-looking Craig, “For someone with such a fondness for women, I wonder if you’ve ever considered what it means to be one?” Craig then appears in the movie in a dress and a blonde wig.

The film is being shown online and in theaters today in the UK in celebration of International Women’s Day. Equals hopes a macho star like Craig in its ads will drive home the point that inequality affects everyone.

“We feel it is crucial to involve men in the movement for women’s rights and Equals is about men and women working together for positive change” says a spokesperson for the partnership.

Elsewhere, the Internet and social media are being used to promote the holiday around the globe. Artist and designer Kinda Hibrawi has partnered with American Friends of UNRWA’s Adopt a School Program. Of Syrian descent, Hibrawi has released t-shirts featuring the words peace, beauty, love and justice written in Arabic. 25% of all online sales go to UNRWA in a program they call “Buy a tee, Help a Refugee.” Hibrawi’s design as well as the partnering charity creates a perfect gift for the holiday which helps women currently affected the most by inequality issues.

Lastly, we couldn’t help but smile when we saw this photo of Air India’s all-female crew, one of 13 which will be flying today in celebration of International Women’s Day. Air India currently employs 157 pilots and has more than 5,300 women employees on its payroll. The brand’s pride in its female employees stretches far beyond the reaches of just March 8th. Last year, Air India celebrated a milestone in civil aviation when it launched the first Mumbai to New York flight by having an all-women crew on board.

Filed Under: Blog Marketing, Brand Engagement, Digital Engagement Tagged With: Branded Content

March 7, 2011 By Dawn Walnoha Leave a Comment

Brandsplat Video Report on the reclusive Charlie Sheen, Android and Apaci Dansi ““ Hasan Baba

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This week’s Brandsplat Video report episode covers the reclusive Charlie Sheen, Android and Apaci Dansi – Hasan Baba. Check it out! Or click here for more Brandsplat vids

Filed Under: Brandsplat Video Report Tagged With: Branded Content, Social Media Marketing

March 2, 2011 By Brandsplat Leave a Comment

Can Design & Creativity Solve Our Toughest Problems?

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In a throwback to the 1990s (and not in a good way), the word on the street is that PBS, the National Endowment for the Arts and National Public Radio are in danger of becoming extinct due to proposed federal funding cuts. In short, creativity and the arts are quickly losing ground in the battle of the budget. And yet there is hope for creativity from an unlikely source: Big business – and specifically the tech industry – continues to reward creative thinkers with foundations, contests and campaigns geared to generate more inspired solutions to the world’s most difficult problems.

Design Ignites Change is the brainchild of software giant Adobe and marketing firm Worldstudio Projects. The idea is simple: Students and creative professionals are challenged to use their left brains to solve tough social issues. Architects, design students, illustrators and other creatively-inclined types set forth initiatives which address tough problems by employing their unique talents. Adobe and partners then award cash to the clever designers with the best execution and best ideas. The projects use social media, online videos and grassroots marketing to spark interest in their causes. Now in its second year, the current crop of winners tackled everything from the lack of sidewalk for a park to safety for gay refugees.

One winner born in Los Angeles, NeighborBridgeGap, connected the City of Angeles with earthquake-torn Haiti. By employing the resources of local businesses and the talents of Otis Design School students and elementary school students, the project set out with a mission to make the distance between the two very different places seem a whole lot less. With items donated by a nearby hotel and books given to NeighborBridgeGap by the Ella Fitzgerald Foundation, the students set out in creating knapsacks for Haitian children to carry. The Otis students taught the elementary kids how to weave and thus created the bags which were filled with sketch pads, art supplies and books. Haitian students who undoubtedly have been forced to come up creative solutions to their own real life problems are given tools from their across the globe artistic counterparts.

NeighborBridgeGap and Design Ignites Change are doing what artists have been doing with one another for centuries – using creativity and collaboration to make life just a little better.

Filed Under: Digital Engagement Tagged With: Digital Engagement

March 1, 2011 By Brandsplat Leave a Comment

Two & a Hot Mess: Traditional Media, Digital PR and Charlie Sheen

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In the famous 1976 film Network, television executives decide to keep a ranting anchorman on the air despite his obvious declining mental health because his antics are great for ratings. Howard Beale, played by Peter Finch, screams the now famous on-air words written by Paddy Chayefsky, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!”

If you missed that masterpiece, by all means, add it to your Netflix queue – or tune in to the modern-day, real-life rantings of Charlie Sheen. Sheen, while as delusion if not as sympathetic as the fictional Beale, took to both Good Morning America and the Today show yesterday to defend his actions and give his take on CBS, Warner Brothers and basically the entire planet. Clearly the man is not well, and yet the media cannot resist setting up his crazy town for passersby to take a gander at like some modern day freak show. As Faye Dunaway’s character in Network would say, “Son of a bitch. We’ve struck the motherlode.”

From Anna Nicole to Paula Abdul and beyond, American audiences flock to watch celebrity train wrecks, so the network interest in Sheen isn’t all that, well, interesting. What is fascinating about this hubbub is that thanks to digital PR and social media, the public hears both sides of a dispute and in record time. When the network announced it was suspending production of the show indefinitely due to Sheen’s insane interviews and outbursts, Charlie Sheen launched an online and televised attack. From radio to morning shows, Sheen has blathered on to anyone with a recording device about how wronged he is.

Mistakenly, the network and producers responsible for the show have been playing it close to the vest. Inane as it is, Two and a Half Men is a huge moneymaking machine that employs a lot of people. Translation: Until recently, everyone turned the other cheek to Sheen’s antics so as to not derail a rich gravy train. However, like all great Los Angeles fires, what started out as a small brush fire is now blazing out of control. CBS and Warner Brothers should have aggressively taken Sheen down months ago. A fast firing of the star and some creative rewrites and stunt casting could have solved the Charlie problem. Tweets should have been chirped and posts should have been posted. While a repackage may very well have failed, at least it wouldn’t have brought about this kind of nightmare.

Network ends with Howard Beale being assassinated by network-hired gunmen. While we’re sure nothing of the sort is planned by the suits at CBS, we can see them simultaneously scrambling to find a way to shut the star up while capitalizing on his much-buzzed-about lunacy. Hopefully Sheen will turn his attention to getting the care he needs and America can move on to the next train wreck.

But let’s hear it from you, you publicity-savvy readers. What would you have done to stop Hurricane Charlie? Is Two and Half Men a brand that can be saved? And lastly, how long can we continue to “enjoy” watching stars unravel before our eyes?

Filed Under: Digital Engagement, Online Marketing Tagged With: Online Marketing

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