Pardon the lack of posts, but last week I was insanely busy at TED 2010. If you have any interest, here are my 3 wrap posts from different portions of this mindblowing 100+ presentation event.
Post 1: Transformative Transparency
Post 2: Id and Identity Online
Please also check out the first published technology-related talk from this year’s conference- a demonstration of some amazing new Bing maps 3D capabilities:
This morning I was lucky enough to attend the unveiling of the words of the Charter for Compassion here in DC. The Charter for Compassion is the culmination of Karen Armstrong’s TED Prize 2008 wish, which I have discussed on the Ogilvy blog. We have been lucky enough to work with TED, Karen and the host of other players involved in putting this important document into the world in enough ways for it to reach around the world in a way that inspires action – not another Cumbaya moment.
Here are 3 of my favorite communications pieces:
1) The widget below allows you to read the charter in English, Arabic, Spanish, and Hebrew and affirm it directly in the widget. If you are inspired by this project, please click “share” and consider embedding on your own site or blog.
2) The second is a video of people from all walks of life reading the words of the charter itself. This was debuted at the event this morning and created some heartswell.
3) The final is a piece that our team in Australia (under the leadership of DC ex-pat Brian Giesen) put together with an amazing lineup of Australian bloggers and personalities.
Australians on Compassion from TED Prize on Vimeo.
Social media has been a hero in this project – called out by all the religious dignitaries involved as helping to facilitate collaboration on definitions of compassion and crafting the charter itself. If this good news can then spread the word of this collaborative and inspirational document, it will truly be the first, instead of the last chapter of something special.
WHO IS THIS WOMAN? BLOGGER? MOM? WOM ADVOCATE? WIFE? STRATEGIST? She’s not confused, just multi-dimensional like you.
This week, I was honored to be asked to participate in IBM’s Social Media Marketing Summit. The first speaker of the day was a social media standard, but someone whom I had not previously met: Frank Eliason, the man behind @comcastcares. Frank has not only become a poster child for his company, he has become a go-to case study for traditional media getting value out of Twitter. Frank had a lot of great nuggets of wisdom to pass along through sharing his journey, but there was one aspect that I got some additional questions on later: his very open, brave take on how personal and professional worlds fit together in social media.
Frank’s profile page not only bears his own photo, but links to his family’s personal websites. This is Frank’s interpretation of a critical principle: people don’t create relationships with a company, they create relationships with people. He shares these links to personalize both himself and his employer. While I agree with the underlying concept, my interpretation of what it means to bring this principle to life is different. While my tweets, this blog, and my entries on the Ogilvy blog are all written in a very conversational style that reflects my personality, I do not have digital links up to family or (non-business-relevant) friends. I am also pretty sensitive to the topics of what I cover and try to stay close to my mission of discussion social media & WOM-relevant topics with an appropriate slice of life on the side. For the purely personal or “venting”, I usually use Facebook.
I truly don’t think there’s any right or wrong or black or white on this issue. Over the last few days, I’ve been trying to figure out why I have consciously and unconsciously made these decisions. Here’s what I’ve come up with:
I have clients – there is already a certain level of professional self-censorship on the stories I share as much of what I am exposed to is proprietary or sensitive for my clients. Someone who is the face of a brand might feel a bit more comfortable sharing a larger percentage of their days and nights.
I’m female – I started blogging in the age of the mommyblogger explosion, but was not blogging about anything personal. Because I am a mom who blogs, but am not a mommyblogger, I have probably veered a little dramatically to stay out of that category and pay proper respect to those who truly excel at sharing about their personal lives. And like Rock and Roll Mama says: I’ve still got it. Even when I am up to my elbows in Elmo and goldfish.
Virginia Miracle is a Professional Construct (or: Dad Ate My Google Results) – Virginia Miracle was born in 2004 when I married into an awesome last name. Prior to that, I had a different, somewhat complex and very southern name that is extremely close to that of my Dad – my fabulous and extremely prolific writer father. For a guy who just got broadband last year, he has a shockingly robust digital footprint. Getting a new name coincided with the year that I found WOMMA and my career changed. Thus, everything public that is associated with the name “Virginia Miracle” has stayed relatively professional and been highly correlated to Word of Mouth Marketing.
I don’t think there is a “best practice” here, but it is important to be conscious of your choices as you start that Twitter feed, create a YouTube video of your friends in Vegas, or blog about your parenting style. Depending on how and where you share, it could follow you to your next job interview, background check, or family reunion. Best of luck and happy social media sorting…
<2 Part Disclaimer: My company (Ogilvy PR) is doing social media work with Ford. We did not execute the project being discussed in this post>
The case “story” I shared with the AdTech audience a few weeks ago showed of a number of elements executing a digital influence strategy through discussing some of the work that Ford has been doing. In one slide, I featured a photo of Brad & Emma – 2 Fiesta “agents” chosen to drive Ford Fiesta for 6 months prior to it becoming available in the US and take it on monthly missions. Little did I know that @cupster – a direct connection to Brad & Emma and key player in their campaign site followthefiesta.com – would be in the audience.
After getting connected to them digitally, I asked if they would share some insight into WHY they wanted to apply to drive and spread WOM on a car they had never driven. I also asked about the role of social media in their strategy. After all, they DID get the car. Here is some wisdom from @followthefiesta:
VM: You and Emma were clearly extremely passionate about becoming one of the 100 Agents in the Fiesta Movement. How did you hear about the opportunity? What appealed to you about the Fiesta?
FTF: We had a blast working on this project! I heard about this ‘contest’ from a friend that entered and it turned into a little ‘friendly’ competition. The idea that we could hit the open roads in a new car (that no one has seen) and set out on adventures is what appealed most to us. We work indoors in a live performing arts theater everyday. So, the excuse to get outdoors in the fresh air is an added bonus too!
VM: How did you decide what forms of social media to include in your Follow the Fiesta campaign (blog, twitter, youtube, google friend connect, other?)?
FTF: We searched around a bit to discover what other people that had entered were using as the key social networking components. We immediately purchased our domain name followthefiesta.com and then began branding this across the other forms of social media. Twitter, Youtube, Facebook Fan Page, etc all helped us try to get people to watch our audition video. From the very beginning, we knew that we wanted to create a brand (followthefiesta) and a tagline (follow brad follow emma) so people would remember us through out the project. After we came up with the site name and tagline, we approached Adam (Cuppyyarrish.com) to see if he thought we could actually pull off everything that we felt needed to happen to get the exposure and grab the attention of the Selection Committee. We created the audition video and also several shorter videos (we like to call Nuggets) used to promote our brand.
VM: How are you and Emma resolving who actually gets to DRIVE the car?
FTF: The great thing about that situation is that we both work at the Craterian Theater (www.craterian.org ) and have the same identical schedule. We carpool to work and for errands around town. (So, not only did we win the contest but we are doing our part by keeping extra cars off the roadways by carpooling!) We do a pretty good job taking turns driving, and now that I’m not as ‘rusty’ with the manual transmission Emma may have to race me to get to the drivers seat first!
VM: I love your Ryan Stiles nugget video. Any other celeb appearances in Follow’s future?
FTF: We’re always on the look-out for additional appearances and hope to get a few more down the road. Ryan was a great sport! Stay tuned for a few more surprises that will include some well known personalities.
Note: this is cross posted at the 360 DI Fresh Influence blog.
Recently, some of us around the 360 DI team have spent some serious quality time with the international advocacy-movement building experts at Purpose Campaigns. Inspired by one of his Australian quotable quotes, I asked co-founder Jeremy Heimans to answer a few questions for the Fresh Influence blog.
VM: I recently heard you say that “newsletters are the enemy” for building advocacy movements. Given that you have built a number of global movements from the ground up (Global MoveOn compliment Avaaz (pictured above), anti-nuclear Global Zero, and GetUp Australia to name a few), can you share a few core tenets of designing and maintaining a truly “action”-oriented brand? …