creatorbase

April foolin

Did April just fly by or is my imagination playing tricks? This has been an interesting month with a number of business and personal activities that have been keeping me very busy. How about you?

A recent trip to Captiva for the Email Insider Summit was highly productive and enjoyable. Here's the highlights post including video from a great conversation with Hayle Chun of NBC Sports & Olympics. He touches on how and why email, social and mobile were a winning combination for the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games:

And, here are some twips (tips you can tweet) from the 45 Tips in 45 Minutes panel I moderated at the Email Insider Summit, including speakers from Barnes & Noble, Responsys, National Hockey League and eHarmony.

I've also been heads down with a dual request for proposal (RFP) process that is generating some great feedback and ideas. A number of companies and industry experts are participating in the process and I appreciate their efforts! 

Your thoughts?

Online Marketing Summit 2010

This year’s Online Marketing Summit (OMS) was a first for me and I was impressed with the caliber of content, speakers, and participation from roughly 700 marketers. Aaron Kahlow and team did a great job to create a collaborative, educational and open environment that was highly productive and enjoyable. I had the pleasure of speaking on an integrated marketing panel and I also dropped in on a few great presentations. Here's a video clip from Tom Hoehn's session regarding Kodak's social media strategy:

Read the complete OMS review post including more video with Gary Spangler from DuPont and my conversation about social media success with Steve Ennen and Eric Bradlow of the Wharton Interactive Media Initiative. 

Next up in mid April is MediaPost's Email Insider Summit 2010 in Captiva, Florida. I'm going to: co-host a Lyris client and event speaker (Hayle Chun) from NBC Sports & Olympics; moderate the "45 Tips in 45 Minutes" panel with speakers from Barnes & Noble, NHL, eHarmony and Responsys; do some blogging, video, PR and networking. Here's the agenda for Email Insider Summit -- stay tuned for tweets and a review post.    

MarketingSherpa Email Summit 2010

Looking back on MarketingSherpa's fifth annual Email Marketing Summit, I'd say it was a very good event for more than 600 marketers. There were a number of talented speakers and contributors who always make Email Summit a good investment and the Miami setting in January was a nice perk, too.  Here are some thoughts from the event and (4) video clips of conversations with customers and industry leaders. Next week, Online Marketing Summit in San Diego.

 

Jamie Oliver's food for thought and action

We first met Jamie Oliver as the "Naked Chef" from England. He's been creating in the kitchen since childhood and developed a passion early on for fresh, honest food and family experiences. A tireless author, entrepreneur, practitioner and TV personality for a number of years -- he is now on a mission to help Americans make needed changes in lifestyles and diet. In particular, he is focused on educating children on how to change course with this rally call: 

"I wish for your help to create a strong, sustainable movement to educate every child about food, inspire families to cook again, and empower people everywhere to fight obesity."  

Tune into his passionate talk (~20 minutes) recorded at TED on February 10, 2010. I believe Jamie genuinely cares and has great ideas to make a huge impact with food-related issues:

To learn more about Jamie Oliver's wish (and plan) to help educate children, click here for more details and ways to contribute to this important cause. 

What do you think about this post? How do you feel about Jamie's wish?

A conversation with John Mast of Expedia CruiseShipCenters

A cruise on the warms seas with extended stays in a variety of ports; that sounds very appealing right now. My conversation with John Mast, vice president of marketing at Expedia CruiseShipCenters, at MarketingSherp's 2010 Email Summit in Miami is a reminder of how much I enjoy tropical pace and weather.

John presented at Email Summit about his permission marketing strategy including CRM and tri-messaging work. Like many online marketers, John and his team are achieving significant results by integrating email, social and mobile channels to engage and serve on-the-go consumers and influencers. It's all about creating customers for life with memorable experiences. Learn more about the Expedia CruiseShipCenters success story in this brief clip:

Shame on moi.

I appreciate French culture, language and the people and have fond memories from a trip to Paris in the 90s. The word "moi" is an informal way of saying "me" in French but it will also represent an acronym for a new point of view that I'm going to keep in mind going forward: meaningful online investments

It occurred to me last week that I missed a planned January blog post on creatorbase.com. It's not that I didn't have content or ideas in mind, or that I wasn't online and able to make a post. I spend a lot of time using the Web (via laptop and mobile) for work, family, friends and personal interests -- but I simply prioritized other things over thinking about and creating a meaningful post last month. I also know there is no turning back time and creatorbase will forever be absent of a January 2010 post; a hole in the archive. 

To be clear, a hole in the archive is not an issue for me or anyone reading or sharing creatorbase. The key here is that blogging, social media and time online, in general, has become a very important component of an investment strategy for living. What's the take-away here? I'm committed to meaningful online investments that help others and are sometimes meaningful to me. The reality is I won't always get it right for others and that's okay.

Alexis Ohanian at TED on "losing control"

In this November 2009 TED talk, Alexis Ohanian of Reddit describes how losing control on the Internet can be a very good thing for individuals, businesses, nature, society, etc. I think you'll agree that his passion for the topic and youthful delivery is a bit infectious. And in true Twitter-form, Alexis is brief and to the point.

Is there a lesson here for 2010? Perhaps a resolution-nugget? Hint, letting go and not being afraid of the unknown can pay dividends.

A holiday scene with the family and JibJab

We received this e-card from Aunt Tracy and I couldn't resist sharing. A few family pics and those creative folks over at JibJab are the ingredients for a fun greeting.

Happy holidays and a fabulous new year from the Mott family!

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Email, social and mobile...

The online marketing space has evolved, and social media and mobile channels present the opportunity for more personal engagement to exist between people and brands. Businesses and marketers need to think beyond a batch-and-blast email marketing mentality to a well choreographed and integrated approach that is in sync with target audiences. 

Social media and mobile channels combined with email marketing can help fuel this shift, enhance engagement, grow customer opt-in lists, and maximize audience touch points. Yet, as noted by Forrester’s David Daniels, “not enough email marketers are integrating proven channels, such as social into their email marketing campaigns.” Likewise, Altimeter Group’s Jeremiah Owyang recently discussed on his blog why he believes that email marketers can no longer avoid integrating social tools. Continue with the post...

Think like a tribal leader to create change.

Seth Godin argues, with a sense of humor and insight that only he can deliver, the Internet has ended mass marketing and revived a human social unit from the distant past: tribes. Founded on shared ideas and values, tribes give ordinary people the power to lead and make big changes. Successful (tribal) leaders today tell meaningful stories, connect people, lead a movement and create change.

I read Seth's book "Tribes" last year during a memorable trip to Tennessee for Thanksgiving with our extended family. This video recorded at TED in February 2009 is a fantastic summary of the book and Seth's ideas on how to lead today... 

Are you leading a tribe? If so, please share your thoughts, ideas and links so others can learn from your experiences.