2009 Charlotte Addys!

Posted March 12th, 2009 by Lindsey Reminga

Social Media Marketing – Rethinking Traditional Marketing Plans

Posted March 11th, 2009 by Albert Banks

Slides for Ron’s presentation: Social Media Marketing- Rethinking Traditional Marketing Plans.

US Broadband Still Woeful

Posted February 19th, 2009 by Albert Banks

Here in the United States we like to think of ourselves as a modern technological society. The truth is we lag behind the rest of the world in a very important facet of technology – broadband. High Speed internet access (broadband) has continued to grow in this country, but not nearly as fast as other nations.

Penetration

The US has continued to drop in the broadband penetration rankings worldwide – we are now 19th. This means a greater percent of people in countries such as Luxemburg, Australia and Canada have broadband access than Americans.

Speed

We also lack when it comes to broadband speed. The latest CWA Report has the US ranked 15th with an median download speed of 2.35 Mb/s. Compared to Japan (63 Mb/s), South Korea (49.50 Mb/s), Finland (21.70 Mb/s) and France (17.60 Mb/s) our speed is pitiful. Even neighbor Canada ranked ahead of the US with an average download speed of 7.60 Mb/s. Now comes the news that Koreans will have 1Gbps connections by 2012.

Cost

After hearing these stats, you might wonder how our costs compare to other countries. This is the one list we do top. The US has the highest cost of broadband among industrialized nations.

Where do we go from here?

The government is ready to influence the situation, citing productivity gains from an improved infrastructure. The economic stimulus package should include a $10 billion to $15 billion investment.

US internet service providers have fallen into a stagnant situation. Hopefully, this influx will energize the market. Otherwise, we will continue to drop behind the modern world in broadband…

No ESPN360 For You

Posted February 10th, 2009 by Albert Banks

If you are a sports nut like me, ESPN360 is pretty sweet. It is the web version of ESPN’s television network featuring 3,500 sporting events per year. But you can only view it if your Internet Service Provider (ISP) has shelled out some cash.

For the past few years, ESPN has been forcing ISPs to pay a licensing fee for the website. If the ISP doesn’t pay up their customers don’t get access. Time Warner Cable is one of many ISPs who haven’t signed on, meaning no ESPN360 for me…

This is a disturbing trend if you are a fan of Net Neutrality. You know, the right to use your web access for whichever sites and software you desire. Can you imagine choosing your ISP based on the websites you can access or the programs you are allowed to use?

This topic has become a hot political topic and it will continue to be until we finally have some legislation governing the issue.

References:
ESPN to ISPs: Pay for Your Customers to Play Video
Net Neutrality Debate Is Secretly All About Internet Television, Net Pioneers Say

Twitter: Micro-Blogging is in our DNA

Posted January 29th, 2009 by Ron Edelen

A good article (unlike this blog post) should have a solid hypothesis–we twit because we crave attention–which generates research (see references), which leads to a well-informed conclusion–micro-blogging is in our DNA. I would love to lay it all out in such an academic fashion, but I have a million hypothesis on the Twitter topic and none of them are conclusive.

We twit because we can.
We crave attention in every facet of our lives.
We know little about one thing, but a lot about everything.
We like knowing that someone might be listening.
We need to share our happiness. Our sadness. Our anger.

Our lives are streaming… and it makes us feel sexy.

There are dozens of discussions about Twitter as a Social media revolution and its use as a marketing tool. Absurd experiments, different strategic opinions and third party tools are popping up everywhere. All of this is backed by the theory that more Brand activity, even if its short nonsense conversation, is better than no activity. Ostensibly unedited, spontaneous conversation is easy and seemingly instinctive for us. It comes naturally and Twitter is the ultimate conduit.

Dennis White presents a strong indifference towards this constant stream of useless nonsense produced through Twitter, claiming that “society individually and collectively suffers for it.” Tina at BSS critiques how the Booklyn Museum might have missed the target by encrypting their feeds and trying to monetize on it (an experimental gimmick). She concludes that Twitter and social media in general is about the conversation, not the message. Some business-centric journals are claiming “expertise” on how this channel [Twitter] is crucial to businesses. Its has personal charm, provides intimacy, revenue opps, etc. If your interested in Dell Outlet’s approach, or toys to add to your Twit-hero utility belt, see references below. I’m not sure how crucial it is or will be. Nonetheless, a little Brand conversation maybe better than none.

Update:
Today’s issue of Shelly Palmer’s self-plugging Media Bytes focuses on how to Tap into Twitter’s Value. Not a fan of the series, but it shows that there is growing Twit buzz at iMedia Connection network. Digital journalist giant Leo Laporte recently ranted about the fact that his Twitter following has not moved in 7 days (a man who has over 80k+ followers), claiming there is something technically wrong with Twitter’s capacity.

References:
Social Media: Top Five Twitter Tools for Business Intelligence
Getting Intimate (with Cusomters) on Twitter

Charlotte Ranked #7 for Young Professionals

Posted January 27th, 2009 by Lindsey Reminga

Charlotte Chamber of Commerce’s young professionals group, Engage Charlotte, recently had a discussion with The Charlotte Business Journal to determine why Charlotte ranks as the seventh-most-desirable market for young adults 18 to 34 years old among the country’s largest metro areas.  

The discussion includes the facts of Charlotte’s small business success, and our entrepreneurial spirit for innovation and growth. It’s a longer read, but gives great insight into Charlotte’s stride to the top! My favorite quote from the reading:

“Today consumers have more choices for products and services. In fact, nearly 50% of product sales are coming form products and services that are less than 2 years old. This requires companies to be continuously innovating and bringing new products to market. Does this innovation come from within a company or should a company look outside for innovation? Bringing new products and services to the market is about risk and reward. The costs can significant and therefore the rewards need to justify the investment. Innovation also needs to have a positive impact on brand, customer retention, and market share. The impact of not innovating could be detrimental.Once a company understands the importance of innovation, then they need to figure out how to innovate. Companies also need create a culture where innovation flourishes. A culture where risk is allowed. A culture where failure is not only acceptable, it is encouraged.”

To read the full discussion, visit the Charlotte Chamber’s website

To read the full article, visit the Charlotte Business Journal’s website

Imagine Charlotte in 2015

Posted January 27th, 2009 by Lindsey Reminga

Crossroads Charlotte is asks the community to envision Charlotte, 2015. Playing at 6 locations on Tuesday, February 3rd, this creative outreach hopes to encourage civic action- now. You can reserve a seat for free by clicking the link below:

2009 Marketing Forecast

Posted January 23rd, 2009 by Lindsey Reminga

The 2009 Marketing Forecast meeting, put on by the Charlotte American Marketing Association (CAMA), had a great turnout; with a crowd of top marketing executives in the area, this event proved to be and important look to the future.

Each panelist made important points about past success in the industry, and where the trends are going for 2009. You can view the podcast of this event, including an additional presentation, “Online Video Revolution” at CAMA’s Podcast.

Ron’s presentation:

AS3: Programmer’s Dream, Designer’s Nightmare

Posted January 23rd, 2009 by Albert Banks

Here at Myjive we have made the jump from using Actionscript 2.0 to 3.0 in our Flash based productions. What we’ve found is not surprising. This leap is great for programmers, but can be scary for designers.

AS3 is a huge evolution from an inconsistent codebase to a solid object-oriented programming language. It greatly improves the Flash Player runtime and makes coding more traditional for developers.

A byproduct of this evolution is that animations, transitions and tweens are now code based, rather than timeline based. For designers and animators this is a big shift in how they are used to creating Flash assets. Now instead of adding minor code or adjusting a timeline to create a rollover effect, multiple listeners must be setup to control the interaction.

The result is the need for greater communication between coders and designers. They have to be on the same page when creating assets and implementing interaction. Our team has learned to embrace this change, leveraging the improvements in AS3 to create solid, visually stunning Flash widgets, applications and websites.

What is your experience with AS3?

Agency Words of Wisdom

Posted January 14th, 2009 by Lindsey Reminga

Recently, our team was enlightened by a well-known developer in West Michigan, Jim Reminga, about the true meaning of a client-serving business. Sure, we all want to blow every other competitor’s business out of the water when it comes to presentation, but where does the real glory come from? 

Here’s Jim’s view:

“Design+ [Jim's first architecture firm in MI] decided to take a unique approach to the very first interview we had with a prospective client.  We prepared a conceptual analysis of the project, assumed a program and created a few conceptual solutions. We told them we were going to skip the traditional interview and demonstrate what our first meeting with them would be like if they hired us. We came in 2^nd for that project (because our firm was only about 10 minutes old), but we used that technique many times and lost very few projects.

We did millions in fee with the Prince Corporation over the years.  My favorite compliment came from their president when he said, “When I’m laying awake at 2 AM worrying about my business I know you’re laying awake worrying about us too.” 

Great design is what you do and sometimes you’ll be lucky to have someone who only wants to buy great design.  Most clients, however, seek out a consultant because they have a very serious business need (opportunity or problem) and they want you to help them.  You may win awards from your peers for great design, but you will build repeat client relationships (the best kind) by getting in their shoes, laying awake thinking about their problems and making them successful.  We preached to our employees that our #1 goal was making our clients successful.  Profit was never a goal; it was the reward we got for solving client problems.”

*Jim currently owns Crossroads Ventures, a real estate development firm in Grand Rapids, MI. You can contact him through his business website: www.crossroads-ventures.com/