Great piece in Silicon Alley Insider about Terry Semel’s fumbling of the Facebook Deal. Lots of talk about a Microsoft/Facebook deal right now so I thought this was timely.
Archive for September, 2007
I am proud to say a guy I have watched pioneer the gaming world finally got his due props last week at the Emmy Awards. Matt Wolf and his company Double Twenty Productions walked away last week with the trophy for his work on the production of the Fallen Alternative Reality Game. The game is right up my alley of “entertainment geekdom”; developed as an online tie in to ABC Family television movie Fallen which premiered July 2006. Since then a quarter of a million fans have been participating in the game which began with the release of a series of online clues, flash videos, fictional websites, live events and on location video. Players were taken thru a scavenger hunt, interactive journey that tied directly into the Fallen movie. Love it great work and much more to come. I gotta do something historic with this guy!
Ad Age has given a platform for industry leaders to “run their mouth” in blogosphere with the launch of The Big Tent. I had been getting mildly harassed by two of their bloggers Carol Watson (Tangerine Watson) and Karl Carter (GTM) to read their blogs and when I did loved what I saw. Put them into your reader and enjoy!
22
Sep
07
links for 9-21-07
- Cell Phones Will Start Working In More NYC Subway Stations:
- Helio Gets Additional Funding From SK Telecom & Lights Will Stay On (Gizmodo)
- San Francisco Giants Give Barry Bonds The Boot For Next Year
- Old Navy Calls Todd Oldham To Help Fix Their Struggling Brand
- JWT Releases Findings That Show People Are “strung out” on the internet
20
Sep
07
THE GOOGLE MAN HAD MY TONGUE
We are back up after having some major challenges with Google/Blogspot. I won’t say anything bad about Sergey and his boys at Google after all they own the world don’t they? So much going on that I have wanted to talk about I feel like I have been emancipated and freed.
The most recent issue of THE KEYINFLUENCER email newsletter is on the streets and hopefully you have received if not send a request to info@brandinfluence.net to get on the list. Last week we covered
- Warner Bros New Online TV Distribution Designs
- Kobe Bryant’s Tour of China
- Dante Ross and Matt Goias Bench in NYC
- Shanti Das and Eric Nicks R&B Live Event in NYC
- Stanford Teaching A Course On Facebook
- James Andrews Now Blogging on Fast Company.com
We really have been stressing the move to our new platforms of communications which include Twitter and this blog so expect to see much more activity here and newly launched platforms including vlog and podcast shows.
NAMEDROPPER: Checking in on the newsletter last week
- Stephanie Gayle (Columbia Records)
- Tonie Davis (American Express)
- Ronah Harris (Sesame Street)
- Vickie Starr (Girlie Action PR)
- Rondre Jackson (Los Angeles Lakers)
- Jason Orr (FunkJazz Kafe)
- Lee Blevins (Cartoon Network)
- QD3 (QD3 Entertainment)
- Erin Yasgar (Geffen Records)
- Brad Fox (Royal Elastics)
- Ava Duvernay (Duvernay PR)
I must say hello to @namedropper on Twitter and though he/she (still a mystery who this is) stole our name, they are doing a great job providing “insider” information about the industries we work in.
Props to legendary Chicago producer NO I.D. who I met the other night when I was Mac “geeking” out with Jazzy Jeff. Besides sharing excitement about the release of Logic 8, I found out No I.D. is going to join Rick Rubin at Columbia. I like ID’s view on the world so I believe Columbia is on the right track with this hire.
How mainstream is “Crank Dat” by Soulja Boy? Did you see Travis from Blink 182? I thought this was nuts! Shocked? Don’t be, it’s very very mainstream. Thanks to Darnell Jenkins (Jazzy Jeff) for turning us on to this one
Back again real soon….glad to be back up!
09
Sep
07
Digital DJs – The Boston Globe
Digital DJs – The Boston Globe
Urban bloggers finally getting some mainstream press. No big secrets here on revealing the secret sauce. At least there are way more intelligent quotes than in the “overhyped” piece last week on Rick Rubin
My classmate and friend Stephen Deberry is an amazing guy. Besides being a fellow UCLA Bruin and then Oxford Business School grad he also is a 2004 Aspen Institute Alumni. Steve is currently EIC with Mitchell Kapor Foundation but more importantly Deberry is always involved in amazing movements and when he called me to talk about the board he serves on, Friends of New Orleans, I immediately realized that he was a part of something really important. The organization which is full of some heavy hitters in business, politics, academics and culture is using its influence and network to motivate people to take part in the New Orleans rebuilding effort.
Friends of New Orleans is looking to bring a Presidential debate to New Orleans and in 30 seconds you can help that come true. The funds are already in place, city has the hotel and is prepared to host. Please take the time to click here and follow the directions. This campaign is targeting your Governor, members of the US Senate and members of the US House of Representatives. Take the time and get involved. Deadline is September 11th.
RUBIN ARTICLE GETS THE INDUSTRY TALKING
{Full Disclosure: I am a former executive at Columbia Records}
We got tons of emails about the recent Rick Rubin NYT piece
that debuted during the Labor Day Weekend. I’m not sure if he is going to actually save Columbia Records or the record industry but I did find some of his comments “half interesting.” I think Rick Rubin is a guy who actually loves the music and was probably the a guy who has been relaxing in LA, living now in Malibu, bashing all the record labels until Steve Barnett came along to offer him a big paycheck. Never worked with Steve Barnett nor do I know him well but he definitely came off in the article as the typical “out of touch” Sony record executive. With Rubin’s standoff-ish approach, not sure how much motivating he will be able to do at Columbia, a place that is starving for leadership since Donnie Ienner was let go.
Barnett has other ideas, which he is discussing with Rubin. For instance, asking Columbia artists to give the record company up to 50 percent of their touring, merchandising and online revenue.
Not sure who is giving up 50% and for what????
This summer, Columbia Records began a program called Big Red. The company invited 20 college students from Harvard, Penn State and the University of Miami to work on various music projects. The interns concentrated mostly on the digital marketing and promotions departments in Columbia’s offices in Midtown Manhattan, which are on Madison Avenue in a granite skyscraper designed by Philip Johnson.
At the end of their paid internships, the students took part in focus groups that were closely observed by Steve Barnett, Rubin’s co-head at the label, and Mark DiDia, whom Rubin brought in as head of operations, as well as by other Columbia executives. The focus groups may have been the real point of Big Red — Barnett and the New York executives, especially those who had been at Sony for years, wanted to try to take the pulse of the elusive music audience.
Two questions: Who cares that the building was designed by Phillip Johnson and this Big Red concept is not something that is new so why are they describing it as a new concept. In fact I was doing something similiar with a team of college interns ALL online mind you in 1997!
Love Rubin’s passion for musicians but honestly, you are in a old building with old building thinking that even moving the headquarters or leaving Colorado Ave can fix. In the urban department things have gone from bad to worse as Rubin hires Hip Hop, currently manager for Kanye West but far from qualified from running a division.
But don’t let me be the only one with a pretty poor view of the article, my guilty pleasure is Bob Lefsetz and he does a bang up job on Rubin and the article
03
Sep
07
Daily Links: 9-2-07
SMALL BITS OF INFO
- 17 YEAR OLD BUILDS MILLION DOLLAR WEB BUSINESS
- my clients always ask me how people are really making money on the web.
- Alife Opens In LA
- a must stop in LA now
- Google Earth Launches Free Download
- hidden easter egg flight simulator for those who need a fix
CHECKING IN LAST WEEK:
Josh Levine (The Rebel Organization/LA), Jill Bishop (Goodworks International/Africa), Candace Reese (Envision PR/Atlanta), James Lopez (Atlantic Records, NYC), Brad Siegel (Gospel Music Channel/Atlanta)……and 10,000 others.
