Greg Verdino

Tay's a (cherry chocolate) pepper too

I've been traveling almost non-stop for the past week and spent most of yesterday on a plane to Paris, so forgive me if I'm a little slow on the uptake but -- if you haven't already seen it, Tay "Chocolate Rain" Zonday is back with a sequel called "Cherry Chocolate Rain."  And this time around he's shilling for new Cherry Chocolate Diet Dr. Pepper.

The new vid is crammed with inside jokes and repeated lines that only make sense if you've seen the original version (which you probably have, unless you live under a rock,) but adds better production values, a guest rapper and a bunch of hot chicks.  My personal favorite moment comes in the first 30 seconds when Tay announces that, "This is the web and it's gonna murder your TV."  So cheesy, yet so good...

[Feed and email readers click through for the video.]

Consider some factoids:

• The video was released yesterday and has already amassed more than 300,000 views.  That's pretty darn ducky if you ask me.
• Tay's original "Chocolate Rain" has been viewed (on YouTube) more than 11 million times since its April release, has inspired more than 4,000 spoofs and earned Tay a good amount of mainstream media attention.  To my knowledge, the only branded viral video that comes close (in fact, it seems to be sitting at 10-11 million YouTube views as I write this) is the wickedly successful Dove Evolution film.
• The original song, although it sounded like it was about scat, was actually about racism.  The new song still sounds like it is about scat (with some video imagery to support that interpretation) is apparently about diet soda.  Go figure.

I don't know if this is brilliant or as-lame-as-lame-can-be, but I'd be damned if it isn't working...  To quote Tay, "This internet thing is wild."

links for 2007-11-28

• CNN Money | Web Bubble 2.0 for Social Networks
  Predicting that 2.0 crumbles because most networks can't attract enough ad dollars - my thoughts(1) there are other ways to monetize beyond ads, (2) social media isn't a place, it is pervasive.
  (tags: facebook future myspace socialmedia socialnetworking trends socialnetworks advertising emergingmedia marketing media mediabuying)
• Jim Nail | Has the Web 2.0 Hype Cycle Kicked In?
  Post about Web 2.0 hype/bubble - inspiration for the CNN Money bubble article.
  (tags: web2.0 trends marketing advertising socialnetworks socialnetworking emergingmedia media mediabuying)
• Conversational Media Marketing | Conversational Marketing Adoption a Topic of Spirited Debate
  Response to Jim Nail's post on Web 2.0 bubble, discussion of Jaffe's conversatonal marketing study.
  (tags: socialnetworking socialmedia marketing advertising emergingmedia web2.0 media)
• Jeremiah Owyang | Can the Social Graph Be Monetized?
  (tags: marketing socialmedia web2.0 socialnetworks socialnetworking emergingmedia business media mediabuying advertising)

Age of Conversation update

As regular readers (and frequent sidebar cruisers) know, I was one of 103 contributing authors to The Age of Conversation.  Details here if you're new...

One of the biggest and best things about The Age of Conversation (aside from the many wonderful ideas from some blogosphere bright stars) is that all proceeds benefit Variety, a charity that helps sick and needy children around the globe.  And so far, we've raised more than $10,000, even though it was only available directly from print-on-demand publisher Lulu.com.

Well, on December 1st, AOC enters a new, erm, chapter -- it will be available for the first time through Amazon and other online booksellers.

But there will be some changes.

• The hardcover will be discontinued - so if you want a hardcover (can you say collector's item, people?) be sure to buy it on Lulu no later than November 30th.  After that, you can only get the hardcover if you buy it in bulk.
• The paperback will be available through online booksellers, but in order to cover the sellers' fees without decreasing the amount of money that goes to Variety with each sale, the new price will be $30 - you can still get the Lulu softcover for $16.95 if you buy it by November 30th.
• If you're more of an e-book person, you can still get the electronic version through Lulu, even after December 1st.

So with the holidays upon us, why not take a few moments to buy some copies of the original editions while you still can.  They make great gifts.  Remember, with every book you buy you'll also be doing your part to help children in need.  And that's an even better gift than the book...

If you're more of a last minute shopper, there will be an Amazon bum rush on December 14th so you can get the paperback then and help push the book to the top of the Amazon bestseller list.

Check out The Age of Conversation authors:

Gavin Heaton Drew McLellan CK Valeria Maltoni Emily Reed Katie Chatfield Greg Verdino Mack Collier Lewis Green Sacrum Ann Handley Mike Sansone Paul McEnany Roger von Oech Anna Farmery David Armano Bob Glaza Mark Goren Scott Monty Richard Huntington Cam Beck David Reich Luc Debaisieux Sean Howard Tim Jackson Patrick Schaber Roberta Rosenberg Uwe Hook Tony D. Clark Todd Andrlik Toby Bloomberg Steve Woodruff Steve Bannister Steve Roesler Stanley Johnson Spike Jones Nathan Snell Simon Payn Ryan Rasmussen Ron Shevlin Roger Anderson Robert Hruzek Rishi Desai Phil Gerbyshak Peter Corbett Pete Deutschman Nick Rice Nick Wright Michael Morton Mark Earls Mark Blair Mario Vellandi Lori Magno Kristin Gorski Kris Hoet G. Kofi Annan Kimberly Dawn Wells Karl Long Julie Fleischer Jordan Behan John La Grou Joe Raasch Jim Kukral Jessica Hagy Janet Green Jamey Shiel Dr. Graham Hill Gia Facchini Geert Desager Gaurav Mishra Gary Schoeniger Gareth Kay Faris Yakob Emily Clasper Ed Cotton Dustin Jacobsen Tom Clifford David Polinchock David Koopmans David Brazeal David Berkowitz Carolyn Manning Craig Wilson Cord Silverstein Connie Reece Colin McKay Chris Newlan Chris Corrigan Cedric Giorgi Brian Reich Becky Carroll Arun Rajagopal Andy Nulman Amy Jussel AJ James Kim Klaver Sandy Renshaw Susan Bird Ryan Barrett Troy Worman CB Whittemore S. Neil Vineberg

links for 2007-11-27

• Eric Feng | 50 Public Speaking Tips
  (tags: speaking reference)
• Six Minutes | 25 Skills Every Public Speaker Should Have
  (tags: speaking reference)
• Dick Hardt | Identity 2.0 Presentation
  Absolutely mindblowing, as much for the presentation style as for the quality of the content.
  (tags: business creativity design innovation speaking trends web2.0 technology reference identity presentation branding digital internet ideas)
• Presentation Zen | The "Lessig" Method of Presentation
  A discussion of Lawrence Lessig's presentation style and a good companion link to Dick Hardt Identity 2.0, which uses Lessig's style. Broken images/links but still worthwhile.
  (tags: speaking presentation marketing management identity design culture reference)

links for 2007-11-21

• Trend Junkie | The Importance of Public Speaking
  (tags: speaking marketing personalbranding)
• Fresh Peel | The Age of Conversation Bum Rush on Dec. 14th
  Chris Wilson suggests a bum rush to spike Age of Conversation sales - and charitable donations! - before the end of the year.
  (tags: age-of-conversation books web2.0 socialmedia bloggers marketing)
• Critical Mass | Thankful Experiences
  David Armano solicits reader feedback - what are you thankful for?
  (tags: bloggers web2.0 socialmedia community)
• AdAge Small Agency Diary What Consumers Want: Transparency and Reality
  (tags: adage advertising change marketing media mediabuying future ibm brands trends)
• Darren Herman | Atlas Thought Paper: Conversion Attribution
  Darren muses (and I respond) to Atlas' contention (true in my opinion AND Darren's) that search gets too much credit for the click and display not enough.
  (tags: advertising marketing media mediabuying search google microsoft change statistics technology)
• Neil Perkin | The Reality of Virtual Worlds
  Neil cites some pretty astounding stats about virtual worlds, pointing the the reality that they are not a passing fad but a significant trend.
  (tags: trends statistics socialmedia reference metaverse technology future emergingmedia culture)

Personalization playtime: saints, shirts & spuds

This is a weird week for a number of reasons, not least of which being the Thanksgiving holiday here in the States.  And what are holiday weeks for, if not a bit of goofing off?  Here are a trio of new microsites that let consumers play around with personalization.

Saints Super Fan

I'm not a football fan and, frankly, didn't even know that New Orleans had a pro team, but people do love to customize avatars.  In this case, you can create your own Saints Super Fan and deck him (or her) out in the latest team gear -- all of which is for sale at the team's online store.

AT&T Where Do You Live?

In La La Land, apparently (and I don't mean Los Angeles.)  If you're a New Orleans Saints fan, you just might want to deck yourself out in some virtual (and real) duds.  And if you're an, erm, AT&T fan (?!?!?!) I suppose you might want to get a personalized t-shirt emblazoned with the name of a mashed-up town to let people know just how much to love those irritating "Where Do You Live" commercials.  I live in Melonworld - hey hey -- how about you?  And yes, you can really buy the t-shirts you make.

McCain Potato Parade

Who wouldn't want to be praised by marching potatoes?  Honestly, I don't know what else I could say about this one.  Go play with it - it's British and it rocks.  Link love to Darryl Ohrt for finding it.

Guest blogging at Drew's Marketing Minute

I am guest blogging for Drew McLellan today.  Here's a teaser...

"I've discovered a surefire way to get a room full of marketers to go quiet.  Just bring up the notion of reaching out and bonding with the consumers that hate their brand the most.  Just a few weeks ago, I suggested this very thing to a client.  You could hear a pin drop in that room..."

Read the full post at Drew's Marketing Minute.

links for 2007-11-19

• AlwaysOn | Imagine a World Without Hits
  Magnify's Steve Rosenbaum writes about the trend toward the long tail in the world of major media. Are "hits" necessary or even good for the media business?
  (tags: media trends television business change strategy future ideas video)
• One Laptop Per Child "Give One Get One"
  Promotion - two laptops for $400 (one for a child in a developing country and one for you/a child in your life.)
  (tags: internet technology digital)
• Fora.tv | TV 2.0: Content in a Multimedia World
  Scoble-led panel about the redefining what TV means, presented on FORA.tv (a new? "thinking person's YouTube.")
  (tags: web2.0 video television technology socialmedia digital emergingmedia future innovation internet media convergence)
• NY Times | False Endorsement
  Rob Walker (murketing) looks at the appeal of the fictional brands that appear in movies, etc and writes about www.lastexittonowhere.com who sells t-shirts featuring fake brands.
  (tags: brands marketing culture)
• Last Exit To Nowhere
  T-shirts bearing the logos/slogans of some of the most memorable fictional brands that have appeared in movies.
  (tags: culture film movies brands marketing)

BricaBox and the Silicon Alley People's Choice

Back during Bubble 1.0, Silicon Alley Reporter was the journal-of-record for the New York City tech scene and their Silicon Alley 100 was the de facto list of the city's movers and shakers.  The Reporter went the way of so many of the start-ups they profiled, but now website Silicon Alley Insider continues the tradition of listing the 100 most influential New York digirati.

Now chances are pretty darn good that I won't be on the list (slated for a November 26th release), but I am on the "unofficial" Silicon Alley 100 People's Choice list.  By pimping myself on Twitter and Facebook, I've managed to boost my position to #9 (as of this writing) but I say, hey, why not #1 (or at least Top 3.)

You can help - click over, register and vote for me.

While you're at it, you'll get to play around with a cool new Web 2.0 platform called BricaBox.  This Silicon Alley start-up is the brainchild of Nate Westheimer and I can only describe it as a mash-up of blog, wiki, mapping, tagging, community and widget.  I haven't seen anything else like it and am looking forward to seeing where it goes. 

You can argue whether I should be #1 - or even #9 - on the SA100 People's Choice list, but if by casting your vote for me you get to check out some new 2.0 tech, who am I to stop you?  Go get 'em, tigers.   

SMPR to the power of 7 squared

Today I'm delivering a presentation as part of a PR News Online webinar on social media public relations.  My portion of the program, entitled "Social Media to the Power of 7 Squared", focuses on the basics of blogger outreach and some simple ways to use social media channels and tools to connect with both influencers and consumers.

For regular readers, the information might be old news but I've written this post to share my slide set and to provide anyone who attended the webinar (or anyone at all, for that matter) with a set of useful resources on the topic.  The list of resources is by no means comprehensive, but it should give traditional PR professionals a good place to start and provide a set of helpful pointers on how to avoid some of the pitfalls that marketers face when trying to do business in the social mediasphere.

Here's my presentation [feed and email readers, please click through to view the slides.]

| View | Upload your own

If you would like an annotated version with rough speaking notes (key points hastily typed), you can download the PDF here.

Download PRNews_Verdino.pdf

Here are the links to the social media examples that I included in the presentation.

• Cisco Social Media Release
• Coca-Cola Virtual Thirst del.icio.us
• Firebrand Facebook Group (you need to be a Facebook member to access this one)
• Verizon MyHome2.0 Flickr Account
• Virtual Thirst YouTube Channel (direct link to Coke executive response to blogger/SL resident criticisms of the program)
• Join The Conversation Technorati Search
• Ford Focus Social Media Release (note the RSS button on the upper left)

And finally, here are some great social media PR resources -- including plenty of "how-to" pointers by expert marketing bloggers who have seen their share of bad pitches but would rather help you market better than tear you apart.  Click on for sage advice from (in no particular order):

• Scott Monty's Social Media Marketing Blog
• CK's Blog
• My Name Is Kate
• The Bad Pitch Blog
• TechnoSailor
• Brian Oberkirch
• PR-Squared: SHIFT's social media release template, blogger outreach tips and tricks and Jedi Training list of great posts on social media public relations
• Now Is Gone: a long list of social media PR case studies, compiled by Geoff Livingston to supplement his new social media marketing book of the same name

I hope some of you found some useful info and advice here.  If anyone else has other favorite resources, please chime in.