Danny Brown

podcaster - author - creator

Archives for October 2009

Have Your Say

Colourful armySo there are a few new changes/tweaks/additions (delete where applicable) coming to this blog soon, and I’d love your help to decide on how it pans out. After all, you guys are the real stars around here – I just offer somewhere to hang.

The first change I’m thinking about is the design. I’m tempted to go for either a fairly minimalistic look – think something akin to Posterous – or a more magazine feel like this one.

I’ll still be using the Headway theme to make it customized to how I’d like it, I’m just not sure which way to go. Thoughts?

Secondly, I’m starting a new interview series on video using wetoku. This lets you have a split-screen chat on video which viewers can watch live then, once the chat is over, the video can be embedded directly onto your blog or website. I think it’s a really cool little app and one that could take blogging into a whole new sphere.

And I’d like you to choose the guests.

Let me know who you’d love to see, and why. Pretty much anyone in the social media, marketing, digital space, PR field or similar – I’ll do my best to get them on. I’m not promising I’ll be successful – I don’t hold that much sway – but I am stubborn if nothing else!

So, a couple of changes, and I’d love for you to help me one way or another, if that’s okay with you?

Leave your suggestions for either option – blog theme or wetoku – in the comments and I’ll take it from there. Cheers!

  • Update October 25 – Going by comments on here and Twitter, it looks like minimal design is preferred – so, this is the new look that you’re seeing now. Thanks for your thoughts!

Note: This blog no longer runs on the Headway framework. Instead, it’s a custom WordPress design by Lisa Kalandjian of SceneStealer Graphics.

Creative Commons License photo credit: maistora

Instant Coffee

Instant coffee is fast. Instant coffee offers the quick solution you need at that time. Instant coffee keeps you satisfied until you can get to the gourmet roast or Colombian dark coffee from your favourite bean.

As customers, we love full bean flavour but we don’t always need that – sometimes all we need to keep us happy is some instant coffee.

How’s your business at serving coffee?

All You Need is the Story

Creatives are often looking for the biggest bang for the buck.

Marketing; PR; advertising; a lot of the time these disciplines share the same questions – what cool way can we get our product in front of someone? How much budget can we allocate to this product launch? What celebrity can we get to promote us? What lifestyle magazine can we get to write about us?

All valid points, all part of the process. And there have been many examples of truly creative campaigns over the years.

But sometimes, if you really want to drive home your message, you don’t need the special effects. You don’t need the dramatic smoke machines. You don’t need the mini Hollywood budgets.

All you need is the story.

Who Owns Social Media? No-one Does

street fightThere’s a question mark over “who owns social media” when it comes to business.

Some say PR should own social media, since they’ve been dealing with the public faces of companies since time began. Some say marketing, as social media is the new email marketing is the new direct marketing is the new cold call marketing (but all wrapped up in a fuzzy warm cloak). Some say customer service; some say legal; some say sales. And so on, etc, delete where applicable…

You know who owns social media? No-one. Not an individual department. Not a niche. Not a job description. No-one.

Plenty (all) departments and sectors (should) own a piece of it.

Customer service should own the people-to-people side of it. Sales should own the business development side of it. Creative should own the strategy side of it. Legal should own the “keeping the shit off the fan” side of it. Every employee (ideally) should own some piece of it and help tell the company story. That’s the beauty of social media – everyone can have an impact.

But one single department owning social media? Sorry, personally I think that’s asking for trouble, not to mention limiting the potential of what it can offer you. Give me cross-department collaboration (over one department not collaborating and making everyone else cross) any time.

How about you?

Creative Commons License photo credit: ernop

See You at TEDx Ottawa on December 6

(From the TEDx Ottawa website): TED is an annual event where some of the world?s leading thinkers and doers are invited to share what they are most passionate about. ?TED? stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design ? three broad subject areas that are, collectively, shaping our future.

Past speakers include Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, Jane Goodall, Frank Gehry, Paul Simon, Sir Richard Branson, Philippe Starck and Bono. TED was first held in Monterey, California, in 1984. In 2001, Chris Anderson?s Sapling Foundation acquired TED from its founder, Richard Saul Wurman.

So what is TEDx?

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TED has created a program called TEDx ? local, self-organized events that bring people together to share TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x=independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.

TEDx Ottawa Key Information and Dates

The event will be taking place on Sunday, Dec 6th starting at 10am and will span about six hours. It will consist of TEDtalk video presentations and a number of live speakers in addition to lots of time for hallway discussions.

Look forward to seeing you there!

Title: TEDx Ottawa
Location: Ottawa, ON, Canada
Link out: Click here
Start Time: 10:00
Date: 2009-12-06
End Time: 16:00