Are you a Powerful Woman? The ADI is looking for you. Women’s Leadership Program 2011 Fellowship Application

July 20th, 2010

The American Democracy Institute is looking for candidates for the 2011 Women’s Fellowship Class of the Pathways to Power program. The goal of the Women’s Fellowship Program is to foster the next generation of women and help them grow into leaders. The ADI is looking for women who possess:

1. A record of professional achievement
This might include receiving special awards or recognitions; early promotion; founding or starting a successful business/non-profit/program; playing a significant role in a project or campaign; etc.

2. Entrepreneurial spirit
This does not necessarily entail having founded a business, but rather the demonstrated ability to identify problems and seek imaginative solutions.

3. Evidence of good management and communication skills
We seek women who are skilled managers and communicators.

4. A positive and collaborative approach to leadership
A clear desire and ability to work with others to achieve results.

5. Motivation to grow personally and professionally and a clear commitment to enhancing personal growth and aptitude
Fellows should exhibit not only the potential for growth as leaders, but the desire to fulfill that potential.

6. Active citizenship with the goal of having a future impact on society
A demonstrated commitment to and personal interest in public service, as evidenced by involvement with a civic organization; community service; labor union; trade/professional organization; religious group; political organization; etc.

7. Professional and/or personal experiences that reflect an ability to manage challenges effectively and gain knowledge and understanding from these experiences
Fellows should be able to provide an example of a time in which they encountered a challenge or obstacle in their personal or professional life, and explain how they overcame it, what they learned from it and how they have incorporated that learning into their current practice of leadership.

If you believe you possess the qualities to apply for this fellowship, please email Christopher Nelson at

cnelson@americandemocracyinstitute.org

or visit http://www.empowerchange.org/page/s/2011fellows to learn more

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YouTube – iMockups for iPad: Create quick wireframes and mockups for your web, iPhone and iPad app projects

June 1st, 2010

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The Top 6 traits of a great Executive Producer at The Groop

April 19th, 2010

We believe that simple is better. So instead of writing a long and complex job description we asked ourselves what are the top 6 traits a great executive producer should have. Here they are:

1. Be able to lead complex digital projects to success. Success defined as first high client satisfaction from world class creative work, on or under budget, on time, within scope and with awesome team member satisfaction.

2. Have 4+ years experience leading successful digital media projects in an agency environment.

3. Be able to prioritize what’s important and what’s not in producing projects.

4. Be both a tactical and strategic leader that works well with clients and teams

5. Be able to write project Statement of Works focusing on Scope, Time and Cost

6. Be able to resource and allocate Groop team members and freelancers on projects

* Understanding of Waterfall and Agile methodologies is a plus.
** Better yet if you have produced both digital projects and live action film projects that is a big plus.

If you feel this is you, email us your resume and a cover letter to Alice@thegroop.net

Bring it!

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Startup Metrics for Pirates (SeedCamp, Sept 2009)

March 23rd, 2010

A must read for all start-ups.

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[David Armano] Logic+Emotion: Social Business Design @ Social Fresh

March 22nd, 2010

Logic+Emotion: Social Business Design @ Social Fresh.

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[Web-Strategist.com] A Sense of Scale: Social Networking By The Numbers (Video)

March 21st, 2010

A Sense of Scale: Social Networking By The Numbers (Video) « Web Strategy by Jeremiah Owyang | Social Media, Web Marketing.

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[Fury] The future of games: Jesse Schell’s mindblowing Talk at DICE 2010

March 11th, 2010

This is an amazing video. Must watch.

From Fury.com

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6 Rules for Creating Successful Online Video Campaigns

March 1st, 2010

If you are an integrated media producer at an ad agency or a marketing executive at a fortune 500 brand then you have already dealt with creating an online video campaign. And whether your goals where to build brand awareness, drive online sales, capture emails or simply to educate your customers the sheer number of options, collaborators and budget constrains likely made the experience challenging.

In our experience the most common challenges are:

1. Figuring out what to do and how to get consensus amongst your many stakeholders

2. Maintaining expectations during the production of your campaign

3. Follow-up after the launching your campaign

We have talked to integrated media producers, marketing executives and countless others and determined that there is no clear agreement on what makes a good online video campaign. The one thing that remains constant is that with the increased complexity and quantity of moving parts you have to take a more strategic approach to solving these three challenges. In our experience we have found that the same tools developed to create successful user experiences for websites apply to creating video. With that in mind we have created 6 rules that you can apply to your online video campaign website.

Here are the six rules:

Rule #1. Have a shared language:

Have everyone agree on who your viewsers are and what is important to them. It allows the teams to ask the question “does this idea or solution work for our viewser”.

We helped Savings.com rally around their viewsers’ needs and created a common language from which to frame our conversation. This can sometimes be dismissed as “fluff” but if used correctly can be an effective way to communicate and produce better results.

Rule # 2. Have clear measurable goals:

Create simple measurable goals. For example: To increase return visitors by 10% in one month.
Instead of having your team focused on a set number of features, “shots” or functions have them ask “what will it take to meet our goal?”

In The Groop school of thought we use the Agile concept of the “Global Business Objective” as one of our tools to help keep the team focused on “the prize” not fighting over some of the minutia.

Rule # 3. Create approach consensus:

Working to define your goals together allows for both creative and technology partners to feel part of the process. The traditional hand-down from strategy or planning to creative to technology simply does not work.

Our experience has been that consensus is best reached when all of the parties involved participate in
the process of defining the goals and the viewsers for the campaign.

(more…)

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How to Create Million Dollar Campaigns for a Fraction of the Price

March 1st, 2010

A lot of online video campaigns are overproduced because “that’s the way we always do it” or “if it doesn’t look like a polished campaign, then it won’t work”. And, on the other end of the spectrum, there is a ton of poorly (low quality/low impact) done video out there.

If the endgame is to combine IMPACT + QUALITY and deliver on business objectives such as increasing product awareness, increasing sales or educating customers – how do you achieve both strategic impact and creative quality for a fraction of the price?

Here are three ways:

1. Recruit members of your community to shoot their own videos:

Every week Savings.com expert users provide the community with a “Deal of the Week” on video. We helped Savings.com package user generated video created by their expert users with an animated intro and end-tag that includes audio branding. In addition we created a customized look for their YouTube channel – This Week in Deals.

Why it Works:

It’s Real! These are real people helping you save. Savings.com could have developed funny clips or cute skits to communicate with their audience, but it would have been inauthentic. Your customers know when something is not authentic, more importantly they like it when you provide them with valuable tips and money savings.
In our increasingly transparent online world, authenticity is powerful.

Conclusion:

User generated video + high quality graphics package = Win, win for the community of users and brand alike.

2. Produce documentary style “testimonials” featuring your customers.

The next level up from user generated is “pro-sumer” quality content. It is well shot and well edited. Though the content is more “produced” the brand spirit/authenticity still comes across and feels human. Having a clear value proposition defined allows for you to direct and edit the video more efficiently and allows for clarity as in this video we produced for Jib Jab’s venture capital firm.

Why it Works:

It is simple, authentic and easy to produce, shoot and edit.

Conclusion:

Pro-sumer quality video documentaries featuring your customers and directed + clear value proposition= Win, win for the customer and brand alike.

3. Shoot a million dollar commercial for less than 250K.

We recently shot a campaign for Suzuki using 2 Canon 7d’s which are DSLR’s. If there is one trend you want to be up on, THIS IS IT. Canon has installed a cinema level image in a $2000 camera. Directors, cinematographers and even George Lucas are putting these cameras up against the biggest and best equipment out there and choosing DSLR’s as a important tool. Last week, while attending Createasphere, we heard reknowned director Tony Kay share his experience shooting his latest feature film on several Canon 7D’s. The bottom line is this, DSLR technology (along with a strong director and creative) is allowing feature film level quality content to be created affordably.

Why it Works:

The technology is at par with more expensive and difficult to operate cameras.

Conclusion:

New lower cost DSLR cameras and lenses + experienced director and crew = million dollar quality for a fraction of the price.

Read recent features written about this shoot:

Photo Cine News: 02/19/2010
Digital Cinema Foundry 02/24/2010

(more…)

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[ Wired ] How the iPhone Could Reboot Education

December 29th, 2009

How do you educate a generation of students eternally distracted by the internet, cellphones and video games? Easy. You enable them by handing out free iPhones — and then integrating the gadget into your curriculum.

That’s the idea Abilene Christian University has to refresh classroom learning. Located in Texas, the private university just finished its first year of a pilot program, in which 1,000 freshman students had the choice between a free iPhone or an iPod Touch.

Read Entire Post on Wired

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