Amid the celebrations of the season, we want to take time to thank everyone involved during 2011 in bringing so much good fortune to the Idea Grove.
With unprecedented support from our clients, the Idea Grove had a truly transformative year. We added five new faces to the roster and moved to larger quarters — not once, but twice! Continue Reading
There was a time when it was enough to “get the word out.” But with today’s technologies, we can start a conversation.
That’s what happened recently on Black Star Rising, the blog the Idea Grove manages for the iconic New York photography agency, Black Star. Our relationship with Black Star is well into its sixth year, and the blog is home now to more than 1,000 posts. It has more than 16,000 followers on Twitter.
Those kinds of numbers can make for a big reaction, and that’s just what happened when regular contributor David Saxe wrote about negative reactions he’s experienced as he’s photographed people in public places. Fearmongers Are Giving Photographers a Bad Name, the headline reads.
David wrote compellingly that, “… Every day, photographers are mistaken for perverts, terrorists, thieves, and other weirdos just because of the cameras around their necks. People seem to assume that we are ‘up to something.’”
He gave three examples before concluding that, “There is a part of me that wants to resist, to confront, to ignore these people, but it’s simply not my style. All I can do is write about it.”
The online reaction was almost immediate. People who care about photography began to share the post using Twitter and writing their comments on the blog. Some expressed sadness, others frustration. There were war stories, and then, conversation.
Some commenters said protecting children from unwanted attention is paramount. Others said photographers should ask subjects first. Still others suggested that anxious police officers and others can be won over with polite conversation. Someone suggested that business cards help. Another commenter wondered about the roles of gender and ethnicity.
Words like “legal” gave way to “moral” and “ethical.” In a matter of days, the post had attracted 50 online comments and been shared more than 200 times through Twitter. In a week, it had landed on Photoshelter.com’s list of The Best Photography Blog Posts of 2011.
It was the kind of reaction that reminds us of the promise of communications technologies. We no longer have to be satisfied just to get the word out.
Black Star and the Idea Grove are always looking for photographers, graphic designers, Web designers and other creative professionals who want to share their first-person experiences, views and advice at http://rising.blackstar.com.
If you’d like to start a conversation on Black Star Rising, contact Clay Zeigler at czeigler@ideagrove.com.
The media buzz just keeps growing for ShopSavvy, which has been featured in hundreds of television newscasts all over the country covering the holiday shopping blitz.
ShopSavvy is an amazing story any time of the year. The leading mobile shopping assistant has been downloaded more than 20 million times by people looking for unparalleled access to products at the lowest-available prices.
In 2011, the smartphone app got even better, with new features including one-tap purchasing and social shopping, which lets users share their buying successes. ShopSavvy also got $7 million in funding from several sources, including venture investor Eduardo Saverin, who helped start Facebook. All that comes amid the steep growth in the popularity of mobile shopping.
Television stations around the country pounced on the ShopSavvy story, using b-roll footage, a digital newsroom and a promotional video, all produced under the direction of the Idea Grove. ShopSavvy executives at both of the company’s offices were interviewed by network affiliates — Alexander Muse by KTVT in Dallas and John Boyd by KNTV in San Francisco.
And the coverage just keeps on coming:
All our clients are powerful forces in their space. Just one has its own superhero.
Meg A. Hertz is the virtual chief technology officer for BearCom, America’s only nationwide dealer of wireless communications equipment. When someone’s having a communications crisis, mild-mannered Meg turns into … Wireless Woman!
The Adventures of Wireless Woman is a comic-strip staple of “Today’s Wireless World,” a BearCom magazine. Wireless Woman is equipped with the latest wireless technology, which she uses to find missing children, rescue storm victims, and prevent all manner of businesses disasters.
Back at BearCom, Meg is the author of the BearCom Bulletin, the company’s blog about issues in the wireless communications industry. Wireless Woman’s adventures have even been captured on video; and she’s come out of the clouds (always with a crash) to rescue a clumsy cashier and a fashionable ferret.
Her next comedic adventure involves narrowbanding, the very serious mandate from the federal government that requires users of two-way radios to upgrade their technology. BearCom has been a leader in getting the word out on the mandate, which has a deadline of Jan. 1, 2013. It partnered with others to create www.narrowbanding.com, a comprehensive site devoted exclusively to the topic.
Narrowbanding will be a focus in the coming year for BearCom and for Wireless Woman. Watch for her!
HEADS UP: A Content Marketing History Lesson from Joe Pulizzi
Joe Pulizzi of the Content Marketing Institute just came to town to remind us that content marketing is not only here to stay, it’s been here for a long time.
As members of the Social Media Club of Dallas tweeted busily, Pulizzi introduced them to The Furrow, the quarterly journal of agriculture published in 12 languages and distributed in 40 countries by Deere & Company. It debuted in 1895.
“Brands have been publishers for a long, long time,” he said, before introducing a free 1905 recipe book featuring recipes for Jell-O. “We can do a lot of what media companies can do, and sometimes we can do it better.”
The key difference between the media and the marketers, he said, has been their monetizing method. While media companies look for advertising, marketers seek new customers. “Everything else is the same,” he said. Continue Reading