We are the newest members of the Charleston Digital Corridor and will office in their building beginning June 5. We are eager to join the great member companies and bring our experience in digital advertising to Charleston. These companies have specific needs that are addressed by the Digital Corridor, an initiative to attract, nurture and promote Charleston’s entrepreneurial community.

Don’t fret, Austin, we still love the Live Music Capital of the World and we’ll be here for a very long time.

We have always said we have to move beyond cutting broadcast commercials down to :15 pre-rolls in order to truly get a powerful online campaign with video to work. We are starting to see creatives and agencies pitch online first for video and thinking about online video differently that broadcast video. This is good news for those of us in the digital space.

One of my favorite ways to build online video is branded original content. While there are many ways to do this online, including partnering with original content shows, this video produced by Funny Or Die in conjunction with the awareness campaign Everybodywalk.org is brilliant.

Our agency has discussed this very type of original content for some clients and I’m glad to see more of this type of content available. I think it’s a great way to stretch your advertising dollar and have video that’s going to live online for a longer time than a simple pre-roll campaign. Good show Everybodywalk.org! And, thanks for bringing back the characters of one of my favorite shows.

These events, where the sponsors underwrite my attendance costs, allow me to be ahead of the curve in a very competitive industry. I get to spend time with vendors that I work with on a regular basis and meet new vendors and hear about the latest trends and technology that otherwise I’d be reading about the same time as my clients.

This is the first video summit produced by iMedia and it will be held at the Lost Pines Hyatt Regency Hill Country Resort in San Antonio. A beautiful location and thankfully one that requires very little travel commitment on my end.

I’ll be posting blogs over the two day event in addition to following the #imediaconnection hashtag on Twitter for updates from attendees.

If you’re planning a video campaign and need some inspiration, we’ll have it in spades come Wednesday when we return to the office!

It might have taken a while, but broadcast has come around and is changing the way digital media professionals plan their media and how they value video (both online and broadcast) as part of the media plan.  The TV has become just another screen where consumers get their video.

It is estimated that 25 percent of consumers go online after seeing a TV ad. That’s a huge spike right there. That’s not to mention that half of all TV watchers have a second electronic device in their hands, such as a smart phone or tablet, whilst in a comatose state on the couch engrossed in anything from “The Vampire Diaries” to “Mad Men.” But whether you are checking your email or talking on Facebook, the habit is now truly synced for TV watchers. So much so, the biggest topic of discussion on social media by far is TV content. We just love it and we can’t get enough, because with every wave of consumer technology — from video recorders to X-Box and Hulu — technology just drives TV viewing up and up, and with it the potential for advertising dollars and media measurement. (iMediaConnection)

As I get ready to attend next weeks iMedia Video Summit in San Antonio, video has been on our brains around here. In every speech I give about digital media I always talk about the emotional connection we have with video and how no matter the brilliance of a display ad campaign, a text ad on search or impressive facebook page a brand has the power of video is not going away.

The distinction between TV and online is becoming blurred at a rapid pace. Best Buy reports that 30% of the TVs they sell are “connected” online and has a goal to push that to 90% by 2015. The accelerated pace at which the public adopts new technology will surely see that happen.

Digital media planners have spent their fair share of late nights pouring over spreadsheets and doing the math on cost per engagement and click-thru rates and now they’ll have to include video in that mix as digital video grows exponentially. There is more high quality content, meaning more ad inventory and that results in more affordable pricing and better placements for digital video advertising.

We’re excited to see video included in ad spends and embrace the TV buyers that now work with us on how to integrate our campaigns to work together. All those years we heard about convergence and it finally seems to have arrived.

The explosion of the mobile phone penetration (now over 43% of the U.S. population) and the Tablet is the new challenge for advertisers as we chase the “digital omnivore” and how they consume media on several different devices during their daily digital life.

Check it out. If you’d like me to come speak to your group just let me know. The question and answer period is always fun and I enjoy learning from those in the trenches as much as I love sharing this great information from comScore, Pew Internet Research and eMarketer!

Austin has a robust advertising community. The Austin Ad Federation is one of the nation’s largest advertising clubs and has been named the “Club of the Year” beating NYC and Chicago’s advertising clubs. This Thursday, February 9, they will award top honors to the best of the best from this year’s local advertising agencies.

Great campaigns for brands such as Whataburger, L.L. Bean, HomeAway and more all originated here from the great talent we have in Austin. I’m very excited to attend this year and see the winners.  The competition is fierce!

The judges come from national agencies outside of the region and Austin’s ADDY winners often go on to win national awards.

The show is going to be at the beautiful ACL Live theatre in the W Hotel. The bars inside the theatre make it even better.

We did not submit any work this year since we are not a creative shop, but agencies we work with did and maybe a campaign we managed will win a prize!

It’s not too late to buy your tickets for the Austin advertising community’s biggest awards of the year!

When mixing the holiday with professional events, it is important to remember a few tips to avoid regret and over-commitments.

Here are my tips to survive the holiday work events and not kill your career

• Show up. This should be a no-brainer, but skipping the office holiday party will get you noticed, and not in a good way.
• Don’t be a complainer. Worse than not showing up is showing up and complaining about the location or the food. Nobody had to throw you a party and if you didn’t do the work to plan the event you certainly shouldn’t be ungrateful that someone did!
• Don’t drink too much. This is not a night out with friends and you should be on your best behavior. Alcohol loosens us up and for some, it turns them into really obnoxious assholes. Don’t be one of those.

I have been to company parties where someone danced on top of a table and unbuckled his pants before someone grabbed him and pulled him down. I’ve seen couples get in fights after they had too much to drink. And, inevitably, someone gets just drunk enough to tell the boss what they really think of him/her. All of those minefields are best avoided if you aren’t getting plastered.

My father taught me a wonderful trick when mixing business with alcohol. I have one cocktail and then sneak back to the bartender and give him a large tip. (Which reminds me, don’t complain about the cash bar. Your boss doesn’t want to hear that you think he is cheap and that you are ungrateful. And, tip your bartenders even if it’s an open bar.) Anyway, I tell the bartender that when I ask for another drink, put it in a cocktail glass with a stirrer but to not add any alcohol. This way while others may be getting boozy and thinking about climbing on a table for a impromptu strip show, I am remaining sober and not creating a humiliating and potentially career-ending YouTube moment.

Remember, it is possible to have engaging conversations and an enjoyable event without alcohol. It is also nice to not have to explain what you were doing in the corner with someone’s young assistant.

And, never call in sick the next day because of a hangover. Everyone will know and think you can’t handle your liquor.

• Don’t sexually harass your coworkers. Just because you’re out having a drink don’t feel someone up or make an inappropriate comment about how hot someone looks. You still have to work with these people. If you feel the urge to do this, leave the party…you violated a previous rule of drinking too much.
• Mingle. Introduce yourself to people you don’t know. Say hi to the boss (but don’t throw your arm around him or her and try to be besties). Make people feel comfortable and thank people that have helped you out throughout the year. It’s also ok to thank the people that planned the party. There is nothing wrong with being gracious.

Once you get past the holiday party, there’s a few other situations that often arise during the holidays at work.

If you deal with clients they probably expect a small token from you. This is true even if there’s a corporate policy against them accepting gifts over a certain dollar amount.

I have discovered that clients probably get a lot of bottles of wine or buckets of popcorn (our joke when we receive popcorn is that we must be a tiny client they hate.) So, I usually take some homemade treats or ask them out to lunch. I love lunch and getting to see my clients in a social setting and talk about something other than our business together helps build lasting relationships and is often more appreciated than dropping off a bottle of some wine they won’t ever drink anyway. And for the love of Pete…don’t drop off corporate logo mousepads!

I do prefer to schedule lunches over dinners. I’m a little selfish in that I like my evenings free, if possible. Chances are, so do my clients.

Keeping my evenings free allows me to spend time with my family and friends and that is truly what I love most about the holidays.

With that all said, I’ll see you at the next holiday party with my fake drink and genuine smile!

ComScore, an online traffic tracker, noted that Black Friday brought in $816 million in U.S. online sales, making it the heaviest online spending day to date this year. Friday’s online sales revenues represented a 26% spending increase compared to the same day last year.

Retailers traditionally pull out the big deals for the holiday shopping season and this year was no exception. Major retailers like Best Buy were opening Thanksgiving night with major sales on select items that had crowds lining up before they even finished the pumpkin pie.  While the economy continues to lumber along, many analysts were fretting over the holiday numbers. Meanwhile, it seems Americans are tired of saving their money and staying home and decided to take advantage of rock bottom prices designed to lure them back to stores.

Stocks rallied on Cyber Monday as news of the Black Friday success was heard, meaning a very Merry Christmas for not just little boys and girls, but for ailing retail outlets suffering through down numbers and low expectations.  Apple and Amazon were big winners on Friday.

New to the mix this year is a robust mCommerce report on purchases via mobile. The iPhone led among mobile devices, according to IBM, accounting for 6.58 percent of m-commerce activity, followed by Android with 5.2 percent and the iPad with 4.71 percent.

But what I found shocking was the dissatisfaction with traditional agencies and their ability to integrate digital into the comprehensive media strategy. Still? Only 38% of the clients surveyed were satisfied with the way their agency handled digital integration into their strategy. I’ve been traveling around all year giving speeches to industry professionals on the changes in the ways people consume media and how it requires agencies to adapt, evolve and think of new ways to strengthen relationships with their clients. I guess I’ve just been taking it for granted that what I was talking about was elementary and agencies were much further along in integrating digital into their strategies. Not so, according to clients.

The vast majority of clients feel that agencies are struggling to change their business model and, so far, are playing catch-up with interactive agencies. Clients simply do not see traditional agencies as adjusting well in an era of rapid technological changes.

When we started Broad Street Interactive, it was to bridge that gap. We knew that digital budgets weren’t always big enough to warrant taking on a designated digital agency and we knew agencies may not be ready to commit to hiring a full digital team of strategists, creatives and media planners just to focus on digital. We partner with agencies to provide that missing link.

We build relationships with our clients so we can provide input and digital strategy with them. We don’t walk around telling them traditional is dead and alienating agencies (and clients), but we work with them to fit seamlessly into a media plan. Our goals are to do what’s best for the client…the end client. Our agency partners understand that in today’s world sometimes nimble groups of experts may not all work in the same building and in order to serve the client we may have to reach out to each other.

I feel sorry for the CMOs that said they don’t feel their agency is integrating digital in their strategy. I also feel sorry for the agency that isn’t actively pursuing relationships with digital experts to provide a whole picture of media from every medium that benefits the client and the agency.

Here’s the video that started it all in 2009

The top three winners will receive donations to a breast cancer charity of their choice.  The amounts of the donations are $10,000 for first place, $5,000 for second place and $2,000 for third place.

They hit a nerve. The Susan G. Komen Foundation is helping raise awareness about breast cancer and the pink ribbon campaign, first launched in 1991, is wildly successful. Having worked in the healthcare industry for years, I carry around a bag of pink ribbons every October and hand them out while reminding everyone I talk to–airport ticket counter staff, waitstaff, grocery store clerks and clients, to get your routine mammograms!

More than half a million votes have been cast so far for the 139 videos competing in the “Pink Glove Dance” national contest. The competition features more than 17,000 people from across the country — from hospital CEOs showing “moves like Jagger” and a fire chief bringing new meaning to fireworks by shaking his groove thing to Katy Perry’s hit song — all dancing in pink gloves in the name of breast cancer awareness.

The videos are popular on YouTube and being shared across facebook pages. This online activism is helping to both raise awareness for women to get their routine mammograms and raising money to find treatment and a cure for breast cancer.

Social media has made it easy for people to just share a video on their facebook wall or tweet about a video or message relating to a cause. These online messages are a powerful part of a campaign and are not “just” status updates of “likes” or even votes for videos. A 2010 study shows that online activists are just as likely to donate money to a cause as those appearing in these videos.

The campaign combines the unexpected–doctors and nurses dancing–with humor (doctors and nurses dancing and lip-synching) with the emotional (videos including breast cancer survivors) and an uplifting message of hope through these videos. It is a perfect example of how the seed of one moment online can become a movement that creates a “sharable” event online.

Two years later, the sequel video shows 4,000 healthcare workers and breast cancer survivors from all over the United States and Canada.