Interview with Danny Schreiber of Silicon Prairie News(download video here or play it below on the page)

Silicon Prairie News Spotlights Midwest Innovators, Business, & Culture

In a couple of years we’ll look back and say Silicon Prairie News was one of the early benchmarks of new journalism. Its founders, Jeff Slobotski and Dusty Davidson, and Managing Editor Danny Schreiber have created a multimedia stage to tell stories of business, innovation and community about Omaha and the visionaries in the surrounding Midwestern states. As they have grown on the web, many new social celebrities on the coast have taken notice giving Silicon Prairie News a wildfire-like status that attracts the likes of Gary Vaynerchuk pouring for a SPN party at South by Southwest, and iconic CEOs including Tony Hsieh of Zappos and Dennis Crowley of Foursquare will be among the speakers at the Big Omaha conference produced by Silicon Prairie News.

Now, it’s still new and its collaborators still shaping its content and structure. It has the feel of a new venture with a wide open horizon to discover, much like the 360 degree view from it’s origin in Omaha, Nebraska. In my early career I worked in Nebraska as a broadcast journalist with 3/4 inch camera’s a tape deck editors, so I know that literal and figurative view very well. This is a media entity similar in boldness and feel to that of CNN when it first started in the early 1980s. Then local news reporters contributed to CNN’s success by submitting stories, it was a network of part time stringers, the culmination of which was rapid growth.

Silicon Prairie News with Danny Schreiber from Albert Maruggi on Vimeo.

I get the same feeling when I look at Silicon Prairie News, Tech Crunch, and Mashable, yes I put Silicon Prairie News among those new media giants without hesitation. The difference is, this generation of news gatherer is not bound by technology because they don’t need antennas, only the web. They are not fearful of competition because there is more synergy among entities participating in the same social space than animosity. They are not encumbered by bureaucracy but uplifted by the limitless potential of their ideas.

Danny Schreiber, Managing Editor of Silicon Prairie News and I chat in this video about how social media became something that was inevitable for him, the utility of Twitter and the need for improved filters for the social web to provide greater benefits, and his admiration for Princess Lasertron, (it’s a long story, Danny explains.)

Big Omaha

While flying to Omaha is not the easiest of connections, the Big Omaha conference is worth the lay over. It will be a intimate venue with big name players and a look at a part of the country most people fly over. For me, it’s a half day’s drive and a chance to hook up with old friends. Give the agenda a look and consider attending May 13-15.

Time 24:19

This podcast you’ll get the big picture of social media with Robert Scoble,the co-author of Naked Conversations along with Shel Israel and managing director of Fast Company TV. This conversation is useful for corporate marketers in discussing social media with their senior management as a company evaluates whether and how to participate.

Companies operate in a world with equal access to information (minus the occasional government obstacles like China and Iran) but for the most part it’s all good. It’s a world where distance and time matter little, and sincerity and participation matter a lot.

The downsides of such access are the horror stories of price comparisons and margin evaporation. Let’s face it information used to be power when a few people had it. Now it is more about how people use the information, with whom do they associate with as they exchange it, and how do those relationships add value.

Scoble and I had a great conversation with a few laughs and insights into how he avoids information overload with technologies including Twitter and Friend Feed. He is a prime example of how social media works, give of yourself, and watch others give back to many.

Comment below or call 206-426-1117 and we’ll field some of them on the next podcast.

This month’s book giveaway contest is Millennial Makeover, MySpace, YouTube and the Future of American Politics, by Michael Hais and Morley Winograd. Enter drawing by emailing MarketingEdge AT providentpartners DOT net. Put Makeover in the subject line.

The future of news is both a fiscal and emotional issue. Newsrooms across the country are struggling with the economic realities across the spectrum from energy costs to the impact of the internet. On the emotional side, the press, vilified as it is by those whose agenda it suits, still remains a cornerstone of a free, democratic society.

Somewhere in the 1980s, the discussion of fairness of news organizations became a central part of the political and general discourse in American society. This debate chipped away at the credibility and integrity of journalism as an institution. The bickering, some real, some imagined combined with the explosion of blogs and citizen journalism created threads of 19th century yellow journalism which was woven into the once trusted resource of Cronkite and Murrow. The result is a crossroads for American journalism.

Despite the gloom of many newsrooms, it is an exciting time for American journalism. When accomplished reporters for the New York Times (and many other newspapers) are not constrained by one format and can tell their story with video on their newspapers website, that is exciting. It is exciting, when a television reporter can extend their piece, which before the web was a one time only production, to include conversations from viewers via a blog. It is an exciting time when the insights of citizens can be tapped to cover a topic that may only affect a small neighborhood, but nonetheless, makes that community grow closer.

The issue is in large part about the money and who will pay for this information. Economies of scale of the mass produce and consume 1900s no longer apply. Financial sustainability of the news media as we know it now requires innovation on the part of the news organization to develop new products, creativity on the part of business/advertisers to financially support communities and causes in which they believe, (without getting in the way of truthful reporting where appropriate), and citizens to become more involved with the news.

I see it this way. Before 2000, the news was a cookie sheet. A metal surface used to produce the same product on a regular basis. Today news is the cookie dough. Consumers of the news want to shape the information as they need it. They want to add to it from other sources, they want to share it with anyone and everyone, and they want to consume it wherever, whenever, and however it best suits them. Journalism will thrive when it figures out how to generate revenue with this new dough.

People like Chris O’Brien and the Next Generation Newsroom project are in the middle of these exciting times. The Project for Excellence in Journalism and Rick Edmonds of the Poynter Institute has done an wonderful evaluating the trends in news organizations and the way Americans are consuming information.

Today, Thursday, June 12 I’m participating in a panel on the changing face of the news media put on by the St. Paul Chamber of Commerce. Add your comments below, email them to me at amaruggi AT providentpartners DOT net or tweet them at www.twitter.com/AlbertMaruggi

Panel Discussion – Changing Face of Media/Alternative Media Sources/Credibility vs. Sensationalism.
Purpose: We are interested in exploring whether or not, how and why traditional media such as newspapers and television are being supplanted by internet resources and user generated media such as Youtube and Facebook. How are younger generations (Gen Y) using the new media and how they will gather news and information in the future.
Moderator:
Liz Bogut – Communications Director, Saint Paul Area Chamber of Commerce
Panelists:
Joel Kramer, Editor and CEO of MinnPost.com
Kristin Henning, Publisher, The Rake
Barbara Laskin, Media Relations Manager – Macalester College
Thom Fladung – Editor – Pioneer Press
Albert Maruggi – Founder and president of Provident Partners

A horse with Hooters, now that’s classy. It caught me off guard this morning when I read stories about Hooters joining on as a new co-sponsor for this year’s Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Big Brown, just in time for a likely triple crowning of the thoroughbred. I mean, this is a horse named after UPS, you know brown trucks, brown uniforms. According to an Associated Press article, “the horse was named in honor of UPS, a client of original owner Paul Pompa Jr’s trucking business.”

Well the big brown company, UPS should be turning a shade of red after they let one of the best marketing and PR opportunities for any company slip through their hands and into the bosom of Hooters. That’s right, they should have been exclusive sponsors of the horse, especially after winning the Kentucky Derby UPS should have locked up exclusive sponsorship to the thoroughbred. Big Brown is being compared to some of the best horses to have won those prestigious races. And what do winning horses have? Speed. And what do I like best about my shipping company? Speed hmmm, nice brand association ain’t it?

Was it not enough ROI to spend a comparative pittance for the Kentucky Derby sponsorship to get $1.5 million in advertising exposure? Was it not enough to be associated with a winner whose name is practically the subtitle of your company? (What can Brown do for you?)

This was a big customer with a horse running, and winning so far, in the three most important, nationally covered horse races in the country. What’s not to sponsor?!

Now, because of short-sightedness combined with a lack decisive management and then some, UPS marketers have looked a gift horse in the mouth. They will be sharing the sponsorship spotlight with Hooters, yup the place that makes you think of wings and breasts, not in that order, a co-sponsor of Big Brown for the third and final leg of the Triple Crown, the Belmont Stakes.

Tell me, if there is a joint photo op, UPS delivery person in uniform on the left and Hooters spokeswoman in uniform on the right, – Get the picture brand managers?

OK enough UPS bashing let’s get after this ridiculous comment from Kelly Wietsma, president of Equisponse, the marketing agency that represents Big Brown’s owner IEAH Stables. Wiestsma has been quoted in BrandWeek, and other articles, on Big Brown’s marketing future, “We’re definitely going to mass market in a way that’s never been done in our industry. I want every kid in America to be able to walk into a Wal-Mart and buy a Big Brown shirt or a Big Brown Beanie Babie.”

One of us is out of touch with the American parent. I have three daughters ages, 10, 11 and 16. I grew up around horse racing and saw Secretariat win the Belmont Stakes. I am a big fan of the horse Big Brown. However, given the stupidity of this misalignment of brand sponsorship, I don’t believe Wiestsma will see Beanie Babies, perhaps in Hooters shirts, flying off Wal-Mart shelves.

This decision is a lack of being decisive at UPS and a ton of greed by Equisponse with little regard to what a brand really means.
Good luck Big Brown you’re a hell of a horse. To those entrusted with brand management on this one, see picture ——–>

Update to this blog on June 7 at 9:25pm CDT.

I read with great interest that the New York Racing Association (NYRA), who runs the Belmont Stakes and Belmont Park, rejected Hooters secondary sponsorship of Big Brown. The horse’s jockey Kent Desormeaux was threatened with a fine if a Hooters logo showed up on his silks.

NYRA attributed their decision to a conflict with an unnamed sponsor. Curious isn’t it? My guess is either UPS forked over more cash, or an even more complex plot, they got another entity to be a silent sponsor, to pay more money with the caveat that Hooters’ honeys can’t be part of the party.

Was this a distraction that could have been avoided? You bet.

I copied these 5 Rules for Successful Brands from a wonderful post at Gigacom http://gigaom.com/2007/10/26/5-simple-rules-of-branding/ The writer is Carleen Hawn

The rules are from John Quelch. Mr. Quelch is a non-executive director of WPP Group plc, the world’s second largest marketing services company, and of Pepsi Bottling Group. He served previously as a director of Reebok International. He writes an excellent blog on branding for Harvard Business Publishing.

Hawn’s article was originally posted on October 26, 2007. Quelch poses a clean, concise list of 5 major rules for branding that I have chosen to apply to the 2008 presidential Democrat ticket, specifically with the idea as some are advocating that an Obama/Clinton ticket is a smart choice.

Senator Obama, here is a perspective of what Clinton does for your brand.

Quelch’s 5 Rules for Successful (global) Brands: Quelch’s rules are numbered, my Obama/Clinton commentary for each rule follow.

1. The same positioning worldwide. (For F|R: this means in every market.) This provides a combination of functional product quality and innovation with emotional appeal. Think Coca-Cola.

For Obama this means selecting Clinton after her harsh words and the guaranteed soundbites that will be used in ads during the general election campaign are likely to undermine your position.

2. A focus on a single product category. Think Nokia and Intel.

For Obama this means you lose your Obama product category and take on a second product line, not good and will lead to product confusion. No one ever voted for the bottom of the ticket and don’t let them convince you it is going to start now.

3. The company name is the brand name. All marketing dollars are concentrated on that one brand. Think GE and IBM. (F|R: Hewlett-Packard learned this the hard way!)

For Obama this means diluting his message and potentially having an under current of a Co-presidency. That’s not a good idea for a strong brand. Yup, it might not be diplomatic, but when it comes to Presidential candidates, it’s either my way or the highway.

4. Access to the (global) village. Consuming the brand equals membership in a global club. Think IBM’s “solutions for a small planet.” (F|R says: replace “global club” with social network.)

For Obama this means you get a warm and comfortable feeling in Denver. That’s nice, but it is a dream if you think it will last. This dream ticket does not live in a vacuum. You are not in high school and you can’t break up and still be friends. This is called leadership and with it, there are leaders and followers, period. Oh and speaking of a global village how does Clinton reconcile the whole lunch with Ahmadinejād thing. Nope, Obama it’s your world view, stick with it.

5. Social responsibility. Consumers expect global brands to lead on corporate social responsibility, leveraging their technology to solve the world’s problems. Think Nestle and clean water. (Or F|R might say: think Google.)

For Obama this means you should expect Clinton to step aside at this time, not concede for opportunistic reasons. Clinton must understand that it is in the Obama brand’s best interest for a clean break, not take the approach of, “I won’t make this messy if I get what I want? Brands are better when they are clearly defined, even with the potential rough edge he may create if Obama does not choose Clinton as VP. In fact, I’d argue that decisive an edge will serve the Obama brand better in the long run.

A personal note here, this blog discusses marketing, communications, and social media issues. I try very hard not to express political views here. I use politics as an illustration of social media, messaging, and brands. However, I do not want to give the impression that I support Barack Obama. I do admire how his campaign has defined him and seek only to comment about him from a communications perspective.

On the Republican side, I believe John McCain’s brand is rich in leadership. An example would be a candidate for the republican nomination that is not afraid to have Joe Lieberman, officially listed as an Independent Democrat, at his side during his primary campaign. This, however, is a story for another time.

Time 15:19

The idea of a group of people sharing information can apply to hobbyists (like whitewater,try KayakMind, a product launch team, or a global force of loyal fans. One of my current favorites is Natasha Bedingfield Many companies struggle with whether such a beneficial collaboration is a technology question. There are plenty of platforms that exist for significant sharing of multimedia, and text along with other features like blogging, and forums.

Today we speak with Gina Bianchini, the co-founder and CEO of an exceptional platform for creating and growing social networks, Ning. Provident Partners has a private network for listeners of the Marketing Edge podcast and readers of this blog on the Ning platform. To receive an invitation just email marketingedge AT providentpartners.net and put Sandbox in the subject line.

Saturn cars inspires owners to exchange stories and ideas as well as company representatives to share what’s new and trendy in the car market. There’s plenty for movie lovers to enjoy on the Netflix pics site, and on the Provident Partners Social Media Sandbox you can ask questions, get answers, upload photos and video and form groups and forums for more detailed collaboration.

Bianchini said the Ning Creators social network, a network of thousands of Ning users, is an excellent place to develop new feature ideas, get feedback from users, and a central place to praise and vent.

It’s all about the interaction, the information, and the journey that the group goes on together. Jump on.

An excellent panel sponsored by the Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association was convened last night, great crowd and questions. The central question of the night however, seemed to be elusive. The panel was billed as Who Controls Social Media in the Enterprise, and it didn’t seem to me that there was a clear answer. Wonderful anecdotes and ways to test social media internally and externally, but no clear answer to the central question, which for me also answers the question.

In general, the conversation about social media among these companies’ and their commentary on social media in the majority of larger companies led me to the following observations:

1) Social media is viewed at best as a tactic to be tested and at worse a side show.

2) Social media is about relationships and those take time, time large companies don’t have given our culture of immediate results. A supporting example of this are loyalty programs that provide a discount for customer, but only if they buy within a certain window. I see how that attempts to accomplish a minor win for the customer and a revenue increase before the end of the quarter for the company, but there is nothing social about that. A catch ‘em, clean ‘em, filet ‘em repeat approach.

3) Social media just doesn’t have the numbers for companies that play in the middle income bracket. Companies on modest and shrinking profit margins are not seeing enough dollars move through their coffers as a direct result of social media. Sure it’s nice to have raving fans embracing your brand, lots of balloons and cake for internal office recognition, but for most senior execs the $ needle isn’t moving far enough in those areas that are directly attributable to social media efforts.

4) Lastly, social media is not viewed as a comprehensive communications platform. So while a retailer may have thousands of loyal fans on Facebook in a program inspired by customer relations, that same understanding about social networks is not shared by say the PR department that dismisses a bloggers inquiry. There is a disconnect in either understanding or appreciation for social media across these large enterprises. When this happens, the cultural tendency is to dig your heels in about your current perspective and not open your mind up to a holistic vision of social media’s implementation throughout the enterprise. There will be more on this topic in a future Marketing Edge podcast with Robert Scoble to be posted June 2.

Panel Members

· Jim Cuene, Director, Interactive, General Mills 
· Brad Smith,  VP of eCommerce & Digital Marketing, Fingerhut Direct Marketing
· Gary Koelling, Creative Director, Social Technology, Best Buy
· Jason Kleckner, Manager, Information Architecture, Target Corporation
· Moderator: Michael Kraabel, Group Creative Director, Gage

Yes I copied this from the MIMA Events page. Thanks

Hat Tips

Gary Koelling – Most candid answers award, he is Twitter gold for any live writer

Jason Kleckner – Best answer of tough question with grace and insight award. Nice job

Here’s a podcast of the MIMA panel Who Controls Social Media in the Enterpriseevent – however, this was an abbreviated file when I downloaded. I’m going to leave the link up just in case it is fixed. Minor gripe here to the Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association, why isn’t there an audio player on the page for this podcast? There must be a good reason, standing by. If you fix it, I’ll come back and amend this post.

Since marketing is about words and positioning, I’m going to remain neutral on this issue by saying that the advocates of global healthcare will use the term globalization and the opponents of global healthcare will use the term outsourcing. The issue outlines how the future of a US orthopedic surgeon (an other healthcare practitioners) may well follow that of the US assembly line worker in that both now have a larger pool of people who do what they do.

The world is getting smaller and social media is contributing to the elimination of boundaries of information. An eye-opening article from Fast Company: Why Americans Are Going Abroad for Health Care highlights how a world class Thailand hospital, Bumrungrad is a destination for patients around the world, more than 430,000 in 2006 for more than a tummy tuck. Global health care facilities are attracting Americans for everything thing from dentistry to transplants.

Whether your call it Medical Tourism
or just plain global health care, the roots for its recent growth are cost and quality of care. Look it’s not that much different than world leaders coming to the Mayo Clinic in good old Rochester, Minnesota. Only now it’s not Arab sheiks, but modest middle managers looking to save thousands on health care.

From Thailand or Tennessee, competition is seen as a means to drive costs down and quality up. Information is a necessary element of competition which is why social media is being embraced by many players of the healthcare equation.

Because healthcare choice is so important, consumers demand health care delivery information from a variety of sources, healthcare providers, patient experiences, mainstream media, government, and others are all available to the patient making a care choice.

Shopping for health care is not limited to global options like this site called Health Base, in Minnesota consumers can shop for local health care online using Carol.com. Carol it is turning heads in the healthcare delivery profession and so is a blog about patient health care experiences called the Health Care Scoop. The Health Care Scoop is produced by Consumer Aware which has a relationship with health care payer Blue Cross Blue Shield. It’s in everyone’s interest to have lower cost health care, right? Their mission, in their words is:

“We believe that consumers should have the information needed to make “best fit” choices. Healthcare shouldn’t be a mystery. Information about all aspects of healthcare should be easy to find, easy to understand, and easy to navigate. Healthcare information should be available to everyone, all the time, and at no cost. We’re going to do our best to help make that happen.”

Now if you really want to have some fun, have a cup of coffee and compare hospitals in your area. This is the once private, now public, hospital survey called the CAHPS produced by the Hospital Quality Alliance, with a great subtitle “Improving Care Through Information.” Well I might quibble about that subtitle, it’s improving the selection of health care with information to the patient, but I would enjoy a conversation about how this public knowledge will actually improve care?

The answer to that question and many others will be the focus of a panel called Social Media Bringing Change to Healthcare Marketing.

It is sponsored by the Health Care Special Interest Group of the Minnesota Chapter of the American Marketing Association. Representatives from Carol, The Health Care Scoop, and Health East, a healthcare provider in Saint Paul, MN will be on a panel. I am serving as a moderator to this great group of innovators in the healthcare space.

It is being held at the Pool and Yacht Club on Tuesday, May 20 from 4pm-7pm. The panel discussion begins at 4:00pm followed by a reception. Register for the social media in healthcare panel l. If you have questions, shoot me an email amaruggi AT providentpartners DOT net.

In surveys with readers of the San Jose Mercury News, Chris O’Brien, reporter and innovator on the issue of news in the US, presented four major findings about how people get information:

Google
Other people are a major resource of information
Choice
Conversations

There are 5 main theme of the Next generation of the newsroom a project to build the next generation newsroom being conducted at Duke University

1. Integrated – Newsrooms must be fully integrated across blogs and multimedia. It should embrace all platforms. Adapt a consumption model where readers can become so intrigued by the site that they lose track of time as they are immersed in the information.

2. Innovation – The newsroom must be a center for innovation; the 150 year old model was mostly static. We are now in an era of constant change.

3. Collaborative – there must be interactions with other groups outside of your own comfort zone. Cross pollination is a good thing in a new newsroom to expand knowledge and create areas where they will meet each other.

4. Adaptable – Allow for flexibility in assignments, even movable furniture that can be quickly reconfigured to meet a project need.

5. Transparency – Newsrooms need to be open to the community, creating the ability for a dialogue. Changing from a one way medium to a two way organ of information.

New jobs in journalism according to O’Brien

1. Programmer journalists
2. Media Conductors
3. Backpack Journalists
4. Cybrarian
5. Community Managers

This is a summary of a presentation given at the NewComm Forum produced by the Society for New Communications Research. I agree and submit that all media is now multimedia. That means companies and PR firms need to determine what other resources are appropriate for specific releases. For example, consider audio soundbites or videos of relevant visual elements that enhance the story. These can be set up on a news page at the company’s website or posted on a unique landing page, all trackable. This is a start toward what will be a new type of news release called the social media release. A topic for another post.

Time 18:34

Marketers can no longer hide in an ivory tower from the conversations that are taking place among consumers, investors, customers and all of the publics in which companies operate, according to author Joseph Jaffe, our guest on this episode of the Marketing Edge.

Jaffe is in Minnesota to speak at the Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association meeting at the Fine Line tonight, Monday, April 14. This is part of the Conversations About the Future of Advertising series hosted by Tim Brunelle. (Tim set up a Twitter profile for Q&A for tonight’s event. Connect with CATFOA and send in your questions.)

We get into the issue of marketers creating a metrics hell. During Web 1.0 days, advertisers and marketers relied on the unprecedented metrics of click-thoughs, page views, time spent on site, and unique visitors. This gave them comfort and reduced the risk with senior management.

Building a relationship is much less predictable and measurable. Why? Because it’s a relationship; it’s an investment in the individual, not a neatly packaged recipe for making cookies.

Do you believe that the lack of predictable metrics and results are holding back marketers from adopting social media?

We touch on the advantages of American Airlines launching its blog, AAconversation.

We have a little fun with author Geoff Livingston for using Jaffe’s Twitter icon, but a tip of the hat to Livingston for donating to charity using Jaffe’s name, in a way. This started at Blogger Social last week.

Jaffe wrote “Join the Conversation” and “Life After the 30-second Spot”. His popular blog and podcast are Jaffe Juice and Across the Sound.

Joseph Jaffe and I will be among the speakers at the NewComm Forum, sponsored by the Society for New Communications Research, April 22-25 in Sonoma, CA. Marketing Edge listeners: E-mail me for your discount code before registering.