Here is the deal.  Social Media is an undeniable force.  Is anyone even talking about anything else?  Nope, not really.

I went to a Competitive Edge luncheon today where a panel of tourism industry experts regaled us with “How To Operate In the New Norm”.  They talked about team building, communicating with your employees, looking toward the future, networking in industry groups and…You guessed it, Social Media.  I could sit here and list off a handful of examples where I attended a luncheon and was lectured on the importance of Social Media.  I won’t bore you with the details, I think you get it.

So why am I blogging on this blog?  Well, I have been tasked with telling you, the fine readers of Don’t Drink The Koolaid Blog, how I, Megan Capizzi, convinced my employers that Social Media was an important avenue for Seaport Village to explore.  And to be honest, it was a gradual process.  The folks at Bailey Gardiner sat me down and said, YOU NEED TO WRITE A BLOG.  How awesome.  I LOVE reading blogs!  I was really excited about it. I could finally talk to the Seaport Village “customer” the way I had always talked to my friends and family about my job.  I would get to divulge the behind the scenes stuff!  What my favorite store was.  Where I liked to sit and people  watch.  My favorite lunch item at Edgewater Grill  (on days I’m not working of course) – coc0nut shrimp and a Mojito, in case you were wondering.  I was finally going to get to shout from the rooftops my love for Seaport Village.  And by shout from the rooftops I mean unleash my blogs onto the Internet.

Where I saw awesome opportunity and a two-way conversation, my company saw… well, a two way conversation.

Them: “What if they say something bad about our parking?”
Me: “Then I will remind them that we are the cheapest parking in downtown!  I will give them the parking tips they need to know!”

Them: “What if there is a complaint about a store?  And it is on the Internet for everyone to see?”
Me: “Then I will help right the wrong!  I will be the connection that that customer is looking for.  I can help!”

Them: “Are you sure?  You will monitor it…”
Me: “Yes! Yes! Yes!  This is going to be great.  Let’s give it a chance.”

And to their credit, they gave it a chance.  And from that, Boardwalk Betty was created.  Boardwalk Betty is Seaport Village’s social media persona.  She has gone on to create a Facebook, Twitter, Flickr & YouTube account.

I believe they gave it a chance because they believed that our product, Seaport Village, was and is a quality product.  We take pride in our little shopping
center on the water.  We want our customers to be happy.  And let’s get serious, our customers are vocal about what they like and don’t like.  Why would we not be a part of that conversation?  It is a privilege to be part of that conversation!

After everyone saw how wonderfully Boardwalk Betty and all of her blogs were being received- we were actually getting comments and feedback, hooray!- we moved into the Facebook and Twitter arena.  Similar apprehensions,  but there I was again, “People are talking about us!  People actually really love us!  Let’s make them love us more.”  These were my cheers when I put on my social media cheerleading outfit.  I wish I had a picture of that outfit, because it’s cute and cheery.  But that is beside the point.

Now, not only does the company allow me to “run with it” they are applauding my efforts.  They see the valuable conversations that are being had, the community that is being created.  On top of that, I encouraged our stores & restaurants to get on board.  We now have 14 stores on Twitter and 24 stores who have individual Facebook Fan Pages.  The conversation between the stores alone is amazing.  The cross promotion opportunities, endless!  Social media- undeniable my friends, undeniable.

So my suggestion to you, if there is apprehension in the upper ranks, ease ‘em in slowly.  Start with something that you have a lot of control over, like a blog.  You control the content and monitor the comments then hit ‘em with the big guns- FACEBOOK!  TWITTER!  The benefits are overwhelming and if done right the results will be undeniable.

PS- While I would like to take all the credit, I have to admit that Bailey Gardiner played a gigantic role in getting Seaport Village on board the social media train.  I owe them a million thank you’s for all of the support and guidance as we navigated this new and exciting territory.

Megan Capizzi is the Marketing Manager at Seaport Village in San Diego. A client of Bailey Gardiner’s for four years, Megan has overseen Seaport’s advertising, public relations and now social media campaigns.  She runs the Seaport Village Blog as well as their Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and YouTube accounts.

Most informed agency leaders will agree that a big part of what our clients want, and are willing to pay us for, is our thinking. We bring years of experience, coupled with tactical knowledge and creativity to marketing challenges. So why is it that so many agencies are willing to give it away for free?

Over the past couple of months we have been told by more than one new business prospect that while they love our creative thinking and want our experience/approach, they are having a tough time making a decision because the other agency(ies) have given them a complete plan, and of course, we have not. What?! A complete plan? From the one hour conversation they (maybe) had when they were asked to pitch the business, they have enough insight into the company, its brand promise, its customers, competition, and goals to present a plan? Folks, I call BS.

Really experienced CMOs/Marketing Managers will know they are getting a cookie cutter approach, since it isn’t really possible for that kind of strategic development in the 7-10 days they gave as a deadline for an initial proposal. Unfortunately, there are lots of people making decisions about hiring an agency who know very little about marketing and even less about how agencies work.

I am tired of competing for business with agencies that don’t even respect their time or intellectual capital enough to get paid for it. People, you should get paid to write a strategic plan. I know times are hard, but if you set the expectation that you will just give away your thinking in order to get an ongoing retainer, you not only hurt your own revenue stream, you hurt the reputation of an entire industry.

In particular (since I’m on a roll now), we see this in social media pitches. Since most agencies have very little experience in social media planning or management, they have developed a cut-and-paste approach. Take one part Facebook, one part Twitter and insert client name in the blank. There is very little customized or original thinking happening. I believe we are going to start seeing the carcasses of that type of approach all over the business landscape.

It’s too bad too, because social media presents loads of opportunity for the PR industry. But only if we use our smarts and don’t treat it like another tactic to be added onto a long list of “to dos.”

When producing a radio spot, it’s not as easy as just writing a script, recording the spot and then trafficking it to the radio station. A lot of steps, that include everyone from the account team to the creative team to the client, are required prior to even talking to the studio that will be producing the spot.

Last week, we completed the production of a radio spot for our client in Mission Valley, Hazard Center. We have a specific process that we follow here in order to ensure the best quality work while being as efficient as possible. The steps we took to producing this spot are as follows:

Step 1 – Determine when you want your spots to run and on what stations. Based on your budget, this will determine if you can produce a :15 or :30 spot, how many spots you can run and if you have enough to negotiate a promotional tie-in.

Step 2 – The account team then writes a creative brief. This brief includes all necessary information on the client: who we are talking to, what we’re trying to convey in this spot, what station(s) we are running on and if there are any mandatories. Pretty much, it is the road map for the creative team to follow.

Step 3 – Obtain approval from the client on the creative brief. This is crucial. You must ensure the client is on the same page as your team prior to beginning any project.

Step 4 – The creative team, usually an art director/creative director and a copywriter, concept and write 2-3 scripts. If a sound effect or music is needed within the script, they will write a brief description of what it should sound like. For example: SFX: Louder growl

Step 5 – Internal review. The creative team reviews the scripts with the account team. This is the time for the account team to ensure all mandatories are met and the scripts follow the provided creative brief.

Step 6 – Client presentation. The account team reviews the creative brief with the client to bring them back up to speed on what we are trying to accomplish with the spot(s). The creative team then discusses the rationale behind each concept and reads the script to the client. Our senior copywriter, Rich Parubrub, does an excellent job impersonating the sound effects.

Step 7 - Client approval. This is when the client selects which script they would like to proceed with. This is also their opportunity to provide feedback on any revisions or additions they would like.

Step 8 - The account team discusses the spot, budget and timing with the recording studio that will be producing the spot.

Step 9 - The creative team reviews the approved script with the studio. This is where the type of talent they are envisioning and sound effects are discussed.

Step 10 - The studio has 2-3 days to compile their recommendations and send to the creative team to review. The creative team makes their selection based on these. If none of them work, they go back and compile second recommendations.

Step 11 - The studio then books the talent and sends them the script in advance for review.

Step 12 - Recording day. You always start with the voice recording. You want to get the talent’s part done first. Otherwise, you’ll have to pay them for the hour (which can range from around $150 – $500) that they are just sitting there while you pick out sound effects. You always need to make sure you have the client’s budget in mind. This is where the creative team gives direction to the talent on the type of voice, read and which words they want them to really pronounce when doing the read. The talent will do a couple reads of the entire script first to warm up.

Step 13 - Fine tuning. Once the voice talent is comfortable with the spot we begin recording in phases (usually line by line). The talent will read the line 3-4 times in a row, each time a little differently. We pick the one we like and move on to the next. We continue this process until the entire script has been read. We listen through the entire spot at least 15 times to make sure it all flows. Generally, you need to go back and have the talent re-do a few lines so the voice and speed is consistent throughout. I will say, I always thought you had to read the entire thing all the way through until you got it right. It’s amazing how technology allows you to cut and paste and have it sound like one fluid read.

Step 14 – Adding in sound effects. When needed, these are added in in between words or in the background, based on the creative team’s vision. Sound effects typically are the hardest part of producing a radio spot because you don’t want them to overpower the message you are trying to get together.

Step 15 – The studio puts the entire spot together and sends to the agency for review. It is crucial you have the spot nailed prior to leaving the studio. If you want changes after that, you have to pay for additional studio time.

Step 16 - Client final approval. Once the agency approves, we send the spot to the client to review and approve.

Final Step - Once it is final approved by the client, the account team traffics the spot to the station.

It might seem like a lot of steps, but all of them are necessary in order for a good, quality spot to be produced. In the end, Hazard Center’s spot went from a script written in a Word document to this.

Hazard Center Radio Spot

We practice what we preach. You may have had the opportunity to read my last post regarding how to create an effective integrated ad campaign. I’d like to share a recent example of how we executed this task in our local market here in San Diego.

Bailey Gardiner has had the opportunity over the last six years to have Del Mar Thoroughbred Club as a client. We recently implemented a social media and online advertising campaign for them. Through this new media opportunity we developed a relationship with another up and coming site here in San Diego called SoundDiego.com. This site is an affiliate of NBCSanDiego.com and provided a unique opportunity to allow us to promote the Del Mar Concert Series through several touch points.

Sound Diego covers local music and provides a unique platform for us to integrate an advertorial broadcast segment into a piece that looks just like content. The video segment was shot at Del Mar and aired first on SoundDiego.com as a sponsored video segment. The video appears as every other video on the blog and all pre-roll was removed.

The following day it was then aired on NBC’s 4 o’clock news as a SoundDiego “in news segment” done on Del Mar, yet actually packaged as a commercial buy.

Why is this important? This video not only aired in broadcast news time and on the SoundDiego blog but has also been embedded on DelMarScene.com (the client’s site) and also used as content for our Social Media campaign with posts on the Facebook page and Twitter account. We were able to touch the audience through multiple points using advertising that actually communicates the client events and brand as content. Advertisers need to think about creative ways to communicate using not only new mediums such as social media but also traditional channels such as television. When you are able to develop content that users want to engage with, you can create effective advertising that has legs across several mediums.

Check out the video on SoundDiego.com

There’s a common misconception that you can make an e-blast, video or other social media piece viral.

Not true.

You can only create a great piece of creative and promote the heck out of it in the HOPES that it goes viral. Your target audience is the only one who can take action by forwarding it to friends, talking about it with co-workers, etc.

That said, I wanted to share an e-blast that was sent to me recently from juice giant, Jamba Juice. In my opinion, this is an example of viral marketing that works. Take a look and see if you agree.

First off, the title intrigued me “New Cheeseburger Chili Smoothie.” I receive emails from Jamba all the time, but this was so weird, I HAD to open it to see if it was for real.

The format of the email was the same as the other ones I receive so that looked legit. And even after I watched the video I still didn’t know for sure if it was real. They peaked my curiosity so much that I had to visit cheeseburgerchill.com to find out if it was for real (which, of course, was their intention).

Turns out, the burger shake was a hoax (thank goodness). The whole ploy was a reaction against McDonald’s recent venture into the smoothie business. If you’ve seen the burger chain’s recent TV spots (see above), you know what I’m talking about. A great stunt that had a really good strategy behind it. Genius.

Even better? After you read the message on the landing page there is an option to forward it to a friend, post it on multiple social media sites AND (here’s the best part) get $1 off your next smoothie. A pretty nice little reward for reading all the way through to the web page, huh?

As an advertiser, I consider myself keen to most marketing ploys—much like a white v-neck at a wet t-shirt contest, I feel I can see through most of them. But I fell for this one, even sending it out to multiple friends and doing a blog post about it.

So did it go viral?

Did I like it enough to send it to my friends? Check.
Did I talk about it with co-workers? Check.
Did it make it make me interact with their brand for a considerable length of time? Check.

The “Cheeseburger Chill” YouTube video has been viewed 203,336 at the time of this blog post. Not many if you compare it the over 16 million views of the kid on laughing gas, but a pretty good start considering it only debuted two weeks ago.

What do you think makes a piece of media go viral?

Judging from what happened to this LeBron James’ Heat jersey-wearing guy on Wednesday, Cleveland is still very much sore about their prodigal son jumping ship to Miami. Matter of fact, while at a local sports bar last weekend, a random Cavaliers fan was still talking about how proud he was of Dan Gilbert’s open letter to the people of Cleveland.

But out of all the ways a team owner could’ve said goodbye to a star player, running a full-page newspaper ad that essentially says “F off, traitor” was in poor form. Granted, I don’t think highly of the way Lebron chose to announce his move. “The Decision”, his hourlong ESPN special, was a humiliating way to discard his former team, employers and city in front of a national audience.

That said, basketball, like advertising, is a business. Clients come. And clients go. The best we can do is wish them well when parting ways. Change is constant and who knows… in the not too distant future, a change in personnel might prove to be the better formula for success.

But in this case, The King may never return to the Land of Cleve. Especially since the bridge leading back to it has been burned. From both ends.

I wanted to share some inspirational museum marketing stunts that have resulted in generating lots of museum publicity.

The first is the Space Invader Walk.

As part of it’s promotion for the exhibition “Viva la Revolucion” (beginning on July 17) the Museum of Contemporary Art of San Diego has planted 21 space invaders throughout the city.

The space invaders—recently featured in the Banksy film—are strategically placed so that their locations create the outline of a giant space invader when seen from above (see Google Maps image below).

Not only is this a great way to get publicity for the museum, it’s also a living exhibition all on it’s own as you can literally travel around the city, finding all of the invaders, a great weekend activity that is conveniently located near MCASD’s downtown San Diego location.

The second is the Red Cube Project.

This project was created to support “500 Ways of Looking at Modern,” the Art Institute’s yearlong exploration and celebration of all things modern.

The museum hid 500 cubes around the city (including 4 extra large versions), each one with it’s own art project attached. The lucky finder is tasked with completing the assignment and returning the cube to the museum. A few of these lucky artists then had their work showcased at the museum.

The museum encouraged those who didn’t find a cube to create their own and post a picture of it to the project’s website. A smart idea that encouraged people from all walks of like to get involved helped the campaign go viral.

You can see many more of the cubes that were created on the museum’s Flickr page.

Have you seen any other inspirational museum marketing campaigns recently?

In my last blog post about selling creative ideas, I featured some of the tips presented by Sam Harrison in his presentation at this year’s HOW Conference.

This week, Sam offers more thoughts on idea selling as he gives advice on pitching unfamiliar ideas to clients in his very first guest blog post.

Our parents always told us to hang with a good crowd, right?

So apply this wisdom when presenting ideas – associate your concept with a successful, admired product or service.

Steve Jobs did this when presenting the iPhone 4 at WWDC a few weeks ago. He touted the phone’s precision by saying “its closest kin is like a beautiful old Leica camera.”

And when discussing the phone’s new display, Jobs said its text “looks like what you’ve seen in fine printed books.”

In my new book, IdeaSelling, I call this hitching ideas to stars, and I suggest using the technique when pitching ideas unfamiliar to decision makers.

For example, there was a time when our team wanted to sell high-end stationery and home-desk items using a magalog – a combination of a magazine and direct-mail catalog – with editorial content as well as products.

To fund this high-end project, we needed to convince decision makers of its value, so we began by familiarizing them with the magalog genre. We created a glide path toward acceptance by hitching our ideas to stars. Before revealing our prototypes, we showed decision makers samples of successful magalogs, such as those from Patagonia and Neiman Marcus.

In a preliminary session, we walked decision makers through the catalogs, discussing product positioning, editorial slants and marketing techniques. We shared sales figures garnered from industry publications and our extrapolations.

These showings eased the eventual selling of our ideas. When we presented prototypes in following weeks, decision makers were already ramped-up on the nature and value of magalogs. All we had to do was show and explain our creative approaches.

If you’re facing the tough sell of an idea – especially an unconventional one – compare your concept to other success stories. You can look to stars from other firms or industries – or you can pull up a lucky star from your own past.

That’s what Stefan Mumaw of Reign Agency did when pitching aTV spots to a retail client. The concept revolved around a funny character that originally seemed far outside the client’s comfort zone.

“They were leaning toward a more familiar Nike-type spot,” Mumaw says, “something displaying the passion and athleticism of tennis players.”

To help overcome resistance to something less familiar, Mumaw brought in stars from the agency’s past campaigns. “We showed examples of ads that had stretched clients in new directions,” he says. “And when we discussed the financial success of those creative leaps, the decision makers agreed to do the spots.”

The next time you need to swiftly show the value of an uncommon concept, compare it to a success from another firm or your own hall of fame. Show how your new kid fits in with the cool crowd.

Sam Harrison is a speaker, workshop leader and author on creativity-related topics. His books include IdeaSelling: Successfully pitch your creative ideas to bosses, clients and other decision makers, IdeaSpotting: How to find your next great idea and ZING! Five steps and 101 tips for creativity on command. Visit his website for even more inspiration.

There are some things that people just don’t want to think about…death, rape, or disease, for instance. Fun stuff. But somebody’s gotta do it. Because every now and then, bad stuff happens. And that’s when the communicators have to step in. Hey… that’s us!

This week, our PR team spent a day with Nick Kalm, founder and president of Reputation Partners in Chicago, one of our Pinnacle Worldwide partners, talking about the importance of crisis planning and reputation management. We had to dream up all the worst things that could happen to our clients. Not good for a bunch of overactive imaginations. It got ugly.

Fortunately, Nick helped us focus on what we could and should do to help our clients prepare and manage through any potential crisis. As uncomfortable as it got, we were all glad we did it.

We talked through messaging, phone trees, who speaks to whom, how to conduct drills and all the potential audiences aside from media and social networks, such as employees, customers, vendors, trade associations, investors and the many stakeholders that matter in a crisis. Many thanks Nick — not only are you very tall, you are very wise, especially when it comes to crisis planning and reputation management.

Have you thought through the potential crises that face your company or client’s business? Have you got a plan?

Whether you do or don’t, check out our interview with Nick for some words of wisdom on crisis planning and reputation management.

Let’s face it, a great idea is useless if you can’t sell it.

At the HOW Conference for creatives this last week, several different speakers offered advice on how to make your creative presentations just as good as your creative ideas. Many of these ideas were similar to those from our own office presentation guru, Nancy Stern. Here are five powerful tips I picked-up for selling creative ideas:

1. Know your audience.

To quote presentation specialist Nancy Duarte from her HOW Conference presentation last week—”Not knowing your audience is like writing a love letter to whom it may concern.” Before you give your presentation, do your homework. Find out what your client does on Saturday night, if they have families, what books they read. The more you show them you understand their point of view, the more willing they will be to listen to what you have to say.

2. Involve your client in your ideas.

“If they birthed it, they can’t kill it.” Great quote from David Schimmel, CEO of And Partners.

During your initial meetings with clients, write down memorable things that they have to say. Then, when you present, weave these exact words into your presentation. Another idea from HOW Conference presenter and creative David Sherwin is to actually involve your client in your initial brainstorms. Most of the time, they are flattered to be involved in the process and will be more accepting of your final ideas because they helped contribute to them.

3. Be your own devil’s advocate.

Afraid your client might not like your ideas? Try to imagine what the decision-maker will see when they look at what you have to show them. Make a list of what they might not like and then address those issues head-on in your presentation. “This is my idea _____. One thing the consumer might think is this ______. However, I think we can overcome it by doing this _____. ” This will demonstrate that you understand their mindset and make your ideas that much more powerful.

4. Plant a rhetorical device.

The two quotes I’ve used in this blog post so far were phrases delivered by Nancy Duarte and Sam Harrison in their HOW presentations. Obviously, they stood out enough to me that I remembered them. And you can make your audience do the same.

Devise a strong statement that you repeat several times in your presentation, or even just tell your audience, “Here’s what I want you to take away today,” and then list your points. Apple leader, Steve Jobs is superior at doing this in his presentations, even embedding the same phrase in his advertising and press releases for resonance. When he launched the iPad, he said the device was the intersection of liberal arts and technology, an idea that was repeated in all forms of Apple’s media.

Another great example was from creative and author Sam Harrison’s HOW presentation on “Idea Selling”. He referenced Porter Gale, Virgin Atlantic’s brand director who described flying on the luxury airline Virgin “like flying inside an iPod.” A phrase that was picked-up by other media and repeated over and over.

5. Find your star moment.

This is the moment that your audience will always remember and is always highly planned. Former advertising creative turned agency guru Tony Mikes of SecondWindOnline.com suggests that it doesn’t always have to be a well-written statement that is the star. One example he gave was an agency that asked for 15 minutes to get ready before a client pitch. They filled the room with flip-charts and sketches from their war room and did a brainstorm with their audience to illustrate their philosophy of always working as closely as possible with the client.

What do you do to help sell creative your creative ideas? Watch more videos of great presentations here or check out Nancy Duarte’s Slide:ology video below.