New com.motion RSS feed

Dear readers,

After nearly two years, we have decided to upgrade the com.motion blog to a new platform - wordpress! If you are receiving this in your RSS reader it means the transition hasn't gone as smoothly as we would have liked. However, to continue to receive the same great content from the com.motion team, please resubscribe to our new feed - http://feeds.feedburner.com/thecommotionblog

Many thanks!

Ed Lee
Managing Director, com.motion Toronto

NEW FEED - ADJUST YOUR READER

Due to some frustrating technical circumstances we've had to change our RSS feed, please adjust your reader: http://feeds.feedburner.com/thecommotionblog

Thanks for subscribing to our blogger and your understanding!

The com.motion team.

Google goes musical

The web is abuzz with the news that Google is apparently getting ready to launch a new music service. While it’s still unclear how the Google music service will function, there seems to widespread acknowledgement that it will incorporate two popular social music tools Lala and iLike. With the billions of songs being shared, bought and listened to online, it only makes sense that the monolithic Google would enter the very lucrative music market. Google will make an official announcement on Wednesday, but until then, enjoy this screen shot (via Techcrunch) of what a possible Google music search of U2 might look like .

WordPress goes Moblie

Adapting to the rapid growth of mobile browsing, Wordpress.com has launched two new mobile optimized blog themes. The first is a tweaked version of the popular WPtouch theme (currently employed by this blog), geared towards smartphones with full browser support like the iPhone and Android based devices. The second is an updated version of their WordPress mobile edition which will allow for faster page loading and for more information to be displayed on less powerful phones.

Giving readers a chance to read blogs as quickly and easily as possible, wherever they are, is always a good strategy. Great to see Wordpress.com empower publishers to do so more easily.

For more information visit the original article from Mashable here

Here is a snapshot of what the com.motion site looks like when accessed from an iPhone:

Microsoft Looking Glass: Social Media Monitoring for Business

Last week I was sent an Advertising Age article on a new proof of concept product from Microsoft designed to help marketers understand the social media conversation around their brand, organization or clients. Code name: Looking Glass.

The idea is to use the powerful Sharepoint platform as a jumping off point for communicators and marketers to monitor and action relevant social media activity. The use of Sharepoint is, in my view, a crucially important part of the announcement as it allows for the integration with existing business systems – which will further mature the use and adoption of social media, moving it into the core business function as its use within the communications function increases. The communications function is doing an outstanding job of adjusting and adopting social media for its need, but this could take it to the next level as business people start to understand the core value of social media – the data.

From the Advertising Age piece:

The idea is to connect social-media-monitoring tools to the rest of a marketer's organization -- customer databases, work orders, customer-service centers and sales data. Looking Glass will pull in a variety of feeds from platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Flickr and work with third-party data sources as well (the folks behind it have already talked to some firms such as Meteor Solutions and Telligent). All of the data collected will connect into Microsoft's enterprise platforms, such as Outlook and Sharepoint.

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What this also means for marketers is how all that social-media information they're drowning in becomes more actionable.

Here's how: A marketing manager can get an e-mail alert when there's a sudden surge of chatter about his or her brand on Twitter or Facebook, along with the sentiment of that chatter and the influence level of those blogging. That information can then be connected to a customer-relationship-management system to decide whether customer service or PR should respond. Or a cable operator's customer service rep could monitor Twitter for outage reports and send off a repair request straight from the tool. And Looking Glass will hook up to existing customer databases, so a pharmaceutical brand manager would be able to figure out if a person throwing a hissy fit on his blog is an influential doctor or current customer.

There is also a video overview which you can see below:

So why am I excited by this?

I’ve long said that integrating social media and all the data it can produce for you into business processes such as CRM and market research can elevate the communications and marketing disciplines within the organization. This product looks to start that migration in earnest.

No More Sidestepping The Issues: Sidewiki

Last Wednesday, Google announced the launch of Sidewiki, the latest addition to the Google Toolbar... and potential anxiety instigator for brand managers everywhere. Google describes Sidewiki optimistically, saying:

"Help and learn from others as you browse the web."

"Contribute helpful information to any web page."

"What if you could learn from others who have visited a page before you?"

Simply put, Sidewiki allows you to comment on or annotate any website. Continuing its mission to make information relevant and readily available, Google has tossed another knowledge management tool into the ring. As we already do with Twitter, Facebook or Get Satisfaction, we can learn from the experiences of others and throw up flags and gold stars to help each other out (an optimist's view). Seth Godin became the first case study for Sidewiki with his "Squidoo/Brand Jacking" scandal last week (a bit on that here). Unable to comment on Seth's blog or the Squidoo page about 'Brand Pages', readers looked to Sidewiki to collect their frustrations.

This tool bares some considerable power and issues to consider. Sidewiki represents another avenue to be monitored and engaged... or not... depending on your strategy. Whether you participate or not, it is another cog in the social branding process. Users of Google Toolbar and Chrome will see comments and annotation right next to your web page, whether you like it or not. That's where the difference lies. Even though comments will be displayed right next to their web page, publishers don't control the feedback platform. It can't be turned off or moderated. Co-creation of content is the oft sited holy grail of brand/consumer relationships. In this case, Google is facilitating the co-creation of your brand on their turf and plastering it right next to yours.

Time for some perspective: not much is new here. There are no shortage of tools that host and aggregate annotation and feedback. In that regard, Sidewiki is just another tool on the list. The importance and principles of listening, learning and engaging to create good relationships remain. Sidewiki should provoke you to again consider: how do you want to participate in the creation of content that contributes to how you are defined?

As a user, my biggest concerns using any feedback platform are realibility, relevance and civility. Google is touting an algorithm for Sidewiki that will present comments in order of their quality and utility rather than order of submission. Beyond the relevance of your comment, it also considers feedback from other users, previous entries you've made and a few other unnamed 'signals' (more on that here).

In what seems to be an attempt to reconcile the issue of where the content resides, Sidewiki offers an API allowing developers to work with its content. I'm presuming we'll see the API used to replicate the functionality of Wordpress plugins that aggregate Twitter commentary on blog posts in the near future.

I'm looking forward to seeing the evolution of Sidewiki and the use of its API. As always, listening and learning will pave the way to success.

A Truly Remarkable Experience

This year, we’re proudly celebrating the 250th anniversary of Guinness and last weekend we went to Ottawa with Guinness master brewer Fergal Murray for a truly remarkable experience. In celebration of its 250th anniversary, Guinness asked Canadians what they would consider to be a “remarkable” experience. Of over 800 entries submitted, Simon Halpin’s request to tour Canada’s local breweries and record the stories of the people who run them, stood out as it embodied the core characteristics of Arthur Guinness himself: inspiration, dedication, ingenuity and effort.

Born in Dublin, Ireland, Simon moved to Canada at the age of four. His uncle worked at Guinness from a young age and later became a brewmaster in Kilkenny for Smithwicks. Simon’s entry was inspired by a memory of his uncle coming to Canada with a goal of meeting local brewers to learn about their passion for the business. This passion for the craft is the spirit behind the gathering on September 19th.

Guinness fulfilled that remarkable experience for Simon at Ottawa’s Heart and Crown pub and invited local craft brewers to join. Simon had his experience, lucky Guinness socks in tow (see the image above), and the event was a great success enjoyed by all.

com.motion was proud to hear that Simon will be starting his own blog to share his remarkable experience with friends, family and fellow Guinness lovers.

Simon’s experience will become one of a handful of remarkable experiences that Guinness will fulfill in celebration of its 250th anniversary this year.

Augmented Reality for Wifi Hotspots

If you're a road warrior or just someone who's out of the office occasionally, there are times when you need to connect your laptop to the Internet.

Locating a Wi-Fi connection can be a challenge because it's difficult to find places that offer Wi-Fi and get information about what those places are like such as whether they serve good coffee and food, and whether there are enough places to sit.

Fortunately, there are a growing number of tools and services that are making it easier - and more interesting - to find places offering Wi-Fi.

One of the most intriguing is Worksnug, which is creating technology that uses augmented reality to "find the nearest and best places to work".

Although Worksnug has yet to launch, a video on its Web site shows how you can use an iPhone app and the iPhone's camera to scan a particular location. As you scan, information about places with Wi-Fi appears on the screen. If the service works as well as Worksnug suggests, it would be truly innovative and cool.

Worksnug is slated to launch in London and San Francisco before expanding to other places around the world. Unfortunately, Toronto isn't on Worksnug's priority list but you never know what a little lobbying might do!

To see a demo of Worksnug, check out this video.

Vintage's "Taste Ontario" Event

We experienced an awesome "Taste Ontario" blogger event at the Art Gallery of Ontario. More than 40 wineries represented. A big thank you to our friends at the Ontario Wine Council for the invitation.

Veritas Communications Promotes Lynn Eastep to Senior Vice President, com.motion North America

As managing director at com.motion HQ here in Toronto, I am honoured to be the one who gets to announce the promotion of Lynn Eastep from General Manager to Senior Vice President for com.motion North America. Lynn is an absolute firecracker, as anyone who has had the fortune of meeting her will testify, and we are thrilled for her in her new position. Lynn will continue to add exponential value to all of our clients, particularly when it comes to integrating online and offline Word of Mouth. With more than 15 years of digital communications experience, Lynn has delivered award-winning and sophisticated marketing solutions for Fortune 500 corporations, major government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and household-name consumer brands.

Lynn is connected to the industry and trend and is a strategic thinker with intense curiosity. She is, without doubt, an eclectic user of information, and to call her an engaging storyteller would be doing her a disservice! She is a team player who is passionate, curious, positive, and courageous.

The full news release is below, but if you would like more information, on Lynn or on com.motion, please let me know.

You can find Lynn online on Twitter as @lynneastep or connect on LinkedIn or just peruse her excellent blog posts on our com.motion blog.

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Toronto, September 11, 2009 --- Beverley Hammond, president of Veritas Communications today announced the promotion of Lynn Eastep to the position of Senior Vice President of com.motion North America, the agency’s growing social media and online communications practice.

Eastep, whose most recent position was General Manager, will oversee the practice that offers a full spectrum of social media and digital strategies to clients. She will also be responsible for business development across North America.

Prior to joining com.motion, Eastep held the position of Senior Vice President and Partner for Fleishman-Hillard Digital, where she drove social media program development for such clients as Nestle, AT&T, and Novartis. Prior to that she worked for UK-based Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) as Director, Internet Marketing for North America, and has been Webmaster for Progressive Insurance Corporation, the third largest insurance provider in the U.S.

She is the recipient of numerous industry awards including Silver Anvils from the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), ADDY^® Awards from the American Advertising Federation (AAF) and a Vision Award of Merit from the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) and the Shop.org Innovation award.

“In her time at com.motion, Lynn has made a real difference for our clients business and for ours. She is known as a builder in the social and digital space, having spent many years – long before its emergence into the mainstream – developing smart, results-focused digital campaigns for major brands,” said Hammond. “She is an expert at grassroots community building and transferring those communities into results for brands by bringing digital ideas to life in traditional mediums from PR to Word of Mouth (WOM) marketing.”

About com.motion NA

The North American organization, com.motion helps businesses and brands amplify their marketing messages through the effective use of online communications channels. Our in-depth, collaborative approach builds strategic, successful online programs that connect our clients with their stakeholders in the places where they convene. As a practice of Veritas Communications we are able to design strong, integrated programs for a growing list of clients including Canada Dry Motts, Diageo and SUBWAY. com.motion is Toronto-based with a satellite office in Cleveland. Veritas Communications Inc. a member of the MDC Partners network (TSX and Nasdaq: MDCA).

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For more information please contact:

Ed Lee

Managing Director, com.motion

lee@causeacommotion.com

http://bloggingmebloggingyou.wordpress.com

www.twitter.com/edlee

416 482-2154