South Buh-Bye

Dancing with Anne Marsen from Girl Walk // All Day after the SXSW Premiere

So long South By!  Another great festival has come & gone and, for me, it was bookended with some really great film events: First, the opening night premiere & dance party for GirlTalk's Girl Walk // All Day. Then I wrapped up the fest with perhaps a SXSW world record: 15 hours in 1 day at the Alamo Drafthouse (South Lamar) watching movies! Lemme know if you got that beat!

In between losing myself in films, were the invaluable panels.  A major sentiment I noted this year across various panels was the idea that for digital/social media campaigns to be successful they must be fully integrated into a business & marketing plan, rather than existing in its own digital silo. This approach was encouraged from both large & small media companies: "Digital media should be a company wide effort, not just the effort of 1 or 2 people" was the advice from Bravo's panel, Top Chef: How Transmedia is Changing TV. And reps from small media start-ups concurred, "Content creators need to be marketers & marketers need to be content creators. There is a behavioral shift & this is perhaps what slows down change." (Screw the Big Screen, We Have the Web!) 

This latter comment on what slows down the embrace of change was discussed further by this panel as a cultural issue: "Technological problems are a reflection of the culture." This sentiment was echoed by another panel I attended, Meaningful Use & Beyond: Health Software, Etc.  Presenter, Fred Trotter, claims that issues in the relationship between IT and healthcare are not technical - that the appropriate technology already exists - but rather that changes are slow because of political reasons.  Now political isn't just a Democrat vs. Republican thing - but rather, perhaps more significantly, its the smaller scale politics and bureaucracy which exist in the everyday workplace. During my 15 hour movie binge at the Alamo I grabbed a quick lunch with a friend who told me about his thoughts and efforts at his job to implement social media to already existing platforms.  His ideas are all solid & there are case studies to back up why they would add value to his organization... the only thing that remains is navigating the layers of bureaucracy & creating buy-in from others across his organization.
  
Articulating my friend's challenges, Marc Schiller lamented that, "digital typically gets siloed... & its essentially at the kid's table", (Empowering Filmmakers, Marketing/Distribution Keys). "Digital is not its own thing [however], rather its about the amplification of content". As an MBA student, who has spent more hours than she cares to remember on statistics, I agree with Schiller's assertion that analytics are critical to sharply defining your plan, measuring success & identifying weaknesses. Bottom line from Schiller, "More data allows for more insight into the most profitable revenue streams".  

My big take-away from this year's SXSW is "Integration = Success". While technology is moving rapidly, what slows down progress more than anything is perhaps culture & entrenched ways of doing things. As we approach graduation & I spend more and more time consulting and applying what I've been learning in the dMBA program, I'm finding myself navigating people and organizations who are sometimes shell-shocked by new media. In working with many of them I find myself labeled "the digital person". But as these panels have reminded me, & as the dMBA program has trained me - the value in digital technology is not in digital itself, but in its seamless integration across an organization or venture.

Most of the above panel links will take you to recordings of the discussions... or for something completely different (& fun!), check-out "Sh*t Panelist Say" from Flow Nonfiction below.

Congratulations Suzanne and Rob!!!

Rob and Suzanne pitching their award winning business plan to Jackson Nat'l Life Insurance Co.

... it was less than 15 years ago that the Internet began to assume the role it now has in companies... the way they served customers, transacted business, worked with partners and managed employees.  Social technology is about to do the same thing: transform the way people work together and do business.  The only question is, how fast will you get there?

 ~ Groundswell: Winning in a World 

Transformed by Social Technologies

Looking around and looking ahead at the disruption of traditional business models, Jackson National Life Insurance Company recently reached out to college students across the U.S. looking for ways to integrate social media into their business operations.  Thus was born the Jackson Social Media Business Plan Challenge.  Well, guess who won the challenge... along with a cool 15K?  None other than Suzanne Bonifaz and Rob Flores, fellow classmates in St. Ed's dMBA program!

What is particularly exciting about their Grand Prize win is that the plan was developed for a traditional insurance company.  Often, when people hear about our MBA program focusing on Digital Media Management, they typically assume its solely focused on the music, film, tech and media industries.  While many of my classmates will work in these industries upon graduation, Rob and Suzanne's win demonstrates that the principles we've been studying apply across the business world.  While perhaps media is the most "glamorous" industry, its ultimately about all industries staying competitive and thriving in our ever-evolving new business environment.

Exemplifying the program's infusion of 'Digital Media Management' into a traditional MBA,  Suzanne and Rob applied the principles recommended by Forrester Research in Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technology (required reading for our Digital Consumer class).  For example, remembering that social media is ultimately about relationships and creating tight ties with the customer (rather than simply the technology), Rob and Suzanne didn't settle for the obvious answer of simply suggesting a Facebook or Twitter account.  Instead, they took into account the technographics of Jackson's customers to create a plan that would fit the overall objectives and strategies that would make sense for Jackson's unique needs.  Further, because Jackson is a financial services company, subject to strict oversight and regulation, they employed the "issue spotting" skills developed in our law classes. 

As our cohort nears the end our dMBA journey, (graduation is just over 3 months away!) it is inspiring to see our classmates succeed in applying to the real world what we've been studying.  Not only does this encourage us that businesses are clamoring for our skills... shoot... thanks for just making the rest of us look good!  

Congratulations Rob and Suzanne!

What?!?! 

You're not following them on Twitter?

Well, you should be!

@sbonifaz 

@RobdFlowers

Digital Casualties

How you are you keeping up in our digital and globalized world?  Hopefully you're faring better than Kodak who, after 130 years in business and at one time enjoyed a 90% marketshare, filed today for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. 

Once a blue chip company, Kodak actually developed the digital technology that has since cannibalized its own market.  That sad irony is only heightened by the many good decisions of Kodak's management which included setting digital aside in order to focus on products and services because this is what their customers wanted (at the time).  But as the seminal, The Innovator's Dilemma demonstrates, the path of blind customer service can kill innovation and is littered with the corpses of once thriving organizations.  

On the other hand, we have the entertainment industry.  Music, film and television companies have been fighting for years what consumers want: digital access to content.  The music industry brought us the bitter fight over Napster and the recent efforts of SOPA and PIPA have created a firestorm with popular websites shutting down in protest to successfully sway Congressional support.  SOPA and PIPA are backed by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) who see their power, and their bottom lines, disintegrating. Many of these industry players are as old as Kodak and have held a monopoly for close to a century.  But the democratization of content production and distribution, made possible by the digital technology and the Internet, is disrupting these old business models.  

I feel for the entertainment companies at the center of the SOPA/PIPA controversy and who are struggling to protect their copyrights and battle piracy.  I am an advocate for artists and content creators who should be compensated fairly for their work.  After all, without protecting the talent, perhaps this SNL skit is a glimpse of a bleak future in entertainment. 


As is indicated by Kodak's bankruptcy and MPAA/RIAA's flailing efforts to save their skin, these old business models are dying hard as the new business models struggle to take shape.  It is easy to look backwards to understand how business "should be done".  As we recently discussed in our Digital Consumer class, it took decades of observation of traditional business to come up with the classic Four P's (price, promotion, product and place) taught in every Marketing 101 class.  But with the advent of digital marketing and digital consumption... well, that's still a new frontier and the business principles governing success are still being discovered.

Its not just business models that are being disrupted, however.  The bankruptcy of Kodak and the struggles of the entertainment establishment are centered in the respective "company towns" of Rochester, NY and Los Angeles.  As these cities struggle with the economy they are a microcosm of larger shifts happening throughout the United States and the rest of the world.  They reflect the Brookings Institute's latest study which reveals a very real economic and power shift from the West to the East.

A look at an interactive map from the study illustrates that its not just certain cities and certain industries that are struggling to adapt to the new realities of a digital world.  As the U.S. and Europe struggle, other regions are gaining ground.  Competing as individuals, as organizations and even nations require re-shaping business models and business practices.

Hopefully you're not filing for bankruptcy or facing a radical shift in your specific industry, but are you keeping up in the digital landscape and adapting? If not, why not?  As I tell tech-phobic clients, "give it a try... its not like you can break the Internet!"  A great place to at least start is with Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies and The Facebook Effect: The Inside Story of the Company that is Connecting the World.  After all, if you're not learning... you're dying.

The Digital Bridge: Parker Westbrook

Meet my friend, Parker Westbrook.  Parker's a bad-ass... but don't take my word for it, she's just been named Krav Maga Instructor of the Year at Fit & Fearless. 

Yet, despite Parker's physical and mental toughness, there is 1 thing that leaves her a little queasy: technology.  Parker isn't alone, though. For those of us not born into the Net Generation, aka Digital Natives... the online and digital landscape can be daunting.

Now, I'm not a "Digital Native" either, and I'm certainly not a natural-born "techie" so I completely understand the feelings of overwhelm with technology for those of us who haven't grown up on the Internet.  But understanding that digital tools and platforms are critical to the new realities of our world, I've gone out of my way to embrace them.  This has left me in an exciting role of being a bridge between the 2 worldviews (that of Millenials and Non-Millenials) and I absolutely love it!  In being a "digital bridge" I relish being the calm voice, teaching and encouraging non-Digital Natives to harness social media for their own purposes.

Back to Parker.  She's got the training side of things down cold, but she's more than just about teaching people to kick and punch. Parker is driven to empower people to take responsibility for their own personal safety and well-being. Moved by her mission, and since she can't teach 24 hours a day, I began pestering her to broaden her digital footprint to reach a wider audience.

To that end, for the last several months I've worked with Parker to develop her online presence.  Together, we've developed an overarching strategy to communicate her message and I've trained her in using various online tools.  For me, the most compelling tool she's using is podcasting.  This idea was born out of Parker's unrelenting quest for knowledge exhibited by her habit of interviewing "people on the front lines of what’s happening in the world of combat sports, self-defense, and psychology".  When I learned about these interviews, drawing on my background in documentary filmmaking, it was a no-brainer to suggest she begin recording these interviews to share with her audience so they could hear first-hand lessons from assault survivors as well as leading experts in their field.  The results are inspiring podcasts published on her website.  As a part of her digital repertoire, the podcasts not only set her apart, but serve to educate a wider audience.

Working with a tee-tiny budget, Parker's digital footprint is all DIY.  Because of Parker's initial resistance to technology, one of the most rewarding parts of working with her has been encouraging and supporting her to embrace the tools to create and sustain her digital footprint.  When we first started working together she was skeptical about creating and maintaining her own website, etc, but its been fun for me to increase her digital confidence and prove to her that she can do it!

In addition to working with Parker on the digital platforms themselves, its has also been exciting to apply the business principles that we've been learning in the dMBA program - especially the areas of Marketing & Branding.  In fact, working with Parker has been a rewarding opportunity to put the Digital in Digital MBA! 

Thank you to Joni McClain of Love and Light Images for the use of Parker's photo.

Burgers in the Digital Age

One of the best advantages of grad school is having access to world-class professionals who are at the top of their field. In today's Branding & Promotion class, John Moore, the marketing guru of Brand Autopsy, shared with us his insights. Particularly rich about Mr. Moore's talk are the principles he shared which are timeless and yet, never more applicable than now in the digital age. 



As I've previously discussed, organizations are catching on to how easy and essential it is to connect via social media and utilize digital tools, so the question becomes: if digital makes it so easy that everyone is doing it, how does one cut through the "digital noise" to effectively connect with their inundated audience? One obvious place to start is with data mining and the ability to target your audience with online tools. Yeah, yeah, yeah... like I said, that's an obvious place to start, but it lacks the teeth of solid business principles and the deeper understanding of an experienced marketer. 



To address this question of "cutting through the noise" Mr. Moore spoke about the need of setting yourself apart and being "talk-able" for your audience. Now, note, this strategy leverages digital tools - the tools are the means, they are not the ends, a mistake often made when getting caught up in the hoop-la of social media. Mr. Moore illustrates his point with burger restaurants. Now, a burger joint is a good old-fashioned brick-and-mortar business where, generally speaking, the product is pretty much the same from one place to the next. So how do you set your burger apart? Its those unique "touch points" that make the burger, the restaurant and the experience unique. Its the details of these touch points... from customer service, to the menus, to the furniture... in other words, the personality of your place that creates the resonance, the "talk-ability" of your organization. And talk-ability is what we want, digital or otherwise, as up to 50% of purchasing decisions are based on word-of-mouth marketing. 



My big take-away from today’s talk was creating that talk-ability factor for the long haul – not just one big splashy event or press release that people stop talking about in a few days or weeks. Its about creating something more significant than buzz... its about showcasing your organization’s personality throughout it's lifetime. Oh, and the other take-away… a shared craving for burgers that my classmates and I immediately satisfied with a trip to HopDoddy’s Burger Bar on SoCo!

On the Eve of Year Two...

With the start of classes tomorrow, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on what an amazing journey this last year has been!

Early on in the dMBA program I began researching Participant Media for a marketing class. I had long been a fan of their films (Food Inc., Charlie Wilson's War, North Country, etc.), but during my 1st year of the program I kept coming back to them again and again, fascinated by their business model. Their mission,"entertainment that inspires and compels social change" resonated deeply with me and my mission became to intern with them this summer.

To my great joy I was accepted as an intern in the Social Action department where I teamed with the staff and other interns to research, develop and execute social engagement campaigns (both online and offline) for PM's upcoming narratives and documentaries (see below). I had hoped to blog about my experience more, however, much of what I did each day was confidential so there really wasn't a way to share what I was doing and learning. Suffice it to say it was a rich and rewarding experience to not only work on these campaigns, but to also learn about the company as a whole. Laurie Luh, PM's Senior HR Director, organized weekly Brown Bag lunches where we had the opportunity to learn from representatives of different parts of the organization including Narrative & Documentary Development, TakePart, Legal and Finance & Business Operations.

After such a rich experience with my internship and so thoroughly enjoying the city itself, it wasn't easy to leave LA! But all I can think now, if the results of Year One have been so rewarding, I can't wait to see what's next!

Jeff Skoll on Technology and Social Change

Last week I wrote about my experience of learning to converge digital tools with the entertainment industry. Here's a take on it from Participant Media's founder, Jeff Skoll with a big dose of social change mixed in:

A Minute with Jeff Skoll on

Technology and Global Social Change

A Light Bulb Went Off in the Desert

That's Texas in my rearview mirror - and if you look closely, you can discern the spider that we seemed to have picked up somewhere in the desert.

The 1,400+ mile roadtrip from TX to CA was an amazing journey with my Mom where along the way we saw old friends, stopped off in Tombstone (where I got a "talking to" from the Marshall - which I guess wasn't too bad considering the reputation of the town), soaked up the iconic southwestern culture and had a misadventure with my car key (yay, Triple A!). It was a beautiful mother/daughter experience... despite my Mom freaking me out by repeatedly referring to us as Thelma & Louise. They wound up in the bottom of the Grand Canyon. I wanted to make it to LA for my internship!

In between disagreeing over what music to play, Mom and I listened to the classic, Good to Great by Jim Collins. The findings of the author's research on what separates "good" organizations from "great" ones are compelling - and what I found most provocative were his thoughts on the use of technology by the "great" companies. In an age when social media is typically touted as a fool-proof method of marketing and networking, Collins' research is perhaps more important than ever. In Collins' interviews with leaders of "great" organizations he points out how little those leaders emphasize the use of technology. Now, that's not saying they don't use technology... of course they do. Collins, however, stresses that technology is an accelerator and not a creator of success.

Without proper analysis of the market, a sound business strategy and the discipline to stick with the strategy, technology becomes a tool in unskilled hands, yielding, at best, short-term gains. Collins uses the example of DrugStore.com and Walgreen's at the height of the Dot Com Boom. While the financial markets and analysts fell all over themselves regarding DrugStore.com, they practically had the obituary for Walgreen's written. I won't get into the details here - you should read them for yourself in chapter 7 of Good to Great - but Walgreen's emerged from their "slump" with a solid business strategy, trouncing the internet's wunderkind DrugStore.com, who has continued to flail since the Dot Com Bust.

Listening to Good to Great upon completing my first year of my MBA studies was perfect timing. Because the program has a focus on Digital Media Management, the book, like the program itself, reminds us that the tools of technology are critical accelerators, but are no replacement for a solid business foundation.

South By: 2011

Well, another SXSW has come and gone. As a long-time Austin resident I've had the privilege of enjoying the festival as an annual spring ritual over the years. But this year, as a dMBA student, was particularly fun - people's eyes would light up when they learned I'm a filmmaker AND and a digital media business student. I'm finding organizations are hungry for this blend. I felt so popular :)

So as the festival is ginormous - how do I even begin a blog entry on it? So many panels! So many screenings! And oh yeah... so many parties!

Here are just a few of the most memorable highlights:

Participant Media's Creating Social Action Plans for Films panel. After attending, for every documentary I saw (and I saw A LOT), my mind automatically began to consider a Social Action/Social Media strategy for each film.

Swapping war stories with producer Monnie Wills on the ups and downs of working in Russia.

Attending a panel on visual storytelling by Robyn Girard, a deaf filmmaker and gaining perspective on telling stories from a soley visual perspective.

Getting stuck in the bathroom at the Vimeo theater with another germ-o-phobe. There were no paper towels - only hand dryers and you can't use those to open a door.

Flow Non-Fiction's Branded Documentary** panel. I had actually interviewed these guys on that very topic for a paper. And the panel was awesome as it included a 360 view of from all the stakeholders (clients, ad agencies, etc.)

Making a famous rockstar blush.

Meeting the producer of How to Die in Oregon while in line for a film - when he told me the name of his film I thought he said, How to Dye an Organ. We spoke for a good few minutes till I realized my mistake. Boy, that was weird.

Connecting with a ton of illustrators interested in working on the animated short I am producing with MacBoy.

The Unexpected Non-Fiction Storytelling** panel. Wow - these guys are up to some really creative stuff, challenging the definition of documentary and creating new ways for audiences to engage with stories.

Crying my eyes out during Where Soldiers Come From.

Attending a private reception for Where Soldiers Come From and speaking with the guys and their families. Getting to know some of them on a personal level was way more rewarding than any amount of "industry networking".

Enjoying the rich serendipity of randomly meeting just the right people.

...and doing every bit of it in 3-inch heels.

**Click the link and you can hear the recorded session.

A Case Study in Leveraging Social Media

We don't have a choice in whether we do social media,

the question is, how well we do it.

(Eric Qualman)

2 entries in 2 days! Yes, it has been quite a week! But this one is ALL good! The day after mother nature threw a monkey wrench in our otherwise predictable schedule, we came back for more.

In yesterday's, Managing the Organization class, we enjoyed as our guest speaker, Jay Drayer, digital entrepreneur and CEO of CareFlash. With his background in finance and experiences as a CFO, Mr. Drayer entered the digital world with this question, "How can businesses successfully capitalize on social media?" You see, that's not the same thing as simply sending out a Tweet or having a FaceBook page. That's just keeping up... barely. What is necessary is a comprehensive overall digital strategy.

With Mr. Drayer as our guest, we encountered first hand, a real-life, working model for what we've been studying in the dMBA program. It was as if everything we've been learning, from Marketing to HR to Information Systems coalesced with this class.

It wasn't just about the Benjamins, however. Integral to Mr. Drayer's founding of CareFlash, was having his experience from business serve as the foundation for a venture consistent with his personal values. Learning this, I was hooked as that aligns with my goals as well.

Before inundating our guest with questions, he made one final point: How digital technology, specifically social media, is disrupting traditional media and marketing. "Is this disruption good?", he inquired of our cohort.

My answer? Heck yeah! That's why I'm in this program - to be on the right side of the disruption.

I'm something of a disruptor anyway.