Delightful Archive

One thing I was most proud of during my time at Microsoft were the videos we created at Advertising Week and the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity.

For about four years I’d travel to these events with a plan to bring them alive for people (as my former boss Jenny Leahy used to put it) “outside the room.”

The videos were then used to promote our presence, be repurposed for other marketing activities and really expand the reach of Microsoft Advertising’s investment in those industry get-togethers.

Recently, the guys from Bing Ads asked me to create one for them. This time I did much of the filming and photography myself and we crowd sourced the rest of the content from other Microsoftees on the ground at the event.

The footage was then sent to my go-to video people >> Cherry Media << in the UK who we worked with in New York and Cannes.

And this was the resulting edit:

You do have to invest in good equipment and editing to create great video, but it doesn’t have to cost the earth. With experience you can start to pick up techniques and visualize how an end edit might look as your filming content at events.

Make sure you check back to the Delightful Blog in a couple of weeks when I’ll be giving some tips on what to look for when filming events for social media amplification.

Thanks for reading/watching!

Mel

One great thing about my wife still working at Microsoft, is the odd invite we get to a sumptuous party.

Just before Christmas, we went to her team’s holiday soiree at the Bellevue Art Museum where there were a number of funtivities going on as people mingled with wine and started winding down for the year.

We made a beeline for the crew from Paint By a Girl who do all sorts of airbrush art and even create custom Ugg boots!

I handed over my business card with the Delightful logo on it, and this is what happened!

We had the best Saturday morning this past weekend. My father-in-law suggested we take our daughter, Maggie, to the Home Depot Kids Workshop in West Seattle and we had a blast.

Maggie is actually smiling in this photo!

The idea is that, for a few hours on a Saturday once a month, parents can take their children to their local Home Depot DIY store and make something cool using wood, real hammer and nails, glue and even get to paint their creation.

On Saturday they made a little desk calendar which used wooden blocks, and next month it’ll be a little racing car.

One of my new year resolutions is to really enjoy the small things in life, and this little outing was first on my appreciation list.

Not only did we have a fun morning, but it struck me what a genius marketing initiative this was to use creativity to get families into the store at no expense to them, have children start understanding the importance of woodwork, craft and DIY, and have them start seeing having a good time making things they can be proud of synonymous with the Home Depot brand. What was also apparent was the amount of families that then wandered off into the store to buy stuff, so they must make a few additional sales of the back of the program.

My only tiny grumble from a social point of view, was the lack of social activation. There was no hashtag on any of the collateral and I would have thought, given the rise in “sharenting”, that the store is missing a trick by not nudging proud parents to share their little ones’ creations on social channels.

Do you know of any initiatives like Home Depot’s that resonate like this? Let us know in the comments below.

Following on from their hilarious “Ship My Pants” video that has generated over 20 million views this year, US retailer Kmart has released a Christmas version using characters from Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” who talk about shipping their trousers!

As you can see from the link map from Majestic SEO below, the original ad was very popular in the UK and Europe, and I expect this version will see a similar pattern!

Majestic SEO Heat Map – Click to Enlarge

Great stuff from a store I have always associated with Dustin Hoffman’s underwear!

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Next week is my birthday and I’ll be spending 4 nights in Las Vegas at Pubcon too!

This must be about the 6th Pubcon conference I have attended and I’ll be there with Dixon Jones and the guys from MajesticSEO.

Brett Tabke, who founded the conference way back when, has kindly asked me to speak at a session on Thursday about online brand management. I’ll be focusing on digital PR and social media tactics and weaving a little bit about search too!.

They’re also letting me sign some of books with Barnes and Noble as well, so I’ll have an action-packed week.

If you’re going to be in sin city, drop by and say hello.

I’m looking forward to catching up with you all again!

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Thursday sees a milestone for me as I travel back to San Francisco to speak at BrightEdge’s Share 13 event at the fantastic-looking Palace Hotel.

Last year, it was the first conference I attended as Brand Ambassador for Majestic SEO after Dixon Jones asked me to join their ranks after I left Microsoft.

Now, a year on, I’m speaking in a session about search and earned media, giving a talk entitled “Loving Links Beyond SEO”.

I’ll be blowing away the fog that surrounds link data when it comes to other uses other than link building, and focusing on the relationships that can be made between not just the rich data available, but the people behind the content that marketers can uncover and build even deeper relationships with.

Really looking forward to spending time with some old friends too, like Andy Betts, Jim Brigden, Simon Heseltine, Mike Grehan, Elisabeth Osmeloski, Lisa Williams, Todd Friesen and Matt McGowan.

Given that line up, it should be an excellent event, so follow the hashtag on Twitter: #Share13 for all the wisdom coming from that corner of the US of A!

It’s been a while since the hiatus of all our book reviews, so when this came through from the Marketing Society Library, I couldn’t resist posing it here for posterity.

Ninder Takhar, Head of Marketing North East Asia, BT Global Services kindly describes the book thus:

“All in all, an inspiring read, and a good introduction to digital approaches and the broader digital market landscape.”

I’ll be speaking about the lessons learned from Pioneers of Digital at SearchLove San Diego in a few weeks, so listen out for the Tweets.

You can get a cop of the book for less than a dollar/pound on Kindle too!

A few weeks ago I spoke as part of the prestigious Microsoft Research Visiting Speaker Series on the Redmond Campus

Handwritten Note!

My talk was on the book I’ve co-authored – Pioneers of Digital: Success Stories from Leaders in Advertising, Marketing, Search and Social Media.

As you’d expect they had quite the technical set up, and you can now watch the video of my presentation with slide transitions edited in.

There were a handful of people in the room, but well over a hundred watching via video Lync all over the world I gather.

It was an honour (no really it was) to be asked to speak to this audience, especially as I have been a huge fan of their work for many years.

Here’s the premise behind the talk:

Join us on a whirlwind journey through the internet’s recent history, telling the stories of innovators and entrepreneurs that have shaped the online marketing industry and left their indelible mark on the web. The talk draws on the ten traits and disciplines distilled from twenty interviews with these Pioneers, and the audience will take away actionable insight gleaned from these conversations that can be instantly applied to their businesses and careers.Each Pioneer has contributed valuable advice on how to build on ideas, build businesses and build a web for the future. This talk will reflect on their trials and tribulations, many of which have never seen the light of day until now.

It was also a stunning touch to provide a hand written thank you note with a DVD of the talk too.

How often do you see people go to those lengths to say thanks!?

Enjoy!

Cheers,

Mel

Welcome to the first in what will be an unending stream of “Delightful Conversations” that I’m kicking off on our new YouTube Channel – Delightful Videos

The aim of the channel is to bring you frank and informative interviews with people I meet around the world who are wise (and willing) to share their solid knowledge on social media, digital PR, personal branding and entrepreneurship.

In this chat, I talk to the wonderfully smart Kristy Bolsinger from PwC just as she stepped off stage at SMX Advanced in Seattle a couple of weeks ago.

I asked her what makes a good social media strategy, how should brands be thinking about measurement and what social media metrics to track?

I also probed her for her thoughts on the future of social media and what the next big thing is going to be.

She gives some really good advice, especially about how to get away from the tactics and see social media as part of your overall business strategy and objectives.

Let me and @Kristy know what you think when you’ve watched the video, I’d love to get feedback on the format so I can tweak it.

Oh and you can subscribe here!