Houston Creative Summit is Friday October 23!

This is your last reminder to save $25 when registering for The Houston Summit for the Creative Economy, lifting off this Friday at Rice University’ McNair Hall.

An elegant vase by Houston artist Terry Hagiwara has been donated by the Goldesberry Gallery to be our door prize. You must be present to win!

Walk-up registrations will be $125, but if you act visit HoustonSummit.org right now, you can still register for $100 with the code word ‘collaborate.’

— Connect to Houston’s most vital community of fire-starters
— Boost creativity and innovation in Houston
— Learn how to turn ideas into reality
— Build relationships with supporters and advisors
— Join teams revolutionizing Houston.

Register now at www.HoustonSummit.org or call (281) 433-2302.

Spread the secret code "collaborate" by email, word of mouth, social media. please forward this email to everyone you think needs to be there. follow us on twitter @houstonsummit and tag your tweets with #HSCE. Look for us on Facebook and Linkedin, too.

Creative Summit Schedule

Friday, October 22, 2010

8:00	Check-in, networking
8:45	Welcome, orientation		George Worthington
8:55	Opening panel	How creativity drives Houston’s economy	Jonathon Glus, CEO of Houston Arts Alliance Peter Bishop, futurist and UH Professor
9:40	Move to strategy labs
9:45	Strategy Labs	Urban Regeneration	Andrew Burleson of CNU-Houston.org Russell Hruska, AIA of Intexure Architects
		Arts-based learning	Donna Howell of Third Coast Theater, artist Lillian Warren and representative from corporate training at Weatherford
		Incubators & hives	Matthew Wettergreen of Caroline Collective, and  Marc Nathan of Chai One, formerly with Houston Technology Center
		Local assets	Brian Rod and Cody Ledvina of The Joanna, plus more names to be announced
11:20	Recap of learning
11:30	Culinary arts panel	Creating Cuisine	Teresa Byrne-Dodge of My Table and  Monica Pope of t’afia
12:15	Lunch		Buffet by Grant Gordon of Tony’s and Michael Cordua’s restaurants, Monica Pope. …
1:15	Move to strategy labs
1:30	Strategy Labs	Nanotechnology	Mauro Ferrari, The Alliance for Nanomedicine
		Medical innovation	Pumps & Pipes Conference founder Alan Lumsden, head of cardiovascular surgery at Methodist
		Creativity, technology and community	J.R. Cohen of weSLGT.com, Alfred Cervantes of Houston Film Commission
		Digital, design & film	Tim McLaughlin, Texas A&M Visualization Department Jerry Alexander of Acumen Design
3:10	Recap of learning
3:20	Closing panel	Marketing the Creative City	Ward Pennebaker, agency founder and chief marketing officer for Houston Grand Opera, Steve Latham of Spur Interactive agency and Dwight Cook of Soundworks and OnlyInHouston
4:05	The Symphony of Ideas		Conducted by Durwin Sharp of The School for Innovators

Smart Phone Marketing

So, what does the announcement of the new iPhone 4 mean to you?  Will you sell you old phone and make the switch next week?  I’ve already seen tutorials on how to sell your old phone on ebay. I do love the improved camera (front and back), the HD video, better email, wireless keyboard support and more. But I’ll probably keep my iPhone 3gs till it’s time to renew my phone contract. 

Why? This is not an earth shaking new product – it’s an improvement or next generation of a winning product. It’s release insures that the smart phone is the hot and growing client platform for many moons.  If you are not marketing to the mobile customer and consumer you are missing the fastest growing segment of computing.  The platform is affordable and powerful.  In fact, in some countries the desktop has all but been replaced by a smart phone. 

It happened to radio with the mp3 player. Most people I know use their cell phone – not a home phone.  Next, I predict that the smart phone will take over more of the TV and desktop/laptop market.  Excuse me, I have a skype call on my phone …

###

Social Media Sells!

Social media works! After several weeks of trying to build a fan base on Facebook we had 500 followers. Then this site went viral! In one day we had 30,000 visitors and generated 20,000 orders for our customer.

Why? Mommy bloggers were added to the mix. Consider adding blogs to your mix when trying to build traffic and a fan base.

###

TAX BREAK Houston’s Creative Bailout!

TAX BREAK Houston’s Creative Bailout!

Comedy – Music – Live Art – Networking  Add this to your calendar NOW!  RSVP on facebook

After bobbing and weaving together last year, this year’s creative mixer is all about getting a little relief from work and taxes. Join Houston’s leading professional creative organizations as we socialize and enjoy another tax season passing us by …

Event Name:     Tax Break! Houston’s Creative Bailout Date:                Thursday, April 15, 2010 Time:               5:30p – 10p Location:          Fitzgerald’s Admission:      Free, Cash Bar Food:               Hors de’ oeuvres Activities/Programming: Comedy, Tax Relief, Creative Interaction

Sponsoring organizations: American Advertising Federation Houston (AAFH) Natalie Gonzalez, President American Institute of Graphic Arts Houston (AIGA) Robin Parrish, Programming Art Director’s Club of Houston (ADCH) Alex Barber, President Only in Houston (OiH) Dwight Cook, Chairman University of Houston Graphics Alumni Partnership (UHGAP) Daniel Bosse, President

Build a Social Media Platform!

by Dwight Cook

Social Media is about person-to-person activity. Don’t be “the company” be a person. Be a good listener.  Be passionate, it’s contagious. Stay on your toes … adjust and learn from connections. Stay real. If you become prideful people will know.

As in all marketing, identify who you want to follow. It’s not just about how many friends or followers you have but how many are valuable? So you must target your social media efforts. Develop categories subjects and keywords and include these subjects in your social media "talk".

Content is so important that we recommend part of your monthly budget be allocated for a virtual assistant to write on your social media platforms. We do this for most of our clients – they simply don’t have the time. Automated posts on these targeted subjects can be used but you must interact too or you will be thought of as a robot and people will begin to unfollow or unfriend you.

A blog is a great part of the social media puzzle. Blogging subjects should also be targeted and can position you as an expert. Every time a blog post is made it should be announce on the other social media platforms with a link back to the blog. These posts can be automated.

Interconnect your social media networks. We suggest that some of your Twitter posts are also put on facebook. Facebook is more about relationships than Twitter so when you get a large Twitter following you can drive traffic to your blog or website and facebook.

A contest is a great way to jumpstart your social media following. Incentives and freebies still work and can be a valuable ingredient if you don’t want to slowly build your social media network.

 

TWITTER

Twitter is a great way to get instant opinions, provide customer service, drive traffic, or get people to events. Twitter also gives you the ability to see what people are saying about you and your competition.

Finding Targeted Users

It is important to build a network of targeted Twitter followers.

Content is very important and should be about the key subjects your targeted followers and their interests. We use 5 methods of finding targeted users:

 

 

1. The FIRST method of finding targeted users is by searching for users with specific

keywords in their Twitter updates.

2. The SECOND method of finding targeted users is to search by profile data on users who have specific information listed in their Profile. Users generally type a few sentences about themselves in their profile, which makes this another great way to get highly targeted users.

3. The THIRD method of finding targeted users is to search by location. We can search for a user within a certain mile radius of a specific location.

4. The FOURTH method of finding targeted users is search by followers of another user. This can be very powerful if used correctly. Searching followers of another user can find followers of your competition or followers of a power user.

5. We can also find targeted users followed by another user. Often, users will follow users who have similar interests as they do, so it can be a good idea to follow their users as well. For example, a person might tend to follow other users who tend to have the same profession or hobbies as they do.

FACEBOOK

· Merchandise the connection to your Facebook page everywhere a customer might interact with your brand online

· Include a compelling call-to-action and even an incentive for your customers to join your Facebook community

· If you want more fans, you should be leveraging the fans you already have to get them

Social media is all about customer support, communication, content, and count. There are several ways to grow your audience.  

Make it visible
As I pointed out last week, turning customers into fans can be as easy as making them aware of your presence at Facebook. Where possible, make sure to use the "one-click" fan button feature offered by Facebook. And, do not hesitate to cross-promote your Facebook page via other social media channels like Twitter, LinkedIn, or your online forums.

Give a reason
Include a compelling call-to-action and even an incentive for your customers to join your Facebook community. Offering an incentive is an important component in this process.

Interaction
Another way to activate your customer base to interact with you at Facebook is to invite them to join the conversation. Post topics and invite fans to comment

Fans recruit fans
Fans are important. Who wants to have a fanpage with no fans? Whether you have 300 or 300,000 fans at Facebook, two things are certain: 1) You want more fans and 2) you should be leveraging the fans you already have to get them. Facebook fan drives are becoming more popular than ever. Some of the best examples include contests and promotions.

Advertise
When doing a promotion, building fans or having a contest, advertising can help. Currently, targeted Facebook advertising is a bargain. It’s cost per thousand people is super low … and did I mention it is targeted? Consider budgeting for reoccurring targeted Facebook display advertising. It’s better than traditional media, especially as part of a social media package.

Dwight Cook is one of the owners of VividMix and SoundWorks providing marketing, audio and video, web and new media.  VividMix uses social media as one of the components of new media for their clients.

 

###

Communicate with a New Generation

 

 We have a whole new generation that prefers learning in a non-sequential, mosaic way. This new generation is influenced by media and the Internet and saturated with endless sound and video bytes. I have experienced this first hand in the lives of my own children. Their life is lived out in a big media bucket. They can learn and interact with information in a much more informal and dynamic way than I could at their age.

Information seeks and finds us whenever we are, we don’t have to look for it. With Social Media we are always aware of news, entertainment and even the lunatic fringe. This stuff finds you and me every minute of the day!

So how do you communicate with this new generation?  Embrace the new media and speak their language, don’t hard sell.  Be transparent and real. 

How did we get to be a generation filled with electronic media and want to learn in a non-sequential way?  Read this earlier blog post – Communication with young adults

Add to: Facebook | Digg | Del.icio.us | Stumbleupon | Reddit | Blinklist | Twitter | Technorati | Yahoo Buzz | Newsvine

###

Favorite Video of the Week

Credit Unions are a different kind of fighter. Underdogs? Maybe. Champions of a cause? Most definitely. But what is certain, is that the ground has shifted, and your corporate-driven opponents have lost their footing. Now is the time to fight for your share and differentiate yourselves from banks. Now is the time to tell your story. Because you are a different kind of fighter.

Congrats to Third Degree  for great concept and creation!

###

VHS Hard Drives?

Hey, those hard drives we have for sale are not moving. Don’t people need storage? Our price looks competitive.

How can we differentiate our product from the competition?

The solution: VHS Hard Drives

For those who like their storage combined with celluloid nostalgia, there’re these external hard drives hidden inside VHS tapes: available in 320, 500, or 640GB, they come sheathed in flicks like the original Star Trek, Top Gun, and Return of the Jedi. 

Niche marketing, don’t you love it? Get yours at Etsy.com

###

SoundWorks adds a new DO

SoundWorks is beginning the year with new audio talent.  We are committed to continually building our team with fresh ideas and great skills. 

SoundWorks welcomes Dee Oberle to our staff. Dee brings her expertise in audio engineering–specifically post-production, video game development, live production, and video editing —in addition to knowledge in a variety of software applications to our vivid mix.

View Full Album

Like many people in the industry, Dee was inspired to pursue a career in audio after working with the sound team in her junior high youth group. She jumpstarted her career by receiving training from veteran engineers at Madison Media Institute.

On staff at Post Effects/Answers Media, Dee worked alongside Halo Composer, Mike Salvatori, on a series of projects including podcasts for Accenture and redesigning the audio on the Wide Load logo.

Dee’s audio portfolio with Dallas Audio Post Group includes Foley for Catacombs: Directors Cut, editing for educational company Voyager Learning, and third party post-production support on Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood.

As a sound designer, Dee worked with Gearbox Software under the direction of internationally acclaimed composer for Doom III and the Brothers in Arms Series, Ed Lima.  She earned a credit on the AAA title Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway. Other products developed at Gearbox include:  Borderlands and several yet to be released projects.

Additional work as freelancer includes the Lil’ Flip- Kim Kardasian video shoot, worship services at Willow Creek Community Church, TV Man, Inc. and several short films.

Software expertise:

• · Pro Tools
• · Sound Forge
• · Logic
• · Final Cut Pro
• · Soundminer
• · Vegas
• · Reason
• · Radar system
• · XACT
• · Nitro-SoundMaker/Composer
• · UnReal Editor
• · Photoshop
• · DreamWeaver

Please leave Dee a welcome comment below or welcome her in person at the next Sound Works mixer coming soon.

###

British Advertising 2009 Awards

The Houston Museum of Fine Arts recently showed these winning pieces of Advertising.  I love a creative commercial, especially if it hits a bulls eye with a message.  Many of these winning ads use humor in a way only the Brits can do.  It’s worth viewing!

Remember you have to watch a lot of bad TV to see a good commercial.

See the British Advertising Award Winners for 2009 http://bit.ly/8sfiRJ Great Stuff

###