Posts Tagged ‘agency’
CES 2012: Sin City Goes Techy
Thursday, January 12th, 2012
All Las Vegas cliches aside, this show is absolutely incredible. I’ve been to CES before, but haven’t ever stepped foot on the show floor – instead being stuck in dark press briefing suites. After only a day on the floor, I can say that this is absolutely the craziest thing I have ever been a part of.
Besides the endless rows of iAccessories (seriously, if you can put it on or put your in something, it’s here), there is a lot of innovative tech at CES this year – and some of it might actually be useful.
MommyTech (FamilyTech)
Mommy bloggers changed the way the internet world looked not only from a content perspective, but from a marketing perspective as well. Now, a whole new sector of tech is aimed at providing an enriched family experience to consumers – not just moms.
From companies that are offering geo-fencing technologies for cell phones so parents can keep tabs on their teens to prenatal learning technology, it’s all here and it’s all interesting. Gamification is definitely in play as parents look to reward healthy lifestyles and development. There are pedometer-based technologies that look more like toys than a boring pedometer, which could lead to envy among some kids if their pedometer isn’t as cool as the next.
Look for influences in the MommyTech to start changing the way families not only interact with each other, but how they interact with technology. The more apt consumers are to input and share information, the more likely they are to interact with brands using new technologies.
Health + Fitness
This was probably the most-interesting part of the floor that I saw today. United Health Group, an insurance agency, had an incredible booth that not only showcased some of their technologies that are helping companies create healthier employees, but it also was just really well done. The health and tech worlds have long been friends, but up until recently that friendship was purely functional as technologies pushed forward and brought data management solutions and patient care advancements to the health field.
What United Health Group and others in the area bring to the table now is a truly enriched experience for users that puts them in control of information and support for their health needs. Throw in some game mechanics that can be shared with friends/coworkers and you’ve got a modern day recipe for healthy living.
One of the companies in this space that’s been making headlines recently is FitBit. Their pedometers which are crazy-tiny and not ugly at all are being used in offices across the U.S., but their recent product – the Aria scale is almost too pretty to keep in your bathroom. The scale, which connects wirelessly to your home network, allows consumers to track progress, share stats, and connect with friends through their online interface. When paired with FitBit’s pedometer, consumers have an integrated solution that (hopefully) leads to a healthier life.
Motorola, fresh off the heels of their acquisition by Google, launched their fitness-focused product – MOTOACTV. The watch-like device is hyper-tuned to keeping people motivated, while tracking and logging their progress. The device is the same size as a watch and comes running a variant of Android. As my colleague from IPG Media Lab said today “stuff’s going to get crazy when people start rooting these.” The possibilities are endless.
Again, this is a space where people wouldn’t have dreamed about being in 5-10 years ago. Sharing weight loss and fitness information didn’t happen – or at least not outside of Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers groups. Today friends are sharing their runs with apps like Runkeeper, tracking calories with MyFitnessPal.com, and using Nike+ like it’s no big deal. Imagine what’s next.
Up Next…
Car tech, more TVs than you can shake a stick at, social everywhere, and the weirdest things I’ve found at CES.
Disclosure: Some photos and descriptions of products may reference clients of Spring Creek Group’s parent companies, Mediabrands and IPG. These are not meant as advertisements or endorsements and no compensation has been made to this blog or the author.
Spring Creek Group Joins Mediabrands
Wednesday, October 5th, 2011
Spring Creek Group was founded more than five years ago, during the emergence of social media in the form we now experience today. We have evolved and expanded our services for clients as content and social networks on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and others have grown dramatically. Through it all, we have maintained a steadfast focus on opportunities to improve our clients’ customer advocacy and engagement. Simply put, our mission is to help customers better connect with each other and with the brands on which they spend their time and money.
Today, we are delighted to announce a major step in our continued growth and evolution as an agency. Spring Creek Group is joining the Mediabrands digital agency division of global media and marketing company Interpublic Group! You can read a little more about our exciting news here.
Spring Creek joins innovative digital agency leaders such as Cadreon, Reprise Media, and Ansible Mobile, and we will play a key role in the newly-formed Mediabrands Audience Platform (MAP). By joining Mediabrands and the MAP initiative, we are bringing our expertise in all aspects of social media marketing strategy and programs execution to our new agency partners across Mediabrands, including leaders in media planning and management such as UM and Initiative, as well as others. In addition to the opportunities that this move creates for us to integrate our social media services more tightly with our new agency partners’ offerings; it opens many new ways for us to introduce complementary services to our existing and future clients.
As a founder of Spring Creek, I am so very excited about this announcement and this new step forward in our growth. I believe that the strategic and - as importantly for me and my team – the philosophical ‘fit’ for Spring Creek Group within Interpublic’s Mediabrands agency group is perfect. They are extremely committed to helping us maintain our vision for the future of Spring Creek, while we also build a holistic digital media marketing services model through the MAP. Above all else, Mediabrands shares a similar set of values to ours. In short, we are thrilled about what the future holds for us, as well as for all of our clients and technology and software partners.
In closing I would just like to say THANK YOU to all of those client stakeholders, partners, and many others who have been so important and valued over the past 5 years. I owe my deepest personal gratitude to each of you who have been a part of our ability to arrive at today’s news, including everyone who has been a part of our SCG team. I am most excited about the myriad new ways this move opens new opportunities for client services innovation and social media strategic leadership for our entire Spring Creek team. Thank you for being a part of this journey with us this far… let’s keep it going.
Warm regards,
Clay
The Rise (and Potential Fall?) of King James
Wednesday, November 10th, 2010
Unless you have been living under a rock for about the last 6 months, you have probably heard about the circus that followed Lebron James’ announcement that he would “be taking his talents to South Beach.” James announced his decision to switch from the Cleveland Cavaliers to the Miami Heat in a media debacle that will forever be remembered as “The Decision.” The backlash from Cleveland fans and the media were harsh. Footage of Cleveland fans burning James jerseys were shown on every news channel. Sports personalities were criticizing and judging him about the way he made his announcement, saying that he made it look like a self-indulgent spectacle that didn’t take into account the fact that Cleveland fans that have been so loyal to him for so many years. So now that James’ NBA season has started, the big question is: did he make the right decision?
From a marketing standpoint, there are many different ways to look at it. What novice NBA fans have to take into account is that today’s NBA is not what it used to be in the 80s and early-90s. Not only do players have to worry about winning, now many have to think about their “Brand.” That’s right, their Brand. And who can blame them? most of them grew up watching Michael Jordan rise from a relatively unknown in college to an NBA legend, endorsed by companies all around the world. Players were once told “Hey, if you make it big in the NBA and get some endorsements you could be a millionaire!” But now with the way players’ contract payouts are skyrocketing and endorsement deals are coming from all angles, there is no reason an NBA superstar can’t bea billionaire.
Yet even though Lebron has done nothing criminally wrong, there is arguably no one in sports (aside from maybe Tiger Woods) that has taken such a hit to their brand image. Q Scores, a company that tracks the appeal of celebrities, showed that James’ likability dropped from 4th among active athletes to 78th-, behind even Ben Roethlisberger, who was recently suspended by the NFL for inappropriate sexual conduct. While this could be looked at as bad news, some say that from a marketing and business standpoint, “The Decision” was sheer genius.
Since followers of the NBA could see James’ free agency coming a long time ago, his next destination became the “it” conversation, and has stayed that way for about the last year. There is possibly no better evidence that the Lebron James’ brand is thriving than by simply examining his presence in the social networking arena. James first opened his Twitter account two days before “The Decision,” and while not everyone is a supporter, he now has over 900,000 followers. With almost 4 million Facebook friends, there is no doubt that more and more sponsors will come running to have James be the face of their company.
Yet, some aren’t so quick to forgive. Just ask Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban what he thinks. Cuban has gone on the record to state that James orchestrated the” greatest public humiliation in the history of sports.” This coming from a guy who regularly sticks his foot in his mouth at just about any opportunity. Cuban goes on to say that leaving Cleveland, a city that molded its very identity around James, was so selfish that it could never be forgiven. Adding a monetary value to the debacle, Cuabn believes James lost over $1 billion in brand equity and maybe, more importantly, -his legacy.
It’s hard to argue with the numbers, though. The top-5 gross ticket selling games already belong to the Heat, Heat merchandise sales are already up 500% from this time last year- doesn’t hurt that you’ve also got Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh next on the roster as well. NBA fans have yet to see how his recent move will affect his legacy; but as we have seen before (i.e. Kobe Bryant) nothing shuts up naysayers like some wins… except maybe a few championships.
Did You RT Me?
Tuesday, November 24th, 2009
Did you RT me? I RTd you. We’re all RT-ing each other.
If you’ve been living anywhere but under a rock these past couple weeks you’ve no doubt heard the retweet news and have probably also thought “what does this mean for me and my brand?”
While we’ve talked about our ideas on this a bit, University of Washington professor Kathy Gill (@kegill) took the time and effort to write a great piece about the retweet changes and what they mean for Twitter users.
She also pulled a great screenshot, if we do say so ourselves…
Facebook’s Legitimacy Problems: Are You Who We Thought You Were?
Thursday, October 15th, 2009
A recent post outlined steps Facebook is taking in requiring page owners to prove their connections with the brands they represent on the ever-growing social networking site. What does this mean for agencies? What are the short-term and long-term impacts? How will this affect your brand? Let’s take a look.
Prove It
Facebook essentially is providing page owners three ways to verify that they in fact have rights to develop and maintain a brand page and they can be found here:
- Add a badge or Fan Box widget to your Website – This is simple, really and can be done by sending a bit of code to whoever is code monkeying your site. It also provides a great focal point for driving traffic to your Fan Page.
- Add an official e-mail address to your personal Facebook account that can be used to verify your affiliation with the brand (this can also be that of an authorized outside entity like PR, marketing, advertising agency, etc.) – This is easy if you’re a recognized agency, but a little harder if your roles are mostly behind the scenes.
- Add another admin who has a legit e-mail address – This is probably the easiest thing to do. Simply add your client contact to the admins of the page, giving you instant legitimacy.
The Agency
For agencies that are building and maintaining Fan Pages for brands in the Facebook environment, this could be a bit of a sticking point as they have to work out, with their client, the level of visibility they want to have as to who is actually doing the legwork. However, in most cases, a client contact is already (or should be) and admin of the page so they can not only lend their legitimate e-mail address, but also their watchful eye to the account.
The Short Term
In the short term, proving the authenticity of these pages is going to create a bit of extra work, but the short-term rewards greatly outweigh the time needed to get your stamp of approval (is there actually a stamp of approval?). Like with Twitter, brands have always been able to make a case for deleting unauthorized accounts based on copyright law, but now Facebook is taking that a step further and actually making it easier to drive out those pages which might be representing brands in a less-than-authentic fashion.
By simply claiming your brand pages and legitimizing them, you’re essentially eliminating those other pages and, in some cases, Facebook may fold those pages’ fans into your fan base, giving them a legitimate source of interaction on Facebook— and you a broader fan base— in one fell swoop.
The Long Term
Long term, this seems like a strategy by Facebook to not only cut down on clutter and misinformation within the Facebook environment, but also a move toward offering brands added benefits for operating within Facebook. Don’t be surprised if these Facebook Fan Pages start developing multiple levels of functionality and complexity based on dollars spent on Facebook Advertising and direct buys. The team at Facebook is smart enough to make a move when they see an opportunity like this.
Unanswered Questions
While this is still a new(ish) issue, Facebook needs to provide a bit more information around the topic of what this actually means for brands. Will verified pages show up higher in search results, regardless of fan base and searchability? What’s the lag time between reporting a brand page and action being taken to remove that page? What are the criteria for moving fans from a page that might not be verified to the verified Fan Page?
Hopefully we’ll have answers to those, as well as the mounting pile of questions that will undoubtedly come out of this shift.
Philosophy
Monday, March 16th, 2009About Us
Our Team | Press | Philosophy | Ethics | Partners | Associations | Jobs
Caveat Emptor: A bit of a treatise…
Social Media Marketing is now old enough for methodologies to have been developed, but new enough for rules to still be written. We have been involved in this process of trial/error/success/ data/analysis/learning/improvement/repeat from the start, and we are presently among the largest and most experienced marketing agencies on the west coast focused on this exciting and evolving online marketing field. We now boast a team of 25 Social Media brand analysts, marketing campaign leads, and outreach and engagement leads. While we’re small enough to be laser-focused on every client, scale does matter, and we’re large enough to cover the entire Social Media Web with ease. Each team member is skilled across the Social Media spectrum, as well as a subject matter expert in a few particular channels. So no matter what your brand engagement or marketing campaign requirements, we can build a customized Project Team matched to your analytics, strategy, or brand marketing campaign requirements.
While we work with a number of clients on a direct level, we also know that you have had long relationships with talented creative and advertising agencies. That’s why we’ve carved out our space as Social Media strategists and practitioners in a way that we can work and play well with your current agencies of record. We typically don’t develop our own creative, shoot videos, design print ads, buy media, or write code, which allows plenty of opportunities for your talented creative agencies to focus on these core competencies. We should add, however, that we can offer any and all of these capabilities through close sub-contract relationships we enjoy with a number of leading social media creative development agency partners. Feel free to learn more about them here. We are well accustomed to partnering with your existing creative agencies, PR firms, and design shops so that their work is being seen by more people – and more relevant people – in as many of the right nooks and crannies of the conversational, social, user-generated, crowd-sourced, networked, 2.0+ World Wide Web. Connect us, and we will all work together for a positive outcome. And in the event you don’t already have an agency partner who can bring a particular concept or creative content idea to life, we have some friends who can make it happen too.
We’re not here to simply build you a blog or a Facebook page and walk away. Nor do we want to – We don’t believe that makes sense for any business and brand looking to make a real commitment to connecting with their customers in social media. Just like everything in life, benefits require commitment – and commitment takes time and effort. Our scale allows us to license the strongest measurement and analytics tools available, so we can learn quickly where your brand is being discussed, where it’s strong, where it’s weak, and where we have some work to do in order to catch up to your key competitors in the key locations online. You may tell us, “I think I want a MySpace page”. But if what you mean is, “I think my customers and competitors are in this channel, I don’t think we’re where we need to be and doing what we could be doing best there, and I think I need some help,” well then, we want to help. We use powerful brand analytics tools and a data-driven methodology to determine which of the social media options are best suited for an efficient and effective campaign – specific to your brand. We’ll help design a Social Media Strategic Marketing Plan and Editorial Calendar for your business that makes sense – in the short run and the long run. We can provide a ready-to-go team of Engagement Leads deployed on your behalf to drive your marketing campaign content and brand outreach to relevant audiences across the social media Web. And then we’ll measure how well we (and you) are doing, and where we need to shift course or re-allocate our resources.
While we’re on a bit of a roll, a note on the “viral video” phenomenon… One thing we don’t do is “viral.” A virus is something that you catch by accident. No one tries to catch a cold – it just happens sometimes. Instead, we plan, analyze, and execute brand engagement campaigns that are purposeful, logical, and measurable – and designed for the long term. If you want to make a single video, push it up to YouTube, cross your fingers, throw salt over your shoulders, and hope it gets 22 million views, we’re probably not your guys. If you want to analyze the current state of your brand presence across the web and benchmark it relative to your key competitors, to design a thoughtful brand awareness and engagement campaign, and to invest in the social media channel in an efficient manner that’s focused on better understanding and addressing your customers needs, well then, that’s music to our ears.
On top of all this, we recognize that Social Media agencies are sprouting up all over the place. This is a dynamic, energetic field with new ideas and campaigns launching hourly. Sometimes, we may not be the right agency for you, and we’re happy to refer you to a better fit. But we’d love the chance to at least talk to you about how your organization can start to implement a Social Media philosophy into your culture. We’ve been doing this a while, and can help guide you down the right path from the beginning.
Finally, we have proven ourselves capable of scaling up to service an all encompassing, multi-channel campaign. We’re flexible, service-oriented, and our services pricing model was designed from inception to work to the advantage of our clients. So whether you want a deeper understanding of your brand presence and equity online, support in building and maintaining a trust-worthy 24/7 Social Media presence, or just a solid marketing plan for the channel which you can execute yourself… we want to help make any or all of these things a reality for your business.
Is Your Social Media Agency Really Working for You?
Thursday, March 12th, 2009
It’s one thing to walk the walk. We all expect those that we look to for creative and specialty services to have a certain level of “doing” to go along with what they’re always saying. In the world of social media where gurus, mavens, specialists, jedis, and ninjas (seriously, I’ve seen the term used) abound, how do you know the people you’ve hired are really working for you?
We started talking about this after reading a post by Eric Weaver over on Brand Dialogue. We’ve all seen these people; on Twitter, Facebook, and seemingly everywhere else. They’re the ones posting a constant stream of tweets and updates at a pace that doesn’t seem incredibly conducive to doing what they have listed in their profiles: creating client wins.
Now, we’re not saying we don’t dip our toes in the social media kiddy pool, in fact we’re usually cannon balling our way in as others are only finding out about new tools. However, we also know who we’re accountable to around here – our clients. We all have our special areas of knowledge and we’re always expanding our knowledge base, but not at the expense of client services.
So, the next time you’re looking for a little help with your social media strategy, think about what you’re paying for – time. Although it might be relative (if you believe that Einstein character), it’s yours and you deserve the return you’re looking for.
About Us
Thursday, February 19th, 2009About Us
Our Team | Press | Philosophy | Ethics | Partners | Associations | Jobs
Spring Creek Group is a rapidly growing Social Media Brand Analytics, Strategy, and Marketing Services Agency located in the Emerald City – Seattle Washington. We are comprised of passionate and experienced marketing professionals, and we employ subject matter experts in all of the major categories of the social media Web.
Spring Creek Group attends and speaks at a range of events. Find out more on our press page.
Clay McDaniel,
Managing Director and Founder
Clay brings more than 10 years experience in consumer product and services management, new product development, and technology marketing to the Spring Creek Group team.
Prior to co-founding Spring Creek Group, Clay was the Senior Director of Product Management for RealArcade, the rapidly-growing casual games consumer digital media business at RealNetworks, Inc. Clay joined RealNetworks after 2 years at Microsoft, where he helped launch Windows XP in 2001 and drove national retail and online marketing plans for the company’s flagship operating system software product. Before moving to Seattle in 2001, Clay worked as a Product Manager for enterprise “middleware” software pioneer Vitria Technology; as a Corporate Business Development lead at the Whitney Museum of American Art; and as a technology project Consultant for the retail and telecommunications sectors at Deloitte Consulting.
Clay holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and an AB in Economics from Princeton University.
Clay also speaks at a wide range of social media and marketing events. You can find out about them on our press page.
Our Team
Our team at Spring Creek Group consists of a growing group of Project Leads, Analytics & Measurement Leads, and Engagement Leads. Our titles don’t map to traditional marketing and advertising agencies, because our services and business model are quite a bit different than typical agencies. We are organized from the ground up to focus on our clients’ needs and driving brand insights and awareness in the social media channel.
Services
Thursday, February 19th, 2009Our Services
Social Intelligence
and Analytics
- Social media channel brand listening and monitoring tools. Deployment and analysis across the entire social media web.
- Brand frequency, sentiment, and ‘Share of Voice’ analysis and reporting.
- Key influencer/top domain indentification.
- Benchmarking reports and custom dashboards
Channel Guidance
and Strategy
- Your brand’s opportunity identification: Where you could – and should – invest in a managed brand presence across the social media web.
- Collaborative strategic marketing plan development.
- Resource, budget, channel strategy, marketing plan deliverables.
- Content. Technology and editorial plan development.
Social Engagement
and Campaigns
- Experienced “Social Media Marketing Engagement Leads” team.
- Social media outreach, content syndication, and marketing campaign social graph promotion.
- Personal, direct, conversational marketing to complement your existing media buying.
- Identification and outreach to key strategic communities.
