by Walt Carvalho

Mashable has created a poll, which gives users of Digg the ability to rank their old version vs. new version preference.

Samsung unveils their new tablet computer called Galaxy Tab.

Google is now in the phone business while introducing it’s new Priority Mail Service.

Facebook has gone Geo Tagging.

News of latest breakthroughs in social media has accelerated, as more people have gotten involved in their digital environments. Social Media has become a hot topic in an otherwise weaker than normal economy.

Social Media positioning has also picked up pace as individuals gain traction in personal marketing and businesses break ground in establishing their own presence. The social sites, search engines and social media related businesses are all realizing the recent growth and potential of this new marketplace.

These are exciting times. It seems as though daily announcements of new technology, social site improvements and innovative new sites and apps will continue for some time.

These improvements and increased options will help shape social media as the world’s premium communication environment, if it isn’t already!

Get Creative. Get Social.

Photo: Sam Churchill

by Walt Carvalho

I have an idea.

Let’s take a look at ideas we’ve all had in the past.

Let’s take a look at the book we have heard so many people talk about. You know, the one that they always thought they would write and have published.

Let’s talk about the short film, which up and coming screenwriters envisioned. You know the one, with the great, compelling story line, set in an intriguing location, but never produced.

Let’s talk about the song, written about an experience, which when brought to an audience made them relate to their own life, in a deep reflective way.

Let’s talk about the great idea, the one that could change lives and help so many people, but never got to the right set of eyes.

Let’s finally talk about the reasons all of these never came to be.

Barriers were the first reason for not fulfilling these desires. They were controlled by a few in each profession. These gate keepers had a huge stake in your success. They determined your audience, readership and ability to network with the right people.

A huge element of your achievement was based on the acceptance of those who held the keys. Unfortunately, this same group had made mistakes in the past, overlooking true talent and artistry. Great creators never received a chance because of the likes, dislikes and tastes of just a few.

The second reason is the individual. Knowing that such a formidable challenge awaited, they simply never even started their venture, either because of their fear of failure, procrastination or both.

When confronted they gave up.

Well folks, these barriers are rapidly coming down.

People with a special inspirational or song recording can be heard.

People with a gift for the written word can be read.

People with great ideas can see their vision become reality.

Since barriers are now being replaced with opportunities and your potential is now becoming endless, there remains just one question:

What are you waiting for?

Get Creative. Get Social.

photo: Ronan Thenadey

by Walt Carvalho

I spent many weekends as a young man in the Yosemite Valley. It started as a personal goal of overcoming the fear of heights and eventually led to probably one of the biggest personal growth experiences of my life.

The Yosemite Valley is known for the quality of it’s rock (the walls are made up of a high grade granite), the creative routes which have been established by some of the best climbers in the world, as well as the cross section of people who venture their from all over the world.

The Yosemite Valley is one of the premier destinations for climbers from around the globe.

Many of the climbers I had met would save their money to be able to spend the entire climbing season in the Valley. For most, pushing themselves to their mental and physical limits was a daily practice.

Climbing taught me to trust myself, as my passion grew for the sport. My fear of heights was reduced with every handhold and foothold I mastered. I learned the calmness and relaxation necessary to be able to complete some of the more demanding routes. I was introduced to myself in a very profound way.

I remember till this day some of the magic. I remember the silence while reaching for the next handhold, sleeping on a ledge on a clear moonlit night, being pushed to my limit as I could hear my own breath from within as I climbed.

The vertical world has many surprises. There are birds that dart in and out of cracks, there are snakes and yes, those mice that will steal your food at night. I always wondered how they made it up to those high places!

I met foreign climbers from France, Germany, Italy, Great Britain and Japan. We did the best we could to communicate. The love of climbing was our bond.

I cherish the experience climbing has given me. It lives with me till this day.

The most important formula I learned in the Valley in those years was a simple one. It is this:

Staying in your comfort zone = zero growth.

The limits are still being pushed on a daily basis. Lynn Hill and Katie Brown are two people who go beyond limitation. Their level of accomplishment inspires me. Here is a video displaying the grandeur of the Big Walls of the Yosemite Valley and the possibilities of the human spirit. Enjoy!

by Walt Carvalho

There are so many who believe that opportunities lost in their lifetime would be taken advantage of, the second time around.

They believe if given the opportunity, they would take advantage of investing today in prospects that hit the forefront, years or even decades before.

They believe if given the opportunity to go back in time, they would have invested in companies like ebay, apple or google when they first went public. They believe that going back in time would seal their success.

This mindset lives in the world of hindsight, not vision.

Without vision, they would not be able to see the potential that each of those companies held in their early phase. They did not have the ability to see it then, nor do they have the ability to see it today.

They are not able to take advantage of the opportunities around us today, just as they did not see the opportunities back then.

They look for comfort in what everyone else does, when everyone else does it.

Waiting however is the perfect formula in achieving regret. It is a guarantee to be left behind. It will place you in the artificial safety of the heard, while missing the chance of success that only vision and courage can achieve.

Many wish to be great, yet their mindset is doomed to ordinary.

There has always been opportunity. There has always been the few to see the potential of a creative idea or situation in its early stages. Yet, there has also been the naysayer, holding on to an old idea, fearing innovation and change. Which mindset do you have?

Greatness Requires Vision!

Get Creative. Get Social.

photo: Nick Gatens

by Walt Carvalho

Some of us wonder how it is possible, that fear doesn’t overcome an Olympic downhill racer. The skiers attack the course, willing to confront their fears, which would cause many people to quit before even trying. After accomplishing their lifelong goal, the racer stands upon the medals podium receiving their gold medal reward. It is more than just a symbol of their standing in their field and the time it took to finish the course, it is also a symbol of their ability to overcome the obstacles that prevent others from succeeding in their quest of excellence.

We watch, as the young Olympic skater is profiled in a special filmed segment, showing her average day. We see that she wakes up at 3:15am., to begin her training at the rink at 4:20am. Her practice session lasts till it’s time to go to school. She is back to the rink to train, once again, from 4:30pm. till 6:00pm. She gets home to have dinner, and then complete her studies. She then finally gets to relax with her family, momentarily, before falling asleep for the night.

We watch in wonder, as we lounge on our sofa. Her flawless routine takes four minutes, in an arena that most would consider a pressure zone. We feel the fear and anxiety mounting as we realize she needs perfection to win her gold. We watch quietly, as we think of the many reasons we are here and she is there.

People can be masters of justification.

Later we watch as she receives her medal. Her years of sacrifice and training, has brought her to this point, along her path of personal growth. She can see her family and friends mixed amongst all of the faces, there to see the champions.

These stories also play out in speed skating, ski jumping, ice hockey, bobsled and all of the sports that make up the winter Olympics. These athletes are symbols of human desire and conquest. They battle throughout the years, facing opponents like fear, anxiety, laziness, procrastination and failure justification. Their minds craved the security of the status quo, yet their spirit and desire pushed on.

We are given a momentary glimpse into their world, as their eyes water, in their joy of accomplishment. Hand over heart, they realize their quest and acknowledge the summit upon which they stand. The anthem plays and we all realize the worth of their battle. We share with them at that moment, the vision from the podium, which they envisioned many years before.

As we venture in our own personal lives, with our own dreams and desires in hand, we must find a way to conquer our own crippling dream stealers; fear, anxiety, laziness, procrastination and failure justification. They are simply roadblocks to be overcome in the pursuit of attaining our goals. Their ability to sabotage the less determined has knocked many off the road to success.

Be strong. Believe. Go for the gold!

Get Creative. Get Social.

phot: flickr.com/photos/jeremy42

by Walt Carvalho

I am truly blessed.

I have the greatest family anyone could ever ask for. I have a group of friends who enjoy getting together, with all of us enjoying great insightful discussions. There are friends who like me, also enjoy travel, meeting new people in places in which they live. Some enjoy similar sports and hobbies as I do, while others are simply acquaintances, but time spent with them is always fun.

That is how our lives are intertwined with others.

This Super Bowl Sunday was spent with many new friends, who I met for the very first time. The game itself was exciting. The friendships gained on that cloudy afternoon were built over great conversation and great Cajun home cooking.

Our discussions ranged from sports oddities and history to music industry theory and listener generation likes and dislikes. We discussed how things are today with all the possibilities we have, to build the promise of tomorrow. It was interesting to hear the difference in opinions, yet still hearing a common message.

People, it seems, are finding a new truth. They are coming to grips with a new reality.

The path to success in this new world economy is not decided by only one overseeing individual, institution or cause. It’s not waiting to be told what to do. It’s not found under the wing of another.

Opportunity today, lies within you!

Get Creative. Get Social.

Photo by John Battaglia

by Walt Carvalho

When was the last time you challenged yourself?

I mean, really challenged yourself.

Let’s think for a second. What if we took a deep honest look at ourselves and made a list of things we admit are not at the highest level of performance?

Being aware of this newly formed list, what if we go to work on the weakest elements first?

What if we no longer just repeated, what ever it is, that we find easiest and most comfortable to do, instead, what if we were driven to produce a greater strength, starting from the bottom up, strengthening each link for a greater whole?

What if we were to take this attitude beyond our own self and apply it to our business, our family, our relationships, our work or even our activities like workouts, golf practice or piano lessons?

What if every early morning was started with the same question, “How much can I grow and improve today, by turning my weaknesses into strengths? ”

I know, these are a lot of questions. I also know, you have the answers.

Today is a great day, to be great!

Photo by: Alleh Lindquist

January 22, 2010

According to The Nielsen Company, global* consumers spent more than five and half hours on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter in December 2009, an 82% increase from the same time last year when users were spending just over three hours on social networking sites. In addition, the overall traffic to social networking sites has grown over the last three years.

Globally, social networks and blogs are the most popular online category when ranked by average time spent in December, followed by online games and instant messaging. With 206.9 million unique visitors, Facebook was the No. 1 global social networking destination in December 2009 and 67% of global social media users visited the site during the month. Time on site for Facebook has also been on the rise, with global users spending nearly six hours per month on the site.

U.S. Growth in Average time Person on Facebook and Twitter Outpaces Growth of Overall Category
People in the U.S. continue to spend more time on social networking and blog sites as well, with total minutes increasing 210% year-over-year and the average time per person increasing 143% year-over-year in December 2009. Year-over-year growth in average time spent by U.S. users, for both Facebook and Twitter.com, outpaced the overall growth for the category, increasing 200% and 368%, respectively. Among, the top five U.S. social networking sites, Twitter.com continued its reign as the fastest-growing in December 2009 in terms of unique visitors, increasing 579% year-over-year, from 2.7 million unique visitors in December 2008 to 18.1 million in December 2009. However, month-over-month, unique visitors decreased 5%Australia Leads in Average Time Spent per Person on Social Media Sites in December
When narrowed by individual country, with 142.1 million unique visitors the United States had the largest number of social media and blog users in December, followed by Japan, which had 46.6 million unique visitors during the month. Australia led in average time per person spent, with the average Australian spending nearly 7 hours on social media sites in December. The United States and the United Kingdom came in a close second and third, with 6 hours and 9 minutes and 6 hours and 8 minutes, respectively.*Global data takes into account the following countries: U.S., U.K., Australia, Brazil, Japan, Switzerland, Germany, France, Spain and Italy

http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/global/led-by-facebook-twitter-global-time-spent-on-social-media-sites-up-82-year-over-year/

photo: jwl photography

BATAVIA, Ohio (AdAge.com)

Procter & Gamble Co. loves Facebook after all, and besides encouraging brands to develop a presence there, the world’s biggest marketer has opened an office in Silicon Valley to help develop social-networking systems and digital-marketing capabilities with the website.

Those messages came in a meeting last week between P&G executives and venture capitalists, recounted by David Hornik on VentureBlog in a post that quickly picked up currency over the weekend on, of all places, Twitter.

“P&G’s explicit goal for 2010 is to assure that each of its brands has a meaningful presence on Facebook, and they are willing to pay dearly for that,” Mr. Hornik wrote. “And while P&G’s thought leaders expressed some skepticism about the efficacy of Facebook’s ‘engagement ads,’ they certainly view Facebook as a must-have for digital advertising and brand building. They didn’t quantify what they are paying for that exposure, but it is quite clear that the numbers are very big.”

Mr. Hornik contrasted the enthusiastic outlook on Facebook to a less-enthusiastic one by P&G executives toward Twitter. “They described Twitter as ‘much more like television than one might think.’ To P&G, Twitter is a great broadcast medium — it is best for one-to-many communications that are short bursts of timely information,” he wrote. “P&G folks do not view it as particularly relevant to what they are doing on the brand-building and advertising side. … They do not believe that Twitter will ever approach the value they can get out of a Google or Facebook.”

Mr. Hornik, after being contacted by P&G over the weekend, did backtrack on one big number — a projection he had attributed to P&G that Facebook would reach 5 billion members globally. That 5 billion is actually the number of consumers P&G hopes to reach globally, up from the current 4 billion.

By whatever count, however, P&G’s outlook on Facebook and social media as marketing tools appears rosier than Ted McConnell, general manager-interactive marketing and innovation, portrayed in a talk to a digital-marketing forum in Cincinnati in late 2008.

“What in heaven’s name,” he asked, “made you think you could monetize the real estate in which somebody is breaking up with their girlfriend?”

“Who said this is media?” he said. “Media is something you can buy and sell. Media contains inventory. Media contains blank spaces. Consumers weren’t trying to generate media. They were trying to talk to somebody. So it just seems a bit arrogant. … We hijack their own conversations, their own thoughts and feelings, and try to monetize it.”

He went on to say, noting it was personal preference rather than company policy, “I really don’t want to buy any more banner ads on Facebook.”

He also expressed discomfort about the level of personalized targeting available through Facebook, though he said that Facebook applications are potentially valuable vehicles for advertisers.

In an e-mail, a P&G spokeswoman wrote that Mr. McConnell was speaking for himself, not the company, at the time. “P&G sees the value of digital and social media in consumers’ lives and we want to connect with consumers in the environments where they are spending their time,” she said. “For example, Facebook fan pages for brands [are] an easy way to engage with consumers in a forum where they’ve chosen to engage with us. (i.e. Pringles’ fan page has over 2.8 million global fans). We don’t have social media figured out, but we are encouraging our brands to include digital and social media into their holistic brand-building strategies.”

She said the intended perspective on Twitter is that it’s “a communication platform that is good for ‘one-to-many’ communication, similar to TV. Additionally, some of our brands are using Twitter to engage with consumers one-on-one when they have questions. We also view Twitter as a valuable listening tool.”

She also clarified that what was referred to as an Innovation Center on VentureBlog is a “Connect & Develop” office near Palo Alto “to increase our presence in innovation hotspots,” but is not the size of the sprawling complexes that P&G typically terms “innovation centers.” Connect & Develop is a longstanding P&G program which seeks to solicit innovation from outside companies and consumers while also licensing its own technology to outside companies.

Credit: Adage.com

http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=141733

Digital Marketing Outlook

SoDA 2010 Digital Marketing Outlook

Executive Summary

As the somber undertones of 2009 fade away, we move excitedly forward towards a year of promise, opportunity and rapid change. If the fiscal stars align, we’ll leave behind the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression and move into a new decade filled with anticipation of a stronger global job market that will inevitably be fueled by new and innovative business models. Digital will surely be at the core of this evolution.

In 2009, we saw thousands of marketing and advertising professionals lose their jobs, reputable agencies close their doors, and budgets slashed across the board. Yet among the worst headlines of 2009, Digital has continued to revolutionize and prosper. Facebook and other social networks connect hundreds of millions of users daily, over two billion apps have been downloaded from the Apple App Store in its inaugural year, and global mobile usage has reached an astonishing 4.5 billion handsets and counting.

What you’ll find in the pages that follow is the output from the 2010 Digital Marketing Outlook survey which polled in excess of a thousand executives from major global brands, traditional and Digital agencies, vendor and service providers that operate in the Digital space, as well as freelance and independent Digital practitioners. The research has confirmed our outlook: many believe the future of Digital Marketing is exceptionally bright.

Some notable indicators from the survey that substantiate this bullish POV:

• 81% of Brand Execs expect an increase in digital projects for 2010
• 50% will be shifting funds from traditional to digital media
• 78% of global participants believe the current economy will actually spawn more funds allocated to Digital

Additionally contained within, you’ll find some keen insight from SoDA members around the globe on their thoughts and predictions about the future of the Digital Marketing landscape over the forward 12 months.

• “Online storytelling will bring us huddled around our monitors like our great-grandparents huddled around the fireplace, like our parents huddled around the radio, like we once huddled around the television- and we’ll tell stories like they’ve never been told before.” – Jason Bangerter, Struck/Axiom
• “Just as much as the conduit for brand storytelling has evolved, the modern consumer of 2010 plays a huge role in your marketing plans. Consumers have beyond proven themselves as content creators and distributors – they are the medium. Consumers are “living, breathing, passionate people who are redirecting traffic and content in real-time, based on personal interests, relationships, and the culture of the moment.” – Peter Caban, Mekanism
• “Interactive storytelling is new because it allows the reader to control the flow and direction of the story. The reader constructs their own version, and comes to their own conclusions.” – Anrick Bregman, Unit9

The next generation of Digital is upon us:

• “The web can be anywhere, and physical interaction with brand and the extension of commerce into the real world are the convergence point in the next wave of digital marketing.” – Peter Connolly, Obscura Digital
• “The most important outcome of the smartphone revolution isn’t sales, but rather the shift in the cultural expectations of the device. In just two years, the iPhone has quickly ascended to pop-cultural icon, and has shifted the way that mobile devices impact consumers’ lives, attitudes, and how they, in turn, view the role of a mobile device to support their daily needs.” – Brian Chiger, AgencyNet
• “IPTV will be the catalyst for “a move away from the ‘interruptive’ advertising model that dominates television today, toward the idea of enhancement, in which brands support new contexts for viewing.  This might be through design, such as a branded frame around a video; through application, like the ability to mark products within programming for further information; or through interactivity, like ads that change up in response to a change in viewer.“ – Dale Herigstad, Schematic
• “Augmented Reality has the potential to transform the digital landscape, merging online and offline in many creative ways. It is among the most interactive digital tools available to marketers, delivering unparalleled experiential engagement.” – Richard Taylor, IE

Social Media is propelling the rise of the Consumer:

• “Rather than spending another misguided year trying to “engineer” viral campaigns that will propagate themselves, regardless of consumer intentions, it’s time to refocus our marketing efforts to align with the way that people actually behave.” – Ivan Askwith, Big Spaceship
• “2010 will be the year that social media-fueled technology and behavior is responsible for more content consumption choices than ever before. As the media landscape becomes increasingly fragmented, marketers will need to become more nimble than ever, and start getting on the leading edge of trends, as opposed to waiting for them to emerge.” – Ian Schafer, Deep Focus
• “The most effective digital platforms have shifted from “disruptive” to “productive” by providing a service or utility…[They] fundamentally change the approach from “how we reach our customers” to “how we make their lives better.” – Ken Martin, Chief Creative Officer, and Ivan Todorov, CEO & CTO, Blitz

On behalf of my SoDA brethren, I’d like to wish you an inspirational, profitable and exciting year ahead.  There is quite a lot to look forward to…

Richard Lent – Founder / CEO, AgencyNet | Chairman of the Board, Society of Digital Agencies

About the 2010 DMO

The information presented in this document comes primarily from our online survey as well as select interviews, other research sources and industry expert opinions. All data was gathered in the last quarter of 2009.

About SoDA

The Society of Digital Agencies (SoDA) serves as a worldwide voice of digital marketing professionals with a mission to advance the industry through best practices, education, and advocacy.

For more information or to get in touch with us, please visit our website at www.SoDAspeaks.com. Add your input to the survey by visitingwww.SoDAspeaks.com/survey