Concept Clients on Stage: Q1 Update

Another busy quarter for Concept clients on the conference and trade show circuit. As we move into spring, it’s looking like a fantastic and busy year ahead. Following are recent speaker’s bureau placements and few slated for the next quarter…

Digital Hollywood Media Summit
March 6
Panelist: Building and Nurturing Communities for Entertainment and Information Properties on Social Platforms

Apps World North America
February 8
Panel: Apps to build consumer loyalty

Streaming Media East
May 21-22
Moderating: Creating OTT Apps for Connected Devices

Digital Hollywood Media Summit
March 6
Panelist: Best in Apps: TV, Social Media & Video – Developing Content and Revenue

Digital Hollywood Spring
May 1
Panelist: Hybrid TV – Delivering the Ultimate TV Experience: Broadcast, Cable, Premium & OTT Content

Music Biz 2013
May 6-9
Presentation: Automotive Entertainment & the Consumer

Disruptive Media Conference @ NAB
April 9-10
Panel: Discovery and Recommendation: How do you predict what viewers like?

NAB Show
April 6-11
Panel Topic:TV Everywhere/OTT and the tug and pull we see reflected between the content owners and content distributors

Canadian Music Week
March 19-24
Presentation: Gracenote’s Role in The Changing Landscape of Digital Music

OTTCon West
March 19
Presentation: The Next Wave of Discovery, Recommendation and Linking

Display Search US FPD
March 19
Panel: Best Practices for Monetizing the Connected Environment

2nd Screen Summit
February 26
Participation: There’s an App for That

Mobile World Congress
February 25-28

SF Music Tech
February 19
Panel: Music Discovery

CES Content in the Cloud
January 9
Panel: The Impact on Entertainment Industries of Cloud Computing

Digital Hollywood at CES
January 9
Panel: Over the Top Video – TV – Tablet – SmartPhone – PC – Connecting into the Future

The Business and Technology Summit
April 16
Presentation: Cloud Computing and BI

Vator Splash SF
February 13
Judge: Start-up Competition

Apps World North America
February 8
Panel: Monetization

Digital Hollywood at CES
January 9
Panel: Venture Funding, Investment & Mergers – Leadership in the Entertainment & Technology Space: Broadband, Social Networks, Mobile and Games

Digital Media Wire Games
April 18-19
Panel: Marketing Games on Emerging Platforms

Disruptive Media Conference @ NAB
April 9-10
Panel: Finding the Right Mix: Curating Content Across New Distribution Channels

Inbound Marketing Summit

April 4
Panel: Measuring Influence

Digital Hollywood Media Summit
March 6
Panel: The New Fandom: Building and Nurturing Communities for Entertainment Properties on Social Platforms

Social Curation Summit
January 25
Panel: Tastemaking Through Curated Communities

Digital Hollywood Media Summit
March 6
Panelist: Building and Nurturing Communities for Entertainment and Information Properties on Social Platforms

Apps World North America
February 8
Panel: Apps to build consumer loyalty

GigaOm on Alt12: Tackling digital health, pregnancy and parenthood one comment at a time

Concept client Alt12 is doing terrific work in the field of women’s health and parenting, which GigaOm highlights this week.

The company’s founders (and couple!) Jennifer Wong and Casey Sackett have brilliantly created a thriving business from a personal need, tremendous vision, exceptional market understanding and highly skilled design. Not only are their mobile apps incredibly useful–as evidenced by more than a million people spending an hour+ per day in them–but their strategy and success in building community and integrating commerce is a winning formula.

Let this be a lesson to you to never let your great idea stay locked away in your thoughts. Jennifer and Casey are a model and inspiration!

Speaking Engagements: Concept Clients on Stage

Fall is one of the busiest times in the tech industry, with trade shows and conventions across the globe. We have a great executive visibility and speaker’s bureau program that aligns our clients with the precise shows, topics and audiences that help their businesses and add value to the industry. Following is a snapshot of Concept client visibility in Q4 2012…

Digital Hollywood NYC
November 16, 2012
Panelist: Hybrid TV, Connected TV, Tablet & Smartphone – Downloadable Consumer Experience

Hollywood Fall
Wednesday, October 17
Panelist: Inventing TV 2.0 – Defining the Set Top, Connected TV, Tablet & Smartphone Downloadable Consumer Experience

TVNext Conference
October 11, 2012
Moderator: Are Apps the Next Channel? – What is Involved in Creating a “Channel” on a CE Device?

Steaming Media West
October 31, 2012
Panel: Deconstructing Content Offerings for the Second Screen

Cloud Computing West
November 8, 2012
Mini-keynote: Cloud Metadata

Smart TV and Multiscreen Advertising
November 16, 2012
Panel: Future Prospects for Addressable Smart Advertising

Digital Hollywood NYC
November 16, 2012
Panel: Hybrid TV, Connected TV, Tablet & Smartphone Downloadable Consumer Experience

Future of Television
November 16, 2012
Panel: Digital Distribution Models: How Technology is Changing the Way Viewers Access TV and Video Content

Billboard FutureSound
Q&A with Ty Roberts and Jim Buzcowski of Ford: Bridging Digital Music’s Automotive Divide

Venture Summit Silicon Valley
December 12, 2012
Panel: How to Compete in Big Data

Appnation IV
December 11, 2012
Panel: The Platform Wars: The Battle for the Enterprise

Cloud Computing West
November 8, 2012
Mini-Keynote: Cloud Computing and BI

Global Mobile Internet Conference
October 20, 2012
Panel: There’s Plenty of Venture Funding for Great Ideas, is Yours One of Them?

Social Gaming Summit
December 12, 2012
Panel: Multiplatform Games – Designing the Future

Appnatation
December 12, 2012
Panel: Gamer Nation: The State of the Industry

MEF Americas
December 4, 2012
Monetization panel

Digital Hollywood NYC
November 16, 2012
Panel: Content Reinvention with the Next Generation of Tablets, eReaders and Mobile Device

Digital Hollywood Fall
Wednesday, October 17
Panel: The New Fandom: Building and Nurturing Communities for Entertainment Properties on Social Platforms

IAB MIXX Expo
October 1
Panel: Data Management System for Publishers that have More 1st Party Data

What Are You Watching Tonight?

I’m pretty sure that like most people at the end of the day if I’m not reading my Kindle, most likely I’ll be settling in to watch a good TV show. There are some fantastic ones on right now, which the New York Times recently pointed out, highlighting the Sunday evening TV-watching dilemma as people struggle over which shows to save and which to sacrifice. Unfortunately, the reporter doesn’t have a cool Ceton tuner card like InfiniTV (we’re working on that) and can only record one show while watching another.

There are worse problems to have than not enough time or DVR space to catch all your TV favorites, but with the return of Mad Men and Game of Thrones to new comedies like Veep and Girls, it’s one that many of us want to address. While a lot of my friends still use the DVR that comes with their TV (e.g. Comcast), they’ve learned the hard way that something’s gotta give. Personally, I haven’t found the perfect solution, but I do know that the way we’re watching television has changed dramatically and rapidly, with more options for streaming, downloading and/or recording TV, and second-screen options that are taking it to a whole new level of interaction and personalization.

And this is not all about pleasure, as it’s an important and exciting part of our business as well. Through our work with companies in digital entertainment, we’re learning more every day about how the market is evolving and we have some very cool products to talk about.

I recently spoke with the reporter of the aforementioned NY Times story who said, “I cover TV not technology.” And while we understand beat reporters need to draw some circles around their beats, without technology there would be no TV. In fact, with good technology, TV should get even better, right?

• Take for example, our client Ceton. The company’s tuner technology is very popular with TV and home theatre fanatics who need (not just “want,” these people “need”) to record four shows at once. And Ceton delivers with its InfiniTV line. Their customers are the most passionate I’ve seen for any business. Right now, Ceton is tapping its customer base for beta testers for their cool new Ceton Companion App for Windows Media Center (yes, an app, Microsoft – that’s what people are using these days).
• Another exciting client, Dune HD is helping TV operators deliver very targeted programming to specific audiences of customers, giving them the niche programming they might not find easily on cable. Advanced media players combine music, movies, and Internet TV, all in one digital media player affordably and easily tailored by individuals. Dune HD is great for the home entertainment nerd in all of us.
• Long-time Concept client Gracenote has an Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) platform called Entourage™ that allows smartphones and tablets to instantly identify movies, TV programs and music playing on TV, and then creates paths for viewers to explore related content, such as actor filmographies and advertising brands, and link to on-demand services to stream or download content that intrigues them. The reality of interactive TV!

As many companies (including our stellar clients) are helping to transform the TV viewing experience, we as consumers are bound to see some amazing things. Not just what’s on TV, but how we consume it. So, make it a movie night with your family, butter the popcorn and get ready for the show!

Five Skills for Exceptional PR

“What exactly do you DO?” It’s a question us PR folk hear frequently, most often from parents, acquaintances, and high school friends, (siblings stopped asking moons ago), those who aren’t in our professional circles and are several industries removed from those that consume me daily. Some of my favorite people in the world are as far away from my profession as you can imagine — they plant and sell trees, design and sell jewelry, build houses from dirt, teach children with disabilities to read, and support women in their right to choose whatever it is they want to choose. Yummy professions that I love to talk about, yet most of those folks don’t know exactly what I do, and I love them for it.

But there’s a crop of people who need to have a firm grasp on what we do and why: those who want to work in PR. We’re growing, searching for more great people to round out the incredible team we already have here. We’ve worked with interns who have not studied communications but get it and excel immediately, and those who are graduating with “Public Relations” inked on their diplomas who don’t like to write. Curious. We’ve had senior team members give us and our clients their skills, enthusiasm and loyalty, and those who take their business relationships for granted (the proverbial match to the bridge in most books).

The process of building our team has sparked some interesting discussions here about what it takes to succeed long term in our profession, and the nuances we look for in candidates new and seasoned. We’re a protective bunch (over our clients and our team) and because my partner and I have been successful for two decades and still love what we do, we thought it right to share some of our learnings. For success in our field, we’re looking for a blend of talent, passion, integrity, respect and humor. Let’s break it down:

1. Talent. Obvious, right? The skills needed for PR are different from those required in other professions, but would serve you well anywhere. You need to be an incredible multitasker, intelligent, creative, tenacious, thoughtful, organized, and calm. Yes, calm. It gets pretty harried in our line of work, and you have to keep it cool. There’s also a lot of activity in the brain every moment, and you need clarity and organization.
2. Passion: You need to really care. Really. It’s not just a product we’re promoting, it’s our client partner, and our success is directly tied to their success. Their wins are our wins. Their happy customers make us happy. We absolutely HAVE to care about that. If you don’t get excited when you land a great story or hear “great idea” from your client fairly often, you’re in the wrong field. It’s simple, really.
3. Integrity. We all have this, right? Well… The PR profession is famously knocked for its lack of integrity. I’ve not experienced the horrific stories reporters tell about PR pros in the two decades I’ve spent here. Have we all made mistakes? Sure. Human nature, folks. But we’re doing exceptional work to promote exceptional products, strategies and people, and it’s coming from a place of genuine integrity.
4. Respect. Again, sounds obvious but boy have we seen some things here! We don’t take a single thing for granted. Companies and clients are entrusting us to do great work for them. We do it. We appreciate that they’ve given us an opportunity to help grow their businesses. They’re spending valuable resources on our brain power, we love that and we appreciate it very much. We thank them for their trust, we deliver what we say we’re going to deliver. And if this respect isn’t bi-directional, then we bid adieu, because we also respect ourselves and our teams in equal measure.
5. Humor. Critical. I’m not sure what more needs to be said. You absolutely have to laugh at yourself, make light of situations, and keep it all in perspective. Life is funny all around you. Lighten up.

We’re looking for a few new talents to join our team. If you have the above chops, and enjoy collaboration and challenge, flexibility and fun, then give us a call!

CES, here we come…

Photo Credit: The Verge, 2012

The Concept team is heading to CES this week for five days of technology awesomeness, brought to you in the form of new gadgets and services on display from our fabulous client partners. For more than a decade, we’ve watched the tech industry evolve through innovations introduced at this incredible show.

CES will again deliver a constant kaleidoscope of LED lights, live and digital music blasts, digital screens of every size, and an early look into the technologies that will change the way we watch TV, discover new music, connect with friends, increase our productivity, and generally live a truly digital lifestyle. It’s Mecca for our team and almost everyone we know professionally, and while we all are often exhausted in the march up to the show, once we’re there it’s game on and everyone is pumped!

This year, Concept is proud to represent seven clients at the show, where we’ll help separate their products and services from the thousands of others on display on the floor and in private meeting suites. Gracenote, Ceton and Dune HD are introducing home entertainment devices and services that are absolutely game changing. From automated content recognition in the TV programs we love, to integrated services that finally deliver on the whole-home entertainment promise, these companies will put the highest quality, personalized content in front of us on the device or screen we want. I love my TV, and the products these three companies are showing are fulfilling my vision for home entertainment nirvana. I can’t wait to both promote and consume what they’re showing this week.

MasterImage 3D and DXG are putting 3D technologies in our hands by way of mobile gadgets, and they allay any reservations about the future of 3D in our lives. Last year’s 3D CES obsession is this year’s practical implementation of something real, exciting, and value-add for all of us. While Making Fun is doing exactly what its name promises, with new mobile and social games that delight consumers and give companies like Zynga some real competition. And client Rosetta Marketing is sending one of their many super-smart consumer tech leads to speak about SmartTVs and their impact on the CE industry and consumer consumption.

The thought of seeing all of these technologies live and in one (tremendously vast) environment has us completely fired up! With these seven companies setting standards in consumer tech, the thought of the other several thousand product innovations — coupled with a stronger economy and broadening of investor support — will likely make the 2012 CES the best one we’ve experienced.

Here’s where you’ll find Concept and our clients at the show this week. Stop in, say hi, sit back and watch some mind-blowing demos, and then put your aching feet up and join us for a martini! Somehow, CES goers always find time for tons of fun. Isn’t that what cool new tech is really all about?

South Hall, Upper Level, Booth 31106

Las Vegas Hilton, Hospitality Suite 2165

South Hall, Ground Level, Booth 21445

South Hall, Upper Level, Booth 31825

Encore Hotel, Private Meeting Suite

South Hall, Lower Level, Booth 21727

Speaking at Parks Associates Connections Conference,  South Hall S204-205, Tuesday 9:30am

Concept Clients Making Headlines!

Concept’s clients have been creating quite a buzz in the news these days, with exciting product launches across the consumer electronics, social media, mobile, digital media, and gaming industries.

Below is a snapshot on some of the latest coverage in leading consumer, technology and business publications for DXG, StockTwits, Gracenote, OpenCandy, Real Sport Investor, and Roost. Click on any of the publications’ logos below to be directed to the full articles. Happy Reading!

Stay tuned for more news from Concept clients!

A Great Personality

How might you describe your handbag if it were a person?  Creative?  Vivacious?  Down-to-Earth?  And how about your toothbrush?  Would you call it friendly?  Or intelligent?

And why is that?  A lot of how we see the products we buy stems from their marketing and branding campaigns.  I know this isn’t news, but it’s also not something we tend to think about.  And here’s something else we haven’t been thinking about:  for decades, larger companies have been establishing brand attributes through magazines, TV, billboards and radio.  But now that social media is thriving and available to all, many smaller companies without this advertising experience are diving in without considering their unique brand personality.

That’s the bad news.

The good news is, there’s no better way to express who you are as a company than through social media, and it’s not too late.

I’m here at the Digital Matters conferences in Singapore, and it’s offered a lot of insight for just about anyone navigating the digital media landscape in any way.  One of the more valuable sessions was called, “Moving Forward with Social Media”.  It was made up of an impressive panel, including Thomas Crampton, Asia Pacific Director – 360 Degree Digital Influence, Ogilvy & Mather Asia Pacific; James Miner, SVP, Digital, ESPN; and Doug Fraser, Operations Associate from Facebook.

The biggest take-way for me was that before starting any social media campaign companies need to sit down with their stakeholders and determine what they are all about.  Do they want their business and products to be seen as hip and flirtatious?  Reliable and conservative?   Brazen and tough?   Think about traits you would use to describe a person, not necessarily descriptors you would use for the merchandise or service.

Then, once you know the brand personality, keep that in mind with every social media engagement.  When it comes to establishing a brand, there’s nothing worse than inconsistency.   Then, in the words of one of the panel members, “build on the campaign, and see where it takes you.”  As long as you are saying true to the brand you have a guide, and this can make engaging in social media more fun, too.

Cheating on our Website with Facebook

Concept is populating a shiny new Facebook Page for our business, which showcases our clients and successes, goings on, team, news, points of view, and other goodness. As we’ve spent time on it this past week, posting and uploading, writing and customizing, we’ve commented to one another how easy and fun it’s been to build it out. (The kind of fun that has me working into the wee hours when my client work has long gone to bed.)

But now that we’re nearing launch phase, I’ve started to wonder, isn’t this all on our Website? And that was my husband’s first question when I asked him to come take a look. While I was hoping for a  simple, “Wow, honey, that looks great!” I didn’t get that, and instead defined why a Website works with Facebook, rather than in place of. (My husband is a great “so what?” meter.)

My description of the evolution of communications and the way people engage with brands today didn’t quite do it for him. But then I drew the smile, head nod, and “yeah, that looks great, honey!” with the following comment: To ensure people are reading our blog and staying informed on our company, they need to come to our site, or subscribe to our RSS feed, which few traditionally do for small and medium sized businesses. With Facebook, our content appears in front of our audiences, where they already are, without asking a single thing of them.

We’ve seen dynamic communication and audience growth work well for our clients through the Facebook Pages we manage. Now it’s our turn! And what about your business? If you’ve asked yourself about the virtues of Facebook vs. your Website or blog, consider the following:

1. Replace your Newsletter:  Are you doing a company newsletter? Consider replacing or augmenting it with content on Facebook. Invite the same people on your mailing list to join your Page. You’ll likely receive more Likes and Comments than you would have in replies to the newsletter.
2. Make a Great First Impression: Facebook is becoming the de facto place for people to look for and at your company (like LinkedIn replacing resumes). It has the power to replace a Website for quick introductions and information. Let your Facebook Page be the first impression you make about your business, brand values, mission and work quality.
3. Extend your Company Voice:  Are you looking for ways to develop or extend your company’s unique point of view and brand? We love the new Facebook feature that allows you to edit as your brand, so your Likes and Comments appear from your branded Page, rather than individual person, giving your company its own voice.
4. Stay in Front of your Audience:  Nearly 1/3 of the world’s population is on Facebook, including most of your friends and family, colleagues and business prospects. They’re already there, and your brand can be there as well, speaking to them, asking questions, sharing content and starting conversations.
5. Separate Business and Pleasure:  Do you blur the line a bit between business and pleasure on Facebook, but don’t like spamming your pals with corporate promos? Facebook Pages (rather than Profiles) let you keep personal it its place so you’re not mixing biz speak with photos of your kids.

So yes, this content is all on our Website, but you’re all on Facebook. We still love our Website, as we do our blog and LinkedIn profiles and Twitter feeds, but Facebook is dynamic and interactive and allows for easy updates and conversations. We’re  excited to engage with our friends, colleagues, clients and prospects through another channel, and show potentially the world what it is we do. We do realize “the world” will not be Friending our Page — but it’s there for them regardless, and that’s the point.

Now don’t worry, blog, you’re the first one I turned to for this post — but only because you so smoothly populate our Facebook and Twitter feeds automatically. If you didn’t do that, well, our parting would be such sweet sorrow.

A Leader Works in the Open

Veronica Skelton, Darlene Gannon, Alan Mulally, Graham McKenna, Vadim Brenner - CES 2011

It’s the first week of the month which usually means we at Concept Communications are busy compiling press coverage reports, calculating expenses and generally reflecting on the past 30 days or so and what we’ve accomplished for our clients in that time.  As it turns out, January 2011 was an epic month for us and our accounts, filled with international trade shows like CES and MIDEM, press conferences and media events, and opportunities for us to meet and/or listen to high level executives in the various industries in which our clients play.

It occurred to me that of all the influential people I’ve had the fortune of encountering over the past month –including celebrities like 50 Cent and the heads of the digital divisions of all the major record labels – it might seem unlikely that the one, very brief moment I had with Alan Mulally, the President and CEO of Ford Motor Company, made the biggest impression on me.

It happened when Darlene and I were at a large media event at CES in an area set aside for Ford and its partners – representing our client Gracenote, a Ford technology partner for years.  We were suddenly told Mr. Mulally may be coming by, and moments later I noticed him out of the corner of my eye.  What immediately struck me was that although he is not a particularly large man, his vivaciousness, his confidence and just his sheer *energy* made him an enormous presence in what was literally a hotel ballroom.

And, when he approached our group and he looked at me, I felt like the only person in a crowd of almost 1,000 people.   He looked me square in the eye, he shook my hand warmly, he asked me questions, he made funny comments – none of which I can remember, but it doesn’t matter because for one minute, I felt significant, I felt special, I felt acknowledged by the leader of one of the most important businesses in the United States.  He asked our group if we wanted a picture and then stood next to us and put his arms out.  At that moment, it felt as though we were posing for a team photograph for the yearbook.  A winning team.  A positive team.  A team that was coming off a phenomenal season and was strong, in shape, and ready to do it all over again.  It made me proud to be associated, if even remotely, with the Ford brand.

How did this happen?  How did this man I’d never met make me feel this way over the course of what can’t have been more than three minutes?  Theodore Roosevelt once said, “People ask the difference between a leader and a boss. . . The leader works in the open, and the boss in covert.”  I think the secret lies in Mr. Mulally’s sincerity.  In his genuine interest in the American people and what they want.  And I thank him for reminding me that in life, not just in business, success lies in one’s ability to make meaningful connections, one person at a time.