Multimarketing - Twist Image

Hi All,
 
Sorry for the disconnect. In the meantime - find me here!
 
See you there!

I finally finished reading Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point. Definitely worth grabbing and devouring and it makes Seth Godin’s Unleashing The Ideavirus (available free by clicking on the book link) even more impacting. On top of all that, I came across a fascinating blog called the Viral Marketing Blog, and it has a link to an article from March, 2002 called The Tipping Blog that is well worth checking out. It’s amazing to see that from the moment Gladwell published The Tipping Point, in January 2002, to now (a mere two years and drop later) how much the world has changed and how quickly something (service or product or epidemic) can tip. I wonder if Gladwell was just reporting on these phenomena or if he began to recognize the speed at which things tip? Once again, so much great reading and business understanding – just within this little blog.

I am sitting here in the Star Alliance Lounge of Air Canada waiting for my flight back to Montreal (via Toronto). I should be home around 1:00 am. I just attended a very interesting national leadership conference. There were lots of amazing people from all over the world taking part in some amazing initiatives. From making people aware of the needy to building their own youth Chambers of Commerce. It’s amazing to see so many young people who care about making a difference. More when my head clears. I have to admit, this free wi-fi access takes some of the pain out of travel. Not much, but some.

IMC 2004 is closely approaching (April 5 – 7, 2004). The line-up is great, and I just reviewed all the sessions with the conference organizers the other day. I would strongly encourage you to take a look at this event. Everything from search engines, email marketing, online advertising, new strategies and strategic ideas will be discussed and presented. It’s also a great chance to get close to the players in the field, network and make connections. My main speech is listed as:
Integrity Marketing: Why Making a Difference Makes a Difference Online
Mitch Joel, Partner, Twist Image
Recently Microsoft's army of lawyers backed down to a 17-year-old youth name Mike Rowe, over his site MikeRoweSoft.com. The Internet community quickly rushed to Mike's support and Microsoft decided to leave the youth alone before too much PR damage was done. The strength of the Internet is this ability to quickly spread good - or bad - press about your company. This session will show why being a good corporate citizen is good for your company's bottom line.

I will also be holding intimate and interactive one-on-one sessions with three key interactive marketers who have done amazing stuff. These sessions are designed to mix the styles of Charlie Rose and Inside The Actor’s Studio vibe (I can only truly aspire to that level of excellence) by providing an interview style discussion to better understand the people, their knowledge and how they’ve done what they’ve done. Stay tuned to official IMC 2004 website for more details. If you are attending, drop me a line – I would love to meet.

This is the kind of stuff that happens in your community and you wonder why you live where you live. Triumph, Conan O’Brien’s insult comic dog, is basically a hand-puppet dog that does some very funny material. He’s cut into Bon Jovi on their last tour, he’s made fun of American Idol, spoofed Eminem’s 8 Mile and did a classic episode during the opening for the second Star Wars movie. I love Triumph. When Conan decided to do some shows out of Toronto he sent Triumph over to Quebec City. Now, you know the dog puppet was going to let loose on the whole English/French thing, separation and other quirky things that happen up here. Worse things have been said, but apparently, the sock puppet went “over the line” and everyone is in an uproar about how much a goofy dog hand puppet has insulted our culture. Only in Quebec (if I could type in the amount of blushing that’s happening, I would). This is the kind of stuff they asked the Prime Minister and Premiere of Quebec about. Imagine them questioning George Bush about Janet Jackson’s nipple (did they?). Check out the article about the incident here. My favorite line? Triumph was speaking to an overweight man, and said something akin to: “why don’t you try to separate yourself from a donut first.” Triumph is all about the zingers.

I have to admit, I thought only a handful of people would be interested in my first-ever Montreal Business Book Club. I can proudly say that over 30 people have given it the go-ahead and twenty members have already signed up through the Yahoo! Group that was created to make it happen. The first selection is currently being decided and it’s between:
The Leadership Challenge - by James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner
Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution - by Howard Rheingold
Meaningful Marketing - by Doug Hall, Sergio Zyman and Jeffrey Stamp
So far, Doug Hall has got half of the votes. I know that this idea has legs and will create a group of young and thoughtful leaders to think more, read more, network more and, obviously, grow more. I’m a little taken aback by the amount of people (in a good way) and look forward to seeing this group grow. If you like, check out the Montreal Business Book Club here. If you’re interested, email me through the group.

I came across this article in the Montreal Gazette today. It starts by saying: “A new breed takes over. Latest crop of business leaders in Quebec is cautious, low key and very smart.” I’m not too sure I’d be proud to say that being “cautious” and “low key” is the way to go in this day and age, but it certainly is nice to see some very smart companies coming out of Montreal that are affecting change by offering products and services that sell. All the marketing in the world is not going to solve a business issue if the product/service in, and of, itself is a dog. Interesting read. I’d like to see who’s not being “cautious” and “low key” in Montreal, just to see the kind of waves they’re making.

I was just checking out the latest tech news on Yahoo! and came across this story, titled: Bluetooth Wireless Resurrected with New Gadgets. While the root of the story sounds cool – lots of wireless products working good, working fast and able to inter-connect, it comes shortly after a 5-7 cocktail I attended the other night where a person I had met was just back from Holland. Apparently, his mobile phone kept getting spam email, sms messages and even unwanted ringtones. Word is these rogue marketing firms are “bluejacking” people with unwanted advertising, marketing and ringtones. That’s right spam for your mobile device. Though it sounds sucky, you have to admit the term “bluejack” is pretty cool.