This person will be responsible for managing a range of social media efforts for clients, ensuring the agency is effectively leveraging the latest in social promotions and programming. This person will also interact directly with account, creative and planning team members, as well as with clients, serving as a social media strategist and providing support for new business efforts.

Sound like you? Find the full job description here.

I found this article from The Guardian interesting.  You can’t debate it.  The Internet has given people a platform for anonymously spewing negativity and vitriol in a way they most likely wouldn’t when faced with a ‘real human.’

Psychologists call it ‘deindividuation’ – what happens when social norms are withdrawn because identities are concealed.  It’s covert bullying, and it sucks. If you’re a parent of a kid who uses SM and dig into it, you’ll see it firsthand.

But I have found myself inspired by so many stories of how the Internet has been the vehicle for bringing people together for good.

I was struck by a story of a family who, after finding a paystub with someone’s identification hundreds of miles away from the site of a Midwest tornado, used the Internet to track down its owner, formed a relationship and lent assistance to a family who had lost all.  Similarly, I was blown away by the support that poured in to help Bertie County when @ProjectHDesign put the call out to their followers.

Then, there’s the Japan Earthquake that yielded too many social media miracles to count.  There’s organizations like Kiva. Social good websites aimed at kids. Even a program we helped create: 1 Million 4 Anna

There are two sides to every coin.  Here, both are readily evident.

The Internet has changed how we communicate: the way you use it, the way you teach your kids and companies to use it, can change the world…and each of us too.

Then, @Bread_Winners went on to make my case.  Last week, I tweeted that I had seen a wine on the wall at Bread Winners while brunching there.  The wine intrigued me, then I learned the label had earned a spot in a San Francisco MOMA exhibit about wine labels as art.  My tweet only mentioned Bread Winner’s (and even failed to use their correct handle).

Within a day, @Bread_Winners asked if they could help.  I explained that I had looked for and had trouble finding the wine, saying I’d just have to wait to have it there on my next visit.

Bread Winners took the initiative to help.  They contacted a liquor store near me, connected their senior wine consultant with the right wine rep, and told me I could pick up the wine there soon.  In the meantime, they invited me to come for dinner, have a glass and leave with a corked bottle.

They rocked it.  And made an advocate out of an already-fan.

The wine, by the way, is The Supernatural, a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc with hints of passionfruit and honeysuckle.

Bread Winners social media is handled by an undisclosed agency.

While we appreciate whenever our peers recognize the work we do, this award just validates the work we are so proud to be a part of. A year ago today, Firehouse launched the 1 Million 4 Anna initiative with the simple goal of getting 1 million prayers for Anna Basso, our agency founder’s neighbor, as she battles Ewing’s Sarcoma. We knew Anna had an expert team behind her from Children’s Medical Center, but we also wanted to find a way encourage her through the power of prayer as she fought this tough battle.

One year later, Anna continues her brave fight, and we are up to 840,000 prayers and counting. We are so thankful to have the campaign honored this year and special thanks to the award show hosts, Chris Smith and James Hering, who did a great job of telling our story during the show. Because we launched 1 Million 4 Anna on the same day as last year’s DFWIMA Awards, the wonderful board members were kind enough to let us set up a table on site at this year’s event to help event attendees sign up at http://www.1millionprayers.com. We were so thankful for the great audience response to the 1 Million 4 Anna story and we’re excited to launch another push as we near the 1 million prayer milestone.

We haven’t quite reached a million, but we are getting closer. Please check out the site and “pledge” to pray everyday at 12:12 p.m. for Anna. Thanks again to DFWIMA for this great honor and to all the people who bring us closer to 1 Million 4 Anna everyday.

First off, the keynote and closing speakers were both great picks, delivering unique perspectives that illuminated how to do what creative thinkers do better.

Author, technologist, all-around smart guy Steven Berlin Johnson kicked things off with a talk about the nature of breakthrough ideas – they are rarely a lightning bolt, rather a slow soaking rainstorm, an accumulation. He used the story of John Snow who discovered cholera’s water-born transmission to illustrate the power of “the slow hunch”. You have to give ideas time to grow. Google’s 20% policy, one day a week devoted to free, company- but not job-related thinking, was cited as one example of creating idea breathing room.  Also love the thought of giving staff a reading vacation – work time to read, think, connect ideas (even if what they choose to read is comics or beauty magazines). And like the notion of liquid networks – in short, an unstructured atmosphere for idea sharing (think coffeehouse culture).  Finally:  If you want to innovate, surround yourself with those unlike you instead of you-clones.

Closing speaker Emily Pilloton was downright inspirational. I love this woman. She doesn’t see obstacles, only ways around them.  An architect from San Francisco who moved to relatively impoverished Bertie County, NC, she committed herself to teaching design to high school students in an amazing hands-on way that ultimately helps these kids learn not only skills but self-worth. Implication: All of us have talents that can make a difference if we change our lens on how we apply them.  Emily is the founder and executive director of Project H Design.  Check them out and donate to help fund this important work.  I did.

Breakout sessions I attended focused on The Digital Lives of Multicultural Consumers; The Use of Mobile Tech at Retail; The Relationship of China and the US; The Similarities and Differences Between the US, UK and the rest of Europe; Redefining Aspiration and Aesthetics in a Post-Recession World; and the International Palate and what that may mean for US taste buds. I’ll share only some of the stickier thoughts here:

- Wonder if social media is right for a multicultural target? Was surprised to learn multiculturals pioneered SM in the early ’90s. It’s important is to recognize the motivations that drive engagement for multicultural consumers though. And they’re different.  Think Collectivism, Aspirations, Culture.

- There are a host of tag technologies – from Microsoft tags to Jag Tags to QR codes and several others – beginning to pop up in the retail environment. Don’t worry about learning the differences; natural selection will narrow the field. Instead, think about how to linking to content can provide real value to consumers…that’s the nut most brands seemingly can’t crack.

- The relationship between China and the US will be the one history books focus on in describing our time. We are set on a course I would best describe as symbiotic rivalry.  The Tiger Mom debate interestingly encapsulates so much of the culture clash baked into this relationship. Read “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother” and watch the education documentary “Race to Nowhere.”

- The cultural differences between people of various nations really can be linked back to values. And values would tell you some stereotypes are true.  Americans are fat; the only fatter country is Saudi Arabia.  Germans are anal, okay practical. Brits are really not over-sexed; a real Austin Powers just might bee-have. And, finally, perhaps the French are actually more insecure than arrogant. (Try boosting their esteem to win their elusive affections.)

- Some brands and properties are playing well to post-recession aspirations and aesthetics:  Anthropologie, Pinterest, Ace Hotel, and Club Monaco.  It’s about how they relate to Individuality, Heritage, Simplicity.

- Iconoculture has introduced a new macrotrend (not something they do often) called Mindful Matters™. It’s about people mindfully re-prioritizing what they buy, who they do business with and even how they live. Less can be more if it’s the right less.  Keep an eye out for how that’s manifesting in your world.

- Finally, the Brazilian Cherry or pitanga may be the next passion fruit; fish sauce an increasingly familiar way to achieve Unami.  And, FYI, I don’t recommend salmon jerky.

These are some sound bites. Find me and I’ll be happy to share more. All in all, some stuff you and I already knew, some I was happy to learn, and some I was inspired to hear. Such is the nature of conferences – at least the good ones.

Versus last year, this Iconosphere was more heavily attended by brand people versus agencies.  Guessing the economic climate may be driving some of that. That’s too bad. Lots to learn for those ready to listen.

First of all, the Super Bowl has become somewhat of a sports institution, eclipsing many of our national holidays as the time to get together with friends and enjoy food and beverages. And, maybe it’s because I now have school-age kids who don’t want to miss a minute of the game. Or, because I’m a bit distracted on Sunday evenings, thinking about the week to come.

But, here are some of the other reasons to consider the move to Saturday, some economical and some social:

- Kids could stay up later than they could on a school night
- Super Bowl parties could be even bigger events and would encourage more families (even non-sports fans) to get together. These bigger events would require even more food and beverage purchases – benefiting retail more
- Restaurant and bar traffic would likely increase as well
- No doubt, networks would enjoy a rise in viewership
- International fans could more easily stay up late to watch – on-strategy for the NFL’s globalization strategy
- Less workplace absenteeism come Monday morning
- One person even suggested that the Pro Bowl could be played on Sunday in the same stadium for those worried that the host city’s revenue would be negatively impacted

Now, the NFL has made its position known: the Super Bowl on a Sunday has worked well for 44 years and they don’t anticipate moving it. See SI.com article. But, with NFL games already being played on Mondays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, it doesn’t seem like such a stretch.

And there’s a growing movement of “Move the Super Bowl to Saturday” petitions on Facebook and a number of writers calling for a national holiday on Monday. If you want to join others in petitioning the NFL to move the Super Bowl to Saturday, you can even do that online here.

Besides, we’d have even more time to discuss the Super Bowl ads. So, who’s on-board?

The fun starts at 6:30 on Wednesday, February 23 at the Granada Theatre. The evening promises some fast-paced enlightenment. To get a taste, check out these videos from past IgniteDallas events. Hope to see you there.

The tool-as-strategy trap is an easy one to fall prey to. It usually involves a shiny new form of media (Newspapers! Radio! Television! Internet! Telekinesis!) and a proclamation that all previous forms of media are forthwith null and void posthaste, etc. etc. Gurus arise (often of the self-anointed variety), agencies and clients are fleeced and large segments of the populace don’t notice a thing has changed.

The current tool du jour is social media. Social media includes such things as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and a bunch of other sites that promise to be different than Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn but really aren’t. Social media does not include such familiar anti-social media as television, radio, magazines and billboards. Because you enjoy those mediums alone, with nothing but the cold, echoing groans of your empty soul to comfort you.

Also, MySpace no longer counts as social media. It has carved a newer, niche-ier segment known as Perv-n-Indie-Band media. Also, kitties.

Companies as vast as General Electric and as tiny as the neighborhood dry cleaners are into social media, bombarding us with pleas to “like” their Facebook pages, follow them on Twitter and, as a favorite SM saying goes, “join the conversation.” Which is all well and good, assuming companies understand the difference between being on Facebook and Twitter and actually using the mediums to advance their businesses.

Because, as I may have alluded to a scant few sentences ago, social media is a tool, not a strategy. It’s like any other tool in advertising: Wield it well or be prepared to poke out an eye. Just as there is a wide gulf between great TV spots and anything starring Vince “Slap Chop” Schlomi, there’s a big difference between successful social media campaigns like Pepsi’s Refresh Project and Best Buy’s Twitter-based Twelpforce, and tossing your pizza chain’s locations up on Facebook and throwing some coupons to your 193 Twitter followers.

There are several attractive aspects to social media. First, it’s cheap to get into. Unless you’ve managed to hold onto to that TI 99/4a for the past 30 years, chances are your computer will load up Facebook and Twitter just fine. So, your initial investment comes down to time, which is often comes in the ultra-affordable form of intern-time. But that’s where too many companies and agency begin and end their foray into social media – with a young youth who either thinks he’s knows everything about social media yet knows nothing about the brand, or admits he knows nothing about either. Note the all-around lack of brand knowledge going on. So much for faking it till you make it.

Like all media, it is possible to create an effective campaign using social media alone. But, unshockingly, the best social media efforts tie into broader schemes. The best current example of this is Old Spice’s “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” campaign. This campaign originally launched with one thirty-second spot, a couple of fifteens and a microsite. And those spots exploded into all manner of glorious joy bits over YouTube, racking up at least 14 million views from my coworker Silver alone. Oh, and the thirty-second spot won the Grand Prix and Cannes. A nice piece of hardware, even if it stinks of mime.

Now, Old Spice and their agency, Wieden+Kennedy, could’ve kicked back, tossed out a couple more derivative spots and called it a campaign. And, in fact, they did do some more TV spots, although no one would accuse them of phoning those in. But then they did something that can really only be described as cool: They put their now über-popular character to the task of answering their fans with personalized videos. Pulling comments from multiple SM sources in real-time (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc.), the creative team scripted responses that TMYMCSL (actor Isaiah Mustafa) delivered in his typical, manly style. Videos were posted to YouTube and their arrival disseminated via Twitter and Facebook. They did this for two days straight, answering comments from anonymous tweeters to celebrities to Mustafa’s own daughter. In the end, they had produced over 100 clips, lit up the online world and gained even more fans for the brand. It’ll probably win some more trophies next year. And, crazy of crazies, it was all part of a strategy.

Sure beats the heck out of “Who wants a coupon?” tweets, doesn’t it?

Later,

Fox