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Pioneers of Digital

CEOs and Social Media, SearchFest, Covario and Book Launch

Well that was one of my resolutions blown out of the water wasn’t it?!

I promised myself that I’d be way more scheduled in writing blog posts and getting them up and out, but a month since my last post here is not what I was aiming for, so here’s a quick run down of what’s been going on in my world.

The business is going well. I’ve just written a post on CEOs and social media personal branding. Read it and tell me if you agree (or not) that there’s an opportunity there. Just after Christmas I presented a strategy to a major brand and they loved it. Can’t say who, but it gave them and their PR teams a lot to think about and execute on. I’m really chuffed it seemed to work for them.

Pool at Parker Hotel in Palm Springs

Last week I was in Palm Springs for Covario’s InflectionPoint conference with Dixon Jones and Majestic SEO. It was a fantastic trip (nice to get some sun) and I learned a lot from the brands that were there and the Covario guys who were not in the least bit salesy with their information and case studies. This year is all about “content marketing” was the take away. Mobile is already here and if you’re not playing in that end of the pool, you might end up in a spot of bother, especially if the recession loosens its grip and budgets get more fluid.

Top notch job there from Covario and their CEO Russ Mann.

Paul Springer, Carolyn Everson, Moi & Andrew Sampson

The book launch in London at JWT a few weeks ago went really well. Carolyn Everson from Facebook was there, as was Stephen Fry’s biz partner Andrew Sampson who has done a great deal behind the scenes to help Stephen and his digital presence.

There must have been about 70 people show up and have a little drinky to celebrate Pioneers. Really happy with the turn out and the feedback (especially from students) as to what people thought about the book.

Got some special news to announce in the coming weeks about all that soon as well!

Now I have a few client deadlines out the way, I’ll be concentrating on my presentation next week at SearchFest in Portland.

I’m talking with the simply marvelous Joanna Lord from SEOmoz on Digital Evangelism.

Should be a good sesh. I have the utmost respect for Joanna and her work.

So that’s it in a nutshell.

Maggie remains delightful so I’ll signoff with a recent photo of her posing for the camera and saying CHEEZE!!!!

Have a great rest of your week!

London in 2 Weeks & Maggie’s Moves

Just 2 weeks until our book launch reception in London. Thrilled JWT have agreed to host it. I remember reading up on their graduate training scheme way back in 1994 and not having a clue where to start filling out the application form.

How things change with the passage of time and a little experience?!

I’m looking forward to spending time with friends and family, as well as shoehorning in a few pints of 6X and other English bitters that I miss quite a bit.

More 5 star reviews keep coming in for the book on Amazon (links here) and we’ve published some more excerpts on Danny Sullivan from Search Engine Land, Gurbaksh Chahal from RadiumOne, Jaron Lanier from Microsoft who is the “Father of Virtual Reality” and Vanessa Fox, formerly from Google, she set up their webmaster tools community and now runs her own consultancy and marketing intelligence software called Nine By Blue from offices in Seattle.

Yesterday I spoke about the book at the Microsoft Trends Council in Redmond. A few senior folks showed up to hear me talk about the lessons learned from the book. Feedback was great. I think they find it valuable to hear what others are saying and doing in digital-land, and I think the historical nature of the book lends itself very well to understanding what might work for businesses in the future.

One potential other lesson they raised was practice. The notion that many of the Pioneers have honed their technical and business expertise over many years through experience. More on that on the Delightful Communications Blog by the end of the week.

Lastly, here’s a “cute” video we shot of Maggie just before Christmas of her dance moves:

Enjoy and you’ll here more from me next week!

Book Update, Happy New Year and Fitbit

We’re already four days into 2013, I’ve just done a five mile run on the shores of Lake Washington and I’m writing this before delving back into some fascinating client work.

The book is going well and we have started releasing excerpts from each of the Pioneers so you can get a flavour of what their chapter is about.

Here are the first four: Thomas Gensemer from Blue State Digital, June Cohen from TED, Denzyl Feigelson from AWAL and Avinash Kaushik from Google.

We’ll update you next week with another four and so on. We hope they spur you on to buy the book and share it with friends and family. Winking smile

I’ll be travelling with my family to the UK in a couple of weeks as we have our official “Pioneers of Digital” book launch at JWT’s offices in Knightsbridge, plus I have some client meetings.

The other thing is, I have bought a Fitbit pedometer and think it is simply awesome!

The idea is it tracks your steps and keeps you motivated once it’s synced with your computer or iPhone (which I don’t have ;-() It’s all part of my plan to lose 30lbs in the next 6 months. 30lbs sounds a lot but I want a big goal to aim for.

Pretty much my whole US family is travelling to Phoenix for the 1/2 marathon at the start of March so I’m using that as a goal for fitness and weightloss (and so I don’t have to drag quite so much weight around with me).

Check out the Fitbit.com site and see all their different options. I’ve had it since Christmas and it literally doesn’t leave my side!

Happy New Year. Thanks for all the support in 2012. Here’s to a cracking 2013!

Book Reviews and Articles for Pioneers of Digital

It’s been quite a year! Getting laid off, starting my own business and publishing a book that has got great reviews!

The book has been going well according to our publishers and we’re very pleased with all the coverage we have got.

Check this lot out:

USA Today – “Pioneers of Digital makes for compelling reading about fascinating innovators. Their curiosity, passion, drive and enthusiasm for using technology in creative ways to help people connect and interact is both contagious and inspirational.”

Forbes.com – 2012 The First Digital Election

The Huffington Post – Pioneers of Digital: June Cohen and How TED Talks Reached You via Online Video

Publishers Weekly – “If you embrace new media and the spell it has cast over advertising and the world in general, this may be your lucky day. Readers will feel like kids in a digital candy shop.”

ForeWord Reviews – “Springer and Carson have done a commendable job of collecting diverse examples representing a wide array of fascinating applications while drawing general conclusions about digital innovation. “Our aim with this book is to inspire,” write the authors. Most readers will find Pioneers of Digital does exactly that.”

BlogBusinessWorld – “This book will guide you on a digital voyage around the world, across platforms, and many disciplines as you learn from the successes of the true pioneers of digital.”

TopRankBlog – Pioneers of Digital: How Vanessa Fox Helped Google and SEOs Realize They Were a Perfect Match

SmallBizTrends – “Readers interested in social media or seeking interesting business people for professional inspiration will be more that satisfied. Ultimately read Pioneers of Digital to know what it takes to truly stand out in your field.”

Techipedia – Pioneers of Digital: How to be Part of the Next Generation of Internet Entrepreneurs

Contagious Magazine – “The book provides an interesting series of anecdotes focusing on excellent work and success stories along with the lessons that can be learned to have an impact on the digital industry and the wider world.”

If you have read our book, we’d love you to add your thoughts to the other reviews on Amazon US and Amazon UK.

Thanks so much to everyone for your support this year.

Here’s to a fantastic 2013 for everyone!

Zhang Minhui from China’s Sohu on Advertising to Half a Billion Users

This article has been re-posted from the Pioneers of Digital Blog.

Sohu.cn in China has the largest combined search, social and entertainment portals in the world. With over 505 million internet users – more than the entire population of the USA – Sohu contains many of the world’s most populated sites.

Zhang Minhui managed Sohu’s brand advertising and commercial content across its digital platforms during the key years of growth from 2002-2010, which makes him one of the most influential pioneers of digital.

Minhui negotiated how marketing would work through search, social, gaming, mobile, news and interactive media. Where Sohu created the formats, Minhui made it commercial.

A chapter profiling Zhang and Sohu also traces the four key periods in China’s recent and groundbreaking digital history.

Pioneers of Digital launches in October – pre-order your copy now by visiting Buy Pioneers of Digital Book and check back soon for the next ‘reveal’.

PS: If you liked this snippet from the book, please share it with your friends and followers using the buttons below and help us spread the word!

Thanks,

Paul

Denzyl Feigelson – Apple iTunes Visionary & Artists Without a Label Founder

This post first appeared on the Pioneers of Digital Blog: Denzyl Feigelson – Apple iTunes Visionary & Artists Without a Label Founder

Number 4 in our series is Denzyl Feigelson, the iTunes Store music visionary who came up with the 99c download and devised a way for Artists Without A Label to drive their own careers .

In earlier careers, he helped African artists working with singer-songwriter Paul Simon to break the US and became the first online florist to make a fortune with endorsements from Quincy Jones and Oprah Winfrey. For Feigelson, his radical ideas for the music industry preceded technologies that allowed them to happen.

The story of how they came about owed much to timing, persistence and an amazing life journey.

Our chapter profiling Feigelson traces his rise from music graduate and producer working in South Africa during volatile times, through to quitting the music industry, buying a farm in Hawaii and, several eureka moments later, paving the way for acts such as the Klaxons and Arctic Monkeys to find their audiences online.

Pioneers of Digital launches in October – pre-order your copy now by visiting Buy Pioneers of Digital Book and check back soon the next ‘reveal’.

Thanks,

Mel & Paul

P.S. Please help us generate awareness of the book by sharing this post using the buttons below!