When:  Thursday, June 24, 2010
Time:  3-4:15 pm EDT
Where:  Online
Cost:  $209

It’s a new decade in a new century … surely strategic communication must have evolved over the past several years? Yes—and no. While the explosion of social media—and the critical role it plays in reaching our audiences—has added new powers to our communication programs and campaigns, many of us still put far too much emphasis on tactics. Strategy is still you thinking in the biggest way possible about your business, and you don’t need a social media networking poll to tell you that.

Join Shonali Burke, Principal of Shonali Burke Consulting, as she gives an overview of why strategy is still important and how to demystify it. You’ll learn how to frame your communication strategy with the end-results in mind, and tie that strategy to your organization’s business objectives which is, after all, the reason our profession exists.

You will learn:

• The difference between strategy and tactics
• How social media should fit into your overall communication strategy
• How to connect your efforts to your organization’s KPIs
• How the 5W’s and H of public relations can help you frame your strategy
• Why good measurement is critical to the success of your communication program
• And more!

Register Now

Even when they’re not online.

Veoh took the opportunity today (via e-mail) to explain about their switch from VeohTV to a downloadable application that connects to Veoh.com.  By concentrating on the user experience, the team at Veoh came to the conclusion that re-booting their service as a stand alone application was a better choice:

The Veoh Web Player enables you to watch videos of any length right in your browser without launching a separate application. You can download videos for later viewing, even when you’re not connected to the Internet. The Web Player also consumes fewer system resources than VeohTV.

This is all interesting news when you consider that by separating the player from the site, Veoh can now distribute its player on other portable media.  Last week, the company announced it was releasing a version of its player to be included on SanDisk flash drives.

For advertisers and marketers what this means is that ad insertions into streaming content are now portable, as well.  How this plays into possible promotions or creative executions remains to be seen.  But we can no longer assume that if someone sees an ad on a streaming broadcast that they’re sitting in front of a computer screen on a desk in a living room, bedroom, kitchen, office, etc.

Disney has just launched their first (?) on-line production studio, Stage 9 Digital Media (summary, article).  And with the launch of their studio, they also introduced their first of twenty made-for-web series.

That’s right, twenty.

This first show, Squeegees, is a comedy series about a group of slacker window washers that can now be found on abc.com and YouTube.  The first Stage 9 production, Voicemail, was a one-off episode and is now being developed into a full series.

The online episodes are short (YouTube length), and at 3-5 minutes each only have space for a solo sponsor/advertiser.  Toyota has signed on to sponsor the Squeegees production and will be using the program to hold viewers to its pitch for the Corolla.

Online video viewing has grown tremendously over the past few years.  Comscore estimates for December put online viewing at over the 10,000,000,000 videos watched online (article).  And that number continues to trend upwards.

YouTube has also just announced another foray into the live video business again, trying to break the online video business wide open.

From a studio perspective, Disney is just jumping into waters already being tested by other major television networks and production companies.  The cost of producing an online series is significantly less than producing pilot episodes for broadcast (or cable) and the metrics are much more granular.

Where will this probably lead?  I’m sure more than one executive has considered the benefits of developing and testing series ideas online and then “evolving” franchises from the online medium to television once fan bases have been established, characters have been developed and a solid demographic can be measured and “pre-sold” to sponsors.

It’s a bold new world and definitely one worth watching.

Side Note: Here’s my little production for consumption in the online world.  Enjoy.

I must admit, I have an interest in this fight.  It’s my wife.  She sells stuff on eBay.  But she’s not as hot as some of the “Power Sellers” who have called for a boycott of eBay February 18-25 to protest the online auction service’s new policies on rates, release of payment through PayPal and (most controversaly) significant changes to its rules on feedback left by sellers about buyers.

Now Money Magazine is wading into the fray with an article and a post on YouTube asking for disgruntled eBayers to contact them for interviews (note: the post requesting contact from disgruntled eBay sellers was removed overnight Sunday evening).

I’m not going to comment on the wisdom – or lack thereof – of eBay’s new policies.  I’m more interested in seeing how the seller community is trying to gel and take action.  This may be one of the first times we’ve seen an online consumer community start to move as a group and affect real change on an organization.

The protest videos on YouTube have already generated tens of thousands of views.  And you have all kinds of cranks putting videos up there.  It looks like this has the makings of a PR nightmare for eBay.

Yet, you don’t hear much – if anything – from the online giant.  As the boycott approaches, it will be interesting to see if eBay has been able to form and implement a crisis communications plan to limit the perceived damage to their brand’s credibility.  The extent of the damage a boycott of this kind could wreck on the eBay brand is unknown, but if eBay isn’t taking this threat seriously, they should.  Here’s why:

eBay is already being accused of abusing its seller community by the people calling for the boycott.  Not acknowledging there’s an issue will not only inflame the cranks, it will send a clear signal to those buyers and sellers who still value the service eBay has to offer but may feel some mild discomfort with the rate increases and new rules regarding feedback.  That signal: “We know we have dominant market share and we’ll do as we please.  If you don’t like it, tough.”

Consumers – and by this, I mean online consumers in particular – are starting to learn how to vote with their feet.  And opportunistic Internet entreprenuers are learning how to capitalize on it.  In addition to the boycott, some eBay power sellers are encouraging other sellers to contact Google and encourage that online behemoth to create an auction service that could serve as a new home for some of eBay’s biggest retailers.

Will Google bite? Who knows.  But one thing is for sure: if eBay doesn’t treat this boycott seriously, they’re exposing their brand to a flanking attack they could avoid with a little forethought and active communication.

This will be an interesting one to watch unfold.