Video

Who’s Inspired You? A Shoutout for International Women’s Day

In honor of International Women’s Day on March 8, Oracle + GirlGeekX asked me to share a story of a woman who’s inspired me as part of their #HerStoryContest. So I did in this video. If you’re thinking it *has* to be Tina Fey (because TINA!)… well, NOPE. I dug deeper to tell *this* story… Watch the video above. Or here’s the scannable version, if you’re a reader more than a watcher: Beryl Markham was born in England but grew up in Kenya. She was the first person to fly solo, nonstop across the Atlantic… from East to West. She wrote about it in her memoir, West with the Night. I read her memoir while I was commuting into Boston to my first job after college (hey look! I found an old train ticket in it!) After she’d published it, her ex-husband claimed that he — and not Beryl — […]

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Scrappy Video Content Marketing: What If We Didn’t Try So Hard?

What if we stopped trying quite so hard with our video content marketing? What if we just told our true stories honestly and simply, and with empathy for the very real problems our customers have?  A video from a tiny Arizona startup busts some common myths about using video as part of a content marketing program. There are three other things to love about it, too: 1. The video is script-less—but still it speaks volumes. 2. It sits squarely in the sweet spot of how I define great content, or content that is useful x inspired x empathetic. 3. It’s a great example of how a scrappy attitude and simple execution can be powerful. It’s made me wonder: What if we didn’t try so hard to be amazing and awesome? What if we just spoke from our hearts, with empathy for the real problems we solve? Details on all that

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Honey Maid Takes On Haters, and Now I Want Graham Crackers

A month ago, the graham cracker brand Honey Maid launched a new program that aimed to redefine “wholesome” by telling the stories of interracial, single-parent and gay families. The idea was to align the 90-year-old Honey Maid with a modern yet steadfast narrative on what makes for wholesome. Families might’ve have changed, Honey Maid suggests. But “wholesome” — with both its moral and health connotations — never will. Here’s the original video produced by Honey Maid (which is owned by Mondelez International) and created by Droga5, New York: Accompanying it were longer profiles of real-life families on YouTube, like Jason and Tim — a married couple raising their two sons. Side note: Their lives are pretty pedestrian, and almost boring — like a lot of our perfectly ordinary suburban lives. But that’s precisely the point: The original video, which aired nationally in early March, received lots of public complaints for

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New Year, New You: 3 Things Every Marketer Should Be Doing in 2014

Last week, my MarketingProfs colleague Corey O’Loughlin and I gave a talk on what content-savvy marketers can do in this new year to impress their boss, get ahead of the curve, and tighten their bottom (line). January is, of course, a time of reset and renewal and 2014 resolutions: a time to re-examine your goals, reconsider your tactics, and refocus your content marketing and social media efforts. (January 17th is also the National Ditch Your New Year’s Resolutions Day. But that’s not you, is it? You’re better than that.) The set up was this: Your boss has a vision for what’s important in 2014. (That was me.) You need the tactics to make that happen. (That was Corey.) Together, we delivered ideas you can use to get your content marketing plans in shape and give your social media strategy a makeover. And, for the record, the throwback ’80s fitness photo

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TED Goes Corporate, Best Buy vs. Steve Garfield, a Saddleback Spat: #BMTPPT 3 [Video]

TED launches a pilot project for corporations to produce their own TED events; Tim gets cranky and disagrees with me on Saddleback’s latest video; we call the best PSA of the 2014 (thus far!); and name your best resource for audio/visual help. (Hint: It might be your local Best Buy, but it’s not mine.) All that and more is in this week’s episode of Better Marriage Through PowerPoint (BMTPPT), a weekly YouTube show featuring Tim Washer and me. Check it out: Show notes: 1. The TEDification of corporate events. TED last summer launched pilot programs to produce corporate TED events with corporations — specifically, State Street Bank, Boston Consulting Group, and Intel. Most recently, State Street hosted TED@StateStreet, when about 350 employees met at Boston’s Revere Hotel, where the stage had been set to look like an actual TED conference. TED plans to extend this new service to more businesses, which

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That Funny Saddleback Bag Video: Two Big Things to Love About It and One Thing That Would’ve Made It Even Better

Saddleback Leather Company a few days ago released a snarky “how to” video to reveal shortcuts and tricks to help knock-off manufacturers bypass quality, skimp on materials, and produce a richly inferior product — specifically, the Saddleback briefcase, which starts at $568. There’s so much to love about this funny 12-minute video featuring CEO and founder Dave Munson. But it could use an improvement that would help both this effort and any company looking to create memorable content. The video is a little long, but it’s worth watching: First, let’s talk about what’s excellent: It’s useful, inspired by real data, and it’s hilarious. It’s a brilliant concept: “targeting” counterfeiters while telling a bigger story of what your brand stands for. “If you want to make money knocking off my bag, you’re going to want to know about these materials here.” —Dave Munson First Thing to Love: Flipping “How-To” On Its

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Tell True Stories Well: Hire an Artist

The best content isn’t storytelling. The best content is telling a true story well. It’s a subtle difference. But the creators of the best content of 2013 contemplated not just what story was worth telling, but how to tell it. And one way to do that is to hire an artist. I’m tempted to insert something here about how stories have a remarkable capacity to stir our souls, to connect us, to shape a kind of shared experience. But since you are human, you know that already, right? Increasingly, the best marketing groks that, too, and so this year we’ve seen an incredible abundance of inspired brand storytelling. But we’ve also seen some terrible efforts. Because coming up with your bigger story is (relatively) easy, yet telling a true story in an interesting way “turns out to be about as easy and pleasurable as bathing a cat,” says the writer

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WestJet Christmas Not a Miracle, but a Mindset to Adopt in 2014 #BMTPPT [New Video Series]

What can marketers learn from the WestJet Christmas Miracle video? How can you coax buttoned-up executives to get on board with some playful improv? What’s it mean to give “generous content gifts”? In a special holiday edition of our new show – Better Marriage Through PowerPoint – Tim Washer and I discuss all this and more: A few show highlights follow. 1. A Heartwarming Story Paired With Powerful Brand Storytelling WestJet won Christmas this year, at least from a marketing perspective. WestJet’s Christmas Miracle video — wherein a purple-clad Santa stuns an airplane full of passengers by making their wishes come true — has attracted more than 23 million views on YouTube and plenty of social media love for the small Calgary-based airline. (Had you heard of WestJet before last week? I hadn’t.) Most importantly, the video is completely on-brand with the airline’s bigger story of a fun, friendly, caring

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Humor and B2B Marketing: A Love Story

Business-to-business companies often can’t find a way to fold humor and storytelling into their marketing, because what they sell isn’t… well, funny. Or they think it’s not much of a story. Here’s how one company challenges that assumption. If I were Cisco Systems trying to show how the role of information technology (IT) is changing, I could commission a research-based whitepaper detailing new consumption models brought about by cloud, security, mobility, and programmable networks. I might talk about how that is creating new markets and business models, transforming communication and knowledge sharing, and significantly changing the role of IT. Or… I could tell you a story featuring a real chief information officer sharing in clear, simple language about how she’s using technology to sell more beer to the people who want to buy it. And toss in a few bits of humor and playful improv to give it warmth and

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