Seth Godin spreads stories, wears them.

June 30, 2008July 31, 2021 / Angelo Fernando / 1 Comment

Seth Godin plays with words. He practically owns the phrase “permission marketing” but now has a better way of describing the lack of it – “TV thinking.” He makes fun of YAA (yet another acronym), but isn’t averse to throwing in his own: BA, DA and AA. They stand for Before Advertising, During .. you get the idea.

But it’s not just his words and his books –with funky titles (Purple Cow, Meatball Sundae) — that etch their way into the marketing lexicon, but his delivery and style.

So when Seth told a packed room of communicators at the IABC conference last week to pull up their socks to face ‘the new industrial revolution,’ he got their attention. He put it bluntly that “communicators have trained people to ignore their message,” and “no one built the internet for you!” You can’t fight clutter by adding more of it. It’s more important to be storytellers, not messengers or interrupters he says.

You can’t bend the internet to suit your story, he went on. You have to play to a different set of rules –the rules set by Google, and bloggers, and ordinary people uploading videos like that of a Comcast technician who fell asleep on a customer’s couch. It means building something remarkable, and finding a way to get others to spread your stories.

To illustrate, Seth pulled up the cuffs of his pants to reveal his brightly colored socks that happened to be mismatched. They are from a company called Little Missmatched that gives kids –and keynote speakers — permission to express themselves and thereby spread the story. We didn’t get a chance to ask any questions because he was off and running. But it’s safe to assume Seth is telling their story over and over again, on his dime, to his audience.

As a backgrounder to his presentation, you could listen to a pre-conference podcast of Seth interviewed by John C. Havens on BlogTalkRadio.

These information panels tell a story

June 26, 2008June 27, 2008 / Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

How do you organize information? Once you do that, what kind of story does it tell your audience?

I visited The New York Times‘ building yesterday to check out what’s they call the ‘Movable Type‘ display in the lobby. Couldn’t help noticing the new building since my hotel was just a few blocks from this modern steely landmark. (The stunt a few weeks ago gave me even more reason to visit, although the panels were the real draw.) It takes the old idea of lead-based movable type and interprets it for the digital world where type is on the move, in and out of people’s lives.

The fluorescent panels at the Times building are stunning in their simplicity, considering the complex technology behind them. They are constantly being updated with bits of information coursing through the veins of the news organization -snippets of letters to the editor, comments on blogs, obituaries, headlines, search queries, sports results, politics…

For the past few weeks I have been photographing information panels -the analog, the dynamic, the sombre, and the marketing kind. Below are some of them:

The first is at Penn Station, NY, the second is from the Apple store on 5th Avenue, and the third is a section of the panels at The New York Times. Or take this fourth panel, made of granite. It is one section of the highly charged 246-foot Vietnam Memorial in Washington, DC.

It is not just a list of fallen soldiers. The names are organized according to the day they lost their lives, with a legend next to each name so that a family member, or someone who served at that time could get a broader story.

The design of the wall itself is rich in meaning. It’s impossible to not be moved when you look at each name and read into it your own version of the story. If you look close, you’ll notice the panel reflects the Washington Memorial.

New York Times, reporting on how people are adopting Barack Obama’s middle name to counter those who are using it in a negative way.

Fast Company article on the power of Twitter, highlighting Tweets from Robert Scoble’s Tweetstream.

Robert Fronk, senior VP-senior consultant, reputation strategy, at Harris Interactive.

Derek LaVallee, VP-U.S. public affairs practice at Waggener Edstrom, on research showing digital media preference of 18-35 year olds.

A mashup of a name for a webinar (which itself is a mashup) and conversations talking place via Twitter before, during and after a webinar, attributed to Chris Brogan.

Headline for a story in USA Today, about Louiville, Florida police opening a text messaging tip line for teens to report crime.

Mitch Joel, on a cautionary note about how people in an organization embracing social media should not expect others to have the same passion for it.

Seth Godin, final keynote, at the IABC Conference, New York

Steve Crescenzo on Corporate Blogging, at the IABC Conference, New York

Barbara Gibson, Incoming chair of IABC, at the IABC Conference, New York

Doug Wotherspoon, on the dangers of ‘greenwashing,’ at the IABC Conference, New York

John Deveney, on Building Credibility, at the IABC Conference, New York

Carol Sapriel, on Crisis Management, at the IABC Conference, New York