Much of the charm of this effective cause pr video for the Marin County California School District is due to its simplicity, but there’s nothing simple about the concept, great graphic design or production quality. The quick pace and easy to follow graphics are perfectly on target, delivering a powerful message on the importance of public education in a budget challenged environment. Bonus points for a soundtrack that taps into Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring for emotional nudge.
Whether you define social media as the 20th century spanned by two phones hooked together by copper wire or a bluetooth keyboard tapping out a tweet that ends up as smart phone text in the 21st, success with the medium begins with understanding the process.
Social Fresh Attendance by Category
Which is exactly where Social Fresh has landed on the map of the Continental United States. I was able to gain critical insight from some of the best in the business when Tampa played host to their multi-stop tour in February, promoted across the social media spectrum by founder Jason Keath (@jasonkeath) as the answer to marketers in various “underserved cities” wailing at the “How does all this stuff work?” wall of confusion.
The 1-2 day conference objectives are teaching marketeers – ad shops, pr firms, corporate communication staffers, philanthropic agencies – first the basics, then expanded specifics of invoking social media in its various forms. Facebook and twitter first, augmented by late breaking news in the app and cloudware departments later.
more than who had what for lunch
The chart above shows the typical conference breakdown of attendees by channel, and is indicitive of the broad interest among corporations, marketeers, government, non-profits and others in learning how social media communication strategies can be applied across markets. Social Fresh brings in a full slate of new media stars to shine in a venue that’s part camp meeting, part Mary Kay convention, where they’re free to serve up advice and instruction on the best ways for an audience of mostly pilgrams to navigate a landscape where there’s still no road map. It’s a job for experts, and Social Fresh delivers.
You can view more on the evolution of social media here.
But can it sing? Judging by the handout highlights, it’s pretty clear we’ve moved well beyond desktop publishing. When I joined two dozen or so other invitation only attendees in Orlando April 5 for an Adobe technology sneak peek, bets at the $2 window were on a new full version Creative Suite release. Instead, a recalibrated release timetable was rolled out along with a CS5 dot-five version upgrade, company insight into areas of major focus, and a show and tell review of CS5’s major product (mainly Photoshop) improvements.
it slices, it dices, all very well
The two-hour session, held in an anteroom at the Seaworld Renaissance Orlando, was hosted by Scott Morris, Senior Director of Product Marketing, and Noha Edell, Senior Solutions Engineer, in a tag-team format of feature highlights and live how-to demos. Message of the day? An almost urgent awareness of the importance attached to serving content to mobile platforms; the role of metrics as the company extends channels (Omniture and hosted services); and a clarifying ceasefire in the Adobe-Apple Flash On-Flash Off Mobile War. Continue reading →
