The Atomic Blog

5 Takes on the Future of Content Marketing

Wed, 30 Oct 2013 20:34:44 -0400

Atomic’s VP of Digital, Shannon Coulter, was recently asked to speak on a panel hosted by Vidcaster about the future of content marketing. She shares her experience as a content marketer for a solar startup company competing in the super aggressive clean energy space. Shannon assures us that spending money on good content can be the difference between ranking first on Google or not at all.

Click through to hear her story along with the perspective of 4 other industry leaders. http://blog.vidcaster.com/b2b-content-marketing-tips-content-marketer/

Atomic Opens Seattle Office

Tue, 27 Aug 2013 12:51:00 -0400

Atomic has opened an office in Seattle led by SVP Nick Olsson - Read more here: http://www.holmesreport.com/news-info/13756/Graylings-Atomic-Opens-Seattle-Office.aspx

Bulldog recognizes breakthrough Atomic campaign – The one man town of Buford and the power of real estate auction

Fri, 16 Aug 2013 17:09:00 -0400

The one man town of Buford, Wyoming provided the inspiration for a campaign, orchestrated by Atomic, to raise awareness of the benefits of real estate auctions for client Williams & Williams. The campaign produced more than 1,700 media hits from top tier, regional and broadcast outlets including Associated Press, BusinessWeek, NBC Nightly News, CNN, MarketWatch, MSN, NPR, TIME, USA Today and Yahoo! News.

You can read more here: http://bit.ly/19yAY2u

Atomic wins Twitter based review for Aloft Hotels. btw,...

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 13:38:00 -0400

Atomic wins Twitter based review for Aloft Hotels. btw, Atomic’s Spirit Animal is television’s Patrick Duffy.

Why the future of PR looks like the movie Blade Runner

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 19:00:00 -0500

By Andy Getsey
Co-founder

There’s always a lot of discussion about how traditional media will be replaced by digital and social media, how journalist produced content will be replaced by branded and citizen produced content, how PR people will be replaced by some other thing. Much of the discussion makes it sound like a switch will be flipped, and suddenly the whole landscape and everyone in it will be these brand new alternative things.

The evolution of science fiction tells us that this idea is wrong.

The future of PR and advertising is and will actually be more like the future portrayed in the movie BladeRunner. I said so as a panelist last week at PRSA Silicon Valley’s meeting on #thefutureofPR. Thanks to all the folks who re-tweeted my comment.

Here’s why it’s true. This is a bit of a generalization and I chose BladeRunner as a super mainstream film example. Others saw something similar – but didn’t mainstream it so hard. The idea still works.

Before BladeRunner, most sci–fi movies (like Dune or Logan’s Run as popular examples) portrayed the future as all tall crystalline towers, airlocks and Jetson–style flying cars, telepathy, ray guns and all sorts of other fantastical things. More often than not, inexplicably, people in the future wore togas back then. WTF?

Beginning sometime before the release of BladeRunner, the future started being portrayed as a mashup. Some buildings are state of the art, modern fortresses of ultracool design. Next door might be old buildings from year 2000; run down. Some communications are completely corporately sponsored, others are renegade. Some media are super modern, but there are also billboards and blimps. Some people are super modern, with bio enhancements, cool weapons and outlandishly modern hair and fashions. Some are regular people with regular weapons. Others are poor, beaten down, old–fashioned people wearing a variety of raggedy clothes that could be from any era where poor people wore raggedy clothes, and really crappy weapons.

The future of PR is turning out to be more like BladeRunner than Logan’s Run. It’s also turning out to be a lot like the adoption curve of radio, TV, email, social networks, etc. They’re all still here – none have totally replaced the other yet. Each still has their place. But some are ascending in importance; others are receding.

Some agencies and clients have great tech; some don’t. Some clients care, others don’t care as much - yet.

It’s just like that with people. Some are super quants. Some are social media mavens. Some are trans-media story tellers. Some are awesome with bloggers. Some are super good at getting on TV and into the New York Times. Some are good with everything. There’s no complete switchover yet. It’s a mix. And most kinds of people still have their place.

But ultimately, in movies and in life - awesome humans with amazing multi-situational skills and advanced weapons are the ones who usually make it into the sequels.

Agree? Disagree? Message me @andygetsey, or email me: andy(at)atomicpr(dot)com.

Also, if you’re interested in being in the sequel – we’re hiring :-)

Skills future PR people will need

Thu, 07 Feb 2013 12:58:00 -0500

By Andy Getsey
Co-founder, Atomic
Feb 7, 2013

I was invited to talk at a round table discussion last night about the Future of PR sponsored by PRSA Silicon Valley. The panel was moderated by Steve Barrett, Editor in Chief of PR Week and included David Swain, director of technology comms for Facebook, Kelly MCGinnis, VP comms for Dell, Burghardt Tendrich, formerly Text 100 and Bite, now associate professor at USC’s Annenberg School of Communications and Journalism. And me. Here’s a mashup of my thoughts, and those of the panel and audience - about the critical skills PR practitioners need to acquire as the field advances.

Excellent writing and storytelling skills. More than ever, good thinking, writing and storytelling skills are critical. Brands are now self-publishing all sorts of content, the journalistic media world is more hard pressed for time and bandwidth, and these core professional communications skills are getting more important. Still, many people in the audience feel that people with these critical talents are harder to find than ever.

A healthy understanding of how powerful “traditional” media really are, still. It’s popular among many of the digerati, as well as many social marketers (both groups to which I belong) to propel the idea that traditional media don’t matter any more (a myth I don’t support). Our agency has monitored and analyzed every campaign we’ve ever done over a twelve year period, and I can tell you that we have never had even one single instance where a client’s web site has crashed because of traffic generated exclusively from online buzz. We have dozens and dozens of client sites crash from traffic generated by exposure in traditional media. Sure, their business models are under siege in many cases, but their ability to deliver massive audiences and persuasive impact is still real.

Transmedia skills. People with bright intellect, solid experience, good writing skills, and solid media expertise are always in demand. Add social media, SEO, graphic design, video production, event production and other skills and you are going to another level. If you know how to tell stories and engage audiences in various ways, written, visual, experiential, through search returns, media, social etc, you can write your own ticket. Since the lines between PR and advertising are blurring a bit at the edges – a stint working at an ad or digital agency wouldn’t hurt you either.

Branding expertise. Most of us in PR feel we understand branding, but it’s actually a bit more of a formal discipline than many PR people like to think. Future PR pros will be wise to have some formal education in branding. A good way to get it, especially for students, is to take courses and intern at a pure branding consultancy. For others, there are a number of great books, books on tape and videos about what a brand is and how brands are managed. PR work gets better when it’s informed with a knowledge of the principles of branding that CMOs work with every day. Lack of real understanding shows.

Business savvi-ness. As communicators, we’d all like a place at the table in the C-suite. But business is the language of the C-suite, and we need to understand business in general, the specifics of the client or employer business at hand, and specifically how various communications strategies, programs or events might or will impact the business itself. We need to be able to counsel C-level execs at this level to provide real value at the table. Too many practitioners lead with pure PR- or publicity-driven thinking. Business education or hands-on management experience is usually what it takes to build the knowledge needed to succeed at the table with the C-people.

Sophisticated knowledge of and application of analytics for planning, consulting and program measurement. Most of the conversation about analytics in our industry is about reporting in order to defend the value of programs. Or it’s about listening in on social conversations. That same basic focus was in effect at the PRSA event. There is actually so much more value in applying analytics to forward strategy and planning, in addition to simple listening and reporting. With the volume of noise and data increasing dramatically across all channels, practitioners can elevate their skills considerably by becoming educated in a variety of communications analytics, statistical principles, and especially how to apply analytics and insights to strategy and planning. Don’t just justify to senior execs – lead!

Aggressive curiosity. The industry is changing so fast that we will all do ourselves a big favor by being boundlessly curious, and stretching beyond what we know to acquire broader knowledge, more skills and a wider network. Don’t settle into a groove.

Is the future easier for PR professionals? I’m afraid the answer is no. the present and future are becoming more complicated and demanding. But as a PR professional that started in the industry just as the landscape and dynamics got way more complicated, I can tell you that for those that possess innate curiosity, drive, the willingness to master new skills and adopt new perspectives as the industry evolves, PR and social media offer an incredibly interesting and rewarding career.

What do you think? Ping me at andy(at)atomicpr.com, or @andygetsey on Twitter.

National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Selects Atomic for 75th Anniversary of March Madness Campaign

Thu, 13 Sep 2012 16:35:00 -0400

PR Week announced this week that the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has hired Atomic to develop a campaign that will help the players, the teams and of course, the fans, celebrate 75 years of March Madness.

“We see it as an amazing opportunity to expand March Madness beyond just the people who know the tournament,” said Libby Langsdorf, VP and MD of Atomic’s New York office.

Atomic will “help consumers and the general public see all of the work that the NCAA does in communities, schools, and with players and coaches throughout the year that culminates in the March Madness tournament,” said Langsdorf.

In a statement, NCAA representatives said Atomic was hired to “leverage its creativity, media relations, social expertise and clever use of analytics to get the most out of” the campaign.

The campaign will start now and last through the 2013 Final Four next April. Atomic will handle media relations to sports, business, trade and consumer lifestyle outlets.

New in Social: Facebook Stories and Reblorg!

Tue, 14 Aug 2012 12:12:07 -0400

A few weeks ago, Facebook launched its most recent project, Facebook Stories, which draws from the experiences of everyday users to populate an online magazine at FacebookStories.com. Each month, the social platform chooses a particular theme and invites the public to submit personal stories related to it. The best stories are showcased on the site and accompanied by an infographic relevant to the theme. August’s topic is “remembering.”

(via FacebookStories.com)

Hot on the trail of Facebook, Tumblr just announced the launch of its latest endeavor, Reblorg. The page has a whole different flavor, complete with off-beat .gifs, videos and images. In order to land a spot on Reblorg, users must submit brand new, original work. So far, there are flying hotdogs, epic Devo/Karate Kid collages and plenty of cheeseburgers.

(via Reblorg.com)

Both sites take advantage of the cool stuff people generate in their day-to-day lives and how social media makes this creation possible and shareable. And, of course, both sites stand to gain from doing so. For starters, Facebook is looking to soften its image in the public eye after getting flack for being loosey-goosey with members’ privacy settings. On the flipside, Tumblr is battling the perception that many of its users don’t produce original content.

I like the idea of Facebook showing a fuller picture of how its platform can serve users in more meaningful ways than alerting people of their friends’ status updates. If Facebook Stories takes off, it could establish the social network as a global publisher that gives a voice to people from across the world. Of the two, I’m actually more excited about Reblorg. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, it’s easy to get involved with and it’s a total free-for-all. Sounds like ideal conditions for some pretty kooky creations.

Digg Is Back—Should You Forgive It?

Wed, 01 Aug 2012 17:39:00 -0400

I remember attending a Digg Nation with my ex girlfriend – girlfriend at the time – about three years ago and seeing the absolute pandemonium in the crowd. Fast forward to about a month ago, and it was amazing to see the snickering and mocking taking place when it was announced that Digg was being sold for much, much, MUCH less than what it was once valued at. People had been so turned off by version 4.0, that the site nearly died.

But Digg is back. And it’s got some interesting ideas. Before they re-launched, they solicited feedback from users and one simply said, “build something awesome, the internet is rooting for you.” (Source: The Verge)

Betaworks, the company that bought and re-launched Digg is calling it v1 and it is entirely built on new code. So much is new that they didn’t have time to put in a commenting system!

But there’s still a lot to admire. It’s a lot more image heavy and there is an editorial staff helping to curate stories. And for the time being—no ads, no sponsored posts, etc.

The redesign looks very modern and similar to a lot of popular news reading sites. Their iPhone app also allows you to save stories to read later (like when you’re underground and can’t access your 3G/4G).

Apparently, reviews are mixed amongst users—except online marketers and spammers who hate it. Which, honestly, has to be a good thing. (Source: The Verge)

I decided to sign up for the daily email that will send me top Digg stories since I can’t seem to find an RSS feed. And their Twitter handle doesn’t tweet every story on there. (I know—I’m old school in that I rely on Google Reader so much.) Time will tell if I’ll revisit the site often and since I have plenty to do on my morning commute, I didn’t download the iPhone app.

But has anyone else tried out the new Digg yet? If so… leave your thoughts below in the comments. (Because at least we’ve got a commenting system.)

What PR Professionals Can Take Away from the AP’s New Social Media Guidelines

Tue, 24 Jul 2012 14:44:00 -0400

by Alan Danzis

When starting at a new company, it’s becoming increasingly common practice for employees to agree to and sign a set of social media guidelines—especially at PR firms and media companies. Social media remains a critical communications tool for both groups, but as the line between professional and personal continues to blur, these guidelines must continue to be refreshed.

The Associated Press revised their social media guidelines today. Below are some of the more interesting parts of their guidelines and how that policy, if implemented similarly at PR firms could and would impact employees’ social media lives.

“We recommend having one account per network that you use both personally and professionally.”

While it’s not a policy I personally follow, it’s one I respect. If PR professionals choose to not go this route, they must make sure they use the hashtag #client whenever talking about a client—and they should try to avoid only talking about clients, unless they’ve got that separate professional Twitter account.

“A retweet with no comment of your own can easily be seen as a sign of approval of what you’re relaying. However, we can judiciously retweet opinionated material if we make clear we’re simply reporting it, much as we would quote in a story.”

“It is acceptable to extend and accept Facebook friend requests from sources, politicians and newsmakers if necessary for reporting purposes and to follow them on Twitter. However, friending and “liking” political candidates or causes may created perception among people unfamiliar with the protocol of social networks that AP staffers are advocates. Therefore, staffers should try to make this kind of contact with figures on both sides of controversial issues.”

This is something PR professionals have to contend with on a regular basis. In competitive monitoring for our clients, it’s extraordinarily important we see what they’re doing on social media. On Facebook, for instance, we have to like the page of our competitors in order to get the regular updates. But isn’t a like an automatic implied acknowledge of our feelings towards that brand to all our friends? While it’s unlikely that most would care, a reporter who I’m Facebook friends with could leave a snarky comment when he sees, for example, I liked Panasonic, even though I work on Samsung. Where possible, it’s probably best to hide/delete those kinds of updates where possible from our timeline and avoid calling attention to them.

“AP managers should not issue friend requests to subordinates. It’s fine if employees want to initiate the friend process with their bosses or other managers.”

This is a sticky issue to be sure. I’ve both friended my bosses in the past and had them do it vice versa. I’ve never truly had an issue with it, but have encountered many colleagues that do. This is a smart policy for the AP, and similarly should be recommended for PR professionals and reporters. While I’m Facebook friends with a number of reporters, I for the most part did not initiate the process—they did. This does not need to apply to Twitter, however, since that’s an important tool for monitoring what reporters cover on a regular basis and it’s something they expect.

“Be mindful of competitive and corporate issues as you post links; we compete vigorously with other news organizations…”

Also good policy for PR professionals. Don’t comment on competitors in public—either positively or negatively.

“You must never simply lift quotes, photos or video from social networking sites and attribute them to the name on the profile or feed where you found the material. Most social media sites offer a way to send a message to a user; use this to establish direct contact, over email or by phone, so you can get more detailed information about the source … Twitter’s verification process has been fooled, meaning we should still do our own checking with the newsmaker. The same goes for verified Google Plus pages…”

Good to know that the AP is instituting this policy, as it relates to company spokespeople. Still a good idea to make sure all spokespeople know to watch what they say on social media, since not every media outlet will have the same policy.

“If you believe a tweet should be deleted, contact a Nerve Center manager to discuss the situation.”

Smart move since even after you delete a tweet, you can’t stop all the RTs. Just as important as the deletion is the apology, and that’s something companies don’t often think through in the rush to delete something offensive or troubling, as was seen with this Aurora related-tweet on Friday.

Atomic Opens Orange County Office

Wed, 23 May 2012 00:00:00 -0400

(photo source)

Atomic has expanded its Southern California regional presence with a new office in Orange County.

The office is headed by Vice President Krys Card Grondorf, a senior Orange County PR executive who joined Atomic from Citizen Paine, (formerly Paine PR), where she managed PR and social programs for a number of top consumer and technology brands including Procter & Gamble, Kraft Foods, Aflac, Sony Electronics and others. Previously, Krys was director of the entertainment technology practice at Los Angeles agency Bender/Helper Impact where she managed accounts including Sony Pictures Digital Entertainment, Dolby Labs, LG Mobile, NXN Software (acquired by Avid), Discreet (acquired by Autodesk), and others.

Jennifer Olson, veteran Atomic director, rounds out Atomic’s Orange County management team and additional regional firepower is provided by Atomic’s 18-person Los Angeles office, led by Senior Vice President, Rachel Rogers.

“Atomic is a world-class PR and social media firm with a unique approach and a strong pedigree with consumer and technology brands,” said Rick Sharga, president of the Technology Council of Southern California. “Atomic offers an interesting new option to Orange County brands looking for a fresh perspective.”

Atomic also has offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, London and Munich.

Atomic client Cozi a finalist in SABRE awards!

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Congrats to our client Cozi for being named a finalist in the Holmes Report SABRE awards in the “Publicity Stunt” category!

Cozi lets families “get their ducks in a row” by providing shared calendars, shopping lists, and to-do lists to help them get organized. With that in mind, they put over 17,000 ducks in a row - stretching a full mile - and set a Guinness World Record for the logest line of ducks ever.

Check out the stunt on the TODAY Show.

Atomic in Top 20 Firms Nationwide

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0400

O’Dwyer’s ranked 127 firms by revenue and Atomic is in the Top 20 of firms nationwide. With total revenues of $15MM and 35% growth in 2011, we’re also among the fastest growing agencies on the list. Great job to the entire Atomic and H3O teams!

Worldwide Fees of Top Independent PR Firms With Major U.S. Operations - O’Dwyer’s

Atomic is the #5 tech firm in the US, and among fastest growing firms

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0400

With billings over $12MM and yearly growth of 35% in 2011 Atomic has taken the #5 spot in O’Dwyer’s ranking of tech PR firms. As quoted in the article, our co-founder and CEO Andy Getsey says the firm’s growth in 2011 was due to its “broadening, creative and effective use of analytics as well as the launch of sister agency H3O Communications, which billed $2 million on it’s own, bringing Atomic ‘family’ revenue close to $15 million.

"These two things led to a string of tech and consumer tech wins by both firms, kicked off by McAfee and Sony early in the year, and a growing number of pure consumer assignments from brands like Bertazzoni and Cabot Creamery going into the end of the year," he said.

Great job to the entire Atomic and H3O teams, and looking forward to a strong 2012!

Read the full article here

Profile of a Facebook Fan - SXSW Edition

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0400

SXSW Interactive wraps up today and music is just beginning, but what do the 200,000 people who like SXSW on Facebook prefer? Our client Swaylo, which measured influence in social media, analyzed the fans of SXSW on Facebook and we put together this infographic based on that data.

Click the image to view it large on Wired!

Who is talking about South by Southwest (SxSW)?

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0500

This post was authored by Melanie Wong of Atomic Digital

With a good chunk of SxSW attendees traveling today, we were curious to see how social media represents them - where they’re coming from, what they’re talking about, etc.

For those who are unfamiliar, South By Southwest Interactive (SxSWi) is an event taking place in March focusing on emerging technology. The conference is often credited for helping launch startups, including household names like Twitter and Foursquare.

This year five of our Atomiccons will be headed to SxSWi — tweet @atomicpr to find us!

As expected, an overwhelming majority (92%) of conversation regarding SxSW occurs on Twitter. In the past 3 months, there has been a predictable spike of organic conversation circulating around SxSW.

Also, sentiment seems to stay healthy in the 91% favorability level(meaning 91% of content mentioning SxSW interactive is considered positive) Negative comments are from Austin locals remarking on the huge influx of visitors taking up lines at bars.

In terms of demographic, conversation is split somewhat between Texas, California, andNew York. It makes sense, seeing that a majority of tech startups are based in either NY or SF and the event is being housed in TX.

So, amongst the Texans that are speaking about SxSW, who are they? What are they saying? A word cloud and age demographic chart below shows the following:

"Best", "Free", "Band" and "Party" all make the list understandably. However, we are also seeing results like "Courtesy" and "Check" — signifying a source of advice and information is coming from young locals looking to share expertise on their hometown and what to do during SxSW. A large majority of Texan tweeters and bloggers are around the 21-35 age range.

If we take a look at what the visitors are saying…

We are seeing a definite similar set of words in the word cloud regarding the positive mentions (free, great, know). However, we’re also seeing a larger percentage of 21-35 year olds talking about SxSW as well (67% versus 62%)

Tailored Searches and Filter Bubbles

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Here’s a little trick to try at home. Pick a topic, any topic. Let’s say, “Greece.” Now, both you and a friend Google it at the same time and compare results. You might be surprised to find how differently they turn out. This is the magic of tailored searches.

As you type away in that unassuming search bar, Google is taking into account a multitude of factors, from your chosen web browser to your past Internet behaviors, in order to generate a list of results that would be most relevant to you. Facebook is using similar algorithms to populate your newsfeeds. That means what you’re seeing isn’t all there is to see, just what aligns with your interests.

In a time when frictionless sharing and tailored searches are the way to go, Eli Pariser argues against the system and warns that it will inevitably trap us in a filter bubble. As he aptly puts it, “The Internet is showing us what it thinks we want to see, but not necessarily what we need to see.” Meaning you might be seeing a lot more lolcats than world news.

A recent Adweek article also touched on the pitfalls of frictionless sharing. With an Internet model driven by tailored searches and information distribution, people are more likely to miss out on what JWT CEO David Eastman terms “human moments of discovery.” The “A-ha!” moments that come with finding compelling new sites or products will be fewer and farther between and the masses will not be too keen on giving those up. In fact, findings from a recent survey show that although 7 out of 10 participants found tailored information helpful, 8 out of 10 would prefer seeing unfiltered information.

So, frictionless sharing…is it too much of a good thing?

Watch Eli Pariser’s TED Talk here
Read Adweek article on “frictionless sharing” here

Social Media Week in NYC & SF

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Atomicons will be at a number of events this week for the global distributed conference Social Media Week, one of us will even be speaking at one. Here’s some highlights we plan to check out…

- NYC -

The Internet and Power: Sopa, Twitter Censorship and Who We Can Trust To Protect Us
Tuesday 2/14, 2:00-3:30 EST

When new legislation threatened some of the biggest sites on the Internet, the Internet fought back. Though SOPA & PIPA have been withdrawn for now, there’s no doubt that, in some form and some day soon, they’ll be back. Are lawmakers informed enough to craft laws that both protect copyright owners and allow the Internet to prosper - including sites like Twitter, YouTube & Tumblr?

Deep Focus Presents: An Evening of “Connectedness”
Tuesday 2/14, 6:00-8:00 EST

The evening will be an insightful exploration of how connectedness is changing the worlds of advertising, content, journalism, and civilizations — and why it represents the next evolution of humanity. This event will feature talks on how being connected to more people, more content, more data, and more information than ever before is not only evolving business and commerce, but culture and humanity as well.

Collaborative Storytelling: Transmedia and Social Media
Thursday 2/16, 3:00-5:00 EST

With an interactive introduction to this new form of storytelling, a panel of creators gets down to brass tacks on how exactly the form works, how it enhances collaboration and innovation platforms, and what it means for the future of entertainment, activism, marketing, branding and business.

- SF -

Keynote: Social Technology & Analytics
Tuesday 2/14, 9:00-9:50 PST

VP of Emerging Technologies at IBM will be covering social technology, analytics and ways to manipulate tools to fit in with KPIs and campaigns.

Digital Storytelling: Influence and Successful Brand Engagement, plus Social Media Mixer
Wednesday 2/15, 6:00-9:00 PST

In an environment that rewards speed, continuity and flexibility, social media has transformed advertising campaigns and the metrics that define their success. We’ll show off case studies and best practices from leading agencies and brands, along with the analytics that proved out their success and delighted their clients.

AAU Major Mingle
Thursday 2/16, 655 ½ Sutter, 7:00-9:00pm PST

I’ll be speaking on a panel at my alma matter, the Academy of Art University, on working with folks from other majors and career paths to extend your skillset, build your network, and ultimately strengthen one’s output. Nothing exists in a vacuum, and that’s even more true now that “integrated” campaigns and projects are becoming the norm.

Keynote: How our social circles influence what we do, where we go, how we decide
Thursday 2/16, 9:00-9:50am PST

The people around us are our workaround solution to the increasing amount of choice, and the increasing amount of available information, in our world. Paul Adams, Global Brand Experience Manager at Facebook, will share stories about how people we are close to, and people we’ve never met, may or may not influence us, and explain how norms learned from people’s local culture impact how much they can be influenced.

Building Momentum for the Game Console of the Web
Friday 2/17, 5:00-5:30pm PST

Diana from Adobe Systems will discuss how Adobe has leveraged social media by working with partners like Epic, Rovio, and Zynga as well as indie game developers to amplify its unique position in social and casual gaming.

The Super Bowl in Social Media

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500

After the defeat of the New England Patriots on Super Bowl Sunday, we are left to wonder: How many people were left cursing at the TV and how many were ecstatic?

Of the 13.7 million tweets that were broadcasted over the 5 hours of the game, we took a look at what was being said about the Patriots and the Giants during the past 14 days (Jan 23 - Feb 7) to get a taste of how tweets were buzzing before, during, and after the big game. Here’s what we found:

New England Patriots

When looking at social buzz by geography across states, we noticed a large number of tweets came from California, Florida, and Texas despite being far from teams’ home states of New York and Massachusetts. We wondered why far away states were so participatory; one insight was that Patriots fans tend to travel or move away from their home states, yet maintain a loyalty to where they once lived. This is everything from born and raised locals to those who attended one of the many colleges in the Boston area and caught a case of Pats fever. In the case of Florida, it is also helped along by the old stereotype of New England / East Coast transplants rooting for (or against) the Pats.

Beyond the qualitative assessment, states like CA, TX, and FL have very high populations. The three states account for the 1st, 2nd, and 4th most populous states respectively. This will heavily skew the share of voice to those states on a national level, and with the Super Bowl representing such a wide cross section of the US it’s not too surprising to see the social buzz density closely mirror population density across the country.

A staggering 45% of tweets mentioning the Patriots are positive despite their loss, outpacing the positive sentiment of the NY Giants by six percentage points. Why the better sentiment despite their loss? It’s due to a number of factors, everything from people congratulating the Pats after a tough loss to those venting anger toward the NY Giants and thus skewing their sentiment more negative. Also, with the Giants as underdogs in Super Bowl XLVI (just like the last Giants/Pats matchup in XLII), positive predictions in the Pats favor ahead of the game helped to push their score higher.

New York Giants

Where the Pats geographical buzz density was more evenly distributed, the Giants saw a notably higher concentration coming from New York vs. other areas in the US. Combined with the Giants’ lower sentiment score this tells us a few things.

First, the Pats have been one of the dominant teams in the league for over a decade, where the Giants were an underdog this year, just as they were the last time these two teams met in the Super Bowl. Add to this the Giants stopping the Pats in Super Bowl XLII and it’s clear that NY state saw a severe case of Giants fever erupting on social channels this year as fans hoped for - and received - another victory against New England.

Second, where the Pats enjoyed a more even buzz distribution and more positive sentiment nationwide, the Giants clearly showed a hometown team. Everything from casual observers expecting a Pats victory to jaded San Franciscans who watched the 49ers lose to the rival Giants in overtime (…ahem…) made the Giants a less favorable team, however at home they clearly had a fanatical and loyal base of fans cheering them on.

Buzz Volume

Over our 14-day sample period, the Giants buzz was larger in volume compared to the Patriots by quite a large margin considering the sample size. With a ten point spread in buzz volume and the huge skew to NY state in terms of geographical distribution, the hometown fans were leading the charge with a vengeance, however the sentiment skew shows that at a national level the Pats were the more positively viewed team. Overall, the buzz surrounding the Giants outpaced New England throughout the sample period, just as the Giants would ultimately outpace New England in the game.

This post was co-authored by Sean Mulholland and Melanie Wong of Atomic Digital.

Atomic Cost of Waiting Survey program for client TOA Technologies plugged on David Letterman and Conan O'Brien

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0500

It turns out that “waiting for the cable guy” costs the American workforce nearly $38 billion every year in lost time? That’s what TOA (Time of Arrival) Technologies’ 3rd annual Cost of Waiting Survey found. And Atomic conceived and designed the program.

Last week, this staggering statistic caught the attention of both David Letterman and Conan O’Brian. The late night show hosts both opened their respective monologues with references to the report, bringing national consumer attention to the survey’s findings and TOA’s solution to the “cable guy problem.”

TOA Technologies' software is used by cable companies and other providers to cut the wait-time window they offer customers and accurately predict in-home appointment arrival times for many global brands, including Cox Communications, Arhaus Furniture and Virgin Media. Its technology touches the lives of millions of Americans, but most consumers don't really think of the cable and delivery guy past their current service appointment.

So, how did Atomic get TOA, a business-to-business mobile workforce software company from Cleveland widespread attention from a slew of major national broadcast, print and outline outlets?

TOA came to Atomic nearly three years ago with the goal of obtaining more media awareness in consumer press, as well as business and trade outlets. Atomic’s strategic recommendation: focus on bigger picture consumer problems and answer the fundamental question: How much does all this waiting really cost customers and companies?

The first national Cost of Waiting Survey generated 18 pieces of media coverage in 2009, mostly in trade press. The following year Atomic expanded research to include the UK and Germany, while modifying the questions to hone in on popular themes from 2009 and identify new trends. Program materials included more in-depth reports, infographics and a video. US coverage grew 83% from the previous year — especially in the consumer space, with more than 30 media placements.

This year Atomic expanded markets to include Brazil, an emerging cable market, and engaged with IBOPE Zogby to help identify trends in the customer service space and reevaluate the survey questions, leveraging benchmarks of relevant statistics from previous years.

The 2011 findings gave Atomic the opportunity for a NYC media tour with TOA’s CEO, Yuval Brisker, who hosted pre-briefings with Fortune, CNN Money and Reuters. The tour and all messaging highlighted 3 key trends: social media’s impact on the space, the shorter fuse and higher expectations of customers across the board, and the need for a human element in customer service. Atomic’s focus on top-tier media and trade press generated coverage by media influencers and national outlets, including Good Morning America, TIME Magazine, Business Insider, CNBC and the Huffington Post. To date, the survey has generated 88 pieces of media coverage in the US alone, a 193% increase over last year and 360% more coverage than the first report.

The Cost of Waiting conversation continues to cycle, with Twitter mentions surpassing last weekend’s traditional and online news coverage and many of the national articles spurring strong opinions from readers, generating at least 30 comments per article. By elevating TOA’s differentiators and business model within key media interviews, the news cycle began to build into a problem and solution conversation — highlighting TOA’s business model and how they solve a frequent consumer need.

From Conan O’Brian to USA Today, more than 110 million people have read, watched or listened to news on TOA’s Cost of Waiting 2011 survey. That’s more than 1/36 of the world’s population — which is another stat we’re thinking of emailing to Letterman’s producers.