Personal Life Media

Episode 67: John Zogby, Preeminent Pollster on The American Dream, Retail Politics and the Value Chasm

Meet John Zogby, head of the eponymous research and polling firm whose clients comprise an exhaustive list of the top news firms including Reuters, C-Span, NBC, the NY Times, and Fox. John is a spot-on predictor of consumer sentiments and in addition to tracking the upcoming 2008 elections has just release his new book, "The Way We'll Be: The Zogby Report on the Transformation of the American Dream."

John's father, a Lebanese immigrant, believed devoutly in the American Dream. Now John chronicles the change in our values and our lives in America with his fascinating market insights. Learn how Zogby redefines the moral majority into two fascinating sectors: the Traditional Materials and the Secular Spiritualists. Hear how he typifies life in the first decade of the 21st Century. Get his cut on age-based market segmentation by comparing the Boomers, Jones, GenX and Millennials to how he groups his Private Generation, the Woodstocks, Nikes and First Globals.

Market opportunities abound, if you just understand the consumer's psyche. The American public is striving for authentic relationships, not just at home but with their politicians and their products. Suz and John talk about authenticity, personality and how to speak to American consumers in today's connected society.

Tune in to the man who has been spoofed on NPR's "All Things Considered", by Jay Leno on "The Tonight Show" and by David Letterman on the "Late Show." Or catch his clip where Jon Stewart and John Zogby are goofing together on "The Daily Show." Sure to give you new ways to consider your customers, this is a big-picture episode underscored with the data-points that make it so.  

Episode 66: Justin Smith, Inside Facebook on Drinking from the Watercooler, Talking Smack and the Beauty of eBooks

Meet Justin Smith, editor of "Inside Facebook," the biggest blog covering social media marketing and app development and author of my favorite ebook ever, "The Facebook Marketing Bible." Justin, in his spare time (as he's one of those Silicon Valley Brilliants who can multi-task with technical precision) also heads up product strategy for Watercooler, one of the Top 10 social media apps developers focusing on sports and entertainment. 

You'll want to sit in front of your computer with Facebook loaded up as Justin gives you a virtual audio tour of Facebook for marketers and guerilla self-branders. Learn what new ad models are emerging for marketers through the new Facebook design. Get Justin's highly-educated opinion about the best opportunities for brands on Facebook which include integrated home page ads, video ads with commenting and best uses for News Feed ads and marketer's pages.  If you are a "web celebrity" you can learn more about pimping yourself on Facebook with some of Justin's guerilla Facebook self-promotion strategies.

Justin offers advice about building and maintaining applications and widgets and some estimates of the cost of producing one. He also categorizes the app development companies into buckets we can wrap our marketing-hatted heads around. Suz also asks his opinion about how open to be about your personal life in the social web and what's next on the social media horizon. The future is plastics. No, wait! It's Facebook Connect. Hear why on this detailed episode where Justin's breadth of social media marketing experience is eclipsed only by his amazing ability to explain these complex issues (think "opportunities") beautifully.

Episode 65: Ellen Siminoff, CEO of Shmoop on Homework Helpers, The State of SEM and Being a Great Board Member

Meet Ellen Siminoff, famous for creating Efficient Frontier, one of the largest independent search agencies in the world. She's now on to her next start up, Shmoop, a free online homework and writing helper for high school and college students. Hear Ellen talk about growing a company from a team of eight to over two hundred employees in a few short years. Get her uber-perspective on the state of the SEM industry from when she started eFrontier to now when she's more removed from the day to day and operating as Chairman of the company.

Benefit from Ellen's advice on how to get acquired if you are a facile start up interested in being bought by a larger, corporate entity. This is excellent counsel from one of Yahoo!'s original founding executives who ran both business development and corporate development in the initial go-go years of the web. And then gain some deep exposure to Ellen's perspective on what it takes to be a truly excellent board of directors or board of advisors member. Ellen "shmoops" or "moves things forward" in this fast-paced, advice-packed episode from a very impressive, savvy business executive.

Episode 64: Sean Cheyney: 21st Century Marketer, Scrabble Aficionado and Multi-Variate Mad Scientist

Meet Sean Cheyney, VP Marketing and Business Development for Chicago-based insurance broker, AccuQuote.com. Sean shares the intricacies of his success increasing his website lead conversion 50% by using multi-variate testing with Optimost and how to be fully involved in the life-cycle of a lead. Get Sean's advice for advanced cold calling techniques and his "networking guru" recommendations for working a conference. 

Sean shares a story from his favorite book, The Ultimate Gift and gives suggestions about how to use behavioral research to create great employee team work scenarios. Suz and Sean talk about focusing on one's strengths as a key to success and the evolution of personality testing from Myers Briggs, to DISC, to Personalisis to taking a Shaman Journey to find your Spirit Animal. What ever works!  

Sean closes the show by describing his date night with his wife. Tune in for some great tips, both personal and professional, from one of the most respected marketers in the digital media industry.

Episode 63: Stephan Spencer on Top SEO Blog Mistakes, Social Media Power User Hacks and Sticky Posts

Stephan, founder of Netconcepts, an SEO agency in Wisconsin joins Susan live in the studio to help listeners increase their blog visibility. Stephan is a master SEO expert and he shares the top mistakes we make on our blogs that prevent us from having the best organic search rankings possible. He breaks the issues into three categories: inbound links, internal links and content. Hear what you can do easily to get more blog traffic including creating good Link Bait as a strategy for visibility. And if you do not have a technical bone in your body, find out how you can hire a business blog consultant to just "take care of it" for you. 

Suz and Stephen also discuss SEO PR and Social Media PR and what really works vs. what is a waste of energy. Stephan demystifies StumbleUpon and gives some power user advice for more fully leveraging LinkedIn. Stephen's excellent blog posts also give you more detail about all these issues - so read on after he sets the stage on DishyMix. http://stephanspencer.com

Episode 62: Paul Woolmington, Naked Communications on Brilliant Misfits, Integrated Marketing Communications, Mountain Gorillas and Titanium Lions

Meet Paul, an advertising agency veteran now at hot NY firm, Naked Communications, who preaches the benefits of transmedia communications planning. Along with his tag team of "brilliant misfits" at Naked, he works with traditional and digital agencies to integrate business, marketing and communications planning to generate amazing work for Coca Cola, Nokia, Sony, Nike, J&K, Google the Gap and more. 

From his roots as worldwide media director of Ammerati, Puris Lintas to worldwide chief strategic officer of Y&R and the Media Edge to his role as Chairman and CEO of Media Kitchen he's been espousing media neutrality for decades. Find out what makes Naked, an agency with no ties to buying media, building sites or producing TV commercials, unique as a strategic partner for so many big agencies and brands.

Paul as also expanded the events at the Cannes International Advertising Festival in myriad ways including running the inaugural Media Lions jury in '99, speaking to the Young Lions about IMC and judging the Titanium Lions this year. Like the ad:tech Industry Achievement Awards founded by Suz for the digital marketing world, Paul is tireless in expanding what Cannes means for our industry.

Then go deeper as Suz plies Paul's past. Born in Uganda, famed for the Mountain Gorillas and near Lake Victoria, Kenya and Tanzania, Paul lived under Idi Amin's rule in the 70's in what's called "the pearl of Africa." Get some insight into what it was like to be raised in Africa and how it has impacted Paul's life. 

One of the best connected agency exec's in the business, Paul Woolmington has a twist on advertising that bears considerable thought. He's a man ahead of his time and full of ideas for the industry. Tune in and be impressed.

Episode 61: Pete Blackshaw on Expression Platforms, Digital Detox and the Love Spot

Pete Blackshaw has a new book out, numerous blogs and he's tracking the online reputations and conversations of some of the world's biggest brands. Listen as Pete lays out the "3 Truths" for flourishing in marketing today. Customers want the emotional gratification of being heard, and it's our job to support that need. Pete gives us ways we can both listen and respond to our customers as consumer and b2b companies.

Once you hear Pete talk you'll be hooked. He's elegantly articulate. His turn of phrase is a delight. We range from Talk Triggers and Complaint Icebergs to Brand Association Maps and Expression Platforms.  Pete gives great examples of "passionista communities" and promises his favorite list of consumer-generated and community experts for the DishyMix blog. As always, Suz reads the book so you don't have to. Just get all the goodness from Pete's book," Satisfied Customers Tell Three Friends, Angry Customers Tell 3,000: Running a Business in Today's Consumer-Driven World" by listening to this show.

And it wouldn't be DishyMix without those personal questions. Get to know Pete's dreams including what his bigger life plans may be and if he could clone himself, what Pete would do with twice the time.

Episode 60: Mary Brown, JWT BOOM on Boomer Archetypes, Seasoned Sexuality and the "Club Sandwich Generation"

Meet Mary Brown, Partner, Strategy and Insight at JWT BOOM, and expert in the Baby Boomer generation. Mary has co-authored (with Carol Orsborn) the definitive book on Boomers called "BOOM: Marketing to the Ultimate Power Consumer - The Baby Boomer Woman." On this episode, she closes the gap on what we collectively know about Boomers with the latest research and insight into this all-powerful demographic.

LiveWire: The Summit is an annual Boomer marketing conference that JWT BOOM (a subsidiary of J. Walter Thompson) produces annually. On DishyMix, she updates us on the key takeaways from some of the most interesting presentations at the recent event. Find out what Gene Cohen, behavioral scientist has to say about "Mirror Mirror on the Wall, What is Aging After All?" Jonathan Pontell's insights into the Generation Jones cohort and Richard Adler's "Boomer's the Next 30 Years" also give us some new data to consider.

Mary talks about new Boomer findings, generational influences, the continued importance of understanding lifestage events and how to craft your message to archetypal Boomer segments: Conventional, Transitional and Aspirational profiles.

We talk about Seasoned Sexuality, the new blossoming Boomer woman, as well as the Boomer's search for meaning, significance and contribution and how that can be leveraged with brands, services and the appropriate positioning.

Get more detail with the ThirdAge/JWT BOOM study: "Boomers and Social Networking" and a Boomer Trends Study "Boomers: The Next 20 Years Map of Future Landscape Affecting Boomers" by the Institute for the Future in the Related Links on the right side of this page.

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Episode 59: Alex Bogusky of Crispin, Porter + Bogusky on Culture Jamming, Hermie the Pygmy Elephant and Telling the Subservient Chicken to Go "Pluck" Himself

Meet Alex Bogusky, darling of the advertising world. He's loved not just because he's cuter than Jackson Browne. Or because he's cooler than Laird Hamilton. But because his campaigns have simultaneously delighted us while screwing with our minds. From The BK Subservient Chicken to Mini "Transformers" to Virgin Atlantic's Jetrosexuals campaign, Alex and his more than 900 employees have consistently captivated us and raised the bar by artfully combining publicity with branding.

Hear Alex deny awareness about the YouTube satires that poke fun of him. (I don't believe it for a second!) He gives opinions about "the death of TV" and how to use social media. He waxes poetic about the importance of account people in making campaigns pay off and how to hire and care for people with "imagination."

He talks about the lure of P.T. Barnum's marketing strategies and how a stuffed, pygmy elephant became the company's mascot. And Suz must know...what is the ratio of smutty requests (I know you are thinking of a few ideas right now) for the Subservient Chicken vs. sweet requests like "River Dance" or "flap your wings?" Find out on the show and get the Easter Egg command to make something unusual get revealed in the Chicken clip on my blog at http://DishyMix.com.

After being on the cover of Fast Company, all DishyMix listeners wanted to know about the Microsoft account status. But listeners went beyond asking questions about making Microsoft cool and gave their opinions about how to manage the opportunity - now that CP+B has a tidy $300 million to work with... Find out what everyone is asking -- and what Alex plans to do to "coolify Microsoft."

This is a relaxed yet insightful interview with a man who has done as much to change the face of advertising as those Mad Men from the '60s. And he's giving away CP+B swag to DishyMix listeners. Do you want a Hoopla bike shirt? Listen in to hear how you can get the goods. more.

Episode 58: Peter Shankman, "Hottest Male Blogger," on How To Help A Reporter, Outrageous PR Stunts and Adrenaline Addiction

Peter Shankman turned a Facebook group into the hottest PR service ever - HelpAReporter.com. This service connects reporters to sources via social media, easing the friction between the PR and journo world. It's free. And you should subscribe. Who doesn't want free press coverage opportunities in your email inbox every day?

Hear Peter's story about how he "invented" his Profnet killer. And hear how he channels his ADHD into creativity on behalf of his clients at GeekFactory, his NY PR firm. A clever man, Peter has shared his strategies for creating and implementing PR stunts, for which he's professionally famous. His book, "Can We Do That?! Outrageous PR Stunts That Work and Why Your Company Needs Them," is chock full of great examples and practice "how-t's." Peter's DishyMix advice comes in three easy bullet points. First, break out of the norm when you're brainstorming. Second, start with the outcome when planning a PR stunt. Finally, know part of the process is that you must befriend the "stoppers." Peter tells us how to effectively evoke great creative ideas and then get traction with a PR stunt that drives business strategically.

This food-loving, angst-ridden Jewish boy from NY embues his blog, Twitters and email messages with personality galore. He follows Rohit Bhargava's (author of "Personality Not Included) advice to get beyond authenticity to personality. Embue he does. All kinds of antics are a normal part of this triathalete, sky diver, stunt puller's life and he shares them freely. That's why he's engendered such a fan base. Because he is raucous, opinionated, self-deprecating and fun, fun, fun. From the moment this interview starts you'll be chuckling along as Suz and Peter make lots of fun of his newest moniker, "Hottest Male Blogger," awarded the day the episode was recorded. 

You'll learn. You'll laugh. Oh, and call your mother.

Episode 57: Ori Brafman, Author of "Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior" on Purchase Psychology, Interview Insights and Employee Incentives

Ori will change the way you think about the way you think. Sway is an insightful book on a personal and professional level. In this interview, Ori regales us with story after story of "typical irrational behavior" and artfully applies it to:

1) Insight for marketers into purchase psychology.
2) How to leverage the power of beauty.
3) How to hire the right person, not just the person you like.
4) How to find and work with a winning therapist.
5) Managing your VC as an entrepreneur.
6) Incentivizing employees for pleasure vs. altruism.
7) Becoming an expert in challenging authority in your organization.
8) The 4 personality types it takes to make good decisions.

This fast paced and entertaining interview will help you overcome "the diagnosis bias," "loss aversion," "value attribution," "commitment issues" and the "chameleon effect." You are suffering from many of these scenarios in your daily life right now. Listening to this show and reading sway will help you overcome your biases, become a more rational decision-maker and have more success in your career and your personal life.

Powerful insights, packaged in a fun conversation make this a must listen episode of DishyMix.

Episode 56: Rohit Bhargava, Author of "Personality Not Included" and 360 Degree Digital Influencer at Ogilvy PR

Are you faceless? Take a quiz from Rohit's new book, "Personality Not Included." You can rate the personality of your brand, determine areas of weakness and get techniques to shore it up.

According to Rohit, authenticity is only part of the story -- it's personality that is the macrotrend. Does your brand have a "backstory?" Are you leveraging your "accidental spokesperson?" Learn techniques on this episode to bring your company's personality to life, including "Useful," "Sensory," "Insider," and "Participatory" marketing strategies.

Full of analogies from Innocent Drinks in the UK to Mr Lucky's in Vegas to FlyerTalk from Starwood, you'll get specific ideas you can meld to your brand to deepen your customer's connection and experience and with which you can seduce your prospects more effectively.

Rohit, blogger, speaker and coiner of the concept "Social Media Optimization (SMO)," shares his favorite read, "The Alchemist," his top picks for most amazing people in the Web 2.0 world and a bit of his history.

Best of all, you can customize your "Masters of Personality" diploma from the "University of Authenticity" to decorate your office with some sassiness in documentation and showcase YOUR personality! Free certificate download when you listen to this episode. 

Episode 55: John Battelle on Google's Mathmatical Equation, Acting Like a Media Company, Video Search and Having Lots of Dry Powder Part 2 of 2

John Battelle, considered an essential figure of the digital world, is the Founder, Chairman and CEO of Federated Media Publishing. Hear John talk about being an entrepreneur, journalist, blogger, author and scaler of mountains. Susan puts John in the "guest chair" for this two part series. Make sure you hear part one, which is just as informed, thoughtful and entertaining.

John answers DishyMix listener questions from Steve Bustin, Advertising Revenue Consultant; Shea Park of AdSpark.com; Brian Cowley of Ad Infuse; Michael Crosson of InsWeb; and Steven Comfort of YuMe.

Find out what excites and dissappoints John about Google's current business strategy. He gives his solution to information overload, video search and the mobile marketing opportunity. John reveals the true costs of video blogging. And listeners find out if John has plans to buy Technorati or relaunch Industry Standard. He also shares his going forward strategy for Federated Media now that he's raised a C Round ($50 million on a $200 million pre) from Oak Investment Partners. This is his "dry powder" and now he has plenty of it.  

At the end, Suz gets personal as John talks listeners through what it's like to go with him on a run up Mt. Tamalpais in Marin Valley, CA. He does this every day to shed toxins and stay fit. And he takes us to Bonnaroo in Tennessee, a music festival that he converted into a new project called Crowd Fire to support Outside Lands, a sort of Bonnaroo West in San Francisco August 22nd-24th. Crowd Fire is a  "digital campfire" where attendees can aggregate their Tweets, Flickr streams, You Tube videos and other assets from an event in a group environment. Can't wait to see how that looks!

If you like this amazing interview with John, please forward this episode to a couple of friends and help support Suz' goal to double her listener base by the end of the year. 

Episode 54: John Battelle on The Conversation Economy, Hairy World Issues and High School Musicals Part 1 of 2.

John Battelle, considered an essential figure of the digital world, is an entrepreneur, journalist, blogger, author and truly masterful interviewer. Susan puts John in the "guest chair" for this two part series. John goes into detail about how the web has "infected the world," he shares his tips for being a master emcee, he explains what the Conversational Analysis Toolbox can do for marketers, and gives us a sneak preview into his ideas for the sequel to his highly-acclaimed first book "The Search." John also offers the cure for social networking fatigue and shares his sadness at the "enervation of Yahoo!" And that's just part one of a two part DishyMix!

John answers DishyMix listener questions from Steve Patrizi of LinkedIn; Tom Hespos of Underscore Marketing; Mario Faria of Accenture; Scot McLernon of Upstream Group's Habitat, Dominique of eCairne, Des McDonnell of Farille and Steve Bustin, a top Internet Revenue Consultant. 

The questions range from "How successful have you been in building conversation between advertisers and blog readers?" to "How should B2B marketers use conversational marketing?" to "How will advertisers benefit from using social networking as a channel to reach customers and prospects?" to "What's your perspective on the plethora of social network offerings?" and "Are you gonna go for the Yahoo! CEO position?"

John takes these questions in stride, gives pithy and actionable answers and still delivers key insights and strategic technological considerations you may have never even pondered, like the idea of opening Google's search algorithm -- creating a completely open search index and using "the force of many" entrepreneurs to create better forms of search. 

Then look through the Battelle filter to find out what some of the most interesting Web 2.0 trends are, including "using the web as a platform for good," genomics, outer-space, health and world poverty. This wide-ranging interview will give you a lot to consider and it will make you feel great to be part of this industry.

If you like this juicy show, please forward this episode to a couple of friends and help Suz' double her listener base by the end of the year. 

Episode 53: Charlene Li, author of Groundswell on Emotional Motivations and the 5 Objectives of Social Media

Charlene finally explains her oft-quoted prediction that "in the future, social media will be like air." Go with us to "Charlene Land" and hear how open social interoperability and the ubiquity of her social graph will change her life (and yours) for the better.  If you are in corporate America and need to address social media, this interview will give you direction. Groundswell helps corporations artfully solidify a rational strategy for social media engagement based on their customers' profile and their corporate mission.

Find out what emotional motivations cause you to participate in social media. Are you fueled by the hope that your altruistic impulses will pay off Karmically? Are you in need of validation? Do you have the prurient impulse to seek other's exhibitionism for your personal pleasure? Or are you succumbing to social pressure from your friends?

You'll enjoy seeing not only where you fit in the emotional landscape of social media, but where you fit on the ladder of participation. This is what Forrester calls the Social Technographics Profiles. And there's a tool on the Groundswell blog http://www.forrester.com/Groundswell/profile_tool.html that you can use to understand the profile of your customer base so you can choose the right applications and technologies to satisfy your business needs. Find out: are you a spectator, a joiner, a collector, a critic or a creator? Can you be more than one? Yes! It's a categorization, not a segmentation.  And Charlene gives us the secret to getting audiences to become active contributors. Charlene reveals the "Holy Grail" --  "What drives participation?"

Charlene and her co-author, Josh Bernoff have done an amazing job leveraging the blogger community for book reviews. Suz "retweets" a question from Jeffrey Philips of OVO and the Working Smarter blog review where Jeffrey asks "What are larger firms, who have concerns about disaggregated, third party solutions run by very small firms that may not be able to demonstrate longevity or the ability to manage critical, sensitive communications links to customers?" Charlene solves the question handily and it's great advice for any corporation who knows that they MUST get involved in the groundswell but is concerned about HOW to do it.

It wouldn't be DishyMix if we didn't get to know more about this "Woman to Watch" (according to AdAge) and her personal life. Hear about her favorite book (which Suz' likens to "business porn"), her secret, decadent pleasure and more on this actionable and entertaining episode. And, please forward this episode of DishyMix to one friend! (You'll hear why in the show.)

Episode 52: Jon Swartz, USA Today Tech Journo and Author of "Zero Day Threat: The Shocking Truth of How Banks and Credit Bureaus Help Cybercrooks Steal Your Money."

I was most interested in having Jon on DishyMix to talk about "the day in the life" of a leading tech journo. His beat, social media, the Silicon Valley power players (like Google, Y! et al) and cyber crime are a fascinating stew in the world of what's happening right this second.

Jon wrote, "Zero Day Threat," which I assumed to be a geek boy's tech novella. Wrong! This book is fascinating. I would have NEVER thought to read it if Jon wasn't coming on the show. I got hooked in. 

Jon and his co-author, Byron Acohido, also a USA Today reporter, did an amazing job exploding the heinous business of cybercrime. You go in the gutter with Canadian meth addicts and their dumpster-diving, mail stealing abuses all the way to Russian data theft cells and warehouses full of laptops and electric guitars. You learn about mules and re-shippers, the skimmers and botnets and all the amazing online and offline criminal activities that now comprise a $200 billion, lemme say that again, a two hundred billion dollar business that rivals money-laundering and drugs!

Why are banks are enabling this crime? How do the scams work? What can you do to protect yourself? Jon lays out the best precautions with sage advice.  

And it wouldn't be a DishyMix if we didn't talk about sex, drugs and rock and roll. Jon's favorite book, "Easy Riders, Raging Bulls" covers the 70's in Hollywood. From urine-flinging (yes, pee) to porn stars to LSD-fueled swan dives and psychotherapy sessions in hot tubs, this book chronicles what Jon believes is the best era in movie-making.

This is a not-to-be-missed episode beautifully balances mind expansion with silliness and a soupçon of cautionary tales. Join in to get the vibe of this legendary tech reporter, Jon Swartz.

Episode 51: Andy Beal, author of "Radically Transparent" on Creating Your Personal Brand, 26 DIY Reputation Management Freebies and Twitter as Mentor

Andy debuted "Radically Transparent," his book on online reputation management, this March. He said writing it pushed his edge harder than anything he's done so far in his life. It shows. This is a great book, chock full of step-by-step instructions and applicable examples that culminates in a "7 Step Action Plan" to execute your strategic goals for creating, understanding, managing, growing and if necessary, repairing the online reputation of you and/or your company.

Andy balances his advice with both personal and professional wisdom. From offering a "how to develop your personal brand" with "DIY reputation monitoring" for the guerilla marketer in all of us to more business-oriented objectives including the specific steps to execute a social media-optimized press release and how to leverage a videogenic CEO.

One of the gems of this interview is Andy's explicit instructions for targeting top bloggers in your space with your story. How can you tell who the best bloggers are for your news? Which bloggers might be interested in covering you? The secret in finding your most aligned targets is through the beauty of cross-tabbing data-points. Compare blog site traffic on Compete.com. Get a vibe for "citations" and the level of respect a blogger engenders from traditional media by checking if they've been quoted via Google News. Use Google Search to see which bloggers rank for your target keywords and phrases. Check the number of in-bound links a blogger gets and from whom they get them on Yahoo! Site Explorer. Type in your keywords and phrases and sort by "Authority" on Technorati. These are just some of the ideas Andy gives for helping you get your arms around the tricky process of targeting bloggers as a media channel.

Andy does a marvelous job explaining his new service, Trackur, which is like Google Alerts on anti-oxidant, pomegranate infused martinis. (Yum!) With Trackur's online reputation tracking technology you can keep track of any web content that mentions your name. Not just your personal name, but your executives, your company brands, and even your competition. And instead of filling up your inbox with Alerts, you get an optional dashboard, filters and all kinds of trend analysis.

Twitter - what would DishyMix be without a mention of Twitter and/or Facebook?  Andy leverages the collective knowledge or "crowd sourcing" of his 2,500 followers to learn about the market, test his ideas and promote his book and blog, MarketingPilgrim. Then he wraps up the show by taking us on a mental tour of his favorite spot in Hawaii. Sigh. I can feel the tropical air brushing my skin right now.

Episode 50: Sean X. Cummings on Lateral Thinking, Social Networking Implants and the Buddhism of Advertising

In this 50th celebratory episode of DishyMix on Personal Life Media, enjoy this live, in-studio interview with bon vivant Sean X. Cummings.

Sexy, funny, informative, irreverent, and serious, this interview with Sean reveals a man who has struggled with the dichotomy of advertising and his sacred soul. Trip along Sean's career path from agency guy working on Nike, MSNBC, Miller and Corona beer, Hyatt and American Airlines to client-side marketer at American Express and Ask.com. A free agent now, Sean gives us his filters for deciding what a good career move might be in today's market. Find out what he thinks are the hot digital up and comer categories and why start ups may not be worth the effort if work/life balance is your desire. Get advice if you are thinking about a career change. Discover why Kiva.org is the best venture-funded start up he knows and why he's driven to find ways to give back to the universe.

Life is what Sean desires, and as much of it as he can get. In his journey for the perfect woman with whom to have a "fully open hearted love" relationship, we check in and see what's keeping him busy on his quest. Hear about his favorite Pacific Coast Highway drives on his Ducati. Why he's not a great Buddhist, only a good one. (His favorite book to recommend is "Awakening the Buddha Within" by Lama Surya Das.) Find out what Sean learned recovering from a nearly fatal stroke that left him without speech or motor skills and how it changed his life. One thing Sean realized is that chicks do not dig a man who drools... Hmmm...that's enough motivation right there!

Oh yes, and the "X." Of course I got the story on that. And you can read Sean's column, The X Factor, on iMedia Connection.

Tune in to hear some crazy stuff  in this no holds barred, very personal interview where we weave from "WiFi Thighs" to Social Media PR to how to be a fantastic father.

Episode 49: Jason Heller, Laredo Group on Synchronicity, Digital Natives and Swimming with Hammerheads

Jason Heller is a guy who just wants to give back. He wants to tell you everything he knows about digital media buying and selling. He wants to show you the beauty of sharks through his underwater photography so they will stop getting harvested for soup. He wants to live a life of honesty and humbleness to set an example for the world. Jason Heller is a cool guy, living an amazing life that perfectly suits him.

Life wasn't always this great for Jason. He's had some hard knocks, and made some questionable decisions he's regretted - temporarily. But he's believed in synchronicity since he called it "the power of positive thinking" in high school.

When Jason is fulfilling his duties as EVP at Laredo Group, a training company that teaches digital media to online buyers and sales pros, he trains the biggest agencies in the business --- all the names you'd know. Jason gets pure pleasure from sharing his 12 years of agency experience with those he trains, now that he's sold his agency, Mass Transit, to Horizon Media. Jason beautifully balances dual careers, the first - training. His "other" career is underwater photography. 

Learn about Jason's axiom, his mentors, and his travels to Southeast Asia. Learn the subtle differences between Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia. Hear the story of how he swam with and photographed more than 1,000 hammerhead sharks. (see the photo on the DishyMix blog) and catch Jason's deep thinking on his blog, The Digital Blur, where you can also see his Columbian Drug Lord Alter Ego caricature.

This is a heart warming and entertaining episode of DishyMix. Learn how Jason gets the work/life balance just right. And you can too.

Episode 48: Annette Tonti, CEO of MoFuse on Connected Intelligence, Raising Venture Funding and Mobilizing Your Blog

Get great advice from industry icon, Annette Tonti, founder of Blue Streak who is launching her second digital media company, MoFuse. The 122 million blogs worldwide make perfect "media snacking" content to view from your phone. Annette is helping bloggers make their blogs "phone ready," tracking readers and monetizing the content via the mobile channel.

Annette says women start businesses at two times the rate of men but don't have easy access to significant venture money. Hear her story of raising capital - almost $30 million in funding. Get advice on how to lead, not react, to the market with your business planning and why that's a must.

Susan and Annette talk about mentoring and the right steps to getting advice from those you most respect. These helpful tips and specific ideas will help you get the kind of advice you need from those most well suited to give it to you -- the post powerful and successful people in their category.

Annette weighs in on the state of the climate crisis and her experience getting trained by Al Gore's team on his climate project. She shares the axiom by which she leads her life by quoting Frank Lloyd Wright -- a "power of intention" discussion ensues...

The end of the show gets into the future of social media. What does the world look like when we're past Open Social? Hear Annette's concept of the "social media engine" and "connected intelligence."

Another Dishy episode full of wisdom, laughs and happenings on the rocky road of life.

Episode 47: Author Joe Pine on the Principles of Influential Authenticity, The Experience Economy and Phoniness Generating Machines

Meet Joe Pine, co-author of a Time magazine cover story "Synthetic Authenticity" heralding his latest book "Authenticity: What Consumers Really Want." In a world where everything seems fake and we've reached a "toxic level of inauthenticity," Joe steers us forward as marketers, helping us render our brands authentic in a world where advertising is a "phoniness generating machine."

Joe breaks down the reasons why as a culture we crave more authentic experiences and how we self-actualize through consumption. You'll get a view into our culture and our needs as humans. Joe even rates Personal Life Media as a brand and talks about going beyond creating experiences to creating transformations with our products and services.

Listen to this episode, then go back and listen to Patricia Martin, author of "RenGen: The Rise of the Cultural Consumer and What it Means to Your Business" on a recent DishyMix. The two dovetail beautifully and help determine how we should position our brand in today's market.

Episode 46: Gina Bianchini, Ning CEO on Top Tips for Attracting Members to Social Networks, Viral Expansion Loops and Listener Love

Gina ("bee-yon-kini") has recently rocked the social media world with the valuation she's created ($60 mil on a $500 mil pre) at Ning. A white label social network platform, Ning has over a quarter of a million implementations ranging from "Hip Hop Is Us" to "Powerful Intentions: The Law of Attraction," taking long-tail passions to a whole new level of interaction. A number of these groups sport members over 100,000 strong!

DishyMix listeners sent in nearly 50 questions in a single day for Susan to pose to Gina in this interview. This episode is dedicated to the active DishyMix audience who want to know about the Ning platform, monetization, how to create a successful network, the enterprise space and of course, personal questions about Gina.*

On this eipsode, Gina describes the power of "viral expansion loops," how best to attract members to a social network, social media monetization and how she handles being called a "high tech hottie."

Tune in to learn more about this recent Fast Company magazine cover story CEO.

*Gina shares her Chicken Fajita recipe (the magic is in the marinade) and a list of developers who specialize in business integration of the Ning platform on the DishyMix blog at dishymix.com.

Episode 45: Vince Thompson on Being an Ignited Middle Manager, Universe Maps, The Bigger Yes and Your Personal BOD

Meet Vince Thompson, online celebrity host of Dog & Pony show, author of "Ignited: Managers, Light Up Your Company and Career for More Power, More Purpose and More Success," and founder of Middleshift, a consulting company that helps Internet companies build sales and biz dev teams to drive online ad revenue.

If you are NOT the CEO, this show is for you. Vince tells us how to be successful in our current organization. You will understand your manager's implicit and explicit needs so you manage to your boss' universe. You'll learn how to close the relationship gap with the cross-functional peers in your company and how to effectively lead in highly-matrixed and decentralized organizations. 

You'll learn the dangers of "pot-banging" and how to engage "cave people" as well as the "committed" and "compliant."  Vince will help you understand not just the power of networking but why people network and what people need from you. You'll learn about The Bigger Yes and why "F-U money" can be just a state of mind and still work.

Enjoy figuring out your workplace archetype. Are you the process master? The link maker? The translator? The scout? And follow Vince's 5-Step Program to True Balance. It's easy and holds you accountable in a refreshing way. 

Even if you hate your current job (50% of middle managers do!) Vince will show you how to have more power, more purpose and more success. You'll understand what your "value proposition" is, and more importantly, so will those above, below and beside you. This is the best DishyMix EVER if you are working your way up in the world. Tune in, pass it along and get out your pencil. You're going to want to take notes!

Episode 44: Bratton Revealed: DishyMix Host Susan Shares Her Rocky Patches, Self-Promotion Tips and Her Allure with Your Personal Life

On this episode, I bring listeners up to speed on how I weave together running a start up, sitting on boards, co-managing an industry association and producing my own weekly audio show and companion blog, DishyMix. If you think about me only in the context of ad:tech, or only know me from DishyMix, or only know me as the Vice Chair of the Association for Downloadable Media, read on. 

I'm one busy girl and take a moment on my own show to share my work and a few of my personal travails -- not to self-aggrandize -- but to encourage you to step up in a way that works for you.

This show includes:
·      Running 21st Century Mom & Pop Shop
·      Intimacy, Connection and Honesty in Marriage
·      Promoting Myself Through Social Media
·      Serving on Board of Directors/Advisors
·      How to Give Back to Your Industry
·      Indulging My Passion for Exploring the Personal Power of the Famous People in Our Industry

I'm driven to connect with people. My "special purpose" is to divine the unique talents and value that an individual offers and to want to support, promote and celebrate that. That's why I do my weekly DishyMix show - I want to find out what drives the titans of our industry and how they've leveraged their capabilities to create their success. My aim is to help others model success through the insights I can uncover in my interviews. 

In nearly every episode of DishyMix my guests repeatedly offer slight variations on two themes that are their secret to success. First, "no regrets." Simply, don't look back. Don't focus on what you've done, focus on where you are going. Secondly, take the risk. Every time they've taken the risk, they've ultimately prospered. Playing it safe doesn't pay off for these winners.

I am taking my guests' advice. I've taken the risk to launch a new company, Personal Life Media, with my husband. That's a double risk: launch a start up AND do it with your spouse! But I love it and believe we have massive potential for aggregating an important audience of "cultural creatives" driving the "renaissance generation" as well as the ability to deliver technology of great interest to a publisher who just can't move as fast as we, a nimble Web 2.0 start up.  It's both a lifestyle company and a potentially appealing acquisition.  

Perhaps more interestingly, you'll hear the story of my nearly failed marriage and the abject pain that drove me to the changes I had to make in my life. This "work" resulted in a re-bonding to my husband so strong it would have been painful to drive away from him to go to a job everyday. We started Personal Life Media together to give voice to the roster of experts in personal growth and relationship who reconnected us to a depth we never thought possible. We have the intimate connection everyone wants and few know how to achieve.

On Personal Life Media we have created a platform of shows that provide a depth and authenticity about relationships, consciousness and connection that you cannot find anywhere else in the world. Truly special content - I encourage you to check it out.

It's also been risky to launch an industry association (ADM) and drive standards in an industry (podcasting) fraught with rugged individualists who prefer to defy authority and cleave to few. Luckily I'm surrounded in call cases by amazing partners.

I've taken risks to join boards of fledgling start ups and support them in needs ranging from sales training and sales team organization and motivation, product positioning, pricing, business modeling, strategic planning, market positioning, naming, branding, ID, market segmentation, persona creation, messaging matrices, PR strategies and plans, new business launches and my most esoteric but best skill, CEO encouragement and support. Some of the companies with which I'm currently engaged include ZEDO, NewsForce, (800) FREE-411, Merchant Circle, Collarity, Powered and a new stealth start up founded by one of my heros, Tony Robbins, called My Vision One. 

And on this show, I celebrate more ways to give back, beautifully illustrated by this year's ad:tech Limelight Award "Industry Achievement" Winners: Rich LeFurgy, Archer; Kate Thorp, Real Girls Media and Pete Blackshaw of Nielsen Buzz Metrics.

Jump in. Get involved. Bring your talents to industry associations, industry events and conferences through sharing what you know, selflessly blog great information for the rest of us to model, mentor someone coming up through the ranks, serve on a board, or take a page out of an Industry Achievement winner's play book. It's time to step up.

And if my show helps enrich your thinking, will you forward it to a friend or colleague? I'm trying to double my audience and I welcome your support.
If we're not connected on LinkedIn or Facebook, send me a request! 

And will you take my listener survey? It's anonymous, takes less than 5 minutes and helps me with my sponsors. You know how important market data is!

Thanks again for listening. I really appreciate your precious time. Let me know any comments or ideas you have about DishyMix. I am in service to you.

Episode 43: Mark Silva, Real Branding on Consolidating Social Maps, the "New School" of Beer and the Connected Agency

Meet Mark Silva, managing director of independent San Francisco interactive agency Real Branding. Mark is an ad veteran, social media geek, beer maven and painter to name just a few of his dalliances. Real Branding artfully blends the innovative perspective of digital pioneers with the business rigor of a buttoned-up agency. The company occupies an old can factory in the up and coming "Dogpatch" area of San Francisco. Beer is where it all started for Real Branding. Mark is a beer maven, having tasted over 2,500 brews. He started RealBeer.com in 1994 and soon picked up a number of local micro-brew clients for digital marketing. He's parlayed his experience in the adult beverage business into one of the hottest independent shops in the country, managing digital brand strategy for such stellar names as ABC/Disney, Anheuser Busch, Darden Restaurants, ESPN, HBO, Pepsi's Lipton partnership and Unilever.

Mark talks about who he follows in the agency world to keep up with the industry and how he does it. Find out his Twitter strategy, how he creates and manages his blog, MarkSilva.com and his take on social media. Mark says "every agency should include customers' social maps as an agency best practice." Clearly Real Branding is taking market segmentation and persona development to a new level.

Susan and Mark discuss an online video by Loic Le Meur, the CEO of video site Seesmic. Seesmic lets you record video right from your computer's camera in your browser and then uploading it to your Seesmic account, your blog or your website.  In Episode #115 on loic.tv, Loic quotes a NY Times writer who says "if the news is important, it will find me." It's a remarkable video that shows how much the manner in which we consume news content is changing. Loic's point being that if it's relevant to him, the information will come to him via one of his feeds and that he no longer must go to news sites as news comes to him.  This is a big, directional demarcation point in the evolution of the web that did not go undetected by Mark. Mark is a watchdog for these shifts, informing his client strategies through these insights. 

On this episode, you also learn about the "New School of Beer" where the Americans are making funky, yeasty beers in Chardonnay and Pinot casks that even the Belgians are imitating. Mark gives his a complete list of what to buy (Dogfish Head, Allagash) and where to find the rare bottlings on the DishyMix.com blog. Find out what Mark's "greatest truth" is about marriage. Learn about his holy grail of the liberation that comes from getting beyond fear, and why it's so important in the sphere of loving and being loved. And speaking of love, Mark talks about rediscovering his love of painting. You can see some of his work on the DishyMix blog, including some photos from his Flickr stream. 

This show has some great insights, ideas and recommendations from a man you will hear more and more about in the future. Get to know Mark Silva on this episode of DishyMix.

Episode 42: Doug Weaver, Upstream Group on Digital Media Sales Talent, Faustian Bargains and the Advertising Revenue Shortfall

This episode is for anyone dependent on direct sales teams for revenue in the digital media and technology sales industry. According to Doug, the market has radically shifted -- TWICE. Have YOU adjusted your business culture, operations, staffing and revenue expectations to the way the market is NOW? 

Do you understand the difference between ad networks and ad exchanges? If you don't. Now you must.

Do you know why the online media market numbers took a big dump in Q407 and Q108? Do you know why they are predicted to be low in the first half of '08 and are you prepared? Do you know how to prevent your company's revenue from bottoming out?

Find out what Doug calls "the network effect." In this case it's not good. But you can counteract it by training your team to be "Digital Sellers 3.0."  Doug tells you how in this helpful show. Is your sales team set up to fail? How can you affect a turn around to a consultative sales/ How do you change your staff from "RFP Order Takers" to early-cycle strategic big-deal sellers? How do you differentiate yourself through your sales people and staunch the tide of commoditization of online media?

Doug gives you a clear path to success, rather than expecting you to make a Faustian bargain for change. This is one of the most actionable, helpful shows ever done on DishyMix to truly affect your business, your revenue and your future. Tune in. Learn. Change. Go!

Episode 41: Sarah Fay, CEO, Carat USA and Isobar US on Corporate Sustainability, African Safari and Managing Billions in Media Integration

Get to know Sarah Fay, media strategist, tech enthusiast, super-connector and knitting mama. Sarah is responsible for a cross-functional team of media professionals that manage billions of dollars in combined TV, print, outdoor and digital media for brands including Nikon, Adidas, Reebok, Stolichnaya, Pfizer, Microsoft, RadioShack, Wachovia and Electronic Arts. She shares her experience creating the Isobar global network with Nigel Morris that grew their holdings from 200 to 2,600 interactive experts. She talks about the strong and charismatic team that they put together and how they sustain individualism in their corporate culture.

The Carat/Isobar culture also supports sustainability with a focus on green corporate governance both for themselves and how sustainability can be integrated with media for their clients. She also describes her personal investment in Greener World Media, a leading voice in creating green standards for companies whom she says is "on fire!"

Sarah says "What differs now from 10 years ago is that strategy development starts with a new question: What do we want the consumer to do -- not what do we want the consumer to see." Sarah talks about how this statement manifest in her day to day business and showcases examples of some of her recent work to underscore her meaning. The Adidas Brotherhood campaign connected the media experience through mobile, using "interior moments" in the game of basketball to create connection to and intimacy with the Adidas brand through mobile short-code inspirational messages from Kevin Garnett, NBA player for the Boston Celtics.  She also shares the Web 2.0 experience created for Nikon as a content management system that allows the content to grow and change and talks about the TV shows created for Reebok and distributed on Yahoo! and the gay and lesbian community targeted show for Stoli vodka.

Sarah, youngest of five, whose parents - married for 60 years - are in their mid-eighties, is very close with her family. Hear Sarah and Suz sing the eponymous song from The Roches, a girl group they both love and whom Sarah and her sisters are on their way to see. Then find out about Sarah's upcoming trip to Victoria Falls and the Okavanko Delta on Safari with her family.

A beautiful blend of the personal and professional (the DishyMix goal!) this show will delight and inspire you as you get to know Sarah Fay, one of the most important executives and women of leadership in the media landscape.

Episode 40: Julie Roehm, Firebrand, Press Icon, F500 Marketer and Change Agent on The Importance of Culture

Dance The Night Away
Have you seen her? So fine and pretty
Fooled me with her style and ease
And I feel her from across the room
Yes, it's love in the third degree
Ooh, baby baby
Won't-cha turn your head my way?
Ooh, baby baby
Ah come on! Take a chance
You're old enough to
Dance (Dance) the night away
Whoa-oh (Ah) Come on g-girl, dance the night away
---- Van Halen

What in the world is Julie Roehm? The Mad Ave Scandal with Wal-Mart is reconciled and she's cranking out progressive marketing strategies for client after client at her consultancy, /META, Llc. Still living in Arkansas with her husband and two sons (want to buy a nice house in Bentonville?), she's flying around the country working on projects as diverse as a media platform for Sports Illustrated to a project for a real-estate developer who rubs elbows with a Sultan from Dubai. Julie talks about some of her career highlights at Chrysler and Ford and gives solid advice about managing one's career reputation - lessons she learned the hard way. 

Never one to lead a small life, Julie tells us about her helicopter flight to book Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler for a Dodge sponsorship, her work with Jack Nassar at Ford launching the Focus and how she ended up in a magnificent parlor room at the Wynn Hotel high above Vegas where she called in for the interview. She and Suz talk about her favorite band, Van Halen and the tour with David Lee Roth that's happening now. Here's what else is happening now - Julie Roehm - she's picked up the pieces from the Wal-Mart debacle and she's back out, creating progressive marketing that pushes the edge of the world as we know it. Thank you, Julie. You walked through the fire and emerged with vision, energy and grace.

Episode 39: Rafe Needleman, Editor-at-Large of C|Net's Webware Site on "Rafe's Fav's," Being Happy and Brilliant Web Aps.

Rafe Needleman, chief blogger, tech dweeb, new daddy, and ardent Twitterer has the best job in tech editorial. For a living, he gets to play with all the latest mash-ups and web applications and levy his opinion. Reviews editor turned web aps expert, Rafe and team have turned Webware into a black hole of fun. It sucks you in. The variety of applications is amazing. Entertainment, mapping, networking, media, search and tons of other categories have reviews of all the latest web applications for your fun and enjoyment. Plus he keeps you up with the Web 2.0 side of media machinations.

Rafe talks about his "conference strategy," since he must attend so many events. He shares his life lessons learned from interviewing more than 1,000 start-up CEO's during the dot-com bubble. Suz and Rafe talk about the best applications for robots and their impression of the Roomba/Scooba "janitorial" robots. Rafe bemoans the role of "player-coach" saying "When I'm the boss, I miss doing daily work (like writing)." "When I am a writer, I miss being the boss." "Therefore, I am never happy. Ask my wife, she'll back me up on that."

Rafe talks about "martini abominations," the book he as most given as a gift called "The Baron in the Trees," a book he wrote when he was 14 years old about Star Trek, being a hobby catalog and gadget lover, the time Suz scared him at the Web2 Summit ;), his exactitude at delivering exactly 200 words a day for two years for his "Catch of the Day" column and whether his "Make Hay-dar" is finely tuned.  Tune in to this episode of DishyMix to get the full flavor of the entrepreneurial spirit driving the Silicon Valley and the man that reports on it.

Episode 38: Seth Godin, Leader of the New Marketing Movement on Authenticity, Google Dicing and Orange Rubber Squids

Business Week calls him "the ultimate entrepreneur for the Information Age." Meet Seth Godin, author of 10 seminal books on marketing including his latest, "Meatball Sundae: Is Your Marketing Out of Sync?" Best known for his NY Times and WSJ bestseller "Purple Cow" and for coining the phrases ideavirus and permission marketing, Seth shares with Susan the 14 trends no marketer can afford to ignore including authenticity, atomizing the world, the impact of infinite channels, the end of the advertising "big idea" and how to manage the "new gatekeepers."  Meatball Sundae is more than a marketing book, it permeates business strategy entirely.  From spreading your ideas via the web rather than your mass advertising to understanding that you are now in the business of "soft qualities" to create differentiation, Seth gives actionable advice you can use to rethink your business strategy today.

Seth talks about the best thing about living right here and right now, his best tips for making a powerful presentation and how social networking will evolve. He shares the one book he's most recommended to his friend and one of the books that has changed his life and why "The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional & Personal Life by Ben Zander. You'll end this show with hope and action items that will drive your life and your career forward in a powerful way.

Episode 37: Eric Maisel on Creativity, Life Purpose, Blog Tours and Sleep Thinking

Meet Eric Maisel, Author, Podcaster, Creativity Coach & Meaning Expert. Susan and Eric talk about "being creative" and working with "creatives" in the Internet, media and agency world. As the author of "Fearless Creating," "Creativity for Life," "Sleep Thinking," and "Coaching the Artist Within," Eric intimately knows the intricacies of the personality of the "creative type." 

In this show, you learn about what makes someone "creative." And why it's important to have meaning in the work you do in order to avoid the existential crisis so common among those who are creative.

Eric sheds light on “creating and relating,” offering ideas about how to be an effective and productive creative person. He calls this “loving, knowing and doing.” Moreover he discusses the oft-combined creative streak coupled with depression issues we find in creative people. He proffers in his book, "Van Gogh Blues," the idea that depression in creative people most often comes not from biological, psychological or social issues, but rather, existential issues.

Dr. Maisel encourages all of us, creative or not, to “nominate ourselves as the hero on our own journey.” He emplores us to “get out of our cultural trance” and live our lives in a way that is personally meaningful and gratifying. That’s great advice for all of us. Especially when we’re on a fast-tracking treadmill in the Web 2.0 world. In his book and on the podcast, Eric shares some meaning statement examples. Ones he reads from his fans will make you shiver with their authenticity.

Last but not least, Eric describes the efficacy of a blog tour. He uses blog tours to promote his books in a very compelling manner and always sells out his first printing through the blog tour. This is an interesting concept that can be applied to promoting nearly any product and showcases the power of the blogosphere.

If you want to be more creative in your life, or if you work with or have friends or family members that are "creative types," this show will give you key insights into their personalities.

You might really enjoy Eric's shows on Personal Life Media: The Joy of Living Creatively: Tapping Your Innovation and Imagination and Purpose Centered Life: A Plan for Authentic Living.

Episode 36: Patricia Martin, Author, RenGen and President, LitLamp Communications Group

"Now more than ever, selling everything will require that the product or service deliver incredible value. It should be truly useful, beautifully designed, well-constructed, emotionally relevant and convey a sense of altruism. Tall order, I know." -- Patricia Martin, Author "RenGen"

"Meet Patricia Martin, founder and President of LitLamp Communications, a consultancy focused on supporting brands in sponsorship of the arts and philanthropic programs. Patricia has just completed her second book, "RenGen: The Rise of the Cultural Consumer and What it Mean to Your Business." It is an important book and a must read for marketers and agency professionals. It proffers a few important concepts for marketers. One, that the American culture is on the brink of another renaissance - wow! Patricia gives a parallel of the history leading up to the first Renaissance as compared to what's happening today with the Internet, climate crisis and the indie entertainment movement. Two, that there is a new psychographic cohort that is sophisticated in their expectation around brands who measures value through their preference for authenticity, aesthetics and design, self-determination and self-actualization called VIVIDS. And three, that marketers who are moving from a mass media mentality to a focus on imbuing their brand with or associating their brand with creativity and meaning will win the hearts of the VIVID's, an important and lucrative market segment.

"Hear Patricia tell the story of the Renaissance and how it fits into the map of our culture today. Get a description of the new VIVID profile. Understand the attributes of a "RenGenner." Hear Patricia's profile of a "creative" and find out what separates the "real" creatives from those who will toil without results. Enjoy examples of the 3 kinds of brands that will succeed in the future - "idea," "compassion" and "anxiety" brands such as Barak Obama, Starbucks, Kleenex, Hummer, Hilary Clinton, and FedX. Can you guess which are which? Learn about why "fusion" is now the standard for connecting with consumers and how activities such as "ritual" are important areas to watch. This show will give you a whole new way to think about persona marketing, target segmentation and the brand experience you are creating for your consumers.

"I highly recommend this book - it has further cemented my thinking about my target audience for Personal Life Media. I used to target "cultural creatives." Now I am taking the next step in appreciating my customers and integrating my learning about the RenGen and the VIVID profile. RenGen and Patricia Martin have already impacted my belief structures about this group of people and given me new and innovative ideas to continue to imbue my "indie brand," Personal Life Media with values that will mesh with my target. Thanks, Patricia, for this excellent book.

Episode 35: Amy Powell, SVP Interactive Marketing - Paramount: Secret Crushes, Iron Chef & Movie Marketing

Amy Powell creates all world-wide digital marketing for Paramount Studios. Interfacing with film makers and studio executives on top grossers like Mission Impossible and War of the Worlds and cutting-edge technology offerings like Beowulf, she plans her multi-platform engagement strategy for a movie, sometimes years in advance.

Amy shares a bit of her movie budget planning, her career background and describes her internal team as well as her open door policy for anyone with talent and an innovative idea to make a movie a hit. The viral pre-launch campaign for Cloverfield with JJ Abrams may be her all-time best project and she shares her career learnings from CNN and Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Get this movie studio executive's tips for the best all-time movies and her favorite TV shows. Find out on what two men she has a crush (besides her television-producer husband) - hint: they are both very large-headed and sport googley glasses.  Amy, a twin, offers her kooky side to us (thank you) by describing her office, her Iron Chef prepartion plans and her serious addition to chocolate.  

As always, this DishyMix episode delivers a fast-paced balance of insight and entertainment.