Personal Life Media

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.

Episode 34: Wenda Harris Millard, Martha Stewart Living on Intelligent Marketing, The Go-Go Days and Food Trends

Industry personality Wenda Harris Millard sits down with Susan to talk about her new role at MSLO, why she left Yahoo! and the heady days of launching an industry at DoubleClick. Wenda lays out sage career advice for those who really want to get ahead and talks about what she learned from her mentors in business. She tells us what one thing she'd change about the business world; defines her motto "Speed Kills;"  and explains why her MBA is not as important as her gut.

Wenda reviews the Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia empire, showcases an example of an "intelligent marketing" program from Unilever's Dove pro.age, and talks about how Martha is a geek.  Now that she runs both editorial and advertising, Susan and Wenda discuss the fine line between product integration and shilling. She harks back to one of her favorite campaigns at Yahoo! where she was responsible for taking the sales team from $720 million in revenue to $6.5 billion in sales by "providing business solutions for marketers." Listen as she outlines the Nestle ProPlan dog food campaign that used behavioral modeling and database management to move share on a languishing brand.

Wenda regales us with two funny stories of the heady times at DoubleClick when there were thousands of people under 30 on her watch and the tricks they played on her. Then the conversation moves to food - one of DishyMix's most common themes. Wenda is cooking veal and artichoke stew; saffron rice; carrots salted just right and roasted pears with pepper and honey. Get the recipes at DishyMix.com along with the recap of the Top 5 Trends in Food for '08. 

Wenda reveals herself like never before and brings her experience and stories to this not-to-be-missed interview.

Episode 33: Adam Gerber, CMO Quantcast on The Soul of the Viewer and the Enablement Side

Meet Adam Gerber, now helping Quantcast, an upstart online audience measurement company get a seat at the table beside Nielsen, comScore, Alexa, Compete, Omniture and on.  Learn about "hybrid ratings" and why they make sense in understanding the soul of the consumer. Adam takes questions about metrics and the state of online video from listeners including John Durham of CatalystSF, Rex Briggs of Marketing Evolution, Larry Everling, Mark Silva of RealBranding and Jed Savage of ScanScout.

Adam's career spans media planning and buying, a stint at AOL in the ad services group, a recent foray into online video at BrightCove and now his position at QuantCast. Learn how this once journalism/poli-sci major got into advertising and how he's transitioned from the buy side to the "enablement" side. Hear his biggest career mistake - leaving AOL in '97 before he vested and why he made the move. Get the story on how he helped build two of the industry's most progressive digital agencies, WPP's Digital Edge unit - now MEC Interaction (formerly known as MediaEdge: cia) and Publicis' MediaVest and his advice for serving on committees for those who are trying to continue the goal of standards for the industry.

Hear Adam's story of finding Sarah on JDate and how they broke it to their family. He's not just a mild-mannered nice Jewish boy who's good with numbers...he puts his analytical skills to the test in Vegas at the Black Jack tables and apparently has had some pretty good times in New Orleans and the Super Bowl! Then there's the story of the Hot Chicks, Video and Hot Chicks AND Video. Suz scares Adam with her verbiage - find out what it's all about and what it has to do with Adam. They do a final review of the books Adam wants to read, including Freakonomics, BlackSwan, I am American, And So Can You and Suz' shameless plug for her sponsor Audible has Adam convinced to sign up for the service. That will give him something to do on his bi-coastal commutes from NY to SF every other week for QuantCast! 

Adam Gerber has been a leader in the digital marketing space since it's inception. He's been an evangelist, a pioneer, spending solid budgets on digital media on behalf of his blue chip clients. He's a believer. He's amazingly smart. He's a great man and you'll enjoy knowing him better in this entertaining and informational interview. You'll grow. You'll learn. Enjoy!

Episode 32: WOZ Steve Wozniak, Apple Computer on Inventing as Art, Philanthropy and the Spirit of Creativity Part 2 of 2

This is part two of a two part interview of Steve Wozniak, who personally invented the Apple I and II and launched Apple Computer with Steve Jobs in 1976. Thirty years later he released his autobiography, "iWoz: How I Invented the Personal Computer, co-Founded Apple and Had Fun Doing It." Hear Susan get beyond the book and deeper than Google deets to explore one of the most generous and down-to-earth icons of Silicon Valley.  Hear how technology shaped his world view; why he believes inventors are like artists and what the greatest technical challenges are that face the current generation. Hear Steve's opinion on the "Technology Divide" (i.e. the so-called 'racial ravine') and how he adopted the Los Gatos school district, providing students and teachers with hands-on equipment. Find out what one gadget he'd take if he were marooned on an island...you'll be surprised!

Uncover Steve's list of inventions. Hear what he'd say today to Paul Terrell, owner of The Byte Shop who gave Apple their start with a $50,000 order. Find out what he learned in his 30s', 40's and now where his passion for technology stands today in his 50's. Discover the one thing that pushed him hardest in his life (so far) and which of his prestigious awards he most values. Find out about his wide-ranging philanthropic work - from founding the Silicon Valley Ballet, the Tech Museum, the Children's Discovery Museum, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and launching Shoreline Amphitheater with Bill Graham. Woz even has a street in San Jose named after him - "Woz Way" - hear how that landed for him when he found out.

Understand his love of anagrams, repetitious phone numbers and vanity license plates and what they all share in common. Hear about Dial-A-Joke and Phone Phreaking with his Blue Box. Learn about his new love, Segway Polo and his team The Silicon Valley Aftershocks. Woz sets the record straight on what Us Magazine reported about him dating comedienne Kathy Griffin and if he did indeed buy her that flashy ring you see in the press photos. Track him on his Hard Rock memorabilia collection and his most guilty pleasure. Hear about his favorite concert he ever attended besides his own US Festivals in the 80's  - Roger Waters' "The Wall" tour. See why it was magical. Then Suz and Woz discuss the "Tyranny of Good Intentions: How Prosecutors and Bureaucrats Are Trampling the Constitution in the Name of Justice." 

This two part series tracks Steve's history, his current passions and gets deep into some of his beliefs about technology, philanthropy and what's most important in life.  Don't forget to listen to part one. Enjoy!

Episode 31: WOZ Steve Wozniak, Apple Computer on Inventing as Art, Philanthropy and the Spirit of Creativity Part 1 of 2

This is the first part of a two part interview on Steve Wozniak, the Woz, who personally invented the Apple I and II and launched Apple Computer with Steve Jobs in 1976. Thirty years later he released his autobiography, "iWoz: How I Invented the Personal Computer, co-Founded Apple and Had Fun Doing It." Hear Susan get beyond the book and deeper than Google deets to explore one of the most generous and down-to-earth icons of Silicon Valley.  Hear how technology shaped his world view; why he believes inventors are like artists and what the greatest technical challenges are that face the current generation. Hear Steve's opinion on the "Technology Divide" (i.e. the so-called 'racial ravine') and how he adopted the Los Gatos school district, providing students and teachers with hands-on equipment. Find out what one gadget he'd take if he were marooned on an island...you'll be surprised!

Uncover Steve's list of inventions. Hear what he'd say today to Paul Terrell, owner of The Byte Shop who gave Apple their start with a $50,000 order. Find out what he learned in his 30s', 40's and now where his passion for technology stands today in his 50's. Discover the one thing that pushed him hardest in his life (so far) and which of his prestigious awards he most values. Find out about his wide-ranging philanthropic work - from founding the Silicon Valley Ballet, the Tech Museum, the Children's Discovery Museum, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and launching Shoreline Amphitheater with Bill Graham. Woz even has a street in San Jose named after him - "Woz Way" - hear how that landed for him when he found out.

Understand his love of anagrams, repetitious phone numbers and vanity license plates and what they all share in common. Hear about Dial-A-Joke and Phone Phreaking with his Blue Box. Learn about his new love, Segway Polo and his team The Silicon Valley Aftershocks. Woz sets the record straight on what Us Magazine reported about him dating comedienne Kathy Griffin and if he did indeed buy her that flashy ring you see in the press photos. Track him on his Hard Rock memorabilia collection and his most guilty pleasure. Hear about his favorite concert he ever attended besides his own US Festivals in the 80's  - Roger Waters' "The Wall" tour. See why it was magical. Then Suz and Woz discuss the "Tyranny of Good Intentions: How Prosecutors and Bureaucrats Are Trampling the Constitution in the Name of Justice." 

This two part series tracks Steve's history, his current passions and gets deep into some of his beliefs about technology, philanthropy and what's most important in life. Subscribe to listen to part two as well. Enjoy!

Episode 30: Doron Wesly, Millward Brown's "Stats Man" Dishes the Gossip With Suz on "Chardonnay Tawk"

Meet Doron, Vice President of Millward Brown's media practice who has helped put the digital media industry on the map by showing the quantitative value of online advertising through his research at both the IAB and MB.  He shares his childhood stories of Haifa and Maastrict, talks about the current state of digital media research and then Susan and Doron pop a bottle of Chardonnay and get down to the gossip. Ching! Ching!

"Chardonnay Talk," much like "Cawfee Tawk," is a wanton Friday afternoon abbondanza of scuttlebutt, scandal and here-say about mutual friends and famous people in the interactive agency, online publishing, and digital marketing world. Who has a hot body? Who should have their own video show? Who has a bi-coastal job and a 2 year old? Who owes Doron lunch? Who is a hottie in Facebook? Who keeps sending Doron hamburgers? Who is holding his groin? Who has a home in Arkansas they can sell you? Why was Suz worried?

Who constantly reinvents herself? Who just got engaged? Who is the super-cool chica with whom we want to have pedicures? For whom, when they fell in love, was it pure agony? Who has the best combination of freckles and dreads? Who is mad at Doron? Who owns a bar? Who still dresses like Allie McBeal? Who has the most beautiful wife in the world? Who is a big mover at AOL now? Who is the best at debating politics? 

Who takes 400 slides to do a 20 minute presentation? Who is the fair-haired beauty? Who was key in driving interactive forward in the early days? Who has been married to their sweetheart for 15 years? Who plays the Ukulele? Who should be doing FedEx commercials? Who is moving abroad? Who is a magician? Who moved to Toronto? Who is a visionary? Who doesn't want to fly on Bill Gates' jet? What color are Martha Stewart's offices?  Who is well-suited to be a CMO? 

Julie Roehm, Molly Parsley, Melinda Gipson, Hugh McGoran, Heidi Lehman, Jason Krebs, Tom Hespos, Adam Gerber, Benjamin Hill, Tim Kopp, Corey Kronengold, Leslie Laredo, Daina Middleton, Dave Morgan, Nick Nyhan, Greg Stuart, John Stichweh, Geoff Ramsey, Joanne Bradford, Wenda Harris Millard, Julian Aldridge, Allison Arden, Michael Barrett, Judit Nagy, Mike Stoeckel, Mary Bermel, Lynn Bolger, Rick Bruner, Sarah Fay, Masha Geller, Crystal Guerin, Jack Haber, Taddy Hall are are in the mix.

If you can resist listening to this episode of DishyMix, smack yourself -- twice -- because you are a BORE!

Episode 29: Dov Seidman of LRN and Author of "How: Why HOW We Do Anything Means Everything... in Business (and in Life)

Meet Dov, founder and CEO of LRN, a company dedicated to creating ethical, sustainable and profitable business cultures. Have you ever been put to the test ethically in a business deal? Have you worked at an unscrupulous company? Is your boss completely lacking in moral principals? Dov argues that out-behaving your competitors is more important than out-performing them, especially in today's viral/WOM/transparent web-connected world.  Enter one bitchy blogger and your world comes apart, right?

The paradox of success now pushes us to pursue significance, not profit. You have permission from Dov to wield charismatic authority in delivering your brand promise. Doesn't that sound like fun? Learn how to imbue your corporation with ethics and why that will pay off in profit like nothing else you can do.

In this episode of DishyMix, Susan brings questions from some of the digital marketing and media world's new and leading CEO's including Rob Simon, CEO of Burst Marketing who asks, " why do people need direction now?" Scott Blumberg, CEO of Return Path asks how to standardize "how." Dakota Sullivan, CMO of Yahoo!'s Blue Lithium asks how we can train our children in this new paradigm. Matt Edelman, CEO of PeopleJam wants to know how we can instill values in a sustainable way in a society overly engaged in shallow pursuits of wealth and celebrity. And Ian Schafer, CEO of Deep Focus, Sarah Fay, President of Isobar USA, Richard Jalichandra, President & CEO at Technorati and Ben T Smith, Chairman of MerchantCircle have more questions for Dov that are answered on the DishyMix blog. http://dishymix.com

Episode 28: Daina Middleton, HP Marketer, Shenanigans and Power Tools

Meet Daina, HP's gobal advertising and interactive marketing director for their $28 billion dollar imaging and printing business. Hear about her impressive roster of cutting-edge marketing programs from "HP Uncut" to "Project Direct," an online film festival with Jason Reitman, director of "Thank You For Not Smoking" coordinated with YouTube to the "HP Community Mosaic" on Flickr.

On this show, be comforted by a marketer who "gets it" and who is harnessing all the creativity and connection that the web can bring to a brand when in the right hands, in this case Daina's. Hear her manifesto to be transparent in her company's engagement with customers and to create a continuous brand conversation. 

Daina and her husband, Rob, own One Spirit Ranch where they raise Andalusian and Lusitano horses together. A proponent of the "mom and pop shop" they've built their house together in addition to managing their ranch outside of Boise, Idaho.  Daina has nearly perfect recall of the names of virtually any tool in existence and she's used most of them, including both arc and acetylene welders.  Part of that she learned as a range-land firefighter for the BLM.

Susan asks her about her "no regrets" policy in life; about her love of languages and their applicability to the semantics of search marketing and her most difficult challenges in life. Daina is the perfect blend of bold woman, courageous marketer, sweet mother/wife and authentic woman that appeals to all. Tune in to hear her secrets for success.

Episode 27: Scott Rafer, CEO of Lookery on Facebook Aps, Europreneurs and Sleeper Networks

Scott Rafer has a rich history of being the CEO of cutting edge companies. From WiFinder to Fresher to Feedster to MyBlogLog to Mashery to his latest endeavor, Lookery, Scott has been involved with "what's hot now."  Lookery-for-the-Web super-targets ads based on three pieces of self-reported data from social networks, dating and ecommerce sites and ISP's: age, sex and location to create a new way to revalue commoditized inventory. Scott believes in "un-sexy business" as being the most valuable and thinks he can trump the BT and other ad networks who rely on imputed data for ad targeting. David Cancel, Scott's co-founder at Lookery is a big burley dude yet he and Scott have a hot pink logo and their company names' rhyme. Find out how Scott manages his his masculinity around this.  On the flip side, as a "fairly good economist" - Scott is most adept at packaging technology in ways it can be monetized.

Scott gives advice to website owners about a way to instantly create social networking capabilities to keep up with the SN world. Then learn more about what's happening in the start-up world in Berlin, Amsterdam and Helsinki and Scott's viewpoint on the difference between Silicon Valley and Europreneurs. Find out which ad networks Scott thinks are the "sleepers" including Pheedo, Azoogle and Oridian in Israel.  Finally, hear Scott's belief that the Silicon Valley runs in 8-11 year cycles and his hear his prediction that the market cycle will end by March 2008. What can you do to prepare? Listen and find out.

Episode 26: Mary Hodder, founder & CEO, Dabble on Video Search, Key Takeaways and Insider's Tip to The Best Conferences

A "dabbler." That word defines one strong aspect of Mary Hodder's rich personality. Long before she got involved in developing algorithms for search engines, she was a florist, chef, film-maker and paralegal to name just of few of her transformational careers. Once she perfects something, she moves on. Learn the most important insights she gleaned playing the "Key Takeaway Game" with Susan in this measured and insightful interview with the entrepreneur Marc Canter calls "the leading smartest woman in the Internet today."

Find out more about Dabble.com, the site that lets you search, collect and organize video. Where else would you keep your favorite episodes of "Psycho Potato?" Mary is normalizing the metadata from video across the web. Find out why Dabble.com is an amazing, helpful media planning tool if you are buying interactive broadcast spots. She weaves in human-powered video search rankings to create high-value discovery and recommendation for your next video-ad media buy, including time spent and velocity of specific videos so your ads get in the best video on the web that is most germane to your brand.

Suz and Mary talk about 23andme, the new "personal genome service." Who knew we needed one!?! You can find the origins of your genes and potentially “connect genetically with friends, family, and others across the globe.” And they discuss Aubrey de Grey's "bio-remediation" research focused on reversing the molecular and cellular damage of aging. I'm all for that. Here's his Facebook group if you want to live forever... 

Next up is the Social Media User's "Bill of Rights." Mary describes the steps Dabble is taking to protect her user's privacy and the disconnect she sees in "Facebook's extremely liberal view of how they use data." That's YOUR data, dear listener. Did you know FB is collecting data from any sites external to their own platform and matching it up to build a bigger profile of you? Similar to the aggregation done by Rapleaf. Mary doesn't want to "creep people out" but I am definitely beginning to worry...and you might to. Find out what's happening in the world of data collection. It's getting heady.

Finally, Mary, a Silicon Valley Insider and "Chix Populi" gives us her tips on the conference circuit. What's hot? Find out Mary's favorite event, the one she finds most interesting and the one where she convenes with the most powerful women in technology. We'll take more Mary's in our world any day. Bring 'em on!

Episode 25: Doug Weaver and Scot McLernon, Upstream Group on Training Digital Sellers, the Retention Crisis and "The One Thing You Need to Know."

Two stalwarts of the digital marketing industry just teamed up to launch Habitat, a new traveling sales training campus. This would be exciting news if just one of them announced this new sales program. But to get Scot McLernon, ad:tech's Industry Achievement award winner aligned with Doug Weaver, one of the finest minds in our industry together to move our industry forward is an amazing, newsworthy coup!

The business of digital marketing is suffering from a massive, critical talent training problem. We are sucking in dewey-faced youngsters as fast as we can hire them. Now who is going to train them? Voila! Doug and Scot want to teach our children to sell. Now we can send our fresh workforce to school and teach them about the digital marketing ecosystem. This is where Upstream steps in. With professional faculty, blogs, community and an immersive course structure, they can bring in fresh talent and teach them, not just about technology, measurement and media, but also about the all-important soft qualities of trust, integrity and honesty.

"Getting to Us" is their mantra - not getting to "yes"; but creating a sales environment that is collaborative. And tackling the big problem, the "retention crisis." Upstream's team will help companies with engagement by and investment in their teams. Scot believes a company with a culture of investment in talent will retain their people for less salary and withstand the flush start-ups waiving stock options and newly-minted VC cash at existing companies' personnel. If you are running a sales team or a company, this episode will give you ideas and hope and some great perspective.

Hear the dreams, plans and aspirations of this deeply-experienced duo with their new Habitat program and get some great tips on their "required reading" including "The One Thing You Need to Know" from Marcus Buckingham (Doug's choice) and "How To Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie (the classic as recommended by Scot - have YOU read it recently???). This is a wise and uplifting show and it's great to know that we have such amazing talent training our future stars. This is also the first DishyMix to have two guests on at once. Let us know if you like the format!

Episode 24: David Scott Carlick, Vantage Point Venture Partners on Life, Love and Taxation

David is back for another visit on DishyMix. One of the all-time best DishyMix programs was with David in March '07. In his original racy interview, Susan and David discussed everything from the race riots of the 60's to sex on waterbeds. Find out why he takes his signature look from Ivan Boesky and how a lapel pin becomes an engagement beacon. David's conversation ranges from mood rings to sumptuous Australian Shiraz to the value of keeping intimacy strong in marriage.

In this next installment, hippy woodworker turned millionaire VC, David is both an "agency guy" and a venture capitalist. He has been directly involved in the transfer of over $200mm in cash from Vantage Point's investors to startup companies. David says, "This has, in turn, helped to create hundreds, and soon, thousands of jobs, and a number of products and services that have, I believe, made the world better, or are doing so." His current investments and boards include 3Guppies, AllBusiness.com, Datran Media, Grocery Shopping Network, Healthline, ReachLocal, Zvents and Multiply.

On this episode, find out where David thinks social networking will evolve from today. What book he most recommends to friends: The Reckoning by David Halbersham. Hear David describe the worst "fork in the road-bad-decision that he regrets and his advice about how you might not make the same mistakes... Susan and David also talk about the good and the bad of the Boomer legacy. Then you can find out the importance of shared passions and David's advice for happiness in love. Hear his guiltiest pleasure. Hint - it's a person.

Following along on David's rational, if not doable plan for restructuring the tax system: he would "replace it with a tax on consumption and a phased-in surtax on energy consumption, with the proceeds of the latter specifically allocated to replace our energy and transportation infrastructure with sustainable infrastructure." He explains his ideas and boy do they make sense. Find out if politics is in his future.

Once again, David delights, informs and entertains. Be inspired. Listen now.

Episode 23: Joseph Carrabis, Founder, NextStage Evolution on "Why People Do What They Do."

Meet Joseph Carrabis, Chief Research Officer, author, inventor, musician, cultural linguist and genius. Susan talks to Joseph about being a cultural linguist, gender specific marketing discoveries, cultural anthropology and how humans, as social animals, are interacting with social networking.

Hear Joseph describe the differences between neurolinguistic modeling, psychodynamic modeling and psychosocial modeling and how our brains are still working with 10 million years of evolutionary history. Get details on gender differences in the ways women create networks to establish power and authority and how men establish power and authority to create networks. more.

Episode 22: David Clark, EVP and GM, Joost -- Big Brother, Buddha Collector and TV "Re-Inventor."

Dealmaker extraordinare takes time off from reinventing television advertising to speak with Susan about his life, his loves and his career. Joost is a press-darling start-up founded by the Skype dudes that uses a P2P platform to deliver over 15,000 TV shows in 250 channels through broadband to your computer. The beta is available now and you must check it out - it's free and amazing.

David's job is to monetize that plumbing with next-gen interactive television ads. And he's on a mission to do that -- he's signed over 40 of the biggest brands in marketing. From Sony to Sprite to BMW, David discusses the unique and integrated experiences his service can offer at the intersection of the web and TV. You hear about "telescoping" and other ways marketers are experimenting with this new medium.

Before Joost, David was SVP for MTV Networks' global marketing partnerships. He implemented worldwide TV campaigns for HP, Motorola and McDonald's and tells us about some of those $75 million dollar deals. But David was not always the boy wonder he seems - he shares his failures or "train-wrecks" as he likes to call them, including a real-estate asp for managing properties that bombed in the late '90s.

We take a tour of Southeast Asia where David has spent considerable time, first teaching English in Japan then back-packing around in his early twenties. That time in his life sparked the beginning of his collection of antique Buddha's. And he's spent significant time in Vietnam, launching a TV show in concert with the government. This small town boy (Roxbury, CT) still loves the pleasures of home, especially strawberry rhubarb pie, which he considers the perfect food.

David lives on Central Park in NYC with his wife and son and has been a "Big Brother" to a now 21 year old college boy who he help helped raise from the tough world of the South Bronx. Those 9 years of weekly get-togethers gave David not just an understanding of that community -- both good and bad -- but an invaluable and humbling perspective on life. Get to know "Scooby" in all his glory on this episode of DishyMix.

Episode 21: Marc Canter, Broadband Mechanics on Open Social Networks, Threesomes and Cutting Through the Bull

Fear and awe. I worried about this interview with Marc Canterof Broadband Mechanics for more than a day before the actual interview itself because Marc is bigger than life, exploding with opinions, very technical and impatient. Plus he berated my prep questions via email - gulp. I already knew he was "slightly more than a handful" (can you say understatement?) and had the potential to steam roll me hard and fast. Then the actual interview occurred on the day that Google announced its Open Social standard API layer. Wheeeee! Can you say "in over my head?" Good for Marc - he didn't cancel. He squeezed me in between cell calls from his twin boys, Kara Swisher (WSJ) and a date with his "Wife 2.0." So I did what I could for you dear listener, I got everything possible in 30 minutes about where the future of social media is headed according to one of the Identity Gang. more.

Episode 20: Mitch Joel, President, Twist Image on Power Speaking and Personal Branding

Mitch will blow you away in this fast-paced and "content-rich" episode. You'll learn how to create Your Personal Brand. Hint - you already have, now learn how to harness it and why you are just like toothpaste. Find out who you are with this three step process. One, have an internal conversation. Two, have one-on-one conversations. Three, have one-to-many conversations. Then voila, you'll have a insight into your personal brand. Mitch teaches you how. Next, get great advice on being a "power speaker." Find out what Mitch learned from Bill Clinton, Dr. Phil and Tony Robbins and how you can apply 10 steps that range from creating a team of coaches to being a little more excited than you think you should to become the kind of speaker that gets paid to present. With over 1,000 members in his Facebook group, Mitch talks to Suz about building an audience, leveraging widgets, blogging and podcasting and how to create community-centric connection. Get a sneak peak into Mitch's new book, Six Pixels of Separation and how to understand what Avinash Kaushik of Google calls "the fluid web." more.

Episode 19: C.C. Chapman, The Advance Guard - From Deep in New Media

Meet C.C., filmmaker, podcaster, social media strategist and Renaissance-man. If you’re a bit of a web geek or an iconoclast, this is a fun show for you. Suz and C.C.’s conversations range from photography to indie music to great books to Twitter and Facebook. Get C.C.’s strategy for taking amazing portraits and see them here on his Flickr site. C.C. talks about his podcasts, Managing the Gray (about new media and technology), Accident Hash (global indie music review), U-Turn Café (acoustic music sampler) to his vidcast, One Guy’s Thoughts and how he promotes his content. Putting C.C. to the test, he’s asked to play three choices of independent music - his favorite male and female artist from all his podsafe artists and his number one all time favorite indie song. Listen to the show to hear the clips. I won’t spoil the surprise here, but the related links to get to the artists’ work are on the Episode Page of DishyMix on www.PersonalLifeMedia.com and on www.dishymix.com. more.

Episode 18: Scott Kauffman, President and COO of Blue Lithium

Meet a veteran of the traditional media and online world - Scott Kauffman. Famous for launching Entertainment Weekly, Scott leveraged that success to pioneer CompuServe, one of the first ISPs in the industry. From there he helped sell AdKnowledge to CMGI and then spent time with eCoverage, CoreMetrics, MusicNow and Zinio before landing at Blue Lithium, which has recently made news by being acquired by Yahoo! Suz and Scott have a good laugh at what Kara Swisher called "the hyper-trendy data analytics sector." Scott describes the highs and lows of his various career stops and the key take-aways learned from the dot bomb. Get insight into this former brand manager and media planner on the day that Yahoo! signs the acquisition papers with Blue Lithium. The excitement is palpable. more.

Episode 17: John Durham, CEO of Catalyst SF "Market Capitalist" and "Cork Dork"

Hear Susan dig a little deeper into this amazing man. Like a delicious brownie, perfect nuts and chocolate bits you can savor their discussions range from John's early years leading Winstar Interactive, one of the most well-known rep firms in the online ad space to his big biz dev moments at Carat where he landed 30 deals to his latest venture, Catalyst SF - a market capital company. The conversation ranges from Shanghai where the 5th century meets the 21st century, to the various uses for shipping containers include a "dude's lair" of straw and bale to his collection of African Tribal Masks from Gabon and the Ivory Coast to a discussion of "The Great Books of John Durham." You learn, you'll be entertained and you'll get some sage advice from a man who seems always to have everyone's best interest at heart. Tune in to get inside the life and love of John Durham. more.

Episode 16: "Matzoh Man" Pinny Gniwisch, Founder of ICE.com

Meet Pinny Gniwisch, online diamond and jewelry retailer who has cracked the code on digital marketing. A Shop.org board member, frequent speaker and expert in customer retention, Pinny saddled up in '99 for a roller coaster ride through retail hell from the bubble to the bomb. A true believer in the power of the Internet, he bought his company back from the VC's for $1 - and went on to build a top 200 retail site. Susan and Pinny talk about "Universal Truths" that are particularly relevant in today's business community. Hear Pinny prioritize Leading by Example, Commitment, Being Ego-less, Transparency, Letting Go of Our Authoritive Nature and Committing Your Full Presence. He leaves listeners with a tip for evoking your native creativity. Life lessons from Rabbi Pinny. It's a gem of a show and he's a gem of a man. more.

Episode 15: Danny Sullivan, Search Engine Content Hurricane

Step inside the eye of the hurricane that is Danny Sullivan, search engine marketing master, industry leader, journalist, conference producer, publisher, podcaster, blogger, pundit, social media developer and one-person content creationist. Danny is one of the most well-known, respected and truly admired souls in the digital space. Listen in as Susan gets Danny's advice for those of us who are not search specialists about the two most important trends in search marketing for marketers. more.

Episode 14: Brad Berens, iMedia's Editorial Headman Tracks Audiences for 400 Years

Get to know Brad Berens, the Editor in Chief of iMedia Connection and Chief Content Officer of the iMedia events. On this episode, we cover topics ranging from Hollywood story analysis to the power of kneeling chairs to the value of vanity Google alerts. Brad is a recovering Shakespearean expert, having come from academia to Hollywood, always incrementing his knowledge of what makes audiences aggregate around stories. He's a stage historian focused on one question: "what do consumers want from media?" Find out what Brad has learned as he and Susan discuss "media tribes" and the "anatomization of content." Yes, "anatomization" which effectively means categorization but in a bad way - breaking our media down into it's essential sound-bite elements where the construct of related information is no longer associated. How can we create "cognitive funding?" In other words, audiences bond to media through connection and repetition - the same thing happens in media frequency to create bond to brand. If we chop our media into bits, will we blow away our ability to aggregate audiences? Brad is convinced that mass culture is on a diet. Will we get thin? Brad won't. He self-describes as "mediavourous" which is carnivorous with media. more.

Episode 13: Mike Donahue, EVP, American Association of Advertising Agencies on Killer Margaritas, Top TV Commercials and Eccentric Parts

Mike gives a no holds barred interview, discussing his private life openly - just as we'd expect from this magnanimous headman. He name drops his buddies: Rob Berger (Euro RSCG), Phil Dusenberry (BBDO), Juan Valdez (coffee dude) and the Jolly Green Giant. He describes Jerry Della Femina's home in the Hamptons. He shares his proudest accomplishments. He extolls the best parts of his family life. He throws out a few great movie rental ideas, his recipe for Killer Margaritas* and the ingredients in Egg Creams. A good Catholic school boy, he riffs about "joints" and "media." He talks about giving Al Gore his first platform for "An Inconvenient Truth." And at the end, Susan pumps Mike for advice about forming the new industry association: ADM "Association for Downloadable Media." Hear Mike's dark movie recommendations, recipes and sage advice on this fast-moving and entertaining show with one of the most important men in media. more.

Episode 12: Brian Morrissey: Adweek Reporter on Running Ultra-Marathons, PigDogs, Man-on-Man Chivalry and More

Susan talks to Brian Morrissey, high-profile interactive industry journalist about how reporting has changed from his first job at Silicon Alley Reporter, through ClickZ to DM News and now Adweek. He talks about why embargoes and exclusives are useless in today's press reality and that he's learned to appreciate traditional marketers since writing for VNU. Find out what the number one thing traditional marketers understand about marketing that the interactive industry "just doesn't get." Brian also share what a good PR person should bring him to create a story and that his favorite area of coverage is about new ways advertisers are connecting through digital channels in a non-intrusive way. In addition to his weekly column in Adweek magazine, Brian is also the Senior Interactive Reporter for Adweek.com and a major contributor to VNU's first blog, AdFreak. more.

Episode 11: Bob Garfield, Ad Age AdCritic, NPR Personality, Experimental Essayist and Author, Fearless Journalist - Launch into the Bobosphere!

Crusty the Clown becomes Bob the Super Hero in this revealing discussion with the infamous "Ad Critic" from Ad Age magazine. Susan admits she was scared to interview Bob until she did her homework and realized what an amazing media morals-minder he is. A Superman for justice in advertising. Find out how Bob feels when he has to give zero star reviews to schlock campaigns and why giving a two star review is even worse for him and for the recipient even though "it's nothing personal." Susan uncovers a heart of gold, a man of righteous journalistic ethics, the man not just "On the Media" (his WNYC radio show and podcast for NPR) but "for the media." Suz and Bob talk about the biggest liars in the advertising industry; can you guess who? Yes, political campaign advertisers. Find out why they are the rotting core of the ad biz. Learn why Bob covers this segment less and less and why suddenly with consumer generated media, everyone is a critic. You'll hear Bob's rational credentials for why he is qualified to be the Ad Critic and get detail on his proclamation that "one of the things the market is free of is "consciousness." Since Mickey Rooney of 60 Minutes is no longer with us, Susan annoints Bob the "MDA" -- Marketing District Attorney -- she appoints him to stamp out marketing victimization. more.