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The Daily Show's John Oliver on Big Risk Taking John Oliver talked to NPR about his summer experience of trying to fill adult clown shoes on 'The Daily Show.' He's been a huge success, but I'm guessing when he received the invite, at least at one point, he had cold feet.
The only wisdom I have to offer at social media conferences is this: But it works in B2B content marketing. And this week, Hollywood confirmed this maxim, proving images of selachian fishes captivate an audience even without a good script or a decent story idea.
Bill Hader Retires from SNL, Joins T-Mobile WSJ All Things Digital reports that comedy actor Bill Hader, who recently announced he's retiring from Saturday Night Live after his ninth season, will be the new spokesman for the mobile telecom brand.
Humanizing the Brand... It's Not Rocket Science We can send a person to the moon, but still struggle to humanize corporate brands. NASA has successfully done both. As BuzzFeed reports, a seven-and-a-half year-old aspiring astronaut named Dexter, submitted his cover letter and curriculum vitae visualized in a crayon infographic.
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How to Convince an Audience Through Storytelling Steve Shepard teaches an executive education class at USC's Marshall School of Business Institute for Communication Technology Management. Beyond the course material, the best takeaway for the corporate communications executives is learning how to be a better storyteller.
OSN: Yankees' A-Rod Past Prime, Unable to Match Asinine Public Embarrassment of Years Past ESPN / ABC News reported today that NY Yankees "star" A-Rod might be suspended for drug use or poor performance, but The Onion Sports Network broke the story years ago: A-Rod Past Prime, Unable To Match Asinine Public Embarrassments Of Years Past UPDATE: from The Onion: A-Rod Shows Minor Leaguers Proper Way To Put Down Teammates
The Work Talk Show: Humor at Work and Being Unqualified As with most worthwhile projects I stumble into, when DJ Waldow and Nick Westergaard invited me to be on The Work Talk Show, I felt unqualified. But I said yes anyway.
Vermont Tourism Ad: YouTube Comedy Week A top vacation spot, the Green Mountain state is home to the von Trapp Family Lodge, Smuggler's Notch ski resort, and Ben & Jerry's; and leads per capita in covered bridges, maple syrup and cheddar cheese.
Contagious. Why Things Catch On Contagious. Now Available in the large print edition. Last month I visited The Wharton School to speak about the benefits of using humor in corporate social media. While on campus, I had the chance to interview Dr. Jonah Berger about his book, Contagious: Why Things Catch On.
WhatsNextDC: 4 Concepts for Producing Award-Winning Video on a Grad Student Budget As part of the WhatsNextDC keynote this week, I shared a few simple and inexpensive approaches on how to produce corporate videos for YouTube: Humor, cinematography, information and history/documentary. Here's the slide deck (with a bunch of extra text added).
On The Hill with Conan O'Brien The last time I was inside the Beltway with Conan O'Brien was during the Judge Alito confirmation hearings. But we were both in Washington D.C. Saturday night, although he had a slightly bigger gig.
Benefit for St. Stephen's School Scholarship Fund, May 2 My friend Elza and I will be performing May 2nd, 6pm-8pm, at Sarah's Wine Bar in Ridgefield, CT to benefit the St. Stephen Nursery School scholarship fund. It will be a fun evening of award-winning music and mediocre comedy.
The Best Real-Time Marketing Cookie in the Jar I'm often asked which cookie has the best track record in real-time marketing. The BuzzFeed headline "Oreo Again Dunks The Competition On Twitter" tells the story. Not only is this brand quick with the retort, but it is hilarious.
Vampire Bats at SXSW Technically, they're not vampire bats, which might be behind the inferiority complex. But the 1.5 million bats living under the Congress Bridge in Austin can brag about being the largest urban bat colony in the world, as Reuters reports. Be sure to add this to your list of destinations while you're in ATX.
Superstorm Sandy: A Lesson in Gratitude Last night, we got back on the grid after Frankenstorm Sandy. It feels a little strange, but we're grateful for six days without power, not just because we escaped pundit noise about the election.
Cancel your plans for Nov 14-15 and catch the Greyhound to Portlandia. Jason Falls and the Social Media Explorer crew make their next tour stop in the City of Roses. I learned so much from the event in Orange County last week, and met some great folks, including OakMonster, who cracked me up with this image: This doctrine has defined my success as a communicator.
Ghost in Room 217: Stephen King and The Shining Our ghost tour guide, a Colorado University student, unintentionally convinced me that we were in the presence of the paranormal during the Stanley Hotel Ghost Tour because the only time she seemed to be relaxed and unscripted was when she was talking about the ghosts nearby.
"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." - Maya Angelou One simple approach to creating stories for corporate social media and content marketing is focusing on history.
Super Bowl Commercial: Off The Press In honor of this weekend's Super Bowl, here's a repost of a Dunkin Donut commercial I was in with Matt Oberg (Onion SportsDome, 30 Rock) Director Harry Cocciolo was able to fit a :20 script into a :07 scene. Even under that duress, there was no lip-synching.
Usually the first question I ask when I'm preparing to produce a corporate video is "Can we film this in Burlington, Vermont?" It's a beautiful location, especially August through October. But on our recent trip, the temperature on the lake with the windchill was minus 40.
ROI on Humor in Social Marketing I'm often asked what is the value of using humor in social media and marketing efforts. While I can't always make the case that a :60 YouTube comedy is going to inspire an impulsive purchase of a $100,000 piece of hardware, comedy helps corporate videos stand out and be remembered among the clutter.
Marketing Over Coffee John Wall and Christopher Penn produce a brilliant podcast called Marketing Over Coffee, and I joined for the Thanksgiving holiday special. Their series is one of the best ways to stay current on the wonderful world of social media marketing and tools.
