It’s 4:47 p.m. on Friday, and I’m on vacation all of next week. I thought I’d fill your computer screens with some eye candy before I go!
I’ve been tracking the social media efforts of the Ugly Christmas Sweater Partybenefit my friends and I are planning. I’ll do an entire postmortem after the party in mid-December, but for now…
Take a look at this quick Virtualization to see how our buzz has grown since October (while I watch the clock tick to 5:30!)
We started with just one or two Web sites at the beginning of November. In the past week it’s shot up to 52 separate pages mentioning the benefit!
For the past few months, my friends and I have been planning a fundraiser for Operation Breakthrough - an organization that helps children living in poverty in the Kansas city area.
If you can’t attend, you can contribute a donation to Operation Breakthrough, too. As the holidays approach, I encourage you - wherever you are - to give back to your communities.
Yesterday I got a cool opportunity to be in a national commercial for Coke Zero put together by our good friends at Crispin Porter + Bogusky.
Obviously I was a lowly extra, but it was fun to observe how these Hollywoodesque things work.
About 90 people spent all day in Allen Fieldhouse in magical Lawrence, home to the University of Kansas(a.k.a. 2008 NCAA Basketball and Orange Bowl champs). I wore the first t-shirt I bought after Bill Self became KU’s coach my sophomore year. It’s blue and says “Self Respect” with a Jayhawk on the front. After six years, it’s showing it’s age, but it’s still my favorite.
The costume lady asked me to wear some red, sparkly sunglasses… so I wore those, too.
They placed me just behind the “principles,” so hopefully I won’t end up on the cutting room floor!
I got to scream the Rock Chalk chant and perform a few other KU basketball traditions for the camera. When the commercial starts airing nationwide around the time of conference play (Jan/Feb), I’ll be sure to track it’s impact and show you the results!
Last week, Phil O., Justin S. and I visited Boulder, CO. on business. While there, we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and take a hike up the flatiron mountains in Chautauqua Park. With temperatures in the high sixties and a beautiful clear blue sky, it was an ideal day to spend outdoors.
We managed to make it about half a mile up the trail before we had to turn around when I began to see spots from altitude sickness. Even from there the view was incredible — we could have seen past Denver were it not for the distant lingering cloud of smog over the city. It was a fantastic experience, and I am hoping for an excuse to go back in the near future for a chance to try to make it farther up the mountain.
I got my free cup of coffee for wearing my sticker. :)
Happy election day, America! The office is quiet this morning - I hope everyone is out voting. I voted early last week. You can watch my video blog here.
Speaking of video blogs… today’s best practice comes to us from PBS and YouTube.
VideoYourVote lets users upload v-blogs of their voting experience. They even provide basic guidelines for amateur v-bloggers.
Entries must include the following information:
Name
Location (City, State, County and Precinct)
Date, City (in map options)
“videoyourvote” tag included
“pollproblem” tag included (if you experienced poll problems)
If you’re wearing your “I Voted” sticker, you can get rake in some swag at a few national/local food/bev chains:
Starbucks - free tall brew
Ben & Jerry’s - free scoop from 5-8 p.m.
Chick-fil-A - free chikn sandwich
Krispy Kreme - free “patriotic” donut
McCoy’s - free McCoy’s beer (in Westport)
The Roasterie - free cup of coffee (in Brookside) Hat tip to kcsponge
Learn more about voting sticker swag on MyFoxKC.com
If you read this blog, you know I went to an event held for Kansas City bloggers at the brand new AMC Fork & Screen on Oct. 28.
I was very satisfied with my experience, but found out today that I got double charged for my food purchase.
I sent a Tweet to Justin Gardner, AMC’s social media guru, and he addressed the problem within minutes. He gave me two options: get a refund in about 10 business days, or he could send me some free coupons to make up for the charge.
It was $8.59, so I chose the coupons.
This is a PERFECT example of how forming relationships with influential third parties helps your brand online.
Now I’m writing a blog about how happy I am with their response to my problem, and now you’re reading it… and now you’ll think about it next time you go to AMC Theatres.
AMC did something smart (as far as viral marketing goes) on Tuesday night.
They’re opening a new theater called the Fork & Screen at their Olathe location (119th and I-35).
The company invited a group of local bloggers to be some of the first people to experience the new Fork & Screen environment.
The idea being that they engage with a group of influential people in the community to begin word-of-mouth press.
Justin Gardner, who is head writer and social media guru for AMC, told me they have over 150 pieces of new content created about Fork & Screen since the event ended on Tuesday night.
What’s great about this event is that the bloggers were invited in with the other media outlets, and we were given VIP treatment. It definitely made the group happy, and started their WOM campaign on a good note.
Few complaints on my end. Bravo, AMC.
I’m going to monitor this buzz using our software and share the Ecosystem in a few days!
I’m pretty sure I was robbed of first place in the pumpkin carving contest in Perry, Kan. last weekend.
When I decided to carve a Jayhawk pumpkin, I wasn’t aware that the contest judge was a Kansas State fan. Instant discrimination.
Since I live in a gated apartment complex, I probably won’t get trick-or-treaters. Mom is taking the Jayhawk off my hands so it can eventually be stolen and smashed by a bunch of 12-year-old Johnson County boys.
Below is my pumpkin matched up with the winning pumpkin. I guess a fire-breathing dragon is pretty cool..
Take a look at more of the party pics on my Facebook album. If you want to tackle carving the Jayhawk pumpkin, I posted the pattern on my blog.
Tamlyn and I decided we needed some holiday spirit in the S16 office, so we went to Target and bought supplies to turn this place into a fall freakin’ festival.
I carved the S16 pumpkin to the right (gorgeous? yes.)
We also purchased some fake tombstones for extra spookiness. They definitely give the office a Halloween-y atmosphere.
Check out the pics below to see the really complicated process of carving pumpkins.
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