How Samberg and Social Media Saved SNL (repost)

In the seasons following the exits of Ferrell and Fey, Saturday Night Live seemed to struggle not only amping up talent and (let’s face it) laughter, but also viewership. Hold up, I know SNL has had some prior low-points and that in its nearly 4 decades of seasons, it’s had some not-so-stellar stints (that are before my time – Yes, I know who Steve Martin and Dan Akroyd are), but, I would argue that when Will Ferrell, Chris Kattan, Tina Fey and Jimmy Fallon cleared out, things looked pretty grim.

Enter salvation in the form of:

ANDY SAMBERG

It was a sinking ship until a fresh-faced comedian and writer, Andy Samberg, joined the cast in 2005, bringing with him his two Lonely Island partners Akiva Shaffer and Jorma Taccone as writers and an updated comedic direction. “Lazy Sunday”, one of the first of SNL’s “Digital Shorts”,  was one of the most widely-viewed and talked-about SNL creations since Will Ferrell’s George W. Bush impressions.

This video garnered much attention from the media, which was only heightened with further Digital Shorts like Iran So Far, featuring Adam Levine of Maroon5, and Emmy-winning “Dick In A Box”, with Justin Timberlake (coincidentally, LaunchSquad client, Barely Political created a parody video called “Box in a Box”)– all of which were written by the Lonely Island team for SNL.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Digial shorts: Samberg,  who stars in the online-only videos, and the Lonely Island team, spearheaded these seemingly amateurish videos, that created such a sensation that when “Lazy Sunday” was posted to YouTube (illegally) it was viewed five million times before NBC pulled it for copyright infringement.

YouTube leads to Hulu: Fans can now find clips on YouTube, but that was not always the case. The short “Lazy Sunday,” which aired on SNL on December 17, 2005, with its massive viewership caused quite a stir in pop culture, but also helped legitimized YouTube as a viable medium for brands like NBC to invest in. In late 2006, NBC began uploading SNL digital shorts on YouTube themselves. The short “Dick in a Box” which aired on televelision in December 2006, was viewed more than 28 million times on YouTube.

NBC advanced its online video campaign, realizing that many of us go online to watch TV and and expanded into Hulu, a joint venture of NBC and News Corp. The video network provides high definition (if often incomplete) versions of the episodes and allows users to comment.

This brings up a larger point of the growing trend of online television: according to a recent NYT article by Brad Stone and Brian Stelter, “Some Online Shows Could Go Subscription-Only”, the online video network yields a huge viewership, boasting 5 million unique viewers in February. Sounds like NBC really took a cue from YouTube and took it to the next level, but it’s interesting that this service that’s saving not only SNL, but the network, could switch to a subscription model when part of the reason it’s so popular is because it’s free.

Video embedding capabilities: In October of 2008 Mashable reported that SNL producer, Lorne Michaels, was planning an on-demand Website featuring popular clips as well as providing the embed code so that bloggers and news sites and… well anyone can embed the videos anywhere.

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It’s the virality of these videos that inspired to NBC to wise up and embrace outlets like YouTube and Hulu, a decision that allowed them to reach not only a far more massive audience but also a young audience. This audience not only lives online, like the videos now do, but relates more to Samberg’s “in your face” and often brazen comedic style and also appreciates his savvy talent pairings with high-profile pop stars Justin Timberlake and and T-Pain. These attributes ensure that Samberg and his Lonely Island cronies are very well-suited for the task of recruiting the next generation of Saturday Night Live fans, restoring SNL to what it was meant to be – relevant and funny – and by God, he delivers.

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This was original posted on LaunchSquad’s Exclamation blog.

LaunchSquad May Be “Boutique”, But They’re the BEST!

On March 4th, the partners of LaunchSquad invaded New York City to attend the PRWeek Awards ceremony on March 5th. Feeling like the underdog, they came with a resilient and celebratory spirit to be just considered.

The next day, LaunchSquad was in full campaign mode, even knowing that the decision had already been made, “Tweeting” their support for LaunchSquad and filling the #PRWeekAwards Twitter thread with LaunchSquad spirit, prompting clients, media friends and friends of the firm to also show their support on Twitter. Working from the New York office at the time, I watched throughout the day with my NY colleagues as Tweets came in with similar messages:

• sinkov: @Launchsquad If Evernote had a say, we’d vote for you.
• Rhetbee: Rooting for @LaunchSquad for Best Boutique Agency of the year at the#PRWeekAwards tonight!
• JDTwitt: RT @LaunchSqdEmilie @brettweiner, @throck, @jmandell and@jesseodell good vibes for #prweekawards! @LaunchSquad up for best boutique agency.

It was just cool. And what ensued? LaunchSquad was named PRWeek’s Boutique Agency of the Year!

We’re all tremendously excited by the honor and it was amazing to be there when it was announced. The awards ceremony was held at Tavern on the Green. It was really cool to see the partners of the firm see the fruits of their labor and their dreams for LaunchSquad come to fruition and recognition, especially. We all knew LS was great. The award was just a testament to how great work can come full circle. Very cool.

From left: Jason "Throck" Throckmorton, Jesse Odell, Jason Mandell and Brett Weiner

To hear it from their point-of-view, please see the What’s New post at: LaunchSquad.com: http://www.launchsquad.com/blogs/whatsnew/?p=237

{my hyperlink’s not working!}

Also, PRWeek showed a photo of the winners in Times Square the next day:

Pretty rad all around.

See the PRWeek story here: http://www.prweekus.com/BoutiquePRAgencyoftheYear2009/article/123801/

Boulder, I’m Lookin’ and I’m Likin’

Anyone I’ve talked to lately knows I’ve been rather obsessed with the Boulder (Colorado) tech scene, even revamping my REI-chic/enviro-hipster garb for the occasion. I voraciously started subscribing to the blogs and Twitter feeds of various tech enthusiasts like Andrew Hyde, a driving force behind rad initiatives like Startup Weekend and Techstars.org, Robert Reich who founded OneRiot, Micah Baldwin who runs business development for Lijit Networks and has a sweet blog and of course there’s Brad Feld, who planted the seeds that started it all. I even watched their live broadcast of Ignite Boulder 3 this last week. Yeah, I really did.

What is it about the Boulder scene that makes me yearn so to be a part of it? My curiosity-turned-fascination-turned-safe-distance (I swear)-obsession was probably fueled by the fact that I can’t be part of it. My location prevents it and they just don’t seem interested in pursuing me as a remote member of their clan, though, granted, no overt outreach was established from my end. Following them on Twitter started out cool because I got a window into their mountainous world, but turned into a curse when they never seemed to want to reach (or follow) back. OK, no big deal. The initial pain of rejection led me to conduct an investigation on the essence of Boulder’s “cool”. Furthermore, I wanted to bring to light why we should all pay attention to Boulder now because – and even Sarah Lacy was astonished by this – Boulder won’t tell us why it’s so rad.

Let’s take a quick look at Boulder itself – not the tech scene – just Boulder.

- College town – Colorado University’s there.
- We know that there are a lot of bikes in Boulder
- There’s natural beauty like you wouldn’t believe
- Apparently the US Curling Olympic trials are there this year, being held this week, I’ve been told

Now let’s think Tech:

- Startup Town
- The afore-mentioned forward thinkers
- The sweet green tech innovations happening there
- In Boulder, you can be a geek AND athletic
- Most of their tech events are beer-centric vs. cocktails– SO cool
- They are geographically flanked by the Rockies on one side and the Mississippi on the other, trapped from the two traditional coastal sources of technological progress and yet they continue to generate technology and media innovation at an astounding and intriguing rate.

But Silicon Valley’s got plenty of mojo, right? Developers and entrepreneurs flock to the Bay Area because they have the next big thing that’s going to take “it” to the next level, going to change the world! So what differentiates Boulder? Here it is: COMMUNITY. There is an electric current that runs through Boulder that is powered by the intense support system that can only exist in a tight-knit community. That’s what TechStars.org IS. It’s for the mentoring and guiding (and funding) of sweet startups. I don’t know how you couldn’t succeed with that kind of backing.

Community must play a huge role in the success and acceleration of the startups and even the stewing of brilliant ideas among the mountains of Colorado. Looking through their blogs, seeing their Twitter activity, even being friends with just one of them on Facebook (and happening to peruse their profile with envy on a weekly basis), you understand the respect and friendship that is the lifeblood of the innovation, creativity and savvy that flows in that town. It’s really palpable if you watch some of the videos of their tech events– I mean, they have inside jokes! Yes, I may have spent an afternoon watching videos of Boulder tech meetups. Not a big deal.

Commradery, though, brings up another factor (and huge asset0 lending to their tight-knit environment: They’re still a small city. The Bay Area could never attain that level of intimacy. People come to The Bay Area to build great businesses that they can ultimately sell to go live in Boulder or, if it comes to it, run from Boulder (or somewhere of the like, you get it). People in Boulder love Boulder and never want to leave Boulder.

As a native Oregonian, my obsession with Boulder’s tech scene might be misplaced (sorry, Portland), but I can’t help feeling a little jealous of this embracing socio-professional (petty sure it’s a real term) environment. It’s not even the technology that really gets to me. It’s the people who make up this community – bloggers, entrepreneurs, copywriters, software engineers, consultants, and developers – that love what they do and want to see each other succeed.

Tell me where that community/clique/coven (?) is in the Bay Area and I’m there. Until then, I’m waiting on the edge of my seat for the next installment of “Where the Fun’s At“.

UPDATE (1/24/09): Joining Fox News in an effort to be “fair and balanced,” I wanted to highlight a response post by Brian Burns, a Boulder resident and copy writer: “Boulder Is Nice. Not Paradise”. A great read, and brings some local insight to the subject.

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This was originally posted here, at on LaunchSquad’s Exclamation blog.

Target Practice

This is for you on-the-brink PRos who started following me lately on Twitter (I see you, UO seniors!)… and started following some of coworkers too. Weird.

When you have actual clients with actual stories, actual messaging, actual news, actual crises, actual partnerships, actual funding announcements, actual business-development, and actual launches, you need to know who is going to want to know about it. This requires a bit of digging on your part and I only bring it up because, yes, it’ll be YOU (the young PRo) who is expected to do it. Here are some tricks to finding “targets” so you don’t flounder and waste 3 weeks on a media list that you could have polished up in one if you’d had the right arsenal.

FIRST (and very importantly) Engagement:

• Be reading a lot of stories/blogs. All the time.
• Follow any reporter’s Twitter feed that you come across.
• Know what’s going on in the news. All the time.

Finding targets (media contacts that you’ll eventually pitch):

1. GOOGLE (duh – I know.): But how do you search? First off, competitors – see who’s writing about your vein in whatever industry you’re into. Second, product/company functions – what does your company do, who do they serve, who are their partners? See who’s writing about that as well. Google alerts: With great keywords you can find some fantastic news/blog targets.
2. COMPETITORS: I know I mentioned it above, but this time, go straight to the source. Sometimes the best way to know who is going to write about you, is by checking your competitor’s press page. See who wrote that USA Today piece they’re boasting.
3. SPECIFIC PUBLICATIONS: Do a search within the publication, much like your Google search – keywords on your topic and industry– to see who there is writing or reporting (or assigning) on your topic or if they do the kinds of stories you’re hoping to get (ie: funding stories, long-lead features…).
4. TWITTER: Great place to find reporters or people talking to or about reporters (ie: “@so-n-so wrote a great piece on…”). Also, reporters will often talk about stories they’re working on and sometimes, if you’re lucky, they’ll have an open call for interesting leads. Twitter’s also great place to interact with reporters. They like knowing who you are, what you do, what you’re into.
5. STUMBLE-UPON: Within this Firefox add-on, you can stumble through certain channels. I work in tech so I’ll do a stumble-through of tech sites and often find cool bloggers or podcasters.
6. COMMENTS ON POSTS: Bloggers and reporters often chime in on each other’s posts as part of that community – in tech, you see this a lot on ReadWriteWeb and Lifehacker. It’s pretty cool to see their engagement, but it also gives you a chance to see what bloggers are into and what they might think of products similar to yours.

…So you’ve found your targets, what now?

Vetting Targets – Make sure they’re relevant to go after so you don’t look stupid for pitching them something that’s not in their beat.

• Google them: Again, duh – but Google can sometimes be the quickest way to find out if they’re still at that publication
• LinkedIn: Check out their profile, yes, they may be a staff-writer, but how long have they been in that position and on that beat? L.I. can often give you some insight into what and how they’re used to writing.
• Check past work: Find other articles, blog posts, blurbs so that you can get a sense of their writing style, perhaps their interviewing style.
• Check their Twitter feeds: Weirdly, some reporters don’t like PR people. See how they interact with them on Twitter, see if they talk about them – Yes, reporters and PR people alike can get very public (and very nasty sometimes) about their relationships on Twitter. Very important to see how they’d take being pitched.

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What I’d love here is some feedback– maybe from my coworkers or team members? Also, any tips out there that I might have missed. Good luck.

Details, Details (Continued)… Resources to Help You Get There

In the last post, I stressed how important it is to adopt (or in my case, feign) a detail-oriented work style as a young PR professional. One of those things I wish someone had spelled out for me: “You. Will. Not. Survive. If. You. Can’t. Remember Master. The. Details!”

But in keeping my promise to return with some organizational tools, I realized that I don’t use a ton of tools in getting everything done and handled in an organized way. I generally just beat my head into a wall when I mess up, and then write everything I need to do everywhere until it gets done – and then I cross it off triumphantly. But if you are more organized than I am about being organized, here are some tools that can help.

• Remember the Milk: My colleague, Lindsey, said it best when she declared in an organization training we had at LaunchSquad, “‘Remember the Milk’ has changed my life!” It keeps your list of to-dos handy so that you can keep track of deadlines for all of your tasks. It’ll tell you when something’s overdue, and let’s you know when you’ve got time with other tasks. It can also be a desktop application or it can live in your email so that you have your list right there to reference as you finish up your work.
• Google Docs & Spreadsheets: Perfect for collaborative projects, tracking revisions, formatting bulleted content within emails, keeping track of large amounts of data, tracking coverage activity that you’ll need to have handy on the fly. And they’re completely searchable if you’re looking for a rarely-used document or spreadsheet.
• Google Alerts: Part of being on top of the details, is knowing what’s going on in your client’s industry. For the most part, they’re very good for staying on top of industry news, cleint/competitor coverage. I use them mostly, though, as reminders to pitch (and great sources for finding targets). Using smart keywords, you can find some great authors and publications that are perfect for your clients.
• Desktop “stickies”: I use these to keep account logins handy (ie: Marketwire login info, internet access account logins), client contacts and dial-ins for status calls, directions for releasing announcements onto the wire, client codes for billing – and of course songs/artists that I heard on Pandora that I want to remember to download. All in one place.
• Jott: Great for notes/tasks on the go. Simply speak either into their iPhone application or you call a number and then it transcribes what you say into tasks. Set it up to email or text people for you – it connects to Google Calendar and Remember the Milk, Facebook, Twitter and Amazon.com etc. It also has an adobe air desktop app.
• Evernote: I use Evernote’s clipping function for visually referencing competitors’ web-pages, important graphics, client coverage hits so that I can easily decide which clips are most visually stimulating. The tagging feature makes search functionality is very effective.

Just some pointers for the (recovering) detail-ignorant like myself.

*Photo courtesy of Details Magazine.

Details, details… Why You (as a young PRo) Need To Be Nit-Picky NOW.

I am not the most detail-oriented person. Not by a long shot. I am more what you’d call a “Big Picture,” conceptual person. Which is why, in the first months of my job, I struggled a lot with not seeing the value in details and not grasping for a while just HOW MUCH I needed to harness those details on all of my teams.

If your work environment is anything like mine, you’re on multiple teams and it’s very collaborative. Everyone does everything until the job gets done. It’s nice to see the managers of accounts chiming in and even sometimes drafting pitches and releases.

These are wonderful things to be able to expect from your teams and and managers. However, bear in mind what is expected of you at the bottom of the totem pole:

1. You are the gate-keeper of information. Your account managers will often be overseeing all of the high-level activity in several accounts, not just yours. It’s up to you to be on top of every single detail and moving part within your account so that if they need to know if a client has sent their feedback on a release, you can update them right away.

2. You are the task master. If someone’s been assigned a new Washington Post target, you need to check and make sure they’ve been pitched. You need to be sure of everyone’s pitching progress at any time. You need to know everyone’s progress on everything at all times. Don’t be afraid to manage up on this one.

3. Your clients probably care. Client-facing emails, especially with small companies aren’t uncommon for the young AA or AAE. Typos (and believe me, I am THE WORST with typos, just read some of my past blogs) look so bad to clients. Doesn’t matter if it’s a short, logistical (”Please use the usual dial-in”) message or a large, content-heavy correspondence. Same for client deliverables – PR reports, tracking sheets, whether hard copies, PDFs or Google docs, these need to be flawless.

4. Your teams DO care. They definitely care if they can’t trust you to send simple messages that are error-free to clients. Especially avoidable errors. Spell-check and have them proofed (it’s a killer to your writer/communicator’s ego, but worth it when you start to pick up the nuances of client communications). Never send a client email without letting your team know, or CC-ing them (once again, please learn from MY mistakes here).

5. It kind of becomes second nature. At some point you just learn how to do it without thinking about it. And you’ll find that as your organization increases so does your productivity. So it’s definitely worth the extra care and time that you put into it now.

6. Important: If you let them, disorganization and small mistakes WILL run the way you do things and define you as a professional. Small mistakes that go unchecked can quickly brand you as sloppy and unprofessional and will even faster become habits and harder to manage and rid yourself of.

This has been one of the most aggravating things to learn as I’ve gone out into the “real world.” Do whatever it takes to incorporate this into your work habits even if you’re cursing those detail oriented, anal-retentives who sit next to you. Eat some humble pie and learn from them.

*Organization tips to follow. Photo courtesy of Details magazine.

PR Week Knows Where It’s At!

PR Week announced a while ago its finalists for the PR Week Awards (announced in March 2009 [insert nail biting here]). Prepare to be overwhelmed by how rad this is:

As you can imagine I’m pretty excited. You should be too.

Inauguration Celebration

Wanted to post this video in the name of change.

Contributions of, Like, Generation Y

It’s sort of an office joke, here at LaunchSquad, that I am a “Digital Native” – yes, that really is the punchline. Those of us born between 1982-2001 also answer to “Millennial” and “Generation Y” and occasionally, since we can still manage it, we participate in the multi-generational phase of “disenfranchised youth.”

I find that I don’t really relate to my generation since I hardly exceed five text messages a day, I generally rely on my sense of direction rather than an iPhone when I get lost, and prefer to meet new people in person rather than on Facebook – call me old-fashioned. This could probably sound like denial on my part, except that I don’t feel resentment toward my generation because while, collectively, it may look like we have nothing to offer, we are a mighty force in consumer and technology trends. And I kind of like that.

According to a 2006 USA Today article, Generation Y usurped the Baby Boomers as the most influential group to retailers, citing a statistic that 13-21 year olds influence more than 80% of their family’s apparel purchases and over half of their car purchases. How does this happen? Well, it could be that we’re the most brand-conscious, information-driven generation yet.

As far as Generation Y in the workforce? Earlier this year, an episode of 60 Minutes entitled The Age Of The Millennials asserted that members of this generation are exceptionally tech-savvy and are especially tuned to their own value in the job market. We’re a good generation to have around in tech and media dilemmas. In a world of infinite access to news everywhere, thank god that the media’s driven by a generation with an attention span shorter than a Jonas Brother.

And despite all of the negative things we’ve pioneered, like cyber bullying and the incorporation of text message abbreviations into our vernacular – contributions that might not be so memorable – we must be recognized for an increasingly established global trend: Online Oxygen. According to trendwatching.com, “Online Oxygen,” is, essentially, the idea that constant and convenient Web access is seen as an “absolute necessity” to a global degree and there’s no slowing of the integration of the internet and daily life.

Oh, SNAP! Our greatest contribution to technology is our demand for it. We multi-task better than any generation, simultaneously downloading music, sending e-mails, updating micro-blog feeds and ordering new running shoes all on the way to the gym. Our information addiction is fed by our dealer – gadgets and smart-phones always on our person – iAppendages, really. Instant access to a wealth of information keeps us clever, resourceful, ambitious and demanding.

And while we may seem obnoxious, self-serving and ridiculous, if it weren’t for that persistence, people, you’d might still be stuck with dial-up internet.

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Originally posted at here, LaunchSquad’s Exclamation blog.

CEO 2.0

courtesty of directnews.co.uk

On one of my accounts, the CEO has become pretty obsessed with Twitter as of late. I’m  happy that he was into it because I’m all about engagement and transparency and other great perks of swimming in the Web 2.0 ocean, and I’m not yet very good at convincing clients that a 140-character blurb every now and then is worth their time, so I’m glad that not a lot of prodding was needed on my part. Also, it was nice because, while I manage and maintain the Twitter activity for the company feed, when people have issues with a product, I often don’t know enough about the technology behind it or the industry itself to answer these properly – the CEO, though, can do it very well. It’s an awesome combo – CEO personal Twitter used in conjunction with the company’s…

I was asked, however, to create a little guide for his Twitter activity and realized — People, this is the age of CEO 2.0. What have we progressed to when the CEO is no longer a suit behind closed mahogany doors and on executive planes and golf courses? When they actually interact with the users, no matter how influencial, to trouble-shoot, discuss the product and the industry, or respond personally to reporters. It’s a beautiful thing.

That said, I wanted to pass along this outline for your CEO to start his very own feed. Below are some tools and examples of a Twitter feed done WELL (some of these are review from an earlier post -@JetBlue, @MightyLeaf)

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Tools

Desktop app: Twhirl

• Gives you the updates on the feeds you follow, and functions like the Web page.
• You can follow, send messages, @replies.
• The nice thing about Twhirl, though, unlike the traditional service which only lists the @replies that are in the beginning of posts, Twhirl, lists all @replies that are called, no matter where they are in the post.

Search: search.twitter.com
Scheduled Posts: Future Tweets let’s you schedule Tweets ahead of time.
Regional Interest: http://www.twitterlocal.net
Conversation/Thread tracking: Tweader.com
Trends on Twitter: http://www.twitscoop.com/

Successful Business Twitter models:

Jet Blue: https://twitter.com/JetBlue

• Their 7,500 followers are resulting from updates about their flight schedules, flying/travel tips and steady responses to customers and other Twitterers.
• A steady flow of updates keeps you on the feeds of those following you.

Mighty Leaf Tea: https://twitter.com/mightyleaf

• They’re not tech, but they come up with useful ways to discuss their products over Twitter and currently have nearly 1000 followers.
• They post “relevant” issues and articles and are engaged in their industry beyond just their product, engaging in current events and eventually bringing it back to them.

Comcast: http://twitter.com/comcastcares

• This feed is devoted solely to addressing customer concerns and directing them to new services and solutions.
They’ve got 18,000+ updates which illustrates that this is their new customer care model.
“Can I help?” is a common @reply to some customer’s venting their concerns.

Evernote: http://twitter.com/evernote

• Evernote is a great example of how a small company can leverage Twitter, though their model is more centered around updates and announcements rather than industry news and they don’t engage with with @replies. They probably Direct Message everyone who starts following them. Another great way to engage without crowding your feed with @replies.
• They have over 6,000 followers because they incorporate need-to-know information in their updates so that users can maximize their use.

PLEASE NOTE: Comcast is an extreme model, but it’s the truest when it comes to customer engagement. JetBlue and Mighty Leaf engage with customers, but they also focus on industry news as well. JetBlue even features a “Tech-travel Tuesday” weekly tweet devoted to how technology is having an impact in travel.

Executives On Twitter

Tony Hsieh of Zappos.com: http://twitter.com/zappos

• This is more of a daily log of activities, interactions with other journalists, and daily goings on at Zappos. But it does a great deal to humanize the company and they have nearly 20,000 followers because of it.

David Sifry, Chairman of Technorati: http://twitter.com/technorati

• He recently did an interview on his Twitter engagement: I subscribe to lots of people who say interesting things, and I listen [and] read a lot. I find that these people become a sounding board for ideas, and I learn a lot from them.”
• Many CEOs are finding this a good window into current events and insights into their industry.

It’d like to reiterate that, it does help if you garner some of the nuances of Twitter, blogging and other Web 2.0 engagement tools for your personal use – SEO, Web presence, visibility before you attempt to do the same for your client.

Have at it.