Hessiej

I saw a video the other day on Twitter from Crumple it Up. The original post came from Socialnomics. It finally brought to light all the reasons why brands, who still hesitate to engage in social media, should do it now. This is not a fad or a testing arena. Social media is a place [...]

It’s becoming more commonplace to see campaigns that leverage the strength of the consumer’s viewpoint and deliver a spectacular product from a grassroots view. Mentos is among those that has succeeded in this realm.
Yonge-Dundas Square on August 13 was a scene of fun in the sun, with giant slides, gladiator challenges, and hilarious Sumo [...]

It’s been awhile since I’ve written a post. Twittering and work has kept this blog at bay. But recent incidents have really compelled me to put down my thoughts on the keyboard.
I was on Twitter at 5:40 when rampant news about Michael Jackson’s supposed death started circulating. It was a bit of a frenzy on [...]

I often wonder what was the tipping point for social media? Why is it receiving more attention now than ever? It has always been there and those in the know — whether they are the tech savvy or the digital youth — saw its benefits much sooner than the rest of us.  But now it’s really gone mainstream:

Every radio station, newscaster, broadcast media has a Twitter account. My late night TV news station uses it as a crowd-sourcing mechanism to gauge immediate opinion on key news issues;
Charities/causes are popping up and its organizers are wising up to the fact that they can raise awareness and donations within hours of launching their campaign;
The newspaper industry is dying as consumers increasingly look online to find their news and information for free. As a result, a large scale shift in ad spend is expected in 2009 away from traditional print and broadcast to online. eMarketer verifies this transformation:



Marketers have been told that this channel not only offers true measurability but it results in strong customer engagement and sustainability;

For someone like me, whose marketing roots have evolved from traditional mass to direct and database; then to online display, search and now social media –> my profound learning comes in understanding that it is a medium that continues to evolve and has yet to establish standards for marketers. I continue to hear that no one should have the right to call themselves “social media experts” and while I believe that is absolutely true, I will place my bets with those marketers and organizations who are using this medium everyday to establish their brand, and create a true understanding of their customers.  These guys practice what they preach. Other industry notables have gotten their names because they’ve seemingly held the answers to a space that was virtually untravelled by the mainstream. But I have yet to see any validation of their preachings.
Could it be that the new US President Barack Obama wi

I had the distinct opportunity to attend the Rotman Lecture series to watch an insightful presentation by Rahaf Harfoush, a key member of Barack Obama’s Campaign that helped reshape the way political campaigns are run.  Ideally, the voice of the people should be represented and to garner that support means listening to their concerns, and persuading them that you will answer those concerns. The Obama Campaign took it one step further: It harnessed this support by arming people with tools to help spread the message and making them feel integral to the campaign.  This provided incredible individual empowerment that caused an explosion of smaller campaigns that fueled the Obama fire. The Campaign unleashed its brand to the masses and the public embraced it and made it stronger.   A great example of this is the Yes We Can Video by Little Will.i.am, an initiative developed by supporters who took Obama’s message, made it their own, and spread the word. It became synonomous with the Campaign and eventually amassed over 14.5 MM views.

For the first time, as far as I know, the financial support for this Campaign truly was bourne out the masses. Traditional political support from constituents  ie the rich, corporate and organized interest groups have strongly influenced and directed the decisions and policies of past presidents.  Could this be the one time that Abraham Lincoln’s view of true government has come to fruition?  “Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.”  I urge you to view this presentation and share it. I think it’s a great model, not only for modern politics, but for modern business.










PR: wait…
I: wait…
L: wait…
LD: wait…
I: wait…
wait…
C: wait…
SD: wait…




















































Posted in online, online marketing, Politics, Social Networking, Uncategorized

Amazing how the “invisible hand” could lead the country astray. Free market, with minimal regulation has absolutely caused a greater gap between the rich and the poor. My husband tried to explain the actual root cause  –> he summed up the reason for the US economic crisis to be Asset Backed Commercial Paper (ABCP for short). OK, when his “finance-speak” came to an end my eyes were crossed and the only way I could respond was, “Huh?  I don’t get it”. So, to help simplify things, he sent me this….for lay people like me.
Hopefully, after you view this presentation, it’ll all make sense. And maybe, as Barack Obama has suggested, the big corporations and mortgage brokers should become more accountable for the mess they’ve caused.
If the type is too small to read, please click here to view it on SlideShare.









PR: wait…
I: wait…
L: wait…
LD: wait…
I: wait…
wait…
C: wait…
SD: wait…



















































































Posted in Uncategorized

I had the distinct opportunity to attend the Rotman Lecture series to watch an insightful presentation by Rahaf Harfoush, a key member of Barack Obama’s Campaign that helped reshape the way political campaigns are run.  Ideally, the voice of the people should be represented and to garner that support means listening to their concerns, and persuading them that you will answer those concerns. The Obama Campaign took it one step further: It harnessed this support by arming people with tools to help spread the message and make them feel integral to the campaign.  This provided incredible individual empowerment that caused an explosion of smaller campaigns that fueled the Obama fire. The Campaign unleashed their brand to the masses and the public embraced it and made it stronger.   A great example of this is the Yes We Can Video by Little Will.i.am, an initiative developed by supporters who took Obama’s message, made it their own, and spread the word. It became synonomous with the Campaign and eventually amassed over 14.5 MM views.

For the first time, as far as I know, the financial support for the Obama Campaign truly came from the masses. Traditional political support from constituents  ie the rich, corporate and organized interest groups have strongly influenced and directed the decisions and policies of past presidents.  Could this be the one time that the Abraham Lincoln’s view of true government has come to fruition?  “Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.”  I urge you to view this presentation and share it. I think it’s a great business model, not only for modern politics, but for modern business.










PR: wait…
I: wait…
L: wait…
LD: wait…
I: wait…
wait…
C: wait…
SD: wait…




















































Posted in online, online marketing, Politics, Social Networking, Uncategorized

I read a pretty compelling, albeit morbid, email the other week from Jason Calcanis, founder of Mahalo.  He spoke about “The Start-up Depression” in the wake of current economic conditions in the US. He followed up with an equally forceful article titled, “Good News for People who Hate Bad News“. It sounded more like Armageddon was imminent. His words were harsh and foreboding:
“The severity of what has happened can’t be underestimated. There will be no white knight. Even the massive coordinated government action–including the first global rate cuts and bail outs–has done nothing to stop the panic or create a bottom (at least from where I sit). Bottom line: there is zero chance of a short or medium term-rebound.  Zero.”
It’s clear that he’s not overexaggerating.  Market conditions are impacting investing. Here are some harsh realities:
• Just yesterday, Tim Hortons has decided to close many of its stores in New England citing lackluster performance.
• The big car giants are rationalizing big time and talks of merger between GM and Chrysler come out of a necessity to survive. It’s being felt close to home as families in Oshawa – mine included – are shaking their heads wondering where it all went wrong. In past economies these institutions have taken care of their employees, where you were seemingly guaranteed employment until you retired. The union would fight for the best benefit packages for their workers and the carmakers acquiesced – all at the expense of the company’s eventual survival.  The funny thing is that GM, Chrysler and Ford’s  market share was  being taken away from the foreign competition AND their business did not adapt, let alone, anticipate what this could mean in times of serious downturn. And now they’re scrambling.
• Banks are going to feel a softening in credit sales, and mortgage services. Credit card companies,  which would traditionally promote low introductory APR for 6 months don’t have

Amazing how the “invisible hand” could lead the country astray. Free market, with minimal regulation has absolutely caused a greater gap between the rich and the poor. My husband tried to explain the actual root cause  –> he summed up the reason for the US economic crisis to be Asset Backed Commercial Paper (ABCP for short). OK, when his “finance-speak” came to an end my eyes were crossed and the only way I could respond was, “Huh?  I don’t get it”. So, to help simplify things for me, he s

This was sent to me by someone I just met today. Ain’t it the truth!! In search of the holy grail….and a wad of cash to boot! The video tells the story….enjoy!










PR: wait…
I: wait…
L: wait…
LD: wait…
I: wait…
wait…
C: wait…
SD: wait…

I realize I’m late with this post but I wanted to really collect my thoughts before I wrote it all down. Truth is that I wouldn’t have ventured into blogging or even charteried into unknown territory in this vast social media space had it not been for Randy Pausch. It was The Last Lecture that really made me think about my life from a few perspectives: family, passion and life in general. My earlier blog post indicates how significant he has changed me as a person. Since that day I have made significan

I have seen many attempts to produce a formula for viral video to drive sales. A lot of the rules are similar but one would argue that “viral” is the result of the effort as opposed to the strategy. Anyone intending on creating viral video can absolutely expect to witness incremental growth in traffic or sales if done right but it can come at a cost. The video below summarizes one of those strategies from The Comotion Group.
I have had the pleasure of working with Dan Ackerman-Greenberg, founder of The

Every social application has a lifecycle. There is a honeymoon period where excitement is present, activity is abundant, where I come back time and time again to see if someone’s noticed me and has added me as a friend. Suddenly, it becomes an obsession — wow, I’m connecting with my gal pal from kindergarten…and, OK, I’ll add the snobby cheerleader who didn’t say boo to me once in high school…but hey if she wants to be my friend, cool….and as long as I’m on here, I might as well fill it wi