I used to direct the annual strategic plan for a weekly news magazine. If you’ve kept even half an eye on media news, you can just imagine how some of those planning sessions went. At various times everything about our business would get dissected, analyzed, attacked or defended. It got down to such introspection as, “What are we, why are we here, and what is news?” Media Philosophy 101.
With the knowledge that we were an advertising-based business in print, online and with events, one person said we were a media company. Another (probably a marketer, though I don’t recall) chimed in,
Continue reading It’s News To Me!
I’ve been reading Jaron Lanier‘s book, You Are Not A Gadget: A Manifesto. It’s so thought provoking—mind-bending, really—that I’m compelled to post something to pass the word on what a good read it is.
As you may know, Lanier is a leader in computer science, as well as a composer, visual artist, and author. He’s the founder of VPL Research and is the guy who popularized the term “virtual reality” back 1980′s.
I had some brief reservations before writing this, since I’m a huge fan of social media, and this book takes it down a peg or two. Or three. But social media
Continue reading Social Media, Reductionism, and Living An Analog Life
An ad agency friend of mine recently told me that he “didn’t get” social media. My knee-jerk reaction might have been, “He’s right. He just doesn’t get it.” But that would be missing the point. It’s well and good to believe in the power of social media—I’m a huge proponent of social media, in fact—but beware of over-imbibing in Social Media Kool-Aid.
Social media proponents often forget (or dismiss) the many people who “don’t get it,” or just don’t care about it. Oftentimes social media evangelists preach at them, drowning them with statistics, until the nonbeliever is converted. Or exhausted. Lots of
Continue reading Social Media Myopia
I spent over 10 years in B2B publishing, working for a magazine called Nation’s Restaurant News (NRN). It’s a newsweekly that reports on the restaurant industry. Restaurant operators read it. For those of you who don’t know, the restaurant business is huge. It employs more than 11 million people and generates hundreds of billions of dollars of revenues. Even in a down market, foodservice is big business.
Yesterday I was having lunch with a client—someone who’s been active in the foodservice market for a couple decades. We were talking about how the publishing game has changed and how all of the restaurant
Continue reading Beware of the Monkey Fist!
No, that’s not an updated profile photo. (OK, put a beard on me, and I begin to see the similarities.) Anyway, it’s there because I’ve been thinking about evolution.
I was working on a mobile marketing project, and it struck me just how much has changed in this business. I’ve been a marketer for more than a few years, and during that time marketing, media, and communications in general have evolved dramatically.
Just one example: There was a time when typesetting was hugely expensive, laser printers cost thousands of dollars, not hundreds, and a color separator could take up an entire room. Along
Continue reading Evolution and the Media Revolution
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What is The Shortest Distance? The Shortest Distance is a blog about storytelling, integrated marketing strategies, social media, and the many ways they can work together to help people connect and businesses succeed.
Bruce is a seasoned marketing pro who has improved the performance of a variety of corporations by combining solid integrated marketing strategies with compelling content and leading-edge Web 2.0 tools.
His background in brand and product marketing, operations, management, design, publishing and sales, along with his classical training at the Kellogg Graduate School of Management, give him a 360º perspective on today's marketing opportunities.
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