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Elastic Journalism

On Friday, the First Lady of Inkville and I checked out "Multimedia Journalism & the Landscape of News," a talk by The Daily's Gabriel Dance. It was sponsored by my old stomping grounds, the University of Oregon's School of Journalism and Communication.

Dance was a popular act; we arrived a few minutes late, and found the room already at capacity and hotter than Hades. Good on him.

A lot of what Dance had to say really hit home, especially his strong recommendation that 21st century journalists need more than one skill set. And as I can attest both as a freelancer and as a former magazine staffer, it's hard out there for a pimp, assuming the pimp is a writer trying to support himself solely through freelance.

Dance's song-and-dance about multimedia was interesting, and he aptly demonstrated how the concept of "journalism" is elastic enough to encompass computer animators, designers, illustrators, and other creatives.

All Dance's examples stemmed from his time at The New York Times, and I'll admit I was hoping for a bit more about Dance's new gig at The Daily. But that job is new, so perhaps Dance deserves a pass for at least a few more weeks. And frankly, The Daily has thus far failed to impress me.

But what really left me scratching my head was the amount of culture shock Dance must be experiencing transferring from the Times, a supposed liberal bastion, to working for Rupert Murdoch. As I type this, Dance's personal website features a link to an article about a journalist's "battles" with Murdock, so perhaps The Daily really is enacting a separation of church and state for the purposes of doing business.

Call Me a Duck

My marketing job in the University of Oregon's Office of Admissions allows for a whole lot of creative leg-stretching. An indulgent and supportive boss, ditto.

Videotaping a ghost hunt in a cemetery? Go for it. Facebook-based essay contest? You betcha. Foursquare scavenger hunt? Sure, why not?

But nothing—and I mean nothing—has been so much fun (and so unexpected) as the writing, production, and creation of "Call Me a Duck."

Based on Maino's "All the Above," the video was launched last Friday, and as of this writing we're closing in on 160,000 views on YouTube... and still climbing.

Originally the brainchild of my boss Holly Moline Simons, "Call Me a Duck" was fast-tracked and produced on a shoestring budget once we learned that On the Rocks, the UO's resident male a cappella group, was going to appear on this fall's The Sing-Off on NBC.  (By the way, "fast-tracked" in academic parlance means just under half a year.)  Our boys were eliminated just shy of the final round, but hey, we'll take it!

Besides teaching me how to spell "a cappella," this project afforded me the chance to write and produce a rap song, which is a résumé line item I never would've considered. 

I was privileged to work with an amazing cast and crew.  Special shout-outs are due to Holly, as well as director Michael McDermott, director of photography John Waller, amazingly organized assistant director Christopher Parker, effervescent OTR liaison (and crystal-clear tenor) Jeffrey Rogers, audio engineer (and OTR founder) Peter Hollens, and the rock of UO Admissions, Jett Nilprabhassorn.

Funny side note: In a few weeks the UO plays Auburn in the BCS championship game.  I learned something interesting today.  Guess what l'il ditty Auburn has adopted this season as the football team's "pump up" song?

Maino's "All the Above." Complete coincidence, Tigers, scout's honor!

Photo courtesy of Michael McDermott.

This Little Piggy Went to Market

Last week Inkville took its show on the road to sunny San Diego, the city playing host to the 2010 American Marketing Assocation's Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education.

I took in some great (and not so great) presentations and talks.  Here are some highlights.

Alicia Nestle, assistant director for new media at Nazareth College, presented "20 Tips for Powerful Story-Driven Branding & Communications." Besides the fact that I am a professional storyteller, I also liked this presentation because its Letterman "Top 10 List" style  provided a lot of practical ideas one could implement immediately.

In what appears to be a possibly disturbing trend at this symposium both of the years I have attended, Nestle was joined in her presentation by a representative of the media firm that partnered with Nazareth. Many of the presentations involved one person from the academic side plus one corporate partner, in fact. If schools want to partner with outside third parties, sure, go for it. We do here at Oregon. But I'll admit it does give me pause in considering whether a presentation might be discounted by the AMA planners simply because the academic side presenter planned to fly solo.

Most of the conference sessions surrounding social and new media suggest to me that the University of Oregon is already at the forefront in this arena. We aren't doing everything we could, of course, but we're doing what we reasonably can, given that social media isn't at the tippy-top of any UO staffer's job description (to my knowledge, at least).

Gratifyingly, the location-based services presentation by Joe Hice of North Carolina State (who presented sans corporate partner) even used my UO Foursquare online materials as a demonstration of schools on the cutting edge of this particular medium. (By the way, NC State's social media plan is amazing, and include some cool ideas for QR codes, in particular.)

I was in awe of Purdue's "Makers, All" campaign as presented by Teri Thompson, that university's vice president for marketing. The campaign is simple and elegant, and offers return to a core branded identity while maximizing use of a mascot that might be confusing or awkward in the 21st century. But really, how could a presentation called "From Gatorade to Lady Gaga" fail to disappoint, especially when its presenter charges onto stage in a triumphant pop music opener?

True Confessions of a Slugette

"If I had a nickel," I said, "for every time I've listened to sax music while walking down the street wearing a dress..."

"...You'd have a nickel!" my friend Scott Smith interjected. Like me, Scott was clad in a black cocktail dress and a black hat, striding down Broadway Avenue on a warm August evening in downtown Eugene, Oregon.

When Scott's wife and my good friend Debbie Williamson-Smith told me she was campaigning in Eugene's annual Slug Queen competition (held this year on Friday the 13th, reasonably enough), it sounded like a natural fit. Debbie is a smart, civically engaged, and artistic professional communicator.

Debbie even had an ace up her sleeve: cross-dressing. Liberal Eugene is always up for a little gender transgression, and the Slug Queen competition has a long tradition of drag as evidenced by the 2009-10 queen, Mark Van Bever, er, make that Ana Slugsia. Unfortunately, what Debbie had in mind was me cross-dressing, along with hubby Scott and friend Jonathan as her back-up singers.

What sounded like less of a natural fit was Debbie's vision for her theme: Breakfast at Tiffany's. With the adopted moniker Holly GoSlugly, a sixties-inspired up-do, and a social media-based campaign, would hippie-tastic Eugene appreciate the "tackily tasteful" (or was it "tastefully tacky"?) Williamson-Smith and her rendition of "Slug River" (crooned by all of us to the tune of "Moon River"?)

Evidently so. With her effective judge-bribing program, Ms. GoSlugly and her team made it to the top two, were just baaaarely edged out (half a stinkin' point!) by new "raining" Queen Slugasana. Debbie vows she'll be back, in the GoSlugly persona or with a brand-new character, in 2011. Who knows what her theme will be, or whether she'll need a helping hand (or antenna?) from a friend willing to show a little leg?

In the meantime, I'll be trying to rebuild my professional reputation...

Photo credit: kval.com

Semi-Fresh

You know how you can be so excited to finally see that movie you've been dying to see, only to be disappointed when it finally opens? Boy, I sure do. I had a similar experience last week at the Social Fresh social media marketing conference in Portland.

I'm always on the lookout for ways to enhance the professional Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter profiles I maintain for the Office of Admissions at the University of Oregon. But I should have known by the fact that orange is major branding color for this company, but an inauspicious hue for Oregon Ducks. For a conference that seems to be billing itself as the nuevo-hip marketing opportunity for bright young things, what with all the pimp hats and zippy fruit-related graphics gracing their materials, the conference was a little short on innovative content. Much of it felt rather de rigeur: the ol' "line-up-behind-the-mic-to-ask-a-question-of-our-panelists" bit.

There were some bright points. I almost skipped the talk by Bryan Rhoads of Intel, and I'm glad I didn't. He had some interesting things to say about his company's adoption of social media, and even made time for a quick Second Life jab. Carri Bugbee revealed she is the tweeter behind the semi-official Twitter account of Mad Men's Peggy Olson, and her panel provided some good ROI pointers for Facebook and Twitter. As an Evernote geek I was glad to see Andrew Sinkov on a branding panel, the same one in which Matt Singley couldn't help but entertain by somehow repeatedly circling back to sex and alkyhol... and somehow tying it all together to make a less-than-lascivious point.

So, that's the good. As for the not-so-good... The talk by one breakout speaker consisted of a single Google Analytics tip, padded by some shilling for his shingle. The afternoon keynote speaker was spastic enough that I felt like I was watching a sitcom. And my attempt at doing the ol' question-at-the-mic thing resulted in a couple of rather smarmy marketers sliding up to me, while the presentation was still happening, leaning across a colleague to make a stage-whispered sales pitch.

Said colleague, the amazing Debbie Williamson-Smith, agreed that SoFresh was worth the two-hour jaunt from Eugene, but perhaps wouldn't have been worth an overnight hotel stay or a flight. Debbie did indulge me with a quick side trip to Captain Henry's Pirate Store in the Lloyd Center Mall, so, you know, arrrgh, matey.

While I was being rung up for the jolly roger sticker that now graces my laptop, the college-aged pirate co-ed behind the sales counter took care to compare my credit card's photo to my actual mug, leading me to remark on the irony of thoughtful security in a pirate-themed store. She had a response at the ready, that it was all about professional obligation, quality assurance in the pirate world.

Now that's branding, me hearties.