July 26, 2010
This post contains no spoilers from last night's Mad Men premiere, namely because I'm waiting to watch it until Thursday. This is what happens when you host Mad Men parties with artists with careers. I may even buy a red wig for the occasion. If I do, I will only post photos if Hilary's upcoming Higdon/Tchaikovsky album sells 5,000 copies the first week. Deal? Deal.
It's funny: I've seen every episode of Mad Men at least once (the one where Peggy does The Twist about 17 times), and have never found relevant material for this blog despite the show's being about advertising. UNTIL NOW.
There are a lot of marketing lessons in this clip, namely, always try and put a "sticky smile" on people's faces:
It's funny: I've seen every episode of Mad Men at least once (the one where Peggy does The Twist about 17 times), and have never found relevant material for this blog despite the show's being about advertising. UNTIL NOW.
There are a lot of marketing lessons in this clip, namely, always try and put a "sticky smile" on people's faces:
"Good work, sycophants."
July 23, 2010
Simply teach inmates at a maximum security prison in The Philippines choreography to "I Will Follow Him" from Sister Act.
And if you want 42 million views, have those same inmates do Thriller:
July 20, 2010
Via Advertising is Good for You, via Adam Sherk dot com, we have the most frequently used press release buzzwords. There are some real winners in there. I'm working on an Orpheus press release, and am now feeling the need to find a way to incorporate "bleeding edge" and "low hanging fruit". Also, if this list was classical music-specific, I'm sure "generation" would be on the list somewhere prominent.
Buzzword / Marketing Speak / Overused TermMentions in Press Releases leader 161,000 leading 44,900 best 43,000 top 32,500 unique 30,400 great 28,600 solution 22,600 largest 21,900 innovative 21,800 innovator 21,400 award winning 11,800 exclusive 11,000 premier 10,700 extensive 10,500 leading provider 10,100 innovation 9,570 real-time 8,030 fastest 7,420 easy to use 6,850 dynamic 6,460 state of the art 6,400 smart 6,020 flexible 5,660 cutting edge 5,520 biggest 5,460 world class 5,340 amazing 5,320 next generation 4,860 revolutionary 4,830 sustainable 4,720 best practices 4,680 leverage 4,600 thrilled 4,530 robust 4,380 delighted 3,560 cloud 3,260 user friendly 3,190 extraordinary 3,090 breakthrough 3,010 savvy 2,900 ROI 2,860 transform 2,700 seamless 2,540 groundbreaking 2,440 empower 2,390 scalable 2,170 one of a kind 2,160 proactive 1,810 best in class 1,650 return on investment 1,570 market leading 1,560 turnkey 1,450 mission critical 1,370 strategic partnership 1,360 ground breaking 1,320 dashboard 1,310 iconic 1,220 industry standard 1,190 never before 1,150 re-purpose 1,050 ecosytem 1,020 win-win 963 best of breed 941 enterprise class 926 empowerment 909 magical 853 synergy 838 out of the box 790 feature-rich 757 stack 673 cross-platform 524 value proposition 519 well positioned 489 disruptive 470 hit the ground running 451 disruption 417 mindshare 415 space-age 386
bleeding edge 373 exit strategy 373 customer-centric 369 sea change 331 sticky 326 silo 272 synergistic 246 client-centric 244 outside the box 226 paradigm shift 206 peak performance 205 perfect storm 162 organic growth 155 top-down 155 next-gen 121 never been done 110 bottom-up 108 solution-driven 102 secret sauce 91 low hanging fruit 69
July 19, 2010
I'm often asked why artists and presenters should trendy-verb-form of name-your-social-media-outlet. Artists say they don't have time ("when do I practice?"), while presenters say there's no way to track results of blog, Twitter and Facebook efforts in ticket sales. Perhaps going forward, I'll tell people that they should trendy-verb-form of name-your-social-media-outlet because there's a movie with Justin Timberlake about it.
I could also tell them that, as of today, Facebook has reached 500 million users.
Just as no one who tries really hard to be cool, smart or funny actually comes off as cool, smart, funny, or whatever it is he or she desperately wants to be, no presenter or artist who joins Twitter or Facebook, or who starts blogging, because other artists and presenters are doing it is actually going to be successful. Is there strategy involved? Yes, but the strategy, in my opinion, is how to link together everything a person actually wants to be doing, and drive traffic to that thing that needs to be purchased, be it a CD, a music file, or a concert ticket. Proper Discord sums up the usual performing arts social media strategy nicely:
While out and about a few Friday nights ago, I met a boy who is an assistant to a relationship specialist. (Side note: he KNEW WHO SOME OF MY CLIENTS WERE, which was exciting. The friend I was with very helpfully and loudly voiced her SHOCK that someone had heard of anyone I work for. Thank you for that, Sara, supportive friend of 16 years.) Of course when you meet anyone having to do with a relationship specialist, you naturally have to ask what the Best Advice is. So I did, and my new friend Mark said that the best advice his boss doles out is to "always give more than you feel like you're getting." Good advice, I think, for using social media as well.
I could also tell them that, as of today, Facebook has reached 500 million users.
Just as no one who tries really hard to be cool, smart or funny actually comes off as cool, smart, funny, or whatever it is he or she desperately wants to be, no presenter or artist who joins Twitter or Facebook, or who starts blogging, because other artists and presenters are doing it is actually going to be successful. Is there strategy involved? Yes, but the strategy, in my opinion, is how to link together everything a person actually wants to be doing, and drive traffic to that thing that needs to be purchased, be it a CD, a music file, or a concert ticket. Proper Discord sums up the usual performing arts social media strategy nicely:
Gregory Beaver, the cellist of the Chiara Quartet, has 38 followers on Twitter. His publicist, Christina Jensen, has 636 followers on Twitter, one of whom is Jeremy Olshan, a reporter for the New York Post. He has 165 followers, and the Chiara Quartet has 238.
On June 29th, the Chiara Quartet Tweeted the following from their ensemble account to their 238 followers:
Christina (and others) retweeted, and Jeremy Olshan decided to write a story for the Post a few days later. It ran on page 3 of the print version of the paper, and the news got picked up by the Daily Mail, Telegraph, Toronto Star, and others in the US. Christina then got calls from CBS and Inside Edition, though they didn't eventually go with the story.
Neither the publicist nor the artist could have known that this much media attention could have come out of one Tweet that took maybe 15 seconds to type. People complain about airlines and just about everything else in the world all the time on Twitter, and yet, in this case, the right follower was paying attention at the right time. If none of the above parties had been on Twitter, could Christina have secured a story? Perhaps. Gregory could have called her to complain, she could have thought to herself that some writers might be interested, made a few calls, sent a few e mails, and given it her best shot. Would she have written a press release about it? Probably not. Did that one Tweet get more press for her client than any one press release she's ever written for them? Quite possibly.
Conversely, here's an example of an ensemble using Twitter because Someone Told Them They Should. Let's call this the "[if someone told you to] jump off a bridge" method. I blacked out the group's name, venues, and Facebook links all classified FBI document style, but you'll get the idea:
Each Tweet reads, "Come to GROUP @ VENUE, date, time, program, Facebook link." Four Tweets in a row at the exact same time, using the name of the group which is supposed to be Tweeting? This feed also has Tweets like, "I uploaded a video." At the very least, take the time to switch the auto-pronoun if you're a group! These are the artists (and presenters) who complain about not "getting anything" from social media; they don't realize that the problem is they're not giving anything.
Later this week, I'm going to list some top classical artists with blogs, as well as those on Twitter and Facebook, and make some notes about how they use one or both outlets. For now, I'll leave you pianist Jeremy Denk's blog, Think Denk: The Glamorous Life of a Classical Pianist, that he started writing without a publicist's urging in March 2005. Jeremy's blog is responsible for the most bizarre and awesome New York Times review of all time, in which Anthony Tommassini references a blog post of Jeremy's in the title (I realize the critics don't necessarily write the titles), and directs Times readers to Think Denk at the end of the review. Keep in mind, this is a Carnegie Hall concert review, not a feature.
On June 29th, the Chiara Quartet Tweeted the following from their ensemble account to their 238 followers:
Christina (and others) retweeted, and Jeremy Olshan decided to write a story for the Post a few days later. It ran on page 3 of the print version of the paper, and the news got picked up by the Daily Mail, Telegraph, Toronto Star, and others in the US. Christina then got calls from CBS and Inside Edition, though they didn't eventually go with the story. Neither the publicist nor the artist could have known that this much media attention could have come out of one Tweet that took maybe 15 seconds to type. People complain about airlines and just about everything else in the world all the time on Twitter, and yet, in this case, the right follower was paying attention at the right time. If none of the above parties had been on Twitter, could Christina have secured a story? Perhaps. Gregory could have called her to complain, she could have thought to herself that some writers might be interested, made a few calls, sent a few e mails, and given it her best shot. Would she have written a press release about it? Probably not. Did that one Tweet get more press for her client than any one press release she's ever written for them? Quite possibly.
Conversely, here's an example of an ensemble using Twitter because Someone Told Them They Should. Let's call this the "[if someone told you to] jump off a bridge" method. I blacked out the group's name, venues, and Facebook links all classified FBI document style, but you'll get the idea:
Each Tweet reads, "Come to GROUP @ VENUE, date, time, program, Facebook link." Four Tweets in a row at the exact same time, using the name of the group which is supposed to be Tweeting? This feed also has Tweets like, "I uploaded a video." At the very least, take the time to switch the auto-pronoun if you're a group! These are the artists (and presenters) who complain about not "getting anything" from social media; they don't realize that the problem is they're not giving anything. Later this week, I'm going to list some top classical artists with blogs, as well as those on Twitter and Facebook, and make some notes about how they use one or both outlets. For now, I'll leave you pianist Jeremy Denk's blog, Think Denk: The Glamorous Life of a Classical Pianist, that he started writing without a publicist's urging in March 2005. Jeremy's blog is responsible for the most bizarre and awesome New York Times review of all time, in which Anthony Tommassini references a blog post of Jeremy's in the title (I realize the critics don't necessarily write the titles), and directs Times readers to Think Denk at the end of the review. Keep in mind, this is a Carnegie Hall concert review, not a feature.
Yet hints of Beethoven the daring improviser also came through in Mr. Denk's fresh, risky and, when called for, boldly humorous performance.Speaking of humor, check out Mr. Denk's Web site (jeremydenk.net) for his musings on music and the life of a concert pianist. In a recent post he writes an imagined interview with Gov. Sarah Palin, discussing the "Hammerklavier," which she calls Beethoven's "most maverickyest" song. Giving advice to Mr. Denk in tackling the daunting fugue, his Sarah Palin says, "Trill, baby, trill!"
Most likely, a Jeremy Denk Carnegie Hall recital have been reviewed by the New York Times regardless, but Jeremy's having a blog creates a situation wherein critics and audience members can go to concerts knowing many things about an artist from the artist's own mouth--err, fingers. Tell me, how could one possibly capture this glorious thing in a press release?
While out and about a few Friday nights ago, I met a boy who is an assistant to a relationship specialist. (Side note: he KNEW WHO SOME OF MY CLIENTS WERE, which was exciting. The friend I was with very helpfully and loudly voiced her SHOCK that someone had heard of anyone I work for. Thank you for that, Sara, supportive friend of 16 years.) Of course when you meet anyone having to do with a relationship specialist, you naturally have to ask what the Best Advice is. So I did, and my new friend Mark said that the best advice his boss doles out is to "always give more than you feel like you're getting." Good advice, I think, for using social media as well.
July 16, 2010
..from a good colleague, Marc van Bree:
We all know that Nashville got hit with a terrible flood a few months ago. This terrible flood didn't spare the Nashville Symphony Orchestra (NSO). The orchestra's damages were approximately $42 million and after insurance and support from FEMA, the remaining financial gap could be as much as $10 million.
Let's all contribute our own little bit as a classical music community online. Here's my idea: leverage this online network with #floodofsupport
You can read about the specifics I posted today on my blog at http://mcmvanbree.com/dutchperspective/floodofsupport
But that's not all. I would love your help. Perhaps a small donation, but as importantly, I would love your help in spreading the message. On Twitter, on your blogs, on Facebook and in whatever online crevasses you might find yourself.
A couple of things:
* #floodofsupport runs until August 1, 2010
* The goal is a modest $1,000 (that's $1 for each of my Twitter followers on average)
* You can set up your own mini-matching grant (I set one up on my blog)
* I have no connection to the Nashville Symphony. I just felt like doing something
* Please remember to use the (hash)tag #floodofsupport on your blog and Twitter posts
* http://mcmvanbree.com/dutchperspective/floodofsupport (you'll also find some pre-made graphic banners to use)
July 14, 2010
Chamber Music America hosted a live chat on social media at lunch today, and here's what went down. Conversation topics included the personal and professional divide when using Facebook and Twitter, how publicists, artists and journalists interact online, Twitter success stories (more on that later tonight), how to plan a social media campaign, Shaquille O'Neal, and Twilight. The latter two points were my contributions to the conversation, which is why I get paid the big bucks.
75 people participated, with the average person staying in the conversation for 49 minutes. Thanks to all who were electronically there!
75 people participated, with the average person staying in the conversation for 49 minutes. Thanks to all who were electronically there!
Chamber Music America is looking to host a chat around an article in each issue of their magazine going forward, so check their site for information on future discussions.
Despite the weather looking like The End of Time circa 2pm today, the New York Philharmonic's first Central Park concert of the summer season went off without a hitch. My sister's friend Meg was disappointed that the fireworks portion of the evening was canceled (but what of the MUSICAL fireworks, I asked her??), but I believe she was appeased by a free t-shirt with fireworks on it. Thousands of people turned out despite the earlier downpour, proving yet again that audiences like free, outdoorsy events at which they can eat, drink, and text. Here was the view from my Dartmouth blanket:
We swapped bug spray for chocolate with the folks behind us and all was right with the world.
There is another concert in the park tomorrow, but I will be at home curating a French film festival in honor of Bastille Day which thus far only involves Ratatouille.
In other New York City news tonight, Sting performed some positively silly play on the word "symphony" at the Metropolitan Opera, and it was completely bizarre to see Tweets and texts from that house throughout the concert.
We swapped bug spray for chocolate with the folks behind us and all was right with the world.There is another concert in the park tomorrow, but I will be at home curating a French film festival in honor of Bastille Day which thus far only involves Ratatouille.
In other New York City news tonight, Sting performed some positively silly play on the word "symphony" at the Metropolitan Opera, and it was completely bizarre to see Tweets and texts from that house throughout the concert.
July 13, 2010
My client David Lang has two dance projects coming up this fall, one with New York City Ballet and the other with Works & Process at the Guggenheim. This means I've been doing a lot of reaching out to dance writers I've never met or worked with before, so far with absolutely no (0) success, but I persevere!
You should know that I think the New York Times website is basically The Most Impressive Thing (as it should be); minutes after we learned that George Steinbrenner passed away this morning, the Times had a slideshow of archival photos of him on their homepage.
I am also continuously surprised by the smart, new features they add seemingly weekly. For example, yesterday I noticed while reading an article about the Jezebel/Daily Show chaos, that the Times site now tells you where outgoing links will take you if you click on them, for example, "More articles about Jon Stewart" (links to the Times archives), "An Observer article about her [Gaby Darbyshire]," and "A post about her [Jessica Coen]." They seem to have some kinks to work out with this feature, since there are quite a few typos, but it's very cool. Another new feature I noticed while reading that article (and other Times articles today), was this little "Speed Read" box that slides in from the right side of your screen; basically, this is a link to a CliffNotes version of all the Media & Advertising articles posted so far that day.
This is why I was surprised when my assistant Nathan discovered the following while researching writers who might be interested in a piece on David: "Dance" is not a sub-category under ARTS on the homepage.
...and then suddenly it is when you click on the general ARTS section:
Same goes for Art & Design, but I'll deal with that when one of my composers does a site-specific work. Strangely inconsistent, right?
You should know that I think the New York Times website is basically The Most Impressive Thing (as it should be); minutes after we learned that George Steinbrenner passed away this morning, the Times had a slideshow of archival photos of him on their homepage.
I am also continuously surprised by the smart, new features they add seemingly weekly. For example, yesterday I noticed while reading an article about the Jezebel/Daily Show chaos, that the Times site now tells you where outgoing links will take you if you click on them, for example, "More articles about Jon Stewart" (links to the Times archives), "An Observer article about her [Gaby Darbyshire]," and "A post about her [Jessica Coen]." They seem to have some kinks to work out with this feature, since there are quite a few typos, but it's very cool. Another new feature I noticed while reading that article (and other Times articles today), was this little "Speed Read" box that slides in from the right side of your screen; basically, this is a link to a CliffNotes version of all the Media & Advertising articles posted so far that day. This is why I was surprised when my assistant Nathan discovered the following while researching writers who might be interested in a piece on David: "Dance" is not a sub-category under ARTS on the homepage....and then suddenly it is when you click on the general ARTS section:Same goes for Art & Design, but I'll deal with that when one of my composers does a site-specific work. Strangely inconsistent, right?About
Life's a Pitch Why don't we apply the successful marketing and publicity campaigns we see in our everyday lives to the performing arts? Great ideas are right there, ripe for the emulating. And who's responsible for the wide-reaching problems in ticket sales and audience development? Boring artists? Greedy managers? Overstretched marketing departments? We're beyond debating who owns the problem. Let's fix this thing.
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Amanda Ameer left her position as Publicity Manager at IMG Artists in June 2007 to start First Chair Promotion. She currently represents Hilary Hahn, Gabriel Kahane, The King's Singers, David Lang, Eric Owens, Michael Gordon, Hélène Grimaud, Sondra Radvanovsky and Julia Wolfe, and serves as a consultant to Chamber Music America.
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Twitter I gave in and answered the siren call of Twitter. Click the button to follow:
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Amanda Ameer left her position as Publicity Manager at IMG Artists in June 2007 to start First Chair Promotion. She currently represents Hilary Hahn, Gabriel Kahane, The King's Singers, David Lang, Eric Owens, Michael Gordon, Hélène Grimaud, Sondra Radvanovsky and Julia Wolfe, and serves as a consultant to Chamber Music America.
more
Contact Click here to send an email. more
Subscribe to the Newsletter Fill in your email address here.
more
Twitter I gave in and answered the siren call of Twitter. Click the button to follow:
Sites
Now Play It
This site has musicians teaching viewers how to play their most popular songs on the guitar via downloadable video. more
This site has musicians teaching viewers how to play their most popular songs on the guitar via downloadable video.
MOMA - Eye on Europe
This microsite for one of MOMA's 2006 exhibitions is a(n extreme) lesson in what can be done digitally for special projects (world premieres?).
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This microsite for one of MOMA's 2006 exhibitions is a(n extreme) lesson in what can be done digitally for special projects (world premieres?).
The Metropolitan Opera
Sometimes, when the (performing arts) world gets me down, I go to The Met's website and feel better about it all.
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Sometimes, when the (performing arts) world gets me down, I go to The Met's website and feel better about it all.
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