Jason Aloia has joined Twelve Horses as the new director of production.

Jason is responsible for overseeing the creative, technical, and project management teams, as well as focusing on internet product and business development, custom business automation applications, and emarketing product and strategy development.

Jason comes to Twelve Horses from Swift Communications, Inc. where he served as internet director. Prior to Swift, he was the Director of Web Products for Business 2.0, an online business magazine and website launched by AOL/Time-Warner.

Aloia has a journalism degree from the University of Nevada, Reno and is a self-taught web developer.

To learn more about Jason, you can listen to a podcast we recorded with him on Horse Power last year.

Milton Glick, University of Nevada President, originally uploaded by Twelve Horses.

IGT and the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) have partnered to create a university program around computer gaming.  Milton Glick, UNR’s new president, highlighted the workforce development program for members of the media and local business professionals today at the University campus.

The amount that IGT contributed was not discussed, although, I’m sure it will be covered by the press tomorrow.  What interested me most was that IGT currently employs 1,200 engineers and about 180 came from UNR.  This still leaves a deficiency of around 120 open jobs.  It turns out that since the dot com bubble burst, computer science has been on a major decline with enrollment at about a 15-year low.

I was rather surprised to hear this.  If I were back in school as an undergraduate, I think being a computer science major would be where it’s at ; granted, I’m a self proclaimed geek and used to program for Twelve Horses daily.

The partnership will hopefully give IGT - and other local tech companies - a plethora of employees to pick from.

UPDATE: UNR has just posted a story on the event with more detail.  Apparently the amount IGT contributed was $500,000.  Less than I would have thought but substantial none the less.

One of our creative designers recently put together a very nicely done entry for the OMMA Awards.

It takes you step-by-step through the process of using a variety of different communication channels to carry off a successful event.

It combines text messaging with email marketing, video podcasting, blogging, social media sites, advertising and public relations.

Check it out.

Technorati : blogging, email marketing, social media, text messaging, video podcasting

We’ve all seen the industry chatter about the impacts online media and media fragmentation is having on certain established outlets like the Washington Post. All of them are looking at new strategies to maintain and increase readership, as well as keep advertisers happy.

Washington Post has embarked upon what they describe as, “an experimental program(s) on the Web….to see what happens.” The basic gist is that they will allow approved B and C-list bloggers to appear in a special index located on the homepage. In return, those that choose to participate will allow advertisements to appear on their blogs. An approved blogger has the potential to capture the attention of any one of their 8 million monthly readers.

You can submit your blog here.

Kudos to Washington Post for trying something new. I hope it proves successful for them, and those that choose to participate in the program.

The section the blogs will appear in is classified as a Sponsored Blogroll, which in most minds equates to money exchanging hands. Does this somehow diminish the credibility of the Post or its participating bloggers? I don’t think so. Media has always accepted advertisements, and it has always been up to the individual to evaluate the legitimacy of this content. And, if a blog is self-expression on some level, isn’t that individual, business, or group advertising something whether it is an idea, product, or perspective?

I know I will be watching to see how this idea works out, as well as the others that I suspect are soon to come.

Technorati : Washington Post, blogroll, online media

YouTube has been drawing a lot of attention from media, as demonstrated by their invitation to Media Summit this summer in Idaho where the world’s richest media and technology leaders gather each year.

The reason is because YouTube is serving more than 100 million videos per day, which equates to a lot of users and site traffic, and a lot of potential for advertising and viral marketing. Users can’t resist self-expression and businesses can resist reaching these users.

Since the creation of YouTube, I have pondered the possibilities of coming up with a video that I could syndicate through the site and create brand exposure for Twelve Horses. Not something extremely polished, but a video that is fun and funny and gives people a better sense of what we do and who we are. I even started shooting footage. When I saw that Agency.com had produced a video on YouTube based on competing for the Subway account, I went to watch it with great interest.

Agency.com’s Subway video, while brave, missed the mark. Their attempt at utilizing the power of consumer generated media to reach a larger audience backfired and negatively impacted their brand. Not only are they getting brutalized in the blogosphere by blogs such as Micro Persuasion and Adfreak, but they did not win the Subway account when all was said and done. The main reasons: It just wasn’t funny or all that creative.

I am not sure how many people they tested the video on before releasing, but they should have. Groupthink got the best of them. A little outside perspective would have helped tremendously. YouTube, in my opinion, still offers a lot of potential for businesses, but its reach and effects should not be taken lightly. Your video may have a viral feel and give the sense that it is not polished and perfected, but you still better approach it as a product of your company just like any other ad, website, email campaign, or communication with the external world. In fact, because of the potential reach and the audience it is directed to, you may want to take it even more seriously.

Check out what Agency.com has to say about themselves. Looks like it is viral for the sake of viral.

Technorati : YouTube, consumer generated media, viral marketing, viral video

This is an interesting article by Gord Hotchkiss of Search Insider titled, “Rules of Three in Search.” It presents some useful stats and discusses Yahoo’s decision to add 4 sponsored links as opposed to the traditional three.

Personally, my eyes have always naturally gravitated to the natural search results, as opposed to the sponsored links; therefore, I place a lot of importance on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) as a cost-effective means of directing traffic to my business’s website. This means doing such things as keeping a good ratio of meta data to keywords used throughout the content of the site, consistently updating pages with fresh content, and even having a blog. Apparently I am not the only one either. According to a Marketing Sherpa article, “Organic results (free listings) are far more important and can get more viewership and clicks.” Nevertheless, $5.5 billion was spent on Search Engine Marketing (SEM) in 2005 in comparison to $660 million on optimization for organic listings. (Side note: How can you accurately track how much was actually spent on SEO?)

But I am by no means discounting the importance of SEM and sponsored links for a business. If anything, I think it further legitimizes a business because it complements the natural search section, and demonstrates that the business places a great deal of importance on whatever the particular keyword is. If they are paying a substantial CPC (cost-per-click) to attract me to their site, I immediately deduce that the chances are high they can serve my needs. My next thought is whether I want to charge that business to attract me to their site, or if I want to spare them the cost and clickthrough on their natural search result. Usually I am nice. :~)

What I believe Hotchkiss hints at in his article, and what interests me, is that Yahoo could be taking a risk by adding an additional sponsored link. It could drive more people to use Google instead, because many users do not like excessive amounts of advertisements, or even just the thought of it. Also, making users scroll down to see the top organic search results could cause irritation and attrition. Just a thought. I guess we will see….

Technorati : marketing sherpa, search engine marketing, search engine optimization, sem, seo, sponsored links, yahoo

I have been listening to Diggnation, a popular vodcast and podcast hosted by Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht, for quite a while now. That is why Seth Godin’s post, “What should Digg do?”caught my attention. Seth’s post offers some suggestions on how Digg could further monetize the site. I think his suggestions are good for another site similar in design, but maybe not right for Digg.com.

Digg.com is a social news service site that allows users to submit articles, which generally have a technology flair, and then invites everyone to “digg it” or vote on these articles. The articles that receive the most votes are then discussed by Kevin and Alex on Diggnation. Diggnation is a fun show primarily because of the host’s personalities, but also because of the laid back delivery of the content, which is always done over different beers from around the world. It is also valuable because it keeps listeners and viewers apprised of news related to technology, as well as the perspectives of those that have been in the space for quite some time. The site and the vod-podcast are connected, and yet, they are separate.

What you might notice upon visiting Digg.com is that there is no obvious link to Diggnation. Kevin and Alex are hardly promoting the show. It used to be at the top, but they have since relegated the link to the very bottom of the page. Is this because they do not want to practice self-promotion, or is it because they have a very firm understanding of their audience, its sensibilities, and sensitivities? I’m not quite sure. I’m kind of a pseudo geek.

But what I do know is that Diggnation is very popular. Last time I checked they had more than 150,000 subscribers and growing. So much in fact that my company, Twelve Horses, approached the Digg guys and asked them if they would be interested in doing a live recording in the Reno-Tahoe area. They said, Yes. It turned into an awesome party with more than 200 people coming as far as Canada and the East Coast to enjoy a weekend of podcasting, partying, skiing and snowboarding.

Twelve Horses added some sms text messaging, email marketing, and landing page and website design to connect all the dots and successfully carry out the event, but the main buzz obviously came out of the show itself. Kevin and Alex spoke of the live recording and weekend partying over the course of several shows and directed it to a target audience of more than 150,000 loyal listeners. The exposure for the Reno-Tahoe area was credible and undeniably valuable. There were also some other sponsors that gave away all expense trips to come join Diggnation in Reno-Tahoe. They received exposure on the show, the website, and at the actual event.

I think there is a lot more potential for attracting advertisers to the show. Picking great locations to do live recordings and delivering applicable content. Digg can grow into different social news, product and service sites, but I guess it all comes down to what they really want and like to do.

Technorati : digg, diggnation, podcasting, social news, vodcasting

Four years ago, I was in a small Peruvian town preparing to embark on an 8-day whitewater kayaking expedition when I had the chance to see the last game of the World Cup. Watching Brazil triumph over their opponent on a small black and white TV alongside a group of ecstatic Peruvians in a rather unique setting forever changed my view of the “world’s sport.” Here was a game that was not simply between college teams or American associations, but a sport with the power to change social and political landscapes, introduce lessor known countries to the world stage, and bring all nations together if not in peace, in organized competition.

Prior to that moment, I had never really paid much attention to soccer. It is typical for Americans to be far more interested in games like football, basketball and baseball. They are rooted in our culture, and the space they command in major media channels further indicates their importance. In fact, ever since the US was knocked out this year’s World Cup I have had to dig even deeper for news pertaining to the games between other countries.

One of the ways that I have managed to stay abreast of World Cup news is through the blogs like www.worldcupblog.org, Flickr and YouTube. There is some fantastic consumer generated media out there, and it is being produced by people from Ecuador to Iran. In true World Cup fashion, people are connecting and communicating across the globe with a little help from emerging technologies.

Every time I read a great blog post, enjoy a captivating photo, or watch a creative viral video I celebrate the beauty of self expression and the power technology has given us to achieve greater reach and effect. I trust that as time goes on more people will adopt these technologies to interact with the world, build better relationships between countries, and expand our understanding of one another. For there is no reason why we should wait every four years.

Technorati : World Cup, blog, self expression, soccer, technology

I would like to give it up to Diva Marketing for uncovering some interesting discrepancies in a press release that JupiterResearch recently released on blogging. It appears that the research numbers they present are overly optimistic and unrealistic.

It is a bit disconcerting because many of us in the marketing profession look to companies like JupiterResearch and Marketing Sherpa for reliable data to assist with forecasting, budgeting, presentations and the creation of white papers.

Furthermore, not only did the pr agency distribute a questionable press release to generate buzz and push sales of a flawed report, they also did a poor job of addressing Toby Bloomberg’s legitimate and potentially helpful inquiries.

They could have turned Toby’s inquiry into an opportunity to demonstrate JupiterResearch’s commitment to transparency and solid research, which most likely would have kept Toby as an ally in the field, potentially suggest their reports; but now, who knows?

I would like to give JupiterResearch and their pr agency a break though, because these forward looking projections still do have degrees of error and outside influences. The largest ones of course being people.

This serves as a great reminder that we all need to be careful when distributing press releases. Check and recheck your figures, and consider the fact that the contents of your press release, and your subsequent actions, could end up in the blogosphere.

Technorati : JupiterResearch, market research, public relations
Del.icio.us : JupiterResearch, market research, public relations
Ice Rocket : JupiterResearch, market research, public relations

There has been a lot of chatter about MySpace lately, and there is good reason for it. The amount of users and traffic the site is receiving is incredible. For some recent stats check out this article, “MySpace, The 27.4 Billion Pound Gorilla” on Tech Crunch. Clearly, online social networking and self expression is very popular among not only teens but adults alike.

According to an article published by Business Week last year titled “News Corp.’s Place in MySpace,” Fox Interactive purchased MySpace, along with 30 other sites, for $580 million. This raises two interesting questions. One, what was the primary motivation for Fox when they purchased MySpace, and two, how does that influence user perception?

Everyone knows the old media model is dieing a slow death. Subscription rates for print pubs are declining and any and all traditional media outlet are clamoring to find profitable alternatives online. In light of this trend, one can quickly discern why Fox would look to MySpace as the logical supplement for lost ad revenues.

But Fox is careful not to plaster MySpace with ads because they understand the impact that could have on the users. Instead, most of the ads are subtle and confined to certain banner locations, or companies create their own pages with interactive commercials that are catchy and cool.

The real value, according to Ross Levinsohn, President of Fox Interactive Media “wasn’t the number of users, but the information they are providing, structured and unstructured data.” This is a bold statement by Levinsohn because it sends the message that Fox Interactive, a large corporation, is capturing psychographic and demographic information from users on MySpace.

Being in marketing, I am not incredibly sensitive when it comes to giving up my personal information. If anything, I believe that it inevitably helps companies serve my interests better. If a person is worried about being taken advantage of because of information gathering then I think they have probably read Brave New World one too many times.

But there are a lot of people who are sensitive to information gathering. As more mergers occur and larger corporations hold larger shares, people get worried the common man and woman is losing control of their freedom, government, law and public policy.

I find it ironic that MySpace is successful based off of self expression and social networking, and yet, a large media company is using it to gather information. It will be interesting to see if this fact ever becomes a greater public concern and users start to migrate to other social networking sites because of it; or, will they simply go elsewhere because of the latest and greatest new fad and cool new features?

In my opinion, freedom of expression and the power of large social networks, regardless of who is watching, puts greater power in the hands of people. Big business may be benefiting, but they are only following, not leading.

Social networking sites, blogging and podcasting offer exciting new opportunities for businesses and represent viable channels for interacting with customers online. As long as a brand strategy and proper promotion is integrated into these efforts, there is no reason why these channels should not be a part of a company’s marketing and advertising campaigns.

What are your thoughts?

Technorati : MySpace, Social Networking, Social Networks