Advercation = Advertising + Education

In this new frontier of social media marketing, some brands know how to harness what’s out there. Others are like lost puppies nipping at every mailman that walks by for potentially encroaching on their brand’s territory.

Under Armour is a brand that gets it.

A few months ago I wrote a post on my agency site (iStrategyLabs), about a Facebook Page experiment I was conducting. I secured a number of branded Facebook Pages, and sat back silently watching the fan bases grow.

In my post, I said:

If you’re a brand manager for any of the above, just drop me a line and I’ll coordinate with Facebook to hand you over control of the page. This exercise was not built in order to squat on these pages permanently and it would be silly to delete them at the end of this as the fan base would be disbanded by that action doing more harm than good in my opinion.

So, I got an email from Nate an Interactive Art Director at Under Armour, and he appreciated my brand evangelism and willingness to hand over the fan base (~1200 or so fans). I did so, and Under Armour was kind enough to send me a bag full of sweet gear. You can join their page here.

So, thank you Nate/Under Armour. I look forward to seeing more great campaign from you guys. I shall remain one of your loyal brand evangelists.

In May ‘07 I posted here about how Washington DC is waking up to interactive.

The scene here has been pretty intense lately and last week’s event was a highlight of recently happenings:

Facebook Developer Garage DC was brought to town by Jesse Thomas, Nick O’Neill and Robert Neel.

Sponsors included EdelmanPR, and freewebs. iStrategyLabs threw in a live stream session which can be found here:

DC Startup Weekend is the next big thing coming up and I’ll be providing the live stream, some interactive marketing and interactive strategy components.

Will Kern posted on his blog recently about how he feels a groundswell of activity in the DC interactive scene. I’ve felt this for sometime too, and I feel we’ve reach a tipping point. There are plans underway to create an overarching organization that can help facilitate the growth of the broader DC tech community by helping solidify event sponsorships, simplify meeting logistics and create cross pollination among affinity groups.

Some folks might feel we’re ‘trying to replicate silicon valley’ here in DC - that’s not the mission, nor do we wish we were in the valley. We love DC and are working hard to support all the talented technologists in the area, enabling them to achieve what they seek. We’re currently brainstorming a brand name that we all can be proud to support and one that would serve as an appropriate umbrella organization. The naming thread is in The DC Technology ning socnet and can be found here. Special thanks to Justin Thorp for putting up the ning community.

Look out for WidgetDevCamp coming to DC on 11/15.

It’s been a very busy six weeks, and I’ve neglected posting to Advercation as my focus has shifted to my startup iStrategyLabs.  Here’s what’s going on:

1) iStrategyLabs speaking engagements

2) DC Technology Network is Growing 

3) Interactive Strategists featured @ iStrategyLabs

Woolly Mammoth Theatre has a show coming up about what you could learn about someone if they died and you found their cell phone. We decided that the best way to engage this on-the-go audience was to create a new kind of mobile campaign. Here’s what you do:

1) Text “get woolly” to 24421

2) You’ll get an SMS back…reply with “get fun”

3) You’ll get a call in number to record a message of something you’ve overheard (keep it rated R/PG-13 if possible)

4) If your msg is cool, we’ll post it to the www.deadmanscellphone.com and/or play it in the theatre prior/after the show.

There are some pretty funny messages up there already. Check it out [Dead Man’s Cell Phone]

On May 10th, 2007, I produced and co-hosted a Blattner Brunner Brand Energy Workshop entitled: “The Non-Profit Marketing Plan Walkthrough”. This session focused on teaching small non-profits how to think like marketers so they can connect with potential donors, volunteers and clients.

As a passionate alturist, I was happy to create the following doucment with the help of Mark Adams and Greater DC Cares.

Click the image to go to Scribd.com - a nifty document sharing site:

Direct link to The Non-Profit Marketing Plan Walkthrough

It’s interesting to put down roots in a place like Washington DC and to watch it evolve.

One important change is the birth of what could be called Silicon Hill - a city teaming with digitally armed influencers.

This month saw a few events worth mentioning that I hope will continue to grow in strength as the days go by. Here is a summary:

1) World Wide Web Washington (aka WWWW or The Four Ws)

Notes: The WWWW focused on…you guessed it…The Web. We were sponsors of the show [Blattner Brunner / BBDigital]. Somewhere between 250 and 350 folks showed up. Annual event.

2) Mobile Mondays - DC Chapter

Notes: If you want to talk about mobile applications this is the meet up for you.  Every 3rd Monday.

3) Social Media Club - DC Chapter

Notes: Always a good meetup.  Put entrepreneurs, social media hounds, agency folks and an IP lawyer or two together and you’ll get an interesting dialog going I promise…

4) DC Open Coffee

Notes: First meetup was last week and had a great turnout. Passionate entrepreneurs, startup junkies, internet strategists, and coffee….sweet.

5) Tech Cocktail - DC Chapter

Notes: Very well attended kick off event. Looking forward to the next one.

I’m sure I’ve missed some events. I’m trying to go to eveything all the time and that can be tough.

IF I MISSED SOMETHING PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT.