The overall morale in 2011 was higher than it has been for the past three years.  There was hopefulness in the air.  Here at 5^th Avenue Digital, we saw:

•    Companies having summer outings and holiday parties for the first time in years.

•      Advertisers spending marketing dollars on events with consumer interaction and (thankfully) photo capture, for   mementos or social media benefit.

•     The return of corporate incentive trips and large company celebrations.

•      Companies putting money back into their image and deciding to update their employee’s headshots.

•      Business surging once again for the venues and planners we work with.

It seems like everyone is starting to see the economic woes dissipate. The many jobs we were lucky enough to be part of this past year indicate we are on our way, after two years of corporate celebrations being relegated to the back burner.

I’ve worked hard to assemble a team of super-talented photographers, who have captured not only incredible corporate images this year but have also taken our 5^th Avenue Social division to new heights.  We have partnered with a dynamic group of planners and venues and are very excited to share our new portfolios that feature images from their clients’ events.  I am already anticipating the new images we’ll be seeing in the coming months.

One of my proudest accomplishments in 2011 is the newest model of the YouBooth photo booth.  The collaborations with our clients have allowed us to introduce the newest technology crazes to their events.  The YouBooth has a new exterior design, plus the most exciting new feature: a social media application that allows guests to upload their photos directly to Twitter, Facebook or email.

This year the YouBooth was proudly used at pop-up store events, holiday parties, mitzvahs, weddings – any occasion where fun was required.  What we love the most is finding creative solutions that maximize each client’s use of the booth.  I owe a special shout-out to my producer, Rylan Crooks, for always finding ways to execute our clients’ unending ideas of how they envision using the YouBooth.

Building a strong business in this economic time is certainly a challenge.  We have watched many of our partners in event planning scale down the past few years, and it’s so comforting to watch them scale back up.  We are very grateful for their trust in us and we treasure these partnerships.

I am also very grateful to my 5^th Avenue Digital team: the amazing group inside the office, Beth, Rylan and Tim, and the photographers, videographers and designers that make our clients their number one priority.  Teamwork and partnerships have been the overall theme in 2011.  Knowing that you have the right people in the ship makes being the captain a joy.  I am grateful every day that I get to work with the team I have, and I would not have been able to double our business this year if it hadn’t been for them.  There have been some rough waters in terms of owning a photography business over the past three years, but it looks like smoother sailing ahead.

Thank you all who have contributed to an amazing 2011.  We will be sharing some of our favorite photographic moments in galleries over the next few weeks.  Here are a few more of my favorites.

I got off to a rocky start when my plane from New York was canceled because of frozen lines.  The day was not lost because my fabulous traveling companions, Xocital Gonzalas and Howard Givner, not only quickly rebooked us on a later flight, but kept the conversation engaging and prevented a true travel nightmare.

The educational elements of Special Event are more geared toward the new professionals starting their businesses.   There are a few exceptions.  The experienced professionals are usually the ones giving the sessions.  This was the case with Howard’s panel on selling your business.  I found the class very informative and was sorry I hadn’t known some of the advice before I sold my previous business.  Both Deb Roth of Pink Powered by Moss and Maurenn Ryan-Fable from First Protocol had great advice for those who are thinking of selling their business.

The panel that I was on discussed the experiences and benefits for event companies that have had real life social media results.  I found the session to be one of the most valuable, not just because I was part of it, but mostly because of Lara McCollogh-Carter, Ready to spark, the organizer.  With a varied and knowledgeable panel, Lara kept the discussion focused, informative and new for advanced social media users.

As businesses become increasingly comfortable with a social media presence, it’s important for them to keep updated on what they can add to their marketing campaigns that will increase eyes going to their products and services.  This type of informative session is the perfect forum for people to learn from the experiences of others and then apply these new things to their own mix.  I learned from my fellow panelists as well as from some of the questions posed by the audience.

The trade show exhibits were mostly geared towards planners who want inspiration and new ideas for their 2011 events.   Deb Roth really stepped it up this year with a great booth for Pink Powered by Moss that included juice stations for your phone, which I was happy to use. I walked the show with Debra Morris from Eventsful and Andrea Corealle from Elegant Affairs catering, two New York event powerhouses.  Seeing the show through their eyes was a great learning experience for me.

Michael Cerbelli’s 100 New Ideas presentation is always a sell out.  He is one part Tony Robbins, one part Colin Cowie and 100% inspiration and vigor.  He’s got it down.  This was his tenth year onstage and he did not disappoint.  Michael puts together new things from around the globe and planners everywhere get to hear about new products and services to take to their events. Congrats, Michael, for developing such a unique program that is so effectively branded and well regarded.

My favorite thing about Special Event is the after-hours networking and evening events.  They’re always a blast and this year was no exception.  Tweetup with the wonderful #eventprofs from around the nation, dinner with the lovely Tatiana Byron of 4pm Events, quality time with the amazing Debra Morris, Andrea Corealle and Bernadette Coveney Smith, plus event sites and food offerings from Phoenix hosts, make this event a must-do every year.

Even the difficult travel couldn’t squash the Special Event effects.  Luckily, I got home after the next storm with no delays.   What was your biggest takeaway from Special Event this year?  Share your story!

It’s not just the Harvard program itself bouncing around my brain, but the realization that this program corresponded with one of the world’s worst financial crises since the Great Depression.  I’ll never forget that first year in October 2007, watching the large screens in the communal room as the market fell before our eyes and business as we know it changed.

At that time, I had recently separated my corporate photography business from my original business, so my revenue source was mostly from corporations, and two of my largest clients were Lehman brothers and AIG.  If any of you own a small business, you can imagine what this economic news did to my peace of mind.

At Harvard that first year, I learned about finding opportunities in turmoil.  And there was certainly a lot of turmoil.

I also learned about economics.  This was one of my husband’s favorite things about my program.  After 25 years together, we can now have a conversation about mortgage rates, GDP, and lots of other nifty financial principles that eluded me until now.

There were far more important things to learn while I was in the program that did not come from the classroom.  The other participants were from all over the world; only 30 % were from the US.  Many of these people from other countries have learned how to grow their businesses in uncertain, volatile economies.  The biggest lesson I learned from them that first year was that business could be built without access to credit!

It certainly isn’t easy, but they taught me it was achievable.

Year Two was about sustainability and putting processes in place for growth.  This was the year I learned about how to build a board of advisors, how to value my yet-to-be-profitable company, and how to go for financing and use the right language to do so.

I learned so much from my other classmates and built rich relationships that will continue for life.  One of the most thrilling nights was when we all told each other about the philanthropy we do in our countries.  I was so inspired hearing about the work being done in India, Brazil, South Africa, Nigeria, Mexico and the US.  I now know so many accomplished entrepreneurs who give back to the homelands that have given them so much.

This year, my third and last, was the most exciting for me.  This was the year that we each looked at our own strategy.  We worked on our business plans before convening at Harvard in October, and we continued to work on them in our study groups, with our professors and certainly on our own.  How could we create a business that had impact?  What could we do in our lives to make a difference, both in our own spheres and in the world?

We learned about companies who were able to do well by doing good.  We also got to learn even more about each other and the fascinating things we all had in store for our lives.

A highlight for me was feeling confident to raise my hand and contribute in economics class.  And a particular high for me was in negotiating class when, for the first time in three years, I negotiated a really great deal.  I finally understood the type of negotiator I am and the type of negotiations I am successful doing.  This lesson will live on with me.

Another highlight was our graduation event, where I had the opportunity to meet everyone’s families from all over the globe.  I was able to see the source of all the loving support that allowed my wonderful Harvard colleagues to be in my life for one month a year for the past three years.

I have just touched on my many lessons, and on the students and professors that have made such a huge impression in my life.  I’m sure these lessons will be evident in everything I do now.

Next year I am hoping to join my classmates in India for the first reunion.  I look forward to seeing all my new friends again and to sharing our stories.

The Harvard OPM program was the most self-indulgent thing I’ve ever done, in that it wasn’t without some hardship on my family and employees.  I’m grateful that I had the opportunity to go through the worst economic disaster in decades with a few extra tools in my back pocket!

If you or anyone you know would like information on the Harvard OPM program, feel free to ask me.

Over 10 years ago, while still a part of SMP, 5th Avenue Digital started by doing corporate photography, and we continued to focus on this segment after the split.  However, we soon realized we’d need to expand beyond this rather narrow market.  The companies officially separated shortly before the start of the economic meltdown.  Subsequently, the corporate work (particularly with our larger clients, Lehman Brothers and AIG) dwindled drastically.  We knew then that we’d need to regroup, find ways to reach new market segments and develop new offerings, if we were going to survive.

While the market has yet to truly rebound, we’ve been able to stay in business because we looked beyond our initial scope.  We now provide top-notch photographers for weddings, mitzvahs and other social events, offering a flexible range of talent, rates and services.  By offering these services at hourly rates, we differentiate ourselves from our competitors, and we’re meeting the demands of today’s consumers, who want tailored services to match their specific needs.  check out our  website for our social photography business.

We’ve also developed new products for our corporate and social clients, most notably YouBooth, our streamlined, modern version of the photo booth.  Most of our clients (especially event planners) prefer to keep things simple, working with as few vendors as possible.  By providing another service they may previously have sourced elsewhere, we’re able to be more of a one-stop-shop for all our clients’ photographic needs.

As any shrewd business person knows, thriving in this sluggish economy takes more than talent and drive.  Being a successful business owner also requires the ability to analyze and respond to the ever-changing dynamics of today’s marketplace.  And we don’t do it alone.  With help from my industry colleagues, family and friends, we plan to push forward and make the next two years even better than the first two.

Thank you, Howard Givner for the ispiration for this post on your thought provoking blog,  and thank you to all the industry professionals that have supported our growth and trusted us with your clients!  Lastly to my incredible team in the office and the photographers that work with us:  Thank you for working as hard as you do to see this business thrive!

What steps have you taken to survive in today’s economy?  I’d love to hear your stories so we can all share in each other’s successes, and we can all help each other thrive.

It’s not just the keynote speakers and the workshops that make the experience so valuable; it is mostly being a part of the collective energy of 500 smart, successful, honest, hardworking and philanthropic women.   Each woman there has dealt with struggles and successes, and they have such incredible compassion and warmth, I am always astonished at the almost superhuman quality I feel when I return.  Like nothing is impossible!

Here are a few of the pearls I took away from some of the sessions:

PROFESSOR NEELI BENDAPUDI, Ph. D., Professor of Marketing and Director, Initiative for Managing Services Fisher College of Business, The Ohio State University
•    Whenever you have a problem with a client, try to extend the conversation about it: listen, apologize, solve the problem and then thank them for vocalizing.
•    Try to figure out what your customers really want.  Try to see your product or service through their eyes, and figure out how to make them apostles of your brand.

PROFESSOR REBECCA HENDERSON, Senator John Heinz Professor of Environmental Management, Harvard Business School
•    Sometimes we overload our organization with projects and spread out our energy, depleting our effectiveness.
•    Learn to get rid of project #26 – especially if everyone knows it will never get done, but no one wants to say it!
•    To get unstuck, manage to your capacity.
•    Act on it!
•    Pick up the projects that have the most bang for their buck, and that will bring you the greatest revenue.
•    Build trust within your organization.  Ask for the feedback that will allow project #26 to get squashed.

MARSHALL GOLDSMITH, best-selling author and Executive Coach
•    Learn to say “great idea” to your team, rather than commenting and putting your mark on the idea.  You don’t need to prove you’re smarter.
•    The mark of true leadership: help more, judge less.
•    Start at home and ask the question: how can I be a better wife, mother or daughter?  Then say thank you for the feedback without trying to excuse the behavior.  This is the key to effective employee feedback, so once you can do this at home, you can move to the office.
•    We don’t need to know much about people to coach them.

FRANCES HESSELBEIN, President and CEO of the Leader to Leader Institute / formerly the Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management, former CEO, the Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. (1976-1990)
•    Total respect is necessary for true leadership.
•    You must be passionate about the mission.
•    Know why you do what you do.
•    Innovate or die – you’re either part of the past or part of the future.
•    See everything that happens as an opportunity, otherwise you waste energy that you could be using for good.

As you can see, I came away from the conference with lots of solid information to digest and new ideas to discuss with my team.  If you were at the WPO conference, or if you’ve attended a similar conference that inspired you, I’d love to hear your highlights.

Our concept was to give brides a chance to have one-on-one appointments with the masters of the wedding industry.  We put together an impressive group of wedding purveyors, presented in a luxurious venue, along with champagne and hors d’ouevres, informative sessions by wedding industry experts, and trunk shows with high end designers.  It was truly a bridal event like no other.

And I’m happy to report the concept worked!

In addition to being a sponsor of the event, 5th Avenue Digital provided photography coverage – you’ll find a link to the photos below.  We also provided an opportunity to try our new photobooth, complete with bouquet props, courtesy of Diana Gould.  (You can see these photos in our online link as well.)   Plus, we gave brides a chance to meet and see work from two of our top photographers, Julie Skarrett and Robert Evans.

The fact that it was the worst storm in a decade did not sway our mighty brides from attending.  Here’s what some of the brides had to say about the Ultimate Engagement:

“I love the one-on-one time. It’s so important when you want to hire a vendor; instead of sell, sell it should be about what I want instead. And that’s so NOT part of a bridal show. And bridal shows are always so BRIGHTLY LIT. This is so nice, so inviting.”

“Trade shows are a freakin’ zoo. They’re so crowded, and there’s no seating. There’s all this drama over gift bags. This is just such a lovely atmosphere, such a different experience.”

(From a bride who’s also a doctor): “I haven’t been to a bridal show, but friends have told me about crazy expos – I didn’t want to go. A patient told me about this; she’s always trying to get me into contests, so she sent me to the website. Each of my appointments was really personalized – I talked about what I wanted.”

(From a bride and groom): “It’s great because we get to sit down and tell them what WE want rather than having them just shove what they want to sell at us. It’s not a hard sell. They know what we want first – then they suggest options.”

“It’s so great vs. a regular trade show. It’s one-on-one, with nobody trying to talk over your shoulder.”
“I’ve been here since 9 am! [4:30 pm when I took her comment.] It’s so well-organized – no lines. Being able to talk to the owner is great – it’s really different from having brochures shoved at you.”

Picture galleries:

Here are some of the valuable tips that were offered by our experts during the upstairs sessions.  There will be individual posts about each of their sessions on the Ultimate Engagement blog in the coming weeks.  Feel free to sign up for the blog here:

Bentley Meeker – Bentley Meeker Lighting

•    There’s a primary misconception about light: people think of it just in terms of providing visibility. But it doesn’t just provide visibility – it creates a feeling, it’s artistic. We have all walked into some places and felt, “This is so great!” while thinking, “Hmm, this doesn’t feel so good – let’s go” about other places. Light has an enormous amount to do with it.

Marcy Blum – Marcy Blum Events

•    There is life after the wedding. If you’re mean to your sister-in-law, the groom, etc., they WILL     remember.

•    Don’t take all your bridesmaids with you to shop for a dress. The store doesn’t have room and you’ll get 48 opinions.

Sylvia Weinstock – Sylvia Weinstock Cakes

•    You don’t have to serve anything with the cake (ice cream, etc.).
•    The best clients: those who are neither set in their ways, nor totally without a clue.
•    It’s only a wedding; it’s not a marriage. Don’t fight.

Julie Raimondi – Editor in Chief at brides.com
•    Before looking at dresses, locations, anything – ask yourself, “How do I want it to feel?” rather than “How do I want it to look?” The words you come up with in answer to that first question (e.g., like a nightclub, like my living room, etc.) will inform everything, and do it better than Pantone chips.
•    Even if the church is within walking distance of the reception, provide transportation – get a shuttle bus. Don’t cause the guests angst.
•    Conversations about guests bringing guests (e.g., bringing a boyfriend) should occur before invitations go out. But decisions can be made on a case-by-case basis rather than across the board.

Xocital Gonzalez – Always a Bridesmaid
•    When trying to combine cultures, think, “What ceremony would make me feel married?”  It might be a tea ceremony, jumping over a broom, etc.
•    Sometimes cultures are so different (white wedding dress vs. Indian groom) that ceremonies really can’t be integrated. But there are ways to integrate multiple ceremonies into a single day. For example, separate the two ceremonies by a cocktail party. The bride and groom can even change clothes while the guests have a chance to chat.
•    Food is very important. Through food, a family feels they’re reflected.

Lisa “Ceci” Johnson – Ceci New York Wedding Invitations
•    Don’t be afraid to use color in your invitations. Or to use different colors for different pieces. Color doesn’t cost more; it can be a money-saving effect. Black paper can be beautiful!

•    Keep in mind that a wedding is about what makes you happy; the invitation should make you happy! If it feels good, go with it. You don’t need everyone else’s opinion.
Matt and Tamsen- relationship experts
•    Weddings make men more nervous than proposals. You don’t want to be fighting during the wedding planning. The wedding planning takes a lot longer than the wedding; you want it to be fun. Don’t let the wedding affect your marriage.

•    Keep in mind that the idea that you’re the only woman he’ll be sleeping with for the rest of his life can be a treacherous thought for guys. Bickering before the wedding will make this thought more treacherous.

Wedding Photography Panel– thoughts from several masters
•    Anybody with a camera can take a picture, but not everybody can be a photographer. (Sarah Merians)
•    A wedding is about the people at the wedding – the story. It’s not just about the fashion; it’s not just about the bride. (Terry Gruber)
•    Photography is memories; video is entertainment. (Sarah Merians)

Two things this experience has confirmed for me: bridal events are in need of a change, and vendors are excited to find new ways to connect with their clientele.  Since we plan on creating the Ultimate Engagement again, we are excited to have ideas about how to tweak it and make it even better – come rain or come shine!

Thank you to all the amazing partners in this event, and for all the collective support Maya and I received in putting the Ultimate Engagement together.  From the social media of Square Martini and the PR of 7th Wonder, to all of the amazing staff of Swank Productions and 5th Avenue Digital, this was truly a collective feat.

I have a new-found respect for any producer of events.  I was not expecting the emotional rollercoaster that goes along with the ebbs and flows of fast-paced decision making.  Thank you Maya, for being so masterful at the event part!

To all the wedding masters that took this leap of faith to see if they could connect to brides in a new way, to old friends and new…I thank you for your feedback and am grateful that you are seeing success from your efforts.

Please continue to check out the Ultimate Engagement blog for updates on each of these masters’ and partners’ amazing achievements.  And check the website to get a list of all participating vendors and contact information.

This is our first newsletter letting you know all that we’re doing at 5^th Avenue Digital and our sister companies.  Please let us know what you think!  We are always looking for new ideas and ways to improve, and we welcome your input.

5^th Avenue Digital started as an innovator in digital technology, at a time when the world was still using film.  We have taken that spirit of innovation and brought it into our mission, addressing our clients’ changing needs for our products and our services.  This month we are launching our deconstructed photo booth.

We have seen how the old fashioned photo booths are still hits at parties, but there is so much more you can do now with new technology.  We created a modern photo booth that allows your guests to have fun taking their own pictures, but at the same time offers many more options, such as custom designed prints with logos and branded images.  We have also made the booth accessible to output for A/V connection, when you want to project the images onto a large screen.  This allows all your guests watch the fun at the booth, and encourages everyone to join in.

Our social website is now live: www.5thAvenueDigital.com/social.   Thank you to all of you who allowed us to be part of your social occasions last year, without a website.  We are happy to report we’ve had wonderful feedback from our new business model of representing top talent, and we look forward to sharing some of our new talent’s amazing work.  Some of the photographers 5^th Avenue Digital is currently representing include Robert Evans, Julie Skarratt, Daniel Kruger and others.  We look forward to sharing many happy occasions with you in the coming years.

5^th Avenue Digital is still doing amazing events for the corporate community.  We are well known for our onsite print service and get asked to do all sorts of interesting events.  This month’s favorites were for The North Face and for fashion bloggers during New York fashion week.  Both events brought fun and community-building opportunities to everyone who participated.  You can read more about them on our blog.

There are also many developments with our sister companies.  I’ve created these related businesses because it’s natural for me to see areas of opportunity in the market – holes that need to be filled.  While co-owner at Sarah Merians Photography, I discovered that many people were using freelance photographers but had no place to make beautifully crafted albums.  I launched Album Boutique to fill this hole, to rave reviews.  The website offers high end albums at a third the price of albums offered at traditional photography studios.  This service is an added bonus to our social photography clients, because they are able to seamlessly take the images we provide and make an heirloom-quality album, while taking advantage of the significant savings.

In exploring the right avenues to launch Album Boutique., I went in search of the perfect bridal event to meet my target brides face to face.  I couldn’t find one.  So, along with Maya Kalman of Swank Productions, I came up with Ultimate Engagement. This is an event where brides get to make pre-scheduled appointments with some of the masters in our industry.  On March 14^th, 5^th Avenue Digital will be at the Ultimate Engagement event, representing the work of Robert Evans and Julie Skarratt.  If you have not met either one, I’d love to offer you the chance to come by.  Please contact me if you are interested.

We look forward to sharing more of our clients’ intriguing work in the pages of our Business Behind the Artistry blog – and maybe featuring your work, too.  We are getting a lot of traffic at our blog and will continue to showcase actual events we’ve done, as well as the folks who work on these events, with video interviews and tips from experienced industry leaders.

We hope you will be a part of this community.

If you are new to social media – or even if you consider yourself an expert – we hope you will connect with us in our various social media communities.  I am always happy to answer any questions you may have and love speaking to groups about social media.  I have gotten many clients and friends through my involvement and I’m thrilled to share what I’ve learned.

So jump in and join the conversation!  You can comment on this post, follow me on twitter @elizbeskin and/or sign up as a fan on Facebook.  Have a stupendous March, and I look forward to hearing from you.

Because nothing is the same as it was ten years ago…

Ever since the internet came to be, information is on overload.  There is so much easy access to information from blogs, wedding websites and directories of vendors, most consumers find the choices overwhelming.

I started my career in the photography industry, where brides first started to purchase their wedding services online.  I saw photographers shoot one wedding with their inexpensive cameras, create quickie websites and – voila! – they suddenly became experienced wedding photographers.  Most people couldn’t detect these photographers’ lack of real experience or artistry from their websites.

As an entrepreneur, I noticed that these brides still wanted heirloom albums.  I created Album Boutique to fill that hole in the market and give all brides a chance get a high quality bound album for a reasonable price.

In the course of responding to the changes in the marketplace and creating Album Boutique, I saw a downside in online retail.  It’s that, online, you don’t get a chance to meet the person you’re dealing with face-to-face, or to discover what’s unique about the people you may choose to orchestrate your perfect wedding day.  Everyone’s personality and individual style is reflected in their work, but shopping online you usually miss that.

As the launch approached for Album Boutique, I began to search for a place where brides and grooms could touch the products and learn about the Album Boutique options.  I visited a number of bridal shows but quickly became disillusioned.  The shows I visited were more like cattle calls, and as I wandered around the vibe felt like something right out of reality TV.  I couldn’t find a venue or format that enabled me to present my brand in a warm and civilized manner.

One evening  last year, while I ventured into another so-called ”luxury” bridal event with Maya Kalman from Swank Productions in tow, we looked at each other and knew there had to be a better way.  We could see each other’s creative wheels in motion.

Maya is a wonderful producer of corporate events and beautiful high end weddings. She approached the concept from a producer’s point of view, so her insights were vital to determining its viability.  Over the next few weeks, we continued refining the idea until we recognized that we’d discovered a hole in the market we were uniquely qualified to fill. Together, we knew we had what it took to create something truly exciting.

Maya and I share the same ultimate objective as our many colleagues in the industry: to grow our respective businesses.  We knew if our event could meet this objective for us, it would also be successful for the other vendors involved.  With the support of many friends and colleagues we have worked with over our collective years in the industry, this event is sure to make an impact!

The Ultimate Engagement was created to be everything an upscale bride wants as she prepares for her wedding: a place for ideas, for fashion, for education, and for meeting with the Masters of the New York wedding industry.

This is an event where brides get to make pre-scheduled appointments with some of the masters in our industry.  In addition to showcasing our albums, 5^th Avenue Digital will be at the Ultimate Engagement event, representing the work of Robert Evans and Julie Skarratt.  If you have not met either one, I’d love to offer you the chance to come by.  Please contact me if you are interested.

I hope you’ll join us for the first bridal event to revolutionize the way brides talk to vendors face-to-face, on March 14th at Gotham Hall.

I was glued to my computer far longer than I had time for, as I grasped as much as I could from the masters in this new world of  brand marketing and advertising.  Included were social media branding superstars such as Gary Vaynerchuk, Ramon DeLeon and MC Hammer.  I learned so much from this presentation, that when I recently learned the Gravity Summit was coming to New York City, I was quick to sign up.

The day was packed-full of speakers who look at social media from the perspective of  brand Marketing and advertising.  They examined how people are using social media campaigns to change their businesses, and more importantly, how they are able to track those changes.

Here are some of my key take-aways about Brand marketing:

Mike Lundgren, Director of Innovation Strategy at VML, was suffering from a bad cold, but still managed to launch the summit with these pearls:

•   There are over 26,000 million blogs published.  Work to get some of them to say something about your brand.             •    Lead your community back to your site again and again.
•    I-Phone apps are a great way to extend the social experience.
•    Social media extends your presence beyond the trade show booth.  If you are doing a trade show or event, social media helps extend the life of that event, even after it’s over.

Laura Fitton, a dynamic woman who authored “Social Media for Dummies” and recently launched the really cool website for Twitter Tools, OneForty.com had this to say:

•    Don’t get lost in tweets as tweets – if you do, you are missing the point!  This means if you are wondering about the usefulness of reading “my cat just rolled over,” you are not alone. But there is far more to twitter than the obvious.        •    Make sure you understand what you are trying to accomplish before your start your social media campaign.  It will make all the difference in the type of tweets you send out and the type of community you need to build.

Paul Yiu announced that he was from “the socially unpopular company known as Microsoft.” He was informative and personable as he explained Bing and how it differs from Google.  He even sold me on a few of its features:

•    On Bing, data expires in 7 days, similar to Twitter. That means all the results are from a current search, and show the most current data on the subject being searched.

•   Anything that has been updated in the past 7 days appears in their searches, including blog articles, websites that have been updated, current news releases.

•    There is a Twitter search on Bing: bing.com/Twitter.

Raul Deleon is just plain awesome. He was an immigrant from Mexico and we all agreed that he’ll be the next social media superstar. Ramon owns five Domino Pizza franchises in Chicago and they are the most successful in the entire company.  He loves social media and is having a blast making up contests, tweeting pictures of his customers and his pizzas, and thanking folks who mention what pizza they like, to name a few. He also is very community focused and sponsors lots of events in the communities where he has stores. Ordering pizza from one of Ramon’s Domino’s is an experience. He was truly joyful as he talked about his ideas and how they have worked to draw traffic to his stores, and how he tracks their successes.

The folks at the Roger Smith Hotel here in New York have built a unique brand.  And it’s not because of their service, their interiors, their views or any other thing that most New York hotels have to offer.  The Roger Smith has built a community of social media junkies who want to hang with others like them. This is the place where your “online” friends can become “off-line” friends.
It is becoming a tradition that whenever social media “stars’ come into New York, they will hookup with their online friends at the Roger Smith. Every social media conference or business meeting ends with cocktails there, and many stay there because they feel that Adam and Brian, the managers, are their friends.  The Roger Smith is a true social media success story in the best way: they have true brand ambassadors and they are wonderful hosts to the social media community.
Adam and Brian’s takeaways besides their successes were:
•    First, build your community and next, build your content (which is what I am doing).
•    Promote others 12 times more than yourself (which I’m a firm believer in).
•    When you thank people online you are using customer service as marketing!

In a separate post, I’ll be discussing Ian Schafer from Deep Focus.  His perspective was solid in what to consider when starting a social media campaign and how to track your results.

These were some of the highlights for me. Please let me know if there were any other key take-aways you’d like to share, whether you attended or followed along on Twitter posts.

list of  recommended twitter follows:

@mglundgren, @Ramon_DeLeon @nicadler @kyrareed @theroxy @bmorrissey, @rshotel, @rumford, @BeverlyMacy