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6 March 2012

Connected14 Thought Leadership From Our Buddies At CES As You Get Ready For SXSW

by Bryan Boettger, Chief Creative Officer

There seems to be two “must attend” tech conferences: CES and SXSW. So, as everyone gets ready to attend SXSW, we thought it the right time to release the first five videos in our Connected14 Thought Leadership Series filmed at CES.

The resulting videos on Connected14 — the connected experience of the 10-ft smart television, the 3-ft computer and the 1-ft mobile device — have been themed under five topics:

See all the videos in a handy playlist on YouTube. Hopefully this provides some fodder for some of our Buddies to talk about at SXSW!

Speaking of Buddies. A big shout out to all the Buddies who graciously agreed to be interviewed and took time out of their busy CES schedule. So “Thank you!” to:

Aayush Phumbhra, Co-Founder, Chegg
Alan Chan, Founder and CEO, Bread
Brad Ball, Former CMO McDonald’s/Former CMO NASCAR, Moroch
Catherine Spurway, Senior VP Strategy and Marketing, Pointroll
Chris Curtin, VP Digital Strategy, Global Marketing, Hewlett-Packard Company
Darren Herman, Chief Digital Media Officer, The Media Kitchen
Eli Marcus, Sr. Director of Products, CNET Content Solutions CBS Interactive
Eric Meyerson, Head of Video Advertiser Marketing, Google
Frederick Lee, Media Solution Manager/Architect, Panasonic Avionics Corporation
Galileo Destura, APAC Philips uWand Sals Manager, Philips uWand
Heather Anderson, VP of Marketing, The Retail Outsource Companies
Jason Lopatecki, Chief Strategy Officer, Tubemogul
Jason Mowery, Verizon Wireless
Jeffrey Hayzlett, Former CMO-Kodak, Bestselling Author, The Hayzlett Group
Jordan Fiksenbaum, Cirque du Soleil
Pete Deutschman, Founder & CEO, The Buddy Group
Seth Barron, Team Lead- Account Solutions, Google/YouTube
Shaheen Kazi, VP of Marketing, Omek Interactive
Tom Moroch, Founder, Moroch

We look forward to releasing more Connected14 videos in the (near) future!

Buddy Up!

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Engage

13 December 2011

A Winning Year, Thanks to You

As 2011 comes to a close, we can’t help but reflect on how impactful this year was. Small businesses flourished, and our lives were forever changed by Steve Jobs. We discovered the secret to viral videos and questioned Facebook’s umpteenth makeover along with you. Just as we gave thanks for a good year, we received some more great news…We won five MarCom Awards (picture courtesy of www.marcomawards.com)!

What are the MarCom Awards?

The international MarCom competition was established to recognize the creative work and generosity of marketing and communication professionals around the world. One of the most respected and well-known competitions in the creative industry, the MarCom statuette “graces the trophy cases of some of the top business and communication firms in the world” (MarCom Awards). (more…)

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Discover Engage

22 November 2011

5 Steps to Optimizing Google Plus Business Pages for Search Engines

Google has finally launched Google Plus for businesses, meaning that a business can now create their own page just as they would on Facebook. This has huge implications for SEO considering the impact social media has on search results. Since Google has such a high stake in widespread adoption of their new social network, it is reasonable to assume they will give more authority to Google Plus pages in their search results. Follow the 5 steps outlined below to ensure you are receiving the most SEO benefit when starting your Google Plus Page.

1. Create a Google Plus Brand Page

First, create a Google Plus business page if haven’t already. If you aren’t ready to fully fill out your page profile yet, I still recommend at least creating your page for the purpose of claiming and verify your brand name. (more…)

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Discover Engage

12 October 2011

3 Ways to Enhance Facebook Marketing Strategy with New Insights

In the past year alone, Facebook captured 63.46% of all unique daily visitors to social networking sites, increasing 200% in the amount of users who access the site via a mobile device, but how does this impact you as a marketer? This proves that consumers are showing increased interest in an interactive experience. After all, 51% of consumers are more likely to buy a product from a company they ‘like’ on Facebook, and 56% are more likely to recommend a brand to a friend once they become a Facebook fan.

As a response, on Oct. 11th Facebook updated Page Insights to help give you the tools to determine your brand’s true demographic; discover who’s talking about your brand, and optimize posts to better meet your marketing goals, if utilized well. (more…)

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Build Create Discover Engage

6 October 2011

Thank you, Steve Jobs.
(aka, Growing Up In Cupertino)

by Bryan Boettger, Chief Creative Officer

Steve Jobs put me on the path of my life.

“Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever.”
– Steve Jobs, 2005 Stanford Commencement Address

In the hours following Jobs’ death, I was a bit dumbstruck by the outpouring of love I saw on Facebook and Twitter. I wondered how all these friends of mine could be so affected by the death of someone they had never met.

It made me reflect. And, slowly, I began to connect the dots back. (more…)

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Engage

21 July 2011

Capture the Flag Part II: The blue team prevails through strategy

The elaborate game of Buddy Capture the Flag that was projected to last seven days, ended in two, with the capture of the red flag. In less than ten hours our Buddies were able to work together as teams, using different communication outlets and online tools to execute individual team strategies and lead the blue team to victory. During the game, our Buddies were all on edge. Our goals were simple. Stay alive and protect the team flag. The term “Buddy up” took on a new meaning as every Buddy was never alone and often hanging out with a partner with whom they may not normally cruise the halls.

We quickly learned this was more than just a game. As with most competitions, there is only one winner, and oftentimes it comes down to the team with the better strategy. (more…)

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Engage

15 July 2011

TBG Presenting “A Connected Experience and It’s Impact on Higher Education” at eduWeb 2011

Multi-device interaction is dramatically changing the way users engage with brands. This is especially interesting in the higher education space since there are a unique set of circumstances that lead to meaningful use of new technologies, devices and real-world social interaction. (more…)

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Engage

15 July 2011

Capture the Flag

Is there a Spy in your meeting? Did the General just get back from lunch? Are you sitting next to a Bomb? This week at The Buddy Group, any of these scenarios are possible.

Rule #1: Play to Win

The Buddy Group has a history of playful competitiveness. In 2006 it was Bonus Ball, a dodgeball mutation played in the back alleys of an Irvine, CA corporate park. 2007 brought us the round-robin basketball brouhaha known as Knockout. 2008 saw the rise of a 2-year stint of Foosball, and towards the end of 2010 we got crazy about Ping Pong. But nobody expected the Capture the Flag craze of 2011.

When we’re not delivering digital creative for our international roster of clients (we do get work done from time to time – you’ll just have to trust me on that) we like to blow off steam by having a little fun. For our real-life version of Capture the Flag the company was split into two teams, red and blue. Each team member was then randomly assigned a rank and set free to “attack” members of the other team. Higher ranks beat lower ranks, Spies beat Generals, and Bombs beat anyone except a Mine Sweeper.

Still with me? Ready for more? (more…)

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Engage

8 July 2011

Cow Appreciation Day: Showing love for your fans

Today is a day our Buddies wait for all year long: Cow Appreciation Day! What is this beefy holiday you ask? It’s a National Chick-fil-A holiday that honors cows by eating chicken meals, given out for free by participating locations, for a day. In reality, this is a great excuse for Chick-fil-A to give back to its customers by offering free meals to those who dress up in funky cow costumes.

If you have ever been to the restaurant, you know that nine times out of ten you can expect exceptional customer service from the bright and cheery staff. Haven’t been there? Google or Yelp it and you will read pages upon pages of praise for a job well done.

“If you ever go into a Chick-fil-A it will appear as though they are over staffed and that’s because they strive to complete drive-thru orders in 90 seconds and 60 seconds at the counter. At the end of every transaction at Chick-fil-A you will not simply here ‘thanks’ or ‘see you later’ or ‘come back’ but rather ‘My Pleasure.’” –BigIsTheNewSmall.com

As we took our trip to Chick-fil-A Cow Appreciation Day at lunch, we started thinking; can we learn something valuable from this fast food chain? (more…)

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Engage

24 June 2011

“And the award goes to…”

The Buddy Group wins 6 Telly Awards

It’s that time of year again; the presentation of the 32^nd Annual Telly Awards. This is the time when the very best local, regional and cable television commercials, programs and segments are honored. These awards include the finest video and film productions created for the Web throughout the course of the year.

“Today, the Telly is one of the most sought-after awards by industry leaders, from large international firms to local production companies and ad agencies.” –tellyawards.com (more…)

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