This is a good post called 12Society Grabs Michael Strahan, Nets Funding From Groupon Co-founders, BeachMint President:

Published on: 2012-04-17 13:00:45

Last month, having sold the assets of their latest startup, JungleCents , to its early investor, Mark Cuban, co-founders Sameer Mehta and Nadir Hyder took off to found a new venture. They brought with them what they said was one of the most important lessons they’d learned while building JungleCents — that the key to effective marketing, and those oft-elusive high conversion rates, is smart, editorial-driven content. And when you can get big-time influencers to help create that content, or at the very least, stamp it with their seal of approval? Serious engagement ensues … or so they believe. That’s why, when the team offered a sneak peek at its new venture, 12Society , there was a big name on the co-founder roster: Tim “The Freak” Lincecum. For those unfamiliar, Lincecum is a 27-year-old starting pitcher for the San Francisco Giants, as well as a two-time Cy Young Award winner and a major contributor to the Giants’ World Series victory in 2010. 12Society is still in stealth mode, which means the team still isn’t saying much about what they’re up to, though CEO Sameer Mehta has said that the startup will be a guy-focused lifestyle company built on “the intersection of culture, technology and commerce.” While this is purposefully vague, the co-founders said they want to create a better way for brands looking to target the 18- to 35-year-old male demographic and get them engaging, talking about, and sharing their products. So, what better way to do that then with editorial-driven content strategy led by big-name athletes — influencers that guys respect and look to for tips on gear, clothes, music, etc. ( More in our initial coverage here .) In March, the team said that they would be announcing further “big name” co-founders in the coming weeks, with more athletes in the mix. Today, 12Society unveiled its second co-founder (apparently there will be a total of six): long-time New York Giant, Super Bowl winner, and current media analyst on Fox NFL Sunday and others, Michael Strahan . While few celebrity-founded startups have stood the test of time, 12Society is beginning to taking steps to ensure its longevity, adding Anthony Saleh of Atom Factory, Founder of Young and Restless Dee Murthy, and Mike Walsh of Rockstar Group (who is also an investor in Uber) as advisors. And today, 12Society is announcing that it has raised a round of seed financing to help it accelerate towards its impending launch. The financial backing comes from Groupon co-founders (and Lightbank founding partners) Eric Lefkofsky, Paul Lee, and Brad Keywell, as well as Diego Berdakin, the co-founder of venture-backed social commerce startup, BeachMint . Michael Broukhim, the VP of Customer Acquisition at BeachMint (and co-founder of MeetCharlie.com) and former SVP of Excite, CEO of Work.com, and co-founder of Recurrent Energy Don Hutchison are also investors. The amount of funding is undisclosed, but we’re hearing from sources that it was just north of $1 million. 12Society will be announcing a few more names in the coming weeks, with its official launch slated for sometime in May. For more, and to sign up for beta access, check the startup out at home here , or on AngelList here .

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12Society Grabs Michael Strahan, Nets Funding From Groupon Co-founders, BeachMint President

This is a good article called Jobs’ Rejection Of TV Designs “Isn’t A Huge Deal” Says Former Apple Engineer:

Published on: 2012-03-25 01:03:43

It’s a sin I know almost too well as a blogger. It’s slow going for news on a Friday night and the pageview gods send you a reprieve in the form of a tweet. A former Apple engineer is berating the company’s design ethic in the post-Jobs era in less than 140 characters? Score! Suddenly one story becomes another story then another story then another story then another story. Until it’s a crisis! ZOMG! Apple is over! The company is finished! Interested in the actual story, I talked with former Apple TV engineer Mike Margolis about the tweet that launched a thousand blog posts. So here’s what he said on Twitter. @ aral Fun fact – those new designs were tossed out 5 years ago because SJ didn’t like them. Now there is nobody to say “no” to bad design. — Michael Margolis ッ (@yipe) March 24, 2012 Here are his thoughts with far more context: I woke up this morning with hundreds of new followers on Twitter and two dozen text messages from friends – many of them Apple employees past and present. Turns out a few of my tweets were being blogged about. I wouldn’t mind, except many people were misquoting and painting doom and gloom scenarios for Apple and making false claims about the design teams at Apple. I have not been present for any of the Apple TV product discussions for more than four years, so I’m a bit surprised that everyone is all atwitter about what SJ rejected so long ago and what that means today. Specifically, I stated in a tweet that Steve did not like the grid design five years ago. That is absolutely 100% true. It’s also true that five years ago the iPad didn’t exist, Apple users weren’t in love with app-grid interfaces like they are now, a streaming-only iCloud connected device was a pipe dream, and AppleTV did not have great new third party content like YouTube, Netflix, Vimeo, NBA, NFL, and more. The UI didn’t make much sense back then but it makes much more sense now. If you compare Front Row to AppleTV 1.0,  ”AppleTV Take 2″, and the new AppleTV UI it is clear that the product is continually improving. The new UI is no doubt cleaner, simpler, easier to use, and more in line with the now-popular iPad UI and Lion’s Launchpad. Timing and context are crucial – both on Twitter and in product design. Steve rejecting a design five years ago isn’t a huge deal. Steve was well known for rejecting ideas, tweaking them, and turning them into something even better. And that’s a very good thing. One of my favorite parts of working at Apple was knowing that SJ said “no” to most everything initially, even if he later came to like it, advocate for it, and eventually proudly present it on stage. This helped the company stay focused and drove people to constantly improve, iterate, and turn the proverbial knob to 11 on everything. A quick clarification: many sites are now worried that there is only a single designer in the consumer apps team. That is absolutely not true. I simply stated (in 140 characters) that one designer from the consumer apps team was largely responsible for the Apple TV visual design, not Jonathan Ive. Margolis adds that he no longer owns any Apple stock and hasn’t been employed by the company since 2008.

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This is an interesting article called StarStreet Launches A Daily Fantasy Sports Game That Turns Athletes Into Stocks:

Published on: 2012-02-28 16:39:19

You may remember StarStreet from last year’s launch – it’s the TechStars and SV Angel-backed sports investing game that turns fantasy sports into a stock market system where you build up portfolios of top players as if they were stocks. Today, the company is launching a new, more addictive game that lets you play head-to-head with other players on a daily basis, both for fantasy wins or for real cash. The new game will run alongside its older counterpart, offering a more casual gaming experience for those not interested in the commitment of building a season-long portfolio. In traditional fantasy sports gaming, setting up a team, adding and removing players, and continually tracking their performance often continues throughout the season, whether it’s for the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB or another sports market. StarStreet originally wanted to offer a twist on that type of gaming experience, by allowing users to make stock market-like portfolios, where gamers “invest” using real money, instead of playing in fantasy leagues. To date, that effort has only been moderately successful – the company says it has gained 1,000 registered users playing with real money on the site. But with the launch of the new daily gaming option, users can now play the same type of game for a day, betting on who will earn the most fantasy points by night.

Published on: 2012-02-17 15:32:47

Short Version The Droid 4 doesn’t look much like its other Droid siblings, but it does promise the same stellar keyboard and a solid construction. At $199 it won’t break your wallet, but it will offer most of the same specs we’re seeing go for $300, including a 4G LTE radio. If thin and light is important to you, the Droid 4 probably isn’t what you’re looking for, but keyboard purists should start getting excited… right… now. Features: 4-inch 540

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Published on: 2012-02-15 14:07:10

Popular sports startup Bleacher Report was announced as of YouTube’s new content partners late last year. Now it’s actually ready to debut its new channel and announce the initial slate of shows. Bleacher Report allows regular sports fans to offer commentary on teams and games, an approach that leads to much more content than a traditional sports site — the company says it has 1,000 featured columnists and 6,000 contributors total. In some ways, it seems like a good match for YouTube, since it’s taking a similar approach to sports writing as the one YouTube took to video. Which isn’t to say that these are going to be purely crowdsourced shows. Instead, Bleacher Report’s shows will mostly be hosted by established names from the sports and entertainment world. Here’s the lineup: B/R5 — A rundown of the five biggest sports stories of the day, hosted by Desi Sanchez (of E! News Now and MTV). Broadcasts every Monday to Friday, starting today. NFL Draft 365 — A weekly discussion of the NFL draft, hosted by Alex Panos (HGTV’s Run My Money and SNY’s Beer Money), with a different current or former NFL player as guest analyst in each episode. Starts later this week. Why We Watch — A weekly show featuring short-form sports documentaries, supposedly highlighting a small story with big significance, or offering a new take on more well-known news. Starts later this week. Full Ride — A weekly look at college football recruiting, starting in March.

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This is a new post called NFL Completes End Run With Text-Message Super Bowl Ad:

Published on: 2012-02-10 21:07:18

I know very little about football. I do know that going right when the other team is going left is a good thing. It’s all about getting around the opposition, right? And that’s exactly what NFL.com did with their Super Bowl ad. While everyone else was asking viewers to follow them on Twitter or like them on Facebook, the NFL asked people to send a short text message and it worked. The “Live Like a Millionaire” ad shows average guys living extravagant lifestyles. It leads to a tag that says you could win a million dollars by playing the new NFL Fantasy Football game. Along the way, a short text message request appears on the screen and eventually, the voice-over asks you text for more information on the game. (Click here to see the full commercial ) Without delving into the numbers, you can see that this is a good idea. People love money. People love to win things. The visuals play into a variety of male fantasies. The request is simple. Take that cell phone out of your pocket and text 3 letters to a short number. Beats navigating to Facebook or typing out a long Tweet with a hashtag. Did it work? Oh, yeah. According to the New York Times, the NFL was looking for a 1% return, or 1.1 million people. They got 1.7 million . The second step after the text, was to sign up for the game, which doesn’t begin until the fall. A spokesperson told the Times, the follow through rate was “’exponentially higher’ than the 2 percent conversion rate for most Web sites.” Booyah! Running a promo eight months ahead of the launch might not have been the best timing, but where better to find fantasy football players than at the Super Bowl? Now, the NFL has 1.7 million phone numbers they can text when it’s time to launch. Not bad. The concept is elegant in its simplicity and it makes me wonder why more people aren’t going this route. I think there was a time when people were reluctant to follow through on ad texting because it meant turning over your personal contact information. But now that Tweets and Facebook updates ping your phone every other minute, does it really matter if you keep your cell number private? What do you think? Is texting too old school to catch on as a marketing option or has its time come again?

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NFL Completes End Run With Text-Message Super Bowl Ad

This is a new article called VEVO CEO Tries To Explain Their Hypocritical Act Of Piracy At Sundance:

Published on: 2012-02-10 19:54:14

Yesterday I reported on a bizarre incident I witnessed at Sundance last month: VEVO, the music portal owned by some of the biggest record labels in the US, had a pirated NFL playoff game playing on screens throughout its ‘PowerStation’ venue. The incident was immensely hypocritical, given that VEVO is owned in part by Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment (with EMI licensing its content to the service) — the same music labels that have made a habit of attacking consumers over alleged acts of piracy. Now VEVO CEO Rio Caraeff has written a post to the VEVO blog, where he tries to explain what happened. In it, he writes that the game was accessed and streamed by a guest of the event without VEVO’s knowledge. A guest of our lounge asked for an NFL game to be aired. We said no. There was a laptop hooked up to VEVO.com that fed into the large TV screens around the bar. Unfortunately, the laptop was easily accessible to the public. That was our mistake for not making sure the laptop was more secure. While VEVO staff was in other areas of the venue, the game was put on – via a website transmitting ESPN’s broadcast of the NFL game – without our permission or knowledge. As soon as we realized the game was airing to the room, we removed it and went back to playing VEVO videos. The game was not aired in its entirety. Rest assured, we rectified this mistake as soon as we became aware what was going on. What happened was unfortunate and we can’t take back what happened. I don’t have any proof to indicate that what Caraeff writes is incorrect, but I’m raising my eyebrow at this explanation. The game was playing the entire time I was at the PowerStation — this wasn’t just a brief blip — and it was playing on several screens, so it was hard to miss, too. After all, one of the key aims of this event was to feature VEVO videos, it wasn’t as if these screens were hidden in a corner. Likewise, this wasn’t a case of someone launching the stream and walking away — I saw the mouse cursor appear onscreen at least twice, and someone was pretty clearly doing their best to make sure it was watchable. That said, as you can see toward the end of the video below at around 1:39, the computer was potentially accessible to non-employees. But it was hardly inviting, and I have a hard time believing a random guest could just commandeer the computer without any employees noticing. In any case, imagine what the music industry would say were it on the other side of this. Is there any doubt it would dismiss these explanations and, lawsuits in hand, cry foul over such an overt act of piracy? Furthermore, this seems no different than an accused pirate explaining that they left their Wifi open, only to have it used by someone else to download content illegally. Which happens to be a defense the RIAA has previously fought vigilantly against , when it sought to make owners of ISP accounts liable for any infringing activity, even if the owner had no knowledge of it. Hypocrisy, indeed. Below you’ll find Caraeff’s whole post. You may know we had some fun at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah last month. Our VEVO Powerstation & Sorel Suite was a popular spot for celebrities to get warm, pick up some gifts from our friends at Sorel and Fresh and, most of all, to relax with a drink and play their favorite VEVO videos. We were excited that LMFAO, James Mardsen, Lil Jon, Tommy Lee, Isla Fisher, Josh Kelley and many others all came down to watch some music with us. But with all the snowy fun we had, there has unfortunately been a report that something other than VEVO music videos was played at the Powerstation. We feel it important to explain exactly what happened so we hope you’ll take a minute to read further. A guest of our lounge asked for an NFL game to be aired. We said no. There was a laptop hooked up to VEVO.com that fed into the large TV screens around the bar. Unfortunately, the laptop was easily accessible to the public. That was our mistake for not making sure the laptop was more secure. While VEVO staff was in other areas of the venue, the game was put on – via a website transmitting ESPN’s broadcast of the NFL game – without our permission or knowledge. As soon as we realized the game was airing to the room, we removed it and went back to playing VEVO videos. The game was not aired in its entirety. Rest assured, we rectified this mistake as soon as we became aware what was going on. What happened was unfortunate and we can’t take back what happened. Let’s just make this clear. VEVO is not in the business of streaming illegal video content. We work really hard to give our fans access to the best HD music videos and original programming – legally. VEVO takes intellectual property and copyright issues very seriously. We have always supported our artists and content owners and have the same respect for all content creators in every industry and of every art form. So we are very sensitive to what happened at Sundance and the issues it has raised. Thanks for reading. Rio D. Caraeff

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Check out this informative article written by TechCrunch. It provides interesting digital marketing information. To see all new blog posts featuring great marketing info, click here

Published on: 2012-02-03 23:00:32

It’s the Super Bowl season, when a host of services and apps debut just in time for the biggest television event of the year. And, if you’re a fan of Madden’s NFL Superstars (a web app that’s available through Facebook), then you’ll like this launch: the game is now available as a Pokki right here . Pokki , for those that haven’t used it, is a platform that lets you install lightweight apps that live in your Windows Taskbar (a Mac version is on the way). Each app gets its own icon — click on it, and the app will pop open immediately, click away and it’ll hide itself, and when you click it again, it’ll pick up right where you left off. The point is to give you quick access to apps without having to deal with browser tabs or standalone windows, and it works well.There are other apps and services that do something similar (Mac users may want to check out Fluid ), but Pokki’s platform features apps that are specifically designed for its quick, pop-over design. Pokki has landed two major gaming companies so far: Kabam and, with this launch, EA, and it seems likely that more will follow suit (the platform is well-suited for quick sessions of gaming throughout the day). And there are other apps available as well, including Gmail and eBay. The company says that Pokki is still in beta and hasn’t yet focused on marketing, but that its early numbers are very promising — so far they’ve seen “hundreds of thousands” of app installs, with users who have used the apps “tens of millions of times”. The platform is also seeing strong traction with its built-in app market: 60% of users are browsing and installing two new apps per month. Pokki is one of two main products from SweetLabs — their other major product is OpenCandy , which lets developers include targeted ads within their application’s install flow.

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This is a good article called NFL Jumps the Shark Letting Tweets in Pro Bowl:

Published on: 2012-01-26 15:26:21

While it may seem like a big deal that the most powerful sports league in the US (and maybe the planet), the NFL, is letting it’s players tweet during a game but let’s not run around ringing in the new era of social media and sports. It’s pretty fascinating to consider, right? A player comes off the field after an incredible catch or incredible hit and immediately tells his followers how he feels. It’s the ultimate in letting the fans in on the emotion and intensity of such an emotional and intense game like football. From Yahoo we read NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has been accused of turning the NFL into the “No Fun League,” but Wednesday, he took a bold step to fight back against that label. He’s not only allowing players to tweet during the Pro Bowl ‒ he’s setting up computer stations on the sidelines to help them do so. Which is exactly how a man who is no fun would combat allegations that he is no fun. The NFL policy for real games is that players are banished from Twitter 90 minutes before a game starts, all the way until all the postgame interviews are conducted. For this Sunday’s Pro Bowl, it’s a Twitter free-for-all. Players still can’t have their mobile devices on the sidelines, but again, the league will be setting up “computer stations.” But here’s the rub, it’s being done during a “game” that is as meaningless as anything the NFL does can possibly be. The league allowing and even enabling its players to tweet during a game sounds great but it’s really a completely hollow and insignificant gesture. In other words, don’t expect this to happen during ANY other game that the league has in the foreseeable future. This is a pure PR stunt that has no legs. Why? Because anyone who has any real understanding of the NFL knows that this game is a joke. The league has been trying to figure out how to make it work in the Internet age and thus far they have failed miserably. A game like this used to have value because there were limited ways for fans to see and hear about the players. It used to have value back in the 70′s and 80′s because there was no Internet and the 24 / 7 sports news cycle hadn’t taken hold as it has today. Marketing Pilgrim’s Social Channel is proudly sponsored by Full Sail University, where you can earn your Masters of Science Degree in Internet Marketing in less than 2 years. Visit FullSail.edu for more information. So how do you breath life into an event that traditionally has been held after the Super Bowl but had been pushed so close to the brink of irrelevancy that it is now played on the Sunday in between the last playoff game and the Super Bowl just so people would even remember it was being played? Make it a true gimmick, of course. Nice slippery slope you just stepped on Commissioner Goodell. As a sports fan this whole effort just reeks of desperation and brings out the absolute worst in the social media space. Why do I say that? It’s because now the game is more reality TV than it is football. Oh and by the way, most of the players don’t even want to be there. They don’t want to risk injury that could cost them their livelihood in a meaningless game which doesn’t even include players from the Super Bowl teams any more. I get what the league is trying to do. It is trying to boost the interest of the fans and the players (especially those who are smart enough to jockey for position regarding their post career options in a social media world) so that the game will be relevant again. But here is what will happen. Social media proponents will start to crow at the start of next season that this kind of thing should be allowed in pre-season and possibly even regular season games. They will not let this idea go. The league, however, will likely NEVER allow this to happen in game that matters because it could dilute their product which is a multi-billion dollar machine that can virtually print money the way it is now. Social media types will say that opening the game to the players will enhance the fan experience. Most of these people wouldn’t be able to hold a football without dropping it let alone understand what it takes to actually play the game well. It’ll be nerds dictating football. There is NO upside for the league in doing that because the egos and the like will turn the NFL into a reality TV show and it will alienate its fans that allow it to roll on and make tons of money. I’ve gone on long enough about this. I’ll wrap up by saying that I think this is a ridiculous idea because it throws open the door for the NFL to go down the road of being turned into a social media joke. By allowing this it has now given the social media world real traction in the game and it may not be able to turn back without having more No Fun league accusations hurled at it. Normally the NFL is pretty smart. This decision is just plain dumb.

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Check out this informative article written by TechCrunch. It provides great digital marketing information. To see all new blog posts featuring great marketing info, click here

Published on: 2012-01-25 14:40:04

With 300 new big brand customers and 2.5X revenue, 2011 was a landmark year for social media marketing software developer Buddy Media. As CEO Michael Lazerow told us that Buddy Media was on track to hit $20 million in revenue in 2010, it could have pulled in $50 million during 2011. It attracted premier clients such as Citibank, IBM, and the NFL with its reputation for helping brands promote through Facebook. The company grew from 100 to 225 employees, and opened new offices in London, SF, and Singapore. In short, brands are getting serious about social marketing, and Buddy Media is a tool they trust. The huge revenue growth came thanks to Buddy Media breaking out its software platform into 4 a la carte products. Agencies and brands were then able to customize a package for their needs and ended up spending more. To house its swelling work force , Buddy Media is moving its headquarters to a new 65,000 square foot office in New York City. Other milestones for Buddy Media this year include: A $54 Million Series D round that brings it a total of just under $90 million in funding The acquisition of ecommerce developer Spinback to tie promotions with shopping It became a developer partner for LinkedIn and Google+. A partnership with comScore to measure brand performance The added ability to deliver social content on brand websites in addition to social networks Its platform now supports clients in over 91 countries. The one piece of the marketing equation Buddy Media is missing an social advertising platform, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see it launch, acquire, or do a deep partnership with one this year. Buddy Media and other top-tier social marketing platforms stand to capitalize as brands increasingly shift marketing resources to social. While free tools are proliferating, huge multinational brands need the reliability and customer service these platforms provide. Competitors are vying with Buddy Media for the biggest spending brands. Vitrue  is aggressively innovating through acquisitions and partnerships, while Context Optional  offers an end-to-end social marketing service as it became part of the Efficient Frontier ad platform before being acquired by Adobe. To stay ahead, Buddy Media will need to continue improving its engaging apps, publishing capabilities, and analytics, and offer a better integrated ad buying solution. Buddy Media’s success could line it up for an IPO, or make it an attractive acquisition target for one of the world’s top traditional media publishers looking for big social play.

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Social Brand Marketing Booms In 2011, Buddy Media Ups Revenue 2.5X