Social Media ROI

... notice the credit for the music at the end and the reference to iTunes... other than the fact that I don't particularly like hamburgers... it seems to me it's pretty cool (I'd recommend you use pause a lot, to follow the text, check on the data... it does go too fast! - they could improve that with just a twitch).

Direct link to the Socialnomics09 channel in YouTube - This was posted on Nov. 12, 2009.

Brazilian project

Take a good look and listen... serious business and a beautiful place, fun people and great things to actually "do" in a design mix of settings and buildings, with plenty of water inlets, lots of green and a lake. Main structures seem to be already in place together with the promise of transport integration, which shows quite daunting on the clip. The place is a spectacular combination of sites: clusters of hills, the nearby sea and water spaces, ... the complexity of how to integrate the different nearby scenarios through and around the hills makes it much more challenging and fun.

Unbeatable discourse: the olympics and para-olympics mix, the stadiums, the transport plan, "a place to live your passion" with the Corcovado Christ as an oversight ... "a Brazilian celebration" ... " to inspire a continent"... this was not just about a city.

While the London clip of the previous contest was also tops, we also recognized that the show offered as an advance last year in China, was rather dis-connected to the sophistication of the flowing strings of dancers and athletes selling the promise of a multi-dimensional city in Singapore. The reality check and actual performance of the British in China brought to life a double-decker bus (do they still run?) a gang of average people dancing, a football star and a pop singer. The question now is, what will eventually take place when the curtains are drawn in 2012? We hope they re-connect again with what they'd shown before in order to become a winner.

A lot of what you see on the Brazilian clip is already there and just as beautiful as it shows... the issue might be with the coordination and the overall security, but they've already proved with the Rod Steward and Rolling Stones concerts drawing crowds of circa 3.5m (1994) and 1m (2006) respectively at the Copacabana beach, that they can do this and ... a lot more.

Letting it Shine Behind the Scene...

Honda Insight - Let It Shine from Honda on Vimeo.

*Edited on April 30 to add link to transcript*

Really nice work... watch the making of it. Awesome, amazingly inspiring...

"The Insight is sort of Honda's latest hybrid, it's really good looking, it's fun to drive..."
"it's going to be the most affordable hybrid on the market"
"they invest in the belief that people are fundamentally good"

Furthermore... I love the way Vimeo has facilitated embedding options, and .. well... it just rocks!

Honda Insight - The Making of "Let it Shine”

Wordled Trends by Leo Burnett Gp

Trend Predictions Report 2009 by Leo Burnett Group via YouTube also provides the text ... not an exact transcript, but it does offer their "piece of mind".

Maybe the tone could be improved, yet the fact that they sort of wordle all of it makes it funny and easy to follow.

Economic conditions have been affecting our cultural context for a long time now, we don't think there is anything "new" in this... it's just about awareness and it depends on the type of business and industry we are talking about.

We cannot but welcome a quest for more value reflection and reassessment: "what is truly meaningful to us", together with more "pragmatism and prudence". Funny that they are now highlighting values that were present at the origin of virtual communities and web environments: "organizations that show they are going the extra mile for people" ... to be developed now somewhat reluctantly by constituents and allies of (former reputed) traditional players in certain markets. Just check which companies are still doing well and are better prepared to surf the dire straits into the future.

Evolving Administration

The United States Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources hearing, on the nomination of Steven Chu to be Secretary of Energy with the new team driven by the now President Obama. This was a Full Committee Hearing, on Tuesday January 13, 2009.

If you choose to link to the original version, these are the key moments:

Minute Action

• 15:51 Introductions
  
• 32:09 Dr. Chu swears and gives testimony
  
• 41:16 Questions and Answers
  

Many questions by Senate representatives insist on traditional energy sources and defense issues, traditional nuclear energy issues, and nuclear arms clean up still pending. Scroll to minute 92:00 (min 95:27 he responds commenting on-going plans and his will to get going, at the same time, referring to the changing mood in the country with respect to this topic, and the new discoveries that science can bring.

"... as a scientist I am ever optimistic about our ability to expand the boundaries of what is possible". "training, development, employment (...) improving management and program implementation, simply put, if the Department is to meet the challenges ahead, we'll have to run more efficiently and effectively. One of my first priorities will be to put together a strong leadership and management team, one that shares not only my vision for the Department, but also my commitment to improving the way that the Dept. does business. I do not underestimate the difficulty of meeting these challenges...but I remain optimistic, that we can meet them".

This Senate Committee offers a very useful link of FAQ describing many content options and tools.