V/Speak

I’m winding down the work year and as I do so, this will be my final post for 2009 in an effort to take a breath and recharge for 2010.  What a year it’s been!  This year was my first effort at a full time blog and marks a deeper dive into the Social Web. I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to share experiences through speakerships, interviews, and even a podcast on Wired.  The main thing I’ve enjoyed throughout this year’s work is the opportunity to learn from the smart people I come into contact with on a daily basis.  There are a lot of hard working individuals inside and outside of Intel that are always innovating.  I’m lucky that my role here allows a peek into many different projects and programs that are pushing the bounds of media and marketing.

On the Intel front, we’ve had some very good ‘best effort’ programs that have expanded our horizons into Cause Marketing w/ our FaceBook ‘Vote for a Cause‘ Program, unique activations that bring our brand campaign to life (thank you Maggie Mason!), and Social Platform building with our latest effort - My Life Scoop.  We’ve also had some fun and brought you new features on my favorite Internet music source,  Pandora (’Add Variety’) because we thought it was important as a ‘Sponsor of Tomorrow’ to enhance your experience on a great site.

Finally, we did something very different at Intel.  Something we’ve never done before.  We marketed our BRAND – Intel, and not just focused on the next product to hit the street.  We want you to live a better life through technology, and we needed to make sure that people understood what the Intel brand means and how we help with that. This shift in campaign focus has been a lot of fun as it’s allowed many of us at Intel to share in a common message. Deborah Conrad, our VP and GM of Corporate Marketing states that message best:

“What Intel develops today leads the path toward a better tomorrow.”

I think that people are beginning to see us in a different way and gain a better understanding of how exactly we make their lives better through technology.

2009 was the year that the Social Web exploded.  Those that were aware of the power of Social Media, made the prediction early on.  I think you will see in 2010 that ‘Social’ becomes mainstream and is a standard component to every marketing program rather than a new, never been done before, ‘feature’.  Consumers want to share, they want their voices to be heard, and they want to digest content on their time and on the device of their choosing. Looking back we saw the rapid decline of print.  Looking forward, we’re staring at the monumental rise of mobile.  Those media institutions that adapt to the shift in media will live to fight another day, and those that don’t – will not.

I’m proud of the work we’ve done this year, I’m ’smarter’ (thanks to the gracious sharing of others) in the space I specialize in, and I’m looking forward to more learning and innovation in 2010.  Happy Holidays all…see you in the New Year!

David Veneski Digital Marketing, Intel 2009 Summary, mylifescoop, Pandora

We (Intel) have done some great executions with Pandora this year.  What I admire most about them is their willingness to innovate, and tailor programs for a client like me. 

Today the service just got better, in my opinion.  I am a heavy user of Pandora and find myself discovering new songs that I bookmark, but always seem to forget to share.  Now, with the capability to share through Twitter, Facebook, and ‘Give the Gift’ of Music – users are able to provide those in their network a real-time ‘listen in’ to what they are playing on Pandora.  From Tom Conrad, Pandora CTO:

 “It’s sort of our version of making a mix tape for someone” (courtesy: TechCrunch)

I used to make mix-tapes all the time growing up…now I have a new way to share my favorites.  Well played Tom, Tim, and the rest of the Pandora crew.

David Veneski Pandora Facebook, Pandora, Twitter

I have a lot of respect for the tenacity and vision of Tim Westergren and the gang over at Pandora.  If you’re a fan, there is a great interview with Tim available on press:here (I’ve embedded the first section below but you can get all three sections through the previous link).  In addition, TechCrunch ran a story on Friday, detailing how they were on the verge of shuttering their doors only to break through and expecting to be cash positive by the end of 2009. 

According to Tim, Americans spend 20 hours a week listening to music, 17 of which is not self selected (meaning, they are not grabbing a CD and popping it into their player – rather they are streaming music: Radio, Internet, etc).  This equals a significant opportunity to advertise to an attractive audience set.  Pandora has capitalized on this by creating a service where the the user is very interactive with the website – up to 7 times per hour rating songs or bookmarking songs.  Each of these user activities provide the opportunity to present an advertisement through a ’skin’ on the site or a video interstitial between songs (Intel has used both in our advertising efforts with Pandora).  That, coupled with the 10-15 second audio spots sprinkled within your stream, ensures a significant interaction between brand advertiser and consumer on Pandora each hour.

From his discussion with Sarah Lacy of TechCrunch post-interview with press:here regarding the success of advertising on Pandora:

“I think it’s because the interaction doesn’t feel like work. It’s a natural instinct tied to the ability to affect the listening, and it’s rewarding.” (credit TechCrunch)

That reward translates into a significantly higher interaction rate (up to 10x) with ads served on Pandora when compared to industry average – which will make advertisers very happy.  Count me as one of them.  Keep up the great work Tim and Team Pandora.

David Veneski Online Advertising Advertising, Pandora

Outside Lands is becoming an annual event in the Bay Area.  For the second year in a row Intel is playing a role in the three day jam in Golden Gate Park.  Our participation is two-fold. We’ll have a large presence on site at the festival, and we’re also partnering with Pandora (from previous posts, you know I am a fan of this service) and Federated Media to bring you a ‘MixTape‘ of the bands that will be performing in the City by the Bay – streaming right to your computer.

The music lineup is fantastic and features some of my favorite bands. Having missed out on last year’s jam session, I was looking forward to attending this year.  Calendars didn’t work out so I won’t be hanging out in Lindley Meadow, Speedway Meadow, or the Polo Field listening to Band of Horses or The National.  Check out Ranger Dave’s Magic Scheduler to help you see all your favorites!

David Veneski Pandora Federated Media, Intel, Outside Lands, Pandora

It’s no secret that I am a Pandora fan.  Not only do I like their product, but I genuinely enjoy the people that bring great opportunities to Intel to help extend our campaign messages.  We’ve been trying to get the right thing in place to leverage the power of the Pandora listening network for our Sponsors of Tomorrow brand campaign since launch.  Yesterday we finally unveiled our effort.  Big kudos to the Pandora team and our agency for really working hard to make this happen – I think it will be a great activation around our new brand campaign. 

We did a soft launch yesterday and you’ll see us show up more and more over the next month or so as you enjoy your favorite artist streaming on Pandora.com.  The visual experience you can expect is in the image below.  We’ll also have some interstitial placements of our Rock Star and Oops advertisements as media within the channel stream.  Great job Team Pandora!

David Veneski Intel, Pandora #tomorrow, Intel, Pandora

An amazingly simple concept – offer a GREAT service (for free) on a device that everyone wants, make it easy to bookmark their favorite tunes, and offer a path to purchase - people will not only be fans, but they will stray from ‘free’ long enough to pay for the tracks they really care about.  While Pandora doesn’t make much from the sale (the two commerce options, iTunes and Amazon, take home the bulk of the profit), it does provide them with an additional revenue steam outside of simply selling advertising through the site.  According to TechCrunch:

“Users are buying about a million songs a month now from these affiliate links on Pandora….  Of those, a solid 20% are coming directly from Pandora’s iPhone app.”

Pandora was smart to partner with Apple.  In return for adding value to the iPhone through it’s app (most downloaded app in 2008) – the company is gaining customers it might not otherwise have had.

I’ll reiterate the title of this post: Cool Device+Cool Service = Happy Customer+Revenue.  I’m a fan and a happy customer of both.  I’ll be streaming Pandora in my car as I head out on a roadtrip this weekend – maybe I’ll even buy a track or two along the way…

David Veneski Pandora Apple, iPhone, Pandora

Music and running – it just goes together.  Now you can ‘mix’ your own workout playlist with the new Nike Treadmill on Pandora.  Feeling sluggish?  Want the tempo of your music to reflect your pedestrian pace – dial back the Speed Slider to 1, but make sure you push your Endurance Slider to 10 to get burn those calories.  Pandora is just now starting to do some different forms of advertising within their digital experience…the key for me – they are innovative and relevant.  Now strap your iPod to your arm and hit that treadmill!

David Veneski Online Advertising Nike, Pandora