Science Communication Conference in UK
The British Science Association is a registered charity that exists to advance the public understanding, accessibility and accountability of the sciences and engineering in the UK. This year there was a special focus on science communications using new technologies for public engagement.
See more: http://www.britishscienceassociation.org/web/ScienceinSociety/ScienceCommunicationConference/Science+Communication+Conference+2011+Reports.htm
Best Business Books 2010
Two years after the financial collapse, the idea of hunkering down and waiting for a return to business as usual — as people did in previous recessions — seems a less and less viable strategy. But what should you do instead?
Read more: http://bit.ly/htE0DU
Between Two Worlds: How Young Latinos Come of Age in America
Hispanics are the largest and youngest minority group in the United States. One- in-five schoolchildren is Hispanic. One-in-four newborns is Hispanic. Never before in this country’s history has a minority ethnic group made up so large a share of the youngest Americans. By force of numbers alone, the kinds of adults these young Latinos become will help shape the kind of society America becomes in the 21st century.
This report takes an in-depth look at Hispanics who are ages 16 to 25, a phase of life when young people make choices that-for better and worse-set their path to adulthood. For this particular ethnic group, it is also a time when they navigate the intricate, often porous borders between the two cultures they inhabit-American and Latin American.
Read more: http://pewhispanic.org/reports/report.php?ReportID=117
Source: Pew Hispanic
The Latino Digital Divide: The Native Born versus The Foreign Born
By Gretchen Livingston, Senior Researcher, Pew Hispanic Center
Read more: http://bit.ly/97fp3z
LinkedIn Courts Brands
LinkedIn’s latest feature, Company Pages, encourages the social network’s 80 million-plus members to become brand ambassadors, posting product reviews and services on their profiles. It seems like such an obvious utility for LinkedIn members, it’s surprising the site hasn’t launched the feature before now.
Simply put, it lets companies showcase their products, services and associated recommendations on the site. As LinkedIn’s announcement notes, “Company Pages will enable companies to build their brand through network-aware recommendations, giving members rich, credible insights into how any given product (or service) is perceived by their fellow professionals.”
It’s launching with 40 companies (including Microsoft, Dell, Liberty Mutual Insurance, and JetBlue) that have now added a “Products and Services” tab on their Company page, and it will be rolling out to all companies and small businesses this week.
“For companies, both large brands as well as small businesses, Company pages now allows you to showcase recommendations from your customers and helps build your brand virally and credibly on LinkedIn,” the announcement continues. “Each time a LinkedIn member endorses your products or services, their recommendation becomes visible to all of their connections and could spread virally. When you promote and curate these recommendations, you have some of the most credible, authentic endorsements of your products on your Company Page’s Product tab.”
“A big part of what we’re working to do is becoming the essential source of information for our membership,” said Jeff Weiner, CEO, to the Wall Street Journal.
Making LinkedIn members brand ambassadors will inevitably beneft the site and help boost its member companies by elevating word-of-mouth.
“Company Pages take product and service recommendations to another level, allowing professionals to benefit from the considered perspectives of those whom they trust and relate to the most — the people they know,” said Weiner. “By displaying their strongest recommendations to prospective customers and employees on LinkedIn, businesses can use Company Pages to accelerate growth and trust in their brands.”
LinkedIn’s recommendations service puts the professional social network in direct competition with scores of sites that already use reviews and ratings – but management believes the association with real-world professionals adds a distinctive gravitas…Facebook’s brand fan pages included.
“As opposed to an anonymous review, here we have the advantage of not only having the reviewer identified, but you’re going to be able to find people in your network whom you would have reason to trust even more,” said David Yoffie, senior associate dean at Harvard Business School.
Company Pages is free and supports product and service endorsements, videos, product information and targeted ads. Powered by LinkedIn’s new InPages platform, businesses can spotlight star employees on LinkedIn Careers tabs.
Charter customers of Company Pages include:
• AT&T Business Solutions
• AdMeld
• Avaya
• Citibank India
• Dell
• Deloitte
• E*TRADE
• Eastman Kodak Company
• Exact Software
• FreshBooks
• FT Press, a division of Pearson
• Harvard Business School Executive Education
• HP
• JetBlue
• Juniper Networks
• Liberty Mutual Insurance
• Michael Saunders & Company
• Microsoft Corporation
• MoreVisibility
• The Open University
• OpenX
• Philips
• Rypple
• Samsung Electronics America
• Sequentia Environics
• Squarespace
• StrongMail
• TargetCast TCM
• uTest
• Volkswagen India
• Widgetbox
• Zoocasa
Source: Brand Channel
How much more space for the Spanish version?
By Raul Morales
It’s true that Spanish Language writing takes longer/more text space but this varies much more according with the professional skills of the translatiors rather than the usage and style of the language. Especially in long format copy, it is known that Spanish takes a 30% more text space. However, “translating, pharaphrasing and interpreting” usually take longer than “writing, saying and acting”. This is one of the advantages for a marketer to work with it’s own Hispanic market specialist or agency —I mean— a writer that adapts the idea or a copywriter that creates a better advertising line, rather than someone that by trade “translates”.
Anecdote: Sometimes although rare, there is a chance that good Spanish copywriting ends with a head that is shorter than English. This is because the subject of a sentence can be tacit/implied more often in Spanish than English: i.e. not having to use “you” that much, and having so many verb tenses can aid to imply a lot more saying very little but this only works for some headlines and punch lines. i.e.
Imagine a provocative image and the head “You either have it or you don’t” could be translated into Spanish (don’t try this with a kitchen crew without checking it by a pro)
“Lo tienes o no lo tienes” and even “Lo tienes …o no” and it’s perfectly understood.
A Vision for the Future of Account Management – Ad Age
Account People Should Be More Like Entrepreneurs
Posted by Phil Johnson on 03.24.10 @ 02:48 PM
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| Phil Johnson | |
Whenever we hire a new person, we engage in an internal debate that always irritates me. It’s always about choosing one talent attribute over another. In the creative arena, do you want a great manager, or do you want a creative genius? When it comes to account people, do you want a brilliant strategist, or do you want organizational and project management skills? Maybe it’s temperament, but I don’t want to choose. If you’re reducing people to their component talents, you’re thinking too narrowly.
This whole topic surfaced when we launched a recent recruiting effort for account managers. I’m talking about a function, not a job title. I still have a hard time remembering the distinctions between supervisors, coordinators, managers and directors. To my mind, they’re all on the front lines with clients. Whatever the title, when they’re good, they can elevate every aspect of an agency. At a time when so much focus has been placed on reinventing the agency model and innovations in marketing, account people are the unsung heroes of the business. They carry the burden of taking an agency’s best innovations and convincing clients that these are not only real, but useful.
Inevitably, our hiring discussion turned to job levels and the requisite skill set. What’s most important: organizational and project management skills, interpersonal strengths, salesmanship, strategic thinking, domain expertise, collaboration? The list goes on and on. I know that it’s necessary to make choices, but with the demand for so many talents in one person, I want to find a way to determine whether an account person will be merely good or truly transformative for the agency. I also want to identify a vision for the account person’s role that transcends the need to choose between one strength and another.
The model that best captures the qualities of a star account person is that of an entrepreneur. Successful entrepreneurs bet on an idea. They assemble a team that can bring the idea to fruition. They often help people see the value of a new product that has not yet been created. They raise funds, create the economic model, and establish partnerships. They shape a culture where innovation and collaboration thrive. I don’t know, but this sounds a whole lot like the qualities we want in an account person who performs at the highest level.
When you start to think of account people as entrepreneurs, it introduces a new level of potential into the role. They are no longer suits dutifully carrying the ideas to meetings. They become catalysts for new thinking and innovation. But in order for them to grow beyond functionaries managing a piece of business, and become business people who create markets for ideas, agencies need to redefine the qualities that they want in account people.
1. I would put curiosity at the top of the list. That’s what entrepreneurs do so well. They see possibilities that most of us miss.
2. Next, I’d look for someone who has the initiative to take calculated risks and who knows when to introduce bold new thinking to clients so that it will be recognized and valued. Introduce new ideas too early and they’re often dismissed. If you wait too late, you sacrifice the opportunity to take a leadership position.
3. One underrated talent is an instinct for when to stay on the highway and when to cut across the field. Systems and process drive a lot of productive work, but at times they stifle creativity. It takes a finely tuned instinct to know when to get off the main road.
4. A sense of diplomacy has saved many a great campaign and preserved relationships between agency and client. Selling ideas requires negotiation between multiple parties. Creative teams need to accommodate client demands. Clients may need to be pushed to take greater risks. The best account people have the tact to integrate different points of view while preserving the integrity of an idea.
5. Don’t overlook pure drive and the insatiable desire to see an idea come to fruition in all its forms. The easiest way to kill a good idea is to just go though the motions. Passion, ambition, and hard work can produce miracles
If you can cultivate these qualities in an account organization, they will spread throughout the agency. Of course, you can’t ask people to be entrepreneurial if it doesn’t emanate from the top. To my way of thinking, an entrepreneurial spirit is what got most agencies launched in the first place. Management’s goal should be to keep that spirit alive, and there’s no more essential place than the account organization. In the end, few great ideas and innovations will ever see the light of day without the talents of those people.
Advertising Week, NY
Advertising Week is North America’s premier gathering of cutting edge communications leaders. The Week is a hybrid of thought leadership and special event programming, uniting clients, creatives, media and inspiring figures like Lorne Michaels, Ludacris, Jon Bon Jovi, Jimmy Wales, Dr. Jeffrey Sachs, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the Reverend Al Sharpton, Donny Deutsch, Lewis Black, Chaka Khan, Bob Greenberg, Emeril, Jimmy Fallon, Wyclef Jean, Ziggy Marley . . . and many more.
Fusion3USA is there networking and learning about new trends and colleague´s insights.
What Makes Cities Great: Distinction, Variety, and Flow
Charles Landry by Sally Helgesen, strategy+business
From Amsterdam to Adelaide, this unorthodox thinker has divined the connections between economic prosperity and creative achievement, and their implications for the future of the city.
What sustains great organizations over time? Great talent. And what do talented people want? Most want influence, money, personal fulfillment, and the chance to make a difference. But more and more, talented people also want a great place to live.
