As part of an agreement between the HSBC Celebration of Light and Strutta, yours truly was the official videographer for the event. Every year, the best fireworks teams in the world compete for bragging rights in what is the world’s biggest offshore fireworks competition.

I have already shot the first two evenings of action, and I look forward to doing en even better job with the remaining two nights. We’ve created a game on Strutta where folks can cast their votes for their favourite, and I uploaded both the Team Canada and USA performances to Vimeo, so that y’all can watch them in higher quality. (See the embedded versions of both below)

Quick technical note: The original footage was shot in high definition, then reduced to 960 x 540, as they will ultimately be mastered to DVD (720 x 480).

What is the marketing lesson here?

How this deal came about is quite simple, and no money changed hands. I asked if they had a “social media sponsor” ( and after the pregnant pause on the other end of the line, I tried “videographer” instead) and when they said they didn’t, we set about coming up with a mutually beneficial agreement. Now, I can reap the benefits of the cross promotion, and land a lot more eyeballs on our site by hosting the highlight videos. All because I asked. These days, there are a number of events, happenings and causes that could benefit from your knowledge in the use of social media and the web. Positioning yourself as the official source of promotions and “media” sponsorship can be very good for your own promotion, and possibly even lead to consulting work in the field.

I have to confess, I borrowed this idea from my friend Rebecca Bollwitt, aka Miss 604, who has been the de facto “social media sponsor” and liveblogger of a number of popular Vancouver events, tech related and otherwise. To say that this strategy has been good for promoting her would be something of an understatement, to be sure. Now that she and her husband have launched their own consultancy, Sixty4Media, that promotion will be paying dividends.

But that concludes today’s lesson; now let’s watch some fireworks! If you want to vote on your faves, you may do so in the Strutta game: HSBC Celebration of Light 2008.

Team Canada - August 23 2008 from Jordan Behan on Vimeo.

Team USA - August 26, 2008 from Jordan Behan on Vimeo.

*image of Team Canada fireworks by the incomparable Rob Masefield. View his whole (breathtaking!) photo set here, and if you want a tutorial on shooting fireworks with a DSLR camera, Rob offers one here.

To add a little hype to the upcoming Bob Dylan “Best Of” release, there’s a new site called Dylanmessaging.com that lets you personalize a message from Bob himself.

I knew this would impress the hell out of my dad, so I made mine a message to him:

The embed codes are a bit tricky to track down, but well worth it.

With a simple idea and excellent execution, the boys over at StandOut Jobs have created a great little recruiting site that fits nicely into this world of “Web 2.0.”

Started by a partnership of Montreal-ers including friend and fellow entrepreneur/blogger Benjamin Yoskovitz, they’re “changing the face of recruiting.”

How? In a word, video. In their words:

• The job market is broken.
• Online job sites don’t work.
• Hiring people should be an ongoing process.
• Hiring people is about having conversations not bureaucracy.

Well if that’s true, then the best way to learn more about their company is to watch one of their own recruiting videos:

They’re on the lookout for more postings, as well as videographers from all over Canada and the U.S. to shoot and edit the recruitment videos.

Check out their blog too, where they share the latest postings as well as news about the company and their own insights into the tech job market.

::Bonus BarCamp connection: The trio that started the company came up with the idea at Barcamp Montreal.

Several months back, I signed up to be one of 100 authors to write a new book titled “The Age of Conversation.”

The project was the brainchild of Drew McLellan and Gavin Heaton, who did it on a dare, and used just a few blog posts and several emails to compile the group and the submissions, before the real work started. The book itself launched two days ago. It is available as an e-book, in paperback and as a hard cover, starting at just $9.99 USD.

All proceeds from the book go to Variety, The Children’s Charity, so do yourself a favor and feel that good feeling that comes with helping the kids while discovering a great book penned by a grand total of 103 authors. My paper-back copy is still en route, and I can’t wait to read it all.

Authors were asked to submit 400 words or less on the topic of conversation. In such a large group of terrific bloggers and thinkers, I chose to hone in on web content, and how when it is done right, it can start a conversation.

Here’s an excerpt from my “chapter:”

A good web presence starts with your website; your base of operations. The words you use to represent yourself are incredibly important; even visual learners need to know that there is some substance behind the pretty pictures. The copy on your website should tell a story about you, even though it’s not actually about you. It’s about your visitors, and you should speak to them accordingly.

A rather short snippet, but when the whole chapter is just 400 words, that’s a relatively good sample size. I would be remiss if I didn’t give a nod to my fellow authors, so they hear they are:

Gavin Heaton
Drew McLellan
CK
Valeria Maltoni
Emily Reed
Katie Chatfield
Greg Verdino
Mack Collier
Lewis Green
Sacrum
Ann Handley
Mike Sansone
Paul McEnany
Roger von Oech
Anna Farmery
David Armano
Bob Glaza
Mark Goren
Matt Dickman
Scott Monty
Richard Huntington
Cam Beck
David Reich
Luc Debaisieux
Sean Howard
Tim Jackson
Patrick Schaber
Roberta Rosenberg
Uwe Hook
Tony D. Clark
Todd Andrlik
Toby Bloomberg
Steve Woodruff
Steve Bannister
Steve Roesler
Stanley Johnson
Spike Jones
Nathan Snell
Simon Payn
Ryan Rasmussen
Ron Shevlin
Roger Anderson
Robert Hruzek
Rishi Desai
Phil Gerbyshak
Peter Corbett
Pete Deutschman
Nick Rice
Nick Wright
Michael Morton
Mark Earls
Mark Blair
Mario Vellandi
Lori Magno
Kristin Gorski
Kris Hoet
G.Kofi Annan
Kimberly Dawn Wells
Karl Long
Julie Fleischer
Jordan Behan
John La Grou
Joe Raasch
Jim Kukral
Jessica Hagy
Janet Green
Jamey Shiels
Dr. Graham Hill
Gia Facchini
Geert Desager
Gaurav Mishra
Gary Schoeniger
Gareth Kay
Faris Yakob
Emily Clasper
Ed Cotton
Dustin Jacobsen
Tom Clifford
David Polinchock
David Koopmans
David Brazeal
David Berkowitz
Carolyn Manning
Craig Wilson
Cord Silverstein
Connie Reece
Colin McKay
Chris Newlan
Chris Corrigan
Cedric Giorgi
Brian Reich
Becky Carroll
Arun Rajagopal
Andy Nulman
Amy Jussel
AJ James
Kim Klaver
Sandy Renshaw
Susan Bird
Ryan Barrett
Troy Worman
S. Neil Vineberg

It was tremendous pleasure being a part of this, and I am proud to be among such a great collaboration that was made possible through the conversations we have online everyday. It has already been featured by Fast Company, Business Week and many, many others.

Go. Buy your copy. Now.

I’ve been pretty silent about it until now, but I was selected as one of the 50 bloggers to receive a Nikon D80 DSLR camera for a review period of six months. The camera arrived yesterday ( coincidentally on the same day as a scheduled Gastown Photowalk- photos below), and now I’m finally going public about my involvement.

I suppose it’s likely that I was chosen because of my photography hobby in part, but I assure you that nobody is expecting any photographic magic from me. It’s more likely that I was selected because I’ll take an active interest as much in the campaign as in the camera itself. Or maybe they just didn’t want the list too heavily stacked with talent .

I’ll go into my take on all of this in a second, but to avoid any confusion, here are the facts, as I understand them:

Nikon hired the MWW Group to create a blogger relations program that they’ve called “Picture This.”

50 bloggers were chosen, 48 (To date, 46) of whom opted to participate

The trial period is six months, after which the camera can be purchased (at a discount, with the funds going to charity), sent back or kept for an additional six months.

There is no obligation or even expectation to blog about it, the only rule being that if we choose to, we must disclose that we are part of the program. Already, there’s some controversy over the program, which critics say is unethical. They wonder how a blogger could possibly be objective with such a generous loan in the equation?

It’s possible that sending me a camera will make me go ga-ga and cause me to start singing the virtues of Nikon, sure. But that is why there is only one rule: that I disclose my involvement, so the reader can take my opinions and feedback with the proverbial grain of salt. This mandated transparency is what separates this campaign from many of the others that have been under fire for avoiding this extremely important factor. As always, it’s up to the readers as to whether anything that I write rings true for them, and as long as they have all the facts they can make an informed decision one way or another.

I suspect that the dissenters share this one in common with me; we both wish we’d thought of this campaign first. But whether I had been selected or not, I would agree that it is a great way to spread the word online and is perfectly legal and ethical. The only thing that is different in this case of this campaign is the middle man has been cut out. The middle man in this case being the MSM (main stream media).

This time, the consumers are having their say, and have been contacted directly for their opinion. This has rattled the feathers of a few PR types, mostly because the model that they’ve “always used” has been abandoned. After all, what kind of future is there for the PR industry if there’s no need to kowtow to the media anymore? We’ll have to address that one another day, but for an example of how to adapt, start reading this post again from the beginning.

Now that I have been completely up front about my involvement and my feelings about all of this, I can move on to why we’re here; the camera in question. But first, a few more short words about the campaign. The box arrived via courier, accompanied by a hand-written letter on Nikon letterhead from a Senior Director at MWW. In the letter, they offered to give me a walk through of the camera’s features at my convenience. Even if I were being extremely critical (which I often am of attempts at blogger outreach) I have yet to find fault with the way they’ve conducted themselves.

Now, the camera. As I mentioned, I am a bit of a hobbyist photographer, and I used to shoot sports on the weekends while still in high school and between semesters of college. Since getting a new Olympus Evolt E-500 for Christmas, I’ve been trying to relearn the art, this time in digital. So although I’m not completely uninformed, running out on a Photowalk with nary a clue as to how to use this new tool was an interesting adventure. I took a bunch of shots, and I published them in their unedited form, in a set made specifically for my involvement in the program (equal parts disclosure and evangelism). Check out my first attempts with the D80 on our Photowalk by clicking this image:

I will continue to disclose my involvement each time I blog about this subject, and the meta data on my Flickr photos is all the disclosure I feel is necessary as to what camera took what shots (including my webcam, we now have four cameras in the house).

I welcome all feedback in the comments below. There are obviously a number of differences of opinion on all of this, and I’d like to hear them all.

Today I received an email from The Tyee, an independent news blog here in Vancouver, BC.

It was a pitch of sorts, asking me to check out their new video, and spread the word. It must have worked, because here I am posting about it, just minutes later. Watch the video, then check below for my postmortem of the campaign and pitch:

Pretty entertaining video, especially to those of us in Canada who recognize the antagonists depicted in the short, among them Izzy Asper and Conrad Black. Both are famous for making big bucks while doling out little or no credit (or pay!) to the dedicated folks creating their content. I didn’t laugh while watching the video, but I smiled and nodded up and down several times.

Breaking down the campaign and pitch

The Pitch: Although it was a form letter, the email alerting me to this campaign was addressed to me, and acknowledged the fact that I have commented at the Tyee in the past. The letter also indicated that there was incentive for forwarding it along; a number of different prizes, all in conjunction with the “green” theme, including carbon-neutral goodies and a pair of flip-flops made from recycled tire rubber.

Lastly, since this is to get the word out about The Tyee, the fact that the page containing the video also has a full explanation of The Tyee, its people and its message, one only has to follow this one link to find out everything they need to know.

Ideas for Improvement: A shorter post slug on the campaign page, so it looks cleaner. Plus, I suggest a more personal letter of approach for “blogger outreach,” even though the letter from Editor David Beers was quite good. While I’m at it…The Tyee could afford to cut the word count of most of their posts in half, and increase the number of characters that appear in one’s reader via the feed.

The Verdict

Whoever is responsible for the campaign should be proud of themselves.

Reader, If you’re an American, and the unabashed Canadian sensibility of both the video, the campaign and The Tyee itself has escaped you, then just trust me when I say that this is exactly what our country’s media landscape needed. Tyee, you are indeed “A Feisty One Online.”

*For the uninitiated: “Tyee” (wikipedia entry) is a reference to a large salmon, usually a Chinook, and doubles as a cry when said fish finds itself at the end of a lucky angler’s line. “Tyee! One on!”

Finally, a widget that displays your online presence in ALL of your various social networks!

Okay, that might be a bit of a stretch, but most of the major online social networks that one might belong to are there. A few of the major blogging platforms are noticeably absent, but thankfully my dear sweet Wordpress is represented. Hat tip to Joel Burslem for pointing it out.

Anyway, without further adieu, here’s my new widget (soon to be featured in the sidebar, perhaps?) from “Show Yourself.”

Jordan Behan
		Digg/jordanbehan
		Flickr/jordybehan
		Myspace/jordanbehan
		Facebook/Jordan Behan
		Virb/jordanbehan
		Linkedin/Jordan Behan
		Twitter/jordanbehan
		YouTube/jordanbehan
		Del.icio.us/jordanbehan
		Skype/jordanbehan
		GMail/jordanbehan@gmail.com
		Upcoming/65906
		Technorati/Jordan Behan
		MyBlogLog/jordanbehan
		Blog/Jordan Behan
Get Your Own Widget

Perhaps the coolest feature of this is the customizable colours (I checked my CSS to make it match a bit) and the fact that it is a match with the MyBlogLog widget that many of us have already nestled neatly into our sidebars.

Update: The custom colors aren’t displaying properly, so perhaps you should ignore that last line.

Later…Upon closer inspection, it is displaying my “Trebuchet” font, and so it is actually my stylesheet overriding the customization.

Are we going widget crazy? Perhaps. But it is still fun, and that’s good enough for me.
In a side note, this exercise finally persuaded me to sign up to Twitter. Now the whole world will know when I’m working tirelessly in my pj’s with naught but coffee for sustenance.

That is, if I choose to share.

I can’t seem to get both widgets to display, so Twitter will have to wait for now

Be forewarned: My apologies for the number of times this item will appear in my feed over the next few weeks, more explanation below.

Update #1: In the spirit of full disclosure, I spent most of yesterday and today convincing myself that I didn’t have time to do any of this stuff, and then I realized how RIDICULOUS I sounded, and got down to it. This post is getting some traction, and I made a commitment. See new crossed-off items and notes below.

Update #2: After a busy week that included a PR campaign, I can cross off even more items. 

The Buzz Marketing Challenge

I’m incredibly late to the dance on this, but I couldn’t help but join in on the fun.

Ben Yoskovitz of the Instigator Blog is embarking on a buzz marketing project, pulled straight from the pages of Buzzoodle Buzz Marketing, by Ron McDaniel.

This concept is very much in line with what we do here at Tell Ten Friends, so not only did I think it would make a great blog post and experiment to share with readers, but it will also be good for business, and for generating buzz for our company.

The experiment itself consists of a checklist of ethical and effective activities to start a bit of buzz. No fanfare, no fluff, just good old fashioned conversation starting and web marketing; two of our favorite pastimes here are at TTF.

What follows is the list, with crosses through the activities I’ve been able to complete, and where applicable, a few short notes. In some cases, I have already done the activity several times over, (ie. Squidoo lens) but in the interest of the exercise, I’m making myself do them again.

I’ll update this several times over the next few weeks, hence the number of times it will be appearing in the feed.

Here’s the list of ways to generate buzz, copied directly from Ben:

1. Email an Old Friend or Acquaintance (It was great to catch up, Dan!)
2. Contact a Stale Connection
3. Email Extended Family (Annyong, Helen!)
4. Call Someone You Have Never Talked To
5. Congratulations Call or Note (haha, Rob)
6. Send a Surprise Letter
7. Any Day Card
8. Mail a News Clipping
9. Social Networking (got this one covered!)
10. Online Directory
11. Squidoo Expert Lens
12. Tag Your Website or Blog
13. Blog/Message Board Comment
14. Join/Participate in an Online Group
15. Talk to a New Person in Person
16. Contact a Reporter or Writer
17. Contact an Old Employer/Employee (Dom and Tony in one week!)
18. Customer Follow-up
19. Call/Email a Person You Respect
20. Mini Announcements
21. Digg Your Site
22. Flickr Fun
23. Personal Success Email List
24. Did You Know? - Trivia
25. Instant Messaging
26. Text Messaging
27. Email a Useful Link to Someone
28. Testimonials
29. Celebrate Success (Have a steak, has Howard says)
30. Write a Blog
31. Have a “Get To Know You” Meal
32. Host a Dinner Party
33. Arrange a Networking Lunch
34. Publish an Article
35. Meet More Neighbors
36. Send a Press Release
37. Give a Speech
38. Volunteer
39. Online Interview/Podcast (I swear, I’m getting to this!)
40. Conduct a Survey
41. Local Government Involvement
42. Open House
43. Interview a Leader
44. YouTube.com
45. Meet Business Neighbors
46. eNewsletter or Newsletter (I’m well over due here, too)
47. Produce an eBook (and here)
48. Nominate an Organization
49. Challenge a Coworker to a Buzz-Off (I challenge you all!)
50. Podcast Show
51. Host a Seminar or Training Session (more news on this one coming soon, right Jeremy?)
52. Unexpected Booth
53. Organize a Group
54. Become a Board Member
55. Conduct a Focus Group/Roundtable
56. Conduct a Customer Contest (I’ve got one of these in mind, too)
57. Organize a Charitable Event

I welcome any and all of you to join in with me, and share your experiences; either through comments, or as trackbacks from your own blogs. Some of this stuff isn’t easy, so don’t be surprised if months or even years later, the list still isn’t finished!

Any time something exciting happens as a result of one of the items on the list, I’ll publish it in a separate blog post.

We are growing in numbers. We are are extremely polite, almost to a fault. We say “eh” a lot, even if we try not to. We work in Marketing and Communications and we are…

Canada’s 1% Blogging Army.

We spread the word about new media marketing and PR tactics, and we evangelize the things we love. We get to know one another through generous linking to one another, and then of course, we say thank you. A lot.

Big thanks to Sean Moffitt for creating the list of 150 ‘MARCOM’ bloggers in Canada. It’s a great list, and one that I sure am proud to be part of. Click the image above the read the list over at Buzz Canuck.

I’m rather embarrassed to admit that I missed the sign-up deadline for Casecamp, Crayonville (held in Second Life) tonight. Sounds like I missed out.

Anyway, without that coolest of the cool ‘unconference’ to attend in that 3D world I’m gradually warming up to, I started digging into the episodes of “Crayoncast,” the podcast by staff of Crayon, “a new marketing company.” And I like it. The staff each give a quick minute on their favorite topic of the week. Some of it is actually useful too, such as the tip to check out JPG Magazine, the first “user-generated” print magazine, for photographers.

What are you waiting for cool kids, submit your shots now. You could win and get published, and with that receive $100 and a free subscription. The future of publishing is now.