The puzzle and the tools are the same…
it’s all about how you take a complex, important story, weave it together so people truly understand it and develop
an emotional connection to it.

About the Interview

David Dwyer is a longtime friend and former client of Brainstorm. From his role as a Publisher at New Riders Press (Pearson) to his days as Microsoft Windows’ Chief Storyteller, David’s career was what most would deem a pinnacle of success.

Then David decided to leave corporate marketing and move to Santiago, Chile to serve with IberoAmerican Ministries. We checked in with him recently and asked him to compare his former positions to his current one and whether his definition of success has changed.

Questions

.think | 1. Are there similarities between your former role as Windows’ Chief Storyteller and your current role with IberoAmerican Ministries?

David Dwyer: With one part of my job it’s almost identical. My role with IberoAmerican Ministries (IAM) is twofold with the major part of it being to tell the IAM story through the web and multimedia pieces. The puzzle and the tools are the same…it’s all about how you take a complex, important story, weave it together so people truly understand it and develop an emotional connection to it.

Your brand is what people identify with,
if it is done correctly.

The other part of my job is helping teams, professors, and others visiting our works to plan their trips and then manage their time while here in Chile. Our entire family participates in that part of the job (shopping for food, translating, getting people to their Chilean homes, etc.).

.think | 2. Any particularly difficult language or cultural barriers you’ve struggled to overcome?

David Dwyer: Learning a new language at 45 years old is THE most difficult thing I have EVER done. It’s a work in progress. It doesn’t help that Chilean Spanish is very slang driven, i.e., the words aren’t in any dictionary we have. And, Chilean driving leaves a lot to be desired!

.think | 3. Describe a typical lunch at the company cafeteria in Redmond versus lunch in Santiago.

David Dwyer: I liked to get off campus most days at Microsoft. But usually those lunches on campus were mostly about the work. In Chile, lunch is at 2:00 and is the biggest meal of the day. It’s where the family often gathers together and catches up. So, I would say the big difference is work versus family. I like the Chilean lunches much better.

The first information
we communicated back to the states
was through Facebook.

.think | 4. Can you contrast the role technology played while at Microsoft versus technology’s role in what you are doing now?

David Dwyer: We have many friends who served in the mission field many years ago—before the Internet. I cannot imagine what that was like. We are a simple Skype call away from anyone in the world. We use technology to spread the word just as Microsoft does.

.think | 5. In what ways do your experiences in branding and marketing at Microsoft translate into working with the IberoAmerican brand?

David Dwyer: Great question. IAM didn’t really know what a brand was, or how even in the subtle things you make brand work for you. Your brand is what people identify with, if it is done correctly.

For example, our name doesn’t roll off the tongue, so we usually use IAM. On the website, every first mention of our name is followed by (IAM) and then in the rest of the page we simply use IAM. It gets people into the groove of our brand the same way we are. It parlays across the site and other things, too, in the way we use images, etc. The next big task for us is our logo, which needs some help, but it’s a major hurdle for any organization.

.think | 6. Have social mediums like Facebook or other online networks impacted your efforts in Santiago, and, if so, in what way?

David Dwyer: I started a Facebook page for the organization. It gives us a chance to get notes, prayer requests, and news out to the masses quickly. This was very helpful during the earthquake in February. The first information we communicated back to the states was through Facebook.

Some of our teams are using Twitter to do daily updates from South America and many blog the experience, too.

Chilean Sea Bass, no contest!

.think | 7. Can you compare and contrast the audience you seek to reach now with the audience you targeted while at Microsoft?

David Dwyer: You know, contrary to what the media would like you to believe, Microsoft does really care about their customers. We had many VERY good conversations about how to build an emotional connection with our customer and I personally used to exercise that in many different ways.

I’ve directly translated those things I’ve learned to our “customersâ€? with IAM. I want them to live this service with all of us because, in reality, we’re only playing a small part in the bigger picture of which they are a part also. It’s the same way with the Microsoft customer, we each played a part in their technology experience.

.think | 8. Is the pay about the same, or different?

David Dwyer: (grinning) It depends on how you measure it. I am MUCH richer than I would have ever been at Microsoft.

.think | 9. Career pinnacle to-date: New Riders (Pearson), Microsoft, or Missions?

David Dwyer: The answer is Missions. But, I don’t believe missions for us happens without the other parts. The key is to make sure, as a believer, that you are always working to glorify the Lord. I have tried hard to do that every step of my career. And at 45-years old, the Lord chose to lead me to Chile, not another tech-related company.

.think | 9-1/2. We know you enjoy playing soccer, snowboarding, and surfing; does your active lifestyle play a role in your work in Chile?

David Dwyer: It does! Futbol in particular, because we use the experience to connect with so many other people in the community. It is a language in itself. When a gringo (not a bad term in Chile) can play and hang with the locals, it opens many doors to create relationships! But, I’ve toned down my extreme sports participation due to the cost of insurance…for someone my age.

.think | Bonus. Chilean Sea Bass or Pacific Northwest Salmon?

David Dwyer: Chilean Sea Bass, no contest! The fisherman in Iloca—where the tsunami hit after the earthquake and where we have been building new houses—catch it, clean it, and prepare it in a way that you would not believe!

Click here for more about IberoAmerican Ministries.
And here for more about Microsoft Windows.

Marching Bands are Just Homeless Orchestras, Half-Empty Thoughts Volume 1
Written by Tim Siedell and illustrated by Brian Andreas

“I wouldn’t say I’m antisocial
as much as I’d say it’s hard to meet interesting people in an attic.”

- Tim Siedell, @badbanana

About the Book

Marching Bands are Just Homeless Orchestras, Half-Empty Thoughts Volume 1, by Tim Siedell, is a light and easily read collection of select quips from the man behind the wildly popular @badbanana persona on Twitter and Facebook.

Unlike the ever-flowing nature of Facebook and Twitter feeds, Marching Bands are Just Homeless Orchestras brings Tim’s bursts of abbreviated wit, self-effacing observations and social commentary into a traditional book format — and turns them into a keepsake.

And who better than Tim Siedell, an icon himself in online social realms, to present us with a snapshot of a trend toward modern-day shortened writing forms he’s been instrumental in propelling.

“Tim Siedell clearly has no life, but he’s extremely funny while not having one.”

- Rob Reiner, famed actor, director, writer and producer

Seasonally Set

‪Punctuated throughout by the whimsical and lyrically expressive line art of Brian Andreas—an apt accompaniment—Marching Bands are Just Homeless Orchestras is a must-have memento of a cultural era in flux. It also makes a fitting holiday gift for any busy friend or loved one with a throng of online tweeps and peeps.

A One Man Brand of Broad Appeal

In addition to Tim’s ongoing thoughts on Twitter and Facebook, his work has been cited in The Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and on NPR, The Huffington Post, The Today Show, MSNBC, Mashable.com, Fast Company, PC World and Maxim.com.

Published by StoryPeople Press, Tim’s book is currently available for pre-order (shipping the final week in November) on Storypeople.com and Amazon.com.

Location, Location, Facebook.

Starbucks Facebook Coffeehouse

Starbucks introduced a Starbucks Card tab on its Facebook fan page today. Inside the tab is a new eCommerce destination, an embedded app that allows customers to manage card registration, check their balance and rewards, reload cards and edit profile information without ever leaving the Facebook environment—a virtual Starbucks coffee shop in a virtual Facebook strip mall.

1. Establish Differentiation

Starbucks’ new Facebook app mimics the basic functionality found on the Starbucks’ mobile app and their website. Applying the “Starbucks on every corner” model to the largest corner of the social media neighborhood differentiates the ubiquitous coffee merchant from wannabe competitors yet again.

2. Recognize Opportunities

Encouraging friends to share coffee and coffee gifts on a social exchange platform that boasts nearly half a billion potential customers is simply smart business. The numerous sharing mechanisms mean word of mouth (WOM) potential about product offerings is exponential.

“What’s even cooler is that come summer time, Starbucks will introduce functionality that will let users reload a Facebook friend’s Starbucks card as a gift through the application.” – Mashable.com

3. Keep Innovating

Starbucks didn’t develop deep and valuable brand equity by sitting idle. Their new Facebook app supports that brand essence by reinforcing Starbucks’ position as industry segment thought leaders, if not innovators. Utilizing the Facebook platform as a commerce platform didn’t require earth-shattering technology, but the application of the technology is groundbreaking.

4. Provide Ongoing Value

The ability to send a little swig of swag to a client, a pick-me-up to a hurting friend, or a bit of caffeinated cheer to your college son or daughter right from Facebook adds real value to the busy lives of Starbucks’ customers and further establishes Starbucks’ formidable brand value.

5. Deliver Convenience

Starbucks recognizes the value of location, location, location, which translates to convenience, convenience, convenience for their customers. Many Facebook subscribers search, exchange, post, view, listen, chat…in short, live, in a web browser tab or mobile device pointed at Facebook. What could be more convenient than never having to leave your chair, or Facebook?

If I were to pick one social network to which resources for inbound marketing and social media budgets were allotted, it would be Facebook. Basic math and most brand marketers would concur with me. It’s the new coffee house everyone’s talking about – and hanging out in.

Image: Poolie

We’ve identified five focal points of opportunity for 2010. They’re not an end-all priority list for brands, nor predictions, but rather initiatives, items born of trending behavior and emergent technologies being embraced by consumers.

1. Mobile-based marketing

Smartphones are fast becoming the center of consumer experience for work, home and play (see: Is Your Mobile Presence Brand Immobile?). A device capable of connecting people, places and things via text, voice, social networks, apps, tools, email, video, and images is a powerful medium. And the medium’s delivery mechanism is already in your audience’s hand, on their belt or in their purse. Smartphones are a direct way to connect with your audience and influence their behavior each time they use the device.

2. Location-based marketing

Aligning cultural trends and consumer behavior with location-based kiosks mobile and social apps can elevate your brand from relationship marketing to direct sales. Online and mobile apps such as foursquare combine locale, social game play and entertainment with information and tangible incentives. Geo-based marketing can deliver the closest, most highly-rated businesses, directions to get there and real-time incentives to entice a visit.

3. Brand design

Design continues to differentiate, now more so than ever. In a world deluged with cookie cutter applications and off-the-shelf adornments, consistent, appropriate and user-centric brand design compels and communicates amid the cacophony of visual noise.

4. Branded Edutainment

YouTube had more than 120 million viewers and 10 billion video views in August 2009 according to a September 2009 ComScore report. With the proliferation of on-hand, video-ready, mobile devices and a broad array of storage and sharing sites like Hulu and YouTube, online video is becoming ubiquitous.

Video is a powerful and potentially amplifying medium for your messaging when produced, integrated and distributed properly. But, it must be engaging, relevant, interactive, easily-consumed, readily-shareable, educational and/or entertaining for full effect.

5. Strategic Integration

There are many ways to reach and influence your audience—perhaps too many. Just because you have more options to extend your media mix doesn’t mean it needs to be less strategic. In fact, to penetrate the noise and stand out, strategy is more important than ever.

Facebook has hundreds of millions of subscribers. So what? Citing large numbers isn’t a strategy. And developing stand-alone initiatives without an integrated and targeted plan risks losing your message in a sea of irrelevant noise. Be it a person wearing a sandwich board on the sidewalk or an online video, your marketing efforts must be strategically integrated, well-planned, consistently branded, distinctively designed and metric-driven.

This year, don’t obsess over New Year predictions or resolutions. Assess, and act.

Related Reads:

Is Your Mobile Presence Brand Immobile? [.think]
Coca-Cola’s 100-Flavor Interactive Freestyle Soda Fountain
Shazam To ‘Tag’ Dockers’ Super Bowl Ad
Foursquare’s Marketing Potential

“Let’s get small.” -Steve Martin

Get Smart, Get Small

While worldwide mobile phone sales slowed in early 2009, media-rich smart phone sales are on the rise both globally and in the United States.

In ever-increasing numbers, across a wide spectrum of demographics, people are plying the web primarily on mobile devices. If your site and digital strategies are not mobile capable and/or optimized to load properly – your brand, for many, may not exist.

“Smartphone sales surpassed 40 million units [in Q2 2009], a 27 per cent increase from the same period last year.” – Gartner

Worldwide mobile phone sales totaled 269.1 million units in the Q1 of 2009 – an 8.6 per cent decrease from Q1 2008. However, according to Gartner, Inc., “Smartphone sales surpassed 40 million units [in Q2 2009], a 27 per cent increase from the same period last year.”

In three days Apple sold over a million iPhone 3G S smartphones and 6 million people downloaded the new iPhone OS 3.0 update after it released.

Add sales of the iTouch and other portable phone-less devices to these statistics and you have a significant emerging market for your brand messaging.

2008 Smart Phone Sales (US)†

† RCRWireless | .think Nov 2009

A Medium in Motion

Many early adopters are opting to invest in mobile applications first – desktop applications second. In fact iPhone Facebook application interfaces have been said to navigate better than Facebook’s own standard web version.

And mobile-based interactive media delivery is here to stay. Flash Lite, Adobe’s mobile-ready Flash player, is already deployed on over a billion mobile devices – with plug-in versions licensed to many popular mobile browsers and an Apple iPhone version rumored in the works.

Just this past week, at the Adobe MAX 2009 conference, Adobe demoed CS5–the next version of it’s widely popular creative suite of applications. Flash CS5 will soon offer customers the ability to export Flash-developed content as native iPhone applications to be distributed through the iTunes app store. Just one more reason why any excuse to avoid mobilizing your brand just won’t fly.

Small Interfaces, Big Variations

Whether developing a mobile app or formatting your current site for mobile delivery it’s important to account for a wide range of mobile screen dimensions to ensure proper readability.

Additionally browsers have greatly varying abilities. Modern smartphones like the iPhone and phones running Google Android have fully functional browsers – other smartphones, do not. As with any digital development testing is crucial. Online emulators can be helpful in assuring your media is suited for delivery vehicles – your audiences’ preferred mobile devices.

Mobile Watering Holes, Captive Audiences

If your customer, constituent, or product base is built heavily on affinity groups, or community, developing a smartphone application can prove particularly beneficial in terms of engagement and retention.

Developing a branded smartphone-ready application or tool, such as an Phone app, can help promote your brand messaging via promotion platforms such as AdMob (mobile ad medium), AdWhirl (mobile ad aggregator) and Mdotm (iPhone app promotion), help facilitate a mobile extension of your brand, messaging and campaigns – often to a new mobile-inclined user base.

Get a Move On

The confluence of exploding smartphone use, video, music and text sharing popularity, and the proliferation of every imaginable mobile game, tool and app means your audience can encounter your brand messaging or purchase your wares just about anywhere.

Assuming you are there to greet them.

Contact Brainstorm for more information on taking your brand mobile.

Image: Miss Karen