The Big Heart Behind the Brand of Big Bird & More

Brand managers and creators, from Big Bird to Oprah and IBM, speak out during Brands Conference 2011.

Brand managers and creators, from Big Bird to Oprah and IBM, speak out during Brands Conference. Including Dan Lewis.

Meet Dan. He is: 
- The Director of New Media Communications
- The human behind Sesame Street via social media
- Responsible for creating and implementing a strategy and program that helps families of veterans 
- Jeff Pulver’s cousin

These are the fun facts behind the story Dan presented at the Brands Conference in New York City. 

But, as businesses are learning, social media strategies are about more than fun and games and learning about the letter of the day.

Dan uses the various channels of social media for the sole purpose of market outreach and deliverability of media formats as his program reaches out to our country’s families of veterans. The family programs he’s responsible for include a media kit of educational and supportive stories of some of our favorite Sesame Street characters to help children better understand their emotions and cope with the raw truths of war and loss. Growing heart of the Sesame Street brand through social media is a noble call that the entire community can connect to and help. Thankfully the messages are not limited to one television broadcasting channel, or the DVDs sent by a mail carrier. With the new world of the internet and its millions of channels, the Sesame Street productions made for families of veterans can be made readily available.  

Want to share some of the videos that Sesame Street has created to help families of veterans? Please visit and pass this link on to anyone you know who is experiencing deployments, homecomings and changes of having a family member away to serve: http://www.sesameworkshop.org/initiatives/emotion/tlc

Want to see the full presentation leading and following Dan’s story? Here you go: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/18407514

Social media makes it easier to make social impact. It is more than just about the Letters ABCs and 123s. It is about reaching the hearts. — at New York City, New York.

Contributed by Andrea Cook, #140Conf Live Event Correspondent. Andrea Cook has brands and buzz on the brain. Since 1999, her chicago-born consultancy, The Midas Center has provided award-winning marketing and media solutions to law firms, education facilities, non-profits, artists and hyper-local communities. She strives to support the noble game changers and life savers through social media marketing. She is a pioneer, coach, editor, cowork-owner and consultant for hire. Services vary, Live Event Correspondent services preferred. 

Human Side of Customer Support by @FrankEliason at #BrandsConf

Time to Be Frank at the #BrandsConf 2011, presented by Frank Eliason.

The provocative message delivered by Frank Eliason (@FrankEliason), SVP of Social for Citi and creator of Comcast Cares targets the heart of today’s branding dilema.

To be frank, Frank’s message was this: Holistically, the corporate structure is unable to have true brand impact when the full brand truth is broken by the disparate departments of an organization. 

With so much emphasis placed on the process of a successful call center and rewards given by the time a person spends on the phone during a customer service call, the process is clear, but what is the identity?

 The disconnect of the true voice of a company’s brand is causing an identity crisis that requires a new approach for success. Frank encourages c-level business leaders to consider all of the pieces, from brands to service to development and deployment.

He shares more about his thoughts on the true ticket being dropped by customer support departments on his blog: http://www.frankeliason.com

To catch his presentation in its entirety, visit the video recordings of the #BrandsConf 2011 here > HTTP://WWW.USTREAM.TV/RECORDED/18407514

Contributed by Andrea Cook, #140Conf Live Event Correspondent. Andrea Cook has brands and buzz on the brain. Since 1999, her chicago-born consultancy, The Midas Center has provided award-winning marketing and media solutions to law firms, education facilities, non-profits, artists and hyper-local communities. She strives to support the noble game changers and life savers through social media marketing. She is a pioneer, coach, editor, cowork-owner and consultant for hire. Services vary, Live Event Correspondent services preferred. more >> 

Next Era of Brands Examined: Social Brandology PART: TWO #Brandsconf

Brands and the people who are managing them online through social media get real at #BrandsConf 2011 in NYC.

The advent of the web is allowing people to connect. It is redefining our communities and the marketplace and giving us abilities to connect through dimensions of time and space that proves that humanity as we know it is indeed evolving. 

Another element evolving? Brands. Once limited to printed logos, advertising campaigns and publicity appearances, the image of a company known as its “brand” has sprouted into a living entity, living among us, interacting as one of us. Brands are emerging in this new tech world and are becoming one with humanity.

The new life form of the brand is redefining an era. An era that Jeff Pulver finds fascinating and has invited us in a journey of exploration for this year’s second annual Brands Conference. Founder of Vonage and the #140Conf movement, Pulver has titled this year’s #BrandsConf, “The Humanization of Brands.”

As with all of the #140 events that have taken place all over the world for the past two years, presenters and panelists represent a wide variety of backgrounds. The one-day event is chocked full of 10-minute segments rich with passionate testimonies that inform and inspire viewers while engaging them IRL (in real life) and online via social channels like UStream and Twitter.

#140 Conference volunteers register hundreds of guests to watch over 50 presenters at the #Brands Conference 2011 in NYC. The conference, held at the 92nd Street Y venue opened its doors at 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday, November 9th while the participants from all walks of life opened their hearts and minds to share and learn, and evolve along with over 50 brands that were represented.

Lessons learned stretched beyond the basic 100-level principles of “brandology” and social media as the storytellers took center stage to share about the development of leading brands, individual blogger brands and start-ups.

Some brands represented like Sears, Estee Lauder, IBM, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Sesame Street have penetrated the market successfully through traditional media. These Goliath brands now search for solutions using new, experimental techniques along with everyone one else as they venture out in the new world of social and mobile technology and test the market and create the undiscovered best practices. Exciting for some, terrifying for others.

As we collectively explore the genesis of the socially engaging brands that are being developing before our eyes and social networks, we see how they embed themselves in our communities, networks, tribes and culture, at times defining and leading the way. It asks the question: Who is in charge of the brand: the creator, the company or the community?

A behind-the-scenes perspective from the making and managing of social brands to the influence and impact brands are making on the human race, this #140Conf examined the new life form of social brandology.

Social brandology is both an art and science, measured by love and metrics respectively.  The complexity of this concept is multifaceted and can be better understood by hearing from the brand creators themselves.

The brands responsible to giving life and voice to companies, startups, nonprofits and celebrity-level bloggers are represented in the spectrum of speakers. You may watch the videos from the #Brands Conference Humanization of Brands here >>

More on some of the trending takeaways from the event will follow like:

- The Evolution of the Community Manager

- Movements VS Marketing 

- Doubletree Goes Offline with More Cookies

- Human Side of Customer Support

- Big Bird. Big Voice. Big Heart.

- Do We Really Want Rock Stars to Be Real?

and more… 

If you have an interest on one of the trending topics, please feel free to request your preference by adding a comment below or by sending us an @message via Twitter and we will prioritize accordingly.

This content was originally contributed and published on the #140Conf site as part two of a two part series, preview and review of the Brands Conference 2011. 

Contributed by Andrea Cook, #140conf Live Event Correspondent. Andrea Cook has brands and buzz on the brain. Since 1999, her Chicago-born consultancy, The Midas Center has provided award-winning marketing and media solutions to law firms, education facilities, non-profits, artists and hyper-local communities and she strives to support the noble game changers and life savers through social media marketing. She is a pioneer, coach, editor, cowork owner and consultant for hire. Services vary, Live Event Correspondent services preferred. more >> 

Authentic Brands Get Real at Today's #BrandsConf PART ONE

Could the message behind 140 characters really make a difference? There are men and women who are treading and trending on the new media channels, creating businesses, inventing new products, bringing vitality into dying communities, sharing awareness and spreading kindness to the masses through brands. Unique game changers gather together for a one day conference and share the testimonies of their journey of impact through the use of Twitter. Similar to the condensed micro blogging platform where the message is to be brief, parsed down to 140 characters, the #140Conf presentations are no exception. Each speaker is given a mere 10 minutes with out using Powerpoint slides. Also, each presenter is introduced to the stage and embraced with a happy hug given by founder and host, Jeff Pulver. Today's event will maintain the typical #140 flare, albeit, a far from typical type of conference. 

A full day of over 50 presenters sharing the humanity that drives the social application of some of today's leading brands. Host and founder of the event, Jeff Pulver is driven by his own curiosities of the human condition and its evolution in the new tech era. Seeking to elevate our understanding of this phenomena he opens the doors to men and women each from diverse walks of life to share heartfelt testimonies of numerous brands represented at today's #Brands Conference.  

The 2nd Annual #BrandsConf, called the Humanization of Brands will explore the heart and soul of the brands represented through social media.  As brands develop and engage in our social world, who is making the rules? 

Where are the boundaries that define the relationships between a company and the brand it represents? What becomes of an identity when the creator who has given birth, grown and connected with the fan base and been the voice of a brand leaves the company? Just how much can a corporate entity be personified, authentically engaged. How provocative can the brand be as it interacts and connects with its tribe? 

The hands and feet behind some of today's leading brands share stories of struggle and victory. The creators, the masters of noteworthy brands online will speak openly and share their experiences. Some stories: jolting, others inspiring. All stories broadcasted LIVE (and recorded for future viewing) by video: http://t.co/Yac44bxM from 09:00 AM - 5:30 PM EST

And many witll be sharing takeaways that can be seen by Twitter streams with #BrandsConf. 

More to follow on this exploration on today's brand voice as live updates are gathered and shared in the next post. Please share any questions you are interested in learning more about on this topic by adding a comment below.

Upcoming Event Coverage

We are pleased to announce our upcoming schedule of events we will be covering in the next two weeks!

Not only will the content be insightful, but the individual professionals and the topics each will represent will be a crowd pleaser and brain grower. 

The next event we plan to cover will be for Jason Falls and the virtual book tour he will be showcasing. If you have not yet picked up a copy of No Bullshit Social Media, the all-business, no-hype guide to social media marketing, you will not want to miss some of the key takeaways he will be sharing during this one hour "bookinar." We will be using #nobssocial at 1:00 EST on November 1 if you would like to follow along! We will also be capturing the content on the Event Correspondent Facebook page. Feel free to follow it on Facebook > 

On November 9th, we will be live in NYC at the #Brandsconf where over 35 leading brands will be represented. Jeff Pulver hosts this annual event and this year will be exploring the "Humanization of Brands" as represented by brands including Oprah.com, Ogilvy, IBM, 360i, jetBLUE, EventBrite, DressBarn, Sesame Street and many many more. In Pulver's #140conf fashion, each presenter will speak for 10 minutes and the conference will have a mashup of topics, viewpoints and experiences all surrounding the human side of brands and their evolution in today's internet age. Pulver shares, "no longer can we just be a logo and stand behind a PR firm." His mission is to discuss the online media impact on brands and how it is changing business as usual. We are honored to be part of this effort as an onsite event correspondent. 

Registration is available for you to attend >

We will be sharing live updates from the @140conf and #140conf hashtag. We hope to gather some of the highlights from each of the presenters and provide a recap of some of the main themes threaded throughout the day. Stay tuned to learn more!

More on Event Correspondent Services

The Midas Center owner, Andrea Cook is the leading service provider of professional live blogging services or Event Correspondent services. Through social media channels, Event Correspondent services build the brand and buzz for clients invested in events like speaking engagements, sponsorships, presentations and more. From the four walls of the conference rooms, Event Correspondent services can increase exposure to over 5000%, enlarging the industry mindshare and capturing the experience online for future search optimization and content generated marketing collateral. Want to learn more about this industry leading service? Check this out >