Marriott

Social Media Video Success: Flying Chips & Sandwich Defamation

Lon Safko — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 00:07:07 -0400

The first of two social media marketing video successes I'd like to discuss here is the "Will It Blend" phenomenon. This story is about Tom Dickson, the President of a company called BlendTec out of Orem, Utah. When you see the video you will see that Tom is not right. He's enjoying blending these things way too much. There's a particular spot in the video where you'll recognize it immediately. ;) Tom created a blender, a great blender, and it better be, because it's a $650 home blender, a residential blender.

Talk the Talk and Walk the Walk

Kaihan Krippendorff — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 09:14:20 -0400

Last week I introduced an interesting hotel investment firm, Thayer Lodging. The owners, Lee Pillsbury and Fred Malek, were not new to the hotel game. They were part of a team that had driven jaw-dropping growth for Marriott Hotels. Fred was Marriott’s president, and Lee was his head of strategy. In just six years, from 1982 to 1988, they had driven a four-fold increase in sales and five-fold increase in profit. They grew from about 100 hotels to 750 over the same period.

Blogs Are Not Just Web Logs

Lon Safko — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 18:20:31 -0400

A blog is the most important thing that you can create for yourself and for your company. It provides an environment that promotes two-way communication with your customers, your prospects, and establishes you as a thought-leader in your field. Blogging is free, it’s easy, and it doesn’t take much time.

The Twitter About Twitter

Lon Safko — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 18:21:06 -0400

Twitter is one application of a broader category called microblogging. You've seen it on The View, you've watched it creep into night time dramas, you've heard it in the news, you've seen Larry King take on Ashton Kutcher with their one million follower challenge. Ashton Kutcher got over one million followers and beat Larry King / CNN. Ashton had 1,230,000+ and CNN had 980,000+ where the match actually bought malaria nets for children in Africa. Isn't this a great application of social media; helping kids?

Social Networks Are More Than Networking

Lon Safko — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 18:19:23 -0400

Social networks, there's a lot of them out there and you're being invited to participate in new ones every day. There's MySpace, FaceBook, LinkedIn. There's eCademy, Plaxo, Ning, Bebo, Friendster. Jaiku, Orkut, Tumblr, and moore than I can mention here. The question is, which ones do you use? Which ones are the most important? It depends on who your demographic is and what's in you strategic social media plan. Start with MySpace, FaceBook, and LinkedIn.

Which Social Media Tools Should You Use?

Lon Safko — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:54:02 -0400

During research for writing the The Social Media Bible, I investigated more than 200 social media companies and technologies. This is why most everyone is so overwhelmed by social media. There's just too much of it. I suppose that's why the most common question I get asked is; "Where do you start?"

Marriott Cuts Free Newspapers for Guests, 'USA Today' Feels the Pain

Ariel Schwartz — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 16:36:48 -0400

The familiar sight of newspapers scattered on the floor outside hotel rooms might soon be a thing of the past.

Offset Your Carbon Footprint With A Cocktail

Anya Kamenetz — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 17:05:35 -0400

Ideo's David Kelley on "Design Thinking"

Linda Tischler — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 13:46:08 -0500

The smell of ramen noodles wafts over the Stanford d.school classroom as David Kelley settles into an oversize red leather armchair for a fireside chat with new students.