We are excited to be able to talk about our latest client, InterAct 2008 - a conference scheduled for September 29th and 30th here in DC, focused on digital technologies and new media strategies. It’s a great sign of the times and a great statement for DC that conferences traditionally held in Silicon Valley have a legitimate place here in our metro area!
Between InterAct 2008 and a few others in this region that took place in the past couple of years, it helps address the much-needed focus on new technologies, emerging web and social media businesses, and interactive digital strategies. It’s sure to sell out, and there are some great names as speakers and panelists.
With an eye toward interactive media technologies and showcasing companies that have tried-and-true case studies to talk about, InterAct 2008 features speakers from companies and agencies around the world, including Google, local tech-darling Blackboard, National Geographic, Adobe, Avenue A/Razorfish, Viget Labs, Sapient, and many more.
The format will take attendees through four tracks: Strategy, Creativity, Technology and Web Solutions. It’s case study-centric, so it’s not just theory, but practical counsel and strategy.
To be held at the Reagan Building in DC, InterACT 2008 is expected to attract over 1,000 attendees each day. The event will sell out, so register early to take advantage of early bird pricing! Early bird pricing expires July 31, 2008.
- Elizabeth Shea
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SpeakerBox client, StackSafe, was recently named a finalist in the Best Marketing Campaign category in The 2008 American Business Awards (popularly know as the Stevie Awards). Understandably, we’re proud of our client and proud of the role we played in the launch of their flagship product Test Center. But on a less selfish front we’re excited to see that a program combining traditional media relations tactics with strong new media tactics not only works for business but is recognized by the marketing community.
StackSafe Test Center is a testing solution that leverages virtualization to reduce downtime and business disruption for IT operations teams. The planning and tactics of the campaign began nine months prior to the product launch. Realizing the need to begin a discussion about the market problem that Test Center solves, StackSafe commissioned a third party research firm, Research Edge, to conduct a survey of 400 IT operations professionals that quantified the problem of downtime and identified potential causes and impacts. At the same time, StackSafe began an aggressive analyst relations campaign to provide key market analysts early insights to these research findings and begin a dialogue about how Test Center would address the problem.
Next, the StackSafe marketing team partnered with SpeakerBox and Livingston Communications to increase awareness surrounding the problems uncovered in the research. StackSafe released three problem-focused research reports between September 2007 and January 2008. SpeakerBox began using the research findings to begin outreach to the IT media and related bloggers. The Livingston team focused on getting StackSafe’s corporate blog, IT’s About Uptime, up and running as a destination for data and analysis on the impact of downtime. Livingston also began reaching out to other IT bloggers to begin gaining some grassroots name recognition for StackSafe.
As part of a two pronged launch event campaign, StackSafe unveiled their technology in January at DEMO 2008 - a show heavily attended by venture capitalists and influencers covering cutting edge IT solutions. One month later, StackSafe rolled out the technology to a more tactically-oriented group at the Pink Elephant IT Service Management Conference. To support each event, StackSafe launched multi-media “knowledge centers” on their Web site that address key topics and contain webinars with industry experts, StackSafe white papers, research reports, blog posts, and Twitter posts as well as links to other articles using del.icio.us links.
At DEMO, StackSafe combined traditional media relations tactics (embargoed pre-briefs) and real-time outreach to bloggers and on-site media. StackSafe's marketing staff also blogged and sent Twitter posts live from the show. These efforts garnered articles in 19 publications including NetworkWorld and InformationWeek and coverage from well respected bloggers at Read Write Web, eWeek, ZDNet, TheDeal.com and Somewhat Frank. The launch momentum continued during the Pink Elephant conference, where StackSafe provided blogs and video interviews from the show which were posted on blipTV and YouTube. At the Pink Elephant Show, StackSafe Test Center was named the 2008 ITIL Innovation of the Year, just three weeks after product launch. During January and February, StackSafe also gained positive coverage from four key market analyst firms, including Gartner and Enterprise Management Associates (EMA).
The recognition of StackSafe’s success shows that this world of social media is not a zero sum game. Traditional tactics still work and in fact are bolstered by new media tactics. The success of StackSafe’s program shows that despite the buzz around social media, the power of traditional media has not been overtaken by the blogosphere and in fact when used in concert can create an incredibly powerful program. Congrats to StackSafe and Livingston for this recognition – we’re looking forward to continuing our work together and seeing even greater success!
-Piper Conrad
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With home base out here in Tysons Corner it is hard to get us downtown for any type of event but last night’s TECH cocktail DC 2 at MCCXXIII was worth the trek. In total, 6 SBXers were in attendance and saw some local technology start ups show off their stuff. Demos were being given by AwayFind, iGala, Odeo, Voxant, WhyGoSolo and last but certainly not least Loladex.
Along with seeing demos and supporting our client Loladex, this was a great night of networking since there were over 400 attendees. Below are some photos of us at the event.
Paul Duning with Frank Gruber, Somewhat Frank / TECH cocktail
Some of the SpeakerBox attendees:
Ali Smith, John Terrill, Grace Kim and Paul Duning
Taylor Bennett, Edleman, Shana Glickfield,
Amplify Public Affairs, and Ned Irons, August Jackson
Dan Goodman, Loladex and Lisa Throckmorton
Brendan Foley and Sam Blum of Razume
--Ali Smith
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Lisa at the 2007 SBX day mini golf tournament
Here at SBX we have recently announced some great news… Lisa Throckmorton, a 6-year SBX vet, has been promoted to executive vice president (EVP). Formerly a senior vice president, she will now focus even more on running the day-to-day of the business, overseeing client services and staffing and marketing the firm.
This promotion is well deserved – Along with leading the firm’s recent rebrand and our conversion from PC’s to Mac’s, Lisa is responsible for staff training and development, which included the launch of SpeakerBox University.
All of us here couldn’t be happier for Lisa. Our whole team works directly with her in some way, shape or form and we recognize the talented and savvy PR pro/business leader that she is. We are all looking forward to seeing her show off her skills in her new role as EVP.
As a tribute, here are the top 10 things we love about Lisa:
1. She takes the time to mentor colleagues and really cares about our professional development
2. She always knows the juiciest celebrity gossip
3. She gives sage advice on all things PR/tech
4. She throws a heck of a party, case-in-point the SBX 10 year anniversary blowout
5. She is on a never-ending hunt for candy
6. She understands how to motivate people and comes up with creative ideas and rewards
7. Her undying love of the Redskins/DC sports and Easy Mac
8. She never gets her compact car towed when she parks in reserved or oversized spaces all day
9. She always wants the best for SpeakerBox, our clients and staff
10. She is capable of wearing 4-inch heels all day long
- Ali Smith
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Loladex, a new client here at SpeakerBox, launched its public beta last week - and if you haven't already, you should check them out. Loladex is a local search engine that helps users tap their social network for recommendations. Search results are based on personal relevance, meaning that recommendations from your friends or trusted sources (sites like OpenTable.com and Washingtonian Magazine) are weighted to appear at the top of Loladex's results. Have a favorite restaurant, flower shop or dentist? Hate your mechanic or tailor? Let your friends know.
Here's a recap of some of the great coverage they've received so far:
o TechCrunch
o VentureBeat
o Washington Post (1 & 2)
o Washington Business Journal
o Social Times
o Somewhat Frank
o East Coast Blogging
o MetzMash
o Kelsey Group (1 & 2)
o Local Onliner
o Local SEO Guide
o Marketing Shift
o Screenwerk
o Digital Media Wire
o KillerStartups
We're excited to be part of the Loladex team and encourage you to keep up to date with founders Laurence Hooper and Dan Goodman via the company's blog or on Twitter. Add the Facebook application and start voting!
-Stephanie Stadler
TAGS: Loladex
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;)
(Photo credit: FOSE)
This week, for the first time in my DC public relations career, I attended the granddaddy of government technology expositions: FOSE. I know that the show tends to get a bad rap in many contractor and vendor circles, but I went in with an open mind to see just how 1105 Government Information Group's much hyped spectacle works.
The first thing I found hard to ignore was the attendee swag poachers. I know that exhibitors come armed with branded swag for attendees to take, but I witnessed a significant percentage of attendees going from booth to booth, taking every piece of swag they could grab without stopping to look at any products, take some literature, have a conversation or even let the exhibitors scan their badges. Honestly, is that Cisco superball or Google yo-yo that big of a deal? I stood guard over my client’s box of t-shirts to prevent the whole lot from being snagged by overzealous attendees, and I can't imagine I was the only one acting the role of a security guard. Attendee swag grabbers are part of FOSE's reputation, but considering the investment exhibitors make to be there, I think it is a shame to see. Exhibitors attend conferences like FOSE to have meaningful conversations with potential buyers. While there are many of those people there, it is hard to navigate the sea of folks just out to collect free stuff. (Good to see that I'm not the only one to walk away with this observation.)
Now that I have that out of my system, I should emphasize that I was also very impressed by the technology on display. As I was there on behalf of SpeakerBox client ScienceLogic, most of my time was spent in their booth,helping to manage traffic and administer a survey (more on that on a later date...). But the technology surrounding us was fascinating, including a highly impressive document imaging solutions from Kirtas Technologies. They had a large, complicated-looking machine in front of their booth (obviously their product), which was cradling a book. The machine would carefully turn a page in the book, scan it, then turn to the next page and repeat. If I had more time, I probably would’ve spent the whole show watching the machine slowly digest its book. It’s shocking how far we have come since tabletop scanners.
One final issue that I think I have to address: exhibitors tend to say that FOSE is just for the spectacle, and that very few leads come out of it. My client ScienceLogic, however, has had a far different experience, with successful contracts almost always coming out of the show during the years they’ve attended. And judging by the number of leads they generated and meaningful conversations I saw taking place, this will prove to be another good year.
My final verdict? For the little guy, at least, FOSE is still a great show to attend. And for the POLITE attendee, it’s a great place to catch a sneak peek of the latest, greatest and the next big thing in government technology.
- John Terrill
TAGS: FOSE, ScienceLogic
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(Photo Credit: AllPosters.com)
Greetings from Seattle! This week, I accompanied our client TerraGo Technologies to Seattle for GITA's (Geospatial Information & Technology Association) Geospatial Infrastructure Solutions Conference to support the launch of its Map2PDF Professional for Acrobat product. An ideal GIS mapping solution for emergency responders and state/local government divisions such as tax assessment, public utilities and departments of transportation, the solution creates indexed mapbooks in easy-to-use Adobe formats called GeoPDFs. Thanks to our friend Joe Francica at Directions Magazine for providing his take on the announcement today.
After a grueling day of product demos and media interviews (Jaymes Pardue from the sales team told me he’s never given so many demos in one day!), the TerraGo team celebrated the product launch with more than 60 customers and partners at Seattle's infamous Space Needle. What a nice touch when I happened to witness a romantic fellow pop the question to an unsuspecting lady on the Space Needle observation deck at sunset. She said yes. :)
- Julie Buckley
TAGS: TerraGo, Geospatial Infrastructure Solutions Conference , Map2PDF
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