RVA - New Media Seminar - November 18th!

The next New Media Seminar will be held November 18th, 2009 from 10am - 2pm at the Holiday Inn Select Koger Conference Center.

Join nationally recognized new media expert Dave Saunders, Chief Idea Officer of Madison+Main, for an exciting half-day seminar. Learn about web, search engine marketing and measuring ROI. Find out how you can use Facebook, Twitter & LinkedIn to find and engage customers.

Register Today! Please RSVP by November 13th. Call Lisa at 877-623-6246 or register online at NewMediaSeminars.com. Presented by Madison+Main and NetSearch Direct.

Half of U.S. Employers Block Social Media, Meaning Half of US Employers are Stupid

by Dave Saunders

According to a new Report from Robert Half Technology 54% of US companies block employees access to social media websites. Over 1,400 CIO's (chief information officers) were polled in the survey, first reported first by mashable.com a few days ago.

Although the report didn't speak to the reasons why, we can only assume a couple. CIOs are are naturally nervous bunch, afraid that social networking unleashes viruses at work. The other reason probably comes down from the uninformed CEO, fearing a loss of productivity if they let employees converse on platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

At the time of this blog post over 1,000 people had already commented on the story, most bashing the decisions of this uninformed segment of the technorati. The terms "short sighted" and "boneheaded" came up alot in the comments section.

CIO's should know better. Viruses, worms and other forms of malicious code are spread through email, and rarely, if ever, social networking sites. But no one wants to ban email at work....except me. And as for the "productivity" issue, the cause stems from social media's BIG image problem. People "play around" on Facebook and Twitter, they think. No one plays around on the phone, or on email, now do they?

Sooner or later (and hopefully sooner) companies will stop vilifying social media and realize it can become a valuable work tool, communication platform and ultimately, with the help of projects like Google Wave, the preferred work collaboration platform.

The big brains at IBM started encouraging participation in social networking and blogging back in 2005, and even put in guidelines for work usage in their wiki. (IBM SM GUidelines here). With open source, they opened up, started talking with each other and the ideas stared flowing....to much ballyhooed success. IBM is doing great, with a stock price 50% higher than a year ago and up nearly double in 4 years, despite the largest economic downturn since the Great Depression.

Back in 1998, companies (like my previous employer the LA Times) feared the web, and didn't allow employees Internet access at work. Can you imagine not having web access at work? I am sure that when telephones came along more than a century ago, some knucklehead company owners said "No, we're not getting telephones. People will probably try to talk on them all day long."

There are 1.6 Billion people now on the world wide web. That number is expected to double by 2012, and most of these web newbies will get their access on their cell phones. What will these short-sighted companies start doing then? Perhaps, they'll confiscate your phone on the way into the office. It's really simple. If you don't let people engage on social media websites from their desktops, they'll be spending a whole lot of of unproductive time in the bathroom, or break room or somewhere else on their PHONES, accessing their FB accounts or texting their updates directly to twitter.

"i'm tweeting from the supply closet because my stupid boss doesn't allow us to use Twitter at work" --- posted 6 minutes ago from Twitterberry

You can't stop progress and you can't stop people from communicating.

Leave No Duck Behind

If you've lived in Richmond for any period of time, you've probably heard of the Annual Duck Race fundraiser for Big Brothers Big Sisters. If not, here's more info on the festivities http://bigbrobigsis.com/duckrace.html
20,000 ducks are bought (with proceeds going to BBBS), then hoisted high above the Kanawha Canal and ceremoniously dumped...
Thousands cheer the from the banks of Belle Isle and the winning duck is plucked from the soup and wins a car.
I always wondered what happened to the ducks afterwards. How do they scoop them back up, as not to litter the river? Do they re-use the ducks? Do they ever lose any ducks? Has any duck ever gotten away and swam to freedom?
After checking, I found that BBBS organizers scoop them out at the end of the race. Check. They do re-use the ducks. Check. They do lose a couple every year.

How do I know? Taking a canal boat tour last week with my fellow Madison+Main-iacs, our captain astutely noticed a duck floating in the canal, near the Holocaust Museum, and quickly fetched the little rascal.

After extensive cleaning, we present "Rocky," the Duck Race survivor that was left behind for 5 months in the murky waters of the canal.

Should we keep him? Should we give him back to Big Brothers, Big Sisters? Should we win a car?

Help the Children's Museum of Richmond at the Crossroads Travel Expo!

The Crossroads Travel Expo, hosted by Crossroads Travel Advisors, will be at the Children's Museum of Richmond on October 15th from 4pm to 8pm. There will be over 50 travel experts on staff, great door prizes and an enter to win a trip for 2 to Disney World. All net proceeds from the event benefit the Children's Museum of Richmond.

Crossroads Travel Advisors, Richmond’s premier American Express Travel Representative, has gathered the best travel companies for the one-day-only Crossroads Travel Expo. Topics will include the finest cruises for you and your family.

Check out: www.CrossroadsTravelExpo.com for more information.

Register now for only $5 per person and save $5.
Click the PayPal “Add to Cart” button below or call Crossroads Travel Advisors at 1-800-322-0224 to sign up today!
Children under 18 enter free.

Color Goes Pop

Posted by Joshua Barber, Creative Director - September 20, 2009



I am continuing to follow Ray-Ban Films "Never Hide Films" viral video campaign because of it's large spectrum of topics and style. The video "Color Goes Pop" stood out to me a bit with it's higher budget look and feel and the attention to the environment. The background has a softer quality that makes everything that is intended to be focused on very vibrant, while the use of fast/slow motion keeps cadence with the colors. Enjoy.

Madison+Main making IMPACT '09!

Posted by Jeff Smack, Art Director


The Greater Richmond Chamber's IMPACT awards finalists have been announced and we find ourselves in the company of some fantastic organizations. This is our second year as a finalist. We had a blast with the whole process last year and we're excited and honored to remain in contention for the award this year. The finalists include, Central Virginia Health Network, Creative, Partner MD, The Pediatric Connection, and Uppy's. We'd like to send out an especially big congratulations to Uppy's! They're not only a great company but a great client! Good luck to our fellow finalists!

Here's a behind-the-scenes video from last year's process, produced by TV Jerry.

The Craigslist Context

Posted by Jeff Smack, Art Director

"People are good and trustworthy and generally just concerned with getting through the day," Craig Newmark, the Craigslist founder and namesake, is quoted in the newest issue of WIRED.

This is a bit of a sequel to a previous post. I cringe at the danger-hype around Craigslist and other internet hubs and social media. A few weeks back I made light of the news media and their sensational spin on some specific common sense situations. I think they're starting to come around a bit lately however. The teasers (More at 10!) and the headlines (THE TRAGEDY OF CRAIGSLIST...) still play on our morbid curiosities but the actual features have been more level headed the last few times I've noticed.

One recent local Richmond report gave some good advice that I'd sum up in the following way: "Advertising 'massage' and taking 2 am appointments anonymously over the internet is sooner or later going to prove itself a bad idea."

It's common sense. We don't blame the phone for a prank call. We don't blame the bulletin board when the yard sale yields no treasure. Craigslist is not teleporting high risk activity into otherwise prudent living rooms.

The reason Craigslist endures all of this nonsense, I believe, is because Newmark's world view and attitude about people is essentially correct. People are basically good, occupied with living their lives and not inherently malicious. People will continue to misuse tools and consequently make the news. In the meantime I wish traditional media would stop trying to scare me away from my browser.