Using improvisation and comedy to unleash your company’s message and branding
When Hewlett-Packard was about to launch their Windows 10 line of notebook and desktop computers they were scared. Not because they were worried about competition or the quality of their devices but, because of the horrible reaction to their prior line of computers due to Microsoft’s shockingly bad Windows 8 software. In order to create the right marketing message for their new line of computers they knew they needed serious help. This was no laughing matter. So, who did they turn to? A bunch of comedians.
HP turned to a San Francisco based creative agency called Funworks. Funworks brought in a team of comedians skilled at improvisation techniques to hold a “fun workshop” with HP’s top product managers. Founded by Paul Charney, a veteran creative agency executive and founder of the San Francisco comedy troupe Killing Lobsters, Paul and his team help companies express their issues and discover their most compelling messaging points by fostering an environment of open conversation based on improvisation techniques where ideas flow freely when everyone simply says “yes” and “and”.
In this episode of Bay Area Ventures I speak with Paul Charney and Funwork’s Creative Architect, Erica Fortescue about his company and their award winning commercials.
Funwork’s Windows 10 Launch Commercial for H-P
This episode was recorded on May 22, 2017 on Bay Area Ventures on SiriusXM Channel 111 Business Radio Powered by the Wharton School. For a list of upcoming and past guest information click on the Show link above.
Special follow-up edition Part 1 with Christopher Farm of Tenjin and Dave McLean of Magnolia Brewing
In this, the first of two special follow-up editions of Bay Area Ventures, we check in with guests from the first three seasons of the show.
In this episode, we speak with Christopher Farm, Co-Founder and CEO of Tenjin, Inc. Christopher first appeared on Bay Area Ventures in April of 2016. Back then, Tenjin was a young company, recently graduated from the Y-Combinator incubator. How has Tenjin grown in the past year? What are some of the biggest challenges and surprises that Christopher and his team have had to deal with? We will cover it all and see what is next in store for his company.
Chris takes calls from listeners and talks about how they have manage to find technical talent for their team at a time when competition for programmers and engineers in the San Francisco Bay Area has been fierce.
Tim Chen wanted to help his sister find a credit card, today he runs Nerdwallet
Tim Chen, Co-Founder and President of Nerdwallet joins me on my latest episode of Bay Area Ventures to talk about his journey from Wall Street investment banker to advocate for consumer credit choice and information.
Nerdwallet is a site where one can find the best credit card, bank account, travel rewards plan, mortgage, insurance or other financial needs tailored to their specific needs, goals or tastes. The site walks users through some qualifying questions then draws on thousands of providers in every state for the best solution.
Nerdwallet was founded in 2009, in Tim’s apartment in New York City, when his sister asked for help finding the “best” credit card for her needs. Nerdwallet moved to San Francisco when Tim’s co-founder came to San Francisco and hired an intern that was 10x more productive than the intern Tim hired in NYC. In this interview Tim expands on that discovery and talks about why the ecosystem and entrepreneurial hires found in the Bay Area are ideal for a growing startup.
Through his work at Nerdwallet, helping millions of consumers, Tim has become Member of the Consumer Advisory Board for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the federal agency created after the 2008 financial crises to protect consumers. He is also a member of the Board of Directors for the National Federation for Credit Counseling. He talks about high credit rates that consumers face and why it’s difficult to make changes.
Tim, is a highly intelligent young entrepreneur who is dedicated to building an open and motivated workforce. Learn about how he and his team communicate to get work done and allow the company to scale rapidly. This is a great interview packed with lots of practical takeaways for your business.
Recorded on February 13, 2017, on SiriusXM Channel 111, Business Radio Powered by the Wharton School.
For a list of upcoming and past guest information click on the Show link above.
PPCIan shares the latest advice on SEM
Ian Lopuch, VP, Search Marketing of eHealthInsurance and author of PPCIan returns to The Free COO to offer incredible advice for entrepreneurs.
Learn about online marketing technologies, search engine trends for 2012 and 2013, careers in online marketing and top 3 tips for online marketers.
Ian is The Free COO’s first repeat guest and for good reason. He is always an exciting speaker and in this 90 minute interview you’ll get so many great actionable takeaways for your company that it will more than compensate you for your time spent listening. This is a must hear interview.
Be sure to follow Ian’s frequent posts on www.PPCIan.com
And be sure to catch The Free COO Thursdays at 4:00pm Pacific Time live on Spreaker, Facebook and right here.
Expert PPC tips from David Rodnitzky
David Rodnitzky is CEO of 3Q Digital of San Mateo, California (formerly PPC Associates). 3Q Digital is a professional services firm offering internet marketing help in the areas of Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Pay Per Click advertising (PPC), Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and more. They cover traditional advertising on Google, Microsoft AdCenter (Bing and Yahoo!) plus many other search engines. Plus, 3Q Digital can help with social marketing strategies and execution for platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and more.
David is a expert in the field of SEO and SEM having worked at companies like Aderactive and Merchantila prior to founding 3Q Digital. He is also on the advisory board of Marin Software, MediaBoost and Mediacause.
He is a regular speaker at major SEM conferences and has contributed to numerous influential publications, including Venture Capital Journal, CNN Radio, Newsweek, Advertising Age, and Search Marketing Standard. I believe you can catch David and SMX east in a couple weeks in New York.
Learn about all things PPC and why long tail marketing is giving way to wide tail marketing.
The Free COO airs live on Thursdays at 4:00pm Pacific Time
Also check out 3Q Digitals blog.
Eliminate the chaos from your affiliate marketing
SmarterChaos is an affiliate management agency based in Castle Rock Colorado that can help you find partners who will drive traffic and customers to your website. Matt Frary, founder and CEO of SmarterChaos discusses affiliate marketing, trends in internet marketing and offers lots of solid advice for driving and building traffic for your website.
Any entrepreneur and startup needs to build brand awareness, SEO rank and sales. Affiliate marketing is part of a three pronged marketing approach along with Pay-Per-Click advertising and organic search (SEO). Learn from an expert about how outsource your marketing expense to independent affiliates who assume your risk in exchange for commissions based on sales.
Update 2/12/2023 Smarter Chaos was acquired by Digital Media Solutions. For more information go to digitalmediasolutions.com. For information on Matt Frary visit Matt’s LinkedIn Page.
Len Lodish discusses how Diapers.com went from zero to $545M
Len Lodish, Vice Dean, Program for Social Impact and Samuel R. Harrell Professor in the Marketing department of The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania was my guest on The Free COO radio show on May 3, 2012.
Two of Len’s students from Wharton San Francisco’s MBA for Executives program founded Diapers.com while in school. Len was an investor and on Diaper.com’s Board of Directors. He discusses how the company went from a startup to its acquisition by Amazon.com for $545MM in just five years. Here how Diaper.com started in a garage, sourcing supplies from Costco in order to test their theory and market potential. Then learn how their customer service totally delights their customers.
Dr. Lodish also helped two other students get www.milo.com off the ground and sold to eBay.com in less than three years.
In this amazing interview we’ll explore Len’s career, his courses at Wharton, his own fantastically successful startups, his Global Consulting Practicum and how he and his wife complete a 1,000km unassisted tandem bike ride somewhere in the world each year to raise funds for the ALS Association of Philadelphia.
You’ve got to hear this interview end to end.
For more information about Len or to contribute to his annual 1,000K fund raiser visit these links:
The Free COO airs Thursdays on Speaker.com. You can also hear replays on Facebook and iTunes.
Using search engine optimization for generating new customers
Driving new customers to a company by the internet requires a three-pronged approach of search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM) and affiliates. Of the three approaches, SEO can be the most cost effective means of generating a sustainable long-term flow of new customers for any business.
SEO – Search Engine Optimization
SEO is the art of creating content on the internet that, when indexed by search engines, will show up at or near the top of the results page for a given search keyword or phrase. To show up near the top of a results page the content needs to be rich in relevant keywords, readable by search engine robots and referred to by links from external websites. Read more…