Maybe it’s an “end of the year” thing. Maybe it’s because many in the marketing, advertising and interactive industries had challenging years from a business standpoint. Or maybe pontification always happens when the future is uncertain. At any rate, I’ve been seeing article after article on, “Who will Lead: Traditional Agencies or Digital Agencies,” like this one from AdWeek called…
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our thinking about Inspiration…
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December 11th, 2009
The Leaders Will Lead -
December 7th, 2009
Thoughts from the New CommunicatorsA little more than a month ago, Substance made a choice to take part in the New Communicators series of events. Truth be told, we did a bit more than take part… we kind of encouraged the idea, promoted it, and organized the Show & Tell event and the Love of Cycling event during the New Communicators series. I missed the…
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November 30th, 2009
Passion+Trust: Three Years LaterI’m writing this while returning from a family vacation, my wife and daughters asleep as we cross the country through the nighttime sky, returning home. Three years ago I was in the same situation, yet very different. I had just left my previous job and was unemployed with no definite plans, no job opportunities, and no income. Over the course of…
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November 5th, 2009
Show and Tell: the New Communicators edition recap
“Great ideas are useless if they’re not shared.” – David Lowe-Rogstad, paraphrasing Chad Rea from ecopop Last Wednesday kicked off the New Communicators series of events, and as part of the festivities we held our third Show & Tell. With the theme of “what are you doing to change the world,” a variety of people and organizations came and shared their…
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July 28th, 2009
Taking matters into our own hands.The most interesting subject discussed at Coffee with Likemind a couple weeks ago wasn’t the Noseys. It wasn’t the Roseys. The most interesting – and important – conversation was about responsibility and empowerment. It was about creating our own future. It wasn’t about what we’re saying, but what we can, should and must do. From the conversation came an amazing idea:…
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July 16th, 2009
More social, less media.Facebook groups for advertising campaigns with half of the 50 fans working at the ad agency who thought up the idea. Twitter as a popularity contest. LinkedIn connections collected like fur trappers collected animal pelts. Quite frankly, I’m tired of hearing about social media. It’s not the oversaturation of articles about social media on blogs and in the news. It’s not…
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July 6th, 2009
Always LearningA few weeks ago I received an email from Kellan Craddock, a student at the Art Institute here in Portland. As part of his classwork he needed to interview some people “in the industry,” and it was my pleasure to write up some responses to his questions. More importantly, it’s opportunities like these that remind me to continually think about…
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July 2nd, 2009
The Substance Apprenticeship Version 1.0This spring, Substance welcomed Jessica Tsuji as our first ever participant in the Substance Substantial Apprenticeship Program. We invited Jessica to share her experiences at Substance. This is her story… Finding an internship while going to school full-time, especially in this state of economy is tough for anyone. However, finding the most gratifying and rewarding interactive internship experience in the Portland area…
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June 15th, 2009
Belated Thanks from Show & Tell PDXIt’s been a couple weeks since Show & Tell PDX – the May Edition finished its last beer and turned the projector off. So we’re a bit delinquent in thanking everyone who participated by presenting, attending, and having a good time. So, without further ado… thank you! The people and participation in the Portland community are second to none, and…
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May 19th, 2009
Digital or Interactive… what’s the difference?I think I made a mistake. We’ve said we do “digital brand strategy.” We’ve talked about what that means. And I still think there’s still a lot of truth to all that. But it doesn’t tell the full story, and I finally realize why. Digital is a medium. And that makes digital brand strategy a medium strategy (medium being the singular…
While we can't show you yet, we just had a big deal enter beta phase. Actually, some of you followers might have gotten the link...
4 days, 16 hours ago / twitter.com/substance