Jamie Beckland

Emerging Media Strategist – Erstwhile Dancer – Digital Roustabout – Armchair Economist – Traveler

Give Away Your Ideas – Charge for Implementation

Posted on | March 1, 2010 | Comments

Why you should give away your ideas for free (then charge for implementation)

In the advertising world, there is much hand-wringing and consternation about doing work for pitches.

The basic argument is that doing work for pitches amounts to doing work for free. Of course, Creatives and many mid-size shops are aghast at this practice and want it to stop immediately.  ”Our creativity is our life blood,” they declare, breathlessly.  ”Why would we ever give it away?”

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Why You Should Not Become A Ballerina – How A Shifting Art Form Needs Different Expertise

Posted on | February 24, 2010 | Comments

Why you should not become a #ballerina, and why Naharin gets more talent than Ballanchine

Dance has changed, therefore dancers have changed. Dance expertise has shifted from one dimensional to multi-dimensional.

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Whatever You Do, Don’t Buy A House Right Now

Posted on | February 16, 2010 | Comments

Whatever you do, don't buy a house right now. You can't compete with crazy people.

Confession time: I have been looking at houses online. I salivate over the new listings every day.

We are settled into Portland enough that buying a house seemed like a reasonable option.

But, this topsy turvy market really means that the best bet is to stay on the sidelines. I won’t be buying a house any time soon. And you shouldn’t either.

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How to Become An Expert At Anything

Posted on | February 8, 2010 | Comments

How to become an expert in anything in four steps

Becoming an expert – a real expert – in something is not as difficult as you think. It involves work, for sure, but it does not involve as much work as you think. You can become an expert in something in four steps. Read more

The Six Stages of Customer Engagement in Social Media: Why Comcast Still Sucks

Posted on | February 2, 2010 | Comments

The six stages of customer engagement in social media - don't let this be you!

Customer service can use social media to do an outstanding job, but the real problem is that the whole organization has to change to empower the customer. That’s much tougher than being available via Twitter. Read more

How Customer Forums Will Make HR’s Job Easier

Posted on | January 28, 2010 | Comments

Customer forums will make HR’s job easier by identifying top talent

After being neglected for years, company-sponsored forums and boards are being resurrected under the auspices of socializing brands.  For many complicated products and services, customers are self-sorting on forums, demonstrating their expertise and ability to solve problems for others.  If managed properly, today’s brightest customers will be tomorrow’s best employees.  Human Resources departments, which struggle to find candidates that are already knowledgeable about the business, will be able to source an active, engaged talent pool directly from their company resources.

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The Shelf Life of Today’s Cameras

Posted on | January 23, 2010 | Comments

The Shelf Life of Today’s Cameras

This past weekend, my camera broke.  I’m not sure what happened, but the lens is stuck open and it won’t turn on.

Of course, no one even considers fixing electronics anymore, so I reluctantly started the search for a new camera on Monday. Read more

How More Content Leads to Better Content

Posted on | January 20, 2010 | Comments

NBC’s Jeffrey Zucker is being attacked for his now-obvious misstep in moving Jay Leno to the 10 PM slot.  Leno has not done well in the slot, and NBC affiliates are screaming bloody murder that their lead-in to their 11 PM news slot (the most profitable broadcast of the day for most affiliates) has been decimated.

So, Zucker is pulling the plug, and the whole grand experiment of a chat show in primetime will come to an end.

But, while this experiment may have gone awry, it doesn’t mean that the long-term trends have changed.

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Google To China: Not In My House

Posted on | January 12, 2010 | Comments

Google has decided to allow uncensored search results in China.  But, the interesting part is why they decided to do so.  When Google started their Chinese site, in 2006, they came under a lot of criticism for allowing the Chinese government to censor the search results.  At the time, they decided they would rather operate in a less-than-ideal fashion than forgo the huge Chinese market altogether. Read more

2010 Is Here – Finally!

Posted on | January 5, 2010 | Comments

Today was the day that everyone’s collective brains switched back on. The Christmas chocolate and New Year’s boozefest has finally lifted, and the world has started creaking inevitably forward again.

Did you notice? Read more

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