Media Beat

In the final installment of our Media Beat interview with Adweek editorial director Michael Wolff, the veteran media man discusses his news aggregation operation, Newser.com, which is among Salon.com’s personal favorites. Wolff says among other things, that in his long history of starting businesses, “[Newser] is the best experience I’ve ever had,” adding that it serves its purpose because “people have a need for shorter information.”

Part 1: Adweek’s Michael Wolff: ‘We Really Bring Together Buyer and Seller’

Part 2: Adweek’s Michael Wolff Talks NYT Paywall, the State of News Corp

FYI, you can also watch this video and others in the Media Beat series on mediabistro.com’s YouTube channel.

Launch a social media campaign that will build your brand and deliver results in our online Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting June 7. Speakers include Abigail Cusick (Bravo Digital), Gregory Galant (Sawhorse Media), Alex Leo (Thomson Reuters Digital), Jim Tobin (Ignite Social Media), and many more. Read the reviews.

In part two of our Media Beat discussion with Adweek editorial director Michael Wolff, the media vet discusses his thoughts on the New York Times paywall, saying among other things, if it doesn’t work, then “the Times is imperiled.” Of course, what discussion with Wolff wouldn’t include the topic of News Corp and its chief Rupert Murdoch, who our interviewee profiled in his 2008 book, The Man Who Owns the News. In this clip, Wolff offers his theories on what the future holds for the gigantic media entity.

Part 1: Adweek’s Michael Wolff: ‘We Really Bring Together Buyer and Seller’

Stay tuned for part three with Michael Wolff tomorrow. In the meantime, you can also watch this video on mediabistro.com’s YouTube channel.

Though our time with Adweek editorial director Michael Wolff together came to a rather interesting end, the veteran journalist had plenty to say during our three-part Media Beat chat. In this first installment, Wolff, who took over the editorial reins at AdWeekMedia last October, discusses the relaunch of Adweek, its current role/purpose in the industry and the trade’s relationship with parent company, Prometheus Global Media. Regarding the revamp of Adweek, Wolff says, “It was a very necessary, obvious and even inevitable thing that had to happen.”

Stay tuned for part two with Michael Wolff tomorrow. In the meantime, you can also watch this video on mediabistro.com’s YouTube channel.

Alas, our time with Barbarian Group CEO Benjamin Palmer has come to an end. Here’s the third and final installment of our Media Beat interview with the exec, who this time discusses judging award shows and how there will probably be “no surprises” this year. Why? Because as Palmer says, and we’re sure at least some of you will agree, “The stuff that ends up actually being famous and effective ends up winning the big awards.”

TBG’s chief exec also talks about the importance of something like the Art Directors Club, which he happens to be a board member of. Anyhow, why spoil the rest? Check it out for yourself. Links to previous parts below.

Part 1: Barbarian Group CEO Benjamin Palmer on Cheil, Brands and Social Media

Part 2: Barbarian Group CEO Benjamin Palmer on the Beginning and Staffing

Remember kids, you can also watch this video and others on mediabistro.com’s YouTube channel.

In part two of our Media Beat chat with Barbarian Group CEO Benjamin Palmer, we take a look back as the self-described “physics school dropout” talks about his company’s origins and gives us an idea of what they’re looking for in terms of staff. Internet-savvy is definitely a plus, natch.

Part 1: Barbarian Group CEO Benjamin Palmer on Cheil, Brands and Social Media

Stay tuned for part three with Benjamin tomorrow, where we discuss awards season. In the meantime, you can also watch this video on mediabistro.com’s YouTube channel.

In this week’s Media Beat interview, yours truly sits down for a chat under the hot lights with Benjamin Palmer, CEO of The Barbarian Group. The nearly ten-year old operation, which shifted its HQ from Boston to New York City a few years back, made its name of course by partnering with CP+B on Subservient Chicken and later developed innovative apps including CNN.com T-shirts.

In this first installment of our three-part chat with Palmer, the affable exec discusses how the relationship has been going between TBG and parent company Cheil, as well as his thoughts on social media’s importance and how brands are coming around to understanding that “the most permanent medium is the digital one.”

Stay tuned for part two with Benjamin tomorrow. In the meantime, you can also watch this video on mediabistro.com’s YouTube channel.

Nowadays, everyone wants more for less –  newspapers without paywalls, every book ever published available for free on Google Books, and consumers who are such fanatics for your brands that they’ll do your marketing for you.  (That’s what Twitter and YouTube are for, right?)

Well, Deep Focus CEO Ian Schafer says the quick and easy way isn’t always the best one.

“If you’re using [a viral strategy] as code for ‘I don’t want to spend a lot of money to get a lot of reach,’ then you’re going to be out of luck,” he said in the final installment of our Media Beat interview. “What we’re finding is one thing can help get more content seen by more people (and it’s the same thing that’s always helped get more content seen by more people),  and that’s money –  paid distribution.”

“If you really wanna guarantee yourself a lot of viewership, just pay for it. You’re already paying for a lot of other things.”

Part 1: Deep Focus CEO Ian Schafer: ‘We Struck Gold’ With Mad Men Yourself

Part 2: Deep Focus CEO Ian Schafer: ‘We’re Hiring Creatives At Every Level’

Ian Schafer talks about best practices for social media marketing in his keynote presentation at Socialize on April 1 in New York. You can also watch this video on the mediabistro.com YouTube channel.

When Ian Schafer started his interactive agency Deep Focus, his goal was to “bust the silos” of traditional marketing, meaning find ways to market to consumers across media verticals rather than simply within them. Now that the boutique agency has been going nine years strong, the CEO reveals what you can do to get a job with his company.

“We’re hiring creatives at every level,” he said in our Media Beat interview. “The challenging part about finding people for us right now is that, while we love specialists, what we really want are what the industry would call ‘T-shaped people.’ People with kind of a broad understanding, a generalist perspective, but an expertise in a particular vertical.”

If you’d rather start your own agency, says Schafer, you better be a people person.

“This business, I’m finding, is definitely personality-led,” he explained. “So, if you’re demure, if you don’t like to network, if you don’t like to tweet, then it’s going to make it that much more difficult for you.”

Part 1: Deep Focus CEO Ian Schafer: ‘We Struck Gold’ With Mad Men Yourself

Part 3: Deep Focus CEO Ian Schafer On The Myth of Viral Strategy

Ian Schafer talks about best practices for social media marketing in his keynote presentation at Socialize on April 1 in New York. You can also watch this video on the mediabistro.com YouTube channel.

In this week’s Media Beat interview, mediabistro.com’s Carmen Scheidel spoke with Ian Schafer of interactive agency Deep Focus about the success of its Mad Men Yourself campaign. Note to all copycats: creating a Don Draper avatar may look easy, but it’s actually the result of a lot of work and strategic research.

“We knew we had to build something that would turn a die-hard group of viewers that were really only talking to each other about the show, and get them to do something that involved others. We struck gold with that, and we continue to revitalize that every year,” Schafer explained. “It is one of those bright, shiny objects that attracts clients to us, and typically they say, ‘I want one of those.’ We have to educate them on the fact that we didn’t just come up with that idea out of thin air.”

Part 2: Deep Focus CEO Ian Schafer: ‘We’re Hiring Creatives At Every Level’

Part 3: Deep Focus CEO Ian Schafer On The Myth of Viral Strategy

Ian Schafer talks about best practices for social media marketing in his keynote presentation at Socialize on April 1 in New York. You can also watch this video on the mediabistro.com YouTube channel.

Alas, our time with Linda Sawyer has come to an end. Here is the third and final installment from our Media Beat interview with the Deutsch CEO, who talks about winning the VW account, the effect of the Deutsch/Lowe merger, the departure of Eric Hirshberg and of course, life with that guy named Donny.

More: “Media Beat: Abbey Klaassen on Ad Age’s Early Move into Pay Walls“