nothing is as dangerous in communications as assuming you own the message

Conversation as currency

The most effective brands—knowing the influence of today's empowered consumer—will create products, services or experiences that can stand-up to the conversation of the marketplace. The most effective communication strategies will be those that help brands curate and participate in that conversation, wherever it exists.

And while a tremendous amount of focus is placed on the "new world" of communication we believe that basic human motivations remain the same. It's not just technology that is changing things — it's the behaviors of empowered consumers that have disrupted the communications world. Today a brand breathes with every click, swipe and post. The new world of communication is very real and it's opening doors that were completely closed, for both brands and consumers.

Let’s start with a reality – social media channels were not created for brands.

“how will this click, swipe, or post make me appear?”

said every consumer on social media

“what am I going to get out of this?”

said every consumer on social media

Engagement is not the thing, and inaneconversation does not lead to a relationship

Our roots

Everyone in this room knows PR. We’ve pitched stories. We’ve nailed coverage when it mattered. We’ve changed perceptions and moved media into action.

It’s these roots that we’ve built upon to tell stories in today’s consumer empowered marketplace. One where we now have the channels to do what we do best, give people a reason to care.

Editors, reporters, and bloggers shared the stories we’ve told because they got something out of it – and it made them appear relevant, as an insider... A curator.

- @CaseyNeistat

"Young consumers have zero tolerance for BS: They'll only consume what they want, so make things they like"

- @CaseyNeistat

© Curator LLC 2013

Whole Foods Market thelocalforager.comSituation:Whole Foods Market is all about local. What you find in one of their stores in Seattle is different than what you’ll find in one of

their stores even down the freeway in Portland. The company knows their shopper is someone who wants their food sourced

locally, but they also want to know the story of where their food is coming from, and how it’s treated. That’s a pretty complex

story to tell someone through traditional media channels. But how many times can a story be told, right? So the trick is to create

something that allows us to tell that story in a compelling way to a busy consumer in a format that allows for ongoing, dynamic

dialog and interaction. Something that creates a true connection for a consumer to the brand.

Solution:Whole Foods is so committed to local producers that it has a specific role in each region called the Local Forager. The Local

Forager’s role is to unearth new and distinctive products that meet the brand’s quality standards and help bring these producers

into stores. Curator designed a campaign around Denise Breyley, the Local Forager for the Pacific Northwest, that blends digital

media, PR and social media to firmly place the Northwest Local Forager at the center of the local food movement and, at the

same time, demonstrate the depth and breadth of Whole Foods Market’s commitment to local producers. The heart and soul of

the campaign is a website called TheLocalForager.com that allows people to follow Denise Breyley on her journeys to find the

best of the Pacific Northwest. Curator also created a social media presence for Denise, creating engagement and sparking

conversation with influencers in the food community. The team actively works to place stories on Denise and the producers in key

blogs and media throughout the region.

Results:

emerged asthought-leaderin PNW food community

staple onmorning news programs

Let’s talk about jumping platforms

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Today’s Favorite Author/Amit Blumfield - Friend of an old college roomate

Disappearing Honey Bees Cornell Daily News

Today’s Travel Agent/@erin_braincandy - Her Sister

Grabbed a late lunch from the Maximus Minimus food truck. Mmm, pulled pork. #2daysinseattle pic.twitter.com/dr6xgl0Onj

Today’s Therapist/Marta Gaschk - Coworker who shared a Nike+ route

I just started a run with Nike+ GPS Cheer me on with comments or likes and I’ll hear it along the way. With Jesse Micheals

R.O.I. vs R.O.R.

The timeliness of sentiment

Mobilize a community

The story that caught fire in Seattle on a sunny Tuesday afternoon in September was about Thursday. The city council had just approved the plan for a new arena and it was a huge step toward bringing back our beloved Sonics and potentially adding an NHL team. The man behind this initiative, investor Chris Hansen, pushed out a blog post thanking city officials and fans for their tireless effort. At the end of his post he offered to buy every supporter in the city a beer – on Thursday evening.

That’s right. The man that had spent the better part of a year slogging through Seattle politics, promising huge amounts of his personal wealth, and tirelessly building momentum to help Seattle get their basketball team back, had just offered us a beer to say thanks.

We at Curator felt it was time to turn that sentiment around. And we knew we had less than 24hrs to provide Seattle* with a platform to show their appreciation.

* And all those Seattle Supersonics ex-patriots across the globe...

*

Discover announcment

Concept idea at lunch

12:30 PM

1:30 PM

Simple, smart & speedy

We needed an idea that was social minus the LOL’s and OMG’s. We needed a concept that would empower the creativity and passion of the Seattle fans. It had to be authentic and personal.

Most importantly it needed to be fast. We knew that the sentiment would peak Thursday evening when the free beers were flowing and the sea of green and yellow had descended upon FX McRory’s (the restaurant just five floors below our HQ) to celebrate.

The idea centered on a site with a simple proposition. Download the Thank You pdf template and share your message with Chris via an instagram hashtag - #thankschrishansen. Or just tag an image or favorite Sonics memory with the same hashtag to contribute.

After a long night of design and code, thankyouchrishansen.com was up and the vessel was ready to be filled. We spent the next morning conditioning the soil for the site with a PR and social media push to make people aware of its existence. After previewing the site with influential media and bloggers we publicly launched by 4 p.m. on Wednesday.

Discover announcment

Concept idea at lunch

12:30 PM

Site soft launch

4:30 AM

1:30 PMLaunch after media preview

4:00 PM

Empowering creativity

At Curator we believe that the best ideas are those that can spark an empowered consumer into action. It’s a belief that defines how we create ideas to solve business problems. You could say it’s a strategy of herding a message rather than announcing it.

Less than 36 hours after launching the site we garnered over 300k+ social media impressions for our url and #hashtag. We laughed, smiled, and ahhh’d as the fans got creative and filled the site with images, notes, and memories.

We watched our campaign showcased on TV morning news over a cup of coffee, we listened as it was mentioned on sports radio, and we blushed when Sonics legend, Gary Payton redesigned his official Facebook presence with our site design. By 7 p.m. on Thursday – just 27 hours after launching the site – Congressman Jay Inslee had his picture and message posted on the site, as had local media personalities, Sonics icon Slick Watts, and hundreds of fans from the NW and as far away as Asia.

It became a much-needed-feel-good news story.

Discover announcment

Concept idea at lunch

12:30 PM

Site soft launch

4:30 AM

Live posting begins

7:30 PM

Covered on q13 Fox News

7:30 AM

1:30 PM 4:00 PMServers upgraded

3:15 AMFree beers!

5:00 PMLaunch after media preview

© Curator LLC 2012

Instagram campaign takeawaysLeverage real-time events

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Be the enabler

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Understanding the behaviors of communication in the digital age

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© Curator LLC 2012

Highlights

+300k impressions

BLANKETED

traditional media

40% mobile traffic

* Seattle Mariners radio host...

*

In summary

Social media wasn’t created for brands but we can and should be there, just need to do it the right way

Conversation is currency when your brand is adding relevant value in the consumer’s life – the win comes in being able to move the conversation from platform to platform

The value of social media isn’t in the immediate Return on Investment, It’s in the Return on Relationship – which in the long run, is more valuable.

Thank you