YouTube Video Awards

Vlogging is here to stay. Just 2 years ago, who would have thought that the antics of 'Ask a Ninja,' 'OK Go,' and 'LonelyGirl15' would be known worldwide?

www.youtube.com/YTAwards

According to an AP story today, the popular vlogging site attracted 135.5 million visitors in January.

Obama Mashup

“What’s a Mashup?” by Tom Nardacci

Mashups are well known in music on the club scene -- a DJ takes two records or sounds and mixes them together for a distinctly new sound with familiar beats and lyrics. One popular example of a Mashup is when MTV put rapper Jay-Z and rocker Linkin Park together to remix HOVA’s song “Encore” and LP's song "Numb."

Recently, a supporter of Presidential candidate Barack Obama took one of the most groundbreaking television ads of our time (Macintosh/Apple’s 1984 Super Bowl commercial) and spliced in Hillary Clinton. The "Vote Different" mashup has created a national media storm, appearing on every news channel.

It has been viewed over 1.7 million times on YouTube!!

"Getting Love by Giving Love" by Thomas Nardacci

"Getting Love by Giving Love" by Thomas Nardacci

A few weeks ago New York Yankee Third Baseman Alex Rodriquez discussed his future with the Yankees by telling WFAN’s “Mike and the Mad Dog” that he would need to see love from the Yankee organization and from the fans as part of his decision to stay with the Bombers.

A-Rod is certainly one of the greatest players in the game, is assured a place in the Hall of Fame when he becomes Cooperstown eligible, and is one of the most talented players to don Pinstripes in a long time.

The New York media market is a tough place to play and gain respect, but the sports coverage is as fair as it comes and the players that get respect have earned it. A recent trip to Yankee Spring Training in Tampa allowed me a chance to get a microcosmic glimpse of the situation with Alex Rodriquez.

Most of the fans in Tampa this year seem to agree on the A-Rod situation. One astute snowbird from the Bronx said “A-Rod is a great player but he is not a great Yankee,” easily rattling off names of his Yankee greats. Playing in New York is much different than Seattle or Texas. The fans are brutally honest and very demanding. But, New York fans give the MOST love of any fans (Boston fans are probably on par) to the players that give them love. Playing for a New York team, especially a winning team, also offers athletes a chance at becoming a legend (such as these famous numbers -- #3, #4, #5, #7, #16, #23, #49, etc.)

I watched as A-Rod ignored little kids yelling his name. Jeter, Matsui and Rivera waved, Damon and Giambi (who’s love from the fans has rebounded tremendously since being embroiled in steroid controversy) stopped and signed autographs for the kids. Yankee greats Mattingly, Nettles, and Guidry all acknowledged the fans with waves and ‘hellos.’ A-Rod didn’t, and it did not go unnoticed.

What’s a wave to a little kid yelling your name at Spring Training? It goes to the heart of public relations. Not only do the fans who happen to be there notice, but they probably relate the story to other people (or blog about it), and the beat reporters covering you game after game and year after year notice too. It raises questions and helps to frame their stories.

Watching A-Rod stretch and run alone, while teammates warmed up together, gave me the suspicion that this story about him has been brewing for some time. A security guard at Legends Field summed it up best when I asked him what he thought of A-Rod. He said, “A-Rod wants love from the fans, but he doesn’t love the fans.”

Spring for Kids 2007 A Success!

Thank you to everyone who turned out last night for 'Spring for Kids 2007' benefit, with 100% of proceeds going to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Albany.

Thanks also to Kristi Gustafson at the Times Union for snapping some event pictures for 'Seen.'

Spring for Kids 2007

Spring for Kids - a benefit for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Albany

Hello Friends & Colleagues:

Below please find an invitation for a Tuesday, March 20th benefit event at the recently opened Tryst Ultra Lounge in Downtown Albany.

This is the first in a series of events being planned by a group of emerging leaders from business and politics in Tech Valley to raise funds for a variety of worthy causes. I am pleased to tell you that 100% of the proceeds from the March 20^th benefit will be donated to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Albany for their annual “It Just Takes ONE” campaign, which I am pleased to serve as Chair this year. The money will be used by the Clubs for the 2,000 youth that they serve.

Payment will be accepted at the door -- checks should be made payable to the ‘Boys & Girls Clubs of Albany.’ Please RSVP to me ASAP if you are interested in attending, and feel free to pass this invitation along.

Thank you and I hope to see you on March 20th!!!

Sincerely,

Tom Nardacci

Walking With the Wind

Walking With the Wind

“When I care about something, I am prepared to take the long hard road. . . . That's what faith is all about.'' – John Lewis

Just as beauty is sometimes in the eye of the beholder, history is largely in the eye of the historian. I learned that simple lesson as a junior history major at Syracuse University.

I am continually reminded of this lesson while reading various memoirs or historical biographies, or on visits to museums and historic sites. The history we learned in textbooks is the polished version.

With Black History Month coming to a close, I want to highly recommend a straightforward, yet passionate book that was an eye-opener for me with regards to the Civil Rights movement, “Walking With the Wind,” by Georgia Congressman John Lewis and co-written by Michael D’Orso. Lewis headed up the Student Nonviolet Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and he takes you on a meditative journey through his life, including stories about his interaction – both good and bad -- with the movement and its leaders, and his personal decisions, including his life in the 1970’s and his run for Congress in 1986.

I met Congressman Lewis in 1998, and he stands out as one of the most memorable people I have ever met. In his office there is the famous picture of marchers being trampled by local and state police on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. John Lewis, in his raincoat, is one of the marchers being trampled and had his skull fractured that day. The thing that was most memorable about Lewis to me was that he is not the showy overly-charismatic figure that D.C. tends to churn out. He was down to earth and real candid. The book reflects that.

Crisis Communications: JetBlue Airways

"Crisis Communications: JetBlue Airways" by Thomas Nardacci

Last week, JetBlue faced a major corporate communications crisis as thousands of passengers were left stranded and newspapers depicted a sea of luggage left unclaimed because of severe weather.

Company president David Neeleman did his company a great service by standing up and addressing the situation within days. The company also issued an immediate statement on the day of the delays offering a full refund and free roundtrip flight to all customers who were impacted.

While it is debatable whether 5 hours is "ok" for a passenger to be kept on a grounded plane (and Congress is likely to continue this exact discussion), the customer bill of rights the company released was pretty clear and direct, and Neeleman’s statement didn’t try to redirect blame:

"This was a big wake-up call for JetBlue," said JetBlue Founder and CEO David Neeleman. "If there's a silver lining, it is the fact that our airline is going to be stronger and even better prepared to serve our customers. In addition, I want to publicly apologize to JetBlue's crewmembers -- the best in the industry -- and I promise to get the right resources, tools and support for them going forward, so that they in turn can deliver the JetBlue Experience you have come to expect from us."

Congress is likely to bring this issue up when they debate any “Passenger Bill of Rights” proposals. Neeleman, and JetBlue, by admitting fault and developing a solution aimed to benefit their customer, took a great deal of future heat off of themselves should they face a Congressional inquiry or legislative hearing.

Quantifying Blogging

As part of my internal marketing efforts for Gramercy Communications, I review internet traffic reports that I utilize for the blog and the static website on a monthly basis.

By adding this simple blog, I doubled Gramercy Communications' internet traffic. I also singlehandedly maximized my search engine optimization (SEO) for Gramercy Communications and Tom Nardacci or Thomas Nardacci.

Most of my traffic for both the website and the blog is based in New York State, and is referred primarily through Google searches. Search terms such as Albany, NY, public relations, Tech Valley, or local client names, result in increased local traffic. There is also usually a 3 day spike in traffic after I send out a Sunday night e-mail blast to friends and colleagues and ask them to pass something along.

National topics, such as when I posted about autistic high school basketball player Jason McElwain from Rochester and his 3-point performance last year (the best news clip I have ever seen), result in national traffic. Posts on specific topics, like podcasts, entreprenuership, 5 things businesses should know, Virginia Senator George Allen using the slur 'macaca,' etc., result in topic specific traffic from search engines.

I am finding out firsthand just how important it is to be strategic about what you put on your blog. Just today, someone from Rome, Italy Googled "Nardacci" and linked to the Gramercy Communications blog -- it could have been a cousin and this blog could have been their first impression of their American relatives.