Christopher Butler Vice President Hi, I'm Chris. I've been working at Newfangled since September, 2004.
| Chris Butler's BlogThe internet is a work in progress.
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Interview: Samantha Berens, Fresh Creative
July 22, 2008 at 12:00 pm by Chris
Samantha BerensResourcer, Fresh Creative In addition to her Resourcing work, Sam contributes significantly to crafting the strategic direction of Fresh Creative client accounts with leadership and expertise in marketing strategy, media planning and negotiating, integrated branding programs and the creative process. CB: What fascinates you about the web? SB: Increased efficiency and resourcefulness. Those who know me personally might chuckle at my answer because they know that those two attributes are at the core of how I approach life. I’m part of the generation that grew up in the technology age– computers and the internet have been mainstream for most of my life. Living with this technology has trained me (and many of my peers) to resource and process information quickly. No problem is unsolvable and the speed with which we’re able to access information allows us to find solutions quickly. CB: What would you change about it? SB: I’d like to make it more personal and slow it down. Although it’s made us more efficient, provided more information at our finger tips than ever before, and made geography mean nothing, there has been a decline in our ability to build meaningful professional relationships. Some even say that all this increased technology has bred a group of young people whose ethical standard is weakened. Since email is so quick and web meetings so easy, we no longer rely on someone’s good word and handshake, when, quite possibly, that’s worth more than technology can provide. The second part of my answer, slow it down, might seem in contradiction to my above stated drive for efficiency, but efficiency is worth nothing if it’s not delivered with accuracy. We’re so accustomed to having it now– we no longer value the time spent in intellectual thought and our standard of accuracy has suffered. CB: Do you have a blog? If not, what are you waiting for? SB: Ok– so I don’t have a blog. What am I waiting for? Time! Maybe if my suggestion to slow things down a bit were taken, I’d have time to blog. For now, I’m content adding my two cents on others’; but I know one day (and probably soon), I’ll have to jum pon the bandwagon. CB: What technology has had the greatest impact on how you do your job? SB: Wireless communication has made a big difference in how and where we operate. I can take a laptop anywhere and check email on my phone. Maybe this hasn’t been a positive impact, but a major one nonetheless. We now must make the conscious decision to put work away. CB: Who has influenced or helped you the most in your career? SB: The first account executive I worked under at my first agency job gave me a wake-up call on my second or third day on the job. I was a junior in college and she gave me a research assignment. I happily “researched” for a few hours and went back to her with my findings. She perused it and threw it back at me, saying something like “If you can’t get more than that with all the resources at your fingertips, then you’ll never make it here. Getresourceful.” I was an "A" student… I had never had an encounter like that, but she was right. That was my wake-up call to understanding that good isn’t always good enough. Learning to go the extra mile is probably what has made me most successful in my career so far. CB: You recently changed roles to be the Resourcer at Fresh Creative. What makes you uniquely suited to this role? SB: I would say that my commitment to efficiency, accuracy, and resourcefulness is what makes me best suited for the role of Resourcer. Although, some here would say that it has more to do with my ability to be a @#$*&%. Those who understand the role of Resourcing will get my humor. My position is all about staying on time and on budget while delivering a superior end-product to our clients. Anyone who is willing to let any of the three elements I mentioned above slide will never make resourcing work. CB: What makes Fresh Creative a cut above its competitors? SB: We value thinking over doing. We don't spin our wheels crafting solutions until we know what our client's problem is and have purposefully and thoughtfully considered it. CB: If you had one sentence to pitch a potential client, what would it be? SB: We turn away more work than we accept. CB: I believe that everyone has a specific and unique talent that comes in handy at just the right time. It might be something most people know about you or something very few know. What is your super-power? SB: I don't like to hear "no." So, I work hard to strategize every possible scenario so that no hurdle is impossible to jump. I guess that means my super-power is perseverance. X-ray vision would still be cooler, though. CB: If the world's technological and economic systems were to collapse and revert society to locally-focused, agrarian communities, what role would you assume? SB: I think I'd still be a Resourcer. Somebody would need to make sure seeds were planted and crops harvested all while turning a profit! |
Tags: web-development interview design technology business blogging
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Taking a Gamble on Coffee
July 21, 2008 at 5:00 pm by Chris| We recently estimated that each coffee drinker at Newfangled potentially spends between $300 and $400 a year buying their morning cup (plus refills later)! While we love supporting our neighbor, Weaver Street Market, that's a pretty hefty amount for coffee! Mark decided to take a risk and buy a Cusinart 12-Cup Grinder/Brewer for the office, making good coffee a perk (no pun intended) of the job. I think it's worked so far- the coffee is great and brewing 12-cups at a time is definitely more cost-effective than buying individual cups next door. As I read this article in Wired magazine yesterday, I wondered if Starbucks was noticing a similar drop in customer spending too??? In any case for $12,000, there new coffee maker better make a darn good cup of coffee!! |
Tags: newfangled
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Interview: Anaezi Modu, ReBrand
July 15, 2008 at 4:00 pm by Chris
Anaezi ModuFounder, ReBrand™ ReBrand™ is the global resource for visual examples and case studies on effective brand transformations: the repositioning, revitalizing and redesign of existing brand assets to meet strategic marketing objectives. As a Fast Company blogger, Anaezi explores the integration of seemingly disparate ideas and industries to achieve strategy-driven transformation. Through the lens of a designer, she shares learning from "pragmatic ingenuity," one of the terms she prefers over "innovation." She is inspired by those rarely credited for brilliant ideas: the world's poor that face dire challenges daily. Anaezi received her training in architecture and design at Princeton and Harvard. CB: What fascinates you about the web? AM: So many things! One I marvel at the most is the ability to run a global enterprise from a remote dashboard. All that’s required is a great idea, planning, perseverance, marketing strategy, and incredible hard work to make things happen. While some of these elements aren’t new, what the web provides that has appeared over the last decade is the ability to accomplish much with a fraction of funds investment the “off-line” world required in the past. CB: What would you change about it? AM: With the good often comes challenges. The low barriers to entry mean that there’s much erroneous or even harmful information that can just as quickly or easily get air time as does helpful information. From a technical perspective, I can’t wait for the day when putting up a site and maneuvering CSS would be as simple as using Microsoft Word for us technically-challenged creatives. CB: Do you have a blog? If so, what makes your blog unique? AM: I recently accepted an invitation to be an expert blogger with Fast Company magazine. My blog is called Cross Thinkers. Just in case anyone reading this might have some thoughts that I should consider for it, please feel free to share if you think it makes sense. Just visit the blog and leave a comment. I’ll be starting one for ReBrand, hopefully soon. What am I waiting for? Great question. No more excuses! You great folks at Newfangled have been incredibly helpful and supportive about getting one started. CB: What technology has had the greatest impact on how you do your job? AM: Easy answer: The web! Being able to have some semblance of autonomy in running an organization and using a content management system like Newfangled's to update our site has been incredible. CB: Who has influenced or helped you the most in your career? AM: A foundation of faith in God and practice of prayers and meditation have been key in guidance when things have been overwhelming. Love and support from my family has also been essential. There are countless others from friends to colleagues, past managers, teachers, consultants, and strangers along the way. CB: What makes you uniquely suited to your role with ReBrand? AM: I embody many aspects of my mission for ReBrand. I am a result of a multidisciplinary collection of professional interests and background, and I have first-hand experience in solutions that result from integrating seemingly disparate ideas from so many sources. I believe this is what makes the world go ‘round and how great ideas, products, services, and systems evolve. With our marquis program at ReBrand, the annual ReBrand 100 Global Awards, I insisted that no one discipline “owns” the effective “branded experience.” With that in mind, I stipulate that each year’s jury panel must consist of people from various professional, experiential, national, and ethnic backgrounds in assessing these effective transformations. I’m especially passionate in broadening the conversation on strong brands to include and respect perspectives from far and wide. I am also trained in and have worked professionally in architecture, interior design, urban design and planning for some years. In running ReBrand and through an executive education program I initiated at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, our teaching team is able to share how devising optimal experiences is key in every industry. In this case, the principles apply to all, even though this particular certificate program titled "Revealing the Brand Story: How to Create Meaning, Value, and ROI," is targeted to built environment professionals. It is also rare to have the combination of these two backgrounds – all that helps inform my approach to ReBrand. The passion is in helping guide and showcase ways to transform experiences for some strategic purpose. That purpose may or not be for direct financial benefits, but can certainly be in reach, influence, or to some other qualitative end. I’m stumbling over the words, so the actual description of the two-day program may be clearer. All are welcome to register and earn a certificate while learning from respected, renowned brand strategists and principles of the nation’s most prominent architectural firms. CB: What makes ReBrand worth paying attention to? AM: There is only one ReBrand.com. No other! ReBrand is the expert-led resource at which “before” and “after” case examples of brand transformations exist. These examples are from around the world and span over 40 industries. The range is from one-person entities to companies like Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Virgin Airlines, Cisco Systems, and so much more. It’s all there for anyone to learn from, at no charge. We get great focused attention from channels many dream of reaching, and we’ve become a respected, go-to source for corporations and agencies alike. We are often approached for references and advice on branding consultants from small, non-profit, regional and global organizations. Fortunately, because the URL is the term used for brand transformations, we’re often interviewed by business publications such as the Wall Street Journals, Fast Company, CNN Money, and others, that find and approach us. I see all of these as opportunities to help further our collective goals as strategic, creative folks- that of getting across the fact that effective crafting of experiential branding is essential for the bottom line. I even recently learned that we are one of four sites noted in the book Branding for Dummies as a go-to resource. It’s worth discovering us and re-visiting as we continue to expand on a number of initiatives and as we showcase more work from the past 2008 winners showcase. CB: If you had one sentence to pitch your latest and greatest idea, what would it be? AM: Visit ReBrand.com, enter the annual ReBrand 100 Global Awards, learn, be recognized for, and share in how so many “Transform to Thrive.” That’s our latest tagline, by the way. Business, as in life is an ever-evolving process. See how other organizations are doing it, and model those ideas when it makes sense. You’ll be in great company; you’ll have your firms capabilities showcased, celebrated, and given prominent, potentially client-generating press, if you’re a winner. You can’t beat that! CB: I believe that everyone has a specific and unique talent that comes in handy at just the right time. It might be something most people know about you or something very few know. What is your super-power? AM: I’m a connector who’s pretty good at inspiring others to work together towards a common goal. This has been key to building ReBrand and getting it to the point where over 20 countries now participate, and prominent folks come to us requesting to serve on the jury panel. CB: If the world's technological and economic systems were to collapse and revert society to locally-focused, agrarian communities, what role would you assume? AM: After years spent living in a remote West-African village, this one is a no brainer. I would work with folks to design and make useful and creative items with natural materials so readily available in their environment. I would also help local builders in designing and building homes with local materials. This ties in a bit with my Fast Company blog. I believe, and have seen evidence of this, that ultimate geniuses, are those that must survive and thrive when much is stripped away and the “primitive way of life” is the given. Design ability is a great tool for solving a number of social, economic, and business challenges. The ways in which we can use our skills to help, with or without technology, are countless. > View Anaezi's LinkedIn profile. |
Tags: web-development interview design technology business blogging
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Drop in Stats from Urchin to Google Analytics?
July 14, 2008 at 10:35 am by Chris| Many of our clients wonder why their pageview statistics drop when they switch analytics platforms. Specifically, most of our clients move from Urchin or another tool to using Google Analytics. This blog post from Conversation Marketing explains why this occurs and suggests an Urchin to Google Analytics conversion factor of 20%. Hat tip to Eric for the link. |
Tags: web-development strategy software analytics
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No "Meat" to the Blogosphere?
July 11, 2008 at 1:40 pm by Chris| This post from David Appell is a rough and biting rant on the blogosphere, but he's got a point... |
Tags: blogging
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