Radar’s team was in Washington D.C. with the SDPA for their 2011 Summer Conference. Radar’s team filmed interviews, recorded audio & video podcasts for Dermcast.tv and followed the PAs as they participated in the first ever Capitol Hill Day. You can watch highlights here. PAs and dermatologists met with senators and congressmen to discuss pertinent issues pertaining to dermatology.
D.C. was the sixth event Radar’s team has filmed for Dermcast.tv. Next is Orlando, Florida in November 2011.
Two years ago, Robert Higham and Radar came up with an idea. The idea was based on two beliefs: 1) the SDPA‘s industry partners needed a new and exciting platform to promote CME and products & services outside the confines of the dermPA.org website. And 2) the SDPA needed to start building up a media library of its own – an online media resource – so that people with an interest in dermatology could go and search through hundreds of videos, audio podcasts, pictures, posts, blogs, etc… with ease. That was the Summer of 2008. And the idea was Dermcast.tv. In November of that same year, we launched Dermcast at our Fall Conference in Tampa. It was a huge success. After Tampa came San Francisco, then Scottsdale, then Chicago in the Summer and now Grapevine last week.
Five events and two years later, with more than 100 videos and audio podcasts available on the site, Dermcast is now the #3 podcast on iTunes under “dermatology” and the site has seen tremendous growth in the last 12 months. Since Dermcast is such a niche topic, site traffic is relative. Considering the fact that there are only 2,000+ dermatology PAs in the U.S. today, seeing 50% of that number visit the site each week would be a huge success. When the site first launched in November 2008, average hits were in the 3-4,000 range per week. Today, we’re seeing anywhere between 10 and 11,000 hits per week. Page requests are up as well and people are spending a lot more time on the site watching videos and downloading podcasts to their mobile devices to listen and learn during their commutes to work.
In addition, industry partners like AMGEN-Pfizer, Intendis and Promius have come alongside Dermcast in an effort to connect doctors and PAs to their products & services.
So here’s the Dermcast of Tomorrow: last week we gave Dermcast a new look (see below). It’s easy to see which posts are the most recent, the most popular and the most talked about. Soon you’ll be able to type in any keyword (psoriasis, for example) and all of the videos and podcasts that correlate with that keyword will come up. Any mention of a specific condition or disease or product, etc… will be called out for you making it easy to jump to that section.
We’ll see more “branded podcasts” and less “billboards” – our goal has always been to make Dermcast a clean, non-SPAM site. So you’ll never be inundated with sponsored content. However, it is our goal to come up with new & creative ways to show doctors and PAs new products and breakthroughs in the field of dermatology. Dermcast will continue to be the industry leader in HOW that content gets delivered to the viewer.
Mobility is key and Dermcast makes it easy to take the content with you. Downloading podcasts from iTunes is easy and with our upcoming improvements to the site and versatile download options, you’ll be able to view all content from any device, even if you have a slow data connection.
Also, look out for videos featuring procedures, helpful tips and what other derm PAs are doing at their practices. And down the road, we’ll feature exclusive content that you can only see on Dermcast.tv and a rewards program that you won’t want to miss out on.
So that’s just some of the vision and success behind Dermcast.tv. If you’ve been using Dermcast, I’d like to get your take on it. Comment below or email us and let me know what you think. I know the board and all of the committee chairs at the SDPA would love to hear from you.
Radar will be directing the California Gubernatorial Primary debate today at 5:30 PM Pacific time, live from the Orange County Performing Arts Center (OCPAC).
[image courtesy of Creative Commons: Dominican University of California]
Radar is honored to be involved with this year’s Beacon Lounge (aka: “the Lounge with a Conscience”) at the Convention Center where WhatGives.com is producing & streaming a half-hour webcast hosted by Mark Horvath from InvisiblePeople.tv (with special thanks to Portnoy Media Group). The multicam webcast will air on Saturday March 13th, Sunday March 14th & Monday March 15th at 10:30 AM CT. The webcasts feature some amazing people in the social media for social good world and topics include social media’s impact on efforts to increase support for charities and causes around the world.
You can click here for a complete schedule. Mark’s guests include Jeff Pulver from the 140 character conference; Chris Brogan of Trust Agents and Social Media 101 fame; Kari Saratovsky from the Case Foundation; Terry Storch and Tony Steward from LifeChurch.tv; Beth Kanter, nonprofit social media strategist; and Chris Noble, Founder and CEO of Causemedia Group.
To help us get the word out there, please use the following hashtags: #whatgives and #refreshGary (more info on that here, thanks to Kevin Hendricks).
If you have no idea what SXSW is, then keep reading:
There’s no doubt South by Southwest is a major event: SXSW is the highest revenue-producing special event for the Austin economy, with an estimated economic impact of at least $110 million in 2008. With more than 1,400 performers playing in more than 80 venues around Austin over four days, SXSW Music is really why people come here. But over the years, SXSW Film has become one of the world’s premiere film festivals while SXSW Interactive has attracted a strong following among web creators and entrepreneurs. SXSW Interactive’s focus on emerging technology has earned the festival a reputation as a breeding ground for new ideas and creative technologies. Twitter launched at SXSW Interactive in 2007.
We’re helping out our friends at Project Kindle today by producing the live webcast of their Dance Marathon at UCLA. Dance Marathon at UCLA 2010 is the 9th annual event of its kind at the UCLA campus. Seeking to educate, fundraise, and spread awareness about the global pediatric AIDS pandemic, Dance Marathon unites over 3,000 students every year in Ackerman Grand Ballroom to literally take a stand against pediatric AIDS.
More information on the event can be found here. Watch the stream, chat it up & say hello. We’ll literally be here all night (did we mention it’s a 26-hour dance marathon?). This year, they raised $407,223.73
The EnviroSolve Corporation has tapped Radar to produce a 30-minute safety training video for the former Anaconda Copper Mine site in Yerington, Nevada which is going through a multi-million dollar cleanup.
The Yerington Site has more potential pitfalls than Raiders of the Lost Ark so it’s critical that all visitors to the mine go through some training before spending any amount of time on the site. The 30-minute training video will be available on the Radar website upon its completion in May. For more information on the site cleanup, click here.
Interthinx has done it again. This time with a quarterly newscast called “Fraud Bytes.” The newscast focuses on trending topics within the mortgage banking industry. Interthinx has made the newscast available via its website and on YouTube. Hosted by Interthinx’s Kristi Kennelly, the four minute newscast is another example of how companies & organizations are leveraging their expertise, experience, solutions and strategic use of media in order to reach more people online using new media. Interthinx has plans to produce four Fraud Bytes newscasts and four FHA webisodes in 2009. Interthinx has embraced this new media campaign because of its affordability, its quick turnaround and the ability to track click-throughs and web traffic via free services such as YouTube, Vimeo and Google Analytics. For a higher-quality version of the Fraud Bytes newscast, click here.
Interthinx recently premiered “Attack of the FHA Loan Files,” the first in a series of webisodes addressing the riveting details of FHA requirements. The webisodes, written by Interthinx and produced by Radar, feature clips from old movies that have been dubbed over with voice over talent. Radar will produce a total of 12 webisodes for Interthinx in 2009.
Interthinx doubled its website traffic on launch day, had one of their most successful mass email campaigns to date. Initial stats showed the webisode being downloaded and/or embedded more than 90 times with some users forwarding the link 20-80 times.
Interthinx is the nation’s leading provider of proven loan risk mitigation tools for the financial services industry.
A few months ago, When Derek Williams was making plans to produce the next album for Paul Stephens, we asked if we could stream the 3-day recording session live via a webcast. Weeks later, and with the help of Drew Lucas, our team was in the Firehouse Studios with Paul Stephens, Derek Williams, and the entire band to record Paul’s second album (due out in the Spring of 2009).
The entire process was made available to the world via a free webcast on ForgottenStories.org. Viewers could tune in and watch Paul as he tracked several songs, overdubbed with the talented musicians and tweaked the tracks as needed. And while the artists were busy in the studio, ForgottenStories.org was helping to raise awareness for the more than 14,000 families living in a city dump outside Metro Manila.
The 3 camera webcast features interviews with the musicians as well as special guests who have stopped by the studio to share what they’re up to. Drew was even able to stream to the webcast using his iPhone.
We’ve learned a lot from this webcast and I’ll be blogging about the do’s and don’ts of live multi-cam webcasting in the following days. In the meantime, stop by ForgottenStories.org and pre-order your copy of “The Invitation” DVD/CD today. You’ll be helping families living in extreme poverty.
The Human Resources department at Universal Studios Hollywood has tapped Radar to produce its 2009 Recruitment Video. The video will be featured on USH’s job recruiting website and will loop in the staffing lobby. Radar’s team is developing the script, filming in and around the theme park and CityWalk and editing the Hi-Def video which will be posted online in February. Here are some non-color corrected images from the employee interviews.
For those of you who have told us you’re wanting to utilize “new media” in 2009, this is for you. Here are FIVE tips for using new media for your company or organization this year:
1. Start using social media sites like Facebook & Twitter
New media means bringing your brand to where your users/customers hang out. So if your users spend most of there time on Facebook, you should have a Facebook group or page setup. It’s free and easy and there’s no reason why you can’t set this up right now. Twitter is another great example of how brands are connecting with their customers in an easy & free way (see Starbucks, CNN, Zappos, etc…). Start building your social equity (you’ll soon learn that it’s worth more than your financial equity). Want more on this? Watch this. And if you don’t like Gary, you’re not allowed to complain until you get 92 comments on a single post.
2. Blogging is good. Videos are better.
Don’t just have someone in your office type up a bunch of stuff (ie: cut & pasted press releases, links, memos, thoughts on this or that, etc…). A bulletin board blog is boring and so 2008! Buy a $200 Flip HD camera and start shooting little videos to post on your website or blog (then link it up on Twitter, Facebook & Vimeo and let others embed it on their sites. Make it viral!). Interview your CTO talking about some of the upcoming products that will revolutionize your industry. If you’re worried about competitors “stealing” your ideas, keep it vague. Have an expert within your organization (say your CEO or COO or SVP of Marketing) talk about trends, themes or challenges facing your industry today, how they got to be the CEO, funny stories along the way, what’s next. What plans do you have to keep your company “more green”? Or what are you doing to stabilize your company through these tough economic times? How do you plan to stay innovative this year? There’s a 100 questions you can answer with a short 20-30 second video (I suggest keeping them under 3 minutes). If you only did a video a week you’d have 52 videos! Not bad. Listen to the comments. Respond to them. Reshoot accordingly. Re-post quickly. If people want more of a specific topic or want you to answer a specific question, go for it. People want to watch your company vs. read about it. And don’t be afraid to post videos of your customers. Let them be a part of the organization too. Have them sign a standard release form if your legal team gasps at the idea (which they will).
3. Engage your audience
Give them what they want. If your customers want to see more before & after videos, post them online. Examples of how to do something. How to use your products. Features & benefits they never even thought about. Highlights from a recent event. A promo video for an upcoming event. A day-in-the-life-of a [fill in the blank] to show the “real” side of what it’s like to [fill in the blank]. Give your viewers creative ideas & solutions so they’ll keep coming back for more (Williams-Sonoma does this really well with both their online recipes and how-to videos). And for the love of God, please RSS your website. Don’t know what that is? Click here. Have your fans shoot their own videos and submit them for a 6-month contest. The winner gets a new (fill in the blank) and also gets featured on your website in the Summer. Make it last 1 year or do 1 every 6 months to give your staff a break (also a great way to build anticipation for the next one). Remember, these don’t cost much – they’re affordable branded entertainment.
4. Go mobile
This isn’t the technology of tomorrow. It’s happening today. Companies like Amazon.com and SnapTell have already launched their mobile apps for users to connect with their brand while on the go. Truth be told, I did about 75% of my Christmas shopping for 2008 from my iPhone using the Amazon mobile app. What inexpensive app can you create to help connect users with your brand or products? Maybe it’s your entire catalogue of products or a free estimate calculator or featured videos from #2 that are only available on the app. Or keep it simple and make it a “lite” version of your website so viewers can see pricing, products, locate your stores, etc… Remember: 27 loyal brand evangelists are 1,000% more effective than a million people who drive by one of your billboards. Viral = strategic > ad noise.
5. Build your database
When people visit your site, get them to register. Make it easy for them to sign up and DO NOT SPAM them. Use it to build your database. Use it for strategic partnerships. But don’t use it to blast out weekly or even monthly emails to your followers (unless they want that – giving your customers or loyal followers options is probably point #6 but we’d say keep it to 5). SPAM’d followers will opt out of your list, guaranteed. Be smart about it but most of all, DO IT!
If you’ve read 1-5 and you’re now saying, “Well, yeah. Duh!” Chances are you’re already using new media to build your brand and connect with your base. Good job! Keep it up and we’ll compare notes. Next month I’ll share some best practices from our clients who are now starting to see the benefits of using new media in 2008.
[image from Creative Commons by Michael(tm) Smith]
Dermcast.tv launched last week and is already receiving positive feedback from users who are calling it the “YouTube” for dermatology PA’s. The site, created by Radar, in association with the SDPA, is the only online media resource of its kind for physician assistants. As of today, the site features a few interviews with SDPA board members and founders, expert insight from well-known & experienced PA’s and man-on-the-street interviews with attendees of the 6th annual Fall conference in Tampa. With future updates, the site will feature PowerPoints from breakout sessions and keynotes as well as a library of podcasts from industry events and conferences.
Click here to see the podcast on iTunes.
Click here to visit dermcast.tv and click here to visit the SDPA.
Google has will be announcing a new 360 streetside view for Google maps at Where 2.0 today, says O’Reily Radar. The 360 views are a better version of Amazon’s A9 static panoramas. Google’s views let users virtually stand in the middle of any street, able to look in a full circle around the location, giving a better feel of the place you’ll be going. It will reportedly be available in Denver, Las Vegas, Miami, New York and San Francisco.
The imaging used in the new feature was collected by a company called Immersive Media, whose vans throughout these cities to collect the photos. You can see a demo here.
As mentioned in Cynopsis Digital, here are the top sites adults used to view video content online in 2006, from Piper Jaffray. The numbers represent the percentage of respondents who said they viewed video on these sites:
YouTube 43.5%
TV Network Sites 41%
Google Video 26.5%
MSN Video 24.5%
Yahoo! Video 22%
MySpace 16.5%
AOL 13.5%
Other 17.5%
[image used with permission from Creative Commons by Johan Larsson]
RG Entertainment has tapped Radar Creative to create a website, DVD and movie poster for Lucifer, a movie being produced & directed by Ray Griggs of RG Entertainment.
Some of Hollywood’s top “A List” players collaborated on the movie trailer including cinematographer Russell Carpenter, a well-known film scoring orchestra, Cafe FX and ADI. Griggs plans on shopping the DVD trailer around town in order to raise the necessary financing needed to film the feature length movie.
“Zoom-to-reveal” design (or ZTR as I’ll refer to it in this blog) is becoming more and more of a trend in the design world.
A few years ago, websites like Mapquest and Google maps introduced us to an old concept: zooming in to reveal more. You might be familiar with the work of Charles Eams and his Orders of Magnitude, but this concept of zooming in to reveal more information as it relates to the Information Age and not the Scientific World, is a newer concept. Let me explain.
With Google Maps, we can choose what information we want to see and on what level. You can choose Earth, continent, country, state, county, city, highway, road, sidewalk, ant… you get the idea. Stay at a higher elevation if you’re wanting to know where a person’s home is in relationship to the freeway; zoom in closer if you want to see where a person’s home is in relationship to the street (ie: end of the cul-de-sac, before the right turn, etc…).
So now companies are using this mentality with designing their sites. Stay at a higher elevation if you’re wanting to know where this company is in relationship to the industry (how do they compare with the other guys?); zoom in closer if you want to see where this company is in relationship to its clients (who are they working with?); zoom in even closer if you want to see where this company is in relationship to specific projects it’s producing (why are they different/better/smarter?).
The best example of this is Leo Burnett’s website: a creative ad agency in Canada. As you’ll see (after you’ve spent three hours of your life playing with their website), they apply this technique to their world quite brilliantly.
Another example I can’t cut & paste here is what TBS (a TV network in the U.S.) is doing with their graphics packages.
We found this website (browsegoods.com) — again, a perfect example of how ZTR is being used effectively in the design world.
What do you think? Is this just a fad or a new way of communicating in a visual world?
[image used with permission from Creative Commons by Yogesh Mhatre]
