Quote

"People who can put themselves in the place of other people, who can understand the workings of their minds, need never worry about what the future has in store for them."
Owen D. Young

Yoga in the Rotunda

Have you ever had a yoga class in a museum before? If not, head on over to the Brooklyn Museum this Sunday. In connection with the exhibition Vishnu: Hinduism's Blue-Skinned Savior, three yoga instructors will offer a series of workshops in the museum's rotunda. In addition, a tour of the exhibition will be provided before the workshop. Bring your own mats and enjoy!

BMW Guggenheim Lab

The BMW Guggenheim Lab launches in New York on August 3! Check out the site and FB for cool updates and more information on the project.

Seven Metrics

According to Geoff Ramsey and Vipin Mayar, the authors of a new book titled Digital Impact: The Two Secrets to Online Marketing Success, there are seven performance metrics that are important for performance measurement across digital channels. You can read more about the seven metrics on eMarketer and here.

Sponsorship Conference, IEG

IEG's annual sponsorship conference is coming up and it looks like a great one.

Overheard

Overheard from a tech EX: "The accelerators in my career were when I opened my mouth, the decerlerators were when I kept quiet."

Oh, there is more..."As long as when your mouth is open, the truth comes out."

Board Engagement

Crain's reported today that Alair Townsend, former publisher of Crain's New York Business has been appointed the president of the Greater New York Councils, Boy Scouts of America. She will be the first woman to head the Greater New York Council's board.

Charles Rosser, the CEO smartly states that the "days of not-for-profit governance, where people just join and help raise a couple of bucks, are gone. The environment nonprofits operate in now is too complex and the stakes are too high--board members have to be much more engaged than ever before."

It sounds like Ms. Townsend will face many challenges and opportunities in this role. According to the press release, the Boy Scouts need to find "new fundraising streams to meet a $10 million annual operating budget, 70% of which comes from corporate and individual donors."

Samsung Sponsors the Nam June Paik Exhibition at Tate Liverpool

I know I'm late on this, but I just read that Samsung is sponsoring the Nam June Paik exhibition at Tate Liverpool.



According to the official press release, "Samsung is to provide a range of innovative products to support Tate Liverpool in realising this ambitious display, including the latest blu-ray home cinema HD projectors and 3D enabled LED monitors, which will enrich and enhance the visitor experience. In addition, twenty-five Samsung personal MP3 players will allow the gallery to offer visitors an exclusive audio tour."



It isn't clear if Samsung is a cash sponsor or simply a product sponsor of the exhibition. Lets hope it's both.

Measuring Success Through Conversions

eMarketer has a good article today on the way that CMO's are measuring social media ROI. The good news is that marketers anticipate measuring success via conversion rather than number of fans/members.

It's all about the customer experience and the ability to listen to and engage with those who use/consume brands. Moving away from "pushing" and moving toward interacting and adding value to the experience.

Virgin Blue's John Borghetti Makes a Big Blunder

Before a major sponsorship announcement, you prep all the key players and then hope for a flawless delivery. Unfortunately Virgin Blue's John Borghetti made a huge blunder when he announced the sponsorship of five-time Olympic freestyle champion Ian Thorpe as “the man that will win many, many gold medals for Qantas." Yikes!

Yes, Mr. Borghetti formerly worked for Qantas for 36 years but he has led Virgin Blue for nearly a year. No excuses for this cringeworthy mistake.

Read more about the sponsorship announcement and the criticism of the partnership here.

$1 Million Grant from Kresge Foundation to Reinvent Museum Business Model

I am so pleased that a foundation has come forward with funding to help museums to innovate and create new business models.

In January it was announced that The Kresge Foundation awarded the Hancock Shaker Village a $ 1 million grant to innovate around a new museum business model. Read the press release here.

Super Bowl Without Denny's

There is a great article in AdAge about Denny's decision not to advertise in the 2011 Super Bowl.

I believe that the Super Bowl is a very expensive "one-hit wonder" that doesn't really add value to the customer experience.

A broad, multi-level strategy would be a more effective way to test and optimize key campaigns throughout the year.

The Large Logo

Did you know that in tennis, the Grand Slam rules dictate that logos on the front of the shirt cannot exceed four square inches? I had no idea until I read about a match delay at the Australian Open due to an oversize logo on the front of Ekaterian Makarova's shirt.

As reported on Yahoo! Sports:
"A fourth-round match at the Australian Open was delayed on Monday night when the chair umpire determined that a logo on the front of Ekaterian Makarova's shirt was too large and had to be removed. The 22-year-old Russian was warming up before her match against Kim Clijsters when umpire Mariana Alves noticed one of the logos and made Makarova leave the court to change.

When she returned, Makarova had changed into an identical dress that didn't have any attached logos. She began the match without them and then had some attached during changeovers in the first set. The offending logo was eventually moved to her right shoulder."

Great Entrepreneur

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