Jeff Cutler

The Future of Digital Media. Content is Still King. Long live Content.

jeffcutler — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 00:51:52 +0000

Here's the second of two posts on the #branducambridge event at Ryles. Overall, most of the evening's panelists were focused on how digital is changing our lives and how technology and content will affect everything we do going forward. Our behaviors, consuming patterns and communication will eventually be the activity that changes how businesses approach and fete us in the future. Some more thoughts from the panelists...

Paid media has a role. Weber

Social media has changed the game by allowing a hidden world of what happens before news hits the air. Miller

Social media has transformed journalism. It's allowed different stories to be told. It's transforming storytelling. Miller

Social media is about getting people to recognize brands and drive sales - on the business side. Miller

Imagine if you got a tour through Santa's workshop. Social media lets you behind the curtain. Miller

Bad things about social. Sexting, cyberbullying. It's a different experience than what we had when we were young. Because it's so new...it becomes a little too naked. Miller

Just like life, you're going to have those evils. Weber

There's huge potential for using social media as a propaganda tool. Weber

Reinventing yourself is no longer possible because your social graph follows you through your life. Hewitt

Future is supporting video across platforms. Hewitt

While you were in line at the food cart, Web 3.0 showed up!

jeffcutler — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 00:13:37 +0000

What is Web 3.0? Tonight at Ryles Jazz Club in Cambridge, the folks at Millennial Branding put together a panel of marketers and media experts to discuss just that. We've all be inundated by the term Web 2.0 and if I hear "the Twitter" or "friend me on Facebook" again I might just lose my lunch. But I showed up tonight to see if the panelists could actually tell me what comprises Web 3.0 and if it's just another term for the newest of new media strategies.

According to the event's moderator - Tim Hare, Director of Events at Millennial - the panel was created not to focus on the broad definition of digital media, but to really explore how digital media and the strategies behind the use of digital will change the way businesses operate in the long run.

On the panel were Mike Proulx of Hill Holiday, Stephanie Miller of Triad Retail Media, Perry Hewitt of Harvard University and Larry Weber, Chairman of W2 Group. But their roles at these organizations is really what qualified them to speak to the room of 150 business professionals who paid $20 a head to attend. Miller was most recently with CBS as their director of digital media at WBZ Boston; Hewitt is the Chief Digital Officer for Harvard University; Proulx heads up digital strategy and media for Hill Holiday; and Weber started a digital agency 17 years ago when digital meant putting brochures online.

How do you watch TV?

jeffcutler — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 18:26:22 +0000

Whether you’re someone who sits on the couch with the cat or time shifts your entertainment and loads it onto your mobile device, technology has changed our TV watching.

These days - and maybe you already have one - there are Apple TV devices, Roku boxes, Google TV and many more so-called connected TV devices. And these types of technology have opened up the capability for people to enjoy their entertainment.

To that end, as I type this there are five entertainment and tech industry executives sitting in bar stools at the front of a Hill Holliday conference room in downtown Boston. These TV pros have their own opinions about how you should watch TV. Whether you believe them or step into line with their wishes is really up to you.

So who are they and what are they saying? On the panel are: Aaron McNally of Google TV; Anderw Kippen of Boxee; Greg RIvera of Xbox; Chas Smith of Roku; and Tara Maitra of TIVO.

When asked by Hill Holliday’s Mike Proulx, “Who are these devices for?” the panelist responded as follows...

Twitter and TV integration: Good or bad?

jeffcutler — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 15:27:50 +0000

Here are a handful of additional thoughts from today’s TVNext Summit at Hill Holliday in downtown Boston. Specifically, one of the hosts, Mike Proulx asked about the mindset behind using social media tools as an adjunct to TV entertainment. This includes Facebook, Twitter and other tools.

Here’s how the panel responded...

We Watch TV FIVE HOURS a Day on Average... WHAT?

jeffcutler — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 15:00:19 +0000

Covering technology events is a breeze, but sometimes - as with today’s #TVNext panel in Boston at Hill Holliday - you sometimes run into a challenge. Today's event is a challenge for me because I've already heard some astonishing facts and it's only 10AM. We now watch TV five hours a day, on average, in America.

Let me paint the picture and then I'll share where that five-hour figure came from.

Sitting on the 35th floor at a State Street high rise, about 100 or so broadcast pros, media reps, social media folks and marketing people have gathered to hear where TV is headed. Specifically, they are anxious to find out the new ways in which viewers consumer content and embrace entertainment.

Conference Half Over - Enterprise 2.0

jeffcutler — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 14:15:07 +0000

The Enterprise 2.0 Conference is still going on. The numbers jumped significantly from Monday to Tuesday and it's - in my opinion - pretty well attended now. That said, I did a quick eval of the conference through the Wednesday morning sessions.

Go read it here.

What events have you been to lately in town? Anything great coming up? Share in the comments.

Youth Voices Film Festival at MFA

jeffcutler — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 06:11:28 +0000

Want to buy a child? Seriously. It will only cost you a bag of millet. Leila was sold ... traded really. For a bag of food that would feed her family.

If you're not interested in purchasing a child, what about children who work as many hours a day as they are old just to support their family.

Teaching teachers social media and technology

jeffcutler — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 14:12:40 +0000

It seems like each four minutes there's a new event happening in Boston proper or across the river where I sit typing right now.

These events range from knitting circles to test drive tweetups, and the thing these events have in common is that they're increasingly organized via social media tools.

So imagine my surprise when I found out this morning in one of the first sessions at the Social Technology and Education Conference at Harvard University, that this very conference was completely organized without any traditional marketing.

Tiny scooters - big issues

jeffcutler — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 11:32:51 +0000

Scooters are cute and functional.

These little vehicles can transport people and belongings - albeit not many - great distances on very little fuel. They can navigate small areas and can be stored in a fraction of the space of a traditional car.

Best of all, they can be parked nearly anywhere so they have a positive impact on the municipal parking challenges most big cities face.

The cobbler's children - Tech conference Wifi access FAIL

jeffcutler — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 13:59:38 +0000

As mentioned in an earlier post, I'm covering the Enterprise 2.0 Conference at the Westin Waterfront Hotel. And the only reason I'm able to upload my stories to Universal Hub are the EVDO access I have on my laptop.

Enterprise 2.0 Boston - Another social media conference masquerading as a tech event?

jeffcutler — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 13:02:11 +0000

Having covered upwards of a dozen technology events in the past year, there's been one constant at each conference or seminar - each leans unabashedly toward the magic of social media tools and techniques.

As was true with the Cable show at the Hynes this winter, the buzz at Enterprise 2.0 is all about building communities, leveraging Web tools, and lowering the barrier to communicating with your chosen networks.

What's that mean?

It means that businesses, as always, are searching for the low-hanging fruit in their efforts to find new customers and build their company's success.

Mayor lacks common sense - needs French Toast Alert widget

jeffcutler — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 03:34:43 +0000

After hearing about cities all scurrying to cancel school tomorrow, I asked a few people what their towns were doing. One town government member - who declined to be identified or to identify his town - told me his mayor was being shortsighted and knee-jerkish.

According to my source, this Boston-area community has handled this first storm of the season with a complete lack of common sense. I've written a post over on my blog about the situation, and here's ~~an excerpt...~~the entire piece.

Car Show sputtering - Mid-day report

jeffcutler — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 00:19:08 +0000

If you're planning to attend the New England Auto Show at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center this weekend, I want to know why.

After spending a few hours at the show already today, I'm astonished at how subdued the dealers and the audience are. Spread out across the entire hall's ground level are nearly 40 brands of car from Aston Martin to Volkswagen and Volvo. But there are few people wandering around between the cars and there are even fewer booth staff.