(The following post originally appeared on Below the Fold.)

"STORY" IS THE NEW "CONTENT."

As buzzwords go, story isn’t entirely bad -- for years I’ve pushed clients to be storytellers. I’ve berated the descent of story into a furtive sea of “content,” stripping all emotion from human pursuits.

So I’m good with story. But let’s be honest, success lies not in the idea but in the execution. And the truth is most brands will suck at storytelling.

Why? Because most brands won't do what good storytelling requires.

Stories – real, honest, emotional, transformative and inspirational stories – have conflict. They have villains. They have winners and losers. They have personality and flaws, great highs and severe lows.

In other words, stories have many of the things that brands don’t want anyone to know about. So the content – err, sorry, the “stories” they create – get sanitized. Every story ends with “and they lived happily ever after.” That’s great for fairytales but not for real life.

The non-fiction story about a company is inherently more interesting than any fiction created for the purpose of earning friends, followers and customers. It’s what has always worked for marketers and still does:

• Tell a great story
• Create emotional impact
• Embrace your friends and respect your enemies
• Acknowledge mistakes, then fix them
• Don’t ask for trust or loyalty, earn it

Notice I didn’t use the word “strategy.” That’s essential, of course, but too often companies create a strategy first, and then the story. A better approach is first to have a story – not a mission statement or a press release, but a real story. The strategy is the easy part.

Brands aren’t buildings and companies are not logos. There are human beings behind them all, not a great and powerful Oz.

Just tell us a good story, we'll listen. And if you still just want to produce “content” that's fine, as long as you keep calling it “content.” Leave story alone.

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For a summary of the panel and key takeaways, see the previous blog post from our CMO Margaret Molloy: How to Deliver with Digital: 8 Imperatives for CMOs.

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Last week, I convened and moderated a panel discussion on “Delivering with Digital” at the CMO Club Innovation Summit in NYC. The panelists were heads of digital at three of the world’s most iconic brands: 

• Linda Boff, Executive Director - Global Digital Marketing, GE
• Perry Hewitt, Chief Digital Officer, Harvard University
• Katrina Klier, Senior Director - Worldwide Digital Marketing, Microsoft.  

Our discussion traversed B2B, B2C, and non-profit models, and provided actionable insights and imperatives to inspire CMOs to enhance their commitment to digital marketing. Here are my key takeaways:

GE is one of the most valuable brands in the world and digital plays a key role in building brand reputation—it makes the company more approachable. GE’s social and digital content, programs, and team are renowned as best-in-class, and have recently received awards for their work on Instagram and Pinterest. GE takes a “stock and flow” (reference to Noah Brier work) approach to marketing via social media. “Stock” is traditional content marketing fodder, such as white papers and videos that have long shelf lives. “Flow” is content that is “lighter” and more perishable. GE deploys a combination of these two content types to engage its audiences.

Harvard University’s approach to digital marketing is centered on showcasing the breadth and depth of activities at the university. Award-winning Harvard.edu is a strong example of the “aggregate + syndicate = amplify” formula that the team follows. Harvard’s digital strategy emphasizes multimedia as a primary and not ancillary communications approach—the focus is on developing a content strategy that's platform-agnostic and connects with audiences where they are. The institution is adopting an approach that’s not only “mobile first,” but that also leverages location and alerts to take advantage of the channel’s unique capabilities.

Microsoft takes a quantitative approach to digital marketing, and the company recently undertook a digital impact research report on how individuals use technology to make purchase decisions. Partly as a result of this research, Microsoft’s OEM division places emphasis on search engine marketing (SEO). An important aspect of their strategy is content for partner co-marketing programs, and the OEM division is keenly aware of the interplay of content and context. Microsoft aims to reach buyers (partner firms and end-users of products that feature Microsoft technology) through a complete mix of channels—from search, to email, to community and social.

Eight Digital Imperatives for CMOs

Despite the diversity of their enterprises, our panelists advocated common approaches to digital that can be summed up in the below eight imperatives:

1. Adopt an agile marketing strategy. Have a strategy, execute swiftly, run experiments, measure, learn, and refine your approach.
2. Aspire to deep relevancy. Exploit the power of digital to listen to customers, advance your story-telling, target small segments, and “bring to life” your firm and its impact.
3. Focus on engaging content. Develop a range of content, be mindful of the context in which the consumer consumes it, and the shelf-live of the asset.
4. Deploy content across a mix of platforms. Customers move across platforms and screens—from social to mobile to web, your strategy should reflect your customers’ behavior.
5. Double down on mobile. Data on the adoption of mobile devices across every demographic means leveraging mobile is essential for reaching customers.
6. Emphasize transparency. Your customers already know, or can instantly ascertain, everything about your firm—honesty regarding your values, products and services is non-negotiable.
7. Understand the technology. Be active on the tools and platforms you are deploying (no excuses!) and hire a team that can look under the hood. 
8. Build a culture of digital fluency. Digital transcends the marketing team—communicate this view internally, measure and share the impact of your initiatives, and digital can be a firm-wide change agent and source of innovation. 

By appointing the senior digital leaders that participated on our panel, GE, Harvard, and Microsoft are demonstrating their commitment to digital as the way forward for their brands—digital is delivering for them now.  

Question: What imperatives or advice would you add to the list? What commitments are you and your firm making to digital this year?

Post by Margaret Molloy, CMO, Velocidi. Follow her on Twitter: @margaretmolloy

For additional coverage of Velocidi's Delivering with Digital panel, visit thecmoclub.com

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Digital marketing agency to host panel discussion on delivering with digital and announce a new CMO Club community platform at the CMO Innovation Summit, April 26 - 27

New York, NY—April 26, 2012—Velocidi, a next generation digital marketing agency, today strengthened its relationship with The CMO Club during the Club’s spring New York CMO Innovation Summit, by hosting the panel discussion “Delivering with Digital,” and announcing the new, next generation thecmoclub.com.

Click here for select photos from the event.

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On March 20, Velocidi and the New York American Marketing Association (NYAMA) hosted the event, What Every Marketer Needs to Learn from SXSW 2012, in Velocidi's NYC offices. More than 40 marketers attended the event.

Straight off the plane from SXSW Interactive 2012, David Dunne, Founder and CEO of Velocidi, discussed the trends, ideas, and technologies emerging from the event. Guest panelist Julie Fajgenbaum, VP of Brand and Social Media for American Express OPEN, spoke about the AMEX presence at SXSW this year, and the relevance of SXSW to major brands. Click here for an excellent recap of the event, posted by the NYAMA.

Photos from the event are posted here.

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On Friday, March 16, Velocidi and The CMO Club hosted the event "What Every Marketing Leader Needs to Know about SXSW 2012" at the Velocidi offices in NYC. 

Fresh off the plane from SXSW Interactive, the Velocidi team and Pete Krainik, founder of The CMO Club, discussed the technology and ideas emerging from SXSW and their implications for marketers. This is the second year that Velocidi hosted an event on this topic. More than 30 CMOs and senior marketing leaders attended and participated in the conversation. Click here for select photos from the event.

Did you attend SXSW Interactive 2012? What were your key take-aways?

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Last year I attended the South by Southwest Interactive Conference and Festival (SXSW) for the first time. My goal was to gain insight into the emerging technologies and platforms that Velocidi clients could apply to their marketing strategies. I was amazed by the sheer number of panel discussions, meetups, parties, and volume of content—the experience was both exhilarating, and a whirlwind. Beyond the content (though not unexpected) I found the event to be an excellent opportunity to connect with new people.

I  am returning SXSW this year with the same mission, and a few tactics to maximize my time there, meet the most people, and make the most meaningful connections. For those of you attending this year, I’d like to share some tips:

Do your home work: If you want to meet existing connections at SXSW, update your LinkedIn status to let others know you are going to SXSW and would like to meet others attending. Check out Q&A platforms like Quora to get perspectives on top sessions and themes. Pose or answer questions on these platforms to raise your visibility. Post your itinerary on Plancast so that other attendees know you're there.

Be purposeful: SXSW is vast. To optimize your participation, you need to be clear on your goals and priorities.  Is your goal  to get perspectives on the latest in digital marketing? Is it to connect with new people? If it is content, you’ll prioritize attending the sessions. If your goal is to connect with people, you may choose to spend more time at the parties or in the hallways. Know your goals, the best way to achieve them at the event, and plan accordingly.

Be a connector not a networker: Malcolm Gladwell defines connectors as people who know large numbers of people and are in the habit of making introductions. Personally, I aspire to being a connector and I’m skeptical of people who use “network” as a verb. This connector mindset allows you to consider the indirect as well as the direct links with people you met at SXSW. 

Focus on the relationship and follow up: While relationship building takes more time that a brief meeting at a SXSW party allows, the longterm view of your fellow attendees gives you “permission” to genuinely engage them without fretting about how they can help you tomorrow. How many times have you had a compelling conversation with someone at an event and neither you nor they have followed up? Connect on LinkedIn immediately, and Twitter. If you said you’d send more information or make an introduction, keep your promise.

Ditch the ones you’re with: It’s tempting to spend the days and evenings with coworkers and friends that traveled with you. Resist. Be sure to check in with each other and share perspectives on the event, but resolve to spend  as much time as you can muster meeting new people. Note: You may want to communicate this approach to your friends before SXSW or risk irritating them.

Find an app (or 10) for that: If you use Foursquare or Facebook it makes sense to checkin as you move between sessions or parties. Expect attendees this year to also be using a new “ambient awareness” category of socially in-tune, location-based applications (I’ll be exploring Banjo, Glancee, Highlight, and Sonar). Ambient awareness apps aim to help you discover friends, friends of friends or strangers who share similar interests and are in your vicinity. Use these apps to your advantage, but don’t forget to look up from your mobile device to meet people face to face. 

Have a clear ask and know your answer: When I meet a new person I often ask: "How would I recognize a valuable opportunity or contact for you if it entered the room?" Surprisingly, few people have a clear, memorable answer. This is a great question to ask others to determine how to be a valuable connector for them, and a vital one to know the answer to yourself. When you can communicate the profile of the right opportunity or connection, you position yourself for high-impact introductions.

Be confident but professional: The way we ask for introductions or any follow-up matters. Asking for an introduction as a favor in an apologetic tone perpetuates weakness instead of highlighting the mutual value of a relationship. Asking with an air of entitlement is off putting. Focus on win-win opportunities and know that not all asks make mutual sense, at least not at that particular moment.

Be visible and generous with social media: Almost everyone at SXSW (and many remotely) are watching the Twitter stream surrounding the event. Tweet from the sessions to increase your visibility. (You have your picture on your Twitter profile, right?) Remember to retweet others and follow attendees you want to meet. And always thank followers for retweets.

Ask more questions than you answer: Curiosity is your best friend at SXSW. With so many changes in technology and business models, it is impossible to have answers to all the key questions. Your ability to frame the right questions is the best indicator of your ability to give and get the most from SXSW.

Prepare to disengage, gracefully: With so many people to meet, time is your most precious resource at SXSW.  Aim to leave conversations politely. A graceful phrase to use: “It was great to meet you. Enjoy the rest of the show”. If appropriate, reiterate that you look forward to following up with a connection, or on another topic you spoke about. If desired, pass along your business card. Yes, many people at SXSW still use them.

Fresh connections propel our networks and keep them fluid. SXSW is a special environment for building connections with fascinating and diverse people. 

Post by Margaret Molloy, CMO of @Velocidi. Follow Margaret on Twitter, where she’ll be tweeting live from #SXSWi - @margaretmolloy

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Now Facebook not only tells us what’s going happen, they have day-long events to educate and court marketers, as evidenced by last week’s Facebook Marketing Conference in New York City. And make no mistake:  Facebook is all about marketing now. This isn’t a bad thing or a good thing; it’s just the natural order of things. Welcome to adulthood, Facebook.

But perhaps the clearest sign of Facebook’s power is that the decisions Facebook makes as a business have far-reaching implications for other businesses. What Facebook did last week was nothing short of making every other company that wants to advertise on the platform rethink its own business model, not to mention forcing them to dedicate more resources (i.e., money) to “content development” and engagement.

There are three key reasons why Facebook now matters more than ever to brand marketers:

1) A Tougher Sell: Facebook is rolling out more paid products, but the format will make it harder for brands that don’t have compelling stories or “content” to share – harder still for those who just want to sell you something. I’m fine with the latter, as I’d rather have a brand be honest about the fact that it just wants me to buy something vs. a brand that tries to tell me a “story.” Regardless, some brands will need to change how they connect with customers, which leads me to reason number two...

 2) No More “Random Acts of Content”: The Timeline format places storytelling and a new narrative structure, the “layered narrative,” front and center – brands can no longer get away with pushing random and reckless pieces of content through the channel.

Layered narratives allow space for interaction, sharing, collaboration and contribution. Every unique layer makes the source material stronger and the story more engaging. Many brands, however, haven't done this very well. The “early days” of social media marketing -- you know, 2005 or so -- saw brands simply putting their commercials on YouTube or posting press releases on their blogs. The "stories" were meant to be consumed, not shared. Narrative became lecture and story became content.

 The digital world expanded but how brands approached this new reality did not. Facebook is now forcing the issue by treating all content – whether a traditional display ad unit or a comment in a new feed – as related chapters in an overall and evolving brand story.

3) End of the “Ownership” Debate: It’s the number one issue inside most companies and agencies – who “owns” social? Is it PR or Marketing? Is it corporate or the business units? The product teams or the customer service folks?

 I’ve said for years and to deaf ears that no one function can “own” social media any more than someone can own the air you breathe. And now Facebook has made it official.

With premium advertising now originating from the brand page, it’s essential that earned, owned, paid and shared media are closely coordinated. Think about it: Facebook page community managers create content but are not the same people who create or buy ads – but ads are now, well, “content.” At the very least these two groups need to talk to each other.

PR, marketing, customer service, creative, product, analytics, corporate – everyone needs to work together or the results will suffer. New models and processes will be needed – for example, creating an “audience engagement team” with people from all these areas represented and led by a “quarterback” who calls the plays and ensures that the team plays as one cohesive unit. There will be many new approaches I’m sure, but what’s clear is that the days of the marketing and PR “silos” are over.

One Reason Why the New Facebook Shouldn’t Matter to Marketers at All

Rock was right – you don’t deserve credit or kudos for things you are supposed to do. So why should we praise brands who, thanks to Facebook, are now dedicating themselves to having deeper relationships with their customers?

I have a question for every brand marketer on the planet: Are you so out of touch with the digital consumer that you needed a technology company to teach you how to talk to your own customers? Really?

You needed another company’s advertising products to convince you to tell real stories and connect with your customers? And now you want credit as an early adopter and trailblazer? You’re kidding, right?

Brands should have been doing this anyway, Facebook or no Facebook. The unfortunate reality, however, is that Facebook’s decision to change its own business model will result in a lot of crap being produced, as everyone will try to become a content marketer, err, I mean “storyteller” now.

Do yourselves and your customers a favor: Don't make the new Facebook a clarion call for creating content, make it a wake-up call for getting back to the basics of listening, learning, and communicating with people as people, not as data.

 Do this not just for Facebook or because of Facebook – do this because it’s the right thing to do.

Post by Gary Goldhammer, EVP at Velocidi. Follow Gary on Twitter: @g24khamr 

This article is the second part of a two-part series. For Part One, please read "A Brief Explanation of Facebook Brand Pages" by Kate Donahue and Maggie Hilliard

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Facebook recently launched new brand pages, and they contain some interesting new features for brands. 

You'll see an example of the new brand page layout below -- we're using ESPN as an example because we think they've done a good job of utilizing the new platform. We've highlighted key areas in red. These include:

• Page Likes and Talking About This metric are now more prominently featured
• Brands now have an option to add a cover image
• Users can privately message the brand (the user must initiate)
• Tabs prominently featured

The page itself is almost identical to Facebook's recent updated individual profile pages, although user-contributed posts are aggregated and relegated to a box on the right-hand side of the page. Brand pages now highlight posts made by a user’s friends, surfacing them to the top of the timeline.

A key new feature of these brand pages is the ability to highlight select posts. This action expands the view of the content and pins it to the top of the timeline, making it more prominent for a longer period of time. You can see an example on the Windows page, as they used it to announce the Windows 8 Consumer Preview.

Along with the new brand page comes an updated admin panel. Features include:

• Notifications
• Message inbox with preview
• New page likes
• Insights for Talking About This and Reach (covers the past 28 days)

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Google’s mission is simple, bold, and in the annals of silicon culture, tantamount to sacred gospel: “Organize the world‘s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” 

Today, however, there is a New Testament being written: “Organize Google’s information about the world and make it selectively accessible and mostly useful.”

Okay, not as sexy. But in light of Google’s new focus on social results born from its own Google Plus product, this New Testament is arguably more accurate.

No longer Google Search, but Google’s Search. Not Google results, but Google’s Results. No longer the Web, but Google’s Web. 

Google used to be a Web search site. Now it’s becoming an App. And not just any App, but a Super App that pulls you into Google’s Web with an insistent gravity. 

Google calls its New Testament “Search Plus Your World,” delivering results from Google Plus pages and profiles more prominently than other Web properties like Wikipedia. This is supposed to make search more personal and relevant – who you know and what your friends like, or share, or do, will have a greater influence on what you see in your search results. 

Personalization is hardly new (neither are the inevitable privacy concerns, which go hand in hand.) A personal Web is generally good, faster and easier to use. The “Semantic Web” envisioned by Tim Berners-Lee is today ever more possible, that dream of search delivered according to each person’s interests and desires, by computers that “learn” from us, understand us and make choices on our behalf. 

But Google the App -- far more so that Google the Web site -- also runs the risk of making Search more exclusive and incomplete. One person’s customization is another’s exclusivity. Choices made for us, however well intentioned, are not always the best choices for us. 

Google’s search gambit is much broader than Google of course – “aggregation” or “curation” or whatever the ridiculous made-up-name it’s called these days is all over the place, most notably on social platforms like Twitter and Facebook. 

The difference is, when I’m using Twitter, I’m making the choice to curate content. I know that searching on Twitter gives me results from and favored by Twitter.

But for now at least, I can’t get results from Facebook or Twitter via Google (although the latter has been true for months.) And as mentioned earlier, results from the rest of the open Web are favored less than results from Google properties. 

This is Google’s right. It’s a for-profit company and can do whatever the hell it wants, and what it wants is to secure more ad revenue and expand its own social network and services (preferably before Facebook goes stratospheric with its impending IPO.) 

The rub is that Google changed the game first and then told everyone the new rules. Google went from giving us information about the world to giving us information about “our” world, provided our world includes a Google Plus account. 

It’s too early to say whether this is bad, but it’s certainly different and should not be automatically assumed to be better. Search is done best with your eyes wide open, and the commercial aspects of Google’s New Web Order should be taken into account when deciding what to click. 

For companies like Google, data is a conceit; but humans are far more complex than the data they create. This is why a Semantic Web is the Internet’s Holy Grail – we want and believe it to exist, despite the fact that we may never find it. 

Whether Google’s Web is another step toward that discovery remains to be seen, but one thing is certain: The Web of Apps is here. 

Post by Gary Goldhammer, EVP - Client Service at Velocidi. Follow Gary on Twitter at  @g24khamr and on his blog "Below the Fold."

This post is part of a two-part series. For part one, read "Google's 'Search Plus Your World' Explained" by Velocidi's Director of Technology, Ovi Roatis.

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Google recently added features to its search algorithm connected to Google+, the company’s social network. The features include:

• Personal results – This extends the search for a specific term deep into content shared by your Google+ friends, followers or brand pages you are connected to; locations visited by your friends; pictures containing tags related to your search that were taken by your Google+ friends, and so on. The example below shows a couple of result pages -- note how the returned results relate to me via my friends:

• Profiles in search – This is the ultimate vanity search. It goes through Google+ and all the rest of the web, displaying a blueprint of the person’s digital activity.
• Related people and pages – This brings up Google+ members and brand pages that are related to the search terms. These are not necessarily accounts that you are connected to, but if there are any relevant ones that are in your circles, they will appear at the top.

So, what does all this mean for marketers? It changes the whole idea of SEO and shifts attention towards social. At a tactical level, it means that, as a brand, if you have a Google+ presence, your name has a better chance of appearing on that golden first page of Google searches. And if people are talking about your brand, what they are saying will have a better chance of appearing within that first set of results. 

It will take a while to reverse engineer the new algorithms, but once we do, we will have a much better idea as to how we can leverage this new search paradigm for better marketing results.

What’s clear now, however, is that Google wants to push its own network. While we can hope that eventually Google will find a way to incorporate all relevant chatter into the results, including Facebook and Twitter, from a technical perspective it’s pretty easy to do – in fact, we’ve already done it. 

Introducing NoisySearch

Below is a link to a simple Google Chrome Browser extension that allows you to expand your Google searches into you Facebook stream. Oh, and it also works for Bing. 

Check it out here – and let us know what you think!

Post by Ovi Roatis, Velocidi's Director of Technology. Follow Ovi on Twitter: @oviroa

This article is part of a two-part series on Google search. Check back later this week for the second post in the series, from Velocidi's EVP of Client Service, Gary Goldhammer.

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The blogosphere, conferences, and boardrooms are replete with discussions about the evolution of marketing and the role of the marketer in this digital age. The dual obsessions of engagement and content are fueling the debate. In the midst of so much research and conversation, it is easy to lose sight of the anchors of the marketing profession－influence and persuasion－and how to deliver the right content at the right time, to achieve those aims. 

Applying a framework that maps actionable marketing content to each stage of a Buyer’s purchase journey, enables Marketers to take a strategic approach to developing influential and persuasive content－and delivering it to achieve maximum impact.  A powerful methodology we employ is the Context + Content Template. 

Content Needs Context 
The targets for any marketing initiative typically fall into two camps: Decision Makers and Influencers (let’s call them both “Buyers” for this exercise). To influence and persuade Buyers, many Marketers aspire to be content  publishers－content fuels search, creates Buyer urgency, and inspires engagement. 

Buoyed by this imperative to create content, many Marketers neglect context.  A frequent temptation they succumb to is focusing on the tasks of content creation without a content strategy and specific goals for each asset. Focusing on Buyers’ goals for each stage of the purchase journey brings clarity, purpose, and relevance to content. 

The Context + Content Template
I've found this template to be a practical and universal way to structure content creation goals as they relate to Buyer goals and context. How it works: 

1. Purchase Stages: The Buyer moves through four purchase stages: Awareness, Consideration, Decision, Advocacy.
2. Buyer Goals: At each purchase stage the Buyer has specific business goals. For example, during the Consideration stage, the Buyer’s goal is to vet options.
3. Marketing Goals: The Marketer’s opportunity is to develop goals that map to the Buyer’s goal at each purchase stage. For example, during the Consideration stage, the Marketer’s goal is to educate the Buyer, and provide thought leadership that influences the Buyer’s vetting process.
4. Digital Content: The Marketer now creates content relevant to each stage. The question that informs the selection of content assets for each stage is: What combination of content, form factors, and channels best enable the Buyer to accomplish his/her business goals for each purchase stage? For example, during the Consideration stage, high-impact content may include infographics, blogs, and product demonstrations to educate the Buyer. 

Key considerations to maximize applicability:

• Quality: Quality must not be neglected. Great content tells a story, educates, or entertains Buyers. 
• Segments: Marketers benefit from developing a Context + Content Template for each segment or Buyer persona.
• Time and Planning: Creating an editorial calendar that maps the assets to creation dates addresses the timing for content delivery.
• Analytics and Measurement: Marketers can leverage technology to quickly assess the impact of each asset (e.g., downloads, comments, sales enablement, pipeline acceleration).
• Alignment: The template enables Marketers to align with Sales, Products, and other internal constituents on content creation.
• Balance: Marketers that start the mapping exercise often realize that their content plan is out of balance－typically with disproportionate resources dedicated to early stage of awareness, while content that empowers customer advocacy is conspicuously absent. The Context + Content Template exposes gaps and drives priorities for Marketers.
• Iterative: The customer path is less linear or more iterative in this digital age. However, this template is a starting point, and can be built upon as marketers increase their understanding of Buyer behavior.

There is no question that purposeful content is a powerful way to influence and persuade Buyers. The Context + Content Template enables marketers to take a strategic approach to developing and delivering content within a context that matters to Buyers—building enduring relationships, and offering actionable customer insights.

What do you think? How have you deployed content for maximum Buyer impact?

Post by Margaret Molloy, CMO, Velocidi. Follow her on Twitter at @margaretmolloy

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There’s a little-known scene in the movie “Star Trek: First Contact,” where Lt. Commander Data, an android, observes Captain Jean-Luc Picard touching the hull of an historic spacecraft. The captain smiles and taps the ship with his bare fingers, to which Data asks, “Sir, does tactile contact alter your perception of (the ship)?”

“Oh yes,” Picard says. “For humans, touch can connect you to an object in a very personal way. It makes it seem more real.”

Data then touches the ship himself, and says,” I am detecting imperfections in the titanium casing. Temperature variations in the fuel manifold. It’s no more real to me now than it was a moment ago.”

Data’s reaction is similar to how many of us interact with both objects and information today. More and more, our “things” are trapped under a layer of glass. We can “touch” but we can’t always feel. We live our lives from screen to shining screen.

It's a digital world – and overall, it’s a far better world. But digital should enhance physical experiences, not replace them or separate us completely from what makes us human.

This is why I believe it’s time to make a place for real objects and real connections. It’s time for a truly disruptive technology to bring us back to our senses.

It’s time for paper.

No, I’m not joking. And no, I’m not just an old journalist pining for the days of picas and ink-stained fingertips (okay, it’s true I’m old, just not insane.) There is a place for paper in a digital world, because although all information will soon be converted into bits, human beings are still made of atoms.

Our sense of touch and its emotional resonance is unique from other animals. Paper transmits feeling in ways screens can’t begin to deliver. Paper is far from perfect, but it’s more than ready for a renaissance.

Despite the meteoric rise of e-books, the largest growth is in the print-on-demand sector, increasing 169 percent in 2010 and even greater in 2011. Lulu.com, a leading print-on-demand press, expects $40 million in revenue this year, up from $34 million in 2010.

And investor Warren Buffet’s latest purchase? The Omaha World-Herald, a newspaper. Said Buffet, “I wouldn’t do this if I thought this was doomed to some sort of extinction.”

I’m being a bit overly persuasive – of course paper will never be what it once was. This shift to digital didn’t start with the iPad or Kindle either, remember LexisNexis in the 1970s?

But we have reached the point where paper is again disruptive, and when incorporating paper or print into communication can set you apart as an innovator rather than make you appear old fashioned.

Access to information should not be confused with connection to that information. Commander Data from Star Trek was able to access information about the spacecraft, but he couldn’t connect with it in the same way as Captain Picard.

The key question we must ask ourselves is should traditional mediums transition to digital, or should digital technology serve to enhance and improve traditional experiences and interactions? Can we live a life under glass, or do we need to get out once in a while?

Written by Velocidi's Gary Goldhammer. Find him on twitter @g24khamr and on his blog: http://belowthefold.typepad.com.

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CMO Club TV posted video of Velocidi's "Driving Relationships and Revenue With Digital" panel discussion from the CMO Club Thought Leadership Summit in October.

The panel features insights from: Brian Ellefritz, VP of Global Social Media, SAP; Wendy Newman, SVP of Marketing, AMN Healthcare; Esmee Williams, VP of Marketing, Allrecipes.com; and Margaret Molloy, Chief Marketing Officer, Velocidi (Moderator).

Click here for the video.

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Velocidi CEO David Dunne and Director of Technology Ovi Roatis are featured contributors in Clickable's recently released whitepaper, The Insider's Guide to Facebook Pages. The paper offers insights into Facebook's role in the digital marketing ecosystem, and provides expert tips on Facebook strategy for businesses. Here is an excerpt:

Introduction: Facebook Pages and Many-to-Many Marketing

Facebook is more than just another channel where businesses can reach their audience. It represents a fundamental shift in the way marketing is conducted. David Dunne, a longtime executive at Edelman Digital and founder of Velocidi, a next-generation digital marketing agency, explains how brands have moved from "pyramid style" marketing - a few people distributing messages to the many - to a model with thousands of participants. "The Increasingly digital world we live in has forced B2B and B2C brands to think beyond their traditional marketing - where a few people decide the brand messages their audiences receive - to programs and campaigns that originate with and revolve around the audience's digital life. Facebook is one of the important aggregators of these audiences. For many brands, there is nowhere else on the Web where you can collect as large of an audience."

Thanks to our friends at Clickable for giving us the opportunity to contribute to the guide. Click here to download the full version.

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Velocidi hosted its fourth Salon Series event on the topic The First 100 Days, featuring Maryam Banikarim, CMO of Gannett Co., Inc. During the event, Maryam spoke to more than 30 senior-level marketers and business leaders on the key milestones and challenges of the first 100 days in a marketing leadership role. Click here for photos of the event.

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MaryLee Sachs, author of The Changing MO of the CMO, posted a nice recap of our CMO Club Thought Leadership panel, "Driving Relationships and Revenue with Digital." Click here to read the post.

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B2B and B2C panelists to share digital perspectives

New York, NY—October 5, 2011—Velocidi, a next generation digital marketing agency, today announced that it will host the panel discussion, “Driving Relationships and Revenue with Digital,” on October 5 at the CMO Club Thought Leadership Summit in Los Angeles, CA. The panel will examine how B2C and B2B brands are building client relationships using digital tactics, and ultimately driving revenue. The panelists include:

- Brian Ellefritz, VP of Global Social Media, SAP
- Wendy Newman, SVP of Marketing, AMN Healthcare
- Esmee Williams, VP of Marketing, Allrecipes.com
- Margaret Molloy, Chief Marketing Officer, Velocidi (Moderator)

“We are thrilled to be the exclusive digital agency sponsor of The CMO Club Thought Leadership summit, and to host this esteemed panel,” said Margaret Molloy, CMO of Velocidi. “The Summit provides a premier forum for many of the world’s most thoughtful and forward-thinking CMOs. We’re excited to convene this panel on such an important topic, as CMOs continue to determine how to measure the impact of their digital initiatives.”

“We’re thrilled to once again partner with our friends at Velocidi,” says Pete Krainik, Founder of The CMO Club. “Their work and relationships with some of the world’s leading B2B and B2C brands gives them unique insight into the digital challenges CMOs face. We’re looking forward to their participation in The Summit, and another provocative and engaging panel discussion.”

About Velocidi
Velocidi is a next-generation digital marketing agency that helps clients engage audiences across platforms. We provide complete digital services—including web presence, apps, search, mobile, social, and advertising programs—anchored in rigorous strategy and breakthrough creative. The agency was established and is staffed by digital industry veterans who have been pioneering the industry since 1994, and are responsible for some ofthe most successful digital marketing campaigns of the last decade. www.velocidi.com

About The CMO Club
The CMO Club was created for the unique purpose of bringing chief marketing officers together in a private, exclusive environment of openness, and contribution that enables them to become better leaders, marketers, and deal makers. Tailored exclusively to top marketing executives, this club hosts dinners and events, shares reports and research from leaders in the marketing industry, and leverages the first online community for "CMOs only" for sharing ideas, helping each other, and serving as a resource for CMO career opportunities. The CMO Club was founded in 2007 by seasoned marketing executive Pete Krainik and currently has more than 700 members. www.thecmoclub.com

Velocidi Contact:
Christopher Stella
646-439-0350
christopher.stella@velocidi.com

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On September 15, Velocidi hosted its second Salon Series event on the topic The Trends That Will Define Your Success in 2011, in its San Francisco office. During the event, Jeffrey Hayzlett, former CMO of Kodak and author of The Mirror Test, addressed more than 30 senior-level marketers and business leaders on the opportunities and challenges that they will face in the coming year, and facilitated a provocative and engaging peer-to-peer discussion. The Velocidi Salon Series is a quarterly event that aims to address essential topics for CMOs and senior-level marketing professionals. Click here for photos. 

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