Snooki Shows Off Her BEARPAW Boots in Italy
Snooki and her favorite BEARPAW boots hit the cobblestoned streets of Italy in a new article on BEARPAWStyle, the online lifestyle and culture magazine of BEARPAW Footwear. The more the pint-sized star of “Jersey Shore” has been snapped by paparazzi in her beloved furry boots, the more BEARPAWStyle has come to wonder: if Snooki were to follow in the footsteps of other brand fans like Karina Smirnoff of Dancing With the Stars and design her own boot, what would it look like?
Read More »Raging Artist Allee Willis NY Times Feature Is the Tip of the Creative Iceberg
Songwriter, multi-media artist, set designer, kitsch collector, and director Allee Willis is one of the most interesting people I’ve ever met.
One might admire Allee simply for her dexterity in producing various multimedia projects under the title “Bubbles and Cheesecake,” via which she deftly handles composition (with singer-songwriter Holly Palmer of Gnarls Barkley), singing, drawing, animating, producing and directing. The lively songs and videos demonstrate Allee’s creative knack in full.
Of course, there’s always the fact that Allee’s songs — “September” and “Boogie Wonderland” by Earth, Wind & Fire; “Who Let In The Rain” by Cyndi Lauper and “What Have I Done To Deserve This” by the Pet Shop Boys with Dusty Springfield — have sold over 50,000,000 copies. In addition to her hit singles, she also co-wrote — with Brenda Russell, Stephen Bray and Marsha Norman — the soundtrack for “The Color Purple,” a musical produced by Oprah Winfrey that opened on Broadway in 2005. In 1995, Allee won an Emmy for “I’ll Be There for You,” the theme song from the popular television show, “Friends.”
Read More »BEARPAW Boots: Launch of BEARPAW TV Takes Brand to the City
November 3, 2010, Citrus Heights, CA – BEARPAW Footwear, the lifestyle brand founded by Tom Romeo in 2001, is venturing out of the woods and into the city, with the launch of BEARPAW TV, broadcasting original content and culture to a global audience. “With our commitment to quality and to ‘living life comfortably’, we’ve built a strong base among people who spend time outdoors in the mountains, hanging out looking fashionable in front of a fire in log cabins, and that’s certainly part of our message,” said Sr. VP of Marketing Randy McKinley. “At the same time, our fans now include everyone from Olympic medalists to Film, TV, and Music celebs reflecting popular culture in NY, LA, and everywhere in between. With BEARPAW TV, we want to spread the word that we’re a brand that embraces style without leaving comfort behind.”
Karina Smirnoff, Tahoe, and Beautiful BEARPAW Boots
Karina Smirnoff has captivated TV viewers with her footwork on “Dancing with The Stars,” and is about to captivate readers with a cover story in the May issue of Playboy. While her collaboration with BEARPAW on the Alyeska boot is proving to be hugely popular and garnering plenty of attention, the SLAM team is never comfortable sitting on their laurels (or anything else).
As such, the latest episode of BEARPAWtv combines breathtaking vistas with a case of cabin fever as it chronicles the travails of the ever-angsting Simon Rawley-Wells. The full story of the brand’s fall/winter photo shoot, in Simon’s own words, is posted on BEARPAWstyle.com. The shoot featured four models, including professional skier Caroline Gleich, who Simon had interviewed in Episode 6.
Union Editorial: Paul Plew on the Cutting Edge with SNL’s Bill Hader for Volkswagen
ContagiousLA: On SMO and Viral Content – Establishing Your Web Presence
You are a business, or you are working on behalf of one. You want to have a killer web presence to take advantage of the potentially captivate-able 2 billion Facebook users so that you can sell more stuff. No duh. You want to have content that turns strangers into friends and friends into paying customers. You want that content to travel, so your web video becomes viral video, you want to disseminate ‘awareness’ all over the internet, you want people talking about your brand as if you don’t just sell stuff. You want to plant a viral little seed that – through organic search traffic – grows organically into a rain forest! Let me guess, your budget for the gardener and the manure is not so big because you just aren’t convinced of the ROI yet. Let me give you some advice: build an I-Max theater.
What’s Really Scary this Halloween? My X!
Halloween just isn’t complete without a treat from Dean Karr! Fortunately, having recently joined Lemonaide Media, he’s helmed a multi-platform campaign for Seaworld Entertainment’s Howl-O-Scream at Busch Gardens Tampa, spanning TV, Web, and Print… So this Halloween, Dean, Lemonaide, Exec Producer Jeanne Mattiussi, and Producer Arthur Gorson wanted to share the broadcast spot “My X” and give you some family-friendly shivers!
What Happens in Vegas Ends Up on BEARPAW TV
BEARPAW TV is building up to something, as it follows dethroned and debauched BBC presenter Simon Rawley-Wells on his quest for artistic fulfillment:
Magic Las Vegas: Simon’s Identity Crisis (Episode 5)
The latest webisode takes Simon to Las Vegas, where he intends to drop by a BEARPAW mixer at the WWD Magic trade show. You know how it is in those casinos, though, and one thing apparently led to another, and another. He did make the party, though, in one piece, but in crisis.
Created by agency SLAM – Sportie LA Media.
Read More »Low Budget Spot Production: 10 Rules from ContagiousLA
There are very few secrets when it comes to pulling off a job with a small production budget. However, there are several ingredients which you cannot do without if you ever hope to pull of more than one of these babies.
1. It better be a good spot. If there is little money then you are probably under staffed and under-paying what staff you have. There might not be a credit roll at the end, but your crew wants to work on good stuff. They have feelings (and egos) too.
2. Make it fun. Again, if you pay people a lot you can arguably be a dick. If you have a low production budget, you better have 20 minutes of a stand up routine ready to go at any take 5 to inspire whatever shrapnel of passion you crew has for their job.
Read More »Social Media Agency Amplified State Cuts Through the Chatter
LONDON, October 6, 2009 – In a world where consumers actually create the message and rapidly share their knowledge and opinions, finding out what is being said about a brand, why, and by whom, is a complex yet extremely useful pursuit. “These conversations, whether they come from a blog entry or from Twitter, have turned the marketing process on its head,” said Spencer Friend, Founder and CEO of newly launched social media agency Amplified State. “The power has shifted to the consumer, and we’re respecting and utilizing that reality to the betterment of a brand.”
Brand marketing teams, investor relations, advertising, digital, PR/marketing agencies and consultancies will find Amplified State a valuable resource. Likewise, company stakeholders – employees, customers, business partners, suppliers, and shareholders – can all benefit from the research done by the company.
Amplified State provides measurement, insight and analysis of sentiment expressed through social media outlets such as blogs, social networks, forums, review sites and anywhere else that experiences and opinions are shared. “We make sense of all these discussions and draw vital conclusions that will help maximise our clients’ objectives as well identify potential opportunities,” explained Friend. “We also make recommendations on how to encourage more positive discussion as well as how to harness the power of a customer base through online brand communities and by creating their own user forums.
"What’s more, we can monitor and analyze what is being said on any video media on the net. This is very powerful and allows us to offer to our clients a full service of sentiment in any rich media format."
Through its bespoke services, Amplified State can offer its clients anything they wish to know from brand sentiment to intelligent market research about emerging trends. “While some are focusing their attention on measuring the effectiveness of a marketing or advertising campaign, we’re interested in the big picture,” noted Amplified State’s Head of Business Development Michael Goldman. “How many people view a video or visit a website is only part of the information a brand needs – we cut through the clutter. The substance of the comments is what directly or indirectly influences public perception and ultimately affects consumerism and stock-buying activities. A brand image now belongs to anyone who influences that brand – 1000 people blogging has a bigger impact than a corporate messaging campaign, and we measure the brand image on all of these tiers.” As Goldman explained, “It doesn’t matter who the individual(s) or group(s) are that are conveying their opinion or influencing sentiment. One fund manager can influence the financial brand with one blog with a much bigger impact than 1,000 consumers,” he said, adding that “the buzz created can come from anyone, anywhere, at any given moment, is key.”
Amplified State takes a scientific approach to analysis. In development for nearly two years, the company’s proprietary and independent software extracts key data from the various online outlets, and, using a mix of algorithms and human interaction, appropriated a value to data and stores it in a database. This data is then interpreted and converted into a reporting structure for Amplified State’s analysts to work on.
Once the information has been analyzed, Amplified State helps brands encourage positive sentiment and apply the research to improve its customer service, marketing, market valuation and its product. “Unlike focus groups, we’re basing our evaluations on actual conversations,” Friend said. “We are offering clients a clean and direct line to their audience.”
Goldman added that Amplified State and its technologies were designed to accommodate the full spectrum of client needs. “Our clients may be interested in investment analysis, PR checks, and so on, knowing not only what consumers think but what employees, vendors and associates are expressing about the company,” he said. “As such, they are presented with sentiment and insight against their own unique requirements.”
Amplified State launches with four divisions:
Metric Research – providing extraction and collation of consumer generated media, followed by measurement, insight and analysis of that data. This division helps the client’s internal marketing and communications teams to formulate their own strategic response to the conclusions drawn by Amplified State.
Marketing Strategy & Planning – providing more in-depth strategic planning assistance. Based on the client’s marketing and brand objectives, this division focuses on tactical areas, which aim to increase the amount of positive sentiment being generated online by Social Media (SM) users.
Buzz Maker – reaching out and seeding information about a new product or service, this division applies Amplified State’s knowledge and data to the marketplace.
Online Brand Communities – client linked sites that actually invite users and influencers to be involved with improving a brand’s offering. Be it improved customer services or new products, its the equivalent of having your customer database in your office telling you what and how to improve the company. Totally controllable and real research.
The first agency of its kind to open in Europe, Amplified State is headquartered in London, with strategic relationships in Europe, the Mideast, Africa, and New York. Amplified State currently is seeking investment in the company to take the software and operations to the next level of growth.
Management Team
Spencer Friend, Founder and CEO (pictured, right): Founder of Joyrider, which produces high-end content for commercials, music videos and other branded media. Spencer studied Management Sciences at UMIST Manchester, a leading UK research university with a reputation as one of the best business management courses in Europe. He went on to work in Agency Planning and Buying before being headhunted. Moving into producing, Spencer has worked in design, live action, animation and VFX supervision for film and TV. Developing directors’ careers and 
producing high-end campaigns for Orange, Playstation, BMW, Tesco and BT Spencer has a proven track record as an entrepreneur.
Michael Goldman, Head of Business Development (pictured, left): A leading sales executive, consultant and thought leader in the finance, asset management and software, Michael started out at NASA Ames. He brings 12+ years of consulting and software experience specializing in building new initiatives within large corporations or emerging start-ups. His strong customer centric background was leveraged by transitioning to Project Management at
NASA, continuing into Product Management at ActivIdentity, Product Marketing at Mercury Interactive, Sales at several Silicon Valley start-ups and starting a sole-proprietorship called MZG Information Technology.
Oliver Coey, Chief Engineer: An experienced web developer and database designer, Oliver forged his skills designing and implementing CRM solutions for WorldPay and South African Airways. More recently he has enabled businesses to maximize their customer management systems by designing specialized bespoke data driven websites including building a bespoke code for CS systems for the UK government, which integrates postcode matching to caller addresses. For Online Inventories he designed a bespoke online booking system that cornered the market and led to massive growth and expansion for the business.
Michael Brewer, Senior Analyst/Strategist: Michael has a passion for discovering what drives success in business and marketing, then helping organisations use the resources to meet their full potential. Over many years as an analyst, adviser and strategist he has worked across sectors with clients including BT, Lloyds, Daimler Chrysler, Royal & Sun Alliance, Microsoft and Reed Elsevier. He has researched corporate and consumer markets to seek out customer insights which form the starting point for building new products and propositions, such as preparing the strategy for Egg to enter the investment markets in France and Germany, its first move overseas. Other achievements include research and strategy development for Daimler Chrysler retail, contributing also to its turnaround and growth.
For more information, contact:
spencer@amplifiedstate.com
michael@amplifiedstate.com
+44 (0)207 183 7984
