Mike Maney

Author: Mike

  • 4 reasons why Flappy Bird was a hit

    If you haven’t been stuck under a rock for the past week, you know that the world has gone crazy for an app called Flappy Bird (which the developer suddenly pulled off the market for being too addictive). Heck, I was even quoted in USA Today on it.

    It’s rare that an app has the rocket-fueled, meteoric trajectory that Flappy Bird had. Which is why I think it’s important to look at the five reasons it was so successful:

    1. It required logging in with your Facebook account to give you a more social experience.
    2. It awarded prizes in Bitcoins for each level you passed.
    3. It encouraged continued play to unlock special in-app purchases.
    4. It focused on slick graphics instead of the game play.

    Sarcasm intended.

  • The Connected Car Cast 2-7-14

  • Starting out and standing out

    I’ve been very, very lucky throughout my career to study under some really smart people. But more than smart, they were generous. They took young flacks like me under their wings and taught us how to do PR right. They are a big part of the reason I try hard to pass down what I’ve learned to those just starting out in this profession.

    I’ve been an annual speaker at Rutgers and Trenton State (the college, not the penitentiary). And at the end of each talk, I make an offer to the students: send me your resume and I’ll comment on it before you send it off into the big, bad hiring world. It’s a way to help those who take advantage of the offer to stand out in a highly competitive and crowded field.

    This past week, Nicholas Intelisano reached out to interview me for a class project. He’s a student at Southern New Hampshire University taking my friend Jon Boroshok’s communications class (a decorated professor at that). The interview touched on what it was like starting out in the industry. Great questions and an engaging conversation. And, like always, I told Nick to send me his resume.

    He did. And it was a good one. Straightforward, clean, relevant background that showed me he wanted into this profession…despite what I told him I went through when I entered it 😉

    Nicholas Intelisano resume

    But there was something in Nick’s resume that made me wonder if it wouldn’t also work in a more creative, personal format. Yes, he’d still need the straight forward resume to submit to the HR and keyword bots, but…what about trying something like this:

    “My name is Nick Intelisano. I’m about to graduate from the prestigious SNHU school of communications this May — on the good side of the Dean’s list (and President’s list), not the Animal House side.

    Come May, I’d like to turn my vast years of experience as a professional PR intern into a full-time, ramen-flush gig. Actually, that’s not entirely accurate. What I really want is a foot in the door to start what I hope will be a long and successful career in PR. That’s where you come in.

    Over the past two years, I’ve gotten my feet wet at places like Regan Communications, Millennium Integrated Marketing and The Good Men Project. I’ve had hands on experience pitching stories, building social media calendars, monitoring and fetching multiple gallons of coffee (I waited tables to help pay for college, so that last one wasn’t that foreign). I’ve coached 4-6 year old children in pee wee soccer, so I’m well-prepared for the rigors of client relations. I’ve seen things. Things I won’t soon forget. Things that will come in handy should you give me a shot.

    Twitter, Facebook and Instagram? What self-respecting PR rookie isn’t steeply versed in navigating those communities? How about the requisite Microsoft Office skills and a dollop of Adobe Illusatrator? I’ve got them, too. Nouns and verbs? You can check out how I’ve used them as a staff writer for the Penmen Press student newspaper on my blog. Leadership? Bam! Founding member of the SNHU chapter of the PRSSA (though I’m less of a Bam! and more of hey-we-started-something-cool leader).

    If you’re looking for someone who wants into this business badly, I’m your guy. And I’m reachable at Nicholas.intelisano@snhu.edu.”

    So I ask you, my PR friends, any advice to give Nick as he tries to break into our ranks? Sound off in the comments.

  • Making bounces better

    Many of the companies I work with make things that ordinary people never see. Things like software that makes the cloud better or technology platforms that makes old cars smarter.

    Yesterday, Foundry Group — one of the most progressive and influential venture capital firms in the business — announced it was backing bounce.io as the lead in the startup’s Series A round of funding. Foundry was joined in the round by SK Ventures (Defrag’s Eric Norlin and economic savant/ladder enthusiast Paul Kedrosky).

    Bounce.io is an example of one of those invisible-hand companies. They make bounced email better. And they found a way to not only monetize the long-ignored, 30-year old problem, but also use it as an opportunity to reduce spam and increase digital security.

  • Do what’s right

    This morning, CVS/pharmacy announced it would take a $2b hit as a result of a decision to stop selling tobacco products in its stores. It’s a triumph for consumer health and a huge win for corporate public relations teams across industries.

    “We’ve come to the conclusion that cigarettes have no place in a setting where health care is being delivered,” he said. “Ending the sale of cigarettes and tobacco products at CVS/pharmacy is the right thing for us to do for our customers and our company to help people on their path to better health.”

    Why is it a PR win?

    Not for the obvious goodwill and media coverage (though it didn’t hurt). It’s a win because this is the kind of business strategy that goes against the conventional wisdom of every other division inside a company. It’s a win because it highlights the shift in today’s business environment.

    Companies are beginning to see that their customers expect more from the brands they do business with. They expect them to be and act bigger than the products they sell. Today, CVS/pharmacy did just that. It took a long term stand at the expense of short term profit.

    “Great companies take on the important challenges facing society.” – Richard Edelman

    People have asked me, “What is it, exactly, that PR does?” What I tell them is, despite its general perception, PR advocates for common sense.

     

  • 5 Tips: Starting out in PR

    5 Tips: Starting out in PR

    Paradigm Staffing’s Lindsay Olson recently posted a great question to Facebook:

    What is the best piece of advice you could give a new grad/entry-level looking to enter the PR profession? What do you wish you would have known when you started your career?

    I was lucky enough to start my career at one of the best shops and with one of the smartest teams in the industry: the corporate/issues team at Ogilvy & Mather (for those younger than me, that’s Ogilvy as in the David Ogilvy). Here are five of the nuggets of advice I contributed to Lindsay’s thread:

    1. Just get in the door. I started as an admin assistant for a top EVP at Ogilvy. You will see everything and be able to learn from it. Check your diploma at the door.
    2. If you aren’t a media junkie, become one. Everything from TechCrunch to WSJ to Politico to The Superficial. Make sure your knowledge of inane current events is a thousand miles wide.
    3. Blog. Get active on Twitter. Your peers — competitors — most likely aren’t. Companies hire humans, not resumes.
    4. Once you’re inside, take every opportunity that’s available to you. You can sleep* after you’ve made a name for yourself as a hard-working, get-it-done, creative team player.
    5. Make a list of all the free food, half-price drink happy hours around your new office. Trust me on this one. They money will come later.

    * I’m still waiting on the sleep part. Realize that the best in this business are always on.

    (Huge thanks to people like Henry Gomez, Steve Goodman, Ken Jacobs, David Tager, Russell Cheek ,Lisa Dimino and Brian Maloney for teaching me well.)

  • Awareness is not what you think it is

    Smart words by Seth Godin. Too often, companies get mired in a narrow mindset that awareness equals press. That may have been true in the heyday of trade and product media, but today awareness is so much more. It’s a powerful blog post that gets shared across multiple media and marketing channels, it’s the reach and immediacy of a single tweet from someone who sets the tone in an industry, it’s a library of content that influencers and customers use and share amongst those who don’t buy ink by the barrel or bits by the bucket.

  • 9 strategies feeding the Google mothership

    Yesterday, Google announced its intention to buy smart thermostat maker Nest for just north of $3 billion. The intersocialwebs went ballistic on the potential evil that lurks behind the drywall of a Google/Nest thermostat.

    Amidst the privacy panic were some who focused on the potential boon the Google/Nest connection could mean for the Internet of Things.  I tend to fall into this pint half full group (because, let’s be honest, even a half full pint is better than an empty pint…unless there’s another pint on the way).

    But I also think the Nest purchase signals something bigger and deeper in Google’s long term business world domination strategy.

    Pretend you’re Google for minute. Now imagine setting up what is arguably one of the most important and powerful companies in the world for the future. I’m talking about a future where code and connections are embedded in everything. A future where a company like Google has the power to turn all of those ones and zeros — however microscopic they may be — into information. What are the touchpoints you’d want to control? If you’re Google, you’re already telegraphing what those points are:

    • Design. The creme de la creme of design in tech is Apple. Know where Nest’s DNA comes from? Apple. The acquisition infuses ~100 Apple-level designers into Google’s less-than-Apple-like UI efforts.
    • Transportation. Driverless cars anyone? They aren’t just for mapping.
    • Energy. Nest becomes a pilot for larger industrial-level products.
    • Health. See Calico.
    • Communications. Not just phone, but lots of other devices powered by Android. And blimps.
    • Entertainment. Imagine YouTube with an iOS simple interface (no, not the abomination that is iTunes).
    • Commerce. Google Wallet. Will Square be next on the market? Coin?
    • Identity. Say what we will about Google+, there’s no underestimating the thundering momentum someone in Google’s position can create to drive adoption.
    • Knowledge. Each of these markets funnels data into what has effectively become the Internet’s brain. Watch for smarter search, and more widespread translation.
    What do you think? An accurate model of Google’s strategic structure moving forward?

  • Bad ideas are the good ideas

  • It’s all living