Having had the privilege of working at Wieden & Kennedy in Portland for several years on Nike, there’s little else that I could offer that has more value than the insights of Dan Wieden himself. We celebrated the 30th anniversary of Founder’s Day last weekend, and over 1500 employees gathered for a fantastic love fest that is, again, a function of Dan and Dave’s inspiring leadership.

To achieve such unparalleled worldwide creative success is extraordinary. To create a corporate culture that inspires such zealous devotion is doubly so. With enormous respect to Dan and Dave, and all those who have shaped their brand, here is a new video of incredible insights from the man himself as part of the 2020 ‘Future of TV’ series. You won’t find a better creative mind, pop culture channeler, and straight talking, all out, great guy. Enjoy.

I was so thrilled when Robert Tercek kindly agreed to speak at the We First seminar.

His talk was inspiring, confronting, educational, and rousing in equal measure. Everyone loved it and got so much out of it. For those that missed the We First Social Branding Seminar, Robert has kindly let us share it here. Enjoy.

You can follow Robert on twitter @Superplex, read his blog here, and watch his great show ‘This Week in Social Media’ here. Obviously he’s also an amazing speaker and you’ll find his contact details on his blog.

If you’re interested in the next We First Social Branding seminar and want to receive the information first, click here.

With this challenge in mind, I wanted to share three examples of emerging technologies that will change our world. Part fact, part fiction, each turns on technology that is already in the making and shall be shortly coming to market. So here goes.

With the imminent launch of the iPad 3, I wanted to share this vision of what it may look like and do. The point is not to guess whether this is accurate or not but to consider what such possibilities could unlock for your business.

The second video is a vision of the future of smart glass by Corning. The glass projects a future of collaboration, creativity and connection that seems impossible today but that is almost here.

Finally, we have the much hyped Google Googles or glasses that hold the promise of an augmented reality experience or streaming data right before your eyes.

After watching these two videos, ask yourself:

• How could I use such technology in my business?
• How could it scale my brand awareness?
• How can I use each of these technologies to rbetter serve my customers?
• How could I use it to increase the positive social impact of my brand?
• How can they be used to shape our world?

Simon Mainwaring: On Engagement in the Social Marketplace from Let Go & Lead on Vimeo.

I recently had the privilege of being included in Gagen MacDonald’s fantastic ‘Let Go & Lead’ project and the interview just came out so I wanted to share it with you.

‘Let Go & Lead’ is a project to explore the ideas of leadership and transformation in the 21st Century. How can an idea take root in an organization and flourish so that all are focused on the same outcome? How can we inspire those around us to take up an idea and deliver it, bringing the full weight of their gifts to bear on the challenge?

Maril MacDonald engaged thought leaders from different walks of life—in fields as diverse as literature to education, engineering to social psychology— for conversations on what it means to “let go” and lead people to create meaningful, sustainable change.

In all there are twelve leaders who were interviewed including Howard Schultz and Dan Pink, among others. Here are all the interviews and I hope that together they help you steer you organization to greater success and positive impact through inspiring leadership.

As readers of my blog know, I’m a huge champion of brand definition and purpose because that enables a company to be more meaningful to its customers lives. But too often brands fail to ensure internal alignment around a purpose, core values or mission, which means customers often hear one thing from a brand but experience another from its employees. Gagen MacDonald and APCO Worldwide do a great job of a teasing out where to start and what to focus on internally to avoid this pitfall.

What stuck me about the first section below if how how executive leadership accounts for employees perception of internal communication. At 75%, it is critical to get leadership buy-off on the need for a social media ecosystem within the company itself. It will not position the brand to be social with its customers but set a powerful example for employees to invest in social media training and engagement themselves.

In the next section, it’s critical to note that a company’s employee base – like its customers – is a media-savvy audience that judges the effectiveness of internal social media. That judgment, in turn, affects the ability of a company to attract top talent as potential employees who know only too well that a successful company must also be a social engaged company.

Finally, I have isolated the top five criteria for effective internal social media as defined by employee. What could be more important to a company that the ability to attract and retain top talent, to collaborate and innovate more effectively, and to generate business referrals. Each has a direct bearing on the ROI of social media and the productivity of a company’s workforce.

Armed with such insights, here are the steps you must take to adopt, integrate and proliferate internal social media to build employee satisfaction and your company’s bottom line.

1. Consolidate C-suite internal social media commitment

2. Establish a clear social media protocol/crisis policy

3. Share this policy with all employees across all divisions

4. Provide employees with organic social media training

5. Create a collaborative, cross-division culture that communicates using social media channels

6. Create a coordinated content calendar across different social media platforms

7. Grant employees social engagement permission and reward their participation

8. Integrate traditional, online, social media efforts to ensure a consistent customer experience

For the full infographic, click here. To follow Gagen MacDonald, click here, and APCO Worldwide here. To see all the results of the 3rd Annual Employee Engagement Study here.

What would you say is the major obstacle to internal social media at your company? What would be the greatest benefit?

Iceland's citizen assembly discussing the country's constitutional reform. Image credit: Everyaware

In a truly dramatic demonstration of the power of citizen activism, Iceland drew up its new constitution using crowdsourcing in late 2011. Following Iceland’s complete economic collapse and bankruptcy due to irresponsible banking practices, the nation was eager to use social media to get its citizens involved in writing their own future. The initiative began with a national forum in which 950 people were randomly selected to spend a day discussing a new constitution. A council then began working to draft a document, but not in secrecy behind closed doors. Instead, its meetings are open to the public and streamed live on its Facebook page. The council posts each new draft clause on its website where the public can comment. The council also has a Twitter account and a YouTube page where it exhibits video interviews with its members. The draft constitution was put up for a national referendum, with no changes allowed from the country’s parliament. It is truly a constitution written by the people for the people.

Reading about this process, I could not help but think about how the connectivity unlocked by social media is transforming our world. It is radically altering the major institutions and fundamental paradigms of society. Just a short while ago, it was perceived as a shallow medium through which people could share trivial information. Companies used it as just another one-dimensional vehicle to broadcast self-directed advertising. Then the more savvy corporations recognized the interactive power of social media to engage their customers, and we began to see two-way conversations built around asking the public for their ideas.

Social media proved equally, if not more, disruptive in the political arena. We saw how youthful activists achieved historic change in the Arab Spring revolutions of Tunisia and Egypt, relying on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to spread their message of protest, organize demonstrations, and communicate the reality on the ground with the outside world. Last summer’s rioters in the United Kingdom used smart phones and social media to ignite flash crowds of disenchanted youth and, sadly, opportunistic criminals, as well as to mount peaceful protests and clean up after the rioters. Finally, we see Iceland using social media and crowdsourcing in admirably organized and peaceful ways that radically redefine the meaning of citizen democracy.

It is now undeniable that social media—and the democratizing force it brings with it—will continue to reweave our social and political fabric. Functioning independently of traditional media and the hardened institutions of government and business, we will increasingly see social media bypassing the traditional channel of authority and hierarchy that formerly restricted citizens and customers. The tools of social media are creating new opportunities for social dialogue, and inspiring a reformation in the values of the past. They are also helping to break down the structures and processes of every institution, slowly distributing the powers of governance, justice, representation, innovation, and even production among connected people.

Where will this social media revolution take us? Anything is possible, subject only to the limitations of our imagination. We are currently seeing many interesting new applications of social media and crowdsourcing. For example, there is the growing model of social production that draws on networks of people connected by social media to create new products and services. There is the burgeoning movement of social entrepreneurship whereby people motivated by a common desire to solve a pressing social problem that the corporate world is yet to satisfactorily answer put out an open call for assistance. Anyone with knowledge of the problem and its solution can respond, and in return they receive no compensation other than the personal satisfaction that they helped build a better world.

In the coming years, I am certain we will see social media be used increasingly to redefine the corporate world such as by influencing Boards of Directors, annual shareholder meetings, and the transparency and accountability offered by companies for their products and services. It will likely change how people look for jobs and how they evaluate the companies and CEO’s that they wish to work for. It will, no doubt, infiltrate many more areas of government just as it has in Iceland, impacting how laws are written and voted on in local, state and federal government.

What’s important to keep in mind when we think about the future is that social media enables all parties to have a platform. Given this, we can use this technology poorly to launch a cacophony of voices creating a chaos of competing interests – or we can use it as a tool to unify our voices as thoughtful, compassionate beings seeking to build a better world for all humankind.

Do you believe social media will build a better world? Do you think it has already begun to do so?

Who Cares Wins explains in detail the drivers and best practices of this new dynamic. Jones does a masterful job of explaining in very clear terms, why business success in the future will be driven by the authenticity, transparency, and accountability of brands and their ability to react quickly and consistently with these three qualities. In fact, he makes a compelling case for why the successful brands of the future will be those that are most meaningful in the lives of their media-savvy and socially connected customers.

On the flipside, Jones explains why those brands that ignore the impact of social media and these new customer expectations do so at their peril.  In only the last few months we’ve seen the consumer push-back against Netflix and Qwikster, against the Bank of America Debit Card Fee, on Bank Transfer Day, against the Verizon Online 2$ payment charge, and most recently the backdown of Congress over SOPA in the face of online activism.

So what Jones is talking about in this book is not conjuncture, wishful thinking, or projection, but rather a business reality that is already here. As such, he rightly positions social responsibility as an invaluable opportunity for brands to build their bottom lines while also becoming a force for good in the world. In order for this shift to gain traction and pace, large brands and entrepreneurs need case studies and proof points to justify their shift in priorities and practices. Who Cares Wins provides this in spades, and rightly positions this shift in the marketplace as one of great opportunity, rather than cause for concern. No doubt this is an educated risk that every business leader must take, and that spirit is captured in the title “Who Cares (rather than ‘Dares’) Wins.” But the risk of not engaging with this shift in business practices is far greater. Who Cares Wins is your guidebook on how to negotiate the social business marketplace in a way that builds your business and a better world for all.

To order your copy of Who Cares Wins click here, and you can follow David Jones on Twitter at @davidjoneshavas.

There are so many people I want to thank for their continued support. From insightful thought leaders like Brian Solis, Beth Kanter, Mari Smith, Valeria Maltoni, and so many friends on twitter that kindly shared the information.

I want to to thank the sponsors whose contributions have ensured that this will be a very special event. They include the UN Foundation, CauseCast, Hewlett Packard, SocialVibe Radian6, CSR Wire, and PR Newswire. We’d also like to thank  Success Magazine, GOOD Magazine, Project 7 and Chico Bags who are giving every attendee valuable and meaningful gifts.

I want to thank my We First  team, led by Morgan, that has worked tirelessly for the last four months. Natalie, Devin, Bill, Jason, Catherine, Bryan, Cameron, David and Cole. This would not have been possible without you.

And thanks to everyone in the We First community who has tweeted or retweeted the information, posted it on their Facebook profile, shared it on Google+, or passed it on to colleagues on LinkedIn.

Perhaps the most meaningful way of saying thank you is to let you know that the event is supporting over 40 non-profits that were either brought by other guests for free, or received a very special non-profit rate. This includes meaningful causes as far-ranging as pregnancy clinics, environmental groups, children’s education, and cancer research.

We are so excited about Wednesday and having a great two days at the wonderful Marina Del Rey Marriott hotel in Marina Del Rey that has been a wonderful host throughout the event.

To those of joining us on Wednesday, we’re so excited to spend these two days together building your brands, businesses, and positive social impact. If you couldn’t make it this but but are interested in the next We First Seminar, just visit www.WeFirstSeminar now, enter you name and email, and we’ll make sure you get the information about the next one first.

Image: Absolut/Fader

I had the pleasure of speaking at the San Diego Ad Club last week after Dan Burrier, the Chief Innovation Officer at Ogilvy and my former boss on the Motorola account. Not only is Dan a friend and someone I greatly admire, but he said something that evening that struck me very deeply. He said that branding is now more about the “doing” than the “telling.”

I think Dan is absolutely right. For too long, branding as practiced by advertising agencies has been focused on the Big Idea that, well told, will connect emotionally with a customer and motivate them to buy a product or service. But in this new era of transparency, characterized by Wiki Leaks, the activities of Anonymous, and the revelations about corporate practices that have filled the newspapers over recent months, a brand can no longer afford to simply trade on an idea of what it stands for. Instead, in this era of radical transparency, a brand must be willing to tell the story of what it’s actually doing.

That’s why the purpose of a brand is so critical to its bottom line success in the social business marketplace. That purpose not only informs how leadership steers the company and the satisfaction of its employees, but it also defines what actions the brand takes to improve the lives of its customers. For if a company wants their customers to grow their business by buying its products and services, that company must be meaningful to its customers lives. Such meaningfulness is found in the concrete actions a brand is taking to better the lives of its customers and the world at large in alignment with its core values.

On the one hand this is a burden on companies, in that brands must work out what they stand for, communicating it with employees, and bring it to life through their actions. This is not a simple or quick process. Yet at the same time, once you’ve done it, storytelling becomes much easier. A brand simply needs to share the story of what it’s doing with its employees, products, services, and cause work to improve the well being of others. It will enable the brand to build a community of customers aligned around shared values and connected by social media that will be happy to amplify the brand’s message using their own social media channels.

So instead of fabricating the Big Idea, and living in fear of the rise of transparency, a brand can put its shoulder behind its purpose and simply tell the story of what it’s doing in the marketplace. It’s this connection between the “doing” and “telling” of a brand’s story that defines success in the new social media marketplace. So if brands want to capitalize on social media to build their bottom line, take Dan’s advice by focusing on what your brand is doing in alignment with its purpose and values and simply tell that story.

If you’re interested in your brand storytelling, I invite you to join us at the We First Social Branding Seminar on the 1st and 2nd of February in Los Angeles at the Marina Del Rey Marriott hotel. Every attendee will be walking through a Social Branding Blueprint that takes them from the definition of their brand purpose through to its social media expression, so you walk out with a Blueprint that offers real value to your business that you can act on. Plus, every attendee gets an extra ticket free to invite their favorite non-profit. This is the last week to register, so visit www.WeFirstSeminar.com now.

The idea behind the seminar is to make sure your brand (whether they’re a non-profit, a start up, a social entrepreneur, social enterprise, mid-size company or Fortune 500 brand) doesn’t get left behind in this fast changing marketplace by learning to use social media in a way that truly builds your business. Too often brands are rushing to social technology but overlooking the importance of storytelling. Or they have a solid understanding of their brand and its story, but they don’t deeply understand how to make social media work for them. Both alternatives are incredibly dangerous to your business and future.

Getting this balancing act between storytelling and social technology right is really hard to do. Most brands are so caught up in the day-to-day of running their business, and so overwhelmed by the pace of change in social technology, that they don’t get the luxury of time or resources to focus on it. So the seminar, and the Social Branding Blueprint created specifically for it, were designed to make this possible in a condensed time frame of two days with the support of three world-class experts.

So imagine an 70-page Blueprint that distills the learning of the speakers into actionable choices, that builds in the most effective strategic and tactical options based on the best practices of the smartest marketers in the world, that leads your through the eight critical steps that every brand must walk through to build and maintain a customer community that builds its business with them – that’s what the Social Branding Blueprint does so that you spend the two days working on creating a plan specific to your business rather than just taking notes you put on the shelf that don’t translate to real value to your business.

So the real value of the two-day seminar includes:

1. Two days focused on creating a specific plan for your business rather than a series of talks.

2. That plan is built around the best practices, cases studies and ROI of the smartest marketers in the world so it mitigates the risks you take for your business.

3. An intimate environment limited to 80 people so that we can work directly on your business.

4. World class support including myself, Robert Tercek, (former President of Digital Media at Oprah’s network OWN), and Carol Cone, (Global Practice Chair of Edelman Business + Social Purpose).

5. 1 on 1 time with the experts and additional mentors to ensure you get the personal attention your deserve.

6. Networking with the experts, sponsors (including UN Foundation, HP, Causecast, SocialVibe, Radian6, CSRWire, PRNewswire, Social Media Monthly and GOOD magazine), and fellow attendees from some of the biggest brands in the world, the smartest social enterprises and start-ups, and most progressive non-profits.

7. You get an extra ticket to invite a non profit for free. So you get to make an important contribution just by attending.

8. Taking action by investing time in yourself, your business and building a better world is the thing that will set you apart from your competitors and give your the greatest fulfillment.

We have around ten spots left and obviously registrations have to close this week as it only a week away. We’re super excited to work on your business together so register now.