Latest Ad Campaign: NationalField

Like my CA Technologies video, NationalField had contracted me for a standard writing job--in this case, overhauling their site copy--but noticed my comedy videos and saw an opportunity.

NationalField is a private social network for businesses, like, say, Yammer...but under its Facebook-esque interface, it's more than another communications hub. It builds in business intelligence that makes it easy to encourage & track productivity among employees. It's a great fit for sales teams, or political campaigning, which is how the service was born.

Co-Founder Edward Saatchi (yes, the son of *that* Saatchi), had a fairly solid idea of what he wanted or their first salvo of ads: animated spots that high-lit NF's key differentiators while good-naturedly dissing their competition. That said, he trusted me to write the ads, storyboard them, and hire and direct the voice talent--most of whom I was able to pull from my crack team of Killing My Lobster actors.

More details about the spots here. Ads below!

[vimeo 52190422 w=500 h=281]

Noise - Zammer from NationalField on Vimeo.

[vimeo 52192039 w=500 h=281]

Adoption - Zammer from NationalField on Vimeo.

[vimeo 52189026 w=500 h=281]

Likes - Zammer from NationalField on Vimeo.

[vimeo 51191536 w=500 h=281]

Zammer #1 from NationalField on Vimeo.

Social Media For Beginners (Video)

Some of my coolest corporate gigs start while I'm doing a standard one--writing site copy, for instance. At some point, the client notices my comedy videos, and wonders if I can do something similarly fun for them. "Social Media And You" was one of those.

IT juggernaut CA Technologies wanted to encourage their employees to use social media in hopes that they'd spend at least part of their time bragging about their company, retweeting flattering articles, or other such passive evangelizing. They wanted a simple video to show their teams internally. But, of course, they wanted something engaging and worth passing around. That usually means "funny," so they approached me.

I pitched them on doing a primer that looked and sounded like classic 1950s educational films and they went for it. Video is embedded below, and a few more details about it can be found here. Hope you like bees!

Pocket Corporate Videographer

When you're the Idea Czar, no media escapes your grasp. I've long been a freelancer-of-many-trades for Ask.com, writing  email, UI copy, branding materials, even blog posts. And now, phonecam video. Impressed?

Last month, I covered Ask's latest hackathon in a series of posts, and instead of collecting audio for interviews reference, I collected video. Thanks, iPhone! And because most of the key folk knew me, they felt comfortable enough to answer questions and even mug a little or the camera (see above screen cap).

I ended up with some great (if amateur) footage that I edited together for them to enjoy internally. Their marketing team liked it so much, they had me put together a press cut to show off. Good work begets more work!

Check it out if you're of a mind. I think it does a nice job of showing how much fun they had putting their hacks together. Imagine what I could've done with a full crew (hint, hint)!

Okay: NOW it's done.

Thanks to Phnom Penh web design shop House 32 for taking my blog and bringing it in line with my new site design. They're run by an expat college friend of mine and crank out Internets like it ain't no thing. In fact, they even teased me for offshoring my blog design TO THEM, sending me the cartoon below in commemoration of completion. Now that's SOIVICE!

Sadly, I have never read Tim Ferris's books, though I did almost sublet my apartment to him. But I HAVE been to the House 32 offices in Cambodia and they know their stuff.

Thanks, House 32! You guys and gals are consummate pros. Oh, and I'll have another Mai Tai, please.

FINALLY: New site!

Folks, it's taken many hours of content curation and design--even WITH a CMS platform--but I've finally got my new site up, Ideaczar.me. It's mostly a portfolio site, but my blog is there as well, and I'll be updating both as opportunities present themselves.

Thanks are in order to the following co-stars:

Chris Smith for designing my stunning new brand graphics. Andrew Wendel for the Idea Czar illustration. Rand Courtney for shooting Andrew's photo reference and my head shot. Gregory Wild-Smith for Wordpress assistance. Natacha and Miriam Wild-Smith for feedback. Lotus Child for the tough love.

Hope you like!

Introducing Want Magazine

W is for "whew!"

The project I've been working on diligently for the last six months, Want Magazine, is up and looks amazing. Kudos to my Editor In Chief, David "Dahveed" Gomez-Rosado and our incredible staff. I wrote and/or edited some articles of which I couldn't be prouder.

WantMag is chock full of learnings and observations about the field of User Experience, as well as product design, architecture and marketing. But not boring. Really.

One of my particular favorite things about the mag is our video interviews, conducted with some of the leading lights in the field. Here's my interview with the man who coined the term "User Experience," Don Norman.

And here's one with the founder of UX agency Adaptive Path, Peter Merholz.

Plenty more to be found at Wantmag.com. Have at it! And tell 'em Ken sent you.