We are excited to announce several new additions to Nuffer, Smith, Tucker’s award-winning team.

Derek Danziger is joining NST as vice president. Derek brings more than 17 years experience in public relations, marketing and public affairs to the firm. He most recently served as vice president of marketing and communications for the Centre City Development Corporation (CCDC). At CCDC, Derek acted as the organization’s spokesperson and managed media relations, communications and community outreach programs relative to downtown San Diego’s redevelopment efforts. Prior to CCDC, Derek worked in the education and public relations departments at SeaWorld San Diego, and coordinated international media relations activities for the grand opening of LEGOLAND California. He also served as director of media and public relations for the Super Bowl XXXII Host Committee in 1997, working directly with the NFL, international media and the San Diego community to implement a variety of Super Bowl-related events and activities.

Derek received his bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of California, San Diego and served two terms as president of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) San Diego/Imperial Countries Chapter. He is Accredited in Public Relations (APR) and is also a LEAD San Diego graduate. In 2006, he was honored by PRSA San Diego as Public Relations Professional of the Year.

We have expanded our interactive team with the hiring of Sean Masterson as digital strategist. Most recently, Sean served as web and e-commerce manager for iProlog, Inc. Prior to that he was principal at SMB Studios, a San Diego-based web development and social media firm. He also previously served as global marketing coordinator for Prestige International, Inc. He is a graduate of San Francisco State University and has completed certificates in graphic design and web design from University of California, San Diego.

We also added Jazmine Allen to our account services team as an account coordinator. Jazmine graduated from San Diego State University last year and has been serving as an intern at NST. She has done a great job on behalf of many of our clients, and we are excited that she joined us full-time at the beginning of May.

In addition, many of you have probably heard that in January we added Mark Olson to our team as a government relations and public affairs specialist. Mark has been doing a great job managing government outreach programs for the California Citrus Research Board.

Prior to joining us, Mark worked as a press secretary on Capitol Hill, and most recently as a top policy advisor to San Diego County Supervisor Pam Slater-Price. He received his bachelor’s degree in political science from California State University, San Marcos, and a master’s degree in communications from San Diego State University.

Please join us in welcoming these new members to our team! We look forward to continuing to partner with our clients and other colleagues to provide exceptional service.

Another SXSW in the books – an exhausting yet exhilarating 10 days of panels, featured speakers, obligatory Tweeting, strong coffee, tradeshow booths, BBQ and breakfast tacos, day parties and a serious lack of sleep!  For a conference originally steeped in music and film since 1987, it’s safe to say that SXSW Interactive has become the belle of the ball in Austin during mid-March – more than 25,000 attendees strong.

What started as a small confab for the tech savvy and digitally inclined, SXSW Interactive has morphed into a schizophrenic five days of sensory overload.  The conference thrives on having 20 or more interesting-sounding panels, mentor sessions, workshops and core conversations happening at any given time – combined with dozens of apps designed to organize it all.  Although many of the panels had a distinct ‘101’ feel to them and a few panelists appeared unprepared, there were a few diamonds in the rough that left behind some interesting and possibly compelling residue. Some key takeaways:

1.     Mobile devices will become ‘mobile wallets’ over the next two years, linking consumers to loyalty programs and location-based services (still answering the privacy policy questions).  Supporting this will be more relevant product messaging and brand content delivered through mobile tagging (QR codes, MS Tags, JAGTAG’s, etc.) and integrated into offline and online campaigns. However, some panelists stressed that tagging will become obsolete in the next few years, as full-image recognition linked to search becomes a key campaign engagement tool for marketers.

2.     Much as location-based apps Foursquare and Gowalla were all the rage at SXSW 2010, this year group texting took center stage. New companies GroupMe, Beluga and Yobongo seemed to make the most noise during the conference with parties and demonstrations throughout.  This collection of services enables groups of people to participate in real-time chats on their smartphones – either through conversation or texting.  And since connecting and learning seems to be the real upside of SXSW Interactive, what better test-tube for a new app or service than the dotted and hyperactive geography of downtown Austin in the throws of technology?

3.     PR and marketing agencies need to exercise flexibility in the planning process and learn to adapt to changing requirements while aligning campaign deliverables with shifting business needs – the brand and the customer needs.  The days of rigid fiscal year marketing plans are long gone.

As SXSW Interactive gave way to SXSW Music on Wednesday, Austin started looking less Silicone Valley and more True Blood.  The perfect weather was probably tough on the indie rock vampire set, but it suited me just perfectly.  Musical highlights included:

OFF!

Screaming Females

Obits

Ume

Shabazz Palaces

John Vanderslice

The Head and the Heart

Night Horse

Kasey Anderson and the Honkies

Wanda Jackson

Looking forward to SXSW 2012!

Steven McDonald from OFF!

I recently attended the San Diego Ad Club’s annual Interactive Day, an all-day conference focusing on the latest trends, solutions and services in digital marketing and advertising. I kept seeing the same theme throughout the day: marketers need to make innovation a top priority and make a commitment to investing in understanding and using the new technology.

One of the sessions I attended was focused on search engine optimization with SEO expert Rand Fishkin, CEO and co-founder of SEOMoz.org, at the helm. The presentation was filled with many ways to not only increase your website’s search engine rankings (think keyword tracking and research), but also other innovative ways to get your message across online.

One item Fishkin highlighted was the use of widgets and badges. By creating a creative widget or badge for your website and asking other websites or blogs to post it, you will not only receive links back, but it is also a great way to get a specific message across. The example Fishkin used was for the website Picnik, a photo editing software company. The company created a badge and embedded the words “photo editing awesomeness.” Not only was Picnik extremely successful at getting a large number of blogs to post it, but when you search the words photo editing through Google or Bing, Picnik is the first result.

Another session I attended was focused on mobile marketing. While I knew this area is rapidly growing, I was surprised to learn at how many users this sector already has. According to Amielle Lake, CEO of Tagga, a mobile marketing software and solutions firm, every month more than 73 million mobile phone users view websites, more than 70 million phone users use apps and more than 14.5 million phone users access social media applications. Lake did point out that while social media (defined in terms of social networks) may not have scale, it does have reach.

The mobile marketing landscape includes:

• Advertising
• Marketing services (i.e. coupons, promotions, events and SMS text campaigns)
• Content, such as video, music, mobile websites and branded apps
• Commerce – being able to use your phone as your wallet

Lake stressed that companies and brands need to stop thinking about a mobile device as a stand-alone item. It should become an integrated part of any marketing campaign, just like social media is now.

While I only highlighted two sessions, there were many other insightful presentations given. To see a detailed list of the San Diego Ad Club’s Interactive Day presenters, along with their respective presentations, visit the San Diego Ad Club’s Facebook page.