I opened the new media training class I taught in Dubai last week with the viral Social Media Revolution video that has garnered 1.8 million YouTube views since it was released less than a year ago.
Of course, on the final day of the three-day class, an updated version was released:
A week or so ago I wrote about a marketing blunder by Sheraton, but now I’m reminded that some organizations do understand marketing and customer service.
A few weeks ago my girlfriend encouraged me to upload a few photos I’ve taken of her black lab, Wally, to the Black Dog Tavern’s website. Seems they’ve been soliciting user-generated content in the form of pics from proud owners of black dogs. Naturally, I obliged.
A couple of days after posting three photos of Wally, somebody from the Black Dog e-mailed me and asked if I’d consider allowing one of the pics to be used in their upcoming national catalog. Again, naturally I obliged.
Fast forward about a month and yesterday I received three copies of the new Black Dog catalog, complete with Wally’s photo on page 22, as well as a hand-written thank-you note and a $25 gift card from the Black Dog’s creative director.
Thanks to the Black Dog’s creative use of online user-generated marketing, and their thoughtful offline follow-up, I’m now an outspoken advocate for a business that I knew very little about just a month ago.
Well done, Black Dog Tavern (and, of course, the ever-photogenic black dog, Wally.) Other businesses, campaigns and candidates can learn a valuable lesson from your example. In the meantime, I anxiously await my new Black Dog Tavern pint glasses.
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I just finished teaching a three-day Political New Media 101 class in Dubai, and I’m more hopeful than ever about the future of democracy and free speech in this part of the world.
One of the first things I did in the class was show trainees how to start their own very basic blog and use it effectively. Over the course of the three days I posted training materials and answers to some of their questions on the new blog so the participants and their colleagues can easily access the info when they return home to Egypt.
If you’re curious, you can view the training blog here. And yes, the photo at the top is the view from my hotel room. Not too shabby.
I’m in the Middle East this week as I teach a three-day course in political new media communications in Dubai.
I haven’t gotten to see much of the city yet, but I have been happy to see that almost all of the Western news and social networking sites – Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. — are freely available here. One notable exception, though, is Flickr, which is blocked, presumably because it allows nudity.
In any case, here’s the view from my hotel room:
