(L to R: Karl Joseph Ufert, Mitra Creative; Eric Rabinowitz, the Nurture Institute; Dean Maire & Tim Freestone, enter:marketing)

Mitra Creative was asked to be part of a distinguished panel of experts on the subject of IT Channel marketing and communications at last week’s New York Chapter meeting of the International Association of Certified Microsoft Partners (IAMCP) (February 19). The event was held at the Microsoft office in midtown Manhattan.

Entitled “Marketing in a Down Economy”, it brought a packed room of Microsoft Partners who engaged in a lively discussion with the panelists which could have gone on for many hours past the allotted session time. Host Howard M. Cohen, President of IAMCP NY (Howard M. Cohen Corporate Copywriting & Consulting Services), invited me – Karl Joseph Ufert, Mitra Creative President/Co-Founder – to join Eric Rabinowitz, President and Co-Founder of the consulting, communications and training firm, the Nurture Institute™ (and leader of the monthly Microsoft Partner Essentials Marketing program Roundtables), and Dean Maire and Tim Freestone, Vice-Presidents of the IT-focused marketing and communications agency (with strong emphasis on Direct Marketing, among other services), enter:marketing, to share our knowledge and ideas.

Much of the discussion focused on:

• Integration of marketing campaigns across a VAR/solution provider’s entire organization from start to finish (including Sales, Marketing, Professional Services) and ensuring follow-up (value for campaign dollars).
• Maintaining marketing focus—speaking to your audience instead of about yourself.
• Utilization of straightforward marketing communications to maintain trusted advisor status with clients—leveraging your unique selling proposition.
• And, especially, the use of Social Media/Web 2.0 to reduce advertising costs and extend reach.

The event was covered by Michele Masterson of ChannelWeb (with contributions by Chad Berndtson). READ THE ARTICLE HERE.

(Howard M. Cohen, IAMCP NY President)

I had the opportunity to make the kickoff presentation at an important event on Web 2.0/3.0 for Business for the Long Island Software & Technology Network (LISTnet). The event was held on November 13, at the New York State Small Business Development Center on the campus of Long Island’s Farmingdale State College.

I spoke about the origins of Web 2.0 — Tim O’Reilly of O’Reilly Media coined the term back in 2005 — and delineated Web 2.0, and, thinking ahead, Web 3.0 platforms, that can be harnessed by IT Business professionals to more effectively build a living interactive dialogue with their clients, partners and the business community at large. These included Social Networks, Content-Managed Websites (built on licensed and open source platforms) and Blogs. I provided very detailed information about the ways that businesses can monetize these platforms and also extend their brand. This presentation was one slightly modified from another I gave in September and October for Microsoft Partners.

My fellow presenters at the event — both of whom are publishing and media veterans — Arthur Germain, Principal of Communication Strategy Group, and John McCormick, Chief Content Officer of the exciting, new, niche-focused social network, CIOZone, focused on context and the value of the content in social media and on direct application of the technologies to audiences and participants.

We were excited to learn that our talk was covered by Newsday and Long Island Business News. This undoubtedly demonstrates the buzz surrounding the topic for businesses both large and small.

Election 2008 in the United States is momentus for many reasons. For those of us in the field of interactive marketing, this election has been revolutionary. Because of the times in which we live but also the remarkable strategy of the Obama-Biden ’08 Campaign, the employment of multimedia — including email, viral video, other digital communications and all of the current (and near-future) social and information sharing principles (as well as technologies) of Web 2.0/3.0 — and of the building of a powerful brand, were decisive factors in the decision of the American electorate. So much so that Senator Barack Obama has been recognized by Advertising Age as “Marketer of the Year”.

Mitra Creative extends our congratulations to Senators Barack Obama and Joseph Biden on their historic November 4 win. We also want to add a nod to Obama-Biden ’08 Campaign Manager, David Plouffe, on his brilliant work.

In an interesting article on CMP Technology’s “Internet Evolution” Blog, Dr. Kim Solez makes fascinating connections between medicine and the aggregation of worldwide consensus through the use of Web 2.0 (and I’d venture, of course, Web 3.0). Dr. Solez says in the article:

“We think of technology as enhancing diagnosis and treatment, the science part of medicine, but it also equally well can enhance the art of medicine, the humanistic, people side, and the doctor-patient relationship.”

We who live in the worlds of Internet marketing and communications, and as designers/developers of of Web 2.0 & Web 3.0 platforms couldn’t agree more. This concept is very important to medicine and facilitates more personal dialogue about treatment. It also spills out to numerous other industries that are trying to make the story of their businesses and organizations more human.

READ THE ARTICLE HERE.

Mitra Creative is proud to announce our design of the exciting, just-launched Multimedia Blog for the Sutter Medical Center Castro Valley (Sutter Health).

The Blog is a “living dialogue” with members of the California Bay Area community on the progress of the design and construction of the new Sutter Medical Center Castro Valley facility, projected to open on or before January 1, 2013.

VISIT THE BLOG BY CLICKING HERE

Mitra Creative designed the Blog under the direction of Cassandra Phelps Clark, Project Communications Director for the SMCCV. The project was managed by Social Media & PR Consultants Cathryn Hrudicka of CreativeSage(tm)/Cathryn Hrudicka & Associates and Shelly Gordon of G2 Communications.

The Blog features:

• Complete media galleries – video, photos, downloadable information sheets and soon, podcasts. (All of this media will continue to grow.)
• Fully integrated social media, social bookmarking and micro-blogging widgets
• Updates from multiple stakeholders on the project, events and more.
• Numerous opportunities for those who are interested in following the progress of the SMCCV initiative to learn more through LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube and other social networks and to share information with colleagues, supporters of the project and friends.

For Mitra Creative, the SMCCV Blog project is another foray into our ever-deepening Web 2.0/Web 3.0 practice, as well as a special step in the development of our new Healthcare practice.

We look forward to continuing our relationship with the Sutter Team and Cathryn Hrudicka to support ongoing design and application-related needs for the Blog. We look forward to receiving your comments on our work and feel free to add comments to posts on the SMCCV Blog!

VISIT THE BLOG BY CLICKING HERE