The end result is a website with a bold, contemporary design that is at the same time authentic and fun.

Visit ScheitelsMusic.com

A content management system allows Scheitel’s employees to regularly update their webpage with new sales and event information all on their own. The site also integrates with Scheitel’s Facebook page, which has played a major role in their online marketing efforts. Their Facebook page features a flashy custom welcome tab, created by Ignition Media, that sets them apart from other local businesses.

Rod and Audrey Scheitel are thrilled with their new site and the attention it’s been getting, which is music to our ears.

One principle that I try to remain mindful of in life is the fact that each day brings us unlimited opportunities for growth. It was fun working on a project where this philosophy intersected with SCC’s mission of helping individuals transform their lives through education.

The commercial was shot in high definition and is currently running on Charter cable television and in various movie theaters throughout the region.

Our video tells a story about the experience of owning one of Joe’s creations, engaging customers on an emotional level without a word of narration.

In his article, Blackshaw recognizes that although social media has existed in some form since the beginning of the web, the technological developments of the last decade “have unleashed nothing short of a fire hydrant of consumer-generated media.” He predicts a future in which businesses will focus much more attention on the relationship between their existing business processes and how consumers discuss and interact with their brands online.

In essence, we’ve become “co-creators” with the consumer. Listening pipes are expanding and smarter listening filters are piping insight and media guidance—even warning signs—to brands, even in real time.

Pete Blackshaw – A Short (and Personal) History of Social Media

This concept of piping warning signs to brands in real time immediately made me think of a fascinating incident related at the 140 Characters Conference by Porter Gale, VP Marketing for Virgin America. She describes a passenger aboard a Virgin Atlantic Airways flight who was upset about not receiving a sandwich from the flight attendants, and tweeted his frustration from the sky. Virgin maintains a strong presence on social media sites, including Twitter, and aggressively monitors these spaces for chatter about their brand. A Virgin employee spotted the unhappy passenger’s tweet, identified the individual’s flight and seat number, and relayed a message about the situation to the pilot, who saw to it that the passenger was quickly served a sandwich. In response to this unexpected attentiveness, the passenger followed up with a glowingly appreciative tweet, transforming a negative brand message into an intensely positive one all before the plane had even landed!

Not all businesses can afford to monitor their brands online with such vigilance (nor is it always warranted), but if you aren’t at least attempting to define yourself in these spaces, you can rest assured that someone else will.

Ignition Media was recently hired to photograph ten individuals from various businesses located throughout Southern Minnesota. It was bound to be a fun project, traveling this great region meeting some fantastic people from all walks of life! It is easy for location portraits to look stiff and staged, so we take great care to achieve warm, natural-looking poses.

The video interviews with these fine folks turned out great as well, and will be featured in a future post. Ignition Media thanks these individuals for allowing their images to appear in our portfolio, and for working in all their unique ways to help make Minnesota such a great place to live.

Of course such devices will open up endless new channels for marketers. Rather than a frightening vision of invasive personalized advertising, however, I foresee an era in which advertising becomes embedded in our daily environment in more useful, utilitarian ways. We will still have commercials for jeans, but we’ll be more likely to see them when we are actually interested in the product and in a position to make a purchase. Already this trend can be seen in the online world, with tools that have allowed Ignition Media to target our clients’ customers with increasingly focused advertisements. It will be interesting to see how we come to balance our increasingly pervasive communications technologies with our need for peace and privacy in years to come, but that’s a topic for another post.

As a fellow instructional designer, I have great respect for the short educational videos produced by Lee and Sachi LeFever from Common Craft. One of my favorites is this overview of social media.

As the features that make media “social” (tagging, rating, commenting, etc.) become more and more ingrained within all media channels, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the term “social media” fade from use, much like the term “horseless carriage”. Regardless of what we call it, the ability for consumers to interact directly with businesses and each other is here to stay, opening new channels for companies to engage and learn from their customers.

Despite the fact that I work in a profession in which I am surrounded by high-tech equipment every day, I’ve never viewed myself as the typical “gear geek”. I’m much more passionate about what I can create with the gear that I purchase than I am about the equipment itself. Seeing our new lights in action today, I felt a surge of excitement as I thought about all of the unique people and places that these tools will illuminate in years to come.

(On a related note, does anyone want to buy me a copy of Vittorio Storaro’s Writing with Light Trilogy? It’s a steal at $617.95.)