Food & Fashion Companies Pursue Blog Reviews

Food & Fashion Companies Loving Blog Reviews

Candice Choi of the Associated Press reports on how food companies (and we assume every other major consumer goods products, luxury or not) are beginning to understand how much power is wielded by the food, fashion, and metro-regional city websites and blogs. No only do they realize it, they have now made this a major marketing strategy and treat the sites and writers like major journalists and New Media Tastemakers. With article titles like “Food Manufacturers Examine Food Blogs, An Emerging Marketing Tool,” the point is being made on a widespread basis.

In the SF Chronicle:

Food companies lap up blog mentions
Writers on every food group cook up free publicity
Obsessive Web sites evaluating the newest offerings have become must-reads for lovers of every type of food including frozen dinners, potato chips, candy bars and even energy drinks.

“Companies are paying attention to the concept of lots and lots of tiny little markets. Added up, it’s significant,” Weil said.

The single-minded focus of blogs may be in some ways more valuable than traditional marketing since it’s easier to target an audience, said Daniel Taylor, a senior analyst of digital advertising and marketing for the Yankee Group.

Speaker Bio: Lesley Scott-Silbergeld, FashionTribes

Lesley Scott-Silbergeld, FashionTribes

Fashion & lifestyle expert Lesley Scott is the New York City-based editor of Fashiontribes.com, one of the Top 10 fashion blogs.

Lesley was one of the first bloggers to cover New York Fashion Week as an accredited member of the press. An influential and respected member of the lifestyle blogging community, her expertise is regularly sought after by top New York public relations firms including Kaplow Communications and Marina Maher Communications, and she has appeared in Forbes, the Wall Street Journal, Women’s Wear Daily & USA Today. Most recently, she helped co-found the Fabbies, the first-ever blogger created awards dedicated to the fashion blogosphere.

Prior to Fashiontribes, Lesley covered New York style & trends as the Senior Editor for Coolhunt, a global trendspotting firm. Her byline as a Lifestyle Expert appeared regularly in countless international magazines about fashion, beauty, streetfashion, lifestyle, and pop culture – including Marie Claire in Asia, Jessica, 25 Ans, GQ Taiwan, and Elle Girl Korea.

Speaker Bio: Michael Chin, Kickapps

Speaker Bio: Michael Chin, Kickapps

Michael leads the company’s marketing and communications strategy and efforts to evangelize the market potential of social media and the KickApps platform for major brands, global media companies, independent publishers and professional web developers. He brings a broad background of experience in Internet and Web 2.0 technology, enterprise software, mobile entertainment and consumer electronics.

Before joining KickApps, Michael was a director at Bite Communications, a global communications consultancy serving both blue chip companies and emerging start-up brands. At Bite, he spearheaded the agency’s New York City expansion to establish its media and entertainment services portfolio. Prior to that, Michael was Director of Marketing at StormPlay Entertainment Systems and an Account Manager at Niehaus Ryan Wong. Michael has worked with numerous well-known brands, including Virgin Life Care, BEA Systems, VERITAS Software, Become.com, Creative Labs and Netscape.

Michael has a B.A. in Politics with certificates in Legal Studies and Peace & Justice Studies from the University of San Francisco.

The Truth Hurts – Video Series are Fantastic Marketing, Sometimes Poor Revenue Sources


You can only say that NewTeeVee’s posting on “How Not to Get Rich Quick; Create a Web Series” is a 100% accurate. Not many people know this but to make money on web video using standard practices is very, very difficult, even if you have millions of viewers. As they put it:

In a moment of rare (but appreciated) Internet candor about money, Yuri Baranovsky, creator of the hit web series Break a Leg, lays out exactly how much moolah his efforts over the past two years have yielded him. Short answer: bupkiss. Gawker quoted him as saying:

…until the Internet can produce any real amount of money for good creators, there’s no way it will ever be the future of TV as everyone in “new media” exclaims. The purpose of entertainment and art isn’t to get smaller, quicker and catchier; it’s to push the boundaries, to grow, to teach and to create. With no money and an endless stream of throw-away content made for a dime and worth about as much, the shows that can challenge network TV will eventually get grabbed up by those networks or they’ll just give up and go on to greener pastures – like carpentry and porn.

So, are we rich yet? Hardly. But we’re waiting for your call, Mr. Guffman.

There are some people making money on the web; the Ask a Ninja guys reportedly pulled in $100,000 a month for their show. But aspiring web creators should heed Yuri’s warning and hang onto their day jobs.

As Daisy Whitney of TVWeek adds:

Online video producers have a ways to go before they can support themselves on ad sales alone.

While advertisers are expected to pour $1.4 billion into online video this year—up from $775 million last year—that money isn’t yet trickling down in a meaningful way to episodic Web series, so online studios are either supplementing their income by providing production services or they’re riding the venture funding wave.

The bottom line: if you’re a New Media Tastemaker and you want to stay in the black — with or without video content — you’ve got to think long-term and way out of the box (or just have fun at what you’re doing regardless of the money).

Speaker Bio: R Jason Middleton, LA.com

R Jason Middleton, LA.com
Editor in Chief

Jason migrated to LA for an LA woman — and he wound up at LA.com. That’s a leap from his first gig as an agate clerk at an afternoon newspaper, um, years ago.

From reporting he moved into graphic design and was an art director/designer in Houston. Now, he’s combining those tools to help his team create a vibrant voice of commentary, awareness and entertainment in the world’s sexiest city.

Grandviews Restaurant and Lounge: TasteTV

Grandviews Restaurant and Lounge, 36th Floor, Grand Hyatt San Francisco