Friday
05Mar2010

State Farm Insurance totally scored by thinking outside the box. Reward? Viral Heaven

DateFriday, March 5, 2010 at 10:59PM

Have you seen the following video?

Chances are you have. 

It was released on March 1st. As I write this it has had 3,911,718 views!

Yep...that's A LOT. 

How innovative and cool is that?

I just heard about this from one of my favorite podcasts (Buzz Out Loud) as they interviewed Adam Sadowsky president of Syynlabs who came up with the idea and executed it for OK go. I was intrigued and decided to check it out. 

Although it was obviously incredible and amazingly creative I was most surprised by the sponsorship: State Farm Insurance

What?

And then it clicked....Riiiight....BRILLIANT PAIRING!!! 

I gotta say, that it's shifted my perception of State Farm completely. That sort of brand perception change is priceless. Great job State Farm for taking a chance and saying OK go!  :D

And if they didn't have a vision of this at all, holy moses, talk about luck lining up with the creative juice of the universe ;)

AuthorElsie Escobar | CommentPost a Comment |
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Friday
26Feb2010

Extended Follow Friday for February 26, 2010 @_elan_ #ff #followfriday

DateFriday, February 26, 2010 at 04:34PM

I just finished writing an interview/article about Elán for Beatweek Magazine, BUT I still had some things to say, about this artist, so I’m adding a bit more here! (FYI that article is not published yet, but will be very soon!) 

I’m not going to tell you too much about Elán’s latest record or about her prior records or about any publicity tour or anything like that. I share Elán with you because I think she’s a really awesome human being.

My favorite things about Elán:

In random order :)

Her commitment to continuing to participate in the conversation with her fans and friends via social media.

She is genuine and truly grateful for the relationships. She is accessible and honest. She not only responds to folks but adds to the dialogue. She is at times blunt, other times funny and always honest and courteous.

Her honor for herself.

In the music business, or I venture to say in the entertainment business as a whole, this is a very tough thing to do. Particularly if you happen to be a stunning blonde. It is sooo easy to pull the beauty sex card. It is easy because it’s basically expected. Elán could have very easily just stepped into it, just as hundreds of other physically blessed people have done. Elán is doing it her way. Her image is her own. She chooses what she wants to put out onto the world. At times she is sexy (but seriously, how could she NOT be, she just is) but she doesn’t push it out there. At times she is rough and hard, other times playful and light. I absolutely enjoy seeing this woman enjoy being in her own skin.

Her love for her family.

I dare you to find and interview with Elán where she doesn’t in some way mention some member of her family. While doing research for my interview with her, the greatest thing that stuck out at me was how much she loved and respected her family. Her father and mother have been a major influence on this woman’s life, in a good way. What’s lovely to see is that she is NOT her parents or her family. She is herself, and that is the greatest gift that she gives back to them. She honors them by being herself. Her brother has been by her side from the beginning. From what I can see, he is her friend, confidant, producer, band member, advisor all rolled up into one!

It’s simply lovely to see a woman in the entertainment business that chooses to empower herself in such life affirming and auspicious ways.

So my pick for this Extended Follow Friday is @_elan_

Consider checking out her music as the majority is in English, although her latest is in Spanish (iTunes Link). And if you’re not up for the music, follow her Tumblr blog. It rocks

Oh yea...and stayed tuned for more about Elán coming up next week for Beatweek Magazine!

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Wednesday
24Feb2010

Publishing a Podcast Episode of Elsie's Yoga Kula: My Process

DateWednesday, February 24, 2010 at 12:45AM
I often get questions regarding podcasting. I love it actually, as I love podcasting and truly enjoy helping folks get themselves going. I thought that I’d share my process with one of my podcast episodes. My podcast is primarily my live yoga classes recorded and posted, but within the past 6 months I’ve been posting a series within Elsie’s Yoga Class: Live and Unplugged Podcast called Elsie’s Yoga Kula (EYK). In this series I don’t ‘teach’ per say, but offer responses to feedback that I receive, share products and reviews of yogic things, and as of the latest, do interviews. 
This episode was unique, as are much of the EYK episodes, so the following process is not necessarily the norm, but it may give you a bit of insight of what it takes to commit to producing something like this. 

The Process:

Scheduled interview with James Wvinner way in advance, so I’d have time to prep for it, and made sure that I would have babysitting, as holding interviews with a 16 month old is not optimal. 
Prepped for the interview (1.5 hours)
  • Googled subject
  • Studied personal site/business site, 
  • Studied FB pics and vids. 
  • Searched for any other social media profiles.
  • Researched prior interviews.
  • Emailed subject list of possible questions, plus a request for feedback, making sure to honor his boundaries, plus to give him the ability to tell me specific things that he’d like to speak about. (I don’t do this with all my interviewees, I feel it out, depending on what is the intention of the interview)
Conducted interview (30 min)
  • Used my Zoom H2 Recorder to record my audio.
  • Had James call into my conference call line, and recorded our conversation there. 
*I did not do any Skype recording because I do not have the luxury of being in one place. Being a Mom I have to be ready to record anytime anywhere, whether there is an Internet connection or not. This is the set up that at this moment gives me the most freedom...although not the best audio...but it’s enough for the moment.
Wrote “script” for the rest of the episode (30 min)
  • I’ve been currently using MacJournal to write my blog posts/shownotes/scripts. It works lovely for me, as I have everything organized in one place. 
  • I also use Evernote for the feedback that I use in the show. Whenever I get an email, FB message, find an article I put it in Evernote tag it (example eyk #4) and when I’m writing my script, I just search for my tag, and voila!
Recorded the episode (20 min)
  • Using my H2 Zoom Recorder. 
  • In the bathroom in the middle of the night (quietest place and quietest time)
  • Macbook on my lap with MacJournal on Full Screen (makes for a lovely ‘TelePrompTer’)
Edited episode (2 hrs)
  • Imported all audio from the H2, plus downloaded MP3 from the conferencing site.
  • Used Garageband to edit all audio, exported to iTunes. 
*Usually it doesn’t take me THIS long to edit an episode but the interview really did take me a while.
NOTE: Made sure that I got all editing done, as I knew that all the other stuff  (id3 tags, artwork, uploading, etc) I could do while taking care of my toddler. The editing was all done at night (dawn).
Polishing Audio (60 min) 
  • I downloaded the audio to my iPod and listened to it while I washed dishes and fed my baby, to make sure the quality and levels were ok
  • Re-encoded the audio as I wanted better quality
  • Edited id3 tags and added artwork 
Publishing of Podcast and corresponding shownotes + publicity (2 hrs)
  • Uploaded audio file to Libsyn
  • Used Smultron to edit my final shownotes
  • Finalized shownotes on Wordpress, plus added pictures and a gazillion links
  • Published podcast episode in Libsyn
  • Pinged iTunes
  • Published corresponding blog post for episode
  • Posted link to FB Fan Page/Personal Page
  • Twittered
NOTE: Thanks to my daughter taking an unusually long 2 hr nap I was able to get all this done at once! If not, this process could have taken the entire day. 
Tallying the time, the whole process took me almost 6 hrs! How’s that for quick and easy? No wonder I haven’t been posting as much as I would like. My intentions are always there. My ideas are always flourishing, but motherhood is the sucker of all time and energy. 
So, fancy peeps, see any ways that I could streamline the process? or wanna know more or have any questions?
Look forward to hearing from you!

 

AuthorElsie Escobar | Comment2 Comments |
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Friday
19Feb2010

Extended Follow Friday for February 19, 2010 @1Password #ff #followfriday

DateFriday, February 19, 2010 at 03:40PM

This week one of my friend’s email account was hacked.

Oh, that totally sucked.

I know that she felt bad about it, and she felt even worse at the fact that her password was just not the best password. In fact, it was probably the worse password she could have ever used, but it was one of the easiest password to remember!

I know how hard it is to remember passwords and user names and ids and all that jazz. I feel like every DAY I have to create some sort of new account for something or other, whether it be another social network, or another online bill pay service, or even just another community I’d like to know. I know that my modus operandi was to use the same id (with a variant of a number here and there) and the SAME PASSWORD FOR EVERYTHING!!! Why not? That way I won’t forget it right?

I think that we all know that, that specific choice is probably the worst choice one could make for online security.

There are people out there that are really really really smart and could guess the majority of every day type of passwords that you could come up with. Seriously. Even if you think you’re being all smart about it.

Today’s Extended Follow Friday is one of my FAVORITE Mac applications, and one the I cannot live without: 1Password by Agile Web Solutions (@1Password).

This application does so much more than *just* remember your passwords:

  • It can generate really strong passwords for you
  • It integrates seamlessly with a bunch of browsers (this makes it so easy to add new passwords to your list)
  • You can store credit card information, and have it automatically fill out your forms when shopping (I love this feature!!!)
  • You can store bank account information.
  • You can store application licenses in clear an orderly way
  • You can store your 1Password data base off site, either in a USB stick, or using Dropbox, or even have it as a PDF!
  • It has smarphone apps! It supports iPhone and Palm OS with more on the way.
  • It’s all encrypted!!!!!

I cannot even begin to give you a proper explanation of the feature list. I got it and found it to be intuitive and easy to use. This was THE FIRST Mac application I bought right after I got my Macbook in 2006, and have loved it ever since. They have a great support on their Web site ,a blog and also have great support period. All this is $39.99. I think it’s well worth the price, especially for your security online.

Even though I cannot explain to you my love for this product properly the mighty on Don McAllister from ScreenCasts Online certainly can! The following video is a 17 min video walking you through the wonderful functionality of 1Password. Since this video was made there have been some very significant updates to the software making it EVEN better!

Please subscribe to ScreenCasts Online if you haven't already! It’s a must for us Mac Lovers :D

If you happen to own 1Password and want to share your experiences please do so below! Let's make the Internet more secure :)
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Thursday
11Feb2010

Extended Follow Friday for February 12, 2010 @HillaryRubin #ff #followfriday

DateThursday, February 11, 2010 at 02:54PM

I was attending a yoga class with my beloved teacher Naime Jezzeny while doing my first Anusara Teacher Training over at City Yoga (waaaaay back in the day ;) ), when it was time to do handstands. That day I partnered with a woman that I’ve never met before, I’d seen her around in class, but never engaged personally with her. As we worked on our handstands she began to ‘teach’ handstand to me. I initially was like “who do she think she is?”, but then after I softened my ego, I recognized that all the teaching that she was offering was right on! In fact I believe that was the first time that I found strong and full balance in that pose.

That woman was Hillary Rubin.

From that day on I was intrigued by Hillary. I watched her learn. I watched her grow. I watched her daily become more of the power house that she is today. We also became great friends and collaborators.

Hillary has taught me so much about life and living your yoga as yourself. She’s never stopped choosing for herself. Whatever she puts her mind to she’s on it, and believe me does she make things happen! I’ve also observed her develop into one of the most genuine and open teachers with whom I’ve had the blessing to practice. One of the best things about Hillary both as a teacher and a human being is that she is willing to fail. She is willing to take risks. She is willing to fall. She recognizes mistakes, misalignments, misadventures, becomes responsible for them and chooses again, refining her process daily. She does this quite openly, and it’s truly inspiring to watch.

So, Hillary Rubin is my pick for #FF this week, not only because she’s my friend, but also because she is truly worth following. This woman is cultivating great things and watch out world, I believe she can shift the planet! :D

Other than following her on twitter @hillaryrubin, you can find her at her blog http://hillaryrubinblog.com, where she posts wonderful videos that focus on cultivating your self in a very grounded and transparent way. They are ‘life teachings’ that you can apply to your life, whether you practice yoga or not. You can also check out http://hillaryrubin.com, where you can see her in a more business sense ;) Plus, you can get her DVD!!! Which I have to say is one of THE BEST yoga dvd’s out there. You must get it!

If you would like to experience Hillary’s teachings virtually you can via her audio podcast Hillary’s Yoga Practice! So much to choose from!

So get to it! follow @hillaryrubin and say hello for me :D

Wanna learn a bit more about the why behind my extended #FF #followfriday? Check out my prior post please :)

PS

Ooooooh, I almost forgot! Hillary will be participating in a pretty extraordinary event called The Virtual World Yoga Conference! Sounds pretty darn fancy! I'm so very thankful that she gifted me with a ticket to attend :D You can find the details of what she will be teaching HERE The entire conference (with a lot more presenters and opportunities for self growth and learning) is $197 BUT Hillary is offering a promo code that takes $100 off

I KNOW! $100 off! It’s HLR219

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