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Showing posts from May, 2009

The Mark P. Tiner Education Foundation

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(2009 The Mark P. Tiner Education Foundation Scholarship Presentation) I'm honored that earlier in the week, I awarded The 2009 Mark P. Tiner Education Foundation Financial Needs Scholarship to a graduating high school senior from La Quinta High School (Westminster, CA). This year, we received over 70 applications for the $1,000 scholarship. The recipient was selected for her dedicated volunteer work, exceptional academic excellence, and strong desire to pursue her college studies. She will be the first generation to attend college from her family. In addition to the $1,000 scholarship, I awarded the recipient an original photograph of mine. To learn more about this year's scholarship recipient and my artwork, please read a recent Coastline Pilot article about The Mark P. Tiner Education Foundation . Thank you again for your support.

Danny MacAskill

Enjoy the acrobatic stunts of Danny MacAskill's Inspired Bikes music video.

Annenberg School For Communication

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Enjoy a few photographs from USC's Annenberg School for Communication Graduation Ceremony. I walked for earning a Master of Communication Management Degree, which I officially completed last December. (Dean Ernest Wilson III) (Mark Sanchez) (Professor Ben Lee)

Expression of Joy

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BMW's Expression of Joy Website From Andy Warhol to Roy Lichtenstein, several prominent twenty-first century artists have created unique advertising concepts for BMW. The prominent German automobile manufacture establishes relationships with renowned artists to accelerate its product line in the same gear as fine art. In the past, the aesthetic relationships have allowed the BMW brand to display its automobiles adjacent to works of fine art in modern museums. Recently, BMW commissioned renowned South African artist Robin Rhode to create a unique fine art painting to help market the 2009 Z4 roadster. With the collaboration of actor Dennis Hopper, Rhode used the Roadster as his paintbrush on a 100 x 200 ft white canvas. As the Roadster spun around the canvas, Rhode controlled the colors and how much paint was applied with a remote control. The finished artwork, which resembles a pseudo Jack Pollock painting can be viewed on BMW's product microsite, Expression of Joy . In the re

OC Marathon

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Last weekend, I ran in The OC 1/2 Marathon with 5 thousand other participants. It was an athletically rewarding experience and it taught me a lot about marketing to large groups. 5 Lessons Learned 5) Focus on the top 3-10% of your target audience. Don't focus on the marketing to the top 1% of your consumers base. Their attention is too difficult to maintain, as they are striving towards goals that may not be representative of the entire group. The top 1% of runners were simply too fast. They ran 5 mile splits, which is an unrealistic goal for most "weekend warriors." The competitors who ran in the top 3-8% finished with 7 minute mile splits. This is still a fast time, but a more realistic goal for athletes to achieve. The top 1% of your target audience will also be courted by the competition with VIP events, exclusive promotions or free merchandise. Frequently, it's often to difficult to compete for their dollar. If you focus on the top 3-8% of a consumer base, the

Intel: Sponsors of Tomorrow

Intel's latest commercial, Sponsors of Tomorrow , comically reveals how the perceptions of "celebrity" has dramatically changed in the past ten years. Today, inventors, journalists and company founders rival the popularity of rock stars, actors, and professional athletes. From Evan Willams , founder of Twitter , appearing on Oprah to Peter Cashmore , founder of Mashable , having over 600 hundred thousand Twitter followers to Blake Mycoskie , founder of Tom's Shoes , staring in AT&T commercials, the pendulum continues to shift toward professional achievement and away from traditional athletic, musical, or cinematic achievement. As more individuals strive to achieve the "American Dream" or financial prosperity , brands that highlight self-made success stories will authentically and personally connect with consumers. Viewers can personally relate to the hard working virtues of these "real" stories compared to campaigns that highlight individual

BBC HD Surfing Film

From holding a breath for extended periods of time to awkwardly swimming with heavy equipment, the challenges of underwater photography are strenuous and exerting. In the past few years, I have experimented with underwater photography from capturing images at several exotic locations, including Fiji , Kona and Oahu. I enjoy the unique perspective of the images and having a first person encounter with an environment. Yesterday, I discovered a trailor of BBC's HD documentary, Ocean of Islands . The breathtaking cinematography uses slow motion HD cameras to record a surfer riding a large wave. The unbelievable films moves underwater photography into a new direction and challenges photographers and cinematographers to continually capture new perspectives.

Inbound Link Strategy

"I WANT to be #1 on Google!" - Today's Website Owner In an era of creating content to be optimized for search engines, it's important to focus on developing an inbound link strategy that will help propagate your website to the top of Google's search results. Yes, having a credible website link to your website is a starting point, but it's only half the battle. Lets say, for the sake of Cinco De Mayo, you open a Mexican restaurant in your neighborhood. You name the restaurant, El Tiburón , and create a website to market your food to the community. Now, is your website going to magically appear in local search engine results for "local Mexican food"? No. Strategically, you invite some food local critics for free appetizers and margaritas with the goal of having them write a favorable review on their website, blog or social media site. You impress them with enchiladas and tacos that would motivate Frida Kahlo to paint a masterpiece. Olé ! Now, yo

May 2009 Desktop

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(May 2009 Desktop (1280 x 1600), Waipio Valley (C) Tiner)