eROI Days Email Agency

Gonna be another great event this year…

Internet Strategy Forum Summit 2008
July 17-18, Governor Hotel, Portland

Internet Strategy Forum Summit attendees will gain actionable insight into smart enterprise Internet strategy as they engage with each other and with the VP and C-level keynote presenters from leading global companies such as eMarketer, Forrester Research, Disney, Nike, Intel, IBM, WebTrends and Fandango, who will share their experience and ideas on how to best leverage the Internet and integrate it into your overall business strategy.

There will be 8 keynote-style presentations, a vendor panel, a lunch, a reception and other networking opportunities, all for registration fees starting at less than $249. Friends of eROI can receive a 15% discount on the registration fee by using Discount Code “REACHROI” at registration time.

Presenters and Topics include:

* Daniel Stickel, new CEO, WebTrends (formerly with Google)

* Geoffrey Ramsey, Co-founder & CEO, eMarketer
TOPIC: Mapping the Digital Landscape: A Strategic Guide

* Charlene Li, VP & Principal Analyst, Forrester Research
TOPIC: Creating A Social Strategy That Will Work

* Chris Shimojima, VP, Global Digital Commerce, Nike
TOPIC: Social Commerce: Innovate How We Connect

* David Placier, VP, Consumer Insights, Disney Online
TOPIC: The evolution of CRM: Enhancing Web Site Experiences

* Nancy Bhagat, VP of Sales and Marketing Group, Intel
TOPIC: End to End Marketing Online: A Fundamental Shift

* Mike Moran, Distinguished Engineer, IBM, author of Search Engine Marketing, Inc.
TOPIC: Internet Marketing by the Numbers

* Shane O’Neill, Chief Technology Officer, Fandango
TOPIC: Email Marketing: Beyond Newsletters and Confirmation

Internet Strategy Forum Summit
Thursday, July 17, 2008
8:00am - 5:00pm
Optional Internet strategist career path symposium Friday, July 18, 2008 Governor Hotel, Portland, Oregon http://www.internetstrategyforum.org/summit

1500 people. Quadruple-decker Ice luge. 60 models. 80 amazing fashion designs. Snoop Doggy Dogg’s posse makes a guest visit. The pictures and video really paint the picture better. Hope you enjoy:

Here are a few other people’s slideshows:
eROI Flickr pics: http://www.flickr.com/groups/753070@N25/pool/show/

Scott Kveton Flickr pics: http://flickr.com/photos/kveton/sets/72157605740710205/show/

(more…)

eROI made the Portland Business Journal’s Top 100 Fastest Growing Companies in Portland list for the second consecutive year.

Our ranking dropped from #15 to #36, even though we grew absolute revenue by an equal number. From a % perspective, it’s hard to maintain a high % of growth on a much larger number from ‘05 to ‘07.

The management team all attended the event and we were excited to be included in this prestigious group of companies.

Reunite on Ice (ROI) - you inspired me last night. I yelled my heart out for you. I sang off-key in the shower this morning. I can’t stop thinking about how awesome your performance was last night at PAF’s Battle of the Bands.

Everyone was amazing - Mike on the drums, Mitch on keyboards, Sam in his acid-washed jeans on the bass, Alex w/ some insane guitar solos and even better facial expressions, James for belting it out then ripping off his shirt at the appropriate time, Chris for some mad freestyle rapping to “Another One Bites the Dust”, but the MVP goes to the mustache-wearing, hip-gyrating Victor Nakada with special moves like the fake tear streaming down his face, high intensity - AMAZING.

I’ve had proud moments of my teams in the past, but this one was one of the proudest.

Thanks for bringing home the trophy yet again! And, thanks to all the eROI band supporters - I hope you all show up to Band Camp this summer. Because, that one time…at band camp…

To see more videos, check out the eROI YouTube Channel >>

Jerry Ketel, one of the principals at Leopold & Ketel, was the commencement speaker at the Art Institute of Portland last week and he blew me away. Unbelievably good - here’s a transcript below:

Jerry Ketel’s Keynote address:

Thank you, it is a pleasure to be addressing you, my fellow creative professionals. And thank you for the introduction, although I think I will read to you what the Willamette Week wrote last week about this address, and I quote:

“This graphic designer managed to graduate art school AND get a job. Now he has to convince everybody else there is a future for art majors.”

Well, I don’t have to convince everybody that the world needs art majors. I mean, have you been to Gresham? Or Beaverton? Or Detroit? The world needs some imagination, don’t you think?

I mean, look at us (directing attention to commencement faculty all dressed in cap and gown). Can’t we get some help from the fashion designers in the house?

We creative types have a whole world to change!

Willamette Week then suggested that someone who would be more qualified to address you would be servers, personal assistants or telemarketers, (you know, for an approximation of what art school will really be like.)

Well, believe it or not, a former waitperson and bartender IS addressing you today.

OK, I know, I’ve probably shattered your image of me as a demi-god, among the pantheon of artistic greats like the guy who invented paint splattered aprons. The truth is, I was simply the guy who outlasted the competition. My very first job as a creative professional, I was fired. In fact I was fired 3 times in my career as an art director.

(more…)

As Portland Ad Federation’s website says, “Go a few rounds with Portland’s heavyweights. The bigger they are, the harder they fall.”

As a lightweight in the Portland creative realm, I absolutely loved being part of a creative concept that further reinforced Portland agency owners collaborating to do something very cool. Livengood Nowack came up with the 60’s style, boxing inspired theme to this year’s Rosey Awards - 11 agency owners dressed in boxing attire and got greased up for the photo shoot. I was having a really hard time putting my “Eye of the Tiger” face on as other agency owners like Scott “Vanilla Thrilla” Nowack and Phil “The O’Reilly Factor” Reilly were continually busting jokes.

Check out the site: www.RoseyAwards.com and click on “Features” in the navigation. One more reason to love Portland and its Creative Class. Big kudos to Livengood Nowack for making this happen!

Total yoga for the brain. Thanks for thinking of ways to infuse positivity into what we do. Here is my love letter to eROI:

I love that we create.

I love the team I work with and the layered relationships we have built doing great things together.

I love the importance of creativity in everything that goes on with the company. We value every employee’s talents and input and utilize them in very effective ways.

I love that eROI is not just a job it’s a lifestyle choice. Because of the atmosphere and sense of family I choose to not just do my work but live my work.

I love that eROI puts trust in its employees and expects the best from them.

I love that we go toe to toe with the best in the business.

I love that eROI has provided me the opportunity to start a family and live in NYC.

I love that we provide insurance for our employees and are ultra responsive to personal needs when appropriate. I have seen members of the team get rocked with crazy life experiences both good and bad and have seen the people at eROI bring them back or help them celebrate. It is something that shouldn’t be taken for granted.

I love our brand and I love contributing to its growth.

Imagine no longer. Car-free streets will become a reality this weekend. This is an email forwarded from a close friend at Wieden+Kennedy:

Hi everyone,

Pardon the intrusion, but this is pretty cool… CAR-FREE STREETS in Portland! Details are below.

Come and check it out. Or volunteer even!

Our friends at the Community Cycling Center are putting it together, and they’d love to see you (and your families) there.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Greetings CCC Supporters,

Sunday Parkways is a day of car-free streets, where 6 miles of North
Portland roads will be closed so that the community can bike, run,
skate and celebrate the outdoors together. The Community Cycling
Center is hosting a bike activity center at Peninsula Park and we need
your help in staffing these different activities. Our bike activities
include.

Free demonstrations (fix a flat, safety checks)
Basic bike education for children and adults
Free mechanic repair and safety checks for kids’ bikes
Information about the CCC and our programs, shop and volunteer opportunities.

To volunteer, please read on for more information

What: Sunday Parkways - Six miles of local streets in North Portland
will be closed to traffic from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. The circular route
will give Portlanders a chance to get out and be active right in their
own neighborhood. Participants can walk, bike, run, stroll, and roller
blade along the route to activities in the parks as well as to nearby
shops and businesses in the vicinity.

When: Sunday, June 22nd

Where: Peninsula Park, 700 N Portland Blvd, Portland, OR

Shifts: 7:45-11:00am; 10:45am-2:00pm

Positions and Skills:

Demonstrations: Intermediate mechanical aptitude
Bike Education: Experience teaching bike safety to children ages 6-15 years old
Mechanic: Advanced mechanical aptitude
Tabling: Ability to represent the CCC in the community by effectively
communicating the mission, vision, values, and programs of the
organization.

TO VOLUNTEER: Email Volunteer@CommunityCyclingCenter.org

and please provide the following information.

Name
Email Address
Position and shift you would like (first-come, first serve)

Sincerely,

Neal Armstrong
Volunteer and Event Manager
Community Cycling Center

Bike Shop
1700 NE Alberta Street
Portland, OR 97211
Hours 10am - 7pm Tuesday through Sunday
Shop: 503-287-8786

www.CommunityCyclingCenter.org

Bicycles are a tool for personal empowerment and a vehicle for social change.

The skeptic in me says “I’ve never heard of this entity before,” “seems fishy,” “never heard of the award before,” “why did they send it to sales@ - a spam-related email.”

But the optimist in me thinks maybe there is 5% validity to this award.

Should I be a skeptic or think it’s real. Please comment below to tell me your thoughts.

MarketingVox posted an awesome article on blog strategies. And considering my fellow blogger, Dylan Boyd, is kicking butt on solid blog traffic and RSS subscriptions in The Email Wars blog, (yes - I am a tad bit competitive), I need all the help I can get with generating more awareness for this blog to catch up to Dylan and other blogger friends. One of the biggest reasons for acquiring a loyal blog following is frequency - Dylan posts at least once a day, even when he’s on vacation (I’ll stick to two blog posts per week). Second most important is the relevancy of the blog posts to the theme of the blog (this blog tends to be a stream of conscience for me on email marketing and interactive agency culture, so there are often obscure blog posts here).

So here’s the MarketingVox article - check it out >>

How-To: 7 Tactics for Getting Online Readers to Stick

This article was written by CEO Nate Whitehill of Unique Blog Designs. It works best for those seeking to build brands through blogging, but is also adaptable to companies wishing to maximize their online content development.

Here are seven tried and tested methods to get visitors to become regular readers, be it through RSS subscriptions or simply by reading a good amount of posts. All of these methods, used in conjunction, tripled my RSS subscriber count in April.

A note on traffic.

“Steroid traffic” is a term I coined to mean quick surges of traffic that don’t necessarily average more than 1.1 pageviews per visitor. It has short-term benefits and the visitors rarely stick around.

In contrast, natural traffic — traffic from search engines or referrals — averages well over 2.0 pageviews per visitor and generally become repeat visitors. This piece focuses on generating natural traffic.

Click here to read the full article >>

If you enjoyed this post, then make sure you subscribe to my RSS Feed.

I recently wrote a blog post, Innovation Even Applies to Non-Profits, which talked about fascinating business models surrounding hipster companies like Threadless.com. No sooner had I written that blog post did I receive another several emails from friends and partner companies about a Portland company called RYZwear.com that has a nearly identical business model to Threadless.com and is launching its site this week with a sneaker design contest as the core of its community-based revenue model. Here is the email that I got:

I love the business model and the concept behind RYZwear.com and Threadless.com, but I’m wondering how much room there is for me-too type companies. Is it truly a revolutionary shift where an entire new economy can be built around it or is there significant first-mover advantages to Threadless.com and other community-based business models already up and running?

Please comment to share your thoughts.

The initial intent of this blog, EmailDays, was to highlight everyday email from friends, family, work associates, partners, clients, spammers, or anyone that had an impact on your day through your inbox. Sometimes, I’ve strayed from that and focused more intently on the culture and happenings at our company, eROI. Alas, this blog post is about two different inspiring stories shared by my sister from Kentucky, and a work associate from Avenue A / Razorfish, a Microsoft company - but both are inspiration in the real “real world” as opposed to the working world.

This email from my sister highlighted a hero in her home town of Lexington Kentucky:
“This guys brother is a 9 year old on my son’s team. He has been up at the park for the last 4 years motoring around the bleachers. His family is great and his attitude is awesome. Makes you rethink complaining about any aches and pains or “I can’t do it” attitude. Make sure you watch the video.”

Adam Bender - plays baseball with only one leg

The next email was sent by one of the top experts in the email marketing industry. I’m sure he had received an email like this before, but like me, he was struck by how powerful this video was a second or third time - his email said:
“The Story:
A son asked his father, ‘Dad, will you take part in a marathon
with me?’ The father who, despite having a heart condition, says
‘Yes’. They went on to complete the marathon together.
Father and son went on to join other marathons, the father
always saying ‘Yes’ to his son’s request of going through the
race together. One day, the son asked his father, ‘Dad, let’s
join the Ironman together.’

To which, his father said ‘Yes’ to.
For those who didn’t know, Ironman is the toughest triathlon
ever. The race encompasses three endurance events of a 2.4 mile
(3.86 kilometer) ocean swim, followed by a 112 mile (180.2
kilometer) bike ride, and ending with a 26.2 mile (42.195
kilometer) marathon along the coast of the Big Island.

Father and son went on to complete the race together. View this with music. ”

Can World’s Strongest Dad

Oregon has been recognized for its leadership in the green, sustainable world, but rarely is it recognized for its state economy on a national level. This Wall Street Journal article does an excellent job portraying Oregon’s surge in employment and flexibility to layoffs from big tech companies with hiring from smaller companies like Kryptiq, Jive Software, Vidoop, and eROI.

Check out the article: Oregon Finds a Counterweight in Software

By JUSTIN SCHECK
June 9, 2008; Page A3

PORTLAND, Ore. — Hardware-manufacturing layoffs in the Northwest’s tech industry echo cutbacks that hammered it early this decade, but this time the blow has been absorbed by the scores of software and online-services companies that have sprouted in the past few years.

Old-line tech manufacturing is retrenching because of global outsourcing and fierce competition — the same factors that shuttered Northwest chip and computer factories starting around 2001. Then, laid-off technology workers in states such as Oregon had few other tech-job options. This time, there is a parallel tech sector, including many small start-ups, to take on some of those skilled workers.

See the full article on wsj.com >>