Microsoft Archive

It’s been another very busy week for Delightful Communications. I’ve signed another client up for some social/digital strategy work and training, and delivered a personal branding audit for a major CEO.

The new Pioneers we’ve added are John Winsor from Victors & Spoils (now part of the Havas Group), Angel Chen from WPP’s OgilvyOne, the fabulous Carolyn Everson formerly from MTV and Microsoft and now the head of global marketing solutions at Facebook and Jess Greenwood the former Contagious Magazine writer who is now at R/GA.Book reviews on Amazon US and Amazon UK have been astounding. I think we’ve had about 16 now and nearly all have been 5 Star.

We’ve sold out on the US site and our publishers are upping the ante to make sure people don’t have to wait to get their hands on a copy.

That, plus the launch in London next week should see some additional exposure. I spoke at the Microsoft Trends Council last week, and I have had a number of queries about other speaking opportunities that you can see (if they come off) when I update my professional speaker page.

Stephen Fry on the cover of our Facebook Page

Lastly, we have started a 4 part series of articles for the IAB in the UK starting with this: What content providers can learn from Stephen Fry. They’ve kindly let us talk about some of the Pioneers and the lessons learned and are conducting a Twitter competition along with it too!

Can’t wait to get to England next week to see family, for the book launch and to see clients.

If you’ve not got your copy of the book you can get it here, and if you have it please, please jot down a review on Amazon for us as they all help!

It’s been a little over a week since I picked up the new Nokia Lumia 920 Windows Phone from AT&T and I’ve been putting it through its paces. Whenever I get it out people ask me what I think, so I’ve consolidated those thoughts in this post that I hope you find useful when thinking about buying one.

The major selling point for the Lumia 920 is the camera. I was given the Lumia 900 when I worked at Microsoft so I could evangelise about it and I found the camera to be lacking.

18 months ago I’d  picked up the original Samsung Focus and the camera was faultless. It did me proud through the birth (not the ACTUAL birth) of my daughter and her first year on the planet. When I got the Lumia 900, it took so long to take the picture the adorable thing Maggie was doing was over and she’d invariably left the room!

I can happily report that the Lumia 920 has got its camera act together and it takes good photos. I have a Panasonic Lumix G2 with pancake lens that takes amazing photos. So it should, it’s an expensive camera. The 920 is a phone with a camera, so don’t expect Leica quality.

Let me take you through a few photos I’ve taken. The coffee cup above was the first photo I took and it’s not bad. Notice the slight blurring of the background. Nice!

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Today is the official launch of my new business: Delightful Communications

Ever since I was 12 years old I have wanted to start my own company.

At school I would ask the teachers to stock the library with all manner of entrepreneur-type magazines and books, and you could often find me voraciously reading them, pausing only occasionally to stare out of the window and daydream about what it must be like to be your own boss.

Well, when fortune forced me to pull a sad face 8 weeks ago, those dreams started to become a reality as I realised now was the time to make them real.

The reaction to me leaving my seven-year role at Microsoft was overwhelming. Literally hundreds of people emailed or commented either wishing me well, or wanting to talk about possible new jobs or business partnerships.

To everyone who contacted me, I’d like to thank you very much again. The words of encouragement were the well-needed boost to the inkling that now was the time to set up on my own. I thought long and hard about the positions I was asked to try out for, and am grateful for the time people took to uncover potential roles for me.

After many discussions with my wife and family, coupled with the wise counsel of some of my closest industry friends, Delightful Communications was born.

The consultancy builds on the three areas I had the most success with during my time at Microsoft:

– Social Media Integration

– Digital PR

– Personal Branding

To understand more about how I’ll be helping my customers, click through to the site that has been so beautifully put together by Dave Naylor’s team at Bronco.

Clients and partners I’m already working with include: Sociagility, Nine By Blue, 3 Monkeys, Haiku Deck, Zaprica, Barokas PR and The Seattle Theatre Group.

I’m also thrilled to be getting into the “Big Data” space by taking on a part-time role as “US Ambassador at Large” for Majestic SEO. I’ve been watching their impressive development, and the strides my friend Dixon Jones has been making in the industry for the last few years. I am looking forward to learning from the team, and helping them reach more people throughout the US who are in need of the wealth of actionable information their platform holds.

As I said eight weeks ago, my time at Microsoft was an incredible experience. I spent seven years working with some of the smartest and most astute minds in technology and advertising, and I’m sure our paths will cross again over the next seven.

With my book – Pioneers of Digital – launching in just twenty five days, and a growing list of speaking engagements, I’ve certainly got my work cut out for me over the next few months!

Thanks again everyone for all the support and words of wisdom. It’s meant so much to me and my family!

Thanks too to the guys – Blake and Jess – from the video production company, Cherry, who put together this video of my career highlights. We had quite a ride shooting all those interviews over the years.

Cheers,

Mel

Maggie’s Last Visit to Daddy’s Office

Wow!

7 years (2555 days) to the day after I walked into Microsoft in London to help launch adCenter back in 2005, I was told this morning that my role has been “eliminated” in a round of lay offs.

I’ve been told by HR that it’s fine to talk about my new job search on social networks and my blog as the termination has nothing to do with my performance in the job. So as a true social media aficionado, I’m letting you all know that while I’m sad it’s come to this after creating millions of engagements online, writing thousands of blog posts, interviewing hundreds of industry luminaries and speaking at many, many conferences around the world, I have nothing but fantastic memories of working at Microsoft Advertising – 50 of which I’ll write about and publish here in the next couple of weeks.

I’d like to thank all the fabulous colleagues, partners and friends in the industry I’ve met and worked with over the years. It’s been a blast and I can’t wait to see what turns up for me (and you all) next.

Obviously I’m now on the hunt for new roles and projects.

My book www.PioneersOfDigital.com will keep me busy – but any long term employment leads and suggestions are welcome via my contact form or through Facebook!

Lastly, thanks to my wife Ashley for her amazing support throughout the years. Her positiveness, drive and enthusiasm for all the work I’ve created over the years has been an inspiration and really kept me going.

And more recently, so has my beautiful daughter Maggie.

That’s it for now! The pub beckons…..

Here’s the the next 7 years!

I’ll be salivating all over this when it arrives in Cannes. I remember when the first version came out I wanted one!

This post with my first impressions of Cannes in 2009 shows a picture of what V1 looked like.

V2, as you’d expect, is now slimmer and super-souped up.

Read all about it here!

Three years on and the Bing guys have added a whole new experience including a social bar based on research that we trust our friends thoughts on products and places.

Very chuffed and proud that Qi Lu, who’s in the video, said yes to being in Pioneers of Digital!

Exceptional video from our Latin American team, who’ve just launched advertising on Skype via Microsoft Advertising in a whopping 17 countries including: Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Venezuela, Peru, Uruguay, Latin America HQ (Miami), Bolivia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador and Guatemala.

Read more on what’s on offer on the Microsoft Advertising Latin America site as there’s a presentation you can download and a lot more info!

This has been no mean feat, so congrats to the guys in Miami!

Personally never used anything else. This new campaign for IE9 might persuade you to go the same way. Nice use of Tumblr too……and some very funny diagrams!

This is a great a example of being agile in marketing. The #SmokedByWindowsPhone videos have been so successful, Ben Rudolph and team have turned them into ads. #Genius!

Check out the Microsoft Advertising Blog next week for my interview with the great man that we recorded last week!

He’ll talk about this challenge as well has role at Microsoft and other stuff.

What do you think of the Windows Phone ads?

One minute and fifty-four seconds of yummy rich media goodness, showcasing the IAB Rising Stars and some fabulous executions on MSN including the Filmstrip, Pushdown, Billboard and Sidekick.

Great to see there’s more on the way too!

Can’t see the video? Click Here!