Kenneth Briodagh

As I drove from Denver to the C Lazy U Ranch in Granby, CO, on the epic road through the Rocky Mountain State Park at about 12,000 feet, I came to two realizations: a) even brisk walking at high altitude sucks, and b) this was going to be one of the most incredible weekends I […]

Lollapalooza this summer celebrated its 20th anniversary by once again taking over Chicago’s Grant Park with its signature three-day music festival. From Aug. 5 to 7, thousands descended on the shores of Lake Michigan to rock out and chill out to the sounds of headliners and indie favorites ranging from Eminem and Foo Fighters to Arctic Monkeys and Lykke Li. Key sponsors were there, too, of course, hoping to get a bit of attention from the thousands of music lovers and hard partiers who hit the festival over the weekend. Some activations were clever and endemic.

This month, we go back to Social Media 101 to examine some of the key factors to consider when deploying a fully integrated live event and social media program. This is a broad field, and we’re approaching it with the help of two tipsters: Jim Spinello, 
senior vp-marketing communications at Chicago-based event agency rEvolution, and Blake Cahill, president at Banyan Branch, a social media agency based in Seattle.

Scion, the division of Toyota best known for its custom vehicles and art cars, has revamped its auto show booth and will unveil the hyper-connected event space at the LA Auto Show next week.

National soup and sandwich café chain Panera Bread in September launched a college ambassador program for the 2011 Fall semester at eight colleges across the country including Boston University, University of Cincinnati, University of Michigan, University of Missouri, University of Nebraska, Ohio State University, Purdue and University of Wisconsin. The brand hired four students at each school to act as brand ambassadors or “Breaducators,” as they’re known internally.