We all have a story to tell, but sometimes it’s better to let someone else tell it for us. That’s why so many brands use marketing and advertising agencies. Not only are they professional storytellers, but they are also able to offer an outside perspective (at least at first). Haberman is a Minneapolis, MN based agency that calls itself “modern storytellers for pioneers.” This means “creating integrated marketing programs in partnership with the leading entrepreneurs, innovators, healers and heroes of our day to help their companies and organizations grow and succeed.” I guess Haberman is a bit picky about the kinds of stories that they tell.
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I kind of think of Easter as a spring version of Thanksgiving. Though one holiday is religious and the other isn’t, they both have similar themes and, in my family at least, similar celebrations. Thanksgiving is about celebrating the season past, while Easter is about being hopeful for the coming season. Both have significant agricultural undertones, and that’s why I think we should take a look at Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture today. They are a Pocantico Hills, NY based non-profit that is not only hopeful for the coming growing season but also for the future of agriculture. That’s why they “are working to improve the way America eats and farms.”
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A lot of thoughts come to mind when the name Hilton comes up. Hotels. Paris. Conrad Hilton’s appearance in Mad Men. Some of these thoughts are more positive than others, but the most positive should probably be for the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. It’s an Agoura Hills, CA based non-profit “family foundation established in 1944 by the man who started Hilton Hotels” that provides “funds to nonprofit organizations working to improve the lives of disadvantaged and vulnerable people throughout the world.” The foundations assets are more than $2.4 billion, so they’ll be doing a lot of good for a long time.
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It still amazes me how much old media drives new media. If you’re already famous, you can almost instantly carry that fame over to social media. A show like Shark Tank can drive millions of dollars in online sales. And the right tv mention can crash a website. What I think is cool is that we’re starting to see the reverse happen. People who are famous on Youtube, Twitter, or Instagram are carrying that fame over to more traditional channels. In short, it’s all coming together, and marketers need to be ready for it. Fullscreen is a Los Angeles, CA based agency that is aiming to build “the first media company for the connected generation—together, right at the intersection of tech and entertainment.”
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It almost seems that a person’s comfort with buying something online has an inverse relationship with the item’s size. Books, digital goods (size = 0), and clothing are no brainers these days, but people still seem to prefer an in-person experience when it comes to furniture, cars, and homes. I guess it could be based on cost too. Either way, some things are easier to sell online than others. Home furnishings, decor, and outdoor furniture fall somewhere in the middle, but online will win eventually. Hayneedle is definitely pushing for it. They are an Omaha, NE based company that “has become one of the nation’s largest online retailers, offering more than 3,000 brands and nearly 2 million products for the home.” It all started with Hammocks.com, and they just kept adding niches.
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Travel decisions are almost always open to outside influence. If you know where you’re going, you may need help figuring out how to get there or what to do once you get there. If you don’t know where you want to go, the possibilities are truly endless. That’s why marketers love the travel market (it helps that travelers are often exceedingly willing to spend money to travel). Just like in every other industry, marketers in the travel space are getting much more sophisticated. Sojern is a San Francisco, CA based company that is leading that trend. They have developed a “robust audience engagement platform [that] is powered by machine-learning technology, enhanced programmatic buying (real-time bidding), and data insights.” The goal is to engage travelers and affect their decision-making process, and it seems to be working.
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It’s Tax Day! I’ve always done my own taxes, but Amy has always worked with an accountant. Since we’re filing jointly this year, we went with the accountant–and he saved us a good amount of money. Doing my own taxes was easy because I have a pretty solid system for tracking all of my business’ financial transactions (and I have a pretty simple business). When things get a little more complicated, software is usually the answer, but most software is built for individuals or huge businesses. inDinero is a San Francisco, CA based company that fills the middle ground. They are a virtual back office, which means that they’ll “take care of your accounting, file your corporate tax returns, and manage your payroll.” It’s exactly what I would want if my company was a little bigger.
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About this time last year, Amy and I were visiting my parents for Easter. Our wedding was a couple months away and preparations were going very smoothly. And then Amy had her one and only “bridezilla” moment. She realized that she was totally in love with a dress that she had once seen in a picture online, and had to find it. Without being able to look at any pictures because I wanted it to be a surprise, I helped her track down the exact dress at a store only 45 minutes from my parents house. She tried it on, loved it, and bought it. The only issue was that she had already spent a bunch on another dress. What do you do with a never worn, beautiful wedding dress? You put it on Tradesy. They’re a Santa Monica, CA based company that can help you “turn your closet into cash.” It’s a marketplace for new and gently used fashion.
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A while back when I was in Costa Rica on a fishing trip, my Dad and I took part of a day to check out the rainforest. Honestly, it was pretty disappointing. I thought it would be something really worth seeing, but it was just dark gray skies with low-hanging clouds and dull green vegetation everywhere. I didn’t even see any wildlife. While rainforest may not live up to the marketing hype in terms of visual experience (I swear every picture associated with rainforests includes bright colors), they’re still hugely important ecosystems. That’s why Rainforest Trust was “established in 1988 to save rainforests and other threatened tropical habitats that are critical for preventing imminent species extinction.” They’re a Warrenton, VA based non-profit that works “to purchase and protect threatened tropical forests.” It’s hard to think of a better way to save something than to buy it outright.
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There’s something primally satisfying about cooking over an open fire. Maybe I enjoy it so much because I don’t get to do it very often. For a lot of people across the world, it’s an everyday occurrence–and that’s not a good thing. Did you know that “the most dangerous activity a woman can undertake in the developing world is cooking for her family?” StoveTeam International is a Eugene, OR based non-profit that is trying to make cooking safer by helping to start “self-sustaining businesses [that] produce safe, affordable, fuel-efficient cookstoves to replace dangerous open cooking fires.”
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Apparently a guy named Asa Candler invented the coupon in 1887. He was one of the founders of Coca-Cola, and it was his marketing tactics that put the brand on the path to where it is today. Coupons are ingenious for two reasons. First, they influence people to do things that they wouldn’t otherwise do. Second, they allow companies to track the success of different marketing strategies and tactics. Here’s a simplistic, old school example. A company runs the same coupon in two competing local newspapers for the same cost. One gets twice as many redemptions. The company now knows where to spend their ad dollars. RevTrax is a New York, NY based company that is taking a more modern approach to using coupons to track customer behavior.
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I’m not a big gamer, but when I do play games on my mobile devices, they’re usually pretty simplistic. Some people prefer a more immersive experience–they take mobile gaming seriously. Those people probably like the games from Gameloft. They’re a New York, NY based company that allows its “fans to play games anywhere, anytime, and on any digital platform.” In fact, more than one million Gameloft games are downloaded every single day. That’s what happens when you develop great games in-house while at the same time you’ve “built the world’s largest distribution network” (for games of course).
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Health is all about information. There was a time when we didn’t know how unhealthy smoking was. Now we do. Many people will live longer, healthier lives because of this knowledge. Any tool that can help both doctors and patients make more informed decisions is immensely valuable. Healthline is a San Francisco, CA based company that has built “the largest, most clinically accurate classification of health information available on the web.” They offer this resource both to consumers in the form of Healthline.com and to brands in a variety of solutions.
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Last night Amy was bragging to me about how popular one of her pins on Pinterest has been. Apparently she was the first to pin something repinned by thousands. Pinterest always struck me as having far more commercial potential than most other social media sites (LinkedIn being the biggest exception). Yet most of the software developed for marketing on social media sites seems to be focused on Facebook and LinkedIn. Ahalogy is a Cincinnati, OH based company that is “pioneering the science of discovery on Pinterest.” It’s not “some do-it-yourself suite.” Instead it’s “a marketing service, powered by [their] network and technology, and paid for performance.”
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I’ve worked in two real offices in my life (I’ve mostly worked from home). The first was in an old tide mill on a bridge in an estuary. The second was a beautiful building located on 377 acres of black bear habitat. They’re not your typical commercial real estate options, but what are? How does a company know what office space is available? I have no idea, but apparently there isn’t much information available online as you would hope. RealMassive is working to change that. They’re an Austin, TX based startup that has developed the “first-ever source of real-time commercial real estate information.”
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This week I saw my first flowers popping out of the dirt. It still looks like winter outside, but you can tell that change is imminent. There will be no better place to be in a few weeks than a botanic garden. Flowers will be blooming, birds will be chirping, and spring will be in the air. I’ll probably visit the Chicago Botanic Garden (my wife and I like it there because it’s where we got married), but those in the New York City area might want to check out the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. It’s a non-profit and “an urban botanic garden that connects people to the world of plants, fostering delight and curiosity while inspiring an appreciation and sense of stewardship of the environment.”
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I am anything but a film buff. I typically watch the same bad movies over and over again while I’m doing something else. It takes a lot for me to sit down and watch something with 100% focus. That means that I don’t pay much attention to the Sundance Film Festival, but I’ve heard of it and know it’s a big deal. The organization behind the festival is Sundance Institue. They’re a Park City, UT based (with offices in LA and NYC) non-profit “dedicated to the discovery and development of independent artists and audiences in film and theatre.” The Institute was founded by Robert Redford in 1981 and since then has “provided a space for independent artists to explore their stories free from commercial and political pressures.”
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If you’ve watched as much Seinfeld as I have, you’re familiar with Lloyd Braun. He’s the guy who George Costanza’s mother wants George to be more like. Anyway, the real Lloyd Braun was Larry David’s lawyer and manager. I’m not sure how similar he is to the tv character, but let’s hope it’s not very. Anyway, the real Lloyd Braun moved away from the legal side and started a company called BermanBraun. The company recently rebranded as Whalerock Industries, but it’s still “a media company for the 21st century, one where the best and brightest minds come together to create world-class content, spanning all mediums and screens.” They’re based in Santa Monica, CA, and they’re behind some brand that you may be familiar with–for instance they’re managing Moviefone for AOL.
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When we talk about healthcare, we talk about doctors, hospitals, biotech companies, insurers, pharmaceutical manufacturers, and even the government. We often forget that we’re the most important part of the equation. While there are plenty of situations where we need outside help from the parties mentioned above to ensure our health, individuals need to be empowered “to take more active roles in their care.” That’s exactly what Emmi Solutions does. They’re a Chicago, IL based healthcare communications company that has developed “interactive solutions to achieve meaningful business and clinical outcomes.” Chances are that you can think of a time when poor communication resulted in your having a worse health outcome. (Here’s mine: Stomach bug for a week. Doctor runs tests to see if antibiotics will help. Takes a week to tell me they will. Take antibiotics and get better next day.)
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I used to like golf, but I quit playing about ten years ago. It started when I signed up for P.E. Golf during my Freshman year of college. To pass I had to play ten rounds of nine holes during the semester. I didn’t play my first round until October 1st. The course closed on October 31st, and it was a really cold fall. The last few rounds were played in a face mask and gloves. After that experience I started to realize that I’d rather catch the fish in the ponds on the course than hit a little white ball around. Then I broke the head off of my driver at a driving range and decided never to play again. It happened to be a Callaway Big Bertha. The Carlsbad, CA based company aims “to deliver the best performing products the game has ever known—products that perform so well, they literally put the joy of the game in your hands.” It didn’t quite work out for me, but it has definitely worked out for lots of other golfers.
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When I was a kid I used to get a catalog called Things You Never Knew Existed. I’m not sure how I first ended up on the mailing list, but I would look over the catalog for hours and hours (it was the ultimate bathroom reading material). It was filled with gag gifts, pranks, collectibles, novelties, costumes, and all kind of other silly stuff. If you were preparing to play a good April Fools joke on someone, an order from Things You Never Knew Existed would be a great start. The Johnson Smith Company is based in Bradenton, FL and behind Things You Never Knew Existed as well as The Ligher Side, Betty’s Attic, Clever Gear, Full of Life, and HaloweenOnly.com. They’ve been around for a century now, so they’ve really developed a specialty in selling random junk you don’t need.
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It used to be that most websites were the same for everybody, but today almost everything seems to be personalized. Whether I log into Facebook, search on Google, or visit a jobs website, there’s a very good chance that my experience is being altered based on data that they’ve collected about me. Sites with this customization based on who is logged in used to be referred to (and maybe still are) as portals. Liferay Portal is free and open source software that allows anyone to build this kind of web experience. Liferay is a Diamond Bar, CA based company that was started in 2004 and “houses a professional services group that provides training, consulting and enterprise support services” focused on the Liferay Portal software.
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When I think about real estate, I don’t usually think about art. And when I think about art, I don’t usually think about real estate. However, some of the most interesting companies and organizations that I’ve come across have been born out of seemingly odd combinations. Chashama is a perfect example. They are a New York, NY based non-profit that “nurtures artists by transforming unused property into work and presentation space.” It makes so much sense. Artists get much needed space to work and show their work, while an empty space is brought to life.
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It’s easy to forget how important certain ecosystems have been to the development of human civilization. With agriculture, industry, and transportation, we can make any place on this earth habitable. In many parts of the world there are groups of people who are still living close to the land–they depend on nature for their survival and their ways of life. In fact, there are “nearly 400 distinct indigenous peoples [who] depend on the Amazon rainforest for their physical and cultural survival.” That’s why Amazon Watch was founded in 1996. They are a San Francisco, CA based non-profit that partners “with indigenous and environmental organizations in campaigns for human rights, corporate accountability and the preservation of the Amazon’s ecological systems.”
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I barely shop in retail stores any more because I know that I can almost always find a better price online. Retailers have realized this and started getting much more aggressive about pricing merchandise competitively. The problem is that few people are willing to drive from store to store just to save a few bucks. That’s why you should do a little pre-shopping on Find&Save, a site run by Wanderful Media. The former seems to be the sole product of the latter at this point; however, the Los Gatos, CA based Wanderful Media is aiming “to transform the $4 billion business of traditional advertising circulars through digital innovation – just as joint media ventures such as CareerBuilder and Cars.com strengthened the industry’s position through the use of new technology.”
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It wasn’t long ago that the term “educational data” meant whatever was written in a teacher’s grade book. Today there are all kinds of software solutions to help teachers, administrators, and school systems better educate their students. The problem is that every piece of software works a little bit differently. Integrating one or two applications with a student information system may not be a big deal, but it can get out of hand with a few more apps. Clever is a San Francisco, CA whose software solutions “sync with your school’s student information system to provide an amazing experience for teachers and students.”
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When you finish reading this, what are you going to do next? You’ll likely read something else–an e-mail, another article, or maybe a Facebook status. That’s why I should have suggestions for related content at the bottom of every company profile (why don’t I?). You’ve seen this model on other sites. There are related articles recommended for you. What you may not have noticed is that some of those recommendations are ads. nrelate is a New York, NY based company behind many of these ads. They help “Publishers give their readers an easy way to find more great content from within their site or from around the web, while Marketers get their content in front of highly engaged readers.”
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Every time that Amy and I move (four times over the last six years), we say that we’re going to do a great job setting up our new place. When we move to the next place, we end up repacking the framed pictures that we never got around to hanging on the wall. Interior design isn’t our strongpoint. Next time we move, we’ll have to use Houzz for inspiration. They’re a Palo Alto, CA based company that offers “a collaborative platform for home remodeling and design, bringing homeowners and home professionals together in a uniquely visual community.” It’s kind of like Pinterest, but only for home design and decor.
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I love shows like The Wire, Breaking Bad, and The Sopranos. One common theme in all of those shows is money laundering. When you earn a lot of money illegally, you have to find a way to make it “clean.” While pop culture has made me well aware that money laundering happens on a large scale domestically, I had no idea how big the problem is for developing countries. Not only do these nations have to deal with the initial problem of criminal activity, but they also have to deal with the fact that these activities are sucking money out of their economies. Global Financial Integrity is a non-profit organization that is working to stop this. They are based in Washington, DC, and they promote “national and multilateral policies, safeguards, and agreements aimed at curtailing the cross-border flow of illegal money.”
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I feel sorry for anyone who has ever had to watch me play soccer. It’s a sport that I was not made to play. I never liked all the running, but it was at least fun for the first few years (because there was still hope that I would eventually score a goal). Hopefully my experience with the sport is an aberration, because Round Star Foundation is a New York, NY based non-profit “dedicated to extending the many benefits soccer can provide to every individual.” They do this by “providing access to high quality soccer activities, training and education” to help people with both physical and social development.
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