DishyMix

Anyone around at the beginning of the Internet advertising revolution knows Kevin Wassong. High profiled leader of J Walter Thompson's digital marketing arm, digital@jwt, Kevin was instrumental in launching many online ad campaigns for major brands including Merrill Lynch, Unilever, Pfizer, HSBC, The Diamond Trading Company, Nasdaq and Sun Microsystems. From his first job as agent trainee at Creative Artists Agency to his membership on the WPP.com international board he's led an amazing life ratified by his charisma, spunk and intelligence. He has been featured on CNN, on the cover of the Wall Street Journal and in the New York Times, Wire Magazine, Adweek, AdAge to name a few. Now you get up close and personal in this rare interview on DishyMix where's it's "all about Kevin."

First Kevin shares his reasons for going to a post-bubble start up and what it's like to be at an early-stage company compared to a traditional behemoth like JWT. He talks about why he's going for the brass ring at Minyanville and the unique business model his new publishing empire is bringing to the financial world. Think Disney meets Wall Street - Watch Minyanville's parody financial news show with characters Hoofy & Boo. Hoofy & Boo's News & Views Featured on FunnyorDie.com, the episode entitled "Cox and Balls" is named after two of the leaders of the world's financial markets. Edward Balls is the Economic Secretary to the Treasury in the UK while Christopher Cox is the head of the SEC in the US.

Tobi has written about everyone, and now Susan gets you to the heart of Tobi. Long-time digital marketing reporter, Tobi talks to Susan about print magazines shedding brand cred on online journalism, the best and worst things about trade reporting, the "PR Rookie Move of the Century," and who might be her pet publicists.

Tobi and Susan discuss shirking the Capricorn "shackles of discipline," why Tobi will always be a New Yorker, her immigrant neighborhood, her favorite Yoga move and her newest venture: content consultant for a social network targeting divorcees with a brilliant Broadway tie-in. Tobi is exploding with creativity...from blogging to Flickr-ing to TriBeca Film Festival reviews on Huffpo to polishing short fiction, she's a hot, smart, single "catch" on fire. See new sides of an industry legend in this intriguing and soulful interview.

Jack Myers is a venerable author, media industry researcher and publisher who runs a TV fan site called Media Village.com as well as a b2b site called JackMyers.com. The juicy part of this interview with Jack is when he shares the key insight of his new book "Virtual Worlds: Rewiring Your Emotional Future" debuting in early June. Jack talks about how future generations, who are not raised on TV or Internet, but instead in virtual worlds and social networks, utilize less rational processing and more heart and gut as they spend their time in fantasy worlds. I get that - my kid comes home and feeds her "Webkins" before she plays with her real Sheltie puppy.

We also talk about the idea of generosity marketing and creating fantasy opportunities for brand engagement in these future worlds as two areas where successful marketers must play to stay germane. Jack gives us an overview of the winners of his interactive advertising sales team assessment research - the latest in reputation systems for the real-world. And he talks about President Clinton's Rwandan initiative and how he'd like to spend all his future energy on philanthropy. Jack, a wannabe Rock Star, DJ or Actor, has the charm and the looks to do so but he's carved out his niche helping marketers, agencies and media companies understand consumer's Emotional Connections®. If you ponder the future of marketing, this is a not-to-miss interview with someone who has seen the future and is willing to share his knowledge.

Susan interviews Chris Fralic, VC who "gets" the media industry, makes insightful and edgy investments, hangs at the TED conference and loves podcasts. He has investments with Josh Kopelman from First Round in Buddy Lube, RockYou, Eventful, SnapVine and MyYearbook as well as Scan Scout where the mutual friend, Jed Savage who introduced us, currently works. In the show, we play the jingle from Buddy Lube - worth a listen to the show just for that! BuddyLube is a company that sits between artists and fans on a social network. Check it out.

Chris is happily married to Irma, whom he met while getting his MBA at St. Joseph's University. He re-enacted his proposal to her on the TED stage and apparently it was a good luck charm. They have a son, Max (7) and live in an artists' colony in New Hope, PA. Chris shares his love of running and recent marathon schedule and explains how the Nike+iPod combo keeps him going.

If you've been impressed, as I have, with the BMW sponsorship of the TED Talks interviews you can thank Chris for making that happen. He put the deal together and those TED Talks have been downloaded over 8 million times. Let's hope this episode of DishyMix has that kind of luck!

Suz and Chris move from a discussion about AWS Amazon Web Services where we agree that Mechanical Turk is the perfect combo of man and machine to sheer amazement that BazaarVoice took only 14 months to hit profitability to widgets to biz dev to working for Bill & Melinda Gates. Listen to this episode to hear someone very supportive of innovation in the industry, a great man, a great husband, a great dad and just the kind of guy you'd want to hang out with.

Podcaster, digital marketing maven and accountability consultant Meredith Medland talks to Susan about how listeners can increase their goal achievement by following the 3Outcomes system. Used in conferences, off-sites and group strategy meetings, Meredith facilitates a simple process that brings teams together around a common set of goals while simultaneously creating individual accountability. She describes the application at the recent eMetrics Summit where Jim Sterne, the Founder of the event, made sure every attendee knew why there were there and what they wanted to get out of the event. How many people just show up to shows with no plan?

Having 3Outcomes integrated into the programming gave permission to attendees to ask each other for things they wanted and for places where they needed support. The camaraderie was rich and the event more fulfilling. Meredith, who got a relative Master's Degree in transformational work, took everything she applied and put it into her process for accountability and goal-setting for corporate America. He beautiful blend of humanity and achievement strike the right balance for today's workplace.

Then Meredith, who does a weekly podcast on Personal Life Media called "Living Green: Effortless Ecology for Everyday People," talked about how she integrates her focus on sustainable living and ecology with her personal spiritual work of Hapkido (she's on her way to a black belt) and her 3Outcomes consultancy. The three harmonize beautifully and this interview gives heart to those who aren't currently finding meaning in their work. Meredith's career beautifully fuses her passions and sets an example of someone who is living her life fully.

David Cowan, Venture Capitalist, "Born-Again-Atheist" and Critical Thinker is one of the most intelligent guests to appear on DishyMix. Listen to this episode to remind yourself what it's like to rap with a rational conversationalist. Host Susan Bratton takes you on an auditory ride covering subjects as diverse as "man purses" and Kurt Vonnegut to raising children without God and why people believe weird things.

David gives us his opinion on donuts and Richard Dawkins and tells us what it's like to be on Forbes' "Midas List" of Tech's Best Venture Investors. From the "Sirens of Titan" and how complex systems can have emergent properties to succumbing (or not) to your own biology, David delivers a smorgasbord of food for thought.

Sir Ken is both a knight and a "prince of a man." Working tirelessly on educational reform to move us from an academic format for the defunct industrial revolution to an interdisciplinary organizational structure fit for today's globally-networked knowledge workers, Sir Ken recommends a logical new kind of school system and tells us why this social institutional structure is imperative to fix "the other climate crisis" -- the human resource crisis.

In this special interview, host Susan Bratton takes her listeners on an expansive journey beyond Internet media and into a realm of creativity and innovation. Hear why "habits and habitats" are the keys to increasing YOUR everyday creativity to unleash the power of your full potential.

Sir Ken also discusses world government's process to become a "creative hub." From Oklahoma to Ireland, from Singapore to the UK, he's been hired by heads of state, including Tony Blair, to imbue innovation and creativity into not just states, but entire countries.

This charming and special man shares not just his vision of his life's work, but his recent re-marriage to his wife of 25 years at the Las Vegas Elvis Chapel (yes, the Blue Hawaii package); what it's like to be knighted by Queen Elizabeth II (Beefeaters and all!) and the latent creative awakenings of his rock-star friends, Sir Paul McCartney and Mick Fleetwood.

Make sure you check out Ken's new website http://www.sirkenrobinson.com and order his new book about finding your greatest talents "The Element."

Join Susan as she delves behind the well-known persona of one of the world's leading experts in media effectiveness measurement who has a penchant for loud shoes. Rex "got suckered into" writing "What Sticks: Why Most Advertising Fails and How To Guarantee Yours Succeeds" and tells of his punishing writing schedule and the real benefits of being an AdAge #1 Book of the Year author. Hear Rex's fantasy of owning a comedy club and his dream of doing "reverse hitchhiking" where he picks up famous authors and musicians in his 612 Ferrari Scagletti and drives them around to hear their stories. Ahhh...fast cars. His family car is a Porsche 911 Turbo and his weekend windy road car is yes, you guessed it, a Ferrari. You'll see him whiz by with his twin boys, Caleb and Jared in tow.

Susan interviews famous author of "The Clue Train Manifesto" and reveals the depth of a man considered the "erudite tech-elite." David intertwingles his first book, his second "Small Pieces Loosely Joined" and his recent book about organizing the Internet "Everything is Miscellaneous: The Power of the New Digital Disorder." From his family summer home in the Berkshires David will take a month to do anything but relax - he swears he has an unassailable synaptic connection between the words "boredom" and "relax."

This interview will restore your confidence that their are sophisticated communications professionals with maturity and elegance who understand how to tell a company or product story that gets absorbed. Learn how to communicate your company's proposition with more powerful outcomes. From deep in the cerebral cortex to the limbic nervous system - humans are wired to take in information through stories with an emotional hook. "Emotions are the most powerful ingredient for understanding," says Lois. You can leverage the subconscious social-signaling that happens at the beginning of interactions to make more of your connections positive. And you'll lean why big ears vs. big mouths are what matter.