What were viewers talking about? Education topped the tweets.

But, more importantly, viewers were talking. Gone are the days when politicians couldn’t receive immediate feedback from viewers and voters.

The key here is Twitter can – and will – be used as a platform for politics and politicians just as its a platform for businesses.

The question here is if politicians will use the opportunity of social media to reach more viewers – and more voters? President Obama certainly incorporated social media into his 2008 campaign.

How will it be used in the 2012 campaign? Only time will tell.

Sometimes, the road to an idea can be a wild ride.

This infographic by Virus Comix illustrates the many twists, turns and loops on the road to success in the Creative Process.

Every idea starts out in the same place.

But some ideas enter the seemingly-never-ending racetrack of desperation. Others must make a pit stop at motivation.

Zoom past laziness. Don’t get stuck in the loops of over-thinking. And…VOILA!

Jump in with us and join the fun.

But, to show you how big of a deal this social media network has become, Eric Fischer compiled a map showing where people travel (shown in green) and who they communicate with (shown in purple), using accounts with geo-locations enabled. The white areas are places connected by both travel and talking.

The U.S. glows white as people travel and connect with each other but China remains predominately dark because Twitter is blocked.

We’re impressed.

Couple Up to Buckle Up from Tobias Carlson on Vimeo.

In the marketing industry, we’re constantly speaking publicly: to clients and consumers. Communication is our specialty.

That’s why we were intrigued when a recent article published by Fast Company encouraged its readers to “speak in Twitter sound bites” to improve public speaking. They explained that today’s audience members are likely to tweet a quote from your presentation, so a funny pun or sound bite might grab their attention.

In a world driven by social media, its not surprising that Twitter has made its way to even public speaking presentations, but we’re suggesting another way to take this advice:

We’ve all heard the research that today’s Americans are much less patient and attentive than just a generation ago. Perhaps this is the best presentation advice we’ve heard since learning to imagine the audience members in their underwear.

Keep your audience, however big or small it may be, enthralled by refusing to ramble. Take advantage of its short attention span by grabbing its interest with the information you have to offer, and then stop. The audience members will be so impressed with your refreshing brevity that they won’t even have time to tweet how bored they are.

Until we meet again, “stay foolish”

- LaBarge+Partners

It’s been quite a year for the LaBarge+Partners team.

Like most in our industry, we’ve had ups and downs this year….

Times when business was won and times when the budgets were lean.

Times when the insight was right and the execution was brilliant.

Times when the decisions were hard and the outcomes were painful.

Times we were steadfast and times we were speechless.

And through it all, we survived.
Through it all, we flourished.

We thought, wrote, created, collaborated, invented, mapped, traveled, challenged, played, designed, researched, analyzed, planned, pitched and high fived our way through the year…

And we loved every minute of it.

So thank you 2011, we’ll miss you.  Cheers to 2012, we can’t wait to see what you have in store for us.

Thank you to our wonderful teammates, partners and clients for joining us on this wild ride - It has been an honor and privilege.

Happy Holidays from our LaBarge+Partner family to yours.

This infographic, dubbed the “Viral Spiral,” by Unruly Media shows the exponential growth of online sharing.

The numbers – and this graphic – are staggering.

In 2006, Dove’s “Evolution” ad was shared online 222,234 times, and the ad was considered a viral juggernaut back then.  Now, the biggest video of 2011, the Volkswagen “The Force” video counts almost 5 million shares since 2011’s Super Bowl.

2006 was just five short years ago but, my my my – how things have changed.

YouTube was only one year old and savvy Internet users were just beginning to share viral videos – not to mention retailers were just figuring out the importance of ads that entertain as well as inform.

We all knew that Old Spice found a gold mine when they went viral with Aiza Mustafa as the Old Spice Man, but these numbers speak for themselves.

Online sharing is important to a brand’s success these days. And, if this viral spiral continues, who knows where we’ll be in 2016.

After 5 months, Sam didn’t really miss Facebook.

Without Facebook, Sam said he was able to enjoy social events without wondering what funny status update to post on Facebook later.  While he said he often feels like “the only kid on the schoolyard without a TV” he also said he could experience things in a more active and legitimate way -  something he felt he lacked when his life was connected to the world of Social Media.

That tethering of personal and social is something everyone with a Twitter account or a Facebook page can understand – social media can be a blessing and a curse.

And while the results of his experiment are more expected than groundbreaking, his experiment reinforces something our agency says time and time again:  Social Media happens – engage or die.

If you disconnect, the Social Media world rolls on without you.
If you take yourself out of the conversation, the conversation still happens.

Just because Sam “didn’t have to worry” about friends posting funny party pictures on Facebook doesn’t mean the pictures weren’t posted anyway  -  The only difference is that Sam didn’t see them.

Embarrassing picture? Funny story? The name of the cute girl he couldn’t remember?
It’s all there.
But Sam isn’t.
And because he’s missing, he’s powerless.

Regardless of whether you are a person or a brand, Social Media happens.
You can’t avoid it and you can’t afford to ignore it….

The conversation goes on with our without you.

But for one week in Paris, Absolut Vodka changed that – Absolut created a campaign that brought an element of pristine white purity to a dingy, bustling bus shed.

The interior of the crisp-white bus shelter included an art installation by artist Simon Schubert. It was made entirely of folded-up paper, creating effects composed only of light and shadow.

Nice and cool (literally)