For a charitable business, like StudioE9’s client and partner Blanket America, helping those in need isn’t just the right thing to do, but a brand position. Following the January earthquake in Haiti, StudioE9 recommended that Blanket America expand its domestic giving program to incorporate Haiti. After supplying 80,000 sheets through WorldVision it became clear that relief was not enough. Supplies would eventually dwindle. Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, needed sustainable development. Fast.

Social media proved a vehicle for unprecedented charitable outpouring immediately following the earthquake, so the challenge was to cultivate a similar interest in long term development. A mass consumer movement, driven by viral adoption, could potentially scale fast enough to meet the growing need. With this in mind, StudioE9 and Blanket America launched CHOOSE HAITI.

CHOOSE HAITI predicated on the belief that, when given the choice, consumers will support job creation in Haiti by demanding Made in Haiti products. Additionally, CHOOSE HAITI represents an exciting new direction for Haiti, a bold step away from contract labor and toward independent Haitian businesses with unique brand values.

Within a week, the CHOOSE HAITI Facebook page attracted over 30,000 fans. The movement received coverage from Time Magazine and CNN. Most importantly, demonstrating demand for a Made in Haiti brand, like Choose Haiti, attracted outside investment from companies like Beverly Hills Polo and Pony. Together, with Blanket America, the new business stands for hundreds of jobs. This, however, is just the beginning. CHOOSE HAITI is gaining momentum, attracting more and more investment in Haiti and making plans for initiatives in other areas like agriculture.

StudioE9 receives mention for it’s role in helping Blanket America provide 1 Million blankets to people in need though the use of social media.

Excerpt from Adam Penenberg’s article in Fast Company.

“Blanket America creates a different mechanism for charity. For every item a user buys, another is given away to someone in need. Therefore each act of consumption is also social instead of anti-social. Demand and donation become synonymous. When someone targets their needs, they are also targeting someone else’s needs.”

Read more at Fast Company.

NEW YORK, NY, and DUBLIN, IRELAND, Oct. 19, 2009

Viral Loop LLC, founded by Studioe9 and VIRAL LOOP author Adam L. Penenberg, today introduced an iPhone application powered by InTrade, The Leading Prediction Market. The application, the first prediction market available on the iPhone, makes it possible for InTrade users to log in to their account and make predictions (trade contracts) as to whether future events will occur or not.

This new app created by Viral Loop and powered by InTrade also works in conjunction with the Viral Loop Facebook application (”widget”) http://apps.facebook.com/viralloop that tells users how much they and their friends are worth—in dollars—to Facebook, based on their level of engagement, their friends’ level of activity, and their social “influence.”

“We are thrilled to partner with InTrade to bring this exciting new iPhone application to market and complement the Viral Loop Facebook application,” said Elizabeth Brown, co-founder of Studioe9, a leading web design and social marketing firm. “All of this springs from Adam L. Penenberg’s new book, Viral Loop: From Facebook to Twitter, How Today’s Smartest Businesses Grow Themselves (Hyperion, Oct. 2009).”

The Viral Loop Facebook application, which functions as a proof of concept for Penenberg’s book, has been downloaded more than 8,000 times since its release four weeks ago, its user base growing by the hundreds every day.

“Offering an iPhone App extends the reach of Intrade and prediction markets generally to a larger audience. This will increase the engagement, excitement and the information quality for the benefit of all. Therefore we are delighted with this overdue development and to be working with Viral Loop,” said John Delaney, CEO of InTrade.

About Studioe9: Studioe9 is a digital studio that focuses on connecting clients to emerging communities and new technologies to enable them. Studioe9 creates websites, online video, mobile applications, social media, casual games and more. Clients have included Little Pim, Air America Radio, Office Depot, Sony-Ericsson, Cingular, Cornell University, and many others.

About Adam L. Penenberg: Adam L. Penenberg is a contributing writer to Fast Company magazine and a professor at the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at New York University. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Forbes, The Economist, Mother Jones, Slate, Wired, and in many other publications. He was portrayed by actor Steve Zahn in the movie “Shattered Glass,” which told the story of Penenberg’s outing of serial fabulist Stephen Glass of The New Republic. Viral Loop is his third book.

About InTrade: InTrade allows members to transact in the most innovative, transparent and exciting way on political, financial, current and similar event futures, with Intrade members trading directly with one other. InTrade has provided data to CNBC, CNN, FOX, WSJ, FT, New York Times, 7 Federal Reserve Districts, more than 50 major universities and graduate schools in the US, the ECB, Cato, Bank of Japan, Bank of England, presidential candidates and major and boutique Wall Street firms. InTrade’s prediction market is a manifestation of the wisdom of the crowds, and its crowd-sourced predictions have been shown time and again to be accurate. “InTrade makes more accurate predictions than I have ever come across,” remarked John Stossel, former correspondent for ABC’s 20/20.

Press inquiries:

For Viral Loop, contact Elizabeth Brown of Studioe9 (elizabeth@studioe9.com)

For InTrade, contact John Delaney, john.delaney@intrade.com, www.intrade.com, Twitter: www.johndelaney.com

Publisher’s Weekly, 10/5/2009

Facebook may have 300 million users, but that doesn’t mean that these social digerati are easy to reach—which explains why advertising on the so-called social Web so far has largely been a dud. So when journalist Adam Penenberg approached StudioE9 to create an online marketing campaign for his new book, Viral Loop, we recognized a unique opportunity: we would design and implement a proof of concept for his book. In essence, set out to create a viral loop around Viral Loop.

We settled on a three-pronged approach involving a Facebook application (a widget), an iPhone app and a Web site. Taken together they create a powerful synergy, promoting Viral Loop across multiple platforms, yet they also function independently. The goal: to create multiple paths to learning about and hopefully buying the book. After all, every time a user sees or hears the words “viral loop,” we extend the brand. These three components take the idea a step further by having users spread it for us. To get it, you have to give. We knew we had to offer users something they would like so much they’d willingly share it with their friends. Then, our users would become de facto Viral Loop marketers.

Facebook Application

Our Viral Loop widget for Facebook takes advantage of the fact that users of social networks tend to be both committed participants and contributors: in other words, their interactions create value for the networks they use. If Facebook had only three million users, it wouldn’t have the stratospheric valuation it does with 300 million. Our widget determines how much a user is worth to Facebook by collecting data on how active users are, who their friends are, how much influence they have, how popular their profile page is—plus, how much Facebook is worth these days. At the time of this writing, a rough estimate put Facebook at a value of more than $6 billion.

When users launch the widget, they tap into a complex algorithm that crunches all the data. Once they learn their dollar value to Facebook, a message is posted to their newsfeed, which further markets the app. They can also find out what their friends are worth by inviting them to try it. The more friends they persuade, the more influence they have and the more they add to their own value. By placing a dollar value on social network activity, we offer incentives to users to raise their level of participation and, more to the point for us, spread the widget.

A real-time leader board published on the Fast Company Web site (fastcompany.com) tracks the dollar values of Facebook’s top 20 Web celebrities. Barack Obama, for example, can be worth up to $2 million to Facebook, beating out Ashton Kutcher, Roger Federer and God. Alongside that list run the top 20 Viral Loop widget users and their dollar values, comparing the values of Viral Loop application users with the most popular celebrities on Facebook.

iPhone App

We took Viral Loop to a mobile platform with the Viral Loop iPhone app. It’s a predictions market wrapped in a game. Those who download the app through their iPhones, iTunes store or from viralloop.com are awarded $500 in Viral Loop currency to “bet” on predictions based, in large part, on the book. A prediction might be “Google will buy Twitter by year’s end” or “Facebook will amass half a billion users by Jan. 1, 2010,” or “PayPal’s revenues will surpass eBay’s by July 2010.” The app tabulates each participant’s vote—either thumbs up or down. You can “short” a prediction like you would stock, too, and discussion boards at viralloop.com help users keep tabs on all the action.

The iPhone app also ties in with the widget. Users can transfer their Facebook dollar values to bet on predictions or buy the right to post their own prediction that other users can bet on. If a user runs out of currency, they can raise more by inducing others to download the widget or increasing their level of social network activity, or by buying the book through a special link at viralloop.com that leads to a major bookseller. They can then transfer that “money” to the iPhone app.

Viral Loop Web Site

A Web marketing plan exists at viralloop.com, which hosts Penenberg’s blog, a description of the book, reviews and links to booksellers, as well as exclusive q&as with people who appear in the book’s pages—including Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, MySpace founder Chris DeWolfe and tech icon Marc Andreessen. There are also pages devoted to the widget and iPhone apps with comment threads.

But it doesn’t stop there. On the home-page is a tree with several viral loop companies branching out, including Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, MySpace, RockYou and Bebo. Click on Facebook and pictures of its three founders pop up. Hit edit and you can participate in a wiki to add your own information or provide links and commentary. The result is a constantly evolving site with the potential to become a valuable online resource. And like the widget and iPhone app, it depends on users to grow and spread.

Autumn has been busy here at StudioE9 with the launch of several campaigns and web ventures. We look forward to writing about our recent adventures in the emerging media space as soon as we get a chance to catch our breath. In the meantime, please take a moment to read recent press coverage on one of our favorite campaigns, The Viral Loop.

ABC News Interviews Adam Penenberg about the VIral Loop and talks about StudioE9’s Viral Loop Facebook Application. - http://bit.ly/4qDH7d

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StudioE9’s Viral Loop Facebook App used to evaluate Coke Zero Campaign by NBC

www.nbcnewyork.com/around-town/food-drink/Coca-Colas-Facial-Profiler-Creepy-or-Just-Weird-63616412.html

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“Viral Loop Interview Part 1: The Fastest Way to Make $1 Million”
Atlantic Monthly, November 2009

www.business.theatlantic.com/2009/11/the_fastest_way_to_make_millions_–_seriously.php.html

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StudioE9 Paul Johnson’s Article “The Viral Loop Widget”
October 2009 Edition of Publishers Weekly

www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6700162.htm

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MediaPost Publications Jumping Off The Page

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=118378

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“Adam Penenberg’s Crazy Viral Book Blitz” bu Gillian Reagan
The New York Observer, October20, 2009

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2009/09/24/how-much-are-you-worth-to-facebook/

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Crunchgear/Techcrunch (reposted on All Things Digital): “Using Facebook and the iPhone to Promote Something Called a Book.”
http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/09/18/viral-loop-using-facebook-and-the-iphone-to-promote-something-called-a-%E2%80%98book%E2%80%99/

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Mediaite: “Viral Loop: For Facebook, Michael Jackson Is More Valuable Than God”
http://www.mediaite.com/online/viral-loop-for-facebook-michael-jackson-more-valuable-than-god/

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Mediaite: “What Portion of Facebook’s Billions Are BEcause of You?”
http://www.mediaite.com/online/what-portion-of-facebooks-billions-are-because-of-you/

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Fast Company Leader Board (lists the top 20 users of the Viral Loop widget and the top 20 celebrities on Facebook): http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/adam-penenberg/penenberg-post-0

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Viral Loop excerpt in October’s Fast Company magazine: http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/139/loop-de-loop.html

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My exclusive interview with Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg: http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/adam-penenberg/penenberg-post/facebooks-mark-zuckerberg-viral-loops

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http://www.smartmoney.com/spending/deals/Seven-Smart-Books-The-Best-Fall-Reads/?page=2

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http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=113743

It makes us happy when the hard work we put into building our client’s brand makes headlines. NYTIMES Article.

Reflections on the 2008 election by TrueCarbon.org founder Yobie Benjamin.

New Year, new President!  I am excited about the future.  My partner from Amsterdam asked me why I was so excited amidst the worst economic crisis in a generation?  Perhaps it’s the eternal optimist in me?  Not really. The last year revealed the amazing power of the Internet and its ability to effect change.  It also revealed the power of the small, the power of small acts collectively delivering the voice of change. A Facebook friend wrote an eloquent point of view not with the prose or poetry of words but with a medium that is familiar to the business elite - a Powerpoint presentation. 
Take a look at: truecarbon.org

The power of Karl’s slide show was in the elegant capture of last year’s Internet story - That there was a collective brain that yearned for change and made it happen. It was in collective power of small acts that delivered profound change.  My friend Debra led a small team of us to build a site to provide information for absentee voters who were surprisingly ignored by the legions of voter registration sites.  The small act delivered 80,000 absentee ballot registrations saving voters the horrors of the provisional ballot.

Many lessons learned and now I will put it all into good use for a cause bigger than the presidency of one country - the cause of a cleaner world and a future world worthy of my children and all the children of generations to come.

More to come.

Yobie Benjamin

Tarik O’Regan’s 2008 recording for the Harmonia Mundi label, Threshold of Night, debuted at #10 in the American Billboard chart and received two GRAMMY nominations (Best Classical Album and Best Choral Performance).

The inherent problem with the dissemination of classical music (both contemporary and historical) online is connected with two very basic issues, which, were the industry worth anywhere near its pop and rock siblings in revenue, would have been sorted out by now: duration and dynamic range. Put simply, classical music, on the whole, comes in longer ‘chunks’ during which the music is often quieter and louder (yes, believe it, Led Zeppelin fans) than its more popular counterparts.

The thing to remember is that the definitive product in classical music is the musical score, not the recorded medium, as it tends to be for popular music. Classical music is discussed in terms of interpretative variation, whereas rock music, for example, is discussed in terms of albums, singles or EPs. This is why even a very casual listener to classical music might have, for example, two versions of Bach’s Goldberg Variations, but only one copy of The Beatles’ Rubber Soul. In other words, because the score is a stagnant pile of manuscript stuffed somewhere in a library, the only thing the classical listener has to go on is the interpretative variations of a recorded performance: a conductor or performer gently shifting the speed or volume of particular passages; duration and dynamic range, in other words. Start blurring these variables and you might as well give up.

iTunes, the greatest disseminator of music known to humankind, makes two big blunders when it comes to classical music: 1) many tracks are designated ‘album only’, purely on account of their length and 2) there is no option to download music in anything but a lossy format. Recent developments in any of these lossy formats (MP3, AAC, WMA etc.) have all been focused on non-classical listeners. One example is that, unlike most popular music, vast swathes of classical music is in a dynamic range very close to silence, where the ‘room tone’ merges gently with a solo instrument playing, pianissimo. The compression algorithms in lossy formats do not prioritize the quality of low amplitude frequencies for the simple reason that most popular music is not quiet.

The classical music world has struck back with well-intentioned efforts like www.passionato.com, where users can download music in a higher quality MP3 format or in the lossless FLAC format for a slight premium. However, the files are huge and slow to download. Audio sources, using FLAC compression, are reduced by 50% at best. In addition, the prices of the FLAC versions of the recordings are too close to the price of buying a physical compact disc. The incentive just isn’t there. I’d rather buy a CD and FLAC-convert it myself for iPod or computer use. So the preferred method of classical music dissemination remains concert halls and compact discs.

Well, two events have recently taken place in the United Kingdom, which lead me to think that the pressure is on in the classical music industry to lobby developers and technological innovators to cater their products for the classical music listener:

Victims of the worldwide financial downturn, two large distributors of independent record labels filed for bankruptcy and went into administration, Pinnacle Entertainment and Entertainment UK. In other words, right before the big Holiday Season push, new releases from several hundred small record companies (a lot of them classical) are currently stuck in warehouses and not lining shop shelves, or even the stock shelves of online outlets. The fact that this temporary blip threatens to, in turn, bankrupt some of these record companies reiterates just how dependent on ‘old’ media the industry still is. Virgin Media is about to unveil a domestic 50mbps service to British consumers.

I’d like to think that the classical record companies have had their fingers burnt just enough with these recent distribution problems to find the new high-speed internet access being made available in the UK enough of an incentive to begin really thinking about providing their product in better-compressed lossless formats. One can only hope!

Joe Viverito of Viverito & Associates, has worked with some of the advertising industry’s greats, including Rosser Reeves and David Ogilvy. For over a decade, he has pioneered a radical branding methodology that relies on creativity, speed, and an aversion to focus groups. If Joe’s quick-thinking leads you to doubt, consider his client list, which is extraordinary: Johnson & Johnson, Pepsi, Microsoft, Citigroup, Verizon, Hershey, L’Oreal, General Mills, to name a few.

Branding is a mysterious horizon; a realm full of consultants, opaque processes, and obscene fees. In a strong economy, big clients may have patience for this, but when things get tough Joe gets (even more) busy.

Of interest to us at StudioE9 are the new services being asked of V&A. Today, the rationale driving much internet marketing is not speculation, as it was during the last recession, but cost-savings. As a result, the current climate has made economical internet branding a priority. To this end, StudioE9 and V&A have formed a strategic partnership.

Working with someone with as much experience as Joe is a real privilege. Likewise, StudioE9 brings broad and practical knowledge of the online space to V&A’s proven process. A combination of know-how and big ideas of this kind is not only rare, but altogether unobtainable except from the largest agencies. Perhaps.