December 2009
On The Eve Of A Launch You Start To Reminisce...
Submitted by Valerie Donati on Mon, 12/07/2009 - 12:09
This AM I was in my 42nd floor apartment looking out at an early morning NYC vista and dancing to Lime. That's a group that was popular in the early 80s when I lived in Miami. I started thinking about the somewhat odd trajectory of my life - there have been quite a few phases...
Back when I was in high school there were the rocker years. Then, there was the helicopter, Porsche, Cigarette boat years. That's when the Saudis came to town and my girlfriend was seeing Don Johnson (oh gosh!). Then, I was redeemed by art and I moved to EARLY South Beach (lived in the apartment building Gianni Versace made into a private home) and co-founded an art "movement" ahem... Next, I moved to NYC and started all over again. When I was working as a receptionist at a PR agency, one of the VPs came back from a trip to Miami and said, “Val, you're a little well known down there.” Who knew? Hey, I needed a re-invention.
And now here I am, in the WORKING phase. That phase in which you seem to WORK all the time. I missed the baby producing years, sigh. Oh, and I rediscovered my faith, something I guess I had all along and got me through all the SCARY years...
Well, we're about to launch a new business, so I'm thinking about my past. Honestly, if I could do it over again there are DEFINITELY things I would do differently. But you can't go back, just forward. So, I'm looking forward to my future and getting ready for a new phase that's looking pretty darn good from where I'm sitting (on the exercise bicycle in my gym). LOL!
GUILTY PLEASURES: We All Have Them...
Submitted by Valerie Donati on Wed, 12/09/2009 - 10:28
This week New York Magazine's cover reads: "00's The World Did Not End." Unfortunately, for some it did, but that's another story. In reading the article I was taken by a piece further in - "Ten Long Years Ago." I am quoting now, "To travel back in time to 1999, you have to start by shedding a few things, as though you're going through airport security. No iPod. No Smartphone. No YouTube. No Facebook. No Twitter. In 1999, the Internet was shiny-new and just out the box, and we still believed that its greatest utility was to deliver dog food to our door and packs of gum and cigarettes to us by hand."
Yep, that was us. Where did we lose our innocence? Yet another story altogether, I suppose...
So, as I sit on the eve of launching a business that will use the Internet as its hub, I have to thank this wacky new world. I have friends my age that get all up in arms about the "Big Brother" aspect of our social universe, and honestly I can't blame them for feeling a little freaked. But Big Bro, he's here to stay, so best make him your pal. All this to say 2010, bring it on. Enough of the 00s. And yes, we did survive and many of us thrived.
Oh, and if you were wondering, my guilty pleasure is rifling through the pages of New York Magazine. I love the photos! I love the kooky stories! I love the "finds"! It's all there. Check it out...
GOING VIRAL
Submitted by Valerie Donati on Mon, 12/21/2009 - 10:08
I just launched a new business. By and large it lives on the Web. When you think of a web (at least when I do), I see little fragile yet resilient strands of gossamer threads interconnected in a blessed pattern. Blessed because who the heck could ever come up with a concept like that? Seriously. When I think about my new business and how to make it grow I consider where it lives, inside a Web. So, how to make it grow? Go viral.
Viral is an exponential experience that has the power to turn something tiny into something huge. And while viral has a kind of creepy connotation, in the world of consumer goods the hope that your idea will find a life of it's own and spread is a good hope. In fact, it's a hopeful hope (now I'm sounding silly, but you get the picture).
How does something go viral? Well, if we all knew how to do it we'd all be doing it, at least in my business. Yes, you can attach your concept to influencers who will spread the word. Or, you can make your content so funny or so ghastly that people just can't wait to share. Whatever the formula, or lack there of, going viral is key. So, here we are with a hope in our heart and a ton of great marketing triggers in our fingers, ready to take our message to the streets. Going viral might just mean going for it. LOL!