Biography

James Andrews (jamesandrews.tv) is a managing partner at Everywhere specializing in the creation of social media strategies, online communications, and web content production.

Everywhere is a strategic communications agency that focuses in helping brands and individuals navigate the social media and online space to build better connections with their audiences.

Their clients include Delta, CNN, Macy’s, Actress/Author Jane Fonda, Music Producer Jermaine Dupri, Actress Sanaa Lathan and Recording artist Macy Gray, and Georgia Public Broadcasting.

Before launching everywhere, Andrews was Vice President, Ketchum Digital and worked on global social media brand strategies for Monster.com, FedEx, GeekSquad, Wendy’s and Newell Rubbermaid. Andrews has been working in the area of interactive/new media and non-traditional marketing for 15 years holding senior titles at Urban Box Office, Columbia Records, Ecko Unlimited and Isobar/Carat. His experience with brands such as Current TV, Sprite, Vibe Magazine and Proctor & Gamble places him in a unique category of executives that understand the convergence of both new media, content and digital lifestyle.

James blogs at Fastcompany.com as an Expert Blogger. He also maintains a blog at www.thekeyinfluencer.com where he covers the “business of pop culture” via news and interviews that span technology, new media, music business and youth/urban culture. Andrews is also a regular contributor to CNN as an expert in social media.

James Andrews attended UCLA, grew up in Silicon Valley, and lives in Atlanta with his wife and two children. He is an active speaker globally and is frequently quoted on the subjects of social media, entertainment and innovative branding/marketing approaches.

By Gisela Williams

(Budget Travel) — Last October, more than 40 people followed signs depicting a skull and crossbones, with a knife and fork in place of the bones, to a secluded Bavarian-style hunting lodge 30 minutes north of St. Louis.

An Entre dinner party was hosted in a Missouri hunting lodge.

The attendees didn’t have any idea where they were headed or what to expect. All they knew was that they were in for a five-course meal courtesy of John-Jack, an undercover chef who’d invited each of them via a top-secret e-mail to the latest of what he calls his Entre dinner parties.

Guests arrived to a bluegrass band jamming in a room decorated with deer antlers. As a fire crackled in the massive stone fireplace, they dined on wild-elk medallions, home-cured bacon, grapefruit confit, and butternut squash ice cream — and toasted their good fortune with pumpkin ale from nearby microbrewery Schlafly.

Welcome to the world of underground supper clubs. Getting a reservation requires a little detective work, but once in, you may never go back to eating out the old-school way again. The idea behind these dinners is to let talented chefs work their whisks in an affordable, relaxed setting.

And since they’re often operating out of their own kitchens, without a license to serve the public, these cooks have to keep the locales, and their own identities, under wraps. Budget Travel: The utterly random dinner party

“The trend started in food-centric cities like San Francisco, but in the last year, groups have been popping up across the country,” says Jenn Garbee, author of “Secret Suppers,” which spotlights some of the more than 80 clubs now up and running in the U.S.

One such is Guerrilla Cuisine, founded by an incognito cook in Charleston, South Carolina, who uses the alias Jimihatt and wears a ninja mask at his gatherings. As at many clubs, diners must submit their reservations weeks in advance on Jimihatt’s Web site and then wait for an e-mail with directions to the hush-hush locale.

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Based on his track record, you won’t be disappointed: The bearded Jimihatt and his rotating crew of sous-chefs have served secret, Southern-style suppers (andouille sausage gumbo, Cajun smoked chicken, chocolate beignets) in galleries, wineries, even a grocery store. Budget Travel: Haute diners

Jimihatt now has a little friendly competition from an Atlanta cook named Lady Rogue. Her RogueApron shindigs each have a different theme. At a recent event, a Great Depression-style repast in Lang-Carson Park, guests stood in a soup line for pancetta minestrone with porcini mushrooms, and lemongrass-spiked corn broth. Then they divided into teams for an impromptu game of Wiffle ball.

“Our goal,” Lady Rogue says, “is to make dining more inclusive and to have strangers connect over food. What better way to meet people?”

For those hoping to break bread with their own buddies, there’s 12B in Vancouver. To keep operations simple, its mastermind, Chef Todd, hosts the six-course dinners in his own apartment, hence the name. And unlike most supper clubs, 12B cooks only for groups of friends (up to 12 at a time). Budget Travel: Pay-what-you-like restaurants

“Even after working 16-hour days, I would sit at home and think, ‘I’ve got to find a way to feed more people,’” Chef Todd says. Money isn’t the incentive. His minimum-donation fee of $50 just covers costs for a feast (stuffed artichoke hearts, five-mushroom ravioli, butter-poached scallops served with BBQ pulled pork) that would average twice as much in a restaurant.

But as Chef Todd will attest, these clubs are less about saving and more about spending a night eating exceptionally well in the unlikeliest of places, whether a cozy lodge straight out of a fairy tale or a humble living room.

Supper Clubs

Entre, St. Louis, Missouri, http://danssouslaterre.com/, five-course meal from $45, including a wine pairing with each course

Guerrilla Cuisine, Charleston, South Carolina, http://guerrillacuisine.com/, six-course meal from $50, BYOB

RogueApron, Atlanta, Georgia, http://rogueapron.wordpress.com/, three-course meal $20, including wine or beer pairings with each course

12B, Vancouver, B.C., 12breservations@gmail.com, six-course meal from $50, BYOB

Get the best travel deals and tips emailed to you FREE – CLICK HERE!

Copyright © 2009 Newsweek Budget Travel, Inc., all rights reserved.

Note: This story was accurate when it was published. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before planning your trip.

All About Travel and Tourism

BET Networks Presents SOS Saving OurSelves – Help for Haiti Benefit Concert

 

By BET.com Staff

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Concert to Air Live Friday, February 5, 2010 at 8:00 p.m. ET from the American Airlines Arena in Miami on BET, Centric, MTV and VH1

Diddy

Tickets available for purchase at Ticketmaster.

BET Networks, a division of Viacom,  Queen Latifah, Sean “Diddy” Combs and Pharrell are set to host a nationally televised concert and celebrity telethon aimed at several organizations providing immediate relief in Haiti, including Yéle Haiti, CARE, Project Medishare and Children’s Safe Drinking Water. The two hour telecast concert entitled, “SOS Saving OurSelves – Help for Haiti,” will be held at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida in partnership with Procter & Gamble and nd Pepsi. The program will be aired on BET and Centric, as well as MTV Networks’ MTV and VH1 on Friday, February 5, 2010 at 8:00 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. PT. Proceeds from the broadcast will go directly to each of the charitable organizations.

“Words fail to describe the sadness we feel for our brothers and sisters in Haiti,” said Debra Lee, Chairman and CEO of BET Networks. “There is so much work to do, so we must keep the focus on Haiti and we must continue to give. This telethon will give everyone another opportunity to make a difference through the efforts of these amazing organizations that are working hard to rebuild Haiti.”

“Words cannot express how I felt watching the catastrophic events unfold in Haiti. I believe it is our duty to come together and help our brothers and sisters in Haiti, especially now, in their greatest hour of need. I have joined forces with Queen Latifah, Pharrell, BET and several of the biggest names in music today to raise funds for the Haiti Relief efforts. Together we can make a difference,” states Sean “Diddy” Combs, event host.

“The devastation that has occurred in Haiti has broken my heart. My hope is that we can raise enough money to sustain a few of the relief organizations for quite some time as there is a lot of work to be done over there,” said Pharrell Williams. “The goal is not only to bring immediate relief to Haiti but to also rebuild the country and help the country move forward.”

“P&G and our non-profit Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program are proud to partner with Queen Latifah, Sean “Diddy” Combs, Pharrell, and BET to support Haiti,” said Greg Allgood, Director of the P&G not-for-profit Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program. “Having recently returned from Haiti, I can tell you that Haitians are working hard to recover and rebuild their country – they want and need our support to respond to this tragedy.” 

“We have all been profoundly affected by the suffering in Haiti, while being moved by the faith and optimism of the Haitian people,” said Frank Cooper, Chief Consumer Engagement Officer, PepsiCo Americas Beverages.  “Now is the time for action, for raising awareness and inspiring people to give to Haiti.  We’re honored to join Queen Latifah, Sean “Diddy” Combs, Pharrell, and BET in support of this special event.”

In addition to musical performances, the fundraising event will feature some of the biggest names in music and entertainment to answer the phones during the telethon. The AmericanAirlines Arena was deemed the perfect spot for such an event as Miami has one of the largest Haitian populations in the United States.

In addition to supporting this telethon and the “HOPE FOR HAITI NOW” telethon last week, BET Networks has taken a coordinated multi-platform approach to inform viewers about what is happening in Haiti and provide information on how they can help. Go to http:// for more information.

Tickets for the benefit concert are available for purchase at www.ticketmaster.com, the AmericanAirlines Arena ticket office (www.aaarena.com) or 1-800-745-3000 (toll free).

“SOS Saving Ourselves – Help for Haiti” is executive produced by Salli Frattini, in collaboration with Viacom’s BET Networks, Queen Latifah, Sean “Diddy” Combs and Pharrell.  Ray Chew is the music director for this event.

About Yéle Haiti
Yéle Haiti (http://www.yele.org/about-us/) is a grass roots movement that builds global awareness for Haiti while helping to transform the country through programs in education, sports, the arts and environment. Yéle’s community service programs include food distribution and mobilizing emergency relief. Haitian born Grammy© Award winning musician, humanitarian and Goodwill Ambassador to Haiti Wyclef Jean founded Yéle Haiti in 2005. Questions re: Yéle Haiti can be directed to Ken Sunshine or Briele Douglass at Sunshine/Sachs – 212-691-2800.

About CARE
Founded in 1945, CARE (www.care.org) is a leading humanitarian organization fighting global poverty. CARE is continuing to rush aid and emergency team members to Haiti. CARE places special focus on working alongside poor women because, equipped with the proper resources, women have the power to help whole families and entire communities escape poverty. Working in more than 70 countries, women are at the heart of CARE’s community-based efforts to improve education, health and economic opportunity.

About Project MediShare
Project MediShare (http://www.projectmedishare.org) is a non-profit organization that has been working in Haiti since 1995. They have been at the helm of the massive earthquake medical relief effort. In an immediate response to the crisis, they mobilized multiple teams of medical personnel and disaster relief workers and will continue to provide the much needed medical care and aid to the country in the coming months.

About P&G’s Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program
Procter & Gamble’s not-for-profit Children’s Safe Drinking Water (CSDW) Program is focused on reducing the sickness and death that result from water-borne illness caused by drinking contaminated water. Using some of the same ingredients as municipal water systems, PUR™ Purifier of Water removes pollutants and cysts, and kills bacteria and viruses in contaminated water. Since 2004, P&G has partnered with a diverse network of organizations to help distribute PUR™ Purifier of Water packets.  To date, the Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program has delivered over 1.9 billion liters of clean drinking water to people in over 50 developing countries including during critical emergency relief situations across the globe.  To learn more about the CSDW program, please visit www.csdw.org.

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Social media marketing campaigns are proving to be goldmines rich with customer engagement and insight that companies wouldn’t likely have otherwise. Companies like PepsiCo are going to extensive lengths to foster this type of collaboration with fans, and the payoff has been big.

The company’s Mountain Dew division is several stages into its DEWmocracy campaign — a plan to launch a new Mountain Dew flavor with the public’s involvement at all levels of the process, and PepsiCo also just launched the Pepsi Refresh Project on January 13th. Rather than spending money on Super Bowl television ads this year, the company is spending $20 million on a social media campaign.

Jay Baer, founder of the social media strategy company Convince & Convert, said brands are realizing they need to market for the long haul. “I do think it’s a good move for Pepsi. I don’t know if every brand can pull it off,” he said.

The Pepsi Refresh Project and the DEWmocracy campaigns are part of a crowdsourcing effort that’s part of the larger PepsiCo plan to more closely integrate consumers with the brand. “Driving consumer interest and engagement takes imagination and often a certain amount of reinvention, so it’s fair to say we’re rethinking everything we do from product development to marketing campaigns across our entire portfolio,” said Bart Casabona, a Mountain Dew spokesman.

A Closer Look at Mountain Dew’s Social Media Campaign

The first DEWmocracy campaign launched in 2007. This inaugural DEWmocracy effort let consumers choose Dew’s new flavor, color, name and graphics, and resulted in more than 470,000 people voting and an overall 1 million people taking part in some phase of the process, according to the company’s DEWmocracy media site. The winning new flavor, Voltage, hit store shelves in January 2009.

Brett O’Brien, Mountain Dew’s marketing director, said that for the first campaign a site was built for people to interact with, which made sense at that time.

Fast forward to July 2009, when the second DEWmocracy campaign launched. The multi-stage effort tasks die-hard Mountain Dew fans to narrow seven sodas down to one final new flavor that will become a permanent part of the Mountain Dew family, using social media platforms 12seconds.tv (

), Twitter (

), Facebook (

) and YouTube (

) in the process.

O’Brien said that with the explosion of social networking, they felt it was best to interact with people where they are.

Flavor Nations Play a Large Role

The second iteration of the Mountain Dew campaign is fueled by the 4,000-strong DEW Labs crew, an online community of die-hard fans. The DEW Labs are divided up into three Flavor Nations for the three Mountain Dew soda finalists: Typhoon, WhiteOut and Distortion. Once the three flavors debut in April, the Flavor Nations must talk up their flavor and get people to vote for it to become the permanent new Mountain Dew soda. That one winning new permanent soda flavor will debut on Labor Day, according to the company’s DEWmocracy media site.

O’Brien said the several stages involved are really part of the normal product innovation process. He said if they were going to be totally transparent the whole time in launching a new Mountain Dew flavor, they needed their customers to be there the whole time.

Every part of the campaign involves the fans and the public — from picking flavor names, to voting on the best user-submitted ad campaign.

Collaboration With Consumers

“What we’re calling it [is] collective intelligence,” O’Brien said. “It’s less about crowdsourcing, but more about collaboration.” PepsiCo looks at DEWmocracy, which has literally been driven by word of mouth, as a way of doing business rather than an ad campaign, he said, and the most important thing to recognize is the passion consumers feel for Mountain Dew is like nothing that’s out there.

According to O’Brien, PepsiCo looks at social media as the best way to get direct dialog with their fans and for the company to hear from those fans without filters. “It’s been great for us to have this really unique dialogue that we normally wouldn’t have,” he said. “It really has opened our eyes up.”

Convince & Convert’s Baer said the DEWmocracy campaign fits with Mountain Dew’s brand and customer profile. He said giving customers ownership of the brand is a fantastic idea.

“What they’re trading off is reach for depth and they’re trading short-term impact for long-term impact,” he said. Baer sees the process of brands asking customers to craft better products or services as a trend. He pointed out that companies aren’t just soliciting customer input, but they’re putting it into practice. And some business decisions are now based solely on customer feedback.

“To me, that’s tremendously exciting,” he said. “To me, that’s the social media story.”

More business resources from Mashable:

- 5 Ways Small Businesses Can Avoid Social Media Panic
– HOW TO: Take Advantage of Social Media in Your E-mail Marketing
– HOW TO: Implement a Social Media Business Strategy
– 18 Online Productivity Tools for Your Business
– HOW TO: Choose a News Reader for Keeping Tabs on Your Industry
– The 10 Stages of Social Media Business Integration
– HOW TO: Use Social Media to Connect with Other Entrepreneurs

Last week’s episode…..