By
Team DIGO | 04/08/2016 | in
Don’t put yourself or anyone in a box. Expect creativity from “account people.” Expect strategic smarts from “creative people”. Expect management smarts from everyone. Collaborate with everyone you can. We all play roles, but if we wanted to be limited by them, we would be someplace else.
At DiMassimo Goldstein, we put our values in a document we call “The DIGO Standard.” It doesn’t just hang on the walls and sit on our desks and desktops. We use it every day. People who visit often ask for a copy. Here’s yours, and you didn’t even have to ask.
By
Team DIGO | 03/29/2016 | in
The 30th SXSW has come and gone, and it’s hard to believe how much was packed into such a short period of time! Just in case you couldn’t make it down to Austin for the festival this year – or even if you did, and felt too overwhelmed to really soak it all in – here’s my recap of South By’s highlights:
Branded Activation:
Every year, brands flock to Austin to get in front of the 72,000+ attendees, hoping to become a part of their experiences – especially the ones documented on social media. While there were definitely some interesting “brandtivities” this year, the two that stood out to me the most were:
1) United Airlines: For their first time sponsoring SXSW, the airline set up multiple lounges that brought the actual brand experience to the festival by featuring their comfy first-class seats as lounge chairs / recharging stations. The snacks they gave out early in the morning were the same ones they give on early AM flights, in order to showcase the quality of their in-flight service. Finally, they tapped into the SXSW audience’s natural entrepreneurial and tech spirit by inviting them to help improve the United website and app by taking part in their #IdeasFlyHere sweepstakes
2) Casper: Casper also brought their physical brand experience to life by setting up a “napping pod” – as part of their Nap Tour. They added an additional media touchpoint and extended campaign reach by geo-targeting Facebook ads to people in Austin, encouraging them to stop by their “napmobile.”
Virtual Reality:
This was definitely the must-have accessory for every trade show booth this year. Gillette, Las Vegas Tourism, and Samsung all had virtual reality goggles, helping them showcase their brands. The most interesting use of VR, though, was the premiere of the first-ever Virtual Reality Infographic, as debuted by Nowsourcing.
Notable Startups:
As a Media Director, I’m inherently drawn to ideas that focus on efficiency, creative problem-solving, and leveraging materials that you already have. The startups that impressed me the most were the ones that – rather than reinventing the wheel – utilized resources that were already in existence, and currently being wasted:
4) Roadie: This “on-the-way” delivery Network lets you send shipments with people who are already traveling to a destination, and have room in their car for your package.
5) RoomSplit: This startup is like Airbnb, but for hotel rooms. If, for instance, your SXSW lodging is a really expensive hotel room that has two beds, and you’re only one person, you can find a roommate to split the cost for the duration of your stay.
6) DonateTheBars.com: Whenever you take a vertical-video on your cell phone, the resulting clip inevitably has two black bars on each side. This startup allows users to utilize these black bars in vertically filmed videos by donating them to NGO’s. Watch the video below to learn more.
Inspiring Action:
Lots of brands this year included “inspiration” in their messaging:
7) Pepsi: “Over food and drink, new ideas are born. Join us on the journey. NSPIRE.” – At the Mashable house, Pepsi let people create their own uniquely flavored drinks.
8) Qualcomm: “When will you be inspired by what you can’t see?” – Showcasing an Augmented Reality “Museum of Invisible Things” at theMashable House.
9) Mazda: “Find inspiration at every turn. Driving matters” – At the Mazda Recharging Lounge.
New to SXSW:
This year, SXSW debuted “Featured Speaker Meetups,” allowing eager festival-goers to interact with some of the most notable speakers. I took advantage of this new program and got to spend about an hour speaking in a 1-on-10 group with Kevin Kelly – founding executive director of Wired Magazine – about technology, media, and the future. It was extremely informative, and I will definitely be taking advantage of this opportunity again next year!
Overall, this year’s festival was extremely inspiring, invigorating, exciting, and innovating. Can’t wait for next year – hope to see you there!
-Rebecca Weiser, Media Director
By
Team DIGO | 03/29/2016 | in
Oh, stock footage.
Some of it is just so… strange.
We used this to our advantage when creating this new national TV campaign for CreditCards.com. The unconventional footage of a birthday clown, equestrian and magician not only serve to grab viewers’ attention, but also help us position the brand as the experts on all things credit cards.
We hope you enjoy these spots as much as we enjoyed searching through ridiculously random stock clips. (If that’s even possible.)
CreditCards.com – Clown from DiMassimo Goldstein on Vimeo.
CreditCards.com – Equestrian from DiMassimo Goldstein on Vimeo.
CreditCards.com – Magician from DiMassimo Goldstein on Vimeo.
-Trevor Hickey, Senior Copywriter & Erica Grau, Art Director
By
Team DIGO | 03/18/2016 | in
Don’t hold back. There are no bad ideas or dumb questions. Only the ideas you held back and the questions you should have asked but didn’t.
![FullSizeRender[1]](https://digobrands.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/FullSizeRender11.jpg)
At DiMassimo Goldstein, we put our values in a document we call “The DIGO Standard.” It doesn’t just hang on the walls and sit on our desks and desktops. We use it every day. People who visit often ask for a copy. Here’s yours, and you didn’t even have to ask.
By
Team DIGO | 03/17/2016 | in
Betterment is our sixth Inspiring Action Brand of the Week. Past winners have been Shinola, Bonobos, Everlane, Casper and ThePointsGuy.
Investing Made Better
Make a quick visit to Betterment’s mission page and you’re greeted with the following:
“We created a company. It changed an industry.”
It’s a bold and direct statement chock-full of pride. And guess what? It should be.
Why? Because here’s the thing: it’s the absolute and undeniable truth, and if wealth managers everywhere haven’t realized this yet, they will very, very soon. The financial investment industry is on the cusp of a revolution, and Betterment Is leading that charge.
Similar to the way AirBnB wedged its way to the top of the hospitality landscape, or how Uber flipped the script on transportation, Betterment is using smarter technology to outduel its competitors.
And like AirBnB and Uber, Betterment isn’t your cute little trendy start-up competing for its fifteen minutes of Silicon Valley sunshine. It’s an absolute force. Based in New York City, Betterment has the mecca of finance grasped in its hands, and it’s not loosening its grip anytime soon.
Through its simple, yet beautiful user-friendly design, Betterment is snatching customers at a rapid pace. It’s the largest, fastest-growing automated investing service out there, and grew it’s AUM (assets under management) from 1.1 billion to 3.5 billion in this past year alone.
That type of uncanny, jaw-dropping growth is the reason financial managers and wealth advisors should be shaking in their boots. Betterment isn’t just influencing behaviors, it’s redirecting them. They’re puppeteering a shift in culture, one where managing your wealth can be as easy as scrolling through your iPhone. And while the suits on Wall Street can kick back in their leather chairs for the time-being, they may not want to get too comfortable. Betterment is knocking on their door, and if their influence continues to grow at the staggering pace it is, that door won’t just be opened, it will be blown off the hinges.
But don’t get it twisted, Betterment wasn’t created to put financial advisors out of work or to lead an assault on an industry riddled with corruption.
It was created for you. It was created for me. It was created so that normal everyday people had a better option. With Betterment, it’s always been about the customer.
It all started with an inspiring idea – an inspiring idea that CEO Jon Stein then put to action.
“Friends and family asked me, ‘What should I do with my money?’ There were no good answers – so I set out to build one.”
So why Betterment?
Because managing your finances is hard, and they make it easy. It sounds so simplistic, but simplicity is Betterment’s favorite instrument, and they play it better than anyone else. It’s what sets them apart from imitators and its why Quartz dubbed them “The Apple Of Finance”. Stated eloquently in their mission statement, they “built an experience that replaces confusion with delight and uncertainty with control”.
Let’s face it. Finance is confusing. It’s a textbook of complex acronyms that only get more complex when expanded to their true meaning. It’s daunting and causes headaches.
Yet, it’s absolutely necessary. It cannot be ignored, and up until just a few years ago, there was no alternative.
Betterment uses an algorithm that implements financial advice that is widely agreed upon. That means no in-person counseling. No conflict of interest. It’s all executed online. It’s quite literally a well-oiled machine.
“You’re trusting somebody, but why? Especially when you can do the same thing with a massively scalable platform like ours” says Stein.
It also means that it’s cheaper for you and me. It’s not nearly as expensive as the typical cost of a traditional financial advisor, which leaves both you and me with more money to invest. Without the overhead of traditional brick and mortar establishments, they can afford to charge less for its services, which again, means more money for you and me.
Their customers include everyone from the old to the young and from the rich to the poor. Their approach to managing money is fundamentally democratic.
However, Betterment has established quite the kinship with millennials. This should come as no surprise, seeing as the tech-savvy generation would be the most likely to trust a website over a human advisor. And then, of course, you have the beautiful and unprecedented luxury of accessibility. How many young professionals in their mid-twenties do you know who have financial advisors?
Now they all can – on their laptop or in their pocket, on the subway or at the ball game. It’s a simpler, more painless way to save and earn a lot more over time. It’s also simpler, more painless way to start today.
That’s why Betterment is our Inspiring Action Brand of the Week.
-James Nieman, Integrated Marketing Manager
By
Team DIGO | 03/10/2016 | in
Ah, mid-March. Spring is in the air, Q1 is nearly over, and it’s time – once again – for the Technorati masses to make their annual pilgrimage to Austin, Texas, for SXSW!
This is my fifth year attending South By (as it’s lovingly called by the locals), and I’m here to share some of the hard-earned lessons I’ve picked up over the years:
Make Sure You Attend the Keynotes
Although the networking and creative ideation are arguably the best parts of SXSW, make sure you attend the keynotes, if nothing else. They tend to feature the biggest, most impactful names in their respective industries, and will likely inspire you with their passion and insight.
Be Discerning with Your Swag
You’re going to pick up a lot of branded knickknacks this week, especially at the trade show. After having finally thrown out a handful of branded key chains from SXSW 2011, though, I can tell you that it’s important to really consider whether or not you really need that extra koozie or coaster you’re being handed. In other words, only take the swag you’ll actually use – like earphones, pens, and spare phone chargers.
It’s OK to Go Offline
It’s easy to get swept up in the interactive madness, but it’s OK to disconnect from your phone every once in a while…especially when listening to the speakers. That’s the only way to ensure you’re actually being present and soaking everything in.
If It Sounds Awesome, the Wait Will Be 4+ Hours
Of course you want to see that free Snoop Dogg concert, go to the Mashable House to meet Grumpy Cat, and make your own 3D-printed Oreos! Those activities sound like a ton of fun! However, everyone else at the festival agrees with your excitement, and started lining up about two hours ago. So if you have your heart set on attending a specific, high-profile event, get there early and be ready to wait.
Bring Spare Chargers and a Cord Splitter
The ABCs of SXSW = “Always Be Charging.” Chances are, after all of the tweeting, Instagramming, and Snapchatting you’ll be doing, your battery will run out around 2pm. In order to avoid being tethered – literally – to the wall during the speakers’ keynotes, bring a few spare chargers with you to last throughout the day. As a backup, it’s a good idea to bring a cord splitter or a surge protector (worst-case scenario) so you can approach an occupied outlet with a creative way to get in on the charging-your-device action.
–Rebecca Weiser, Media Director, Proove Accountable Media
By
Team DIGO | 03/09/2016 | in
You’ve seen it on our T-shirts. You’ve seen it on our Twitter. Chances are you’ve probably read it about a dozen or so times here on our blog:
Inspiring Action 
We say this so often because we truly believe in it. It’s something that we strive for each and everyday. How can we inspire action in ourselves? In each other? With our clients and throughout the world? Asking these questions can only have a positive impact.
Inspiring Action is about helping people lead better lives. It’s about forming more and more empowering habits. It’s a term we use for business, but it can be applied to almost anything in life.
As an agency, we help influence consumer habits. And when we leave the office, that influence may change but it certainly doesn’t stop. We still have influence on our family, friends and peers. We have influence at the dinner table. We have influence when we’re on vacation at the beach. It’s a tremendous responsibility.
Inspiring Action is all about taking that responsibility and using it to inspire better decisions, and then watching those decisions come to fruition. It’s about realizing that you have the power to impact others’ lives and then choosing to do so in a positive manner.
So when it came time to change the mural on our office chalkboard, the one that stands tall at the core of our workspace, it was a no-brainer. We’re so immersed in this Inspiring Action persona and so eager to share it with the world that we wanted it stamped front and center for all visitors to see.
We tapped Q Choi, our brilliant (note the emphasis on brilliant) senior motion graphic designer to put this inspiration into action. And so, for three long days Q worked hard at the center of our office, putting his famed attention to detail on display for all who passed by. Seventy-two hours later, the mural had sprung to life.
“As a Motion Graphic Designer, almost all of my work is done on a keyboard, monitor or tablet, but I still love to work with my hands.” (You can view Q’s work on his website here)
“I studied our theme and drew the initial sketch in a small notebook. I’m really happy with how it turned out”
Inspiring Action from Q on Vimeo.
It’s now the first thing you see once you’ve passed our lobby. Whether you’re going to the printer or leaving a meeting, it’s right there, grand and bold, reminding us all why we chose to work here.
And that’s to Inspire Action.
By
Team DIGO | 03/04/2016 | in
Especially at the beginning of relationships, while you are earning the trust and the admiration that will smooth the inevitable bumps down the road. While you are figuring everything out, and laying the groundwork for success. Get on more planes. Provide more options. Ask more questions. See the factory, meet the workers, go to the research, talk to the sales force, get a demonstration, sample the product, talk to a board member, brainstorm with the client. Over communicate. Over collaborate. Over deliver. Time and energy invested in relationships pays us back in better work, business and results. Oh, yeah, and better relationships too.
At DiMassimo Goldstein, we put our values in a document we call “The DIGO Standard.” It doesn’t just hang on the walls and sit on our desks and desktops. We use it every day. People who visit often ask for a copy. Here’s yours, and you didn’t even have to ask.
![FullSizeRender[1]](http://digobrands.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/FullSizeRender11.jpg)
