My Greatest “Hits” of 2013 - My Most Widely Read Blog Posts of the Year

As I sit here in Urgent Care awaiting an X-Ray on my right middle finger, which may be broken because I was showing off my Minnesota ice-skating chops (or lack thereof) to my kids and fell instead,  I compiled this list of my greatest “hits” from my Digital Media Update blog posts in 2013 (based on how widely they were read).  Here is my top 6 (with the most widely-read listed first).  Why 6 instead of 5?  Because I like the 6th post, which is about Tesla -- one of the huge tech stories of the year:

(1) “Vine -- Advertisers Grabbing On -- A Good Sign for Twitter” -- this January 2013 post was by far my most widely read post and, I must say, was dead on (I predicted a “hit” for Twitter); the rest has been history for Vine; I see my kids -- and all of their friends -- using it all the time; it is now part of the pop culture;

(2) “5 Questions with Gyft’s COO CJ MacDonald -- My Exclusive Q&A" -- this post, from November, is the most widely read in my continuing “5 Questions with ...” series -- a testament to Gyft’s remarkable first year success;

(3) “25% of Netflix House of Cards Viewers Binged -- Watched All 13 Episodes” -- this February post heralded a new way of thinking about “television” distribution -- and gave consumers new choice and power -- and is changing the industry;

(4) “Digital Media Hired as New CEO of Warner Bros. (In the Guise of Kevin Tsujihara)" -- this January post heralded a new era of major studio leadership -- underscoring the pre-eminence of digital media in the thinking, and future, of content;

(5) “Rome -- A Full Experience in 2 Days” -- this October post was something very different; this one was personal, and it obviously struck a chord; our travels apparently helped others plan their own travels, which is quite cool; and

(6) “Tesla -- The Experience -- A Review” -- this post from June was both business and personal, and also clearly struck a chord and heralded the massive success Tesla experienced in its breakout year; business, because Tesla absolutely is a huge tech story (transforming the auto industry from Silicon Valley); personal, because I acquired a Model S in June and was on the front lines of the Tesla customer experience first-hand; my observations seem to have helped others and were shared broadly.

Enjoy!

My Collected EXCLUSIVE “5 Questions With” Q&A Series - Gyft, MovieLaLa, Kiosked, LittleCast, MediaHound, Mixify

I recently began my exclusive “5 Questions With” Q&A series with innovative companies and execs I believe are worth checking out and following in the digital media and technology worlds.

Here, I have consolidated all of those to date for your weekend reading ... and learning.  Consider this my free “book” to you in this holiday season (and expect more each week -- I have a great “coming soon” line-up).

(1) Gyft - COO CJ MacDonald

(2) MovieLaLa -- CEO/Founder Dana Loberg

(3) Mixify - CEO/Founder David Moricca

(4) Kiosked - Founder Antti Pasila

(5) MediaHound - CEO/Founder Addison McCaleb

(6) LittleCast - CEO/Founder Amra Tareen

The Gyft That Keeps On Giving

Yesterday, I posted my exclusive Q&A with CJ MacDonald, founder & COO of virtual gift card company Gyft -- a company backed by Manatt Digital Media Ventures (my company) and Google Ventures, among others.  The company is less than one year old, but already is generating millions of dollars.

In my Q&A, I pointed out that Gyft is donating 100% of its profits in December to a worthy cause -- the Immunity Project -- a team of scientists and entrepreneurs who are offering the HIV vaccine for free to people around the world.  But, this point was buried -- so I raise its visibility here.

Why?  Because it is the holiday season after all -- and, as cliche as it sounds, it is the season of giving.  Gyft does just that.

Yes, that is a smart business move.  But, it is a real commitment nonetheless -- one that is worthy of two consecutive days of visibility.

5 Questions with Gyft’s COO CJ MacDonald -- My Exclusive Q&A

      Gyft is a digital media/e-commerce company I have been watching for some time.  The company takes a unique approach to gift cards, which are a staple of the holiday season.  Gyft offers virtual gift cards -- and enables the transfer of value from physical gift cards already purchased -- to your mobile phone so that you never lose that value.  Gone are the days that your cards are discarded into some drawer and never seen again.  Now, that gift card value is never lost.  And, merchants don’t mind because -- and this is something I previously didn’t know -- they were not able to book gift card revenue anyhow until those gift cards were actually used.  

      My company, Manatt Digital Media, is an investor in Gyft.  So, I believe.  We believe.  So does Google Ventures -- also an investor.  The company -- which is based in the Bay Area -- is less than one year old.  Yet, it already has generated "millions of dollars of revenue,” in the words of co-founder & COO CJ MacDonald.  Even more impressively, CJ expects several millions more in revenues being generated in the Thanksgiving to Xmas period.  And, get this -- in a perfect ode to Thanksgiving (with an emphasis on “giving”) -- CJ and Gyft are donating 100% (yes, 100%!) of all of its profits to a worthy cause for the entire month of December -- to the Immunity Project.  So, Gyft is not your typical e-commerce play.  It is innovative, disruptive (in the most positive of ways where everyone wins), and has a social conscious.  

      With that intro, here is my exclusive Q&A with co-founder & COO CJ MacDonald:

      (1) What is the reason your company exists (and what problem(s) are you looking to solve)?

Over $100B is spent every year on gift cards in the US alone.  90% of these cards are plastic and often end up lost, stolen or forgotten.   At Gyft, our mission is to digitize the Worlds gift cards and make it easier for consumers to transact.  The reality is most people have their phones on them at all times so why not store your gift cards on your phone.  Gift cards are becoming more and more popular and our vision is to streamline the market.

     (2) How are you different from your competitors?

Biggest difference is we are focused 100% on gift cards.  There has been a lot of buzz recently around social gifting and mobile wallets.  Gyft is often thrown into one of these buckets.  We spent a lot of time thinking about the consumer experience and wanted to make sure we built something simple and elegant.  We often get requests to add loyalty cards and coupons but need to tackle and provide the best experience around gift cards before we tackle anything else.

     (3) Why will you succeed (and what is your single most important ingredient for success)?

We have a team full of Rockstars!  We have a great product! We are tackling a massive problem for both retailers and consumers. They key is focus, execution and passion but we are in an excellent position to disrupt a massive market.

     (4) What makes you unique (and what do you enjoy most outside of building your business)?

I never take “no" for an answer or leave any rocks unturned.  There are a lot of ways to make money but I believe you have to be passionate about what you are doing in order to be extremely successful.   Family is #1 and I love sports and the outdoors.  I try to surround myself with people smarter and better looking and I believe you get out of life what you put into it.

(5) What digital media trend is most interesting to you (and what is the least)?

The most fascinating digital media trend is hands down the evolution of Bitcoin.  Watching the Bitcoin price skyrocket over the past 45 days and all the media love/hate relationship is very entertaining.  You have to admit there is something there.  Least favorite:  Lack of mobile adoption from large companies.  So many massive companies and players trying to play catch up these days.