Online Marketing Metaphors and Six Shooters
If we think of business on the Internet as the wild west, and marketing as Tombstone, then it is feasible to say the Earps just rode into town. Excuse the metaphor, but given all the players, this is not a bad visual to sustain. This new BlugGlass company is comprised of maybe the best "gunslingers" in the online marketing and strategy consultants in the world. Basically, players who never got gunned down by their individual competitors, with skill sets and connections across the spectrum of the space. Without getting into more metaphoric and nebulous characterizations, let's take a look at the partners. At the head of BlueGlass sits Chris Winfield, founder and visionary behind 10e20, one of the most successful search engine and social media firms in the business. If Winfield is Wyatt Earp, then Dave Snyder is the veritable Virgil for organic search strategy, a deadly online linking strategy expert. Walking down the boardwalk of managing partners, the Morgan Earp of this team is Brent Csutoras, one of the most respected viral marketing names out there - the metaphoric "scattergun toter" of the bunch. Just like the Earps needed Doc Holiday's skills, so too BlueGlass has their Loren Baker - another of search's pioneers who will head their PR and media aspects. And "oh the connections." Moving on, BlueGlass brings a supportive cast of "Young Guns" to the shootout. Jordan Kasteler for gripping marketing content, Danielle Winfield an operations and design guru, Jake Matthews for business development across the spectrum, and last but not least Tony Wang, CTO and "sure shot" for all things software and technical. A formidable team, to say the least if you know anything about the Web past the "2.0" frenzy.
BlueGlass Interactive's coverage extends far afield from our European and international niche here in Germany, but no one has really grasped the significance so far. The New York Times posted a blurb comparing this collective to the "rollups" of the Dot Com era, which shows why companies like BlueGlass are imminently necessary these days. The NYT wouldn't understand social media or SEM if it blasted the editors in the face. Sorry, but it's true. For an accurate (if somewhat overstated) analysis of this move, Neal Rodriguez of the Huff Post nails this new conglomerate down sufficiently. Save one key are of course, "in the trenches" experience. Let me clarify.
