Based on the just published book, Pioneers of Digital: Success Stories from Leaders in Advertising, Marketing, Search and Social Media, co-author and former Microsoft Digital Evangelist – Mel Carson - takes us on a whirlwind journey through the internet’s recent history, telling the stories of innovators and entrepreneurs that have shaped the online marketing industry and left their indelible mark on the web. The talk draws on the ten traits and disciplines distilled from twenty interviews with these Pioneers, and the audience will take away actionable insight gleaned from these conversations that can be instantly applied to their businesses and careers. Among others, you’ll learn how June Cohen brought Ted Talks to the internet and generated a video billion views, how Vanessa Fox changed the internal culture at Google for the better while creating Google Webmaster Tools, where Qi Lu was discovered before coming to the US and becoming the brains behind Bing, and what drives the father of Virtual Reality, Jaron Lanier, to question our obsession with social media. Each Pioneer has contributed valuable advice on how to build on ideas, build businesses and build a web for the future. This talk will reflect on their trials and tribulations, many of which have never seen the light of day until now. About Mel Carson A veteran of 13 years in the digital marketing industry, Mel Carson is founder of Seattle-based Delightful Communications, a social media, digital PR and personal branding consultancy. Before starting the company in 2012, Mel worked for 7 years as Digital Marketing Evangelist at Microsoft Advertising building relationships within the online advertising community by supporting and educating through the Microsoft Advertising Blog, evangelizing through social media, writing and by speaking about internet marketing and digital at conferences, trade shows & other events. He began his digital advertising career as an editor at the search engine LookSmart in 2000, spending time at 24/7 Search as an Account Director before moving to Microsoft in 2005. He was part of the team that planned & executed the UK roll-out of Microsoft adCenter in August 2006, and it didn’t take much persuasion for Mel to help set up Microsoft Advertising’s Community Team that same year, when it became apparent that Social Media Marketing was going to be huge. Mel has spoken about Digital Marketing, Search, Social Media and adCenter at conferences and events in the UK, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York, Toronto, Reykjavik, Dublin, Barcelona & Tenerife. He has also lectured on MBA, MSc and online marketing courses, advising syllabus decision makers at Cranfield School of Management and Birkbeck College – part of London University.

1. Pioneers of Digital
Success Stories from Leaders in
Advertising, Marketing, Search & Social
Media

2. @MelCarson

3. @MelCarson
Social Media – Digital PR – Personal Branding

4. @MelCarson

5. @MelCarson

6. @MelCarson
Qi LU

7. @MelCarson
Bold & Audacious
‘There’s a certain ability for him to set a bold, audacious
goal without yelling about it and you feel as though he’s
thought it all through and has answers for any objections.’
Stefan Weitz – Bing Evangelist

8. @MelCarson
‘Can you work on things that have a greater impact to make life greater for
other people?
Are you able to work with people so you become a better person every day?
If you can answer yes, that’s a good day.’

9. @MelCarson

10. @MelCarson
June Cohen
‘Don’t assume you know
what your audience wants.
What works for other media
might not work online, so
survey, test, learn &
optimise.’

11. @MelCarson
Video (R)evolution
‘Different people watch video in different ways and
at different times (so) we released TED Talks on
multiple platforms.
As a podcast on iTunes, streaming video on
TED.com, embeddable player for blogs and on
YouTube. We’ve now extended to mobile apps,
set-top boxes like Roku & Boxee, even airplane in-
flight video systems.’

12. @MelCarson
Vanessa
Fox
‘what the industry needed was an
intelligent geek from Google to
listen and communicate with us’
Dave Naylor - Bronco

13. @MelCarson
…….an experiment that will either fail
miserably, or succeed beyond our
wildest dreams, in making the web
better for webmasters and users alike.
Shiva Shivakumar in 2005
Leap of
Faith

14. @MelCarson
Value Exchange
‘Spend time with colleagues & partners in different
departments. Really try to understand what they do
and how to speak their language. It’ll help when it
comes to communicating ideas and having an
empathy with their thinking.’

15. @MelCarson

16. @MelCarson

17. @MelCarson
Jaron Lanier

18. @MelCarson
Lawnmower Man
&
Minority Report

19. @MelCarson
Beware
the
Cybernetic
Totalist

20. @MelCarson

21. @MelCarson
Coming Soon…

22. @MelCarson

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Disney MagicBands

24. @MelCarson
‘There is no such
thing as passive
perception. Young
people today will
remember our media
as quaint, cute but
not quite fully
engaged.’
On Advertising…

25. @MelCarson
Gurbaksh
Chahal

26. @MelCarson
Originality Anyone?
‘If you want to disrupt the market, don’t
necessarily do something brand new. See
what people are already doing.
Once you’ve scaled that, incorporate what
you want to bring that’s new. You need
traction on what people are already doing
– existing behaviours, existing products.’

27. @MelCarson
Business is Business
‘People just don’t learn.....you have a birth of
companies trying to do what the original
dotcom companies did.....with staggering
valuations but no idea how to generate
revenue, let alone profit.
Don’t get carried away thinking
that, because it’s online, it’s different from any
other business.’

28. @MelCarson
Avinash Kaushik
‘There is a lack of
imagination when it
comes to doing
glorious things. We
need to truly embrace
digital in creative ways
and embrace digital’s
new rules.’

29. @MelCarson
Occam’s Razor
‘My purpose in life would be to write a blog post
that would meet three requirements that I formed
for myself. It would be something
incredible, relevant and of value. I formed this
mantra, and then I practiced blogging for a month
and a half where only my wife and my Intuit
employees read the blog, because I wanted to
see that I could actually produce content that was
incredible, relevant and of value.’

30. @MelCarson
‘At the end of the keynote, two people from Google’s
management team came and said to me, ‘We want
you to work here.’ And I thought, ‘What? Like how?
Where is this coming from?’ And my first question to
them was, ‘What would I do here?’ And they
said, ‘We don’t know.’ They said, ‘You just come and
work here, and we’ll figure it out.’ And I said, ‘Oh
you’re kidding me.’’

31. @MelCarson
Stephen Fry
‘There are people
so needy, so
desperate, so
mentally
codependent on me
that it is a real worry
that if I don’t pat
them on the head at
least once a
day………’

32. @MelCarson
‘Ok. This is now mad. I am stuck in a lift on the 26th floor of Centre
Point. Hell’s teeth. We could be here for hours. Arse, poo & widdle’

33. @MelCarson
‘You have to love it. You absolutely have
to love it. Just enjoy the ride, enjoy the
creativity that it gives you…What you've
got to be driven by is what f**king fun and
how unbelievably exciting it is.’
Stephen Fry
Be You…….and Enjoy It!

34. @MelCarson
Pioneering DNA
 Don’t let technology dictate
 Challenge creativity
 Make things that satisfy needs
 Take decisions in real time
 Don’t have to be original, just relevant
 Have fun!

35. @MelCarson
Reaction
"Pioneers of Digital makes for compelling
reading about fascinating innovators. Their
curiosity, passion, drive and enthusiasm for
using technology in creative ways to help
people connect and interact is both contagious
and inspirational." USA Today
"If you embrace new media and the spell
it has cast over advertising and the world
in general, this may be your lucky day.
Readers will feel like kids in a digital
candy shop." Publishers Weekly
"These very insightful stories are perfect for those fascinated by the history of
digital.“
Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO, WPP

36. Thank You!
www.PioneersOfDigital.com
mel@delightfulcommunications.com