The May Report: 1/20/2011: A survey on mobile coverage; Tap Me raised $1MM Series A according to midVentures’ newsletter; Stephanie Furlong bolts DePaul’s Coleman Center; When it comes to BtoB, is Gary Slack like a deer caught in the headlights?; and the best story I have heard in a long time: Chuck Templeton tells Tech Pitch how he met with Adam Dell about his start-up Open Table and in 15 minutes had a deal and later that same day….

Editor and publisher: ron@themayreport.com, ronaldmay@aol.com, www.themayreport.com , 773-525-3944.

Assistant editor: Melanie Adcock, iPHONE: 312-259-0610, melanie_adcock@msn.com

If you missed an article, go here: www.tmronline.com/A55951/tmrarticles.nsf/vwFullNewsletter
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____________________________________
TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Scoop section:

– Editor’s note, by Ron May
– Check out the savings SeatQuest is offering for the Bears game: on.fb.me/gn0fp5
– Bye bye Stephanie: Furlong has left The Coleman Center at DePaul
– midVentures newsletter says that Tap Me Raises $1 Million in Series A Funding
– Tuesday, January 25: The Startup Accelerator event listing
– David Baecklandt: Groupon Japan – Andrew Mason’s Apology
– Jeff Carter: 4 messages
– Lundin’s latest column in MediaPost
– Jack McInerney on what InTimeTV pays Fritz Golman [Editor's note: May here: And it appears that the is still employed at NAVTEQ from my out of office replies]
– And the meek have inherited the earth: SocialDevCamp Chicago 2010 Highlights
– Scott Davis: MyMobileCoverage, a survey
– Chicago Magazine: Luis Gutierrez on Why Rahm Emanuel Should Not Be Mayor
– Steve Lundin on the role he played in SmartSignal’s PR
– Ed Longanecker: “White House: Private Sector Must Lead Internet Security Fight”
– Tom Bennett: 60 Minute Special Report: Rahm Emanuel and the Chicago Political Syndicate: Over 10,000+ views!
– Is Gary Slack like the deer caught in the headlights? Does he even know what to think or say? Is b2b marketing really obsolete? Three prominent ad agency execs debate the proposition
– Michael Iva sent Ron a message — Is this the guy who spoke at the SMCC?
– Press Release: Canadian M&A Round-Up Year End 2010
– Cards Ron collected at the BNC Tech Pitch event on 11/17/2010
– Cards Ron collected at Let’s Connect Chicago on 10/14/2010 and in accordance with his agreement with Todd McMeen and Jerry Jenkins, no email addresses are being printed
_____________________________
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MIT Enterprise Forum Chicago January 25 Event

Economic Forecast 2011

Join us for the first event of 2011–Economic Forecast: How Your Business and Personal Finances will be Impacted.

Is 2011 going to be the year that you invest in new equipment, hire more staff, or buy that big flat screen TV you’ve had your eye on? Come find out on January 25th when our panel of experts will provide their educated insights on how this year’s economic climate will impact the value of your company and your own wealth.

Our panel includes:

Moderator Tim Curley of UBS Financial Services

* Jim Kohcan, Wells Fargo
* Virginia Schnippel, IP Valuation, Grant Thornton
* Tim O’Connor, Grant Thornton Business Valuations
* Mark Keeley, VP Keeley Funds

Seating for our members is limited, so don’t delay.

REGISTER TODAY

bit.ly/fAruqG

When
Tuesday January 25
5:00 – 6:15 pm Networking
6:30 – 8:00 pm Program

Where
Hosted by our event sponsor, Ungaretti & Harris
70 W. Madison St., Chicago
4th Floor Conference Center

Cost
Free to members.
$35 advance payment for guests. $40 day of the event.

REGISTER TODAY

bit.ly/fAruqG

*********************************************
__________________________
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The Scoop section:
___________________
Editor’s note, by Ron May

* I just heard that Rahm was the only mayoral candidate who was invited to the dinner at the Hilton tonight with Chinese president Hu Jintao en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hu_Jintao and that is a shame because our outgoing mayor, Mayor Daley, should have invited all the major candidates.

We can have ten Groupons here, but it does not appear to be changing the clubby insiders only culture, the “cabal” as some would call it or SiliCapone City as Jeff Gilbert used to say, and changing that, at its core, is the mission of this report: Open up the channels of influence and access, along with transparency and accountability. Create a more successful tech community by allowing a thousand flowers to bloom as Mao would say, and give everyone a voice that will be heard and taken seriously. Proof of point. Have any of the i2A deals come from a pool of firms not tied to the inside crowd? No, and that is a big part of the problem.

* Last night we saw two energetic young men with a firm called www.solesearch.com [sic: www.sole-search.net] and they have put $160K of their own money into it. But they don’t strike me as the guys with the connections and that is a crying shame. Their money went to develop the iPhone and Droid apps and they are essentially a collectors’ service for those who want rare and hard to get and hard to find sneakers. More on them tomorrow.

* This is just my opinion, but since I haven’t heard any defense of Terry Hoch and Fred Howerton from Ed Longanecker, Maura O’Hara, Matt Summy, or David Miller, I can only surmise that they don’t disagree with my characterization of the lame nature of Terry’s and Fred’s leadership yesterday. That was intentional — you know the bit about Terry Hoch and Fred Howerton.

* Last night at the Tech Pitch event sponsored by both BNC and by The Syncubator, David Carman conducted an interesting interview with Chuck Templeton who founded OpenTable. There were about sixty people and I did not know about half of them. That is a really good sign.

Chuck said many intriguing things but one thing really stood out. The firm was started in the summer of 1998 and the first round of funding was $750K. This was in California, actually Palo Alto. Templeton had 174 employees and it was on a Thursday at 11:30am when he met with Adam Dell, a VC who also happens to be Michael’s brother.

One other key fact. When Chuck walked in for the meeting, he did not have the cash to make payroll the next day.

In 15 minutes, no that is not a typo, in fifteen minutes, Adam Dell told him, “I’m in.”

After the usual congratulatory handshaking, Chuck got up the courage to tell Adam and “Oh, by the way, we have a problem.” He told Dell about the cash crunch and the payroll issue and Dell said to him, “Would $1MM help you out?”

Dell was asking if $1MM right now, today, would be OK.

Chuck just could not believe his serendipity. Chuck told Adam that yes, $1MM would help. I’m sure he could not believe that this was really happening.

Dell ended up investing $10.5MM but later that same Thursday afternoon, Adam wired $1MM to Chuck with no paper work, no signed contracts, no term sheet, nothing except a verbal agreement!

Of course Chuck ended up canceling the other three meetings he had scheduled with prospective investors that afternoon. And he mentioned somewhere along the way that he had met with 75 investors — not sure in what time frame. When all was said and done, the firm raised $49MM — I believe he said — and they went public in 2009.

Does anyone have a story like to tell here in Chicago?

Maybe, but I strongly doubt it.

Much more to come tomorrow.

And let me finish with something I forgot to mention about the ACG Smart Grid conference. Naperville is very advanced when it comes to smartgrid issues.
____________________________
Check out the savings SeatQuest is offering for the Bears game: on.fb.me/gn0fp5

From: “Nomik Eden”
Sender: Nomik Eden
Subject: RE: The May Report: 1/18/2011: Rumor that Al Wasserberger is back in town; Noblivity a fave of HPA; SoleSearch; Hope, Challenge and Summit; Why we should be watching Sears Holdings closely; Strong rumor that Carol Moseley Braun’s campaign is being funded
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2011 16:02:54 -0600
To: “‘The May Report’”

Ron, check out the savings SeatQuest is offering for the Bears game: on.fb.me/gn0fp5

2 tickets for $2000 on SeatQuest are sold for over $2600 everywhere else, and on TicketsNow for over $2800.

Who want to pay an extra $800 ???

We extended out deadline and offer no fees (for one year) to sport, theatre, and concerts tickets if you register on www.SeatQuest.com (via facebook coonect) before the end of January.

Thanks,

-nomik
__________________________________
Bye bye Stephanie: Furlong has left The Coleman Center at DePaul

From: “Furlan, Stephanie”
Subject: Please Contact Coleman Center
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2011 15:40:40 -0600
To: “The May Report”

As of January 18, I am no longer working with the Coleman Center. Please contact the Coleman Center at 312.362.8625 or cec@depaul.edu and another staff member will be able to assist you.
____________________________________
midVentures newsletter says that Tap Me Raises $1 Million in Series A Funding

From: “midVentures”
Sender: “midVentures”
Subject: EXCLUSIVE: Tap Me Raises $1 Million Series A Round; DESIGN+DEVELOP Interview Series; FeeFighters Raises $1.6M
Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2011 10:05:12 -0500
To: “Ron May”

EXCLUSIVE: Tap Me Raises $1 Million in Series A Funding

Tap Me, a Chicago-based in-game advertising startup, has just closed a Series A round of just over $1 million from lead investors Hyde Park Angels, the i2A Fund, and David Cohen, CEO and Founder of TechStars. Tap Me was a featured startup at the last midVenturesLAUNCH.

Read more »

DESIGN+DEVELOP Interview Series: Chris Grove, CTO of KeyLimeTie

With just 2 days remaining before midVentures’ second DESIGN+DEVELOP Series, we will be running another short series of interviews about the two companies involved: KeyLimeTie and ChicagoAndroid. More specifically, we want you to know about the people behind the companies; the people who will be running the workshops.

You can learn mobile design and development techniques this Thursday at Chris’ workshop. Tickets are running out, so register now!

Read more »

FeeFighters Raises $1.6 Million in New Funding

FeeFighters, one of the midVenturesLAUNCH COMPETE startups, has just raised $1.6 million. The main investors being revealed right now are Chicago-based Sandbox Industries, OCA Ventures, Arizona Bay Technology Partners, 500 Startups, i2a Ventures, Hyde Park Angels. According to Stella Fayman, the Marketing Manager at FeeFighters, fundraising has been going on since their launch at E
___________________________________
Tuesday, January 25: The Startup Accelerator event listing

Subject: startup accelerator event listing
Date: 1/18/2011 8:38:02 A.M. Central Standard Time
From: slundin@bigfrontier.org
To: ronaldmay@aol.com

EVENT LISTING

Power Brunch : The Startup Accelerator invites entrepreneurs over for coffee, donuts and pitching advice: Tuesday, January 25, 2011 SPACE IS LIMITED TO FOUR COMPANIES

Startup funding starts with an idea and a story. How’s yours? Bring your funding pitch over to our offices for a 15 minute assessment session. We’ll review your five minute pitch and provide you with written feedback, on the spot, free of charge. We also have access to NEW funding sources off the Chicago beaten path.

Have a doughnut, coffee and some advice on us. Advance reservations required: Pitching sessions 9:30 -11:00 AM

There are only four open slots for this date. If you are late, your slot is surrendered. 211 W Wacker Suite 1150 (312) 602-2434 thestartupaccelerator.com/

Rsvp: info@thestartupaccelerator.com

Steve Lundin
Chief Hunter and Gatherer

Twitter: @bigfrontier facebook.com/steve.lundin
www.blogfrontier.org
Main: (312) 238-9308 Direct: (312) 602-2434 Cell: (312) 391-8007 Fax: (312) 602-2450
BIGfrontier Communications Group
211 W Wacker #1150 Chicago, IL 60606 www.BIGfrontier.com www.BIGfrontier.org
Producers of the BIG Idea Breakfast Events

Winner: 2003, 2004 BMA Tower Awards; 2003, 2006 League of Professional Communicators award of excellence, 2006 PCC Golden Trumpet; 2006 PRSA: WI Best of Show
_____________________________
David Baecklandt: Groupon Japan – Andrew Mason’s Apology

Subject: Groupon Japan – Andrew Mason’s Apology
Date: 1/18/2011 6:37:12 A.M. Central Standard Time
From: debendevan@hotmail.com
To: ronaldmay@aol.com

Good morning Ron,

A Japanese friend alerted me to Andrew Mason’s (of Groupon fame) Japanese apology: www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDMLMFxEY4A . Although by Japanese standards it left much to be desired, by American standards I thought it was sincere and thorough. And certainly a tribute to him that they took the time to do this.

Hope you’re feeling well – and loving the weather!

Have a good day,

Dave

David Baeckelandt
debendevan@hotmail.com

www.flemishamerican.blogspot.com

______________________________

Jeff Carter: 4 messages
_________________________
#1: Subject: Anonymous Tip
Date: 1/18/2011 7:39:13 P.M. Central Standard Time
From: jrcarter@mac.com
To: RONALDMAY@aol.com

Ron,

Thanks for posting links to my Business Insider articles. They will appreciate the hits. If your anonymous tipster wants to read more of my stuff, have them visit my blog, www.pointsandfigures.com. I am not hiding from my opinions, unlike your “anonymous tipster”. When I write for my blog, and at any other publication, like American Thinker, Pajamas Media, or do television commentary, the opinions are mine. They are totally unrelated and separate from HPA.

Hyde Park Angels is apolitical. We have people from all businesses, all genders, races etc. We never have turned down a company or member because of their politics. We are only concerned with their business plan and their prospects for growth. HPA was created to create an entrepreneurial culture in the midwest. We don’t talk politics at HPA meetings. We are there to support and create entrepreneurs.

As to HPA’s blogpost on the increased taxes in Illinois, perhaps your anonymous tipster can enlighten the May Report readers about how a 67% hike in taxes is good for business. Let us know how a 9.5% corporate tax increase helps companies grow. Please show all your math.

HPA has had a blog for a little bit now. It is apolitical. It talks about entrepreneurs, angels, issues with that, and our portfolio companies. We did urge the Illinois General Assembly to pass the angel tax credit, and we did not like the initial interpretation by Dodd-Frank on what constitutes an accredited investor. HPA aligned with the Angel Capital Association in both of those issues. The tax credit passed, and the accredited investor criteria were amended. That wasn’t politics, that was good business. HPA is about good business, period.

HPA isn’t alone in dissenting from Illinois politicians on the tax increase. Other companies, Chambers of Commerce, individuals, editorial boards, policy institutes, and economists have said that Illinois was wrong in raising their taxes. I suggest that your readers go to Illinoisisbroke.com. They gave a great presentation at the Economic Club of Chicago on why Illinois is broke, and what needs to be done.

Again, thanks for allowing my blog to get more visibility on your site. Hope everyone that reads you visits my blog site at www.pointsandfigures.com, a lot.

Best,
Jeff
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
#2: Subject: Doug Ross Top 50 Fabulous Blogs Points and Figures
Date: 1/18/2011 6:32:26 P.M. Central Standard Time
From: jrcarter@me.com
To: RONALDMAY@aol.com

pointsandfigures.com/2010/12/27/doug-ross-top-50-fabulous-blogs/

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
#3: Subject: Minyanville, Thanks for the Shout Out Points and Figures
Date: 1/18/2011 6:32:06 P.M. Central Standard Time
From: jrcarter@me.com
To: RONALDMAY@aol.com

pointsandfigures.com/2011/01/13/minyanville/

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
#4: Subject: YCharts Innovates, Comes Out With PRO Product – Hyde Park Angels
Date: 1/18/2011 6:30:59 P.M. Central Standard Time
From: jrcarter@me.com
To: RONALDMAY@aol.com

blog.hydeparkangels.com/ycharts-innovates-comes-out-with-pro-product

________________________________

Lundin’s latest column in MediaPost

Subject: New column from today’s mediapost – to publish
Date: 1/18/2011 3:05:14 P.M. Central Standard Time
From: slundin@bigfrontier.org
To: ronaldmay@aol.com

www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=143090

______________________________

Jack McInerney on what InTimeTV pays Fritz Golman [Editor's note: May here: And it appears that the is still employed at NAVTEQ from my out of office replies]

Subject: Re: Jack, is Fritz Golman full-time, part-time — paid, unpaid, what?
Date: 1/18/2011 1:56:10 P.M. Central Standard Time
From: jmcinerney@intimetv.com
To: RONALDMAY@aol.com

We pay him one million a year.

Sent via DROID on Verizon Wireless

—–Original message—–

From: RONALDMAY@aol.com
To: jmcinerney@intimetv.com
Cc: ronaldmay@aol.com
Sent: Thu, Jan 1, 1970 00:00:00 GMT+00:00
Subject: Jack, is Fritz Golman full-time, part-time — paid, unpaid, what?
______________________________

And the meek have inherited the earth: SocialDevCamp Chicago 2010 Highlights

Subject: and the meek have inherited the earth
Date: 1/18/2011 11:56:03 A.M. Central Standard Time
From: slundin@bigfrontier.org
To: ronaldmay@aol.com

The quality on this sucks:

_____________________________

Scott Davis: MyMobileCoverage, a survey

Subject: MyMobileCoverage
Date: 1/18/2011 8:56:46 A.M. Central Standard Time
From: vfrontop@sbcglobal.net
To: ronaldmay@aol.com

Ron,

Last February I asked your readership to participate in a survey concerning the use of smartphones. The participation was outstanding and the credit goes to your readers who participated. I thank you.

Here are some of the results of that survey:

83% said they saw a real value in a free application that provides unbiased measurement on how well their phone and service measures up against other phones and service providers

81% said they would like to be able to publish their dropped call complaints to their provider

72.6% said they would value the ability to set and receive warnings when they are about to enter a no coverage area

80.6% said that if unbiased information became available concerning a superior service provider or handset they would consider switching

The free mymobilecoverage smartphone application will effortlessly monitor:

where and when the user dropped a call

voice quality after a call has occurred

coverage statistics

live status which includes real time signal strength

data speeds

minute and data usage

report statistics to see if your service provider experience is improving or worsening

able to send you emails concerning the quality of your experience to enable highly targeted and effective communications with your network operator

May Report readers with Blackberry smartphones who wish to enjoy the benefits of this free and informative application can go to: www.mymobilecoverage.com or Blackberry App World™

Android and Apple versions introduced later this year

Thanks Again for the May Report’s continued support

Scott Davis

(630) 847-8766

Investor information – contact – Robert Hamilton at 604-685-2423 or rhamilton@cortxt.com
___________________________________

Chicago Magazine: Luis Gutierrez on Why Rahm Emanuel Should Not Be Mayor

Subject: Chicago Magazine: Luis Gutierrez on Why Rahm Emanuel Should Not Be Mayor
Date: 1/19/2011 10:25:16 A.M. Central Standard Time
From: tomrbennett@yahoo.com
To: ronaldmay@aol.com

Ron:

To date, the media polling and mainstream media reports are failing to report upon the biggest challenge to Rahm — its not going to be easy for The Daley’s to simply transfer power to Rahm.

Rahm is clearly perceived as a Consolidated Daley Power Play — while CMB, Gery Chico and Miguel Del Valle are much more diversified in their respective bases.

“Everyone should assume one thing: that power…isn’t something that you just release, that somehow you just give power up. People always try to transfer it.”

~ U.S. Congressman Luis Gutierrez

www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/Felsenthal-Files/January-2011/Luis-Gutierrez-on-Why-Rahm-Emanuel-Should-Not-Be-Mayor/

TRB

——————–
Thomas R. Bennett
Thomas Bennett Limited
& Bennett Real Estate Partners
312.636.3662 (mobile)
530.658.4830 (fax)

“Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans. Aim high in hope and work…..”

~ Daniel H. Burnham, American architect and co-author of “Plan of Chicago”.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
________________________________
Steve Lundin on the role he played in SmartSignal’s PR

Subject: Re: For the record, bub, which of these did you play a role in?
Date: 1/18/2011 8:09:21 A.M. Central Standard Time
From: slundin@bigfrontier.org
To: RONALDMAY@aol.com

NONE. My work with SmartSignal ended while Gary Conkright was still there – I never worked with his successor, Jim Gagnard. All my work was done to get them business in the Airline sector and to build the company from relative obscurity to something a potential customer or investor might be interested in. When I “inherited” the account at Slack Barshinger I was told by Gary that it needed a lot of work because no one on his staff understood the technology. He had basically assigned a PR person who was too junior and an account manager who was too senior. It became a “jewel” at his agency after things started happening; before that it was more like a book written in a language that no one could read. Part of my job was translating their story into something that people understood. Then I did the same thing with Arryx.

And this is all on the record, Bub.

On January 18, 2011 at 3:11 AM RONALDMAY@aol.com wrote:

* Wall Street Journal Technology Innovation Awards, Software Division Runner-Up, SmartSignal;
* Illinois Technology Association 2009 Lighthouse Award Winner, SmartSignal;
* M2M Magazine 2008 Top 100 Leader in M2M, SmartSignal;
* Edison Electric Institute 2007 Edison Award Winner, Great Plains Energy subsidiary Kansas City Power & Light (a SmartSignal customer).

Steve Lundin
__________________________________

Ed Longanecker: “White House: Private Sector Must Lead Internet Security Fight”

Subject: An article I thought would interest you
Date: 1/18/2011 7:31:03 A.M. Central Standard Time
From: ed.longanecker@techamerica.org
To: ronaldmay@aol.com

I thought you’d like to read this article
from TechNewsWorld:
“White House: Private Sector Must Lead Internet Security Fight”

www.technewsworld.com/story/71665.html

From: ed.longanecker@techamerica.org (Ed Longanecker)
_____________________________
Tom Bennett: 60 Minute Special Report: Rahm Emanuel and the Chicago Political Syndicate: Over 10,000+ views!

Subject: 60 Minute Special Report: Rahm Emanuel and the Chicago Political Syndicate: Over 10,000+ views!
Date: 1/18/2011 6:56:04 A.M. Central Standard Time
From: tomrbennett@yahoo.com
To: ronaldmay@aol.com

Ron:

Glenbrook South-Alum Gary “Rupert Murdoch” Franchi just reported within the hour that his 60-Minute Special Report re: “Rahm Emanuel and the Chicago Political Syndicate” has just surpassed 10,000 views!

———–

———-

I’d be interested to hear your thoughts re: the veracity to a variety of different claims throughout the report.

Keep in touch.

Sláinte,

TRB

——————–
Thomas R. Bennett
Thomas Bennett Limited
& Bennett Real Estate Partners
312.636.3662 (mobile)
530.658.4830 (fax)

“Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans. Aim high in hope and work…..”

~ Daniel H. Burnham, American architect and co-author of “Plan of Chicago”.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
_______________________________
Is Gary Slack like the deer caught in the headlights? Does he even know what to think or say? Is b2b marketing really obsolete? Three prominent ad agency execs debate the proposition

www.btobonline.com/article/20110117/FREE/301179978/is-b-to-b-marketing-really-obsolete

Is b2b marketing really obsolete?
Three prominent ad agency execs debate the proposition

Sean Callahan
Story posted: January 17, 2011 – 6:01 am EDT

——————————————————————————–

Last month, Rick Segal, worldwide president of GyroHSR, gave a speech in Berlin in which he stated b2b marketing is obsolete-made so by the rapid rise to prominence of smartphones and other mobile devices that have changed the way business decision-makers work. No longer, Segal claimed, do businesses market to other businesses but to individuals who are shifting continuously from at-work to at-home states of mind throughout the day.
BtoB asked Segal and two other prominent b2b ad agency executives-Gary Slack, chairman of Slack & Co., and Tom Stein, president of Stein Rogan+Partners-to discuss the changes occurring in how businesspeople consume information and what those changes mean for marketers. Below is an edited transcript.

BtoB: Rick, you have argued that b2b marketing is obsolete. Can you give us the context of this statement and what you meant by it?

Rick Segal: As someone who spent the last 11,000 days of his life focused in the category, it’s a comment that I do not make with the purpose of being an agent provocateur. I really, very sincerely believe that a paradigm has shifted, that b2b marketing is not only obsolete but it may well be very much dead.

Now, what that has to do with is the events of the last 17 years and two technological innovations-TDMA, which in 1993 made the mass distribution of mobile handheld technology feasible, and the other in 1993 would’ve been Mosaic, which put an Internet browser in the hands of us all. Those two things essentially transformed telecommunications in a way that puts telecommunications onto the bodies of individual people. And it has caused what were the barriers between work life and personal life to fall down and collapse.

——————————————————————————–
To hear the full, unedited conversation, click play:
Agency Roundtable by btobmagazine
——————————————————————————–

(This) has changed the way we talk to business decision-makers. Being at work is no longer a place; it is a state of mind, a kind of continuing oscillation that people are making between their work life and their personal life. I think probably all three of us along the way for years have been saying at the end of the day business-to-business is person-to-person. But I think what’s happened is a much more profound change, and that is we no longer contact places of business, we contact individual people. I think it is just fundamentally changing the idea of b2b marketing.

BtoB: Gary, what is your reaction to Rick’s statement?

Gary Slack: The way I look at it is b2b marketers in the past and in the future simply want to be present, noticeable and engaged where their buyers are. That was true 40 to 30 to 20 to 10 years ago. It’s true today, and it’ll be true 10, 20, 30, 40 years into the future.

So as our clients invest more in the new places where b2b buyers are congregating and spending their time these days-the Web, email, search engines, LinkedIn, YouTube, social media, online communities, virtual trade shows and mobile-we’re really not doing anything fundamentally different than what we and our predecessors have been doing for decades.

But just because we want to be where (buyers) are doesn’t mean buyers want us to be everywhere they may choose to be. So I would say that while Rick may be right that individual people are now communications network nodes in and of themselves, that doesn’t mean that bugging businesspeople to death on their mobile devices makes every other push or pull tactic that we’ve ever used to influence and engage buyers obsolete.

BtoB: Tom, what is your reaction to this?

Tom Stein: There’s a lot of great thinking in what Rick has communicated, and I certainly think the notion of work-life balance being less and less demarcated is the case. That said, I don’t think that anything actually has suddenly become obsolete. There’s been a gradual change that has given rise to accelerated change. And the other thing that I would want to make a case for is that the people that we’re communicating with-whether they’re “prosumers,” or whether they’re small-business people or the decision-makers in larger enterprises or in government or in education or in healthcare-all of these different kinds of people are not a uniform cohort. They are all distinct; they all consume media differently.

BtoB: Rick, with the growth of smartphones as a central part of your thesis, to what degree has your agency found ways to communicate to people through these devices?

Segal: I think that (the smartphone) is the icon of this paradigm shift when you come right down to it. I told the story in Berlin of a young person here when we did a session with a group on work-life balance, and I kind of came to that conversation as the stodgy old curmudgeon who said people have been talking to me about work-life balance all my career. The agency business is tough; we work long hours. Do you want a job or do you want a career? There’s nothing new about work-life balance. And one of the young ladies reached into her jeans pocket and put her iPhone on the table and said, “Oh, yeah. It is different. It’s attached to me. I can’t get away from it. Work goes with me wherever I go.”

So it’s clear that just as the desktop became a breakthrough for us in marketing to business decision-makers, the communications device now held in the hand or on the body of this person who is a business decision-maker or influencer is the new screen to which we have to be focused. So we’re doing a whole host of things, from applications to social media work to optimizing what were once large corporate sites to things that can more easily be interpreted in a handheld device. That’s the new game space of marketing communications.

BtoB: Tom, how are you approaching marketing to people on their mobile devices?

Stein: The tablets and the smartphones have become the devices of choice in a lot of cases; and, that being said, if they’re the devices of choice, then our need to communicate to them, whether it’s through ways and means as simple and as expected as advertising and in other ways entirely, I think it’s a green field and it’s something that’s going to occupy our time and attention.

But I also think that it’s going to take us into new avenues. And we, together with clients, are going to be able to create new opportunities that really cross the line from marketing to actual value delivery to customers, where it becomes an extension of a brand value proposition and service delivery to a client.

Now, I’ll give you an example of that. We’re actually working with a large retailer and we’re working with them on a tablet application that’s intended to drive interaction with employees. There’s training interaction; there’s access to benefits and things of that nature. Tablets are going to be made available to them at the stores in which they work. So is that an example of traditional marketing? No, it’s not. But it’s very much part of the marketing landscape that’s being driven via mobile pervasiveness.

BtoB: Gary, any thoughts to add?

Slack: Like Rick’s firm and Tom’s firm, we’re getting a lot more interest from clients in developing apps of all kinds. Last spring we started to see many of our clients’ mobile website traffic metrics start to exhibit the classic hockey-stick upturn. We attribute that shift-and we’re not involved with every single client in this space-to increased network speeds, certainly better mobile devices and capabilities and, of course, the b2b professional’s need to always be in the know.

As our clients deploy mobile to even a greater degree in 2011, I think the key will be compelling content-especially, I would say, content in bite-size portions that are appropriate to both the second and third screens. It also means formatting Web content to be easily consumed on a mobile device and moving into online video that is mobile-consumable, not Flash-based.

Segal: If you’d have told me three years ago that USG Corp., a manufacturer of drywall, was going to come to us requesting the development of an Apple-approved iPhone application through which they could roll out a new product, I would’ve told you you were crazy. We just completed that last year as part of the rollout of their new lightweight product, and that was not a matter of them trying to do some marketing eye candy for the conference circuit. It was very much related to what it was going to take to move their product and communicating to the people they need to communicate to. And so we got probably a dozen such projects under way right now.

BtoB: Custom content is getting a lot of buzz. It’s something agencies have always created, and I’m wondering-let’s start with you, Gary-are you doing more of this?

Slack: I would say it’s more. I did a little research on the question and learned that content marketing, we estimate, now accounts for up to 25% of our clients’ total marketing budget. Now that’s “up to”; the average is probably less. So if content is not king, it’s certainly the crown prince. We are not necessarily involved with every client in content marketing, but we are involved where we’re helping them move from just piecemeal to siloed content generation to integrated content planning, strategy and development.

Exceptional content marketing that works across all channels, across each phase of a b2b buyer’s buy cycle, requires a pretty disparate set of skills for a marketer or agency. (It requires) traditional research, buyer insights to integrate with insights from Web analytics to keyword research. You need the message positioning skills of a branding expert to integrate and work with information architecture; and you need the editorial journalism skills of a skilled writer to integrate with the creative “concepting” ability of the creative team; and you need the skills of the direct response marketer to integrate with the modern planning inbound marketing and unique marketing strategists to really understand how to break down walls with sales, define leads and create overlapping nurture programs.

BtoB: Rick, do you have any thoughts about the importance of custom content?

Segal: For years, we’ve actually been driven to increasingly larger amounts of custom content delivery. But I think it’s always been a part. On the new frontier, where I suppose we’ll get to in our conversation, is what I’ll refer to as “real-time custom content,” where we are right in social media discussion streams, creating content in real time, which is about as custom as you can get.

BtoB: Tom, I’d be very interested in hearing your take on how important this is going forward.

Stein: Content’s always been part of an integrated marketing approach from our agency and it’s long been part of our business. But I think there’s been an absolute sea change over the last couple of years, and I think there are several specific reasons why. I think this is immensely important in the business-to-business space. Two years ago, Stein-Rogan launched a content marketing practice within the agency called Kilter, and we staffed it with domain experts: journalists-to match Gary’s point-information architects and strategists, editors, real content professionals.

We’re seeing a tremendous amount of interest around aggregated and curated content platforms, around video content platforms and multiformat content that’s broadly syndicated across digital channels. The advent of marketing automation and lead-nurturing systems and platforms in b2b that, in turn, hook into CRM structures-these kinds of systems are extremely reliant on quality content in order to maintain conversations with prospects and to get (them) to a point of interest that they become sales-ready.

BtoB: I wanted to talk more specifically about social networking: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter. I’m wondering-Rick, let’s start with you-to what degree do you think these three things have transformed marketing?

Segal: If you start in a b2b context, I’ve been advocating for a while now that in many respects what we refer to as b2b marketing has always been social network marketing. It has just simply been conducted without the assistance of the wider range of tools and applications that are apparent every new day.

Business decisions are largely made by teams of people who are communicating with each other in the vetting, and consideration and approval process. Now, they’re doing it on steroids to the degree that they’re going to communicate this way. If we’re going to be successful in igniting business decisions, we’ve got to be able to play in that space.

BtoB: Right. So, Tom, how about your thoughts on the power of social networking going forward?

Stein: I think it’s extremely important. Something that’s interesting-I just pulled the data out today for this conversation because I was curious-in 2009 we did a brand demand survey of b2b marketers. One of the things that we had looked at is what are the kinds of approaches that are being used most frequently in order to build brand and drive demand. And what was interesting to me is that social media has become one of the top three or four. Whether that’s aspirational thinking by the respondents and they feel they have to respond that way, I don’t know. But I just think it’s noteworthy that there’s been a very, very significant increase from ’09 to 2010-2011; and I think that’s going to continue to be the case.

BtoB: Gary, anything to add on social networking?

Slack: Our surveys say the same thing. We did a survey of about 40 senior b2b marketers about a year ago and asked them if they were planning to invest a lot more, a little more, a lot less or a little less in 23 different kinds of marketing investments. The first seven (marketing investments that were larger) all were either digital or social media in nature.

Building upon a comment Rick made earlier, I’ve often looked at everything we do in marketing communications as to create word-of-mouth. It’s just in the past we had different tools. These days we have public tools that help us maybe accomplish things faster. But there’s no question in my mind that social networking (platforms)-which includes blogging, video sharing, online communities, review sites, LinkedIn, Twitter-are really coming into their own as b2b marketing tools to help build awareness and understanding, and generate consideration, purchase interest and sales.

And don’t forget mobile, as I’m told 46% of Twitter’s 50 million tweets come from mobile devices. And review sites are coming to b2b, and Groupon-like sites for b2b sales I think are just around the corner. After all, what is Groupon but an aggregated online buying group, a buying co-op where buyers are participants not owners? And finally online communities, especially those that incorporate many of the previously mentioned social media tools, may ultimately be the No. 1 b2b social media killer app. Then there is LinkedIn, whose multifaceted potential for b2b marketers-at least in my opinion, and they are an agency client-has been barely scratched.
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Ron May here. Gary Slack is what psychologists call passive-aggressive. Most of the time he is silent and then he figures out what to do at which time he tends to overreact.

These Tweets by Gary show how long it took him to get his head wrapped around the problem. The story was posted in BtoB Magazine on January 17th and it took Gary, with all due respect, as he would say, two days to come to terms with what he wanted to say.

garyslack Gary Slack
Rick Segal, with all due respect, if, as you claim, b-to-b marketing is dead, why is “MrBtoB” your Twitter handle? bit.ly/fsGjHp
19 Jan Favorite Retweet Reply
»

garyslack Gary Slack
My friend Rick Segal says b2b marketing is obsolete. See what Rick, Tom Stein and I had to say in this BtoB interview: bit.ly/fsGjHp
18 Jan Favorite Retweet Reply
_____________________________________
Michael Iva sent Ron a message — Is this the guy who spoke at the SMCC?

Michael sent you a message.

Michael IvaJanuary 16, 2011 at 9:04am
Subject: ‘THE BLANK CANVAS’…by Michael Iva
What is not,

helps us define what is.

What is not,

soon becomes what is.

The what is,

is what was not.

What was left out,

is just as important

as what is put in.

White space

is as real as what fills it.

All acts of human creation,

start with a blank canvas

use it wisely. . .

Ron, you have 12 months to make the most of 20!!. I wish you well. ~Michael
____________________________________
Press Release: Canadian M&A Round-Up Year End 2010

From: “Hannah Bagshawe”
Subject: Press Release: Canadian M&A Round-Up Year End 2010
Date: Fri, 14 Jan 2011 20:11:11 +0000
To: ron@themayreport.com

mergermarket

For immediate release

mergermarket publishes Canadian M&A Round-Up: Year End 2010

Canada M&A activity up 19% from 2009

With increased liquidity in the credit markets and a rise in lending activity amongst banks, purse strings started to loosen in 2010 and risk appetites slowly increased, allowing Canada to enjoy an upward M&A trend in 2010.
There were 468 M&A deals with an aggregate value of US$ 78.5bn, up 19% by deal count and 6.8% in terms of deal value since 2009. 2010 was the most active year since 2008 by both deal value and deal count.

Energy, Mining & Utilities most active sector; Financial Services offers M&A opportunites

The Energy, Mining & Utilities sectors continued to lead, with a total of 168 deals valued at US$ 51.6bn. The sectors accounted for 65.7% of all Canadian deals in 2010.
Canada?s financial institutions emerged healthier from the financial crisis than their peers in many other regions and they are taking advantage of this strength to acquire US and other foreign banks. Deals in the financial services sector are seeing a revival as buyers cherry pick from the large basket of troubled US banks.
Canada saw several foreign investments from Asian players due to a rise in demand for commodities from developing countries and a need to secure such supplies for these regions.

Mid-Market deal values increase

The mid-market saw exactly the same number of deals ? 203 ? as 2009, though their overall value was 14% higher in 2010, at US$ 14.3bn, compared to US$ 12.6bn in 2009. 2010 saw the largest aggregate value of mid-market M&A since 2007, which saw 264 deals valued at US$ 18.2bn.

Morgan Stanley tops Canada?s financial advisor rankings, Canadian firms take remaining top rankings

Morgan Stanley topped the financial advisor tables by value, advising on 21 deals worth a total of US $30.5bn. Canadian TD Securities was the most active advisor having worked on 48 deals worth US$ 27.7bn. GMP Securities, also Canadian, led the mid-market by both value and volume, advising on 24 deals valued at US$ 2.5bn.

To download a copy of the report, please click here.

Hannah Bagshawe
Global Head of Public Relations
The Mergermarket Group

Hannah.Bagshawe@mergermarket.com
Tel: +1 646 378 3194

About mergermarket

mergermarket, part of The Mergermarket Group, is an independent Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) intelligence service used by the world?s foremost financial institutions to originate deals. It provides proprietary intelligence on potential deal flow, potential mandates and valuations via the world?s largest group of M&A journalists and analysts who have direct access to the most senior decision-makers and corporates. The Mergermarket Group has over 500 employees worldwide and regional head offices in New York, London and Hong Kong. Visit us at www.mergermarket.com.

The Mergermarket Group is a division of the Financial Times Group, publisher of the Financial Times newspaper and FT.com. The FT Group is a division of Pearson plc, the international media group.
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Cards Ron collected at the BNC Tech Pitch event on 11/17/2010

Susan Barahia (DON’T ADD TO LIST)
Entrepreneur Group Leader
Business Network Chicago
Entrepreneur Group

bit.ly/bnceli

www.bnchicago.org
sbarahia@bnchicago.org

Dan Wellisch
President
Wellisch Software Technologies, Inc.
www.cameyeo.com
danw@wellsoftware.com

David Culver
Chief Marketing Officer
Forward Momentum
www.forwardmomentumllc.com

Joseph Gaffin, PMP
IT Manager
IT Infrastructure Projects
Exelon Business Services Company
joseph.gaffin@exeloncorp.com

Steve Esp
Sales Consultant
Tip Solutions, Inc.
www.tipsolutionsinc.com
steve.esp@tipsolutionsinc.com

Disa Johnson
Search Return LLC
www.searchreturnllc.com

Chris Courtney
Owner
Design Hawg Inc.
www.designhawg.com
designhawg@mac.com

John Braun
President/CEO
Tip Solutions, Inc.
www.tipsolutions.com
john.braun@tipsolutionsinc.com

Jack Eisenberg
Creator
MapDing
www.mapding.com
jack@mapding.com

Scott B. Harris
Creative Capital Corp.
scott@creativecapitalcorp.us

Pere Marc Rigo, CFA
Investment Associate
New Energy Growth Partners, LLC
rigo@negrowth.com

Norman L. Lawrence, Jr.
Founder & CEO
Arts E Ventures
www.artseventures.com
norman@artseventures.com

Jeff T. Garbaciak
Service and Product Innovation
Strategic Marketing
jeff.garbaciak@yahoo.com

Annie Muller, PMP
www.linkedin.com/in/annievmuller
amvimuller@yahoo.com

Jaime Brugueras, Ph.D.
Chief Executive Officer
Mineful
www.mineful.com
ceo@mineful.com

Scott Carlson
Co-Founder
Marquechi Group
www.marquechi.com
scarlson@marquechi.com

Doug Selph
Sr. Developer
Tip Solutions, Inc.
www.tipsolutionsinc.com
doug.selph@tipsolutionsinc.com

Chantal Tardif
President
Chantal Tardif
www.chantaltardif.com
chantal@chantaltardif.com

Stuart Katz
Vice President
Marketing Management
Katz
www.linekedin.com/in/stuart616
stuartkatz@wowway.com

Brian Andrew Halaschak
Financial Advisor
MorganStanley SmithBarney
brian.andrew.halaschak@mssb.com
_____________________________________
Cards Ron collected at Let’s Connect Chicago on 10/14/2010 and in accordance with his agreement with Todd McMeen and Jerry Jenkins, no email addresses are being printed

Sean B. Harden
Deputy CEO, Strategic Initiatives
Office of the CEO
Chicago Public Schools

Pierre Clark
Digital Excellence Conference
www.digital-excellence.net

Daniel F. Bassill
President & Chief Executive Officer
Cabrini Connections Tutor/Mentor Connection
www.tutormentorconnection.org

Michael A. Pink
Chairman & Executive Director
Investing in Communities
www.iiconline.org

John T. Iwanski
Partner
Grant Thorton
www.grantthorton.com

Amir H. Rafizadeh
Network Sommelier
www.678partners.com

Lynn Hazan
President
Lynn Hazan & Associates
www.lhazan.com

Maria Kim
Vice President of resource development
& strategic initiaves
The Cara Program
www.thecaraprogram.org

Sheila P. Simhan
Attorney
Northwestern Law
www.law.northwestern.edu/sboc

Don S. Samuelson
Senior Networks
DSSA Strategies
www.dssa.strategies.net

Christopher J. Lackner
Lackner/Andrews
www.lanckerandrews.com

James Vanek
Account Manager
Forsythe

Kevin K Pierce, AIA, CEM, LEED
Director of Sustainable Design
Managing Director
Shaw
www.shawgrp.com

Clarence M. Chestand
President
The Chestand Group

Christopher Breedlove
Video + Documentation
www.fringeworldmedia.com
www.mrbreedlove.com

J. Spencer Maus
JASE Consulting, Inc.

Allen L. Hawkins
Vice President, IBM Strategic Alliance
Quest
www.questinvestigations.net

Mike Monar

Thomas Johnson
Assistant City Treasurer
Office of the City Treasureer

L. Anton Seals, Jr.
District Programs Coordinator

Fritz Golman
Navteq
www.mapreporter.com

Rachel Reichman
Program Analyst
Nationwide Testing Group
U.S. Office of Personnel Management

Nancy A. Goldstein
Chief Strategist
Compass Strategy
www.compassstrategy.com

G. Sequane Lawrence
Center Director
Chicago Youth Centers
www.chicagoyouthcenters.org

Max Balsam Margolis PhD
Sustainable Capitalism

Jerome Cheatham
Area Field Marketing Manager
Clear

Steven Jares
Real Estate Investor
United Vision Investment LLC
____________________________________
END OF REPORT