It is the SMC of SLC’s pleasure to highlight one of our member agencies, Lava7. Lava7 was founded by four partners: Maile Keone, Jack Hadley, Blake Hadley, and Rob Jensen, who bring years of award-winning experience in traditional marketing, message development, concepting, copywriting, art direction, and graphic design. Focused on social media marketing, Lava7 seeks to help organizations to “expand their relationships in relevant and engaging ways, in more places, and more easily than ever before.”
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SMC: First up, Maile, what’s the story behind naming your new social media marketing agency “Lava7”? Any tie to your Hawaiian roots?
MK: The name comes from the spreading of ideas. Lava spreads explosively, then moves more slowly, and finally settles into cracks and crevices, becoming part of the landscape and creating a foundation upon which other things grow. Lava also needs to be continuously pushed out in order for the landscape to continue to grow. Part of social media marketing is helping, watching, and encouraging stories to spread. That’s how we came up with the name. But I do like the Hawaiian connection.
SMC: Maile and Jack, what motivated you both to pour your hearts, souls, and wallets into the Lava7 partnership – and to focus your agency on social media marketing?
JH: One of my favorite books is Zag, by Marty Neumeier. Marty speaks of the relationships between trends, brands, fads, “waves,” and creating businesses that are essential and truly distinctive. Social media is not a fad. Social networks have always been a big part of doing business, and the Internet isn’t going away. Tools and methods may change, but this wave will continue to create trends that raise all ships. Four years ago I saw the writing on the wall and jumped into the deep end of the pool. I love what I’m doing. I feel like the 20 years I spent working in creative environments were preparation for what we’re now doing at Lava7.
MK: The first time I heard Jack speak, I knew I wanted to work with him. We’ve somehow managed to pull amazingly talented people together and create a fun business that helps people with both traditional and new marketing. My background in traditional tech company marketing is just a platform for the massive changes that are happening in the way we communicate. Being able to talk to companies and people about those concepts gets me up in the morning and keeps me awake at night. I’m just so excited about what each day brings.
SMC: Jack, you wanted to add something to what Maile just said about massive changes?
JH: Yes, if I might. The lines between advertising, branding, marketing, public relations, and customer service have become very blurred. That’s a good thing. Businesses should be engaging with their audiences anywhere they can, everywhere they can, and as often as they can. If you’re thoughtful about the ways in which you engage, it helps tell your story without annoying your audience. People are pulling and consuming information today in very different ways than before. These new strategies for digitally engaging and influencing are not only powerful, but represent a fundamental shift in the way we communicate.
SMC: You’ve branded yourselves as “digital engagement marketers.” Give us the low-down, Jack, on what Lava7 does for clients.
JH: We provide integrated social media marketing solutions that achieve business objectives. We do that by combining three things: strategic mindset, relevant tools, and compelling creative. I agree with SMC of SLC member Erin McBride, who suggested on this blog last month that “…we stop calling this social media marketing. To better encapsulate and explain what we aim to do with social media tools, I propose that we call it Social Media and Engagement Marketing.” I think that’s good thinking.
A problem is that businesses are feeling overwhelmed by it. The space is changing constantly. People don’t know where to start. They struggle figuring out how this fits with their existing efforts. They struggle getting C-level buy in. They’re afraid of wasting time and resources, and they don’t know how to measure effectiveness. We help businesses to first, wrap their minds and hearts around it. Then, we show them how to use the tools in simple, strategic ways. And in many cases, we also help with implementation.
SMC: Such passion, Jack! Is that why at least one client has labeled you a “mad genius”? Think the term fits?
JH: Whenever people say that, I’m not exactly sure what it means! Maybe it’s more like a “nutty professor.” Either way, I think I got that label because of my passion for what I’m doing. I guess it kinda fits. Sorta.
SMC: Maile, reassure Jack! List two strengths he brings to the Lava7 partnership.
MK: If I must! <grin> Other than his mad genius, Jack has an innate ability to help others understand complex concepts and processes. That ability has led to him to speak all over the state on social media marketing. He has helped many companies, from small start-up businesses to large technology companies, come to a better understand of where to start — which answers one of the questions we get asked all the time. In addition, his background as a branding expert helps companies to further understand that before spreading their story, they must first make sure they have clarity. Jack is a master at helping others to distill.
SMC: I’m disappointed. I was so sure you were going to mention those signature sneakers he wears to business functions. That’s gotta be a strength, too!
MK: Oh my gosh, you’re right. Those sneakers have cemented that Jack thinks outside the box!
SMC: Jack, your turn. Maile is known as one of the best-connected movers and shakers within Utah’s technology industry. But what are the strengths she brings to Lava7?
JH: Maile has great business sense, and her energy is so contagious. She has a proven track record in helping take companies from point A, to point B, to point C. She has a deep understanding of traditional marketing and remarkable insight into the ways in which new media strategies integrate with traditional marketing. Maile is feisty, too. We like that — and so do our clients. It helps move us ahead on a daily basis, meet our commitments, and get the work done. Her favorite word yesterday was “snarky” after we fired a client whom she called “one snarky dude.”
SMC: Yeah, well, “dude” is probably a term she perfected on the beaches of Hawaii, right? Blake, let’s hear from you, dude. The Lava7 website is crisp, clean, and playful. Do you get all the credit for this online coolness? Is it your chief Lava7 hat?
BH: Right now, I’m doing a lot of the design execution, so yes, I guess I get most of the credit. But we also work a lot as a team, and utilize a number of outside design resources. We each wear lots of hat around here. Besides directing design, I spend a lot of my time doing behavior blueprinting.
“Digital Behavior Blueprinting” is the term we’ve coined for the first half of the creative process behind the strategies we create at Lava7. The second half of the creative process is more traditional; it’s about imagery, graphic design, headlines, colors, etc. But the first half is about coming up with ideas that engage. For example, what will draw people in? How can we get people to do the things, or click on the things we’d like them to do? How will people interact with the rollouts or promotions we create?
You can have all the cool social media tools in the world, with beautiful designs, but if there aren’t creative ideas for implementing and utilizing them, achieving the objectives, and driving results, they’re really useless.
SMC: Well said, Blake! Rob, you’re the final partner at Lava7, serving as CTO. But I hear you’re more commonly referred to as the “code guy.” Explain.
RJ: My partners do call me the “code guy.” As Blake said, creativity is no longer ONLY about messaging and visuals. In this space, it’s about applications, utility, interaction, and experience. I view my role as the technology bridge builder between the three parts of the puzzle: mindset, tools, and creative. Obviously, in the end, the execution of web-based, digital engagement is about pixels and code. But this kind of bridge building is much more comprehensive. Our creative team model is similar to the one used by Edward Boches at Mullen. I work a lot on solving the content distribution and development parts of our projects, making sure that the application of technology not only lines up functionally, but lines up strategically as well. Tying the tools together into smooth, integrated campaigns is critical — and a lot of fun.
SMC: Wow, Rob, you almost make me wish I was a techno-geek! Jack, one last question: Lava7 is actively educating the community on the benefits of social media. But you’ve also developed the curriculum for, and teach, an advertising and social media marketing class at Brigham Young University. What has teaching social media within the university environment taught you?
JH: It’s been an interesting enigma. While I’m not a career educator, my sense is that the wheels in academia turn rather slowly — while the corporate, high-tech business world I’m used to is always on the leading edge. Most communications, advertising, and marketing students across the country are getting very little instruction in universities about social media marketing for business. The students are SO tech-savvy; social media is their world! Yet, they end up in the middle, as much of their curriculum is behind the curve.
This social media marketing class has been a lot of fun because BYU (and in particular Jeff Sheets, the advertising lab director) has given these communications students the opportunity to be on the edge. The projects we do in class give them real-world experience. I’ve found the students’ blog posts on our class network to be very thoughtful and insightful. My guess is that these students will be among the very few who can interview after graduation saying that they truly understand how social media is changing the business world. Most other university students will graduate still thinking Facebook, as just an example, is only for planning weekend parties.
SMC: Lucky students! To wrap up, I’d like a takeaway from each you, please. Complete this sentence: I dig social media marketing because…
MH: …I am a connector and a maven, and it makes being both easier!
JH: …I never have to go to work. I just play all day (at least it feels that way).
RJ: …its power is accessible to anyone, yet so few have found it or know what to do with it.
BH: …it has allowed me to think beyond traditional media and dive into a fascinating level of communication that has opened a new world of creative solutions.
SMC: Thanks much, all — and Mele Kalikimaka!
***Jack Hadley is also cofounder of the Social Media Club of Utah Valley, and founder of Cowork Utah, a social media community workspace providing a collaborative environment for independent designers, bloggers, and programmers.
Sheri Bell-Rehwoldt is a freelance writer, editor, and social media trainer/marketer. Catch her online at www.Bell-Rehwoldt.com, http://www.facebook.com/SheriBellRehwoldt, and http://www.linkedin.com/in/sbrehwoldt
