Forward Festival Continues to Grow

Posted on August 11, 2016 by Taylor Kennedy

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Aug. 11, 2016

Contact:
Molly Walsh
608-616-0840
molly@forwardfest.org

Forward Festival Continues to Grow

(MADISON, Wis.)—Thousands of entrepreneurs, investors and like-minded professionals are expected to attend the seventh-annual Forward Festival, which has more than 40 events taking place Aug. 18-25 throughout the city, organizers announced today.

“Forward Festival, now with the most events to date, could not thrive without our community’s support of entrepreneurs,” Laura Strong, festival committee member and president of Quintessence Biosciences, said. “That’s why we’ve made the festival as accessible as possible, as all events are open to the public and many are free.”

The festival’s main event is the Forward Technology Conference (Aug. 23), which again is paired with the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce’s neXXpo and Pressure Chamber events. Amy Africa, e-commerce expert, and Jordan Eisenberg, entrepreneur and venture partner, will be the keynote speakers.

Other highlights of the festival include the Black Entrepreneur’s Summit (Aug. 20), the Badger Startup Summit (Aug. 22 featuring Keith Witek from Tesla) and the inaugural Mini-preneurs event (Aug. 20), which aims to inspire children to start thinking of their dream business.

On Wednesday, Aug. 24 UBER is running an event at this year’s Festival as attendees can request a 15-min. ride with an investor to pitch a startup or business idea.

The Forward Festival is sponsored by local companies including American Family Insurance, MG&E, Neider & Boucher, WEDC, The QTI Group, Urban Land Interests, Associated Bank, M3 Insurance, AlphaTech, Isthmus and Ideas that Evoke.

For a detailed listing of events taking place during the Forward Festival, please visit www.forwardfest.org.

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Resulting Media Coverage:

WISC-TV (Aug. 10, 2016): “For the Record: Forward Festival“
InBusiness (Aug. 11, 2016): “Art and technology make not-so-strange bedfellows at Forward Festival“
Isthmus (Aug. 11, 2016): “Tech town square“
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Aug. 12, 2016): “Tesla executive to speak in Madison“
Cap Times (Aug. 16, 2016): “5 Forward Festival events you may want to check out“
Madison Startups (Aug.17, 2016): “2016 Forward Festival Preview“
Wisconsin State Journal (Aug. 17, 2016): “A celebration of startups: Forward Fest kicks off its eight-day run on Thursday“
WKOW (Aug. 18, 2016): “Forward Festival Continues to Grow in Madison“
The Cap Times (Aug. 19, 2016): “Baldwin on Wisconsin Startup Culture: ‘We Don’t Like Coming in Dead Last’ “
Madison Startups (Aug. 23, 2016): “ Polco Wins Pressure Chamber“
Madison Startups (Aug. 23, 2016): “ Tech Conference Speaker Talks E-Commerce“
WISC-TV (Aug. 25, 2016): “Ride Sharing Company Helps Drive Business Opportunities“
The Cap Times (Aug. 26, 2016): “And here’s the pitch: The art of pitching was everywhere at this year’s Forward Fest“
WISC-TV (Aug. 31, 2016): “Last Week’s Forward Festival was an Outstanding Example of Tech Sector’s Impact on Madison“

Presidential campaign social media strategies

Posted on July 26, 2016February 25, 2019 by Taylor Kennedy

If you’re a social media junkie like I am, you’ve noticed the two presidential candidates’ social media strategies couldn’t be more different if they tried.

Recently, after President Obama endorsed Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump tweeted “Obama just endorsed Crooked Hillary. He wants four more years of Obama – but nobody else does!” Within five minutes, Hillary’s social media squad fired off a tweet that has gained more than 630,000 likes and 480,000 retweets, reading “Delete your account @RealDonaldTrump.”

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Pokemon Go and marketing

Posted on July 12, 2016 by Taylor Kennedy

Pokemon Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few days, you’ve heard about Pokemon Go, the overnight social media phenomenon.

Just to put this phenomenon into perspective, according to Similar Web, the app has already been installed on more U.S. Android phones than Tinder and has a higher usage time than Whatsapp, Instagram, Snapchat and Messenger.

The new mobile and augmented reality (AR) game from Niantic Labs and The Pokemon Company uses your phone’s GPS and camera to turn the real world into a massive hunting ground for the iconic creatures. But here’s the interesting part, it also transforms local landmarks and businesses into Pokemon Gyms and PokeStops (in normal speaking terms, places to train your character and collect free accessories) … aka great marketing tactics!

For example, restaurants can lure customers by creating discounts for Pokemon-inspired drink or food options if customers show the game on their phone. This is somewhat similar to marketing tactics employed during the previous craze for location-based apps such as Foursquare and Gowalla.

Another avenue businesses can take is purchasing “lure modules.” These attract Pokemon players to a Pokestop for 30 min. and will affect the area around that stop up to 500 meter radius. If your business is within these boundaries, it may be another opportunity to increase customers.

It didn’t take long before Pokemon hunts started showing up on Facebook. A NY Times article states that an event in San Francisco State University has more than 18,000 people indicating they’re interested in attending.

It’ll be interesting to see how long this trend will last but in the meantime, I think it’s a great way for companies, especially restaurants and retail, to generate business. Before shaking your head with skepticism, download it and give it a try.