A fascinating conversation with Ryan Schram, Vice President of Business Development – North America at ePrize, a global interactive promotion agency. ePrize blends breakthrough creativity with cutting-edge technology to help their clients effectively drive customer acquisition and retention.

Ryan introduces us to the 21st century lexicon of marketing and promotions. He defines “word of mouse”, handraisers, sneezers and talks about how ePrize has generated buzz and business for the likes of Coca-Cola, General Motors, Visa, The Gap, adidas, United Airlines, Proctor & Gamble, Yahoo! and ebay.

We learn how Ryan, at 25, became a top executive in a cutting edge technology company, how MSU impacted his career and get some valuable gems of wisdom on how to keep your career fresh, fun and on track.

Hosted by Bill Castanier, Gary Reid, Jeff Smith and Scott Westerman

Ryan’s reading list:
All Marketers Are Liars – Seth Godin
Life After the 30-Second Spot – Joseph Jaffe
Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation – Lynne Truss

Hear the Show 50 Minutes 28mb mp3

Bill Castanier and Scott Westerman discuss the non-traditional media that sprang up in the wake of the Katrina disaster. With power still out in the Big Easy, DirectNIC was one ISP that managed to keep the lights on. Their blog documenting the experience is a fascinating read. IRC fans can monitor the search and rescue activities at irc.freenode.net in #interdictor-scanner. Listeners are transcribing scanner traffic there real time. There is also a long list of servers that are broadcasting police and rescue scanner audio. If you’re looking for local coverage, WWL TV has a live web stream of their broadcast feed. Another thing that makes the Internet great: Locals have set up a Wiki filled with web resourses relating to Katrina’s aftermath. For those interested in what’s going on inside the Astrodome, Jacob Applebaum’s blog tells the tale.

Television news coverage included some memorable moments. Heartbreak on Meet the Press, Fox News frustration, a stunning chopper tour on This Week, and two clips that question our government’s response, here , here and here.

Hear the Show 30 Minutes 15mb mp3