I'm B.L. Ochman, Sr. Creative Technologist for AFS Intercultural Programs, where I lead a team building a global online and mobile community.

I've helped Fortune 500 companies achieve spectacular results by strategically incorporating emerging media into their marketing mix since 1996.

I contribute to Ad Age Digital Next, Mashable, Business Week and others.

Follow me on Google+ and Twitter.

I am co-founder of the pet lovers' site and blog, Pawfun.com - where you can create and send free photo e-cards of your pets.

Reality Marketing Archives

Three much better ways to spend money than Super Bowl ads
Zappos to hacked customers: we’re here to help! Facebook to hacked customers: Screw you!
Facebook silent as my account and 45,000 others are hacked. 600,000 Facebook logins are compromised daily. What to do if your Facebook account is hacked.
Newt Gingrich punked by ignorance as www.newtgingrich.com becomes a joke – and I bought two more good ones!
Nine very good tools for monitoring your brand in social media
A new and better way to measure Twitter influence
iPhone 4S’ Siri is xenophobic and she can’t sing
What brands can learn from Airbnb’s reputation management disaster
Want more Twitter followers? A Google+ invite? More Facebook Likes? They’re all for sale on eBay.
Down Sparky! Self-proclaimed Google+ experts already multiplying like rabbits
Google’s missing link: customer service. It has none.
Google+ mania: most pundits are missing the real point
How Millenials are transforming the way we shop, work, and play: an interview with youth marketing trendspotter Tina Wells.
gapingvoid advertising advice :>)
What happens online in 60 seconds
Another stupid agency Tweet. Another knee-jerk client reaction.
Disturbing trend: big brands pimping Facebook “Likes”
A Collaborative Campaign & Contest from Stonyfield & Coca-Cola’s Honest Tea has a missing link — to reality
Ethics Crisis Blog is baaack! Confess your ethical transgressions *anonymously* (really) and we’ll vote on how bad you are
What’s Next Blog study: Why are 56% of the Fortune 50 still hiding their social media presence?
Recent Big Brand Social Media Kerfuffles: BFD
Three smart uses of QR Codes. And one really dumb campaign from JetBlue
Review: Guy Kawasaki’s Enchantment – beyond persuasion to changing hearts and minds
Dear CMOs and Bean Counters: please watch this video daily
My one-minute interview with three Facebook reps: will Facebook replace company websites?
Review: Evil Plans by Hugh MacLeod – Buy this Book!
My Social Media Week Presentation on Online Reputation Management
Tweeting the Revolution: How social media is giving Egyptian activists a voice the world can hear
How to have a totally freaking amazing corporate blog
Yowsa! Student Jonathan Bray gets a grade of 100% on his paper based on my article, “In Defense of Social Media”
Object lessons for marketers by remarkable artist Terry Border’s Bent Objects
CVS_Cares on Twitter: one of the Internet’s silliest moves. Perhaps ever.
Dear Verizon & Time-Warner – social media’s got your numbers
Taco Bell tells us where the beef is – does it make you hungry for Taco Bell?
11 important social media and web monitoring tools marketers should know
The only two questions you need to ask when you hire a social media agency or consultant
Yahoo! closing (?) Delicious. How to save your bookmarks. Do it now!
Fortune 50 Mobile Communications: they’ve got it, but they don’t flaunt it
Social CRM – Thank you Ben & Jerry’s: a brand that’s social, for real, (and MediaTemple, for trying)
Facebook Community Pages: corporate reputation nightmares waiting to happen? Claim yours now!
With Olbermann suspension, journalistic objectivity, always an illusion, bites the dust
A Must-See Phenomenal 2-D Mobile Code Campaign for Indie Music
New report on “The State of Mobile Communications” says be mobile or be dust
How to have a totally freaking amazing corporate blog
Old Spice: a brilliant tactic whose strategy (and scent) reeks
Burger King Miracle Bun lands on eBay. Crispin+Porter, I Love You
New Media Marketing: Why Small Boutique Agencies Still Trump Big Ad Agencies
Top 7 Reasons Why Blendtec’s “Will It Blend?” is one of the all-time great viral campaigns. And yes, iPhone 4 blends.
Dispelling Four Top Corporate Myths About Social Media
B.L. Ochman’s Internet Writing Manifesto
Why you can’t make marketing go viral
7 reasons social media won’t work for your company
Dear Zuck: Turnaround is fair play. How do you like it?
Beyond the 3D Internet – a look at what’s next in Interaction
Facebook Privacy Changes – Opportunity or Threat for Brands?
Facebook-Inspired NJ Student Protest Provides a Lesson in the Power of Social Media and the Politics of Now
Some Social Media Search Tools I Like: I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.
Social & Emerging Media Still Suffer from Slide 29 Syndrome
Coke’s Happiness Campaign Just Keeps Getting Better
Nestle’s, Greenpeace, and Facebook fans in (unnecessary) food fight
Dear Delta Airlines: Nothing Else Matters if Your Customer Service Sucks
Hey Old Spice and Time Warner! You were the laughing stock of social media week new york
#socialmedia Tweet Chat #45 – The fear factor: Shift Happens
Thistle Farms: Marketing With Hope, Love & Social Media
Six Reasons Big Companies Aren’t Creative & Six Ways to Foster Creativity
I’m joining Proof Digital Media as a Managing Director and Crowd-sourcing my title
Trendsspotting Report: 2010 Online Marketing Influencers: Trend Predictions in 140 characters
NEW Report! Straight Talk About Social Media: a no-nonsense guide for corporations By B.L. Ochman
SNL iPhone Joke Takes Pot Shot at AT&T Network Woes
The only two questions you need to ask your prospective social media agency
Marketing Personalization for fun and profit – a study in contrast
Recap of PMA 2011 Fast Forward Conference & Ultralight Startups Entrepreneurs Forum: a study in contrasts, pizza & pickles, & my longest post ever
Three Top Reasons Why Social Media is Still a Tough Sell
Top Five Reasons Why Free is a Good Business Model & How We Plan to Use it to Retire Before We’re 90
Study: Dear Ad Agencies: If the creative sucks, nothing else matters
What’s Next Blog Interview: Suzanne Lowe on how to keep corporate silos from impeding success. Just move past them!
Augmented Reality Meets Social Media at Meijer Halloween Site. Will it Blend?
Drew Carey Ups the Ante to $1 Million in Twitter Charity Auction. Take That Cancer! You Jerk!
B.L. Ochman’s Blogger Outreach Manifesto
The Top Six Reasons Companies are Still Scared of Social Media
Home Depot 1999: Forbids Suppliers to Sell Online; 2009: Tweeting For Customer Service
How to prevent cheating in your online contests so you don’t get bitten like the Cutest Dog Competition
A Tale of Two Contests Using Social Media – One Stinks, One’s Cute
Debunking Five Myths About Blog Advertising
“Happy Joel” Levinson Makes a Living Winning Video Contests by Marketing His Entries Better Than Companies Market Their Contests
A What’s Next Blog Social Media Reality Check for CEOs, CFOs, and CMOs
A Social Media Reality Check from the C-Suite
PR People Please Take This Quiz Before Pitching Another Blogger
Starbucks Social Media Monitoring & Community Help It Survive Brand Attack
Brilliant Video from BestBuy CMO Barry Judge: The Future is Digital
How to Pick Your Social Media Guru
Globalization and the Internet Age: what does it all mean?
Lessons from the Amazon and Domino’s Social Media Firestorms
Amazon Silence in the Face of Social Media Firestorm Demonstrates – again – the Need to Monitor Your Brand 24/7
Prickly Porcupine With a Light Touch, and YouTube Save the Day for New York’s Zoos, Aquariums & Botanical Gardens (for now)
E-Commerce Guide Features My Tips for Effective Corporate Use of Twitter
Marketers Need to KISS: Keep it strategic silly!
Forrester: Sponsored Conversation is Here to Stay. Get Over It
Debunking Six Social Media Myths
How to Convert Your TV to Digital – A Reality Check for Marketers
Put Your Pet in the Obama Family Photo – Send It in an E-Card of the New White House Pet
WowOWow Finds Out That Girls Do Want to Have Fun
How to Market Obama Now: Play the Race Card
B2B BtoB: Don’t Worry About the Numbers -I’m Misquoted in a Stealth Interview
How to Make a Video Contest Succeed – or Suck
Is Your Company Missing the Simplest Ways to Promote Your Website?
Does Your Company Have a Social Media Participation Policy? IBM & Sun Do
BusinessWeek Forays Into Social Media Signal Publishing’s Future
Groundswell – Buy it, Read It, Share It!
Press Release Distribution Service Butts Heads With Bloggers
Subway v Quiznos – Nobody Wins in User Generated Content War
Crucial Social Media Marketing Eludes Presidential Candidates
PR People Please Take This Quiz Before Sending Another Pitch or Press Release
Blog Council Says Feedback Schmeedback
Dear NBC – Your Ad on My Blog Stinks: Let’s Fix It
What Marketers Need to Know About Twitter
Stormhoek’s Blue Monster Reserve for Microsoft Arrives on the Cluetrain
My 2007 Marketing Predictions Were Half Right – Thinking About 2008
Kryptonite Lock: You’ve (Ever So Slowly) Come a Long Way Baby!
Is No Comment The Right Response to User Created Campaign Videos?
Hardvard Business Review: We Googled You
The Myth of Not Cultivating Bloggers
Hyundai-Sponsored Comedy Central Site Removes Insensitive Homeless Joke
Starbucks’ Expedition for Change Launches With Gather.com Cross-Promotion
Voting Brouhaha in Karen Quinn Contest Could Become Plot of Her Next Novel
B.L. Ochman & Company Launches Blog Advertising and Creative Agency
Hugh Macleod Proves That Love Really Is All There Is
The Wall Street Journal Still Doesn’t Get Blogging
Author Karen Quinn Offers Prizes To Those Who Spread the Word About Her Online Contest
Twitter: the Latest Addictive Social Media Tool
iVillage Second Life Tour Descends Into Chaos
Forget Press Releases – You Tube Videos Are the Way to Distribute News
Second Life Marketing Chief: Few Metaverse Brands Make Money
Two Ways to Learn More About Second Life
Go Get Elfed
“Hey B.L.: What Do You Actually Do?”
The Value of Canned Ham
Second Life Produces Its First Millionaire
Media Post: Edelman Urged To Overhaul Wal-Mart Flogs
Can Internet Talents Rescue TV Networks From Idiotic Reality Shows?
Resident Uproar Leads to Delay in Second Life Land Prices
Book Publishers Exploring Second Life
Richard Edelman Defends Wal-Mart Flogs
Throw Edelman Out of WOMMA!
Real Life is the Latest Thing in Second Life
Second Life Economy “Larger Than Some Countries”
Doing a Viral Campaign Right Ain’t Cheap, or Easy
Video Contests: Can All These Dogs Hunt?
PSFK Interview with B.L. Ochman
Furor Over New Facebook Features is Ridiculous
BW podcast on personal brand-building ignores blogs – and podcasts
A Perfect Example of How Not To Do PR
Social Media Sites Make Creating Contests Simple and Cheap(er)
Temperature in Second Life: Hot, Hot Hot
Wall St Journal: Exxon Mobil PR Firm Behind “Inconvenient Truth” YouTube Spoof
Mel Gibson DUI YouTube Mashups Abound: Do Studios Care?
Fresh Direct One-Click Recipes Make a Great Site Even Better
Why Pay Attention to Social Media? Because Companies Have No Choice
Mark Green Enlists His 22 Year-Old Son to Produce YouTube Channel
Ford Bold Moves Answers My Critique and Promises to Get Ballsy
BBC to Launch Customer-Created Stations
Cadbury Goes for Total Message Control in Product Recall
Dan Rather to Join Mark Cuban’s HD Net. Eat Your Heart Out CBS. You Blew It.
Dutch World Cup Fans Forced to Watch in Their Underpants; Budweiser Blamed
Promo for Canadian College of English Rocks
Ethics Crisis Blog Nets Top Search Placement In Just a Week
Companies Need to Monitor Foreign Language Blogs — Or Else
My New Blog, Ethics Crisis, Launches Today
Yecch! Folger’s Coffee Made From Sewer Water
Marketers Are Not Having Enough Fun
Chevy Gets the Picture Not!
Chevy Tahoe Contest Ads Prove That Message Control is an Illusion
What’s Next Blog: Reality Marketing and Chocolate
What’s Next: Marketing Reality
What’s Next Blog: Reality Marketing

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B.L.'s flickr photos