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Kendall Allen Rockwell

Member since January 2006Contact Kendall

Today, I drive collective client work through Influence Collective, LLC, advising and supporting media and tech entrepreneurs cooperatively with like-minded independent firms. Working throughout the East Coast, Midwest and abroad in the UK and Germany, primary partnerships and collaborations include WIT Strategy, where I also am Associate Partner -- as well as Broadsheet Communications, Word Play Media, Phaedrus, LBG Public Relations, Off the Record Media and several European firms. My firm proudly supports Special Spectators, HelpUsAdopt.org, Committee to Protect Journalists, TD Foundation globally as well as the Ruth Ellis Center and Reproductive Freedom for All, in Detroit and Michigan. My nearly 30 year path spans print, digital, publisher and agency realms. I first covered emergent media tech in the Bay Area as an independent journalist obsessed with the broadening landscape, rooting myself in the coverage of and then as a builder in the domain where I now advise others. Moving from print to digital as our industry was forming, I helped found Thrive, an early cross-platform play in content/community and AOL/Time Inc. JV. I moved to the agency realm on top leadership posts for USWeb/CKS; Euro RSCG Circle, Havas; and others. After several years building, managing or advising independent agencies or divisions in New York City, I established the independent Influence Collective over 13 years ago. As a highly regarded thought leader in media circles, I was an early voice in the Search Marketing space, as founding team member and original executive at the first SEM agency, Fathom Online, a post bringing me to New York to open the East, later serving as East Coast Director of Client Services for iCrossing. I contribute heavily to the industry, as a past popular editorial contributor to Media Post, AdAge, iMedia Connection and MarketingLand; seated on several influential industry advisory boards; giving back to the industry as trainer, speaker, moderator and panelist. I served the 212NYC Board of Directors for several years, two of them as Vice President, and the Producers Guild of America, in several regional and national leadership roles related to digital. Currently, I am working on compiling and publishing the 50+ chapter Memoirs of my late father, Dale Allen, lifelong newsman and lover of journalism. Watch this space.

Articles by Kendall All articles by Kendall

  • Fools In Raincoats And Twitpic: Irene Coverage As Cartoon  in Online Spin on 08/29/2011

    Whether or not you were on the Eastern seaboard this weekend, you went to bed last night thinking about Irene, what she was or what she could have been, depending on where exactly you live in our region. And, oddly, whether or not you work in digital media, in the aftermath you are reflecting on the place of social media, micro-blogging and photo-sharing, in the coverage of Irene over the past 72 hours.

  • If Mobile Is A Must, What Tactics Should You Use? in Online Spin on 08/22/2011

    You'd be hard-pressed today to find a marketer among us who is not enamored of mobile. But, deploying mobile today is not just an act of love; it's a consumer-driven imperative. This is based on two pronounced trends: consumer mobile adoption is booming, and consumers by default now expect cross-platform programming. So what tactics should you be deploying?

  • Our Love Affair With DR And Earned Media in Online Spin on 08/15/2011

    We often create our own hair-splitting quandaries in this business. When marketing our brands, when servicing clients, and when planning integrated programs, we are constantly running into our own would-be messes by overstating the relative strengths of certain platforms.

  • Regarding So-Called Best Practices in Online Spin on 08/08/2011

    One of the things we are asked to deliver most often to management, clients, panel audiences, is the lauded list of "Best Practices." On conference calls and around tables around the world, all day long, these lists are passively solicited on topics as broad as digital media, or in specific areas: search, social, mobile, video. The implication that once we've provided the list, the job is done, can be discouraging.

  • A Good Problem To Have in Online Spin on 08/01/2011

    How often have we said about one hindrance or another, "That's a good problem to have." Then we may breathe a sigh of relief. We are OK; profitability issues, bloated client base, staff dissonance, boot-strapped tools set, noisy competitive space - all these "problems" be damned. Every so-called problem can be interpreted as a positive -- until you have too many of them at once.

  • Is It Helpful To Be Agnostic In Our Business?  in Online Spin on 07/25/2011

    In the realm of marketing, media and publishing, business relationships now extend way beyond advertiser, agency and publisher, and well into the realm of the "third party." So we may get asked for our blunt opinion on: third-party ad serving solutions; rich-media providers; campaign management systems; bid management systems; campaign optimization solutions; cross-media management and measurement tools; data management platforms; analytics providers; social media buying options; social media monitoring dashboards; tag management whatchama-callits -- the list goes on and on.

  • The Algorithm And The Seller in Online Spin on 07/11/2011

    How does the proliferation of audience buying using real-time bidding (RTB) systems and approaches change the "buy/sell" relationship between humans? What's in all this math stuff for the folks on the front line, historically validating the merits of, and transacting, the ad deal?

  • Video Hits its Stride Before Our Eyes in Online Spin on 06/27/2011

    One of the most exciting, validating stages of emerging media hitting its stride is when a single media sphere becomes an identifiable, robust, sustaining industry unto itself, with options galore. How does this go down? Simply put, a media type -- search, social, mobile -- comes into its own by first becoming a planning and spending category for agencies. Then, it proves itself as a revenue-generating sector within the ad economy -- and is under constant study and manhandling by all of us.

  • Knowing When To Slow Down The Machine  in Online Spin on 06/20/2011

    The most important tension in the industry right now is a subtle, brewing one: the tension that implores us to slow down. I have long supported this "slow down" imperative, and its value generally within all of our business dealings. However, we are not talking about slowing to a crawl. Instead, we should slow down just enough to collaborate properly; make sound, sustainable decisions; and invest shrewdly in systems, people, research, partnerships and placements.

  • Oh There You Are, Rising Stars in Online Spin on 06/13/2011

    Last week at the Interactive Advertising Bureau's Innovation Days and "The Future of Display," CEO Randall Rothenberg called for greater hands-on collaboration between strategy, creative and media -- and thanked big brands for leading the way.

Comments by Kendall All comments by Kendall

  • Wait A Sec: When Did Microsoft Become My Nanny? by Steve Smith (Data and Targeting Insider on 06/01/2012)

    Really great piece. Among other things, you've done a great job of highlighting this camp's contorted view on "choice" -- and what legitimately can count as, or facilitate, consumer choice.

  • Why We Need Mentors -- And What You Can Do About It by Cory Treffiletti (Online Spin on 09/07/2011)

    PS: Here is a link to the Facebook page for this group within 212NYC.org: https://www.facebook.com/212ConnectU

  • Why We Need Mentors -- And What You Can Do About It by Cory Treffiletti (Online Spin on 09/07/2011)

    Cory:Just to add a by-the-way to your great column... If you are in the NYC area and in the industry, 212NYC.org launched a great mentoring club this past year. 212's "ConnectU" pairs mentors and those looking for one -- whether on an agency, publishing, tech or entrepreneurial path. To Kara's point, we are trying to make it easier to start these relationships within the industry. For those interested, let me know -- and I can connect you to the guy who runs the program...

  • Media Mix Is Trivia by Kendall Allen (Online Spin on 04/11/2011)

    Paula -- such sound trade advice. Hooking oneself up the stats IV, and looping around constant digital comparisons all year long... keeps one subsisting in such a fog. Never stepping out and getting just how much real information is right out of sight. Thank you for chiming in on this. (And on the elephants.)

  • The Google Mystique by Kendall Allen (Online Spin on 02/14/2011)

    Craig -- very interesting. The QS is another can of worms entirely. The impact of this is very real -- part of being in the game, unfortunately. Your illustration on numbers sheds good light, though. Do you know which factors led to the low QS? Certain factors are easier to address than others. Thanks for weighing in on this. K

  • No Guru, No Method, No Teacher by Kendall Allen (Online Spin on 01/17/2011)

    Roy, oh, oh, if only! K

  • Twenty Stirring Questions Today by Kendall Allen (Online Spin on 12/20/2010)

    Paula! You are too kind. The bells are off to a good start. First Christmas with my puppy Bruce T. Beauchamp. Wishing you the best, as well. As always, thank you for chiming in on my work.

  • Shame On Me: My IPhone's Made Of Glass by Kendall Allen (Online Spin on 11/08/2010)

    Simon:Fair enough to a point on the warranty issue. Though, I did not purchase the phone for its shiny front and back. I purchased on a continuum upgrade path, under duress on that particular day in an extreme hurry -- never questioning or really caring at all about the shine. Can't imagine why glass would ever be appropriate for something that needs to be durable and outside the home in all kinds of situations all day long. Not the same as a wine glass or fine goblet. To not survive one small fall? And to break so catastrophically? As you say -- the blanket is essentially mandatory. This is a VERY fragile device, much, much more so than its predecessors and peers, statistically and apparently. All of this said, I am now back in town and before I see Manny, I will be venturing to the Genius Bar. Thank you for all the commentary... a cord of passion this Apple hoopla. K

  • No Cry For The Little Guy by Kendall Allen (Online Spin on 10/18/2010)

    FJ:Just a quick response to your thoughtful note. The little guy on Main Street does in fact fit within the lens and scope of this piece. It's certainly somewhat anecdotal -- as this piece is not pegged on stats. Stats, which I know you or I could provide, for a more surveyed look. It is pegged on a somewhat broader definition of Main Street (also a caricature, by the way) and having been heartened by the fairly advanced activities of independent small business people, and my conversations with them, more and more. Matter of degrees. Many thanks for the comments. A more serious piece with numbers is due! K

  • No Cry For The Little Guy by Kendall Allen (Online Spin on 10/18/2010)

    Paula:There is i fact a slice to be had mere footsteps away from my door at Big Nick's Upper West Side. It's not great, but it's near. I have slices plotted by radius from my place all over the city. Have craving, will walk. But, I also have been known to take the subway to Brooklyn for a hotdog at Bark spur of the moment on a Saturday or jump down to St. Mark's for falafel, after I've already eaten. Sort of borderless when it comes to creature comforts. K

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