Crayon Did Well

The package that Crayon put together for Panasonic included six really different bloggers with six different perspectives. It was a chance to play with Panasonic gear, to talk with Panasonic officials, and to spend time with the rest of the event as contrast. For instance, I went over to Sony to see what they were doing, to contrast it with what I learned at the Panasonic booth. (I’m sure there’s a bit of difference between me having access to Panasonic and not having access to Sony, but I tried to stay objective.)

Joseph Jaffe and Greg Verdino from Crayon did a great job managing the experience, and keeping everyone educated on both sides. Panasonic CMO Bob Greenberg deserves lots of credit for giving this a shot. I’m going to ask him to come speak at New Marketing Summit in 2009 to tell us more about what he was doing and why.

The Gear

We got three different pieces of equipment. The dSLR camera was the Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1. Of the three, I loved this the most. I felt it took great pictures, had lots of features (the one I liked and used the most was it’s IA feature, “Intelligent Automatic.” It also was a neat jump-step between a point and shoot camera and a full scale dSLR. After using the Nikon D60 for a great duration, I feel this camera makes an interesting “in between” play for people who want more than a point and shoot, but don’t necessarily want to go pro-am. I really really really like this camera. I’m looking forward to using it more, and I’m investing in more glass for it at some point. (The camera types call their lenses glass, I’m told. What do I know?)

They gave me also the Panasonic SDR-SW20S Waterproof Camcorder. This is a “family” camcorder. The coolest part is probably that you can use it underwater, like swimming pool underwater.

It’s meant for a family. It’s compact, easy to use, really indestructible, and hey, you can swim around with it.

As a videoblogger, this might not be the rig for you. The pull out display screen doesn’t turn around far enough for a videoblogger to use it. The buttons aren’t exactly intuitive. I kept wanting to push the screen when prompted, instead of using the pad to the side. I think it’s a good rig, but not an amazing rig.

The last piece might be really good for you. Why? Because I’m going to give this one to you, someone in my community. It was the most expensive rig of the three they gave us. It’s the most advanced. It’s a powerful camcorder. Check out the Panasonic HDC-SD100 . I can’t review it because I never took it out of the box. Instead, check out this review by Steve Garfield.

Watch This Space

I’m going to figure out how to give the HDC-SD100 camcorder away to you. Let me get back to you on it. This is something where Panasonic went out of their way to promote their Living In HD platform, which supports their beliefs that technology should benefit a human’s interests. It was a great project, where Crayon did a great job running a blogger relations campaign. I feel really good about the project.

So, let me figure how to get you into a giveaway where I can send you the HD camcorder? Fair?

Thanks again to Panasonic and to Crayon for this opportunity.

And then you see who’s going on the same tour with you:

• Steve Garfield – friend and video superstar and professor.
• Stacy DeBroff – just hugged her yesterday, and this would be a chance to talk parenting-blogging stuff.
• Melissa Pierce – filmmaker of the moment right now.
• Cliff Ravenscraft – who I’ve met at a few PodCamps now.

You discount the fact that Verdino’s going, as is Joseph Jaffe (Oh, I’m kidding. They’re both fun to have a beverage with, and I think they’re doing some smart work in the space.)

All in all, it’s a chance to go see some cool stuff, to speak at Jeff Pulver’s Social Media Jungle event (and maybe find some new clients), and that’s good enough.

What Panasonic’s Doing

I’m not sure what they’ve got up their sleeve, but here’s what they say I can do while hanging out there at CES as their guest:

• Watch some announcements and see what strikes my fancy.
• Play with their toys, like digital cameras, camcorders, and stuff.
• Be part of a CES Tweet-Up on Thursday night. (EDITED)
• And everything else people do at CES.

I’m not obligated to talk about anything specific, but I’m sure that I’ll kick the tires on their toys, as well as other products while I’m out there. CES is all about the gadgets if you haven’t gone, and while I don’t do a lot of gadget reporting directly here at the site, I use all kinds of things to make media. I will look at it from that perspective, and be able to report back on it.

If you’re going to CES in Las Vegas this coming January 8-11, I’ll be there for the above-mentioned, but also to talk with companies about their social media business strategies for 2009. If you want to have a meeting along those lines, drop a line to kathryn@chrisbrogan.com and let’s try and schedule a quick meeting.

If you’re going and just want to hang out, I’ll be there. Easiest way to get to me, probably, is to send a direct message via Twitter. If we’re friends, I’ll give you my cell for texting at the event.

So, let’s see what fun I can stir up with that above-mentioned crew at CES, thanks to Panasonic and Crayon.

Was that enough disclosure?

There are a few stipulations and things to know about.

• You are a college student with an active .edu email address. You’re on the honor system, so we ask that professors and alumni sit this one out.
• You are an ooVoo user who can provide us with a valid ooVoo ID — it doesn’t matter if you subscribe to the fully loaded Super + Phone package or the free Standard package; in fact, it doesn’t matter if you just signed up today. But you will need to include your valid ooVoo User ID in the body of your email and send an ooVoo friend request to philiprobertson for verification. We promise not to bother you; we just need to make sure you are a subscriber.
• You have a first name, last name and a date of birth. We know you do, but we’ll need to know them to complete the PodCamp registration form — so if you are selected for a scholarship, we’ll need to ask that you share this information with us.
• You let us know you’re interested by emailing us at ooVoo@crayonville.com.

If you want to come to PodCamp Boston3 and you’ve got some EDU to show the ooV’s, read the details here.

See you at PodCamp.