Liquid Soul Media CEO Tirrell Whittley and CMO Nick Nelson

Before some of Hollywood’s hits make it to No. 1 at the box office they have to first go through boutique lifestyle marketing agency, Liquid Soul Media (LSM). Founded by CEO Tirrell Whittley and CMO Nick Nelson, the award-winning agency has mastered integrated multicultural marketing campaigns, resulting in approximately 13 No. 1 box office films and over 80 film and television properties, collectively generating over $1 billion in revenue.

The road to such success for LSM is one of transformation as the company began as an online radio destination, before morphing into providing new media services for clients and in 2005 changing course to focus on marketing films. With credits including Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 and Part 2) and upcoming projects such as Dark Knight, the Jackie Robinson biopic, 42 and NBC’s fall line-up, LSM remains one of the most relevant gatekeepers to the multicultural audience. Whittley and Nelson spoke with BlackEnterprise.com about their marketing strategy, fighting to represent the value in markets of color, and why international marketing of African-American films may not be as relevant as you think.

LSM has a very strategic approach to marketing. Please walk us through those steps from A-Z.

Whittley: Internally, we do research to understand the psychographics and sociographics of consumers. It’s about understanding our audience through audience analysis, profiles and strategies. Then, we go into lifestyle segmentation and identify what is it about them to make them care about the product. From there we dig into the associations that audience may have and how they may accept the product and messaging. Finally is the affinity factor: why are they going to like this project? What is the unique selling point? Then it’s about making the conversion and action we want them to take, whether it’s a ticket sale or ratings.

You have the marketing strategy down to a science. However science is not always 100% accurate. So what surprises have you experienced as a result of your strategy that perhaps opened up an audience you may have never thought existed?

Whittley: Sometimes what we bring to the table are audiences that our clients don’t see. With Disney’s The Princess and the Frog, we talked about the father/daughter relationship. The studio recognized it but they think fathers and boys but we convinced them that if you overlook the father you’re not looking at the total family. So we developed a program, which led to a box office hit. We partnered with Ed Gordon’s foundation; Daddy’s Promise and involved 100 Black Men of America to create father/daughter film viewing experiences. That demonstrated that fathers mattered too and here is how you compel them to take part even on a princess film.

Do you feel a responsibility to prove that films with people of color as the leads can hit a general market and not just its niche target?

Nelson: Yes, it is very important. Think Like a Man was mostly Black and it hit wider. So you have to make a film feel bigger and wider. With the Black audience, the biggest piece is investing into that audience. We over index in television watching and going to the movies; we are hungry for content and people that look like us.

Isn’t there an assumption amongst studios that you don’t have to cater to the African American market and that we will automatically come running once we see a person of color in a trailer?

Whittley: It works both ways. We work on a host of general market films and tell the studios because there are no Black or Brown faces doesn’t mean that cross cultural message won’t resonate with diverse audience. With Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows we did their first Africa -American outreach because even in its final installment there was still a fan base they hadn’t spoken to.

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LSM CEO Tirrell Whittley and CMO Nick Nelson

It sounds like it’s still a struggle to convince studios that markets of color are valuable.

Whittley: It’s a daily struggle because there are not a lot of network or film executives that look like us and are advocates. So we engage with the executives to provide inside information, studies and research that confirm the audience is hungry for this information. Even with the successful evidence of films like Think Like a Man, Red Tails, or The Help, they are still hesitant. They are used to the same formula of film and television and many of them are now challenged to step outside the norm. It makes them scared. So we have to provide a level of confidence that this audience wants this content and if you give a proper message you will get returns.

Speaking of The Help, some accused the film of playing into racial stereotypes. What is your strategy when dealing with such sensitive projects?

Nelson: Studios want to know what groups may take offense so that we can be proactive and not be so reactive. We also identify advocates. With The Help, we got advocates early on in the campaign that understood the film and knew that the story was part of history and it was not derogatory. Lastly, we identified people with a passion for the film who helped spread the word and influence others to get them excited. So that momentum overshadows the more controversial aspects of what you’re dealing with.

In a previous BlackEnterprise.com interview with Datari Turner, he noted that African American films don’t do well overseas because there are no systems in place to market them internationally. Do you agree with this view?

Whittley: I think there is a good point there but we focus on the domestic market and can’t state the validity of it. Many domestic films have proven they can generate revenue. When you’re doing films with a $100 million plus budget you absolutely need the international market to deliver a return on investment. Many urban films are below $50 or $20 million and you don’t need an international audience to still see revenue. I do think the next phase of urban films is to figure out the international landscape and how to move films throughout Europe, Africa and Asia because Black culture is very influential from Brazil to Japan.

The Avengers has had major success. Although your company didn’t work on the project what do you think they did right?

Whittley: They built the right scenario by getting out stories independently and pulling all the characters together. It allowed people to connect in multiple ways. By watching Samuel L. Jackson throughout all the films it gives a common thread to know something big was coming. They put together a fantastic roadmap.

Nelson: One thing that was noticeable was the amount of exposure it had in the general market and in targeted spaces in with African Americans and Latino. They were able to get into specific sectors.

What are some of the best ways that you suggest studios utilize social media?

Nelson: The biggest piece is social media. Whether it is Instagram, Facebook or Twitter it is their ability to put together intriguing digital promotions and game assets. In summer months we are not in front of the television, we are on mobile devices. So it is about integrating and coming up with creative ways and different promotions like text to win or trending topics. It is not 1 to 1 it is 1 to 10,000.

(Produced by Janel Martinez; Videography and editing by Brain Food Film)

Glimpse at Tupac Shakur's Platinum League interactive, music trading card (Image: The Platinum League)

As sports fans around the globe remember the release of Babe Ruth’s 1914 rookie card, and the $200,000-plus value it now holds, William Green, CEO of The Platinum League, hopes music fanatics will do the same with the unveiling of The Platinum League’s interactive, music trading cards.

Combining his love and experience for music and sports, Green created the first interactive trading card collection, bringing artists and fans together worldwide. “When we started, we wanted to make sure everybody from every region [was represented],” says Green. “So you had to kinda pick and choose. We wanted to make sure the East was represented; the West; the Midwest; the South.” With hip-hop at the foundation, the interactive executive knew he had to recruit the biggest MCs that best represented this musical expression. “Who bigger on the East coast than Notorious B.I.G., so I shot for the biggest one.” He continues, “I was like, ‘Hey, let’s reach out to the estate and let’s see if we can get [Biggie].’ They loved him, and we were blessed to be able to get him.”

While Christopher Wallace—also known as Biggie Smalls or Notorious B.I.G.—might sit as one of the most acclaimed rappers associated with The Platinum League, Green used his knowledge of the music industry to ensure every region, age group and demographic is represented. The lineup includes artists such as Scarface, Da Brat, 2Pac, Diggy, Snoop Dogg and Trina, among others. And if anyone is confused as to how an interactive card operates, it’s pretty simple.

A pack of The Platinum League trading cards can be purchased at Target, Walmart, Best Buy, Kmart, Toys “R” Us and other local retail stores. Each pack contains five trading cards plus a “sixth man.” Each artist’s card has a QR code on the back, which will need to be entered into the free Platinum League app. Once the code is entered, exclusive videos, freestyles and music, among other assets pop up. And according to Green, the exclusive content associated with the cards operates similar to Twitter—it’s up to each artist to dictate how much or how little content they produce for their fans. “You have some people that will tweet that they ate a ham sandwich today, and then some people won’t do nothing for a month. It’s all them,” says Green. “It’s their TV channel. I’m pretty sure some of them will be very active, and then some of them will [do] a little and then some of them will only change [their content] every three months when they’re required.”

But while The Platinum League hopes the artists’ exclusive content will be the draw for true hip-hop heads, it’s the “sixth man” card that will pull others to experience the interactive cards. In conjunction with the U.S. Sweepstakes, the sixth card in each pack reads, “You Win!”  With every “winning” card, fans will win “ringtones, music downloads, concert tickets, in-person meet-n-greets, backstage passes, $5000 birthday bashes, $300 pairs [of] sneakers, $300 pairs [of] Versace glasses, $1000 cash cards and a grand drawing of a 2012 Chevy Camaro every quarter.”  Ultimately, as the chief executive puts it, “someone’s going to pay $3.78 [to] collect the hottest cards on the planet, of the hottest artist, and win birthday bashes, cash, sneakers…it’s the greatest sweepstakes ever.”

With many artists already on The Platinum League’s lineup, there are many to be announced, and when he’s ready, the league hopes Jay-Z will also come on board.

To purchase your own pack of interactive trading cards, please visit theplatinumleague.com.

(Image: File)

One of the largest initial public offerings in U.S. history is off to a strong start. Facebook shares started trading at $42.05 per share on Friday around 11:30am EST on the Nasdaq Stock Market, an increase from Thursday’s $38 IPO. This brings the social media company’s valuation to $116.6 billion.

Read more at the Wall Street Journal…

(Image: File)

Nowadays, it’s rare you’ll see press outlets or media moguls without a call-to-action message urging loyal clients and prospective business partners to follow them on Twitter. It’s even commonplace to find individual Twitter handles in bylines and presentations, as well as on business cards and conference websites. With more employees merging their personal and professional identities online, it is important for workers to ensure they’re making the right decision when it comes to engaging on social media. You might ask: Why would one want to separate his/her personal and business accounts on Twitter? For starters, if you’re expected to serve as a corporate ambassador using a branded Twitter account, then you might want to consider having an alternate account.

Corporate ambassadors balance representing an organization and their own identity. Like corporate ambassadors, most of the U.S. workforce wears two hats— on one hand, representing a company in some capacity and on the other, managing their personal brand. Corporate Twitter accounts are owned and managed by businesses and corporations. If your job requires you to upkeep a co-branded corporate profile, you have specific obligations, which include posting company-related content to that account.  These accounts can be pure branded or co-branded corporate accounts like @BlackEnterprise, @Dell, @Nike and @RichardatDell. Professional/personal branded Twitter accounts are owned and managed by you. I’d advise anyone who joins the Twitterverse to setup a personal branded account, even if you’re responsible for generating content for a corporate branded Twitter account.

A professional/personal Twitter account is owned and managed by you.  Each person that’s decided to be active on Twitter should have a personal branded account even if you are responsible for generating content for a corporate branded Twitter account. Take a look at @RohitBhargava and @ScottMonty ‘s profiles for strong examples.

With lines being blurred far too many times than people would like to admit, here are 3 reasons corporate and personal Twitter accounts should remain separate:

Establishing your digital footprint is important: “Owning your identity” is a misnomer.  On social networks like Twitter, individuals and companies are renting space. They do not own the social network they are posting content to.  To counter that, you want to secure the vanity—customized URL—to begin establishing your digital footprint.  If your Twitter identity is only linked to a corporate account that you manage, but don’t own, you are building social capital for someone else’s brand, not your own.

Your Twitter account needs to be portable: My recommendation is that you should have your own http://twitter.com/yourname (@yourname) Twitter handle so that your Twitter account is portable, and it will move with you when you change jobs or career paths. Remember:  Change is inevitable.

You want to build your network before you need it: Twitter has a very strong and vibrant business community. It is a great platform to build a geographically diverse network of business connections.

Regardless of whether you’re posting personal or corporate content, you are the same person, so make sure you are consistent and don’t undermine your professional growth or opportunities because of poor judgment. Making personal statements or posting contents after business hours can still impact your job so it is important to silo your personal and corporate content.

Let me know how you manage your corporate and personal presence on Twitter in the comment section.

The Nextbook Premium 8SE doesn't have all the capabilities of a more expensive tablet, but it does give those devices a run for their money (Image: E Fun Inc.)

Are low-cost Android tablets worth your hard-earned dollars? Last year the answer would have been an easy “no” but a new wave of cheap tablets like the $169 Nextbook Premium 8SE is slowly changing the answer from a hard “no” to a firm “maybe.”

Last year $250 would have bought a frustratingly slow Android tablet with a weak processor, an unresponsive resistive touch screen and an old version of the Android operating system (OS) meant for smartphones. The Nextbook Premium 8 SE from E-FUN Inc. comes with Android 4.0 (a.k.a. Ice Cream Sandwich), the newest version of the OS and its eight-inch capacitive touch screen proved responsive and snappy when tested with common tasks.

The medium-powered tablet has a single-core, 1GHz ARM Cortex-A8 processor as opposed to the muscular dual-core processors found in more expensive tablets, but was robust enough to handle processor-intensive games like Angry Birds, which can cause weak tablets to crash.

The Premium 8SE’s 4GB of internal data storage can be expanded by using its microSD card slot, which accepts removable memory cards with capacities of up to 32GB. The sturdy tablet is 0.45 inches thick—not as svelte as some expensive tablets—but is comfortable to hold in the portrait or landscape position.

So what are the compromises of a $169 tablet? At 800 by 600 pixels, the screen doesn’t come close to the sharpness of the screens on more expensive tablets like the $500 Wi-Fi-only 16GB Apple iPad (2048 by 1536 pixels) or the $400 16GB Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 (1280 by 800 pixels). The Nextbook Premium 8SE does, however, support multi-touch gestures like pinch-to-zoom.

When tested, the display proved to be sharp enough for comfortable Web surfing, e-book reading, e-mail management, Angry Birds shooting and other common tasks. Photos had reasonably accurate colors, but don’t expect the smoothness or rich colors of higher-priced tablets.

Click here to read more about this affordable tablet…

The Nextbook Premium 8SE is perfect for students (Image: E Fun Inc.)

Like other low-cost Android tablets, the Premium 8SE can’t connect to Google Play (formerly called the Android Market), the premier online store for Android apps. Instead the unit comes with an app for GetJar, which houses thousands of Android apps, but many popular titles are missing. (Tip: Go to Amazon.com and download the Amazon Android App Store app, which opens the door to even more Android apps, including the Amazon Kindle e-bookstore app.)

Other preinstalled apps include the Barnes & Noble Nook e-bookstore app (Canadian units get Kobo instead), Fring, a video chat and phone service, and Office Suite, an app that lets you open documents saved in popular formats like Microsoft Word and Adobe PDF.

The Premium 8SE has a Wi-Fi adapter and stereo speakers. The tablet comes without Bluetooth capabilities, which means you won’t be able to connect to wireless headsets or speakers. Wired headsets will work fine in its headset jack. The unit has a motion sensor and flips the screen image as you rotate it, but it lacks a GPS receiver, relying instead on Wi-Fi to provide location data. The Premium 8SE’s single front-facing 0.3-megapixel camera is more practical for video chats than for casual snapshots.

So will this tablet work for you? With medium power and acceptable, but substandard graphics, the Premium 8SE is well-suited for a student or family; its low cost makes it a viable choice for vacations or commuting when you don’t want to travel with expensive gear. The tablet will debut in Kmart in June, and arrive at other popular retail outlets  later.

Corvida Raven, founder of SheGeeks.net

• Blog: SheGeeks.net
• Niche: Technology
• Founder: Corvida Raven
• Twitter: @corvida

The self-proclaimed “Oprah of the Web” isn’t giving away luxurious trips to the tropics, free cars, or loads of her all-time “Favorite Things.” Instead, 24-year-old technology blogger Corvida Raven is offering up something far more valuable: a comprehensive look at all-things digital via her award-winning blog, SheGeeks.net.

Just three weeks after launching her blog in 2008, Raven, who has been blogging since the eighth grade, was hit with a series of opportunities that helped solidify her position in the digital space. To date She Geeks has led her to big breaks with Fast Company, General Motors and Intel; freelance writing gigs with ReadWriteWeb and Laptop magazine, among others, and travel opportunities that have taken the Miami, FL native from Austin, TX to as far as Berlin, Germany.

Raven’s keep-it-real approach to tech reviews (yes, if a product is “crappy,” she’ll tell the masses) has earned her various awards, including Best Technology Blog at the 2008 Black Weblog Awards, one of Glamour magazine’s 21 Amazing women in 2011 and recognition as an Influential Women in Tech by Fast Company. As part of Black Blogger Month, BlackEnterprise.com sat down with the rebellious young techie to discuss her brand, why she’s so invested in the younger generation and the importance of STEM education.

I started blogging…

Just for fun. I’ve always loved technology, and blogging was another aspect of technology to explore with amazing niches like Web and graphic design. I also saw it as a way of projecting my voice in communities that I admired on the Web.

The overhead for running my blog is…

Less than $50 a year. They can be very cheap, or free in some cases. Money usually isn’t a problem if you’re looking to start a blog. It’s making the time and keeping up the energy to maintain it that challenges people.

She Geeks stands out because…

I try to make technology easy to understand without dumbing things down; I’d rather pull my readers up. I think my readers are smart whether they know the latest technology or not, and I treat them like that when I write about things.

The biggest mistake I ever made in business was…

Not being more confident in my talents, and the impact I could make. It’s a challenge to accomplish this when the industry you exist in doesn’t reflect you in a way that makes it comfortable to not just be confident but also be yourself. I’ve learned and continue to learn how to not repeat this mistake.

In business, you should never be afraid to…

Be yourself—ever! It’s the worst thing you can possibly do to yourself, and to whatever you’re trying to pursue.

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Raven getting socially active on her iPad

The biggest hurdle I face as a woman in the technology space is…

Being one of a handful of women at a tech event, working on a project, or in an office. There are two things I do in this situation: show up and recommend others that can do the same.

Networking in the digital space is important because…

“It’s not what you know, but who you know.” It’s a quote everyone should be familiar with. My encounter with this quote went more like this: The first day I went to college, a senior student told me, “Your No. 1 goal during your tenure here is to network, network, network. Take names whether you think they can help you now or not.”

I learned the meaning of tenure that day, and I wrote her words in my diary. By the end of my tenure, I learned that networking will get you everywhere in life. It’s a shame that this isn’t taught in schools. Ninety-nine percent of the opportunities I’ve had since college came from networking outside of my existing circles.

None of my success would be possible if not for…

My mom. I may have the talent and skills, but she provided me with the resources and freedom (maybe too much freedom sometimes) to really find my passion as a kid. I didn’t think of things like that as a kid, but I’m blessed and extremely grateful now for the things she did for me.

I could not go a day without…

A laptop and smartphone. They’re not requirements, but they make people, places, and things easy and quick to find and/or access.

Anyone who wants to follow in my footsteps should…

Follow my footsteps by following your own. Find out what you want to do. Write down the necessary steps to do it. Then do it.

No one told me how to get to where I am, nor was it ever my “plan” to be here. I find it to be much more fun to simply see where the rabbit hole goes. No one has to tell you how to get to the next level. Just visualize it and put forth all the effort you can to create what you want.

It’s important for the next generation to be versed in STEM because…

Technology is going to intersect with every part of the next generation’s life and play a major, and currently unknown, role in their future. It’s absolutely imperative that the next generation be versed in STEM in order to survive and thrive in the world they were born into. Their future will be severely limited otherwise.

Next on the horizon for me is…

I’m currently working on placing youth innovators into spaces and opportunities they are normally excluded from; that can lead to success.

I measure success by…

How happy I am about what I’m doing, and how much I’m being challenged when doing it.

Be sure to check out the rest of the digital thought leaders as they’re revealed each day by logging on to BlackEnterprise.com/BlackBloggerMonth.

(Image: Virgin Atlantic)

Frequent fliers no longer have to wait to hop off the plane to make calls. Virgin Atlantic is redefining long-distance calling, allowing customers flying between New York and London to place in-flight calls on their cell phone.

The airline is launching the service later this month with plans to expand this service to ten more routes by the end of 2012, according to TechCrunch. Virgin Atlantic is joining forces with AeroMobile, a subsidiary of Telenor, to bring this service to its Airbus 330 planes. AeroMobile creates “a small, low-powered cell network on the plane and then routes calls from the plane through a satellite network that relays the calls to the ground.”

Customers will still have to turn their phones off during take-off and landing, and since U.S. regulations prohibit cell phone usage on commercial flights, the service won’t be accessible within 250 miles of U.S. airspace.

Calls will cost around the same as an international roaming call, which is around $1.29 per minute and up depending on where you’re calling. Passengers will also be able to send and receive text messages, as well as browse the web using AeroMobile’s GPRS connection.

In a neighborhood where bodegas and fast-food spots are mainstays, the author of New American Table is proud to have assisted in establishing a farmer’s market in his historic community. The movement has gone beyond the confines of the community and spread virally through Samuelsson’s food culture website Food Republic and MarcusSamuelsson.com, as well as his social media platforms. The Harlem resident’s social media footprint is sizzling—his verified Twitter account boasts over 51,000 followers; Facebook fan page has nearly 35,000 likes and he engages with a YouTube audience of 127,340 on MarcusCooksTV.

Samuelsson advises those looking to further their brand via social media to focus on quality, not quantity; in addition, to familiarize themselves with the space. “Know your space. Own that one space and be really, really good at it,” advises the Chopped judge. “The people will come to you. Today it’s not a matter of [the] people who are going to come to you, it’s a matter of how you draw them in.”

The Chopped: All Stars winner is set to draw a crowd, taking the stage at the 2012 Black Enterprise Entrepreneurs Conference + Expo hosted by Nationwide on May 24 at 12:30pm. The exclusive one-on-one conversation with Black Enterprise’s Sonia Alleyne is happening at the Hilton Chicago Hotel in Chicago, IL.

Follow the hashtag #BEEC2012 on Twitter for the latest updates on conference speakers and sessions. Expect innovative sessions, high-powered speakers, and an early peek at the products, trends, and services you’ll need to stay ahead of the curve. To register and find out more, visitwww.blackenterprise.com/ec/