Keynote Speaker, Marketing Technologist, Columnist, Futurist, Smart Ass

Posts by Travis Wright

Why Weird Al is the King of Content & Social Media

July 17, 2014 3 Comments Written by Travis Wright

When people ask, “Who are your favorite bands of all-time?” to people from my generation, you hear the usual suspects… The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Johnny Cash, The Beastie Boys, Mötley Crüe, and Pearl Jam. Those are a few that I rattle off… and I typically forget Weird Al Yankovic. After hearing his latest album tonight and seeing how he continues to weave in relevant content pertaining to today’s trends is nothing short of amazing, I’ve recognized that he has an amazing way to stay relevant with his content.

I’m completely in awe in how he has launched his 14th studio album this week, Mandatory Fun, and has launched a video each day of this week, so far. And he is busting out 8 videos total in 8 days? That’s amazing! He is a content creation machine!

The social media buzz around Weird Al is exploding this week. According to the data that I pulled from BuzzSumo, Yankovic has had 1,605 articles written about him THIS WEEK. (This article is #1606)

Those 1605 articles, so far, have generated 1,605,689 shares. Shares. Not visitors, clicks or traffic. Shares. Weird Al owns social media this week. READ MORE »

Business, Comedy, Marketing

How to Explain Big Data to a Five-Year-Old

June 30, 2014 Leave a Comment Written by Travis Wright

One of the biggest buzzwords ever, it seems, is “Big Data”. But what EXACTLY is big data? It might seem a little condescending, but for those who aren’t in the industry, explaining big data requires some “dumbing down.” If you’re in the position to explain this to someone with zero experience in it, who isn’t tech savvy, or who comes from an entirely different field, leave the jargon out and instead focus on explanations and similes they’ll understand.

A perfect example is when the CEO asks for a quick rundown—and her background is in corporate leadership, she uses an old smartphone, and simply isn’t on the same page as you. Don’t get frustrated. This is your time to shine. READ MORE »

Business, Marketing, Technology

Big Props to @Facebook, a @McDonalds Employee and @United Airlines

May 6, 2014 Leave a Comment Written by Travis Wright

Screenshot 2014-05-06 01.50.59Most of the time, people will use social media to bitch about something or some brand online. Rarely will people take the time to write a blog post PRAISING a company.

Hold your breath, folks, I’m about to do just that. The Facebook F8 Conference was amazing.  A McDonald’s employee went OUT OF HER WAY for me in a big way on Sunday. And United made me breathe a sigh of relief, I’ll tell you why.
READ MORE »

Business, Life, Marketing

Just Another Kansas Storm. No Big Deal. [HDR Photo Gallery]

April 13, 2014 Leave a Comment Written by Travis Wright

20140413_145407_1Drove to Topeka, KS this morning, as my daughter’s cheerleading team was a finalist in the US Cheerleading National Finals!  Out of all of the 8 year old cheerleading teams in the US, my daughter’s team placed fifth.  I never thought my daughter would be a cheerleader, but after she expressed interest, we figured it would be infinitely better than sitting on the couch all the time.  So far, she’s loved it.  

On the way home, we were treated to a nice Kansas storm.

Life, Photography

Lessons from my First Tech Startup Failure, Ten Years Ago.

April 10, 2014 2 Comments Written by Travis Wright

Screen Shot 2014-04-10 at 3.36.46 AMMy first tech startup, MethodLaboratories was a big web project that started with an idea from my good friend, Jonathan Shaun.

Methodlabs was where we featured artists, musicians, filmmakers, designers, and other creatives, gave them free webspace, showcased their work and even created t-shirts for the artists and designers that submitted their work.

To make the project a reality, I learned and mastered HTML, CSS & Javascript, as well as designing the whole project.

We also brought in the talented Alexander Petrides, who helped do all of the tough, custom modifications on the code.  He actually built the Dropbox-like feature, and helped customize our user profiles system and many other things.  Together, we grew the concept into a large web property with tens of thousands of members.

In many ways, we were a bit ahead of our time:  READ MORE »

Business, Life, Marketing, Technology

Twitter Needs a Second Screen Filter Feature Similar to Google+ Circles

April 8, 2014 Leave a Comment Written by Travis Wright

Twitter_nyse--621x414I tweet a lot.  And I tweet about many different topics.  Many of my followers don’t give a flying shit about many of the topics that I’d otherwise like to talk about.

You can segment people with lists, so that can filter their broadcasts, however, you can’t select an audience to deliver certain tweets to, outside of a hashtag.  I propose they fix this, as it’s in their best interest for advertising targeting.

For instance, I live in Kansas City and have always loved watching the Kansas City Royals. Let’s say I’m watching the Royals game and I want to tweet about it… There is a browser with Twitter open at the ready, my mobile phone is right here, also… and I have a browser open of the Royals playing. READ MORE »

Business, Life, Marketing

Transformation from 24 Hour Fatness to Fitness – Lose 100 pounds in 12 Months.

April 5, 2014 Leave a Comment Written by Travis Wright

Growing up, I was a bit of a chubby lad. But, once I discovered the ladies, I figured that I’d better get into good shape… so near the end of my junior year of high school, through the summer into my senior year, I dropped a lot of pounds with discipline and hard work. I became a very fit 180 lbs young man.

24HourFatnessI was successful in keeping the weight off for several years. Then, I got started working in the tech industry, sitting on my ass daily, got married… and BOOM the pounds came on in a fury. Over the next 15 years, I bet I’ve put on and lost over 400 pounds. I’d gain 25lbs, I’d lose 15. I’d gain 20 more, and then I’d lose 10. Then I’d go on a Mountain Dew addiction binge, and gain another 25 lbs… until now, where I’m near 300lbs. THREE. HUNDRED. POUNDS. That’s like five or six 3rd graders. READ MORE »

Comedy, Life

Meanwhile in Colorado… the Prohibition on Hemp Ends.

January 1, 2014 6 Comments Written by Travis Wright

meanwhile-in-coloradoToday is an interesting day.  Finally, a state in the United States of America is allowing the legal sales of marijuana and marijuana products. Many are discussing the merits of whether or not we should be able to smoke it.  I want to point out something far more significant and a far greater opportunity than the business of getting high. I’m talking about hemp.

When you say marijuana, I always flip the switch back to hemp. Marijuana is actually the spanish word for hemp. The only difference is that the flower bud of the hemp plant happens to be smokeable. The rest of the hemp plant is way more important than the smokeable flower, however.

The real reason that hemp/marijuana was made illegal is because you can make paper, plastic, fuel, clothes, medicine and food from it. So naturally, it threatened the paper industry, the oil industry, the plastic industry, the alcohol industry, the pharmaceutical industry and others. Those industries all happen to have some pretty strong lobbyist groups. Especially back in the 1930s.
READ MORE »

Life

Why I will no longer fly @USAirways and why Corporate Greed Sucks.

October 5, 2013 3 Comments Written by Travis Wright

68666I fly so much. This year alone, I’ve flown over 50,000 miles and I’m closing on 100,000 miles.  Most of the flights are booked by other people on my behalf for clients, and quite frankly, I can’t stand most of the people in the travel industry, namely TSA and the “America Patdowns” I get with each flight. [I opt out of the radioactive scanners]  Needless to say, I don’t always double check the itineraries in time… and that bit me in the ass this evening.

I fly out tomorrow from San Francisco to Phoenix and I thought I had an 11 hour layover… this was intentional.  What you say?  An 11 hour INTENTIONAL layover?  Yeah.

One of my good friends disappeared in 2006, he went homeless and unaccounted for. Last June, they found him face down in the Arizona desert, with vultures flying over his head, almost dead.  He had been in a flight with spinal meningitis, unbeknownst to him… and then he got Death Valley Fever.  He was 130lbs, and was comatose for almost 100 days.

READ MORE »

Business, Life

30 Day Vegan Challenge: Be a Vegan for 30 Days

July 14, 2013 1 Comment Written by Travis Wright

vegan-30-daysInspired by Matt Cutts and his 30 Days Challenge TED Talk, I decided to go on a 30 day adventure as a vegan for 30 days.

Those of you who know my typical diet would think that I will certainly fail. However, for the past 9 days, I’ve been 100% vegan and as of this morning, I’m down 10.2lbs. So, it seems reasonable that I could drop 30 pounds in 30 days, which is my goal.

Actually, I’m more eating like a “Veganazi”. Because, I’ve had no meat or dairy… but, I’ve also had no soda, no sweets or any processed foods. I’m doing it to retrain my body and flush the cholesterol out of my system… and to drop some lbs.

Eating vegan for 30 days is more of a discipline mindset and taking control over food, instead of the other way around. I’m not doing it because I think animals should not be eaten. I love animals. They are delicious… especially bacon! But, I work at a computer desk all day, so I had to stop mindlessly “fog eating” and “storm eating”.
READ MORE »

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@teedubya

Travis Wright is a Venture Catalyst, Public Speaker, Digital Disrupter, Marketing Provocateur, Stand Up Comedian, Tech Blogger & Brand Awesomeizer.

This Travis Wright guy shares marketing resources, industry analysis, interwebs strategery & random hilarity along w/ occasional sport or political rants. If you can stand his jokes and want his opinion on something, feel free to connect with him.

email: tw [at] traviswright [dot] com

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