Lauren Proctor
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Marketing innovation strategist and freelance writer. I create communities with measurable content and engaging social media programming. Also the President of Proctor + Hall.
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- President at Proctor + HallMarketing and Advertising | Greater New York City Area, USSummaryLauren Proctor is a New York City based marketing innovation strategist and freelance writer fascinated with the forces that catalyze communities online. She consults with a select roster of brands in advancing their interactive new media marketing strategy, and was inspired to start her firm Proctor + Hall, while working with L2 Think Tank, Halogen Media Group, Sales Graphics, and The Hybrid Reality Institute.
Lauren's approach to marketing takes into account brand strategy, consumer behavior, transmedia storytelling, behavioral psychology, and digital culture. She studied Digital Marketing Innovation Strategy in New York University's Gallatin MA program and received BA's in English and Journalism after studying at both the University of Oxford and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.Specialties: New media, media theory, advertising, marketing, social media, brand strategy, consumerism, music, digital, community, web presence...Experience- Oct 2011 - PresentPresident / Proctor + HallWe help companies increase revenues and exposure with sound digital strategy, measurable content, and social media marketing.
- 2010 - PresentDigital Marketing/Social Media / Sales Graphics
- Aug 2009 - PresentL2 Think Tank / L2 Think Tank
- Aug 2009 - PresentDirector of Social Media / Law Padilla
- 2009 - PresentResearcher / Hybrid Reality Institute
- May 2011 - Jan 2012Social Publisher / Halogen Media Group
- Aug 2008 - Sept 2010Assistant Softball Coach / Columbia University
- 2007 - 2010Writer / Skope Magazine
Education-
2008 - 2010New York UniversityMA in How Brands Make Meaning in the Modern Media Landscape
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2004 - 2008University of Massachusetts, AmherstBachelor's in English and Journalism, Minor in Spanish
Activities: Four year starter for Top 25 Ranked Division I University of Massachusetts, joined a couple honor's societies, etc. -
2007 - 2007University of OxfordSemester Seminar in English
Additional Information-
Websites:
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Honors:· Four Year Starter at Top 25 Ranked Division I NCAA Softball Team · Two-Time ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American, Division I NCAA Softball (One of 9 Outfielders in the Nation) · Member of Kappa Tau Alpha, Honors Society in Journalism and Mass Communication · 2008 - Nominated for Lowe's Senior CLASS Award (30 NCAA Softball players in nation) · Oxford University Summer Scholarship Recipient · International RainBird Scholar Citizen Award · Three-Time NFCA All-Northeast Region Selection, Division I Softball · Three-Time ESPN The Magazine All-District Selection, Division I Softball · 2008 - University of Massachusetts Female Scholar Athlete of the Year · Eight-Time Member of Atlantic 10 Conference Commissioner’s Honor Roll · Top Ten Record Holder at 30 Year Old, Top 25 Ranked Division I NCAA Softball Team: Career Doubles, Career Average
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Interests:Marketing, eCommerce, Writing, Mobile, Digital Marketing, Social Media, Innovation, Fashion, Art, Luxury
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- May 12, 12
Tumblr announced a one dollar highlighted post feature into the fold of their blogging platform ...
- May 11, 12
If you’re a holdout on the importance of content marketing, perhaps the latest buzz about ...
- Apr 30, 12
Oh what an April it’s been! Social media is going visual, marketers are getting settled ...
- Apr 19, 12
It’s been almost a month since Facebook made the mandatory switch to Timeline for pages ...
- Apr 16, 12
Are you one of the many marketers discouraged by the fact that only 16 percent ...
- Apr 13, 12
Social commerce has earned plenty of buzz lately, so we brought in internet marketer Andras ...
- Apr 11, 12
People can sometimes seem completely unpredictable, but if there’s one thing I know, it’s this: ...
- Apr 10, 12
The following is a guest post from Sam, a contributing writer for the conversion optimization ...
- Apr 07, 12
Ever wonder why your presentation decks put audiences to sleep? Take a few tips from this Slideshare to find the truths on what resonates with your viewers. STEAL THIS PRESENTATION! View more presentations from Jesse Desjardins (@JESSEDEE) Share this on Facebook Digg this! Share this on LinkedIn Share this on del.icio.us Tweet This! Email this [...]
- Apr 03, 12
Excellent read with thought provoking points: The six pillars of understanding the psychology of social ...
- Apr 02, 12
Ever wonder why inbound marketing is exploding? According to a new inforgraphic from Hubspot ...
- Mar 20, 12
After Apple’s record-breaking 3 million iPad weekend it’s hard to believe anyone is thinking about buying another tablet. If you have had your eye on a Windows 8 alternative though, you may have heard about yesterday’s presentation gaffe during the keynote demo of Window 8′s Metro UI. When head of Microsoft’s ERP division, Kirill Tatarinov, [...]
- Mar 07, 12
Anyone familiar with the toils of transferring presentations from one computer from another understands the lure of a cloud-based presentation tool. Virtual storage makes for increased flexibility and fewer sync nightmares, which could be why more than 25 percent of the existing desktop presentation users have extended their presentation management toolbox to include some kind [...]
- Feb 14, 12
It’s an age-old truth that slides jam-packed with information cast audiences off into their own daydreams, but new research from Christof Wecker reveals that slide design means more to presentation retention than anyone previously estimated. As it turns out, slides with too much text create a cognitive overload that destroys presentation recall. This effect is [...]
- Jan 27, 12
The State of the Union Address made waves in the industry again this year with President Obama’s second annual Enhanced presentation. The split-screen presentation above shows how the President used visuals to emphasize key points. We give him credit for refraining from putting every word of his presentation on the screen, and of course his [...]
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Posts
- Oct 13, 10
I was walking through the East Village the other day when a dark sticker triggered a strong memory in me. Someone had decided to slap a One Eyed Doll sticker on a pipe jutting out of a building and the second I saw it I was transported to another place.
I'd written about One Eyed Doll back in 2007 when I was writing my way to some extra college cash with music reviews and feature stories. I talked to Tyrese, interviewed Paramore before they were on anyone's radar, and rubbed elbows with rappers. But there was nothing like the simple pleasure of receiving a CD in the mail.
One Eyed Doll was one of the artists that sent me a CD, and then when I wrote about her she followed up with a handwritten note thanking me along with a short stack of stickers. The same sticker I saw pegged to the pipe just a couple days back.
In honor of the romance of it all, I decided to do a quick search and dig up what I wrote about her three years ago. It's funny the way we change and develop as writers but keep pieces of our voice close and consistent.
You can find the article below:
"One-Eyed Doll is dirty, corrupt, and dangerously sweet. Her dark, humid rock tantalizes heavy metal fans and grants entrance to the mainstream with bustling popular harmonies. Adorned with humungous guitar riffs and Kimberly Freeman's sugared girlish voice, the debut album Hole will send you into a fit of pleasurable desolation.
One-Eyed Doll doesn't hesitate to reveal what's on her mind. Her candied voice praises suicide and Prozac, and sends and ode to needles in a mental hospital. To contrast the disturbed images of desperation, One-Eyed Doll also stands strong for what she believes.
She won't tolerate players, abuse, or hypocritical America. Freeman stands strong against an ex in "Scapegoat." The track is introduced with a plucking guitar progression before drums slide into the background as the track oscillates between slow composure and raging intolerance.
"And I'm not your scapegoat, / And I'm not your punching bag, / And I won't be sorry, / Cause I'm the best thing that you'll never have," Freeman fumes. "Scapegoat" has all the elements of the sweet and anti-authoritarian Avril Lavigne at her best. Only Kimberly Freeman takes on this role naturally, while it seems Avril has to strive to achieve the disaffected image.
The assailing side of One-Eyed Doll attacks listeners with "Suicide Serenade." We become acquainted to this track with the first four notes of the "Star Spangled Banner." Just as a singer might say "see," the guitars scream with fierce anger before coming to a close. Then a pop beat combines with Freeman's sweetest voice to bop a repetition of "Happy, happy, happy, happy, happy, happy America!" The track quickly teeters back to harsh metal and descriptions of people falling to their graves.
"Master" broadcasts the artsy side of Kimberly Freeman's work. The subtle track holds an aura of slow paced surrealism. A sample of laughing and screaming kids quietly decorates the track as the simple track radiates with raw beauty. The quirky side of One-Eyed Monster reveals itself in "Hoochie Mama." Scott Sutton, who appears as a frequent guest throughout Hole, shines on the drums during this track. Sutton slams the percussion while changing tempo and rhythm. Freeman's intelligent and playful lyrics refuse to allow a seedy man to think he has a chance with her.
"You think it should be easy to get in my pants. Well it took me five minutes to put these things on, I can hardly breathe let alone be turned on," Freeman seethes. "And I don't want to hear your new death metal riff," she adds to drive home her disinterest. Disturbing yet wonderfully addictive, One-Eyed Doll proves that Kimberly Freeman is the foul, daring girl that every man wants but won't necessarily get.
The Austin-based artist won't let men control her, and she's certainly not taking anybody's foolishness. One-Eyed Doll would prefer control your emotions with her hook laden tracks, incredible voice, and diverse range."
- Sep 23, 10
And I thought I had it made in luxury, eCommerce, and online communities. This study is a riot. Apparently finding the male volunteers was the most difficult part of their research.
One of my favorite quotes from an accompanying article on the topic:
"Curiously, faster bending and twisting movements of the right knee also seemed to catch the eyes of women. As a potential explanation, the researchers noted that 80 percent of all people are right-footed, so most people "are putting their weight on their left leg and using that leg as an anchor while the right can do more fancy things," Neave suggested. "It is a bit of an odd finding, so we need more studies to see if this feature is replicated."'
The world really is a magical place.
- Sep 22, 10
Phone Wars: Native vs Mobile Apps Deciding whether to allocate your resources into mobile apps or a mobile web experience is one of the toughest questions in mobile today and it has everything to do with Wired's recent The Web is Dead, Long Live the Internet. This is one of the best examinations of the question I've seen in a long time, but I can't help but wonder when we'll have a more definitive answer.
Should We Listen to Futurists or are They Leading Us to the Nerdocalypse? Ray Kurzweil says we'll know the answer to that question by 2045.
QR Codes: Are You Ready for Paper Based Hyperlinks? A solid list of how companies are getting creative and using QR codes to their advantage.On Retargeting: Fix the Conversation An interesting suggestion on how we could take a tip from Facebook in creating more effective and user friendly retargeting strategies. My first reaction was, "Genius, but so difficult." Turns out TellApart implemented a mockup of John Battelle's suggestion with in the week. Amazing.
- Sep 21, 10
I've never been sure whether it was a good thing or not, but I've always read voraciously in some sort of fleeting effort to pack my mind with as much wonder and knowledge as possible. As far back as I can remember it's been like some sort or race against the clock, and I want to maximize every moment.
Until the internet came around reading was a mostly solitary activity, but the rise of link sharing has left me yearning to share a piece of nearly everything I find fascinating or well written. And so in an effort to share (and actually blog more), I've decided to start a reading series.
These posts will include the highlights, the life changers, and the reads that have meant the most to me as of late. So welcome to the reading series and I hope you enjoy.
The image above is a picture of Bethlehem. I found it looking for a display ad and had to find a place to share it.
A Bird App That Adapts on the Fly This app integrates live information feeds so birdwatchers know what they're likely to see in their area at any given time. These are the kinds of apps we will come to expect in the future, and the people who figure out how to retrieve influxes of data intelligently will win.
The Rise and Fall of Quicksand I thoroughly enjoyed this read on culture and quicksand and then (admittedly) watched the finale of True Blood. When one of the characters was getting buried in cement I couldn't help but wonder, "Is this the quicksand of the industrialized world?"
Hotel Boss Taps China's Luxury Market A good read for anyone interested in the China luxury market, but what stuck with me most was the part where The Regent claims that their guests spend a majority of their time in the hotel room's bathroom.
- Jul 27, 10
Booyah's MyTown just started implementing product check ins to its 2.5 million user base, adding a bit of Foursquare-like functionality to their app. Scanning item barcodes earn users points and the potential for real life perks, giving retailers the ability to track consumer patterns, geo-local info and more.
TheNextWeb praised the value of this kind of data, but said that MyTown will both suffer and reap the rewards of needing to stay tied to physical location. As it stands, app owners need to actually scan the barcodes on the products they want to track, meaning they have to be standing in an actual store to check in. This plays into the geo-location trend well, but if I were MyTown I would be looking beyond the strings of physicality.
I will admit I have never played MyTown's Monopoly like game and so I don't know the gameplay implications of adding virtual checkins, but let's put gameplay aside for the sake of spelling out the huge e-commerce opportunity here:
Imagine if product check ins could also take place online. Any participating retailer could add something like a QR code badge to their online product pages so that users could check in with online retailers as well as in physical stores. Retailers could gather a more complete data set for where consumers are discovering and lusting after products and with every online partnership MyTown gains increased visibility.
At first people would see the badge on product pages and wonder, possibly downloading the app and jumping on board. Then, if the app delivers on its promises, people get hooked, more retailers join the bandwagon, and virtual MyTown badges become the e-commerce version of Facebook's Like buttons on the web. Looks like MyTown could be poised to Run This Town Tonight.
- Jun 18, 10We just released our China Report at L2 Think Tank and it is by far my favorite L2 report to date. As the largest and most robust study of its kind, this research brings to light the importance of China as an emerging market.Although much of the study is focused on ranking the digital competence of 100 prestige brands into five categories based on more than 100 quantitative and qualitative data points, there is also "The Ten Commandments of Commerce in China" from the Dean of George Washington's Business School and other crucial takeaways.Perhaps most important, the results speak to a much bigger story of international significance.Below you will find some data points parsed from the study and particular reasons why establishing a digital presence in China is so important for brands of the future:
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China has 384 mm people on the internet, more than the US and Japan combined.
- In 3 years that number explodes to 840 mm, more than the US, Japan and Europe combined. (Mature markets will only experience modest growth.)
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In China, 80% of luxury consumers are under the age of 40.
- 30% are under age 40 in the US and Japan's market under 40 is 18%
- Similar to the path telephony took in India (skipping landline), commerce in luxury may skip traditional theater retail in tier one cities and meet consumers' appetites online.
- A growing market coupled with a more digitally native (i.e., younger) consumer translates to a revenue line whose growth will eclipse any other growth market for prestige. In sum, online commerce in China represent the greatest opportunity in a generation for luxury brands. However, many are missing the boat. While 80% of brands surveyed offer a Chinese language site, only 10% are selling online. We (L2) work w/some of these e-commerce enabled brands, and they are enjoying quadruple digit (yoy) revenue growth in China.
Feel free to download the PDF directly from this link. We at L2 would love to hear what you think. -
China has 384 mm people on the internet, more than the US and Japan combined.
- May 26, 10
Dear Time Inc, Hearst, Conde Nast, Here Media, Meredith, and all the rest of the magazine publishers moving to the iPad,
I get almost a dozen magazines delivered to my door and read almost every issue cover to cover, coveting old issues until I have time to go back to them. Conde Nast, Time Inc, Here Media Inc, I am your ideal customer, your fanatic, and the person who said that no matter how thin the issues get and how much the media world suffered, I would always find a way to get my New York and New Yorker on Mondays, as well as another magazine almost every other day of the week. I'm one of the magazine readers that boosts "the average time a person spends with a magazine is 45 minutes" statistic (as well as a bevy of other statistics). I take all your surveys, I renew on time, I talk about your finest articles, and I feel cheated.
Time, Wired, and a few others who have moved to the iPad, you are leaving your subscribers out of your media revolution. Wired Magazine's June issue has reached the iPad for $4.99 and after they had to go back to the drawing boards because of Flash incompatibility issues, I'm dying to know what it looks like. Not only because I'm a Wired fanatic, but because I care about the future of publishing and want to know what at least a part of the future is becoming.
I do not though, believe that I should have to subscribe to the print version of the magazine and then buy every issue from the app store at newsstand prices. I understand that the app needs to make money and we're trying to teach people that good journalism is not free. These are important points, but did you completely forget your loyal subscribers when you moved to the iPad? What happened to acknowledging and rewarding the customer who has paid to be a part of your brand for years?
Maybe I'm out of line. Maybe I should have to pay full price for every version of the magazine that I read but I won't. In my ideal world, when I got my iPad I imagined having the flexibility of a tangible magazine first thing in the morning and last at night, with the portability of access to the same words on my iPad on the go. I imagined that I would be able to enjoy your media property as a full brand experience that just gets better as technology advances.
But now I must choose.
Instead of having me on both sides, reading the magazine like I have for years and then showing off the crisp reading experience of Wired on the iPad to everyone I ever see, I'm frustrated. I'm your loyal fan, your influencer, the customer who will spread word of mouth recommendations to people who trust me, and you just lost me a little bit.
There's still a chance to change. Email your subscribers a promo code for a certain number of free issues on the iPad, give us a loyal customer benefit for digital/iPad access the magazines we happily pay for in print. Use us to bolster your app download numbers, let us spread your enthusiasm and help you through this tough time. Give us that 360 degree brand experience and value us the way it felt like you did for years. I'm telling you, you'll keep us forever.
Choose to ignore us though, and you'll force us to choose. And if it gets to that point we'll both be losing something important.
Signing off with a hopeful Always,
Lauren Proctor
- May 18, 10via mashable.com
NYPL contacted Improv Everywhere to draw attention to their budget cut plight and the troop responded by recreating the intro to Ghostbusters in the Rose Main Reading Room. Tourists were more taken by the scene than locals (big surprise), but what's most amazing to me is the fact that an old world standby like the vanguard library system would experiment with the newest of the new in marketing messaging strategy...viral video.
- May 17, 10via fora.tv
A great video on the future of online and mobile culture along with five year forecasts for YouTube and Facebook. This hour long video may take an hour to watch, but it's well worth the time as it hits on everything from Flash to privacy.
- May 12, 10via youtube.com
Amy Jo Kim reviews the psychology and system thinking behind game design.
Imagine a world where we applied these principles to our real lives in ways that allow us to thrive in everyday workplace activities.
- May 03, 10
Gen Y spending is poised to eclipse that of Boomers by 2017 and this generation is about to move into its prime spending years. L2 saw this and decided to delve further. The result is our Gen Y Prestige Brand Ranking, a survey of 450 Gen Y high-earners from 45 countries (83 percent are expected to make more than $100k+/year in the short term). As the most robust study of its kind, this ranking reveals what L2 founder Scott Galloway calls the the closest thing to a crystal ball in measuring the future success of luxury brands. It's also a grander statement on retail and consumption as a whole.In addition to the above photo gallery with my favorite charts from the study, you may also enjoy a few of these statistics about Gen Y.
- 65% of females and 61% of males consider themselves "brand conscious." Only 1% of females and 3% of males do not consider themselves brand conscious.
- Print is not dead. Print continues to be a primary source for information on prestige brands. It is the #1 source for women and #2 for men. Recommendations from family and friends via word of mouth are also crucial, ranking #1 for men and #2 for women.
- One in five Gen Y respondents like a prestige brand on Facebook and one in ten follow a prestige brand on Twitter. Almost half have signed up to receive email from a prestige brand and alomst one in five Gen Y's consider blogs to be one of their top three sources for information on prestige brands.
Click here to download the report in full.
- May 03, 10via psfk.com
Brilliant ideas for moving the world forward with creative technologies. This is technology bringing people together.
- Apr 20, 10
This is brilliant. And totally and completely my theme song for life.
- Apr 19, 10via theselby.com
Scribblings from the genius of Cindy Gallop, from The Selby.
- Apr 14, 10
- Apr 05, 10Despite the divided love you/hate you camps on the iPad, sales figures have been nothing but robust. Apple sold an estimated 300,000 iPads in one day with total weekend estimates at about 700,000. That beats first weekend sales projections by a landslide, but what's most interesting to me is the fact that Apple limited sales of the iPhone to 270,000 in its debut weekend in 2007.I can't help but wonder why Apple chose to let their stock supply meet demand in this case but not in the case of the iPhone. Is it because they wanted to pump out as many iPads as possible, hoping to convince the world (and the hate the iPad camp) that the device would soon reach ubiquity? Or maybe they underestimated the initial demand for iPhones but got this estimated sales number correct? Whatever the case, I'd like to know how many iPads Apple thought they would sell debut weekend and hear more about their numbers strategy on the release of both units. Considering Apple's secrecy I suppose we'll never know.
