What I Learned from Paul Potts - Roundup

Send to Kindle
June 18, 2007
If you're a regular reader of my blog, you'll know that I've been following the Paul Potts / Britain's Got Talent phenomenon over the course of the last week. It all wrapped up earlier this evening with the final performances and the tallying of the votes.

In a nod to the fact that good things do in fact happen to good people, Paul Potts was selected as the winner. Here's a video recap of the finalists, the decision and Paul's encore performance.



If you're reading this in a feedreader, the video can be found here.

At the risk of getting completely Potted on this blog, I'll wrap up this series by enumerating the lessons that I've learned after watching these videos over the last week:
  1. Assumptions can limit your creative output
  2. It's okay to take risks
  3. Know your audience and connect with them on an emotional level
  4. Exceed expectations
  5. When we're constantly hit over the head with polished, branded, uber-cool ads, campaigns and come-ons, it's refreshing to see a down-to-earth, humble approach. It gets more attention.
I hope you've enjoyed this series as much as I have; I know that original video still stands in my mind as one of the most remarkable I've ever seen. I wish Paul the best in his newfound career. Here's hoping that we can all achieve the same level of success, either personally or professionally.

Labels: , , ,

Posted by Scott Monty at 12:05 AM
 Comments |  LINKS TO THIS POST |




 Comments:

At 6/18/2007 12:48 AM, Anonymous CK said...

Truly this series has made my (weepy) week. There are so many lessons to learn from Paul and lessons that I believe won't long be forgotten...that's what happens when you engage hearts (and minds).

"Precious" is the best word I can use to describe the Paul story. And yup, I'll be buying his albums and iTunes (and nope, I wasn't an opera fan before). That confetti at the end raining all around him was epic.

 
At 6/18/2007 1:19 AM, Anonymous CK said...

...do think it's vital to add one thing when we're talking lessons: a victory like "Paul" can't be manufactured in some marketing lab. Completely and utterly authentic--so the lesson becomes "open your eyes/minds" and look "in other places" for brilliance/brilliant ideas.

 
At 6/18/2007 12:19 PM, Blogger BobG said...

I'm with you on the first video, Scott - still gives me chicken skin. And what great lessons for all of us. His story far exceeds, on an emotional level, anything to come across reality TV land...ever!

Let's hope he gets everything he wishes. I'm curious to see how "sticky" opera singing can become.

 
At 6/19/2007 6:00 PM, Anonymous Laura Athavale Fitton said...

Thanks for 'covering' this Scott, it has been such an amazing story, and I definitely 'heard it here first.'

 
At 6/19/2007 10:47 PM, Anonymous Mark Goren said...

Thanks so much for following this amazing story, Scott. I think it really comes down to one fundamental thing: everyone loves a good story.

People who don't care for opera or ever listen to it will be buying his music based on the story alone.

Great series, Scott. Thanks again.

 
At 6/19/2007 11:54 PM, Blogger Scott said...

It's been my pleasure to share this success story. I hope it inspires others to do the things that bring them satisfaction.

 
At 6/27/2007 12:16 PM, Anonymous kevin green said...

Last time I go away for a week... it's so hard to catch up on everything. This is a great story and thank you for covering it all the way through.

 
blog comments powered by Disqus

Home

About Scott

For hi-res, click here
Ranked by Forbes as one of the top 10 influencers in social media, he has been called "an unstoppable force of nature," "the best corporate social media lead on the planet," and Alan Mulally, the CEO of Ford Motor Company, called him "a visionary."

At Ford, Scott heads up the social media function and holds the title Global Digital & Multimedia Communications Manager. He is a strategic advisor on all social media activities across the company, from blogger relations to marketing support, customer service to internal communications and more, as social media is being integrated into many facets of Ford business.


Prior to joining Ford, Scott served as Consigliere for crayon and spent a number of years with PJA Advertising + Marketing, a boutique BtoB agency specializing in health sciences & high tech.

In addition to his professional responsibilities, Scott is an active blogger and podcaster. He writes about the intersection of advertising, marketing and PR at The Social Media Marketing Blog and also writes The Baker Street Blog and cohosts I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere, two literary undertakings. Scott has been featured in hundreds of news and business publications in print and on the web, in nearly dozens of books, and on a variety of mainstream media, including NBC, NPR, CNN and The Wall Street Journal. Scott is a recognized thought leader in the social media industry and frequently speaks at industry events.

Scott received his Master's in Medical Science from Boston University's School of Medicine concurrently with his MBA from BU's Graduate School of Management. He lives in the greater Detroit area with his wife and two young sons, golfs all too infrequently, and has a hidden talent for voice over work.

Oh, and one last little-known fact: Scott coined the Oxford Dictionary of English-accepted term "tweetup."

You may download a headshot here, courtesy of Rosh Sillars; a PDF version of Scott's bio is here .


Books in which Scott or his work is featured:

Disclosures/Relationships

Scott Monty Bio

Speaking Events

Keynote at Social Media Week NYC

Scott speaks on social media at events, seminars and conferences around the world. His topic generally focuses on corporate use of social media, becoming an online spokesperson, and specifically on the progress that Ford has made in the recent past. If you're interested in booking Scott to speak at your event, please click here to submit a speaking request for Ford-related purposes or email me at speaking [AT] this site's URL (if you know what I mean) to send a general email request.. Scott's bio and headshot can be found in the "About Scott" tab above.



What I like


TOOLS

  Trailfire
  MOO
  CrazyEgg
  ShareThis
  StumbleUpon
  Twitter
  Jott

The Webware 100 for 2008

BLOGS

 

Podcasts

For Immediate Release
HBR IdeaCast
Knowledge@Wharton
Manager Tools
Managing the Gray
Marketing Edge
Marketing Over Coffee
Six Pixels of Separation
TrafCom News Podcast
Online Marketing with RSS Ray

Contact Scott





  Facebook

  Twitter


Who is Scott Monty?

Hi, I'm Scott. I'm the global head of social media for Ford Motor Company. This is my personal blog, where I share my perspectives on social media - the convergence of marketing, advertising and PR on the Web - for marketers, agencies, the enterprise and the individual. This blog contains my personal views. My bio is available here and my headshots can be found here.

Subscribe


BY RSS BY EMAIL







Search

+ 08/01/2005 - 09/01/2005 + 08/01/2006 - 09/01/2006 + 09/01/2006 - 10/01/2006 + 10/01/2006 - 11/01/2006 + 11/01/2006 - 12/01/2006 + 12/01/2006 - 01/01/2007 + 01/01/2007 - 02/01/2007 + 02/01/2007 - 03/01/2007 + 03/01/2007 - 04/01/2007 + 04/01/2007 - 05/01/2007 + 05/01/2007 - 06/01/2007 + 06/01/2007 - 07/01/2007 + 07/01/2007 - 08/01/2007 + 08/01/2007 - 09/01/2007 + 09/01/2007 - 10/01/2007 + 10/01/2007 - 11/01/2007 + 11/01/2007 - 12/01/2007 + 12/01/2007 - 01/01/2008 + 01/01/2008 - 02/01/2008 + 02/01/2008 - 03/01/2008 + 03/01/2008 - 04/01/2008 + 04/01/2008 - 05/01/2008 + 05/01/2008 - 06/01/2008 + 06/01/2008 - 07/01/2008 + 07/01/2008 - 08/01/2008 + 08/01/2008 - 09/01/2008 + 09/01/2008 - 10/01/2008 + 10/01/2008 - 11/01/2008 + 11/01/2008 - 12/01/2008 + 12/01/2008 - 01/01/2009 + 01/01/2009 - 02/01/2009 + 02/01/2009 - 03/01/2009 + 03/01/2009 - 04/01/2009 + 04/01/2009 - 05/01/2009 + 05/01/2009 - 06/01/2009 + 06/01/2009 - 07/01/2009 + 07/01/2009 - 08/01/2009 + 08/01/2009 - 09/01/2009 + 09/01/2009 - 10/01/2009 + 10/01/2009 - 11/01/2009 + 11/01/2009 - 12/01/2009 + 12/01/2009 - 01/01/2010 + 01/01/2010 - 02/01/2010 + 02/01/2010 - 03/01/2010 + 03/01/2010 - 04/01/2010 + 04/01/2010 - 05/01/2010 + 05/01/2010 - 06/01/2010 + 06/01/2010 - 07/01/2010 + 07/01/2010 - 08/01/2010 + 08/01/2010 - 09/01/2010 + 09/01/2010 - 10/01/2010 + 10/01/2010 - 11/01/2010 + 11/01/2010 - 12/01/2010 + 12/01/2010 - 01/01/2011 + 01/01/2011 - 02/01/2011 + 02/01/2011 - 03/01/2011 + 03/01/2011 - 04/01/2011 + 04/01/2011 - 05/01/2011 + 05/01/2011 - 06/01/2011 + 06/01/2011 - 07/01/2011 + 07/01/2011 - 08/01/2011 + 09/01/2011 - 10/01/2011 + 10/01/2011 - 11/01/2011 + 11/01/2011 - 12/01/2011 + 12/01/2011 - 01/01/2012 + 01/01/2012 - 02/01/2012 + 02/01/2012 - 03/01/2012 + 04/01/2012 - 05/01/2012 + 06/01/2012 - 07/01/2012 + 07/01/2012 - 08/01/2012 + 08/01/2012 - 09/01/2012 + 10/01/2012 - 11/01/2012 + 11/01/2012 - 12/01/2012 + 12/01/2012 - 01/01/2013 + 02/01/2013 - 03/01/2013 + 03/01/2013 - 04/01/2013 + 04/01/2013 - 05/01/2013 + 05/01/2013 - 06/01/2013

Sponsors




 





Need Voice Over Help?
I'm Not Just a Pretty Face


Link for sharing: http://bit.ly/MontyDemo



 

Scott's Shared Items


Copyright, etc.


Creative Commons License
The Social Media Marketing Blog by Scott Monty is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.