Pioneers of Digital

Book excerpt: Pioneers of Digital showcases the stories behind key people who have fundamentally influenced the way advertising, marketing, search and social media have evolved during the internet era. Springer and Carson have tracked down and documented behind-the-scenes insight, decisions and opinions that inspired digital phenomena such as Virtual Reality, Dove's "Real Beauty" campaign, Obama's 2008 presidential campaign, celebrity take-up of Twitter and Artists Without a Label, a free digital music distribution service for independent artists. The 20 digital entrepreneurs profiled span the globe; some performed their ground-breaking work in environments like Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Victors & Spoils, OgilvyOne, R/GA, AKQA, Sapient Nitro and Apple, while others performed digital miracles all on their own. Together these stories expose the secrets of success from pioneers that everyone can learn from. Packed full of unique insight, Pioneers of Digital provides advice and inspiration for readers interested in twenty-first century commercial online thinking. More at www.PioneersOfDigital.com The pioneers: Thomas Gensemer MyBO and Obama's 2008 Presidential Campaign June Cohen Hotwired and TED.com Denzyl Feigelson iTunes Advisor and Artists Without A Label Vanessa Fox Google and Nine By Blue Gurbaksh Chahal ClickAgents and BlueLithium Jaron Lanier Virtual reality and Microsoft Research Angel Chen OgilvyOne China John Winsor Victors & Spoils Danny Sullivan Search Engine Land Alex Bogusky, Bob Cianfrone Burger King's Subservient Chicken Avinash Kaushik Digital marketing evangelist, Google Carolyn Everson MTV Networks and Facebook Malcolm Poynton Dove Campaign for Real Beauty Qi Lu Yahoo!, Microsoft and Bing Ajaz Ahmed AKQA Martha Lane Fox Lastminute.com and the UK government's digital champion Kyle MacDonald One Red Paperclip Jess Greenwood Contagious Magazine and R/GA Zhang Minhui Sohu.com.cn Stephen Fry