sitaram asur
HP Labs
Sitaram Asur can predict
the future. His crystal ball:
Twitter, which the HP Labs
researcher taps to forecast
box-office returns. The
algorithm, which he devel-
oped with colleague Ber-
nardo Huberman, predicts
opening-weekend tallies,
with 97.3% accuracy, by
measuring theater counts
and related tweet volume;
then, to discern if a film has
legs, it accounts for the
ratio of positive tweets to
negative ones. It’s all part
of Asur’s larger effort to
find value in social-media
streams. “I don’t just sit in a
lab closed away from the
world,” he says. “I like to be
aware of what’s happening
around me.”
tony hsieh Delivering Happiness
Carol Kruse
ESPN
As ESPN’s new senior VP of
marketing, Carol Kruse is
taking “This Is SportsCen-
ter,” its satiric ad campaign,
beyond TV to include fans’
ideas and online parodies.
She’s also launching a Face-
book game that has users
run a virtual sports bar.
“Marketers like puppies,”
Kruse says of those who
delight in new campaigns,
then drop them. But social
media is like having a dog.
“Every day it’s ‘How do I
engage with my fans?’ ”
sCooter Braun
SB Projects
The credit—or blame—for
plucking Justin Bieber from
You Tube obscurity belongs
to Scooter Braun, the latest
in a long and not-always-
storied line of grown-ups
turning young artists into
pop superstars (paging Joe
Jackson and Lou Pearlman).
Braun was only 20 when he
started promoting parties
that attracted hip-hop’s
biggest names. Now, he
scours video sites to find
unknown talent for whom
he builds an online fan base.
So far, so great: Bieber has
8. 8 million Twitter followers,
and his “Baby” video is You-
Tube’s most-watched clip.
What makes
hsieh happy?
“meeting a
stranger
and really
connecting.”
tony hsieh calls happiness a business
model—and not just because his book,
Delivering Happiness, is a best seller.
“There’s power that comes from
matching corporate values with per-
sonal values,” says the Zappos CEO,
whose fun, fresh employee culture
helped turn the shoe commerce site
into a billion-dollar brand. At the
12-year-old company’s new Las Vegas
HQ, for example, Hsieh plans to host
indie concerts and build small crash
pads—replete with a bed and closet—
that can be rented for $100 a month.
To help other firms follow suit, Hsieh
in March launched a motivational
consultancy, also called Delivering
Happiness, that will advise on com-
pany culture (one tip: source your mis-
sion statement from a scrapbook of
employee testimonials), as well as
offer packaged experiences, such as
pottery classes and helicopter lessons.
