Veronica Skelton, Darlene Gannon, Alan Mulally, Graham McKenna, Vadim Brenner - CES 2011

It’s the first week of the month which usually means we at Concept Communications are busy compiling press coverage reports, calculating expenses and generally reflecting on the past 30 days or so and what we’ve accomplished for our clients in that time.  As it turns out, January 2011 was an epic month for us and our accounts, filled with international trade shows like CES and MIDEM, press conferences and media events, and opportunities for us to meet and/or listen to high level executives in the various industries in which our clients play.

It occurred to me that of all the influential people I’ve had the fortune of encountering over the past month –including celebrities like 50 Cent and the heads of the digital divisions of all the major record labels – it might seem unlikely that the one, very brief moment I had with Alan Mulally, the President and CEO of Ford Motor Company, made the biggest impression on me.

It happened when Darlene and I were at a large media event at CES in an area set aside for Ford and its partners – representing our client Gracenote, a Ford technology partner for years.  We were suddenly told Mr. Mulally may be coming by, and moments later I noticed him out of the corner of my eye.  What immediately struck me was that although he is not a particularly large man, his vivaciousness, his confidence and just his sheer *energy* made him an enormous presence in what was literally a hotel ballroom.

And, when he approached our group and he looked at me, I felt like the only person in a crowd of almost 1,000 people.   He looked me square in the eye, he shook my hand warmly, he asked me questions, he made funny comments – none of which I can remember, but it doesn’t matter because for one minute, I felt significant, I felt special, I felt acknowledged by the leader of one of the most important businesses in the United States.  He asked our group if we wanted a picture and then stood next to us and put his arms out.  At that moment, it felt as though we were posing for a team photograph for the yearbook.  A winning team.  A positive team.  A team that was coming off a phenomenal season and was strong, in shape, and ready to do it all over again.  It made me proud to be associated, if even remotely, with the Ford brand.

How did this happen?  How did this man I’d never met make me feel this way over the course of what can’t have been more than three minutes?  Theodore Roosevelt once said, “People ask the difference between a leader and a boss. . . The leader works in the open, and the boss in covert.”  I think the secret lies in Mr. Mulally’s sincerity.  In his genuine interest in the American people and what they want.  And I thank him for reminding me that in life, not just in business, success lies in one’s ability to make meaningful connections, one person at a time.

LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Consumer Electronics Show (CES) — Jan. 6, 2011 —Gracenote® today announced its connected TV technologies have been adopted by leading home entertainment brands to bring richer and more interactive experiences to consumers, as well as drive new revenue opportunities for display and media device manufacturers and content providers. These technologies will be announced in new products from Sony Electronics Inc. and LG Electronics at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this week.

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LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Consumer Electronics Show (CES) — Jan. 6, 2011 —Gracenote® today announced it has signed an agreement with Paris-based Parrot, a global leader in wireless devices for mobile phones, to provide its digital file recognition and speech-enhancing technologies for Parrot ASTEROID, a new connected car stereo that delivers an unparalleled hands-free user experience for accessing music collections in the car.

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LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Consumer Electronics Show (CES) — January 6, 2011 —What’s in a name? Music fans would say a lot, especially if their favorite artists have more than one and they’ve had trouble finding them in their digital music library. From Bowie to Old Blue Eyes, The Fab Four to The Artist Formerly Known as Prince, artist nicknames have been known to cause problems with all voice recognition systems.

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LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Consumer Electronics Show (CES) — Jan. 6, 2011 —Gracenote® today announced the next generation of its Discover™ music recommendation technology, which will feature the use of sonic attributes such as Mood and Tempo and music descriptors like Genre, Origin, Era and Artist Type, to deliver smarter, more relevant track, artist and album recommendations as well as enable customers to offer personalized, one-touch Music Channels. The technology will allow music services to deliver a personal music experience for consumers when and where they want it, from mobile phones, tablets and media players to the desktop, connected televisions and other home digital entertainment device

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EMERYVILLE, Calif. – Dec. 22, 2010 – Just in time for the holidays, Gravity Mobile, a wholly owned subsidiary of Gracenote®, today announced its popular MusicID® with Lyrics music recognition and discovery app is now available for the Android platform in the U.S. for $2.99.

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EMERYVILLE, Calif. — Oct. 5, 2010 — Gracenote® today announced it will provide entertainment management solutions for next-generation smartphones from Acer, the number-two notebook and PC vendor globally and a recognized trendsetter in computing and mobility. Bringing the power of the desktop to the handset, Gracenote’s new Mobile Client for Android will now allow Acer Stream handset users to easily identify songs, view licensed album cover art and have an overall enhanced mobile digital entertainment experience.

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EMERYVILLE, Calif. — September 9, 2010 — Demonstrating its success and global leadership in the digital media industry, Gracenote® today announced its Global Media Database processed its 200 billionth query and one billionth submission this month. With more than 250 million users in more than 200 countries and territories powering more than 2,000 applications, Gracenote’s digital entertainment solutions have become the essential ingredient for its digital media customers who want to arm consumers with the control needed to take their entertainment experiences to the next level.

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 EMERYVILLE, Calif. – May 10, 2010 – Gravity Mobile today announced its MusicID® iPhone app has been released in 90 countries supporting Japanese, French, German and Spanish languages, and that it has implemented vast speed improvements across the entire app. The company also announced that its app for the U.S. market, MusicID with Lyrics, has swiftly risen through the ranks and is now the leading paid music discovery as well as lyrics app in the U.S. iTunes App Store.

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EMERYVILLE, Calif. – April 7, 2010 – Civolution and Gracenote® announced an expanded long-term agreement by jointly launching and selling Mediahedge, the next generation audio and video content identification platform that enables content filtering, monitoring and monetization for content owners and Web 2.0 service providers.

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