The HD-DVD and Blu Rey DVD format war may be over sooner than many thought. And if it’s not over, those in the Blu Ray camp fame the behind-the-scenes struggle boiling in the HD-DVD camp. Can’t we both just get along and let consumers decide?
Archive for the 'Marketing' Category
I just skimmed Forrester Research’s report “The Connected Agency” from their Interactive Marketing Professional team. This is great stuff I’m going to read again and map out how I feel and where I fit in their scheme of things.
UPDATE: I got a nice call from Forrester this morning (2/11/08). Here is how you can access the full report:
The link we discussed (www.forrester.com/connectedagency) now directs visitors to the main report page, where Forrester clients can log in and download the report, or non-clients can purchase a copy for $279.
As an corporate communications dude, I see how things are changing inside. Silos are coming down. People with skills are connecting with people on different teams to get advice, maximize resources and share learnings.I see agencies and vendors evolving quickly too. They’re racing to capture talented people, participate in key communities (for their industry and for the benefit of their clients) and they’re mastering new tools.There is an healthy pull pulling both corporate communications/marketing and agencies/vendors up to new heights, faster and faster. And along the way more people from both sides are participating online, testing and improving new Web 2.0 tools. We’re also learning a lot and getting better at making sense of data and sharing it quickly, broadly. Those abilities will improve in 2008.One thing I’d like is to start pulling in what Forester pegs to happen in 2013 “the agency is part of the community.” I believe we’re actually seeing “the agency promotes the community” in some cases right now. But I do think Forester has it right here:
* 2008 to 2009: The agency involves the community. Even in 2007, agencies and marketers began to reach out to consumers: Chanel worked with viral agency BuzzParadise to tap select bloggers for participation in special events and to receive insider brand news; Publicis launched a blogger advertising network, with the twist that amateurs create the ads. Agencies need to keep consumers involved consistently and begin to build a specialization in specific target markets or with communities based on the brands with which they are working. Where’s the money? Brands will pay a premium for the high conversion rates that the agency can guarantee based on its community insights.
* 2010 to 2012: The agency promotes the community. Agencies focus dedicated teams on creating direct relationships with tightly defined communities. At shops like Leo Burnett, job titles shift from account manager to community animator. Media fragmentation, communities embodying multiple personas, and niche brands offer a rich opportunity for agencies to compile distinct portfolios of closely knit consumers, uncovered by disparate data sources. Much like a talent or sports agent, the community animator will begin promoting its own communities to compatible brands, rather than the reverse. Agencies will take the place of gatekeeper to those communities, and brands will need to pay to get in. By 2010, brands like BMW will have realized that mass marketing is over and that access to influencers is the way forward.
* 2013 on: The agency is part of the community. Agency staff will draw closer to the communities they interact with and ultimately become part of the community itself. Fast-forward to the future: The successful agency has intimate involvement with community members as an external mouthpiece and internal catalyst. This bond allows the agency team to “age” with its community, brokering relationships with new brands as the community’s needs change. Large groups like JWT will scale by managing a kaleidoscope of different consumer groups, introducing and handing off appropriate brands as communities evolve. Advertisers will consolidate business with agencies that can adeptly accompany brands throughout their life cycle within diverse consumer communities.
|
Even when the theme is as big as language, sometimes it all comes down to one word.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYDwLqHartQ]
Great stuff from Max Kalehoff’s blog Online Spin. The human behavior trend pendulum swings back to Einsteinian inspiration.
1. “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” So why not cultivate imagination? Why not seek it out when screening new hires, or emphasize it in professional development, or cherish it when problem-olving?
2. “A perfection of means, and confusion of aims, seems to be our main problem.” What really are you trying to achieve? How well is your mission defined? Perfection of everything else is meaningless if you and your organization don’t know where you’re headed. This is where leadership begins.
3. “Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.” This is an ideology of humbleness, selflessness and authenticity. Embodying this ideology creates longer-term, competitive advantage. Value to customer is what really matters, not whether you’re successful. You’ll end up successful if you create value.
4. “Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.” In an increasingly quant-driven marketplace, it’s easy to obsess on what you can count and disregard the rest. This paradox contributes to the confusion of aims mentioned above. To be successful, it’s critical to find alternative means of codifying and leveraging the important things you can’t count.
5. “Any fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius — and a lot of courage — to move in the opposite direction.” Perhaps violence is less relevant in most businesses, but size and complexity are major problems. For reasons I can’t explain, marketers too often get obsessed with size and complexity — as if they’re desirable. The fact is they’re the opposite, and they’re offensive jabs at our most precious assets: time and attention. Marketers may not see this, but customers do. Customers delight in simplicity and efficient use of space and time.
6. “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” This is true for internal employee communications, as well as customer communications. Master your subject matter so you can confidently pick the language, concepts and style that communicate with the greatest ease and efficiency.
7. “Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.” Mistakes and losses should actually be rewarded. Fear and low tolerance for mistakes breads stagnant cultures and boring products.
8. “I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.” When you enable passion, you drive focus, cultivate mastery, leverage spontaneity, foster creativity, build intuition and live toward mission. The dots connect, clarity emerges.
9. “Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.” Truth is paramount, but carelessness with what is small is a window into how one may handle anything large. The small stuff matters.
10. “Most people say that is it is the intellect which makes a great scientist. They are wrong: it is character.” Same for marketing and business in general. Need I say more?
I loved the post by my friend Douglas Pollei back in November…the one he called BookStack, where he shared a pile of books he was diving into. By the way, he just did a cool post about how today’s marketers need whole-brain, strategic thinking skills to stay on top of their game.
Here is the pile I got through in 2007. I typically have four books going at one time, so it takes me a while to finish.
From the bottom to the top:
1) Your Inner CEO, Allan Cox (also find him doing great things on Facebook)
This is an inspiring, hands and mind-on book that lets you redefine who you want to be. Allan blends modern psychology and his CEO training experience. He’s really doing a great job connecting with people, getting people involved and showing how to use social media. Bravo!
2) The New Influencers, Paul Gillin
A must read that is quick, filled with mistakes and good things people and companies have done using social media. This book can help many marketers and communications pros get up to speed and off and running with social media.
3) Quantum Leap Thinking, James J. Mapes
I really enjoyed this book. It’s nice to stop and think about how you look at things, how your mind consumes the world. This can help open up perspectives by redefining limits with quick, meaningful leap ahead thinking.
4) We are Smarter than Me, Barry Libert & Jon Spector and Thousands of Contributors
The wisdom of crowds is tightly described in this nifty book. This is one of those huge concepts (like long tale) that are at the core of social media, social networking and how people are communicating better, faster and more openly than ever.
5) The Cluetrain Manifesto, Rick Levine, Christopher Locke, Doc Searls, David Weinberger
Many of my friends read this years ago, but it light me up and made me laugh out loud through several plane rides. Most of all, it got me fired up about getting to what matters by being real and honest. Irreverent. Timeless yet of our times.
6) Blink, Malcolm Gladwell
This is mind boggling. It might be telling us all what we already know, subconsciously…pre-reflexively. Think statics is tough? You actually bust our elementary functions, statics and algebra in a blink of the eye whenever you make a snap judgment or life-saving move.
7) Purple Cow, Seth Godin
I finally got to this book several years after it came out, but its as fresh as a warm latte. Seth is a succint storyteller who took off his rose colored glasses long ago and his truly helping marketing and communications pros cut the crap and focus on doing wonderful things. This is about breaking the status quo. It’s about the need for focusing on smaller, more meaningful audiences with something truly valuable. Cookie cutter won’t cut it for everyone anymore. I read this while visiting small towns in Calabria, southern Italy this winter. I believe that each little town is living what Seth is talking about. Each town is getting back to their heritage, their dialect, their crafts and celebrating their specialty foods and songs. It makes them special, and stand out from other neighboring towns.
Meatball Sundae, Seth Godin (standing, left)
Picked this up in Berkeley at Cody’s Bookstore and it’s yummy. I’m still flipping through it, but this is Seth Godin taking ideamaking to the next level — what not to do, so that you can see how to free yourself to make the right combinations. To use the right combination of traits from the left AND right sides of your brain.
Blogged with Flock
Tags: SethGodin, Malcolm Gladwell, Cluetrain Manifesto, James Mapes, Paul Gillin, Allan Cox, Douglas Pollei
Jennifer Jones’ “Marketing Voices” caught CNET’s Rafe Needleman at the PodTech BlogHaus at CES 2008. Needleman tells how CNET’s doin’ their thing and shares his views on “traditional” versus new media. Jones and Needleman discuss the frustration of journalists who wish many of the bloggers had more academic training and knowledge.
[podtech content=http://media1.podtech.net/media/2008/01/PID_013329/Podtech_MV_CES2008_Rafe_Needleman.flv&postURL=http://www.podtech.net/home/4877/cnets-needleman-on-his-views-of-traditional-versus-new-media&totalTime=502000&breadcrumb=27aa48f693354041b3ee8647c200233c]
Blogging from my blackberry while spending the holidays in Italy. BuzzLogic has been on my wish list for almost six months now. Their approach is something I believe could be built into a foundation for communication efforts. Jennifer Jones gets another great interview for “Marketing Voices.”
[podtech content=http://media1.podtech.net/media/2007/11/PID_013107/Podtech_MarketingVoices_BuzzLogic2007.flv&postURL=http://www.podtech.net/home/4639/conversation-targeting-getting-to-the-heart-of-blogs-and-social-media&totalTime=545000&breadcrumb=ed528631ac4b4b3ebe6aa2f712fe4635]
* Go to where the puck is going
* Marketing do not equal advertising
* Don’t worry about the tactics
* Social graphs of what people are doing online: open approach like Google vs. more walled garden of Facebook
* The mix of experts vs. wild west mentality on blogospher will settle down
* People want a voice and want to be treated with respect
* Anticipate how you’ll be relevant to people’s lives
Here’s a video interview with the great marketing guru Seth Godin sharing great insight as public relations, marketing and advertising find ways to team up more and more for online efforts. He mentions a forthcoming book “Meatball Sunday,” finding the best mix and match to meet relevance. He has a great collection of fun-to-read books and an edgy, thought leading blog.
Thanks to Polli.com for the inspiration.
I’m checking out what people shared about their experience Monday evening at the Social Media Club, Silicon Valley hosted at Intel headquarters. I’ll write up another post this week when I have a little more time to reflect. But first, this…Someone in Facebook described Jeremiah Owyang, strolling up to the podium with think black book in this hand….he looked like a prophet. Aptly put, any which way you think about it…he’s a prophet sparing time, insights, always a helping hand with a finger pointing forward, move ahead, avante!
Jeremiah let’s fly brimstone, bleeding edge wisdom and can zero in on specifics backed by examples or data. Sometimes both. Here’s another helpful list to train our eyes on. Enterprises might watch for these potential ills as more marketers speed to add new tools that help companies and people connect with clients and audiences. The list, followed by Jeremiah’s business “fix.”
* Disparate user experiences to customers and employees
* Information spread off the firewall, some potentially sensitive
* Risk of enterprise 2.0 vendors being acquired by a competitor
* Real time information being spread at the “edges” of the company, where there was one before corporate communications
* Multiple login systems
* Multiple identity systems spread from system to systems
* Systems that may not talk to each other, now or in the future.
* Business program managers that leave the company or position, orphaning any technology deployment deployed at the business level
* Business groups paying for web programs in different locations, different budgets
* Lack of a cohesive web strategy
|
One other cool thing from Jeremiah’s blog was this interesting, but not quite there video. It’s about MediaSnackers. This is a great premise — young people are the new www = getting info and entertainment whenever, wherever and whatever. But JO argues it’s not just young people. There are pleanty of us almost middle aged MediaSnackers. But the point is, are people acknowledging and respecting this short, random media consumption trend? Two-minuteTV on phones, 100MB or 10-minute video file limits on YouTube, mash-ups….but I’d say it’s not quite a mega-trend. But people are consuming and doing more, so where’s the time go/come from? Maybe by building in efficiency into stories we share.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mldqfN7XCOk]
Tom Foremski of PodTech and SiliconValleyWatcher posted a timely video about the challenges of getting your company’s IT department to use or implement social media tools. Timely because Tom will be hosting a similar panel at the Intel Developer Forum, but this panel will feature IT pros, legal experts and bloggers rather than marketing and communications pros — more here.
More people are having these kinds of experiences at work and it’s helping us all learn and actually try new things with some grounded expectations — i.e. getting people to engage and interact rather than clocking the number of hits or downloads.
Before we move to the video, here is a brand new effort by Intel — Open Port, where IT pros and enterprise technology experts/enthusiasts can come and learn, ask questions, vent, meet people and help people understand how to use the latest tech tools for businesses. At first this will seem heavily voiced by Intel propaganda, but most of the stories, studies and information is about things Intel IT pros are learning as they work inside Intel and with IT shops at other companies. I hope this helps break down any walls that are keeping IT pros from running as fast as they’d like to use new technologies that help people do what they want, like and need to do in life. Of course security and risk awareness is important, but these are two issues that IT pros will has out when they gather around together with open minds and share.
Here’s video posted by Tom Foremski.
Josh Hallett and Alex Kim, from Solution Set, talk about building social media platforms within enterprises and the roadblocks that IT departments create. Lots of good advice on overcoming those obstacles. A Silicon Valley Watcher report from a meeting of the Third Thursday club held at Voce Communications, in Palo Alto. Also on TechOne: Larry Magid’s report on Google Docs and Spreadsheets; and Michael Cote talks with William Hurley about commercial open source.
[podtech content=http://media1.podtech.net/media/2007/08/PID_012315/Podtech_JoshThirdSent.flv&postURL=http://www.podtech.net/home/3960/social-media-in-the-enterprise-how-to-deal-with-it-roadblocks &totalTime=627000&breadcrumb=bb70bcf0188f418481981d4ae0b8eabe]
Recent Comments
RSS