New Persuasion

Creative Ideas for Advertising

Gareth Kay over at Brand New pointed me to this article from Campaign magazine about how today's advertising folk are missing the point on new ideas:

As Mother's Dylan Williams puts it: "Most of the stuff that inhabits popular culture starts from audience response and works back to an idea. We in advertising tend to start with our message and work outward. We are spending too much time on what we want to say, rather than what people want to hear. Maybe we should flip the traditional planning process. From message-out planning to audience-back strategy. Dispense with propositions and focus on more thoroughly understanding what people are into. Spielberg said he wanted to make everyone in a cinema feel joy. Then worked back to ET. What would we make if our development process worked this way around?"

The Chairman of Fallon London, Laurence Green, wrote the article.  He thinks that even when advertising is not for the Internet, it should be conceived as if it were:

And even when there is no strategic or executional online element to our
campaigns, we can still benefit from "thinking digital". Most simply by
asking: how can the consumer - or other parties - interact with, engage
with, or use our idea? Have we invited participation somehow, even if
our invite goes unanswered?

Advertising should start with the customer - not the product. 

Free - A Rising Business Model

A couple years ago, I wrote about free.  And now that I'm finally catching up with my daily blog reading, I find that Chris Anderson of The Long Tail, is writing a book about free.  He's delving into the economics of free and how it can work in many different industries.  One quote - from an old Financial Times article - caught my eye:

"Never in history has so much innovation been offered to so many for so little. The world’s most exciting businesses – technology, transport, media, medicine and finance – are increasingly defined by the word “free”. Whereas WalMart, the world’s largest retailer, promises “everyday low prices”, entrepreneurs and ultra-competitive incumbents develop business models predicated on providing more for free. It is a difficult proposition to beat."

It is hard to beat free.  It's become part of our changing expectations.  We expect things to be free - especially when it comes to the Internet. 

Want to Know about the Fish You're eating? Ask the U.S. Government

When I eat seafood, I don't normally think about the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA).  But the good folks at Resource Shelf recently pointed me to a new service from NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service - FishWatch.

Seafood lovers can find out the latest information on some 30 species of fish - with more on the way.  There is information about the sustainability of different species and the health hazards and health benefits of eating seafood. 

This is a great example of transparency and information sharing that could not have been done before the Internet.  Certainly the timeliness of the information and data they collect would not have been available so quickly.  It's also a wonderful illustration of how scientific information can be presented in a way that feels helpful and not overwhelming.  It's what using the Internet is all about. 

Personalize Everything for Us Please

The population mark in the United States recently topped 300 million. There are so many of us sharing similar goals and buying similar products. We commute to and from work and see other people with the exact same cars and the same routines we have each day. Sometimes we get tired of this and go to great lengths to make what we have different from what everyone else has. We love finding ways to make things our own and bring our unique styles to the forefront and enjoy standing out. We crave personalization in America.

From custom stamps to clothing to video games and popular websites which are based on the concept of customization like MySpace and Facebook, being able to create a space that is all your own is definitely catching on. And this isn’t something that just kids enjoy—adults are even more obsessed with personalization than kids are in some respects. Companies like Google, which created “iGoogle,” a personalized search homepage that has become the fastest-growing product by a number of new users have realized the importance of this trend. Apparently, about 9,000 iGoogle pages are created each day.

Advancements in technology have made it possible to bring the “make-it-yourself” trend to anyone with a computer and with time to spend. Lucasfilm posted 250 sections of “Star Wars” clips from 6 movies to the Internet for people to edit and rearrange in any order they like best. Fans can then add to or cut the clips and decide if they would like to post them to MySpace or a similar social-networking site. This gives everyone a chance to take their favorite clips and create something that is all their own. Everyone wins.

People who rely on us as customers have also started to take notice of our feelings about personalization. Comedian Jim Gaffigan promised to stay at Blumenthal Performing Arts Center after his stand-up performance until he met everyone who was interested in meeting him. He has kept this same promise every evening after each of his shows on his 30-city concert tour. His connection with his fans on a personal level creates an environment that everyone is happy to be in.

Consumers and businesses see the appeal of personalized products and services and are doing what they can to keep up with competition and create new and innovative ideas that will surprise us. We love anything that will make our lives easier, create shortcuts for tasks and responsibilities that we already have, and represent us as individuals.

Made-to-Order Online

What can be easier than buying things online?  As a country, we love the internet.  As consumers, we especially love the perks of cyberspace.

Now it's possible to order clothing that used to require alterations and measurements with the click of a button. 

TrendHunter posted a description of a website, www.asuitthatfits.com which says:

"Too busy to go for a suit? A change in the times for busy people. Now you can have a suit made to measure online. You send all your requirements: colour, material, measurements etc and they do the rest. There is a comprehensive step by step guide to assist you in getting that perfect suit, without moving. Look Natty, asuitthatfits.com."

I wonder how popular this type of thing is going to become.  We are always trying to save time.  I guess I understand that people feel they are not willing to compromise time if the product they are ending up with is basically the same.  If we have the choice of getting true-to-price quality in clothing right to our doorstep or going to the mall and getting measured, we pick the online option. 

We Love iPersonalization

I was thinking today about how much we care about personalization and conveniently found a New York Times article about this luxury we have grown to expect.

I have not yet used "iGoogle" but have heard a lot about it.  I feel like I already know how to use it and the features offered-- without even having to explore them on my own.  I know this because I work with people who use and love it.  It is basically a homepage that allows you to specify what type of information you want to see immediately.  For some it's the first few new emails in their inbox, the weather forecast for the day, and a horoscope.  Others can get news, links to blogs, headlines, stock quotes, and even movie show-times.  It can even show a customized skyline based on your zip code which changes depending on the time of day.

According to the article published May 24th of this year,

Eric Schmidt, Google’s chief executive, said this week that being able to acquire more personal data was a key element in the company’s expansion plans. Customized services such as iGoogle, which enables users to personalize their own search page and publish their own content, should be more valuable to individuals. The details gathered about their private lives can be used to sell more accurately targeted advertisements. Since this form of marketing commands higher rates than a more broadly based approach, the initiative makes business sense. Other search engines are working on similar lines.

There are even blogs about iGoogle floating around.

Basically what this all means is that we love when things are personalized for us.  We live in a world that embraces trends and we often find ourselves with the same things as thousands of other people (the same cars, phones, iPods, clothes, etc...).  To make ourselves feel as if we really do stand out, we love when we have something that is just for us.  This is where Google has done such a great job.  I took a moment while writing this blog to sign up for iGoogle and create a personalized homepage-- and I love it already.

Angie's List

Our colleague Sandy Moore writes about her experience with a service that's basically local, word-of-mouth (via the Internet), and all about crowdsourcing.  The key to Angie's List is the trust Sandy has in other consumers like herself   --Nellie Lide

I’m pretty good at juggling – a fulltime job, two kids, husband with long hours, new puppy (who is sick and needs antibiotics twice a day which no one can get him to swallow but me), plus the weekly soccer practice-ballet lesson-Girl Scout meeting-playdate scheduling and overall “stuff” coordination required as a 21st century working parent.  I do the meal planning – my husband does the grocery shopping.  I do the babysitter scheduling and payment – he is the IT person.  I mow and garden – he goes to Home Depot.  We both try to get the car into the shop every once in awhile.

What baffles us is basic home maintenance.  Oh, I can change an air filter or two, lower the temperature on the hot water tank, or even stop the toilet from running, but electrical projects overwhelm me, as do any tasks that require sanding, sealing, or standing on tall ladders.  Luckily, there is a terrific website called Angie’s List that ranks service companies based on geographic region.  Say you live in Silver Spring, Maryland and you have termites.  Just type in “Pest Control / Exterminating” and your address and 10 bug-elimination companies pop up, complete with contact information, grades from A to F and local reviews.

I think of Angie’s List as an online Consumer Reports customized to my neighborhood.  In the past six months, I’ve hired an electrician, roofer, handyman, exterminator, fence-builder and pet-walking service.  I’ve taken my car to a recommended mechanic and my dog to a recommended vet.  I always mention that I found them through Angie’s List; some respond positively, some are surprised to find out they are listed and some do not know what Angie’s List is.

Here is what it is – a privately held for-profit company founded by an Indianapolis entrepreneur named Angela Hicks.  She started her first chapter in Columbus, Ohio, in 1995.  According to the website, more than 20,000 people use the service, members submit 5,000 reports a month, and overall there are more than half a million members in 124 cities.  You can join for $6.95 a month or $53 dollars a year, plus a $10 sign-up fee.  It has only been available in Washington since January of 2006.  A Washington Post July 2006 article described it as:

“...a very large community bulletin board where neighbors exchange references and anecdotes about carpenters, roofers, landscapers and appliance stores.” Companies do not pay to be on the list but can run ads in a hard-copy magazine sent by snail mail. 

Over the years, I have used the non-profit Washington Consumers’ Checkbook which rates local services, but there are differences.  The hard copy comes out twice a year and while the website is available all the time, it is only updated every six months.  Services fall into six categories:  Cars & trucks, Your Home, Health Care (including doctors and hospitals, not available on Angie’s List), Getting Things Fixed, Personal Services and Other (banks, hardware stores, etc.)  Overall, Checkbook has fewer categories of services but significantly more reports on each.  The auto body section alone contains 150 different outlets with ten ratings each.  It is also cheaper at $34 for a two-year subscription.

Angie’s List has saved me more than once.  The week before Thanksgiving, my washer and dryer died.  I bought a new set but apparently the power required was greater than my circuit box was willing to provide.  I had two weeks of laundry piled up, a traveling husband and a houseful of guests arriving in days.  I found a local electrician who replaced my system the next day, wrapping up at 8:00 pm.  He was great but a bit expensive, which I reported in my online evaluation.  Obviously Internet savvy, he gave me a hard time at the next electrical emergency:  “I can’t believe you said I was expensive!”  Reviews clearly are not anonymous.

If you have a problem, there is a dispute resolution service.  That has not happened to me yet but is a reassuring thought.  You can also give a membership as a gift.  My mother-in-law asked me to look up local contractors so often that I bought her a membership for Christmas.  How else can you track down someone who will rebuild your brick fireplace?

My membership lasts another six months.  I don’t know if I’ll renew –
It depends on what services I’ll need at that time.  I thought I’d rely on it for home maintenance, but with categories like insurance agencies, mulch and topsoil and piano tuning, the categories – and the home/life improvement projects – are endless.

Tweens Love Club Penguin

I had never heard of Club Penguin until a few months ago when I was listening to NPR's All Things Considered. It introduced me to a whole new world.  Literally days later, my 10-year old daughter Amanda asked if she could join.  Now she is hooked and schedules appointments with friends at school to meet online at a certain time of day.  I have to limit her time or she’d be on Club Penguin instead of doing her math homework, cleaning her guinea pig’s cage, or tracking down her soccer cleats for the 6:00 pm practice.

I may be old-fashioned, but I have mixed feelings about websites that target kids aged six to 12.  Personally I would rather have my kids outside playing tag or riding bikes or drawing with chalk on the sidewalk than inside, staring at a computer screen.  In cold or rainy weather, painting a picture or playing Scrabble appear more beneficial than meeting other children in a virtual world.  But Club Penguin, and other sites like Webkinz, is not going anywhere and as a parent I have to be realistic.  Kids use computers at school, at home, and at the library;  every day they are absorbing the skills they will utilize in high school, college, and eventually the working world.

Created by a couple of Canadian dads, clubpenguin.com is now the most popular website for kids and is aimed at both boys and girls.  Safety appears to be a top priority of the creators.  When registering, the website collects minimal information about children –  primarily age and sex.  The site tells children that they cannot share any personal information online, such as their address or the name of their school.  If they do, another “penguin” or online monitor will report them and ask them to leave the igloo.  For its safety standards, it is one of the few children’s websites approved by the Better Business Bureau.

Interacting with other kids – or penguins – is the primary goal of the site.  Club Penguin runs no ads and runs on subscription fees only.  For $5.95 a month, kids can create a penguin name and password and jump in.  Once online, Club Penguin is a virtual world of waddling birds with names such as Booger1427, MrYellow30, CutiePie, FuzziePuzzie, and TwoKool4u (I have changed a few to protect the identity of the “owners” but you get the idea). 

But what’s so great about it?  According to my Club Penguin expert, the site is fun for a couple of reasons:

Number one:  You can act like a penguin, not a kid!
Number two:  You can make new friends.
Number three:  Sometimes you meet those friends in real life at school and that is really cool.
Number four:  You can buy funny looking pets called Puffles, and also cool stuff with which to decorate your igloo.

Amanda likes to monitor other penguin’s behavior and recently reported a girl for being too bossy.  That penguin was immediately removed from the igloo, so I guess the system works!  She has 15 names on her buddy list and likes to play games with her Puffles, which are pink and blue pretend pets.  Kids can also play games like Jet Pack Adventure, which involves flying penguins with rockets on their backs who fly through the sky collecting coins.  Bean Counters is another game that depicts a tired looking penguin unloading sacks of something (penguin food?) from a truck to a platform.  With the winnings, kids can buy clothes, including warm weather gear like ear muffs and boots, or igloo decorations.  Igloos can get quite elaborate, with drum sets, dance floors, home stereo systems, and ice sculptures.

Webkinz is another popular site for kids.  This one requires the purchase of a real stuffed animal first, which includes a collar with a website password.  On a recent Girl Scout outing, three of Amanda’s friends had their Webkinz animals with them.  So if computer gaming increases the likelihood that children will engage in real play – whether that is with stuffed animals or by simply creating the social networks that emerge offline – perhaps these sites are just modern day versions of hide-and-seek or tag. 

I still limit the Club Penguin time to Fridays after school and weekends.  I think good old fashioned running around is still better than screen time.  Kids will have plenty of that when they grow up.  Or maybe I’m just envious – on a beautiful spring day, like today, I would most certainly give up my screen time in order to be outside, chasing a butterfly or playing tag.

Second Life gets Playboy

From Susan Getgood over at Marketing Roadmaps comes the news that Playboy is taking up residence in Second Life:

Playboy will figure out how to make real dollars from Second Life. Folks who are interested in the potential value of virtual worlds as marketing spaces should pay attention to what they do. We may lag by a number of years in terms of our audiences being in Second Life and other worlds, but by the time my [7-year-old] son is a potential (legal) visitor to Playboy's virtual mansion, I'm pretty certain just about everybody will be. Start paying attention now.

In an earlier post, Susan pointed out that the porn industry has led the way in so many technologies - first to video, first to the Web, and now the first major porn player in a virtual world.  She's right - pay attention to this.

Five Innovations in the Next Five Years

IBM lists five innovations that will change our lives over the next five years (via Emergic):

1. We will be able to access healthcare remotely, from just about anywhere in the world - Millions of people with chronic diseases, such as diabetes, will be able to have their conditions monitored as they go about their daily lives, through sensors in the home, worn on the person or in devices and packaging.
2. Real-time speech translation-once a vision only in science fiction-will become the norm - Real-time translation technologies will be embedded into mobile phones, handheld devices and cars. These services will pervade every part of society, eliminating the language barrier in our new smaller, faster-paced world.
3. There will be a 3-D Internet - Imagine being able to virtually walk the aisles of your favorite stores, interact with experts and even virtually try on clothes, all in the convenience of your own home. Or if you could recreate the blueprints of a room in your home and test out different appliances, cabinets styles, colors and more.
4. Technologies the size of a few atoms will address areas of environmental importance - We will be able to micromanage our environment - including our water supply and alternative energies - with nanotechnology.
5. Our mobile phones will come close to reading our minds  - "Presence" technology allows you to be found on the network, whether it's a computer network, mobile phone network or any other kind. Presence technology in its current form amounts to instant messaging applications. In five years, however, mobile devices will have the ability to continually learn about and adapt to your preferences and needs...For example, when a user enters a meeting room with several people, the mobile phone will automatically divert to voice mail. Your favorite pizza joint will know when you're on your way home after a late night and ping you with a special-price, take-home meal just for you.

I will definitely take that home meal just for me.

Your Own Cellphone Company

The Wall Street Journal reports today about microtargeting in mobile phone service:

Sonopia Corp., allows any organization or club to start a wireless company "in 15 minutes or less" online. The company, based in Menlo Park, Calif., has signed up nearly 900 organizations to create their own service, with relevant features, news and content for members of their respective groups.

Sonopia helps each organization design custom phones based on existing handset models from major manufacturers, and it helps the groups lease network access from Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon Communications Inc. and Vodafone Group PLC, to carry phone calls and data. Sonopia also manages monthly billing and customer service, though each organization's name -- NWF or Chicago Bandits -- is what appears on the customers' bill.

I love this.  You can have your own cellphone company.  You can design phones.  You can serve a market that's too small for the wireless  companies to bother with.  It's smart, forward-thinking, fun and a little profitable.  What's not to love?

-Nellie Lide

Everyone's Space

Almost everyone has heard of MySpace.  People use MySpace to stay in touch with old friends, make new friends, look up an employee or a potential date before you meet them for the first time, or even as a way to keep the world informed by writing daily blogs.  MySpace has taken America by storm and WikiPedia even claims that it is the "third most popular website in the United States."

MySpace began in July of 2003 and the number of created accounts has exceeded 100 million (as of August, 2006).  It is interesting to wonder if it would impact other countries the way it has impacted us in America.

An April 27th article in the Wall Street Journal mentions that MySpace has "finally found it's way into China."  MySpace China launched it's test version and will be run and controlled by a Chinese company.

MySpace China's independence will give it an advantage, Mr. Luo said, that other foreign-affiliated sites haven't had in China's intensely competitive Internet market, which boasted 137 million Internet users at the end of 2006, second only to the U.S.

"Our team here will have the sole right to decide on the operating model, the technology platform, as well as the product strategy," said Mr. Luo, a native of China who worked for 12 years at Microsoft Corp., most recently running its MSN Internet service in China, before leaving in December. "That's very unlike the other multinationals you might have seen in the Chinese market."

Moreover, despite its high profile in the U.S., MySpace's brand "is not very big" in China, Mr. Luo conceded. He said MySpace's technology will give his company a leg up on less-well-equipped Chinese rivals and that its ability to link Chinese users with existing users of MySpace in other countries could be a selling point. But he said the company's main challenge is to attract the user base necessary to build a thriving community.

Like its U.S. affiliate, MySpace China will get most of its revenue from online advertising. Mr. Luo said he doesn't know how long it will take for the company to become profitable.

The idea of international interest in MySpace says a lot about the way the world is changing.  The ability to stay connected with your peers and your community through a social networking website is something that has done amazingly well in our country, and, the thought that other nations may embrace this trend speaks for itself.  I think that we are always trying to step back and look at the big picture... and this is definitely a positive thing.

Hitch a ride?

Have you ever stood in an airport taxi line and thought that if only the guy behind you was going to the same hotel or neighborhood you were, you could both save a few bucks and get home just as fast.  Well, a new web service/ social networking site is working to help out fellow travelers.

Hitchsters.com is :

an easy-to-use web-based system which conveniently connects travelers so they can share taxis (and thus split the fare) to and from an airport.  In many places taxis are the most convenient form of transportation between metropolitan centers and airports, but they are expensive, too.  The hitchsters.com matching system (patent pending) makes riding in a taxi more affordable, more environmentally friendly and more fun.

You first look for a potential co-rider by checking out the list of users who have already signed up.  If you don’t see anyone with whom you can conveniently connect, you can enter in you own information and wait to be matched.  Once a match is made, you will be notified with both a text message to your cell phone and an e-mail containing the first name and cell phone number of the other co-rider (nothing else is shared with the other co-rider).  As an additional safety feature, we preserve the phone numbers of all of the successful matches.  You then contact each other to arrange to meet to share a cab.

Sounds easy enough, right?  The service is only available in NYC as of now, but new cities will be added soon.  Sounds cool to me!

Mourning the Movies

I did not watch the Oscars last night. I didn't much care.  It bothered me that I didn't care.  I was the kid who sat in Sister Adele's fifth grade class silently reciting my acceptance speech for my Academy Award.  And I used to think that I should have been born in 1911 so I would be the right age to marry Jimmy Stewart.  In the summer of 1977, I traveled a long way- eight different times - to see Star Wars at the Uptown theater in Washington, DC.

Movies have always been a big deal to me.  I love movies.  But I find myself going less and less to the movies.  And once again,  I am a statistic, because everyone else is going less too. What is going on here?

Chris Anderson has been writing about this forever on his Long Tail blog, but I guess I never felt its "trueness" until last night.  Movies aren't the center of my life the way they used to be.

And then Len at work sends me this op-ed from yesterday's Los Angeles Times.  Neal Gabler first cites statistics:

• In 2006, Box Office attendance reached its lowest point in 10 years.  Foreign receipts are down and even DVD sales are plateauing.
• 45% of American moviegoers had decreased their attendance over the last five years, with the highest percentage of that decrease in the coveted 18- to 24-year-old bracket. (Zogby Survey)
• 21% of respondents said they never went to the movies. (Zogby Survey).
• In another survey, 83 percent of its respondents said they were satisfied with the content of the films they saw, but 60% nevertheless expected to spend less of their income on moviegoing in the future, citing dissatisfaction with the moviegoing experience and the emergence of better alternatives for their time and money. (PA Consulting Survey for the Motion Picture Assn. of America)

Okay - so things look bad - but what's behind it?  Gabler describes:

...an ever-growing culture of knowingness, especially among young people, in which being regarded as part of an informational elite — an elite that knew which celebrities were dating each other, which had had plastic surgery, who was in rehab, etc. — was more gratifying than the conventional pleasures of moviegoing.

In this culture, the intrinsic value of a movie, or of most conventional entertainments, has diminished. Their job now is essentially to provide stars for People, Us, "Entertainment Tonight" and the supermarket tabloids, which exhibit the new "movies" — the stars' life sagas.

This explains the rise of the celebrity culture.  But according to Gabler

...To the extent that the Internet is a niche machine, dividing its users into tiny, self-defined categories, it is providing a challenge to the movies that not even television did, because the Internet addresses a change in consciousness while television simply addressed a change in delivery of content...

The Internet...not only creates niche communities — of young people, beer aficionados, news junkies, Britney Spears fanatics — that seem to obviate the need for the larger community, it plays to another powerful force in modern America and one that also undermines the movies: narcissism.

[Social media sites like Facebook, MySpace and YouTube] are replacing one of the movies' functions: If stars' lives are superseding movie narratives, audiences are superseding the stars. Who needs Brad Pitt if you can be your own hero on a video game, make your own video on YouTube or feature yourself on Facebook?

I believe what Gabler says.  Why does that make me so sad?

Ten Companies to Watch

Via Emergic comes Read/WriteWeb's Top Ten picks from Demo 2007.  The Demo 2007 conference "showcases the latest emerging technologies."  As I look through their list, it strikes me that six of these companies are for sharing things like videos, photos, home design, music, even wifi networks.  Another technology makes live videos cooler.  One company is about organizing your information by leaving a Hansel & Gretel-like web trail of crumbs.  If you're looking for relationships between people and companies,  ZoomInfo can help.  And the last company, Sentinel sort of goes against the Web 2.0 vein here and provides copyright protection for bloggers.

Here are the companies to watch for:

eJamming: The eJamming web site and desktop software allows musicians to play in sync over the Internet... eJamming's secret sauce allows musicians across the globe to connect and seamlessly play together as if they were in the same rehearsal room.

Jaman: Less than 1% of the movies made in the world are available to the US public. Jaman is about to change that by delivering these movies straight to Windows and Mac Desktops with innovative, better-than-DVD quality software. On top of getting us these unique movies, Jaman software creates instant social networks by placing an interactive control bar to the right of the movie window.

MyDesignIn: Social networking has gone vertical in recent times and this app is an interesting twist. MyDesignIn allows users to collect home design ideas and artifacts online using browser buttons. The users then can apply collected information and images to the blueprints of their house and get design advice from their friends and family.

OurStory: Just when we thought there is nothing left to do in the online photo and media sharing market, Our Story proves us wrong. They take the simple idea that media exists in time, and come up with an end-to-end photo organizer, storage and sharing experience. The photos are organized around events and timelines, and they can be shared and contributed to by multiple users via site or email.

Sentinel: We live during exciting times, when self-expression on-line and particularly blogging is on the rise. Protecting the copyright of our blogs is as important as protecting the copyright in print. Sentinel monitors the web and pin-points blog plagiarism.

SplashCast: Splashcast allows users to remix photos, video and audio to create personalized channels. These channels are then available to play in any SplashCast player installed on a web site, blog or social network profile.

Total Immersion: Total Immersion?s software enables the real-time integration of interactive 3D graphics into live video flows. In is quite impressive and certainly is the most fun DEMO video that I watched.

TrailFire: TrailFire is an annotation technology that allows any user to attach notes to web pages. By naming the notes with the same name, this software allows users to create trails. Each trail represents an individual or collective navigation path, centered around a topic.

Whisher: When was the last time 128-bit encryption stopped piracy? Certainly not when it comes to WiFi. Spanish company Whisher helps you to navigate the entire WiFi network, without worrying about what network you are connected to.

ZoomInfo: ZoomInfo offers a vertical semantic search engine, focused on companies and people. It is an impressive technology that turns the web into a database of corporate and personal information; and organizes it in an intelligent way.

Shape-Shifting Television

   "People have become used to time-shifting TV and changing the time they watch programmes. They can also place-shift TV and choose to watch it on a different device from their TV set, such as a PlayStation Portable (PSP) or on a mobile phone. ShapeShifting TV means they can change the shape of the narrative presented to them. "  --  Doug Williams, NM2 project director at British Telecom

This is already happening in Finland.  Viewers watching a series called Accidental Lovers will see:

...text messages and will hear the characters respond to their messages. A glowing heart will show whether their messages are warming or cooling the hearts of the romantic couple, and viewers will see the relationship develop according to their wishes.

If the romance doesn't progress as viewers wish, they can try again later as four runs of the programme will be broadcast showing 12 different evolutions of the love affair. Each one will be different, with each reacting to the viewers' wishes.

This series is on regular television, but the Shapeshifting technology's creators think broadband is its real future.  From Media Life magazine:

“With broadband TV, what we have now is the ability to create something that is as different from TV as TV is from cinema. We have the opportunity to create a new storytelling genre,” says Doug Williams, BT’s project director on the ShapeShifted TV project.

On regular TV, viewers would direct the story line by popular vote. On broadband, each viewer would be able to piece together the various elements of the drama as he or she saw fit, creating a far more personal story.

This IS interactive - and when I look at the attention span of the younger generations today - I'd also say, this IS the future...

Is Second Life a Fad?

Dan asked me recently if Second Life (SL), the Massively Multiplayer Online Game created by Linden Lab, is a fad. 

First, what is Second Life?  A cnet news.com article describes it as:  a virtual world that allows anyone to join and participate for free and create and own any kind of clothing, vehicle, building or other object. Linden Lab makes most of its money by charging players use fees for virtual land they buy and build on.

So, is Second Life a fad?

NO. 

A fad lives and dies quickly, and I think Second Life hasn't even begun to reach its full potential.   To call it a game is too easy - it's a community, a lifestyle, a different planet really. 

So what makes me say this?  Lots of things:

1.  Smart people think Second Life is the future: 

• Irving Wladawsky-Berger, IBM's Vice President of Technical Strategy and Innovation had this to say:

I believe that using such virtual, highly visual capabilities to help us design, simulate, optimize, operate and manage business activities of all sorts is going to be one of the most important breakthroughs in the IT industry over the next decade.

• Economist Edward Castronova, author of Synthetic Worlds: The Business and Culture of Online Games told Business Week:

For people born after 1985, there isn't any such thing as virtual reality. There's just another way that you talk to people. This business of having characters and buying and selling stuff for gold pieces -- it's very natural.

2.  The Core Residents live and work there.    Despite much controversy over how many people reside in Second Life, there is a large group of residents that have proven their commitment to the virtual world over time.  Second Life has had some 3 million visitors who have created avatars.  Of those, maybe 200,000 - 230,000 return on an ongoing basis.  But some 42,400 people have paid for premium accounts, which allow them to buy and develop land.  (This is close to the population of my hometown, Rockville, MD)

It's these 42,400 that have committed themselves to Second Life, spending an average of 40 hours a month in SL.  A population of creators and early adopters.  Designers, architects, technical wizards - creatives that have established their own in-world brands, a virtual bill-of-rights, and who have given birth to ethnic groups like Blingtards, Elves, Furries, Geeks, Goreans, Goths, mechas and Steampunks.

This is the group that keeps SL going.  These are the people that don't like it when real world brands build in Second Life with no clue about the society.  This is the group that Rob Walker wrote about in his Consumed column in the New York Times magazine:

"...for real-world brands the critical question is how to avoid tension with the 'indigenous culture' of Second Life entrepreneurs. Just because clothing, for example, is a popular in-world spending category doesn’t mean that avatars are clamoring for real-world logos. Many virtual consumers already have favorites among the Second Life’s established clothing creators, like Fallingwater Cellardoor and Pixel Dolls. [Long-time SL resident Gareth] Lancaster compares the situation with a company doing business in China for the first time and belatedly realizing that the place is already teeming with companies that know the market inside out. The newcomers may see themselves as pros, Lancaster observes, but 'what a lot of real-life companies don’t realize is that they’re going to have to compete against a completely different marketplace, which is basically the residents of Second Life.' "

And this is the group that corporations and brands should engage and learn from before they ever step foot in SL. 

3.  Residents are beginning to earn real money in SL.  Residents sell clothes, skateboards, body parts, buildings, landscaping and animals. It's capitalism working the old magic in a new frontier.  And the lure of money and jobs is a strong one.  And Second Life recently produced its first millionaire landlord. 

I believe that Second Life is not a fad, and will continue to operate and grow and molt and change and become as real a virtual society as there is.  I do think though that so far, besides some interesting avatars, the other worldly nature of Second Life has not been tapped at all - and I'm interested in seeing what the residents continue to do there. 

The Middleman Morphs

Yesterday's post about vertical marketing got me thinking about middlemen.  Seems like in so many areas we're eliminating the middleman:

Here are some fields where I can eliminate the middleman.

• Gas Station Attendant - I pump my own gas
• Grocery Store Clerk - I check-out my own groceries
• Travel Agent - I book my own travel
• Bank Teller - I manage my bank account online and deposit/withdrawl at ATMs
• Stock Broker - buy stock by myself
• Photographer/Printer - I process and print my own photos
• Radio Station Manager/TV Network Programmer - I program my iPod/TiVo
• Doctor/Nurse/Lab Technician - I diagnose my own illness, test myself at home
• Realtor - I sell my own house
• Journalist/Pundit - I write my own blog
• Book Publisher - I can write and publish my own book
• Film Director/Producer - I can make and distribute my own films via the Internet
• Home builder - it's easier than ever to DIY
• Music Producer/Record Company - do bands really need record labels now?
• Professional Sports team owner - w/fantasy sports leagues,  I can own and manage a team

Of course there will always be people who need a middleman - that don't have the time or inclination to do these things themselves, so in the real world,  we'll always need some - but overall it's downhill.

Go online though, and you'll see the middleman is a rising star.  Yesterday, I wrote about a different kind of middleman that's actually on the rise.  The middleman as connector - bringing buyers and sellers together.  And search engines are basically middlemen too.

I'm not sure what I'm getting at here,except that I've always found that when one area is on the decline, you can find some other area on the rise - almost as if it's striving for some sort of balance. 

The lesson?  If you're a middleman providing a service - you might want to morph it into an online offering. 

Vertical Marketing is an Opportunity

David Beisel of Genuine V.C. writes about vertical marketplaces which connect buyer and seller. (Not to be confused with vertical search.)  He mentions ebay, Monster and craigslist as being the classic examples of sites that bring buyers and sellers together.  But now he is seeing sites that drill down in one niche.  Funny how this niche idea seems to creep into so many aspects of media. 

Beisel mentions several sites as examples:

• Rentacoder has had [success] over the past five years in creating a place for buyers and sellers of contract programming work to connect. Of course, interested parties could use a general-purpose classified site to facilitate the same exchange, but there is something unique about having a marketplace devoted solely to this vertical.
• ClickForLessons tries to do the same thing for an entirely different set of groups – buyers and sellers of private music, dance, singing, acting, and art lessons.
• Pawspot- a social network for pets,  partially differentiates from leader Dogster in promoting the exchange of petsitting services.

Beisel says though that the...

"...real opportunity here is in the business model itself – not just providing paid advertising listings (or even contextual relevant advertising adjacent to the listings themselves), but rather actually participating in the transaction as a percentage fee. The more intimate the relationship these marketplaces play in the transaction, the greater the value they can capture from it."

Looking for a new business idea anyone?

Original link via Emergic.

Brand & Marketing Predictions from David Polinchock

David Polinchock over at the Marketing & Strategy Innovation blog has written a series of marketing prediction posts that are worth reading:

1.  Authenticity is Key - Companies not acting in an authentic and honest way will be subject to the wrath of the newfound consumer voice.

2.  The Media Cycle Continues - Learn about and use the new tools, but always remember the cycle of media.

3.  Technology Continues to Engage - The use of emerging technologies will continue to accelerate in 2007 as we scramble to find new ways to communicate to our audiences.

4.  The Advertising Backlash Grows - As the consumer becomes more empowered, expect to see additional litigation and regulation as people strike out against advertising and its continued encroachment into every aspect of our lives.

5.  Retail Grows in Importance - Retail spaces will become even more important as a connection point between the consumer and the brand.

6.  The Socialization of Place Continues - What happens when the social elements of things like myspace leave cyberspace and enter the physical world? Can and should brands use their physical space to help facilitate social interaction in the real world?

7. You Need to E-tail your Retail - If I can do it on your web site, I should be able to do it in your store.

8.  Everyone's a Critic - People like to critique you and today have no problem sharing their critiques with the whole world.

His original series on his own blog, Brand Experience Lab, starts here.

CGM Evolves

I was watching the NBC program "Grease: You're the One that I Want" with my two daughters the other night and it occurred to me that this was a different form of Consumer Generated Media (CGM) - it's more a Professional-Amateur blend of CGM - or Pro-Am CGM.  The professionals judges make the first cuts of contestants who are both professionals and amateurs.  The professionals then train these Broadway hopefuls, while the audience (amateurs) ultimately chooses who will star as Sandy and Danny in a brand new Broadway production of Grease. 

The Grease television show uses the crowdsourcing of American Idol, but takes it a step further and puts the ultimate product up for sale early in the process (tickets to the Broadway show).  In the first two days of sales, $1.3 million worth of seats were sold - not bad for a show that has no-name leads and no theater yet.

Another example of Pro-Am CGM is the contest being run by HP as part of it's efforts at the Sundance film festival.  From Susan Getgood at Marketing Roadmaps:

...HP is holding a photo contest called Snapshot Diaries. Entrants submit 6-10 related photos with captions that tell a story. The winning entry will be turned into a short movie by film director Matt Pope like this one:

So what begins as an amateur production winds up as a polished professional movie.  And the winner goes to Sundance in 2008 to see his co-created movie.  Very fun. 

The only other comment to make is that it's fascinating to watch how photos, movies, television, theater and the Internet are all used in these Pro-Am CGM projects.  The Grease television show keeps showing clips of the popular movie to sell tickets to a Broadway show.  And the HP contest uses still photos to make a moving picture.  More and more blending of media. 

The Five Things Meme

I've been down and out the last month or so (health issues) and I removed myself from the computer for much of that time.  But I'm back baby. 

Anyway - what seems a lifetime ago, Jill Fallon at Estate Legacy Vaults blog (and Business of Life) tagged me with the Five Things You Don't Know about Me Meme.  So normally I hate too much personal stuff on the blog, but because I love Jill so much, I'll do it:

1.  I am the seventh of 13 children - 3 older sisters, 3 older brothers, 3 younger sisters, 3 younger brothers.  Terry, Dwight, Bruce, Lee Anne, Doug, Mary Joan, Me, Bernadette, Mimi, Jimmy, Glenn, Brian & Monica.  My mother had 13 children in 19 years (no twins).  Being the 7th of 13 has defined my existence.  And the 3 comments I always get are:  "You're Catholic right?"  (Yes)  "Your parents must have had a lot of fun --wink, wink." (I don't like to think of my parents like that thanks.)  "Who did the laundry?"  (My mom, until we each got old enough to do our own.)

2.  My first job out of college (besides working in the men's underwear department at Hecht's) was at CBS News 60 Minutes in their Washington, DC office.  I was a secretary, then a researcher, then an associate producer.   At one point I must have visited every maximum security prison in the country.  I learned this about prison -  everyone is innocent, and I wouldn't wish my worst enemy a prison stay.  My most memorable moment was accompanying Mike Wallace to Plains, Ga to do an interview with former President Carter.  I was alone in his kitchen and did what I always do in a strange kitchen, I opened the cabinets and looked around.  There was a box of unopened Godiva Chocolates on the counter, and I figured they were never going to eat them, so I opened it and had a couple - I chewed quickly and swallowed just before a secret service agent walked in.