New Persuasion

Firsts

Here at McGinn MS&L we find it important to keep track of the first time important things occur in our society.  These changes tell us a lot about things that may be surprising or even overdue, and are a great indication of where we stand.

Some recent firsts that are significantly important are:

Ø      On July 25, 1978, Louise Joy Brown, the world's first successful "test-tube" baby was born in Great Britain.

Ø      For the first time at least since World War II, there were more failed marriages than lasting ones at the 25-year mark: Slightly more than half of the men and women who got married in the late 1970s were separated or divorced -- or widowed -- before they reached their 25th anniversary.

Ø      The 2008 edition of “America’s Best Black Colleges” marks the first time U.S. News & World Report has released a stand-alone ranking of historically black colleges and universities.

Ø      John Edwards appeared in the first MySpace/ MTV candidate forum. The Democratic presidential hopeful was the first in a string of candidate dialogs planned by those two stalwarts of modern culture.

Ø      The number of violent crimes increased by a larger amount than expected last year, extending the first significant rise in murders and robberies in a dozen years.  Robberies surged by 7.2% and murders rose 1.8%.

Ø      The number of people living past 100 in England and Wales reached almost 9,000 last year for the first time ever.  The number of Centenarians had increased ninety-fold since 1911 when there were only 100 total in the country.

What does this all mean?  Well, advances in technology have made things like the "test-tube baby" and the record number of Centenarians possible.  It also is the main factor behind the MySpace/ MTV political influence which signals a huge shift in society and the things that we emphasize as a nation.  Technology is changing everything about our world and we are taking notice.  It's great to see that we are taking advantage of our ability to communicate to mass audiences and political leaders are taking the time to speak to these audiences-- young and old.

The rise in the number of murders and robberies could be because of a larger issue, such as Hurricane Katrina or the terrorist attacks on September 11th.  We are starting to realize that we should stop and enjoy life, and how important is really is to remember that everyone is an individual with their appreciation for the world around them.  This could be the reason for the record number of failed marriages as people begin to explore what they find most important in life.  We are encouraging individuality and uniqueness, as well as embracing positive changes such as the first edition of U.S. News and World Report releasing a ranking specifically for the nations Black Colleges and Universities.

As new firsts emerge and these changes continue to become an integral part of the way we live, it's important to just stop and take in these shifts before years go by and we never even realize they occurred.

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.

What's Public Is Private

In a recent editorial in The New York Times, Emily Gould, co-editor of Gawker, discussed her appearance on “Larry King Live.” During that show, stand-in host Jimmy Kimmel took her to task over the Gawker Stalker Map.  For those who don’t know, GSM allows users to post celebrity sightings they have, and the information appears on a street map of Manhattan.

Gould explains that Kimmel used a variety of reasons to explain his attack on GSM, including claiming it invades a celebrity’s privacy.  Is that really the reason, Gould wonders:

But why do celebrities find this “invasion” so much more reprehensible than the “invasion” represented by the carefully posed pictures and meticulously constructed narratives that we see in celebrity weeklies and newspaper society pages?

Imagine, for a moment, that you’re a celebrity who wants to show off a new hair color, is trying to land a coveted role or needs to drum up interest in a new movie or TV show. You, or more likely your publicist, call up some favorite photographers and tell them in advance where you’ll be clubbing that night. You work hard to make sure that people are going to see you exactly the way you’d like them to — and whether that’s panty-less or picture-perfect depends on what you’re selling.

But the Internet, instead of relying on the expertise of an incestuous network of reporters and managers and publicists and photographers, gets its information from an army of anonymous strangers. And no matter how long and hard celebrities work to get the well-timed, utterly staged attention that’s going to be most profitable for them, the Internet can circumvent those efforts in a heartbeat. Celebrities like Mr. Kimmel who pretend that this new generation of gossip is hurting their feelings are covering up their real concern — that it’s hurting their bottom lines.

Gould’s comments reminded me of another event where internet culture and privacy questions seemed to clash: the tragic shootings at Virginia Tech.

Many Tech students put “I’m OK” messages on Facebook and My Space profiles as a way to communicate with the outside world, while others used social networking sites to check on friends, offer support and post memorials to victims.

Cybersoc.com was one of many venues noting the strong, negative reactions journalists received when they used those same social networking sites to recruit students for interviews and first hand accounts of the tragedy.

Here are some of the approaches the media used.  They all came as comments on a particular blog post about the shootings:

"Sorry to hear about this. CBC Newsworld is doing live interviews with people who are affected by the shooting. Can you please drop me a line at [email] when you have a moment? THANKS"

"This account sounds horrific - I'm so sorry for you and your friends. I'm with NPR and if you feel comfortable speaking to the media please email me at [email]. We are trying to get the full story out to our audience."

"Hi, I hope that you and Kate are doing okay. I would love to chat with you about this horrific event. I understand that phones are not working well but maybe you can shoot me an email. I was wondering if blogging, MySpace, Facebook and Friendster are the best way to communicate while the phones are tangled. Stay safe and I hope Kate recovers quickly."

"Hi--I work for MTV News and we're sending two crews down to VT. They'll be interviewing students and other people affected by the tragedy. We'd be grateful if you or any of your friends would share your stories with our audience. Please contact me at [email] if you'd be willing to talk to us. You guys are all in our thoughts.”

And here are some of the responses:

"I really don't know what else to say except it's kind of disgusting how news people are jumping down your throat."

"Good God, people, is it all just about getting that exclusive? You people are freaking vampires. leave these people alone and let them grieve in peace. You make me sick."

"I cannot believe how quickly the media has already descended on you! Too bad you and the other bloggers are, as usual, doing their jobs for them. Please keep posting, and don't let the media swarm get to you. "

But that brings us back to the question of privacy in the age of the internet.  Are people who use social networking sites fooling themselves if they think the sites are private?  Does our internet culture necessarily remove any hope of true privacy? 

To me, this isn’t really about whether a celebrity should have any expectation of privacy.  And it isn’t about the debate over journalists’ activities and ethics in the aftermath of the Virginia Tech shootings.  It’s more about the broader implications...If we can record and post our thoughts (YouTube or a blog), our day-to-day lives (Webcams and reality TV), our sex lives (Paris Hilton, Screech and many others) and our fun (Facebook and My Space profiles) for anyone in the world to see, then is there anything left that’s actually private or sacred for us? And if we willingly place so much of our lives on the internet, how can we be upset when people find it and use it for their own purposes?

The Citizen-Journalists of Blacksburg

Dale Peskin of ifocus describes of "a generation of wired witnesses." 

Watching events unfold, the shift in the power of media was perceptible. Traditional broadcasters and publishers competently covered the tragic events in Blacksburg. But the story belongs to Virginia Tech students. They were at once reporters, witnesses and subjects of the deadliest shooting in U.S. history. It was like watching a new kind of reality show where the stars used their devices, their social networks, and their wits to survive and to cope.

Virginia Tech’s students shined even as it they were portrayed as victims. One articulate student-witness set the record straight while being interviewed by a testy CNN reporter. “Don’t you get it?” he asked the reporter. “Its our story, not yours.”

UnderCurrents

We're changing. 

Our New Persuasion team here at The McGinn Group has been going through some changes.  And we've decided to mirror those changes here on the blog.  What our team really does is study and learn about the cultural shifts that are going on today. the UnderCurrents.  And as a result of what we find, our company applies New Persuasion lessons to our client work. 

So we're going to think of this blog as a trends blog - but not short term trends like pink is the new orange, but longer-term changes like immigration growth or new media adoption.  We're aiming to post often each day, little snippets of what we're seeing with longer thought pieces added to the mix. 

We hope you like the new NP: UnderCurrents.  We're happy about it. 

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.

e-Commerce and Breaking News

I'm just now reading about the Aqua Teen Hunger Force guerrilla marketing campaign that was mistaken for a terrorist threat in Boston.   According to Cato-at-Liberty blog:

"The campaign received little notice in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Philadelphia, and Austin, Texas.  But in Boston, public officials treated the signs as a possible terrorist threat, closing bridges, subway stations, roadways, and even part of the Charles River while bomb squads removed the signs."

To me, the whole thing is hilarious.  Especially considering the signs were up for 3 weeks before anyone in Boston noticed.  And now, because they made such a big deal about it, Boston officials want to prosecute the guys that put up the signs. 

Enough.  There's only one thing that interests me about this whole thing - the e-commerce angle.  My colleague Steve Skojec sent me his take on this " ebay Flash Market for breaking news items."

Steve says this story is notable for three reasons:

• New Media Effort -guerrilla marketing in the form of electronic graffiti;
• Major Media Story that has erupted around the citywide panic in Boston over what officials thought was a terrorist plot; and
• New E-Commerce opportunity for individuals who are already selling some of the signs in question on ebay while the story is still in the headlines. One seller has already received a bid of $2000 on a sign he took from an undisclosed location in Atlanta, another city where the marketing campaign was deployed.

Steve goes on to say:

"When the story broke, I knew immediately someone would have them on Ebay – it just made sense. The question this raises is how much of a trend these news-based 'flash markets' will become. Imagine if ebay had existed during the destruction of the Berlin wall. Artifacts that can be sold as an interactive part of a news story have an intrinsic value that is probably much higher in the initial days of a story."

Steve believes (and so do I) - we're going to see more of these flash markets for news related items - and all the ethical questions that brings up.  How long before evidence in a murder trial is up for sale on ebay?

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. 

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. 

3.  I have luged at Lake Placid - I highly recommend it.

4.  I secretly long to be a screenwriter.

5.  I find that I can't watch The Office - it's too much like real life and it makes me cringe.  I once worked with someone who argued with me over the spelling of my name. 

(13 photo courtesy LeoL30 - see more of his photos here on Flickr; godiva photo courtesy Kathryn Kurioso - see more of her Flickr photos here.)