Pornography as broadcast on Fox News

Usually agree with Seth's stuff, great stuff. He missed this one though. Seth pointed out this video of "misogyny and pornography as broadcast on Fox News".

Just a simple reminder: news organizations are a reflection of us. They are simply showing us a mirror of some of what is going on in our world. Do they want ratings? Of course they do. But they are not making this stuff up or showing it out of context.

J

Perfect Speed

I am working on a project these days with a lot of effort around balancing speed of delivery with level of testing, design iterations, and QA.

The easy way to say that is: What is the right balance of speed versus perfection of output?

There is parity-of-knowledge in our world; if you use available resources you can know what your competition knows. Quality has been a cost of entry for decades. Even innovation it could be argued is now much more of a price to complete.

So what is left to leverage? How to edge the competition? Just a few thoughts:
1) Radical innovation. Everyone focuses on innovation but not everyone can find a real breakthrough or has the nerve to take the risk.
2) Rapid, incremental, innovation. Google uses this with their constant flow of beta products and versions.

I think the second option is more attainable for many enterprises. Here are a few points in that direction:

• Go to market when you have a core concept. Don’t wait to flesh out every conceivable issue.
• When to pull the trigger on a program or product? As soon as you think you will not have negative impact.
• Build for change by using the most open technologies you can.
• Listen to customer reaction as much as you can via measurement, discussion, and monitoring.
• Iterate often.

There is a version of this approach that will be the "perfect speed" for your team.

There is much more here to explore.

J

STOP! - Look at your cell, try to dial this!

Cell Phones and toll-free numbers are not mixing well. Take this TEST:

Look at your cell phone key pad, now try to dial this number 1-800-GetStuf

How did you do?! You couldn't dial it, could you?

Oh sure, if you find a land line phone and look at that then you could. Or if, like some people I know, you are super smart, then you could figure it out in your head. But for the rest of us this does not work!

MARCOM managers please listen: STOP PUTTING OUT PRODUCTS, MATERIAL AND ADVERTISING WITH WORD-ONLY PHONE NUMBERS!

My family and I ONLY use cell phones, cell phones have been ubiquitous for a long time. Please add start adding the numbers underneath ALL the catchy toll-frees that include words.

Thank You!

J

Idea Smelting - Devil or Savior?

I started reading The 10 Faces of Innovation. Only a little ways into the volume so far, but already have run across a very interesting point. The author’s, from IDEO, take the position that playing the “Devil’s Advocate” during creative or innovation sessions is damaging. The language they use is very strong, they are passionate about this. They actually ponder situations where they might tell such a role player to “Go to Hell.” This is obliviously just a play on the devil theme, but I find it telling nonetheless.

Let me take a different slant on this. I hold that when played intelligently, honestly, and with care this role is extremely important and helpful. The key skill needed to play this role is an ability to “ask the hard” questions. This is about seeing pitfalls, dangers, gaps, or unnecessary risks. Without this skill/role failure can loom. Over the past 15 years I have seen many ideas pushed through to execution without any rigorous challenge.

Similar to the way metal can be purified from raw ore via smelting, so too can a cleaner more effective initiative be birthed by taking an unchallenged idea and putting it through the “fire” of a devils scrutiny.

This “idea smelting” needs to be done at the right time and in the right way. There is no doubt that this book holds some great insights, I have already found the redefined roles a stimulating concept. However, I think devil needs to get his due.

Here are some golden rules I would propose to make playing this role effective:

1) Do it at the right time. If done while ideas and concepts are in early stages, creativity and innovation could be squashed. Reserve comments in these stages to only critical flaws in thinking.

2) Offer alternatives. Don’t simply shoot holes, ask “what if we do x instead of a”. Assuming the ideation is going in a good direction generally, this is about steering and less about quashing.

3) Look for gaps. Ideas have a better chance to come to fruition if the gaps are noticed and addressed by the team before they are socialized more broadly. A more complete idea is better than one with holes, right?

4) Don’t just play one role. I agree with the authors that changing hats is a positive, needed skill. By playing other roles and thinking from those POVs, the devil can come across as less of a “naysayer”. Perception is half the battle.

5) Don’t get married to your positions. Just like all input to a collaborative process. Devils need to be flexible and prepared to go with the energy and flow of the group.

6) Pay attention to the room. If there are less mature, emotional, or insecure players on the team, perhaps the devil needs to play his role offline or in a separate session with more senior team members only.

J

Gap Analysis - Continuing Ed

I have been thinking about continuing education. I am working on getting my real estate license. I invest in real estate and just want the knowledge. Anyway, part of the deal with a real estate license is a continuing educational requirement. I think this is good, although I am not sure it is the exact model we need in marketing.

However, I do think that there seems to be a lack of "educational" opportunity in our field. It seems that there are a few options: read, take college classes, OJT, seminars etc. But where could I go if I wanted to get "certified" on the latest CRM techniques? I think that there is a great opportunity for someone to step up with some good on-line courses that sit in-between college classes and webinars. How cool would it be to sign-up for a series of CRM classes on-line, say 4 levels from basics to advanced, and to get a certification afterwards. If this was done by a college or a Forrester or similar firm, I think it would carry some weight.

If you know of some things that exist in this vein, please share.

J

My New Home

I am happy to report that I have jumped back into the fray. I am now with THINK Interactive here in Atlanta...


Drop me a line:

THINK Interactive, Inc. | 1350 Spring Street, Suite 300 | Atlanta, Georgia 30309 | 404.962.8976 | www.thinkinc.com

Primal Change

Went away to the mountains for the weekend and took Primal Branding, good to scan that again. One note towards the end caught me eye, “All belief systems need to be reenergized lest they grow stale and risk public refusal.” I buy it.

I thought about why brands that I have worked with do refreshes. More often than not it has been for reasons that are not about re-energizing because it’s just time and the brand is due. Emergence from bankruptcy, lagging sales, fierce new competition, new chiefs, these are the reasons that have been the impetus for the branding work I have done. Maybe now is a good time to think about more frequent pulse-taking for your brand? Do consumers say you need to refresh?

On a personal level here is my list (it is Monday) of things I need to refresh for my “personal brand”:

1) Endurance

· Once on a path, if its good and right, stick to it

2) Extra Mile

· Everyday, try to do a little extra, for the family, faith, and the agency

3) Focus

· Research seems to be indicating we are all overdoing the multitasking thing, and it is hurting productivity

4) Simplify

· People get way too much data these days, boil communication down. Power point slides? No more than 3 points per slide and keep them clean

5) Fear Not

· At the end of the day, you can only control what you can control. Do the homework; give it your all, and what will be will be

Is it time for you to re-energize?

J

Other Sites - Marketing Profs

Have been enjoying the posts at their collaborative blog, Daily Fix.


J

Democratic vs. Social

Reading in Google Reader earlier today and ran across a reference to blogs as “social” media. Interesting. For me they are not so much social as they are democratic. I think that this is an important nuance in our dialog concerning the evolution of digital marketing.

Democracy can be defined as:

“the doctrine that the numerical majority of an organized group can make decisions binding on the whole group”

reference

Thus, democratic media or marketing would be concerned with control of media, pricing, marketing, etc, being in the hands of the masses more so than in the hands of executives or corporations. I believe this is indeed part of the impact of the blogosphere (and digital media/access generally).

So for me, blogs are more democratized-media than they are social-media.

Social can be defined as:

“living together or enjoying life in communities or organized groups...”

reference

So social media or marketing would relate more to places where community happens, where people aggregate to enjoy and share common interests. Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn all come to mind.

Perhaps at a macro level a set of blogs on the same subject with lots of linked and shared topics may be a social phenomenon.

A little analytical? Sorry. But being very clear on this distinction could be useful as you try to determine whether or not you are leveraging both forces to your advantage.

J

5 Digital Musts

Here are Five things that you need to be testing or doing now:

1) Loosen Your Grip

Find some area of your business, products, or brand that you can loosen your grip on. The most powerful force in business today is democratization. By ceding some control to your customers you will gain far more insight, buzz, and loyalty more that you will risk. Connect with your customers via dialog and collaboration. Let them create your next commercial. Look to Amazon's user reviews and Apple's iMix for inspiration.

2) Be Social

It is no accident or teenage fad, social is a force. LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace and others are for real. Can you allow customers and prospects to share, discuss, explore, and contribute to your brand? Can you leverage what is happening already in those spaces? See the Microsoft Student Group on Facebook.

3) Speed Up

While still developing, real time or instant marketing is coming on fast. Email is slow by today's standard. I have to notice and open an email. IM, mobile, micro blogging, and other touch points are compressing time. If it's hot, get it out there right away. Check out Dell on Twitter.

4) Get off the Page

User experiences based on clicking from one HTML page to another are going away. Broadband is here in a big way, already in 48% of homes. Your website and digital marketing experiences need to be rich. Customers should be in an experience that moves smoothly and that transitions and updates seamlessly. Check out Kayak's great shopping interface.

5) Do It

Get yourself and staff involved in this stuff. You need collaborative workspaces for your teams. Thought leaders need to have blogs. Play around with Twitter, start a social network of your own with Ning. Only by living with these things will you be able to understand their value, challenges, and be able to implement them to your advantage.

J

Distributed Marketing – Part II

So, in Part I we were asking ourselves: If we set out to create the first distributed marketing program, what might it look like? (I am aware of course that someone may have done this before. If you know about it, please share.) By looking at the distributed computing model I identified three elements that seem to make it work:

a) Its is quick and easy to do

b) It is altruistic

c) It's cool technology

The first example I used, Toyota and a new Hybrid model, was as admittedly a bit of a softball. So, we left off by asking: What about a tougher challenge? What about a pure marketing play?

Let's take a product and brand that has no connection to a “cause”, say Coca Cola and their Mountain Dew product. Now what can we say about Mountain Dew? Its established, its edgy, and it has a youth slant.

If we deep dived into the brand-loyalist profile I am guessing there is a desire there for a sense of belonging. If that is the case then I think that would be the insight to leverage.

I could envision a program that pits the Dew loyalists against the “other” guys, some soft drink that is less hip. The message to the loyalist could be something to the effect “the Dew Nation is taking over!” Those poor people drinking that other stuff need to be rescued! The invitation to them could be to join the effort by donating space on all of their electronic communications.

We could create a small download that when installed would automatically insert the Dew rally cry and call to action into all the participants IM's, emails, My Space, etc. To spice it up we could also provide a mass incentive like free six packs if the goals are met, individual contribution tickers and incentives, and program dashboards. That actual success could be measured via how many new drinkers self-identify on a micro-site using unique codes from caps/cans.

So let's look at this through the lens of the three elements:

a) Easy – Quick download and install.

b) Altruistic – While not moral in nature it would allow a fun way for loyalist to support a favorite brand. The incentives cloud this element a bit.

c) Cool Tech – Done right, the interface and tracking elements could be very cool

At the end of the day this is really a flavor of viral marketing. However, it is interesting to look at the possibilities through this distributed-computing lens.

Well thanks for letting me share that. I hope it will stay out of my head for a while now!

J

Distributed Marketing – Part I

Well I can't get this out of my head. After I posted the Monday list the idea of “distributed marketing” popped into my head, and I am unable to get it out. So even if this post makes no sense to you, its still helping my sanity!

So: If we set out to create the first distributed marketing program, what might it look like?

First I think about what makes the distributed computing model work, at least the model I mentioned that pertains to medical research. Here is what I think makes it tick:

a) Its is quick and easy to do

b) It is altruistic

c) It's cool technology

Now what exactly am I saying by “distributed marketing”? I am not talking about RSS or email newsletters which some refer to as such. Rather, I am thinking of a marketing program in which customers would volunteer some resource to promote said campaign. Many product and brands would have little or no shot to tap the altruistic vein, but some might.

Let's take an easy example, say Toyota and a new Hybrid model. How could they capitalize?

a) Quick & Easy: Create a small download that can be grabbed from a website or banner

b) Altruistic: The download would help work on global climate change calculations for a partner university

c) Cool Technology: Show interesting visualizations of the work; include a trivia game; co-brand the interface, e.g. “Harvard & Toyota”

Admittedly I cheated a bit here. A product that was not green would have to take a different and more imaginative approach. Also, I am really talking above about sponsoring/branding a distributed computing model. What about a tougher challenge? What about a pure marketing play?

I will post my thoughts tomorrow!

J

Not-So-Broad-Band

Washington Post reports that the U.S. is far behind in broadband speeds; way, way behind. This is not good news.

This is a negative for all concerned:

- Science and industry are slowed

- Consumers choice is limited and time is wasted

- Media companies are not able to innovate as aggressively

- Advertisers have less effective tools

- Work productivity is likely impacted as well

- Also...well, its just a little embarrassing. Don't you think?

We should get caught-up. We should lead. Perhaps a nice little plank for a 2008 candidate.

Sex & Violence - Bad for Ad

Here is another interesting note about recall: Violent and sexually explicit shows hurt recall. According to a 2003 study:

"...people are 19 percent less likely to remember the same ad if it is embedded in a violent or sexually explicit show."

(2003 U-M Institute for Social Research, referenced from Science Daily)

Now I have to wonder about a few things:

• Is the reverse true? Do racy ads detract from clean shows?

• If racy ads are put into racy shows, does that work better?

J

Above all, be true to thy brand

Interesting to look at the iPhone price cut from a brand standpoint. An analysis I hear on a Harvard Business Review podcast today was spot on. Essentially the point was that the $200 downward move was not true to the Apple brand in form or function.

Apple has been very much about being different and in control. Their products are stand out, unique; and they have thrived on closed systems that they control. However, they reacted to slower than expected sales by slashing price.

Some points:

1. As Apple, should they allow sales numbers to dictate pricing so quickly? Probably not:

   - What was the message this sent to folks who paid $600 bucks? Not a good one.

   - Do they look in control here? Or, do they look a little reactive? I argue the latter.

2. So they reacted. OK. But was the reaction at least in line with the brand? It seems not:

   - This is what many brands do when sales are weak, cut price. Nothing original here.

   - The cut itself was not interesting, it was a normal offer.

   - Why only ½ the difference?

So some trade-offs to consider, that maybe Steve did not this time:

• How will your action make your most loyal and profitable customers feel?

• Are you sure a sales bump is worth stepping out of brand?

• If you must react, are you doing so in a way that will help your brand and your bottom line?

J

Monday List – Save Lives, Energy, Money, Time

A few familiar names here, a few maybe some not so much. Everybody has their list, but hey, at least I give some rationale. If you don't agree, please share some!

#5 Blackle

• Energy saving black version of Google, thats just a cool idea

• Saves energy yeah, but seems how much is a debate

• Needs to just be Google search, not sure what “Blackle” vs. “web” means!

• Green is mainstreaming, other sites should grab this as a marketing/PR/Environmental play

#4 Woot

• If you buy any tech stuff, you will like this site

• One product, one day, until its sold out

• Simple, compelling, social (yeah, some verbz happening here for sure)

(btw - “woot” is an on-line/IM/gaming term used to express excitement, it means “heck yeah!!”

#3 LinkedIn

• This is a great site for professional networking

• There seems to be very little if any competition

• Nearly everyone I know is on it (not sure if that says more about me or the site?)

• Bottom line, much easier than trying to to do this in Outlook or on my Blackberry!!

#2 Google

• No I am not talking about the search interface

• That's still cool (unless you believe Ask's new ad campaign, then it may suck) but how about all this: Blogger, Calendar, Ad Sense, Mobile, Gmail, Reader etc.

• Almost don't need other websites

• Powerful, easy to use, free. For me; they are on the top of the pile at the moment.

#1 Distributed Computing

• OK, so this is not really a website, so what, its my blog!

• This is just great stuff; these programs use your PC's extra processing bandwidth to work on fighting diseases such as cancer, MD, Parkinson's and more!

• As you read this my PC is working on Stanford's Protein Folding project (Protein Folding is a cause of Alzheimer's, Mad Cow (BSE), CJD, ALS, Huntington's, Parkinson's disease, and many Cancers and cancer-related syndromes.)

• Just find one you are moved by and do it, what an easy way to be part of the solution.

J

Great Ad!...What was it for again?

TV ads have become so theatrical, production value is so much higher than in past decades, that they often overshadow the very products and brands they are suppose to promote.

I find many ads entertaining, funny, and very well made. However, are they doing their job?

To be sure, there are many that do a great job of making the product/brand central, Aflac comes to mind as a recent home run.

Of course what is the option? With these traditional ads being blocked more and more, it is almost a must to make our ads so entertaining or note-worthy that people will look for them on the DVR or YouTube!

Today, 15% of consumers say that they use technology to skip TV ads — more than three times as many as in 2004. This behavior will continue to spread — Forrester projects that more than 50% of US households will use a DVR by 2010.

(Forrester 2006)

On line video ads are not the silver bullet either:

My take aways are simple:

1. Make your ads as entertaining as possible, but make your brand central, integrate it into the concept

2. Over the next 10 years work a plan to get your video and rich media into other platforms such as gaming, mobile devices (cell, PSP, iPod, etc.), out-of-home, etc.

3. Find ways to incentivise people to act on, get involved with, and share your advertising

Test your knowledge of some campaigns here: http://money.aol.com/special/best-ads-of-all-time-quiz

How did you do? Did you attached the right brand to the ads?

J

Nine-Wonder-Brands-That-Made-It-to-the-Oxford-Dictionary

Interesting little post about some products and brands that became generic terms/nouns over the years. Very different from the verb phenomenon, but definitely a forerunner.

Nine-Wonder-Brands-That-Made-It-to-the-Oxford-Dictionary


J

Digital as a Verb – Part I

We have all heard it, but maybe not noticed, “Google it” (check Wikipedia) , “Hit the Space”, “Blog”, “Surf”, “Post”. The web is about action, it is about doing and experiencing. Many web-age brands get this, Yahoo for example got it early and played to it with their “Do you Yahoo” campaign. Of course, it may have done well for the Yahoo brand but we all “Google” and I have never heard anyone say they were going to “Yahoo” something, but it was a good attempt to harness this phenomenon.

So what is it that moves a brand into this space? From being an abstract product or service provider to being a part of what we do, a verb? For Google is seems to me that it is very much about the way they started. In 1998 Google was just a logo and a search box (check WebArchive.org). One word, one page, one function (and a few links that I had forgotten about, Linux...) . For this reason the brand name is forever tied to the activity. They were relatively early into the space also, and had at the time the best search algorithm. It is worth nothing that it appears the search function is still what we think of as “Googling”, not so much the newer services they have rolled out.

Also, many web brands are so wrapped around their services it is hard to separate them. Used to be that we would see an ad on TV, billboard, or magazine and we would go visit a store or make a phone call. These activities are separated by time and by medium. Enter the web and it can all happen within minutes and all in the on line space. So even if your product is not purely web based it can be closer to this model than you might think.

But why are all on line brands not experienced as actions, used as verbs, or social powered waves? This is the mystery to crack. We have identified here a few factors:

1. Be a pioneer or at least early into a space

2. Be sure that the service or product is from the heart of your brand

3. Simple is better than complex

4. Be surprisingly good, better, or different

In installment two I think we will take a look at some other companies that have some of this happening right now, Apple is worth a look. Also, we will talk about this phenomenon outside of the actual verb usage proper; what are the essential elements of this phenomenon and how can brand and product marketers create the catalyst to spawn and harness them?

J

Other Blogs - Seth Godin

Original, insightful, entertaining marketing blog. Take a look.

Seth's Blog


J

Top 6 Agency–Client Killers

Welcome to the first weekly top list. Each Monday we will take a spin through another top list. Hey if it worked for David Letterman, then who knows (do I have to have ten, David?)!

We are talking mostly about 1-1 relationships here, about the lead points of contact for an account or piece of an account, not the macro organizational issues, which might be another list. Note that many time these relationships do work very well! However, it is my nature (and usually more interesting!) to look at where things could be better. So, here we go:

#6 – The Wrong People

You know, “Ted is just not a 'fit' for this account”, or “client X just rubs me wrong.” This is sometimes legitimate, but often it can be a cop-out for true effort. Focusing on the work and results can often resolve these perceived issues.

Solution: Roll up the sleeves.

#5 – One Sided

Just like love, it takes two. If one of the partners is “too busy” or detached then beware.

Solution: Reach out often. Be up-front! Find common ground.

#4 – I'm Bored

This is a classic. Keeping the same people on the same business for too long is bad. People get frustrated, jaded and irritable.

Solution: Rotate.

#3 – Wrong Place & Time

No matter how perfect the personalities and how intense the effort, if the retainer or project is just intrinsically flawed due to structural, business or organizational issues, forget it. At the end of the day relationships will suffer.

Solution: Be realistic about where you can add value for your clients and how much. Also, look for incremental work as an exit strategy.

#2 – My Brain is Bigger

Sorry, but you know its true. Too often a client or account lead will feel the need to prove their value by showing how smart they are. The agencies need to show why they are there and the clients often want to show that deep down they really might not need an agency.

Solution: Collaborate and make each other look good. Give credit where it is due and be self confident.

#1 – Malfunctioning Teams

If one side or both have serious team dysfunction, the points of contact will be in continual struggle.

Solution: Reach out for help from the other side. Collaborate on how to support and improve. Also, see #3.

At the end of the day, it really is about people. But the people should be about the work. Good folks working collaboratively towards goals can overcome many of the above pitfalls. Vision is good. Nevertheless, it is too often the case that it begins to be 60% about the work and 40% about positioning, careers, politics, rates, etc. Eventually that turns into 20% work and 80% “where's the door.”

J

MMORPGs - Do you know them?

MMORPG – “Massively Multi-player On-line Role Playing Game”, or more generally MMOG - “Massively Multi-player On-line Gaming”. Have you heard of it? You will.

Forrester has noticed:

“Huge communities like Habbo Hotel (which has 70 million registered accounts) and Cyworld (with 18 million registered accounts just in Korea) not only challenge MySpace.com as social networking destinations, but generate significant revenues from item transactions”

“World of Warcraft is the most popular current example of this type of virtual world — it had 8.5 million active subscribers as of March 2007, each paying up to $15 per month after an initial free trial period.”

(Forrester, March 20007 - The Real Business Of Virtual Worlds, by Paul Jackson)

The business is growing and some real money is at play. What is interesting to me is that it seems there is very little effort to leverage the potential advertising exposure opportunities withing this growing segment.

While there is no doubt that it is tricky in certain cases, it is doable. Some first hand experience: My son and I play FFXI – Final Fantasy XI On line. FFXI is more than a simple game, it is truly a digital world. On our server alone there are no less than 2000 players on-line at any given time. Square Enix maintains some 20 servers for FFXI. The game is immersive and can be played indefinitely, there really is no “end” or “winning”. Players create teams, groups, and do hundreds of missions, quests, and other things together. You can have a career such as cooking or blacksmith; you can marry other players; and you can “skill-up” in literally dozens of areas. Most players play for many years. As with other games of this type, a real-world economy exists around the purchase and sales of in-game items and currency.

Surprisingly, there is zero advertising in this experience. One reason is that there would be no way to advertise in the game itself. You have to realize that the game is fantasy space, it would ruin the effect of a virtual other-world to have Coke and Nike logos all over the place. However, let us not be so narrow. A few ideas:

• There are many other interfaces as you log on and manage your account. A brand could absolutely buy space in the log-on, billing, messaging, account, and other areas.

• Sponsorships are another fertile ground. A brand could gain massive exposure and impact by offering to pick-up ½ the subscription fees for a month; or they could work with the game publisher to create a hot new in-game item.

• There could also be brand reps in game. EA, a huge player in gaming, could hire someone to organize an EA group within WOW, FFXI, or another game. By leveraging the resources of a large company such as EA the members of such a group could gain some interesting benefits.

• Points and rebates could be offered in the form on in-game currency or items.

These are just a few ideas. This area will continue to grow. It will expand into different devices, business application, broader audiences and more.

J

PEOPLE + Proposition

Being in between gigs I have had the chance to talk to many of the agencies in Atlanta recently. Combining this with my time working at several big agencies, it seems to me that there are some distinct positions agencies are moving in between. Only a few of them seem to equate to a compelling value proposition. I look at a few of the more prevalent ones below.

Positioning one: Strategy

These agencies stand their ground and don't cave into the lure of revenue from junior staff. They hire senior pros, they go in with strategy, that is what they sell. The execution is as needed. There is little work for the sake of work. Of course, the private agencies are in a better position to do this than those that are beholden to Wall Street. A challenging position, but no doubt a more unique value prop than others.

Positioning two: Creative

This position is about art. It's about being artists. Compelling, exciting, award winning creative is the lead sales point. This is all good, but it seems that is needs other elements to stand alone. My sense is that this is not a long term proposition. Businesses face too many challenges to pay big money for beauty, they must have ROI and other concrete wins. This is great as a part of a portfolio, it feels thin by itself.

Positioning three: Advanced Experience

Where are we going in the next decade? How will people be experiencing digital content? Got a picture in your mind? OK, then let's build for that now. Get the IT pieces, the organizational systems, and the partnerships in place now to be there first. Broadband, on the go, distributed, democratized, less about page turning and more about visual immersion; these things are where we are likely headed. Lot's of value and differentiation to be had here.

Positioning four: Buffet

We do it all. The services page on the website is a laundry list. Full service. Many of the big agencies are in this mode. One stop shops can serve big clients and create 100 million dollar agencies portfolios. The danger is you loose identity for size. When Avenue A pitches against Digitas, how does one really differentiate against he other. The reality is they really can't. It comes down to who puts on the best show.

Of course there are also other positions and many specialty firms focusing on search, production, etc.

At the end of the day, no matter where an agency falls, its about people. However, better to have a unique, compelling value proposition and great teams rather than just the latter.

J

STILL on the Frontier

What is important about a digital marketing program? ROI, ROMS, brand metrics? Yes and much more. Do those things usually change the game? No. Do we care about changing the game? Sometimes, right? When we are heads down building, winning, running, fixing; then probably not. When we look at our careers, when we blue sky, when we have off line chats; then yes, we think about if we are having real impact. Two points in this quick post:

1. There are not enough of us that are actively moving to change the game. Yours truly included.

2. Digital marketing is not about things and results anymore. Yes we still build “things” such as pages and we do need to hit target metric numbers. But that is not where the game is.

Notice I say that we need to “actively” move to change the game. I think many in the industry are trying, but what are we doing to build relationships, environments, and situations that allow it to happen. Again, its so heads down now. Business is good, staffing is a huge challenge, and many of us are locked into “rolling up the sleeves”. The new boom is about the expansion of “Traditional Interactive”. All good. But can we invest more in expanding the borders? Invest margin, time, people, dare I say invest a little client-equity in this? We are the pioneers, we are still on the frontier; I for one want to live like it again.

One concept that holds a lot of promise for me is this: digital marketing's shinning stars and hot spots are not about numbers; they are about shock waves, concussion, viral, they are social catalyst and enablers. Obvious ones are the social sites like YouTube, Face Book, and the bunch. But what about non-digital brands, are they making noise here? Can they? Some are. Many more can by wrapping their heads around this difficult concept: impact in digital marketing is best achieved by paying more attention to the periphery than the center. I will talk about this in a post coming soon:

Digital as a Verb

J

TOTAL Eclipse

Many years ago, during the internet “bubble”, an associate and I were debating whether or not the web would eventually replace virtually all brick-and-mortar stores. The very fact that we were having that discussion is an indication of why there was a bubble in the first place; I have to admit it is now slightly embarrassing to admit the conversation happened. Clearly there is no indication that a scenario like that would ever come to pass in the imaginable future. However, a recent car buying experience highlights how channels, distribution points, or other business elements can be if not totally eclipsed certainly made irrelevant to those that are comfortable with a mouse and keyboard.

I have owned a decent number of vehicles in my time: sports cars to family wagons, Volkswagen to Ford, new to “pre-owned”. One thing I have learned is that buying new cars is, IMHO, wasteful. I say this with all due respect to those who live in the new car biz, including my father who supported me and my family for the better part of my childhood by selling and managing the financing of new cars. All that to say, I recently bought a used car.

My son, the first in a long line of children waiting for the provision of a ride from yours truly, is going to be sixteen in December and thus I planned to give him my car. Since the car needs some repairs and cleaning up, I thought I would start me search early. So, about three months ago I started the efforts to find a new ride assuming it would be a slow process and that I would be able to wait for the right one to come along. The process was not slow and could have been completed without direct contact. The reason it was not slow is easy to explain and has nothing to due with the advancement of on line research tools or e commerce, rather it is directly attributable to me being too consumed with the browsing process to allow it to go on any longer. You see, after about six weeks I was too distracted by the process to concentrate on much else, so I decided at that point it had to end. But I am getting ahead of myself, the second point was the one I set out to post about: no traditional channel required.

I began my search by using what I consider the best source for car reliability ratings, Consumer Reports. This site allows you to research and compare almost any late model car you can imagine. With ratings driven by user questionnaires this is a predecessor to the vogue user-generated content that is so talked about recently. After using this site to eliminate the weaklings and create a short list, it was off to the many on line super-stores to compare prices, mileage, etc. I began on the CarMax website and also spent time on eBay. Several other sites that I was less familiar with turned out to be very useful for comparison including Auto Web and CraigsList. I also peeked into several car dealer sites and newspaper’s on line classifieds, all of which were less than helpful. The things that separated the useful sites from the not so useful sites were selection, ease of use, and ease of transacting.

In the end, I had about three cars on my short list. I found a great deal on one in Tennessee, but it turned out to have a rebuilt title which killed the financing. I secured my financing from eLoan with out ever picking up the phone. In the end I found an amazing deal on a car in West Palm Beach via eBay. After exchanging a few emails with the seller it was time for the first human contact, a phone call. I rang up Harvey at Florida Motor Cars. The call was simply to verify that I would be able to test drive the car prior to handing over the check, this if course was no problem. I certainly could have had this same discussion via email, so in reality this was an optional contact.

To get from Atlanta to West Palm I needed a plane ticket, this was easy to manage via several searches on PriceLine, Orbitz, Hotwire, etc. Once the right fare was found the actual booking and ticketing was all electronic. The car is great, the process was fun, and in reality I could have had the car delivered to my front door if I desired. There was no mandatory face-to-face contact required.

So, while I am not having discussions about the end of retail store fronts these days, looking back perhaps that conversation some seven years ago was not so foolish at heart after all. Does anyone doubt that real estate, finance, retail, wholesale, B2B, etc. are all heading further into the digital space? Can anyone question that our kids and their children will not use the same buying channels and methods we use today? There is perhaps not a total eclipse on the way, but the Internet and its associated technologies are a revolution and we are in the early days.

J