Trends

Facebook gets the door slammed in its face

August 23, 2007

Picture_1_3 Shhh….listen for it.

It's happening all over the world.  Companies are slamming the door in the face of Facebook.

Citing productivity and security, corporations from Australia's largest telecommunications company, Telstra to many ma and pa store fronts, are banning the growing social networking tool.

According to London's Telegraph, more than 2/3 of UK companies are making Facebook off limits and visiting it during work hours is a sackable offense. (I so wish I spoke UK)  Interesting that London was just identified as having more Facebook members than any other city in the world.

According to a survey by Sophos, over 50% of workplaces are now "FaceBlocking" and the ones who have not are afraid of employee backlash.

And it's not just corporate America.  Colleges and public access points are also blocking or considering blocking the site.

What do you think?  Smart?  Paranoid?  An over-reaction?  Justified?  If you were the CEO of an organization, what would you do?

Related posts:

Social Media isn't just for kids

MySpace holds first primary

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Would you recognize if your product shifted categories?

June 27, 2007

Picture_6_2

 

Remember the first desktop computers (shut up if you are too young!).  We were amazed at their capacity.  Their speed.  And their ability to change the way we work.

I can still remember saying "who needs a 1 gig hard drive…that’s crazy!"  Now, I wouldn’t buy one that has less than 120.  And that was just a couple years ago. 

When was the last time you marveled at your computer?  Or picked out a new one because it could make a spreadsheet or design a brochure or reach out to people across the globe?

Those functional aspects of the product no longer thrill us.  They’ve become a given.

It seems to me that computers have shifted categories a little.  Sure, they are still a business tool.  But all brands, makes and models are business tools and the reality is, any one of them can probably meet and exceed most people’s needs.

Apple was the first to recognize that computers also say something about us as people and that design matters.  Remember the first iMacs with their crazy colors?  People were taken aback.  The color of the computer does not change its functionality at all.

But it does change what your computer says about you.  A hot pink computer?  That connotes something about the owner, eh?

Dell has announced that they’re jumping on that boat.  Today, they launch their new Inspiron notebook series in 8 vibrant colors, including midnight blue, spring green and jet black.   

In a very Apple-like move, the product launch will occur in the Macy’s department store in Manhattan’s Herald Square.

What makes this fascinating isn’t the colored computers.  What makes this discussion-worthy is the recognition that companies, brands and products shift over time. Think about your business.  What used to make people ohhh and ahhh but now has become a given?

What’s your new ohhh and ahhh?  Or are you still hyping the given as though it gives your customers the same tingles it used to?

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What if Seth Godin was full of crap?

June 15, 2007

Picture_4 He’s become the JFK of the blogosphere.  Revered.  Quoted.  Beloved.

But what if ones of these days he said something that just didn’t ring true to you. Or that you vehemently disagreed with? Would you publicly say so?   Would you call him out or disagree? 

As I watch us all invent this medium and how it is used to create thought leadership surrounding marketing and branding, I’m struck by how genteel we are.  We rarely argue with one another.  We point to each other and "atta boy" a good post.  And there’s nothing wrong with that. 

As long as our readers know there’s a balance.  As long as they can trust that we’ll tell them when the Emperor’s naked.

And it’s not just Seth.  I think we do it with each other all the time. Haven’t you read another marketer’s post and thought "he/she’s way off base there?"  Did you comment or post your counter-viewpoint?  Or did you just shrug and let it hang?

Seth’s just a great example because he’s become the marketing icon.  He’s down to first name status.  He’s the Bono or Cher of our industry.  But, as smart and insightful as he is, that doesn’t make him infallible. 

And if you say…"well, Seth is never wrong…" does that mean he stays in the safe zone?  No one is always right unless they don’t push beyond the accepted truths, right?

What do you think?  If Seth (or Guy or Kathy Sierra or any respected marketing/branding blogger) posted something today that was based on a faulty assumption or flew in the face of a marketing truth as you know/believe it to be – would you write about it?   

Maybe the better question is — have you ever?

UPDATE:  Mack Collier asks a very interesting and smart question.  If Seth were to launch a generic blog with no tie to him/his name –would it survive?  Thrive?

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Viral product placement — do you think it drives sales?

June 14, 2007

One of the newer trends in marketing is the development of videos (think Mentos & Diet Coke) with specific products playing a primary role.  On YouTube alone, the Mentos video was viewed over 2.2 million times.  And imagine what that number balloons to when you consider all the places the video was shared.

A more recent viral video coined "Catch" features a guy catching a pair of Ray-Ban glasses on his face.  Despite some pretty hard to believe scenarios.

That video, on YouTube alone, has been watched almost 2.5 million times.  But…does it makes you want to buy Ray-Bans?  Or does it even make you more aware of the brand?

Josh Warner, President of the Feed Company who produced the video sure hopes so.  He was the subject of an interesting Q&A on the topic.  Their home page says "200,000 videos are uploaded to YouTube and the web every day.  You might be an agency or entertainment company that’s great at making ’em but getting web videos ranked, forwarded, and featured is an art in itself.   Let us feed the monster – we know what it’s hungry for."

What do  you think? 

  • Does it sell product?
  • Does it raise brand awareness?
  • When the viewers realize its been produced as an "ad" does that change/diminish its effect?
  • Would the technique play better if it occurred naturally or doesn’t it matter?

 

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Name a new product from 2006

May 6, 2007

Picture_1 Advertising spending rose from $271 billion in ’05 to $285 billion last year.  And yet, according to a survey conducted annually, 81% of consumers could not name one of the Top 50 new product launched in 2006.

Could you?  (And saying Dr. Pepper Berries & Cream is cheating!)

The number of new products released in 2006 was  32,624.  Surely we could remember just one.  This 81% lack of recognition is an all-time high.

Here are the numbers:

2006    81%
2005    57%
2004    56%
2003    50%
2002    33%

The survey noted that most of the products were launched via traditional media. So not only is 2006 an all-time high.  It is an all-time high in a big, bad way. 

Why?

  • Do you think TiVo had anything to do with it?
  • Do you suppose the fact that most cable and satellite companies now supply DVRs had something to do with it?
  • Do you think the fact that magazine circulation is down has anything to do with it?
  • Do you think Sirius or XM Radio have anything to do with this?
  • Do you suppose 15 million active blogs influenced this number?

If you had a brand new product and a reasonable budget, how would you launch it today?

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Meet the Age of Conversation Authors

April 19, 2007

Picture_5 About two weeks ago, Gavin Heaton and I announced that we were going to publish an e-book called The Age of Conversation.

We’re going to donate all proceeds to Variety, the Children’s Charity.  We’ve been spotlighting different chapters across the globe throughout our posts.

Then we shared that the book will be dedicated to CK and her mom, Sandra Kerley.

Of course, it was going to be an incredibly short book if only Gavin and I wrote it. So we invited all of you to join us.  To kick it off with some fire power, we started with an impressive list of confirmed authors to be sure:

Gavin Heaton
Drew McLellan
CK
Valeria Maltoni
Emily Reed
Katie Chatfield
Greg Verdino
Mack Collier
Lewis Green
Sacrum
Ann Handley
Paul McEnany
Roger von Oech
Anna Farmery
David Armano
Bob Glaza
Mark Goren
Matt Dickman
Scott Monty
Richard Huntington
Cam Beck
David Reich
Luc Debaisieux
Sean Howard
Tim Jackson
Patrick Schaber
Roberta Rosenberg
Uwe Hook
Tony D. Clark
Todd Andrlik
Toby Bloomberg
Steve Woodruff
Steve Bannister
Steve Roesler
Stanley Johnson
Spike Jones
Nathan Snell
Simon Payn
Ryan Rasmussen
Ron Shevlin
Roger Anderson
Robert Hruzek
Rishi Desai
Phil Gerbyshak
Peter Corbett
Pete Deutschman
Nick Rice
Nick Wright
Michael Morton
Mark Earls
Mark Blair
Mario Vellandi
Lori Magno
Kristin Gorski
Kris Hoet
G.Kofi Annan
Kimberly Dawn Wells
Karl Long
Julie Fleischer
Jordan Behan
John La Grou
Joe Raasch
Jim Kukral
Jessica Hagy
Janet Green
Jamey Shiels
Dr. Graham Hill
Gia Facchini
Geert Desager
Gaurav Mishra
Gary Schoeniger
Gareth Kay
Faris Yakob
Emily Clasper
Ed Cotton
Dustin Jacobsen
Tom Clifford
David Polinchock
David Koopmans
David Brazeal
David Berkowitz
Carolyn Manning
Craig Wilson
Cord Silverstein
Connie Reece
Colin McKay
Chris Newlan
Chris Corrigan
Cedric Giorgi
Brian Reich
Becky Carroll
Arun Rajagopal
Andy Nulman
Amy Jussel
AJ James
Kim Klaver
Sandy Renshaw
Susan Bird
Ryan Barrett
Troy Worman
CB Whittemore
S. Neil Vineberg

The topics are as remarkable as the authors.  These authors are going to tackle everything from community to religion, job seeking to design, sharing to television.  And just about everything in between.

In less than 1 week, we exceeded our 100 author goal and we’re off to an incredible book.&nbs p; Thanks to all of you who have decided to write a chapter, to all of you who promoted the author request and to all of you who I know will continue to help us spread the word.

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Don Imus: The dark side of citizen marketing?

April 13, 2007

Zoo_2

Let me cut to the chase.

I have never listened to Don Imus.  I could care less what he says.  I could care less if he got to keep his job or not.  Do I think he’s a boorish pig, based on what he said about the Rutgers basketball team?  Sure.  But he certainly does not hold exclusive rights to that label. 

To me, all of that is irrelevant.

Because the issue isn’t Don Imus.  It isn’t racism.  Or political correctness.  Or respecting women.  If it were about those issues, most of the shock jocks and reality TV producers would also have lost their jobs yesterday.

Imus isn’t the worst of them…he’s just one of them.

What matters in the Imus firing is who fired the fatal shot.  And why.

We’re experiencing the birth of a new era – Citizen Marketing. We’ve all celebrated it.  But perhaps that is only half the story.

In the old days, the power rested in the hands of a few.  The zookeepers, or the sellers, ran the zoo.  They decided what the animals ate, which animals were in the petting zoo and what the hours of operation were.  It was at best, a very paternal relationship.  At worst, it was a one-sided dictatorship.

But today, the chimpanzees have the keys.  And in this early phase of this marketplace shift, where the buyers are actually the ones in power, it’s more than a little chaotic.  There are no rules.  Bananas on tap 24 hours a day! 

On the good side – the chimpanzees’ exuberance can be very contagious and they can encourage/force the zookeepers to be better at their job, just to keep up with them. 

But because there are no rules, the chimpanzees can also just as easily decide to pick on a particular zookeeper and fling feces at him.  And because there are so many of them and because human nature says, "join the crowd," once a few of the chimpanzees start tossing poop, many of the other chimpanzees join in.  Without really stopping to understand why. Mob mentality flashes hot and bright. And reason rarely has a starring role.  That doesn’t mean the mob is always wrong.  But it does suggest that the firestorm doesn’t allow for a lot of introspection or consideration.

Let’s face it.  Don Imus earned ratings and advertisers because he was a boorish pig.  And the chimpanzees (in this case…advertisers and the target audiences of those advertisers) rewarded him by buying more advertising, giving him a more prestigious time slot, more guest appearances, more fame, etc. etc.

I am also quite sure that the Rutgers comment was not Don’s first racist or sexist comment.  I’m even willing to bet that some things he has said in the past were even more hurtful and offensive to some.   But the chimpanzees screeched and hooted, loving his antics.

Until one day, a few chimpanzees didn’t like what he said.  Who knows why.  He was shooting off his mouth saying vulgar things, like they had trained him to do.  But for whatever reason, this particular statement got everyone’s attention.  And the chimpanzees started making a different kind of noise.  And throwing feces.  Pretty soon, they were making enough noise that others noticed.  And joined in.  And pretty soon, the only way to calm the chimpanzees was to get the zookeeper out of there.

And its not just Imus.

A story about an American Girl store and a 6 year-old’s Target doll garners over 409,000 Google results in less than a month. 

A story about a blogger who received death threats now has an excess of 553,000 Google results, A CNN appearance, and professional and personal lives altered forever. 

Mob mentality.  Good or bad.  Right or wrong.  Who knows?

Who will the chimpanzees go after next? A good guy?  A bad guy? Your favorite brand?  Your company?

Should Don Imus have been fired?  I have no idea.  The truth is, he’ll have another gig in less than a month and we’ll chalk this up to, "well, that’s Imus."  And he’ll still be a boorish pig.

It doesn’t matter.  What matters is that we need to understand that just like there was a good and a bad side to the zookeepers being in charge, there’s a dark side to citizen-driven marketing as well.  It’s a glorious day at the zoo until the chimpanzees start tossing the feces in your direction.

We are the citizens of citizen marketing.  We’re going to set the course. 

Unless of course, we get swept up into the mob.

Flickr photo courtesy of jj_mac

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