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October 28 2011
Welcome to Connected Enterprise 2011
The map shows Iceland. I’m over the Atlantic on my flight to JFK, just a stop before Arizona and Connected Enterprise 2011.
When Ray called me a year ago to ask me if I’d be willing to join a new company he was setting up, I didn’t hesitate much. I actually didn’t hesitate at all. I felt like a total junior compared to him & some of the guys he was bringing along.
On November 10, we officially launched. And look where we are now. We’ve been gathering even more stars in our Constellation — losing some in the process, even though they’ll remain with us forever, as stars’ signature never really dissapear. We’ve gained lots of traction, clients, media coverage, mentors. And we’re organizing our first event, a TED meets LeWeb meets Web2.0 conference —pesposterous? You know what they say, shoot for the moon, you’ll end up in the stars. In Constellations.
And we’ve been named best New Analyst Firm of the year by IIAR. What more can you ask?
Well, I’ll ask more. I’ll ask that you keep bearing with us. You might think many call themselves disruptive just for branding reasons. Constellations’ shapes are disruptive by nature. They embrace new stars, leave others become brighter. Constellations like brightness, wherever it comes from. We all shine together.
Look at the sky tonight, you will see some new bright lights reflecting from Scottsdale.
Welcome to Connected Enterprise 2011.
October 24 2011
Lessons in Innovation, from Humans to Virtuality
Experience, discover, learn. Be enthusiastic.
The best experiences in life come unexpected. This was one. I wasn’t expecting that a conference in west-central Poland would be so key for my thirst in understanding innovation around the world. I’m still taking it all in.
The question about what is innovation is one that fascinates me. I remember this debate with my Constellation colleagues over what metric or set of data could be used to measure and value innovation. There was no definite answer. There will never be one. Innovation is as much an input than an output. And innovation takes as many forms as there would be definitions anyway.
But still, innovation is my focus. Just that I’m not trying to define innovation as a metric, but as a process.
My presentation itself was a process. I was putting some finishing touches to my e-nnovation talk when the news that Steve Jobs had passed away hit my screen. For an entire morning, I was not able to work. I was not able to focus. It touched me in ways that are too personal for me to share.
I never met my greatest mentor. I wanted so much to be like him. But, his message was the opposite. Be yourself, with passionate intensity.
Naval nailed it. I scrapped my presentation. Restarted one. It is not perfect [1]. But it is what I wanted to do that day. Be myself.
The five lessons
I arbitrarily chose five lessons that we could derive from Steve Jobs’ legacy. Connect the dots. Never fear failure. Marry art & science. Possess a sense of vision. Create the future.
This is, for me, the essence of I2C, innovation-to-consumers.
——use Safari 5+ in order enjoy the fully-animated presentation.
Here’s the gist of my speech.
Connect the dots
You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something —your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.
We’ve known videocassettes, we’ve known CDs and DVDs, we know hard drives. We’ve gone from analog to digital. We’ve gone from purely physical to bits. This is where you start when you want to innovate. You understand the trends. You pay homage to the past. Respect it. And then hack it.
By understanding it, I don’t mean looking at the past’s content, but by realizing that we’re witnessing the death of friction, the multiplication of screens & platforms and that many goods are becoming purely transient —in so far as their physical envelope is being taken away from them.
Never fear failure
This is one I’m constantly hearing when I work with the startup ecosystem. There’s a reason why. With fear of failure comes no breakthrough. No innovation.
Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations.
That quote is not perfect, as Don Dodge would say in a talk unrelated to Jobs the following day: sometimes you just have to keep on making mistakes on the same idea. At one point, you’ll nail it. But, do hack your culture, be honest with yourself and the feedback provided by your peers —whether you want to dismiss it or embrace it.
Apple’s history is filled with failures, one pundits like to mock when they address fanboys. But still: the Newton, eWorld and the Pippin. We now have the iPad, iCloud and the iPhone, one of the most successful gaming platforms around.
Plus, what is the true meaning of a success —the evil twin of failure? As Benjamin Joffe brilliantly mentions in many of his talks, the meanings are culturally-sensitive. Just look at ‘Quality’. In the US, it means that something just works (as advertised I could add). In Japan however, it means perfection. In South Korea? New. And in China, quality is linked with the status it provides.
The status. Remember that one.
Marry art & science
I think part of what made the Macintosh great was that the people working on it were musicians, poets, artists, zoologists and historians who also happened to be the best computer scientists in the world.
Be elegantly human. In an earlier article about the reactions to the proposed Netflix/Qwister businesses, I laid out some basics consumer behaviors traits. Human behaviors that shouldn’t be forgotten.
Apple was able to work upon those. By often staying close to what humans expect from products or services —an art—, it offered bridges. Bridges from the CDs to the hard drives world —the iPod. Bridges from digital to bits.
No, it was not the first company to offer a portable music player. Nor the first one to offer downloads. Nor even the first one to link the two. But it was the first one who understood that humans were on the other side of the machine. Be elegantly human.
In a nutshell, humans are loyal to their habits. We don’t want to lose the comfort. Especially because it’s our own comfort. We also tend to value this current comfort more than a later comfort. Innovation needs bridges.
Possess a sense of vision
You can’t just ask customers what they want and they try to give that to them.
It is important to understand that although rational, not all humans activities are rationalized. Meaning that we all do stuff according to habits, needs or enjoyment. And we’re not always aware of those divisions.
Innovation must take time as a factor to consider. Pietro Zuco touched this concept when he wrote about targeting iPhone applications for the right type of time. There’s busy time —usually work. There’s free time —where its allocation is freely determined by us. And there’s dead time —in a doctor’s waiting room for instance.
This is key. Key because the success —or failure— of every innovation is not due to pure circumstances, but by, again, looking at what consumers are doing. There is a competition for this time.
And the competition is more complex than it looks. It also evolves.
Angry Birds —and the whole “social” or “casual” gaming craze— is just a shot in the past. Remember those pinballs and arcade games? One penny, one game. One limited time span.
Let’s go further. Taking inspiration from both late talks with gaming industry expert Francesco Fondi in Tokyo and Michael E. Porter’s Five Forces, a famous theory related to business development [2], I’ve created a framework for the competitive rivalry in consumer-oriented innovation.
I’m proposing four threats in this rivalry:
- — The Threat of Time
- — The Threat of Substitute Entertainment
- — The Threat of Price
- — The Threat of New Entrants
Yes, there’s actually a more general threat than time and attention, one that the gaming industry has, for the major part, yet to grasp: The Threat of Substitute Entertainment, i.e Twitter is a direct competitor of Angry Birds. Having a beer with friends is a direct competitor with your XBox gaming time [3]. All human activities are in competition —even if they can overlap. News reading can be pitched against listening to music. Window-shopping against updating your LinkedIn profile.
Let me stop here for now. My research is on-going, I need to brush the rough edges of this theory.
Create the future
Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking.
Once you have the start of the drawing —connecting the dots, once you have surpassed your fear of failure, once you’ve understood humanity as an art as much as a science —don’t be just a salesman and once you’ve risen above what the past teaches you —the vision, you can start imagining the future.
The future is virtual. And we already live in a virtual world.
You car is virtual. You, like the Chinese thinking “new”, are also buying for status. For the image it provides you. For the lifestyle it makes you feel part of. Or for the sentimental value it triggers. That’s virtual.
Look around you and think. How do you assess value to the things that surround you? How do you value your possessions?
Yes, you live in a virtual world. We all do. It’s there. Around you. All the time.
So, don’t discount those virtual items that are all the rage in Asia. I might not buy any, but I’m still from a generation that has known VHS tapes. I rationalized content as physical. It never actually was. It was always virtual, just with a physical box. The next generations will not have these stigmas from the past. Those dots we have a hard time connecting sometimes will just feel natural for them.
It will be their reality.
It’s my choice to make it mine.
I’m naked, I’ve got nothing to lose.
So do you.
—- I did not rehearse it once, some points were not clear enough when I articulated them, hence some clarifications in this essay. Some transitions did not work as nicely as I thought too, I might have wanted to cover a bit too much ground for the 45 minutes I had
- Michael E. Porter, How Competitive Forces Shape Strategy, Harvard Business Review, March/April 1979
- I had mentioned Nintendo in my e-nnovation talk: after a subsequent hallway conversation, I will easily admit that I stand corrected: it is probably the one that understands this shift best amongst the big three, even if it still refuses to really see the threat coming from the smartphone ecosystem.
September 30 2011
Facebook Page Timeline for Brands
Technology is a glittering lure, but there is the rare occasion when the public can be engaged on a level beyond flash. If they have a sentimental bond with the product.
With the introduction of the timeline, Facebook shows that it’s not an engineering company. It’s not even a social network. It’s the carousel the fictional Donald Francis Draper brilliantly pitches in the famous ‘Mad Men’ episode.
Facebook understands social sciences. Facebook understands human behavior.
As humans interact with brands —whether one finds it a positive or negative evolution, will Facebook take that spectacular step for them too?
A sentimental bond.
Facebook Pages always felt constrained to me. They never offered the same quality of engagement that a personal profile would give —and for good reason: Brands are not people.
Pages are half-hearted. While they obviously provide a potent platform to engage with users on Facebook, they were never given the display of an identity. And I don’t even think Pages are the true force of Facebook for brands (more on that below).
Still.
Brands have personas. Brands have a past, a present and a future. At its essence, branding is about storytelling. The Timeline experience was made for them.
The itch.
I decided to undertake an exercise. An exercise of style, sure, but more like an exercise in branding experience.
Apple is not on Facebook. Yet [1]. Below is thus a fictional future, a result of my imagination [2] .
From top to bottom:
- The Billboard. The cover image feature for personal profiles —here’s my customization— shouts “branding” since I’ve seen it [3]. Perfect for the latest product —still not the iPhone at the time of this writing.
- The History. From Apple’s foundation, to 1997′s coming back of Steve Jobs, to today. Brands have a past, a present and a future.
- The Fans. You, me and all the Apple fanboys.
- The Application box and its Selector. Here a feature of Apple’s main areas of interest —as shown on its website.
- The Storytelling. Quite evidently, the stories. No more falling from a cliff —as in the current news feed, but in chronological order.
- The Product Display. A featured story, here images of the iPad line. A Facebook version of the point of sale display.
The glittering lure.
The exercise was worth it. First and foremost, it cemented my belief that Pages would need a slightly different set of tools.
Giving Pages the ability to add third-party applications, even as welcome pages, has been well used —if not overused— by brands. Now, if I truly think about it, most of those are actually annoying from a user point of view —and the user experience is the focus of Facebook.
Remember when we were able to add applications on our profiles, through ‘boxes’? Exactly. I wouldn’t be surprised if Facebook decided to simply disallow the possibility of using specific code on Pages. It would piss some brands off and certainly leave some developers in disarray, but Facebook has always had a kind of “Take no prisoner” approach to its UX changes that I truly admire. I call it focus.
A deeper bond.
The focus is now on the activity streams. The signals given and received by users. With the extension of the vocabulary of signals beyond Like (Listen, Watch or Want come to mind), brands should be focused on signaling applications. Not custom welcomes on their static Pages, but applications that talk and engage with their customers. Living applications. Evolving applications. Applications that communicate and signal seamlessly with people —the Washington Post social reader being an example of this evolution.
The power is in the ecosystem. In the organic discussions. Much less in the more static Pages.
Think about it, a user can signal the music he’s listening to via Spotify, a brand could signal the start of a live stream by pinging all its Fans, like for that iPhone event next week.
In my above rendition though, I went for a tamer Application box. A display of customized elements. It wouldn’t disturb brands as much, especially the smaller ones, but I’m not sure such an experience would be satisfactory in the long run.
Nostalgia.
Another very evident element of the move towards a Timeline for brands would be the surfacing of the past. Like for all of us who suddenly re-discover past updates and pictures, brands would have to take a serious look at their Facebook past.
What would Nestle do? Would it keep the controversial statements when it got hit by comments about its environmental record —a ‘campaign’ launched by Greenpeace?
This leads me to one last important difference in this imaginary Page: I have left out the possibility of showing “Everyone” as a default view. It never made complete sense for me to leave it as is anyway, unless the Page goal was to be a discussion forum. I wouldn’t think Facebook would shut this completely though —again, its focus is on the user.
Around and around.
This was only a pure exercise. A brainstorming session with myself —feel free to flame me. I have no knowledge of Facebook willing to move towards a Timeline model for Pages. I even expect them to come up with something much more disruptive than what I’ve designed here.
My point was and remains that a deeper bond with brands is possible on Facebook. Facebook understands human behavior. Like that Greek named Teddy.
Technology is a glittering lure, but there is the rare occasion when the public can be engaged on a level beyond flash. If they have a sentimental bond with the product. My first job I was in-house at a fur company. This old pro copy writer. A Greek named Teddy. And Teddy told me the most important idea in advertising is “new.” It creates an itch. You simply put your product in there as a kind of calamine lotion. But he also talked about a deeper bond with a product. Nostalgia. It’s delicate but potent. …
Teddy told me that in Greek, “nostalgia” literally means “the pain from an old wound.” It’s a twinge in your heart far more powerful than memory alone. This device isn’t a spaceship, it’s a time machine. It goes backwards, and forwards… it takes us to a place where we ache to go again. It’s not called the wheel, it’s called the carousel. It let’s us travel the way a child travels – around and around, and back home again, to a place where we know are loved.
—Don Draper, in ‘Mad Men’, ‘The Wheel’, season 1, episode 13 (2007).
—
- it may happen as soon as October 4th
- I have used designs and images belonging to Facebook and Apple to create this mock-up, I believe it is a case of fair-use —and admiration.
- Mashable displays some nice mockups created by advertising agencies
September 21 2011
The Consumer Inertia
Netflix has been making the headlines this week for its strategic move —dividing the company in two, one dedicated to its DVD business, one to its nascent streaming offering.
I think it’s a smart move. Mark Suster tells it better than I ever could:
the real threat comes from the change in technologies that rule the old business obsolete. Streaming. It’s clear that in the future movies & TV will be delivered to our homes from the cloud. Indeed for many this is already the case.
To win the future he needs to attack his core assets by building new ones. Very few companies ever do this. It would be like if Microsoft undermined its Office franchise by aggressively pursuing a Google-Docs-like strategy. Yeah, I know they did, but too little, too late, too lame.
Having two entities focusing on separate business models will allow them to iterate individually, unconstrained by the limits of each other.
But it’s smart move with a caveat.
Let’s put the branding decision aside [1] and consider this: consumers exhibit latent inertia in favor of repeat purchases.
Repeat that sentence again. Mark brilliantly shows why it makes sense for a company to adopt such a strategy, I’m reversing the stance and tackling the problem from the consumers’ prism.
A prism? More like a brouhaha of discontent. An uproar that reminds me a lot of the deluge of expletives following each and every one of Facebook’s UI change [2].
Let’s trim my sentence to its essence: consumers exhibit inertia. It is how we, as humans, are hard-wired. Whatever it is we say, we tend to favor comfort and the well-known instead of the relative darkness that novelty is. And it is a reality businesses cannot discount. Netflix shouldn’t.
Inertia
Inertia has two components.
One, the body in motion has a tendency to remain in motion. In the Netflix example, consumers buying DVDs keep on buying DVDs, small price changes notwithstanding.
Two, resistance to change. People buying DVDs resist the idea switching their content viewing pleasure towards a new —unknown— form of content digestion.
There will always be some form of persistence in consumers choice, a higher probability of choosing a product that we have purchased in the past. It has to do with loyalty. It has to do with security. We’ve had videotapes and discs for years. We know them. We feel safe with them.
Loss aversion
The correlated effect of inertia is loss aversion, a potent dynamic in human behavior. There is a utility premium required to trigger purchases of novelties.
In order to watch DVDs, you have your home entertainment system set up accordingly. Streaming movies requires a different set of tools. Not only consumers show inertia in their will —and ability— to adapt to a new form of technology, they show some aversion to losing a place where they feel comfortable in, their current —and more than satisfactory— setup [3].
My father still records memos on micro cassettes [4]. Have you tried to find those nowadays? Unless you go to specialty shops in Akihabara, you probably will have a hard time. The market has moved towards flash memory devices. But it just doesn’t work for my father, he has a series of equipment all based on micro cassettes and doesn’t want to lose the comfort and habit that has allowed his current rate of productivity [5].
The learning curve of a new technology is hindering —once familiarized with one system, consumers tend to stick with it [6].
In our current case, early adopters and generations that have not lived long enough with physical containers of content will easily switch to content streaming, the others will take longer and will need to be provided with incentives.
The dynamics of catering for those two types of consumers are widely different. The rate at which consumers adapt to change varies a great lot and, in order to iterate fast enough, dividing the company makes perfect sense.
Even more sense as we’re witnessing virtual goods at work.
Content as a virtual good
Content is a virtual good. It has always been. You could touch its container, whether a videotape or a disc, but you were and will never be able to actually touch the content. Still, that content is the reason why you buy or rent the physical container.
The physical touch versus a creation of the mind. This is one of the forces behind content disruption. Music is going through it. Information —as in newspaper— is struggling with it. The movie industry experiences the same.
The absence of physical touch or the endowment effect at work.
The —disputed— theory of the endowment effect states that all of us tend to value a product or a service more once we own it [7]. When you negotiate the price of a product you own and want to sell, the fact that you’re setting the price higher than the one of the potential buyer is obviously due of your will to maximize your past investment in it —thus not underselling it— but, less evidently, because you feel its value higher as it is …yours.
Now it can be stated that a purely virtual good diminishes this endowment feeling. Streaming unwillingly diminishes the value of a DVD content: it’s harder to grasp that you own —or temporarily own, as in renting— content without its physical container. The DVD yields higher value not only because of its actual manufacturing, but also because of its feel.
This is why the entertainment industry as a whole struggles. Content is valued higher if endowment is at play. Netflix’s and Qwikster’s futures are offering us a non-endowment world versus a endowment world experiment [8].
A real life lab experiment
Will consumers move away from DVDs and adopt streaming? I’m dead certain of it.
Will Netflix be able to move customers away from Qwikster over time? Probably. But fast enough?
There’s the caveat.
How will Netflix educate its Qwikster customers about streaming? How will it display compelling offers to move from one model to another to customers who undoubtedly will become ready over time?
There’s no bridge.
Take one example: the movie review systems will be totally separate. If I rate a film on Qwikster, it’s not showing up on Netflix. I don’t want to lose my history of votes and the community reviews that I might have carefully curated.
Talk about adding another hurdle into my loss aversion!
Will consumers display a preference for an immediate reward —the known DVD mail-in model— and discount the value of a later reward —the new world of streaming? [9]
It’s up to Reed Hastings. But if Qwikster cuddles its customers in a cocoon of nice red enveloppes too much, Netflix will inadvertently have slowed the market switch towards its new and daring business model.
—
- although, why not Mailflix indeed?
- a notable one happened this week
- not to mention the simple time lag, as Alchian and Allen have demonstrated in 1972: if you increase the price of water by 100 percent, the immediate rate of consumption decreases —but it would decrease a great more within a few month, after people had made adjustments in associated activity and water-using equipment.
- the Wikipedia entry for those who want to make me feel old
- price sensitivity is irrelevant here, as my father could very well afford to buy all the new equipment
- see: Beggs A. and P. Klemperer, Multi-period competition with switching costs, Econometrica 60, p. 651-666.
- see: Experimental Tests of the Endowment Effect and the Coase Theorem, Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 98, N. 6, December 1990
- I’m aware of the simplification of this statement.
- this consumer preference is called hyperbolic discounting
September 02 2011
Arrington: One Man’s Terrorist, Another’s Freedom Fighter
I have never seen a brave man. All men are frightened. The more intelligent they are, the more they are frightened.
— George S. Patton.
They waited for the battle. And they found it. They found it in a crisis, this paroxysmal moment when a crucial decision changes everything.
They are the journalists. The crisis is the creation of the CrunchFund.
The first line of attack: CrunchFund’s incestuous relations with TechCrunch.
The whole debate about the fund’s access to deal flow via TechCrunch is laughable.
If the CrunchFund gets access, the credibility of TechCrunch will be damaged. Its credibility will be put on the line. Competitors will emerge. TechCrunch will fall.
On the other hand, if the CrunchFund ends up actually being compartmentalized from TechCrunch, investors will be happy enough to bank on a fund which will undoubtedly leverage TechCrunch’s reputation. And startups won’t shy away from an important group of investors who seemingly have vast networks where it matters.
That should be enough to recall the troops.
But it’s not.
The second line of attack: TechCrunch’s failed ethics.
Part of the strategy we’re seeing today is goes along with the twisted logic surrounded editorial exclusives: when TechCrunch gets one, it must be via bullying methods. When the NYT gets one, it’s more often called investigative journalism.
TechCrunch always fails. It has to. It’s not news, it’s a blog, you see.
But a blog that has proven its relevancy, its access to critical information and its influence. You know, like, traditional newspapers. And one can’t deny that it has a comparatively good track record [1] at recognizing its mistakes and disclosing ties that could be misinterpreted.
That should be enough to recall the troops.
But it’s not.
The real target.
It can’t be enough. Because we’re exiting rationality.
I feel the same disgust when I was reading some veiled attacks agains Yuri Milner’s origins. We’re talking envy here.
And we’re talking one target: Mike Arrington.
The fact that he’s been investing in startups for a long time, that he’s always been extremely straightforward in his disclosures and that he never shied away to harshingly criticize companies he had a stake in doesn’t seem to matter.
Because it doesn’t actually matter to those who are after him.
I thought our job was to tell the truth.
— Larry Doyle.
Not all is quiet of the western front, you see. We’re witnessing one of the journalists’ last stand. An attempt at defending the walls of information by biassing the use of the word integrity.
The truth? Information doesn’t need journalism, like startups don’t need MBAs.
Integrity doesn’t need journalism to exist. It is information itself that needs integrity and transparency to be relied upon, whomever it comes from.
Those of us who went into journalism in the ‘50s or ‘60s, it was sort of a liberal thing to do. Save the world.
— Peter Jennings.
In 2011, journalists just seem to try to save themselves. Those who want to change the world go to the Silicon Valley.
Welcome to the battle for a new journalism.
Its freedom fighter is called Mike Arrington.
—- or, conversely, a similar bad track record
August 31 2011
SMWF Asia 2011: Changing Demands of Global Consumers
Are online consumers really that different from those who watch television?
Instinctively, we tend to say yes. And indeed since television doesn’t offer the interactive feature that the web does, behaviors cannot truly be compared.
Now, the specific question I asked was if the consumers were the same or not. I think that whether online, in front of the TV or reading a book, they can be paralleled. It’s not because someone if offered new tools that he becomes an entire different persona. There are differences and alteration in how one learns about the world, be that news, product information, advertising consumption or interaction with fellows. But one remains very similar to what he was. A consumer is a human being first. And human behaviors do not change quick.
This is key to understand, as brands try to gather who is the new consumer. He is not new. He is the consumer who has been offered new tools. It is thus a new layer of analysis that has to be added, not an entirely new analytic framework —even if some of the current frameworks are broken and need replacement.
This is one part of the debate that I’ll have at the keynote opening of the Social Media World Forum Asia conference tomorrow. Thomas Crampton of Ogilvy, Tak Miyata of Mixi, Craig White of MOL Global —owners of Friendster— and I will try to shed some lights on those shifting demands creating by the new tools given to consumers and what brands can learn.
Do cultures influence behaviors?
The ever-lasting debate about local/regional values v. globalization will certainly be central. Every culture adopts social media in different ways. Mixi is a prime example of a successful social network that only applies to one country/culture. On the other hand, Friendster arguably failed on becoming a South-East Asian-specific social network.
Jeremiah Owyang and myself debated about this in Paris prior to LeWeb last December. Facebook being born in the US, are the social values, from interaction to privacy, influenced by its culture, thus not being fully adapted to other countries? And thus, are international brands forced to adapt to a model not totally fit to their audience?
It will be fascinating to retake some of that debate with Tak, Thomas and Craig here in Singapore, the de facto hub for the entire SEA region.
Keynote panel: Social media and the changing demands of global consumers.
Thursday, September 1, 9.20am SGT/GMT+8.
You can follow the event via Twitter, by searching for #SMWF. Live updates will also be provided via the official @SocialMediaWF Twitter account.
There are tons of fascinating tracks during the two-day conference. I will be participating in a few others.
How having an online presence can impact your employment prospects.
Thursday, September 1, 12.30pm SGT/GMT+8
My position has long been that an online presence is the new curriculum vitae.
[…] personal blogs are their new resumes.
Not the pretty static LinkedIn, but their personal blogs. There to be googled & show value over time. There for you to find your next star.
I will chair most of Day 2 of the conference [1] and moderate three panels directly.
Keynote Q&A: Brand management.
Friday, September 2, 9.20am SGT/GMT+8
I will tackle a debate on how leading FMCG brands are leveraging social media for marketing in the region. I will discuss with representatives of 3M, Asia Pacific Breweries, Unilever and SingTel.
Strategies for developing online communities.
Friday, September 2, 10am SGT/GMT+8
I will then move to a key topic for many brands, the one of creating and managing a community around them. I will be sitting with people from Yahoo!, Research in Motion and Sulake Singapore.
Examining the social shopper.
Friday, September 2, 12pm SGT/GMT+8
Finally, I will examine the social shopper in Asia, an interesting experiment for me after having done so in London last March. Is there a daily deal fatigue on this side of the world as well [2]? Let’s see what Deal.com, NTUC FairPrice and Bagspace’s experiences are and if they’re keen to laugh about Groupon’s adjusted consolidated segment operating income.
If you’re around, please come and say hello.
—
- disclosure: I sit on SWMF Advisory Board
- there are thousands of these sites across the region
May 27 2011
Forget & Co, The New Black For Brands Is .CO
If you’ve been in London and are all about elegance, you surely know the 6 St James’s Street.
Just ask a cab to drive you to “Lock’s”. From Vienna to Louisiana, from Chelsea to York, you’ll feel a bit like Indiana [1].
Yes, I’m talking about Fedoras. And yes, Lock & Co is probably one of the best shop there is for hats.
Established in 1676.
But it’s not in London that the action is taking place. It’s in Colombia.
From & Co to .co
Fast-forward some 335 years. June 2010 to be precise. Twitter rolls out t.co, its official shortener.
after using both tinyurl and bit.ly as its URL shortener, the company opted for the T.CO domain to help ensure greater control over its brand. All tweets with embedded links now pass through the t.co shortener as an enhanced security wrapper, but still display the original source to the reader. [...] Likewise, Go Daddy launched [the] X.CO [...] shortening service
+ Get Shorty: Why Little URLs are such a Big Deal [2]
A one letter domain name? Holy cow. How did they do that? Well, they took it to Colombia, the owner of the extension. An extension finally available worldwide.
Amazingly enough, I didn’t think Colombia when I first started seeing the marketing push last year. I just thought company. That’s what 300 years of semantic history does to your mind.
I must admit it though, I had some reservations about that domain at the beginning. Wouldn’t users type .com out of habit instead?
What’s in a domain name?
Domain extensions matter, but with the advent of potent search, email & social sharing, it’s not as relevant as brand building and search ranking.
In my totally unscientific panel —family & friends, all involved in non-tech activities, although some very tech savvy— almost no one ever type any URLs anymore. Besides Google.com or Facebook.com that is.
It’s mostly Google searches, links from emails and Facebook.
In Japan, it’s even more impressive. Portals are reigning strong. And you don’t see the URLs in print advertising, only the search term you’re supposed to type on your mobile phone.
It makes sense. It’s all about the call-to-action. QR codes or photo-recognition software that pulls out a link on your phone —the new screen— are much better that any URL that nobody will end up typing.
Plus, let’s be real, with roughly 77m .com registered [3], getting a new domain has really become a nightmare.
All of the good .coms are gone [...] It’s not unusual to see a raw startup with $250,000 or $500,000 in funding having to shell out $25,000 to $100,000 for a serviceable .com domain name.
+ .CO Internet Domain: Doing it Right
Ravikant is absolutely right. And what matters to —relatively— cash-strapped startups does also for most brands.
What do you do then?
Domain hacking? Even startups jump at the opportunity to lose those when they scale —del.icio.us became delicious.com. [4]
Going .ly? Yeah right. I never understood how people could trust their entire brand presence on a government known for its past erratic ways. Let’s be serious people. It’s your brand you’re building, not a personal LOLCat blog.
Well, if you have USD 200,000 readily available and a good legal team, you could always try filing for your brand as a top-level domain (TLD). We might soon have .canon. But it’s not tomorrow you’ll see a .papadimitriou [5]
Shortening .com
Turn the .com — .co problem around: in a world where inputting URLs does not matter as much as it used to, .co becomes a naturally shortened .com.
It’s fully backed by the Colombian government. Google ranks .co generically —meaning it doesn’t rank it lower because of territoriality. And CoInternet.co, the company licensed to handle the TLD, is actually implementing processes to avoid too much cybersquatting.
Lori Ann Wardi —she’s @dotco impersonated but also the Director of Marketing— told me during our recent Geeks On A Plane trip in South America [6] that one & two letter domains are considered premium. By pricing them high enough, she wants to ensure they’ll actually be used, acting as case studies for the rest of us —ppp.co is taken, as is pp.co, my banker will hate me if I call him for p.co.
Think Amazon, Kindle & Zappos. Soon you’ll also think a.co, k.co & z.co.
That’s for tech. But if one of the oldest companies in the world still running today is named Locks & Co, why not give a shot at its descendant? [7]
.co has what it takes to become the new black for brands. A new & Co. A new sign of trust.
Like that hat Indiana Jones wears, it could be timeless.
—- aka Henry Walton Jones Jr., Ph.D.
- GoDaddy has a shortening service?! Yeah, that was my reaction too.
- how many by shady domain squatters?
- but try the extremely nifty domai.nr if you’re into it
- plus, really, my last name is a tough one to brand, trust me
- and there goes my only full disclosure of sorts for this post: I’ve met Lori, she’s a great woman
- here’s a list of the current registrars, go try your luck, I just hope IWantMyName gets in the game soon enough.
December 04 2010
Monitoring Social Media Paris 2010
As I’m starting my December tour of Europe -I’m currently on lay-over at the Athens airport-, I wished to point out an event that was not on my map when I started planning it.
I was recently invited to attend the Monitoring Social Media Paris 2010 day, on December 10 in the French capital. It will be a day of brainstorming and reflexion on the role of social media with some proeminent marketing, PR & new media professionals, like my Constellation partner, Brian Solis.
As the social business industry is slowly taking shape, I hope to see more and more gathering of people talking about business objectives, data and case studies, instead of the old -and easy- route of barking about how transformative social media can be and parroting Mashable articles1.
The agenda of MSM10 -that’s the official tag of the event- is really interesting. It compares well with the previous events which happened in London, San Francisco, Boston and New York City.
Cool thing is that I’ve got two tickets to offer. That includes the conference, catering and the networking session. I know that most of those who are reading this are in Asia, but, you never know, this might lure you to the beautiful city of Paris.
Just send me a tweet to @papadimitriou by telling me which will be, for you, the most interesting trend in new media in 2011. I know it’s broad and there’s no ready answer. That’s on purpose. I’ll just pick the two I found the most interesting (and might even mention you in a forthcoming interview).
It’s real-time, so you’ve got until Monday 5pm CET. Tweet away & I’m hoping to meet you next Friday!
- don’t misunderstand me, I like Mashable, but far too many so-called experts are just using it as a sole source of info for their “Twitter coaching days” or whatever
November 09 2010
Constellation: A Formation of Stars
Constellation [ˌkɒn.stəˈleɪ.ʃən] from Latin constellātiō cōn, with, and stēlla, star, astral body.
That word actually has many meanings. Here are three.
- A formation of stars perceived as a figure or pattern.
- An image associated with a group of stars.
- The configuration of planets at a given time.
Here’s one more.
Constellation Research is a next-generation research firm.
And, starting today, I’m joining this network of member analysts who seek to approach research from a cross-disciplinary approach.
Now, wait. Don’t I have my own consultancy? Yes, and it stays. How?
You see, there’s a lot to say about being a next-generation network. The idea here is to maintain independence of the members -who all have their own practices- while (net)working together to better serve those who seek insight, guidance and advice. Better serve clients in a word. Eating my own dog food: I bark often enough about bad customer service not to apply my own advice to my own self -open leadership, shared resources, honesty (I sometimes call that one the no BS policy), rigor and else. You can work with me alone or get access to the network. It’s customizable.
But independence has an even stronger meaning here. Independence as a group means independent research. Independent guidance. Independent minds.
And what minds. It’s very humbling to be along those who joined this opening wave of member analyst. Just read on.
- R “Ray” Wang, the driving force behind Constellation. A former Altimeter, VP and Principal Analyst at Forrester, he has a long history with enterprise applications as well as other leading-edge technologies. He headed up the analyst relations program for PeopleSoft, and at Oracle, he served senior product management roles for both the ERP and CRM product lines. He was voted Analyst of the Year for both 2008 and 2009 by the prestigious Institute of Industry Analyst Relations (IIAR). [Twitter | Blog | RSS]
- Phil Fersht, a well-known industry analyst covering business process outsourcing (BPO) and IT services worldwide. He is the founder of the acclaimed global sourcing blog “Horses for Sources”. Before that he worked for 15 years at AMR Research (now Gartner Group), Deloitte Consulting, Everest Group, and IDC. [Twitter | Blog | RSS]
- Maribel Lopez with her deep industry knowledge in covering the communications industry. Over two decades of marketing and industry analyst experience, covering the massive shifts in the communication market. Maribel has worked in marketing at Motorola and Shiva corp and as an analyst for IDC. She also put in over 10 years at Forrester Research, most recently as Vice President of the tech industry strategies group, covering network and service strategies, enterprise communications, and consumer markets for voice, video, and data. [Twitter | Blog | RSS]
- Oliver Marks, partner at the Sovos Group, who provides consulting to end-user organizations on the effective planning of collaboration strategy, tactics, technology decisions, change management and roll out. Oliver previously managed the Sony WorldWide collaboration extranet, and has worked with the American Management Association, Sun, Docent/SumTotal Systems, Harvard Business School and McKinsey on major initiatives around knowledge transfer and change management. [Twitter | Blog | RSS]
- Vinnie Mirchandani, a thought-leader on trends in software, outsourcing, and offshoring. He has personally assisted clients in negotiate technology contracts valued in excess of $5 billion and has advised companies on IT risk management, globalization and sourcing issues. Vinnie is the founder of Deal Architect and is a former Gartner analyst and an outsourcing executive with PricewaterhouseCoopers. [Twitter | Blog | RSS & RSS]
- Sameer Patel, a partner at the Sovos Group. Sameer is a recognized expert in accelerating business performance via the use of collaboration and enterprise social software. He has more than a decade of experience managing initiatives for large organizations to help drive sales and marketing intelligence, partner network optimization, innovation, customer acquisition, and employee productivity via communication and collaboration technologies. Sameer’s clients have included Ingres, Sun Microsystems, Computer Associates, KPMG, McKesson HBOC, WR WrigleyCo., The Sabre Group, Grupo Televisa (Mx), and Cardinal Health. [Twitter | Blog | RSS]
- Frank Scavo, the co-founder of Strativa, a management consulting firm providing business and IT advice to end-user organizations. He has over 20 years of experience in IT strategy, IT management metrics, enterprise applications, and business process improvement, serving end-users in a broad range of industries, including manufacturing, life sciences, consumer products, high-tech, distribution, retail distribution, and information services. He is especially skilled at aligning business and IT strategy, developing the business case for new systems, and facilitating the selection of enterprise systems, such as ERP, CRM, and supply chain management. He is also an expert in benchmarking IT spending and staffing levels for end-user IT organizations. Frank is a Certified Fellow in Production and Inventory Management (CFPIM) by APICS, the Association for Operations Management. He is also the President of Computer Economics, an IT research and metrics firm, founded in 1979. [Twitter | Blog | RSS]
- Alan Silberberg, a leading analyst in Gov 2.0. He speaks on transformational change, crisis and brand communications, and government 2.0 and the crossover into business and technology. Alan has government and private sector experience, having served in the U.S. White House, at Paramount Pictures and numerous technology companies as an advisor, founder or investor. His clients have included the Vatican Global Licensing group, currently elected officials, and former elected officials as well as numerous technology startups. He is focused on the business side of Government 2.0 and how the technology platforms create commercial ventures and new markets. He is the founder of Gov20LA which is the first west coast un-conference for Gov 2.0 tech. [Twitter | Blog | RSS]
Not to mention the board of advisors: Paul Greenberg [Twitter | Blog | RSS], Dennis Howlett [Twitter | Blog | RSS], Erin Kinkin, Esteban Kolsky [Twitter | Blog | RSS] & Brian Solis [Twitter | Blog | RSS].
Ok, humbling was not enough. Seriously.
Here’s a handy RSS bundle for all their blogs (on Google Reader). And a Twitter list of the current members & advisors.
The research agenda includes a number of emerging trends and technologies: enterprise applications, legacy system optimization, cloud computing, mobile computing, social networking, business analytics, game theory, and unified communications. Knowledge provided both in open and syndicated forms.
Knowledge is the keyword here. And you guessed it, I’ll be focusing on my traditional areas of expertise, brands and consumer interaction. More details about the services are on the Constellation website. Management consulting, executive sessions, thought-leadership, private and public keynoting will still be a focus of mine, don’t worry. That’s my forte -along with being opinionated- and will remain as is.
I have to add a more personal twist here. Many of those who know me are aware of the immense admiration I have for Altimeter -the firm Ray just left- and my personal friendship with Jeremiah Owyang, one of its main partners. I’ve already been asked a dozen time the question and, in the spirit of total transparency I’ve taken for some time now, I want to be clear on that one. I haven’t changed a iota about what I think about Altimeter. I”m in total admiration of Charlene Li, I love my good friend Debs -too long I haven’t seen you!- and I’m still in awe about Jeremiah’s skills all the while I remain a close friend. Those who are looking into something more there are just taking a road to nowhere, sorry. And just go reading what both Ray and Charlene are saying about their new relationship.
Talking about what everyone is saying, I’m the press contact for EMEA/APAC while Brian is the one covering North America. Just feel free to contact us for more.
Related links: Official press release Blast Off To Constellation Announcing Constellation Research Group Hfs Research reaches for the stars in an alliance with Ray Wang Strativa joins Constellation Research Introducing Constellation Research Lopez Research becomes a member of Constellation Research Group
September 15 2010
Twitter.com Is The New Black For Brands
Twitter calls it a “better Twitter“. The Twitteratis call it #newtwitter.
Whatever you want to call it, the redesign that was unveiled yesterday is a big departure from the simple stream we’ve been used to since the microblog’s inception1.
Now, I’ve always argued that adding features was not the prime concern when looking at a product. User experience via the user interface is what matters.
Being a very text-based person myself, I was not sure how Twitter would be able to make it work while not looking like Pownce, the now-deceased social network that added inline-media in its stream.
But Twitter seems to have made the right call.
Users are on Twitter.com
Know your users/consumers behavior. While third-party clients are all the talk amongst geeks, an overwhelming 78% of the Twitter users go to Twitter.com. Twitter.com is what most users see everyday. Not Tweetdeck, not Echofon, not Hootsuite, not Seesmic. Twitter.com.
Users want media-rich experiences
Again, know your users/consumers behavior.
Most of the users are not purely text-based like I am. Does any single article on the web get the number of views a viral YouTube video can get? Probably not. We’re drawn to images. They play with more of our senses2.
Look at the success of Facebook. It reigns for its ability to aggregate everything on the stream, from pictures -it is now the largest photo-sharing site on the planet- to links, from videos to questions.
It reigns for its ability to create a virtual Ἀγορά, agora, the place where people meet, exchange, sell, buy and speak in public.
It is what makes Facebook so attractive & sticky. A destination website that you don’t have to leave. Add the ‘Like’ -what people liked outside of Facebook- and you’ve got a holistic experience.
Twitter understands that. It has outgrown the innovators and early adopters -people like me. It has become a huge water cooler experience, where people stop to listen to what’s going in on, tell people what they’re up to, joke about non-sensical stuff, get the most recent news, exchange with like-minded people, show their latest pictures, pitch their product and what’s not.
Twitter works because it amplifies real-life gestures. Reading, writing, watching, demonstrating.
Adding rich-media will only further grow this sense of belonging to a public place. To the Ἀγορά.
How the redesign impacts brands
How so?
- Users will stick to Twitter.com
Up to now, links shown on Twitter.com would have to be clicked, leading to a new browser window. With more that 25% of the tweets containing a link -whether it’s a URL for a website, a picture or a video for instance- the redesign will alter the users’ behavior. A lot.
Taking cues from the newly release Twitter for iPad application, media will now open in a second pane on the website. Flickr pictures and YouTube videos. Etsy product images too. No need to leave the website.
- Users will expect richer experiences
The redesign is an opportunity. What Twitter has allowed you is to make your channel less dry. Or richer. Pick your words. Pick your videos and pictures.
Brands using Twitter need to assess which platforms they are using and if they want to switch services in order to satisfy users who will undoubtedly be less and less willing to leave Twitter.com
Current limitation is that Twitter has only partnered with sixteen service -including Twitpic, Flickr, DailyBooth, YouTube, Vimeo and Brightcove. Only those sixteen will show something on the new right-pane to begin with.
- Users will focus more on content consumption
An often-overlooked aspect of Twitter is that people are not only there to share. They’re also there to listen, watch, click. Not everyone tweets, you know.
By prompting a new experience, Twitter makes it easier for people to understand what it is about. Facebook users trying out Twitter will be more familiar with the environment, with the type of interaction they’ve been accustomed to.
It’s a big deal. The success of Facebook is based on both people easily sharing and people easily consuming content.
Twitter has suddenly become less difficult to explain and new users will be drawn by the new interface -or, at least, not put off by its inexplicability.
But these new users will be different. They will be consumption-driven. Think YouTube: most users do not upload videos, they merely watch them.
Twitter is becoming a read/watch/share platform. In that order. Not only the share/read/click it was up to now.
- Users will get better recommendations
The platform is really encouraging the growth of its social graph.
With the introduction of the second pane, Twitter has beefed up its profile recommendation system -the “follow recommendations”. Users will now see four profiles instead of two, making it easier to create new connections.
Add the recent roll-out of the profile-specific common followers feature -“you both follow”- and the “followed by” information and you’ve got an opportunity for brands to be discovered and promote other accounts, like product-specific ones3.
I actually find this system overall better than Facebook’s. The “Likes in common” remains overwhelming, misplaced and underused. Twitter’s lighter options make a lot of sense.
- Users won’t see your account background image
It’s a smaller implication, but it’s there. If you’re using the account’s background to convey data, like contact information or else, the new widescreen layout is crushing it to oblivion. Simply forget it.
Truth to be told, I was never a big fan of it in the first place, no real call-to-action there, no linking.
- Users will get more used to location
The new layout also introduces maps. Locations through Twitter -or via Flickr pictures- are now shown with an accompanying map.
Not only users will take notice more than they might have been until now, but it might trigger their will to try location-based tweets -and third-party location services.
Take note of this emphasis.
What the redesign left unchanged
Some key Twitter-specific design choices were not altered by the redesign.
- Users will still see the tweets chronologically
While the second pane allows for a different experience, the stream itself will not change. Compared with Facebook and it’s relevancy algorithm that pushes the information on top of its newsfeed, Twitter still relies on a purely chronological stream.
It means that brands need to push users to actually visit their Twitter channel and be smart about content so that it gets retweeted/shared enough to garner the attention by landing in other users’ streams.
- Users will still have a hard time having a conversation
Twitter still relies on clicks to see reactions to a tweet or replies. And an account not following another one is prevented, by design, to see its replies in the streams.
Compare that to the threaded conversation model on Facebook. I needn’t say more.
It cuts noise, but makes it hard to have a real conversation. While brands are using monitoring tools which automatically thread conversations, keep in mind than the vast majority of users don’t have this capability on Twitter.com.
Be smart on how you answer your consumers.
What Twitter didn’t announce
- Analytics
The use of third-party providers for the current redesign allows companies to chose a media sharing service which includes some measurement system, but it’s not enough. Like relying on external services -think bit.ly- to garner measurements on clicks done through tweets is not enough.
Analytics is a tool sorely missing for brands on Twitter.
Analytics could also uncover the dark matter of Twitter: the good portion of users who do not tweet -or only occasionally so. Have they actually been to your account for instance? It’s currently impossible to monitor these behaviors4.
The creation of a Twitter-branded URL shortening service, t.co, however hints at a potential package for businesses that would include metrics. This might be around the corner.
- Verified account guidelines
The “verified account” status is still hard to get for businesses. While we’re not exactly in the age of cybersquatting anymore, Twitter should make it easier for brands to submit a request for verification, with simple and clear guidelines.
I also expect that to arrive in the coming months.
- Rich sponsored tweets
It doesn’t seem that Sponsored Tweets are media-rich capable. Yet. I’m sure Twitter’s ad platform will be enhanced shortly.
Twitter’s new strategy: Twitter.com
Twitter is for news. Twitter is for content. Twitter is for information.
➡ Twitter is NOT a Social Network
Read that again. Kevin Thau‘s second sentence. Content.
It’s a refocus on consumption of content.
It’s the new strategy for Twitter. Mark my words. If you look at the company’s behavior these past months, with the Twitter Economy -the API-based ecosystem that saw third-party service providers strive- being cannibalized, the path is clear.
The redesign is yet another stepping stone after the creation of the aforementioned URL shortener and the acquisition of Tweetie -now Twitter for iPhone and, newly, for iPad.
You gotta go on Twitter.com or use tools that will mimick the experience closely.
It’s a refocus on Twitter.com.
This is where the company will make money5, not on third-party services.
Twitter has not just added a pretty layer over an existing platform. It’s truly a new Twitter. A Twitter that means business.
- note that the redesign is being rolled out in phases and you might not see it right away
- watch this TED talk on how powerful video can be for innovation
- via a good strategy only, no one can control the recommendation system.
- and might forever be, I don’t know what type of analytics will be available in the future.
- it’s also of the utmost importance for advertisers. More stickiness on Twitter.com means more chances to see Sponsored Tweets.
September 10 2010
Turning Thirty-Five Or The Many Lives Of A Cat
I’m not perfect, but I’m almost there.
I was thirteen and this is what was written on a keychain my German class teacher offered me after I finished printing the class log on my dot matrix printer in the wee hours of the morning while I could have done it before.
Paul has the beard of an adventurer while wearing one Harvard T-shirt. The paradox between the Ivy League career and his apparent wish to sail away shows in his personality. He talks without having been invited to, asserts his truth, then discards any answer, all focused he is on chatting with the girl next to him.
I was sixteen and got profiled in the Journal de Geneve -which used to be the most prestigious newspaper in my hometown, Geneva- during a political debate its journalists organized at my high school.
You came into the room, scanned it and acted like you decided no one was worth it.
I was twenty and invited by my girlfriend of the time to a birthday. That perspective was given to me by someone who attended that night, years afterwards.
Imperfect, opinionated, shy.
Me.
But it read into: disorganized, self-centered, arrogant.
Me too.
Ouch.
Age is a matter of perspective and choice.
I’m still shy. Believe it or not. I always hid behind my mother when I was a kid. I’ve learned to make up for it. By talking too much sometimes. I do care.
I’m still opinionated, even more than I used to do. But I’ve learned to focus. And I’m still trying to shut up when necessary. I do listen.
I’m still not perfect. Far from it. I’ve had successes and failures. Did mistakes and still do. I’ve learned and still am learning. I do learn.
I’ve become a better person. Or so I think. These descriptions were the feedback loop I needed to aim for more. Age is a matter of perspective and making the right choices. Aiming at becoming a better man, in life as in business, is what makes the whole journey fascinating.
Introspection.
But it’s not enough. Creating happiness is what makes the whole journey worthwhile.
Smile.
With introspection and smiles around, life is beautiful. Every. Single. Minute.
The good times. The bad times. And the ugly times. Every. Single. Minute.
I’ve seen things you wouldn’t believe.
I’m just some random guy, really. With too much luck sometimes.
And even if I try having no regrets, trust me, remorses haunt me.
I’ve been lucky as hell. Really lucky. Lucky in the good & the tough times. Lucky to be surrounded with amazing people. You, old & new friends. Really lucky. Even while being geographically close to no one, always on the road, you, my friends, are always there.
You’ve been there every step of the way. Been the feedback loop I needed to become better. Been following my crazy work life, going from freelancer, to startup guy, to business consultant, to lobbyist, to brand consultant -or whatever you want to call my current job. Been following my multiple change of locations. Been following the many lives I already had.
They say cats have nine lives. I might already have consumed a few. Switching to a new one when I realized I was not good enough of a man.
Remorses haunt me from the times I’ve actually hurt people. Even if it was not on purpose. I did it. I can’t go back in time. Each time, one life was consumed.
Primum non nocere. Do no harm. Rule #1. Father’s a surgeon, you know.
Nine lives. Nine shots at creating more smiles.
A gentleman will walk but never run
I’m still imperfect, opinionated & shy. I will always be.
To all my friends, thank you for being there. I always hated having heroes. But the heroes are the guiding light. You are my heroes. I will try my best to make you happy.
Αν τον όρκο μου αυτό τηρήσω πιστά και δεν τον αθετήσω, είθε ν΄ απολαύσω για πάντα την εκτίμηση όλων των ανθρώπων για τη ζωή μου και για την τέχνη μου, αν όμως παραβώ και αθετήσω τον όρκο μου να υποστώ τα αντίθετα από αυτά
➡ Hippocratic Oath1
I turned thirty-five yesterday.
But I might still be the guy talking to the girl next to him. I’ve got a few lives left to correct that one. Or not.
- If I fulfill this oath and do not violate it, may it be granted to me to enjoy life and art, being honoured with fame among all men for all time to come; if I transgress it and swear falsely, may the opposite of all this be my lot
August 31 2010
IMMAP: Paid Media Priming The Viral Pump
The average Asian spends more time on…?
- Brushing Their Teeth
- Having Sex
- On Yahoo!
- On MSN
I’m not an average Asian. Nor is Ken Mandel, but he sure does know a lot about the Asian market. You know, being the VP Advertising, Sales & Marketplace of Yahoo! APAC and all.
And all? Well, more than that. People keep telling me how they’d love doing what I’m doing. Look elsewhere: I’d like to be Ken when I grow old.
His Internet & Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines Summit keynote was, well, extremely cool. Turtleneck-less Jobs-cool.
When he talks about digital trends, we listen. I listen. Age is only a matter of perspective, but since he likes to call himself a veteran, I’ll hand him that title easily. He’s got chuck loads of expertise to share. And seven trends.
No standardized measurement
How right can he be about that one. I keep talking metrics and tracking with people I meet (one cannot fully close a loop without measuring). But if I’m not on the same page with you, there’s no way we’ll agree on objectives, be it for a campaign or for social conversations measurement.
Ken made it very simple. A big fat popcorn cup contains 37 grams of …fat. What does it tell you? Not a lot. Can you picturize fat? Are you able to evaluate what it is or what it does to you?
Well, Ken revealed, it’s equivalent to a full breakfast: two sunny-side up eggs, two pieces of toast & bacon. Or to a Big Mac.
Oh yeah, suddenly I understand the nightmare. Now, I’m not a popcorn guy. And I’m on a constant diet -friends can attest to that one. I still eat Big Macs though. I get it. Holy cow.
Take that same cup and say it is a campaign return on investment (ROI). And say the 37 grams are 37 Gross Rating Points (GRP).
Same story. How do you match that with CPC, CPA or engagement rate?
Wouldn’t it be easier to have standard measurement. To easily translate into leads, conversions, sales & profit?
Ken nailed it. For all the metrics we’re using, most clients don’t care. They want business objectives aligned with business goals. We all need to talk the same language.
Paid media has sisters now
I loved that one. Absolutely loved it. You know, I’m not from a pure marketing/advertising background. All I ever dealt with were business objectives, getting things done in a word. So when I hear people drowning themselves into the difference of Earned, Paid and Owned media, I -sometimes- scoff.
Come on, do you really think customers care about this division? No they don’t. Ken said it better than I ever could -I’m not as cool, ya know ;-)
No consumer is interested in the difference between earned, paid and owned media. It’s just media.
Get a grip, mix the three and see what works. I know what I’m saying doesn’t sound very scientific. Flame me. At the end though, it’s a trial-and-error industry. It’s an art surrounded by non-standardized metrics and bloody business objectives.
The advertising ROI is coming from a mix of these earned, paid and owned media. Yes, of course, Ken has an ad industry background and works for a major online portal, he wouldn’t dismiss what brings revenue, but he’s right. Think about it.
A good example? Ikea.
Consumers surf the stream
Oh boy, another guy who’s into surfing.
Ride the wave, not the board
➡ Jeremiah Owyang (quoting Duke Kahanamoku)
I suck at surfing. You might too. But it’s easy to understand: do not think social as a destination. It’s a dimension, for C’s sake! It’s everywhere around you. People are everywhere online. Know where they hang out, but don’t expect them to follow one pre-defined road.
Those who get that right will have success. The other will stay “social media ninjas” or old-farty advertisers.
You wanna lead those customers towards you? Be contextual, be a curator. Listen, they will listen back. Engage. They will engage back. They’ll know who you are.
In other words, customers might have ADD, the famous attention-deficit disorder, but if they don’t see your products through their streams, you’ve got a PDD, a profit-deficit disorder, most commonly known as the IDSD, I don’t sell sh*t disorder.
Digital flattens the funnel
This is very close to my definition of the Inception Loop -more on that in a later post.
There are no more clear steps. Awareness. Consideration. Purchase. They’re all in a cyclone. An extremely fast cyclone.
From awareness to purchase, it might take me under a minute on the web. I’ve got Twitter to hear about a new product. I’ve got reviews to judge it. I’ve got friends to vouch for it -or recommend it through Facebook Likes for instance. I’ve got information galore to learn about it. I’ve got portals to buy it.
And it’s real-time. It’s fast. The consumer purchase decision-making process becomes a hell lot faster. Be in the loop. Be in my loop. Or I’ll disregard you.
Imagine how impactful this is on brand management. The nice graphics or the funnels and all steps leading to a sale cannot be nicely schematically represented to your clients/boards/whoever-who-pays-the-bills anymore.
It’s unsettling. When surfing, you might fall. But you get up and surf again. And again. Fail fast, learn fast. No whiteboard planning will teach you that.
Mixing analog & digital
For those who stay in front of their screens, get out a bit. Not to get some Sun -well, it’s proven to do you good-, but to be analog for a while.
People keep asking me how I was able to create a network of cool people around me in such a short time. The answer is not Twitter. The answer is I went out and met them. I freaking spent hours traveling, whatever buck I could spare on paying for my own trips & full-price conference tickets. I still do that to this day. I go out. I see people.
Same for brands. Go out and play. Go meet your customers. Digital will never replace analog. Not in our lifetime anyway.
It can be with a simple gimmick, like the one Ken showed. Unilever partnered with Sapient Nitro to create a fun vending machine. One that will treat you with an ice cream if you made a great smile in front of it. And your pictures did go on Facebook, obviously (I’ll take smiles over those MySpace self-portraits any day). How would my 27″ iMac ever deliver me an ice-cream? Gotta go out
Now, I know a bit about vending machines. Well, I’ve seen plenty. Living in Japan and all, you know. Go to Shinagawa station and find those equipped 47″ OLED flat screens. Cool, heh?1
Now, the real feat here is the facial recognition software. The machine will actually suggest you drinks according to a database of stats (demographics mainly).
Male, 34, 6″5, bald. Will it recognize me as a Swiss and offer me some chocolate-based drink or as a Greek and recommend me some Ouzo?
It’s the internet of things. Machines do communicate data and play with you. The experience is not only behind your screen. It’s all around you.
LSC
Doubt this mixes well with LSD. Ken might know better. Location + Social + Commerce.
It’s been since SXSW that I’m hearing the first one. Location. Location. Location. Location. Location.
I might not be convinced of the road some location-based services (LBS) are taking on now, but this trend has legs.
The one who closes the purchase loop wins.
➡ Ken Mandel
Indeed! I don’t know which form it will take, but it will be:
Contextual. Fun. Simple. Real-time. Relevant. Predictive. Mobile
And you and your friends will be its fuel2.
In terms of campaigns, if you haven’t experienced an iAd, Ken is right, wait for it. It’s quite amazing. Makes you bow to Steve Jobs on stage in front of hundreds of people type of cool!3
Foursquare mayorships, barcode readers applications linked to a purchase call-to-action (Japan is big on QR for instance) or Dentsu’s iButterfly.
Mobile LBS + LSC indeed.
Branded Engagement
Social media is not a world in itself. We don’t call it social for nothing. People talk everything and nothing -I do a lot of nothing and chocolate myself. And people talk about campaigns when they’re great.
I mean, just look at the noise the Old Spice campaign did! Great ads4. The conversation was not sparked out of thin air. There was strategy. Investment. Work. And success at the end. Viral was only a result.
Or, as Obi-Wan said on stage:
Paid media priming the viral pump
Hell yeah.
IMMAP coverage: Paid Media Priming The Viral Pump Maria Ressa And Your Heroes Going Social With Your Brand The Corporate Culture Of Social Flickr photos
- Well, those who just said yes are just geeks: “freaking cool, a plasma screen on my vending machine, a big leap forward for mankind“.
- That was the topic of an presentation of mine last April, if you care to take a look.
- “STEVE KNOWS BEST” reacting to his own iPhone dissing in Media Magazine early ’07 LOL
- great abs too, girls, I know….
August 30 2010
IMMAP: Maria Ressa And Your Heroes
Today is Araw ng mga Bayani in the Philippines. The National Heroes’ Day.
Unbeknownst to many, Ἡρώ -Hero- was actually a woman. Her lover, Λέανδρος -Leandros- would swim every night across the strait to be with her, guided by a lamp she would light on at dusk.
Hero was not the one who swam through dark waters. Hero was the guiding light. She was the one who showed him the way.
We’re all Leandroses, we need heroes. We need φῶς, that which gives light.
Not for the grandioseness of worshipping the past. Not to be forced in any predefined channeled life. But to be to have our smiles lit up. To be inspired. Challenged.
Maria
Maria Ressa is an inspiring figure. I had been impressed by her talk at the Social Networking Conference this past April in Manila, but, this time, she did more to me. She lit me up.
Her talk at the Internet & Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines Summit was nothing short of impressive. Not because of its delivery only, but because of its tone.
Social media is transforming us. We all become media. For the best and the worst. As a journalist -and manager-, she’s on the forefront of this shift. While brands may look for new ways of engaging with customers, while they try to monetize these new channels, the passion is not always in their camp. It can’t.
The Real Passion Of The People
I mean, I love brands. I can be passionate about some -Apple haters, start flaming me now-. But is it even considerate to compare a passion for a brand to a passion for your country? To a changing society? To the future of next generations?
I don’t have to answer that one, but I will: no, it can’t be compared. The transforming effect of social technologies, its impact on people, on politics -as better defined by res publica, republic, the latin for the public realm- and on the culture is far deeper that the one brands will experience.
Did I just say that? Yes, I did. And I tell brands I work with. In order to understand the social web, they need to understand the people. The people and their culture. This is where the tectonic shifts are happening, the commercial aspects of it only being an aftershock.
Journalists 2.0
I was lucky enough to sit with Maria, along with Jeremiah Owyang, at her ABS-CBN News office the day before her keynote address.
Yellow painted walls for hope, Larry King calendar for scheduling, a calm posed voice for a passion.
She told us, along with Glenda M. Gloria, ANC’s CEO, how the channel -a real media conglomerate- was adapting to this new chapter for journalism. Adapting is not the word. Testing the waters is more likely. That’s what I liked. For all the hoopla about social media “expertise”, we’re all testing its outcomes and trying to figure out best practices. We might sometimes be critical of journalists -I have- for some show poor adaptation skills, but, hell, it’s unsettling.
ABS-CBN has to be recognized for trying. Testing, failing, learning, reshaping, testing again. The Fail Fast theorem.
Yup, all journalists use Twitter (gotta love my friend TJ, their early adopter), although Maria admits that some needed to be pushed more than others. The breaking news policy is clear for it is short. Common sense seems to be the basis for most that the channel is trying. Best policy indeed. But journalists using online media is not what I want to talk about here1.
There are two initiatives I want to focus on. Read on.
Citizen Journalism
First is the ABS-CBN Citizen Journalism initiative started as early as 2005 (!) with Citizen Patrol. Through various iterations, it became what it is today. A citizen feedback loop.
Last year, just as I was closing my Philippines chapter -I had lived there for 8 months- the news of the Maguindanao Massacre slapped me in the face. There I was, in Disneyland -Makati City, the hypercentre of Metro Manila- listening about a local political feud that ended up with 57 people butchered.
This is not the kind of news you often get when sitting in a Geneva or Tokyo office. This is the kind of news that revulses you. That puts you on the edge. It did put me on the edge. And here I am, months later, sitting with Maria telling about how the channel deciphered the bits of news getting in on that November 23. Gripping.
Citizen journalism is reshaping the world of journalists. People are media. Through the proxy of their phones. With video. With camera. With text only sometimes. But they report. They send information around. And ABS-CBN channels it. Becomes that guiding light. Tell them what to do with it so that it gets amplified. Curates it.
The channel has more than 75,000 so-called patrollers, or citizen journalists2. A real community. More than 20,000 on Twitter, almost 4,000 on the BMPM micro-site. Around 3,500 on Multiply3. Roughly 25 emails, 130 voicemails and 40 texts are left per day.
This website is a collection of news stories submitted by Boto Patrollers. The stories are not edited, fact-checked or verified, unless marked otherwise.
And more than 110,000 on Facebook. Up to 400% more engaged apparently.
Now, imagine getting the first picture of the massacre through these channels. What do you do with it? How do you verifiy the information? All journalists on the ground are dead. What a responsibility.
What a learning curve too. This is the forefront of social media.
Citizen Feedback Loop
The Philippines has a history of early adopter syndrome -a mix of culture & emerging market factor maybe. Do you think American Idol was the first asking to text in votes? Think Philippines. 14 years ago.
And still today: last March, the Vice-Presidential debate -Harapan- added a citizen feedback to its format.
It might sound crazy to some -I used to be a lobbyist, I know about pre-formatted debates-, but what a result in terms of feedback. Not only did #Harapan trend on Twitter that night at number 6, but there were almost 10,000 comments on the online chat, almost 9,000 tweets (at 27 tweets per minute) and 2,300 posts on the Facebook Event page4.
Now, Pinoys can be very vocal politically online. I always found that striking compared to the reserve they always had about the topic in front of me -then again, I’m just a foreigner. Using this passionate feedback loop to scrutinize candidates live? That must have been something.
The usual polls were not fast enough. ABS-CBN had all the cards live5.
Again, this is the forefront of social media.
Be Inspired
So, why am I telling you all this, besides the impact it had on me? Journalism is at the front of passion. It deals with our lives much more than brands do.
Journalism is also one of the first industry that is being completely reshaped by social media. Shaping the citizen feedback loop is key. The customer feedback loop that brand marketers seek to understand will be very close to it.
Learn from journalists. They know how people become empowered through new technologies.
You are powerful. You will make a difference.
➡ Maria Ressa
When Leandros died, submerged by heavy waters, Hero jumped in the strait and drowned.
Don’t let anyone drown. You all can be heroes.
- I’ve done that here
- all the following numbers are mostly from memory only, feel free to correct me in the comments
- that community platform stays very popular in the Philippines, even if dwindling now
- I don’t have the numbers for the second debate in April, I think it did trend at number 5 on Twitter though
- they added WARS, Wireless Audience Response System, in the mix, giving an approve/disapprove box to 180 selected citizens in the country to constantly vote on the candidates’ performance
August 23 2010
IMMAP: Going Social With Your Brand
After my talk at the more exclusive workshop, things took a different scale for the Internet & Mobile Marketing Summit 2010 on Thursday.
It’s only my second time at this conference and I must say I was really impressed by how it improved in a year. I’ll do a summary in a next article when I wrap things up about thess 10 days in the Philippines, but I need to stress from the get go that you’ve got a world-class event here. Better than conferences I attend in more traditional cities like Singapore for instance.
My task on that day was to participate in a panel about how brands can become social. I was sided with George Foo, the Founder and CEO of iHub media, the Facebook Official Sales Partner for South East Asia, South Korea, Japan & Taiwan and Frederic Levy, #3 of Netbooster Asia, a subsidiary of the French digital agency, headquartered here in Manila. Good mix: a platform, an agency and a business consultant.
In a society where women have such an importance1 what a relief to see one moderating the panel: Crisela Magpayo-Cervantes, the head of ABS-CBN Interactive, the biggest multi-media conglomerate and TV broadcaster in the Philippines.
Whew. Lots of great minds around me. Let’s take a notepad and my favorite Mont-Blanc ballpoint pen which never leaves my side.2
The panel took cues on what Jeremiah Owyang, Maria Ressa and other speakers presented before us and built upon it, in a slightly more interactive way (hey, we’re talking social, right?), the public being able to ask questions and get varied answers from three cool guys.
Interactive is not social
Is social good for all brands? That was the first question.
My starting point, which is kind of becoming a motto now, is that interactive is not social. These are two different approaches. In interactive, there’s a people to machine and machine to people interaction, while social is a people to people platform -I sometimes call that C2C in the pure business sense.
The dynamics are different. I think it is key to understand this, especially with many agencies in the audience. Campaigns and discussions are linked, one can empower the second, but while campaigns tend to limit themselves in time, people go on with their lives and have on-going conversations -including those about products and companies.
It’s no different here in the Philippines than elsewhere.
The Philippines social numbers
With the staggering 79% YOY growth, reaching the 17m mark, the Philippines now stands as the 7th biggest Facebook market in the world in terms of active users. Up to last September, Friendster was still the top social networking platform here and seems to be going down the drain everywhere else in South East Asia too -it’s former last stronghold.
Extrapolating on the recent ComScore numbers, Twitter is reaching 2m users here, the 6th biggest Twitter market worldwide with a reach of almost 15%. Not bad. Not bad at all -and again, what a striking difference from the time I was living here when Plurk was leading.
Interestingly enough, while mobile data is still limited in the country, AdMob ranks it 10th for mobile usage [pdf], based on ad requests. Add to the mix that it is the texting capital of the world -I’d say over 1.5bn SMS with a subscriber base of slighlty over 50m- and you’ve got a pretty interesting picture: social networking + mobile = traction.
Now, the most important numbers, in terms of social strategy, are still lacking in the Philippines: What are people exactly doing online.
How long, where, when, how? Which demographics is where? What are they doing? Social games like Farmville -hint, they tend to drive a big female demographic? Are they on Tumblr? Are they active during the week and not the weekend? One needs to survey the market with all those questions. The absence of these more ingrained numbers limit the creation of valid strategies for brands here.
I’m sure that, by this time next year, those will have appeared on the market, though. It’s an absolute certainty. Jeremiah hit the nail multiple times.
Research, Strategy, Preparation
Coming back to brand strategy, going social is first about knowing where your customers and prospects are & what they do. It’s fashionable to open Facebook Pages, Twitter accounts, but it is often done without doing research, without preparation. This is step two after intent. Research, strategy and preparation.
To quote myself: “there’s no such thing as a Facebook strategy, only business strategies”
The lack of deep demographics and online behaviors -the point I just made above- is limiting the research. But Filipinos brands haven’t waited, obviously.
In all cases, lack of strategy creates more problem than it solves. A very simple example: my airline of choice, Emirates. I don’t have any insider information on their strategy -or lack thereof- but opening a Twitter account then abrubtely stopping it (last tweet was on Jan 6th) shows a lack of long term planning.
On the other hand, look at Air France, the airline I used to fly the most when I was a resident in Tokyo, which offers great customer support through its social tools. When, as a customer, I was reacting on Twitter to the fact that my miles card didn’t get accepted in one Singapore hotel, they went as far as sending me an email within 24 hours, explaining them the differences in hotel miles rewards across continents. They couldn’t send me a direct message on Twitter -one needs to follow an account to get those direct engagement-, so they went and looked my email up in their database. Good stuff!
Nice for Emirates that I only have good things to say about them. Imagine the contrary. No one would have reacted. This is how stories like the Montrin Moms against a brand go in overdrive.
Negative comments are usually an overblown matter. I estimate they don’t surpass 20% of the comments -or reviews of a product. They act as validation for the positive ones -is there such a company or product that really gets 100% of satisfaction rates? Dream on-.
More importantly, and this is a motto of mine, by humanizing your brand, since going social is a people to people business, forgiveness is higher.
We, humans, do forgive others for their mistakes -unless too grave or repeated. I don’t want to forgive a machine or a brand. I don’t care. But I can forgive a humanized brand. Negativity is soothed by this process -unless you really have a crappy product, that is.
Training
Preparation does also mean not giving these social tools to the new hire, just because he’s young and Facebook is a “teen thing” or whatever. First, it’s not a “teen thing”. Second, it leads to the Nestle brandjacking debacle, where the employee, while maybe not a new hire, had no clue about crisis management. You don’t say to people to shut up. Imagine Nestle telling you to shut up. This is not communication on a professional level. Lack of training which led to a backlash against Nestle that got the world headlines.
Social media is a serious matter. It’s a job. With skills, both soft -empathy, sensibility- and hard -crisis handling being one. It requires both carefully choosing the pool of talent that will represent you online, but also training them on a on-going basis, while offering support (the Nestle Facebook page employee could have gone and ask what to do about it -he might have, again, I don’t have the specifics).
That, with the previous point, answers one of the question Crisela asked us: how to minimize the risks of social media.
Fred made an essential point there: life comes with risks. I’d add: deal with it. But I’ll advise: prepare yourself (with the risk of repeating myself).
This also applies in the choice of community managers, probably one of the most sought-after profile companies will get for in the coming years. Chose carefully. Pick a good listener. Think diplomacy.
Social Media doesn’t scale
Social media doesn’t scale. Repeat that in your head. Do that again, repeat it. Churn on it. You will never be able to follow the amount of conversations -including criticisms that need attention- especially with the high growth rate of social platforms adoption. You need tools to monitor, prioritize and group. Social CRM, in analysts’ talk.
Whether you’re a small company or a big corporation, this is tantamount. This requires investment. People’s investment. Money investment. You cannot escape this.
This would require a full analysis by itself. It was a 45 minutes panel -and I tried not to keep talking at the expense of my two great co-panelists-, I only touched the surface.
I however quickly mentioned the Apple case. Besides an App Store Facebook page, the Cupertino company seems absent on the social networking platform. Really?
Do you really think Apple is not listening the online chatter? Do you really believe Apple reacted to the recent antenna-gate issue because some big newspapers started talking about it. Apple listens. You can listen without being present. That’s your choice. Not always a wise one, but in case of Apple, they addressed the mounting complaints with a official press event. They were listening.
Being social is about being a good listener first. Not about babble skills.
Feedback loop
Listening with the appropriate social tools also allows a brand to measure the success or failure of a campaign. And it’s immediate. The campaign can be refocused -let’s say on the part that click with people, abandoning what doesn’t resonate. Quickly.
Use the feedback loop to full effect.
Listen, measure, track, rinse. And restart.
Use what people are telling you to get better, to evolve. Whether it is during a campaign or not.
Interactive can become social
Ken Mandel, head of Yahoo! South East Asia, said it best during his keynote: “paid media priming the viral pump”. Yes, an interactive campaign can generate conversations -and great ones. This is why I talked about interactive and social in terms two different approaches: they are still part still of an ecosystem. This was a main point in my keynote on day two, I’ll write about it on a subsequent post.
Going Agency or not?
This question comes a lot when I talk to clients. Coca-Cola is using an agency to run its Twitter, so it’s not something only small companies do because they don’t have the right staffing. The advantage, as my presentation on the corporate impact of social pointed out, is the professionalism. The disadvantage is the disconnect.
An agency, when it comes to listening and engaging in conversations, is not as passionate as you. It’s, at least, difficult that it will reach the level of knowledge you have for the brand that you do. Moreso the passion that you do have as you can imagine. Agencies are still, for the most part, in a broadcast culture, not in this C2C world I’ve mentioned. Beware. Only a handful of agencies understand this.
A very small amount compared to the massive presence of “social media experts” -you can replace that last word with gurus, rockstars, etc.- and to phony agencies -adding a social page to an existing agency website is easy, even famous ones do.
Be sure you get an agency that knows what it’s talking about. It should have done its homework. It should have deployed -it’s so easy to fake the appearance of seriousness and expertise.
Ask for credentials. Be social: ask around you. Why not create a Filipino website with reviews of agencies, that’s surely a good opportunity for someone!
I’m sure I’m missing lots of what has been said during these intense 45 minutes. I hope I gave you a good overview though.
More to come about this IMMAP experience in the days to come.
- this is actually something I realized when I was living here last year, impressive, I love it
- thanks to Leah Valle for the nice pics
August 18 2010
IMMAP: The Corporate Culture of Social
Here’s my presentation from this morning Social Strategy Seminar-Workshop in Manila.1
Like last time in the Philippines, this is a new presentation. I like the audience here, they help me reshape my thoughts with their feedback. I need to make some adjustments to its dynamic, but the core is there.
I took the audience for a tour at my experience in management issues that arise with the integration of social technologies into corporations.
Organizational Culture Shift
The new interaction between the brand, the employees -the internal assets-, the existing base of customers -the external assets- & the potential customers, seen a as rings in expansion -rings of trust expansion-, is shaking the organizational roots of companies.
I’ve seen it happening in front of my eyes: power struggles between departments, executives being wary of employees’ empowerment, absence of strategy -from target definition to clear objectives- in the hastiness to jump on the social bandwagon, lack of expertise leading to social fallouts.
Clear strategic objectives and being advocates of internal change to succeed are factors maximizing the opportunities -and monetization- of social media.
From Anarchy to Participative Democracy
Most of the organizations I’m consulting with are still at a pre-socialization stage, where testing out means authenticity flies high, but where the experience for the customer can suffer a lot, not mentioning the absence of readability for executives steering the company’s strategy. I called that -bluntly- Anarchy.
The Protectorate -a UN Mandate of sorts- solution, to keep my political system analogy, by outsourcing social media handling to agencies is worth a look but the disconnect between the reality of a company and the message of an external body is often clear and hard to consolidate.
The Central Planning route offers constitency but doesn’t really take the various needs of various departments, social technologies being very different if used for customer support, talent scout or direct sales for instance.
Democracy is a model that remains costly, but certainly the one that offers an excellent balance without the need of total overhaul of the organization. Participative democracy, like the one I enjoy as a Swiss citizen, requires such a DNA reprogramming that I don’t think it will be achieved by most. Only newly-created companies built on that baseline -think Zappos- or small enterprises organizations can currently hope to get to that stage.
You know, Switzerland is still the only country in the world with a wide direct voting system. Hard to replicate indeed.
Evolution of Trust and Control
I also propose that trust and control can be correlated in their evolution. The term ‘brand’ still evokes a culture of ownership, thus a trust more limited than if relayed by -less controllable- employees and customers, who might not be controllable but who can increase loyalty -trust equity- towards prospects.
From the inner circle to the outer ever-expanding ones. In fluid dynamics talk, a ripple.
A ripple towards a bigger customer base. More sales. More revenues.
Interactive is Not Social
The creed of all this? Use the fast feedback loop that social media brings into the equation. Monetization of the opportunities of social marketing comes at this realization.
And with people being the field of that expansion, C2C -even for B2B companies- is playing a key element of this foundation.
C2C. Consumer to consumer. People to people. Human to human. Interactive is not social, be warned.
Digital Brand Health
Before my talk, Dr. Donald Patrick Lim2, ex-Yehey recently hired by MRM, shared a very interesting take on social capital. Using a financial output comparison, he proposed a new Digital Brand Health framework.
Finance wording:
Digital wording:
He assesses that by looking into components of online brand presence, one can derive the total health of the brand. This baseline become the pulse used for diagnostics and corrective measures.
Smart. I’ll comment the framework in another post. Hope Donald puts his presentation online for you to see, it’s worth it.
Socialgraphics
Jeremiah Owyang, whom I brought in my bags for his first visit here, ran his famous workshop of developing a social strategy. I’m sure he’s going to post this new presentation on his Slideshare soon, so let it just be said that he accompanied us on a fascinating journey from socialgraphics -the demographics and social technologies usage of your target- to ROI calculation case studies.
This presentation is the best I’ve heard from him yet. He’s stepping up his game every time. Impressive stuff. He has also mastered his on-stage persona. Call me lucky for having him as a friend.
Negativity is overblown
During the Q&A, Jack Madrid, GM Yahoo! Philippines whom I finally met in person after all this time conversing online, had a very sharp question on dealing with negativity.
I support the view that negative mentions are overblown in the eyes of many, meaning that they’re not as widespread as one would want to believe. They also allow for benchmarking. I will never believe that any product has no flaws. Negative reviews help me value the positive comments.
Now, product is the new marketing. Companies have thus to undertake self-inquisition journey to evaluates their offering -and themselves-, then only choose the right providers & consultants and train their staff appropriately.
By humanizing, brands also grab the added benefit of getting a more forgiving audience. Humans do forgive humans. Humans do mistakes. Brands are faceless.
In that regard, the Nestle debacle is proof, in my eyes, of poor foresight from the Swiss-based corporation. Crisis management know-how & processes are crucial on the real-time web.
Interestingly enough, I didn’t hear any of the attendees telling us how the loss of ownership bothered them during that Q&A. I usually get that a lot from executives. Didn’t they dare to?
The event, catered to C-level corporate people and marketing executives, was organized by IMMAP & Fiera de Manila at the exclusive Tower Club in Makati. Thanks to Leah, Nix, Norelyn and team for a fantastic event. I was honored to be sided with such great analysts like Jeremiah and Donald.
Note that Jeremiah will keynote tomorrow’s 4th IMMAP Summit (9.15am PHT), followed by the fascinating Maria Ressa, whom we had the chance to meet at ABS-CBN Studio 6 earlier this afternoon in Quezon City.
I’ll participate on a panel, ‘Going Social with your Brand’ moderated by Crisela Cervantes, head of ABS-CBN Interactive, at 4pm PHT. At 5.30pm, I will join Jeremiah on a live webcast hosted by the excellent TJ Manotoc.
My keynote on Social Listening & Earned Media is scheduled on Friday around 2pm.
- yeah, I know, it’s in Flash, anathema for an iPad user like me.
- and not David as I mistakenly wrote on my Twitter, Jeremiah calling him Patrick, TJ making fun of us in the process LOL
August 05 2010
July 26 2010
Syncrisis
La belle Antiquité fut toujours vénérable;
Mais je ne crus jamais qu’elle fust adorable.
Je voy les Anciens sans plier les genoux,
Ils sont grands, il est vray, mais hommes comme nous;
Et l’on peut comparer sans craindre d’estre injuste
Slowly first. Faster then. Jerking off.
That’s basically Miyazaki‘s definition of the iPad culture.
Of any culture that doesn’t use a pencil.
To each his own. I prefer sex over the iPad or a pencil.
But I dislike arrogance.
Arrogance, that bastard child of the classic case of the old v. new quarrel. The old-fart quarrel.2
In 17th-century Renaissance Italy, paragone -or comparison- was the hottest debate around. Being able to compare was the new paradigm. It equaled freedom of thought.
Boileau and Perrault were leading the same argument in France.
In red shorts, The Ancients, led by the former, believed we were stuck at imitating the perfection in Arts that the Greeks and Romans had set. Rules had to be followed. Dues had to be given.
The Moderns, in blue shorts, thought that new forms of art had to be invented. Rules could be broken. Innovation spurred.
Authority v. Progress.
Syncrisis.3
You aren’t going out into the real world and pouring your creativity into something [...] nothing more than consumers.
➡ How dare he dislike my gadget!
While Miyazaki makes a valid point about cases of herd psychology shown by people wanting the latest gadgetery4, his prism is blocked by his ceteribus paribus assumptions.
The real world is his own5. Creativity is his own.
These are his rules. His Greeks. His Romans.
Ironically, they collide with the credence -or authority- his comments are getting, as it is derived from the same factor the Japanese director criticizes: a communion of opinions, i.e. a mass of people flocking to see his art and approving it. Let’s call that mass approval6.
Creativity is not measured by the level of old-schoolness -or authority, again- you’ve got. It’s not because you’re using a ballpoint pen that you’re a better writer than someone using a typewriter. The same goes between analog and digital photography. Or a pen versus an iPad.
Don’t blindly follow those who tell you how things should to be done. Don’t fall into that type of herd behavior: non-sensical collective worship of modern so-called creative Gods. Miyazaki, Jobs, Nolan or Gladwell.
he is coming from an “All I need are pencil and paper” point-of-view. That might be all he needs. He’s Hayao Miyazaki!
➡ Hayao Miyazaki Compares iPad Use To Masturbation7
Get a clue. The communion of opinions about Miyazaki -his authority, again and again- validates the bashing of the communion of opinions on the iPad -his old-fartiness. Non-sensical.
Expertise -authority, yes …again- gives an opinion more weight -authority, always. It doesn’t make it of higher value.
Learn from the Ancients, respect them, give dues if you wish, but don’t let them tell you what your path should be. How your creativity should be shaped.
Don’t mix the medium and the format. Don’t mix the goal and the means.
Use a pen, an iPad, whatever suits you. Define your world. Break the mould. Be a consumer. A prosumer. A producer. A watcher. A stroker.
You’re probably going to become an old-fart anyway.
- The great Ancient History always was venerable; But I never thought it was adorable. I see the Ancients without bending [my] knees, they are great, it’s true, but men like us; One care compare without fear of being unjust. Translation mine.
- I’ll readily disclaim it. Not even 35 and I’m somewhat in the former category already. Took me ages to go from film to digital. Will take me forever to accept 3D movie technology, the most idiotic & useless trend. I’m an old fart.
- Syncrisis [sin'-cri-sis]: from Greek syn ”with” and krinein, “to separate”/”to compare”. A comparison and contrast in parallel clauses.
- or willing to flock to the latest movie …even when as stupid, boring and dangerously backwards as Avatar.
- one which somewhat lacks introspection, the real world also meaning taking care of your son, in my humble opinion. The real world not being limited to staying in front of a piece of paper for hours. Again, to each his own. Maybe.
- don’t get me started: you’ve got to be delusional -or Ancient- to derive authority from the essence of his art.
- emphasis mine
July 15 2010
Re: @OldSpice | Paul Papadimitriou
In the world of campaigns, there is nothing better than earned media — free television and radio exposure
➡ Being an Incumbent Has Many Benefits1
Thank you Old Spice. Not for reminding me that I should work on my abs. But for proving me right.
Right about what? That the wall between earned media and social media is nothing but thin air. It’s not editorial efforts on one side and grassroots actions on the other2. There’s only one wall. Between success and failure. Between phenomenon and oblivion.
Thank you Wieden + Kennedy. Thank you Iain.
Simple-minded social media experts -i.e. douchebags- will repeat the oh-so-often heard rule of engaging the influencers -to death. It’s not enough. On how to have a presence on Facebook. It’s not enough. Social media itself is not enough. You need much more.
In order to leverage the “grassroot” voice for a advertising campaign, you need a blend of creatives, marketers, writers & techies. You need people who breathe the real-time web. You need people who know what they’re talking/writing about, what they’re analyzing -and fast-, who they’re targeting. You need a plan. And you need the trust of your client.
W+K PDX had it all. The result is nothing short of admirable.
Over 185 videos, the Old Spice Guy answered online messages of celebrities like Alyssa Milano or Ashton Kutcher. And while he talked to them -caressing their ego- he messaged the rest of us. Real-time.
social media guys [...] figured out the who and where, spotting the opportunities, pulling out the gems and putting them cleverly back into the world. [...] [T]ech guys [...] pulled together a super smart workflow system
➡ Responding to allegations of douchiness and congratulations to a great @oldspice team
It was one-to-one-to-many. But it didn’t stop there.
we’ve built an application that scans the Internet looking for mentions and allows us to look at the influence of those people and also what they’ve said
➡ The Team Who Made Old Spice Smell Good Again Reveals What’s Behind Mustafa’s Towel
He also talked directly to the rest of us. The ones who had a fun sense of creativity. The crazy ones who were willing to propose our girlfriend.
It’s not just responding to tweets, it’s looking at the environment right now.
➡ ibidem
He talked via requests taken on Twitter, Facebook, Reddit and 4Chan. Yeah, on 4Chan, daring the ones who decided to send Justin Bieber to North Korea.
And he talked Geekery3.
Geekery? W+K understood demographics & behaviors. Understood that social media channels are still influenced by early adopters. People who love technology so much that they’ll jump into an indescribable 140-character message board that Twitter is. People who will understand the answer Kevin Rose receieved.
People who, like me, will laugh hard at the answer 4Chan got.
People who will be crazy enough to remix the videos.
People who will share the love.
People who will put the story on top of social sharing sites Reddit and Digg. People who will trigger the huge surge the Old Spice Twitter account got -from 3,500 to 55,000 followers in one day4. Triggering more spill over to Facebook -600,000 fans of the brand, I’d say 20,000 more since the campaign started. A spill over talked about in larger circles thanks to news outlets like the Telegraph or the New York Times.
People who will get the videos to top 6 million views on YouTube in 24 hours -a record.
➡ Old Spice’s Online Video Coup
People who reacted to the Old Spice Guy’s persona.
W+K understood what a Tummler -to use the old Yiddish word5- really is.
It understood the true concept of engagement. And the work it required.
It understood that pulling the comments real-time, quickly spotting the right opportunities required the right skills. That processing this back to the writers for a rapid video shoot required the right team. That working that fast required the complete backing -bravura?- of the client6.
It understood the demographics for the product it was promoting. The behavior and psychology of the target. The referrals that could follow.
W+K had a plan. An intention for its client. And massive amounts of coffee.
The wall is between success and failure. If brand awareness was the goal, social media really is part of earned media.
I’m going to exercise now.
- subscription required
- don’t get me started on the artificial distinction which implies that earned media should be reserved to initiatives, not advertising. We live in a world of blurred definitions.
- to use Ken‘s right word in his W+K announcement
- 66,000+ at the time of this writing
- Tummler: [ˈtʌmlə] One, such as a social director or entertainer, who encourages guest or audience participation.
- as a bonus, P&G got a funny cross-promo for Gillette
July 13 2010
I’m A Tourist
I’m a tourist in your company. I don’t know nearly as much about it as you do – you’ve lived here for a long time and I’m quite new. And as a tourist I’m not likely to stay here very long so you’ll have to live with the results. But like any person living in a city for a long time, I find that my clients often stop visiting certain attractions that used to excite them. They stop questioning why things are the way things are and just accept the status quo. And the great thing about being a tourist is that I get to visit many places and can bring some good ideas that I’ve seen elsewhere that you may like. But let’s be clear – I’m only a tourist. You really know your town. And if I’m going to help a bit while I’m here the better I know ‘what’s what’ the easier it will be for me to help and be on my way
➡ How a Tourist Can Help you with Your Startup
This piece by Mark is a stunner. A must-read.
I’ve always been client-oriented in my career, whether as an account manager, a lobbyist or a consultant. I realize I’ve been a tourist all my life, now that I got this amazing analogy.
Sometimes in awe. Sometimes bored. Sometimes disgusted.
Always curious.
Taking too many pictures at first. Nor digesting the flow of information that came to my eyes. Learning to become a better tourist. Respectful. Understanding. A tourist who knows what he wants. And gets it done.
I was sharing some excellent Lebanese red wine1 last night with a good friend of mine who’s in Cyprus to spend one week of holidays at my place. He’s an institutional banker. The kind of honest and good person I hope you meet one day.
We were exchanging experiences on how we deal with clients. Strike that. On how we deal with people. How we deal with decisions impacting people and how they impact us, as human beings. How to fine tune the correct balance between your call, the clients’ call and your boss’ call. A topic as deep as the red color we were drinking.
One story stuck.
A common friend is specialized in strategic marketing2.
She was consulting for a company that went way over its head trying to diversify. Designing the fit between the organization, the resources and the revisited objectives. Improving the engine, in a word. Making some hard calls, in another3.
In the report she submitted to the CEO was a list of people that were no longer needed in the company.
The last name was hers.
She was a tourist.
- Chateau St Thomas, 2005. A real discovery.
- for the clueless social media douchebags, it’s not strategically communicating via Twitter, right? It’s way more complex than you’ll ever understand.
- I love the smell of strategic planning in the morning. Really, I do.
July 12 2010
John Gruber Was Right All Along
Gruber says that when he’s writing Daring Fireball, he’s picturing his ideal reader — a copy of himself — and conceptually writing just for him. With everything he writes, he’s writing to and for that one ideal reader, not trying to boost his SEO for target phrases or appeal to an ever broadening demographic.
There you have it.
I love writing. For more than fifteen years, I’ve been having amazing debates online with a selected group of friends1. I can spend so much time crafting the most documented answer or going into a non-sensical reply frenzy that it can be described as a real passion.
I was never able to translate that completely into blogging, though. I have had several blogs dating back to 1995, on way too many platforms, with way too many different domain names.
Gosh the staggering amount of time I’ve spent experimenting. Don’t do it. Well, do experiment. But don’t think technology. Think content. Think you. You’re the ideal reader.
I’m the ideal reader.
I was thinking too much. I’m a Virgo ascendant Virgo. I don’t value astrology, it’s a know fact amongst my friends, but random online searches about the topic would tell you that, besides not hiding my personality, I’m double the perfectionist, double the the analyzer. I think too much.
I was always struggling with the eventual noise I was putting out. Not noise to me, but what could have been noise to you. I didn’t want to disturb. I don’t care anymore. Well, I do, I just learned to better deal with it.
Twitter, the so-called grave-digger of long-form writing, has been my therapy. I realized I’m doing just fine with my half-professional, half-personal, half-witty, half-grunty, half-worldcup, half-analyst, half-Japan, half-non-sensical shots2. People are free to like my noise or not. To follow me or not.
To like me or not.
I’ve repeated over and over and I’ll do it again: I like opinions. The only reason I ever read newspapers is for the op-eds.
I’m opinionated. Like my articles3. Or not.
Like my tone or pass. There you have it.
- entirely restricted to a small trusted circle of friends via an old email address
- I know these halves don’t add up, but since you’re at the footnote, read Steve: “in an age where transparency begets trust, there’s a lot to be gained on an individual and institutional level for those who decide in some way to live some of their lives in public and converge networks“
- with cryptic titles, without them ending in a question to beg for commenting, with somewhat scattered topics. In full SEO anathema glory.
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