Archive for the ‘The Future’ Category

Coke CMO talks about new age of marketing.

Wednesday, January 12th, 2011

Coke CMO Joe Tripodi The end of advertising is near.

Speaking at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week, Coca-Cola Company Chief Marketing Officer Joe Tripodi explained, “We’re more in the space of managing communities than creating ads.” (Wait, wha?) Mr. Tripodi’s comments were part of the panel discussion “Entertainment Matters Keynote Panel.” He went on to declare “Push Marketing” was essentially passé. The takeaway: The end of advertising may not occur in 2011, but when you have the head of one of the world’s largest advertisers saying the company will focus on community management while dismissing ads and interruption marketing, well, that starts to mean something. The post advertising age is near. Check out the video for the thought-provoking discussion among a distinguished panel.


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RE: Twitter and The Macarena

Thursday, June 18th, 2009

We’d just like to go on record that the Twitter-as-a-Business-World-Savior phenomenon has officially gotten out of control and, in fact, the micro-blogging tool will soon occupy the same space as pet rocks and the Macarena.

Why? Everything that’s reported and opined is all based on anecdotes and gee-whiz thinking – and frankly, crap that doesn’t make any sense.

To wit: TIME magazine’s June 15, 2009, cover story predicts Twitter “will increasingly become a place where companies build brands, do research, send information to customers, conduct e-commerce and create communities for their users.” It explains the wonderful conversations people are having on Twitter to deliver “ambient awareness.” And the article actually states “hearing about what your friends had for breakfast is actually more interesting than it sounds.” No, it’s not.

Further, this is all great in theory. Unfortunately, it’s not supported by the data. In fact, the article reports no numbers or research. And it conveniently ignores recent data revealing how Twitter’s traffic has flatlined and that basically no one tweets. Oh, and it’s lower on the social media interaction scale than Wikipedia. (Twitter’s resembles more of a one-way, one-to-many publishing service more than a two-way, peer-to-peer communication network.) But besides that, TIME’s reporter, Steven Johnson, was at a conference where Twitter was used. And, well, it was kinda cool.

There’s more. Jack and Suzy Welch’s recent, usually insightful, column in BusinessWeek proclaim (no lie) “[W]e certainly get its incipient power. Indeed, if Twitter continues to expand at its current rate, it may well become a high-value way for companies to help brand themselves and microtarget consumer groups, as well as another tool for managers to interact with their people, and vice versa.” And to support this claim? They like it. They really, really like it. No supporting data or real analysis need be given.

Holy crap. And that’s where the trouble lies. No real analysis. Hello? Will the grownups please report to work? Can you imagine what Jack Welch would have done if an employee provided a similar report to him while he was running GE? “Gee, that’s interesting, Bob. You’re fired.”

Yes, we’ve all read the incredible success stories how Zappos and Dell tweating their way to fame and fortune. And how Intuit and Comcast use Twitter to assist customer service. But those are anecdotes.

In short, Twitter is an interesting technological answer in search of a problem. But the problem is not what you’re virtual friend had for breakfast.

Posted in Social Media, The Future | 4 Comments »

RE: Coming Soon to a Computer Near You

Saturday, January 3rd, 2009

TO: High-Level Business Executives

FROM: The Executive Whisper

Some technologies are simply ahead of their time. But they are coming. And businesses will use them. When you adopt them is up to you. Currently on the Future list:

HTML 5

One of the most important technologies doesn’t fully exist yet — HTML 5 — but in 2008, key features started to trickle out.

HTML 5 will eventually replace HTML 4.01, the dominant programming language currently used to build web pages. But the governing bodies in charge of the web are still drafting the details, and nobody expects HTML 5 to fully emerge as the new standard for at least a few more years.

But HTML 5 is no vaporware. Many of the changes to the way the web operates as outlined in early versions of the new specification are already being implemented in the latest browsers, and some of the web’s more adventurous site builders are already incorporating HTML 5′s magic into their pages.

HTML 5 will be great step forward, standardizing things like dragging and dropping elements on web pages, in-line editing of text and images on sites and new ways of drawing animations. There’s also support for audio and video playback without plug-ins, a boon for usability and a worrisome sign for Adobe’s Flash, Microsoft’s Silverlight and Apple’s QuickTime. The language will also give a boost to web apps, as there are new controls for storing web data offline on your local machine.

Lifestreaming

A new breed of social app has arisen to help us manage the mess of information overload — the lifestream.

Not long ago, keeping track of your friends on the internet was pretty easy. Everyone belonged to Friendster or MySpace and that was it. Now, the web is littered with thousands of social sites, each with its own special purpose — Flickr for photos, Last.fm for music, Twitter for tweeting. Even the most rudimentary services are tied to the social web. Renting a movie, buying a book or writing a blog post? Let all your friends on Netflix, Amazon and Blogger know about it.

Keeping tabs on your friends now is all too easy and all too much, all at once.

Sites like FriendFeed, Plaxo Pulse and Digsby serve as social-network-activity aggregators. They’re like virtual funnels. Dump in all the notifications, feeds and updates from your various networks, and the services will bring it all into one master stream, relieving you of the responsibility of visiting a dozen or more sites to learn what your friends are up to, what they’re listening to, who they’re snogging and so on. Controls let you dial back the flow by sorting and filtering the flow, pruning it down to only what matters most.

Many such services have emerged, but FriendFeed, an elegant and simple site designed by a crew of ex-Googlers, is our favorite.

Oh, and don’t expect to be able to add Facebook to your lifestream. The network lets all sorts of data in, but precious little out.

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