Experience shows that the first wave of Internet-enabled change was tainted by irrational exuberance. A sober analysis of today's trends reveals that this new participation is both a blessing and a curse. Mass collaboration can empower a growing cohort of connected individuals and organizations to create extraordinary wealth and reach unprecedented heights in learning and scientific discovery... (but) the new participation will also cause great upheaval, dislocation, and danger for societies, corporations, and individuals that fail to keep up with the relentless change.
- Don Tapscott & Anthony Williams, Wikinomics, page 15.
“We think our brand is going to be different because we want people to feel there’s a real person they’re connecting with, whether it’s when they call us or through Twitter or any way they come in contact with us” - Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, and probably the only CEO who gave away shoes via Twitter this week.
“All we do is try to respond to what users are asking for. That’s how we set our priorities. Users aren’t asking us to run ads, so it doesn’t come onto our radar.” - Jim Buckmaster, CEO of Craigslist
“By choosing to invest in consumers over advertising, Google is a living example of a deeper truth: The future of communications as advantage lies in talking less and listening more.” - Umair Haque, Havas Media Lab Director. Check out the bubblegeneration blog.
Carried by the ever-popular Wii, Nintendo Corporation (still) enjoys the position of top dog in the video game console market (sorry, Denis). With more console units sold (and climbing) than its flashier counterparts, Microsoft’s XBOX 360 and Sony’s Playstation 3, Nintendo has managed to revive itself from the dark years of the late 90s and early 2000s.As reported before on the Wikinomics blog, one of the most interesting components behind the Nintendo revival story is just where they have managed to drum up their new-found success.
Shunning the highly sought after “hardcore gamer”, Nintendo’s marketing genius has been in expanding the gaming world to capture the minds of millions of non-traditional gamers, which includes more women, parents and older purchasers, and even younger children than ever before – almost completely avoiding the Wizard teenage boys. Read More »
A few weeks ago, Danny wrote a post about the lack of concern in divulging personal information online. In it he worried that,
One thing that continues to amaze me is how little we value the privacy of our personal information online. The amount of information we are willing to provide to use services online is immense and our concern over divulging it seems to be almost non-existant.
Although the Federal Trade Commission proposed that companies involved in online advertising create a self-regulatory code to limit the use of sensitive information in their use of ‘behavioral targeting’ - where ads are targeted based on a user’s web browsing behavior, a recent article in the New York Times describes the measures taken by the newspaper industry in response. Read More »
Talk about bad luck for the Clinton campaign. In case you missed it, this 2:33 post on YouTube tells the beginning of the story - the infamous “red phone” ad. This somewhat controversial spot was designed to make viewers fear the inexperience of Obama. It used stock footage of a young girl sleeping in her bed at night, and a creepy voice starts saying something along the lines of “it’s 3am and your children are safe and asleep. There’s a phone in the White House and it’s ringing… who do you want answering the phone?”
So what’s the bad luck element here? Well, it turns out that “young girl” (Casey Knowles) has grown up quite a bit since the stock footage was taped. In fact, she has grown into quite an adament Barack Obama supporter, and she’s really not into the politics of fear thing. Read More »
“As you browse, we’re able to categorize all of your Internet actions,” said Virasb Vahidi, the chief operating officer of Phorm. “We actually can see the entire Internet.”
The entire Internet- that’s quite a bit I must say. This is the basis for a great pitch that Phorm is throwing at AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and other ISPs (as reported in the NY Times by Louise Story)- we can track everything. That comprehensive view of what every individual does on the Internet has to add up to advertising dollars somehow, right?
Well, of course. However, there’s the simple problem that maybe, just maybe, people will have some apprehension about a company tracking every single thing they do and selling (or otherwise profiting from) that information somehow. But apparently Phorm is already rolling in Britain, and claims to have access to 70% of British households that have a broadband connection. Naturally, the British Government is investigating the privacy ramifications… of a company… tracking everything many of their citizens do online. Should be a tough investigation.
Stuart Elliott of the NY Times has an interesting article about Pepsi’s marketing approach for their new “no calorie, carbonated beverage” line Tava. What’s interesting is not so much that the campaign is bypassing mainstay media almost entirely (somewhat intriguing, but increasingly common at this point), but that they are doing so launching a beverage targeted at 35 - 49 year olds. Apparently, people are starting to learn that these old fogies use the Internet too, and they might be easier to reach online then the youngsters are. Read More »
With the ongoing turmoil in the advertising industry caused by the internet, a new breed of customer custodians is emerging in the form of internet giants such as Google, Yahoo, MySpace, Microsoft and AOL. As advertisers strive to make their messages more relevant, customer data becomes the key to better targeting and ad placement.
One of our collaborators, Sean Moffitt, pointed me to this very thoughtful (and funny) video on the changing relationship between advertisers and customers. It clearly shows the growing disconnect between traditional media advertisers and a new generation of consumers impervious to the old sales methods. The ironic thing is that the clip was made by Microsoft, a company that spends $11.5 billion on sales and marketing, with over $1 billion in U.S. ad spending alone. Although, admittedly the company is moving the bulk of its ad dollars to the digital sphere and hopes to significantly transform its marketing mix by 2010. With clips such as ‘Bring Back the Love’ the company clearly shows that they understand where to invest.
This past weekend, the National Basketball Association held it’s 57th annual all-star game and with it came some very creative uses of Web2.0, from which the rest of the sporting world could take some strong cues. Leading up to the game, a number of players, including the Toronto Raptors’ Chris Bosh and the Memphis Grizzlies’ Rudy Gay, had created YouTube videos, in an effort to gain fan support and even solicit challenges for the upcoming Slam Dunk Competition.
Chris Bosh’s campaign began months ago with his CBTV campaign, in which he took on the role of everything from an Oxford-schooled reporter to a used car salesman in an effort to encourage fan voting for his all-star appearance. While unsuccessful in gaining enough votes to become an all-star starter, Bosh gets the award for most creative player with his series of videos that have attracted well over half a million views and landed him the respect of many fans who appreciate his authentic and unpolished approach.
As a Canadian my enjoyment of most Super Bowls is limited to the game it self, as we are generally limited to watching 4 or 5 terrible ads over and over and over. The prime example last night, a made for TV movie about 4 RCMP officers that were tragically killed on an Alberta farm. (Which seemed like a rather dark and sad thing to be promoting during the super bowl).
However, With the advent of YouTube, Dailymotion and other video sharing sites over that past few years it has allowed Canadians to enjoy all of the greatness of Super Bowl ads. As I was watching the game this year I was amazed that numerous times during the game Fox was actually promoting the fact that all of the Super Bowl ads would be available after the game at MySpace.com/superbowlads. This is great, you can go and watch all of the ads CTV kindly blocked and they are nicely listed by the quarter in which they aired.
My real problem with the Super Bowl, specifically this year as I am a Pats fan, is that the same social media tools that enabled me to watch all of the ads I missed also will continue to add to my misery for days to come. Let’s just say I am not very happy with the outcome of the game, I didn’t watch the last 10sec, or any Sports Centre this morning in an effort to keep all Super Bowl related news at bay. The problem for a downtrodden fan like myself is that web 2.0 technologies are so pervasive its impossible to escape news these days. Facebook updates, RSS feeds, YouTube, Digg, SMS messages from friends who may have won copious amounts of money on the outcome, everywhere I turn I am reminded of the terrible tragedy that took place yesterday.
Thankfully cars.com created some great ads for the Super Bowl that helped take a little bit of the sting away (my favorite ad is below).
Perhaps in time social media also will provide me with some therapy, like this YouTube video that was created to help Cowboys fans overcome their disappointing season.
Regular public transit riders are likely familiar with the lineups and too close for comfort encounters that are a part of the daily grind, but don’t worry, your commute is about to get a little brighter - literally. Up until now, tunnels between stations have been in the dark and the one of the only spaces (at least on Toronto’s TTC subway system) free of advertisements, but all this could soon change.
Winnipeg-based Sidetrack Technologies has developed the tools to produce illuminated tunnel advertisements using 360 degree LED strips that combine to create what appears to the rider’s naked eye as video (think flipbook for the 21st century). In the age of Wikinomics, when advertising dominates the public landscape and the captive audience of the TV commercial is no longer available due to downloading, Tivo etc, Sidetrack may have unearthed a goldmine by finding a way to reach one of the last truly captive audiences and the minds of millions of commuters in the world’s largest metropolises. And to think - I figured I had seen it all the last time advertising made it in to the other truly captive space in public life - the washroom.
This new medium will allow Sidetrack to remotely change advertisements on any transit system in the world, based on various metrics including time of day, location and direction into or out of the city’s core. Wonder why you’re craving that Egg McMuffin this morning? Maybe it was the golden arches that followed you throughout the tunnel on your way to work…Worried about your next vacation? Just keep your eye on the plane that’s following you for the latest and greatest travel deals on your way home.
While I applaud the innovative nature of this new medium, within a couple of weeks of seeing it daily, I am pretty sure I would opt for boredom as the better alternative to bombardment, particularly in the morning.
Sidetrack technology is currently in place in the Los Angeles Metro and London’s Underground and it will soon make it’s debut in New York City’s MTA.
Aside:
Subsequent to starting this post, I was on my way home on Toronto’s TTC and I waited no less than 15 minutes in a line at 11pm to purchase a monthly transit pass on my credit card. The TTC has installed facilities where weekly or monthly passes can be purchased using a debit card at 8 of it’s 70 stations and credit at 4 such stations. I find this frustrating given that Canada is one of the world’s heaviest users of debit payment systems and yet Toronto’s transit system offers convenient payment options in just over 10% of it’s stations. There are better systems out there - see London’s Oyster card - that focus not only on rider convenience, but also system efficiency and saving customers money. Hopefully, before joining the age of Wikinomics advertising, Toronto’s TTC will catch up to the 1990s in it’s payment systems.
Funny… earlier this week I was wondering about the future of Yahoo’s ad network: would this once dominant network slowly sink into the ground or would it somehow turn around and revive itself? Looks like we have the answer in the form of Microsoft’s $44.6 billion offer to buy Yahoo! While that’s a huge premium over the stock price (62%), I’m betting Microsoft knows what it’s doing here. Yahoo’s ad network has good bones, and just needs some vision on where to take it. While some of the changes Yahoo made to its ad network looked promising, as mentioned here, it would’ve been nice if they’d tried to leapfrog Google instead of just imitating them. And Microsoft seems to have some interesting ideas on the future of online advertising, but they lacked the network that Yahoo would now give them. A Microsoft/Yahoo deal looks like it’ll fill important voids in both camps. Maybe, just maybe, this will inject some new life into Yahoo’s ad network - I don’t normally root for Microsoft, but this Yahoo deal and other changes at Microsoft are a positive sign. They might just be taking Hugh Macleod’s Blue Monster campaign seriously.
The website has since been taken down but you can view the winning video here. Quiznos take on the whole thing seems simple enough “We’re just facilitating consumers who go out and create their own expression in the form of a commercial,” said Ronald Y. Rothstein, a partner at Winston & Strawn, on behalf Quiznos.
Now, I don’t pretend to grasp the legal intricacies of corporate advertising but from what I have understand ads that contain ’slanderous statements and false claims’ are supposed to be off limits. However, from what I have observed as a consumer doesn’t seem to be that cut and dry. Coke and Pepsi used to run blind taste test about which was better, Bud and Miller Lite continuously state they taste better than the each other, and what about the Mac ads? They are hilarious but I would think they have to be pushing the boundaries with the whole Vista sucks by a Mac angle in their latest campaign.
Personally it would make more sense to me if the lawsuit was aimed only at the ads Quiznos created and maybe the way the instructed customers to portray their subs as being better, but to sue over user generated content seems a little odd. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. Hopefully it won’t kill this type of engaging and entertaining advertising that allows companies to connect with their customers and spice up the marketing industry.
There’s a shocking ad that many Torontonian’s are seeing lately - one I pass every day on my way to work. I think about this ad every time I pass it, so yesterday I decided to bring my camera in to take a photo:
The image is of a woman holding a dice-sized nuclear pellet and the caption reads, “This little nuclear energy pellet powers an average home for six weeks”. I like it because it represents, in a single image, the tradeoff we have to weigh with nuclear energy - incredible power in a tiny package, but also deadly risks to health and safety from radiation. I like any ad that challenges my assumptions.
For me, the image is shocking. I get an immediate aversion just looking at an photo of someone holding something that would, if the image were real, likely kill them - the image is so far from the truth that (I believe) the pellet would be too hot to even touch! If the photo depicted someone holding their hand just inches above a bear trap I’d probably have the same reaction.
Yet, on the other hand, I also look at the size of that pellet, and wonder how many square meters of surface of the earth torn up from the oilsands or what size of coal-plant-produced cloud is required to produce the same amount of energy. And then also need to ask, where do we store that pellet afterward? Most of our power generating capacity has terrible side effects.
Raising Nuclear energy is sure to raise some hackles - but if sharing this image sparks anything, it should be about getting people thinking about the real problem - reducing consumption. It’s hypocritical to stick our finger at any single method of power generation while continuing to use more energy per capita than almost any nation in the world. We shouldn’t be forcing ourselves to choose one undesirable side effect over another in the first place.
This one has definitely given me food for thought. What’s your reaction - either to the ad or the topic of energy tradeoffs in general? Maybe it’s time for mass collaboration on some of our energy consumption choices.
Mark’s feeling the pressure as Beacon’s chances of survival get dimmer.
We’re coming up to the one month anniversary of Beacon’s announcement and the privacy concerns surrounding it have yet to disappear. Concerns have actually grown and now include their landmark advertising partners–an original list of over 40 websites including Coca-Cola, Sony Pictures, Sony Online, Blockbuster, The Knot, TripAdvisor, TypePad, Overstock.com, Yelp, WeddingChannel.com, Zappos.com and Verizon. It is quite the impressive list of web sites that attract large amounts of traffic on a daily basis. However, a few of these early-adopters (Coca-Cola, Overstock.com) have yet to implement it on their end, and may never will.
For those who have been bombarded with Beacon in the title of their RSS feeds and have ignored them, here is the gist on how it works.
Beacon is part of the Facebook Ads platform that was introduced on November 6th. Beacon tracks certain activities of all users on participating web sites, and then sends all of this data back to Facebook. Within the data, those who are identified as Facebook members and have opted-in to Beacon have announcements inserted into their news feed. Activities that are sent to your Facebook friends include purchasing a product, signing up for a service, and adding an item to a wish list. Read More »
Over the past year we have blogged on more than a few occasions about the MMOG World of Warcraft. How it has inspired solutions to email overload. How the U.S. player population is more than 4 times larger than the U.S. agricultural industry. We even talked about how the platform was being used to model the outbreak of infectious diseases.
More recently we have been looking at how playing WoW may be a valuable skill that employers will start looking for. There is even a group of CEO’s and venture capitalists that get together and play, they are apart of the We Know WoW guild. Ross Mayfield, founder of SocialText, and long time collaborator of New Paradigm is a member of the guild. He explains in an interview with ZDnet how he has even connected with a new client while playing the game. The clip goes on to mention that in the within the tech community WoW is becoming the new golf.
However, if hobnobbing with executives, fighting disease and building up your resume aren’t persuading you to play WoW, then this commercial just might push you over the edge.
Here’s an update article on Free Rice that my colleague Dave forwarded to me this morning. For background, see the post I wrote last week. Apparently, the program is doing really well, and warranted a front page spot on MSN’s ‘Windows Live Today’ box when he signed in to messenger. For the full story, please read the MSN news article, but to give you a bit of a preview. Free Rice has hit over 1 billion grains of rice - “enough to feed 50,000 hungry people for one day”. Over the weekend there was a huge spike with 122,377,240 and 136,236,930 grains donated per day Saturday and Sunday.
“After all, do you really care that your friend likes a certain toothpaste brand or drinks Seven-Up? Also, what would motivate someone to announce this to the world? While the News Feed is a phenomenal way of keeping updated, clogging it up with advertising would make it much less useful.”
Equally sceptical of advertising on Facebook I was inclined to agree with Paul’s position, that is until I recently discovered the power of iLike. With over 15 million registered users and 700,000 “daily active users” on Facebook, iLike is a prime example of a peer-to-peer N-Fluence network. It’s so effective in fact, that it barely feels like advertising. Read More »
If I told you that Pauly Shore had (somewhat) recently made his best movie ever, you might not run out and get it. After all, in the minds of many people, the “best Pauly Shore movie” is a pretty low bar to jump, for obvious reasons - a long, secret campaign by jealous actors to ensure that Encino Man and Bio Dome (co-starting Steven Baldwin, natch) never get the critical acclaim they are due. Or, er, people just don’t like the whole “caveman in a high school” theme and find his movies rather silly.
Whatever, it doesn’t matter - what matters is that AOL has acquired Quigo, and I believe it is a pretty shrewd move for AOL, which if you’ve followed AOL’s recent past, outside of tricking Time Warner into one of the biggest mistakes in business history, is seen by many as a pretty low bar to jump indeed.
But this is not a backhand compliment - we’ve been monitoring Quigo for a long time, and it’s got an interesting position relative to the Google and Facebook ad networks that everyone is talking about. To see one of the main reasons why this is, the best thing to do is check out Google news in relation to the Quigo announcement - it’s basically a single story, with a link to “all 207 news articles” on the subject. Read More »
Well, it could be illegal in New York and California states at least. The best part about the law is that it isn’t one that’s been developed regarding online privacy, or even with the internet in mind - it was actually created around 100 years ago.
New York’s well-known statute creates both a misdemeanour and a civil cause of action for “any person whose name, portrait, picture, or voice is used within this state for advertising purposes or for the purposes of trade without the written consent first obtained.”
As expected, the new ad platform has raised an onslaught of privacy objections, not unlike the ones raised when Facebook revealed the news feed feature. But unlike the news feed feature, this move by Facebook has profit motives behind it and will obviously be only beneficial to Facebook and its advertisers. Read More »
The Dumbest Generation? Have your say. I must first acknowledge my personal bias on this topic...
As a member of the Net Generation research team at nGenera (and a member of said generation myself), I am a firm believer in the tremendous accomplishments and potential of the Net Generation (those born between 1977 and 1997). So, I must say that when I [...]
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Mark’s feeling the pressure as Beacon’s chances of survival get dimmer.
Well, it could be illegal in New York and California states at least. The best part about the law is that it isn’t one that’s been developed regarding online privacy, or even with the internet in mind - it was actually created around 100 years ago.
