Too Busy To Blog Today, Read Jeremiah Owyang

I wish I had more time today. Perhaps I will get to something later in the day. I did come across this blog post by Jeremiah and I think that all you SL, Web 3D fans will really appreciate it. I love how Jeremiah explores the metaverse like someone who is truly looking for value and not someone who is touting value that is simply not there. I also love how he brings up the concept of opt-in brand immersion.



Read More Here


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Mobile Advertising Is NOT The Next Big Thing!

Did I get your attention?


...Good :)


Okay, so I do not whole heartedly believe the above statement,


…however for years I have heard mobile ad firms telling me that mobile advertising is here and here in a big way. Well, where is it?


All of the mobile ad companies I talk to tell me mobile advertising has reached the point where it is a viable solution for any marketer, (except for my friend Chris Arens of Ad Infuse who has the most organic and realistic view of mobile) while many of the marketers I speak with ask, “where is the real value?”


Disclosure: I am not an expert on the mobile industry, but it is my job to pay as close attention as is necessary for my clients (which is probably closer attention than most people pay)


So is there value in mobile advertising?


I would say the answer to this question would have to begin with a shift in the semantic approach we take towards this channel. I also think we need to, once again re-adjust our attitudes and approaches towards advertising (as we did when shifting to web advertising).


Advertising is largely a reinforcement of a brand message. When most of us think of interactive advertising, we think of banners, impressions, click through etc. I have been told over and over again of the incredible click through rates that advertisers are seeing on the mobile web. I don't buy it, and even if I did, I don’t care about click through rates on the web, so why should I care about them on a phone? I care about real results!


Yes, I believe there is a ton of value for marketers in the mobile space!


From this day forward I will never refer to an initiative in the mobile space as advertising. This may seem unnecessarily analytical, but from now on it is strictly mobile marketing, not advertising. The decision is rooted in the Cluetrain Manifesto’s definition of markets as conversations. It is my belief that one of the sweet spots of delivering brand messages via mobile devices is in the conversation (I am going to stay away from locality and search in this post as we all know the importance of these factors in mobile marketing. I am strictly aiming my argument at those throwing banners on mobile phones aimlessly and telling me that is it working).


Markets are Conversations, Mobile Powers Conversations, Conversation Is Social


I chose not to blog about Coca-Cola’s Sprite Yard initiative when I first heard about it, as I did not know what I thought. My initial reaction was, “why would anyone want to be on a branded mobile social network? Teens will never go for that!”


Then I began to think, not about whether or not the campaign would be successful in a traditional sense. I begin to think about whether or not the experiment would successfully yield useable learning’s for Coke and the rest of the marketing community. Under this guise there is no way this initiative will be a failure.


After all, what is Coke really doing here? They are providing a persistent branded experience, and at the same time providing value to consumers by creating a social platform. To say this is not admirable would be somewhat hypocritical coming from someone who spends a great deal of time convincing others to experiment, provide experiences and take part in the new media conversation.



I want to hear from you! What is the true realization of effective mobile marketing?



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Transforming The Story In Unexpected Ways

Fan fiction is nothing new. For years fans have been adding to entertainment franchises by creating their own story extensions. One would think content creators and marketers would love this type of promotion, however this has not always been the case.


Prior to George Lucas’s complete adoption of fan fiction he was not a proponent of other’s taking part in his storytelling process. While this is certainly understandable, as marketers we need to be more sensitive to those who may want to tell our stories with us, as the way a consumer tells the story may be more inline with what they actually want.


Take the recent success of Transformers. While I have not yet seen the movie, and cannot judge it based on it’s cinematic integrity, I know is that it’s early success was due, in part, to the many stories told by fans.


Take this fan created clip for example (there is no mention that this was commissioned Paramount):






Fan fiction does not have to start and end with entertainment. Take the hype surrounding the recent release of the iPhone.  I don’t have an official number on the amount of media Apple bought to advertise it’s new product, but I know that most of the hype was created for no money, by people not working for Apple. The result was a technology product release with more buzz than I can remember.


For example:





You never know who will want to tell your story with you. It is important to keep your eyes and mind open at all times!


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The New Rules Of Demand and Supply

The traditional theory of “supply and demand” may be getting a run for its money. In the age of customization and personalization, consumer demands are decreasingly less focused on what is available and more focused on what it is that they want. With lower barriers to entry and lower distribution costs in many sectors of business, companies are able to be more nimble with product offerings and cater to the wants of the consumer.


Does This Mean That The Consumer Is In Control?


NO!


What it does mean is that the consumer is more in control than ever before, but it does not mean that the consumer is in total control. After all, companies still have a say in production. Actually, they have a very large say in production, marketing and all other matters. The fact is that these consumers have a much larger influence; this does not however mean that they are in control.


The Era Of Co-Creation


In light of the statements above, we have entered into an era of co-creation. An era where corporations and consumers are meeting (perhaps half way) to discuss consumer wants.


Take Dells Ideastorm where today’s challenge is, “Help Us Become The Greenest Company On The Planet”. Dell has obviously realized the power of co-creation (now they just need to start making decent computers).


The Agencies Are Always The Last To Jump In


Okay, so this is not really a fair statement. In fact, I think that Publicis is doing something monumental in the recent announcement of their partnership with Dassault to create 3D marketing solution entitled; 3dswym.


While the concept of co-creation is something that Second Lifer’s have been participating in for a while, I think it is great that a company of this size is forward thinking enough to experiment with this type of product. I am very excited to see how this plays out!


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We Have Been Living In Virtual Worlds For A Long Time, Don't Kid Yourself

I have been doing a lot of talking about Virtual Worlds lately. Most recently I gave a talk at the iMedia Entertainment Summit in Beverly Hills. You can download my presentation here and you can see the write up by Adam Shahbaz (a super cool young writer and musician) on my presentation here.


To Live In 3D or Not To Live In 3D


While I think my presentation was largely well taken, I think there were some skeptics in the audience, and to be honest I partly take the blame for not fully convincing them . I was reviewing my presentation and what I failed to mention about virtual worlds is, it is an irrefutable fact that the hyper mediated world we currently live in is, in fact, already largely virtual. Furthermore, I did not point out the fact that when referring to virtual worlds I am not only referring to 3D environments. While the third dimension adds a more human element to the web, it is not essential in creating a virtual environment. I would go as far as to say that Facebook is a virtual world in many ways (and with all of the new functionalities it is becoming increasingly so). While my focus tends to be on 3D virtual worlds, I want to make sure that I am clear about how I define what I feel a virtual world is in the current era.


In my estimation the core principles that make up the modern  virtual world are as follows:




  • Persistence


    • Virtual Worlds create perpetual identities and communities that exist outside of the physical world

      • Sometimes these identities are fictional, sometimes they are extensions of real life. I am largely concerned with those that act as an extension of real life.



    • This is where lifelogging comes in. If you are not familiar with this concept, I would ready what Jerry Paffendorf has to say about the topic. He is a long time champion of this notion, and while I am not sure where this concept originated, it was he who familiarized me with the concept.




  • Immersion


    • Virtual worlds are becoming increasingly human. Those of us who grew up with AIM know that after a while an IM conversation feels almost every bit as human as a face to face conversation.

      •  When performing the many layers of communication that we perform online today, one can get the sense that we are in fact immersed in a more human web than ever before






  • Real Time Interaction

    • This concept is very close to the above statements about IM, however online chat has matured significantly. We are now able to chat in groups (in real time) using any number of various digital media (audio, video, self mirrors/avatars, text). The online forum is much more human than ever before.




  • Experience

    • When all the components are online virtual world are tied together, we get a virtual experience not unlike the type of experience that occurs in real life.

    • I will never stop going out with friends, going to conferences and hanging out in public places, however The Experience Web provides me with far greater opportunity to to  be social, with a far greater amount of people in places all over the world than ever before and I love it!




There Are Many Flavors Of The Metaverse


As outlined in The Metaverse Roadmap (which is a must read), there are elements that make up what is being referred to as the metaverse. The metaverse not only encompasses online virtual worlds such as Second Life, it encompasses Mirror Worlds such as Google Earth, Augmented realities which include technologies that add information elements to, and enhance our experience in the the physical world and lifelogging.


Perhaps A Virtual World Map Looks Something Like This




I think there are elements of the world pictured above that most of us can relate to. Before you rule out Virtual Worlds or the Metaverse as a significant part of the way we communicate, I urge you to do some research on what these concepts really are and what technologies they employ.


In the future marketers will not be able to simply ignore these matters. The ubiquitous nature of computing will, to a large degree, dictate the way in which we live, as humans and as consumers. The marketer who is not taking this fact seriously will be the marketer who will not be taken seriously for very long. I am not saying you have to agree with my opinions, however it is tough to debate the importance for marketers to be well versed in the subject of  virtual worlds.



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A MediaCirc.us Roadshow

Luxury Interactive 2007


I have not really had a chance to write in the last few days I have been all over the place. On Thursday the 21st I spoke at the Luxury Interactive Marketing Conference in NYC. Although I did not get to attend that much of the conference, I really enjoyed it the part that I made it to.   


Brian Bolain of Lexus (even though he disagreed with me :) ) had some incredibly poignant comments to make about the power of the third party messages (PR) versus the first part messages (advertising). He also had some great things to say about strategy as it relates to gaining mindshare with consumers who are not in your brands consideration set, and how to circumvent their preconceived notions about your product by drawing up on external elements. The case he gave was Lexus’s green initiative and how, by peaking the interests of consumers through means outside of the core value proposition of Lexus, the brand was able to message consumers who may otherwise not have paid attention to the brand.


Supernova 2007


One hour after speaking at the Luxury Interactive Conference I hopped in a cab to the airport to head to San Francisco. Regrettably, I had to miss the first days of the conference however I still wanted to make it out for some of it. My ten hour flight to San Fran (yes, ten hours. United kept us sitting on the plane for about four hours before taking off) ate further into my time at Supernova but I did catch the tail end. There is so much good coverage of the conference and I need to head to LA to speak at the iMedia Entertainment Summit so I will let all the other great bloggers fill you in on details from the conference.


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Microsoft Says, "There is More Room For Media At Home" While Apple Gives You A Ride

Old Friends


As the race towards the digital future heats up, both Microsoft and Apple continue to make very interesting moves. As usual Apple's moves are a little less predicable, we will see if the success is as unpredictable as the iPod was so many years ago.


There is Always Room For Media


Microsoft announced the renaming of it IPTV platform, and with it announced some new features.


The press release highlights a few main features:




  • Personal Media Sharing

    • Although it does not go into detail on how it is done the idea here is that Microsoft is attempting to further content convergence within the home across all platforms and bring the media you want to the device you want it on, when you want. I really love this concept.




  • Multimedia Application Environment

    • While they promise richer support for web services, I am skeptical as to what this actually means. The press release does promise a developers toolkit which will be vital for the success of this product in an open source world




  • Enhanced Mulitview

    • Multiple channels (snore), Multiple camera angles, sure, this is cool but who is shooting the video for this? A few weeks back I wrote about Immersive Media. My thought is that these types of technologies are on their way, but we are not quite there yet.




The bottom line is that the dream of IPTV is far from a dream (for those of us paying attention this have been evident for a long time). What really strikes me as important is not the technology itself. What strikes me is the changes in consumption habits and the ability to make TV interactive and even social. The implications of Personal Media Sharing go far beyond convenience. Imagine watching TV online while chatting with friends. You got to the bathroom, miss a play on the big game and although you can rewind, you can also get commentary from your buddies in Germany (even though you are in American).


When we talk about Web 3.D the third dimension is not always the Z axis. The third dimension can be you, your perspective and presence within the mediated environment. The third dimension is also the shared experience between between people.




Apple Is All Over The Place


The iPod, the iPhone and now the iCar?


Apple has announced that they will be working with Mercedes to create an in car maintenance, navigation and communication system by 2009. They will be leveraging Google for navigation and mapping information.


The play here puts Apple in an unlikely market with much less competition then the market they recently entered with the iPhone. What does this signify?


Ubiquitous computing coupled with Google's ideal of making the worlds information useful. Furthermore, with this type of system it will be much easier to deliver ads prompted by location.


Exciting Stuff!


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Whose Up For A Little Rock/Viva La Conversation

The Trip Was A Success (so far)


For those of you that did not read the last post, please do so I don't have to recap everything :)


Anyhow, my trip to speak to the Little Rock chapter of the PRSA has been successful so far...why do I say "so far" you ask?


Well, the conversation has only just begun. I challenged the folks at the meeting to blog and to trackback to my original post. I also challenged those who were not members of Facebook to sign up and add me as a friend. Finally, I challenged them to join Second Life and meet me in one months time for a follow up on our meeting.


Here are the stats so far:



  • 7 blog comments

  • 1 email through my blog

  • 2 Facebook friends

  • 3 Linkbacks

  • 0 TRACKBACKS


I would like to thank the following people for joining the conversation:



  • Becca Gardiner

  • Drew Stephens (who I apparently shocked with my mention of The Cluetrain Manifesto. Drew, everyone loves that book, no? Well, for those who don't, lets get them reading. It is about time the entire PR world knew. Also, I know that you will see this, so let's take this conversation offline and see what we can do about starting a Podcamp in Little Rock. You seem like the perfect leader for it!)

  • Lance Turner

  • Bryan Jones (a Lebowski after my own heart :) )

  • Dan McFadden

  • Carol Cassil

  • Mary Wagoner

  • Jamie Higgins


...and last but not least the man who drove me around, showed me the Clinton Library and let me use his camera when mine died, John Twyford.


If I left anyone out, it either means that I have not slept much in the last week and I apologize, or you have not joined the conversation, shame on you :)


The Arkansas Business Journal


The Arkansas Business journal is doing a great job of getting social (and I am not just saying this because they wrote an article about me). Second, I would like to thank Ashley Suffle for showing up to the event, engaging me with some great questions and above all, PODCASTING THE TALK!


I Think We Are Are Doing Ok, But Come On Little Rock, I Am Rooting For You!


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Good Morning Little Rock/Hello PRSA. This Post Is For You!

I woke up this morning and took this picture from the beautiful Peabody Hotel In Little Rock Arkansas (where I will be speaking to the PRSA today).


Thanks to Mary Wagoner for inviting me here and to Andrea Morrissey, who I heard is the youngest and one of the best presidents of the Little Rock Chapter of the PRSA ever.



I have been told that we will not have that many bloggers in the audience today. While I understand that people are very busy, I think it is really essential to experiment with blogging, podcasting, vlogging etc. to really "get it". So this post is for today's audience.


What are you waiting for!??


Here are my challenges


Challenge Number 1


 I challenge all of you to blog within the next two weeks and trackback to this post.


It does not have to be on your own blog (although that would be best and you can feel free to call me for help). If you do this it will validate the importance of my journey to Little Rock (remember, I tried to make it here in February and that did not work, so I have put in my time to get here).


Challenge Number 2


In a month from now I will be holding a private meeting for the Little Rock Chapter Of The PRSA at Morpheum Island in Second Life  (Andrea, Mary and I can sort out the details). Your second challenge is to sign up for Second Life and be there for a reunion (you may just find that you miss me, I tend to have that effect on people :) )


Now, let's get to work!


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AT&T-- Do You Think We Are Idiots?

Keep The Net Neutral


I just got done reading an article in mediapost that speaks of AT&T's planned attempt to minimize piracy on its network. Of course, I am not pro-piracy, but I cannot believe that companies are still focusing so much attention on controlling media as opposed to accepting it's democratization and learning to work within the new framework.


What got me the most (and what prompted me to write this post) was some of the reasons that AT&T is making this effort.



AT&T says it is protecting the best interests of its network and its customers, because illegal peer-to-peer file-sharing sites not only raise the cost of DVD and CD sales--they also eat up bandwidth on the network.



Raising the cost of CD's!!!


Come on guys...do you think we are idiots?


We all know that plastic media is on it's way out. A rise in such media would necessitate more bandwidth cost and potentially more money for you. Why are you so worried about a rise in the price of plastic media anyhow?


Phew.


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The Irony and The Agony/Ecstasy

I pulled the numbers below from MediaPost today as I though that they were highly ironic. The impact of Google Universal Search has resulted in a slight decrease in what their core site used to be, and a tremendous increase in a company they just acquired. The largest shift further positions Google as the place to go for directions, maps and local information.


I guess Google really is on their way to organizing the worlds information!



Percentage U.S. Visits to Top Google Properties

























































































Rank Property Week
Ending
5/12/07		 Week
Ending
6/2/07		 Change
1 Google 69.28% 69.06% -0.32%
2 YouTube 10.65% 11.53% +8.26%
3 Google Image Search 8.17% 7.58% -7.22%
4 Gmail 5.42% 5.27% -2.77%
5 Google Video 1.42% 1.44% 1.41%
6 Google Maps 1.18% 1.42% +20.34%
7 Google News 1.02% 0.94% -7.84%
8 Blogger 0.51% 0.49% -3.92%
9 Google Book Search 0.36% 0.29% -19.44%
10 Orkut 0.28% 0.28% 0.00%
Source: Hitwise

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How To Play Nice And Still Crush Your Enemy

How Important Is Playing Nice?


Why did the one time market leader, Apple, lose so much market share that at one time they were no more than an after thought in the worldwide desktop computing industry?


Why, as of March 2007, has Apache served 58% of all web sites worldwide (cite)?


Why is Friendster no longer popular?


What is Second Life one of the fastest growing Virtual Worlds?


Ok, But Do You Really Need To Be Nice?


My answer is no. No one ever said you needed to be nice. In fact, in business I don't think that anyone really expects you to be nice, but it is this very lack of expectation that may give you an unpredicted lever which may just tip the scales in your favor. Sure, business and markets can be war, but that does not mean that they must be a full on attack. Unlike head to head combat modern business often requires a more subtle strategy that takes in to account all facets of the market you are in,  as well as all complimentary markets that may only be noticed in the the nuances of of that market.


Shut Up And Tell Us Where You Are Going With All This!


Ok, OK!


As a self proclaimed fan of Apple, but someone who refuses to continue to be one of those self righteous fan-boys that refuse to see anything but what they want to see, I am thrilled with the recent movements by Apple.


For a while I was really getting sick of the arrogance coming out of Apple, but yesterday, June 11, 2007, Apple announced a few things that illuminated their further dedication to working with their users as well as competitors.


The first announcement, not as earth shattering but still important (as it is not the first time that Apple has opened up software to PC users) was the fact that Apple has thrown their hat into the cross platform browser wars, announcing Safari for windows. I must admit that I use Firefox on my Mac and Flock on my PC, but this news still excited me and I still downloaded Safari to my PC. The implications here go beyond the personal computer. This announcement comes at a time when Apple is going after the mobile market, and if they think they can take the mobile market without being cross platform friendly, they have another thing coming. This however is not the case and, just as with iTunes Apple has realized that the way to world domination is by employing a strategy that is inclusive. 


On to the iPhone.


There was no way that I was going to get an iPhone. I use outlook at work as well as various other PC apps. There is no way I was going to subject my only means of mobile voice communications to platform confusion. Well, perhaps this will not be the case after all. Apple has announced that they are dedicated to supporting third party Web 2.0 applications and to the developers who create them. Perhaps I will reconsider the iPhone.


Web OS Where Are You?


For a long time I have spoken about, thought about and prayed for the coming a a true Web OS. An interoperable platform capable of diminishing the importance of a local terminal and creating open source ubiquitous computing. We are on our way, but not there yet. Both Apple and Google have been devoted to the very same dream. Microsoft and Yahoo, where are you!


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All About Adam/North By Northeast

Those of you that have known me for a while know that I am a musician (listen to one of my songs here), and while I am not a very active musician these days, it is in the blood.


This past weekend my buddy Jay Moonah (of Uncle Seth) invited me to speak on a panel at North By Northeast in Toronto about the potential for musicians to market their stuff in Second Life. While we did not have the best turn out, I think the panel went really well and I got to meet some cool people. I also got to hang out with my friends and Amaya Thompson (also of Uncle Seth) and Julien Smith and  listen to his panel on podcasting.


I got to check out a really cool B52's -esque, dance pop, good-time-rock-but-still a-bit-edgy band Spiral Beach (who I meet at the conference the next day) and I had the pleasure of having lunch with and partying with Jenn Mierau (who totally rocks, you should check her stuff out).


Overall a good weekend!



"I never though I would have a career, I never wanted one" (in reference to his career in podcasting)


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