Google is not media. But it is the message.

May 3rd, 2010 by Eric Hyman
Categories: Analytics, Commerce and Content, Demographics, Digital Media, Search, Social Media, Traditional Media, Trend Spotting | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments »

Bookmark and Share

Newsflash. Once again, for the 4th year in a row, our WPP sister firm Millward Brown Optimor has named Google the world’s #1 brand of any kind. Surprise, surprise, surprise.

Interestingly, our company recently did a far less scientific piece of research among our own employees that also said something uniquely enlightening, though entirely different, about Google.

Members of our media/experience team circulated a one question internal survey asking everyone to list their three favorite media sources.  The intention was to use the results in an orientation session to show how diverse our own media preferences are. And the results confirmed it, with nearly 125 “top 3″ sources collectively named.

But what jumped out at me was not the variety of unaided answers. Nor the overwhelming dominance of CNN (see Wordle results below, kudos CNNers), across almost every department in the agency (other crowd favorites were ESPN, MSN, Fox News, ABC, Wired, along with one medium, radio).

Mighty Google looking more like David than Goliath

What jumped out, rather, was in fact, what didn’t jump out; Google.

Think about that a minute. In a world where Google plays such a pervasive role in so many people’s lives, in an industry that’s been pretty much turned upside down by the immense power of Google itself, a relatively small number of us “industry insiders” think of Google as a “media source.”

While I suppose this shouldn’t be totally surprising, I found seeing it so clearly to be pretty enlightening.

To be quite clear, this doesn’t lessen Google’s omnipresent and ever-expanding role in pretty much everything.  But it does lead me to say this; Google is not media.

What is Google then? A tool? A platform? An aggregating oracle? The Gutenberg Press of the next millennium?

Personally, I think it most closely resembles a medium. Though this doesn’t exactly fit either, since I think in the technical sense, the Internet is the medium.

One thing is certain, though. As Marshall McLuhan pointed out (for those in the Google generation not… errr… um… experienced enough to have been forced to study this in college, see this great clip I caught the other night from Annie Hall, though you might not have heard of that either), in the grand scheme of things, it is not the content itself, or any single provider of content, that is most responsible for the way people interact with media, or the changes media can bring about, but rather the medium itself.

On that note, the results of the research are clear. Despite our overwhelming love of select media brands to keep us informed and engaged, the medium is still the #1 message. And the message is, at least as far as I’m concerned, I should have bought Google at $95.

7 Comments »

Backup Your Data, But Welcome A Fresh Start

January 25th, 2010 by Rory Partalis
Categories: Digital Media | Tags: , , , | 12 Comments »

Bookmark and Share

I’ve had an unfortunate series of events happen to my digital life over the past few months, but have learned a couple very valuable lessons from it.  The unfortunate series of events began with a 500 GB hard drive failure on my home desktop PC.  It had my entire life on it from 1996 to present day.  All my pictures,  movies, music, contacts, calendar entries, bookmarks, etc… you get the picture.  Luckily I kept an external 500 GB backup drive, which I had updated a couple months before the crash.  I bought a new (1 TB) hard drive for the computer and was able to recover most of my important files, not including anything new since the last backup.

Then a month later I dropped the backup drive and poof, all those backup files gone.  Good thing I had already restored them onto my PC.  But that’s not all.  A week later my (jailbroken) iPhone went into a hacked-app coma, never to awake.  That means I lost all my apps, music, pictures, videos, contacts, calendar entries, etc… AGAIN!  But once again, I’ve been using the backup feature on iTunes and was able to restore everything I lost, except for the month of content since the last backup.

So, lesson #1 (and it’s been said millions of times, but couldn’t be more important):  BACK UP EVERYTHING THAT MATTERS TO YOU! Back it up online, back it up on external drives, back it up on facebook and your phone.  It doesn’t matter how you back it up, just make sure you have extra copies of the files that matter.

As history has progressed, humans have stored information in less and less stable mediums: stone, wood, papyrus, parchment, paper, magnetic tape, floppies, CDs and now hard drives.  Each development more likely than the last to be destroyed or erased, reinforcing the need to have backups (unless you have the time to chisel your family photos into stone).

The second lesson I learned is how nice it is to start from scratch, remove some clutter and set up your phone or computer better the second time around.  When my devices crashed, I didn’t rush to immediately restore them back to the cluttered messes that they were before the crash.  I slowly added stuff back to the devices that I knew I was going to use and avoided downloading or installing the apps or programs that slowed it down, or in the case of jailbroken apps, that crashed my phone.  I also took the opportunity to test new programs, apps and especially browser add-ons.  Think of it like spring cleaning and your PC or phone can come out running much better than it did before it tried to erase your past.

UPDATE:  I’ve been reviewing a few online backup sites recently and many seem like very good options.  Low cost, easy to use and secure stability.

12 Comments »

What do Red Cross, Harvard and Tasti D-Lite have in common?

January 14th, 2010 by Kristen Green
Categories: Cause Marketing, Digital Media, Social Media | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments »

Bookmark and Share

What do Red Cross, Harvard, and Tasti D-Lite have in common? They have all learned how to use existing social media and digital platforms to work overtime for their causes and brands. Let’s take a little walk through three highly effective and brilliant uses of this digital thinking.

Case Study No. 1: Red Cross
As the world watches the heart-breaking images of the devastating earthquake, our hearts are saddened. We want to provide help in whatever way that we can, but we live here. They are there. What role can we play? This is where Red Cross stepped in to provide a way. Everyone knows that Red Cross plays a huge role in responding to disasters around the world. They also accept donations that fund these very causes. Their mission didn’t change but their call-to-action did. Many people would never take the time to seek out a way to give to Red Cross, but our tech-savvy society had phones in hand when they heard of the Haiti disaster. Many of us, including myself, learned of the disaster on my phone. So, the idea of using that device as a quick and easy means of collecting money was perfect. With a simple text message, you can donate $10 to the Red Cross’ relief efforts in Haiti. The buzz about the 90999 SMS code spread like wildfire across Twitter and Facebook. Within 3 days they had raised over $3 million dollars in donations through text messaging alone. That is phenomenal! That is money that may have never been seen if this system wasn’t in place. It is such a simple technology, but it found a great use in this tragedy. Tony Aiello of mGive, the company that is handling the donations for Red Cross, said it best, “Today is a huge day for mobile giving. We are experiencing a tipping point.”

Case Study No. 2: Harvard
Remember the first day that you walked onto your college campus as a freshman? Can’t you feel your heart pounding as you try to discreetly glance at your campus map that is secretly tucked away inside of your shiny new binder? Well, Harvard is attempting to take the fear out of freshman life and encourage upper class-men to become more involved and active on campus. Enter Foursquare. For all of you Mayors out there, you already know that Foursquare is a game that lets you & your friends discover new things in the city, and you earn points and unlock badges when you discover something new. You can think of it as a location-based scavenger hunt with the goal being to connect with new places and ultimately new people. So, Harvard has partnered with Foursquare to create a game and badge specific to their locations. I think this is a great use of a previously existing social platform. Instead of reinventing the wheel, Harvard has harnessed the power of a very popular tool to encourage campus activity and help save fearful freshman.

Case Study No. 3: Tasti D-Lite
If you peek inside your wallet, do you find a stack of unused loyalty reward cards? Or do you have a myriad of grocery store fobs that adorn your key ring? Even though the rewards of using loyalty cards can be beneficial to our bottom line, many people simply forget to use them. But would you reconsider if your incentives were increased? Tasti D-Lite has taken a new approach to customer loyalty by combining digital platforms that their patrons already use. If you connect your Tasti D-Lite loyalty card, known as the TreatCard, to your Twitter and/or Foursquare account, you can earn additional points for spreading your Tasti D-Lite love. When you swipe your card, you will earn points for an automated tweet that will go out, and when you check in on Foursquare more points will be added to your account. Again, it’s such a simple idea that will most definitely have an effect on their patrons. Tasti D-Lite may be one of the first to attach loyalty rewards to social media engagement, but they won’t be last. Others will soon see the benefits and follow suit.

Brands are always looking for ways to further their cause, engage their consumers, and increase their awareness. Red Cross, Harvard, and Tasti D-Lite, although drastically different in their missions, have all found a shared success harnessing the power of existing digital addictions. These case studies are great examples of how to implement easy and highly successful programs for your brand. So, what digital power will your brand harness?

Sources:
NY Times Blog
Mashable: Harvard
Mashable: Tasti D-Lite

5 Comments »

The masses are mingling. Is your brand at the party?

January 6th, 2010 by Kristen Green
Categories: Digital Media, Social Media | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments »

Bookmark and Share

image by chrisjohnbeckett

2010 is upon us, and many of us are surveying the triumphs and failures of the last decade in an attempt to make this one better than the last. Many top ten lists have surfaced for the latest and greatest predictions of the coming year and decade, and I have been especially drawn to the “10 Crucial Consumer Trends for 2010″ that was published by trendwatching.com. One of particular interest to me is the idea of Mass Mingling. As trendwatching.com puts it, “Ironically the same technology that was once seen to be—and condemned for—turning entire generations into homebound gaming zombies and avatars, is now deployed to get people out of their homes.” As more people are utilizing location based social services, such as Foursquare, Loopt, and Google Latitude, more people of similar interests are gravitating together for common causes and fun. The digital walls have fallen.  We are now entering what I believe to be a world that has a digital layer that lives on the real streets, rather than a computer world full of 3-D avatars. People no longer desire to hide behind the anonymity of their computer screen, but they are seeking to connect and share in real-time and in real-life with those who they have discovered via the interwebs.  So, what does this mass of mingling mean for your brand? I view it as the golden opportunity for 2010.

In decades gone by brands had to hunt down their target and attempt to assimilate a mix of media that would hopefully hit a large percentage of those eyeballs. In today’s world, people are clustering themselves willfully. The upside for brands? Go find your group and follow them. I mean this both figuratively and literally. If you keep a constant finger on the pulse of your brand’s society, you can become a part of that culture. You can learn how to add value to conversation,  provide reward for brand enthusiasm, and make yourself a lovemark to those who your brand values most. Hear about a flash mob that is going to assemble? Make sure that you are there to be a part of the action. Learn of a tweet-up or tumblr meetup that has the attention of your brand’s target?  Be there! Make your face a common presence among your in-crowd. Now, you don’t want to be a salesman at the party. You want to be the cool kid who is laid back that other people seek out. If you wear your brand well, then you won’t have to shout from the rooftops. Also, if this is truly your right target, they will welcome your presence and not shun you from the fun.

How is your brand going to mingle in 2010? Step outside of your comfort zone and get out there! No one ever made new friends by staying home on Saturday nights.

Source: www.trendwatching.com. One of the world’s leading trend firms, trendwatching.com sends out its free, monthly Trend Briefings to more than 160,000 subscribers worldwide.

Image by chrisjohnbeckett

5 Comments »

A look at the last TechADE; what brands will be around to see the end of the next one?

December 27th, 2009 by Eric Hyman
Categories: Convergence, Digital Innovations, Digital Media, Social Media | Tags: , , , | 1 Comment »

Bookmark and Share

I’ve been sending out some old fashioned holiday cards, which I still think have a special if not minor place in the current world, even if my blogging pundit friends think their time has past. And in my notes on the back, I remarked it is hard to believe the “ZerOOs,” are over, and that I hope the “TEENs” are good to us. And easier to survive that living with actual human teens (like the four that cause daily havoc in my house).

As usual, I amused myself with my witty names for the past and coming decades. Great names, I thought; the ZerOOs and the TEENs.

But I just came up with something better and more fitting while reading a piece about the past decade in tech, and how so much has changed. So I’m officially renaming the ZerOOs from here on in: the TechADE.”

Think about it, so much has gone on since the entire established tech world put their collective heads in the sand waiting for Y2K to destroy civilization as we knew it. And when the clock struck 12, and nothing happened, and everyone blew out a collective sigh of relief, and realized, there was a whole lot of new stuff going on.

Boy, was that an understatement. And the pace of change has accelerated every day since.

I’m not going to reiterate everything the piece I linked to above said, it’s a good read if you have a few mins. But what occurred to me was what has happened to all of these brands. Some that have come from nowhere, like Facebook, others that have risen from the potential ashes like Apple, and still others that have faded into obscurity, like Geocities (RIP). Wow, it’s been a busy and remarkable span of time. Looking back, I cannot think of any better way to refer to it than the new name I’ve coined above.*

We have a saying at our shop, “Great Technology Can Be Leapfrogged, Great Brands Cannot.” And I still believe in it. But the trick to brands in the tech space living on for another decade is not simply to do a lot of branding, but rather, to embody the brand itself. To create an experience that is the brand, and a brand that is the experience.

There are a lot of great companies, products and services that are doing this today. How many of them will be around when I follow up on this post — if that is what we call it then — in another ten is another story. Will any of the brands changing our lives via technology today even exist on 12/27/2019? Only the most customer driven, and dare I say “Brand Savvy” need apply.

That is, after all, what happens to teenagers. Some, like the ones Springsteen sang of in Glory Days, end up fat and old and bald. Others get cooler, smarter and more successful as they grow up.

Which ones will be which is anyone’s guess at this point. But it won’t be dumb luck. It will take astute and unwavering dedication to the brand to be here for the long run.

How we build and manage those brands will no doubt continue to change. I, for one, look forward to being among those who are here then helping to drive it.

To use a term that is sure to be looked at as a huge cliche come 2019, I’m ready for you Teens. “Bring it on.”

*OK, someone else has the domain but it was about squeezing lemons, not the passage of time.

1 Comment »

The Demise of the Glossy

November 24th, 2009 by Kristen Green
Categories: Digital Media, Social Media, Traditional Media | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

Bookmark and Share

We all know that with each day that passes digital media is pushing print further over the cliff of no return. You hear of magazines closing or going 100% digital on a daily basis, and even those of us who are digitally-devoted find it heart breaking to see some of our favorites glossies fall by the wayside.

Many of the big names are taking the hit hard. Conde Nast’s ad count is reportedly down by 8,359 pages. However, others are taking a step towards the future by merging the idea of print and online through augmented reality. The December issue of In Style magazine will be using augmented reality for their Taylor Swift cover (via Fashionista). There will also be interactive ads throughout the entire issue. According to publisher Connie Anne Phillips , “This is our most buzzed about issue [of the year] on a consumer level, and with this click-to-buy feature, it’s all about ROI and taking consumers to the point of purchase.”

So, is this a glimpse into the future of magazines? Will other pubs follow suit and find a means to their own revival? I’m excited to get the issue in hand to explore a truly interactive and tangible experience.

What are your thoughts? Could this be print’s lifeline?

Proof That Social Media is Killing Print Magazines
Infographic by CartridgeSAVE.co.uk

3 Comments »

Where does your target land on the Social Ladder?

August 31st, 2009 by Kristen Green
Categories: Demographics, Digital Media, Social Media | Tags: , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

Bookmark and Share

Social Technographics LadderForrester Research just released their third annual Social Technographics Profile. It is an on-going piece of the initial book entitled, “Groundswell,” which analyzes consumer involvement in social media. As a social media enthusiast, I was very interested to see how the ladder broke out social media interaction segments. Forrester’s Social Technographics Ladder contains six categories: Creators, Critics, Collectors, Joiners, Spectators, and Inactives.  As the Advertising industry continually migrates to the digital model that is part and parcel to social media, we strive to know where people are flocking. As brands need to have a relational engagement structure with their consumers in this space, we as an industry need to know WHY people are choosing particular social media and HOW they are using it. Simply knowing WHERE they are flocking to is only one piece of the picture. Once the shiny new tool has worn a little old and the crowd moves on, we would only be chasing the crowd. But stepping back and looking at the WHY and HOW, we can always be one step ahead.

I think there are a few actions that we can take to stay ahead of the flock…

1. Spend time in your targets’ digital social scene. Partake in the conversation. If there is only one way speak and no dialogue, this is one clue right away that this audience is not comprised of Creators or Critics. Also, get to know the language, the humor, the hot topics, and the issues they consider important.

2. Be an early adopter of all social media tools. The more you know, the more knowledge you can impart on behalf of your Clients and their brands. Even if a particular tool rises fast and falls even faster, you have the benefit of seeing the advantages/disadvantages that contributed to the short digital life span.

3. Remember that your target is made up of people, not statistics. It is easy to look at insightful data and want to base 100% of your decisions on that. However, you have to remember that there is a heartbeat behind every number and a face behind every tweet, blog post, and comment. Use that human element to find the emotional value of social media in your consumers’ mind.

So stay ahead of the flock and let insight, not the crowd, lead you.

3 Comments »

Reporting vs. Reforwarding the News: How Digital Media is Taking Down the Real News Business

August 20th, 2009 by Eric Hyman
Categories: Digital Media | Tags: , , , | 4 Comments »

Bookmark and Share

I talk a lot about the convergence of traditional and digital media and marketing. I recently asked who will pay to entertain us when there is no money going into advertising that supports the creation of entertainment (“When a brand becomes the sum of its links…“). Now I’m going to up the ante by asking, when everyone is a news source, who is actually going to pay to report it?

Always a breath of...

Always a breath of...

I heard an interview on NPR’s Fresh Air with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Alex Jones (the journalist, not the conspiracy theorist mind you, that’s the other Alex Jones). He is on to talk about his book, Losing the News, and the crisis facing impartial reporting.

It’s a long interview, nearly 30 mins, but worth a listen. While some might say Mr. Jones is a liberal, I think he is simply an informed reporter. His background, in addition to winning a Pulitzer, includes hosting NPR’s On The Media, and host/editor of PBS’s Media Matters. He’s also director of Harvard’s Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy. And his family owns a small town newspaper in Tennessee. So he seems to have some cred here.

What he had do say was more about how the ad supported media biz has changed so drastically that there is not a whole lot of money left to put reporters out there who actually report on the news, vs. replay the news that they receive from others, often with their own reinterpretation of what the news says. And often this comes with a huge price; misreporting or reinterpretation of the facts.by Alex Jones

He points out that many of the most popular “reporters” in today’s media don’t consider themselves to be actual journalists, but rather entertainers. That’s certainly OK, except when you realize that these same entertainers are the primary news source for a great number of our fellow Americans. My own wife is a home care medical practitioner and she visits folks like this daily. The stories she shares about what these people say about the news are incredible and pretty scary.

What’s this have to do with digital media? Plenty. As digital media, and the zillions of new news authorities — OK, I’ll admit it, me included — siphon off readers from mainstream news outlets, so goes the money with the ad revenue. And when the ad revenue goes, the reporters go. And when that happens, WHO IS LEFT TO ACTUALLY REPORT what is going on, vs. re-blogging, re-tweeting, re-interpreting it?

Where does that leave us? With a limited number of news sources, less investigative journalism (traditional or digital) and less truth. And with that final aspect of the deal, well, there goes the neighborhood.

On the subject of truth, Mr. Jones mentions how so much of what is reported by these entertainer/reporters that feed news to so many is not so much truth as it is propaganda for one side or another (not taking sides here, just telling it like it is).

And he said somethign I found so truly compelling that I had to write this post.

“Truth is the antidote to propaganda,” Mr. Jones said.

I’m not sure what any of us can do about this ourselves. But perhaps we can all consider the importance of supporting our local media sources because sometimes they are the only source of truth to keep our own local governments in check. He cited an example of The San Diego Union-Tribune which won a Pulitzer Prize in 2006 for its reporting on the bribery scandal that landed Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham in prison.  A year or so later, the paper had to close the Washington office that uncovered the scandal due to huge ad declines.

Wow…

Yes, digital media has vastly improved our lives. I’m as big a supporter as any. But as it takes over, let’s realize there are dangers that exist that undermine much of the fabric of our lives. Change comes with a price. Let’s not all blindly let that price be the truth.

Follow my occasional ongoing musings and observations @ericadman on Twitter.

4 Comments »

Mommy Blog-Ola: Kick Start for a Corporate Media Comeback?

July 28th, 2009 by Eric Hyman
Categories: Digital Media | Tags: , , , , | No Comments »

Bookmark and Share

Media is piling on the current “Mommy Blog-Ola” scandal. Not surprising to me; all part of the ebb and flow of the industry. Having been in tech and digital media for a few decades, I’ve observed all sorts of cycles in the democratization of computing, and the ultimate recentralization of control that comes as a result of some similar issue. And this one looks no different.

My own experience with this goes back to getting my first work PC. Up to then, agencies used dumb terminals. I know that sounds ancient but give me a break, I’m not talking ENIAC here, nor Mad Men days; this was at a big agency, DFS, now part of Saatchi, famous then for Wendy’s Where’s the Beef.

That’s where the democratization began. PCs didn’t come in via IT then, more often, people like me snuck them in.  Eventually, the  lack of control over our PCs  became an “issue” for IT.  Then just as fast, LANs came along, forcing a centralized rescue plan of sorts. And boom, IT was back in control.

"Love this new stroller ladies!," wink, wink.

"Love this new stroller ladies!," wink, wink.

This may sound vastly different from mommy-gate, but stick with me. Both show what happens during a sea change from centralized control over tech and information access to a decentralized model; and back again. The ongoing evolution of the web is all a part of the never ending cycle of change that rules technology and the information industry it enables.

So now we learn a few mommies may be on the take. Not that world peace is at stake here, but the fact payola is being used to influence any aspect of the blogosphere may indicate another sea change is coming. Could the result be a shift towards more centralized control in order to restore a bit of trust and integrity in the new world of media? Think Kara Swisher as a mommy blogger with The Wall Street Journal’s seal of approval and you see what I’m saying here.

While the separation of church and state is known by most as a political issue, it’s also played an important role in our media industry, making sure those who pay to support it with advertising do not bias the content itself. At least that’s the idea.

But might we see a slight resurgence of the major media – the big publishing co’s who have been so heavily hammered by the vast options offered by the Internet – as a result? Is it possible corporate media holds the cure to some of the ills of information democracy? It may sound crazy, but keep your eyes peeled because history in this business has a way of repeating itself.

No comments, be the first to leave a comment »