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On this blog we assemble the world's sharpest minds in marketing and strategy innovation. People who spark exceptional insights in their field of expertise and inspire their readers to action.

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August 31, 2006

An Interview with an MP3 Blogger

by: Nancy Baym

Unbeknownst to most of the world, Sweden has the world’s third largest record market, sliding in just behind the US and the UK. Sweden also has one of the world’s most fertile music scenes, giving rise to thousands of bands playing every genre there is: death metal, hardcore punk, mainstream arena rock and dance music, indie pop, prog, folk, electronica, jazz, twee.

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I take laptop to bed to rest and be connected

by: Lynette Webb

Go On ... Click the Teddy Bear !

Another in the series of “things that are normal now that weren’t 10 years ago”. Nearly a year ago I was heavily involved (to the extent of writing the final prose report) in a research project between Isobar and Yahoo called “Fluid Lives”.  (Click image to enlarge)

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Is Your Brand "BlogSafe" ?

by: Alain Thys

What would you do if someone (say a known blogger) picks up your advertising campaign because he thinks you've done a good job, puts it on YouTube and spreads your message to his audience ? Would you send him a box of chocolates or a letter from your lawyers ?

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Advertising 2.0 or just Advertising 101?

by: David Polinchock

I've been taking this week to catch up on lots of blog reading and I've decided just to tackle all of the questions I've come up with. I'll let you decide the answers!  Despite of of the hype, hoopla and congratulatory backslapping about all of the cool stuff we're doing, aren't we just promoting new tactics for the same old thing? Is this Advertising 2.0 or just Advertising 101?

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Principles of New Product Marketing - Business-To-Business Style

by: John Caddell

I was inspired by reading this post by David Olson from the Product Development and Management Association blog.

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Flickr update - 1.2 million photo’s geotagged in 24 hrs

by: Karl Long

File this under the co-creative power of passionate users:

When we were doing our projections for how many photos Flickr members would geotag, we though that we’d hit a million in the first month, maybe even as fast as two weeks. Instead, 24 hours in, there were 1,234,384 geotagged photos (and now more than 1.6 million geotagged photos as I write this, about 9 hours later).

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oh dear cute chumby

by: danah boyd

Click to go to ChumbyI told myself that there was no playing with the chumby until i finished unpacking my new apartment. But then, in the midst of unpacking, i realized i had no clock. Since i knew that was the default application, i decided to unpack the chumby. I figured, what harm could be done in just using it as a clock, right? OMG, cuteness

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August 30, 2006

Amazon.com: Mavericks at Work: Why the Most Original Minds in Business Win: Books: William C. Taylor, Polly G. LaBarre

by: David Polinchock

I received an advance copy of Mavericks at Work, which will be available in October, and I've been enjoying the read. But I came across a quote today that I just had to post:

Continue reading "Amazon.com: Mavericks at Work: Why the Most Original Minds in Business Win: Books: William C. Taylor, Polly G. LaBarre" »

What's In a Product Name?

by: John Caddell

This story about restaurant names from National Public Radio this past Sunday got me to thinking about product names. Specifically, the following question:

Continue reading "What's In a Product Name?" »

Police Don't Understand Someone Stole My Magic Sword

by: Lynette Webb

someone stole my magic sword- LW.jpg

This makes an interesting point. Crimes can happen in virtual worlds, just as in 'real life'. But there are fewer laws and established codes of behaviour; and even fewer places you can turn for help. Once upon a time Ebay fraudsters weren't taken that seriously by offline law enforcement;  (Click image to enlarge)

 

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fMRI Studies of Anti-Smoking PSAs

by: Roger Dooley

Just about all of the fMRI studies we’ve seen or heard about are for commercial advertisers, but it looks like the neuromarketing bug has bitten the smoking cessation crowd. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have conducted a pilot study of brain activity in subjects viewing anti-smoking PSAs:

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Flickr Adds Geotagging

by: Karl Long

Not long after a geotagging focused upstart Zooomr hit the scene, flickr has added a slew of geotagging features. Geotagging means that you can add geographic metadata to your photographs so people can see where your photos were taken, and it adds a fantastic dimension to the wonderful “folksonomic” feel of flickr.

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Influence Ripples 2.0

by: David Armano

Yet another stab at the blog levels of influence idea.  There are multiple ripples overlapping, happening in a three dimensional space—in real time.  If this were animated, the ripples would not dissapear, but radiate.   However more recent ripples would come into focus as new thoughts, conversations, and interactions happen over time.

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August 29, 2006

Ad Blogger DMCAed by YouTube for Posting Ad Spot

by: Ilya Vedrashko 

Everyone's favorite ad blogger CoolzOr has been served a DMCA notice from YouTube for posting a Don't Drink and Drive PSA spot by a British ad agency that claimed its copyright had been violated. Of course, that's only one side of the story, but huh?

Futurelab is contacting Lyle Balie International for their side of the story ... watch this space.

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August 28, 2006

Celebrity Stalking for Fun and Profit

by: Nancy Baym

File under Fun But Creepy Panopticon Effects:

I know we all try to be sophisticated and cool and pretend we are not impressed by mere celebrities when they stroll by us as we go about our daily business, but truth be told, you get just a little giddy, don’t you? Even if you’re not a fan?

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Virtual Worlds, Web 3.0 and Portable Profiles

by: Gary Hayes

I have posted prolifically about MUVE’S (Multi User Virtual Environments) in the past, concentrating mainly on the ever customisable Second Life. It is interesting to watch the buzz spreading and consider if virtual worlds are really web 3.0, I think so. A quick look at the evolution of the intraweb from the mid 90’s.

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MySpace Users Grow Unhappy Over Fake Profiles

by: Ilya Vedrashko 

So the lowest-hanging fruit's gone now and it's time to move from the static and fake (yeah, fictional) MySpace profiles to something more innovative and interactive.

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Book Review: Future Hype - The Myths of Technology Change

by: Roger Dooley

FUTUREHYPE: The Myths of Technology Change, by Bob Seidensticker, is to Ray Kurzweil’s The Singularity Is Near as antimatter is to matter. Put them next to each other on your bookshelf, and your house might be leveled as they combine with a gigantic release of energy.

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Blogsourcing

by: David Armano

I recently Googled the word “Blogsourcing” to see what would come up.  I found this:

“The practice of news gatherers outsourcing to blogs the quotes they would usually get from interviews with qualified sources. It’s easier to find online a quote from a blogger than to wait for a conversation with someone in a position of authority.”

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Book Preview: Word of Mouth Marketing by Andy Sernovitz

by: Guy Kawasaki

WOMM.gif

My buddy Andy Sernovitz, the CEO of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association, is coming out with a new book called, duh, Word of Mouth Marketing.

I highly recommend this book because it was so practical, tactical, and hysterical. Here are the ten ideas, stories, and recommendations from the book that I liked the most:

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August 27, 2006

“Who Killed the Electric Car?” and the Power of Marketing

by: Michael Hoexter

I saw Chris Paine’s documentary “Who Killed the Electric Car?” a few months back at the San Francisco Film Festival and it opened my eyes to two different issues of great contemporary importance. One of the issues is very obvious and straightforward to those who are familiar with the movie. To those who haven’t seen it yet I’ll give a brief synposis of this vital documentary film.

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Personal Pride = Company Pride

by: Sebastian Campion

The annual gay-pride parade in Amsterdam, which takes place on the canals, is a happy and colorful event attracting thousands of spectators and thus, also the interest of sponsors.

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The New Energy Companies

by: Joel Makower

What, exactly, is an "energy company"? That used to be an easy question to answer, but no longer. Now, it seems, just about everybody wants in on the energy game.

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Uncommon Uses: Podcasting

by: Karl Long

Uncommon Uses is a series of posts where I talk about different ways an emerging technology can be used. My previous post on uncommon uses for wiki’s was rather popular, and I thought another technology that could bare some Uncommon Uses attention was podcasting.

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Influence Ripples

by: David Armano

An update of the levels of influence graph.

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August 26, 2006

Levels of Influence

by: David Armano

I’m working on a blog presentation I’ll be giving to our NY and Boston office in late Sept. (more on that later), and I wanted to visualize the idea of the blogger “A List”, B, C lists and so on.  But I thought I could take a slightly different angle on it. 

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American Apparel Store in SL Taken Hostage in Fight for Voting Rights

by: Ilya Vedrashko 

"Following the lack of any progress towards introducting citizens voting rights to Second Life the [Second Life Liberation Army] began in-world military operations. The SLLA selected as its first target the American Apparel Store in SL. Volunteers from the SLLA have been posted to the store and are preventing SL residents from buying any goods from this vendor.

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E-Paper in Action: Videos and Pics from Plastic Logic

by: Ilya Vedrashko 

Plastic Logic, the British maker of flexible electronics, has videos and pics of its electronic paper as well as a few concept images (like the one to the left).

Continue reading " E-Paper in Action: Videos and Pics from Plastic Logic" »

Startup Success 2006

by: Guy Kawasaki

This is a video of “Startup Success,” the Churchill Club’s annual look at what it takes to build a successful startup. This panel of five Silicon Valley entrepreneurs discussed the challenges and critical success factors necessary to reach the promised land. August 17, 2006.

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A Blogging Retailer

by: Dick Stroud

Apparently, firstSTREET a US Internet Retailer and catalog company, is one of the first major retailers to expand it customer base and build online sales via the blogging community.

Continue reading " A Blogging Retailer" »

August 25, 2006

US 12-24 yr olds spend 20% longer online than a year ago

by: Lynette Webb

Click to enlarge

I’ve not posted much recently and one of the reasons is that I’ve been submerged in pitches & Comscore hell. But along the way I’ve come across some interesting factoids.
For instance, over the past 12 months, the time that 12-24 year olds in the US spend online has grown by a fifth! This holds whether you compare May 05 to May 06 (23%) ; June 05 to June 06 (17%), or July 05 to July 06 (20%).

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A Leap Too Far

by: Dick Stroud 

An article from the Sydney Morning Herald discusses Australia’s retirement savings gap of $452 billion ($93,000 per person). This is the difference between the retirement people expect to have and what they are likely to receive. Underinvestment in pensions is a scourge of the Western World.

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Nanowires To Monitor Neurons

by: Roger Dooley

Neuroscientists are constantly looking for better ways to measure brain activity, and Harvard researchers have achieved a breakthrough that should significantly advance the state of the art. MIT’s Technology Review, in Nanowires Listen In on Neurons, describes the development of silicon nanowires that are so small that they can be used to measure activity at many places on the same neuron:

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August 23, 2006

Advertising: Innovate or Die. Vol. 1

by: David Armano

In_dieI thought I had found my dream candidate.  Someone who understood the language of both design and business.  Someone who could think in pictures and express concepts with prototypes.  A creative problem solver.  An individual with a firm grasp on “Web 2.0”.  Someone who saw the potential of emerging technology as enabling us humans to make the connections we've always desired.

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Focalyst Researches the Online Market

by: Dick Stroud 

Half of all Americans over age 60 use the Internet, as do more than 80% of Baby Boomers, according to new research from Focalyst, a joint venture between AARP and The Kantar Group, one of the world's largest research and consultancy networks.

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Operation Best Buy

by: Sebastian Campion

Improv Everywhere is a group of agents (pranksters) based in NYC who organize missions (happenings) in public space. Their intent is to bring excitement to otherwise unexciting locales and give strangers a story they can tell for the rest of their lives.

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Commendable Intention – Idiotic Execution

by: Dick Stroud 

Yesterday, there was an item on the BBC’s You and Yours consumer programme about a Shirley, a 75 year old lady who tried to sign-up for Talk Talk, Carphone Warehouse’s broadband service.

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YouTube's New Ad Formats: Links, Screens

by: Ilya Vedrashko 

So you've seen the reports in NY Times and elsewhere that YouTube finally figured out (see an earlier post) how to make money on all that traffic it gets. In a nutshell, "YouTube plans to officially announce today [Aug.22] that it is selling space on its main page to run video ads, which viewers will be able to rate and share.

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August 22, 2006

The Consumer Isn't a Moron, She's Your Mum

by: Alain Thys

Why do traditional marketers & media always think that it's the "young" who make up the digital space and the "old" ones who watch TV?  That's why I decided to check for a moment whether the surf, game and PVR behaviour of my parents and in-laws are anomalies or whether they are part of a broader movement. 

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The Greydollarfella – Yet Another Daft Name

by: Dick Stroud 

Why do people always have to come up with a daft sounding name when they research the 50-plus market? This