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May 31, 2007

Blame It on the I-Team

by: John Caddell

XTeams+cover.gif

Last night I was reading a new book, "X-Teams: How to Build Teams that Lead, Innovate and Succeed" and I got this weird lightness in my stomach, a small vacant feeling just beneath the rib cage. The authors, Deborah Ancona of MIT's Sloan School and Henrik Bresman of INSEAD, were describing a common phenomenon: teams that worked hard to improve their performance had more fun, became happier but often failed miserably at their missions.

Continue reading "Blame It on the I-Team" »

More 55+ Internet users than 35-44 year olds

by: Dick Stroud

UK internet users aged 55-plus are set to overtake 35-44 year olds as the demographic age group with the largest representation online. Those aged 55+ accounted for 22% of UK visits to all categories of websites in the four weeks to 12 May 2007, up 54% since 2005 and 40% since 2006. This compares to 23.5% of Internet visits from 35-44 year olds.

Continue reading "More 55+ Internet users than 35-44 year olds" »

web 2.0 is messy way the semantic web is happening

by: Lynette Webb

518396170_8525533d43_400I really like this quote because, to me, it explains in a nutshell how “tagging” - which has emerged as one of the Web 2.0 standard functionalities - is connected to the broader long-term direction of web development.

Click image to enlarge.

Continue reading "web 2.0 is messy way the semantic web is happening" »

May 30, 2007

Marketing of Innovative and Disruptive Technologies

by: Idris Mootee

There are many disruptive innovations happening these days and unlike the dot.com days, these are nimble start-ups powered by an open innovation software ecosystem and exploding networks. With any disruptive business models, the key challenge they face is how do you drive adoption and how fast can you do it? Marketing innovative products and technologies are very different from conventional product marketing.

Continue reading "Marketing of Innovative and Disruptive Technologies" »

Selling "Innovation" and the RFP game

by: Idris Mootee

The demand for interactive (I am not sure this is the right word) services is growing. That's good news for our industry and may stay that way for a while. Even with this high demand, I still hear a lot from business development folks explaining that why we did not get the business... either because we are too expensive or we did not comply with their needs or they choose a partner with an established relationship. Here I want to help us to think about the behaviors and not only the words of customers and they not necessarily are the same.

Continue reading "Selling "Innovation" and the RFP game" »

The Joy of Giving vs. the Pain of Buying

by: Roger Dooley

We’ve covered the concept of buying pain here frequently, but haven’t seen much about how giving away money affects the brain. Two new studies shed some light on the neuroscience of charity and altruism. These studies indicate that the cerebral cortex, the area of the brain responsible for our most advanced cognitive functions, is involved in altruistic behavior.

Continue reading "The Joy of Giving vs. the Pain of Buying" »

DIY PR

by: Guy Kawasaki

Charlemagne-by-Durer.jpg (JPEG Image, 250x554 pixels)-1.jpg My buddy, Glenn Kelman, the CEO of Redfin, had a strong reaction to last week’s post about PR by Marge Zable Fisher. So much so that he penned an alternate solution to the challenge of a good client-agency relationship: Don’t hire an agency and do it yourself. Here’s what he wrote.

Continue reading "DIY PR" »

The future of advertising

by: Dominic Basulto

After a flurry of recent deals over the past month involving Google, Microsoft and WPP Group, it is no longer clear which companies are at the top of the digital advertising food chain.

Continue reading "The future of advertising" »

May 29, 2007

CX Innovation Summit Jun 10-12 - Experience-based Diffferentiation

by: Idris Mootee

Today's consumers have a large array of choices for brands, products and services. On top of that they have unprecedented any-time, anywhere, any-network, any-device access to information and content that comes from other consumers In this hyper-competitive, rapidly evolving environment, marketers must develop their differentiation based on experience because it is less replicable and more sustainable. It's true CX innovation starts from finding what customers want that's not currently available to them: these are customers' key unmet needs.

Continue reading "CX Innovation Summit Jun 10-12 - Experience-based Diffferentiation" »

people compare google to perfection

by: Lynette Webb

518026556_1328942cf9_400The photo comes thanks to Kazze www.flickr.com/photos/kazze/225952584/

The quote comes from googler Matt Cutt’s blog www.mattcutts.com/blog/my-thoughts-on-recent-google-tips/ I’ve been meaning to put it up for a while, as something about it just rang true. Across all their services, Google are I believe held to a higher standard by your average web searcher because of their track record and the trust that's built up.

Continue reading "people compare google to perfection" »

Xerox R&D in Second Life

by: Dominic Basulto

Continue reading "Xerox R&D in Second Life" »

"Japanese innovation" that's actually from Finland, Korea or America

by: Dominic Basulto

Apparently, young Americans have little or no idea of where the best innovation in the world is taking place. When in doubt, they simply assume innovative high-tech products come from Japan or the U.S.

Continue reading ""Japanese innovation" that's actually from Finland, Korea or America" »

The Many Shades of the Eco-LOHAS-Sustainable-Green Consumer

 by: Joel Makower

greenshades_01 If you've been tracking the green marketplace lately, there's a good chance your head is spinning. It's not just the endless polls and surveys, which continue their relentless march toward the trivializing of just about any environmental concern or issue.

Continue reading "The Many Shades of the Eco-LOHAS-Sustainable-Green Consumer" »

Unilever Resuscitates the Demo Left for Dead

by: Dick Stroud

What a strange headline in Advertising Age. The tag line explains: “Marketer Spies Goldmine in the Often-Overlooked Baby-Boomer Consumer”.

Continue reading "Unilever Resuscitates the Demo Left for Dead" »

May 28, 2007

The Sims in live action?

by: Stefan Kolle (via Business & Games)

20th Century Fox has acquired the movie rights to The Sims, the most succesful computer game franchise of all times. I'm not quite sure what to make of this. We know of the desperate (and often misguided) hunger of Hollywood to turn existing properties into movies. We've seen some great comic book adaptations recently (Sin City, anyone?), but in the gaming field I'm going to be generous by calling the results 'mixed at best'.
And the best of it? It's going to be live action....

Continue reading "The Sims in live action?" »

Building the Electron Economy Part V.1: Generating Electricity Cleanly…Using Solar Energy

by: Michael Hoexter

sunpower_main_400 In the first 4 posts in this series, I’ve started an outline of the bright future for an energy delivery system that will meet our increasing demands for power/energy and also tread more lightly on the planet than the current fossil fuel dependent system.

Continue reading "Building the Electron Economy Part V.1: Generating Electricity Cleanly…Using Solar Energy" »

May 26, 2007

Rethinking Fashion Design

by: Design Translator

Finally some fashion design with meaning. However it strangely comes from a non-fashion designer. It’s about time that fashion design started to get a little more “serious” rather than seasonal. Hmm…read on.

Continue reading "Rethinking Fashion Design" »

Random Thoughts on Experience Design

by: Idris Mootee

Experience design is an emerging discipline. This is a relatively new term and does not yet have a common definition. Here I am referring to "experience" to include "service" design and not simply usability. Service management existed for ages but mostly in the fields of operations management or hospitality management. They often involved non-designers and mostly owned by business managers or engineers. Today, with complex integration between human and technology interface, it is becoming less clear whether this should become a discipline on its own.

Continue reading "Random Thoughts on Experience Design" »

Wearable Neuromarketing Scanner

by: Roger Dooley

thumb_hitachi_scannerHitachi has introduced a wearable brain scanner targeted at a variety of applications, one of which is neuromarketing. The halo-like device is portable, allowing it to be worn while performing normal activities - perhaps even shopping.

Continue reading "Wearable Neuromarketing Scanner" »

May 25, 2007

Product Contagion

by: Roger Dooley

product contagionI recall the first mega-store that opened locally - it happened to be a Meijer store, though now Super Wal-Marts, Super Targets, and other stores that sell everything are common.

Continue reading "Product Contagion" »

The Top Ten Reasons Why PR Doesn't Work

by: Guy Kawasaki

ThePRSite.com.jpg

Margie Zable Fisher runs theprsite.com. Every day someone tells her that he or she has been “burned” by a PR firm, and Margie’s goal is to help small business find the right PR firm. I asked her to provide the top ten reasons why PR doesn’t work:

Continue reading "The Top Ten Reasons Why PR Doesn't Work" »

'Bank of Mum and Dad' lend £18,000 on average for first homes

by: Dick Stroud

Nearly a third of potential first-time buyers (31%) anticipate financial help from their parents, according to new research commissioned by the Council of Mortgage Lenders. But even more (35%) say that they would need financial help to be able to enter the housing market.

Continue reading "'Bank of Mum and Dad' lend £18,000 on average for first homes" »

May 24, 2007

Yves Behar on Design in 2012

by: Design Translator

This is an interesting presentation by Yves Behar from Fuse Project on designing in the near future. He talks about his work with Swarovski, his controversial Leaf Lamp with Herman Miller and the One Laptop Per Child project (my favorite discussion topic!)

Continue reading "Yves Behar on Design in 2012" »

Take Me to Your Lead Generation Optimization Leader!

by: Joseph Mann

chttopgoals07200x235_01In case you missed the news, the top priority for marketers in 2007 is to quantify the value of marketing programs and investments, according to the CMO Council's Marketing Outlook 2007 survey. 44% of respondents said this was their primary goal in 2007, a change from 2006 where the emphasis was on building sales.

Click image to enlarge.

Continue reading "Take Me to Your Lead Generation Optimization Leader!" »

Google TV Ads Beta Sign-Up

by: Ilya Vedrashko

I was googling around when this set of AdWords came up (see if you can find the right search string yourself):

Continue reading "Google TV Ads Beta Sign-Up" »

Eastman Chemical's innovation & design site

by: Dominic Basulto

When (or if) you think about innovation within the chemicals industry, names like DuPont, Dow Chemical or maybe a big conglomerate like GE come to mind.

Continue reading "Eastman Chemical's innovation & design site" »

Adventures in shoplifting

by: Dominic Basulto

Who knew? Apparently, the opposite of "shoplifting" is "shopdropping." According to The Consumerist, shopdropping is when people print out "improved" labels at home and attach them to items in retail stores.

Continue reading "Adventures in shoplifting" »

May 23, 2007

Green Living on the Web -- Will Martha and Oprah Join the Fray?

by: Joel Makower

What to make of the recent onslaught of green-living websites? There's been a steady stream of launches coming from both small and large organizations. Even some old stalwart sites have taken on a new green sheen, sporting slick new features. And there's more to come.

Continue reading "Green Living on the Web -- Will Martha and Oprah Join the Fray?" »

Urban Spam

by:

I was reading through the blogosphere tonight and came across a piece on Greg Verdano's blog about Urban Spam and that led me to several other postings, all linked here. The quoted section below is from PSFK, which has some good thoughts on the whole concept of urban spam. The second video lists the prices for a variety of OOH ad buys in NYC too.

Continue reading "Urban Spam" »

Draft Presentation: Competitive Advantage through Business Model Design and Innovation

by: Alexander Osterwalder

I just finished a draft presentation for a workshop on the topic "Competitive Advantage through Business Model Design and Innovation". I'm facilitating the workshop next June with about 100 executives in Guadalajara, Mexico. The workshop is hosted by the Tecnologico de Monterrey (ITESM). Your input regarding the slides is most welcome:

Continue reading "Draft Presentation: Competitive Advantage through Business Model Design and Innovation" »

May 22, 2007

For solutions providers, Account Management is king

by: John Caddell

Every product company wants to sell solutions. Packaging products with useful complementary services can elevate a firm above commodity-provider status and provide more value to customers. Customized solutions also are more difficult for competitors to replace than standalone products.

Continue reading "For solutions providers, Account Management is king" »

Send in the NeuroArchitect - Two Feet and The Brain

by: Roger Dooley

We’ve discussed priming - the idea that an attitude or concept can be activated in an individual by subtle cues without conscious awareness - multiple times (e.g., Priming by Order, Priming the Customer, Thinking about Money) and others). Now, researchers have found that something as subtle as a two-foot difference in ceiling height can alter the way the brain works.

Continue reading "Send in the NeuroArchitect - Two Feet and The Brain" »

Ten (Nine) Questions with Anastasia Goodstein

by: Guy Kawasaki

Totally Wired.jpg

Anastasia Goodstein covers Generation Y in her blog YPulse. She has worked for Current TV, AOL, and Oxygen TV. She recently published a book that will help you understand the online activities of young people called Totally Wired: What Teens and Tweens Are Really Doing Online.

Continue reading "Ten (Nine) Questions with Anastasia Goodstein" »

May 21, 2007

Ultra Violent Design

by: Sebastian Campion

Last November, the Swedish designer Samir Alj Fält organized the interactive design project Ultravåldsdesign (~ ultraviolent design), in which he examined the relation between creation and destruction.

Continue reading "Ultra Violent Design" »

New Business Models For Serious Games

by: Eliane Alhadeff (via Business & Games)

"Serious Games" have been doing extremely well with the hype building.

At the early stages of the "Serious Game" movement, in many cases they were made available to users free of charge or distributed within the client organization, which means there was usually no sales revenue stream for the developer.

Continue reading "New Business Models For Serious Games" »

Greening of Ad Networks

by: David Wigder

An interview with C.J. Kettler, Founder and CEO, LIME 

Green marketers are challenged to efficiently and effectively target consumers that are receptive to their message.  Green marketers are not alone in their quest: According to a Jupiter Research report regarding the European market, “targeting audiences better” is the primary challenge faced by more than two-thirds of advertisers when planning and buying online media.

Continue reading "Greening of Ad Networks" »

'Averages’ are misleading and dangerous

by: Dick Stroud

The French have just had their presidential election that was won by Sarkozy by a 53% share of the votes. Sarkozy is a man of the ‘right’ - the loser, Ségolène Royal, is of the ‘left’ - if such political descriptors have any meaning.

Continue reading "'Averages’ are misleading and dangerous" »

May 20, 2007

"Significance of Social Software" in BlogTalks Reloaded

by: Danah Boyd

Last fall, i spoke at BlogTalk Reloaded. They've turned a bunch of our talks into full papers packaged and published as a book titled: BlogTalks Reloaded. My piece is The Significance of Social Software. I look at the culture surrounding, technology of, and practices embedded in social software. It was a fun keynote and it's a fun piece in print so i hope you enjoy!    The Significance of Social Software

Original Post: http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/archives/2007/05/19/significance_of.html

Continue reading ""Significance of Social Software" in BlogTalks Reloaded" »

Future Scenarios 2010

by: Idris Mootee

Change is happening fast and in a very unpredictable way. It is a bit too fast ( particularly worse if you are in the media, entertainment and telecommunications industry). There is barely enough time to finish writing your three year strategy plan not to mention implementing your last one. Many organizations are dealing with five or six strategic issues at one time, while trying to keep in eye on future impacts of disruptive events unfolding in their environments.

Continue reading "Future Scenarios 2010" »

May 19, 2007

Three Minute Guide to Customer Experience Innovation

by: Idris Mootee

 Here you'll get a three-minute guide to "Customer Experience Innovation". Not only does it need a better definition as it is often casually used to describe "sales automation" or generally referred to as "usability design".

As digital convergence is changing the way we conceive of and consume communication, entertainment and media services. How can organizations evolve their service offerings, their networks, their customer communities and their entire organization...and stay competitive while creating and delivering an integrated, innovative, engaging customer experience?

Continue reading "Three Minute Guide to Customer Experience Innovation" »

Shining a Bright Light on Energy Efficiency

by: Joel Makower

Energy efficiency came back into the limelight this week, a seemingly rare but welcome occurrence. Given the magnitude of our climate and energy challenges, the opportunities to use energy more efficiently and effectively have remained largely unexploited, as I've noted in the past. In our gadget- and gizmo-obsessed culture, in which status is expressed by what we can show for ourselves, not necessarily by what we do, being energy efficient is a decidedly tough sell.

Continue reading "Shining a Bright Light on Energy Efficiency" »

Fascinating facts - handle with care

by: Dick Stroud

Nielsen//NetRatings has released research about the UK’s internet population segmented by age and gender.  If you want any proof of how age segmentation is a total waste of space it is this data.

Continue reading "Fascinating facts - handle with care" »

Strategic marketing leverages content, connection, community

by: John Caddell

John Jantsch's blog "Duct Tape Marketing," focused on the small businessperson, pops up with a killer post on occasion (the rest of the time, it's a bit too commercial, with lots of plugs for his book and others' products). One of the really good posts was yesterday: "Are You Investing in Long Term Marketing?"

Continue reading "Strategic marketing leverages content, connection, community" »

May 18, 2007

Customer Experience Innovation

by: Idris Mootee

There is no question about the value of creating engaging consumers is key to brands that wish to thrive in the "experience economy". There's yet to have any common definition to what extent CX Innovation goes beyond digital interface design and expanding its boundaries to "experiential marketing" or opening up new competitive space in "service design".

Continue reading "Customer Experience Innovation" »

Web2.0 Business Readiness Self Assessment & IABC Presentation

by: Alexander Osterwalder

This week I was invited to do a presentation on social media for the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC). While preparing the slides I thought I'd through in a little extra and added a quickly done tool (I see it as a prototype):  A Web2.0 Business Readiness Self Assessment Canvas.

Continue reading "Web2.0 Business Readiness Self Assessment & IABC Presentation" »

Making The Complex Simple

by: Roger Dooley

We recently covered new research that showed an interesting inversion of feelings about decisions in our post, Simple Marketing for Complex Products. Simply put, individuals were happier with decisions about complex issues that were made intuitively, but were also happier with decisions about simple issues that had been carefully analyzed.

Continue reading "Making The Complex Simple" »

Updates to Big List of B2B Marketing Blogs

by: Jon Miller

Here are 13 more blogs about b-to-b marketing, bringing the total on the complete Big List of B2B Marketing Blogs to 89 blogs.

B2B marketing as a group is still lagging far behind other categories of marketing blogs. Why is this?? Please keep letting me know if you find any B2B blogs that I missed.

Continue reading "Updates to Big List of B2B Marketing Blogs" »

May 17, 2007

Google innovation: baby steps

by: Dominic Basulto

Yet another example of the way that Google is changing forever the fabric of our lives - parents are choosing baby names based on the probability of them rising to the top of a Google name search:

Continue reading "Google innovation: baby steps" »

When innovation is hidden in plain sight

by: Dominic Basulto

Sanjay Dalal of the Creativity and Innovation Driving Business blog has posted an interesting Q&A with Erich Joachimsthaler, founder and CEO of Vivaldi Partners and the author of the new book Hidden in Plain Sight.

Continue reading "When innovation is hidden in plain sight" »

Bruce Sterling on Hostile Objects

by: Karl Long

Wonderful video featuring Bruce Sterling on Hostile Objects. Examples he gives are payphones, Microsoft media player, and even work places. Reminds me of the post I wrote about sign up forms, is your sign up form hostile :-)

Original Post: http://experiencecurve.com/archives/bruce-sterling-on-hostile-objects

Breaking Up With Advertising

by: David Armano

I'm not sure what else to say except get the heck out of your RSS feed and watch this video.  Or for your convenience, you can go here, where there is a blog dedicated to "The Break Up" between traditional advertising and the consumer.  It's also funny as heck.  Please watch, you'll be glad you did.

Continue reading "Breaking Up With Advertising" »

A more realistic way to profit from innovation

by: John Caddell

Most big companies' innovation processes look like this: sort through a host of new-venture proposals, select the one with the biggest payback and lowest risk, and fund it through launch. Establish ongoing "go/no-go" checkpoints to ensure the venture is meeting its projections and, if it's not, kill it.

Continue reading "A more realistic way to profit from innovation" »

May 16, 2007

Customer Experience Innovation and Growth - Summit Presentation

by: Idris Mootee

 

Kim and Mauborgne, co-author of best selling Blue Ocean Strategy suggested that companies should focus their efforts on creating uncontested market spaces and make the competition irrelevant. The main idea of Blue ocean strategy is too many companies are swimming in the red ocean of bloody competition where there is limited room for real growth.

Continue reading "Customer Experience Innovation and Growth - Summit Presentation" »

From Apples to Weeds: Design, Experience and Product Narrative

by: C. Sven Johnson

The MIT Technology Review site has recently been carrying a surprising number of articles discussing Industrial Design and I wanted to pass them on to those of you who may not regularly surf through.

Continue reading "From Apples to Weeds: Design, Experience and Product Narrative" »

CEOs can no longer sit out the sales process

by: John Caddell

A CEO used to be able to sit in his office suite in the "God Pod" and issue proclamations. No longer. Now he has to get on the road and sell. And not the "glad to meet you" meetings he used to have. He is rolling up his sleeves, solving customer problems and committing the company to deliver.

Continue reading "CEOs can no longer sit out the sales process" »

May 15, 2007

Why Does China Copy Designs?

by: Design Translator

This post started as an interesting discussion in another post, when a Design Sojourn reader wondered why China suffers from this syndrome of copying product designs from the West. I’m no expert on this but having work with Designers and Vendors from China, as well as frequent trips there, I like to give my take on this issue.

Continue reading "Why Does China Copy Designs?" »

Issues of Augmentation

by: C. Sven Johnson

There’s an article in The New York Times, “An Amputee Sprinter: Is He Disabled or Too-Abled?” (Link), that feels a little like a tipping point for a much larger issue. While the article is about “techno-doping” (a new term for me) and the new, more capable prosthetics, it doesn’t take much to start wondering where a level playing field ends and human augmentation begins.

Continue reading "Issues of Augmentation" »

Rise of the artist site

by: David Jennings

The flipside of sites run by fans is of course sites run by artists, and yesterday the New York Times ran a feature — Sex, Drugs and Updating Your Blog (hmmm, not a bad title; I wonder if I could adapt it…) — about what it refers to as 'B-list' artists and how they communicate with fans online. 

Continue reading "Rise of the artist site" »

The pivot generation and the "poly-household" purchasing trend

by: Dick Stroud

I receive a newsletter called Phil Lempert-Facts, Figures & The Future that often contains some interesting bits and pieces. This edition had more details about Nielsen’s ‘pivot’ generation. This is the revelation that Boomers spend money on their kids and parents.

Continue reading "The pivot generation and the "poly-household" purchasing trend" »

May 14, 2007

The Most Difficult Technical Lesson

by: C. Sven Johnson

I read the following in Neil Gershenfeld’s book Fab and thought it worth posting here:

Etienne found that the most difficult technical lesson to teach was imagination. He could see the possibilities lurking within technological junk, but he had a hard time conveying to students how to put the pieces back together short of actually doing it himself. This problem inspired Etienne to turn to the same kind of three-dimensional CAD software that Frank Gehry and Larry Sass were using. He taught his students how to make a virtual version of their studio, freeing them to assemble simulated parts.

Continue reading "The Most Difficult Technical Lesson" »

The Electron Economy Part IV; Generating Electricity ... Less than Cleanly

by: Michael Hoexter

In the last 3 posts, I have brought in Ulf Bossel’s electron economy concept to highlight the efficiency and environmentally friendly potential of an economy that relies to the highest degree possible on energy delivery through electricity.

Continue reading "The Electron Economy Part IV; Generating Electricity ... Less than Cleanly" »

Playboy Soon in Second Life

by: Ilya Vedrashko

playboy_islandPlayboy Island in Second Life is opening soon. Look for Playboy in group search, join, and you too can be a playmate (that's the title group members get automatically). I bumped today into someone who said the island was actually open, but when I tried, the teleport failed.

Continue reading "Playboy Soon in Second Life" »

Blogs Are Free Samples of Your Brand

by: David Armano

The headline of this post is borrowed from my good friend Mike Wagner who I felt captured the significance of the business blogging event also known as SOBCon 07.  Here's the presentation I gave which can be downloaded from Slideshare.

Continue reading "Blogs Are Free Samples of Your Brand" »

May 13, 2007

checking baby name to make sure it's searchable

by: Lynette Webb

493509964_23f26923ee_400I think this is one of those things that sounds remarkable only because no-one has explicitly said it in so public a forum before - but is a real sign of the times. If I’d read this 5 years ago I’d have thought it was a bit odd; now - to me at least - it just seems commonsense and responsible.

Click image to enlarge.

Continue reading "checking baby name to make sure it's searchable" »

May 12, 2007

Dell - Is the Social Media Cure Working?

by: Mark Rogers

Today we publish a new white paper: Responding to Crisis Using Social Media. It is an update to our white paper Measuring Blogger Influence, which looked at the Dell Hell débacle and measured the role of bloggers in creating the damage to Dell’s reputation for good customer service. Dell has publicised their increased investment in customer services and has launched the social media initiatives Direct2Dell (their blog), StudioDell and IdeaStorm to increase dialogue with its customers.

Continue reading "Dell - Is the Social Media Cure Working?" »

In the Future, You Will Be Able to Record Your Life

by: Lynette Webb

“Life caching” as a concept has been around for a while and has always fascinated me. For their afficionados, Twitter and the constant chatter on Myspace-type boards are the first services that, to me, come close to enabling capture of the minutiae of daily life.

Continue reading "In the Future, You Will Be Able to Record Your Life" »

Persona Ecosystems

by: David Armano

persona_ecosystem_2_400

Leisa over at Disambiguity says "Yes, you should be using personas".  I agree.  And I would take it one step further.  In addition to using personas, shouldn't we take a step back and visualize the "persona ecosystem"?

Click image to enlarge. 

Continue reading "Persona Ecosystems" »

A knee to behold

by: Dick Stroud

A few of us with an interest in 50-plus marketing received an e-mail asking: “How does the aging of celebrities affect the psyches of the 'normal' aging population?

Continue reading "A knee to behold" »

May 11, 2007

The difference 43 years makes

by: Dick Stroud

When important changes occur very slowly they don’t seem so important. When you look at the changes over a period of time their enormity becomes clear.

Continue reading "The difference 43 years makes" »

May 10, 2007

Fan sites RIP?

by: David Jennings

Andy Aldridge, who created one of my favourite fan sites, and whom I interviewed for the book (notes to appear here when I get round to it), is asking whether such sites are on the way out.

Continue reading "Fan sites RIP?" »

Collecting and organizing narratives makes sense of complex problems

by: John Caddell

When I discuss my latest project, improving organizational performance via collecting and making sense of the narratives that employees carry with them, most people are initially skeptical. And organizational development professionals are often the quickest to dismiss the approach as "more of the same."

Continue reading "Collecting and organizing narratives makes sense of complex problems" »

AXA Equitable Retirement Scope

by: Dick Stroud

This is a document for the library. AXA has been conducting a worldwide study of attitudes to retirement for the past 3 years.  This 120 page report shows the results for the United States, with international comparisons. Lots of good stuff.

Continue reading "AXA Equitable Retirement Scope" »

Architectradure on Prosthetics {*Update*}

by: C. Sven Johnson

aimeesculptureThere are a series of posts over on Architectradure - “Wearable Robotic” (Link), “A Living Sculpture” (Link), and “Inspiring book : the Prosthetic Impulse” (Link) - that I’m finding fascinating. They’re generally concerned with the topic of prosthetics but also touch on issues of identity (one of my current favorites) and human augmentation (reminding me a little of the “wearable stomach” shown in the recent Sterling/Klinker GoogleTech video - Link).

Continue reading "Architectradure on Prosthetics {*Update*}" »

May 9, 2007

Got Smell? Ads Target Customer Noses

Roger Dooley

thumb_coffeeThere’s not much doubt that a multisensory ad approach could, if done well, outperform one that appeal only to one sense. Indeed, the Scent Marketing Institute thinks that business will be increasing spending on aroma-based advertising. One current effort is for some California gas stations to spread the aroma of coffee near the pumps to encourage consumers to fill up their travel mug in addition to their gas tank.

Continue reading "Got Smell? Ads Target Customer Noses" »

Learning to Love (and Value) Ecosystem Services

by: Joel Makower

treehugger2 Ecosystems must be viewed as huge capital assets, affected by nearly all development and investment decisions, according to a report released this week.

Continue reading "Learning to Love (and Value) Ecosystem Services" »

May 8, 2007

MySpace + SecondLife / Ponies!1 = BarbieGirls

by: Danah Boyd

Over at Wired, Annalee Newitz's post entitled MySpace + SecondLife / Ponies!1 = BarbieGirls describes one of the scariest side effects of all of the predator panic. A new site called BarbieGirls has launched for young girls to socialize with other young girls.

Continue reading "MySpace + SecondLife / Ponies!1 = BarbieGirls" »

May 7, 2007

Brand and Media Survival Guide to Virtual Worlds - talk transcript

by: Gary Hayes

NOTE: Based on my sticky post ‘The Brand Owners Guide to Joining the Metaverse“.

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Brand Traffic in Second Life

by: Alain Thys (via Business & Games)

Not so long ago, Ilya featured an awareness study on brands in Second Life. But as the last time I checked Second Life was still supposed to be about conversations and communities, the real proof for brands lies in "how long do people actually hang out in your wonderful virtual building".  

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More Details on Joost Advertising

by: Ilya Vedrashko

Some time ago, I posted a general overview of ad formats in Joost. This was before the company announced the product's formal launch last Tuesday carrying some 30 advertisers who'd signed up for the three-months trial. I thought I'd pop in and see who's doing what.

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May 6, 2007

TV’s Silver Age

by: Dick Stroud

The New York Times has a long thoughtful article about the vagueries of the advertising industry and its attitude to older people. It is well worth reading.  These are three extracts that particularly caught my eye.

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Visual Library

by: David Armano

Doing a little housekeeping and I've updated my visuals in a single slideshow.  Every 4 months or so, I'll update the slideshow and re-post here.  Gotta love slideshare.

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Zebra Crossing Memorial

by: Sebastian Campion

Here's a beautiful, and slightly chilling, piece of physical information visualization by advertising agency Draft FCB Lisbon.

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MBA training material on innovation available

by: Yann Gourvennec

On April 23rd, I was giving a lecture on the marketing of technological innovations to our Paris University MIB-MBA students. This mba is done in conjunction with San Francisco State University. I am now making my training material available to all online at visionarymarketing.com. It comes with slides, bibliography, videos and business cases. Enjoy!

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Innovation is Easy, not Hard!

by: Dominic Basulto

In this brief YouTube clip, legendary management guru Tom Peters says that the business of innovation is actually easier than one might suppose:

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May 5, 2007

Twitter Is Like walking to School with Your Friends

by: Lynette Webb

I've held off posting about Twitter until now. Mainly 'cos I didn't have the time to do it justice.

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Dissecting Marketing Forensics

by: Joseph Mann

I just came across an intriguing banner ad offer for a webinar titled "Multichannel Forensics: Understanding How Customers Interact with Advertising, Products, Brands and Channels" being given by Kevin Hillstrom and it made me think - what exactly is multichannel or marketing forensics?

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May 4, 2007

Consumers Are the New Brand Managers

by: Mark Rogers

Internet World took place in London this week. Jonny Rosemont of Weber Shandwick has posted a nice summary of the key lessons. Here is part of it:

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Coke virtual thirst - update

by: Stefan Kolle (via Business & Games)

After some mixed reactions to the announcement of the Coke Virtual Thirst contest (see also my previous article), Coke has responded by tweaking the contest a bit, and adding a 'cash' prize of 500.000 Linden Dollars. More importantly however, they have released a video on Youtube, responding to the critics.

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“Value”, “Value”, “Value”– the Most Vague and Over-Used Word in Marketing

By: Chris Lawer

Everyday, marketers, product developers, managers, all business-people in fact talk about “value”. In fact, I reckon it is probably the most popular – yet at the same time, most misunderstood - word used in everyday business conversation.

(Quick “non-empirical test” using Google: Value – 776 million hits, Customer – 583 million hits, “A Definition of Value” – 606 hits!)

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May 3, 2007

Networking: burden or pleasure? It depends on how you approach it

by: John Caddell

766548_bonsai_treeAuthor Barbara Ehrenreich writes about personal networking in the latest issue of Forbes magazine (link--free with registration). She comes to the completely unsurprising conclusion that for most people networking is difficult and unpleasant.

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Is There a Green Business Bubble?

by: Joel Makower

earth_bubbleThe media calls and e-mails have been arriving fast and furious -- a dozen or more each week, even now that Earth Day is over. CNN, the New York Times, Business Week, Advertising Age, "Good Morning America," the Sundance Channel, Reuters, the Discovery Channel, Marketplace radio, and a slew of local papers. And a surprising number seem to have some variation of the same two questions:

Is all of this focus on the greening of business merely a fad? When will the bubble burst?

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May 2, 2007

Twenty-somethings More Risk Averse Than Seniors

by: Roger Dooley

New neuroscience research shows that older individuals are less affected by the possibility of losing money than younger people. Gains, meanwhile, are equally attractive to both groups.

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Stop searching for influentials to infect with your message

by: John Caddell

virus_free_zoneViral marketing is the 21st century version of the search for the Holy Grail--deeply desired and rarely attained. Why are campaigns that "tip" into mass acceptance from a small initial base so rare? Perhaps, as David Weinberger writes,
Insofar as it's about communicating a message, it's still alienating. As Doc said succinctly so many years ago, "There's no market for messages."

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Mattel Launches Barbie Girls

by: Ilya Vedrashko (via Business&Games)

Mattel launched Barbie Girls, a "virtual world" that "will allow children to create their own virtual characters, design their own room and try on clothes at a cyber mall." (Forbes.)

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May 1, 2007

Social Media Disrupts All Company Communication

by: Karl Long

I was inspired this morning by Daniel’s post on his Emergence Media blog titled Marketing Changes: CMOs, Evangelist, Social Media Programs, Website Strategy Positioning, it’s a very meaty article and worth a good read.

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AddArt

by: Sebastian Campion

addartthumb

AddArt is a subversive Firefox add-on currently being developed by the American artist Steve Lampert.

The concept is inspired by the popular Adblock add-on which removes ads from web pages. The main difference between the two is that AddArt will not just block ads, it will replace them with new images - images created by artists. So, the more ads you surf, the more art you'll get!

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