A couple things...
Some happenings from around the net:
The brainchild of Drew and Gavin, the Conversation Age has its authors conversing about a pricing strategy. Suggestions have been all over the place, but I'm inclined to think 10 bucks makes the most sense, with higher donation levels accepted. I doubt this would go over too well, but I think there is merit in having some "buzz-building" copies for free giveaway. These could be used for press, contests or whatever at each blog, but only after the author buys a copy for themselves.
Of course, after we give away the copy, we guilt them into donating anyway.
And, over in CK's neck of the woods, she's putting together the Blogger Social '08. Cam made a survey to test the waters a bit, so you should be cool and go take it. As I told CK, I think having a conference without the boring conference part is a fuckin' brilliant idea. We've been talking about getting together for awhile now, so the more the merrier.
Also, Marcus is looking for some feedback for the new Siemen's CEO. I don't think he has much faith that the new guy has a chance to turn around the Siemen's monolith.
And for a little link love, here's the final list of authors...
Gavin Heaton
Drew McLellan
CK
Valeria Maltoni
Emily Reed
Katie Chatfield
Greg Verdino
Mack Collier
Lewis Green
Sacrum
Ann Handley
Mike Sansone
Paul McEnany
Roger von Oech
Anna Farmery
David Armano
Bob Glaza
Mark Goren
Matt Dickman
Scott Monty
Richard Huntington
Cam Beck
David Reich
Mindblob (Luc)
Sean Howard
Tim Jackson
Patrick Schaber
Roberta Rosenberg
Uwe Hook
Tony D. Clark
Todd Andrlik
Toby Bloomberg
Steve Woodruff
Steve Bannister
Steve Roesler
Stanley Johnson
Spike Jones
Nathan Snell
Simon Payn
Ryan Rasmussen
Ron Shevlin
Roger Anderson
Bob Hruzek
Rishi Desai
Phil Gerbyshak
Peter Corbett
Pete Deutschman
Nick Rice
Nick Wright
Mitch Joel
Michael Morton
Mark Earls
Mark Blair
Mario Vellandi
Lori Magno
Kristin Gorski
Kris Hoet
Kofl Annan
Kimberly Dawn Wells
Karl Long
Julie Fleischer
Jordan Behan
John La Grou
Joe Raasch
Jim Kukral
Jessica Hagy
Janet Green
Jamey Shiels
Dr. Graham Hill
Gia Facchini
Geert Desager
Gaurav Mishra
Gary Schoeniger
Gareth Kay
Faris Yakob
Emily Clasper
Ed Cotton
Dustin Jacobsen
Tom Clifford
David Polinchock
David Koopmans
David Brazeal
David Berkowitz
Carolyn Manning
Craig Wilson
Cord Silverstein
Connie Reece
Colin McKay
Chris Newlan
Chris Corrigan
Cedric Giorgi
Brian Reich
Becky Carroll
Arun Rajagopal
Andy Nulman
Amy Jussel
AJ James
Kim Klaver
Sandy Renshaw
Susan Bird
Ryan Barrett
Troy Worman
S. Neil Vineberg
C.B. Whittemore
Tune In Saturdays: Kaolin
Because I'm all eccentric and shit, I chose this past week in Mexico to spend a lot of my time listening to french pop. It's a little bit surreal being in that place, listening to french vocals, while everyone around you speaks English.
I'm a little worn out, so I'll just give you the video and a song. I think most of you will like it. And lucky for us, the hazy pop of this week's featured band, Kaolin, will make those of us who are American look even cooler for listening to french music.
Kaolin - Je reviens (mp3)
Kaolin - Partons vite (video)
Branding is No Longer the Future of Business
Branding is dead. Bla bla bla...
My eyes roll back in my head when I start reading something like this nowadays. Spend enough time around the blogosphere, and it's real easy to get that 'heard it all before' mentality. But when it comes from the mouth of someone like Russell Davies, there's a reason for pause. If you're in marketing, this post is a must read.
"Branding is no longer the future of business.
There was a point in the 80s when branding was the future of business. Businesses realised you could stick brand value on their balance sheets, so they did. Consultants realised they could charge a lot of money for advice about brands so they did. And the money people looked to the branding people (often conflated with the marketing people) for all the money making ideas. So you got line extensions, big ads, expensive logos, brand onions. You got branding. And most of it was as intellectually rigorous as phrenology. Actually it was probably more like Scientology; it was somewhere between a fake religion and a false science."
And he continues, branding has changed from affecting perceived value to creating actual value.
"Branding is being replaced by design/technology as the future of business.
The dismal nature of the branding science has started to become clear to business recently and they're starting to vote with their investments and appointments. They're turning from the people who create perceptions of value to the people who create actual value - the designers, technologists, innovators. Hence branded utility, hence 'design is the new management consultancy', hence the current Business Week heroes being IDEO and Ives not CHI and Chiat Day. Hence the limited tenures of CMOs. Hence the rise of communications businesses that can actually make stuff rather than just think of stuff."
Obviously, what it means to be in advertising or branding, or whatever is completely different than it was 10, 5, even 2 years ago. Making tv commercials isn't enough to build the relationships, create fans and stimulate business (at least not in the way it did), and doing that one thing won't be a replacement for the other ever again. But, it's still all branding. Surely technology drives the business further, but branding still has a job of not just pushing things to push them, but when they need to be pushed, and then pushing them in the right direction. Or sometimes restraining them in the right way.
And, perception still pulls the emotional weight. Design and technology can create this sort of need, but there's different kinds of design and technology. Creating a better cereal box isn't necessarily in the same realm. We've always had a hand in that on some level.
As I write this from Mexico, I haven't found one damn bottle of Patron. Not one! My favorite of the "Mexican" premium tequilas, and nothing. But still, there I was each Cinco de Mayo slamming Patron shooters. If that's not branding, I don't know what is...
If that made no sense, I apologize. It's not easy to write with the beach in front of you.
Eat, Sleep, Blog Take 3
I guess I can fight through the haze of sun, salt, mojitos and other mexican amenities to bring you this, the third installment of Sean, Gavin and I talking about marketing stuff, this time with slightly less technical difficulties. But only very slightly. Big kudos to the new york bound craphammer for editing this together.
Be back soon!
[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/204645 w=400&h=300]
one year later...
"Hello, there, folks
Well, I've moved, and forgive me all none of you reading this while I settle in.
I'll be discussing my marketing philosophies, probably some music, and whatever other bullshit I feel like. If you happen to stumble by before I really get this going, go here and listen to the new Midlake. Highly recommended, and local (to me, anyway)."
And, it's true, back then no one was reading. But, exactly one year, 230 posts, 1469 comments, 5 dallas marketing zoos, 8 madison avenue journal articles, 4 likeminds, 50 Tune Ins, a couple coffee mornings, a slew of beyond madison avenue posts, a couple videocasts, more fucks and shits than you can shake a stick at, and a shitload of good conversation later...
Well, I guess I'll just leave it open-ended. It's sort of the nature of this thing, I think. I never would have stuck around without you guys continually prodding, pushing and keeping me thinking, so thanks for everything. You guys are the best. Smooches!
Back to regularly scheduled programming...
Tune In Saturdays: The National
This has become more of a working weekend than usual, so this one's a quickie. The National is two sets of brothers from Cincinnati, plus an aussie. It's kind of romantic music, but in a mostly odd sense. It's booming and bassy most of the time, especially with the brooding, deep vocals, but they never forget the little touches that make them much more interesting than most bands of their ilk.
From popmatters:
"All these elements—the warmth and humanity and musical complexity, the indelible images and koan-like puzzles, the guitar-based rock and classical embellishments—go a certain distance in explaining why Boxer is so good… but they don’t quite explain it. This album, like all great albums, somehow transcends all the factors that makes it work, absorbs them in a seamless whole and breaks your heart in the process. All hail Boxer, the album to beat for the rest of the year."
The National - Fake Empire (mp3)
The National - Slow Show (mp3)
The National - Mistaken For Strangers (video)
NBC Launching New Social Network
Seems NBC is launching their own social network.
I saw this small text link on the NBC.com site while looking for some info for Vaspers. It read "social networking - coming soon." So, of course, NBC will offer blogs, personal profiles, friends (or "buddies" in this instance), message boards, etc. But people really care about the shows, not the network.
And as long as they remember that, this could be a powerful move. As annoyed as I am with the onslaught of new social networks (and really, just stop. you won't be the next myspace, I promise), It really depends on where the focus is. If it's a place for people to gather and talk about Heroes, or the Office, or whatever, that does makes some sense. While I may still be more inclined to focus my time on MySpace or Facebook, it is a chance for me to get some dedicated Heroes talk from time to time.
At some point, there will need to be some aggregation. Obviously, groups on MySpace and Facebook just aren't satisfying the obvious need for interaction and segmentation on the micro level while retaining the one-stop-shop on the macro level. Unfortunately, it'll take a pretty big leap for these companies to start allowing a single home to cater to all my social networking needs. And that sucks for us. Now, can we quit with new ones? It's enough of a pain in the ass to keep up with already.
As Television Shifts Towards the Consumer, Will Advertising?
My latest Madison Avenue Journal article just went live today. Shockingly enough, I'm annoyed with how poorly we've made our way into these new interweb video platforms.
"Television is in the middle of a revolution. Even the dissenters decrying the death of the thirty second spot are coming around, accepting the fact that declining influence and escalating prices will eventual equal abundant unsold inventory for less and less valued networks.
But, these dissenters are wrong to admit it so easily. While there has been some innovation with advertising structures for those involved in these new platforms, they have still remained heavily reliant on the thirty second spot. It's the umbilical cord that advertisers have grown far too old to have still attached. I don't blame NBC, CBS, Joost or anyone else fleshing out these new distribution models nearly as much as I blame us, the lazy advertiser looking for something that more closely resembles the things we're most used to."