No to Nano?
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Posted By Matt Certo on 09/30 at 02:04 PM |
The iPod Nano has been all the rage over the past few weeks. My brother got one of the first off the line (it's now his fourth iPod). My friend Mike in Connecticutt has yet to own an iPod--he's still waiting for, as he puts it, the 'right' one to come along.
When I first saw the ads on television, I immediately thought that I needed to have one. The ad makes you really excited about the thought of having one. The effect is similar to the conversation last night on The Apprentice in which the teams were challenged with developing an ad campaign for Lamborghini.
But the more I think about it, I'm not too sure why I would want one. I have an iPod mini which works great. Most of the folks here have the iPod Shuffle. The Nano, to me, is a blend of the two: the packaging of the Shuffle with the storage space of the mini.
What does this device do for me that my other iPod doesn't already? Like much advertising, one often wonders whether a consumer's need is being met or created. With this product, I think more of the latter than the former.
Sales are rumored to be strong, though, so kudos to the Apple marketeers. By the way, if you haven't seen the Nano parody over at ifilm.com, you should check it out.
The Power of the People
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Posted By Keith Ort on 09/30 at 08:21 AM |
After completing another oh so special day here in the office earlier this week, I went home and cooked something totally unique to my taste buds. It was a variation of my girl Rachael Ray's Chicken Spanakopita Burgers. As I was eating this, my roommate decided he wanted to subjugate me to the horror that is Star Trek and William Shatner's unique speech pattern. It was The Undiscovered Country movie I think. Never-the-less, it got me postulating the visions of the future in the past. We aren’t driving space cars yet which is disappointing. However in the 30 agonizing minutes of Star Trek I endured, there was no mention of the Internet. Then I thought about a truly quality trilogy, Back To The Future, and how there was no mention of the Internet in there either. I couldn't even recall seeing a computer or even an Atari.
Now jump with me to the present. With the ever increasing usage of the Internet and the world wide web, people and ideas without millions of dollars of corporate backing can be found, heard, or used. If it wasn't for the internet, how many people would have heard The Beatles meet Jay-Z on The Grey Album, M.I.A.'s groundbreaking Piracy Funds Terrorism, or Frank Sinatra mixed with Notorious BIG. Rethink the world without eBay, Amazon, or even Google. Think back to the days before online banking, AOL Instant Messenger, MySpace and Xbox Live.
There is a large subsection of people always looking for the next big thing, the most influential type of advertising is word-of-mouth. Someone stumbles across something cool, quirky, and unique then emails it to everyone in their address book who then emails it to everyone in their address book and so on. No amount of search engine optimization or pay-per-click advertising can overpower a movement of the people by the people.
Banner Blindness
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Posted By Matt Certo on 09/29 at 02:54 PM |
In consecutive meetings with clients (one late yesterday, one early today), I spoke about those items within a Web page that we try to call special attention to (i.e. call-out graphics, announcement-related icons, etc.) but end up doing the inverse in the process. One client, who was particularly sharp, characterized the effect as 'banner blindness.' If I encapsulate a message in a location outside the main navigation, give it some color and animation, and place it in a high value location, it tends to be mistaken for an ad or ad banner and ignored altogether. A quick Google search on the term (I was sort of curious if she had coined it on the fly) led me to a study that was conducted in 1998 by Jan Benway of Occidental College and David Lane of Rice University.
After being embarassed that it's taken me seven years to hear about this effect, I concluded that their study had some interesting findings that semmingly substantiate a point: Web surfers are used to seeing certain things in certain places (i.e. logo on the upper-left hand corner, your organization's phone number on the 'contact us' page, etc.). When we change the game, we tend to confuse the visitor and miss the mark by a long shot.
You learn something new everyday I guess.
Calling All Mouse Potatoes!
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Posted By Rochelle Knight on 09/28 at 01:29 PM |
I've seen the commercials for Microsoft's media centers that use a monstrous (well, monstrous in the ad) computer monitor to surf online and/or watch your favorite television show. My first thought was - well, that's not going to give anyone any sort of privacy. But I'm a "stop reading over my shoulder" type of person.
Apparently, UPN and Google are not. Both companies have agreed to run an exclusive four-day streaming screening of "Everybody Hates Chris", UPN's newest fall lineup.
So, if you missed the season premier, you can always see it on http://video.google.com until, well, until tomorrow.
K.I.S.S. or die
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Posted By Keith Ort on 09/28 at 09:09 AM |
In an era of Super Wal-Mart, iDrive and 3 hour airport check-ins, customers want simplicity. I'm among those clamoring for a time of simplicity. Give me a bare bones car like the Lotus Elise, 30 minute meals from Rachael Ray and the news in an easy to read format. When we had a design review meeting yesterday, Jennifer brought up how some clients were asking for features that were flashy and cool but totally unnecessary. Clients should be thinking about their Web sites as if they were customers visiting their Web site for the first time. There should be no need for a tutorial, training sessions, or FAQ about how to use a Web site. A Web site can have its 37 pieces of flare and still be simple to use. Just look at the iPod.
Litmus Test
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Posted By Matt Certo on 09/27 at 09:13 AM |
A recent post by Brian Clark makes a very good point regarding the use of the Web in the purest sense. Brian make the case (very eloquently, I might add) that the Web's unique functions (interactivity, personalization, community-facilitation, etc.) ought to be utilized more by Web marketers.
All too often, some tend to look at the Web in the same way they view traditional media like print, outdoor, and otherwise. I find this to be the case for some traditional advertising agencies who view the Web not as an independent medium itself but simply another outlet for a tri-fold brochure. I often hear that a Web developers should use the same imagery and copy from print materials and simply 'transpose' them to the Web. This is possible (and common) but usually not too terribly effective.
I had the pleasure of working with Brian years ago. It's good to see that he hasn't lost his step!
Blogmaster
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Posted By Matt Certo on 09/26 at 08:44 PM |
Noticed on last night's season premiere of NBC's The West Wing that the campaign staff of the Democratic Party in the show hired a 'blogmaster.' Not sure that this term sounds so dignified, but the concept is sound.
Makes me think of Howard Dean who was so successful in utilizing blogs for his 2004 campaign. Unfortunately for him, his rah-rah speech (which featured his patented scream) didn't generate the same sort of success!
It is free, why not use it?
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Posted By Keith Ort on 09/26 at 01:18 PM |
Google is definitely doing something different. Never before has there been such free access given to the people to a major company's resources. Google Maps has easily overtaken Rand McNally and MapQuest in my book in the coolness factor. However Google has taken it to a whole new stratosphere by offering APIs for some of their products including search, adSense and maps.
This has allowed people to make their own interactive Web sites using this technology. Google maps has some of the most productive and brilliant uses developed using this API. A few examples:
- Track Atlantic hurricanes from NHC data
- Find out how many sexual predators live in a given area
- Locate the cheapest gas
- Keep tabs on police activity in certain areas
With ingenuity being the only restriction on innovation, the power is in the hands of the people. For some reason, most businesses haven't embraced this power yet. Most of these ingenious applications have been developed by freelancers. While the technology is licensed for free and not allowed to be sold, it can easily be utilized by businesses to attract attention and drive traffic to their Web sites and brick-and-mortar stores.
Incentives, Incentives, Incentives
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Posted By Matt Certo on 09/26 at 11:45 AM |
Our 5 year lease on our company office suite is expiring. We're currently deciding between moving to a new building which includes a build-out to our specifications or staying in our existing suite. When I asked our current landlord about what sort of amenities (our carpet and paint are wearing) they might provide in exchange for a lease renewal, she politely informed me that they only provide lease incentives for new tenants, not existing ones. I scratched my head and asked her if we (a low-maintenance tenant that always pays its rent on time) would be eligible for incentives if we moved out first and moved back in the next day.
The question was rhetorical (and more than a bit sarcastic), but it reminded me of a few business truths that I have come to believe:
1. Your current customers are usually more valuable than your future ones. Too often in business the emphasis is placed on the latter instead of the former. (Did I mention that our current building is approximately 30% vacant already?)
2. All things being equal, people (consumers, businesses, etc.) will usually act in their own best interests. Our job as providers of value is to provide more than the next guy for a fair price.
3. An extension of #2, if I want a person or customer to behave a particular way, I usually have to give him/her a reason to do it. I'm always amazed that Dell sends me customer surveys to fill out that they say will consume 25 minutes of my time with nothing (except, presumably, more selling opportunties for them) in return. I wonder what their response rate is!
I'm not sure where we'll renew our lease or move, but I'm hoping that our current landlord will at least see it our way!
Hot Zone or Hot Water?
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Posted By Rochelle Knight on 09/26 at 09:42 AM |
My search for an interesting yet on-subject topic somehow stopped at Yahoo's new project called "The Hot Zone", a "unique, multimedia perspective on some of the world's most troubled and dangerous places." The goal is to provide a "much-needed look" at war-torn regions that have little to no media coverage.
While the ongoing interaction of video, audio, images, and stories will provide a refreshingly different user experience and entice visitors' personal investment in the project, it will be interesting to see how involved the company itself becomes in its newest endeavor. Without any posts to date on http://hotzone.yahoo.com, there is already news that Yahoo agreed to censor its search engine and e-mail accounts.
With this incident, I wonder what the future will bring. On one hand, for Yahoo to successfully continue with an international movement, they would have to abide by another country's regulations as Microsoft already has. But on the other, when does Yahoo decide whether they are a news reporting agency or an Internet Service Provider? Until some decisions are made, there could be some definite issues for their tens of millions of e-mail users here and abroad.
Maybe this movement and a blog handbook will help Yahoo (or at least the bloggers out there).
Drudge's Wallet
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Posted By Matt Certo on 09/26 at 08:40 AM |
I'm wondering if Matt Drudge (and those that use the business model of (1) rapidly-updated news and (2) revenue from display ads) will ever go the way of RSS. His site (and others like his) seem a perfect fit for RSS so that readers could enter his URL and be notified when something has been updated. But Matt probably knows that doing this will detract from his revenue (many consumers who now see his ads would no longer do so) since many (if not all) newsreaders don't pull the ads with the content. RSS would be great for his readers but not so great for his revenue.
Promoting RSS
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Posted By Matt Certo on 09/25 at 01:32 PM |
I continue to be intrigued by the lack of widespread 'push' that RSS has received in the business community, media, and otherwise. The blogging community seems to, certainly, have a keen awareness of what RSS is, how it works, and why it's important. But many of those in the business community--pr, advertising, and strategy folks alike--have yet to even hear about RSS, let alone stop and think about how it will impact their businesses.
I feel that this is really a failure of the technical community on a number of different fronts. For starters, the name 'RSS' is not a good one in my view. I think that non-technical people dismiss technical jargon in the form of unfamiliar alphabetical characters (i.e. HTML, FTP, etc.). Perhaps we should think of another way to characterize the technology?
It will be interesting to see how Microsoft chooses to characterize RSS when they release IE7. This version of the browser is supposed to have some pretty heavy RSS/blog integration.
If you're reading this and haven't received a good RSS education, I suggest that you do! Seth Godin does a good job of explaining it on his blog.
Evolutions in Revolutions
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Posted By Keith Ort on 09/22 at 03:50 PM |
In the 90's, web searching was in its most primitive form. Yahoo and All-the-web dominated the arena. Web users were very green with how to use the technology. Many people got online only to check email and the news. Most Web sites had graphics that looked like they had been created in MSPaint that came packaged with their versions of Windows 9x. To navigate the nether regions of the Internet, many people used web directories or web rings.
When Backrub was introduced, it completely rethought how the Internet could be accessed. Complex networking and ways of processing and interpreting the web came out of Stanford. The majority of the Internet browsers know Backrub better as Google.
Yet even with how much of the Internet's history is known, not one person can say for a fact where it is going. Now that most people have moved from web directories and web rings and become savvy searchers things get increasingly competitive. Google, Yahoo and MSN are the top search engines respectively and each has a different vision of where the internet is going. They all agree the future does involve the integration of different forms of entertainment
Yahoo hired former ABC executive Lloyd Braun and established residences near Hollywood. Around that time they also went live with video searching. Google has a video searching service available as well. However Google plans on moving beyond the home and has been the focus of a firestorm of discussion when wifi.google.com started showing information about their offering free WiFi internet access in San Francisco and plans to go larger. This had been rumored after it was discovered that Google was purchasing large chunks of dark fiber. MSN however seems to be courting AOL. The general user would gain increased access to AOL's in-depth entertainment services with AOL having exclusive access to an arsenal of high profile concerts notably Live 8 and several of the recent benefit concerts for those affected by Hurricane Katrina.
Yet in the end, unless the people accept and adopt these advancements, they could go the way of OS/2 Warp.
Hurricane Hunting
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Posted By Matt Certo on 09/22 at 02:17 PM |
As one who lived through three Florida hurricanes last year, I know how mesmerizing the Hurricane Center's online tracking tools can be. People with an Internet connection who live anywhere close to the Gulf/Atlantic states are always clicking on 'Reload' when it comes to wind tracking maps and projected paths: http://www.noaa.gov.
With all of this traffic, I'm wondering if the NOAA shouldn't incorporate sponsorships/AdWords in an effort to raise money for victims. I know that there is a mandate agains profiting from government work, but can't an exception be made for fundraising purposes? After all, the DMV asks me to donate to campaign funds when I get my license renewed.
Do you think people would have a problem with this? The traffic must be staggering. And with Katrina and Rita in the mix, so will this year's damage and loss!
Waking Up to the Arrival of Business Blogs
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Posted By Matt Certo on 09/22 at 01:07 PM |
The excerpt below is something that has really gotten my attention. It's from a recent BusinessWeek article. Full text is here.
Go ahead and bellyache about blogs. But you cannot afford to close your eyes to them, because they're simply the most explosive outbreak in the information world since the Internet itself. And they're going to shake up just about every business -- including yours. It doesn't matter whether you're shipping paper clips, pork bellies, or videos of Britney in a bikini, blogs are a phenomenon that you cannot ignore, postpone, or delegate. Given the changes barreling down upon us, blogs are not a business elective. They're a prerequisite.
Jumping in with both feet...
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Posted By Matt Certo on 09/22 at 11:25 AM |
The blog movement has gotten too big to ignore. It seems that many still are, though. Up until today, we've been mild participants at best and casual observers at worst. We at WebSolvers have come to the conclusion that it's time for us to jump in and be a part of the action.
So, read our posts, subscribe to our feeds, comment on our posts, and talk about us over lunch and dinner!