Mitch Joel's Blog: Six Pixels of Separation, page 195
March 25, 2016
A More Elegant Question About Pricing
What's this thing worth?
Pricing has always been a fascinating area of interest. While many are quick to dismiss the merits of The Four Ps, and their current value in the marketing equation, I'm less quick to toss them aside. At their core I still believe that Product, Price, Promotion and Place retain their importance when trying to market a product and/or service. With that, pricing is now variable and quite elastic. Pricing is now much more dynamic than ever before. Because of platforms like Amazon, it's increasingly more difficult to know if/when a consumer is even getting some kind of deal. Think about it this way: I could be seeing an entirely different Amazon pricing format than you are... And how would any of us be any the wiser to it?
Now, elevate these pricing and value models to the digital economy.
If we have seen anything in this digital economy, we've seen valuations of companies that can best be defined as stroke-inducing. Need I remind you that Snapchat turned down three billion dollars from Facebook back in 2013 (long before anybody had any real clue of what Snapchat could be)? How about Amazon acquiring Twitch for one billion dollars back in 2014? Twitch. The place where people go to watch other people play video games online. I'm in no way belittling these valuations or acquisitions. I am - without question - trying to understand how this pricing is both estimated and then agreed upon?
Question: how much is Bitmoji worth?
Bitmoji allows you to create a simple cartoon version of yourself (an avatar), and then enables it as an alternative keyboard on your smartphone, so users can up their emoticon game in text messages and emails. It's a ton of fun (and you can bet that my Bitmoji rocks because I'm bald, sport glasses and wear all black... very easy to make into a caricature). Bitmoji just got acquired for $100 million by Snapchat (the dollar amount has not been verified, but it is the persistent rumour in the trades). Staggering? Bargain? Thoughts?
What does Snapchat know about pricing that the rest of us don't?
I'm often asked how something like this can take place? Something like Bitmoji. A freemium model, where money is exchanged for a more customized caricature. On the other hand, there is a large and installed user-base (and once installed as a keyboard, I'm fairly certain users don't bother to remove it). Perhaps Bitmoji on top of Snapchat will get users to tinker even more if they can integrate them. Maybe Snapchat needs to acquire other companies to build a portfolio of users across mobile-centric channels? Clearly, Snapchat has some logic there. What most people don't understand about these businesses, is that it's often less about how many people are paying to use a service, and more often about creating something that one company really wants to buy. Ultimately, Bitmoji's only customer may need to be a company - like Snapchat - that wants it.
A more elegant question of pricing: who is your brand worth the most to?
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Bots And The Next Wave Of Marketing
Hello, Human.
When you open the new Quartz news app, it takes a few minutes to get your bearings. This is not your father's news app. There is no infinite scroll, and there is no standard headline matched with a big image to capture your salivating attention, and get you to click. Instead, what you're faced with is the familiar setting of your messaging app. Instead of being a reader, you're now a part of - what seem to be - a chat. The usual bubbles and back and forth. Quartz sends you messages like "Good morning" followed by "Apple has a sneaking suspicion that someone (*cough* the NSA *cough*) is hacking all of its servers." That message is followed by the scary face emoticon or another message bubble that reads "next." Being logged into the app with your profile, and based on your choices of messages to read more about, the app then decides what news you're most interested in. It learns. Quickly and over time. You're not chatting with anyone. You're not simply reading another news site. You're engaging with a bot. It is - at times - a strange sensation to be engaged in a personalized back and forth with a bot, while at the same time experiencing the feeling that this bot "knows me" and is able to create an even more personalized experience.
The bots are coming. The bots are coming.
So, what exactly is a "bot"? From Wikipedia: "An Internet bot... is a software application that runs automated tasks (scripts) over the Internet. Typically, bots perform tasks that are both simple and structurally repetitive, at a much higher rate than would be possible for a human alone... Bots are routinely used on the internet where the emulation of human activity is required, for example chat bots. A simple question and answer exchange online may appear to be with another person, when in fact it is simply with a bot... While bots are often used to simply automate a repetitive online interaction, their ability to mimic actual human conversation and avoid detection has resulted in the use of bots as tools of covert manipulation."
Marketers hate bots.
Bots have been the bane of marketers for nearly as long as online advertising has existed. Bots have been responsible for tarnishing online measurement and analytics forever. Bots are on the frontline of ad fraud. According to MarketingLand, bots will cost marketers over seven billion dollars in 2016 alone. From the news item: "ANA concluded that on average, bot impression fraud had cost the study participants roughly $10 million each. In total, the study's authors estimate that bot fraud will generate $7.2 billion in losses for marketers in 2016 on a global basis." Bots have evolved. They have become increasingly more sophisticated. Bots have become super-sophisticated by being able to replicate human behavior, in a much more undetectable way. They're doing much more than simply mimicking pageviews or clicking on search ads (which was bad enough). They can now exploit cookies to appear human, they can impersonate mobile devices to consume media, and have systematically fooled some of the better ad tech into thinking that this was all done by human beings.
Marketers better love bots.
In the past short while, we're beginning to see the rise of bots as an engine of powerfully good marketing, personalization and better service (look no further than the Quartz app above, as an example). So, while marketing professionals have loathed what the word "bots" have meant to date, the term (much like "hack") now has very positive and useful connotations and application for brands today. Chatbots are currently leading this first wave of growth, and many business leaders believe that this is the next generation of conversation and connection (check out this Business Insider article: Evernote founder says he's found the most exciting thing in tech since the iPhone). TechCrunch recently published an article titled, Facebook's Messenger Bot Store could be the most important launch since the App Store, that stated: "Today, Facebook Messenger has 800 million monthly active users - more than 100 times the number of iPhone owners when Apple launched the App Store. Messenger's current active user base exceeds even the total number of iPhones ever sold. Messaging apps now have more active users than social networks." Facebook's ability to clear the brushes for brand's customers to engage with bots is staggering, because of this access (and let's not forget that Facebook also owns WhatsApp). The ability for consumers to ask brands questions, order services, buy products, get customer service, additional information, and more is not something to quickly dismiss.
Big bets are being placed on bots.
More from that TechCrunch article: "If 800 million Facebook users start discovering bots in Messenger after F8, it will vindicate those who have been saying bots are the new apps. There's an entire ecosystem, akin to the App Store in its scale, to be built. When you can quickly and easily interact with Dominos, United Airlines and Capital One on Messenger, and will you ever use their bloated native apps again? The current bot landscape feels a lot like the web in 1995, or mobile apps in 2008." Personally, I could not have it better than that. With that, comes an entirely new (and needed) conversation about how brands will do this, collect this highly personalized information from their consumers and be able to maintain it in a secure and ethical way.
Brands, what is your bot strategy?
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March 23, 2016
The Digital Economy's Privacy Problem
What do these Internet-based businesses know about us?
Digital channels are both inherently social (we can share, connect and create content) and personal (they offer us free email and messaging services, or the ability to purchase products that we may not want the rest of the world to know that we're buying). With that, it's hard to argue that the data that is being collected is not only powerful, but if you add in the machine learning and algorithms of these multi-billion dollar platforms, they are able to create a hyper-personalized profile on all of - as individuals (which includes our family, friends and more). The implications of this data gathering (from simple things like browser history to more semantic captures like the tone of our words on social media platforms) can have massive implications on how employable we are, the type of insurance we're eligible for, and more. Plus, who are these companies sharing this information with? It's clear that data is the new oil, but many of us have no idea where the drilling is taking place and how it is then distributed. In short, consumers have lost control of their own data. Without even knowing it.
Is that fair? Is it just?
For years, my position has been (and continues to be), that this information is the cost/fee that we pay to enjoy all of these free services (whether we like it or not). That if it's not evident on these digital channels what the product is, then we - the individuals - are the product. That relinquishing our usage patterns and information is part of the social contract that we engage in when we join these free platforms. And, ultimately, that we can't rely on these platforms to get better (through their own desire or through legislation), but that we - as a society - must better understand what it means to live in a world where we're all a media channel, and better learn how we control, manage and publish content to best design our own lives. We need to define what privacy means to us, and not rely on someone else to do it for us.
The death of privacy?
Tonight, I appeared on The Agenda with Steve Paikin to debate these topics and more. As the sole voice of business, marketing and the commercial side of the Internet on this panel conversation, I was up against two academics and a lawyer. We discussed just how much social media has become a part of our lives, and the concern about what these companies are doing with all of our information, and how they are sharing it. So, is privacy a thing of the past?
Here is the debate and I'd love your thoughts in the comments below: The Agenda With Steve Paikin - The Death of Privacy?
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March 21, 2016
Happy 10th Birthday, Twitter!
Every Monday morning at 7:10 am, I am a guest contributor on CHOM 97.7 FM radio broadcasting out of Montreal (home base). It's not a long segment - about 5 to 10 minutes every week - about everything that is happening in the world of technology and digital media. The good folks at CHOM 97.7 FM are posting these segments weekly to SoundCloud, if you're interested in hearing more of me blathering away. I'm really excited about this opportunity, because this is the radio station that I grew up on listening to, and it really is a fun treat to be invited to the Mornings Rock with Terry and Heather B. morning show. The segment is called, CTRL ALT Delete with Mitch Joel.
This week we discussed:
It's Twitter's Birthday. Ten years old! I joined Twitter in February 2007. 16,000 tweets later and close to 67,000 followers, yet we're still wondering what will Twitter's future hold.
You can find out when you joined Twitter by checking out Tw Birthday.
How does Twitter standup against Snapchat, etc...
Later today, Apple is holding an event. It's not the big, big one, but everything Apple always gets attention. What can we expect? As usual, we're not really sure, but the rumours are: A four-inch mini iPhone (iPhone 5SE?). Updates for the iPad Pro? Apple Watch bands? Software? We're expecting the iPhone 7 in the fall. Maybe.
We have talked a lot in the past few weeks about virtual reality. The main issue now, is how to get these Google Cardboard-like viewers into people's hands? Well, imagine if your McDonald's Happy Meal could be converted into a virtual reality viewer? It's true. It's possible. The fast food giant is transforming its iconic boxes into foldable VR headsets. Right now, it's being tested in Sweden.
App of the week: Sworkit.
Listen here...
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March 20, 2016
Heartificial Intelligence
Episode #506 of Six Pixels of Separation - The Mirum Podcast is now live and ready for you to listen to.
What will near-to-future technologies do to change business as we know it? Better question: how are these technologies already being used in business? These are the questions that journalist, strategist, consultant and author, John C. Havens has been investigating. His latest business book is called, Heartificial Intelligence, and it looks at what our world could look like, if we don't begin figuring out what robots and machine learning-based business landscapes could look like. Marrying technology, economics, psychology and even fictional narratives, Havens paints a vivid portrait about what our future could look like. Havens is also the author of Hacking H(app)ness, and a writer for Mashable, The Guardian, and Slate. Enjoy the conversation...
You can grab the latest episode of Six Pixels of Separation here (or feel free to subscribe via iTunes): Six Pixels of Separation - The Mirum Podcast #506.
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March 19, 2016
Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #300
Is there one link, story, picture or thought that you saw online this week that you think somebody you know must see?
My friends: Alistair Croll (BitCurrent, Year One Labs, GigaOM, Human 2.0, Solve For Interesting, the author of Complete Web Monitoring, Managing Bandwidth: Deploying QOS in Enterprise Networks and Lean Analytics), Hugh McGuire (PressBooks, LibriVox, iambik and co-author of Book: A Futurist's Manifesto) and I decided that every week the three of us are going to share one link for one another (for a total of six links) that each individual feels the other person "must see".
Check out these six links that we're recommending to one another:
Mergence-Accommodation Conflict: Why Bad 3D Literally Makes You Sick - Sports Video Group . "I've tried good VR (the HTC Vive is absolutely stunning). But bad VR is off-putting. Some pundits even think it will accelerate ageism, because the older you get the more easily you develop motion sickness. One problem is that while things might look near or far, your brain knows they're all on a screen near your head. This is also why augmented reality goggles that let you see the real world, but layer things atop it, can be worn for longer. This piece explains it better than I can; and if you think it's esoteric, wait a year." (Alistair for Hugh).
This Eerie Virtual Flood Will Scare You Into Giving A Damn About Climate Change - FastCoDesign . "I've been spending a lot of time looking at AR and VR this year, but some of the most amazing interactive installations are just Big Art. Here's one that ran in The Netherlands, and simulated actual sea levels of global warming using lasers and lenses. I'd love to see this set up in major urban areas; when Florida found out all its garages were underwater, political sentiment would change pretty fast." (Alistair for Mitch).
Julie Rubicon - Facebook . "Robin Sloan got a pretty freaky story posted in his encrypted private Dropbox, and not only is Facebook watching, but they already know what you are going to think about it." (Hugh for Alistair).
Modelled After Ants, Teams of Tiny Robots Can Move 2-Ton Car - The New York Times . "I happen to know that Mitch is crazy about robots. So, he's probably seen this. But, if not, the moral of this story is that when we welcome our robot overlords, they might just be much smaller than we thought they would be." (Hugh for Mitch).
I, narcissist - vanity, social media, and the human condition - The Guardian . "It's one thing to think that Facebook, YouTube and whatever else digital is just an extension of media. It's not. We are media. And, in doing so, we are reprogramming our brains. Some may think that is not a big deal. I don't agree. Brains don't just reprogram. We've been engineered in a very specific way, and any change to that will cause a whole lot of psychological trauma. Think social media is all about likes and sharing? Think again..." (Mitch for Alistair).
The Final Months of Brooklyn's Most Cluttered Bookstore - The New Yorker . "What a mess! A glorious, beautiful, treasure trove of written words mess! How many bookstores like this used to exist in your neighbourhood? Many are saying that the indie bookstore is seeing a resurgence. Something tells me that this is not what they're talking about. That being said, I love book caverns like this and - as I travel - I always hope to find a retail book jewel like this one. While I have never been to this one, I am sad to see it go." (Mitch for Hugh).
Feel free to share these links and add your picks on Twitter, Facebook, in the comments below or wherever you play.
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A Better Digital Experience
That is the promise of augmented reality.
It still sounds like science fiction, and the masses did not all run out to buy Google Glass. Before you go and dismiss this newer batch of augmented reality technology that is coming, ask yourself this: what if technology connected us more deeply with our surroundings (and one another), instead of distracting us from what's in front of our eyes? What if we could create and work on projects that have been on a two-dimensional screen, but are now transformed into in a real three-dimensional environment? Remember Tony Stark (or Iron Man) in the movies? What if we could move and work on digital objects with more natural and human gestures, voice and facial movements? One of the stand-out presentations at this past year's TED conference was Meron Gribetz (Founder and CEO of Meta). Meron believes that this is the future, and his augmented reality headset looks set to make it a reality. Below is his TED Talk (which was just published today). It is a real-live demo. I know this, because I had the opportunity to demo the actual headset during my time at the TED conference, and it was another one of those transformational moments for me (much like the first time I used a computer in the 80s, got connected through a modem, downloaded the first Web browser, saw a mobile phone, etc...). I have no doubt that augmented reality (and virtual reality) are the next platforms we will use. I also have no doubt - that sometime soon in the future - we will all agree that this is the ideal digital experience. Don't believe me?
Watch this: TED - A glimpse of the future through an augmented reality headset with Meron Gribetz.
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March 18, 2016
The State Of Marketing And The Missed Opportunities
How many brands are really marketing themselves properly these days?
If there is one gripe about the current state of advertising, it would be this: with all that has evolved in the past two decades - from new platforms to channels to technology to content to newer opportunities - the base of communications is still highly derivative of past metrics. These are vanity metrics. An "impression" isn't what a brand does to make a connection with a consumer, but rather a simple and singular numeric representation of how many times a message appeared. It's not semantics. Each and every day, the feeds are full of marketing-related stories that glorify the lack of knowledge that either a brand or an agency has. Many brands and agencies are considered relics. Many question the very need for a brand to exist (have you read The New Yorker article, Twilight Of The Brands?). Many question the very need for advertising agencies to exist (have you read the MediaPost article, And Now...Dying Agency Model Must Transform Itself Into Special Ops Military Groups?).
The anger is real... but somewhat displaced.
It's an industry-wide issue. It is brands, agencies and the professionals who do the work (it's not one or the other). It's a broad stroke of a paint brush, but take a look at some of the following data from recent articles, and decide just how modernized your brand is from a marketing perspective, and just how primed you are to capitalize on where consumers are spending the bulk of their time and effort. This week, MarketingDive published an article titled, Why marketers can't ignore mobile - and how they can integrate it into their strategies. While it may be simplistic to claim that marketers are ignoring mobile, it's clear that most initiatives are driven by trying to figure out a better advertising mousetrap on mobile. The real focus should be on the overall mobile experience of the brand. Is the mobile experience simply a watered-down version of the website, or is that mobile experience unique, native and powerful? Why does this matter? From the article:
Global mobile data traffic grew 74% in 2015, reaching 3.7 exabytes per month.
Mobile data traffic has grown 4,000-fold over the past 10 years.
Mobile data has grown almost 400-million-fold over the past 15 years.
Mobile goes beyond impressions and reach.
Whether you like term "mobile" or not, consumers have become completely untethered. Their technology is not just on them, it is a part of them. When someone does a search from a mobile device, the context is fundamentally different from the traditional Web-browser based searches that marketers have dealt with to date. Think With Google published the article, How To Build Your Mobile-Centric Search Strategy, that offered this gem:
Mobile makes up 88% of all "near me" searches, with those mobile searches growing at 146% year over year.
This is a change in consumer behavior and purchase decision. This is not, "let me search, do some research, ask around on social media, and then think about a decision." That decision tree has completely collapsed. If this data point holds water - and there is no reason to suspect otherwise - it's very telling of how "in the moment" consumers are. A mobile experience that forces them to pinch the screen, get less information than they are accustomed to or, simply, not have the same mobile functionality that they are getting from other apps and experiences is detrimental to the brand. If mobile is the consumer's primary device (as PCs have become relegated to an accessory device for mobile), and mobile makes up 88% of all "near me" searches, the dynamics of "thinking global, but acting local" to only change marketing, but how to run a successful brand.
Putting your money where your mouth is.
Both brand and agencies have talked a good talk for many years. This is usually around areas of business transformation and embracing digital as one of the main ways that a consumer discovers and interacts with a brand. Two days ago, this was validated in the eMarketer news item, Agency Clients More Interested in Digital Advertising. There is no fatigue in terms of digital advertising. Whether brands see this as a cheaper way to capture attention, or a smarter way to target consumers, the tides have shifted. And, based on the survey data from this eMarketer article, the money is being invested in digital:
"91% of agency executives in North America said they plan to significantly or somewhat increase spending in 2016 on digital for their clients. To compare, 79.6% of senior marketers plan to increase spending on digital."
What makes this that much more compelling is that last week, eMarketer ran another news item: Digital Ad Spending to Surpass TV Next Year. From the article: "Next year will mark a major milestone for ad spending, as total digital surpasses TV for the first time, according to eMarketer's newest quarterly ad spending forecast. In 2017, TV ad spending will total $72.01 billion, or 35.8% of total media ad spending in the US. Meanwhile, total digital ad spending in 2017 will equal $77.37 billion, or 38.4% of total ad spending." If this spending continues, TV's share of ad spending will fall below one-third by 2020. Ultimately, we're seeing both the slowing down of TV ad spending (the industry's 800 pound gorilla) and many analysts lowering their projections form what they had anticipated. This doesn't mean that digital is eating TV. It does mean that digital is eating everything - in one form or another.
It's a good time to be in marketing, if you're following the consumers, the money and how to connect the two. Are you?
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March 17, 2016
A More Elegant Question About Ad Blocking
Ad blocking is a huge problem.
And, if you don't think ad blocking is a huge problem, consider that it will be an increasingly more complex problem, if the manufacturers of both devices and operating systems (especially for mobile) decide to initiate programs where the option to block ads is a core component of the ecosystem (which, is exactly what is happening). It changes the economics of advertising, especially as publishers and advertisers struggle to make their message connect with an audience in an increasingly fragmented and distributed media landscape.
Did you know that ad content accounts for between 18% and 79% mobile data usage?
How do you think consumers will feel about this piece of data? It's strange how nobody is really banging the drum on this data point (then again, why would any publisher want to publicize this?). Please read this piece from Business Insider: Ads on news sites gobble up as much as 79% of users' mobile data. Ask consumers about how frustrated they are with mobile usage fees, how often they go over on their data plans, and more. It's not pretty. Maybe brands are asking the wrong question? We're stuck in this debate about how to get our messages across as ad blocking becomes more and more commonplace, but spending little time really thinking about the consumers' wants and needs. Bloating their user experience to show them an ad - that's already annoying them - does not feel like the best way to engender their attention or loyalty.
Question: is ad blocking a problem for brands?
Maybe.
A more elegant question: what role should brands play in helping consumers to have a better mobile experience, not a more bloated, expensive and slower one?
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The Most Underrated Professional Skill
Speaking in public.
I have said it before. I will say it again. Time and time again, I have come across business leaders who have had tremendous success. They are in small, medium and large businesses, along with servicing both B2C and B2B audiences, and from both genders. It's nearly impossible to pinpoint - with accuracy - the "best practice" that all of them possess, but there is always one skill that they all have: their ability to speak in public. I don't mean their ability to captivate a large audience. I do mean their ability to publicly explain an idea in a way that other people can understand and rally behind.
Want to become a better leader?
There are many ways to become a better leader. There's a massive amount of business books that cover leadership and the skills required. Still, if you become a confident and comfortable public speaker, that skill set can often get you further than most. That may sound trite. It is not. I have seen many not-to-impressive leaders pull off huge moves, simply because they have an ability to weave a strong message and capture people's attention. For years, I would sit - nervously - at board room tables and get increasingly more anxious as my turn to speak approached. Learning presentation skills was a huge part of my professional development. Now, public speaking is a huge part of my profession. I speak between forty and sixty times a year, all over the world. For the past ten years, I have had a talent bureau representing me. Last week, I spent close to an hour with famed speaking coach, entrepreneur, professional speaker and bestselling author, Michael Port, discussing the mechanics of public speaking and professional presentations for his, Steal The Show, podcast. If you have ever wanted to improve your speaking skills, to get paid for speaking, to be better understand how powerful of a business development tool speaking can be, to motivate and empower your team, then please take a listen...
Listen here: Michael Port's Steal The Show - Episode #67 - Creative Path to Successful Speaking with Mitch Joel.
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