Mitch Joel's Blog: Six Pixels of Separation, page 244

Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #212

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:

Facebook's algorithm -- why our assumptions are wrong, and our concerns are right - Culture Digitally . "There's been a lot of news about Facebook experimenting on us. This was one of the most thoughtful bits I read: 'together, I think these represent a deeper discomfort about an information environment where the content is ours but the selection is theirs.' The conflict between a social network's public perception as a trusted conduit, and its underlying business model, is at the core of the debate." (Alistair for Hugh).

The Putter - Vimeo . "In an age of automation and robotics, making scissors by hand seems, well, daft. But there are a few such craftsmen, and watching them work is akin to poetry. Learn about one of the past 'putters' -- literally, a putter together of scissors." (Alistair for Mitch)

Visualizing Algorithms - Mike Bostock . "For our weekly links, I review various articles that I've found interesting over the past week, and try to pick out the two that interested me most, then figure out which one goes to Alistair and which one goes to Mitch. Occasionally, though, I'll see something and think, 'Oh, Mitch/Alistair will love this.' That's what happened this week, I saw this amazing article about visualizing algorithms, and thought: Oh, Alistair will love this." (Hugh for Alistair).

How John Oliver and HBO Shattered TV's Comedy-News Format - Variety . "If you are a Daily Show watcher, you probably recognize John Oliver , who has his own new show, Last Week Tonight . The new show takes the satirical news show and turns it into something like an 'investigative journalism show presented in a satirical way.' We're used to 2-minute funny faux-news segments; Oliver and his team are doing 15 minute, deeply researched segments on a pretty diverse array of kinda obscure topics: the death penalty, net neutrality, food product labeling." (Hugh for Mitch).

Aerosmith made more money on Guitar Hero than from any of their albums - Factually . "I spent over fifteen years in the music industry. I've seen a lot of things. Some amazingly cool. Some very dark, dark stuff. When I finally left the industry, it became clear to me that - for the most part - it was an industry that was not going to embrace change or technology. It was disrupted. It continues to be disrupted. I watch the industry closely (mostly through the eyes of people like Bob Lefsetz ). With that, when you come across an article with a title like this, it's hard not to have it stop you dead in your tracks. Think about Aerosmith. Think about their legacy. Think about what they represent in the pantheon of rock and roll. And, ultimately, this is the truth. Let the music do the talking? Hardly. It seems like the video games, t-shirts and sponsorships are what keeps this train rolling all night long." (Mitch for Alistair).

An 'Unbelievable' Encounter With Amazon - The New Yorker . " Malcolm Gladwell does comedy. Comedy during a time when his book sales are, seriously, getting decimated as his publisher ( Hachette Book Group - which also happens to be the publisher of my books, Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete ) is in a heated contract dispute with Amazon that is holding off and delaying shipments of Hachette titles. It's a strange world where authors are getting royally shafted and, as funny as this is, it's all pretty disheartening when you really think about it. I say this as both an author who is trapped in the middle of this, while also being a huge fan of Amazon, at the same time. Yes, it's a mess." (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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aerosmith

alistair croll

amazon

bitcurrent

bob lefsetz

book a futurists manifesto

complete web monitoring

culture digitally

daily show

dave hill

dick cavett

facebook

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gigaom

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hbo

hugh mcguire

human 20

iambik

john oliver

last week tonight

lean analytics

librivox

link bait

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link sharing

malcolm gladwell

managing bandwidth

media hacks

mike bostock

pressbooks

shaun bloodworth

social media

solve for interesting

the new yorker

the putter

variety

vimeo

year one labs

Why The Future Of Technology Is Google

Yes, Google Fan Boy Alert. It's happening now.

Look beyond the stock price. Look beyond search advertising as their printer of money. Google is a part of so many fascinating aspects of where society and technology are intersecting, that my guess is that it will soon be hard to do anything that isn't - in some way, shape or form - connected to Google. While some may think of Skynet (and, yes, Google makes it clear in the following video that they are more than interested in real artificial intelligence), I'm still as fascinated with the company - and the many projects they're pursuing - as I was the very first time that I did a search on the engine back in the late nineties. Earlier this week, Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page took part in a fireside chat with famed venture capitalist, Vinod Khosla (who was also the co-founder of Sun Microsystems) and his annual KV CEO Summit.

Here is the full, 40 minute-plus conversation about the future of technology and Google. Buckle up!  

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artificial intelligence

future of technology

google

kv ceo summit

larry page

search advertising

search engine

sergey brin

skynet

sun microsystems

technology

venture capital

vinod khosla

Digital Advertising Just Got Worse (If You Can Believe It)

It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.

The year was 1994. There were only about thirty million people on the Internet then. Most of those people were accessing it via Internet Service Providers like CompuServe and Prodigy. While many of those services ran advertising, they were private, so our industry considers HotWired (which was the Web version of Wired Magazine) as the first commercial media property to run a true banner ad. The message on that first banner ad was: "Have you ever clicked your mouse right here?" I was around then. I was active on the Internet, and I was involved in the very early days of banner advertising and search engine marketing (long before Google even existed). What got me so excited about digital advertising? It was the ability to put advertising only on sites that were relevant. It was the ability to truly make that ad interactive, and allow consumers (that were interested in it) to actually do something. To take action. It allowed those that weren't interested, to simply keep on going. Most importantly, it was about the data and information. Up until that point, even traditional advertising offered certain levels of targeting, but the ability to know how many people saw the ad, how many people clicked on it, what they did next and beyond was staggering. It was still nascent and web analytics looked nothing like they do today, but it was the promise of it all that was so inspiring to a marketing nerd like me. With that, you could change creative on the fly, run multivariate testing fairly easily, and you could even stop a campaign within minutes. We take it for granted, but that was never even a possibility with traditional media.

So, how did things go so wrong?

Books, articles and blog posts have been written about how the dream of what could have been with interactive advertising never truly came to fruition. In short, these ads performed so poorly in terms of converting a consumer to take action, that we changed the name of the creative. We started calling it, "display advertising" instead of "interactive advertising" to better position this ad format as a way to create brand interest and attention over actual conversions to clicks and acquisitions (nobody was doing any sort of interacting with this type of advertising). Make no mistake about it, the current format is a healthy format. It is growing, and it is as dominant (if not more dominant) than TV advertising. Display advertising is now, more often than not, a major component of every healthy marketing mix. Still, the hope for what this type of advertising could have been (which, to some degree, has been realized in search engine marketing and other performance-based marketing initiatives), is something to think about.

Now, let's talk about retargeting. 

Recently, I rented a car from a popular car rental company. Something happened on the website that didn't allow me to complete my transaction, so I had to finish my order over the phone with customer service (from a tech standpoint, my actions probably got banked as a shopping cart abandonment). Around the same time, one of my family members used my computer to check out a briefcase that they had been eyeing (they wanted to see how big of a laptop it could hold). It has been well over two weeks since both of these incidents. Without exaggerating, I would say that over 80% of the advertising that I am currently being served online is from this car rental company and the brand of briefcase that my family member was looking for. Just yesterday, a close friend asked me if I could explain how online advertising works, because after looking for some tickets to an event in another city, all they're now seeing are display ads either for the event or from travel sites. They think it sucks.

Welcome to the failed state of data to make advertising better.

Without being an apologist (as I am often - and rightfully - accused of being), the idea of retargeting could be a technological breakthrough, and the true future state of advertising, as we know it. But, right now, it's bad and getting worse. There is not enough supporting data and effort being put into it, to give it the legitimacy and efficacy that it needs. The outcome of it are the examples above. What happens is simply more wasted advertising on multiple levels (retargeting is often much more expensive to do as well). Suddenly, consumers are seeing ads that are only related to things that they have already looked at (which, for a vast majority becomes annoying) and - at the same time - those ad impressions are being taken away from another brand's chance to make a good/relevant brand impression.

How is that good for advertising? 

My feelings and sentiments towards the car rental and luggage companies brands are eroding. I'm falling out of love with them, because I am being annoyed by them. My feelings and sentiment towards the publishers that are running these retargeted ads are dwindling as well. With that, I am left wondering what kind of potentially interesting ads am I missing (and yes, I do like relevant and interesting ads!), while this spam-like atrocity of bad retargeting is taking place?

It's going to take some time.

It's true. This type of advertising will, eventually, be super relevant, contextual and timely. Advertising and media partners will figure out how to tell when a further impulse is needed. Until then, we're kind of stuck in the middle (or, purgatory, as I call it in my second business book, CTRL ALT Delete). We have to work through this. We have to hope that the technology gets better (and faster). We have to hope that brands just don't blindly buy into something because it seems cool on a PowerPoint deck, but fails miserably in the real world (a real problem). Until then, I'd like to keep calm and carry on (as the saying goes), but looking at it from the perspective of a consumer who doesn't have my level of passion for marketing, advertising and communications, I think we can all understand just how very bad it has become.

Right?

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wired magazine

The Chasm Between Knowing And Doing

We have terrible habits, don't we?

I have so many issues. There are nights when I go to bed without flossing (I'm just too lazy). That's going to cause some extra scraping by the dental hygienist. I try to eat well, but there are some nights when a little bowl of (the milk chocolate ones) are screaming my name. I never feel good after that indulgence. I have too many new books on my Kindle app that I have every intention of reading (and lots of older ones too). It ain't going to happen. My to do list? It's getting longer, no matter how well-intentioned I am to wake up (extra) early tomorrow and tackle it. Yes, I'm basically staring at a list of actions (without any contempt) and just not getting it all done. How many close friend have I not called (or gotten together with) in far too long? I'm a terrible friend. You're probably waiting for me to respond to an email, a tweet, a Facebook post, a blog comment... I'm going to mess that one up too. I apologize.

I'm human. You're human. 

I often forget about our collective humanity when I think about the possibilities and opportunities that marketing has now given us all. We all know what we're supposed to do. We know that we should be focused much more on smartphones and tablets than on PCs. We know that we shouldn't be doing the whole "set it and forget it" when it comes to advertising campaigns, because we can now leverage data and analytics to test, iterate and optimize in real time. Everyone knows that we can build deep and direct relationships with our consumers through channels like social media and email. We all know that in the next few years, everything that can be plugged into a wall will be connected to the Internet. Still, what is the common, day to day, reality of the marketing departments and advertising agencies that service them?

Is everything and everyone just a bunch of hot air?

I find it hard to believe that I have written close to 4000 blog posts since I first started Six Pixels of Separation back in 2003. I'm beginning to lose my passion for the word "passion," but it's hard to find a better word to describe why anybody would put this kind of time, effort, blood, sweat and tears into anything. It's not just the writing of the words that takes effort. The heavy lifting is everything that comes before my eyeballs star at a blank screen. It's the reading, the thinking, the client work, the failures, the successes, the what-ifs and everything in between. That's the real hard and funky stuff. It's the scars and scares of the trenches. The tinkering and toying. The testing and tweaking. Still, when I look around, I can smell the fear. Still, with every inch of proof that the Internet has fundamentally changed how brands can connect and tell their stories to consumers, the vast majority of brands (no matter how much they're peacocking) and agencies (no matter how much they're inflating their own tires with marketing jargon press releases) are doing little more than what they were doing decades ago. They're pimping, promoting, screaming and begging for consumers to look their way... even for a moment.

What's really happening?

I'm going to stop being so tough on marketers. Marketers are like my lapse in flossing judgment. They know what they're supposed to. They've read the books (or watched a video on YouTube). They've read a ton of blog posts (or followed some smart people on Twitter). They've attended a conference or two on the topic of digital marketing (or listened to a podcast on it). The thing is that there's this chasm that exists between knowing and doing. I know I should floss every night (and every morning). It's not that hard to do. I've done it before. But, still, there are some nights when it just slides. We all get to work with the best of intentions, but the emails start to flow, the meetings runneth over and the next thing you know, you have to choose between doing something that may rattle some cages or going for a coffee with someone from your department.

Guess which option usually wins?

Since Twist Image got acquired by WPP, the interest in brands wanting to work with us has picked up. The opportunities to work on some super-interesting brands has put me back in a much more operational role (which I really do love). I'm writing decks, pitching clients, tossing ideas around and it feels comfortable. The work I was meant to do. I'm constantly working with some of the smartest people on finding the images and words to help brands solve very specific (and profound) business challenges. That, coupled with this blog, makes me feel very complete. I was walking over to a radio interview this afternoon when it struck me. This feeling of completeness. Why? When I write, I feel like I'm expressing things that we either all know or have yet to realize about where business is headed. That's fine. That's dandy. When you actually do the work. When you actually take ideas and turn them into tangible products and services that help a business solve a problem, you move from knowing to doing. Most don't have that luxury.

Wait. Stop. Right. There.

This is starting to read like tough talk. Like I'm the only one doing, while everyone else is just blogging and talking up a good storm. That's not the case. The real reality of my situation is this: I find that in all of the work that I am doing, it's still too much knowing and not enough doing. I feel this from the people I speak to, every day, as well. They feel surrounded by people who would rather live in the dogma of traditional marketing. They find themselves having to sell ideas to people who should, intuitively, know better. What this really means: we have work to do. Lots of work. Knowing that we have the work (and how to solve it) is a great thing (don't diminish it), but doing it... making that dent in the universe... adapting to the new realities. This is the work that we're all really meant to do.

Who's with me on this? Let's turn ditch that chasm between knowing and doing. Let's just do a whole lot more.

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advertising

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youtube

How To Be Inspired At Work

It's 7 am. I'm sitting in a coffee shop right around the corner from my office.

It's easy to read between the lines. It's easy to think that someone is a workaholic. It's easy to make assumptions (must be single, probably no kids, whatever). All of that is irrelevant (and not true). I remember being desperately out of shape in the early nineties. I remember being very busy at a startup in publishing. I remember saying to myself that if only I could find the time to work out and eat better. It's almost laughable now, but that same line of thinking is applied in almost everything that we do. We all want to read more. Be more involved in our community. Meditate more. Spend more time travelling. Whatever. The universal truth to all of this is: we all make the time for the things that are important to us. Recognizing that this is, primarily, a first world problem, and that there are many individuals in North America struggling with issues that can't afford them this type of luxurious thinking, for the vast majority of us, we simply get trapped in our own minds (and find it increasingly difficult to escape that dogma).

Inspiration is the ultimate survival mechanism.

There's that humorous saying that, "only the paranoid survive." I'd argue that, "only the inspired survive." When you're paranoid, you're falsely believing that people are trying to harm you, and it's making your mind think, act and react in not-so-great ways. When you're inspired, you're looking for an idea that creates a feeling or emotion. What you do once you're inspired, is up to you.

Back to this 7 am thing.

I'm not constantly inspired at work. When I sit here, in this cafe, and I run into people I know. We often get into the conversation of work. Some come here to avoid the work. Some come here to get the work done. You can smell the desperation on both types of people. It seems like everyone is looking for that secret sauce. How does one get inspired at work... and stay that way? For me, the answer is obvious. It's simple. It's something that I focus on. A lot. Here it is...

To be inspired at work, you have to always get inspired.

Too many people believe that being at happy at work (or inspired) is a destination. It's not. To be inspired, you have to get inspired. This is where most people fall down. This is where most people pull the "I don't have time for that" card (see the first paragraph above). I have been working at Twist Image since 2002. It's been twelve years. I never thought I would last anywhere that long (whether I was the entrepreneur or the employee... and I have been both on more than a few occasions). In that tenure, I've had the pleasure of writing two business books (Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete). Writing a book can be an amazingly painful process (don't believe me, check this out: 21 Harsh But Eye-Opening Writing Tips From Great Authors). That being said, I loved every moment of it (even when the words failed to arrive or when I was busy procrastinating to avoid the blank stare of a blank screen). I have been reflecting a lot on both my twelve years at Twist Image and the process of birthing two books. I realized that the main reason I'm still as passionate (if not more passionate) about the work is because my DNA is set-up to constantly be on the hunt for inspiration. I've mentioned it more than once, but I am an infovore.

To be inspired, please get inspired.

It's a tough formula if you're miserable. It's a tough thing to read if you feel stuck with no way out. It's even harder to digest if you have financial woes. Still, I want you to focus on this one question as much as possible during your day-to-day: am I looking to be inspired? Here is a list of ways that I find inspiration:

Reading. Ideally, the most inspiring ideas come from books, but I'm not going to push you to do something that you don't want to do. Get inspired by words. Follow interesting people on Twitter. Click on the links that people share on Facebook. Follow some interesting blogs. Read every article (cover to cover) of a magazine that interests you (and yes, read the ads too). Subscribe to interesting email newsletters. Ask people that you admire what they're reading.

People. As Keith Ferrazzi so wisely says, Never Eat Alone. Get up from your desk as often as you can. Walk around the office. Ask someone to join you for a coffee. Set up an early morning breakfast before your work day starts. Do some volunteer work in an effort to help your community and meet other interesting people. Some of the better ideas I've seen out in the world come from hearing others speak. There's a reason why TED's famed talks bear the tagline, "ideas worth spreading."  You will be surprised. Even the most uninspiring people can say things that will inspire you to take action.

Create. My preference is to write words about business. Find yours. It can be simple smartphone photos on Instagram or creating a myriad of obscure boards on Pinterest. Create. Create something. I don't know about you, but I've seen some of the most uninspired people at work literally come to life - and become entirely other people - when they post on Facebook. They're creative, funny and irreverent. They're inspired. You can feel it.

Laugh. I'm no comedian, but I do believe that following, listening, watching and understanding the art of stand-up comedy has played a pivotal role in my own success (and my definition for personal success is probably vastly different from yours). It's not about how good laughing is for you, but rather about the wit, speed and art of crafting and telling jokes that inspire me to think in a very different way. Find that source of laughter for you and don't just consume it... learn it. Start with people like Louis CK, Jerry Seinfeld, Sarah Silverman, Amy Schumer and Anthony Jeselnik (note: most of that content is NSFW).

Consume as much as you can.

As people become less inspired at work, they also begin to retract emotionally. Closing up like that is a sure way to die both on the inside and the outside. The antidote to that very real physical and mental state is to always be consuming. Not drugs and alcohol, but experiences. Consume experiences. They can be minor ones, like reading an article that you never typically read in The New Yorker. They can be major ones, like taking your savings and going off to travel. I measure each day not by my to do list, but rather by my levels of consumption. If you're going to monitor your food and water intake every day, why not monitor how much information you're taking in and what your level of inspiration is against that consumption?

Dig deep.

This is not a listicle. Sorry. It's not going to happen overnight. It's a posture. An attitude. It has to come from deep down within you. You. You have to decide right now, how much of your time you are giving to allow yourself to get inspired. What you will uncover. Slowly. Very slowly. Over time. Inspiration is, ultimately, what will keep you engaged at work and happy at home. It will make you healthier (your mind, your body and your spirit). Think about it. Apply it.

Do everything you can be looking for inspiration with each and every passing moment. It's there. You will start seeing it. Right?

Tags:

amy schumer

anthony jeselnik

blog

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coffee

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ctrl alt delete

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facebook

ideas worth spreading

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inspiration

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instagram

jerry seinfeld

keith ferrazzi

laugh

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louis ck

magazine

never eat alone

personal success

pinterest

publishing

reading

sarah silverman

smartphone

stand up comedy

startup

success

ted

ted talks

the new yorker

travel

twist image. entrepreneur

twitter

work culture

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writing

writing tips

All Media Does Manipulation (Get Used To It)

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:

Heather B. gets injured on water slides and not jumping out of airplanes.

Will you ever lose your luggage again?

Smart luggage will never get lost and text you when it's lonely?

Facebook is fine to be toying with your emotions... is there really a problem with this?

Shouldn't all brands be experimenting with this?

Isn't this like split A/B testing?

It's hard to do anything when everybody wants a say in everything.

Remember, even in a democracy: the media is slanted and the perspectives are always being manipulated.

Media is always manipulating you.

Drones fly through fireworks and it shows you how this technology is going to change everything (again).

GoPro plus drones are a pretty awesome and new way to see things.

App of the week: Genius Scan.

Listen here...

Tags:

chom 977 fm

chom fm

ctrl alt delete

ctrl alt delete with mitch joel

democracy

digital media

drones

facebook

facebook psychology experiment

fireworks

genius scan

gopro

guest contributor

heather backman

media manipulation

montreal radio

morning show

mornings rock with terry and heather b

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smart luggage

social media

soundcloud

split a b testing

technology

terry dimonte

What Great Brands Do

Episode #417 of Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast is now live and ready for you to listen to.

Do great brands all something in common? What makes one brand thrive, while others survive and others die? If you asked Denise Lee Yohn, the answer might surprise you. In her new business book, What Great Brands Do - The Seven Brand-Building Principles That Separate The Best From The Rest, the former Sony Electronics executive and advertising agency professional (who worked on Burger King, Land Rover and Unilever) believes that there are many things that brands can proactively do to better align themselves, in a world where many question the absolute value of brands. And yes, the ability for a brand to get more personal and build a direct relationship with the consumer is part of the experience. But, if you believe that company's don't control the brand, but the consumer does... you may be in for a surprise. 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 Twist Image Podcast #417.

Tags:

advertising podcast

blog

blogging

brand

burger king

business book

business podcast

david usher

denise lee yohn

digital marketing

facebook

itunes

land rover

marketing podcast

sony electronics

twitter

unilever

what great brands do

Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #211

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:

Your Life in Weeks - Wait But Why . "As I climb halfway through my life, I'm feeling increasingly creaky and mortal, a fact only reinforced by the knowledge that I've already outlived my father. I found this sobering look at the average human lifetime interesting, albeit grim. It's a good reminder that life is indeed what happens while you're making other plans." (Alistair for Hugh).

Isolated Drum Tracks From Six of Rock's Greatest: Bonham, Moon, Peart, Copeland, Grohl & Starr - Open Culture . "Well, that mortality stuff was a bit heavy, so here's something lighter: the drum tracks from six of the best drummers in the world. As a musician, Mitch, I know you'll like this one. It's amazing to hear how, well, musical someone like Stewart Copeland is. Drummers are so often hiding behind the melodies and baselines, and it's fascinating to listen to their work on familiar tracks and find new things." (Alistair for Mitch).

Partial Disclosure - The New York Review of Books . "New York Review of Books article on NSA spying, Edward Snowden, Glen Greenwald. Chilling overview." (Hugh for Alistair).

Why has Google cast me into oblivion? - BBC . "Hopefully this is one of those situations that will figure itself out, but: the European Court recently found that people have a right to be forgotten... meaning that, if I do a Google search for you, and an article from 2002 about your bad haircut comes up in the results, and you don't like that, you can get Google to remove that article from their index (though there is no right to have the article itself removed). This sounds like a terrible idea for a zillion reasons. Here's an example reason: a legitimate BBC blog article about why an ex-CEO of Merrill Lynch got ousted, from 2007, will be expunged from Google's index. Stay tuned." (Hugh for Mitch).

How a password changed my life - Medium . "The power of intention and writing things down. I was deeply moved by this story, because I have been doing this sort of thing (with a little twist) for a long while. I realized that typing in something that means something to me (as a password) is a very powerful way of constantly reminding myself of something important. I love how human beings think that we're so complex. On one level, it's true: emotions, psychology and what becomes the stories that we tell ourselves can be perceived as fairly complex. On the other hand, simply typing in words that have meaning and depth could very well (and very easily) be both a reminder, ritual and call to action. Who knew that you could get this kind of life-lesson from something as inane as a password." (Mitch for Alistair).  

Ambient Genius - The New Yorker . "I lose a ton of cool-cred amongst my music business friends when I admit that I'm not a fan of Brian Eno or Lou Reed's music. There are several other musicians and artists that get me that look of disgust from my peers. I'm fine with that. As Sarah Silverman once beautifully put it, 'I don't judge what my earholes like.' One person's Bob Dylan is another person's Ratt. With that, I still have a deep appreciation for the work of many musicians whose final output I'm no fan of. Brian Eno is one of those people. He is super creative and brilliantly adept at bringing out the best work in other musicians. He's known for this gift. This is a wonderful article about Brian Eno, his Oblique Strategies and the life of a true artist and creative force. If you're looking for some inspiration this week, look no further (plus, for a special treat, please watch the video below)." (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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Your Personal Search For Success

It's funny, so many people have asked me lately what it's like to be a success.

There are moments when I feel very successful. There are moments when I feel like I am just getting started. Yes, I understand why I am getting that question more and more these days (and, if you're unsure, this might fill you in: Exciting News About Twist Image... And The Future). The truth is that being acquired by WPP has been the culmination of over a decade of work at Twist Image (and many years of build-up to that). And, as nice as it is, I don't define success as a moment in time when something like this happens. My definition of success, is not your definition of success.

Success is a weird topic to discuss, right?

More often than not, when we start a conversation about success, we start thinking about life coaches and other more metaphysical journeys of education. What if I told you that there is a professor at one of the world's top business schools in the world that can - in a very powerful and pragmatic way - help you define success for yourself? And, that's an important distinction. Most people have a generalized definition of success, but they are completely lacking in terms of their own, personal definition of it. Most people don't even know their strengths and weaknesses in conjunction with that framework for success. Some people accomplish some very important things in life, and it can feel quite hollow once it happens (a sure sign that you have not honed in on your own definition of success). Professor G. Richard Shell is a professor at The Wharton School and he wrote a book titled, Springboard - Launching Your Personal Search for Success. He recently presented his thinking at Google, and the full forty-five minute presentation is right here and ready for you.

A little warning:

The questions and his thinking will be hard to swallow for some. He delivers his message in a very clear way, and that can be a little off-putting to some (especially those who may be caught in their own ways). Don't diminish the power of the question: "What's next?" And no, this content isn't New Age-y at all. I was riveted by his presentation, and it's helping me to better define/adjust success for myself and in my life. I'm pretty sure it will do the same for you.

What's next? How about this...

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The World Is A Hyperlink

That about sums up the role of marketing today.

Last week Google held their Google I/O developers conference. There were many interesting (some might say fascinating) things that came out of that conference. What got my attention was the unified multitasking for your apps and Chrome tabs. In short: the new Android operating system will have something that looks like a carousel of little cards displaying your recently used apps and tabs (unified across all of your Google-enabled devices). Google is looking for a way to get multitasking on mobile to be that much more easy. Switching between apps on Apple is easy, but it's not real multitasking yet. All of these brands know that getting people whatever they need with hyperlink-ease is paramount.

Why is this a big deal?

Funnily, I haven't been thinking that much about Google, Facebook or Apple as much as I have been wondering about the potential outcome for Amazon's Fire phone. Bob Lefsetz feels like the Amazon Fire Phone is dead on arrival. He may be right (he often is), but there's something about what an Amazon device offers that can't be ignored: the world is a hyperlink.

The world is a hyperlink.

Take a picture of this. Take a picture of that. Point the phone at this. Let the phone listen to that. The technology exists to capture anything and turn it into more. More information. A transaction. A conversation. Did you know that there are people - all over the world - who use Instagram to sell their wares instead of bothering with an e-commerce site, and the need to drive traffic to it (check out: Say Cheese! Instagram Allows Entrepreneurs To Start A Business In A Snap (Literally))? A hyperlink is no longer a need to offer more information. If you think about one click shopping (another Amazon foundation) and then couple that to mobile device technology (scanning and photo capabilities), you can begin to think a lot deeper about how these connected devices - and the software on them - are going to drive commerce and acquisition models like never before.     

Speed and access.

No doubt that speed and access to information is a bedrock of what the Internet was promising to the world when we first got introduced to it. Some see Google's dominance driven by the ad revenue. I believe that Google's revenue is driven by their ability to help people get to the information that they want/need with one click (and very quickly). It's their ability to organize these text-based hyperlinks that gives them so much insight into what these mobile platforms (hello, Android) can offer. Amazon is playing a similar game. Say it. Take a photo of it. Type it. Scan it. Whatever. Now, it's not just websites that give hyperlinks. Everything in the physical world is now a hyperlink too.

Drinking the Kool-Aid.

The Amazon Fire has Firefly technology. Firefly can identify printed text in the physical world and turn it into a contact, a new email or link you over to a website. It can recognize music, movies, TV episodes, books, video games and more. Yes, anything you see in the physical world is a hyperlink. And, if that doesn't work, they have Mayday, which is customer service on your phone (free, live, on-device tech service). They're promising a response time of 15 seconds or less. No waiting in line. No appointment. A human being is just a hyperlink away.

OK, this is not about Amazon.

What we really have here is a brand that is doing everything that it can to reduce friction. To remove the pain points. To make anything and everything one hyperlink away for the consumer. That's profound, and it's going to cause all of the other major players to take action. To figure out how to integrate this kind of quick speed access to everything that they do. I often hear marketing professionals say that the world of technology is moving so fast, that they are struggling to keep up with it. Google certainly accelerated things when it came to finding information. Apple certainly accelerated things when it came to technology. Facebook certainly accelerated things when it came to connecting with people. Amazon certainly accelerated things when it came to buying. Now, they're extending the buying component into the overall experience as well. And, when they do this, they start traipsing into many other (and very interesting) arenas that marketers should be paying close attention to.

Why?

Because, as we all know, the experience is usually everything.

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