Mitch Joel's Blog: Six Pixels of Separation, page 258
February 21, 2014
Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #192
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:
One-Percent Jokes and Plutocrats in Drag: What I Saw When I Crashed a Wall Street Secret Society - New York Magazine . "You may have heard about the Goldman Sachs Elevator and some of the terrible/funny/terribly funny things that get said. Turns out rich bankers have their own Fraternity, too. Behind the scenes at the point-zero-zero-one-percent party, from someone who was there." (Alistair for Hugh).
Facebook's Valentine's Day Present . "We're leaving a digital breadcrumb trail behind us, and social networks are there to catch it. What happens when we enter a relationship? You can thank Facebook for telling you just how much less interesting you become, in a series of five posts that show everything from religion, to age, to duration, and all the way to breakups." (Alistair for Mitch).
Quantified Self: The algorithm of life - Prospect Magazine . "Does tracking every movement mean we are so preoccupied with measuring that we stop living?" (Hugh for Alistair).
Newspapers: still the most important medium for understanding the world - New Statesman . "A couple of new books are on the market, looking at the history of the 'news', and its role in our culture down through the ages." (Hugh for Mitch).
The Powerlessness Of Positive Thinking - The New Yorker . "This is a fascinating piece from my friend Adam Alter (who also penned the brilliant business book, Drunk Tank Pink ). Does positive thinking work? Can simply hoping for the best actually bring out a great result? It could well be that the more positive thinking that you're doing, the worse off things could get. Sounds crazy? Take a read... but be positive about it, dammit! ;)" (Mitch for Alistair).
14 Podcasts to Help You Forget About Your Crummy Commute - Mashable . "I love podcasts. I know that you do too. Typically when I see a linkbaity blog title like this one, it makes my eyes roll. In this case, there were more than a few that I had never heard of, that seem like fun listens. It also reminded me that Hugh and I first became close friends in the early days of podcasting and PodCamp. Now, it seems like everyone has a podcast, doesn't it?" (Mitch for Hugh).
Now it's your turn: in the comment section below pick one thing that you saw this week that inspired you and share it.
Tags:
adam alter
alistair croll
bitcurrent
book a futurists manifesto
complete web monitoring
drunk tank pink
facebook
gigaom
goldman sachs elevator
hugh mcguire
human 20
iambik
librivox
link bait
link exchange
link sharing
managing bandwidth
mashable
media hacks
new statesman
new york magazine
pressbooks
prospect magazine
social media
solve for interesting
the new yorker
year one labs
Generation Like - The Most Important Thing You Will Watch All Week
Set aside one hour this weekend. Trust me.
Douglas Rushkoff is back with a new documentary that recently aired on Frontline titled, Generation Like. You will be doing yourself a huge disservice if you don't take the time this coming weekend to watch it. Rushkoff's latest book is called, Present Shock, and he has ten-plus other best-selling books on new media and pop culture (including: Program Or Be Programmed, Life Inc., Cyberia, Media Virus, Playing the Future, Nothing Sacred: The Truth about Judaism, Get Back in the Box: Innovation from the Inside Out and Coercion, winner of the Marshall Mcluhan Award for best media book). He does tons of teaching and public speaking, but also makes time to produce and write documentaries like this one (along with The Merchants of Cool, The Persuaders, Digital_Nation). If that weren't enough, Douglas Rushkoff has written two series of graphic novels for Vertigo called, Testament and A.D.D. This is one of those new media documentaries that will get you thinking in a deep way about how marketing and technology is changing and affecting the young people of today. Some of it is exciting and a lot of it may be deeply disturbing. Unfortunately, the entire documentary is not able to be embedded, so watch it all right here:
Here is a sample of Generation Like...
Tags:
add
business book
coercion
cyberia
digital nation
documentary
douglas rushkoff
frontline
generation like
get back in the box
life inc
marshall mcluhan
media book
media virus
new media book
nothing sacred
pbs
playing the future
pop culture
present shock
program or be programmed
testament
the merchants of cool
the persuaders
vertigo
16 Billion Things To Think About
It keeps happening.
Something pops up on Twitter, or in your Facebook newsfeed or via email that has you shaking your head in disbelief. There is probably no topic (this week) that caused this kind of visceral reaction more than Facebook's acquisition of WhatsApp. Personally, I'm still trying to understand if this is a $16 billion or $19 billion deal (half-joking). There has been a ton of discourse about the transaction. There are many who think that this is one of the smartest moves for Facebook, and then there are those who think that Facebook has lost its way.
Putting the emotions aside, what is this all about?
Let's start off with the number. Let's call it $16 billion. Currently, WhatsApp has close to 500 million users (and is quickly on its way to one billion). Let's assume that this is accurate and not an inflated number. Do you think that it is hard to get people who love your product/service to spend between $20-$40, or be worth about $20 in terms of media dollars to a third-party? As absurd as the overall number is, it's not that difficult to get consumers to spend between $20 and $40 in some way, shape or form on the platform. With that, the data and information has a substantial monetary component as well. From this perspective, the deal isn't all that ludicrous (and, this is looking at it from the perspective that it is an ad-free environment). Yes, it is big dollars, but if there is usage and people who are benefitting from the service, they will be inclined to stick around and understand that the business may become more freemium, have advertising or that their information is somehow going to be used and tied-in somewhere else.
Now, on to what, exactly, makes WhatsApp so interesting to Facebook.
I'm going to be a simpleton and a market of one. I've been using WhatsApp since it first came out, because I switched from BlackBerry to iPhone and wanted a BBM-like function that wasn't relegated to one type of device/platform. That's what WhatsApp really is. It is BBM for everyone. It took BlackBerry too long to make their app cross-platform and too many people were already lauding the simplicity of WhatsApp (and other apps like it) or were too locked into the platform to switch back to BBM. Timing is everything. A unified messaging platform where millions of people are sharing everything from quick texts to images and videos and groups chats is a major part of our collective digital social experience.
Public and private social experiences.
That's something else. Facebook is the public online social network. And, if you're looking solely at the numbers, WhatsApp is the private online social network. In a world where Snapchat is still getting attention (and turned away a $3 billion offer from Facebook), Facebook (and everyone else) is beginning to realize that our digital social lives are not entirely lived out in public and that there is a deep and hungry desire for users to have spaces that are both public and private. Facebook has attempted to build some of this functionality into their offering, but acquiring a platform like WhatsApp gives them this private social networking in a box. Private and group messaging is an important part of people staying connected. This acquisition also extends the Facebook portfolio.
Perhaps Facebook isn't about innovation, but about acquisitions and building a portfolio of companies.
Can you name the smartest thing that Facebook has done since launching? This isn't a slight against the company, but they have been very strategic with a head-down focus on developing and pushing the online social network forward in a bid to keep users connected, sharing more and being as public as possible. To ensure the progress of the core Facebook platform, they have made moves (like the acquisition of Instagram and now WhatsApp) to extend to other services. This is something I discussed in much more detail on January 31st of this year when the company announced the launch of a stand-alone reader app called, Paper (you can read the full commentary right here: Facebook Is Looking Smarter Than Ever). The point is that Facebook will continue to improve what Facebook is, but build, own and buy many other companies to build a portfolio of apps, services and businesses that are all loosely connected to their ultimate mission of connecting the people of the world.
Why this all pisses you off.
It's just business. We're up in arms because we don't see the practical dollars behind it (as we have in more traditional businesses). The numbers are so large and so inflated that we struggle to understand how that money will ever be recouped. It would be impossible not to sit here and be astonished by everything. Temper those emotions. Traditional media companies became massive media conglomerates by buying businesses that were attracting similar customers. Telecommunications companies started buying television studios and then built websites or bought magazine companies or newspapers or radio stations or whatever. This is no different. The digital media companies - with the capacity and dollars - are going to buy as many other major players as possible. This is just what big companies do. It is no different than the game of Risk that we all used to play as kids. One group is trying to dominate, own and manage as many spaces as people are connected in. That was always the vision of Facebook and they are simply doing everything that they can to deliver on that promise.
Why should the Internet be any different from other media entities? Why wouldn't Facebook make these big moves?
Tags:
advertising
bbm
blackberry
cross platform application
digital media
digital social experience
email
facebook
facebook paper
freemium
innovation
instagram
instant messaging
iphone
market of one
media company
media conglomerate
messaging
online social network
paper
portfolio company
privacy
risk
snapchat
social lives
telecommunications
text messaging
traditional media
twitter
unified messaging platform
whatsapp
How To Reboot Your Marketing - A Quick Video Primer
Are you ready to reboot your business?
My second business book, CTRL ALT Delete, came out late last year. As part of the promotion for the book, I spent several days in Boston attending HubSpot's incredible Inbound 2013 event. There were thousands of small, medium and large-sized businesses on hand that were all attempting to figure out and/or optimize their inbound marketing strategies. It was one of the most memorable events that I had attended in 2013 (and, upon reflection, that is saying something if you consider that I took part in close to eighty events last year). I also gave an Inbound Bold Talk at the summit, which is a twenty-minute rapid-fire presentation on some of the concepts from CTRL ALT Delete. They recently published the video footage of this Bold Talk. If you're still struggling with how to reboot your business by thinking about it differently, or have yet to have a chance to pick up the book, I'm hopeful that this twenty minute overview will get you as excited about the future of business as I am.
Are you ready? Let's CTRL ALT Delete...
Tags:
business book
ctrl alt delete
hubspot
hubspot inbound
inbound 2013
inbound bold talk
inbound marketing
inbound marketing strategy
marketing
reboot marketing
reboot your business
The End Of Customer Service
Now that everyone complains... nobody cares when there is a complaint.
There was a time (not that long ago), when someone's complaint online would be rocketed to the executive office, changes were made and brands were being held accountable for their foibles and mishaps. It was the early days of social media (nearly a decade ago). We had the Slashdot effect and more. It was a time when Jeff Jarvis complained about his experience with Dell (now, a story that lives on in infamy as Dell Hell) and it (along with other similar stories) demonstrated that the power to publish a story online had ramifications well beyond the usual "write a letter to the company" and hope that they respond. Back then, you would do an online search and see massive corporate websites vying for search engine optimization over someone with a blog and a bad customer experience. Online social networking took hold and these stories were further exasperated. Brands went from private responses to very publicly trying to resolve customer service issues.
David meets Goliath.
It's hard not to face the reality that the vast majority of brands came into social media and digital connectedness kicking and screaming. They made very public concessions and apologies. Several organizations have since restructured how their marketing, communications, customer service and more interact with each other and with consumers. Transparency, speed-to-response, bringing a sense of humanity to the brand have all become corporate cultural pillars that every brand now lives to embody. It's not easy. Remember back when the sentiment was that a brand needs to respond to everything - positive, negative and neutral - everywhere?
But, there's something else.
Do brands really care anymore? Are there now so many people online, in so many places that it has become both impossible to keep up and, to be raw, not all that important for brands to respond because of the sheer volume? Did the whole United breaks guitars actually do any material damage to the brand? There are some many customer reviews online, that it is often difficult to make heads or tails of something. I'll often find myself wondering about how brands respond to customer service online, because the same/annoying passive-aggressive type of customer service calls are now being embodied in the digital channels. In fact, when I have a customer service issue, I am prone to not post it online, as I don't feel the need to leverage my community to get a response or a desire to publicly call any one brand out. I simply want a response and resolve to be done privately. The desire for brands to force this outing on social media is bewildering to me. This past week, Chris Brogan was ranting about his own customer service issues with Dell (you can read about it right here: Update to my Dell Hell Story).
Social Media Cowboys.
Brogan's raw frustrations or issue with Dell and their products isn't the crux. The real point of focus lies in the corporate integration. Forgetting that this is Dell, that this is Chris Brogan and that all of this is very public, what we're seeing is a failure of integration. I loved his use of the term "social media cowboys", because it speaks volumes to the real challenges that a brand faces in a world where consumers are both the center and the true omni-channel of a brand experience. Sadly, most companies have some kind of social media cowboy. It's an analytics package, it's a social media monitoring tool, it's a real-time marketing command center, it's a handful of work-from-home helpers, it's a four person team working within the communications or customer service center to be listening and responding to trending issues. In short, it all means nothing, if it's not integrated into the core product/service. Having a handful of emails (or people) run through the organization with their hair on fire because someone with any semblance of an audience (like Chris Brogan or anyone else) is demanding answers doesn't change how a brand operates. It creates a dissonance with how everything else runs.
Sadly.
What have we learned? This is what really made me sad and frustrated after reading Chris' post: we have not learned much after all of this time. And, for all of the talking that has been done, not much has changed. You would think that Dell (which is often held up as a case study is excellence for social media and monitoring) would be able to nail something so basic. So, left to our devices, I'm wondering how many true strides brands have really made in an effort to be better, to be more transparent, to be more human and to connect more with their consumers? Ultimately, how many brands have built a better organization, in a world where every voice now has a stage and an audience?
I'm hoping this isn't the end of customer service.
Tags:
brand
brand experience
chris brogan
communications
corporate integration
customer experience
customer reviews
customer service
dell
dell hell
digital channel
digital connectedness
jeff jarvis
marketing
omni channel
online complaint
online social networking
publishing
real time marketing
search engine
search engine optimization
slashdot
slashdot effect
social media
social media case study
social media cowboy
social media monitoring
transparency
united airlines
united breaks guitars
web analytics
February 17, 2014
Happy Social Media Week
Every 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 Social Media Week!
What's the best travel site to get deals on hotels and flights?
Chromecast is great... but not in all countries.
It's frustrating that we can't get global rights to content.
Draconian publishing rights.
Consumer's don't think about content as being territory-specific.
Spotflux will let you see other regions, but you have to sensitive about the information you are sharing.
App of the week: 7 Min Fitness Challenge.
Listen here...
Tags:
chom 977 fm
chom fm
chromecast
ctrl alt delete
ctrl alt delete with mitch joel
digital media
facebook
family day
guest contributor
heather backman
montreal radio
morning show
mornings rock with terry and heather b
radio segment
radio station
social media
social media week
soundcloud
technology
terry dimonte
travel sites
February 16, 2014
The Psychology Of Online Persuasion
Episode #397 of Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast is now live and ready for you to listen to.
What does it take to get a consumer to do something online? We can't argue that we live in a world of brand saturation. From very small, indie brands to multi-national conglomerates - every company, everywhere is hoping to get consumers to like, follow, friend and, ultimately, buy from them. The question is this: are people persuaded to do things differently in the digital space in relation to how they are persuaded in physical spaces? It's a question that has been on the mind of Nathalie Nahai for quit some time. I've had the pleasure of sharing the stage with Nathalie a handful of times last year for some corporate events at Google, and we became fast friends. Known as The Web Psychologist, Nathalie recently published her first book, Webs Of Influence - The Psychology Of Online Persuasion. She has a great podcast called, The Good, The Bad & The Dirty - Secret Psychology Of Persuasion along with her blog, The Web Psychologist and what she has to say should change the way you think about marketing, advertising and communications online. 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 #397.
Tags:
advertising podcast
blog
blogging
brand
business book
business podcast
content marketing
david usher
digital marketing
facebook
google
itunes
marketing blogger
marketing podcast
nathalie nahai
podcast
podcasting
social media
the good the bad the dirty
the web psychologist
twitter
video podcast
webs of influence
February 15, 2014
Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #191
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:
The Little Girl from the 1981 LEGO Ad is All Grown Up, and She's Got Something to Say - Women You Should Know . "This article revisits Lego 's iconic ad showing a pigtailed redhead playing with Lego. It provoked all kinds of reactions online -- from those lauding it for pointing out gender bias, to those wondering why liking 'girly things' is somehow less worthy. Wherever you stand on the issue, it's interesting to see how Lego has changed over the last few decades." (Alistair for Hugh).
Dinner Party - Oliver Walker . "I'm a big fan of changing formats to shift how people interact. It's something I try to do at Bitnorth . But I've never taken it this far. Here's a social-experiment-slash-art-piece that investigates just how much of our interactions are nonverbal. I really want to try this sometime." (Alistair for Mitch).
Hi, I'm Jack - jack.minardi.org . "Take a healthy dollop of BitTorrent, add a dash of BitCoin, shake until you get a decentralized browser with decentralized domain ownership: SyncNet. Early, experimental days. Fascinating direction for the 'Web', as the original idea of a independent, decentralized Internet is slowly getting gobbled up by a small number of mega-centralized behemoths (Facebook/Google/Amazon/Verizon etc)." (Hugh for Alistair).
Conrad Black: This anemic recovery - National Post . "Conrad Black is the most famous ex-convict former newspaper baron Canada has produced to date. Since his release from US prison (for various fraudulent uses of company money), Baron Black of Crossharbour (long story) has been penning long-winded and delightfully grouchy essays for Canada's National Post newspaper (the right-leaning paper he founded back when he was a newspaper baron). Black is one hell of a personality, whatever you think of him, and a renaissance man to boot. His articles are pompous and wide-ranging, and pretty great reads. Here's one about the 2008 economic collapse and Canada and a few other things." (Hugh for Mitch).
This Dad Coloured-In His Kid's Art To Kill Time On Business Trips - We Interviewed Him - Lost At E Minor . "If you ever have those moments when you think that you're not that great of a father, don't worry because there's always the Internet to confirm it for you. You may think that you're an awesome dad, but you're not this awesome. Of course, I'm kidding. I'm sure everyone is a great parent (including you, Alistair), but this hyper-creative dad takes it to a whole new level in what can only be described as the most heart-warming story that I have read all week. Truly beautiful and powerful." (Mitch for Alistair).
Wikipedia vs. the Small Screen - The New York Times . "Sometimes you read something on the Internet that gives you pause. Most people (myself included) take Wikipedia for granted. After all, I don't contribute, edit or even correct anything on the platform. Yet, I use it constantly (and I love it). Sure, I am more than happy to support them on their annual giving campaign, but I take more than I give when it comes to Wikipedia. Well, what happens in a mobile world where creating and editing content is not as easy as it is in a Web-browser-based world? I had not thought about this, but Wikipedia is going to be in lot of trouble if they can't figure out how to encourage people to contribute to Wikipedia in a world where most people are simply using their smartphones for content." (Mitch for Hugh).
Now it's your turn: in the comment section below pick one thing that you saw this week that inspired you and share it.
Tags:
alistair croll
amazon
bitcoin
bitcurrent
bitnorth
bittorrent
book a futurists manifesto
complete web monitoring
conrad black
crossharbour
facebook
gigaom
google
hugh mcguire
human 20
iambik
jack minardi
lego
librivox
link bait
link exchange
link sharing
lost at e minor
managing bandwidth
media hacks
national post
oliver walker
pressbooks
social media
solve for interesting
syncnet
the new york times
verizon
wikipedia
women you should know
year one labs
February 14, 2014
There Is No Need To Call Anyone A Sell Out
Are you a sell out?
For my dollar, that's one of the most annoying questions in the world. There seems to be this line of thinking that passion, money and doing the work that you love should never result in some big payday. If it does, the individual who pulls that lever is, in some way, selling out. My anger with that sentiment stems back to my days in the music industry. My specific genre of interest was hard rock and heavy metal and this resentment happened all of the time. If a band became popular, they were a sell out. It happened to Metallica, it happened to Slayer and it happened to everyone.
What do you make of that?
I'm not sure what to think of it, other than it's stupid. I don't think anyone can willfully create something with the knowledge of knowing that people will love it and that it will make them lots of money. There are too many factors involved that are out of anyone's control. Speaking of Metallica, the drummer, Lars Ulrich, always had the best response to individuals who asked him whether or not he thought that the band had sold out. He would always say, "yes, we're a sell out. We sell out each and every seat in every venue that we play on any given night." And, if you have seen the band play live, they do not disappoint. I'm sure that when Marc Ecko sold his company, he either worried that people would think that he was a sell out and there were probably those who did say that. Ecko is such an interesting and charismatic business leader. He was the creative and fashion genius behind Eckō Unltd. (which has become a billion dollar fashion and lifestyle company). His marketing antics have been well documented (remember the tagging of Air Force One?). Ecko is still semi-actively involved in the multiple fashion brands that he created (Eckored, Marc Ecko Cut & Sew and Zoo York), but spends the bulk of his current time working on Complex Media. As if that's not enough, he is one of the most generous philanthropists out there. I had the pleasure of interviewing him a few times (you can hear him on my podcast right here: SPOS #377 - Marc Ecko Builds Brands That Sell But Don't Sell Out) and he recently released a stunning business book called, Unlabel - Selling You Without Selling Out. A couple of months ago, Ecko appeared on a great video podcast by Chase Jarvis to talk about his life and his book. I recently watched it, and it's a compelling story about brands in the modern world that everybody working in the marketing industry should check out.
In fact, it turns out that you can sell yourself without selling out...
Tags:
business leader entrepreneur
chase jarvis
chase jarvis live
complex media
ecko unlimited
eckored
fashion
fashion brand
hard rock
heavy metal
lars ulrich
lifestyle
mark ecko
mark ecko cut and sew
metallica
music industry
sell out
selling out
slayer
tagging of air force one
unlabel
zoo york
The Failed State Of Branding
How well do you think brands are doing?
Brands are going to have to face the music. It's a ruse that has (probably) been going on longer than anyone cares to admit, but it's something that has showed itself - front and center - in the past few months. What we're seeing is something we may have known all along (but were reticent to admit). People just don't care or think that much about brands. The entire engine of advertising is built on that truism. If people loved brands, there would be no need to advertise, right? Advertising is simply a financial engine that allows brands to pay to have access to an audience. This got very murky a little over a decade ago, when the Internet and social media collided. Suddenly, because all of the things that people think, like, share and create was made public, brands figured that they could suddenly engage and connect with anyone who makes mention of their favorite bubbly sugar water. It turns out that even if millions of people are liking a brand anywhere public, it doesn't really mean that they care all that much about it, does it?
What are we seeing suddenly that should make us rethink branding in 2014?
Here are four different types of brand new content that all marketers need to read, watch and think about before they go out develop their next Pinterest or Vine strategy:
Are Consumers "Falling Out of Love" With Brands? That is the question that this Marketing Charts article asks. It is based on a study conducted by Mindshare called, Culture Vulture 2014 (but it also looks at some other reports), and here's what the article states: "...consumers are 'falling out of love with brands' and that 'brands are in crisis'... only 47% of North American consumers last year agreed that they like to pass on interesting things they see or hear about brands, with that figure having steadily fallen over the past few years, from 66% in 2010. The analysts take that as a sign that 'a majority of brands are seeing their relationships with consumers weakening,' and that brands need to better adapt to consumers' expectations." Are you surprised by this? Brands are busy trotting out how many followers, likes and friends they have, but consumers are busy not being interested or asking, "what have you done for me lately?"
Twilight Of The Brands . The New Yorker ran this fascinating article from (who also authored the excellent book, The Wisdom Of Crowds back in 2004), that looks at consumer empowerment and access to information as a few of the key leading indicators as to why consumers are caring less and less about brands. From the article: "You can never coast on past performance--the percentage of brand-loyal car buyers has plummeted in the past twenty years--and the price premium that a recognized brand can charge has shrunk. If you're making a better product, you can still charge more, but, if your product is much like that of your competitors, your price needs to be similar, too. That's the clearest indication that the economic value of brands--traditionally assessed by the premium a company could charge--is waning. This isn't true across the board: brands retain value where the brand association is integral to the experience of a product ( Coca-Cola , say), or where they confer status, as with luxury goods. But even here the information deluge is transformative; luxury travel, for instance, has been profoundly affected by sites like TripAdvisor ." This means that in a world where the experience is everything, a product or service has to do more than just bang a drum to tell the world how great it is... they actually have to be great. Which, for most, is a constant struggle.
Absolute Value . That New Yorker piece above featured this book (co-authored by Itamar Simonson and Emanuel Rosen). This brand new business book looks at why consumers really make the choices that they make, and just how much power a brand actually has in that relationship. The reason for writing this book? Both authors feel that branding and loyalty are losing their relevance, because consumers are more connected and informed. In short, consumers are making better choices that are more rational and this puts a lot of what we know about branding (and it's power) in the corner.
Facebook Fraud . This video (which is embedded below) has been making the rounds this week. It's highly controversial and it's getting a ton of attention. When I first saw it, there were only a few thousand views, and now it's creeping close to 1.3 million views. It has got a bunch of people up in arms. There is enough discourse surrounding the validity of the content, that it's not worth diving into further here. Still, it fits the general thought of this blog post: in a world where brands are so thrilled and excited to get people to like them, follow them and share their content, what we're seeing is that only a few people in the marketplace really care all that much to do so. Personally, I'm not sure why this is such a contentious issue with anyone? For most people, it's enough to just see your commercials... they don't need much more. Just because brands want people to follow them and share their content, it doesn't mean that consumers really care. This type of activity might be perfect for the heavy users, but the vast majority of purchasers could probably care less. No matter how excited the brand is about the prospect.
There is hope.
Not all is lost. These are important pieces of content that most brands should spend the time to consume, think about and build a true strategy against. The opportunities to connect and build a direct relationship with consumers has never been more promising. The challenge - for most - is that they are bringing a very traditionally-based advertising mindset to the fold, instead of spreading their wings and seeing the bigger opportunity in smarter marketing mixed with better consumer experiences. These next few years are going to be even more challenging for most brands, because consumers are becoming more connected and are consuming media in such new and interesting ways. Personally, this failed state of branding is probably a good thing for brands who are willing to think differently about what it means to create and share a message moving forward.
So, what do you think? Are brands losing their relevance more than ever?
Tags:
absolute value
advertise
advertising
advertising mindset
brand
brand association
brand loyalty
brand relevance
brand strategy
branding
business book
coca cola
consumer empowerment
consumer experience
content marketing
culture vulture 2014
direct relationship
emauel rosen
facebook fraud
failed state of branding
internet
itamar simonson
james surowiecki
loyalty
marketer
marketing
marketing charts
marketing mix
media
mindshare
pinterest
rethink branding
social media
the new yorker
the wisdom of crowds
tripadvisor
tv commercial
vine
Six Pixels of Separation
- Mitch Joel's profile
- 80 followers
