Mitch Joel's Blog: Six Pixels of Separation, page 300

The Elusive Digital Promise

Traditional media is getting it all wrong (again).

On December 31st, 2012, MediaPost ran a news item titled, For Traditional Media, Digital Remains Elusive Promise, that looks at the conversion of traditional advertising dollars into digital ones. From the article: "For over a decade, traditional media companies have pointed to digital media as a promising source of revenue growth - but as 2012 draws to an end, it's clear that this promise is still more theoretical than real, while ad dollars continue to migrate away from traditional channels. This is particularly true for broadcast radio groups and newspaper publishers, whose 2012 results have (so far) offered little in the way of digital cheer."

Some data points about traditional media going after digital dollars (according to the MediaPost article):

Digital advertising revenues for the radio industry is just 4.6% of total radio ad revenues of $12 billion.

Digital advertising revenues for the newspaper industry is just 14.9% of total newspaper ad revenues of around $16 billion.

It is time to reframe this conversation.

We know the basics: most traditional media publishers' online plays are simply a copy and paste model of their content. Newspapers put the text content online and radio stations either stream their audio or package them as podcasts. In short, the digital version of their media provides no significant advantage over their traditional ways except that it is (somewhat) available in a digital format. The type of data you read in a news item like this will make you think that advertising is dead (and/or dying). It is not. Have you seen this chart: Google Rakes In More Ad Dollars Than U.S. Print Media? ... and that's just Google. Why is this happening? The easy answer is this: Google's advertising is contextual to the end-user's experience. Radio online is not like radio when you're stuck in traffic. Sure, you can skip channels in the car, but with digital, monetizing audio advertising is very challenging. The audience isn't captive. They are "on the move" and doing many things beyond just listening, all at the same time. Newspapers don't fare much better. The digital advertising is placed on a page with multiple display units all vying for the attention of an end-user that is simply trying to read a piece of content. That content is layered in links, other stories, other tabs in the Web browser and more. There is nothing (or very little) truly unique and original in terms how the ad sits on a digital screen to make the user's engagement that much better. In most instances, it's more interruption than engagement.

What does the reframe look at?

The true reframe for traditional media is not easy or pretty. What we are truly discussing here is a new business model. This is not about how a print publisher morphs into a digital publisher, because that is a completely new and different business (and, one they may have little to no experience in). Even the flow, creation and distribution of the content is fundamentally different. Saying newspapers and radio stations need to find a new business model is like me saying to you that your business needs to find a new business model around media. It ain't easy. That being said, here are two areas where traditional publishers of content will need to focus on to keep their audience:

Direct relationships. The value of a traditional media player was that they "owned" the consumer. Brands that wanted to get a consumer's attention had to got through these media entities as gatekeepers. The raw definition of a direct relationship has changed because of our digital channels. I don't need an editor, publisher or magazine title to get this message to you. I have a direct relationship with you (as you have one with me). Back when I was a music journalist in the eighties and nineties, this was not the case. I needed the magazines and newspapers to get my work out to you. Radio and newspaper organizations will need to figure out what their true direct relationship looks like and how to monetize it in a digital way.

Media as passive and active engines. A typical display advertisement on a newspaper website is passive. It's there, you see it... not much else. The problem is that this passive advertisement lies in an active digital media environment. This is what makes Google's engine of advertising so powerful. The ads on Google act as active as the user engagement (and, this is why Facebook and Twitter have yet to crack this nut for themselves). If you look at media and advertising as active or passive, you begin to see how mis-aligned the majority of digital advertising truly is. Fundamentally, it's not even digital advertising... it's just advertising on a digital channel.

It's a new day.

While I am bullish on native advertising and real-time bidding, we're still talking about passive advertising in an active platform... and a grandiose way of saying, "advertorial" (for the most part). The truth is that many non-traditional media companies have entered the fray and they are creating levels of monetization and new business models (again, look to Google, LinkedIn and even some smaller, niche players). The struggle for traditional media companies is only going to intensify in 2013, if their play continues to be one solely based on trying to generate the same amount of advertising from their websites. mobile apps and whatever else as they did from their traditional formats.

It's not only going to be ugly. It's going to get uglier. What do you think about this?

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My 3 Words For 2013

Happy New Year! Welcome to 2013. What's the plan?

I was never a fan of goal-setting... and even less of a fan of New Year's Resolutions. For a long while, I was working within a framework called The Goal Cultivator courtesy of Dan Sullivan (aka The Strategic Coach). I felt like his perspective on goal cultivating versus goal setting was a new paradigm, and - in looking back at those initial exercises - it's amazing to see how profound that experience was in shaping my present-day situation (special thanks to my dear friend, Barry Pascal, for introducing me to the work of The Strategic Coach). Every year, Chris Brogan (Trust Agents, The Impact Equation, etc...) does an exercise he calls, My 3 Words For The Year. Brogan explains it like this: "In an effort to tell bigger stories, I've found that the concept of three words allows me to think in more dimensions about what I want to do with my life and it lets me apply lots of tangible goals instead of what most people do when they focus on just a finite task. It's a bit like turbo-charged goal planning." He unveils how his process for coming up with his three words for the year and unveils them today, January 1st of each new year (you can see his 2013 words right here: My 3 Words for 2013). Others have publicly followed suit. Check out what C.C. Chapman has chosen: Menu, Build and Minimize in 2013 and Christopher S. Penn: 3 Words For 2012, 3 Words For 2013.

Going public.

I've been doing this exercise ever since Brogan first introduced it. Each year, around December - without prompting - I find myself starting to think about my three words. The pressure is on. It's a good pressure, but it's pressure. All of us hope to do more, be more and achieve more. Nailing it down to three words is always a welcome challenge. This year, I decided to make them public. Part of the work I did within The Goal Cultivator program proved to me that "putting it out there" makes it real, tangible and easier to focus on. So, here's goes everything...

My 3 words for 2013:

Starvation. Am I willing to starve for it? All too often I find myself caught in doing things (some big, some small) that fall outside of my unique abilities or my interest. I wind up doing them for all of the wrong reasons, and the results speak for themselves. In 2013, one area of focus will be starvation. Am I willing to starve for it? How many projects and pieces of work will I create that I would be willing to starve for? It's going to be a tough benchmark, but a worthy one.

Beyond. Every time I push myself beyond an established comfort zone, things begin to get juicy. As life evolves (i.e. I get older), I find myself getting trapped in those "old man ways." Things are great, I get comfortable... why rock that boat? 2013 will be about always pushing beyond that comfort zone in everything from how I think about the work that I am doing, what Twist Image is (and can be), and my own physical, spiritual and mental conditioning. In everything that I do (and think), I will push beyond it to see what others may not be looking at... yet.

Student. I bought an acoustic guitar right before I started writing my second book, CTRL ALT Delete (which comes out on May 21st, 2013). I stopped playing it due to workload. Even when I take it out and tinker with it, I'm not advancing. I need lessons. I need to be student of the guitar and study it. It's not just the guitar. That was simply an analogy to everything that I do with each and every waking moment. I get to work with some of the best brands in the world, and they're interested in my opinion. I wind up playing the teacher role a plenty in my day to day life. I usually take a handful of personal siestas to attend conferences where I can be the student (TED and Google Zeitgeist are two of them). I read as many books as I physically can. It's not enough. To be better, to become more, I must become the student that much more often. It's a lesson that I first learned from studying Bruce Lee (thanks, Tony Blauer, too :) and it's one that I am going to focus much more on in 2013.

So... what's your plan? What are your three words for 2013? Share away...

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How To Become An Idea Machine

Where do ideas come from?

If there were a magic formula or a way to both track and ensure that an idea makes it through your synapses into the real world, there would be gold in them there hills. What makes human life so fascinating (at least to me), is how some people come up with so many grand and clever ideas. It can be something creative that you find on Etsy or Fab or a new project on Kickstarter or Quirky. I would be lying if I said that I didn't consistently and constantly see new and fascinating ideas in places like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and even LinkedIn. Just yesterday, Jay Baer over at Convince And Convert wrote a blog post titled, 26 Truths About Me and Convince and Convert. It's a simple Social FAQ about how he does things... and why he does things. It's the type of content you probably won't find anywhere else in the world and, in short, it's a good idea. It made me smile. The best ideas make you smile.

The Icarus Deception.

This morning, Seth Godin's latest book, The Icarus Deception, arrived on my Kindle app. I'm about ten percent through it, and I'm already stacked with notes and ideas for everything from projects for clients, to new blog posts, to new book ideas. I love ideas. I love tracking my ideas, and as 2012 comes to a close, most people are thinking about the year that was or thinking about their resolutions for the coming year. I'm not one for resolutions and I'm not one for too much reflection. What I'm looking for (more and more) are better (and bigger) ideas. So, how about you? Are you an idea machine or someone wandering around, aimlessly, hoping an idea cracks out of the lightening?

Two steps to making ideas happen:

It's more complex than two steps (who am I trying to kid?), but here is a very simple and easy way to stimulate yourself and bring ideas out in a flurry. While, it's only two steps, they require hard work and determination in terms of changing your habits and how you think about whatever it is that you're consuming. Ready? Let's roll...    

Exposure. I've been watching documentaries on architecture. I have no idea why. I am fascinated with cities and urban environments, but I suddenly find myself fascinated with the people who dream up spaces for us to live in, work at and admire. And, for some even stranger reason, these types of movies have given me lots of ideas for the work we're doing at Twist Image and how marketing is changing business. In thinking about true sparks for new ideas, it's important to expose yourself to areas that lie outside of your comfort zone. For some, this can be as simple as listening to classical music if you're a metalhead and for others, this could mean visiting a place that you would have never considered going to. Exposure to new, different and strange (to you) things will - without question - stimulate a whole bunch of new ideas. 

Why? Why is something (anything) the way that it is? Why did that person write that blog post? Why do I think that this news item is correct? Why do I think that it's wrong? Why do I do things differently? Simon Sinek wrote an excellent book called, Start With Why, that looks at this question from a business and strategic imperative. I'm going to urge you to read this book (if you haven't), but I'm also going to ask you to do this one simple task: every time you read something (it could be a book, a newspaper article, a blog post, a tweet), if it made you smile, if you liked it, if it pissed you off, ask yourself, "why?" Start writing down (in simple notes) your side, your perspective, how you would improve upon it... and more. There's a reason that I blog so much (write columns, speak and publish books)... I am constantly finding myself looking at something, asking myself why and then doing something about it. If you think there is a lot of content in each and every blog post, you should see the list of blog post ideas that never see the light of day or the ideas that always don't make it into a final blog post, article, book chapter, client idea at Twist Image or whatever.

Then what?

Ideas are great, but then you have to do something about it. The chasm between having a new idea and actually doing something about it is massive. Most people give up before they begin (by either talking themselves out of it or by allowing somebody else to). Beat this notion up. Don't die with your ideas in a notebook (or worse, in your head). Go ahead and grab a copy of the book, Accidental Genius by Mark Levy. Levy is often referred to as the business book whisperer, and I happen to think that the exercises he provides in Accidental Genius will change your life (you can also listen to my conversation with Levy right here: SPOS #221 - Unlocking Creativity And Your Accidental Genius With Mark Levy). His simple process of creating lists and making notes through freewriting will change the way that you create and shape your ideas.

2013... going forward.

We all want the same things: less weight, more money, better relationships, happier work environments. I believe (and feel free to challenge me on this), that resolutions don't happen because people make a plan. The resolutions that get done happen because individuals generate new and interesting ideas around how to turn them into a reality. All of us will be looking at a very different business landscape in 2013, my instinct is that ideas win in a day and age where almost everything has become some kind of commodity. If you're not generating better ideas by exposing yourself to interesting new things that were traditionally foreign to you, asking yourself why more often than ever before, and then actually doing something with that idea (do what Mark Levy tells you to do), this year will be a repetition of the last one. We all know that we don't want this.

So, Happy New Year! Here's to 2013... a year filled with new ideas!

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Defining The New Creative With Joseph Jaffe

Episode #338 of Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast is now live and ready for you to listen to.

This is also episode #24.20 of Across The Sound. Joseph Jaffe is widely regarded as one of the top Marketing Bloggers (Jaffe Juice) and Podcasters (both Jaffe Juice in audio and Jaffe Juice TV in video). He is the author of three excellent books (Life After The 30-Second Spot, Join The Conversation and Flip The Funnel) and his latest business venture is, Evol8tion. A long-time friend (and one of the main inspirations behind the Six Pixels of Separation Blog and Podcast), we've decided to hold semi-regular conversations, debates and back-and-forths that will dive a little deeper into the Digital Marketing and Social Media landscape. This is our 24th conversation (or, as I like to affectionately call it, Across The Sound 23.20). In this episode, we discuss the changing and evolving description we use for "creative," and what it means to be a creative in 2012... pushing into 2013. 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 #338.

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Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #132

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, the author of Complete Web Monitoring and Managing Bandwidth: Deploying QOS in Enterprise Networks), Hugh McGuire (PressBooks, LibriVox, iambik) and I decided that every week or so 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:

Ten Lessons from Peter Thiel's Class On Startups - Forbes . "If you want to learn how to build tech companies, Peter Thiel is a good place to start. He taught a class at Stanford -- even though he's famous for telling people to drop out -- and it was the hot ticket on campus. Here's a student--and prolific note-taker-- Blake Masters ' summary of the course." (Alistair for Hugh).

Napster, Udacity, and the Academy - Clay Shirky . "Since we're all about the future of business this week, it being the cusp of the New Year and the Mayans being all wrong and stuff, let's kick it off with Clay Shirky . In this post, he looks at how MP3s were about more than free music--and by analogy, how Massive Free Online Courses (MOOCs) are about more than free, but rather represent a complete upheaval of how we learn, just as MP3s were the tip of a music industry iceberg. 'The risk,' he concludes, iis that we'll be the last to know that the world has changed.'" (Alistair for Mitch).

Ottawa's $800-billion housing problem - The Globe And Mail . "I'm endlessly fascinated by the global financial crisis of 2007/8/9/10, and how it came to be... Canada seems to have escaped. Or, maybe just delayed the crash." (Hugh for Alistair).

'I Pretty Much Wanted to Die' - Grantland . "We live in a time of great television. I'm not quite sure what to think of Lost - but it sure was addictive, and ... well ... completely nuts. Here's part of the story of the unlikely show came to be." (Hugh for Mitch).

Joi Ito's Trends to Watch in 2013 - Think With Google . "I hate end of year lists. The only think I hate more than end of year lists is 'things to watch in 2013' type of lists. So, here I find myself at a crossroads. I love the way Joi Ito thinks and I love (even more) that he took over at the MIT Media Lab . I often find myself telling audiences that I am not a 'Futurist', because I consider myself a 'Presentist.' In this piece, Ito calls himself a 'Nowist,' so I figured it was only fair to share what he's thinking about as a courtesy to someone who shares a business title with me." (Mitch for Alistair).

Do We Still Need Libraries? - The New York Times . "This is a debate and conversation piece that keeps creeping up in the media from time to time... and, here it comes again. On one hand, I love the look, feel, concept and reason that we have libraries. On the other hand, I often find myself looking around at the vast amount of books, magazines, content and more, and wonder why we have such large institutions for something that can now fit on a memory stick." (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.

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Does "Quality" Mean "Paper"?

When people talk about quality journalism, they tend to also mean that it must appear on a dead tree.

That's the feeling I get when I watch this video from Business Insider when Henry Blodget interviewed Jill Abramson (the executive editor of The New York Times):

People still love paper (sort of).

In my next book, CTRL ALT Delete (out on May 21st, 2013), I call this moment of time "purgatory" - we're not in heaven... we're not in hell. We're, kinda, in limbo. That's the feeling you get from Abramson and that's the way consumer's are behaving. On one hand, we love Spotify and Netflix (who needs a DVD player and/or entertainment content clogging up our hard drives with data) and, on the other hand, we line up on Boxing Day to buy hardcover books because they're on sale for $10 a pop. On one had, we consume more and more content in digital channels like blogs, online news sites and others, but on the other hand, we run out to buy the last print edition of Newsweek. On one hand, we want our e-books delivered to us as fast we can hit the Buy Now With 1-Click button, but on the other hand, we shoot long-form videos and post them to YouTube when Seth Godin's latest book shows up on our doorsteps:

What does "quality" mean to you?

In watching the two videos above, it becomes abundantly clear that we have yet to cross the chasm that enables us to feel that same something for products in a digital format that we have for the physical and analog. It's starting to shift (look at how passionate people are about their playlists), but we're not there yet. Human beings take a serious amount of time to adapt to massive changes. We're in a moment of exponential growth as the digitization of things becomes more pervasive. So, it's important as an engine of marketing that you take a cold, hard look at how you connect people with your brand and figure out how you can attract them with both the physical and the digital. Sure, Seth Godin can get millions of people to download a free PDF book, but in the same instance, if his physical books aren't able to be picked up at the local Barnes & Noble or airport bookstore, his sales are affected. People like having his books on their desks, on their bookshelves and, on their persons. There's still something about picking up the latest edition of The New York Times and thumbing through it over an espresso at your local coffee shop. Sure, tablets are shifting and adjusting this kind of reading, but for anything serious, it must be bought on paper.

This isn't me.

I've heard people say to me, "Mitch, you're always on your iPhone!" What if I told you that 85% of the time, it is because I am reading a book on my Kindle app? Does that change your perspective. If those same people saw me reading a physical book, their intonation and brand perception of me would be different. It would be something like: "Wow, Mitch is always reading some kind of interesting book..." It's a market of one example, but it's true: if it's digital and on my smartphone it can't be anything important and substantive.

2013 is going to be an important year: the digital will become something of quality. It has begun.

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The New Exclusive

Where does breaking news happen?

I have a Google Alert set-up for the term "Twitter." This way, whenever Twitter in mentioned in the news, blogs, etc... I get a notification (in this instance, I have the alert set-up to only notify me once a day). This morning, the results were littered with the news that Jessica Simpson announced her latest pregnancy on Twitter. There are two things here that are not all that newsworthy:

That Twitter is a great place for breaking news. We all know this.

That celebrities like to use Twitter to circumvent traditional media outlets. We all know this.

So, where's the exclusive in this news?

Do you have any less respect for People Magazine or Entertainment Tonight? Do you think any less of Jessica Simpson for breaking the news through her own, personal, media channel? It's an interesting media perspective to think about because two, new and somewhat growing media habits are becoming a core part of how we not only consume media, but what media means:

You need an audience to break news. Jessica Simpson announcing a baby, or Rihanna stupidly getting back together with Chris Brown are only newsmakers because these individuals have both their own fans and - perhaps more importantly - the media following them. The traditional media is now littered with references to what is being said and done in places like Twitter, Facebook and beyond by celebrities, politicians and news people. It's not so much that these individuals can now have a direct relationship with their fans and followers, it's that they are able to control their media messages, because this direct relationship now forces traditional media outlets to become active followers as well. Think about Jessica Simpson's latest situation: she doesn't need a publicist to draft up a superfluous press release or run around getting her hair and make-up done to answer the television entertainment news programs. In 140 characters or less, she says she's pregnant and that's that. Everything that happens after that tweet becomes her own desire to either promote the moment or leave it as 140 characters. That's pretty profound.

The media no longer reports. The media no longer reports in an exclusive manner. The media simply reports on what's happening in another media channel (in this instance, it's about Twitter). How strange is that? Tonight - if you can bear it - spend thirty minutes watching these salacious celebrity news programs on television, and count how many times the words "exclusive" and "breaking news" are used to describe something that has been reported much earlier in the day and elsewhere. How is that exclusive (which, from my media training, means that they are the only media outlet to have this interview or information) or breaking news (which, from my media training, means that they are one of the first to report an event)?

Just the facts.

There is no doubt that we have entered into a new media landscape, where media channels don't control our access to information, but that information is freely available and easily distributed. For brands and marketers, this means something completely different and interesting. Go back read those last two points and reframe them in terms of marketing and branding.

Build an audience. Fast. The people that care about you will follow you (so long as you're interesting). The media that covers your industry will follow you and cover your stories (so long as you're interesting). Being interesting isn't easy, but interesting is everything for brands in this day and age. The brands that build this direct relationship with their audience and the industry trade are the brands that get all of the attention, because they are covering all of their bases.

Breaking news is up to you. A press release to a list of media outlets and influential bloggers may still seem like the thing to do. But, toss that aside for a moment. Is it possible that you could use online channels like Twitter and Facebook and YouTube and LinkedIn and beyond to tell a very different and personal brand story (especially when it comes to news?) Sadly, most brands are still running their press releases through Twitter, instead of figuring out a way to break news in a compelling way and watch their consumers, the industry media and advocates organically spread that which is interesting.   

Jessica Simpson isn't that interesting.

Not to me. Not to you (maybe). But she is interesting to her fans and the media that covers this sort of stuff. That's enough for her to be her own media channel and force everyone else to fall into her way of communicating and sharing with an audience. It's the new exclusive, and as my Google Alert for the word "twitter" was littered with her news, it made me sad because it was news that was now someone embedded in my brain, but what made me sadder is how so few brands understand this already established and powerful way to connect with consumers and media. It's something that Jessica Simpson has figured out, but that so few Fortune 1000 companies get. What does that tell you?

It all just felt a little bit tragic. Or, is it just me?

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The Best Business Apps For Your Smartphone

So, were you naughty or nice?

At this most wonderful time of the year, I'm often inundated with phone calls, emails, text messages, Facebook pokes and Twitter tweets about the best business apps to get for a smartphone. This year was no exception. I guess people were nice... nice enough to get a brand new smartphone, and now they need to lock and load it with apps that will make them more effective at work. My current weapon of choice is the iPhone 5, but I would be lying if I said that the draw of switching to an Android device wasn't getting intense as each day passes. So, following are my "must-have" business apps for an iPhone, but I'm more than certain that the majority of these apps are also readily available on your Android too.

The "must-have" business apps for your smartphone (in alphabetical order):

bitly . If you ever need to tweet from your smartphone (which, should be happening more than on a desktop), the bitly app makes is stupid easy to create a URL shortener. It's also useful for posting to Facebook, and it also provides a great place to simply bookmark content that you want to save and share.

Dropbox . I can't say enough good things about Dropbox as a paid service. It allows me to keep a backup of my computer in the cloud, and the app makes it simple to grab files (of any size) as needed. As someone who travels as much as I do, access to saved backups are critical to peace of mind. On top of that, the ability to share folders and files with others so easily, only magnifies the importance of Dropbox.

Evernote . Keeping notes in a Moleskine notebook is still my default. I left my notebook on my desk before a business trip and was frustrated the whole way through. I do my best to now keep my notes in digital format and nothing compares to Evernote. If you take notes, have to-do lists or whatever, invest some time in getting Evernote set-up right for the work that you do.

FlightTrack Pro . If you travel a lot (or a little), there are few apps as compelling as FlightTrack Pro. I have this synced to my private TripIt account, so every time I have a flight, I simply email it to my TripIt account and it winds up in FlightTrack Pro. The wealth of flight information provided in this app makes it worth the price of admission alone. It includes everything from gate information to historical data on how frequently a flight is on time (or delayed). 

Google . It's everything Google in one, simple and easy-to-use app. From search and Gmail to Google + and Google Translate. It's one of those apps that you just have to have if you use any of Google's products (and, who doesn't?).

HT Professional Recorder . This is the app that I use with my iRig MIC Cast microphone to record audio podcasts when I'm doing them face-to-face. It's a great app and the sound quality is even good when I don't plug in an external microphone. The app also makes it easy to export the audio files out of the app and into iTunes.

Instapaper . I love Instapaper. It allows you to save content to read (articles, blog posts, etc...). The best part is that it not only formats the content to be readable (like, e-book quality readable), but it also downloads the text, so you can read it while on a plane or while you're in an area with no connectivity. Instapaper is where I save and tag anything and everything that I may need at some point need to read in the future.

Kindle . I own a physical Amazon Kindle reader, but I never use it. I do the majority of my book reading on my iPhone (and, occasionally, on my iPad). I should also recommend the Kobo app here for reading, but I'm locked into Amazon because that's where my e-book collection has been for so long. I can't imagine carrying physical books on me anymore. I truly love the access to my book library that the Kindle app offers me. I have never read this much in my entire life. I suddenly find myself grabbing a paragraph here and a page there, which is miles away from creating time and space to read a book.

LodgeNet . I stay in a lot of hotels. I'm not a germophobe, but everyone knows that hotel remote controls are never cleaned and are, probably, one of the filthiest things in a hotel room. The LodgeNet app allows me to turn my iPhone into the hotel room's TV remote control (if they are using LodgeNet as their TV service provider). You enter a short code and suddenly, your iPhone becomes not only an interactive TV menu, but controls the TV. Germs be gone!

MyRadar Weather Radar . My good friend, Arjun Basu, turned me on to this one. It's simple: live radar weather. You can actually see the weather clouds forming and more. Always fun to look at before heading out on a business trip. It also shows you areas to avoid.

Prey . Anti-theft app for your iPhone. Always good to have a back-up plan should you mis-place or have your device stolen. This one is worth every penny. It tracks your device for you.

SitOrSquat . Need to find a clean bathroom in a foreign city? The good folks at Charmin (yes, the toilet paper company) have your behind covered. Sorry, I couldn't resist.

TextGrabber . See something in a magazine, book or newspaper that you would like to have in digital format? TextGrabber allows you to snap a picture and their technology transcribes it into digital format. I'll even use this for reading on my Kindle. You grab a screen shot and then import the photo into TextGrabber. It's like magic.

TweetBot . If you use Twitter and you're finding their native app somewhat limiting, I'm a recent convert to TweetBot. It's both sleek and powerful for those who want to just a little bit more with their mobile Twitter experience.

Uber . Get a black sedan sent to your location within a matter of moments, get into the car, get out at your destination and let Uber do the rest. It's a little bit more expensive than a taxi (and, recently, you can ever use Uber to hail a cab), but it's so worth it - especially if you're entertaining clients or don't want to wait in line at a hotel for a cab to show up.

WhatsApp . When I finally got rid of my BlackBerry, I knew that my sore spot would be missing BBM. Now, with WhatsApp, no more sadness. It's quick, easy and very powerful mobile instant messaging. After a few chats with family members and friends, I found myself saying, "BBM? What's that?" 

Now, it's your turn: which smartphone apps do you think are critical to your business success? (help out those who are asking me!).

Tags:

amazon

android

arjun basu

audio podcast recording

bbm

bes business apps

bitly

blackberry

business app

business apps for iphone

business travel

charmin

cloud based storage

dropbox

ebook

evernote

facebok

flight information

flighttrack pro

gmail

google

google plus

google translate

ht professional recorder

instapaper

ipad

iphone 5

irig mic cast

itunes

kindle

kobo

lodgenet

mobile app

moleskine

myradar weather radar

online bookmarking

online storage

prey

search

sitorsquat

smartphone

textgrabber

tripit

tweetbot

twitter

twitter client

uber

url shortener

whatsapp

The Right Fit

What makes great advertising work?

Whether you're watching a panel discussion at the Cannes Lion or reading an article in AdWeek, the majority of the discourse revolves around three things:

The big idea.

The size of the media spend to make enough noise.

Luck.

Sure, there are nuances. Some agencies will talk about the brand's ability to truly allow the agency to spread their wings, then there's the heated discussion over important details like the casting and time spent on the copy. I was walking through the shopping mall and came across a perfume store. The main advertising in the window was Chanel No 5. It was a massive headshot of Brad Pitt with a small Chanel bottle in the bottom right corner. I just laughed. Much has been written about the TV commercials and advertising following Chanel's decision to use Brad Pitt as their spokesperson (the first male to be chosen for this, particular, perfume brand). Even more has been written and created surrounding the somewhat laughable debut commercial featuring Brad Pitt. Is it true that in ultimate insult was delivered by Saturday Night Live, when the late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show decided to parody the commercial by actually running it as is? They figured, nothing could be funnier that what Chanel No 5 considered to be a legitimate form of advertising.

The point of laughing.

This isn't about being overly critical of a brand or a choice of spokesperson or advertising creative and more. I laughed as I passed this point-of-purchase advertisement, because it occurred to me that what makes great advertising - in it's entirety - is the right fit. That's what makes advertising so hard, so random and so challenging. The right fit isn't just about the right face for the right product, it's about everything. From the start: is the brand and agency the right fit? Are the team members the right fit? Is the strategy the right fit for the brand? Is the creative the right fit for the strategy? Does the media buy fit? You get the idea.

How often do you think about the right fit?

Media professionals have a million excuses when a campaign fails. "Fit" is sometimes mentioned in the excuses, but not frequently enough. As we all head off into the holidays, take a break, regroup and come back in January with a new zeal to do better and more remarkable work in marketing, it would be well-advised to spend some time during this break to think about whether or not you have the right fit - in each and every thing that you are doing. This doesn't mean to start from scratch, and it also doesn't mean that you can't - through the power of effective conversation - stir things into a more productive relationship. What it does mean is that great ideas, luck and managing a budget become somewhat arbitrary when you have the right fit. Chanel No 5 probably has some thinking to do about whether this deal with Brad Pitt produced the results that they anticipated. My guess is that your brand probably has some thinking to do as well, in terms of drilling down into the work to make sure that you have the right fit across the board.

Now, over to you: is there anything more important than the right fit when it comes to your marketing?

The above posting is my twice-monthly column for The Huffington Post called, Media Hacker . I cross-post it here with all the links and tags for your reading pleasure, but you can check out the original version online here:

The Huffington Post - The Business Lesson in Chanel No. 5's Marketing Disaster.

Tags:

advertising

advertising agency

advertising budget

advertising creative

adweek

brad pitt

business column

cannes lion

celebrity spokesperson

chanel no 5

marketing

marketing agency

media budget

media hacker

media professional

point of purchase advertising

saturday night live

the big idea

the huffington post

tv commercial

Have A Magical Night

Wishing each and every one of you a very Happy Holiday Season!

I believe in magic. I believe that a lot of the technology that I love is true magic. So, I could not resist...

(Special thanks to iSimon and Mashable )

Have a great night... and, if truth be told, I hope nobody is reading this (or watching the video), because they're too busy enjoying their time with their family and friends.

Tags:

ipad magic tricks

isimon

magic

mashable