Be Where The Consumers Are (Podcast Episode)

Creation and Consumption (Podcast Episode)

Barcodes - A Conversation with Andrew Baskerville (Podcast Episode)

Listen to the episode on iTunes

Episode Summary:

My good friend Andrew Baskerville was nice enough to join me and have a conversation about the present and future of barcodes in marketing. We had a great discussion about the topic and covered everything from the current uses, flaws and the potential for this technology in the future. The latter part of our discussion is primarily focused around a slideshow put together by PSFK called, 'The Future of Mobile Tagging.' 

Primary point of discussion:

The Future of Mobile Tagging' by PSFK

Interesting sites to check out:

Google's URL Shortener 

Andrew Baskerville's Blog

The State at the Start (Podcast Episode)

Listen on iTunes

Firstly, I am very sorry about the sound quality on this podcast! I am still very new to this so I did not realize the file sizes got so big; therefore, in order to upload it to the web I had to sacrifice some quality. I have learned my lesson for the future.

Episode Summary:

An overview of the first two weeks of digital marketing news in 2011. Topics include: technology, social media, television, mobile and some mention of traditional marketing. Brands mentioned: Groupon, Apple, Starbucks, NBC, Best Buy, Get Glue, OnLive, Google, NM Incite, Foursquare, Verizon, AT&T and others.

Brand of the week:

Angry Birds

Interesting sites to check out: 

Articles (not in order):

Contact me: 

http://about.me/shaminda

10 Interesting Things that Happened in November

1. Facebook launched a new messaging service - Will this potentially change the way millennials communicate?

2. Myspace redesigns itself around 'social entertainment' - Is it too late? Or will this move make Myspace relevant again?

3. Zynga wants the world to be 'Dog Activated' - How much will social gaming extend beyond the Internet?

4. Alex Bogusky talks about 'the empowered consumer' - A fundamental power shift, in our favour. 

5. Facebook launches a mobile platform called 'Deals' - 500 million reasons why it could succeed. 

6. Conan returns - He's back in his true form. Long live Conaw. 

7. Samsung launches the Galaxy Tab in North America - A big threat to the iPad? You tell me. 

8. Microsoft launches the Kinect - Which recently overtook the iPad as the fastest selling consumer device ever, well done. 

9. Google launches a marketing experiment - Another step in online interaction, offline. 

10. Qwiki releases alpha invites - If you haven't tried this already, do so. It may change search. 

Important Conversations - Videos from the Web 2.0 Summit

Source: Google ImagesThe Web 2.0 Summit is probably one of the most important events of the year for anyone in the high-tech or digital industry. To take a direct quote from the Web 2.0 Summit website:

"The Web 2.0 Summit is the only place, once a year, where leaders of the Internet Economy gather to debate and determine business strategy."

It is a truly fascinating event, hosted by John Battelle and Tim O'Rielly. For the sake of everyone who could not attend the event, the Summit organizers posted most of the conversations/speakers they had on YouTube. Below I have listed a few of the conversations that I personally found extremely interesting (though in all honesty they were all probably very interesting). What I would like you to do is watch a video (or all of them) and post a tweet (button below) to your followers explaining why you think it's important. Please enjoy and share these with others! 

A Conversation with Yuri Milner Founder and CEO of Digital Sky Technologies, Investor

A Conversation with Eric Schmidt. CEO of Google

Managing Hypergrowth - Susan Lyne (CEO of Gilt Groupe) and Tony Hsieh (CEO of Zappos)

John Donovan CTO of AT&T on Mobile Networks.  - CTO of AT&T

A Conversation with Carol Bartz - CEO of Yahoo!

A Conversation with Jeff Weiner - CEO of LinkedIn

A Conversation with Mark Zuckerberg.  - Founder and CEO of Facebook

A Conversation with Jim Balsille Co-CEO of RIM

A Conversation with Shantanu Narayen - CEO of Adobe Systems

Mary Meeker, "Internet Trends" - Analyst at Morgan Stanley

Susan Wojcicki, "The Perfect Ad - VP of Product Management at Google

Point of Control: Consumer Platforms - Nikesh Arora (President of Global Sales Operations and Business Development at Google), John Hayes (CMO at American Express) and Yusuf Mehdi (Senior VP of Online Audience Business at Microsoft)

A Conversation with Evan Williams - Former CEO and Co-Founder of Twitter

Point of Control: Location Based Services - Matt Galligan (Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of SimpleGeo), Cyriac Roeding (Co-Founder and CEO of Shopkick) and Jeremy Stoppelman (Co-Founder and CEO of Yelp)

Point of Control: Commerce - Keith Rabois (GM at Square), Michael Rubin (CEO of GSI Commerce) and Scott Thompson (President of PayPal Inc.)

A Conversation with Robin Li - Co-Founder and CEO of Baidu Inc. 

Point of Control: Education - Ted Mitchell (NewSchools Venture Fund), Diana Rhoten (Startl), Davis Guggenheim (Waiting for Superman) and John Heilemann (New York Magazine)

10 Interesting Things that happened in October

1. Aaron Sorkin and David Fincher’s long awaited movie, 'The Social Network' topped the national box office on its opening weekend.
- A great review of this movie noted: the most groundbreaking part was the fact that Zuckaberg did not need permission to build "The Facebook."

2. Google launched "Google Instant"
- We'll have to wait and see how exactly this affects search behaviour and ultimately... ad revenue.

3. GAP had some logo issues.
- A publicity stunt or a social media reaction to remember? You choose.

4. Ford was named Advertising Age's Marketer of the Year.
- One of the only automotive manufacturers to not accept bailout money. Marketing in a recession works.

5. Google launched a new platform called Google TV.
- Perhaps the Christmas season will ultimately decide the winner in this arena, but Boxee, Roku and Apple have to watch out now.

6. RIM announced (not launched) the BlackBerry Playbook.
- Specifically targeting the enterprise market, but iPads are also being quickly adopted there... stay tuned.

7. Microsoft launched Windows Phone 7.
- Apparently the Company is also giving each employee a device... that would amount to over 80,000 devices. Could this product be Microsoft's comeback?

8. Apple announces an upgrade to the existing MacBook Air line.
- What will people choose... iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad or a MacBook Air? They are similarly different.

9. Zynga became more valuable than Electronic Arts.
- This is serious. A signal of true social disruption and perhaps a fundamental change in the business model of gaming.

10. MySpace decided to change things up.
- They have now put themselves in a new category called "Social Entertainment." We'll let the users decide.

What if Gap changed its logo a few years ago?

Source: Google ImagesFiasco and catastrophe just about sum up what happened to one of Gap Inc's iconic brands Gap recently. In case you have no idea what I'm talking about, long time marketing reporter Bob Garfield does a great job of explaining it in this ad age article. In this article Bob explains the nature behind an iconic brand and why it extremely risky to try and change any aspect of one. In addition to Bob, Umair Haque (a brilliant blogger for the Harvard Business Review) wrote a blog post that I think truly sums up what Gap should have done.

The aspect of this entire Gap story that amazed me the most was the fact that a social media outcry, caused a complete reversal in a massive company decision... in one week. What if Gap changed its logo a few years ago? I highly doubt the company would have had to take back its decision and even if it did, there is a no way it would have happened so quickly. I think there a couple of key points about social media that any digital marketer can at take away from this story (they are more so fundamental truths about the state of marketing today really)

1. If you're willing to engage in social media, then prepare to be hit by the truth.. good or bad - The one aspect about social media that I find truly wonderful is transparency. If a customer is truly disappointed with something a brand has done, that customer will not hold back his or her inner most thoughts. Similarly, a customer will likely do the same thing if he or she is delighted by the action of a brand.

2. When social media speaks, listen up - The one thing I think Gap did right in this whole fiasco was that it listened. The Company was open about the fact that consumers did not like their new logo and that it was in fact going to change the logo back. This shows Gap was listening but more importantly that it cared about what it was hearing.

3. No matter how hard you try, not everyone is going to like you - The quicker a brand comes to terms with this, the easier dealing with it becomes. It is important for brands to focus on the catering to consumers that do like what the brand stands for; however, it is equally as important for brands to learn about where they are falling short. Social media is a fantastic ground for the latter.

Final thoughts: engaging in social media requires constant attention and quick action. Customers are choosing to follow your brand so the very least you can do is listen when they speak out to you. The truly great companies will act and act fast. I think that in a few months or so, Gap won't be remembered for its catastrophic logo experiment, but rather for its ability to listen and act, when social media spoke up.