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Heroes and Besmirchers on the Web.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

Lionel Messi

Will there be fewer heroes in the world because of social media?  I wonder.  Lionel Messi is a futbol hero — in Argentina and to futbolers around the world.  Back in the day (before YouTube and social) Messi would have been known to the world via a few video clips seen on TV, a couple of really positive well-told stories in Sports Illustrated, some bedroom posters and live game broadcasts and interviews. Heroes were made and packaged more easily then.

But today, no one of note makes it under the radar.  One bad decision at a nightclub, one oafish treatment of a fan, an out of context insensitive remark and the luster is off.  It is human nature to have heroes — be they in sports, politics, music or religion. We need heroes.  They give us hope and aspiration. But jealousy and officiousness are also human behaviors and social media is filled with people so inclined.  Besmirchers. And all it takes is a few besmirchers to start a hero’s downfall.

The good news is we are open to more global heroes than ever before because of the Web (I can’t wait to watch Messi play) and that’s good. The web needs to be a bit kinder and gentler, though, when it comes to comments and posts. The mission of the Web is to disseminate the truth, but for the good of the planet. Let’s dis the negative petty stuff. We need an emoticon to protest the negative stuff.  Somehow 🙁 doesn’t quite make it. Peace!

Tactical World.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that about 90% of the workers in advertising and marketing are consumed by tactics. “I want a new website.  We need an acquisition program. Our sales force is up 8% year over year.  The innovation team is cranking out some really great ideas.”

We build things, we buy things, we read, write and communicate.  We hire and manage, then count the metrics and the change. But are these efforts always undertaken towards a strategic purpose?  More often than not the answer is “no.” 

Every company needs to have a strategic mission. A brand strategy. And it needs key operating principles: Brand planks. Every employee at the company needs to know the mission and the planks. Go out today and ask a worker what their company strategy is, and with the possible exception of Zappos you are likely to hear “make money” or “be more profitable.” Then probe “What are your company’s three key operating principles?” and you’ll get that look dogs give you when you put the ball behind your back. Try it. Peace!  

 

AOL. Strong Armin’. Finally.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

Cambio is AOL’s first big bullet in the content strategy war with Yahoo. It makes me think AOL just may win this thing. I love Carol Bartz’s decision to go with the content approach for Yahoo, but still think her approach a bit too diffuse. They still possess a start page mentality over there – start page meaning, set your personal home page to Yahoo.

AOL, on the other had, spent enough time with Time Warner to learn a thing about packaging content.  They probably own a camera or two and kept some producers and directors around, so by signing the Jonas Bothers and their music company to a deal with the new AOL online music channel Cambio, cranking up some new content quickly may be very doable.   This is a transformative move. It may be the first real melding of music and new media we’ve seen; think Little Steven’s Garage (dot com) for kids. And, with a big, scalable company surrounding it.

AOL, BTW, should bring Little Steven and his garage over to the fold. No brainer. Why?  Because he’s a great curator, a special personality and he has a loyal following. The radio doesn’t do his project justice. I like this move for AOL — and though Cambio may only be the learning ground for something bigger, it’s a great idea. Tim Armstrong is human, but he’s beginning to hit stride.  Peace! 

Worldwide Pricing and Healthcare.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

I’ve posted before about a concept called worldwide pricing (Google whatstheidea+worldwide pricing),  applauding its emergence.  Basically, thanks to the Internet, worldwide pricing allows anyone with a Web connection to shop the world to find the best prices. Healthcare, because it has been insulated by insurance companies and hasn’t yet supported digital patient records, is one place where shopping for best price has been nonexistent.  That’s changing thanks to companies like Castlight, who just received a second round of funding. 

Have you ever received a bill in the mail from a healthcare provider for a couple hundy saying your actual bill exceeded your overage? Who hasn’t?  Imagine if you could have a read-out of every medical procedure and expense you’ve ever generated over your lifetime — from that first broken bone is 4th grade to your most recent blood test. Imagine also, being able to see next to that expense the nationalized average cost of that service. It would be an interesting exercise. 

Price Variability

Price variability for medical procedures in the U.S. is all over the place. That’s going to change…and it’s a good thing.  Companies like Castlight are seeing to it by employing a little search engine technology and the help from some medical partners like the Cleveland Clinic.  As healthcare reform become more real (thank you voters and gov’t), we will start pairing information technology and healthcare record keeping in a way that will not only help U.S. GDP but improve patient outcomes.  Worldwide pricing is coming to your local doctor. Stay tuned. Peace. 

Listen and Lead.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

In Charlene Li’s new book Open Leadership (which I have not yet read, but will), one of the premises is that leaders who really listen to customers are the most informed and prepared to deal with business issues. Because of social media’s prevalence and importance, this notion suggests that leaders who use the new listening channel (the web) are better leaders.  Good advice, for sure.  Those who know the name Andy Grove may remember that the first thing he did every morning upon hitting the office was to listen in on random customer service calls to his 800 number.   It was old school technology, but it was listening.  That’s why Intel succeeded.

General Motors (GM) brand managers and its ad agency strategists at Goodby Silverstein and Partners have decided to stop using the word Chevy in favor of the full, formal name Chevrolet.  This is a strong brand management move. I yike it, as my daughter used to say. I don’t know the Chevrolet strategy, but can imagine this nomenclature move is intended to imbue the brand with a little more up-market sensibility. As GM nameplates are jettisoned, Chevrolet will be attempting to win over consumers who once bought pricier Oldsmobiles, Hummers, Pontiacs and such. Consumers will still say Chevy, but the people managing the brand will polish it with a finer cloth. They are exercising control. They are leading.

Pop marketing pundits are telling us consumers own the brand.  Even the youthfully exuberant at P&G and others wielding great budget power are saying so. But if we cede control of marketing, strategy and leadership to the masses, we are being lazy. Listen yes…but lead. Peace!

Thinking Apps.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

Slide 4 in Mary Meekers’s Morgan Stanley presentation entitled “Internet Trends 2010” shows the pace of mobile internet adoption.  It compares iPhone/iTouch to that of  AOL’s desktop, Netscape desktop and NTT docomo iMode; laying out growth by users, by quarter from launch.

iPhone’s Internet access tipped 86 million users in its 11th quarter – less than 3 years.  Let’s just say the others never came close to coming close. (Check out the chart on slide 4.) Smartphone growth is hockey sticking. Motorola is starting to get it. HP bought Palm and should buy some corporate share.  Blackberry is too big and too rich to fail, even though they’re getting a little paunchy around the middle. And we haven’t even started to talk about the software guys Google (after its trivestiture), Microsoft (drawing a blank) and carrier switch provider Alcatel-Lucent.

Ladies and germs, smartphones are the future of computing, commerce and community. They will dock next to monitors and keyboards, but they are the device.  Think about the iPhone4’s new videoconference app. Wait for fingerprint apps, and galvanic skin response apps, sobriety apps….   Cool times, these.  Marketers, put on your thinking apps (I mean caps), innovation awaits! Peace!

Alice in a Wondrous Land.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

Alice is the coolest internet app around.  It’s a website that allows consumers to buy directly from the manufacturer…with a promise of low, low prices because the products aren’t inflated by retail shelf stocking fees and other costs associated with driving traffic to retail.  

They promise one box, though how that can be with purchases coming straight from the manufacturer is beyond me.  Alice also offers free shipping, a product planner allowing users to restock based on past purchase dates, and a drag-and-drop interface even a caveman would love. 

Though I haven’t done the deep dive on Alice, it is the future. It won’t cover fresh produce but that’s not too far down the road, no doubt available from a web start-up run by a smart farm consortium. Alice is taking baby steps which is the way to go. (I was in a meeting with a major packaged goods company and all of its agencies last week and only a handful had even heard of Alice.)  This is how we  — especially the next gen — will shop for staples.  Alice reminds me of a post I wrote a couple of years ago suggesting that the size of home mail boxes will grow significantly as web commerce develops.  Alice may not be the Amazon of its time, but if it gets the usability and customer delivery right it will be the template for the world’s biggest app. Peace!

Redeeming Miles (on Twitter).

By
Steve Poppe
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0

Miles Nadal is probably the biggest name on the scene today in the advertising and communications business.  His holding company MDC Partners has been the only one with a positive stock performance during the global downturn. His spending on minority positions in small and mid-size shops with great leaders is what has built this empire. While the big holding company officers are watching their stocks depreciate, debating assets to sell, and arguing of which employment contracts to void, Mr. Nadal was roaming the planet seeking out smart people. The marketing business has always been powered by smart, forward looking people.

I’d love to go to school on Mr. Nadal and have followed him on Twitter for a while — but he is an awful Tweeter. His tweets are inspirational quotes from others.  Aristotle?  Come on Mr. Nadal!  Building a business by finding and enabling smart people is one thing, extending that into Twitter may feel an “authentic” brand play, but it’s so disappointing.  Better to quote your own hires.  Better more, quote yourself. Posting other people’s stuff is a rage but from people like you we need original thought. Personal Twitter accounts are best when steeped in one’s personality. Give us some of dat Mr. Nadal.  Peace!  

Think Bigger.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 1 in 3 American adults is obese. Excuse the pun, but that’s a huge market.  Are airlines doing anything about it?  Yep, seatbelt extenders.  On a plane in coach when the person in front of you puts back their seat, if you have a big belly, you can’t open your laptop. You can’t open your laptop if you have a medium belly.

Besides clothing there are a ton of products that can be redesigned to fit the big form person. Beach chairs, lawn chairs, living room chairs.  Moving theaters should provide adequate seating for larger adults. Big is big business…just ask NBC.

Wal-Mart or JC Penny’s would be smart to create a store brand catering to the big. Peace! 

Road to a Trillion.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

A couple of weeks ago it was mentioned here that in order for Facebook to become the world’s first trillion dollar company it had to nail the privacy issue. Well, my fact-checker has determined that with the world’s largest company, Royal Dutch Petroleum (Forbes 2009) worth less than half a trillion dollars and only 6.8 billion people on the planet, the trillion dollar company thing is a pretty far reach. 

Bah, fact-checker. If Facebook can get everyone on the planet to fork over $147 U.S. they can do it.  One way to get to this number is to offer Facebook users an opt-in paid for account that is completely private.  No ads for tracking. No sale of collected personal data. No cookies. Like Ocean Beach, NY back in the day – the proverbial land of “no.” 

For $147.00 a year, Facebook actually might start themselves on the road to a trillion. Every journey begins with one schlep.  Or was that step? Peace.    

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