John Battelle’s Little Secret

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June 25, 2009

Have you heard the expression “To a hammer everything looks like a nail?” Well, I’m of the mind that to conversational media companies, say Federated Media, all marketing looks like a conversation. Thanks to Dave Knox and his blog HardKnoxLife, I watched a video of John Battelle’s introductory remarks his recent CM Summit. CM stands for Conversational Media. Mr. Battelle is CEO of Federated Media.

Mr. Battelle is a brilliant marketer, but if his platform for conversational marketing — Federated Media — was a conversation and not a well-managed brand, it wouldn’t be the successful property it is today. You see, Mr. Battelle has created and managed a brand with the help of great writers, terrific targeting, innovative positioning and a strong revenue model. He did it. The conversation may have been his inspiration, but mark my words, he created and nurtured it.

Content creators are still the life source of his business. Communing participants may be the blood, but they are not the brand. In my ebook, what Mr. Battelle is doing – and doing well – is brand management. He may not admit it, but he knows full-duplex marketing is a mistake. Good marketers need to manage the hen house. Peace!

The Internet’s Next Business Model.

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Steve Poppe

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June 24, 2009

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If you were to weigh all of the editorial that has been written about the Internet – the most exciting, disruptive communications platform ever created – I bet 75% of that edit would be about how it is tearing the stomach out of "old school" media ventures. Skype is killing telephone company landline revenue. Peer-to-peer music services have killed CD sales. Craigslist has halved newspaper classified revenue. Email has us on the verge of a 4-day postal service. Need I go on?

Not enough has been written about the money making side of the Internet…and that’s because there’s not a lot of that going on. If Web 1.0 was about ubiquity and connectivity and Web 2.0 is/was about usability, search and community, then Web (dare I type it) 3.0 is about revenue.

What is going on at the Enterprise 2.0 Conference this week in Boston is all about revenue. Not about selling widgets or hard and soft goods but about how to make companies more efficient. The real breakthrough after companies are more efficient will be innovation. Innovation the likes of which we have never before seen. We will cure cancer, solve the energy crisis and even morph into a more peaceful planet when we create “social business design” solutions for our planet. (Thanks Dachis Corporation.) Oh yeah, it will create lots of money for corporations, too.

A revenue Model for Twitter ?

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Steve Poppe

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June 23, 2009

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Twitter does not yet have a revenue model. Here’s one to ponder:

The service should continue to be free for subscribers. To generate revenue I think Twitter should sell small ads on the direct messaging page and those ads should be targeted based on hash tags and other behavioral targeting information gathered. If, for instance, someone uses the hash tag #iranlelection, maybe their direct messages will contain a small ad for The New York Times. In addition, I’m wondering if the keyword bidding and pay per click method pioneered by Google Adwords would also be smart.

Think about it and get back to me. Peace!

Social Business Design

By

Steve Poppe

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June 22, 2009

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I’m a bit of a stalker and one gentleman I’ve been following the last couple of years is Jeff Dachis. Jeff started Razorfish, a pioneering digital agency, and the words "big thinker" are an understatement when describing him. Anyone who has been involved with large corporations the last 20 years knows they are not particularly fine-tuned machines. With good leadership and good structure corporations can outperform competitors, but there is still a good deal of waste and me-ism, keeping productivity down. Jeff Dachis knows this, and has a plan.

Mr. Dachis and his bullpen of strategic thinkers (Peter Kim, David Armano, Kate Niederhoffer, and Jevon MacDonald) have been trying to wrap their heads around this inefficient corporation for a year now and today made an announcement coinciding with the Enterprise 2.0 Conference in Boston today.

It is fascinating to see how each of the Dachis strategists frame the new, still-to-be-named product. (To do so, please check out their links today at www.beingpeterkim.com.) The explanations are the same, yet different. You can tell who came from which discipline in their posts.

First off I love what they are calling the product category “Social Business Design.” It’s descriptive, implies a benefit and is understandable. That’s the IS in the Is/Does. But here is a graphic schematic of the DOES. Hee hee. No one said redesigning business in a 2.0 world was going to be easy. Peace!

Blackberry Shame

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Steve Poppe

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June 19, 2009

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Blackberry (Research in Motion) revenue was up 53% year-over-year, according to its just released quarterly report, adding 3.8 million subscribers. Its forecast for next quarter is for healthy growth, though just under Wall Street expectation. The stock dipped in after hours trading. Amazing. Here’s a company doing well in a piss-poor economy and the street is selling.

Blackberry is a smart company. They are innovating, taking chances, have a cornerstone product (with a nickname) and have created a market for a requisite business tool. How is this stock not rising every day?

Twice on Monday I found myself – I’m not a Blackberry owner, but my 18 year old son is – emailing business associates that I would be off the grid for a couple of hours. In other words, in transit without laptop connectivity. Off the grid sounds cool but it’s a euphemism for "I don’t own a Blackberry." This was the first time in a long time I felt modest tech shame. The fact is I text like a dookie, but that’s not happening for the majority of your Blackberry-carryin’ business class. I don’t see myself buying a Blackberry, but if the shame turns into lost dollars….. Peace!

Black Eyed Peas and Target

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Steve Poppe

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June 18, 2009

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The Black Eyed Peas star in a new Target TV spot that is visually and aurally very cool. Also cool is the fact that their new CD is only available at Target. Both of these things should be enough to get people into the store but, frankly, the spot doesn’t go far enough to leverage the “cool” in a why that makes non-target shoppers consider the store for other reasons. The art director did a great job, the copywriter not so much.

Set to the new tune “I got a feeling,” the spot shows members of the band camouflaged against a floral wallpaper, bedspread, graffiti festooned brick wall, creating terrific visual impact. The song concludes with copy explaining that the CD is available only at Target. How hard would it have been to add some copy saying “You’d be amazed by what you can find at Target, if you really look.” Check out the spot and let me know if you agree. Peace.

MySpace Cuts…A More Social Approach

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Steve Poppe

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June 17, 2009

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MySpace just cut 420 jobs at the behest of new CEO Owen Van Natta. See the Ad Age story here. Without knowing to what extent Mr. Van Natta researched these RIFed people (corporate speak for Reduction In Force), I’m going to offer a thought.

A more social approach to the layoff: Idea 1. Prior to the RIF, hold a town meeting asking all employees how to improve MySpace. The loudest, most ardent opinions will surface. Idea 2. Ask everyone at the town meeting to weight in on the same question, anonymously, and as with a tag cloud organize the key words into a prioritized solution set. Idea 3. After the all-hands meeting hold face-to-face meetings with each employee on the RIF list asking the question “What needs to be fixed to make MySpace a better property.” Not exit interview stuff, truly constructive stuff. Use this time to find the gems on the list. MySpace, after all, is a social networking site. There are some things the algorithm can’t do. Finding and retaining the best people requires an ear. Peace!

Return on Strategy

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Steve Poppe

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June 16, 2009

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Ad agencies make money selling stuff. Want a TV commercial? That will cost you $350,000. Want a billboard? $25,000. How about a direct mail program? $125,000. Website? $75,000, if we don’t have to outsource it. If there is commissionable media…all the better.

As an ad guy coming up in the business a great day was one during which you presented brilliant creative and the client approved it with excitement, energy and money. If the creative really worked and sales followed you could just smell success.

But, today, as a brand planner the real excitement comes from presenting a brand strategy that lights up a CEO. When s/he reads the paper or the screen and breaks out in a smile and says “You get me” that’s the home run. A brand strategy is not the creative, it’s the idea that leads the creative — it is the long term idea that makes the money. I use a line in presentations all the time “Campaigns come and go, but a powerful branding idea is indelible.” Powerful branding ideas are how agencies should make money. Their ability to deliver on that idea should be the key to remuneration. Therein lies the ROS (return on strategy) conundrum.

Any thoughts on how to make this work? Drop me a note at steve@whatstheidea.com Peace!

The “H” Word.

By

Steve Poppe

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June 15, 2009

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Ever since my kids were old enough to talk I’ve taught them not to say the “H” word. It is one of America’s favorite words, yet it is one of our most insidious. Hate. “I hate broccoli” was always met with “Don’t use the H word.” In our house the word hate was viewed as worse than a curse.

Though I’m not big on parenting other’s kids, I heard myself saying don’t use the H word yesterday to a child at a graduation party. It had been a while, but it reminded me of how I used to do it to my kids — with a big, surprised smile on my face. When I said it to a 6 year old in front of his uncle, the uncle had my my back. The boy kept quizzing me “What’s the H word? Hell?

If everyone played my game with kids and meant it, we could start something really big. Words do matter. Try it sometime. Please. Peace!

The Great American Spanking

By

Steve Poppe

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June 12, 2009

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This recession has been kicking my ass. Never a good saver, like most Americans I have been leveraging assets and looking to future earnings. This was okay while everyone else was doing the same and banks encouraged us along, but when the banks and bank insurers went under, the News Hour turned to fright night, and millions lost their jobs, I got religion. Being an ad guy in my bones, I remain positive, even as my work days and consulting fees dwindle.

Most American’s have been spanked and I hope we have learned our lesson…as individuals and as a country.

There are signs that we may be turning the corner economically. Though, ad spending was down in 1Q, senior executives are talking about signs of budget life. Jobless claims have slowed and a slight bump in retail sales are two other good signs.

Mr. Positive, here, believes this smack in the butt is going to make us stronger. Each and every one of us: college kids, newlyweds, first time home buyers, retirees and their elders. Individually and as a country we need to focus on what we need. When we buy and use more than we need, things get risky. We must get back to fiscal and environmental responsibility. If we do, the goods we purchase will mean more, we will take better care of them, and life, I suspect, will be fuller. It will also give us more time to put tunes on our iPods. Peace!