Crayon, join the conversation

It’s less than a month before Christmas and everyone is starting to think about shopping on the Internet — if they are not doing it already! The Wall Street Journal has an excellent column by William Bulkeley this week on how the Internet is changing our shopping experiences and cutting out waste. This is also having a profound impact on advertising as well.

Two specific examples the article points out are how not too many years ago we bought full CDs (now we buy only the digital singles we want from iTunes and elsewhere) and developed full rolls of films at our local photo processor (now we print only the pictures we want or just publish them on MySpace). Bulkeley says, “Buyers’ newfound ability to avoid paying for things they don’t want helps explain the drop-off of advertising for traditional media.”

So just how has this impacted advertising? With the Internet and other new digital technologies, consumers are no longer sitting through entire commercials, reading entire newspapers or flipping through magazines loaded with advertising when they can get the exact piece of content on a website. As a direct result of all this, targeting advertising has grown and continues to grow while other media keeps declining.

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As usual we cover a variety of topics today including Microsoft, Burger King and how Dell turned a bad situation completely around. All this and more on crayonCast #3, a new marketing podcast.

Know your audience is what I always say. Someone taking that to heart is MTV alum Carson Daly. Reuters reports that the “Total Request Live” emcee and now host of NBC’s “Last Call With Carson Daly,” has built himself a nice following… a young web and tech savvy following.

Daly recognizes the visibility and power of the internet, citing the effect digital downloading has had on the music industry – Carson was a successful disk jockey before his MTV fame. He also understands that it’s hard to compete on television without millions, especially if your fans are spending a lot time online. “We don’t have a tremendous amount of money, which leads me back to the Internet because with $5,000, we can do a lot now.”

Carson’s project is the beta launch of It’s Your Show with NBC Universal. This is his attempt to “push the viral video world to the next level” by challenging its viewers to create new and innovative entries by offering cash rewards. He even goes as far as to pick talent for his new venture from famous internet personalities such as Brooke Brodack to help virally promote the site.

Kudos to Carson!

By now everyone has seen the horror stories of people getting mugged, trampled, or even shot during the mayhem that ensued over the launch of the PS3. If the lines and stories haven’t convinced you that Gamers are more aggressive with their media than most, I would like to give you something to think about.

1. This is a video put out by Kojima that has been viewed an inordinate amount of time. Gamers are searching out video stories as entertainment and are willing to sit through the “30 sec spots” in order to have the experience.

http://media.ps3.ign.com/media/714/714044/vids_1.html

1. According to a November 26^th article on pressconnect.com teens are being more proactive with the internet to search out the products they want, such as … “electronic products, with computers and video game consoles being the heavy hitters.”

http://www.pressconnects.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061126/NEWS01/611260327/1006

1. Zeitgeist shows that 2 of the top 10 search results from last week were gaming consoles.

http://www.google.com/press/zeitgeist.html

I strongly believe that this supports the idea that the old style of marketing to consumers has gone out the window. The pull of information is the preferred way of learning about new products and gamers are only slightly ahead of the curve. The world has changed and it’s time to utilize new marketing to reach new consumers. I have learned of some interesting theories, and will be presenting them in part three of the gaming Trifecta.

It’s about time that companies have realized that online shoppers are quite different then people coming into their stores at the mall.

I want to go to a site. Find what I came looking for. Perhaps read some reviews and check out photos of the item as a las minute check and then make the purchase and be done as quickly as humanly possible.

Up selling to me is an ok thing as long as it does not interfere with me buying what I want and it’s not annoying. Amazon.com has mastered this. Every time you put something in your cart you see other things that they would love you to buy. I’ll admit that I have gone “oh yeah I want that too” a couple of times and that is all it takes with the volume of shoppers that Amazon attracts on a daily basis.

I don’t go to the mall this time of year. I don’t have a reason to. I can buy everything I need from my computer. Instead of sitting in line waiting to buy a gaming console I just watched online and then swooped in and purchased my Wii when I saw some available. MUCH easier then dealing with parking lots, cranky customers and the perfume island around every corner.

At least it’s easier to me. *grin*

Cross-posted from a shel of my former self

A lot of online marketing is being done based on the premise that more and more people who use the Net have made the switch to broadband/high-speed access. That’s true: broadband growth continues at a healthy clip, a 60% compound annual growth, according to Leichtman Research. But that doesn’t mean everybody using broadband fits the same profile, a mistake that marketers could easily make when lumping these folks into the same bucket (e.g., they are able to consumer lots of videos from services like YouTube.

In fact, there are five distinct types of broadband users, according to Netpop | Portraits, part of the Netpop series of studies conducted by strategic market research firm Media-Screen. Those types include the following:

• Content king — Looking for entertainment, 76% of content kings play online games and 75% of the sites they visit are for personal reasons. They spend about 2-1/2 hours online every day.
• Social clicker — Spanning the age demographic (younger and older), social clickers use the Net as a communication channel. Younger social clickers use IM and social networking sites while older clickers rely more on email. This is a participatory group: 78% contribute content each month. Nearly 60% of the time they spend online is devoted to communication; the rest is divided between news, information, and shopping.
• Online insider — According to the  report, these folks see the net as “a rich, personal, and cultural phenomenon. Their behaviors mirror those of early adopters, trying out a lot of online resources and contributing to the content and conversation mix. According to coverage of the report from ClickZ Stats, “Eighty-six percent contribute to Internet content or information each month, including posting to blogs, community sites, and chat rooms.”
• Fast tracker — Fasts access to news and information is the primary reason these folks go online. They are the dominant users of map services, public transportation information, and other data.
• Everyday pro — These people are all about personal productivity and use the Net to reduce hassle in their lives and make life easier. For example, 84% of this group use the Net for online banking; 68% make purchases from online retailers.

The point, of course, is that treating the broadband audience as a single demographic is a huge mistake. As with any population, they can (and should) be recognized as individuals who are online at high-speed for different reasons, and each segment should be addressed based on what we know about them. I know this study will inform any efforts I take to communicate to audiences based, at least in part, on their high-speed connectivity.

Being a new dad, I think about the world my son will grow up in. Some things good, some not so good. I often find myself thinking, “Wow, if they only had that when I was a kid…”

Advances in technology are an obvious change- although I am still waiting for those damn flying cars they promised. But aside from the obvious, Web 2.0 is having a tremendous impact on education and the development of children. And for that, I am excited for my son. A recent article in USA TODAY which I learned about through Ypulse features the use of blogs in the school system. Middle school students in Missouri are blogging about books and connecting with authors to enhance their reading experience. – Wow, if they only had that when I was a kid!

One student says “Most books you read you have to guess how the author named the characters, why they chose to write about the topic or what inspired them.”

Teachers believe that the students are taking their writing more seriously knowing that it is going out to the “real world.” Grandparents from as far away as China are logging in to see what their grandchildren are writing. Even first graders are blogging! These younglings first write out what they want to say and then work with the teacher to edit before the teacher does the typing- a great way to learn how to organize your thoughts when writing. – Wow, if they only had that when I was a kid!

I look forward to my son having the advances in technology to help him learn and grow as a student. Now we can play catch AND blog together.

I’ve been in NYC for over a quarter of a year now (not long) but it wasn’t until this past week did I realize how intense this city is about technology. The PS3 comes out tomorrow and I have walked past a long line of patient dedicated gamers the last 4 days on the way to work, even when it rained. Where the weather is warmer, according to the CAG blog, people have been waiting for weeks. So in honor of the launch I am going to post a review of some games to make some people who don’t get one after waiting in line a little jealous.

Check out my video:

Crayon Vlog 2

Michael Denton/KaneTFM Abel

Coming from a Midwest business school I always heard about NYU, and how great their program is. Tonight I had the opportunity to walk the halls (thank you Stan) as well as see Joseph Jaffe in action again.  The man is unbelievable. I want to start off by letting everyone know he is not bullshitting when he says that everyone in this company has an equal voice.  I know you won’t believe me but… I went to listen to him speak tonight and he was okay with me accepting when Stan Phelps invited me, the loose cannon who’s wet behind the ears, (to join him) on a panel to discuss some topics including crayon, LLC, new marketing, Second Life, blogging, and podcasting. The last two I want to talk about first, then I’ll talk little about Second Life.

I noticed today when Joseph asked if anyone read blogs or listened to Podcasts, very few people said yes. Intuitively it leads me to believe one of two things (please correct me if I am drawing an incorrect conclusion).

Are blogs and podcasts not as broadly read and listened to as one might imagine?

The younger generation (especially college students) doesn’t have the resources (time, devices, money) to download and listen to or read Blogs and Podcasts and that the older generations, who make decisions, are not interested or not engaging.

Both scenarios scare the bijesus out of me, but the idea that the medium isn’t getting consumed scares me to death. This content, which is readily accessible, and analyses products, services, what ever, is exactly what my “free economy” is all about.  I want to know what peers and other user’s reviews are saying about my next big purchase or my last big idea.  I trust them more than “the Man”.  All the research I read says that it is not just me.  So where is the audience? And Why aren’t college kids and those in the creativity business not walking the walk?

We did have an amazing conversation about Second Life – What do you do there? Where is it going? Who is there? Why spend money on a game?  I’ve been having this conversation in and out of SL ever since my avatar was born and I am amazed at how much people can learn (I have learned) from being there.  The concept is vague and that’s how it’s meant to be. Let the community decide what stays and what doesn’t. I stand behind the idea of SL 100% I spend a lot of time there.  I would LOVE to continue this conversation. Come find me in SL.

-KaneTFM Abel

The campfire just got a whole lot more interesting. Variety reports today that veteran TV producer Steven Bochco is heading to a computer screen near you. Bochco, the creator of television series such as L.A. Law, Hill Street Blues and NYPD Blue will be creating video content for the video sharing site Metacafe. As least one show is already in production but no details are available just yet.

Describing his his involvement with viral video sharing, Bochco said, “It’s still sitting around a campfire telling stories. It’s just a different campfire.”
No word yet on if “Cop Rock 2″ is in development for Metacafe.