tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13931062532525754732024-02-18T21:36:04.179-05:00ALWAYS ONKaren Levine on Digital Media and Other MusingsKAREN LEVINEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04043137770031227088noreply@blogger.comBlogger76125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1393106253252575473.post-60421609555822549502010-06-18T11:52:00.004-04:002012-03-20T20:06:54.445-04:00Press On Good Words!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcyy5ILcuDpxjFVOCWGRFnNiGOth5_sRTQCuHQ0slxT1mY9LlL7hlD7vrmpC_S3Kyq2_zOg5ASBjcemhmL9ovvboJ_TQ_5UqNAmRyJa4X1RNxcxWuPoYs4Kuh2HeqgWaP-Qx3OMF7PQO8/s1600/Screen+shot+2010-06-18+at+11.55.18+AM.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 321px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcyy5ILcuDpxjFVOCWGRFnNiGOth5_sRTQCuHQ0slxT1mY9LlL7hlD7vrmpC_S3Kyq2_zOg5ASBjcemhmL9ovvboJ_TQ_5UqNAmRyJa4X1RNxcxWuPoYs4Kuh2HeqgWaP-Qx3OMF7PQO8/s400/Screen+shot+2010-06-18+at+11.55.18+AM.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5484143131441364818" /></a><br />"Always On" is now on <a href="http://www.karenlevine.com/">wordpress</a>. <a href="http://www.karenlevine.wordpress.com/">Come find me there for the most current postings:</a><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>KAREN LEVINEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04043137770031227088noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1393106253252575473.post-63405863526088209962010-06-15T10:37:00.002-04:002010-06-16T16:11:41.496-04:00Geo-Tagging, What Art Thou to Me?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhazJUkWlOLcfgk-fcbCa1qHP0da46wLVAlMLax5WfEjKwQkYHgG_3xOX1moa77YMf4EEsLKhsSVL3enkjvwApXCXS6-w_SVuNZ4_IXhEs7kjUgMDPAD-Glaheen0eX25traS8QHEVIQ8I/s1600-h/PICT1903_2.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhazJUkWlOLcfgk-fcbCa1qHP0da46wLVAlMLax5WfEjKwQkYHgG_3xOX1moa77YMf4EEsLKhsSVL3enkjvwApXCXS6-w_SVuNZ4_IXhEs7kjUgMDPAD-Glaheen0eX25traS8QHEVIQ8I/s200/PICT1903_2.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5450914734097311282" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Those of you who read my blog (much appreciated, by the way) may think that I am obsessed with </span><a href="http://foursquare.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">foursquare</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">. And, perhaps that is true. I am very much looking an upcoming talk by </span><a href="http://denniscrowley.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Dennis</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">, but that is beside the point. I am simply fascinated by the concept of this mobile application, how it affects my life, other people's lives, our society, communication, and so on - and how that is evolving with the expanding usage of this tool, </span><a href="http://gowalla.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Gowalla</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> and other hyper-local activities.<br /><br />As of this week (this entry was initiated March 20th), </span><a href="http://www.clickz.com/3639844"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">foursquare has half a million users</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">. That is up from 400,000 last week due to intense guerrilla marketing at the </span><a href="http://sxsw.com/interactive"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">South by Southwest</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> event (SXSW) last weekend. That, in itself, is noteworthy. From what I've heard, foursquare got the jump on Gowalla last March when it spread throughout the South by Southwest community - demonstrating the power of crowds and of live viral communication. Bring a group together with a passion for social media, and you can increase your audience by 25% in a weekend. Based on a CNET podcast, it also seems that Gowalla increased its user base that weekend with many foursquare users adding that application to their smartphone portfolio.<br /><br />As someone who often works from home and who has many different "</span><a href="http://karenlevine.blogspot.com/2010/02/measured-behavior-social-graphs.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">social graphs</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">," i.e., social and professional networks, foursquare has been of great interest to me as it has allowed me to stay in touch with the world beyond West 74th Street, meet new people, feel connected to a range of people and deepen my personal and professional relationships. I am also intrigued by the way in which the gaming aspect of the function affects me. By ranking people based on points and awarding points based on the number and characteristics of check-ins, foursquare brings out my competitive side and consequently influences my behavior. </span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikaC-sseHlR4-70nN-tHN9jmPM3Uu7uDhRPM7fW2-5K-7cGW9wxuGIsFqfmxKeVSfKT2FQmILYh-o5WFKAvFIOCEcwQuRNJ_UyNGzAlAZN3K7ApsKwKWIQsnsXZ5nxRrrWASo8E8ASkK0/s1600/gymrat1.png"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikaC-sseHlR4-70nN-tHN9jmPM3Uu7uDhRPM7fW2-5K-7cGW9wxuGIsFqfmxKeVSfKT2FQmILYh-o5WFKAvFIOCEcwQuRNJ_UyNGzAlAZN3K7ApsKwKWIQsnsXZ5nxRrrWASo8E8ASkK0/s200/gymrat1.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5452643109167203730" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">I feel motivated to get out, to go to multiple locations, to get to the gym because Kandace went there before work, and I want to unlock the Gym Rat badge, to check-in on my way to the subway so that I have time to capture that location. It also makes me more aware of my behavior. Until foursquare told me, I had no idea that I had been to a certain location 10 times in 30 days. I thought I went there once or twice a week. I am the mayor of Pinky Nail Salon, Fashion 74 Nails, MaxWax, Andy's Deli, Duane Reade and other local spots; this makes me aware of the fact that I frequent these place and that few other foursquarers do. And when I am dethroned, as with Duane Reade, I sense the expansion of the game's popularity. The first thing I do when I arrive somewhere is check in. The next thing I do is check my ranking.<br /><br />Each day, foursquare has a unique impact on my day as I watch the way in which it influences my city, myself, and at the risk of being melodramatic, my world. I include my world because I was surprised to see how prevalent it was in Puerto Rico.<br /><br />Hence, I have decided to keep a little diary of my new life with foursquare:<br /><br /><b>Saturday, March 20th, 2010</b><br /><br />I've just returned home from a long day in Central Park, at a seminar and hanging out with a friend.<br /><br />Most days that I check in at home, there is nothing trending in my neighborhood, which makes me feel like a bit of a pioneer. Today, there were two places: First, AMC Loews Lincoln Square 13, the huge multiplex theater on 67th-ish and Broadway. That makes sense. And second, a place called, I believe, Bar 460. I say, "I believe" because when I went to double check it just now, it was no longer trending, and I couldn't find it at all. Ah well, I came very close to learning of a new venue in my neighborhood.<br /><br />Oh, and in going back to look for Bar 460, I saw that the AMC theater had only 5 people. So, that's trending for the Upper West Side. It could be one group of friends. Ah, and voila, at 10:45pm the movie theater is no longer trending. I guess the early show is finished.<br /><br /><br /><b>Wednesday, March 24th, 2010</b><br /><br />Five weeks ago, I was fresh off the </span><a href="http://socialmediaweek.org/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Social Media Week</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> boat (metaphorical) and freshly on the foursquare bandwagon. I was like a person who had just finished the </span><a href="http://www.landmarkeducation.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Landmark Education Forum</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">. My enthusiasm was so great that it was contagious. It was at that time that I had a meeting with a senior executive at a major advertising agency. In demonstrating the application - having already checked in at the location - I noted that there was one person at the agency who was showing up as present. A senior Creative executive. The Strategy executive called him to acknowledge his tastemaker status, and I friended him.<br /><br />Today, I visited the agency again, and there were six people who had checked in. A six-fold increase in five weeks. I should feel good that the religion is spreading, but I am also feeling a little less uniquely "cool."<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0jY_srTj0Ma6dvlBy3YN1qlRZ2IeaGEkS42gmooiJ0oDYGiEKopxgexD-WSBEW0_NVk-r2yoMIl7OG62mrLIwuD4zh6G8tqfgrM_SCOc5L95rCY0CG76liNVNIub9C4tLsi9DH2tvlAo/s1600/Screen+shot+2010-03-24+at+10.30.15+PM.png"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 257px; height: 253px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0jY_srTj0Ma6dvlBy3YN1qlRZ2IeaGEkS42gmooiJ0oDYGiEKopxgexD-WSBEW0_NVk-r2yoMIl7OG62mrLIwuD4zh6G8tqfgrM_SCOc5L95rCY0CG76liNVNIub9C4tLsi9DH2tvlAo/s320/Screen+shot+2010-03-24+at+10.30.15+PM.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5452393463903236562" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">This evening, as I was walking from one </span><a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/fashion-74-nail-care-new-york"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">nail salon</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> (closed for the night) to </span><a href="http://nymag.com/listings/beauty/m4oa/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">another</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">, I used the opportunity to check in. Glancing down at my options, I noticed a new location that was "Trending Now." The name seemed to be "Sunburned" something and glancing at it as I walked, I thought it was a tanning salon! My observation, therefore: it looks like folks are getting ready for the warmer weather - though I was a little perplexed given the current temperature of 50-something and a less than inspiring weather forecast.<br /><br />Later that evening, when I arrived home, and my nails were dry enough to remove my iPhone from my pocket, I took another look at the name of the locale - which was still trending on the Wednesday night. It was "</span><a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-sunburnt-calf-manhattan"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Sunburnt Calf.</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">" As it turns out, Sunburnt Calf is a new bar and brunch locale - an offshoot of </span><a href="http://www.thesunburntcow.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Sunburnt Cow</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> in the </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Village,_Manhattan"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">East Village</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> and BondiRoad on Rivington Street - wherever that is - and has been open a little more than two months. Perhaps I am back in the know!<br /><br /><br /><b>Thursday, March 25th, 2010</b><br /><br />I've noticed that a my foursquare friends seem to spend a lot of time at airports. Is it a reflection of my group of friends, of people in general (with me as the exception), or the fact that since people have a lot of "free" time at airports they are more likely to check in. I think it is a combination with an emphasis on the latter. I've also noted that a disproportionate number of my friends seem to out of JFK - very few from Laguardia - and often fly JetBlue. Good taste. As I see them checking in at Terminal 5, I try to recall whether I was the one who set up that specific location.<br /><br /><br /><b>Friday, April 2nd, 2010</b><br /><br />The Museum of Natural History has been trending this week. It must be spring break. On a related note, the Shake Shack across the street from the museum has also been trending.<br /><br />A new person has started checking into Pure Yoga. A man! Quite a feat since I get absolutely no AT&T coverage within the building.<br /><br /><br /><b>Saturday, April 3rd, 2010</b><br /><br />25 people at the SOHO Apple Store early on a Saturday morning. Could it be that early adopters of foursquare are early adopters of the iPad. I think so. Moreover, it leads me to ask: What is the ratio of Apple to PC users...<br /><br />...in general<br />...on Twitter<br />...on foursquare<br />...with iPads - ok, that one is loaded<br /><br /><br /><b>Tuesday, April 7th, 2010</b><br /><br />I'm told that foursquare now has 750,000 users and 16 employees. (I wouldn't mind becoming #17...)<br /><br />Attended a social media panel at razorfish's NY offices (SMAC) followed by drinks and plentiful bar food at Heartland Brewery. foursquare users abounded - first time for me in a while.<br /><br />Whoops - almost forgot the most important bit of news! foursquare is rolling out analytics services. The implications for marketers are tremendous!<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLZXyFM8dNI4raE3wydGzVlXBxB5um28ze2r-Vu8a9ldidJP_JHIhwuVSihlvRS1uyVTbB-dtYiYyiWT8IHd0ausmsUcbYpXjdyPU7UPhugRiCK30bHaZMqZBPGg8eSDONagWjmGDiIys/s1600/Screen+shot+2010-04-07+at+11.13.18+PM.png"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 159px; height: 60px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLZXyFM8dNI4raE3wydGzVlXBxB5um28ze2r-Vu8a9ldidJP_JHIhwuVSihlvRS1uyVTbB-dtYiYyiWT8IHd0ausmsUcbYpXjdyPU7UPhugRiCK30bHaZMqZBPGg8eSDONagWjmGDiIys/s200/Screen+shot+2010-04-07+at+11.13.18+PM.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5457599667696142850" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Oh, and another, Tom C. tells me that the social marketing executive for JetBlue always keeps tabs on who is the Mayor of Terminal 5 at JFK. Smart. As I said above, I think there's a lot of opportunity at airports - captive audience with time to kill away from most of their social graph.<br /><br /><br /><b>Thursday, April 22nd, 2010</b><br /><br />One of the more interesting things that Bonin Bough, Global Director of Digital and Social Media Strategy for Pepsi, said on a </span><a href="http://smac.gather.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">SMAC</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> (Social Media Advertising Consortium) panel the other night was this: While historically, a huge (300,000 people, I believe and hundreds of thousands of products, I believe...) company like Pepsi would find a movement/application like foursquare to be too small to be relevant or usable, their current outlook is that they have the ability to take something like this, if it is truly interesting, and make it big. (He didn't use the word scaleable, but I felt a need to say it... like a trained reflex.) Very interesting.<br /><br />I am now starting to be ousted as mayor from locations I personally created such as Penang UWS and Andy's Deli on Amsterdam. Isn't that always the case. I'm out there using it when everyone thinks I'm crazy, and then someone else gets the glory. :-)<br /><br />I've noted that when I am at a networking event and another digital strategist (typically male) is using foursquare, he will "aggressively" take ownership of instructing those not familiar with it and assume that I know less than he, even if I have checked in as well. I've also noted a lot of people who seem to have some personal knowledge/relationship with Dennis or his colleagues but also have some difficulty gaining access. Oh, how I hope my plans to have dinner with him following an upcoming talk that I am co-sponsoring do not fall through. It seems to be a highly sought after privilege.<br /><br /><br /><b>Sunday, April 25th, 2010</b><br /><br />After discovering Burnt Calf via foursquare trending some months ago, I finally checked it out in person on Saturday. It's very close to my apartment and has bottomless brunch cocktails. However, it turns out that brunch doesn't start until noon. So we went elsewhere and sat outside on the lovely day that seems to be preceding a rainy one - still holding out hope for a 5pm tennis game.<br /><br />There is a young fellow named B.H. who is the mayor of two residential buildings on CPW in the West 90s. His tip is "Live Here." Do we think he's a broker?<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1MCqJYdhC7HU0T43KCX7JWtZ0MRK9TXqbTvR9zHVKYdxly7k9_GIs6zMM3DiFOwnvLbJ3eqcBPrX9On_CMAoHdCtHBxRzVjz1rgCUga6lo_WOEKNNb1dEGY4DTr3B1fRfyc9t9DZ9PA4/s1600/IMG_0101.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1MCqJYdhC7HU0T43KCX7JWtZ0MRK9TXqbTvR9zHVKYdxly7k9_GIs6zMM3DiFOwnvLbJ3eqcBPrX9On_CMAoHdCtHBxRzVjz1rgCUga6lo_WOEKNNb1dEGY4DTr3B1fRfyc9t9DZ9PA4/s200/IMG_0101.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5463944062662293586" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">I've come to the conclusion that the mayor of the Central Park Tennis Center does not play tennis at all. He seems to be a runner that checks in at each venue he passes. That explains why the overseer at the courts didn't recognize him.<br /><br />I have noticed that a former colleague of mine was spending a lot of time at the gym (as communicated via foursquare and, before that, facebook). She would check in at 4 in the morning and often check in twice a day. I found out today that she's a body builder! So, it wasn't that she was going to the gym before an early day at the office, she was spending 4 hours a day working out!<br /><br />A few months ago, when I first heard Gary Vee speak, he asked his audience how many of them had sworn at one point that they would never have a cell phone? And how many swore they would never have a facebook account? When I heard him speak last week at the re-Set conference, he added foursquare and Gowalla to his list of things once forsworn.<br /><br />Hey! Did foursquare just add back the ability to Shout Out once you're already checked in? It seems that they have.<br /><br /><br /><b>Monday, April 26th, 2010</b><br /><br />Can foursquare hurt your career? As a consultant, and depending upon the specific project, I often work from home and have the flexibility to work whatever hours I like - as clients who have received 3am emails will attest. However, if a client - or potential client - sees that I hit the yoga studio at 4pm or grab a game of tennis at 3, will she think I have too much time on my hands? Or will she think that I have a good work-life balance or level of discipline? This came up in a conversation today with an executive who passed on a job candidate because the applicant didn't have a lot of LinkedIn connections. Personally, I think that is a very valid and relevant assessment. When I interview someone for a job, one of the first things I do is check out the LinkedIn profile - particularly if I want to get a sense of the digital savviness of the candidate. Does use of foursquare signal that you are a vanguard or simply give out too much information?<br /><br />I am convinced that foursquare needs me to reach their full strategic potential. I'm going to spend the next few days figuring out why.<br /><br /><br /><b>Wednesday, April 28th, 2010</b><br /><br />Oooh, I'm #15 on my list of friends this week! Usually I'm at least in the top five. Often in the top two by the end of the weekend. This can't be good.<br /><br />One of my foursquare contacts (Seth H) has gone rogue on foursquare as follows: "I've subverted Foursquare to add Mitzvot in this case Sepharat H'Omer - the Counting of the Omer the days between Passover and Pentecost (Shavout.) It's 49 days so every day I try to put something clever in. I also added a check in for Shabbat. I'm still trying to figure out why I'm not the Mayor of Sephirat H'Omer as I've checked in twenty something times."<br /><br />Another of my contacts likes to include little sales pitches in her posts. I'm not a fan of this approach.<br /><br /><br /><b>Thursday, May 6th, 2010</b><br /><br />Creepy? Maybe. Helpful? Yes. I have a business contact who lives in Boston that I want to meet with when he is next in New York. This morning he checked into Penn Station, Philly on his way to NYC. I sent him a text. This afternoon, he checked into Penn Station, NYC. I sent him a second text. This evening, we are meeting for drinks!<br /><br />I would estimate that foursquare has a million members at this point.<br /><br /><br /><b>Monday, May 17th, 2010</b><br /><br />I've noticed that the AMC Theater and Shake Shack are often trending in my neighborhood. Could this be related to the fact that both places involve downtime in which you are waiting for something to happen - waiting for the movie to start & waiting in line... similar to why I think airports often encourage check-in.<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3em0otblQjow9NTXHlc45TqgmwHSZSqaSOHw-lv0GNu2oqY1KTM44ghuPxTo09aVxCxbtZJiXhVLgcehUSHabFooeaLER-1yMmxnvtCiGr1yhjMDtdiiyY66j4E7moBA9W-i5PdTL2zQ/s1600/101953827.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3em0otblQjow9NTXHlc45TqgmwHSZSqaSOHw-lv0GNu2oqY1KTM44ghuPxTo09aVxCxbtZJiXhVLgcehUSHabFooeaLER-1yMmxnvtCiGr1yhjMDtdiiyY66j4E7moBA9W-i5PdTL2zQ/s320/101953827.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5472372612591268770" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Came home today to see lots of activity at the Beacon Theater. When I checked in at the fruit cart just south of the stage door, I noticed 47 people checked in. With a little Google sleuthing, I figured out that Fox TV is having their upfront presentation there. I then went onto Twitter to see whether attendees were tweeting about the event. Tried out #fox and #foxupfront. Indeed, they were - though very minimally relative to the number of folks on foursquare.<br /><br />I then decided to take a look at who is attending the upfront. I clicked on a person and then took at look at her mayorships. It's quite amazing what you can piece together from this little bit of info. You can basically infer where the person lives, where she works, what her family status is and what her interests are. One attendee is mayor of Zenith HQ. Hmmm... a media buyer, perhaps. Another attendee is mayor of Berry Hill Elementary School, the CVS on "Cold Spring Road," LIRR Syosset and PM Pediatrics on Jericho Turnpike. Dr. House would have a field day with this stuff!<br /><br /><br /><b>Wednesday, May 19th</b><br /><br />I noticed that ABC had more check-ins for its upfront presentation at Avery Fisher than Fox did at the Beacon. Around 57 vs. 47. I'm assuming that it was a larger crowd - otherwise, it could mean that the foursquare population is growing over the course of and due in part to upfront week.<br /><br />5 people checked into the JCC at 1am on a Wednesday morning. Strange...<br /><br />Created a check-in for "Stuck In Traffic." It had to be done.</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><b>Tuesday, June 1st</b></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Foursquare is losing its allure as the time it takes to check in increases. If I can't check in before the subway train arrives, then spending my time on the platform waiting for foursquare to load is not a good use of my time. I understand that check-ins have gone from one per second to 100 per second, so I'll be patient and wait for the foursquare team to catch up, but the situation definitely reduces the fun factor and the usability quotient.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">One of these days, I'll start a new entry about the commercial applications of foursquare and location tagging. In the meantime, here is an interesting example from May 3rd of what Pepsi is doing. Recall from a prior posting that the beverage manufacturer's Bonin Bough said on a SMAC panel that if a startup like foursquare has an attractive concept, Pepsi will not dismiss the venture as too small but rather might find a way to bring it to scale. In this case, it looks like Pepsi has gone rogue:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(113, 113, 113); font-family:'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;font-size:13px;"><h3 style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; "><a name="pepsi_roll_two_geobased_loyalty" class="headline" href="http://ct.pbinews.com/rd/cts?d=94-13795-81-81-271032-2784486-0-0-0-1-1-365" style="color: rgb(75, 115, 156); text-decoration: underline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-weight: normal; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: none; font-size:24px;"></span></span></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHRq3rN4XcXmEGt3IOo3VpuO9k1Vmbx8bvjUiCj4FfDUIqSwSz3TUOFvN9cfjPlUB4QB8iwX2jWH0J1H_yHG-D_p8PYLVfFow93GQ3ZGdlkfPqAQJbXYy_DQtpqxJJaHlodY_NHSLhHVU/s1600/8026-web.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 178px; height: 275px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHRq3rN4XcXmEGt3IOo3VpuO9k1Vmbx8bvjUiCj4FfDUIqSwSz3TUOFvN9cfjPlUB4QB8iwX2jWH0J1H_yHG-D_p8PYLVfFow93GQ3ZGdlkfPqAQJbXYy_DQtpqxJJaHlodY_NHSLhHVU/s400/8026-web.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5477839946024561362" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Pepsi to Roll Two Geo-based Loyalty Efforts for Mobile</span></h3><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">By Brian Quinton</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span><p class="article" style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; color: rgb(113, 113, 113); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Beverage maker Pepsi has announced that it will roll out two location-based mobile campaigns to offer discounts and loyalty points to consumers who use them to patronize nearby restaurant partners.<br /><br />In the first, slated to launch in mid-May, the beverage maker will roll out Pepsi Loot, an iPhone app that will use the geo-location abilities of users’ mobile phones to identify and direct them to nearby restaurants that serve Pepsi beverages, both chains such as Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, IHOP, Popeye’s, Dairy Queen and Arby’s and also participating independents with Pepsi on the menu.<br /><br />Users who find these locations, or “Pop spots”, with the app and go there will then be encouraged by both mobile alerts and in-store signs to “check in”. Users that check in at three pop spots will earn “Loot” loyalty points that can then be redeemed for music downloads from Universal Music Group, behind-the-scenes video content for mobile phones from Loot featured artists like Jamie Cullum and Katherine McPhee, or discount and free-food offers from Pop Spot member restaurants.</span></p><p class="article" style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; color: rgb(113, 113, 113); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;"><br /></span></p><p class="article" style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b>Thursday, June 3rd</b></span></span></span></p><p class="article" style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">56 people were checked into Bryant Park yesterday afternoon. That's crazy! I wonder how many people are at this one square block park at any one time. A sign of warm, sunny, weather and a reflection of how fast Foursquare is spreading on this little island called Manhattan.</span></span></span></p><p class="article" style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p class="article" style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b>Tuesday, June 8th</b></span></span></span></p><p class="article" style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Starcom MediaVest starting to show up on a regular basis as top trending venue during the day. 15 people today at 11am.</span></span></span></p><p class="article" style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">I have been wondering whether the Cirque du Soleil that is currently resident at the Beacon is something I would want to see. Yesterday, when I checked into a parking meter near my home, I got a pop up from Anna O. recommending it - though she did comment on the clowns, and I am more interested in the performance/acrobatics/skill elements of CdS. I will text for more info. That also reminded me that I should check the "Tips" from the Beacon for more info. The only potential downside is that people tend not to leave negative tips, so it will be a bit biased.</span></span></span></p><p class="article" style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Slowness of checking-in continues to be a downer. I guess it's understandable given that foursquare is nearing 1.6 million users</span></span></span></p><p class="article" style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;color:#000000;">See <a href="http://www.livestream.com/mashable/video?clipId=pla_ffd93f30-4f89-4c3b-8caf-1cab65642da7">interview with founder Dennis Crowley</a> from the Mashable social media Summit</span></p><p class="article" style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;color:#000000;"><br /></span></p><p class="article" style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;color:#000000;"><b>Monday, June 14th, 2010</b></span></p><p class="article" style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;color:#000000;">DVR'd Dennis Crowley's interview with Maria Bartiromo. Need to watch and/or record it before Time Warner Cable comes by to fix my cable service.</span></p><p class="article" style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;color:#000000;">72 people were checked into the Twitter Conference (TWTRCON NY10) this morning. 50 people were checked in at the Tony's last night. Sometimes 4SQ alerts me to a place for me to go, or motivates me to get somewhere - such as the Internet Week Expo - but sometimes it's too late to make plans for it, or I just don't have the access, which sometimes makes me sad - I admit. Green eyed FourSquenvy.</span></p><p class="article" style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;color:#000000;">I realized that it's probably not a good idea to check in somewhere that it's illegal to be such as Central Park at 1am. In theory, the Park police could monitor it. I know that they leave tips about venues within the Park.</span></p><p class="article" style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;color:#000000;">I sincerely believe that foursquare could be the next facebook. According to what I've seen thus far of Dennis' interview, they do not yet have a working biz model, but are building up the audience, participation and data to have a truly powerful monetization machine (in my own words).</span></p><p class="article" style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;color:#000000;"><br /></span></p><p class="article" style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;color:#000000;"><b>Tuesday, June 15th</b></span></p><p class="article" style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;color:#000000;">It must be summer in Central Park because I've seen Delacorte Theater (Shakespeare in the Park) and Summer Stage trending over the last week.</span></p><p class="article" style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;color:#000000;"><br /></span></p><p class="article" style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;color:#000000;"><b>Wednesday, June 16th</b></span></p><p class="article" style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;color:#000000;">Today is the day that someone other than I checked into my apartment! It was the second place she had ever checked-in, the first being the cafe where we had tea. This hereby justifies - in my mind - my creating a venue for my apartment building.</span></p><p class="article" style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; color: rgb(113, 113, 113); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, serif;font-size:130%;color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:16px;"><br /></span></span></p></span></div>KAREN LEVINEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04043137770031227088noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1393106253252575473.post-25899286784560271482010-06-15T00:17:00.000-04:002010-06-15T00:18:54.815-04:00Karen's Coins - iTunes Optimization, The Sixth Force and Other Phrases for Thought<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixBn1VbsZy2NFgELAqh0v0K1IQVcpOFZ5rWflERyh_dwZm4Lv84Y0n_P4tA5Z1Fl5pZfm22esb9PRv-zuSBe4Gsu9zcJYm58prQZ7eTXN_ROF7zrbj3an3aF5LO6MIeU_Lg2X-xlVWscE/s1600/overview-hero-20090608.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 253px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixBn1VbsZy2NFgELAqh0v0K1IQVcpOFZ5rWflERyh_dwZm4Lv84Y0n_P4tA5Z1Fl5pZfm22esb9PRv-zuSBe4Gsu9zcJYm58prQZ7eTXN_ROF7zrbj3an3aF5LO6MIeU_Lg2X-xlVWscE/s400/overview-hero-20090608.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5473855256894847106" /></a>Here Are Some Phrases, Terms and Concepts I've Created and Coined. I hope they give you food for thought:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">iTunes Optimization (aka iTO)</span> - The art and science of marketing an iPhone application via the <a href="http://www.apple.com/iphone/apps-for-iphone/">iPhone application store</a> - and within the mobile ecosystem in general. The ultimate goal is to get the application as high as possible on the list of relevant and/or recommended applications. This involves paid mobile advertising, cross-promotion and other tools, as yet unmastered.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Alternatively Application Store Marketing and Application Store Optimization (ASM and ASO)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">The Sixth Force</span> - Refers to the importance of "complements" in evaluating the strategic position and approach of a company or organization. The sixth force supplements Porter's existing five forces: Suppliers, Customers, Competitors, Potential New Entrants, Substitutes. When I was a brand manager for RAGU Pizza Sauce, the introduction and declining popularity of Boboli pizza crust turned out to be the most important element in explaining the rise and fall of pizza sauce consumption over a three-year period.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><a href="http://karenlevine.blogspot.com/2010/05/disaggregation-correlation-optimization.html">Segmented Media Pricing</a> - </span> Print publishers need to start looking at their business in a new way. Rather than maintaining the print versions of their magazine and newspaper publications as they are, and then deciding what form of walled garden, paid, metered, micropayment and/or freemium model to implement online, they need to unbundle and redesign what they offer - which is news and information, not a printed magazine or electronic replication with enhancements. <br /><br />(Formerly called Disaggregation Correlations Optimization)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqazjrDeq5Q69PQcLQuODdIuI_fKGL_XhkYyMzVa8u_g6Eh4gsUX8f6kdSb5vDqid0nuicKd1DUkUBP9RsZ1YmmR-jJ61btbdgum2Mxwy88mvv4S-HKWbvZ6LqTJa9XS2PI9DAW1J6sg8/s1600/office_gossip-web1.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 239px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqazjrDeq5Q69PQcLQuODdIuI_fKGL_XhkYyMzVa8u_g6Eh4gsUX8f6kdSb5vDqid0nuicKd1DUkUBP9RsZ1YmmR-jJ61btbdgum2Mxwy88mvv4S-HKWbvZ6LqTJa9XS2PI9DAW1J6sg8/s320/office_gossip-web1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5473967214459997186" /></a><span style="font-weight:bold;">Social Mediaphobe</span> - A marketer, manager or executive who is afraid to expose his brand to the masses - to what the massess might say - in a social forum. He is afraid that consumers might disparage the brand or say something inappropriate - and that, and this is the most common fear - he will be responsible because he sponsored, created, condoned, enabled, facilitated, hosted or participated in the forum. He is afraid of having his feelings hurt or his wrists slapped. <br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Hold the hands of these Social Media-phobes as they look down upon the icy ski slope. Tell them they can do it. They can conquer the mountain. Tell them not to lean back. Not to look back. That will only cause them to fall. Let them know that they can enjoy the ride. The journey. And that it can be exhilarating and even, well, social.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Beer Diplomacy</span> - The use of beer by the president of the United States to patch up an awkward race-relations situation.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Eccentrepeneur</span> - Simply put, an eccentric entrepreneur. You'll know one when you see one.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Mistweeting</span> - I did not personally coin this and give credit to Michael Herz at NYSSA. This refers to the act of stating or implying that you are doing something or located somewhere and then contradicting that with Twitter updates. <br />Example:<br /> Spoken Word -- "I will be out of town all summer." <br /> Tweet -- "Just had dinner at a great restaurant in the West Village!"<br />Oops!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Coffaholic</span> - Someone who loves, loves, loves coffee <span style="font-style:italic;">[you know who you are]</span> and everything that comes with it. Someone who will sit in a Starbucks just to soak in the aroma. Someone who buys every variety of those traveling coffee mugs she can find - even though she really needs no more than one.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">By the way, does anyone remember thermoses - with the screw on lids and a cup on top of that? Do those still exist? The ones where you could add a little something to your warm beverage to make the football game a little more entertaining.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Reconnaissance Shopping</span> - A quick walk through a retail establishment such as <a href="http://www.loehmanns.com/">Loehmann's</a> to keep tabs on the types of merchandise they carry should a specific need arise. For example, recent reconnaissance made me aware of an abundance of very cute low-heeled boots, but I was not in the market for these. However, upon hearing from my doctor that I should stop wearing high heels, I was able to complete a quick, efficient shopping expedition on my way home from her office. Reconnaissance shopping is not the same as window shopping, which is more recreational and leisurely. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh55JiiXszZRrB_SibAMxjs_LHfTG2b1JkCnhXn5yDuM69s1RZhoIUh8EeMqb0TkGVmQrsaaoOcs9TdDNm6QATzXHrglqv05S-UUsLYB2HjjKsS300Fyd-eIzCRqXz5xhrt-epVMeRVPPc/s1600-h/P1020895.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh55JiiXszZRrB_SibAMxjs_LHfTG2b1JkCnhXn5yDuM69s1RZhoIUh8EeMqb0TkGVmQrsaaoOcs9TdDNm6QATzXHrglqv05S-UUsLYB2HjjKsS300Fyd-eIzCRqXz5xhrt-epVMeRVPPc/s320/P1020895.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5443381599166034898" /></a><span style="font-weight:bold;">Neiphews</span> - Kind of a cop out. Looking for a word that encompasses both nieces and nephews as in, "I have four niephews - three nephews and one niece."<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Frolleague</span> - A colleague you would friend (or have friended) on Facebook.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Ovation Inflation</span> - The somewhat recent practice here in NYC of giving a standing ovation to any performance that costs enough that the audience feels they must justify their expenditure by categorizing the performance as one that calls for a standing ovation. Personally, I save my ovations for occasions in which I am so moved, impressed or rendered speechless that I rise to my feet without even knowing it.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">The Fourth Dimension</span> - Of course, this term is not new; however, I would assert that via time shifting technology, we have indeed reached the fourth dimension. Deep. <br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">(As it turns out I learned during a dinner with one of the Hadron Collider experimental physicists that digital video recorders and podcasts have not given us access to the fourth dimension. Evidentally, the fourth dimension derives from the Space x Time = Distance equation. Ah, well.)</span><div><span style="font-style:italic;"><br /></span></div><div><b>Foursquenvy</b><span> - Feeling bad because someone has checked-in somewhere you wish you could be</span></div>KAREN LEVINEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04043137770031227088noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1393106253252575473.post-13626077914669373632010-06-14T12:25:00.000-04:002010-06-14T12:25:48.506-04:00Calendars... Open! Upcoming Programs, Conferences, Panels & EventsHere are some programs, conferences, panels and events that I have on my radar that you might find of interest as well.<br /><br /><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">UPCOMING:</span></b><br /><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></b><div><div><div><b>NFL's Commissioner—Roger Goodell: The Business of Sports, NYC</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Checking In with the Co-Founder of foursquare, </b><a href="http://denniscrowley.com/"><b>Dennis Crowl</b><b>ey</b></a> (I am co-sponsoring this event)<br /><br />As social networks and online spaces proliferate, we risk losing contact with the real world. Why go out, when we can access the entire world through Facebook or Twitter? Enter foursquare. Part social network, part city guide, part game, foursquare encourages you to get out and experience your city, while simultaneously participating in online space. "Checking in" to various venues like restaurants, bars, and stores tells your friends where you are and the more you check in, the more badges you can earn. If you have the most check-ins at a particular venue, foursquare names you the "Mayor" -- a distinction many of the New York's restaurants and bars are coming to recognize with special discounts and offers. When co-founder Dennis Crowley checks in to the Harvard Club, he'll give us a special glimpse into foursquare's past, present, and future.<br /><br /><br /><br /><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">RECENTLY ATTENDED</span></b><br /><br /></div><div><br /><b><a href="http://www.internetweekny.com/#/?day=7">Internet Week 2010 NYC</a></b><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b><a href="http://mashable.com/2010/06/08/live-watch-the-mashable-media-summit/?utm_source=TweetMeme&utm_medium=widget&utm_campaign=retweetbutton&utm_test=erwerwer">Mashable Media Summit</a> - still more to watch via Livestream recordings<br /></b><div><a href="http://www.internetweekny.com/#/?day=7"></a><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b><a href="http://www.streamingmedia.com/Webevents/ThankYou.aspx?AttendeeID=121293&Confirm=1">From On Demand to Always On - How to Reach and Engage a Mobile Audience</a></b><b>. Limelight Networks and MTV Networks Talk Mobile Video</b> -- still available via recorded webcast and presentation<br /><br />What a difference a year makes. Remember when the iPhone had the app store market cornered? When there wasn't a Droid, or a Nexus One? A Kin, or an Incredible? When there wasn't a Nook, or an iPad, or a Slate? The mobile market is changing, and content publishers face a world of complexity in delivering media to audiences on the go.<br /><br />Limelight Networks CTO of Mobility and Monetization Solutions Jonathan Cobb and MTV Networks Senior Director of Product Development Todd Kennedy discuss evolving market conditions, mobile strategy considerations, and real-world examples of mobile media success.<br /><br />The webcast covers:<br /><ul><li>Media delivery to mobile browsers and mobile apps across a wide array of devices</li><li>A range of publisher scenarios from premium television delivery to "how-to" video streams</li><li>A list of variables to consider when forming a mobile strategy, as well as recommendations for implementation and monetization</li><li>An in-depth look at how MTV Networks has expanded into mobile delivery with many of its well-known television brands</li></ul><b></b></div></div></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWpZ41fIPPR3FL8XgHgPvH2ia-5kg_YLdZtIEM6gdYwdm3Kqj5_1y5v-YhbJgly2XIa_HNZAmR4e8UDFvZpj12qx2mUMv6SJP_e5TsU1vLkbauhelnGCM43ZmTuvTeleqOlhobrGY8jIY/s1600/jimmy_wales_wikipedia.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 141px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWpZ41fIPPR3FL8XgHgPvH2ia-5kg_YLdZtIEM6gdYwdm3Kqj5_1y5v-YhbJgly2XIa_HNZAmR4e8UDFvZpj12qx2mUMv6SJP_e5TsU1vLkbauhelnGCM43ZmTuvTeleqOlhobrGY8jIY/s320/jimmy_wales_wikipedia.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5475573056143734482" /></a><b><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Wales"></a></b></div><div><b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Wales">A Conversation with Jimmy Wales</a></b><b>, Founder of </b><a href="http://www.wikipedia.org/"><b>wikipedia</b></a>. (I organized this event on behalf of the Harvard Club of NYC in conjunction with the HBS Club of NYC.)<br /><br />Is it possible to collect the sum of all human knowledge and make it available to every person for free? Jimmy Wales thinks it is. And as founder of the online collaborative encyclopedia wikipedia, he has made that his goal. With 15 million articles in 271 languages and 680 billion monthly visits, wikipedia is the largest, most popular general reference on the web. So, how is the content on this expansive source of information created, maintained and “policed?” Is this open-source resource reliable or biased? And what is the future of this kind of collaborative web culture?<br /><br />Come find out through a special interview with Jimmy Wales by media expert Adam Klein (MBA ‘79, JD ’87). A former strategy and management professor at HBS, Dr. Klein teaches at Columbia’s Journalism School and as founder of Media Leader LLC, continues to apply his strategy, innovation and change management expertise to the rapidly transforming media industry.<br />Mr. Wales was named one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people and appointed a fellow of Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet and Society.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhafxP0feJj6HY_8gX_TJmOS_raY5OvpGV-B0loOmpuakHj1IvjzVjRM1qBQgbtCn5mHPBOBph9MGzXe7c95HnKBzTDQQVQ9Kv1qEMdm4ZJyj_vLsYUzMwHURTHddps8xF-6XgZJoWJR4/s1600/1336b51.png"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 75px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhafxP0feJj6HY_8gX_TJmOS_raY5OvpGV-B0loOmpuakHj1IvjzVjRM1qBQgbtCn5mHPBOBph9MGzXe7c95HnKBzTDQQVQ9Kv1qEMdm4ZJyj_vLsYUzMwHURTHddps8xF-6XgZJoWJR4/s320/1336b51.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470018489462389490" /></a><b>Linked-N Bergen County Networking Event. </b><a href="http://linkednbergenmay18th.eventbrite.com/"><b>Social Media Discussion Panel About LinkedIn</b></a><b>.</b> <span style="font-weight:bold;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#993399;"> I was one of the panelists.</span></i></span> Tuesday, May 18th. 6:30-9pm. Crowne Plaza Hotel, Paramus, NJ.<br /><br />Registration will be from 6:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m with networking until about 8:15 p.m. And then back by popular demand we will have another panel discussion hosted by Chris Kieff.<br /><br />The food is being catered by Bone Fish Grill, and there will be a cash bar. The Crown Plaza is located at 601 From Rd next to the Paramus Park Mall and across the street from the Garden State Parkway.<br /><br />You can register at the link above. The cost is $12 in advance, $15 at the door. There were 84 people at the last Linked-N Bergen County event, and we expect to break the 100 mark with this program.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.saatchiny.com/7x7"><b>Saatchi & Saatchi 7x7.</b></a> Wednesday, May 5th, 2010. NYC<br /><br /><br /><b>CLEOPATRA: The Most Powerful Woman of the Ancient Mediterranean World</b>, a talk by Dr. Duane Roller, author of a new biography of Cleopatra. Monday, May 3rd, 2010. Harvard Club of New York (my event)<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.Whartonpublab.com/index.html"><b>The Future of Publishing</b></a> by <a href="http://www.whartoninteractive.com/">WIMI</a> (Wharton Interactive). Friday, April 30th, full day. NYC.<br /><br />Traditional publishing models have been disrupted, fragmented and dissolved. For books, magazines or newspapers, new behaviors and technologies have changed the face of publishing forever. Join the Wharton Lab for Innovation in Publishing (part of the Wharton Interactive Media Initiative, Knowledge@Wharton, and Wharton School Publishing to examine the new technologies and strategies that impact all facets of the industry to help bring actionable answers to publishing executives. Conference highlights include:<br /><br />Keynote addresses from Gordon Crovitz, Co-Founder of Press+ (a service of Journalism Online) and Martin Nisenholtz, Senior Vice President for Digital Operations at The New York Times Company<br /><br />Panel discussions spanning the consumer, publisher and delivery of the future, the value of social media in publishing and the mobility of new content with speakers from Hearst Interactive, Google, Simon & Schuster, Condé Nast, Wall Street Journal, Ipsos Mendelsohn, Demand Media, Digg.com, Hyperion Books, Fast Pencil, Open Road Media, Outside.In, NBC Universal, Flurry, and many more<br />Open forum style where attendees will be strongly encouraged to engage in discussion and brainstorming in the panel workshops<br /><br /><a href="http://www.emarketer.com/Reports/All/Emarketer_2000659.aspx"><b>Seven Guidelines for Achieving ROI from Social Media</b></a>. Webinar with Geoff Ramsey by eMarketer. Thursday, April 29th, 2010<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://apps.facebook.com/feightlive/"><b>F8</b></a><b> by Facebook</b>. Wednesday, April 21st from 8:30am-5:15pm - Still available via Livestream. Definitely check it out to hear about the open graph protocol and other revolutionary announcements.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFC-JtLpzhpM1XYHj57dcBTgBN6dCkjsAz93CXChS3vS3r9oSXA8vwts6rgKRzBJWIFpr1iIBeQEjyeuJrD8UwSoY5l3oqL1j4-YvDkfrfNrMzyR0cQI8-mq0N0PCUqZvn4TQs_L0_yjo/s1600-h/Bob+Seelert.jpeg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 188px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFC-JtLpzhpM1XYHj57dcBTgBN6dCkjsAz93CXChS3vS3r9oSXA8vwts6rgKRzBJWIFpr1iIBeQEjyeuJrD8UwSoY5l3oqL1j4-YvDkfrfNrMzyR0cQI8-mq0N0PCUqZvn4TQs_L0_yjo/s200/Bob+Seelert.jpeg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5449291617562225426" /></a><b>How to Lead in Tough Times</b> with <a href="http://www.startwiththeanswer.com/images/downloads/Bob-Seelert_Extended-Biography.pdf">Bob Seelert</a>, Worldwide Chairman of <a href="http://www.saatchi.com/">Saatchi & Saatchi</a>. Tuesday, April 20th. Harvard Club of New York (my event).<br /><br /><a href="http://resetbusiness.com/"><b>re-Set: The Business Models of Tomorrow</b></a>. Presented by <a href="http://www.vanityfair.com/">VANITY FAIR</a> and <a href="http://theharperstudio.com/">HARPERSTUDIO</a>. Panelists include <a href="http://sethgodin.typepad.com/about.html">Seth Godin</a> and <a href="http://garyvaynerchuk.com/">Gary Vaynerchuk</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Eisner">Michael Eisner</a>, <a href="http://www.tompeters.com/toms_world/toms_books.php">Tom Peters</a> and Anna Bernasek. Tuesday, April 20th, 8am - noon<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/14/business/14flier.html"><b>Michael Tuts</b></a><b>, US physicist in charge of the Hadron Collider</b>. April 12, 2010. Harvard Club of New York. (I was the co-sponsor of this event.)<br /><br /><a href="http://smac.eventbrite.com/"><b>Social Media Advertising Consortium NYC Salon</b></a>. Wednesday, April 7, 2010 from 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM. Razorfish Offices, NYC.</div></div></div>KAREN LEVINEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04043137770031227088noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1393106253252575473.post-10607786481776808002010-06-11T13:47:00.001-04:002010-06-11T13:48:18.672-04:00Marketing an iPhone App - What a Difference a Year Makes in a Digital Media World<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhClNbwHAb1nt6FCEcssjgOy0eVcVXsAhwUOIz7GeZ8UgZbF5WthcRaK-TENSvm3LUAa1-AU-Iyfzhm2NGIvyFcT9sfVyiStWZtO3gdaDtj03MeH-ghDNrCFOWQ-S57tkZ_S1lHIUSn8Yg/s1600/htc-wildfire-on-vodafone-uk.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 261px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhClNbwHAb1nt6FCEcssjgOy0eVcVXsAhwUOIz7GeZ8UgZbF5WthcRaK-TENSvm3LUAa1-AU-Iyfzhm2NGIvyFcT9sfVyiStWZtO3gdaDtj03MeH-ghDNrCFOWQ-S57tkZ_S1lHIUSn8Yg/s320/htc-wildfire-on-vodafone-uk.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5475629353555056130" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">What a difference a year makes! I posted the blog entry below on May 27th, 2009. As I watch the iPad spiral to unforeseen levels of penetration in just a few weeks, as I ogle over the new HTC Droid, as the number of application stores reaches 5+, and as the number of Droid applications is expected to surpass those for iPhones this year, I thought it was worth pulling it up for old time's sake and to notice what a difference a year makes - and also what has stayed the same. So, in the interest of time - as I have important meetings at 2pm and 4:30pm, here are a few data points for thought:<br /><br /><ul><li>Mobile ad sales accounted for approximately $391 million in 2009 and are forecast to reach $561 million in 2010 (Zenith Optimedia). Of course, this doesn't begin to take into account content revenue: music, video, applications, etc. or usage charges: text messaging, data, voice (remember voice?)</li></ul></span></span><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The global market for mobile applications reached $10 billion in 2009. (Didn't see that coming in 2006!) - Juniper </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Research</span></span></li></ul><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Apple sold 1 million iPads in 28 days and more than 2 million in less than 60 days.</span></span></li></ul><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">It took 74 days to sell 1 million iPhones.</span></span></li></ul><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">As of May 3, 2010, 12 million iPad applications had been downloaded and 1.5 million eBooks (Steve Jobs)</span></span></li></ul><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">There are, I believe, 200,000 iPad applications available</span></span></li></ul><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Android applications are expected to reach 150,000 by the end of 2010 - though I believe a Motorola executive speaking during Internet Week referenced 40,000 available apps - as she was making the case that WAP sites are even better than apps... Note that iPhone users are more likely to use apps than websites; that's flipped for other smart phone users.</span></span></li></ul><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">65,000 Android phones ship daily (Eric Schmidt, May 17, 2010 via </span></span><a href="http://www.androphones.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">AndroPhones.com</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">)</span></span></li></ul><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Android phones were not around a year ago</span></span></li></ul><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Unlike iPhones, Android phones have multiple manufacturers including Motorola, HTC, LG, Samsung and Sony Ericsson, and are available through multiple carriers</span></span></li></ul><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The term is no longer "iPhone App" but rather "Mobile App."</span></span></li></ul><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The term is no longer "iPhone" but rather "Smartphone."</span></span></li></ul><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Smartphone penetration reached 21% of wireless subscribers at the end of 2010 and is expected to pass the 50% mark in 2011. (Nielsen)</span></span></li></ul><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">14% of mobile customers have downloaded an app in the last 30 days. BlackBerry, Palm and Windows Mobile users have between 10 and 14 apps on their phones, with RIM on the low end of the scale. Android users average 22 apps, compared to iPhone owners who devour, as Steve Smith of Mediapost puts it, 37 apps. </span></span></li></ul><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">As of May 2010, Apple is larger than Microsoft.</span></span></li></ul><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">And now to our formerly scheduled blog posting:</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /><br /><br /></span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">POSTED MAY 27TH, 2009</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhivYk8Dg_sFNxoeOq52WBwbtf3aUroqi0ajf7t_ow6SEU6RRCdC9TSS_O6j3qzLsrIqzu7OvOZ_xCVdTF3KzpdRbsGWmus2B-0T5Ex2yyaU6K0ma6Ai513DhKjXD5FRMDG8glwnbH3bSM/s1600-h/Picture+3.png"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 225px; height: 175.1px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhivYk8Dg_sFNxoeOq52WBwbtf3aUroqi0ajf7t_ow6SEU6RRCdC9TSS_O6j3qzLsrIqzu7OvOZ_xCVdTF3KzpdRbsGWmus2B-0T5Ex2yyaU6K0ma6Ai513DhKjXD5FRMDG8glwnbH3bSM/s320/Picture+3.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340918602906516162" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">I recently attended one of Alan Brody's iBreakfasts - "iPhone Apps & Mobile Platforms." The panelists were Eric Litman from MediaLets, Ken Engels from Curious Brain and Alex Muller from Slifter. And it of course, got me thinking about iPhone apps. So here are some of my thoughts:<br /></span></span><span style="font-weight:bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br />FUN iPHONE FACTS</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-style:italic;"><span style="font-weight:bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">How Many Phones?</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /><br />There are currently 40MM iPhone and iTouch devices (15)<br /><br />17MM iPhones had been sold as of March 2009. (1)<br /><br />Nearly 4MM iPhones were sold in the 1st quarter of 2009 - representing growth of nearly 125% vs. 2008. (8)<br /><br />During the first three months of iPhone 3G availability (3Q 2008), seven million phones were sold, exceeding the six million first-generation phones sold in 1 1/4 years. (8)<br /><br />26% of U.S. smart phone users have iPhones (35% have Blackberries). (3)<br /><br /><br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-style:italic;"><span style="font-weight:bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Where Are They?</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /><br />iPhone applications are available in 77 countries. (7)<br /><br />There are 500MM people with mobile phones in India...(5)<br /><br /><br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-style:italic;"><span style="font-weight:bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">How Many Apps?</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /><br />As of April 24th, 2009, 1 billion iPhone applications had been downloaded - 9 months after the launch of the store. (4)<br /><br />On June 8th, Apple announced that there were 50,000 applications in the iTunes Store - up from 35,000 in April (7). At the OMMA Video conference on June 17th, I heard estimates of 54,000 by Gordon Borrell and 57,500 by Marketspace Senior Advisor Andrew Heyward.<br /><br />As of April 15, 2009, 25,000 different iPhone apps had been downloaded. (6)<br /><br />As of June 12th, 2009, 15 of the top 20 free and paid apps (top 10 free; top 10 paid) were games<br /><br />The iPhone Applications Store model of centralized distribution is unprecedented.<br /><br />It takes one to two weeks for a new application to be listed by Apple (if approved).(9)<br /><br /><br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-style:italic;"><span style="font-weight:bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">What's Up with UrbanSpoon?</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmqfDbmP7Bz1wM_k_pSG41RyrucSTRor7pHPE-nlC_qCxiC84RsJHgy-1jeXD-1XL97dYS9h3nl2QoOJNDprUBhQKtbzd6rZVOqhmsifGfK1WGtSB7fPmeL2p-4D5hZ1gBR5-tDOOXhS8/s1600-h/urbanspoon.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmqfDbmP7Bz1wM_k_pSG41RyrucSTRor7pHPE-nlC_qCxiC84RsJHgy-1jeXD-1XL97dYS9h3nl2QoOJNDprUBhQKtbzd6rZVOqhmsifGfK1WGtSB7fPmeL2p-4D5hZ1gBR5-tDOOXhS8/s320/urbanspoon.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5345377421500204658" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">UrbanSpoon was one of the top applications downloaded in 2008.<br /><br />Following favorable reviews from Macworld, TechCrunch, and even the New York Times, the free app racked up 300,000 downloads and over 6,000,000 shakes within the first 10 days.<br /><br />In October 2008, UrbanSpoon began selling advertising on the application through a platform/ad network called AdMob that specializes in mobile advertising.<br /><br />UrbanSpoon had already achieved 1MM downloads when it was approached by Apple to be featured in the Apple iPhone commercial. One month after the November commercial hit the airwaves, UrbanSpoon's downloads had jumped to 2.2MM. (10)<br /><br />The UrbanSpoon iPhone application was originally introduced to drive traffic to its website. Its founders estimate that if they had charged for the application, e.g., $1.00, downloads would have been reduced by 90%. (11)<br /><br />UrbanSpoon was recently purchased by IAC.<br /><br /><br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-style:italic;"><span style="font-weight:bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">How Much Are They?</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /><br />Most iPhone applications are paid apps. (12)<br /><br />However, the top 10 free applications made up 7% of downloads as of December 2008. (13)<br /><br />iPhone paid apps range from $.99 to at least $6.99 (e.g., BeamMe Pro). (14) The average price is $1.00 - $1.50. (12)<br /><br />Apple takes 30% commission for paid applications. Apple's estimated revenue from app sales is undisclosed, but estimates range from $70 million to $160 million. (14)<br /><br /><br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-style:italic;"><span style="font-weight:bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">What's Next?</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /><br />Web 3.0 is here. The iPhone 3.0 enables in-application purchases (7)<br /><br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-weight:bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br />RECOMMENDATIONS FOR MARKETING AN iPHONE APPLICATION</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-weight:bold;"><span style="font-style:italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">ASO and ASM:</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /><br />I have coined two new phrases: Application Store Optimization (ASO) and Application Store Marketing (ASM). These are core elements of iPhone application marketing.<br /><br />Where do people go when they are looking for information and answers? Google - the "Q-Tip" of Search. Where do people go when looking for an iPhone application? The App Store - the centralized, exclusive source for iPhone Applications.<br /><br />There are two goals: (1) turn up high on the results page of an app store keyword search (e.g., subway map, weather) and (2) be part of a "Top 10" list (e.g., games). 80% of downloads come from the top 100 applications. (16)<br /><br />If you can't accomplish this organically, then go for Application Search Marketing (ASM) by paying to be a "Featured" application. As with SEM, ASM can be used to jump start organic search.<br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqd0KzvcSzjWiV_qwUrg8x77MaBWjpyITMd740vipmqUjQFtwJNZZMSByZMS1eZ6vcV9DCLdkaxqx862hpulPHz3wHp8VRYFI6E4cEg2lP_ZA7rnqnjPvbJ_kDq3QFFKwqBlW9KenGJQM/s1600-h/Picture+1.png"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 130px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqd0KzvcSzjWiV_qwUrg8x77MaBWjpyITMd740vipmqUjQFtwJNZZMSByZMS1eZ6vcV9DCLdkaxqx862hpulPHz3wHp8VRYFI6E4cEg2lP_ZA7rnqnjPvbJ_kDq3QFFKwqBlW9KenGJQM/s320/Picture+1.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5348927391286371346" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The key concept to remember is that popularity breeds popularity. Once you achieve a high ranking, take advantage of it. The one time you are guaranteed inclusion in a Top 25 list is when you are introduced, so support your application when you launch it, and focus your efforts.<br /><br />If you are going to spend money advertising your application, then you are better off with one heavy push, i.e., buy your advertising all in one day rather than by sprinkling it around.<br /><br />The "What's New" and "Top" lists are said to have rolling 24 hour windows. However, Apple has been continuously changing its algorithms.<br /><br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-weight:bold;"><span style="font-style:italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Other Applications</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /><br />A good strategy is to get included in other applications. This can be done by purchasing ad inventory through a third party or through partnerships. Creators of gaming applications often maintain a portfolio of games, using each one as a platform to promote the others. Whatever your application, it's important to target people who like a similar or complementary application.<br /><br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-weight:bold;"><span style="font-style:italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Website Promotion</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /><br />If you have an online presence, you can promote your mobile application on your own website. This can include deep links that can be emailed or texted to a mobile device or that links to the iTunes Store.<br /><br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-weight:bold;"><span style="font-style:italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Social Media and Editorial Reviews</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /><br />Develop a strategy for getting positive coverage: editorial and user reviews, blogs, Twitter, etc.<br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAV9CGJ0L_mtqYADCHFtk4U7aSlVUV6gndsb7Ra1GSrC2UuKRo2GcLzBLgAVYMYRbjA-_JNY33hvQIhMvXD_ADis6IfRfMYUbPbOW5Sn83lEzEbVVHtdeGvEekPLozCBmuhkb_kDaPnsQ/s1600-h/Picture+1.png"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 166px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAV9CGJ0L_mtqYADCHFtk4U7aSlVUV6gndsb7Ra1GSrC2UuKRo2GcLzBLgAVYMYRbjA-_JNY33hvQIhMvXD_ADis6IfRfMYUbPbOW5Sn83lEzEbVVHtdeGvEekPLozCBmuhkb_kDaPnsQ/s320/Picture+1.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5346443794301850626" /></a><span style="font-weight:bold;"><span style="font-style:italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br />Consider Giving It Away</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /><br />As with other content providers, the developer of an iPhone application is faced with a tradeoff: (a) give it away to get broader adoption (b) sell it to get revenue and recoup costs. Consider giving away your initial version; it will get downloaded by early adopters who are sure to give you feedback in the form of reviews within the Application Store. Once you've refined the application and gotten some word of mouth, transition to a paid model (grandfathering the early adopters). Additionally, you can give your first release away for free and then charge for the 2nd generation premium or "pro' version. BeamMe went from free to $6.99.<br /><br /><br />OBSERVATIONS<br /><br />iPhone applications are characterized by the early fervor of a new space, and there are low barriers to entry for a new iPhone application<br /><br />More than one in four smart phone users have iPhones; Verizon needs to take this situation seriously as it evaluates whether to reach an arrangement with iPhone once AT&T's exclusive contract expires. A Blackberry representative recently told me that because only 7.4% of computers are Apple computers, there is limited incentive to create software for Mac users, e.g., a working program for synchronizing a Blackberry with a MacBook. However, if Blackberry can't offer a viable solution, Verizon will lose customers to AT&T and iPhone, despite the fact that Verizon offers dramatically better phone courage. If Verizon continues to let this happen, they are missing a big opportunity.<br /><br /><br />HOW'D THEY DO?<br /><br />In early 2006, I wrote a presentation about the mobile space for a multi-platform publisher that included forecasts of mobile advertising and marketing revenue by a range of media pundits. This is what they forecast for 2009:<br />- Visiongain: $602MM (55% compound annual growth rate)<br />- RBC Capital: $1.5 Bn (101% CAGR)<br />- McKinsey: $250-$750MM<br />- </span></span><a href="http://www.emarketer.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">eMarketer</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">: $434MM (20% CAGR)<br /><br />(As it turns out, mobile advertising revenue for 2009 was $391 million - Source: ZenithOptimedia, "Advertising Expenditure Forecasts," provided to eMarketer, December 8, 2009 - it seems that eMarketer wins the forecasting contest.)<br /><br />The wide-ranging projections could not have foreseen the iPhone application revolution, that provides increased opportunity for paid listings, sponsorships, cross-promotion, affiliate marketing and display advertising. That said, the majority of mobile revenue comes from text messaging. (12)<br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghC0VQlDHhRjoW0cERBKS_TO04teF9yS_ZL0KRy6XX7csyqCDogG0oi8yJ4y66RAxz_t0bAtNBQHH4bTuVaJ0HSU-I8RUeqaia33KpYlbS0Fku73I9TNBpwyZcBW71PKvdl0x8y8mQXKo/s1600-h/Picture+2.png"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 350px; height: 245px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghC0VQlDHhRjoW0cERBKS_TO04teF9yS_ZL0KRy6XX7csyqCDogG0oi8yJ4y66RAxz_t0bAtNBQHH4bTuVaJ0HSU-I8RUeqaia33KpYlbS0Fku73I9TNBpwyZcBW71PKvdl0x8y8mQXKo/s320/Picture+2.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340917850255626306" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /><br /><br />Sources: Eric Litman, Alex Muller, Ken Engels and Alan Brody, Network World, Zueo, Christian Science Monitor, Articles Base, </span></span><a href="http://www.emarketer.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">eMarketer</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">, Tata, Steve Wax of Campfire Media, Stuart Farr of Not for Tourists<br /><br />(1) March 24th, 2009<br />(2) January 28th, 2009 - while some of the difference between the 15MM and the 17MM numbers may be due to purchases made between January and March, some is likely attributable to iPhone owners who have purchased more than one iPhone - likely trading up from version 1 to version 2<br />(3) March 2009 - eMarketer, Skype survey<br />(4) 1 billion as of April 24th, 2009 - Apple.com - remember that iTouch users also download applications --> approximately 22 per device<br />(5) Tata - 92nd Street Y panel, June 2009<br />(6) Are there 10,000 iPhone applications that have never been downloaded?<br />(7) 35,000 as of April 24th, 2009 - Apple.com<br />(8) Apple financial report<br />(9) June 8, 2009. Recent applicant<br />(10) Ethan Lowry, founding member of UrbanSpoon, one of the most downloaded iPhone applications of 2008. Mobile Crunch, December 5th, 2008.<br />(11) October 30, 2008 - Seattle 2.0, Kevin Leneway<br />(12) iBreakfast panel<br />(13) Mobile Crunch, December 5th, 2008 - estimate by Greg Kuparak<br />(14) ClickZ, May 22, 2009<br />(15) Apple, June 8, 2009<br />(16) Gordon Borrell, CEO, Borrell Associates, Inc. - OMMA Video Conference, June 17, 2009</span></span>KAREN LEVINEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04043137770031227088noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1393106253252575473.post-7918984134918509672010-06-09T10:01:00.001-04:002010-06-11T13:43:22.960-04:00Place the Spot; Spot the PlacementI can't help it! When I'm watching "The Big Bang Theory," and Leonard's "Mom" holds her soda can just a little too long and a little too high, and the can remains visible for 5 minutes of the show, then it must be a product placement. It's a bit of a game, a bit of an art to spot, so I'm reopening my log of potential spottings. I hope you'll join me.<div><br /></div><div>- Rules of Engagement, June 7th, 2010 - Kiehl's moisturizer on Audrey's nightstand. Could be for character definition. In any case, awfully prominent, as in the only thing on the nightstand, just inside the shot and positioned so that you could read the label. </div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>What do you think? Is Kiehl's helping to define Audrey's character, or is CBS helping to promote Kiehl's?</i></div><div><br /></div><div>- Colbert Show, June 8th, 2010 - Colbert wearing a lab coat with a big Lexus logo on the back during piece about <i>Consumer Reports</i>.</div><div><br /></div><div>- Colbert Show, June 7th, 2010 - Microsoft's Bing search engine agreed to donate $2,500 to a charity of Stephen's choice every time he said the word, "bing." The show raised $100,000 for the Gulf of America Fund.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb0ZeY2a0cMzWUpOd48Ct48P1h4d7DJtYb4JCJBs2zKcWN1vrsbKAOwG2VqnKmuLmtjj3qt4pNsn2dfJBSxafRrksQXzfSmGp2QokIbGlRO2zx2vu5nppv3dwp1CR6hAmnHxvTc_Umz-Q/s1600-h/Picture+1.png"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 173px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb0ZeY2a0cMzWUpOd48Ct48P1h4d7DJtYb4JCJBs2zKcWN1vrsbKAOwG2VqnKmuLmtjj3qt4pNsn2dfJBSxafRrksQXzfSmGp2QokIbGlRO2zx2vu5nppv3dwp1CR6hAmnHxvTc_Umz-Q/s320/Picture+1.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5412722246174817762" /></a>- Ugly Betty and the Atlantis Paradise Island resort - the December 4th episode was one long, albeit beautiful, advertorial for the Atlantis resort in the Bahamas, interrupted only by, well, ads for the Atlantis resort in the Bahamas. There was even an entire scene designed around the famous water slide. If it weren't for the MEMORABLE footage of the dastardly but oh so hot Connor Owens wearing minimal wardrobe, it might have been too much. Ugly Betty is a great vehicle for brand integration. And I understand that the Latin American version, which takes place in an advertising agency, milks the product placement cow even more completely.<br /><br />- Big Bang Theory, September 21, 2009 - new Diet Pepsi can - 3rd act of "Big Bang Theory." The can is - for me - one of five characters in the scene.</div>KAREN LEVINEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04043137770031227088noreply@blogger.com30tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1393106253252575473.post-75373232166535380402010-05-27T00:07:00.001-04:002010-05-27T00:10:15.288-04:00Who Will Capture the Flag? The Convergence of Digital, Traditional, Media & PR Agencies<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOlKpswIGtyG8ajpU-ChfjMZIXICa1LLHtsZ45IwIizl2VB9B3n_TA47_VBCwverN3S4v4XzHelX9cg62HMtsB1udn66CKVs4_ypB3NiYfS1UX6Ts2j9kVX9_UXLnOXfO4TupRt7FHFtw/s1600/309px-Venn-stainedglass-gonville-caius.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 207px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOlKpswIGtyG8ajpU-ChfjMZIXICa1LLHtsZ45IwIizl2VB9B3n_TA47_VBCwverN3S4v4XzHelX9cg62HMtsB1udn66CKVs4_ypB3NiYfS1UX6Ts2j9kVX9_UXLnOXfO4TupRt7FHFtw/s400/309px-Venn-stainedglass-gonville-caius.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5473853923637701026" /></a>A recent "AdWeek" article observed that, "digitally centric agencies like R/GA are adding more traditional brand-building capabilities while TBWA and BBDO are trying to apply digital to their orgs." <br /><br />This article prompted a student of business to pose the following question on LinkedIn: "Who has it harder traditional agencies or digital ones?" <br /><br />This was my response: <br /><br />Full service, traditional agencies have longer histories and potentially tighter relationships with major advertisers. Digital agencies have deeper and wider technical skills and experience, e.g., building a rich media site or social media campaign. It will be very interesting to see how things play out, and I think, as I write this and look at the names you have listed above, it may be a case by case situation, i.e., some digital agencies are strong enough to make the transition, and some creative agencies are forward looking enough to make inroads. <br /><br />One thing that I think both benefits and limits digital agencies is that many of these agencies grew out of the direct agencies of the large media conglomerates. While test and learn, measurement and optimization are important, and while digital realms provide a bevy of data to work with, that kind of mindset can be limiting as the interactive space becomes more and more "upper funnel" - with more opportunities for branding and truly breakthrough creative thinking. <br /><br />All that said, what is happening on the ground right now is that <br />(a) creative agencies are seeking to hire talent with interactive backgrounds, particularly from top digital agencies and<br />(b) both digital and traditional agencies are expanding and changing out their strategy teams. Several major agencies have new strategy heads as of the beginning of 2010.KAREN LEVINEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04043137770031227088noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1393106253252575473.post-87571449161622205942010-05-25T22:44:00.020-04:002010-05-25T23:35:52.732-04:00Who's the Boss? Why Facebook Can't Get Its Head Around Our Privacy Concerns<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJyAOt6uVEz-Cvxn8uCpom9Bmk1myFKRlXWarm3rmm0vHBxr4PtSqt9uP7GV69WqYoCKyExxVP_J9j1NRQfBDrIa_ZQFTeLKOwGORqqG_lKWZbR3csY9tkkfaAGwoEENTSIo1tFNZoKCY/s1600/privacy1.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJyAOt6uVEz-Cvxn8uCpom9Bmk1myFKRlXWarm3rmm0vHBxr4PtSqt9uP7GV69WqYoCKyExxVP_J9j1NRQfBDrIa_ZQFTeLKOwGORqqG_lKWZbR3csY9tkkfaAGwoEENTSIo1tFNZoKCY/s320/privacy1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5475416125910896530" /></a>I've seen it before. Technology companies that don't understand the customer mindset. Coming from a packaged goods background, I am trained to see my consumer as my most important constituency. But coming from a technology background, Mark Zuckerberg seems to have greater empathy for developers than users.<br /><br />Last month, Facebook hosted a day of presentations, talks and break out sessions known as F8. As someone in the digital community, I tuned in for a streamed recording of the Zuckerberg's keynote speech, which outlined the dramatic changes that Facebook was introducing to the world including the open graph protocol, greater sharing of data with partner sites and changes in privacy policies. It was an inspiring talk. At the end of it, he spoke about how medical students see opportunities in the world to save people, lawyers see opportunities to bring fairness to the world, and programmers want to make the world a better place. It's a bit late at night, so I'll have to go back to the tape to see whether I've summarized this appropriately, but I recall being inspired by his can-do, why-not, I'm an engineer attitude.<br /><br />My next thought was the following: This has been an informative and well-produced little presentation. I watched it because I'm a digital junkie, but, what about the other 400 million people who use Facebook? How many of them watched this? And even if they did, would they have understood it? Open graph protocol???? I don't think so. So, I was waiting to see how Facebook would communicate these innovations to its... customers, its users, not its third party developers and programmers, but the folks who give him the data and attention and time that is so valuable to everyone else. Nada. I did not see any plan to do so. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmUEdkEz_usQ76P0ieIVS7-QIipjxDig7A_7lQZ5zUMQ1voOxbKz-4Jt4IZShl97P962myQ14FZwDH2ZaaYmHynhTRm5v0Rvga8BN7uwZGvJl0xldeMGLfIy7K78pQZk-ceIO6Hw6gZFI/s1600/1055_540x517.gif"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 306px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmUEdkEz_usQ76P0ieIVS7-QIipjxDig7A_7lQZ5zUMQ1voOxbKz-4Jt4IZShl97P962myQ14FZwDH2ZaaYmHynhTRm5v0Rvga8BN7uwZGvJl0xldeMGLfIy7K78pQZk-ceIO6Hw6gZFI/s320/1055_540x517.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5475415324244478706" /></a>Then I logged into my Facebook account. As you can imagine, when I logged in, I was there for a specific reason. Perhaps I wanted to post something on my wall, or check my inbox or read comments to my profile. As soon as I arrived at the home page, I was met by a huge block of text and choices. It told me that my "likes" would be something-or-othered and I could decide what I wanted to share and not and... well, I didn't have time for it. Click this, unclick that, and I went on my merry way. <br /><br />Had I not watched the video, I would have been taken completely off guard. As it was, I was thrown off course, but had enough of a backdrop to be cautious about what I did and didn't check. I do recall going to Twitter and expressing concern about whether my name would be posted on the websites of brands I "liked." The Twitter community assured me there was nothing to worry about and went about tweeting about this interesting open graph protocol.<br /><br />Tune in a week later, and the world has gone amok. Diaspora* is having hundreds of thousands of dollars offered to them to be the David to Zuckerberg's Goliath. Public figures like Baratunde Thurston are publicly closing out their Facebook accounts and asking friends to unfriend them. And Zuckerberg is taking his story to the Washington Post to let us know he "hears us"... but that we really shouldn't be so concerned.<br /><br />And therein lies the problem. Mark Zuckerberg doesn't think like a consumer. And certainly not like the mainstream consumers that have come to Facebook of late. He thinks like a Gen Y, 20-something programmer. He's never taken a marketing class; he never even finished his Harvard Core Curriculum requirements.<br /><br />This, as I am waywardly getting to, is my point. Seeing the consumer as the constituent does not always come naturally. Several years ago, I served as interim marketing head for an up and coming website. The year before I arrived, revenue was $40 million. The year I got there, $70 million. And they were on track for $100 million. But they were somehow a little stuck. The content on their site was written by a group of contributors I will call "Coaches." These people are compensated by the website based on the traffic and ad revenue they generate. This group was, up until I arrived, considered to be the company's customer. What about the users, I asked? What about the advertisers? Ah, that was where I could provide insight to this technology-driven organization.<br /><br />A year or so later, I worked with the website of a major travel and tourism commission. When I visited the site, I looked at it from a consumer point of view and was disappointed. Then I looked at it from an advertiser point of view and was disappointed. Who did the commission see as their customer? Answer: The hospitality industry and destination marketing organizations. Because these organizations were the ones who funded the tourism commission. Hence, if I visited the site and searched for information about ski resorts, I might be served with minutes from the ski resort marketing association annual meeting. Shocking to me, but it made total sense to the client - because we had different ideas as to who the key stakeholder was.<br /><br />What Facebook seems to be lacking is a true and intuitive understanding of the consumer. The consumer that is the user - not the developer, not even the advertiser, but the individual members of the Facebook community. The four hundred million... people.KAREN LEVINEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04043137770031227088noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1393106253252575473.post-7280008424306830392010-05-18T09:31:00.006-04:002010-05-18T09:51:47.108-04:00Link me In - LinkedIn Tips for Job Search and Business Promotion<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc5W4tkmW-z35hAcx44icdIVl1W1g1Ny_VcJexrcX632b5ck5NNOH6yAyjdsii9J0jHNrMszjwyc7oLqNlr_YUHmNVzAVjcPx-7Mrn11zKzE5rSK2cIBN-KUcy8_pt7yZbYMx2K7jeOZ0/s1600/linkedin-logo.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc5W4tkmW-z35hAcx44icdIVl1W1g1Ny_VcJexrcX632b5ck5NNOH6yAyjdsii9J0jHNrMszjwyc7oLqNlr_YUHmNVzAVjcPx-7Mrn11zKzE5rSK2cIBN-KUcy8_pt7yZbYMx2K7jeOZ0/s320/linkedin-logo.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5472607373405861954" /></a>This evening I am sitting on a discussion panel about social media and, particularly, LinkedIn. Last night I jotted down some thoughts with respect to some of the preliminary questions posed to me and thought I might share them here for those who will not be making it to Paramus this evening - though I encourage you to do so if you can as (a) I will surely refine my answers (b) there are two other panelists and a moderator, (c) there will be a Q&A session (d) there will be networking and food for a low price.<br /><br />As I said, these thoughts are rough and preliminary, and I hope to improve upon them when I find myself in a "procrastinatory" mood. I welcome your thoughts, input, disagreement, personal examples, corroboration and so forth:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">JOB SEARCH:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">How do I make my profile standout?</span><br /><br />- Be true to yourself. I see my LinkedIn profile as part of my overall communication plan. So highlight the things you want to emphasize. I would also recommend that you include any “Brand Names” and “key words” that might be of interest to those you want to “attract.” There are a number of people, including recruiters and HR managers, who use LinkedIn as a search engine. It’s similar to the way things used to be with job sites like CareerBuilder. However, this is better, in my opinion, because you are not obviously, actively looking, so it puts you on more equal footing.<br /><br />- Include descriptions of your work, not just listings of companies, titles and dates<br /><br />- Include links to relevant websites, e.g., if you have a personal or biz website, if you have a blog, if you have a Twitter feed.<br /><br />- Have a nice, professional photo.<br /><br />- Update things periodically so that your contacts get “updates.” Keeps you top of mind. Use the status update, but use it strategically and cautiously.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Should I make more than one profile?</span><br /><br />- No, it will just complicate your life, and it will confuse people. This is what makes LinkedIn tricky, but embraces it as a puzzle to solve.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">What are some profile mistakes I should avoid?</span><br /><br />- Poor quality or unprofessional photo<br />- Twitter feed – don’t overwhelm me<br />- Incoherent overview of what you do – for consultants – don’t give me a list<br /><span style="font-style:italic;">- [I have a personal example of something I tried but found to be suboptimal - demonstrating that here, as in most digital environments, there is an opportunity to test and change.]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">How do I expand my network?</span><br /><br />- LinkedIn is a tool to manage your network, so basic networking rules still apply, and I would encourage getting to know people face to face before connecting with them on LinkedIn. When you meet someone at an event that you want to connect to, take their card and connect to them in the next 24 hours to 7 days.<br /><br />- Groups. Join some relevant groups, and join in on the conversations<br /><br />- Go through the lists that LinkedIn gives you of people from your jobs or schools that are on LinkedIn. Check back periodically. Once you’ve exhausted that, take a look at the people that LinkedIn recommends to you. <br /><br />- Go through your non-LinkedIn “Rolodex” and periodically invite people to connect. Consider “refreshing” people’s memories, as needed, e.g., “you may recall that we met at the Bergen County Networking Event.”<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">How do I request references?</span><br /><br />- Probably best to prime the pump outside of LinkedIn, e.g., via email or phone or in person. Then send the invite; make it easy for them.<br /><br />- Technically: go to edit mode of your profile, go to relevant job, and click on “request recommendation.” The person has to be a LinkedIn connection.<br /><br />- Think strategically about how many you want. Try to get people from different perspectives, but especially senior people. Ask people who can sincerely write about you. <br /><br />- Sometimes people will ask you what they should say. Find out whether they want a few bullet points or an actual draft. <span style="font-style:italic;">[interested in what others have to say about this.]<br /></span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">How do I find companies that may not be advertising new jobs?</span><br /><br />- Search for people at those companies, including people in HR. Create jobs. Network with people and sell them on what you could potentially do. Set up informational interviews.<br /><br />- Follow companies… (a new feature)<br /><br />- Check out company pages.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">What can/should I learn about a company before an interview?</span><br /><br />- Find out who you are meeting with and check out their LinkedIn profile – take a look at who you know in common – take at look at people’s blogs, company websites and twitter feeds. Be cautious about speaking to people who know the interviewer in common – make sure you’re not giving away a lead. <br /><br />- I still like Hoover’s<br /><br />- Set up Google alerts<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Should I link my LinkedIn profile to my blog, Facebook and Twitter?</span><br /><br />- Blog: depends on the blog; if your blog is something you want potential employers to see, i.e., professional and/or shows off something you want to showcase, then link to it – use the link at the top of your profile – otherwise, no<br /><br />- Facebook: no<br /><br />- Twitter: include your twitter name if, as above, you want potential employers to see it, i.e., it’s professional<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Should I accept all connection requests?</span><br /><br />- No. Be discriminating. I would like to think that, even though I have 700 connections, I could say who each person is, even though it may take some research, e.g., spotlight, notes, address book or need to jog my memory by seeing who we know in common, etc.<br /><br />- Do not connect to anyone you have not met or had substantive exchange with via phone or email.<br /><br />- Be somewhat cautious about recruiters – they want access to your Rolodex. Think about whether they can be valuable to you.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Is it recommended that a job seeker use the Q&A section?</span><br /><br />- Q&A - now called Answers - is not very commonly used anymore. I would focus on Groups.<br /> <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">BUSINESS PROMOTION</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">What’s the best way to promote a business on LinkedIn?</span><br /><br />- Create and maintain company profile<br />- Use status updates, events, get involved in Groups<br />- As above, tweak your profile to stay on people’s update feeds<br />- Create a blog if you have the time and it’s relevant; link to it. Same with Twitter.<br />- Encourage employees to use LinkedIn<br />- Create alumni groups<br />- Monitor LinkedIn to stay on top of trends and hear what's being said about your company, competitors and your sector<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">How do we promote a small business? (versus a large business)</span><br /><br />- Same as above.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">How do we use LinkedIn for local business promotion?</span><br /><br />- I think there are some hyper local functions being added<br />- Join local groups (such as Bergen County LinkedIn and Meetup groups)<br />- Connect to important people in your geo<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Can I advertise on LinkedIn?</span><br /><br />- Yes. There is a link at the bottom of the page called “advertising.” There are options for large & small budgets. I think it’s like Google. Pay per click and also banner pops.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Can I use LinkedIn for competitive info?</span><br /><br />- Yes. First of all, track down people who used to work at competitive companies and network with them…<br />- Follow the companies<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Should we link our blog/Facebook/Twitter to LinkedIn?</span><br /><br />- Same as above: blog if it’s professional. Facebook Fan page if it’s professional. Twitter if it’s professional. But not automatic feeds. I hate that. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Should we accept all connection requests?</span><br /><br />- Nope – same as above. Your business is yourself when it comes to social media. It’s all about authenticity and transparency, so it’s hard to draw a line.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Should we create a LinkedIn Company Profile? Pros/Cons</span><br /><br />- Yes, it’s quick and easy. No downside, and you can see who is following you. Set it up. You can always add to it later.KAREN LEVINEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04043137770031227088noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1393106253252575473.post-60394622179333782282010-05-04T12:15:00.016-04:002010-05-05T02:14:57.984-04:00Disaggregation & Correlation Optimization - How Print Media Can Be Saved<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgATblRCPmyy1ZE_2lnqCew8W224fvs5Y1ZhSb7JgDL2qqYG9Kp1ED-U4EBq6hGvPxKDQcdXM1ddfuQoVHK3xjEK2lmJQmh8G9VpbCfg_9hv-kyQ1RbG8h7qvSdRGhHXxsUGxlvZKQRMe0/s1600/organic-baby-food_300.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 168px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgATblRCPmyy1ZE_2lnqCew8W224fvs5Y1ZhSb7JgDL2qqYG9Kp1ED-U4EBq6hGvPxKDQcdXM1ddfuQoVHK3xjEK2lmJQmh8G9VpbCfg_9hv-kyQ1RbG8h7qvSdRGhHXxsUGxlvZKQRMe0/s200/organic-baby-food_300.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5467451509124845906" /></a>Print publishers need to start looking at their business in a new way. Rather than maintaining the print versions of their magazine and newspaper publications as they are, and then deciding what form of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walled_garden_(technology)">walled garden</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pay_wall">paywall</a>, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/arthur-sulzberger-jr-nyts-metered-paywall-is-about-building-emotional-connection-with-readers-2010-4">metered</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micropayment">micropayment</a> and/or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freemium">freemium</a> model to implement online, they need to unbundle and redesign what they offer - which is news and information, not a printed magazine or electronic replication with enhancements.<br /><br />Right now, a consumer has no choice in what they get in terms of a print publication. There is basically one version. You may read only a few sections of the <a href="https://www.nytimesathome.com/offer.php?id=31&SPTR_ID=hdPPC&MediaCode=WA7AD&CMP=33W36">New York Times</a> but, too bad, you get it all, and now you need to deal with disposing of and/or recycling what you don't read or need. It's like saying to a shopper at Costco: I know you came in for diapers, but you also get motor oil with that purchase - for free - because they are bundled together. Well, that motor oil just makes the "bundle" worth less to me. I'd rather have the diapers alone or, perhaps, bundle them with pureed vegetables. <br /><br />So it is with published content. I might like to have a <a href="https://www.nytimesathome.com/offer.php?id=31&SPTR_ID=hdPPC&MediaCode=WA7AD&CMP=33W36">print copy</a> of the Sunday <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/pages/arts/index.html">Arts</a> & Leisure and <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/pages/fashion/">Style</a> sections as well as <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/podcast/front-page/id120316245">daily podcasts of the front page</a> and daily<a href="https://select.nytimes.com/mem/tnt.html?module=precall&originator_page=email_subscription"> e-mail news alerts</a> about anything having to do with <a href="http://query.nytimes.com/search/sitesearch?date_select=full&query=social+media&type=nyt&x=0&y=0">social media</a>. So disaggregate what you offer and rebundle it in a way that is valuable to me. I might be willing to pay more for that combination than I currently pay for the printed publication.<br /><br />Now I understand that the NYT may not want to create hundreds of thousands of customized product combinations. However, it may be the case that most people who read the Arts & Leisure section also follow social media. Through <a href="http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/statcorr.php">correlation</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluster_analysis_(in_marketing)">cluster analysis</a>, I can get a sense of what individual elements tend to "go together" and then create a portfolio of options that appeal to different consumer segments. Remember that phrase, "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market_segmentation">consumer segmentation</a>?" Personally I think it is one of the most powerful concepts that can be garnered from a $100,000 MBA education. I'm emphasizing it to you for free! So please don't waste it.<br /><br />While the New York Times does not seem to have used this disaggregation & correlation optimization approach in designing their new <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/21/business/media/21times.html">tiered/metered content approach</a>, I'm getting the sense that some other print publications (I won't mention them by name) may be exploring this kind of more sophisticated pricing. I think this could be the answer to much of what ails traditional media - from newspapers & magazines to books to interactive television. Executives have to be willing to take apart their current assumptions and create something that is bigger than the whole. As mentioned in previous blogs, I think that <a href="http://www.flatworldknowledge.com/">Flatworld Knowledge</a> has done some interesting things in this space. And, based on a pricing strategy engagement I completed - with my colleagues at <a href="http://www.abbeyroadassociates.com/staff.html">Abbey Road Associates</a> - for a major equity research company, they also are tapping into the power of this kind of analysis.<br /><br />Don't miss out. It's powerful stuff. Not easy, not to be done without expert pricing supervision but well worth the effort.<br /><br /><br />If you'd like to learn more about how Triple Play can help you with this type of pricing strategy development, send me a note via <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/profile?viewProfile=&key=845408&trk=tab_pro">LinkedIn</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/karenlevine">Twitter</a> or <a href="http://www.facebook.com/KarenLevine">Facebook</a> or leave a comment for me here.KAREN LEVINEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04043137770031227088noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1393106253252575473.post-39468394461478045452010-04-28T14:31:00.018-04:002010-04-28T23:08:44.102-04:00Hot Styles Now – A Keynote by Mindy GrossmanSeveral weeks ago, I spent the entire day at Macy’s. Not shopping – department stores scare me a little – but attending a conference on <a href="http://www.whartoninteractiveretailing.com/">Interactive Retailing</a>. The keynote speaker was <a href="http://people.forbes.com/profile/mindy-f-grossman/100398">Mindy Grossman</a>, the CEO of HSN. I say, “HSN” rather than “Home Shopping Network” because one of the modernizing changes she has made is updating the name – kind of like KFC, but with less to hide. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhstrWZ-0QJGlXvnBnsjsh1USRnlcfFWoRQFLuBVS5zeN8J_QSkz4FzbUDbhvlWaTOCypZT_5BjF4o2RLj6yf1TeiT-M3jDoJz3vOYHAtmgIP0SmyyTMcB6lFNGSwvyqbhTAjULvisFbik/s1600/Screen+shot+2010-04-28+at+2.36.49+PM.png"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 152px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhstrWZ-0QJGlXvnBnsjsh1USRnlcfFWoRQFLuBVS5zeN8J_QSkz4FzbUDbhvlWaTOCypZT_5BjF4o2RLj6yf1TeiT-M3jDoJz3vOYHAtmgIP0SmyyTMcB6lFNGSwvyqbhTAjULvisFbik/s200/Screen+shot+2010-04-28+at+2.36.49+PM.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5465259364659934466" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4niul4LBGQ781BKnWZaBKfdLasscV6bkea546k-v9mDBbBzr3zR84tyrAJHLJ3O38tT7V1fkIgol3ZC_4IVf5zTk5YGhsnSaXSfPKukIMCzYJ-xiYr-3Z0uZDe7LEI5aoycmG4b4syqI/s1600/Screen+shot+2010-04-28+at+2.35.58+PM.png"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4niul4LBGQ781BKnWZaBKfdLasscV6bkea546k-v9mDBbBzr3zR84tyrAJHLJ3O38tT7V1fkIgol3ZC_4IVf5zTk5YGhsnSaXSfPKukIMCzYJ-xiYr-3Z0uZDe7LEI5aoycmG4b4syqI/s200/Screen+shot+2010-04-28+at+2.35.58+PM.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5465259482907424114" /></a>I found this change in name particularly interesting because in 2002, I did quite a bit of work with HSN. I was one of two marketing leads in Hearst Magazines’ Brand Development Group, i.e., licensed products. Products ranging from Marie Claire fashion to Good Housekeeping cookery to Cosmo hair accessories and Country Living quilts were frequently featured on HSN and QVC. Seeking to find a fit between the HSN brand and the Marie Claire flair was tricky, so I coined the phrase “Hot Styles Now!”<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVslzon0kDEyjjKw5ekdYu1JFlpr1JITwpcbfOLksvCBE_vnln9gIm0WcxGctkZF0SGlOwX9VIwAT3ExMyYYQtdKS5CW_jUfeB1yoQ_HG12KIMGRdpU9LyMZ25w65WZMOW5HwRkikHmyU/s1600/in-print-elle-hsn-2.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 146px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVslzon0kDEyjjKw5ekdYu1JFlpr1JITwpcbfOLksvCBE_vnln9gIm0WcxGctkZF0SGlOwX9VIwAT3ExMyYYQtdKS5CW_jUfeB1yoQ_HG12KIMGRdpU9LyMZ25w65WZMOW5HwRkikHmyU/s200/in-print-elle-hsn-2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5465264216367582210" /></a>Well, it seems that Mindy Grossman has updated the HSN brand to a point where we don’t need either Home Shopping Network or Hot Styles Now. These are some of the things she has done:<br /><br />Coined the catch phrase: “There's No Place Like HSN." <br /><br />- <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXasgbyAU0Q">Check out the video</a>.<br /><br />Eliminated $100 billion in product.<br /><br />- I’d like to know how she selected which product to eliminate. Rationalizing a product line is a valuable and tricky endeavor. You want to upgrade your brand, but you don’t want to alienate your core audience. <br /><br />- Did she use the <a href="http://www.netmba.com/strategy/matrix/bcg/">BCG matrix</a> – identifying <a href="http://www.quickmba.com/strategy/matrix/bcg/">stars, cash cows, problem children and dogs</a> based on market share and growth? Was there qualitative and quantitative research involved? Did she, like Showtime, define the unique look, feel and personality of HSN and then pick products that supported it and simply felt right? Did she segment her target market? I certainly hope and imagine she did. I think that market segmentation is perhaps the most important element of marketing strategy.<br /><br />- I’d also like to know what led to the transformation. How, as I alluded above, did she evaluate where she was and where she wanted to go? Was it an upfront strategy or more of an incremental evolution?<br /><br />The end goal and end result was a transition to a lifestyle network.<br /><br />- That is big. I sounds like she identified the core of her brand and her audience and expanded from a retail channel to an entertainment/transaction vehicle. Very interesting.<br /><br />HSN added culinary programming noting that the appetite for this kind of programming has not been sated.<br />Cute choice of words: appetite for culinary things has not been sated… Also quite a statement. Even with a 24/7 Food Network and Food Network spinoff (Scripps re-purposing of “Fine Living). <br /><br />- In fact, even with food content on Bravo, TLC, the Travel Network, A&E, ABC Family Channel, BBC America, Discovery, Fox Reality, MTV, Style Network, AMC, FX Network, MSNBC, TV Land, Hallmark Channel, Lifetime and Lifetime Movie, Oxygen, SoapNet, WEtv, Comedy Central and Spike TV (phew!), there is still an unsated appetite. (This , by the way, is why I would like to invite Brooke Johnson, President of Food Network, to speak at the Harvard Club, but that is a story for another day.)<br /><br />In any case, HSN feels that this appetite has not been sated – perhaps, like chocolate, having food content just makes us all want even more – so, "she is going after that." <br /><br />Mindy started her talk with some key Internet data points:<br /><br />- Oh, how I love data…<br /><br />Here they are:<br /><br />Peer reviews are the #2 source of content/activity after search <br /><br />30 billion videos viewed each month, ___% on YouTube [darn, missed the # and will have to look it up]<br /><br />When a person has a DVR, 40-60% of viewing is time shifted <br /><br />- By the way, I spoke with a physicist working on the Hadron Collider, and he broke the news to me that time shifting is not the fourth dimension. It has to do with the Speed x Time = Distance equation. Oh well.<br /><br />The web is becoming more sociable than searchable<br /><br />- Nice alliteration<br /><br />Facebook had 400 MM users in February of 2010<br /><br />- Yup, it’s more than that now.<br /><br />4 of 5 Internet users visited social networking site<br /><br />11% of time online is on social networks<br /><br />eBay is experimenting with outlets<br /><br />- I didn’t know that. I’ll need to search on it when I get a sec.<br /><br />Online gaming is growing in popularity – 65% of households game! More than 40% of those who game are women. A lot [missed the number] are over the age of 50. 57% are earning or spending virtual currency daily.<br /><br />- Wow and whoah. 57%! On virtual currency! Take in for a moment that companies like Zynga have figured out a way to turn online value into money! This is worth taking a pause to digest. I’m glad that I’m working on a social gaming speaking event. It’s hot, hot, hot!<br /><br />The leaders in social mobile networking activity are 35-46 years old.<br /><br />- Kids, by the way, are pretty much satisfied with Facebook when it comes to social networking.<br /><br />- Oops – speaking of food content, it’s time for lunch. Gotta run.<br /><br />- Good news is that Mindy’s people have invited me to do an audio interview, so if you have any questions you’d like me to ask, send ‘em on over!KAREN LEVINEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04043137770031227088noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1393106253252575473.post-78443295925709891652010-04-21T12:59:00.011-04:002010-04-21T13:41:05.025-04:00When You Think "Add;" Also Think "Reduce"<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbkA8hvWN8h7jDVNwbFPYbMDZLCu6QZzNC2S-v1sUzNdgP5z_fDkqmfGCcvJ-QKEELP7s6XahFlkpup1aGXXFCWFej2bgGjBH5C9ha1EDW8zpCt0wfglIJ5HlFkIZJtIiAIbYjeQwUvck/s1600/wired-magazine-ipad.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 256px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbkA8hvWN8h7jDVNwbFPYbMDZLCu6QZzNC2S-v1sUzNdgP5z_fDkqmfGCcvJ-QKEELP7s6XahFlkpup1aGXXFCWFej2bgGjBH5C9ha1EDW8zpCt0wfglIJ5HlFkIZJtIiAIbYjeQwUvck/s320/wired-magazine-ipad.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5462643919038142082" /></a>Something dramatic happened in 2009. Something that might not surprise you today but would have been unthinkable back when I walked the carpeted hallways of <a href="http://www.hfmus.com/">Hachette</a>, <a href="http://www.hearst.com/magazines/index.php">Hearst</a> or <a href="http://www.condenast.com/">Conde Nas</a>t Magazines just a few years ago. Internet advertising revenue surpassed magazine advertising revenue. <br /><br />Based on <a href="http://www.zenithoptimedia.com/home/index.cfm?CFID=497823&CFTOKEN=25550516">ZenithOptimedia</a> estimates, magazine revenues fell from $24 billion in 2008 to $19 billion in 2009, and Internet revenues grew from $18 billion to $20 billion - despite a decrease in total ad revenue across all categories. The line in the sand has officially been crossed, and I can not imagine that it will be reversed. (In fact, Zenith estimates an increased gap in 2010.) While magazines may experience a partial rebirth with the birth of the <a href="http://www.apple.com/ipad/features/ibooks.html">iPad</a>, their role as a top 3 medium is no longer. <br /><br />Now, while TV and Newspapers seem to be holding their own, this stability does beg a question for me as follows: Are the interactive ad revenues associated with newspaper websites and tv websites included in the newspaper/tv bucket or the interactive bucket? My most recent perusal of a Veronis Suhler report revealed that these calculations are far more complicated than they may seem. As integrated advertising and media offerings have become more real, bookkeeping has become more surreal. In fact, the strength of TV and newspaper revenues reflects, in part, the strength of their digital offerings, particularly in comparison to the somewhat late-to-the-table magazine industry.<br /><br />Last night, I sponsored a talk by Bob Seelert, Worldwide Chairman of Saatchi & Saatchi, author of the book "Start with the Answer" and creator of a short article featuring a list of the "10 Things To Do When Leading In Tough Times." #9 on the list reads as follows: "When you think 'add;' also think 'reduce.' When you think 'create;' also think 'eliminate.'"<br /><br />Unfortunately, as advertising agencies seek to enhance their digital capabilities, they find a reduced need for those with print expertise. A smart organization will see the need to make this tradeoff, and a long-time print professional had better see the need to stay a step ahead - or at least catch up!<br /><br />On July 10, 2007, I wrote my very third blog entry. It was entitled, "<a href="http://karenlevine.blogspot.com/2007/07/dont-do-it.html">Don't Do It</a>" and strongly counseled a colleague to diversify out of print and into digital. I hope she heeded my advice:<br /><br />"Don't do it," I told her. A colleague from my magazine days took me to breakfast to ask for career advice. She has 11 years of magazine experience and is reentering the work force after a maternity leave and a quick detour into non-profit. "Don't go back into pure play print," I told her. If you do return to magazines, make sure you have digital responsibility and interaction." <br /><br />My colleague didn't think she had enough online knowledge to enter that world. "I don't know about search and all that," she said. But my feeling is that she needs to get up to speed on the lingo, the players and the trends. I suggested that she attend some industry breakfasts such as iBreakfast and NY:MIEG and directed her to paidcontent.org and <a href="http://www.emarketer.com/">eMarketer</a>. She has more digital experience than she thinks as she oversees the redesign of her non-profit's website. I like to think that I earned my pancakes.KAREN LEVINEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04043137770031227088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1393106253252575473.post-42723003285019419602010-04-08T17:07:00.013-04:002010-04-21T17:38:12.128-04:00Why Go Digital - to the Count of Three<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-M5S649Peyp5m9RLBr_W0NObcvPMrcuXnIL8E3vOzFKI_J-OdulVBWNPFvu_MtzE6PCMJjjaVSMenL1qQByZDQ595OigorshhiMq71WTaWi9xGvKAjjPBMQYTrDkQ2oAFNST1zGu2fHY/s1600/three-kings_3801.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-M5S649Peyp5m9RLBr_W0NObcvPMrcuXnIL8E3vOzFKI_J-OdulVBWNPFvu_MtzE6PCMJjjaVSMenL1qQByZDQ595OigorshhiMq71WTaWi9xGvKAjjPBMQYTrDkQ2oAFNST1zGu2fHY/s200/three-kings_3801.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5457883189756675282" /></a><a href="http://karenlevine.blogspot.com/2010/04/measuring-advertising-returns.html">Yesterday, I shared with you some thoughts about measuring payback on ad spending</a>. Thoughts that I am collecting as part of a specific inquiry. Today, I jumped to a later chapter in my analysis for a little diversity and thought therefore, that I would go ahead and begin a fresh post:<br /><br />Let’s jump ahead for a moment to the big picture. What is it my inquirer wants to know? In sum, she wants to get a handle on the dynamics of the ad market as it transitions from print to digital. She would like to understand why people are moving, why people are staying and how the different users of advertising as well as their intermediaries think about print vs. digital from both the intangible, e.g., business need/presence, and the tangible, e.g., better bang for the buck for banner ad, ability to market to a certain demographic.<br /><br />The question presents itself to me therefore, which came first the tangible or the intangible? Personally, I think it was the intangible with the tangible playing a part in terms of low risk from a cost point of view. When a client asks me whether marketing dollars should be moved online or to specific new platforms, my reasoning is seldom led by efficiencies. True, the efficiencies are there, and I touted them heartily when writing a business plan for Campfire. (Remind me to share some.) But the reasons advertisers should, have and are going digital include the following:<br /><br />#1 Your consumers, your customers, your audience is going online. You need to be where they are. As <a href="http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/news/agency/e3iefbf4e9d9f602fce26b21e63292fae44">Rishad Tobaccowala</a> once said, “I don’t know whether you are behind your competitors, but I know you are behind your consumers.”<br /><br />Even if your audience is not quite there yet, I’d rather be there when they arrive than try to find them once I get there. It’s kind of like a party. Fashionably late is not as fashionable when you’re trying to make a good impression and get a jump start. Few marketers and brands are on foursquare. In fact, foursquare has only 750,000 people on it (albeit a 4-fold increase in the last few weeks). But those who were there first – Bravo, Intel, Zagat -- have already made an impression, gotten the press and gotten an advantage.<br /><br />So, number one, you need to be where your peeps are.<br /><br />Moreover, you need to be where the puck is going, not where it is now. You may still have a critical mass of your core market watching tv, but what about tomorrow’s market? What about the young mothers who are going online for advice and community, spending more time consuming media on their laptops or mobile devices with less time to spend watching daytime soap operas – to the extent that they still exist? You need to get to know these women in their formative, digital years.<br /><br />#2 Digital media allows for all kinds of targeting. Not just demographic but behavioral, social, key word, contextual and, eventually (once I understand it), semantic. Moreover, let’s think about the word demographic. With geo-location technology, it’s possible to target at the GPS-level. I mean, I mean, in the not too distant future – if not today – a marketer will actually be able to, finally, really, know that I am leaving my yoga studio and walking by the bakery. Good time for a shout out, no?<br /><br />So digital targeting is not just specific and flexible, but it’s dynamic. With current prevalent print technology, an advertiser knows that I read “Elle” magazine, but does he know whether I, personally, also read “Wired?” Does he know what I do before and after I read my magazine? At what point do I go ahead and purchase the item advertised in the magazine? Not easily.<br /><br />With the current geo-location analytics technology, a marketer will be able to know what my literal path to purchase is. He’ll know that I go from my house to work, to lunch to the subway to the gym to the grocery store. Now, how he uses that is a new question, but the fact that this kind of information is available is fantastic.<br /><br />So, to review, the reasons to spend on digital media include:<br /><br />(1) that’s where you’re consumers are<br />(2) there are incredible opportunities with respect to targeting and intelligence<br /><br />#3 Why Not? Why waste the opportunity? If you are advertising offline, why not continue the conversation digitally. The incremental cost is probably not too big in the scheme of the campaign. It extends the impression – both in time and depth – and it offers an opportunity to capture information. It’s a move from one-to-many to one-to-one. “Thanks for coming to my party, now tell me more about yourself.”<br /><br />Now that I have brought up this third reason, I’d like to go back to part of the original question, i.e., why are some people staying and some people going, and what is the dynamic of the market as it transitions from print to digital. Well, at the risk of getting touchy-feely, this third reason suggests that an advertiser extend his or her buy by adding a digital element. These platforms can and should work together. Is digital cannibalizing analog, or is it possible that the whole will be bigger than the pieces, yielding a bigger payout and thus additional dollars to fund the whole campaign. Well, that’s high math (and cost accounting) but certainly something to think about.KAREN LEVINEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04043137770031227088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1393106253252575473.post-57719075367421197392010-04-08T16:18:00.008-04:002010-04-11T22:01:54.948-04:00Dream Cover<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-z-9pM5tbjSypJiD4TdDFFG3PPxLXNu02dga1J54sXmX7wFf2OY7T1ozstYMkm6yfluhrD3kOTYZZ_cRQu-D7z600IEgZ8Be1CPSYM1ev0jMxDYIyF0eiLfyg9VUZ3_hkg7yOK8jkgqI/s1600/1046251059_1b99c17115.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 206px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-z-9pM5tbjSypJiD4TdDFFG3PPxLXNu02dga1J54sXmX7wFf2OY7T1ozstYMkm6yfluhrD3kOTYZZ_cRQu-D7z600IEgZ8Be1CPSYM1ev0jMxDYIyF0eiLfyg9VUZ3_hkg7yOK8jkgqI/s320/1046251059_1b99c17115.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5457865776403255266" /></a>A colleague of mine asked me to provide some bullet points that she could incorporate into a note she is writing on my behalf. I wrote something quite mature and professional and then let loose with the following. I think it's actually quite appropriate and simply need someone to post it on my behalf on LinkedIn. Or maybe not... In any case, here's what I've written this exceedingly warm afternoon:<br /><br />Karen is the most impressive, coolest, prettiest, nicest, most generous, incredible person I know. Her mind works in ways that others can't fathom. She is selfless and makes those around her feel like they are walking on sunshine. Any client she works with experiences immediate dramatic revenue growth. I have considered moving my practice to NYC just so that we could work together more often. She is also a proposal writing machine. <br /><br />In addition, Karen is the best house guest you could imagine. I have thought about getting a second home on the East Coast just so that she could visit me more often. <br /><br />And most important, dogs love her. When she looks at them, their fur immediately becomes soft and smooth and straight as if it had been brushed for hours, and their teeth become minty clean and bright.KAREN LEVINEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04043137770031227088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1393106253252575473.post-80999700074527546592010-04-07T13:51:00.008-04:002010-04-09T10:52:45.359-04:00Measuring Advertising Returns<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFkyn9PPk7sKtiE3eVH7SCFu3HGm0xHkO9JdAeW8UwXk6goBNYdyJ_NESIdaNno1PZ8GQjAOaxW2NKiDMEKddLePT7FfKv253rkiYNGRmGrZlDbEHlQpnWbVt_1EplqbKeXtbiF102cZg/s1600/digital_measuring_tape.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 194px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFkyn9PPk7sKtiE3eVH7SCFu3HGm0xHkO9JdAeW8UwXk6goBNYdyJ_NESIdaNno1PZ8GQjAOaxW2NKiDMEKddLePT7FfKv253rkiYNGRmGrZlDbEHlQpnWbVt_1EplqbKeXtbiF102cZg/s200/digital_measuring_tape.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5457867046846090530" /></a>This blog is about advertising returns, in particular gauging the efficacy of different types of advertising campaigns. It was inspired by the questions asked me by a client seeking to understand how retailers and advertising agencies view payback on ad investment through different advertising vehicles.<br /><br />We began with catalogs. Now catalogs are typically considered to be a “lower funnel” or direct advertising tool. While a well-done catalog can positively impact brand perception and equity and can stimulate upper funnel results such as awareness, interest and desire, most catalogs are judged on tangible results. <br /><br />What then are the tangible results we are looking for? A smart marketer will begin his or her campaign with that question, rather than measuring them after the fact. In direct marketing, these are referred to as Key Performance Indicators, or KPIs. In the case of a retail catalog, these KPIs will reflect specific desirable consumer actions such as: making a purchase, visiting a website, returning a business reply mailer, signing up for a mailing list. Most enticing, of course, is sales volume. <br /><br />How then, do we link consumer activity to a particular catalog mailing? There are a number of tactics that can be used. Here are some examples:<br /><br />1. Create and include a dedicated telesales phone number for each catalog.<br /><br />2. Send catalogs to different geographic areas on different dates. Then keep an eye on traffic and spending, in store and online, during those periods in those geographies. The geography of an online shopper can be estimated based on the user’s IP address. (An Internet Protocol (IP) address is a numerical label that is assigned to devices participating in a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication between its nodes.)<br /><br />3. More to come…<br /><br />I welcome your thoughts!KAREN LEVINEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04043137770031227088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1393106253252575473.post-65027264403228106772010-04-03T22:45:00.000-04:002010-04-03T10:45:20.900-04:00If You Don't Know Where You're Going, Any Road Will Take You There<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9HtBPKMXvRClX-X6mE1hFIOjKQUwDNPgD22uWB-PWssi0lMVSxhyphenhyphenA0ZiQ776U9tLpWh3s1V6HYhooMsYCyWgAfF4YzvHmNEm3x5fFE_Zu8Gt4pBqztCGuOygAl5DEHNBoVsgmoNGTnO8/s1600/decision.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9HtBPKMXvRClX-X6mE1hFIOjKQUwDNPgD22uWB-PWssi0lMVSxhyphenhyphenA0ZiQ776U9tLpWh3s1V6HYhooMsYCyWgAfF4YzvHmNEm3x5fFE_Zu8Gt4pBqztCGuOygAl5DEHNBoVsgmoNGTnO8/s320/decision.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5455675213841719266" /></a>Later this month, I am hosting a talk by <a href="http://www.saatchi.com/">Saatchi & Saatchi</a> Worldwide Chairman <a href="http://www.startwiththeanswer.com/images/downloads/Bob-Seelert_Extended-Biography.pdf">Bob Seelert</a>. In preparation for this talk, I am reading his book, "<a href="http://www.startwiththeanswer.com/">Start with the Answer</a>." This afternoon, as I basked in the peaceful exhaustion of a <a href="http://yoga.about.com/od/typesofyoga/a/vinyasa.htm">Vinyasa</a> class listening to a mellow arrangement of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" in the "pink" area of the <a href="http://www.pureyoga.com/en/newyork/">Pure Yoga</a> studio, and reading through Mr. Seelert's two-page chapters punctuated and summated by a chapter-specific "Bob's Wisdom," I sat up suddenly with a compelling need to tweet one of these takeaways: "If You Do Not Know Where You Are Going, Any Road Will Take You There." Like Porter's, "You Can't Manage What You Can't Measure," this struck me as a key leadership tenet worth sharing with the tweetosphere. <br /><br />But as I continued to read the chapter, I realized that it was much more. It was the holy grail. As a strategy consultant, and particularly in situations where I am the sole strategist leading the way on the development of a digital strategy roadmap or an overall marketing strategy, I find myself mired in the following question: What is a strategy, and what is a tactic. On a recent such project, I recall harkening back to my days as a pasta sauce brand manager when I was given the clear, organizationally-approved framework of objective, strategy, plan. Or... was it strategy, objective, plan? No, surely the first.<br /><br />But in these new situations, what I saw as a strategy, others might see as a tactic, and vice-versa; and no one was really sure what the objective was. In fact, was the starting point an objective or a vision? Hmmmm... In one such situation, I found myself reaching out to Wharton classmates, Booz & Co. colleagues and other strategic gurus - only to find myself once again mired in the discussion of what the client viscerally responded to as a strategy vs. a plan. <br /><br />Now, this is admittedly, not as clear cut as my three tiered delineation above. There is sometimes a cascading effect such that a high level "plan" might turn into a lower level "strategy" as the organization gets closer to implementation. I recall having this discussion with Charlie McKittrick at Ogilvy & Mather who nicely summed up his definition of strategy as: "a plan for the allocation of limited resources over time to reach an objective." And in a note to him, I reiterated my comments above that "what may be a tactical element of a high level business strategy can also be the starting point for a marketing strategy (which in turn informs a creative plan and execution)."<br /><br />All of that said - and serving as a sufficient preamble to allow me to shamelessly reprint what Mr. Seelert outlines in his book, here is a supremely clear cut, General Foods trained, overview of objective vs. strategy vs. plan:<br /><br />"As a chief executive, it is your job to set a direction for the enterprise. Working with your team, you need to establish a clear vision or better yet, an inspirational dream that is specific to your situation and communicate it to everyone in the organization as often and as thoroughly as possible.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9BGZQuK5lv48xjNXZx0iIcyipTyFzQX230omqGdoAYvN6jNx-rkfqGtUXk78wF84NVXN8Cb-n3t_xV4gqoEhsgTybO1wzVda4d7hlZNn_-ri30TmNhIg2zuQFuQr5ubp2a8lRq-j1ykg/s1600/girltie.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 242px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9BGZQuK5lv48xjNXZx0iIcyipTyFzQX230omqGdoAYvN6jNx-rkfqGtUXk78wF84NVXN8Cb-n3t_xV4gqoEhsgTybO1wzVda4d7hlZNn_-ri30TmNhIg2zuQFuQr5ubp2a8lRq-j1ykg/s320/girltie.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5455674102185301026" /></a>This also sets the stage for mapping objectives, strategies and plans that bring your directions to life and focus the efforts of your people. The first questions to clarify are: What is an objective? What is a strategy? What is a plan? Organizations can become tied in knots if they do not get this simple structure right."<br /><br />Hallelujah!!! I have been to those knots, and I have seen how tangled, turned around, and derailed a team can become.<br /><br />"An objective can be described as a goal, an outcome, or an 'end.' It must be measurable."<br /><br />Hallelujah! B School 101: "specific, measurable results." Anything can be measured - with enough creativity, "can-do" determination and cooperation.<br /><br />"A strategy describes the boundaries you operate within to achieve the objectives. As such, they represent the 'means to an end.' A plan then is a set of action-oriented steps, taken in conformance with the strategies to achieve the objective."<br /><br />QED. Quite simple really.<br /><br />"If the objective is to 'build share of market,' the supporting strategy might be, 'utilize promotional incentives to generate trial among non-users.' A plan flowing from this could be, 'circulate a direct mail coupon of 'x' value on 'y' date.'"<br /><br />The key here is the simplicity of the objective: "build share of market." Simple but defining. Something that will keep you on track. An overarching framework by which all strategies and plans can be reviewed.<br /><br />"Setting strategies is particularly important. By establishing boundaries, strategies help channel the organization's efforts in the right direction and minimize the unfettered thinking and actions. They provide the mechanism for evaluating the strength or sensibility of plans as they come forth. The simple question to ask is, 'Is the plan on strategy?'"<br /><br />Hallelujah! So long, that is, as a company is willing to take a stand on its objective. That requires decision-making and consensus. "A well-defined problem is 90% solved." - EinsteinKAREN LEVINEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04043137770031227088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1393106253252575473.post-59716463565734575182010-03-22T14:38:00.033-04:002010-04-26T12:40:27.392-04:00The New Semester Begins Now<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhATXIYWk4RQ5LZ04qgQysLJyTsVTP7-vetPloXJrMNLljUk-mpChThOERf4tPy9ibmqTEI4hPMAEVkOokufUXfQymRguviZhY2QEPd6xo67-apuHXO0JUXnkw_IwsL139nGsy5SlwTP24/s1600-h/4331196848_b1d495db1f.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 174px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhATXIYWk4RQ5LZ04qgQysLJyTsVTP7-vetPloXJrMNLljUk-mpChThOERf4tPy9ibmqTEI4hPMAEVkOokufUXfQymRguviZhY2QEPd6xo67-apuHXO0JUXnkw_IwsL139nGsy5SlwTP24/s320/4331196848_b1d495db1f.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5452002106408697410" /></a>For a number of months, <a href="http://karenlevine.blogspot.com/2009/06/talking-about-my-education-new-media.html">I have been sharing with you courses, panels, seminars, workshops, etc.</a> that I have found to be worth my attending. Perhaps you do too. Well, the list was getting quite long, so I think it's time to unwrap a new notebook, as it were:<br /><br />[I have moved the upcoming events to a more recent posting.]<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Recently Attended:<span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheCSUzBA4ys1Ql9zlxjdH9_-zGR_L6myOhZc1GfYL7jJmWtQ8lgIH3wXDqY_Bnn0CjIHaGtJVtxwSrXOsA-CK99HnJgL99UnNIynQzzWjtbMpDuq1NwS8xldWANhfLBypgedb6phs3HAM/s1600-h/cover.gif"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 132px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheCSUzBA4ys1Ql9zlxjdH9_-zGR_L6myOhZc1GfYL7jJmWtQ8lgIH3wXDqY_Bnn0CjIHaGtJVtxwSrXOsA-CK99HnJgL99UnNIynQzzWjtbMpDuq1NwS8xldWANhfLBypgedb6phs3HAM/s200/cover.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5449288794063230642" /></a>"<a href="http://www.amazon.com/10-Laws-Enduring-Success/dp/0307452522">The 10 Laws of Enduring Success</a>.” An exclusive <a href="http://events.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07e2smpphv8b07c445">one-on-one interview with Maria Bartiromo</a>. <a href="http://www.sobelmedia.com/">Sobel Media</a>, Wednesday, March 31, 7pm. Samsung Experience, NYC.<br /><br />Everyone wants to attain success. But what is success? How do you get it, and how do you keep it? The events of recent years have prompted many of us to rethink our definition of success. In <a href="http://www.amazon.com/10-Laws-Enduring-Success/dp/0307452522">“The 10 Laws of Enduring Success</a>,” Maria Bartiromo shares personal insights developed on the front-lines of the financial crisis, as well as ideas from in-depth interviews with notable Americans, including Condoleezza Rice, Joe Torre, Bill Gates, Jack Welch, and Goldie Hawn. "The 10 Laws of Enduring Success," will be released on March 30th. Catch her on The Today Show with Matt Lauer on March 31st, then join her in person with us at The Samsung Experience for an exclusive one-on-one conversation with Frank Radice.<br /><br /><br />Wharton, University Pennsylvania <a href="http://www.whartoninteractiveretailing.com/">Interactive Retailing 2010 Conference</a>. Tuesday, March 23, 8am-3pm. Macy's Herald Square.<br /><br />Keynote Speaker: <a href="http://www.whartoninteractiveretailing.com/keynotes.html">Mindy Grossman</a><br /><br />The internet opened up a new channel of distribution for retailers. Now, social networking, online communities and mobile commerce have the ability to transform the industry yet again. To be effective and impactful these new tools must have the flexibility required by retailers: interactivity, ease of use and the ability to influence buying behaviors.<br /><br />What are the potential opportunities and challenges for retailers who embrace these new technologies?<br />When should you embrace them?<br /><br />Can the industry effectively utilize new e-commerce tools to improve their business models and drive sales?<br />What are the most promising technologies on the horizon?<br /><br />These are just some of the topics that will be discussed as retail industry executives and academics meet as th<a href="http://bakerretail.wharton.upenn.edu/">e Jay H. Baker Retailing Initiative</a> and <a href="http://www.whartoninteractive.com/">Wharton Interactive Media Initiative</a> present INTERACTIVE RETAILING 2010. This conference will focus on existing technologies that work and how to synergize emerging technologies to position your firm for the future<br /><br /><a href="http://www.roubini.com/">Professor Nouriel Roubini</a>: THE WORLD ECONOMY – WHAT’S NEXT? Monday, March 15th, 2010. Harvard Club of New York<br /><br />The New York Times has described him as “the seer who saw it coming” – “it” being of the housing bubble and the ensuing economic meltdown. Professor Nouriel Roubini, who earned his Ph.D. in economics at Harvard and now teaches at New York University, is pre-eminently the economist who made his predictions in public and was right on the money. Now, after earning the right to say, “I told you so,” he is coming to the Harvard Club to talk about the economic future.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.hbscny.org/article.html?aid=454">The Changing Economics of News and Print Media.</a> Thursday, March 4th, 2010.<br /><br />An intimate dinner and interactive conversation with media thought leaders to discuss the future of internet and social technologies and their impact on the changing economics of news and print media. How internet and social technologies have irreversibly changed the economics of news and print, and the implications for traditional and emerging media businesses: (a) Consumer consumption habits and trends across multiple platforms, (b) Crowd-sourcing, citizen journalists, and the cost of content creation, and (c) Aggregated vs. reported, free vs. pay.<br /><br />(Excellent discussion.)<br /><br /><a href="https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/635718706">Social is the Next Search: Is Your Site Ready?</a> Thursday, March 4th, 2010. 2-3pm ECT. Free webinar by <a href="http://www.gigya.com/">Gigya</a><br /><br />(Excellent presentation, materials, best practice examples)<br /><br /><a href="http://shortyawards.com/">Shorty Awards.</a> Wednesday, March 3, 2010. NYC - via <a href="http://www.livestream.com/">Livestream</a> from <a href="http://thetimescenter.com/">The New York Times Center</a>.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw_RtnwF6dfOwNLU84SyrzWb5GkeCQAsTNWzB2hFctFA316Q3JTpEdNK3lHn4hQsh0v5qqXbZxmjIHJ8GoSjPC9RotVf0dJW5I4eAbI-6Via_mQnsQIrzOjHJJTHcO_Jg-sxpNjptPS9w/s1600-h/shorty.png"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw_RtnwF6dfOwNLU84SyrzWb5GkeCQAsTNWzB2hFctFA316Q3JTpEdNK3lHn4hQsh0v5qqXbZxmjIHJ8GoSjPC9RotVf0dJW5I4eAbI-6Via_mQnsQIrzOjHJJTHcO_Jg-sxpNjptPS9w/s200/shorty.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5449289618459189522" /></a>The Shorty Awards are unique awards for the Twitter community, by the Twitter community. Online voting is public and democratic, culminating in an awards ceremony that recognizes the winners in 26 official categories as well as those in crowd-sourced ones.<br /><br />(Of course TweetDeck won.)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.mediapost.com/events/?/showID/OMMABehavioral.10.NYC"><span style="font-weight:bold;">OMMA (Online Media, Marketing and Advertising) Behavioral conference</span></a>. February 25, 2010. NYC<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><a href="http://www.mediapost.com/events/?/showID/OMMAMetricsMeasurement.10.NYC">OMMA (Online Media, Marketing and Advertising) Metrics and Measurement conference</a></span>. February 24, 2010. NYC<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR0frFKZIAma_UgX9rq1z8dqLQvn2eyRlr2AAK5-cY0TqX92Gu_3eDSuj9S5wZEj-rJ5mT1KoCIh8xvdsdkEzviLwM8aCm5tvJm12E0BxF3M24vfO-TPTvr4WSNY4GbmxVjjz4Q31QQxk/s1600-h/Screen+shot+2010-03-16+at+12.59.33+AM.png"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 79px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR0frFKZIAma_UgX9rq1z8dqLQvn2eyRlr2AAK5-cY0TqX92Gu_3eDSuj9S5wZEj-rJ5mT1KoCIh8xvdsdkEzviLwM8aCm5tvJm12E0BxF3M24vfO-TPTvr4WSNY4GbmxVjjz4Q31QQxk/s200/Screen+shot+2010-03-16+at+12.59.33+AM.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5449093578684179474" /></a><span style="font-weight:bold;">Multichannel News <a href="http://www.multichannel.com/info/1807-Advanced_Advertising_The_Future_is_now.php"><span style="font-weight:bold;">Advanced Advertising: The Future Is Now</span></a>. </span>Monday, February 22, 2010. NYC<br /><br /><a href="http://karenlevine.blogspot.com/2010/02/content-is-salt-and-pepper-social-media.html"><span style="font-weight:bold;">Uncorking Gary Vaynerchuk</span></a>: an in-depth interview with Ellis Henican of Newsday and Fox News. <a href="http://events.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07e2oxp4xj596fffcd&oseq=a01mufkpbaw4t">Sobel Media. </a> Wednesday, February 17, 2010. NYC<br /><br /><a href="http://eventcamp.org/"><span style="font-weight:bold;">Eventcamp 2010</span></a>. Saturday, February 6th, 2010. NYC<br /><br />EventCamp 2010 was the first industry gathering of its kind, offering an intimate and low cost alternative to the large annual conference and allowing attendees the option to generate their own content, encouraging participation and allowing for a more interactive environment. Approximately half the session topics were be pre-determined, and aimed to assist planners in utilizing social media and technology in event and meeting planning, execution, business development and networking. All levels of Social Media, Technology, and Event enthusiasts are welcome and encouraged! There were Social Media and Technology rockstars on hand to help participants get started or answer questions.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><a href="http://smw-newyork.sched.org/event/9f4a484812aaf4b54480979cc413e45e">Whole Foods Market Presents: Afternoon Snack. A New York New Food Media Panel</span></a> as part of <a href="http://socialmediaweek.org/about/">Social Media Week</a>. Friday, February 5th, 2010. NYC<br /><br /><a href="http://smwnynytimessports.eventbrite.com/">Unleashing Social Media on the Sports World, hosted by the New York Times</a> as part of <a href="http://socialmediaweek.org/about/">Social Media Week</a>. Friday, February 5th, 2010. NYC<br /><br /><a href="http://smwnytimescrowd.eventbrite.com/">Crowdsourcing, hosted by the New York Times</a> as part o<a href="http://socialmediaweek.org/about/">f Social Media Week</a>. Friday, February 5th, 2010. NYC<br /><br /><a href="http://smwnycfuturefcked.eventbrite.com/">Is The Future F#cked?</a> - a part of <a href="http://socialmediaweek.org/about/">Social Media Week</a>. Thursday, February 4, 2010. NYC.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Prince-Silicon-Valley-Quattrone-Dot-Com/dp/0312555601">The Prince of Silicon Valley: Frank Quattrone and the Dot-Com Bubble.</a></span> Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010. NYC<br /><br />Before subprime housing melted down in 2008, there was the dot-com bubble and meltdown a decade earlier. The Pied Piper of the Internet bubble was Frank Quattrone, the era’s most successful banker. From Cisco to Netscape to Amazon, he took some of the biggest names in technology public. In 1999 and 2000, his group at Credit Suisse led the most hot initial public offerings, which lifted the entire stock market to record heights. Take a walk down Wall Street with Randall Smith, an award-winning reporter for The Wall Street Journal, whose articles chronicled the investigations of Quattrone’s firm by<br />regulators and federal prosecutors. Quattrone’s 2004 conviction for obstruction of justice was overturned in 2006, and the banker recently returned to the securities business. Smith will share the tale of a Wall Street Icarus who flew too close to the sun, an absorbing noir detective story of those investigations and trials. His book, The Prince of Silicon Valley, traces Quattrone’s rise from the back streets of South Philadelphia to the peak of finance as the highest paid banker on Wall Street. (This was my event.)KAREN LEVINEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04043137770031227088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1393106253252575473.post-92158816405858876372010-03-20T23:15:00.000-04:002010-03-23T05:30:32.833-04:00Pass the Matzoh, Please! The Timeless Tradition of Live Storytelling.With Passover around the corner, I thought I would dust this posting off from April 14, 2009.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTANmKIiyccrb8_WaaUAkZobvzn7wOCPvsHU1fjpTWqTrm4wJD-O9wKd-xkvllEgslXzEkbfkFLhyphenhyphenTlvOqv7XNbF-FKrh8SVBQeU-JZjMA8fyzSkh2m4Wy20uqtPGzAd4oKJh7Fu5Gczc/s1600-h/sederplt.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 196px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTANmKIiyccrb8_WaaUAkZobvzn7wOCPvsHU1fjpTWqTrm4wJD-O9wKd-xkvllEgslXzEkbfkFLhyphenhyphenTlvOqv7XNbF-FKrh8SVBQeU-JZjMA8fyzSkh2m4Wy20uqtPGzAd4oKJh7Fu5Gczc/s200/sederplt.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5337277071165122930" /></a>The other night I attended a marathon seder... hmmmm, that's actually a redundant phrase as anyone who has perused a 95 page Hagaddah that tells the history of a 6,000 year old people may have observed. In any case, this seder, which was sponsored by a group called Romemu and attended by 150 people, ran from 6:30-10:30pm - followed by an additional hour of chatting with the people at my table whom I had not met before that day but with whom I had bonded through bitter herbs, plagues, songs, poems, questions, meditation and gefilte fish.<br /><br />Well, a little over three hours into the seder - after I had accidentally drenched our tablecloth with matzoh ball soup and inadvertently set on fire two plastic bowls by placing them too close to the tea lights on the table - I started to get a little distracted. Reflecting on the many seders I have attended, I began to jot down thoughts for a blog post about the cultural, developmental and educational aspects of the holiday's practices. <br /><br />A seder - which means order - not only tells the story of Moses and the escape of the Jews from Egypt, but teaches all kinds of values and skills that are inherent elements of the Jewish culture. One of these is discipline and patience, as it can take many hours of deprivation and light symbolic snacking before you get to the meal. Until then, you must subsist on horseradish, wine, a little bit of matzoh and other allegorical items.<br /><br />The seder also shines a light on the youngest members of the family, requiring them to read aloud and, in the case of the youngest child, to ask the famous four questions. With respect to this, I observed that I felt a commonality with the other "youngest children" at my table. All of us adults, all of us having experienced that unique responsibility. (They hated it; I loved it.) This, in fact, led me to observe that the seder reinforces the birth order.<br /><br />In addition to learning to speak in public, young people at the seder learn to ask questions. To challenge, question, discuss and analyze. (Does the combination of public speaking and questioning shed a light on the prevalence of Jewish comedians?)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-TEkmLoDKZzrjqg4OGTELfQFhSdwlcYeuffd2dks6P_aSuuYjsbPjtWZxstX-CRb_lFU4mBXmhFOEW283DbAQTVh2eRktPnOyOIa4f6gCJaFqvl9iMWJu1d2E9nqMkMnAVsUeCshhjrQ/s1600-h/Matzoh-Matzah-Matzo-Passover2008.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-TEkmLoDKZzrjqg4OGTELfQFhSdwlcYeuffd2dks6P_aSuuYjsbPjtWZxstX-CRb_lFU4mBXmhFOEW283DbAQTVh2eRktPnOyOIa4f6gCJaFqvl9iMWJu1d2E9nqMkMnAVsUeCshhjrQ/s200/Matzoh-Matzah-Matzo-Passover2008.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5324763768593837506" /></a>Through the search for the Afikomen, the children learn about work and reward and, in some cases, they learn about the art of negotiation as they determine the payment they are willing to accept in return for the matzoh they now hold hostage. <br /><br />As I jotted down thoughts in and among the poems and prayers of my seder booklet, one of my table-mates took out a small notebook and began to write. Intrigued, I asked to see what he had written. It was not a blog but a poem. This is what he wrote: <br /><br />Between God and soul lies a plan that is vast<br /> Deserts seem small<br /> Oceans like ponds<br />This space vast, it must be passed<br /><br />With prayer given to the all that is<br /> Joyous singing<br /> Quiet thought<br />Actions speak loud, to do good is bliss<br /><br />Smiles and laughs and breathing in deep<br /> Ears that are open<br /> Eyes that can see<br />Running and jumping, faith calls for blind leaps<br /><br />The gap isn’t true<br /> There’s no space between<br />We are all connected<br /> By smiles and by seams.<br /><br />(Written by Douglas Karson, April 9, 2009)KAREN LEVINEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04043137770031227088noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1393106253252575473.post-58256274653753535392010-03-16T20:34:00.055-04:002010-03-20T09:49:43.851-04:00Early Check In - with foursquare<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMMkJDskt7nZQEFc94rLa6ziXX5DEmQEMCVFimV6ijouru_SYKUmrPKFRqHDaWfeF7jQt_UwuCLuqKUyJ-GzUoHQWcqEhUCnkmciZAwOYFVHPjLZ9PHtTMCQlmg5tb9MdF5G0b4CEHb8U/s1600-h/marsh_cafe_flyer.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMMkJDskt7nZQEFc94rLa6ziXX5DEmQEMCVFimV6ijouru_SYKUmrPKFRqHDaWfeF7jQt_UwuCLuqKUyJ-GzUoHQWcqEhUCnkmciZAwOYFVHPjLZ9PHtTMCQlmg5tb9MdF5G0b4CEHb8U/s320/marsh_cafe_flyer.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5449746943970293826" /></a>In July 2009, I wrote an entry called "<a href="http://karenlevine.blogspot.com/2009/04/whos-tweeting-now.html">Who's Tweeting Now</a>" that chronicled various observations about a new rage called "Twitter." Yes, that was less than a year ago. Twitter was hitting public awareness with a bang, and I was being asked by social media skeptics how this new obsession could possibly be useful. So, I decided to string together short Twitter observations into "macro" blog entry.<br /><br />Now, eight months later, and one year after its launch, foursquare is beginning to penetrate public consciousness. The first week in February, I was asked by a client to pull together some social media elements to be incorporated into a proposal for a B2B financial services client seeking to improve the impact, effectiveness and engagement of its trade show marketing. I did some research into whether this marketer's clients have smart phones and use digital media and whether other major B2B players use Twitter (and Facebook). My initial finding was that this audience was not the iPhone carrying <a href="http://gowalla.com/">Gowalla</a> using audience that those in NYC might think are the American norm. Some trade show organizers were experimenting with hash tags, and a number of B2B companies had huge numbers of Twitter followers - and even Facebook fans, but my sense was that the social media aspects of this campaign needed to be relatively simple. <br /><br />I recommended therefore, a number of ways for the marketer to use Twitter - before, during and after each show. And I gave them overall guidance as to how to develop, maintain and optimize their Twitter presence. That done, my client and I decided to go for it, to be crazy, and to incorporate location-based social media into the equation. I looked into developing a mobile application either independently or in conjunction with the trade shows, themselves. But this was really too aggressive. It meant developing an application and then getting trade show participants to adopt it. In other words, it required creating a market. Not easy.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD4kpELkCUH6H-4KvUc5AZl6DxsTA0mbGBhwMaio2FQ9oxFh1-76-y1Dr2R6CCW5GqU_IbNw54mdoBZwPZXp-T1DEY-RRhRaZnNptLBjyYsm_dhLp9h10g50sH3ghMEhd53Rxl3_l2F_I/s1600-h/Screen+shot+2010-03-16+at+9.49.15+PM.png"><img style="float:center; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 384px; height: 252px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD4kpELkCUH6H-4KvUc5AZl6DxsTA0mbGBhwMaio2FQ9oxFh1-76-y1Dr2R6CCW5GqU_IbNw54mdoBZwPZXp-T1DEY-RRhRaZnNptLBjyYsm_dhLp9h10g50sH3ghMEhd53Rxl3_l2F_I/s320/Screen+shot+2010-03-16+at+9.49.15+PM.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5449414153805949138" /></a>So, why not foursquare? An existing application, with a growing adoption rate and functionality that allowed us to incorporate our promotions and marketing into the existing framework. See, for example, what <a href="http://foursquare.com/user/intel">Intel did at the Consumer Electronics Show</a>. See also what your local retailers are doing. And look at the pop up recommendations that <a href="http://www.sobelmedia.com/about/about-bill-sobel/">Bill Sobel</a> has left for those who use foursquare in and around New York's upper west side.<br /><br />I developed the plan and incorporated it into the deck. After finalizing the deck, I called my client to discuss next steps. One of the things he asked for was a more in depth conversation about foursquare so that he could better understand and represent the concept to his customer. Joe, I said (I call all my clients Joe...), keep your eye on this thing - this foursquare. Your client may think it's niche or obscure now, but six months from now, they'll note how ahead of the curve we were. The bigger foursquare gets, the more appropriate our recommendations will be, and since the customer's program is ongoing, they can incorporate it at any time. <br /><br />There is something about it that is very reminiscent of Facebook back in 2006. Friends and relatives thought I was crazy, or at least, eccentric, when I joined Facebook. (One even said that it was "sad" that I had to go online for friendship...) When I joined there were <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqREyg5lmDfLtkJMWtC731MM_L5b9MAlx1PGGycRx6q7cK8jHe0x_wt5yECQyOOAg0VP8y6I29padXelvVetiGFBMsHpquu3dsPn9yzqHG7xG1lWI4_H1Sh3c3Ht9ZJE-iF_Mioc94Trw/s1600-h/Picture+3.png">6 million people on Facebook</a>. Today, there are close to 400 million - including all those friends and relatives I mentioned. (As of this week, Facebook consistently attracts more daily visitors than Google - CNET.) In 2006 - and even today - there are those who can't imagine why you would want to share private or personal information about what you are doing online. Today, they are scared of the risks of posting information about where you are into a public mobile ethersphere. There are even spoof sites that beckon thieves to "<a href="http://robmenow.com/">rob me now</a>" when your foursquare status (geotag) shows you are away from home. The number of foursquare participants is low, but the passion of those using it is high. (In actuality, foursquare reached 500,000 participants this week - March 19th, up from 400,000 last week due to intensive guerilla marketing efforts at South by Southwest last weekend.)<br /><br />Yesterday, I called my client to check in (not in a foursquare sort of way, just a phone call). The first thing he said was that since we had spoken, he had seen and heard about foursquare over and over in the press. It wasn't gradual, and it didn't take six months. It was immediate. <br /><br />My heart began to beat as I observed the amount of hype this new trend is getting - fast. And so, the question arises again, "how can this new obsession be used - and why?"<br /><br />Now, I wear a number of hats. I am a "user" - of media, that is. I am a consultant to media and entertainment clients. And I am a consultant to marketers. So, my introduction to foursquare posed at least three sets of questions. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQMAivrX9MS2SzcGGrb0hZGNxMx0sM60DgZfm9KObQ4dTeC8ai5gTPOQVhzVVDwrsYsudOD1cGAW8TYoXgd33j-diLV0dJmBjDCXRHEt2qyaONd9Mqbv0SDA6tLKIakk5nI3e2-xqOVzc/s1600-h/tweets.png"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 268px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQMAivrX9MS2SzcGGrb0hZGNxMx0sM60DgZfm9KObQ4dTeC8ai5gTPOQVhzVVDwrsYsudOD1cGAW8TYoXgd33j-diLV0dJmBjDCXRHEt2qyaONd9Mqbv0SDA6tLKIakk5nI3e2-xqOVzc/s320/tweets.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5449412976411146498" /></a>First, how and why should I use it? How can I improve my life by joining foursquare? <br /><br />Second, what's the plan for Dennis Crowley, founder of foursquare, and his partners? How are they going to monetize this? And, wow, these guys have something hot with a lot of potential. Oh and how might Apple limit or enhance this potential - specifically, Apple recently announced that they would not allow hyper-local advertising on their platform. Uh oh, that seems limiting.<br /><br />Third, how can marketers exploit this great new technology, growing social trend and incredible treasure trove of consumer behavior information? And in using the word "marketer," I reference a huge range of players, from your local ice cream shop to the <a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/188257/bravo_tv_teams_with_foursquare_report_says.html">Bravo network</a> (<a href="http://mashable.com/2010/01/31/bravo-foursquare-snags-a-tv-partnership/">"America's Top Chef" program</a>) to major global marketing brands. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh2oOjK_HwsYmTBQbIxb15qLO4U-RpdSEdGPsOI3HsRka1te_SIa4Rh6YcVLe3GjQzq3U0wQKgxxCtHmEavO5uAKooEpG0TXsFuwWEHmWx7SWr0B-mL0PnmzK3yPN2NC-NS9D9CDk67MQ/s1600-h/011210_FourSquare_0701.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh2oOjK_HwsYmTBQbIxb15qLO4U-RpdSEdGPsOI3HsRka1te_SIa4Rh6YcVLe3GjQzq3U0wQKgxxCtHmEavO5uAKooEpG0TXsFuwWEHmWx7SWr0B-mL0PnmzK3yPN2NC-NS9D9CDk67MQ/s200/011210_FourSquare_0701.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5450366136036423458" /></a>And fourth, how can other constituents partner with and leverage foursquare. For example, <a href="http://aux.uncc.edu/news/index.php/2009/12/03/auxiliary-services-enters-promotional-program-pilot-with-foursquare-social-media/comments/#comments">the University of North Carolina</a> and <a href="http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2010/01/harvard-and-foursquare/">Harvard College</a> announced foursquare programs this December and January, respectively; and Zagat announced a content partnership shortly thereafter. <br /> <br />And so it goes that I must take up the mouse again - to create a repository of foursquare marketing uses that I observe, identify and generate...<br /><br />Be sure to check in to see what I uncover.KAREN LEVINEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04043137770031227088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1393106253252575473.post-44041412378753788232010-03-04T21:50:00.006-05:002010-03-04T23:10:26.859-05:00Is Watching TV a "Yesterday" Thing To Do?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpOhGZfel3aZr9SNAe4SD2Iz2pnwMddw8CPQytz-tv3uxp_QruEhy8nf4O3TXcH6B45P3N9wGKJJ5_sORBBmJpkJUWzVRDPaNmz31ffzgraHwRJQjZihCNzposbhQLMxzxIHBIS1lAr1k/s1600-h/black-white-tv.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 298px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpOhGZfel3aZr9SNAe4SD2Iz2pnwMddw8CPQytz-tv3uxp_QruEhy8nf4O3TXcH6B45P3N9wGKJJ5_sORBBmJpkJUWzVRDPaNmz31ffzgraHwRJQjZihCNzposbhQLMxzxIHBIS1lAr1k/s320/black-white-tv.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444977724687527810" /></a>When I consume my video media, I like to be sitting in my livingroom, with my MacBook Air in front of me, my iPhone within easy reach, a bottle of water nearby and some kind of food at the ready. Yesterday I watched the Shorty awards on my laptop, and it was tiring. The day before I watched “Up” on my 15” LCD screen, and it was suboptimal. When I watch TV, I want to lean back. I want to unwind. I want to give my eyes, maybe not a rest, but a change of scenery.<br /><br />So when people say that livingroom TV watching is going away, that “Gen Y” does not watch television, and that their behavior will take over our world in the not too distant future – 3D TV be damned, I don’t fully buy it.<br /><br />As someone who considers myself to be a “young [insert age here].” I do feel somewhat embarrassed saying this out loud. Is it because I straddle two generations – as a Gen Xer tucked between young Boomers and the seemingly endless millennial generation? Well, tonight I had an epiphany! It didn’t actually come to me organically but was vaulted at me by a very self-confident HBS I-Banker, who by the way, had no idea what FourSquare was and was irate to find that it did not come up in his Droid app store when he typed in “4.” But I digress.<br /><br />This erudite MBA pointed out to me that, as someone who often works at home, I am in a unique sub-segment of the population. So the rule that “people watch tv on the best screen option available to them” is not completely false. It’s just that I typically have a better screen available to me than my office- and classroom-tethered brethren. Hmmmm… Duh.KAREN LEVINEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04043137770031227088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1393106253252575473.post-87744349200077054632010-03-02T21:42:00.030-05:002010-03-02T23:53:51.229-05:00Calling a Spade a Spade at the OMMA Behavioral Conference<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXhuP-K17Ry8XCPi2ybKD_a9hKxMPPWXClwZfxoopYQipAl3moCQIdMrxplkwA-e-vmFp_uVTpNLA4FR4_d2cbSXBdLv8WFPtF3xrldeAD9tc5xf-5bfg72-QLupQxMcmD1s_BwcSUJ2s/s1600-h/35683-RishadTobaccowalaL.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXhuP-K17Ry8XCPi2ybKD_a9hKxMPPWXClwZfxoopYQipAl3moCQIdMrxplkwA-e-vmFp_uVTpNLA4FR4_d2cbSXBdLv8WFPtF3xrldeAD9tc5xf-5bfg72-QLupQxMcmD1s_BwcSUJ2s/s320/35683-RishadTobaccowalaL.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444239099453380754" /></a>Thursday of last week was a messy, mushy wet day here in New York City, but the ballroom at the Marriott Marquis, home of the <a href="http://www.mediapost.com/events/?/showID/OMMABehavioral.10.NYC">OMMA Behavioral conference</a>, was warm and comfortable. That is, until <a href="http://www.google.com/profiles/rishad">Rishad Tobaccowala</a> of Publicis Groupe’s <a href="http://www.vivaki.com/VivaKiLaunchRelease.pdf">VivaKi</a> gave us all a tough talking to. <br /><br />His theme: collaboration – and our lack thereof. <br /><br />“We believe we’re in a share game when we’re in a growth industry,” he said. We fight tooth and nail for $1.2 billion while overlooking $240 billion that is “lying there.” We need to focus, he said, on the customer, not on each other.<br /><br />So what is it the customer wants? Six things:<br /><br />Clients want:<br /><br />(1) Continuous Improvement<br />(2) Service<br />(3) Collaboration<br /><br />How do we score?<br /><br />(1) Continuous improvement: We pass!<br /><br />(2) Service: Well, that’s a 50% score<br /><br />(3) Collaboration…. “We do this horribly.”<br /><br />Leave it to Rishad to say out loud what we all know to be true, particularly from the client’s perspective. Clients are faced, he said, with a choice between best of breed agencies, that don’t play well together or a mediocre but collaborative combination of vendors.<br /><br />Most sobering, Rishad wrapped it up by saying that these are the requirements that determine whether an agency stays or goes: “You get fired for these things,” he said.<br /><br />The spade that Rishad called a spade is something that has surprised and perplexed me – particularly when looking at the situation from the client’s point of view. The client wants an overarching look at how its marketing dollars are working. But an increasingly common refrain is: “We can’t get access to that data because it belongs to an agency that is not part of our group.” Craziness… but hard to fix.<br /><br />How are clients fixing it? They’re taking it in house. “Clients are much smarter today than they were 5 years ago,” he said. “They are taking a lot of things in house to avoid the drama.”<br /><br />Rishad brought this up in response to my question about how we can address this problem in the short term. And I’ve had it corroborated by recruiters looking for agency people to work directly for advertisers. Uh oh, if we don’t play well together, we’re going to have our very expensive toys taken away from us.<br /><br />So that’s why agencies get fired. Why do they get hired? What can we do to catch the eye of a prospective client? As is often the case today, the answer came in “I's” – three “I’s.” They are: (4) Insights, (5) Inspiration and (6) Ideas. Sounds sexy.<br /><br />So… how are we doing? The story starts well:<br /><br />(4) Insights: What industry is better suited to provide insights, Rishad exclaimed. Good point (if we do it right, of course...).<br /><br />(5) Inspiration: Maybe not so good. Eloquent as always, Rishad explained, “We give perspiration, desperation, hallucination…” but not inspiration. Well, that’s a bummer<br /><br />(6) Ideas: [hmmm.. I’ll have to go back to the recording to see what he said on this topic].<br /><br />As I said, at the end of Rishad’s uplifting talk, I asked what we could do in the short term. His response:<br /><br />Treat people like people. “If you are answering a question with PowerPoint slides,” he said, “you have already lost. Take your clients out to a drink and recognize that they are actually people.”<br /><br />And with that, I’m tempted to put my keyboard down and get a drink but…. the last bit of what Rishad said was intriguing. “All of TV,” he said,” is going to get like digital.” Hmmm, that may be coming but <a href="http://karenlevine.blogspot.com/2010/02/advanced-television-future-is-coming.html">not in the immediate future</a>. Though… I must say that the satellite providers are offering some very cool interactivity with respect to <a href="http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/global/article.jsp?assetId=P5590048">remote DVR programming</a>. This is how they differentiate themselves, and they are ahead of the curve. They are not tethered by a patchwork of acquired cable providers and corresponding remote controls.<br /><br />And, he said, if the <a href="http://www.apple.com/ipad/">iPad</a> succeeds, it will be the same for magazines.<br /><br />Food – and drink for thought.KAREN LEVINEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04043137770031227088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1393106253252575473.post-41556099558625679462010-03-02T19:36:00.001-05:002010-03-02T19:48:41.039-05:00Tick Tock, Tick Tock. The Digital Clock.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRHqozPTvRX8Db_9G1fzUMUuD_zTTHhvEZuzswBeOkYbRw2Co5w_vA76IT_cbt1UvD44C6X7_EPOBiF5RFdZe90KCRXoC5qWEHF4rCwEfcIbR7TsJU4HNg-yryYtgqAYjX2iP2FePrmoY/s1600-h/question.gif"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 295px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRHqozPTvRX8Db_9G1fzUMUuD_zTTHhvEZuzswBeOkYbRw2Co5w_vA76IT_cbt1UvD44C6X7_EPOBiF5RFdZe90KCRXoC5qWEHF4rCwEfcIbR7TsJU4HNg-yryYtgqAYjX2iP2FePrmoY/s320/question.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5443307717638856402" /></a>Tick tock, tick tock. I'm back on the clock. <br /><br />What does it mean when a man includes this in his dating profile:<br /><br />"I'm tired of playing games."<br /><br />What does it mean? I'm going to ask...<br /><br /><br />I can't help it, this blog writes itself:<br /><br />Headline: "your best friend and lover"<br /><br />Opening line: "My name is M___. I’m a vivid camper and hiker."<br /><br />Our educational system has failed us.KAREN LEVINEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04043137770031227088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1393106253252575473.post-30583373073458133532010-02-28T23:22:00.000-05:002010-02-28T23:22:49.975-05:00Finding My Digital IdentityThis blog posting came up in a recent discussion of Four Square and whether I am an influencer of some kind, so I thought I'd bring it back up into the light of day. It was originally posted April 21st, 2009.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHCNyDngbyLpkNgzoUBBjXJPWFIlXl7TpXqTrD4EXpUcmK6ikCh_HnzB5AZj3yrLJwkXw-uxXIlKUGoKkRuiWFay2YYdS4EpnyD3Lx3Ne_CM2iqK5usvIFLwhw06igRmmZRrWBby8KjNU/s1600-h/gilligan.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 228.135px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHCNyDngbyLpkNgzoUBBjXJPWFIlXl7TpXqTrD4EXpUcmK6ikCh_HnzB5AZj3yrLJwkXw-uxXIlKUGoKkRuiWFay2YYdS4EpnyD3Lx3Ne_CM2iqK5usvIFLwhw06igRmmZRrWBby8KjNU/s400/gilligan.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327571390105287042" /></a>I was born into the television generation. I cannot deny it. Much of my childhood was spent watching reruns of "MASH" and "Gilligan's Island." And I once asked Carol Burnett to air her show earlier in the evening because my mother wouldn't let me stay up to watch it. (Ms. Burnett did write back to me, but did not reschedule her show.) These were the days of purely linear television. Do you remember? Even before VCRs with their flashing clocks that were so annoying to program. <br /><br />And thus, I will never be a digital native. I cannot run for president of our digital nation. But yet, my identity is in flux. In 1985, while I was still watching shows like "LA Law," I was also using instant messaging and e-mail via a proprietary system used within IBM, where I worked during summer vacations. At the end of that summer, I bought my first personal computer, an IBM PC with floppy drives and an amber (or green?) screen.<br /><br />In 1993, I discovered e-mail, and my friends soon learned that to communicate with me effectively, they needed to follow suit. In 1994, I purchased a Motorola cell phone after running out of gas on the Merritt Parkway, hiking up a snowy hill and knocking on people's doors asking to use their phone to call AAA. Can you even imagine that today! Cell phones would have ruined "Rocky Horror Picture Show." <br /><br />In 1994, I also worked with a stroke victim, helping him use a software program that enabled him to turn mouse movements into spoken words. I also wrote e-mails for him that traveled through an extremely clunky internet client. In 1995, my employer had to add an additional server to handle the e-mail volume produced by me and one of the firm's partners.<br /><br />In 2003, I joined "Friendster!" (Ugh) and sometime thereafter "MySpace," where my niece let me become her friend - something that will not be repeated on Facebook now that she is a teenager.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqREyg5lmDfLtkJMWtC731MM_L5b9MAlx1PGGycRx6q7cK8jHe0x_wt5yECQyOOAg0VP8y6I29padXelvVetiGFBMsHpquu3dsPn9yzqHG7xG1lWI4_H1Sh3c3Ht9ZJE-iF_Mioc94Trw/s1600-h/Picture+3.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 241px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqREyg5lmDfLtkJMWtC731MM_L5b9MAlx1PGGycRx6q7cK8jHe0x_wt5yECQyOOAg0VP8y6I29padXelvVetiGFBMsHpquu3dsPn9yzqHG7xG1lWI4_H1Sh3c3Ht9ZJE-iF_Mioc94Trw/s320/Picture+3.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5335840263204380866" /></a>At the beginning of 2006, I signed on to FaceBook as one of two people in my college class. The social network had 7.5 million users at the time. (Yes, you read that correctly; that is in contrast to today's number - February 2010 - of 400 million users.) I urged my client - a leading business magazine - to utilize FaceBook, which was just starting to experiment with sponsored programs. In fact, I recommended that they seize what turned out to be a "do it or lose it" opportunity to create a branded FaceBook for MBA students. <br /><br />To sum things up, I have deemed myself an "early settler and highly assimilated digital immigrant." Perhaps I can become governor of Motorati Island.KAREN LEVINEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04043137770031227088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1393106253252575473.post-53460459697145431602010-02-28T15:05:00.011-05:002010-02-28T23:15:18.072-05:00Advanced Television: The Future Is... Coming<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXN8aqNsV1zpI7alo_ADjOmRJsY_dvnqxpESYsoW0jMumKBG18s8NAVkuSTcO6ulwRLM2Dk3-vANZXEwYrWcsZoyKFiTrPMRq0tzViJDn6JJ4sMVgAwToWNHqhSaiiyWaxNEUyKx7TBl4/s1600-h/VisibleWorld.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXN8aqNsV1zpI7alo_ADjOmRJsY_dvnqxpESYsoW0jMumKBG18s8NAVkuSTcO6ulwRLM2Dk3-vANZXEwYrWcsZoyKFiTrPMRq0tzViJDn6JJ4sMVgAwToWNHqhSaiiyWaxNEUyKx7TBl4/s320/VisibleWorld.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5441230110770037026" /></a>My client base, let alone my collection of personal interests, is, well, diverse. I work on the media/entertainment/publisher side, the agency side, and the marketer side. To keep up with all of this - and because I love them - <a href="http://karenlevine.blogspot.com/2010/02/new-semester.html">I attend a lot of conferences, panels, programs, webinars, etc.</a> And it is quite fascinating to note the differences - not so much in the content of the talks but the culture of the organizations and communities.<br /><br />Three weeks ago, I attended six days of non-stop <a href="http://socialmediaweek.org/">social media events</a>. The attendees at each stop on this massive media crawl uniformly carried Apple laptops and at least one Smart Phone - typically iPhone or Droid. They all had blogs and Twitter accounts, and most - it seemed - had Foursquare and/or <a href="http://gowalla.com/">Gowalla</a> personas. <br /><br />Fast forward to an event on February 22nd sponsored by <a href="http://www.multichannel.com/">Multichannel News</a> and <a href="http://www.broadcastingcable.com/">Broadcasting & Cable</a>. The topic, <a href="http://www.multichannel.com/info/1807-Advanced_Advertising_The_Future_is_now.php">Advanced Television: The Future is Now</a>. Well, when, after checking my coat, I circled back to find out whether I needed a wifi password and whether there was a Twitter hashtag, I realized I wasn't in Silicon Alley anymore. The answers: no wifi and what is a hash tag? Ok...<br /><br />I took my seat and booted up my nifty <a href="http://www.apple.com/macbookair/">MacBook Air</a>. Around me... a few PC laptops. Gosh they looked heavy - even the portable ones. I checked into Foursquare. One other person within the Roosevelt Hotel was there. I suspect he was not at this event. Ok...<br /><br />And finally, the attire of those around me - not jeans and sneakers - which I would not wear anyway - but... suits and ties. Well, after all, there were a lot of ad salespeople, business development folks and senior executives, so that's no surprise.<br /><br />So, putting aside all these cultural observations, what did I learn in school today. Well, to start, as you would expect, different cable/satellite operators are at different phases in their adoption of advanced technology. The leaders - as far as panelists - <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/profile?viewProfile=&key=16164293&authToken=MRuV&authType=NAME_SEARCH&locale=en_US&srchindex=1&pvs=ps&goback=%2Efps_barry+frey_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_Y_*1_*1_*1_false_1_R_true_G%2CN%2CI%2CCC%2CPC%2CED%2CFG%2CL%2CDR_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2">Cablevision</a> and DirecTV - though Time Warner Cable's sizzle reel was far and away the best, highlighting some very nice consumer offerings and interfaces including its highly touted "start over" function and an expansive VOD library. A point of commonality. Digital. 94% of Cablevision's subscription base has digital cable, and all of DirecTV's base (by definition of it's being satellite) is digital. A digital footprint allows you to do cool things.<br /><br />So, what is Cablevision doing? A number of cool things. Some of it with Seth Haberman's company <a href="http://www.visibleworld.com/">Visible World</a>. You may have read about their foray into addressable television over a year ago. It sounds like that, or at least part of that, was for Cablevision itself. Not a bad idea - test it out on yourself. And, also, a good test subject because they knew so much about their subscription base and were able to segment them by product line, e.g., TV only, Triple Play, TV and broadband, etc. Well, it sounds like the testing went well because they are rolling it out to other clients. The key statistic, if I understood it correctly was that consumers who were served targeted ads were 32% (i.e., one-third) less likely to turn away from the ad. Well, that makes sense and is quite a nice stat. Of course, I'm all in favor of relevant advertising. Even magazines get that concept. But, I wander.<br /><br />So, consumers like this stuff. In a recent <a href="http://www.ana.net/news/content/2136">Forrester/ANA study</a>, 78% of advertisers said they want to target better. However... only 59% said they were willing to pay a premium for it. Sound familiar? Think behavioral advertising. One explanation came from Seth Haberman. First, he was curious to know who the 22% were who did not want to target better! Secondly, he pointed out that media buyers are trained to say, "I want to spend less." It's like a reflexive response. They have no control.<br /><br />So, <a href="http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=122937#">Cablevision's next foray is with Pillsbury</a> (my client!) and Zenith (a wonderful agency to work with - particularly my key points of contact Neil and Colleen). They are creating a dedicated Pillsbury VOD (video-on-demand) channel in the Cablevision footprint. It will be paired with "Power 30s" (I believe Barry Frey said he had copyrighted that phrase), 30 second ads that are tagged to bring people to the VOD channel. But, now we're getting technical.<br /><br />So (big fan of the word "so' today), what were some of the key takeaways:<br /><br />(1) It's not their fault. Television is a large, capital intensive, fragmented (albeit a number of big cable & satellite provider fragmented) industry. To accomplish any advanced television initiative, you need a cable, satellite or telco operator; an advertiser and a technology partner at a minimum. There are a lot of different platforms and technologies and ideas and tests and legacy systems out there. It's not easy to move that ship. <br /><br />Contrast this with <a href="http://denniscrowley.com/">Dennis Crowley's</a> simple little <a href="http://foursquare.com/">iPhone app</a>. An iPhone app can be created for as little as a few thousand dollars. Even a $100,000 app is nothing compared to the television industry. Even $1 billion in online video advertising is less than 1.5% of TV ad dollars. <br /><br />(<a href="http://www.forrester.com/rb/Research/us_tv_ad_spending_forecast,_2009_to/q/id/54092/t/2">Forrester estimates</a> $40 billion in broadcast and $30 billion in cable TV ad sales in 2010 - January 15, 2010. Mediabrands' Magna division estimated that online video advertising will reach $1 billion by 2011 - <a href="http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=104910">MediaPost, April 27, 2009</a>)<br /><br />(2) As a point of comparison - according to Seth Haberman - only 3% of video is consumed online. So, while these numbers are growing astronomically, and while new generations are simply not watching traditional television, it's still a HUGE market.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbsjJo5yCTELIWDzMCwmvI0i0mTu5y5rxxo2SvtCT7PQi-37Y5kKLlp4oiPsaUsf1t0OjBUTihyphenhyphenRlHFuCcqzqoVhxXN3tZwV1vaqLNRfUJLSDATc5yhtcwy2kGRPSkPL3Mw8r3UsEsiVk/s1600-h/nielsen_three_screen.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 165px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbsjJo5yCTELIWDzMCwmvI0i0mTu5y5rxxo2SvtCT7PQi-37Y5kKLlp4oiPsaUsf1t0OjBUTihyphenhyphenRlHFuCcqzqoVhxXN3tZwV1vaqLNRfUJLSDATc5yhtcwy2kGRPSkPL3Mw8r3UsEsiVk/s400/nielsen_three_screen.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5443388280572021954" /></a><br />(3) "Sight, Sound and Motion." These are the watchwords of the television community. This is what differentiates them from all other media. The POWER of the sight, sound and motion they can deliver. The web, said Rich Forester, VP of Ad Sales for DirecTV, is our closer, but it's big video that gets them there.<br /><br />(4) For some, Advanced TV is more "now" than for others, but all-in-all, it won't be here for 5 years. Advertisers - and media buyers - are simply overwhelmed. The biggest need, from what I heard, is for EDUCATION. There are too many new technologies, new technology companies and options.<br /><br />Moreover, advertisers want to know what they will get for their investment in this new, premium, advanced type of advertising. But that's the problem with being part of the vanguard, we just don't know. Hence, many brands are waiting it out. There are tests, successful tests. But nothing scalable. <br /><br />Ultimately, advertisers need something at a national level, and MSOs need to sell the rest of their inventory as well as these special programs. As DirecTV's Forester said, we're happy to create these targeted programs, but we have thousands of thirty-second spots that need to be supported. The inference is that you don't get to do an advanced campaign unless you do a large traditional media buy.<br /><br />Is that a good place to stop? Does it cover the 3 hours of panels and schmoozing of the afternoon? Well, I think it hits on the highlights. Moreover, it's time for my regularly scheduled program.<br /><br />Until next time, good night and good luck.KAREN LEVINEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04043137770031227088noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1393106253252575473.post-8821260558448576432010-02-28T14:47:00.001-05:002010-03-01T16:58:30.908-05:00Measured Behavior (& Social Graphs) - OMMA Metrics & Measurement ConferenceOn Friday night I ate corn bread, a popover, Caesar salad, lamb and heavily buttered spinach. On Saturday, I followed up my yoga class with Pad Thai at Penang. Sunday morning I had an all you can eat brunch that started with a preparatory spin class, fruit and couscous but progressed to French Toast, a cheese and vegetable omelet and a little chocolate cupcake. Sunday night, I buried my exhaustion in a never-ending progression of Chinese food in belated celebration of the new year. On Monday, I warmed up leftover Chinese food on my way to my Advanced Television seminar. And Monday night, I finished the binge with Ethnic Cuisine organic yet spicy Pad Thai. <br /><br />Early Tuesday morning, I regretted and repented. <br /><br />On Tuesday I ate only an English muffin, rice pudding and an apple. But by Wednesday morning, I was still not recuperated enough for a full day of <a href="http://www.mediapost.com/events/?/showID/OMMAMetricsMeasurement.10.NYC/type/Agenda/itemID/985/OMMAMetricsMeasurement-Agenda.html">OMMA Metrics and Measurement</a> beginning at 9am. Hence, I did not make it there until <a href="http://www.imediaconnection.com/profiles/iMedia_PC_Bio.aspx?ID=13054">Vipin Mayer’s</a> keynote at 1:45. <br /><br />Since I had an abbreviated day, I am going to start out with a cheat sheet of buzz words noted over the course of the afternoon that will give you a kick start at sounding like a digital metrics enthusiast!<br /><br />(1) Social Graphs (also a key word during Social Media Week):<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiggbTllMSwIS6Y2ySaq37W1L2XQmk9XAqh03DZvyJtY47If73J_8n4n3c9q5ES-ofVnru7SEq3ZlORMwART3c7505MJhgbQMFVvxBdzxekU-ajWIlbmDX7w_Cf-kbJ8_T4F1Tw1wt-RFg/s1600-h/social_graphs.png"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 276px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiggbTllMSwIS6Y2ySaq37W1L2XQmk9XAqh03DZvyJtY47If73J_8n4n3c9q5ES-ofVnru7SEq3ZlORMwART3c7505MJhgbQMFVvxBdzxekU-ajWIlbmDX7w_Cf-kbJ8_T4F1Tw1wt-RFg/s320/social_graphs.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5442012122026826530" /></a>As it turns out, this concept is one that has been written about extensively and from many different angles over time and gained prominence in the last few years when Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg used it in his May 2007 announcement that he was opening Facebook to third party application developers.<br /><br />According to Zuckerberg, a social graph is “the network of connections and relationships between people.” The existence of this network, or graph, is what underlies the success of Facebook and the power that Facebook offers to third party developers. By appealing to a single person on the Facebook platform, an application can be introduced to an entire lifelong collection of that person’s connections.<br /><br />A more technical – and visual description – of a social graph is as follows: If one were to render the various ways different people in a particular community were connected into a data structure, it would be a graph. In a social graph, each person is a “vertex,” i.e., node or point, and each relationship connecting two people is an “edge,” i.e., line. There can be multiple edges connecting people, e.g., Sue and I worked at Booz Allen, Sue and I are Facebook friends, Sue and I live in Manhattan). Edges in the social graph have a label that describes the relationship. <br /><br />Bringing these two descriptions together into a helpful explanation is the “WhatIs” definition as follows:<br /><br />“A social graph is a diagram that illustrates interconnections among people, groups and organizations in a social network. The term refers to both the social network itself and a diagram representing the network.<br /><br />Individuals and organizations, called actors, are nodes on the graph. Interdependencies, called ties, can be multiple and diverse, including such characteristics or concepts as age, gender, race, genealogy, chain of command, ideas, financial transactions, trade relationships, political affiliations, club memberships, occupation, education and economic status.<br /><br />Services such as Facebook facilitate the exchange of information, news, photographs, literary works, music, art, software, opinions or even money among users. In this environment, the social graph or for a particular user consists of the set of nodes and ties connected, directly or indirectly, to that actor.<br /><br />When portrayed as a diagram, a social graph appears as a set of points or dots connected by lines. The points represent the actors and the lines represent the ties. A small-scale social graph can be drawn with a pencil on a sheet of paper. However, because of the complexity of interconnections between individuals, a social graph is typically too massive to fit on a single page and can be rendered only on a computer equipped with specialized application software."<br /><br />In 2007, Zuckerberg said that the social graph is "changing the way the world works... As Facebook adds more and more people with more and more connections it continues growing and becomes more useful at a faster rate. We are going to use it spread information through the social graph."<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtXVUfZeCe4FxFIy_JtceY6GX9A0WIaj9sAheNk8_ZEyQyB4auv1SEH6KKOmP-j0HfkEpB7U2-cufwQz9Niz00r3-HnWkggLLKIJXe6Hlr6oFOAcbz2rztsg-clrhH6W8W1mYI6PZCyMc/s1600-h/frankdasilva.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 272px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtXVUfZeCe4FxFIy_JtceY6GX9A0WIaj9sAheNk8_ZEyQyB4auv1SEH6KKOmP-j0HfkEpB7U2-cufwQz9Niz00r3-HnWkggLLKIJXe6Hlr6oFOAcbz2rztsg-clrhH6W8W1mYI6PZCyMc/s320/frankdasilva.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5443383057994329698" /></a>There are those who criticize the current system of recreating one’s social graph across multiple social platforms as inefficient and open to error. Starting at around the same time as Zuckerberg’s declaration, Plaxo began to offer a service that automatically merges your online networks. <br /><br />Personally, I prefer to maintain my networks manually. In fact, I – like many I know – have slightly different, although sometimes overlapping, graphs depending upon the online platform. For example, friends & family on Facebook, professional contacts on LinkedIn, digital media enthusiasts and experts on Twitter, and a random assortment of people on my IM buddy list. <br /><br />However, Facebook Connect allows you to carry your social network with you. (I believe this is what Google was talking about doing two years ago; I believe I heard about this on Cynthia Turner’s Daily Digital Podcast – now sadly defunct; and, I guess this is what Google is belatedly seeking to do with Google Buzz.)<br /><br />Well, it seems that “social graphs” is, not surprisingly, a topic in and of itself. Hence, I will have to leave it to you to investigate and ponder the meanings of some of these other buzzwords:<br /><br />(2) Earned media platforms<br /><br />(3) Engagement mapping<br /><br />(4) Attribution<br /><br />(5) Beaconing<br /><br />Time to get ready for bed to rest up for tomorrow’s <a href="http://www.mediapost.com/events/?/showID/OMMABehavioral.10.NYC/type/Overview/itemID/995/OMMABehavioral-Winning%20the%20Data%20Games%20of%202010.html">OMMA behavioral conference</a>.KAREN LEVINEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04043137770031227088noreply@blogger.com0