Three Minds On Digital Marketing @ Organic

A close friend of mine used to work at the Virgin Megastore here in San Francisco. An affable fellow, he coordinated the in-store sets by the rather diverse array of musicians who used to pop up to do a few songs. Increasingly, he also managed other areas of the operation when fewer musicians started showing up. As sales of music slowed and the store grappled to reorganize around merchandising, my friend started to lament his fate within the larger context of music retailing. "I didn't get into this to sell t-shirts," he said to me once. He quit and went back to work as a trombone player in a number of local bands.

Well, today is an interesting day. And somewhere this gentleman is probably going to see this post in my Facebook feed and have an interesting moment of introspection. Because there is not one, but two fascinating pieces of news coming out of Viginland today. First, yesterday marked the closing of the flagship of Virgin's Megastore chain--the 57,000 square foot, two level outlet in New York's Union Square. But much more significantly, today Virgin announced a plan that may eventually prove to unseat Apple's iTunes and redefine the model by which the increasingly digital world of media is consumed. In fact, if you're my musician friend you might want to sit down right about now.

Unlimited MP3 downloads. From the world's largest music family of record labels in the industry: Universal Music Group. For $24.50 a month.

People familiar with the service said it would cost 10-15 pounds ($16.30-$24.50) per month, which could appeal to parents concerned by children accessing illegal sites.
The service, which both sides described as a world first, would allow Virgin Media broadband customers to both listen by streaming and download to keep as many music tracks and albums as they want from Universal's catalog.

The music will be in the MP3 format, meaning it can be played on the vast majority of music devices, including the iPod and mobile phones.

The service, which would compete with Apple's iTunes, is set to launch later this year.

Unlimited MP3 downloads. For a flat monthly fee. Say it again. All of a sudden, the entire model of consuming music is flipped on its ear. Just like that, the primary consideration is no longer the cost or illegality of acquiring music, but the cost of storing it digitally. The ownership issue might even be rendered moot by a new breed of consumer--one who is probably also intimately familiar with the streaming-download model--that doesn't need to own the music to enjoy it pretty much whenever and wherever.

While I couldn't reach Lars Ulrich of Metallica for comment, one has to wonder how this model can adequately support the payment of artist royalties. Moreover, one has to wonder what this portends for all manner of copyright-protected media. Are subscription services the future of other forms of media as well? With this media increasingly consumed via digital device and stored on hard-drive(s), "ownership" in the sense defined by the thousands of LPs I currently have in storage may be headed out the door. We'll just pay some set amount, borrow what we want, in whatever degree of permanence we desire, and then press delete when we're done.

It's hard to believe, but it has been scarcely more than 100 years since the mass marketing of gramophones began and with it the era of the consumption of recorded music. Before that time, the only way to consume music was to see in performed live by someone else, or to play it yourself. With not everyone being talented in this capacity, the world of live performance was where the music really lived. As the record industry matured and American consumerism grew up alongside it, the propensity to maintain large music collections flourished. Now, perhaps the pendulum is swinging back in the other direction. If you can listen to or own virtually any piece of recorded music anytime you want, maybe the thrill and value of ownership is diminished. And paradoxically, perhaps this will return the original form of consuming music to greater prominence. I'll have to ask my trombone-playing former Virgin employee friend in ten years or so.

Daniel Turman

In honor of the Web 3.0 Conference going on in New York, I wanted to write a piece today not to answer the question "What is Web 3.0?" There are plenty of articles that try and accomplish that task, and to me the easiest answer still is: Who cares?

It doesn't matter what Web 3.0, it doesn't matter what exactly we call it. All that matters to 99% of the people surfing the web is how it is going to affect their daily digital lives. I see three ways that is going to happen in the near future.

1. Knowledge Engines (give me data, not webpages)
There has been a lot of attention paid to Wolfram Alpha, which just launched in beta last week. Do I think it's a "Google killer"? Nah. It doesn't have quite the right ingredients to go mainstream yet... a funny name, a focus on deep but niche data, no easy answers for the lazy college student. But, it's not the only "answers engine" coming on the scene. Look for Google Squared to launch shortly. As consumers become more familiar with this new type of service, they will flock to the service that offers the best answers, even if it has a really funny name.

2. Social Discovery (you're no longer browsing alone)
Start ups like Headup and the very promising Glue offer contextually relevant social information as you browse. Soon consumers will see that they have a much better option than finding out what 500 complete strangers said about a restaurant or a book... they can find out what 10 of their closest friends and colleagues said about it, without even having to ask.

3. The Open Social Graph (social goes everywhere)
With the announcement yesterday that Facebook is going to integrate with OpenID, it's a great time to start asking... what is this really open social web going to look like? Much of the magic is going to go on behind the scenes, in the secret (to consumers anyway) world of linked data. Formats that describe relationships, interests, and social activities already exist, and have the potential to infuse some relevance to the increasingly noisy social networks. As more companies latch onto OpenID, consumers are going to see their online worlds bleed together. Retail opportunities inside Facebook, social opportunities on news sites.

Why do brands and marketers need to care?
The opportunity for marketers to leverage what Web 3.0 is going to change about the web is a whole lot more than semantic advertising. While behavioral targeting and contextual ads leave a lot to be desired, semantic enabled ads along cannot fight the impending trend... online ads are losing engagement. Most solutions are failing to realize the potential of the medium. It's like bringing a radio announcer to television, and forgetting about the new addition of vision and motion. Ads often lack interaction, context, and socialization. (Comparison courtesy of Joe Marchese, SocialVibe)

No... brands and marketers need to care because Web 3.0 is going to take all the social chatter online and start piping it into relevant tools, discovery mechanisms, and applications that will actually enable consumers to make smarter decisions and inform purchases. Social recommendation (semantic enabled) will replace online advertising. And unless we do everything we can to make sure our content is part of the stream... that we are forward-thinking, open, and friendly in this growing pool of linked data... we are going to be left out of the conversation.

For more, check out our series on Web 3.0 from last year on how the next generation web will change the way you connect, discover, and share with the social online world. And how this movement is going to make marketing more relevant and measurable.

Marta Strickland

As part of Google efforts to expand the use of their web browser, Chrome, they have decided to run their first ever TV commercial. This is an interesting decision considering Google hasn't really had to directly market their products, and they have been such an evangelist in the use of the internet to communicate its wares. After looking at the video that will run as the commercial, I am wondering what Google's intentions are for this particular spot. Since it doesn't really spell out what Chrome is or why to install it, it may be just to spark curiosity or interest - a buzz creator. I don't necessarily think it will resonate with casual internetters (like my Dad, a 76 year old retiree, who will use whatever browser is installed for him), but for those couch potatoes that are also active internetters, this could be Google's way to introduce a product that most don't know about. Mozilla's Firefox, who also ran TV commercials a couple years back, has been increasing in browser market share year over year, and Google sees the TV ad as just another medium to cover as part of their overall campaign for Chrome.

Google selected this clip for the TV ad:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHZFsJKlsuA

Sticking to their roots, Google is still leveraging the internet and viral tools by setting up a Chrome YouTube channel. It showcases videos submitted by various indie shops (each clip was limited to about a $10K budget) that introduce Chrome in some very innovative ways. Some are done quite well, and a refreshing way to create some buzz.

http://www.youtube.com/user/googlechrome

My favorites are "Features List" and "You and Your Browser."

Anthony Jankiewicz

Realizing perhaps that the female netbook/notebook computer market is steadily growing, Dell decided to launch its own specialized shop called Della. Nothing fancy here. Really, it's just your usual specialty shop highlighting some Dell products designed with the women users in mind.

Product Makeover
And of course, highlighted in the store is Dell's very own Inspiron Mini 10 netbook which sports several girly designs from well-known artists. Expect to see the pink-colored Mini 10 all over the site as well as some fashion accessories that women will surely love to have on their Mini 10.

You can find all sorts of accesories for your Mini 10 at Della. From netbook sleeves, bags, and girly-looking mouse.

But the major highlight of the site is of course the Mini 10 with various girly designs...Or so I thought. Appears they should have consulted more females in this plan.

Under Tech Tips, the site states:

"Seven Unexpected Ways a Netbook Can Change Your Life
Once you get beyond how cute they are, you'll find that netbooks can do a lot more than check your email."

Misreading the Target
Michelle Ameron finds the irony in this, commenting:

They tout that it has enough memory for shopping and can track calories.
 
For real? Maybe they should have just quietly made a pink one like everyone else and left it at that...

When the tone of all of the "Tech Tips" could basically be summarized as "You can even use The Internet on this thing!", it's kind of a low blow to anyone shopping for a new computer...online. I'd guess their target is technically inclined enough to know that you don't buy a laptop just because you can Google recipes on it, but the site sure doesn't speak to that assumption.
 
On such a targeted site, I'd assume I was being offered bare bones options and paying extra for bright colors because they've already established, in a reassuring tone, that I won't know the difference anyway. When checking out the Dell site a while ago, it did seem to limit component options and offers depending on your starting point. On a second look at the Della site, they don't even clearly offer the Mini 9 (least expensive, but most compact). It's buried at the bottom. I guess the ladies deserve an instant upgrade to the Mini 10 at $449?
 
As for the product, it's a useful and fun super-gadget for almost anyone to have around. There are just so many other ways to go with messaging that would even err on the practical side, they really didn't need to sell it, or their audience, short by likening it to OMG, the-best-make-up-compact-ever.

Enticing Interest by Usage
I like how they make the selling point to their demographic by using all those special tips. The twist is that all the apps that are mentioned are actually online tools you could use on just about any computer -- similar to the iPhone commercial advertising tons of apps. So rather than push the product, they push what you could be using it for.

Della has some social networking features. So, if you've got a techie girlfriend or wife, you may want to tell them about Della where they can participate in the discussion and join the site's social networking activities on Twitter, MySpace and Facebook.

But it looks like they may have gone a little too stereotypical with this new endeavor. Did they shift their prospects in the opposite direction with this poor understanding of their target?

Mark Shu
Michelle Ameron

 

If your favorite restaurant was on Twitter -- or maybe they already are -- would you follow them? First, what could a local restaurant have to say in 140 characters or less to whoever might be listening? Second, is Twitter really the place for them?

Some restaurants seem to think so. They have realized pretty quickly that there is a world of foodies on Twitter. It's a great fit for smaller, local single shops or chains. And some are getting it right.

How does a restaurant stand out from the growing list?

1. Reward people for brand engagement. Make it fun.
A Detroit-area proprietor does this. If you follow @MattPrenticeRG and retweet some of their posts, they'll direct message you with a coupon code. The "code" is what you say at the counter when you place you your order. The last one gave me 50% off carry out!

Likewise, a casual California Mexican food chain, California Tortilla (@caltort), has given away 800 free tacos to customers who said the "secret" word the restaurant tweeted. It not only caused a spike in online chatter, but in store traffic as well.

2. Be conversational. Provide daily value. Got any new menu items up your sleeve? What did you buy at the market today? I want to know what's fresh or what to order.
 
As the name lends itself, the Tidbit Bistro (@tidbitbistro) offers daily "tidbits" or facts about Spain and Italy -- the countries of food they serve. I'll have to remember this one the next time I'm in Italy: "tidbit of the day: Don't use the classic but incorrect phrase 'al fresco'; for outdoor dining use 'all'aperto'. Al fresco means 'in prison'!"

One of the owner's of Soup & Scoop (@soupscoop), Michigan's top soup shop dishes details about their company, what soups are on or sold out and even personal happenings.

The Common Man (@thecmannh), a family of restaurants in New Hampshire, tweet about what's they're up to. Like: "Donated $22,000 to NH Food Bank today & dedicated 100's more from the sale of our bottled water using sustainable water filtration system!"

3. Make people feel part of something exclusive.
Café Metro (@cafemetro) is one of many marginal deli/café/salad bar restaurants that blanket the Garment Center in NYC. They have a program that rewards people with gift cards for finding their MetroMan on the street. They use Twitter reveal MetroMan's location as well as announce daily specials.

Kogi BBQ (@kogibbq) in LA, a mélange of Korean BBQ, tacos and burritos, uses Twitter to notify people where their trucks are going to be. That way their fans can get their hands on the food pronto. 

4. Do something good.
Maggiano's Little Italy (@Maggianos) has used small give-aways to attract more than 3,000 followers since mid-February. And just recently they asked for follows for a good cause. They'll donate $1 per follow to Make-A-Wish Foundation up to 7500 new followers. Sort of a sly way to get followers, but it's for a good cause. They'd just better do one of the items from my list to keep their attention once they've got them there.

5. Get your fans to speak for you.
Shake Shack (@shakeshack), Madison Square Park "modern day roadside burger stand" uses tweets from fans to report wait time via line lengths as well as custard flavors. They also connect solo diners who want to share a table and conversation.

6. Make it part of your business.
Because her menu changes depending on what she's got cooking, Chef at The Sugar Mommy (@thesugarmommy), a local New Hampshire source for homemade baked goods and confections, lets followers know what she's making. I'd go a step further and recommend she take requests, suggestions or special orders.

Big chains could learn a thing or two from these little guys. Give folks a reason to check you out and follow you and they will.

Thanks to Chad Stoller (for the photo, too), David Feldt, Marta Strickland, Traci Armstrong and fellow twitter followers for sharing their favorites.

Who is your favorite restaurant Twitter?

Sarah Jo Sautter
 

Idea collection tools with some required fields are pretty standard and decently implemented collectors see a lot of contributions (think: Starbucks). But when these tools ask for a login, they need to offer something that makes signing up worth the effort.

"You dream it. Asus builds it" with "Intel inside" is the promise on the other side of the forum inputs at WEPC.com. Enticing to engadget-reading netbook hot-rodders like myself who literally DO dream of having a set of top engineers build a custom machine dialed in to my exact needs.

Here's how it works:
1. The site collects ideas, designs and feedback from users.
2. Asus evaluates the posts.
3. Innovators use the top posts as inspiration for a new notebook that uses Intel inside.

The site does a great job asking customers two questions:
1. What do you want regardless of limitations (the Share track with a looser format)?
2. What do you want given what can be checkboxes and sliders?

Both let you illustrate your idea with a flash drawing application. This makes it a bit more engaging than typing out a bulleted feature list or paragraphs of circuit-bent daydreaming.

Also, both questions collect some mutually beneficial user-generated content. Intel and Asus get free marketing research and brainstorming from the customers who buy their products. Machine tweakers get to browse and vote up ideas they like.

I was gung-ho to contribute until I realized voting on designs required setting up an account. In my contemplation of taking the dive, I saw plenty of room for improvement in the WEPC site. 

Here are a few pieces of feedback I have for the site's developers:
1. Give the user a single track. Don't split Share/Create, just reveal details as necessary.

2. Show examples of what other people have said on certain topics and allow you to load their data instead of re-writing something similar. It would help users know what kind of things to post and provide Asus/Intel with less duplicate data.

3. Allow more user input (voting) without logging on. If the site didn't require login for voting, Asus/Intel would get numbers closer to what the masses were interested in. Right now they are only getting numbers about what interests people who are dedicated enough to go through the login process.

4. Put some faces and names in the About Us section. The contributors/community members are listed in the authors section, but we're never introduced to the editors of the site.

5. Give me a sitemap. The number of different pages buried in the site without any clear navigation to them makes the site seem a casualty of feature creep where pages were just tacked on without IA thought. A sitemap would help and would sit nicely next to the search box.

Despite all that, I'm still interested to see if Asus builds a machine incorporating any of the ideas collected on the site and if it's a step closer to consumers seeing custom or to-order netbooks anytime soon.

And as a creator of exceptional experiences I wonder: As a consumer, would you contribute?

Jordan Gray

Sony Pictures recently announced that they're tapping into the current Twitter mania to help promote their upcoming Terminator Salvation : Resistance 2018 movie that hits cinemas on May 27.

They've designed a pretty complicated engagement strategy...

1. You follow @resistance2018 on Twitter.
2. You register on the Resistance 2018 site where you can log in to track your points and help John Connor destroy Skynet and the machines.
3. There are resistance assignments sent out periodically every day via Twitter and a range of different Twitter messages that require different types of responses:

• Resistance Assignments - word mix, trivia, partial transmissions, etc. that require you to reply with the correct answers with the appropriate hashtag


• Skynet Warnings - informational messages related to the war between humans and machines


• Terminator Salvation Updates - information about the film. The updates may also reinforce the instructions and provide tips on how to earn more points.


• Status reports - direct messages that update you on your points and rank in the game.

Twitter is the perfect vehicle for the Terminator movie theme of Skynet and man vs. machine.  As an active member of this Twitter community, you're playing your part as part of the human resistance to destroy Skynet and the machines using a Skynet-like global communication system.

It's the most complex use of Twitter I've seen for this type of promotional activity.  So far almost 2,000 Terminator geeks (me included) have signed up and are actively replying and retweeting and creating buzz for the movie.

It will be interesting to see if this actually creates major buzz for the movie.  Either way, I'm having fun playing my role to help John Connor conquer the machines.

David Feldt

Image credit: Luca Penati

Seems like tons of brands these days are capitalizing on people's desire to be a little friendlier towards the earth (or for some, playing to our guilt-induced purchase decisions). There are organizations helping us make the right choices while shopping, eating and even listening to music. Here are a few digital notions I've come across that -- at first glance -- appear they're helping consumers make better eco-conscious choices. But at what price?

On Your iPod
In celebration of Earth Day, iTunes has created The Green Room filled with content (songs, audiobooks, videos, TV programs, podcasts and apps) that in some way, shape or form pays homage to the planet.  They even put together a series of four albums of Earth Day iTunes Essentials. The first, titled The Basics, highlights the delicate nature of our nature. We all know folksinger John Denver was a big nature advocate. But did you know that soulful Marvin Gay was the first to top the charts with an environmentally conscious tune: "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)?" In Next Steps, musicians like The Doors and Neil Young take action and tell you how to do so yourself. Even Canadian punkrockers make their statements in Deep Cuts. You can purchase the complete set for a value-packed $74.55. I'm tempted. Heck, I'm a sucker for the Earth and they got me. But what good does it really do for the planet?

What Are You Eating?
Next time you're craving sushi, consider opting for the rolls that aren't in danger of being overfished and those that are healthier for you. Download a copy of the sustainable sushi guide and plop it in your wallet for easy reference.

Or get it on your iPhone. The Seafood Guide tells you which seafood choices are the best (not endangered or high in mercury) in which parts of the U.S. Plus it also lists sushi by both it's Japanese name and what most of us English-speaking novices call it.

Attracting Students
Jocelyn Startz told me about a program where 25 SF high school students are tracking their transportation habits using Facebook and GPS cell phones provided by Nokia over AT&T's network. The cell phones send info to servers at UCLA which organizes the info in a way that allows the students to see how much carbon they are producing in their various transportation decisions, post their data and compare it to others' results on Facebook. The intention is to encourage the students to choose more environmentally friendly transportation options. A cool meld of social networking and environmentalism by the Go Green Foundation. Or does it just make them want a GPS-enabled phone more?

Online Shopping
Shop through the EarthShare EZ shopper widget and every time your buy something from one its retailers, EarthShare gets a cut. All the proceeds go to environmental and conservation charities.

GoodShop.com is another shopping portal. At this one, you choose your favorite environmental cause (out of the tons of non-profits listed). It also provides hundreds of coupons and deals, and highlights green merchants. Stores donate everything from .5% to up to 30% of your purchase towards your selected cause.

Surfing
Next time you want to look up something, use GoodSearch.com. It;s a Yahoo-powered search engine that donates a penny per search to your favorite environmental cause. Okay, so I didn't spend any money here.

The Politics of It
The White House is doing its part too. Mrs. O is bringing back gardening as a new summer activity. You can plan your own vegetable garden based on hers with online software Plangarden. Get a trial version for free. But if you want all the features, get ready to fork over 20 bucks.

"We Can Solve It" touts Repower America. "It" refers to their efforts to convert the United State's energy resources to 100% clean electricity within 10 years. The grassroots organization has enlisted Al Gore to encourage you to sign up, write your Congresspersons (prescripted emails provided), email your friends and donate to fund their cause. Their latest email provided me with a script I could use to call my state Representative in support of the Clean Energy Jobs Plan. It even gave me the name and number of my Representative. They make it so easy. How could you not help? Every now and again, they'll send an email asking you to donate more than just your social media skills.

The Bottom Line
While all of these initiatives are doing good for the environment. They're also helping someone's bottom line. The real meaning behind Earth Day is making do with what you already have. But how much have you spent to be more green?

Please share your favorite pro-Earth digital initiatives while you're here, too.

Sarah Jo Sautter, a simple girl whose love for the earth and love for shopping often collide

Dan Klyn, a speaker at the IUE2009 conference, is an information architect by trade, and has sought out to create a book via collaboration around the lessons that IAs and XAs have yet to steal from "regular-old architects".

regular-old-architects seem to do a better job than information architects in the schematics-and-models phase of a project. their trade is an ancient one, and i suspect they've learned some things about the creation and use of abstract representations of design intent to secure client buy-in and sign-off.

His goal is to help those in the design and marketing profession avoid those dreaded client words: Now that I see it! It's this type of miscommunication and misunderstandings that leads to last minute changes and bad decisions, because the client didn't really understand until it was too late.

What can we learn from architects:
1. Start with the joints (points of stress)
2. Progressive disclosure: a logical, smooth storyline
3. Detail generates character
4. Embrace collaborative authorship
5. Get physical, get emotional

Sure, these are good lessons for information architects, experience architects, user experience designers, etc. But I would argue that there is a wider moral to be learned from each one of these points. We should all be testing out friction points in projects and presentations, spending our energy wisely on the pieces that create character, give our clients a reason to care... These five lessons from real architects teach us how to tell better stories and thus how to create better work.