The presentation dealt with this idea: That mobile communications does not have to be a tactical endeavor, it can be a deep strategic one enabling companies to run leaner, to reach audiences in new and novel ways, to redefine a company organizationally, and create new markets with new revenues. In ‘creating assets and access in the intention economy’ I challenged our thinking in how mobile communications plays the key role in this rapidly evolving story.

I don’t think you need to be a community purist – to see the flawed thinking. Reading through the article, of the usual players and companies lining up to bid for local TV franchises, with the same old, same old business models I found myself, making observations and asking all sorts of questions:

• When we are connected up to and across each other, when we can get what we need for each other, why do we need more of what we don’t need?
• A people will only be free when THEY control their own communications – Frantz Fanon
• Markets are conversations, and markets thrive through, commercial trading, knowledge and information exchange and entertainment, hence the role of the creation of a thriving market place is not about shoving stuff down tubes. Its not one way, and reality of the role of producer and consumer has collapsed.
• Those companies that use revenue sharing to open up, stimulate, motivate and create a rich diverse eco-system are those that are commercially thriving: GrowVC, Qustodian, Android, NTTDoCoMo, Threadless,  are but 5 examples. So why is local TV any different?
• Ask who uses a search engine = 99%? and what are we searching for? Knowledge and information. And we judge the quality of that knowledge and information by its ability for us to take and make decisions and transactions, right now, in 5mins time, this afternoon, tomorrow – we live in the intention economy.
• Where is mobile in all this – because when we have a mobile penetration of 120%+ in the UK but millions cant get in online, surely local commercial communications, must be supported by mobile services? Qustodian certainly believes so, hence their growing relationship with Atletico Madrid. Because local is community – community is local. But this truth does not serve the needs of national media players.

So how on earth do media companies believe they can fund their business models out of the institutional failure of paid for push advertising? The article quotes Pat Loughrey, former BBC director of nations and regions, says: “It’s arse about face. It would be a pity and perverse if what is created a just another metropolitan-dominated TV service, in which the UK is only viewed through national perspective and serving national advertisers.”

Related articles

• Channel 6 bidders explain why Local TV will work (newstatesman.com)
• Two more join bidders for national TV channel (guardian.co.uk)
• DMGT chief voices doubts over Jeremy Hunt’s local TV plans (guardian.co.uk)
• Dyke outlines plan for 80 local TV stations in UK (newstatesman.com)
• How impartial is Jeremy Hunt? (newstatesman.com)
• Ofcom delivers local TV report to Department for Culture, Media and Sport (blogs.journalism.co.uk)

It also has a very interesting revenue model.

Fernando Sánchez-Terán, Director General of Qustodian said: “We are very pleased with our launch results, especially with the number of users. Whilst these users were unsure at first, after trying the service the vast majority described Qustodian as verygood and very innovative. In fact, 95% of them would recommend our service to their friends presenting it primarily as a form of advertising for products and services that they would like.” He added:

Advertisers have equally welcomed the arrival of Qustodian to the extent that somehave used it as the reason to start to invest in mobile marketing. They particularly value this new medium for its rich formats (images, videos, links, coupons), user interaction (consumer feedback), detailed user segmentation and its focus in Return on Investment (RoI), with average message opening rate of around 70%.”

About Qustodian:
Qustodian is a new, independent digital media company focused on providing next generation mobile advertising and marketing solutions using the mobile internet to communicate with mobile phone users.

Its goal is to provide a mobile marketing and advertising service that puts the user in control of what they receive, when and how. Members are offered the opportunity to create and manage a digital profile of their preferences so that they receive the financial and commercial benefits of the use of this data. This is in contrast to many large corporations who are currently collecting this profile data from us for their own benefit. This approach not only benefits the user, but also the advertiser, as the advertiser knows that the user has agreed and wants to receive communications from them.

Qustodian was founded in 2009 by Spanish and British professionals from the telecoms and media industries, including experts in mobile marketing, social intelligence and technical innovation. In 2010, Inveready Seed Capital invested in Qustodian. Qustodian are currently located in London, Madrid and Barcelona.

More on mobile from SMLXL

As many of you know the No Straight Lines project is picking up apace (sxsw keynote) (Do Lecture) (Latin America tour – to come). As a consequence of the work I have been doing with a small team, we have identified that the connected and networked world presents a design challenge to existing companies but also to entrepreneurs – how business and entrepreneurship is taught and how it can be accelerated. The rise of networked platforms like GrowVC which are designed to unleash innovation via crowdfunding is but one example. Another is Local Motors, or indeed mobile developer communities which are bringing a different type of rocket fuel to the party. (also see dotOpen)

On 17th November I will give a keynote on No Straight Lines at Incubate 2.0 on business creation and organization – as what is clear to me, that the networked world must be addressed not through social media per se, but a much deeper and broader understanding of the networked and its implications. For example, how does one leverage open social systems, global connectivity, open innovation and its implications from a skills, tools, process and legal frameworks, and, lightweight (green) business practices to create companies in the future? We need to design and build smart organisations, and understand mutuality as a business model.

The benefits of designing the smart organisation, coupled with the smart business model – purpose built for the needs of 21st Century culture and commerce gets us to ask these types of questions:

1. How does a company decrease the cost to build a car 100 fold whilst also halving the time in development?
2. How does a company perfectly match supply and demand?
3. How does a company use its employees to achieve business and commercial success greater than a $billion ad campaign?
4. How does a fashion retailer make €83m from mobile phone sales?
5. How does a company achieve a 29%+ response rate to its marketing with the subsequent uplift in sales?
6. How does a company spend $60,000 and get a $45m return?
7. How does a hybrid business model of [1] Freemium [2] Subscription [3] micropayment work to generate significant revenues?

From an incubation perspective – incubation has been done traditionally within a space and mostly as a real estate play or an economic development play. Now there are virtual groups allowing and enabling rapid flows of information to be created and shared – networking simultaneously with the creation of multinational micro-corporation, with funding provided by crowds. I argue, the way to start a business today is by being networked, and the way to run these businesses is networked (which is more efficiently done when it was conceived in a networked environment than when you have to transition from a straight line business).

Rethinking Personal Data – is a brief outline of the initial stages of that investigation. in a post published by Telco 2.0 (also part of The Futures Agency), they write,

Given the speed at which technology and online user behaviour is developing and the slowness of regulators in keeping up, the project looks as much at legal/governance issues as commercial, technical and user acceptibilty issues.

In an event organised by the WEF the top 7 issues were:

1.) To create a global ‘trust framework’ for customer data and digital identities.
2.) To re-define the fundamental telco business model and the methods for industry commercial innovation.
3.) To define how to partner better with adjacent industries
4.) To develop more appropriate regulation for cross-border, cross-industry collaboration.
5.) To create a more compelling business case for (fixed/mobile broadband) infrastructure investment.
6.) To clarify the opportunity for Telco Cloud infrastructure.

Telco2.0 point out that, this is the sort of list that existing telco trade bodies can’t really conceive of, and which WEF is uniquely placed to support. But, the striking thing for the Telco 2.0 representative was how important customer data and business model innovation ranked in order of strategic priorities for the telecoms industry (as opportunities and challenges).

Alan Moore’s Keynote from the Digital Identity: How valuable is the digital you? event from Simon Grice on Vimeo.

there is growing evidence that the plethora of new services adds up to an attractive alternative to piracy for many (see article). In June a poll of Swedish users of file-sharing software found that 60% had cut back or stopped using it; of those, half had switched to advertising-supported streaming services like Spotify. In Denmark, over 40% of subscribers to TDC’s broadband-plus-music package also said they were making fewer illegal downloads as a result. In a British poll published in July, 17% of consumers said they used file-sharing services, down from 22% in December 2007. Music executives reckon people are moving from file-sharing networks to Spotify, though they may continue to download some music illegally.

Not that I told you so – but

All of this offers a lesson for other types of media, such as films and video games. Piracy thrives because it satisfies an unmet demand. The best way to discourage it is to offer a diverse range of attractive, legal alternatives. The music industry has taken a decade to work this out, but it has now done so. Other industries should benefit from its experience—and follow its example.

SMLXL on networked economics

The networked society needs networked economics.

Its about [1] discovery, [2] links, [3] metadata, [4] connectivity, [5] bundling, [6] recommendation engines [7] filtering, [8] context, [9] revenue share [10] interface with interference [11] contextual search [12] mobile

You get the point.

From Interruption to Engagement – the journey to truly engaging in the networked world from Alan Moore on Vimeo.

For over 150 years our economies, culture and society have been shaped by astraight-line logic producing considerable economic success. However, in the dawn of the Networked-Society, a straight-line logic of getting stuff done becomes a barrier to progress. Why? Because, the change wrought by the
networked society is structural ­ challenging how markets and organisations have co-evolved over the last 150 years.

This creates a dilemma. And the dilemma is this ­ How can firms and the people that work in those firms, develop coherent marketing strategies/products and services that are premised upon No-Straight-Line principles ­ when they have been versed only in Straight-Line thinking ­ at
least for the over 35¹s ­ from birth? So if the 20th Century was about straight line thinking around commerce, media and communications, the 21st Century will be about a no straight line approach defined as Engagement.

And to bring some sharper focus to what we do here is a film made by the Dutch Think Tank Freedom Lab that explores the central themes of my current research.

The basic outline is this… “I needs we, to truly be I,” wrote Carl Jung, and that is why we as a species are on a quest to rediscover our role in society. Humanity, deconstructed, over the last 150 years, to the point of deconstruction is now deploying communication technologies to regain its true identity. The rise of the networked society is no accident, and a new philosophy is needed to help us with our quest. The core areas are these:

1. System breakdown: We are witness to a structural and transformational change in society.

2. The wholesale pursuit of material wealth has in fact come at a terrible cost for society

3. Threat: the current unsustainability of humanity

4. The true nature of humans and the technology of man: their intimate relationship

5. Liberation Day: We need to examine the various solutions and tools that can enable us to thrive and survive, to take back that which makes us whole as people, individually and collectively.

6. Simplexity: The digital and highly networked world seems to have created a more complex way of living. We need to learn to deal with this complexity, by understanding how it works.

7. Deschoolling: Our imperative is to de-school ourselves in a philosophy that has driven us into a cultural, ideological and economic cul-de-sac.

8. New Philosophy: We need a new language to help us understand the deep context of the change we are in

9. The no straight line universe: We need to explore its shape we need to feel it; physically, intellectually, and emotionally

Social social everywhere, but why?

The Figaro Social Media conference looks like its going to be a good event, as it blends some interesting topics and issues together. Both commercial and non-commercial. The challenges of understanding how to conduct successful communications in the networked society, which is underpinned by the social relations between people – not companies is of pressing imperative.

There are some great speakers of particular interest to me are:

Anna Rafferty – Managing Director, Penguin Digital: The Importance of Listening

Dorothea Arndt – Head of New Media, British Red Cross: Creating conversations and driving engagement with your brand through social media

Euan Semple – Thought Leader: What’s the point of social media?

Euans’ message is particularly apposite:

The trouble with “the next big thing” is that everyone thinks it’s big, and everyone thinks it is a thing. Social media is neither. What it is a different way of relating to one another adopted by individuals, whether they represent organisations or not, and carried out between individuals. It is low key, direct, and personal – the antithesis of mass media, interruption marketing. And yet can be very powerful.
How can you avoid being yet another “newbie” rushing in and getting it all wrong? How can you work out what to do, where, and why, in such a way as to make the most of your time and energy?

The event takes place @ the Cavendish Conference Centre on the  03.11.2009

Register (here)