Readymades for the early 21st Century

Marcel Duchamp – the conceptual artist coined the word "Readymades" for his urinal that was placed in art gallery and called art. Creating at the time significant debate. It seems we have something similar going on in the world of poltics and the media, but I wonder what we would call these prefabricated pieces of news – readymades? Or something more sinister?
A story in the Independent today Here is the news… from President Bush was one could say alarming.

The Bush administration has produced look-alike news propaganda clips and then persuaded television stations across the country to air them uncritically and, often, uncut. As many as 20 government departments have produced fake news which stations broadcast as though they had produced the segments themselves, according to The New York Times.
In California, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is at the centre of a growing controversy over the same thing – using public funds to make short pseudo-journalistic films touting controversial policies and passing them on to local television news stations which have aired them without comment.
Both the Bush and the Schwarzenegger administrations have gone so far as to script introductory lines for the news anchor to read out.

The New York Times in Under Bush, A new Age of Prepackaged TV News wrote

Under the Bush administration, the federal government has aggressively used a well-established tool of public relations: the prepackaged, ready-to-serve news report that major corporations have long distributed to TV stations to pitch everything from headache remedies to auto insurance. In all, at least 20 federal agencies, including the Defense Department and the Census Bureau, have made and distributed hundreds of television news segments in the past four years, records and interviews show. Many were subsequently broadcast on local stations across the country without any acknowledgement of the government's role in their production.

An observation is – this all generates greater mistrust of the motivations of large institutions and or companies. Coercive media will only enhance and amplify that mistrust. At a time when we need more consensual ways of communicating with each other. Activities such as those reported can only make it harder for communities to believe the messages that we receive via big media.

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Posted in: Culture, Ethics, Media, Networks, News, Newspapers, Trends

Audio-visual format wars. But guess who is in control?

From the Financial Times Thursday March 2005.
As Tim Burt, Scott Morrison and Aline van Duyan write

Media companies have to work out how to capitalise on new methods of distributing and storing their output. But different business models mean there are contrasting views over which technologies to promote

what is interesting is how these technologies are changing how we consume content.
Mark Thompson of the BBC says

We are moving from a push system, where the broadcaster decided what you could watch and when, to a pull system where viewers choose what to view, how, where and when

Which is pretty similar to something we say in Communities Dominate Brands.
The article points out the implications this has for advertisers and that eventually they may well start to divert their advertising dollars away from TV broadcast if they believe this medium becomes less effective. Additionally, this whole notion of where what and how we consume is a mindset change for consumers. They will process messages and communication differently if they are not pulling on thet information.
And as Jeff Bewekes chairman of the entertainment and networks group at Time Warner says

The consumer decides how they want to watch, and we will follow what the consumer wants

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Posted in: Convergence, Darwin, Distribution, Economics, Generation C, iPTV, Media, Trends

Do the right thing

Bit off piste here – but I am sitting in Helsinki airport on my way home and I have had this piece of info for a while.
In the UK there are 50 million mobile phones. Every year 15 million are thrown away – phew!
So as Spike Lee said "do the right thing" and recycle them
http://www.fonebak.com

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Posted in: Economics, Ethics, Trends

A Masterclass in Engagement – what there is to learn about Jamies School Dinners

I have been mulling over the Channel 4 programme Jamies School Dinners .
And thought I would have a trawl through the net to see what was being said.
Certainly the programme has excited debate – star and celebrity chef goes into School to cook. But it has taken a driven Jaime and channel 4 to leverage the debate and to make people stop and think about what exactly we are feeding our kids at school. Bizarre really, when on the one hand the government is cranking up its expectations on schools as we need more knowledge workers today than coal miners, steel workers etc. Yet we are stuffing food down them, which certainly will not make them healthy, nor help them perform to the best of their ability in the classroom.
Jamies School Dinners has engaged the nation – and that is important. It has generated a community debate – where will this conversation take us. Will government take notice and take action. They will if the community decides they must.
Naturally Julie Burchill had a good old moan about the "escaped lunatic" Jamie Oliver, I think we have had quite enough of that Julie.
This is what John Naughton said on the Observer blog

Up to now I haven't been a fan of Jamie Oliver, but his Channel 4 series, Jamie's School Dinners makes riveting television, mainly because of what it reveals about the dark underbelly of state funding of education.
There are, it seems, two reasons why existing school meals are nutritionally disastrous: most school kids will choose only processed, homogenised, E-numbered junk; and schools can only offer junk food because they have to work with a budget of — wait for it! — 37p per meal. At the end of the first episode Jamie was shown having a sombre conversation with the Head Teacher who explained that the (good, nutritious, appetising) food he had cooked cost over £1 per portion, and that the difference would have to be made up by reductions in staffing, books or other educational areas. What struck me was the way this figure of 37p seemed to be set in concrete. It was the Number Which Cannot Be Changed.

Jamie has started a campaign Feed me better so if you are a supporter you need to get over there and make your voice count.
Whilst Manchester online noted

TV chef Jamie Oliver has won significant parliamentary backing for his crusade to improve school dinners, it emerged today. Some 100 MPs of all parties have signed a House of Commons motion backing Oliver's Feed Me Better campaign. The MPs say they are "appalled" that the average cost of a school meal in the state system is just 35p to 45p – a quarter of what is spent in British prisons.
They call on the Government to outlaw the use of processed food in school lunchtime menus.

Rather than moan about something Jamie has taken positive action, made an entertaining programme – though he does get a bit of stick for swearing. But through entertainment he has made us think. His approach cross-platform as you can go to the channel 4 microsite, get involved, order information packs, sign a petition, join an online debate.
So brands out there, if you want to change the way people think about you, press the right buttons, and think right-side of the brain, go lateral.
Ask yourself this question – If advertising did not exist how would we engage people? How could we draw them towards you, freely? How could we as brands deliver something that would be richer, more meaningful? I wonder if Channel 4 did focus groups on this? Quant and Qual testing? Or did they say – its a great idea with a great cause how can we best leverage that?
For brands SMLXL would say, how do you harness/unite the community? How could that make commercial sense? How could it be culturally relevant? And how do we leverage connectivity to make this initiative dynamic?
Start with idea-driven concepts and explore down which channels and or formats that takes you. Cross-platform not ad-centric. Besides which its a lot more fun.

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Posted in: Broadcast, Culture, Engagement Marketing, Ethics, Generation C, Marketing, Media, Philosophy, Social Networks, Society

In pursuit of a lifetime of happiness

Having made my guilty post last night having not posted for over a week, which is partly due to the book publication and work. I picked up the FT magazine from this weekend -05.03.05, which I had left open at an article entitled JOY DIVISIONS.
As the strapline says

The free market has increased people's wealth, but not their happiness. Now one economist is arguing for policymakers to focus on pleasure, rather than pound signs

Do I detect a huge sucking in of breath out there? Well, I think it is interesting as this article relates in many ways to the last post I made – about what concerns us in the early 21st Century.
As Pink said in his article The Revenge of the Right Brain

Liberated by this prosperity but not fulfilled by it, more people are searching for meaning. From the mainstream embrace of such once-exotic practices as yoga and meditation to the rise of spirituality in the workplace to the influence of evangelism in pop culture and politics, the quest for meaning and purpose has become an integral part of everyday life.

Richard Layard, a leading economist, Labour peer, a veteran of advising the labour party on economics and professor at the London School of Economics argues in his new book that we have got our our focus wrong.
Although we have become more prosperous, we have yet to increase our sense of overall happiness. Aristotle believed one should be able to sustain an this overall sense of happiness throughout a lifetime. Layards book focus's on the goals of economics, and of policy making. But, as Layard says economic policies do not only have economic outcomes.
The books by Pink and Layard could well be identified as a societal trend. The problem is we still live in a world obsessed by science and scientific measurement, by quantative data – measuring well being is far more difficult. And holistic "joined-up" approaches to a variety of issues faces stiff resistence. Due to mindset – due corporate and public service internal structures.
Anything remotely identified as humanist in world of business, gets people all fidgety. With thoughts like "you're going soft man".
But as we have identified in our book Communities Dominate Brands – it is these very approaches to either commercial or social policy issues that will deliver in today's world.
For businesses, its worth thinking about – as it might help guide them to meaningful differentiation within an increasingly competitive marketplace.
As Layard argues for the public sector – it could have a whole range of benefits particuarly healthcare and more importantly education.
Pink says

The Information Age has unleashed a prosperity that in turn places a premium on less rational sensibilities – beauty, spirituality, emotion. For companies and entrepreneurs, it's no longer enough to create a product, a service, or an experience that's reasonably priced and adequately functional. In an age of abundance, consumers demand something more.

From Happiness: Lessons from a New Science

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Posted in: Culture, Engagement Marketing, Engagement Research, Ethics, Marketing, Society, Strategy, Trends

Thinking sideways

Wired magazine published an interesting article Revenge of the Right Brain which I believe reinforces why our soon to be published book Communities Dominate Brands was such a necessary exercise.

Written by Daniel H. Pink and adapted from his book A whole New Mind: Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age

Beneath the nervous clatter of our half-completed decade stirs a slow but seismic shift. The Information Age we all prepared for is ending. Rising in its place is what I call the Conceptual Age, an era in which mastery of abilities that we’ve often overlooked and undervalued marks the fault line between who gets ahead and who falls behind.

To some of you, this shift – from an economy built on the logical, sequential abilities of the Information Age to an economy built on the inventive, empathic abilities of the Conceptual Age – sounds delightful. “You had me at hello!” I can hear the painters and nurses exulting. But to others, this sounds like a crock. “Prove it!” I hear the programmers and lawyers demanding.

Pink’s theory is that we have moved rapidly now through several ages; industrial, information to the conceptual. We have arrived at a point where again there are converging forces at work changing our world, and how we live and work and play in it. Digital economics plays a key role, with the automation of many professions, plus the loss of traditional white collar jobs to Asia, which will only increase through outsourcing.

His point is that today we need to focus on creative rather than process driven strengths. As a means of ‘unique’ economic leverage. Pink calls these “High concept” and “high touch”. Both relate directly to a more creative approach to invention.

This means many industries and professions should rethink what their core values are and, how commercially they will leverage them. How will they go to market? And how will they effectively communicate what we would describe as greater and different manifestations of value? How will they take advantage of what many have described as a paradigm shift?

Pink also argues that the “quest for meaning and purpose has become an integral part of everyday life.”

This means people are changing, changing how they buy and, what they consume. Marketing was built upon an industrial age model, today that model no longer works as it used to. And we know there are some in our industry that are working hard to discover what that exactly means.

Pink’s views might seem light years away from what many practice today as marketing communications and strategy And perhaps a bit hokus pocus – but from the conversations SMLXL has had both in the UK and the US, it is clear Pink positively adds to the debate about our rapidly changing world.

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Posted in: Trends

An open conversation with General Motors

Neville Hobson has a relevant and timely post on his blog. A conversation with Michael Wiley, Director New Media at GM. This caught our eye at SMLXL since we mention Bob Lutz Vice Chairman at General Motors – who Blogs in our book Communities Dominate Brands. However GM are being more expansive in utilising digital channels to build far more effective communications with its stakeholders, than just a blogging Vice Chairman.
This is what Michael Wiley has to say

Michael: To get beyond our old ways of communication with a new direct line of communication to all stakeholders. Typical communication is issuing press releases, talking to the media, who re-purpose your messages for you, and there's no way for customers to get their thoughts back to you. We've been wanting to create this direct line of communication so that our various stakeholders aren't going to message boards to talk about us – they have an opportunity to come and talk directly to us. We're big into getting feedback from our customers, employees and others, taking their comments to become a better company and develop better products. We're really getting some excellent feedback. Just about every discussion we have on the FastLane blog, we've had an excellent dialog

Neville and I are having an exchange of ideas this is what Neville had to say to one of my comments. I hope the big brands are listening?

Alan, when I first heard that GM had started an executive blog, my initial reaction was like that of many others in particular those in the communication profession: big traditional bricks-and-mortar business, nimble move, yet a most unexpected entrant into a communication channel that is unstructured, uncontrolled, dynamic, new, etc.
Yet the more you think about it, the more you ask: why be surprised? An executive blog is the perfect channel to do the things that Michael told us about in our conversation with him yesterday. So they went ahead and did it. As with their experiments with podcasting: try it out, see what happens. Learn, adapt, keep doing it. Build those connections. Building trust, as you say.
It's such a great approach, one I wish more companies would do. You don't necessarily need to analyze and plan and strategize for weeks – just do it. If GM can do it, why not Unilever, Shell, Nokia, Airbus, Novartis, Heineken, Repsol, etc, etc. Just a random list of names that comes to mind. All companies who say the customer is key.
I don't know if this is engagement marketing, cluetrain (or even Hughtrain), but whatever it's called, it's pretty powerful stuff.

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Posted in: Convergence, Culture, Engagement Marketing, Ethics, Generation C, Marketing, Media, Participation, Social Networks, Society, Trends, Weblogs

TiVo the anticable

Big thinking over at Buzz machine on what to do with TiVo
Buzz machine

More important, follow the Apple example and sell community (by making it, as Om suggests, an exclusive club): Aggregate the opinions and recommendations, the links and behavior, the Flickrish tags of the TiVo audience so they help me find what I want to watch even better than today's TiVo (or TV Guide) do; when I organize my own media, capture that and share the logic in aggregate with everyone else in the club. Charge a one-time admission for the box or software and the entry into the club (and then charge me for upgrades later, a la Apple).

Links in nicely with our new book. Communities Dominate Brands

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Posted in: Broadcast, Convergence, Culture, Darwin, Economics, Engagement Marketing, Marketing, Media, Social Networks, Strategy, Trends, Web/Tech

Disintermediate, Disintermediate

We all remember Dr Who right? And his never-ending batttle with those darstardly Daleks – hell bent on ruling the world. The Daleks would whizz around screaming at high pitch, "exterminate exterminate" – but for todays businesses the word is, disintermediate – then comes extinction.

For example, The Financial Times reported 7th February 2000 that Amazon, Tesco, MSN and Channel 4 have all entered the online DVD rental business which has grown from nothing to 10% of the total rental market in a very short space of time.
Implications – will Blockbuster lose its real estate to a virtual world of unlimited capacity? Probably. It is all about convenience for customers and creating added value. Living our complicated lives as customers we will always thank someone for making it feel at least a little simpler. Why go down the shops when I can get it on the internet, with more choice, and its cheaper?
Why would I want to go into a retail store which I don't really enjoy because its not a great experience, when I could go online do my shopping in half the time to have more time for the kids, my yoga class or whatever?
To that point internet sales overall were up 20% this Christmas, whilst British Retailers recorded a very bad trading year.

And though cost cutting may bring some solace it will not create the differentiation that is required.
Quite often we see technology moving into obsolesence very quickly, whilst business models remain unaffected. This is no longer true, we have arrived a moment where many business models are ripe for innovation or disintermediation depending on which choices businesses decide to make.

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Posted in: Convergence, Darwin, Distribution, Economics, Retail, Statistics, Strategy, Trends, Web/Tech

Its politics, big business and big media. But not as we know it

Iain Duncan Smith's article in the Guardian on Saturday made for some interesting reading

For decades the national conversation in most western countries has been directed by a few talking heads. Newspapers play important roles but all the evidence suggests that broadcasters have possessed the greatest potential to frame public debate. British politicians have known that communicating their message depends upon getting the nod from a small number of powerful figures in the broadcast media.

Smith goes onto discuss the effect however that the blogosphere is having in every aspect of business, media, and journalism in the US. And to point out that Karl Rove, the architect of Bush's re-election was recently quoted as saying that the

dominance of America's mainstream media is coming to an end

The reason is because of the bloggers. 'The truth police' for want of a better word.
We saw the demise of Dan Rather, news anchorman of CBS for 30 years, discredited over George W. Bush's military record, by the bloggers. More recently Jason Eason, Chief News Director of CNN, was forced to resign over remarks he had made at Davos by Rony Abovitz a blogger.
Continue »

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Posted in: Citizen journalism, Convergence, Culture, Darwin, Engagement Politics, Ethics, Media, Networks, Newspapers, Participation, Social Networks, Society, Trends, Weblogs