The second coronation, this time by Ad Age.
Ok, we got it. The consumer is king, queen, king-pin. Agencies, aren’t oblivious to this. Can we move on?
The iPhone is here. Yawn!
I suppose this is news, that Apple launched its iPhone, yesterday. For months, or maybe years, this had been predicted. The patent was filed last year. As expected (since the Rokr) it’s the iTunes delivery/storage system. About the price of two smart phones, it has low battery life, but oozes with the cool factor.
These days, anything held up by Mr. black turtleneck, against the slightly out-of-focus logo, has instant coolness bestowed upon it by the media.
Facing a Wi-fi reality
Amazing, how when they’ve painted themselves into a corner, some companies try to sound profound. Verizon’s comment in TIME magazine, that "Wi-fi as a public service has serious issues like network congestion and security" is ludicrous. Of course some would defend their ability to charge for something that could be subsidised, or free, just like AOL did until it recently became free.
Here in Tempe, Arizona, municipal wi-fi is a reality. Around the world, cell phone companies are teaming up with wi-fi operators, as well. This picture shows how it’s taking shape in other cities.
Dell’s response to Robert Scoble’e response to Apple
On its blog, Direct to Dell, Dell came back fast on the post by Robert Scoble who posed the question as to why Apple gets better treatment, and Dell gets all the bad media karma.
The language (and hopefully the attitude) is largely influenced by the early Scoble
"We entered the blogosphere in part to take on negative issues. Will we make more mistakes along the way? Sure, but we are listening and learning
as we go. In fact, the blog is all about those conversations, and it’s
why I’m recognizing this debate that goes on about and around us."
Scoble’s comments are interesting, because Apple does get a pass, and great reviews. In a previous comment about the bad customer service his son got over a Macbook, he called on the heavywright media tech writers such as WSJ‘s Walt Mossberg to show off Apple for what it really is. (Note: Mossberg, who has been featured in an Apple ad, always acknowledges his Mac preference):
Hey, Walt Mossberg or Steven Levy, why don’t you call up my 12-year-old son
and write a column about Apple’s customer service failures instead of giving
them tons of praise about the new iPod cell phone that’s gonna come out at
MacWorld in a week?
So Dell would have relished this, and reader comments to their post. Speaking of which Scoble was accused of drumming this up for turning his son’s experience into a company face off, and doing it for the kind of traffic that Jeff Jarvis got for his Dell hell post. People see conspiracies in what they want to. If I write passionately about a great experience, or a bad one, does that mean I am going off at the deep end? This might turn out to be less of an Apple vs Dell debate and more about the reviewers and bloggers. Interesting.
Prescribing to doctors – scary marketing
Ever wondered why your doctor freely hands out ‘samples’ that sometimes run into boxes of product, saving you lots? I always suspected it was marketing, but not for these reasons.
Pharma Babes, the story about the well-heeled reps who are the new persuaders of pharma products (alongside the ‘ask your doctor about…’ ads) gives us a peek into this side of medical marketing. Scott Haig’s 3rd reason this is even scary. he suggests that reps could be helping out the OR staff in tasks such as "keeping the trays and trays of little parts organized and ready for action." In any other industry, this would be unheard of, but it seems all Ok here.
I know many docs who probably wouldn’t allow such marketing intrusions, but even if it does happen in some community hospitals (and Hoag’s other 2 reasons this practice persists is true) it is going to have push back.
Check out our Phoenix PR Blog!
Len Gutman, founder of Open Door Communications created a PR blog for all Phoenix PR and corporate communications folk.
I was glad to team up with this effort, to be able to share our stories, pool our strengths, and hopefully give the Valley of the Sun a definitive voice. Pay us a visit, contribute your ideas. We’d love to hear from you.
Len is a fellow IABC member, author and journalist.
Undersea cable shows how wired (and vulnerable) we are
The Boxing day earthquake, exactly two years after the tsunami disrupted life in a different way for some. By way of Communications. In our wireless world, it goes to show how the wires still matter.
In this USA Today story, a shoe supplier was cut off from its buyers.
So what happened to the theory about the internet being unfazed catastrophes, and enabling communications through alternative routes yada yada?
Time’s YouTube cover, a story about ‘prosumers’
Time’s editor, Richard Stengel’s observation about journalist’ fascination and fear of citizen’s playing the role of publisher, is obviously applicable to many other professions. Participatory, bottom-up media and user generated content does shake the tree at the roots, but YouTube notwithstanding, this isn’t exactly something new. Alvin Toffler (borrowing from McLuhan) gave a name to the phenomenon about quarter century go –he called us ‘pro-sumers.’ People who would consume as well as produce.
The ‘mirror’ on the computer screen of the Jan 06 cover of Time is appropriate to an extent –the it’s-all-about-me idea. But it doesn’t capture the other aspects about social media –the participatory aspect, the ability to create niches– covered in the story. Or the fact that YouTube isn’t about the watching, but the filming.
NBC’s Brian Williams raises that question often unspoken -the problem of me-ness, and the consequence on society when we miss the bigger picture. No, he’s not making the case for the old media (he’s a blogger AND an anchor who believes in the social media as a ‘window’ to the editorial process, not a mirror held up to the anchorman) but wondering if we are shortchanging ourselves in the process.
Times Square, the marketing platform
Today’s article in the NYT, defines a phenomenon of marketing that will probably be emulated everywhere on different scales. It’s about cameras in Times Square, being the ultimating ‘publishing’ platform. Make that the Marketing platform, when you consider the user-initiated, user-generated effect cameras and camera-phones are having.
I recently participated in he Samsung Blu-ray campaign, sending a text message to a billboard a few hundred feet away. In a few seconds, my phone received a response, and a code with which I could send a message to be displayed on the digital sign.
But it is more than placed-based marketing. These user-involved campaigns then get transmitted to other online venues such as YouTube, or shared by people on the P2P (which now also means phone-to-phone) network.
Someday we won’t have to visit Times Square of Picadilly circus to experience in and participate in what goes on there, whether it is a stupid trick by David Blane for Target, or vote on important issues, or post a picture via Reuter’s.
TV Ratings and YouTube
This news has to make TV execs perk up. CBS experimented with posting more than 300 clips from its Late Show (Letterman) and the Early Show on YouTube, and got over 29 million views in about a month. More importantly, that has translated into about 200,000 new viewers tuning in to the TV programs on Letterman –you know the old ‘appointment TV.’
One more proof-point that new media doesn’t need to replace old media –just supplement and enhance it.
Hoipolloireport 
