Marketing Mavenry

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Flame Me, Please!: The Curious Case of Failin.gs

It's good that I still really care about staying up and participating in pop culture. I receive a bunch of email blasts that keep me up to speed on hot culture, plus I spend a good deal of free time web surfing with no particular destination in mind. Additionally, as there is always collateral, extraneous information you're bound to come across, if you pay attention, you can find some really cool stuff - sites, conversations, art, etc.

Today, I received a TrendCentral email on a relatively new site called Failin.gs, which enables users to ask friends, family and beyond for anonymous feedback about what is wrong with them. On the positive side of things, it could be great to receive feedback from people who know you best. On the downside, I feel it's just inherent in culture for people to offer unsolicited opinions and advice anyway. If someone is reasonably close to me, chances are, if I have any degree of self-awareness, I know what they're thinking.

I think it's a great idea, but I wonder whether there is a business there. It feels quite niche. Nevertheless, I love it. Whether it's a successful business is for its employees and investors to consider. Maybe it will offer a forum for its own feedback; perhaps this could be extended as a feedback loop for other businesses, becoming a B2B play.

Now, that would be something really cool and useful that would go beyond a mere ephemeral curiosity.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Wenda Harris Millard on CMO Preparedness / Social Media

I came across this short interview with well-regarded media executive Wenda Millard - formerly of Yahoo! and Martha Stewart - on YouTube. I thought it was interesting how CMOs are looking for perspectives on social media, which would appear to be an area of great marketing opportunity, but is also perceived to be a danger zone. Unpredictable, uncontrollable...the wild world of consumer flaming, etc. I've encounter such attitudes at a host of clients (and prospects) over the past few years. I've tried to educate them that these conversations are going to happen anyway, and for a brand to ignore them (or worse, try to quash them) lets problems fester. It also misses a great opportunity to receive honest, unfettered consumer feedback, which can then serve as a virtual, rather cheap fount of R&D.

On the positive side, social media provides an opportunity to cultivate fans and brand stewards. Those evangelists who can actively advocate your (hopefully) great product and service.

The challenge here is the rulebook is still being written. There might be guidance, but with every brand and business, with every situation and every new social media touchpoint, the world gets more complex. I strongly believe that as incremental and evolutionary social media is, brands need to act accordingly. Strategies can be developed, but will need to be modified, edited and scraped. This is the new world order of marketing.

Fear not, brand marketers, and march forward!

Monday, March 8, 2010

Something in the Water in Brooklyn: A Hotbed of Style, Uniformity and Great Tech Startups

I've lived in Brooklyn for nearly 4 years. I was hardly a pioneer, but even in the near half decade I've lived there, it's been incredible to see just how hot it has become. The good news is it's a fount of creativity, and a helluva lot of creatives live there. Is there something in the water?

One interesting thing I've noticed is that because the 'Brooklyn aesthetic/style' is so strong, you can't always differentiate who has money and who doesn't. The culture there fosters a certain type of egalitarianism...unless you spot the dead giveaway - a vintage stainless steel Rolex. But even then, it's de rigeur for even those who can't really afford one to wear alongside beards, cool prescription glasses and some type of workboot collaboration or redux.

As much as I love it, it seems there's a certain Brooklyn 'style uniformity' where now, the rebel might be spotted wearing a pastel Ralph Lauren polo shirt and plaid belt. [This is where J. Crew's creative director, Jenna Lyons, is getting everyone really confused, living in Brooklyn, but mixing the styles at J. Crew's Liquor Store outpost.] The Brooklyn Flea, around the corner from my home, is filled with such Brooklyn style, seemingly out of central casting. No matter, I love it...and actually look the part myself.

One great area of creativity is Brooklyn's technology, where numerous startups are being incubated. Starting with Big Spaceship and perhaps Etsy, Brooklyn is now becoming a 'second city' to the Silicon Valley, where I grew up. Founders and workerbees either live and/or work there, and you can feel that something special in the air amidst $9 Mast Brothers chocolates and Jonathan Adler/Steven Alan outposts. I do hope Brooklyn doesn't fall victim to the West Broadway phenomenon where hip gets infiltrated by uncool brands (remember Rockport's outpost in Soho).

The New York Times featured an article this weekend on New York startups, and Brooklyn figures heavily. It's a great time to be there. I feel very lucky. It's like the Haight-Ashbury of technology, but it feels more real and grounded and not so heady. Let's hope it continues on this incredible trajectory and doesn't get caught up in its own hype.

Friday, March 5, 2010

The Genius of Hedge Funds? An article on Clusterstock / Marketfolly

I just read an article on Clusterstock, which cites Marketfolly.com, which looks at the top hedge fund holdings. What's so interesting is that there's not really a single surprise. Nearly every brand is a Fortune 100 company, many of which are probably part of any ordinary investor's portfolio. If they don't own them as individual stocks, then most likely they are owned through 401K and retirement account mutual funds.

It makes me wonder: are the hedge funds really making surprising, interesting choices with stalwarts like Apple, Walmart, etc.? At the end of the day, it's all about ROI, and perhaps these companies' stock prices, dividends, etc. will be incredible, but does it take major analysis to make such choices, and is it worth paying a premium to a hedge fund for such intelligence?

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Mourning a Friend, Mike Miller...Virtually and Truly

Growing up in the Silicon Valley, I attended Menlo School in Atherton and graduated in 1988. Just 18 months ago, I celebrated my 20th high school reunion, which as I've written previously, was very well attended relative to past classes. I attributed the good attendance to Facebook, which I argued made it easier for everyone one to, a priori, know what fellow classmates were doing and what they looked like.

Subsequently, I have maintained contact, through Facebook, a number of classmates. One whom I was friendly if not 'friends' with in high school, Michael Miller, began chronicling his bout with a brain tumor on Facebook. I must admit that I was swept up in his status updates and felt that I had grown closer to him over the past year by writing a wall posting and personal note or two. It particularly hit home with me for two reasons - one, that a person my age whom I knew was ill; second, because my stepmother, Judy Palnick, had suffered from a brain tumor and had undergone a similar treatment. Judy recovered, is doing well and has even written an article in the Huffington Post on health care reform in the aftermath of dealing with a 'pre-existing illness'.

As I checked my Facebook account this evening, I found out that Michael had passed away through another classmate's status update. This, less than a week after his last status update. I went to Michael's profile and read the wall of condolence notes - addressed as much to Mike as to his family and other mourners. It was as if he still lived on through his account; at least, that's what I and other well wishers had seemingly dreamt and hoped. If only it were true.

As I sit down to write this, I have poured a glass of wine to toast him. I must admit there is some degree of comfort in spending time with this virtual vestige of him. He will be missed. Whether his profile remains live, his memory, bravery and honesty most certainly will.

Here's to Mike!

An Argument for an Incremental Approach to Digital Strategy

I've come across a number of businesses that are looking for an overarching digital strategy - a way forward to really explain precisely how a brand/business should approach various digital touchpoints. It sounds all well and good, and it is theoretically possible to craft one. One could look at the brand, its marketing touchpoints, the present state of digital, social media (best practices, case studies, risk mitigation guidebooks, etc.), interview a myriad of experts on various topics related to digital marketing, ecommerce and eCRM as well as all the various business stakeholders who have an opinion on such matters. One could also do a sophisticated model of consumer behavior on the business' digital properties, and even create a set of personas based on actual clickstream behaviors.

At the end of this process, which is not unlike swimming the butterfly across a tar pit, one might have a well-researched, well founded gameplan. One would then have to re-present it to all of the stakeholders who have an opinion on such things (typically countless in number), which is akin to doing a series of backflips across quicksand. By the time the process is finished, even if one had reached some great, insightful conclusions, there would be a good chance that the rulebook had changed - a competitor might have done something interesting, consumer behavior might have gone one direction, a minor conflagration (product recall or what-have-you) might make the enterprise very risk averse. And what you're left with is a hefty PowerPoint document that no one wants to read. What's worse, it never saw the light of day as far as ACTION. It's theoretical math, when even applied math isn't really "applied."

My point is that rather than aspiring for some grand digital scheme and/or strategy, perhaps businesses should apply a more "agile" approach, not unlike what my tech cohorts are trying to do in developing and building experiences.

Just try a whole bunch of stuff.
See what works and what doesn't.
Course correct.
Learn from mistakes.
Pay attention to the newest, latest and greatest.
Be brave.
Don't lick your wounds if something doesn't go well.
Keep calm and carry on.

This is the Internet. It's not about nostalgia. Just keep at it.

Incremental wins can add up to huge benefits.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Prince: Changing His Tune on Free Content via Social Media?

Amongst music artists, Prince has perhaps been most aggressive at shutting down pirates who might release his unauthorized music and video. He has offered a subscription service, LotusFlower, which charges a pretty hefty yearly fee for access to exclusive content. It's not clear how successful the site is, but it's not getting a ton of traffic per Quantcast: about 3,500 people per month; Quantcast also shows that it is overindexing male, African American (5X) and 35-49. I'm the biggest Prince fan, and I'm not visiting it (and am most of those demographics). I didn't even buy the album at Target.

In any case, a new friend, Alan Wilkis, told me that there were a bunch of Prince rehearsals on YouTube. This surprised me, as Prince's people have been so quick shut these videos off. When I visited YouTube yesterday, there was quite a bit of live Prince content. It made me wonder: has Prince changed his tune on 'free content'? Or has he just loosened the reins (reigns?) a bit?

There could be a good argument for making more of his music and unreleased videos available for streaming. It certainly hasn't hurt Susan Boyle or Lady Gaga, who have a ton of such videos available, and are selling tons of CDs and selling out concerts.

In any case, the footage is just fantastic. It makes me want to see him in concert and buy his albums, many of which I already own. Perhaps there is value in such a strategy, which he has without question spent a ton of time and money trying to combat.