Robi Ganguly’s Big Ideas

(Scroll down to skip ahead to iPhone goodies if you’d like)

I write about the nature of influence from time to time (a list of a few of those posts here) and think about it quite a lot: as consumers we market to each other, all the time.

The constant innovation around content creation and distribution tools means that peer marketing communications are, along with every other type of communication, expanding rapidly. This isn’t a new phenomenon, it’s just something that’s being accelerated by the technologies employed. Which is not to underestimate the impacts of that acceleration, but rather, to say that I dislike it when people frame this as something that is brand new and novel. It’s not, get over it.

Which brings me to a few things I’ve wanted to share:

“Advertising’s New Reality” - Aside from the unfortunate title, this is a pretty thoughtful piece about the fact that consumers are assisting in the creation of advertising and importantly, do so willingly because it fits with their interests and existing activities. I believe that thoughtful marketers have always understood that involving consumers in the process of creating, marketing and revising their products/services but now, more marketers are waking up to that fact. The really exciting thing is that it’s getting easier to connect with consumers in order to accomplish this.

“Sex, Drugs and Updating Your Blog” - This lengthy but entertaining piece (like my blog posts right ?) focuses on one innovative musician who’s using peer communications and the new tools at his disposal to create and grow an audience (it’s not easy though, it takes a ton of work). An example of the great stuff to discover in this article (bolding mine):

Coulton’s fans are also his promotion department, an army of thousands who proselytize for his work worldwide. More than 50 fans have created music videos using his music and posted them on YouTube; at a recent gig, half of the audience members (!!) I spoke to had originally come across his music via one of these fan-made videos.

“Critical Mass: Everyone listens to Walt Mossberg” - For those of you who don’t read the Journal regularly, you might not be aware that Mossberg’s considered to be one of the best consumer technology writers out there. This piece by Ken Auletta (an excellent writer in his own right, I really enjoyed Three Blind Mice: How the TV Networks Lost Their Way) talks about how influential Mossberg is: a mention in his column can boost sales, traffic and awareness. What’s relevant here is that Mossberg writes for the consumers as a champion. The article relates that when Mossberg came up with the idea he stated that: 

If it works as I envision it, this column . . . would be the voice, the champion, of the individual person actually faced with buying and using the core hi-tech devices—the customer whom industry calls the “end user”.

Segway to a very hot discussion topic: the Apple iPhone.

Yep, I, along with every other blogger, must mention the iPhone. But I mention it as an extension of the article about Walt Mossberg. The video below is his video review of the iPhone (from the larger print review). The review is basically a ringing endorsement of the phone. For those who make it to the end of the video, they’ll see the drawbacks of the AT&T exclusivity (certainly limiting) and the EDGE network (very slow for data), but most people won’t need to get that far to buy in.

This video and review will sell a LOT of iPhones, mark my words. As someone who has successfully achieved his goal (quoted above) of being the voice of the “end user”, Mossberg has gained an amazing amount of influence. Although the hype around the phone is astronomical, there are still many taking the “wait and see” approach. Mossberg’s review does something that no amount of corporate advertising can do: it convinces you that you don’t need to wait and see.

It already convinced Jason Calacanis 

Did it convince you?

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I don’t know about you all, but I have yet to come up with a good way to queue up stuff to read for later / blog about later. To date, the best approach for me has been to create a draft blog post in Live Writer, but I’m finding that even that isn’t efficient enough for me. Saving to MyWeb kind of works, but it’s not integrated enough into my daily habits that I go and check a specific tag on a regular basis… Anyhow, tips are definitely appreciated, if you have any. In the meanwhile, here are some tabs I’ve been keeping open in Firefox that I can now close and get my computer to stop whining (why the hell is FF such a resource hog!?!?!):

Brody Jenner is either the biggest tool ever or a genius.. : I stopped watching “The Hills”. I just couldn’t take the idiocy of the two “stars”, Lauren and Heidi. But reading this back story on the two toolbag boyfriends, Spencer and Brody, almost makes me want to put it back on my Tivo, just so I can follow them a bit more. I haven’t even processed what this says for us as a society..

P&G understands “conversation marketing”: A very short piece in Ad Age, but an important one. Jim Stengel of P&G understands that there is no ability to control someone else and that a company can actually build relationships with its consumers. “This business is personal” – great line from the video. This stuff gets me so excited about the future that I scare myself sometimes.

Google’s advertising product development reaches out: Maybe this is about trying to determine the priority of its ad product development, but my gut says this is something a bit more savvy. I think this “survey” is actually intelligently positioned marketing. I think Google’s trying to get big, slow, old advertisers to understand that they don’t have much in the way of metrics from the majority of their buys.

A reminder that not all great companies are public: This quick blurb on REI from the Motley Fool reminded me that I really need to get my series on Seattle companies going. I heart REI.

The Starbucks memo from Howard Schultz: Speaking of Seattle companies that I love, here’s a link to a memo from Howard Schultz that illustrates just how different of a company it is. “Let’s get back to the core” he says. By the way, the fact that there’s a “Starbucks Gossip” blog that is obviously frequented by baristas is not only unsurprising, I actually thought to myself “holy crap, I’m an idiot for not finding this before” when I came across it.

Social shopping is alive!: I might get more into this later, in its own post, but it looks like some folks are making real progress on social shopping (something I first brought up here) in a variety of ways. Sounds like the National Retail Federation is getting after this with some big tech partners. Awesome.

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UPDATE: Looks like CH’s embed code isn’t working, so check the video out here

This strikes me as a precursor to what some art might look like in the future. Not just the format or the tools, but also the method of consumption.

I love the fact that we get to see the process of creating this and that it’s even set to music. Would be even cooler if it was set to the virtual soundtrack of what the artist listened to while making it, if they did. In any case, it’s pretty damn cool.

And if you’re curious, it’s even being monetized..

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Technorati Tags: humor, funny video, jesus christ the musical

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Trying to post a little bit more regularly here, and not necessarily in such painstaking essay-like detail. Let me know if you like it/hate it/don’t care..

Marketing to kids, for when they’re adults:

-Check out this story in the NYT about Toyota’s marketing efforts around the Scion.

My take is that this makes a bunch of sense, when done well. There’s certainly opportunity and historical evidence that it works (hellooooo cigarette manufacturers, anyone want a Camel??) but if they go too far into this foray, it might just represent another triumph of "strategery in creativity" over logical decision-making. People often forget how scientific advertising can be, but the best marketers/advertisers find a way to balance both. So, how do I know if these campaigns get the results I’m expecting?

Also, this is exactly the kind of consumer socialization that I referred to in my previous post, "Where’d all the mallrats go?"

You go New York Times:

The Times is making a recent habit of highlighting Google’s questionable behavior and the future it might hold for us. Consider for a moment the wording of this headline: "Hiding in Plain Sight, Google Seeks More Power" Interesting piece as well, always a bonus

For the overambitious types:

Assuming you’ve read this far, perhaps you have the attention span to read this piece on the old "Content is King" debate from Digital TX. And no, I haven’t finished it yet either..

Advertising dorks everywhere, rejoice!

Seriously, could these guys embarrass themselves more?? Ok, fine, so they’re big ballers in the world of advertising but do they really need to argue about nothing at all? Well, I guess so, I mean, I did read it. Doesn’t mean I thought it was good. If anything it just made the point that both of them neglected to make: Great advertising and great product experiences are intertwined. Now, can’t we all just get along?

That’s it for now..

Tags: advertising, google, media content, innovative advertising, consumer socialization

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An interesting email reached my inbox the other day from FullTilt Poker, where I sometimes play online poker. It’s purpose was to promote FullTilt ads, with the subject line, "Check out the ads we couldn’t pay them to run.."

Check them out for yourself

Now, I can see why they couldn’t get mainstream media to show these ads, but the thing that I’m left wondering is why they don’t do a bit better job of promoting the viral aspects of this advertising. They’re funny, controversial and from the company’s perspective, they’d like to get them out there right? Why then, is the "Email a friend" only at the top and a bit too generic in title? Wouldn’t it be better to say something like "Share these with a friend" or "Test your friend’s poker face" – something a bit more telling in intent. Additionally, they should have an input box for email addresses already available, with your cursor in it, making it more natural to share.

Finally, what I’d really like to see these guys do is to embed a link that was clickable at the end of the video and upload it to YouTube , Yahoo! Video and others. If you go check those two sources out, for example, you’ll find the videos, but it appears that they’re uploaded by others. I think in this scenario, Full Tilt should have proactively posted the videos and enable the ads to actually be actionable ads, in addition to being entertainment to be shared.

Just my $.02

Tags: full tilt poker, viral marketing, funny advertising

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I read a lot. I always have. I think it’s probably been the single most important contributor to my success (as large or small as it may be..) over time. I believe the ability to educate myself and to discover new areas of interest is hugely important to building a sustainable process of self-improvement and critique. That’s not to say that reading is the only way to achieve that end, but for me, it’s certainly been the most effective.

I also find that reading is one of the most fulfilling activities I can pursue. I rarely feel as centered, productive and healthy as when I’m reading regularly.

Having said that, I’ve noticed that over the past decade (makes me sound old doesn’t it??), my consumption of fiction books has really diminished. Right now, of the 50-some books in my apartment that are part of my everpresent "to read" list, perhaps 5 of them are fiction. Which is why I came across this piece in the New York Times on the Best Works of American Fiction and felt a pang of regret. None of these books is even remotely close to my radar for books to read and browsing through the list, I wonder how much I’m missing out on.

It’s a question of time, of course. But I wonder if reading more fiction might make me a more productive reader in general. What I mean is this: what if my propensity to choose non-fiction actually made it harder for me to digest the density of non-fiction content because I never give myself a "breather" from it?

I’ve found over the years that I’m less and less capable of reading just one book at a time. For the most part, I am usually reading 3 or 4 books at the same time, some of which might fall off the list. I have attributed this to the density of most non-fiction and simultaneously, the constant march towards faster, shorter, less dense media. The Internet is only the latest in a string of media delivery vehicles that has allowed us to break down content to bite size easily consumable pieces, to the detriment of our attention spans. BUT, what if mixing up the formats (digital text, video, printed text etc) and densities (non-fiction vs. fiction) actually meant that we could make the transition between the choices more easily and consume more. What if the simple act of introducing more fiction into my reading list meant that I could cut back to just reading one non-fiction book at a time and also consume bigger "bites" at a time, so to speak? What if that was not only true, but that implementing a balance between the Internet, television, radio, magazines, books, etc would make all of us more productive and capable of further media consumption? What if our brains got less tired as a result of strategically mixing up our media consumption?

Hmmm.. looks like I’ve got some books to go read

Tags: reading, media consumption, attention spans, fiction vs. nonfiction books, multitasking

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Ok, if you haven’t seen this video of the "Leprachaun" sighting, you have got to check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nda_OSWeyn8&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fgorillamask%2Enet%2Flep%2Eshtml

And if you’ve never seen Bubb Rubb, here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBrp2MyEf3w&search=bubb%20rubb

Ok..calm down, yes, very very funny. Hell, watch them again, they’re that good.

Now, does anyone have any video editing skills? This seriously calls for a mashup.. help me out here. Shoot me a comment if you want to play around with this. Let’s create something funny.

Tags: bubb rubb and lil sis, leprechaun, video mashups

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There, I said it, he’s impressive. Actually, more than that, he actually seems… human.

I’m exaggerating my shock a bit, of course. Did I really expect him to come act crazily, jump around the building and preach Scientology? Nope, not at all. I think I was clear on that yesterday.

To speak for myself and a few of the Yahoo’s I talked to, I think that what we saw at noon on Tuesday was something a little bit shocking (and sort of US Weeklyish..): Tom Cruise is more than a little bit like us. He came across as an endearing, passionate, driven and pretty funny guy. Someone who professes to love working, is willing to hop on a plane to CES for an old friend (Terry) and who seems to genuinely understand the importance of other people to his success. Sure, it could all be an act, but you know what? Sometimes you find yourself really wanting to believe the movie and its message and today I wanted to believe.

You’re not going to find a transcript or book report of the session here. But, here are a few things stuck out in my mind about the event:

• People really, really love Tom Cruise. People lined up very early for this event and there were more than enough cameras on hand. See for yourself on the ytomcruise Flickr tag.  (Other tags include: terrysemel, katieholmes and tomcruise)
• This was WAY better than the Guhvanator’s visit, a previous Influential Speaker series event. Whereas that felt like it was just a stump speech aimed AT Yahoo’s, this felt much more like a conversation. In fact, it seemed a bit like Tom (ok, so I’m not on a first name basis, but I’m getting tired of typing Tom Cruise out) wanted it to be less formal than it was. He managed to make the inevitable catcalls (someone really should have sold "I love you Tom!" t-shirts) part of the event, rather than interruptions.
• The event started about 90 minutes late. Why? Because he flew his plane up from L.A. and it got stuck in gnarly weather, apparently. What I appreciated though, was the fact that Terry came out on stage, apologized and explained the delay and acknowledged that this wasn’t, "the greatest way to spend Yahoo resources". But he did it in such a way as to make it clear that we should see this, it just sucked that it ate up a bunch of our time, instead of hinting that everyone should get back to work. Subtle difference, but an important one to me.
• Tom’s got a sense of humor, making fun of himself a few times, in particular his recent habit of jumping up on couches and chairs. And then he got up on a chair… (I told you to look at the pictures..)
• While the questions certainly weren’t controversial in any way, there were some good ones. Questions about his views of how media and the Internet will play together, mobile devices, what drives him etc. Personally, I found the best one to be the question about how to interact with people on a personal level, but within a business context.
  • To paraphrase his response: There are basically 2 or 3 types of people that I’ve come into contact with: 1) The open and giving person who’s willing to share and explain everything to me. If I’m curious about something, they’ll take the time to help me learn about it and if I’m dumb about something, they’ll be patient with me. 2) The person who tries to hide information, in order to maintain control. 3) The person who tries to hide information, because they ultimately don’t really know much of anything.  

On the last point, obviously he prefers working with person #1. What I find interesting is that the line seems to basically be drawn between being open and being closed. Regardless of intent, being closed and trying to hoard information is a negative. I wholeheartedly agree with that, but I’m left wondering how many people really think that way. It’s obviously not that simple, is it? Why, though, is it most people’s default reaction to be closed when they’re unsure? Wouldn’t being more open in edge cases imply to others that you’re trustworthy and giving? Maybe, from now on, when I have this debate with people, I can pull out the Tom Cruise card

On that note, I’ll work in some openness here… Both during and after the event I felt a little nervous about my previous blog post. Not because I’d said anything that I thought was truly mean, but because I feared that my sense of humor might be confused with a lack of understanding about the man’s basic humanity. Yes, it was just intended as something lighthearted and joking, directed more at the controlled nature of events like this than any specific person. But, my fear was/is that people might take it out of context and without actually asking me what I really meant, get upset about it.

When it comes down to it, this is what worries me about blogging. It’s not a fear of being open and of being myself. The problem is that it’s very hard to "be yourself" in just one post, or in one sentence. As I look across the "blogosphere" there are far too many instances where one statement was blown up into something totally unintended, just because someone chose to rant right away, without digging a little bit further. The answer, however, is not to run away and hide. My best option is to be open and let those willing to dig get to know me and trust that those intent upon ranting will look silly in the face of the sum total of my reputation (digital and otherwise). As Mr. Cruise said in Risky Business, "Sometimes you just have to say, ‘What the fuck?!?’"

Tags: tom cruise, yahoo infuential speakers program, transparency, openness

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Newsflash: Tom Cruise is speaking at Yahoo! tomorrow! That’s right, Mr. Scientology is going to be hanging out in URL’s, live and in-person.

Let’s all hope that he shares a Yodel with us and that it looks a bit like this:

So, some people are expecting it to be a train wreck. Others are annoyed that Yahoo!’s paying someone [inviting someone] who seems kind of wacky/preachy/crazy to speak. Me? I expect that it’ll be rather tame, rather scripted and perhaps surprisingly fun. The guy’s an actor right? He gets paid the big bucks to entertain and although recently, he’s been entertaining us with antics that aren’t on the big screen, I’m pretty sure that a corporate speaking gig is a pretty routine event for him.

Especially since all of our questions have to be pre-submitted… Yup, that’s right, us employees get to ask questions. BUT, we have to submit them ahead of time. It makes total sense, if I was organizing this, I’d set it up this way as well, in order to avoid people like me

But, just once, I’d love it if an event like this occurred and it was totally unscripted and off-the-cuff. Since I can’t have that, I’ve decided that I’d at least like to put together some questions that I wish we could ask Maverick tomorrow.
(Of course, remember, these are just jokes and just my opinions, affiliated in no way with Yahoo! I do, however, blame/thank a few of my friends for inspiration..)

1. “Mr. Cruise, will you please stop being glib?”
      
2. “Wow, you’re short in person. That’s all I had to say."
3. “Seriously dude, spill the beans. What’s it like to nail Katie Holmes?”
4. “Umm yeah, same question, except for Nicole Kidman..”
      
5. “You’re everyone’s problem. That’s because everytime you go [on] the air, you’re unsafe. I don’t like you because you’re dangerous.”
6. “You still owe me a new couch Tom. You KNOW how I hate shoes on my couch!”  – e-mail from O. Winfrey
7. “Can you show us your e-meter?”
8. “So, who makes more money, you or the head of your church?”
9. “Were you upset that you didn’t get to star in Battlefield Earth?”
10. “Let’s be honest here. You’re nuts. Certifiable. What I’m trying to say really is, in your own words, ‘Help me help you!’”   

What would you ask if you had the chance?

Unedited, funny or serious, comment and I’ll throw some of the good ones up into the list.

**Quick Update** As was mentioned in a comment, there was no payment for Tom Cruise’s appearance – Terry mentioned it in his introductions. I’ll update later with an actual post about the event, which was very interesting and fun.

Tags: tom cruise, yahoo! influential speakers program, scientology

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