It feels like yesterday at times when the Cluetrain Manifesto was published, but in reality it’s been 10 years since the seminal, and controversial, book was published. To mark the anniversary, Keith McArthur began the “Cluetrain Plus 10” project which has 95 bloggers covering one of the 95 Theses that make up the book.

Cluetrain, for me, helped articulate the changing landscape of customer/ company interactions as the Internet began to come of age, along with other more brand/ e-comm focused books of the time. Although I see some parts as a tad one-sided and biased in terms of forcing a point, versus the natural evolution (and constraints) of business, the manifesto I’ve chosen to write about – Companies attempting to “position” themselves need to take a position. Optimally, it should relate to something their market actually cares about – rings truer than ever at this stage of the game in my view.

When companies decide to exist and build a product, one of the most natural and necessary things, for company wide alignment, is to develop a market position. All too often the way they go about it is internally, or shareholder, focused vs. allowing the focus to rest on their customer and their needs, insight, and focus.

Unfortunately it’s not surprising to sometimes find a force-fit approach lacking the fundamental questions all sustainable, successful companies in today’s market answer:

Why would anyone care?

What do they care about on a personal/ group level vs. as a “market”

Who are you really – are you part of the solution, or part of a problem?

What you do and who you are matter, especially as the world becomes increasingly wired and we become billions of loose threads interconnected 24/7. The absence of the connection – to something tangible we can relate to, be interested in, give a second thought to, and know there isn’t a hidden agenda, outside of making fair profits – means the potential loss of: trust; perceived value; a sale; a future sale; a referral; knowledge; social capital.

People still buy from companies they don’t really “connect” with (be it at a product, customer service, or emotional-brand level), but they do so grudgingly, and, on the whole, are open to other, more fulfilling, options. A company who is committed to a goal that makes sense to them as people, whatever that goal may be, in context, wins.

If you wanted to reach the people who may be interested in your product, would you want to be a company people understand & respect, or a company that’s a last resort?

Wouldn’t it be great to have your customers, and potential customers, on your side & providing you with actionable feedback, or would you prefer to be under siege & on the defensive?

The Internet offers one platform to become aware, and active, with the people who may benefit from what you have to offer them. But a strong position, in whatever regard, transcends the medium, and becomes part of the overall experience. The feedback loop in action. For this to truly work, the position has to be a real thing, not a product of a myopic “communications” view driven by expediency, lack of imagination, interest or insight, into the very “demographic” you are attempting to position for. Sometimes, when you dig deep enough, what you find will surprise, delight, and perhaps scare you. Maybe even open up a whole new opportunity you wouldn’t have considered if the “market” didn’t provide it to those who interacted with and listened to them.

How is that not the way to go in the long-term?

[photo credit: RichardLowkes via Flickr]

If you don’t know her already, her name is Vanessa Williams (aka @fridgebuzz) and she’s a leader in the tech and interactive space in Toronto. What makes Vanessa someone I admire is not only her incredible intellect and ability to code like a maniac in complex languages like Juxta, but the trail she blazed by being a leader when women programmers/ techies were a rarity. She’s commanded respect from her teams as well as from clients… all while believing in her inherent right to be treated as an equal in a male dominated field. She also took a chance with an idea she had for a startup and toiled away at her computer to make her vision a reality.

I don’t claim to know the intricacies of the work she does (I’m a strategist, not a programmer), but I do know that she always delivers results and I’ve had the pleasure of sharing many a pint on a patio and discussing the industry, technology, and the world with her. 

Vanessa is someone you should get to know.

This week the City of Toronto held a Summit to discuss how Web 2.0 (or the social web) can “increase civic engagement, reach all communities, and improve City services”. As the event itself was invite only a lot of participation occurred via the live webcast and in back-channels such as Twitter. I have a lot of thoughts about both the way the event worked, and how it didn’t, and will try and balance the two, while being honest & open in my feedback as I think it’s an important first step in a process that concerns all Torontonians. There have been opinions expressed that should be voiced if the City is serious about community engagement & interaction online.

First, it was a great idea – connect the decision makers, industry, internal government employees, and the public together to figure out how the social web can facilitate a better civic experience. Great idea, yes, but it unfortunately it didn’t live up to its promise, and actually the promise of Web 2.0/ social participation, the very topic of discussion.

There were some excellent speakers and panels that sought to provide some anecdotal as well as concrete examples of how government can use the tools to reach out to citizens, including the luncheon keynote by Mark Surman and the interaction with Mayor Miller, but there were also logistical & planning issues that stifled the potential and made many comment that the day was a “FAIL” (in 2.0 parlance). While 300 people tuning in via webcast is a small proof of concept, and there were passionate discussions online, with only 10 people physically in attendance during at least one session and with images of rows of empty city councillor seats seen via the webcast, the importance to the decision makers within the City seemed absent, or at the very least, under-represented (h/t Adam Froman); another misstep was starting the day with a panel on how the public wants to be engaged online without any representatives from the public on it. Great idea; poorly strategized.

What the City could have done:

• Make the day into a blend of panels and workshops with concrete examples of issues from constituents and push for mandatory councillor participation and involvement. Bring together facilitators (our city has a ton!) to moderate and brainstorm actionable solutions to real-life problems – both internal and external; tech, procedural, etc.
• Not make the day invite only. This seems a no-brainer to me, web 2.0 is about collaboration and openness and it feels counter-intuitive to close the gates to true participation at the outset, and it ends up cutting off some of the voices and ideas that are so vital to moving the premise forward.
• Solicit and prioritize issues/ ideas in advance – for the public at large and for the city – transportation? health care? waste management? events? Focus on more than just the abstract. While Google maps mashups with the TTC are great (and I totally dig them and think they’ll be a great step forward), is that the number one priority for the City or best use of resources? Is web-casting every council meeting? Maybe, but maybe not.
• Lay off the heavy moderation of the webcast and citizen participation – I asked two questions, once in the morning and once at the end of the day and neither one was released from moderation by whomever was monitoring the channel. Web 2.0 is as open and transparent as possible, not guarded, except for language and threats.
• Bring in outside voices and expertise from the grassroots level in the city who are already using the social web and to bring together a diverse group of the population to work on local issues and spur action – Toronto has a vibrant community of passionate people to draw on, why not tap into it to shorten some of the learning curve?
• Some kind of “next steps” to keep moving the discussion and planning forward and encourage participation – there are, as we saw at the event, a lot of talented individuals inside the government who could easily be the point persons to manage something like a wiki (which if the two days had included workshops or similar direct participation could have been frameworked) to solicit ideas and keep the citizens who wanted to engage and share informed of what was on the agenda (and recruit organically from their local circles – build momentum). It’s a challenge of course to coordinate in government, but “idea labs” are something that should be on the radar.
• Included members of the public who represent different community organizations and looked to other government agencies and groups using the social channels so far & invite them to participate as part of a “lessons learned so far” discussion – Foodland Ontario, City of Markham, Prince Edward County, Ottawa Public Library, etc. etc.

I don’t believe the event qualifies as a FAIL, and I think a lot of good ideas and interest was spurred during a few sessions and hopefully a lot of food for thought and take-aways for the municipal officials who participated. I truly hope the City is committed to this and will take this first event as a baby step, incorporate and learn from the feedback available to them (blog posts, twitter updates, webcast questions, etc.) and keep moving forward. It can be a big or a small challenge depending on how we all deploy our resources – as a community!

[photo credit: Olivia via Flickr]

Yes, I am speaking "blasphemy". I am sick of iTunes and am seriously considering going back to using Windows Media Player as my default player, regardless that I regularly purchase music from Apple and have an iPod. The usability sucks. For a company that’s supposedly all about elegance, usability and ‘thinking different’, iTunes is, umm, not there.

First of all, do I really need to update my software every week? Can they not bundle the updates and release when there really is something that needs upgrading, vs. a cool little feature that helps their sales? Inevitably this "upgrade" also means re-installing the entire platform, finding it on my system again, and losing access to it from my toolbar. Nice.

Of course, since I’m on a PC, they aren’t "integrated" (supposedly) with my desktop environment and "lose" songs from the player whenever they feel like it. No rhyme or reason to it, I haven’t moved the albums from the same folder they’ve been in since I started using iTunes, but for some reason iTunes "can’t locate that file". As of right now, after having done absolutely nothing to any of my music files (except for purchase a new song via iTunes), I have 86 missing songs that were perfectly fine yesterday.

Is iTunes sophisticated (designed well) enough to recognize that if an entire album is missing and I click that little "find on your hard drive" button and go through the motions to find the first song, they could actually scan that same folder for the remaining songs from that album? Of course not, why do with software that I could do manually and take an hour of my time to do so?

It’s interesting that they never "lose" the songs I purchased from them vs. burned onto my system from a purchased CD.

I used to love the Apple TV spots and think they were genius. The wonderful pokes at how slow and cumbersome, and corporate MSFT is. How they make you jump through hoops to get your system working. Now? Guess what? I may be one of those folks "downgrading" from Vista to XP… whoops, I mean "downgrading" from iTunes to WMP.

</rant>

[photo credit: tantek via Flickr]

The last week has been all a buzz with the release of the first Social Media Press Release in Canada (according to Ed Lee) by Weblo & High Road Communications, and with the announcement of the new Edelman CMS for social media news releases.

I think SNR is a great idea. I applaud it… I’m glad communicators are taking the lead in engaging their audience. But… (and it’s a big one) PR agencies venturing into web development and Interactive marketing would do well to learn the lessons Interactive Ad agencies did over the last 10 years. I recognize it’s a new field, this social media stuff, and we’re each trying to find our way, but the nature and shape of the programming behind the web hasn’t changed.

The biggest issue with both releases is fundamental – they don’t follow Internet standards.

Neither follow W3C guidelines. Not only is this bad form for a website, it also defeats a part of the very purpose the release was developed for: to communicate broadly across all channels. By not coding the sites properly, both stand a huge chance of not being indexed correctly by the search engines. How does that help the client?

If PR is going to continue leading the charge in the social media/ interactive space, I suggest getting serious about the tech – in all its forms.

[photo credit: Simon Pow on Flickr]

[h/t - Strumpette & Ed Lee]

Tags: Edelman; Weblo; High Road Communications; SNR

In an on-going series of moves between the auto giant and the search giant, Google and GM in the U.S. have teamed up to showcase that Google delivers interactivity with the launch of the new Saturn campaign in partnership with Goodby, Silverstein & Partners.

Via CNet:

Visitors to a variety of Web sites in six cities around the country that are home to 22 Saturn dealerships will see what look like typical banner ads for Aura, a new Saturn midsize sedan. Clicking on an ad will produce a view of the earth that zooms in on the dealership nearest to the computer user.

The doors to the virtual dealership fly open, revealing the general manager, who introduces a brief commercial about Aura. After the spot ends, the general manager returns, standing next to an Aura and offering choices that include spinning the car 360 degrees, inspecting its engine, printing a map with directions to the dealership and visiting the Web sites of Saturn or the dealer.

The project is intended to stimulate demand for Aura test-drives with a twist: The dealerships will deliver the cars to the homes of consumers. The theme of the project is “Take the 250,000-mile test drive.”

I love that this campaign embraces the dealership walk-around experience and showcases the features and warmth of the Saturn brand without overkill or irrelevance to what I as a potentially purchaser would be interested in. And of course, delivering the car to your door? Priceless.

[photo credit: Elsie esq. on Flickr]

Tags: GM; Saturn; Google

In a bold move sure to please gamers and artists alike, Microsoft will release a consumer version of their Xbox game design software this holiday season.

The software will be downloadable and have the ability to create games for both Windows PCs and Xboxes, which will of course immediately corner the independent game design market for Microsoft. Eventually Microsoft plans to allow designers to sell their personally created games on Xbox Live.

The buzz is already starting amongst a highly influential group, video game design teachers, and the unique selling points are two-fold – the ability to demo your games to your friends on your TV and the price point vs. high-powered and expensive PCs typically required to run the games.

Moore hopes the availability of easy-to-use programming tools will spark independent game development at many levels, from garages to universities. Already 10 universities have committed to adding Game Studio Express to game design curricula this fall. “We think high school science teachers will embrace this very quickly,” Moore says.

Georgia Tech University video game design instructor Blair MacIntyre says his students will now be able to buy an Xbox 360 rather than a high-powered PC to test their game prototypes. “Imagine how exciting it will be to be a student and be able to show your friends your class project running on their Xbox, hooked up to their TV in their living room,” he says.

I can see this as next-gen UGC in the next year or two, with the potential to create a cottage industry for many graphic designers/ game developers. Which of course begs the question — will users include brands in their games? If so, will it be handled by companies and marketers as a variation on YouTube, or because it’s Microsoft & users have the potential to make a profit, will we demand it be highly regulated? Will we start cutting individual product placement deals with indie designers?

Should be interesting!

[Image credit: warpaintlighly on Flickr]

Tags: Microsoft; Xbox; Video Game Design; Creators Club;

Thanks to Stuart MacDonald I was able to grab a private beta account with Farecast, a new online travel start-up that offers fare predictions. I like the concept of being able to tell if I should buy now or wait as a consumer. However, as Stuart points out, this could only add stress for consumers planning a trip, which is I think, a large part of why people have been moving more and more towards all-inclusive vacations… less hassle, less stress, one-stop shopping.

Which brings me to two thoughts I have about this service… The first, trust, is the key to any company’s success, but especially when you are an unknown commodity trying to break into a crowded and competitive field with a product that’s very premise is “trust us”… The trust factor needs to be a key component of their launch strategy. Why should I believe you? How do I know I can trust the information you’re giving me?

The second is the target market for the service… who are they? If they’re regular joe’s then Farecast needs to get some vacation packages in the service. Most people planning a vacation don’t do it a la carte. At the very least I would think they’d need to partner with a Hotels.com or similar service to make the process relatively seemless and valuable, and provide longevity in the marketplace. If it’s not regular joe’s then is it business travelers? Small and medium sized corporate travel? This could be a tough sell as a ton of business travel is done relatively last minute and with not a lot of time to deal with fare predicitions. Although, as Kevin pointed out to me during a chat yesterday, it could be done right with testimonials from satisfied small business owners or companies with a large number of travelling sales reps… in which case that should be a focus of the product design and functionality.

In terms of the site design, I like the prediction charts and graphs, and definitely like the options for refining the search terms, but overall the UI could stand some tweaking. The way the fare & prediction info is presented could be more intuitive, with an easier tie-in of information (i.e. the FF points from each airline, multiple ways to sort and view, etc.). Stuff like tool-tips could also be useful… make the service as simple to use as possible while keeping the value up front.

They’re still a ways off from launch, so it will be interesting to see how it evolves as they gather user feedback and keep refining the product. I’m a big fan of these betas from start-ups and anticipate they’ll take the feedback from all us consumers and make a better product. Only way to do it and be successful. ;)

I have 25 beta invites for anyone interested… drip me a line if you’d like to give it a test drive.

Technorati tags: Farecast, Stuart MacDonald, Hotelscom

Roger Wong has the scoop:

…Adidas puts their own spin to this concept by commissioning shorts from
hip young directors, with only one parameter: Tell the story of a color.

However, instead of throwing up a website that consolidated all the shorts, Adidas created a video podcast that you could subscribe to get updates as these were released serially. The first, “White“, started the series in late March, and the last, “Black“, ended it in early May. Each url was the RGB value for the color.

……….

Oh and another interesting thing about this campaign: Not once is
Adidas mentioned on the sites or in the shorts. Of course if you’re an
Adidas freak, you’d know that these refer to the color-it-yourself
Adicolor shoes from the 1980s, but otherwise you’re left to do your own
investigation as to what Adicolor is http://www.adidas.com/us/adicolor/.

This is an interesting strategy & really integrates well with the types of things the Adidas evangelist cutomers are into online. The vip and underground aspect rings through loud and clear & I applaud the use of podcasting, serial releases (content rich), and the emotional and sensory tie-in with the 80’s brand.

But the URL’s as RGB values? Hmmm… It sounds like a cool underground tactic, but I’d only go there if it was truly integrated & user friendly – e.g. the links are integrated heavily with del.icio.us tags, technorati tags, Google, etc. etc. Making your customers work that hard to get to your content is never a good idea, even when they are the with-it crowd.

Technorati Tags: influencers, Adidas, Adicolor

The final days focus on marketing was an interesting mix of ‘traditional’ and ‘rogue’, with a healthy dose of entreprenuers and old fashioned business sense thrown in. I have been a bit worried about the ‘bubblet’ aspects to 2.0, but it sounds like if we keep the channels of communication open and are willing to share ideas and missteps we can make an impact in the long run.

A few key take-aways from two of the final sessions (Building a brand online & Engaging the blogosphere):

• It’s still a conversation. Only now the customer isn’t mute. It’s a two-way one.
• If you are a corporation, sooner or later you’ll hit the blog radar. It’s up to you if you choose to engage as the conversation will take place with or without you.
• It’s no longer enough to have a ‘brand identity’ each of your products needs an identity as well. The message should be built into the design (i.e. the first 2 “i’s” – innovation and integration)
• It is all about the experience. But not in the traditional sense anymore. It’s not enough to throw up a flash piece that showcases your product: you need to make the product and the interaction come to life and be relevant and engaging.
• Corporate blogs, if done in an authentic voice, with sincerity and humility can be a huge brand builder. But the company has to be prepared to take its lumps if necessary… and participate in the ensuing conversation.
• New metrics systems are needed to track the power of the medium in all its facets. Click-throughs, immediate conversions and impressions won’t cut it anymore to judge the success or failure of a campaign. Tracking conversations started, trackbacks, comments, site traffic and referrals must start to be measured.
• The companies who will succeed in this new age will be the ones with a clear mission (ala Google, Apple, etc.) vs. the ones whose mission is to make The Street happy each quarter. Innovation will happen there first.

Lots of food for thought and great ideas flowed out of those panels. They really felt like conversations vs. lectures. The success of the “unconference conference”.

I do have a couple of suggestions for the next go round… one of the things I found a bit disappointing was the lack of leveraging the power of web 2.0 within the conference itself. Why not have the participants submit questions for the panels and enable a voting system to determine which ones get asked? I know the audience was just chomping at the bit to get involved, why not take it to the next level and involve them right from the beginning?

I also would have liked to see dedicated channels for each panel (i.e. the IRC in the final panel of the day). Unfortunately, the way it was implemented, with the board being open for regular chats, as well as the live blogging became too confusing to keep track of while the session was happening… there’s a place for free form and a place for info presented in a somewhat linear fashion ;)

Great job to the Five Amigos who organized the event: Stuart, Mark, Mathew, Mike & Rob. Looking forward to next year!