The Future Of Media...

Wednesday night I attended the ITANS (Information Technology Industry Alliance Of Nova Scotia) annual dinner. The guest speaker was Ken Rutkowski, media personality, strategist and consultant. The theme of his talk was on the future of media. A couple of cool things came out - one - it's gonna be a busy future, and two - I'm mostly there now!

Ken started his talk by describing old media (TV, newspapers etc.) and new media (Web, RSS, blogs, YouTube etc.) and their products - old media's product is content, while new media's product is the audience - the customer is the advertiser (makes sense - hits is one of the measures of success for an online presence). This distinction may be a little simplistic, but it allows for an identification f new media.

Mobile devices, in particular cell phones (smart devices) is where it is at for the future of media. By 2010 there will 2 billion Nokia cell phones alone in circulation - cell phone penetration is growing and in some nations is well over 90%. I've talked about this in past posts and it's interesting to here an industry expert say the same thing. In my mind it's mobile devices that are the future of education, allowing learners to learn where, when, what, and how they want to.

Ken went on to talk about RSS and push technology, how RSS is pushing information - the customer is the product. I'm a big fan of RSS - push technology is the only way these days to make sense of the sea of information that we are swimming in. Content is everywhere - podcasts, YouTube etc.

Ken then did something very cool- the rest of his presentation consisted of him using Skype to contact "some of his friends", industry experts and personalities who shared their thoughts with us on the future of media. His friends included:

• Ralph Simon - creator of the ring tone
• Johnathan Wendel - professional gamer (Fatality)
• James Sun - CEO of Zoodango - a social networking site that facilitates both online and F2F social networking
• Scott Page - former member of Pink Floyd and Supertramp, now involved in Web-based technology allowing bands to communicate with their fans

The common thread from each of these incredible people is that it's content and mobility, along with penetration that is going to be the future of social media. Businesses and individuals need to get out there and be active parts of this always on environment - be part of community.

Thanks to ITANS and the organizers for a great evening and a wonderful dinner. I know that the students that we brought along had an amazing time - they saw a glimpse into the future - where they will be working and living, and that is too cool...

Atlantic Internet Marketing Conference (AIM 2007) Day Two

Another information rich day at AIM 2007. Today's focus was more on the technologies and tools available for companies and marketers to do what it is they do attract and retain customers.

Here are the highlights of the presentations that I attended, followed by my thoughts on the day and the conference.

Secrets of Successful Web Sites

The presenter was Rob Swick, Senior Strategist, AlphaSearch (and one of the driving forces behind AIM 2007).

"The main thing is to make the main thing the main thing" - Mike Lipkin. In other words - focus on what it is you do and do it well. here are the main things for a successful Web site:

1. Planning - Create a plan
2. Create (borrow, steal) rules
3. Strive for structure and simplicity
4. Home page is the main page
5. Understand the team, what they do
6. Fill the Funnel - grow the relationship - be found

Some of Rob's rules:

1. Navigation buttons - 7 or less
2. Tools go in the "tool nav"
3. People don't read, they skim
4. Earlier pages promote internal pages
5. Show it
6. White is your friend - whitespace and white backgrounds are OK
7. If you are not capturing e-mail addresses you are wasting money

Panel Discussion - Understanding Internet Technology

• Managing client expectations is the most important thing - know exactly what a Web page will and won't do
  
• Keep things fresh and updated
• Simplify technology for clients
• Understand costs involved in site design/video production
  
• Communication is essential
• Bridge the gap between client wants and reality
  
• Panel was somewhat anti-geek/anti-technology, more focussed on business processes

Electronic Personality and Positioning

Presenter was Wilma Hartmann from Applecore Interactive

Web sites that work have their own personality - it's all about identity alignment


The total online experience is carried on the following four pillars:

1. Design
2. Content
3. Navigation
4. Functionality

There are things you can control about your Web site and things you cannot control or can only influence:

• You can control
• Domain URL
• Search Engine
• Links
• Partners/affiliates/listings
• Online advertising
• e-News/e-Mail
• Traditional Marketing and advertising

Web 2.0 is like nailing jello to a wall - you have little control

• You cannot control
• Blogosphere
• RSS
• Podcasts
• Social marketing/chat
• Rooms/newsgroups
• Unsolicited listings
• You can influence
• Bologosphere
• RSS
• Podcasts
• Social marketing
• Unsolicited listings

Emerging Web 2.0 values:

• Authenticity
• Democracy
• Innovation
• Co-creation

How do you protect your brand in this fluid environment (thriving in a co-creative world)?

• Monitor (Google/Yahoo, yourself)
• Influence (be a part of Web 2.0)
• Stay true to who you are

Future decisions for emerging media - do we or don't we. For example Sweden has set up an embassy in Second Life. Adopt what works with your personality

Digital Content and marketing in the Multi-Platform World

Presenter was Graham MacDougall, Director of Digital Media, DHX Media

A changing media landscape - much more complex and fractured environment- digital media formats/devices/tools

Major changes in how people access media

Content/Distribution Models

• Blogging - personify brands
  
• Podcasting -fivefold increase in revenue from 2006-2011)
  
• Social networking - 1 out of 4 Internet users access a social networking site once per month
  
• Rich media - Flash, video
  
• Music - now 10% of total music sales
  
• IPTV (Internet Protocol TV - Joost, Apple TV, JumpTV)
• Mobile - 20% of users browse Web from cell and smart phones, but slow growth for now

Graham highly recommended Jakob Nielsen's book The Web Bible - Prioritizing Web Usability

Viral Marketing

Presenter was Sarah Oldford, Online Media Manager, Colour

"You don't find your audience - your audience finds you"

There are now many ways to reach out online. Viral marketing is the phenomenon that facilitates and encourages people to pass on a marketing message

• No defined viral campaign strategy
• No solid best practices - it's constantly evolving
• There is however, trying too hard
• Avoid copying/mimicking existing viral campaigns
• Viral marketing is hit or miss
• Start with the brand
• Look to your marketing messages for brainstorming
• When you have a relevant, fun idea then talk about online

Who has done it well?

• Dove Evolution
• The completely irrelevant site (Burger King subservient chicken)
• The viral video - Bridezilla - actually posted by Unilever to support their Sunsilk hair products -not a real video
• Norelco (Phillips) - shaveeverywhere.com - very funny and directly linked to the product (unusual for viral marketing)

Panel - Which Medium For My Message?

• Understand your audience
• Think like your customer/consumer
• Capability of organization to support channel selected

Mediums

• RSS - push content
• Blogs - highly search engine friendly
• Tagging - Digg, del.icio.us, technorati
• Rich media
• Text
• Cell phones / smart devices

These must all be used appropriately - need to use more than just one technology and possibly multiple formats of the same content (Real, Quicktime etc.)

Blogs are trust mechanisms

Panel - The Good, he Bad, and the Ugly

The final session of the day, the panel reviewed several Web sites of attendee companies and others. They were mostly unkind, finding fault with most, which was interesting, because several of the reviewed sites were created by panel members (which just goes to show you that if you put four Web developers in a room, you will get at least six opinions).

My Thoughts

It was another information packed days. It is apparent that the marketing world is aware of Web 2.0 and is doing its best to take advantage of these tools and technologies. There is still a gap between the knowledge of the marketing professionals and business owners. many are still trying to come to terms with the potential impact and benefits of Web 2.0 and social networking on their businesses.

It will be interesting to see where marketers go next. With the media markets now so fractured, marketers must decide which channels to use to get their messages out. It looks like the Internet is rapidly becoming the channel of choice, and that all types of devices and approaches to making customers aware of what is available will be the next frontier...

Atlantic Internet Marketing Conference (AIM 2007) Day One

Today was a long, full, rich experience with lots of information passed to the attendees. The majority of the presenters gave number-heavy presentations to reinforce their positions on market penetration, changing consumers bases and practices, and a very much evolving marketing art to marketing science. One of the major themes running through out the day was that the consumer was now the hunter with the tools and technologies to find the marketers and their messages, not the other way around.

If I were to include all of the information I received today this post would go on forever, so my intent is to briefly recap each of the presentations that I attended and then conclude with my thoughts on the day. All of the conference presentations will eventually be made available.

Keynote - Yahoo! - New Methods for Online Marketing

The keynote speaker was Kerry Munro, the General manager of Yahoo! Canada. He presented a lot of facts and figures about current Internet usage and penetration in Canada generally and with Yahoo!.ca in particular. here are just a few of the numbers:

• 58% of Canadian households are on line
• By 2009 $16 B Can will be spent on e-commerce
• Over 1 billion people online world wide
• Main use of Internet in Canada by consumers is for research, not purchase
• Yahoo! has 70% penetration - most visited site in the world (Yahoo's words)
• 82% of Canadians have Internet access (second in world only to South Korea)
• The Internet is 21% of weekly media usage but only 6% of the marketing budgets spent
• Canada most engaged country in the world - average of 40.8 hours/month spent online (29.6 hours/month for the USA)
• Canadians are not like Americans - more social, want more entertainment, humour, and sports, use more IM and downloads, higher % of women and teens. Canadians spend less per-capita online - main reason is a dearth of Canadian online merchants
• Internet is the new prime time - from 4 PM - 8:30 PM 70% of the 12-24 age group is on line. They spend more time online than with TV, print, or radio media
• Yahoo!.ca front page reaches over twice as many viewers as the top-rated TV show

According to Yahoo! you need the following to be successful on line:

1. Get online
2. Make the most of your site
3. Market online - branding
4. Use behavioural targeting
5. Make the most of Web 2.0 (a very common theme through out the day)
6. SEM (Search Engine Marketing) - searchers are engaged - 2-3 brands compared before choice made.

eBay - The Internet as Primary Customer Acquisition Driver

Presenter was Jordan Banks, General manager, eBay Canada. eBay was web 2.0 before there was Web 2.0 bringing together communities of buyers and sellers. eBay now has 233 million registered users (Q1 2007), $14.3 billion in revenue, reaches 55.4% of Internet users and has 12,416,000 unique visitors/month.

Only 14% of Canadian retailers are engaged in e-commerce. The following things have had the biggest impact on Internet marketing and marketers:

• Broadband - it's "always on"
• Search - can't fight disintermediation
• Mobile - convenience rules the day
• Social nature of the Web - ignore it at your great peril (less about content, more about engagement)
• Personalization - make it about me
• Distributed content - widgets etc.

The Changing Face of Marketing

Presenter was Jamie Davison, Principal, Modern Media

Now about behaviour targeting and analytics. marketing is changing from an art to a science. Thirty years ago there were 3 major TV networks, today there are 12 major media segments with thousands of choices - mass marketing approach no longer as effective. What has changed is:

• Internet celebrities (Yuma Yuma boy, etc.) - not good content, but available on demand (Democratization of content)
• Web 2.0 - marketing tool increases engagement - Facebook, Second Life
• You cannot just buy people's attention, you must engage them

Who's Clicking You? Internet Attitudes and Behaviours Among Atlantic Canadians

Presenter was Layton Dorey, managing director of Research, Bristol

Authors of the Inside Out Report, Atlantic Canada's in-depth journal of public opinion. This presentation had a lot of very interesting statistics on Atlantic Canada Internet penetration and usage. Here are some of the highlights (all relate to Atlantic Canada):

• 60% penetration
• TV, radio, and newspaper media still strong
• 17% in a social community - Second Life, Facebook, etc.)
• Biggest issue is developing trust in the technology - over 2/3 of all respondents across all age groups do not trust Internet ads or click on them
• 84% never click a pop-up ad
• 84% watch more than 2 hours of TV per day
• 60% spend more than 2 hours online per day

Forget 2.0... Let's Talk Web 3.0 and What It Will Mean To You

Presenter was Frederic S. Gionet, VP Innovation, Bristol

This was the best presentation of the day for me as it was the most relevant and interesting to me. To provide context, the "Christmas Carol of The Web" was presented:

• The Stone Age - Pre-Web
• The Past - Web 1.0
• The Present - Web 2.0
• The Future - Web 3.0 and beyond

Presentation highlights included:

• Second Life was presented as an example of Web 3.0 - immersive, customizable, and engaging
• Devices other than computers will become the dominant medium (smart phones etc.)
• Web will be more instinctive, easier to use
• Web 3.0 (1010/2012?)
• Mobility including GPS
• Internet-enabled TV
• Domination of Web Services
• Digital Paper - interactive/changeable ads
• Smart Billboards/Display
• 3d interaction and collaboration - Second Life. Bristol has an island in Second Life
• User will be King

Integrated Inline-Offline Marketing

Presenters were Chris Keevil, President, Colour and Malcolm Fraser, President ISL

Offline media is anything not the Internet - TV, radio, print, etc.. Customers now harder to reach - due to fragmented media and a move towards personal media.

• 1954 - 74% of families were watching "I love Lucy"
  
• 2007 - 15% of families watching "CSI"

Main points of the presentation:

• Big change in the numbers watching the top-rated TV show - marketing issue.
• More things to consume attention now than ever before
• Hunter has become the hunted - marketers need to be in a place where they can be found
• Must drive traffic to your Web site
• Web site usability is key
• Media has changed - gather and collect information but now must also think of layout and content too

Youcasting - Communication in the Age of the Clever Consumer

Presenter was Jeff White of Brightwhite Design.

A very good presentation on the use of the following online marketing tools:

• Viral video - companies are making YouTube amateur quality video to market themselves
• podcasting
• Word of Mouth - IM/chat - GMail - no advertising - just WOM invites
• Blogging - least expensive/most time consuming marketing tool, but search engines love blogs

The key is building connections with consumers

Beyond The Internet

Presenter was Krista White, Associate Media Director, Cossette Communication Group

The last presentation of the day the focus was on video games, cell phones, mobile media, TV and out of home media:

• Video games now out revenue movies ($10 b to $9B)
• Average age of gamer in Canada - 33
• In game advertising and product placement now common
• Pizza Hut/Everquest - can order a pizza while playing the game
• Ceel phone - adoption low in Canada (61% - Japan - 95%)
• Texting growing
• progressed from SMS to enhanced EMS to multi-media MMS
• Mobile TV growing
• Proximity-based marketing growing - infra-red communication between cell phones/PdAs and billboards/vending machines
• ITV - Interactive TV - 8% of Domino's Pizza's orders in the UK are from ITV
• TV viewing is not declining but commercial watching is - PVRs, VOD (Video on Demand)
  

My Thoughts

A very interesting day - the Internet is the marketing tool of the present and the future. It was interesting to see the knowledge of Web 2.0 and social networking and how marketing has had a fundamental paradigm shift due to the fracturing of media into so many sectors.

It will be interesting to see which sectors and which technologies truly dominate the future. It may be that the fracturing of media will mean that no one technology or media will dominate - cell phones, ITV, the Web, all will have a part to play. Can't wait for tomorrow...

Atlantic Internet Marketing Conference

Next Monday and Tuesday, May 14th and 15th, I will be attending the Atlantic Internet Marketing Conference (AIM) at the Westin Nova Scotian Hotel. The focus of the conference is businesses and marketing them using the Web. My interest in this conference is primarily because I facilitate a course to our first year students called BUSI 2750 - Introduction To Business and Information Systems. One of the objectives of this course is to get learners familiar with the various business functions and marketing is one that we spend some significant time on.

Maximizing marketing opportunities on the Web is a great thing for all businesses to do, but particularly small businesses with limited resources and staffs. The AIM aims (:-)) to help businesses throughout Atlantic Canada market themselves on the Web. Major sponsors of the conference include Yahoo.ca, Travelocity, eBay, NSBI, and many others.

I'm really looking forward to hearing what the experts say about marketing online. I am really interested to see if anyone is combining goods and services marketing with Web 2.0 and social networking on the Web.

If you are in Halifax next week and at all interested about Internet marketing, check out the conference...