The Strategy Review

This move by an NYC actor made my day ... superb, subversive and ballsy

 

Social media, football and The Family ...

The Mafia - that most connected of organisations - has apparently been using test messaging via a popular football TV show to keep those behind bars in the loop.

The Game of Plotwit

A number of people - not many - a select few - have been seeing cryptic references to The Game of Plotwit on Twitter and Facebook. I launched it a couple of weeks ago with friend and colleague Tom Gueterbock of the excellent gaming company 3rd Sense.

Plotwit's a parlour game designed for micro-media, based on the idea that - for some of us anyway - Smart, Quick and Funny is the new Sexy. We pick a title once a day - a movie or book - and players Tweet by replying to the original Tweet a three word "Plotwit" of the title. The smartest, quickest and funniest entries win the day.

So for example, "The Lord of the Rings" (the movie) could yield a player entry of "Tiny Little Legs", or 'Visit New Zealand". These appear in the world of Twitter as (challenge) #thelordoftherings and (entry) #tinylittlelegs, enabling players to track the game and their own entries - and vote for others (which is done by Retweeting) using the hashtags that drive Twitter.

The original Plotwit - and still to my mind the best - arose when I was talking one day with my friend Steve Brown, the great music consultant. I floated the idea of Plotwit - not at the time as a social game but as something that could be fun ... I said, "Take, for example, I dunno ... Kafka's Metamorphosis?" Without, as I remember, drawing serious breath, he came back: "Bug Goes Mad".

After rolling helplessly round on the floor for a while (well I did), we realised that there was something a bit special there. And that - about a year ago - is where The Game of Plotwit came from.

So, pop over to the page and follow it, if you're a smart / quick / funny person. Or like a bit of a laugh in the working day. Or, and we know you're out there, you're wondering what Twitter's actually for!

Citizen Kane | BFI

Seldom seen on the big screen in recent years, Welles’ witty, gripping film famously views the controversial life of the late Charles Foster Kane (Welles) – a media tycoon partly inspired by William Randolph Hearst – from the sometimes contradictory perspectives of his friends, employees and mistress. It’s an extraordinary work, not just technically (Gregg Toland's cinematography, Bernard Herrmann's score, the editing, design and quietly bravura direction are all superb); but in its dramatic sophistication and thematic richness. An affecting meditation on memory, self-knowledge, solitude and mortality; a wry reflection on fame, fortune and the spirit of America; an exhilarating exploration of the artistic possibilities of the film medium - Citizen Kane is all this… and so very much more.

via www.bfi.org.uk

This is Welles' original trailer for the movie, which the BFI is putting on cinema release on 30th October 09. Somewhat off-piste for this blog of course, but watch the trailer and you'll be - in terms of the dreary fodder we are often obliged to call entertainment - immediately refreshed.

Be thankful ... and then worry a whole lot more

David Stoughton of ValueKinetics writes:

Reasons to be cheerful in the middle of a recession seem just the sort of 'bright-side of life' comments that can irritate the hell out of companions and hasten your untimely end. Still, in the light of the vision in War Inc. of how power is projected in the 21st century and, more importantly, by whom it is wielded, I dare to suggest we have been permitted a breather.

I'm not advising everyone to rush out and rent this film if they haven't seen it. It likes itself a lot, and the satire is rather blunted by the ego trips. Never mind that though. Although I chose it almost at random as a piece of escapism after a long day of training, it came as a timely reminder of where we might have been headed in the Bush era. Essentially a vision of perpetual war waged by corporations to control the agenda and feather their nests, it was of course not really about the future, but an exaggeration of the very real state of affairs in Iraq at that time.

No reason to think a change of president alone reduces the ambitions of greedy corporations who are 'too big to fail' (or to control) but, coupled with a sharp kicking on the bottom line and the promise of closer scrutiny, it does slow things down. As the world order fragments and the size and power of corporations as compared the state grows, the risk of some larger ones running amuck should still not be discounted.

So, whilst we obsess about our insalubrious political representatives, let's make sure that we don't lose sight of the greed and delusions of grandeur that brought down many of our banks and are certainly detectable in other supranational businesses.  We may yet see corporations 'creating realities on the ground' by intervening violently in the affairs of inconvenient countries. And it is not impossible that some of them will come to regard the state as a vehicle to command, in furtherance of their ambitions, rather than one that has any control over their actions.

When the realities of peak oil hit in the next boom - whenever that comes - there is going to be scope for some pretty unpleasant stuff that makes profiteering by acquiring property at public expense look tame. We all need to get our heads out of this entertaining side-show and look at the bigger picture while we can. Though I too welcome a a good laugh at the expense of those who have the arrogance to pretend they have the right to wield power over us, I'm a bit nervous about who is really holding the reins. It's that old trust thing again.

"The data. The data." (After Conrad. And Copolla, I guess)

Feel compelled to comment, albeit briefly and without enormous insight, on the sheer amount of security / trust / other sneaky stuff, that's in the headlines all of a sudden:

• The Labour blogging scandal, good old dirty tricks with a 2.0 spin on it: ugly and stupid ... and got caught - the hat trick;
• Amazon's clumsy handling of the gay authors issue ...
• ... alongside their - I tend to think commendable - Phorm-blocking move;
• The UK Goverment, in January and effective from March, sliding the ISP citizen-consumer spying law into place, with the usual guff about "only in certain circumstances will this be used" ... see David Stoughton's excellent post on this blog for the full smart dirty on that one;
• And just today, Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys urges the dropping of hundreds of thousands of DNA records of entirely innocent people that the government and its cronies are saving up ... "just in case" ... Just in case, er, what? We suddenly run out of real villains and have to go after reg'lar folks?

Time - as I've done having discussed the ISP-bollox with m'learned friend Brian Millar - to give the Open Rights Group a bit of support.

PS something else that's been niggling me for many months now ... the stupidity of so-called smart advertising tools. Contextual, behavioural or whatever ...

Why on earth - when I'm reading about Nokia's 90% quarterly decline in profits (in itself an extremely important piece of business news) would I want to see an O2 ad offering me deals on Nokia phones? It makes, for example, blind cold-calling at home seem positively sparkling! This takes me back to my querulous post of a few days ago on how the future is no longer digital.

Intelligent Life - fabulous dunny fodder

Just looked into the Spring edition of The Economist's lifestyle rag Intelligent Life.

Having eyed the title suspiciously on the news stands for a year or so - let's face it the name's a worry - I find it's actually the richest mag reading I've had for an awfully long time.

There's a rack in the downstairs loo - where I hide from my children when the female sturm + drang becomes inbearable. This is where you'll find IL and me of a weekend.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Help!

Wonderful story in the Observer today about the restored version of "Help!" which is showing tonight on BBC 4. Many years after the film was made (obviously) Dick Lester got a formal letter from MTV declaring him, for the work he did directing both of the early Beatles films, "A Hard Day's Night" and "Help!", the father of the modern pop video. His response, apparently, was to IMMEDIATELY write back demanding a blood test! I love the "immediately" ...

Am watching the film now with the kids dipping in and out between it and Bebo ... Whatever's happened since - and with Lennon's murder (a movie about that just hitting the screens in London if you're feeling an excess of Xmas cheer), Harrison's death of cancer, and now the whole McCartney divorce thing - there's been a fair bit to feel dismayed by for a Beatles fan over the decades. Wonderful to get back to unadulterated Fab Four.

I still think the best thing about them was the laughs ... I love the story of Lennon, cornered by a US journo: "John! John! Is Ringo Starr the best drummer in the world?" Responded he, without missing the all-important Beat: "He's not even the best drummer in the Beatles."

Why did I stop blogging for over a year?

Because I had nothing to say!

Since October 2006 we've been working with O2 - more recently their owner, Telefonica really - and Bacardi Global Brands on initiatives that have taken our work and our thinking in very exciting new directions. We're delving deep in to 21st century media strategy, we developed The TouchStone framework for analyzing and evaluating 360 degree brand communication programmes, and more recently have been exploring advanced mobile marketing strategies.

I feel so privileged - despite the associated stresses - to have the opportunity to do this work. We have a way to go yet before the business is 100% stabilised, but it's looking OK.

The problem with doing strategy for a living ...

... is that - unless you do a lot of wailing and gnashing and playing golf with CEO's - it looks cheap and easy. It's neither.

Time to start blogging again ...

Tell you what ... this blogging business ebbs and flows for me ... for 3 months or more I've had little that I wanted to communicate outside of the work I do with the very exciting Rights Marketing Company, now well into its second year and very much on a roll.

Couple of things I plan to revisit over the coming weeks in this space ... the growing relationship between music and advertising, the issue of media value in the context of a brand new set of consumer experiences, and finally - and perhaps more drily - the fascinating theoretical work we're doing on the strategic impact for enterprises of the move from value chain to ecosystems.

Ted Levitt, true marketing guru, RIP

Sad to learn of the death last week - after a life well spent rattling corporate cages - of Theodore Levitt. Sad also to think that such oft-quoted and clearly-expressed insights have yet to be implemented across most of the businesses that have needed them over the nearly 50 years of his presence in marketing thought.

Thoughts on Micro-sponsorship - aka 'reverse adtech'

Advertisers currently fund - one way or another - some form of content and embed their messaging inside or alonsgide. In Media 2.0, advertisers must move on from interruption of experience to enhancement of experience.

Deep in the labs at Rights Marketing we work on what comes next. And the idea we keep coming back to is micro-sponsorship, aka 'reverse adtech'.

We see a day when advertisers will bid to sponsor the individual entertainment and other mediated experiences of desirable (affluent, commercially attractive) consumers.

It goes like this: the organisers of (say) the webcasting of a music concert offer the sponsorship rights to the usual suspects in media buying. 4 fmcg brands commit to enter the bidding program: Dominos, Coke, T-mobile and Quiksilver. When consumers sign up for the event, brands bid to be the unique sponsor of their experience of the content (and this can be offered to groups of friends - the tribal piece - as well as individuals).

Each brand not only commits to foot the basic bill for the consumer who signs up: they sweeten the bid with brand-exclusive, event-specific enhancements such as discount coupons (via web or mobile) for food and snacks during the event, online and/or mobile services to increase the individual (or especially the tribal) enjoyment of the event (for example rich chat environments where friends can connect and make new friends), or exclusive promotional merchandise (caps, t-shirts, even a branded CD of the concert to your door 24 hours later).

Consider for a second the Return on (yes, not cheap) Investment that derives from the remarkable Return on Attention that micro-sponsorship creates. The brand that wins the bid moves immediately from the usual painful and suspicious hovering around the outskirts of the party ('trendy vicar', as it's sometimes cruelly called) to occupy a welcomed and value-adding role not too far from the event core. The opt-in factor is highly positive, and the CRM potential is, for once, both genuine and large. And brand-consumer permissions go sky-high.

I wonder if at least some resolution of the well-documented marketers' conumdrum (innovation and accountability) may lie in the adoption of this reverse-engineered advertising. We'll certainly be suggesting it for our clients.

Why have I stopped posting?

Because a) I'm busy as hell with several new start-up opportunities within Rights Marketing b) I actually haven't got much to say (always a sound reason to shut it!) and c) I've been ill as hell ...

Back on the blog block soonest ....

Leadership in Media program with IESE

We're delighted to announce, further to time spent together at the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad, that Prof Paddy Miller of IESE, the top business school in world (FT, Economist etc) has invited Rights Marketing to assist with the development and delivery of the new Leadership in Media MBA program (NY) and the media component of the core MBA program (Barcelona).

We're beginning the development process on this today, for launch in both NYC and Barcelona in the fall. A priviledge and a pleasure.

Back from "Inside India" ...

.... after an AMAZING week in Mumbai and Hyderabad with top business school IESE and the marvellous Indian School of Business. I'll be podcasting on this with Jonathan Lakin my co-founder in Rights Marketing in the next few days, but high points included:

• Flying into Mumbai to see the incredible sprawl that is the city.


• Meeting the IESE and ISB teams and working with them for a week of deep learning and many laughs.


• Visiting with India's hottest companies - Infosys, Tata Group and many more


• Lectures from some of the brightest minds in Indian commerce and culture.


• Cab rides with lepers banging on the window at traffic lights - makes New York seem ... suburban.


• The glorious quality and range of India's quality newspapers, in particular The Times of India.

So ... back in the blog saddle and normal service to be resumed.

White House hails new energy sources ... supports failing ad industry

New Scientist on those Superbowl ads ...

Brain scans of Super bowl viewers suggest that certain commercials more effectively excite the brain’s empathy and reward centres, making them "light up".

Now, if we can just make the ads more interesting than watching paint dry, we're home!

Yeah .... what he said!

Remarkably direct editorial from NYT. Good to see.

We can't think of a president who has gone to the American people more often than George W. Bush has to ask them to forget about things like democracy, judicial process and the balance of powers — and just trust him. We also can't think of a president who has deserved that trust less.

This is not real ...

... but it could be tomorrow :-)

In an UnNews exclusive interview today the current CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America, Mitch "Litigious Bastard" Bainwol, discussed the analog hole, and the recent controversy surrounding it.

Something to smile at - a London Underground mashup

To be found here ... but where can I buy one? :-)

Rubbish Superbowl ads ...

... say no more.

Talent, that's the word ...

Wallace and Gromit awards = good news:

Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the WereRabbit has dominated Hollywood's annual animation awards, the Annies, winning nine prizes.

The British-made film was named best animated feature, beating fellow Oscar contenders Corpse Bride and Howl's Moving Castle to the top prize.

Jim Stengel, P and G Global CMO, on Advertising 2.0

Despite what I'm afraid is a pretty crap online service, ft.com, especially compared to wsj.com, the FT Weekend print edition published on Saturdays is a gem. And this weekend they devoted several pages to profiling the marketing man with not only THE PLAN, but with a $6bn annual budget to deliver it with. Here are some clips to capture the flavour:

'Stengel took it upon himself (in late 2003) to give the marketing services industry a grade of C-minus - just above failure. "If this was one of my teenager's report cards, we would be having a heart to heart talk - more homework, less socialising, more tutoring, more commitment to improve!" he said.'

'As recently as the 1980's, with only 2 commercial channels in the UK, P & G reckoned it could reach 90% of consumers with just 3 TV commercials. Now it would take more than 1,000 for the same impact.'

'"We must accept the fact that there is no 'mass' in 'mass media' anymore."'

... and loads more in the same vein. I love it when the folks with money a) show the balls to change the game and b) are so clear about their philosophy.

A really nice note of support from Noah Brier

Coming back from the day of doom (don't ask ...) very cool and rare pleasure to get this comment from Noah on the Media 2.0 Workgroup mandate draft that I put up recently:

Since he first commented on my blog a few months ago, I've been keeping up with Michael Bayler over at The Rights Marketing Company blog. His Draft mandate for the Media 2.0 Workgroup is a well-written state of the media piece. It goes into unbundled, attention and every other hot-button media topic that you can think of in an incredibly approachable way. Lots of great thought fodder in there, especially relevant to me was this quote: "Simply put, advertising needs to move from ‘interruption of experience’ to ‘enhancement of experience’. An unprecedented cultural, strategic and creative challenge."

Old media never die ...

... except this one ... Western Union abruptly ceases telegram services:

Effective January 27, 2006, Western Union will discontinue all Telegram and Commercial Messaging services. We regret any inconvenience this may cause you, and we thank you for your loyal patronage.

This guy did the gestural navigational design in Minority Report ...

... and therefore has some interesting messages for marketers.

FOR PEOPLE WHO DON'T DWELL in its world, design can sometimes be an esoteric concept. As consumers and businesspeople, we all understand when a media design works for us, or even more noticeably when it doesn't. But to really understand the thinking that went into it, you have to crawl inside the head of a media designer and experience the world through his or her eyes, ears, and fingertips. Thanks to an unusual program created by Ball State University's Center for Media Design, we got to do just that.

On Mozart's 250th anniversary

Now THAT's what I call music! Good to get back to root of it all, the extraordinary genius of the handful of artists that trascend all bickering and commercial skullduggery to enrich human life and spirit. More on Mozart here, from the BBC.

Nettwerk steps into the file-sharing fiasco

From P2Pnet:

...privately owned record label and artist management company Nettwerk Music Group, based in Vancouver on the BC mainland and which manages some of North America’s biggest artists such as Sarah McLachlan and Avril Lavigne, has also gone up against the RIAA.

Mobile cancer link disproved ... again

Phew, that's all right then.

Shut up, Dick ...

Some outstanding Cheney-bollox from CNN ...

NEW YORK (AP) -- Vice President Dick Cheney defended the Bush administration's domestic surveillance program Thursday, calling it an essential tool in monitoring al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations.