Lose Control of your Marketing

I read a great e-book a while back by David Meerman Scott. Finally got around to putting a link up and sharing with my readers. It's interesting for marketing peeps, but probably not to the average consumer.

Lose Control of your Marketing by David Meerman Scott (PDF)

Let me know what you think with a comment, or write David some comments on his Blog

What is Google Wave?

Google Wave - It's a new way of working with the web. Email and instant messaging were invented a long time ago. What if someone invented them right now, with all the advantages of Sharing links, Social Networks, High-Speed connections?

A couple smartie pants' from Australia, part of the Google team there, developed some new ideas, and they were recently revealed at the Google I/O conference. (Why am I not there right now...?) Don't take my word for it-- read about it from someone who's there: TechCrunch

Russian Investment values Facebook at $10B

Russian business tycoon Yuri Milner has just bought 1.96% of Facebook putting the valuation of the company at approximately $10,000,000,000.00 (Wow.)

This is an interesting interview from Techcrunch with the Founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, and Yuri Milner.

RIM-- Save my Blackberry!

For the past four or five months, I've been getting snookered by a "JVM 102 ERROR" on my Blackberry. This is an error to which no amount of battery removal or restarting can recover. The first time this happened, I took the phone to a store, and a few days later, I had a blanked phone. They did a total wipe and OS reload, because that's the easy way. OUCH! Thanks for letting me know my data was going away.

The next time it happened, (in a new job) I took it to IT, and they did the same thing. The next time, not wanting to have to re-load everything again, I turned to the internet, and discovered the Java Commander, event logs, and file deletions. The problem there was all the work.

Why is this still happening. Yes I download apps, but they are seemingly legit apps that ask all the right questions, and work properly. They aren't even involved when all the sh*t hits the fan too.

How long should I go before I use my savvy interweb skillz to find Jim Balsillie's email address and tell him my problems? Is this just a "Cost of Owning a Blackberry" having this failure rate-- much like the last 10 years of owning a Wintel PC? Or is this something that not THAT many people are experiencing, and RIM should contact me about this?

UPDATE: RIM Got back to me...   They said "[robot] Please go back to the Rogers location where you bought your phone and they will take care of you."    i.e.  Pass the buck.    Rogers doesn't know what to do!  They merely blank the device and hope for the best...  FAIL.

What do you think?

Electrified Apple Ads

I actually watched this ad twice. For the first time in a while, this combination flash wide-skyscraper and leaderboard (that actually defied it's traditional restrictions) made me stop paying attention to content and watch what Mr. PC and Mr.Mac were up to.

I think it was the clean white (commonly associated with Apple) and the innocuous breach of boundaries when PC climbs the ladder and clamps jumper cables on to a button on a different ad.   The cherry-on-top was when he electricuted himself and a very faint smoke faded over even more of the page, including the top nav.  

Found this on the Globe and Mail

Do Canadians have big mouths?

Since (at least) 2008, Social Media has become more and more of a priority at work. Senior Management is bought in, resources are becoming more and more available, and our CMO recently released some news about what we're doing.

“The rapid growth of technology and social media is forever changing the ways people communicate and this provided the perfect landscape to launch AIR MILES Community,” says Neil Everett, Chief Marketing Officer, AIR MILES Reward Program. “It gives us direct insight into the opinions of our Collectors on the program, plus allows them to share information and exchange stories, photos and tips not only with us, but with each-other as well. This information has already proved invaluable insights and will help us grow and enhance the rewards program based on our Collector feedback.”

Three things that the company has launched in the last 9 months in the social media space, and what I believe to be a good start, but by no means the end of our injection into the conversation, are as follows:

1. Community- The AIR MILES Community, launched in April 2009, is a forum for Collectors to share memories and tips, learn about news, opportunities for Bonus Reward Miles, and tricks to earning, as well as ask questions of AIR MILES moderators and other Collectors. With over 15,000 members of the Community in less than three months, the user base of extremely avid Collectors is growing to a useful size. Promotions like the recent AIR MILES Mile-ionaire Giveaway, with a grand prize of 1,000,000 Reward Miles, encourage a fire-hose of participation in the conversation. It's also providing some insights as far as what people 'aspire' to earn with their Air Miles Reward Miles: Even though recent polls and research reveals that 86% of Canadians want to redeem for Travel it's as easy as reading the posts, comments and replies on the community to determine the same data.
   

1. Facebook Fan Page- Still in the early stages of development, the AIR MILES Community Fan Page on Facebook.com is a place to aggregate and distribute the Collector conversation in a venue where Canadians are already participating heavily. As the worlds most popular social network, Facebook simply cannot be ignored. With the outbound messaging capabilities afforded a Fan page, and the highly targeted segments, Fan Updates from Facebook are all of the sudden a significant part of the marketing mix. Cost: $0.
   


2. Twitter- Our Twitter page is exploding with growth, gaining followers every day. Part of the strategy developed for Twitter is to keep it as a marketing communications channel, as opposed to a Customer Service/Complaints channel. That's not to say that we won't attempt to direct Collectors to help, and solve issues for all readers, but the channel is more valuable to a broad audience when it's about finding Bonus Reward Miles, learning about promotions, hearing about a new Sponsor launching in the coalition and so on. I would not follow ComCastCares on Twitter for that reason. They are apologizing far more than they are creating value for their followers. Some customer-centric companies are doing an amazing job of creating value for their followers, and they now benefit from the ability to distribute their message to upwards of 500,000 followers in the blink of an eye. Cost: $0.
   

As we start to be able to monetize these channels more and more, via Sponsor offers, unique tracking codes embedded in links, promotions exclusively for Twitter followers or Facebook Fans, and other means-- the ROI shows its beautiful head, and measurement and KPIs start to make more sense. Because we're so early in the game (especially for channels like Twitter) measurement is tough. What is "Doing Well" and what is "Needs Improvement"? Compared to our competition (whether that's Aeroplan, Shoppers Optimum, Esso Extra, etc) we're the champs. They aren't even on the map; But I don't think "Being the Winner" will fly for next year's KPIs...