Living in a 140 Character World

Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.  - WINSTON CHURCHILL

I do not think this applies to Apple and Steve Jobs … but it will be fascinating to watch.

CNN asking today if iPhone had already lost it’s cool.

First of all – let’s not confuse COOL with MASS APPEAL.  Many times they are polar opposites.

CNN wonders if Google just turned the tables on Apple as the new Android phones are a huge success … even outselling iPhone in first quarter of 2010.

The biggest difference seems to be Droid’s openness to developers.  Whereas Apple limits what it allows on it’s system (primarily no FLASH), the Google systems are open to pretty much what you can develop.

Apple correctly sights quality control … but does it matter?

Just like they did in the MAC/PC battle of the 90’s.

So … will history repeat itself and the open system (this time Google, not Microsoft) dominate the market?

Does Apple even care about dominating the market?  They have always been a little too hip for the room – and made tons of $$ being hip.  Is cooler a better position better for Apple than mass appeal?

This is the first time we get to see this New Media cycle begin again.

No answers yet … just questions.  The 140 Character World will be watching.

->> Here is a decent phone shopping comparison <<-

A radio station client received a significant buy for a concert tour coming to their area.  

Two weeks into the flight – extremely light ticket sales.

My client got a scathing call from the Chicago buying agency that booked the time.  They demanded extra commercials at no charge to make up for the “unacceptable response.”

Being an outstanding local business person, my client was going to oblige.

I’m glad he called me to chat – because I think the Chicago agency was setting him up as the fall guy.

We reviewed the schedule … adequate frequency and reach.  We listened to the spot … typical over-produced concert stuff (with the promoter’s name in the copy twice!).

I had to ask:  What would we hope to accomplish by running more commercials?

Instead we asked around his office and the answer was clear:  nobody could afford that type of luxury while still trying to dig out from the recession.  I’m not a fan of the in-office focus group … but this was just too obvious.

We polled the station’s database:  same response:  too expensive.

When we got on the phone with the agency – they didn’t want to hear it.  They rattled off other markets where ticket sales were brisk and other stations that “supported” them by throwing in extra commercials.

We were clearly at an impasse.

They were not going to sell more tickets if we ran more spots … and we would take the blame.

My client contacted the theater manager (another outstanding local business person) and asked him what to do.  He didn’t know – but did give us some valuable information:  the show could not be cancelled.  At this point, the artist was going to play in front of an empty house.

This just felt horrible.  We were tempted to give the extra spots … just to show we care (knowing it wouldn’t help).

The theater manager said they could not cut ticket prices without refunding the difference to those who already bought – something the promoter would not allow.

At this point, my client’s primary concern was the local theater and how an empty house could discourage future bookings at all prices.

So we came up with the compromise.

We would TRADE commercials for tickets … and agree not to give away any – or even mention a contest – until the day of the show.  This would give them a chance to sell tickets right up until the last minute.

How many did they sell?  

ZERO

The day of the show, we had 125 pair to giveaway.

Instead of the over-produced concert spot, we ran a first person DRY spot, voiced by the owner of the station.  It stated that we bought 250 tickets to the show and wanted to offer them to the first 125 people who called.  We imaged it as (station) gives back to the community.

We gave out the theater’s number as the number to call as all guests would have to be at will-call.

After only FOUR plays of the commercial (all before 10am), the theater called and said they were almost there – please stop playing the promo commercial!

Now …

Was the problem the messenger … or the message?

** Here is the most amazing part **

They actually SOLD a few tickets to people who called in too late to win ‘em.  Why did they buy them?  Because they wanted to be part of this community recovery night.

In the 140 Character World it’s all about the message … isn’t it?

We tried to have a follow-up call with the Chicago agency (to clear our name … not rub it in)

No deal.  They were still angry that we wouldn’t just give them the spots.

This is yet another reason I started my own firm.

Too many encounters with agencies who put their own interests ahead of reality.

There is a coffee shop I frequent while on the road.

The first time I went it was purely for the coffee – and boy it was good.  But my return visits turned out to be for more.  I found myself enjoying simple entertainment in the form of a hand written, 3 part trivia question scribbled on a dry erase board in the corner.

Apparently, the lead Saturday night barista prepared the question and bantered with customers when they tried to solve it.

Great question – timely and thought provoking.

I loved the disclaimer:

If you Google the answer, you are only cheating yourself

Fun to hear customers around the tables talking about the question.  I wondered how many were coming just for this extra fun?

About 8 months later, I’m was in town again over a Saturday night and went out for coffee.

• Same barista …
• Same electricity in the coffee shop …
• Same enjoyable coffee experience …

I did notice the prices crept up … but nobody seemed to mind.

Next time I was in town was almost a year later.

Finished up meetings and headed out for an evening of coffee and camaraderie … but

Empty seats?

No trivia?

No interaction or electricity ……  What happened?

The barista graduated college and was off at law school!

I asked why the coffee shop stopped the Saturday night trivia  and was told it was never the coffee shop’s deal.  It was all about that one barista.  She was bored to death working Saturday nights and the trivia was her way to make it more exciting.

I still don’t get what happened …

• Did the coffee shop manager not see the value in entertaining guests?
• Did all of the other barista’s like working Saturday night?
• Did the barista who moved on own the dry-erase board?

Okay … turns out she did own the board.

I hope she is happy being a lawyer … if not, may she find this blog via Google and contact me.

I know of at least 3 businesses that could use her as the manager.

*** The shop was not Starbucks, but another national chain.  Oddly enough, the trivia night wasn’t in their franchise “best practices” so the subsequent manager didn’t see the value.  The patrons never won a thing, but did hear their name announced to everyone in the dining room as the smartest person in the shop that night.  When other baristas were asked why they didn’t pick it up … one actually pointed out that the former wasn’t paid extra to do this and it was a lot of work.

Next time I am in town, instead of being curious as to the trivia question …

I will be curious to see how’s business …

As we work with traditional media on creating new media strategies … the most difficult transition is changing the basic paradigm.

That being:  We speak … you listen.

For my industry (radio) – an additional shift seems even tougher to grasp

It’s no longer about us.

As an industry, we need to understand how to be aggregators – not broadcasters.

We shouldn’t ask for things.  We should share things.

In some cases, we have viable brands that could evolve into decent New Media brands.

In other cases, we’ve got nothing except 12 in-a-row less talk jukeboxes.

Take the most basic social media platform:  Facebook – one that is many brand’s first step into New Media (and still the most powerful).

What do most media brands do?  Bombard their FB fans with commercials!!

Not the screaming car ads they play on the air (at least not yet) … but plea’s to visit them during a live remote, or frequent their website, or worst yet:  tell all your friends to “fan” us … LAME.

Might as well write IN ALL CAPS.

If you have to ask for friends … you don’t deserve them.

That doesn’t mean you can’t use the broadcast signal to tell people you’re on FB or give them incentives to go there.  There is a long standing precedent for radio stations to ask people to listen.

Asking for referrals on the FB page is lame.

Talking about how many fans you have is lame.

While Linked-In and other sites may be encourage recommendations – FB is about socializing:  not commercialization.

In the example above, you can see the users telling the radio station that is it uncool to ask (what’s in it for us).

BTW:  This station is an established radio brand in a big market that has been on FB for a while.  Hitting 10K is not much of an achievement - especially since I follow a station in market 100+ that is closing in on 20K and they have NEVER asked for fans on the site.

I used this slide recently in a listener session.  Response?

LAME.

Betty White’s hosting gig meant HUGE ratings for SNL.

I enjoyed it

I did not enjoy most of the radio banter this morning talking about the gig.

It was the usual clips, followed by DJ giggling and the predictable “which was your favorite” question.

Yawn.

But there was one show that took it off in a totally different direction – one that surprised me and kept me from hitting the button.

This station was aimed at young adults (not kids) – probably in their 20’s and 30’s.

They wondered how people of the MTM/Golden Girls generation (people in their 60’s today) felt about it.  Someone posed the question:   “How raunchy is too raunchy when talking about a near 90 year old?”

Great calls followed … with a SURPRISING amount of agreement from their own audience.

It was very entertaining and a total surprise.  I did not expect this from this station.

OKAY … SO NOW YOU’RE WONDERING …

Isn’t marketing, branding and strategy all about consistency … targeting the audience … giving people what they want?

Yes.

But clips of Betty White are all over the Internet … on my phone … on the Today Show, etc.

Just playing the audio without making a point … DID NOT GIVE ME ANYTHING I DIDN’T ALREADY HAVE.

It wasted my time (bad idea in the fast paced 14o Character World)

Granted … this show took a chance by going off in a different direction.

So did the writers of Lost.

But the talent on this show is seasoned enough to make it work.  They generated this topic from within (from a comment made by a news guy who honestly felt this way.)  Someone on the show wondered if Betty White was really funny … or were we all just laughing at a 90 year being raunchy.

They wisely didn’t dwell on the topic longer than 20 minutes … but they sure did a superb job of what I coach in my radio talent sessions:

Mining the topic for sub topics.

WHAT IS THE 140 CHARACTER WORLD MARKETING LESSON HERE?

We are so inundated with content these days, that the best way to find your mark in the 140 Character World is to mine the topics for sub topics.

Want to blog about Lost?  Get in line.

How about blogging exclusively about the smoke monster?  Explore his origin … debate his existence … predict his future.

Wanna blog about baseball?

• How about single A ball
• … or the DH rule
• … or pitchers who threw perfect games (where are they now?)

The more you narrow your focus, the easier it will be to find an audience.  You can’t compete with MLB.COM, FOX SPORTS and ESPN in covering the big picture.

Find the sub topic – and explore it.

You will stand apart from the crowd and likely generate interest among fans of the over-all topic

Plus … You will “own” the niche that you created.  You become the expert.

I still think Betty White is a national treasure and I loved each of her skits on Saturday.

But as I just watched a few for the 2nd time on Hulu … I felt a little uncomfortable with the content.  This time I did see an older person going blue to relate to my generation.

Sometimes I hate my generation.

Remember the old saying:

Everybody’s a Critic!

It was appropriately used when several people critizise a meal, or performance or song.

Today …

It’s True!

Great piece on CNN’s Reliable Sources today about the end of the professional critic as a paying job.

It’s not over yet … but there are few left who really earn a living reviewing movies, television, music, etc.

And why should they?

If a review is intended to influence the masses … why not let the masses review the material?

———————————–

My disregard for the profession began in 1978.  My sister and I wanted to go see Star Wars.  My parents had seen it panned on TV, in the papers:  pretty much every other platform available in 1978.

Our persistent nagging won, and my parents took us.  We loved it … they loved it … EVERYONE loved Star Wars.

So why was it panned by the professionals?

Because they watched like trained pros … not average people (ie. critical mass).

Since then, I have laughed when newspapers critics pan a show that sold out in minutes … and everyone loved.

Or a TV critic will point to the lack of a plot on Dancing With The Stars.

Music critics are always out of touch.  Imagine if radio stations and iTunes could only present what the critics liked?

There would be no market for music.

In the radio biz we host concerts in HUGE venues with fans screaming for hours … only to read the venomous review the next day in the paper and wonder, “who are they writing for?”

Movie reviewers are even worse.  At least they used to be honest … while out of touch.

As the genre got less and less relevant to traditional media, the movie studios began to beef up what the industry calls “junkets.”  These are huge promotional events – masked as information gathering – in which movie studios fly critics from around the country into Hollywood, put them up in the 4 Seasons Hotel, open up the bar and give them full access to the stars of the film.  Big perks for the reviewers … no cost for local media.

What happened when the film sucked?

Did Amy from Akron go home and pan the film?  Not if she wanted her 4 Seasons reservation for next weekend in LA.

The most pathetic junket I remember was in Hawaii for the opening of Pearl Harbor.  They held the entire thing on a Navy ship.  That movie was long and dragged on.  Yet those on the ship spoke in terms of “beautiful scenery” and “daring project” – anything to avoid ruining their credibility with the viewer/listener back home or getting thrown of the ship.

Sounds like a politician dancing around the obvious.

Jump to 2010.  The critical mass doesn’t have to sit through rehearsed questions and movie industry terms.  They can see what their friends and neighbors thought … not to mention the rest of the movie going world in which they live.

In the 140 Character World … everyone is indeed a critic:  and just in time.

Bad movies and songs are outed quickly – before the consumer plunks down their cash.

I am not saying there will be no such thing as a professional critic in the 140 Character World.

I’m just pointing out they the need a 21 Century strategy like the rest of us.  One based on:

• Transparency Actually review the film … don’t just promote it for the studios and perks.
• New Media Revenue Model Maybe post your review, then let the public criticize your take on the film – or compare your review to the box office take.  This would prove interesting and probably drive page views (not likely knowing how thin skinned today’s movie pundits can be)
• Like Minded People Instead of reviewing for everyone, be the ultra conservative reviewer, or outwardly gay critic, or single mom pundit, etc.  In the 140 Character World, people seek out information from like minded people (the Tribes Seth Godin wrote about)

The current crop is not likely to adapt to anything close to this …

Ah-Ha!  Another opportunity for you in the 140 Character World.

The first radio type Internet radios are set to hit the US shores on July 1.

Still high priced …

Still many bugs to work out as far as connectivity …

Still need a costly subscription to manage the stations …

Sounds like the cell phone in 1990.  Would you bet against the idea?

Not the Hotel California …

Facebook.

Great question this morning:  

Can you leave Facebook?

I don’t believe I’ve ever heard anyone wonder that.

Got me to wondering … does all of this stuff leave a lasting impression in cyber-space?

If you leave FB and someone Google’s you a year later … what will they find?

I don’t know anyone who has ever left Facebook – so I don’t know who to ask.

I did Google that question and found an interesting piece on Facebook’s retainment effort.

There is a really cool sci-fi thriller movie in this …

The music business is hurting.

Illegal downloading, a weak economy and an over-all fragmentation of musical tastes is slashing profits.

Despite all of the talk coming from the music biz about embracing 2010 marketing strategies, I had yet to see anything even close ….

… Until last night.

I was a guest of country music superstar Dierks Bentley at a 1000 person intimate venue in Foxboro, MA.

Yes … home of the NFL New England Patriots.

The small venue was adjacent to the Patriots stadium – one that Dierks has filled in the past.

While I have heard his music for he past 8-9 years, I had never met Dierks and didn’t know what to expect.  Dierks is known for doing things his way – on his timetable … to the point where some of the Nashville establishment will occasionally get in a dig or two.

Turns out Dierks is passionate about bluegrass music and has decided to go in that direction for a while.

Ah … Bluegrass … not many in today’s Nashville are excited about music that is banjo pickin’ at it’s core.

But Dierks is making it work.

What caught my attention first was his admission before the show that this tour would probably not make money … at least not immediately (he obviously doesn’t work for Wall Street!).

Dierks is convinced that there is a portion of the country music fan world that would get into the type of bluegrass that is played today and is using a 140 character world strategy sometimes called “Freemium” to make the point.

Freemium means you give the consumer something for free – or at a DEEP discount – in hope that they will opt to buy a premium upgrade of what you gave them for free.

In this case, Dierks is using his impressive catalog of hits, a small intimate venue not usually reserved for a superstar of his caliber, and surprisingly low ticket prices … all to guarantee passionate crowds and lots of local buzz.

His fans know the show is bluegrass based – but will include his biggest hits in the mix.  Small venue … affordable tickets:  the place was jammed.

Talking with fans during and after the show … I knew it was working.

Many told us they never thought bluegrass was anything they would like … but they were wrong.

Most had visions of hillbillies tapping on empty whiskey carafes … not what they saw.

When I heard U2’s staple Pride In The Name of Love done via a contemporary bluegrass arrangement … I was blown away too.

Since the bluegrass CD won’t be out for a few months, Dierks sealed the deal like a pro.

He announced that he was leaving “bootlegged” CD’s that have 3 tracks from the upcoming CD in the lobby … be sure to take one on the way … and one for a friend too!

Very cool

And the CD’s did look bootlegged.  Each was printed in Dierks handwriting and didn’t come in a case.  They were thrown on a table in a large pile.

EVERYONE took at least one on the way out.

You figure if they like the 3 songs on the CD … they are going to buy the whole thing in June, right?

If they don’t like the songs, they weren’t going to buy the CD anyway … so giving them 3 for free was a valiant effort.

Dierks talked about social media while relating it to playing “in this room where I can see everyone of you – as opposed to across the street … let’s let the Pat’s play there.”  (hoots and hollering followed).

• If Direks is successful in creating some demand for bluegrass … he will own the genre
• The CD’s that looked bootlegged were right on target not only to fans of niche music … but to today’s consumer that sees illegal downloading as a victim-less crime.
• The Facebook pages in our area that cater to country music were crammed with talk of the show … all this from just 1000 people who went.

Here’s a guy that is not trying to sell anything.

He is building a relationship with the consumer … using modern technology and a powerful marketing strategy.

Can’t wait to get the whole CD next month.

The reemergence of that $14.99 Facebook hoax has resulted in some worthwhile discussion with clients.

Stamping out the panic is easy once I let them know it is hoax.

Facebook has never announced any intention to charge for membership.

But … What if they did?

• What if they decided to charge even a few bucks a month to host a fan/brand site?
• What if brands over a certain number of fans (now ‘likes’) had to pay more because of increase band usage?
• What if FB decided to limit content due to a new found political focus on their part?

The likeliness of any of these happening is pretty low.

But just the suggestion should give “big picture” thinkers reason to pause.

A recent Mitch Joel piece about free services has been rolling around my head this week.  If the service (Facebook, Twitter, Google, etc.) is free … what right do we have to complain about anything?

We are still getting what we paid for.  Period.

Facebook is down for a week … Twitter drops to 50 characters … Google eliminates restaurants that don’t advertise …

Again:  not likely … but not out of the question in the “wild, wild west” that is New Media.

So the question remains:

If you base your entire marketing strategy on platforms that owe you nothing … What right do you have to complain if they don’t live up to their end of the deal?

• I pay for my cell phone and expect it to work.
• I pay for my server space and expect it to work.
• I pay for my flight to Chicago and expect to get there.

I don’t pay anything for my G-MAIL, Twitter, FB fan pages, Craig’s List postings … etc.

If they do not work tomorrow … who do I call?

I didn’t pay anything … so do I have the right to expect it fixed today … or anytime soon?

Just something to think about when laying out your strategy.

If gmail is down … can your customers find you some other way?

If Craig’s List went away … would your business follow?