One last note about connectivity...,

There have been very few technological issues this quarter except for when blogger went down for a few days in the May. The one difficulty I have had personally is that when I deployed to the Middle East 4 weeks ago my internet connection became extremely slow. This made it difficult to watch some of the streaming content and videos of the course that demanded higher bandwidth to support. Overall, I am pleased with the wide variety of information that has been presented in this course and it has made me reconsider a number of the traditional marketing concepts that I learned in my basic KD marketing course. Thank you for this quarter,
Cameron Radon
PS I apologize that my wife's name is on this account, she already has a Blogger account.

I agree with what Eric Clemmons is getting at, and I think it is something that I eluded to in a prior post. Similar to how consumers want custom service and custom products, they also want custom advertising, which is information that they search for on their own terms. People are getting good at clicking through the garbage to get to the content they are looking for, and they are more or less bothered by the distractions. Rather, when a consumer actively searches for a product and service and is then presented with websites or information relating to that search, they are not only going to be more receptive but there is a good chance they will actually purchase that product. Information is so easily accessible now for all consumers that rarely will a product search begin and end with traditional advertising. Consumers want to see options, they want to see reviews and they they want to know they are getting the best deal possible. This used to be too time consuming but it is a process that can be completed now in a matter of minutes with powerful search engines and useful websites. Advertising is increasingly a two way street. Marketing is no longer a passive activity, it needs to engage its customers and harness the opportunity when a consumer actively searches for a product.

Advertising is Everywhere --Video Games

It sounds like there is a lot of research to do as far as the effectiveness of advertising in video games. The revenue that is coming in from game advertising is an indicator that companies think it works, but the connection between the ad and sales has not yet been defined. I agree that too many people spend too much time playing video games, but they are definitely a source of human attention so I believe advertising in them can work, whether consciously or subconsciously. I think that video game advertising will most likely follow more traditional marketing principles such as target ads to hit key demographics--the ones buying and playing the games. I think online video games may adhere more closely to the Google models that are more complex and take into account browsing history to maximize ad revenue and effectiveness. Because of this, I expect online video game advertising to increase in the coming years because it is more dynamic and has the potential to be more effective. Traditional games that are sold to consumers will not be as effective because they will not have the advantage of browser history to more precisely place ads. Furthermore, people who buy games will play them quite a bit and the same Coca-Cola ad in a purchased game cartridge will be seen over and over by the same set of eyes. Online games will have the advantage of new ads every time that person plays the game based on their history on the internet. Furthermore, online game players will play a wider variety of games (such as the Orbitz three minute games) which will give them more exposure to more products. Overall, I think gaming advertising will follow the same marketing trends we have seen with the coming of the digital age. The more dynamic the ad, the more effective it will be and the more revenue it can demand.

Google

I had no idea Google brought in $21 billion in 2008. It looks like $29 billion in 2010 and $8.5 billion for the first quarter of this year. Has any marketing company ever had this type of cash flow? What I like about Google is that their success makes my life easier. The more money they make, the more efficient their search engine becomes and the more applications I can use for free that are developed by Google. I guess it is hard to imagine what it will take to unseat Google as the industry champion because its success just creates more success by adding viewers and creating more precise mathematical models for behavior.

GPS Tracking and Mobile Device Data Collection

The NYTimes article had me thinking about privacy issues with data collection in mobile devices. Similar to the Numerati argument, I am all for it. If I am walking down the street and I type restaurant into Google, I would prefer it to show me the menu, reviews, and prices for the restaurants near me. Just as I expect my products and services to be individualized to me, I would like my marketing and advertising to be personalized to me as well. If it means that the GPS is tracking me or what I have clicked on is recorded in a database somewhere, so be it. This just shows the power of the digital era in marketing. If done correctly, advertising can be placed at the right place and at the right time so that it is no longer advertising, it is information that people want. Mobile devices are the epitome of this characteristic because when people are on the go, the easier it is to find information/advertising, the better.

The History of the Internet

This video was a great synopsis of how the internet came to be and it posed a few questions that left me thinking. The first question being will the internet be regarded as one of the greatest inventions of all time and I think the answer to that is already yes. When considering impact on society, the internet is unparalleled in how it transformed how people live their lives around the world. It is not an expensive technology reserved for advanced economies and as the video states, the lack of discrimination in its use is unique. Nobody really owns it and nobody filters it. Not only will the internet be regarded as a great invention, but it will be known as the greatest invention of all time as it continues to transform every aspect of life on earth. Another question that was posed in the video was whether the internet's impact on society will be positive or negative. I think the transparency the internet promotes is important to answering this question. It seems as though so much of the conflict in our world is a result of misunderstanding and poor communication between cultures and people. As the proliferation of the internet continues, more and more people will gain awareness of others around them and the world will become smaller and flatter, as trite as that may sound nowadays. It is exciting that everyone has a voice and people can access more information than ever which will hopefully create more conscientious citizens on all continents. I think that as this movement continues, respect between cultures will increase as people realize they are not much different than those halfway around the world.

I welcome the Numerati

The concern in the numerati article that we have all become numbers does not bother me because of the benefits I receive from individual consumer preference. I like the fact that when I search a product on Google I find exactly what I want and that advertisements come my way about that product. It is so much easier to be a consumer in the era of the numerati because they are doing all of the work for me. No longer do I have to drive or call a store to look at products and services, it is all right there for me. Furthermore, the trends that the numerati focus on are most likely trends that I want to be part of. For instance, if I become interested in wine tasting, the numerati will have made equations that give me links to a wine tasting area in Argentina that I would have never have thought of otherwise. The numerati expand my horizons because they harness the ideas of humanity and give me suggestions based on what is working for other people which I like. I think that is why the internet is so exciting and people can spend hours just surfing--it is a testament to the power of the numerati and their importance in our lives.

Social Media

After looking at the social media content for this week, I have come to the conclusion that there is a possibility that revenues should not be part of their business models and they should take the form more of openshare projects that anyone can participate in but nobody profits from. I think about the instability right now in the Middle East with the reform spreading throughout that region and can not help but relate the movement to the internet. I am not sure that type of sweeping change would be possible without social media as a catalyst. With that being said, should advertising, subscription, or any other type of revenue producing model be incorporated into social media if it is going to limit, skew or distort social movements as they occur? I am not sure revenue has any, or should have any place in social media models. I think the value in social media is that the content is created by the masses for free and it can ignore the media bias that everyone has complained about for the last half decade. People turn to social media today to get there news--when Osama bin Laden was killed I know a lot of people who were checking Facebook before they turned on the news. People without a voice, such as those who were suppressed for decades under authoritative rule, can now post a video of an injustice being done and incite action. It may not be right to dilute the influence of social media to make it profitable.

Making money from the web

After listening to the lecture for this week, I began to question how big internet websites are sold for so much money given their business models which do not have any income. I think the fate of MySpace is going to a be a major player in the future sales of internet websites. I remember back to the Twitter interview we watched a few weeks ago and how the question of profitability was so prominent during the discussion. Is there a possibility that websites such as Twitter and MySpace were so popular because they don't have advertisements? For the amount of money being exchanged for the websites, is there any viable business model that can make it a good investment? I can not help but think it would take a lot of popup ads to cover the amount of money negotiated in these contracts. Furthermore, I do not think the types of passive advertisements that could be used in these sites are going to be effective compared to the rack and stack operations of search engines. Users have a way of clicking through content to get to what they want to see whereas search engines give people exactly what they are looking for in the first place. As a business looking to advertise, I would much rather have my product come up first among people looking for products like mine than have my advertisements pop up like weeds and annoy potential customers. Just as consumers are taking an active role in interacting with companies to get more personalized products and services, they are also taking an active role in marketing by seeking out the advertisements they want to see.

Back on track

With Blogger back up, I would like to share my thoughts on this weeks content. The required article for the week had me wondering how many new categories of business models there will be in 5 or 10 years. It is hard to imagine that a new game changing model is just around the corner because the list is so comprehensive, but at the same time, who would have thought the wiki model could work five years ago? Subtracting models on that list that did not exist 10 years ago makes me realize how quickly the web is evolving and how fast a good idea can take flight. While it took traditional mega corporations (Ford, Wal-Mart) decades to grow, the Amazons and Googles have take just a few years. Markets have changed, therefore marketing has too.

Technical problems

As I am sure many students have experienced, Blogger was unavailable for the last couple of days so I was not able to post. I just landed after a long flight and I need to go to bed but I will post about what I have learned this week. I guess one takeaway from the website being down is that professional bloggers may need to consider the fact that there servers may go down at some point and have a back up plan if they have agreements with advertisers or if they promote products on their blogs. I know there are not that many professional bloggers that make their livings doing posts but there are plenty with lots of exposure that get free gear and products for promoting items on their blogs.

That is all for the week

I had no technological problems accessing content this week and I found it to be quite engaging material. It will be interesting to see what happens to Twitter in the coming years, I think there has already been a trend of decreased use, but if I were Evan Williams I would have taken the cash and ran.

Evan Williams and more...

I thought the Evan Williams interview was interesting because of his insights into the future of social media. He believes five years from now people will come to have accepted more transparency in their lives as a result of digital technologies that enable new types of communications. I find this interesting because as this happens, there is a parallel phenomena that rejects transparency because people feel they lose their identities when information is spread about them, with the ultimate scenario being identity theft. I believe their will actually be a Twitter rebound in the coming years as cultures seek to find the harmonious balance of private and public. I think the rush to publish everything on the internet has started with an immense surge simply because of the availability and excitement of new technologies. As the awe of this technology subsides, people will actually share fewer details about when they are brushing their teeth or going to the store, and focus more on meaningful relationships enabled by blogging and other forms of social networks. It is hard to say when this balance will be reached or what its impetus will be, but I think it is inevitable given the premium placed on privacy in the digital information age.
In other news, the article "Making the transition to the social web" provided some good insights into chaning your mindset about marketing and rejecting one way communication in favor of a dynamic conversation between companies and consumers. Finally, I did not realize how social media was used in response to the tragic tsunami that hit Indian Ocean. I think social media has since been a large player in how history is made and how news is recorded. I cannot help but think of the impact of social media on nations in the Middle East over the last six months. It is hard to imagine that widespread revolutionary dialogue could have been sustained without social media.

The Long Tail Theory: Niches Galore

Companies selling at least one of 98% of items every quarter is very surprising to me as it was to Anderson. Although my business is not involved in sales, it is interesting to see the importance of those items that do not sell has much and the shape of the sales curve is flattening. It seems as though as the world flattens in a Friedmanesque manner, the sales distributions of the product arrays will also flatten. People will like more selection because they can find exactly what they want, which is interesting to me because I think about the success of Apple and their megaproduct releases (such as iPhone and iPad releases), and how their product lines contradict this theory. But then I think about things I have purchased on the internet recently and those products are mostly specialized, unique products that are even tailored to me.
Overall, I think the Long Tail theory shows that there are thousands more niche market opportunities made because of the internet. It may not make sense to have certain products physically in the store down the street, but it does make sense to have a place where everyone in the world can purchase specialized products.

Guess who is watching

"The Origins of Social Media" had me thinking of the advice to ask yourself the question "what would you do right now if your mother were watching." Much like your mother, the crowds of people that can be reached through blogs and digital media have a large say in how hard or easy your life will be or how successful your company can be. Employees must think not what the individual consumer is going to think of their interactions, but what the world will think if everyone was watching, because in some cases (such as Ferrari with AOL) they are. Furthermore, the ability to manage information about the company that is spread on the internet is vital to brand image. AOL's immediate responses seemed appropriate, but I think other companies such as Jet Blue have actually been able to take bad social media and turn it into good media for the company. They were able to take delays (with passengers stuck on the plane) that were broadcast all over the internet and make an apology/make appropriate compensatory actions that showed the world they care and in the long run may have improved brand image. Overall, it is not just what happens or what is said initially but also the responses that matter--because everyone is watching.

It was too ambitious...

I did not make it to all of the additional materials for the week. I am deploying on Tuesday to the Middle East (I am a pilot in the Air Force) and decided I need to spend more time this weekend with my wife and daughter. More to come next week...

The Cat is Out of the Bag

Groundswell management is vital to companies and individuals because groundswell control is impossible. Sometimes the worst thing for some people to do is to do anything at all, but the field of intellectual property in law is going to play a big part in the company/internet relationship. While reading this article I could not help but think about MP3s and how difficult it is for the music industry to deal with the internet. I think some of the smartest companies and brands are those that embraced groundswell and used it to their advantage. What comes to mind is bands like Radiohead that made their album releases online for free, or for a donation of what people thought made sense. Rather than fighting copyright laws that are virtually unenforceable due to the internet, Radiohead improved their brand concept by making their release about the music, not the money, which I think in the long run actually will make them more money because of the increased support they will get from concerts, merchandise, and royalties. The pee in the pool analogy from the article is the best takeaway for companies to consider when deciding how they will proceed with their dealings in the internet.