So being broke this year didn't mean not getting a new gadget, as @Amazon has a promotion running today on cell phones. I got a brand new BlackBerry Storm2 9550 top of the line model for $0.99! That's less than a buck, plus NO sales tax! IF you were to (and you cant) find a deal like this at a retail store (the lowest I've found is $179.99) you still have to pay sales tax, which is a hefty number in Los Angeles, racking up at about 10% depending which city in the County you live in. This truly is the best bargain in cell phones Ive come across in a long time and they have other offers available. I will miss Sprint, but @Palms lack of build quality and lackadaisical responses to major issues plaguing the Pre & Pixis are just too much. The FINAL straw in my cell phone camels back follows: I arrived at my best friends house for Thanksgiving Dinner yesterday at 1:30PM & my @Palm #Pre battery which was FULLY charged was EMPTY by 6:30PM after taking a couple of pics, tweeting and showing my phone to a friend. Un-Frakking acceptable for a smart phone which I paid $200 for plus accessories. This phone STILL cant record video, doesn't have auto focus for the camera, has ZERO quality games and social media apps. Your loss @Palm. I'm happy to pay more for excellent service with @VZWOffers and get kick ass reliable service, high speeds, great build quality and access to hundreds of applications that I can truly use for my lifestyle.
I will update with an unboxing and a review of my phone (which is mine, not a PR unit)
Here is the final installation of our glossary of triathlon cycling terms and definitions. Team Pursuit - This is a type of race that is similar in nature to the individual pursuit style of racing, however instead there are two different teams, each of which is made up of four... run-> swim-> track-> gear-> team-> type
More Cycling Glossary Madison - Named after Madison Square Garden, which was the home of the original six day races. Madisons are team races that can last from six hours long all the way to six days long, with a team consisting of two to three riders. Each team will only have one...
Preventing Injuries While Triathlon Training pt 2 Preventing Injuries when Running Running is actually the sport of the three that is most capable of causing injury. Running injuries are unfortunately quite rampant, and most runners have certainly received a fair share of running injuries. Here are some tips to improve your technique and your gear so that...
Welcome to Bike Swim Run Thanks for coming to Bike Swim Run. We are going to bike, swim, and run ourselves into great shape. Of course we don't just bike, swim, and run for exercise, but because it's fun. We'll discuss products for bikers. We'll discuss products for swimmers. And of course we'll discuss products...
Cycling Glossary A good part of understanding your triathlon training and performance is having a grasp on the lingo. Here is a guide to cycling terms that you should know in order to get the most out of your experience. Aero Bar - An aero bar is a type of handlebar that...
Triathlon Terms Here is a brief glossary of terms used in triathlon training and triathlon racing. 70.3 - This term is used to describe a Half Ironman race distance, which is a 1.2 mile swim, a 56 mile bike an 13.1 mile run. 140.6 - This term is used to describe an...
First Triathlon Fashion for Women Dressing for your first triathlon can be a challenge. It's easy enough to dress to go running, but you'll be cycling and swimming, too, so do you choose one outfit for all three races, or change each time? The time you take between events counts toward your overall time so...
How to get to the Finish Line There are many different reasons that a person may decide that they would like to compete or participate in a triathlon, do one of the multiple types of cycling, swimming or running and more. These are all activities that many people find enjoyable but are also all activities that take...
First Ever Youth Olympic Games The International Olympic Committee has given their approval on the sports program for the first ever Summer Youth Olympic Games. The Youth Olympic Games will be held 2010 in Singapore. Overall, there will be over 3500 athletes competing in 201 events, divided by age groups 15 to 16, 16 to...
Choosing the Right Triathlon Bike pt 2 You are really going to want to choose a bicycle that fits your body perfectly, comfortable, and also fits your budget. You can buy an extremely expensive bike, but if it does not fit your frame, then it is completely worthless when it comes to meeting your bicycling needs. The...
Rise of The Teletubbys We have a generation of up and coming obese children these days, and this is probably mainly due to the fact that they don't exercise like they should do, unlike they did in years gone by. It has been recently reported that the amount of time that modern-day children spend...
Holiday Shopping Techniques To Avoid Breaking the Bank It is looking like the upcoming holiday season will be gloomy for many families, given the current state of the economy and continued bad news on many financial fronts. While this may not be a time to go all out with gifts, there are holiday shopping techniques that you can...
Is Your PC Freezing Or Crashing? Learn How to Fix it Today For FREE! One of the most irritating things that can happen to you while you're trying to rush a project for school or work is your PC Freezing or crashing. PC Freezing can be caused by a confluence of related or unrelated software and hardware glitches in your system. Spotting the main...
Global Macro Trends in 8 Charts It was a rather lacklustre week again. Equities, fixed income, currencies and commodities in general remain relatively unchanged in a month now with no new mutli-week highs or lows being generated. At a distance things look rather confused at the moment, but that being said there is little evidence that...
FaceBook Tips and Tricks 2 Hide Your Online Status From Selected Friends: So you want to use Facebook chat but don’t want some people to see your online status? Simply open up the Facebook Chat and click on Friends List. Start creating a new list called BlockList. Once the list is created, add those friends to the...
Ski Report: Vail Resort /caption] America's Largest Ski Resort Vail, with its size and terrain, is America's premier ski destination. There is no comparison. The mountain is consistently ranked the No. 1 Ski Resort in North America, according to the readers of many magazines. To be exact, Vail has been the No. 1 Ski...
Bail Bond Agent After the accused is arrested and is in prison, he/she, as a rule, is authorized by phone. He/she can name whom he/she chooses, including the friend or the relative who can contact the company on the security. In cases when the respondent can have only one phone call, calling the...
The Tie Between Childhood Obesity and Fast Food Is there in truth an association between childhood obesity and fast food? The answer will change depending upon whom you ask. Apparently the fast food industry would like to deny such an association. But parents will do well to consider the facts. Obesity isn't merely a problem of how...
Audi R8 V10 lapping Kyalami video When we had the spectacular Audi supercar at Drive for a couple of days there was no question in our minds that one of the first items on the agenda would be some track time. This video is of our very first hot lap, the rather shaky camera is a...
Query search by BlogSearchQuery.com 5 Online Store Search Results
Former McCain Strategist Warns Against "Angry Mob" This guy was obviously pre-screened and planted in the audience by the McCain/Palin Campaign. As transparent as it may be, It does it's job by agitating the audience into a mob mentality to create passion that is absent in his positions and solutions. However, it pushes them to an...
Money Can't Buy Class: Red Sox Beat The Yankees. I am more of a hockey fan, but every fall I'll get just a little fairweather and start watching Sox games if situations get interesting - and let's just say it's been a long week of TV. If you want to read a great Red Sox Blog, there are none...
17 - A Woman's Guide To Writing A Great Profile A Woman's Guide to Writing a Great Profile OK the time has come. You have joined an online dating service or two. Now you must write that all-important profile the one that will attract attention and reel in the man of your dreams but where to start? Maybe writing isn't even...
Putting 101 Putting, to many people, is a lot like a religion. There are a multitude of different beliefs, but when it comes to putting there is really no general consensus regarding which belief system is the right one or the one worth following. Ben Crenshaw is a player that is perceived...
Apple iPOD? First, what is an IPOD. IPOD is just an MP3 player. An MP3 player is a device that stores your music, pictures or video. Think of an MP3 player as a computer hard drive that stores information. When choosing an MP3 player pick the one that best fits you. The...
Thank God Someone’s Hiring! At a time when millions of people around the world are suffering from unemployment there remains one job that holds no limit on the positions available, or the number of people required to complete the task. I came across this speech while continuing my never-ending job search. Many of...
Leaving the Family House While at School I previously mentioned that I have been with the same girlfriend since the age of 15. We actually moved in together at a young age. As I was the only child in my family, I was fortunate enough to have my parents’ basement entirely to myself. I had a...
Confusion with Investing According to this Bankrate poll, people are very confused when it comes to investing. As well they should—there is a lot of information out there, and a lot of it is terrible. I went through some growing pains to learn what I've learned and I think that's what keeps a...
Improving Search Engine Placement Through Regular Web Site Maintenance When was the last time you had your web site checked for broken links? I know I can sound like a broken record sometimes but the search engines really don't like badly maintained web sites. Regular maintenance of your web site is an important part of search engine optimization...
US Broadband Internet Satellite Scheduled for Launch in 2011 A California satellite technology provider has signed a deal to put a planned broadband Internet satellite into orbit above the U.S. in the first half of 2011. The ViaSat-1 satellite will be launched on board an Arianespace rocket from the European space port in Kourou, French Guiana, according to the...
Here is the final installation of our glossary of triathlon cycling terms and definitions. Team Pursuit - This is a type of race that is similar in nature to the individual pursuit style of racing, however instead there are two different teams, each of which is made up of four... run-> swim-> track-> gear-> team-> type
More Cycling Glossary Madison - Named after Madison Square Garden, which was the home of the original six day races. Madisons are team races that can last from six hours long all the way to six days long, with a team consisting of two to three riders. Each team will only have one...
Preventing Injuries While Triathlon Training pt 2 Preventing Injuries when Running Running is actually the sport of the three that is most capable of causing injury. Running injuries are unfortunately quite rampant, and most runners have certainly received a fair share of running injuries. Here are some tips to improve your technique and your gear so that...
Welcome to Bike Swim Run Thanks for coming to Bike Swim Run. We are going to bike, swim, and run ourselves into great shape. Of course we don't just bike, swim, and run for exercise, but because it's fun. We'll discuss products for bikers. We'll discuss products for swimmers. And of course we'll discuss products...
Cycling Glossary A good part of understanding your triathlon training and performance is having a grasp on the lingo. Here is a guide to cycling terms that you should know in order to get the most out of your experience. Aero Bar - An aero bar is a type of handlebar that...
Triathlon Terms Here is a brief glossary of terms used in triathlon training and triathlon racing. 70.3 - This term is used to describe a Half Ironman race distance, which is a 1.2 mile swim, a 56 mile bike an 13.1 mile run. 140.6 - This term is used to describe an...
First Triathlon Fashion for Women Dressing for your first triathlon can be a challenge. It's easy enough to dress to go running, but you'll be cycling and swimming, too, so do you choose one outfit for all three races, or change each time? The time you take between events counts toward your overall time so...
How to get to the Finish Line There are many different reasons that a person may decide that they would like to compete or participate in a triathlon, do one of the multiple types of cycling, swimming or running and more. These are all activities that many people find enjoyable but are also all activities that take...
First Ever Youth Olympic Games The International Olympic Committee has given their approval on the sports program for the first ever Summer Youth Olympic Games. The Youth Olympic Games will be held 2010 in Singapore. Overall, there will be over 3500 athletes competing in 201 events, divided by age groups 15 to 16, 16 to...
Choosing the Right Triathlon Bike pt 2 You are really going to want to choose a bicycle that fits your body perfectly, comfortable, and also fits your budget. You can buy an extremely expensive bike, but if it does not fit your frame, then it is completely worthless when it comes to meeting your bicycling needs. The...
Rise of The Teletubbys We have a generation of up and coming obese children these days, and this is probably mainly due to the fact that they don't exercise like they should do, unlike they did in years gone by. It has been recently reported that the amount of time that modern-day children spend...
Holiday Shopping Techniques To Avoid Breaking the Bank It is looking like the upcoming holiday season will be gloomy for many families, given the current state of the economy and continued bad news on many financial fronts. While this may not be a time to go all out with gifts, there are holiday shopping techniques that you can...
Is Your PC Freezing Or Crashing? Learn How to Fix it Today For FREE! One of the most irritating things that can happen to you while you're trying to rush a project for school or work is your PC Freezing or crashing. PC Freezing can be caused by a confluence of related or unrelated software and hardware glitches in your system. Spotting the main...
Global Macro Trends in 8 Charts It was a rather lacklustre week again. Equities, fixed income, currencies and commodities in general remain relatively unchanged in a month now with no new mutli-week highs or lows being generated. At a distance things look rather confused at the moment, but that being said there is little evidence that...
FaceBook Tips and Tricks 2 Hide Your Online Status From Selected Friends: So you want to use Facebook chat but don’t want some people to see your online status? Simply open up the Facebook Chat and click on Friends List. Start creating a new list called BlockList. Once the list is created, add those friends to the...
Ski Report: Vail Resort /caption] America's Largest Ski Resort Vail, with its size and terrain, is America's premier ski destination. There is no comparison. The mountain is consistently ranked the No. 1 Ski Resort in North America, according to the readers of many magazines. To be exact, Vail has been the No. 1 Ski...
Bail Bond Agent After the accused is arrested and is in prison, he/she, as a rule, is authorized by phone. He/she can name whom he/she chooses, including the friend or the relative who can contact the company on the security. In cases when the respondent can have only one phone call, calling the...
The Tie Between Childhood Obesity and Fast Food Is there in truth an association between childhood obesity and fast food? The answer will change depending upon whom you ask. Apparently the fast food industry would like to deny such an association. But parents will do well to consider the facts. Obesity isn't merely a problem of how...
Audi R8 V10 lapping Kyalami video When we had the spectacular Audi supercar at Drive for a couple of days there was no question in our minds that one of the first items on the agenda would be some track time. This video is of our very first hot lap, the rather shaky camera is a...
Query search by BlogSearchQuery.com 5 Online Store Search Results
Former McCain Strategist Warns Against "Angry Mob" This guy was obviously pre-screened and planted in the audience by the McCain/Palin Campaign. As transparent as it may be, It does it's job by agitating the audience into a mob mentality to create passion that is absent in his positions and solutions. However, it pushes them to an...
Money Can't Buy Class: Red Sox Beat The Yankees. I am more of a hockey fan, but every fall I'll get just a little fairweather and start watching Sox games if situations get interesting - and let's just say it's been a long week of TV. If you want to read a great Red Sox Blog, there are none...
17 - A Woman's Guide To Writing A Great Profile A Woman's Guide to Writing a Great Profile OK the time has come. You have joined an online dating service or two. Now you must write that all-important profile the one that will attract attention and reel in the man of your dreams but where to start? Maybe writing isn't even...
Putting 101 Putting, to many people, is a lot like a religion. There are a multitude of different beliefs, but when it comes to putting there is really no general consensus regarding which belief system is the right one or the one worth following. Ben Crenshaw is a player that is perceived...
Apple iPOD? First, what is an IPOD. IPOD is just an MP3 player. An MP3 player is a device that stores your music, pictures or video. Think of an MP3 player as a computer hard drive that stores information. When choosing an MP3 player pick the one that best fits you. The...
Thank God Someone’s Hiring! At a time when millions of people around the world are suffering from unemployment there remains one job that holds no limit on the positions available, or the number of people required to complete the task. I came across this speech while continuing my never-ending job search. Many of...
Leaving the Family House While at School I previously mentioned that I have been with the same girlfriend since the age of 15. We actually moved in together at a young age. As I was the only child in my family, I was fortunate enough to have my parents’ basement entirely to myself. I had a...
Confusion with Investing According to this Bankrate poll, people are very confused when it comes to investing. As well they should—there is a lot of information out there, and a lot of it is terrible. I went through some growing pains to learn what I've learned and I think that's what keeps a...
Improving Search Engine Placement Through Regular Web Site Maintenance When was the last time you had your web site checked for broken links? I know I can sound like a broken record sometimes but the search engines really don't like badly maintained web sites. Regular maintenance of your web site is an important part of search engine optimization...
US Broadband Internet Satellite Scheduled for Launch in 2011 A California satellite technology provider has signed a deal to put a planned broadband Internet satellite into orbit above the U.S. in the first half of 2011. The ViaSat-1 satellite will be launched on board an Arianespace rocket from the European space port in Kourou, French Guiana, according to the...
Employee response to Sprint's "anti-texting" and "don't drive distracted" campaign has been overwhelming with comments ranging from insightful and hilarious to quite useful and a little combative.
One Sprint employee suggested HTC Hero and Samsung Moment users download one of Android's auto-reply applications (e.g. SwiftReply or SwiftReply Deluxe) to instantly alert callers and texters that they're driving and unable to immediately answer. Not a bad way to train yourself to drive safely and allude that overbearing babysitter.
However, one suggestion while simplistic has caught the attention of a few of the company's decisionmakers. What is this suggestion?
A bumper sticker... Yes, folks. A bumper sticker. Great idea, right? Not exactly. Some think bumper stickers themselves are equally distracting. No matter their statement...
They say the first step to overcoming an addiction is admitting you have a problem. I have a problem...
I'm an all-knee/no-hand driver with a Samsung Moment w/ Google Android in one hand and a Nextel Blackberry chirping away in the other. While doing time on DC's 395, 495 and during hometown drives up the New Jersey Turnpike, BQE and Belt Parkway, I've come way too close to harming myself and other drivers due to constant emailing, texting, and talking without a earpiece or Bluetooth device.
Really not proud of it, but it has become an unintended consequence of my need to stay connected and informed. And it's hard to ignore the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's findings that distracted driving kills 5,800 Americans and injures another 515,000 people each year.
My addiction stops today. I recently signed Sprint's Anti-Texting While Driving Pledge, which states:
As an employee of a wireless provider, I will set a good example in my community and engage in safe driving practices in my personal life by avoiding risky behaviors like texting or emailing while I am operating a motor vehicle.
Any type of "distracted driving" is dangerous, not only to yourself, but to others, and therefore is prohibited under this policy. Therefore, laptops, email or texting devices, or any other work-related equipment should never be used while the vehicle is in motion. The decision to make or respond to phone calls should be made only after assessing driving conditions and local laws and concluding that you can safely and legally engage in those activities. As employees of a wireless provider, we also urge you to set a good example in your community and engage in these same safe driving practices in your personal life.
It's time for myself and every distracted driver to be heros, put down our beloved mobile devices and stop being a danger on the road. If you took drivers ed in high school, but never learned how to truly focus on your driving, take a tip from Sprint and start today.
If you haven't heard, Sprint 4G service has finally come to Dallas! Read the latest news from Victor Godinez of Dallas Morning News http://techblog.dallasnews.com/archives/4g. And for those of you in town this week, here are 4 Fun 4G facts you might enjoy:
A Fabulous Local Partner: The Social Media Club of Dallas will serve as our fabulous partner and co-host for the November 11 event. Huge thanks to Mike D. Merrill for making this event possible.
The Sprint 4G Mobile Marketing Vehicle: Make sure to check out the photo above of the Sprint 4G Mobile Marketing Vehicle. Sprint has one of these tricked-out bad boys bouncing around Sprint 4G markets across the country (at the moment - DFW, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Raleigh/Durham/Greensboro) showing interesting consumers Sprint 4G capabilities in video conferencing, using a XBox and much, much more. Check in with Sprint's Twitter Team to see when this vehicle is making a stop near you.
Hope you enjoyed these 4 Fun 4G Facts... See you all in Dallas!
Not sure how I just found out about this now, but apparently T-Mobile has a whole new strategy in terms of phones and service plans. Somehow this slipped under my radar, as apparently this news is several weeks old. I've been waiting for something like this for a long time. I've been waiting for someone to break the cycle of the overpriced, heavily subsidized, proprietary nonsense that has plauged the mobile phone market in the US for the last decade.
T-Mobile is now offering no-contract plans, with unlimited text and data for between $60-$80/mo. $60/mo gives you a 500 minute voice plan and the $80/mo plan gives you unlimited talk time. That same plan for an iPhone on AT&T costs $150/mo. That same plan for a Blackberry on Verizon costs $150/mo. With Verizon and AT&T you're also stuck with a 2-year contract.
Sprint has been offering a relatively cheap ($99) unlimited plans for a while now. But Sprint is an EVDO network that requires you to buy an EVDO phone... which is locked to the Sprint network... which requires a 2-year contract. Sure, it's cheaper, but you've only got a handful of phones to choose from and you're still locked to the network. T-Mobile, but contrast, is a GSM/UMTS carrier. That means you can use any phone that will accept a SIM card. That means you can take your phone to another network. That means your phone will work outside the US with ease.
What's more, they've come up with an interesting solution to the problem of subsidized phone sales in the US. People in the US don't like to pay for things. We love to subsidies. We love the cheapest possible price at point-of-sale, terms be dammed. Most carriers, including T-Mobile up until a few weeks ago, sold phones at a loss and made up the money (and then some) on the obscenely expensive monthly plans. Most carriers effectively subsidize the cost of the phone. You don't have a choice in the matter. That's why you have to pay a bucket of money every time you try upgrade your phone before the phone has been paid off. But even after it's been paid off... you keep paying for it. It's madness!
In addition to subsidzing phones, T-Mobile now offers financing. You can buy a $500 phone and pay it off as you see fit. You can pay it off in 4 months or 20 months; and as of current, interest free. This is the kind of shift that could change the way we buy mobile devices in the US.
What this all means is that consumers can now walk into a T-Mobile store, purchase a $500 smartphone (but only pay $20 out the door) with an unlimted data plan for $80/mo. You can get a new phone AND a plan for less than the price of the cheapest iPhone. That's game changing.
And what does this mean for me? This means I'm ditching AT&T and moving to T-Mobile. I'm going to wait for the new Samsung Behold II to be released before I decided what Android phone to go with, but my days of 2-year contracts and $100+/mo phone plans are over. I'll take the $500 a year I'll be saving and spend it on something good... like a new phone.
What's a megatrend, you ask? It's something big. I'm talking really big.
Think of a giant unstoppable tsunami of change transforming society as we know it. Think global warming scale -- then apply it to mass human behavior. Think glaciers carving the grand canyon of consumer sentiment.
Compare and contrast. Here are some regular trends:
"Everyone is on Twitter these days." "Boomers are investing more in home renovations as they approach retirement." "Green is 'in' this season."
All of these are important. None are mega.
Here's a megatrend:
"Social media has permanently transformed the way people connect and share information."
See? Big.
Much of the planning that goes into positioning a brand takes into account product attributes, competitive differentiation, and target insights. These are all critically important considerations. But they're not what I'm talking about here.
I'm talking about what is so often left on the table -- the elephant in the room. Megatrends. Latching onto these tectonic shifts can surge an entire brand strategy forward way ahead of the curve. Google caught on to an access-to-information megatrend. Facebook caught on to people connecting. Yet, these megatrends are rarely leveraged by brands. (This was confirmed for me by the sheer difficulty I had coming up with campaigns for this article).
Most companies wait until a megatrend is so pervasive and obvious that it becomes a minimum standard, a non-differentiating proposition -- so that leveraging them does nothing to differentiate their brand. Case in point: Who doesn't have a "green" message these days?
So what are the new megatrends that I believe will transform society in the coming years? What brands are taking advantage of them? And what can you learn from them?
Read on.
Mass collaboration is powering the new economy
It's no secret among iMedia readers that "user-generated content" was a sucker punch to the jaw of the marketing world over the past several years. A fundamental shift has occurred in which brands have become a conversation -- and audiences have just as much of a say in the shape of that dialogue as marketing directors and agency copywriters.
But, that's just the tip of the iceberg.
In their book, "Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything," Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams describe a new economy where companies are taking advantage of a new collaborative world to foster innovation and grow their enterprises.
Of course, the UGC and social media titans are part of this mass collaboration. YouTube, Facebook, Pandora, and MySpace are all based on the participation of their communities. This new shift encompasses this trend, but extends far beyond how we entertain ourselves online.
Brands like Procter & Gamble, BMW, Lego, Boeing, and Netflix are all actively going outside their walls to find new ways to innovate and better ways to produce their goods and services. These companies are pioneers of the collaborative economy.
And now, Steve Jobs has taken note.
The brand that gets it: Apple It almost seems cliché to mention Apple in any article about great advertising. But this article isn't about what's great -- it's about massive change reshaping the future. And Apple's iPhone campaign is all about mass collaboration reshaping the future of Apple.
The campaign is in line with most Apple advertising. The product is the hero. The voice is friendly, clever, and straightforward. The ads simply state that whatever you want or need to do with your iPhone, "There's an app for that."
"There's an app for that" refers to the tens of thousands of applications built on the iPhone API that are available for download in the iTunes store. The vast majority of those apps were not built by Apple.
If you're familiar with the history of Apple, you know that relying on outside sources to fuel innovation just hasn't been the way things were done -- until now. You'd also know that Apple doesn't always do things first. (The iPod wasn't the first MP3 player.) But when it sees an opportunity, it goes after it in a bigger and better way than anyone else ever has.
Apple has seen that opportunity in mass collaboration.
Last year Apple announced it would dump Macworld and instead focus on WWDC, its Worldwide Developer Conference. Why? Because developers create apps.
This is where the driving force will come from that will maintain Apple's leadership in innovation in the years to come. This is a major strategic shift for Apple -- and the absolute right one.
Constant connectivity in an on-demand world
I'm wired. Almost every minute of every day, it seems I am connected. Emailing, surfing, Twittering, streaming, gaming, texting, Facebooking, downloading, chatting -- will it ever end?
No. It won't. Constant connectivity is a megatrend.
More and more, we are relentlessly connected to one another. We weren't when I was a kid. We weren't five years ago. But you can bet we're not going to stop anytime soon.
Why? A new generation is growing up and entering the workforce in droves. The Millennial Generation is the largest this country has ever seen -- bigger than the baby boomers -- and it is the first generation that has grown up with technology and connectivity ubiquitous in their lives. To them, it's all they've ever known.
I am incessantly networked, but I think something's wrong with me. This massive new wave of population has no such hang-ups.
What these people do have are expectations borne of their condition. They live in an on-demand world. They know no other. Want a song? Download it. Want to know something? Google it. Want to tell Susie what Bobby said? Text it. Now, now, now.
The brand that gets it: Sprint Sprint has zeroed in on this expectation with pinpoint accuracy. It used to be the phone company. But it's no longer selling just phones. It is selling the concept of "now."
The "Now Network" campaign was created for a new product called a mobile broadband card. But it hardly matters. Sprint isn't trying to dominate the mobile broadband card market. It is trying to dominate the space in the consumer's mind where the word "now" lives.
Goodby, Silverstein & Partners -- the agency I affectionately call the "other great creative agency on the California cable car line" -- initiated the campaign online with a microsite at now.sprint.com that featured a mesmerizing array of tiny widgets showing different things that live in the now: top words being used online, current world population, a tiny game of Pong.
This digital experience has been elevated to a brand campaign with TV spots inspired by the online execution. The ever-present "Now Network" message is a consistent presence, diligently working to build a bridge between a constantly connected consumer and the brand that wants to deliver that connection.
Globalization: Making the world a smaller place
Last month, I attended the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) SME Summit in Hangzhou, China. Former President Bill Clinton addressed the crowd. He told us that the world's greatest hope for financial stability and sustained economic growth is a massive shift in wealth from a handful of precariously balanced and self-interested financial institutions to a multitude of small and medium businesses across the globe doing business with one another -- and technology is the accelerant bringing this change to life.
Bill's words. Not mine.
Globalization is an unstoppable force reshaping our society. The world's economies are inextricably linked. Technology has made geography irrelevant. Businesses around the world are doing business with one another and will continue to do so. This is big. This is mega big.
Many Americans have been slow to realize this. The web has given us all access to a whole new world of markets and partners that we can and should do business with. Technology can make every business a global business.
The recession has left millions of Americans out of work, many wondering what their next move should be. Today, they can start their own global business from the comfort of their living room.
The brand that gets it: Aliababa.com Alibaba.com is the technology platform that is accelerating globalization. (Full disclosure: Aliababa.com is a client of my agency.) It's a website that helps small and medium-sized businesses around the world find suppliers or manufacturers for virtually any product or service they might need. Alibaba.com makes it possible for virtually anyone with a laptop and an idea to find a supplier half a world away to help them build a business. The site has 42 million members, and the company has grown from 18 employees to 10,000 in a decade.
When I was first introduced to Alibaba.com, I went on its website to check it out. I clicked on an interesting-looking button that said, "Submit a buying lead." Three minutes later, I had filled out a form seeking a supplier to produce 2,000 cashmere sweaters (I have expensive taste).
What happened next was amazing. Within 36 hours, I had 27 people from real companies around the world -- China, India, Egypt, Italy, Vietnam, and Bangladesh -- sending me emails offering to produce my sweaters, to send me samples, to be my partner. If I didn't love this agency gig so much, I'd be in the cashmere business right now.
Alibaba.com faced a tough challenge in the U.S. market this year. The brand was a relatively unknown quantity to most Americans, and the very notion of finding a trusted partner halfway across the world was foreign to a majority of small business owners in the U.S.
Alibaba.com introduced itself to the American with a marketing campaign that summed up everything you're able to do on its site:
Find it. Make it. Sell it.
"It" could be just about anything.
The campaign features stories of entrepreneurs that found partners on Alibaba.com that helped them create successful businesses. An integrated brand narrative used TV, print, and online media to build awareness and drive customers to success.alibaba.com where they could watch "mockumentary" videos of the campaign characters telling their stories, delve into case studies of real-life Alibaba entrepreneurs, and learn how they can get started using Alibaba.com for their businesses.
Pervasive distrust in big corporations
Does our economic situation have you infuriated with corporate America? Do you feel like the jerks on Wall Street and the incompetents in Detroit almost destroyed this country's financial system to line their own pockets? Do you trust big banks to have your best interests in mind?
If you answered "yes, yes, no," to the above, you're not alone.
The impending financial doom this country faced a year ago had a tremendous impact on consumer confidence in America, but even greater damage was done to consumer trust. News reports have created a mass perception of banks hoarding bailout money provided to loosen credit markets in order to boost profits and fund exorbitant executive compensation packages. Despite the hope and good faith many Americans have in our new president (myself included), our government appears incompetent at best, complicit at worst.
This has propelled pervasive distrust to megatrend levels.
The impact of this is not limited to financial institutions and automakers. According to Interbrand's annual assessment of the top 100 global brands, the list's total value fell by 4.6 percent in the past year. While brand valuation is a murky science, those are not good numbers.
Yet, in adversity lies opportunity. As distrust reaches near universal proportions, a brand story based on trust can be a powerful weapon.
The brand that gets it: Ally Bank Tired of being screwed? Now, you've got an ally. Ally Bank.
"Who?" you ask.
You know how Prince became The Artist Formerly Known as Prince?
Meet your new Ally. The Bank Formerly Known as GMAC.
The duplicity of a giant U.S. bank combined with the ineptitude of a giant U.S. car company. I'd vomit if only this wasn't such a well-crafted brand. Here's the brand's elevator pitch (verbatim from its website):
"We are Ally Bank, built on the foundation of GMAC Financial Services. And with that experience we've learned that these times demand change and a new way of doing business. So we're taking banking in a new direction.
That means talking straight, doing right and being obviously better for our customers."
The tag line for the campaign is simply, "Straightforward."
TV spots show a little girl get shafted by a banker-type guy who didn't tell her she could have had a real pony instead of a toy. "Even kids know it's wrong to hold out on somebody. Why don't banks?" the voiceover asks. Good question.
This straightforward, human tone seems to emanate from every pore of this brand. Copy on the website assures potential customers, "We won't deal in half-truths, kindatruths, or truths only buried in fine print."
Even the brand color, purple, screams, "We're not like the other guys."
It remains to be seen whether past associations can be overlooked, but my suspicion is that Ally Bank's actions will speak louder than its words over the coming years. If it really embraces the values it espouses in the way it does business, people will talk about it, and Ally will become a powerful brand. If the brand doesn't, people will talk about that too.
A global sense of urgency to fix the problems of a modern world
When I started this article, I swore I would not write about "going green" as one of the megatrends. It certainly is a big deal, but it's one that has been thrust so far into the limelight that it's no longer an opportunity to differentiate. Being green is a minimum standard.
What do I mean by minimum standard? Take the airlines. Whoever came up with the concept of frequent flier miles had a great differentiator for business travelers. It was so great, that soon everyone else in the industry followed suit and now having an incentive program for frequent fliers is a minimum standard in the industry. Every airline must have one to compete.
Virtually every brand in every category has a green story these days.
But being green is symptomatic of another megatrend that is influencing the world on a massive scale -- a global sense of urgency.
It's no secret to anyone that... well... we're screwed. The planet is falling apart. We've got global warming, pollution, overcrowded cities, not enough energy, we're running out of water, and running out of fish.
But the eco message is just the tip of the melting iceberg. Advances in technology have put fixes to so many challenges within reach. Conventional wisdom now begs to ask: Why wouldn't we take advantage of solutions available to us? Why wouldn't we digitize health care? Why wouldn't we use smart toll systems to ease traffic jams? Why wouldn't we implement technology to make our school systems more efficient?
Today, governments and enterprises around the world are rushing to play catch-up. They sense the urgency. To wise up. To get smart.
The brand that gets it: IBM IBM has wrapped its big blue arms around the massive sense of urgency that is sweeping the globe with its campaign for "A Smarter Planet."
The campaign overview page on IBM's website sums it up:
"The technology is here. The people are ready. The time is now."
This looks far beyond the important-but-limited scope of coming up with new ways to conserve energy or limit emissions -- the subject of so many campaigns targeting the "think green" mindset. In addition to energy, water, and construction, IBM's "Smarter Planet" campaign encompasses solutions for traffic, cities, banking, retail, education, telecom, and health care.
But the campaign is also about aspiration. About fixing things before it's too late. It's optimistic. It's motivating. It's the kind of message that Americans swarmed to when they elected Barack Obama.
And best of all, it's tangible. Which makes it empowering.
"A less expensive energy bill. A package that gets delivered in two days instead of seven. Quarterly school reports available online. Bit by bit, our planet is getting smarter. By this, we mean the systems that run the way we live and work as a society."
This is how IBM is describing its vision for a smarter planet. It's talking about all the different ways to make a difference from a 10,000-foot view and then bringing it down to tangible solutions provided by IBM to make a smarter planet a reality.
Tactically, I think IBM is also doing a great job integrating this message across every advertising touchpoint and using social media to reinforce thought leadership. It's using Tumblr as part of this effort, a powerful, yet simple tool that I personally think has the potential to be the next big thing in social media. Think of the consumable nature of Twitter, but the ability to post and tag anything -- videos, pictures, and prose.
This is smart marketing. I anticipate that many readers of this article are deep into planning for 2010 right now. Before you close that PowerPoint presentation, I advise you to take a step back and ask yourself, "Am I missing something? Is there a bigger opportunity here?"
We live in a time of tumultuous change. That means there are huge opportunities out there, waiting for marketers with the foresight to find them and the courage to act on them. There just might be a megatrend out there waiting for you.
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