Why its all about Bill Buxton

Check out this great MSN video - Bill Buxton: advertising’s future technology

In 2009 I was working with Microsoft advertising division as a consultant helping them create and sell products to media agencies. I was lucky to get the winning seat at lunch at their imagine conference. Typical advertising people chatting about advertising stuff, I was one of them so I fit right on. Until Bill Buxton comes along and says something that stuck with me ever since.

'If you want to know what is going to be big in 10 years time then look back to what was created 10 years ago.'

He said eBay was the best place to find what will be big. He should know as he has one of the biggest collections of technology objects known to man. On the day he pulled out a bunch of touchscreen technology created in the mid 80s.

5 years later Im half way through a masters in innovation and one comment I saw in the video above from him is the basis of my view of innovation.

' ….anything that is going to impact your life in 10 years is already 10 years old now that changes the nature of innovation from one of alchemy, starting some great idea out of scratch to one of prospecting and discovery, insights and relationships'

thanks Bill

trends in 2009

I know I am a bit late as usual. But here is a good video from the Leo Burnetts futures editor on the key things for this year.

I found generation game interesting.. as I am looking into that at the moment as well as the idea of brands being constantly moving vehicles not static destinations

Dell gets it

This is a great video of the head of marketing at Dell and their move toward social media. Its great to see a client see its strengths and start to test out different elements. Wish more clients would.

Emotional Reasonance for Brands in a 2.0 world

Building a Brand 2.0

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: web2.0 brands)

I have used a number of these slides for different presentations, so I thought I would attempt to amalgamate all the things I have read from others and try to make some sense of them. Some of it I have taken from other people. Some thoughts I have remixed from others. Some are some what new... who wouldve thought in this control c control v world a new thought. No doubt someone else has had it before.

Thanks to
adaptive path for their great book subject to change
Cluetrain Manifesto
Paul Marsden's Participatory Marketing

Im sure I will add to this at some point. Let me know if you have any additions.

Everyone loves co-creation

Participatory Marketing - What it is, How it Works

View SlideShare presentation (tags: marsden clickadvisor advocacy brand)

Great presentation from Paul Marsden and his company click advisor
I have seen a few different presentations from Paul at different points. He has done some great work on advocacy and how co-creation can drive it. Check out some of his presentations on slideshare.

Marketers Number One Problem

toysoldiers2, originally uploaded by docman.

Sorry I havent been posting for a while. I have been travelling a lot and hadnt had a chance to. A recent trip to France brought up some interesting thoughts though (thats why I love travelling). But a collegue sent me this interesting article over at the brandchannel about the number one problem of marketing people. Silo'd decision making.

A comment that the editor of the Times made at an IPA event I went to on speed strategy was that in order to be fast you need a flat and mobile decision making structure. He discussed how the recent BA Terminal 5 diseaster could have been fixed and limited if Virgin had launched the terminal. Because they would be able to move quickly to service the people and change things to fix it. He commented that just to get some free sandwiches and drinks to the people. The staff at the coldface wouldve had to get the decision all the way up the line to the main board. Hence the reason it took so long and was a debacle.

This is glorified in one of my favourite books Blink by Malcolm Gladwell where Gladwell explains a defense force training exercise where they bring back an old general to run a force against a computer system. He had a smaller army, no intelligence and he still wins. Why ?. He set the scene with his key people at the beginning. Then empowered them to make decisions in the field... not come back and ask. This is the general decision making of major organisations and no doubt the struggle of any marketing director

Rules of Social Media

| View | Upload your own

I wrote this a while back for some clients who asked. Just a few things I pulled together and also made some up. Hope you find it useful.

Example: of Everyone Know to First to Know

uploaded on flickr by stumbleine

This article is about a company has started to use cabbies to give WOM for companies like the Thai tourist board. This is an example of the post I did a few months back on the need to change objectives from 'everyone to know => first to know'

A friend of mine in Australia did the same idea for the Tahiti tourist board but he utilised hairdressers from top hairdressing salons across the major cities and then they also sold local skin and beauty products from Tahiti as well.

The only problem with cabbies is whether I would take their advice. Although I think this is a great idea, I think I would be more likely to listen to someone different where I would trust and respect their opinion. Maybe if I went to a travel bar night in my area or music event and everyone shared traveling stories with similar minded people. I would be more likely to be interested.

I think restaurants and other London attractions would work better for cabbies.

It really is the little things

My first xmas present of the year taught me a bit of a lesson. I finally went to a market up the road in Clerkenwell which has a great Italian salad stand. Its awesome for £2.80 I was stuffed for hours it had a huge mix of different types of lentils and salads. Beautifully fresh and down right awesome.
It was quite full and it seems that all the girls working there are the daughters of the owner. They were quick with my order but really friendly at the same time. Then one of the girls asked me if I had my xmas card yet. I said no and they handed me a nice card and a fantastic container of olives. I was so happy. I came back and told everyone about it and still talk about it a day later(as Im eating my olives)

All these great things we do for brands and how complex we believe things are. It really is that simple
Great product - check
A little different - check
Great service - check
Great value - check
Cheap - check
Great family feel - check
Making the fat kid feel special at xmas - check (im feeling a comment from an ad coming on but I wont)