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This is the new address of Bizandbuzz.
It can be reached through this link or at the Buzzdetector website

Age of Conversation 2

Tomorrow is THE DAY.
Age of Conversation 2 will be released @ www.Lulu.com.

Enjoy the book and do not forget it's all for charity.
Join us on Facebook, Twitter and on the blog of all the authors.

Trust me! Or, at least, give me a chance.

In my previous post, I tried to figure out marketers and corporations contribution to a better and sustainable world.
And, even if it is not all on marketers and corporations shoulders, indeed we are the people on the frontline.

This morning I found this post contributing to the discussion.
GFK Custom research North America publish this piece of research with interesting results:

1. consciousness about environment and sustainability is spreading across the world
2. it's growing
3. corporations and marketers are expected to play a significant role
4. corporations and marketers have the great opportunity to play a significant role in the process

But some 70% of Americans don’t think business and industry are fulfilling their responsibility to protect the environment. In addition, 69% of Americans think businesses engage in environmentally friendly behavior to promote their image.

People do not trust in corporation effort and this may prove to be an issue in a world more and more conscious about this topic. But still it is a call for a huge effort to do something and to talk about the action taken to regain people confidence.

Slicing a cake

The world is changing fast.
This morning the world woke up with some news, just to mention some:

1. Lehman Brothers is going bankruptcy
2. the North Pole ice is thinner, day after day
3. 53% of the Italian population is not in the condition to shift from one social class to a higher one
4. a deadly virus is threatining the Chilean fish farm

Apparently there is no connection between these issues, but truth is that there are strong links.
The world ecosystem, econony, environment, personal, needs a new deal.

As stated in the new book of Thomas Friedman " Hot, flat and crowded", we need someone to lead the pack out of this situation.
Politicians have to play their role in this game, but marketers and corporations have to play a significant role, too.

Technology, politic and business are totally interactive today and must work in the same direction: a better world with less greediness, more discerning and open minded.

We have one and only one world to live in. No second chance.

What can we do as marketers?
Can we help out clients and our companies to accomplish this task?

The power that technology put in our hands is far more bigger than ever, the vision of the future is far more clear than ever.

1. do not stand for the best short term result but look for the bigger picture
2. a dollar more earned today may cost to everybody a thousand tomorrow
3. reconsider the social cost of any action we take or we suggest to take
4. sell better not sell more
5. built something that last

These are my points.
But I like to have yours, too.

Getting Rich The Slow Way

Fruit market at the Cour Saleya market in Nice (France)
Pic proudly by myself

This is the title of a compelling post by Karl Greenberg, I read this morning on Mediapost.
I do share his point of view and I do believe that we have to rediscover some practice that give us the pleasure of using time to think and to do something with our own hands.
Something as handwriting, conversation vis-à-vis, engagement with ourselves.
We do talk a lot and write a lot about brand that must engage with customers, but when we will talk about the skill of engage with ourselves?

The economy up and down, more down to be honest, and the new world scenario should teach us the lesson that the time of growing without limits, the neverending expansion, the technology development without a real reason, the assault to the environment, this kind of world has to come to an end and leave the place for something sustainable and mindful.

Are we ready, as marketers, to this challenge? Are we ready as men and women to adapt ourselves to a different life style? Do we believe our customers, or ourselves as customers, are the same we were one year ago?

Welcome back

Welcome back to everybody.
The olives at the Nice market at Cour Saleya are a sweet memory, right now.
September will be a busy month but I hope will be fruitful as well.

Just as a starter, I'm part of the jury for the 11th Assorel prize. Assorel is the Association of the PR agency in Italy and the prize is a key moment of the association activity across the year.
It is a great honour to me to sit here with many respectful leaders of the communication world.
For the full list: the jury

Then, if I can make it, there is the Picnic '08 in Amsterdam.

See you soon, G.

Social media insights via a social network

My Plurkaddiction is eventually generating some interesting insights about Social Media and their application in the business world.

Along with fellows plurkers Geoff Livingston, Frank Martin , Sonny Gil, Amber Naslund generated a conversation about the impact of Social Media on jobs other than Marketing: Sales and Business development, Customer and client services, Product and Brand managers.

The list is truly comprehensive and I wish to share with you all.
Enjoy the reading.

The Medium was the message. Your company is the message, now.

A discussion about Corporate reputation in Maurizio Goetz's blog, generated the idea for this post.

I do monitor the web for my clients, trying to learn something about their market, their brands and their products that they do not know.
The customers' sentiment, the perception and the reputation of their company.
How people does live them.

And today I read a Maurizio's post and a comment saying: "Il messaggio è sempre responsabilità di chi lo emette" (You are always responsible for the message you send).
This is the naked truth.
And this is mostly true for companies today and, more, in the days to come.

In a case history I have in FMCG food market, we discovered that a product from an Italian company is always seen better that a similar one from a multinational corporation.
The multinational corporation is represented mostly as not trasparent, not honest.
This means that the same product may have different life under different labels.

Oh, I forgot to mention that the Italian company is a multinational, too, but this is not perceived at all and this keeps its products in a safer position.

24 years later...

Do you remember the ad 1984 from Apple and the messages that it delivered?
If not, give a look here.



Than, 24 years later, give a look at the rate plan to purchase an IPhone and think for a moment: where all those messages have gone? where the think different approach has gone?

To purchase an IPhone , you are forced to subscribe a plan with selected companies that are overcharging the cost of the navigation in internet and most of the services that are the main reason to want an IPhone. You may say: right, this is the market.
But pricing is the same across different companies, there is no competition, no free market.
Users are bundled in a cost trap.

This time the apple is poisoned.

Buzzdetector latest features

In the everyday effort to improve the service to our clients and prospects, Buzzdetector staff is proud to announce the latest feature.
Within the Buzzdetector website, clients subscribing for the monitoring service, will have access to a dedicated page, with username and password, where read posts, watch video and pictures , listen for podcasts selected by the editorial team, compare charts with quantitative trend data and a tag cloud. And when time is shorter than usual, a further selection of the most important posts, divided in positive and negative and the comments of the editorial staff. Posts can be emailed directly from the page. Not bad, isn't it? And that's not all. We are working to deliver always new features. Stay tuned: September is close.

WOM offline prevalence vs online

Keller Fay, along with OMD, produced this challenging study showing that offline WOM is still more powerful than the online one.

This should not come as a surprise (and it is not to me, as I mentioned in my WOM and its metrics workshop) because, even if our lives are more and more entangled in the Web 2.0 context, a vis-a-vis chat with a friend or a relative is far more credible and positive.
And positive is the crucial word in this research.
Because when we talk vis-a-vis with someone we care about, most of the time is in a positive way and our advice are directed towards positive experience with a brand or a product.
Online conversation are far more a wall of shame. We get online to cry to the world our disappoint for a bad experience.

That's why the two worlds, online and offline, should be tackled with a global view.
And that's why this research should not be read as a good reason to postpone any online activity.

Better to know before

This piece of research from BigResearch points where online searchers is expected to put big money in the next months.

With all the cries about recession and slow economy, better to know before and, if you are in any of the segments of the list, think carefully about the perception of your brand and products, how's your customer care staff is performing and all these small details that can make your day.

Reviewing your score now, can save share of market if not increase them.

Age of conversation #2 - the complete list of contributors

Ladies and Gents, this is the latest version of the list of contributors to Age of conversation #2.

Adrian Ho, Aki Spicer, Alex Henault, Amy Jussel, Andrew Odom, Andy Nulman, Andy Sernovitz, Andy Whitlock, Angela Maiers, Ann Handley, Anna Farmery, Armando Alves, Arun Rajagopal, Asi Sharabi, Becky Carroll, Becky McCray, Bernie Scheffler, Bill Gammell, Bob LeDrew, Brad Shorr, Brandon Murphy, Branislav Peric, Brent Dixon, Brett Macfarlane, Brian Reich, C.C. Chapman, Cam Beck, Casper Willer, Cathleen Rittereiser, Cathryn Hrudicka, Cedric Giorgi, Charles Sipe, Chris Kieff, Chris Cree, Chris Wilson, Christina Kerley (CK), C.B. Whittemore, Chris Brown, Connie Bensen, Connie Reece, Corentin Monot, Craig Wilson, Daniel Honigman, Dan Schawbel, Dan Sitter, Daria Radota Rasmussen, Darren Herman, Dave Davison, David Armano, David Berkowitz, David Koopmans, David Meerman Scott, David Petherick, David Reich, David Weinfeld, David Zinger, Deanna Gernert, Deborah Brown, Dennis Price, Derrick Kwa, Dino Demopoulos, Doug Haslam, Doug Meacham, Doug Mitchell, Douglas Hanna, Douglas Karr, Drew McLellan, Duane Brown, Dustin Jacobsen, Dylan Viner, Ed Brenegar, Ed Cotton, Efrain Mendicuti, Ellen Weber, Eric Peterson, Eric Nehrlich, Ernie Mosteller, Faris Yakob, Fernanda Romano, Francis Anderson, Gareth Kay, Gary Cohen, Gaurav Mishra, Gavin Heaton, Geert Desager, George Jenkins, G.L. Hoffman, Gianandrea Facchini, Gordon Whitehead, Greg Verdino, Gretel Going & Kathryn Fleming, Hillel Cooperman, Hugh Weber, J. Erik Potter, James Gordon-Macintosh, Jamey Shiels, Jasmin Tragas, Jason Oke, Jay Ehret, Jeanne Dininni, Jeff De Cagna, Jeff Gwynne & Todd Cabral, Jeff Noble, Jeff Wallace, Jennifer Warwick, Jenny Meade, Jeremy Fuksa, Jeremy Heilpern, Jeroen Verkroost, Jessica Hagy, Joanna Young, Joe Pulizzi, John Herrington, John Moore, John Rosen, John Todor, Jon Burg, Jon Swanson, Jonathan Trenn, Jordan Behan, Julie Fleischer, Justin Foster, Karl Turley, Kate Trgovac, Katie Chatfield, Katie Konrath, Kenny Lauer, Keri Willenborg, Kevin Jessop, Kristin Gorski, Lewis Green, Lois Kelly, Lori Magno, Louise Manning, Luc Debaisieux, Mario Vellandi, Mark Blair, Mark Earls, Mark Goren, Mark Hancock, Mark Lewis, Mark McGuinness, Matt Dickman, Matt J. McDonald, Matt Moore, Michael Karnjanaprakorn, Michelle Lamar, Mike Arauz, Mike McAllen, Mike Sansone, Mitch Joel, Neil Perkin, Nettie Hartsock, Nick Rice, Oleksandr Skorokhod, Ozgur Alaz, Paul Chaney, Paul Hebert, Paul Isakson, Paul McEnany, Paul Tedesco, Paul Williams, Pet Campbell, Pete Deutschman, Peter Corbett, Phil Gerbyshak, Phil Lewis, Phil Soden, Piet Wulleman, Rachel Steiner, Sreeraj Menon, Reginald Adkins, Richard Huntington, Rishi Desai, Robert Hruzek, Roberta Rosenberg, Robyn McMaster, Roger von Oech, Rohit Bhargava, Ron Shevlin, Ryan Barrett, Ryan Karpeles, Ryan Rasmussen, Sam Huleatt, Sandy Renshaw, Scott Goodson, Scott Monty, Scott Townsend, Scott White, Sean Howard, Sean Scott, Seni Thomas, Seth Gaffney, Shama Hyder, Sheila Scarborough, Sheryl Steadman, Simon Payn, Sonia Simone, Spike Jones, Stanley Johnson, Stephen Collins, Stephen Landau, Stephen Smith, Steve Bannister, Steve Hardy, Steve Portigal, Steve Roesler, Steven Verbruggen, Steve Woodruff, Sue Edworthy, Susan Bird, Susan Gunelius, Susan Heywood, Tammy Lenski, Terrell Meek, Thomas Clifford, Thomas Knoll, Tim Brunelle, Tim Connor, Tim Jackson, Tim Mannveille, Tim Tyler, Timothy Johnson, Tinu Abayomi-Paul, Toby Bloomberg, Todd Andrlik, Troy Rutter, Troy Worman, Uwe Hook, Valeria Maltoni, Vandana Ahuja, Vanessa DiMauro, Veronique Rabuteau, Wayne Buckhanan, William Azaroff, Yves Van Landeghem

What really drives reputation? Customers!

In this article for Imediaconnection, Marian Salzman talk about products making their way to replace brands as reputation drivers.
I generally agree with her point of view about the fact that:

1. without product there is no brand
2. in the world of the web 2.0, this is far more crucial than in the past
3. if a brand is truly honest and transparent, this is perceived added value

But there is a missing point.
Reputation does no longer comes from your product or your brand: it's your customer that makes your reputation.
A terrific brand with an outstanding product can crash is perceived as not reliable by customers.
And reliability is not only a matter of how well is crafted the product, but it's made by several factor:

1. is this company honest to me and to my environment?
2. how this product impact on my environment?
3. are there any hidden issue in how the product is made (underpaid workforce? healthy concerns?)
4. am I paying a right price to purchase it?

It's customers that can push a product and a brand to the sky or drive them to hell.

Firefox 3 download day it's today

I can't resist to challenge.
So how can I resist to participate to the Firefox 3 Download day?

Seriously, this is a great viral activity for a software and a lesson for all marketers.

When you believe that the road to success is paved with money, well, think again.
When you believe that the path to be successful goes through complicated strategies and business plan, well, think again.

1. when thinking about a new product, be curious and creative
2. when launching a new product, show that you know your market and your customers
3. when planning a communication campaign, look for a simple strategy with a simple execution
4. when talking to your customers, be sure to listen for them and involve them

So, join the project here: it's fun.

Long live Plurk

I fell in love with Plurk.
I have never been so much found of Twitter.

I tried, really, I tried
But after having heard Twitter boss saying their path was not so clear to themselves (at Le Web3 conference in Paris, last December) I begun to think that maybe Twitter was a good idea with a poor execution.

Yesterday, we experienced several problems with a message saying Twitter had exceed its capacity so it was impossible to log in!!!!!
So we gathered on Plurk.

Maybe we will experience issue over there, too, sooner or later but until now it's pure fun.
If you are there, just become friends (our karma will benefit from this).
If you haven't try it, give a look at it.

What's your opinion about Plurk and Twitter?

Sales are a false goal

Yes, that's my point.
If you get into Web 2.0 pratices to generate sales, you may be on the wrong track.
I do not mean that at the end of the day, you are not generating sales, but this is not the goal you must have in mind when tackling this world.

We do not forget that sales are and will be more and more related to a brand or a company image, to the post sales experience, to several other factors that are influenced by the customers opinion.
An opinion crucial as never before because it travels across the web all over the world in few seconds, crushing space and language barrier.

So, set up your goal in a different way.
This is the thought I tried to deliver in the workshop about WOM and this is something I can see in this interesting post from Mediapost.

Metrics

Don't rely on metrics to claim your community is successfull.
Use metrics to understand your community better.

275 brains for one book

The Age of Conversation 2008 edition.
The number of contributors is more than doubled vs last year.
The topic is: Why Don't people get it?

My two cents is about Keeping secret in the Web 2.0 age.
The incipit is:

You are reading, right here and right now, this page and cannot stop thinking about the process that brought you here.

(1)You heard about the book from one of the fellow bloggers co-authoring it, (2)or from the Facebook group (3)or from the Amazon book suggestion.

Meet my fellow authors:
Adam Crowe, Adrian Ho, Aki Spicer, Alex Henault, Amy Jussel, Andrew Odom, Andy Nulman, Andy Sernovitz, Andy Whitlock, Angela Maiers, Ann Handley, Anna Farmery, Armando Alves, Asi Sharabi, Becky Carroll, Becky McCray, Bernie Scheffler, Bill Gammell, Bob Carlton, Bob LeDrew, Brad Shorr, Bradley Spitzer, Brandon Murphy, Branislav Peric, Brent Dixon, Brett Macfarlane, Brian Reich, C.C. Chapman, Cam Beck, Casper Willer, Cathleen Rittereiser, Cathryn Hrudicka, Cedric Giorgi, Charles Sipe, Chris Kieff, Chris Cree, Chris Wilson, Christina Kerley (CK), C.B. Whittemore, Clay Parker Jones, Chris Brown, Colin McKay, Connie Bensen, Connie Reece, Cord Silverstein, Corentin Monot, Craig Wilson, Daniel Honigman, Dan Goldstein, Dan Schawbel, Dana VanDen Heuvel, Dan Sitter, Daria Radota Rasmussen, Darren Herman, Darryl Patterson, Dave Davison, Dave Origano, David Armano, David Bausola, David Berkowitz, David Brazeal, David Koopmans, David Meerman Scott, David Petherick, David Reich, David Weinfeld, David Zinger, Deanna Gernert, Deborah Brown, Dennis Price, Derrick Kwa, Dino Demopoulos, Doug Haslam, Doug Meacham, Doug Mitchell, Douglas Hanna, Douglas Karr, Drew McLellan, Duane Brown, Dustin Jacobsen, Dylan Viner, Ed Brenegar, Ed Cotton, Efrain Mendicuti, Ellen Weber, Emily Reed, Eric Peterson, Eric Nehrlich, Ernie Mosteller, Faris Yakob, Fernanda Romano, Francis Anderson, G. Kofi Annan, Gareth Kay, Gary Cohen, Gaurav Mishra, Gavin Heaton, Geert Desager, George Jenkins, G.L. Hoffman, Gianandrea Facchini, Gordon Whitehead, Graham Hill, Greg Verdino, Gretel Going & Kathryn Fleming, Hillel Cooperman, Hugh Weber, J. Erik Potter, J.C. Hutchins, James Gordon-Macintosh, Jamey Shiels, Jasmin Tragas, Jason Oke, Jay Ehret, Jeanne Dininni, Jeff De Cagna, Jeff Gwynne, Jeff Noble, Jeff Wallace, Jennifer Warwick, Jenny Meade, Jeremy Fuksa, Jeremy Heilpern, Jeremy Middleton, Jeroen Verkroost, Jessica Hagy, Joanna Young, Joe Pulizzi, Joe Talbott, John Herrington, John Jantsch, John Moore, John Rosen, John Todor, Jon Burg, Jon Swanson, Jonathan Trenn, Jordan Behan, Julie Fleischer, Justin Flowers, Justin Foster, Karl Turley, Kate Trgovac, Katie Chatfield, Katie Konrath, Kenny Lauer, Keri Willenborg, Kevin Jessop, Kris Hoet, Krishna De, Kristin Gorski, Laura Fitton, Laurence Helene Borei, Lewis Green, Lois Kelly, Lori Magno, Louise Barnes-Johnston, Louise Mangan, Louise Manning, Luc Debaisieux, Marcus Brown, Mario Vellandi, Mark Blair, Mark Earls, Mark Goren, Mark Hancock, Mark Lewis, Mark McGuinness, Mark McSpadden, Matt Dickman, Matt J. McDonald, Matt Moore, Michael Hawkins, Michael Karnjanaprakorn, Michelle Lamar, Mike Arauz, Mike McAllen, Mike Sansone, Mitch Joel, Monica Wright, Nathan Gilliatt, Nathan Snell, Neil Perkin, Nettie Hartsock, Nick Rice, Oleksandr Skorokhod, Ozgur Alaz, Paul Chaney, Paul Hebert, Paul Isakson, Paul Marobella, Paul McEnany, Paul Tedesco, Paul Williams, Pet Campbell, Pete Deutschman, Peter Corbett, Phil Gerbyshak, Phil Lewis, Phil Soden, Piet Wulleman, Rachel Steiner, Sreeraj Menon, Reginald Adkins, Richard Huntington, Rishi Desai, Beeker Northam, Rob Mortimer, Robert Hruzek, Roberta Rosenberg, Robyn McMaster, Roger von Oech, Rohit Bhargava, Ron Shevlin, Ryan Barrett, Ryan Karpeles, Ryan Rasmussen, Sam Huleatt, Sandy Renshaw, Scott Goodson, Scott Monty, Scott Townsend, Scott White, Sean Howard, Sean Scott, Seni Thomas, Seth Gaffney, Shama Hyder, Sheila Scarborough, Sheryl Steadman, Simon Payn, Sonia Simone, Spike Jones, Stanley Johnson, Stephen Collins, Stephen Cribbett, Stephen Landau, Stephen Smith, Steve Bannister, Steve Hardy, Steve Portigal, Steve Roesler, Steven Verbruggen, Steve Woodruff, Sue Edworthy, Susan Bird, Susan Gunelius, Susan Heywood, Tammy Lenski, Terrell Meek, Thomas Clifford, Thomas Knoll, Tiffany Kenyon, Tim Brunelle, Tim Buesing, Tim Connor, Tim Jackson, Tim Longhurst, Tim Mannveille, Tim Tyler, Timothy Johnson, Tinu Abayomi-Paul, Toby Bloomberg, Todd Andrlik, Troy Rutter, Troy Worman, Uwe Hook, Valeria Maltoni, Vandana Ahuja, Vanessa DiMauro, Veronique Rabuteau, Wayne Buckhanan, William Azaroff, Yves Van Landeghem

WOM and its metrics

On April, there was in Milan the first Wom Summit, organized by Reed Business Information.
I gave the workshop about Wom and its metrics.
These are my slides.

| View | Upload your own

The safe way in troubled times

With recession hitting the markets and a quest for accountability of each single dollar spent in communication, there an interesting trend that I wish to understand better.

Communication budegt for online is the less affected by the downspending trend.
But within the allocation, Sem is getting the biggest share.
Now, my question is rather simple:

Is Sem the top choice because it works?
Or it is the choice because of predictable results, while others are still missing reliable metrics?

This is key interpretation to me, because it may design a conservative approach to marketing online while, quoting David Ogilvy, testing is crucial in any communication activity.

Will the companies that have already embraced and tested online activity gain momentum while the others are lagging behind?

New conversation, new meaning to words

There are words that had changed their meaning as time pass by.
And there are words that are changing it or that are just on their way to do so.

One of this may be awareness.
In marketing and advertising, awareness is the indicator of how known is a brand, a product.
Some equation:

a) The higher the adv. budget, the higher the awareness.
b) The higher the awareness, the easier to sell a good.

The quest for awareness has been the engine of the advertising world in the last, say, 30/40 years, maybe more, and the pillar of the marketing activities.

Today, I would like to suggest a new meaning in marketing for the word awareness.


Awareness as understanding, insight, knowledge.

The new awareness related to the Web 2.0 and social media that companies must develop not through massive adv. investment but through a real comprehension of their inner strenghten and weakness, of the inner nature of their brands and products, and more and more crucial the true perception and sentiment of the common people towards you, your company, your brand.

A time consuming scanning process, someone may say.
A wise investment, I would call it.

This is, to me, the awareness that companies should look for because it’s via this awareness that they can enter in markets more and more fragmented with a discerning approach.

The myth of working less or die trying

While there is someone out there cashing on the myth of working far less, no more than 4 hours a week, most of marketers, communicators, advertisers, agencies all over the world do work far more.
Why?

I have some thoughts I want to share with you:

- fragmentation is urging to get not only the big pictures but all the pixels, too

(pic by julianbleecker from Flickr)

- matching new forms of communication with old business and reporting models does seem a try to break a Guinness world record of people squeezed in a phone boot
- conversation with customers does call for a far deeper knowledge of your business and your company: you never know what kind of question or issue may arise and must be quick in answering

Some answers?

- To spread the company culture
- To create internal metrics to measure the success of marketing activity
- To implement online marketing suites to manage complexity of data
- To shift and delegate brand image activity to internal evangelists
- To support external evangelists

There is a common ground in all these answers: knowledge.
Today and tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, knowledge is and will be the most valuable asset to work better, if not less.

Knowing before and anticipating issues and catching opportunity is the way to stay ahead.
You should no longer surf the waves but, as extreme skiers do, run ahead the avalanche.

(pic by Your new friend Pete from Flickr)

Why Italy is a small country

Lately, an Italian blogger an journalist, Marco Montemagno, sent out invitation for the launch of Current, Al Gore's tv channel.
Invitation was limited in numbers.
This created a huge discussion in the blogosphere: why he invited him and not me, why I'm not mentioned, etc.
The situation was really embarassing to me, as I watch the blogsphere from my specific point of view of being italian but living the international blogosphere and blogging in english (at least, I'm trying to do so).
My feeling was of a small world of jealousy, poor or not at all sens of community, no willing to share.

On the other side of the Ocean, a very good friend and blogging star (quoted in the The New York Times), Tim Jackson aka Masiguy had an horrible crush in cycling race.
The unofficial community of bloggers, lead by Blue squirrel, start to support him with thoughts, prays and money (the US medical system is rather expensive, to say the least).
A Paypal account was established in 24 hours, comments flocked to the blogger keeping the community updated on Tim's health condition.

The Web and the new form of communication are all about sharing, sharing knowledge, sharing friendship, sharing experience.

And I begun to think if this model could never been established in this small italian blogosphere.
And I have no answer.

DIY Social Networks? Cool!

Yesterday I joined the IAB Forum in Rome, where I heard triumphant voices about the future of advertising on line, though in a rather old manner.
Today I came through this post at Social Media Insider, from Catharine P.Taylor,titled

Is It Time For DIY Social Networks?

Why I connect the two facts?

Because I agree on the fact that the future is in small but focused Social Networks, connecting people with attitude, while the Social hubs, as Facebook, MySpace and Bebo, will be crowded by marginal audiences.
And advertising is today running behind the Social hubs, trying to figure out a way to make money and it may catch them when the crucial targets will already be on the leave.

One million dollar question

While we are focused on get customers and prospects engaged, there is one single and straight preliminary question:

are you ready to get your brand engaged?

If you do not ask this question in complete transparency and honesty, beware of the consequence of asking clients to be once more time creditors to your company

The ivory tower and a non sense car

Some companies seem to live in their own ivory tower. Worst is that their press office do the same.
In the last months, the much rumored ethanol was debated about being a eco fuel or a solution worst than the original problem.

Tons of articles about the impact of producing ethanol on the food prices.
The boss of Nestlè, Peter Brabeck, claimed that food price could double in a very short time because of this issue.
Some riots for the food prices are expected in the most poor countries.

On the other side, the Suv are under strong criticism because of pollution and high emission of CO2.
The London Mayor put high tax on the Suv circulating in the city limit.


In this perfect situation, GM came out with this amazing news in a car blog:

The Hummer is going green!
Within 2010, the entire line of Hummer will be ethanol powered.
And this because of GM green attitude.

The post got 34 comments in one day and guess if they were positive or negative.
Now my question is rather easy to be asked:
do they read newspapers? do they see tv news? hear the radio? got an internet connection?
how thay can imagine to spread this news in such a way and get positive comment?

The best quote: imagine Count Dracula president of the blood donors association.

Apple and the Italian mobile market

As anticipated in this blog few months ago, Apple was forced to change its strategy so to enter the Italian mobile market, which is one of the biggest and most profitable in the world.

The change of strategy reflects the way this market is moving:

- lot of attention on the newest and trendiest device
- an attitude to shift from one operator to another
- a market where operators play a really big role (two big operators, Tim and Vodafone, a medium one, H3G)
- poor wifi availability

The answer is an agreement based on exclusive distribution via Tim for 6 months, no revenue sharing, UMTS based device (44% UMTS share in Italy vs 20% France and 18% UK).

The other key fact is a consideration about device and software.
Motorola is going bankruptcy even if its Razr is the best sold device ever. Why? Because Motorola was not able to deliver contents (software, platform, etc) and get eventually caught in the price trap of the mobile market.
Apple has one chance to avoid this trap: its browser, Safari.
In US 70% of the internet access via mobile comes through Safari.

Selling more devices is the way to remain on top for more advanced market, as Italy.

Integrated marketing and the brave new world

Apparently, advertising agencies are revamping the integrated marketing approach trying to incorporate the web 2.0 brave new world function in it.

This may prove to be a rather poor way to squeeze some money out of a field they do not own nor fully understand.
But it is a sign of weakness. Strategically, if the web 2.0 activities must go along with the advertising activities it does not mean that advertising should lead the pack.
The strategy should turn from advertising to communication and communication is led by the vehicle most suitable to deliver it. And this is not necessarily advertising.

This consideration lead to a crucial question to clients and consultants: who should retain the leadership of the project?
Once it was the adv agency account. Now he is revenue driven by his own boss bottom line and this may not coincide with client's best interest.

More than in the past, the web 2.0 and the communication tools of the next years call for a bigger involvement of the client structure. But is clients ready to play this role? Do they have the resources to get into the game?

The Waterloo of strategy

You may have heard of the hilarious accident of one of the top executives , Luca Luciani, of Telecom the biggest Italian phone company.
In this video(with english subtitle), you may hear the guy talking about Waterloo as one of the best success of Napoleon. Well, maybe he got confused.
But what is really weird is the tone of his speach, pretending to motivate but with a very low profile indeed.
This should have been a motivational speach, something to make your people feeling proud of their company and of their job.

But this is not all. The worst is that Telecom try to pull out the video from You Tube: bad move.
It was uploaded under other tags and someone opened a blog to save all the comments and the video from the tentative censorship.
Now this was a very stupid move by Telecom and they should know how to handle the web.

People felt even more upset abd begun to post about the salary of the executive, the fact that he should resign.

As usual, admitting a mistake is the best way to face this issue and the only way to turn a Waterloo into an Austerlitz.

Free Tibet

This post has a rather strong political message inside.
But not only political, but economical, too, and marketing.

These Olympic Games show a rather high chance to be a fiasco from a marketing point of view.
Even if China has a lot of power, manufacturing a significant percentage of all the goods on the market, still if I was a sponsor of the Games I would be very upset.
My brand will be associated with a retrieve country, a country where censorship is a daily practice, where you can get sentenced two years of prison because of an article on a blog.

Yesterday in London and, most, today in Paris for the first time in centuries, the Olimpyc torch was turned off and a Tibet flag is on the Mayor house.

Look who's talking

A new venture originated by my company, Buzzdetector, has been launched this morning:

www.buzzpolitico.net

Everything you would love to know about Italian election as seen by the net.

The crew behind the project is here.

The cleanest line to retain a customer

There is only one company where I really would love to work (other than Buzzdetector, indeed): Patagonia.
The ability to deliver great product, good vibe, clean and discerning approach to the world where we live. And the ability to make a customer feeling confident about the money he spend when purchasing stuff from Patagonia.

I bought few months ago a jacket to ride my Vespa around in winter. Few weeks ago, I ripped a sleeve: my fault. I brought the jacket to a Patagonia store, they took it, send it in Portugal where they have a plant, repaired and send it me back. Cost for this: 15 usd.
This is what I expect from a company and this is what they have delivered.

And, by the way, check their blog, The cleanest line.
It's a great example of selling company value and it is open to employees, customers and friends.

Is the adoption of the Web 2.0 only a tactic to save money?

With troubled times ahead and a slowing if not crashing economy, I sometimes think that one of the most powerfull selling tool for the Web 2.0 vs traditional media is the cost.
A tv campaign does cost x times more than a buzz activity, as well as the implementation of a blog does cost much less money than a billboard campaign.
But is this a key fact to sell a project to a client?
Are we tarnishing the inner value of the on line activity making it cheap?

Indeed cost control is crucial and to tell the truth on line metrics are still at an early stage to detect the contribution of each single activity to the bottom line.

What's your opinion?

Another call to action

These days are terribly sad to me, as a Buddhist and as someone believing that world should be a better place to live in.
And these days do confirm to me that China is a cancer for a civilized world.
A country where there are no civil rights, no freedom, where thousands of people are send to death every year, where two millions of cats and dogs are skinned alive every year.
A country where communism is still alive.
A country where the communist party and money are the only religion.
A country sending around the world products done violating all the basic rules for our safety and health.

I believe that if we are interested in a better world, in freedom, I believe we have to boycott the Olympic Games.
We were told that the Games were a great way to turn China in a democratic country.
Well, they lied to us.
I believe that we should send to China a strong and clear message that they have to change its attitude.

For the first time since I have this blog, I feel that I'm not willing to accept any criticism to my post.
I feel that I'm so upset with all the people and the corporations that cover their eyes for the sake of money.
I feel that we have to do something to stop China in all these malicious practice.

A pray for freedom

A pray for the Buddhist monks fighting for the Tibet indipendence.
49 years ago, China invaded Tibet and begun an endless list of violence.

Shame on the US that, for money, two days ago delisted China from the countries that violate human rights.

Wanna play with big money? Web 2.0 maybe is not your playground.

I just get into this brilliant post by David Armano.
I do totally agree with him.

Le Roi est mort

Is Roi still a valid definition to measure the result of the activity on the Web?
I believe it's not.

We talk about engagement, trust, conversation and still define the return on the investment.
therefore I suggest to use new definition: Return on engagement, Return on trust.
I will talk about it at the first ever conference about Wom in Italy, on April 2/3.
I run the morning workshop about it.
I called it: Roi and his brothers (quote from a famous Luchino Visconti's movie Rocco and his brothers).

The issue of metrics is crucial in developing clients' trust and a bunch of players are throwing in the market their own solution.
But it seems the war of format between Sony and Toshiba: which standard will prevail?

Crap is crap

In this time of neverending exploration of the unlimited frontiers of the web 2.0, we sometimes get lost in thinking that there is a solution for every problem.

So is for our clients.

This new brave world makes marketing dream come true.
I can talk with consumers, show them I much I care, subliminaly introduce my products, turn them to customers. And all of this with less money than the average cost of mass media advertising.

Well, my dear marketers, there is an undeniably truth still around: is your product sucks, it sucks.
No matter how articulate can be your strategy, or the strategy of your agency or consultants, the web will not keep you safe from this reality.

What you can do, now?

Be honest: do not pretend that your product is the best in town
Be transparent: if there is some faults, try to fix them not to hide them under the carpet
Be consistent: choose the resonating strategy and strive for it

Your reputation will be rewarded, then.

Betrayal of the Olympic spirit for the sake of money

The IOC finally disclosed the Guidelines for the accredited participating at the next Olympic Games in China. (via La Repubblica, the doc is the english version)

The limitation for bloggers are the perfect representation of what China think about democracy and freedom of speach.

This is the apotheoses of business vs ideals:

1. forget about human rights
2. forget about democracy and freedom
3. forget animal rights

This is really a sad moment for the western world, this is a sad moment for the democracy and for all the people who believe in freedom.

Now that China is so hot, just think about it.

Meat exacts a costly toll

This great essay of Mark Bittman put another step in my personal process toward a conscious way of eat.
And put another step, or it should, in the mind of marketers.

"Mr. Rosegrant of the food policy research institute says he foresees “a stronger public relations campaign in the reduction of meat consumption — one like that around cigarettes — emphasizing personal health, compassion for animals, and doing good for the poor and the planet.”

The key fact is that the public relation campaign against cigarette begun when the web was not born yet. It took several years to achieve some results.
But we live in an era of fast change, sometimes faster than we can imagine.


We live in a world with almost 6 bn inhabitants and every single shift in habits may turn to prove incredibly healthy for millions of people.

Therefore, if you work in a food industry, it's time to re think your perspectives. Before it may be too late, all of a sudden.
What about you?

Still able to eat meat?

This video from Repubblica may have nothing to do with marketing, er, wait a minute this could have a lot to do with marketing.
Imagine you are approaching your favourite restaurant or fast food. You already feel the taste of a filet or a double hamburger or whatever is your meat plat du jour.
You sit down, got connected wireless and look at these images.
Two option:

1. your restaurant provide you with a certificate that the meat you eat come from places where animals are treated well and killed softly
2. your restaurant cannot exclude that the meat you are going to eat come from places where cruelty is the routine

In case #2, are you still able to eat that meat?

That's why this has to do with marketing.
Because in a world more and more conscious of the need of a fair treatment of the world, this may become a lethal weapon for your competitors.
To apply ethic principles at every step of the production is a must for all the companies. And it will be vital, at least I hope so, for all the business.

Me? After having seen the video, it's two days that I eat only vegetables.
No, I'm not turning to be vegetarian. But I'm thinking a lot about it because of video like these.

Microsoft new look

Did you read Robert Scoble's yesterday post? Intriguing, isn't it?
Wow, Microsoft is going to become the next cool thing.
Or is it just a great piece of PR, Apple style, for Microsoft and for Fast Company TV?
Too many question and no answer.

Let's see on Feb. 27th, then.

It's the recession , stupid.

Do you remember how Bill Clinton won the first round as president of the US? With this basic approach to the economy: it's the economy, stupid.
Now that most of the countries are facing a slow down of their economy and, perhaps, a recession, it's time for us as marketers and for the companies, to think that with a weak economy, some basics do change.
In this great post from Groundswell, Josh Bernoff hilights key factors that will influence the way companies face these tough times.

Awareness ads will lose effectiveness
But social applications are about consideration, not awareness
It's cheap

It's the recession, stupid!
Getting to know what your customers, of today or prospects are far more important in troubled times, cause they can be the provider of consideration.

The buzz is on!

Yes, we do all know that the buzz is on.
Around us or generated by ourselves. About us or our friends, about the brands we love and the one we hate.
So why do not add my two cents?
Friday will be the kick off day of Buzzdetector, a company that I founded and own.
The goal is to hear from, to understand the sentiment of the web and to translate the voices in strategic advice.
Some clients are already on board as I tested the process since May 2007, but this is a work in progress, as any project related to the web.

I'll be happy to welcome you on www.buzzdetector.com this Friday.

Stay tune.

Open letter to Mr.Howard Schultz

Dear Mr. Schultz,

I understand that you have received thousands of very good and sounding advice in the latest months.
But as your company is one the most loved around the world and in the blogosphere, I wish to write down few words about the perception and the future of Starbucks.

Last year Starbucks lost me as a customer.
Everytime I was in London or Paris, I always paid a visit to on of your place but this was not the case lately.
Why?
I felt the place was not charming anymore. Sometimes the place was too small, sometimes dirty, sometimes everything happened too quickly like in a factory: who's next? quick, quick!
Too many gadgets
I just wanted a coffee in a nice and clean place, confortable and quite, like at home but... ok, you know, you invented it.

Now, this experience is diluted by the fact that too many shops were opened and you can't retain the same quality across all of them.
And to serve more people the old fashioned coffee machines were replaced with heartless devices.

Why I should pay a premium price for such a disappointing feeling? But I miss the place.

That's why I feel in need to give you an advice.

Go and hire some top managers from luxury companies, someone who knows how to make you pay a premium and feel satisfied and happy. And make happy the shareholders, too.
Someone who works in LVMH or PPR. Someone who can work on the image and still open stores everywhere in the world. Someone able to make people lying up outside the store and still be confortable with that.

You can't compete with McDonalds', because your franchise is far better and of higher profile. Can you imagine Louis Vuitton competing with Gap or H&M? What a shame it would be.

That's all from me.

Bonne chance, G.

Trust me!!!

This is the link to the presentation of the 2008 Trust Barometer Italy from Edelman.
Download and enjoy.

2008 Trust Barometer Italy presentation

I've been invited by Edelman to join the discussion panel at the presentation of the Trust Barometer 2008.
Other participant to the panel are Luca Virginio, P&G Global corporate communication and reputation director, Giorgio Riva, RCS Digital Managing Director and Jere Sullivan, Executive VP Edelman Europe/ Vice Chairman Edelman Brussel.


The presentation is in Milan tomorrow at 5.30 pm.

2008 new mantra

(picture by Francesco Esposito in Flickr)

There's a new mantra for 2008: Trust.
We shifted from Engage to Trust.
Why?
Maybe Engage was too far ahead: you can't engage someone without Trust.
Trust comes before and, apparently, we begun to build a house from the ceiling.

We advice, we speak, we write, sometimes we get paid for and we expect others to believe in what we do.
But our customers must have in us the same Trust that old kings and queens had when financing Columbus and Magellan's expeditions.

So be prepared: a diluge of posts and comments about Trust are going to flood the blogosphere.
Are you ready?

(R)evolution

(R)evolution

BITS from NYTimes is facing the issue of copyright and filtering in a week long debate. The two debaters are Tim Wu, of Columbia Law School and Rick Cotton, general counsel of NBC Universal.

My comments:

• Investing money on producing creative material is a tough task today
• Entertainment corporations structured themselves on a single business model behind the shield of the copyright
• This business model is gone because copyright in no longer a shield
• Corporations seem keen to defend themselves and their status quo more than the artists they represent
• And artists are looking for new business model and for new commercial partners (e.g.: Madonna defected from Warner and signed with Live Nation, a concert promoter)
• The model of making live exhibition to support cd sales is gone: you give away digital music to sell tickets for the exhibition, merchandising, etc.
• This is true for the music market, what about the movie market? Apparently box office is stable in the last three years and this should mean that p2p is not such an issue

• DVD market is the one suffering because the platform itself is agonizing: the launch of new movie rental service may prove to be lethal for the platform, as DVD was for VHS and VHS was for I do not remember what.

The real issue in the story to me is that Entertainment Corporations are unable to define a worth business model to exploit the opportunities coming from the Web 2.0 and the future.

In the Middle Age, there were massive castles ready to resist to siege for months, at least until they had food and water: it was just a matter of time....

Age of conversation II

Here we are for the second year in a row with the Age of conversation project.
After the first release, we are proud to announce the kick off of the second book.

Drew and Gavin are the drivers of this great example of social authoring.

Feel free to be part of it voting (here) the topic you prefer and contributing with your thoughts and ideas.
To participate just send an email to drew@mclellanmarketing.com

All the proceeds from the book selling will be donated to Variety, the Children's Charity.

Facebook on advertising

Maybe it's my poor knowledge of a foreign language, or I'm too dumb to get the point. After reading this interview with the new Facebook,'s vp of product marketing and operation, my feeling that the guys there don't have any clue on how to make money out of it is getting stronger.

The interview is on Fast Company

Facebook and The Da Vinci code

I read this interesting article from The Guardian, author Tom Hodgkinson, about Facebook.
The approach looks like the one of a spy story, with conspirancy, secret service and political lobbies.
But it is fascinating because you never know where is the twilight zone, the limit between thruth and fantasy.

Personally, I do not like much Facebook and feel that there something wrong with it. I totally agree with the journalist when it comes to the ridicolous Facebook privacy policy. I hardly follow him when it comes to mention an involvment of CIA.

Anyway, I would be itnerested in having your thoughts about it.

With friends like these

The roar of a Leopard or of a Bunny?

I've just had one of the most frustratring conversation of my entire life with a tech support hot line.

I'm trying to install Leopard on my MacBook Pro and the dvd of the program does not allow me to choose the type of installation.

According with the instruction, I should have three options.
According with a kind lady of the call center I have to erase my hard disk and install the operating system, period.

But, funny enough, she asked me if I was installing the operating system or and update !! (Leopard is the brand new system, launched a couple of month ago)
Lastly, she asked me if I have the two dvds while the Leopard box contains only one disk: after my answer about having only one, she check with a colleague and then confirm to me that I was right.

Now, this is rather annoying, but to make it more annoying there is a detail: the phone call is at my charge and costs around 5 euros.

I'm not going to erase my hard disk, I'm going to take my Mac to the store where I bought it and check with them.

But, dear Apple, come on! This is not a support: this is rubbish.