Bizandbuzz

Welcome on board!

2008-12-01T15:45:00.002+01:00

http://bizandbuzz.buzzdetector.com/

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

Age of Conversation 2

2008-10-28T18:56:00.004+01:00

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.

2008-09-17T08:48:00.007+02:00

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:

consciousness about environment and sustainability is spreading across the world
it's growing
corporations and marketers are expected to play a significant role
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

2008-09-15T15:49:00.003+02:00

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

Lehman Brothers is going bankruptcy
the North Pole ice is thinner, day after day
53% of the Italian population is not in the condition to shift from one social class to a higher one
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.

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

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

Getting Rich The Slow Way

2008-09-04T08:42:00.004+02:00

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

2008-09-01T11:26:00.004+02:00

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

2008-08-05T07:36:00.003+02:00

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.

2008-07-28T15:26:00.004+02:00

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...

2008-07-21T14:39:00.004+02:00

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

2008-07-10T15:17:00.005+02:00

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

2008-07-03T09:17:00.004+02:00

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

2008-07-02T10:52:00.003+02:00

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

2008-07-02T10:48:00.002+02:00

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!

2008-06-26T15:53:00.003+02:00

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:

without product there is no brand
in the world of the web 2.0, this is far more crucial than in the past
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:

is this company honest to me and to my environment?
how this product impact on my environment?
are there any hidden issue in how the product is made (underpaid workforce? healthy concerns?)
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

2008-06-17T12:55:00.002+02:00

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.

when thinking about a new product, be curious and creative
when launching a new product, show that you know your market and your customers
when planning a communication campaign, look for a simple strategy with a simple execution
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

2008-06-12T08:39:00.004+02:00

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

2008-06-09T09:53:00.002+02:00

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

2008-06-03T18:32:00.001+02:00

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

275 brains for one book

2008-05-26T10:17:00.005+02:00

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

2008-05-21T20:50:00.004+02:00

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

2008-05-20T09:55:00.003+02:00

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

2008-05-15T10:26:00.003+02:00

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

2008-05-13T09:07:00.008+02:00

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

2008-05-09T10:40:00.005+02:00

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!

2008-05-08T16:19:00.004+02:00

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

2008-05-05T19:55:00.002+02:00

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

2008-04-23T08:19:00.004+02:00

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

2008-04-21T10:49:00.004+02:00

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

2008-04-10T15:24:00.002+02:00

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

2008-04-07T17:34:00.003+02:00

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

2008-04-07T17:25:00.003+02:00

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

2008-03-28T15:37:00.004+01:00

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

2008-03-25T14:15:00.003+01:00

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?

2008-03-20T08:19:00.003+01:00

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

2008-03-16T19:28:00.003+01:00

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

2008-03-14T10:54:00.002+01:00

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.

2008-03-14T10:13:00.002+01:00

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

Le Roi est mort

2008-03-14T08:41:00.004+01:00

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

2008-03-05T11:58:00.002+01:00

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

2008-03-04T08:11:00.002+01:00

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:

forget about human rights
forget about democracy and freedom
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

2008-02-25T15:45:00.004+01:00

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?

2008-02-19T15:48:00.004+01:00

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:

your restaurant provide you with a certificate that the meat you eat come from places where animals are treated well and killed softly
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

2008-02-15T11:11:00.003+01:00

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.

2008-02-07T15:21:00.000+01:00

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!

2008-02-06T10:37:00.000+01:00

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

2008-01-26T18:32:00.000+01:00

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!!!

2008-01-25T18:15:00.000+01:00

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

2008 Trust Barometer Italy presentation

2008-01-23T11:05:00.000+01:00

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

2008-01-22T10:05:00.000+01:00

(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

2008-01-18T11:09:00.000+01:00

(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

2008-01-17T09:57:00.000+01:00

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

2008-01-16T17:24:00.000+01:00

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

2008-01-15T10:53:00.000+01:00

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?

2008-01-14T12:22:00.000+01:00

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.

Le Web 3

2007-12-12T09:03:00.000+01:00

I'm attending Le Web 3 conference in Paris.
The first day has been rather interesting about the magic world of the Web 2.0 business.

Well, I have some feelings and not at all positive:

the market is trying to squeeze in a new world an old school model of revenue
this model is apparently not working (see the Facebook awfull move)
no one has any idea on how to make it working

Worst, the boss of Twitter admitted that they have no idea of the future development of Twitter.

So, now, I have some questions and an advice for all of you reading this post:

is a new bubble is behind the corner?
any suggestion to the people in the board of the social network companies?
is the ability to write business plan more important than the ability to design a revenue model?

The advice is : if you plan to buy a house in the valley, just wait a while. Prices may drop down soon.

I said that

2007-11-30T09:45:00.000+01:00

I've been very very busy lately and neglected my blog. And today is just a quick post to say: I said that! here and here
Yes, sometimes it's good to acknowledge when you anticipate an event, even if it is not so good for an icon brand.

Apparently, Apple is facing some issue in the troubled european mobile market.

For more:
C|net

The times they are a-changin'

2007-10-19T09:03:00.000+02:00

Once upon a time, there were icon brands that had never to regret for their strategy: everything they did was ok, at least for many fans.

But today, oh today, nothing is granted for anybody. And this is true for them as well.

Take the Apple recent history: for two times in few weeks, the company went under fire.
The first time was with the IPhone price drop.
The second one was some weeks ago, when Apple released an update to the iPhone that erased programs made by independent developers and caused some phones to freeze up.

Then yesterday the NYTimes published this news: Apple to Open iPhone Programming to Outsiders.

What impressed me was a comment from a Gartner analyst, Michael McGuire, who said that
"the developer kit came as little surprise and that Apple probably had planned one all along".

Now, if this is so, why the hell they did not announced timely?
If what Steve Jobs say is right, why they did not announced when launched the IPhone?

On the other side, if they did a misjudgment, why do not just acknowledge?

Companies do not longer live in an ebony tower.

A share over 600 usd

2007-10-09T08:44:00.000+02:00

(Screenshot image with Paparazzi)

Yesterday I was reading the New York Times online Tech page and was amazed by this consideration: in the same page, there are 5 articles about Google.
One was about Google, You Tube and advertising, the second one about Google shares, the third one about GPhone, the fourth one about advertising and phone going together and the fifth one about cloud computing.
Now I pose myself some questions:

Do journalists have Google shares?
Google is the hottest company right now?
Google is expected to become the most influent company in the world?
Google does have an outstanding pr and press office?
Google management is done by geniuses only?

What's your opinion?

Facebook and the naked truth

2007-10-01T16:10:00.000+02:00

Reading Tangerine Toad post on Daily Fix, I have had some bad feelings on many supposed smart marketers and cool companies.
And it got worst when I thought about many of the latest hype of the net.

And when I think about Facebook I have some question of what I believe Facebook is and isn't.

Facebook is a playground and it is not the panacea for the marketing of the future. Right or wrong?

Facebook is a spot where marketers have to learn how people interact and not to step in and try to generate not required conversation. Right or wrong?

Facebook is not another Second Life. Right or wrong?

Facebook is another bandwagon to jump on now. Right or wrong?

Facebook is just a smarter community but for how long? Right or wrong?

Facebook is ..... what the hell is it?

1USD=0,70€ but not for Apple

2007-09-29T10:04:00.000+02:00

I still have to blame my beloved Apple for a policy that could alienate a significant number of customers and prospects in Europe.
The European currency is still very strong vs the USD and the current exchange rate is close to 1USD equivalent to 0,70 €.
This is a great advantage for the US companies exporting their goods to Europe as far as it is not seen by the European customers as an unfair tax.

Apple is benefitting as many other companies but its policy of the same price everywhere is putting this excessive benefit in display.

Give a look at Apple site and choose a product.

US store IPod Touch 16 gb at 399 USD
Italy store IPod Touch 16 gb at 399 €

Wait a minute this is a parity between USD and € and I can see it in Apple website.

Again I recognize that a company is looking for the highest revenue but this is rather offensive from my point of view.
And if a friend of mine is travelling to the US, should I feel guilty in purchasing the product there and saving a huge amount of money?

How do you feel when you think that somebody is profiting too much?
What's your opinion whe you feel that you pay too much a product?

Think different? Not even this time

2007-09-21T08:18:00.000+02:00

For the second time in few weeks, Apple does another huge mistake.
The launch in the European market of the IPhone may prove to be another loss of grip on the reality of a different market.

The first launch will be in Uk, then France and Germany. Then Italy.
The technology adopted to support the web browsing is based on Wi-fi spots.

Now, I do not know who was building the business plan for the launch but:

Italy is by far the biggest market in Europe for Smartphone
Italian consumers are by far the fastest in adopting new smart devices and in replacing the older devices
Italy is not covered by a significant network of Wi-fi spots
Italy is the second market in Europe for density of mobile phones (number of device vs population), first is Luxembourg

Not to take in consideration these figures in developing the product was a huge mistake as it is now to market it with huge limitation for the biggest market.

Think different? Not this time.

2007-09-12T10:30:00.000+02:00

I've been thinking lately about the Apple move to rebate the IPhone cost, all the discussion and the comments. Than I read today this interesting analysis by Ruth Sherman in Fast Company.

In all the comments, and in this one too, I feel that there is a missing link: Apple acted as the major mobile phone device producers do.
They launch a cutting edge model at high price, after three months reduce the price and after six/nine months sell a mssive quantity to the phone carriers to give it for free to their subscribers.
This is the rule except for the top seeling product like the Motorola Rzrs, which remained at very high price longer than usual.
IPhone was not seeling good and Apple followed the industry track.

If the commenters do not get this point, any analysis, even the smarter one, is based on wrong assumption.

The real mistake was that Apple does not probably felt comfortable in this new industry and the business model does reflect it clearly.
To enter in such a market for the first time ever and sign an exclusive deal with one carrier is a stupid move. IPhone should have been sold in the Apple store without any obligation to subscribe a plan with given carrier.

The Apple mistake was not to act as Apple is expected to do.
They were not confident enough to challenge the market and changed as it was for IPod and ITunes.

Apple did not think different and now pay the price for the betrayal of the core brand philosophy.

The naked truth

2007-09-05T08:07:00.000+02:00

Well, eventually someone from the recording industry, had the guts to admit a reality revelead on blogs since months: the recording business model is done.
Rick Rubin, the new co-chairman of Columbia Records, is the first man from the industry to face the reality.
His solution is to transform the way to purchase music: instead of buying a cd or download an mp3 and pay money for each purchase, the new model is based on a monthly subscription that allow to download a free number of tracks.
Apparently Columbia new model could look for additional revenue from live venues and merchandise.
Read on Cnet and on NYTimes
Sorry if I quote myself but I could have tell this to Columbia for definitely a smaller amount of money and few months ago.
Still the approach is questionable.

The real issue is that Recording industry must shift to Music industry.
Today a Recoding company launch an artist an get revenue from CDs and legal download, period.
Tomorrow, the Music company should sign an artist for his/her entire artistic life: CDs, Download, live venues, merchandising.

Until that day, Recording companies will be in the dark ages.

Sept. 5th Apple news

2007-09-02T10:17:00.000+02:00

The so much rumoured news, to be released by Apple next Wednedsday, is the revolution in the phone bill: the IBill.

The IBill is a doc sized around 10 gb that will include all the info you need to know to remember how you used your I-Phone.
To have access to I-bill you need to expand the memory size of your I-Phone and the doc will remain on the device for 6 months before selfdestructing.
This is the sneak preview.

Feeling unsafe: NFL looks for a image rebirth

2007-08-30T09:28:00.000+02:00

In some of the previous posts, here at Bizandbuzz, and in a late comment at CK's blog, I was asking: what about is you are a sport sponsor? Still feeling safe in putting money in major sport events?

Just to recap what happened in the last months:

- the Tour de France was hit by several case of doping and some cyclists were kicked out the race, anyway too late: the two German major TV stations drop the the race from their programming.

- a NBA referee admitted he was betting on his own matches and said several other referees and athletes can be involved

- a McLaren manager supposedly bought secret papers from a Ferrari engineer about the latest F1 cars

- an acclaimed quarterback, Michael Vick, pleaded guilty to a federal felony charge of conspiracy stemming from a dog-fighting kennel

Indeed several others events happened to tarnish the image of the sport world.

Today the New York Times has an interesting comment about the adv campaign launched by NFL to mend its bruise image.
It's a warning sign that supporters and, maybe, sponsors do feel that sport is no longer such a safe world where to bring your children or put your money.

I suppose that we will see more adv and pr activities like this one, but we need something more if we want to refresh a rather damaged image.

Read more: Mending a bruised image

Blogger Social '08

2007-08-30T08:26:00.000+02:00

As for every communities, there is always a time to meet and know each other.
If The age of conversation has been a tremendous way of gathering and then spreading the thoughts and the words of 103 bloggers from all over the world, the Blogger Social '08 in New York will be the time for the off line reunion.
An event that will mark for many of us, to me for sure, a new level of engagement in a worldwide community and the chance to further ignite our conversations.

Go there and see the no rules policy to attend the event and be a social animal.

Turn the table and see what happens

2007-08-27T20:57:00.000+02:00

While some commenters, such as CK and Lewis Green, make efforts to understand why so many products made in China are dangerous to our health and where the responsibilities are, the Chinese government is turning the table and shifting every responsibilities on the western companies.

My personal opinion is:

western companies are indeed liable for concentrating only on saving money but with no control on method, rules to achieve the financial result
the Chinese government shows once more that in a country without democracy it's rather difficult to hear voices admitting problems and corruption is higher than everywhere else

China is currently manufacturing most of the products sold around the world but at what price:

a high rate of pollution and, as we know, pollution does not know borders and this is a price we are going to pay sooner or later
a significant number of concerns about quality and safety for these products, food, garments, toys, etc.
an incredible number of infringments of copyright and patent laws; a German car magazine, Automobilwoche, claims today that BMW and Daimler are issuing legal actions to avoid the exhibition of three chinese cars equal to three model produced in Germany, just to mention the last
the civil, human and animal rights are bypassed every single day

Am I a bit paranoic?
Or are we just running without considering in whole the consequences of what's going on?
What's your opinion?

Would you......(3)

2007-08-22T20:50:00.000+02:00

(picture from AndreasNYC Flickr photostream)

A football superstar, Michael Vick, is expected to plead guilty for an horrible crime: dogs fighting and dogs murder.
Why it' s horrible: cause Vick and partners were training the dogs, make them fight and kill the dogs underperforming. And they did so in a very professional way, a real industry.
He will be probably sent to jail, fired from the Falcons and by the sponsors.
But th best reaction came from the Falcons supporters: they ask the worst for him.

I ate him and his partners because I love animals and dogs, specifically, and I hope that his career is ended and not to see him anymore on a football field.

But I want to see the story from a marketing point of view.

Everyday there is more and more story involving athletes of any sports, football, basket, cyclism, etc.
And I feel that sport sponsorship is becoming a mine field.

Winning is everything, no matter the way, but this is becoming a threat to the sponsors: who wants to have his carefully nurtured brand or product linked to an athlete or a sport accused of bribery?

Would you put your money on an athlet or a sport with more or less trust today than it was in the past?
Which question would you ask for to stay as safe as possible?
Would you accept to sponsor not the questioned big winner but the one who plays ethically?

Would you...... (2)

2007-08-18T07:05:00.001+02:00

The late Mattel case is the latest warning sign that China is a real and tangible problem to the world.

Forget all the bullshit about China being the engine of the world economy. China is a polluting engine that could kill the world.

Products are manufactured without any rules, by underpaid workers, sometimes by political prisoners.

And we close our eyes to the human rights violation for the sake of our greed.
This nation will organize the next Olympic games and there is always open discussion about the possibility for the athletes to show and tell their concerns about these violations.

The responsibilities are not only on China but on all the companies that moved productions over there: they should control and be held responsible for those manufacturing under their labels.
Since years now, labour issues and now safety and health issues are linked with products manufactured in the emerging countries, where the greed of few is creating troubles for the health of a lot of people everywhere in the world.

It’s time to give to China and to all the companies manufacturing there a strong sign that this situation has to come to an end.

Would you be willing to pay a premium for safer products manufactured in a safe environment?

Would you.......(1)

2007-08-17T07:56:00.000+02:00

Everyday hundreds of thousands of animals are slaughtered for the only purpose of men.
Food, skin, furs everything that can create a benefit to men.
But is this sacrifice worth?
The cruelty of men is justified by the need of food? Shouldn’t we pay a tribute to these animals and ensure to them a soft death?

All these questions are not new to me but, lately, had become more and more crucial, especially after having seen frames from Fast food nation.

We are so entangled in the quest of food at cheap price, the we lost the sense of the rituality.

In the past, the sacrifice of the animals were full of this rituality and had a extremely high value.
Today we are cruel without even think about it.

Would you be willing to pay a premium for food coming by a company investing on a gentle death for animals?

Or you just don’t give a damn?

Close for holidays

2007-08-02T17:23:00.000+02:00

Bizandbuzz goes on holidays!
Back on line August 15th!

Ciao, G.

Marketing and sport: a tricky situation part 2

2007-07-26T12:35:00.000+02:00

While the situation for the cyclism is gettin worst and worst (yesterday Rasmussen, the leader of the Tour de France, was kicked out from his team, one other racer was arrested for doping and the French press claim the Tour is dead), other sports have no reason to be happy.

NBA: even if David Stern try to minimise the story, to have a referee who admit to put money of the matches he had to run and is involved with the mob, well this is a real mess.
Tim Donaghy undermined the legacy of the NBA. How many match final results were affected by the referee? Are we sure that he is the only one? No other referee, no other players were involved?

F1: in the meantime, in Paris, the International Federation is helding a trial against Mercedes McLaren team. The team is accused to have spied the Ferrari team. Lot of documents proving this story have been found at the house of one top engineer of the McLaren team. The team could be excluded by the World Championship with huge economic damage and image damage for McLaren and Mercedes. The main sponsor is Vodafone.

As we all can see, the sport world is under a big threat.

Should we expect a decrease of the audience for the sports involved in these events?
In your position of consultant and marketing men and women, what would you suggest to a client of yours?

Marketing and sport: a tricky situation

2007-07-25T08:40:00.000+02:00

The latest news from the Tour de France are a very bad sign for cyclism and for sport.

To recap:

- the former leader of the Tour was found positive to a banned drug
- the two major german TV Stations immediately stop to broadcast the race
- the new hero of the Tour, and the favourite racer at the beginning of the race, was found positive to testosterone

All this in a race who claimed to be the cleanest one.
Most of the sponsors will probably withdraw their money for the next season.

Is this story limited to cyclism?
I'm afraid not. And if I was a marketing manager who put money in sport events I would worry about it.
Who can reassure me that my brand is not linked to a doped athlete?
How badly my brand can be hurt by such a correlation?

If you were is such a tricky situation, how would you react?
Withdraw?
Resist?

Ethic, honesty, transparency (to be cont'd)

2007-07-19T05:59:00.000+02:00

Few weeks ago, I made a post about the Guillaume Prébois, the journalist running the his own Tour the France under medical control in clean condition.

The Tour organization has made a statement to fight against any form of doping and to stay a clean race and banning cyclists who were caught doping or under trial for doping.
A clear marketing move to retain sponsors, sell the race to the TV Stations.

But yesterday something went broken.

A German cyclist has been found positive to an antidoping control on June 8, well before the Tour, but he was in the race until three days ago.

The two major German Television, ZDF and ARD, decided to stop to broadcast the Tour.
Nikolaus Brender, from ZDF on behalf of the two TV channels, said: "We cannot air an event with athlets and teams that may be using drugs. We want to show that we can sustain the movement if and only if it is clean. And this is a message for all the other sports, too."

This is a move that should make all the marketers to think about how the sponsorship in sport events are a delicate topic, how is important to carefully choose the sport and the face to marry your brand.

The fastest is not always the best.
The honest, yes.
At least for your brand.

Dune restaurant blog

2007-07-13T10:18:00.000+02:00

Dear all, a quick info about the blog.
Due to my poor technality, I turn the blog over the blogpost platform.
Typepad is far too complicated to me: my fault, indeed.

So go to the new Dune house: www.dunerestaurant.blogspot.com

Enjoy.

ads that make me sick

2007-07-13T08:28:00.000+02:00

I begin today a new series about awful ads from the Italian market.
I've noticed that the qualitative level of advertising in Italy is rather poor.
Who's to blame for?

Agencies are not brave enough to propose bold creative execution. How many times I was in creative presentation where the agency apologize for a proposing something out of the box.
And how many times I've heard clients doing the job of the creative dept. Getting into meeting with handwritten papers with layout and claim already fixed in their mind. The first question to ask for should have been: are you paid for that? Are you a marketing manager (or a product manager ) or you work for the agency? Who does pay for you salary?
Well, to tell the truth, there are the international creative execution to mess the situation further. Those beautiful ads where the local environment is passed by. How many issues this approach has created to companies and agencies?

But let's go the winner for this week.

I do not know what's your knowledge of sailing and winds. But indeed you know that waves go in the wind direction as well as you may konw that the America's Cup boats do not sail with wind over the 18/20 knots.

The Italian watch makers, Sector, defied the law of nature and the rules of the America's Cup in just one ad:

the boat is sailing under a gennaker with backwind but against the waves
the waves are for a very strong sea, well over the regatta rules and the chance of the boat to float
last but not least, they should work a bit on photoshop

The heat is on!

2007-07-09T18:13:00.000+02:00

Launch date: Monday, July 16th

Formats/Prices:

Hardbacks $29.99
Paperbacks $16.95
E-book $9.99

Background
Dedication

Authors:
Valeria Maltoni
Emily Reed
Katie Chatfield
Greg Verdino
Mack Collier
Lewis Green
Sacrum
Ann Handley
Mike Sansone
Paul McEnany
Roger von Oech
Anna Farmery
David Armano
Bob Glaza
Mark Goren
Matt Dickman
Scott Monty
Richard Huntington
Cam Beck
David Reich
Luc Debaisieux
Sean Howard
Tim Jackson
Patrick Schaber
Roberta Rosenberg
Uwe Hook
Tony D. Clark
Todd Andrlik
Toby Bloomberg
Steve Woodruff
Steve Bannister
Steve Roesler
Stanley Johnson
Spike Jones
Nathan Snell
Simon Payn
Ryan Rasmussen
Ron Shevlin
Roger Anderson
Bob Hruzek
Rishi Desai
Phil Gerbyshak
Peter Corbett
Pete Deutschman
Nick Rice
Nick Wright
Mitch Joel
Michael Morton
Mark Earls
Mark Blair
Mario Vellandi
Lori Magno
Kristin Gorski
Krishna De
Kris Hoet
Kofl Annan
Kimberly Dawn Wells
Karl Long
Julie Fleischer
Jordan Behan
John La Grou
Joe Raasch
Jim Kukral
Jessica Hagy
Janet Green
Jamey Shiels
Dr. Graham Hill
Gia Facchini
Geert Desager
Gaurav Mishra
Gary Schoeniger
Gareth Kay
Faris Yakob
Emily Clasper
Ed Cotton
Dustin Jacobsen
Tom Clifford
David Pollinchock
David Koopmans
David Brazeal
David Berkowitz
Carolyn Manning
Craig Wilson
Cord Silverstein
Connie Reece
Colin McKay
Chris Newlan
Chris Corrigan
Cedric Giorgi
Brian Reich
Becky Carrol
Arun Rajagopal
Andy Nulman
Amy Jussel
AJ James
Kim Klaver
Sandy Renshaw
Susan Bird
Ryan Barrett
Troy Worman
CK
Drew Mcclellan
Gavin Heaton

Start me up

2007-07-07T08:16:00.000+02:00

Yesterday evening, the Rolling Stones were on stage here in Rome.
As wrote in one of the previous post, I had an All access pass and, indeed, got to the concert.
After two hours of a flood of music, the Stones marked again the huge difference between the great rock and roll bands and most of wannabe music heroes of today.

This short video is a 1,44 minute video dedicated to Lewis Green, who made a comment saying "Start me up".
Even if a couple of days late, this is to celebrate the achievement of 1.000 comments on his blog.
Enjoy, man.

The second video is the tribute paid to Keith Richards. His guitar was the opening of all the songs.
He also sang a blues with Ron Wood at the acoustic guitar.
Rock on ,man.

This is a bold move from MPAA

2007-07-06T14:33:00.000+02:00

MPAA in its war against illegal download has finally taken the boldest move possible:

"has launched a site called MiiVi that's dedicated to busting those that are both in the process of downloading copyrighted content, as well as those that have already engaged in the illicit act. Unbeknownst to download pirates who think MiiVi is a legitimate site, the destination allows users to download whole movies. It also features a downloadable app soliciting "fast and easy downloading all in one great site."

As reported by MarketingVoice.

Now, these guys seem to live at the Flinstones age.
Not only, they are not able to find new business model but spend money and time to try to trick the web.
And get eventually discovered in a couple of months.
Well done, guys.
If I was in the industry and pay for your salary, I would fire you.

Tagged!!

2007-07-05T06:38:00.000+02:00

Well, tags and tagging may be a little boring. We do all our best to avoid e -mails saying deliver to 100 people or you got headache for a weak!
But I have to admit that this is a little different as it make you write something more about yourself. Yes, we do write something about ourselves everyday with our posts and comments. And, lately, I 've seen most of us to turn on a more personal mode.

Anyway, here are Random Things About Me:

I love dogs, sometimes more than humans
I love Pinot Noir Burgundy stile
I love modern art
I have an All Access pass for the Rolling Stones concert in Rome of tomorrow
I have a tattoo with a phrase from Sympathy for the devil
I adore Paris (the city, not the Hilton)
I love to cook and try new recipe for friends
I love Buddhism

And now the tagging for 8 people.

CK - ck-blog
Masiguy - masiguy
Gavin Heaton - servantofchaos
Stephen Denny - note-to-cmo
Pierfrancesco - pier-blog
Simone - simonemorgagni
Drew - drewsmarketingminute
David Armano - darmano

I do not know your reaction to the meme and the tag game but consider this tagging comes from an admirer.

Feel free to step in

2007-07-04T08:51:00.001+02:00

As life is too easy and I have a lot of free time, I have a new blog along with Bizandbuzz.
Please check: http://www.dunerestaurant.typepad.com/

This is the blog of the restaurant, where you can find information about the activity, as exhibition, parties, news about the city of Rome.

Enjoy,G.

Small thing that helps in making the world better

2007-07-03T14:34:00.000+02:00

Eni, the Italian petrol company, has a new dress code: until September no jacket and tie.
The reason: 9% of saving in electricity and CO2 emission for each centigrade of air conditioning.
The goal: the perception that everyone of us, from the single person to the big company, can do something real for the environment.
The result: a great pr activity that goes along with the other activity named 30% - 24 practical suggestions to save energy, money and the environment.

Congratulation to Paolo Scaroni, the Ceo of Eni.

Ethic, honesty, transparency

2007-06-27T06:08:00.000+02:00

On the Sunday supplement of La Repubblica, I have found this amazing story.
Guillaume Prébois, a 35 years old journalist, will participate to the Grand Boucle, the Tour the France.
He will run the legs of the Tous one day in advance under medical control and making the anti doping control everyday.
The purpose is to show that too many athletes do use addictive drugs to be faster.
Fabio Biasolo, a ultracycler, will support him in this adventure.
We can follow him at www.Lautretour.com

It all started when Tom Boonen, the world champion, at the end of one mountain leg of last Tour de France, said: "today the leg was so tough that a normal person would have gone to hospital"

Why I do post about this story?

Because I feel that this could be a great chance for companies to sponsor the clean face of a much discussed sport. Masiguy had some post on the dope issue. (see May 25, 2007)
It is a great marketing chance to link your brand to a project where ethic, honesty, transparency are the goals.
It is a strong message to all the amateurs of this sport, which has a huge market, about your brand and its positioning as a trusted one.

Is your brand in the position to support a project like this?
Is there around other projects like this one that could deliver to your brand?
And last, if Guillaume had asked support to your company, what would have been your answer?

A new blogger toolbox

2007-06-24T21:46:00.000+02:00

A great new suggestion from Drew's marketing minute: the new blogger toolbox.

Et voilà the suggestion for the new bloggers around:

Conversation Agent by Valeria Maltoni - a great thinker who write in a clear yet articulated way
Bizsolutionplus by Lewis Green - the ethic approach to business and to blogging and god knows how we need it
Servant of Chaos by Gavin Heaton - the down under look to our world making you see things from a different perspective
Webware by Rafe Needleman and others - I like the fresh insight to cool web apps
Note to CMO by Stephen Denny - a cool way to tell to CMO to wake up

Hope you'll enjoy these blogs and find them useful and inspiring.

And do not forget: this is not a "if you're tagged, jump in" sort of thing. If you know of some great resources...jump in. If you got named -- please, by all means jump in too!

Tell me why

2007-06-21T15:27:00.000+02:00

Few months ago, Digitas was acquired from Publicis Group for some as 1.6 bn dollars. Not bad.
A bold move to reinforce the Publicis position in the digital world.
Then, David Armano left the agency to join Critical Mass.
And three days ago, Greg Verdino left Digitas to join Crayon.
And probably some other moves took place in the meantime.

Now, why buy a company, pay a huge amount of money and then lose talents?
This is not a new story about this form of acquisition from the communication groups.
They are late in detecting new trends, then buy companies and try to turn them to their corporate approach and, most of the time, they kill them.

Marketing is, after all, about value creation

2007-06-21T14:45:00.000+02:00

This quote from CK's blog is the title of this post because I've neglected my blog lately.
And it shows from the readership.
Too many stuff to do. And a bit of selfishness.

But marketing, in its being a mix of art and science, has in itself some zen spirit and require a daily practice.

You need to stay on the news, get informed, attract and engage.
This is the main difference between writing a book and keeping a blog.
After a book is published you can have some rest, when a post is done you have to think about the next one: no post, no comments, no conversation.

And as well as marketing, blogging is about value creation.
The creation of a consistent reason to read your blog, to understand your thoughts and to comment them.

“What else is there to live for? food and women”

2007-06-17T21:44:00.000+02:00

And so I did it: I just became partner in a restaurant.
This is a long story.
I have always loved the idea of a restaurant, probably it's in my dna: my grandfather was a maitre in luxury hotels aroud the world.

Anyway, along with my consulting career, I'm now working on the marketing for the restaurant.
Go there and have a look:

http://www.dunerestaurant.it/main_Eng.html

And if you are in Rome or plan to come to the eternal city, send a mail.....

It's no longer the new news but the relevance of the news

2007-06-08T08:29:00.000+02:00

When I first started to blog, my focus was on the latest news and on writing something with strict connection to marketing (or at least the serious side of marketing) because the blogs I read was consistent in this approach.
But lately this way of blogging has changed and shifted from marketing to relationship.
Wait, I'm not saying we are no longer writing on marketing. The approach has changed: we blog about personal aspects of life, about relationship.
We do not forget that the job of the marketers is to advice on how to sell brands and products to customers, but they are no longer customers only but human being.
And the relationship between our bloggers has followed this path.

I'm more confident that there is a way to sell brands and products which is smart and transparent and honest.
A way where customers are not only grps or clicks or whatever measure you need to use but persons.

And across this path, this group of bloggers, I'm linked to, became a community.
We don't consider ourselves for the number of links but for what we are and what we say.

My approach has changed too:
it's no longer the new news but the relevance of the news.
Being the first to write about is not important to me is I have nothing relevant to say about.

*@###§^^!!!!!!!!

2007-06-04T10:22:00.000+02:00

I'm in a battle royal with technology!
Next update coming soon!

Better work few minutes more

2007-05-23T06:36:00.000+02:00

A quick update on The 4-Hour Workweek.
I've got a mail by Tim Ferriss who probably did not get my question (of course, it may be a fault of mine as I write in a foreing language).
Anyway my question was:

tim,
i'm very curious to read your book but, as i live in italy, no chance to get the audible version.
any suggestion?
thanks,g.

The answer is:

Hi Gianandrea,

Thank you for your email. You should be able to download the audiobook at www.audible.com, or you can download the ebook at www.powells.com .

Thanks so much!

Tim

The problem is:

at Audible the book is not available for outside the US
at Powells it is in pre order and I did not spent other time to check is there is the same problem

It is the same problem I detected by myself and which made me send a mail.
After three days, I got a mail with a useless answer.

Customer care and the 4 hours work week

2007-05-21T10:56:00.000+02:00

You have heard about a clever guy who is selling his method to work 4 hours a week and still living healthy.
I heard about him yesterday at Steve Rubel's place.
At first I was amazed by how smart is this guy : the book, five minutes conferences, a blog, some advice on how to measure your life quality, how to save money with a more rational standard of living, etc.
Wow, sounds great. Let me buy the book.
First problem: the book is not yet available for Italian market. Ok, such a smart guy, I send him a mail telling how i wish to understand more and we'll find a solution. So I did and I got an answer in five minutes. The most disappointing answer I, as a customer, can receive:

Hi All,

In an effort to actually get work done, I am checking email once every 2-4 days. If you need a response soon and have my number, please call me. I actually prefer phone for quick decisions.

If this is media, speaking, or interview-related, please find
appropriate phone info under "contact" at www.fourhourworkweek.com.

Cheers, and here's to life outside of the inbox!

Tim

P.S. I read all e-mail personally, but I cannot always reply, especially with involved how-to questions. Please don't be offended if I don't respond, and be sure to check out the blog, forums, and 4HWW communities that are popping up online. Thanks for
understanding, and I appreciate your e-mail!

Wait a minute:

to save your time you just do not check email?
to save your time, I have to phone to you?
you read all email personally but do not answer because you can't?
I have not to be offended, if you do not answer?

What about customer satisfaction?
You sell a product, your book, and to sell more you build up a story around it and to live with your story you tell to a customer to not send mail, better a phone call and if you should not answer just take it easy?

Is it me or there is something wrong?

Any new news?

2007-05-16T08:32:00.000+02:00

The world lives with the paranoia of the latest news: we must be updated, we have to know the latest piece of information and the first who get it is the winner. Wait, the winner of what? If by chance I should be the first to know about a new way to cure a disease, this means that I could be able to use this information appropriately? The winner still should be the one who use it better and smarter.
A post from down under Servant of Chaos (ok, it's Gavin) talk about the chaos of influence.
A post create some ripples that seem to disappear and then, all of a sudden, an influencer get into the playground and make the post live and spread, no matter how old it is.

Blogs do not necessarily live on the latest news but on the content relevance.
It's content and analysis that bring in readers and commenters and eventually create your social network.

Who's setting the pace in the advertising market?

2007-05-15T15:57:00.000+02:00

We all know and say that the world of advertising is going to change dramatically, that mass media are on the verge of a nervous breakdown, that viewerships and media fruition are shifting from a passive to an active mode (Marketing Charts) with an overlapping of different media fruition.
Well, this is probably the time when we can check if the above is correct or if we have been foolished by our desire. This the time of the year when next year budget are deployed and bigger media choice discussed: this is strategy time.
It's interesting to see the gap between the development of the strategy for the advertisers and the development of the programming for the editors and publisher of the main media.
In this Ad Age article, the Unilever Media VP, Laura Klauberg, says that's going to be tough to negotiate right now with no clear mind on the need from a programming point of view. And she is lucky enough if the TV sales houses know which programs they are going to broadcast.
It seems to me that advertisers need to be strategic while media tend to be tactical and to unveil their programs at the very last minute. This is true in Italy, where the TV programming can change very often. What about other countries?

the copyright issue for the 100th times

2007-05-14T09:03:00.000+02:00

two good news this morning.

the first one is that some smart guys are getting into sort out the copyright issue without making lawyers benefitting of all the revenues.
fast company reports of this model that may help in producing revenue for any stolen video.
i see some clear benefit here:

stop useless and expensive legal action
stop trying to face the tech evolution with last century approach
contribute to spread the creativity
make some positive pr to the industry

how it works?

"PodZinger's spiders will in time be able to track down specific video content on command--a clip from last night's Daily Show, for example, or everything that belongs to Comedy Central--and insert an ad into each segment, no matter where it is playing"

does it work?

we should hope yes, because it can be the first step to a newer and smarter approach to the unstoppable evolution of the web.

for the full article:
podzinger

the second news is the this is my post #100.
i wish to thanks all the readers and everyone who just passed by.

alphabet city

2007-05-12T18:41:00.000+02:00

other two letters just added to the meme.
well done.
here the links:

I am Blog with B

The Diet Pulpit with S

green is the colour of money

2007-05-11T10:19:00.000+02:00

Enviroment is becoming a business and, if it will succeed, we have a higher chance to keep our world alive.
Italian newspapers are filled with adv from major utilities company, such as Eni, Sorgenia, and manufacturers of lighting systems, such as Guzzini, Beghelli. All these ads have in common the message: save on electricity through a responsible and efficient lighting system.

Advice such as: do not leave appliances on stand by, adoption of low intensity light bulbs, computer assisted light system, etc.

What I find interesting in the approach is that no one of the company lose time talking about the future of the world, the eco system, etc. They go straight on the saving concept.
The eco concept is in the bodycopy, as an additional benefit.

Is it the same in the US or in other European countries?
Is that a new trend?

alphabet city

2007-05-09T17:15:00.000+02:00

It's time to turn this story into a meme and see what happens.

Valeria Maltoni posted her 4As about blogging.
David Armano did it one year ago with his 4Cs.
Mark Goren set up his 4Ps.
Grigor at Behind the glass describe his 4Ls.

My proposal is to build an alphabet with four words for each letter describing what blog is about.

My letter is I

Innovation - to be one step ahead with the latest information
Information - to get information about the rest of the world and keep my mind open and facilitate the integration
Integration - to approach others without prejudices, to have conversation with them and share thoughts that generate ideas
Ideas - to produce ideas that can really have an impact in my business as well in my life

What about you?

habitat for humanity

2007-05-08T18:00:00.000+02:00

It's almost one month that this community established the badge.
please, go ahead in donating.
click on the badge, make yours a better day.

a greener apple

2007-05-03T16:10:00.000+02:00

i know, and you should know, too: i'm an apple addict.
but you must admit it: this is a bold move.
for the first time ever, steve jobs is addressing the company policy to be a greener company, and a more transparent one.

a greener apple

Age of conversation, the eBook

2007-05-02T09:05:00.000+02:00

As you may know, two smart guys (Gavin and Drew) came up with a great idea: to build a book together with 100 bloggers, from all over the world, about conversation.
This has been a favourite topic since a while now, I had my own post about it, too.
But the interesting thing is to gather 100 persons and ask for a contribution.
I sent my two cents about it, titled about conversation.
What I tried to do is to define the structure of a conversation through my own thoughts and some quotes of writers, artists, philosophers.

The proceed goes to Variety, the children's charity