ChaosScenario

Of Endings and Beginnings

In the 1920s, A&P stood at the top of its category as a retail grocery chain. Only a few decades later, it was supplanted by chains able to offer lower prices for groceries.

What happened?

First, credit Henry Ford for democratizing the automobile, a tool that made it less work to travel a few miles to haul a great deal of groceries rather than walk a few blocks to carry a small supply of groceries.

Second, the popularization, availability, and affordability of personal refrigeration allowed people to store perishable goods for longer periods of time, making visits to grocery stores less frequent by allowing consumers to bring home more at one time.

Third, the competition was able to make use of these trends by consolidating supply, increasing their economies of scale by purchasing and selling in greater quantities, which allowed them to charge lower prices for commodity goods.

Fourth, A&P failed to adapt to these same trends. Now the grocery chain is a shell of its former self -- in many cases even lacking name recognition among large segments of the population.

What is important here isn't the particular experience of A&P, which may still one day recover its former glory. Needless to say, no one needs to reinvent the automobile. However, that's not to say that some technology or newly discovered business efficiency won't make your current service obsolete. Think music downloads vs CD sales or online media vs newspaper consumption.

Even though you may be at the top of your game, don't ever believe that you will remain there by standing pat, and if the marketplace is telling you it wants something you're not providing (or if it's telling you it doesn't want something, but you're going to force on it anyway), LISTEN. While the number '2007' lacks the attractiveness of a round number, your customers will not wait until 2010 to abandon you if you cease providing something that they want, as long as their money has alternative uses. - Cam Beck

5 Tips to Better Blogging and Better Living

As we look back at the year just gone by, it's only proper that we reflect on what went well, what went poorly, and how we can get better in 2007. After reflecting on it awhile, I decided that my resolutions for 2007 also could serve as a guide to better blogging (and living), so I will post these tips for all to see, and I ask that you all hold me accountable over the next year.

1. Listen
This step is far too often overlooked. We tend to get so caught up in the heat of our passion that it's easy to assume we know everything we need to know in order to form judgment. The only way we'll ever know we're wrong is if we first learn how to listen.

2. Think
And by "think," I mean reason. We ought not just think about what we're going to say, but instead we need to challenge our preconceptions and test our assumptions. That also means we have to identify the assumptions at their roots, which is harder than it seems.

3. Share
Accountability. Accountability. Accountability. Nothing is more frustrating than being the only one to to think you are right. Falling slightly behind that is to have no one available to challenge your thoughts. Blogging opens up our thoughts and beliefs to others, who can challenge our assumptions or our logic, or they can just comment on the way we look. Hey, there is a seedier side to community, and in order to experience the good, we also have to risk the bad.

4. Listen
It's no accident that this shows up on this list twice. It is by far the most important aspect to successful communication and lasting persuasion. Once our ideas have been exposed, it is incumbent on us to listen to and understand why and how people either agree or object to them. With discipline, this practice will only strengthen our ability to communicate as well as facilitate cooperation or support for those ideas, or it will bring us to understand a different perspective that we would have otherwise missed.

5. Improve
This is more of a habit that encapsulates every aspect of our lives, but to bloggers, this means we push not only ourselves to achieve greater things, but also the communities in which we participate. When you think about it, our most rewarding accomplishments come from helping others. And when we seek to lift up the community, that same community lifts us up and allows us to achieve greater things than if we were simply to try to do it alone. This same principle ought be applied to the behavior of business, where the "communities" should be the customers and the employees and the shareholders, but just as often as not seems to be all about the shareholders, the executives, and the board members.

So, What's Next?
I was thinking about "tagging" a few of you, but there are a few worthy memes out there, and I don't want to burn everyone out on them. However, if you happen to have any resolutions for the new year, please share on your blog and either trackback here or post a link in your comments (HTML is allowed). I (and, I'd gather, many others) would love to read them! - Cam Beck

It's Okay to Hug (Gavin)

The most rewarding aspect to blogging is being a few clicks away from enjoyable and insightful people. This occurs without even knowing it, which is in a way frustrating, because there are so many good people out there that it's impossible to keep tabs on everybody. When you find a new blog worth reading, though, a new world of dreams and experience opens up to be explored and shared.

Mack Collier has his Z-list meme that continues to spread. It was adopted by Seth Godin with a twist. (Ann Handley has a great take on this on MPDaily Fix). Both are ingenious ways to open up the worlds of lesser-known bloggers who nevertheless can enrich all of our lives. It's funny... We all tout the virtues of blogging, but something tells me we have no idea how powerful it can really be.

That said, thanks to recently discovered (by me, anyway) Marcus Brown, here's a video that makes a pretty good metaphor for how the blogging community has rallied behind our friend Gavin. This one's for you, buddy.

Don't forget to visit the Friends of Gavin page or to leave a comment on his father-in-law's get-well guestbook. - Cam Beck

Friends of Gavin, Unite!

When I first started blogging here in May, I had no idea how much I would enjoy the wit, wisdom, and company of people I never met. It took me a couple of months to get the hang of it, but I consider myself very blessed to have chanced upon the blog "Servant of Chaos," authored by The Great Aussie, Gavin Heaton.

In fact, one of Gavin's great insights was the subject of my 11th post ever on ChaosScenario, and it was the first time I ever heaped praise on someone else's blog. It wasn't the last time, either. Time after time, Gavin has put forth great work, and he has always been quite gracious to not only us here at ChaosScenario, but also a host of other bloggers Gavin mentions with nearly every article he writes. Consequently, he's well respected and liked by many bloggers.

So when CK discovered that Gavin's father-in-law was in a terrible bicycling accident in Australia, the community Gavin helped create felt for him and desired greatly to help. Thankfully, the Internet gives us the tools to do just that.

Here's How You Can Help:

1. Pray. If you don't pray, do whatever it is you do.
2. Send a Get Well Note. Leave a kind comment of support.
3. Donate. We set up a blog and a PayPal account for medical expenses. Two people are in critical care. Gavin did not ask for us to do this; I'm not even certain he knows this effort exists yet. The community was simply mobilized by their admiration and support of a friend.
4. Join the FOGroll. This Friends of Gavin blogroll lives on the page we established to collect donations. Email me if you would like to be added.
5. Spread the Word. David Armano created the pretty graphic at the top of this post so that you could use it on your blog. Download it. Write about it. Post it.

Finally, Gavin, let me say THANK YOU for your contribution in this sphere as well as your gracious leadership in this community. You've supported us for so long; you deserve no less from us. - Cam Beck

Verizon Wireless Mobile Advertising Gaffe

Seth Godin points us to a New York Times article about Verizon's plan to push mobile advertising on its subscribers. The reason given by John Harrobin, VP of marketing and digital media for Verizon Wireless, is that, "We know we can make significant dollars in mobile Web advertising in 2007." Harrobin caveats his statement (retreats, perhaps?) by saying, "[W]e want to take it carefully and methodically, and enable the right experience."

Mobile advertising can go one of two ways: It can either supplement consumer or supplement the carrier. I'm sad to say it looks as if the initial pursuits will supplement carrier, irrespective of what the consumer wants.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a rabid capitalist, and I advocate fair prices concordant with what the marketplace will bear. Price controls supply, and vice versa. Companies need to make money in order to survive, which Verizon certainly has every right to do. However, even if Verizon uses the dollars it is chasing to improve service or bring down the cost of owning a cell phone, unless it is specifically and openly tied to this endeavor (and unless Verizon allows users to opt out for an additional fee), I'm afraid the lack of choice will only cause further animosity and distrust towards advertisers in general.

This is unexplored territory, and I'm glad people (including Google CEO Eric Schmidt) are thinking about it, but if we've not learned that people want to be in control of how and when they're exposed to advertising, then we've not learned a thing since the emergence of new media, and all that talk about "You" being the person of the year and responding best to understated advertising was nothing more than lip service that advertisers and marketers implicitly understand but lack the courage and foresight to follow. - Cam Beck

Full Disclosure: I am a Verizon Wireless customer, but only for as long as practical.

WSJ: A Companion to Time's "Person of the Year"

After we were all anointed Time's "Person of the Year," The Wall Street Journal ran its "Best (and Worst) Ads of '06." Happily enough, the good folks at the Journal took its cue from Time and pointed out something good folks like Seth and Paul have been pointing out for some time. Commenting on advertisers' successful reactions to the trend that sees consumers desiring control over their own media, the WSJ said, "This low-key approach is a major reversal for an industry long keen on marketing messages delivered with a sledge hammer."

Here's WSJ's list of the 5 most successful ads of '06:

1. CareerBuilder's Monkey Business. Not one of my personal favorites aesthetically or in terms of usability, but I like how they integrated multiple media by promoting the Super Bowl TV ads.
2. KFC's TiVo Buster. I never actually saw this ad on TV, but I can't help but admire KFC's willingness to embrace and experiment with alternative solutions to a growing problem for TV advertisers by encouraging the audience to interact with the brand in new ways. I also appreciate how the promotion was able to drive traffic to the site to download coupons (Over 100K within a week, and 3 million page views). KFC also came under fire for supposedly violating an FCC rule against "subliminal advertising," but this was more a case of imaginative lawyers with too much time on their hands than KFC doing something wrong.
3. Philips "Bodygroom" Shaver. What can be said about this that hasn't been said before? It's shameless. It's engaging. It's hilarious, not just for what it shows, but for what it leaves out. Great use of technology. I have no word on the ROI (building a site like this had to be expensive), but it's difficult to put a price tag on the word-of-mouth something like that generates.
4. Apple's Anthropomorphism. With 95ish% of the market owning PCs, Apple didn't seek to make PC owners look bad, which would have been a polarizing disaster. The actor playing a generic "PC" is respectable in his own right, lovable for certain, but he's also a little out of touch with the "in" crowd. As the WSJ puts it, "Apple's knife cuts deep, but by the time rivals feel it, they have already started to bleed." These ads made the rounds on YouTube, but they also spurred a flurry of funny spoof ads on the same platform, which  by themselves do nothing but build awareness for Apple's ads and its brand.
5. Sprint's Phone. This is the one where one of the phones is supposedly a "crime deterrent" -- a stone-age use of cutting-edge technologies that Sprint tells us allows users to connect with the Web.

Notice how all of these, in some way, utilize either integrated or Web-only campaigns, or promote interaction with the Internet? It's a Web 2.0 world, folks. We're just living in it. First Time, and now The Wall Street Journal, seem to recognize this. Time's article smacks of shameless pandering. The Wall Street Journal article, by contrast appearing on page B1 of Friday's edition, seems much more authentic. Does that make it a trend? - Cam Beck

Rosie, The Donald and new media

If you haven't heard about this feud, you must live in a cave. Frankly, I'm not all that interested in this, I think the Miss USA pageant is pretty stupid, a thinly veiled gawk fest. Mark Cuban's post this morning, however, got me interested. Trying to get their message out, Rosie is a clear winner in the use of new media.

The clear message here is that being genuine and transparent wins out. Rosie's blog is written by her, doesn't blatantly push her 'empire' down your throat (protecting the brand), and has content that has been referenced several times. The Donald on the other hand doesn't write his own blog post, and for the most part is just a thinly veiled way to push Trump University.

Bottom line, when it come to new media (and possibly all media) people don't want to hear about you and your product all the time. Being genuine and interesting means participating in a conversation, not just hocking your product. - Paul Herring

Jakob Nielsen at the Movies

I am on the record as being a great admirer of Jakob Nielsen. However, there have been times where I have been critical of some of the things he has written. Whether I was being critical or doting, though, I openly wondered if he perhaps lacked the ability to express enjoyment of anything or if the language barrier was just a little too much for him to overcome. However, I had a lot of fun with his most recent article.

This week, Nielsen wrote about the "Top 10 Bloopers" of computer usability in the movies, where he describes how Hollywood mischaracterizes how humans really interact with computers in television and movies. As one on the forefront of usability testing, Nielsen would certainly know if mistakes are made.

When you know only a little about something, it's difficult to catch these mistakes. When you know a lot about something, the mistakes tend to stand out, and it's difficult to restrain  yourself from groaning out loud. You can't help yourself, but you do your best to overlook the snafu as an element the artists believed necessary to tell the story.

Here are some interesting ones from Nielsen's list:

1. Access Denied / Access Granted. Whenever someone tries to crack a security-enabled system, we are treated to one of these two messages, when in reality, we would normally just be granted access without the message.
2. Big Fonts. Usually in conjunction with the point above, but always big enough for the audience to read.
3. You've Got Mail is Always Good News. (Bruce Almighty notwithstanding) In reality, we get so many emails that answering them can be a chore, especially when we have to sort through all the spam to pick out the ones that may be of interest to us.

Movies are full of such errors and implausible plot details. Nielsen cites one of my favorites, "[Y]ou'd imagine...that the ability to shoot straight might actually be a primary job requirement of Imperial Stormtroopers."

Are these errors really important? Surely, the movies are a little easier to follow, but Nielsen observes that people have a tendency to believe that, if they can't find or do something on a computer system, it's their fault, not the program's, and movies that inaccurately portray a usability utopia further ingrain the psychological willingness to keep plugging away instead of demanding systems that are easier to use.

All of that may be true, of course, but filmmakers are in the business of making movies, not solving our problems. It's our job to make the systems usable. - Cam Beck

Improve your first life before second life

Ann Haneley's article this week on Second Life which really just covers an article from Greg Verdino (Digitas VP of Emerging channels) has prompted me to put my two cents in on the 'new channel'.

First, let me start off with saying that, in general, I encourage brands to experiment with these channels. When Forrester and others came out against podcasting, this blog called them out. I started this blog last year when many friends and business associates laughed saying blogging was a fad and that only 'idiots blog'.

When it comes to Second Life, however, I'd don't recommend that a clients dive in. As Greg said in his article, there are only about two million people who have registered for Second Life. One thing that Greg didn't point out was that, on average, there are at most tens of thousands of people connected at any given moment. Also, of the two million people who have registered, less than half have logged in in the last sixty days.

The other problem that Greg's article points out is that it's a little resource intensive. Greg visited a lot of the islands built by brands and found out that, although they're beautifully designed, they're is no one there. This has the potential for having a negative effect on the brand, probably more negative than not having anything at all.

If you want to experiment with virtual environments, start with in-game advertising. You get better reporting, can advertise across games. - Paul Herring

Update: I received this email from Lance Callaghan at Double Fusion. They handle in game ads as well, and have some pretty cool titles.

Annoying Mistakes Even AOL and Microsoft Make

When my AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) prompted me to upgrade to the newest version, I was a little hesitant. The last time I upgraded, it hijacked my home page and installed a browser tool I didn't want. However, this blog is giving me such delusions that I almost see it as my responsibility to try these things out and then report to you the results, in hopes of sparing at least some of you from the same problems. So here's what I found:

To my surprise, during the install, AIM asked me whether I wanted to install the toolbar and make AIM Today my homepage. Furthermore, the options were NOT selected by default.

"Wow," I thought. "Maybe AOL has been listening to us little people." So I planned on praising AOL in a future blog post.

However, the next time I rebooted my computer, without being prompted, Firefox opened up -- you guessed it -- the AIM homepage. What's more, through some technical hiccup that I haven't had the time to figure out how to overcome, it actually loaded an old version of Firefox, which reminds me to upgrade unavailable extensions every time it loads. My boot-up sequence is already pretty slow with all the virus checks and updates it has to go through, so this little annoyance just delayed my journey to productivity that much more.

Not sure how this happened (since I left the checkbox unselected), I looked at my AIM preferences and found the culprit.

Yep. So, to AOL, "no" means "yes." And I know that "technically" one question isn't the same as the other, but in practice, when a window is opened, unless prompted by an email link, it should go directly to the user-designated homepage. I didn't ask for this, I wasn't asked for permission. They just took it upon themselves to interrupt whatever it is that I was doing.

Similarly, my Windows Media Player asked me if I wanted to upgrade. I love the automatic notices, by the way. There's no way I'd be able to keep up-to-date without them. But every time I upgrade, it asks me if I want to associate all manner of file types with its program.

Most of them I recognized, and I was able to tell which program is associated with the files I normally used, but I must admit that I didn't know all of them, and I had no idea how they were being handled by the time this program asked me. And since I didn't know, I had no clue how to answer the question.

First of all, AOL, quit putting junk in front of us that we have no interest in reading. And next time, Microsoft, remember that we want to be in control. So if you want to "recommend" that we use your program with all of these files, have the decency to tell us what program is currently handling each type. We'll get around to using your program for some things, but the more you try to force us, the more we want to resist it. - Cam Beck