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90 Til 30: Why Inauguration Day Is Bigger Than Politics.

2008-10-20T22:01:00.002-04:00

Just three months from today, while much of the United States is trapped amidst a bleak and gray winter, a bright and warm moment will bring the World together as one to celebrate the passing of one age into an entirely new one. Regardless of whom they've supported in the past, or the cumbersome worries they may carry into the future, the World will unite and look beyond what we've known these past few years. Partisan politics will be forgotten (if just for a brief time) and the World will finally turn the page to move ahead with hope and optimism. Men will weep. Women will cheer. Songs will be sung. Bibles will be sworn upon. Children will be forced to pretend they care.

January 20, 2009. My 30th birthday. It also happens to be Inauguration Day. Either way, seems like it's worth celebrating.

Before all that happens, I feel as though there are still a great many things I should do, experience, and accomplish before I exit my twenties. Moreover, I'm interested in your thoughts and advice as to what you might recommend I do within the next 90 days. They can be big things or little things, as long as they are achievable things (its doubtful that I can win an Olympic medal between now and January).

Give me advice. Tell me one of your favorite accomplishments or destinations. Tell me something you've always wanted to do and why. Just make a suggestion. It could be to learn your favorite birdcall or to visit a favorite locale. It could be to play chess in a park or to learn to drive a motorcycle. Share something. Teach something. Plus, you get super triple extra bonus points if you go so far as to help with a direction or recommendation for HOW to go about doing whatever it is you suggest.

Here are a few random uncompleted items off of my Life List that might spark your thinking. I won't get through them all yet, but I'll cross a few of these off in the next 90 days (and some others, too).

16. Buy an ice cream cone for a stranger.
20. Commission a work of art.
31. Write a story for mom.
47. Speak at TED.
48. Swim with a manatee.
49. Learn to surf.
63. Drive the entire PCH.
66. Beat Super Mario Brothers.
67. Get ink.
74. Learn how to sew on buttons.
95. Travel to make a difference, not just for business and for vacation.

You will, of course, be updated about progress, especially concerning any recommendations or advice you might give.

I Just Hate Metallica

2008-09-06T01:39:00.003-04:00

I follow a lot about politics and I despise, yet appreciate the strategy behind the rhetoric. However, I don't know if I've ever been more disgusted by a blatant attempt to mislead followers into a false sense of appreciation than what Metallica is now attempting to do on YouTube.

After having spent years suing any fan or distribution outlet they could find who mentioned their work online, they have now taken the obvious plunge into the realm of "if can't beat 'em, join 'em" with the hopes that fans won't realize their record. Watch Lars choke back his resentment of his publicist in the video below.

Seems genuine enough, don't you think? Please, stop spending money supporting this band. They are the epitome of why the recording industry is missing the point and destroying itself by mistreating fans. They are now embracing tools they have fought against not because they believe in them or appreciate what they facilitate, but because they see the possibility of the revenue it will bring them. Makes my skin crawl a bit.

Carrotmob Organizes Local Consumer Spending to Save the World

2008-09-01T21:00:00.004-04:00

Pretty sweet idea. The video is a bit long, but it's a good story that makes a good point. What happens when consumers organize their collective spending to negotiate with retailers or service providers? Well, it turns out, they can get more than a good deal, they can make a difference in the community.

Carrotmob is a group currently forming in San Francisco whose mission is to do just that. Their model is basically to create a bidding war between businesses who will ultimately benefit from a flashmob of purchasers. The great part is, they are bidding on how much of the impending proceeds the store owners are willing to commit to making ecological improvements to their own store.

It's a true win-win and its pretty scalable.

Check out their first event:

Carrotmob Makes It Rain from carrotmob on Vimeo.

Color Week

2008-08-29T21:47:00.002-04:00

Charlie Fan
Originally uploaded by ropegun

I spent the week playing around with photography for the first time in quite awhile. The challenge was to pick one color each day and keep an eye out for it. It was a lot of fun, very challenging, and highly recommended. That's Charlie, who is a brilliant model, posing on Red Day.

Check out all of the results on Flickr.

Blog Indiana

2008-08-20T11:02:00.003-04:00

This past weekend, I was fortunate enough to speak to a group of the most enthusiastic members of Indiana's blogging community at Blog Indiana 2008 at IUPUI's amazing new Campus Center. My topic was "Between the Posts" (which I admittedly have plenty of experience with) and it centered on using social media to connect people around your ideas, thoughts, posts, and so on.

Between the Posts

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: maratriangle mediasauce)

Andrew Keen Hates My Blog.

2008-07-16T22:16:00.005-04:00

I don't take it personally, though, he hates most every blog, video, photo and tweet on the Internet. It's just his way.

Meet Andrew Keen, author of "The Cult of the Amateur". He's really upset that I have an opinion and that I'm "stealing" this video clip to share with you. His claim, in effect, is that the Internet is destroying our culture because now too many people are able to share and express thoughts, ideas, and creative expression rather than leaving it to the "experts". He feels that those who are truly deserving (artists, journalists, etc.) are no longer able to earn a living because the Internet devalues them and allows their work to be stolen or mimicked.

Personally, I believe in an even playing field where anyone with exceptional talent has the opportunity to share that with those who appreciate it--be that 2 people or 2 billion people. I also believe that people who try to make others feel inferior by just firing questions at them to try to make them stumble come off looking quite foolish. What do you think?

Censorship on the House Floor: Why Rep. John Culberson Is Banned From Using Twitter

2008-07-09T12:20:00.008-04:00

Having fixed the economy and stopped the war, Congress is now turning its attention to censoring itself on Twitter and other social media websites. Yet another item to add to the "Aren't There More Pressing Matters to Deal With?" File.

For several months, I've followed the inside viewpoint of Texas Congressman John Culberson (R) via Twitter as he offered a unique insight into the world of Washington politics. Using a variety of social media outlets, but most notably through Twitter and the occasional live video stream via Qik, he has opened the doors to the House of Representatives in a very new and authentic way, at times even streaming live from the House floor, answering questions from constituents, and explaining the process like a modern-day Jefferson Smith.

Yesterday on Capitol Hill, Massachusetts Representative Michael Capuano (D), who is Chairman of the "Congressional Commission on Mailing Standards" introduced a letter to attempt to shut down the use of any third party social media outlets by Congressmen without first gaining Committee approval each time. His claim is that any usage that is outside of the House.gov domain needs to belong to an official "channel" within that site and thus, make it a unified "official" voice from the House each time video is posted.

Rep. Capuano states, "I believe that these conditions will help ensure that the House presence on such external sites conforms with acceptable standards that reflect favorably on the dignity, propriety, and decorum of the House."

That means, before every time Rep. Culberson could answer a question or voice an opinion, he would be forced to take it to a House Sub-Committee to make sure it was the acceptable response.

This is exactly the sort of governmental control that is blatantly disastrous to a legitimate democracy, and should be seen as a complete act of censorship, regardless of your political affinity (if anyone has one anymore). If there is ANYWHERE in the world that we, as American citizens, have the right to see inside the doors and gather the information we choose to make our own decisions, it is inside of OUR House and Senate.

As our government reconsiders the accessibility of our representatives, please visit Let Our Congress Tweet or follow the updates on Twitter.

A Qik interview with Rep. Culberson. Qik utilizes mobile phone cameras, so the quality isn't exactly HD.

Social Media Creating Social Change: Mara Triangle

2008-07-08T23:11:00.000-04:00

In January of 2001, local leaders in southwestern Kenya created The Mara Conservancy, an agency dedicated to the protection of The Mara Triangle, a 510 sq km (197 sq miles) National Reserve that is home to the Masai people and game such as lions, elephants, cheetahs, hippopotami, black rhinos, and of course the zebras and wildebeest that comprise the Great Migration each year. In the years that followed, the rangers dedicated to Mara virtually ended poaching in the area, built more than 150km of roads, and saw the lion population swell by more than 50 percent. Their successes served as a boon to the region, which became a hot spot for travelers on safari.

However, post-election violence in Kenya erupted late in 2007 and created a catastrophic collapse of the tourism industry (90% drop since January 2008). Without this vital source of revenue crucial park operations, including anti-poaching and de-snaring patrols, are severely hindered in the Mara. Without a new source of funding, these services will soon cease.

No Tourists = No Funding = No Protection for Mara Wildlife

Thankfully, Joseph Kimojino, head of tourism and anti-animal harassment for the Mara Conservancy, has refused to bow to pressures. Using a variety of social media applications, he is brilliantly connecting with his audience and engaging them in the stories and challenges of the rangers in the Mara Triangle.

On a daily basis, they are posting updates and stories to a WordPress blog about the activity of the wildlife and the increasing numbers of poachers their weakened patrols have captured. A comprehensive photo gallery lives on Flickr while Vimeo is home to an impressive video channel. With each update, Twitter followers and Facebook friends are notified and kept abreast of the latest.

It doesn't take a lot of money to build an audience and to make an impact. It takes passion, authenticity, and solid strategy. I'm extremely impressed by Joseph and The Mara Triangle on each. I sent my donation today. I hope you do the same. Support The Mara Triangle.

Wildebeest Crossing the Mara River into Mara Triangle from Joseph Kimojino on Vimeo.

Blowing Up the Environment to Save It

2008-07-08T10:13:00.004-04:00

I've recently had the opportunity to spend a good deal of time working with the Indiana state offices of The Nature Conservancy, which means that I've had the good fortune to learn more and more about the many ways in which their organization is truly saving the world. Their vast efforts to develop sustainable practices and a conservation ethic are changing mindsets while preserving millions of acres across the nation.

During a recent visit to their offices, I was looking at the many photos on the walls while waiting for a meeting to start. I was studying one particularly ominous-looking one of what appeared to be the aftermath of a forest fire. Trees were charred and felled, and aside from a few young, bright green leaves, it was a pretty bleak scene.

With all of their efforts aimed towards the support of protecting nature, it caught me a bit off guard when one of the state officers walked in, smiled, saying, "Yeah, we really like to burn things around here."

It wasn't a forest fire, but rather, a controlled burn. Among other things, these highly-targeted events help to restrict the growth of invasive species of plants that were crowding out and threatening the native species of the area and encourage the best (and most natural) balance.

When your focus is on developing the best long-term strategic outcome, sometimes short-term sacrifice becomes a necessity.

Check out this video from a Nature Conservancy effort to restore the wetlands in southern Oregon's Williamston River Delta Preserve through the use of more than 100 tons of explosives. Within one hour, more than 2,500 acres were flooded.

Twitter as a Life-Saver?

2008-06-16T15:01:00.006-04:00

Along with thousands of others, I have recently been playing around with the "microblogging" site, Twitter. The premise is simple--answer the question "What are you doing?" using 140 characters or less and allow those who are interested to follow along with what you have to say. It's sort of like sending out text messages to anyone who cares enough to read it. The thing is, most of us are constantly doing something different, so the answer changes a lot.

Twitter also allows you to follow along as friends, celebrities, experts, and even the Mars rover, continually answer the question, as well. You may choose to follow just a select few, or thousands, it all depends who you think has something interesting to say, and you can choose to receive these updates online or even to your phone.

The obvious first question is, "why would anyone do that?" or "isn't that just more inane chatter to muck up your already overly complicated life?". Both are beyond fair questions and ones that I posed before playing around a little bit so that I might be able to answer them for folks. Personally, I've been using Twitter mostly like its an RSS reader that allows me to listen in to the up-to-the-instant insight from other experts in my field. I've also used it for quick research (by firing out a question to get some quick feedback from those who are following my posts) and to keep MediaSauce colleagues updated about what I'm working on without having to talk to a handful of people individually. As is the case with most Internet phenomenon, there isn't really a clear cut point to Twitter, just different uses for different folks.

Thinking beyond the techie geek side of things, there is also potential for the service to help with news delivery and personal safety. Recently, an American student in Egypt was unjustly arrested, but was able to send out a "tweet" before being put in a cell. The simple text message "Arrested." motivated his followers to begin calling the embassy and helping clear up the situation. He was free in less than 24 hours. Being connected can be a very good thing.

I'm yet to see too many great applications for business, but JetBlue, Comcast and others are already using Twitter for customer service, and at MediaSauce, we use it to send out quick internal announcements. I can also envision it as a great tool to seek out and motivate volunteers or canvassers come election time.

Anyway, you'll be hearing plenty more about Twitter, especially if someone really figures out what they're supposed to be doing with it! Feel free to sign up and follow my every move (at least until I get bored with it).

Google Me: The Movie

2008-06-16T13:38:00.003-04:00

At one point or another, you've typed your own name into Google. Curiosity? Maybe. Self-absorbtion? Probably. Research? Doubtful. Unless you're filmmaker Jim Killeen, who used it to find and go meet people all over the world who share his name. Interesting.

iPhone Madness. Again.

2008-06-09T09:55:00.000-04:00

Even though its been on the market for a year, I don't think people fully understand the transformational impact of the iPhone as a product and as a platform. Today, as Steve Jobs hops on stage rocking a black mock turtleneck and jeans (just a guess), it will begin to become a lot more clear to a lot more people. Your phone will soon take over most of the functions that you rely upon your laptop for right now (and of course, be capable of many more things that a laptop could never do). That's a big deal.

Expect the announcement of a new version of the iPhone with a significantly lower price point and a slew of AMAZING applications that have already been developed for immediate download that will simply make the digital aspects of your life easier.

Don't Watch This Video--You Might Get Sued (Somehow)!

2008-06-03T15:03:00.002-04:00

I'm continually fascinated by the ongoing battles and scuffles amid and around the recording industry and their impossible battle against technological advancements of any sort. The ignorance that is continually shown by certain artists and labels is stunningly cute. Wasting energy stopping music from the digital world is just about as realistic as winning a war on terror or a sack race versus grumpiness.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that copyrights should be infringed upon, but I do believe:
1.) recording labels are an archaic and wholly unnecessary entity in an age when artists can connect to their fans and sell their albums and concert tickets all by themselves and keep exponentially more revenue, control, and integrity.
2.) artists like Metallica and Prince endlessly suing their own fans rather than embracing the new possibilities of a digital age is the same ridiculous mentality as our current Administration who is planning to somehow end terror by tracking down one "evil-doer" at a time.

Thus, I'm enjoying the philosophical rivalry that is currently emerging between Prince, one of the most litigious and anti-Internet artists you'll find (proof, more proof, I'm hardly scratching the surface) and web-lovers Radiohead, whose most recent album, "In Rainbows", was available for download for free/donation for several weeks via their website and whose most recent single, "Nude", was made available for fans to download the individual "stems" or song components (e.g. voice, guitar, strings, drums) and create their own remixes and alternate versions of the song (this effort has since propelled their previously uncharted song to #37 on the Billboard Hot 100).

Clearly, these artists have a disparate viewpoint concerning their relationship with their fans and the online community. However, their paths are now crossed because of Prince's cover of Radiohead's Creep at this year's Coachella Music Festival seen below.

Once videos began to emerge on YouTube, Prince threatened to sue those who had posted the footage. However, since Radiohead owns the publishing rights, they stood up to the threats on behalf of the fans who had posted the material. Radiohead lead singer Thom Yorke to Prince, as quoted by the AP: "Tell him to unblock it. It's our ... song." Right on. Perhaps not all musical "theft" takes place online.

Burn After Reading Trailer

2008-05-30T18:08:00.002-04:00

The trailer for the upcoming Coen Brothers movie, Burn After Reading. There is just a lot here that made me laugh. Enjoy!

Pork and Beans

2008-05-28T08:09:00.002-04:00

I assume you've probably already seen the video for Weezer's new single, "Pork and Beans". If not, you surely know someone who enjoyed it over the holiday weekend--it racked up more than 3.5 million views on YouTube in three days. No doubt you'll be tired of the song pretty quickly, but check out all of the cameos from your favorite YouTube viral video superstars.

Hulu Scores Big

2008-05-21T09:05:00.003-04:00

If you haven't checked out Hulu yet, it seems you're quickly becoming a member of another technological minority group. Due to its ability to secure partnerships with several major media outlets (chief among them Fox and NBC/Universal), they have fast become THE destination for watching television broadcasts online.

April marked Hulu's first month of full operation outside of their invitation-only Beta testing and Nielsen Online's April video streaming statistics show Hulu is already #1 in viewership among "TV sites". Users watched 63.2 million videos and spent an average of 129.3 minutes per month. That seems like a tremendously high average, but bear in mind, Hulu is a very different site than YouTube, whose average video is 2-minutes of user generated content. These are full episodes of professionally produced content streamed at fairly decent video quality. In fact, I have several friends who have cut their ties with cable and satellite providers altogether because they can find most all of the shows they'd want to watch online.

The quality and user experience are pretty great and the ads are somewhat minimal (they drop a 15-second spot in wherever the TV broadcast had a regular commercial break). Unfortunately (but not at all surprisingly) they have recently announced plans to insert more ads and will assuredly make their platform just as littered with commercial interruptions as traditional TV.

My only real complaint is the sporadic nature of their programming lineup. Though a tremendous variety of current and classic shows (and even some feature length films) are available, it's pretty random as far as which episodes from which seasons are available to view at any given time. Just a guess, but I'd assume that it all has to do with contracts and agreements and DVD sales and syndication. Over time, those gaps will be filled in and I'm sure they'll offer the ability to purchase commercial-free episodes via their site or a partnership with an online retailer.

Panorama of China Earthquake Aftermath

2008-05-21T08:47:00.004-04:00

To have any hope of getting any decent world news coverage, it's best to turn to journalists outside of the States. Check out this amazing 360-degree pano from Beichuan courtesy of the good folks at The Guardian. Go check it out.

Mac Experience As Music Video >> Now & Then

2008-05-11T10:46:00.003-04:00

Using Mac OSX

Using and Apple II

Sometimes technology can be incredibly creative--no matter the tools you have to work with.

Microsoft Vista Internal Propaganda

2008-04-21T13:40:00.002-04:00

There really aren't words for this.

It just really makes me wonder "why" in oh so many ways. There is no chance that even the people who work for Microsoft are so convoluted as to actually enjoy or believe anything about that production.

Stories Without Words

2008-04-14T17:27:00.004-04:00

As far as advertising goes, I venture to say that Sony has become one of the very best at learning how to capture the attention and appreciation of an audience by simply creating an amazing visual experience rooted in the real world. That's a pretty good thing since they exist to sell products that are designed to help you do exactly the same thing. Here is the latest in a line of several pieces that capture the imagination without saying a word.

Just enjoy, and if you have missed out on their previous classics, head to the Sony Bravia site and experience Colour Like No Other.

What Norwigian Children Do in Their Spare Time

2008-04-09T12:36:00.004-04:00

I have enough friends who are now engineers to know that they do, in fact, act an awful lot like this as kids. Well, either that, or they just talk about doing things like this, but never get around to actually making any of it happen. Anyway, great concept on this faux-UGC video from Norway.

Unfortunately, this it's a spot for a Scandanavian oil and aluminum production company, not a group seeking to spur amazing progress in alternative fuels or sustainability.

Seeing the Future: The End of the Internet?

2008-04-09T11:39:00.006-04:00

I came across an interesting post on GigaOm that I just thought I'd share. If you're a conspiracy theorist or general worry-wort, you might find it frightening. If you're just interested in thinking about how the web evolves and changes, you might just enjoy a different perspective.

Bad things can, of course, happen. Tragic and wide-scale, even, but let's all hope we can avoid this list of the 10 Ways the Internet (As We Know It) Will Die.

The Future of Advertising

2008-04-01T22:19:00.004-04:00

It isn't all that often that I come across a presentation or article that I think truly nails it, but here is one that slide by slide gets it right. The gentleman who created it is Paul Isakson, Senior Strategic Planner at space150 in Minneapolis, and he's done a fantastic job in explaining what seems to be a difficult concept for far too many.

| View | Upload your own

A brand, just like a person, creates value based upon what it gives the world--not what it says about itself. Do good. If you care about your people or your audience, take the time to understand them and their world. Do something that helps them. Give them a reason to appreciate you, and most likely, they will.

We Think.

2008-03-25T09:28:00.003-04:00

I'll have to come back later to talk more about the overarching awesomeness of this animation created to promote Charles Leadbeater's (here he is at TED in 2005) new book We-Think. It's just extremely right on and captures the essence of why I am so energized by what all of this convergence and connectivity is all about as well as anything I've seen. Enjoy.

TED meets IDEO

2008-03-18T13:22:00.002-04:00

So, my favorite gathering of the year, TED, recently wrapped up in Monterey, California. I shortly thereafter, I came across a widget developed by IDEO in conjunction with the event to help encourage users to think about the "big questions" that we face as a society. With all of the buzz surrounding widgets these days, it seems like a perfect match--an innovative, big think agency developing for a conference that exists solely to promote big thoughts and ideas and help them come to fruition.

Unfortunately, the widget falls desperately short in the same way so many do--by failing to think any deeper than the rousing strategy of "hey, we should make a widget for that!" In effect, the result is another piece of cybertrash--a download with great promise that immediately disappoints and then gets deleted.

Mentality surrounding widgets, and all communication for that matter, deserves a fundamental shift. These digital tools are only relevant if they provide a benefit for the end user. Does incorporating this widget improve the lives or efficiencies of anyone?

The only functionality it allows is that you can submit a "big question" that could potentially be shared with the world, just like today's gem seen above. Instead, this could easily be posing great questions and aggregating powerful responses--truly starting a global conversation in the spirit of both TED and IDEO. At the very least, it could serve as a personal log of my individual thoughts on questions by allowing me to enter in each day's response and catalog it, creating a sort of mini-journal of gut reactions to "big questions".

If, for some reason, you'd like to try it out for yourself, download it here.

There is so much more that can be done. There are bigger ideas that can actually make a difference.

Dave Eggers at TED: Transform a Community

2008-03-16T13:43:00.000-04:00

Each year, TED awards it's top prize to three individuals who are truly committed to changing the world. A part of the award is the opportunity to state the one wish that the winner would like to see granted to an audience of people who may, very well, help it come true. One of this year's winners is Dave Eggers, a man who has created a tutoring center in his neighborhood that is making a huge impact. Oh, its also a shop for pirate sundries.

The creativity and compassion throughout his presentation is spectacular. Enjoy!

Pinata Abuse

2008-03-11T14:13:00.008-04:00

I'm not sure if you've ever been involved in a party featuring a pinata. The last one that I was a part of was a 3rd birthday party. Those kids got down on that poor thing in savage fashion. Later, the cake met a similar demise. For whatever reason, the appearance of a pinata seems to bring raw aggression out of even the sweetest toddler.

Playing off of that theme of malicious battery, Skittles just released this video. It made me laugh. I thought you might enjoy it, too.

A Perfect Argument for Net Neutrality

2008-03-03T09:44:00.006-05:00

An oversimplified explanation of Net Neutrality might go something like this: the major telecom companies want to determine how much bandwidth can be used by whom, when, and to which sites. In effect, they'd like to be able to decide which sites you can use their bandwidth visiting and they'd also like to give preferential access to certain groups and corporate clients (whom you're probably not in). Others of us think it might be best if the Internet remains open to all and information-neutral, granting the same access to everyone and every site.

Thus far, I've stayed out of it. I guess because in my happy little mind, it's such a fantastically obvious issue that it hardly warrants all that much discussion. I tend to remain foolishly naive and forget that these days, even the most obvious issues fail to be easily resolved in the best interest of the people.

Last week, the FCC held a meeting at Harvard University designed for concerned citizens to voice their opinions concerning the issue. Comcast, New England's largest provider of broadband Internet coverage, decided do their part to diffuse the potentially heated debate by attempting to fill the entire venue with their own employees and better yet, paid seat-holders. In so doing, they succeeded in:

keeping out the actual concerned citizenry for whom the event was created (more than 100 were turned away because all of the seats were filled)
really cheesing off John Kerry
providing a ridiculous slam-dunk example of EXACTLY what they hope to do by squashing Net Neutrality--taking away the voice of the people to protect their own self-interests

And so, I thank you Comcast for reminding me that important matters are at hand and I certainly shouldn't sit back and assume it will all work out as it should. Most importantly, thanks for making it so easy to paint the picture of what this means and why this matters. Comcast, AT&T, and the other telecom providers who oppose Net Neutrality want to crowd you out and decide when and where you are free to see or say what matters to you.

Honestly, I wouldn't have been able to come up with a better real-world illustration as to what net neutrality is all about. As stated by John Kerry, who is working to pass legislation that will protect an open Internet, "If the other side will use their money to restrict public access to a public meeting, how can we feel confident they won't use their power to restrict voices in the virtual world?"

Clearly, we can't and we shouldn't.

Go here to Save the Internet.

Taking Online Onstage

2008-02-29T22:54:00.003-05:00

I was fortunate enough to spend a couple of hours speaking to a group of more than 200 central Indiana business leaders about social technologies at MediaSauce's Web 2.0 presentation earlier this morning.

The material was fantastically well received and there were plenty of great questions from the crowd that allowed our Director of Emerging Technologies, Sarah Robbins (aka Intellagirl), and myself to dive into some general strategic discussions above and beyond just the basic educational overview. The talk was also streamed live online. Once we get that footage archived online, I'll pass the link along.

We've already received some great feedback from many of those in attendance and the next event will feature some great additions based off of those ideas. Thanks so much for all who attended!

Innovating the Wii Experience (Part 1)

2007-12-27T00:50:00.000-05:00

Far and wide implications as far as what can happen with the future of gaming interaction. Thinking beyond that obvious thoughts there, imagine where this can take interactive storytelling and even online marketing--pretty groundbreaking stuff to break that axis and allow a user to enter the environment.

New Guinness Spot

2007-11-08T13:47:00.000-05:00

Don't Over-Write

2007-10-26T15:17:00.000-04:00

I have a very hard time being concise. This spot makes it easy to see why I should try harder.

$100 Laptop Program Needs Your Help

2007-09-25T00:18:00.001-04:00

In high school, it was pretty challenging to be an emerging futurist and proponent of digital convergence. I was fortunate enough to have at least one teacher who let me ramble on about it (thanks, Mr Goodwin), but for the most part, telling people in the mid-nineties that their computer and tv would soon be the same thing wasn't really of interest or relevance to many folks. There weren't a whole lot of people around to talk about things like that with--or even many books to read. The first I recall devouring was Being Digital, penned by Nicholas Negroponte, at the time, director of the MIT Media Lab.

A few years ago, I was excited to learn that he had walked away from his post to pursue his passion--putting a computer in the hands of every child in the world. The organization is called One Laptop Per Child and the goal was to work with corporations to get the costs down to $100 per machine. The stories of even the early successes are amazing.

As you might imagine, this is quite an undertaking, and the fact that it hit the news again today is probably a sign that progress isn't going as well as they might have hoped. Nevertheless, for the first time, the program has gone public--asking individuals to help the cause. BBC reports that starting November 12, anyone will be able to purchase two laptops at a time--one that they may keep, and another that will be donated. The price is $399 for the two machines through the G1G1 (Give One, Get One) Program.

Halo3 Believe Campaign

2007-09-19T14:09:00.000-04:00

There are buckets of amazing things to talk about surrounding next week's release of Halo 3 for Xbox 360. First off, all expectations are that its sales figures will obliterate any Hollywood box office record for an opening weekend. Yes, I realize that a game costs significantly more than a movie ticket, but seriously--gaming has come a long, long way. That's a whole different discussion, though.

My buddy Derek at AKQA tossed me the link to the Halo 3 site they just wrapped and launched to help promote this new blockbuster and it's pretty unbelievable.

I'm enamored by the concept. Most video games just focus on showing some hot graphics and animations from the game to entice folks to buy. With Halo 3, they finally took the step beyond and moved to telling a story. The serious gamers are already lined up for their copy, it's the fringe people who need a reason to buy (even if they have to buy an Xbox console in addition). With a very cinematic approach, they show the culminating battle of the war that takes place in the game and put it on par with other epic battles in our world's history. They did some really interesting offline promotions along these lines, as well.

I'm also impressed by the execution. In a world where the obvious solution would have been to take the already-created 3D characters and use them to tell the story, they instead painstakingly created the battle scene you'll see on the site out of true miniatures, and passed a film camera through the scene. Insodoing, they were able to do some things that couldn't have been done with CG--like allowing visitors to download any frame of the entire piece full-screen, to be used as a wallpaper.

Enjoy the story, and as you move through the environment, keep an eye out for the cauliflower explosions and the cotton ball smoke coming from the tank.

Food Fight

2007-09-19T11:53:00.000-04:00

I just came across this site today and thought it was a really interesting way to get people involved and engaged in learning about and playing with the food they eat.

Get messy.

Work is Play: MediaSauce at Oranje

2007-09-16T12:14:00.000-04:00

Last night was Oranje, one of Indy's annual can't-miss arts events. This was its sixth year, and by all accounts, it keeps getting better. In and of itself, the premise is unique because it treats art as an experience to be emersed into rather than something you just observe and pass by.

Each year the event takes place in a new location, most often in a large, vacant commercial or industrial building downtown. This year was held at the former Ross-Gage building at 22nd and Illinois. This giant facility kept hundreds of people gainfully employed for decades by doing nothing other than cutting out the thumb-shaped tabs on dictionaries, encyclopedias, and bibles that were shipped around the world. Amazing. We're truly in a different era now.

Anyway, this empty space is transformed for one night to allow dozens of local artists the opportunity to show and sell their work and gain exposure from thousands of visitors. Additionally, there are a multitude of stages with live music and a fashion show.

As an event sponsor, MediaSauce had the task of taking a blank 20'x20' space and transforming it into something significant enough to represent our ethos to all in attendance. Our choice was to create an interactive photobooth themed Work is Play. We built an environment out of conduit and visquine that allowed us to shoot images of attendees and then create an ongoing work of art throughout the night by projecting the images onto the opaque visquine walls for everyone to see. Also created on-the-fly was the web-based version of the experience, allowing people to find their specific image and download a high-resolution file to print or share.

In addition to the booth, fellow Saucers Ben and Dan worked together throughout the night to create an impressive graffiti mural and Abby did an amazing job with the makeup in what was basically an "unfashion show" that was a highlight of the night. The show had nothing to do with fashion, instead, it was all about the look she created.

All told, it was an impressive night. Creativity was abound, and the 20+ MediaSaucer who volunteered to help out in and around the booth had a great time hanging out and creating something truly unique that those who were in attendance truly enjoyed. It's unique for us to get the chance to have instantaneous feedback. Since most of our work lives online, we don't always see first-hand how excited people get by interacting with our ideas, this event gave us that chance.

Direct Mail vs Trees

2007-09-14T21:29:00.000-04:00

On a continuum of "stuff I appreciate about the world we live in", a beautiful softwood tree, such as a spruce, pine, fir, or aspen, inhabits the complete opposite end of the spectrum from direct mail, such as real estate fliers, envelopes stuffed full of meaningless coupons, or brochures promoting supplements to my Medicare coverage.

Those ads don't even make it into my house. On occasion, I've been known to clip a pizza coupon or two, but now that I live near HotBox Pizza, I don't even need those. Instead, they go straight into the big, stinky garage trashcan so they can think about what they've done. I suppose that's not fair of me. It isn't the flier's fault that some backhanded marketing professional convinced a naive business person that it was brilliant strategy to send out random postcards or coupons to thousands of people who aren't at all in the market for their product or service. Yet, it is the advertisements who must suffer the consequences by heading off to a landfill or recycling plant for the remainder of their miserable trash-bag-water-soaked lives.

Successful marketing isn't about seeing how many people will immediately throw away messaging from you. It's about cultivating an audience and being relevant to them when, how, and why, you communicate.

More importantly, trees are rad, and those stupid direct mail ads you toss straight into the trash account for the demise of 1.5 trees per year per US household. So, do three things:

1. Think about that poor tree and a half the next time you throw away those ads. Their blood is on your hands. You know, that half tree might be a baby tree--have you no heart?

2. Better yet, just stop getting junk mail by registering here. It's like a Do Not Call List that saves trees, too. It costs a buck. If that's too much, email me and I'll reimburse you.

3. Find your own local pizza shop and support it instead of using that Dominoes coupon. The guy who runs it is probably helping a half dozen delivery drivers buy a new car to impress a girl or even pay for college.

Quarterlife

2007-09-13T10:15:00.000-04:00

I wholeheartedly believe that words create meaning. Until there is language to describe something, to a certain degree, it doesn't really exist. I mean, I'm sure people in generations past had struggles in their twenties, but until Abby Wilner coined the phrase and wrote the book in 2001, the idea of a "Quarterlife Crisis," was more of a figuring-out-process.

The truth is, most of life is chaotic, but there is a lot of figuring out to do throughout your mid-twenties that makes things especially challenging. There are changing dynamics of friendships and confusing relationships abound. As responsibilities and commitments mount and you struggle into adulthood, the question is inescapable--"what is it i am supposed to be doing with my life?"

It is the exploration of this subject matter that has lead to the creation of a new web-based series from Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick, the duo responsible for Blood Diamond, The Last Samuari, and Thirtysomething. The show is supposed to have the same sort of budget commitments that it would if it were destined for network television. It's simply going to be broadcast on MySpace instead because that's where the target audience would prefer it. The hour-long episodes will also air on quarterlife.com, which will become a fully functional portal for actual quarter-lifers trying to find their path. Perhaps this becomes the new way to pitch a show idea--if enough people are watching it online, it won't be long before the networks come calling to try to cash in.

Quarterlife Trailer

Add to My Profile | More Videos

Looks interesting, and it's just great to see that bigger budgets are moving to the screen that makes the most sense. Soon enough there won't be a difference, anyway.

One last topical reference in the form of some lyrics to a John Mayer song from an entire album that is basically about this same subject matter. Good stuff.

I rent a room and I fill the spaces with
wood in places to make it feel like home
but all I feel's alone
It might be a quarter life crisis
or just the stirring in my soul

Either way I wonder sometime
about the outcome
of a still verdictless life

John Mayer, Why Georgia (lyrics)

Read more about the show from the New York Times.

This is Faceball

2007-09-10T00:06:00.000-04:00

"A lot of people would ask, 'why?' "

"None of those people work here."

Thank you Flickr, for your continued focus on innovation.

Art vs Art

2007-09-07T22:00:00.000-04:00

So, today was the culmination of the annual Art vs Art competition. This amazing event is the brainchild of Jim Clinger, good friend and fellow MediaSauce team member of mine, and his cohorts at Primary Colours. It was my first time in attendance at the event, and it was amazing.

Here's how it works. Hundreds of artists arrive. They are each given the same kit of supplies--canvas, three (primary) colors of paint, brushes, etc. They are also given up to 4 hours to create. At the end of the allotted time, the pieces are collected and the voting begins. The top pieces (based on audience votes) are entered into an NCAA-style bracket for an all-out head-to-head battle. Round after round, the pieces are presented on stage and a decibel-meter judging crowd response declares which piece will move on to the next round, and which will face the Wheel of Death. If the losing piece doesn't receive a high enough bid--it's destroyed on spot in front of a bloodthirsty crowd of arts enthusiasts by means of a chainsaw, wood chipper, vat of acid, graffiti tagger, or worse). Each round, the starting bid increases.

This year, for the first time ever, the winning piece failed to earn a high enough bid. As the judges conferred about how to handle the situation, the winning artist, Amory Abbot, (oversized novelty check in tow) walked over and spun the Wheel of Death, thus sealing the fate of his piece.

Justice was served. Read the winning artist's blog here.

If you're interested in seeing more, here's how last year looked:

Creativity Always Inspires

2007-09-06T17:56:00.000-04:00

Over the past few years, I've developed a pretty intense crush on TED. Once a year, 1000 thought leaders, visionaries, idea merchants, and catalysts get together for 3 days in Monterey, California to take a step back from the day-to-day and share their perspectives from their respective areas of expertise (in 18 minutes or less) and show how the pursuit of big ideas is helping change the world.

Though the original scope of the conference was Technology, Entertainment, and Design (TED), the interconnectedness of our 21st century has led to a world where an increasingly wide array of topics fall into at least one of these categories. So, whether you're interested in the Climate Crisis (Al Gore, John Doerr), the future of media (Charles Leadbeater, Johnathan Harris), saving the world (Nicholas Negroponte, Bono), or dozens of things in between, there is something that will inspire you.

Best of all, this wealth of knowledge is no longer reserved just for those fortunate enough to earn an invitation. Video presentations are now added to the website on a weekly basis to incite dialogue, challenge thinking, and entertain more than anything you'll find on network television. Anyway, please check it out.

I love TED, but honestly, I only told you about it so I could tell you this . . .

Today, the Indianapolis Arts Council hosted their annual kick-off luncheon, Start With Art. I had the pleasure of attending and listening to Sir Ken Robinson speak about the importance of creativity and how lousy our society does at embracing it, from cutting funding to the arts in schools to the failure of many businesses to embrace the natural talents of their teams. I was really looking forward to hearing him speak and then talking with him afterwards because his presentation at TED has been one of my absolute favorites.

Since I blathered on so much about TED, I won't get into all of the details of today's talk. Instead, I'll let you enjoy the speech that first developed my affinity for Sir Robinson.

The Return

2007-09-05T12:12:00.000-04:00

So, it's been weeks and weeks since I spoke up and shared with the class. I'd like to apologize to my dozens of loyal readers out there (I think I may be pushing it a bit there--we're still striving towards the double digits). So, is my silence a testiment to a lack of quality topical material? Am I being passive aggressive and turning a frosty shoulder? Not in the least. Buckets have been going on in and around my world on a personal level, as well as the busy business of transforming the media universe. Yet, I've been absent--sitting about, mumming the words. You deserve better, America! In an effort to actually do something about that, you'll see a more dedicated focus coming from the keys of me. There is far too much going on to fail to share it.

Global Awareness Through Gaming

2007-06-12T10:42:00.000-04:00

Too often, the only news we hear about video games are the complaints about how the violence seen is warping children's minds, causing them to shoot up schools, and cause complete and utter chaos throughout even the most tepid neighborhoods.

The truth is that video games have joined a long list of cop-outs and scapegoats for parents and advocacy groups.

I'll hop down from the soapbox long enough to share a site with you. It's a video game sponsored by mtvU, and though it's no where near as violent as it could and perhaps should be, it is a game about Darfur built to educate, inform, and incite the mainstream through interactivity.

Check it out.

If you're interested in learning more about Darfur, but aren't into games, check out Eyes on Darfur, a partnership with Google Maps/Earth that shows how genocide travels from village to village.

Joost + AppleTV = enough reason to cancel my cable

2007-06-05T16:36:00.000-04:00

Not that I need much of a push.

Two weeks ago, I was reading articles about how AppleTV was going to be Steve Jobs' only flop after a red hot winning streak of brilliant business decisions and product launches (iMac, iPod, iTunes, etc.). Last week, they announced a partnership with YouTube that would allow all video on YouTube to be viewed on your television via AppleTV (initially, it only allowed content that came from iTunes). In fact, YouTube is currently re-rendering all of its content in order to provide higher video quality specifically for this purpose (it's been reported that this huge project has actually been in the works for several weeks in order to be prepared for Apple's release of the iPhone in late June). Today, this interview with Joost CEO Mike Volpi points towards a potential partnership between his fledging internet video content network and Apple.

One big, big step closer to not needing to differentiate between a TV and a computer (and more importantly, pay for both services).

Generations

2007-05-23T08:44:00.000-04:00

Last evening, I was fortunate enough to participate in a round table discussion concerning the challenges facing multi-generational workforces. This dialogue is one of a series hosted by Gerry Dick and sponsored by Ice Miller centered on the different attitudes and aptitudes of baby-boomers vs. Gen X'ers vs Millennials.

I was born in 1979, which puts me right on the dividing line between Generation X and Generation Y. I didn't grow up surrounded my computers, but I grew up as our Interconnected World did. I was the only representative that fell outside of the Boomer generation. On top of that, MediaSauce is an organization that wouldn't exist without broadband, and thus we are predominately comprised of a younger citizenry. This detail put everything into a unique context for me. While most of the participants focused on the clashes they feel with integrating and educating the young talent that joins their organization about the way they operate, we most often feel that strain when more established and experienced professionals join our ranks. In our world, focused so intently on new and emerging technology, it is often people with less time in the actual workforce who have more experience with the tools that we rely most heavily on. Because of this, the common situation is flipped on its head. It is the Millennials and young X'ers that hold the technical wisdom that the others must work to understand. At the same time, the Boomers offer great wisdom to direct the application of these new endeavors.

The point is, in an industry that relies on the power of brilliant ideas put towards achieving relevant goals, diversity of background and wisdom is the key to success.

Digg Falls on Its Sword

2007-05-02T14:07:00.000-04:00

For those who don't know, Digg.com is an original Web 2.0 heavyweight/phenomenon whose general purpose is to help its users collaborate about what's most hot and/or important all across the web. Basically, if i think something is interesting, I "Digg" it. The links, stories, and sites that the most people "digg" move up the list and get the most attention.

On May 1, they had a truly defining series of events and they rose to the occasion. A user posted a link to a site that provided the crack to make it possible to pirate/copy HD-DVDs of films. The link quickly rose in the rankings and Digg was slapped with a take down notice. They reacted as any growing business might, by agreeing with what the big boy tells you. However, when they complied, the users had an immediate backlash and continued to post more and more links to the crack. Basically, they used Digg's technology against itself.

"Today was an insane day," founder Kevin Rose wrote on the company's blog last night. "We had to decide whether to remove stories containing a single code based on a cease and desist declaration. ... But now, after seeing hundreds of stories and reading thousands of comments, you've made it clear. You'd rather see Digg go down fighting than bow down to a bigger company."

When your whole purpose is to give people a voice and foster collaboration, they're going to get pissed when you tell them what they can and cannot say. Most honorable reaction from Rose--it will be interesting to see what happens in the courts because as we know, when the entertainment industry sees a new technology, they always react with fear and litigation.

Viva la revolucion!

More.

Joost Goes Live

2007-05-02T14:04:00.000-04:00

The platform that may well prove to be the culmination of the inevitable convergence of the web and and the media outlet formerly (and formally) known as television officially launched. Before even moving out at beta, they have 32 national (now international thanks to the web's reach) advertisers on board and paying for a variety of different forms of ads to an audience that doesn't even exist yet. It's a no-brainer, though. Joost, developed by the guys who last did Skype, has done a great job of signing content deals with a laundry list of providers, most recently Turner Broadcasting (including The Cartoon Network's Adult Swim and CNN), Viacom (who is currently suing Google/YouTube for $1 billion), along with programming from Hasbro (Transformers, GI Joe, etc.), the NHL, Sports Illustrated and Sony Pictures Television.

This site is a monumental step. They will get a lot of eyeballs to take a look at content that will be from both traditional sources, and custom entertainment created specific by/for advertisers.

Learn about the advertising here.
Learn about the content here.

Do TV Execs Really Understand? We'll Tell You After This Commercial Break

2007-03-31T17:46:00.000-04:00

On the same day earlier this week, two media behemoths announced their thoughts as to how the changing face of content delivery should be handled.

First came ABC. While speaking before an audience of advertising agency representatives and media buyers, ABC Television Executive Mike Shaw took it upon himself to become another lightning rod for out of touch old-media philosophy. Rather than devising feasible solutions for what is a completely different communicative world, Shaw spent his time finger-pointing at DVR technology and encouraging his audience to help work to stop the ad-skipping and time-shifting capability of these devices embraced by millions of television viewers.

Shaw’s stance is beyond ludicrous—it is a waste of breath. Rather than burning energy lamenting that what is past is gone, those who succeed listen, observe, and find ways to leverage changes and advances to create new opportunities that are mutually beneficial.

Case in point. Later in the week, NBC Universal (Universal Pictures, NBC Television, MSN, AOL, Yahoo, etc.) and News Corp. (owner of MySpace and Fox Television) made a very different announcement. They have partnered together to create what they hope is an advertiser-friendly web presence that allows visitors to view their programs online. Many are calling this a YouTube killer, but that description is only accurate in that they both house staggering supplies of online video content. YouTube is designed for user-created content, while this new offering will focus on the same material currently available on the participating television network’s prime time schedules.

The NBC Universal/News Corp plan not only creates new advertising inventory, it gives the content consumer the entertainment they want, when they want it, on whatever screen they’d like. Since it’s streaming, ads will be inserted in the programming. Eventually, these ads could easily be served based upon the viewer’s opt-in choices for what advertising they’d like to see.

First of all, the initial idea and structure here seems solid, but only if they choose to evolve rather than recreate. It gives the consumer the platform they have been asking for—the access to the shows they want whenever they want to watch them. However, the idea is still an interruptive approach and little more than a new spin on the same old ad model. At least they’re trying. Sort of.

Television networks really don’t have a choice. Their responsibility and sole purpose is simply to deliver an audience to the advertisers. The shows they choose, the news they cover, the sports contracts they sign—the only real reason is to put eyeballs in front of ads. So, as more and more advertisers shift dollars away from dwindling television audiences and towards the web, the networks have little choice but to change.

There’s room for a couple of interesting advancements here.

First, they could continue their partnership with Apple to offer the commercial-free versions of programs for sale via iTunes (AppleTV could supplant DVR if they are involved in the streaming of the free versions (with commercials) as well) to those viewers who choose to view the shows commercial-free. It’s direct-purchase television. Watch a great episode of 30 Rock and then choose to download it advertising-free for $1 or $2. If I liked it enough to want to watch at my leisure, it's well worth the cash to keep the episode on hand.

Second, the audience could drive more creative advertising strategies. There are so many better ways to attract and engage an audience around your product than by interrupting the story their being told. My hope is that this new online destination isn’t setting out to simply deliver 30-second television commercials to computer screens. Use those budgets instead to innovate. There is so much more possibility than just rehashing the same old ads. Foster interaction. Allow participation. Encourage opinions.

Time will tell if either of these announcements are really saying the same thing or if they are just different attempts to hold on to the way things have always been. My money is on more of the same.

Just a quick rant about mobile marketing.

2007-03-29T14:04:00.000-04:00

This goes out to all of my industry peers out there who want the secret answer for figuring out how to use mobile marketing. I'll officially let the secret spill.

It doesn’t matter.

You’re wasting your time and your clients' money developing it and hypothesizing about it. Stop wasting your time talking about it. Finding new ways to intrude and irritate on the last vestige of privacy won’t succeed in the direction anyone is currently pursuing. Phones are more and more relevant and marketing aimed at reaching people using them is less and less viable.

Why not? Because though cell phone users have reached critical mass, even those whose phones are capable of accessing the web currently choose not to. Only 5% of those who are capable access online content. This is because what is available to access isn’t worth the trouble. All of this will change quickly, however, because the number of people using Smartphones will dramatically increase in the coming months. As this happens, led by the launch of the Apple iPhone with an integrated full-scale web browser (all websites will be viewable as-is), mobile becomes the same as online.

It makes it pretty easy. All you have to worry about is creating engaging content and maybe adjusting some usability to work on small touchscreens such as the Treo and the iPhone rather than through full-sized keyboard/mouse setups. In a matter on months, the integration of content will be to the point where all the content we access, and the advertising messages that surround it, will be the same regardless of which screen (television, computer, phone) you’re enjoying it from and the conversation will stop being about one medium versus another. It will be about what it should always be about—creating great experiences for those who want to learn more about a product or service.

Communication Break-ups

2007-03-22T16:56:00.000-04:00

Day after day they clutter my inbox. Article after article, newsletter after newsletter, full of complaints and commiserations about the changing status of the marketing industry. Questions are asked. Issues are raised. Problems are pointed out. Derivative sentiments are shared about changing ad models. And yet, the only solutions offered are restatements of what is already broken and attempts to do the same old things on a different kind of screen. The truth is that none of these efforts are relevant because they aren’t even addressing the right issue. The entire philosophy is backwards.

Marketing is communication. That is all. It’s not all that complicated. It’s relationship building, and just like any healthy relationship, this effort is a two-way initiative. It’s built on trust and respect. As any husband will attest, telling your wife what to do or how to think will not only fail miserably to produce the results you’re aiming for, it will most likely end with her telling her girlfriends (and perhaps next husband) all sorts of horrible things about you and your ridiculous lack of tact. What about the relationship a consumer has with the faceless corporation that makes the car they drive or the soap they use would lead marketers to believe that they can get away with such callous behavior when even those engaged in holy matrimony wouldn’t dare?

Communication, to a consumer or to a spouse, is not about telling, it’s about connecting. You have to be honest, you have to be authentic, you have to listen, you have to care, and you have to mean it. You have no right, and no real power, to control. The best you can do is behave in line with the expectations you’ve created.

Stop being selfish. Marketing is not about what you want to tell people or what you want to convince them. It’s about what people want to know to make up their own mind.

NYC

2007-03-05T08:29:00.000-05:00

With early news this morning that overseas markets will send the NYSE into another week of chaos (thus proving the world is, indeed, flat), it seems only right that I'm sitting right in the heart of the Financial District as the opening bell rings. Thankfully, my day won't be spent making sense of that madness, instead, it will be spent conjuring up visions of the future of marketing and its inextricable link to human interaction.

Today, I'm going to get to know some of the other leaders in this ever-changing industry at the Future Marketing Summit in New York City.

Don't worry, I'll let you know what I think.

The Wii-ginning

2007-02-20T12:32:00.000-05:00

That's a horrible pun. These things happen.

Since the Wii offers its own web browser through a partnership with Opera, it means that any website is accessible and viewable through it--right on your television. Some sites are already publishing their own "Wii-Friendly" navigation systems or microsites specifically for visitors who are using the Wii and it's remote.

Check out Finetune, and notice the navigation. It is fantastically Wii-friendly, and built primarily for streaming online music through the Wii, thus connecting the home entertainment center (and its great speakers) to the web .

Viidelectrix has created a gaming site that features a series of mini games designed to be played on a Wii via the web browser "channel".

These sites, while extremely elementary, represent a significant first step towards bringing the entirety of the web to the television screen. Let your mind wander for just a moment and think about the possibilities here. In addition to the possibilities for individuals or corporations to create experiences to attract Wii users through engaging content or even simple games, there is also an entire series of connective possibilities.

For instance, if it's not enough to stream music or play games through your Wii, you can also access all the music, photos, videos, documents, etc. that are stored on your computer via MyCasting with Orb.

Crunchgear.com says, "Orb MyCasting is a program that allows you to stream music and photos from your PC to your Wii. Using the Wii’s built-in Opera browser, Orb creates a mini-server inside your subnet and displays your content right on the Wii’s screen."

My friend Adam described it a little more clearly the other day, "I'm in my family room, listening to music on my Wii-equipped TV that is stored on a PC in my office while I'm playing on my laptop. Sure I could stream the content right to my laptop via iTunes, but why eat up my system resources while I'm working? Plus, laptop speakers suck. It's all about options people!"

Well put, indeed. You won't believe what these little steps will lead to.

On a Wii and a Prayer

2007-02-17T16:02:00.000-05:00

It has been some time since gaming has been a major recipient of my free time. Recently, however, some of the classics (Tetris, Super Mario Brothers, RC Pro Am, etc.) have re-emerged when groups of my friends gather. Perhaps its the nostalgia sprinkled with a little competition, but something about it is just a good time.

Until this week, my interest in the latest generation of console games had been strictly based on the appreciation of the technological enhancements and the ever-expanding "connective" capabilities to allow players to interact with one another. Xbox 360 was the first to the party. PlayStation3 was the prettiest girl there. But it would be a cute little Nintendo Wii that I chose to bring home with me. Though from a technology standpoint, it is little more than a GameCube with a new wireless controller and an adaptive interface, it has something else that the more complex systems can't deny--ridiculous fun for even the least committed gamers.

Just before the doors opened last Sunday morning, I joined a small crowd at my local Target store after having been alerted via iTrackr that they had some of the evasive little buggers in stock. After dealing with a touch of credit card fraud (someone had apparently stolen my information and used it to run up charges on a World of Warcraft account (I don't think we'll have much trouble tracking them down)), I was on my way home with a Wii.

Within minutes after being plugged in, the Wii was wirelessly connected to the web. We created our own character icons--Miis--and the gaming commenced. Over the couple of drifted-in snow days that followed, evenings around my house consisted of playing enough Wii Sports to find myself a tad sore.

The Wii remote is the most intuitive way to interact with technology since the advent of the mouse. Gone are the complicated sequences with a dozen buttons doing different things that have scared away the less committed gamers. Just point it at the screen, move it around, and push the button. Great work from Nintendo who seems to have emulated Apple in many ways with the creation of the Wii. It's all about creating a simple, fun user experience.

The exciting thing is that I get the feeling that this whole thing is really just in a sort of Beta format right now. There will be plenty of advancements to come and plenty of ways for third parties to create "channels" (downloadable applications) for users to interact with. The possibilities there are virtually limitless, especially since Wii connects online and allows access to the entire Web.

The next time you see a line of people outside of an electronics store just before they open--hop in line and pick up a Wii.

Who's Terrorizing Whom?

2007-02-10T22:25:00.000-05:00

For a variety of reasons, I'm not one to get particularly political. To be honest, the same can be said of most of my generation. Every now and then, something happens that raises the ere of even the least political-minded citizens. With all of the turmoil in the world, perhaps it's surprising that last week's guerrilla marketing campaign gone bad was enough to do the trick.

The Cartoon Network and it's ad agency, Interference Inc., created magnetic light-up signs featuring one of the characters for the show Aqua Teen Hunger Force. The signs were basically relatively flat versions of a Lite-Brite and just about the size of a piece of notebook paper with some battery-powered LEDs protruding out. After notifying local law enforcement agencies of their plans, they posted the signs throughout 10 major US cites. After resting comfortably on display for several days, this happened in Boston on January 31:

Immediately, suspects were sought. However, finding them wasn't very challenging, since they had already posted video of their exploits on YouTube.

Inquires were made. Fingers were pointed. News coverage continued. Politicians got involved. Millions of dollars of taxpayer money was wasted. Commuters were inconvenienced. A full-on tizzy ensued.

Boston Mayor Thomas Menino blamed the entire series of events on "corporate greed". He was ready to fight for his citizens. He was ready for blood. He was ready to use this opportunity to earn another term or a different office.

Eventually, a television network executive stepped down.

"Somebody had to pay," Menino said in an interview. "He's the one who made all the decisions, and he didn't do anything to react to the concerns. The resignation should really serve as a message that these sorts of marketing tactics should not and will not be tolerated."

Let me begin by saying that I fully understand that these are troubled times in which we live--we certainly do a wonderful job of reminding ourselves of that as frequently as possible. Placing any sort of foreign object anywhere near a city street is questionable at best. Nevertheless, I resoundingly question who is truly to blame for any sort of terror instilled upon the people of New England. Was it the group who posted advertisements, the administration that jumped the gun and called in the cavalry, or the media that fueled the fire?

The truth is, all three played a role in this marketing debacle turned Inquisition, yet it seems only the television network and their agency are bearing the brunt of the blame. In the meantime, government officials are using their complete miscalculation and embarrassing failure in communication as an opportunity to convince their citizens that they're being well taken care of. Even now, the media continues to report on this story by describing the ads as "Hoax Devices", though they were never had anything to do with bombs until the media announced that they were.

My stance is this. The advertisements didn't terrorize anyone (aside from perhaps one paranoid citizen who phoned it in). It was the politicians and the media that did. Will they have to pay?

Just Some Silly Kids in Costumes. Right? Part 3

2007-02-10T21:47:00.000-05:00

So, how did this whole thing play out? It seems the promotion and the results are inextricably linked.

Almost immediately, Bear vs. Colt was picked up by several prominent sports blogs and a handful of traditional media outlets, including newspapers in Indianapolis and Miami (it's amazing what a couple of emails can do). The blogs would prove to be some of the most important referral sites throughout the length of the series. Each posting in a blog in Deadspin.com would prove to generate 50 times more traffic than an article in a major newspaper, such as the Indianapolis Star (based upon referral statistics).

On Tuesday, MediaSauce posted a Bear vs. Colt banner ad on Inside Indiana Business daily e-newsletter in place of its typical banner. The ad generated the highest number of click-throughs ever generated, generating more traffic on its first day than most of their ads create in a year (as described by Inside Indiana Business advertising director).

On Wednesday, Yahoo’s daily vodcast of their most recommended destinations on the web, The 9, unveiled Bear vs. Colt as their #1 site of the day. Later in the week, they would place it at #2 on a list of “Best Super Bowl Sites”, behind only the official site of the big game.

The rest of the week saw the trends continue. DeadSpin continued to post and redirected thousands of visitors to view the latest episodes. Even Fox Sports named Bear vs. Colt as one of its “Heroes” of the week. Publicity continued to increase—each posting led to several others, as well as open discussion from all who viewed it.

By kickoff, Bear and Colt had each sent out a flurry of eleventh hour requests to their “Friends”, swaying voting back and forth throughout the day. Ultimately, it was Colt who erased a late 1600 vote deficit to win the fan vote, the big game, and ultimately (in the final episode), the girl.

In the end, this campaign provided a rallying point and a release of nervous energy for thousands of fans across the world. In less than a week:

More than 92,000 votes were cast by people who were actively engaged and participating with the site.
Bear vs. Colt saw well over 1 million hits in just 7 days.
The average visit was more than 2:20.
The videos were watched via YouTube an additional 50,000 times.
Each character had gained more than 1,000 “Friends” via MySpace.
The Bear vs. Colt group on Facebook gained more than 1000 members.

MediaSauce:

Received prominent discussion about its innovative voting widget on technology and trade blogs such as Mashable.
Made an appearance/plug on an episode of CNBC’s nationally broadcasted Fast Money.
Appeared on the front page of the business section of The Indianapolis Star.
Earned two appearances on local CBS affiliate WISH-TV 8.
Increased traffic to its site by several thousand unique visitors per day.
Increased in-bound leads by 100%.

Just Some Silly Kids in Costumes. Right? Part 2

2007-02-03T23:36:00.000-05:00

Everyday, thousands of videos, ranging from corporate training initiatives to Hollywood film trailers to dogs wearing outfits while knitting with grandmothers, are posted online. For the most part, that is the end of their journey. Their creators have made it to the show, but they have no real intent of going anywhere beyond where the couple of emails to friends might take it.

With BEARvsCOLT, our goals were very different, and several strategic initiatives were made to build a diverse audience, encourage them to help spread the word, and keep them returning for more.

We chose to utilize many popular web-based tools and applications, as well as some we created on our own. No one piece of the puzzle held all of the answers, but each worked together to bring more attention to the project, allow visitors to engage in different ways, and extend their experience throughout the week and across many sites.

The site itself is simple. It’s a player that allows us to post a new video every day. The videos are the main attraction, and a commitment has been made to keeping them unbiased. After all, the site poses a direct question and allows visitors to vote for their “side”. In just 5 days, more than 70,000 votes have been cast. It is this voting feature that has truly brought fans back time and again to support their team and help determine the winner of the final episode. The single most surprising aspect of this entire project has been the consistency of the voting. Each team has taken significant leads, but for the most part, it has been a dead heat. As I write, Colt leads by a score of 36,540 to 36,539. Unbelievable.

Rather than keeping the content exclusive to BEARvsCOLT.com, we chose to publish it on YouTube and MySpace. Fans were asked to “friend” their favorite character (BEAR or COLT) on MySpace, which not only allowed us to open two-way dialogue with our audience (and let them know when their team was falling behind), but also allowed them an easy, comfortable forum for spreading the word and pointing more people our direction. Also, Bear and Colt were able to update and alert their “Friends” when they needed help with voting, share photos they had taken in between videos, or announce when a new video adventure had been posted online. Hearing the backstory, as well as the genuine angst straight from the characters, riled fans to the point of sending messages to the rival character to tell them what they really thought.

As the presence increased on blogs and as MySpace “Friends” reached into the thousands, an innovative widget was created that allowed fans to embed a real-time scoreboard on their site to track the exact score between Bear and Colt. Even better—people vote directly from that widget and register a vote just like if they were at BEARvsCOLT.com. Feel free to cast your own absentee ballot:

Voting will continue until kickoff, at which time we'll be able to finish the edit of the final episode and announce the real winner to the world. Next time, I'll let you know who won, and some of the specific places where we have people talking about these silly kids in costumes.

Just Some Silly Kids in Costumes. Right?

2007-02-01T09:28:00.000-05:00

Unlike many in my industry, I won’t pretend that marketing is much more than the creative execution of common sense. It’s about raising awareness and creating connections that last, and those results hinge on the relevance of material presented to a specific audience at a specific time. I shouldn’t even be telling you this, but here is the secret formula to winning marketing:

1) Decide what you want to accomplish (goal).
2) Decide whom you need to connect with to make that happen (audience).
3) Figure out what they need to know or do to help you out with #1 (strategy/message).
4) Do it (creative execution).

Depending on your goal and your audience, standing on the sidewalk and screaming into a megaphone may well work much better than writing a daily blog or buying a Super Bowl TV ad.

Just as the size of the television viewing audience drives up the costs of the 30-second Super Bowl spot ($2.6 million per for 2007), the excitement and energy surrounding our local team (Colts) and our nearest NFL neighbor (Bears) made the environment perfect for a big idea to be embraced and enjoyed by the entire community. With such a large number of folks interested in the same thing at the same time (a rarity in this age of segmentation), they’re apt to get excited about it when you place before them some fresh material about that area of interest. The timing is right, the audience is ready—all it takes is an idea that just crazy enough to get noticed.

Why not mascot-related violence?

I’m the first to admit, the idea is ridiculous. That's sort of the whole point.

1) Toss some talented improv actor friends into shabby-looking mascot costumes.
2) Throw them into some loosely formed situations (and a few completely uncontrolled ones).
3) Roll tape.
4) www.BEARvsCOLT.com

The truth is, the launch of the site is just the beginning. More precisely, it’s just the middle. We defined objectives, targeted an audience, and devised a creative concept to connect with them.

This project, though silly, had legitimate goals, purpose, and strategy. They weren’t as hatched or researched as most, but due to the nature of the piece and the brevity of the window of opportunity, we moved quickly and have found some amazing results.

Check back tomorrow for the update about the ongoing process of engaging an audience.

Simple, But Not Easy

2007-01-30T14:31:00.000-05:00

In recent weeks, my friends and I have enjoyed something of a renaissance with "The Beautiful Game" of Tetris. I'm a sucker for Nintendo-era games, anyway, but there is something very unique about this one. It's addictive and it's fair to all combatants, even if you've never held a game controller. I consider it to be my generation's Rubick's Cube--except a lot less frustrating. The beauty is in the simplicity. Though the goal is simple, and the challenge is fair for anyone who plays.

Anyway, it wasn't until my friend Dave Warner pointed me towards this BBC documentary that I learned the tumultuous history behind the game. It proves to be an amazing story.

iWantone

2007-01-10T19:09:00.000-05:00

I’m many things to many different people—we all are, and it’s that unique blend of passions, personalities, and predispositions that adds up to who you are and what you’re all about (your ethos). Today, the sum of my being is assuredly pointing the barometer towards "technodork", and it’s all Apple’s fault.

In today’s keynote presentation at the Macworld Conference in San Francisco, Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled two products that mark significant steps towards the sort of digital convergence that makes all of us who consume and create content a little bit giddy. Each of these devices truly has the potential to change the way we consume and create content while communicating about our lives. Individuals in our society are becoming increasingly comfortable with interacting with screens. Screens are the windows through which we experience entertainment, knowledge, and even social interaction. In the past, the screen defined the content that could be delivered. Today, Apple moved its focus from the computer screen to the two other screens that help shape and define our communicative existence—the television and the phone. In so doing, they have become the first major player to provide the hardware and software to provide seamless convergence across all three screens and moved us closer to an era of instant accessibility to "what I want, when I want it"—whatever that may be.

AppleTV wirelessly connects your computer to your television, making every bit of music and video content you’ve found worth of dumping into iTunes accessible for viewing on the big screen. Not only can you watch the television shows and movies you’ve downloaded, but it provides equal access to every podcast posted and every bit of user created content that you can toss into iTunes. It’s a huge step for the democratization of content—allowing the short films your neighbor’s kid produces just for fun the same ability to be seen as the latest iteration of CSI. Obviously, the dollars involved in promotion and production doesn’t exactly put little Timmy into direct competition with the major television networks, but the opportunity to have your voice heard has never been greater.

The all-star of the presentation was certainly the highly anticipated iPhone, a hybrid device that reinvents the Smartphone and provides a completely new dimension for the iPod. The iPhone is the all-in-one device that brings your entire digital being to your hand. Music, movies, email, camera, contacts, calendar, full-versions of websites—it’s all here, and it runs on the same operating system that makes all Apple computers so robust and yet, easy to use. The biggest difference is that in lieu of a keyboard, stylus, click wheel, or mouse, the iPhone embraces simplicity by making the interaction with the screen completely touch-dependant.

Whatever the screen and whatever the content, Apple is positioned to be there to help define your experience. I, for one, am ridiculously giddy about it.

Live in search of a story to tell.

2006-11-21T14:50:00.000-05:00

We're people. We get busy. We get preoccupied. After all, there has never been another point in the history of man where have we had so many options for how to spend our time and maximize every moment. We're constantly connected via technology and there isn't a time when we aren't both heading to and fleeing from some sort of activity. It may seem like you work impossible hours with no end in sight, but the truth is that we, as a society, have more leisure time than ever before--we just don't actually use it for leisure. We're too busy for that nonsense. So, we fill it up. Every second. Then, we find ways to squeeze extra time out of those seconds and wonder why we're still running late to get to dinner.

It is rare that we take the time to create. Generally, we're too busy making commitments to daydream about something that doesn't help get something "done". We sign up and sign on for a few more responsibilities here and there. What's the big deal? After all, it's something that we wanted to be a part of. Each one by itself isn't much, but the dozens upon dozens create one huge pile of obligation. Thus, our natural inclination turns to creating order out of chaos. Get organized. Find a routine. These choices, while certainly helping to simplify the complexities of humanity, are diametrically opposed to the new experiences and adventures that make our lives worth waking up for.

Stop it.

Do something different. Say no. Quit something. Take time. Take a trip. Take a deep breath.

What did you do today? If you didn't do anything worth talking about (and complaining about a client or your boss doesn't count), you officially wasted the day. That's why you feel beat. That's why you feel worn down and vacant. Energy begets energy--positive or negative, you'll attract more of whatever you give.

Grow up to be the sort of person others want to be around. Winding up old, withered, and grumpy is a choice that is made every day over the course of many years. No one wakes up and decides to be unhappy. What's easy becomes habit. It's easy to be irritable. It's not fun to be around, but it's easy.

That's why I encourage you to live your life in search of stories. Big ones. Little ones. Extravagant tales of heroism. Short snippets of sincerity. Whatever your style--embrace it.

How to tell a great story:
Live with open eyes. Have the audacity to share.