Another fine presentation IMHO.
I’ll follow up with the new guidelines for mobile content creation either over the weekend or early next week.
Archive for the 'Consumer Strategy' Category
I first came across “micro-loans” whilst in South Africa some years ago. In fact it was because of a disreputable lender that my attention was drawn to micro-loans. The lender had set a ridiculous interest rate and had withheld an identity document of someone I met. Loanshark or really servicing a genuine need? I wondered.
Some years prior to that, whilst twiddling my thumbs and wondering where things were going, it occured to me that maybe there was something to be said and done about people online lending small or even large amounts of money to each other. A sort of online virtual bank. Thinking that the corporate banking world would snap this up or regulation would kill me before I even started trying to put this in to some sort of plan of action, I regretably watched my idea come to light elsewhere. Actually, I know that it was not my idea. It was an idea shared by others as well. Quite obviously.
Of late, the issue of alternative finance and alternative financing has once more sprung up. At a birthday party I had a conversation with a guy who had an idea, which at the time did not seem to make a lot of sense to me. I could not see where he was going to make his money, using another finance alternative online. Coming across Prosper though, makes me wonder if maybe he actually was on to something. When he’s back from vacation, I’ll be sure to have a chat to him. Given the current financial meltdown, banks seizing up on their credit lines and people still wanting to make a healthy return on investments, perhaps there is indeed a market for what he was proposing. We’ll see.
Nevertheless, I suspect that P2P lending / finance is going to evolve and eventually involve the insurance business. If you’ve any thoughts or want to start a discussion here, then please do so.
Hey, guess what? Vodafone Netherlands is switching on to music. What? Yes, I’ve just discovered that as of April 21, 2008, that it is possible to download tracks from Madonna’s new album, Hard Candy. The LA Time review of it can be found here.
Truth is, it is not Madonna that is actively promoting her album in advance of the April 28 2008 release date. It is Warner Music, who has teamed up with Vodafone [globally?] to perhaps expand their digital business along with Vodafone. Not a bad move I’d say. Still though, how is this going to compete with iTunes? Maybe that question is irrelevant for now.
In a later posting we’ll get in to future developments in music, perhaps even interviewing Daniel Cross and a few others who have been saying some interesting things about the future to come.
Keep you posted on developments.
:: Update
Indeed, it is a Vodafone deal that crosses borders. According to the Vodafone press release, this is indeed the case.
An excerpt for you here:
Vodafone, the world’s largest mobile operator by revenue, and Warner Music International (WMI) have completed an agreement allowing new music and mobile content from Madonna’s highly anticipated new “Hard Candy” album to be distributed and promoted exclusively to Vodafone customers around the world, prior to the April 28th global release of Madonna’s 11th studio album for Warner Bros. Records.
Starting on April 21st, a total of seven tracks from “Hard Candy”, with songs by the multi-platinum, Grammy-winning singer, songwriter and video visionary, will be released at a rate of one a day counting down the week before the album is available. Each track will remain live for 24 hours for download before being replaced by the next one.
In addition, Vodafone customers in selected markets including Spain, Portugal, Germany and Belgium will get exclusive mobile access to the newly released single “4 Minutes”, effective immediately.
Who’s next? What’s next?
On February 11th 2008, Gizmodo carried a review of the Nokia N96. The follow-up to the Nokia N95. Having shifted 7 million or so units of the N95, you might say that it has been something of a success.
What makes the N96 special and worthy of a post, is that it is a DVB-H [Mobile TV] enabled phone. Now, imagine that this handset sells another 7 million products for Nokia. That means 7 million screens capable of Digital TV. That means 14 million eyes could potentially be exposed to even more content. Advertising revenue would go up, however it might be wise to have opt-in advertising models, where people decide which brands they want to receive communications from. If we really wanted to add some value and perhaps scare a few people, we might even consider a TV show, dedicated towards recommending which ads are worth watching and which ads are note. That’s heresy. I know. However, in an age where Tekzilla exists, you can be sure that there’s space for a show that looks at advertising with an ‘Heretical Eye’ - because as Tekzilla says in their about;
“Embrace digital technology. Join the Tekzilla crew and make your tech work better for you. Or you can go live in the woods with an axe. Every Friday, Patrick Norton delivers product reviews, computer help, tech tips on everything from iPods to camcorders, HD to the Internet, plus do it yourself projects.”
We could always say;
“Embrace advertising and media! Join the Heretical Eye team and make advertising and media so much better for you. Or you can bury your head in a trashcan, hoping the billboards will go away. Every Monday, Lyndon Lawrence delivers advertising reviews, consumer help, media tips on everything from TV ads to online banners, Mobile Digital TV, to navigating Google advertising, plus the ‘Guerilla Guide to Advertising’ - what more could you want?”
Any takers? 
My prediction is this - still - DVB-H is a sleeping giant with LOADS of potential for EVERYONE.
Controversial? I think not. It is a little hype though. As there is smoke invariably coming from flames somewhere, so there is a shred of value in the above titled Newsweek article.
The Experts Strike Back - or so Tony Dokoupil would like you to believe in his March 8th “Web Exclusive” - maybe. Naturally, if you skipped over to the comments to the article, you’d see different camps of opinion and the occasional voice of reason - or rather - somehow with a balanced approach.
User Generated Content. Consumer Generated Media. What’s that really? A webpage? Well, think about it, all those personal homepages and blogs out there [since 1995!] are all - User or Consumer Generated Content. Nothing new. The same actually applies to “Portable Media” and “Portable Applications” - in in principle. Let me not water everything down just quite yet.
So what’s the point here?
I’m going to quote something that apparently Coco Chanel once said;
“Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.”
Continue reading ‘User Generated Content - is it in or is it out?’
A group of students at Stanford University in the heart of Silicon Valley have turned their attention towards a unique course that blends popular culture with the more time-worn principles of psychology.
The Psychology of Facebook is the brainchild of Professor B J Fogg, a pioneering persuasion psychologist who founded the Persuasive Technology Lab at Stanford.
He says: “When Facebook came along I was one of the developers at the launch and what struck me was how there was this new form of persuasion. This mass interpersonal persuasion.”
Read the full article from the BBC, here.
I came across Adroll whilst browsing through this presentation on “2.0″ on Slideshare. Here’s what you’ll find on the homepage:
Brands have a tough time reaching niches that are perfect for their products. That’s because most niches online consist of small- and medium-sized websites.
We solve this problem: Adroll.com lets publishers connect and “roll-up” their ad space into highly targeted packages that advertisers can buy across.
By helping publishers group together, Adroll.com gives advertisers a way to find - in an open marketplace - relevant and very targeted audiences that they might not otherwise discover.
Interesting. I think that big brands can also take advantage of using Adroll as well. As with everything, it’s all a matter of time before it does - or - does not happen.
Best of luck to Adroll.
Flash. You can do amazing things with Flash. The music video, Magniv, was produced in Flash. It’s not just about animation though. A great many websites employ Flash to create rich, interactive and programmable experiences in a variety of flavours. Without doubt, it is not going to go away and I’d say that it should not be ditched for the sake of purism as advocated by the minimalist guru types. Yes, there is of course accessibility to consider and a whole slew of other reasons why Flash should be demonised. As any reasonable person knows, extremism does not result in very much other than tears, frustration or guilt. Speak to any crash-dieter, and you’ll hear it all coming out. A balanced approach is perhaps a reasonable approach and that’s what we are here today to talk about. A balanced approach.
What might this balanced approach be?