Famine City

You have my permission

... to fail. 

It's not just my permission, it's the calling of all industries. People are shaking in their boots right now. The time to be bold is upon us. Try things that just might fail. Be bold. 

I have tons of ideas, many of them could be bad. However, I do have ideas. Here are some of my favorites that I'd love explore in a need-to-be-bold-times. 

Empty seat industries
There are a number of industries, like airlines, concerts, minor league athletics (hockey in Cinti), that would benefit from an auction model. All of these industries share a common problem, if your seat goes unused, you lose revenue. I think it would be better to build good will and consumer interest by sectioning off an auction allotment and auction off seating. People like the thrill of an auction. Look at ebay, a lot of folks pay more there than on a normal etailer site. There's something there--people feel like they have won. It's the insight ebay uses with a great deal of success. It's a model that will require some try and change, but there's an idea there waiting to change industries. 

Micro/transactional behavior changes
This is the year to try this new model. Micro-sd, micro-blogging, micro-lending, micro-management, you name it and there's a micro version of it. There's going to be a hard sell for high ticket items, plus in the past if something wasn't valued high it wasn't worth much. I believe technology has turned this on it's head (think email)--free and low cost items do have a lot of value. 

See what products or services that you can offer for very little and aim for scale. I think the dollar target is somewhere in the $1-10 range. iTunes/Amazon MP3 purchasing works because it's a low cost investment and if nothing works, no real loss--now I do appreciate that there is a great user experience behind it, but the value-to-risk proposition is low. Consumers are going to be more willing to take these types of small leaps. Look at iPhone apps, they are exploding and are going to continue to explode, not just because of the technology, but because of a renewed shopper behavior that low to no cost items can provide real value. 

New markets
Libraries are the new bookstores of choice. The library is no longer just books. Libraries are media outlets, complete with CD's, videos, books and tapes. One can argue that libraries are gaining new consumers because people are looking for new/lower cost ways to redistribute their time. However, I think there is a larger consumer insight in this case: consumers no longer need to own media. We've become accustomed to simply using it and returning it. In fact, we can't own all of the media anymore. Technology HAS changed the way we use/own/purchase all types of media. The library model just tends to lend itself to the both economic and consumer behavior--an interesting union. Therefore, I see this as an untapped market. 

Don't suck.
One of the all time worst businesses that one can start is a restaurant. There's so much variety, so much competition in that market, why try? Here in Cinti, OH a little place called Terry's Turf Club should inspire everyone. It is a small hole-in-the-wall restaurant that serves burgers. They have been around just a couple of years and the location is a bit out of the way. They have a lot of strikes against them in a tough economy, while most restaurants are offering discounts to get people through the door, Terry’s is not. They have one weapon, but they only need one. They have the best burger in Cincinnati. This is why Terry’s has people falling out the doors just about every night of the week and you don't talk to one person in the know that doesn't want to go there. And soon. Why has this little place made it? They do one thing and do it better than anyone else in town. People will part with their funds if your product is good. Get the message, don’t suck. 

What are your visions and inspirations to change tired industries?

~marty

Spend 20 minutes wisely

I was sitting down to write a blog topic on technology, finances and Mint.com. I was keenly intercepted by the video below, Barry Schwartz on wisdom. It's been some of the best 20-minutes I've spent in quite sometime. I encourage you to watch, and share this. If you watch the video, you'll get the pun here. Enjoy. 

~marty

Pandora Meetup in Cincinnati

A couple weeks ago I went to the Pandora meetup in Cincinnati. It was a very good experience. I took bunches of notes and shared them with some folks at work, so I'll do the same here. I'll add a couple things before the raw notes start. I've been in communication with the Pandora team since for work reasons. They've been very responsive and helpful. So my expectations have been raised overall. 

I think of their model of advertising more like behavioral targeting, not like a pure CPM buy. You should too, read on. 

Setup

Tim Westergren, one of the Pandora founders was in Cinti, OH. He had a meetup at an independent theatre and it was largely informal. Throw questions and he responds. He was down to earth, super-smart and had some great stories for us. He handed out some t-shirts too. Nothing makes a geek go ape-sh&* like a t-shirt. He wasn’t in a hurry and we went for about 2-hours. My cliff notes:

-   Tim was in town speaking at UC and P&G. He also hit the Cincinnati Social Media scene that morning. 
-   Biggest growth has been in iPhones in the last year. People are moving from primary listening device being on PC to iPhone. Really interesting, it’s net effect has changed listening hours. People are taking the iPhone and plugging it into the home stereo system.
-   Best story of the night, story of Will. Will was a triple major--CS, math and physics. He sort of just got it. The Pandora genome has about 400 characteristics in it, you like arpeggios, viola, minor notes, 7ths, and so forth. So they approached will one night with this problem for the Pandora genome. The next day he returns with the algorithm that they use today. Let’s all hate Will right about now. Smart guy. Sometimes hate and jealousy are separated by minutia. 
-  Every time that you click thumbs up/down, they reapply the algorithm and give you a new advertisement and song choice. Zero waste is the concept towards advertisement. 
-  They have about 23 million listeners and are signing about 45k per day.
-  They are trying out audio ads on the iPhone, but if you want to opt out, you can pay a service fee. iPhone app is very, well awesome. 
-  They get kick backs if you buy/link to Amazon or iTunes. They get a cut on the total transaction.
-  They have about 600k tracks.
-  iPhone traffic is not between 10-15% of traffic on any given day. Average length of listen is 1.33 hours.
-  70% of the tracks are from unsigned artists
-  They add about 10k tracks per month. People personally listen to them and choose the characteristics before they are added. Amazing. 
-  They do not have licensing agreements with any specific label. They operate under the Digital Millenium Copyright License. They caused a raucous on Capital Hill two years ago by having folks reach out to their congress folk. There were over 400k faxes sent to local congress reps. It took the fax machines in DC down for two days. Funny.
-  Interesting idea about unicasting versus broadcasting which is the future of radio/tv whatever. That was the most important addition to my personal lexicon.
- Lastly, all ads are targeted. Not one ad is broadcasted to anyone. 

If I got something grossly incorrect or my notes are wrong, please do add a comment and I'll revise accordingly. Certainly more of a utilitarian post, but really interesting. 

~marty

Never saw this coming

Let me just throw this on the table, I’m not writing this to jerk anyone off (to the doubters). 

I work for a digital agency. I have been at Bridge for about five years now and I’m still digging it. The other day, I was talking to a friend and changes in the past few years. That conversation caused me to reflect why I’ve dug into the environment--thought I'd share. Honest admission, I don’t know what it’s like at other agencies and that could be good, could be bad. I’ll hope that ignorance is my friend in this case.

When I started at BWW, I genuinely did not know how long I would be there. Just six months after I was hired, the company I wanted to hire me offered me a position. Too late, I got hooked on the agency. So I’ve been drinking the Kool-aid for about five years. What's the hook? Some of my favorites:

1. Smartest collective group of people that I have ever met.  I can honestly say some of the smartest people that I’ve ever met work with me, my clients and the partner agencies. Perhaps one of the few careers where all of your interests and talents might be used, frequently. 
2. It is the perfect working-amalgamation of Gladwell’s Blink text—rapid cognition. Your two seconds is in front of the client, and you have to use your cumulative experience on demand very frequently. 
3. Competition. It’s my place to compete. Some people are gifted athletes, some gifted theorists and the agency is where ideas and application meet. I dig that.   
4. Insane pace/intensity. You are in constant Sisyphus mode. Push it the boulder right up the hill, only you make it to the other side. You then discover you are attached to the boulder and now you are at the bottom ready to push up another mountain. I think this keeps us young. 
5.  I’ve become a much better evaluator. You name it; I’m a ton better at evaluating things for their merit—creative, business models, technology, and people. You get so many projects, requests for estimates, and so forth you become very good at evaluation. Whatever is next in my life, I’ll be better at it. 
6. Information overload. How much is too much? Not sure that this is an objective measure, but I certainly hit the wall frequently where my brain is a version of chunky corn chowder. 
7. Meritocracy. Best ideas win—sometimes they are stolen. There might be distinct lines in a lot of industries with technologies, application, creative and so forth. However, I find at agencies lines are blurry. That keeps it very interesting for a guy that is interested in lots of things. 
8. If you have to explain late nights and long weekends, no need to apply.

Nothing profound, you’re not going to find any Buckingham material here. Perhaps you could tell me I’m in a perfect cocoon and I’d believe you. We all have our reasons.

Does this mean it's perfect? Nope. Won't pretend that either. 

What are your reasons for loving agency life?

A few random things I've thought or discovered in the past week

 Some interesting things going on out in the world, you know? You can't help but notice them. Here's my few from the past week.

1) President Obama is using CGM to improve our connection to government. See links below. 

--- email ---

Governor Tim Kaine has agreed to record a video outlining the recovery plan and answering questions about what it means for your community. You can submit your questions online and then invite your friends, family, and neighbors to watch the video with you at an Economic Recovery House Meeting.

Join thousands of people across the country by hosting or attending an Economic Recovery House Meeting this weekend. <http://my.barackobama.com/page/m2/55c13e10/6be303a8/3ba06b6a/11884c03/3128132272/VEsH/>

The stakes are too high to allow partisan politics to get in the way.

That's why I've consulted with Republicans as well as Democrats to put together a plan that will address the crisis we face.

I've also taken steps to ensure an unprecedented level of transparency and accountability. Once it's passed, you will be able to see how every penny in this plan is being spent.

You can help restore confidence in our economy by making sure your friends, family, and neighbors understand how the recovery plan will impact your community.

Sign up to host or attend an Economic Recovery House Meeting and submit your question for the video now:

http://my.barackobama.com/recovery 

--- end email ---

I hope you are as energized by this as I am. It's baby steps to the transparency that our government owes us, but it's a start. I don't think our government can govern by crowd sourcing or group think, but opening the doors on some of the Capitol Hill laziness is exciting, regardless of what political party you belong. Watch out for the Tom Douche-nozzles, Mr. President.

2) I went to a Pandora meet up and enjoyed it immensely.

Here are a few factoids from it that may only interest me (ala Peter King):

• Their largest growth sector has been the iPhone, comprising somewhere between 10-15% of their overall traffic.
• Average listening time is 1.33 hours.
• Every time that you click a thumbs up or down, it does a new calculation to present the next song/artist to you.
• More people than I would ever know like Celine Dion.
• The term unicast versus broadcast. Such an important addition to my dictionary. Unicast will be the new term used to describe programming customized and targeted to you, not the rest of the world.
• They have about 600k songs in their library. 70% are from independent artists. All songs in their library are played at least once per month. Very interesting.
• They add 10k songs per month. They are added by individuals to the library. I think that's pretty interesting. 

3) Random thought: Wonder if you could take the same genome algorithm used for Pandora and use it for dating website. The thought there is that if your musical tastes were similar, would you have a better chance at a healthy relationship? That's quite the notion, but interesting nonetheless.

Anymawho, a couple thoughts for the week.

~marty