Links – 8th February 2009

I know it’s overkill, but the snow excitement is yet to abate. I didn’t create this snowman, but he is so exceptional that he deserves all the publicity going.

Picture by me

Anyway, things I would recommend reading include:

• Live | Work have an absolutely brilliant post on Service Thinking – a must-read

• Umair Haque’s Smart Growth Manifesto proposes a focus on outcomes rather than incomes, connections rather than transactions, people not product, and creativity not productivity. Very thought-provoking – another must-read

• Brian Morrissey argues that banner advertising is in crisis. I wouldn’t go as far, but the industry is in danger of total commoditisation. There needs to be more inventiveness and context – the New York Times/Apple example is a great case study

• Asi Sharabi channels Sturgeon’s Law to sober up from digital. Some digital campaigns may be great, just as some TV campaigns are great and some press campaigns are great. But a lot of advertising isn’t great. There is a great observation in there about social media helping brands become more humane.

• Dave Trott’s blog is fast becoming one of my favourites – a regular must-read. I particularly love this tip on great management.

• A look at how marketing isn’t marketed very well – based on the article “Branded for Good” (Harvard Business Review)

• Silicon Alley Insider set up a Twitter contest, inviting people to propose a business model for the service. They chose a market research tool as the winner. Commenters were unimpressed – largely, I think, because the proposed revenues were quite modest. (Via Tom)

• Dom from Twitter gives the story on how the service was born

• A great synthesis on IBM’s recent research into social networks and social capital (Headshift)

• Chris Anderson lays out the thesis for his upcoming book “Free” in the Wall Street Journal

• Harvard Business Review’s breakthrough ideas for 2009

• Fred Wilson comments on Facebook opening the API for status updates by asking “Hasn’t it always been about status?”

• The Compare the Market/Meerkat campaign has been getting a lot of attention online (and rightly so). Amelia Torode, a Planner at the agency responsible, summarises the success

• And finally, Neil Perkin’s presentation on community created by the community has justifiably gone down a storm. He requested readers submit a slide, and received 30 replies (including one from myself). It highlights about both group thinking and individual ideas can be harnessed for maximum effect by some sort of moderator/curator/director/benevolent dictator. Great stuff. Click through the link above to get the transcript of the deck.

Additional links and pictures can be found at my tumblr

Hangover permitting, I’ll be at the coffee morning on Friday

sk

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Links – 2nd January 2009

The year has started off well – I didn’t write 2008 in the subject header.

Social media

• The US Air Force has published their “rules of engagement” in responding to blog posts and it makes for a very sensible read. Considerations include transparency, sourcing, timeliness, tone and influence

• A Flickr alumnus gives advice on how to grow communities

• JP Rangaswami has some typically thought-provoking posts on the nature of consumer control and what that means for publishers and businesses alike – here and here

• Piers Fawkes considers the 50-50 corporation – with half a focus on profit and half on being social

Changing businesses

• John Moore has reprinted Bruce Mau’s Incomplete Manifesto for Change

• Bruce Bueno de Mesquita is using game theory to predict future foreign policy – could this be transplanted into the business world?

• A nice overview of the consumer’s relationship with music and advertising. Rather than specially commission jingles, brands are now using established songs – does this risk commodifying them? (Advertising Age)

• The New York Times and Gatehouse Media are in a legal dispute over fair use in linking out to other websites – at what point does fair use become plagiarism? (Comment is Free)

• What would happen if gamers ran the world? Tom Armitage considers the skills in gaming and how they can transfer over

Psychology

• Nostalgia can overwhelm – people look back with misty eyes and prefer to live in past decades despite all the advances in creature comforts. Me? Send me to the future… (Intelligent Dialogue)

• New Scientist reports that our social circles affect our moods and that happiness etc are contagious

• Our brains can lie to us. Facts are stored in the Hippocampus but memories are processed in the central cortex – this leads to source amnesia and means we may remember false accusations (e.g. Barack Obama is Muslin) as fact (International Herald Tribune)

Resources

• Advertising Age have parts of their 2009 Annual online

• Ad*Access is a database of 7,000 old advertisements that have been released from copyright for use in research

2008 lists

• Not only does Fimoculous have 30 notable blogs of 2008, but there are also additional links under each subject heading

• Top 10 Slideshare presentations of 2008 – I particularly remember the Google presentation, which is fascinating (The kmiec Ramblings)

Particular recommendations go to How to grow communities,  Consumer’s relationship with music and advertising, Our brains can lie to us, 30 notable blogs of 2008 and Top 10 Slideshare presentations of 2008

For further links unrelated to the subject of this blog, check out my Tumblr account

sk

Slideshare links – 14th December 2008

Winter sickness creates lethargy. Thankfully I’m not this sick – I think it is more a case of being a self-inflicted result of this and this.

Anyway, as it is easier than trawling through a few weeks of delicious links, here are 5 Slideshare presentations on marketing that I have recently read and enjoyed. All are variations on a theme – marketing should be useful and valuable.

NB: If you are viewing in an RSS reader, then you may have to clickthrough to see the embedded slides

The Seven Misconceptions of Youth Marketing by Paul MacGregor of the Three Billion Project.

“Don’t think about advertising. Think about entertainment”

Go the Slideshare page

Goodness and Happiness – Why Generosity is the Future of Marketing Strategy by Neil Perkin of IPC

To use the old Google mantra, don’t be evil. And to paraphrase Hugh Macleod; marketing should be useful, not a punch to the face.

Go the Slideshare page

Planning Needs Some Planning by Gareth Kay of Modernista!

“The future of advertising isn’t messaging. It’s in ideas that solve business problems in a culturally positive way”

Go the Slideshare page

Strategy: Beyond Advertising by Adrian Ho of Zeus Jones

Zeus Jones are proponents of marketing as a service. This presentation looks at the failures that may be necessary to reap success

Go the Slideshare page – as I don’t think this format of presentation works in WordPress

Reconsidering the Advertising Industry by Alain Thys of Futurelab

An overview of the Futurelab Agency report, looking at challenges, remedies and future models for the advertising agency.

Go the Slideshare page

As a bonus link, Peter Kim has accumulated predictions for social media in 2009, constituting the thoughts of 15 leading voices in the sphere. Check out a summary or download the full report here.

My Slideshare links are found at the bottom right of this blog. Alternatively, you can visit my profile and subscribe to my favourites.

SIDENOTE: One aspect of my behaviour that is positively correlated with my lethargy is Twitter usage. Go figure.

sk

We Need to Change: Presentation on Market Research

Helge Tennø has created several visually arresting and thought provoking presentation decks and the latest is no exception.

We Need to Change is – in his words – a loosely structured collection of thoughts and references regarding the mediocre but promising state of market research

(RSS readers may need to click through)

I like the general thrust of the piece but don’t wholeheartedly agree with the conclusion. Ethnography is useful in situations where complex interactions can be synthesized and extrapolated to a wider population, but it is not a fix-all solution.

Saying that, I recognise the intrinsic flaws of rational surveying and am fully supportive of the moves to complement, or even supplant, survey data with observed behavioural information on a mass scale.

sk

Winners of the 2008 Slideshare Presentation Contest

To combat the cynicism of my previous post on bad research, let me congratulate the authors of the three fantastic presentations below.

They show that irrespective of whether the message is serious or whimsical, it is possible to truly engage an audience via PowerPoint/Keynote through thoughtful and creative design.

For additional category winners and honourable mentions, go to the results page here.

sk