03/31/07: A cool way to sell iced coffee
I was in Seattle for an appointment at Boeing’s new Dreamliner Gallery. They opened this as a new way to showcase all the options for the new 787. This is 50+,000 square feet of every option possible from many different suppliers. I was a guest of Yoji Ohashi, Chairman of Boeing’s first customer for the 787, All Nippon Airlines, or ANA. Yoji and I met years ago in Tokyo and have become great friends and Karaoke partners.
Prior to our first day at the Gallery, we went out for a run through Seattle. I’ve learned to always carry my camera with me when I’m out because I’m never quite sure what I will see in my travels. Thankfuly, I had it with me this time as well.
While it was a normal Seattle day, overcast, it wasn’t freezing or snowing. Nevertheless, there were blocks of ice in our path. We stopped to investigate further and discovered that these blocks of ice contained Coffee tumblers from McDonalds and a sign stating ‘Cold is Coming.’ What a great ad for McDonalds upcoming ‘Iced Coffee!’
Prior to our first day at the Gallery, we went out for a run through Seattle. I’ve learned to always carry my camera with me when I’m out because I’m never quite sure what I will see in my travels. Thankfuly, I had it with me this time as well.
While it was a normal Seattle day, overcast, it wasn’t freezing or snowing. Nevertheless, there were blocks of ice in our path. We stopped to investigate further and discovered that these blocks of ice contained Coffee tumblers from McDonalds and a sign stating ‘Cold is Coming.’ What a great ad for McDonalds upcoming ‘Iced Coffee!’
03/22/07: Foiled in Gotham Batman!
I was in New York City to visit actor and club owner Chris Noth. We all call Chris ‘Mr. Big’ after the role he played in Sex and the City. Chris and I met at the Yale school of Drama, where he was a stand-out student.
Chris owns the great late-night club on Broadway called ‘The Cutting Room’. Chris opened this after lamenting about the need for a great place for musicians and those who enjoy music. Full of leather chairs and a terrific mahogany bar that we picked out while in Vegas, The Cutting Room is my favorite place to relax and catch up with Mr. Big.
It was a nice day, so I gave the driver the afternoon off and walked to The Cutting Room. On my way I saw this great outdoor advertising on a roll top door. On top of the door was a larger than life size box of Reynolds Wrap aluminum foil. What a great idea!
Chris owns the great late-night club on Broadway called ‘The Cutting Room’. Chris opened this after lamenting about the need for a great place for musicians and those who enjoy music. Full of leather chairs and a terrific mahogany bar that we picked out while in Vegas, The Cutting Room is my favorite place to relax and catch up with Mr. Big.
It was a nice day, so I gave the driver the afternoon off and walked to The Cutting Room. On my way I saw this great outdoor advertising on a roll top door. On top of the door was a larger than life size box of Reynolds Wrap aluminum foil. What a great idea!
I just finished up a fabulous weekend at SXSW in Austin Texas. I just love the energy there around creating music and magic. Back in the late eighties, SXSW was just a great music scene, but now it has evolved to include interactive. That’s why I was there.
I was asked again to be a judge for the best of interactive awards. SXSW draws a great mix of web efforts that are a joy to review. This year was no different.
This year I was really struck by the Smithsonian Photography Initiative. This extremely well done site makes public the vast collection of wonderful and wide ranging photography at the Smithsonian that includes over 13 million images.
You are able to create your own slide show of images that you can share with others. Now while this is interesting, It got my vote for the innovative way it lets you pick the images. Rather than present a complex catalog, you can simply view the keyphrases from someone else’s sequence of images to see what they chose. Then you can pull out ones of interest into your own sequence. You can also add key phrases to images (known as tagging) to better define the image for others. Ten random sequences from others serve as the start of your inventory for selecting, and you can see more.
This random list approach solves a problem created by many social networking sites, which is when too much weight is given to the popular items, limiting the visibility of the entire collection as the popular items rise to the top. This random list approach ensures that you always have a chance to see something new.
Sifting through 13 million images reminds me of the days when I was young, sitting through a seemingly endless parade of slides from my uncle’s vacation to the Grand Canyon. The Smithsonian Photography Initiative was much more fun!
I was asked again to be a judge for the best of interactive awards. SXSW draws a great mix of web efforts that are a joy to review. This year was no different.
This year I was really struck by the Smithsonian Photography Initiative. This extremely well done site makes public the vast collection of wonderful and wide ranging photography at the Smithsonian that includes over 13 million images.
You are able to create your own slide show of images that you can share with others. Now while this is interesting, It got my vote for the innovative way it lets you pick the images. Rather than present a complex catalog, you can simply view the keyphrases from someone else’s sequence of images to see what they chose. Then you can pull out ones of interest into your own sequence. You can also add key phrases to images (known as tagging) to better define the image for others. Ten random sequences from others serve as the start of your inventory for selecting, and you can see more.
This random list approach solves a problem created by many social networking sites, which is when too much weight is given to the popular items, limiting the visibility of the entire collection as the popular items rise to the top. This random list approach ensures that you always have a chance to see something new.
Sifting through 13 million images reminds me of the days when I was young, sitting through a seemingly endless parade of slides from my uncle’s vacation to the Grand Canyon. The Smithsonian Photography Initiative was much more fun!
03/10/07: Video makes it easy to spread the word.
Greetings from Scotland! I got to spend time with my dear friend Sir Sean “Peat” Connery. We call each other “Peat” after we spent a weekend trying to find the ‘peat-iest’ Scotch, driving from distillery to distillery in his Citroen, stopping in the local pubs to get expert advice from the locals. After about 5 stops, he called his assistant to bring a limo to help us complete our tour.
While we didn’t relive our Peat tour, this time, instead he invited me to join him at a dinner benefiting the Scottish International Educational Trust, a great organization that Sean supports.
Sean shared with me a great commercial he did for the Citroen C6 that ran in Germany. While I loved the commercial, the way he shared it stuck with me. Video has always been something that has been a struggle for the web. Visitors had to have the right plug-ins, players, bandwidth to see anything. Video became an afterthought due to its difficulty.
Times sure have changed for video. Sean sent me a link to the video on YouTube, which included simple code to copy and place here (which I did above). Embedded in the player is a ‘share this video’ link.
Video offers great delivery of your messages, complete with audio and animation. Technology has finally caught up to make it easy to share video and spread the word.
Thanks Peat!
While we didn’t relive our Peat tour, this time, instead he invited me to join him at a dinner benefiting the Scottish International Educational Trust, a great organization that Sean supports.
Sean shared with me a great commercial he did for the Citroen C6 that ran in Germany. While I loved the commercial, the way he shared it stuck with me. Video has always been something that has been a struggle for the web. Visitors had to have the right plug-ins, players, bandwidth to see anything. Video became an afterthought due to its difficulty.
Times sure have changed for video. Sean sent me a link to the video on YouTube, which included simple code to copy and place here (which I did above). Embedded in the player is a ‘share this video’ link.
Video offers great delivery of your messages, complete with audio and animation. Technology has finally caught up to make it easy to share video and spread the word.
Thanks Peat!
03/05/07: The Power of Excitement Marketing
I just survived a couple of days with my longtime friend, Tom Peters, here in Manchester England. Anyone who has the good fortune of knowing Tom knows what I mean by survive. Both having MacBooks, we subscribe to each other’s calendars and look for spots where we can meet up.
This time it is Manchester, England where Tom is doing one of his highly exciting and highly interesting talks. I am here helping consult to ManU and their US internet marketing efforts. So Tom and I got adjoining rooms at Malmaison and spent a few days together. We always start the morning with a pleasant run, where we catch up on family news over a brisk 10 Kilometers. After we each attend to our affairs of the day, we regroup at hotel for dinner, drinks and lively discussion about business trends.
Last night we chatted into the early hours about something that I call ‘excitement marketing’ which lived up to its name as Tom and I got into it…and a bottle of Walker Blue. Excitement Marketing is the process of selling passion, something Tom knows all too well.
When you look at our Restaurant clients, they are about much more than food. On the web, we need to show more than what is on the menu. We need to communicate the excitement of the restaurant, creating a strong desire to visit in the near future. Marketing that excitement, or ‘Excitement Marketing’ is what got Tom and I talking well into the night.
Answering questions is still paramount on the web. Lengthy animated intros and interstitials are painful to experience even once. Excitement Marketing is about wrapping information with passion in a way that makes web site visitors want to know more.
Tom started his patented pacing and raising of his voice once my talk of excitement marketing sunk in. He exploded with how many companies who sell seemingly un-exciting products could benefit from excitement marketing. “Imagine,” he exclaimed “if visiting a company’s website wasn’t a race between finding an answer and falling asleep!”
Well, we must have been doing our own excitement marketing because not too long after Tom’s outburst there was a knock at the door. Apparently the neighbors didn’t share our excitement and asked if we could keep it down since it was almost sunrise.
This time it is Manchester, England where Tom is doing one of his highly exciting and highly interesting talks. I am here helping consult to ManU and their US internet marketing efforts. So Tom and I got adjoining rooms at Malmaison and spent a few days together. We always start the morning with a pleasant run, where we catch up on family news over a brisk 10 Kilometers. After we each attend to our affairs of the day, we regroup at hotel for dinner, drinks and lively discussion about business trends.
Last night we chatted into the early hours about something that I call ‘excitement marketing’ which lived up to its name as Tom and I got into it…and a bottle of Walker Blue. Excitement Marketing is the process of selling passion, something Tom knows all too well.
When you look at our Restaurant clients, they are about much more than food. On the web, we need to show more than what is on the menu. We need to communicate the excitement of the restaurant, creating a strong desire to visit in the near future. Marketing that excitement, or ‘Excitement Marketing’ is what got Tom and I talking well into the night.
Answering questions is still paramount on the web. Lengthy animated intros and interstitials are painful to experience even once. Excitement Marketing is about wrapping information with passion in a way that makes web site visitors want to know more.
Tom started his patented pacing and raising of his voice once my talk of excitement marketing sunk in. He exploded with how many companies who sell seemingly un-exciting products could benefit from excitement marketing. “Imagine,” he exclaimed “if visiting a company’s website wasn’t a race between finding an answer and falling asleep!”
Well, we must have been doing our own excitement marketing because not too long after Tom’s outburst there was a knock at the door. Apparently the neighbors didn’t share our excitement and asked if we could keep it down since it was almost sunrise.
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