Today I had three meetings on the trot and each of them came from different fields – Media owner (portal), Media network / technology company and Search. Each of them had a different angle but the one thing they and indeed we had in common was that we all felt the world was changing and noone had the complete answer.
It’s exciting and anyone you talk to seems to be thinking the same, the display market does not know which way to turn, media network, DSP, Ad exchange, media agency, search company? It’s all up for grabs, so much so I think that specialist companies in the ad exchange market may have become too specific as they could invent themselves over and over and may need to.
All of this leads to an enormous amount of bullshit. Unbelievable amount of hot air, duplication of technical services, who does data best, its a minefield and unless you really get around a bit and ask a lot of questions you could be caught out by some dodgy companies and people. Spend time looking into those who approach you claiming to be experienced, specialists etc there is still more hot air than delivery in the market.
It is a great place to be right now but beware, while there is limited regulation and everyone proposing new and exciting business models you could get caught out..a lot of sensible advise and analysis can be found at www.exchangewire.com and www.adexchanger.com
I read today a post by Mel Carson that he tweeted out there about someone at a conference commenting on the clothing ‘suits’ and words they used at the conference ‘actionable’. He seemed quite upset that he had been described as a suit, you can see his defence at here and the fact a member of the audience had questioned certain words used.
That got me thinking about how the conference has changed, the old days you turned up perhaps a little hungover and under prepared, or absolutely word perfect, either way you did not really know how you were performing. The advent of tweeting at conferences and the fact presenters are actually reading them has meant you need to think very carefully about whether or not you want to tweet what’s on the tip of your tongue. The person Mel talks about has obviously caught the wrath of the conference speaker/attendee but will that always be the case? What are the rules?
It is easy to be bothered by peoples comments but at the same time you have put yourself in that situation and therefore should you not be prepared to take some criticism? I think yes, as a rule, thats not to say it is right that people hide behind electronic communication to make their points but equally if everytime someone is tackled up for their comments you will kill what has been the most interesting part of most conferences so I suggest caution. Although this was not the source of this post it did also get me thinking about the quality of ones presentations at conferences. Basically if you don’t want to get negative comments then prepare well and make the content interesting. It amazes me the amount of presentations that are re drafts, they are cut, chopped and diced to fit the subject of the day and often presented with no prep. In this age of live digital critiquing I think we all need to be prepared to take some grief if we have not put enough effort in.
In reality you will never please everyone, one man’s ‘suit’ is another man’s ‘professional’, who cares if you wear a suit? I think that the rule is if you don’t like what you read or hear, dont get up on stage.
Anyone Buzzing? Google? Google Buzz? no? Seriously is anyone out there? I know there are many people, in fact I am sure my friend from Google who will read this will tell me there are ten billion people buzzing day in day out and I must be mad to suggest otherwise.
Thing is I dont feel it. I am no super blogger or have more friends / links / tweet friends than some major celebrity but nevertheless I think I would start to get more exposure to it and literally noone has tried to connect or contact or Buzz me. What does that mean? Does it mean that Buzz is failing – cue friend from Google – or is it just me? It might be, but could it be that the population just did not need another form of contact? It keeps you busy tweeting, updating status messages, making sure the right one goes on the right platform. You then have to reply to those that have retweeted, or sent you a direct message or perhaps commented on your status and so it goes. Now we have to Buzz? Just cant be bothered, I have waited a little while to see how it grows and I will of course get involved if I need to, I am keen to understand how all these things work but unless my friends at Google tell me why I should then I am out.
I look forward to discussing it tonight over dinner with said friend from Google. (We are meeting at The Village Cafe, Bellevue road.) Buzz me..
Marco Bertozzi:03.03.2010
After a break of three months I have very recently secured a new role at Vivaki Nerve Center. I set out to find a role that was at the heart of the world of digital and I am pleased to say this role 100% achieves that. I am also excited about the fact that we are still at the formative stages for the Vivaki Nerve Center and that I will be part of the definition and growth of the unit.
In the last three months I have spoken to many agency folk around the market and its been a fascinating view on the market. All the major agency groups are investing in their parent group offerings, seeing the benefits of aggregation of skills, knowledge, technology and of course media investment. I hope that as part of the VNC I will be working in what will be the future for Publicis Groupe and help lead the change.
As I have written about previously I believe that the one thing that is for certain is that technology and changing trading methods will alter the way agency groups structure around digital planning and buying. The role of the ‘media schedule’ will be less relevant when in fact we should be buying audiences regardless of their location or site they are visiting. Trading will be about buying at the best price to deliver the relevant ROI not about the fact you bought 10million impressions at a set price earlier in the month and that will combine search and display in all its formats.
On top of that we are of course dealing with the huge changes coming from mobile, social and video, three huge topics that we have to make a success of in our marketing solutions. I am constantly on my iPhone and Nexus one, I surf, blog, update and find information and there are many like me so our solutions need to be making the most of that audience. I believe we have a way to go in that arena as an industry, I look forward to working with Phonevalley and others in implementing these new strategies.
Whether it be social media, mobile or straight forward impression buying we also need cutting edge tracking and reporting solutions and I look forward to working with our partners and Groupe companies in helping us to deliver intuitive, useful and accurate reporting suites to help us across Search, display, video and social.
Having just spent a few days in San Francisco its clear there is an enormous amount to be getting on with, some tasks more straight forward than others but all equally exciting. Our strategic partnerships are going to really create some amazing opportunities for our clients and there will no doubt be more to come. I work in a group of amazingly talented companies including Razorfish, Digitas, Performics and many others so this should be an exciting times and I cant wait to start.
I have read a lot about the Nexus One, more than I should have I suspect! Much of it is technical, detailed analysis. One reviewer was commenting on the weight distribution of the phone! That’s all well and good but not what most people are interested in, the question is ‘If I have had an iPhone for years should I buy a Nexus One?’ Just answer that..so thats what I will do.
I really wanted to like the Nexus One, after spending all that money it was vital I actually liked it! My first impressions that absolutely stand out compared to the iPhone:
Just so quick. This is your day to day usage, this is the diving in and out of apps, looking at the web, all of that stuff that you might not think about, but when you see it all speeded up you realise the benefits. Any iPhone user is unlikely to complain about the speed of their phone but that’s because they have nothing to compare it to, once you use the Nexus One you will find the iPhone slow, especially in the opening of the apps, no more waiting.
It does feel very shiny and new! The screen is amazing, you really notice it. Anyone who likes new gadgets will love the feel of it, everything comes alive in your hand. I am personally not keen on the colour, and I don’t think the layout of how the apps and buttons work is as intuitive as the iPhone although you quickly get used to it. The four home buttons at the base of the screen are used a lot to access functions within apps as opposed to being built into the app like on an iPhone, again I prefer the simple iPhone layout. The track ball could be useful in text mode but I think it ruins the look and is really not needed.
The App store and the Apps themselves are lacking on the phone, they feel less finished, a lot less of them and it is an area where the iPhone dominates, lets see how long that lasts. Anyone who has had an iPhone and moves to the Nexus will be frustrated by the fact nothing crosses over, sounds obvious but it feels wasteful having all those apps that I have invested in just sitting on my iPhone, yes you can still use them over WiFi but it would be good if the developers allowed you to transfer to the Nexus One if you bought them on the iPhone, or at least at a discounted rate.
Overall it is a great phone, the keyboard is not as good as the iPhone, more fiddly but again you will get used to that, the touch screen is designed for the phone to be held at an angle which means if you aim straight down you often miss your target, frustrating but again you get used to it. The speech to text functionality is very hit and miss in my opinion, its fine if you talk very clearly and slowly, it will be useful in some circumstances but not everyday usage I would say.
Overall I am pleased with it, most things people moan about are simple functionalities that people are not used to, does not mean they are bad. As with all things, give it some time and it will be second nature. It feels very special and even an avid iPhone user will have to admit it feels like a different league. That said it has some way to go in a couple of areas, annoying you can’t sync your Outlook Calendar, but I reckon they will be continually sending upgrades as time goes by. The biggest thing of all for me..I am glad to be back in the early adopter bracket, everyone has an iPhone now, it bores me.
As a footnote if you have a iPhone bluetooth handset, it will sync with the Nexus One, so at least thats one thing you will not be wasting on your swap to N1.
Marco Bertozzi:30:01:2010
In this day and age I find it infuriating when major players in software and or hardware dont work together. Surely now they are waking up to the fact that we live in an open source world and putting up barriers may make themselves feel better but it annoys the people spending the money. Especially around mainstream ways of communicating like email systems.
How is it possible that Google’s Nexus One does not synch with Outlook Exchange Calendars etc, its madness, is Google not a serious business operation? Do they think the world will change to Gmail? Of course not, so instead they are just pissing off all those people who would love to have a Nexus One but connect to Exchange.
Likewise the news that the iPad does not support Flash, I mean come on, it’s a joke, the world runs on Flash how can they not support it when we are talking about a device designed to enjoy the consumption of all the best the web has to offer! These companies need to start thinking of the end consumers rather than their own protectionism, its madness, I hope very much that Google will reconsider this stance in the coming weeks.
Lets start with what it could look like, here is a video giving you an idea. Think large iPhone, we hope including 3G or 4G connectivity.
Why is it so exciting, well for me it is simple. I love the iPhone and how it works but get frustrated by the size, clearly for a phone its great but with the islate you can enjoy that fluid iPhone experience but with a screen worth having. Is this meant to replace the home PC? I dont think so, thats not what I need. I have a laptop at home if I want to do work stuff, or I have a work lap top, no this is for browsing, blogging, emailing, videos,social media, it will be great for that stuff.
On top of that if it has 3G then I can use it anywhere without wireless which would be great, it may serve as a hub at home for my music, will it stream to my TV? If I buy Apple TV it may double up with that? The possibilities are endless, thats why I am excited.
Its unveiled tomorrow so lets sit back and see exactly how good it is, heres to a new way of computing!
Marco Bertozzi:07:01:10
Discussion around whether or not Facebook should be banned in the office has pushed more and more people towards using mobile as the primary route to Facebook interaction. The numbers are impressive about how much people update their status via their mobile.
Now work will arguably be more interrupted than ever as people to take up Facebook’s new 3.1 update that allows push notifications to your iphone. At least before people often left FB open on their screen and could see messages easily, now they will be shovelling through their bags and desks as their phone beeps with that expectant moment when you wonder which of your friends has sought you out! The facts according to Razorfish annual study – Razorfish Feed – are scary for the workplace, apparently the average connected person updates their FB pages every 37 minutes, the full report can be found here:
Facebook is part of life now so I think offices that ban its use need to get over it as it is here to stay and part of our communication, I would rather see banned the trend of recent years of everyone wearing headphones at work. It is the most depressing of sights to see a bank of people all with headphones, no one learning from each other, no one knowing if your team member is talking utter rubbish on the phone. The office has changed, lets worry about things that stop people communicating rather than things that encourage it.
Marco Bertozzi:05:10
All the rumours suggest the Google Nexus One phone will launch today at 6pm. I think the hype is bigger than the phone to be honest but why not see for yourself. Engadget has done a topline review of the phone, click below to see what they think..if I had seen the phone, which of course I have not, I would say it is underwhelming..
The cost without contract will be pretty much on par with the iPhone so its not quite going to be the phone of the people but will challenge the iPhone, it will also be unlocked so accessible to all if you fancy splashing out.
Marco Bertozzi:31.12.09
After what seems an eternity Linkedin have at last upgraded their iPhone application to a more sophisticated and user friendly version. I am not sure why this has taken so long when you know how many new versions have been produced by the other social networking services.
Every button provides a well known Linkedin service
What is strange is that Linkedin really should have been ahead of the game as their game is business networking and the iphone could have been a valuable piece of armoury for Linkedin if they had got this service up and running quicker. All the stats indicate that Facebook users do most of their updates via their mobile, this is something I am sure Linkedin are well behind on.
The most interesting option is the ability to Bluetooth profiles between users which would have been invaluable as all the networkers converged on the conferences around the world, iphone in hand. I think there could be more options based on geo based searches, a little like the way Twitter has transformed conferences by people following each other as they tweet, could Linkedin not have a similar option for those using Bluetooth and within range?
Anyway it’s here now and it’s a good layout, a little too similar to the Facebook layout but at least a lot simpler than before. They have broken out all the various things you can do with Linkedin and given each one of them a button so now the application 100% replicates all you can do on the PC which has to be a good thing. Now they just need to make the most of what mobile can offer.
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