Apple tablet, islate, whatever, I cant wait..

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Marco Bertozzi:24:01:2010

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!

Shifting Direct marketing budgets make sexy social media just another channel.

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Marco Bertozzi: 23:01:2010

Brand Republic released news of some research by Alterian that DM budgets are morphing into social media. Now to be clear, I have not seen the research so perhaps it will give me all the detail I am about to question but none the less, its still an interesting subject.

2/3 years ago every client wanted to know how to use social media in their advertising. They wanted to know how to have conversations with customers, how to turn dull into sexy, create millions of fans of car insurance and at the time, no one had an answer. Part of that was the reticence of clients, some of it was media agencies still getting their heads around it and some was actually the fact the very carriers of social audience, did not know what to do either.

While this lack of innovation continued the audiences on the likes of Facebook sky rocketed and advertising rates fell accordingly and that then opened up a huge opportunity for Direct Marketing, not one to one marketing but good old fashion buy it cheap and expect a low response rate type DM. Is this what all those advertisers that have shifted DM budgets into social media have done or have they done anything interesting, have they changed their approach or their channel? I suspect not, I imagine they have bought up vast amount of impressions, overlaid some targeting, just as they would with mail shots and they have accepted a very low response rate and carried on filling their order books. There is still so much room for genuine use of social media and that needs to come from their main brand budgets, not their backwater DM budgets.

Take a look at Compare the Market/Meerkat, everyone knows it, everyone has seen it, but that is a great example of a brave client taking the plunge to make themselves stand out from the competition. I can think of quite a few insurance companies who must be thinking, why were we not brave enough?

WiFi on planes, tubes and trains, we all know its coming – good or bad?

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Marco Bertozzi:15.01.2010
It is inevitable. 10 Years ago when you went on holiday that was it, you were out of touch, out of sight, out of mind. That was not just about the technology it was also a reflection on work society not demanding you to be available, a holiday was exactly that.

Over time the demands by work have increased more and more with technology aiding and abetting all the way along. Phones turned to Blackberrys and iPhones, every conceivable space became WiFi and generally speaking now there are less and less problems with phone connectivity around the globe. As I mentioned above there are two issues here, one is the way it has become more and more acceptable to disturb people on holidays and at weekends and the other is technology making communication possible wherever you are. I want to talk about the latter.

The biggest thing to change here is the march of WiFi into once untouched havens of non connectivity. The train, although mobile broadband has eroded that for some time, but the bastions, that have withstood all attempts – the air flight and The Tube!

Its all changing, WiFi in planes is already up and running in the US and in 2010 Lufthansa, Virgin and sure many more will pick up the mantel for International flights. Interesting that research in the US has shown that there is a huge drop off of usage when one has to pay (up to 12 dollars for a 5hr+ flight), cost being the issue, I am not so sure. I think that people are not ready a world where they are never out of touch. Why would the usage drop off because of the cost? Its mainly used by business people who would expense their companies anyway, no this is about the last haven for people to not be contacted, trying to be retained. The plane flight is an opportunity to do what you want to do without guilt, work, sleep, play, talk, whatever suits, without blame. Marc Ruxin in his blog on a similar discussion quoted the fact that Napoleon often waited six months to answer post as most of the things that were urgently needed to be done had either been done or disappeared..so true. How many times do you catch up on email that if you had been there right from the start you would have waded in, but because you were caught up elsewhere they sorted themselves out.

On a situation closer to home, the idea of having connectivity for your phone on the tube will be both very useful and very annoying. Again the tube journey for many is their time to think, digest the news, read a favourite book etc etc, that will be destroyed by getting a signal. And what will the subject of the calls be about? ‘I am running late’ ‘problems on the tube’ ‘my boss is an idiot’ you can imagine, except multiply by thousands in a confined space, as far as I am concerned the Tube just got worse Obviously it will be a brilliant turn of events when I need to make that ‘I am running late call!’

All in all though the erosion of these last frontiers of isolation just answers probably what people are after but sometimes I think only because of either mobile addiction or work pressure. Deep down dont we enjoy those times where we are forced to consider filling our own time rather than Outlook telling us what we should be doing?

How would you come across online if I searched for you?

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It just struck me as I did a bit of research on some people, you can tell a lot about a person as to whether or not they are on Youtube.

Most people worry about keeping their Linkedin profile up to date, a good CV, perhaps they Tweet a bit and blog a bit but actually one of the most powerful mediums is that of video. In my research of some senior media players it has been fascinating to see who either a) cares or b) has time to create their online CVs with a professional Youtube appearance ranking top in my mind.

What a Youtube performance allows is for someone you have not met to come to life, you may learn a little about their character, approach and beliefs. That is useful and powerful stuff when you are about to be interviewed by them. Perhaps its superficial to judge someone on that basis but I think it says a lot about them as people. It usually means they are not afraid to put their thoughts out there, often in positions of influence hence why they are presenting at conferences etc (most likely video scenarios) and therefore likely to be well connected.

There is much talk about your online persona, is the CV almost irrelevant now, is it more about your online presence, your content that appears if someone searches for you, how many followers you have and so on, I believe probably more and more. Put yourself in the shoes of a candidate you have to interview and search for your name, how do you come across? What would you think of you? All employers are turning to the web to research people, I think its time to check out your own online CV.

So if you are presenting soon at a conference, get yourself recorded!

Companies that make me opt out are dishonest

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Marco Bertozzi:10.01.10
Today I bought a couple of things online, one from a major retailer and one from a smaller online company. The experience was pretty good in both cases except one thing, I was again asked to opt out of receiving endless email sales materials rather than opt in. What is the comparison? You go to the supermarket to buy some bread and milk and as you arrive at checkout they pile your basket high with goods that you have to take out if you don’t want them, who would ever do that? Well except Ryanair and Easyjet with their online ticket buying process!

I find it amazing that I still have to do this, it is one of the most annoying things online. I find it particularly irritating because I have had many a client ask me whether something should be opt in or out and on receiving my advice to make everything opt in, they say ‘well lets leave it as opt out and we will get more names/ numbers or whatever they are after. That’s why it annoys me because they know what they are doing. They are purposely trying to trick you, they have discussed this endlessly and have decided upon the dishonest route.

Today it was Marks and Spencers, yes the home of trust, the company we all say nice things about and yet they too continue to ask me to opt out, well pack it in! Any mainstream, reputable, grown up advertiser should not be doing this, it’s dishonest and is praying on those that don’t know or don’t bother looking through pages of text for the opt out. It’s up there with banking small print. Please.Stop.Opt out.

New Facebook push notifications will mean mobile dominates FB usage, even in the office

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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:

Click to access Razorfish_FEED09_Webinar.pdf

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.

Google Nexus One launches at 6pm today..here is what to expect

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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.

How many of your team have you pissed off?

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Marco Bertozzi:04:10
In the next six months all companies are going to experience an extremely challenging time. Particularly those with young, ambitious members of the team that feel they have just lost a year or arguably two of salary, promotions and bonuses, regardless of the realities of the recession, they feel aggrieved.

Media, digital and advertising agencies are prime examples of companies where managing the staff costs has been paramount, they represent half the cost in the business, more in some cases. The last year has seen different agencies deal with their cost bases in many different ways. Some have been able to manage with some light redundancies and a little voluntary, others have had to take pay cuts and heavy redundancies. The niceties have been removed, the taxis, the lunches etc and everyone has been asked to work that much harder in return. Most people have obliged, in the main out of fear.

Now we are in what we hope to be a slow but steady return to the good old days everyone feels better, but along the way it is going to be exceptionally bumpy. Many agency chiefs are now sitting on an army of disgruntled employees, PricewaterhouseCoopers believe up to 30%, all ready to jump ship at the first sign of a decent job offer and promotion, the promotion they have been stopped from receiving over the last 18 months.

This is not the fault necessarily of the individuals in management, in many cases there is little they can do, they had to manage the numbers although some may have handled their individual situations better than others. I think the testing times will come now as to how we manage the exit from recession. How companies reconnect with their employees, that will be down to management and the steps they take.

It’s critical agencies do this because the end result if PricewaterhouseCoopers is correct (http://bit.ly/4LieSw) will be clients seeing a revolving door of people on their accounts, the continuity on the accounts falls apart and suddenly you have a client feeling a little disgruntled themselves.

So it’s probably about now that everyone needs to have a look at their teams and start to ask themselves honestly – just exactly how many people have I pissed off?

iPhone app for Linkedin upgraded

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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.

Resist The Powermat, just plug your phone in the wall

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Marco Bertozzi: 22.12.09
Out Christmas shopping at the weekend I stood in John Lewis staring at The Powermat (www.powermat.com), I knew I would, I knew at some point I would come face to face with The Powermat and grapple with my desire to buy the latest gadget versus the voice of reason inside me saying, just plug it in the wall, its a rip off!

If you are not sure what powermat is about, check the video out below:

Basically you have a mat, you plug that in the wall. You then buy a cover for you iphone / blackberry / DS, whatever, you put your cover on and just plonk down on the mat and it wirelessly charges your device. If they dont make a back for your device you can plug it into a cube thing and put that on the mat, or for apple products they have a cradle that fits any ipod and you put that on the mat…CHRIST, JUST PLUG IT IN THE WALL. The upside is that it charges multiple devices, is that worth the money?

Powermat have used Facebook a lot and it does make me laugh as everyone is saying the same, why is this easier than plugging into a socket. Oh I did not mention the price..£70 for the mat and then about £30 for each individual case that goes on your device! You can see then why I was stood there in John Lewis staring at it, I wanted it, I really did, but you cannot justify it, this is a proper gimmick for now, it has no value in its current format. £100-£200 just to charge your device? As one Facebooker said..’Its a F******’ charger!

I know I will come face to face with it again and again I will have to decide whether i should buy one, normally I give in to these things but I dont think I will this time until the price is a third of what it is now. Lets not forget though that this technology will soon be built into the phones and laptops themselves so you wont need to waste money on a receiving device, thats when it gets interesting. Imagine if your phone has the technology built in and your car is the charger, just pop the phone down on the dash and you are charging, your desk, your coffee table? Bring that on, for now its a waste of cash.