No Iimits.... but there should be

I saw the advertisement in this morning's NY Times on Michael Phelps' new book entitled 'No Limits' which is to be released today. This is his second book - somehow I missed the first one. Like so many Americans (and dare I say even non-Americans) I was enthralled with Mr. Phelps' performance at the Beijing Olympics this past summer. It's even ok that he is now the new Subway sandwich endorser (bye-bye Jared). But with at the ripe old age of 23 I have serious doubts about what Mr. Phelps would have to say about his 'life experience'. Ok we all know that he can swim really fast. Faster than just about anyone maybe ever. Yet what has he done except get wet alot and eat a big breakfast?

I wonder how the book might read? 'I got up early (again) had a big breakfast (again) and went swimming. Had a big lunch, went to school, went swimming again. Then had a big dinner (again) and did some homework then played video games. I did this for 22 years. My mom is a saint and offers many interesting facial expressions when the camera is on her on television.'

I cannot figure where else a book like this will go. What else could he have to say that would be even remotely interesting? I am sure Michael Phelps is a nice guy and maybe even a cool dude. And he has millions of fans and many of them will clamor to read his recent effort (since he has so much more life experience now than before his first book). Celebrity offers much to those that do great things (and sometimes not great things). Here's hoping that Michael Phelps decides to donate a good portion if not all of the proceeds to people in need. He got $ 10 million to endorse Subway so I am guessing he could afford to do so.

And don't get me started on the reported $ 7 million advance offered to Gov. Sarah Palin for her story. Sure to be an engrossing read. If she cannot see Russia from her bedroom, she can surely make out the ATM.

Did TSA change their policy with the 3-1-1 plastic bag deal?

I flew out on Monday from a NYC area airport and forgot not only that I did not have my 3 ounces or less liquids in my little one quart plastic bag. Not only that I left all the liquids in my carry-on. Went right through security having never given it a thought. Hmmm. I thought was there a change in policy from TSA? I don't recall hearing about it. I removed my shoes but did not seem to recall if other travelers were doing the same. (When I was in Tokyo a couple of years ago the agents could not understand what I was doing taking off my shoes!). I also remember right after 9/11 flying someplace and having an overzealous TSA agent confiscate a nice cigar cutter I had received as a gift.

So on the return flight out of Cincinnati I did not have time to get the proverbial plastic bag but I also noticed that they did not have the 3-1-1 signs or the constant drone of what to do with your shoes etc. They did talk about jackets needing to come off and several travelers had to stand in the special scanner that blew on you. Somehow I was not asked to do this. Just lucky I guess. But once again my bag went right through with my toiletries etc. inside my carry-on not in a plastic bag.

So what gives? It appears I missed some change in TSA policy (by the way at both airports I spent less than three minutes going through airport security so what does one really need the 'Clear' for anyway?).

The next thing you know you will not need to remove your shoes! Also I found the TSA personnel to be pleasant and as usual professional. Interesting since there was a heightened sense of concern over the holiday weekend due to recent world events and even local to NYC threats.

All in all it made for a pleasant traveling experience (yes I traveled coach or second class as my sister used to say). Was I just lucky? Is the TSA going a little soft? I will be flying again a couple of times this month to different cities and will be sure to notice if this is a trend or just an anomoly.

Twitter highlights Citizen Journalism in India

When the terrorists struck on November 26th in Mumbai news media feeds and reports were sketchy at best. The tweets that came out first were real time and as it turns out accurate reports as to what was going on moment-by-moment as more than 170 people would ultimately perish.

I have commented that mundane things like 'what am are you doing right now' will possibly choke the growth of Twitter as followers may drown in a sea of irrelevant information. But on the other hand what happened in Mumbai is a fantastic illustration of how social networking combined with Citizen Journalism can be completely relevant and important all at the same time.

There's a certain amount of faith that has to be laid out to start with regard to the person tweeting. But once that person develops a following and as such a reputation for truth and genuine content, the immediacy of Twitter will supplant any 'news' feed since it will not be filtered by an editor.

If the future of Twitter is to be an immediate and relevant source of information on topics of importance (subjective) and interest (doubly subjective!) long live Twitter and Tweets!

Why would Facebook want to buy Twitter?

Twitter turned them down. $ 500 million in stock was the price tag. $ 15 billion was the valuation on Twitter. Twitter has 6,000,000 registrations and did not want to sell on the first offer. Marc Zuckerberg (Facebook's founder) said Twitter was an 'elegant model'. Now I am on both Facebook and Twitter (don't have a huge amount of Facebook 'friends' nor do I have any real following on Twitter).

I still have trouble understanding how either Facebook or Twitter will make money. And maybe because I am an older guy I have difficulty understanding why people would want to know what I am doing 'right now'. I admit I probably just don't get it. Folks it is not all that exciting most of the time - I mean it's fine for me but why would anyone care about some of the posts I read on both? I realize I am far from being any kind of fascinating person but I also feel that most of the posts I read are self-aggrandizing and frivolous.

As I have noted before unless companies like Facebook and Twitter (and LinkedIn etc.) figure out a revenue model I have my doubts about their long term viability. Will we look back in five years at all this moment to moment posting of life events as extraneous and TMI? My guess is yes to a certain degree but what also is likely to happen is that these social networking sites will mature and morph into something we (or maybe it's just me) cannot quite see at the moment.

I'm off to NYC for meetings a lunch. Yes I know you don't care. Why should you?

A different type of social media with true engagement

I did not think if it this way until I read about the new expansion pack (Wrath of the Lich King) and the buzz it created for World of Warcraft (WOW). Thursday this week Blizzard Entertainment released the new expansion pack Check out the link to see the buzz and video coverage - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7725328.stm

Ok these people are SUPER engaged. Some might term it fanatical and others might call it more than that. WOW players collaborate on line in the world's most popular MMORPG (if you have to ask then you won't understand) that has 11 million members (that pay a monthly fee to access servers around the planet). The players can talk and share in real time, the content is truly genuine and the engagement motives are simple to understand - they just want to play the game.

It can be addictive for sure and there are even support groups for those that cannot control themselves since they can play for 16 hours per day or more. It would be easy to pass off this group as a bunch of computer geeks with no life if there were not so many of them. But their sheer numbers and committment level make them a formidable force.

Let's see 11,000,000 people who actually PAY something to network with one another both verbally and in writing sharing a real-time experience with participants worldwide. Facebook and MySpace may have more members but neither has figured out any kind of sustainable revenue model.

WOW proves that true user engagement combined with revenue can coexist after all! It's just a different kind of social network.

The sort of mail I receive

Have you noticed what's in your mailbox since the election last week? Or more properly what's not? There was a fair amount of candidate promotional mail up until Tuesday the 4th but aside from the few stragglers who came in with vote pleas AFTER Election Day the lack of volume of mail in our mailbox is noticeable.

It was never good to see three Victoria's Secret catalogs in the same week (well at least not from a business perspective) but now we get none. Holiday catalog mailings are way fewer and page counts are down down down. We all understand the desire to send less and drive the customer (or citizen you would like to be a customer) to the web catalog. But people really do look at the catalog to do shopping. Of course there are the e-commerce dedicated folks who proudly disdain any received mail however they do not make up the majority of the population. And while sending a postcard to drive web traffic is a good strategy it is a dangerous thing indeed to make it the ONLY tactic.

It's obvious that dollar value spend will be down on individual gifts this holiday season. But people will buy gifts and I also am feeling a general backlash against gift cards. A couple of weekends I tried to use a gift card I received earlier this year and found that it had expired. ARRGH! So that really ticked me off and I have vowed not to buy one single gift card for anyone this season. Sure it's easier, less thought involved. But it is also less caring and if I am going to spend less money on someone the least I could do is invest myself in really thinking about what would be the appropriate gift. For the same reason that handing over cash seems inappropriate in lieu of a gift card.

Fewer catalogs, mail promotions this season will only exacerbate the drop in sales that retailers and catalog companies will feel and to add to it then the pipeline will be drier than ever come the end of the holiday season. And keep in mind with the mailbox being less cluttered than in recent memory marketing messages and offers will better penetrate and resonate!

Mailing less and mailing smarter are options that must be considered. But not mailing at all will have companies struggling Q1 2009 to answer the question of where all the top line revenue has disappeared to? They are blowing it big time.

Direct mail, Email and Social media to Gen X, Gen Y and Millenials

More and more often I am asked about the viability of direct mail. Today I answered a question on LinkedIn'is direct mail deader than disco'? Catchy perhaps, but the question was generally responded to in the positive - direct mail is dead, or they don't read it, I only read email, it is irrelevant etc.

Earlier this week however I saw an article in Promo Magazine noting that 'Gen-X Persuaded by Email, Direct Mail Over Social Marketing: Study. The article published on October 27th http://www.printthis.clickability.com noted that consumers 18-34 report they are more likely to respond to an e-mail marketing message or direct mail than to one they get through a social network.

One of the things about social networking is that it has yet to be proven as an environment for selling anything. The users are there in part because they are not sold anything or offered anything. Not the most promising business model ever developed. Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and all the others are feverishly looking at ways to 'monetize' their applications but understand the risks of turning off the very audiences that find them appealing.

Gen Xer's are not nearly as accustomed to direct mail as some of us more experienced folk. But the same rules apply as always. If the offer is good, the direct mail piece or email message creative and relevant, the audience will respond. Keeping up with what is relevant and will generate response is also the same old same old. Things are changing day by day and will continue to do so but what results are just many more ways to communicate with citizens that marketers would like call customers.

The main idea is for companies to communicate with people the way they prefer.