Blogging or Beaching?

By Lucindigo | February 1, 2009

 
Lucindigo Offline, beach wins!!! 
 

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PR Professionals of the Future

By Lucindigo | January 13, 2009

See below for excerpts from a video from Ogilvy PR.

Makes interesting reading and a solid base for a New Year professional audit for all PR/Comms professionals.  Perhaps some new KPI’s to add for 2009 even.

  • Future broad, wide and open for PR
  • Tell STORIES that move people
  • Will be direct CONTENT creators, have a chance to tell stories very directly to audiences (coveyed via PC, cellphone, big screen).
  • Is not just a broker of information between clients and media
  • Knows what the next question is before the client asks it
  • Compelling VIDEO AND VISUAL TOOLS e.g. Charts more important to help persuade.
  • Need to be more BOLD, thoughtful and CREATIVE.
  • SPEED is really important
  • Need the ability to ADAPT very quickly/change what you thought and what you are thinking
  • Have a spine & backbone to tell CEO info they need to be successful
  • Need to be a good WRITER
  • Need to be able to RESEARCH
  • Need experience in CRISIS
  • Understand the RAPIDLY CHANGING COMMUNICATIONS ENVIRONMENT
  • Position CEO & Team as really DRIVING SHAREHOLDER VALUE
  • Understanding WORD OF MOUTH important.
  • Aptitude in new ONLINE APPLICATIONS emerging and understand how can fit into PR program e.g. FB, Twitter applied to client.
  • Need to apply these new Social Media/Web2.0 tools to YOUR LIFE before to your clients.
  • Great at asking QUESTIONS
  • PASSION for the business
  • Prepared to make suggestions OUT OF THE BOX
  • Transform PR from Public relations to PERSONAL RELATIONS
  • KNOW CLIENTS BUSINESS well enough that if CEO of client company were hit by a bus you could land the plane in an emergency

Comment on this video YouTube from Web2Rulz below:
“Nice try, this video is dominated by old white men in suits - not exactly what the users of YouTube look like. How pathetic. The PR industry still doesn’t get it. Enjoy your retirement.”

While I am not agreeing with this, I am all about diversity. I think diversity can pre-determine bold, thoughtful and creative ideas and solutions.

And a rebuttal from bgrunner:
“How does them being white have anything to do with their job duty: being brokers of information between the public and clients! Their job is not to be hip, trendy, or to entertain!”

Well, bgrunner, according to the video PR professionals  are “no longer just brokers of information between the public and clients”.

What do I think?
Focus on what matters –> RESULTS.

This is what clients care about (or should), not ethnicity or choice of dress for the office.

Watch it on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHt6Pb61Ycs&eurl=http://www.socialmediatoday.com/smc/65798

Posted in New Media, PR, Personal Development | Leave a comment

Lucindigo Media interview with Co-Founder of Spock.com, Jay Bhatti

By Lucindigo | December 12, 2008

Jay Bhatti is co-founder of spock.com and wait… I’ll let Spock tell you about him as that is what it does best.

I asked Jay some questions about Spock, where the online advertising industry is going and the technology sector sentiment and success factors for the “where now and how”.

See my interview below and afterwards go check out the new answer to to “googling yourself” -  Spock.

  • I. On Spock

Me:  How would you describe Spock in a twitter post?

Jay Bhatti: “Check out spock.com to see what your friends are up to”

Me: Do people really want their personal information to be searchable on the web? What mechanisms can you put in place to protect yourself?

Jay Bhatti: The answer is Yes. A lot of professionals and service providers want their information out there. Actually, most people want certain information out there on the web. Such as the school they went to, their career history, etc. Anything they think would help them professionally.   However, most people do not want personally identifable information (home address, phone number, etc) to be posted online. This is something we do not display on Spock and leave it to the user to decide what to do.  

Me: As a daily web user and media and communications professional, how could Spock change my life?  

Jay Bhatti: It could make it a lot easier for you to get basic information about people you are writing about or looking at for more information.  We get dozens of mails from small businesses that say we make their HR departments better because we give them a one-stop-shop to find relevant information about candidates or even to find new candidates.  

  • II. Online Advertising Industry 

Me: Online Advertising is struggling for resilience in current global economic conditions. What will be the deal in 2 years time for a), b) and c) below:  

Jay Bhatti: a)  Technological developments in OA:  I think a lot of work still needs to be done with regards to click fraud.  Of the most pressing issues, click fraud is one thing that can seriously hurt the future of online advertising.  Which is why companies like Google are investing millions of dollars to fight it. 

b) Consumer tolerance and penetration in OA:  Consumers are now used to ads on websites. I think they have become pretty tolerant of it.  They now understand that websites need to make money to survive.  However, people are expecting to see more relevant ads appear. They think the technology should be good enough now to show them the right ad every time.

c) Overall spend in OA and profile of the spenders: Online advertising is here to stay. I think it will grow a lot over the next several years. However, I do think that the spenders of online advertising will really look at performance.  Instead of blindly spending dollars, they will look for an ROI on each dollar spent. 

  • III. Tech Sector & Current Economic Climate

Me: If you had three separate words to describe the current Silicon Valley sentiment what would they be?

Jay Bhatti: ”uncertain, cautious, and fragile” 

Me: What is the key difference between those tech start ups that will come out of this stronger and those that won’t?

Jay Bhatti: Is it all about the top two inches, the technology or access to capital?  It’s all about business model.  So many start-ups in the past few years forgot about the business model. Nothing matters more then being able to generate positive cash flow. If you have that, you can survive the downturn. 

Me: Can you list three ways that people will change the web and three ways the web will change people over the next decade? 

People

Jay Bhatti: More people are coming online every month, so the web will have to grow to accommodate them

-People will demand the web be available everywhere for free. Broadband for Free is something that might take hold.

-People are getting busier each day. The web will become more efficient so that it does not waste too much time.

Web

Jay Bhatti: Will make it easier and cheaper to find products you want to buy. Amazon is just the beginning of online commerce.

- People will have instant access to world news at anytime

- People will feel the need to be online or being left out. 

Me: What is the mantra or phrase that the tech community should keep front of mind over these times when layoffs are rife, capital is tight and the global economic situation continues to worsen?

Jay Bhatti: ”Make sure to build a technology that is valuable and have a business model around it that allows you to overcome any tough period. Remember that Google grew during the .COM bust in 2000 due to great technology and a killer business model”

Posted in Business Models, Entrepreneurs, Innovation, Lucindigo Interview, New Media, Search, Social Media | Leave a comment

Lucindigo Media interview with CEO of Veeple, Scott Broomfield

By Lucindigo | November 21, 2008

I was kindly offered the opportunity to ask some questions of Scott Broomfield CEO of Veeple,an interactive video as a service provider (VaaS). With Veeple, you can add interactive content e.g. clickable ads, to video. 

This service is a very powerful monetisation tool for those publishing video. Scott provided some interesting metrics and insight into the online video and advertising sector some of which are listed below.

  • YouTube, Yahoo!, Fox Interactive Media, MSN/Windows Live and Nickelodeon Kids and family Network are the top five online brands ranked by video stream.
  • There was 8,885,058 total streams in the US in September 2008. These streams included views from 125,061 unique viewers in the month. 197.2 minutes is the average time per viewer in a month.
  • Video advertisements are seen to be emerging as one of the most effective online advertising mediums. Experts say click through rates in video ads are between 20 and 40 times higher than the click through rates of other forms of display advertisements. -Durgesh Gupta - Televisionpoint.com, Mumbai
  • It is now easier than ever to create videos now for novices and publishers alike
  •  20.95% of internet video streams being monetized
  • Video Publishers generating an effective monetization rate of $4.05 per thousand streams (CPM) 
  • Online Video Advertising Spend To Grow >55% Next Year

My questions to Scott focus on a few on key global issues of right now, including sustainability and the current economic climate. Thanks to Orca Communications, a PR firm for inventors and entrepreneurs, for organising. It was the most pain-free, quick turnaround I have had from a PR company to date, and have had some serious gripes about useless PR firms recently so it was an appreciated change! There are some good resources, including a top ten PR tips slideshow, from Ann Noder the President of Orca on the site.

———
Me: What is the potential of online video?

Scott Broomfield: Context - the potential is unlimited.  Video will consume 500+ exabytes by 2012.  There is no end in sight and we are just at the beginning.

Me: Where are we in terms of penetration of video as a medium both in US and worldwide?

Scott Broomfield: At the beginning of a huge trend.  Although Youtube is the 800 pound gorilla for UGC, the adoption for a regular web site to use rich media, flash and video is under 10%.  Interactivity is under .5% (that’s ‘point’ .5%)

Me: How close are we to maximising the potential of video online?

Scott Broomfield: No where near maximizing.  I give it at least 4 to 5 years before 80% of all sites worldwide have incorporated video into their sites.

Me: Any crystal ball gazing on what comes next after video?

Scott Broomfield: Yes - Sites will move from static web pages with text that occasionally use video, to rich video sites that are interactive where text is used less and less.  In other words the video itself will become the new browser and the interactions within the video will guide people to the relevant information they are looking for.

Me: Are you concerned about emerging with this type of service in this economic climate where belts are tightening?

Scott Broomfield: No.  Innovation is always all around us.  Especially in difficult times people look for clearly compelling offerings.  If one offers something that is a 10x improvement over the status-quo, then they will buy. Remember that is the last down turn during 200 and 2001, Google popped up seemingly out of nowhere.

Me: Are there any online media sectors or specific services that are more exposed than others in these conditions?

Scott Broomfield: Yes.  Although this is a generalization, those who push out their message without taking into consideration relevancy and engagement will find themselves at the short end of the stick.

Me: Environmental impact of data centres etc are getting more coverage in the media and on blogs these days. Will increased consumer sustainability and carbon awareness have an impact on the online media industry?

Scott Broomfield: Well, I know a little about this as I am the chairman of www.sustainablelifemedia.com.  The high level answer is YES.  Data Centers consume huge amounts of heat and, therefore, cooling is a major issue as these data centers get bigger; due to the ever increasing flow of bits over the Internet.  Cooling requires power, power createes CO2.  That said, improvements in both CPU and broadband capability will help keep things green.  Also, Google locates their datacenters near large rivers so there is a ready supply of water to cool the servers.

All that said, the lower level answer is NO.  I do not believe that sustainability issues will slow the consumption of rich media.  In actuality, we should see an increase in the consumption of rich media for a simple reason - it is a far smaller carbon footprint to show your product / service using interactive video, like what we do at Veeple, than getting on a plane or into your car.  Although, one wouldn’t know that from the big 3 Auto execs this week.
——-

Veeple has a free (VaaS) trial on their site until March 2009 with which you can easily add a video player to your website or blog.  For those wanting to read more about Interactive Video as a Service (VaaS) good whitepaper here

Online video and the emergence of innovative new tools and business models to maximize it’s potential is an interesting space, and one I will follow closely in the future.

Posted in Advertising, Business Models, Lucindigo Interview, Media Companies, New Media, Online Video | Leave a comment

Blogging Success - First article published today on Content Strategy

By Lucindigo | November 9, 2008

I have published my first article today in a blogging success series. This article is focused on how to create a content strategy that can help guide you to become an expert at home on your blog and an integral member of the community who are interested and passionate about the topic you blog about.

Download Here
Lucindigo Media: Blogging Success I - Content Strategy

Posted in Blog Watching, Content, Lucindigo Resources, Strategy | Leave a comment