Scott Meikle

Google have once again entered the social networking arena. But this time it’s different.

Google Buzz is built around their GMail platform, which already has 100 million users – less than Facebook but more than Twitter and My space – so for starters they have access to critical mass. If they get the UX right – and that means simple, fast, intuitive, Facebook-like – then they have a huge chance of upsetting the social network applecart!

But here is the real killer. If they do manage to mobilise their 100m GMail users into  Buzz – and that won’t be easy -they already have a highly sophisticated analytics and commercialisation model already in place.

A social network with Adwords build around it!

As a marketeer I WANT IT NOW! As I consumer, if it keeps the tool free (Facebook are rumoured to be considering charging for access) then I’ll tolerate it. Make no mistake, if Google get this right – it could be THE way to monetise social networking.

I’m off to buy some Google shares.

Here it is folks…..The Supebowl IV. They call it the greatest show on earth and very often it is!

I’m a big NFL fan, I don’t have a particular team, I just love the sport. The Indianapolis Colts are strong favourites to win tonight, and their quarterback Peyton Manning is truly outstanding. But I have a feeling that the New Orleans Saints are going to win!

This year, like every year, there is a huge amount of coverage on the commercials showed at the halftime break. A 30 second spot costs around $2 million and delivers an audience of around 100 million people. This year Anheuser-Busch, Doritos, Coke, Denny’s and Electronic Arts have paid for the privilege. All eyes will be on them to see who creates the best commercial.

Watch this space!

I used to think I was an early adopter…maybe I am. But things this week changed my views.

I got sky HD installed, the High Definition version of normal TV. I have looked at it for about 18 months, when I first started considering it it cost £200 plus an installation fee. I like TV, I like high quality TV pictures but the price didn’t feel right. I can’t articulate what was wrong with the price, but it just didn’t feel like value. Now I could afford to pay £200, but I didn’t want to.

So fast forward 18 months (you can fast forward on Sky HD too) and what changed? Well – I’ve had 18 months of TV commercials and direct mailers coming through the post promoting Sky HD….but I don’t think it was that. I was convinced I wanted it from day 1 of learning about it. The thing that really changed was the price…..Sky HD is now free with a £30 installation fee. I’ve since heard that sky have been inundated with people signing up to this offer.

So I am still probably in the 10% or so of Sky customers who have HD (early adopters) but I waited almost 2 years (not an early adopter).

The other interesting question this raises is the perception of value. I was happy to pay £350 for a iPhone but i did not want to pay £200 for Sky HD. Absolutely not about price…..ALL to do with value. remember that in everything you do….from your own marketing campaigns through to your salary negotiations.

If I had my child to raise over again,
I’d do less correcting, and more connecting.
I’d take my eyes off my watch, and watch with my eyes.
I would care to know less and know to care more.
I’d take more hikes and fly more kites.
I’d stop playing serious, and seriously play.
I’…d run through more fields and gaze at more stars.
I’d do more hugging, and less tugging.
I would be firm less often, and affirm much more.
I’d build self-esteem first, and the house later.
I’d teach less about the love of power, and more about the power of love.

For one reason or another, it’s been a really tough month.

It got me to thinking about resilience…emotional, spiritual, professional, physical…it really is so important. I don’t know anyone, and I guess they don’t exist, that goes through life with no bad things happening to them. So if that is the case, maybe success is all about your ability to take the hits and come back stronger.

How do we foster resilience. Physically – it’s easy – we work out, get fit and we can physically handle more than we could before we worked out. But emotional or spiritual resilience is much more difficult.

I do it by ‘doing good things’ – looking after my soul and build up my Mojo. Exercise is a key thing for me, its a great method of removing tension…..but that alone is not enough. you have got to find the small intangible things that make you feel good. For me it’s time with the kids, familiar places, going home, time on my own. Over many years I have discovered my Mojo recovery methodology…so now when it’s low – I know how to replenish it.

Just been watching ‘How Do They do It?” on Channel 5.

A really good science show – bang on the Factual Entertainment category. Tonight they are showing how to make perfectly flat glass!

Anyway, in the commercial break – up popped a spot for a science supplement in the Independent newspaper – perfect targeting. People who watch science shows will probably like science newspapers. Revolutionary eh?

This reminded me of something I was involved with from a few years ago. We were doing some TV advertising for our great new spa Waterfall www.waterfallspa.co.uk -we noticed that when the spot appeared in some programmes it generated immediate response and in others it didn’t. Even although some of the other shows had a bigger audience.

So we asked ITV to put more of our spots in the programmes that generated good response – logical right? Only to be told it would cost a premium to specify spots! The premium price negating the benefit.

I guess this symbolises decline of TV advertising compared to PPC. I can target for free online, I have to pay a premium on TV…no thanks TV – i’ll stick to online, especially now I can deliver ‘commercials’ to my audience too through an IPTV experience.

Marketing, for me, is all about selling something. Selling a vision, a cause or more obviously a product, service or experience. Getting someone to buy is about creating that perfect recipe of all the decision making criteria. But it’s not just about the tangible and predictable things like the specification, price, features and so on.

I believe that many purchasing decisions are made in spite of  these factors and that getting your customer to buy your offering is about a complex balance of chemicals (hormones) that are released in your body.

My approach is a bit like Heston Bloomethals approach to cooking. Great chef’s have a good intuition about the right seasoning, the presentation, smell and taste to determine if it’s ‘good enough’. Heston analyses food – its molecular structure, the impact temperature has on it, unusual combinations (remember the curry ice cream) challenging norms along the way.

So if we said selling a proposition  was about getting the right mix of happiness, usefulness, recognition, accessibility and affinity….then we are forced to think about how to market that offering  in much softer ways than the typical marketing or communication factors. We will think about a campaign in terms of how do we make them happy, how do we make them feel it’s useful, how do we make them feel it’s right for them….

Here it is folks, my debut as a movie star!

http://www.vimeo.com/6994570

This week Andy Johnston and I attended MIPCOM in Cannes.

We saw a whole range of great speakers….Richard Pindar from Publicis was outstanding on how he sees advertising and entertainment working together in the future; Tony Cohen the CEO of Freemantle, in a totally different way, was equally inspirational and gave a very real view of where his business is and the challenges it faces; Col Needham – the founder of IMDb.com was also very good and I love his site but didn’t realise Amazon had bought it a few years ago.

We also saw a massive number of new TV formats from “My Big Fat Parents” – a show that shames parents into losing weight through emotional blackmail by their kids to “The Coffin” – a show were celebs get to create their own funeral!!! The diversity and creativity on show was unreal.

Others of note were Tom Rogers CEO of TIVO and Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons.

Much was learned – not just about TV – but the whole digital integration we face. Through attending these events, Dene’s clients have access to the very latest infomation on what these massive media organisations are doing.

Last week all the Dene directors recorded a short film telling the world what we are trying to achieve.

My film was directed and edited by the talented duo of Chris Chapman and Mark Lediard.

It’s always difficult to do these things without sounding like David Brent. I’m also not the most comfortable in front of the camera, so it was a real challenge. All that said, I was pleased with the results. I will post the film soon.MIPCOM, scottmeikle, dene, denefilms, denegroup, dene

In terms of communication, I just don’t think you can beat film.