A syndicated stream is the default view in Facebook, meaning that 350 million people are getting used to the paradigm of real-time syndicated streams....with - soon - geolocation data.
Connecting remote data to people and things in real-time will lead to a series of new devices and applications.
A significant step towards this real-time world is the visual search concept Google Goggles. Take a picture of a person's face, and Goggles tells you their name. Snap a picture of a building, and find out who built it, and what companies reside inside.
Behavior and human mindset changes fundamentally when you layer in real-time search overlays onto the real world.
The building blocks of that world will emerge over the next 12 months. This unfolding Marketing Eco System, which has less to do with technology and more to do with psychology, opens up a targeting-opportunity to deliver personal relevant messages based on location, interest, behavior, socio-demographics, time and context....combined with relevant affiliate marketing deals.
The privacy concerns will be huge. The first version won't let you search faces, due to privacy concerns - but in the end this is an ongoing trend that will change our world.
In this unfolding Marketing Eco System all content goes digital AND goes mobile. Everything gets tagged and the walled gardens open up. Lot's of (formerly) bundled content breaks free of old trapped business models and will be further atomized online.
Atomized mobile digital content drive micro-payments, which move from niche to mainstream payment models.
My advise: Don't build pay walls for your readers around the bundle, but activate people to give permission for a micro-payment for each atom that engages them to see, or read, a bit more of it. Monetize the instant gratification need. Find out how to activate people to give as many micropayment-permissions as possible from the moment they jump into the real-time river of branded content and affiliate marketing deals.
David de Boer, Head of Marketing Intelligence Sales, Sanoma
Media companies are building digital magazine prototypes. They intend to make prototypes that will work on a variety of platforms so that they can sell their products on different devices of different sizes from a variety of suppliers. The media companies want to sell their products on smart phones, tablet PCs as well as netbooks, all of them will be as interesting platforms for digital magazines as the much hyped e-readers.
Vision (1): to re-create the visual experience of a high-end glossy lifestyle magazine. In a world dominated by real time chatter, a firehose of information overload, trashy celeb gossip, and fast sloppy news reporting there is a growing market for the opposite niche. There are plenty of people who still enjoy a calm, minimalistic aesthetic experience. A well crafted story, superb command of the written language, reflection, interesting facts, compelling arguments and beautiful photos. We aren't keeping old formats, we are keeping and enhancing experiences. That's not the same thing. The whole point of the prototype is to show how new formats can capture the essence of magazines in a digital environment. We fully recognize that people show their identity in many different arenas - but this isn't trying to replace them. On the contrary, it is running parallel, and branches over when appropriate. The exact formula is yet to be developed of course, but publishing this first prototype is a part of that process.
Bonnier isn't keeping old formats, but is keeping and enhancing experiences. That's not the same thing. The whole point of the prototype is to show how new formats can capture the essence of magazines in a digital environment. Bonnier fully recognizes that people show their identity in many different arenas - but this isn't trying to replace them. On the contrary, it is running parallel, and branches over when appropriate. The exact formula is yet to be developed of course, but publishing this first prototype is a part of that process.
Vision (2): A new kind of media-format where words, images, sound, and possibly video and other output sources work together to tell a story or provide information, rather than being necessarily separate objects embedded next to each other.
The finite nature of magazines: In a magazine, the limit in size and pre-determined format force authors to focus and concentrate. This is good for both quality and creativity, just look at the strict rules in classical poetry or the 140 character limit in Twitter. If the Mag+ is designed with stunning colors and excellent readability it will imbue the magazines you read with a sense of quality and importance that is lost on the web where everything is one click away. The sense of completion is key to getting closer to a magazine experience. People like finishing things.
Will the digital magazine on the tablet be monthly, daily or real time? What does the reader get for his money? This is not an easy question, because you might take a lot of fun away in waiting for the next issue!
This conceptual video is a corporate collaborative research project initiated by Bonnier R&D into the experience of reading magazines on handheld digital devices. It illustrates one possible vision for digital magazines in the near future. The concept aims to capture the essence of magazine reading, which people have been enjoying for decades: an engaging and unique reading experience in which high-quality writing and stunning imagery build up immersive stories.
The concept uses the power of digital media to create a rich and meaningful experience, while maintaining the relaxed and curated features of printed magazines. It has been designed for a world in which interactivity, abundant information and unlimited options could be perceived as intrusive and overwhelming.
The purpose of publishing this concept video is first and foremost to spark a discussion around the digital reading experience in general, and digital reading platforms in particular: the magazine reading experience, digital browsing, text versus images and open versus closed digital reading experiences.
After an initial scepticism readers were happy to consume their digital content in an eMagazine, provided it was no more than a 10 minute experience. The business model is simple that of strong engagement, although advertising does not fit well with eMags - the click through rate is much less than conventional web advertising. This is because the magazine environment provides a more relaxing way of consuming a feature and whilst in this state most readers don't want to interrupt this by being sent to a company's website (away from the page). After trying all the page turning platforms, findings are that the slide/scroll method is by far the most natural to use. No gimmicks, just the easiest possible method to read an article and engage with the multimedia on the page.
Advertising in digital magazines: Ads in digital magazines could be very immersive. Readers value ads in printed magazines much higher than on web sites (less interruptive and a more important part of the magazine content).
This collaboration between The Wonderfactory and Time, Inc. is an excellent example of how tablets will enable the creation of innovative, addictive experiences.
It is not only a promo video. The prototype already works. Watch this demo of Time Inc's digital magazine concept for tablet computers showing an issue of Sports Illustrated .
According to the Sun, the Sports Illustrated format on a multi-touch-screen tablet is a valuable addition, but no substitute for the magazine Sports Illustrated. Magazines and newspapers have been the world's best handheld for many, many years. Top news, sports, photos, gossip and games in an easy-to-share format. No waiting for pages to load, no losing reception.
Even without claiming to be the mayor of Amsterdam, I had the honour to take part in the extraordinary TEDxAmsterdam ‘09. I am still recovering from the overwhelming combination of inspiration (450 talented ‘parents of promising mind childen’) and location (the impressive Royal Tropical Institute).
What happened that day? I have been touched by passionate ‘game changers’- struggling to ’sell’ their sustainable solutions - and I empathized with their persistent drive to realize their ideas.
Every TEDxAmsterdam ‘coffee break’ meant energetic interaction with fascinating people, having three things in common:
A common sense of urgency: Things need to change in a fundamental way to transform from the era of extracting value to the era of genuine value exchange;
A common passionate attitude: Enough spirit, creativity, ideas and energy to ’reset’ our society; to create sustainable ‘eco systems’;
A common belief: The impossible is possible. "If you think you are too small to make a difference...try sleeping in a room with a mosquito"(African proverb).
Making the impossible possible can only happen if every individual acts. I would like to thank Jim Stolze, Marian Spier, Monique van Dusseldorp, Paul Rispens and the team of volunteers for acting; for realizing the TEDxAmsterdam idea.
Let it be a starting point for a new era; an era in which we exchange value instead of extract value. An era in which we have the ability, and should take the opportunity, to optimize our (eco) systems, technology and currency to humans, rather than optimizing humans to them.
Transscript TEDtalk Frans Timmermans: I want to talk to you today about fear. Because you know, fear can be fun! Look at the way captain Jack Sparrow steps in and out of death. And makes a better future for himself. Look at the way the two hyenas in the Lion King enjoy the shivers they along their spines when they pronounce the word ‘Muphasa’. And look at the way your children react when they’re told bedtime stories written by the brothers Grimm with all the horrible elements: They love it! H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allen Poe, Steven King, and even the rather less inspired makers of Evil Dead I to X. They all know that fear can be very, very exciting. Fear is also - potentially – a strong political force. If fear is combined with the knowledge that there is a way out, that there is a solution, it can unleash forces unknown to man itself. A beautiful example of this is President Kennedy’s ‘moon speech’. When he knew that the Soviets had an advantage on the US they were afraid that this would lead to military dominance of the Soviet Union. Kennedy said: “We’ll put a man on the moon.” And this unleashed an incredible force in American society. And he said: “We’re not doing this because it’s easy; we’re doing this because it’s hard. And when you do things that are hard, you can show what your worth. You can show how much force, how much imagination, how much creativity you can unleash in your own society. At the same time, there is another side to fear. Fear can also suffocate. It can paralyse. It can make you stay in the same spot and not want to move again. Fear is - if it is turned into a political commodity – also something that can paralyse whole societies. You often hear that European culture - European values - could dissolve like a lump of sugar in a cup of tea. Because a foreign element introduced into our society is lost. Today, people like Christopher Caldwell, Mark Stein, Bruce Bauer, they all argue that Europe will disappear, our values will go under. And they only have one solution for this: ‘the Other’ should disappear. Physically, leave. Or should disappear by becoming exactly like us. Those are the only two solutions they see for Europe to survive. I think that is incredible. Because in Europe we are with so many. Our ideas are so powerful. Our diversity is such a source of strength that one wonders how it is possible that these writings can lead to such a low level of self-confidence. That you would think that a minutely small minority of people who want to impose their ideas on you could do so successfully. But that is what their fear, what the negative side of fear can do to you. In our times, on our continent, we face a huge choice. Because of what fear does. The fear of those who think there’s no way out. The fear of those who think we will disappear. Jonesy. Do you know who Jonesy is? Lance-Corporal Jack Jones is a great character in a series called Dad’s army. He was a First World War veteran. He was the only true soldier in the band of Dad’s army. He always portrayed himself as a First World War hero. But as soon as something happened that was scary, he would start running around frantically and say: “Don’t panic! Don’t panic! Don’t panic!” And this is what we are doing today. This is what the bad fear is doing to our society. The choice we face in our society in our time is whether we want to be Captain Jack Sparrow or Lance-Corporal Jack Jones. A pretty clear choice. Why? Because we face a daunting challenge. Perhaps the biggest challenge humanity ever faced. We need to redefine the relationship between man and his natural environment. For the first time in humanity, the presence of the earth and its resources is no longer self-evident and determined. We have to be more careful with how we deal with the earth. We have to take into account an ever-increasing population. A population we need to feed. We need to provide stability. Prosperity and peace. And this is a daunting challenge. The bad news is: we will have to rethink everything we do, on a very personal level. How we live our lives. But we also have to rethink politics, rethink governance, and rethink our organisational structures. The nation-state can no longer solve all these problems. And governance is needed on continental level, on global level. This means we have to go back to the drawing board and convince people that things need to change in a fundamental way. That’s the bad news. The good news though, is that it can be done. It is not a scientific challenge. It is not a technological problem. The technology is out there, science has invented the solutions. It is a political problem! Do we have the guts to face this and do the right thing? To apply the knowledge that has been invented to improve. And to make sure that this earth can feed nine billion people. That this earth can create stability and prosperity for all. It is pretty obvious that if we don’t apply the existing technology, if we fail, if we drop the ball, what happens is that humanity will face natural and man-made disasters. And all our efforts, all our efforts, will be directed at managing disasters rather than creating opportunities. Do you know the Cracken? Jack Sparrow’s enemy, the beast in the sea with all his tentacles. This Cracken has far more than just one tentacle. Our society is affected by the speed of developments worldwide which are brought into your living room instantly. There is no avoiding that. The speed of change also comes to your country very quickly. As societies change rapidly. Far more rapid than ever before in human history. And the speed of this change, the proximity of the problems, the proximity of ‘the Other’, of difference, is another driving force of fear. Sometimes paralysing fear. One can see it all through European history. Fear of the other. Every time we face change Europeans look at the other. Every time we go back to the drawing board and relations are changed, either in society or between groups or between countries or maps are redrawn, Europeans look at the other, without comprehension. Is he a friend or is he foe? Is he out there - to put it in modern terms – to take away my values? To impose his views? To push me out of my own position? And have we been abandoned by the elites? Where are they? Why don’t they come and help us? Have we seen the threat of different people coming to our society who want to move in a different direction, without the liberty and freedom that has been cherished in this city since the 17th century? And what about the fear-mongers. Politicians have found that fear is a great political commodity. Perhaps the most successful political commodity in Europe today. These fear-mongers will answer these questions with: “Yes! Yes, this is what’s going to happen” What they will do is to tell people bed-time stories - after locking their doors and chasing the neighbour away from their backyards - tell them bed-time stories about a past that never was, to seduce them to believe in a future that will never be. That is what is happening a lot in Europe today. We politicians - but also those people who are dismissed as the elite - we have such an incredibly weak response to this challenge. What you see is that people react by dismissing the fears as irrational, as nonsensical. Which is a force. People see that the threats are real. People know – or feel intuitively – that their position is under threat, that it is not a done deal that we will always prosper. That our wealth will always stay. It is not a done deal that we will have a better future than today’s present. It is not a done deal that we will have peace and prosperity in our society. Look at the dimension of the threats, of the challenges. It is idiotic to dismiss these fears people feel as irrational. Because they’re true, they’re real, be honest about this: it could happen if we don’t act. The second response is to mimic the fear-mongers. To say: “Okay, they’re popular with the electorate, let’s just adopt their agenda, in part, let’s be ‘fear-mongers light’. That doesn’t work either. The third response - and frankly that is what I see a lot in your circles - is a sort of come together and hold hands and say: “We’re the ones who are right, we’re the ones who understood, they’re all wrong. Yippiyayee.” That doesn’t help either. That does not help. We need to face realities in society. We need to look the Cracken in the eye. We need to do what Jack Sparrow does and say: “Hello beasty!” Because look at society today and what is the challenge of politics? People have become very eclectic in their choices. They become eclectic in their personal choices. Their fashion is no longer the same all over, is no longer determined by their social group. Their taste in culture is different. And even in certain cities like Amsterdam and other urban areas, you can be eclectic about your identity. You can choose different elements of different identities and construct your own. That’s a wonderful thing! It’s a wonderful element of our liberty. And people become eclectic in politics as well. They pick and choose from different ideologies and ideas. And they construct their own set of values, set of political ideas. Politics has a problem with that, because political parties - certainly in the Netherlands - are still organised along the lines of the society that was, but is gone. Politicians are still thinking that we have this complete set of values that cater to one group in society or people with one belief. The end of the European divide had also an enormous influence on this. The end of the European divide meant an end to the ideological dichotomy in the world. It was so easy to have these two poles - capitalism and communism. Groups of people and individuals in political parties could position themselves somewhere is between those two poles. And say, this is our spot. Closer to this, a bit away from that, and so be recognisable. The ideological dichotomy is gone and it has been replaced not by ideological confrontation but a confrontation based on identity. The foe is he or she with another identity. Because people need something to lean against or to set a difference with. And this is dangerous in society as I described before. With all its rapid changes etc. And we as politicians need to be far more aware of this, especially on the left side of the political spectrum that I represent. Conservatives have always been eclectic; hanging on to power is the main reason. Then you can be eclectic about values, eclectic about positions. Because you construct a set of values that caters to the time. And to the left, ideology has always been less important. But the left needs to reinvent its ideology. Based on a good analysis of society and the voters. To get rid of this attitude: “Here we are. This is where we stand. The voters are somewhere out there. Let’s wait until they’ll come and see us.” No, we need to go out there; we need to be with people, talk to people, and confront them with their fears. Politicians have turned into providers of goods and services: ‘I have an itch, please come and scratch’. We are something like the service-provider of a phone company. You call them when something is wrong. You rather expect them not to respond. Or to respond very briefly. And perhaps to provide you with a small service and slight discomfort. And you put the phone on the hook and you forget all about them. We have as a people in Europe outsourced governance and politics to a cast of - perhaps clever and able – people, but it is a fundamental flaw in our political system. We need to go back to the situation where there is one question we ask every individual citizen: What are you going to do about it? And we need to make sure that there is one response we cannot accept: ‘call my MP’. We need to make choices in our lives on individual basis, on societal basis. Even on a global basis. And this is going to be difficult. Because only global governance can solve the problems. Only the acceptance that there is one issue that we can solve together as humanity. Or we go under together as humanity. If we seek to solve it in confrontation and dominance over others. We will have to take action. And diversity is key to this. When Jack Sparrow jumps into the beastie’s mouth goes against the grain of your intuition. And what politics needs to do today is counter-intuitive to people. When we say to people ‘the Other is your salvation, is your rescue, to look through the eyes of the Other will make you a better person’, it is counter-intuitive. Because people find ‘the Other’ scary, I want to stay with my own group. If we say to people: ‘governance can only be organised on a continental level or a global level’, people say no, no, no! I don’t know all this. I want to organise on a national level. It is counter intuitive. If we say to people: Change! Because we need to change. To redefine our relation with natural environment is fun! Is great! Its successful! People will say, no, no, no! It costs money; it makes my life more uncomfortable. I can’t drive my hummer anymore. So we need to have the guts and strength as politicians to face fear. Change can only happen if every individual acts. As Teddy Roosevelt said: “Success or failure will be conditioned upon the way in which the average man, the average woman, does his or her duty, first in the ordinary, every-day affairs of life, and next in those great occasional cries which call for heroic virtues.” If we do that with passion we will prevail as a society. Thank you very much.
The marketing eco system unfolds. Evidence that this transformation is already in full swing is clear. When you consider how this unfolding marketing eco system might look, with, among other things, digitally augmented realities, contextual branding, and the growth of emotional profiling, it is time to determine a strategy to capitalise on these opportunities.
Or better, it WAS time to determine a strategy. Media firms need to act now if they are to survive and prosper as the marketing eco system unfolds. Falling advertising revenues and the widespread availability of free content are eroding the value of traditional value chain based business models.
Understanding of what the unfolding marketing eco system looks like may be uncertain, but a number of priorities can be identified in navigating the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.
Priority 1. The importance of building and maintaining trust. Trust is seen as the key to gaining access to more profitable relationships with B2C individuals and competitive differentiation. B2C individuals have to feel comfortable enough to open up their privacy walls, needed to deepen their relationship for personal - contextualised - experiences;
Priority 2. Preparing for a more complex network of B2B partnerships. In the long run, digitization will be characterised by alliances between specialist providers;
Priority 3. Learn how to be able to - realtime - personalize your branded content to be personal relevant enough to activate the specific targeted B2C individual;
Priority 4. Learn how to be able to - realtime - calculate and apply the most - contextualised - optimal combination of business models for each specific generated consumer touch point, while continuously generating a stream of 1.000.000 consumer touchpoints per second.
Media firms have to do what they've always done (but in a completely different way, in a completely different mindset): build their B2C relationships based on trust, deliver engaging content and ensure they get paid for it.
These 4 priorities are steps that mediamarketleaders need to take today. It is a question of having in place the systems to support these new ways of working. Media firms need to ask themselves whether their current capabilities are suited for the work that is going to be needed.
Customer management strategies are the foundation for developing deeper relationships with B2C and B2B customers and building this - needed - trust. The supporting systems however need to go beyond the simple retention of customer data. In the unfolding marketing eco system, B2C customers will expect a seamless experience across all of their devices and media firms will have to support this expectation, able to track and manage B2C consumer activity irrespective of the channel. Systems need to provide intelligence on the B2C customer bases' habits, preferences and the different segments that exist within it. Only with this intelligence and analysis will the players in the marketing eco system be in a position to begin making the personalised recommendations and offers that build trust and foster deeper B2C customer relationships.
Extending communities of B2B partners brings a whole new level of complexity to operations. Ensuring that the media company and its B2B partners are quickly rewarded for their 'offerings' could mean supporting the transactions of millions of B2C customers and allocating money instantly to the right pots. Media companies will need the control and flexibility to be able to charge for any service or event according to payment type, network or geography.
As flat fee broadband capacity increases and high-end mobile devices become ever smarter and enter the mainstream, the trends identified are only likely to accelerate. Media firms need to decide today where they see their place (their SmartSweetSpot) in the digital future and what they have to do to get there.
The cause of Monaco Media Forum's most essential discussion: Media Value Chain-thinking (as was: value chain/CEO Axel Springer) versus Marketing Eco System-thinking (to be: value constellation/ CEO Huffington Post).
Increasing fluidity of the unfolding Marketing Eco System asks for value constellation based business models instead of traditional value chain based business models:
1. Digitization is damaging the traditional value chain based business model, which worked for advertisers, agencies and publishers
2. Increasing fluidity of the unfolding Marketing Eco System drives development of value constellation business models
3. The tradional value chain business models (which worked for advertisers, agencies and publishers) are not future proof
4. Central question: Which value constellation based business models are future proof in the unfolding Marketing Eco System? Answer: learning by doing
Value Chain thinking versus Value Constellation thinking (Marketing Eco System) is now THE essential mindset-difference which is causing a lot of ' lost in translation' situations in the boardrooms of media firms.
David de Boer, Head of Marketing Intelligence Sales, Sanoma
Speaking at TEDxKC, John Gerzema identifies four major cultural shifts driving new consumer behavior (moving from mindless to mindful consumption) and shows how businesses can best evolve to succesfully connect with thoughtful spending.
1.Facebook replaces personal email 2. Open source software starts making proper money, thanks to the cloud 3. Mobile commerce -- The promise that has never delivered, yet 4. Fewer registrations -- one sign-in fits all 5. Disruption vs. continuity -- alternatives to the "big idea" 6. The continuing evolution of web-driven, open source DIY culture 7. Info-art 8. Crowdsourcing 9. More Flash, not less
The fusion of sociology and technology in the Media Eco System has literally transformed the monologue of communication into the instantaneous dialog of a linked community. This linked community quickly and effectively shares profiles, opinions, insights, experiences, perspectives and media itself.
Last 80 years, marketeers were are all into getting attention. You can buy attention (advertising), beg for attention or earn attention.
Last 3 years, the succesfull marketeers are not merely to gain the attention of their (potential) clients, but to gain trust; to create interactive one-on-one trusted relationships with the public at large.
Advertising campaigns can literally succeed or die in the momentous pressing of "send". Two major ad campaigns met their fate in the fall of 2008: Twitter users attacked and killed the new J&J Motrin Mom`s Campaign; and bloggers bombed and destroyed Germany`s Pepsi Max Campaign. Both were squashed immediately: one the first weekend, the other after the first issue of the ad.
Today`s businesses have a real challenge on their hands:
78% of consumers trust peer recommendations more than traditional advertising.
80% of Twitter usage takes place on mobile devices, providing consumers the ability to broadcast news anywhere, anytime. As the number of "followers" and "friends" increases exponentially, it is likely that a business can plummet for poor customer service before the customer pays the bill.
But if a business uses it responsibly and effectively, the media eco system network can catapult a business ahead of its competition.
The media eco system network has the potential of accomplishing what no other medium has in the past: in numbers, message and network-effect. Utilize this potential, not so much for advertising, but to develop trusted relationships within your public niche.
Be not interested in advertising on platforms in the media eco system; be interested in getting in there and interacting with people; within the media eco system. Effective commercial communication is not a campaign, but a commitment. Businesses can, and should, use the media eco system networks in order to grow an active and interactive audience.
Companies need to participate in the media eco system networks, or they will be left behind. In a recent survey of 880 marketeers, nearly 81% admitted that their dialog efforts - their active participation in the media eco system networks - generated business exposure and more than half claimed that their tactics generated leads.
Three reasons why the benefits of online networking seem to hold even greater promise than face-to-face social networking, or conventional marketing: 1. It costs businesses primarily time instead of money. 2. Businesses can reach beyond the limitations of geography in gaining awareness and generating leads. 3. The potential for online referrals is huge.
Online socializing may be a radically different method of marketing-but in the near future, it could very well be the preferred method of marketing, one-on-one, throughout the world.
You earn trust customer by customer. Sanoma aims to construct an environment in which eco systems of trust will emerce; an environment in which privacy will be less important for many, more important voor some.
Why privacy is less important for many:
Mindset: to share is to gain
You have to be open, to have your data shared
More open means less privacy, but more personalization
More personalization means more relevance
Total personalization means total transparancy
If you want total personalization, you have to be total transparent
Trend: Convergence of atoms and digital Result: One media platform, with the same laws of media shared in common:
Copies have no value
Value is in the uncopyable
Personalization
Media want to be liquid
Network effects-rule
Attention is a currency (trust is a currency?)
The 4 stages of the internet:
stage 1: link computers
stage 2: link pages, sharing links
stage 3: link data, sharing an idea somewhere on a page/sharing ideas (XML, RSS, API, RDF, OWL)
As the number of applications available for download through Apple’s App Store continue to swell, the need has grown for a more efficient way to filter through the 100,000+ options across the multitude of categories.
As a result, app discovery tools have become a flourishing segment of the iPhone app market: Chorus, Yappler, AppsFire and Sidebar. In addition, Apple recently unveiled a feature called App Genius that makes recommendations based on past purchases.
Chorus, which is free, allows you to see which apps that your friends have downloaded and rated highly. It then uses algorithms to make recommendations based on those preferences.
The businessmodel of Chorus: the company gets a small kickback each time it sends a purchase request for a paid application to Apple.
1. Social media begins to look less social 2. Corporations look to scale 3. Social business becomes serious play 4. Companies will have a social media policy (might be enforced) 5. Mobile becomes a social media lifeline 6. Sharing no longer means e-mail
1: Mass collaboration is powering upcoming business models in the media eco system and - in a broader perspective - the (new) economy 2: Constant (mobile) connectivity in an on-demand world 3: Globalization: Making the world a smaller place 4: Pervasive distrust in big corporations 5: A global sense of urgency to fix the problems of a modern world
Watch Clay Shirky's keynote video from #OpenHackNYC
Fresh perspectives on culture of participation versus management of media organizations; professional hubs used to make professional publishing decisions.
Real change in Media Eco System: low cost of publication fosters intrinsic motivation, lowers barriers to act, without the need of making professional publishing decisions.
When a new concept/product/service/proces/competitor/trend hits the market, Jeff Jarvis learned us to ask ourselves regularly 'What will Google do?'.
It becomes interesting to apply the 'Jeff Jarvis method' to the launch of Google Wave. What will Ikea do with Google Wave to improve their relationships with their customers?
Why Ikea? Ikea is the 'Google' of the Home sector, following a value-constellation-strategy which has some similarities with the strategy of Google.
It will be interesting to experience how Ikea will apply Google Wave in the coming five years.
Throw away all your marketing books you have read at university. These books - with lessons about the four marketing P's (price, product, place, promotion) - are useless by now. Sad, but true.
Forget about Michael Porter's Value Chain. The Eco System is the next new metaphor.
Try to mentally switch from the Value Chain concept to the Value Constellation concept.
Keep repeating: Media Eco System = Value Constellation = Syndication
According to Accenture research and a panel discussion at the 2008 Accenture Global Convergence Forum, media companies need to take four critical steps to be a winner in the-next-generation-media-industry:
Focus on strengths and use them across multiple channels
Understand and get to know B2C and B2B consumers better
Give existing workforce and new talent as much autonomy as realistically possible.
Get the cost base right.
While an exciting future may loom on the horizon, there are major challenges around strategic execution, the panelists said. In the “age of execution,” the potential to relate to and engage with B2C and B2B consumers is more profound than ever before. Media companies must be prepared to change much more and much faster than in any other time in their recent history.
Recently, Patty Maes of MIT woke up Microsoft by demonstrating that their vision of 2019 is already technically possible today.....and within reach for every consumer. The wearable device of Patty Maes - that enables new interactions between the real world and the world of data - costs only about $350.
Will Apple bring us our 'next level Iphone' and introduce an Apple designed Patty Maes' device this autumn?
Proliferating technology is enabling ubiquitous media. This, in turn, is facilitating the shift in consumption habits and content participation and creating huge growth opportunities for media companies.
Media companies will need to transition from analogue, offline delivery to integrated, file-based, digital enterprises. Media companies that want to survive are well-advised to start their path toward it today if they have nor done so already.
But turning around media organizations is a huge, and typically slow, undertaking. To learn more about how prepared the industry is to make this transformation and take advantage of industry change, Accenture interviewed more than 100 of the world’s top media executives.
The research results show that two out of three industry organizations have less than 40 percent of the capabilities to complete the transformation successfully and become a true digital, high performance business. And this statistic is likely overstated.
32 percent of respondents generated less than 10 percent of their 2007 revenues from nonlinear consumption (downloads and on-demand broadcasts, for example). And only a small minority—9 percent—have broken the 25 percent barrier.
A critical component of enabling transformational capabilities quickly and effectively is an integrated multi-platform. About 63 percent of respondents said they are pursuing a three-screen distribution strategy—using TV, online and mobile. However in doing so, at least 30 percent of them are using a completely siloed approach, which has been shown to result in low customer satisfaction and lost revenues.
An integrated, multi-platform, value-creation-network capability will help media companies find new ways to reach consumers, to be more valuable for consumers, to respond to how and where they access media and make digital content available to consumers whenever and wherever they want it. The panel saw this as the largest growth driver for content companies over the next five years. It would appear, then, that the media market is no longer characterized by the big eating the small but the fast eating the slow.
Our mobile devices become the remote control for our daily lives. This will generate data (of a dimension which we have never had before), which in turn provides Sanoma the means to really increase our value for our B2C customers (providers of the data) and our B2B customers. It provides Sanoma the means to become more relevant at the right time and place, and transform the accepted practices of marketing, media and commercial communication.
Data has always been used in marketing, but it has been on a path of evolution. Three key stages can be identified:
Stage 1: Socio-demographics: age, gender, postal code, occupation, lifestyle, mentality.
Stage 2: Context sensitive: search domain/subject, time, location, mood
Stage 3: Social Marketing Intelligence: the combination of market segmentation and context, combined with customer behavior and social network profiles.
Marketing-, media-, commercial communication-decisions and data need to be symbiotically connected to each other to optimalize value, and to optimalize (marketing) resources for all partners (B2C customer, B2B customer, Sanoma). It this way the resources of Sanoma and our partners can be deployed intelligently at the right place and at the right time to create optimal value for all partners/participants/actors, while applying the optimal business-model(s) for that specific 'constellation' at that specific moment.
The decision on how much to spend and where to allocate (marketing- and media-) resources will evolve:
the once-siloed 'static'data warehouse becomes a living 'enabler' of making realtime (marketing- and media-) resource-allocation-decisions on a continiuous basis.
The effort and attention of marketing has always been focused on one aspect of marketing (serving ads). We have to get used to leave this one dimensional view behind us, when one begins to realise how a data-driven approach to marketing can be transformational by offering an opportunity to remove 'static' organisational silos that truly hinder that continious, fluid, dynamic process of resource-optimalization.
The way forward is to better understand what data Sanoma (and Sanoma's partners) do already have and will generate. We have to think about how that data gets better through user-interaction [through interaction with our B2C and B2C customers] and take care of 'co-produced offerings' (services/products/applications) for those partners that give them back the value of that data.
Which players in the media-industry are (culturally) able to make this fundamental change of mindset and transform succesfully? The timing of this necessary transition is crucial. So time will tell us.
The media company Sanoma is a collective mind of a large group of over 20.000 individuals.
Strategy is the art of creating value. It provides the intellectual frameworks (conceptual models) and governing ideas that allow Sanoma to identify opportunities for bringing value to B2C and B2B customers and for delivering that value at a profit. In this respect, strategy is the way Sanoma defines its business and links together (by mediating human relations) the only two resources that really matter in today’s media economy:
'knowledge' (technologies, specialised expertise and business processes; Sanoma's collective mind that is accumulated over time and packaged in our offerings). But knowledge is not enough. Sanoma's knowledge/competencies are worthless without B2C/B2B customers willing to pay for them.
Thus, the other key asset for Sanoma is 'relationships'; our establisched B2C/B2B customer base
Our traditional thinking about value is grounded in the assumptions of an industrial economy. According to this view, Sanoma occupies a position on a value chain. Upstream, suppliers provide inputs. Sanoma then adds value to these inputs, before passing them downstream to the next actor in the chain. Seen from this perspective, strategy is primarily the art of positioning Sanoma in the right place on the value chain -- the right business, the right products and market segments, the right value adding activities.
Today, however, this understanding of value is as outmoded as the old assembly line that it resembles and so is the view of strategy that goes with it. Please, forget Micheal Porter's Value Chain concept. The fluidity-trend (changing mediamarkets, changing roles of relevant actors, changing business models, changing technology) and global competition are opening up new ways of creating value.
Two important challenges:
Of course, more opportunities also mean more uncertainty and greater risk. Forecasts based on projections from the past become unreliable. Factors that have always seemed peripheral turn out to be key drivers of change in Sanoma’s key markets. New competitors, from previously unrelated sectors, with radically different business-models, change the rules of our game.
Sanoma exists in value networks where the actors have similar metrics, margins and motivations. Moving from one value network to another is very challenging (source: The innovator's Dilemma, Clayton M. Chistensen)
Due to the insight that strategy is no longer a matter of positioning a fixed set of activities along a value chain, Sanoma transforms its strategy from 'adding value' to 'reinventing value'.
Sanoma's focus of strategic analysis transforms from 'the company' or 'the industry' to 'the value-creating system' itself, within which different actors (suppliers, B2B customers, B2C customers, Sanoma employees and other business partners) work together in a constellation of different business models to co-produce value.
Sanoma's key strategic task is becoming: the reconfiguration of roles and relationships among this constellation of actors in order to mobilise the creation of value in new forms.
Sanoma's underlying strategic goal is becoming: creating an ever-improving fit between 'Sanoma's competencies' and 'B2C/B2B customers'.
Sanoma’s value constellation strategy is made possible by a fundamental transformation in the way that value is created. But what is this new logic of value, and what are its strategic implications for Sanoma?
To answer these questions, begin with the simple observation that any product or service is really the result of a complicated set of activities: economic transactions and institutional arrangements among actors (suppliers, B2C customers, B2B customers, Sanoma employees and other business partners). In fact, what we usually think of as products or services (magazines, websites, events) are really frozen activities, concrete manifestations of the relationships among actors in a value-creating system. To emphasise the way all our 'products and services' are grounded in activity, let's call them 'co-produced offerings'.
Second observation: The distinction between physical products and intangible services is breaking down. Does Sanoma offer a product or a service? The answer is neither -- and both. Very few of our 'co-produced offerings' can be clearly defined as one or the other anymore. Increasingly, they involve some complex combination of the two roles.
Today, under the impact of information technology and the resulting globalisation of markets and production, new methods of combining activities into 'co-produced offerings' are producing new opportunities for creating value.
The reconfiguration of activities can offer Sanoma's B2C and B2B customers a qualitatively new kind of value. For example, engaging Sanoma's B2B customers in a self-service activity (for example: our recently launched content portal which enables self-supported uploading of their magazine-ads for our B2B customers) can eliminate traditional constraints of space and time. No longer do our B2B customers have to go to their fysical appointment during business hours. They can act at any time and with the proliferation of digital networks, pretty much anywhere. In our view, the vast majority our B2B customers will flock to Sanoma's online 'communications solutions services' and adapt to them quickly and easily.
This is not merely a change in technology or even in the transaction itself. It is a change in the entire value-creating system. The scene, the script, the roles of the relevant actors are all transforming. For example, a great deal of Sanoma's attention, expertise, and activity is now devoted to the design, building, and maintenance of self-service support tools for our B2B customers (for example: the launch of a content portal for self-supported uploading of ads, or last week's launch of the new B2B site of Sanoma Netherlands).
The new logic of value presents Sanoma with three strategic implications:
The goal of Sanoma is not to create value for B2C/B2B customers, but to mobilise B2C/B2C customers to create value for themselves from Sanoma's various offerings. Sanoma does not profit from B2C/B2B customers. Sanoma profits from B2C/B2B customers value-creating activities. The 'company' Sanoma does not really compete with other media companies anymore. Rather, it is our 'offerings' that compete for the time and attention and money of B2C/B2B customers.
What is true for individual offerings is also true for entire value-creating systems. As potential offerings become more complex and varied, so do the relationships necessary to produce them. A single company rarely provides everything anymore. Instead, the most attractive offerings involve B2C customers, suppliers and B2B customers, in new combinations, in new roles, in new business models. As a result, Sanoma’s principal strategy task is the reconfiguration of its relationships and business systems.
If the key to creating value is 'co-produced offerings that mobilise B2C/B2B customers', then the only true source of competitive advantage is the ability to conceive the entire value-creating system and make it work; the reshuffling of activities among actors so that actor and activity are better matched.
To win, Sanoma must write the script, mobilise and train the relevant players and make the B2C customers and B2B customers the final arbiter of success or failure. To go on winning, Sanoma must create a dialogue with our B2C customers and B2B customers in order to repeat our performance over and over again and keep our co-produced offerings competitive.
Always keep the following equation in mind: (Perceived value [Sanoma] - Price [Sanoma]) > (Perceive value [alternative] - Price [alternative]). Perceived value is the worth in monetary terms of the benefits our customer receives in exchange for the price it pays for our market offering. Raising of lowering the price of our market offering does not change the value that our offering provides to our customer. The equation conveys that our customer's incentive to purchase an offering of Sanoma must exceed its incentive to buy the next best alternative.
The economics in the post-assembly-line media economy presents Sanoma with a stark choice: either re-configure our business system to take advantage of these trends or be reconfigured by more dynamic competitors.
To exploit these trends, Sanoma takes three steps:
Reconsidering the business potential of our chief assets: Sanoma’s knowledge base and Sanoma's B2C/B2B customer base.
Repositioning or reinventing our co-produced offerings to create a better fit between Sanoma's competencies and the value creating activities of our B2B/B2C customers.
Making new business arrangements and sometimes new social and political alliances to make these offerings feasible and efficient.
As been said, in an economy founded on the new logic of value, only two assets really matter: 'knowledge' and 'relationships' or 'Sanoma's competencies' and 'our customers'.
Competencies are the technologies, specialised expertise, business processes and techniques; the collective mind of 20.000 experts that Sanoma has accumulated over time and packaged in its offerings. But knowledge alone is not enough. Obviously, Sanoma’s competencies are worthless without customers willing to pay for them.
Thus the other key asset for Sanoma is its established customer base. Sanoma's relationship with a B2C customer and with a B2B customer is really an access channel to the B2C/B2B customer’s ongoing value-creating activities. Any B2C/B2B customer, whether another business or an individual, uses a wide range of inputs in order to create value. Sanoma’s offerings have value to the degree that B2C/B2B customers can use them as inputs to leverage their own value creation.
Sanoma needs to enlarge its knowledge base continuously. Sanoma must invest in an ever broadening range of knowledge resources and combine ever expanding kinds of knowledge into Sanoma's offerings. What is more, these investments in new knowledge can become so large that Sanoma’s own offerings to its existing B2C/B2B customer base are no longer adequate to recoup its investment. So the new knowledge tends to drive Sanoma into new businesses in search of new relationships with new B2C/B2B customers. And the cycle repeats.
The secret of value creation is building a better and better fit between relationships and knowledge. Currently, Sanoma accountmanagers are trained in our Sales Academy:
To master the design and management of interconnected, co-productive offerings.
How to mobilize value creation in their B2B customers businesses by reconfiguring roles, relationships, and structures.
To perpetually reinventing value in a dialogue between competencies and their B2B customers.
These are the skills that a winning network of Sanoma experts will have to acquire in the post-assembly-line media economy that is now emerging.
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