China To Ban The Plastic Bag! Me too!

A huge congratulations to China! As of this June 1st, China is banning the plastic bag that most retailers hand out to every customer. Every walk of the environment is negatively impacted by these bags, especially the ocean. Mark Powell over at Blogfish brought this to my attention and this is huge news. So the question is, where is the USA on this? Of course probably in the pocket of the plastic bag manufacturers but they can't stop consumers like you and me from opting out of taking the plastic bag at the point of sale.

If you think about it, we take the plastic bag, walk or drive for a few minutes, empty the bag and instantly throw it away. Once we toss these little devils into the trash the real work is then offloaded onto the environment (and oceans) to put these bags somewhere for the 8 million years it takes to dissipate from view. This is totally absurd anytime, but especially now given our declining situation

On China's lead I am buying an environmentally friendly cloth sack for my lunch and vow to avoid taking the plastic bags.

What about you?


photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/people/reusablebags

Feel Better Om!

I want to extend my best wishes to Om Malik for a speedy recovery. I guess Om had a heart issue over the holidays but assured us (his loyal readers) he is ok. I loved his coverage in Biz2.0 and his blog was one of the first I subscribed to when I started with rss. Seeing that my Dad worked for Lucent for 30 years, I clung to Om's thoughtful telco coverage. I wish you well Om, the blogosphere needs you back. Get well soon.

8 Yellow Brick Roads for Web 2008

My prediction for 2008 is that many startups will find a difficult time as economic woes broaden and the credit crisis continues into the new calendar year. This will tighten the market both in terms of available capital and increased pressure to perform/execute. As a result many will fail (which is healthy but some runways will be cut shorter than usual). That said, there will be some companies that soar who are working in the areas listed below. (Photo - courtesy of Ucamari - Flickr)

Personalization:
People want ways to save time consuming content/news/blog posts. 2007 was the official year of information overload as inefficient systems like RSS became overrun. Bloggers, rss readers, blog networks, search engines and other content aggregators/publishers will focus on providing their users with a better experience that revolves around personalization and discovery of relevant content.

Web Clouds Merging:
The current trend of widgets, api's and breaking down walled gardens will continue as information and data can be ported around the web and become increasing useful to the user. Users will grow increasing intolerant of populating walled gardens with data that cannot be optimized elsewhere.

Open Mobile - Voice Emerges:
The pressure on US carriers to loosen their grip and open up with device selection and on-deck apps will continue. Voice, one of the most underutilized technologies will continue its advancement and mainstream adoption. Companies like Nuance and TellMe (acquired by Microsoft in 07) will be in the news.

Autos Get Web2.0:
I think this is Detroit’s secret weapon to gain market share from overseas competitors. 2008 will see American automobile manufacturers and American technology firms join forces and bring some “cool” back into the front seat of American made cars. Applications in social media, search and mobile computing will make headlines.

Web Design More Important Than Ever:
Simple is not only better but a critical key to success. Design and user engagement will become more important as audiences are suffering from information overload and fragmentation. Avoiding featuritis, releasing often and responding to user comments on the fly will become necessary for startups to succeed.

Pressure on Ad Supported Models:
Everyone's planned ad supported revenue models will come under pressure to deliver. Developing the right demos and size of audiences will become increasing harder as the web continues to fragment toward niche groups.

Traditional Media Companies Gain Momentum:
Traditional media companies and newspapers will continue to post gains in digital revenue and begin to build their digital plans out further. They will benefit from a flight to quality in terms of ad dollars and user engagement.

Conversational Media Takes Hold:
This is from John Batelle’s 2008 predictions and one that I agree with. Even though he has to take this position because of FM, I agree that the value of targeted messaging in conversational media will become more widespread and accepted as a major marketing channel. However, those companies that cannot target effectively will experience surprisingly strong backlash from the conversational community.

Cleaned Out At Blogworld

I am just returned from the BlogworldExpo in Las Vegas. This was the first official exhibition for Outbrain. Although I had many firsts at the show, one was getting cleaned out of business cards on the first day. So on the second day I made these make-shift cards by cutting up a word document from the hotel biz center. They were raw but the crowd actually loved them. I had many bloggers say they thought this kind of biz card was "cool" and that they wanted to make some for themselves. Getting cleaned out says much about the traffic of the show but I will add that the traffic was also very good from our perspective. I met so many cool bloggers who loved our rating widget and installed right from the booth. A big thanks to Rick Calvert, Patti, Dawn and others on the Blogworld team that made the show a success. It was very cool of Rick to walk the floor and shake hands with the exhibitors on day 2. Looking ahead to the next show, I would re-think the exhibitors' presentations on the presentation stage. None of the prezos had any people. Plus the prezos were scheduled during show sessions. Maybe next year, the selected prezos can be worked into the session schedule so attendees have a chance to attend. On our side, we will do much more prezo marketing before and during the show to drive attendees as well. That said I will be back in the Outbrain booth next year at Blogworld - this time with enough cards to go around.

Speaking at BlogWorld in Las Vegas

I will be speaking at the blogworld & new media expo in Las Vegas on Thursday November 8th at 3PM on the Presentation Stage. The title of the presentation is "How To Fire Up Your Blog With Ratings and Recommendations." The goal of this prezo is to introduce bloggers to Outbrain, have some fun with a visual presentation and share some insight on how to effectively leverage ratings and recommendations on a blog. We are allergic to powerpoint data barf and strive to make our talks enlightening so come on over and learn how to fire up you blog with some cool tools.

Outbrain Widget is Globetrotting

It has been a very exciting several days here at Outbrain. We quietly slipped out of a closed beta period and opened up access to our 5 star rating widget to the blogging public. Allen Stern from CenterNetworks was kind enough to post about it here. But no matter how good you are, and we have some of the best, you can't help but hold your breathe when you go public. Fortunately for us, thanks to so many bloggers who installed the widget and then were happy enough to blog about their good experience, (some great posts here) our widget is now globetrotting around the earth like a Hollywood "A" lister. It would be fun to connect the journey of the widget around the globe from one blog to another, country to country. As a visual, I am picturing a globe with yarn transversing in all directions. In addition to this, we released personalized ratings which I will expand on in a future post. We posted details about this on the Outbrain blog here. Although all the attention right now is on the rating widget, personalized ratings will have its own time in the spotlight soon enough. Thanks to so many bloggers around the world for their support and comments. If I could travel with the widget tonight I wonder where it would take me? Someplace far away no doubt!

10 Tips for Music Labels on the heels of Madonna and RadioHead

On the heels of Madonna signing with Live Nation and Radiohead distributing their new album In Rainbows through their web site, here are 10 tips for music labels and bands going forward. I saved this post as a draft on Saturday and since then have seen much coverage of this issue both in the blogosphere and in traditional media. I pretty much disagree with almost all of it, as they mostly are preaching the labels are doomed. On the contrary, I think there is a great opportunity out there for labels or whoever has the chops to put the new pieces in place to take advantage of the new dynamics at work. IMHO, this post is a look at what labels can do now. Since Godsmack is one of my favorite bands I will use them as an example below.

1.) "Stay In My Life" - Yes the music is great and the concert that we can attend annually (if we are lucky) is cool - but it is not enough. Fans want more frequent interaction with the bands the love and want to be part of the experience. The music is really just a means to invite fans into a band's experience. The desire is there on behalf of the fans so why not serve the demand through multiple channels. Jerry Del Colliano (Professor of Music at USC) makes some good points here on the makeup of today's music fan and how they differ greatly from the recent past.

2.) "Let the Music Free" - Radiohead just set their new album free and already there are more bands announcing to do the same. I think the market will approve/reward this change in distribution because it releases forces that are much greater than the current model of pay as you go. The forces I am referring to are those of word of mouth. Allowing the power of word of mouth to operate freely with the music is very powerful. People that love a band's music will freely pass the recommendation and the music along at will. If people have no barriers to accessing and passing around music they love, then the creators stand to benefit handsomely - if they are setup to monetize the experience and not just the cd/digital file. Think of it like setting campfires. Letting the music out freely is like setting thousands or millions of campfires instantly. If the music is good, these campfires can spread into a wildfire. What band does not want a wildfire burning around its music?

3.) "Monetize Word of Mouth" - Prince just showed us that if you have good music, and seed the market(he gave 3 million free copies away in London) you can build tremendous momentum by leveraging the word of mouth forces to create significant demand. As a result of Prince's strategy he was able to sell out 21 concerts in the London area at 5x the usual ticket price. Prince was blasted for this activity until his critics realized that all the shows sold out. Prince just showed us how a band can monetize a word of mouth strategy by setting a London wildfire with free music and then cashing in on the experience.

4.) "Create a 2 way conversation with fans" - The common practice of one-way email marketing to fans and hosting text based forums on a band's web site site is the normal fare these days but things can be so much better. I would look at the technologies that are available. Try looking at using one of the most under-utilized technologies out there which is voice. At this point you can setup a voice platform where band members, fans, managers etc can communicate with each other frequently and engage in 2 way conversations. With text messaging, fan response and the flexibility to communicate at any time, the voice/mobile front is a great way to stay in the life of the fans between shows and establish 2 way conversations to boot. For an industry that sells itself on audio, the new technologies in voice should be exploited and pushed to the limit. For example, if I got a text message inviting me to hear Sully Erna's thoughts on his recent concert in New Jersey with a special riff from the band - I would connect to the 800 number and give a listen. This is just one small thought on the mobile front where bands and labels should be experimenting and becoming experts. Staying in my life by connecting with me via my phone is an ideal platform to support the experience of being a fan and gaining more of my attention in between major events like concerts or new releases.

5.) "Enable Socialization" - A band's web site is now the epi-center. But the sites should be set up to allow fans to socialize, connect and discover. This should be a de facto addition to all bands' web sites as the social components extend, enhance and bolster the interaction between the band, its fans and between the fans themselves. Like voice technology, social media solutions can be easily obtained, some right off the shelf and ready to go. For example, my friend, Evan Rifkin at FLUX Media, has a bolt on solution to enable socialization for any type of site, especially those of bands. Syndication is another great tool to allow fans to take their experience with them all over the web. Widgets, badges, samples, apis, open source code are all ways to draw more people into the experience.

6.) "Personalize the Experience" - If the music is distributed without barriers/cost then bands must make up the revenue in other areas. Aside from event admissions, bands and labels can be creative with other revenue generators. One key area of opportunity seems to be selling personalization at the events. For example, if Sully Erna announced at a concert that he was going to play a riff, and that the riff would be available as a ringtone for download at the concert for $4.99, how many fans (who are already juiced from being at the concert) would connect and purchase the ringtone? I think a lot. Getting creative by slicing the music in different ways based on the uniqueness of the experience is a money machine. People will pay a premium to feel authentic and ideas like this may work nicely.

7.) "Merchandising the personal experience" - The merchandising can be endless if planned right but for this post, let's look at the concert merchandising staple - the t-shirt. T-shirts should be designed and sold that cater to the individual events. Would more people buy a Godsmack t-shirt if the shirt was designed around a specific concert? absolutely. The standard black t-shirt, with the same design, that is sold all over the country can be improved greatly. What better way to make them feel special than to offer them something to buy that most other fans won't have.

8.) "Expand the experience with brand extension" - Extend the music and the band's brand into other areas. For example, can Godsmack sell a cologne or fragrance - yes. Can Godsmack sell cool sexy jeans with their logo on the ass pocket - you bet. Can Godsmack sell Harley's with their logo as the spokes in the wheels - probably. These are all ways to monetize the experience and get people talking about the band long after the concert ends.

9) "Think like an NFL team" - As audiences continue to fragment in all forms of media, bands are bringing highly desirable audiences together. These audiences are often made up of young, hard to target individuals. Monetizing these demographics both on the band's web site and at events is an opportunity. Big advertisers spend bundles to reach this demographic as bands can package online and event marketing together like a pro sports team.

10.) "Aquire the Intellectual Property" - I disagree with many bloggers and other media outlets that have proposed that the Madonna and Radiohead deals signal the end for the labels. Actually I think quite the contrary. In my view labels have something that is quite scarce, and that is deep relationships within the music industry. My prediction is that labels will change into multi-faceted agencies that are based on technology, events and community building. Right now, labels and artists still need to get things done and no internet platform, no matter how great has the relationships in place like labels do currently. The distribution model is changing and no label can stop that but I think they will have a place going forward if they can change as well. What the labels do lack seems to be the intellectual capital to help them find the new equation that works given the dynamics at work in today's market. I am a big fan of Amie Street as this is a great example of the kind of intellectual capital labels may need. Looking into the future, executives at labels may sport titles like "Word of Mouth Director", "Social Media Maven", "Brand Evangelist", "Mobile & Voice Director" , "Lead Developer for apis, widgets and source code" and "Band Experience Strategist". Here is a quick list of some companies that can serve as an example for the type of thinking that can support an "experience" type business model for labels:
Facebook - Online social media experts
Third Screen Media - Mobile marketing
Tell Me - Voice technologies
Brand merchandising - pick one - there are many
Disney - Event "Experience" Marketing
Word of Mouth Marketing Agency- go to www.womm.org for listings.

So in short, bands that don't have good or great music will weed out quickly. Those bands that do produce great music will still prosper and in doing so will create a better experience for their fans by staying in their lives more often. I think music label companies can contribute to this process greatly as there is one thing that will not change - musicians like to play music and labels like to do business. Nodoby wants to do both.