Martin Luther King, Jr. January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968
"Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children."
Verizon or AT&T? I can tell you that I've course had countless complaints about AT&T's service throughout the time that I've had my iPhone. I can also confidently say that the product as outweighed any complaints that I might have had during that time. As far as the tool, being the iPhone, I once heard it said from a T-Mobile rep in the (Birmingham AL, Galleria) mall that "it's good for games and such" -- well I would have to say that's ludicrous. As any hard core smart-phone user will tell you that ANY phone at this level is a business, personal and social extension of who you are. To say I only use it for games is like saying I only using my TV to see the weather. But I digress.
So should you switch providers? Here's what we know:
Existing AT&T customers who want to switch carriers will need to purchase a new device -- and they'll face early termination fees of up to $325 to break an ongoing contract.
You can't talk and use data on the Verizon iPhone. Verizon's CDMA network only allows one at a time. You can do this on AT&T.
The antenna on the Verizon iPhone is slightly different. Does that mean it's a better antenna? Does it fix the "Antennagate" problem? It's too early to tell. We have photos for you here.
The Verizon iPhone acts as a mobile hotspot. Verizon will let you share your 3G connection with up to five users. No word yet on pricing.
Verizon's iPhone will not work overseas. There's no GSM in the Verizon iPhone, so it won't work internationally. Apple's Phil Schiller confirmed this with us earlier.
Data plans will probably be different. There's still no word whether or not Verizon will offer unlimited data for the iPhone. AT&T's highest plan caps data at 2 GB. (Early reporting says Verizon has a $30 uncapped monthly plan versus AT&T's $25 monthly plan.) ~ COMPARISON: Verizon Vs. AT&T iPhone
I see no real compelling items within this list that would make me jump ship at this time. I will say that any network is going to face issues and with the bandwidth vortex that is the iPhone and will more than likely bog any network infastructure. To what degree reamins to be seen.
Now if you start changing the iPhone itself you might compell me to leave. That being said here's a couple if things that immidately come to mind that I would like to see:
So, moments before I was going to post the last and final diatribe about the fiasco that has been the Ford Motors Companies' "Focus Rally America," they have announced the teams! If you go to http://focusrally.com, you will now see the six selected teams.
It all seems up and up short of the fact that I wanted to see something more than pretty people and hipsters, but I'm in advertising – I get it. The site is beautifully designed, showing large photos of each team and a breakdown bio of who's who. I've registered -- it was relatively seamless and allowed for me to build my own "sub team" within the team I chose to follow, which I thought was quite brilliant. The scoring mechanism seems basic right now (but fully-functional) and the sharing networks/components are decent. They've done well to start -- game-play with some basic trivia and the ability to get "soft points" for recruitment. All-in-all, a nice presentation, and I would expect nothing less. So my compliments to Razorfish (or so I'm assuming) it's looking awesome!
It's funny, as I wrote the latter half of this post I thought to myself, "man if they get their act together and get online prior to this, I'm going to look like a sore loser." Well in essence I am and I'm not. It's not that I didn't get picked, I didn't think I would when I started speaking up for the social disfunction of the pre-campaign I thought my chances were nil at best. Additionally, I thought the process was so mismanaged that I felt participation would be one and the same. But I am a sore loser in that I thought Ford would take the time to address the remainder of my content and for that I'm still disgruntled.
Brands, advertising agencies and customers -- be careful what you wish for when it comes to social media. I truly thought that I would never be talking about this campaign again, but since the time of my posts, I've stayed in pretty consistent contact with many of the social media professionals that I met during the time. While running the community and group boards for the Ford touted "unofficial" Focus Rally America pages on Facebook, I learned a great deal of what to and what NOT to do in social media, especially pertaining to a "community." Well, needless to say -- as I had prognosticated, the Ford Motor Company and their social media department have done nothing. Let me repeat that: "nothing" to fix the issues that arouse during the time I left. Until today of course.
Why, I cannot get my head around this as I did what I thought was right and gave them the keys to the castle. "Hey guys you invited all these great social minds to this party and I think it's best you take over the reigns and talk them up and get them excited as I don't have any real content for them." So I gave over administrative control to the Facebook communities I had developed. And let me tell you, I'm not one to bitch and run, either. If you have a grievance in life, leave it with the tools to correct itself and make the world a better place. I thought I'd given them pretty clear directive on options to salvage these issues. Everyone's primary complaint was that no one knew when selections for casting where being made. OK, I get that the Ford Motor Company didn't want to tell anyone that. But there are ways still to talk to a crowd that wants one thing -- give them something else to get excited about. You don't tell your kids what you got them for Christmas, do you? But you get them excited that Santa's coming and that the family will all be together to enjoy the holidays.
This, again, got me thinking about things I had learned in the past. Peter Jackson did something incredible savvy when filming 'The Lord Of The Rings' Trilogy (LOTR). He knew there's no way in hell that he could ever really make a complete film about the books because there was simply too much content there. So, smartly (oh, and before "social media" might I add), he reached out to LOTR fans, fan sites, forums, groups and conventions and asked people to participate in social discussion on how best to truncate the film without losing any of the primary messaging. What are key moments? Who are key players? What are turning points, twists and highlights that cannot be missed? Well, I can imagine that these points were debated Ad nauseam to the sound of rolling ten-sided die and pewter figures sliding across tables, but nonetheless, they felt a part of something bigger. This is where the Ford Motor Company and their social media department have failed. The have failed to communicate anything. They have failed to make people with a great deal of social prowess and understanding feel that they are part of something bigger.
"We won't do casting till January!" So says the wizard. And now what -- you wait?
Well, I can tell you, Ford Motor Company and their social media department a little secret, people really don't like to wait -- especially technologically sound people that have an attention span quicker than hitting the delete key. But to the brands out there that are thinking about constructing a social media campaign, fear not. The rules are quite simple, actually:
Another important point about Ford Motor Company and their social media department is that you cannot predicate a campaign around certain rules only find that they don't serve you well and then just change them without telling anyone. God, in hindsight, it feels so dirty and trite I want to take a whore-bath but I guess I'm no different than anyone that wants to see themselves on the web.
"We were told in the middle of November that we could no longer promote or mention the show on any of our social networks...hence the silence." -- And even more recently discovered most all the participants where sorted and ranked well before the "last day of entry" with the LA Auto Show that the main site claimed. This, again, goes against the social grain as there's so much more that could have been done for buzz with the excitement that comes from being selected. What this means is Ford was blatantly milking the hopes of the remaining contestants when they should have been honest and drawning interest on the program from participants in other ways.
Lastly, you can paint this as an online reality show. It's not. It's "in content branding" or whatever you'd like. The long fall here is that you wouldn't be doing it if it didn't make the car the hero. It's advertising pure and simple. You're not doing this for the good of the people. You're not curing cancer. Let's finally be honest here, I think everyone deserves it and will be happier with the brand in it's honesty. You're doing this to increase awareness of the redesign, features and benefits or the car and entice the consumer to bracket the 2012 Ford Focus within their "consideration set." While no, it won't be a thirty-minute preach session, it's no different than Jeep creating a "Black Ops Edition" or Toyota's God-forsaken Terminator T3 edition pickup. Ford Motor Company and their social media department had it right to reach out to professional social practitioners. We understand brand. We understand social etiquette. We understand the various technologies, AND we understand how quickly the backlash can be if issues, comments, feedback, concerns are not addressed. I'm done with this and I'm sure you all couldn't be happier.
That being said now you must join my Focus Rally America team (nicknamed Team "KOI") so we can watch this pig fly. Call me a hypocrite, but I do know that I'm going to learn as much from this campaign as I can. Part of embracing social technologies is also knowing that sometimes you can cannot make the technology do what you wished it would, so you must simply learn from what you've done – I hope Ford has.
Ok Wikileaks, yeah you've revealed some decent intel' I'll give you that but not the real meat. Let's start of 2011 with what we all really want to know from your amassed secret documents:
Comments Gone Wild:
Look to see that blog comments, reviews and ratings are more like the actual content. In a day-and-age where people rely so heavily on user-opinion, look to see the comments not be hidden 2k pixels below the fold but more a hybridization of the actual content. Watch articles simply become conversational seeds for much larger articles. (Bloggers get ready to tend your crops!)
"Weblet" (Web/Tablet) Design:
2011 may simply be the rise of the utilitarian website as we know it. Wire-framing scenarios will be driving module componentry that will expand and contract to both standard monitors and tablet interfaces. Within these models, watch for a resurrection of the website "widget" to be replaced by a ratio-filling module for whatever purpose seems suited for a given section of the page.
Time To Get Griddy:
Watch designing by "The Grid System" become even more prominent for not simply designing websites, but applications, mobile websites and tablet-ready apps. The grid system for apps like Pulse, most iPad applications and others are essential for using both horizontal and vertical space appropriately.
All Your Base Belongs To Mobile-Readiness:
If you really think that your brand can wait a couple years before they need a mobile-ready website and associated mobile application, then you might be the fool after your competition acquires all your connections. The age of ubiquitous content is upon us. That being said, so is the platform agnostic mentality of all of the people that "expect" your brand should be where they use most. This mass coverage may not be within your spending consideration for 2011, but socially savvy brands are going to own the space and everyone else will pay twice as much to get caught up.
To further the point here you can't just repurpose email newsletter content into an app and push 'special mobile-only content.' People will assess a brand's strength around what their branded app brings to and fits within their lifestyle. Kraft dominated this space early on as a culinary portal, and Nike with their many fitness associated apps that allow you to track and create running paths and categorize your fitness progress.
A brand cannot just be a connective metaphor to your product or service, you need to be smart, related ideas. I don't know if that means John Deer needs to create the Farmer Planner 9000™ but your audience will be waiting for something – and fast.
Online Education, Training & Cross Fertilization:
The time for online education to streamline itself and not feel like an upset but the expectation is upon us. Full Sail University, a multi-tiered program directed at the entertainment, media, and arts industry has seen its online student population grow faster in the past three years then the thirty it's been in existence. But this stems beyond the private sector, as we will see more and more digital curriculum be common place in public and student funded programs alike.
Watch this type of content play itself out in all types of inner-office ways as well. Ten years ago or so the boom was on the LAN systems, then taken over by intranets and extranets. This more open platform will offer more education to a broader audience for employees, vendors and consultants alike to understand training, processes, SOP's and innovation. Watch more offices and brands look to agencies for content creation that might not see the public sector. Small flexible shops that look to scoop major agencies will do so if they can create an abundance of content that will be served up in a learning environment. This will be both repurposeable and modular for those smaller shops to create long-term relationships to keep content within brand and conceptual voice.
Watch for savvier companies to aggressively use the crowd sourcing models internally. From the backbone of the above mentioned educational platforms can spawn a sea of small efficient conversational labs and think tanks.
Clustering:
Too much stuff, not enough places to put it. Sounds like life itself does it not? Well in the social and digital world it's no different. From each year comes at least one to two types of technologies that you adopt into your fold. But the fatigue of using them all might be their downfall OR the genesis of companies that 'cluster' technologies using their API. You've seen it start many years ago with apps like Ping.fm and TweetDeck and Seesmic, but the time is rapidly approaching where more apps will find room to co-exist within the same space if they hope to keep market share.
Privatizing Mobile Credit Card Processing:
I jokingly tweeted when I saw the SquareUp product in person that "Oh, finally yard sales and drug dealers can take credit cards!" Well let's face it, when Southwest Airlines refuses cash to buy an in-flight beer there's something up. Your currency is your card, just face the truth people, we'll all have flying cars soon. That being said, watch as twenty "me too" companies follow and privatize more ways for people to pay with plastic. God help us all.
HTML5 & Standardization:
As the makers of "Angry Birds" can tell you, the mobile (and soon tablet) community fail when it comes to standardization. The browsers have failed for years but are starting the slow ascent to standardization where it seems to count. Unless you're IE, but that's another story entirely and only filled with profanity and loathing. That being said, watch 2011 as the insistence on HTML5 comes into play on the web, on iPad apps and all future iterations of your mobile applications. It's fastly becoming the development language of choice online and it's making headway with developers as the platform to use.
Proximity Meets Coupon Madness:
2010 Has been the year of the "Groupon" but like all good things someone had to buy them up, and dumb them down. We'll see if they can stand the maddening gauntlet-o-greed that occurs after acquisition and maintain a product that on the surface appears to be sound. So, look to 2011 to be the year of "The Deal." This should make every shopping lover that I know happy, as we take to the streets and sell digital couponing, check-in deals and proximity sales initiatives ad nueseum. Look for more apps, more rewards programs and ideally more clustering applications like the new Visa IPhone app that does a lot of the dirty work for you.
Near Field Communications:
Never heard of it? Me either, until I started this post and my research.
Wiki defines it as "Near Field Communication or NFC, is a short-range high frequency wireless communication technology which enables the exchange of data between devices over about a 10 centimeter (around 4 inches) distance."
Think of it like the app "Bump" on steroids. Many Asian retail markets have been using this technology for years. Approach a vending machine and your cell-phone becomes your payment connection. Thereby letting you purchase your product using your cellular platform as its invoicing criteria. It will also read RFID, Bluetooth pairing and others allowing advertisers to push more messenging to your cellphone as you pass outdoor and related NFC hotspots. Lastly, it will synch itself as your digital profile allowing you to access any number of personal connections such as:
Extending Print & Outdoor With Scan-Tags & QR Codes:
And much like last year, keep a keen out for savvier agencies to look to Microsoft Scan Tags and QR Codes to boost traditional media efforts and connect them to further digital extensions.
My Wife Shannon saw a side of me that few witness when I turned a corner in the Metropolitan Meusum Of Art in New York City and I walked into a sea of Van Gogh's work and became to cry. Now, I'm an overly sensative artistic type to begin with; but it's rare that I'm moved by visual imagery as I consumed so much of it on a daily basis. So those moments are rare indeed. So I didn't expect to get 'hit' with this kind of gut shot the day back to work from my Christmas Holiday, until I met Vivian Maier due to the tireless efforts of one John Maloof.
Monday, January 17, 2011 at 7:48AM