An as-yet-unnamed potential startup company is planning to develop some revolutionary software that relates to how people work together. One of our first steps is to set set up a research community and making some ethnographic observations — in other words, getting an understanding of how people work today. We’re especially trying to get a [. […]
“I think the filters and the restrictions have been going on for so long in Iran that the experienced people are already prepared for this,” said Jon Pincus, a former Microsoft project manager and digital activist who works on projects promoting online freedom. Iranians dodging internet censorship , Doug Gross, CNN The OpenNet Initiative’ […]
Another Shakacon presentation, this one from Deviant Ollam. The short answer: fly with firearms. Security consultants have expensive gear when they travel, and because of TSA regulations increasingly have to “trust people with questionable ethics”. Deviant’s bags used to get opened a lot: by the TSA — and by others. Once on the […]
My execution wedding date is today and as such I will be blogging even less over the next 2-3 weeks. Don’t worry, the shop won’t be closed though… just consider us on a work schedule similar to our friends in Paris….
While I am blogging, I’d like to note that USD -> EUR exchange rate sucks… it’s one thing to read about it in the WSJ, but it is an entirely different matter when you see it happen right before your eyes. However Bank of America made my life a whole lot easier with their Foreign Currency Service. I placed an order on Wednesday for Euros and they were overnighted to my local bank where I could pick them up Thursday afternoon. BOA’s rate was 0.08133575 more than the wholesale exchange rate. Talk about fast service and a very good price!!
Ok folks, Mikal will keep the lights on…. Au Revoir
While taking a mental break this morning to read my new favorite blog Coding Horror, I came across Jeff’s post about UNIX turning 40 years old. While I digested his points about the different closed source, open source and mixed source flavors of *NIX, I was pleasantly surprised when a quote from Joel Spolsky in Jeff’s post resonated with me so deeply in a completely different direction than it’s original intent. Let’s take a look:
What are the cultural differences between Unix and Windows programmers? There are many details and subtleties, but for the most part it comes down to one thing: Unix culture values code which is useful to other programmers, while Windows culture values code which is useful to non-programmers. This is, of course, a major simplification, but really, that’s the big difference: are we programming for programmers or end users? Everything else is commentary.
So when I read this quote my mind immediately went elsewhere… I began to grapple with a more fundamental question. Are we programming working for programmers work’s sake or end users to help someone else? I mean, not just making a product or a service that helps someone do something, but really helping people grow, transform, and enable them for success while getting the job done every day.
How does thinking about the people you’re helping - change how you work or what decisions you make? Think about it, if you’re a consultant hired by another company, your client isn’t just the company that hired you, but it’s the people impacted by your clients business and that interface with the client.
This train of thought was initially started by taking several managerial assessments and discovering among other things that my Social/Altruistic aspect of my natural style is almost off the charts when compared to the national average. Continuing on that train, I think one of my favorite quotes is in order.
“Every person must decide, at some point, whether they will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive
selfishness. This is the judgment. Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ’What are you doing for others?’” -Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., August 11, 1957
I’d love to hear your comments on how this alternative view impacts your outlook on work, I’m still contemplating the impact on my own.
There is an inadvertent side-effect to going deep into subject areas that may or may not be current news, you have fewer opportunities to link to friends.* So this is the post where we let all our friends know that yes we do read your blogs.
Martin Gillard @ The Digital Corner – a quick and interesting post that says, ok with all the industry focus on display + search advertising, what’s beyond Display + Search, how do you take a more holistic look at advertising ROI and what’s the right metric to use?
Annie Lee @ Social Potato Chips – Own Your Online Identity. If you don’t someone else will. Mikal’s note: Open question all, what do you think about ‘Google Profiles’? I am a fairly transparent person online – but I have to say Google Profiles scare me. Not sure why, I think its for the same reason I wouldn’t have an online profile at the IRS. I feel like Google is the defacto internet – so this move has a government database we’re watching you, feel to me.
Gayle Laakmann @ Technology Woman – Think Less, Experiment More 5 Lessons on Entrepreneurship. A great and insightful guest post by Gayle on Women Grow Business. All spot on truths – I especially like the point about knowing the value of your time- most important concept in finance, time value of money. Now if time = money, the most important concept is therefore the value of your time. For entrepreneurs: I’d add to experiment more think less, is a commoncentism “never pay full price for a lesson you can get on discount” and everyone else should “avoid paying full price for a lesson you can get on discount”
Featured Post Jason Yormark @ Jasonyormark.com – Jason is a former colleague at Microsoft Advertising who worked as an adCenter Community Manager. He wrote a post mortem so to speak on his experience at Microsoft titled: 9 Things I Learned While Working at Microsoft. Honest, he provides an open perspective on his Microsoft experience.
Quick Note. I’ve gotten in on the Guest Post game at The Ideators Journey – discussing a collaborative journey through ideation. (ambiguous enough? check it out)
As always you can find out what’s going on with our friends under the Friends of Notsocommoncents section to the left.
– *possible next post: is Google PageRank and Twitter “followers” bad for the (social) internet?
Editor’s note: The following is aguest postby The Brand Mason (Steven Mason), a marketing, communications and naming artisan. Follow on twitter: @thebrandmason Over the past 22 years, Steven has been a marketing executive at—and consultant to—public and private Internet security/networking, enterprise software, B2B platform, e-Business firms, and consumer packaged goods (CPG) firms, as well as a teacher of subjects as diverse as compiler (computer language translator) design and English grammar, mechanics and usage.
Here, he revisits the 7 Common Cents Insights for Brand Naming by adding clarity, context, and an alternative viewpoint. Contact The Brand mason at steven [at] thebrandmason.com
In his previous post, Mikal offered 7 Common Cents Insights for Naming Your Product/Company:
The product is what matters
There is no best way
A name is just one component of a brand
Do a competitive analysis
Don’t commit any fatal errors
Consider tying to something already understood
A great name will help you, everything else is incremental
This post will function as an open peer review of the concepts presented.
1. The product is what matters
I would express this idea a bit differently. First, a great name can launch a bad product, but the product is unlikely to engender loyalty. If it depends on repeat buys, it will fail. If it’s a one-time, one-trick-pony, on the other hand, this may work. (I’m not endorsing this, because I think the modus operandi is a fundamentally dishonest one: I am simply making an observation.) Second, I advise looking carefully at the authenticity of the attributes/qualities suggested by the name. There must be a direct connection between what the name suggests/evokes and the ability of the product/company to deliver on same. Listerine used this very effectively: the name intentionally sounds medicinal; everyone “knows” medicines taste bad; therefore, they used a negative attribute which “proved” bactericidal effectiveness. My view is that the lack of a clear, strong nexus between a name (and tagline) and the benefits of the product/company is one of the biggest problems in naming.
Where I would disagree with you is that I view a name as an overarching concept that integrates all salient aspects/attributes of the brand, rather than as a component of the brand. The name is the “word that stands in” for the brand—i.e., an invented concept that must be reified to be made useful. Metonymy in action.
(continue to read The Brand Masons take on the six other naming insights)
Its forgone that he’s a creative genius, having transitioned his group’s brand from a feel good hip hop group to a full blown pop sensation. Along the way he’s developed a production resume that ranges from the Yes We Can Obama campaign video, to urban radio, to pop hits.
But his business prowess has been unheralded. While Pharell of Neptunes and N.E.R.D. was listed by FastCompany as the 36 of 100 Most Creative People in business. Will.i.am’s Yes We Can video not only took celebri-roots activism to a new level, it also launched his unknown project [dipdive] to the tune of millions of views (the site has since beta launched as a ‘lifestyle engine’).
What’s Dipdive? That’s Will’s own social-networking site, what he calls a “lifestyle engine”. He invented it, employs 25 computer-code writers to keep the technology ahead of the curve, and currently spends $150,000 a month developing it into a proper entertainment network. “This is Twitter times a billion,” he says. “Twitter is, like, a picture and 140 letters. This is video, MP3s, blogs…”
While spending $150K a month on a startup is unsustainable and a sure way to burn through cash – I still give him points for creativity.
His full prowess really shines through in his business model for the new Black Eyed Peas album E.N.D. via Billboad:
Group leader will.i.am tells Billboard.com that “The END” stands for “The Energy Never Dies,” which describes his model for a project that will be living and frequently updated throughout its designated cycle.
“It’s a diary … of music that at any given time, depending on the inspiration, you can add to it,” the artist/producer/songwriter explains. “When it comes out, there’ll be 12 songs on it, but the next day there could be 100 songs, 50 sketches, 1,000 blogs all (online) around ‘The End,’ so the energy really, truly never dies.
As I summarized in my previous music post covering why people buy vs. pirate music, the connection with the artist is key. I think this continuous model of looking at an album beyond shrink rap is an important mental step forward for an industry in search of a business model.
The other key component the study found was: music listeners want to re-experience. With, Boom Boom Pow, their first single off of The End, a No. 1 hit and a Boom Boom Pow remix EP of six remixes featuring everyone from up and coming artist Kid Cudi to billboard heavy weight 50 cent, will.i.am has proven that not only is the music experience well covered, but he’s also ensuring the Energy truly Never Dies.
Seth Godin has a new post up positing that it doesn’t hurt to ask, unless it does.
I’ve voiced a bit of my opinions of Seth’s business advice previously, so I was a bit surprised when I found myself in agreement with his post.
His post begins:
“It doesn’t hurt to ask”
Actually, it does hurt. It does hurt to ask the wrong way, to ask without preparation, to ask without permission. It hurts because you never get another chance to ask right.
And continues:
If you run into Elton John at the diner and say, “Hey Elton, will you sing at my daughter’s wedding?” it hurts any chance you have to get on Elton John’s radar. You’ve just trained him to say no…
He concludes with some reasonable recommendations for not having asking hurt you, but he also adds:
Every once in a while, of course, asking out of the blue pays off. So what? That is dwarfed by the extraordinary odds of failing.
This is where I disagree.
I think too often we fear of failing. In fact – there are many successes I’m sure I’ve walked away from simply because I was afraid or unwilling to ask. Conversely a small start up I’ve helped is led by someone always willing to ask for help and who is candid about what he can and cannot give in return. I’m in awe at the opportunities presented to him simply because he had the courage to ask.
So my thoughts… ask away. Seth’s recommendations: Do your homework, build connections definitely apply, I think there is a social EQ you need when you ask away. You need to be respectful of other people’s time and tuned in to when someone is uncomfortable with your request (though discomfort can often lead to opportunity).
And while Seth recommends making a reasonable request, I disagree. I say you ask for what you need. Couple that with your homework, your connections, and preparation, you may get a no but more than likely you’ll at least get insight in return.
You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. I’d rather have the problem that I’m willing to ask for too much, than have the problem that I ask for too little.
Wolfram Alpha, the computational search engine, had a soft launch on Friday. While some are calling this a Google killer, I personally think the two engines will complement each other and allow for information to be served depending on your needs. Wolfram Alpha provides me with some capabilities that Google did not, i.e. the ability to ask the engine a question and have it compute an answer (think the computer on Star Trek).
Depending on my context, these search engines can provide me with valuable different perspectives on the question: What is the population of Metro Atlanta?
Google’s answer: Links to Wikipedia and other sources which is useful if I want to cite a source in a blog or a paper. Wolfram Alpha’s Answer: 4.565 million people, which is extremely useful when my father calls me and expects me to recite this number from memory.
It becomes even more useful when you need to compare the financial data of two or more companies, say Coca-Cola (KO) and Pepsi (PEP). Simply typing the two stock tickers brings up all sorts of useful financial data on recent trades, market caps, volatility, revenue per employee, etc. You can even download the data as a PDF.
Part 1 in what is likely to be an ongoing series across multiple blogs on naming a company.
Naming your company or a project is serious business. If you’re anything like me naming the beast is on the critical path to designing the website or lay out. I’ve gone through this experience recently with Jon Pincus and the process is on going.
I’ve gone through the naming process more than a few times, with everything from BlueLounging (Brandon, and my first project together a textbook exchange hub) to this blog to StickyTAG. Its always an interesting experience. I’ll speak to some of my lessons.
The product is what matters. I want to put this upfront to make it clear, that a great name and a bad product is about as useful as sunblock in a snowstorm. So yes while naming the beast matters – you always need to put things in context and understand that its one component of the overall brand.
(continue to read six more Common Cents Naming Insights for your product or company) Read more of this article »
Folks in case you weren’t aware, there is a “War of the Birds” going on between El Pollo Loco, KFC, Chick-fil-A, and <insert your chicken joint here>.
El Pollo Loco CEO Steve Carley launched the first salvo at KFC by challenging them to bring their new grilled chicken offering to a taste test in California or Kentucky. Mr. Carley set up an 800 number for customers to call in and weigh in on both brands, and even had an option for an authorized representative of KFC to get set up in the system.
And call in they did. KFC reached into it’s bag of tricks and pulled out a notsocommoncents tactic of prank phone calls proclaiming that KFC has the best chicken. El Pollo Loco did what anyone in a “combat” situation would do, they laid an ambush. Not only were these phone calls traced back to Yum Brands corporate headquarters in Kentucky, but the callers were clearly using KFC jargon, i.e referring to the original recipe of 11 herbs and spices as “the OR”.
KFC, the next time you want to prank call the competition, I humbly suggest that you use a throwaway prepaid cellphone.
Mikal’s note: Taste test aside - KFC corporate headquarters should be busy trying to figure out how to staff up for Oprah’s KFC coupon.
As I noted in an earlier post, my posts will be semi-deep dives into under represented analysis or data points in business. As a music aficionado, looking at the media space in my daily role, figuring out what was going on in the music industry seemed like a natural first dive.
The good news is there are ways to influence whether or not consumers purchase music or download illegally… simply make good music that has replay value, that listeners would enjoy with friends, oh and identify with your listener. Sounds simple enough? Lets explore the study…
The three part study looked at why consumers (college students were studied) decide to acquire music, and second what drives their decision to acquire it legally or illegally. The study was written sometime in late 2003 or early 2004 but as with most peer reviewed studies should present lasting implications. Bear in mind before there was illegal download, there was always some form of illegal acquisition - such as burning a CD from a friend, or dubbing a tape.
The study focused on two things: the listener’s response to the music, and the listener’s response to the artist. A response to listening to good music is the need to re-experience the music. Think of it this way - you hear a song, and the reason you want to download or purchase it - is you want to re-experience/listen to it again.
Study Findings:
The music itself is the only proven determinant of whether or not someone will want to ‘re-experience’ the music. Meaning whether or not a consumer liked an artist - had no proven effect on whether or not they want to listen to it or ‘re-experience’ it again
Consumers acquire music because they want to re-experience it. If you increase how much someone wants to re-experience music by 1 point you increase their likelihood of acquiring music 2.5 fold; consumers response to the artist did not have a statistically significant impact - meaning whether or not a listener liked the artist didn’t affect whether they wanted to re-experience (listen ot it again) the song.
Whether or not someone wants to re-experience music, is the most important response to music. Essentially - Do you want to listen to it again?
The consumer’s response to the artist, not the music, impacts whether consumers acquire it legally or illegally. A one point increase in the individuals response to the artist results in a 1.729 fold increase in the likelihood of acquiring music in question legally. So if a listener likes an artist they are much more likely to purchase it.
What this means for artists and record labels:
You need people to listen to your music. This study finds that in general people decide to acquire music based on their need to ‘re-experience’ it. Of course, to make a decision about whether they want to re-experience it consumers have to experience the music first.
This is the problem with rap and the mixtape. Consumers have to make a decision to acquire the mixtape before they have actually experienced it. In theory this could work when one person acquires mixtape and plays it for others. But someone in the network has to make a decision to acquire the music before actually experiencing it. And the fact is that person in the network is more than likely experiencing a lot of music - because they are actively going out and acquiring music without having listened to it. So therefore your mixtape is one of many fighting for promotion among music mavens in a social network (and if your free mixtape is good enough to win this battle, it probably should be available for purchase).
Taking that a step further, , the sociability response (would a friend like to hear this) is the primary music response that leads to whether consumers acquire music legally or not, it also influences music acquisition. So not only do mixtape artists have to make good music notable enough for music mavens to listen - it needs to have traits that appeal to the non-music mavens in the network. And this is just to get a mixtape heard - no purchase has been earned yet.
A better model - is one that focuses on recording good music and making it available for purchase. Focusing on how to get people to hear it. This is why the radio and DJs are so important to recording artists. But perhaps instead of artists trying to woo sites that distribute and aggregate mixtapes, its most important to have your recorded songs (mixtape and otherwise) distributed through services such as LaLa, Last.fm and Pandora. This would allow your music to be experienced by groups beyond the most avid music aficionados. This allows consumers to make a decision to acquire it.
Perhaps there is an unmet need by Pandora’s and Last.fms here.
Record labels would be behooved to focus on understanding the characteristics of music that friends play around each other - as sociability responses are key drivers. Why do consumers choose to play one song or CD around friends vs. others? What impacts this decision?
A whole generation of consumers - don’t have an easy ‘acquire legally’ option. Young people listen to and buy a lot of music. In its hey day if you wanted to score well on TRL - you catered to 12 year old girls. I assume these purchases were driven through some combination of tweeners spending their allowance as well as begging parents for a purchase at the point of retail (while at the store).
Today these consumers have a very convenient way to acquire your music illegally (P2P) but because they don’t have credit cards - they don’t have the most convenient way of buying your music legally. The record industry needs to place some thought here - about how to make legally acquiring music an easy to do thing here. Advertising campaign for parents gear around music allowance or family subscription plans.
Artists: Whether or not people like you, only matters if you make good music.
Only after you successfully created music people want to re-experience (preferably with friends) does artist response play a role. Artist response impacts whether people illegally download your music, or purchase it legally. As the study shows there are more factors that play into this than just artist likeability.
Most artist consider touring as the keys to building a fan base. This evidence supports that - but consider that as only the beginning. Every concert needs an audience interaction point either before or post the show where the artist can actually interact with the concert goers. For example a session before the concert where the artist talks about their recording process, mandatory autograph sessions after the concert. Pre-submitting questions and answering them during a section of the concert.
The key assumption here is that the artist is likeable. For every point an artist lacks in charisma - the artist’s music has to be that much better.
Lastly artists should focus their interactions with consumers on three things (in order) establishing confidence in their quality of music, identifying with your target audience (things you have in common with the consumer), and conveying likeable qualities (how well consumers feel they like you as a person).
Overall the study should be encouraging as it shows there is a formula that exists for how music is experienced, emotionally/mentally processed, and if successful purchased.
“Life is often compared to a marathon, but I think it is more like being a sprinter; long stretches of hard work punctuated by brief moments in which we are given the opportunity to perform at our best”
- Michael Johnson
Priority 1
So we’ve done it. We’ve disturbed inertia and finally have notsocommoncents up and running again. Great. Except now we need to rebuild traffic. But to get traffic we must have content - and to get content takes time.
I’m honest enough with myself to know that I don’t blog frequently enough to compete with other blogs for the daily news cycles or even worst - hype cycle; in fact the hyper news cycle and blogosphere ADD were things I took issue with during my first foray into blogging.
So I’ve decided to take a different route this time, instead of focusing on the current news topics of the day. I’ll most often swim in the exact opposite direction. As a DJ - I dug in the crates of my record collection (and record shops) to find hidden gems that I can introduce to a new audience. As an author I’ll do the same. Reading and digging through journals and business profiles both past and present (because lessons should transcend time) to mine information and nuggets to present back to you my reader.
I aim to do one solid post a week.
Since priority one is increasing readership - we’ll have to see if this works we’ll enough to garner links, or even captivating enough to keep your attention.
Over the next few weeks, I’ll be sprinting through a marathon of projects that have come from all angles. In addition to updating this blog with Justin and Brandon, I’ll be updating our twitter with business nuggets each day, and I’m lined up as a guess author on The Ideators Journey. Who knows maybe more projects coming soonish.
Some questions Im thinking about regarding increasing blog traffic. Outside of reciprocal links what are your tips? Outside of daily business news - what type of content do you find compelling?
Merck continues it’s stellar string of “achievements” by creating a fraudulent peer-review journal to publish data that casts a favorable light on Fosamax and other drugs. I’m not surprised at this course off action from Merck, a company that hasn’t had a blockbuster drug in years. I am more furious at Elsevier, a respected academic journal publisher, that did NOT exercise due diligence and placed their own integrity on the line for payola.
The question I always have when these scandals break is how many yesmen and yeswomen in both companies did it take to let this fly? Seriously who with commoncents thought this was a good idea.
Read the First Comment 
While taking a mental break this morning to read my new favorite blog 
