Purpose Driven Christmas Shopping That Creates American Jobs

How many times have you bought a Groupon or Living Social voucher?  If you're anything like me, you probably went crazy buying up these deals at first, but maybe now it's no longer setting your hair on fire.  Maybe there's a laser hair removal or car detail deal that interests you but you're not going out of your way to see the latest hot deal...right?

One of the biggest economic challenges we're facing in this country right now is lack of jobs and income.  So much as been and is manufactured in Asia simply because it's cheap.  What if this holiday season you made the choice to buy ONLY local deals and support the people in your community who create and maintain jobs for Americans?  How?  Welp...it's easy.  Almost all the offers on coupon sites like Groupon, Living Social, PopSugar, etc. are based on local services and products.  Why not make your holiday shopping purpose driven:  Help American Small Business Owners Maintain Jobs

Trust me, your kids will thank you for it.

How Xbox Is Going to take over the Digital Communications World

I know what you're thinking, "I don't play video games and have no need for an Xbox."  Not unusual, most adults ages 35+ still look at these little devices as a super sophisticated grown up version of ATARI.  Here's the deal though, it's not an ATARI, NINTENDO nor any other kind of device for that matter.  It's a super sophisticated peripheral that can cleverly sit at the helm of your TV and deliver everything from movies, Internet and on demand TV.  That's not the story here though.  Ready to follow me through my train of thought?  I did predict the downfall of Netflix over a year ago and was right on the money, if that makes you feel any better. 

Normally, I wouldn't be this emphatic about yet another entertainment peripheral (I do have a life); but this time, I see a formula coming together that could very well be what defines digital communications for everyday households.  Why?  It's called money people; and the Xbox is about to become a freaking retail point of purchase (ie. cash register), one Americans will not only use, but totally depend on.

Here's how it works:

1.  Who creates the content we watch on TV, Movies, etc? If you said Hollywood, you get a gold star.  So what if I told you Hollywood is now taking that reality show and fragmenting out the story line into bite size social media pieces?  Imagine Kim's Fairy Tale Wedding told as mini stories all across the web, leading up to one big E! Network release of a two part show.  That part is already happening.  The process is called "Curation"and entertainment producers (well the sophisticated ones) know exactly how to tell that story in a way that makes people hungry for more. 

2.  Next, is the magical part.  What if while you're watching Kim getting ready at her vanity you could click on the stuff she's using and order or it right there online?  Possible? Yes.  The LookStore is already paving the way for celeb endorsed point of purchase ordering.  Only part missing is embedded links from a TV show to the store, and PRESTO! You're now a part of the retail story.  That technology is currently in the works BTW.

3.  Finally, you've not only watched the mini-shows leading up to Kim's Fairy Tale Wedding, you're also all in love with the cool make-up items you bought right from Kim's vanity.  Think you're going to share your specialness with your peeps?  Duh.  Television and film producers are now thinking about ways to tie their content directly into social sites' like Facebook and YouTube's API.  Not rocket science.  I did it with my social gaming app earlier this year. The key for them is now to turn the whole experience into more social commerce opportunities.  I'd share how I think that's going to work, but then I'd have to kill you.

So there ya go folks.  A basic overview of how that little ol Xbox just rocked out a girl's reality show watching experience.  A big emphasis on the word "basic".  I could share about fifty more ways this little box is going to rule the world for advertisers but it's only 9AM and I'm not done with my coffee. 

Digital Hollywood: The Social Gaming Craze

 Excerpt from my Hollywood Today story covering Digital Hollywood Week ;-)

Ritz Carlton Hotel,Marina del Rey,CA(Hollywood Today)10/23/11/–

Just a short time ago games were those things stored in boxes that you took out from the “game closet” and played during the family-get-together.  An even shorter time ago the mention of gaming would bring about pictures of nerds gathered around computers drinking Mountain Dew and clicking away on keyboards for hours on end. This picture is now changing and rapidly.  More...

Customer Review Sites: Is it the way of the social commerce future?

This week, in PR 2.0, the professor asked us to give feedback regarding customer review sites and viral their impact on their peers.  I thought about getting into all the physiological aspects of the practice, but then realized, it's really all about the WIIFM factor.

Observations of Current Trends to Encourage Consumer Feedback:
Over the last several months, retailers are leveraging the power of community sourced content such as personalized YouTube videos and photo uploads featuring their products.  As a form of incentivizing the consumer to participate in these efforts, they offer various forms of prizes and rewards.  One online retailer that does an amazing job at this sort of thing is ModCloth.com.  In fact the founder of ModCloth, Susan Gregg Koger recently talked about her 2011 focus on social commerce programs in Entrepreneur Magazine. A $50M retail business based out of her closet, the girl must be doing something right!

In my opinion, this is a win for all.  The retailer gets direct consumer feedback regarding ways their customer is using the products.  The viewing audience receives ideas and suggestions about ways they could potentially use that retailer’s product and the contributor (person engaging in the act of uploading content such as videos and photos) is up for some sort of reward in exchange for her contribution.   Love it.

Future Projection:
I predict there’s going to be much more of this sort of thing in the future.  In fact, I predict retailers will find a way to turn community sourced content into social games.  I’m actually pretty obsessed with the concept, think it’s going to be a brand new way of marketing and advertising.  To test camp my theories, I built the first social commerce game and based it on shops in LA, but the idea can pretty much be implemented within most industries.  It takes community content (in this case YouTube videos) and turns them into social games.  I call it Skwikee.com.  Thoughts?

Future of Mobile Advertising Prediction

This week’s mobile advertising class prompted us to think about the future of mobile advertising.  The articles we were asked to read were mostly a couple of years old, which gave me enough room to think: Where are we going based on where we've been?

Article 1

Going Direct with Mobile Marketing

Article 2

Most Forms of Advertising Are Predicted to Decline. Not Mobile

Article 3

Mobile Commerce Evolving from Early Innovation to Mainstream Adoption 

I came up with my conclusions based on the Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs pyramid.  First, was to look at it from a marketer’s perspective (of course).  I see the value in the technology progression and device intelligence we now have access to.  It’s all very fascinating how we can geo target consumers, their psychographic purchasing patterns and even predict their next steps.  As a marketer, it’s never been a better time to be in touch with the customer.  I’m sure my fellow colleagues will find the most creative ways to reach out and touch the consumer, even if he’s not interested. Errf.

This brings me to interest. Looking at it from the consumer’s point of view, there’s one thing that technology never fails to do:  Block the unwanted message.  So along with all that super duper marketing intelligence we’re all so eager to implement into our marketing campaigns comes the harder part of the job: overcoming the blocking devices by creating interest.  It's getting harder and harder to break through all the noise, not to mention the legislature that’s popping up about tracking and monitoring consumer behavior via their mobile devices.  Resistance is inevitable kids.

I think the winning formula comes back to the fundamental entertainment value I’ve been yammering about for months.  Marketers are going to have to make it worth wild for the consumer to give permission and wish to engage with the message.  Social commerce and games might be a solution, but I think it’s even deeper than that.  I think barcode technology will come into play, as well as point of purchase influential factors.  Ever check into a place using Foursquare or Facebook?  Why?  Probably has something to do with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs top three levels.  I think mobile marketing that stays close to meeting social affiliation, builds self esteem and allows the consumer to further develop self actualization will win big.