Influx Insights Weblog

influx interview-indi young- adaptive path- part two

Influx Insights — 2008-03-05T15:49:36Z

Here is Part Two of the interview I did with Indi Young of Adaptive Path. For a discount on her new book go to the Rosenfeld Media web site, drop Indi's book in the shopping cart (which can be done here: ), and enter the discount code (FOINFL10) for a 10% discount while completing the order.

5. How do you discover new unmet needs/behaviors and imagine new uses that consumers don't yet display?

The mental model is not about changing consumer behavior so much as supporting it better, and supporting it in new ways that haven't been thought of before. The easiest thing to do is look for gaps between a tower in the mental model (representing a set of behaviors around a particular concept) and the ways an organization supports it. There could be no existing support for a tower, or it could be weakly supported, in which case you could use the concepts in the tower to brainstorm ideas. You could already support a tower, but perhaps extend your support to better support some of the concepts in the tower that aren't covered. You could look across the mental model for similarities and bring some behaviors together by supporting them with one idea, thus making it more efficient for the user. You could look for emotion in the tower and see if there was a way to address it. You could look for surprising towers and see why these concepts just aren't acknowledged by the organization. You could look at whole areas that you kind of crossed out in your mind as areas your organization just couldn't possibly address, and see if there isn't a few ways to help out. And you can rethink services and features that don't match a behavior--perhaps they are not necessary, or perhaps they are a great opportunity. The best thing is to be as explicit as possible about why your organization is spending time and money on a particular service or product, and prioritize where to put your resources. (For examples, see here.

6. What about thinking about the totality of the experience- do you use mental models beyond the web?

Absolutely. Task analysis, the root of mental models, was used before the web existed. I've done several mental models about workflow processes, one about media buyers, one about training runs (like for a marathon), one about going to the movies, one about dating, and one about cat behavior. The output of the workflow process models was, of course, a new process flow. The media buyer mental model informed a software application. The training run mental model resulted in a few additions to a running watch. The one about the movies resulted in a mobile app, among the other things we imagined. The one about dating resulted in changes to an online dating social application. And the one about cats, well, it resulted in a few laughs.

A mental model has the single purpose of deepening your understanding of the
motivations and behavior of a group of people who are trying to accomplish
something. It allows you to see with great clarity how you already support
these activities and philosophies and emotions, and urges you to do extend
what you are doing to a much richer selection.

Posted by Ed Cotton

influx interview-designer series- indi young- part one

Influx Insights — 2008-03-04T16:07:51Z

Indi Young is one of the founders of Adaptive Path and the author of the recently published book-Mental Models: "Aligning Design Strategy with Human Behavior".

We exchanged a few emails and ended up with a fantastic interview.

Here's Part One.

1. Can you briefly describe your background?

I've been a "software designer" for 21 years. My undergrad degree was in Computer Science. In those days, there were none of these fun study programs like interaction design. This was before the Mac and before the desktop metaphor became prevalent. I have been consulting for 17 years, often helping startups craft their initial offerings and assisting Fortune 500 companies redesign existing architectures. I teach workshops, act as a team guide for projects, and present at a few conferences. My book about mental models and alignment with products and services was published in Feb 2008.

2. Explain how the Mental Models process came about?

It has roots in a project I was doing with Visa in the early 90's. I was doing task analysis for customer service reps and normalizing their actions when I realized I had a state machine on my hands. The state machine was helpful to the other software and database developers, but not to the business stakeholders who were guiding the project. So, over the years, I morphed "task analysis" to the "motivation chart" that you see now, mapped to the ways an organization supports each of the activities. Now the diagram, essentially an affinity diagram at its heart, is a good visual summary of customer behavior, philosophies, and feelings. Executives and other stakeholders find it understandable and useful. (For more of the story, see the Appendix B online )

3. What do you think the big differences between thinking about advertising and thinking about the web are?

I'm going to use my imagination here, since the closest I got to understanding advertising is from a mental model I made of media buyers. Advertising is about making a certain segment of people aware of and interested in a product or service. The web is a communications medium. In general, when you try to communicate, it works best if you know the segment of people you are trying to communicate with so that you can connect with them about what you are saying. Web communication is two-way. The segment of people can talk back. Most advertising (I *think*) assumes a one-way message. There are lots of things I could say about advertising on the web. You could harness the two-way communication format. (Seewww.getsatisfaction.com)

You could apply the richness of film and radio, if someone acts like they want to spend the time watching something. You could lessen the amount of time a person spends thinking about your service or product and give them more time to do what they intend to do. This freedom will make them respect you later because you respected them. In traditional advertising there seems to be a desperate pitch to the message, begging the listener/reader/watcher to spend some brain time with you. On the web, that doesn't have to happen. (See Seth Godin's "Permission Marketing" for other ideas)

I've found in several mental models for companies selling large software suites that potential customers "distrust salesmen." Salesmen have one goal: to sell you the product and increase their commission. Some sales people tell you they don't really need to sell you the product, but their happiest end-scenario is still the same: sell the product. Potential customers have a different goal. In their mental model, they want to find out the capabilities of the software and at the same time find out what their organization really needs in terms of software, or if some of the needs are really just wishful. It's something that each potential customer seems to have to explore in isolation, whereas a lot of the considerations and capabilities and needs are probably very common. No one has leveraged that yet.

4. When you explore Mental Models- it's clearly a piece of expansive thinking- you are stretching to really understand the breadth and depth of the totality of experiences- when and how do you decide what the limits are? What role does brand play in this?

Yes, the mental model explores the environment of the user, agnostic to all the tools she uses to do something. A lot of folks have learned a very limited definition of "mental model" meaning "how a person understands how something works." These mental models stretch that definition to "how a person gets something done, no matter which tools she uses." Plus, it extends the definition to include matching the services and products an organization offers to discrete parts of what the person is doing to accomplish something. This is really a step back from the details of the picture to look at the overriding motivations. This level of granularity limits what you put in the mental model. You ask "why" a lot, but you don't go into detail about "how" as much. The limits are also defined by the scope of the research. You might scope your research as, "What does a person do to remodel their kitchen or bathroom?" Or you might choose, "What does a person do to upkeep their home?" These are two different scopes of the same space, the first one narrower than the second one. The second one might have a mental space about remodeling, which if you want, you could blow out into its own mental model with the narrowly scoped research.

Brand plays a role this way: customers choose what source to get their service or product from based on a lot of reasons, and brand is one of the reasons. Proximity, price, convenience, habit--those are some of the other reasons. I've often been asked if a mental model could be syndicated. Could a mental model for a bank customer, say, be sold to all banks in an industry? I don't know, but my educated guess is, "No," because customers choose a bank based partially on the perceived "persona" of that bank, or its brand. I think the motivations for choosing a certain bank will show up as different towers in different banks' customer mental models. But I haven't had the opportunity to test this theory out yet. It could be true only in a slight way, in which case most of the bank customer mental model would be re-usable from bank to bank.

But to look at the brand question with a different example, let's look at drivers. The mental model of a driver who really enjoys the art and feel of driving and of performance is probably different than the mental model of the person who needs to transport many kids to various different engagements. There are different concepts that each of these groups will talk about. The concept of enjoying the g-force in a turn and appreciating how the tires are in contact with the road would be outside the realm of the person who is thinking about protecting her precious cargo of kids. The mental models would be different, and the ways you, as a car designer, would support the concepts would differ, too.

Posted by Ed Cotton

influx interview- scott belsky- behance

Influx Insights — 2008-02-26T21:32:35Z

Behance is a company that serves the needs of the growing network of independent creative professionals. It does everything from helping them find jobs, foster collaboration, generate new ways to think and delivers an engaging environment to view portfolios and creative samples.

I spent some time with Scott Belsky, the founder of Behance, to learn a little more.

1. What inspired you to make the leap from Wall Street to the creative world?

My work on Wall Street involved organizational and leadership development. I specialized in helping new, rapidly growing teams deal with the challenges that come along with growth. At night, I would try to leverage some of these skills for my friends in more creative and entrepreneurial roles. I found that, more than anyone else, creative leaders and teams struggle to push ideas forward. I became very interested in the leadership and organizational struggles of the creative world. I also believe that life is interesting because of the creative achievements around us. The music, art, design, and new businesses that start as ideas and ACTUALLY happen are the source of society's advancement.

2. Briefly describe what Behance is all about?

Behance is relentlessly focused on developing knowledge, products, and services that help creative professionals make ideas happen. We believe that creative leaders and team are never short of ideas, but often lack the organizational skills, leadership capability, networks, and platform to push ideas forward.

Our model is very simple: Over the past two years, we have interviewed hundreds of especially productive creative teams. In each interview, we ask "how do you make ideas happen?" We zoom in on methods and tips for productivity, networking, leadership, and strategy.

Behance is NOT about idea generation or stimulating innovation. Rather, we are focused on boosting productivity and access to opportunity in the creative world.

Here are a few examples of how our products and services accomplish our mission:

Behance Network

The Behance Network was developed as a platform for efficient dissemination of creative work. If a member posts a new project that is "appreciated" by the community, then it is likely that tens of thousands of people will see the work. We've had nearly a million visitors in the past month or so, and many of the visitors come from top agencies, galleries, and other companies seeking creative talent. Members use the network as a tool for self-marketing, exchanging feedback with peers, staying accountable to goals, and building professional networks.

Action Method

There is a great, self-proclaimed shortage of productivity in the creative world. We have noticed that "office-centric" or lingo-intensive systems for productivity, including GTD, are not easily adopted among creatives. Rather, we discovered that creatives need a simple, design-centric system method for creative project management. We developed the Action Method in response to the best practices we observed. The Action Method has spawned an entire product line that is sold around the US and the Museum of Modern Art stores, including the critically acclaimed "Action Book."

Behance Magazine

As we conduct interviews, we write up articles and also generate new "tips" for creative professionals. We have gathered them together in an online magazine.

Advisory Services

Our team is starting to do a lot of consulting work for creative teams within large companies. Surprisingly, creative teams suffer from many of the same inefficiencies as a designer or artist. We think that every creative company, agency, and project needs to consider a path to what we call "productive creativity."

3. How do you see the Behance growing and developing in the future?

Our team hopes to continue developing products and services that address the needs of creative professionals. We are starting to develop some interesting web-based applications in response to suggestions we have received. We are also developing a whole pipeline of knowledge, mostly "tips," that will help boost productivity in the creative workspace. The Behance Network is also an ongoing project that we believe is only in the "first inning." Ultimately, we will feel successful if more ideas actually happen as a result of our work.

4. What are some of the biggest trends you see out there in the world of creative professionals?

There are two trends we talk about quite often:

(1) More than ever before, we are seeing "creative" as a trait actively sought by recruiters across industries. We're also seeing the more self-described "creative" folks on teams getting promoted on the basis of their creative contributions. Of course, once creative people are empowered within a company/team, there is a great need for increased leadership capability and productivity.

(2) Creative professionals are feeling more empowered to represent themselves professionally, rather than depend on being found by a headhunter or working full-time for an agency. The "freelancer" is starting to act more like a business than an individual. We see the amount of work and opportunities that Behance Network members are getting.

5. What will it take for America to compete in the battle for creative talent?

It is really interesting to consider America's "competitive advantages" over the past decades. Remember that big American companies like GE and Hewlett Packard used to compete on "efficiency." GE's development of Six Sigma and HP's advances in plant efficiency were big selling points.

However, now GE has changed their tag line to "imagination at work" and HP is all about innovation. The change in brand is evidence of the fact that efficiency is now accomplished through off-shoring and is no longer a competitive advantage.

Our team believes that innovation is the grounds for competition going forward. We also believe that innovation is the result of PRODUCTIVE creativity. As companies hire more creative professionals to fuel innovation, they will recognize the need to design teams and workflow to achieve Productive Creativity.

To stay competitive, we think American business needs to bridge the gap between creative and other departments. There must be an emphasis on the components of "Productive Creativity," and we're hoping that Behance plays a critical role in this trend.

6. Where do you find your inspiration?

Most or our team's inspirations come from our own frustrations as creative professionals. We're in a unique business where the greatest "breakthroughs" are a response to the greatest frustrations we observe in our work and when we consult for others.

Posted by Ed Cotton

influx interview-designer series-verena dauerer-editor-pingmag japan

Influx Insights — 2008-02-06T04:17:15Z

Verena Dauerer is the only foreign journalist working at PingMag, the inspirational and influential Japanese art/culture/design website.

Here's an interview I did with her recently where we talked about PingMag, it's unique ownership, design and Japanese design.

1. Can you briefly describe your background and explain how you ended up at PingMag?

I've been working as a journalist for ten years now, the recent years I was freelancing in Berlin. Apart from that I have been doing production for short films for a while, briefly Lingo programming in the 90s, and eventually started giving lectures about VJ culture at design schools and festivals and organized a VJ festival with two friends there in 2006.

At one point, I got bored a bit of myself being in the city and decided to work abroad for a couple of months. I liked Ping, sent these lovely people an e-mail - and came to Japan to work as editor of PingMag in November 2006. Originally I wanted to stay for three months only, but they provided me with a contract and a working visa. Tempting! And I stayed...

2. Tell us a little about PingMag (its ownership, editorial policy, etc)?

In terms of our structure, we are 3 editors in total: My 2 lovely Japanese colleagues
care about the Japanese homepage, and I run the English site alone.

Each of us contributes with our own topics, and I handle most of the freelancers and possible pieces.

Regarding these: Anything can be interesting depending on the approach. I'd say our trait is being hysterically fond of anything that is special to us. There really are no limits, be it from the field of art, design, technology, architecture, fashion, crafts, etc. It doesn't even have to be Japan related, but it has to be done with a great love for detail.

Of course, each piece is decorated in the cheerful PingMag style since translation usually requires adaptation.

In terms of ownership, PingMag is part of Yes Communications!, our parent and run by our producer Tom Vincent. Financially we are in this very lucky and even rarer position that at the moment we are sponsored by a Japanese investment bank called RISA Partners. I know that this makes us kind of unique, as content wise we
are totally independent and far from being a corporate blog.

Also, we just got a little sister one month ago: PingMag MAKE is done by another colleague, a Japanese editor that reports once a week from regional Japan about traditional craftsmen, and small businesses.

3. What do you think is happening with the world of design? Are developed nations over-designed?

Over-designed? If the natural development of a civilization is its aesthetic refinement,
cutting back would be a step backwards or a possible indication of decay. There is no end to this refinement, as you can surely see in Japan... Provided that environmental factors are included.

4. How would you describe the current state of Japanese design and where do you believe it is heading?

Huh, I can maybe enlighten you with some aspects of its structure that might help you
understand its output: On one side, there are the star designers that design practically
everything from mobiles to furniture to any other gadget you can imagine with utmost
perfectionism.

Think of Naoto Fukasawa or Iwai Toshio (who just developed the Tenori-on.) As Sensei, they have an army of designers working for them - and this system is strictly hierarchical and as solid as the tough structure within the mainstream design establishment.

On the other side, design events like the annual DesignTide try since a couple of years to promote the young upcoming ones.

Then I have the feeling that some designers aren't interested at all in a wider exposure outside of Japan, others would like to but they don't speak any English.

Where it might all be heading could also depend on how far people keep perceiving the country as an isolated island and themselves as a closed community in the future.

5. What developments are important and interesting to look at in Japan- is tradition and history now more important that the thrill of the future?

I'm interested in Japanese society and its rapid (or not) changes.

So in this very special case, tradition is the overall tie that firmly grips everything quite rigidly.

Compared to Western countries this is a by far stronger driving force that keeps
preventing changes - of the attitude, of the approach to design, or work methods. And
since this applies to any nation with a long tradition, of course, everything is
connected with the past and will surely affect the future.

Every part of Japanese society is based on the collective and this hasn't changed a bit.

Combined with the way the corporations still work, their internal octopus-like structure that provides everything for their workers, this seems to be a kind of capitalism done the communist way.

And it works because of the concept of the collective. It's interesting to see what will happen in the next years, like how far will this be softened, and on the other side how far tradition could loosen its tight grip a bit.

6. Where do you find your inspiration?

I'm an info junkie thanks to rss feeds. The rest is journalistic handcraft:observing.

Posted by Ed Cotton

influx interview-designer series- steve portigal- design thinker

Influx Insights — 2008-02-04T16:48:35Z

Steve Portigal runs Portigal Consulting, a company that helps clients develop smarter thinking by bringing together user research, design and business strategy. I spent some time talking to Steve about his overlapping world of strategy and design.

Steve's client list includes the likes of Nestle, eBay, Palm, Berringer, General Electric and many others.

His other claim to fame is his creation of one of the first online communities (Undercover, a Rolling Stones fan group) in 1992, nurturing it from a time when the Internet was an underground academic technology through to today, as part of a global info-infrastructure.

1. Can you tell us briefly about your background and what you are up to these days?

I studied Computer Science because I liked the idea of making something- software- that had new functionality. But I soon realized that academically, Computer Science was extremely abstract and theoretical. Then I discovered Human-Computer Interaction, the part of Computer Science that dealt with people. After graduate school, I felt that the professional work of designing interfaces was too concerned with the details for my temperament. But that pointed the way to where my passion lies: starting with people, organizational behavior and culture, and asking the big-picture questions. For the past six years I've run Portigal Consulting, a boutique firm that's just outside of San Francisco. We like to say that we help organizations to discover and act on new insights about their customers and themselves.

2. What do you believe are the greatest challenges involved in inspiring great design?

Well, what makes something a great design? If I think about design as a total package- “an experience that addresses some functional and emotional need that also meets the business goals of the organization that created it (i.e., it's profitable, it's right for their brand, it helps them grow a category, etc.)- then to inspire the creators means we need to help them tell a new story. That takes facts, but it also takes emotion. The creators who we want to inspire are designers, but also marketers, managers, technologists, engineers, and every other part of the organization. Our challenge is often getting access to all those people and, once we have access, figuring out the best way to communicate to them so that they are engaged, and ultimately inspired.

3. What is it that makes a great design strategist?

A great design strategist may not see themselves as a design strategist. They're probably someone who has had a few different professional identities and gets excited by the spaces where disciplines, schools of thought, and methods overlap. They are curious and easily intrigued: they like to observe what's going on around them and they're good at listening to people. And they know how to use all this data to synthesize new patterns and communicate them clearly to a range of audiences. Charlie Stross, in the sci-fi book Accelerando, describes the profession of a "meme broker" and the intense amount of content they have to assimilate every day in order to do this. Bruce Sterling calls this activity "scanning“ looking at all the sources one can and constantly asking what does this mean for my clients. Being able to work through all those data sources and pull out the implications is crucial for design strategy.

4. As we become more cultural attuned to good design, does designing become easier?

I have an interaction designer friend who worked for Apple in the between-Jobs era (long before iMacs and iPods), and he used to tell me how challenging it was to be in his role at a company that had such a strong design culture, because everyone thought they were naturally a UI designer. It was a lot more challenging for him to get buy-in. If we generalize from that, more awareness of design may not make it easier.

Taking it one step further, the stuff designers are being asked to design is sometimes deep in uncharted waters. What kind of information designer figures out the dozen layers of text and graphics that get layered on top of Taiwanese television? Where do user interface designers pull from to create virtual world e-commerce? How does an 80-year old check their email on a mobile device? The shifts in what technology affords and what behaviors people are seeking that are definitely not making design any easier.

5. Do you believe research can play a role in helping designers, if so, what does the best research look like?

Absolutely. How else are you going to design for real people?

The best research brings to life the imperfect and messy stories of real people and presents generative frameworks that lead the way forward for new designs, products, services, features, communications, or whatever is needed.

6. Who are today's "thinkers" who are challenging designers to push boundaries?

I suspect that many designers are more influenced by the doers than the thinkers. That said, you've got some visionary people out there who do come up often in design circles: Bruce Sterling, John Thackara, Sir Ken Robinson, Roger Martin, Malcolm Gladwell, Edward Burtynsky, and John Maeda.

Posted by Ed Cotton

influx interview-designer series- phil lu- starbucks/iphone application

Influx Insights — 2008-01-15T12:34:27Z

In the last few days, just ahead of Macworld , a series of fantastic visuals were sent around the web at lightening speed.

People wondered if they were real, that's how good they were.

The visual concept was for an iPhone Starbucks quick ordering system, using Wi-Fi.

It made sense because the technology basically exists and some people are already aware that Apple recently applied for a patent to do something similar.

I tracked down the designer of these images, Phil Lu, (to see a fully animated version of the Starbucks application, please look here) for a very short interview.

This is one in a series of interviews Influx is going to be conducting with designers over the coming months.

1. Briefly describe your background and what you do?

I'm a multimedia designer currently living/working in San Diego, CA. My backgrounds is in media art and graphic design. I did a little bit of graphic design before moving on to multimedia design.

2. How do you come up with the idea for the Starbucks iPhone application?

The "what if?" thought came to my mind when I was waiting in line at Starbucks. I spend more time waiting to order than waiting for the drink. It got me thinking, since iPhone supports iTunes download over wi-fi using iTunes account; why not order my coffee over wi-fi with the same account?

3. How did you work out the conceptual design?

I looked through various interface design and studied the Starbucks' brands. I wanted an interface that feel like the iPhone interface with the touch of Starbucks' branding, The reason behind the design is that I don't want QuickOrder to feel like a 3rd party application. Instead, I want the application blend in seamlessly with the current iPhone interface.

4. How long did it take to make?

Once I have the concept worked out, the design phase goes rather quickly.

5. What's next?

I'm currently working on different online-social networking site that will bring like-minded people together.

Posted by Ed Cotton

influx interview-alex frankel- author- punching in-the unauthorized adventures of a front-line employee

Influx Insights — 2007-11-10T18:30:43Z

In 2004, Alex Frankel took us on a journey inside the mysterious world of brand name development process with his first book, Wordcraft.

In his latest book, Punching In-The Unauthorized Adventures of a Front-Line Employee, Alex examines the world of America’s front-line employees based on his own personal experience. He's spent the last two years working in frontline positions with the likes of Apple, Gap, Starbucks, Enterprise, etc.

Punching In is published by Harper Business and hits the shelves on November 20th.

In typical Influx Interview style, I sent Alex a few questions via email and here is his response.

1. What was the inspiration for your new book?

When I was about 17 I met a guy who had worked as a UPS driver and he told me all about his job. He told me specifically about how much he had been analyzed and examined by a team of scientists sent from corporate headquarters: They had measured things like how long it took him to walk an average package to someone’s front door from his truck. The level to which they cared about such things intrigued me and from then on I knew I had to work for UPS some day, to experience being the critical front line worker.

Until you “live the brand,” as I did, you are really taking other people’s word for how they feel. You cannot apprehend what it feels like to work acertain job unless you are wearing the uniform and living by the rules of a given employer. The subtle, or not so subtle, changes you feel when you put on a uniform and undergo training are extremely informative. For example, the feelings I had when I first changed into a brown UPS uniform and gazed at my reflection in the locker-room mirror were the kind of feelings you could not replicate by simply interviewing UPS workers about their jobs. (I tried doing so.) Subtle shifts are simply not apparent unless you are trying to be extremely observant, as I was.

2. It sounds like you did a bit of a Morgan Spurlock for this, explain how you approached researching the project?

Morgan Spurlock did a great job of being the ultimate customer of McDonald's. My goal was similar, but different: I wanted to be an employee at five or six companies in the retail space where I could be the face of those companies. I first worked at UPS and then applied at a dozen other companies that I chose based on my personal relationship to them, their popularity in business circles, and their prevalence in the commercial landscape. I applied for and was hired for five jobs in the retail sector and went on to work undercover over the course of two years.

3. Were the companies aware of your plans?

No, definitely not. My project hinged on my working at the various jobs in a completely unfettered and unadulterated manner. I wanted to live the life of an average employee and feel what it was like to wear the particular uniform of a company, train in the way an employee is trained, and then work directly with customers. I knew that if anyone knew of my plans, that the pure qualities of my experience would be compromised. And certainly I did not feel that any company would trust me enough to allow me to proceed with my project if I had asked for permission at the outset.

4. Do you feel brands are missing an opportunity at the front-lines of service and what can they do about it?

Yes, definitely many companies leave a lot to be desired when it comes to the experience on the front lines of service. When you think about it, this interaction--between customer and employee--is everything. This interaction carries the most weight in the minds of customers, but still most companies botch it by hiring the wrong people, training them poorly, and/or not giving their people the tools they need to do their jobs. Companies need to think creatively about these very areas: How can they better attract and hire the best people? How can they create places that employees want to work? These types of considerations do wonders for that critical customer/employee interaction.

5. Do you think Americans have given up on service?

Yes, many Americans have given up on service by finding ways around even needing service. Gas stations are self-run retail engagements. Every time you shop online you are avoiding going to a store and confronting what is often a poor service experience. At the same time, people tend to flock to those few stores or companies where service is strong (The Apple Store, JetBlue, etc.). Unfortunately, though, in many cases we are prisoners to poor service by having no better options.

6. Can you imagine a time when everything is self-service- from the grocery store to the Apple store and won't that just be better for everyone?

Yes and no. There are many consumer experiences that can be improved through automation. When things like self-checkout at Home Depot tend to work, they are great for customers and companies. But now, more than ever, people are increasingly a strong strategic weapon companies use to attract customers, people are often more important than the service or product a company is selling. In recent years many companies have realized how critical their people are in terms of presenting a cohesive experience for customers.

7. A few months ago, there was a trend of people posting videos on YouTube that showed shoddy looking stores and rats at fast food chains- do you think the thought that everyone potentially has a camera, is keeping retail brands on their toes?

What I found is that the top-notch retailers--places I worked such as Starbucks and The Apple Store--have fairly sophisticated feedback loops firmly in place so that these types of rats-in-the-kitchen surprises just don't happen very often. Starbucks has a team of roving quality control technicians that come into the stores unannounced and order drinks. They measure things like the weight and temperature of a latte and time their buying experience. Not a whole lot is left up to chance by the companies that value quality control.

Posted by Ed Cotton

arnold creatives show us just what they think of focus groups

Influx Insights — 2007-10-15T03:06:47Z

Arnold creatives, Roger Baldacci and Lawson Clarke made this film for the Hatch Show, it's a rather alarming take down of focus group testing .

I traded a few emails with Roger to learn more about how the film was made and what inspired it.

1. Tell us your background- years in the biz etc?

I’m an Executive Vice President, Creative Director at Arnold. I currently run the ESPN business at Arnold and also work as a senior writer, partnered with art director Paul Renner. I’ve been in the business about 17 years. Prior to Arnold I worked at Fallon in Minneapolis.

2. What inspired this labor of hate, if you are at liberty to tell us?

I call this a labor of hate, because I simply hate concept testing with focus groups. I have witnessed untold creative concepts die at the hands of people who are only there for the $50 and free M&M’s and Pepsi.

There are just so many flaws to the system that I believe it’s not scientifically valid on any level. These flaws include:

1. Moderators can lead respondents
2. Alpha respondents can lead/sway the rest of the group
3. Spots that are easiest to understand/most familiar often win out
4. Concepts aren’t accurately reflected with cartoon storyboards
5. The mindset of respondents is to criticize no matter how objective you ask them to be. It’s human nature,
6. It's not reflective of the media buy. I’m in this business and I can’t tell you what commercials I saw last night. Brands are built by a cumulative effect on multiple sources. You can’t expect brand preference to go up after ONE viewing of a bad animatic.
7. Time consuming. Creating these takes time and energy from the creative department.
8.Cost prohibitive. It’s not unusual to spend $300K to find out
9. Preconceived notions. Clients and agencies tend to have ideas of what they want to get from the focus groups so they look for those. One client felt we had a brand linkage problem when the moderator asked the groups to name a commercial in the client’s category. They didn’t name our commercials. I said that if they recalled our commercial, but couldn’t remember it was from us—that’s a brand linkage issue. But they couldn’t even name our spot which means we had a media issue.
10. Kills the creative process. If a spot tests well in groups, clients are unwilling to deviate from it when it comes time to shoot. So trying to get a good director to plus the boards? Forget it. The magic of ad-libs from the talent on shoot day? Forget it.

But let me be clear, I’m not against focus groups and learning information about your target audience. I think if you poll planners in all agencies, they would much prefer to do up front market research over concept testing. The issue I have is with testing unfinished work in front of people.

Sure, the stakes are high for CMO’s with the average tenure being 22 months on the job before they hope to take their success and move on to another job. But look at the movie industry. The average development costs for a typical Hollywood movie is around 100 million. Do the studios do animatics or board o’ matics of their movies with tests audiences to see which movie they should produce and how best they can “optimize it?” Of course not. They green light a script, film it, edit it, mix it and THEN they have test screenings. Now they’re just asking to see if there was something the audience didn’t get or found confusing. This may result in re-editing it or perhaps reshooting one or two scenes.

But imagine showing an animatic of the film Adaptation or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind to test audiences?

3. Why did you pick the Apple spot? Were there any other candidates?

We thought about other high profile spots that people within the industry would know, but in the end, we decided to go with the most iconic spot in the history of advertising. There was something so poetic about taking such a high profile Super Bowl spot for a visionary brand like Apple, (who don’t test, clearly) and subject it to the whims of people who need extra cash to pay their cable bill that month.

4. How did you make the film?- do the recruit and my guess is that's not an Arnold planner in the film....

We used a real focus group facility who donated the time and recruited real respondents at cost. The moderator was an Arnold planner who recently took a job on the West coast. We briefed the respondents exactly the way we would a normal focus group—telling them that we “had nothing to do with this commercial” and that we were looking for their “honest feedback, both good and bad.” We told them this was a potential Super Bowl spot. We had two cameramen in the back room behind the mirror, each responsible for close ups on one side of the table. For the majority of the shots, however, we used the actual focus group camera and audio from the facility.

5. Do you think creatives believe all focus group testing is like this?

The film has been posted on many blogs (in many languages) and you can tell by the responses that this has struck a nerve with many creatives. We have all been there and we’ve all see this. So, yeah, this is pretty much how all (concept testing) focus groups tend to go.

6. What does it feel like when you have to sit in the other room in a session like this and listen to people talk about your work?

Any good creative has a thick skin, so hearing your concept get ripped to shreds is not new. You smirk. You make witty, sarcastic remarks about the respondents, down a fistful of salted peanuts and move on.

Frankly, if focus groups liked your concept then maybe you’re doing something wrong.

Again, focus groups typically reward the familiar. I have run into this situation many times. One time, the agency recommended spot lost out to the back up spot because it featured a husband speaking to his wife in the kitchen. Very easy to understand. The recommended spot featured intricate cg work and was actually more on strategy than the husband/wife spot. We produced the spot that “won out” in testing and the client proceeded to do everything they could in the edit to make it more like the spot that died under the harsh florescent lights of the focus group room.

7. How have people in Arnold reacted to the film?

People have loved it. Both Lawson and I have received positive feedback from inside and outside the agency walls. It has been forwarded to many people in the business, including the production side. People dig it because it’s so painfully real.

8. If you were a planner, what would you do to help creative teams develop great work?

The biggest mistake planners make is to pretend they’re in the creative department. If you want in, by all means put your book together and jump in. There’s plenty of room behind the two way mirror at the testing facility.

What creatives are looking for from planners is a simple, unique insight into the human condition of our target audience. Granted, that’s not always easy. But telling creatives that teens like music and technology is not helpful. Don’t give us charts and graphs because we know we always want to be in the upper right hand quadrant.
Give us a simple sentence that can get our gears turning. Tell us something we didn’t know about our audience. We all know that milk is good for your bones and does a body good. Just hand us a postcard with a sentence like “You know. It really sucks when you want milk and you don’t have it.”

9. What stuff is inspiring you these days?

There has been very little that has inspired me within the advertising industry lately. For an industry that prides itself on originality, it’s amazing how often we copy each other. Remember shaky cam? Remember large type to small type? Remember the “organic” layout with a bunch of stuff photographed on the page with copy wrapped around it? Remember binding in little booklets into magazines? Remember that whacky, offbeat Swedish humour?

I tend find inspiration from films, photography and contemporary art. I know that sounds pretentious. So if I had to pick one commercial thing that inspires me I would say the writing of screenwriter Charlie Kaufman and also the writing staff of NBC’s “The Office.”

Thanks to Katie for finding the film. We are looking forward to the sequel on quant pre-testing!

Posted by Ed Cotton

influx interview- david conover- creator of sunrise earth

Influx Insights — 2007-08-27T14:09:40Z

Sunrise Earth is an extraordinary piece of programming on Discovery HD Theater. Each show is 30 minutes of a filmed sunrise from an exotic locale somewhere around the world. It's the complete antithesis of regular TV, it's almost like meditation.

I wanted to learn more so I asked the series creator David Conover, a few questions.

1. How did you come up with the idea for Sunrise Earth?

I wanted to present the natural world in its own beauty at its own pace, more like the feeling of being a naturalist experiencing the event of sunrise while sitting on a log. These days, I call this experiential programming of the natural world.

2. It seems to represent the antithesis of typical television programming-do you think people are using television in a new way and will this continue?

Yes, I think that TV can -and is- being used in a new way. Very hard to change habits, however.

When new formats like HD come around, there is a distinct -yet brief- period of time when people actually are looking and interested in new content. After plunking down a lot of cash for a new HD set, people naturally ask "what can I see here that is different?" Experiential programming has been successful in showing something new.

Experiential programming is also working because people's lives -and the rest of the TV landscape- move so fast these days. Exposure to the natural world, even in mediated form, helps bring down the blood pressure.

I do feel that some people will continue to use TV in a different way...there will continue to be other new format and delivery forces at work to break up broad-casting into narrow-casting.

3.How did you "sell" the idea to Discovery?

It took a lot of time, repeated efforts to a range of people, and luck. Ultimately, they were ready to try some "out of the box thinking."

4.What other networks around the world have picked up the program?

It is now airing on ANIMAL PLANET. Also through SKY TV in the UK, as well as all others internationally where DISCOVERY HD THEATER exists (Germany and a country or two in Eastern Europe, South Korea, Hong Kong, Japan... I think there are a few more but I do not know them off the top of my head).

5.. Do you have plans for another interesting HD experience?

We were early-in producers of HD several years ago, and haven't even looked back. I like the format because it is literally seeing the world in a new way! I think there is a lot more that can be done with variations of this kind of experiential programming and are working on those right now. We are also continuing to produce more "normally"
paced narrative factual programming in HD, and also feature doc that will use HD's abilities for "film out-" transferring to print for theatrical distribution.

6. Do you feel there's a short window while the "wow" of HD is sinking in to public consciousness to make these programs?

It is as short as people's connection to the natural world.

Posted by Ed Cotton

influx interview- michael karnjanaprakorn- founder all day buffet

Influx Insights — 2007-08-15T11:06:10Z

Michael Karnjanaprakorn is a planner at Trumpet in New Orleans and the founder of All Day Buffet, a new organization devoted to doing good and having a good time doing it.

I sent him a few questions to learn more about the initiative.

1. Quickly tell us about your background.

Went to UVA and VCU Adcenter. Short stint at Naked Communications in London and moved to New Orleans to work for Trumpet when they were looking for new talent post-Katrina. They started the job description with this Shackleton quote and received tons of resumes from the craziest people in the world. I was lucky enough to be one of them that they selected and the rest is history... “Men (and women) wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages. Bitter cold. Long months of complete darkness. Constant danger. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success.”

2. What is ADB and where did the idea come from?

The idea came after recognizing two forces that are currently affecting our world. The first thing is the rise of the Creative Class brought on by Web 2.0 tools such as Flickr and youtube. We noticed an explosion of creativity and an awareness of design, art, music and the DIY ethos that extended all the way from subcultural communities to the corporate boardroom. Couple that with the second thing - trends in culture to do good such as the rising popularity of the Fourth Sector, and brands such as Method and (red); it was obvious to combine the two forces to form All Day Buffet. We noticed that even though people wanted to do good, the options to do something were very limiting. People are willing to subscribe to Good Magazine but may not necessarily want to spend their weekend planting trees. Up until now, there's always been a separation between the things we like with the things that matter most. We want to break the conventions of doing good by infusing the somewhat prude non-profit/charity industry with the creativity and energy of the Creative Class. If we can make it easy and accessible to do good, as well as infusing creativity in everything we do, we can help raise awareness and inspire young people to take active steps to making change. All Day Buffet will be equal parts event filter, party planner, social network and think tank. Right now, we'll have a monthly newsletter that will go over the most interesting articles from our blog, events that we screen for the month and our own events that we host. There's a buffet of good options to choose from; our goal is to get you full on good.

3. What are you hoping to achieve?

To be honest, we have no idea. We just want to have fun while changing the world but we have plans to launch in every major city. Yeah, we know, Big Hairy and Audacious.

4. What's an example of something that's come out of it?

In two weeks, we'll have our first launch event in NYC and NOLA called Cause for Drinks. It'll be held on Wednesday, August 22 in Gallery Bar in NYC and LePhare in NOLA. $2 from every drink will go to buying school supplies for underprivileged kids in Ghana and NYC. Our second event in October will be a "Doodle Party". We'll have a group of pre-selected artists seated in a room. We'll invite people to inspire the artists and in turn, the artists will be doing timed drawings or "doodles" with prompts about relevant issues in New Orleans. We'll be broadcasting live feeds from NYC to NOLA and vice versa. It's both an interactive art and social event. A party with a purpose that gives people more than a hangover the next day. We're looking to auction off the pieces at an art gallery in NYC and NOLA and put a couple pieces up on ebay. The proceeds will go to an organization in New Orleans which will are still in the process of selecting. We'll always infuse creativity in everything we do, including donations. We want to focus our money where it can have the biggest impact. For example, we plan to make loans to entrepreneurs in developing countries through Kiva and fund ideas that other young social entrepreneurs might have. We'll be able to see the direct impact of our donations, something we can't get from donating to a big charity. We have a bunch of other projects in the works which involve hot air balloons, karaoke machines and clowns. Just kidding. Well, kind of. But you'll see more exciting things coming from us.

5. Who is involved?

We have an awesome team in NYC and NOLA. Scott Hechinger who is a former NYC Teaching Fellow, Adrian Lai who works at Honest, and myself have been working for the past 2 months in our free time to get ADB launched. We have support from a bunch of cool people like Victor Jefferys [LVHRD member, social butterfly], Risa Grais-Targow [Assistant Director for Bard Globalization and International Affairs program], Abby Goldberg [Communications and Development Coordinator for Global Justice Center], Tara Keheler and MacGregor Harp who works as our designers, Nikki Bagli who is our event planner, Robert LeBlanc who owns Republic and LePhare in New Orleans and Lauren Baum [Idea Village] and a ton of other people. Too many to name!

6. How can other people help?

"Now that we can do anything. What will we do?" - Bruce Mau We're just a collective group of likeminded people that's trying to change the world. We can't be the only ones. We know there are more people like us out there so help us spread the word. SIGN UP ON OUR WEBSITE at http://www.alldaybuffet.org. Tell all your friends. SIGN UP ON OUR WEBSITE. Help us make this grow organically. Email us if you want to help in anyway possible. Submit crazy ideas for social events. Charities we should help out. Clog our inboxes with ideas. We welcome it with open arms. And, oh yeah, people can start by drinking Absolut New Orleans. It's really tasty. I vouch. All the proceeds go to the Gulf area. Crazy awesome.

Posted by Ed Cotton

influx interview- anastasia goodstein-ypulse

Influx Insights — 2007-08-14T13:34:22Z

Anastasia Goodstein has emerged as one of the foremost experts in the blogosphere on all things tween and teen. Her Ypulse blog is a required read and she's recently branched out into conferences with her recent MashUp series.

I sent out some questions to Anastasia to find out what she was up to, what brands she thought got teens and the future of tween media.

1. How is the YPULSE venture going?

Ypulse continues to expand with Ypulse Mashups (face-to-face conferences focusing on youth media and marketing). We just had our first sold out conference in San Francisco and are working on our next event focusing on tweens and technology in NYC. We're also planning a conference focusing on reaching college students this winter in Miami. What makes Ypulse events unique is the mix of people who are all passionate about reaching teens - editors, producers, marketers, account execs, educators, non-profit professionals - and the clear focus on how technology is transforming young people's lives.

I've also taken on a strategic business partner. Modern Media LLC, a company that builds, produces, markets and sells business conferences and media brands is now a minority owner of Youth Pulse, LLC. They are investing capital and taking over the sales and marketing side of my business (along with event production) leaving me to focus on the editorial side and defining the vision for the brand, which is what I'm most passionate about. We also plan to add new blogs (slowly) with the first blog focusing on campus trends and life after college, including Gen Y issues in the workplace. We also want to expand our coverage to ultimately include international youth trends.

2. What brands do you feel get teen culture today and why?

I think Apple gets teen culture because they have created products that facilitate what teens love -- listening to music (still the most important thing to teens ever) and expressing themselves creatively. The fact that teens are saying they want the iPhone even though it's $600 is testimony to this. Teens still love Nike (though they love Adidas more), whether it's sneakerheads or teen athletes or skaters -- Nike does a great job with its ad campaigns by making its star athletes (and their shoes) look incredibly cool. They also love finding bargains -- great style at an affordable price, which is where brands like American Apparel (though I am not a fan of their overly suggestive ads) and H&M do well.

3. Is there any evidence of social network fatigue amongst tweens?

I have definitely heard (anecdotally) teens say things like "I used to be on MySpace all the time, then I just got sick of it" but I think as long as their friends are there and active, they will be, too. MySpace and Facebook still dominate with MyYearbook, Bebo and Tagged also popular with teens. A lot of teens have migrated over to Facebook (but still keep a MySpace profile) because of the desire for more privacy, to get away from the parents and other adults in authority finding their profiles, and because there is less spam. The explosion in Facebook apps and Facebook's focus on rolling out new features helps, too. But Facebook is also attracting hoards of adults so it will be interesting to see if teens ultimately jump again to a lesser known site.

4. The environment is becoming an important issue for adults, do teens care more?

They may say they care more, but so much of youth activism today is wrapped up in consumerism that it's hard to tell. They may have participated in Live Earth, but are they actively trying to minimize their impact? I do think they will favor brands they think are trying to be more earth friendly, and especially those who don't test on animals. But this Jupiter study on "Green Teens" basically buying more stuff left me wondering if being green is more fashionable than a real commitment to leaving less of a footprint.

5. Looking at a list of important teen media in 2015, who will be on the list (feel free to use your imagination)?

You can't write off MTV in the entertainment space. I think they will find ways to reinvent themselves so they are still relevant and important to teenagers. I think teens creating their own media through blogs, videos and podcasts will also be huge -- maybe it will be aggregated by someone and draw a mass audience or maybe it will be huge in a Long Tail sort of way. Teens love to watch what their friends do, they're each other's biggest fans. In 2015 there may only be two major teen magazines left (or none) -- they have to reinvent themselves online to survive. Conde Nast is trying with Flip.com, but they are competing with sites that already have millions of teen eyeballs (and time, which is scarce). Finally, I think YA novels will continue to be popular. Book publishing is finding innovative ways to connect with teen readers like Penguin's partnership with Piczo. You'll notice I haven't named any 2.0 companies -- it's because I'm not sure the same players will be on top in 2015. Someone will be, I just don't know if it will be MySpace and Facebook.

Posted by Ed Cotton

influx interview-jakob trollback

Influx Insights — 2007-07-31T04:33:01Z

Trollback and Company is best known for its motion graphics and identity work, but in the last year it was hired to create the world's largest hi resolution video wall for Frank Gehry's new IAC headquarters building in New York.

I sent a few questions to Jakob Trollback to learn more about the assignment.

1. Could you briefly describe the IAC project?

We were asked to create the content for the world's largest hi resolution video wall. The mission was to raise awareness of what IAC is, and to explain what’s going on in the building.

2. What was the inspiration for it?

The general idea was to find an artistic and poetic way to connect to the core activities of the business ventures operating under the IAC umbrella. Inspiration, as always, comes from everywhere. This project have so many different pieces that it would take hours to cover the thinking and sources of inspiration. Still, when you study the modules some of it is pretty obvious. Why we used flowers for their dating sites is pretty obvious. On a functional level, flowers are great for courting. And emotionally they posesses beauty and can also look very sexual. David Sims’ photographs of roses was inspiring. Why huge and time-lapse? It just looks great.

3. Obviously Google has a tiny version of this in their office, was the idea to out do them?

We didn’t know that they have a screen when we started. Ben Rubin and Mark Hansen’s Listening Post from 2002 was fantastic and may subconsciously have inspired the news feed module.

4. What's the technology behind it?

18 HD projectors for rear-projection on glass through a dual mirror setup. Hysterical resolution.

5. How did it fit with Mr. Gehry's plans?

We hope that he likes it!

Posted by Ed Cotton

influx interview- sarah rich- worldchanging

Influx Insights — 2007-07-13T13:06:43Z

Sarah Rich is one of the speakers at our conference, Influx Ideas 07 held on October 19th in San Francisco. Sarah is currently the managing editor at Worldchanging; one of the most influencial "guides" to the issues surrounding the environment and sustainability.

Here's a short interview we recently did with Sarah.

1. How has the issue of the "environment" changed in the last 18 months?

Well obviously it's become the concern of a much wider swathe of the population, and has infused all aspects of culture and politics. This is a result of things like An Inconvenient Truth, scientific reports blowing previous assumptions out of the water and holding humans responsible for planetary destruction, and of course, actual weather disasters. It's become valuable from a marketing and a social perspective to demonstrate awareness of environmental problems. The "green theme" is ubiquitous everywhere -- fashion shows, music festivals, magazines. There's some sweet spot where environment as a cultural symbol and environment as an issue that motivates people to action are at their most effective, and I sometimes think we're in a somewhat precarious place near the peak of that; on the other hand, while that's a common perspective from deep inside the field, I think the public at large hasn't passed or gotten over the critical point of adopting and acting on environmental concern.

2. Do you feel most companies understand the importance of the issue?

I do. Many companies have had environmental statements for a while that enhance their brand value (at least for some consumers), but now not having one is a real reason for criticism or for choosing a different brand. Even those who've been "environmental" for a while have polished their statements and clarified their positions. The financial benefits for business are much clearer now, both in terms of actual savings from things like increased energy efficiency, and in terms of consumer preferences and priorities shifting.

3. What brand efforts stand out for you?

Wal-Mart (minus the negative social/community impacts they still cause), Nau, Interface, Tesla...I don't know enough to say with certaintly, but I read and hear a lot of interesting stuff about Nokia.

4. Do you think consumers are prepared to act?

I'd like to think so but I guess I'm somewhat cynical or skeptical about the power of consumers to take the lead in making change. Generally consumers follow trends and precedents set by brands they like or leaders they admire or simply advertising, which means that while consumers are capable of creating change because they are such a large population, I think it's harder for them to be mass catalysts. I hope I'm wrong, though.

Posted by Ed Cotton

influx interview-jo berrington-yotel

Influx Insights — 2007-07-11T13:25:04Z

A few days ago we did a story on the new capsule hotel brand, YOTEL. As a follow up to this, we asked Jo Berrington, who runs marketing for the fledgling brand, a couple of quick questions.

1. What social and consumer trends do you feel inspired the creation of Yotel?

Consumers - quite rightly, are demanding access to great value for money products without compromises on quality and service. Time and money are ever more precious for both business and leisure customers and with ever increasing challenges for transport - convenience of location is critical.

2.What plans do you have to expand the brand globally?

We are focused on expanding into Europe and the US markets initially. We are looking for sites at large transfer hub airports and amazing city centre locations. At least one or two shortly to be announced as soon as deals are signed.

3. What brands out there do you admire and why?

My favorite has to be 'MINI"- they've managed to stay true to their core values but have re-invented themselves time after time to remain visionary in everything they do. It packs a bigger punch than its size and if I can make that happen for YOTEL then I'll be very happy!

And... I'm biased but I spent over 5 years as Head of Marketing at British Airways London Eye from launch and watched it grown into a global icon not just for London but for the UK. It was an incredibly brave investment by BA at the time amongst the negative press of the Millennium activity but proved a fantastic success and one I was incredibly proud to be involved in.

Posted by Ed Cotton

influx interview-three questions for reuben steiger-millions of us

Influx Insights — 2007-06-28T04:08:44Z

Ruben Steiger is the founder of Millions of Us, one of the premier virtual architecture firms for Second Life and one of our speakers at Influx Ideas 07.

Recently, we asked Reuben three questions.

1. What has Millions of Us been up to in the last 6 months?

We've now brought one-third of the Fortune 50 into Second Life. We've grown to almost 30 full-time employees, and we've been enhancing our programming, incorporating early lessons and taking advantage of new resources. One example is a recent Microsoft campaign where we achieved participation rates of up to 74 hours for participants in a contest - these numbers are unheard of. We've also officially become a cross-platform social media agency, with a specialty in virtual worlds - this includes but does not limit us to Second Life. We've just announced a partnership with Gaia Online, a very hot teen online community with virtual world elements. Gaia delivers a much sought-after teen audience to our clients, and they provide a venue for some really cheeky programming. Gaia clocks up 2.5 million unique users per month, spending an average of 2-3 hours online per visit - amazing.

2. Is the recent criticism of Second Life as a branding tool warranted?

Not really - it's an inevitable part of the media cycle. Some of the criticism is partially warranted, but a lot of it is poorly contextualized and opportunistic, in the sense that pundits love to tear down technologies that have ridden a wave of hype. IT analyst firm Gartner calls this the hype cycle - new technologies spark a wave of initial excitement, expectations inflate, the technology is found to be imperfect in some ways, and there is a backlash - but in the long term, a good technology will overcome the hype cycle and enjoy long-term adoption. Long-term adoption cements opportunities for marketers. All of the possibilities that made industry-watchers so excited about Second Life are still out there, and just a few have been realized, while many are just around the corner. People taking the long view understand that as digital natives come to dominate marketing spend, virtual worlds are going to be critical - and the virtual worlds phenomenon is much bigger than Second Life. That said, we continue to be very optimistic about Second Life; our clients' investments today will yield solid benefits in the short term, and huge dividends in the long term. Another thing to consider is Second Life's growth vector internationally - it's huge in places as diverse as Germany, Brazil, Poland, the Netherlands and South Korea, with higher per capita usage figures than those in the US. When the client is released in Japanese- and Korean- language versions later this summer, we expect to see turbocharged growth in Asia. In sum, Second Life has gone from obscurity to world domination in less than a year, making it an irresistible target for professional skeptics.

3. What do you think brands have learned from their Second Life experiences and where do you think it's headed?

Brands have learned that they have to engage as opposed to merely planting a flag - those that have been willing to join in dialogues, experiments, and games with users have been much more successful than those that have just thrown up buildings and expected people to pay attention. The Microsoft campaign we mentioned above is a perfect example. There are a couple of big trends for 2007 and beyond that we see. The first is the use of Second Life to market films and TV - it allows people to walk on to sets and to interact with characters in a way that's been impossible up to now. Our Warner Bros. Gossip Girl project is evidence of this, and the trend will only strengthen as several studios make a big push into distributing more 3D films (Dreamworks has stated that all of its animation output after 2009 will be in 3D). The second trend is in virtual goods, which are already generating US$1.5 billion per year in sales. These goods can be exchanged in environments ranging from Facebook to Second Life, and many others. There are big opportunities here for brands.

Posted by Ed Cotton