jeudi, mai 10, 2007

When Virtuality meets Reality

Watch this TV show "TEMPS PRÉSENT" about young cyber entrepreneurs in Switzerland, they all use heavily the Internet to promote their products and services. One of them, the RC-TECH team, is selling the dream to get your flying experience more real than ever, it's a pure mix of Virtuality and Reality.

If you can't try, at least watch the video broadcasted on the Swiss Television available online here (in French only) or just get your first real flying experience here!

and why not interface this the same way to get your Secondlife.com more real?

Another interesting link for young entrepreneurs in Switzerland http://www.venturelab.ch a Federal program to promote high potential start-ups.

mercredi, mars 07, 2007

Corporate blogs... my kids are blogging, so what?


Many kids or young people are blogging, so what? That's the common feedback I receive when mentioning blogs to serve a Commercial/Professional Service. Keep in mind that a blog can be an incredible and unique 2 ways communication channel to your customers, accelerating innovations and gather direct feedbacks.

Of course, you have to coordinate such activities and you can't leave your blog without proper resources. At the same time, you can not directly control it, otherwise, you will not generate a positive approach and reactions from your customers. You will have to accept customers' freedom to complain about your services or products and consider all complaints as potentially innovation opportunities!

You will need a team of communication specialists to manage it carefully, without (too much) controls, and to turn it into a competitive advantage.

Read more about Corporate Blogging opportunities on SearchCIO.com "Blogging's ROI Becoming Clearer", an article by Paul Gillin

Article abstracts
"...McDonald's Corp. does it to monitor the quality of its sprawling restaurant chain. Dell Inc. does it to address its customers' technical support issues. Southwest Airlines Co. does it to perpetuate its image as the fun and friendly carrier. And Benetton Group S.P.A. does it to take a stand on global and political issues...."

"...Pfizer Consumer Healthcare, a division of Pfizer Inc. before its acquisition by Johnson & Johnson Co. last year, used Cymfony's service to track customer comments about its consumer products on blogs and message boards. "The insights that came from reading discussion boards verified some of our thinking but also opened our eyes to possible market opportunities that we may not have seen," said Tom McMillian, director of relationship and interactive marketing...."

mardi, mars 06, 2007

Once Again, Turn-off your TV!


I have tried Joost.com, it's pretty cool, I could browse the available channels and watched any reportages at anytime. Yesterday, I just tried one about the Titanic, good quality of streaming, full screen and the overall Joost player interface is very simple.
http://www.joost.com

While talking about Joost, others competitors are willing to keep the big pie for themselves, look at youtube, they have just proposed to US Presidency candidates to open their personal video page on Youtube Channels and all did!
http://www.youtube.com/members?s=po&t=w&g=-1

Last but not least, 40 TV channels broadcasted over the Net,  Zattoo unveiled a groundbreaking new peer-to-peer IPTV service that makes live, quick-start, long-play Internet television a reality for broadband users, broadcasters, content owners and advertisers. Zattoo enables advertisers to leverage the most successful web-based advertising methods in combination with the best attributes of broadcast television "spots" by supporting banner ads, targeted text ads and video clips. There are three major benefits from using these formats
http://zattoo.com

So as much you can't transfer you entire TV advertisement spendings to Online campaigns, prepare yourself to the TV-Internet Mix!

Explore Virtual Worlds and Social Networks today to build your brand loyalty tomorrow!

Watch this video, quite interesting, Secondlife and Social Networks' approach by text100, a PR company represented in 29 countries. Of course it is a bit commercial, but they do share their experiences and thoughts about the future. text100 believe that the power of loyalty in Online Communities will dominates brand building and reputation. Companies need to experiment Virtual Worlds/Social Networks, become early adopter and start building loyalty now. If they don't, a competitor will and a competitor with the best loyalty in social networks within the next 5 years will win the brand building and brand loyalty battle.

Text 100: Branding building in Second Life - ~10 minutes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCHoXnUOqsU&mode=related&search=


Now, have a look at this real life project, Patient Opinion, funded jointly by the Department of Health and South Yorkshire Strategic Health Authority.
A revolutionary online system which allows anyone to share their experiences of receiving specialist treatment on the NHS Health Service.
http://www.patientopinion.org.uk

More about Brand loyalty on Word of Mouth Basic Training: How-To: Earn Brand Loyalty in Social Networks?
http://www.womma.org/wombat/blog/2006/10/howto_earn_bran.htm

More about Social Networks on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_network

lundi, mars 05, 2007

Healthcare within the cyberspace?

Social Networking already started with sharing videos on youtube, pictures on flickr and even some strong business models, such banking, are re-think like Prosper.com a "people to people" lending community. Now watch this a bit closer, things are happening within Healthcare as well:

Social Network for oxygen patients
"SANTA BARBARA, Calif., Feb. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- The 1.6 million Americans who require therapeutic oxygen can all breathe easier. The popular website, OxygeNation.com, has joined forces with Leverage Software to launch an interactive online community for oxygen patients... "
Read more

and even beyond Social Network on the net, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Secondlife.com!
"We can't always expect people to come to our Web site or use our tools directly, Janice Nall, director of the CDC's Division of e-Health Marketing, said this week. The CDC is one of a handful of government agencies staking a place in Web-based virtual worlds such as Second Life"
CDC

eyeforpharma has produced a free report on Web 2.0 approaches in Pharma which you may be interested in. Unfortunately, I can't link it directly from my blog, you have to register first, but it is worth 2 minutes registration.

mercredi, février 28, 2007

Turn-off your TV!

Retrieve the Full story of 25 startups to watch on Money.cnn.com, but have a closer look to Joost.com, the merger of TV and Internet is coming faster than you think, how does that will impact your marketing/adverstisement campaign?

Joost.com: The duo behind peer-to-peer services Kazaa and Skype will officially launch Joost this spring, aiming to merge the best of TV with the best of the Net. The service provides more of a television-style experience than current online video sites, with channels you can flip through randomly or program yourself. Viewers can also share playlists of their favorite shows with friends or chat with them online

http://www.joost.com/screenshots/

lundi, février 26, 2007

Virtual Worlds, doesn't that mean anything for business?

Right, Secondlife, Habbo are very popular or trendy virtual worlds, so what?


Basically, you may thought that the companies that are running those worlds are making money or are trying to be as more successful as possible to be acquired later on by a bigger fish... but there is maybe something else behind that simple point of view. Isn't the society changing? The way teenagers and young adults are behaving today on the net, may completely changed the way you will have to communicate with them and do business with them? Furthermore, many things that people are used to request or trust from companies today, they may look for that from their communities and for (almost) free...

Look at Prosper.com, nobody will have thought few years that even the banking model could be re-invented. What will happens when all will be mixed in a virtual world without the current barrier (keyboard, screen, etc.), using RFID and other processors below your skin, how these will impact your business?


http://www.secondlife.com

http://www.habbo.com

RFID tattoo
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=196802844

RFID VIP for Clubbers and already a quite old story, scary!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3697940.stm

jeudi, février 08, 2007

How to manage Instant Disruption Softwares?

The other day, a colleague told me that yesterday he was overloaded with emails and today, even worst, he is getting mass of instant messages...
More and more devices, software are based on reaching someone at anytime and being reachable at any time! Of course, while it is very convenient, it is very disrupting as well!

My colleague found an interesting solution, he decided to launch his IM only when he needs to contact someone... in fact, this is a very egoist attitude, being able to use the others and hiding from them!

I believe, it is all about learning how to use those instant solutions for the best of everyone. Even, in real life, we can always make a bad face, close the door, wear black sun glaces to tell the others that you are not in the mood of communication or busy doing something else.

Of course, there is avatars, I can also set my online status, but I always forget to switch!!! I will love to have some device interface, next to my mouse, where I can easily push the Happy button, the Busy, the Sad or the Available one... it will be even greater, if it could realized when I moved away my desk and automatically set Jerome is away.

Anyone else interested to develop the concept?

Sharing knowledge and research?

What will refrain a company to post all its knowledge and research in progress in a blog or even on Wikipedia? Maybe the balance between the risk to be copied and the value of others starting to collaborate, comment, challenge and innovate with this company will fully balanced and even start to make this company much more innovative than others! Today innovation is all about speed and without others thoughts, nobody will be able to be fast enough...

http://www.wikipedia.org