Marketing Weasel

Inside the Apple Keynote

Guardian Unlimited Technology has an inside look at the preparation behind an Apple Macworld keynote. Steve Jobs is probably one of the most charismatic and demanding CEO's in the world, and his presentations are not to be missed.

If the chief executive of Cadbury-Schweppes speaks at a conference, or Nike's boss introduces a new kind of trainer, you might expect to see it covered in specialist magazines, then quickly forgotten. But on Tuesday a chief executive will stand up and announce something, and within minutes it will be scrutinised across the web and on stockbrokers' computers. It will be in newspapers. They'll talk about it for months.

That chief executive is Steve Jobs, and I know why that speech makes an impact. To a casual observer it is just a guy in a black shirt and jeans talking about some new technology products. But it is in fact an incredibly complex and sophisticated blend of sales pitch, product demonstration and corporate cheerleading, with a dash of religious revival thrown in for good measure. It represents weeks of work, precise orchestration and intense pressure for the scores of people who collectively make up the "man behind the curtain". I know, because I've been there, first as part of the preparation team and later on stage with Steve.

I've been watching Bill Gates present Windows Vista at CES and while he's improved over the years, his keynotes are informational, and are not dramatic like Apple's. I've seen Gates and Jobs present live, and only Jobs has the ability to bring an entire audience to the edge of their seats with the words, "...and one more thing."

Presentation Link

Here's the link to the presentation.

Blogging Presentation Will Be Posted Tonight

The PowerPoint file of the Blogging presentation from last night will be posted tonight.  I created the presentation on a Mac, and some of the images did not display on a Windows machine.  I'll fix it and post it tonight. 

Blogging Presentation at Danbury Area Computer Society

I'm about to do a presentation at the Danbury Area Computer Society meeting in Danbury, Connecticut. These things always make me nervous, but I'm really interested in sharing what I've learned about blogging.

I'll be posting the presentation later tonight under a Creative Commons license.

Jason Calacanis Bitches About Buzzagents

Hi, my name is Mike and I'm a Buzzagent.

Now that I've got that out of the way, I can speak freely on this blog about products I'm being "paid" to promote, right? Not according to Jason Calanis, founder of WeblogsInc.com. Jason has been ranting about how people are being paid to sell out their friends and act dishonestly to promote products.

I've been a Buzzagent for a long time. The way it works it interesting -- I am supposed to talk to friends, neighbors, family and strangers about products that Buzzagent.com is paid to promote through their army of evangelists. They give me a sample or discount on the product, and I can earn points by doing different things to help them get the word out. Those points can be traded in for stuff, but it's not like I'm making a lot of money doing it. I've gotten some cool stuff, but it's not the rewards that motivate me, it's the chance to try new products and learn about a new marketing method.

The problem is Jason believes you should say that you're being paid to promote a product. I don't think you have to if you're honest about how you feel about the product. They tell us to be truthful about the product, even if it sucks.

I will probably talk about products that are part of a Buzzagent campaign on this blog, and I haven't decided if I will tell you every time that I'm being "paid" (and I use that term loosely) to promote it. I think the Buzzagent concept is an exciting new way of promoting or launching products -- a heck of lot better than sending out SPAM, eh?

Jason believes that blogs are supposed to be "pure" and "honest." I try and live my life honestly, but I'm sure there are a bunch of liars that blog. It happens. They don't tell us to lie or mislead people, but I'm sure a Buzzagent or two has crossed the line. The majority of us are true to the spirit of it.

This was taken from the front page of Buzzagent.com:

Join the Hive and you will be given the opportunity to participate in Word-of-Mouth programs for some of the best products and services in the market today. As if that's not enough, expressing your honest opinion will give you access to rewards that will make honey seem dull. What are you waiting for? Start Bzzing today!

The problem with Jason's argument is that he sells ads. He also wants this to be a perfect world, and it's not. Buzzagents are a competing marketing tool, and while I dislike being misled, if a Buzzagent is honest about how they feel about a product I don't care if they are being paid to tell me their opinion.

Jason, get over it and get back to making awesome blogs. :-)

Why Is Saturday Night Live Still Alive?

I found myself watching Saturday Night Live last night, and wondered why it was still on the air. I watched it for "U2" (they were amazing) and enjoyed "Weekend Update," but otherwise it was a waste of time. SNL has been a launchpad for amazing careers including Eddie Murphy, Dave Spade, Chevy Chase, Will Ferrell, Dan Ackroyd, Tina Fey (she's the funniest one on the show) and dozens of others, but it hasn't been funny in a long time.

I'm a fan of Seth Godin and his "Safe is Risky" mantra. Why hasn't Lorne Michaels done something to shake up this show? I've been watching this since the 80's and it has never changed. So much more could be done with this talented group.

Awesome Way to Retire a Product

The guys over at Panic.com, a Mac software company, decided to retire their cool digial audio program Audion and did it with style and grace rarely seen in the software biz.

They tell the whole history of the product, including the reasons behind turning down buyout offers from AOL & Apple:

If we could do it all over again, would we change anything?

You know what? No, we don't think so. Panic is still here — almost quadrupled in size! (Okay, so that's from two people to eight as of this writing, but next stop: NASDAQ!) And while we may not be rich, we consider ourselves incredibly fortunate — we're doing what we love, making enough money to at least pay the bills, and enjoying every minute of it. Not everyone on this Earth is in such a lucky position. And while we may not have made iTunes, or the iPod, or retired to Antigua, we continue to follow our hearts, learning new things daily, and we consider ourselves seriously lucky bastards.

The Podcasting Name Sucks

Podcasting rocks. It's an awesome way to automate the process of getting some audio onto a portable device to listen when I'm away from my computer (commute, beach, biking, etc.).

Far be it from me, a lowly "c-list" blogger, to suggest that the Podcasting name sucks, but it does. The iPod has a huge market share right now, but Apple has a tradition of f*&#ing up a good thing (just for the record I'm writing this post on a PowerBook). Is everyone afraid of pissing these guys off?

As I write this post I'm listening to a Podcast on a HP iPaq. I also have 2 other non-Apple MP3 players. The iPod is truely a work of art, but it's going to lose market share and eventually be a footnote in history. It's hard to come up with a good name for a product, so I can't totally go off on the brilliant minds behind this one, but find another name already before this lame term gets widely used.

Podcasting Links of note:

iPodder.org - Podcasting resource site.

Engadget on Postcasting.

iPodder Software and Podcast.net Directory.

Wikipedia on Podcasting

Dave Winer on Podcasting.

Doc Searls on Podcasting.

If you're not happy with my list go do a Google search.

Green Day Sells Blank CD-R's With Album Artwork

I'm sure they want you to put the songs you've paid for from iTunes or other legal service on 'em but the $7.99 five-pack of blank CD-R's with Green Day album artwork is an excellent idea. Might as well get something from the downloaders...

Laughing Cow or Laughing Stock?

Some crazy marketing person over at the Laughing Cow has ordered 300,000 bumper stickers. Apparently there is some sort of cheese shortage and they had nothing to do, so they came up with this promotion. They make excellent cheese, but I'm not sure about this idea.

Of course I ordered one -- it's free and I'm a sucker for anything that doesn't require a later sacrifice to the credit card gods.

Please let me know if you see one of these on a car. I can't believe that anyone will put one of these on their ride.