Chilean Tech Trends

I am in Chile, visiting some business partners while I visit my dad who is undergoing some Chemo treatment.

I have had the opportunity to meet with some very smart Chilean executives and they have shared some interest insights on doing business in Chile.

One interesting comment was from the head of a large company, after we had coffee was that Chilean Ad Agencies are way behind the curve when it comes to developing digital companies targeting Gen Y's.

We agreed to catch-up over a few beers next and discuss some trends in community marketing that I have picked up from working in NYC.

The Commodotization of Democratisation - The Digital Tsunami

Today at the Australian Technology Park's World IP Day I had a chat to Beata Kade, the head of a company called The Art of Multimedia.

We where chatting about the work I do, and I mentioned that I can produce vodcast and webcasts for as little as 1k (30 minute shoot), she was concerned that it was so cheap and that it devalues what companies like her can charge.

She pleaded that I shouldn't charge so cheap as it conditions clients to pay as little as possible. The net effect on her firm is that clients want low budget work and she can't deliver as she has a cost base she needs to cover.

I beg to differ, for starters there will always be a market for High End Blockbuster productions, however a small market - that's work for corporate DVD's and other boring stuff.

I work with firms that want to build a large community by casting events via the Internet and vodcasts, be it for the Youth or other markets - they have small budgets and don't see any value in paying a minimum of 10k for every cast.

No matter what I do or what Beata's company does, it will not stop or slow the Commodotization of partically everything; be it video, photography, graphic art or web design, hosting and other related services.

Google's biggest effect on the industry has been the Commodotization of web advertising.

The effect of digital within the video production industry, has been that it has commdotized just about everything; ranging from Cameras, lighting, media (Tapes, Hard Drives, etc), editing software and video hosting (YouTube, etc) and other distribution methods (RSS feeds, iTunes, etc) - including production!

I think that's a good thing.

Companies refusing to service a sector of the market, i.e. the small budget in this example, will not stop or slow this trend - regardless of their cost structure.

Before digital, there was no such thing as Vodcasting or Webcasting. However now days, it is a very profitable way for all firms to use the web to build a community with out having a huge budget.

It's called Democratisation of Digital Services.

If a Firm's cost structure is not geared to leverage the Digital Tsunami, they will miss a huge opportunity.

To leverage this new order, Firms need to do either:
1. Adjust their cost structure
2. Adjust their strategy
3. Wither away

Billy

MTV 2.0 - Embedding Brands

MTV has had it's heyday.

Founded in 1981 by Bob Pittman, MTV now days is an old tired Viacom asset. It's target audience, is consuming digital media rather than siting in front of a programmed TV channel - which was noted on Guy Kawasaki's young person panels "Young Generation Innovation 2006" video.

In Wired's article; "A Second Life for MTV", Matt Bostwick, Senior Vice President of MTV's Leapfrog initiative - an experimental skunk works for MTV - is trying to reinvent the MTV brand for it's young consumers - by leapfrogging the current NetGen online behaviour, therefore re-positioning the MTV brand as leader in the near future.

Traditionally, MTV has earned it's keep by owning a hard-to-reach young demographic audience by supplying cool video clips hosted by cool and sexy VJ's coupled with original youth orientated programming - then selling premium Ad airtime to it's advertisers.

Now day's MTV's programming is full of cheap reality shows as NetGens are browsing online on MySpace for music and undiscovered bands/dj's/artists in a self discovery way.

The Leapfrog initiative has imagined a future beyond the MySpace's or other Social Networking sites that youths pimp-up with customised profiles.

The future that Leapfrog sees is a 3D virtual world; similar to Second Life - where NetGen's have a funky Avatar and interact with other NetGens in a 3D world, forging friendships with peers that can be across the globe and share music, trends and fashion ideas all online in a virtual world.

In this 3D world, Net Gen's would hang out at a Coca-Cola theatre where the latest bands/DJ's would perform in exclusive screenings or they would chill out at the Gillette Virtual extreme sports challenge among many other sponsored events.

Some of the scenes may well then be aired on MTV; engaging users with it's brands and sponsors as they are real participants in the freshly created shows - embedding brands into the target community.

The first initiative has been aired on MTV and has been based on the Laguna Beach (the real OC) MTV show - and it is available for NetGen's to sign up now at Viritual Laguna Beach - taking Web 2.0 Marketing way beyond the 30 second spot or a Flash driven sub site.

The Greatest Community Marketer

I was reading the current Fortune Magazine, while at Gloria Jeans in Bondi Junction, and there was a small article in the First section on Richard Branson's new initiative on his part in keeping the world green (sorry the article is not online: Question Authority: "Preaching Green with the Zeal of a Convert").

Regardless, of his good points and bad points, as per his unauthorised biography - "Branson" by Tom Bower; Branson by nature is a highly effective Community Marketer.

His most recent move:- he has pleadged all Virgin Atlantic's and Virgin Trains profits to research on renewable energies.

Brilliant! Next time your choosing your between a Virgin product and other, and you have a conscience of the environment, you will more than likely choose a Virgin product or service - not necessarily Virgin Atlantic or Trains - the Halo Effect in full steam.

The brilliant thinking here, is that if you read the fine print, he is committing, not donating the profits to alternative energies.

That is to say, he will more than likely be a major shareholder of the new Virgin Energy business/investments and get a return on investment from the new venture(s).

My hat off to him for thinking out of the box.

Sony's Community Marketing

Yesterday after ordering my mid morning Latte I picked up The Australian's Media & Marketing section and read with great interest on Sony's new Community Marketing for the Sony PlayStation 3.

The article titled "Foxtel channels PlayStation ads" covers how Sony will be launching a temporary Pay-TV channel on the recently launched (Feb 8th 2007) On Demand suite of programs on Foxtel's IQ digital set-top box.

The PlayStation 3 channel will be available for a period of 6 weeks and will feature six short films promoting the console.

Foxtel IQ subscribers will be able to watch the six shorts on demand at no charge during that period.

What a fantastic idea! - You can also be doing this for your brands using YouTube or an iPod.

-

PlaaayyyStationnnnn............

The Latin American Market 2.0

I was reading a blog on the Mexican Internet market posted by Joseph Jaffe on Crayonville's blog.

He wrote:-

"20% of the population is online and a staggering 70% of this group are broadband enabled.

Furthermore, Latin American leads broadband subscriber growth in 2005 vs 2004 with a whopping 70.7%. Next highest is Western Europe with 42.2% (source: eMarketer)"

It reminded me of a report I put together late last year on the Latin American Market (not to be confused by the US Hispanic Market) and my findings support the blog:-

"Latin American market is the fastest growing market of Internet users comprising a total population of 553,908,632 and an Internet Penetration of 76,437,188 users, which has been largely neglected by many English speaking Internet firms.

While only 14.40% of the Central and Latin American population has access to the Internet in comparison to Oceania/Australia which has 52.06% penetration, this figure represents 8.50% of the global Internet Population versus the 0.50% for Oceania/Australia." (Source: Web 2.0, The Central and Latin America Market Opportunity, Chile – The Latin Tiger)

email me for a free copy of the report: billy at metrixdigital.com

Why Community Marketing Works

In the Web 2.0 world many established industries are being radically changed.

One in particular is the music industry. Before the Internet, music labels chose the artist and selected a target consumer group and engaged in some clever marketing to sell their music.

Up until recently, one of the key marketing activities was Payola - a practice now made illegal, yet still being abused via a third party loophole.

But Net Gen (Generation Y) consumers are very skeptical of marketing and faith in advertising and the business of marketing has evaporated. Radio and MTV do not have the power they did pre Web 2.0.

In fact the only way to effectively market to Net Gens is via Peer to Peer Marketing - Why? Because Peers trust Peers.

Check out this cool Web 2.0 company; Slideshare for some key ideas on Peer to Peer marketing.

Community Marketing

How does Web 2.0 Marketing differ from other forms of digital marketing?

Traditional marketing relies on Push-Pull Strategies that when planned and executed effectively allows an enterprise to achieve its strategic objective. However, in my experience; Australian company's generally always embrace a half-cooked Push or Pull strategy - but very rarely both.

With high Internet penetration of 1,958,914 in Australia, more of your target customers are spending more time online.

Web 2.0 allows users to tap into social, cool and funky applications & tools to enrich their lives. As a Marketer you need to start thinking on how you can build communities around your brands - and perhaps how can you tap into established communities and create content that will Halo Effect across to your brands.

This approach goes way beyond creating Flash Banners - and extends into creating tools and content that will connect;

-Customers with prospects

-Prospects with prospects

-Your brands with your customers and prospects

-Customers with Customers

Companies that are effectively employing Community Marketing are generally digital firms - creating an amazing opportunity for atom based firms to differentiate themselves by embracing Community Marketing before everyone else does.

Till later,

Billy