SXSW Envy Epidemic Spreads to B2B Population

@mancevic

The Marketing Consigliere recently blogged about “Twitter Envy,” but since he was already on Twitter approaching two years, can’t say he remembers knowing enough about Twitter to be envious of it before he started dabbling in it.  And being a B2B Marketer, he had never heard of SXSW until he started using Twitter (Come to think of it, Twitter has really expanded his horizons since he had never heard of TED or Davos either – He’s just a nice Italian boy who knows his food and Marketing).

At first it seemed like a giant recess for the youthful, goateed crowd who were far more versed in social media and mobile Internet than he.  This funny sort of Spring Break in, of all places, a land-locked section of Texas appeared not to be the jurisdiction of serious, discplined Marketers, especially of the blue-blooded B2B batch.  It’s taken a year, but now The Marketing Consigliere admits SXSW is misunderstood by outsiders – there is value to this event, and even admits he has SXSW Envy to the point he wishes he was there this year and would jump on a plane if offered the ticket.

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Pure Genius is Not Necessarily Rocket Science

GeniusRocket

The power of the Internet is evident with a Bethesda, Maryland company that leverages “crowdsourcing” for creative talent. GeniusRocket, whom the Marketing Consigliere has mentioned in passing before, offers graphic design, video, and copywriting services to clients at extremely affordable prices.

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Doing a 180 on Mingle360

Mingle360

In “Two Better Mousetraps,” the Marketing Consigliere blogged about his preference for one professional-to-professional communication technology over another.  He thought DubMeNow offered a less cumbersome way to electronically transfer information between networkers than Mingle360.  Living in the Washington, DC area, it was interesting to blog about the two companies.

Now the Marketing Consigliere would like to exercise his prerogative to correct a misperception he had about Mingle360.  You see, the messaging on the website at first impression talks to the consumer/enduser:

Start connecting to people in a safe and easy way!”

Meet | Click | Connect

Pre-order Your Minglestick Today!

Not to mention the mascot “MingleMan,” this site had all the trappings of a professional B2C site looking for viral product adoption.   However, yesterday evening at a networking event, the Marketing Consigliere had the pleasure of speaking with Bradley Blinn, Vice President of Sales & Marketing for Mingle360, who graciuosly clarified what the company and product were all about.

The MingleStick , a component of the Mingle360 service, is not meant to be a gadget for sale to individuals.  It is a self-liquidating premium targeted to event and conference managers who can emblazon their or a sponsor’s logo on it, and then give it away to attendees for their use.  At the event, end users can exchange “codes” via the devices which can later be used plugged into USB ports on computers to obtain contact information, specific literature and other content warehoused at the Mingle360 site.

The implications of this are great in that attendees do not have to be weighted down as much with hardcopy collateral as they work the aisles and crowds.  It also means that unlike the BuyerConnect service from CompuSystems , which I blogged about earlier this year in “FOSE Followup Folly,” there is the possibility for a higher level of information immediately available to the customer whose behavior can be measured.

It will be very interesting to see how well this concept is accepted by the B2B crowd.  The Marketing Consigliere appreciates the patience and professionalism of Mingle360 and regrets the misunderstanding from his previous blog.

Trust Trust Digital

Today’s earlier blog, “When Bad Things Happen to Good Data” takes into account major hardware disasters.  But what about all the little gadgets that are out there in the hands of field personnel?  Items like laptops, cellphones, smartphones and other devices can get destroyed, lost, or even stolen.  Stolen assets are what scare business leaders the most due to the sensitive nature of files that may be residing on them.

Trust Digital

Well amid all the dreary economic news, there’s some good news in the VC arena – TrustDigital of McLean, Virginia, today announced a $14.5 million round from several venture capital firms.  Trust Digital is a leading provider of enterprise mobility management (not the EMM The Marketing Consigliere usually blogs about) software for business and government.  According to their website, “Trust Digital’s unique software-overlay methodology simplifies how IT administrators and help desk specialists implement policies, assist users and enforce compliance for mobile applications.”  This is shining news for entrepreneurship in the midst of mind-boggling bad news.

With a field sales and others out there, there are potential vulnerabilities to Enterprise applications such as CRM, Digital Asset Management (DAM) and “my” EMM – Enterprise Marketing Management – if one of these devices were to fall into the wrong hands.  Most companies would normally find control of these distributed devices almost impossible if it were not for solutions like Trust Digital’s.

So Net-Centric Marketers, remember that if you have a bunch of field reps with mobile access to your network, your data is risk.  Make sure you work with your IT department to mitigate that risk.

Downturns, Data, and a Dare

Last week in the February 18, 2008 issue of Advertising Age, the headline article by Bradley Johnson was entitled “Media Work Force Sinks to 15-Year Low.” So jobs were bad in the last recession of the early 1990s and they’re bad again. OK…

Advertisiing Age Logo

..

Media Woes Graph from Advertising Age

The article’s graph clearly shows media jobs peaking during the dotcom bubble, rapidly shrinking, but finally leveling off for the past few years and then most recently a sharper slope in the wrong direction. Part of the reason, the article states, is because of the bad times that have befallen the newspaper industry. The other is that there are other choices for marketers “beyond paid media.”

That last reason could be analyzed further. More choices mean determining relative values in order to make the best choice. The relative value of any decision then needs to be measured and in marketing, that means ROI. The greater the ROI, the greater the likelihood of be being selected. I cannot tell it any simpler.

The good news is while the net number is down, especially due to the decrease in in newspaper, TV broadcasting, cable, radio and direct mail jobs in the past year, there are categories where job growth is up: in advertising and marketing services including digital graphic design, and internet media.

Note to CMOs: “push” media companies = job loss… net-centric media companies = job gain.

Agencies pay attention; there will always be creative needed for the “art” of marketing; but there will be more jobs for the “science” of marketing as C4ISR marketing demands analytical and statistical finesse for web analytics, campaign management, data mining, business intelligence, and mangaing digital asset management (DAM), CRM, EMM or MRM platforms.

The Marketing Consigliere dares anyone to prove him incorrect.

The Fog of Piracy War

What is a C4ISR technology that the military uses when trying to see through night, fog, and other types of inclement weather? Night-vision goggles.

Night-vision is facilitated with the integration of two technologies – Enhanced spectral range technology enables the observer to see light outside the human range of electromagnetic spectrum (visible light), including infrared. Enhanced intensity range technology increases the ability to see within low-light environments.

What is a C4ISR technology that media companies use when trying to fight movie piracy in theaters?  Night vision goggles. [Read more...]