Click Click, Buy.

The access of media, content, information, and social interactions are forever changed by the trio of big dubs (World Wide Web).

I'm not sure about what demographic you, the reader, fall into. With a few weeks devoted to research and control groups, i'm sure we can figure it out. Maybe even running a few analytic reports would solve this, but for now, generalizing this post seems the most optimal in my time crunch. I digress. Continuing my train of thought, with the big shopping seasons ending, we've come to realize a strong emerging, if not already present, market. The Internet Bargain Shopper.

When I'm sitting at home, or at the office, the last thing I want to do is get up and leave. I don't want to put on my pants(especially at the office), I don't want to grab my keys, and I don't want to drive down to the mall or store. I don't want to find parking, I don't want to risk dings in my doors, stand in line, and I don't want to walk through the halls of the building if I already know what I want to buy. And what if they are out of stock?

I do however want to see what the product looks like. I want to see what functions it has, and i want to see it in ratio to human hands, not doctored product photos.

Now how can I get all of the above into my hands? Simple. Online Video.

People today have more venues to have there voices heard. Blogging, Youtube, Twitter, Facebook, the Social Media World! And people want to share their opinions on everything from places to eat (Yelp) to things they bought.

Recently I wanted to purchase a Seiko Chronograph Black Stainless Watch. The first thing i did was google it. I saw the cheapest available price, went to that online store, and started looking at the photos. Nothing but beautifully rendered photos from Seiko. It defiantly looked amazing, but how many times have we bought something based on a picture yet the actual end result was far shy of the expectation?

So my next step was to go to Youtube. I type in the model and behold, eight videos with consumer reviews on the product. Now I get to see what this watch looks like, what functions it has, and how easy or hard it is to use.
I am convinced that as the years pass, and the population becomes populated with more internet savvy individuals, the sites dedicated to this approach will thrive, while those who deny this trend will fall.

Also consider that a timid buyer can easily click to purchase rather than putting an item away as they rethink the purchase while waiting in line.



Broad Ideas, Narrow Market.

Everything to Everyone, is nothing to no one. - Innovation Protocol Brand Seminar  

My belief is that as society evolves, so do our minds and our ability to seek out and understand different bits of information. There used to be a fewer selection among goods back in the day when sodas cost a nickle. You wanted a car? Well you had a simple choice, go to Freds, or go to Henry. It was simple, a car was a car, and so you could be everything in cars, to everyone. But now, we have economy cars, sports cars, luxory cars, sedans, wagons, SUV's, trucks, hatchbacks, hemi, supercharged, turbocharged, water cooled, air cooled, and the list goes on.

Lets begin with how BMW does a great job in being something to someone here in the USA.  

You first have to be known - BMW makes cars Known for something - BMW makes luxury cars Known for something Distinctive - BMW makes European Luxury cars Known for something I care about - BMW makes European Luxury sports sedans Preferred - BMW makes German engineered luxury sports sedans After you get to this point, the company has now crossed the Golden Threshold Now, the company has reach the level of ESTEEMED - driving a BMW says something about who you are.  

A BMW is just a car. It has four wheels and gets you to point A to point B, just like a Kia or Hyundai will do, yet if I pull out my car keys and set them on the table and people see that BMW logo, automatically, people assume a few things about me.  

This is because BMW has done a great job in being something to a specific group of people.  

Lesson #1, be specfic. 

Gold: Summit Creative Award 2010

SIA 2010 Gold AwardA pale brown cardboard box awaited me last Thursday morning at the foot of my desk. Having ordered an iPad the week prior, my heart fluttered as i ripped open the package like a starving child would have at a candy wrapper. There lay a black cardboard box, and here i said to myself, I don't remember ordering any shoes. The weight of the box astonished me as it felt like 5 gallon water jug compressed into a space that would fit two loafers.  

As i turned over the stark black shoebox, a glimmer of silver stuck my eyes as the letters SIA gleamed in the sunlight, well more like halogen bulb light. My heart began to flutter again as I came to realize, out SCA award had finally come. I removed the shoe carton like top to reveal a silky panther black surface surrounded a brilliant glass trophy with a gold plate a quarter inch from the bottom. The words "2010 Summit Creative Award" haloed out at me as a choir of angels hummed a single tone together in harmony.  

For the past three years now, Tony, our beloved CEO had been nagging at me like the mother of Jaden Smith in the new Karate Kid. But instead of "Pick up your jacket!" it was more along the lines of, "When are you going to win us an award?" Having entered in exactly, lets see, i entered this many last year, and this many that year.... entering in exactly ZERO awards, the prospect that someone would just mail me one was a rather slim chance. So finally i grabbed the first award I could find on my desk and submitted three pieces of work we had done. Six months later, all three came back with awards, Gold, Silver and Silver.  

Will this push the creative on into entering for more? Only time will tell, but please do look forward to some "cool and awesome" ideas from our team.