Community Building is really what this site is all about. If any of you have further interest, take a look at some of the links below. Tor Hought from Edict.com suggested these links as a good introduction to the web-based community building concepts.

Community Building on the Web http://www.naima.com/community/

Cluetrain http://www.cluetrain.com/

David Wineberger http://www.hyperorg.com/

Doc Searls http://www.searls.com/

Christopher Locke http://www.rageboy.com/, Gonzo Marketing

Derek M. Powazek http://www.powazek.com/zoom/log/, Design for Community: The Art of Connecting Real People in Virtual Places

Web Log Resources http://www.informationweek.com/blog/resources.htm

Every now and then a film maker charts a course into little traveled territory and brings to the audience something fresh, stimulating and intelligent.  This is the story of the new art film "What the Bleep do we know?".  The marketing campaign for this movie has been strictly word of mouth as people who have seen the movie need to discuss it with their friends, so they encourage their friends to see it.  It also got a big lift in attendance after the Wall Street Journal reviewer raved about the movie.

Why do people who see need to discuss it with their friends?  Because this film maker has delved into the domain of mankind's most fundamental questions: "why are we here?", "how does reality work?", and "what is God?" The film brilliantly interweaves the nuances of quantum mechanics through story telling, interviews with scientists and philosophers all while we watch an unfolding story of a young woman's troubled life finding happiness again. 

The use of animation to explain the bio-chemistry of our thoughts interacting with our emotions to form and re-form neural networks in our brain is certainly beyond anything I have seen before! There is something new for everyone to take away from this movie.  For example, go here to find out how thoughts and feelings are captured in different shapes of water crystals...then ponder on how our bodies are composed of 80% water...how are our own thoughts and feeling affecting us physically!?

So, I guess I will join their marketing campaign by urging you all to see the movie before it leaves our area.  It is at the Royal Oar Art Theater until Thanksgiving.  We need to discuss this film!

Thousands of Blogs Fall Silent 

By Michelle Delio  |   Also by this reporter Page 1 of 1

12:00 PM Jun. 15, 2004 PT

"Guinness has sold cans for 10 years, but most buyers still pour it into a glass to get what he calls the brown brew's "surge" and creamy foam head. Bottles rolled out in 2001, but only recently have been pushed. They contain a "Rocket Widget" that releases nitrogen to mimic in the bottle the texture and head of Guinness on tap.

The idea might not be rocket science, but according to Guinness marketers it's "brilliant!" That's the theme for their $14 million ad campaign to promote the "brilliance" of bottling Guinness.

"It seems ridiculous that we would have to tell people to drink from a bottle," Parsons says. But for bottle sales to succeed, "we absolutely had to give them a message that tells them to drink it straight from a bottle."

The ads feature two animated Irish brewmasters with the faces from real — but long deceased — men available in stock photographs. Styled in the spirit of Monty Python, the ads mix cartoon and live action.

In the ads by BBDO, New York, the brewers compare the simplicity of drinking Guinness from a bottle with other simple inventions, such as sliced bread and can openers. The concept was created by the BBDO team on the train on the way to Diageo's office to pitch other Guinness ads. "Brilliant" made the cut once the team acted out the storyline.

In one ad, a brewmaster explains that he has discovered a way to fill a bottle with authentic Guinness draft. His colleague says it's "brilliant!" to be able to drink beer straight from the bottle. In another, one brewmaster explains that they fill "the bottle with authentic Guinness draft. We walk outside. We bring it to a party and drink it." In a third ad, one brewmaster explains that he's "figured out how to carry six beers at the same time" (bottles in a six-pack). His colleague: "Carry six beers at the same time? Brilliant!"

Carnival of the Capitalists does a weekly summary of the best business blogs along with some commentary devoted to:

• Economics
• Investing
• Entrepreneurship
• Marketing
• Business Trends
• Management
• Miscellaneous

Here is one of the posts with a heads-up for software developers, like our friends at Edict Inc.

"MicroIsv tells us that the money is in the niche for software
developers.

The biggest opportunities for micro ISV’s today exist in finding a niche that isn’t being filled by one of the big software companies. The best part is that many of these companies are betting that you’ll do exactly that."

Drilling down into the story...

"Because most big software companies design applications to appeal to as many people as possible, many small software companies and micro ISV’s are able to find a niche by adding features that don’t currently exist or by developing a complementary product. A recent Business 2.o article highlights several companies that were purchased because of the success they had in filling such a niche. According to the article, Symantec employs a group whose job is to find companies to acquire. In the past year, they have “been making an acquisition every two months, usually of startups barely out of the garage stage.” By acquiring a small software company, startup costs and risk can be decreased significantly. Especially if the product already has a small but established user base.

As technology grows and matures, niche opportunities are going to become more and more prevalent. Those who recognize these opportunities will be able to become the next success stories in the software industry. The key is simply to get started. Look at what you do on a day to day basis that causes you to say “I wish this software could…". Those are the magic words that should get the ball rolling."

Is this a strategic pathway for EdictSpaces or future Edict projects?
 

PVRBlog points out a study by BackChannelMedia discussing how new media technologies are causing "attention fragmentation" in the former mass media markets...

"Backchannelmedia, who is in the business of selling direct-response tv advertising (bias beware) has compiled a lot of data showing the fragmentation of attention due to new platforms and technologies, be it the Internet, game consoles, DVRs, etc. Media companies, according to the Financial Times, have responded with either, "horizontal integration, vertical integration," or, "the search for new sources of revenue." The article argues that the marketplace is moving towards a mass customization future, an argument that Sippey disagrees with due to the costs involved (and I would agree.)

The combination of atomized consumer markets and digitized media technologies are spreading and speeding this process. When tens of millions of consumers live individualized lifestyles, and utilize individualized media and technology (PCs, PDAs, DVRs, iPods, cell phones, etc.), we are well on the way from mass markets to mass customization - markets of one."

...Is this the equivalent of  "attention deficit disorder" for the advertising world? 

Kelly Dragoo at Alexa has a great graphic showing the "Daily Traffic Rank Trends" for the online networking sites including: orkut.com, myspace.com, friendster.com and tribe.net.

It's all about the traffic.

Chris Pirillo is a powerful young voice in the new media...

Putting a Face on Technology

"In the race for digital dominance, what is the key ingredient that many businesses are missing to make themselves truly powerful players in today's economy?

Chris Pirillo, best-selling author and creator of the award-winning Lockergnome series of online publications, has found the answers to harnessing the potential of technology. Profiled by such publications as The New York Times, Fortune, and Inc. Magazine, Pirillo has made the corporate and electronic elite stand up and take notice with the technical tips and trends built into his ventures. Pirillo continues to attract hundreds of thousands of readers and viewers, including some of Silicon Valley's highest profile innovators. He's found advertisers in thought leaders, including Google and Microsoft.

Ranked #1 on Blogrolling, #76 on Daypop, #15 on Feedster, #40 on Popdex, #84 on Technorati, and #39 on Bloglines, Chris, above all else, is full of passion."

Over 17,000 respondents to  Blogads  May '04 survey of the Blogsphere reveals the distribution of bloggers by age, sex, income, occupation, political affiliation, country and more.

"...blog readers are more cyber-active than I'd hoped: 54% of their news consumption is online. 21% are themselves bloggers and 46% describe themselves as opinion makers. And, in the last six months:

• 50% have spent more than $50 online on books.
• 47% have spent more than $500 online for plane tickets.
• 50% have contributed more than $50 to a cause or candidate, and 5% have contributed more than $1000. (Only 25% of NYTimes.com readers have contributed anything online in the last year.)

Blog readers are media-mavens: 21% subscribe to the New Yorker magazine, 15% to the Economist, 15% to Newsweek and 14% to the Atlantic Monthly.

They are also far more male -- 79%! -- than I expected, versus 56% of NYTimes.com's readers."

Adrants.com posted this today:

Marketers Can No Longer Ignore Weblogs

Anyone who doubts the power of blogs should probably reconsider. ADRANTS reports the following:

Gawker Media Launches Second Custom Publishing Weblog

JibJab has produced a parody of the current presidential candidates that has received unparalleled broadcast media attention. Every major national news network showed parts of this clever and witty animation during the prime time news programs, and many local stations repeated it.

A nice article at Autoweek about how automakers are utilizing viral marketing campaigns to get the word out.

"Get a viral campaign right and the rewards are great. The person who forwards the joke, gossip or video clip effectively promotes the brand.

But there's a catch: If everyone is doing viral marketing, one auto executive warns, none of it will work."

[via Autoweek]

This is also the first article I've seen that has talked about downsides to viral marketing.

Additionally there is some excellent commentary over at Seth Godin's weblog on the honesty and paid success vs. natural sucess of campaigns.

'Webisodes' are the new frontier for Internet ads. Crispin Porter + Bogusky are at the center of it.

"After years of relying on conventional banner ads and showy Web pages driven by the latest technology, ad agencies are working to create branded content consumers want to watch -- and hopefully pass on to their friends.

"We had sort of lost focus on the content and the concepts behind the sites. Now I feel like we're at the beginning of a Renaissance," said Jeff Benjamin, interactive creative director at Crispin Porter + Bogusky."

[Globe and Mail]

Another boat missed. (pstt... this is a hint to collect email addresses, all the time!)

"MediaPost.com reports that traffic to CBS.com rose to 1.4 million unique visitors during the week ending May 9, thanks mostly to fans of CBS' popular show Survivor logging on to vote for their favorite cast member. MediaPost notes that close to 1.1 million visitors logged on to CBS.com while at work.

Yesterday's issue of GasPedal's "Damn, I Wish I'd Thought of That" newsletter points out that CBS.com missed its chance at building a strong e-mail list almost instantly by not asking last week's visitors to subscribe to a "Official Survivor Email" list. GasPedal goes on to specify that CBS could have gone on for "years selling six-figure sponsorships."

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) find spending on sponsorships has declined from 18% of overall online ad spending in the US in 2002 to just 10% in 2003 while e-mail marketing spending declined slightly from 4% of online ad budgets in 2002 to just 2% in 2003."

[via eMarketer Daily]

"My name is Steve Hall. I've created Adrants to give coverage to some of the more unique and odd forms of advertising that have separated themselves from the standard fare and to comment on the changes traditional media can and should be making to remain competitive and avoid extinction.

Reporting on the brilliance and idiocy of the media and advertising industry, Adrants offers subversive comment on the questionable, the absurd, the new and the noteworthy. Everything from new campaign launches to useful facts and figures to odd little items from the fringe are delivered with wit, humor and sarcasm."

The Times of India reports on India's secret army of online ad 'clickers' (by N VIDYASAGAR of the TIMES NEWS NETWORK - MONDAY, MAY 03, 2004 08:20:34 AM )
 
As the web heats up, and the measurement of clicks becomes increasingly important, wouldn’t you know it, clicking has been “off-shored”. The Times of India reports on a growing army of folks paid to click on web site links and banners in order to inflate “hits” on the site.

They report: "Here's how it works: online advertisers in developed markets agree to pay hosting website each time an ad is clicked. With performance-based deals becoming dominant on the Internet, intermediaries have sprung up to "do the needful”.' Why, type in 'earn rupees clicking ads' in Google — you get 25,000 results."

That last "fact" is incorrect. In fact, the number of Google hits is more like 3,500. Worse, you get almost 28,000 Google hits with "earn dollars clicking ads". Point is, click counts are going to come under increasing scrutiny.