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Have you every looked up from their desk and realised that you haven't uttered a word to anyone in over an hour? Maybe longer? 

It occurred to me recently when my phone hadn't rung for 3 hours. I'd been communicating with lots of people en masse during this period, mostly by email but also on Twitter and Facebook. But I hadn't actually spoken to anyone; not a peep.

It seems today that more and more conveniences are set up that take the burden of vocal conversation away from us. Typing appears to provide more freedom than talk: you can think of which words to use, edit or delete things if you change your mind, and choose when to execute the communication by pressing 'send'. Those sorts of luxuries don't necessarily exist in regular dialogue - people have expectations when they look you in the eye, and they donate a significant portion of their time to listening to you, even on the phone. So you have to get it right. 

The pressures of efficiency and immediacy - immediacy in particular is, for me, the most important trend today - leave little room for idle chit-chat, and maximum opportunities for conversation-juggling. Email chains are a form of conversation, remember? How many do you have in a day?

But it's not just email, or text message, or BlackBerry Messenger, or Facebook wall posts, or Tweets... but every day there are fewer and fewer instances where vocal dialogue is required. In London we have a travel service called Oyster that allows people to 'tap in' on a magnetic pad to record their journey and debit their account for the cost. When I was 10 I had to ask the bus driver for a particular fare. At that age, I had to pluck up the courage to talk in front of a bus full of people and admit I didn't have a clue where I was going, get the change out of my pocket and pay the nice man in an orderly and timely manner. Not any more. We just tap and go on by. 

Then there's food, and drink. It's more convenient to be less personal. And electronics, too. I can do all my Christmas shopping on my mobile which is super-convenient and really cool, but it's ultimately anonymous. I become a number in a system. Is that what being a customer means today? It's just strange that while relationships are becoming so efficient, and relationship-tools so effective, the quality of these relationships cannot possibly claim to match those that preceded the existence of these tools. 

Why not? I'm not being nostalgic here or suggesting that what's happening here is bad. But what I do sense - what I feel - is that the more relationships we have that are based on convenience, the more we rely on a smaller number of strong relationships that don't. Is that healthy? Well, possibly not. My suspicion is that most people of my generation (I was born in 1984) will stick to a very tight-knit friendship group their whole life and be a little more reluctant than the previous generation to, say, be outgoing at parties, talk in front of groups of people or be confident public speaking, live and work abroad, be comfortable networking at work events and generally forge deep relationships with people unless they really have to. 

I'd like to think I don't fit that description above. But I feel it coming. If people grow up not needing to make 'I'd step out in front of traffic for this guy' or 'I trust him with my life' relationships (note: love is different... remember, we all need love, here I'm focusing specifically on relationships that are not prerequisites of leading a full life), then all I see is a people interested sporadically in the lives of others, with individuality formed from exposure to a multitude of influences inconceivable to those only two generations previous, and a crisis of personal identity where we know not what we really are, and all that we could be. No decisions and little confidence. Easily persuaded and fickle with emotions. Will a 'moral standpoint' exist? For how long? Weeks, months, maybe? Morality will likely be fuelled by statistics and an ability to articulate (be it simply in visualisations and text - like this post - or by creating movements in social networks quicker and with bigger numbers than anyone else). The internet makes campaigns of us all. 

My great hope among this disorder is that the notion of God will dissolve in place of rapid and universally accepted progress. I just don't know where that direction will be.

[I put the picture of my Facebook profile page up because in reality, that is me. That is my identity as the vast majority of you will ever know. It's the closest you will come to seeing my face & it doesn't even have a picture of me on it!]

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via vincos.it

And as if by magic, here's another really useful infographic outlining the dominant social networking sites around the world.

However, please approach with caution...

While the analogy works insomuch as illustrating the geographic and, therefore, culturally diverse community that Facebook has helped connect, the world's largest social network by volume of user accounts is actually QQ in China (but only just). QQ is an information portal a bit like Yahoo! and offers a chat service called QQZone that's similar to Yahoo! Messenger or MSN Messenger, but users are able to upload files, images, videos, and profile information. This classifies QZone as a social network (in my book at least).

Earlier this year, in reading a financial report published by QQ's owners, Tencent (a listed company on the Hong Kong stock exchange), I read that QQZone has around 640million registered user accounts. This is marginally (in % terms) bigger than Facebook's user base, and of course much less diverse (the service is created for native Chinese speakers; both the user experience and user interface reflect this.).

It's a bit disappointing to see Techcrunch cover this story purely from a Facebook angle, but I guess that shows the western bias.

More on China to come in Q1 next year. Watch this space.

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via blog.skloog.com

Awesome visualisation, one I've often tried replicated (very poorly) in PowerPoint.

Thanks to http://blog.skloog.com for original source.

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My buddy at Mindshare and were asked to talk at a digital summit about social content. Pretty broad brief.

What we started to realise when we thought about that concept of 'social content' is that not all social content is good. Some of it sucks. The thing about great social content is that it'll be sociable.

And if brands want to build personal relationships, then they need to be sociable too. 

My last comment would be that prezi completely rocks. Check it out at http://prezi.com. That's how we made the presentation. Cool, huh?

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Sports Business Magazine set out their best websites of 2010 awards a couple of months ago. I was asked to be on the panel and added some suitably vague comments to the discussion. 

After all, what is a website? 

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"No! I don't want to play anymore!"

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I've seen lots of presentations about social media, viral video, YouTube this & Facebook that, and many of them reference that only a handfull of the most popular shared videos (i.e. videos on YouTube) are created by users. 

The point the industry tries to make is that although some user generated content does resonate with people - 'Charlie Bit My Finger' is the best known example of this - the majority of YouTube's 'Most Watched' are professionally-created videos.

I'm not really debating that, but it gets confusing sometimes. 

For some reason the list above only includes 1 video with over 100,000,000 views, courtesy of Mr. Charlie. But Lady Gaga's 'Bad Romance' is way ahead, as her video page shows.

I checked the search again and low & behold it yielded a completely different list. The list has two musicians at the top, which is interesting in itself & kinda forced me to change the point of this post from, "look - YouTube can't track their own video views!" to "wow - a) Justin Bieber's such a tool, why do so many people want to watch that awful video? and b) the top 10 on the list, 2 of them are UGC. That's not a great ratio at all." 

The lesson? The most popular videos represent world class entertainment that appeals to all our senses. Oh and the 6th sense - disgust (Beiber).

Whatever the lesson, 'Charlie Bit My Finger' is not YouTube's most watched video!

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Perhaps this could be a good way to get more kids into learning about history?

See the full gallery on Posterous

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It's funny how the rumour machine works... it seems that Google is the  place to go to check up on the latest gossip!

Take your pick!!

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Ever wondered how much money football clubs spend on players' wages?
Take a look at this. 

The German Bundesliga has an annual match-day revenue of around €424m, and the Premier League boasts considerably more at around £554m (€647m). Add to this sponsorship income and prize money, and you see a lot of cash flowing through the books of the world's best football teams. But at a per club level, these figures are much more humble. 

Real Madrid are the biggest club in the world with annual revenue exceeding €400m but even if the wage bill below were reflective of their first team squad contracts, any Chief Executive of a normal organisation would think that a contracted outgoing of £36m (roughly €50m, or 25% of total income) puts the company in a very precarious position. 

Remember that Real's revenue figure is gross. Profitability is not reported in the Deloitte reviews.

Suffice to say that West Ham United's annual revenue will be nowhere near even the €100m for Newcastle United (no.20 in the Rich List). It's possible that the wage structure below actually represents more money going out than the club has gross revenue coming in. 

Unsustainable, disastrous, irresponsible - call it what you will, there is no doubt budgeting scenarios like this are becoming more prevalent and as such, that the future of top-flight football is looking particularly shaky. 

WHUFC-SQUAD-2009-2010-26MAR2010.pdf Download this file

Compare this evidence with the statements made by Andrew Bernhardt on the West Ham United website back when he joined the club in June last year: 

Scott's [CEO Scott Duxbury] self-sufficient business model is sensible and prudent in theses challenging times and will deliver success. I am confident there are strong foundations we can all build on.

No business likes to have debts, but with a £100m turnover, increased TV revenues and a focused commercial operation, the club is on sound financial footing.

The wage bill has been reduced and the settlement agreed with Sheffield United is budgeted for.

I can assure fans that Gianfranco absolutely does not have to sell any players for financial reasons and new players will be arriving in the summer to augment what is already a strong playing staff.

We totally support his philosophy of following the West Ham tradition of bringing young players through, as well as investing in new talent where appropriate.

But we also believe the club should not spend more than it earns and thus increase the debt. It simply isn't necessary when you have such a talented management team and pool of up-and-coming young players. It seems pointless to invest in West Ham United's world famous academy if you are then not going to use the players you have nurtured and developed.

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Lady Gaga has gone from zero to social media superstar in a little over 18 months. Where has her enormous following come from?

In a recent post I studied the biggest sports personalities on Facebook and analysed what makes a sports star popular on social networks. During my research I began looking at the phenomenal social media success of Lady Gaga, in what can only be described as Gaganomics.

Aside from Barack Obama, who's social media activity is well documented, the most prolific celebrity Facebooker in the world is none other than Lady '1 billion video views' Gaga. Gaga's current Facebook fanbase stands at a little under 6million. That's more than Madonna, Britney Spears and Cheryl Cole put together. It's also twice that of her nearest musical rival, Beyonce Knowles. 

Believe it or not, there was a time when Lady Gaga wasn't famous, and it wasn't that long ago. The below graph, crafted by the Facebook Data Team, illustrates the the number of status's that mentioned her name over time. 

Facebook says of Gaga, "She was virtually unmentioned until November 2008. The big spike in mentions of her name in September of 2009 corresponds to the MTV Video Music Awards, where she did well." The Facebook story is also true on Twitter, where Gaga is the 6th biggest celebrity tweeter in the world, by followers. Although she's been active on MySpace since 2005, I think it's fair to say that it's only in the last 18months that the world has really seen Gaga become a true Superstar. 

Where do all these fans come from and what is it about Lady Gaga's brand personality that makes her so appealing? Well, Gaga seems to combines sexual intrigue with musical talent which, along with her raw individuality, make her a very interesting person. Unlike predecessors like Spears and Aguilera, but more akin to the likes of Madonna, Kurt Cobain and Michael Jackson, Gaga's non-conformist, genre-defining style has appeared on the scene at a time in musical history where young consumers feel that the only people they can relate to are those they perceive as understanding the power of the ego over capitalist distractions. In their struggle for an inspirational matriarch, they become the loyal subjects -  "little monsters" - of the new Queen of Pop.

Of course, I just made that up, but Gaganomics isn't just conjecture. Take a look at her search and news traffic. 

lady gaga roger federer

As with Facebook we see that Gaga was unsearched on Google until late 2007. Since then she has sky-rocketed over and above even one of the world's most talked-about sports stars. In the news, she again appeared from nowhere in the Autumn of 2007, but her rise here does not match the meteoric rise in search queries. What does this mean? Firstly, similar to what we found with Cristiano Ronaldo, the supply of Gaga news is not in keeping with the demand.

Perhaps this is why she is so popular in social networks: because the biggest, and best, source of Lady Gaga content is Gaga herself. That's a simple answer, and probably true, but why is there such a huge discrepancy between search queries and news coverage? There must be fewer interviews and PR stories than the demand, but is this strategy conscious (ensuring her material is unfit for general public consumption e.g. she wouldn't be able to appear on the Disney Channel) or unconscious (an erratic lifestyle and busy international schedule restricting the amount of attention she can give media channels other than her own)? 

Either way, this gap between news channels and search demand is driving interested persons through to her Twitter and Facebook pages, but her conversion rate still leaves much room for improvement. Although she's outperforming all competitors, Lady Gaga still drives a much higher level of search than the extent of her Facebook fanbase. The people that search for Lady Gaga aren't fans. They're not even driven by news coverage. They've come through word of mouth, or repeat search. Her Google homepage does include three sponsored links, but more needs to be done here to drive conversion. More sponsored links, more rich content (especially video) and her twitter feed need to come up as well. If her search strategy was as deep as her social strategy, she would compile a fanbase more akin to her cultural fame. 

We should revisit this subject in 12months' time and see where these figures stand. For now, I'm content to pull this topic back to brand value and note that Lady Gaga's influence over her direct followers, by virtue of her social media activity, should make her a more attractive proposition for sponsors and affiliates than a celebrity with a fragmented, and therefore expensive to reach, following. Gaganomics is then, at least in part, a look at social influence, and Gaga, with her "little monsters" at her feet, is leading the way.

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Who are Facebook's most prolific sporting personalities, and why?

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I never realised they play "Zadok - The Priest" at the event itself. The hairs stand up on the back of your neck when you hear it and the teams walk out. What an amazing event. Arsenal won this game 5-0.

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Accenture are fuming as Tiger Woods addresses the world with his personal issues right in the middle of the Accenture Matchplay

Hours before Tiger Woods makes his eagerly awaited return to the media spotlight, we have seen a spike in Twitter activity akin to the November peak when press coverage of his private life hit the heights usually reserved for Royalty and Recession. The collective consciousness is naturally drawn to the Woods story, not in the least part due to the sheer volume of eyeball coverage its continued to draw (by this I mean the coverage in front of our eyeballs). 

http://trendistic.com/tiger-woods/_30-days#

Scandalous interest aside, news of the 'no questions to be asked' press conference will be ringing loud in the ears of those stakeholders who are currently hanging on the words soon to be uttered. Golf has both suffered and profiteered in the incremental attention to Woods. For one, right now Golf is a more popular sport than the Vancouver Games. The BBC will be streaming the interview online in what will no doubt be a prominent position; in a twist of irony, today is the round of 16 in the Accenture Matchplay tournament. Accenture, of course, were the first brand to terminate their association with Woods once the scandal had broken and the timing of Woods' announcement will leave a bitter taste in the mouths of the tournament organisers and sponsorship managers looking to generate all the right coverage for all the right reasons.

Having said that, Accenture are, again, receiving a disproportionate amount of coverage. Their sponsorship of the tournament may be predicated on a hospitality strategy and yes, this may be a little awkward for those client entertainers who have to continually reply, "No we don't sponsor Tiger any more; anyway, about that Supply Chain Risk Management product...", but for being front-of-mind among those interested in golf, Accenture are in a very good place right now.

So, Ernie Els' comment, "I feel sorry for the sponsor. Mondays are a good day to make statements, not Friday" may be a little short-sighted. If the BBC and SKY News are talking about your tournament, that's good. Well, it's not perfect - given the context - but you have to be positive in these situations. 

It's the PGA Tour who will be holding their breath. If Woods retires, the tour will be left with a Woods-sized-hole that the sport's next top 5 biggest personalities would struggle to fill. If Woods announces a comeback date, it may well be one of the most watched sporting events of this young decade. This is, arguably, a make-or-break situation for golf's largest tour schedule and one of sport's biggest sponsorship properties.

All we can do is wait and see. 

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This was taken just prior to kick off, but no more than around 8,000 fans attended the match at the 25,000+ stadium in Reading

London Irish are a rugby club to watch, though. According to their CEO, the club has ambitions to become the Manchester United of club rugby (without the debt).

Whether achieving that goal, in perspective, will Leave shareholders dispondent or elated, I'm not sure. It depends in large part on the growth of the sport as a whole, which is of course out of the hands of Irish alone.

They're soon to release a new content offering, perhaps in the form of an app. I can't say much more other than that it excited me a bit!

You should follow me on Twitter http://Twitter.com/SociableSport

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Incredible interview with Roger Federer after he won his first ATP title. The 19-year-old speaks of feeling good about his game but stays modest about future ambitions...

"All I'm really aiming for is to get to the quarters or the semi of a Grand Slam."

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It's hard to plan for something that only occurs 66 times a century, but anyone selling Mitsubishi Eclipse cars must be thanking their lucky stars as the longest solar eclipse of the millennium swept across parts of Africa and India 

It's hard to plan for something that only occurs 66 times a century, but anyone selling Mitsubishi Eclipse cars must be thanking their lucky stars as the longest solar eclipse of the millennium swept across parts of Africa and India. 

The event was considered by many to be particularly spectacular because of the bright ring (the outline of the sun) visible while the moon crossed in front of it. Some people found it a bit too much, with MSNBC reporting onlookers "gripped by fear... refusing to come outdoors."

Even those who stayed indoors, though, are likely to read about it somewhere - probably online. Anyone who has a product called an Eclipse, and anyone who's invested wisely in keywords will be in for a bumper ride.

It's funny the way these things turn out sometimes...

And if you wondered what the eclipse looked like, here it is - 

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After all, how many restaurants could you make with $100m? How many bonuses to your Exec staff? What improvement could you make to your recipes?

Despite a consistent theme of corporate social responsibility, the primary reason behind the sponsorship will be in restaurant sales - whether this is driven by a more engaged workforce, higher brand awareness, or perhaps even better relationships with governments and media organisations... who knows, but whatever the interpretation, it's good to hear all this from the source - the guy that signs the cheques.

Thanks go to http://www.thebusinessledger.com for posting.

 

Image source: LA Times Olympic Blog

Olympics enhance McDonald's worldwide brand

As 2010 begins, much of the world is gearing up for this year’s Winter Olympic Games from Feb. 12 to Feb. 28 in Vancouver, B.C. Amidst the flurry, McDonald’s Corporation senior vice president for global marketing Dean Barrett took time to answer questions from associate editor Sherri Dauskurdas about the company’s preparations for the games, its long Olympic history and the advantages sponsorship offers to the international restaurant giant.

 Q: How long has McDonald’s been an “official sponsor” of the Olympic Games?
A: McDonald’s has a long-standing history with the Olympic Games, which began more than 40 years ago. In 1968 we airlifted hamburgers to U.S. athletes competing in Grenoble, France after they reported being homesick for American hamburgers. The Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games will mark McDonald’s seventh Olympic Games as a worldwide partner and eighth as the official restaurant of the Olympic Games.

 Q: What does that designation entail?
A: As a worldwide partner and the official restaurant of the Olympic Games, we are the only branded retail food service company to feed the athletes in the Olympic Village, as well as share the excitement of the games with millions of customers around the world.

 We are implementing a variety of initiatives to connect our brand to the ideals of the Olympic Movement such as:
•    Feeding the world’s best athletes, coaches, officials and media at three new Olympic venue restaurants in the Olympic Village in Vancouver, the Olympic Village in Whistler and the main media center in Vancouver.
•    The venue restaurants will feature energy-efficient lighting and equipment in keeping with the Olympic Games green theme. The equipment from these restaurants will be reused and recycled at McDonald’s restaurants in Canada after the Games have ended.
•    The McDonald’s Champion Kids program, which provides a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for kids ages 6-14 to experience the Games first hand. For Vancouver, one child from each province and one child from the territories in Canada will join kids from around the world to attend Olympic events, meet athletes, visit the Olympic Village, tour the cultural sites of Vancouver and Whistler, and receive their own gold medals from Olympic champions. The children will also have the chance to serve as special youth correspondents to share their experiences with their hometown news outlets.
•    Celebrating Canada’s Olympic spirit nationwide as the h ost country with several activities including: flying Olympic flags at select McDonald’s restaurants across Canada; offering Olympic-themed McDonald’s Vancouver 2010 Olympic sport water bottles to consumers; partnering with top Canadian athletes such as speed skater Cindy Klassen and figure skater Patrick Chan; and activating McDonald’s 2010 Hopefuls, a grant program that supports the Olympic aspirations of 26 Canadian athletes and recognizes the efforts of their parents by allocating a portion of the funding to the family.

 Q: How far in advance do preparations begin, here and onsite?
A: Preparations for each of the games begin years in advance and throughout the games. We know that it takes a lot of work to plan this exciting sponsorship, but it’s worth it to deliver a special and unique Olympic Games experience for all.

 Q: How many staff members are taken along to work at the games, and how are they chosen? Or do you bring in local employees from the country/community where the games are being held?
A: As part of our Olympic sponsorship, we honor the hard work and exceptional performance of our restaurant crew by bringing our best of the best to the games through our McDonald’s Olympic Champion Crew program.

For the Vancouver Games, in celebration of the Winter Games return to Canada, more than 300 top-performing restaurant employees from across Canada have been selected as the 2010 McDonald’s Olympic Champion Crew. They will serve the world’s best athletes as well as coaches, Olympic officials and media at our three new Olympic venue restaurants. While in Vancouver and Whistler, they also will have the opportunity to attend select Olympic events and participate in cultural activities.

 Q: What does being associated with the Games bring to the branding of McDonald’s?
A: We’ve supported the Olympic movement for more than 40 years because we believe in the values and ideals represented by the world’s best athletes and the spirit of the games. The Olympic partnership adds value to our brand on a number of levels and specifically provides a unique opportunity to engage with millions of customers worldwide and deliver the excitement of the Olympic Games in restaurants and through various promotions and programs.

 We feel that our sponsorship goes well beyond a financial investment. The Olympics add value to our brand on a number of levels. First, our sponsorship helps make the games possible. And second, our customers around the world can experience the Olympics as we bring them to life in our restaurants with special promotions and activities, which is invaluable to our company.

 Q: Overall, what does sponsoring events do for business?
A: From enhancing our service and people promise to reinforcing our community presence, the Olympic Games are the ultimate expression of the spirit of McDonald’s and directly connect with people of all ages and cultures. Our customers want and expect us to support the Olympics, and we look forward to bringing our sponsorship to life in our restaurants and through special promotions and activities.

 Q: What other types of events does the company sponsor?
A: In addition to the Olympic Games, McDonald’s is a proud worldwide sponsor and the official restaurant of FIFA World Cup. McDonald’s is one of the biggest supporters of grassroots sporting opportunities in local communities. McDonald’s countries around the world also have sponsored national sports teams and sport leagues for many years.

 Q: What advice would you offer mid-sized or even small businesses looking to become involved in event sponsorship?
A: It’s important to not only look at what your customers are interested in and what opportunities would directly connect with them, but also what adds value to your brand, whether it’s giving back to the community, furthering an ongoing commitment or simply being more relevant to your customers.

Posted on Thursday, January 07, 2010 (Archive on Thursday, January 14, 2010)
Posted by jstoltz  Contributed by jstoltz

via thebusinessledger.com

 

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