SociableSport

The below is a point of view document I wrote with my work hat on. Please note that this blog has nothing to do with my work - I'm just quite proud of this particular article!

"Google Wave has been criticised by many as being arrogant in its aims. Here we argue that if anything, Google hasn’t been ambitious enough in its claims for Wave which is placed to fundamentally change the way we communicate."

There's nothing like a contemporary advertising campaign. Do you think this example from Gatorade - recently divorced from Woods - has the flexibility to still good a good job for the brand despite Tiger's recent 'image change'? Probably not. Unfortunately, thinking about whether Tiger has "it" has taken on a whole new meaning: mental toughness not being one of them.

Celebrity news site TMZ (cited in the Indian Times) are adamant Woods' transgressions will "harm" his image - most notably as the face of Nike Golf - and suggest Woods' number could be up on other sponsorship deals in addition to the loss of Gatorade. His associative properties have certainly shifted and the Indian Times goes on to reference the Davie Brown Index, which measures celebrities' standing with consumers, where Woods has gone from 6th highest ranking celebrity endorser to 24th. Apparently the database comprises of 2,800 respondents but how often this survey goes out and how much it changes according to who's in the press and why, I'm not sure. 

But cast your minds back to 2004 and the David Beckham scandal. An Evening Standard poll asked London readers, 'Who is to blame for David Beckham's affair?' A staggering 41% blamed Victoria Beckham, 37% blamed David Beckham and only 22% blamed Rebecca Loos herself. Even David Beckham's own mother suggested Victoria was "partly to blame".

The situations are different: while Loos hogged most of the limelight as the 'mistress of choice', Tiger has multiple skeletons to remove from his closet. Yet, after a while, Beckham's image was restored as he and his family went about 'business as usual' and sponsors were un-phased.

When Kate Moss was photographed taking Class A drug Cocaine, associations with Calvin Klein, Rimmel, Chanel and Christian Dior were swiftly put under scrutiny by the press, but store chain H&M were the only brand to take immediate action to separate themselves from the troubled model but after no more than 3 months, Moss actually gained a new $1m+ deal with Virgin Mobile.

Far from being destroyed, these two personalities had their image shaken up - and soon all was forgotten as "in the past". 

According to US-based market research unit Nielsen, advertising featuring Woods hasn't appeared in US prime-time TV since November 29th, but perhaps Woods will go through a similar transformation to Beckham and Moss? Perhaps what he needs is a bit of calm: a period of time signifying the end of one chapter and the beginning of a new one. Next, a new appearance, a new deal or a new campaign to differentiate the old personality from the reformed. So long as his performance on the golf course is unaffected he will always be a beacon for advertisers because that's the constant - the unchanging champion.

At least the PGA Tour sponsors are benefiting from even more attention to their number 1 star - imagine how many people will tune in to watch his next tournament... . Even now he is delivering more awareness than ever (although not for the best of reasons - but that's not my point!).

For more on Tiger Woods and Gatorade check out the announcement on BBC News.

Edit after live: Today (Thursday December 10th), bookmakers Paddy Power have offered Tiger Woods $1m to get behind their new betting property, 'Tiger's Birdies'. The 12month deal would include an undisclosed profit share arrangement. The bet offers 500-1 odds for anyone who can correctly predict the number of Birdies Woods scores across the first four days of a tournament.

Yes - Tiger isn't going to accept the offer but at least Paddy Power have got some free exposure in the press on the back of a clever piece of product development!

What do all these things have in common? They are all examples of how looking for different kinds of information will determine the path you take to get there. It sounds simple enough - it is - but it's still worth exploring a little bit.

Your First Day at School
You're going to speak to people to find out where your classroom is because they know the place, you trust strangers to point you in the right direction because once upon a time they were in the same position you've found yourself in. It's also a good opportunity to bond with peers and bonding may come in handy one day, when you want to meet friends or join a club or speak to the pretty girls (or guys!).

Fire Exits
If there's a fire in your building, you're more likely to look at a wall map than ask someone where the exit is. Maps are easy to get to directly, have less room for error (none) whereas peers may panic under pressure or may not have been paying attention in the drills. Your life is at stake here, so it's quicker and safer to go with 'the writing on the wall'.

Star Trek
When it comes to exploring an area that's entirely new (like Space!), it makes sense to surround yourself with likeminded people who have the same goal as you but with different skill sets, just like Star Trek. If you don't happen to be on the SS Enterprise then it's good for you to be within easy reach of it, in case you need anything from them - particle matter, phasers, tractor beams etc. After all, they're the experts.

The illustrations above are analogies for how we navigate information. Websites are sources of information, but how we get there and what we encounter along the way is where the whole experience lies.

Being on the Enterprise would be awesome... at least for a while. A utility that allowed people to go back and forth from deep space, while giving them access to the knowledge and information the spaceship provides, would be an ultimate utility. For school, a utility that told you not only what you need to know, but what you may want to know, too - perhaps with different people's interpretations, would be more valuable than simply a list of sites. As for fire exits, lights and directions are utilities - the exit itself is the website. Sometimes all we want is direction.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that the future doesn't lie in compiling information in a website, but in offering a service with which to digest it however you want - personal utilities.

In the future I don't expect to see websites appearing on Google. In fact, I don't expect Google to exist as it does now. I expect a sheet with a series of app-style tools that do the searching for me and don't offer me sites, but offer me information. More info, fewer sites, less clicks, more time.

Lyndon