Digital Hive

Broadcast your cause

Yesterday, YouTube debuted a new program called the YouTube Nonprofit Program, which allows nonprofit organizations to create special channels on Youtube.com. The 13 initial participants of the program - including Autism Speaks, and the American Cancer Society- have posted remarkably moving videos about people impacted by these issues.

The program will make it easy for people to find, watch and engage with nonprofit video content. Additionally, organizations will be able to add a Google Checkout donation button to their page, allowing video viewers to quickly and easily make a donatation right from the site. Plus, the nonprofits will receive 100 percent of the donated funds, as Google has promised to process donations for free through at least the end of 2008.

Even better, the first 300 nonprofits to sign up will receive a free video camera to help start them on their way.

This makes perfect sense in so many ways - the nonprofits are able to speak to a much wider audience with compelling and engaging content, while viewers are just a click or two away from a donation.

Colleges are teaching you - how to meet people in person?

The Sept. 17th issue of the New Yorker has an interesting piece about a new seminar for arriving NYU freshmen (no that is not the cover of the issue at left, I just liked this one better).

Since many of these youngsters have grown used to "virtual" relationships, they need help learning how to connect with their peers live and in person. So the seminar was born - called "Facebook in the Flesh," it's a how to guide to building social networks in person. How, how, how - twentieth century.

One of the students in the seminar explains (without irony) that people he doesn't recognize but has "friended" say "hi" to him. And all wanted to know the real world equivalent of a poke.

We at Digitas (home of the Digital Hive) first noticed this trend a year ago when doing primary research with high schoolers and their parents; the kids all talked about how cool it is to be able to connect with each other online ("there are no awkward silences," "if it gets too sensitive just close the window," etc.), and the parents bemoaned how ill equipped their kids are for life in the real world where you actually have to interpret facial expressions, create the impression of actively listening (if you're not actually doing it) and - eed gads - empathize.

As good account planners we recognize an interesting insight when we trip across it - but what do we do with it? Well first off, engineering WOM activities for the younger audience's virtual preferences (rather than live passalong) is a no brainer. One  must wonder if and when brands must start commuicating wiht these kinds in their new native tongue - extremely short, largely unintelligible online bursts, abruptly disjointed, abbreviated to the point of meaninglessness (except to those in the know).

Other ideas?

Download a PDF of the piece by clicking

here

iPissed - Lori's Letter to Steve Jobs

September 5, 2007 - To quote the New York Times: “Apple unexpectedly cut the price of its iPhone Wednesday, claiming that it was seeking to broaden the market for the popular but expensive phone for the Christmas season. Apple, which rarely drops the prices on its products, cut the price of the 8G iPhone by $200 to $399.”

People got mad. Steve Jobs snapped out a weak, late response. And explained it in a throwaway. How could Apple make so many mistakes all at the same time?

I’m mad, and I'm not the only one. This guy is mad. This guy is mad. This girl is really mad. CNET is watching our backs. The Unofficial Apple Blog is all over it.

As one who has detailed my love affair with iPhone here at the Digital Hive and at my other space, I am having a hard time feeling anything but sour over the whole price drop episode. After chewing over the events that unfolded this week, I’ve encapsulated my aggravation into these few, short bullets. Please pay attention Mr. Jobs.

1. You spent millions of dollars marketing the product on television. Everywhere I went people were buzzing about iPhone and I knew I wanted one from the first moment I saw it. I wanted the product in a way I have never wanted a gadget – ever. (Barbie’s Dream House with working elevator does not count as a gadget.)

2. I learned as much about the product as I could, it was torture as you dribbled out information and your cellular partner finally revealed plan pricing in the final week before the launch. I was patient. I was a geek fanboy.

3. I waited in line. Granted, I didn’t spend my day at the mall in camp chair with cooler and camelback. But I waited in line. For a phone.

4. I have evangelized your product for two months, non-stop. I love my iPhone. When complete strangers (but not outwardly dangerous-looking people) ask “can I touch it” I give them the full demo. I have let each of my co-workers get a hands-on demo. I had nothing but good things to say about iPhone and Apple. Because Apple has never slapped me in the face before.

5. Today I look like an idiot. A yutz. Plain foolish. I get to hear things like “Don’t you feel stupid for not waiting” several times a day. Yep – I sure do. Does it diminish the quality of the product? No. Does this experience diminish the quality of my affection for the company? Yes, approximately 33%.

* I’m going to use a real world example for you Mr. Jobs. Suppose you ran down to your local Mercedes dealer to pick up say, an SL65 AMG. The MSRP is around $130,000 – then 60 days later the price drops by 33% making the new price $87,100. Would you feel a little bummed out? With all that extra cash you could have gotten so many more accessories for your little dream machine. Would a credit for half the difference to a future purchase ensure you customer loyalty? Nah – that’s silly!

Is the situation a little clearer for you now? Mr. Jobs I want you to be successful, but not to the tune of paying 33% more than those who didn’t race to promote your newest product to friends, family and even complete strangers. I want my $200 – I'll even take it in store credit.

Respectfully submitted,
Lori Magno

*Purportedly Steve Jobs' actual car.

Nuts About Southwest... or just nuts?

Has Southwest gone too far in selecting who can and can not fly with them? A woman was recently escorted off of a flight for wearing clothing that was too revealing. She was not only subjected to embarrassment but was forced to change her outfit and listen to a lecture from a staff member. Is it just me or shouldn't Southwest be more concerned about the safety of passengers than their fashion choices? Since when is a mini skirt a safety hazard? In my opinion, unless she was wearing potentially unsafe clothing or sporting a shirt with a racial or religious exploit companies have no control over the attire of their customers. As a fellow air traveler this type of behavior makes me nervous that they're focusing their energy on trivial matters than thinking about the more important issues that have been plaguing the airline industry.

Oh and by the way, Southwest has little room to criticize considering the flight attendant uniforms that made them famous...

I'm in to nuggets y'all

The clip that left us all singing "ketchup and ma-yo" has finally made it to prime time. McDonald's is using the original, slightly fuzzy quality video as a tv spot. Although the widely popular YouTube clip was posted over a year ago it appears that McDonald's has finally realized its quirky genius. In the new world of "what do we do with all of this consumer generated content????" this is a big step for brands - embracing consumers' expressions of brand advocacy.

Oh Domino

In a world that is going greener and greener every day, I was struck by this Domino Sugar product when shopping today. The round plastic container (presumably re-usable) on the right contains 4 lbs. of sugar and costs $3.29 - the bag on the right contains 5 lbs. and costs $2.99. Now the practical person in me wonders (aloud) why one would pay more for less, but then the container girl in me says "Hey, a place to store my sugar and it's branded - how cute!"

So why Domino Sugar - would you create a (presumably re-usable) container that holds less than a five pound bag of sugar?

I went to the Domino Sugar website and looked around for answers. What I found surprised me; they actually make a 4 lb. bag of sugar. Though I've never personally seen a 4 lb. bag of sugar, I quickly learned why. Using their product locater tool (in case you can't find sugar on your grocer's shelves) I learned that the store closest to my home that carries the 4 lb. bag of sugar is a Super K store in Ashtabula, Ohio. A bit out of the way for me.

I'll chalk this up to a poor merchandising choice by my grocer and ask what their thinking was, but I still have to ask Domino, why would you allow the grocer to sell the (presumably re-usable) plastic thingy and not carry the refill? I found no sweeping corporate citizenship statements on the Domino site (a missed opportunity?) but it seems that every manufacturer is getting into the "green" of things - I wonder how Domino missed this.

Pass on Quechup

Over the past couple of days I have received invitations from several friends, Age of Conversation co-authors and co-workers to join a social networking site called Quechup. Within hours of receiving the initial invitation via Quechup (using my friends' names as SENT FROM) I received a follow-up email directly from my friend with a RE: line along the lines of "Do NOT act on email from Quechup." During the registration process Quechup asked my friends if it could check their contacts (Google, Yahoo, others) for Quechup members they may already know. Quechup then spammed everyone their address books without consent.

A quick blog search turned up hundreds of angry posts about Quechup "hijacking" their email. The early adopters out there are furious.

The site appears to be operated by a UK outfit called iDate (though the "contact us" address is in Las Vegas.) The "conditions of use" were enough to turn me off the site - yes, I am geeknik enough to read the terms of service when I sign up for something. And I quote:

"By posting Content to any public area of Quechup.com, you automatically grant, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant, to Quechup.com an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, fully paid, worldwide license to use, copy, perform, display, and distribute such information and content and to prepare derivative works of, or incorporate into other works, such information and content, and to grant and authorize sublicenses of the foregoing." 

So after a sentence warning that "You are solely responsible for the Content that you publish or display..." you get a warning that they own whatever content you post there. Should you choose to sign up for a service that spams your friends.

This kind of bad operator impacts our efforts to create real social networking connections and serves as a reminder to our social networking friends to read the terms of service, check the blogosphere, check Google news and try to get a sense of what you are getting yourself into.