Branislav Peric

Same actors… Reminds me of Y2K!

The sequel to the Age of Conversation is due tomorrow. I delivered my own chapter a while ago and that makes me thrilled to be among the authors of this book.

As a remind, AoC is about writing a collaborative book (237 authors) on a common subject. This year’s edition is entitled : Age of Conversation, why don’t they get it?

I like the approach of collective thinking, but also the fact that beyond printing cost, everything goes to Children’s Variety Charity, we are all doing it for the pleasure of sharing ideas&opinions, and gathering funds for that charity.

The book will be available here from tomorrow.
For now, it is still the first edition.

The authors’ list below:

Adrian Ho, Aki Spicer, Alex Henault, Amy Jussel, Andrew Odom, Andy Nulman, Andy Sernovitz, Andy Whitlock, Angela Maiers, Ann Handley, Anna Farmery, Armando Alves, Arun Rajagopal, Asi Sharabi, Becky Carroll, Becky McCray, Bernie Scheffler, Bill Gammell, Bob LeDrew, Brad Shorr, Brandon Murphy, Branislav Peric, Brent Dixon, Brett Macfarlane, Brian Reich, C.C. Chapman, Cam Beck, Casper Willer, Cathleen Rittereiser, Cathryn Hrudicka, Cedric Giorgi, Charles Sipe, Chris Kieff, Chris Cree, Chris Wilson, Christina Kerley (CK), C.B. Whittemore, Chris Brown, Connie Bensen, Connie Reece, Corentin Monot, Craig Wilson, Daniel Honigman, Dan Schawbel, Dan Sitter, Daria Radota Rasmussen, Darren Herman, Dave Davison, David Armano, David Berkowitz, David Koopmans, David Meerman Scott, David Petherick, David Reich, David Weinfeld, David Zinger, Deanna Gernert, Deborah Brown, Dennis Price, Derrick Kwa, Dino Demopoulos, Doug Haslam, Doug Meacham, Doug Mitchell, Douglas Hanna, Douglas Karr, Drew McLellan, Duane Brown, Dustin Jacobsen, Dylan Viner, Ed Brenegar, Ed Cotton, Efrain Mendicuti, Ellen Weber, Eric Peterson, Eric Nehrlich, Ernie Mosteller, Faris Yakob, Fernanda Romano, Francis Anderson, Gareth Kay, Gary Cohen, Gaurav Mishra, Gavin Heaton, Geert Desager, George Jenkins, G.L. Hoffman, Gianandrea Facchini, Gordon Whitehead, Greg Verdino, Gretel Going & Kathryn Fleming, Hillel Cooperman, Hugh Weber, J. Erik Potter, James Gordon-Macintosh, Jamey Shiels, Jasmin Tragas, Jason Oke, Jay Ehret, Jeanne Dininni, Jeff De Cagna, Jeff Gwynne & Todd Cabral, Jeff Noble, Jeff Wallace, Jennifer Warwick, Jenny Meade, Jeremy Fuksa, Jeremy Heilpern, Jeroen Verkroost, Jessica Hagy, Joanna Young, Joe Pulizzi, John Herrington, John Moore, John Rosen, John Todor, Jon Burg, Jon Swanson, Jonathan Trenn, Jordan Behan, Julie Fleischer, Justin Foster, Karl Turley, Kate Trgovac, Katie Chatfield, Katie Konrath, Kenny Lauer, Keri Willenborg, Kevin Jessop, Kristin Gorski, Lewis Green, Lois Kelly, Lori Magno, Louise Manning, Luc Debaisieux, Mario Vellandi, Mark Blair, Mark Earls, Mark Goren, Mark Hancock, Mark Lewis, Mark McGuinness, Matt Dickman, Matt J. McDonald, Matt Moore, Michael Karnjanaprakorn, Michelle Lamar, Mike Arauz, Mike McAllen, Mike Sansone, Mitch Joel, Neil Perkin, Nettie Hartsock, Nick Rice, Oleksandr Skorokhod, Ozgur Alaz, Paul Chaney, Paul Hebert, Paul Isakson, Paul McEnany, Paul Tedesco, Paul Williams, Pet Campbell, Pete Deutschman, Peter Corbett, Phil Gerbyshak, Phil Lewis, Phil Soden, Piet Wulleman, Rachel Steiner, Sreeraj Menon, Reginald Adkins, Richard Huntington, Rishi Desai, Robert Hruzek, Roberta Rosenberg, Robyn McMaster, Roger von Oech, Rohit Bhargava, Ron Shevlin, Ryan Barrett, Ryan Karpeles, Ryan Rasmussen, Sam Huleatt, Sandy Renshaw, Scott Goodson, Scott Monty, Scott Townsend, Scott White, Sean Howard, Sean Scott, Seni Thomas, Seth Gaffney, Shama Hyder, Sheila Scarborough, Sheryl Steadman, Simon Payn, Sonia Simone, Spike Jones, Stanley Johnson, Stephen Collins, Stephen Landau, Stephen Smith, Steve Bannister, Steve Hardy, Steve Portigal, Steve Roesler, Steven Verbruggen, Steve Woodruff, Sue Edworthy, Susan Bird, Susan Gunelius, Susan Heywood, Tammy Lenski, Terrell Meek, Thomas Clifford, Thomas Knoll, Tim Brunelle, Tim Connor, Tim Jackson, Tim Mannveille, Tim Tyler, Timothy Johnson, Tinu Abayomi-Paul, Toby Bloomberg, Todd Andrlik, Troy Rutter, Troy Worman, Uwe Hook, Valeria Maltoni, Vandana Ahuja, Vanessa DiMauro, Veronique Rabuteau, Wayne Buckhanan, William Azaroff, Yves Van Landeghem

I would like to quote Mike Mendenhall, HP’s SVP and CMO.
Thanks for this excellent sentence:

As marketers, we have the opportunity to drive change within our companies because all public touchpoints impact our brands, reputation and revenue. Brands aren’t defined by campaigns, but by consumer ecosystems.

Source : Mediapost

I can remember the old days. Digital was simply called “the Internet”.

We used to advise our clients on the best possible website architecture and look&feel, summing up what the company stands for, what it has to say out there. Some of them would understand it as a sales channel and build an e-com website instead.

The whole thing was basic to apprehend compared to nowadays.

I would like to share an article written by Dr. Augustine Fou, MRM Worldwide SVP of digital strategy on Clickz.

And quote a tiny part of it below that I found interesting:

The transition has been more difficult than expected for advertisers and their agencies. Peter Cowie, managing partner of UK-based search consultancy OysterCatchers, is in the trenches of this transition every day. He observes:

• “‘Digital marketing’ means different things to different people. Clients are learning fast and faster than many agencies.
• “Most clients are deeply insecure about all things ‘digital’ and find it hard to know how much digital stuff costs or if they are getting the best value.
• “Traditional agencies still see digital as a new marketing channel; they start with the creative and work backwards [and] integration is hard.
• “Digital marketing comprises so many new disciplines and specialties that are like a foreign language to both clients and their agencies — SEO (define), SEM (define), GUI (define), IA, experiential design, social networking, mobile, gaming, analytics, etc.

I cannot agree more on the following.
Nothing fundamentally new, but well assembled in my opinion:

Source: Paul Isakson

Every time I read an article stating that Internet has surpassed one of the traditionnal above the line channels, i feel bad.
I know it is easier to explain things that way, so that people get the importance of digital today.

However, sometimes, simplicity is not the best option.
I would rather explain complex things without leaving the most important things behind.
Avoid complexity in that case is not only a mistake, it is laziness.

Internet is not a medium, and marketers that are new to the digital discipline should not understand it that way.
It could have become a medium, but it resisted, and will certainly not become one.
A marketer is just like a child, if you teach him the wrong habbits, it is tough to get him to question it afterwards. And this is precisely what could make my job difficult in the future.

Internet, and digital in general, is (only) a technological mutation. Internet is THE cause. Internet is the cause of a broader phenomena, that is social, that is human, that is “in real life”.

I would tell the following story to illustrate how far we went and how unimportant technology is compared to the consequence of it:
My mother discovered how useful technology was when she figured out she could get a live video stream of her grand son through the screen of her new computer.
And believe me, my mother was the most difficult perso to convince about the benefits of the Internet.
Now, not only is she using her webcam, but her digital knowledge is growing every single time I visit her.
She has gone through the initial fear of the computer and is actually taking a lot pleasure while discovering how infinite the possibilities are…

I like to call the whole phenomena a Renaissance, after reading Douglas Rushkoff’s Get back in the box 2 years ago.
I did a lot of “hell yeah” and “amen” while reading it and I am REALLY not the typical business book reader!

The former Renaissance brought new perpectives to the human being, and what we experience today is precisely the same.
We are discovering new ways to spend our time, getting us away from the passive eyeballs we used to be during the 2nd half of the 20th century.
We have completely shifted our relationship to others, spending more time nurturing it, and less time being receptive to the story telling of brands.

Don’t take me wrong however, story telling is still the key pillar of any brand message.
Brands still need to “talk” and better tell an interesting and compelling story.

It reminds me of an old quote i posted on this blog:

You were born with two ears and one mouth.
Make sure you use them with that ratio in mind.

Digital marketers have 2 ears, that is for sure!

Delivering an interesting brand promise does not mean though that delivering that message in a banner or YouTube will be effective…
You might agree and yet think that I am not bringing anything new to the table. Indeed.
However, if we take the above statement for granted, why the h… are we still calling the whole thing a medium?

Legal has often been an issue for me, as soon as me and my colleagues think about something that is both innovative and social.

David Armano, from Critical Mass, came up with an interesting article pointing out what you might face in such situations and a few key suggestions, that I found really relevant.

Something completely different, but still an incredibly meaningful piece of illustration, totally summing up how I am getting thrilled and scared about my job at the same time.