Digital Discourse / Archives for ICG

The Future Is Not Free

September 16, 2013 By

Russell Perkins, ICG

Post by: Russell Perkins, ICG

In a speech at the D2 Digital Dialogue conference yesterday, a top Macy’s marketing executive, in a true “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore” moment, made the following statement:

“Consumers are worried about our use of data, but they’re pissed if I don’t deliver relevance. … How am I supposed to deliver relevance and magically deliver what they want if I don’t look at the data?”

This question speaks directly to the larger issues facing the publishing industry today: how to make money in a world where today’s consumer wants everything … and nothing. Consumers want their content free of charge, free of advertising and free of tracking. And what do content providers get in return for all this freedom? Well, freedom from revenue.

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Do not be Embarrassed

August 26, 2013 By

Russell Perkins, ICG

Post by: Russell Perkins, ICG

”If you’re not at least a little embarrassed by something you just launched, you probably waited too long to start it.” So says Alexis Ohanian, founder of Reddit and a number of other high profile web media products.

This statement, provocative as it is, actually is little more than a smart synthesis of the current state of play in the world of online product development. You no doubt hear variants of this theme regularly, sometimes expressed as ”minimum viable product,” ”rapid iteration,” and even ”fast fail.” They all embody the philosophy that it’s more important to launch a new product quickly than launch a really good new product. I credit Google for raising this practice to high art by teaching users that the word ”beta” appended to any product name excused the product from delivering much value, or even working properly, for an often extended period of time.

I certainly agree that there is an imperative for speed in the world of online content. We’re surrounded by hordes of competitive start-ups, many of them explicitly attempting to disrupt market incumbents. But before we decide to emulate these companies, it’s important to note their typically distinctive business models.

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A New Push to End Passwords

August 5, 2013 By

Russell Perkins, ICG

Post by: Russell Perkins, ICG

I hate passwords.

But I don’t hate passwords as a concept. Certainly I understand the need, but password protection implemented poorly creates friction and often frustration, and that’s not good for business or for my own personal protection. Now there’s a new initiative out of Silicon Valley called the “Petition Against Passwords.” It’s not proposing a specific alternative, but the basic premise is that we can do better. And the initiative seems to be getting some early traction.

Sure, let’s start talking about eliminating passwords. But first, let’s acknowledge that a lot of the problem is self-inflicted by the way in which we have implemented passwords.

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Measuring the Unmeasured at DataContent 2013

July 29, 2013 By

DataContent 2013

Big data and mind-boggling technological advances are inspiring data producers to capture and tame data in ways we have never seen before or thought possible. During the Measuring the Unmeasured session at DataContent 2013, taking place October 15-17, you will have an opportunity to learn from four companies that have created new benchmarking products. Together they will help you to look at data in an entirely new way for your company:

    •  John Crimmins, VP of Strategy for RetailNext will describe how RetailNext turns in-store behavior into data by tracking shoppers through their cellphones. It then turns this data on many millions of shopping trips into intelligence retailers can use to gauge their individual performance as well as track broader shopping patterns, conversion, and average transaction value. 
    • John Ernsberger, Co-founder, of Stella Service will discuss how Stella Service, one of this year’s Models of Excellence, rates online customer service by paying thousands of mystery shoppers daily to buy items from online retailers, call customer service teams, and ask questions; then return products. Their detailed notes are converted into a database and diagnostics tool online retailers use to continually monitor how they stack up, and get early warning of where improvement is needed.  
    • John Lawler, Chief Executive Officer of Buyers Lab will explain how Buyers Lab provides a different type of hands-on data. For more than 50 years it has run over 15,000 digital imaging products through their paces at their US and UK labs. The results of this testing are relied on for purchasing decisions, product development, competitive positioning and, sales and marketing support.
    • Mark Piening, Founder & CEO of Circle Media will show how Circle Media puts metrics around the driving force in marketing today–experiences. It measures the impact of sponsored events using what it calls “Even Performance Index”–a single number that tells what degree of cultural splash a particular event creates, and in essence, reducing buzz to a number.     

RetailNext, Stella Service, Buyers Lab, and Circle Media are only one segment of our powerful line-up at DataContent 2013. Throughout the content you will hear from data thought-leaders who know that data is different–it has its own application, business, content, and distribution processes. At DataContent 2013, we’ll examine them all and identify best practices and trends, providing you with an insider’s view of what’s working and where things are heading. Combined with great networking and our Models of Excellence showcase, DataContent 2013 is the place to be!

Our super-early bird promotion ends July 31 so register now to reserve your spot and save $600 on conference registration. When you register, enter the promotion code DCSEB in the shopping cart to receive your super-early bird savings.

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Hands-Free Database Access from Vivino

July 22, 2013 By

Post by: Russell Perkins, ICG

There is a cool new app out of Denmark called Vivino, that besides being just plain useful, also offers a great working example of mobile visual interaction with database content. The heart of the technology is image recognition software that can match the photograph of a wine label to Vivino’s standing database of over 450,000 wine label images.

The data can be used strictly for educational purposes, as a way to learn more about a particular wine. At the same time, its point-of-sale implications are huge.
 
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The Gamification of Data

June 24, 2013 By

Post by: Russell Perkins, ICG

Russell Perkins, ICG

Marketing research is really all about gathering data, and a lot of that data is gathered via surveys. And, not surprisingly, market researchers are finding it harder than ever to get people to participate in their surveys, finish the surveys even when they do participate, and supply trustworthy, high quality answers all the way through. It’s a vexing problem, and it is one that is central to the future of this industry. 
 
That’s where gamification comes in. Some of the smartest minds in the research business think that by making surveys more fun and more engaging, they can not only improve response rates, but actually gather better quality data. And this has implications for all of us.
 

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People Power

June 10, 2013 By

Russell Perkins, ICG

Post by: Russell Perkins, ICG

There was news this week about the formation of Bloomberg Beta, a new venture capital fund sponsored by data company Bloomberg LP. One of Bloomberg Beta’s early investments is a company called Newsle, that will alert you whenever someone you specify (a friend or colleague) is in the news.

This is a tough nut to crack. Searching thousands of news sources and trying to determine if the John Smith mentioned in an article is the same John Smith of interest to you is a complex undertaking. But what really intrigued me is that those who have written about Newsle see another major problem that the company faces: lack of activity. Think about it. If you import your list of Facebook friends (something Newsle encourages you to do), the chances of any of them appearing in news stories is pretty low. That means most people will sign up for Newsle and nothing will happen, not because Newsle isn’t working, but because there is no news to report.

But what if Newsle flipped its model? Instead of serving individuals who for the most part have small lists of mostly boring contacts, why not hook up with commercial data publishers, many of whom have tens and even hundreds of thousands of contacts in their databases?

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