Gaming consoles the saviours of broadcasters?

Following on from the launch of Project Natal (the new Xbox console controller) by Microsoft this week, it seems the reverberations are already being felt.

The claim made by Steve Spielberg that Project Natal would open up the world of gaming to a wider audience, outside of the usual suspects, has already reached the ears of the broadcasters and they are buying into it, and now responding.

Today, Sky (equivalent of Foxtel) in the UK have launched their TV-on-demand service 'Sky Player' on Microsoft’s Xbox Live platform.

This move is significant and will help kick-start a rush of content owners and broadcasters keen to get on board the growing games console market.

From October 2009, Xbox Live will offer the Sky Player, including live pay-TV channels such as Sky Sports and an on-demand library of pro­grammes, movies, news and sport.

The deal will allow Xbox Live users to sign up to a number of subscription packages, to be revealed closer to launch, as well as watch programming on a pay-per-view basis.

The move is part of Sky’s continuing strategy to extend its services across multiple platforms to reach a wider audience and grow its customer base above and beyond the traditional TV set.

Sky follows the BBC, which has already launched its iPlayer on the Nintendo Wii and Sony PlayStation 3, but it’s the first broadcaster to move onto the Xbox Live platform, now tipped to grow dramatically as a result of Project Natal.

These significant partnerships come as broadcasters push on-demand services from the PC to the TV, and industry experts predict games consoles will be the next platform to drive this content as more are connected to the internet.

Last year 12.2m Xbox consoles were connected to the internet, and this is expected to grow by 36% to 16.7m globally in 2009.

This represents huge opportunities for content companies and broadcasters looking to extend their reach and boost monetisation in the face of declining standard TV audiences and advertising spends, they now have the chance to monetise on-demand services on a much larger scale....

A quote from Andy Taylor, digital media director at production company All3Media, said, “Games consoles are the next natural step for broadcasters looking at other ways to get their on-demand content onto TV.”

Ultimately, broadcasters wants to get content to viewers wherever they are, whether that’s TV, online or Xbox....

Great quote from Seth Godin

"It’s easy and hopeful and exciting to start something, but challenging and often painful to finish it"

Project Natal is unveiled....

Microsoft has unveiled it's new Xbox user interface aka Project Natal at the E3 gaming conference in the US.
The interface can be likened to the Wii....but on steroids.

The point of note is that the interface recognises and responds to the movement of a players entire body, as opposed to simply hand and wrist movements.

It also has voice recognition, motion sensors, responds to players moods based on tonality and has the ability to interact at a human level...

This is the stuff that science fiction writers have only dreamed about and it works!

Project Natal has the potential to revolutionise game playing and will, no doubt, expand the reach of the gaming world beyond just nerds and spotty teenage boys...this has mass appeal....

So what could it mean for advertisers???

A few things that are already jumping out are the possibilities for fashion brands - Microsoft demonstrated a personalised avatar with the players exact proportions and colouring trying on dresses on the Xbox in the privacy of her own home..

And what about Movies?

Steve Spielberg has even been raving about it and promoting it....

He currently designs games for EA and now has the freedom and creative license to take his games to another level - could this mean no more cinemas with movies screened on consoles?

Imagine watching movies, shopping, looking inside a car at a virtual dealership, viewing houses etc...all in the privacy of your own home and with the ability to share these experiences with your friends?

This is exciting!

The Concept of 'FOREVERISM'

There is a new distinct trend emerging labelled 'Foreverism' by Trendwatching.com.

Adopted by Consumers & Businesses alike, we are starting to embrace conversations & communications that are 'never done'....

'Foreverism' is described as:

"Encompassing the many ways that consumers and businesses are embracing conversations, relationships, and products that are never done. Driving its popularity is technology that allows them to find, follow, interact and collaborate forever with anyone & anything."

From a consumer point of view, people are constantly establishing, developing, expanding & nuturing their online presences. Whether you have a Facebook page, a Myspace profile, a Linked In account or a Twitter persona....

This is a form of online biography or personal encyclopedia which we are eternally updating with photos, statuses, tweets. blogs, life feeds etc
The information will live on forever, it's our digital footprint and it's been cached in the online world and we will, in most likelihood, never remove it...

The omni-presence of online profiles will only continue to grow as time goes on and generational trends take hold....in the future an online presence will potentially reach 99% of the population.

Therefore, this 'foreverism', with it's connections & conversations, will continue between friends, family, acquaintances, strangers (omegle) and even brands until the end of time....

Brands and businesses entering into the online world are increasingly recognising the importance of dialogue versus monologue, of inclusive versus exclusive and of interactive versus static. However, in doing so, they are beginning a conversation with their customers that should, in theory, never end.

Big brands such as Bank Of America and Starbucks have assigned Chief Bloggers, Directors of Digital Care, Customer Relationships Experts, Social Media Strategists, Heads of Social Media, and even, ‘Corporate Twitterers’ to personally manage their Twitter conversations.

This is a relatively new action taken by these big brands, but for the first time customers will have a direct link to businesses which they can use to vent their anger, complaints and generally have a whinge.

However, once businesses open up (warts and all) and get past the first hurdle and initial pain of angry customers, they will see a huge benefit to their business.

They can use direct customer connections to create advocacy, build repeat purchase based on relationships, get feedback on new products & services, use them as a forum for research & development and ultimately build their business based on their customers - that's the way it should be!

The potential end result of starting and maintaining such open dialogue will be happier customers, less complaints and a more balanced customer/business relationship, but that all hinges on the continuation of these strategies and the longevity of the communication.

To do this, businesses much break the cycle of thinking in product-mode, or campaign periods and change to human-like 'Foreverism' mode.

The current economic climate is a catalyst for change and consumers are desperate to be able to trust, understand and even like brands. Fundamental changes to the old relationships will happen, so make 'Foreverism' part of your thinking today.

Social media marketing is not right for everyone....

I read a great article this week in BusinessWeek entitled "Beware Social Media Myths".

The piece was essentially exploring the use of social media for small businesses and busting open some of the key myths surrounding the hype and current media obsession with social networking sites and their uses.

I have edited some of the main myths below which i think are key for everyone to remember...

MySpace, Twitter, and Facebook are all the rage, but for most business owners there are better ways to stay close to customers

Myth 1. Social media sites are free:

Using social media sites isn't as easy or cheap as many people think.
Sure, most let you set up an account for free and you can integrate other services, such as your blog or Google's YouTube videos, at no charge.

But there's a significant cost: your time.

Because there's nothing worse than a site that's not current and to keep it current, someone's going to need to spend time.

This includes responding to visitors' questions, posting brilliant thoughts, adding graphics, and monitoring activity—basically trying to generate buzz.
Old information—a stagnant site, comments left without response—are death in the social networking community.

Myth 2. You need to be on all the big sites:

Besides spending a lot of time and effort, businesses who have succeeded with social networking sites generally focus on just a few of them.
Just because the media says it's cool to tweet doesn't mean it has anything to do with your business.
If you're going to to frequent social community sites, don't spread yourself too thin.

Most of the guys I know who use these things successfully pick their weapon and give it their all.

Myth 3. Social networking sites are for marketing:

Baloney. I've learned from other smart business owners that social communities are not for marketing. They're for service.

They are places to use to get closer to customers and respond to their needs. "Wherever they are, that's where I'll go,"

By providing quick and helpful customer service through these sites, you can foster loyalty and satisfaction, resulting in more sales.

Myth 4. Social networking sites are the future:

Really? Some of these cool and trendy sites aren't going to be so cool and trendy in the near future.

The percentage of Twitter users in a given month who return the following month has languished below 30% for most of the past year, according to Nielsen Wire. And MySpace recently suffered a decline in monthly traffic volumes and remember GeoCities? Yahoo! is shutting it down.

Social networking is a permanent phenomenon but that doesn't mean its main players today will be the main players tomorrow.

The above myths are not groundbreaking or particularly difficult to understand, in fact they are basic things that we all know.....but regularly forget.

You can read the full article here: http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/may2009/tc20090522_078978.htm?campaign_id=rss_tech

Marketings Gen X vs Gen Y: Broadcast vs Digital....

Before i start, i want to make it crystal clear that i am in no way trying to incite a generational war between Gen X and Gen Y within the marketing world....i think (in general) Gen X'ers are lovely, educated & experienced people from whom we can all learn some valuable lessons....

Now that's covered.....what is it with Gen X'ers!!!

Today i stood up and presented a view of the future of the communications landscape.

I showed them the change in the online ecosystem, the change in media consumption overall and then the change in how we, as a world, are communicating...

Over 200m Facebook profiles, 65,000 new videos uploaded to Youtube per day, 4,000,000 wikipedia articles etc....and these numbers are from 2008!

I showed them the 14% (of people trust advertising) versus 78% (trust their peers) study from Nielsen.

I showed them the Dominos scandal video and the impact that it had on sales - 30% decrease in North Carolina alone...

I showed them the bad examples (pimp my kettle) and i showed them the good (starbucks)....

I showed them the king of online grassroots communication - Barack Obama - who built a community of 6m profiles on Mybarackobama, 13m email addresses, 3m facebook friends....and 88% of total funds raised from individual contributions...

PRETTY COMPELLING STUFF RIGHT??

So what happened?

.....I got heckled by the Gen X'ers.

Yep....heckled.

What did they say? Below i have outlined a choice selection of verbatims:

"Why is the internet not regulated"
"i will never join facebook"
"user generated content is not credible"
"the internet is not credible"
"i can't show my client what people are saying about them online, i would be embarresed"
"Why shouldn't we just ignore it?"
"why are idiots online allowed to upload videos?"

I was pretty much personally blamed for the downfall of Dominos pizza, it was almost like i had put the cheese up my own nose!

And when i (sarcastically) suggested we censor the internet like China they actually agreed!

They just don't get it, probably never will.

They still believe reach & frequency are key, i think Kevin Kellys concept of 1,000 fans should be our new mantra...

All i have done today in my presentation is highlight the gap between Gen X and Gen Y - but if i was telling you that all you had done for 20 years was no longer valid, you'd be pissed too...

I'd like to leave you with one parting thought

Brain Dump: Comms Strategy Framework