The BBC reports here that the Symbian operating system will be made open source.   Symbian is currently used by Nokia and Sony Ericsson and is owned by a consortium formed out of the UK electronics and PDA maker Psion.  I owned several Psion devices and they were well ahead of their time.  But, that was over 10 years ago; prior to implementation of Bluetooth and prior to integrated smartphones.  The operating system was great, but was never really developed further under the Symbian tab.   Hopefully, hopefully, the open source community will be able to do something great with it.

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There seems to be a growing tension in the world of social media!

Almost every client brief now asks how we would place brands within the social environment. And I find myself questioning if there really is a place for every, or even any brand, within our personal pages online?

Aren’t the likes of Facebook and Twitter the realm of mates rather than marketing, of chat instead of commerce, of sharing, not shopping?

Perhaps it is for these very reasons that brands are so keen to be part of the social sphere? Marketing managers doubtless recognise this ‘emotional’ environment as very different from the “rational” destinations they create for their own brands online. They no doubt also note their own changed state of mind, when looking at their Facebook pages or writing their latest Tweet? These are times when we are all off-duty, open-minded, less cynical and potentially more receptive.

As an agency, we DO believe there is a place for brands within the social sphere, but only if a certain mindset and approach is applied:

• social media is a personal, emotional space – standard advertising and promotion isn’t appropriate
• context and personalisation are key, relating to users, their likes and dislikes, preferably on an individual basis, are likely to engage and, therefore, succeed
• considering and involving friends and groups is a powerful way to achieve relevant and timely interest
• overall, this is a pretty intolerant space – ‘road-blocking’ or ’spamming’ is guaranteed to create a negative brand reaction

In summary, our belief is that there is no problem combining brand messages with our personal spaces, as long as sensitivity and care are used.

Playing devil’s advocate now, allowing advertiser access to our beloved social media sites may be a necessity anyway! Facebook, Twitter and other social spaces operate under generally unsustainable revenue models today. Inviting brands to get more involved may be the only way we can hold on to these sites we have become so attached to.

Indeed, it would appear that Facebook’s recent news about imminent profitability is heavily driven by The Gift Shop, Facebook Connect, and other ways brands can engage on a deeper, better informed level with consumers, as opposed to monetisation of display advertising alone.

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So like a lot of geeks today I read the tweets and live blogs about the rumor that a new iPhone would appear.  No disappointment – Apple smacked the ball out of the park.  They reacted perfectly to the market conditions:  keep innovating through the recession, drop prices where you can and provide lower cost entry points into the product families.

I owned the first gen iPhone, bought the 3G last year and was about to buy the new iPhone 3G S.  $299 for the new one? No problem.  One small problem though, the at&t small print:

For non-qualified customers, including existing AT&T customers who want to upgrade from another phone or replace an iPhone 3G, the price with a new two-year agreement is $499 (8GB), $599 (16GB), or $699 (32GB).

So my reward for having been an at&t customer for 6 years and bought both iPhones?  A $400 premium.

F**k you at&t.  This is why as soon as Verizon get’s iPhone, you are toast.

For more understanding of why this happens read this Wikipedia article on Monopoly Rent.  Essentially certain economic conditions allow companies to take the piss out of consumers.  The problem is that whilst they have tremendous leverage over the consumer with the demand this device will draw, we still have a choice.

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Way back in 1992 in the UK there was a hotspot based phone service called Rabbit, launched by Hutchison (now Hutchison Whampoa).  In essence a user bought a handset, resembling something between a mobile and a cordless phone that could be used to make phone calls within 100 meters of a hotspot.  My home town, Manchester, had more or less full coverage by late 1992.

According to wikipedia 12,000 base-stations were live and at the peak the service had 10,000 subscribers.  The service ceased in late 1993 due to price drops on the analog cellular networks and the ability for those networks to accept inbound calls.

The phone-less sibling of the iPhone, the iPod Touch, is now becoming the successor to the Rabbit.  Loaded with Skype (or equivalent VoIP service) and a headset with microphone the iPod Touch is now a nearly fully fledged phone.  With the new 3.0 iPhone / Touch operating system it will be a fully fledged outbound and inbound phone experience.  Of course, the only place you’ll be able to make or receive calls is within range of a subscribed wifi hot spot.

The irony is that the cellular networks superseded the Rabbit, but the iPod Touch and VoIP could supersede the cellular phone.

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Automotive Perfection

A new client in the automotive sector generously treated us to a VIP tour. This has an immediate consequence in that you arrive quite fancying a V8 Vantage ‘one day’ only to find that this was a school-boy error. You now need one very urgently and contemplate serious crime to have the keys to a DBS tomorrow.

It works like this. The seduction begins with the sheer architectural class of the buildings, the charm of the reception team and a selection of cars on which to gaze (including a cut away revealing a quite incredible attention to detail). Things move up a gear when you peruse the collection of historical cars, all immaculate. With the lineage as the appetiser and James Bond as your host the production line itself is almost too much. By the time you have seen gearbox-meet-driveshaft-meet-engine and the whole powertrain bonding with its body in the marriage station you are very excited indeed. Raybans are needed for the grand finale; inspection bays with zillions of lights to show up the slightest blemish. From my vantage point I couldn’t see any whatsoever; just a car parked in each that was automotive perfection, attended to by people who cared, and took pride.

It is one thing to see any sort of manufacturing going on in this country of ours; it is quite another to see a facility that is very likely without equal anywhere in the world. If you are considering a 911 do go and just make sure you don’t deserve something with a little more class. Quite wonderful.

Image used under a Creative Commons license, courtesy of char1iej on Flickr.

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iDrive, from BMW

Discussing the latest version of iDrive in a friend’s BMW made me think of the wide impact the name iPod has had. So far as I know it was the first to coin the ‘i’ and now we have everything from iDrive (BMW) to the iPlayer (BBC). Shows that a name being established in one market doesn’t mean you can’t leverage the idea in another. You only have to look at Apple, Orange and Blackberry to see that. Then again, using a vowel as a prefix is not a new concept… e-Type, o-Ring or even u-Boat. Can’t think of a name beginning with a- though. Might have to take a-look into that.

iDrive image used under a Creative Commons license, courtesy of Jon Large’s photostream on Flickr

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I really believe Ford has an opportunity to clean up here in the US. First, it’s more than likely that (at least) one of the other BIG 3 will go out of business and second, Ford has had this amazing, innovation base in it’s European franchizes. BEtween the two major development centers in Spain and the UK, Ford Europe has been pumping out fantastic cars and is, subsequently, seen as a quality brand. No, not as high as BMW, Audi, etc. but taking a step down, you would be looking at Ford. Boasting an amazing range to suit every need and budget, and with world beaters such as Focus RS, one of the meanest hot hatches around, Ford have an arsenal that none of the other Detroit manufacturers can truly compete with. And now it seems, they’re also rethinking their advertising and marketing philosophy. Maybe having financial hardship is a good thing for Ford!

Tameka Kee reported a campaign they’re running which is test to test the limits of social media branding:

“Later this month, it will hand over the branding and promotion duties for the car to 100 twenty-somethings who have no advertising experience.

Ford is giving each of them a Fiesta to drive around; recipients range from award-winning indie filmmakers, to single moms, to aspiring dancers, and even avid gamers, and they’ll document their experiences with the car through YouTube vignettes, blog posts and other social media updates for six months. The kicker is that Ford will have no control over what they post, meaning the effort could ultimately end up tarnishing the brand almost a year before it hits U.S. dealerships.”

But it’s a risk Ford has to take—since it’s in a fight (to the death?) to attract young, tech-savvy consumers that may have never thought about buying a domestic car before. The company believes that traditional marketing won’t sway this demographic.”

I really  think it’s a risk worth taken and definitely, highly calculated. The Fiesta platform has always tested well in Europe and often won “Best Small Car” awards, so the only thing to get over is the US perception that bigger is better – something that, again, is changing rapidly. The success of Mini and the surprising uptake of the Smart car is proof that attitudes are changing and it’s time for brands to experiement and discover the reall challenges and opportunites with online engagements. Time to move away from just doing funky, promotion-based micro sites and start considering the long tail of web marketing.

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Virgin Atlantic advert

As the resident retro geek at Last Exit, it will come as no surprise that I enjoyed the Virgin Atlantic ‘25 years and still red hot’ advert a great deal. Our Price records, Wimpy and a brick mobile phone – sadly destroyed in the making of the clip and therefore not available as an exhibit in the Last Exit collection – all set to the thumping tunes of Frankie goes to Hollywood. There is much to love here. And there is much to love here, to – your correspondent writing to you from (sadly) seat 42H on their VS001 flight to New York. It seems incredible that it all began so long ago – or that those of us who grew up with Virgin have now grown up. It was and remains my favourite airline, and I have flown on most of them. Us brand people sometimes have a hard time convincing sceptics of the value of branding – but you only have to look at Zavvi (closed for business 15 months after buying Virgin Records) and Absolute Radio (20% drop in listeners since changing from Virgin Radio) to see the power. I think the key to the Virgin brand is the ability to inspire and motivate both customers and their own people. The crew aboard this A340 all look just a touch over 25 themselves, but red hot? You bet.

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First it was the Newton (OK that didn’t work out so well) but now, it is film. I am talking 35mm. Three reasons:

1. The excellent Ian Farrell in Photography Monthly hits the nail on the head. “I like that I can’t instantly review what I’ve taken, in combination with the limited number of shots on a roll, this means I take more care framing up, and perhaps only take one or two frames. Or even none. When was the last time you framed up a shot with a DSLR and then decided it wasn’t worth taking?”. Exactly.

2. Quality. When you get married you ask your photographer to shoot film for a reason.

3. Ken Rockwell argues very coherently that the camera doesn’t matter (he has also sparked my interest in Ansel Adams) but you have to agree that these things are worth owning? Plenty on eBay for less than you can imagine.

I am off to Singapore and Thailand soon, and will take one with me. I’ll let you know how I get on.

Fuji Neopan 400 copyright Rage Wan 2009. Used under a Creative Commons license.

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Media vets launch eGuiders online video guide: USA Today covers the launch of eGuiders.com, a site that aims to be the TV Guide for online video. Founded by new media exec and filmmaker Marc Ostrick and Columbia University professor and producer Evangeline Morphous, the site serves up reviews of what its editorial team thinks are the best clips on the web; the idea is that viewers will use it as a jump-off point for finding quality content instead of having to comb through tons of sub-par clips. “We are trying to reach people who are maybe (ages) 24 to 49 who don’t have time to cut through that clutter and go through various websites to find that gem,” Ostrick told USAT.

Roll on á la carte viewing

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