Thoughtopsy: [process]

I want it all...

I have to admit that blogging is tough.  I like to think that I have enough original thoughts within a given 24 hour period that I can think of something to write about...but to find new and refreshing things that appease to an audience can be daunting.  So it becomes important to stay connected, and to be current with what's happening in the world; but have it all delivered in one concise format.

One thing a couple of us use is NetVibes.  It's an RSS aggregator that allows you to have a lot of information at your fingertips.  We have our basecamp feeds, News feeds, and weather as well as RSS feeds from our favorite blogs (Godin, Kawasaki, etc.).  Netvibes has even started a new tool called 'NetVibes Universe' where a company can show the world all of the things its interested in by making its own NetVibes page for the world to see.

All that being said, it's still not there...it's still hard to take it all in, and there's still a lot of stuff that I have to sift through to find meaningful content.  But in being ever diligent, we've stumbled upon a couple more that are kind of staggering in their ability to take a whole lot of content and condense it into a meaningful interface and presentation.  Popurls is a newer site (i think) that is a nice clean dashboard of content from the most visited sites on the net.  And to really get dizzy, try browsing Go2Web20 - every 'web 2.0' site...ever.

Good lucky, happy browsing, and I hope you stumble upon meaningful stuff...Goodness knows it's not easy.

-- brett vantil

How many ways can it be said?

I ran across a fun read on BNET called "World's Most Clueless Marketing Group".  A fun iteration of something that I feel on almost a daily basis; horrible execution on what is supposed to be a no-brainer function of a company. (in this case a PR hungry research firm being PR impaired)

Instead of getting frustrated, I see all of those things as opportunities - an opportunity to learn and to soak in how NOT to do things...and how no matter how small, the details matter, and they all need to sing harmoniously to strengthen your brand.  A trick to design-centric thinking from Tom Peters; pay attention to what's not working, or what seems underwhelming, or just plain bad.

...nope, we don't have it down yet either, but we try harder everyday AND we know the difference...and "knowing is half the battle".

Inspiration...

In the world of Content Media Production, every once and a while you come across a spot that encourages you to keep going and continue making great media.  This was once of those spots.  It won many awards and rightly so, but the tone and the story-telling are just perfect.  Enjoy.

Mark Cuban is dancing...

...with the stars.  Yes, yet another public figure with some level of recognizability has signed on for another season of  'Dancing with the Stars'.  Not only Mark Cuban, but Helio Castroneves (Indy racing fame), a '90210' alum, a spice girl, a cheetah girl, the Welterweight Champion of the World (Mayweather), Marie Osmond (she's a little bit country) and....Mr. Wayne Newton.

I respect Marc's reason for doing the show as laid out in his blog.  But the question I have is why the show period?  Why was this show made?  Why do people watch?  What awesome spin offs can we expect soon as ratings seem to remain steady or even growing (Swapping Wives with Extreme Home Makeover experts while we Flip This House on Survivor Island while Big Brother becomes the Apprentice?).  Which forces me to contemplate the world we live in; one that can get me so excited for what's possible, so excited to participate in this new economy, new thinking, and new experiences...But yet one that cranks out mind-numbing reality show after reality show that literally offers you the opportunity to put your life on hold while you watch others live theirs; like the Sims without the heavy lifting of clicking a mouse.

So, although I agree with Marc's take on experiencing all that you can, one experience I will gladly forgo is catching the new season of 'Dancing with the Stars'.  Instead I joined an online forum where we watch paint dry via webcam....and I'll take that any day over seeing another confused celebrity try to muster one more paycheck out of past (or even present) glory by wearing tight pants and sequins.

PLEASE Enlighten me...I'm all ears.

-- brett vantil

The Rules of Business

Harvard Business School has created an entertaining, interactive website entitled The Rules of Business. (If the interface drives you crazy, click on the List View in the lower left corner.) via Xplane's bBlog

On the other end of the spectrum, a few things you won't pick up at Harvard Business School: How to Survive...Being a Slacker.

What is your ego-meter?

In fine form, Guy Kawasaki brings us another great blog on the book "Egonomics" (not to be confused with Wikinomics or Freakonomics).  In an interesting twist, the author Steven Smith opens the conversation to talk about how the issue of "ego" monetarily affects a company.  Steven Smith says:

"Over half of all businesspeople estimate ego costs their company six to fifteen percent of annual revenue; many believe that estimate is too conservative. But even if ego were only costing six percent of revenue, the annual cost of ego would be nearly $1.1 billion to the average Fortune 500 company."

As a company, how do you avoid losing dollars on your profit / loss sheet due to ego?  The real question lies in, how can a company measure ego and guard against it?  Steven has a great comment on what the opposite of ego truly is...

"Humility is the only real way to become great, everything else being equal. As a trait, humility is the point of equilibrium between too much ego and not enough. Humility has a reputation of being the polar opposite of excessive ego. In fact, the exact opposite of excessive ego is no confidence at all. Humility provides the crucial balance between the two extremes."

At first glance this appears to be a great book to develop a "healthy ego" as well as learn how to deal with working for an "egomaniac".  And since APPLE is hot in the news now for multiple reasons, here is a ego quote by Steven regarding Steve Jobs:

"He’s always been exceptionally gifted as a creator and designer, but he used those gifts in a way that drove people away from his company and minimized the talent and creative IQ of the people around him. Once he was kicked out of Apple, life began to humble him through his own health challenges, his reputation, losing what he created, etc. Interestingly, Steve came out of that time of his life with a healthier ego, because life had humbled him and he accepted the lessons.

At his commencement speech at Stanford a couple of years ago Steve said, “I’m pretty sure none of this [NeXT, Pixar, his return to Apple, the iPod and iTunes] would have happened if I hadn’t been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it.”

 

 

User-Generated Video Contest Roundup

It's hard to keep track of all the corporate promotions and contests out there looking for user-generated videos but here's a quick rundown of a few and why they work or don't.

For Showtime's "Weeds" you can upload your video rendition of the show's opening song "Little Boxes" for the Homegrown Humor Sweepstakes. Problem 1: Most stoners can't sing. The contest ends up being more of a talent show gone awry and leads me to wonder why parents would submit videos of their kids singing the theme to a show openly promoting drug use. Must be the $10,000.

Horrorfest is accepting videos for their Miss Horrorfest 2007 Competition. Like most of these contests the guidelines and rewards are very vague. Who is Miss Horrorfest? What are her duties? In the event of assasination, who is next in line to the Miss Horrorfest crown? Of course this isn't about the search for Miss Horrorfest as much as the eyes of the million teenage boys on YouTube.

Novartis Vaccines is accepting videos for the FluFlix Video Contest. I'm having trouble imagining anyone getting excited about making a video about the flu that is G-rated (which is one of their guidelines). They do promise the winning video "will be seen by adoring fans across the globe" and will help you gain "street cred" as a bonafide filmmaker. Sounds like someone in their marketing department just found out about YouTube or they need to blow some money in their education/outreach budget.

Nesquik's Show Us How You Shake It video contest is probably the most engaging of all of the current offerings. It works because it's simple, the only requirements are Nesquik and shaking, allowing ample room for fun, creativity, and personalization. And if there's one thing I've noticed about YouTube it's people like to shake it.

The video hosting/remix site Eyespot is hosting several contests as well. Make a music video remix of the new Smashing Pumpkins or Polyphonic Spree song. Eyespot gives the user a handful of materials to get started with like mp3's, greenscreen footage, and movie clips. Users can remix shared assets and upload their own material to work into their remix. The site features a web-based editing application that allows you make remixes within the site. For the most part the videos end up being people just messing around with the remix tools with relatively few well-constructed ideas.

Jumpcut is similar to Eyespot in that it features an web-based video editor and several contests . You can make a political video for Mitt Romney, that is, a video that supports Mitt. The only problem is remixing pre-approved and provided material leaves you with very few outcomes that will never be as good as real political ads. The best political video this season didn't follow any rules.

Are contests really necessary? How about making people feel like part of something bigger than themselves? And keep it simple.