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Not satisfied with the generic category of “early adopters” that describes the influential bloggers in Silicon Valley, Jeremiah has developed new water-borne terminology to further segmentize this group.

Enter the epicenter, pebble, swimmer, surfer, boater, with-the-fleet...

In short, a trend initiator (founder) is the epicenter and the subsequent characters simply reflect the difference in “content” consumption frequencies of the other early adopters.

If you know the founder personally who showed u his invention in secret, congrats ‘cos you are a pebble.

If you twitter, you are a swimmer.

Bloggers are surfers.

If you read it from Facebook, you are a poor boater..

If you read it from a mainstream outlet like New York Times, you are a fleeter.

If you are not listed here, I empathize with you. You are not the only victim of the information tsunami that swamps all of us.

What am I? I am thousand miles away from Silicon Valley in Singapore and definitely fall in the surfer-and-beyond outer ring of influence. I am only the pebble when epicenters happen in Singapore. But since many startups I have seen hardly moves any gears in Silicon Valley or beyond this island, I cause mere ripples.

End of meaningless rant after a rusty blogging hiatus.

Kaiser Kuo has a new blog for Ogilvy and he does some prophesizing:

I don’t think the day’s far off when a smart ad server with the right tools can track mobile user behavior in a meaningful and useful way–serving a post-roll ad to a user based NOT on the content of the NBA highlights he just watched on his phone, but based on the fact that he’s looked done two mobile searches on pizza and visited a pizza parlor’s WAP site all in the last ten minutes, and (LBS comes in) on the fact that he’s just a bus stop away from another pizza franchise that happens to be our client. He finishes the clip, and he gets hit with the image of a thin-crust pepperoni slice leaving strands of?cheese as it’s pulled away from its mother pie. Then all he has to do is tap a button to be connected by voice, toll free. He orders, and gets a discount to boot. And his pizza is coming out of the oven just as he gets off the bus and saunters in. (via)

Let me do some doodling and connect some dots here.

Ogilvy (is a unit of its parent)–> WPP (who just bought)–> 24/7 Real Media (and has this press release dated April ‘07)–> Open AdStream® Mobile Edition

Maybe the future ain’t too far off…

I am talking about the new-found bravado from Microsoft who finally found the balls to buy a company (read: aQuantive). Sitting on at least $30 billion of spare cash, it always stumps me why they keep losing out on the cool deals to Google who only has half their valuation. This time round, it looks like they lost their nerve and bought in panic..

TheStreet.com fills us in with sagely advice:

“aQuantive gets most of its revenue — 60%, by investment bank Goldman Sachs’ estimates — by selling services to advertisers who want to reach customers through digital forums. That sets aQuantive apart from other online ad companies like DoubleClick, which was recently acquired by Google, or ValueClick, which has seen its stock soar amid takeover speculation. Those companies are known for selling technologies to Web publishers who want to place ads on their own sites, not advertisers.

And while aQuantive is often mentioned in the same breath as DoubleClick or ValueClick, it’s unique in having the ear of so many top notch online advertisers. And that’s why aQuantive is so valuable to Microsoft. The traditional method of selling software in shrink-wrapped packages and through expensive annual licenses is being displaced by a more nimble way in which software is delivered over the Internet. Some of this so called Software-as-a-Service, or SaaS, model will rely on having ads placed next to it, which Microsoft knows.

Its interesting how TheStreet points towards SaaS as a potential revenue goldmine for Microsoft, we know Salesforce is the king on the SaaS front. But it looks like the big ol’d dinosaur organization from Seattle is one step behind their fleet-footed Mountain View nemesis:

Google and Salesforce.com are reportedly discussing a broad partnership that might help them in their ongoing battles against Microsoft. Both companies are the largest in their chief markets - Web search and advertising for Google and online customer relationship management for Salesforce - and have recently expanded into areas of business software now dominated by Redmond, Wash., software giant Microsoft. (via Mercury News)

The drama doesn’t seem to end, does it? Stay tuned for the next episode…

.. for the business folks and website owners, at least.

If you are a Adwords consultant or rely on Google Analytics for your bread and butter, salvation is here. Google launched their “third leg in the stool” called the Google Website Optimizer.

Google considers Website Optimizer the third leg of the proverbial stool with AdWords dedicated to driving Web traffic and Google Analytics focused on measuring Web activity… (It is ) a product designed to help Web site owners test drive different landing pages in order to determine which designs drive the most conversions.

Is it me or is Google getting more uninspiring with their naming? Google “Docs and Spreadsheets” anyone? In any case, I need to get to a website with real stuff to sell or pitch to try out this stuff..

HiPiHi: The World Exists Because Of You. (Literal translation from Chinese) The name is derived from 3 base words: I, Hi, Hapi (or the phonetically similar “Happy”).

Currently in closed beta testing, HiPiHi has generated some interest on Second Life Insider and debates on whether this will take off in China.

Some key observations (the entire site is written in Chinese, so i play translator here):

• Hipihi was founded way back in October 2005 in Zhongkuanchun, Beijing. Second Life took a long time to be developed too before its launch.
• The founders are mainly Xu Hui and Rao XueWei.
• The founders are guys but everything else in their marketing, including their promo video here, appears to target the female crowd.
• The whole site and virtual world uses Chinese as the main language.
• There are two main products: Hipihi World and Hipihi Home
  • Hipihi World is exactly like Second Life: avatars can fly and modify their own appearances, build houses, explore the land with planes, choppers and hot air balloons, which HipiHi calls public transportation systems. You can also have steering controls over your flight, offering a chance to fly your own plane. Options for parachuting also exists. The World seems to be organized around malls and town squares with socializing at its very core. Of course, avatars can also buy land and build their own houses. I see a lucrative industry coming up.
  • Hipihi Home appears to be modelled after CyWorld. It is positioned as a personal space and private communication platform between friends. Users will own their “living rooms”, procure furniture and be able to invite their friends to their “homes” and attend parties at others too. Whats most interesting is the mention of a convergence between internet and mobile. Could Hipihi be a dual-screen innovation? We will have to wait for the launch
• Like Second Life, Hipihi users will own the property rights to their in-world creations.
• There will also be a in-world currency, implying a virtual economy to facilitate user-to-user transactions. Perhaps the first and Chinese-originated millionaire in Second Life, Anshe Chung, has made virtual world creators think Chinese are the best market for such a product?

Kaiser Kuo, who is accredited for this post, has the following thoughts:

My gut tells me that done right, this could be quite substantial in China, and might have more legs than its U.S. counterpart. For one thing, MMORPG culture is pretty deeply embedded among Chinese netizens, and many players are very used to “repatriating” currency earned in the in-game economy to real life. HiPiHi seems to have made dumbed-down object creation tools available while keeping more advanced options available to the more proficient–don’t quote me on that, I’ve not really played around with it yet.

There’s a definite feminine sensibility to the pitch video, which you can download (.wmv) here: a female narrator and avatar, emphasis on the outfits, the landscaping, the houses. Going after women is probably the right move: there are plenty of online gamers in China, but few of the hack-and-slash MMORPGs really work for women.

The promotional video done by Hipihi is available here. Again, its all narrated in Chinese but it being visual-based video, is self-explanatory enough.

Update: This article, via a syndication on the SGEntrepreneurs blog, has also been picked up by Raph Koster and Gigagamez.

True to its upbeat ways, Piper Jaffray, the uber-optimistic financial services firm to the Internet industry , is back again with a 425-page report called “The User Revolution: The New Advertising Ecosystem and The Rise of the Internet as a Mass Medium.”

Wow. Big words, among other things, it also invented a new word “Communitainment” (See Point No. 3) to feed the raging flames of Web 2.0. Key findings from this report (which dun seem to be privy to nosey folks like me):

We expect global online advertising revenue to reach $81.1 billion by 2011, representing a 21% CAGR (2006-2011).

The User Revolution. The advertising world is going through a revolution, one that we call the “User Revolution” as it is happening primarily with the consumers, who are taking control of content consumption and branding. We believe this trend will cause a significant rise in prominence of the Internet as a major content consumption and marketing medium.

“Communitainment.” The Internet has increasingly become a principal medium for community, communication, and entertainment–three areas that have collided together and are impacting each other’s growth–generating a new type of activity that we call communitainment.

The Internet Is Mainstream. The Internet has become a mainstream media outlet that now rivals traditional media for reach and advertising dollars.

Media Fragmentation. The proliferation of online and offline media outlets has resulted in shrinking television audiences and an increasingly fragmented media landscape.

The Golden Search. We believe search continues to gain ground, driven by the rise of search as the New Portal, the increasing use of search in branding campaigns, and the local search opportunity.

We believe Google’s wide variety of non-search-related products creates a virtuous cycle of brand affinity that drives incremental search volume.

Video Ads Could Drive The Next Wave. We believe Internet video ads could become a game changer for large brand advertisers, who are used to the 15- or 30-second TV commercial

Internet Usage Patterns Are Changing. Portals maintain the highest reach, but the fastest growing category of destinations is communitainment sites such as MySpace and Facebook.

Ad networks are experiencing increased demand due to increasing Internet fragmentation, desire for more targeted inventory, increasing usage of networks for branding, and increased site visibility.

Agencies are rapidly evolving into more sophisticated, technology-savvy entities that combine best of breed offerings.

Watch These Companies. We espect companies such as Google (and YouTube), Yahoo!, Disney, News Corp, Time Warner, Microsoft, InterActive, Facebook, Craigslist, Brightcove, Yelp, SINA Corp., Baidu, aQuantive, ValueClick, 24/7 Media, Netflix, Wikipedia, MobiTV, Digg, and Hakia to be the most important players to watch.

Is there something you do not know here? While this report incorporates China’s major internet players, Kaiser Kuo of Ogilvy China is sceptical on the gross revenue figures due to the small size of China’s internet revenue base, despite impressive growth percentages.

I prefer to focus on ONE important trend mentioned. Of consumers taking over brand perceptions on the web. The online revolution has given a voice to the long-suffering consumers of many companies and I believe the uproar over some malpractices and product quality of companies that we have seen from Edelman’s Walmart disasters, Dell Hell is only the tip of the iceberg as consumers learn to band together and organize themselves. Two-way communication services such as IM and blogs will continue to be even more embedded in the service infrastructures of companies (the Customer Support department), product development processes to incorporate feedback and make pre-market testing more transparent and effective by giving sneak peeks to alpha consumers or bloggers. Marketers will also do well to start fine-tuning their advertising plans. This does not extend to 30-second TV commercials or the online equivalent of banner ads or video ads. They need to look at more interactive and engaging medium, perhaps Second Life properties for more immersive experiences, more advertorials in major online blogs and media outlets - essentially have higher visibility and presence to minimize the communication distance between corporate and consumer.

In response to the new word “Communitainment”, i will also invent my own - The Blogsumer (Blogger + Consumer).

Watch out, corporate world.

Jeremiah Owyang, from Podtech, has this beautiful summary of the various web marketing forms and tactics. I think of this post as the beginnings of the definitive guide that will enter all major marketing textbooks over the next couple of years. Get a headstart on everyone else NOW. If your company’s marketing director is pondering whether web marketing is restricted to mailing lists, newsletters or think that buying banner ads is really advanced, get ready for a re-education.

My favourite part is Section 5 “Community and Social Media Marketing”. I believe widgets will rule this year and get really mainstream, after Vista launches.

Kids today. They have no sense of shame. They have no sense of privacy. They are show-offs, fame whores, pornographic little loons who post their diaries, their phone numbers, their stupid poetry—for God’s sake, their dirty photos!—online. They have virtual friends instead of real ones. They talk in illiterate instant messages. They are interested only in attention—and yet they have zero attention span, flitting like hummingbirds from one virtual stage to another.

Have we not heard this from many of those old fogeys who dun really GET IT? Those who thinks blogs, social networking sites like Myspace, Facebook, Friendster are just disasters waiting to happen because they read about online paedophiles, spammers, stalkers, phishers who steal your account info, from the newspapers? How many of your friends are real camwhores?? =) FYI, i am not one but just to prove a point to you on the pic to my left: a complete stranger at SF Halloween Parade 2005.. (yea, its an old pic, check me out on facebook for newer ones) Well, its true they dun get it, they think the web is a fad and that the young today simply have no sense of decency nor understand what privacy is…

They could be dead wrong, but the young generation’s new web habits of exposing our public lives is certainly no different from the “Rock and Roll” culture that swept mainstream society decades ago. Titled “The Biggest Generation Gap Since Rock and Roll”, New York Magazine has this fantastically well-written article on what we know and identify with while the rest simply are clueless…

Thanks to Lightspeed Ventures for this..

UK seeks to ban and criminalize companies that engage in creation of fake marketing materials like flogs, splogs or other websites and claiming them to be users/ customers’ creations. Under charges of misrepresentation, social reviews will now be regulated to ensure higher authenticity. From TimesOnline:

Online consumer reviews are playing an ever greater role in shaping shopping habits, with websites such as TripAdvisor for the travel industry being seen as increasingly influential.

However, a string of businessman in the UK and the US have been caught posing as supposedly independent customers in an attempt to boost sales.

A recent investigation found that poorly rated travel establishments could lift their reputations from one to four stars in hours by posting fictional positive reviews.

Could this be the kneejerk response following Edelman PR agency’s unsuccessful forays into blogging for their clients, particularly “WalmartGate”? And more recently Pay Per Post’s brush with the FTC guys as covered here, here and here?

What next? Is this the beginning of an avalanche of legislation by govts around the world? Will Big Brother be stepping more to regulate the blogosphere?

Church of the Customer blog has the lowdown on user-generated advertisements making it to the Super Bowl this year. But first, see this CBS News article for a view from mainstream media.

This is not good news. The shift from professionally produced to user-generated advertising makes us poorer in both economic and cultural terms. The arrival of user-created commercials at Super Bowl XLI represents the American Idolization of traditional entertainment — the degeneration of professional content into a “talent show” for amateurs.

In complement, CBS was really mournful in the rest of the reporting, with phrases like “the professional creator is being “disintermediated.”, the “tsumani” of downward pressure on wages created by new technology” because amateur productions cost a minscule fraction of professional ones.

Amid all the hoopla of traditional advertising agencies dying or making a renaissance with this new channel of ad-making, I found this excerpt from Church of the Customer insightful:

Madison Avenue is not in the business of creating fans — it’s in the business of widespread message distribution. But Mad Ave’s influence and energy are fading not just because technology-assisted creativity is commoditizing their business, but because citizen-created content doesn’t care about New York’s infatuation with status and positioning debates. The power centers of influence are shifting to Google’s server farms and thousands of online communities. The fans have co-opted Madison Avenue’s work. Super Bowl ads are a circus freak show, and that’s how about much influence they carry because the minutiae of product, brand and company discussions are being shaped in online forums, which Google follows like a studious court reporter. The points made in those forums are often carried forward to offline discussions, where they’re added to the mixing bowl discussions of personal experiences of people and ultimately, their purchase decisions. There’s your advertising.

Change is good if its for the better. The dynamic range of quality for amateur productions is undoubtedly way higher than professional counterparts. But feeling apologetic for slow-moving dinosaurs in the advertising world who do not understand the new realities of social media today is wrong.

Who feels sorry for retailers with great products who cannot afford the huge fees of ad agencies? Who feels sorry for the customers who pay inflated prices? Why feel sorry for traditional advertising when you can use web forums, blogs, podcasts to reach out and interact with your consumers directly and more personally?

An example of a user-gen ad here