It has always amazed me how technology has continually moved our society. The past century the human race has seen more advances than the prior 2,000 combined. If it weren’t for visionary people many of the gadgets we take for granted today simply wouldn’t exist.

While it is commonly accepted that art imitates life, it is also obvious that life imitates art. This is no truer than in tech. Even the authors of the late 18th century provided creative fodder for the inventors of the 19th and 20th.

I’m a huge fan of portable tech devices. I owned a Palm Pilot years ago and have owned a mobile phone for the past 20 years. This on top of the pile of other gadgets I have acquired has only increased my thirst for tech.

Since the release of the iPad I have been salivating for one of these gadgets. The simple yet flexible functionality of the device is simply astonishing. Can it do everything a notebook computer can? Probably not but then again it isn’t supposed to.

I have realized that my desire for an iPad most likely stems from the science fiction I grew up on and the possibilities they teased us with. For years I watched the crew of “Star Trek” carry around amazing portable devices that could allow them to develop incredibly complex mathematical equations and comprehend the space-time continuum. While a great deal of what they spoke was complete fabricated jargon it still didn’t take away from the mystique.

I also noticed that in the Pixar file “The Incredibles” another of these futuristic devices made its own appearance. It is funny to reflect on watching the movie and the device seemed so futuristic in 2004 at the time but now I look at it and say “hey, that’s an iPad”.

It is amazing how far technology has caught up to fiction. We can only hope that the visionaries of the future keep pushing our boundaries forward and give us inspiration for the next generation of life altering devices.

I’ve written several posts about newspapers and their intent to put pay walls around content. Like this one and this one. It’s a subject I’ve followed with great interest in the last few years because I believe it’s flawed thinking. Read More

A cautionary tale.

It was a warm Saturday evening and I had to attend the wedding of a young employee from my company. I dressed in my best black cocktail dress and heels and was feeling fairly pleased with myself when Joe, my husband, and I headed over to the festivities.

The reception provided a good chance to “catch up” with some of our staffers. As it began to wind down one of my direct reports – a young guy – took it upon himself to patiently usher me out of the reception hall and out to my car with comments like “well, I guess this thing is over”, “time to get on out of here”.

I noticed that as soon as my car started heading out of the parking lot that my self-appointed escort had high-tailed it back into the building. Hmmm, odd I thought

By the time we reached home I realized that he was hustling “the boss” out so that he could get down to some serious partying. I felt just like Grandma Moses.

Once home I took my cranky self up to get ready for bed as Joe headed down to his man-cave. After shedding my slinky black dress and heels (and still mumbling obscenities under my breath) I headed into the master bath to wash up.

And that’s when my nail broke.

Need I share the murderous invectives that filled the air at this point? I thought not. Once I was able to regain a modicum of self-restraint my logical brain directed me to the new bottle of nail glue in my cabinet. I grabbed the bottle and struggled to open it. The cap was a real challenge – more so than usual. I thought something dropped out when the cap came off – but could find no evidence so I sloughed it off.

I spent the next few minutes – while the glue was drying on my nail – performing a few more of my nighttime ablutions. And then I was ready to depart from the bathroom. Only I couldn’t. The heel of my right foot was glued firmly to the floor tile.

I spent the next twenty minutes frantically trying to extricate myself so my husband would not laugh himself into cardiac arrest when he walked in. To no avail. Pulling my foot away would have resulted in the heel staying behind – not an option. I was unable to reach any potential tools that might help me scrape my foot off of that tile. So I gave up.

My next strategy was to begin yelling to Joe for help. Also to no avail. For about 45 minutes I gave periodic shouts in his general direction. None were heard down two flights and drowned out by his bevy of electronic gadgets – each noisy in its own way. Thank god I hadn’t set myself on fire!

I couldn’t even sit on the side of the tub to rest my weary bones as I waited to be rescued from my own bathroom. Finally I heard Joe’s footsteps on the stairs. I steeled myself for his reaction. Based on the cumulative effect of all of the indignities I had suffered that evening – his very survival would depend on his response – that or he’d have to leave me glued to the floor!

God bless him, he walked in, sized up the situation and headed to the garage for Goo Gone. Within 5 minutes I was a free woman. And life was good again!

And then we both laughed until we cried.

Forget cute bows or baby suspenders. Diapers are the latest fashion accessory to hit the runway.

Kimberly-Clark’s Faux-Jean Huggies are flying off the shelves at local retailers. Similarly, P&G is countering with a limited-edition fashion offering of its own this month, a series of 11 diaper styles from designer Cynthia Rowley called “Pampers by Cynthia Rowley Collection,” available exclusively at Target and Target.com.

The faux-denim diapers are selling well. The Little Movers franchise is up 15% post [denim] vs. prior period. According to a qualitative research study, with jeans diapers the simple insight is that moms simply love seeing their babies in jeans. Nearly 60% of moms purchase denim for their babies before they even reach 6 months of age.

I also love what WPP/JWT, New York has done with the tagline for the jeans diapers (tagline: “The coolest you’ll look pooping your pants”).   Too cute!

More and more I find myself untethered from my computer and able to deal with what I need either from my Blackberry or my iPad. I now often go an entire weekend without opening my laptop, but still get the work done I need to get done plus easily stay connected to friends and family.  And I’m far from alone.

While it’s no surprise that some 234 million Americans  age 13 and older use mobile devices (that’s 90%), the growth of smartphone penetration is very rapid according to the latest report from comScore MobilLens. Over 49 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones as of May, up 8.1 percent from the corresponding February period. The smartphone penetration has nearly doubled in just one year to nearly 21%.  According to Nielsen projections, by third quarter 2011 smartphones could have nearly the same market share as feature phones.

RIM (like my Blackberry) still has the largest share of the platform market. And while the iPhone has received the lions share of the buzz, especially with the release of iPhone 4, it’s Google’s Android platform that has seen the greatest growth in the smartphone market over the past several months. Android continues to propel itself closer to the #3 spot (currently held by Microsoft).

And just how are we all using our smartphones?

The only stat that surprises me is the one on accessing social networking sites. It seems low to me. I can’t recall talking to anyone in the last few months with a smartphone that hasn’t accessed at least Facebook or Twitter with it.  I’m curious. How about you? Do you use your smartphone to access a social network site?  Take this poll.

Do you know who spends the most time on Facebook?

Adults 18-34 spend the most time on the site per week, at 8.5 hours out of 22.4 spent online.  Weekly Facebook time drops to 4.6 hours among users ages 55 and older, representing a lower proportion of that group’s average of 21.5 hours per week on the internet.

Facebook Highly Trafficked by Asians 

Facebook usage is heaviest by Asians. Not only did that group spend the most hours per week on the site, but they also devoted the greatest percentage of their weekly internet time to Facebook (39.6%, compared with 35.1% among blacks, the second-highest group).

Facebook Appeals to a Higher Income Bracket

Incomes also rose from less than $50,000 up to $100,000.  Affluent Facebook users making at least $100,000 annually spent the most time on the site and on the web as a whole.  In Q1 2010, comScore found that the visitors who spent the most time on Facebook also spent the most money online.

Source:  eMarketer

My Two Cents

Facebook advertising is very efficient and cost effective. It is just another touch point along the consumer path and a great way to connect with them.  Facebook is a great way to get out to the masses without the sticker shock.  Typically what I have seen with PPC (pay-per-click) campaigns on Facebook is that you often get way more impressions than you pay for. 

That is the beauty of PPC campaigns.  Millions of people may see your ad but you only pay if that person clicks on your ad and goes to your site.  Also with Facebook you can target based on age, gender, relationship status, likes & interest, education & work and connections on Facebook.   

So I am interested in running ads on Facebook.  How much budget should I set aside? 

I would recommend setting up a daily budget of $50 to start.  Remember that you only pay if someone clicks on your ad.  If your creative lacks an incentive to click then the chance of running through this budget is unlikely. Also keep in mind that Facebook uses an algorithm (just like PPC on Google) that ranks your ad in “popularity” and this has direct impact on positioning.  If your ad is performing well chances are you will find that ad at the top of the page. 

Even if you have a massive budget this doesn’t ensure that your ad will fall near the top.  The creative must be compelling and people must be clicking on your ad.  Also, more impressions will be served up if your ad is performing well.  Remember that Facebook only gets paid if someone clicks on your ad so of course they are going to run those top performing ads more. 

You can also pay-per-impression (CPM) if you would rather have the guarantee that your ad will run a certain number of impressions over the campaign’s flight.

I really don’t have anything against you folks at AARP, but come on…do you really think that mailing me an AARP membership card and solicitation BEFORE my 50th birthday is a good marketing move?  If so, you should fire the person or company that gave you that advice.

It’ s not like that 21st birthday that you look forward to with great anticipation. Turning 50 isn’t something I stress over (the alternative is worse) instead it’s a birthday I look at with little interest. I didn’t even give it much thought until I got your mailing today.  Frankly, I would rather not have it thrown in my face that because of it I’m eligible for membership in AARP.  I know you’ve tried to update your image and you’ve shed the “American Association of Retired Persons” moniker, but much of the residual baggage remains — at least for me.  I still think of you as the old people group. I don’t feel old. I don’t act old. I’m not thinking of retiring or even slowing down. I still have lots to learn, lots of big plan, lots I want to do. 50 isn’t what it used to be. Come on…it’s like everyone says –50 is the new 40.  I have no intention now, nor in the foreseeable future, of asking for the “senior” discount.

Try me again in 10 years.  Maybe I’ll feel differently by then.

:)

Party favors from the NAP Project Runway Condom Fashion Show

Did that title get your attention? This is not your average blog entry and this was not your average fashion show.

Just recently, I was involved in a Project Runway Condom Fashion Show Fundraiser for the Nebraska Aids Project along with another member of my design team, Carrie Ratcliff and fellow designer/friend Adrian Hardisty-Horsley. It was hands down THE most challenging design project we have ever been involved in. And we were so glad to be a part of it.

Step 1: Find a sponsor. We were lucky enough to be sponsored by the greatest tattoo parlor this side of the Missouri: Liquid Courage (who just happened to celebrate their 10 year anniversary).

Step 2: Find a model. Again, we were VERY lucky to be introduced to a professional model who was not only the most gorgeous model at the event, but was extremely patient and chill. She didn’t complain once about how hot our coat made out of condom wrappers was to wear.

The Team: Adrian, Carrie, Jill and Christina

Step 3: Design something out of condoms. We met once over coffee with inspirations and sketches and ended up collaborating to create our dream “raincoat.” Forget the fact it would be made out of condoms – it will be very well designed, and everyone will want to wear it. They will look past the fact that it is made out of condom wrappers and tape. (keep reading for more about the actual fabrication.)

Step 4: Engineering the design. We purchased every kind of glue and tape possible. We hunted down a dress form and was able to borrow one from our friends at the Creighton Fine Arts Department. Which, by the way, was an invaluable asset. I cannot imagine designing and completing a clothing design without a dress form. Especially when condom wrappers need some major work to get them to lay flat and appear seamless.

Christina, our model, demonstrating the working hood on the condom coat during the after party.

After working through the design sketches, which had to remain flexible since we had no idea how the condoms and wrappers would work as a physical material, we got together to test the functionality of the wrappers and the condoms themselves. How easy we could get them to stay together. The winning combination: staples and packing tape! Yes…you heard that right. It took a total of nearly 18 hours (and a bottle of wine) to complete the design and fit our model. The first time she put the coat on, we all got goosebumps. It looked like an actual wearable! Which was precisely our main goal. We didn’t want our outfit to look like a costume or the obvious: a bunch of condoms glued together.

Christina, our model, rocking the condom coat with grace and style during the after party.

The event was a great success and raised dollars and most of all awareness for the Nebraska Aids Project. It was such a success that NAP will most likely make this an annual fundraiser. Even though it was a major challenge (Literally, we all suffered staple wounds and mylar condom wrapper cuts – Band-Aid should have been our sponsor), took hours of our time and energy – we would still do it all over again. Because that’s what Creatives thrive on: BIG challenges for a great causes.

We can’t wait for 2011’s Condom Fashion Event and are ready to throw down!

The outdoor portion of the runway. The entire runway was over a block long and wove its way through the Magnolia Hotel.

There’s an amazing amount of communication going on these days. We can call from anywhere using our mobile phones, get and send emails from those phones, text people, IM people, post to Twitter and Facebook, and blog from anywhere and everywhere we are at.

There are also a tremendous number of tools out there that help us to manage, review, schedule and automate these communications. What’s important to remember is that while these tools are great for helping you manage your inputs and outputs, there’s still no substitute for true, authentic communication.

The introduction of all these convenience tools is what makes it increasingly apparent when you’re seeing an honest, real message versus an automated, robotic one. This was most recently illustrated to me by two responses I got to a tweet I made regarding my receipt of the book, “Delivering Happiness” by Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh.

I said:

I received two responses from that tweet. One from @Zappos_Service and one from @FedExDolores. Here’s what they said:

Guess which one was (most likely) automated? Sorry, Dolores, you lose.

If you look at the full Twitter stream for both the Zappos account and the FedEx account, it is immediately apparent which one is either manned by a human or at least manned by a human who doesn’t have a standardized response template. Zappos, you win. You can also see that the Zappos account is typically signed off by a person at the end of a day and then re-signed into at the beginning of a new day by announcing who is at the helm. FedEx has tried to embody a specific “person” into each named account instead of having a singular customer

I’ve experienced this with FedEx’s Twitter robots before. I posted a photo in which I used the term, “FedEx” and got a robo-response:

Given the excellent usage of spacing in that message, I felt it was safe to assume a human didn’t do it. Sure enough, when looking at the full tweet stream of FedExLina’s account, it looked very robotic to me.

Now, I know that FedEx is likely getting a lot more mentions on Twitter than Zappos is, so they have a lot more responding to do. Even so, as a customer, I really don’t feel any better about getting some message from you if it’s just some automated (or template) response. This type of communication is the same thing as a robo-call, a form letter, or anything that takes the true, honest, person-to-person factor out of a human-to-human exchange.

If you’re going to automate something, don’t try to make it appear human.

That’s where we get to authenticity. A robo-response that tries to appear as a human response is NOT authentic. A robo-response that is clearly an automated reply IS authentic. I don’t have a problem with automated responses. They can be very helpful. But when you receive an out-of-office reply from someone, it says so. It doesn’t say, “Brian – thanks for emailing me. I look forward to replying to your message as soon as I can. I appreciate you taking the time to send this to me. Have a great day!”

What I’m left with after these two simple responses is a better feeling form Zappos and a worse one form FedEx. Sure, this is little stuff in the grand scheme of things, but I believe this is the little stuff that matters. My gut reaction to Zappos moving forward is going to be a little bit better, and to FedEx, a little bit worse.

Decide what approach you’re going to take with your personal and business communication. Make sure it’s real and authentic. Just don’t try to be something you’re not.

UPDATE: I responded to @FedExDolores with:

I received these two responses approximately an hour later from my old friend FedExLina:

Seems Lina is still having punctuation and spacing problems. I’m going to ask @FedExLina how @FedExDolores sent me the first message today if she’s out of the office and see what she says. I think this helps drive my point in that it’s pretty easy to see through false authenticity. Stay tuned.

UPDATE #2: Lina is a quick responder! I also like her take on the English language. Here’s my question:

And her response:

I would be “happy to glad” if this whole thing didn’t make me feel bad for such a lost customer service opportunity.

Today Apple releases the iPhone 4 to the masses. Or, at least it’s the release date. Stories abound of shortages, long lines, and people weeping either over the glories of their new device or devastating depression at not getting one yet. That’s all well and good – and getting a lot of press – but where does this ongoing battle actually stand?

Back in March, I weighed in on some things going on with the mobile device war that’s being waged between Apple and Google. The heat’s still on. Google posted yesterday that more than 160,000 new Android-powered devices are activated every day. More than two per second. That’s a lot. And nicely timed with that announcement, Google.

Here’s what is striking me now: How similar is this current situation to Apple vs. Microsoft in the early days of personal computers?

Hear me out.

Apple comes up with the Mac. It’s awesome. A mouse. All-in-one computer. Great interface. Easy to use. Kinda expensive. Can only be bought from Apple.

Microsoft’s OS can be installed on any compatible hardware. It’s relatively easy and open to program for. It’s not quite as nice, but it works. And you can buy it anywhere.

Flash forward. Apple’s phone is awesome. Incredible technological advances and a huge WANT factor. Must be bought from Apple and used on AT&T’s network. Google doesn’t have a phone, but it has an OS. It’s available on many different pieces of hardware from a variety of carriers.

The data shows that Android is making decent gains against the iPhone. Quantcast has a nice writeup about market share and the relative growth of the top mobile OS’s in the market. This chart is particularly interesting:

Granted, this shows mobile web consumption, but that’s a good (and easy to measure) indicator of how things are going.

I think it’s worth keeping an eye on this trend. Apple makes a nice big deal about what they are doing and they get a lot of press for it. They set the standard and they set it high. But Google does a lot of things very well, too. And at a certain point, what features are luxuries and which are necessities? A screen with a resolution higher than you can perceive is really cool (iPhone 4) but a nice large display in full color is still perfectly good when it’s a little handheld device.

Ultimately for consumers and marketers, though, who wins doesn’t matter as much. What really matters, and what we must pay attention to, is the accelerating adoption of mobile devices into the marketplace. People can get their data anywhere at any time. And it’s making a difference in personal communications and buying habits.

There are exciting days ahead!