Lets experiment together!

If you're up to speed with the world today, skip the first two paragraphs ...

Who had heard of YouTube two years ago? And today, do you know anybody who has not heard of YouTube? Which medium grows at a rate of one millions members per year? Second Life. And what's next? Who dares to say? What will be the reaction of consumers when radio becomes interactive? How do you plug Windows Live Messenger into your marketing strategy? And will interactive television change the media consumption patterns of the average consumer?

We no longer watch television in front of the TV, PC's, iPods and even mobile phones increasingly substitute the old box. Making an international phone call is cheaper via a computer and emails are often read on mobile phones. We're in the middle of a revolution and the end is not in sight. Maybe it'll never stop. Blazingly fast evolutions in different technological fields make it impossible to even imagine what we are heading for.

In these seemingly chaotic times, there are two constants. Everything changes and at an ever higher tempo. Simple and transparent communication turns interactivity into the standard. Being at the forefront of innovation is therefore key to reaching the top and remaining there.

Dare to experiment. In a world where you can only plan ahead for a few months, you constantly need to find new roads, new strategies and new visions. And these are not to be found in the paved lanes of traditional business, but there where no one has ever gone before. Of course experimentation bears risks, but if we would compare the number of failed experiments with the number of meticulously planned upgrades and line extensions of existing concepts that turned out to be a failure, you can be sure these numbers would not be far apart.
This is not a plea to go around and spend money just like that, I rather want to promote the experiment as an investment. Start small and make a lot of mistakes, learn from the and make a new move quickly. Experiment intelligently. Use all available knowledge and intuition to choose from the many options that one of which you spontaneously feel the potential.

An that brings me to the second pillar: Intuition. I've always been a believer in the idea that a human being builds up intuition subconsciously through the experiences he or she lives through. Malcolm Gladwell explains this in great detail in his book "Blink". Just like human beings develop a sense for what will work and what won't, you can build intuition into a company. Build a network with other organizations and individuals which will feed your collective intuition. Then steer experiments from there. Bring people from different backgrounds together and let them think in an open atmosphere about all kinds of ideas. Develop these into something that can everybody can understand without too much effort; then confront your network with these concepts. Throw them in front of a group of bloggers, build them in Second Life or organize a poll. Any interactive medium can be use to change the direction of an experiment, or to delete it.
And if intuition tells you that one experiment is heading for the right direction, then do not hesitate to launch it. Even if the story is not yet 100% finished. Ask feedback from the public and correct where necessary.

An intelligent mix of experimentation and the opportunities of new interactive communication, is the way to go when looking for answers to the challenges of a fast moving interactive world. This column too is an experiment, so I invite you to express your opinion on these ideas.

Inside Column 7: Interactive marketing rules a world of digital experiences.

Interactive marketing rules a world of digital experiences.

The last few years we have been spoiled with all kinds of free online services. At first everybody wondered how long this model would stand. Because after the burst of the first Internet bubble, we all understood that a commercial activity is not sustainable unless there is a decent business model. My grandmother knew that already, if you want to spend money, there has to be an earnings side. Since the commercial success of Google's advertising platform however, everybody understands that if you have a real audience that is somewhat sizable, advertising can pay the bills.
With that issue solved, we can look at the future again. And it's full of opportunities.

Take a look at Microsoft, still the biggest consumer brand in the technology arena. They split there offering in four parts: Office, Xbox, Live and MSN. MSN gets all it's income through advertising, just like most other portals or news sites. On Windows Live there are no banners, but the search part uses a system similar to Google's to generate income through text adds. There are no plans to make Windows Live paying so here too the only source of income will be advertising. Xbox and office still live of traditional sales of hard- and software. But with in-game advertising we'll probably see the price of games going down in the future or maybe even become free. Sony Playstation will sell the PS3 at a loss and make profits from the games, the so-called loss leader principle. When the revenue from games comes partially (or completely) from games we may even get the hardware for free.
The same logic can be applied to applications like Word and Excel. Microsoft has no other choice if they want to win the battle against Google. Already today I'm preparing this post in Google Doc, a free online word processor and spreadsheet that offers enough features to replace about 90% of what I did with Word and Excel in the past.
And who pays the bill? I do ,with my loyal visits to Google where I give away a piece of my attention to advertisers on Google Search and Gmail, and in return I get a series of use full applications. This means that every online move ('digital experiences' I tend to call that nowadays) we make can be sponsored by one or the other organisation. And knowing that everything we do seems to be using Internet technology more and more, it is clear what today is called interactive advertising (a division of 'Real Advertising Inc.'), will be the only form of advertising tomorrow.

Our whole world with consist of digital experiences, from making a phone call to producing spreadsheets, from gaming to watching TV and from buying music to studying. Most of those activities will be free, in exchange for a piece of our attention for advertising. But it will be a very different form of advertising. Cool TV spots will be replaced by relevant experiences, intrusive mailings (on paper or electronically) will disappear in favor of honest and direct communication with brands and opt-in will become on-demand. The creativity with which a medium is used becomes as important as the creativity of the idea itself.

And all those digital experiences will also be the playing field of the advertising crowd, they will generate the revenues. So the future look complex but incredibly fascinating, and immensely big for anything digital.

Inside Column 6: Tranparency and Authenticity

A dutch journalist recently complained that a CEO had announced his resignation on his own blog. This leaves no more room for journalists to do their job ... Kind of a strange reasoning if you ask me. Clearly journalism is changing profoundly. Blogs create an unprecedented openness, and that is more of a challange to companies then to journalists. When it's the aforementionned CEO blogging one can expect him to know what he can and can not write on his blog. But things are different for huge corporations like Microsof where more then 1500 employees have their own blogs.

But to the surprise of many, including myself, this has not lead to major problems. Responsible bloggers apparently feel spontaneously what's acceptable and what is not. At Microsoft there are no official policy on what and how employees can blog. And rightly so, because before you know it, the corporate legal department stands at your desk and then open and honest communication is replaced by overcomplacted press releases that say nothing.

But counting on the common sense of your employees of course does cary a number of risks. There's always someone who does not agree with the direction the company takes, of has a different vision what can and can not be said. But how big is that problem? In fact, there is no problem, if you have nothing to hide.

And that is what it's all about. If you work for an authentic company, if your brand has a true vision and identity that is not just a shiny layer of varnish, then you can be transparent without a worry. Then you don't need to be afraid that someone may publish an internal document online.

All of this is of course not very new. Honest is a value that we were raised with by mom and dad. But untill the rise of the internet as a means of communication, companies could comfortably hide behind glossy advertising campaigns. Apparently the basic values of a healthy society were foregotten by many of these communcations specialists. No wonder advertising people score worse then lawyers when it comes to trustfullness. Todays campaigns only work if they are a reflection of the true values of the company behind it. And if that is not the case, there's always a consumer that will find it out and tell it to the world.

So it's high time to align our companies' vision with what society and consumers want, and then communicate authentically and transparently. The future is to the open and honest brands and marketeers!