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Be Jane, Inc. is the first branded media company dedicated to serving the fastest growing segment of the home improvement marketplace - women do-it-yourselfers. Via Boris Mann.
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Great piece on the role of homepages in conversion as well as helpful design comparisons. Also, which sites need to worry about home pages and which don't.
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Posts from August 2006
BarCampVancouver rocked! Here's the sum-up (part 1) ...
BarCampVancouver rocked Gastown this past weekend. I was only able to attend on Saturday (I hear Friday night was pretty cool). A number of folks have done great writeups. Here are my takeaways from the morning sessions ...
- John Ounpuu, the driving force behind Blast Radius' Sutori, gave a presentation on Sutori and how its going so far - 3 weeks into public beta. John had some really interesting things to say about connecting people around product experiences. Some of the tools on Sutori seem pretty cool, especially the "Goodwill" rating scale. Perhaps a more interesting use of Sutori (to me anyway, a recent escapee from Corporate Canada) is its potential use by companies who want to listen to focused conversations about their products. If it can gain some traction and evolve into a genuine coherent community, it will be a great resource for companies (and their competitors) to get some insight into what customers love and hate about their products.
- Sacha Peter gave an overview of prediction markets, Putting Money where the Future Is. This was really interesting as I'm not a math person and have never really understood odds/statistics/etc. There are a number of markets out there where you can put money (real and fake) against cultural (e.g. Emmy winners) and political (e.g. Cdn elections) outcomes. My takeaway: prediction markets are more accurate if people are wagering real money. Indeed.
- James Sherrett talked about AdHack, a do-it-yourself advertising community. Essentially, people tell their own stories (aka advertising) about product and brand stories and post them on AdHack. AdHack then helps companies connect with folks who are creating content about their brand and appropriately compensate them if they use the ideas (or the actual instantiation) in their own advertising. A couple of things really struck me during this presentation. One .. great concept. It supports brand democratization at its finest and puts a financial framework in place which is the logical next step for CGM. Second, and the issue I'm more interested in, what happens to the nature and role of the agency? There is a potential for total disintermediation of the agency. If AdHack (or its imitators) becomes the defacto imagination/talent pool for advertising (read content), is the agency's last (best?) bastion media placement (read reach)? And even then, most agencies don't get the Long Tail and that the reach-world is now niche not mass. I'm incredibly excited about what AdHack could do to the agency model ... utterly turn it on its head. Cool.
And all before noon - can you believe it? Next post, what happened in my afternoon sessions.
Media in Canada Forum ... moving towards speaker diversity
I have complained a number of times about the lack of gender (and ethnic) diversity on conference speaking rosters [DMA, Mesh]. Well, imagine my delight when I saw the roster for the upcoming Media in Canada Forum. Now, there is still a ways to go on ethnic diversity, but scrolling down this page, I thought, "Hey, this looks like a conference where I could get a great variety of experience and perspective." Some experienced and passionate women like Jillian McLaughlin from Unilever, Judy John from Leo Burnett, and Lauren Richards from Starcom Mediavest Group. There are a number of women speaking and on panels. If you're in Toronto on Oct 3, I urge you to check it out!
Now, I know that everyone is tired of thinking about gender and ethnic diversity. We think "It's 2006 .. haven't we dealt with this? Aren't the genders equal? Isn't there equal representation? Men don't dominate; women have equal opportunity. You're crazy!" OK. Maybe. But then, I see rosters like the one for The Future of Web Apps, and I know that there is still a long ways to go.
CaseCamp comes to Vancouver!
That's right! Eli Singer's "DemoCamp for Marketers" is making its way to Vancouver! Spearheaded by Joy Boyson, the west coast's first CaseCamp will be on Tuesday, September 26 at the Republic in downtown Vancouver.
If you're a marketer or PR flack who is intrigued by the unconference movement, but is worried that BarCampVancouver and the like are a little too geeky, come out and test the waters at CaseCampVancouver! From the wiki:
CaseCamp is a marketing-oriented ad-hoc gathering inspired by David Crow and BarCamp. It's open to anyone and completely free.
CaseCamp is about telling stories. Presenters, following The Rules of CaseCamp, share case studies of their work. The goal is to create a commons for discussion, learning and networking between all participants. Learn more...
I've been to CaseCampToronto and it rocked! As did CaseCampMontreal. Now's the time, Vancouver. Sign up and join in.
Best Canadian WOM blogs
Sean Moffitt over at BuzzCanuck has compiled a list of the top 21 Canadian WOM blogs. I'm thrilled to be on his list; there is some good company there - very smart folks. Here's the full list:
The Top 20 List:
David Jones @ PR Works
Kate Trgovac @ My Name is Kate
Colin Mckay @ CanuckFlack
Mitch Joel @ Twist Image
Michael Seaton @ The Client Side
Michael Ferguson @ Home is Where You Hang Your @
Leesa Barnes @ Podonomics
Ken Schafer & Company @ One Degree
Joe Thornley @ ProPR
Tamera Kremer @ 3i
Darren Barefoot
Susan Abbott @ Customer Experience Crossroads
Jordan Behan @ Tell Ten Friends
Susannah Gardner @ Buzz Marketing with Blogs
Stuart Macdonald
Matthew Ingram
Mark Evans
The top of the list should be BuzzCanuck itself. Sean writes some of the best pieces on WOM, Canadian or otherwise. Two recent pieces: Barenaked Ladies Musical Buzz and Word of Mouth: The Next Big Thing or Glorified Direct Marketing. Sean has an engaging writing style and always has something insightful to say. If you haven't subbed to his feed, you definitely should.
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Smaller Bites
- These are some of the images, videos & quotes that resonate with me, but I don't feel like writing a full post about. So I publish them on my tumblr. And there is a feed for these if you're keen ...