In preparation for the upcoming 3rd Edition of the Design Challenge starting September 2011, we are launching a campaign site dedicated to spread the word/ keep you informed on updates around the competition.
We want to create an space where new talent can follow the challenge news, get insight of past editions, and interact with us. Read more
Andrew McAfee is publishing his book ‘
Enterprise 2.0: New Collaborative Tools for your Organization’s Toughest Challenges
Below an interview he did for McKinsey last month:
He also talks about the role of business leaders have in the movement towards an open source culture in a company and about the kaizen/beta approach it takes in oder to get things going. On the question ‘how to measure success’ he only has a limited view it seems from the interview but his analysis of the roles of management, CIOs and CEOs is quite accurate. I’m curious on reading the book.
This video highlights the tactics and attitude that make Steve Jobs’ presentations so impactfull.
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After discussing the use of video in the marketing mix, youtube has just made it much easier to start and run your own contest on youtube. Check out the new contest section. It provides some great ideas and shows that this format works.
Check out the Jam Session if you want some inspiration!
[youtube]7Q0_5RewcaM[/youtube]
For those of you who have never seen Netvibes before (www.netvibes.com), I recommend that you check out this great personal information aggregator (a bit like igoogle, but I personally prefer the design and flow). For those who know it already, it’s worth checking out their latest upgrade. They just come up with something that ha sthe qualities of something great, which is a public version of the site (they call this ginger version). They introduced a number of new features, but my favourite is the fact you can now create a public version of netvibes a sort of portal that aggregates rss feeds and other modules.
I’ve set up a small page which gives you an idea of how it works and what it could do for you: www.netvibes.com/hyperthinker.
Worth a visit!
Once again Google did it with flair! Checking the list of viral clips (see Steffen’s post below) I checked the one Google did as a ‘user generated’ advert for Gmail Behind the scenes and I couldn’t help but be impressed. First they show the amazing power this campaign has to create real buzz and engagement, and the final product is really worth a look. Read the whole story on the Gmail blog () and check out the clip below…
[youtube]qKAInP_tmHk[/youtube]
Google’s expansion
In recent days Google has made two major deals, shaking up the advertising industry. According to Reuters the internet company has entered the radio business by closing a “multi-year advertising sales agreement< with Clear Channel Radio, the largest US broadcaster. Yet Google is equally expanding its online presence: on Friday it came to a definitive agreement to acquire the web advertisement supplier DoubleClick for ca. €2.3 billion, trumping competitors such as Microsoft and Yahoo (CNN).
Google’s online advertisement revenue has risen exponentially from ca. €930 million in 2004 to €4.6 billion in 2007 (eMarketer). After years of success, what is Google up to investing in both traditional and online media?
The recruiting process is becoming more of a challenge than ever before for big companies especially when trying to attract the best candidate to fill a position. A company’s marketing strategy can no longer be limited to just clients but needs to target potential candidates as well which is often a new or growing challenge for many HR departments.
Accenture has taken a step in the right direction starting with Backstage at Accenture www.backstageataccenture.com. This is an excellent example of a recruitment site that is really making an effort to attract potential employees rather than creating the usual text-based pages. Firstly, the campaign has succeeded in grabbing the audience’s attention, there is also a human touch with real Accenture employees on the website and most importantly Accenture is presented as a forward-thinking company using innovative communication techniques.
Although I really like the campaign, I think they missed out on the true potential by not adopting a more cutting-edge communication strategy or Web 2.0 principles. Despite the message of openness, there is no true interaction with the visitor; for example, Accenture could have added a chat feature or a blog to answer candidate’s questions. There could also have added a first qualification phase to explain the mandatory skills required and the company philosophy. This feature would have been a first automatic qualification filter and using a video format is a better way to deliver the message.
Finally, from the content point of view, the work environment description is really missing. So in my mind, Accenture has adopted a cutting-edge format but did not go through the requested paradigm shift to real language from real people. The only way to deliver a true and credible message. I am still looking for Accenture’s human face.
Part 2 to follow: what I would recommend as a truly cutting-edge recruitment programme.
The other evening I was having a drink with friends and we were discussing the phenomenon of virtual worlds such as World of Warcraft and Second Life. Basically we’re not that well informed and we had two questions: why and how? Why are so many people spending so much time in these parallel worlds, even to the point of neglecting their real lives? We concluded that “People need to escape, pretend they are someone else or to meet new people<. To go a little bit further, I thought part of the answer to “Why?< was probably in the “How?< so I decided to read a bit more about the trend.
Online games like World of Warcraft have not really evolved over time with new features but thanks to the internet players have the ‘connected to other real players’ experience. The success of these kinds of games is the experience of playing with ‘real’ opponents or allies.
Linden Lab, the publisher of Second Life, only provides a virtual 3D environment: no buildings, cars, special weapons in fact there is practically no ‘official content’ provided. But sometimes less is more! This original minimalism is probably the reason why it took quite a long time to take off: the world had to be created by people. Launched in July 2003, Second Life now has more than 4,500,000 residents (i.e. real people playing online). It is becoming a key part of real life. Residents create or buy their environment: houses, clothes, virtual pieces of art… The imagination of residents and their virtual budget is the only limit. Real places like Mont-St-Michel have been recreated, and you can even visit it.
Political groups, universities and big companies such as IBM, DELL, Amazon and many more have bought virtual land for promotions. They’ve built virtual billboards, paid for virtual sandwich board advertising, organized virtual events and handed out virtual goodies (T-shirts, cars, …)
A virtual currency called the Linden Dollar is used to buy the creations of other residents. The interesting thing is that it is possible to change real money against Linden Dollars, and vice versa. As residents retain the rights to their digital creations, this allows hundreds of people to earn enough money to live in the real word. They build houses, craft goods or cut virtual hair. For instance, Reuters opened an office and Adam Reuteurs (Adam Pasick in real life) reports on the news from Second Life. Visit his blog and check the currency chart (Linden vs US Dollars). The money and goods flow in Second Life can be compared to a real market economy.
Basic membership is free. So why not create your own avatar (virtual person) and discover why these virtual words are becoming the next big thing, with very real consequences on our lives.
A recent visit on LinkedIn allowed me to see the new Q&A function that captured my attention. The workflow is smooth and this is the best way to connect your network for an information request I have seen so far. On his ConversationBlog I recomend, Philippe Borremans took the time to describe the functionalities in the article LinkedIn starts business related Q&A service. Have a look.
Also, if you are not LinkedIn savvy or if you would like to deepen your understanding and use of it, Guy Kawasaki published a clear and crisp “manual” that you can check here: Ten Ways to Use LinkedIn
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