A Wider Net

The PowerPoint files from the three discussions at Innovation Day are now posted here.

Editing the videos will take a bit longer as we have to squeeze them in between our client projects, and those gaps are rare (a good problem to have, I know.)

WillItBlend

For those who have ever had a bad day on the course – check out willitblend.com and see what happens when golf balls are put into a Blendtec blender.

I saw a link on youtube and clicked through to watch a pseudo-scientist show us how this consumer blender can mince up golf balls. Beyond the fact that the power of this blender is quite astonishing, I am blown away but the simplicity of this marketing effort. This video alone has been viewed 1,371,935 in the last 5 days. Now, I realize that a lot of that traffic is not ‘the right audience’ for the proto-typical blender buyer but, at the very worst; Blendtec has definitely used youtube as an engine for creating awareness. I picked up the video front the front page of youtube.

We discussed in our Ad 2.0 session at Innovation Day the concept of ROI in this case. Specifically we asked, does this type of media have a better ROI than a Superbowl ad? The answer of course is that it depends on the purpose of the campaign. Each medium connects to another (tv to internet to internet to commerce) but I would argue that the willitblend approach is interesting as it all ties into an end point to purchase the blenders within 2 clicks – pretty compelling. Of course, for mass awareness, 90M plus impressions during the Superbowl (400M pre and post) is going to be hard to beat but I am not sure that’s exactly what the blender folks had in mind. Plus, I am only guessing here, but the price tag of the Superbowl spots may be a little expensive for a division of this size company (82M gross revenues for KTEC, Blendtec’s parent company)

Regardless of the marketing goals and tactics chosen, pretty fun to watch someone throw things into a blender.

If you’re new to blogging, you should know there’s a dark side. Bloggers leverage the trust they have built with their audience to peddle goods for money. Purists are repelled at the notion, stating that the blogosphere is built around trust and “naked” conversations. This blog, for example, is supported by Cramer. I work for Cramer - they pay the bills and keep the hosting lights on. But we receive no money for the posts. We do this to organize our search for interesting new marketing tactics and technologies, and share the results with everyone. We will hopefully learn even more from you in return.

The blogs that receive money for posts, even occassionally, and don’t acknowledge it, are under constant fire from other bloggers. Recently, companies and associations are trying to pave the way for a “truth in advertising”-like code of ethics. One of them, PayPerPost, offers bloggers a way to make money with the blogs, but has recently launched a disclosure policy website and engine to promote transparency. They mention specific recent blog trust violations with WalMart/Edelman and the YouTube/lonelygirl15 scandal.

Another site trying to affect this trend is WOMMA, the Word of Mouth Marketing Association. They have a disclosure document posted that is open for comment. This feels a little more above-board than PayPerPost, whose disclosure policy website reaks of the same “if you label it then it’s ok” nonsense of tobacco cartel’s “Surgeon General Warning” labels.

This is an interesting conversation taking place in various blogs like this one. On the one hand, blogging is ideally meant to be an open and honest form of communication. On the other hand, it’s natural to expect that bloggers can earn money by writing about things. Where it gets ugly is when the readers suspect that the blogger’s opinions have been bought. Many of us love the blogosphere because, unlike broadcast and print news, there isn’t a ton of corporate and government control over content. For example - the Times recently printed an article about how Microsoft is releasing their iPod-like “Zune” and what the thought process was behind it’s development as a social media variation on the ubiquitous MP3 player. But apparently, only a week prior, they wrote a review panning the device. So they wrote about it anyway, giving Microsoft a bunch of free press, even though they hate the thing. Why? To sell papers. That’s not the motivation of your typical blog.

If you’re considering blogging as a communication conduit for you or your company - maybe to replace those awful over-polished turds known as “press releases” and make a real connection with your customers - you might want to follow this conversation.

Here’s a batch of Innovation Day photos. I may go back and add some markups, but I wanted to get these up as quickly as possible.

Enjoy!

Innovation Day has come and gone and some of us will never be the same.

We had a great turnout, despite the pounding rain and brutal traffic. To anyone who attended, and to the companies who loaned us their products and their great people, THANK YOU. You made Innovation Day very special.

We should have a gallery of photos up by tomorrow. I haven’t received them yet, so I think I’ll wait for those before posting a throrough recap.

I feel like I should list a few highlights for you. That’s pretty tough because there were so many great products here. I will tell you a few things that surprised me, however.

Top of my list of surprises was the Scalable Display Technology demonstration. They showcased a tool that automatically aligns and blends multiple video projectors into one wide perfect image. They demonstrated with four projectors - a process that, historically, would have taken a seasoned pro hours or even a full day to perfect. This device did it in one minute, and it looked amazing.

The Philips 3D LCD screen was by far the best autostereo display I’ve ever seen.  It had fantastic depth, brightness, and sharpness.  The Akira seamless plasma array in an odd configuration was breathtaking. And without question, the things that people had the most fun with were the Lightspace interactive dance floor and the GestureTek GroundFX.

More to come as we recap Innovation Day.  Sleep has made a WORLD of difference.

Get these products to an ER! Some look like human hearts. Others - stomachs, livers, and lungs. Welcome to the fine art and science of Pharma-themed promotional items. Need a capsule-shaped tape dispenser? How about a hypodermic syringe USB memory drive? Maybe you don’t, but in the world of pharaceutical shows, this stuff is gold. And I found the BEST catalog of pharma-tchotchkes. Sourcery, a prominent high-tech promotional item manufacturer, has a division named, oddly, SourceryPharma, and they have an interactive flash catalog full of amazing products.

While I can’t see myself wanting to lock my bike with what appears to be an artery stemming from a human heart lock, I love the USB syringe and USB lighted beakers. There are tons of items in their catalog that make you shout COOOOOOOL!

They’re coming to Innovation Day with a basket full of goodies, and I can’t wait. I try to take joy in the little things. Even if those little things are pill-shaped LED Flashlights and Lung-shaped staplers. Coooooool.

The place has begun an amazing transformation. The main studio, which will feature six different LED display technologies from Element Labs, the ScentAir scent machines, and a fair amount of lighting, is sure to blow people away. These display products are incredibly bright and versatile, and with the 3D transparent illusions they create, I expect to see a lot of jaws hitting the floor.

The interactive demos, print samples, networking and collaboration demos, and the incredible 3D displays will get set up tomorrow.

I’m still working on my presentation materials <*bad*>. Needless to say, there’s a lot to distract me with 60 or so new products and technologies coming in the door. For that reason, I’ll make a quick post about a promotional item manufacturer that is coming, and then I had better get back to it. Tomorrow is going to be an exciting and LOOOONG day. Plus, it’s election day, and I have to get up early enough to vote on the way in.

By the way - we eventually did find the 10′ long coffin-shaped road case, and inside was a Mirage.

We’re starting to get set up for Innovation Day which takes place next week. The exhibit areas (pretty much every open space in our 70,000 sq ft facility) are getting cleared out. The exhibits are starting to arrive. Custom video is being produced for about a dozen of the 60 demos. The registered attendee list looks great. Everything is looking good, yet I still may not sleep until it’s over. I have to speak at this one, and (confession) I haven’t even started on my presentation. I have to do that over the weekend but, as you probably know, sometimes it’s a lot easier to write away from the office. Like right now, for example (how did I ever live without a laptop and WiFi?)

There are going to be some surprises for next Wednesday. The Lightspace interactive dance floor is going to be even bigger and better than we thought. There are some incredible promotional items coming that are “high tech pharamceutical-themed tchotchkes.” My favorite is the “hypodermic syringe USB drive”. We have some “living tables” coming. And you know your event is growing up when you start talking about measurements of weight in “tons”, lengths in “miles”, and linen order costs in “are you freaking kidding me?”

Turning your own production facility into a mini trade show has it’s plusses and minuses. On the plus side, we know where the venue is. On the minus side, there seems to be a natural law that mandates that “the more open a space is, the more likely it is that that area has no power or data”. On the plus side, if we need something we know just where to get it. On the minus side, that thing we need is probably buried behind a million temporarly dislocated items cleared out of those aforementioned open spaces.

You start to hear amusing quotes like “when you cleared the table out of the conference room, did you happen to remove the internet connection to the room by accident?” and “no, I haven’t seen a 10′ long coffin-shaped crate. Why?”

Perhaps the best aspect of events like this, is that it puts us in the shoes of our customers who own events. We get to see what it’s like to produce an special event while still satisfying all of our customer’s needs. And we have to repel an endless barage of really-great-yet-impossible-to-execute-on-top-of-everything-else ideas. I will be able to identify the people who read this blog. They’re going to walk up to me and say “See? See what it’s like?” Please do, I look forward to meeting you.

For the folks who are not coming, I look forward to hearing from you here.

The folks at Picture Marketing have developed a great way to add value to an event while driving traffic to a website and gathering valuable survey data. How do they do that? They take your picture!

It’s a concept that has been well-proven in sports stadiums across America. You have your picture taken, for free, in a ballpark, and the photographer hands you a card with a web site address on it and an index code. Using the index code, you can find your photo among the thousands of other shutter-blessed attendees. The hope of finding a great keepsake memory drives people to these sites and once there, nothing is free.
The Picture Marketing folks take a different approach to corporate events. They send you sets of camera kits and you equip brand ambassadors to take the pictures. A branded website is built for people to visit and view their photos. In the process of accessing the photos, the visitors can be polled for information, given offers for merchandise, or invited to join an online community. In fact, one customer used Picture Marketing to drive traffic to an introNetwork site.

According to Picture Marketing’s website, the desire to download their own photos results in an attendee response rate of 50-80% which is outstanding. Companies have to be careful how this is used, so attendees don’t feel like they’re being pushed into buying something. Done right, this is a powerful way to connect an onsite experience with a follow-up online experience. I’m excited to have Picture Marketing here on Innovation Day to show us their process and their latest toys.

nTAG makes digital nametags that are smarter than I am. When I meet people at an event, I may be pre-occupied sizing someone up, or hiding behind a ficus while I gather enough courage to introduce myself and try to strike a deal. But these little gadgets would be busy scouting the area for people I need to meet. It finds a match based on compatible interests, common goals, desired products and services, and other criteria. It doesn’t care about necktie patterns (although maybe it should), but it does let you know if someone nearby is looking to form a partnership compatible with your business, and it even introduces you. How much is THAT worth?

The new nTAG nametags are small, elegant, and functional - especially when compared to their predecessor. The old ones, which we covered in a webcast shortly after their launch several years ago, were a little clunky in appearance. They were cool, and the concept was sound - it just needed to evolve. Well, they’ve evolved.

These slick badges have little displays on them that tell you about the people nearby. They allow you to share your contact information with attendees and exhibitors, even long after you’ve met them. With them, you can participate in polls, assessments, and audience response activities.

They’re primarily an onsite service. If you’re looking to network people prior to an event then you would need a solution from the online networking systems like introNetworks, BD Metrics, or Leverage Software. The data from those systems can be fed into the nTAG system to create a seamless pre-, during, and post-event networking and communications service.

Regardless of which solution you choose, and I strongly recommend you consider some kind of networking solution for your event, you should take time to ask your stakeholders what they want to get from the event. Who do they want to meet? Why? And how can those conversations help them grow their business? Answers to these questions, and others, will form essential groundwork for building the networking environment. Good preparation will make the experience intuitive and highly rewarding for participants. You will be rewarded with a higher percentage of repeat visitors, larger audiences, and greater satisfaction ratings.