With the acquisition of Fig Card PayPal is laying down a marker that the pioneer in disruptive payment won’t be left behind in the coming e-wallet revolution.
The still arguably pre-nascent business is attracting new big tech players, like Apple and Google, while the traditional credit card players move towards creating systems that would make your smartphone your credit card.
The primary approach to building in-store systems involves near field technology (NFC), which requires technology that almost no smartphones have yet. NFC lets you put your phone near a payment device where a radio signal captures information now stored on an electronic strip that needs to be swiped.
But Fig Card uses text messages to complete transactions — something any mobile phone can already do.
With the acquisition PayPal gets this tech and Fig Card’s founders, Max Metral and Hasty Granbery. PayPal, owned by eBay, is best known for completing transactions online but has been fortifying its smartphone app. A year ago PayPal even restored Palm Pilot-era functionality which makes it possible to make phone-to-phone payments — a direct challenge to Square, which is also disrupting the e-wallet space.
The race is on, but there is a general consensus emerging that NFC — which operates on frequencies similar to RFID chips and tags — could become the industry standard within the next year, according to Sarah Clark of SJB Research, who is also editor of Near Field Communications World.
There are technical challenges with NFC, however, including the fact that it requires a separate antenna and a secure element chip in order to guard the privacy of users, Clark told Wired.com in a phone interview from London, where she is based.
“Most mobile phone manufacturers are looking at 2012 as the year that NFC is going to happen,” Clark said. “This year, all the big names are exploring it, and they all have teams that are working on it. They’re asking, ‘Who should I partner with, and how do I build a great consumer experience with this?’”
At present, there is only one smart-phone available in the United States which supports NFC, according to Clark: Google’s Nexus S handset.
Last month, Bloomberg reported that Google plans to begin testing its own mobile payments system within the next few months. Google will install thousands of special cash-register systems from VeriFone Systems, which uses NFC, at merchant locations in New York and San Francisco, the wire service reported.
Clark said that NFC technology could help Google on its mission to dominate mobile advertising.
“NSC has a enormous potential in mobile advertising,” Slark said. “The ultimate vision that people have on that side of the business is that if your mobile phone provider knew that you were on way to a shopping mall, it could send you a voucher or a coupon at that moment, and that could be really useful for consumers.”
“Mobile advertising is absolutely crucial to Google and my belief is that NFC is going to play a key role there,” Clark said.
And then there’s Apple. Last November, Cult of Mac’s Leander Kahney reported that the Cupertino, Califonia-based tech juggernaut is experimenting with NFC technology on its iPhone line of smartphone devices.
“Apple is undeniably working on this and they have some very interesting patent applications that show that they are serious about it,” Clark said. “If Apple puts NFC into the iPhone, that’s going to be day one of the commercial marketplace for NSC technology.”
There are other big players jockeying for position in the mobile payments space as well, including ISIS, an initiative being spear-headed by AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile (which AT&T is in the process of acquiring) and Discover Financial Services, which sells the Discover credit card.
In 2009, financial services giant American Express purchased Revolution Money, a company backed by former AOL executive Steve Case, for $30o million.
Meanwhile, Seattle-based coffee giant Starbucks announced in January that its mobile phone application is now accepted in all 6,800 of the company’s retail locations.
As for Fig Card, it’s quite understandable that PayPal would buy the startup. After all, PayPal pioneered the online payments market. Founded in 1998 in Palo Alto, California, PayPal was acquired by eBay, the giant online auctioneer, in 2002.
Since then, PayPal has come to dominate the market for online payments. Last year, the company processed $92 billion in online payments. In the first quarter of 2011, the company handled $27.3 billion.
Mobile payments are poised to explode. This year, the PayPal expects to process $2 billion in paperless payments — nearly triple the amount of mobile payments the company processed in 2010, company spokesperson Sara Gorman told Wired.com.
PayPal has actually been experimenting with mobile payments since 2006, Gorman said, but as the dream of paperless point-of-sale transactions comes closer, the company is intensifying its focus on the space, both internally, and though acquisitions, such as Fig Card.
“This is a really hot space to be in right now, but it’s still early, which is why we’re taking a platform-agnostic approach,” Gorman said.
Whether it’s SMS or NFC — or some other technology — it’s clear that we’re approaching the day when mobile payments will become a reality on a mass-consumer scale.
“People are putting their toes in the water and finding out what’s going to work best,” Clark said. “But it’s now clear that the end of the road is in sight.”
PayPal’s parent company, EBay, said Thursday that its revenue rose 16 percent to $2.55 billion in the first quarter, exceeding Wall Street’s consensus expectation of $2.48 billion. Ebay’s shares closed up 1.15 percent on Friday.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
2 days ago, Visa invests in Square; Now, "PayPal Pokes Into POS ‘E-Wallet’ Market (Wired). Money is moving mobile.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Blue Ocean Strategy + The Long Tail = Visa Invests in Square for Mobile Payments (NYT).
12:43 p.m. | Updated Adding comment from Visa.
Visa said Wednesday that it had invested in Square, the mobile payments start-up that turns phones and iPads into credit-card readers.
The investment, which the companies declined to quantify, is the clearest sign yet that Square is becoming a major player in the payments business, which has long been dominated by entrenched companies. A Visa executive will also join Square’s advisory board.
Square, which was founded by the Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, threatens the business models of payments companies and those that sell terminals to merchants that process credit-card payments.
But Keith Rabois, Square’s chief operating officer, said the relationship between Square and Visa was a natural one because Square could convert the 27 million businesses that don’t accept credit cards into Visa customers. Square is trying to become more mainstream through a new partnership with Apple to sell Square devices in its stores.
“We’re empowering people to accept credit cards that historically have not,” Mr. Rabois said.
Many payments companies are interested in the enormous small-business market. Visa, along with other companies like VeriFone, have recently introduced products that could compete with Square. Visa offers cashless person-to-person payments, so people can send funds to someone else’s Visa account. It also offers devices for merchants to accept Visa payments from customers who wave their iPhones at checkout.
But Ryan Donovan, a Visa spokesman, said Square does not compete with Visa’s products. “On the contrary, we believe that Square helps to drive acceptance of payment cards in a segment that has been historically underserved,” he said.
Square’s customers are individuals and small businesses that previously accepted only cash, like housekeepers, farmers and artists. Users get a free reader through Square’s Web site or from the Apple Store to plug into an iPad, iPhone or Android phone. They can then accept credit-card payments for a 2.75 percent fee, avoiding the typical complicated contracts and fee schedules of payment processors.
One of Square’s biggest hurdles was convincing merchants, shoppers and credit-card companies that it could prevent fraud. Visa’s vote of confidence is a sign that it has successfully done that. Square says it has security features that typical credit card processors don’t, because it can show the photo and location of the shopper and send receipts via e-mail.
Square, which competes with Intuit’s GoPayment, says 100,000 merchants are signing up for its service each month. It processed $66 million in the first three months of the year and expects that to triple this quarter. Square previously raised $37.7 million from Khosla Ventures and Sequoia Capital.
Wednesday, April 06, 2011
This is gonna be a long discussion. From GigaOm: Newspapers & Social Media: Still Not Really Getting It.
Updated: Many traditional media entities have embraced social-media services like Twitter and Facebook and blogs — at least to some extent — as tools for reporting and journalism, using them to publish and curate news reports. But newspapers in particular seem to have a hard time accepting the “social” part of these tools, at least when it comes to letting their journalists engage with readers as human beings. A case in point is the new social-media policy introduced at a major newspaper in Canada, which tells its staff not to express personal opinions — even on their personal accounts or pages — and not to engage with readers in the comments.
The policy, which I received from a source close to The Toronto Star (the full version is embedded below), has a number of sensible things to say about using social media, including the fact that these tools “can be valuable sources for story ideas and contacts for journalists, and as a means of connecting directly with the communities we cover.” The paper also says that it “encourages journalists – reporters, columnists, photographers and editors – to take advantage of social media tools in their daily work.” But it warns that any comments posted using such tools “can be circulated beyond their intended audience.”
This all makes perfect sense. Social media is useful for journalism, and it does connect reporters to the communities they cover — better than just about anything else does. And yes, it is wise to be aware of the unintended consequences of even offhand remarks.
No talking about what you do
Then comes the part about being impartial and objective, and that’s when the trouble starts. The policy says staff should “never post information on social media that could undermine your credibility with the public or damage the Star’s reputation in any way, including as an impartial source of news.” And that’s not all — the document goes on to say that:
Anything published on social media – whether on Star sites or personal platforms – cannot reveal information about content in development, newsroom issues or Star sources. Negative commentary about your colleagues or workplace will not be tolerated.
In other words, no posting about stories that are being worked on, no comments on newsroom-related topics, no talking about people who might be used or are being used as sources for Star reporting. And this prohibition doesn’t just apply to Star accounts or services under the newspaper’s name — it applies to any comments that a reporter or editor might make on their own personal accounts as well. Obviously the paper doesn’t want staffers bad-mouthing each other or talking about sensitive internal issues (something the New York Times also confronted
last yearin 2009), but a blanket ban on anything related to content seems unnecessarily harsh, not to mention completely unrealistic. Of course, the Star is far from alone in this.Never talk to your readers
It gets worse. The policy goes on to say that journalists who report for the Star “should not editorialize on the topics they cover,” because readers could could construe this as evidence that their news reporting is biased — and then tells reporters and editors that they shouldn’t respond to reader comments either. It says:
As well, journalists should refrain from debating issues within the Star’s online comments forum to avoid any suggestion that they may be biased in their reporting.
This last prohibition is a classic case of missing the point completely. According to the Star, apparently, comments on news stories are something that exists to allow readers to talk amongst themselves, not something that a reporter or editor should get involved in. That’s just wrong. As someone who was intimately involved in social-media strategy for another major metropolitan newspaper in Canada (full disclosure: the paper in question competes with The Toronto Star to some extent), one of the main features of having comments is the ability for readers to interact with writers and editors at the paper.
Treating the comments section as something that journalists shouldn’t get involved in turns it into a ghetto, and also contributes to the problems that many newspapers have with flaming and trolls and other issues — why should anyone behave properly in a comment forum if none of the staff at the paper are going to bother getting involved?
Never express an opinion on anything
The Star is not the only media outlet making these kinds of errors — while they are happy to use social media to push their content, most major newspapers have failed to take advantage of these tools when it comes to building relationships with their readers. The biggest single factor holding them back seems to be fear — namely, a fear that they will no longer be seen as objective, something NYT executive editor Bill Keller reinforced in a recent column, in which he suggested that the paper was one of the few remaining holdouts in a world where everyone feels free to state their opinion.
Here’s a news flash for Bill, and for the rest of the newspaper world: that particular genie is already out of the bottle and has been for some time now. As journalism professor Jay Rosen has argued, the “view from nowhere” that mainstream media continues to defend is not only dying, but arguably does readers a disservice — since it often distorts the news in order to maintain a perfectly balanced view of events. Although some journalists have started to admit they have personal interests and causes, that remains rare.
But the main point being missed is that social media is powerful precisely because it is personal. If you remove the personal aspect, all you have is a glorified news release wire or RSS feed. The best way to make social media work is to allow reporters and editors to be themselves, to be human, and to engage with readers through Twitter and Facebook and comments and blogs. Is there a risk that someone might say something wrong? Of course there is. But without that human touch, there is no point in doing it at all.
Update: Toronto Star spokesman Bob Hepburn got back to me and said that the paper’s policy was “well in line with what mainstream media organizations have always done. We’ve always placed some limitations on journalists in terms of them expressing their opinions, either in the newspaper or outside of the newspaper.”
Post and thumbnail photos courtesy of Flickr users Hans Gerwitz and Zarko Drincic
Related content from GigaOM Pro (subscription req’d):
Monday, April 04, 2011
Let the (Sponsorship) Games begin...online! |The Guardian: Olympic outdoor ad auction begins online
London 2012 organisers are firing the starting gun on a £250m eBay-style online auction of outdoor advertising space as Olympic sponsors including Coca Cola, McDonalds and Adidas begin bidding for prime sites across the UK.
Sponsors and their agencies will be hunched over keyboards across the globe on Monday to secure the pick of some of the most sought after outdoor advertising sites in the UK.
London 2012 organisers are thought to be the first in the history of the Olympics to attempt to sell advertising space for a Games by online auction, a system they believe to be the most fair and transparent way of dividing up the inventory that must be offered to sponsors first.
Around £250m in media space will be up for grabs in the online sale, on a platform developed by a technology company called Media Equals, covering 10 cities where events are being held such as London, Cardiff, Birmingham, Glasgow and Coventry.
In total about 4,000 packages of advertising will be up for sponsors and partners to buy – covering everything from billboards and posters right next to event sites to what is termed as "spectaculars" such as the Imax theatre on the Southbank as well as the London Underground – up until 1 July.
However, industry sources believe that up to £100m in ad space will go under the hammer during the auction period, with the unsold inventory then being put on sale to advertisers who are not Olympic partners.
London 2012 organisers plan a "controlled drip" for the auction to make sure that the sale process can't be abused by any one Olympic partner. While there is no limit on how much advertising space any brand can buy, the careful control of auctions – which open at 8am and close between 10am and 5.30pm daily – means that sponsors are unlikely to lose prime sites and packages to rivals who are faster on the button.
"We wanted to provide a level playing field for everyone and of course partners are located all over the world," said Chris Townsend, commercial director for the London Olympic Organising Committee for the Olympic Games. "We are making it a drip process over a number of weeks to keep it easy for the buyers. What we have here is a fair, open and transparent process."
For the first two weeks only the 18 worldwide, tier one sponsors are being allowed to bid – brands such as Coca-Cola, BP, Samsung, Lloyds TSB, BMW and Visa.
The first lots on the block are prime "vicinity" sites right by Olympic venues. These will be followed by what is referred to as "spectaculars", unique eye-grabbing sites such as those at Heathrow or the Imax. Tier two and tier three sponsors will be allowed to participate after the third week, which will bring the total number of bidders to more than 40.
Townsend also points out that the "vast majority" of what will be available to buy online will be "premium" packages at a fixed price.
"There isn't allowed to be advertising in stadia so it is key for sponsors and partners to own cities and event environs," said Mike Baker, chief executive of industry body the Outdoor Advertising Association.
Baker said that because the sale process is for inventory in 2012, the level of interest will be a critical bellwether for general advertiser appetite next year in what is looking to be an increasingly fragile market recovery.
"It is an important step. From the perspective of media owners it is a key indicator over how much uplift there will be in general in 2012," he said. "It will give us an idea if we are going to be disappointed or not [in the ad market next year]."
Friday, April 01, 2011
Only means more integration w/ DOOH to me. Mobile Marketer: What are the hottest trends in mobile right now?
What are the hottest trends in mobile right now?
By Dan Butcher
April 1, 2011
Where Ads aims to increase the relevancy of local merchants' mobile ads
The hot-button issues in mobile generating the most buzz at the moment include location-based services and marketing, the rise of mobile commerce and payments, as well as applications for smartphones and tablets.
Tablets, of course, are the device of the moment, with consumer adoption booming and plenty of iPad 2 competitors reaching the market—from Android-based tablets such as the Samsung Galaxy Tab and Motorola Xoom to Research In Motion’s BlackBerry PlayBook and Hewlett-Packard’s TouchPad. Brands and retailers are placing an increasing emphasis on applications for various smartphone and tablet platforms, but the trick is encouraging repeat usage and fitting apps into a marketer’s overall strategy.
“From all directions—app development platforms, apps themselves, marketers and thought leaders—[at CTIA Wireless 2011 in Orlando] I was hearing about the need for brands to think about usage and engagement measurement and metrics for app strategies,” said Melissa Parrish, New York-based analyst at Forrester Research.
“I agree that thinking needs to move beyond the application download numbers to see how and how often users are using those applications post-download,” she said.
“This is particularly important for marketers to understand how their branded application is really changing and deepening their relationship with their mobile consumer.”
Melissa Parrish is analyst of interactive marketing at Forrester Research
Based on the buzz at International CTIA Wireless in Orlando, FL, 2011 is the year of mobile commerce, location-based advertising and apps for all types of devices.
App craze
Apps have been hot for some time now, but their importance has been amplified tremendously with the launch of the iPad and competing tablet devices.With tablets, a whole new array of applications have been launched in an effort to gain loyalty, sell goods and for branding.
The Amazon Appstore for Android enters the mobile content distribution arena
It is imperative for brands and retailers to market their applications to drive downloads. However, getting onto consumers’ handsets—while definitely invaluable—is not the be-all-and-end-all.
Tracking how often consumers are using a particular application, and what actions they are taking once they do open an app, can provide key insight to help the marketer optimize the experience.
Monetization tactics for applications range from free/ad-supported and in-application transactions for virtual goods to pay-per-download, freemium and subscriptions.
In addition, Ms. Parrish said that mobile technologists who are looking for marketers’ dollars are getting much more adept at addressing marketers’ needs.
“Conversations are focusing on the question of business goals, brand presences, measurement and scale—where previously those conversations focused on technical themes, tactics and differentiators that may have been sexy but didn’t help marketers understand how to best reach the mobile consumer,” Ms. Parrish said.
Location, location, location
In 2011, many retailers are shifting their focus to delivering relevant, location-based offers to consumers on their mobile devices to drive them in-store.Location-based services promise big returns through linking a user’s physical location with key consumer demographics.
Delivering highly relevant deals and incentives are key to getting consumers in-store.
Consumers want to see deals and they want to see local retailers and restaurants offering them an incentive to come to their locations.
“At CTIA, we felt some palpable buzz around T-Mobile and AT&T, and the whole mobile commerce and payments category seemed to be big,” said Dan Gilmartin, vice president of marketing at Where Inc., Boston. “The thing that I loved is to hear more people talk about location-based advertising.
“We’ve been in the game for a while, and the market is really starting to catch up,” he said. “We just landed a quarter-million ad buy yesterday.
“It is a different way to think about location—it is ‘What is going on in this area that I can influence through advertising and drive an action?’ in a very contextual way,” he said. “We have a saying, ‘Relevance equals location plus context.’”
Mobile commerce and payments
Brands and retailers want to transact and sell products through the mobile channel.A CTIA panel that included executives from JPMorgan Chase and Visa Inc. outlined various evolving mobile payments mechanisms that are having an impact, from SMS, the mobile Web and applications to carrier billing and near field communication.
A PayPal executive said that mobile payments are growing exponentially and provided his own company’s figures as proof during the keynote at International CTIA Wireless 2011′s Money Over Mobile pre-conference program.
PayPal’s mobile payment transaction volume has grown from $24 million in 2008 to $140 million in 2009 to $750 million last year. It is projected to top $2 billion this year and is expected to reach $7.5 billion in 2013.
Many merchants still have reservations about NFC and mobile payments that must be addressed to convince them to make the necessary upgrades to their point-of-sale systems, according to a panel at CTIA Wireless 2011.
While the panelists all agreed that mobile payments are gaining momentum, panelists had differing views about what is necessary to take the ecosystem to the next level.
The fees must make sense for merchants to really make mobile payments a priority. In the case of contactless mobile payments, it may require retailers to upgrade their point-of-sale system with NFC/RFID technology.
As NFC continues to gain momentum, merchants and marketers should realize that it enables more than just contactless payments—it can be used to inspire consumer loyalty, according to a panel at CTIA Wireless 2011.
NFC is fundamentally changing the way we view payments, and that the various ecosystem players must find common ground from a technological standpoint, but more importantly, from a business perspective.
While there are key infrastructure pieces that still need to align, tremendous progress has been made, especially with more handset manufacturers embracing this technology, including Nokia and Samsung with the Google Nexus S.
Mobile content distribution
Another highly contentious area is mobile content distribution, where Amazon is making a big play.“CTIA yielded little in the way of revolution,” said Josh Martin, senior analyst at Strategy Analytics, Newton, MA. “Instead, I thought the Amazon app store launch was the most significant event, even though it was not at CTIA.
“Amazon is really looking to redefine what we have come to expect from an app store and they will become a major player,” he said. “We are forecasting they will reach at least 30 percent of Android U.S. downloads by the end of the year, skewing higher on paid and lower on free.”
Final Take
Ovum's Eden Zoller
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Thursday, March 17, 2011
Good points raised for & against QR codes. Personally, would love to see it work. From Mobile Marketer: Is there a point to QR codes in an SMS-dependent society?
Is there a point to QR codes in an SMS-dependent society?
March 17, 2011
Scanning or texting?
QR codes are quite popular nowadays, with a lot of large brands incorporating the technology into existing marketing collateral to increase engagement. But, adding an SMS call to action to existing media can also connect consumers to richer experiences, so is there really a need for QR codes?
Both QR codes and SMS can be used to connect consumers to interactive content such as Web sites, video, pictures, apps and other multimedia. The difference is that consumers do not need to download apps to respond to SMS call to actions, like they do with bar codes.
"A subsidiary of Toyota created quick response codes in 1999 for tracking parts on assembly lines," said Tim Miller, president of Sumotext, Little Rock, AR. "They represented a major advancement over traditional bar codes because they held more data, readers could capture the data at 360-degree angles, and the data could be decoded at higher speeds.
"But for marketers, QR codes just don't make sense to me," he said. "If you want to deliver content to a mobile device or link consumers to Web sites, apps, or multimedia, SMS via short codes can do the same thing in a fraction of the time - without a smartphone, camera, or installed reader.
"You can also get a compliant opt-in in the process."
SMS’ familiarity
A study by ABI Research finds that consumers worldwide will send more than 7 trillion text messages in 2011, indicating that SMS is the the key communication tool of the modern era.ABI’s data shows that consumers are increasingly comfortable communicating via SMS. According to Informa, 2010 SMS traffic in the United States was 1.1 trillion messages.
Ninety percent of the U.S. population sends and recieves text messages, according to Nielsen. With a current population of about 310,995,668, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, that means that approximately 279,896,101 send and recieve SMS messages.
Comparatively speaking, mobile bar code scanning is growing at a very rapid pace, but is only now starting to move out of the early-adopter stage, according to the ScanLife Mobile Bar Code Trend Report released in January.
Scanbuy claims that only 25-30 million consumers in the United States are scanning bar codes, representing a very large growth year over year.
“SMS has distinct advantages because of its reach, use by mobile subscribers of just about all ages, and standardization,” said Jeff Hasen, chief marketing officer of Hipcricket, Kirkland, WA. “When you create an SMS call to action, you don’t need to worry whether your target has an interest in QR codes, not to mention an app to engage with the image.”
What’s even more confusing is that Microsoft Tags, for example, can only be read by Microsoft Tag readers and Scanbuy codes can only be scanned by the ScanLife reader.
That means that consumers need multiple readers, depending on which codes they are scanning. It also means they need to figure out which app to open and when.
"Even if every brand published the same code format and every phone came installed with the same reader, I think consumers would still struggle to justify the utility of QR codes,” Sumotext’s Mr. Miller said.
“Consumers phones are cluttered with competing apps and all it takes is one frustrating experience trying to find the reader or take a picture of the code and many consumers won't ever try it again," he said.
“From the publisher's perspective, you also have to consider how big these images have to be, how ugly they are, and all the extra space required for download instructions – not to mention the static nature of the URL that is likely embedded in the image. Does anyone really want to call their Web developer every time they need to end or edit a QR campaign printed in a magazine?"
Attractiveness of QR codes
Keeping all of this in mind, what then, is the attractiveness of QR codes to brands?According to Mr. Hasen, QR codes do have their benefits.
A campaign using QR codes can often be implemented faster by brands new to mobile because they do not have to wait for a short code to be obtained and provisioned by all the carriers.
Another perceived advantage is that QR codes are cool and fit a brand’s personality.
But when it comes to choosing one or the other – SMS or QR codes – Mr. Hasen suggests taking an agnostic approach.
“As marketers, we should be agnostic when it comes to mobile tactics as long as we succeed in our goals of engagement that leads to trial, sales and loyalty,” Mr. Hasen said. “Many of Hipcricket clients, including Macy’s, are wisely choosing to provide consumers with multiple ways to engage.
“We are seeing this now in the Macy’s aisles in the Backstage Pass program that provides fashion tips, product information and more,” he said. “Macy’s is inclusive, even providing a URL at the point of sale for those who don’t wish to interact via mobile.”
At the end of the day it is about turning what used to be passive activities into interactive ones, per Mr. Hasen.
That means that regardless of whether it is a QR code, an SMS-to-short code or both, some sort of mobile call to action needs to be included in traditional media and other communications vehicles like point of sale materials to better engage consumers and drive them to purchase.
“QR codes have a buzz about them and are included in most conversations Hipcricket has with its clients and new business prospects,” Mr. Hasen said. “But for many quick service restaurants and other brands, SMS call to actions remain an indispensible part of the marketing mix.
“And SMS calls to action are becoming more and more commonplace,” he said.
Consumers prefer codes?
Mike Wehrs, CEO of Scanbuy, New York, said there are a number of reasons why the industry is seeing both large brands and thousands of small businesses embracing codes so quickly.The mobile device can offer so much more than even a year ago, and codes can easily launch literally any action available – including SMS.
Marketers want to show more dynamic content like video and social networking which can also be adjusted in real time based on deeper analytics like location or handset type.
“The bar code is a more open and democratic solution that does not require a huge amount of investment or time to market,” Mr. Wehrs said. “Codes are visually more obvious than SMS so they are really turning into an icon which shows people there is something more here.
“A code converts anything into a 'get more' button,” he said.
But, one of the most important factors why code scanning is moving so quickly is user adoption.
Mr. Wehrs said people use texting for communication purposes because it is easy, but when it comes to engaging with a brand, people would rather scan a code than use SMS.
“It’s just that much easier to scan a code and launch really compelling content in one click than typing a short code, waiting for a response and then clicking for content,” Mr. Wehrs said. “Plus, let’s be honest, it’s pretty rewarding to scan a code to see where it goes in two seconds.
"We have actually run campaigns in the U.S. and abroad with both an SMS and a 2D code option, and we see more scans than texts," he said. " In fact, in the four campaigns that have offered both options, all of them saw more scans than texts."
Final take
David Javitch of Scanbuy talks QR codes:
Monday, February 21, 2011
Going "Social" to Keep the "Mass" in Mass Media. From NYT: TV Industry Taps Twitter and Facebook for Viewers
Trying to exploit viewers’ two-screen behavior, the television network has built a companion Web site with behind-the-scenes video streams, so Oscar winners will be seen accepting an award on the TV set, then seen celebrating backstage on the stream.
Experiments like this one are a sudden priority in television land. As more and more people chat in real time about their favorite shows — on Facebook, Twitter and a phalanx of smaller sites — television networks are trying to figure out how to capitalize.
It’s as if people are gathered around the online water cooler — and the television executives are nervously hovering nearby, hoping viewers keep talking and, by extension, watching their shows.
Experts like Ian Schafer, the chief executive of the digital agency Deep Focus, say that Twitter and Facebook messages about shows may well be “the most efficient way to drive tune-in.” Though it is hard to prove the link, Mr. Schafer sees it firsthand when a news segment catches his attention or a basketball game is in overtime. “I’ll say on Twitter or Facebook, ‘You have got to tune into ‘Nightline’ or ‘60 Minutes’ right now,’ and then I’ll get people saying, ‘Oh, thanks for alerting me,’ ” he said.
The water-cooler effect makes big shows even bigger — the Grammy Awards had its highest rating in a decade on Feb. 13 — and gives small shows a new way to stand out.
On the same day as the Grammys, Howard Stern demonstrated the latter with his stream Twitter posts during a re-airing of his movie “Private Parts.” Suddenly, some people flipped over to HBO2 to follow along, and Twitter executives were thrilled. Adam Bain, one such executive, wrote, “This is what fiction TV producers should do every week.”
Acts like Mr. Stern’s make television viewing more social, even if the viewers are in separate rooms (or states).
“In a sense, you are in the living room, watching together,” said Jeff Probst, the host of “Survivor,” who used Twitter to talk with fans during the show’s season premiere last Wednesday while flying from New York to Los Angeles. Mr. Probst plans to make such viewing a weekly habit this season.
Television executives say the chats deepen viewers’ interest in a show, making them more likely to watch next time. BET stunned its competitors last month when “The Game,” a sitcom about football players’ relationships with women, drew more than seven million viewers, thanks in part to fevered online chatter. Debra Lee, the chief executive of BET, said “we can now tell when something’s a hit almost immediately — by seeing how many of the trending topics on Twitter belong to us.”
Twitter generally lists 10 such trending words at a time, and in the evenings, television shows are well-represented.
Television networks as well as some technology companies, Twitter chief among them, see benefits to their business from this behavior. Dick Costolo, the chief executive of Twitter, said last week at a mobile conference in Barcelona that online conversations about TV shows turn the programs into events, “meaning people watch them as they happen,” blunting the impact of digital video recording.
He may have overstated the impact of Twitter — digital recording remains prevalent — but it is clear that many people feel they have to watch some shows as they premiere in order to keep up with conversations online.
“We know people are multitasking while they’re watching TV,” said Albert Cheng, the executive vice president for digital media for the Disney/ABC Television Group, which oversees ABC. “The question is, how do we tap into that and create a whole different consumer experience?”
“We don’t have all the answers,” he added, “but we are definitely trying different things and seeing how people are reacting.”
In this television season, ABC introduced iPad apps for two shows, the since-canceled “My Generation” and the medical drama “Grey’s Anatomy,” that sync up polls and trivia to the premieres of new episodes. Those apps, for Mr. Cheng, double as research labs.
Much of the experimentation around the online water cooler is happening on cable before it trickles up to the broadcast networks. Lisa Hsia, the executive vice president of Bravo’s digital media arm, said that its online viewing parties for “Real Housewives” reunions gave a 10 percent ratings lift to the telecasts.
“The key discovery is that we’re not just driving digital growth, we’re driving analog growth,” she said.
The experiments are gaining the attention of TV advertisers looking to leverage the online communication about their brands. For the Super Bowl last year, Nielsen created a blended media score for clients that looked at the impact of both paid media and earned media. The highest-scoring clients had what Randall Beard, the global head of advertising solutions for the Nielsen Company, described as “pass-along currency” in their social media campaigns, like a coupon.
“The best form of advertising is a recommendation from a friend and a family member,” something that social media encourages, Mr. Beard said.
During this year’s Super Bowl on Feb. 6, Twitter users set a new record by sending 4,064 messages each second, the highest number of messages per second recorded during any sporting event.
A recent study by Deloitte of 2,000 American consumers ages 14 to 75 found that 42 percent sometimes surfed the Web while watching TV, and 26 percent sometimes sent instant messages or texts.
Analysts say such behavior will become more common as tablets and smartphones become more prevalent. Programs like “The Rachel Maddow Show,” on MSNBC promote iPad apps, and ABC’s Oscar Web site will come in the form of an app.
It’s not just television networks like ABC that are eager to wedge themselves into the two-screen experience. A wide range of Web sites, including People.com and NYTimes.com, are creating Web pages and apps meant to be viewed during the Oscars next Sunday.
Mark Golin, the editor of People Digital, said the People.com site would feature real-time trivia with a $10,000 grand prize. “We do a lot of run-up content in the days and weeks before” the Oscars, he said.
“We always have a big day after. So why not during the show?”
Jennifer Preston contributed reporting.
We seem to be going back full-circle. Decades and centuries ago, information and entertainment really was a shared social experience. Curiously, it seems we're only now rediscovering how great it to be able to share it again with others.
You sometimes just have to see the absurdity in it - have we really "progressed" only to be led back to the truths about our human nature?
Inspiring. @davemorgannyc nailed it. Some will make it by developing tech; others, by finding uses for it.
I love Groupon, and I've never even used the service. I love Groupon, and I've never even been to its Web site. Why do I love Groupon? I love it because, for the first time since Netflix, we have a "digital company of the moment" that's not just about some new whiz-bang technology.
To me, Groupon represents the beginning of a new trend in digital marketing companies. Here's what I mean:
Business model innovation. The technologies that power the Web, email, ecommerce, couponing, social sharing and status update have already been invented. It's about time someone created a great company focused on how to turn those platforms into a great marketing service. In Groupon's case, it's a $2 billion a year revenue company in two years. We haven't seen anyone as successful at that since.
Not about the Valley (or New York or L.A., for that matter). Technology start-ups depend on access to critical masses of risk-taking engineers and lots of tech-savvy venture capital. Not so with business model innovators. They can start everywhere you have smart people who want to change the world. I am sure that Groupon's success with Chicago roots will be an inspiration to everyone out there. Innovation is no longer limited to Silicon Valley.
All about sales & marketing. Many argue that Groupon isn't defensible since it's a sales & marketing company at its core, suggesting that only technology companies can build competitive barriers to entry. Clearly, Groupon is building a "network effect" that could be as powerful as the "friend effect" of Facebook or the "auction effect" that Google created with AdWords. Time will tell.
The girl (or boy) next door. Groupon is run and staffed by people like those who most of the rest of us grew up with, went to school with, or have drinks with after work. That has not always been the case with many technology-driven start-ups. It makes the notion of start-ups feel more accessible to all. It helps democratize them. I think that this is good for all.
Given the apparent lack of technology defensibility, do I think that the founders shouldn't have taken the reported $6 billion offer for the company? No more than I think that Google or Facebook should have sold at those levels. I believe that Groupon is on to something big. I believe that it will revolutionize local marketing services. What do you think?
Friday, February 18, 2011
First shot fired in Philippine E-Commerce PR war? Hmmm. From PDI: Merchants invade cyberspace
MANILA, Philippines—In the Philippines, merchants are starting to make a killing online.
According to Ambareesh Murty, country manager of eBay Philippines, “e-commerce in the Philippines is in a rapid incline and shows significant promise.”
It is no secret that eBay is the largest purveyor of e-commerce in the world. It is a global online community where practically anyone can trade almost anything. It offers a low-cost platform for entrepreneurship and is open to everyone.
“We’re proud to say that entrepreneurship is in our DNA,” Murty says. “It is a small platform to reach millions of buyers across the globe.”
Also, Abhimanyu Lal of eBay says the company makes “inefficient markets efficient for millions of users.”
But eBay considers the Philippines a special market. With the sudden rise of broadband penetration and mobile broadband, more Filipinos discovered the convenience of shopping and selling online.
“The Philippines is seeing the value of e-commerce,” Murty says, noting that most Filipinos spend a substantial amount of their time on the Internet.
The longer they stay online, Murty says, the more they are inclined to buy and sell.
And they have the numbers to support their words. eBay Philipines has over 750,000 registered users. These consumers come from all 12 metropolitan areas in the country.
Metro Manila has the most active online shoppers. The most active buyer cities in the country are Metro Manila, Cebu, Davao, Baguio and Cabanatuan.
But eBay is not limited to the big cities. “You’ll be surprised to know that there is a seller based in Jolo,” Murty said.
In a country that is home to tens of thousands of small and medium entrepreneurs, eBay seeks to foster stronger ties with consumers by providing convenience and safety.
There are over 3,000 sellers in the Philippines. They consider eBay as a primary or secondary source of income. These sellers trade on eBay Philippines daily across 2,000 categories of products. From lipsticks and handbags to gadgets and toys, every user can find something useful or interesting online.
In addition, eBay says the Philippines is a unique market.
In a recent survey, company officials discovered that Filipinos prefer to buy brand-new fixed-price products as opposed to second-hand ones. This runs counter to how an auction is usually conducted—buyers and sellers haggle over the price of a particular product.
Upon learning this, eBay modified its format to suit Filipino buyers and sellers. It launched the “buy it now” program to cater to the Philippine market and other eBay consumers across the globe. The program enables online customers to purchase merchandise right there and then without bargaining with the sellers.
Another modification is eBay’s group-buying site Kuponan. This site offers users substantial discounts and a variety of deals with restaurants, spas and other services.
The company functions as a middle man between merchants and consumers negotiating discounts for the latter.
Also, consumers need not immediately pay the entire amount of the merchandise they bought through eBay. They have the option to pay a certain amount and settle the balance over a specific period of time. This is the company’s version of the “five-gives” scheme where buyers are allowed to pay on installment.
The Philippine market was the first to enjoy eBay’s Kuponan before the company launched the program across the globe.
“We received an overwhelming response from Metro Manila,” Murty says.
eBay also notes that more Filipino women are active online shoppers. Over 50 percent registered users on eBay Philippines are women.
When asked why they think Filipino women are prominent users here in the Philippines, while male users dominate the online marketplace in countries like India and Malaysia, company officials said that Filipino women enjoy a higher degree of independence.
The women here enjoy a higher standard of living compared with those in other parts of Asia, Murty says. They account for a large portion of the workforce and have more disposable income.
As for security, which is a primary concern for most users who are inclined to shop online, eBay ensures that all transactions are safe and secured.
“As part of our commitment to deliver safe, easy and the best deals, we have created a protection program that insures all transactions up to P11,200,” Murty states.
Only a handful of people know that eBay has a Verify rights program in the global marketplace. Murty explains that around 2,000 employees are dedicated to verify the authenticity of each item sold on eBay.
“We pay them to determine if [a product] is real or not,” he says.
The buyer protection program was also created to receive, and respond to, user’s feedback.
“We make sure that each user has a good experience so that they will try again,” Murty explains.
If a merchant were to sell fraudulent items through eBay, that seller will be barred from trading.
If there are penalties, then there must rewards. Merchants who provide excellent service to buyers receive the Power Seller award from eBay.
“It is a privilege we give out to sellers who fit the criterion, but we also reserve the right to strip them of that award if the circumstances call for it,” Murty says.
Citing the company’s bright prospects, Murty expects cooperation, not competition, in the years ahead.
“Our users deserve our collective effort, and we make sure that they have an experience that is one of a kind,” he says.
Like a rocket poised for lift-off, e-commerce is ready to fly and conquer the online marketplace.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Now this is what I'd call a revealing media stunt. From Media Life. Stripping down to the real message
medialifemagazine.com
Alternative media
Stripping down to the real message
By Toni Fitzgerald
Jan 21, 2011 - 1:10:13 AM
You're sitting on the subway, eyes on the floor, when you look up and notice a beautiful woman standing near one of the doors.She is dressed to the hilt: Black blazer, green blouse, tight black pants, sunglasses, expensive-looking purse and a jaunty men's dress hat sitting on her head.
She's the sort of woman who knows she looks good, and indeed the men in the subway car can't take their eyes off her. She smiles at you, and you smile back.
Then, out of the blue, she raises an eyebrow, holds up her purse and throws it to floor.
The men on the subway look at her quizzically. One of them picks up the bag and offers it back. She ignores him.
A few seconds later she removes her sunglasses and tosses them toward the back of the car. Another man picks them up but again she refuses to take them back.
The woman continues to remove her accessories.
She places the jaunty hat on a bald man's head. She shrugs her blazer onto the subway floor. She even unbuttons her blouse and drops it onto the seat next to you, revealing a tight white shirt below.
Still mesmerized by the stripping beauty, you pick up the discarded blouse and discover, much to your surprise, that there is a 2-inch by 3-inch white hangtag on it.
On the left side it reads, "Make your smile your best accessory." Next to the words are two tubes of toothpaste and another phrase on the right side: "One week, one shade whiter."
Now you get it. The woman shedding her accessories isn't mad after all. She is part of an alternative media campaign to promote a new toothpaste, Colgate MaxWhite One.
The aim of the campaign, developed by Y&R Paris for Colgate, was to get across the message that white teeth are a more powerful accessory than any bracelet, hat, necklace or other bauble.
Its target audience: young, fashion-minded Europeans.
Y&R launched the first part of the campaign in 20 different countries with print and TV elements. It chose Paris to execute the out-of-home element.
Three models were loaded with heaps of accessories one morning and sent to different pedestrian- and traffic-heavy locations across the city to perform their faux strip shows.
Everything they took off had the Colgate message attached in some fashion. So when people picked up the objects to hand them back, they saw the Colgate message.
The campaign was effective for two reasons, first because you can never go wrong when you employ a beautiful young woman in a campaign in Paris.
But also because the stunt was clever enough that it caught people's attention without being obvious.
Good alternative media campaigns always arouse people's curiosity. They are puzzles for the eyes; the reward comes as folks figure out the puzzle.
That's why this one worked so well.
© 2011 Media Life
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
W/ permutations like this, is the traditional term "ad agency" still appropriate? NBC Sports Creates New Ad Agency
NBC Universal will announce on Monday that John Miller, the former chief marketing officer for its television group, is coming out of semiretirement to set up and head the NBC Sports Agency. The ad agency will market all parts of the NBC Sports Group, which will soon include Comcast’s sports cable channels. Its formation is another indication that Comcast wants to seize opportunities in the sports arena, where ESPN is dominant.
The agency will be modeled after the NBC Agency, which Mr. Miller helped to start in 1999 and which markets all of NBC’s television properties.
“We are forming this agency to respond to the demand we are already hearing from many advertisers who are looking forward to creating integrated campaigns with our soon-to-be combined assets,” Mr. Miller said.
Those assets will include NBC’s existing broadcasts of sporting events; the Golf Channel and Versus, both owned by Comcast; and 11 regional sports networks, also owned by Comcast. The individual units will still promote themselves, but the agency will find areas for broader collaboration between units and with advertisers.
“Creating the NBC Sports Agency has the added advantage of having each part of the NBC Sports Group become invested in the success of all,” Mr. Miller said.
NBC Sports already has experience producing ad campaigns for the National Football League and the National Hockey League. It has also worked with advertisers like Proctor & Gamble, Coors, Mercedes and Target.
Mr. Miller retired from the NBC Agency last summer. Since then, he has been helping with the integration of Comcast and NBC. He will remain chairman of the NBC Universal Marketing Council, which orchestrates promotions across the company.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
From today's issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer's Sunday Biz: From the brains to a brand
Inquirer Money / Top Stories
http://business.inquirer.net/money/topstories/view_article.php?article_id=315985
From the brains to a brand
By Bing Kimpo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Posted date: January 22, 2011
MANILA, Philippines—For several decades, Asian industries have seemed content to remain at the background, providing manufacturing, research and other support services for Western brands.In the last few years however, regional suppliers such as BenQ, HTC and Huawei have begun to make that leap of faith to the forefront, casting themselves in the retail shelves and spotlights, and facing customers worldwide carrying their own names.
Here in the Philippines, Butuan-based broadcast electronics company Marjeds Systems Inc. (MSI, www.marjeds.com) is similarly throwing its hat in the global game, behind its own brand, Digital ST.
Digital ST is MSI’s stamp on its line of broadcast equipment for digital radio, TV, cable and satellite systems. The Digital ST product portfolio includes broadcast transmitters, satellite uplink and distribution facilities and equipment, as well as set-top boxes. MSI’s big, hairy and audacious goal is to be a key player as the broadcast media industry inches closer toward full digitalization.
An ambitious goal, perhaps, but one that MSI majority owner and CEO Ed Millana, 39, believes the company is prepared for. After all, he himself has trained for this moment since Grade 5.
Yes, Grade 5.
In 1984, Ed Millana’s father unexpectedly received a call to take on a job in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He hurriedly prepared for his overseas contract, but was left to settle one last item of business before his trip: what to do with an already paid-for non-formal course in electronics at the Agusan National High School in Butuan? Gamely, his fifth-grade son took his slot. Six months of entire Saturdays at school later, Ed Millana finished the course, topped his class and even graduated with honors.
In high school, Ed carried on his passion for electronics, repairing television sets and Betamax video-cassette player-recorder units from his home-based shop. He later began his tertiary education at Urios College in Butuan, where he earned a certification as an electronics technician, before moving to Manila where he earned an Electronics Communication Engineering degree from the University of the East in 1995.
Following a two-year stint with electronics company WEC, where he mastered the R&D and design aspects of radio communications equipment, Millana returned to Butuan in 1997 to become an entrepreneur. He founded MSI with a starting capital of P10,000. His company’s business initially consisted of more repair work on radio communications equipment.
MSI’s big break came in 1998, when it was commissioned by Keppel Communications as a sub-contractor to survey prospective cell sites in Cebu for Globe Telecom. Two years later, SMART Communications hired MSI to build cellsites for its new digital GSM network, a contract that soon expanded to over 250 cell sites. Apart from SMART, MSI also built some 50 cell sites for Globe Telecom.
In 2006, with a worthy war chest from its lucrative cell site construction contracts, MSI decided to invest heavily in research and development, spending on software, test equipment and engineers.
The gamble paid off, as MSI began bagging contracts for R&D work from Chinese and Korean original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). It was also awarded projects by UK defense contractor Racal Communications.
Three years later, armed with experience and expertise as a subcontractor, MSI decided it was ready to break in to the scene with its own brand. In 2009, MSI secured permits from the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to manufacture and distribute broadcast electronics equipment. The company subsequently began producing its own Digital ST-branded products.
Today, MSI’s Digital ST equipment is all over the world. In the Philippines, its transmitters are used by the likes of Progressive Broadcasting Network and block timer UNTV. Abroad, Digital ST equipment has been brought by MSI resellers to customers in several countries—even those on the leading edge of broadcast electronics themselves, such as EMC in Germany, RRSat and Sentinel-SMG LLC in the United States, and SET Ltd in Georgia. A Digital ST satellite encoder even reportedly sits on a rack of a Fox affiliate in the US.
Apart from selling its own equipment, MSI now is also the regional representative of foreign brands in the booming broadcast electronics space. These include the Israel-based LiveU brand of backpack satellite uplink equipment.
“The Filipino has always been known to be crafty, brainy—in our own lingo, ‘wais,’” says Millana. This has served us well in supporting foreign business, whether as subcontractors or as service providers, he explains.
“The challenge—and opportunity—for all of us now,” he shares, “is to move up to the next level and bring our own brands to the rest of the world.”
Shameless self-promotion: this is my very first byline. Thank you, Marge. Thank you, PDI.
Friday, January 21, 2011
Going Advertiser-as Content-Producer Again, P&G Launches a Soap Opera for the Web Age.
A Web site created by the company for husbands and fathers offers articles with titles like “Conquering Sex Problems.” Among other things, the article advises men to take their time in bed.
“If you want a hot woman who acts like a porn star in bed, you need to be prepared to spend some time getting her to that place,” suggests the site, ManoftheHouse.com.
While the Internet is crowded with all kinds of sex advice, P.& G. — the maker of Pampers and Ivory soap and the nation’s largest advertiser — says it has found an untapped marketing opportunity for its products in the family man.
Much of the popular sex advice for men, in publications like Maxim and GQ, is directed toward singles on the prowl, the company says. Even its top rival, Unilever, has gone decidedly raunchier in a campaign for Axe, a grooming brand aimed at young men, that includes a double entendre about cleaning sporting equipment and a man’s private parts.
The P.& G. site gets out of the bedroom, offering tips on grilling burgers, cleaning toilets and disciplining children. It promises, “We’ll make men out of you yet,” while also promoting Gillette razors, Head & Shoulders shampoo and other company products.
“What we are trying to do is speak to the whole man,” said Jeannie Tharrington, a spokeswoman for Procter & Gamble Productions. “Certainly, relationships and sex are part of an adult man’s life.”
Josh Bernoff, senior vice president at Forrester Research who has written about P.& G.’s marketing efforts, said ManoftheHouse.com was not so different from “As the World Turns,” the TV soap opera that was another P.& G. innovation.
“This is the 21st-century version of the soap opera,” he said. “It’s information. It’s topical.”
More and more big companies have discovered the how-to genre as a marketing tool. General Mills offers dieting advice and coupons on Tablespoon.com, and Wal-Mart has a Web site in which mothers blog about everything from being frugal to reviewing products.
Jeremiah Owyang, a partner at the Altimeter Group, a digital strategy consulting firm, said company-generated lifestyle sites could be effective as long as they did not push the brands too hard. Reviewing the homepage of ManoftheHouse.com, he said, “All of these discussions on this page are already happening on Facebook,” he said. “The reason these things do work is that consumers are already having these discussions, having a healthy breakfast, talking about their wives in relationships.”
Ms. Tharrington said company research found that men were going to women’s Web sites to find information on recipes, cleaning the house or getting a stain out of a shirt. As for sex talk coming from a company that has honed a wholesome image — remember Mr. Whipple? — she said, “For us, it’s part of it, but it’s not the whole thing. What we try to do is be tasteful.”
Procter & Gamble has a long history of unusual marketing. The Cincinnati-based company created one of the first radio soap operas as a way to market its products, and years later it created its own soap operas, including “As the World Turns,” for television.
In the last decade, Procter & Gamble was one of the pioneers in word-of-mouth marketing campaigns in which mothers and teenagers were plied with samples and coupons to draw more customers.
In 2000, the company introduced Beinggirl.com, which provides information and expert advice on issues that teenage girls might be too embarrassed to ask a parent or a doctor about, like menstruation, eating disorders, acne and dating. The site also advertises P.& G. tampons and offers free samples.
In the years since Beinggirl.com was created, Procter & Gamble has started several other lifestyle Web sites, including one that is directed at women, Homemadesimple.com. David Germano, the general manager of ManoftheHouse.com, said consumer data showed that 10 percent of the visitors to the women’s site were men.
ManoftheHouse.com has brought on several writers who had established father-focused blogs. Karl Withakay, a Utah-based singer and songwriter who writes some of the sex articles, including “Conquering Sex Problems,” was already writing about relationships for other media outlets.
“The pieces he wrote were based upon his own experience,” said Craig J. Heimbuch, ManoftheHouse.com’s editor in chief, in an e-mail. “I appreciate his perspective a great deal. It lends itself well to the tone of the site, which is men helping men.”
So are men drawn to a PG-rated Web site when so much R- and X-rated competition is out there? Procter & Gamble says that so far it is pleased with the number of visitors. The site was started in June, and by December it had topped a half a million monthly unique visitors.
By comparison, AskMen.com, a site with similar, if more titillating content, had 5.5 million unique visitors in December, according to comScore, the market research firm.
Jonah Disend, chief executive of the brand strategy firm Redscout, questioned whether ManoftheHouse.com would generate a big following. He said men tended to be more interested in specialized publications about a specific hobby or sport.
“Just because no one’s doing it doesn’t mean there’s a real market for it,” he said.
Racy also works. Indeed, that is just what Procter & Gamble’s archrival, Unilever, discovered in its efforts to market Axe. The campaign it started last year, which included the double entendre, has become a sensation; last month, Zeta Interactive proclaimed the ads as having received the most social media buzz in 2010.
“We’ve taken a calculated risk,” said Heather Mitchell, a Unilever spokeswoman, “knowing what resonates with our guys.”
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Why do they always have to talk about Proximity Marketing in the future tense? Let's do it!
Only a decade ago, the concept of receiving data and content at your fingertips without an outlet or modem was considered revolutionary, but technological advancements made that view out-dated. From a cultural perspective, our lives today increasingly rely and thrive on mobility and connectivity, and on any given day we are exposed to information and content through a wide array of platforms. We are also more connected to our mobile phones; in fact, by 2012 analysts predict that over 50% of digital content will be accessed on mobile phones rather than the standard computer browser.
Since consumers are spending so much time on their mobile phones, mobile has become an essential channel through which marketers should reach consumers -- both via social media, apps and digital marketing. That being said, it can be overwhelming for consumers to navigate the barrage of information coming at them from so many different mediums, including Digital-Out-of-Home (DOOH) channel.
Similarly, for marketers, it can be very difficult to break through the "white noise" and really capture consumers' attention. So what's the solution to rise above all this noise? Proximity marketing, a growing medium that leverages a number of trends including mobile coupons, location-based services, geo-targeting and digital signage, into a robust and interactive marketing platform.
It works by automatically detecting mobile customers within close range of a retail presence and sending relevant content, such as coupons, videos, competitions and other engaging media.
Location, Location, Location
Proximity marketing is a well-matched addition to the marketing portfolio, as it seamlessly integrates and supplements DOOH advertising efforts. It expands the scope of interactive marketing in public places to offer a more spontaneous and direct interaction, targeting consumers with messages that are useful and delivered in a timely manner. The result? Consumers are more likely to take action.
And because consumers are targeted only while within a radius of 300 feet or less, marketers have the ability to instantly connect and interact with consumers, in real-time, as they are in-store. This takes the concept of "location-based" marketing to an even greater level of "local."
Additionally, proximity marketing can support social networking, price matching, coupons and real-time transactions to consumers at the point of sale, allowing marketers many options for interacting with consumers.
DOOH, Promixity Marketing Future Impact
• The Time of Mobile: The average American spends nearly three hours a day on their mobile phone. Proximity marketing allows marketers to leverage the mobile channel as a way to connect with consumers in the palm of their hands.
• Instant connection: Marketers can connect with consumers as they are shopping, in-store and primed to buy. A recent study conducted by IBM found that 72% of consumers are more likely to take action after receiving a message while "on location" compared with messages received off-site.
• Here and now: Because proximity marketing is done in real-time, marketers can manage and measure their campaigns immediately, helping them improve the effectiveness of advertising campaigns in the short and the long-term.
• Steer clear of privacy issues: Marketers avoid privacy issues as proximity marketing uses Bluetooth technology and does not involve consumers' email or phone numbers. Consumers can opt-in if they want to receive SMS or email alerts as well.
• The new shopper: For consumers afflicted with ADD (Analog Deficit Disorder), static signage is visually processed as nothing more than wallpaper. Proximity marketing allows marketers to reach these shoppers with interactive touch points that catch their attention.
• No delivery fee: Low cost of entry -- marketers and consumers avoid any mobile carrier charges to deliver or receive marketing messages. Proximity-based marketing allows marketers to capitalize on consumers' in-store location, target them in real-time and encourage immediate action on the consumer's part. Through digital technologies, it allows brands to leverage their strengths and foster interaction to develop consumer loyalty, increase ROI and cultivate repeat customers -- a win-win for brands and consumers alike.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
From TechCrunch. Jack Dorsey: "We want the technology to fade away so that you can focus on enjoying the cappuccino that you just purchased.”
Twitter Chairman and Square founder Jack Dorsey sat down with Charlie Rose last night to talk about Dorsey’s unique position of being responsible for two technology startups based on the idea of simplicity: Twitter and Square. Watching this interview you realize that Dorsey’s accomplishments have little to do with luck, and more with his focus on creating the purest products by throwing away any unnecessary flourishes. “It’s really complex to make something simple,” he tells Rose.
Dorsey describes himself as an “editor” who edits technology and teams “so that we have one cohesive product that we tell the world.” In the clip above (provided by the Charlie Rose Show), Dorsey talks about how he got the idea for Square and how hard it is to make mobile payments no more complicated than swiping a credit card.
Dorsey believes the most powerful technologies are those which disappear, like the iPad disappears:
“When you’re using the iPad, the iPad disappears, it goes away. You’re reading a book. You’re viewing a website, you’re touching a web site. That’s amazing and that’s what SMS is for me. The technology goes away and with Twitter the technology goes away. And the same is true with Square. We want the technology to fade away so that you can focus on enjoying the cappuccino that you just purchased.”
In the clip below, he talks about how he got the idea for Twitter from his obsession with cities and dispatch systems, but how he felt those systems were missing one thing: the people, his friends. Now Twitter is not just about status updates but about pointing to, and carrying via short links, other media on the Web. He boils down the essence of Twitter into this: “Any media that you can imagine it can point to a carry in real-time. And the only other technology I know that’s done that well is the web itself.”
Dorsey also pegs the number of registered Twitter users at 200 million (when I checked with Twitter to confirm this number, I was told it was very close, but not quite there yet—so chalk that up to rounding). Also, asked at the end whether Twitter is making any money, Dorsey said the company has revenues but it didn’t sound like it’s got any profits yet.
You can watch the full interview here or read the full transcript below (courtesy of Charlie Rose).
TRANSCRIPT
CHARLIE ROSE: Jack Dorsey is here. He is the chairman of Twitter. Since its inception in 2006, the site has become a powerful tool of information and communication. Almost 200 million users worldwide tweet every day.
That has allowed Twitter to become a real-time news feed. It’s also reshaped how public figures from celebrities to politicians communicate. The company is now working hard to monetize its popularity. Dorsey started Twitter as a side project in 2006 with Evan Williams and Biz Stone.
His latest venture is called Square, which can turn your mobile phone into a credit card reader. Pleased to have Jack Dorsey at this table for the first time. Welcome.
JACK DORSEY: Thanks for having me, Charlie.
CHARLIE ROSE: Good to have you here.
Let’s just talk about Square and go back to Twitter. How did that come about?
JACK DORSEY: It came about because my cofounder is a glass artist and he sells these beautiful glass faucets and he was selling one for $2,000. And all he had in his pocket was his mobile phone. He couldn’t accept the credit card from the woman who wanted to buy this faucet and she didn’t have a checkbook and she obviously didn’t have $2,000 of cash, so he lost the sale.
And we were discussing this and we have these general purpose computers next to our ears and yet –
CHARLIE ROSE: The iPhone-4.
JACK DORSEY: Or an Android phone, or a blackberry, whatnot. But yet he wasn’t able to accept that credit card. So we wondered why that was, and we answered it by building this system.
CHARLIE ROSE: You write code, yes?
JACK DORSEY: Yes. I wrote code.
CHARLIE ROSE: And that’s what you do well?
JACK DORSEY: Yes.
CHARLIE ROSE: That’s what you’ve been recognized for since you were 14 or 15 years old.
JACK DORSEY: Yes.
CHARLIE ROSE: So you immediately set out to do what?
JACK DORSEY: My goal is to simplify complexity. I just want to build stuff that really simplifies our base human interaction. Twitter was around communication and visualizing what was happening in the world in real-time. Square was allowing everyone to accept the form of payment people have in their pocket today, which is a credit card.
So we have built the simplest way to accept credit cards. It’s a little tiny device that we give away for free, and you just download some so wars from the app store and plug it in to your mobile phone or iPad and suddenly you can take credit cards. So if you’re a tax accountant or a lawyer or doctor or even a hair stylist, you can now accept credit cards.
CHARLIE ROSE: And you monetize this how?
JACK DORSEY: We take a cut of every transaction. So we charge 2.75 percent and 15 cents on the transaction. which we then pay the credit card companies out of. So the user only has to pay that 2.75 percent. They don’t pay any credit card fees. They don’t have to have a setup charged. They don’t have to pay for the hardware or even the software.
CHARLIE ROSE: Hardware’s free, software’s free.
JACK DORSEY: You just use the phone you have in your pocket.
CHARLIE ROSE: OK, so this sounds to me like a win-win for everybody. Small businesses like it . . .
JACK DORSEY: Yes, they love it.
CHARLIE ROSE: Somebody has a credit card and wants to pay with a credit card likes it.
JACK DORSEY: You can pay everywhere now.
CHARLIE ROSE: So you who created this with your partner like it. It seems so fundamental. Why hadn’t someone done that before?
JACK DORSEY: It turns out it’s really complex. It’s really complex to make something simple and especially when you started addressing the financial world.
We have a number of things — in order to accept credit cards you have to talk with a bank. Normally when you’re a small merchant or a business or individual you have to get a merchant account, which means you have a one to two year relationship with the bank, and then there’s always these fees and setup costs and monthly minimums. It’s a mess.
And it’s never really been designed in a beautiful way and that’s what we’re good at. That’s really hard to do.
CHARLIE ROSE: How do you minimize fraud, because that would be a concern?
JACK DORSEY: Right. So we actually have a lot of benefit in using the credit card system itself because a lot of the protections are on the payer side. When someone issues you a credit card, when your bank issues you a credit card, they assume that that card is going to be lost or stolen. So all of the protections are watching the payer.
So if we get a swipe or if we get a signature on those card payments then a lot of the risk is off us because we know the payer was in that location. And apart for that, there’s a lot of information in these phones. There’s GPS. We know where the transactions are taking place. People are putting in their Twitter accounts. They’re putting in their Facebook accounts. They’re telling us about themselves and we can use that to build a reputation for how they will interact in the world.
CHARLIE ROSE: Did I read that you were involved in some kind of lawsuit because of somebody else?
JACK DORSEY: We — so we worked on this system which actually was prior art. So we built this little credit card system with another individual who we worked very well within the past. But unfortunately we were not included on the patent we both created together. So it’s just a minor thing. We’re not independent on this IP, it’s just something nice to have.
CHARLIE ROSE: And this is the future of mobile payment, in your judgment?
JACK DORSEY: I think so. I think — the biggest thing we’re trying to address is let’s simplify this entire world. Let’s speak what people are using today. A number of people in the United States, almost everyone, is using plastic cards to pay for things, but it’s extremely difficult to accept these cards. So let’s make it’s easy and take more and more of the friction out as we can.
CHARLIE ROSE: And what’s the global response?
JACK DORSEY: The global response has been really good. You need to tailor these technologies to each market. So we’re starting on the U.S., but we want to be completely payment device agnostic. Different countries use different methods. So in Japan, for instance, they’re using a lot of near-field communications, obviously. In places like Kenya they’re using SMS, they’re using phone credits.
So all these markets have their own technologies to pay for things and exchange value, so we need to make sure that Square can accept every for of payment that is in the payers’ pocket. In the U.S. it’s the credit card.
CHARLIE ROSE: And how do you divide your time between Square and Twitter?
JACK DORSEY: I have a really fortunate situation. I’m now in the midst of I think two of the great et cetera companies in the world. I’m chairman of the board of Twitter so I go in when I’m needed, I point out what I think is moving, what technologies are interesting, things we may need to fix and things that we’re doing really well at. And when I’m not needed I get ou of the way.
CHARLIE ROSE: And how did Twitter get started?
JACK DORSEY: Twitter has a long story. I’ve always been fascinated by
cities and how they work. And I taught myself how to program so I can understand how the city works.
CHARLIE ROSE: You taught yourself to program so you could understand how cities work?
JACK DORSEY: I wanted to visualize them. I wanted to see them. I wanted to play with them. I was inspired by New York City and just — if you consider New York City, all these entities roams about the cities, taxicabs, ambulances, fire trucks. And they’re always reporting where they are and what they’re doing. And if you can visualize that you can see how the city is living and breathing and what’s happening in the city. So I started building dispatch software. And that’s the software that runs these entities, always reporting where they are and what they’re doing. I’m in an ambulance at Fifth and Broadway taking a patient in cardiac arrest to St. John’s Mercy, a very, very simple model.
In 2000 I realized that I had this beautiful picture of all these verticals in the city that make the city work but I was missing the citizens. I was missing the people. I was missing my friends. So what if I could just take my phone and — we didn’t have mobile phones that worked that well in 2000. I had a very simple Rim device which was the precursor to the blackberry. What if I could be anywhere and share what’s happening and I could get everything in real-time? What if we did that?
And it turns out it was just the wrong time. In 2006 SMS got really big in this country. I met my cofounders Biz Stone and Evan Williams who had worked with blogger to build blogger. So they understood the importance of self-publishing. And I just added this real-time aspect, this SMS aspect and we said what if with just SMS and the web I can go anywhere I want and report what I’m doing and see what everyone else is doing in real-time, a very, very simple start and users have taken it from there.
CHARLIE ROSE: Was there a conversation that took place to make you do that or did this take place in your head?
JACK DORSEY: We were — you know, we were working –
CHARLIE ROSE: Because it was Odeo what was the company?
JACK DORSEY: We were working at a company called Odeo, which was a podcasting company, and I joined as an engineer. And the interesting thing about Odeo was that no one in the company was really that excited about podcast. So we weren’t –
CHARLIE ROSE: So it was a business you didn’t care a lot about?
JACK DORSEY: Yes. I just wanted to work with Ev and Biz. I saw them from afar as my first real job, the first time I had to write a resume. I wanted to do more consumer facing stuff because I had always been back in the real-time transactional systems, and they presented that opportunity.
So I joined, I worked on this podcast, it wasn’t that interesting. And then iTunes came out with the podcast directive which kind of took Odeo’s business model and potential off the table. So we started trying to figure out what we’re going to do and how we make audio more social, how we have group communication.
And during this time SMS was coming and being used and the first time you could send a message from Cingular to Verizon and it was amazing. I fell in love with the technology and the rest of the company did as well. And one day Ev said “Go out, think of some things to do, come back, we’re going to present to the company.” And I took a group of two other people and we talked about this very simple idea of being able to report where I am and what I’m doing and go out in real-time over our phones and the web in 160 characters. And we were on the playground and we presented to the company.
It didn’t really go anywhere, but then a week later we talked about it more and we decided I would take two weeks and Biz Stone and my other programmer Florian, and we would build the system. And we built in the two weeks and we took more and more resources. And the first tweet that was actually written by a human was by me and it was inviting co-workers.
CHARLIE ROSE: Inviting co-workers?
JACK DORSEY: That was the start.
CHARLIE ROSE: and how did you decide on the responsibility between you and Evan and Biz?
JACK DORSEY: Well, I was leading a lot of idea and the vision for where the product was going. Ev was funding and supporting what we were doing. He put the shelter over our heads. And Biz was just an amazingly creative guy. And he was helping come up with words like “follow” –
CHARLIE ROSE: He’s the marketing –
JACK DORSEY: He’s a marketing genius. He’s amazing and fun to talk to.
CHARLIE ROSE: So where is it evolving to? Because some have made this point — it’s more information than social, social being Facebook.
JACK DORSEY: Yes. I think that is a great point. I think we’ve put a lot of emphasis on tweeting when a lot of the value is actually following people. And anything you’re interested in the world whether it be Charlie Rose or JetBlue or a public figure or your local coffee shop, they’re on Twitter and broadcasting what is interesting to them. They’re broadcasting about the organization, what they’re doing. So I can go and get immediate value from these things that I care about. And that’s the most important thing is being able to get in immediately and being able to follow someone I love, like Kanye West or like Barack Obama or any politician serving my particular state. I can see them immediately.
But then there’s another hook — you can actually participate with. You can reply to them, and they may reply back. They’re human again. And we spend so much time putting these organizations and public figures on this massive, massive pedestal, but we have to remember they go through all the small details of live that we do. And you can make them human again and you can interact with them.
And it’s not just humans, it’s a social movement. It’s seeing what’s unfolding in Iran. It’s seeing what’s unfolding in Moldova or Arizona or anywhere in the world.
CHARLIE ROSE: And so it has political implications?
JACK DORSEY: It could.
CHARLIE ROSE: It did in Iran. It was about the only way people could communicate.
JACK DORSEY: It was one way. There were multiple ways. I think what was really important in Iran was that the first time people were really using these tools to be on the ground and show what was happening. And that alone created an international conversation.
To a lot of people in America Iran and what’s happening in Iran is a black box. It’s hard to understand what’s happening. But to be able to instantly see video and to see man on the street accounts of how things are unfolding in real-time as they’re happening is amazing and I’ve never seen that before with any other technology.
CHARLIE ROSE: What I don’t understand when you look at your penetration around the world, you’ve done really well in Japan, and Facebook hasn’t. What does that say?
JACK DORSEY: We’ve had massive success in Japan. And it wasn’t just recently. It was very early on. It was within our first year. People just took to it right away, and we really couldn’t figure out why. But we found all these amazing things. People would actually put these automated tomogotchis onto Twitter and you could follow the tomogotchi patterns.
CHARLIE ROSE: What does it say about culture?
JACK DORSEY: It’s a very engaged culture and they’re very, very focused on constantly iterating technology. And Twitter is a very, very fast way to do it. In Japan, it’s not 140 characters, it’s 140 words. So you could write a little mini-novel. This is a whole story in the universe.
CHARLIE ROSE: And in China?
JACK DORSEY: In China it’s the same, very much the same. So people are writing non-stop about what’s happening within the country, what’s happening around the country. So it’s a very, very interesting peek into these cultures.
CHARLIE ROSE: So there’s these two ideas. One is Twitter is the next big internet success story. I would expect you to say yes, but if you had to say yes, why would you make the case?
JACK DORSEY: I think it’s huge. I think it’s huge because never before have we had such access to that immediate information. And once we have that information we can participate and interact with it. It spans at the intersection of every single media. It’s a great way to point to video, to images, to text, to web sites. Any media that you can imagine it can point to a carry in real-time. And the only other technology I know that’s done that well is the web itself. So I put it on the same league as the web.
CHARLIE ROSE: When was the last time you wrote an e-mail?
JACK DORSEY: I write one every day.
CHARLIE ROSE: More than one? Do you write many or do you mainly use text messaging?
JACK DORSEY: I use text messaging a lot more.
CHARLIE ROSE: Than e-mail?
JACK DORSEY: More than e-mail.
CHARLIE ROSE: And do most people you know who are — have the same affinity for technology follow that rule, follow that practice?
JACK DORSEY: I think so. As we go to a younger generation that’s definitely through because it’s more instantaneous. I use e-mail as a reference. E-mail is a great reference. It has a subject line. It titles what the e-mail is about and I can refer to it, I can search.
But it’s not great for communication because it’s not focused on the most important thing. The subject is the message, and that’s the message. The subject is in the message in the IM. It’s bringing the content to you right away.
One of the things I love about the iPad, for instance, is when you’re using the iPad, the iPad disappears, it goes away. You’re reading a book. You’re viewing a website, you’re touching a web site. That’s amazing and that’s what SMS is for me. The technology goes away and with Twitter the technology goes away. It’s so easy to follow anything you’re interested in. It’s so easy to tweet from wherever you are. And the same is true with Square. We want the technology to fade away so that you can focus on enjoying the cappuccino that you just purchased.
CHARLIE ROSE: Your CEO has said that Twitter has cracked the code when you advertise. What did he mean by that and how have you cracked the code?
JACK DORSEY: It’s not just the advertising but the human behavior. It’s a new way to communicate which is to spark interaction. One example of this is one of the first entities that was using the promoted products that Twitter has was Disney and “Toy Story.” We naturally have when toy story three came out people were going the theater and they were tweeting they were going to see “Toy Story 3″ and some would tweet during the movie. Then they would come out and say “This is amazing.” And it just naturally trends to the top. And Disney used that as a way as an opportunity to capture that natural trending ability and then also point to content that they want to surface to their consumers and to their customers.
So it was just a very natural and easy way to again point attention and direct attention to something that the advertiser wanted to see. But you’re going to see that anyway, because it was trending.
CHARLIE ROSE: The relationship between Evan, Biz, you, and where there’s tension and where there’s not tension and where one — and why there have been so many different executive changes since Twitter was founded, what’s the answer?
JACK DORSEY: For any Silicon Valley company, the most important thing is the company. And any great founders need to get out of the way of the company. We presented a spark with an idea. We saw a lot of the direction being driven by our users, and a lot of what we have to do now demand very, very specific management. And we know our strengths. And that’s mainly it. This company is bigger than any individual. It’s bigger than Biz, bigger than Ev, bigger than myself.
CHARLIE ROSE: Do I get this then? So Biz’s strength is marketing?
JACK DORSEY: He’s a great communicator. He’s a great protector of the brand.
CHARLIE ROSE: Evan’s strength is product strategy and that kind of thing?
JACK DORSEY: Yes, he has a great way of thinking about the user and how the user’s coming to the technology.
CHARLIE ROSE: And your strength is writing programming?
JACK DORSEY: My strength is programming. I also think my biggest strength is simplification. That’s what I love doing. I love making something complex. I love taking everything away, taking all the debris, the conceptual debris from a technology away so that you can just focus on what’s most important.
So I see myself as a really good editor. That’s what I like to be. When I edit a technology, I want to edit a team, I want to edit a story so that we have one cohesive product that we tell the world.
CHARLIE ROSE: Meaning what? What does “edit” mean?
JACK DORSEY: There’s so many ways Twitter could go, there are so many features Twitter could build. There’s so many features that Square can build. But there is only one or two going to bring us to the next level. So edit that to one, to get rid of all those inputs and edit to one cohesive story, one single thing we’re saying to the world and that’s what we do with product.
CHARLIE ROSE: Are you by — at the core, primarily a software programmer or are you primarily an entrepreneur who’s simply wanting to ask the right questions which will lead you to the next business?
JACK DORSEY: I think I’m a mix. I love building technology, I love programming. I love building teams. And I also love building beautiful things. I love art, I love design, and I love seeing that intersection of technology and the teams that work on it.
CHARLIE ROSE: But once you build them are you thinking about the next thing?
JACK DORSEY: No, I’m thinking about how to scale what we built, how to bring it to a global audience.
CHARLIE ROSE: So what do you have to do to scale Twitter?
JACK DORSEY: We have to get it everywhere. We have to make it easy for people to use.
CHARLIE ROSE: How many, 200 million users?
JACK DORSEY: Yes, 200 million people are using Twitter.
CHARLIE ROSE: Facebook has 500 million plus.
JACK DORSEY: So we have a long way to go.
CHARLIE ROSE: Do you think you can reach 500 million.
JACK DORSEY: We can go well beyond that. And I think the important thing for Twitter is that it works on any technology. The mobile phone itself, like anyone in the middle of — we have a short cut in Iraq, for instance, Twitter has a short cut in Iraq, and 60 percent of the population of Baghdad has a cell phone in their hands and they can use SMS. And they can send a tweet for free to the short code in the middle of Baghdad and then also receive these tweets in real-time. That is amazing. That is just unheard of. And that’s why I’m so excited about this technology because it speaks to the lowest common denominator, every technology.
CHARLIE ROSE: Would you argue the most exciting agent of change in the world today is the number of mobile devices? I mean by that one smart phone, that an increasing number of people in the world have it, that that’s the agent of change, how many people get put in their hands a device that has such power?
JACK DORSEY: I think it’s a — I think it may be — it’s a single spark. I think it’s a good way to further our understanding of what it means to be mobile and what it means to have technology around us all the time. But the iPad is mobile as well. Laptops are mobile. So all these devices we can take with us and interact. But I think the important is what does that mean for these technologies? What does it mean for communication when a device like those knows where it is, when it can accept the forms of payments that we use and we can build it into address whatever we want to address.
CHARLIE ROSE: So what is your counsel inside when the subject is the following — we ought to merge with Google or we ought to follow the Facebook pattern and stay independent and go public?
JACK DORSEY: I think Twitter is so unique that we must stay independent. We must continue to build what we dream of having in the world. And we’re just barely started, that’s the thing. Twitter’s been an amazing success, but we’ve just gotten started.
CHARLIE ROSE: Just gotten started because of what it can do or just gotten started –
JACK DORSEY: Because of what it can do.
CHARLIE ROSE: Lay that out for me, finally, what it is you think you can do.
JACK DORSEY: So we’ve built this very easy way, no matter where you are, to put content in, to share what’s happening around you. But it’s still very difficult to find meaning and relevancy in real-time. How do we get people to discover what’s most important? How do we surface what’s happening right now that someone should pay attention to? And that happens within your social network. It happens in the things you care about, within the country or even the world. But how do we in real-time bring that to people? And this is not just a challenge for Twitter. It’s also a challenge for the technology industry because we have all of this information just swirling about. How do we make sense of it? We need to do a much, much better job in making sense of it.
CHARLIE ROSE: Is Twitter making money?
JACK DORSEY: It’s making money. We have revenue.
(LAUGHTER)
CHARLIE ROSE: I know you have revenue. Making money has to do with profit. Making money has to do with a positive cash flow.
JACK DORSEY: We have a long way to go.
CHARLIE ROSE: That’s yes, or no? I’m not sure?
JACK DORSEY: We have revenue. We have revenue. You’ll have to speak to Dick.
CHARLIE ROSE: Everybody has revenue.
(LAUGHTER)
Thank you for coming.
JACK DORSEY: Thank you so much.
CHARLIE ROSE: Jack Dorsey, Square and Twitter. Thank you for joining us. See you next time.
END
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Companies: Twitter, Twitter, Square, Ustream Software engineer Jack Dorsey is the Co-Founder of Twitter, and was the CEO until October 2008. Dorsey had the original… Learn More
Website: charlierose.com Birthplace: Henderson, North Carolina Charlie Rose is an American television interviewer and journalist. He entered television journalism full-time in 1974, when he became the managing editor of the PBS series Bill Moyers’ International Report. He currently hosts the Charlie Rose Show,… Learn More
Website: twitter.com Location: San Francisco, California, United States Founded: March 21, 2006 Funding: $360M Twitter, founded by Jack Dorsey, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams in March 2006 (launched publicly in July 2006), is a social networking and micro-blogging… Learn More
Website: squareup.com Location: San Francisco , California, United States Founded: February, 2009 Funding: $37.5M Square is a revolutionary service that enables anyone to accept credit cards anywhere. Square offers an easy to use, free credit card reader that plugs into a phone or iPad. It’s simple to sign up. There is no extra equipment, complicated contracts,… Learn More
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