I was invited to attend today’s M-Publishing event (thank you CamerJam) but alas work commitments have kept me in the office. However, that didn’t stop me throwing together a few thoughts this morning on my way into work… For me, the key question you need to answer is ‘why’?
Forgive me if this seems a bit scatty, it was an early morning brain-dump somewhere under London.
Last weekend 1000heads despatched a number of its team out to a certain convention in the good ol’ US of A.
Admittedly, while we were there supporting a particular client, I also made sure we had time to get into the Austin Convention Center itself and take in some of the more interesting panels and talks that SXSW has to offer.
First and foremost, while a fair chunk of the predicted chatter was indeed about location-based services such as Gowalla and Foursquare, what we found was a very low rumbling about 2010 being the year when companies and brands alike truly harness the power of crowd-sourcing. This piece from Fjord about the iPad cements some of the feelings I already have about it, but also talks about content curation and the knowledge of where as opposed to what.
Hat tip to the guys over at Genius Rocket by the way, good to hear some sense throughout all the noise…
We also learned that SXSW really isn’t as bad as some people say it is. Similarly to other conferences we’ve been to before, the real value lies within the many different opportunities to connect, learn and share… and, with a smattering of smarts, maybe do a small amount of business along the way. Those things themselves are worth the air fare alone.
One session I personally really wanted to see was Battery Life, the Final (Mobile) Frontier, the description alone sold it to me:
Africa is a much misunderstood market, but potentially as large as China or India. Computer and internet penetration is extremely low, but cellphones are everywhere. How to tackle communication and social services on a continent where electricity – including charging cellphones in rural areas – is the greatest challenge.
Sadly, the panel was cancelled at the last minute as the key contributor was called away to a personal emergency however, I did get the opportunity to meet the lovely Gaby Rosario who gave me the rundown about how while there are only 65k iPhones in South Africa, there are in fact nearly 45million mobile subscribers. Unsurprisingly, in South Africa at least, the iPhone is not the be all and end all.
But we knew this already, right?
It’s funny, even though the US-based event had such an international turnout, a lot of the content had a very US-centric point of view. The point about the iPhone for example, articulated so well by Gaby just hours before I first started writing this down, was a breath of fresh air against the constant stale wind of how mobile iPhone applications are going to change the world.
This is not to say it was a wasted journey, not by any stretch. Seeing people I haven’t seen since September ’08 – made it even more worthwhile. Being introduced to new faces through old friends and connections – given that 1000heads now has French, Canadian and US offices – again, also made it extremely beneficial.
Of course, working out there, meeting clients and competition winners… the list of how awesome it was just goes on.
Would I go back? Yes. Every day I was up at the crack of dawn to catch an early morning panel, be it on community building, crowd-sourcing, social media, blogging, mobile, neuro-science marketing… (no, really).
If the SXSW selection panel had picked someone to speak, it was (mostly) worth a visit.
Improvements?
Well, I’d still want to see a more clearer grading system for each session (like Vero mentioned the year before), and I think I could/should definitely speak about something at the next one.
Maybe my lucozade travels; staying mobile and connected ’round the world. Tips and tricks for the global traveller…
Or maybe even… …plain ol’ Word of Mouth? 😉
What d’ya think?
Last week, after the madness that was Mobile World Congress, I slipped back into the country over night so I could dash off Friday morning to moderate a panel at the London Tech Summit hosted by the London Business School Technology Club.
The session, entitled: New models for Social Networking: Can Advertising Support Growth? kicked off in earnest around 11:30 with representatives from Goojet, Do The Green Thing, Advent Partners and Google all taking part.
Image via @brendanquinn
That’s me over there on the far right. This panel session, the first of the day, was briefed as follows:
What does it mean to engage an audience? How do you use social networking sites to advertise your business? The advent of social media has dramatically altered how people interact with each other. We will explore what this means to traditional business models, and how companies have responded to these developments to reach new audiences.
And so on.. The theme itself wasn’t a new to me having recently presented on the subject (or something similar) at New Media Age but then again, what I had to say wasn’t to be the focus.
The session was about the panellists:
Having never moderated a panel before it was quite exciting to be taking charge of such an esteemed bunch of industry leaders. I had definitely seen a fair few sessions like this in my time – so I knew exactly what not to do. Believe it or not, it really is a fair old challenge; trying to balance not talking too much yourself with not letting the panellists get too wrapped in in their own respective agendas… as well as trying to keep the audience as engaged as possible. It can get tricky.
However, to all intents and purposes it seems I didn’t do a bad job, but – as I said before – this is about the panellists.
When asked if social networking could indeed support growth in the advertising sector, the panel were unanimous in their disagreement:
“Not in the current model…” said Paul, “..advertisers need to change tact..” agreed Andy “New businesses are out doing it for themselves…” finished Guillaume, who also went onto explain that the model of advertising in France is so utterly painful when it came to anything TV based – “Months of planning for a slot that you might not even want in three months time!”
Here are some more key quotes –
“Purposeful communities will be where the money can be found” – “Remember, volume doesn’t change the human experience”
“Who wants to pay for content today?”
“Interactions speak louder than words”
“an pages (a la Facebook) is more like relationship marketing than traditional campaign based advertising”
“If you can’t interrupt people anymore, then you will have to rely on the quality of your content to get attention”
“The internet isn’t a network of computers – it’s a network of people who happen to use computers”
Pleasingly, the overall theme of the 30mins we had taking questions was that brands and advertisers need to be MORE HUMAN in their approach to engaging with EVER SMARTER consumers who won’t just lap up the first thing that’s put in front of them.
Whether you’re a new mobile startup like Goojet or one of the largest corporations in the world, like Google it would seem contextual and conversational engagements are at the forefront of everyone’s minds.
Hat tip to the smart guys and girls at the LBS Tech Club for organising. You can read all of the output from the day over on the LBS live tweet page.
In the meantime – how are you being human in the way you engage?
You know consumers are getting smarter, right?
😉
This week, believe it or not, is Social Media Week.
As the website says:
“Social Media Week conferences take place simultaneously in multiple cities around the world. The aim of each event is to advance the use and understanding of social media in the corporate, public and non-profit sectors.”
From New York to Berlin, San Francisco to São Paulo and Toronto to London, across the globe people are coming together to ‘explore the profound impact that social media has on culture, business communications and society at large’.
Here in London, the home of 1000heads, there are events happening all week and – hashtag tracking aside – some might find it quite difficult to try and get to everything on the rather packed out event schedule. To aid those in their quest to consume as much knowledge as possible, 1000heads is hosting the official ‘Social Media Week Digest’, this Friday, from 10am at London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts.
There are a couple of other events going on Friday morning, including Reputation Online’s ‘Crisis Management‘ session as well as a special Social Media Week Tuttle Club. However, having seen how quickly the tickets for these events have been snapped up, we think there might be scope for one more thing..
So if you’re free and fancy joining us – you’ll be made to feel very welcome indeed.
As our sign up page says:
The Social Media Week Digest does exactly what it says on the tin; by Friday morning at least some of you would have all had the chance to catch one of the aforementioned fantastic events and this end-of-the-week gathering is your opportunity to come together and share stories, anecdotes and generally catch up on some of the interesting things you’ve seen and done.
Come drink some coffee (on us) and have a chat about where we’re all headed next.
Tickets aren’t mandatory (get yours here), they just help us keep an eye on numbers etc…
See you Friday! 🙂
Thanks to ICA London for the super last minute providing of the venue, I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of the place very soon.
Last Friday, while all the cool kids were playing nice at our first ‘in-house’ Tuttle, I was dispatched to the NMA Live event: Demystifying Online Engagement
The event was an interesting one to say the least, with advertisers, media planners and buyers all discussing what kind of cost per engagement (CPE) models they should be working towards and what kind of results they should be expecting.
I went in with a slightly different angle.
My brief was as follows:
“Engagement Beyond Advertising: Identifying and Evaluating Engaged Customers in the Social Space”
First off, it’s important to establish what is meant by ‘the social space’. Social, more now than ever before, implies ‘online’. However, that’s not strictly true. Word of mouth is both an online and an offline activity. Conversations can happen EVERYWHERE.
And if conversations can happen everywhere then people can be engaged anywhere.
But what do I mean by engagement? Each speaker had their own interpretation. For me, an engagement isn’t just simply clicking through on a banner ad, nor is it really watching the video that rolls after said click.
True engagement is about the beginnings of something much bigger. The beginnings of conversation.
Whether that conversation be between brands and people or between people and people, what does it mean to be truly ‘engaged’?
How many brands have to ‘engaged’ with today? How many people?
How and where?
This is something I’m going to have to come back to another time. The NMA has written up their thoughts on the subject (based on the presentations from the day), but for now, take a look at the slides below and let me know what you think –
There are some notes that go with each slide but they can only be viewed over on slideshare.
As ever, I’d be interested to hear what you think.
What does engagement mean to you?
Where are your social spaces?
When are you truly engaged?
Operation Concrete, at its core, is a collaborative media project. It brings together the aesthetic and audio qualities of art and music around the power of the written word to provide the viewer, listener, reader, with a complete experience.
Operation Concrete is also, at its core, a fantastic experiment by good friend of mine, Rich Galbraith. I guess I’ve known Rich properly now since September last year when he was part of the team that ran the Nokia OpenLab event in Helsinki that I spoke at. Back then he was telling me about Concrete Operational, the book behind the project…
Germany Germany, a man who was free, a man who loved, now an instrument in their machine. They have turned him into the very thing he hates, what he and everyone he loved fought against, the world’s greatest celebrity, a tool in the subjugation of man.
.
But the memories of freedom and love remain, and he will fight and change the course of human history for the better, but at what end?
.
As humanity progresses and turns to face the eternal black of the universe, the questions of free will and fate, of love and peace, of the riddles of time itself will arise and Germany will be called upon. But is his will strong enough, his his mind ready to breach the void and provide us with salvation?
All of this aside, Rich is great guy and when he invited me to the launch party of the exhibition as a whole, I was over the moon. Alas, I will be out of the country that night and am unable to make it along.
However, I am in the country RIGHT NOW and fortunately enough, so is Rich. I caught up with him at lunchtime earlier today so he could tell me more – what I didn’t know, was that Rich had had the first of the limited set of project boxes made up with him…
It’s very nice… and I want one.
If you’re free this coming Thursday, November 26th. Get yourself along to Vibe Bar on Brick Lane in London’s Shoreditch from about 8pm onwards. Rich will be on hand to tell you all about the book, the bands and the art…
Be there.
Glancing over the Really Mobile calendar this morning, we noticed that there were a fair few Mobile-themed events coming up that we thought you might like
Glancing over the Really Mobile calendar this morning, we noticed that there were a fair few Mobile-themed events coming up that we thought you might like to know about.
This list isn’t final and I hope to add to it as the weeks go on, but for now here’s a quick rundown of some Mobile events we have on our radar this month.
In order of appearance with an event kicking off today:
Mobile Web 2.0 Summit
Dates: June 3rd – June 4th
City: London
Tickets: £999.00 + VAT
(or if you use the code ‘Dude985’ it’ll only be £299 + VAT, shh)
About:
2 Days of intensive presentations, interactive discussions and fantastic networking will for your Summit experience.
4 streams for you to choose from and tailor make your event experience depending on your mobile focus.
2 workshops focusing on monetising and designing for success in the eco system.
60+ speakers for yo to listen to, question and interact with,
21 presentations and 24 panel discussions jammed into an action packed agenda
£5,000 worth of premium placement on the GetJar network for the winner of the Developer’s Den
Mobile Advertising UK
Date: June 15th
City: London
Tickets: £343.85 + Vat
(or £243.85 using the code ‘trmp09’ – we are official media)
About:
Endorsed by the IAB, MMA and AIME and sponsored by Alcatel-Lucent and adfortel, MobAdUK is a one-day conference designed to cut through the hype surrounding the mobile advertising industry, giving a clear representation of the state of the current market and highlighting key industry strategies to stimulate growth. The event will also unveil the results of a UK specific research project carried out by EverySingle OneOfUs and Æneas Strategy Consulting & Management into the mobile advertising market and host the inaugural EverySingleOneOfUs Mobile Advertising Campaign of the Year Award 2008/9.
Mobile 2.0
Dates: June 18th – June 19th
City: Barcelona
Tickets: £301.00 or €349.00 in new money (for a two day pass).
About:
The MOBILE 2.0 EUROPE conference brings together experts and thought leaders from all aspects of the mobile ecosystem, including startups, investors, mobile carriers, device manufacturers, and mobile application developers and web technologists. The conference is an opportunity for companies to connect to industry leadership and startup innovation and broaden your C-level relationships.
A Two-Day Event on June 18 and 19, 2009 exploring the emerging Mobile Ecosystem and Disruptive Mobile Innovation presented by dotopen and the Mobile 2.0 Organizing Committee.
———————————————————-
It’s worth noting that many event organisers have a habit of offering reduced-rate tickets for bloggers and/or students. So if these tickets look a little out of your price range, it may well be worth your while emailing in and finding out what they can do for you.
We realise these are mainly industry-based events, but fingers crossed we can add some more consumer focused gatherings (like the Mobile Geeks of London!) over the next few months. If you’re oragnising an event soon that you’d like us to highlight, get in touch at the usual address – enquiries at thereallymobileproject dot com – and we’ll add it to the diary.
Last night, the Really Mobile team was invited along to The Sports Cafe on London’s Haymarket to celebrate the Sony’s launch of the Zeemote JS1 Bluetooth Gaming Device
Last night, the Really Mobile team was invited along to The Sports Cafe on London’s Haymarket to celebrate the Sony’s launch of the Zeemote JS1 Bluetooth Gaming Device (which means it’s a fancy joystick, in case you were wondering).
The accessory, we’re told, will come bundled with the Sony W705 and available exclusively on T-Mobile with 18mth contracts starting as little as £25pcm.
Each purchase comes with Fast & Furious out of the box, as well as an additional two free downloads available from the Zeemote area of the TMO’s Web n Walk portal.
So far so press release.
Let’s get to the good stuff.
🙂
First of all – these guys mean business. A three way announcement (JS1, TMO & Sony), the representatives on hand were quite confident in their ability to deliver a truly enjoyable gaming experience.
Personally?
I had my doubts.
A short chat with the Sony chaps (most of whom were sporting the rather swish 8MP C905) revealed that their 2009 was about to get very interesting indeed (more on this later), and that this new partnership with JS1 was just the first of many announcements over the coming weeks.
JS1 themselves were equally pleased with their road ahead; with Sony’s backing of the UK launch and a promise of future SE handsets to come with TV-Out as standard (as per most high-end Nseries devices), things are certainly looking up indeed. It was noted that the emerging markets were key to JS1’s success moving forward, citing recent stats about workers in India saving months upon months of hard earned cash to buy the latest portable device, but never – ever owning a home gaming system, a’la Wii or Xbox 360.
Makes sense to me.
When pressed on the competition, namely – Nokia’s N-Gage, my new found friend was keen to tell me that the controller was compatible with Symbian S60 devices too. With a quick visit to their website you can download and install the Zeekey software which makes the Js1 controller magically work with your N95, or – in my this rep’s case – the N85, which he uses at home as a media player (bluetooth controller as standard – natch).
Then came the fun part.
Each device comes with the game ‘Fast & Furious‘ out of the box and, to tie in with the evening’s festivities, there was a competition for the attendees to take part in.
A racing competition in fact. Could you, with the slowest car available, finish the first track in the fastest time?
The prizes were as follows:
As soon I walked into the venue, the above was explained to me at a breakneck pace and I knew instantly that I would have to take part.
The Really Mobile reputation was at stake!
First time go: 1:58.00.
A couple of the demo guys, one of which I immediately recognised from a former life, commented that – for a newbie – it wasn’t a bad score.
Nice. I was happy to hear that.
What with being a gaming geek long before I was a mobile geek; I can haz skillz.
Then I checked the leader board, the current 1st place was a guy with a staggering 1:44.58. Amazing. I immediately sought him out, only to discover that he’d been there since they’d started and was continually playing over again until he got it just right. The guy was a machine.
I would not be beaten. Again I tried, this time coming in at 1.56.32.
I showed the others, thinking I might just settle for third place.
No. I would not be beaten.
I swear I must’ve sat in the corner (on my own actually), playing and replaying and replaying until I got it right. See what with the game being Fast & Furious, the other racers are actually out to GET YOU. So you’d get mere seconds away from the finish line and POW, someone would ram you off the road.
I could’ve thrown the damn thing out the window at one point… but still I persevered. This time I hit 1.54.47. Getting better.
Now I had a crowd, “Have you beaten it yet?†– “You need to submit a time soon Jamesâ€
LEAVE ME ALONE! I NEED TO DO THIS!
I even secretly tried attempting to play the game without the controller, thinking that actually – the buttons on the handset would be more responsive than that of the JS1, but no – I actually scored worse.
The controller, it seemed – works.
One more try…
Race, corner, turn, nitro… and…. Pow! 1.45.80.
A very, very well-respected 2nd place. High fives all round and yours truly walked away* with a bottle of champers.
Aces.
So, what has this got to do with the launch?
Well, as I said earlier – I am a gamer. I’ve been a console-fan ever since I first picked up Super Mario Bros on my mate’s Nintendo Entertainment System all those many moons ago but mobile gaming has never really done it for me. My friend Ricky Cadden, of Symbian Guru fame, has oft-argued with me about the awesomeness of N-Gage combined with his TV-Out, to which I laugh. A lot. And let’s not even start on the N-Gage woes I have at the moment, (I’ll save that for a future Really Mobile feature).
Needless to say, my phone will never take the place of my Nintendo. However, remarkably, with the addition of the JS1 Bluetooth controller, I was v-e-r-y slowly (and almost quite unwittingly) won over.
I’ll come out and say that I went in extremely sceptical. Thinking it’ll be another failed attempt to ‘maximise gaming possibilities’ in this ‘new mobile world’, but no. I was wrong. The smart chaps at TMO/JS1/Sony were happy enough to let me just sit and play, the experience itself wove its own magic.
We’ve got a review copy here at the Really Mobile offices, of both the Sony W7905 and the JS1 controller, which I’ll be sending out to the team for a 2nd opinion… as soon as I can beat that last time… 1.45.80
*I say ‘walked away’ – they’re sending it to me in the post. Boo.
Hey there folks!
Can you believe it?!
We’re not two months into the start of 2009 and it’s already time for the next…
– WOOP WOOP –
I can’t believe it’s come round so quickly. It seems like only yesterday that we were all meeting up for the last gathering of 2008…
But No!
It wasn’t yesterday! It was November! Bleedin’ AGES ago!
Let’s crack on with it shall we?
😉
This time round, with Mobile World Congress still fresh in the memory there should be lots to talk about, drink to and of course secretly discuss… Heh.
I know I’m bringing a whole host of phone-based toys to play with, what are you bringing?
If you’re new here then you’ll find all the details you need on the facebook event page.
If you want to keep up with future events then by all means join the facebook group page to stay in the loop.
However, if you’re not a facebook person – and I know some of you aren’t – the basics are as follows:
Date: 26th February 2009 – That’s TONIGHT!
Time: 18:30ish – 23:00ish
Location: All Bar One
Street: New Oxford Street (nearest tube: Tottenham Court Road)
Town/City: London Baby!
If you like beer and you like Mobile then you are very, very welcome to join us.
“lt’s not about buying stuff.
It’s not about selling stuff.
It’s about mobile geeks having a genuine discussion about using stuff…”
See you tonight boys and girls.
😉
Ps. If for some reason you can’t make it along. Keep an eye on the Qik video window on the top of the right hand coloumn over there —–>
I’ll try and take some video for you 🙂
See ya!
Yes folks, it’s that time of year… Mobile Geeks of London is upon us!
– WOO! –
It’s been just over four months since our last meetup and well, it’s about we had another shindig! If you’re a facebook person get yourself over to the event page and sign up now…
If you’re not a facebook person then the details are as follows:
Date: 26th November 2008 – That’s TOMORROW folks!
Time: 18:30ish – 23:00ish
Location: All Bar One
Street: New Oxford Street (nearest tube: Tottenham Court Road)
Town/City: London Baby!
Like Beer? Like Mobile? Come on down!
As I’ve always maintained:
The Mobile Geeks of London is exactly what it says on the tin.
It’s not about business development, nor is it, to an extent, just another networking event.
It’s about genuine Mobile Geeks coming together and sharing an evening over beers, talking about the thing they love to geek over most…
MOBILE!
Industry and non-industry folk, mixing it up.
Nice.
So leave a comment if you can make it, hell leave a comment if you can’t!
Just let me know either way…
😉
Also – as well as the usual top sekrit gadgetry that may or may not be on show at the meetup – word has reached my ears that a certain Ben Smith from Mobile Industry Review will be in attendance…
– Pic by Joshr via Ben Smith –
That’s Ben there on the right, (as seen with yours truly at the last event – MGoL IV), he’ll be there along with the rest of the Mobile Industry Review team I’m sure, drumming up support and selling tickets for “MIR Christmas Presents.”
A quick word about that:
If you don’t know about MIR Christmas Presents already, I suggest you jump over and read up. It’s a fantastic way to support two amazing charities – The United Nations Foundation and Childline – and you also have a (rather large) chance of winning some awesome prizes too (seriously).
You don’t have to come to MGoL V to take part you can literally get your ticket from the website right now… But I did take the liberty of dropping Ben a note earlier on today to see if he was doing anything special for the MGoL members and he said:
Hey Dude, thanks for inviting me along – any attendees who buy MIR Christmas Present tickets at tomorrow’s MGoL event will automatically be entered into a special mini-draw to win a few bottles of something (Whisky and Champagne so far)…
Woo! More alcohol!
Nice one Ben.
So there you have it – Mobile Geeks of London V.
Tomorrow night.
Be there or be square.
Whatley out…
whatleydude.com 