A brilliant move by Comcast.
Instead of focusing attention (money) on really improving customer service, or perhaps doing something valuable for the consumer like NOT playing games with pricing, Comcast has instead decided to “re-brand” itself as XFINITY.
I’m sure the millions they paid to branding consultants brought back a wonderful report showing that the XFINITY brand will resonate with consumers and remind them of the INFINITE choices that XFINITY Voice, XFINITY TV, and XFINITY Internet will deliver (even though they have begun to limit the amount of broadband its customers consume) .
In a blog post announcing XFINITY, Comcast Executive VP David Watson writes,
XFINITY is the culmination of years of work to transition Comcast’s network and products to a platform that will now offer 100+ HD channels, 50 to 70 foreign-language channels, approaching 20,000+ VOD choices, incredibly fast Internet speeds (50 Mbps growing to 100+ Mbps) and thousands of TV shows and movies online for our customers to watch whenever and wherever they want.
Wouldn’t it have cost a lot less to just say “look at what Comcast is doing?”
And just think how much more bang for the buck Comcast could have gotten through Social Media by focusing attention on the customer and what she/he really wants. Instead of “branding” why not focus attention instead on transparency, honesty and customer service?
And putting an end to their annoying pricing games, which are so well documented that Consumer Reports Magazine last month offered step by step instructions for lowering your Comcast bill?
Because that would be way to hard for a large corporation to handle.
It’s easier to just find a new name. One that doesn’t rhyme with “COMCRAP”.
It’s been an interesting few weeks in Twitterland proving that today, everybody is a publisher.
When an earthquake rocked Haiti, Brian Williams, Katie Couric and the rest of the world’s news organizations were getting up to the minute information not from their bureau in Haiti, but from Twitter.
Steve Jobs announced the new iPad at an invitation only event last week. That presentation was broadcast to the world live (unofficially) by cell phone web cams.
I was glued to my computer screen; fascinated by the iPad announcement (especially the price), but even more fascinated by the number of people who were joining the live stream from that event.
How did they hear about it?
Twitter.
I tweeted as the number of viewers continued to grow. You can view my twitter stream from that day here. Some of my tweets were “re-tweeted”. In about an hour, the short-link I offered to Leo Lapport’s live stream drove 277 views to his live Apple Coverage. In that same hour, total clicks to his long URL through short-link service bit.ly numbered almost 16,000. In that one hour, Lapport’s viewership grew from 70,000 to over 115,00 at its peak, leveling off to about 102,000 through the conclusion of the Apple presentation.
And then there was the story of Ann Curry, the NBC newscaster, making news live via twitter as she sat stuck in a New York Times Building elevator. Great coverage of the “event’ including the following tweet from Gawker.
What’s interesting is that Ann Curry had just taken part in a panel discussion about the use of Social Media surrounding the earthquake in Haiti.
At the end of the panel discussion Ann got stuck on a New York Times Building elevator with Social Media guru Jeff Pulver and Phil Thomas Digiulio, founder of pegshot, a web service that allows you to instantly upload video from your cell phone to share on Facebook, Twitter etc. Phil shot live video of the “entrapment” and posted it to the pegshot site.
Here’s the video shot live on the elevator and posted to pegshot.
In this one hour, the newscaster became the news maker while those surrounding her became the reporters.
Fascinating stuff!
Which brings us back to Social Media 101. Today, everybody is a publisher!
“New Coke” marketing stays true to brand
Coca-Cola has a long history of making us smile, understanding that our smiles will, in turn, keep their shareholders smiling.
Their latest viral campaign is not exception. In watching the Coca-Cola ‘Happiness Machine on Coke’s very own You Tube channel I couldn’t keep from smiling. Grinning, in fact, from ear to ear.
A viral success? I’d say so. Almost 800,000 views in just a few days. A great example of staying true to your brand (see the “I’d like to buy the world a Coke” commercial below) while venturing into the Social Media world.
See for yourself!
This Olympics themed spot landed 10,000 views since it’s launch yesterday
And a 1970’s Coke commercial that made us smile by bringing the world together in song.
Scott Brown, Senator-elect from Massachusetts was interviewed this morning on The Today Show by Meredith Vieira. As I listened to the interview one word delivered by Senator-elect Brown got my attention. The word was “transparency”.
It’s a word we use a lot in social media marketing. We urge our clients to be transparent in everything they do. To be honest and create remarkable, innovative products or services. Great stuff that others will talk about.
Here’s what Brown said:
“People are angry. They are tired of the back-room deals they want transparency, they want good government, they want fairness and they want people to start working and solving their problems.”
I hope for the people of Massachusetts and the rest of the world that Senator Elect Brown reflects on those words often. I hope that quote becomes the mantra not only for businesses, but for every elected official.
You can see the entire interview on The Today Show website.
I’ve posted the :30 second sound clip that caught my ear below.
The Huffington Post reports today that Sandra Bullock has given $1 Million to Doctors without Borders to help the people of Haiti recover from earthquake devistation.
According to the article, Madonna has donated $250,000 Partner’s in Health and “Not On Our Watch“, an advocacy and grantmaking group founded by George Clooney, Brad Pitt and others, donated $1 million to Partners in Health.
The international Red Cross estimates 45,000 to 50,000 people were killed in the earthquake, which devastated the Caribbean nation on Tuesday.
If you would like to help in the recovery effort, you can donate to the American Red Cross, Doctors without Borders, or Partners in Health.
Also, Mark Glaser of Media Shift has printed an amazing list of resources to keep you up to date on what’s going on in Haiti, with multiple ways that we can all help in the relief effort.
Technorati Claim MQQXFJC4Z4N9
Your Credit Card Purchases Made Public?
Why would anyone choose to share information about every credit card purchase? Blippy calls itself,
“a fun and easy way to see and discuss the things people are buying”.
I call it TMI!
Blippy is now open to everyone
Share Information About EVERY Purchase With Your Friends
I understand the need to share, but Blippy takes sharing a bit too far. That’s my humble opinion.
According to Techchrunch:
Already, the service has some 5,000 members from its closed-beta. Those users have shared over $4.5 million in purchase — and over 100,000 different purchases. Just a few weeks ago they were only at $1 million in purchases.
Blippy has some ambitious plans. One, is to work with credit card companies to show ALL individual purchases. Right now, this is hard to do because a lot of vendors don’t provide that information. But plenty are willing to for an idea like this, where everyone can see what others are actually buying.
I guess I’ll pay with cash.
What do you think?
Interview with David Meerman Scott
Steve Woods, CTO at Eloqua recently posted a You Tube video of an interview he conducted with noted Social Media author, speaker and consultant David Meerman Scott.
You can see the whole interview by clicking here.
One-Minute Social Media marketing Lesson:
I did a quick edit of the video to share with you. It’s an amazing one-minute Social Media Marketing lesson for all marketers; B2B or B2C.
David’s first line in this interview is chilling and so true!
He states,
No one cares about your products!
Check out the edit below and let me know what you think!
This is a link to ACTUAL PROOF that James Cameron actually just modified the script from Pocahontas to create Avatar. It’s on the internet – so it has to be true!!
Ok, what is truly remarkable about this story is that as of right this moment, 5055 people liked this article enough to vote it up on digg.com. That’s HUGE! Oops, now it’s 5056 as I just gave it a “thumbs up as well”.
This very funny piece was created as a self promotion for a copywriter. Here’s his contact information:
Pascal Boogaert – freelance concept en copy m: 06 – 54 753 417 – email: info @ belpascal. nl
I’m not sure which came first – the script treatment or this very funny movie trailer.
I love technology. I was probably the first 10-13 year old on my block to have a reel to reel tape recorder. By the time I was in college I had my very own TV, BIG reel to reel deck and a cassette recorder. Cutting edge stuff.
But I don’t remember ever been as excited about a “pending” announcement than I am right now about the Apple tablet (whatever they end up calling it, and whenever Apple ends up announcing it) and the other tablets that will be announced at the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas this week.
Sure, I read the New York Times every morning on my Blackberry Curve, and catch up on Seattle news via Viigo and an AP news plug in and those apps actually work well. But I am looking forward to using my phone as a phone once again, and migrating my digital life to a device that will allow me to read newspapers, books, check email, update my calendar, and search the internet etc easily.
One simple device I can stow in my briefcase, or carry from room to room.
You’re probably thinking, “Steve Lawson needs to disconnect. He needs to chill!”
And to you I say, “I am chillin!”
I’ve been addicted to exploring and learning from a young age. Not so much stuff that others have wanted me to learn (like school districts, standardized test givers, teachers etc), but stuff that interests me.
The internet was a god-send for guys and gals like me. Web 2.0 and the interactivity introduced by the Social Web have allowed me to learn more about more then ever before in my life. It’s allowed me to organize my life and my thoughts as never before, and it’s enabled me to be a better learner; to dig deeper and wider.
A well thought out tablet, from Apple, or from whomever, will just make my life that much easier. I’ll be able to read the news over a cup of coffee at the kitchen table once again, and settle into a comfortable chair with a great books, newspapers or magazines anywhere on the planet. I’ll be able to keep in touch with friends and family like never before.
Debbie and I just returned from a fabulous 10 day vacation in Maui with our daughter, her husband and our six month old granddaughter. It was a fabulous trip. We spent hours walking the beaches in Kihei, Wailea and Makena, ate fabulous meals, and enjoyed 10 days of totally unstructured island bliss. I only recall the TV being on once the entire trip.
But we stayed informed about our world with news delivered on our mobile devices and about our friends and family by reading their Facebook posts (my wife, Debbie, excited that she mastered email and Facebook on her iPod Touch AND texting on my Blackberry). And I had a great time taking pictures and shooting video of six-month old Ally to share with my mother in law and kids back home. If you would like, you can click here to see many of those pictures and the videos.
That’s the Social Web. An introduction to how we will all communicate in the coming decades.
Technology will continue to advance and I look forward to staying on the bleeding edge of those advancements. Those advancements that will enable me to continue to learn more ABOUT more than ever before.
I hope you’ll continue to follow my journey. And share this post with your friends.
There’s so much to learn in the New Year!
One of the videos I shot. Fun times with my tiny Sony Webbie Camera.
My friends at HubSpot took the words right out of my mouth! Have a very Merry Christmas and a healthy and prosperous New Year!
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Steve Lawson is a communication specialist and social media consultant focusing on emerging technologies and societal trends to help companies large and small adapt to the new reality that there is no such thing as "business as usual".