Gearheads: The Sterling Communications Blog

Another marriage of traditional and online media

One of the pioneering online media companies, CNET, is being bought by CBS. While the various CNET properties have a large audience, investors have become increasingly frustrated with the stock, which for the past few years has traded well below its once lofty heights. Those investors should be happy with CBS's offer, which represents a 45% per share premium over the previous day's close. CBS, for its part, sees CNET as providing more online outlets and marketing opportunities for its content. So can these two find bliss? Who knows. The last celebrity marriage between old and new media companies - between AOL and Time Warner - hasn't worked out so well.

"Get a Life, People!"

BusinessWeek’s “Managing” section has a story this week that brought to mind the quote from the classic William Shatner appearance on SNL. Apparently if PriceWaterhouseCoopers employees log onto company email over the weekend, they get a pop-up message that reminds them to, in essence, get a life. (The message mysteriously disappeared during tax season.)

Sounds good to me! Every year I seek a more distant locale for vacation. Next stop: Easter Island, billed as the most remote inhabited island on earth, but even that has a plethora of Internet cafes and cable TV. I haven’t yet figured out the cell phone coverage, but in dire straits a message in a bottle works… eventually. I guess the only place you can unplug these days is MTV.

Grass is the way to go, folks!

I was pleased to read a balanced BusinessWeek piece on ethanol because I'm SO tired of the misconceptions out there related to ethanol. Ethanol does not = corn, regardless of what headlines scream. Those who still think it does simply MUST read this article.

Fact is, there are a number of ways — some much better for the planet than others — to make ethanol.  Bottom line? It's all about the material and the process. What we (as members of a planet we want to survive, that is) need is biofuel that's made from things that don't negatively affect our food supply or increase global warming. Enter cellulosic ethanol. It's made from the non-food portion of of renewable feedstocks such as cereal straw, corn stalks, rice straw and switchgrass. (This prairie plant is drought-resistant and adds carbon to the soil over time. And, it has few natural pests or diseases, so there's no need to spray all those nasty pesticides that you have to do with row crops. Yep, that's goodness.)

Cellulosic ethanol isn't being mass produced yet, but then, neither are hydrogen cars. Guess we'll just have to continue to be patient. But the hippie generation found new and interesting applications for plant matter, so I'm convinced we will be able to do so again. In the meantime, please pass the corn! 

Embedded Online Presentation as Press Release

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Already a decent way to repurpose past presentations or share new ones, SlideShare uses its "embeddable" presentation as a press release for securing $3 million in new funding.

Mark Twain on Second Life Marketing

Was perusing a BW special report this week where the author likened marketing on Second Life to the early days of the Internet -- geek heaven, not quite ready for prime time, but literally brimming with potential.  While I believe that the technically savvy early adopters among us (aka geeks) do, in fact, tinker with things until they evolve to the point where mainstream folks can get excited, I'm not sure I share James Au's enthusiasm for Second Life as a platform for commerce. 

But  then, I didn't just write a book called "The Making of Second Life," so what do I know?  Well, having survived the dotcom crash, I do know this much: "Time will tell." 

A virtual world that rocks

Despite my otherwise stellar (if I do say so myself) geek credentials, I'll cop to being something of a Luddite when it comes to virtual worlds like Second Life. I just can't get excited about the idea of wandering around a fake landscape with a bunch of other geeks having conversations and playing virtual dress-up. It all seems so, well, lame. I'm not particularly convinced that all the marketing that takes place in these worlds really does much to reach any particular audience.

But this is really cool. I could drive up to Vancouver for the New Music West Festival next weekend (it's only 3 hours from Seattle), or I can go online and catch some of the performances on Virtual-Vancouver. Well, that is, I could if I had a PC... (Sorry, Macs not invited.) I think there's a lot more promise in using virtual worlds to extend the reach of real events than trying to create real interest in virtual events. But that's just me...

“The Rumors of My Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated…”

I’m one of a dying breed — I still subscribe to a daily PRINT newspaper, the San Jose Mercury News. I use the Internet and NPR during the day; the paper provides me with information on local events and international features that are fresh to me even if they happened a few days ago. I also occasionally buy the Thursday edition of the New York Times for the lengthy features on international architecture, art, books and fashion. (Oh, yeah, and the Tech Circuits section with David Pogue’s “State of the Art” column).

However, I’m starting to feel guilty about the pollution generated to produce the overflowing bag I haul out to my recycling bins every weekend. And when a newspaper addict like me starts to feel this way, you know it’s a bad sign for the future of print.

I read that Philip Meyer predicted in his 2004 book “The Vanishing Newspaper” that the last print edition of a newspaper would be delivered in 2043. My guess is that it will be closer to 2020, at least in the U.S, and even sooner here in the S.F. Bay Area. I’m not alone; Conde Nast, the publishing giant, seems to be pretty concerned. In April, three of its titles included articles on the moribund newspaper business: The New Yorker’s “Out of Print”; “The Worst Investment in America?” in Portfolio; and “The War on the Times,” in Vanity Fair. Coincidence?

There’s a fascinating four-part documentary I saw on PBS’s “Frontline” last year, called “News War.”  Part 3, “What’s Happening to the News” made the point that we tend to think of newspapers as providing a public service, but they’re just businesses like any other that are beholden to shareholders who have traditionally expected a high profit. So when their economies are threatened, they have to cut editorial staff, which means less first-person reporting. It’s truly frightening (especially in wartime) how few news organizations (and not just print ones) operate international bureaux and support on-site journalists these days. The online and faux TV news programs that a burgeoning audience relies on for "news" do not offer original content, just riffs on other people’s stories (such as I’m doing here). Therefore, it’s critical that media companies figure out a new way to deliver and monetize the news so they can continue their vital function of shoe-leather reporting even if it’s no longer published first on paper.

The reason the title of Howell Raines’ Portfolio article is a question, not a statement, is that there are a growing number of forward-looking publishers who are figuring out a way to stay relevant and make a profit. They are reinventing their print business on the Internet through the hyper-localization of the news. Exhibit A is legacy city newspaper The Philadelphia Inquirer, whose Philly.com online portal is made possible by my client Clickability, the dominant player in On Demand Web Content Management solutions for the publishing industry.

Maybe, as happened with Mark Twain, the rumors of the death of the newspaper business have been greatly exaggerated. The Newspaper Association of America reported in April that newspaper Web sites are attracting consumers in record numbers.

I’m Enchanted… but “Don’t Feed the Monkeys”

I just spent a few days on the East Coast with a client, on a press tour for an upcoming product launch. Add in a wedding the weekend prior, and I’ve stayed at three Marriott properties in the last week. I get a laugh out of the new theme they have going on in the rooms… and a laugh after a long day of travel is a win for the Marriott marketing department indeed. Many of you may already know what I’m talking about… when I checked in, the keys to my rooms have said “walk in like you own the place” or “get both feet in the door.” The notepad stroked my ego: “leave a trail of genius,” and my ‘privacy please’ door hangar warned the maids “Brain Storm: It’s really coming down in here. Better wait until it clears up.” (and boy was it!)

Enterprise was another brand that really impressed me on this trip. I’ve had my share of poor customer service from them, and time and time again, I tell myself I won’t go back, but those low prices lead me to making additional reservations. When the CEO and I hopped into our car, we looked at each other with “wow” expressions on our face. If I counted correctly, we had seven (7!) reps help us within a five-minute period (if even that long). We were welcomed, offered water, computer-generated directions to our exact destination, our luggage was loaded for us, and most importantly… immediate and QUICK service. We loved it. The return portion was just as pleasant. I was making my first trip to Boston, so my first thought was, “wow, Boston people are really nice!” I’m hoping it’s a nationwide phenomenon with Enterprise as a company in general. Good job guys.

I also made my NYC debut on this trip. The energy of this city grabbed me immediately! Our last office briefing of the day left me with a few memories: we got the crazy NYC cab driver experience you see in the movies on our way to Light Reading. The front door to their office is backlit with a red glow and a fair warning etched on the door: don’t feed the monkeys. Their office was very “Google-esque” which was quite a contrast from the old art-deco style of the building they reside in (AT&T). We hit Jim’s favorite pick-me-up place (Starbucks) and I actually saw people using pay phones… a sight I haven’t seen that in forever.

We would leave the city the next morning so after a dinner meeting, Jim, the CEO I was touring with, gave me something I’ll never forget. This thoughtfulness in making sure I saw the vibe NYC has to offer meant a lot. He asked the cabbie to drive us through Times Square and even encouraged me to hop out to soak it all in. We swung past the Empire State Building, past all the Broadway show venues, and even a hotel lobby by a well-known designer he thought I should check out.

I actually wrote this on the flight back to SFO… we were chasing a beautiful orange/purple/pink sunset the entire evening. Our agency offices are truly beautiful places to work in, but after the week I just had, it’s going to be tough sitting behind a desk tomorrow morning.

Friday Fun: FaceBook In Reality

I think this is what we are all paranoid about when it comes to mixing the professional and personal on Facebook. 

Some People Just Can't take No for an Answer...

Seems everybody wants to emulate Larry Ellison's behavior.  Microsoft is turning up the heat on its Yahoo pursuits and EBay is following suit (pun intended) W/R/T bringing Craigslist into the eBay fold.  Neither company wants to be acquired, of course...and they have sent that message loud and clear.  But, when competitive pressures get the street chanting that you need to do something to feed your growth engine, people like Ballmer and Donahoe take off the gloves and come out swinging.  And all you need to do to see why is to chart Oracle's stock price since it announced the PeopleSoft acquisition on 12/14/04.