Our New Location!
We want to announce the location of the new and improved whowhatwherewhenY. Head over to the new site at whowhatwherewheny.com and make sure you book-mark it for the latest content from your fav Gen Yer’s at wwwwY! Let us tell you when new posts are up by subscribing to our RSS feed. Thanks for reading and we hope you all will love the new site!
-wwwwY Staff
What do You Want?
- wwwwY is Moving!
So exciting news everyone! All you regular readers might already know that wwwwY is in the process of a move. We’re moving to our own hosted site on our own URL. wwwwY was becoming big enough where it needed more functionality. The move will really make wwwwY that much more enjoyable for you all.
We want input from you, our readers; what do you want from the new site? Would you want more multimedia? A discussion board? More aggregated content? Maybe you all want something that we haven’t thought of.
In the comments section go crazy, what do you want on the new site? We’re hoping to be up and running by next week. Looking forward to your suggestions!
-wwwwY Staff
A Move
Hi everyone.
So I got back from the Online Marketing Summit the past few days and it was a great experience. I learned so much, had so many great conversations and met so many great people. I can’t wait to tell you all about it, but I am going to try and FINALLY move my site over onto it’s own URL. The goal is to get it up this next coming week so stay tuned for updates when wwwwY is going live again. Thanks for reading everyone
Todd
The iPad: An Apple Intermediary
Apple has been all about one thing in recent years: creation. Before Apple gained its massive popularity and Digital Royalty status, all we heard was how superior Macs were for graphics and video. Industry designers had been using them for years because of their high production value. From the beginning Apple users included the “influentials”.
Then the prosumers followed. The prosumers, who usually aren’t far behind the creators, followed them to Apple and their products. Apple was keen to the fact that many people like to both produce content and consumer content frequently. Apple did a great job of making their products attractive to these multi-users. With the iPhone and Macbooks selling at a rapid pace it was time for Apple to make their next move.
When Apple became popular among the masses, they took the creation aspect and made it available to all. Garage band, Front Row, iPhoto, Photo booth and iMovie all came standard on Macs, and all were extremely powerful but intuitive creation tools. This was a very successful way to move down the content hierarchy, and make people feel that they were advancing up it. They made all their users into creators. They became instantly successful; who doesn’t want to be a creator?
With the iPhone and Macbooks selling at a rapid pace it was time for Apple to make their next move. Enter the iPad.
The iPad is the next addition to the Mac family, but this time directed toward the content consumer. Apple, has already targeted the creators, and prosumers, and now is going after the consumers. This is the next category in Apple’s trickle down strategy.
The iPad is an e-reader, music player, movie watcher, internet surfer, calendar viewer and pretty much presents any sort of information you could want to digest. People assume that the iPad will be for the tech heavy. With the relatively low price tag, simple operation and consuming focus, the target market is not the tech savvy. It is those who consume media and information.
Everyone also needs to realize that Apple’s goal isn’t to take over the world with iPads. They will be happy if they do; but that isn’t their main goal. They want the relatively low risk iPads to create more business for their computer and mobile divisions. Non-Apple users will be much more likely to purchase the iPad because of its smaller perceived risk compared to their computers and iPhone. But, Apple hopes that once users are wooed with the iPad that they will move up the product hierarchy and buy a Macbook or an iPhone. It’s all about converting non-users.
Apple is systematically targeting the different technology users out there and the iPad is just their next step to target another technology segment. Barring a disaster with the iPad, it will be interesting to see in the long run how Apple will continue this strategy and what new products they will make, and who they will target next.
Follow Todd on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/toddliss
The Best (and Worst) Ads on The Super Bowl
So exciting news. Last week I wrote an article for The Next Great Generation about wether Super Bowl commercials even mattered to Gen Y anymore, or if some new medium had taken the coveted spot (read the spot here)
The Best and Worst Commercials from Super Bowl XLIV
Well today I had my first published article for a news website. I wrote an article for the San Diego News Network today about the best and worst commercials of this years Super Bowl. I would love if all you loyal wwwwY readers would head over to the article, read it and comment on it. What were your favorite commercials of the big game? Which fell short for you?
http://www.sdnn.com/sandiego/2010-02-08/sports/super-bowl-xliv-commercials-best-and-worst
Follow Todd on Twitter: http://www.Twitter.com/toddliss
Does Gen Y Care about Super Bowl Ads?
I wrote a piece for The Next Great Generation on whether Gen Y even cares about Super Bowl commercials. Some say that “defining” campaigns for Gen Y come in other non-traditional forms. I say that nothing can compare to a good Super Bowl spot. What do you think? Have Super Bowl commercials lost some of their appeal? Are they worth the $2.7 million dollars that advertisers paid this year? Read the article and let me know.
Do Super Bowl Commercials Matter to Gen Y?
Follow Todd on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/toddliss
New Ad Unit Makes Online Marketing Affordable
Since the internet’s beginning many things have evolved, but one has stayed true. People love to market on the internet; always have and always will.
First banners, then text links, contextual advertising, sponsorships and now social media. Companies, businesses, and individuals love to market online. There is a new ad unit making its way through the internet that could be the future of online advertising.
The main fallacy about the internet is that only the “big boys” can afford real online marketing. The process to negotiate, purchase, and create traditional banner ads can be lengthy and costly. The Digital Flyerboard eliminates all these factors and makes online marketing something you can easily create and manage yourself.
Has anyone seen the Digital Flyer Board yet? It’s a very affordable digital version of everyone’s favorite bulletin board that you see around town. The Flyerboard has launched mainly on news websites including the one I work for, The San Diego News Network.
The New Great Way for Local Businesses to Market Online
The beauty of the Digital Flyerboard is that is makes online advertising available to everyone. Not only is it extremely affordable (it’s about the price of a movie ticket) but its fully customizable. You make the flyer yourself, and can chose where and when it is seen. You can also adjust it on the fly.
The flyer also is sharable and social media compatible. The flyers drive traffic back to your own website, and also give users the option to share the flyers with their friends via email and social media (like Facebook).
If you have a highly trafficed site, or a local business I strongly suggest you look into the new Digital Flyerboard. Check it out for yourself here. Please let me know what you all think about the new unit. Is it something you can see your publication or business using?
Follow Todd on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/toddliss
Test of Customer Service
Just a quick update for you all. On Thursday my car got stolen… Yes, that really sucks. The best part of the story is that I actually found my car myself. Good news right?
Well of course.
The bad news: The thiefs took EVERYTHING of value in my car; a major bummer. Let’s say they made a pretty penny off my stuff they took.
Here’s the real test, the test of my insurance. I will be potentially filing with both my auto, and homeowners insurance to hopefully reclaim what I had stolen. This will be a real good test of my insurance companies and their levels of customer service (very crucial with Gen Y).
As I go through the process I’ll make sure to keep you all updated and will give you all the Gen Y point of view throughout it.
Wish me luck everyone
Follow Todd on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/toddliss
How do I Market in an Economic Downturn?
Everyone in every aspect of businesses have their opinions on how to handle our current economic downturn. Everyone has to adjust to their current economic conditions and make the best of their situation. So how should you handle marketing in tough times? I don’t necessarily subscribe to one “strategy” for all tough times, but I do have a piece of wisdom to share.
Too many number crunching bosses see marketing in a light which in incorrect and unrepresentative of its true value. Too frequently marketing is seen purely as an expense. Marketing is seen as something that takes away from profits and not add to them.
Marketing needs to be seen for what it really is, as an investment. Not only does correct marketing bring in immediate sales, it also acts as a long-term investment. The money you spend today can bring countless customers to you in the future.
When times get tough, most businesses (big and small) cut marketing spending. Would you?
Well think about it this way. If everyone else is cutting spending, and you kept your levels untouched who has the advantage? Who a bigger presence?
If everyone else cut their spending, what would happen to prices of media and services?
I think you get where I’m going here.
If all your competition cuts their marketing spending, doesn’t that mean there’s less competition, less pressure from others and lower prices? Now if you could actually increase your marketing during tough times (crazy I know) think about how effective your extra spend would be. Prices would be much cheaper and you would get MUCH more value for your dollar, as well as having less competition from others. Sounds like a pretty good situation to me.
Even though in tough times, consumers have less buying power, your increased effort won’t go unheard. When economic conditions pick up again, your customers will thank you by making that purchase they couldn’t before.
Now of course this won’t work for everyone in every situation, but its something to keep in mind. I understand cutting expenses during tough times, sometimes a company just needs to be more conservative. But, remember marketing should never be seen as an expense. It has both short and long-term benefits that shouldn’t be overlooked while budgeting in a tough time.
Any thoughts? Do you know of a business that has done either?
Follow Todd on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/toddliss
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