Archive for the 'ideas' Category

NERD (New Employee Rapid Development)

Published on August 6, 2008 in CRM, digital and ideas. 0 Comments

Sorry for the long delay in posting, I have been literally swamped trying to get the Atlas system down. I am finally feeling some level of aptitude in understanding the Media Console and hope to be able to post more frequently. I don’t want to talk about the Media Console yet but I will say that it is a powerful tool just as advertised.

The focus of this post is training I just took in Redmond on the Microsoft campus. It was three days of rapid deployment on Microsoft APS. In case you did not know, Microsoft purchased aQuantive last year and within that acquisition was Atlas Solutions, my new employer. Needless to say, I enjoyed most of the presentations and have a much better understanding of the organization and how we operate. It’s nice to be part of something this big and know that Microsoft is fully behind making it work!

Most of the trainings were high level introductions to online advertising and the APS product suite with the exception of the “services and standards” session led by Ken Weyel. I have to say this session gave me so much food for thought that I am still thinking about it. Ken had a nice presentation style and delivered so many insights it was tough to keep my brain focused.

At the heart of his presentation were the four brand promises we deliver as Microsofties and how we can better serve our clients. At one point in the session he asked us to break out into groups and rank the promises from most important to least important.

This exercise had obvious answers on the surface but when you put your mind behind it you could really blow a circuit. We finally settled on our rankings but I am still not sure if I am comfortable with them. And as we discussed the findings with the larger group I only confirmed my assumptions that to really rank them would compromise the integrity.

The four qualities to make up the APS experience could be debated forever to know real conclusion as to their importance. But one thing is certain to me, all four must be working for a great experience and that is what I want to promise. So thanks to Ken and all my Redmond colleagues for a great couple of days and wish me luck in my quest to deliver on the “big four.”

 

If Digital Music is Growing, Why Design Digital Album Covers like its 1969?

Published on June 24, 2008 in branding, creative, digital, ideas and marketing. 0 Comments

Last week, emarketer.com sent this email to me. It had some interesting facts about digital music and its growth over the last couple years. As consumers (me included) increasingly switch to digital devices and legal purchases of music, I began to wonder why digital packaging has not caught up to this trend.

The chart above shows that almost half of all US teens did not purchase a CD in 2007 ( a number which is sure to continue to rise). If teens are switching to digital music at such a dizzying pace, why has the packaging not caught up? Most digital albums still include mirror images of their in-store counterparts. Why not progress to something more dynamic to reflect the new error?

Dynamic digital album artwork is the next progression in terms of packaging design for a digital universe. I could see a whole industry built around buying cool iPod/iPhone screensavers with animated capabilities. Does anyone else agree?