Perhaps time for a Quick Link tab re:bridging the gap on this blog…
I happened upon this recent presentation from John Keehler- I especially liked the ‘tied to concept’ talk and ‘by-products, not just products’ mention.

TOPIC: Bridging the Gap between Agencies and Startups

WHO: John Keehler, Principal, Digital Strategy at Click Here

DESCRIPTION: Startups are tech-savvy, yet they struggle with branding and marketing. Advertising agencies know how to build brands, but struggle with technology. In this session, we’ll explore the key strengths of each, and how bridging the gap is the future for both.

WHEN: Already happened / hosted through Boulder Digital Works. Events page here.

Spend Shift is Coming
October 18th, 2010

How the Post-Crisis Values Revolution Is Changing the Way We Buy, Sell, and Live

New spending patterns reveal how massive cultural values shifts can be recognized in today’s consumer behavior and are remaking capitalism for the better.

In Spend Shift, John Gerzema, a world-renowned expert on consumer values, and Pulitzer Prize winning writer Michael D’Antonio travel across America to document a renewal of hope and enterprise in the post-recession economy. Guided by exclusive data from Young & Rubicam’s vast surveys of public attitudes, the authors find that hipsters in Brooklyn, entrepreneurs in Tampa, and veterans in Southern California are all returning to age old values such as self-reliance, faith and thrift to redefine the “good life.” While these consumers and others guard their dollars, they also use them to influence companies of all sorts in the hope of making the world a little better with each purchase.

Packed with insights from global leaders in market psychology and communication, Spend Shift also features interviews with business leaders who understand the changes now underway. At companies like Zappos, Ford, Sunrun, and Hulu, (to name just a few) the authors find executives who are using new technologies and old fashioned customer-first practices to make their companies more relevant, more resilient, and more profitable. These examples, and many others, show that while the consumer psyche is changing even faster than the economy, companies can adapt and thrive. In the process, they may also feel a lot better about their impact on the communities they serve and on the planet they share with their customers.

Compelling and insightful, Spend Shift is essential reading for anyone interested in how values are changing and how businesses can connect with customers who vote with their dollars, every day, even after the recession.

Content pulled directly from:  http://www.johngerzema.com/index.php/spend-shift-is-coming-october-18th-2010/

I am always interested in understanding things from their origins. I did not know that the Facebook name was born from a yearbook/directory type concept.

Wikipedia says:

This article is about the collection of photographs of people.
A facebook is a printed or online collection of photographs of people.

History
Colleges and universities in the United States often published official or unofficial books listing their students, faculty, or staff, together with pictures and limited biographical data.[1] In the early 2000s some facebooks were published online, offering a number of new features, including password protection, more detailed information, more advanced indexing and searching, and the ability for people to upload and enter information and photographs.[1][2]

In early 2004 Harvard University sophomore Mark E. Zuckerberg created an unofficial online facebook at the website “thefacebook.com”, the forerunner of the Facebook service, out of frustration that the university’s official online facebook project was taking too long.[2]

References
Kavita Saini (2004-12-07). Daily Princetonian. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-103202590.html.

Alan J. Tabak (2004-02-09). “Hundreds Register for New Facebook Website”. http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2004/2/9/hundreds-register-for-new-facebook-website/.

Social media will adapt as needs and wants online adapt. We will see behaviors ‘grow’ as motivations for deeper connections are realized.

I’m on Facebook and a friend responded to John Bush’s inquiry to Libertarians for a reference source (below). Because of this, I was privy to see how John is using Facebook- I think he’s on to something. And, I think this is where Facebook and Twitter are going- the aggregation of likemindedness for beneficial (benefit driven) connectivity.

Take a cause, add community, and the ability to reach out and you will find the evolved value of social media. Furthermore, follow Maslow’s hierachy and you will see that we’re moving from love/belonging to esteem and actualization.

“As much as we love the open, unfettered Web, we’re abandoning it for simpler, sleeker services that just work.”
-Source: Chris Anderson, Wired, 8/16/10

(click on image to enlarge: ‘Proportion of total US internet traffic’)

– It’s driven primarily by the rise of the iPhone model of mobile computing, and it’s a world Google can’t crawl, one where HTML doesn’t rule.
– Less about browsing, more about getting

AlixCompany Dialogue Aki Spicer

Recorded Dialogue is 36 minutes

I’m thrilled to share with you the first Alix Co. Consulting Dialogue with Aki Spicer, Director of Digital Strategy at Fallon in Minneapolis.

About a month ago, Aki conducted a workshop at VCU’s Brandcenter where he presented ‘The Engagement Opportunity‘. The presentation calls out the liminal space, labels the value of digital planners, and provides a POV on implications and next steps with some proprietary tools. The topic is worth talking about and I hope that you all will join me as we Dialogue with the intent to share and inspire.

The recorded Dialogue shares Aki’s POV on the following:

1. Would you say that we are aiming to socialize technology? What I mean by ‘socialize’ is the attainment of shared norms, customs, and values in a cultural continuity context. [An interesting thought in socializing technology through grounded creativity given historically we’ve used technology to ground creativity.]

2. You mention in ‘The New Engagement Opportunity’ presentation, “Whatever the device or channel it is always about leveraging the human motivation.” I wonder, though, are human motivations shifting because of technology? Can you talk a bit about any sense (or sight) of shifting values given new experiences granted by technology? What implications does this have as we try to creativity ground technology?

3. I see today’s digital space as both a channel (medium) and a platform. Where, Best Buy’s TWELPFORCE uses twitter as a medium, and Foursquare or Groupon use attributes of digital as the platform. Is this traditional ad agency thinking? How are you all defining the utility of digital? Or, are you defining it?

4. Your presentation includes an excellent list of how digital strategists are bringing grounded creativity to technology. Done well, what does grounded creativity plus technology look like? For ROI? (better understanding of engagement/other metrics?) For society? (better value laden connections?)

5. There has been a lot of talk about the new creative team and what the new structure will evolve to look like. If you were tasked with creating today’s creative shop, what would it look like? Why this structure? What would you call it? [Perhaps an explanation of the ‘T’ model in your presentation.]