A letter to the editor in the New York Times:
We have a message for the movers and shakers of Madison Avenue: “Tone down the relentless yammering; you’re talking too loud for us to listen.”
As quoted in Alex Wipperfurth’s Brand Hijack.
Humorist Dave Barry isn’t joking when he says that:
We can no longer compel people to pay attention. We used to be able to say, there’s this really important story in Poland. You should read this. Now people say, ‘I just look up what I’m interested in on the Internet.’
Barry is talking about newspapers, but this is another point that applies across all attempts to hijack attention.
Link via oneangrycustomer ("Chronicling everyday brand experiences” and well worth checking out on a regular basis.).
Here’s a spot-on observation from Jeff Jarvis, in a post entitled Interaction vs. reaction: But enough about you…:
The problem with media’s definition of interactivity is that’s all about controlled reaction to media’s agenda: Come talk about our stuff. It is designed like a children’s museum, with buttons you can push to keep you busy and happy. That may not be the intent, but it is the result and message of forums and chats and blogs that are about what the newspaper publishes. And it misses the point.
This applies, of course, not only to media. The same could be said for about 99% of the business and advertising world’s definition of interactivity. It tends to go something like this…
"Passivity ≠ interactivity" continued...
Factiva, a Dow Jones and Reuters company, has a blogging CEO, Clare Hart. Euan Semple points to Hart’s latest post, which should ring some bells for those in business:
Factiva prepared a Business Terms index for The Financial Times Deutschland throughout 2005. We saw the term “blog” rise from 9th out of the 45 words we were tracking in January across the German media, and move to number 1 by the end of 2005. As the article points out, the term “blogs” was the most widely mentioned business term in December above terms like Risk Management, Crisis Management, Corporate Governance, Turnaround, ERP and Wikipedia.
This was the German press. When applying the Business Terms Index across all of Factiva’s sources, the term “blog” moved from number 4 in January to number 1 in December 2005.
Adriana Cronin-Lukas, who is on our advisory board and whose Big Blog Company is an EA-approved supplier of blog consulting services, is also a risk management expert. If you suspect that gives her an edge when it comes to teaching her clients how to eliminate or reduce the risks associated with blogging, you’d be correct.
Sigur Rinde, head of software company Thingamy Ltd, takes issue with the goal of businesses that think their customers just want them to deliver “solutions”. Rinde says that companies are supposed to deliver a value.
Current problems, future problems, new ways, joy and happiness and any jumping of the curve for your customers is covered. Limitless.
That’s what business is all about. Delivering value.
Please. I want that. Value. Whatever it is.
I do value more things than just having my problems solved.