Seth's Blog: What Matters Now: Get The Free E-book and...well see what you think!!

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/12/what-matters-now-get-the-free-ebook.html

Seth Godin polarises!!

I can't help but think when I read his new ebook (that he didn't write but instead is an aggregration of many pieces from many contributors by the way) Seth is simply positioning himself along side some friends he calls thought leaders (badly overused phrase these days), in the process cementing the Seth Godin brand. He uses to many adjectives and too much hyperbole for it to have any real substance. Indeed, the tone of his blog piece promoting What Matters Now is way too full of polemic - the title is pretentious and boring!! What Matters Now..well what does matter now... look here is the first part of his blog and a link to download the book. What do you think....???

"Now, more than ever, we need to shake things up.

Now, more than ever, we need a different way of thinking, a useful way to focus and the energy to turn the game around. I hope a new ebook I've organized will get you started on that path. It took months, but I think you'll find it worth the effort. (Download here).

Here are more than seventy big thinkers, each sharing an idea for you to think about as we head into the new year. From bestselling author Elizabeth Gilbert to brilliant tech thinker Kevin Kelly, from publisher Tim O'Reilly to radio host Dave Ramsey, there are some important people riffing about important ideas here. The ebook includes Tom Peters, Fred Wilson, Jackie Huba and Jason Fried, along with Gina Trapani, Bill Taylor and Alan Webber."

Click here to read the full blog piece

Digital Anthropology and Your Tribe

TalkTalk is a provider of digital communication technology services in the UK mainly. The recently teamed up with the University of Kent to research peoples' attitudes and behaviours towards the digital world. The aim was to go beyond traditional rseearch to determine how techonology fits into our lives.

Six stereotypes were identified - the Digital Extroverts, the Timid Technophobes, the Social Secretaries, the First Lifers,the E-ager Beavers, the Web Boomers, full descriptions of which can be read from the full report Digital Anthrolopogy.

Fancy seeing which tribe you belong to...Take the quick quiz to find out.

Google and Wharton Business School Create YouTube Channel

Google and The Wharton School have partnered to gather and provide quick perspective on managing the change in the marketing landscape through a video channel on You Tube they have entitled Fast Forward.

Here is their rationale..

As we explore what will define success through marketing’s continual evolution, we aim to share ideas and lessons learned to help keep us all better informed and effective as the game - and conversation - rapidly progresses.

Marketing is in the midst of a complex transformation. As consumers become more technologically sophisticated and choices multiply, marketing must adapt. Tune in to viewpoints from industry and academic thought leaders to acquire inspiring, empowering and actionable insights.

Is This the Future of Advertising?

It hasn't caught on yet in the U.S., but a global ad campaign for Unilever's army of laundry detergents -- sold in Asia as Omo, in France as Skip, and by other names around the planet -- hailing that "Dirt is Good," is considered by experts to be a perfect example of a new path for marketing in the 21st century. The marketing push merges memorable images of children splashing in mud with a customer-engaging social message -- "every child has a right to play and explore." Some claim the ad helped push Singapore to increase recess time at its academics-heavy, stress-inducing schools. The early success of Unilever's advertising strategy is exactly the type of information that company marketing executives and ad agencies need to discuss as they struggle to develop new ideas to handle the cataclysmic changes in technology and communications -- from Tivo to Twitter

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Change Begets Change - how you put a positive spin on the recession.

In a new study, Moore School of Business marketing professor Stacy Wood suggests that it’s in times of upheaval that we’re particularly inclined to leave our comfort zone and try new things. On first thought, this sounds counter-intuitive. You would think that upon losing our job or girlfriend, we’d be more intent on crawling under the sheets with a favorite book or movie and lying low for a while – not deciding that now’s the time to quit smoking or take up sky-diving. And yet, these are the very kinds of challenges that we’re likely to take on following a big life change, according to Wood. In her study, she ran five related experiments comparing participants’ consumer choices with the degree of stability in their lives at the time.

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