Archive for July, 2006
July 11, 2006
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Doc Searls tells the story better than me:
When I was at Reboot8 a few weeks back, I got some fun hang time with Hugh MacLeod, cartoonist-in-chief of Gapingvoid. Somewhere in there I mentioned that I was something of a geology freak. Hence followed this dialog…
“My dad’s a geologist.“
“Really? What’s his name?“
“William MacLeod.“
“That’s familiar. Is he in the U.K.?“
“No, he’s in Texas. He’s an authority on the Big Bend area.“
“Did he write a book about it?“
“Yes. ‘Big Bend Vistas.’”
“I have that book. I bought it a few weeks ago.“
“That’s weird.”
So Doc [one of my heroes] is reading two generations of MacLeods, not knowing the two are father and son. Freaky! Heh.
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[Click on image to enlarge/download/print etc. Licensing terms here etc.]
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July 10, 2006
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I’m not trying to take a swipe at Microsoft, but their “Your potential, Our passion” campaign just leaves me stone cold.
Especially juxtaposed against what their bloggers are trying to achieve.
Note to the marketing team: If you cannot communicate what your bloggers are communicating [and I’m not just talking verbally, either], you will fail.
Trust me. The answer lies with your bloggers.
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[Click on image to enlarge/download/print etc. Licensing terms here etc.]
[Inspired by Kim Klaver.]
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I was delighted to discover that LA uber-blogger, Tony Pierce has added the gapingvoid widget to his blog. Thanks, Tony!
And also, a big thank you to Guy Kawasaki for doing likewise.
As I’m fond of saying, Rock on.
[Now all I have to do is convince Scoble to put it up on his… Hey Robert, it comes with a clean, non-potty mouth version. Just tick the box etc.]
[Update:] The Head Lemur has added the widget. Very cool. [The Head Lemur is one of my faves. Posts like this one just make me laugh. Thanks, Alan!]
July 9, 2006
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[Click on image to enlarge/download/print etc. Licensing terms here etc.]
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[Link: Dooce.com]
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[Schwag: Get the T-shirt, mug or tile coaster!]
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July 8, 2006
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[Link: Techmeme.]
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Ben Hammersley is currently writing a book, based on a speech he gave in Paris last December, which I was lucky enough to attend [You can watch the video here].
I can’t wait to read it when it comes out. In internet terms, Ben’s speech was the most interesting and inspiring thing I’ve heard or read since The Cluetrain.
I’ve just watched the video again, for the first time this year. Fantastic stuff. Rock on, Ben.
[Also: If you’re ever hiring photographers, do check out Ben’s photography portfolio.]
July 7, 2006
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In case you were wondering, I took down the Hughtrain banner off the sidebar because it’s all about marketing theory.
I find marketing theory increasingly dull. I’m sure a lot of other people do, too.
Anyway, my favorite marketing insight isn’t even in the Hughtrain. My favorite marketing insight is this:
If people like buying your product, it’s because its story helps fill in the narrative gaps in their own lives.
Human beings need to tell stories. Historically, it’s the quickest way we have for transmitting useful information to other members of our species. Stories are not just nice things to have, they are essential survival tools.
And yes, the stories we tell ourselves are just as important than the stories we tell other people.
Ergo, marketing is not about selling. Marketing is figuring out where your product stands in relation to personal narrative.
So where does your product fit into other people’s narrative? How does telling your story become a survival tool for other people? If you don’t know, you have a marketing problem.
Narrative gaps. It’s all about the narrative gaps.
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Ergohealthy.com, a medical technology blog says some nice things about Thingamy:
Sigurd Rinde is not a man hampered by false humility as demonstrated by the claims he makes about his Thingamy:
One single system to run your business.
No need for other enterprise software nor middleware.
No need for hierarchies nor information tree structures.
No need for management to run the workflow.
The thing is, he’s right – it works – and it, or something like it, is the future of business. Sig was gracious enough to offer a demo of the system and access to it.
Thingamy, also closely blogged by Hugh Macleod, is at the threshold of being unleashed on the world.
Basically, Thingamy provides businesses with a way to move from a push to a pull flow — flows, processes, collaboration, task lists, relationships, and data are created out of need not organizational charts.
Sig recently hinted about how Thingamy could be used in the medical industry, if you fancy exploring the subject further.
[Disclosure: I have a small stake in Thingamy.]
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If you hate cats, you’ll love my new t-shirts.
[High-res cat image here.]
1. Both male and female sizes available.
2. Everything is sold at cost. I make no markup.
3. I like changing the images often, so this design won’t be around forever.
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[Click on image to enlarge/download/print etc. Licensing terms here etc.]
[Cartoon inspired by Chris and Brad.]
[Bonus Link: How to kiss $40,000 a week good-bye.]
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Robert Scoble wants a new business card. How about one of these? If he wants, all he has to is download the high-res image [by clicking on the thumbnail] and take it along to Kinko’s. And so can anyone else, according to my licensing terms.
If he doesn’t like these, I can probably crank out another one or two…
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Great point from Jason Calacanis:
As I tell folks on our team, there are three types of people in the world:
People who make stuff.
People who sell stuff.
People who support the first two groups of people.
That’s really it… I’m a servant to my people. I am here to serve (as a wise, wise man once told me), and if the talent ain’t happy then I’ve failed. The problem is sometimes the support folks think they’re the talent.
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[YouTube videocast here.]
Stormhoek’s Jason Korman and I recently did a videocast, along with Johnnie Moore. Directed by Lloyd Davis.
This videocast was made not so much for the general public, but for the Stormehoek sales team in America. Trying to get them up to speed with what we’re doing etc. Johnnie kindly agreed to moderate.
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A pile of half-made unfinshed bespoke suits and their matching drafting patterns, back from English Cut’s latest American trip.
July 3, 2006
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A very observant gapingvoid reader just sent me an e-mail, asking me why the Hughtrain banner is no longer on the sidebar.
Hmmmm… Any guesses?
[Actually, it’s been down for a while. Removed it without telling anybody etc.]
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The gapingvoid RSS feed is now a Filmloop, if you fancy something for your desktop.
I also have my original Filmloop here, which has about 200 gapingvoid cartoons on it, both old and new.
[Nick Denton:] “The barrier to entry in Internet media is low,” he said. “The barrier to success is high.”
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[Cartoon drawn at the request of Michael Arrington]
The Big Blogging Story of The Week ™ seems to be Senator John Edwards addressing the crowd at Gnomedex yesterday.
Rock on.
July 1, 2006
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Here’s a pic of some “cartoons drawn on the back of business cards” I drew last night.
Yeah, I’m still using that format. I’m not completely married to my Tablet PC, not by a long shot.
They’re part of a series called “The Estelle Series”. I’ll start posting them individually once the series is completed, in the next couple of weeks.
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The big blog meme of 2006 seems to be: “The new currency is trust and authenticity.“
Jason Calacanis uses it well here. Tara Hunt mentions it here.
But from a marketer’s perspective, methinks there’s one thing missing in this equation. A good story.
“The new currency is trust, authenticity, and a good story.“
Unless you have a story worth telling, trust, authenticity and fifty cents will get you on the bus.
