NBC Olympic Pulse is my newest online obsession.
Designed by the  smart folks at Stamen Design, Olympics Pulse takes the best of twitter, tumblr, and the real time web, mashes it and serves it up right in front of your eyes. Talk about live online, this is where it’s going.

Real time tracking is certainly not new technology, Google began real time trend watching in their search at the end of 2009.

I’ve known about Twitterfall long before that. Twitterfall is a great way to track live social media conversations in real time.

But I’m mostly interested in what happens as this technology goes more mainstream and customizable by the everyday user. For example, I started playing around a simple twitter tracker from wiffiti that shows real time results for what’s being said about any 5 topics you’re interested in. Build your own at Wiffiti.com, it takes about 2 minutes. The one below tracks what people are saying about Marketing, Advertising, PR, Branding and Social Media.  It also shows photos from Fickr tagged with those keywords.

So far Stamen Designs’ projects, have everyone beat, in my opinion but the real time internet is just going to get better and better.

TRY IT: What topics will you track in real time?  Leave me a comment below with a link to your Wiffiti if you’re so inclined. Want to see your tweets show up in real time? Click on the photo above to launch the Wiffiti in a new window then text @wif17567 + your message to 87884 to see it in action.

Editors’ Note:  The real time link was on the blog but at the time this post went live Wiffiti was upgrading servers and it was slowing down my site. For now, click on the photo of the live feed and launch the real time feed in a new window.

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Hitch is a consultancy that helps marketers hire the right marketing agency.

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Idris Mootte blogs at Innovation Playground.  I read his blog regularly because of his broad perspective and intelligent view on the world.  Well, that and he puts great pictures in his posts.  And simple minds…well, I forget the saying.

In a post this week called The Rise And Fall And The Coming Transformation Of Madison Avenue. What About The Future Of Advertising? Idris spins a cautionary tale about the current state of the marketing industry and it’s one worth listening to.

We’re in a time that I’ve repeatedly compared to the golden hour in emergency medicine.

Remember the mid 90s in advertising?  As the internet became a relevant marketing channel, clients asked, so what do we do about the web? and a lot of agencies stared at their feet.  They didn’t have a good answer that really served the client—for a lot of reasons, not the least of which was that digital media didn’t fit the traditional agency infrastructure.  As a result, marketing became more fragmented.  Nothing truly integrated, although it was widely promised in many a pitch. 

Digital agencies became adept at analytics and tracking ROI where traditional media just didn’t have the same capability for measurement.  Traditional agencies offered up web “solutions” put through their specific filters.  Web shops tried to work out branding in lieu of traditional agencies and the geeks just didn’t deliver.  So the client was left with competing (and contrasting) advisors each vying for their attention (and their wallets); while customers went off into their own corner and started talking about the brand.

To date, no one’s been able to bring these disparate groups back together; and we’re on a collision course that’s going to fundamentally change the way marketing is done. 

Here are some of Idris’ observations:

In just a few years, you can expect the whole advertising industry to be in full crisis mode, driven by continuous innovation.”

Forward-thinking marketers are embracing new models, which are being shaped by digital media.”

Twenty-first century marketing will instead be only about customer engagement and adaptively integrated marketing (not a new word but hardly delivered by agencies).”

Big marketers such as Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson and Unilever are expressing frustration with the way ad and marketing firms are structured.”

Many marketers say it is tough getting different agencies to understand the new world order, let alone [work] together.”

Next week there’s a new series on this blog profiling some agencies who’ve heard these warnings and are doing something about it.

I don’t have a name for it yet, but it was borrowed, with permission from Aaron Strout at Powered and his series called Experts in our Industry.  You can check it out at http://blog.stroutmeister.com/ to see what I ripped off.

And thanks, Aaron for your advice and input on kicking this off!

I hope this new series is useful to you as a reader.  I hope it starts a lot of discussions.  I hope you’ll invite your friends, clients and colleagues to subscribe.  And, most of all, I hope it brings a lot of recognition to some pretty smart people who deserve to be emulated.

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Here’s a brilliant little post about the cost of the Denny’s promo to feed everyone in America a free breakfast on Tuesday.  Of course he neglected to mention the cost of the superbowl spot.  But it makes for an interesting post!  

http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/02/02/math-says-dennys-free-breakfast-a-good-deal-for-the-company-to/

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Philippe Petit is a master of the positioning statement.  He does USP (unique selling proposition) like no one I’ve ever seen.  In the film Man on Wire, Philippe shuns the traditional definition of what he does (tightrope walker) and creates a space in your mind that is utterly unique.   (I’m not going to be a spoiler by stating it here, rent the DVD and see for yourself.) 

Yes, Philippe is an artist but he’s more than that.  And his view of himself and what he does is sharply focused and narrow yet incredibly expansive.  It fires the imagination.  And the people who witness him in action are moved to the same conclusions about him that he has of himself.  That’s positioning.  

In The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing Al Ries and jack Trout state “If you can’t be first in a category, set up a new category you can be first in”.  Philippe Petit does that brilliantly and so can you if you look beyond the products you represent.

Philippe defies categorization.  He occupies a completely distinct place in his audiences’ perception.  He challenges anyone who labels him as a circus performer or mere high wire act.  And in so doing, occupies this ethereal space that is completely his.  It’s brilliant.  And a lesson we can all apply to our businesses in 2009.

To begin with, Philippe is careful to use a common understanding (or misunderstanding) of what he does to help you get your head around who he is.  “Tightrope walkers had their start in the circus and side shows around the world.  They are acrobats and contortionists, daredevils and entertainers”.  He helps you get to his space by using your initial cultural understanding of what he does.  Then he quickly expands that notion and demonstrates how he’s the only one who does what he does.  And his position is not only believable; it’s proven in the movie.

Philippe’s view of himself is a philosophy we can adopt when defining ourselves and our businesses.  How unique to be able to say, I’m the only one who does what I do.  Work on creating a space in the minds of your customers—one that only you can occupy.  Talk about a positioning statement.  Sure it’s harder to give that 10 second elevator answer.  But a yawp when balanced on a tightrope 1000 feet up just may be more intriguing.  Think about it.

Dig deeper to define yourself beyond conventional terms .  When positioning your company ask yourself: What can my brand represent to my clients, partners and peers that goes beyond just what we do or sell?  What emotion or intangible does our brand represent?  Defining your company beyond just your products and services is positioning.   Rolex, for example is not just a luxury watch, it’s a symbol of achievement.* 

As part of your strategic planning for your company in 2009, think about how your company defies categorization.  What space can you claim that is uniquely yours?  And own that space. 

*wikkipedia:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positioning_(marketing)

©  David Wiggs

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Despite the doomsday headlines everywhere you look, and I mean everywhere; and despite advertising spending projected to decrease in 2009 across every category except cable TV and Internet, US advertisers will still spend 258 billion marketing dollars* this year.  Divide that by the approximately 182,400 ad agency employees in the US and that’s about $1.4 million for every person currently working in advertising.  I’ll say that again, 1.4 million dollars per person.  Considering that those marketing dollars trickle into lots of other industries, that’s good news for everyone.  This is an exercise that can be applied to any industry you’re in. 

Granted, the above equation is purposely over simplified.  I’m playing loose with the numbers but it’s really just to make a point.  There is money to be made in advertising this year.  There is money to be made in every industry this year.  Everyone will be fighting a bit harder for their share of the pie, but your industry is not drying up and blowing away.  Well, unless you’re a newspaper.  And just to be fair, in an industry projected to have marketers spend $32 billion with them this year, that’s certainly not the death knell for newspapers either–a major shift, yes.  A coffin, no.  But that’s for another article.

It seems that every media outlet is running stories with comparisons to the depression and “worst since” scenarios.  Every breaking news story highlights another round of layoffs or the latest group asking the government for a bailout.  Not that we should bury our heads in the sand.  There is real danger in ignoring trends.  But there’s is significantly more harm in thinking every piece of bad news means something to your enterprise.

When money and markets tighten up, it’s an opportunity for those willing to make the most of a situation and see the chance instead of the challenge.  Many competitors who don’t have the stomach for the fight will leave the party.  As written in Advertising Age this week:

“Business runs in cycles. The recession means reduced consumption, but that creates pent-up demand that can help drive recovery. Marketers still in the game will have money to spend on advertising, promotion and other marketing programs. It will be up to media and non-media alternatives to make a play for those dollars.”

As my Grandfather used to say, “Keep your head down.”  This is certainly the year to be listening to ghosts of the greatest generation whispering in our ears.  They’ve been there.  They lived through times much worse that these.  And they prevailed and prospered.  So can we.

The best way I’ve heard this said is to find out “who has your money in their pockets?” and more importantly, “how do you get it into your pocket?”**

That’s what 2009 is really about.   The sky is not falling.  We are not all in trouble.  There is money to be made in your industry, whatever your industry. This is your year to find it. 

* Data as reported in Advertising Age’s Annual 2009 (Dec 29, 2008)

**Guy Kawasaki The Art of the Start p.14

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