The Gatekeepers

Maurie the doorman stands with his arms crossed outside the football teams locker room and lets the TV Crew enter.  It wasn't like that in the old days he thinks to himself.

Gatekeeper (plural gatekeepers)

1. A person who guards or monitors passage through a gate
2. A person or group who controls access to something or somebody
3. A common butterfly, Pyronia tithonus.

From the earliest days of society we built walls around our towns and cities to stop attacks and keep our people and businesses safe.

In most sports, arts and business we have also have gatekeepers - those burly guards at the door of football team locker rooms, nightclub or building; the Artist Manager; the CEO's Secretary or Personal Assistant filtering calls, interruptions and potential time wasters.  All diligently protecting the jewel from the masses.   

As people we also build our own walls and our own personal gatekeepers.  

Emails, Advertising and Marketing Communications

Today we're all bombarded with thousands of messages per day trying to get us to do something or sell us something we mostly think we don't need.

All those messages a bit like rock star fans screaming for attention and action.

Our mind, as the gatekeeper, constantly filtering our sensory inputs for what is important. 

Not everything has the same level of importance and there is ofter a difference in perspective to what is important between the sender and the gatekeeper.

Maurie has a job to do and he'll do it to the best of his ability. 

More than often, the gatekeeper is unaware of the any bigger picture issues and problems but if the gate is closed then no solution can gets in.

Understanding Problems and Discovering Solutions

Every person and business has challenges - more time, more money, more happiness.

Back in the old days solutions weren't as easy to find as a Google Search but a "solution" is much more than a product or service.

What makes us select this product or service over someone else?  What are the most important elements to sales and marketing success?

• A real solution to a customers problem
• Getting past the Gatekeeper
• Trust in you to deliver the solution
• The price the customer is prepared to pay

The greatest influences on our decisions - trusted Word of Mouth (WOM) referral - and that's were Digital Media Strategy (DMS) and online social media marketing comes in.

New Years Resolution

I had to laugh, on New Years Day my brother's resolution was to help break everyone elses.  Wiser then at first account, the knowledge that recent research shows that it takes two years of constant application to develop a new instinctive habit.  I suppose that's a lot better then being set in your ways from early childhood but it certainly dispels the myth of effective sudden change.  More successful, for example, is slowly dropping from three beers or coffees down to one. 

Anyway, don't you think it's funny how we make New Year's resolutions - as if, just this date is enough to signify a changing tide.  I suppose the New Year gives you the opportunity to reflect on the last year - how much has changed?  In reflection what did we have?  

The Year That Was

Without doubt when we look back in years ahead it will be the financial market meltdown that will be etched forever in the time line of mankind.  From what I understand what started out as a good meaning US social/ political plan ten years or so ago to provide subsidised housing loans to the poor (who could never repay) escalated into an ever widening chasm of poor financial accountability and management. 

As usual somewhere in the process good old fashioned greed and the prospect of easy money crept in and spread like an airborne virus in a wind storm, undetectable in it's clever disguise through the productization of financial derivatives and products - at its root "credit" - no rocket science here! 

What is surprising is the reaction to the level of drop (around 40-50%) - as the sideline analysts now say the market was ALWAYS going to correct, a bull run for 15 or so years is unsustainable.  Yep, it's all just basic economics  - don't borrow more then you can afford to pay.  Problem is much of the ability to borrow was based upon highly overvalued leveraged assets all wrapped around retirees superannuation funds - what a cascading mess!

But life moves on and we accept the hard facts - quite casually in many cases

Maybe the Internet and communications technology of today has helped spread the softening cushion.  People are more versed and educated.  You lose some money, "so what" they say or maybe this is a little myopic and the tide is still moving out - the full impact yet to be felt?

You then look at the reverberating effects, like a brick dropped in a small shallow pond  - what markets will be most impacted - where will the jobs be lost; the pain, suffering and hardship, on the other side what are the emerging opportunities caused by this sudden Tsunami of Change?

Waves of defense

We've seen a wave of bail out packages but will they work?  On the street consumers have already pulled in their spending.  Who could imagine borrowing 90% for a new house or buying an expensive new car or boat at the moment or that expensive overseas holiday right now?

Whatever industry will will inevitably see market consolidation as those that have borrowed too heavily either collapse or are sold at a discount.

Many luxury items and those downstream will be effected - think drop in property prices impacting real estate, building industry production and at the bottom of the chain bricklayers. In the same breath, an aging population creating demand for nursing homes; health services and low cost housing.

Think cars and downstream to tyre manufacturers as people hold off changing tyres.

Purses will be tightened, money will go from luxuries to essentials.  Escapism will take other forms. 

From a media perspective - changes in behavior - the movement away from conventional advertising spending towards accountable online advertising.

For me personally, it has been cherishing the lessons passed on my beloved dad, the final closing the doors on the BANGitUP chapter (and some strong lessons), a renewed love and focus on my photography development  and the launch of the very cool and innovative CLIVE video project.

To my friends and readers, all interesting times ahead and all the best for 2009.

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Quality Rises to the Top

Last month we mentioned a great video from a Sony/BMG conference in Rome 2008 about the exponential develop of technology - the articles also showed a 1957 RAND computer promotional video, the key point the core messages about technology growth are the same.  

Anyway, the old link was broken but happily the video reappeared today via a viral email - such is the fundamental principle that quality content and production tends to rise to the top - by that I mean it engages with the audience (builds brand), informs (WIIFM for the viewer/ consumer) and motivates action (ie Seth's megaphone/ Forresters Technographics - to consume to create).

If it was Sony that put the video out into cyberspace then well done - this is clever thought leader branding.  

I should point out that the raw content is based on a slide show called Shift Happens

Some points

• China will soon be the #1 English speaking nation in the world
• Todays learner will have 10-14 jobs....but the age of 38!
• The top 10 in demand jobs did not exist in 2004
• There are over 2.7B searches on Google each month
• There are more then 3,000 new books published every day
• The amount of new technical information is doubling every two years
• By 2010 it is expected to double every 72 hours
• By 2049 a $1,000 computer will exceed the computation capabilities of the entire human species  (note: see creative economy) 

The facts are we adapt, the Y gens of today will be considered the dinosours of their grand children and so on.  One thing that stays constant in the world of change is the human connection - friendship, wisdom, trust and creativity.

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Today's blog starts off with a long but really good TED clip featuring the PC guy from the Apple Ads talking about Love and the Universe.  We'll come back to Apple again later.

Then watch this clip (sorry I don't know how to embed this one)  http://tinyurl.com/6s8l3k- It was put together for a Sony BMG Senior Executive Conference in Rome this year and is based on the "Shift Happens" slide presentation below. 

I picked up this video link up this morning from Jeremiah Owyang, Forrester's Research guy on Twitter this morning (more on Twitter later)

After looking at these two clips then watch the clip featuring the old 1960's UNIVAC - you'll laugh but it's funny how much stays the same. 

You'll see that there is a consistent message through all of this - from technology perspective nothing much has changed over the last fifty years - computers are always getting faster, smaller, cheaper and the central driver is about communications and the impact on people and society. 

Shift Happens

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: sociology future)