gapingvoid: "cartoons drawn on the back of business cards"

avinash's business card

A wee cartoon I drew on the back of Avinash Kaushik's business card. Backstory here.

robert, patrick and me

Two days a go I hooked up with Robert Scoble and his son, Patrick in Palo Alto. Robert interviewed me on camera [a N95 phone cam, to be exact], while I drew him his new business card. We talked about cartooning, social objects, the Blue Monster etc. The vid's about 10 minute's long. Rock on.

loic and me

Me and Loic LeMeur yesterday at the Seesmic offices. Photo by David Sifry.

san francisco geek dinner, tuesday 30th october

[Reminder:] The SF Geek Dinner with me and Oren Michels is tonight. Details here.

happy birthday blue monster

The Blue Monster just celebrated its one year anniversary. Microsoft's Steve Clayton reports:

It changed me if not Microsoft. It defines Hugh's Social Object concept. It defines much of how I think about Microsoft and has been the driving force in my desire to change perceptions that have built up over the years. Microsoft isn't perfect, but we're far from the evil that it's become all to easy to portray. Microsoft is made up of smart, passionate, funny and genuine people. I think Blue Monster has done a pretty good job of helping expose that, amongst other things. One year on I feel very good about that.

Rock on, Clayton.

[Update:] James Moody talks about how the Blue Monster affects his business:

I, myself, carry Blue Monster business cards from Street Cards and that has led to some interesting conversations with clients and prospective clients. Having the conversation has definitely led to more project closings (the good kind of closing) for me than not. The little guy has led more of my meetings into a "what do you think about this" type, than the "here’s what I can do, this is how much it will cost" type, which lets me connect more on a personal level with prospective clients. Once most people see how passionate I am about the software I’m recommending, it changes perceptions of the "big bad bully" on the block.

scoble interviewing me in front of facebook office yesterday, palo alto, california

http://www.kyte.tv/ch/6118-scobleizer-sponsored-by-seagate/66631-hugh-at-faceb

[Link: Robert Scoble]

thoughts on de-commodification

Some random thoughts on "De-Commodification", in no particular order:

1. Last year I did the above t-shirt design for an advertising buddy of mine in Chicago. He's no longer at DDB, but what the heck.

2. Being in the $10 wine business, "De-commodification" is a subject dear to my heart. One thing the world is not short of is... vast lakes of unsold wine.

3. When I hit a certain age, I also learned the hard way that the the world was not short of thirty-something journeyman advertising creatives, either. Nothing like feeling a commodity oneself, to pique one's interest in de-commodification. Heh.

4. You know the phenomenon when a company gets too big and too rich, and the next thing you know, the middle-manager politics take over? Starts sucking the life blood out of the company? The start of inevitable and permanent decline? Know what I mean? The more time I spend on this side of the pond, the more I think this company allegory applies to these United States, as well.

5. Last week I was on the phone to an old friend of mine, a guy in his late forties, who was born and bred in Michigan, and is living there now. He was telling me about his uncle, who, about four decades ago, got his highschool sweetheart pregnant. So instead of going off to college, he found himself with a new wife, a child on the way, and an assembly-line job at General Motors. But even though this situation clipped his wings considerably, he still ended up having a nice life in the end, with a home, a big yard, two cars, a steady paycheck, weekends fishing or hunting deer, and vacations in Hawaii every year or so. "The days where a blue collar guy like my uncle could have a nice life without doing much," my friend said, "those days are gone. Gone forever."

And in the back of my mind, I'm thinking the same is starting to happen to white collar guys more and more, as well. But it's not quite out in the open yet. Society's not quite ready to have that conversation.

6. The best way to offset one's own commodification is to build one's own personal "global microbrand", irrespective one own employer. "Brand You", as the great Tom Peters called it way back in 1997. A good blog works about as well as anything. And no, you don't have to be an A-Lister. Just look at what people like James Governor or Thomas Mahon are doing.

7. I wish I could think of a better term than "De-Commodification". It's an unwieldy word.

"social objects": blue monster wine update

For reasons unknown to me, suddenly in the last week the orders for Stormhoek Blue Monster Reserve have started flooding in, especially from Microsoftees in the USA. Rock on.

I'm getting on the case this week... if you've already contacted me about this, expect to be hearing from either me or my colleague, Tessa Soole in the next week or two. Thanks.

Some random thoughts:

1. I came up with the Blue Monster wine idea, as a exercise in creating a "Social Object". What the heck, Theory is all very well, but actual real-life commercial execution is a lot more fun and interesting. I'm just lucky to have the groovy cats at Stormhoek who let me try out these crazy ideas.

[My friend, Alison with a Blue Monster lithograph in her office.]

2. Earlier this year I created another Blue Monster social object, namely, the limited edition lithographs. I only made a thousand of them, and they went fast. As I didn't want to print more of them [that would've cheapened the first edition], I had to come up with something else, something that could scale beyond one thousand people. Since I'm in the wine business, and since I had already been making cartoon labels for Stormhoek wine, it wasn't too much of a stretch.

3. The Blue Monster wine is also part of the "Smarter Wine" conversation. The main thesis is that it's not the wine per se that is interesting, it's the conversations that happen around the wine that is interesting. And that is true for all social objects. People matter. Objects don't.

4. If the Blue Monster wine idea is interesting, it's because of a most unlikely mash-up between a small, obscure winery in South Africa, and the world's largest software company. But it's this very unlikelihood, this very unlikely swapping of Cultural DNA between two very different companies, that gives it its mojo.

5. Importing different Cultural DNA into an organization is a real balancing act. Too much of it makes it impossible for the company to focus. Too little and the company withers on the vine.

6. BL Ochman has a really good summation of the BM wine story here.

What’s important is that a lone blogger with a good idea was able to get a huge company to listen to him and to adopt one of his fairly radical ideas. It shows that social media is a viable force for change, for marketing, and for the new media than a lot of big companies may now finally begin to take seriously.

7. When thinking about applying social media to companies, "What social media tools should we use" should not be the first question. "How do we wish to talk to people differently" should be the first question. If you don't have an answer to this, quit your job and go find something else.

8. None of this stuff is rocket science. Most of it is glaringly obvious. And sadly for folks working in the social software industry, "The people who get it, don't need us. And the people who need us, don't get it." Which is why being a "blog consultant" or whatever is a lot less lucrative and rewarding than people often think.

9. I recently received the following e-mail:

Hugh,

As much as I like the Blue Monster, does it really matter in the grand scheme of things? I mean, we both know that no matter how big the Blue Monster gets, Microsoft is still going to continue being "evil", and its software is still going to continue to suck. And no blogging cartoonist is ever going to change that.

Any thoughts?

Dave

Well, Dave, your low opinion of Microsoft notwithstanding, I'm not looking at this from the executive level. I'm coming at this from the perspective of a small-time cartoonist with a blog and an internet connection. And from where I'm standing, it seems to me that in a big company like Microsoft, even a small thing like the Blue Monster can create a lot of value for a lot of people. Not getting too carried away in the Expectation Department is what will keep things interesting.

10. No, I have no idea of where all this is going. All I care about these days is drawing cartoons, doing interesting things with interesting people, paying my bills, and keeping my sorry ass out of the hospital, the mental asylum, the morgue etc.

tantek

[Part of the Southpark Series, San Francisco. Tantek was part of the group etc.]

talking about facebook

[Part of the Southpark Series, San Francisco.]

we salute you

[Part of the Southpark Series, San Francisco.]

online community member

[Part of the Southpark Series, San Francisco.]

untitled 443

[Part of the Southpark Series, San Francisco.]

freshness and value

[Part of the Southpark Series, San Francisco.]

sex blogger consultant

[Part of the Southpark Series, San Francisco. Cartoon made for Ariel Waldman.]

i've measured

[Part of the Southpark Series, San Francisco.]

venture fund

[Part of the Southpark Series, San Francisco.]

purple flowers

[Part of the Southpark Series, San Francisco.]

exposed brick

[Part of the Southpark Series, San Francisco.]

i don't hate you

[Part of the Southpark Series, San Francisco.]

the scobleisk

[Part of the Southpark Series, San Francisco.]

[Robert Scoble]

asshole 2.0

[Part of the Southpark Series, San Francisco.]

killer app

Scott Beale published some of the cartoons I drew at the South Park picnic lunch earlier this afternoon.

[The full Flickr set is here.] [Update: Jeremy Keith's Flickr set is here.]

san francisco geek dinner, tuesday 30th october

The SF Geek Dinner with me and Oren Michels has been confirmed.

[Go to Acteva.com here for full details and registration.]

Dinner will be held at Osha Thai Restaurant [149 2nd St., between Mission & Howard] from 7:30-9:30pm on Tuesday 10/30.
Ticket Cost covers food only. Drinks will be sold at the bar, CASH ONLY.
Buffet Style Dinner Menu Includes:

Appetizers:
Vegetarian Crispy Rolls
Duck Rolls
Thai Somosas
Dressed Prawns

Entrees:
Volcanic Beef
Beef Panang Curry
Tofu Vegetarian Combination
Spicy Prawns
Thai Spicy Pan Fried Noodles Chicken

Everybody pays $37.00 in advance [at the Acteva link] to cover the food, then it's a cash bar. Pretty standard stuff. It should be a fun evening. I'm inviting all my friends who are in town. Rock on.

[Update: Oren blogged the event as well.]

more thoughts on social objects

Anyone who has heard me speak publicly lately will know that I'm currently very focused on the "Social Object" idea, which I was turned onto by Jaiku's Jyri Engestrom. Here's some more thoughts on the subject, in no particular order.

1. The term, "Social Object" can be a bit heady for some people. So often I'll use the term, "Sharing Device" instead.

2. Social Networks are built around Social Objects, not vice versa. The latter act as "nodes". The nodes appear before the network does.

3. Granted, the network is more powerful than the node. But the network needs the node, like flowers need sunlight.

4. My overall marketing thesis invariably asks the question, "If your product is not a Social Object, why are you in business?"

5. Yesterday at the Darden talk I explained why geeks have become so important to marketing. My definition of a geek is, "Somebody who socializes via objects." When you think about it, we're all geeks. Because we're all enthusiastic about something outside ourselves. For me, it's marketing and cartooning. for others, it could be cellphones or Scotch Whisky or Apple computers or NASCAR or the Boston Red Sox or Bhuddism. All these act as Social Objects within a social network of people who care passionately about the stuff. Whatever industry you are in, there's somebody who is geeked out about your product category. They are using your product [or a competitor's product] as a Social Object. If you don't understand how the geeks are socializing- connecting to other people- via your product, then you don't actually have a marketing plan. Heck, you probably don't have a viable business plan.

6. The Apple iPhone is the best example of Social Object I can think of. At least, it is when I'm trying to explain it to somebody unfamiliar with the concept.

7. The Social Object idea is not rocket science.

8. How do you turn a product into a Social Object? Answer: Social Gestures. And lots of them.

9. Products, and the ideas that spawn them, go viral when people can share them like gifts. Example: gmail invites in the early days.

10. Social Object can be abstract, digital, molecular etc.

11. The interesting thing about the Social Object is the not the object itself, but the conversations that happen around them. The Blue Monster is a good example of this. It's not the cartoon that's interesting, it's the conversatuons that happen around it that's interesting.

12. Ditto with a bottle of wine.

13. Once I get talking about marketing, it's hard for me to go more than 3 minutes without saying the words, "Social Object".

14. The most important word on the internet is not "Search". The most important word on the internet is "Share". Sharing is the driver. Sharing is the DNA. We use Social Objects to share ourselves with other people. We're primates. we like to groom each other. It's in our nature.

15. I believe Social Objects are the future of marketing.

[Written in the departure lounge of Dulles International Airport]

san francisco geek dinner in the works.

Writing this at Charlottesville airport, en route to San Francisco.

I had a most excellent time in Charlottesville. One highlight of the trip was getting to hang with Google's Avinash Kaushik.

Not really sure what I'm doing in SF during the next couple of days. Probably spend it banged up in my hotel room, trying to get some work done.

Note to my SF peeps: There is a geek dinner on Tuesday the 30th, that me and Oren Michels are hosting. It'll be at one of the Osha Thai restaurants, around 7.30pm. Just waiting to get final details from Oren in the next day or so.

My plane's beginning to board. See you on the other side.

brief update from virginia

I'm typing this from my hotel room at the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville. Arrived here safely. Speaking tomorrow here, at the Darden School of Business.

As I didn;t go to bed last night, I fell asleep before my plane left the tarmac in London. Didn't wake up till the plane was over Cape Cod. After that I watched a DVD or two on my laptop. That's how to do long-distance flights, my friends.

Arriving in San Francisco 7.30pm on Wednesday. More later....

off to america tomorrow

Tomorrow I'm catching a flight to Charlottesville, where on Tuesday I'll be speaking at a conference on Online Marketing at the Darden School of Business, at the University of Virginia. Details here. Hope you can make it.

Wednesday I'm in San Francisco for a week. Got a speaking gig in San Jose.

I've just started working on a new Web 2.0 startup. So it looks like I might be in Silicon Valley more often. Fingers crossed.

As per usual, my US phone number as of tomorrow [Monday p.m.] is [646] 704 4509. See ya there!

[UPDATE, Monday Morning:] At Gatwick airport [horrendously crowded and full of screaming kids, Woo-hoo] about to go board the plane.

the mandatory "sorry for the lack of posting" post

[Though I haven't lived in New York since 1999, this cartoon somehow captures my current emotional state.]

I've had a helluva week. All sorts of bad craziness occupying my time. Most of it positive, thankfully. Sorry it's been a bit slow around here lately. Hopefully I'll do some catching up this weekend.

Apologies again. See you soon.

blue monster india?

[Microsoft billboard in India. The tagline reads, "Come work for Microsoft. Come change the world." Click on image to enlarge etc.]

Thanks to Sunil for sending me this photo he took in India. As Sunil said in his e-mail:

I'd taken this picture a while ago, just got down to actually sending it to you. I suppose it's a sanitized/watered-down version of the Blue Monster for Microsoft India. It's a giant billboard right in the middle of Hyderabad (not there anymore, probably). Notice the Indian dude's faint goatee, the blue shirt and the phrase 'come change the world'. Pretty close, I'd think. Though the Blue Monster would have been way cooler.

So... is this Indian "Change the world" just a happy coincidence, or is the Blue Monster schtick actually starting to trickle inside official Microsoft culture? You tell me.

wii hands

My latest commission, from James Governor: A t-shirt design for Wii Hands i.e. Wii remotes turned into a Minority-Report-style user interface for SAP, the large German software company. Click on the video to see more.

greetings from berlin

I pulled this photo off the internet. The Berlin TV Tower is quite impressive in real life, especially if you're into Soviet, Sputnik-inspired architecture. Futuristic on one hand, totally oppressive on the other.

Today's my birthday. Not really doing anything to celebrate it.

I'm flying back to London tonight. Plane leaves at 7.45.

[Sunday Update, 9.30pm:] Back in London.

off to berlin for the weekend

I'm about to go catch a plane to Berlin. Hanging out with David Brain and the groovy cats at Edelman. Should be a fun weekend. See you on the other side...

newsflash: google buys jaiku

Jaiku, the Finnish microblogging site was just bought by Google. The full story is here.

Jaiku was founded by Jyri Engestrom, the anthropologist who turned me on to the "Social Object" idea.

Big congrats to Jyri and his team!

california, here i come

[WEST COAST UPDATE:] I'm speaking at the Business of Software conference at 2.30 on the 30th of October, at the San Jose Marriot. Other speakers include Joel Spolsky, Rick Chapman, Dan Nunan, Jennifer Aaker, Tim Lister, Jeffrey Pfeffer, Eric Sink, Guy Kawasaki [who I'm REALLY looking forward to meeting in person, finally], Bill Buxton, Alberto Savoia, and Matt Mason. There’s a 22% discount if you sign up before October 20th. Hope to see you there.

In the evening I'm hoping to get together some sort of geek dinner in San Francisco. Talking to Oren Michels about it. Loic Lemeur, who I organized my last SF geek dinner with, is sadly out of town on that day.

Other cities on my trip: NYNY, Charlotteville and Miami. Hope we can all hook up!

BIMA Breakfast on Tuesday

I'm speaking at the BIMA Breakfast on Tuesday morning, in Soho. Feel free to come along.

[British Interactive Media Association hompeage here.]

the "smarter wine" idea

[Official "Smarter Wine" logo etc.]

At Stormhoek, the wine company I work for, our basic schtick is this philosophy we call "Smarter Wine". This is what Mark Earls would call the "Purpose-Idea" of the company; i.e. the reason we get out of bed in the morning and go to work every day. Here are some thoughts on what Smarter Wine means, in no particular order:

1. Smarter Wine does not imply that we’re “smarter” than anywhere else. It’s an ideal that we aspire to, not that we embody. The idea is not something Stormhoek will ever "own", like a tagline in an ad campaign. It's an idea I think EVERYBODY in the trade should get their head around, be they makers, sellers or buyers, large or small. But hey, I would say that.

2. Everyone’s definition of “smarter” will be different. I’m OK with that. To me, it means continually engaging the customer at a higher level, continually raising the bar.

3. The brilliant thinker, Russell Davies identified four keywords that will govern the future of the advertising business. About as succinct a list as I've ever seen:

Blurry. Useful. Interesting. Always In Beta.

"Always In Beta” is a popular term in Silicon Valley. In an ideal world, it would be equally popular in the wine trade as well. It's unfortunate that this is not the case.

4. A word people like using in the wine trade is "innovation". Some companies pay it only lip service, some companies actually try to embrace it full-on. But it's harder than it looks. Wine is one of the oldest products in the world; change happens slowly and with great reluctance. Sure, putting wine in funky-dunky plastic or aluminum bottles might be technically "innovative", but does the average wine customer actually want that? A more interesting question for me is how the wine connects with people on an emotional and intellectual level. That to me is where the real action is.

5. Big ideas start out as little ideas, and lots of them. What do companies like Apple, Nike, Innocent Drinks and Starbucks have in common? Superficially, very little. But one thing you'll notice about them is that they're constantly coming up with new stuff. Constantly trying out new ideas, seeing what happens, and if it doesn't work out, they move on quickly. Their schtick is all about taking frequent small steps in the right direction, as opposed to betting the farm on the annual Superbowl ad. Creating a constant stream of "Social Objects". We take a similar approach at Stormhoek [We're a small wine company, frankly, so we have no other choice]. Different branding ideas, different cartoon label ideas, different sponsorship and PR ideas. On one level it's a highly unpredictable way to go about it. On another level, it's amazing how certain we are that SOMETHING good comes out of it eventually.

6. Eighty per cent of vineyards in the world do not make a profit. Eighty. Per. Cent. Other fun stats: There are 50 countries in the world that have wine industries. Italy alone has 500,000 vineyards. Sicily has ten times the vineyards as Napa Valley. Conclusion: The competition is off the scale. Besides making good wine [obviously], the only way forward is to somehow figure out, by any means necessary, how to rise above the clutter. The only way to do this is to speak to people in a way our industry has never spoken to them before.

7. I am not a wine expert. I am not a wine snob. I am not a wine bore. I am not even a wine geek. When I think of the business I'm in, I do not think of the vineyards, the lifestyle porn that's famously attached to the industry, the "hummingbirds gathering nectar in the morning dew" palaver. My thoughts are more prosaic. I think about a person pushing a shopping cart through a supermarket, a teacher or a nurse, perhaps, who's there buying food because she's cooking spaghetti for her boyfriend that evening, who just wants a good bottle of wine for under ten dollars to go with it. Her needs, as simple and basic as they are, interest me FAR MORE than satisfying the vast sea of social pretentions that lives inside the wine trade.

8. Not everybody inside the trade will "get" the Smarter Wine idea. In marketing terms, it not that big a deal. As Oscar Wilde once quipped, "A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies."

quick note:

In case you don't know this already, Twitter has become a major part of my online schtick. You can follow my Twitter page here. Thanks.

"if microsoft wishes to change the world, then changing themselves is also, most definitely, a big part of the equation"

I just got the following comment on gapingvoid:

Hugh,

Since you're rubbing elbows with the Blue Monster, maybe you could ask him who talked him into slowing computers to a crawl by loading Vista with DRM and those bizarre and tortuous security protocols.

I know two people who have bought new computers lately. One, the president of my company, bought a Vista equipped computer for home use. As a result, our company will hang on to our old computers as long as possible and then consider switching to Linux. True, it's only one small company, but I imagine this same scene is being played out everywhere.

Another friend bought a Linux machine for multi-media. He raves about the speed he gets from it because of the reduced clutter in the operating system.

Is marketing a conversation? Who the hell was the Blue Monster listening to when he dreamed up Vista?

Though one could easily interpret this as "negative", I'm starting to really like comments like this one. Why? Because the guy is certainly entitled to opinion, and perhaps just as importantly, I know for a fact people inside Microsoft will see it the comment eventually, and that it will be discussed internally. And then slowly but surely, good things will start to happen.

In other words, I see these type of comments simply as a symptom of something much larger going on, which my friend JP Rangaswami nailed down superbly last March:

People want Microsoft to change. That is the essence of what made the Blue Monster such a hit, it was a way of people outside Microsoft telling people in Microsoft of the intense need for change.

JP then goes on to explain the importance of bloggers in the whole equation:

When a company achieves critical mass in terms of “external” bloggers, there is no longer an inside or an outside. Blogs do not support hierarchies or vertical silos, they tend to be lateral and networked and and all-over-the-place. Blogs are not respecters of walls, whether inside the firm or at the firm’s boundaries.

Not having an inside or an outside. That’s how tomorrow’s customers will figure which of today’s companies to bless.

Amen. Hence the Porous Membrane etc.

From some of the recent talks I've had with Microsoft, I'm starting to see more and more people internally beginning to believe a simple truth: That if Microsoft wishes to change the world, then changing themselves is also, most definitely, a big part of the equation.

And yes, that last sentence will also apply to any other company, large or small.

[Addendum:] Recent remark from an older techie friend of mine:

"People who hate Microsoft are either clueless or naive about what running a business was actually like, before they were around."

Discuss.

[Related:] Interesting post by JP Rangaswami about why Microsoft is buying minority stakes in companies, as opposed to buying them outright, like they used to be in the habit of etc.

death prayer

very nice to meet you

[N.B. original photo of cartoon here.]

Lying [2]

[Originally published December, 2004.]

You lie for a living.

You're not a bad person, not really, but telling the truth at your current company tends to get people fired.

And you can't afford to be fired. You're thirty seven, you've got three kids, you've got a big house to pay for, your wife would leave you within nanoseconds if the cashflow ever dried up, and it's been well over over a decade since a cute, random girl in the street looked at you with anything even faintly resembling a sparkle in her eye.

Society only needs you because they need the product your company makes. Lose the job and you are no longer needed.

Without your job you're just a mere stain.

So lying equals survival.

You have to lie because you have no other ideas about how not to be killed. How not to lose everything.

Lying replaced ideas long ago. Lying replaced great sex long ago. Lying relaced your marriage long ago. Lying replaced joy long ago.

Your lies became the painless cancer.

Yes, I've read your resume. Very impressive.

Look, I already said I'd get back to you next week.

"the one"

["Please". New York, 1998.]

6 years and 4000-odd blog posts later, if I was allowed to keep only one blog post, it would be this one.

Which one of yours would you keep?

[N.B. The question was, which is your TOP ONE post from YOUR blog, not gapingvoid etc. Feel free to leave a link in the comments etc etc.]

[Note to Self: Like Linda Skrocki said on Twitter, this would make a good meme etc.]

highly recommended reading:

James Cherkoff, who was in Paris with me earlier this week, has a really good write-up on Microsoft deciding to seriously enter the advertising game.

So what's the good news you may well be asking?

Well, Microsoft may be about to radically step up their aspirations in the world of advertising, but they have decided to play nice. They think that they their best chance of slicing off a large piece of the advertising pie - and preventing the whole market being run by Google - is to co-operate with the advertising industry not try and vaporise it. Ballmer and co have decided they need the people who understand the more subjective part of the marketing equation, otherwise known as branding, which even the most powerful algorithms can't get their processors around. Yet.

[Just added this post to the Blue Monster series.]

blue monster paris

A Microsoft friend just sent me this photo. Turns out the Blue Monster got a full five minutes of screen time in Paris the other day- at one of the few sessions that I missed. Heh.

[The chap presenting is the EMEA Vice President for MSN & Windows Live. EMEA = Europe, Middle East & Africa.]

i don't mind

she was a woman

untitled 442

untitled 441

"hugh's wall"

[Tony Kirton of Experience Studio in Arizona just sent me the above photo. Basically, he's got a "Hugh's Wall" in his office. Thanks, Tony! Click on image to enlarge.]

I'm happily back in London. My brain is still on fire from all the cool stuff that was discussed in Paris. Trying to assemble my thoughts and finding it a massive task...

"madison avenue, you work for redmond now"

[The real hit of the show: Microsoft Surface makes an appearance.]

[Steve Ballmer on stage. I had a press pass so I got to sit second row central.]

My take on the Microsoft Imagination Show 07:

Microsoft has every intention of taking over your advertising budget, in the same way they once took over your IT budget. Madison Avenue, you work for Redmond now etc.

Do The Math: Microsoft has gone on record for saying they think they can get 5% of the total amount of money spent on advertising globally each year. 5% of $650 billion is $32.5 billion. Thirty two point five billion dollars annually. Nice work if you can get it.

OK, maybe that's a bit extreme Kool-Ade drinking on my part. But don't underestimate their ambition or capability, either. In his keynote, Steve Ballmer said he predicted advertising to be between 25-50% of Microsoft's core revenue within a few years.

I'll write more about this later, once I have time to really sit down and think.

[UPDATE:] The London Times confirms what I heard in Paris. Ditto with Businessweek. Ditto with New York Times.

msft imagine paris

I'm sitting in a big auditorium in Paris, at Imagine 07, listening to all things "Microsoft and the future of advertising" etc. Will be updating anything interesting on my Twitter page.

Catching train home to London tonight at 7 o'clock. Rock on.

marketing: the cultral fault line inside microsoft?

[Good party. Impressive backdrop.]

Just got back from a massive Microsoft party at the the Musee de l'Homme.

I have to get up early tomorrow. Big day at Imagination 07. Steve Ballmer is giving the keynote.

This conference is built around the folk who think of Microsoft in terms of "media", as opposed to software. Which, as a former advertising hack, I find interesting.

A line I have used many times before, I found myself using quite a lot today: "Google is just one algorithm away from Oblivion."

I handed out A LOT of Blue Monster business cards at the event. Though not everybody there had heard of the Blue Monster, it seemed the people who did were really enthused and passionate about it.

The more I get into this conversation, the more I'm starting to think that somehow I managed stumble upon this cultural fault line inside Microsoft, about what the company actually means to people, and where "the conversation" should be heading. One Microsoftee confided in me, "Our products are fine. Our marketing is the weak link, though."

I would agree. Which is why I'm fond of saying, the future of Microsoft lies squarely in how they talk to people. That's me thinking as a marketer, a "culturalist", not as a techie.

i.e. If "markets are conversations", then yeah, how you talk to people is the DNA of marketing.

N.B. Unlike some of the stuff going on in Redmond, none of this is rocket science. Which may explain why Redmond seems to have so much trouble grasping this.

day two in paris

[Gloomy autumn day in Paris]

You always tell yourself that when you get to Paris, you'll spend the first full day there checking out the Louvre. Instead you end up holed up in your hotel room, surfing Facebook. Plus ca change...