Below the Fold

Where Have All the (Marketing) Leaders Gone?

“There’s not a compelling reason to stay.” – Brian McGuinness, vice president of Aloft, a brand of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. that “launched” in Second Life.

 
I’ve always said that there are two kinds of companies: Those that read case studies, and those that write them. Most want to be the latter but fall back on the former – they are willing to take risks as long as others have taken them first.

Reading case studies and doing your homework is fine. But more and more, at least in terms of exploring and investing in new media, companies are either holding back or getting out too soon.

I’ve seen it again and again in my professional life. Some companies want to be perceived as “hip” without actually having to be hip. They want to “do social media” as long as they can “do it” the same way they’ve always done traditional PR. They want “one of those viral videos,” as if putting a clip on YouTube is an automatic Golden Ticket to word-of-mouth nirvana.

Even those companies that take the leap – that are willing to write the case studies for our new media world – do so without a clear strategy or get out because there wasn’t any “immediate” return.

For example, American Apparel and Starwood Hotels, two of the earliest innovators in the virtual world of Second Life, are either closing shop or letting their simulations languish. Others simply wanted to write a press release about being in Second Life more than they wanted to be in Second Life. Now corporate marketing executives want to know what’s next so they can look cool to their kids (some friendly advice: You will never look cool to your kids.)

You can’t experiment with a bleeding edge social network and expect immediate results, yet this is the message these companies send when they fold their tents. And if more companies go, who will be left to move the medium forward? Social media allows innovation to come from the bottom up, this is true, but great innovation also needs stewards at the top.

Corporate America is scared. Things are changing too fast, consumers are too powerful and marketing is too fragmented. The One Corporate Voice now has to speak with multiple messages for infinite desires stretched across psychographic lines on varied platforms.

Marketing today is better because of the ability to have real conversations and relationships with consumers. It’s also a lot easier to find the people you want to reach.

But marketing today is also harder. It requires patience, some prescience and lots of participation. It demands new metrics of measurement. And yes, it calls for risk and a long-term view.

Running in place will keep you fit for a while, but it won’t get you anywhere. And if they continue to be too careful, American marketers will find themselves on the sidelines and out of the race for good.

News in a Web “You.0” World

“As an anchor in this new medium, what I do is a combination of traditional reporting and pointing people to where they can find the story told best.” – Nicole Lapin, host of CNN.com Live Video

ABC News, which recently sold more “upfront” ad space than any other network news division, is laying off 35 employees yet expanding its online operations.

That’s right: traditional broadcast journalists out, digital news diggers in.

Now this “news” isn’t really news to anyone who’s been following the epic transformation of the business. What is interesting, however, is the shift from news reporters to news “enablers.”

It’s not like the TV networks and newspapers are hiring armies of online reporters or moving seasoned staff to digital-only desks. Reporters – the ones left – are required to report for both the traditional and new mediums, and the new hires are there to help consumers access that news better or help them create and contribute stories themselves.

Web 2.0, meet Web You.0 – if you want the stories you want, then you better create them yourself.

Newspapers used to deride bloggers; now newspapers like the Houston Chronicle want you to blog for them and “engage in conversation” with staff bloggers. The Washington Post will link to your blog – so in addition to reading a Post story about Iraq, from that same online article you can read what your neighbor thinks, too.

Anderson Cooper wants to chat with you. Networks and newspapers want your on-the-scene videos of breaking events. All of this great You.0 content means more staff needed to handle the flood of digital data – and less staff reporters to cover those same events.

I’m all for citizen media and have been for a long time. And while some focus on lapses in credible or skilled reporting, we cannot overlook the fact that so many people are taking the time to get involved in the news. The audience is not only growing but participating, and younger people are getting involved too, mostly via their social networks.

Yet as with most good things, they are experienced best in moderation. Reporters, even the best of the best, need editors to guide them. Amateur reporters will need the same kind of guidance if news organizations hope to maintain and build their credibility in a Web You.0 world.

We saw with the Virginia Tech shooting tragedy that traditional media organizations are becoming more comfortable letting citizens take the lead, at least in those early “triage” moments of major events when just getting information is the key objective and the deeper reporting and analysis can wait for the media cavalry. But citizens are performing the latter services as well, sometimes with great alacrity and competence.

How traditional media handle this next phase of citizen media is critical – not just for the survival of “Web You.0” news, but for the survival of traditional media companies themselves.