Me, Myself and I

Nothing that Mike likes talking about more than Mike.

"Your customers are mobile, are you?"

If you are really a glutton for punishment, or maybe high and need a giggle, and you missed ad:tech New York City, you can check out my two sessions on Tablets In Marketing:

How We Really Use Them
Innovations Beyond the Screen

"Me" Time

At ad:tech this week, Christine Cook (@cooktine), SVP of Advertising at The Daily, spoke on one of my Tablets in Marketing sessions, and talked about how their subscribers make significant amounts of "personal primetime" for The Daily, usually after dinner.  This, along with the fact that their content expires, increasing its contextual value, fascinated me.  For me, since kids, I've often lamented the loss of "me time" or "nothing time".  I never realized how much of it that I had, until I didn't have it.

The Daily

I hardly remember it now.  Some days, I did absolutely nothing.  Nothing.  Quite proud of it, actually.  I don't know how it even works anymore.  The "me time", though, is slowing reappearing.

The kids are 8 and 5 now, and its seems like Sunday mornings are coming back.  Tati and I will stare at each other, while drinking coffee and reading the Sunday Times, which is a great tune by Loudon Wainwright III, and just be amazed.  The occasional fight breaks out, so it's important to read the thicker sections first, because they are more powerful when you roll them up.

So, for you parents who also struggle to remember what "me time" is, grab your iPad and subscribe to The Daily.  It will magically reappear.  And, for you DINCs thinking about having children.  It's great.  Just go on a movie binge the weekend before labor, and take a strong mental snapshot of your "nothing time". It's about to go away.

The Mile High Club

Blogging from 35K feet is something that you have likely only read in letters to the editor in adult magazines, but I am doing it right now.  And, I like it.  Apart from the gent to my right that is snoring incredibly, leaning on me, and just generally encroaching in my space entirely too much, I can't think of anywhere I'd rather be.

I am on the way home from ad:tech New York City, where we had two really good sessions on tablets in marketing, and in the second, we focused on innovation.  I've had a Facebook chat with an high school friend, tried, but was unsuccessful in downloading an episode of Breaking Bad, watched Return to the Planet of the Apes with no sound, fended off the large gentleman to my right, listened to several podcasts, and now I'm blogging.  These are either signs of innovation, or some form of ADD that I suffer from.

Next thing you know, they'll serve free peanuts on flights and treat you nicely.  Now, that would be innovative.

Yo' Momma!

Having worked in technology-related pursuits for over 21 years, I often use the "my mom test" with my work.  I mean, does Bubs "get it?"  I've worked on enough cool new projects that have never made it to the shelf that I figure if my mom does not understand what I'm working on, there's a higher probability that others won't, and its really not the shizzle.

It's not to say that, with new technology, early adopters won't like something and create the buzz that later the "my moms of the world" love.  But for the love of all that's holy, I want my mom to at least understand, in some broad sense, what it is I do.  It's not nuclear physics, for Pete's sake.  I mean, who knows what she's telling her friends at the bridge game?

So, the next time that you're gearing up to pitch a VC on that new service that is like Facebook crossed with Instagram with a built in gamification like Angry Birds, test it out on your momma, first.  Sometimes, momma really does know best.

Come see me and other industry leaders from Sam's Club, BBC America, The Daily, Ogilvy & Mather, Nutro, The Weather Channel, and Starcom Mediavest talk about tablets in marketing at ad:tech New York City next Thursday at 3:00PM Eastern and 4:30PM Eastern.  If you can't make it, tell a friend, and I will think of you while enjoying NYC!

Tablets in Marketing at ad:tech

Come see me and other industry leaders from Sam's Club, BBC America, The Daily, Ogilvy & Mather, Nutro, The Weather Channel, and Starcom Mediavest talk about tablets in marketing at ad:tech New York City next Thursday at 3:00PM Eastern and 4:30PM Eastern.  If you can't make it, I'll miss you, but tell a friend who can!

Mobile, Tell Me Something, Quick!

During the day, I run the mobile practice at a digital agency.  Mobile includes tablet, although I don't consider tablets to be "mobiles", as much as I don't consider tablets to be PCs or TVs, though I can browse the web on them or watch videos.

Where the two can offer similar apps and services, it pays to optimize a mobile experience for quick hitting information and click-to-actions.  As the dialogue from the robbery scene goes, "In and out, no one gets hurt."  I might play games, check information and even browse content on my mobile at work and at home, but its highest value is on-the-go or at my particular destination.  Optimized user experiences allow me to find the nearest deal or location, look up comparison pricing, check ratings and reviews.  The quicker I can get the phone started, initiate the query and get to relavent information, the better.  In the moment.

Tablets offer a more relaxed browsing experience.  Flipping through the web, media, or catalogues while lounging at home (sipping a vodka gimlet, of course).  Time is not necessarily of the essence, and neither is screen real estate.  Richer, more engaging content can soak more time from the viewer, shopper, or fan.  While it could be done, I don't see many people up and down the aisles at big box retailers aiding the shopping experience with tablets, or people in the streets holding their iPads above their head filming protests.  Tablets offer the opportunity for deeper engagement at times when people can spare their attention.

Come see me and other industry leaders from Sam's Club, BBC America, The Daily, Ogilvy & Mather, Nutro, The Weather Channel, and Starcom Mediavest talk about tablets in marketing at ad:tech New York City next Thursday at 3:00PM Eastern and 4:30PM Eastern.  If you can't make it, I'll miss you, but tell a friend who can!