Znetlady: Modern Media

Think of Modern Media as a Product

One of my mantra’s to clients is to “look sideways” to find opportunity.

There is so much modern media that hasn’t made it to the drawing board (or has yet to be discovered) for most organizations.  Based on our modern media presentations and client discussions, many organizations are still in the stage of learning about blogs, podcasts mobile media, social networks and the rest (trust me on this).  You, like so many we talk to, might be seriously considering how to use these tools for your PR or marketing; or you might be one of those organizations that for a whole host of business reasons and hurdles can’t move forward any time soon with the “conversation model.”

Serving your audiences with modern media doesn’t have to be about putting yourself “out there.” Just look sideways and you can find audiences and serve them with modern media - or even create new services within your existing PR or marketing initiatives.  Yes, you can be modern without blogging or putting videos up on YouTube.

A few examples of using an iPod for something besides creating a corporate podcast might better illustrate what I mean by “looking sideways.”

• The recently opened 21C Museum Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky asks guest about their music preferences during the reservation process and a custom music selection is downloaded into each guests’ in-room iPod before they arrive.

• The Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, in partnership with Samsung Electronics and Talpa, recently installed kiosks called “Fuel for Travel” that lets travelers load up their MP3 devices with music, t.v. shows, movies, guides and audio books before boarding their flight.

• Nordiska Kompaniet in cooperation with Ridderheims (fine meat and delicatessen products distributor) has put the iFood terminal in Nordiska Kompaniet’s upscale food hall in Stockholm.  The terminals let visitors purchase and download audio recipes to their iPods.  They purchase the recipes – and of course all the ingredients – while in that all-important “frame of mind” moment.

All three of these put a modern medium to use to extend the brand, engage the modern customer, and  provide a valuable service/solution.  And, it can even be a new revenue stream. 

Try looking at new media as a product.  It might help your organization side-step the hurdles or fears of going ”conversational.” And, it just might wind up changing other perspectives too.

Virtual Business Gets a Real Magazine: Business Magazine for Second Life Launches

Second Life, one of the growing virtual worlds, has a new magazine dedicated to real world issues surrounding doing business in Second Life.  SL Business Magazine launched yesterday.  And true to modern media it is available in both ”real world” formats, like PDF and hard-copy, as well as “virtual formats,” like in-world note cards, and a full-color “prim” version (a prim is an in-world virtual object).

The premier issue is very nicely designed.  The content of the issue is geared to those fairly new to business in Second Life but the magazine’s goal is to cover topics such as Law, Building, the rich music scene and success stories. And, it contains both Second Life (SL) and real life (RL) advertisers. 

Second Life has had a couple of news publications for quite a while (in online time), but the SL Business Magazine hopes to focus on issues of both doing business “in world” and the intersection of RL and SL business.

While the reviews of the first issue are mixed, I’m hoping that SL Business Magazine will tell the story of the evolving business side of Second Life without the “novelty” factor given most mainstream media coverage of SL.  Some very serious work is going on in Second Life as both a media channel and a business environment. 

I hope as it matures the magazine will serve to affirm that very real business is being conducted in virtual worlds. Some believe SL is about escapism, however the facts are that some visionary companies are grabbing onto SL to leapfrog their real world businesses.  American Express, Intel and Wal-Mart, for example, are part of a consortium exploring using SL for training.  American Apparel has opened up a virtual retail outlet. The University of Southern California has built a Public Diplomacy and Virtual Worlds Center to explore how virtual worlds can be used in diplomatic endeavors.  The American Cancer Society raised over $40,000 last week in an in-world relay. And, then there are the Second Life Library and the International Space Museum which both regularly hold discussions, presentations and lectures in world - not to mention their amazingly rich exhibits.

Check out the new magazine, and if you are interested in exploring SL business implications with other business people, please join the SL Business Communicators group in SL.  We'll be holding the first meeting in mid-August.