I’ve been concerned about this for a while – and recently I guess certain elements and the stars aligning made me realise that in fact we all must be careful about what we do in the fast moving social media space. We’ve all read and heard stories of potential employers checking out peoples Facebook to see what they get up to in their private life is not only a violation and invasion of privacy – but what does it matter what they get up to in their own time. However lest address that last point “violation and invasion of privacy “ in actual fact – it probably isn't – if someone has a Facebook / MySpace / Bebo or whatever account and they have it open to the world to see – then at what stage is it violation of privacy laws vs a nosy and snooping employer? Or is it just a curious employer that is genuinely looking to see what kind of person the potential employee is?

So how does it look if that person comes across as vivacious, bubbly outgoing and friendly – then on Facebook either has but 3 friends and enjoys collecting rare and unused stamps? The reflection of that persons social space – based on the bias of the employers own perception of that person based on some social media output. Notice so far I’ve not mentioned anything about the persons ability or experience as I assume these are already a given since that person attended an interview. Everyone is always interested and some what a voyeur aspect – why would so many follow Jonathan Ross or Stephen Fry on Twitter if they weren't so voyeuristic in knowing what these people are doing in their daily lives – just he same as you and me but because its them there is that fascination. They would never add their Twitter followers onto their Facebook or add them into their iPhone address book – so to them its a good ego boost as well as self promotion – more importantly its just great fun!!

Back to the example above and then pushing this a little further – what is the correct etiquette for social media and current or potential employees and employers? I mentioned a potential situation above, that has been raised on numerous occasions even to the point that the employer found it appropriate to mention an individual who in his interview said that he was very active in social media and had hundreds of friends on his MySpace and Facebook accounts – only for the employee to check – saw that he had but 6 and they were his family and nothing more. The guy never got the job, branded a bulls****er and then, thanks to the stupid employer, went round the web as one of those “funny Facebook stories” that showed the guy had no friends and only family and didn't actually do anything even though he claimed to be a massive influencer. The result was classic – he was a prolific user, influencer and had 1,347 friends and ran groups – however his account that the employer found was for the purpose of his family only – to chat and find out the goings on within the family unit – his real account he protected himself with an ALIAS that backfired on the employer – and a million dollar suit for the employer followed…

So here we stand on this abyss of being swamped within social media and information is everywhere – which is fantastic and scary. I was prompted to write this after reading a post by Len Devanna who asks the question “Blurring the lines of life & work” – however that is not quite the case.

If it were as easy as that then the blurred lines would or could be disassociated. Len is a blogger, twitterer and is Director of Web Strategy for EMC. However It’s what information you put out there, where and under what guise? Len talked about two “fictitious” scenarios about a client which was a good read - Len then finished off by saying “So where are the lines? Do we need lines? Am I over analyzing this? Do I, as an individual, have every right to say what's on my mind regardless of the possible ramifications? Or is the conservative approach the right one?” But using Len’s example and his twitter account – lets say he had a meeting with FOX to do some web strategy around Family Guy – but using Len’s example in his post we find that in one of Len’s tweets he said “1st season of Survivor was mildly fun.. Then downhill. Bachelor, Biggest Loser - It's all part of FOX's plan to take over the world." Fox could if they used that example – as a slant against FOX and their global strategy!

I would say not and Len is entitled to voice his concern / opinion / comment to his hearts content – but as he is using his name, and linked to EMC you could say that there is a link – no matter what disclaimers say – but that is the points isn’t it?

Google have finished the work that is bringing the tweets from Twitter to the fore and delivering the entire 140char text – which means all those ramblings, drunken tweets, and offensive backlash items will be there for the Googling world to see – link that back to your work and you have an issue…

So perhaps the way forward is for work – create your own work persona – talk, discuss, blog, share and tweet about specific elements and challenges that you face. Have an alias where you can have the mundane and celebrity following to see if @stephenfry will upset anyone today – and if your going to post pictures of your stag night with a bevy of topless dancers – then expect your future wife, mum, employer to be having a quiet word in your shell like…

I’ve been talking about the state of the high street for my last few posts and of course will continue to discuss and debate the future and where there could be some light at the end of the tunnel (looking specifically at the launch of Wellworths - a great well done to Claire Robertson and her team or re-invigorated and re-invented retail takes a step close to the high streets rebirth in local towns up and down the country. With Simon Douglas also trying to re-invigorate a handful of his ex-Zavvi stores this is a small retail revolution...

However amidst all this and looking at online - people and even other pure play e-tailers have always held a light up to Amazon (me being one of them) at what they have achieved over their 10 year stint at the top of the e-commerce pile - however I have been following as well as using their other services.

Amazon web services has been such a great breath of fresh air for SME businesses and start ups that can use various tools, cloud storage, payment gateways (EC2, Amazon S3, Amazon CloudFront) all at a very inexpensive and reasonable price point as well. Recently Amazon has done deals with IBM, Microsoft Windows & SQL which led me to think that in the current state of e-commerce how and where can Amazon actually grow?

There is really only so much that they can punt under the Amazon umbrella really and of course we have seen more additional partners and resellers come on board to Amazon to provide new product ranges and increasing Amazons overall SKU count. Which led me to think that if you start to build out your business back end that offers other e-tailers the chance to use your services and payment gateways then in effect that is merely one step away from being a “landlord” as such in a virtual digital world!

Look at it this way - if you compare Amazon to the new Westfiled Shopping Mall  where the owners found some land (server space) built the empty shell of a building (infrastructure) started to create unit sizes (web templates / rack space) and then started to tout for retailers to fill those empty units with a base package of rents & rates (erm.. same rents and rates but rather than be based on electricity and water.. Amazon charges the e-tailer based on data usage, storage, bandwidth and level of SLA and OLA etc.) So now Amazon become what most people thought about back in the late 90’s of how this could be achieved. Some even tried by building recommendation / comparison tools - but these were weak and lacked any credibility. Amazon has the brand, the knowledge, the expertise (no denying that being 31 online retailer of countless years) It also helps them start to drop some of their costs by protecting their EBITDA by off loading a lot of the usual drainage of costs such as theft, lost packages, damages etc... by dropping some of the lines that they moved into but actually cost them margin in shipping / tracking and return costs.

I can sort of see why and how Amazon would look to do this - Amazon start to take a back seat on certain sectors and product lines just now - introduce digital catalogues for the new breed of digital entertainment (Amazon MP3, Kindle, Video on Demand..) - as well as start to deliver essential storage solutions for  homes that need and require these services. Amazon suddenly do what a lot of retailers on the high street are thinking of doing and e-tailers are attempting do - which is offer more services rather than just products - only this time Amazon are in effect putting these into practice and just as some would write them off as an old tired e-commerce site that is looking fat and haggard from the outside, bursting at the seams - inside there is a fighting spirit very much alive with Jeff Bezos at the helm pushing the business through new challenges and delivering better and stronger results as AWS grows from strength to strength.

Never underestimate what Jeff & the Amazon team have lined up - they are only beginning their next 10 years - and I’m already signed up for the ride!

My continuing blog posts about the Governments Digital Britain will continue up to the point that the final document is completed by Lord Carter. Probably go on beyond that – but some news and initiatives trickling out last night – really got my back up (as some of you would have seen!) and its here that futurists and strategic thinkers that look beyond the here and now and delve further into the future into a landscape that is very different to the one that we see today – so the indication that the Government will set up a “rights agency” for the web really started to make my blood boil. Not really with the fact that here is another Government set on regulating the web – but actually not getting the point of it at all and why file sharing will continue way beyond the pathetic laws that they are planning.

Firstly – here is a snippet from the Guardian that alerted me to the plans from Lord Carter to create a “digital rights agency” and how does he plan to actually police this? We have seen regimes and countries try to clamp down on access and limit the amount of data that their citizens can see / read / watch / access… – but these are Communist states that want to control the flow of information that their Citizens consume. Now last time I checked we were a democracy (in the loosest form of the word these days)

Quick background check…. So in essence there is still a need to go all out to prevent the Music industry in particular, from being crushed by the powers of the illegal file sharers? However in this current climate – apart from Pinnacle – how are the other music labels holding up at the moment? Are they asking for huge hand outs from the Government for aid before their business goes to the toilet? Nope! Why – because they are making a huge amount of money from their digital sales – which are increasing by around 25% YoY – not making up the shortfall in CD sales I grant you – but again – this is now 2009 – times have moved on and consumers have moved with the times. So gone are the heady days of the 70s, 80s &90s where multi-million album sales and single sales are the norm. It just doesn't work that way anymore. This has to be the first lesson for them – just as the banks are being reigned in again – the music industry needs a slap in the face that wakes them up to the reality.

Next slap in the face must go to the artists that seem to be demanding bigger royalty payment based on their “stature”, “success” or catalogue! Again the times have changed – the next breed of consumers Gen Y & Gen Z are very different animals and see and perceive music and its consumption in a very different way – and I keep sounding like a broken record here – but these are the fundamentals that need to be addressed and understood before we can actually move forward. Look at the sheer greed of some artists thinking that they should be paid more on You Tube – even though this is now a way that users discover music and artists – just as radio used to in the past – but this time the attention / consumption is very different (as well as the quality) Billy Bragg, Robbie Williams, Blur all meet today at their FAC (Featured Artist Coalition – or Fading Artists Cry) Summit where Blur’s Dave Rowntree said "YouTube's row with the PRS is the most recent example of just how fast the music industry is changing." – What you’ve only just realised that!! Now that may sound harsh – but the You Tube example and what Billy Brag said about the whole You Tube affair with talk of Artists Unions etc..  I think that artists need to look at themselves and importantly their labels – that own their copyright and publishing rights. If you have signed your life away to your ecord company for a fast buck in your early careers – and now see your video on You Tube and get a few pence for it – then ask yourself what is my record label getting from that – and actually what is my video on You Tube really worth in todays market? What is Artists Market Value in the social media world of 2009. Perhaps answer those questions first internally before shooting Google down! Hope that is on the agenda today!

So how does this tie into what the Government regulation and rules? Well with the announcement of the digital rights agency (proposed) what value will they bring and is this just about music or other formats and types going to be covered by this agency. ISPs will monitor the flow of P2P traffic and under legislation decide to target, trace and monitor torrents that are delivering illegal content! That all sounds great – now we know that ISPs can (and should have been) following the P2P traffic for a long time – what is contained within them is another matter! I guess if your Torrent is tagged or labelled as “Beatles_White_Album” then yes I would say that this is an album containing the Beatles tracks – you could go further if the torrent contains 30tracks and is around 210mb – then yes you are going to track that one down… well done {claps hands} What if the entire Beatles catalogue was on a Torrent labelled as “CM3u0yKuF” zipped up into chunks – Secure Zips are tagged as HolidayFiles_France_88: is there smart technology that knows how to get around that?? If there is then – fantastic  - but then if we have level of penetration detection on networks then is it not more appropriate to after that technology to go after the trap doors and hidden doors into the seedy underground world of child pornography – where although not costing an industry any financial hardship – its something more important – children's lives! I’ve talked about this before – where its always a subject that is hard for people to talk about openly but none the less there should be a task force beyond what we have to ensure that if we are going to monitor internet usage then – surely this should be one of the first port of calls?

So in final ranting fashion what are we saying – P2P is in fact a dying breed and the shares already know this – what you find is that the ones that are left and being charged are not the hardcore that need to be brought to task here – and by that I don't mean some lengthy prison sentence. The technology has moved so far away that I have seen and tried out the new breed of illegal file share sites – as they finish the UI and monetisation (these guys that set up Pirate Bay & KaZaA etc know what they are doing) and you know what in a seamless silent world there is over 5Tb of media on there just now in some of these sites – with the latest Hollywood blockbusters (US cinema releases such as Watchmen..) that come over the wire under the noses of the ISPs with no detection – because they have moved away from Torrents and into a whole new venture. I’m not going to name any names or anything like that – also doesn't really work like that anymore is all I’m saying.

So once the Government, UK Music, Lord Carter and ISPs finally agree to take action – it will be a barren wasteland of dead empty torrents and a few people who stumbled across it while trying to find a music video that used to be on You Tube until the greedy artists decided they wanted more $ from Google (because they can afford it?? argument from artists!)

Big Brother will be watching – but what exactly will it be watching….?

So is that a statement or is that a question? Either ITV can not deliver a channel in the 21st Century or why can’t they do it? They have Michael Grade at almost £1million per year at the helm – surely he has the vision, experience and balls to shake up ITV as he did so early on in his career?

And with that opening statement you should see where the issue lies quite heavily - “early on in his career” – Back in the day when he was an innovator and forward thinker around television content with Channel 4 and BBC – his aim was simple and blunt. Create a channel that has an output to cut above the noise of others, drive eyeballs to it and start to knock down barriers and boundaries! You know what he probably did that in spades and earned the respect and trust of his peers and fellow broadcasters while doing so.

However – zoom forward a couple of decades and here we are in 2009 – the world of television is a very (actually must emphasise that a bit more) VERY  different place. Advertising has been on the decline for years, and just as my take on the value of eyeballs of the internet is somewhat a skewed view based on perceived value of those eyeballs – this is the same on television. Back in the day when Grade was making a name for himself the naive nature was as such that television has an audience of XXmillion and this in turn is worth £XXXXXXXXX per 30second slot – and so television advertising became a main stay in campaigns and marketing plans – because of all those eyeballs glued to the screen while their programme was not on the screen!  I have always been very cynical of this approach no matter what medium – perhaps due to the fact that I do not feel the need to go and buy a sofa from DFS because they say that their sale has been extended or that a couple of kids with annoying CGI eyebrow movements makes me go and buy chocolate. This is the same with the internet – mass coverage of banners back in the 90s were a main stay across the web, pop ups (remember them both) however it soon became apparent that this blanket approach was not working and before you know it a search engine realised that if they start to actually target ads based on what an internet user was searching for then that would become “targeted” advertising. Google Ad Words was born and at the same time pop up blockers and ad blockers were the norm – the noise was turned down and in most cases switched off all together… The rest is Google history and everyone has been trying to catch them up ever since..

Now lets use that same example above and specifically with TV and directly at ITV. At the moment there is no exact number of audience figures for programmes and what those behavioural patterns are – so a blanket approach is still used today – and the Advertising Standards Agency ensure that there is no “unfair” advantage so while watching CSI Miami Amazon would not be allowed to advertise the latest CSI Box set – as that is too targeted??!! Excuse me… isn't that the whole point Amazon would quite like to target the people who are watching the programme that they are advertising. So companies would pay money for ad slots from ITV based on the BARB viewing figures from a base of 5,100 households!! What!!! 5,100 – we are a country of over 60million (of which there is 30million TVs) and the viewing figures are based on this small subset based in regions!?!?!

So let me go back to an earlier point… “PERCIEVED”  value of the eyeballs – at least with the web you have stats to say that Facebook has had 24million views yesterday – these are facts that are based on fact and actually we know where they came from and where they went off to next. So did it really come as a surprise to Michael Grade and ITV when they saw revenues fall off a cliff – where smart advertisers were putting their money on web advertising r- which could be targeted and actually get a report based on number of eyeballs and how many converted to either browse the site or in the end purchase. TV could not hold that up as it was still based on what 5,100 households were doing. Once the UK moves fully digital I would hope that we can stop this incredibly expensive (for the advertiser) guessing game – but can you imagine if in the cold light of day we suddenly find that Coronation Street actually only pulled in 3million viewers while Shameless pulled in 11million viewers!! I think there would be some cause for concern if there were actual true representations that skewed these figures.  However the truth must out – and once we are back on a level playing field and we have an actual true picture of the viewing figures then I guess advertisers will start to move back to the television – especially when we can use technology as a pair & matching looking at what Samsung are doing with Internet@TV with Yahoo…

How does this effect ITV and Grade’s immediate future – apart from commercial suicide, has he not learned from his current ad revenue drop – that advertisers are not spending as much on ITV as they used to?? Surely he and his team knows this and can see it?? So if your ad revenue is falling off a cliff – how would you plan to attack that and start to get some monetary value back into your business.

Well we know what Grade has announced..   and to plough more into his reality shows that prove big ratings wins…

..and lets stop right there!! Closing down local regional areas of the business, axing studios and long term drama shows… In a time where we are very much global as well as local centric and aware regional (I’m also not going to talk about Friends Reunited – apart from WHY!!! and what a bad decision to make to buy that site – and yes we were all saying that when they bought it as it had already outlived its stay on the web!!)

However I just wanted to finish of with some final points on how you should go about generating that revenue… Creating monstrous rubbish such as I’m a Celebrity.. X-Factor and other such reality shows – especially those that enlist the “Z-List” of celebrities that may well flank the pages of OK Magazine in the UK – outside of our little island no one cares or gives an ass about who these people are. If your lucky they may get a slot in 10sec clip of the most disgusting thing done in a closed space type show in Australia – apart from that your resell, syndication, distribution, RSVS feeds diminish into £0. These shows especially the reality shows cost very little to produce compared to a drama or sit-com that takes a great deal of investment – but also generates additional and continued revenue. Look at the Friends brand and its revenue and syndication rights continue even today – BBC paid over $22million for Heroes Season1 – and that's just one country.

So as a parting shot across the bow – why can’t ITV deliver 21st Century TV – because the thinking is still stuck in the latter 20th Century and when you are convinced that the advertisers will come back if you produce (perceived) large audience programming the advertisers will return….

…not if they have already spent their money elsewhere on the web with Yahoo & Google as well as Lulu or other online studios that have direct content traffic conversions – while others such as Fox continue to flourish because of continued revenue from syndication rights and license deals of their shows, as well as embracing them online with various multiple distribution points that are tracked and delivered…

Unless the ITV board realise that there needs to be new thinking – ITV will be switched off from out television screens by this time next year….

In my last post I touched very briefly on the Games and Movie industry and where the D2C opportunities are heading. These are inevitable – however there are more pressing issues at stake just now and the as 2009 is THE year of the emerging mobile (we all knew it had potential but here it is at last it starts to come of age and will be very dominant for the next 3 years) device and of course those apps that are either very useful and handy to have or – if you like the Zippo brand you can have a pretend lighter that no matter how hard I try I can never get my cigarette lit!

So this week those covermounts that were of course according to some “the saviour of the music industry” we were told were no longer going to be part of the Mails make up any more “senior executives at the newspaper believe the use of covermounts is a costly exercise, prompting a significant spike in circulation, but not luring in long-term readers.” So bang goes that idea then…

So what's next? That of course is what everyone is trying to scramble about and try and come up with the “next big” thing! Well i would hope that after all this time we are now at a stage where the old models no longer work and actually you need to have a much more open approach to how you stack up a business model for digital media. You have the potential of a worldwide audience, you have multitude of delivery options to you – stream, download, side load, D2C, B2B… the list goes on and as such there is different models for each of those – and each will have a differing value based on the delivery and consumption.

However there really needs to be a take in the ground that does not label, or pigeon hole the end user because they decide to consume the media in whatever format they chose.

With this I have been talking about the big wins in mobile this year and the year of mobile of which we as consumers, and we as strategists and technology futurists have been talking about the power of the converged device and the power that it will yield when it arrives. I had been battling for years earlier saying that it was coming but not yet, I was a naysayer and then at the end of that year, just go back and ask “did mobile revolutionise the world, or did we just send more txt messages?”

So with 2009 in full swing and Apple & Google in full throws of their Apps – what can we learn from them and relate that back to the entertainment industry? Well on the iPhone part of the SDK is that you can not topuch or intefere with the iTunes library – that's Apples and no one is touching it!! Quite right too it is one of the biggest USP of the iPhone – which makes it such a good music player as well as a phone – but another of my favourite applications from Tapulous showed a slightly different approach where – the iPhone comes in 8Gb & 16Gb – (sure that this summer we will see the 32Gb version) so it was then feasible to write an application with content wrapped inside it! You could in effect wrap an album in there and avoid “touching any part of iTunes”…

This got me thinking then – rather than just iPhone what if we could package up a subset of items and start to make an interactive and changeable experience that at the same time gives you the chance to sample and enjoy even more music for example?

So the Music App was conceived – and sure that there are other variations on a theme here – but lets have a look a a couple of examples of how this could work from a users part and then how this can work as a business idea and start to translate what in essence is a template for digital media on portable / mobile devices…

Lets take the brand new U2 Long Player: No Line On The Horizon. U2 delivered various formats of the alum from CD, Box Set, Vinyl, digital & digital deluxe editions. Although that is a very traditional way of delivering such a long awaited album – you noticed that after the single came out there was a scramble for U2 catalogue – as always happens with massive bands – and something that the labels are keen to see in a larger scale, but there's not many U2’s, Metallica’s etc.. left that has that sort of impact.

What then if part of UMGs drive they delivered the U2+ App. This is an app that caters for most new phones and as the album, plus the digital booklet and hell why not throw in a sample of the Corbijn video to tantalise. Then as this is an App – deliver 2 other sample Albums of U2 – say Boy & Best of 80 – 90. Suddenly you have just delivered to the end user a total U2 experience that goes beyond the usual download and play. Now we can start to get somewhat clever with this – the App is the U2+ No Line on The Horizon (the “+” being key here) where you can then update your 2 bonus elements and say swap out Boy for October and listen to a sample of that album. Of course you can directly link off and download the entire album ( that's the up sell or just listen to half the album that is embedded within the application – and there is your security aspect of dropping 3 albums within 1 app) so in essence you have just created a mini U2 radio / sample package that you know – as the user had to download the application and connect to deliver any updates.

The really clever part is that once the user has the application on there – the possibilities to then cross sell and deliver U2 news, tour, merchandise, bonus tracks is simply breath taking – you have a direct relationship with the consumer that you never had before (as previously this was done either with iTunes or retailers..)

Then take this idea one stage further and deliver TV content and start to deliver an episodic subscription delivery where the application will deliver the latest episode 1 at a time – suddenly using a DVD Rental formula where you have a queued list of TV shows that you are keen to watch and have in your queue – as the example above start delivering TV content direct to the device and update the application as the user is finished one episode – and again the great cross sell opportunity is that if they have subscribed to a show like Family Guy – for example – whilst waiting for the next episode to air or become available – give the user a number of additional options to consider. It could be an older episode that they may have missed, a related show such as American Dad either way you have an opportunity to target and deliver a better experience for the end user than ever before.

Not only as the Apps for these new devices saved the mobile industry – in terms of the end user being able to personalise their mobile experience – but may have just delivered another way to enjoy digital media on the go… and although I’m not going to say save the music industry – but at least we can start looking at the huge possibilities that we have available using an app as an initial delivery tool and from there – start thinking about ongoing value to both the user and to the rights owners…

(PS apologies for the crap images – I’m NOT a designer and these were knocked up – quite literally  - to show what could be possible… with a decent designer I bet they’d look even better…)

In my last post I touched very briefly on the Games and Movie industry and where the D2C opportunities are heading. These are inevitable – however there are more pressing issues at stake just now and the as 2009 is THE year of the emerging mobile (we all knew it had potential but here it is at last it starts to come of age and will be very dominant for the next 3 years) device and of course those apps that are either very useful and handy to have or – if you like the Zippo brand you can have a pretend lighter that no matter how hard I try I can never get my cigarette lit!

So this week those covermounts that were of course according to some “the saviour of the music industry” we were told were no longer going to be part of the Mails make up any more “senior executives at the newspaper believe the use of covermounts is a costly exercise, prompting a significant spike in circulation, but not luring in long-term readers.” So bang goes that idea then…

So what's next? That of course is what everyone is trying to scramble about and try and come up with the “next big” thing! Well i would hope that after all this time we are now at a stage where the old models no longer work and actually you need to have a much more open approach to how you stack up a business model for digital media. You have the potential of a worldwide audience, you have multitude of delivery options to you – stream, download, side load, D2C, B2B… the list goes on and as such there is different models for each of those – and each will have a differing value based on the delivery and consumption.

However there really needs to be a take in the ground that does not label, or pigeon hole the end user because they decide to consume the media in whatever format they chose.

With this I have been talking about the big wins in mobile this year and the year of mobile of which we as consumers, and we as strategists and technology futurists have been talking about the power of the converged device and the power that it will yield when it arrives. I had been battling for years earlier saying that it was coming but not yet, I was a naysayer and then at the end of that year, just go back and ask “did mobile revolutionise the world, or did we just send more txt messages?”

So with 2009 in full swing and Apple & Google in full throws of their Apps – what can we learn from them and relate that back to the entertainment industry? Well on the iPhone part of the SDK is that you can not topuch or intefere with the iTunes library – that's Apples and no one is touching it!! Quite right too it is one of the biggest USP of the iPhone – which makes it such a good music player as well as a phone – but another of my favourite applications from Tapulous showed a slightly different approach where – the iPhone comes in 8Gb & 16Gb – (sure that this summer we will see the 32Gb version) so it was then feasible to write an application with content wrapped inside it! You could in effect wrap an album in there and avoid “touching any part of iTunes”…

This got me thinking then – rather than just iPhone what if we could package up a subset of items and start to make an interactive and changeable experience that at the same time gives you the chance to sample and enjoy even more music for example?

So the Music App was conceived – and sure that there are other variations on a theme here – but lets have a look a a couple of examples of how this could work from a users part and then how this can work as a business idea and start to translate what in essence is a template for digital media on portable / mobile devices…

Lets take the brand new U2 Long Player: No Line On The Horizon. U2 delivered various formats of the alum from CD, Box Set, Vinyl, digital & digital deluxe editions. Although that is a very traditional way of delivering such a long awaited album – you noticed that after the single came out there was a scramble for U2 catalogue – as always happens with massive bands – and something that the labels are keen to see in a larger scale, but there's not many U2’s, Metallica’s etc.. left that has that sort of impact.

What then if part of UMGs drive they delivered the U2+ App. This is an app that caters for most new phones and as the album, plus the digital booklet and hell why not throw in a sample of the Corbijn video to tantalise. Then as this is an App – deliver 2 other sample Albums of U2 – say Boy & Best of 80 – 90. Suddenly you have just delivered to the end user a total U2 experience that goes beyond the usual download and play. Now we can start to get somewhat clever with this – the App is the U2+ No Line on The Horizon (the “+” being key here) where you can then update your 2 bonus elements and say swap out Boy for October and listen to a sample of that album. Of course you can directly link off and download the entire album ( that's the up sell or just listen to half the album that is embedded within the application – and there is your security aspect of dropping 3 albums within 1 app) so in essence you have just created a mini U2 radio / sample package that you know – as the user had to download the application and connect to deliver any updates.

The really clever part is that once the user has the application on there – the possibilities to then cross sell and deliver U2 news, tour, merchandise, bonus tracks is simply breath taking – you have a direct relationship with the consumer that you never had before (as previously this was done either with iTunes or retailers..)

Then take this idea one stage further and deliver TV content and start to deliver an episodic subscription delivery where the application will deliver the latest episode 1 at a time – suddenly using a DVD Rental formula where you have a queued list of TV shows that you are keen to watch and have in your queue – as the example above start delivering TV content direct to the device and update the application as the user is finished one episode – and again the great cross sell opportunity is that if they have subscribed to a show like Family Guy – for example – whilst waiting for the next episode to air or become available – give the user a number of additional options to consider. It could be an older episode that they may have missed, a related show such as American Dad either way you have an opportunity to target and deliver a better experience for the end user than ever before.

Not only as the Apps for these new devices saved the mobile industry – in terms of the end user being able to personalise their mobile experience – but may have just delivered another way to enjoy digital media on the go… and although I’m not going to say save the music industry – but at least we can start looking at the huge possibilities that we have available using an app as an initial delivery tool and from there – start thinking about ongoing value to both the user and to the rights owners…

(PS apologies for the crap images – I’m NOT a designer and these were knocked up – quite literally  - to show what could be possible… with a decent designer I bet they’d look even better…)

Started this Blog as a sort of step and thoughts for the forthcoming Luxury Interactive (e-Commerce) event in London on 16th – 18th March details here… I have been asked to attend – and got me thinking about the Luxury market and how it is handling the current recession. Not hearing anything from Dior, Gucci or Dolce & Gabbana that they are down to their last dollars – due in part to the pure strength of their brand and the vast array of A-List celebrities, famous advocates and cat walk & red carpet inspirational pieces of couture revered around the globe.

It is beyond this where the next set of fashion followers will look to Gucci or Dior style icons pick up from the heady level of someone like Claudia Schiffer in her next D&G outing – this is where a D&G £2000 coat will be paired with a tasty Primark pair of disposable heels or something equally throw away as we continue the democratisation of fashion – and this is where the key lies for these luxury brands in times of trouble and worry…

Firstly the website should be as equally awe inspiring and jaw dropping dripping in the brand that has led the average consumer to the haloed entrance of Gucci or Dior. This is window dressing in its extreme – lavish the user with inspirational and aspiration touches of sheer luxury and genius. There are two trains of though here – you either are a fully functional e-commerce site that has all the brilliant basics that allow consumers to shop with ease and without any hindrance; or you are a pure marketing / brand site that has such rich immersive detail – well it is about the brand experience after all.

Wishlists | Saved items list | Saved Basket – all sounds very web 1.0! Nothing new or innovative in that. However in the current climate of consumers watching their pounds and dollars there may well be a need to suck it and see. Same analogy that I am hearing from CTOs, CIOs & SVPs of IT – that have had their 2009 budgets all signed off and and are set to continue or start their development work this year. However even though the money is in the “bank” so to speak – they are sitting tight and looking at the market conditions and where its heading – any capital spend or investment is being held back until the market starts to show some sign of bottoming out or flattening . In the interim steps they are asking for assistance, guidance and consulting on future strategic direction and where best to deliver maximum impact for their business – whether this is in business intelligence / reporting / CRM etc.. either way they are planning for a post-recession boot and to be in the best possible position..

Same here with wishlists | saved items – ensure that these are done to give the user a sense of “I’ll keep that for later” or using the CTOs analogy “I’ll save that until I know that everything's going to be a bit better”  Now most will do this on some shape or form – but what do they do with that? Is it just a “SAVED ITEMS” list – think of what you are selling and use it appropriately. Such as incentives to deliver a more personal experience “My Secret Stash” or “The Naughty List” something that inspires the user to feel that although it may well be a £800 pair of shoes – and cant really justify it right now – there is nothing to say that that little self indulgent treat you can never have – but have it set as a cheer me up or motivation tool?? Let them make it more relevant to them – and then the key point – help them by encouraging them to go from prospect to purchaser – HOW??

By ensuring that you encourage (see I used the word “encourage” rather than “must”) your user to sign up to receive information or related to their “Secret Stash” could be as simple as an email or message to their Facebook – simple Tweet to their twitter account – a TXT to their mobile to let them know that the “to die for” Gucci shoes are now £100 off – and buy within the next 24hrs use this coupon and get a further 10% off – go on you’ve earned it!! In its simplest form this is just bloody good CRM basics – but the old fashioned Wishlist has always been confined as an afterthought and something that has not converted to a sale for some reason – well now is you chance to convert and encourage. Reward and entice thy have put the item in their for a reason and finding out how you can convert them to buy it by various means is a way to release the potential of that “list”

I used luxury items as an example – and of course to tie in with the Luxury Interactive event  - however this will work in other e-tailers.

Think of some of the bigger indulgent items such as TVs, dishwashers, etc… unless the old one has completely bust – there may well be elements of doubt to actually replacing the dishwasher just now - “wash up by hand just now” – but where is the element as above for fashion where we class them as “Naughty but Nice” lists same here – but actually with some more intelligence you can get a similar effect – help the consumer with a list of “Top Home List” – Again make this more interesting than just a bland list, allow them to rank them in order of what they want, need or aspiration – and why not then give them some comparisons of more expensive models (to show that the model that they have chosen does everything that this one does but for £250 less!!), financial incentives? perhaps throw in a free 3 yr warranty. Also look beyond what you as an e-tailer sell and deliver some insightful information:   perhaps using a dishwasher once a day saves on energy and water bills? or More family free time by loading up the dishwasher and off out to the park! 

Slightly cheesy I know but these are some of the points rather than leaving the item to sit somewhere and fester – in these times you need to ensure that every part of your site is working 110% to maximise those conversion figures – and that includes those ‘under the sofa dust ball’ moments that are sometimes referred to as the Wishlist….