Imagine a world where your community, your friends, your assets, and all your creative freedoms were suddenly expelled by a corporation or government. Now consider the same corporations and governments pulling the plug on Facebook, 4Chan, Twitter, or other online communities you may belong to. A frightening thought. But is it really that far off? When considering the totality of creative expression and human connection found in online communities – arts, beliefs, thoughts, emotions – we are well beyond the simple definition of community, we are now entering the realm of culture. As online cultures continue to aid and develop human connections, serious moral questions arise. Is it time to start considering the ethical responsibilities of platform controllers who create and maintain these unique cultures? Should they have the right to determine the destiny of these cultures, or should the people have a right to self govern, free from the fear of complete annihilation? As online communities continue to blur the line between virtual and true reality, is it time to critically consider a Universal Declaration for Avatar Rights?

I have submitted this idea to the SXSW (South by South-West) Interactive conference in Austin Texas to present next year.

If you like the idea, please go to the website and vote for it. You don’t have to attend the conference in order to vote, so it would help me a great deal either way.
Questions I aim to answer:

Also:

Check out these other panel ideas from colleagues at Proximity, please vote for them too!

• Andrew Bailey ” What does Google TV mean for advertising industry?”
  This panel will explore what Google TV means for the advertising industry, what it will take to produce award winning and effective creative and how creative will have to evolve to meet the demands of Google TV.

• Matt DiPaola “Branded Entertainment: Do Brands Hurt Good Storytelling?”
  This panel is for anyone who lives to tell a story. Content producers will learn how to assess brand participation in their project, navigate new funding models, and bullet proof their elevator pitch.

• Jeff Vermeersch “I’m a Flash Developer. Now what?“
  On this panel we’ll discuss the future of Flash developers now that it’s “dead”.

Tags: Andrew Bailey, avatar rights, collin douma, Jeff Vermeersch, Matt Dipaola, SXSW

Adobe Ad on Wired.com spotted May 13th, 2010

“We love Apple, We Love choice
We love Flash and HTML5
We love our 3 million developers
We love authoring code only once
We love all platforms and devices
What we don’t love is anybody taking away your freedom to choose what you create, how you create it, and what you experience on the web.”

The gloves are off.

The ad links to this article.

Update: This was spotted on the internet today. Unsure if it is from Apple, but it is pretty darn funny:

I think we can expect this to turn into a full on MEME.

Tags: adobe, apple, flash, geek wars, html5, ipad, iphone

Here’s the promise I was hoping Apple would better yesterday.

It’s interesting that Steve Jobs spent most of yesterday’s press conference reminding us how secure and established Apple is.

What’s with the chest beating? He doesn’t need to remind us how many time’s we’ve bought new iPods over the last nine years. We know. I’ve personally replaced my iPod four times due to crappy batteries, busted connections and/or random system errors!

Was this preamble pre-emptive damage control for the potential backlash over the launch of Apple’s latest “revolution”, the iPad?

I’ve yet to see a positive post or review of the iPad. Almost everybody is negative or at best “meh” over the whole thing. It’s surprising because the iPad actually is an attractive, fascinating piece of technology. How did this happen?

Apple let the rumour mill get way out of control on this one. Admittedly, it would’ve been hard to meet expectations on the iPad regardless of the product. However, Apple didn’t meet ANY of the expectations that consumers hoped for and have been raving about over the last 12-18 months.

Spoken or not, fiction or reality, most of us geeks held the belief that the iPad would be revolutionary. In actuality, this might be the ultimate case study for a botched product launch and a lesson in radical trust for Steve Jobs.  By withholding specs and design details from brand loyalists and influencers, Apple effectively allowed consumers to fill the vacuum with features that now read like science fiction.  I was expecting something that would behave like a digital moleskin notebook as illustrated in the Microsoft Courier video. Now I feel like an idiot assuming and advocating for Apple, having believed the iPad would be better than it is.

Not good Apple. Not good.

iPad won’t even let us run email and a web browser at the same time! How could they have missed this most basic of consumer expectations… multitasking!?. How could they launch a product designed for web surfing without compatibility with Flash? These are deal breakers.

Steve. You have let us down by shutting out Apple’s biggest loyalists, influencers and imagineers from its innovation cycle.

I never thought I’d say this… but Apple is falling behind the times. I’m really looking to see what Google HTC, or even HP have in the slate offering.

iPad? uFail, iPass.

Tags: #fail, apple, apple computers, case study, crowdsourcing, fail whale, hardware, innovation, ipad, product launch, steve jobs, technology

The automotive business is highly competitive. Future products and feature innovation make up the key competitive edge when it comes to earning show-stopper headlines on the autoshow circuit – but headlines can’t be the only goal. We’re at a point in history when innovation is desperately needed to green up the fleet on the street but the current innovation process can take decades. Simple notions become complex problems.

The concept of open sourcing a feature or component, let alone an entire automotive platform, is a process most manufacturers aren’t willing to consider. Yet, crowdsourcing  might be exactly what the automotive business needs right now. The math is simple, the more brains involved, the greater potential for success. This is especially true when the end result isn’t based on what the manufacturer thinks it can sell, but rather, a goal for the common good.

Enter Stichting Natuur en Milieu (Dutch Society for Nature and Environment) along with the technical universities of Delft, Twente and Eindhoven, all knowing that conservation is in, convention is out, and the future of the car should have nothing in common with those we see driven around today. Together they initiate C,mm,n (pronounced common), an open source green machine harnessing the collective intelligence of all who care to participate in the creation, innovation and collaboration of sustainable mobility. The vehicle is not meant to be manufactured itself, but rather kick start innovation to overcome engineering challenges to meet a production goal of 1 million green cars in the Netherlands by 2020.

The first collaboratively designed car, recently shown at the Amsterdam Auto RAI features:

• zero emissions

• hydrogen-power

• a lightweight thermoplastic exterior

• an interior which includes soy-based memory foam and other recyclable materials

• a “river display”  iPhone-esque dash interface with access to route-planning, carpooling, etc.

• short life replaceable body panels (3 years) optimized to reduce depreciation and repairs

• open sourced blue prints to the platform and components of the vehicle

From the horses mouth:

“By making the blueprint of the c,mm,n car publicly available under an open-source licence we are able to develop truly sustainable mobility. Just like open-source software, c,mm,n focuses on services around the product. You can use c,mm,n to offer people a lease car, rental car or other mobility services. It is allowed to sell c,mm,n too. Just as long as you make any derived work publicly available again.”

The program continues to innovate with an open call for volunteers to help the c,mm,nity work on:

• interior design
• charging points for quick charging
• charging points for optimal charging
• chassis
• powertrain
• intelligent systems/driving simulator
• digiquette

It’s hard not to get excited about the potential of this collaboration. When the betterment of all is placed ahead of the capital gain of a few, real sparks emerge. This is one to watch as sustainable mobility continues to evolve.

More on the c,mm,n program
c,mm,nity | wiki | youtube | site |

C,MM,N a radical do.

Hat tip Springwise

Tags: automotive, cmmn, crowd source, green auto, green cars, hydrogen car, open source, radical trust, Stichting Natuur en Milieu, wiki

I’m joining Proximity Canada’s interactive team as Vice-President, Social Media. In this newly-created role, I’ll be identifying new opportunities to expand Proximity Canada’s current social media offering, while assisting clients in building their brand voice in the evolving digital space. I’ll be working primarily with the Gillette global and Mitsubishi Motors of Canada accounts and will begin this new role as of March 23, 2009.

“Social media is a natural extension of Proximity’s strong digital capabilities and our direct and CRM heritage that helps brands stay closer to their consumers,” says Andrew Bailey, President and CEO, Proximity Canada. “Collin’s experience in the social media space combined with our discipline in insights and measurement will help our clients extend their marketing efforts beyond the campaign into everyday conversations with consumers. We’re very pleased to have him on board.”

Well thank you Andrew… I’m happy to join you!

Over the last several months I’ve been working with Proximity and consulting on a few accounts (Mitsubishi Canada being the most notable). I truly enjoyed both the work I was doing and all the familiar faces of people I’ve worked with in past lives. There is a real appetite for the digital ad world to pick up the pace in social media. Proximity is leading the pack with notable programs like Dorito’s Guru and several other amazing campaigns.

The transition back into the interactive ad world is like coming home. I look forward to working at a company with the credibility, client roster and talent to really shake things up in this space.

Don’t worry, I will continue to blog my adventures here on radicaltrust.ca!

Check out the Press Release here

Saying hello also means saying goodbye.

As many of you know, after leaving SMG last summer, I began a social media consulting service and worked with several amazing clients. Thank you all.

I put my other foot in the door at Hill & Knowlton as a part-time Sr. Strategic Counselor with the digital department. I was fortunate to work with such a great team of communicators: Brendan Hodgson, Sharon Fernandes,  Meghan Warby,  Boyd Neil, Ian Barr (now with Rocket XL), Niall Cook, (who has authored  a great book on Enterprise 2.0) and of course the ever-irreverent David Jones, whose friendship and sharp wit fuels a welcome reality check on this amazing media.

This group, together with the extended H&K team, taught me a lot about the PR side of the business. Thank you for such a great trip!

Tags: advertising, BBDO, canada, Canadian Digital, collin douma, Digital, Marketing Jobs, New Job, Proximity, radical trust, social media, VP Social Media

[TORONTO]  Segal Communications will end their representation of Facebook media in Canada on March 31st, 2009.

The relationship between the two began in January 2007, when Segal Communications (an IPG company) inked a deal to represent Facebook advertising media and “sponsored groups” in Canada. Out of that deal, a small sales team of about five people have been hitting the streets over the last couple of years selling Facebook wares to hungry advertisers looking for the unique targeting capabilities Facebook offers.

Facebook has earned some pretty impressive numbers since Segal first signed on. Nearly 900,000 Canadians had profiles at that time, ballooning to 11,663,800 in the 26 months since. This rapid Facebook adoption boosted the relatively small country of Canada, with a population of about 33 million, to the country with the largest profile-to-population ratio in the world at 1:3. The USA is currently at about 1:10.

Q1 2009 media sales have been the best yet in Canada for Facebook.  Rumors of this change have speculated for some time as job postings for Facebook in Toronto have circulated on the internet since October. Street speculation expected this relationship to end last December 31st. In a time of recession, it begs the question … why now?

The following email was issued to current Facebook customers yesterday;

I am thrilled to let you know that we intend to open our first Facebook office in Canada in the coming weeks.   The Toronto office will be the new home to our advertising sales, account management and marketing teams for Canada.    Putting a team on the ground has always been our goal, and we are assembling a team that can provide direct support and expertise for our Canadian advertisers.

We want to thank the sales team at Segal Communications who have represented Facebook for the past two years.

We’re committed to working closely with you to find ways to create more relationships and connections between your brands and consumers on Facebook.

I’ll share more details in the coming weeks.  In the mean time, please work with Josh Bloom (jbloom@facebook.com) and Jana Beiswenger (jana@facebook.com) on any existing campaigns, potential opportunities, or if you have any questions.

Best Regards,
Mike

Mike Murphy
VP, Global Sales
facebook
mike@facebook.com

A global restructuring of Facebook may be underway. New brand “fan page” templates have just been launched, another user profile facelift has been announced, and several new languages have been added in recent months with more coming. Facebook offices are rumoured to be opening and/or expanding in Berlin, Stockholm, Dublin, Atlanta and now Toronto.

My inside source tells me the relationship between Segal and Facebook is ending on amicable terms. Isn’t that what we all say when we break up?

More on Facebook
Best Practices for Facebook Fan Pages: Lessons from the top 10
Best Practices for Facebook Fan Pages: User Types
Facebook Global Population Breakdown

Tags: advertising, Business, facebook, marketing, online media, Rumors, Segal, social media, social networking

A couple of weeks ago, I blogged about Queensland Australia’s campaign for “The Best Job in the World”.

Quick Recap (full post):

“The department of Tourism in Queensland, Australia have created a new position: “The Best Job in the World”. The job’s most important duty is to report to Tourism Queensland (and to the world) to let us know what’s taking place on the islands of the Great Barrier Reef. They’re willing to pay  AUS$150 000 (US$ 100 000) for a 6 month contract to the right person. They launched a website and a global campaign to fill the position.”

To apply for the job, you were asked to submit a 60 sec video describing why you are the best for the position. Submissions are now closed.

A whopping 34,000 applicants were short-listed to 50 and posted on the application site yesterday. Only ten will get the interview, with one spot open for the “Wild Card” to be selected by your votes.

Admittedly, I am biased. The following six videos are for the Canadians who are short-listed. Please cast your vote for one of them, or visit the site to see the others.

I am completely amazed at the production quality of these submissions. No matter what mishaps have happened along the way, I still believe this campaign is an absolute home run.

Marcella (vote for her here)

Mitchell (vote for him here)

Christine (vote for her here)

Anny (vote for her here)

Erik (vote for him here)

Good luck!

Tags: best job in the world, contest marketing, global marketing, queensland tourism, radical trust, social media best practices, social media marketing, Youtube

What is clear about Skittles.com:

• it has transformed into a social media portal to social platforms including Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Flickr and Wikipedia
• it has caused much buzz on many of these platforms, particularly Twitter, in the last 48 hours
• it continues to cause much debate amongst the social media pundits
• it resembles other websites, particularly this one. (have you never stole an idea? )

Agency.com and Mars (owner of the Skittles brand) have not revealed any:

• objectives for the property (that I am aware of)
• insights that led them here
• metrics

Why would they, given the scrutiny they’re now under? Sigh.

So? Skittles.com, Pass/Fail? How can we possibly know? I’m sure it’s too early to tell, even for Mars.

Does skittles.com make up for Agency.com’s famous Subway social media gaff? I don’t think Mars cares.

Let the debates continue. I hope that Mars shares some of their objectives so we can see if Agency.com delivered on them or not. In the meantime, I reserve judgment and tip my hat to one of the best brand campaign examples of radical trust I’ve ever seen on face value alone.

P.S. My favorite pundit quote so far regarding skittles social media makeover of Skittles.com?

adweek

“Is the site the breakthrough humankind has waited for?”

Tee hee.

Tags: adweek, Agency.com, best class social media, candy marketing, conversational marketing, enable conversations, marketing debates, Mars, Mars Corporation, packaged goods, radical trust, skittles, skittles.com, social branding, twitter strategies

According to the book “Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us)” by Tom Vanderbilt, “Caution: Children Playing” signs have not been shown to reduce speeding or accidents. The evidence is so compelling that most traffic departments don’t plant the signs voluntarily.

Yet these signs are nearly as ubiquitous as, well, children playing. Most of them find life via frustrated neighbourhood committees who lobby city governments to reduce speeding on their streets. Sadly, there’s the rare occasion when a futile “Children Playing” sign marks the spot where a child was killed by a motor vehicle.

I wonder if “Child Killed Ahead” might be more persuasive in slowing traffic down.

There are also signs that warn of deer, moose, camels, elephants, etc, crossing ahead. Again, studies show that these signs, no matter where you are in the world, do not alter driver behaviour.

Vanderbilt writes:

“A Colorado trial featured a special animated deer sign (no it wasn’t Bambi). Researchers presumed that the animated sign would draw more attention and heighten driver awareness. For a few weeks, it was turned away from the road, then turned back. There were actually more deer killed when the sign was activated than when it was not, even though fewer deer had crossed. The researchers then went so far as to place a deer carcass next to the animated sign – only then did the drivers finally slow.”

How does this relate to social media and trust? “Children Playing” and “Deer Crossing” signs may warn of what might happen, but people are more likely to react to what is happening.

Talking about the “conversation” on your corporate blog or via your twitter account, etc, may be good for identifying the possibility of connections, but to earn attention you actually have to play in this space and (forgive the metaphor) place your carcass where people can see it.  You need more than a sign post that talks about what you can do in social media. You need to demonstrate that you are capable and competent in the subject matter you represent. In order to earn attention, you have to read more posts than you write and leave more comments on other blogs than you receive on your own. It seems pretty straight forward, but there are very few examples of this actually happening.

There are a growing number of abandoned corporate blogs on the web today.  Perhaps they thought that simply launching a blog was enough to put towards their share of the conversation when in fact, all they really contributed was another sign for people to ignore.

Tags: corporate blogging, marketing, marketing metaphors, radical trust, roadsigns, social media, tom vanderbilt, traffic

It’s election season in Canada and the politics are thick as ever. Stephen Harper, Jack Layton and pals don’t want Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party, participating in the televised debate for the upcoming Canadian federal election. Despite the Green’s earning a seat in the house and over 600k popular votes in the last election, the political leaders of the other parties will not recognize the Green Party’s role in the Canadian federal scene.

We know the televised debates are important in getting the position of the party and the character of the candidate out to everyday Canadians. TV is an extraordinary medium, but using to it host this debate has limitations, one of which is math. In front of the TV cameras these candidates get a one in four chance that a question will be targeted to them – a one in four chance they’ll be heard on a particular issue.

TV is not the only media out there.

Elizabeth has an unprecedented opportunity to take the debate online to respond to every question asked and to any off-sided comment or audience question. While the leaders of the other parties talk amongst themselves, she could steal the show simultaneously on the internet.

Some slice and dice segment editing would make great YouTube fodder along with a digital media kit for the traditional press and television the next day.

Maybe CBC TV won’t have Elizabeth that night, but will CBC.ca? And if not them… the Greens always have their own website. I wonder what kind of ink taking the debate single-handedly online would generate?

Either way, I want to know what Elizabeth has to say, and I want to know how she performs under pressure. This is her opportunity to take.

Today pundits, politicians and regular people are arguing for and against this strange political maneuver in excluding her from the debate. Most are touching on the irony that her exclusion has already generated more media attention than her inclusion ever would. However, this kind of coverage doesn’t help the average Canadian learn anything about the Green Party or Elizabeth, so I’m afraid this will not generate the momentum the Green party needs to get more seats this election.

Elizabeth, if Stephen, Jack and the boys won’t have you in your sandbox, why not make your own?

Tags: canada, canadian election, Colin Douma, election 08, Elizabeth May, Gilles Duceppe, green party of canada, Jack Layton, politics, radical trust, social media, Stéphane Dion, Stephen Harper