Archive for February, 2010

Twitter Dee, Twitter Dum, Twitter Old, Twitter Young

Friday, February 26th, 2010

For teens, a sense of support and connectedness is paramount to active digital lives.

The Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project reported that only 8 percent of online teens have embraced Twitter. This contrasts with the overall increase in social network use of those aged 12-17 that went from 55 percent in 2006 to 65 percent in 2008 to 73 percent today. A study from FJ Metrics found that Twitters growth has slowed and only 17 percent of users updated their account in December – an all time low. (Dallas Morning News, 2/5/10; Brandweek, 2/8/10)

One 17-year-old in the article said “teenagers like to talk, and 140 characters are just not enough”. It appears that community is critically important to this cohort and that the mass “shout out” is not what many teens are looking for in their digital experience.

Charles Hess

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Bottoms Up!

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010

In a blind taste test at festivities to celebrate the Scottish “Burn’s Night” holiday, a Taiwanese whisky, Kavalan, beat out the Scottish and English whiskies sampled.  (South China Morning Post, 1/26/10)

It’s not just a global Brain Trade (of advance manufacturing and high-tech goods and services); artisan and craft products are being made around the world and judged “authentic” by connoisseurs.  Make sure your alumni club has this whisky in stock!

Michael Hines

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RoboCop? Kind of…

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

Britain’s Civil Aviation Authority is in a legal spat with a local police department that used an aerial drone.  Their dispute belies the fact that the drone helped police catch a car thief last week.  (BBC News, 2/16/10)

How long until American police departments seek to use unmanned aerial vehicles as part of routine police work, and what will be the public’s response on the privacy front? Nevermind, the U.S. can’t afford it…

Michael Hines

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Algorithms Gone Wild

Thursday, February 11th, 2010

Is Hal, the infamous take-control computer in “2001: A Space Odyssey” taking over the stock exchange?  It’s clear someone’s yielding control to something with unknown capabilities.

The New York Stock Exchange fined Credit Suisse $150,000 for failing to supervise one of its trading algorithms after the program halted traffic at five different trading posts on the NYSE and delayed the day’s closing at the posts for nearly half an hour.  It was the first time the stock exchange has disciplined a firm for algorithm infractions.  (Wall Street Journal, 1/13/10)

Algorithms are becoming more prevalent as companies attempt to understand and manipulate the tremendous amounts of available data.  Wall Street firms have been leading the charge, creating algorithms in order to gain a trading advantage.  These algorithms trigger automatic trading actions and reactions that can have a chaotic market impact creating instability and unforeseen consequences.  While this time it was only a delayed closing, Credit Suisse’s “algorithm gone wild” is likely to be the first of many unseen risks to come from dependence on computer formulas.

Eric Zavolinsky

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Emerging Marketing

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

Is marketing a real “green shoot,” instead of the bogus ones touted last summer? Marketing departments seem to have money and plans on how to spend it.

We have seen and commented on the decline of advertising in traditional media for several years.  It may be possible that the next cyclical upturn will portend a return of ad dollars to traditional media outside the U.S.

Estée Lauder unveiled plans to spend $150 to $175 million more on marketing expenses in the second half of 2010 than in the same period one year ago. This includes advertising, in-store merchandising and product sampling.  The company plans to make its largest historical investment in TV ads within developing markets as well as global digital marketing.  (Women’s Wear Daily, 1/29/10)

Lauder’s moves outside the U.S., when combined with Proctor & Gamble’s recent announcement that it plans on ramping up its ad spending in the second-half of 2010 and our January blog post about increased marketing spending coming from financial firms, suggests a de-thawing of advertising and marketing budgets, at least among some Fortune 500 companies.

Risa Hess

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Earthshaking?

Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010

In the past two weeks, more than 100 small earthquakes have hit Yellowstone National Park, putting seismologists on alert.  During January, not only was Haiti hit by a devastating earthquake with significant tremors around the region, but the Solomon Islands suffered a tsunami wave, triggered by an earthquake (7.2 on the Richter scale) in the Pacific Ocean off Papua New Guinea.  Also in January, the Sichuan province of China – which is still recovering from a devastating May 2008 earthquake (8.0) – was hit by an earthquake (5.2). An earthquake (5.1) in Tajikistan left 20,000 people homeless and another quake (5.1) off the coast of Guatemala caused no major damage on the mainland but sent people scurrying from their homes. (New York Times, 1/19/10 and 2/1/10; Australia Network News, 1/31/10; New Scientist, 1/9/10; Guardian Weekly, 1/8/10)

Is there a bigger story here?

Ken Hey

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