Issue No. 9: Once around the Blockchain
From Serial Marketer: "The Cutting Edge of Marketing” serialmarketer.net
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Finally.
I wrote my first blockchain column.
Back in 1994, there was a guest columnist, perhaps even a contributor to Advertising Age, who finally wrote his or her first piece about the internet after hearing so much about it. And soon after, he or she was writing about little else. I wonder if that's what's about to happen to me in 2017.
I owe credit to a lot of people for helping me get to the point where I could write a column - "27 Ways Marketers Can Use Blockchain" (see below for links) - that I wasn't embarrassed to submit. Jeremy Epstein of Never Stop Marketing really was a pioneer here. Lou Kerner got religion this summer, and he's now the top crypto columnist on Medium. Jeff Pulver had me on the agenda at his MoNage conference in Boston last month that covered chatbots and blockchain, and even attending just a few blockchain sessions proved eye-opening.
I'm not convinced - yet - that blockchain will be bigger than the internet ever was, as some enthusiasts and experts are saying. Most of the applications I'm seeing for blockchain, whether for businesses or consumers, present improvements to how internet applications have done the same tasks. Ad Age's editor Nat Ives had similar feedback when I sent a draft of the article. A lot will also have to get sorted out.
In the meantime, it is a fascinating realm to explore, and to try to process.
One other fun tidbit: I did an experiment. On my LinkedIn profile, I added a bullet buried under the description of my blog that reads, "Bonus tip: if you frivolously mention blockchain, cryptocurrency, ICOs [initial coin offerings], and Bitcoin on your LinkedIn profile, it means you are a blockchain expert."
This has been on my profile for a week or two now, and every day, I get LinkedIn connection requests from people who are blockchain experts, enthusiasts, and executives (as usual, I barely accept any). One blockchain tech company wanted to interview me for a job. I declined, but I did a call with them to learn about their ad-supported model, and when I asked them any question about advertising, they had so few answers that they actually pretended that they needed to get off the call 12 minutes into the conversation. I had dates in college back out on me with better excuses than these blockchainers. It was one of the most awkward calls I've been on. These are weird times.
I've got a lot more to share. It's been a blistering stretch lately, and I'm writing this near the end of a span of eight talks in 12 business days. In the process, I finally published my children's book, but that's a story for another day - literally. Maybe the next issue...
Thanks for reading. Meanwhile, I'd love to hear from you. What are you making of yourself?
David
----------------------------------------------------- READING LIST
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Over the past month or so, I've been publishing and speaking far more than usual, so you get a barrage this time. I also have to include some of the better articles (and even a game) I've come across lately.
27 WAYS MARKETERS CAN USE BLOCKCHAIN
Here's the piece I referenced above. I started writing it by putting "20 Ways..." on a header. I used The Most Dangerous Writing App and got to 14 in 5 minutes. The rest came organically while doing some research and thinking it through further. I stopped at 27 because that's where it organically netted out, but please send over your other ideas. If you're doing anything with blockchain applications for advertising and marketing, I'd love to learn more. http://mrktr.net/blockchainmarketers
EXPLAINING SERIES: THE NEW IOTA WHITEPAPER
In this technical review of an even more technical whitepaper, the most important takeaway is that there are competing paradigms to blockchain, and they might serve certain fields better (such as with IOTA for the internet of things). It's like shifting one's mindset from the concept of the universe to the concept of the multiverse. What happens if there are other universes out there? And if there is a divine creator of this one, could there be another divine creator of another universe? Do these various divine creators like each other? Is there some multiuniversal Starbucks where they all hang out? If so, does the barista spell the gods' names wrong just to mess with them? There are some very important questions here, and I think one of them relates to blockchain. http://mrktr.net/iotblockchain
A PRIZE FIGHT OVER WHAT MEDIA WANTS
In my previous issue, I forgot to include another piece I had in Ad Age - more of a rumination, inspired by a comment of analyst and entrepreneur friend Jeremiah Owyang (now running Kaleido Insights), about what media wants. It might not all want to be free. http://mrktr.net/whatmediawants
SOCIAL LISTENING BEYOND MARKETING & CRISIS COMMS TIPS FROM INTEL
Some writing I've been busy with has been more workhorse - namely for sponsored posts relating to my day job. These Digiday pieces are still my writing though, and they're articles - not ads. The second one in particular was a treat to write, as I got to distill some terrific thoughts on crisis management from Rick Reed at Intel after hearing his talk at one of our summits.
-Why Social Listening Isn't Just for Marketers Anymore: http://mrktr.net/searchandlisten
-How Intel Harnesses Social Listening during a Crisis: http://mrktr.net/inteltips
BRANDED IN MEMORY
These researchers asked 156 Americans to draw 10 logos from memory. I want to hire them next time I do any first-party research; their design here is a wonder. Bookmark this for when you need such inspiration. http://mrktr.net/brandedmemory
INTRODUCING THE MODERN MARKETING MODEL (M3)
In Econsultancy, Ashley Friedlein presents a new marketing framework spanning strategy, analytics, planning, and execution. Pricing is gone from the model, but data and measurement are new. Friedlein writes, "We believe data is now a marketing asset in itself (e.g. metadata, schemas) so needs to be considered part of the marketing mix." http://mrktr.net/M3marketing
UBER DRIVING - THE GAME
What's it like to be an Uber driver and try to make ends meet? I don't know, but I have a little more empathy than I did before thanks to the fascinating game by the Financial Times based on their interviews with drivers. There are two levels, with the harder one forcing you to play as someone with worse credit and thus at several disadvantages when trying to clear $1,000 in take-home pay. I played each level at least twice; some decisions (like whether to join a gym) lead to surprising consequences. http://mrktr.net/theubergame
36 HOURS IN LJUBLJANA
I took a family trip to Bratislava, Vienna, and Ljubljana last month. While I ate best in Slovakia (with the Eastern European comfort food, I'm an old Polish soul) and found Austria's capital one of the world's most romantic cities, I wound up loving Slovenia's capital the most. It's a vibrant, fun city, and the surrounding areas are breathtaking. An aside: we planned the trip looking at Google Maps and seeing which places seemed to be close together. Rome2Rio helped with navigation. It's constantly easier to get around - we took an Uber from Bratislava to Vienna. http://mrktr.net/visitljubljana
Following this crazy event deluge, some other conferences are coming up the rest of the year, along with a Sysomos webinar November 8. Below are a couple others where I'll be.
Before sharing those though, I spoke at two events on chatbots last week, including MoNage, and the topics were different but complementary. I combined those decks into this annotated master, which you can download right from my Dropbox: Learning from the Best Branded Bots: How Chatbots Flip UX Norms and Deliver New Forms of Value. I normally add all this to my SlideShare account, but SlideShare inexplicably killed the feature to re-upload presentations, so I can no longer keep them current there. If you're in touch with anyone at SlideShare, I'd love to make sure they're aware of this feedback. It's crippling to their power users, and a sad sign of how an alternative is needed after the LinkedIn and Microsoft acquisitions.
* BD MANAGER - MOMENTUM EVENTS - NYC PREFERRED
Momentum Events, which runs some of the best shows in emerging tech, wants some up-and-coming business development talent. Via the posting: "The Business Development Manager is for those with 2-4+ years of experience and who seek an exciting life in B2B sales. The Junior Business Development Executive is an ideal role for college graduates, entry-level professionals or those seeking an exciting life in B2B sales who want to learn to be top levels closers and seasoned account managers." http://momentumevents.com/jbdm/
An aside: I've been hearing of some more opportunities lately and have been making some referrals to hiring leads. If you're exploring what's next, let me know what kind of thing you're looking for. Of course, any such exchange is confidential. Similarly, if you're looking for thoughts on great hires, let me know. I respect confidentiality on that side too and never share a hiring manager's, recruiter's, or company's name unless you specifically ask me to, or unless it's a public post.
----------------------------------------------------- THE FOOTER YOU WON’T READ
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I WANT TO TALK ABOUT SYSOMOS
David Berkowitz, chief strategy officer dberkowitz@sysomos.com
The most important rights reserved. You can have the other ones. (c) 2017 Serial Marketer
PS: Thank you so much for reading this.
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