Digital Content, Marketing and Disruptive Technology Consultancy
There really are two things which make it possible for me to work from home without having the money to build an office in the garden:
Sony MDR-V300 Headphones with Neodymium Magnet – Folding Design
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http://www.last.fm/user/BadgerGravling
That and the fact I’ve got a bookcase partitioning me from the rest of the room and blocking the line of sight to the television (currently showing CBeebies to my partner and my 8-month old!).
Firstly, Merry Christmas to everyone!
Secondly, my love of marketing means that I couldn’t help but comment on a micro-brewery I discovered when I stocked up on alcohol for Christmas (in moderation, obviously!).
I’m still coming to terms with getting older – and discovering a taste for ‘real beer’ rather than massmarket lager, so I always like to try a couple of new beers on ever shopping trip.
Which is how I spotted Punk IPA from Brewdog.
Punk IPA from Brewdog - interesting beer brand and microbrewery
It’s definitely an example of a business, brand and product with the marketing built in!
From their site:
‘Beer was never meant to be bland, tasteless and apathetic.
At BrewDog we are setting the record straight.
We are committed to making the highest quality beers with the finest fresh natural ingredients.
Our beers are in no way commercial or mainstream.
We do not merely aspire to the proclaimed heady heights of conformity through neutrality and blandness.
We are unique and individual.’
A beacon of non-conformity in a increasingly monotone corporate desert.
We are proud to be an intrepid David in a desperate ocean of insipid Goliaths.
We are proud to be an alternative.’
Interestingly, they’ve just been successful in a battle with the industry-backed Portman Group over the language on some of the labels on their beer – for instance describing Punk IPA as an aggresive beer, which the group original claimed would ‘encourage anti-social behaviour’.
You can read more about the battle in a great post on the Brewdog blog. Meanwhile, I’m hopeful about trying some of their other produce, particularly the Hop Rocker, The Physics, and the Hardcore IPA!
The ability to instantly update was highlighted at the weekend, when Mike Wilson (@2drinksbehind) tweeted ‘Holy fucking shit I wasbjust in a plane crash!’
As he continued to post updates it emerged that it was the second crash he’s experienced, some of his experiences and possible causes (flagged up as such), and the fact that Continental Airlines wouldn’t serve drinks to the passengers once they were all safely away from the plane.
Silicon Valley Insider has screenshots of the whole thing, and there’s interesting commentary from Loic Le Meur, Jeff Jarvis, Mashable, Laurel Papworth, and The Blog Herald - and that’s just sources from my RSS feeds!
What’s interesting is how Loic, for example, points out spokespeople weren’t able to give out any details on live TV news, despite the fact we could all follow Tweets from somewhere going through the experience – and Pete Cashmore at Mashable points to the changing roles of news and newsrooms.
Apparently Mike has now been interviewed by Fox News. And apparently the chairman of Continental Airlines was on the replacement flight!
He’s also gained a lot of new followers as a result of the experience.
The implications for news reporters and news sources are becoming more and more important with every piece of breaking news on Twitter. Mike was able to send messages and images from the crash site – and could have also shot live video, all from his mobile, and all distributed instantly online.
For the visceral experience of an event, nothing can compete with that.
Where news sources still provide value is in finding the context of those individual experiences – for instance, when a spokesperson appeared to say they couldn’t say anything, where was a reporter asking about Mike’s messages?
We’ve already had
I wrote about how news sites have to change back in July. At that time, the LA Times was the first new source I’d seen to reference Twitter. The fact it’s got a Twitter account probably helps. During Mumbai, both the BBC and CNN were referencing it alongside Flickr.
And there has been plenty of reaction by readers of traditional news sources, as well as from the blogosphere. Many have questioned whether instant updates can be trusted, and whether they’re the sort of thing we expect from traditional news sources.
Part of this, I suspect, is from people who don’t use Twitter and therefore don’t have the human filter as a way of referencing trust. (Incidentally, David Armano’s diagram is one of the most succinct and effective ways of explaining Twitter I’ve seen!).
The Human Filter by David Armano (Logic+Emotion)
And the other part is that news sources are still slowly developing from their coccoon and haven’t fully worked out how to implement Twitter and the meaningful context and analysis on top of it in a readily apparent way.
The sooner websites integrate Twitter, Flickr, Qik, etc, the sooner we can see the value they layer on top.
