COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

Scenes from today's hike, McTaggart Sanctuary SW Edmonton

2009-10-25T20:31:00.001-06:00

Berries on a Brrook

Wild Berries near stream

Brook from the Pines

Late fall by the River

Busy Critter

Muskrat Gathering

Brook in Fall

Over Looking a Brook

"Woody"

Wood Pecker in action

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Blog post Oilers creating new revenue by streaming pre season games. #yeg #oilers #nhl

2009-09-16T07:05:00.001-06:00

Monetizing ' free' is the holy grail of new media. How stumps content producers. There are signs that's changing.

At least glimmers, some content produces are willing to experiment, invest, and explore to solve the elusive new media revenue riddle.

The Edmonton Oilers, are streaming their NHL, pre season games. Try here for tonights game with the Islanders. According to Allan Watt, VP Broadcast, they drew 60,000 for one effort. Not a big number by TV standards. A really big number in terms of a live event, gate, equivalent to over three sell outs at Rexall Place.

So there's a market. Production is enabled by lower cost digital technology. Distribution, via the internet, is cheap. The reach is global. Seems like opportunity for sponsorship, advertising and host of revenue generating interactivity. However, the Oilers are prevented by NHL convention, league rules, from maximizing the opportunity.

According to President, Pat LaForge, the pre-season games are 'geographically gated'. Net distribution is restricted to Oilers market footprint, Western Canada and the NorthWest Territories. Hmm, typical old business model. Create scarcity in the face of abundance. Restrict instead of enable.

The net is a global distribution platform. The NHL and other content producers, still, believe they need to protect themselves, from each other. So they create artificial markets and loose money in the process.LaForge says, "We don't want the Maple Leafs' games streamed, in our market, we agree not to stream ours in theirs". Why?

This suggests head to head, the Leaf brand is more appealing, than the Oiler brand. The latter needs protection. The Leaf brand is appealing to Western hockey fans, no question. So why not take advantage of it. Why not give fans a choice, Leaf Brand and Oiler brand! Charge the Leafs a fee for the privilege, say 50% of the revenue, they might garner from a live streaming event. New revenue to them. Additional revenue, though not triple A margin revenue, revenue just the same, for the Oilers.

Choice and options always create massive value. Value earns premium revenue. In this case, both teams have the potential to generate more revenue. There's no scarcity, no restriction. Isn't business about competition? Well in theory. Business doesn't like competition at all. That's why business seeks to control markets through convention, or regulation.

This territorial rights issue is, exactly, what Jim Balsile is fighting about, in his attempted take over of the Phoenix Coyotes. Despite claims to the contrary, territorial rights do exist, in professional sports. They don't have to be restrictive. Ironically, they could be a key in unlocking the mystery to making money, in the free digital economy.

What do you think?

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Neighbour's Garden a canvass in soil, in July

2009-07-23T08:57:00.001-06:00

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Bruce Winter
Communication Strategies
780 464 7992
Skype: nitguy

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Twitter Key Tool in Solving problem with Direct Energy tags: Edmonton, Direct Energy , Social Media

2009-07-19T10:45:00.001-06:00

I'm on the move. Pretty chaotic chore. Last week, got hung up with gas company trying to cancel one service, at the old address, and re start, at the new. Started the process on line. It didn't work well. Direct Energy has policy requiring 20 days advance notice to process a move.

The company is organized, as 3 separate companies. Direct Energy Regulated Services is the one, I was dealing with. Initially, it was frustrating and ineffective experience. After four attempts, on line and 3, 800# calls, I sent out some tweets, in frustration. DE's silo organization enables the company, not the customer.

Tweets got picked up by Lynzey MacRae, in DE's PR department. She offered to help, took up her offer. She solved my problems. Happy ending. Received follow up call, from Don Carter, also in Customer Service. He advised, Direct Energy companies not allowed, under provincial privacy laws to share information, with each other. I wasn't asking anyone to share information. I was asking the CSRs to refer me to the right company. Three of the four I talked to, wouldn't, didn't. Dumped me back into the call centre cue. One, simply gave up.

So PR and CSR need to get on the same page, inside large organizations. There should not be a gotcha, if the customer calls the wrong number, or visits the wrong website. Customers don't, intentionally, do that. Customers don't know, nor should they need to know, how a company organizes itself.

To the execs at Direct Energy, Twitter was key tool, in solving this problem. Once identified, it was solved in a matter of hours, though the episode took a couple of days. That's a metric. Albeit a small one, measurable, just the same. Call it Conversion Time, in problem resolution.

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Sunday Video, The Internet

2009-05-17T19:00:00.000-06:00

Gosh some holes in the blog over the last little while. Several projects on the go. So the blog has been idling. Thought this might be useful. Take a moment to reflect how the net impacts your life. If it wasn't there, how would that change things for you?

Here's a glimpse of where we are and where we may be going.

Tech Saturday

2009-05-16T12:23:00.003-06:00

Musings about technology we can use, make, or enjoy. Mostly to learn how we can change consumption and still benefit from abundance.

To all deep thinkers, in Edmonton, those who'll make lots of money from the downtown redevelopment, a trip to Taiwan may be provide insight. Hello Rexall Sports and Entertainment.

Taiwan's Solar Stadium

For Bikers and Green Geeks, solar powered bicycle, ah fooled ya, sharing system, in Montreal.
What a simple way to get folks to the River Valley, in our berg. Of course 'we' need to want to get them there, in the first place.

Bike Sharing System

Cut it Green. Electric riding mower, that's quiet ! Great for sustaining neighbourly relations.

Practical crowd sourcing event created by Airbus to learn how to clean up air travel.

Green Skies

Sunday Video Monetize Free

2009-04-19T07:00:00.004-06:00

The news debate continues. How to get it paid for? Associated Press still thinks it is 'their' content. They create it. They do the research to find it. They distribute it. They own it. Yep they do all of it.

BUT once it is out, it has no value. The information belongs to the consumer. The consumer can now be Associated Press, and redistribute it. That's syndication. It can be monetized. However, most old mass media companies don't understand that.

That's the part of the new emerging business model that confounds the media barons.
Well it's their barronhood (sic) that's under attack. That's the real issue.

With 150 million users, could Facebook be Associated Press. In a way, it is for the demographic, which uses Facebook. They don't know and don't care, who AP is. AP and its' mass media conglomerate benefactors might want to note that.

Take a look, this video might offer a better understanding, why Newspapers and Broadcasters are in distress, financially.

Charlie Rose understands it. I can redistribute his video material. Do it often. Could not do that with AP Video.

AP is vast and important player. They aren't the only player. They don't get that yet.

Neither do local media, in our town. That's why reporters continue to get laid off.

Here's what old media thinks will work.

Will you buy it?

Here's what new thinkers think

What say you?

Saturday Tech Day

2009-04-19T00:23:00.002-06:00

Useful, well we hope so, energy and conservation solutions.

Composter from Costco

Hydrogen Power Home

Solar Powered Home Theatre

Net Buffet - Slimmer Pickins Coming

2009-04-17T14:39:00.005-06:00

Keep an eye out. The all you can eat Internet buffet is on it's way out. For a decade or so, we've enjoyed unfettered access to the net. Access is under severe attack, by incumbent telephone and cable companies.

The phone companies say they need to manage, aka protect their networks from over use. So everyone gets a minimum level of service. Gosh you would think if demand exceeds supply there is money to made supplying more. Seems logical, right?

What is over use? Who says, some one is over using? It is the guy next door, downloading a movie, or several. It it the kid down the street updating his music collection? Is it the researcher, at the UofA , crunching data, with colleagues in India.

ISPs want more money. Metered Billing is the way to get. That's classical old economy thinking.
Control and ration. Create scarcity, where there is abundance. Old thinking, that has brought on the current economic crisis, made us all poorer, stifled innovation.

Oligopolies get away with it because they control the regulatory process, by controlling the regulator, in this case the CRTC.

"...The CRTC's vice-chairman, Leonard Katz, spent 17 years working for Rogers and 11 for Bell. Canada's Telecom Telecommunications Policy Review Panel,..."

What"s good for Bell, et al is not good for you. First by capping your bandwidth, your connections are slow. Try sending a 5 MB picture, in an email. Capping, controlling and rationing, there's no need to innovate, or invest. Margins are high, profits too. Who cares about efficiency, or innovation? No need to improve the network, beyond a minimum standard. Our standard is low and slow, when compared to other countries.

Creating scarcity, under a false flag of network security and equanimity, is the ruse. There's a coordinated campaign, afoot to take control of the net. Access is the control point.

Content regulation is coming too. Music, Movie, and News industries, the mass media content providers and producers are in alignment, on dispatching net neutrality to the dust bin. Capping works for them too. Package content bundles are coming to the net. Think cable television. How much control do you have over the programming packages. None!

We are witnessing, if we care to see, how capitalism works and fails us. Don't be fooled. Less, is not more, never was. Network regulation is code for control, scarcity, rationing, and higher costs for us.

Further reading.

Coordinated Government action :

France Australia More on Australia New Zealand

Regulation in Canada

Capping The net

Lowest Possible Standard

Metered Billing

Sunday Video Web 2.0 What is it

2009-04-12T07:00:00.001-06:00

Lots of notions about what web2.0 is.

No better person to explain than then guy who invented the term, Tim O'Reillly, no relation to Bill O'Reilly.

Read on, some current web history.

Skyped Out

2009-04-02T07:00:00.000-06:00

Hey Reg, he's my buddy. Actually, my very good tech buddy. Everyone needs one of those. So how's Skype working, on at that Fido/Rogers iphone? Rogers and Fido are the providers of iPhone service, in Canada.

Skype is, world's largest phone company. Except it isn't a phone company, as we know phone companies. Skype lets you make cheap calls, over and through the internet, and now via wifi, with the iphone.

Now, I know, any new iphone app is a stop the presses moment. However, Skype mobile is also on a host of other cell phones, too. Phones that don't have a wifi connection. You know, lower tech phones, which are less smart, than smart phones, and whole bunch less expensive!

Skype came to the iphone yesterday, in a limited Apple command and control sort of way, via wifi only. Well sort of, Skype for the iphone is every where on the planet, expect Canada.

Another example of the progressive thinking that infects Canadian life. Rogers is afraid. Really afraid it'll lose money. Skype on cell networks is working well in Europe. No phone companies going broke there. Just another example of the way things work, in Canada. Well off the leading edge that's for sure.

So Reg how is Skype, on that iphone working for ya. Working around it with Fring? Or this maybe? Just wondering? Skype me!

Sunday Video Google's Eric Schmidt

2009-03-29T07:00:00.000-06:00

What is Google doing. Does it apply to your business?
Take a look.

Tech Day

2009-03-28T20:36:00.004-06:00

Waste not, save money, unplug what you don't use.

Power from plants, and water in the house.

If you knew how much you spent on power, would you use less?

Cool, literally and warm too, new house designs.

Social Media How To

2009-03-24T10:54:00.006-06:00

Trying to get a grasp on Social Media.

How it works, or can. How it can help a business.

Took in a CNW Webinar, this morning. April Dunford was speaking.

Understand communication is 'live', always on, these days.

Dunford's presentation was anecdotal, her real life experiences, at Nortel and IBM, plus a recent media relations fiasco.

Beware of talking when you are grumpy. Must remember these words!

Use Video to talk about what you are doing.

Kicker here,the entire campaign was a throw away. Dunford didn't think it had any value, as Nortel had being Telecomputing,for a long time.

Lesson, assumptions are limiting, aren't they?

Nortel Blog is recommended as good corporate example to follow.
IBM following their lead, is good idea.

Sunday Video Government Transparency

2009-03-22T07:00:00.000-06:00

Can a leopard change its' spots.

Lightchaser

Can collaborative and inclusive , trump command and control?

Not sure, what about you?

Lean in or back and watch.

Going Green on Saturday

2009-03-21T12:13:00.003-06:00

Now that spring is officially arrived, going Green regularly on Saturday. Start today with some links. Primary focus is on household level things 'we' can do, to make a cumulative difference, plus neat, well OK cool stuff.

Solar Device Charger uses USB

SunCatcher Golf Cart

Energy Monitoring software, know what you spend

Homeless Shelter

Wow! Green and socially responsible.

Fido Bad Dog!

2009-03-20T10:49:00.006-06:00

Fido lied. Well not the mascot. Thelma, the customer service rep did. She said Sherwood Park is outside of urban coverage zone. I would have to pay long distance, on every call.

No it isn't! OK, Thelma made a mistake. Not her fault. She's coerced by a corporate culture, which views customers as the enemy. In that space, there's no enabling. All Thelma could do, and she worked at it, was up sell, things I didn't need. Like a wireless router . I didn't buy, Fido. When Thelma lied, I lost trust. Hate that!

Other options are fraught with same corporate mentality. The communication oligopoly Rogers, Shaw, Bell, Telus, tell us what we can't do, scarcity.

When I tried to buy the basic $2o/m plan, Thelma said, plus a $35 activation fee. Waived, if I bought the $25 plan. Difference, $120, more over 2 years. Gotcha, well me! Imagine, if customer service, actually, enabled the customer, what a difference that would make. Might I, we, buy more, without being up sold. Hate that too!

Maximizing take out is the mantra of scarcity. Charging what the market will bear is great for margins, in a tiny market. Canada's mobile penetration rate is 69% . Good for top 30 in the world, not very good. Where is Canada's Global presence, in anything to do with mobile? Korea has two brand name manufacturers. Finland one, the largest.

Unfortunately, the oligopoly is what it is. Does all it can to create scarcity, enabled by the regulator. Other countries use technology to enable themselves. Become Global leaders. In Canada, we create scarcity and enable nothing.Wonder why? Our singular Global brand, bankrupt. An example of why the current rendition of capitalism is broken.

Might be some hope though, new service coming.

All A Twitter

2009-03-18T14:26:00.004-06:00

Two day user of Twitter. Nod to Mack Male.

Man, I can sure turn 'sign up', into an adventure!

Wondering about this Twitter business. What's the value proposition?

'They" say research is one. Crowd sourcing another. Perhaps if you trust the crowd.

Mack hooked me, when he asked:
"For the locals - if you could teach @ctvedmonton ONE thing about Twitter, what would it be?

Worked for Mack, he got insight from the crowd, which became an element, in his Twitter presentation to the CTV folks.

OK, a good first lesson, into the value proposition for Twitter.

However, Twitter isn't going to save local news, or media jobs, in this berg. Journalism is. The art and the craft are not well practiced, here.

This little nugget from Jeff Jarvis is worth contemplating.

"All these parties must collaborate, not compete. They must create complementary content that fills out their local news worlds so that each of them adds value and stands out for it. Writing the same story everyone else is covering does not do that; it never did."

The Muni Airport issue is a good local application of Jarvis' theory. The value proposition is getting past the rhetoric and posturing. Duplicating the same clip of Cal Nichols is not journalism.

Monitoring the conversation , joining it, can generate leads, provide perspective and distinguish, the journalist and the organization, which vacates the pack. Value for them and the news consumer.

There's little perspective, analysis, or discussion, in our local news.

"The City of Edmonton will channel $1.5 million from red-light camera tickets into a new University of Alberta research chair position focused on traffic safety research."

That's the last paragraph in this story, from the Journal.

A million and a half dollars is not chump change, is it? Photo radar and red light camera infractions are now a critical revenue source. The safety angle is bogus, a straw man. City budgets and University programs are now addicted to surveillance technology. Partners in sustaining the rationale for it, wrapped in a dubious unsubstantiated smoke screen of safety and security. Does it matter? Where's the journalism?

Sunday Video Kindle Reading

2009-03-15T07:00:00.000-06:00

Lots of buzz, geek speak, for consumer interest in the Kindle .

Steve Rubel thinks it can be a game changer for the publishing industry.

Om Malik thinks Apple is developing something similar and more powerful.

Jeff Jarvis doesn't like it.

Three thought leaders on internet trends, I read allot.

Take a look, at this . Render your own verdict.

Globe and Mail is Live

2009-03-10T12:01:00.006-06:00

The Globe and Mail is 'live blogging ' the CRTC hearings. Normally, that's not a stop the press story. However, it's a new innovative deployment of technology that benefits the reader, at no extra cost to him and her. Standard definition of value add, may I add.

'Live' is always good; says the old independent media guy. Can't hide during live, sort of naked, well metaphorically. Just about impossible to filter and spin, live, though folks try it every day.

Take a look.

There is some life, emotion, in the flow of the text. Sounds as though Shaw is quite ticked. That's good.

This is a challenging time for mass media. The business model is falling apart. The silos of Information creation, publication and distribution are broken. It's a commodity business, now.

Enabled by the net; we get our info, where we choose to get it. Not from where, they say we should get it, exclusively from them. Unfortunately, for them, and us, consumers and employees, they chose to ignore the net.

There's lots of consternation about the mass media business death spiral. The demand for information is increasing, old media companies are dying, a conundrum indeed,

The Globe is following the NYT . Trying new things like live blogging, audio and video to accompany and amplify reportage. Imagine a newspaper, acting like a broadcaster. It's true! The benefit is a richer, more valuable reader experience. The challenge, how to re-aggregate the audience and increase revenue.

That's much better than asking the government to 'regulate', create scarcity, where there isn't any.

Heats and Minds Part 2

2009-03-09T10:09:00.010-06:00

Here's a couple of links to help you sort out the City Centre Airport issue.

City Centre Airport wiki

City Centre Airport Review

I see a big problem emerging. First the public consultation is being handled by an Ottawa firm. Why? No intent to disparage that company, surely there's a local firm that could do the job?

Typically consultation is a top down, command and control endeavor. Already, a public input session has been completed. A survey drew 108 responses. That's hardly comprehensive. There's more insight, in the comments section of on line stories, in the Edmonton Journal.

Why does public input stop now? The process is dynamic, on going. It's possible to update discussion, as it happens. Google has started to curate a news archive.

The discussion, needs to be well, easily accessible, easy to review. It's pretty easy to participate.

Comprehensive, not quite. Let's get all the discussion on one place. Make it easy to learn, discuss, and participate.

Sunday Video Be Happy Don't Worry

2009-03-08T12:57:00.004-06:00

Be and don't , now those two commands are easy to say harder to eh do.

Pretty safe to say, we all want to be happy. However maybe it's just sufficient just to be.

Any way lean in or back and see if there's an answer or issue, to happy.

Hearts and Minds

2009-03-07T21:34:00.010-07:00

The Great Airport debate is on, once again in our berg. Quite fascinating to observe the communication strategies. Some old, some new.

The old getting on the news. Get the message out.

click to watch

Stake a position

click to watch

There's a difference this time. You, we, are part of the discussion. New media and internet based communication tools and platforms, give us a voice, we've never had before.

Expect positions to be staked, in the news. Look for transparency , in the comments.

Know you can be heard, engage, and contribute to the conversation.

What a great opportunity for local media companies to create platforms to facilitate the discussion.

Could the newspapers create an Edmonton Air Transportation Wiki like the Globe and Mail has done, on national issues. Here's the current City Centre Airport wiki.

Could they do it together, a cross media, cross company collaborative effort? That would be a press stopper!

Sure they could. Will they?

Engagement

2009-03-03T11:09:00.003-07:00

Here's an excerpted email, I got from Adobe, today.

Hello Bruce,

My name is Laura Kake and I am following up on a webinar on Adobe® Acrobat Connect Professional to see if I could be of any assistance...

Laura Kake | Inside Sales Associate

This is an engagement pitch, not a conversation. I consider it a pitch because I didn't ask for it.

Follow up is always good. However, the webinar Laura refers to was a technical disaster. Never got to attend, Dan Health's Made to Stick. The Adobe conferencing system, did not work that day.

"Due to technical issues with the Connect Pro meeting a recording link is being offered....We apologize for any inconvenience.
Regards, Registration Support | Event Services Group | Technical Support | 1.800.493.1594"

Apology accepted, thanks. Several questions emerge, here. Should Laura know, there was a glitch? If she did, I'm confident her pitch changes. For example, I have misplaced the recorded link, alluded to above. So one thing she could do is get that to me, again. Now, if that happens then my entire experiences changes.

Right now, Abobe's Connect Pro, is a technology that does not work for me. Have you ever tried it?

Customer engagement is the marketing mantra, these days. This attempt, though well intentioned, misses the mark. The link between technical operations and marketing is broken. Better, all divisions need to understand their roles, as a customer engagement specialists.

What could the technical guys have done? Fix the problem, obviously, Hard to do in a live event, when the clock is ticking. Glitches are part of the live event landscape. Plan "B" is a must have in 'live'. Post event, tell the marketing folks, there was a glitch. The latter is a game changer. The piece that was missed here. What would you do?

WWGD on Line "Free"

2009-03-01T13:38:00.003-07:00

Took a little sleuthing, here's the on line version of WWGD.

So it's available in all iterations from free to pay, on line, hard cover, video audio and excerpts.

That certainly meets Jarvis' mantra . Fresh updated content. Permanent dialog. Continual consistent review and revision. Create value, by creating more using the same platform.

Seems to be working. He's everywhere, at this moment. Likely making more in speaking and consulting, than the book. That's the message. Do you think?