Big words do not charm – Part 2

February 26th, 2007 • Marketing/ Advertising

I was browsing through a few new sites and was compelled to create this post (with examples this time) Check this out, The first few lines from the About US page of two companies:

net-linx offers software designed to foster growth, while solving the publishing challenges of today, reducing Total Cost of Ownership.

net-linx solutions are intended to reduce the complexity of the publishing process. Our solutions create immediate business value for media publishers by streamlining their production processes, whether it is ad sales, ad production or the creation and publishing of editorial content.

Sophisticated, cross platform solutions will automate much, if not all, of your processes, reducing labor and technology costs. Staff gains access to well thought out tools that let them focus on their core competencies, thus improving productivity. With modern technology, backed by a complete range of services and worldwide support, publishers can reduce their overall technology expenditures. (from net-linx) (and it’s not even over yet!)

AND

NewEra Strategies (NES) is a boutique consulting firm focused on enhancing revenue performance and the end user experience primarily for Directory Publishers and Directory Assistance providers.

NES has been a trusted advisor to the Yellow Pages directory publishing, directory assistance, newspaper, wireless directory and magazine communities for over 20 years. We provide independent industry analysis, strategic business planning, technology solutions and custom publishing products that add value to print, online and wireless markets. – From NES

Why don’t you take a few minutes to decide which one of these descriptions works for you ? It doesn’t matter if the business/ company is of interest to you. What matters is – from reading this About US description, do you:

• Understand what the company does?
• It’s target audience?
• What it can do you for you?
• And lastly, if you had to tell your boss what the company does in one sentence, which website/company is going to give you more trouble coming up with that sentence?

My comments are after the jump.

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Re-inventing life… or atleast the boardgame

February 26th, 2007 • 2 comments Culture Briefings

My circle of friends and I have ‘evovled’ (notice how I use the word evolved) from going clubbin’ and bar-hopping to spending Saturday nights inside our apartments hunched excitedly over boardgames.

Our current favorites are Cranium (only we’ve played it so many times now that we know all answers to the questions), Risk and Clue. So a few weeks back when my sister bought The Game of Life to add to our to our Saturday nights, it got me thinking how simplistic the strategy was. All you need to do to win is make the most money?

Imagine my surprise this morning when I read in WSJ that Hasbro is all set to introduce a revised version of the Game of Life in June 2007. A version in which- money, is not the ultimate measure for success. This version titled, The Game of Life: Twists and Turns, was revised to ‘reflect consumer’s wishes for a more balanced life,’ according to WSJ.

In this game, the board is spilt into four areas Learn It, (education)  Live It, (adventures)  Love It (family)  and Earn It ( the moolah!) My guess is that the players can pick the area they want to play in and collect life points.The winner with the most number of ‘life points’ wins the game. Also gone is the old cardboard spinner and in with the new electronic spinner. Add to that a debit card for each player and now you’re talking 2010!

What a wonderful example of how a brand has responded to the culutral shift and it’s audiences. Hasbro is also releasing a slew of it’s games in Express versions — that can be enjoyed in 20 minutes. What I like most aboud board games is that they last so long But I suppose shorter versions wouldn’t hurt.

Zoodango – offline social networking

February 21st, 2007 • Culture Briefings, Social Media

Zoodango (what a catchy name!) is a natural iteration of a social networking site — instead of keeping your relationships online, it allows for offline connections.

Like any other social networking site, you build a profile that includes professional and lifestyle information (a cross between linkedin.com and facebook.com)  Users can then request in person meetings at events or public venues like Starbucks with the other members on the network.

I don’t think their techonology is revolutionary. Neither can I make claims about the longetivity of this site. But the reason I profile it here is to highlight a new learning curve in social media – we are slowly moving beyong simply forging friendships and/or connections online to strengthing them in the offline world.

Not that this never happened before this site was launched — people have always connected to each other via blogs and other social sites, but I think the launch of a site that exclusively promote face-to-face meetings gives this non-traditional (for some!) means of meeting people some sort of legitmacy. It is more of a cultural statement than a cool spotting.

Trivia – The founder/CEO of zoodango.com is current on the L.A Apprentice.

Democratizing education

February 15th, 2007 • 7 comments Culture Briefings, Social Media

It’s been two years since I graduated college and there couldn’t have been a more perfect time for me to learn about this.

I read about the OpenCourseWare Consortium in today’s Wall Street Journal. More than 100 universities and other organizations worldwide have joined hands in creating a body of open coursework available to public with the idea of sharing knowledge and democratizing education. (it also works as a great recruiting tool for these universities, but I choose to look at the non-commerical aspects of this fusion of education and technology)

In USA, universities like MIT, Yale, University of Notre Dame, UC Berkeley, Tufts and Stanford among others have opened a diverse offering of classes (ranging from esoteric topics like Modern Theoretical Physics to timely topics dealign with American cyberculture) for the public.

The value of education is non-negotiable. And when world-class institutions such as these make a select few courses available to everyone, it forms a telling story of how our culture has evolved and how traditional hierarchies are suddenly shiftless.

I’m thrilled! It’s only after graduating college that I’ve appreciated the anticipation of sitting in a classroom not knowing what I was going to discover. With Opensourceware, I will be able to enjoy learning again. More so because this time around, it doesn’t involve homework, midterms or grades!

Absolute Read

February 14th, 2007 • 1 comment Culture Briefings

There’s must reading and then there’s absolute-reads. Very Short List falls into this category. I’ve been recieving this newsletter since their launch and I just realized how much I look forward to reading this spot-on newsletter that delivers exactly what it promises: one cultural gem each weekday. Be it unknown feature films or documentaries, TV shows, novels, magazine, websites or a cool youtube video that has been making rounds of the savvy nyloners.

I rely on VSL to ensure a continuing cultural education – you shoud too.

Social networking for the wealthy

February 9th, 2007 • 1 comment To be filed

Launched in 2004, asmallworld.net is a social networking site for "like-minded people who share same circle of friends, interests and schedules." That is according to their website. According to me, it is a social networking site for celebrities and the upper echelons of the society, the creme de la creme, an invitation only secret society.

They refuse to disclose their members, but it has been rumored that the Ivanka Trump, Naomi Campbell and Qunetin Tarantino are the privileged few of 160,000 members to belong to asmallworld.net

Only certain members of the club have the privilege to invite other members. asmallworld.net admin closely monitor the network and kick out members who network rapidly with the celebrities or who they deem are not worthy of being a part of this clicque.

Elitist? Yes. But kudos to them for discovering a way to mimick real-world relationships and networking in an online world. I think it’s a great idea but I am yet to fully grasp how they expect to monetize from this.

PocketChange NYC

February 9th, 2007 • Culture Briefings

PocketChange is yet another fashionable, sexy-savvy, inner-circle newsletter to have launched in New York. PocketChange covers New York city’s most expensive goods and services. From the most expensive tuna roll to baked potato and brazilian wax to personal shopper.

I think the concept is very interesting and with the growing luxury/aspirational market, the newsletter has tremendous potential.

Check out their scandalous promotional ad in New York magazine. On Wednesday night, PocketChange NYC held a speed-dating session ONLY for extremely wealthy men and extremely hot women.

High-schoolish, but spot on.

Big words do not charm

February 6th, 2007 • 5 comments Culture Briefings, Marketing/ Advertising

They don’t. Really. I am sick of reading on the About Us section of most new companies words like, "We provide…solutions..integrated… ignite your brand….revolutionary…embracing…platforms.. etc etc"

No. You do not do that to poor unassuming visitors who are just on your website to learn more about you or to understand what it is you really do. All that ’slapped to impressed’ jargon only ends up confusing highly ordinary folks like me who do not care if you are revolutionary or not. (because frankly if you were, you wouldn’t try so hard to impress your visitors)

I especially detest it when new companies have short abbreviated terms for their supposedly-groundbreaking solution-oriented systems, or whatever the heck that is. Why not use plain, simple, layman’s english to convey what it is that you exactly do?

I’ve helped many friends write copy for their websites or brochures – but my explanation that people want simplicity and not difficult, intelligent-sounding words has fallen on deaf ears. "It looks professional," is the repsonse I always end up getting.

Ofcourse. Time-tested formulas that have somehow become the norm are now lumped into the professional category. What is professional, in my opinion, is you making it easy for your potential customer to understand what you do, what you offer.

For example, if you are a marketing company- My only interest is in knowing that your methods will increase my sales. I do not care about the copyrighted, patented formula or your solution-oriented ideology. It hurts my head to read information that takes the highway instead of the shortcut to doing it’s job.

This approach of simplicity works best with the recent flux of internet sites in the social media area that have created a major traffic jam on the internet. Cool technologies are awesome, but when it takes you more than 3 lines to explain what it is, there is something inherently wrong with either your technology or your portrayal of it.

I’d love to give you examples but if you read my blog, you already have come across such websites and are nodding your head in approval as you read this.

Smart Tip of the Day # If you are starting your own company or a website or anything else — keep your copy succint, short and simple. Instill humor, when you can or atleast warmth. Everyone knows robots don’t write.