Intrinsic Strategy

In the interests of irritating those on all sides of an issue, I’ve posted a guest commentary on TechFlash calling for the optional, voluntary professional certification of journalists.

Why would I do something others in my former profession might think, well, is stupid?

After all, I spent more than a decade as a full-time news broadcaster (radio and TV), and then — after I moved to marketing consulting — still worked on the side as a columnist for Eastsideweek/Seattle Weekly (for four years) and KCPQ-TV Seattle as a commentator (for another four years). I should be one of the last people to call for journalist “certification.”

Years ago, when I read Algis Budrys’ 1977 novel Michaelmas, I wasn’t just struck by its prescient vision of a distributed, networked computer intelligence. I was struck by its vision of the profession of its protagonist: as a highly respected, freelance journalist, handling his own research, video and reporting — and selling his reporting services to the highest bidder.

More than 30 years later, Budrys (who died last year) may have hit upon the journalistic future I think we’re about to embark upon: that of free-agent professionals who are medium agnostic and can produce text, audio and video for just about any kind of media outlet, including one they individually control.  Think of it as blended reporting. (more…)

I’ll be emceeing and interviewing at Washington’s Innovation Summit on April 9 in Bellevue, WA. While I’m more of a ringleader than a highlight of the day-long event, the Summit presents a wide variety of business, research and government leaders in a rather jam-packed schedule.

The annual event used to be known as the Washington State Technology Summit, but has broadened its agenda in 2009 to include technology and sustainability topics such as energy, materials & manufacturing, urban landscapes and ecosystems.

Maria Cantwell, Gifford Pinchot, Lee Cheatham, Linden Rhoads and Bill Crounse are some of the recognizable names gathered by the Washington Technology Center to speak at this event at Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue. It should be a fascinating day.

The downside of book contracts comes when you lose control of your self. And that’s the case now that my name is attached to two “new” Dummies books that I had no direct involvement in writing … and didn’t even know existed until I read about them in a blog.

Let me say upfront this doesn’t mean they’re not good books. But my advice and image — state of the art nearly a decade ago — have been repackaged and represented as current. It’s marketing at its most automatic.

Background: In 2000, Bud Smith and I wrote Internet Marketing for Dummies, a successor to 1998′s Marketing Online for Dummies. The contract I signed allowed for non-U.S. editions, a good idea. IMFD was translated into languages and alphabets I don’t read, or in some cases, recognize. All in all, IMFD was in print for seven years, a good run.

But last year,  I noticed blog posts referencing Frank Catalano’s book, Digital Marketing for Dummies. (more…)

If you think video games are recession proof, question your assumptions. Because there is no single “video game industry” with one platform, distribution model and customer set.

In a guest commentary on TechFlash.com, I’ve outlined my thoughts. And I’ll stress test them when I moderate a panel of game industry execs at the Washington Technology Industry Association dinner Wednesday in Seattle.

It’s hard not to want to agree with people like Big Fish CEO Jeremy Lewis, who compared the appeal of his company’s casual games to Charlie Chaplin’s films during the Great Depression. Chaplin’s escapist entertainment was cheap; the medium, novel. The same is true of many games today.  And they’re far better than video games available during the last deep recession of 1981-82. Yet that recession ended with the 1983 collapse of the era’s video game industry. Not necessarily a great historic precedent.

So makers of confident pronouncements should be wary. Any recession proofing could be relative depending on how far the economic tide recedes — and which players are left stranded on the bottom.

So what is this thing called blog?

Unlike some other blogs with which I’ve been involved going back to nearly the turn of the century, I have no illusions about readership or longevity of this effort. This is, out of the gate, a limited edition.

I’ve learned a lot of practical lessons about marketing: how it must align with business goals, how to introduce and balance branding where marketing has only been about sales support before, and how to make sure the initial intent survives what can be endless rounds of internal review. Everything from doing good competitive analysis, to choosing a new name, to tightly integrating strategic and tactical plans.

And over the next few months I’ll share what I’ve learned here in a manner unusual for a consultant: free of charge. (I’ll also provide asides on what I’m doing peripherally professionally, and observations on the marketing of others. Plus, I’ll continue experimenting with WordPress, beyond the earlier test posts.)

If you happen to find this blog, I hope you find it interesting and, more importantly, useful.

Even though I’m something of a dinosaur (Allosaurus, I think, and not T-Rex) when it comes to the videogame industry — I mean, I know why the original 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System had a keyboard port on the bottom that was never used in the U.S. market — I’ve been asked to moderate the Washington Technology Industry Association’s February dinner meeting.

The topic? “In the Game: Washington State’s Video Game Industry.” It’ll be February 18 at the Herban Feast in Seattle, a new venue for the WTIA.

Some good panelists, too: Alex St. John, Tony Garcia, Harold Zeitz and Paul Thelen. And I get to play the trained seal. Er, moderator.

Check it out and/or register at the WTIA site. And don’t miss WTIA President and CEO Ken Myer as an avatar. It’s not as creepy as Tom Hanks in The Polar Express. Really.

Over at the new Seattle-area technology news site, TechFlash, I’ve penned my first tech industry commentary for publication in a bit more than four years. You’ll find it under the title of Web 1.0, Version 2.0.

It was a delight to be asked to contribute by site founders John Cook and Todd Bishop, both well-respected former Seattle Post-Intelligencer tech reporters who are now working with the Puget Sound Business Journal.

And yes, a certain line in the commentary is getting some additional attention.