Round and round we go with distribution…

This week an article was published by EyeForTravel reflecting a recent survey taken amongst airliners.  I thought this would be a good time to highlight a snapshot of where things stand in my opinion with wholesalers, online travel agencies and middlemen when it comes to distribution of product inventory – specifically within the travel sector.

First off, read the full article here: Airlines to sell the majority of tickets direct to passengers by 2013: Survey.  Next, be sure and at least subscribe to their newsletter.  I’ve been keeping up with them for a few years now and find several valuable nuggets of info with regards to the travel industry and digital media.  Okay, so back to the commentary.

For those of us involved with product distribution (whether it’s tickets, books, reservations, or other retail items), we’ve all seen the struggle between dealing direct with the consumer or pushing our offers through a 3rd party wholesaler.  I say “struggle” because it often times feels like a big pendulum swinging back and forth.  Over the past twenty years, we’ve seen it.  At first, distribution channels were tapped because companies were finding themselves behind-the-curve with their online presence and e-commerce.  Then, as the dotcom economy heated up after 2002, merchants gained a lot of confidence in their ability to sell direct.  They kept up with usability standards, tested different ecommerce platforms and focused on each user having a smooth purchasing experience.  3rd party sites and wholesalers still had their place, but the merchants were a little more bold and started to shift their inventory.  The scale was about to tip over in favor of direct dealings with online consumers when the economy really slumped in 2008. Read more

Las Vegas local list of favorite restaurants…

After spending almost 20 years in Sin City and being asked over and over again my recommendations for local dining experiences, I finally compiled a list for a quick copy-paste.  This will save me a lot of time in the future rather than rattling them off every time someone asks.  Most of these I’ve frequented more than once (except for the ultra-expensive) and found that there’s nothing on the menu that’s a bad choice.  It’s one thing to go to a restaurant for their specialty, it’s another task for them to satisfy you with everything on the menu!  Attention Vegas visitors, family, friends and business associates, you can’t go wrong with ANY of these:

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E3 2010 Highlights

The day started with filling the gas tank for a 4.5 hour drive to LA to join the other avid game industry professionals in a trek throughout the LA convention center.  The VP of content (and partner at www.wiredzombie.com) and I were graciously invited by one of the exhibitors to attend the outlandish, sensory overload of digital entertainment for the day.   Check out Wired Zombie’s video recap here.

…and when I say “sensory overload”, it’s not an exaggeration.  We only had 1 day to get through the throngs of presentations and exhibits which seemed like it might has well have only been 10 minutes when compared to the infinite amount of square feet we had to cover.  It’s no secret that I’m an avid gamer.  It’s my escape from the workday.  Whether that escape comes at 10p, 12a or 2a, I usually try to get an hour or so of gaming in just to clear my head and experience what I consider “fun”.

So needless to say, being our first trip to E3, it was an incredible treat.  The biggest impression I got was from the folks at XBOX, who went to great lengths to ensure they had the largest exhibit possible.  From my estimates, it looked like the exhibit was well over 100 feet long, presenting new games just released, and above all; Kinect.  Kinect is the equivalent to the WII, but without remote devices you hold in your hand.  The system can recognize up to 4 different voices (players) in the room and is controlled by nothing more than body sensory/movement.  Their exhibit contained “cells” of rooms which onlookers could see event attendees test-driving the new technology.  With Kinect, comes their new model of XBOX – slimmer and sleeker in design, certainly more compact (released Friday, June 18th, 2010).  250Gigs, WiFi built-in and Kinect.  Get it now!  As I watched, I couldn’t help but wonder when this technology would be introduced into the workplace – 5 years?  10 years?  I don’t know, but when it comes in it’s going to make our mechanical interaction much more interesting.

Oh, and remember those Virtual Reality games you saw in shopping malls a few years back?  They had a helmet and a joystick you held in one hand as you climbed up onto a platform, protecting you from falling off with a ring around your body.  The platform has been replaced by a sphere-shaped cage that you climb into.  The helmet is nothing more than headgear that you put on and you carry a realistic looking gun.  Now, VR players can walk, run, jump and dodge enemy onslaughts which was the piece that was missing in the past.  It was cool to see this become more mainstream as I always felt the VR exhibits were lacking the sense of one’s body movement.  I found a great post on it covering the test debut.

We also experimented with new force-feedback joysticks that actually convey material, object weight and touch-sensory.  For instance, you move your “virtual” hand over sandpaper, and the force-feedback simulated the touch of a gritty surface.  Pick up a ball and feel how heavy it was and how swinging it around changed the sense of weight and centrifugal force.  Novint has come a long way with their new version of game control.

Another area was presented by THQ.  They showcased their new “Homefront” game coming out in early 2011.  Think of “Red Dawn” now becoming a video game where North Korea has joined South Korea in taking over the world.  Pretty intense animated video and realistic gameplay from what we could see.  While we were standing in line, the “patrol” gave us little red books called “Subject’s Guides” from the occupiers of the “New Korean Federation”.  It referenced a list of rules and directed people to visit http://www.americafactsheet.com/ .  No video cameras allowed, but it sure looks like a great upcoming title for my fellow gamers and THQs marketing definitely made the attempt to immerse everyone in the experience.

Other noteable XBOX games showcased were Gears of War 3, The Force Unleashed II, Red Faction: Armageddon and Halo Reach.

The one disappointment I had was that there was NO TRACE of Apple’s iPad.  You would think with all the media dollars spent on promoting the device and massive consumer adoption, they would have at least made an attempt at gathering some of the gaming market.  But alas, it was heartbreaking to not see them there.  The only glimpse I had of iPad technology was in the “indie gamer” area.  Obviously not backed by Apple funding.  Apple missed the boat on this one.

E3 was one of those experiences I’ve looked forward to for years.  And I must say, it didn’t disappoint.  We went to an after party, getting back to Vegas at 3:30am.  24 hours with no sleep…. sure reminds me that I’m not in my 20s anymore.  Be sure to check out the video.

Video games are a crystal ball for our future workplace

E3 is next week and thousands will attend the show in LA to see the future of video gaming.  Every year there are new announcements from Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft that really get the public excited for what is just around the corner for their gaming experience. 

A couple of years ago it was the Wii (motion sensing with remotes).  Last year it was project “Natal” from XBOX (motion sensing withOUT remotes).  This year, to reflect CES in Vegas, it’s all going to be about the third-dimension.

As new technologies are released on the gaming platforms, whether it’s touch screens, motion sensors, or voice activated interaction – the adoption of this into practical workplace tools isn’t too far away.  Sooner or later, we’re going to see the same technologies enter our office and applied in order to make us more productive. 

We’ll have to stay tuned to see what E3 announces this year.  It seems that the fastest adoption rates for technology are those who want to be entertained.  I’m a big XBOX fan.  And I, like many other gamers out there, can’t wait to get my hands on the next coolest thing when it comes to gaming experiences.  But as I socialize with other gamers and test out new tools and gaming concepts, it’s not too hard to imagine virtual interaction as part of our regular workday.  Motion detection devices are becoming so precise, they can sense anything from the flip of the wrist to the angle and velocity of an object in motion.  Trust me, it’s not a big leap to foresee us losing our keyboards, mice and other interactive devices in order to interface with a machine…. more to come after E3

Reciprocity in the workplace…and social media

…and the reciprocity just keeps getting bigger and BIGGER.  This article on Cleveland.com had a multitude of instances where folks found themselves at the threshold of hell for some of the things they posted, tweeted or blogged about.  Everything from nosey bosses to reckless employees at work was mentioned. Some of the stories were pretty entertaining as I found it difficult to believe people were so blatant about their activities online. 

It’s an age-old discussion that we’ve seen a hundred times about the place for social media in the workforce.  With the aided benefit of a mobile device, employees are going to socialize whether they have access via computer or their cell phone.  Yet apparently 54% of companies still actively ban social media sites from employee access.

The best part of this article was the comments at the end.  People are actually still of the mindset that what they post on the internet is their private business.  Amazing that they actually feel that whether they post something in the workplace or on their own time – it should remain as something to be read by their friends only.  Um, excuse me, but 99.9% of the junk that’s posted on the ‘net’ is “out there” and always will be.  Not only do your friends read it, but their friends read it, your employer reads it, your future employer reads it, your x-girlfriends, x-boyfriends, kids, in-laws, law enforcement, attorneys, fire marshal Bill, EVERYONE reads it.

I chuckled at the comment made by one user who was undoubtedly fed up with the rationale given by the other posts trying to justify online behavior as something that shouldn’t be used against them…. he says “Here’s an idea: DON’T POST ANYTHING ON FACEBOOK, TWITTER, MYSPACE, ETC!!! In fact, don’t even have any accounts anywhere. Somewhere over the past 10 years people have forgotten the fact that once something is on the internet, it’s there forever. How many people now have naked pictures or videos of them floating around out there? How many people have embarrassing or damaging things they said floating around out there? If you don’t want people to know everything about your life, don’t put your entire life on a web page! Employers have every right to fire people for dumb stuff they post on social media sites. Maybe this will finally get people to wake up. Stupid, stupid, stupid….”

Oh, did I say “sales”? I meant “service”.

As emerging media continues to evolve and marketers / companies glob onto new opportunities, it’s funny how there always seems to be a “backtrack” when it comes to stating the purpose of a particular channel.  We’ve all witnessed tons of dollars and resources dumped into channels such as virtual worlds, social media, mobile marketing, in-game advertising, etc.  I have to admit, I love the shift of perspectives when everyone discovers that the “gold mine” isn’t inherent in the new media they try.  Especially when consumer adoption has yet to be fully realized.

For the past few years “mobile” has been touted as the pot of gold at the end of a long rainbow.  And now that many of us are entrenched in the space, everyone’s discovering that it’s not driving that much incremental revenue.  So now everyone shifts their gears and says, “well, mobile might be more of a service for us to offer rather than a revenue generator”.  This seems to be the phrase that justifies all the hype and squelches formerly established expectations.

Just like the article on Eye For Travel; a year ago this article would have said “Mobile is the next gold mine!”.  But today it’s more conservative when it asks the question “Is mobile more about delivering service or generating revenue?”.  Let’s face it, “delivering service” was really never at the top of the pile when it came to expectations.  Companies were sold on mobile marketing entry primarily based on the estimated ROI it seemed to portray.  Now, it’s a perfect “out” from that stance to say, “It’s more about service”. 

Mobile, just like any other new media isn’t going to replace revenue (or even come close to matching) garnered from media that has been established for over a decade.  Seems as though many marketing professionals still seek the one channel that includes mass audience.  That doesn’t exist.  And never will.  Media fragmentation is here to stay.  You need audience/users in order to generate sizeable revenue.  So while we all work towards a position in new media channels, let’s not kid ourselves and say “anything” is the ”answer to our sales prayers”, thus avoiding having to eat our own words.

You MUST Be Who You Say You Are

Cruising through the stories this week, I came across an interesting announcement on Virtual World News.  The article entitled “3D Chat Introduces NewVirtual World”, talked about the upcoming launch for a new social media 3D environment.  The environment promises to deliver the functionality of Facebook and other tools combined with all the 3D elements we’ve come to know through the hype of Second Life in 2007 (funny how things shift so fast, isn’t it?). 

The virtual world introduction isn’t an amazing feat.  After all, there are a growing handful of them out there which marketers have largely dismissed as viable oppotunities for the time being.  The interesting part of this article stems from how they (3D Chat) endeavor to verify users are who they say they are.  Through partnership and database cross-referencing through Aristotle, eBay and PayPal, the company hopes to “verify” user identities as legitimate, making it a truthful platform to interact with other users in a 3D world environment.

With a “VERYfied” certification (those who’s identity has been affirmed), users will have full range access to all the tool’s features.  Those without verification will have limited toolsets. 

Interesting how it used to require a birth certificate or social security cards to confirm you are who you are.  This is the first company I’ve seen to take a stab at authenticating someone’s online identity through third-party references.  As we continue down the path of networked relationships and social media correspondence, it’s going to become more and more important to users that they are interacting with someone who they know as a friend, co-worker, etc.  Over the past decade, most of us have befriended anyone who we’ve had a two-step conversation with.  In the case of Twitter, I notice tons of folks who follow you just because you follow them.  But I foresee many folks pulling back their outreach for digital popularity as it becomes more important to them that they truly know who they are talking to and not just some random identity that could be anything from a billionaire to a serial killer.

3D Chat may be a small start-up, but you watch…  we’re going to see more and more of an effort to confirm and cross-reference your identity with other digital silhouettes of your virtual self.  Just remember, in the end unless their is physical proof, no system is infallable.

For all you trendsetters out there, 3D Chat IS taking beta-testers.  I’d love to hear your feedback!