by Pete Deutschman, Chief Buddy

My wedding anniversary. My children and wife’s birthday. CES (Consumer Electronic Show).

Answer: Top 3 things I look forward to each year.

January 1st is always very difficult for me. Not because I am recovering from a few too many toasts the night before (although that might or might not be a reality) but because of the anticipation of what this year’s CES will present. Who is going to “bring it”? Which innovator has answered my plea from the year before?

CES 2009 brought us 82” HD LED displays, blacker blacks and the first major proliferation of accessories for mobile phones by almost every exhibitor. (see last year’s post http://blog.thebuddygroup.com/2009/01/24/ces-tbg-plays-a-small-part-in-a-great-conference/) Fraught with budget cuts and layoffs, attendance was low and the floor lacked energy and optimism.

Fast forward one year to CES 2010. The techonomics pendulum has swung in the opposite direction boosting energy, optimism and buyer outlook.

Here are a few observations, based on what I saw and the conversations with friends old and new, as well as some of the highlights (in my humble opinion).

• Smart phone will rapidly be referred to as a connected device…with a phone. What connected device you carry will depend on your ability to connect to stay connected to the internet 24/7  and form factor. All devices are quickly becoming app ready, web-services connected and multi-purposed.
• Integrated and connectedness between devices will create amazing efficiencies for consumers but also complications for manufacturers as content and integration “deals” have be made at break neck speed.
• Refinement of product features and improvement of use cases over big swell innovation for a few more years ahead
• 3D content creation tools are here but I still need stupid glasses to view them (for good quality).

My favorite innovation this year was found at a small little booth in the North Hall by a company called ThinkOptics, Inc. Manned with a table, an iphone and a 42” display their iWavit hardware and software turns your smart phone into the “ultimate remote control”. What is so compelling about this product is the ease of use and infinitive possibilities. In just 5 minutes, I watched founder and CTS Anders Grunnet-Jespen, Ph.D. effortlessly setup the device to control his TV, media center AND computer. That is all fine and dandy, but when the device allowed him to change channels on the TV and then switch over (with one click) to the PC and point and move the mouse (like a Wii remote) and control his computer screen, I knew I found the device for me. Too bad it is not for sale yet…I hope some of my other favorite connected devices  take note. This is going to be huge.

Click here to watch the video
Wavit.com- my best of

3D hardware continues to be all the rage. For me, its cool, but I can’t see it becoming mass in each home unless the user can “switch” between 3D and standard 1080p. Even then, for good quality you have to wear those stupid glasses and let me tell you, with two kids in the house and two dogs, I have a hard enough time keeping my regular glasses from getting broken or lost. Nonetheless, for 3D to take off, it has to be easier to create that content. Panasonic showed off their new camera with a live display. I shot a quick video to show what the camera looks like.

Click here to watch the video
Panasonic 3D Camera: Retail price aprox. $32,000

Where should we mount this flat panel? Well, if it is truly flat then it really doesn’t matter. Introducing the world slimmest full LED by LG. No words needed…just watch the video

Click here to watch the video
Life is Good with LG…that is for sure.

Intel made quite an impact on me as they do every year. Their new ATOM processor is about the size of 5 grains of rice. But what was really cool was their interactive cube display. The presenter had a laptop that allowed her to control the search and display parameters real time. Little sliders on her display changed what we as an interactive user saw as options for searching and interacting. What was really impressive was that there did not to seem to be a limit on the amount of people who could touch and click on the screens at once. I suppose that was the point…thanks Intel.

Click here to watch the video
Intel Interactive out of home display

I also found a fun little product called Beamz. Beamz is a professional interactive instrument. Each laser beam controls a different instrument, rhythm or sound effect. I watched the DJ go back and forth between scratching vinyl and using the Beamz and must say, Beamz is much more interesting to watch. It is a real art form. Click here to watch the video Beamz- each laser mean controls a different instrument, rhythem or sound effect

All in all a great trip. There was not enough time to catch up with everyone but it was good to connect with those we rand into on the floor and in suites. We even enjoyed an evening out to see Cirque’s Love (@cirque) along with a backstage tour. Truly a great experience.

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by Pete Deutschman, Chief Buddy

How you refer to yourself has everything to do what how others perceive you and your abilities. Self referral has to be founded in reality, be proven and most important, be honest. I am an entrepreneur. I have started and run several companies starting with a DJ business in High School and I am most happy when I can see the impact of decisions made real time.

This week’s Business Week article titled “Beware Social Media Snake Oil”, is spot on. Let’s call these snake oil sales people the “Harold Hills” of our time (see the video below for reference).

Since entering the digital marketing and communications world 13 years ago (wow), I have seen a lot of smart people who call themselves experts, gurus or evangelists. These self proclaimed heroes see an opportunity to capitalize on market opportunity and pounce.

As an entrepreneur I can appreciate the desire to generate new revenue channels and get excited by opportunities. However, good entrepreneurs (Note: I didn’t say successful, I said good) posses a secret sauce that allows them to detect BS and see through smoke and mirrors.
It is not a skill you learn in business school. It is not a skill you learn from your parents (even if they were entrepreneurs). It is a skill you are born with. Like @GregGrunberg’s character Matt Parkmen, you need to unleash the innate gift and use it for good. (Note: I am a HEROES geek).

In the article they call out some of the self-made “Gurus” who collect thousands of dollars to show up and speak to organizations looking for the silver bullet. Most of us have attended these events. It’s true that many of the speakers are not teaching anything new to the audience, but rather being dynamic individuals who know how to read a room. Like Harold Hill, they found the pain point and capitalized on the situation.

I am more in the camp of approaching Social as just another channel, albeit a wonderfully dynamic and exciting one, in need of utilization as part of a larger strategy. We (those of us who practice digital communications) need to be responsible about how we are presenting ourselves and sharing information. In new client meetings at The Buddy Group, we often tell clients there are no “experts” in social media..it is too new to be an expert. However, we are experts in online, in communication, in brand building. So, that makes us ideally suited to shepherd their brand in the ever changing social media space.

Without responsible communication, we as an industry run the risk of being characterized, much as Harold Hill, as nothing better than snake oil salesmen.

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by Bryan Boettger, Chief Creative Officer

Anyone that knows me knows I’m a big Clint Eastwood fan. By far, a favorite movie quote of mine is from Magnum Force: “A man’s got to know his limitations.” It’s an important quote in marketing because a brand has to both stretch its potential and also know its limitations. I love to push clients to try new things and take a chance, but you also have to be realistic about who/what your brand is, who your clients are and the perception equation between the two.

As an example, iTunes has the soundtrack for The Hangover (Yes, the quality movie where Ed Helms loses his tooth and a baby is found in a closet) available for sale — But, only for sale as a complete album. Consumers cannot purchase individual songs.

Apple knows the limitations of this soundtrack. Frankly, it’s not that good. But, it has some quality tracks on it from the movie. Songs custom from the movie that you can’t get anywhere else. Chances are fans of the movie will go ahead and drop the $9.99 to get the full album. However, if the individual tracks were available, it’s virtually guaranteed those same fans would only buy a couple tracks.

That’s smart marketing due to knowing the limitations of the product. Ideally, if you recognize the limitations, you try to better the product. If that’s not an option though, a business needs to make the best with what they have and not fool themselves by putting on blinders about their product(s). In the end, working with your limitations is always better than ignoring them.

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by Bryan Boettger, Chief Creative Officer

They weren’t “350 million” — as in the number of people currently using Facebook worldwide. Neither were they “50 percent” (number of users who are regional network members) or “remove…completely” (Facebook’s plan to entirely get rid of networks).

No, the two most important words were: “or everyone.”

As in, you can choose to share your info and updates with only your friends, friends of your friends, “or everyone.”

Mark Zuckerberg’s letter is positioned as an update on how Facebook is dealing with its expanding user base and protecting the privacy of that user base. However, couple the two words “or everyone” with the recent news about Facebook’s impending homepage redesign, and you can start to see that these two feature changes make Facebook more competitive with Twitter’s feature sets.

Here’s how it will work: 1) Users can share their content with everyone, 2) Other users can search this treasure trove of status updates, link sharing, etc., and 3) Everyone starts to be able to share and find content more broadly, much as is being done on Twitter. No doubt Facebook will open up additional APIs so other sites can tap into this content as well.

How does it work now? Do a search via the Facebook search for the term “Zuckerberg Open Letter.” There will be results for Groups and, at the bottom, Posts by Friends where you will find Zuckerberg’s open letter. Now, go to Twitter and do the same search for “Zuckerberg Open Letter” via the Twitter search. Your results are filled with all the commentary people are making about the open letter, links to the open letter, etc.

Imagine the Twitter level of search results, but fueled by the level of activity going on in Facebook. Keep in mind Facebook has 350 million users and Twitter is estimated to have approximately 35 million…

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