Agora Media Group Innovation Blog

Is the end of traditional marketing segmentation in sight?
The process of segmentation is being reviewed and reshaped due to the Internet and available technologies which refines it.
This article continues where we left at the Personalization, Customization, Collaboration – Future Business Trinity article.
Personalization, Customization and Collaboration are the effects and executions arising from Self-Segmentation which takes place during the strategic analysis and moulding of the organization.

Segmentation within the marketing strategy
Segmenting is the first phase within the Marketing STP process, which is followed by Targeting and Positioning.
Segmentation strategies are often derived from market researches which define segments by making use of the statistical technique called cluster analysis. The challenge can be found here when making use of cluser analysis, it’s difficult to identify the segments in the real world due to its statistical characteristics.
Even if you don’t have the resources to conduct a market research, and segmenting the market is achieved through other means, it still remain passive or static characteristics which define segments. These static characteristics can be found within the demographic, geographic and psychographic variables.

The New Consumer
Unfortunately consumers are more complex, they are dynamic, evolving and simultaneously belong to a wide range of segments. The so-called New Consumer defined by Lewis and Bridger, seeks authenticity, is individualistic, independent and well-informed. This new type of consumer could explain the decreasing output by market researches who de-segments himself by actively destroying patterns.
Besides the complex human nature, external factors like the Internet influence the decision making cycle, by enabling the consumers to morph along its online journey being constantly in touch with the available information and other people. Segmentation seen from the New Consumer point of view is becoming an obsolete term. They can’t be predicted or labeled.

Self-segmentation by participatory media
The participatory Web is the eminent medium which enhances self-segmentation due to the co-creational powers it embodies, which effects the value proposition and the value chain of the company.  Customers who are able to dynamically define themselves towards companies which advances the relationship bi-directional, is the self-evident power that the concept beholds.
Self-segmentation is successful due to the active participation by consumers, which have the goal of achieving the characteristcs of the New Consumer as described above. Next to the self-segmenting techniques which are discussed in the Personalization, Customization, Collaboration – Future Business Trinity article , I want to emphasize the important role of social networks within this context.
Consumers are segmenting themselves when participating in social networks, based upon interests, needs and so on. Based upon the interaction between each other, the different roles a person can have within communities and the content which is generated by a user, it all can be analyzed to create a self-segmented model. An important role to do this are Social Network Analysis (SNA) tools which are able to give insight within the vast amount of information which is locked in a network.

The Axiom of Self-segmentation
The initial comment made in this article, that traditional segmentation is ending, has a long way to go, precisely because the organization has to transform fundamentally in order to make fully use of self-segmentation benefits. Outsourcing the value-proposition to the consumers is a new ball-game which changes the internal structure and focus.
Next to the organizational challenges that self-segmentation brings along, impact on the evolution of the New Consumer -in relation to the Web- and of course customer behavior must be analyzed. Just because technology offers a wide range of new abilities, it does not necessarily mean that consumer behavior is changing by it in full potential. Generation Z will grasp the offered opportunities better, as these consumers are grown up by ubiquitous technology.
The advantages of self-segmentation therefore are self-evident from the marketing and technological point of perspective, self-segmentation offers definately new ways of customer satisfaction, retention and engagement.

The fact is that most consumers are not making use of the self-segmentation abilities which are offered to them, i.e. will customer behavior intrinsically change just because technology is evolving? That needs to be proven.

View the short introductory video by Google where it announces you can discover breaking news on the web with real-time updates from news, blogs and social networks! After Bing has introduced Twitter results in its search results, now it’s time for Google to show its abilities.

Finally, it was bound to happen that Google is displaying real-time results from microblogs, blogs and social networks, next to this news, Google announced as well partnerships with Facebook, Myspace to get real-time data and not to forget, the deal from October with Twitter.

What are the effects and implications of Google’s real-time search and what questions are being raised?
* Will SEO be expanded with optimizing tweets and other public data as well?
* Will all this real-time data be available in Google Analytics, the social media monitoring market will have a new worthy competitor?
* Is Google Search the right place for real-time data (in combination with ‘historic’ data)?
* Will users make use of Google as an aggregator more and more (kind of Friendfeed), or will they make use of each network because it’s more relevant contextually (Google in time will integrate that as well)?
* Will real-time efforts be mechanized just to make sure that people or companies rank high in the search results?
* If Google will prove its importance to real-time search, what about SPAM just to make sure that people or companies rank high in the search results?
* How will real-time results weigh against ‘normal’ search results?

When Google launches new tools, it almost always reshapes or at least shakes up the established Internet landscape.
This is not so bad, it keeps companies focused and it ignites creativity and innovation to come up with solutions for questions as the abovementioned.

If you were the devil’s advocate, what questions would you raise?

What is your top 3 with regard to Marketing, Internet, eCommerce etc, which we need to look out for next year, or where you think emphasis will be put on?

My personal top 3 is:

* Mobile marketing/applications (Social & Augmented Reality)
* Social TV, with a focus on concepts to further develop convergence of the TV, Mobile and Computer screen (“whatever screen works”)
* Further diffusion and software development for social media purposes

Do discuss in Google Wave as well, below.

Kudos to our fine friends at Paladin Studios in Leiden for their release today!

Facebook, one of the leading social networks with over 350 million users, got a Serious Game on its platform today. Called EnerCities, it gets serious about the energy issues of our world. It is a casual city builder created by the Dutch game developer Paladin Studios. The project has a €1.4M budget, and is funded by the European Commission’s Energy Agency.

Rock-Paper-Scissors

“The game is about managing a virtual city”, says Dylan Nagel, who is product manager for EnerCities and co-founder of Paladin Studios. We took several elements from other city builders, and brought it down to the bare essentials.”

Players start with a small grid of nine squares and a limited choice of buildings. They then place structures like industrial plots and residential areas. When done well, the city levels up and grows in size. Each level brings more complexity, but also more opportunities for improving one’s score. Nagel explains:

“We tried to model the game after the real world. The triangle of People, Planet, and Profit is a balancing act which is at the heart of the game mechanics. If the player gets this right, it will reflect in the scores. This makes it essentially a rock-paper-scissors dilemma.”

Facebook

While EnerCities was originally designed for a standalone website, the choice for Facebook could be the driving factor for making the game successful. Says Derk de Geus, co-founder
and CEO of Paladin:

“We want to create a thriving community, where players compete for the highest scores and share their experiences with the game. Social Networks have the potential to make this happen.”

While the game does not have a persistent world like most Facebook games, there is a simple scoring system that allows players to compare their scores and rankings with friends. De Geus:

“Players can experiment with different scenarios. One time you play the industrial tycoon, the next an eco-friendly city builder. Either way, the decisions are tough and you will need to compromise. The idea is that you play with the world and experience the outcome.”

European Commission

The game is funded by the Energy Agency of the European Commission, specifically the Intelligent Energy Program of 2007. The €1.4M budget covers not just game development, but several other aspects.

De Geus:

“Roughly 20% of that money goes to the game itself. The other 80% is split between educational material, marketing and impact research, with most of the funds going to the roll-out of the game. It is essential that schools and teachers embed the game in their curriculum, and this requires significant effort. It deserves a big chunk of the project’s budget.”

In fact, Paladin Studios is part of a larger European consortium. The partners include educational institutions from The Netherlands, United Kingdom, Germany, Slovenia and Greece. In addition, there is an energy agency in Granada and an innovation agency in The Netherlands.

“So far it’s working very well, especially considering the international nature of the team,” says De Geus. “The one thing we had to get used to is the pace of the project. We are a small, agile studio, used to working at a fast pace. Working with the E.C. and educational institutions turns weeks into months, and months into years.”

Public Beta

The game is in public beta now on Facebook and on www.enercities.eu. While the current focus of the game lies on electricity, other energy topics will be included soon.

“There are several topics, like peak oil and energy saving, that still need to be added to the game. We are working hard to add these to the next release,” says Nagel. “The official release will be early next year. By then we will have the educational platform in place, and the rollout phase will begin.”

Links

EnerCities Website – www.enercities.eu
EnerCities on Facebook – apps.facebook.com/enercities
Paladin Studios – www.paladinstudios.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/paladinstudios, www.twitter.com/enercities
Dylan Nagel – www.twitter.com/dylannagel
Derk de Geus – www.twitter.com/derkdegeus

For more information, please contact Paladin Studios at @paladinstudios.com" target="_blank">info@paladinstudios.com

These are the three concepts/components how -in essence- future (online) business will be shaped and how new opportunities, models and markets can be created.
Seen from an abstract point of view, personalization is the front-end of the process, customization is the back-end of the process and collaboration is how these two interact and ultimately benefit from co-creation or at least create a win-win situation.

Personalization
Basically it’s a market need and demand, a consumerist trend to want it the way the customers want it, when they want it and where they want it.
Users get personalized content/products/services served based upon preferences specified in the process like interest, location or any other measurable characteristic which can be used to describe the personalization.

Besides the benefits of personalization, which are relevancy and time-efficiency amongst the most important ones, personalization still has many challenges to overcome.
The most important one is privacy and the acquisition of data, on which personalization is effectuated.

There are three methods to achieve personalization, through the implicit, explicit and the hybrid way.
Implicit personalization makes use of tracking the users’ purchases, or click paths or any kind of habit that characterize the user.
Explicit personalization makes use of explicit information which can be found in forms, itineraries and other means of extracting information.
Hybrid personalization is a combination of the two abovementioned methods and is -for instance- deployed by Amazon.com .

Examples of personalizations are:
* eBay’s Selling form which adapts it functionalities based upon the learning curve the user is going through
* Amazon’s product recommendation engine
* Google Reader
* Google Search and its increasing personalized SERP’s

Customization
Customization is the back-end of the production-process. It are IT abilities that make it possible to serve and produce content/products/services on the personalized needs and demand of the customer, it’s not yet always profitable, due to scaling and the market, but the first steps are being made.(Mass) Customization can refer to two areas of application:
First of all, customization refers to the context within the same range as personalization, that users can modify the website to their needs and only display what is wanted.
Secondly, Mass customization can be defined as a complex business strategy, which goal is to produce goods and provide services on a large scale, customized to the individual needs of every customer with the efficiency of mass production. (Mass) customization can be aimed at maximizing customer satisfaction because they purchase their content/product/service customized by their individual preferences.
The Internet is the perfect medium to support mass customization in keeping the costs at a minimum level.Areas of application for mass customization are:
* Travel
* Content delivery
* Transport means; cars, bikes.
* Shoes
* Software
And many more.

Both personalization and (mass) customization are powerful means to attract users and customers, increase loyalty and retention, which paradoxically is achieved by the input of the customers themselves.

Collaboration
Collaboration is the –already- initiated way of conducting business amongst each other and towards end-users.
Think dialogue instead of appointing, think prosumerism instead of production.
Having in mind personalization and customization, collaboration is the effect of the two. Throughout the process the customer mingles in, to get its personalized needs, and co-creates together with the producer the content/product/service which is enabled by the customized infrastructure and processes, fully customized to individual preferences.

Whilst the utopian hypersegmentation or 1-on-1 marketing might be far from reality, but more and more markets are becoming niches based upon refined corresponding characteristics which create smaller and smaller segments and inherently become more hypersegmented.

What is your opinion, will these three concepts shape future business or are it are other or extra ones?
What will the impact be of the three in terms of competition?
What pre-conditions needs to be altered before real mass customization can be effectuated?

It was a delight to read about PitchTV by Virgin Atlantic, it’s a great way for entrepreneurs to pitch their business amongst the many travellers which will be aired onboard and also be available on Richard Branson’s blog.

Taken from the PitchTV Introduction page:

We’re now inviting entrepreneurs in search of investment and exposure for their business ideas to upload short video pitches.

Budding entrepreneurs are given the unique opportunity of pitching their ideas directly to the hundreds of top business professionals who regularly fly with Virgin Atlantic. Who knows, you could be watching the next big idea right here! [...]
The community will vote for their favourite video pitches and each month, the winning videos will feature as part of our PitchTV show which will air on our inflight entertainment system – gaining exposure to the hundreds of business professionals who regularly fly Virgin Atlantic. Anyone interested in hearing more about the most popular entrepreneurs’ business ideas will then be able to get in contact and maybe help take their ideas further. If you’re a budding entrepreneur, we’re giving you the unique opportunity of getting your ideas by top business professionals from around the world onboard Virgin Atlantic planes as well online. Who knows – among the viewers might be someone with the power to bring your idea to life.

Read the webpage for further instructions to upload your pitch.

This is a good example of Social Convergence where there’s made intelligent use of the onboard TV in combination with the Web in a social way to create value both for the -relevant- business viewers and the businesses who will pitch.
As said by mr. Negroponte of MIT “Soon every surface will be a display” and Virgin Atlantic made great use of this, a cross-screen/media social business experience.

Clear image which shows the elements of the Social Periphery and Mobile Social Networks, the Content and Context which are given the appropriate importance and define the mobile convergence.
Relevant content based on Location and Action is what makes this extension of the human more and more important. Think of the numerous social mobile-, Augmented Reality- and local applications -to name a few- which will find their way to the mainstream public.

I do find the reference to “Brands as the filter and the enabler. Ideas must be good enough to share.” an interesting one, brands will have an extra/complementary way to have their awareness and get their brand association in relation to the location and content, a kind of super-proximity marketing potential fueled by key-enthausiasts/target groups who will engage and spread their word of mouth if ideas are indeed good enough to share.

A last important addition to this excellent graph is the mentioning of relationships as intelligence, not only the interaction is relevant and of importance, the relationship between those who interact related to the location/context is an enhancement or extension of the quality and opportunities!

Taken from davidjcarr.wordpress.com

We got questions after the Agora Media’s own Social Media case -> 16000% growth post, on how we did achieve this growth.
Social Media is very specific for each company and related to their target groups, objectives, proposition and so on.

What I can set forth is the kind of framework we use to mould our social activities.

The three parts are:
* Content
* Context
* Social Media Intelligence

Content & Context
I already have extensively written about content and context in one of my previous posts The Content – Context Diarchy where I explained that content is important to have a quality threshold, but that the quality of the content is not valued or not fully valued when the context is not of equal quality.

The content is the information (in its broadest meaning of the word) itself and the context are the networks/sites where we share, interact and retrieve information.

Social Media Intelligence
Social Media Intelligence provides the relevancy we need in relation to the context, to be at the right place, at the right time with quality content (which is also based on what is happening in the market).
We achieve this overview of the Internet landscape by creating all kinds of radars that will notify us when an activity is happening online which might be of use or importance to us.

Social Media Intelligence is a constant two-folded enhancing process which upgrades our content and context, we learn where our target audience is and where relevant information can be found, and our content is influenced by that what is said, wanted and needed in the market and makes our content more time- and place-relevant.

Not only does it take time and efforts to write good content, find the networks which are beneficial for the content and brand, but Social Media Intelligence the transparent framework from which we build upon and deserves time investment and attention to create a valuable information infrastructure.

Content * Context * Social Media Intelligence = Powerful Social Media

Social Media works, we’ve been deploying the Social Strategy for our own blog and content to prove and demonstrate its potential and effect on the company.

We have initiated the Agora Media Group blog at the end of August, two and a half months later, we have achieved a staggering growth in brand visibility and reach by the content we’ve written and our social media efforts to expose our content on relevant networks, social bookmarking sites, many articles have been picked up by other sites which further increases our brand portability.

I can assure you, we have not spend a single dime on paid advertising to get our word/thought-leadership out, we have invested heavily in our social media (architecture), even experiments with Google Wave are having effect on our brand and the way it’s perceived.

This has resulted in the following two figures which have been achieved in the short period we are live:

Traffic impact

SEO impact

Social Media will change the way companies will conduct business, will reach out, will engage with their target groups, do invest and explore the opportunities which lie ahead.
The abovementioned figures do point out to only one of the many aspects which Social Media has effect on and other examples will follow in the future to show the power of it.

Junaio, the 3D Mobile Augmented Reality platform by Metaio will be launched next week!
Eager to see its capabilities by my own, for now check out their video:

As a user you will be able to augment your world around you with 3D objects. When altered reality the way you desire you can share this information with your friends across social networks, these sort of technologies will ensure that Augmented Reality will be adopted by more and more users.
It’s a playful way to get acquainted with the technology and its possibilities. Aside the 3D capabilities, junaio also offers the ‘standard’ Augmented Reality browsing tools to scan and learn your surroundings.

Will junaio be real competition to Layar’s 3D platform? I do hope so, competition is good for creativeness, let’s see what both companies will bring forth in the near future.

More news during the coming week when junaio will be launched!