The Future Is Now

Coming off of the success of FutureMidwest, this past weekend (April 16 & 17), co-founder Adrian Pittman shares his thoughts about the conference, Detroit and its potential.

My goal for the Module conference last year was to collect and highlight some best practices from the world of new media. It was essentially a launch party for my company’s brand. I expected a small crowd of friends, coworkers and clients who were already involved in that space. But I was wrong. Purely by mistake, I had tapped into a much broader audience that wanted to understand the impact new media could have on their company and brand. I learned metro Detroiters were much more interested than I expected in learning about new technologies. Many were looking for the same answers at the same time. With the Module conference, we had grabbed the attention and focus of a very large audience.

When I met Jordan Wolfe last year after TechNow, I realize there was a piece missing from Module – the entrepreneurial focus. Entrepreneurism is heavily tied into where this region finds itself economically and perceptually right now. Detroit was once the center of the universe, but that rapidly changed. The Midwest never fully came through to the other side as the economy, industries and technology evolved. When the economy flipped, it was obvious that the way our region became accustomed to doing business was no longer working. To survive, we had to change.

Most other conferences were already speaking to those who understood the importance of using the social Web as a new method of communicating and conducting business. But those conferences didn’t speak directly to the entrepreneurs. Jordan’s TechNow conference did. TechNow didn’t draw in the tech geeks, rather people striving to improve their businesses and industries. It felt very much like an event you would find in California, not Michigan.

It was obvious that Jordan and I were telling two sides of the same story, and we needed to bring everything together. As we were doing research to determine if this new conference idea had any legs, we found that blending the entrepreneurial-focused message with the new media educational message from Module created a huge outpouring of support. We put together a team that could make this conference come alive, and FutureMidwest was born.

We’ve been happy to see people from diverse industries in metro Detroit and beyond registering for FutureMidwest. Our audience won’t be comprised of only marketers and tech-savvy people, but also those who have a high-tech need for their business and industry.

What does the road ahead look like? Our goal is to create a melting pot of industries that all come together for this annual conference. We want FutureMidwest to change the way people think about growing their business, building relationships and communicating.

There’s a need for passionate thought leaders in our region who aren’t afraid to take a risk for the sake of business growth.

Originally posted on Time, April 16, 2010.

Sling-Shooting the Brand Experience In the Digital Domain

In today’s digital domain, there is a dizzying and ever-increasing array of channels to engage people through — Facebook, Twitter, Ad Sense, Youtube, et al. There are so many, in fact, that marketing professionals struggle to maintain consistent Brand messages and effectively reach their target audiences through the noise and variety of tactics.

However, to achieve the best results, we must take a step back and look at the big picture. Taken as a whole, the digital domain can be likened to a solar system.

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The Leap of Faith

“We put up a website to help us with our marketing,” says the man coyly … as he looks at his wife across the table. I sense insecurity in his voice.

We are sitting in a Mexican restaurant enjoying a quiet, friendly lunch. The unavoidable topic of occupation has steered our social conversation in the direction of work-related matters. They are interested in my views on their marketing. I listen politely as he explains his strategy.

“Yeah, a friend of ours is into marketing. We have a video on our site that uses this technology that allows us to track who’s viewed it.” To what end, I think to myself. As he turns to look at me, his eyes tell me he’s thinking the same thing.

The couple owns a small business. Their story is a common one. Faced with an increasingly competitive industry, they want to create a marketing edge by using Internet technology — with little or no understanding of what they are choosing and why. This often stems from a desire to try something “new” without first establishing knowledge of what is and isn’t working with their current marketing. Lacking the strategic or technical expertise to properly evaluate a technology, they decide to experiment. While experimentation can be a useful learning tool, there’s a thin line between a carefully targeted experiment and firing blindly. It seems to me this couple is participating in the latter. I wonder … what are their expectations?

They’re not completely to blame. Current technological trends have continued to introduce an ever-broadening array of component-based solutions to the non-technical masses. Thus leading to significant confusion. More tools with more capabilities and all the gee-whiz-bang-for-your-buck you could ever imagine. Tools that are easier to use — and don’t require a degree in computer science to integrate — are fast becoming the norm. Technology providers are getting wise to the concept of community development platforms, creating developer toolkits and allowing third-parties to help create the next generation of products. In essence, products built for their customers, by their customers.

Current technological trends have continued to introduce an ever-broadening array of component-based solutions to the non-technical masses. Thus leading to significant confusion.

However, out of that model, a new challenge arises. Increased access drives the demand for increased education. The need for technical understanding hasn’t really changed; it’s just changed positions. Now the question becomes “what do we integrate” instead of how. They ask this as they rub their hands together, eagerly eyeing the smorgasbord of plug-and-play features … often without the insight about what to implement or why. The focus is on the tool and not the relevance of the tool. A new challenge and a new set of responsibilities.

With the void increasing between those who use … and those who build and understand … a new technocracy is developing. And in the middle somewhere is the truth about ROI. Also worth considering is the number of unsubstantiated myths about the value of popular measurement methods — click-throughs and page views — because these metrics do not actually correlate to revenue generated. Things like relevance analysis and conversion mapping — tracing the roadmap of website viewing to actual prospects gained or purchases made — often are omitted until after the tools are implemented. As the void between myth and reality increases, small business owners are putting a lot more faith in the technical consultants they engage.

As for my dining companions and their website experiment, it appears they made that leap of faith when teaming up with the video-toting consultant. I hope he’s done his research. If not, they’ll likely find the results too hit-or-miss for their taste or their marketing goals.

A Great Idea

Multicolored pixels swarm around my screen, coalescing into the form of Thom Yorke’s face. He’s singing the chorus, “Denial, Denial.” No cameras were used in the creation of this video. That’s right. No cameras.

Everything — the singer, other actors, and the scenery — was captured with a combination of Geometric Informatics and Velodyne LIDAR. Two technologies, initially developed for high-detail scans of rock formations, buildings and the like, are now being repurposed to create innovative visuals for a music video. The page I’m viewing is part of a larger online-only marketing schema that includes donation-paid digital releases and remix promotions to engage fans, giving winners exposure via music download and social networking sites.

What a great idea.

Practically everywhere I go these days, I find myself surrounded by great ideas. New creations formed from the merging of multiple concepts, processes or technologies.

I’m waiting in the first floor lobby of the Ann Arbor District Library. My appointment is late. It’s quite some time since I visited here. While I wait, I wander around to get the lay of the metaphorical land. To my left, there’s a row of gleaming iMacs, each beckoning me to search for and self-checkout titles … or go online to manage my personal account. To my right, a sign reminds me to register my laptop at the front desk for free wireless access. Upstairs, artwork… framed prints… presumably available for checkout. What a great idea, I think to myself. Utilizing readily available technologies and a broader variety of material, the AADL is not only increasing interaction with current library goers, but also enticing a new generation to take a look.

For a while now, I’ve believed that the next generation of great ideas will emerge by combining existing tools and models into new hybrids. The developing success of ventures like Twitter, the iPhone and Word Press confirm those beliefs.

I’m sitting street-side at an evening meeting over drinks with a friend. The topics of conversation are many and varied. My friend begins telling me about a book she read called The Medici Effect. The basic premise intrigues me.

“The Medicis were a banking family in Florence who funded creators from a wide range of disciplines. Thanks to this family and a few others like it, sculptors, scientists, poets, philosophers, ?nanciers, painters, and architects converged upon the city of Florence. There they found each other, learned from one another, and broke down barriers between disciplines and cultures. Together they forged a new world based on new ideas — what became known as the Renaissance. As a result, the city became the epicenter of a creative explosion, one of the most innovative eras in history. The effects of the Medici family can be felt even to this day.”

She explains that the Medici Effect occurs when extraordinary ideas result from bringing together various disciplines and cultures, and searching for places where they connect. The idea seems as though it’s cut from the cloth of my own imagination. Like when you discover there’s a word for something you’ve felt for a long time. What a great concept. I immediately search for the book.

…The Medici Effect occurs when extraordinary ideas result from bringing together various disciplines and cultures, and searching for places where they connect.

In the introduction, there’s an example of an architect who’s tasked with designing an energy efficient building for an insurance and real estate conglomerate in Zimbabwe, where the temperature ranges from 100 degrees during the day to below 40 at night. The intersection of his knowledge with the building techniques of an indigenous termite and modern green construction results in an amazing structure. One that maintains an internal average temperature of 77- 73 degrees and uses only 10% of the energy as compared to its surrounding neighbors. What a great idea.

The world is full of these. Great ideas. Simple ideas. Purposeful ideas. Ideas that utilize the best of available concepts, models and technology. Whether it’s a web-savvy band and their liberal repurposing of military, retail and social-networking components. Or a generation-savvy district library that insightfully combines technology and content to increase accessibility. Or an architect who uses insects as inspiration for energy-efficient buildings.

What makes an idea great? Originality? Ingenuity? Functionality? Accessibility? One thing’s for sure, there will always be great ideas to discover. And entrepreneurs with a protean sense of ability will be the catalysts for future creativity.