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Monthly Archives: May 2007

Viral Marketing – it really works!

Posted on May 11, 2007 by Jeremy Toeman

Just read this article at the WOMMA blog, it seems that 4 out of 5 dentists marketers like Crest viral marketing’s impact on brand awareness:

More than half of marketers say they are planning to launch multiple viral efforts in 2007, and more than 80% of “very experienced” marketers say that viral marketing builds awareness.

Here’s a link to the original article with the source data, if you are at all interested in learning about the effects of non-traditional marketing, give it a read. 

As a consultant in this space, I am getting a little frustrated with the saturation of the term “viral marketing”.  I’ve heard from marketers who place a “digg it” button on their home page and say “hey, now we’re viral!”  Another not-so-favorite is “we have a myspace page, yay!” 

In my eyes, viral marketing is a concerted effort to get people to talk, share, or otherwise inform others about your product, company, service, offering, etc.  More than that, it’s about a campaign, not a link.  Sure, your campaign might involve digg or myspace, but that’s not the campaign itself.

Expect to see a lot more on this topic from me in the future.

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Posted in Marketing | 1 Comment |

Woot: Get this headset!

Posted on May 10, 2007 by Jeremy Toeman

If you still use an office phone, this is the single best headset I’ve used to-date.  It’s the GN Netcom (Jabra) 9120 and includes the ever-so-awesome “lifter”. The sound quality is great, as is the range.  It’s comfortable.  Just get it! 

It’s on Woot today (blog post here) for a low price of $139.  Love it!

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Posted in General | 2 Comments |

Video: Netgear's Digital Lifestyle Room

Posted on May 7, 2007 by Jeremy Toeman

Still no RSS over at the official NETGEAR blog, but I really liked the videos I shot while I was at their HQ a few weeks ago, so I am cross-posting them here. Big thanks to David Henry for spending the time with me. I’ve distilled the video into 5 chunks, each only a few minutes long. I like to think some editing is better than none!

The Home Office

Clip shows the Powerline HD kit as well as a wireless print server/router.

The Kids Room

Clip shows a wireless game adapter and discusses next-generation wireless security technologies.

The Kitchen Nook

Now I may not have a nook in my kitchen in my SF apartment, but I do remember what one looks like! This clip shows the Wifi Skype phone.

Showing the Skype DECT Phone

The Living Room

Features a walkthough of the EVA8000

Want to get your own tour of the room? Sign up for the Lunch 2.0 event at the end of May! Hope to see you there.

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Posted in Networking | Leave a comment |

Now Hiring Marketing Associates/Interns!

Posted on May 6, 2007 by Jeremy Toeman

In between blog posts, I pay my bills as a consumer technology marketing consultant (the company is still unnamed, as there are simply no domains left other than consultr or mectooo.com).  The clients I have are all great – great people, great products/services.  Things are going well so far (knock on wood), and based on current prospects, I’m going to need a little more help pretty soon (read: immediately).  Honestly, work is a true pleasure, and I consider myself extremely lucky to be in this position.

We’re looking for a one or two interns and/or junior level reps with account management experience to help with the growing list of clients. This is the perfect opportunity for you (or someone you forward this to) to interact with new and exciting consumer technology, immerse yourself into the product development process, and learn more about traditional and new media marketing techniques. Additionally, we will introduce you to industry influencers and help you grow your network.

Bottom line – this is a fun industry, and this is a chance to get involved with a lot of very exciting projects!

Qualifications

  • Extremely strong communications skills, especially written
  • Good understanding of consumer technology (gadgets, mobile, etc) with a genuine enthusiasm and interest in new trends in tech, media, and culture
  • Good understanding of new media, including blogging and social networking
  • Confident and effective networker
  • Fast learner and self-starting with impeccable organizational skills
  • Brilliantly creative, yet shrewdly analytical

Responsibilities

  • Competitive studies and industry surveys, with heavy emphasis on both quantitative and qualitative research. This includes field questionnaires and street-level buzz/WOM tracking.
  • Execution and oversight of outreach campaigns, including online community management and content development/acquisition.
  • Pitching new products and services to bloggers and traditional media outlets.
  • Participating in development of creative strategy, including branding and messaging.
  • Maintaining and adding to the internal contact and event database

Our office is in North Beach, some telecommuting is fine, hours are flexible, and compensation is based on experience and fit.

If you are interested, please email me (jeremy @ …) a resume along with a brief overview of your capabilities, why this is a perfect fit for you, and tell me what is bound to be the hottest gadget in your eyes in 2007.  This is one of those rare opportunities in life where you can turn your hobby into a career.  Looking forward to hearing from you!

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Posted in No/Low-tech | Leave a comment |

I Is In UR TV Stand, Not Be Fittng!!1!

Posted on May 5, 2007 by Jeremy Toeman

I Is In UR TV Stand, Not Be Fittng!!1!

As I’m still in the midst of my living room media center cleanup, I went to pick up a new TV stand.  My requirements were, I thought, simple:

  1. Front doors, preferably see-through (need the doors for the arrival of babytoe)
  2. At least four shelves for all devices (AV receiver, STB, Xbox 360, “hold for future”) – yes, I’m ditching all other products in the living room other than Slingbox and Sonos, neither of which really need their own shelf.
  3. Easy access to back panels so I can add/remove devices without taking everything apart
  4. Not ultra-modern looking

You’d be amazed how hard this combination is to find.  I eventually settled on the one you see pictured above (my inspiration), a $229 DIY special from Tarjay.  I measured everything, all was fine.  It was simple to assemble, only needed a screwdriver and hammer, took about an hour all-in.

This afternoon, I was all set to do the migration, I expected about 45 minutes with all the cabling and whatnot.  As it turns out, again visible in the picture above, the 16″ depth is accurate, but useless.  The inside is exactly 16″ deep, making it the exact size of my receiver and Comcast DVR.  Here’s how I feel about it:

 

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Posted in That's Janky | Leave a comment |

The Ins and Outs of Engadget

Posted on May 5, 2007 by Jeremy Toeman

I honestly can’t imagine that I have a single reader who is not either a subscriber or a frequent reader of Engadget, the world’s largest tech/gadget blog.  The site, run by Peter Rojas and Ryan Block (who recently wrote his 5000th post!), averages 25-40 posts per day, all with the latest scoops of new products coming your way (or occasionally, the ones you’ll never get to see depending on the country you live in).

When I left Sling last year, one of the areas where I knew I wanted to focus some of my personal time was in writing. My blogging activity soared (well, plummetted then soared).  However, when I was given the opportunity to write a recurring column for Engadget, it represented a new level of writing in my eyes.  While I try to make sure the content I write here is always interesting and thoughtful (I said “I try” didn’t I?), there are basically no expectations.  I write what I want, when I want.

With my new column, however, the standards are much, much higher.  Millions of people read Engadget each month, and my writing must be a contribution to that readership.  Also, as a veteran who has actually built the gadgets for a living, I really want to bring a different perspective for the readers.

So, I proudly present my first piece, “Ins and Outs: Is buyshifting the future of television?” which is coming in two parts.  It’s fun to see a whole discussion in the comments pop up in just a few short hours!  I hope you enjoy it, an if you have any topics you’d like to hear me write about, drop me a note or comment here.  The column is “Ins and Outs” and the focus is the cross-section of entertainment and technology.

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Posted in General | 2 Comments |

Guitar Hero 2 marketers should hire Ben

Posted on May 4, 2007 by Jeremy Toeman

If you don’t know Ben, or that unbelievably good 8-year-old Guitar Hero 2 player (as I like to call him), watch this video (or view his channel and watch them all):

Now I’ve improved my skills since the last time I tried playing, but just watching him play gives me some kind of stomach pain.  I recall kicking some C64 butt at around that age, but this is some savant-level stuff.  Check out this interview with Ben for more about him and his l33t gaming skills.

There’s a lot of blog gossip coverage today about YouTube paying highly watched users (I recommend: YouTube blog, Shelly Palmer, Om Malik, TechCrunch, Andy Beal), and I agree with Om’s comment:

Whichever way you look at it, this is a good development for content creators who are looking to turn a labor of love into a full time gig.

In fact, this whole concept mirrors what I blogged about yesterday, where the true empowerment of the video marketplace is dictated solely by content creators and advertisers/sponsors. 

SNC14148 guitar hero 2 truckRedOctane, the company who produces Guitar Hero 2, generally does a great job promoting the game. Trucks roll around the country for people to try it out, and the game is consistently sold out in Best Buy and other retailers.  Cowbell Hero is an instant classic, and other fan-based activities abound across the net.

If I were in RedOctane’s marketing group, I’d be in touch with Ben and his family.  We’re only a few weeks away before school’s out for summer, and I’d jump on the opportunity to spend a week videoing the kid, and pay him handsomely for some fun commercials.  I’d top it off with a “can you beat Ben?” contest at the end of the summer (after camp, but before school starts up again).

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Posted in Gaming | 4 Comments |

When will the FCC give up on content regulation?

Posted on May 3, 2007 by Jeremy Toeman

I can’t think of any federal organization that has less fans than the FCC.  The FAA seems to do a pretty solid job.  The FTC could probably crack down on a few more tech monopolies out there.  The SEC should ease a few restrictions that so heavily discourage IPOs today. But those are minor annoyances compared to the FCC. The FCC has this weird dual-role, in which one half is trying to make sure lots of new technologies don’t make a mess out in the real world, and the other half is trying to figure out if its okay if I say “peepee” on television.

In it’s first role, I think it seems to do a bang-up job, but I’m not a spectrum engineer or anything like that, so I could be wrong.  But when I see stories such as “FCC Chairman Martin to Telcos: No Blocking Iowa Calls” (updated) “FCC approves plan for major wireless spectrum auction: Spectrum in 700MHz band to have greater range for broadband” I have to say, it sounds good to me!  After all, my microwave works, my cell phones work, my wifi works – this whole spectrum thing seems like it’s being managed well.  And guess what, it’s exactly this purpose wherein the roots of the FCC lie:

Before the commission was established, radio was regulated by the Commerce Department under Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover. Naturally, chaos reigned. The biggest problem was that hundreds of stations were trying to broadcast on only two frequencies, a situation that detracted from listening enjoyment.

But then there’s the other FCC, the one that sounds a whole lot like an uninformed yokel, who arbitrarily fines DJ’s, declares that the word “Dick” better mean “Richard”, and generally acts like a bully only barely overshadowed by Homeland Security (but at least those guys are trying to take actions with the intent to save lives).  On almost a daily basis, I see through my variety of feeds and newsletters articles discussing how the FCC is playing in territory that should clearly be outside their “turf”.  Two recent examples:

Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., who heads the House Commerce Committee, said at an occasionally rancorous subcommittee meeting Wednesday that “the FCC is not a legislative body – that role resides here in this room with the people’s elected representatives.” – source

Congress could regulate violence on cable, satellite and broadcast television without violating the First Amendment, according to the Federal Communications Commission. – source

Now whether or not I side with political correctness or moral majority or whatever term you prefer is wholely irrelevant.  Fundamentally, the FCC plays a game in which they redefine the rules as it suits their purpose.  But changes are afoot, changes that will render this part of the FCC near-useless in the coming years.  The good old Interweb is here to lay a bit of a smackdown on the FCC.  And the nice thing about Interwebbing is, it tends to do a lot more self-policing, with a lot better checks and balances.

The interesting part is the “checks” are literally checks – when it comes to IP video, of whatever nature, the dollar is almighty.  Put simply: streaming video costs money.  It costs money to create, produce, edit, and most importantly – stream.  If you cannot make enough money to cover your bandwidth costs, you will sooner or later be off the “air”.  Which is where our “balances” come in, and we call them advertisers (sponsors works too).  Mathew Ingram recently wrote (he wrote a second piece on a related topic that’s also a good read):

What kinds of advertisers will YouTube be able to attract? Critics such as Mark Cuban have argued that most advertisers won’t want to be associated with the kind of content that’s on the site, whereas Joost is much more like regular TV.

Cuban is dead-right on this topic.  But after “most” comes “some” and those some advertisers that are left will want to be associated with YouTube content.  That’s how they exercise their power – they write the checks for the content they like.  Don’t like it? No checks.  Fair and balanced at its finest.

Thanks to the FCC, television has its seven deadly words.  Thanks to YouTube, ustream, PodTech, PodShow, Apple, Fraunhoffer, MPEG-LA, and, as Time magazine so ______ put it, YOU, the Internet has no deadly words.  Go ahead, do a podcast, say “peepee” a lot.  If you get enough advertisers, someone might ask you to stop saying it one day, as that is their option.  And you are fully empowered to make your own decision.  As are the listeners or viewers.  As it should be, no unelected, unbounded, outdated, and out-of-touch government body needed.

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Posted in Video/Music/Media | Leave a comment |

Connect at Connections?

Posted on May 2, 2007 by Jeremy Toeman

I’m heading down to (ugh) Santa Clara today to check out the annual Connections Conference, a show centered around the digital/connected home.  I like the show, and even spoke at it a few years back (this whole “independent consultant thing” certainly seems to diminish the speaking opps).  I’m curious to see the next wave of “the future of the digital home” visionaries strut their stuff.  After all, this is the year of the digital home, right?  Or was that last year?  Or was that 2002?  Or 1999?

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Posted in Convergence | Leave a comment |

Redefining the Networking Lunch

Posted on May 1, 2007 by Jeremy Toeman

If you’ve lived in the Bay Area as long as I have, you most certainly remember the “dot-com era” (which is definitely a funny term considering it lasted about 18 months, whereas a more typical era, such the Victorian Era, spanned about 70 years).  In those times, gobs of money was spent on startups with visions of grandeur.  Delusional visions, but visions nonetheless.

Then things got bad.  And darkness covered the land.  Entrepreneurs sought out MBAs while Web producers took sales gigs where they had to gain some tangible work experience if they wanted to ever be employed again. 

But now, things are good again.  The flow of money from the VCs to the entrepreneur is finally more than a trickle, and new companies seem to pop up virtually every day.  And again, visions of grandeur, many inspired by a recently-very-wealthy-after-working-for-about-16-months Chad Hurley (now rumored to buying disposable yachts).  This time, it’s not dot-com, it’s Web 2.0.

During dot-com, we had crazy launch parties catered by the fanciest restaurants in San Francisco, with huge giveaways and gift bags, costing obscene amounts of money.  In Web 2.0, we get some non-open bar parties and the occasional free lunch.  NETGEAR, where I’m still having fun with my guest blogging stint, has teamed up with the organizers of Lunch 2.0 to have a cool event at the end of the month.  The deets:

Location: Netgear, Inc.
Address: 4500 Great America Pkwy, Santa Clara, CA 95054
Date: Wed, May 30th 2007
Time: 12:00 – 1:30 pm

Some highlights:

  • Tour the company’s Digital Lifestyle House (which I’ve seen and video’d for the blog, but is apparently getting a touchup right now)
  • Enter a raffle to win a “Smart Network makeover”
  • Meet some key folks from the NETGEAR team (including their wonderful guest blogger!)
  • Opportunity to get video interviewed by the PodTech people

Oh, and did I mention there’d be barbecue?

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Posted in General, No/Low-tech | 2 Comments |
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About

Jeremy Toeman is a seasoned Product leader with over 20 years experience in the convergence of digital media, mobile entertainment, social entertainment, smart TV and consumer technology. Prior ventures and projects include CNET, Viggle/Dijit/Nextguide, Sling Media, VUDU, Clicker, DivX, Rovi, Mediabolic, Boxee, and many other consumer technology companies. This blog represents his personal opinion and outlook on things.

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