JOB'S FINAL WORDS...OH WOW

A reprint from SAI Business Insider on Steve's final words ....WOW

The New York Times ran Steve Jobs' sister's eulogy this morning.

It's a beautiful recollection of the 27 years Mona Simpson knew her biological brother, and it paints Jobs as an endless romantic, a creative genius, and a loving person.

Simpson ends the eulogy by recalling Jobs' final moments.

"Steve’s final words, hours earlier, were monosyllables, repeated three times," she says.

"Before embarking, he’d looked at his sister Patty, then for a long time at his children, then at his life’s partner, Laurene, and then over their shoulders past them.

"Steve’s final words were:

"OH WOW. OH WOW. OH WOW."

HAPPY ALL HALLOWS!!

A creative video shot with an older iPhone.

STEVE JOBS

With thanks and credits to Bob Hoffman at Hoffman Lewis, what follows is his take on how Steve Jobs and Apple approached the ad world.....

What Steve Jobs Taught Us About Advertising

I pompously call myself The Ad Contrarian, but Steve Jobs was a true ad contrarian.

He knew what his company stood for and didn't care what you thought. He assiduously avoided every false turn in the "marketing fad of the month" playbook. Reportedly, the only research he ever did was to ask himself whether he liked something or not.

In his own way, he taught us everything we need to know about advertising. The only problem is, most of us are too blind or too stupid to learn. The thing about magicians is, you see it with your own eyes and you still don't know they did it.

Here's what I learned from watching Steve.

•The best way to build a brand is to sell a product. Apple rarely did "branding" advertising or "line" advertising. An Apple ad is about the features and benefits of one specific product. Not about "you the consumer." Not about how the brand intersects with your life. Not about how the brand saves the world.

•Creativity is simplicity. Apple ads always look like Apple ads. They are simple. They are direct. A white background, a product right smack in the middle of the page, and a line or two of copy. They rarely changed this formula. Once in a while they'd have a person along with the product, but no idiotic "lifestyle" crap and no art school visual puns.

•Trend-jumping is no substitute for principles. From what I can tell, Apple still doesn't have an official Twitter feed or Facebook page. They don't jump from one gimmick to another. They are not desperate to hop on every fad that comes along. They are the most successful technology company in the world, yet they understand that communication is best done human-to-human. They do a great job of utilizing the web for all their "below-the-line" materials. But they lean heavily on traditional channels for advertising. They have built the most powerful social network in the world without doing an ounce of social media.

•Be who you are. Apple's public personality -- its advertising voice -- has never changed from day one. When Microsoft was winning, it never tried to be the second best Microsoft.
Steve Jobs was the best adman of his generation. Those who want to learn would do well to study what he did.

To read Bob's blog and get a link to a bibliography of stuff that has appeared on his blog about Jobs and Apple advertising over the past few years, click here.

THE DEPTHS OF MEDIAOCEAN

The recent news of a meeting of the minds between Donovan Data Systems and Mediabank have more than just a few companies scratching their heads. Where this proposed announcement leaves Harris, Strata, MediaX and others will initially be determined by the antitrust scrutiny of the US government regulatory agencies. Antitrust filings are sure to follow.

Why?

Is this an exit strategy for Michael Donovan? Is this Mediabank's attempt to scale their business? A defense against Google? Or is the proposed marriage a means to a more profitable monopoly?

It very likely holds true that all of the above played a role in the annoucement. It certainly is not about merging technologies. The platforms are unique. DDS carries legacy software that is potentially decades old while Mediabank has been quilting its own newer brand.

And while Google looms in the background there is not a chance in hell that they will accomplish in traditional media what DDS has.

In an ideal world, this merger might create something new and refreshing across all media functions. In our world, we will likely be harping on the same issue into the next decade or two.

A SPYING CONSPIRACY

SUBWAYS ARE FOR ....?

It comes as no surprise that printed newspaper and magazine circulation continues to drop as electronic delivery moves in to take up some of the slack. My daily commuting observations over the past two months, however, reveals a slower shift than I might have otherwise thought.

The Morning Rush
Look around. In a relatively packed car the majority occupied with either paper or electronics are reading printed material. Force of habit moves us to pick up the morning paper and revert to the 90s way of catching up on the news. Evidence of freebees, in the form of AM New York or Metro NY, are everywhere and account for a good number of readers. But they ARE reading more than “e-doing”.

The Afternoon Rush
The story changes. In almost a complete reversal, electronic gadgets are the order of the day with the minority reading printed matter in the form of books or magazines (rarely newspapers). Chances are that one gets caught up with the news during the day as the freebees are distributed only in the morning.

Demographic Chasms
Would it surprise you to know that the young adult is rarely buried in a book or newspaper? Watch as young execs are tethered to Angry Birds and plugged in to iPod tunes (often together) acting as if shaken by a seizure.
A more “seasoned” group is still browsing a magazine or reading a book …. But there are far fewer of them doing so.

So What?
If you can take targeted advantage of these dynamics it would suggest the use of morning freebees for the older crowd while focusing on a working e-platform for young adults. It would be wise to remember that underground e-connections do not yet exist.

TO THE CRAZY ONES

Steve Jobs .... The crazy SOB that changed the world and the way we live.

NIKE: ARE YOU LISTENING?

Human gait could soon power portable electronics.

A new energy-harvesting technology that could capture the energy of human motion to power portable electronics has been developed by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The “reverse electrowetting” technology promises to reduce our dependence on batteries. It converts mechanical energy to electrical energy using a microfluidic device consisting of thousands of liquid micro-droplets interacting with a novel nano-structured substrate.

This technology could capture energy produced by humans during walking that is normally lost as heat and convert it into up to 20 watts of electrical power that can be used to power mobile electronic devices, the researchers said. Unlike a traditional battery, the energy harvester never needs to be recharged, since the new energy is constantly generated during the normal walking process.

The energy generated by the harvester can be used to power a broad range of devices, from smartphones and laptops to radios, GPS units, night-vision goggles, and flashlights.

Shoe power (credit: Krupenkin, T. & Taylor, J. A.)

WOULD YOU? THINK TWICE.

The Fund for American Studies recently surveyed people to see if they would give up the internet for $1MM. Make that $10MM and vote below. Then take a few minutes to watch the video.

3D TV-- A MASSIVE JOKE

Manufacturers of 3D TV sets are about to suffer a loss. As the hype of 3D moved from the movie screen into the home, its potential was poorly judged and ill timed. This blog has commented on the looming disaster since inception only to fall on deaf ears .... or in this case blinded marketers. The 3D lemmings are approaching the cliff and will undoubtedly go over.

It was a novelty. A fad. They come and go as did the 3D craze in the 1950s. History will repeat itself .... this time in spades.

What follows is a partial lift from an article by TV Predictions.com focusing on 10 (just 10?) reasons why 3D TV will not make it. For a full read, follow this link.

1. 3D TV Interrupts Your Viewing Experience
You can't watch 3D TV for more than a minute without finding your eye focusing on individual elements of the screen rather than the picture as a whole. For example, if you're watching a 3D presentation of a college football game, you find yourself watching the player whose display best showcases the 3D effect. It's natural; you know you're watching 3D so your mind and eye tend to focus exclusively on the strongest 3D elements of the picture.

That makes for an interesting minute or two, but it's not why people watch television. They want to take in the entire picture; to be absorbed by it; to let it take over their entire thinking process so they can relax and lose themselves in what they are watching. 3D doesn't allow for that; it constantly interrupts you to check out some 3D effect. After awhile, you almost forget what's happening on the field or in a movie. If you're a Chicago Cubs fan, that could be a plus. But for most viewers, it's a strong negative.

2. It Makes You Sick
Doctors have estimated that up to 20 percent of the population will get headaches, dizziness or even nausea while watching 3D.

Steven Nusinowitz, an associate professor of ophthalmology at the Jules Stein Eye Institute in Los Angeles, tells CNN that 3D glasses have a polarized filter that separate two images, thereby enabling the 3D effect. However, the doctor adds that the separation occurs so quickly that your brain may have difficulty accepting it.

"The movie is telling you 'Hey, I'm moving around in this scene,' but your vestibular system is telling you, 'I'm not moving anywhere,' and that disconnect will make you feel sick, for some people," Nusinowitz said.

TV makers even warn consumers in their 3D TV manuals that they could get sick while watching 3D; they advise that you should take off the glasses every 15 minutes or so.

How many consumer products have ever been successful with the masses if their makers had to tell you they might make you sick?

3. Millions of People Just Bought New TVs
Because of the federally mandated Digital TV transition in 2009, millions of Americans bought a new TV to ensure they could continue watching when their local stations switched from analog to digital. Even in good times, people tend not to buy a new TV every few years or so; they buy one with the intention of keeping it for years.

And we're now in an economic morass; will people sacrifice the rent money for a 3D TV? When they probably have a TV in their living rooms that's not even three years old?

4. People Hate the 3D Glasses
Just about every objective consumer study has found that people hate wearing those 3D goggles while watching 3D TV. It's an uncomfortable experience, particularly if you wear prescription glasses or contact lenses with different prescriptions for each eye. The 3D apologists say that 3D sans the glasses is in the works, but most analysts say it will take years before the technology is ready

5. 3D TV Is Not HDTV
The 3D apologists like to say that High-Definition TV had a slow ramp-up to success. Well, that's true. But people didn't buy HDTVs in the early days because the sets were cost-prohibitive, with some medium-sized ones costing up to $10,000.

In contrast, the cost of a 3D TVs is just slightly more than a comparably-sized 2D HDTV. People aren't buying them because they cost too much; they aren't buying them because they don't want them.

In addition, when someone saw a HDTV in person, he wanted it, at least eventually when the price came down. The picture added to your viewing enjoyment because it made you feel like you're were there; the picture was that realistic. But 3D is the antithesis of realism; it's a tech trick designed to jolt a response from the viewer. But the response doesn't last long and it's ultimately unsatisfying. Unlike HDTV, watching 3D TV is not relaxing; it's jarring.

As for the "No Glasses Required" sets due to launch .... don't buy the hype. A small 20" set will run you back about $2800 and you will need to "learn" how to watch TV.

No thanks.