Topic: Marketing
Why are so many TiVo owners TiVo advocates? Cable subscribers often simply use the DVR supplied by their cable provider, but TiVo devotees crow about its ease of use and features. In this 2004 BayCHI appearance, TiVo's Paul Newby and Margret Schmidt explain TiVo's development process and a bit of TiVo's history. They mix detailed techniques and formal studies with humorous anecdotes and engage with the audience on challenging questions.
Conferences are very important to professionals, particularly in the technology industry, where developing new ideas and services often begin as part of brainstorming. Eric Norlin discusses his work in running conferences, including Defrag, Gluecon, and Blur. He also reviews the issues related to user interfaces, the main subject of Blur.
Digital distribution is here to stay, and Hollywood knows it. While studios experiment with new distribution models, talent agencies are capitalizing on a new world where content is king. In this interview, Ari Emanuel, Co-CEO of one of the largest talent agencies in the world, talks about representing the current generation of entertainment talent, and the connection between content creators, the influencers who promote content, and distribution through social networks.
Jef Raskin started Apple's Macintosh project, and he wants to set the record straight. He decries mistakes in published accounts of the creation of the Macintosh. For example, he cites the "creation myth" that the Mac was built by "college drop-outs and intuitive engineers flying by the seats of their pants." Jef spices his account with anecdotes of square pixels, one-button mice, bit-mapped fonts, and more. A longtime BayCHI member, Jeff passed away a year after this program, the last of his six BayCHI appearances since 1994.
No product is an island. People switch freely between desktop apps and web sites, so studying your product in isolation can't reveal the true pattern of your customer's behavior. Cameron Turner describes several kinds of user studies and the kinds of insight each can offer. It's now possible to capture every click and every change of context, so smart filtering and sampling are important. Studies must comply with privacy laws, a particular challenge with subjects in many countries. But the benefit of new analytics tools are worth the effort.
Website performance is second only to security in user expectations, claims Joshua Bixby, president of Strangeloop Networks. He suggests that web page rendering must be kept under two seconds to retain user loyalty. Website acceleration directly impacts a company's business metrics and KPIs. Bixby presents his team's latest findings about the relationship between web performance and business benefits.
Apple's Steve Jobs has a reputation for innovation, particularly Apple's company slogan of "Think Different". Carmine Gallo wrote a book that reviewed Jobs' presentation secrets and now details his innovation secrets. Gallo discusses his book, including the seven points of innovation followed by Steve Jobs. Gallo also talks about the thought process that led to this follow-up to his previous successful book.
How do you view a nonprofit? A for-profit? A dot-org? Or a dot-com? Judgments of warmth and competence drive consumer behaviors such as the likeliness to visit a website or willingness to buy a product from an organization. Understanding consumer stereotypes plays a significant role in how nonprofits and corporations do business. In this Stanford Center for Social Innovation sponsored audio lecture, marketing professor Jennifer Aaker examines the implications stereotypes have on firms.
A subtle reminder of how money can change one's motivations to be less prosocial and less connected. Experimental research shows that subjects exposed to the concept of money work longer before asking for help, are less helpful to others, create greater physical distance from others, and prefer to play and work alone. In this audio lecture sponsored by Stanford's Center for Social Innovation, marketing professor Kathleen Vohs demonstrates how small reminders of money can have large-scale influence.
A pre-checked option can greatly influence choice, as preference can be constructed just by changing a few lines of HTML code. For policymakers and marketers, default settings are strategically designed to get to the desired outcome. In this audio lecture sponsored by Stanford's Center for Social Innovation, Columbia Graduate School of Business professor Eric Johnson demonstrates how defaults are a powerful and inexpensive tool that can be applied to promote prosocial actions and good behavior.
