This lively RSA Animate, adapted from Dan Pink's talk at the RSA, illustrates the hidden truths behind what really motivates us at home and in the workplace.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc

        

MediaPost Publications Study: Mobile Ad Budgets On The Rise, Clients Find Branded Apps Most Exciting 05/12/2010
shar.es/mCQHi

        

“I think we’re having fun. I think our customers really like our products. And we’re always trying to do better.”

- Steve Jobs

His accomplishments and character helped define a generation and change the world. He is co-founder of the fairytale company we now know as Apple Computers. And he is the visionary of the personal computers world that led the entire computer hardware and software industry to restructure itself.

This man with boundless energy and charisma is also a master of hype, hyperbole and the catchy phrase. And even when he’s trying to talk normally, brilliant verbiage comes tumbling out.

Here’s a selection of some of the most insanely great things he said, golden lessons to help you succeed in life, Jobs-style:

1. Steve Jobs said: “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.”

Innovation has no limits. The only limit is your imagination. It’s time for you to begin thinking out of the box. If you are involved in a growing industry, think of ways to become more efficient; more customer friendly; and easier to do business with. If you are involved in a shrinking industry – get out of it quick and change before you become obsolete; out of work; or out of business. And remember that procrastination is not an option here. Start innovating now!

2. Steve Jobs said: “Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.”

There is no shortcut to excellence. You will have to make the commitment to make excellence your priority. Use your talents, abilities, and skills in the best way possible and get ahead of others by giving that little extra. Live by a higher standard and pay attention to the details that really do make the difference. Excellence is not difficult – simply decide right now to give it your best shot – and you will be amazed with what life gives you back.

3. Steve Jobs said: “The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.”

I’ve got it down to four words: “Do what you love.” Seek out an occupation that gives you a sense of meaning, direction and satisfaction in life. Having a sense of purpose and striving towards goals gives life meaning, direction and satisfaction. It not only contributes to health and longevity, but also makes you feel better in difficult times. Do you jump out of bed on Monday mornings and look forward to the work week? If the answer is ‘no’ keep looking, you’ll know when you find it.

4. Steve Jobs said: “You know, we don’t grow most of the food we eat. We wear clothes other people make. We speak a language that other people developed. We use a mathematics that other people evolved… I mean, we’re constantly taking things. It’s a wonderful, ecstatic feeling to create something that puts it back in the pool of human experience and knowledge.”

Live in a way that is ethically responsible. Try to make a difference in this world and contribute to the higher good. You’ll find it gives more meaning to your life and it’s a great antidote to boredom. There is always so much to be done. And talk to others about what you are doing. Don’t preach or be self-righteous, or fanatical about it, that just puts people off, but at the same time, don’t be shy about setting an example, and use opportunities that arise to let others know what you are doing.

5. Steve Jobs said: “There’s a phrase in Buddhism, ‘Beginner’s mind.’ It’s wonderful to have a beginner’s mind.”

It is the kind of mind that can see things as they are, which step by step and in a flash can realize the original nature of everything. Beginner’s mind is Zen practice in action. It is the mind that is innocent of preconceptions and expectations, judgments and prejudices. Think of beginner’s mind as the mind that faces life like a small child, full of curiosity and wonder and amazement.

6. Steve Jobs said: “We think basically you watch television to turn your brain off, and you work on your computer when you want to turn your brain on.”

Reams of academic studies over the decades have amply confirmed television’s pernicious mental and moral influences. And most TV watchers know that their habit is mind-numbing and wasteful, but still spend most of their time in front of that box. So turn your TV off and save some brain cells. But be cautious, you can turn your brain off by using a computer also. Try and have an intelligent conversation with someone who plays first person shooters for 8 hours a day. Or auto race games, or role-playing games.

7. Steve Jobs said: “I’m the only person I know that’s lost a quarter of a billion dollars in one year…. It’s very character-building.”

Don’t equate making mistakes with being a mistake. There is no such thing as a successful person who has not failed or made mistakes, there are successful people who made mistakes and changed their lives or performance in response to them, and so got it right the next time. They viewed mistakes as warnings rather than signs of hopeless inadequacy. Never making a mistake means never living life to the full.

8. Steve Jobs said: “I would trade all of my technology for an afternoon with Socrates.”

Over the last decade, numerous books featuring lessons from historical figures have appeared on the shelves of bookstores around the world. And Socrates stands with Leonardo da Vinci, Nicholas Copernicus, Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein as a beacon of inspiration for independent thinkers. But he came first. Cicero said of Socrates that, “He called philosophy down from the skies and into the lives of men.” So use Socrates’ principles in your life, your work, your learning, and your relationships. It’s not about Socrates, it’s really about you, and how you can bring more truth, beauty and goodness into your life everyday.

9. Steve Jobs said: “We’re here to put a dent in the universe. Otherwise why else even be here?”

Did you know that you have big things to accomplish in life? And did you know that those big things are getting rather dusty while you pour yourself another cup of coffee, and decide to mull things over rather than do them? We were all born with a gift to give in life, one which informs all of our desires, interests, passions and curiosities. This gift is, in fact, our purpose. And you don’t need permission to decide your own purpose. No boss, teacher, parent, priest or other authority can decide this for you. Just find that unique purpose.

10. Steve Jobs said: “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

Are you tired of living someone else’s dream? No doubt, its your life and you have every right to spend it in your own individual way without any hurdles or barriers from others. Give yourself a chance to nurture your creative qualities in a fear-free and pressure-free climate. Live a life that YOU choose and be your own boss.

Each lesson might be difficult to integrate into your life at first, but if you ease your way into each lesson, one at a time, you’ll notice an immediate improvement in your overall performance. So go ahead, give them a tr

        

comScore released a report today detailing U.S. mobile market share for the first three months of 2010. The report focuses on the leading mobile OEMs (original equipment manufacturers, or phone makers) and U.S. mobile operators based on subscriber data, as well as how mobile owners use their phones.

Some of the numbers are predictable. For instance, Verizon is the largest mobile operator in the U.S. with approximately 31.1% market share. However, the OEM data is more surprising because it highlights just how many people are not using smartphones.

Check out this chart from comScore that highlights the top mobile OEMs of users age 13+:

As you can see, Samsung, Motorola and LG are all nearly tied in terms of market share with 21.9% apiece. RIM and Nokia possess 8.3% each and Apple and HTC aren’t even ranked in the top five.

Keep in mind, this is a profile of phones that are actually in use; it is not a survey of phones being sold (those numbers are dramatically different). Still, comScore’s data indicates that of the top five mobile OEMs, only Motorola and RIM have made significant inroads in the smartphone space in the U.S. — unless you count the Samsung Moment.

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Text Messages, Web Browsing and Apps Rule Usage

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Unlike the top mobile OEMs, mobile content usage indicates pretty much what you would expect: Americans like to send text messages, surf the web and use mobile applications.

The table below shows that between December 2009 and March 2010 there has been an uptick in browser and downloaded app usage and in accessing social networks or blogs from mobile devices.

Without seeing all of the data, we can’t draw any real correlations between smartphone ownership (which we know is on the rise) and mobile content usage, but we suspect the two are interrelated.

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Smartphone Market Still Growing, Big Opportunity for Carriers and OEMs

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Our big takeaway from the comScore data is that a great number of non-smartphones are still in use. Millions of American cellphone owners do not yet use smartphones and are thus potential smartphone customers for OEMs and for carriers when it comes time to upgrade or replace a new handset.

The biggest hurdle for new smartphone user adoption is likely going to come down to data plan pricing, an issue we touched on in relation to the Microsoft Kin phones earlier this week. Again, this is an area that represents large opportunities to carriers like Sprint and T-Mobile who trail the titans Verizon and AT&T.

What do you think of the comScore study? Are you surprised by any of the data? Let us know.

        

Yahoo is out with interesting findings concerning the demographics of iPad owners.

The service analyzed the behaviors of Yahoo iPad users and found that men outnumber women two to one, Flickr usage is 143% higher than average, and international traffic accounts for 10% of all traffic even though the device is only available for purchase in the U.S.

The other stats Yahoo uncovered are fairly obvious. 48% of Yahoo iPad users own an iPhone and 94% of them possess “solid wealth and strong incomes.” The company estimates that the “demographic profile of the iPad Yahoo! user closely followed the interests on Yahoo! that we would suspect” — usage of Flickr, Finance, News and Sports properties show much higher than average traction on the iPad.

Another interesting finding: Yahoo consumers ages 35-44 were overrepresented by 36% on the iPad, while the under-30 crowd happens to be vastly underrepresented.

Of course all this data does is point to Yahoo user demographics; it is not representative of the greater iPad population. Still we can make some safe conclusions from these findings: The device is popular with men, appeals to individuals with disposable income and offers a desirable browsing experience.

        

By talking too much about the importance of creativity in business it can become a bit of a fad or cliche. But people do need to be more creative. Businesses aren't designed for creativity. They are efficient machines with processes and rules and they can't cope with the unstructured thinking you need for ideas to flourish.

The Business Playground is about re-teaching creativity. Everyone has it in them as a kid. But people lose that imagination. It gets hammered out of you at work and school. But creative thinking makes new things work, and creates and solves things. Of course, you need a team of engineers and people who know how to make things work as well. And you want people who know how to create business models.

In a lot of the businesses I work in, the idea is everything. I'm working on a film with the guy who made the Shrek films. While it's fine to have the idea, you have to be able to realise it. That's where contacts with normal businesses are useful. I've worked with Nokia as a change agent for three­ and-a-half years. Sometimes I help with ideas they're struggling with and sometimes I come up with new ideas.

The Internet is having more impact on creative industries than recession. Things are speeding up and the middle is getting squeezed. At the bottom you can make a great cheap movie, while at the other end there are big blockbusters. But what about in the middle, where it's harder to make good films that cost a bit? It's the same in music, where new bands put their stuff up on the Net and build a fan base and at the top end, big acts sell fewer records but just add $20 to the price of a concert ticket and go on tour. The middle gets squeezed because people don't want to pay for music.

While it's better to have creativity grounded in reality, it depends whose reality you're talking about. Look at Lady Gaga. She's taking the music industry by storm, but a lot of labels wouldn't sign her unless they could get her into a nice dress and with lovely hair like 50 other acts they've got who sell nothing.

The fact that everyone can now produce content is both a good thing and a bad thing. It's good that you can discover new talent, whether that's a film-maker, actor or musician. The flip side is that there is just so much noise to wade through it is harder to find. There's so much of the man in Michigan with his skateboarding dog type of stuff that you often can't get to the good stuff. But it's good that there's so much energy to harness. The trick is to harness and monetise it somehow, so the great young film-makers can have a go at making something longer and better.

There are always people who create just for the pure essence of being creative. This is important. There are lots of things we need for everyday life and we come into contact with lots of stuff daily. I'd rather that stuff was beautiful, well designed and creative.

The Business Playground (Ff Prentice Hall) by Dave Stewart and Mark Simmons is available now, priced 14.99

        

Marketers are starting to embrace the right elements

Many of the comments that have come in response to recent Mobile Mandala posts gave the comment author’s well reasoned opinions as to why mobile advertising has not taken off in a big way.  But, the underlying current, no matter what the comment author’s opinion, was the poignant question of whether we as a mobile marketing and advertising community will ever get it right.  Will we ever rise above the trees and take a real good look at the whole forest?  Will we ever stop putting our head down and blindly charging forward, and finally raise our head up so we can intelligently move forward?

Well, the recent 2009 Netsize Mobile Marketing survey landed on my desk with a very welcome thud (or more accurately, downloaded with a very welcome ping).  After all, the results seemed to reinforce and address ten weeks of incessant posts, and some incredibly insightful reader comments  regarding why mobile advertising has not reached its potential.

The overall premise of why mobile advertising has not reached its potential is that marketers have not truly recognized the the mobile phone’s unique position in the media universe as a very personal, highly interactive communication ecosystem.  The Netsize survey of the opinions of senior mobile executives seemed to recognize these principles in its findings:

Very Personal – Because of the personal nature of the mobile device, consumers are more receptive to marketing messages that are consistent with how they normally send and receive messages in this personal space.

• One-way broadcast style SMS messaging is expected to go down (57% to 52%) and two way SMS messaging is expected to go up (40% to 46%) as marketers recognize the prevalence of interactivity in consumer’s daily interactions
• MMS messaging involving pictures or video is expected to double (11% to 22%) as marketers recognize that people like communicating to each other on their mobile phones with images and that may also be a great way to engage with their company’s message
• Use of the mobile phone for retention and loyalty campaigns is expected to grow (43% to 64%) as marketers recognize that consumers prefer to receive messaging from people (or companies) they know and like rather than from strangers

 Highly Interactive – Most time spent on the mobile phone involves some type of an interactive activity whether it is communicating back and forth via voice and SMS, while playing with a game or interacting with an app. 

• One-way broadcast style banner ads are expected to stay stagnant (25% to 26%) and more interactive branded applications are expected to rise dramatically (23% to 35%)
• Prompting of consumer response via coupons, barcodes and QR codes is expected to increase (20% to 31%)

Communication Ecosystem - The mobile phone has developed, and is continually developing, behavioral mores and cultural norms that have very serious implications for marketers.  Violate one of those norms, and the consequences can be severe. 

• The two inhibitors to mobile advertising and mobile marketing that most concerned executives were the quality and validity of the opt-in database and concerns over regulation and consumer backlash.
• Transactional communication (purchase notifications, crisis management, etc) is expected to rise (27% to 37%) as marketers recognize that consumers view their phone as ways to keep abreast of important information that affects their lives in a tangible way on a day-to-day basis

Perhaps most importantly and most encouragingly, the survey reported that one third of the senior mobile executives who responded reported that they lacked the skills to define and deploy an effective mobile marketing strategy.  Why is that encouraging?  Because the first step to seeking and acquiring knowledge, is the acknowledgement that you need it.

        

http://www.warc.com/News/TopNews.asp?ID=26610

&Origin=WARCNewsEmail

        

        

PARIS: Renault, Orange and Procter & Gamble were some of the biggest advertisers in France in the first quarter of this year.

Kantar Media, the research firm, has estimated that total French advertising expenditure reached €5.6bn ($7.5bn; £4.9bn) in the opening three months of 2010.

More specifically, it argued that rates of growth accelerated each month between January and March, in an indication of the rising level of optimism discernible among marketers.

By medium, press advertising revenues climbed by 6.3% to €1.6bn in Q1, with magazines up by 3% and national newspapers by 17.1%.

Radio ad sales also increased by 9.3% to €830m, while outdoor generated an uptick of 11% to €646m, and cinema delivered an improvement of 68% to reach €39m.

The internet also saw revenues jump by 10.4% to €586.2m, increasing the channel's share of the market to more than 10% in all.

Elsewhere, television spend rose 18.2% year-on-year to €1.9bn in the first quarter, Kantar Media's study suggested.

The finance, beauty, automotive and food categories all registered double-digit increases in their overall media budgets in Q1.

By contrast, real estate was the only sector to record a major decrease in its outlay, as the economic downturn continued to squeeze demand for property.

Automakers claimed the top three spots in the individual advertiser list for the first quarter, led by Renault on €101.9m, with Peugeot in second on €75.5m and Citroen in third on €74.3m.

Orange, the mobile network, was in fourth position on €64.4m, with Carrefour, the supermarket chain, in fifth place on €61.2m.

SFR, another mobile specialist, invested €58.8m in advertising in Q1, followed by Procter & Gamble, the FMCG giant, on €57.1m.

E.Leclerc, the retailer, Unilever and Danone, the consumer goods manufacturers, closed out the top ten, all spending more than €50m between January and March.

Data sourced from Kantar Media; additional content by Warc staff, 22 April 2010