The E-Mail Time Capsule

Forbes has created an E-Mail Time Capsule. You can write an email that will be sent in either 1, 3, 5, 10 or 20 years depending on your choice. Be quick, the time capsule closes on the 30th of November (this year!).
Forbes and their partners Yahoo! and Codefix have implemented a redundant networking system for making sure, that within 20 years, given that at least one of them sticks around, can send out the emails of the capsule, as Forbes writes.

I am just glad they added a code in an image you have to enter (as you have these days in blogs comments, etc.), so that nobody can mass-spam anybody.

Imagine receiving emails from, say, the ULTIMATE PHARMACY ONLINE, about Viagra – in 2023 – just to remember that Phizer went out of business some 15 years ago because some other stupid drug was invented?

And who says we even have Email in 20 years? We didn’t have it 20 years ago.
Think about it: what if someone had done a time capsule for Telex some 20-30 years ago? I can’t think of any company or person who still uses Telex Technology.
With IM and mobile messaging booming – maybe we wont have Email in 20 years? (Or just our parents – the grandparent generation – uses it. Sort of like now, where most of the handwritten letters you get are from your grandparents.

Seven Digital Consumer Trends

Further to my post below there was a Clickz article about Seven Digital Consumer Trends plus some insights into what that means for marketing, etc.
(It’s from June 2006, but I only remembered about it again now.)

  • Individuals‘ interconnectivity is increasing.
  • The information playing field is being leveled.
  • Relevance filtering is growing.
  • Niche aggregation is growing.
  • Micropublished self-expression is blossoming.
  • The „prosumer“ is rising.
  • It’s on-demand everything, everywhere.
  • What that means?

    They’re better informed through the increased ability to access and sift an abundance of information anytime, anywhere. They’re better connected through the ability to instantaneously communicate with others across time zones and social strata. They’re more communicative through the ability to publish and share their ideas and opinions. They’re more in control through the ability not only to personalize their information and entertainment consumption, marketing messages, and the products and services they buy, but also to gain satisfaction on demand.

    As this evolution continues, marketers are faced with a growing number of challenges to acquire, satisfy, and keep their target customers. They must rethink their approach to brand communications.

    Predictions for online advertising in 2006

    Adverblog has found some predictions for online advertising in 2006.

    1. Consumer-generated media will become increasingly attractive to advertisers

    2. Advertisers will continue shifting traditional ad spending to the Web due to increased Internet consumption and better targeting/reporting capabilities

    3. Advertisers, cable providers and interactive marketing experts will collaborate to address „The TiVo Effect“

    4. Brand advertisers will drive the next wave of growth for the paid search market

    5. Best practices in localized mobile marketing will be perfected overseas in 2006

    6. Online advertisers will employ holistic targeting methods to deliver better results and reduce reliance on high-profile, high-CPM ad buys

    7. Technology and better data access will transform online advertising success to a formulaic equation

    8. Japan will be the next frontier for paid search and interactive marketing

    9. Mobile carriers will adopt new ad models to boost revenue beyond usage

    10. Performance-based pricing models will demonstrate the true value of search engine marketing (SEM) as a lead generation channel

    (Detailed info is here)

    And while I read this, I also saw a post at PFSK pointing me to a post at the longtail:

    Down:

  • Box Office: down by 7% this year (tickets per capita have fallen every year since 2001).
  • Newspapers: circulation, which peaked in 1987, is declining faster than ever and is down another 2.6% so far this year.
  • Music: Sales are down another 5.7% this year; although digital downloads (still just 6% of the business) are climbing nicely.
  • Radio: down 4% this year alone, continuing a multi-decade decline.
  • Books: down by 7% in 2004 (but see comments below for discussion)
  • Mixed:

  • DVDs: sales growth is slowing dramatically, from 29% last year to single digits this year.
  • TV: Total viewership is still rising, but as channels proliferate and the audience fragments the rating of the average show continues to decline.
  • * Magazines: Ad revenues are up a bit although the number of ad pages is flat (they’re charging more per page). Circulation is also flat, while newsstand sales are at an all-time low.

  • Videogames: it’s the final few months of the current generation of consoles, which tends to the trough of the buying cycle. Sales were down 20% in Sept, but will probably pick up by Christmas with the launch of the Xbox 360.
  • Up:

  • Internet advertising:
    –Banners: Up 10% this year
    –Keywords: Google revenues up 96%
  • Interesting trends, alltogether.

    A whole new idea how to present a 360 shot of a car on Saab’s new Microsite

    As I just found out through these two blogs, Saab has launched a new microsite for their Saab95.

    While the microsite features the usual suspects („tell a friend“, „take a test drive“, „watch the TV commercial“) there are two things worth mentioning. One thing I really enjoyed, the other one almost fascinated me.

    What I enjoyed was the emo-clip. Probably at least 2 minutes long, it shows the car in action and a whole lot of motion. And that’s what I liked: it doesn’t just show the car as such. Quite a few times, the film is more artistic in nature, with nice effects and sequences of streets at night, etc.

    However, what caught my attention: On most car sites, you get the typical 360 shot of the car. Some Java applet (or something similar), that let’s you spin the car around and look at it from all sides. If it comes to worst all that is even shown on a plain white background.

    Saab (who’s their agency?) has created a little story around these 360 shots that makes it all the more worthwile exploring the entire site: you see the car stopped in the middle of a swedish forest – I guess the TV trailer spot acts as a prequel to explain what’s happening on the microsite. It just sits there, within that snow covered scenery (think of stereotypical Sweden!). An in the dark, you can see the eyes of several animals living in the woods.

    By clicking on these animals, you can look at the car through their eyes, which allows you at the same time to take different viewing angles of the car. For example: the red fox looks at the front of the car – sort of from below, because he’s small – while the moose looks at the back of the car. And because the moose taller, he can also look through the rear window onto the dashboard of the car, so you can see the inside.

    Saab Microsite

    Once you’ve seen through the eyes of every animal, it will give you the option to look through the eyes of a lynx. But you’ll discover is a little bit of swedish humour instead.

    Nike’s digital-only launch

    As PSFK and Adverblog write, Nike launched the new Tiempo Legend shoe featuring Ronaldinho in most media other than above the line. Especially through mobile, online and vidcasts, hoping that „magic viral“ will take over and spread the word – or rather videos.

    Well, I can only assume it did work fine sofar. My cousin already sent me the main video of the microsite a week ago, when I didn’t even know about this campaign. However, it was taken a little out of context. While Ronaldinho plays, what’s called on the site „brazilian ping pong“, I got the video via email with the subject line: „I’d prefer if he would actually manage to hit the goal instead“. But we all (even I, the most soccer illiterate) know Ronaldinho, so that missing context doesn’t hurt.

    The target group knows everything about Nike shoes and Ronaldinho, I am sure. So when they receive that video, it’s spot on.

    Considering the fact that this video even spread to people like me is a good sign of success. Even though it might appear accidental, that I receive something like it – or, on the contrary, quite obvious, as I spend most of my time online – even I have spent some considerable time with the Nike brand now.