Consumer Passion

The Suggestion Box (SuggestionBox.com): Can It Save Traditional Media?

Numbers don't lie, so there's no denying the rapid decline of readership among newspapers large and small.  Traditional Media, the newspaper business in particular, has been bringing a knife to a New Media gunfight for years now.  Every major U.S. paper, save for USA Today and the Wall Street Journal, lost at least a quart of blood when a six-month circulation report was released last week (New York Times article here).  Smaller papers have fared even worse, with some deciding to completely shutter their print editions. The Kentucky Post, for example, ended 126 years of ink on January 1st with the launch of KYPost.com, offering user generated content, citizen journalism and a variety of local-focused news from professional journalists and wire services. 

Traditional Media is in a sprint to upgrade and integrate the online with the offline, the Brick with the Click, to capture the attention of consumers as they migrate to an ever expanding menu of choices.  Newspapers and Radio stations and their TV counterparts are launching blogs, podcasts, video streaming and all sorts of new media offerings in a frantic effort to be relevant.  And if I could offer one suggestion, for all of them, it would be this:  Embrace the Suggestion Box. 

No, not the wooden or acrylic box that still spends a lonely life on the counter of small businesses across the nation, waiting for someone to fill out and drop in a post card sized piece of paper with thoughts about the good, bad or ugly that just occurred.  And no, not a typical e-mail link on a website contact page that lets you send your thoughts into the abyss, never knowing if anyone read them, or gives a hoot.  No, I'm talking about an online Suggestion Box, a new product from SuggestionBox.com, a creative startup based in San Diego (profiled recently on Techcrunch). 

Stick with me on this, because what I'm proposing goes far beyond the simple idea of people submitting simple ideas.  SuggestionBox.com is obviously aimed at businesses ... at really any organization on the planet, from local government to barber shops to restaurants to schools to hotels to non profits to you name it.  But ideas have the potential to be interesting and compelling news and content, the kind that is especially interesting to radio station listeners and newspaper readers, since it orginates from them, and offers them a chance to showcase their creative genius and potentially disruptive ideas.

Imagine if a radio station decides to integrate a SuggestionBox.com Suggestion Box on its website.  It can be done quickly and inexpensively (about $50 per month, unlimited suggestions).  Doesn't require software integration or major IT work.  Just a simple widget dropped on the website that enables and channels ideas to your hosted Box.   

The Radio station can chat it up on the air, inviting listeners to take part in a new creative community of 'problem solvers and idea people'.  You can ask for ideas to make the radio station better.  You can ask for ideas to make the community better.  You can hold a contest for best Green Ideas.  You can reward 'best idea of the week'.  You can do humorous things.  You can position your station as the 'community idea hub', where great ideas are collected, voted on, improved, and implemented.  When people submit an idea, they become part of your SuggestionBox community, and since the whole process is transparent, they can track the progress of their suggestions and see what others think.  Businesses will love this as well.  They'll want their own SuggestionBoxes, and an idea ecosystem will emerge, with the Radio Station at its center.  Web traffic will surge, as will ideas to the station, its advertisers, and the community. 

Whether a radio station website or a newspaper website, ideas submitted to their SuggestionBoxes have the potential to become news content to be promoted and celebrated. All of a sudden, you're not just regurgitating the same boring news that every other media outlet is spewing.  And by unleashing a consumer idea river, you'll likely see a jump in other user generated content (citizen journalism, blogs, pictures, video).

SuggestionBox.com is a great choice, for one, because it has such a great brand. It is exactly what it says it is, it's instantly recognizeable, and from what I can tell so far from my own experience (I've dropped several suggestions in), it's simple and intuitive to use.  It can be used by organizations large and small, and it's affordable.  Yes, you'll have to manage the ideas, so it takes people power on both ends to make this work.   

So for the community newspaper that's struggling, what better way to ignite passion with your readers than to get their ideas flowing.  The Radio station that's trying to drive web traffic and create community offline in addition to on-air.  You have an opportunity to embrace Open Innovation with a cutting edge SuggestionBox.com Box, stoking a vibrant, transparent, interconnected conversation with consumers that could open up countless ideas and possibilities.  It's an affordable and intelligent way to jump in the Web 2.0 water.  What are you waiting for ... the competition to do it first?   

The Future of Media: The (Consumer) Passion Play

Interesting discussion over on Fred Wilson's blog, AVC.blog.com, in and about his post What My Kids Tell Me About the Future of Media.  Wilson, Managing Partner at two venture capital firms, was sniffing through some research on the radio business, and it led him to ponder the future of other media categories.  Wilson has a Goldman Sachs chart, showing growth rates for radio and newspapers at the bottom, and internet and games at the top.  He then compares his own experience watching his teenage children -how they use various media platforms - to see how things match up. 

His kids are the least passionate about listening to the radio and reading newspapers, and most passionate about the time they spend on the internet and with electronic games.  No surprise there, as the market, relfected in the Goldman charts, tells the same story. 

Wilson has some interesting observations and thoughts about music and magazines.  Despite all the negative press, he thinks the music business is still a good business, at least for those who figure out the best model.  I agree that it won't be the labels.  Radiohead's direct-to-consumer digital release of its latest album is a good indicator of the trend away from the traditional model. 

As for magazines, Wilson says his family seems to have a growing obsession with them, fighting over new issues when they arrive in the mail.  I can relate to that.  I used to get tingles when the latest Business 2.0 issue would arrive in the mail (until it closed down - how can a magazine with more than 600,000 subscribers go out of business???)  He thinks mass market magazines might be undervalued, and I agree.  There's a big difference between newspapers and magazines.  Newspapers cannot compete with the web when it comes to both the timeliness and sheer volume of news.  I believe USA Today is holding steady because many of its stories are magazine-like.  Front page stories on USA Today  may  cover things you were not aware of ... a trend or unique angle on something with broad interest.  And magazines, because of their release schedules, are never about breaking news, so they're not competing with the web's strong point.  They're purely about content, covering niche topics of interest, and if anything are looking months down the road at trends within and around those topics.

One of Wilson's readers (FredBlank) makes a great point in the comment section, which I believe ties everything together:

The common thread here is where their passion lies.  Great music, great storytelling, compelling interactive experiences, and the like.  From a consumer perspective, it is not about calling something a "blog" or a "newspaper." It is about making that connection with their passion.

I couldn't agree more.  Content is still king, and there's still plenty of passion for great content.  But the 'Net Generation' is not looking for the written content they're passionate about in newspapers.  They're finding it online in blogs, web articles and social networks ... and offline in magazines and books.  Music is still wildly popular, but teens' first impulse is not to purchase entire albums on CDs.  It's to sample songs on social networks and artist websites, and then obtain digital versions (mp3s) via legal and illegal downloads.

I have more than a dozen years in the radio business, and I can say from first hand experience that radio executives were purposely deaf to calls for change a number of years ago.  For instance, when satellite radio was introduced in 2001 (I was in charge of 3 XM channels for a partner company), executives from the Nat'l Association of Broadcasters, and my bosses, spent most of their time poo-pooing the new competition, claiming no one would pay for radio.  What they didn't understand - actually it's more accurate to say what they would not or could not accept - was that traditional radio is for the most part boring ... stale ... repetitive ... and full of annoying commercials.  Car commercials with some loud mouth yelling at you.  And there were, and are, plenty of people willing to seek out alternative platforms that offer deeper and more interesting content, much of it commercial free, and with the ability to listen without interruption while driving long distances.  Consumers are simply not going to stand for someone else deciding they will have to enjoy a narrow list of 'hit' songs decided by a program director stuck in the old way of thinking, and tolerate a poor radio signal that might be good for a thirty mile radius on a good day.  Music radio is dead, save for satellite and internet radio.  Talk radio is still viable on AM or FM talk stations, because it offers unique, live content, with the option in many cases to interact with the talk shows. 

The bottom line:  content, content, content ... the kind that people will be passionate about.  And then you must meet your target consumers where they are, and where they expect you to be.

Why Ron Paul Was Trounced in Iowa: Candidates Must Be 'Brick and Click'.

Let's take a consumers view of the Iowa Caucus results.  Pretend the candates are merely products for sale - say action figures.  Sales results are in, and the Obama and Huckabee Action Figures were purchased by more Iowans than the other dolls in the Presidential Candidate Collection.  Obama accounted for 38% of sales, Huckabee 34%.  Hillary Clinton Action Figures clocked in just below 30%, even though it was a two-for-one offer, with a Bill Clinton doll (hers is wearing the pants) thrown in.

It's most interesting to look at sales figures for the Obama and Ron Paul Action Figures.  These two products had extremely high 'online' appeal, with passionate consumers storming Web stores to purchase the Illinois Senator doll, with it's booming 'pull the string' voice ... and the Texas Congressman doll holding a copy of the Constitution.  Ahhh, but offline, a different tale is told.  Consumers streamed into stores to clear out Obama dolls, but plenty of Paul figures could be found languishing on store shelves this morning.   

Normally, the company producing Ron Paul action figures would be thrilled that it cornered a 10% share of sales in Iowa.  Plenty of profit from that.  But the problem with this particular line of toys, is that the business model specifically states that only one action figure from each line (Blue line and Red line) will continue to be manufactured later this year.  And it looks like the action figures that appeals to consumers who do most of their shopping offline (brick), in addition to shoppers that prefer to shop online (click), will continue to be offered. 

Early indicators and polls taken of shoppers - web polls - led many to falsely believe that the Ron Paul action figure would lead the Red pack.  But as a Wired article back in August noted:

"I think that's what's the most fascinating ... how Ron Paul will do," says Julie Germany, deputy director of George Washington University's Institute for Politics, Democracy and the Internet. "His supporters have overwhelmingly been on the internet," where blog rankings, YouTube videos and enthusiastic forum participation make his support appear "two or three times what it really is."

Well, the sales results are in.  And for now, there are enough brick-and-mortar shoppers still out there hoofing around to keep internet darlings like the Paul Doll in check.  Will things be different some years from now?  Maybe.  But the Obama doll in particular shows that a product with mass appeal - to various demographics and shopping types - will always be a wild retail success.

---------

Follow-up:  Regarding commenter John's point - a good one - that "the Ron Paul doll sold pretty blandly online from Iowa shoppers as well. He lost the Iowa straw poll (while winning most straw polls) he also lost several online Iowa polls. Farmers just don't care for Ron Paul dolls, online or not:

Sarah Lai Stirland in a Wired article today notes the web traffic for each candidate, from Iowa residents.  And while Obama led everyone, Ron Paul had more than Huckabee (and more than all other candidates except Obama and Clinton), yet Huckabee beat him 34 to 10 percent.  I think the ultimate point stands:  the internet is a communication tool and environment that transmits 'the message', and allows the 'messengers' (Paul fans) to gather and promote their man.  But it cannot in itself overcome the fact that a person and his message has a lower appeal than someone else and his/her message.

Consumers Heading Hyper Local in 2008?

It's that time of year, the very beginning, when all sorts of predictions and crystal ball gazing takes place, so I figure why not toss something in the ring.  A number of things seem to be pointing to 2008 as a year where it's a small world after all for consumers, even on the web.  Websites that focus on local information are not new, with the likes of Zillow (real estate), Yelp (local reviews), and MerchantCircle (local businesses).  The road to building a succesful local news aggregator has been a bit rougher.  Backfence (local news/citizen journalism) went for it, then flamed out.  It exists in frozen form, all content dated to June of last year when it closed shop.

Fast forward to today, and you have Everyblock, spotlighted in The Sydney Morning Herald.  Nick Galvin, in his list of Ten Things That Will Change Your Future, notes that Everyblock, which is still in the development stage, is the brainchild of Chicago journalist and programmer Adrian Holovaty, best known for his chicagocrime.org project, which combines crime stats and maps to provide a detailed overview of crime in the city.   EveryBlock's website says it'll aggregate an unprecedented depth of local news and information in select cities.  Don't bet against Holovaty.  His chicagocrime site was named one of 2005s Best Ideas by the New York Times, and he was a 2006 Knight News Challenge winner, receiving $1.1 million to make his Everyblock dream a reality.

2008 is a make it or break it year for local newspapers.  With declining readership and revenue, more and more are coming out of the woodwork with Web 2.0 makeovers.  KYPost.com launched today, replacing the 126 year old Kentucky Post newspaper, which printed its last edition Monday.  KYPost.com is promoting itself as an easy-to-use platform that enables user generated content and citizen journalism, along with a wide variety of local-focused news from professional journalists and wire services.  My local papers just re-launched their website, Fauquier.com, in Fauquier County, Virginia.  Along the same lines, it's a more attractive site that's seeking to develop an online community that'll contribute stories, blog posts, pictures and feeback.  I think it will be a battle between the local newspapers (online editions) and sites like EveryBlock that are national in scope, but drill down to the city/town level.  You would think the advantage goes to the local papers, since they've been part of local communities for decades, or in cases like the Kentucky Post, for more than a century.  But a vast majority of them don't have great Web chops.  So it wouldnt' surprise me to see a well planned and executed major player take the lead in local news. 

Combine all of this with the coming out parties of various video platforms, like UStream.TV and Qik.com, and you now have a much lower threshold for the average Joe and Jane to become local journalists and broadcasters.  UStream and Qik enable you to broadcast live video over the web, in effect creating your own channel on their sites.  Qik is especially intriguing, as it allows you to steam video from certain cell phones, live, with only a five second delay.  I can imagine a growing army of consumers across the country starting to broadcast live, local events on the web this year, like small town parades, sporting events, weddings and the like.  I truly believe this will be the year that Passionate Consumers get 'hyper local'.  The tools are here ... so let's get busy.