BB & AB: Before Blyk and After Blyk

In the networked world, the only thing worse than being sampled is not being sampled.

Said Siva Vaidhyanathan

So I am sampling Tomi's great headline for the launch of the iPhone Bi & Ai Before iPhone and After iPhone

Tomi says

An industry twice the size of the total internet industry and IT (computer) equipment industry combined - or in other words a little over half the size of the mobile telecoms industry - will also wake up and have their iPhone moment.

Yes. Then they start looking for the case studies. Many will discover mobile advertising success stories from the 54% who consume ads on mobile phones in Japan already today, to the 5 billion ads served in just over two years by our friends over at Admob. But yes, then the advertising mind will suddenly "discover" the iPhone. And they start to talk about the mobile media no doubt (ha-ha, and some will even find themselves to our thinking about mobile as the 7th Mass Media , but it will take them longer to notice that yes, mobile as an Mass Media is as different from the internet as TV is from radio)

Over the last few months I have had the privilege of working with Blyk the new mobile service for 16-to 24-year-olds, which opened its mobile/digital doors for business today. In fact it has been an intense and fascinating journey.

Many people have been "blyk watching," in fact the rumour mill has been working overtime and I think it is fair to say that we will be talking about BB + AB Before Blyk and After Blyk, like before iPhone & After iPhone.

Why do I think that this company will have such a significant impact? Because it is part of the new 7th Mass Media and the new media ecology. Blyk is going to be a signficant part of the revolution that is going to redefine the relationship that brands and their customers are going to have with eachother.

The company seems to possess the right mental attitude, and above all of that they respect their 16 - 24 year olds, seeing them them as much a part of Blyk as anyone else. We will see exciting and concrete evidence of what that means over the coming months.

Whilst some continue to want to gouge their customers, Blyk have taken a bold move, its exciting and its revolutionary. I am excited as Blyk has from day one realised it is part of a networked and interconnected world, and it has built its company in similar fashion. Traditional notions of what a company is and what it does and how it makes its money is the equivilent of the Silent Movies of the 21st Century.

Brands in today's world need to be three things. They need to be...

1). Life enabling
2). Life simplifying
3) Navigational. (Help me navigate my life better)

This also means putting the customer experence at the very heart of what you do. Advertising therefore must change too. Into valuable services, experiences and interactions.

Community Marketing Intelligence. The Black Gold of the 21st Century
There is talk that Myspace and google are taking a mobile position. But do they really know how to monetise their huge networks in the mobile space? Understanding the significance of the social and networked context of communications in the digital age will be the key to financial success. And we know that "Gen C" the Connected Generation thrives on social interaction. The story of Alpha Users will play a crucial and critical role.

My view is that people need brands and brands need people, and in the mobile space Blyk can help those brands and those people to better find eachother in a fun and engaging way.

On the other side of this is the sense that marketing and capitalism is eating itself. We have evolved a long way from the early days of what capitalism is and what it delivered as a core benefit to society.

We are going through a technological, social and commercial revolution. Successful economies are good for society. So Blyk wants to make money, that's healthy but it also want to challenge the fixed orthodoxies of what advertising/media and communications is in today's world. And that is a good thing too.

As SMLXL believed way back in 2002 - that if the 20th Century was about INTERRUPTION then the 21st Century will be about ENGAGEMENT. The Experience Economy is premised upon engagement, Gen C is premised upon connectivity and interaction. The age of image advertising is over - because that is cold media. As Alan Mitchell wrote in his book Right Side Up

If marketing were seen as a thig in its own right, would any body want to buy it?

The answer to that of course is no.

And remember there are 3 times as many mobile phones in the world as there are TV sets. Financial capital will ultimately follow the white heat of technological convergence and social networks.

Comments

[Tom Short]

Interesting development.
I guess this new ad-financed phone service might allure a lot of teens before they get into their twentees where they can afford to pay for the phone on their own.

Yours Sincerely.

[Alan moore]

Tom,

There are definitely simple benefits such as the one you suggest. However, the challenge is to make the service so good they want to stay and invite their friends.

That is where one starts to challenge the fixed orthodoxies of what advertising and commercial communications is. It means moving rapidly from interruption to engagement.

Thanks for posting

Alan