NYNY Solutions

Just finished listening to the audiobook version of Tribes by Seth Godin.

I recommend it to all future tribe leaders.

A blog entry by Seth Godin about the inherently non-commercial nature of the Internet (here) points to some interesting characteristics that marketers need to consider.

But I think Godin oversimplifies things (gasp!). Perhaps he knows this and doesn’t care, which is quite alright, it’s still a very valid point he is making about why and how the Net has become what it is today, and what we expect from it.

However, Mr. Godin is comparing the Internet to a newspaper or a TV-station, and that just doesn’t make sense. I think it’s more valid to compare the Internet to the invention of the Printing Press, Radio or TV broadcasting. There are non-commercial radio stations, non-profit magazines and publications with no advertising in it. I don’t even have to mention books - when was the last time you bought a novel with ads in it? Get the point?

In fact, with giant webshops like Amazon, wonderfully fragmented marketplaces like eBay and über-commercial Swiss Army Knives of shopping like price comparison sites, there are definetly Internet real-estate that’s every bit as commercial as anything you can point your finger at offline. 

We really only have to look at the success of AdWords, to realize that it’s not even about targeting User A (would never buy a thing) or User B (Shopoholic), instead it’s about Momentary Mindsets. 

Yesterday User A might have been a Concerned Citizen researching additives in baby food;

Today User A has calmed down and morphed into User B - dead set on finding a home-delivery subscription service for baby food.

Yesterday no ad in the world would have converted, today, any half decent offer has a good chance.

Today is the day User A clicks on those AdWords ads from somerandombabyfoodname.com.