Spinglobe

Thursday, July 19, 2007

A new world

The new world.  It's coming, baby.

Brought to us by Philip K. Dick, of sorts.

Here's the link for anyone on an RSS reader. 

Many thanks to David Armano for findings this video! 

Monday, July 16, 2007

Age of Conversation launches

The Age of Conversation book has launched.

And it brings together over 100 marketers, writers,  and thinkers from around the world.

You can learn more about the book, its authors and its genesis at The Age of Conversation blog.

I greatly enjoyed participating in the book and look forward to your comments.

The proceeds go to a GREAT cause: Variety, the Children's Charity.

The Age of Conversation is available in three formats:
e-book: $9.99 ($7.99 going to charity)
paperback book: $16.95 ($8.10 to charity)
hardback book: $29.99 ($8.55 to charity)

Purchase it today!

Monday, July 2, 2007

Play is more than just a game

We believe in the power of play as a critical element of any social media program.

As you may know, our approach is built around Interplay.  And the three components of any engagement with us are: Passion, play and participate. 

In this article I want to look at "Play" as I find it to be an easily misunderstood concept, in general, let alone as it applies to marketing and communications.  Like most things that are so natural and fundamental, play is difficult to define.

I define Play as an engaging interaction where external expectations of success have been curtailed. Dr. Stuart Brown was quite insightful when he called play "a developmentally important human process."

"Work and play are words used to describe the same thing under differing conditions"
- Mark Twain

When play becomes structured and has elements that are goal-oriented it is often referred to as a game. As marketing is serious business, games are often avoided or used as gimics or quick thrills.  But games are not to be discredited.  They are a powerful way to create relationships with your audience.

Sarah Colombo with the Online Journalism Review speaks with the Gotham Gazette about a rather innovative use of games to connect their audiences with issues and the news.  The Gotham Gazette has been experimenting with simple but effective games to involve their audiences in complex issues.

"Almost anything can work with a game if you have an intelligent way of flushing it out"

Unlike most "viral games" exploding all over the internet, GG uses games to provide intelligent insight and involvement in issues around the NY area.  One of their games was a dramatization of the city budget. It became a way for people to understand the issues and get engaged versus just complaining that "I don’t have a cop on my corner and [...] why are my taxes so high?"  You can play it here. 

This phenomenon of using games to impart real world information and lessons is now being referred to as "Serious games".  And they are worth taking note of with remarkable growth over the past two years.  According to the head of the Masie Center, "[Serious games] evolved from an academic concept a decade ago to an industry estimated at $200 million to $400 million."  A drop in the bucket when compared to  all the money spent on advertising and media, and yet very little compares to the engagement of gaming.  Both in time spent playing, level of immersion and attachment to the experience. 

So expect to see serious gaming grow by leaps and bounds over the years to come. 

Saturday, June 30, 2007

Welcome

Welcome to our new site!

This is our new company blog.

Wondering who we are?  Take a look around.  You may also know us from our personal blogs: craphammer or My Name is Kate. Hopefully we can get some of the other folks internally to share their voice as well.

Drop us a line.  We would love feedback on the new site.