Bill Geist's Zeitgeist

There's No App for Dat

It's always risky to jump on a cultural bandwagon to make your point. Consider all the lame attempts at marshaling Vegas' "What happens here" campaign for other purposes.

But the Monroe Country TDC has nailed it (as has Verizon) by referencing our insane interest in iPhone apps with a new spot that proudly proclaims, "there's no app" for the experiences one can have in the Florida Keys.

Well played...

In the Year 1993

Who knew what a wired (and unwired) world would look like?Turns out...that would be at&t.

My friend Joe Buhler stumbled across these TV ads from 16 years ago that are so uncannily insightful.

Isn't it simply amazing how far we've come in such a short span of time.

Danish Tourism Video Confounds

The video features a young Danish woman who is reaching out to locate the American father of her baby. They got drunk one night, had unprotected sex and, well...she doesn't even know his name.

It now turns out that this was an attempt by Visit Denmank at a viral video to get people talking about Denmark. And, what? How easy Danish girls are?

I'm not so sure I understand...

Neither, apparently, do the Danish people or marketing critics.

What Did You Mean When You Said You're Sorry

Dave Carroll is back with Round Two in his "United Breaks Guitars" Trilogy. The first video has been viewed by just under 5 million people. The sequel is (at this moment) at 6,600.

Let's see how fast this one goes double platinum.

UPDATE: 30 minutes after posting...it's at 59,000 views :)

The Web Sucks

It was supposed to put traditional travel agencies out of business...but we're so frustrated with the inefficiencies of online travel choice that 26% of us would consider going back to travel agents.

That's just one of the findings in a recently released report from Forrester Research. Less than half of us enjoy our online experience and, most importantly, only 34% of us believe online travel sites present choices clearly and meaningfully.

Just another reason why DMOs must rethink their online personas. Because, if we're not giving the customer what they want, they'll find another channel.

Ummm, it's that pesky relevance thing...again.

The iPod: 1979

I'm sure that you, like me, have had a really cool idea (or three) in your life that you simply never pursued due to lack of time or funding (or both). And, then, a couple years later, there it was...on the shelf in a store. D'oh.

Imagine how Kane Kramer feels today. He got a patent for a digital music player he called the IXI...before there was even such a thing as digital music. Yet, in 1979 (in the era of cassette tape and vinyl...way before CDs), he designed something that looks suspiciously like today's iPod. He let the patent lapse in 1988 when he was unable to secure enough venture capital to proceed with his idea.

Simply amazing. And a lesson to never give up on a dream.

Thanks to Twitter friend Rob McNealy for the catch.

The Hubris of Size

If you've ever been by an Apple store (especially in a mall) you're probably amazed at the sheer number of consumers milling about, trying out the most elegant of today's technology. The Apple Store has become one of the most amazing of all retail (and branding) success stories.

Word out of the Evil Empire has it that it plans to begin opening Microsoft retail stores in close proximity to Apple Stores.

I'll wait while you scratch your head furiously.

I know this strategy works well for fast food...but that's because the product is so interchangeable. Fast food is a commodity for all but the most fanatic.

Apple products vs. Microsoft products? Ummm...not so much.

The concept of Microsoft stores makes a lot of sense, if they execute the strategy correctly. But putting them next to Apple stores? Sounds like a recipe for humiliation.

The Hubris of Claiming First

It's a fairly common trait of humans to want to be biggest, best, fastest...first. It's that whole Hierarchy of Needs thing, I guess.

But, when your claim is so out in left field that you're in a completely other ballpark?

In a recent news release, the Maastricht Convention Bureau announced they are now utilizing Twitter and Facebook. They also claim that, "worldwide this is the first site of a convention bureau effectively making use of web 2.0 and social media marketing techniques."

Errr...not quite.

In my friend Martin Stoll's latest ranking of DMOs utilizing Twitter, he's tracking over 350 DMOs maintaining accounts. DMAI recently announced that roughly 150 of their DMO members have Facebook accounts. I'm fairly certain at least a few maintain both...and have for months.

Or maybe I'm reading the quote wrong. Maybe the MCB is claiming that they are the first DMO in the world to do it right.

Don't know if they're playing on attending the DMAI Annual Convention...but, if they do, I'm thinking there''ll be a throwdown.

Thanks to my friend Sharon Linton of the Meydenbauer Center for the catch.

The Ingenuity of Football Fanatics

As NFL and College Summer Football Camps begin opening across the United States, I'm reminded of the amazing ingenuity that is applied to communicating the action on the field to those outside the stadium...even in 1924.

I had the honor of keynoting Discover Kalamazoo's Annual Tourism Week event this May at Western Michigan University. There, I was amazed to see one of the first Grid-Graphs used to "broadcast" the action from an away game back to students on campus (click image to enlarge).

Someone at the opposing stadium would telegraph the play by play results to WMU, where an operator would activate lights on the big board to the student body. The type of play and its result would be shown on the bottom, who made the play on the side...and, my favorite, a unique way of revealing the score on top.

That took the student servers and me some time to figure out as I waited in the wings to go on stage. And, then, it hit us: By lighting up a combination of 0, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 and 32, one can make any number up to 63.

Pretty amazing stuff for 1924.

Linking Illegal?

It could be if an Illinois judge has his way, according to an article in the Guardian (and thanks to our buddy Meilee Anderson from Seattle Southside for the catch).

Influential Chicago Appeals Judge Richard Posner is concerned that newspapers are a dying breed. So are we. We think they are because they haven't embraced the internet correctly and report nothing but terrifying economic news, in the attempt to snare readers. Except, when they scare the shit out of their readers, their readers stop buying products. When readers stop buying, businesses don't have revenue with which to buy newspaper advertising.

Is it any wonder that newspapers have been complicit in their own demise?

But Posner thinks that it is the bloggers and twitterers linking to newspapers' online content are the culprits. But don't they deliver even more eyes to the online editions of these newspapers through their links? Eyes that wouldn't have, any other way, been there? Shouldn't bloggers and twitterers be thanked (even compensated) for their referrals?

Instead Posner suggests that copywrite laws be expanded to prohibit linking without permission (permission that would ostensibly carry a modest cost). In her e to me, Meilee brought up a very salient point. What happens to DMOs that rely on the ability to link to our partners to promote our destinations? While I doubt that permission wouldn't be granted by most...the time and paperwork that would be required would be astounding.

As is the case in so many areas these days, the attempt to save something seems to screw up the world for everyone else. Here's hoping the web stays free.